Quentin

ON ST. QUENTIN, MARTYR, AT SAINT-QUENTIN IN GAUL,

PROBABLY IN THE YEAR 285.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Quintinus, martyr at Augusta of the Veromandui (S.)

BHL Number: 7014, 7021, 7476

BY B. B.

§ I. The cult of St. Quintinus. His mention in the sacred calendars.

The Hieronymian Martyrologies, both the greater and the lesser or abridged, nearly all record St. Quintinus on this day. The Bern one: In the territory of the Ambiani of St. Quintinus the martyr Above, p. XXV; St. Quintinus is recorded the Fulda one: In Gaul in the town of Vermand of St. Quintinus the martyr Analecta Bollandiana, vol. I, p. 43; the Echternach or Antwerp one and the greater Corbie one: At Agusta of the Viromandi (the latter adds in Gaul) of St. Quintinus the martyr; the Lucca one, but in error: In Italy the passion of St. Quirinus the martyr. Florentini notes this: For St. Quirinus, a martyr of Italy, the two martyrologies of Antwerp and Corbie, with nearly all the writers of sacred Gaul, show St. Quintinus the martyr at Augusta of the Viromandi or rather of the Veromandui, a city of Belgic Gaul… But a St. Quirinus venerated on this day in Italy it has not been possible to find, nor does Ferrari, otherwise a diligent investigator of the Italian saints, mention one. It was originally written, as may be concluded from the Reichenau codex: In Gaul, at Augusta of the Vermandi the passion of St. Quintinus the martyr. In like manner St. Quintinus is praised on this day in the Hieronymian martyrologies of the Ottoboni, Reichenau, Augsburg, Labbe, shorter Corbie, and in the Vatican Calendar. So Giorgi The Martyrology of Ado revised and illustrated, at Oct. 31.

[2] both in other martyrologies and in the Roman, Bede-Florus: The 2nd of the Kalends (of November). In Gaul of St. Quintinus, who suffered martyrdom under the emperor Maximian, and after fifty-five years his body was found, an angel revealing it, and buried the 8th of the Kalends of July; there is added in the margin: The last words are missing in the Dijon ms. Acta SS., vol. II of March, p. XXXVI. I pass over the auctarium from the codices of Arras, Tournai and Liessies, which Henschenius and Papebroch ascribe to Florus, with Soller contradicting and, as I for my part think, rightly; and which in this place shows nothing but a compendium of the Life of Quintinus taken from the fuller Lives Ibid.. With the announcement of Bede or Florus Rabanus agrees, as usual, using altogether the same words, except that he writes that the body was found after fifty-two years: led by what reason, Soller admits he does not know. Ado, the little Roman of Rosweyde failing, which is silent on St. Quintinus, follows Bede, adding the distinct location omitted by him and Rabanus: In Gaul, in the town of Vermand etc. The martyrology of Notker is mutilated, and does not go beyond October 26. Wandalbert, who, as has been shown elsewhere, finished his metrical martyrology on April 5 of the year 847 Ibid., vol. IX of Oct., p. 271, sings this:

On the day before, their deeds celebrate blessed Quintinus,

Who, victor for Christ in a notable and varied contest,

Lays October to rest as it rushes down, its circle closed.

Pure Usuard repeats the Adonian eulogy, and many things are added in the auctaria, which you have collected from various codices in Soller. Finally, to pass over Galesinius, Maurolycus, du Saussay etc., the Roman Mart. sets down this eulogy: In Gaul, at Augusta of the Veromandui, of St. Quintinus, a Roman citizen, of senatorial order, who suffered martyrdom under the emperor Maximian; whose body after fifty-five years, an angel revealing it, was found incorrupt.

[3] and in that of Saint-Quentin. There still exists an ancient manuscript martyrology for the use of the royal and notable church of Saint-Quentin, where at October 31 is found this announcement: In Gaul at Augusta of the Virmandi, the passion of the holy and most glorious martyr of Christ Quintinus. He, born at Rome of senatorial stock, but having entered Gaul for the love of Christ in the time of Diocletian and Maximian, shone gloriously by very great preachings, signs and miracles. When Rictiovarus heard of his fame, he commanded him to be diligently sought out, and when found to be seized, bound with chains, and consigned to prison. Then presented to the governor, on being questioned about his religion, he curses the images of the idols, their worship and order; and because he confidently preaches God one and three and true, he is cruelly beaten with scourges; beaten, he glorifies God; glorifying him, he is divinely encouraged to perseverance in constancy. Again chained he is condemned to the darkness of the prison, where, utterly deprived of human comfort, he merited to be consoled by the address of an angel. By whose guidance, the watchmen unaware, he came to a central place of the city, the peoples running together from every side, and having concluded his preaching in brief, he joined almost six hundred men to the Catholic faith. Wherefore the governor Rictiovarus, indignant, ordered the holy man of God to be most atrociously racked on pulleys, and besides to be beaten with iron thongs, and his back to be drenched with boiling oil, fish-sauce and fat, and lime, mustard and vinegar to be poured into his mouth. Again bound with heavy chains, he is brought to Augusta of the Virmandi; where by order of the governor he is transfixed with two iron spits from the neck to the legs, and is also stabbed with ten other iron nails between the nails and the flesh. Remaining unconquerable amid these things, the athlete of God at last fell, struck by the sword. Whose holy soul, showing the likeness of a snow-white dove going forth from his neck, was seen to penetrate heaven in freest flight. And his body, weighted with lead by the impious governor in the river Somme, after about fifty-five years is revealed by an angel to a certain matron, Eusebia by name, and is found by her incorrupt, and buried in the same town on the 8th of the Kalends of July. This martyrology I saw at Saint-Quentin with the distinguished Ernest de Chauvenet. The codex is of parchment, of a large and thick volume and of excellent script; but in some parts not a little worn away. There are very many additions or notes on almost every leaf, written in following years and indeed centuries. From these among other things we learn that the martyrology itself was written before the age or at least before the death of St. Louis the king. In many sacred calendars too the translations of the body of St. Quintinus are commemorated, of which we shall speak below.

§ II. Three classes of Passions. The earlier Acts perhaps written by a witness nearly contemporary. The Authenticum of the Life of St. Quintinus. By whom it was composed, by whom written out and given to the church of St. Quintinus.

Among several Passions, published or in mss., We have several Acts of St. Quintinus, agreeing for the most part in substance, differing in words. They were published first by Mombritius Lives of the Saints, vol. II, fol. 231, then by Surius at October 31, then by Claude Hémeré Augusta Viromanduorum vindicated and illustrated, in the Regestum, Paris 1643, and finally by Colliette, and by him in three copies [Mémoires pour servir à l'hist. du Vermandois, vol. I, p. 131 and following, Cambrai 1771]. Among the manuscript codices collected by our predecessors and now belonging to the Brussels library there exists Codex 8927 a Life of St. Quintinus from the ms. of Theodore Canter; and there is added: Collated with the very ancient ms. of Cl. du Puy; likewise in another hand: collated with the ms. of St. Maximin at Trier; likewise in a third hand: and of Saint-Omer. It exists also in a great ms. codex of the year 1470 of the same library, at the end Cod. 3391 – 99. Then Acts of St. Quintinus formerly sent by Fr. Chifflet, from the ms. of the monastery of Accinctum and of St. Bénigne of Dijon and of La Charité Cod. 8927, and from him out of the ms. of La Charité a codex on the finding of the body of St. Quintinus, namely the first, which is found almost everywhere joined to the Acts. Finally in the same place the martyrdom or passion of St. Quintinus the martyr, collated with the ms. of Bonnefontaine. Accordingly we have before us published Acts to the number of five (the first of Colliette are the same as those in Hémeré); manuscript ones ten, taking the collations into account. And besides these there exist almost innumerable others, both at Brussels and at Paris and in very many other libraries. But both the published and the manuscript ones are conveniently divided into three classes. To the first belong the Acts of Mombritius, the two later ones of Colliette, the Acts from the larger codex no. 3398; likewise from Canter, and his threefold collation. These are much shorter than those following, and, as we shall soon indicate, seem to be far superior in authority. To the second class we refer Surius and the ms. of Chifflet collated with two others: their narrative is more diffuse, but at the same time more elegantly arranged. The third class is formed by Hémeré with Colliette in the former text; with which agrees our ms., written I think in the hand of Rosweyde, but from what source drawn I do not see. It was collated with the codex of Bonnefontaine.

[5] the first was perhaps written by a witness nearly contemporary, Now of the authority of those several recensions. The first of them, which we shall show below under the title of Passion I, diligently copied from the excellent codex formerly of du Puy, now Paris lat. 5299, of the ninth century, was certainly not composed before the fifty-fifth year from the death of Quintinus, since there is annexed to it the account of the finding of the body which took place in that very year, and that account altogether reflects the style of the same writer. Now it is such that, if it is compared with the Acts of the martyrs of Ruinart, it scarcely differs either in substance or in form from the more correct and original ones. Compare among others the Passion of St. Ferreolus. Indeed our Acts are more sober than many of Ruinart's, have fewer prodigies, briefer questions and answers, and these for the most part from the sentences of sacred Scripture; which Christians at any rate were wont to use in praying, and they could besides have learned, from the answers of other martyrs which they had heard or read, and held them ready, if ever they themselves should be called to the contest. Are they original? Certainly in several copies, where the finding is treated, the author testifies that he was present. So Boninus Mombritius Vol. II, fol. 234: So that all the delights of the world seemed to be forgotten by us. Similarly in the copy of Rosweyde; and more expressly in both of Colliette Vol. I, p. 143 and 149: So it filled all of us WHO WERE PRESENT, so that all delights… seemed abolished for US. So also in the codex of St. Maximin and in two other

codices of the tenth and eleventh centuries [Cf. Notes to Passion I, below. Cf. Tillemont, Mémoires, vol. IV, Note, p. 700, ed. of 1701]: and so seven copies in all agree that the history of the Finding was written by an eyewitness; which Le Cointe admits without any doubt Annals of the Franks, vol. I, p. 385. But since it appears, as I have pointed out, that this same man is the author of the Passion, it would follow that our Acts of St. Quintinus should be referred to about the middle of the fourth century, and indeed counted among the original ones. This, however, Ruinart did not think, since he passed over them. It must be admitted that the words us and who were present are missing in certain codices, among them the ms. of du Puy. Which then are to be believed? Certainly one set or the other must be corrupted: these by deleting the aforesaid words, or those by adding them.

[6] and it is certainly to be made much of; However that may be (for I would not dare to settle the dispute), this is certain, that the Acts of St. Quintinus are of no common merit. They were held in esteem by Tillemont: Worthy, he says Mémoires, vol. IV, p. 700 and following, of having credit given them almost the same as to the originals, … were it not for the frequency of prodigies and scarcely credible miracles, so that one may reasonably suppose that not only words but also matters have been added to the original. And this Tillemont says of the Surian Acts, than which, as is manifest to anyone comparing the two Passions, ours are older and so superior. As to the miracles, this is an old and perpetual objection or rather cavil of Tillemont, which both we and our predecessors have repeatedly beaten back. Certainly prodigies are not to be admitted indiscriminately, but neither are they to be rejected: this indeed is worthy neither of a Catholic man, nor of a Christian, nor of a learned man. These things being so, we confidently assert that the Acts of St. Quintinus to be published by us relate fewer prodigies and much more credible ones than many Acts (I do not speak of the proconsular ones) which Ruinart judged sincere and made public as worthy of credit.

[7] the second, more recent, published by Surius; What we have just brought forward from Tillemont was, as I have pointed out, said by him of the Acts first brought to light by Surius. These, from manuscript codices, as he himself asserts in the title prefixed to them, as being learnedly indeed and gravely written, he inserted in his collection; we, lest the name of Surius should bring prejudice to them, since he was wont to polish up more or less the texts found by him in the codices, publish them from the copy of the Anchin codex, which we owe to Chifflet, adding however the variant readings from the Surian edition. Tillemont used the same, and besides what was cited above pronounced on them Ibid., p. 433: Few Acts of martyrs, he says, have we that are better: and although they are not original, it does not seem incredible that they were written before the middle of the seventh century. Nor should I doubt that Baronius had them in view, where he says At the year 303, no. 130: Whose (St. Quintinus') Acts of the passion … exist, yet enlarged with some periphrases by the author who wrote them out. After this no one will wonder that the Surian Acts have been used and praised here and there by writers, and that for the most part no others were known to them. So our Longueval renders them in summary in the history of the Gallican Church Vol. I, p. 124 and following, Paris 1825, and adds: The history of the first finding (of the body of St. Quintinus) was written by an eyewitness, who likewise composed the history of the passion. This indeed has perished; but it had been read by the author of our Acts. Moreover these our Acts are gravely and elegantly written; and they seem worthy of credit, since monuments so ancient were at the author's disposal. And in very truth one reads in the Surian Acts, in the passage on the first finding: That same body also shone with an unaccustomed whiteness and was fragrant with an inestimable odor, so that those standing around (AS HE TESTIFIES WHO WAS PERSONALLY PRESENT AT THIS EVENT, WHO ALSO WROTE THE EARLIER HISTORY OF THIS MOST BLESSED MARTYR), filled with that sweetness of odor, seemed to have forgotten the other delights of the world. But what credit is to be given to the words of Surius, namely those enclosed in parenthesis? Certainly they are missing in all the other copies whether published or manuscript. But that matters little. For what would follow from those words, if they are truly the writer's, namely that this second Life was worked up according to the older Acts (which we call Passion I), is of itself manifest to one reading both: for both narratives agree particularly in the substance and order of things, differing only in manner of writing, far simpler in those Acts, but in this second Life terser and more polished. At what age, however, the writer of this Life arranged that older one in a better form is neither betrayed by any indication nor of any moment to investigate. In my opinion it is not very ancient, nor much older is the third Life, of which we must now speak.

[8] the third is shown by the codex of the church of St. Quintinus, And first some things about the codex from which Hémeré published it. It still exists today in the treasury of the church of Saint-Quentin, together with the Gospel book which is kept there, and in age it surpasses all other mss. to be found at Saint-Quentin. It is a volume in oblong quarto form, of parchment, solidly bound and covered with calf leather, having 89 ancient leaves, 3 more recent; nor lacking varied ornament, such as letters, words, and even sentences marked out in golden color. The Passion and the first Finding of the holy patron are illustrated with several little pictures, in which the chief heads of the martyrdom are shown, painted by a rude hand in colors diluted with water (in French a la gouache). To the ornament also belong the rubrics or summaries put in meter, which are read written beside the several articles or paragraphs of the Passion and the Finding, and composed in a peculiar form of letters. And so much on the form of the codex. We have ourselves inspected it attentively; and an accurately made copy of it, as also other documents of no slight value concerning the cult of St. Quintinus, was most kindly communicated to us by the excellent Mr. Ed. Charles, to whom for so great a benefit we are above all pleased to repay in this place the due expression of a grateful mind.

[9] called the Authenticum, It is commonly called the Authenticum, and that from all past memory, and perhaps indeed from the very beginning so named, because it contained only those monuments of St. Quintinus which were thought genuine. When it was brought into its present form is indicated by the following notation added at the beginning of the volume: Extracted from the registers of the capitular conclusions of the royal and notable church of St. Quintinus at Augusta of the Veromandui. The Authenticum of the Life of St. Quintinus kept in the treasury of this church has been bound by care of Lord Paucet, canon acting for the treasurer in the absence of Lord Raffec, because the leaves did not hold together sufficiently. And the lords ordered this ordinance to be inscribed at the head of it and subscribed by me the secretary of the chapter. Decreed in chapter on Monday, the fourteenth of July, of the year one thousand six hundred and eighty-seven. It is signed: Gobert. Moreover it has been preserved to this day and remains entire, except for one leaf at the end of the Passion; which when and by whom it was removed we do not know: it is established that it was already missing in the sixteenth year of this century. Afterwards, however, two little pictures also were taken away, which Mr. Ernest de Chauvenet testifies have been restored as accurately as could be done. He also, and certainly not without reason, complains that at the end of the eighteenth century, when the canons were driven out and the chapter extinguished, and thereafter, the codex was not sufficiently diligently guarded, so that it is rather to be wondered at that no greater damages have been inflicted on it through so many years.

[10] which contains several things concerning St. Quintinus. Almost everything that is read in this volume pertains to the history of St. Quintinus, and comes in this order and with these titles.

Here begins the prologue of the description of the Life of our most blessed father Quintinus the martyr.

1. Here begins the text of the Passion of Quintinus the martyr of Christ.

2. Sermon of thanksgiving on the feast of St. Quintinus.

3. The Finding of St. Quintinus by St. Eusebia.

4. The Finding of St. Quintinus by St. Eligius in the place where Eusebia had buried him.

5. Sermon on the elevation of the most glorious martyr Quintinus.

6. Here begins the prologue of the miracles of Quintinus the martyr of Christ. — Here begins the text of the signs and mighty works of blessed Quintinus the martyr.

7. On the translation of the body of the martyr himself (in the year 835 to the island where the monastery of St. Quintinus was built within the enclosure of the city of Saint-Quentin, and on the miracles which happened in this place, St. Quintinus having been invoked).

8. Sermon on the octave of St. Quintinus.

9. Sermon on the entombment of the holy martyrs of Christ Quintinus and Victoricus, and of the holy confessor Cassian.

[11] It is said to have been given by Raimbert, The volume is reported to have been given as a gift to the chapter of the church of Saint-Quentin about the year 1104 by Raimbert the canon. And this opinion has commonly prevailed, which I could wish to see proved by certain testimony. Yet there is ground on which you may bring forward a not improbable reason. On the first leaf, where the prologue of the Passion begins, there is seen depicted a man with his head tonsured after the rule of monks, bearing in one hand a pen, in the other a horn; below is read in red letters and with the word cut in two parts: Raim. bert. And again on the following leaf at the end of the same prologue the same man is shown offering the book to St. Quintinus. From elsewhere we know that Guy, from canon of Saint-Quentin made bishop of Beauvais, built a monastery in the suburb of his city dedicated to the divine martyr Quintinus, under the rule of St. Augustine; over which he set Ivo, afterwards the most celebrated and well-known prelate of Chartres. And this abbot, as is found in Hémeré Aug. Viromanduorum, p. 125, obtained from the countess Adela one prebend in the church of St. Quintinus of Vermand, to be held among us by a canon regular of that place, that is, of the monastery of Beauvais. Raimbert in the very time of Ivo first obtained that prebend, a man learned so far as the age allowed. If these things are so, Raimbert was a canon of both churches, regular at Beauvais, prebendary at Augusta, and hence one understands both why he is depicted in monastic habit, and why he collected matters concerning St. Quintinus, patron of both places, in one volume, and offered it to the chapter of Vermand; at the urging, as it may be believed, of Guy, who we know was perpetually most devoted to the church from which he had been taken up to the pontificate.

[12] canon prebendary of the church of Vermand, Of the prebend of St. Quintinus of Vermand granted by Adela, countess of Vermand, to the monastery of St. Quintinus of Beauvais, there was a record in the sacred diaries of that monastery, together with a diploma of Philip I king of the Franks concerning a like grant made by himself. Hémeré published both documents Cf. ibid., Regest., p. 39, with the year 1104 written in the margin, and with this title set before it: (Diploma) of Philip I king of the Franks establishing as certain, that is, confirming, that prebend which the countess Adela, after the death of Hugh her husband, had given to Ivo and the monks of St. Q. of Beauvais, in the church of St. Q. of Vermand. The diploma is subjoined, drawn up in these words:

Philip by the grace of God king of the Franks. To Odo the dean and the other canons of our church of St. Quintinus, greeting and our favor. We make known to you that Ivo, abbot of the Beauvais church of Bl. Quintinus, has approached the ears of our clemency in supplication, both by himself and through our faithful men, that we should grant to the church committed to him one prebend in your church to be held in perpetuity for the salvation of my father and my mother. To whose petition we have willingly given assent for this reason, that we have heard through certain of you that you have already approved it in your chapter. Wherefore we command you that, as has been determined among you, you make the investiture which pertains to you of the aforesaid prebend through the aforesaid abbot. Then, on the testimony of Hémeré, there follows in the same place, namely in the aforesaid diaries: Adela, the venerable countess of the Veromandui, granted to the church of St. Quintinus of Beauvais the prebend which she held in the church of the same St. Quintinus of Vermand, for the anniversary of her husband Hugh and of herself and of her sons; with her sons Ralph and Simon seeing and approving; there being present Robert Mechimmus, Adam Rabis, Odo Brito her knights, Walo provost of Biardum, and the clerics Odo the abbot, Brito the canon, Ernald etc. I should think that the tradition about the origin of the prebend rests on these two monuments.

[13] in the year 1104; Although in neither of these documents is a note of time set down, this is yet not enough for their genuineness to be called in doubt: for the same occurs not infrequently in charters genuine by the consent of all Cf. Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, vol. IV, p. 659. Nor is the year 1104 assigned without consideration to the grant of the countess Adela, since Hugh the Great, count of Vermand, her husband, met his last day during the crusading expedition at Tarsus in Cilicia in the month of September or October of the year 1101 [Historiens occidentaux des Croisades, vol. I, p. 418; vol. III, p. 399, 532, 680, 837; vol. IV, p. 208, Paris 1844, 1866, 1879. Cf. Colliette, vol. II, p. 45]. But neither is the same year 1104 at odds with the diploma of Philip I: for Philip, as is known, held the kingdom of the Franks from the year 1060 to the year 1108. Moreover, although the Odo named as dean in the diploma is proved by no other document to have presided at that time over the chapter of St. Quintinus of Vermand, nevertheless no dean of another name is shown to have presided at the same time either Cf. Gall. christ., vol. IX, col. 1045. But surely it is asserted quite gratuitously, and indeed improbably, in the title of the diploma, that King Philip gave it in confirmation of the donation of the countess Adela. For neither is anything of the kind indicated in the instrument, and the king says the prebend was granted for the salvation of my father and my mother: which at any rate does not agree with the donation of Adela for the anniversary of her husband Hugh and of herself and of her sons. Whence the authors of the Gallia christiana, with no account taken of that title, tied the diploma to about the year 1080 Ibid., vol. X, col. 247, but Fronton du Duc, in the Life of Bl. Ivo prefixed to the edition of his works, to the year 1089 In Migne. Latin Patrology, vol. CLXI, col. 17, note 33; perhaps because among the deans of St. Quintinus of Vermand from the year 1075 they found a certain Odo recorded by Hémeré (that one, namely, who, adding the title of dean, subscribed the double diploma of Herbert IV Colliette, vol. I, p. 690 and following, count of Vermand, given in the year 1076), and no other after him down to the year 1090 Hémeré, p. 126 and 130. Cf. Gall. christ., vol. IX, col. 1045.

[14] [but this is not established; although the codex was written in the twelfth century,] But whatever is to be thought of these matters, this is certain, that nothing is stated in either document about Raimbert, so that the opinion of the donation of the Authenticum made by Raimbert in the year 1104 seems to rest on mere conjecture. Yet that that codex truly belongs to the twelfth century Ernest de Chauvenet has demonstrated excellently from arguments, as they say, of paleography and from the form of the strokes or letters, which he has diligently examined and describes at length in a splendid dissertation, not yet, so far as I know, submitted to the press; a copy of which, signed with the author's name, may be seen at the head of the original codex itself. There he likewise proves that the labor not of one but of at least two copyists was employed. The twenty-four leaves on which the miracles are recounted (from the verso of leaf 43 to fol. 67) betray another hand than the preceding and following. But that the whole volume was written at one and the same time is clear both from the character of the script and from the structure or composition of the codex: for by these all suspicion, even the slightest, of interpolation is removed.

[15] by two scribes, Concerning the author there is no agreement among the learned. Some judge that the codex was composed by Raimbert. To this opinion Tillemont seems to incline Mémoires, vol. IV, p. 701: Hémeré published with the Acts other monuments concerning St. Quintinus, all of which are perhaps of the same author. Hémeré ascribes the rubrics to Raimbert, who is said to be a canon of St. Quintinus. Others think that only the part contained in the first three numbers should be attributed to him Above, Prelim. Comm., no. 10, the rest collected here and there from various sources and brought together into one bundle, yet that the whole book was written by the hand of Raimbert. Others finally judge that the volume was written by his care and direction, but by another hand. Certainly, as I said a little before, it is clear from the very inspection of the strokes or characters that at least two copyists contributed their labor. Whether one of them is Raimbert I would neither affirm nor deny; though it is quite easy, from the inscription of the name at the beginning of the book and the two little pictures accompanying the prologue, to conjecture that Raimbert wrote the first and last part, but that the middle was written by another.

[16] and indeed in some part by Raimbert; This is altogether certain to me, that the whole work was neither written out by Raimbert's hand nor composed by him. E. de Chauvenet does not shrink from calling him the author of the Passion and the first Finding; which the learned man thinks is confirmed by the following passage, with which the history of the Finding concludes: And very many laboring under various ailments, of whom very many things have been written in the other book, very often obtain the health they desired. Which words, in the judgment of this writer, seem to indicate that the book of miracles (which comes in the sixth place in the Authenticum) is older than the history of the Finding: whence, he says, the opinion would be strengthened that the author of the Passion and of the Finding is the same. Certainly there is no room for doubt that the miracles, at least for the most part, were collected long before the twelfth century, as will be shown elsewhere; but I do not plainly see by what reasoning it follows, from the fact that mention of that book is made in the history of the Finding, that this was composed by Raimbert. This alone is established, that the words reported above were added by him, since you would seek them in vain in any other codex whether manuscript or printed; nor were they written here for any other reason than that we might be advised that the miracles which took place in the centuries following the first finding are recounted in the Authenticum in a separate book. Moreover a little below the writer we have praised explains how he understands his opinion or conjecture about the author; for he adds: It is evident that the writer composed the histories of the Passion and the Finding from older documents. Colliette thinks the same, asserting that the Acts were indeed drawn from ancient sources, but composed by way of paraphrase by Raimbert the canon. A little differently Hémeré, as is clear from the title: Acts of the Passion of blessed Quintinus from a very old codex of the royal church of the same martyr at Augusta of the Virom. Raimbert copied them out and marked them with rubrics. Hémeré thus indicates that they were not composed, but copied out by the said canon, to whom he attributes only the rubrics.

[17] who probably enlarged the ancient Passion To say what I think, I judge that Raimbert reshaped the older Acts here and there, by changing the style, by adding some things by which he might render more explicit matters closely concerning the place of the martyrdom and the finding, by amplifying also the questions and answers, as well as the prayers: which others also did before and after him, as is manifest from a comparison of the most ancient codex with the later ones, and indeed so that the older Acts are proved to be, the shorter they are as well. This certainly holds in the codex of du Puy, which we have said belongs as surely as can be to the ninth century, and in which is contained the oldest and at the same time the shortest copy of the Acts, of all that have come down to us; from this source others afterwards flowed from others, more or less enlarged, arranged in a better and sometimes worse style. Such are those read in the Authenticum, and they are indeed to be counted among the more prolix; and I would easily agree that they were brought into this form by Raimbert. Thus I do not depart far from the most distinguished de Chauvenet, if indeed I depart at all. It is also probable to me that to the same Raimbert are to be attributed the metrical rubrics by which the different heads of the martyrdom are marked off, composed in verses not very elegant. Let these serve as an example:

With Quintinus as leader, lo, twelve in number,

the Roman youth seek the Gauls, to unlock the gift of the faith.

Quintinus is shut up in the caves of the prison at Amiens.

The saint and the dread tyrant join many words.

See others in the Acts which we have subjoined to the Commentary.

[18] and the Finding. By like reasoning I am led to ascribe the history of the first Finding to the same author. In this, however, less has been allowed to amplification; whence also it comes nearer to the primitive narrative, as it is found in the codex of du Puy. And the same may be observed in all the manuscripts: in general the simplicity of the primitive narrative is observed much more faithfully than in the Passion. So, to conclude in a few words, one is free to think that Raimbert composed the Martyrdom and the first Finding from ancient documents, and I consider it a probable opinion that the rubrics also were composed by him. Yet it is not right to assent to the Maurists, who thus judge Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. IV, p. 368: Raimbert, if he is the author of the rubrics, could at the same time be called the writer of the Acts, which some reason suggests attributing to the beginning of the ninth century, if indeed the author of the rubrics lived at this time. Certainly Raimbert did not flourish in this age, and the Acts composed by him are nearly three centuries more recent. Of the sermon of thanksgiving, which some attribute to the same writer, we shall discourse below.

§ III. Of the time at which St. Quintinus died.

St. Quintinus suffered before Diocletian's general edict against the Christians, It is certain that St. Quintinus carried off the palm of martyrdom in the time of Diocletian and Maximian Herculius. Which indeed is manifestly shown from the Acts, so that there is no one among the learned who seriously endeavors to raise a doubt on this question. But concerning the year of the passion there has been very great disagreement, as is clear from the Commentary on SS. Crispin and Crispinian at the 25th of this month

of October Acta SS., vol. XI of October, p. 496 and following, where I treated more widely of the persecution stirred up under the aforesaid emperors. It will suffice in this place to review in summary the chief heads of the discussion. First of all I said that besides the general edict issued against the Christians at the beginning of the fourth century, other particular and, so to speak, local edicts came forth, especially in the first years of Diocletian. Lest, I said, the whole series of ecclesiastical history be thrown into confusion, we must admit that many martyrs suffered under Diocletian at the end of the third century, not only in Gaul but in some other regions as well, although the general edict of this emperor against the Christians was issued only in the first years of the following century, that is … in the year 303; at which time, moreover, it is established that few in the provinces of Gaul were put to death for the faith, because in those parts Constantius Chlorus was ruling, who favored the Church, while Maximian Herculius, so atrociously hostile to the followers of Christ, was over Italy… And these are the things which long since drove the learned to depart from the opinion of those who thought that our holy martyrs (Crispin and Crispinian), as also several others butchered about the same time, for instance SS. Macra, Rufinus and Valerius, Quintinus … and the whole Theban Legion, obtained the palm of triumph about the year in which Diocletian's general edict came forth. Bollandus was already hesitant and in doubt, … Henschenius seems to have thought similarly… Afterwards the learned expressly admitted two persecutions; the one particular, the other general.. I judge, says Pagi, that writers have confused the particular persecutions in certain provinces and cities, stirred up in the first years of Diocletian and Maximian Herculius, with the general persecution, which took place in this year (303), as Baronius observed before me.

[20] shortly after the slaughter of the Theban Legion, Then, descending to particulars, I again held as certain that the aforesaid martyrs, and by name St. Quintinus, suffered at about the time at which the Theban Legion was slaughtered; nor should I think that any of the weightier writers are to be found who contradict this. After this I stated that the butchery of Agaunum took place by order of Maximian, when he was Caesar, but not yet Augustus, and during the very expedition undertaken against the Bagaudae. This Caesarean dignity of Herculius Pagi considers demonstrated, both by other reasons and by the express testimonies of Eutropius and Orosius [Eutropius, Breviarium, bk. IX, chap. 20 and 22, p. 162, Droysen ed., Berlin 1878. Orosius, Histories, bk. VII, chap. 25, p. 489, Zangemeister ed., Vienna 1882]. If these things are judged to be so, the series of the events in question here can be ordered in this way. Diocletian is saluted emperor by the army on September 17 in the year 284; at the beginning of the following year, Herculius, as Caesar, prepares his forces, and crosses the Alps with the army to act against the Bagaudae; on September 22 of the same year 285 the Thebans are slaughtered; in the month of October he reaches the territories of the Parisii, Remi, Viromandui, Suessiones etc; from there he subdues the Bagaudae everywhere in slight battles, as Eutropius expresses it, or, as others say, easily, in a short time; finally, returning to the East to Diocletian, he is named Augustus on April 1, 286, not far from Nicomedia [Acta SS., vol. XI of Oct., p. 499. Cf. Ammianus Marcellinus, bk. XXVII, chap. 6, p. 535, Leiden 1693. Eckhel, Doctrina numorum, vol. VIII, p. 15 and following].

[21] and during the very expedition against the Bagaudae, And this was formerly the accepted way of noting the time. But today, following the most learned men Borghesi and Mommsen, nearly all writers agree that Maximian was created Augustus, not on the Kalends of April of the year 286 (as George Baiter with many others contended in the Consular Fasti), but on the Kalends of May of the year 285. Although it follows from this that Maximian Herculius waged war in Gaul not as Caesar but as Augustus, this can nonetheless be referred to the year 285. For there seems to be no room for doubt that Herculius moved against the Bagaudae shortly after the departure of Carinus from the territory of Gaul, which took place at the close of the year 284. For the emperor Numerian was killed not far from Perinthus in the said year 284 before September 17, on which day Diocletian was substituted for him. Carinus, however, when on the 12th of the same month he had celebrated magnificent games at Rome, having heard of the slaying of his brother Numerian and the election of Diocletian, advanced against him Tillemont, Hist. des empereurs, vol. III, p. 320, vol. IV, p. 3. From this it is shown clearer than daylight that Carinus left Gaul either at the beginning of September or rather before this month in the year 284. And that a little later Herculius went against the Bagaudae is clear from Aurelius Victor: When, he says On the Caesars, chap. 39, p. 421 and following, J. Arntzen ed., Diocletian learned that upon the departure of Carinus Aelianus and Amandus throughout Gaul, having stirred up a band of rustics and robbers, whom the inhabitants call Bagaudae, had devastated the fields far and wide and were attacking most of the cities, he at once ordered Maximian, faithful in friendship, half-rustic though he was, yet good in soldiering and in talent, to be emperor… But Herculius, having set out into Gaul, the enemy routed or received in surrender, had in a short time brought all things to quiet. Which surely demonstrate that the peasant war was both undertaken and finished at the beginning of Diocletian's reign; moreover from the same it is proved that the martyrdom of the Thebans is more conveniently assigned to the month of September of the year 285: certainly no place would be found for it to have taken place in the previous year, on September 17 of which Diocletian was first saluted emperor.

[22] in the year 285. Since therefore, as we said before, the passion of St. Quintinus is not undeservedly placed under the same persecution stirred up by Maximian Herculius, and not long after the slaughter of the Theban soldiers, and his contest is marked from all past antiquity on October 31, it is more readily believed that St. Quintinus was crowned in this same year 285: although not a few writers dissent; of whom some attach the martyrdom of the Thebans (and at the same time the contest of our saint) to the year 286, others to 287 or 297, others to 302 or 303 [Cf. P. de Rivaz, Éclaire. sur le mart. de la Légion Thébéenne, p. 93 and following, Paris 1779. Gelpke, Kirchengeschichte von Schweiz, vol. I, p. 74 and following. Büdinger, Untersuchungen zur Röm. Kaisergesch., vol. II, p. 266 and following]. But of these and of the testimony of St. Eucherius and other arguments we have already spoken in the Acta Sanctorum Vol. XI of Oct., p. 500 and following.

§ IV. Of the place of the passion. Whether the Augusta of the Viromandui of which the Acts speak was situated in the place where the town of Saint-Quentin lies today, or rather where the village of Vermand now is. Of the episcopal see erected there.

It is manifest from the Acts that St. Quintinus The passion of St. Quintinus, begun at Amiens, was consummated at Augusta of the Viromandui, which city is understood to have been situated next to the river Somme, since Rictiovarus ordered the body of the blessed martyr to be sunk in the waters of this river Below, Passion I, no. 13. The same is shown still more clearly from the history of the first Finding according to the most ancient recension, in which the Angel is narrated to have said to a certain Eusebia: Go into Gaul, seek out the place which is called Agusta of the Veromandi, beside the river which is called Somna, where the public causeway passes which comes from the city of the Ambiani and goes toward Lugdunum Clavatum; in that very place, then, seek, and you will find under water the corpse of St. Quintinus Below, Finding I, no. I. At the end of the same history one reads: Then the aforesaid matron, receiving the venerable body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and wished to bury it in the city of the Viromandi. And as they set out on the road, they came to a certain town, which is called Agusta of the Veromandi; setting it down, because they could not go on on account of the weight. Understanding what was happening, the aforesaid matron buried it in that same place, and built a little cell over his tomb Ibid., no. 6. Where manifestly the town called Agusta of the Veromandi is meant as distinct from the city of the Viromandi, at some distance from it.

[24] died and was buried at Augusta of the Viromandui, In another recension of the same Finding, which from the name of the first editor we have called the Surian, the former passage reads in nearly the same words, but the latter thus: Moreover the venerable matron Eusebia, receiving the most blessed body, wrapped it in linen cloths and arranged to convey it to the fort of the Veromandui, which is about five miles distant from that place, to be reverently entombed. But the most blessed martyr, unwilling to leave the place consecrated by his blood, as soon as he came up from the water to the top of the hill, most manifestly showed by the heaviness of his weight that he did not wish to be carried farther. For the steps of the bearers had now failed, and their strength, pressed down by weariness, yielded to the will of the venerable martyr. And blessed Eusebia, understanding the will of the holy martyr by such doings, had him set down there, and reverently buried him according to what the place and time allowed, and thankfully built a little cell with such efforts as she then could Surius, Lives of the Saints, at Oct. 31. It must now be inquired from these and from older testimonies where that Augusta of the Viromandui was situated, adorned by the passion and first tomb of St. Quintinus. On which matter, as we shall soon indicate, there has been dispute among the more recent writers not without vehement contention.

[25] on the Somme. For some understand the town today named from St. Quintinus or Saint-Quentin, others a village not much distant from here, whose name is Vermand. That not the latter but the former is meant seems to be gathered from the Acts themselves. For in all the copies, as we saw before, it is manifestly indicated that St. Quintinus died at Augusta of the Viromandui and that his body was sunk in the Somme. Now the present Saint-Quentin is washed by the Somme, Vermand by the Dalmanio *. If then he was sunk in the water near that city, he should be said to have been slain in that place. For why, if he had been killed at Vermand, would his body be reported to have been thrown into the Somme, not into the Dalmanio? especially since Vermand is five thousand paces distant from Saint-Quentin. For who would believe that Rictiovarus, with a river flowing down at his feet, sought another at so great an interval, in which to hide the martyr's body?

[26] Among the cities of Belgic Gaul Several other reasons are available, which will be discussed below, together with the arguments of the opponents. But before we weigh their opinions, it will be useful to have noted that in Caesar civitas means the same as tribe, people, nation, as manifestly appears from book III of the Gallic War Chap. 10, Berlin ed. of 1865: … Many things urged Caesar … to that war: the injuries, … the conspiracy of so many states; above all lest, this part being neglected, the other nations should think the same was permitted to them… Before more states should conspire, he thought he should divide the army and distribute it more widely. So elsewhere also. Such civitates or nations are recorded by Caesar in Belgic Gaul to the number of twenty-seven, among which

the Viromandui Cf. Napoléon, Histoire de Jules César, vol. II, p. 21 and 23, Paris 1866. A civitas is for the most part found divided into pagi Cf. Caesar, Gallic War, bk. 1, chap. 12. Sometimes among the ancients a pagus is the same as a civitas. But I should not think this is found in Caesar, for whom a pagus is constantly some larger part of a civitas [Cf. Valesius, Notitia Galliarum, preface, p. IX. Guérard, Essai sur les divisions territoriales de la Gaule, p. 34 and following, Paris 1832], while a civitas is a people; except that in one or another place of the Commentaries on the Civil War the civitas of Massilia seems to mean the same as a city Cf. bk. II, chap. 22. Urbs and oppidum, says Valesius Not. Gall., p. XIII, are established to be one thing, although some think an urbs to be something greater than an oppidum. Certainly Caesar Cf. Gallic War, bk. VII, chap. 13 and 15 uses both words indiscriminately.

[27] were the Viromandui, To Belgic Gaul, as is known, belonged the Viromandui, having their seat above the Oise between the Nervii on the north and the Suessiones on the south [Cellarius, Notitia orbis antiqui, vol. I, p. 204, 297, 300, 311 and following, Leipzig 1773. Cf. Valesius, Notitia Galliarum, under Germania superior and inferior in Belgica]. Of whom the first of all to make mention, among the ancient authors who have come down to us, is Julius Caesar: He found, he says, speaking of himself, from the captives that the river Sabis (our Sambre) was not more than ten miles from his camp; that across that river all the Nervii had settled (that is, had pitched camp), and were there awaiting the arrival of the Romans, together with the Atrebates and the Viromandui, their neighbors Gallic War, bk. II, chap. 16. Elsewhere he had said Ibid., chap. 4. Cf. Napoléon, Vie de César, Plate II that, when the Belgae were preparing themselves for war against the Romans, the Veliocasses and Viromandui promised ten thousand armed men; but he nowhere indicates any town or village of theirs. Strabo passes over the Viromandui, being, as Valesius testifies Notitia Gall., under Veromandui; cf. preface, p. II, careless and confused in his description of Celtica and Belgica. By Pliny they are marked with the same name as in Caesar, and as neighbors of the free Nervii, that is, those who used their own laws and were not tributary to the Romans Natural History, bk. IV, no. 31, Hardouin ed.. In the epitomes of the books of Titus Livy, which go about under the name of Florus, they are called Viromandui [Titi Livii Patavini … libri omnes superstites, p. 596, Paris 1625. Cellarius, op. cit., p. 311. Cf. Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. I, part I, p. 259, Paris 1733. Cf. Valesius, Notit., preface, p. II]; in the Peutinger Table likewise Viromandui; Veromandi in the Itinerary of Antoninus, as will be indicated more fully below. By Ptolemy they are called Οὐερομάνδυες, otherwise Ῥομάνδυες. From an old inscription which is referred to the second century it may be gathered that they were then called Viromandui, and that they were already then a civitas with an entire college of magistrates [E. Desjardins, La table de Peutinger, p. 15, Paris 1869. Idem, Géographie historique et administrative de la Gaule Romaine, vol. II, p. 454, 437, Paris 1878. Cf. Napoléon, Hist. de César, vol. II, p. 99, 107 and following]. In the Notice of the provinces of Gaul, composed under the emperor Honorius, there is recorded the civitas of the Veromandi, or, as is read in other codices, of the Viromandi, Veremandi, Veramandi, Verummandi B. Guérard, Essai sur les divisions territoriales de la Gaule, p. 18. The ancient and uncorrupted names of the people, says Valesius, are Veromandui and Veromandi, and also Viromandui and Viromandi, commonly les Vermandois… The Veromandui gave their name to the pagus Veromanduensis, le Vermandois, once renowned and illustrious through its counts. Whence also in later writers, more or less corruptly: pagus Vermandensis, Virdomadensis, Vermendisus, Vermendensis, Viromandia, Viromania P. 595. To the ancient pagus of the Viromandui Guérard, p. 148 there correspond today the northern part of the prefecture named from the Aisne (departement de l'Aisne) and the eastern part of the prefecture named from the Somme (departement de la Somme).

[28] whose first city Augusta of the Viromandui What the towns and villages of the Viromandui were, whether in Caesar's age or before, has hitherto not been learned. Hémeré indeed Augusta Vir., p. 50 and following and Louis Colliette [Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire du Vermandois, vol. I, p. 6 and following, Cambrai 1771] contend that Samarobriva, which Caesar Gallic War, bk. V, chap. 24 and at one point also Cicero writing to Trebatius Letters to Friends, bk. VII, letters 11 and 12 mention, belonged to the Viromandui and was their chief town. But all now agree that this opinion, which had quite prevailed in the declining eighteenth century, and which is set forth in the chronological work of the Maurists Art de vér. les dates, vol. II, p. 700, Paris 1784, is to be rejected [Cf., Walckenaer, Géogr. ancienne des Gaules, vol. I, p. 429 and following, p. 482, Paris 1839. Cf. Rigollot, Second mém. sur Samarobriva]. In very truth in the Itinerary of Antoninus and the Peutinger table the place where Samarobriva was situated has been accurately noted, and it is established that this is Amiens itself. Ptolemy Bk. II, on Gaul is found to be the first of all to mention Augusta of the Viromandui: Οὐερομάνδυες, ὧν πόλις Αὐγόυστα Οὐερομανδύων, the Veromandui Cf. Valesius, Notitia Galliarum, under Veromandui, whose city is Augusta of the Veromandui. It is moreover known that Ptolemy wrote his geographical work before the middle of the second century. In agreement are the Itinerary of Aethicus (commonly of Antoninus) and the Peutinger or Theodosian Table. The former on the route from Tarvenna to Durocortorum has Augusta of the Veromandi, between Cambrai and Augusta of the Suessiones [Wesseling, Vetera Romanorum itiner., p. 379, Amsterdam 1735. Simler, Aethici cosmographia etc., p. 177, Basel 1575]. The Peutinger Table, in the first editions: Aug. Viro Muduon.; but in the more recent ones, and in that which Ernest Desjardins has lately most diligently produced [La table de Peutinger d'après l'original conservé à Vienne, Paris 1869 – 1874. Cf. ibid., Report to the Minister of Public Instruction, p. III and following. Cf. Revue archéologique, vol. IX, year 1869, p. 60 and following, 152], we read: Aug. Viro Muduor [um]. So thereafter among all writers Augusta of the Viromandui is marked, with letters varied here and there Cf. Valesius, Notitia Gall., under Veromandui. Since writers contend very much over the author and age both of the Cosmography and of the Peutinger Table, it will be profitable to recite some things from the dissertation which the distinguished d'Avezac most accurately composed on Aethicus [Mémoire sur Éthicus et sur les ouvrages cosmographiques intitulés de ce nom, by M. d'Avezac, Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, mém. prés. par div. savants, ser. I, vol. II, p. 230 and following, Paris 1852].

[29] is named by Aethicus, author of the Cosmography and Itinerary, In the first part the author treats of the physical Cosmography, in the other of the geographical Cosmography; and in an appendix he publishes the physical Cosmography itself, which had hitherto remained in manuscript P. 235 and 455; its title is found here and there on parchments as follows: The book of Aethicus, published by philosophical oracle and translated into Latin by the lord Jerome the presbyter from the Cosmography, that is, the writing of the world. At the end one reads: Here ends the book of Aethicus the philosopher and cosmographer, of Scythian nation, of noble stock of parents etc. The work written in Greek no longer exists, if indeed it ever existed. Moreover, having diligently and learnedly weighed all things and compared them with one another, the distinguished d'Avezac shows that it is doubtful whether Aethicus, the author of the later Cosmography (of which we shall speak immediately), ever wrote the former in Greek; and that the Latin version of Jerome, whom many have called the holy doctor of that name, is apocryphal, although ancient P. 451. The other Cosmography, however, first given to print by Simler at Basel in the year 1575 and many times printed afterwards [Cf. Simler, Aethici Cosmographia, Antonii Augusti Itinerarium provinciarum, with scholia. Wesseling, Vetera Romanorum Itineraria, Amsterdam 1735], the learned man judges to be a genuine offspring of Aethicus, whom he moreover declares to be the author of the Itinerary which is commonly called of Antoninus. For thus, after reciting and examining the opinions of the writers who up to these times have discoursed on the proposed question, he concludes: that about the middle of the declining fourth century (the year 375) there flourished a cosmographer by name Aethicus; that he was (but this is gathered from monuments not altogether trustworthy) an Istrian by nation, not of the lowest birth, also a philosopher or sophist of no mean repute; that he is the author of the cosmographical work published under his name, which comprises two chief parts: the Cosmography of Aethicus and the Itinerary of Antoninus (or, as is almost always read in the best and oldest codices, of Antonius); that the Excerpts of Julius Honorius, or the Cosmography of Julius Caesar, is an epitome of the first Aethician part, and that the chapter in which a Description of the World is shown in the history of Orosius is likewise extracted from the book of Aethicus; finally that this usage prevailed, that the Itinerary was attributed to Antoninus, though it is of Aethicus; but that the Notitia dignitatum and also the description of the city of Rome and the Peutinger Table are to be wholly denied to Aethicus. And so much about the writer of the Itinerary. As to its age, it seems certain that, as it now exists, it is not older than the fourth century, and it can most probably be referred to about the year 375. The Peutinger Table, however, the distinguished d'Avezac thinks was composed in the year 337 or 338 Mémoire, p. 431 and following.

[30] and by others, already from the second century. To return from the digression to the road, and to embrace in few words what has now been said of the Viromandui, they were a people or civitas of Gaul, bounded by nearly the same borders as in the middle age the Pagus Viromanduensis or more briefly Virmandisus, and in the vernacular tongue le Vermandois. Their chief town (that there were several is indeed a probable conjecture, but nothing certain is available, monuments failing,) under Augustus or at least after him received the name of Augusta of the Viromandui; nor is it known how it was called before. There, after the custom of the Gauls, resided the council or senate of the civitas: whence also it was afterwards called the civitas of the Viromandui, and finally in one word Viromandui. Ptolemy was the first to record it, in the middle of the second century after Christ; then before the middle of the fourth century the Peutinger Table, and at the end of the same century the Itinerary which is commonly called of Antoninus. And on these things there is now agreement among the learned.

[31] It is much disputed whether it stood where Saint-Quentin now is, But concerning the site of the town there was formerly much dispute Cf. Académie des inscriptions, vol. XIX, p. 671 and following. There is controversy, says Le Cointe Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, vol. I, p. 383 and following, over the question of the place where Augusta of the Veromandui was situated… There are those who locate it on the river Somme, where the town of Saint-Quentin is today. There are those who place it on the stream Dalmanio, where there is seen today Veromandia or Vermand, a monastery of no mean repute of the Premonstratensian Order. Vermand or Virmand is distant from the town of Saint-Quentin six Gallic miles, as Claude Hémeré expresses it …, or two and a half leagues, as James Levasseur testifies in the description of old Vermand prefixed to the Annals of Noyon, and it is situated on the public road by which one goes from the town of Saint-Quentin to Amiens. Levasseur, dean and canon of the church of Noyon, stands for Vermand; Hémeré, canon of the church of Saint-Quentin, stands for the town of Saint-Quentin. These two writers collected the arguments that can be brought forward on either side; but on account of the discord which exists between the chapters of Noyon and Saint-Quentin, each is believed to have pleaded the cause of his homeland or church. Levasseur wrote first, in the year of Christ one thousand six hundred and thirty-three, and he brought forward as authors of his opinion Robert Cenalis, Philip of Ferrara, Paschal Robin and William Gazet, with certain breviaries and martyrologies. Hémeré published his labors ten years later, rejected the authors praised by Levasseur; but those whom he judged to favor the other opinion he approved, and to lower the credit of his opponents the more, he said not obscurely that some advantage was being sought by them in this controversy, namely that they might thus the more easily overturn the prerogatives of honor by which the clergy of Saint-Quentin are wont to defend themselves against the daily complaints and undying lawsuits (raised by the men of Noyon); prerogatives preserved above all on this title, that before the age of Medard the episcopal see had been there (and not at Vermand). But in turn the patrons of the other opinion accuse the men of Saint-Quentin of likewise seeking their own advantage in this controversy Cf. Hémeré, Augusta Viromanduorum vindicata, p. 5. Thus far on the state of the question.

[32] which is confirmed by suitable testimonies, Adrien de Valois: Certainly, he says [Notitia Galliarum, under Veromandui. Cf. Colliette, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire du Vermandois, vol. I, preface, Cambrai 1771], Augusta of the Veromandui or Viromandi is now called the town of St. Quintinus, Saint-Quentin, or Saint-Quintin en Vermandois, because it preserves the body of Bl. Quintinus, martyr and levite, found by the venerable matron Eusebia in the fifty-fifth year after his contest, and placed in the upper part of the eminent town which was formerly called Augusta of the Viromandi, as Sigebert says in the Chronicle, or rather in the Ourscamp Auctarium of Sigebert. And in very truth it has been shown above from the more correct Acts that the holy martyr both suffered and was buried by Eusebia near the place where our Saint-Quentin stands, by no means near Vermand. Therefore when the Annals of St. Bertin at the year 842 mark that Charles the Bald set out to Augusta of the Viromandi, namely to the shrine of blessed Quintinus the martyr Pertz, Monumenta Germ. historica, scriptt., vol. I, p. 439; and again ten years later, in the year 852, that his brother Lothar was invited by the same Charles to a conference at Augusta of the Viromandi, which is distinguished by the body of blessed Quintinus the martyr Ibid., p. 447, these things are to be understood of Saint-Quentin, in no way of Vermand: for the body of the holy champion never rested here. Moreover the Annals of St. Bertin are divided into three parts; the second, which runs from the year 835 to the year 861 Ibid., p. 429 and so concerns us, has as author Prudentius bishop of Troyes, a contemporary, as one who died in the aforesaid year 861 [Ibid., p. 419 and following. Cf. Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, vol. I, p. 239 and following, Berlin 1877]. But (I use the words of Adrien de Valois) Not. Gall., p. 596 the oldest of all our writers, Gregory of Tours (died in the year 595) Cf. Migne, Latin Patrology, vol. LXXI, col. 128, in the book on the Glory of the Martyrs settles the matter in few words, where he says Glory of the Martyrs, bk. I, chap. 73, col. 769: At the town of the Viromandui … in Gaul, Quintinus the martyr rests etc. Whence briefly the same Valois: Gregory therefore, the Annals of St. Bertin and Sigebert, following the life and passion of Quintinus the martyr, and also the more recent Mercator, Claude Hémeré and others affirm that Augusta of the Veromandui is the town of St. Quintinus, on account of the church there distinguished by the relics and name of Quintinus the martyr. So thinks also Joseph Scaliger in the Notitia Galliae… Otherwise thinks Philip Cluverius, whom Monet and Sanson follow, and… believes that Augusta of the Veromandui, capital of the people, is the village of Vermand… He believes this, I say, led by the nearness of the places and the likeness of the names, and chiefly by this reason, that as many cities of Gaul as are capitals of peoples, laying aside their own appellation, have each assumed the name of their own people, as Vermand preserves the name of the Veromandui. But Cluverius should have known that more capitals of peoples in Gaul have retained their own name than have changed it for the tribal one. For both Lyon, capital of the Segusiani, and Autun, capital of the Aedui, and Rouen of the Velocasses … and nearly twenty other cities of Gaul still retain today their own old name, nor has each ever taken the appellation of its people. Thus Wesseling does not assert altogether correctly [Vetera Romanorum itiner., p. 378, note Aduaca Tungrorum, and p. 380, note Samarobriva] that it was the accepted, indeed the customary usage throughout Gaul that cities should assume the name of the people of which they were the capital. It is established indeed, as Valois goes on, that in the investigation of places there is scarcely any argument lighter, any more deceptive, than the likeness of names. Augusta of the Veromandui on the river Sumina therefore is without doubt the town of St. Quintinus.

[33] or where Vermand is: But the arguments of the contrary opinion must also be set out, since many writers formerly, and indeed some of no mean name, have followed it: among whom the distinguished B. Guérard [Essai sur les divisions territ. de la Gaule, p. 18. Cf. Cluverius, Introd. to geography, bk. II, chap. 12, p. 96, Amsterdam, 1697. Gallia christiana, vol. IX, col. 1039 and following, col. 1139. Tillemont, Memoires, vol. IV, p. 701]. But first of all something must be said briefly about the site and nature of the place. Virmand is a village, says Claude Hémeré Augusta Viromanduorum vindicata, bk. I, chap. 2, p. 4, Paris 1643, distant from Saint-Quentin six Gallic miles; situated on the public road by which one goes from Saint-Quentin to Amiens. Next to that road there is a rampart or embanked earth, having a space of about four iugera, as any surveyor will judge. The village consists of a few rustic huts, dispersed far here and there, as is the custom of the countryside; but on the rampart there are no houses. About the years, however, of Radbod II Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 996 and 998, bishop of Noyon, who sat from the year 1068 to the year 1097 or rather 1098, a chapel was built on it, which, gradually growing by revenue and alms, at length became a monastery of the Premonstratensian Order. Which being left in the year of Christ 1200, the monks came down from that mound, and founded another new one on the banks of the Dalmanio or, as our people say, the Aumigon; which stream now laps the edges of the present monastery, etc. Hémeré adds: About that rampart, however, there is controversy: for Robert Cenalis contends, and the men of Noyon who follow him, that the prerogatives of old Augusta are due to it; both because there still exists there that field surrounded by ditches, a trace of a city once standing, but now destroyed and rooted out from the foundations, from which ancient coins are dug up daily, and because the place even now retains its old name. The rest, as being more briefly put, I subjoin from the Annals of Le Cointe Vol. I, p. 384: To this village another lies next, called from the martyrdom of blessed Quintinus by the name of Marteville to this very day, and in the fort of the same village flows an underground spring, .. which first gushed forth by the prayer of the thirsting martyr in that prison in which, shut up, he was awaiting the last act of his struggle. Moreover as it were remnants of the episcopal chair … and of canonical .. discipline remain in the holy society of men professing the monastic life there, and in the convent which was founded in that place under the title of Blessed Mary of Virmand. Nor is it removed so far from the monastery, the Villa Episcopi *, to which formerly the pontiffs, at any rate those who presided before St. Medard up to the transfer of the see to Noyon, withdrew for the sake of country life. Finally the ancient parchments which treat of the first finding of St. Quintinus etc. distinguish the civitas of the Viromandui from Augusta of the Viromandui. This last point will be explained where I treat more fully of this finding.

[34] which opinion is by no means proved, And this is the sum of the reasons with which the opponents prop up their opinion. But very light, in the judgment of Le Cointe, and resting on no proof, are the arguments drawn from the etymology of Marteville and from the spring which gushes forth in the fort of the same village; this indeed is a tradition of grandfathers, and not very ancient; certainly neither the writers nor the parchments of the country make any mention of them, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 33; indeed others claim that it should be called not the villa of the martyr but of Mars, for this reason, that in those fields very many traces of pagan religion survive; finally the last act of the contest, by which Quintinus flew up victorious to heaven, was accomplished at Augusta of the Veromandui, on the Somme, not on the Dalmanio Ibid.. Moreover, for a conjecture of that kind to have any force, the antiquity of that village would before all else have to be investigated, and indeed proved by certain testimonies or monuments, and I do not see the opponents the least concerned on this matter. No stronger is that, the words are Le Cointe's, which is drawn from the Villa Episcopi: for who could prove that that villa stood before the destruction of Augusta? But even if this were granted, surely the bishops could have withdrawn there equally … from the place where Saint-Quentin now is as from that where present Vermand is… The monastery of Vermand does not serve the case. For who would believe that remnants of the episcopal chair and of ancestral piety, and of the canonical discipline of the clergy and of the ancient prelates, remain in that place where at first a slight chapel was built when Radbod sat as bishop at Noyon, who entered the episcopate in the year of Christ 1068? Over that chapel a presbyter was placed by Radbod; then four others were joined; then a society of Augustinian monks was instituted there, whom the Premonstratensians succeeded under Stephen, who sat at Noyon from the year 1188 to the year 1221 Le Cointe, Eccl. Annals of the Franks, vol. I, p. 385. And below: If old coins are dug up at Vermand, they are dug up also at Saint-Quentin, and indeed far

more of them, on the testimony of Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 25: when in the year 1634 Saint-Quentin was being enclosed with new ditches and walls, what traces of an ancient city did not appear from the very bosom of the opened earth, through a space of two hundred perches and more? Tombs, urns, coins and pottery of various kinds. There were indeed rather few tombs, these of very hard stone; urns without number … in which an obol and ashes after the profane custom… Old coins of silver and bronze in such abundance that they could have filled two modii. The oldest were struck with the images of Caesar and Augustus, but these were few; of Nero many more; others of the following emperors. The pottery of elegant work; dishes, cups, bowls and little vessels of different kinds. Then, a few words intervening: But these things prove, he says Ibid., p. 26, that a city was situated there, by whatever name it was called, both ancient (because the tombs and urns betray a heathen age) and large and populous. But who would believe that, while this city flourished, another stood in the neighborhood at six Gallic miles? Le Cointe adds Eccl. Annals, vol. I, p. 387: The present Saint-Quentin was once called Augusta; whence a part of that city is even now called in ancient charters the district of Augusta, and in the vernacular tongue le destroit d'Aoust. But Vermand on the Dalmanio never was a city, but only a stronghold or fort or military post, as the place itself sufficiently indicates: for it has a space of about four iugera, and shows no substructures of walls except the foundations of the older convent, which was on the higher ground, before the Premonstratensian monks came down to the bank of the stream, where they live even today. Therefore the name of Vermand and the coins dug up at Vermand do not bring it about that the men of Vermand can be held or said to be superior in the case to the men of Saint-Quentin. And so Le Cointe about the middle of the seventeenth century. He who desires more of this kind may go to Hémeré in the first part of his Augusta Viromanduorum vindicata; likewise Belley Académie des inscriptions, vol. XIX, p. 674 – 687, Paris 1753.

[35] indeed it is shown to be false from the Itineraries. From what has been said it is very probable that Augusta of the Viromandui stood in the same place where the town of St. Quintinus now stands; but in our age an altogether firm proof is supplied by the Itinerary of Antoninus and the Peutinger Table, compared with our maps [E. Desjardins, La Table de Peutinger, p. 15 and segm. I, B. Cf. Walckenaer. Géogr. anc. des Gaules, vol. I, p. 480, vol. III, p. 64. Cf. Mémoires de l'Institut national de France, Acad. des inser. et belles-lettres, vol. XXIX, p. 333 and following, Paris 1879]. For from them it appears that Augusta of the Viromandui is distant from Augusta of the Suessiones 25 Gallic leagues (56 kilom.), and from Cambrai 18 Gallic leagues (40 kilom.). Now these numbers, if they are compared with those which have more than once been diligently defined in our age in public measurements, agree altogether, on this condition, that Augusta of the Viromandui be placed where Saint-Quentin now is, but by no means if it is said to be the same as Vermand. Nor is this to be passed over, that in the Itinerary of Antoninus one reads: Camaracum… Augusta Veromandorum, 18 miles. Contra Aginnum (our CONDREN), 13 miles. Augusta Suessonum, 13 miles. Now that village (Condren) is even today distant by the same intervals from the cities of Soissons and Saint-Quentin; which again does not hold for Vermand. Finally Walckenaer adds Vol. 1, p. 481: He who wishes to inspect our analysis of the itineraries (at the end of volume III) will find that the Roman roads starting from Augusta of the Suessiones, Samarobriva (Amiens) and Bagacum (Bavay), and running together at Augusta of the Viromandui, reach Saint-Quentin, but not Vermand. And with these most learned men today agree, both for other reasons and because the village of Vermand is not such that a Roman town can be said ever to have stood there, such as Augusta of the Viromandui certainly was [Aug. Longnon, Géographie de la Gaule au VIe s., p. 410 and following, Paris 1878. Cf. Matton, Dict. topogr. de l'Aisne, p. 287 and 252, Paris 1871. Gomart, Le camp romain de Vermand, in Archives hist. et litt. du nord de la France et du midi de la Belg., vol. XVIII]. Yet it is not to be denied that there was once in this place a town of the Gauls and a Roman fort.

[36] There was the episcopal see, But if the town of Saint-Quentin is the ancient Augusta of the Viromandui, no one will fail easily to concede that the episcopal see established among the Viromandui was placed in it from the beginning, and kept there until in the sixth century (about the year 531) it was transferred to Noyon by St. Medard. Who would believe that the pontifical chair was erected in a slight village or fort such as Vermand was, the chief city of the people or civitas being passed over? Moreover it is established that the cities of Gaul which were called Augusta were the capitals of the peoples to which they belonged, as may be seen in Augusta of the Suessiones, of the Treveri, of the Raurici, of the Ausci, of the Tricastini etc. Cf. Belley, loc. cit., p. 680. In these, as Hémeré has it Augusta Virom. vindicata, p. 6, laws were accustomed to be declared, and those matters to be done and treated in which the majesty and safety of the empire were contained, whether these concerned religion and the worship of the gods, or also military and civil causes. Thus the prefects of the province and the commanders of the legions had their residence especially in the Augustan towns, etc. Cf. Belley, p. 679 to 687. And this was certainly the proper place for erecting an episcopal see, especially if it took its beginning after the peace given to the Church by Constantine; which, in the judgment of Le Cointe, holds for the see of the Viromandui: Augusta of the Viromandui, he says Eccl. Annals of the Franks, vol. I, p. 387, as the very name of Augusta declares, was a civitas and the chief place of the region, and on account of that prerogative deserved to be ennobled by an episcopal see; for bishops were not established in lesser towns. In the times of Diocletian and Maximian the Augusti, when blessed Quintinus was crowned with martyrdom, there was as yet no bishop of the Veromandui; certainly the erection of the episcopate of the Veromandui is more recent, under a Christian emperor. For the first prelates of the Church of the Veromandui are not counted among the martyrs, and Sophronius, who holds the twelfth place in their catalogue, subscribed the first council of Orléans in the five hundred and eleventh year of Christ. The author of the booklet on the first finding of St. Quintinus … lived beyond doubt under the most ancient bishops of the Veromandui. But he located Augusta of the Veromandui … on the bank of the Somme in exactly the same place where part of present Saint-Quentin is still seen. For he asserted that the relics of the martyr, when they had been taken from the river and were being carried to Augusta, stopped in a village of Augusta, and were there laid up by Eusebia. That village was on a hill, and next to the city of Augusta, which is situated at the foot of the same hill… In course of time it was called the village of St. Quintinus, and it was a suburb of the adjoining city; because not only a chapel, then a basilica was placed over the tomb of the martyr, but houses were also erected all around on account of the multitude of arriving pilgrims… There followed the devastation both of the village and of the city by Attila, who, having crossed the Rhine, entered Gaul in the four hundred and fifty-first year of Christ. Because the memory of so bitter a disaster had not yet perished after eighty years, and the city in so long an interval of time had not yet recovered its former splendor and strength, Medard … withdrew with his clergy to a better fortified place, namely Noyon (which city belonged to the episcopate of the Viromandui), about the year 531.

[37] until about the year 531, Papebroch writes in the Acts of St. Medard Acta SS., vol. II of June, p. 73: St. Medard … consecrated bishop of the Veromandui … about the year 530, then transferred the see to Noyon about the year 531, and at length in the year 532 also took on the government of the church of Tournai. And he adds: In what place he was first established as bishop we do not wish to inquire much. Charles le Cointe … works out this controversy, namely where Augusta of the Viromandui was situated, which for many years gave their name to the bishops of Vermand… We with Le Cointe judge rather that it was Saint-Quentin: the reader will be able to see the arguments in him. Which opinion of our learned predecessor indeed seems to us not only more probable, but altogether certain.

[38] the writers of the Gallia christiana wrongly contradicting. Against this the writers of the Gallia christiana, in order to prove that the episcopal see was established first at Vermand, not at Augusta: If the church of St. Quintinus, they say [Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 1039 and following. Cf. Belley, Dissert. hist. sur Augusta Verom., in Acad. des inscript., vol. XIX, p. 687 and following, Paris 1753], built about the year 355, was destroyed under the emperor Julian about the year 362, and did not rise again before the year 497, or at least before the year 451, it must be that through all this space of time either there were no bishops of the Veromandui, or they did not sit in that church: (why not for a time in any oratory or hut, even the poorest?) But who would believe that there were none, against the credit of writers, monuments and most ancient tradition? Those prelates therefore, or at least the first of them, which is especially to be noted, sat in a church quite other than the church of St. Quintinus. Now what cause would there have been why the earlier should have sat elsewhere, the later have transferred their see to St. Quintinus, until it was again transferred by St. Medard to the city of Noyon? Hémeré and his followers contend that Saint-Quentin was overthrown by the Huns in the year 451. Would the prelates of the Veromandui then have chosen an overthrown city, to carry their episcopal see into it, when on the contrary the men of Saint-Quentin lament the overthrow itself, which gave St. Medard occasion, after eighty years at length, to leave, as they say, Saint-Quentin and migrate to Noyon? But can anything be legitimately inferred in a matter of history from subtleties of this kind? It would have to be proved that those overthrows, whether of the city or of the basilica, were such that no building survived; that a very long space of years was required for the destroyed city, at least in part, however slight, to be built; that all things had been destroyed from the foundations and turned into a wretched solitude. That this has very rarely happened is shown by universal history. Nor is the lot of Saint-Quentin proved worse than that of other cities, which are read to have been stormed and destroyed in Gaul at that time and by the same barbarians. Will the dilemma (limping not a little in other respects) hold for these also: either there were no bishops, or they had their see elsewhere; and that, in the mind of the authors, not temporary, but fixed and proper?

[39] Their reasons are dissolved. Thus proceed the authors of the Gallia christiana: The bishops of the Veromandui who lived before the year 451, not only in the church of St. Quintinus, which was either not yet built or had gone to ruin, surviving its birth by ten years at most,

but also could not place their see in any other church of Saint-Quentin. For what temple or basilica was there at that time, or was there ever, among the men of Saint-Quentin either more ancient or more august than the very shrine of St. Quintinus? But if the bishops of the Veromandui did not sit at Saint-Quentin until the middle of the fifth century, it remains that they sat in that city which, degenerate for many centuries past and counted almost among ignoble villages, still retains the name of Vermand: for there is no other place among the Veromandui that may dare to claim that prerogative for itself. But first we have seen that Vermand was a fort of four iugera, not a city. Next it would at any rate have to be shown that the city of Vermand (if there had ever been one) remained standing, Augusta having been overthrown, and was not leveled to the ground by the same whirlwind, since these places were separated by a slight space. Moreover no monument at all is brought forward from which they may prove that there anciently stood at Vermand a basilica suited above others for a pontifical chair. In the eleventh century, on the authority of Le Cointe, a slight chapel was first built there, when Radbod was sitting at Noyon. Add that, as is admitted by all, the beginnings of the see of the Viromandui are wrapped in the thickest darkness, and nothing has become known of the first prelates beyond the bare name. Finally, to speak in general, from conjectures or subtleties of this kind you could infer I know not what with equal right against any other Church of Gaul. Moreover the aforesaid writers hesitate somewhat, as is clear from the conclusion: But let these things suffice: for we do not believe it altogether demonstrated, but only more probable, that the see of the bishops of the Veromandui was established from the beginning at Vermand, not at Saint-Quentin. And let it suffice to have discoursed here thus far on the place of the martyrdom of St. Quintinus.

* L'Omignon

* Ville l'Eveque

§ V. Of the first translation of the body of St. Quintinus. Whether he was buried in the town of Saint-Quentin or in the village of Vermand.

Eusebia, divinely warned, Of the history of the Translation, which we shall publish in full below, we show a summary here Cf. below, Passion I and Finding I. Rictiovarus had ordered the body of the blessed martyr to be guarded until night and late in the evening to be weighted with lead in the river Somme, that is, to be sunk and covered with mud, so that it could not be taken away by the Christians, and thus water was the tomb of that body for about fifty-five years. When these were completed, it was found by Eusebia, a Roman matron. To her, when she lamented that she was blind, the angel of the Lord appeared once, twice and a third time, saying: Eusebia, … arise and go into Gaul; seek out the place which is called Agusta of the Veromandi, beside the river which is called Somna, where the public causeway passes which comes from the city of the Ambiani and goes toward Lugdunum Clavatum. In that very place then seek and you will find under water the corpse of St. Quintinus my martyr, and there you will recover the health of your eyes. When she had arrived there, she learned the place of the burial from a certain old man, whose name was Eraglinius or Eraclianus, and when a fervent prayer had been poured out to God, the place was moved where the holy body lay under water …

[41] finds the body of St. Quintinus in the year 341. Then the body of the venerable man began to float on the water, and his head leaping out through another channel; and at once a most sweet odor flowing from the body so filled all of us who were present that all the delights of the world seemed abolished for us. From these words arose the opinion that the history of the finding was written by an eyewitness. But since the passage is not rendered in the same manner in the different manuscripts, that opinion is doubtful, as we discussed more widely at no. 5. Then the aforesaid matron, receiving the venerable body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and wished to bury it in the city of the Viromandi. And as they set out on the road, they came to a certain town, which is called Agusta of the Veromandi, setting it down, because they could not go on on account of the weight. Understanding what was happening, the aforesaid matron buried it in that same place, and built a little cell over his tomb … and she recovered the light of her eyes, and many others thereafter recovered health in that place. Eusebia buried the body… of Quintinus the martyr on the eighth of the Kalends of July after the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Since this finding took place, according to the Acts and common tradition, in the fifty-fifth year from the passion of blessed Quintinus, it is to be ascribed to about the year 341. But various writers fix various numbers according to the year to which they tie the triumph of the martyr. Gregory of Tours expressly mentions the finding at the close of the sixth century [Glory of the Martyrs, bk. I, chap. 73, in Migne, Latin Patrology, vol. LXXI, col. 769]: At the town of the Viromandui in Gaul, Quintinus the martyr rests, whose blessed body is found by a certain religious woman, who had long been blinded. But as soon as it was raised from the bottom of the river, it produced a miracle, when it restored to the woman's face *, where it first shone, her blinded eyes. The editor assigns the year 287 to the death, the year 342 to the finding, which do not differ much from our chronology. But altogether wrongly in the Ourscamp auctarium of the Chronicle of Sigebert Mon. Germ. hist., Scriptt., vol. VI, p. 470 it is referred to the year 332.

[42] This finding is commemorated in liturgical books at June 23, The memory of this first finding is kept on the eighth of the Kalends of July Cf. Baillet, Vies des SS., vol. VII, at Oct. 31. In the martyrology which is called Bede's, at this day we read Acta SS., vol. II of March, p. XXIII. Cf. vol. IV of June, p. 687: The Nativity of the Forerunner of the Lord. And there is added from the auctaria of Arras, Tournai and Liessies: On the same day at Augusta of the Veromandui in the river Somme, the finding by Eusebia of the body of Bl. Quintinus the martyr, notably proved; (the Tournai codex continues) for the same matron, an angel revealing it, came to the district and the place of the river where the body itself had lain for fifty-five years, a prayer having been proclaimed. Having come to herself, she received it, with exceeding whiteness and fragrant odor, corrupted by no stain: and wishing to bury him in the town of Vermand, he gave such a heaviness of his weight that he could not be moved farther from the place which he had consecrated with his blood. And to his finder, in return for the benefits she had shown, her lost sight, and to all who happened to come there at that same hour, their former health was given back. Led by I know not what reason du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology assigned the finding to July 8. In the manuscript martyrology which, as I have said, is still preserved at Saint-Quentin, and is older than St. Louis the king, it is likewise announced: The 24th day of June. On the same day at Augusta of the Vermandi the finding of the body of the most blessed Quintinus the martyr, notably made known by Eusebia. But in another martyrology of the same city, the feast is celebrated on the preceding day or June 23: On the ninth of the Kalends of July. At Augusta of the Veromandui, the first finding of the body and head of St. Quintinus, martyr and their apostle, granted to the merits and sound faith of blessed Eusebia, a Roman widow, and asserted in all past centuries by the first foundation of this church. Of this martyrology the distinguished Ed. Charles notes this, in a letter given to me on December 1 of the year 1869: It was written about the year 1740 to the year 1770, by the labor of a canon and theologian of the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin by name Duchenois, who also prepared a new breviary (which however was not submitted to the press). The martyrology is in manuscript and is kept in the public library of the city; but it is very disfigured, as being half eaten by mice. So too in the calendar of the royal and notable church of St. Quintinus, which was composed by the same canon, and was to have been added to the aforesaid breviary, the twenty-third day is marked: The 9th of the Kalends, the 23rd day. First finding of St. Quintinus by Bl. Eusebia, year 341. Double of the second class or lesser annual. Comm. of the Vigil of St. John the Bapt. (a fast is kept). Then comm. of blessed Eusebia, widow.

[43] or at the 24th. And on this 23rd day likewise an office of the same rite is appointed in the Saint-Quentin breviaries of the year 1642 and the year 1774. But in the older one printed in the year 1511, on June 24 the office is of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, with a special commemoration of the finding of St. Quintinus. Whence it appears that this feast was not anciently celebrated with the same solemnity as later. At the time when it began to be kept with more ceremony, it was then moved to the preceding day, on account of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. When this was done is not clear to me; certainly before the year 1642, when the second breviary was printed: in this the feast is noted at June 23 and indeed with a double rite of the second class. In the older one, as I have said, the office is of the Nativity of St. John, yet so that no small part of it concerns the first finding, which is briefly narrated. The lessons of the breviary of the year 1642 report the history of the finding as it is held in the most ancient Acts, in summary indeed, but accurately, with the wording changed and with the omission of the prodigy by which Eusebia was hindered, when she wished to carry the sacred relics far away. The office in the breviary of the year 1744 is different: in which the lessons of the second nocturn, running to great length, come closer to the Acts which are reported to have been written out by Raimbert, except that at the end this is read: Neither of them namely the body and the head had livor or swelling invaded. There was in them a snowy whiteness, says the writer who had seen the thing, and like the fragrance of a full field which the Lord has blessed, so it filled all of us who were present, that all the delights of the world seemed abolished for us. These words I have found entire in no ms. codex, but they are similar to the words of the Passion which Colliette published in the second place Mém. pour l'hist. du Vermandois, vol. I, p. 143.

[44] [From the history of the finding it is gathered that St. Quintinus was not buried at Vermand,] A difficulty arises from what occurs at the end of the history of the finding. Namely Eusebia, the body being wrapped in a linen cloth, wished to bury it in the city of the Viromandi. And as they set out on the road, they arrived at a certain town which is called Agusta of the Veromandi, setting it down, because they could not go on on account of the weight. So also have the two Acts of Colliette, likewise the ms. codex of the year 1470, Mombritius and Rosweyde. Surius, however, omits the town Augusta of the Viromandi; and in place of the city of the Viromandi he writes the fort of the Veromandui. With whom agree Chifflet and Hémeré. Thus the Acts which we called older above at no. 5 expressly distinguish the city of the Viromandi and the town Augusta of the Viromandi. But Surius with his two followers name only the fort of the Veromandui, yet so that they clearly declare the sacred body of St. Quintinus to have been found near Augusta, whose name they pass over: and so all the copies of our Acts manifestly record that Eusebia wished to carry the relics from the bank of the Somme to a place at a good distance, which to some is the city of the Viromandi, to others the fort of the Veromandui. It was necessary to set this out beforehand, that a right judgment may be formed on the opinions of Le Cointe, which we subjoin.

[45] which Le Cointe thinks is not even named, The learned man contends that by the words Viromandis

or Vermandis civitas is designated Augusta itself, and by the word municipium a village adjoining Augusta. Augusta of the Viromandui, he says Eccl. Annals of the Franks, vol. I, p. 385 and following, at the time of the first finding, was subject to Constans, a Christian and Catholic emperor …; it was an illustrious city among the Belgic ones, and abounded in citizens, of whom most had accepted the Christian religion. Eusebia wished to transfer thither the relics found by her; there lay in her way a village, and when she had arrived there, the body of the martyr could not be moved from the place on account of its weight, and so it was entombed in that same village, which was next to Augusta of the Viromandui. And he adds: This is the author's sense, if the manuscript codex is compared with the Surian edition. The codex used by Le Cointe is that of du Chesne, on the testimony of Colliette Vol. I, p. 44, and, if you except a few words here and there, it offers the same text as the Acts published by the same Colliette from the ms. codex of Saint-Maur, collated with the codex of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Le Cointe continues: In the manuscript codex we read thus: "Then the most faithful woman, having received the venerable body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, wished to bury it in the city of the Viromandi." Surius, who polished the style, changed not only the words but the sense as well. For the place to which Eusebia was making her way he called not the city of the Viromandi, but the fort of the Veromandui. Then, though there was no word in the author about the distance of the places, he himself rashly on his own placed about five miles between the place where the relics were found and the place to which they were being carried. It is certain that the same things, namely the fort and five thousand paces, are found both in the Hémeré and in the ms. Acts of Chifflet, so that Le Cointe wrongly asserts that Surius added these on his own.

[46] judging the codex to be corrupt, The writer proceeds thus: Many, deceived by that (Surian) text, have falsely believed that Eusebia undertook the journey from the Somme to the Dalmanio, to bury the blessed martyr in that place where Vermand is seen today. The author continues in the manuscript codex: "And when they set out on the road, they came to the town Augusta of the Viromandi, setting it down…" The text is beyond doubt corrupt, and needs correction: which a diphthong will satisfy, if in place of Augusta there be restored Augustae. For the sense will be this: Eusebia resolved to transfer the relics to the city of the Viromandi, that is, Augusta of the Viromandi; but they could not be moved, when they had arrived at the municipium of Augusta of the Viromandi, that is, at the village of Augusta of the Viromandi, situated on a little hill next to Augusta of the Viromandi: for the author by the name of municipium understands a place more ignoble and lesser than a city, such as villages are… The author therefore, who was present with Eusebia at the first finding of St. Quintinus, in the booklet which he wrote out a little later, placed Augusta of the Viromandi on the bank of the Somme, and made no mention of another place conforming to it in name, so that he should be judged to have spoken only of the place where present Saint-Quentin is, and not of that where present Vermand is.

[47] but of Augusta of the Viromandui; The opinion of Le Cointe, I should think, has been approved by few; indeed, if you except Claude Bendier [Défense des principales prérogatives de la ville et de l'église royale de Saint-Quentin, Saint-Quentin 1671. Cf. Colliette, vol. I, p. VII and following, p. 45 and following], by none among the men of Saint-Quentin, whose party these opinions nevertheless favor. And what he asserts, that Augustae should be restored for Augusta, seems opposed to the credit of all the codices, older and more recent. Whence Colliette openly contradicts it Vol. I, p. 44 and following, 106 and following, and confirms that in the Acts, as we too noted above, no. 44, two places are distinctly marked, one on the bank of the Dalmanio, the other on the Somme; adding that Vermand is as far from the Somme as from Augusta, namely about two and a half leagues.

[48] Although Eusebia had planned to carry the relics to Vermand. But what cause was there why Eusebia should carry away the found treasure, passing over Augusta, to a place so distant? From the Acts I admit that nothing can be gathered on this matter: the fact is asserted, the reason passed over in silence; yet the credit of the event does not on that account totter. Very many things could certainly have arisen to move Eusebia, altogether unknown to us today. There are those who think that she wished the sacred relics to be kept in a safer place, namely in a fort or fortified post, where a perpetual garrison was held for the defense of the surrounding region: perhaps also among the Romans who commanded the soldiery there were found men joined to the pious matron by blood, or familiarity or hospitality, to whose protection she knew herself commended, indeed at whose urging or invitation she proceeded thither. Why should it not be said that this was at first her mind, to carry the sacred body of the martyr to her native city, namely Rome, whence both he and she came? If that were so, surely she could more easily reach the place by staying at the fort, on account of the frequent convoys and traffic held from there in both directions. Which are indeed conjectures, yet not devoid of their own likelihood.

* facie in the edition.

§ VI. The second finding of the relics. In what year it took place. Its memory in the sacred calendars.

After the first finding the tomb of St. Quintinus began to be hidden, Although at the beginning the sacred pledges had been held in great honor, yet some time later, by the injury of the times, it came about that veneration diminished, and indeed that it was unknown in what place the holy martyr lay laid up. Let the author of the Book of Miracles of blessed Quintinus be heard, where in chap. 1 one reads Hémeré, in the Regestum, p. 9. Colliette, vol. I, p. 229: By the sword of Julian the Apostate fell St. Lucian with his companions. On which occasion the peoples of our borders, sharply shaken, when they ought to have been strengthened in the faith, being less solid began more incautiously to fall away. For which reason, as is believed, it came about that the worthy cult failed around the vigils of the sacred martyr, and that his blessed merits lay hidden, in however slight a measure, from human knowledge, so that the place of his body was utterly unknown to the peoples, whether, as we have said, because the practice of religion failed on various occasions, or also, so to speak, by the high providence of God, so that he might be guarded there by the ignorance of the wicked, he who had before suffered such great injuries at the hands of persecutors, not only living in the flesh, but also when already laid low by glorious death; but that hereafter the loftiness of his so great holiness, more recently made manifest in the revelation of his body by the help of God, might stir up torpid hearts to a more fervent cult of him, and the distinctions of his merits might be renewed in human sight as often as the heavenly pearl was uncovered. For the treasure of the king and the gem of the heavenly Emperor lay entombed in the earth and covered by dense ignorance, through a course of no less than three hundred and twenty years, until such merits should be stirred up as should seem, by the divine balance, worthy of a revelation of this kind. To blessed Eligius therefore etc.

[50] yet not immediately. In this the writer wanders not a little. First, St. Lucian with his two companions Maximian and Julian suffered at Beauvais, not under Julian, but most probably under Diocletian; Lucian is mentioned in our Acts of St. Quintinus. Next, since the emperor Julian seized the empire in the year 360, and perished in the month of June of the year 363, while the body of St. Quintinus was found and buried by Eusebia in the year 341, it would follow that the tomb began to be hidden about twenty years after the first finding. But it appears from what is to be said elsewhere that the relics were venerated with the highest religion for no slight space of time. Moreover, since the second revelation, as we shall soon see, is to be assigned to the year 641, it would come about (if we followed the Book of Miracles itself) that the sacred pledges had lain hidden from about the year 362 to the year 641, and accordingly for about 280 years, and not for 320 years, as the author of the Book sets down by a false reckoning. Which at any rate do not serve to win credit for the aforesaid writing, of which we shall treat more fully elsewhere. Who moreover would believe that immediately from the first onset of the aforesaid persecution (which was brief), the traces of the tomb so vanished that now not one of the survivors remembered it, nor could indicate the place of deposition? This may be asserted with likelihood, that the traces of the tomb were obliterated when by the incursions of the Vandals, Huns and other barbarians the whole of Gaul, and above all Belgica, was laid waste in a pitiable manner in the fourth and fifth centuries of our era. Add the manifold attempts of the Franks, until, under the leadership of Clovis, they brought those provinces under their dominion.

[51] Maurinus pays the penalty for wickedly seeking the sacred body. Although the time at which the place of burial began to be unknown cannot be defined Cf. Claude de La Fons, Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 104 and following, this is yet established, that it had long lain hidden before the years of St. Eligius, and that in the age of the same St. Eligius a great desire had settled in men's minds to find at last the precious body. Which appears from the chastisement of a certain Maurinus, who had put a rash hand to the work. St. Ouen thus sets out the event [Acta SS. of Belgium, vol. III, p. 233. Cf. Migne, Latin Patrology, vol. LXXXVII, col. 515]: Before Eligius was made bishop of that same place, there arose a certain wicked man, Maurinus by name, as he seemed to the people religious in habit, a singer praised in the king's palace, and from this, as the outcome of the matter taught, swollen in mind, wanton in heart and dissipated in action; who, deceived by the audacity of his presumption, began to boast in words that the body of the martyr Quintinus could be both sought out and found by him. But that the Lord might at once declare his wantonness and at length the merits of Eligius, as soon as he began to scratch the earth with a hoe, the handle of the digging tool stuck to his hands, and so the wretch, leaving the presumed work, on the following day also, with worms boiling up in his hands, miserably expired. From which event so great a fear grew up among the people that no one thereafter, however approved his life, except Eligius, dared to aim at a business of this kind.

[52] This St. Eligius, others contradicting, Having said this, St. Ouen narrates the second finding of St. Quintinus, a weighty witness indeed, as being a contemporary and very close friend of St. Eligius. We shall communicate it to the reader as it was printed by Ghesquière in the Acta SS. of Belgium, noting in the margin those things which differ in the edition of Bollandus. He, that is, when he was treating at January 3 of the finding of St. Quintinus, having recited some mentions from the martyrologies, published the account of St. Ouen from four ms. codices, of Rouge-Cloître, of Louvain, of Balthasar Moretus, … of St. Mary of Bonnefontaine Acta SS., vol. I of Jan., p. 154 and following. So the holy bishop of Rouen: Eligius, he says [Acta SS. of Belgium, vol. III, p. 233 and following. Cf. S. Quentin, sa vie, son culte, restauration de son pèlerinage, by the abbé Mathieu,

parish priest and archpriest of Saint-Quentin, bk. II, chap. 2, p. 136 and following, Saint-Quentin 1878], having taken up the pastoral charge, at once at the outset of his ordination began to frequent that place: for it is not far from the city of Vermand , namely in that place where the martyr, raised from the river by Eusebia, had once been entombed on the hill. Eligius therefore, urged by the divine will, turned it over in his mind, and also freely proclaimed to the people that the body was not held there, in the place where the people venerated it , but was rather in a part farther on. And when for a long time a state of things of this kind goaded his mind, he began at length with sagacious inquiry to try here and there through the pavement of the basilica whether he could anywhere detect the sacred tomb. But when he found no indication of the tomb at all, he began to be deserted by the brethren, who recalled with trembling the destruction of him who some time before , conceiving the search in a proud mind, had ended his life by a mournful death; and objecting also the antiquity of the body, consumed now by length of time and reduced to nothing in dust, they tried to call him back from the purpose his mind had begun. And when hindrances of this kind were objected to him by the brethren, sighing deeply he said: "Do not, brethren, I beseech you, do not hinder my devotion: for I believe in my Creator, that he will not deign to defraud me of so great a treasure and one so desired by me."

[53] with a confident mind, sought Then therefore persisting more attentively, he undertook a three days' fast, and entreating more earnestly with tears the divinity of Christ the Lord, he vowed that he would not first take any nourishment before he should merit to obtain his desired wish: for so great was his faith and so great his constancy, that he often anticipated things to be done as if he believed them already done, and sometimes spoke with God as with his earthly Lord, and undoubtingly believed that God would fulfill the purpose which he himself had set . Whence also when he was dissuaded by many, he said: "You, Lord Jesus, who know all things before they happen, you know that unless you show me manifestly the body of this holy * witness of yours, who suffered for your holy name, unworthy though I am, yet I will never bear the episcopate of this people, but rather will withdraw far off as an exile from this province, where, as is fitting, I shall die among the beasts." In short? Persisting in the work begun, when his helpers ran about through different places of the church in trying, and conceived no hope of finding, gently restraining them all, he designated one place to be dug, in which there could be no suspicion, in the rear part of the church.

[54] at last he found, and, a witness of the prodigy then wrought, Then the labor of all being turned there, they willingly obeyed his orders, and when the earth had been dug down to a depth of more than ten feet or more, they were again deprived of the hope of finding the body, and when the third midnight had already flowed by, Eligius, seizing a hoe and throwing off his cloak, began with all his strength, with candles and lamps, to dig the earth with his holy hands; and when, inclining a little toward the bottom of the pit, he had begun to scrape the soil at the side of the hollow, he soon found a very ancient bier , covering the sacred body. Then filled with great joy, when with the hoe which he bore in his hand he had most eagerly struck the side of the tomb, at once the tomb being pierced, so great a fragrance of odor with immense light flowed from it, that even St. Eligius himself, struck by the brilliance of the light and the unspeakable odor, could scarcely stand. For a globe of splendor too, which came forth from the tomb at the blow of the striker, shed so great a force of its brightness that, the gaze of the eyes of all those standing by being dulled, it changed the greatest part of that region into the brightness of day; whence all who happened to be awake at that hour, and who did not know the cause of the thing, reckoned that some great sign had been given from heaven. For it was past midnight, and a night indeed very obscure and dark; but as the brilliance came forth, as it were the light of day shone for a time and in time the brightness receded.

[55] lays the relics up with honor, Then therefore Eligius with tearful joy kissed the sacred body when found, and when it had been raised from the deep earth, he desired relics for himself from every part, and set them apart; he also took away teeth from the holy jaw for the healing of the sick, and at the root of the tooth a drop of blood came out. The nails also, of marvelous size, which at the time of his passion the persecutors had driven into the body, drawn out from the brain and the other limbs, he set apart for himself as relics. The most beautiful hair also he assigned, separated from the relics. Then, the body having been wrapped in most precious silk and most honorably arranged, he transferred it with the highest diligence to this side of * the altar; and finally he fabricated over it a tomb of gold and silver and gems of wonderful work. The church also, which seemed too small for the gatherings of the people, he enlarged and adorned with exceptional workmanship. Finally he himself from the relics which he had set apart from the holy body seasoned many places, and by imparting the same he supplied manifold healing for the different troubles of illnesses. These same things were briefly summarized by Peter de Natalibus in the Catalogue of the Saints, book IX, chap. CXXVI; with this addition, of which St. Ouen is silent: St. Eligius … built a church and monastery in that place. Of the place where the body of St. Quintinus was found, and of his sarcophagus and crypt, we shall discourse copiously below.

[56] in the year 641. In what year this revelation took place is not altogether clear; it is most likely that it should be ascribed to the beginning of the year 641. St. Ouen expressly testifies that the finding was made by Eligius at once at the outset of his ordination, and so, in the judgment of Le Cointe, the holy prelate of Noyon sought the body of St. Quintinus toward the end of the same year (640), and happily found it on the third day of the following year Eccl. Annals of the Franks, vol. III, p. 109. For this opinion to stand firm we must concede that St. Eligius was made bishop in the year 640. And although there was at one time dispute among the learned about this order of times, the opinion of Le Cointe has so prevailed that no controversy, so far as I know, is now raised over the year and month of the consecration itself, and all agree that it is to be referred to the month of May of the year 640 Cf. Acta SS. of Belgium, vol. III, p. 197. Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 983. Nor is there accordingly any reason why we should not subscribe to Le Cointe, when he attaches the second finding of St. Quintinus to the following year, and indeed to the third day of it, on which the feast of that finding is celebrated in the church of Saint-Quentin from all past antiquity. It will be useful to have added from the praised author Le Cointe, Eccl. Annals, vol. III, p. 129: James Meyer and Ferry de Locre put this translation back to the six hundred and fifty-seventh year of Christ, but they bring no proof of their assertion; one should rather stand by Ouen, a contemporary, who implies that it was made by Eligius toward the beginning of his pontificate. I should think that both those writers, with whom Peter de Natalibus is to be joined, drew this from the continuator of Sigebert of Gembloux, where at the year 964 we read: This second finding was made under St. Eligius in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 657, not without a great miracle of divine power Mon. Germ. hist., Scriptt., vol. VI, p. 470.

[57] [Which finding is celebrated with the greatest ceremony in the church of St. Quintinus,] The solemn memory of the second finding was formerly kept on January 3, not only in the church of Saint-Quentin but also in the whole diocese, as is established from its breviary, brought to light in the year 1630, by order of Henry de Baradat, count and bishop of Noyon. But the feast was celebrated with singular pomp in the basilica of the holy martyr. That finding, says Hémeré Augusta Virom., p. 64, we venerate with solemn rite, … the lights in the church being multiplied while the morning office is carried through, that we may represent the immensity of the heavenly splendor after the human measure. And a little more clearly Colliette Mémoires, vol. I, p. 209. Cf. Claude de La Fons, Histoire de S. Quentin, p. 209: Even today (at the end of the eighteenth century) that feast is celebrated with great pomp: for after matins have been sung, the clergy come down from the choir into the nave of the basilica; at the gate of the choir is seen a bust, shining with innumerable candles, near the altar dedicated to the holy patron, under which the sacred body also was found; there the Te Deum is sung with the antiphon and prayer of St. Quintinus… The people are wont to run together in great numbers. Thereafter the custom prevailed that this celebration was commonly called the day or feast of illumination, "l'Allumerie" or "Lumerie." We have the same ceremony described in the mss. of the canon Duchenois, of whom we spoke above, no. 42: A supplication most solemn of all is held in this basilica on the third day of January, after matins have been sung, and is commonly called the Illumination (allumerie, illumination). The head of St. Quintinus is exposed in the nave at the entrance of the choir, on a portable altar, sprinkled with liquid perfumes. Above is seen a candelabrum in the likeness of a pyramid, on which burns an abundant multitude of candles, for the sake of imitating the light which shone out at the finding. Before this altar the hymn Te Deum is sung, in thanksgiving for the finding of the body and head of the holy martyr. When it is finished, there is added an antiphon, no less notable for its antiquity than for its native simplicity: "O outstanding martyr of Christ, Quintinus, receive our prayers, entreat the Lord for the excesses of your servants, whom the chains of offenses press too hard," with the prayer: Your church rejoices etc. Finally in the ms. Ritual of the royal and notable church of St. Quintinus of Vermand … renewed … by the labor of Mr. Quintin de La Fons, in the year 1643, we read accurately reviewed the several things that pertain to that feast.

[58] and it is recorded both in the martyrologies, This finding is commended in the following words in an old ms. martyrology: The 3rd day of January. In the district of Vermand the finding of the body of St. Quintinus the martyr by Eligius the bishop, and the translation of the same. For the body of the same martyr, laid up in secret places, through the length of time was venerated by the people there where it was not. So St. Eligius, urged by the divine will, found by night what he sought, and the tomb being pierced, so great a light, accompanied by the fragrance of a very great odor, flowed from it, that it changed the darkness of the night into the great brightness of day; and thus kissing it, raised from the earth, when he took away teeth from its jaw as relics, a drop of blood at once came out from their root. For it is written in his deeds. On the testimony of St. Ouen, a drop of blood came out at the root of the tooth, not of the teeth, as it is in the martyrology (see above, no. 55). The same words, one or two excepted, are read in the auctaria attributed to Bede-Florus and taken from the Arras codex Cf. Acta SS., vol. II of March, p. VIII. Into which, as is certain to me, that passage passed not from the work of Florus, but from the Saint-Quentin martyrology written before the age of St. Louis and so about the beginning of the thirteenth century. A similar announcement, but much more compressed, is found in the ms. martyrology of the canon Duchenois (toward the close of the eighteenth century):

On the 3rd day, or the third of the Nones of January, at Augusta of the Viromandui, the second finding by St. Eligius of the body of St. Quintinus the martyr, revealed to blessed Eligius, a pious and humble seeker, as happily as wonderfully. In the margin is written year 641. And in the ms. calendar of the same canon, on the same day: The finding of the body of St. Quintinus the martyr by St. Eligius, about the year 641. Double of the 1st class or greater annual. In the auctaria of Usuard, from Molanus, is likewise listed in Soller: The finding of blessed Quintinus the martyr through blessed Eligius; and it is celebrated more copiously in the Gallican Martyrology of du Saussay. On the testimony of Bollandus, who, as I have indicated, treated of this finding at length Ibid., vol. I of January, p. 154, in the very ancient martyrology of the monastery of St. Martin at Tournai is read: In the district of Vermand the finding of the body of Bl. Quintinus the martyr by Eligius the bishop and the translation of the same. Bollandus adds: The same in Molanus in the additions to Usuard, and in Galesinius, and the German martyrology. Ferrari in the general catalogue of the saints: At Augusta of the Veromandui the finding of the body of St. Quintinus.

[59] and in the breviaries. In the breviaries of the royal church of St. Quintinus a particular feast of this finding is kept on the third day of January; and indeed in the older one, printed in the year 1511, the office is marked in the calendar as double. The antiphons of the nocturns are all proper; the lessons of the first and second nocturn are taken from St. Ouen, whose narrative is given in summary. No commemoration, which is worth noting, is made of the octave of St. John recurring on this day. In the second breviary, which appeared in the year 1642, the same office is celebrated with a double rite of the 1st class, yet with a commemoration of the octave of St. John added. The lessons show a narration of the things handed down by St. Ouen. From these two earlier ones, in which the Roman form is preserved, differs the office of the Noyon breviary accommodated to the use of the royal church of St. Quintinus (which you might not absurdly call proper to this church), and printed in the year 1774. In the second nocturn the lessons are taken from the writings of St. Ouen. The feast is said to be celebrated on January 3, with a double rite of the 1st class.

* Viromandensi B.

* omitted B.

* hujusmod added B.

* commercio added B.

* st. in Deo compl. ind. se cred. B.

* quia nisi manifestum B.

* omitted B.

* omitted B.

* omitted B.

* scalpere B.

* tumbam s. veterrimam B.

* ex B.

* in reliquias B.

* retro B.

§ VII. The third translation of the body of St. Quintinus in the year 835. Of Hugh abbot of St. Quintinus, and other witnesses of the translation.

The body of St. Quintinus was translated by Abbot Hugh, The third translation or burial of the precious body was performed by Abbot Hugh in the year 835, on October 25. Of this we read in the Book of Miracles of St. Quintinus: It seems to me very fitting that we should here touch in summary on the translation of the body of the most holy martyr Quintinus, as we have seen and known. Formerly then Abbot Fulrad of good memory, sprung of an excellent stock, took care to construct a new temple, which even now shines fittingly adorned, in honor of the same martyr. Later its most noble abbot and of good disposition, son of the most serene Charles Augustus, and brother of the emperor Louis, Huh by name, delighted to adorn with the greatest honor and most magnificently the tomb of the aforesaid martyr. But the situation of the place hindering, he could not hasten this in any other way, unless his tomb should be removed. For which reason, in the eight hundred and thirty-fifth year of the Incarnation of Christ, being the twenty-second of the emperor Louis, and the second of the abbot himself, on the 8th of the Kalends of November, by the counsel of the aforesaid emperor and of very many other good men, calling together Echardus bishop of Noyon, and Simeon pontiff of Laon, and Patratus prelate of Saxony, and two of their chorbishops, and priests, and very many other ministers of God, raising that sacred body from the place where St. Eligius had put it, he buried it most fittingly in an excellent place, where even now it lies excellently entombed, seasoned with spices, wrapped in silks and gilded garments Cf. below, Book of Miracles, last chap.. Thus far the ancient author and, as we see, a contemporary of the times of the event. Similarly in another monument of antiquity, namely in the Sermon on the entombment of the holy martyrs of Christ Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian, that third translation is recorded in these words Cf. Hémeré, Augusta Vir. vindicata et illustrata, in the Regestum, p. 20: In the eight hundred and twenty-fifth year of the Lord's Incarnation, by Hugh the monastic abbot and by Drogo, namely the pontiff of Metz, it is again raised from that place and thankfully drenched with liquors of spices. The basilica honorably built by the memorable abbot Fulrad having been dedicated with the episcopal blessing, the limbs of Quintinus the martyr of Christ are entombed for the third time in an honorable crypt. At the same time the new church was dedicated: whence Hémeré Ibid., in August. Vir. illustrat., p. 75: The temple, he says, founded and established by Fulrad, is dedicated by Drogo of Metz,… the most holy abbot Hugh managing the pious and religious work; and that the day of dedication might be hallowed with greater observance, the body of St. Quintinus … is placed in a third entombment.

[61] in the year 835, as is read in the Book of Miracles, Thus according to the Book of Miracles the translation took place in the year of Christ 835, the 22nd of Louis the Pious; according to the Sermon on the entombment, ten years earlier, namely in the year of Christ 825. The two documents, then, the most ancient of all that have come down to us, do not agree. For, as we shall say below, and as appears in the words recited above, the Book of Miracles is contemporary with the translation: as we have seen and known; the Sermon was probably delivered at the end of the following century, that is, the tenth. Moreover each number agrees with the annals of Louis the Pious, who, made sharer of the empire in the month of September of the year 813, on the death of his father Charlemagne succeeded on January 28 of the following year 814; and so the 12th year of Louis falls in the year of Christ 825, and the 22nd in the year 835. Which then is to be ascribed to the translation? Hémeré Hémeré, Augusta Vir. vindicata, p. 75 and in the Regestum, p. 20, whom Tillemont follows Mémoires, vol. IV, p. 437, ed. of 1701, Robert Wiard Manuscript History of the Island Church of St. Quintinus, and likewise the Saint-Quentin breviaries, both of the year 1642 and of 1774, hold the former or 825; the latter Claude de La Fons Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 172 and Colliette Mémoires pour l'histoire du Vermandois, vol. I, p. 334. The former judge the Book to be faulty, the latter do not trust the Sermon. So Hémeré (to whom the others whom I named above seem to have adhered without examining the question) judged that the Book of Miracles, which he published from the Authenticum, should be emended, and for the year of Christ 835 substituted the year 825, for the 22nd year of Louis the 12th Augusta Viromand., in the Regestum, p. 18; and that without warning the reader at all: whence he is also said to be guilty of falsehood by Colliette. And in very truth in the Authenticum, which Hémeré should be supposed to have published accurately, the eight hundred and thirty-fifth year of Christ, the twenty-second of Louis, is marked in full and clear letters, as I found when I turned over the ms. volume at Saint-Quentin. What then drove a man by the consent of all good and sensible to adulterate the genuine text? He changed it for this reason, as I think, that he judged one should stand by the Sermon on the entombment, and accordingly thought that a fault had crept into the Book.

[62] not in the year 825, as in the Sermon on the entombment. Certainly no one fails to admit that the Sermon is to be made much of. The author, especially where he treats of the Norman incursions, shows himself by no means ignorant of the reckoning of times. But he does not so well know the years of Louis the Pious. For he writes that the body of St. Cassian was brought … into the basilica of the blessed martyr Quintinus … in the eight hundred and sixtieth year of the Lord's Incarnation (Hémeré has the year 842), the twenty-eighth of the reign… of Louis the emperor Augustus. But in very truth Louis died on June 20 of the year 840 [Cf. B. Simson, Jahrbücher des Fränkischen Reichs unter Ludwig dem Frommen, vol. II, p. 230, Leipzig 1876]. Moreover, since the burial is in the Sermon ascribed to the year of Christ 825, the year of Louis' reign being unmentioned, and a little below it is added that the body of St. Cassian was brought in the year of Christ 860, the 28th of the reign of Louis; it would follow, if we stood by the numbers of the Sermon, that the translation of St. Quintinus took place before the reign of Louis. How absurd this is, no one fails to see. Hémeré therefore, as elsewhere the Book, so in this place emends the Sermon, setting the eight hundred and forty-second year of Christ. But neither does this accord with the twenty-eighth year of Louis; for since he entered on the empire in the month of September of the year 813 Ibid., vol. I, p. 3 and following, his twenty-eighth year falls in the forty-first year of our era, when he was no longer alive. This the Benedictines also assert, who note in the same place that his charters exist of two kinds: in some the years are numbered from April 15, 781, when Louis was inaugurated at Rome as king of Aquitaine, in others from the death of his father [Nouveau traité de diplomatique, vol. V, p. 716. Art de vérifier les dates, p. 538, Paris 1770]. If the former is taken, the twenty-eighth year of the reign corresponds to the year of Christ 809, when Charlemagne was still living. From this it appears that Hémeré and his followers erred. Moreover that the translation of St. Quintinus is to be referred to the year of Christ 835 is also shown from the years of the rule of Hugh, and of the episcopate of Echardus, or Eichardus or Achardus, as we shall now indicate.

[63] For Hugh also, son of Charlemagne, Hugh was the son of Charlemagne by Regina, whom he had joined to himself when already advanced in age. In the year 794 Cf. Pertz, Monum. Germ. hist., Scriptt., vol. II, p. 223, Fastrada having died, as Einhard says [Life of Charles, in Philipp Jaffé, Bibliotheca rerum Germanic., vol. IV, p. 525 and following, Berlin 1867], he married Liutgard the Alamannian, by whom he had no children. After whose death (June 4 of the year 800) he joined to himself in order Madelgard,… Gersuinda … and Regina, who bore him Drogo and Hugh, and Adallinda, from whom he begot Theoderic. But in the annals of Wissembourg, which Pertz published from a codex of the end of the eighth or the ninth century Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. I, p. III, we read this: In the year 802 or 803, on the 15th of the Kalends of July Drugo was born; indeed the distinguished Mone shows that it should have been said the year 801 Cf. Simson, Jahrbücher des Fr. Reichs unter Ludwig dem Frommen, vol. I, p. 23. After this year then and before 807 Hugh must have been begotten, if one may trust the annals of Lobbes, in which at the year 807 we read: There was born to the emperor a son, by name Theoderic. But in these annals the notation of times is by no means

certain Ibid. Cf. Pertz, Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. II, p. 195. On what authority Le Cointe confidently affirmed that Hugh was born in the year 808 I do not know Eccl. Annals of the Franks, vol. VII. p. 112. Yet since, after Liutgard's death (in the year 800), Charles had joined to himself first Gersuinda, of whom Adaltrud was born to him, then Regina, the mother of Drogo and Hugh, it could easily have happened that between the latter's birth and Liutgard's death about eight years flowed by. On this supposition, when his father departed from life on January 28 of the year 814, Hugh was six years old, or not much more. To him Louis the Pious at first showed himself most benevolent Nithard, Histories, in Pertz, Mon., Scriptt., vol. II, p. 651, and indeed until the year 818, when Bernard, plotting rebellion against his homeland, was deprived alike of his eyes and his life. Hence Louis, fearing lest the said brothers (Drogo, Hugh, Theoderic) should afterwards do the same …, tonsured them and committed them to monasteries under free custody Ibid.. Thus far Nithard. Thegan records similar things in the Life of Louis Ibid., p. 596: At the same time (at which Bernard died) the emperor ordered his brothers to be tonsured… Whom afterwards he honorably established: to Drogo he gave a bishopric, and to Hugh convents, monasteries; otherwise convent monasteries and many convents [Forschungen zur Deutsche Gesch., vol. X, p. 350 and following, Göttingen 1870. Cf. Mon. germ., vol. XIII, p. 390 and 616]. Bethmann therefore wrongly says that Hugh was tonsured a cleric in the year 825 Ibid., vol. VII, p. 1021. Only in the annals of Lobbes is the event referred to the year 825 Ibid., vol. II, p. 195; vol. XIII, p. 232.

[64] became abbot about the year 833, The author of the Moissac chronicle at the year 817 Ibid., vol. I, p. 313, vol. II, p. 257: His brothers born of concubines … he ordered to become clerics and sent them to several monasteries Cf. Le Cointe, Eccl. Annals, vol. VII, p. 485. What the annalist of the convent of Novalesa narrates about Hugh's training in that monastery has long since been found to swarm with errors Cf. Bethmann, in Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. VII, p. 102. This is established, that he lived for quite a long time in the town of Toul Bouquet, Rec. des hist. des Gaules, vol. VI, p. 394; likewise, as it seems [Cf. Simson, Ludwig d. Fr., vol. I, p. 127 and 239. Bähr, Gesch. der Röm. Literatur im Karoling. Zeitalter, p. 98], in the monastery of Charroux (Charroux). But in the year 822 the emperor Louis was reconciled to his brothers, whom he had ordered to be tonsured against their will [Mon. Germ., vol. I, p. 209; ibid., vol. II, p. 530. Cf. J. Besly, Du duc Hugues, fils de Charlemagne, p. 47 and following, in Histoire des comtes de Poitou, at the end, Paris 1647], and from him Hugh received convents and monasteries. But which and when? He is not rarely reported to have been abbot of Novalesa Hémeré, Augusta Vir., p. 74, of St. Vaast at Arras and of St. Medard at Soissons. But these are not to be accepted [Cf. Le Cointe, Eccl. Annals, vol. VIII, p. 720. Bethmann in Mon. Germ., vol. VII, p. 105, 129, 132. Cf. Van Drival, Nécrologe de l'abbaye de S. Vaast, p. 6, Arras 1878]. And what Ernest Dümmler, Philipp Jaffé, Theodor Sickel and others report from the annals of Lobbes, that he was also abbot of Lobbes, seems manifestly false [Cf. Simson, Ludwig d. Fr., vol. II, p. 240. Vos, Lobbes, son abbaye et son chapitre, vol. I, p. 164 and following, Louvain 1865]. This only is certain, that he presided over the monasteries of St. Quintinus of Vermand and St. Bertin of Sithiu [Annals of St. Quintinus, in Mon. Germ., vol. XVI, p. 507. Guérard, Cartulaire de S. Bertin, p. 82 and 90. Sickel, Die Urkunden der Karolinger, part II, p. 187 and 349. De Laplane, Les abbés de S. Bertin, part I, p. 57 and following, Saint-Omer 1854]; but from what year is not agreed among all. Hémeré will have it that he was created abbot of the former monastery about the year 823, when namely he was in about his sixteenth year: but I should concede this the less, because all agree that he began to preside over the convent of Vermand a little before he was set over Sithiu; and he was set over this in the year 834. On the death of Fridugis, says Folcard, in book I of the miracles of St. Bertin [Mabillon, Acta SS. Ord. S. B., vol. III, p. 107 and following, 468, Venice 1734. Cf. Guérard, Cart. de S. Bertin, p. 82], in the fourteenth year of his rule …, Hugh succeeded to the rule of the convent: which falls in the said year 834, because Fridugis, on the testimony of the same Folcard, in the eight hundred and twentieth year of the Word incarnate and the seventh of the aforesaid King Louis took up the abbey of the convent of Sithiu to govern. Hence Le Cointe Eccl. Annals, vol. VIII, p. 720 and 225: Hugh, he says, was abbot, namely of St. Quintinus, from the year … 833, and of St. Bertin from the year 834: from about which year also he begins to be recorded in histories and in royal diplomas as abbot and as royal notary [Sickel, Die Urkunden der Karolinger, part II, p. 187, 198, 201. Cf. Part I, p. 96 and following. Monum. Boica, vol. XXVIII, part II, p. 27]. He died in the year 844 Cf. E. Dümmler, Gesch. des Ostfränkischen Reichs, vol. I, p. 235. Although the succession of the abbots of St. Quintinus, in those times of which we are now treating, is obscure and uncertain, yet from what has been said it seems possible to gather that Hugh was created abbot about the year 833, and not ten years earlier; and that one should stand by the Book of Miracles, in which the translation of St. Quintinus is said to have been made by Hugh in the year 835.

[65] and Eichardus was created bishop of Noyon after 829, The same can be manifestly confirmed by the succession of the bishops of Noyon. Namely Eichardus, who is recorded as present at the translation, was not bishop of Noyon in the year 825, since he was substituted in the place of the dead Rantgar, and the latter was present in the year 829 at the sixth council of Paris. Which is seen in the charter which Inchad, prelate of the Church of Paris, gave at the time of the council, and which Gérard Dubois copied from the old pastoral of the same Church Hist. Eccl. Parisiensis, vol. I, p. 349 and following. Where this occurs among other things: In the presence of the venerable men coming together for the cause of God to the synodal council at the city of Paris, namely of Ebbo the archbishop,… of Rantgar the bishop etc. In that charter, adds the historiographer, are easily found which bishops celebrated the council of Paris, namely Ebbo archbishop of Reims,… Rantgar of Noyon etc. And again: Although there is no note of time in that charter, yet there is no doubt that it was given in the year of Christ 829, in which year the council of Paris is established to have been celebrated. Therefore Eichardus, who succeeded Rantgar or Ragenar of Noyon, did not govern this Church before the year 829, indeed not before the following year, if we follow Le Cointe, who wrote at the year 830 [Eccl. Annals, vol. VIII, p. 145. Cf. Migne, Latin Patrology, vol. XCVII, col. 593. Pertz, Mon. Germ. hist., Leg., vol. I, p. 295]: We judge… that Ragenar reached this year, and that Achard succeeded him, whom the old codex calls Eichardus in the translation of St. Quintinus. In sum therefore the translation of St. Quintinus took place not in the year 825, but, as Claude de La Fons said long ago Hist. de S. Quentin, bk. II, chap. 6 and 15, p. 129 and 172, Saint-Quentin 1627, in the year 835: for there is no other controversy among the learned than over the years 825 and 835, since all agree that the third translation cannot be ascribed to the intervening years.

[66] and Simeon presided over the Church of Laon from the year 835. This is again confirmed by the fact that Simeon of Laon is reported to have been present. Simeon bishop of Laon, says Le Cointe Eccl. Annals, vol. VIII, p. 389, succeeded Ostrold … in this same year (835), after Ebbo in the synod gathered at Theodonis Villa (Thionville) was ordered to withdraw from the pontifical ministry. Now this synod or placitum was finished on the first Sunday of Lent of the year 835 [Ibid., p. 351. Cf. Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. XIII, p. 471 and following; cf. p. 305 and following]. On this supposition, the translation of St. Quintinus could not have been made before the year 835. We pass over the other bishops who were present at it, namely Drogo, who ruled the church of Metz from the year 823 to 855 [Cf. Simson, Ludwig d. Fr., vol. I, p. 196 and following. Gallia christ., vol. XIII, col. 711 and following]; and Patratus prelate of Saxony, namely, as Hémeré will have it Aug. Vir., p. 75, of one of the twelve bishoprics which the emperor Charles had founded a little before in Saxony, the inhabitants having been claimed for Christ. Le Cointe, however, without any doubt says that Patratus or Badurad was prelate of Saxony, that is of Paderborn in Saxony, and adds that those are mistaken who number him among the bishops of Sées Eccl. Annals, vol. VIII, p. 389. It is established that Banderadus (Badurad), second bishop of Paderborn, succeeded Hathumar, who died probably on August 9 of the year 815 [Ebeling, Die deutschen Bischöfe, vol. II, p. 346, Leipzig 1858. Cf. Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. IV, p. 151. Rettberg, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, vol. II, p. 441], and that he died in the month of September of the year 859. Certainly he is numbered among the fathers of the council of Aachen in the year 816. The names of both chorbishops who are recorded at the translation have perished.

[67] Next to the body of St. Quintinus was laid the body of St. Cassian, Under the same abbot Hugh, after about ten years had elapsed, in the same crypt, on the right of St. Quintinus, was laid the body of St. Cassian bishop of Autun, which had been carried in the year 840 from Autun to Saint-Quentin: namely King Charles, in the eight hundred and forty-fifth year … of the Incarnation of Christ, … in the eighth indiction, on the Nones of March, reverently approaching the tomb of Cassian the pontiff of Christ according to prescription, with two bishops, namely Wenilo archbishop of Sens, and Immo prelate of the church of Noyon, and very many other lovers of God, … with most ardent love and highest devotion carrying out the very coffin in which the saint's body lay, …

he entombed it excellently and most beautifully beneath the crypt of the basilica of the aforesaid martyr of Christ Quintinus, namely at the right side of that witness of Christ, handing over for the lights and ornaments of both saints, and above all for the fabrication of the tomb of Bl. Cassian, one estate by name Tuniacum.

[68] with new lights hung up. This Hémeré published from the old Passionaries of the church of St. Quintinus [Aug. Vir., in the Regestum, p. 27 and following. Cf. Acta SS., vol. II of Aug., p. 59 and following]; and in another place [Aug. Vir., p. 76. Cf. Colliette, Mem. pour l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 346 and following]: Moreover, he says, what we have written elsewhere, that there was once a most magnificent and most august lighting in the church of St. Quintinus, is established both from this donation of Charles and from the silver crown, which, still hanging from the apse of the choir, is held before the high altar by an iron chain, but foully stripped of its metal except for certain plates of bronze worked with lilies and gilded… This, with a diameter of 16 feet, has in its circumference twelve turreted gates, and between these, projecting at equal intervals, points for holding candles, by whose splendor the place … would be widely filled, "that it might be a certain likeness of the heavenly city, which in the Apocalypse receives unfailing light from the Lamb, and is fortified with 12 gates." Now its use formerly was this, that it should burn on a solemn day as well… We believe that it was given for the splendor of the lighting either by the Bald himself or by some prince after the burnings of the Normans; which however the people thought was offered as a vow by an enemy besieging the city, that he might expiate the crime of blasphemy which he had vomited against the Saint… There was besides an assisia or beam before the shrines for holding thicker candles and to be lit on feast days. This … a canon lit by reason of the shrines, the crown a layman. Besides that immense abundance of candles, very many lamps also shone here and there and incessantly in the same basilica, votive gifts of the canons. So wrote Hémeré before the middle of the seventeenth century.

[69] The third translation is recorded in the sacred calendars. On October 25 the memory of the third translation is kept in the ancient ms. Martyrology of the church of St. Quintinus in these words: At Augusta of the Viromandui, the translation of the body and head of St. Quintinus the martyr from the tomb built for him by St. Eligius, into the crypt built by Abbot Hugh under the choir of the church founded by Fulrad, and still containing the tombs, empty indeed but venerable, of the same holy Martyr and of SS. Victoricus and Cassian. On the same day mention both of the translation and of the dedication is read in du Saussay, from the old martyrology of the monastery of Saint-Savin of Lavedan Gallican Martyrology, p. 1250; and likewise it is listed in the Arras and Tournai auctaria of Bede-Florus Acta SS., vol. II of March, p. XXXVI; cf. vol. XI of Oct., p. 391. At this day also the office of the translation is appointed in the breviary of the church of St. Quintinus of the year 1511. In the breviary of the year 1642 lesson IV shows the history of the translation, and likewise in the Proper of the year 1774, where the feast day is ordered to be celebrated with a double rite.

§ VIII. The translation of St. Quintinus from the crypt into the nave of the church. The division of the relics. Together with the sacred bodies of SS. Cassian and Victoricus they are placed behind the high altar, in the presence of St. Louis.

[During the translation of St. Quintinus from the crypt into the nave of the church,] When at the beginning of the reign of St. Louis IX, after long and troublesome lawsuits about rights and privileges carried on between the chapter of Saint-Quentin and the bishops of Noyon and others, and at length settled or at least laid to rest, peace had returned, serious thought began to be given to the raising of the relics of the holy patrons. Let us hear Hémeré Augusta Virom., p. 215 and following: Louis IX king of the Franks, patron and first canon of the church of St. Q., even in the very years of his boyhood looked up to the same martyr with singular cult and veneration, and thought especially of adorning and enriching his basilica; who, scarcely twelve years old (born April 25 of the year 1215, he succeeded his father on November 8 of the year 1226, his most pious mother Blanche administering the kingdom), anointed and crowned at Reims (November 29, 1226) by James de Bazoches, bishop of Soissons, … seems to have wished the elevation of the holy relics of Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian to be made as soon as possible (by which, brought out from their customary tombs, they were enclosed in those shrines which, clothed with gems and gold, were afterwards to be placed behind the high altar supported on little columns); and the restoration of the nave of the church to be begun; alms being collected, by which the work might in a short time reach its finish… Of that elevation of the relics, besides the commentaries of the church, the Great Belgian Chronicle has at the year 1229: At the entrance of May the elevation was made of SS. Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian, formerly bishop of the Aedui, at Vermand. It seems not out of tune to refer to this future elevation certain words of a charter of Philip Augustus, given in the year 1211. There the king testifies that peace was restored over the discords and complaints which existed between the countess (Alienor or Eleanor) of Saint-Quentin and the chapter of St. Quintinus. It will be useful to recite the passage where the raising of the holy martyr is treated: Likewise concerning the golden chalice of which the countess complained, the chapter answered that it melted it into a mass and sold it and with that bought good revenues, and that it still has the precious stones which were in it laid by, and that the chapter has many times offered them to the countess herself. That if she herself should wish to prepare a coffin for raising blessed Quintinus, the chapter would give back and apply to this all that gold and the stones mentioned Ibid., in the Regestum, p. 50. From which at any rate it appears that transferring the relics to another reliquary had long since been under discussion: which was at length accomplished in the year 1228 or the following. Claude de La Fons writes Histoire de S. Quentin, p. 149 that the chalice spoken of above was given as a gift by Charlemagne, and that besides many other things it was used to make and adorn the new shrine of St. Quintinus. Moreover there is no reason to doubt that that elevation was carried through with the most ceremonious pomp, although monuments are lacking by which the feast could be described Colliette, Mém. pour l'histoire du Vermandois, vol. II, p. 601. Nor is there anything by which it can be defined for certain whether the translation took place in the year 1228 or 1229 (various writers propose various years). Hémeré notes Aug. Vir., p. 219 that Enguerrand lord of Coucy, having been present, as we believe, at the elevation of the holy carriages, and stirred by it, a little later, in the month of July 1229, showed himself very munificent toward the church of St. Quintinus. Moreover, says Colliette Vol. II, p. 601 and following, this is the common opinion, that the precious reliquaries in which the sacred bodies of the three patrons were then laid were made in great part by the help of the gifts of the aforesaid Enguerrand.

[71] which is celebrated with a particular feast on May 2, The day, as we read again in Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 216, sacred to the elevation of the relics is kept among us with a celebrated festivity, the second of the month of May. In the Acta SS., among the Passed Over at May 2, is noted the Elevation of SS. Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian, inscribed in a certain martyrology of Usuard; which however is not found in its auctaria accurately collected and listed by Soller. It is also passed over by du Saussay. In the old ms. martyrology of the church of St. Quintinus is read: The 2nd day of May. The elevation of the body of the most blessed Quintinus the martyr, and of his companions Victoricus and Cassian. In the calendar of the breviary of the year 1511 the feast is thus announced at the same day: The Elevation of St. Quintinus. Annual. The office itself moreover consists of only one nocturn, although solemn. Almost everything refers to St. Quintinus, very little to SS. Victoricus and Cassian. In the other breviary, namely of the year 1642, the office is of nine lessons and a double of the 1st class, and shows many traces of the older breviary. So in the calendar it is marked: The Elevation of St. Quintinus and his companions Victoricus and Cassian. Double of the first class or greater annual. In this office, as in the one immediately above, the Holy Trinity is often recorded, not because the feast day is of three holy patrons (for the mention of Victoricus and Cassian is sparing), but because this is held to be the third elevation of St. Quintinus: for first the body was raised by Eusebia from the waters of the Somme; then by St. Eligius from the very ancient bier; finally today from the crypt of Hugh; and the sacred relics were laid in three caskets, as we shall soon indicate. Finally in the calendar of the Proper of the year 1774 is announced the Elevation of SS. Quintinus, Victoricus, martyrs, and Cassian the bishop; year 1228. Double of the 1st class or greater annual; and it appears from the larger characters in which the names are printed that this day is kept as a feast among the people. This office differs from those above. For the historical antiphons, capitula etc. being taken away, sentences from sacred Scripture are substituted, so that apart from three hymns and lesson II nothing is found that plainly concerns his life and contest.

[72] the relics were divided and laid in three reliquaries. During this elevation there were set apart the head and arm of Quintinus the martyr (and likewise of SS. Victoricus and Cassian) and contained in portable vessels, to be venerated with the daily veneration of the faithful. So in the breviary of the year 1642, lesson six: whence also in the responsory of the following or seventh lesson: Three vessels are fabricated, in which three things are placed: body, head, arm. These same words are found in the breviary of the year 1511; where also at the Benedictus in lauds this antiphon is written: Blessed be the Lord, through whom St. Quintinus has been three times revealed, and sealed in a threefold vessel. This is confirmed by the last breviary printed in the year 1774: In the year then one thousand two hundred and twenty-eight, on the second of May, the building of the choir being now finished, it seemed good for the adornment of the new basilica that the bodies of SS. Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian should be laid in richer shrines, and placed in a conspicuous place of the church. In as many vessels were laid aside the heads and one hand of the saints… Although the new caskets were not raised up behind the high altar before the fifty-seventh year of the thirteenth century, the presence of the aforesaid king (St. Louis) being awaited in accordance with his own vow… From these things there arose among some a doubt whether the three vessels were fabricated in the earlier year (1228) or in the later (1257). It is credible that the reliquaries, although made already in the year 1228, yet not furnished with all their adornment, remained laid aside in the old nave for nearly thirty whole years; and I am the more led to believe this because the king at the time of the first elevation was in his tender years, but at the time of the second in the flower of his age, glory and power. Whence it is not easily understood that in such circumstances nothing was contributed by him to the beauty of the vessels in which the pledges of the holy martyr were to be preserved for ever. This is altogether established, that the relics in the year 1228 or 1229 were brought out from their subterranean seats,

and enclosed in three separate reliquaries, were carried into the old nave of the church.

[73] In the year 1257 they were placed behind the principal altar. After this elevation it seemed that the relics should not be moved thereafter from their place. Yet the matter did not so stand. Scarcely thirty years having elapsed, another and far more solemn translation was carried out … from the nave of the old basilica into the new work, that is, into its choir, long since finished and completed Ibid., p. 241, on the Sunday before the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which in the year 1257 is found to have fallen on the second day of the month of September. There were present Louis with his children, and very many bishops and magnates, as is established from the rescript which the most holy king then issued: Louis by the grace of God king of the Franks. We make known to all, both present and future, that in the presence of our beloved and faithful Thomas archbishop of Reims, and the bishops Iterius of Laon, Peter of Châlons, Vermond of Noyon, William of Beauvais, James of Arras, Gerard of Amiens, Walter of Tournai and Ralph of Thérouanne; we ourselves being present together with our children Louis the first-born and Philip; there standing by moreover our beloved and faithful John count of Soissons, Simon lord of Nesle, Giles constable of France, and very many others: in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1257, on the Sunday before the Nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary, the bodies of the most glorious martyr of Christ, most blessed Quintinus, and of his blessed companions Victoricus and Cassian, were translated and honorably placed from the old church into the new fabric, which, begun in honor of that most glorious martyr, shines with excellent work. In testimony of which thing we have thought fit to affix our seal to these presents, together with the seals of the aforesaid archbishop and bishops. Done in the aforesaid year, day, place [Ibid., in the Regestum, p. 54. Cf. Bréquigny and Pardessus, Table chron. des diplômes, vol. VI, p. 314]. Claude de La Fons records Histoire de S. Quentin, p. 152 that in the early seventeenth century this instrument, fortified with the seals both of the king and of the bishops, was preserved in the archive of the church. William Marlot errs Metropolis Remensis, vol. II, p. 544, Lille 1679 where he asserts that the relics were then translated from the old reliquary into a new more elegant one; which is against the credit of the praised diploma and of all the writers I have seen; unless it is understood that the reliquaries in which the head, arm and body were laid in the year 1228 were then adorned with a more elegant and richer decoration. Which, as we have already indicated above, seems very probable to us.

[74] The feast of which translation, Alexander IV conferring indulgences, To the same solemnity refers the bull of Pope Alexander IV Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 241 inscribed To the Dean and chapter of the church of St. Quintinus; where among other things we read: Since therefore, as you have taken care to explain to us, you propose to translate the sacred body of Bl. Quintinus the martyr, which rests in your church, from one place of that church to another more worthy; we, wishing to incite the faithful of Christ to merits as if by rewards, mercifully relax to all who are truly penitent and confessed and who shall come to that church, on the very day of this translation, for the sake of devotion, one year and forty days; and to those coming to it every year on the feast of the same translation, forty days of the penance enjoined on them. Given at Anagni, on the Kalends of October, in the first year of our pontificate, and so in the year 1255, since Alexander was elected on the twelfth of December in the year immediately preceding. The bull thus came out about two years before the elevation of the sacred body. In that translation, says Hémeré, I think that some parts were cut from the sacred carriage to be distributed among the princes; which, carried into various dioceses of Gaul, gave occasion for very many chapels to be founded for Quintinus. Which I would rather refer to the year 1228, in which it is established both that the marble sarcophagus was opened, and that the relics were divided into three parts and laid aside in as many reliquaries. During this translation, however, no recognition of the relics is recorded. King Louis is said finally during those days of festivity to have founded in the church of St. Quintinus two chaplaincies, whose annual revenue was to be drawn from the domain of Vermandois Ibid., p. 242.

[75] is celebrated on September 2. That festival, says Hémeré again Ibid., p. 241, is celebrated by our people on September 2 and is called the "commemoration of the relics of the church"; which, since it was immediately followed by the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, to whom the shrine was also consecrated, indulgences were also obtained for the same day, so that both festivals might as it were coalesce into one, and become more solemn by the multiplied bestowals of spiritual goods. Yet du Saussay does not mention this feast in the Gallican Martyrology, nor do our predecessors among the Passed Over at September 2. But in the old ms. martyrology of the church of St. Quintinus it is announced in these words: On the same day (September 2) the translation of the body of blessed Quintinus and his companions into the new basilica, celebrated in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven. On the same day there shall be a double feast of blessed Quintinus and his companions, and of all the relics of blessed Quintinus retained in this church. In the calendar which is prefixed to the breviary of the year 1511, it is noted at the 4th of the Nones (Sept. 2): Feast of the relics of the church of St. Quintinus the martyr, double. In the other of the year 1642: Feast of the Holy Relics of the church of St. Quintinus, double of the second class. Likewise in the third of the year 1774: Veneration of the relics of the church of St. Quintinus by St. Louis, year 1257, double of the 2nd class. These three breviaries also show an Office of the Translation. In the first, lessons I, II, III and IV are recited, with certain words changed and one or another sentence inserted, from the Sermon on the Entombment, of which we shall treat more widely below: most of the rest are from the common of many martyrs; likewise in the second breviary, where however lessons V and VI are taken from the books and acts of the church of Saint-Quentin: the sixth is as it were an explanation of the diploma given by St. Louis. Finally in the office of the third breviary the antiphons, capitula, responsories etc. consist of words of Holy Scripture, all of which refer to the coming of St. Louis and to the veneration shown to the holy patrons. Lesson IV is copied from the charter of St. Louis IX king of the Franks preserved among the title-deeds of this church.

[76] There were five solemn translations in all. Thus five more solemn translations in all are numbered, of which the first was made by Eusebia in the year 341; the second by St. Eligius in the year, as I think, 641; the third by Hugh, son of Charlemagne, abbot of St. Quintinus, in the year 835; the fourth by another Hugh, not an abbot, but dean of the same basilica, in the year 1228, or the following; the fifth finally under Dean Nicholas I Ibid., p. 236, in the year 1257. Besides these greater translations, by which the sacred remains were laid up from one place into another safer one, from one reliquary into another, with the intent that they should remain thereafter in the new seat; some lesser or temporary ones are recorded, which you would more correctly call conveyances and pilgrimages; of these we shall speak in order, and as far as is needful, in the following numbers.

§ IX. The Norman wars. The body of St. Quintinus translated for a time to Laon, Cinceniacum and other places. A part of the relics is carried around through several provinces.

The sacred relics probably in the year 859, C. de La Fons writes Histoire de S. Quentin, p. 133 and following that, when the Normans were laying waste Vermandois in the year 859, the bodies of SS. Quintinus and Cassian were taken away from their seats and conveyed to another place, but an unknown one, and lay hidden there for a time. The learned man judges that to this refers the ancient martyrology of Saint-Quentin, where (as he himself testifies) at November 14 is read: The deposition of the bodies of SS. Quintinus and Cassian the pontiff, sorrow impending; and he says that in the same place at September 20 it is recorded that the same bodies, the storm having subsided, were restored to their tombs through Raginelmus, otherwise Rainelmus, bishop of Noyon, who had succeeded Immo, killed at that time by the barbarians. Colliette has the same Mém. pour l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 355 and following. And in very truth at the aforesaid year 859, the Annals of St. Bertin (which from the year 835 to the year 861 are established to be ascribed to Prudentius bishop of Troyes, a contemporary of the events [Cf. Wattenbach, Geschichtsquellen Deutschlands, vol. I, p. 168, 239 and following, Berlin 1878]) narrate among other things this [Monum. Germ. hist., Scriptt., vol. I, p. 453. Cf. Dudo of St. Quintinus, On the Customs and Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy, bk. I, no. 4, p. 131 and 321, Julius Lair ed., Caen 1865]: The Danes, newly arriving, lay waste the monastery of St. Walaric and Samarobriva, city of the Ambiani, and other places round about with plunder and burning… But those who stay on the Seine, attacking the city of Noyon by night, seize Bishop Immo with other nobles, clerics as well as laymen, and having laid the city waste they lead them away with them and kill them on the road [Cf. Pontoppidan, Gesta et vestigia Danorum extra Daniam, vol. I, p. 234, Leipzig 1740. Depping, Histoire des expéditions maritimes des Normands, vol. I, p. 121, Brussels 1844. Kruse, Chronicon Nortmannorum, p. 240 and following, Hamburg 1851]. Yet what pertains to Immo must be moved to the following year; for, as Pertz notes from Mabillon, it is manifest from the acts of the council of Toul at Tusey, to which he is read as a subscriber, that Immo … was surviving until the month of October of the subsequent year, that is 860. Rainelmus indeed, Immo's successor, is also found there among the names of the subscribers: but he could have subscribed its acts after the synod, which often happened, as certainly the two of Auxerre, namely Abbo and Christian, subscribed them. You will find the same in Dom Bouquet Recueil des hist. des Gaules, vol. VII, p. 75. Nothing therefore stands in the way of the two bodies having been hidden in the year 859, lest they be violated by the impious, and given back to their seats in the following year. Yet I could wish to find more certain testimonies. For that this removal of the sacred pledges is signified in the martyrology of Saint-Quentin is only a conjecture or suspicion. Moreover Hémeré passes it over in silence. Nor is it recorded in the Sermon on the entombment, where however the author in summary, but diligently and accurately, reviews whatever happened concerning the bodies of SS. Quintinus and Cassian in former years.

[78] and certainly in the year 881, were placed in safety, Twenty years later the storm raged anew, and the Norman fury ran riot much more vehemently, especially in the years 880 and following. At which time twice, to use the words of Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 80, the sacred carriages of SS. Quintinus and Cassian were conveyed to Laon; first on the Kalends of January 881, brought back to their seats in the following year

on February 2. When and in what manner this was done is set out in the Sermon on the entombment in these words: Here, that the sense of the discourse may be clearer and more manifestly understood, a few things are to be inserted from the annalistic chronicle. And since the bodies of the same saints were twice conveyed in sorrow to Laon and twice brought back to us with honor, it is pleasing to set out more openly both the cause of the flight and the outcome of the return. For in the eight hundred and eighty-first year from the Lord's Incarnation, on the Kalends of January, under the compulsion of fear of the Normans, they were first removed from their tombs and carried for the first time to the aforesaid mountain. For in the former year at Compiègne, Charles's city, Louis, the descendant of Charles, weighed down by excessive infirmity, breathed out the spirit of life on the day of Good Friday (April 10 of the year 879). Wherefore his sons, the one called Louis, the other Carloman, were established as kings. In the same year too a great multitude of pagans, coming from overseas parts, occupied the monastery of Ghent and cruelly laid waste all things round about. In that same year also King Louis of beyond the Rhine came to Francia, extorted part of Lothar's kingdom from his nephews, and waged war against the Normans on the estate of Fumon; he inflicted a great slaughter on them; with God's favor he stood forth as victor, and, having lost his son, returned sadly to his own. But at length our Louis and Carloman went to Amiens, and there by the counsel of the princes divided the kingdom between them by fixed limits. From there they went together to Burgundy and put down Boso from the royal dignity, and stayed there nearly a year. Meanwhile the pagans in the month of November 880, invading Courtrai and finding Francia empty of king and princes, came as far as Péronne of the Scots, and set it on fire. Hearing this, the young King Louis, moved by grief of mind, left his brother in Burgundy and returned to Francia. But the pagans, made keener by their prosperous successes, confident that no one could resist them, went out from Courtrai with an impious and terrible army, and, spread abroad for forty thousand paces or more, they ravaged everything to the point of extermination. When the aforesaid king had learned this for certain, surrounded by a multitude of Franks, supported by the comfort of God, he came upon them unexpectedly. He is said at length to have slain so great a multitude of them at the villa of Saucourt as we believe never fell in Francia at any other time. For which reason both those who escaped and the rest who had stayed at Courtrai, struck with excessive terror, fled, and making for the Betuwe they atrociously laid waste all the places around the Meuse. In the following year, that is 882, the bodies of Saints Quintinus and Cassian, coming down from Laon on the Kalends of February, with a huge crowd of people and with the melody of praises and hymns, on the day of the Purification of holy Mary were brought back into their own basilica.

[79] as the Normans laid waste Gaul, So far the Sermon on the entombment of the holy martyrs of Christ Quintinus and Victoricus and of the holy confessor Cassian, which we shall publish below. The notation of time and the events as narrated and arranged above are particularly confirmed by annals and chronicles of better repute. One thing there is that causes hesitation. The sacred bodies are said to have been carried to Laon on the Kalends of January in the year 881, and it is added that in the former year Louis breathed out his spirit on the day of Good Friday, which at first sight seems to be referred to the year 880: yet the matter does not so stand. For it is certain that Louis, surnamed the Stammerer, of whom it is question, died on the said day, that is, the tenth of April, in the year 879. Moreover the word former can be understood in a wider sense, so that we may not absurdly say that one or another of the preceding years is meant, and the more so because the translation fell on the Kalends of January, that is, the first day of the beginning year, if, as seems to be the case, the author takes the start of the year from those Kalends Cf. Cl. de La Fons, Histoire de S. Quentin, p. 135.

[80] and again A little later the sacred bodies were again taken to the same place. For at that very time, as we read in the Sermon on the entombment, when the aforesaid king was arranging to go to Angers, and to make a pact with Hastein, he fell into infirmity, and thence returned to Saint-Denis, and there, alas! breathed out the spirit of life. After whose death the Franks established Carloman as king. As soon as the pagans heard this, they entered the Scheldt with ships and reached Condé. For this reason the bodies of the aforesaid saints were carried a second time to the mountain of Laon. Later the Normans, arriving at this place, killed many with the sword, and led many away captive too; and thus the church of the blessed martyr Quintinus was cruelly burned, which had fifty-nine years from its completion. So, almost every place being devoured, the pagans, going forward this way and that, set out for other parts. Thereafter, all being everywhere afflicted by various misfortunes, with Christ's favor, in the fifth year the lord count and abbot Theutricus, using prudent counsel, began to build the walls of this place, on the twelfth of the Kalends of May; which, relying on their very keen talent, they caused to rise quickly, as necessity compelled. Whence the precious bodies of the saints, namely of Quintinus and Cassian, attended by a numberless crowd, on the third of the Kalends of November (October 30 and so the day before the festival of the holy Patron), were again brought back to their own and placed within the walls of the burned house, in the year 885, as will seem more probable from what is to be said.

[81] about the year 882, This second translation Claude de La Fons ascribes Ibid., p. 136 to the year 883, but Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 79 and following to the year 882 (in which same year, on February 2, the relics had first been brought back from Laon). Each is drawn from the Sermon, and indeed on nearly equal grounds. Louis III died at the beginning of the month of August of the year 882; Carloman, hearing of his death, returning from Vienne, which he was besieging, succeeded in his brother's place. Meanwhile the Normans burst in anew. If these things are supposed to have been finished within four months, the second conveyance must be said to have taken place at the end of the year 882; if not, at the beginning of the year 883. But that the treasure was brought back in the year 885 all agree. Which can also not rashly be gathered from these words of the Sermon: Thereafter … in the fifth year, the lord count and abbot, etc. Since the first conveyance is there ascribed to the year 881, on the very Kalends of January, it is clear that the fifth year from then falls in the year 885. At the end of the same Sermon one reads: The limbs of the martyr Victoricus were conveyed to Saint-Quentin and placed next to the pledges of the glorious… Quintinus in the eight hundred and ninety-third year, on the third of the Kalends of November, and a space of ten years having passed after the church of blessed Quintinus was burned by the pagans (in the year 883, as I shall show below), in the fifth year of the reign of Odo king of the Franks, that is the year 893, and the seventh from the building of the walls.

[82] until Saint-Quentin, after suffering many disasters, was at length fortified. These things are sufficiently confirmed from elsewhere. It is certain that the Normans about the beginning of the year 882 withdrew from these regions, burned Trier and advanced as far as Metz, but afterwards again ranged around Laon… They ravage what is round about, as Dom Bouquet says Rec. des hist. des Gaules, vol. VIII, p. LXIX and following; they reach as far as the gate of Reims,.. but do not enter the city. The body of St. Remigius … is transferred to the villa of Sparnacum (Epernai)… King Carloman attacks the Normans, slays them and puts them to flight… The Normans in the month of October fix their seat at Condé and atrociously devastate the kingdom of Carloman… A battle being joined at the villa of Avallum (Avaux), the Franks stand superior and about a thousand Normans fall. Another battle again is marked next to the forest of Vicogne (Vicogne), and the barbarians, scattered here and there, having lost few of their men, return to their ships. Why should the relics of St. Quintinus not have been again taken back to a safer place, namely Laon, amid so many and such great storms and the repeated incursions of the barbarians? especially since greater calamities were foreseen, which followed shortly afterwards. For in the year 883 the Normans burned the monastery and church of St. Quintinus Ibid. Cf. Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. XVI, p. 507, and again plundered all things far and wide. In the following year the barbarians (which some refer to about the end of the year 883) laid on the king and the Franks twelve thousand pounds of silver as tribute, and hostages being given mutually, began to be to some extent secure Cf. Pontoppidan, Gesta Danorum, vol. I, p. 245. In the same year Carloman died. At any rate in such circumstances it is easily understood that the count and abbot, in the year which followed the death of Carloman, began, as is read in the Sermon, to build walls around Saint-Quentin; which, relying on their very keen talent, they caused to rise quickly, so that after a space of about six months they judged it to be a safe refuge for the sacred pledges: which on the third of the Kalends of November were again brought back to their own and placed within the walls of the burned house (the basilica), in the year, as all report, 885, until, matters being more peaceful, they might be laid back in their crypts. Which was done after about seven years.

[83] The times cannot be closely defined. And these are about the things that may be said with sufficient probability, in so great a darkness, about the years of each conveyance. Annals and chronicles on the incursions of the Normans are available, indeed they abound, and these for the most part ample and diffuse. But it is difficult to establish the order of the times, nor does anyone seem hitherto to have defined with sufficient certainty in what year each thing happened. For as the annals and chronicles differ among themselves, so even now the learned by no means agree. But this is altogether established, that the northern provinces of Gaul at the close of the ninth century, and by name from about the year 880 to the year 886 (to speak only of what chiefly pertains to our matter), were scarcely secure from the barbarians; although these, ravaging, ranged more widely here and there, to the Rhine, the Scheldt and the Meuse; and at intervals, either driven back by adverse war or willingly on a pact concluded, withdrew from the Somme and the Oise, yet always ready, if occasion should offer, to return to the prey. This indeed is worthy of particular remark, that the Normans rarely attempted walled cities, more rarely took them by siege; and so it came about that Laon offered a convenient and safe refuge to the sacred relics, even amid the hostile incursions. Thus too a reason is given why it came into the mind of Tetricus to enclose Saint-Quentin with works. Nor afterwards, so far as I know, was that city ever either plundered or captured by the Normans.

[84] The bodies of SS. Quintinus, Cassian and Victoricus are placed in the crypt, Some years having elapsed, namely in the year, as we indicated above (no. 81), 893, on the left of the shrine of St. Quintinus was placed the body of St. Victoricus, chiefly by the labor of Otger or Otgar, then, from canon of Saint-Quentin, bishop of Amiens. Victoricus and Fuscian, companions of St. Quintinus, had undergone martyrdom near Amiens; and their bodies, found in the sixth century and translated into the city [Cf. Acta SS. of Belgium, vol. I, p. 153 and following, 164 and following. Tillemont, Mém. eccl.,

vol. IV, p. 456. Colliette, vol. I, p. 408 and following. Claude de La Fons, Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 130], rested there through the courses of many times, as we read in the Sermon on the entombment, until Otger conveyed the limbs of the aforesaid martyr Victoricus here with great honor, and placed them next to the pledges of the glorious witness of Christ Quintinus (which, when they had returned from Laon in the year 885, had been put within the walls of the burned basilica). But they did not remain long in the same place. For when at the beginning of the tenth century the bodies of SS. Quintinus and Cassian were laid up each in its own mausoleum in the crypt, there was added on the left of St. Quintinus a third tomb in which the relics of St. Victoricus were deposited Cl. de La Fons, Histoire de S. Quentin, p. 138. Of these the author of the Sermon on the entombment: When the mercy of God had willed to pity us and to bestow the suffrages of his comfort, it calmed the dangers of the fires, put down the savagery of the pagans, granted peace and concord, and also gave the fruit of the earth abundantly. Wherefore the faithful of this place took salutary counsel that the bodies of the same saints should be fittingly laid back in their mausoleums. For there came the venerable prelate of the church of Noyon, Raubert by name, relying on a prudent simplicity and adorned with a simple meekness, and with the other brethren serving God there they suppliantly entombed on this very day the carriages of the three often-mentioned saints in their crypts. While this was being accomplished, a globe of light appeared over the mausoleum of St. Quintinus, illumining the coffin three times with shining light. Finally Raubert decreed that this day should be held festive and solemn. See the Sermon, delivered more probably on an anniversary of this kind.

[85] at the beginning of the tenth century. It is established that these things were done at the beginning of the tenth century, but the year cannot be accurately defined. Raubert, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 84, or as others have it Rambert, … summoned to Augusta by the clergy, … entombed the three carriages of Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian in those coffins of which I spoke under Fulrad, in the same crypt. We do not know the year; unless perhaps that entombment took place in the year 903, in which Rambert was installed in the chair of Noyon. Colliette narrates the same Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 417 and, as he testifies, Levasseur. The Sainte-Marthes tied the entombment to the year 893, gathering this, as they themselves thought, from the old Sermon; but altogether wrongly. For the Sainte-Marthes, as the authors of the Gallia christiana say Vol. IX, col. 990, distorted that Sermon, of which they transcribed some lines. You may read it entire in Hémeré… From there indeed you will gather that the church of St. Quintinus was burned by the Normans in the year 883; that Otger … brought the body of St. Victoricus into the same in the year 893; that afterwards, with no year designated, Raubert … translated the relics of SS. Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian. Baillet manifestly errs Les vies des Saints, vol. VII, p. 439, Paris 1739 where he asserts that this took place in the year 885 or rather in the year 893. Claude La Fons proposes January 12 of about the year 900. But Hedilo, Raubert's predecessor in the see of Noyon, obtained in the year 902 from King Charles the Simple the toll of Noyon and other gifts, according to two instruments, which you may read in Levasseur, pp. 677 and 679 Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 990. Moreover there exists a letter of Hedilo bishop of Noyon to Rodulf bishop of Laon, on behalf of Rotger the deacon, which was written in the 5th indiction or the year 902 [Labbe, Concil., vol. VIII, col. 1899. Bréquigny, Table chron. des diplômes, vol. I, p. 363]. The burial must not therefore have been made before this year. As to January 12, on which it both took place and, by the decree of Raubert, is kept with an annual celebration, Hémeré wrote this in the Iconismus Aug Vir., p. 369. Cf. Colliette, vol. I, p. 417: The twelfth of January. Entombment of Quintinus, Victoricus, Cassian, made by Rambert prelate of Noyon after the Norman desolation. More than a hundred years later the relics of St. Quintinus were again taken from their seat for a time, not to be received into safety, but so that the men of Saint-Quentin might obtain their right, as we shall now narrate.

[86] The relics of St. Quintinus are carried to the estate of Cinceniacum, Herbert III, count of Vermandois, who presided from the year 988 to about the year 1000, had given to the church of St. Quintinus the estate of Cinceniacum * [Cf. A. Matton, Dict. top. de l'Aisne, p. 261. Cf. Diction. universel de la France, vol. V, p. 112, Paris 1805]. But since several men, and these, as it seems, leading ones, were attacking the donation, and indeed retaining the estate, Hugh, dean of the church of Saint-Quentin, in order to drive the robbers to the restitution of the sacred property rather by the vengeance of the saints and heavenly threats than by the forces of a hand armed with supreme power Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 105 and following, had the relics of the holy martyr taken to Cinceniacum, nor without the desired outcome. The matter as it was done is set out by the author of the Sermon on the elevation of the most glorious martyr Quintinus, which you will find printed in full in the Regestum of Hémeré P. 24 and following. We have copied the passage from the Authenticum: Amid … the rejoicing of proclamations it is brought out from the vaulted crypt by Hugh the monk (in Hémeré is read monarch), prelate of the cenobites of this place. The choirs took part, and it is carried with the melodies of odes onto the most sacred altar of blessed Peter, the key-bearer of heaven… Nor should it be passed over in silence why so noble a business seems to have been accomplished in this place on this day… And what the most devout fathers (our ancestors) did, this their offspring does not cease nobly to perform. In our time therefore Herbert, a very noble man and prince of all our kingdom, and also father of the convent, remembering the acts of former fathers and greatly loving the holy martyr of God, handed over for the lights of both saints, namely of the most holy martyr Quintinus, and of Victoricus his most glorious companion, one estate by name Cinciniacum with all its appurtenances to be held in perpetuity… But later it was indecently taken away by certain princes and assigned to their own uses. At which all were disturbed, and with tearful voices they called on the holy martyr: "Illustrious martyr Quintinus, receive the prayers of our weeping, bring help to the wretched who flee to you." And when now, as we have said before, with the melodies of odes, with candles and lamps and all the adornment of the church, both sexes applauding with the rejoicing of proclamations, it is gladly brought out with all devotion by the worshipers of Christ from the tomb of Parian marble, and laid on the altar of blessed Peter, or the high altar… Cl. de La Fons, Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 141. That the sacred body was then taken to Cinceniacum and brought back from there is not indeed openly expressed in the Sermon, yet it is not obscurely indicated, where the blind man who had recovered the light of his eyes on invoking the holy martyr is said to have accompanied the relics as far as Cinceniacum. It will be useful to subjoin the words themselves.

[87] and they return from there, prodigies being wrought, While the holy martyr of God was in the more secret part of the church, namely before he was taken to Cinceniacum Ibid., a certain blind man holding the honor of the clerical state, going to Rome from overseas parts, coming before the altar, prostrating himself, beating upon the Lord with most serene prayer, and calling tearfully on the holy martyr, recovered, the Lord having mercy, the light which he had lost for nine years, and accompanied the saint of God with joyful countenance to the villa named above (Cinceniacum). The author adds what was the fruit of taking the sacred pledge: this, namely the villa or Cinceniacum, being at length recovered and possessed by the holy brethren by perpetual right, with crowds of peoples flowing together to him from every side, he returned to his own with a great dance of praises, staying on the holy altar until the next solemnity of his martyrdom; on which he was laid back with the highest reverence in his own little coffin. Another miracle took place after the body had been brought back to Saint-Quentin: But this also must not be passed over in silence, that at the return of the holy martyr Almighty God showed a miracle. A certain woman had lain sick for a long time in the same village (Saint-Quentin); who, as she was brought by her people into the church of the holy martyr, both received her own former health safe and sound and returned joyfully to her own.

[88] as is narrated in the Sermon on the elevation; That the Sermon from which we have taken these things was delivered on the anniversary day of the elevation the author clearly declares. It begins thus: It is fitting, brethren, … to keep this festive day… And below: For this day is very solemn to us … on which it has pleased the supernal piety to confer on mortals … the chief gift of its piety, by which they might raise from his own mausoleum the carriage of its illustrious martyr, the champion Quintinus. Colliette points out, however Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 550, that this memorial is no longer celebrated even in the church of Saint-Quentin itself. The author of the Sermon seems, as we said above, to be contemporary with the elevation. This at any rate is suggested by the words: Nor do we wish to perish through the torpor of negligence what has been conferred in perpetual right on holy Mother Church … in our times. And a little later: In our time at any rate Herbert, a very noble man etc. Which surely betray the author as, if not contemporary, at least nearly so.

[89] which took place about the year 1000. That the elevation, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 106, was made in the summer season is manifest from the fact that the sacred body, after the pilgrimage to Cinceniacum, rested until the solemnity of the martyr (October 31) on the altar which was sacred … to St. Peter. It remains for us to inquire to what year the pilgrimage is to be tied. Claude de La Fons judged Histoire de S. Quentin, p. 143 and following that the Herbert recorded in the Sermon is the count second of that name, who succeeded his father Herbert I in the year 902 and died in the year 943; but that the elevation took place after this year and so under Count Albert I Cf. Art de vérifier les dates, vol. II, p. 703, ed. of 1784. To this opinion, on the testimony of Colliette Vol. I, p. 548, Hémeré also had at first gone; which he afterwards changed, thinking that the donation of the estate of Cinceniacum should be attributed to Herbert III, because it was made when Hugh was dean, to whom Vivian succeeded. He says therefore that the elevation took place while Herbert (namely III) was still living, as is established, who had given the benefice (of Cinceniacum) to the church of St. Quintinus. For I see Vivian as dean in the year 1015, which I think was Herbert's last Aug. Vir., p. 105. And in very truth Vivian the dean is read as a subscriber of a charter of Albert II given in the year 1015 to the monks of Saint-Prix Ibid., in the Regestum, p. 34. On this opinion, then, which Colliette also follows, the elevation must have taken place between the year 988, which is the first of Herbert III, and the year 1015. But now nearly all agree that Herbert died about the year

1000 Cf. Art de vérifier les dates, vol. II, p. 703.

[90] Not rarely they were carried around for a time The body of St. Quintinus, brought back from Cinceniacum to its seat, had to go on pilgrimage again and again thereafter. The relics were often carried around for a time through several regions, especially those smaller reliquaries or portable vessels Cf. above, no. 72 in which the head and arm or hand of the holy patron were contained. For, namely, when through a very long space of time the canons of Saint-Quentin were laboring to raise or repair the new church, exhausted of money, they sent men with a reliquary here and there, that alms might be collected and the building carried through Cf. Quintin de La Fons, Hist. de l'Église de S. Quentin, p. 26 and following. In the capitular acts of the church, which, as Hémeré says Aug. Vir., p. 299, began to be written on paper in this year (1393), parchment rolls having been given up, this is written at March 27, 1393: It was harmoniously ordained that a new shrine of St. Quintinus should be made by John Griscaume the goldsmith, and that for making it there should be applied to it at least 20 marks of silver and 20 francs for gilding it; and it was agreed by the dean and chapter with the said John that, the said shrine being made, two goldsmiths should be chosen at Paris or elsewhere, who shall appraise the said work, and by their judgment ordain concerning the wages of the said goldsmith. Then let provision be made by the chapter of a sufficient and suitable man, to lead and direct the said shrine through the country. Hémeré notes in the same place: The reason for carrying the shrine around was to seek subsidies for finishing the work of the nave of the church, which we have said was begun in the years of the holy king Louis, and those indeed in which the translation of the sacred relics was made from the old basilica into the new fabric, that is, from the old nave itself into the choir… But did no other traveling shrine precede it with the same end and purpose? That some certainly existed I am persuaded to think by the words of the capitular decree "let a new shrine be made" etc., namely in distinction from the old one, which, torn and dislocated at length by frequent carrying and the jolting of the gig, seemed less suited to the dignity and veneration of the relics. But the same want and narrow means had always pressed them even from the very beginning of the building, nor did the benefits of kings, nor the annuals of prebends … suffice for the completion of so great a mass.

[91] that alms might be collected. It is established that the reliquaries were similarly carried around about the year 1471, and then indeed the larger ones. The dean and chapter of Saint-Quentin, says Hémeré Augusta Viromanduorum vindicata, p. 322, wrote to Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, that it might be permitted to carry around the shrine and relics of the patron martyr through the whole of Belgium and the provinces of his dominion. And the Burgundian answered by a diploma in French, by which the permission requested for collecting alms was granted to the petitioners, to this effect: "Charles. Since at the beginning of the present wars the collection of alms, which for very many years has been wont to be made for the church of St. Quintinus through these Belgian provinces and others subject to us, has been interrupted; and the relics themselves of the holy martyr and the other sacred objects belonging to the same church have hitherto rested in our city of Arras, and for that reason all who are afflicted with diseases, or moved by an affection of pious devotion toward the glorious martyr blessed Quintinus, and who in these times would not dare to greet the threshold of the same church, are forced to abstain from their pious pilgrimages; and the alms and very many gifts which our subjects had vowed with a religious mind to the martyr are now hindered, with evident detriment to the aforesaid church, etc., we most kindly grant the permission which you request, by which you may carry around the relics of blessed Quintinus the martyr freely and far from all fear through these provinces etc., and we will that the collectors of alms deputed by you, and likewise the relics themselves, the carriages, horses, and whatever sum shall be given you by the piety of our people, be protected by our special safeguard etc. In the year 1470."

* Sinceny

§ X. The siege of Saint-Quentin in the year 1557. The head of St. Quintinus taken away to Cambrai by the Spaniards and restored eleven years later.

Saint-Quentin being besieged, The order of time demands that we speak of the head of St. Quintinus carried off to Cambrai by the Spaniards, and restored from there after eleven years to the church of Saint-Quentin. When and in what circumstances this was done seems to need explaining somewhat more widely. For the disaster inflicted on the city about the middle of the sixteenth century is famous in the annals of the Viromandui. That is, peace having been broken between Henry II, king of France, and Philip II likewise, king of Spain (to him had been added Mary, queen of England and Philip's wife); at the beginning of the month of June of the year 1557, as Sponde says Continuation of the Annals of Baronius, vol. II, p. 568, Lyon 1678, Emmanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, whom Philip had set over Belgium, having collected great forces, … unexpectedly invested with a siege Saint-Quentin, formerly called Augusta of the Veromandui, situated on the river Somme, of the greatest importance for conducting war in that tract, and not sufficiently fortified with works and soldiers against so great an army. When the French had more than once tried secretly to bring it help, and the attempt did not succeed on account of the vigilance of the enemy, King Henry resolved, leading an army openly, to carry the matter through by force. But being drawn back from that plan by his own men, he enjoined that task on Anne de Montmorency the constable. He, hastening there with an army … with this plan, that while he himself should hold off the enemy with slight skirmishes, the designated auxiliaries should enter the city; attacked by the enemy during his withdrawal, far inferior in strength, after a long and doubtful contest of four hours, chiefly by the valor of the count of Egmont, a Belgian [Cf. Quintin de La Fons, Histoire partic. de la ville de Saint-Quentin, part II, p. 73 and following], and the prudence of the Savoyard, the French being routed, many nobles were killed, more captured together with the constable… And this is that most famous battle, called of Saint-Quentin from the besieged city, and likewise of Saint-Laurent from the day on which it was fought, namely August 10, the feast of St. Laurence [Cf. Colliette, Mem. pour l'hist. du Verm., vol. III, p. 197 and following. Hémeré, p. 350. Bataille de S. Quentin, racontée par un officier de l'armée de Philippe II, in C. Gomart, Études Saint-Quentinoises, vol. IV, p. 366 and following, cf. p. 412, 429 and following, vol. I, p. 153 and following. Disc. de Gaspard de Colligny sur le siège de S. Quentin, in Michaud, Nouv. coll. de memoires, vol. VIII, p. 67 and following. Mémoires de Jean de Mergey, ibid., vol. IX, p. 561 and following].

[93] taken and plundered, After this battle all hope of safety was taken from the city of Saint-Quentin, the enemy coming nearer almost every day, and cutting off supplies. At length, as Sponde says, loc. cit., the walls being destroyed by the thundering of artillery or overturned by the multitude of mines, the town on the 6th of the Kalends of September, when there were no more than eight hundred armed men within, while the enemy's army had grown immensely by the arrival of the forces of Philip and of the English, … was stormed by a general assault. Surius, a contemporary of this war, adds [Cf. Colliette, Mem. pour l'hist. du Verm., vol. III, p. 197 and following. Hémeré, p. 350. Bataille de S. Quentin, racontee par un officier de l'armee de Philippe II, in C. Gomart, Etudes Saint-Quentinoises, vol. IV, p. 366 and following, cf. p. 412, 429 and following, vol. I, p. 153 and following. Disc. de Gaspard de Colligny sur le siege de S. Quentin, in Michaud, Nouv. coll. de memoires, vol. VIII, p. 67 and following. Memoires de Jean de Mergey, ibid., vol. IX, p. 561 and following]: Here must not be passed over the notable piety of King Philip, who before the very storming of the city proclaimed by the voice of a herald that the soldiers should not profane the sacraments and sacred things, that they should commit nothing against the relics of the holy martyr Quintinus, which were reverently kept there; that they should not do injury to priests; that they should spare the old; that they should not harm cenobites and virgins consecrated to God, etc. Having recited this passage, Claude Hémeré adds [Aug. Vir., p. 350. Cf. Rapport de M. Ernest de Chauvenet sur les archives de S. Quentin, in Documents his. inéd. publiés par Champollion-Figeac, vol. II, p. 6, Paris 1843. Hordret, Hist. des droits anciens de S. Quentin, p. 260, Paris 1781]: Let the reader judge of these things. For the relics and bells of nearly all the churches, the treasures and records were carried to Béthune and Cambrai, the hangings and sacred vestments and vessels to England, and the priests were led away into captivity… Through the walls of the city, broken by a threefold assault, the enemy mounted, and most monstrously defiled the captured city with fire and the blood of citizens and soldiers. Which however do not prevent the edict of Philip, which we mentioned above, from being held as truly and sincerely issued. The same author writes a little below Aug. Vir., p. 352: Matters having now advanced to a certain calm, leave to return home having been obtained, and passes for free trade and conversation having been exchanged between the nations, nearly all our men (canons), except the dean, in the month of July (of the year 1559, from the city of Paris, whither many had fled), returned first to Chauny, then to Saint-Quentin, although it was still serving a foreign master; and the treasures and bells of the church brought back from Cambrai, and the highest bell of the clock, and from Béthune very many jewels, they recovered, letters having been written by Anne de Montmorency, after manifold journeys and sedulous management of the matter.

[94] [the citizens, as the Spaniards depart, unwillingly hand over the head of St. Quintinus,] The Spaniards, peace having been sanctioned between the kings, left the city on December 10 of the year 1559, among us, adds Hémeré, with a public procession and a solemn thanksgiving rite. But then a most bitter sorrow was branded on the chapter and the whole city. For the Spaniards in departing carried off with them into Belgium a most precious pledge, the relics of the head of the most blessed martyr, enclosed in a very rich reliquary, and placed them in the citadel of Cambrai. But at the moment when the men of Saint-Quentin, struggling against that violence of the Spaniards, were maintaining that the treaties were being violated by manifest perjury, the quarrel growing hot, as happens, with words from both sides, the treasurer of the church, forced at last to yield to necessity and violence, bringing the relics out of the treasury, and imprinting, as he pretended, a last kiss, also fixed a point into the skull and marked a sign with his eyes, with such skill and pretense of countenance and gesture that no one seemed to have seen the action, no one to have suspected anything. So the men of Saint-Quentin, complaining throughout Belgium of the relics taken away, yet obtained nothing, and they sent Charlet the scholasticus to Brussels, but in vain; the Spaniards alleging that the French, by military plunder, had taken the sacred caskets of the church of Lens in the diocese of Arras, in which were contained the relics of saints formerly sent from Syria by Godfrey of Bouillon, lord of that place and founder of the church,

under the leadership of Coligny, first. Let the French therefore restore what was taken from the college of Lens; then at once its own would be given back to that of Saint-Quentin. John Vandexta the Spaniard and Souquenet the Frenchman, advocates of our cause, moved everything at Brussels that the wishes of our people might be satisfied: for the former had a son who was a canon of Saint-Quentin; but with vain effort: the bishop of Arras, namely, who was then still Anthony Perrenot de Granvelle, contradicting the restitution of ours, unless first those of Lens should be given back to their places. A catalogue of these also, together with a little list of the places in which they lay hidden, had been sent to Chantonay, legate of the king of Spain, at Paris Ibid., p. 352 and following. Before we go on, it will not be off the point to have noted some things in this narrative.

[95] yet first, as some authors report, That piercing, of which after Hémeré the authors of the Saint-Quentin breviary published in the year 1774 have also spoken, and Colliette himself Mem., vol. III, p. 234, is not mentioned by the older breviary, namely of the year 1642, nor by Claude de La Fons Hist. de S. Quentin apôtre, p. 162, nor by his brother Quintin, most diligent investigators of the affairs of their native city. The latter, setting out at length the siege itself and what took place during it and descending to trifles, narrates only this of the sacred head Hist. de la ville de S. Quentin, vol. II, part II, p. 90 and following: Charles de Brimeu Cf. Famiano Strada, On the Belgian War, decade I, p. 36 etc., Antwerp 1649, count of Megen (de Brimeu, comte de Meghem), who commanded at Saint-Quentin for the king of Spain, seeing the time at hand at which the city was to be restored to the French, on December 15 had the head of the blessed martyr transferred from the church of St. Quintinus to the citadel of Cambrai, and that against the faith of the treaty struck. Which thing brought immense sorrow both to the canons and to all the inhabitants, when on returning to their own they found themselves despoiled of so precious a treasure. The French were restored to the city on December 19. On the following day the dean and canons of the church of St. Quintinus, who had come back a little before, decreed that on the next day, that is, December 21, a general supplication should be held in thanksgiving for the freed city; which since that time has been held every year on December 19. Moreover Hémeré himself does not mention the piercing in another work [On Public Schools … a dissertation for the royal church of St. Quintinus. There is added a Chronological Table of the deans, wardens and canons of the same church,… Paris 1633] which he had given to print ten years before the publication of the Augusta Viromanduorum: The Spaniards … carry off the relics of the head of the most blessed martyr enclosed in a very rich reliquary, and place them in the citadel of Cambrai. Our men complaining of the violated articles of the peace obtain nothing etc. Ibid., in the Chronological Table, p. 164. In a booklet lately printed on the martyrdom of St. Quintinus [Vie de saint Quentin, … traduite d'un manuscrit du XIIc siècle, … avec quelques notes explicatives, … by the abbé Gobaille, parish priest and archpriest of Saint-Quentin, p. 58, Saint-Quentin 1870], the matter is recorded thus, not without a certain indication of doubt: It is reported that to this carrying-off belongs the hole which may be seen even today. The canon whose task it was to hand over the head to the count of Megen is said to have pierced it for this reason, that it might thereafter be recognized the more certainly.

[96] pierced with a needle, that it might be recognized. For my part, on account of the express testimonies of Hémeré, of the more recent breviary and of Colliette, I would not flatly deny the fact; but I greatly doubt whether the hole which is seen in the part of the crown still surviving can be referred to those times. You would more aptly call it a trace of the piercing of the head during the passion. Certainly, on the authority of St. Ouen, the nails also, of marvelous size, which at the time of his passion the persecutors had driven into the body, drawn out from the BRAIN and the other limbs, St. Eligius set apart for himself as relics. Which at any rate agrees with the opening that we still see, as it is rather wide, and so made rather by means of a nail or thicker instrument than of a point or needle. And this seems to me to be hinted at by Hémeré himself; whose words it is useful to repeat: The treasurer … also fixed a point into the skull and MARKED A SIGN WITH HIS EYES, with such skill and pretense of countenance and gesture that no one seemed to have seen the action, no one to have suspected anything. From which manner of speaking it follows at any rate that it is not a question of a visible hole, but of a puncture, and that so minute that, in order to be recognized thereafter, a sign had to be marked. Whence in the last breviary of the collegiate church one reads: a hole of a needle fixed in the skull by the treasurer; which certainly agrees altogether with the circumstances of the times in which the thing was done. The point mentioned by Hémeré, then, can have been nothing else than a pin, and of such a kind that it could easily be kept from the eyes of the bystanders. Otherwise the same author expressly says a little below: The hole and sign impressed on the skull by a needle (cf. no. 98). I do not know whether a trace of the fixed needle still survives today. But it must be noted that the crown of the holy martyr no longer survives entire; at the end of the century immediately preceding several parts were taken away; in which perhaps the sign impressed by the treasurer would be found.

[97] At length restored, after the relics of Lens were given back by the French, The relics of Lens (on account of the refusal to restore which the sacred head of St. Quintinus was retained longer at Cambrai) we should say were taken away in the same year 1557 in which the battle of Saint-Quentin was fought. For in this year about Epiphany Coligny, as de Thou narrates Jac. Augustus Thuanus, Histories of his Own Time in 138 Books, vol. I, p. 613, took Lens by force, plundered it, and after treating it licentiously at last burned it; and having driven off a huge booty, when he had ranged on the border for a good few days, he returned to his men. Similarly Surius at the year 1557 Brief Commentary, p. 496: At the same time another army of the French was harassing Artois (then counted among the Belgian provinces and subject to Spain), so that about Epiphany… they vainly attempted Douai, but took the city of Lens by force, much booty being carried off and the town set on fire. Moreover it is asserted in the more recent breviary of the collegiate church of the year 1774 that the relics were restored before the head of St. Quintinus was given back. Having noted these things in passing, I return to Hémeré, who thus sets out the recovery of the sacred pledge Aug. Vir., p. 353.

[98] in the year 1569, For ten years the men of Saint-Quentin sweated in that care and contention, namely over recovering the crown of their holy patron, until at length they recovered them (the relics), sought back with so great labor, in the year 1569, letters having been written on the matter by Charles IX and Catherine de' Medici his mother to the duke of Alba, governor of Belgium; Anthony des Planques the dean being the chief agent of so religious a work. The hole and sign impressed on the skull of the relics by a needle (for the treasurer had warned his colleagues of the more secret deed) made the deputies altogether certain and secure of the genuineness of the relics, when they were received (for they could have been exchanged for others). So, brought back from Cambrai, they were carried into their church and seat on September 14. The fuller history of which bringing you will read in the new breviary at the same day. Thus far Hémeré.

[99] is received with incredible joy by the men of Saint-Quentin. And in very truth in the supplement of the praised breviary, printed in the year 1642, this is read: On the 14th day of September. Commemoration of the bringing back of the head of Bl. Quintinus from Cambrai, to be placed above after the commemoration of the octave of the Nativity of Bl. Mary, at first vespers of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

LESSON IX on the Bringing back of the same head, to be placed in the position of the ninth lesson set in the same feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. On this day the clergy and people of Saint-Quentin received from Almighty God a singular benefit, by which the most precious relics of the head of their patron martyr, which had lain hidden in a foreign place for eleven full years, returned to their shrine and seat. These the victorious soldiery had taken away, when peace had at length been established between the kings, and it was restoring to its lawful lord Augusta of the Viromandui, taken and plundered not long before, and had placed them to be safely guarded in the citadel of Cambrai. The canons and citizens indeed followed that loss with tears certainly much more abundant than for their possessions lost in the pillaged city, and left nothing untried during that interval of years that that treasure might be given back to them. But the labor was vain, until God, pitying the afflicted city, ordered the series of events with such providence that what others had not obtained by long complaints beforehand, this Anthony des Planques, dean of St. Quintinus, of outstanding merit, the agent of the pious negotiation, and with him very notable canons, colleagues in the work, furnished with letters of recommendation from Charles IX king of France and Catherine de' Medici his mother, easily obtained from the duke of Alba, governor of Belgium. The report being carried to Augusta of the sacrosanct pledge recovered and arriving, the clergy themselves went forth in solemn procession and all the citizens poured out of the gates to the gardens far outside the city, and halted at the first milestone, because, on seeing the bearers of the sacred load, they burst out in thanksgiving with harmonious prayers and voices. Then, venerating the relics present with religious greeting and jubilation, placed on the shoulders of levites, with continuous chants they most devoutly brought them back to their own temple, in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-nine. From which time by a law of the elders a solemn procession was instituted every year, by which posterity might celebrate for ever the memory of the divine benefit with public congratulation and supplication. A commemoration is also found in the last breviary, which we said was published in the year 1774; but here no longer in the supplement, but in the body of the book and indeed inserted in the office of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and arranged with new care.

§ XI. When the relics of St. Quintinus were divided. Their fates at the end of the eighteenth century. Recognitions made in the years 1807, 1840 and 1870: the instruments. The relics carried to Brussels and brought back from there. Their present state. Of the head and the right arm.

The relics of St. Quintinus, divided in the year 1228, In what we reported above Prelim. Comm. § V, VI and VII of the body of St. Quintinus found and buried by Eusebia, raised later by St. Eligius, and carried into the crypt in the year 835, there is nothing to indicate that great parts were separated. But when in the year 1228 the relics were brought out from the subterranean tomb and laid in the old nave of the basilica, then, as we read in the breviary of the year 1642, at May 2, there were set apart the head and arm of Quintinus the martyr, and contained in portable vessels, to be venerated with the daily veneration of the faithful. The breviary of the year 1774 reports the same, where in place of arm is read hand Cf. above, no. 72. During the fifth more solemn elevation, in the year 1257, both the shrine in which the body was contained and the portable vessels were placed in the choir of the church behind the high altar, where they remained until the end of the eighteenth century.

[101] were hidden in the year 1793, But when the party of the impious had prevailed throughout the whole of France, then the same disaster as to the other cities was inflicted on Saint-Quentin. Not only were temples despoiled and altars violated: but the sacred relics which in churches and monasteries

were religiously preserved, torn from their reliquaries and heaped together, were ordered to be burned before the raving multitude. But the Lord did not permit the body of St. Quintinus to fall into wicked hands: which indeed even today, if not entire, at least in good part still exists. How this was done and through whom we learn from the instruments which L. Gobaille of pious memory, formerly archpriest and parish priest of the church of Saint-Quentin, kindly communicated to us. Wherefore let us be permitted to profess our gratitude to that most excellent man, who has deserved splendidly of our Acts. These instruments, turned from French into Latin, we subjoin, keeping the order of time.

ACTS OF JULY 29 OF THE YEAR 1795.

[102] and were found in the year 1795, On this Wednesday, the twenty-ninth of July, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, at two o'clock in the afternoon, we the undersigned Peter Blot, Nicholas Joseph Rambach, both presbyters and formerly canons of the then royal and collegiate church of St. Quintinus; Charles Felix Bartholomew Dubois-Muller, temporal administrator of the church of St. Quintinus, now vicar (suppleant) of the parishes of the city, together with C. Christopher Francis Duuhez, and Peter Louis Florent Oudart, doorkeeper and beadle of the temple, having been informed by the aforesaid Oudart and John Louis Joseph Fidelis Mainsner, usher (suisse) of the same temple, that it had happened to them, when the churches were being devastated by those who were endeavoring to abolish the worship of the Catholic religion, to keep safe from the profanation and destruction intended a notable part both of the relics of St. Quintinus, St. Victoricus and St. Cassian, and of those which were laid up in the treasuries of the church of St. Quintinus and of the other parishes and monasteries; and that they had covered them with earth, on November 19 of the year 1793, in the crypt assigned to the burial of the canons; we betook ourselves to that place; where, having invoked the holy name of God and asked him to prosper our labor, we dug the earth in that part of the crypt in which the aforesaid Oudart asserted that he had laid up the most precious relics of the holy martyr in Christ Jesus Quintinus, as many as he had been able to collect. At a depth of two feet we found the remains of the linen in which the relics had been wrapped. It was almost wholly consumed by the moisture of the earth. Thereafter the deposit was most diligently sought, and collected not without a huge feeling of veneration and joy. Few relics of so precious a treasure survived, since a great part had been given to the fire by the keeper of the pledges, fearing, as he himself testified, that on the following day (which he knew the impious were planning) they would be profaned and burned in the public square of the city, to the great complaint and groaning of religion and of Christians. We certainly mourned the loss of a great part of the relics of our holy patron; but it was a consolation that the right hand of the blessed apostle of Vermandois was uncovered: it was still sound and entire, but infected by the moisture of the earth it had taken up. We found also the skull, with part of the jaw and some other fragments of the head of St. Quintinus; and certain other bones of the body, a list of which will be annexed to the present instrument, where we shall also enumerate the other relics we may happen to find. We collected moreover two other bones, which the aforesaid Oudart, alarmed by the new turn of things, had merely thrown into the crypt to preserve them. One was the head of St. Boniface, which had belonged to the parish church of this city named of St. Martin; but it was entirely broken by its fall: the skull alone survived entire; the other likewise was a skull from the head of St. Victoricus: this we could easily determine from certain gold marks which we saw in that place which was open to the veneration of the faithful, and which had arisen from the contact of a gold cross, .. with which the head had formerly been adorned. The precious pledges were deposited by us in the hall of the library, until, enclosed again in reliquaries, they can be shown to the people to be venerated and revered. The search for the other relics was put off to another day, because the aforesaid Mainsner knew better than the aforesaid Oudart where they had been deposited, and he was absent on this day from the city of Saint-Quentin. All and each of these things we assert and testify to be true, and we have subscribed. At Saint-Quentin, on the twenty-ninth of July, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five. It was signed: Duboy (sic). Blot. Rambach. Oudart.

ACTS OF AUGUST 3 OF THE YEAR 1795.

[103] with the relics of other saints. On Monday, the third of August of the current year (1795), I the undersigned Nicholas Joseph Rambach, presbyter, formerly canon of the church of St. Quintinus; having been informed by the said Mr. Dubois-Muller that he, while digging in the crypt in the place designated by the aforesaid Oudart and Mainsner, with their help, had uncovered a very great abundance of relics, which had formerly belonged to the treasuries both of the church of St. Quintinus and of the parishes and convents of the city; which had been buried there indiscriminately; and as necessity pressed to recover them from this place in which they were being more and more spoiled, about half past seven in the morning we went down together into the crypt, and most diligently collected the sacred bones and deposited them in the hall of the library. In faith of which things we have subscribed: on the day and year as above. It was signed: Duboy. Blot. Rambach. Oudart.

ACTS OF AUGUST 17 OF THE YEAR 1795.

[104] and by name of SS. Cassian and Victoricus. Finally on Monday, the seventeenth of the same month and year, we Nicholas Joseph Rambach, priest, Charles Felix Bartholomew Dubois-Muller, temporal administrator of the church, and Peter Louis Florent Oudart, doorkeeper and beadle of the church, the undersigned, wishing to recover the most precious relics of the blessed Victoricus and Cassian, which had been committed to the earth in the crypt where the burial of the canons and chaplains of the church of St. Quintinus was, and already before sought by us with great effort, but in vain; betook ourselves into the aforesaid crypt at two o'clock in the afternoon, and pressed on with our holy undertaking, praying God to favor and prosper the work undertaken. After we had labored painfully and persistently for more than three hours, when we were on the point of leaving off, the carrying through of the work being put off to another day; Mr. Dubois, finding a small piece of silk cloth, judged that the splendid deposit was not far away. And in very truth, when he had dug a little more deeply into the earth, he uncovered certain bones, so old that we thought they belonged to the relics we were seeking. Having removed, as far as we could, the hindrances of the pit in which they were hidden, we religiously and most diligently collected all and each of the bones, taking care that not even the slightest part, if it could be helped, should be passed over. The precious relics of the bodies of SS. Victoricus and Cassian were mingled together; because the aforesaid Oudart and Mainsner had scarcely had time enough to cover them with earth, that they might be saved from the impending plunder. We laid them in the library, next to the sacred remains previously found, hoping that some day, God helping, it would be granted to separate them from one another; and full of joy, that it was permitted again to set them with the others before the Christian people to be venerated. Mr. Delaville de Mirsnont, the venerable president of the clergy of the city, because he was of advanced age and infirm health, we could not ask to help us, nor even to be present; and likewise, since the work was very laborious, and perhaps foreseen to be long, because the aforesaid Oudart and Mainsner could no longer define closely in which places the three relics had been hidden; and since also the provost of the said Mr. de Mirsnont, Mr. Peter Blot, priest, was weighed down with age and was continually busy with the labors of the sacred ministry, we could not always invite him to be with us in our pious undertakings. Which at length, God helping, we brought to a happy outcome. In faith of which things we have written our names to these. It was signed: Rambach. Blot. Duboy. Oudart.

ACTS OF AUGUST 30 OF THE YEAR 1795.

[105] Soon afterwards they were diligently recognized and listed; On this thirtieth of August, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, at the end of the vespers and benediction sung in the church of St. Quintinus; the undersigned Peter Blot, Mary Anthony Joseph Bainast, Nicholas Joseph Rambach, all priests and formerly canons of the then royal and collegiate church of St. Quintinus; Andrew Cambronne, Charles Anthony Stanislaus Adam, themselves also priests and formerly canons of the church of Nesle (Nelle), and the latter formerly parish priest at Saint-Quentin of St. John of St. Quintinus; Florent Francis Mauroy, likewise priest and formerly canon and provost of the royal church of St. Pecinna and chaplain of St. Quintinus; Louis Ambrose Pontruet, also priest and formerly chaplain of the said city of Saint-Quentin; Gabriel Benedict Celestine Bissez, priest and formerly prior of the abbey of St. Hunegund of Homblières, of the Order of St. Benedict of the old observance; James Matthew Lotineau, also priest and formerly a Benedictine monk in the said abbey of Homblières; Peter Joseph Violette, also priest and formerly a Bernardine monk of the Cistercian Order of the filiation of Clairvaux, director of the former abbey of Fervaques; Anthony Soyeux, called Father Spirit (Père Esprit), also priest and formerly a Capuchin at Saint-Quentin; all devoted to the ministry of the Catholic, apostolic and Roman religion in the church of St. Quintinus (where, greatly indeed to the regret of us the undersigned, Mr. Delaville could not be present, himself also priest and vicar general in the diocese of Noyon, and formerly dean of the said church of St. Quintinus, hindered by illness); Charles George Alexander Lecaisne, formerly justice of the peace (juge de paix) in the western part of the city of Saint-Quentin; John Baptist Trombert, formerly a clothing merchant in the said town of Saint-Quentin; Louis Andrew Doublet (senior), linen merchant in the same place; Louis Quintin Grébert (senior), grocer in the same place; Eligius Fouquier, notary living in the said Saint-Quentin; Charles Christopher Francis Joseph Duuez, merchant and president of the tribunal of commerce of the same city; Charles Felix Bartholomew Dubois-Muller, a young man of full legal age, and Robert Bourdet, merchant in the said Saint-Quentin: these, eight in number, temporal administrators of the aforesaid church of St. Quintinus; gathered in the larger sacristy of the same church: in which also were present Robert Andrew Forestier, doctor of medicine, inhabitant of the said Saint-Quentin, specially called, and Louis Florent Oudart, doorkeeper and beadle of the said temple, who likewise was asked to be there; in whose presence Mr. Rambach read the acts of July 29 and of the third and seventeenth of the current month of August, from which it is clearly established concerning the finding of the precious relics of our holy patron, the apostle of Vermandois, likewise of St. Victoricus, St. Cassian, and others belonging to various saints. After this the undersigned went up into the old hall of the library, to recognize the precious pledges deposited there, and to draw up a new instrument in confirmation.

Having entered that library, where several bones had been placed on tables, the said Messrs. Blot, Rambach, Dubois-Muller, Duuez and the aforesaid Oudart found that they were the same as those treated of in the acts cited above, and asserted that they well recognized them all. This being done, a new recognition was made, in this way: at the end of the table, as the said gentlemen named above had indicated, on the left of those entering, there was found and

recognized:

The head of St. Quintinus: namely a certain large portion, on which are impressed the signs of the veneration customarily shown, that is, the right parietal bone joined to half of the left; and a smaller portion, namely the upper part of the right temporal bone; the right part of the upper jaw, but this greatly mutilated; likewise a certain left part of the same jaw, and a small piece of the lower jaw, with the last molar tooth; moreover another fragment, so minute that it cannot be defined to what it belongs.

Then four fragments belonging to a vertebra, of which the largest is the left bone, but greatly mutilated; the other three are also mutilated and very minute.

Two vertebrae, which are entire; of which one is the first vertebra of the neck, called the atlas, on which the head rests; the other vertebra, itself also nearly entire, is the first of the back.

Several slight portions of other vertebrae.

Slight parts also of the broad bones of the shoulder blades.

Part of the left temporal bone.

Likewise part of a kneecap (or patella).

Part of the bone of the foot called the calcaneum: on which there survive certain marks and indications of parts taken away.

The greatest part of the sternum (the bone of the breast) from the joint of the clavicles down to its lower cartilage.

A true rib (or long one) from the left side of the thorax, altogether entire.

A false rib (or short one) from the right side, likewise entire.

The middle of the long ribs of the right side.

The first of the long ribs on the left, under the clavicle.

A very small part of another long rib.

The penultimate of the short ribs on the left.

Three small pieces of a longer bone, so shapeless that what it is cannot be defined; moreover a small piece of another bone whose canal is still seen: the largest of these pieces are two inches long.

Two small pieces, longer than the aforesaid, of a large bone, too mutilated to be distinguished.

A fairly notable part of a femur.

The left femur, mutilated at both its ends.

The left tibia, likewise mutilated at its ends.

Finally the right hand, like a mummy (mommie), furnished with muscles, flesh and nails, somewhat corrupted; there still adhering the bones of the carpus, the first row of bones of which the hand consists, and the second row of bones which are called the metacarpus.

Part of the head of St. Boniface, which comes from the parish church of St. Martin…

The lower jaw of St. Praejectus…

Part of the skull of St. Victoricus, consisting of fragments of both parietals, and of the bone of the forehead, greatly damaged…

Of St. Cassian:

Two fragments of the skull, in great part greatly damaged; likewise of the right parietal bone … and the left part of the temporal. The left half of the upper jaw, joined to the likewise left zygoma (os de la pommette); likewise the right zygoma, separate, and the lower jaw, cut off by three-quarters from the left side.

In faith of which things the present instrument was drawn up and written out, on the aforesaid day and year, to which the aforesaid citizens Rambach, Mauroy, Pontruet, Trombert, Fouquier, Duuez, Dubois-Muller, Robert Bourdet and Forestier have subscribed; the other citizens listed above had departed to attend to their business, while the present instrument was being made out.

Signed: Duuez, of the church fabric. Rambach, priest, formerly canon of St. Quintinus. Duboy-Muller. Robert Bourdet (junior). Fouquier. Mauroy, priest. Pontruet. Trombert. R. A. Forestier.

[106] and again in the year 1805 What was done from then until the year 1807 is not clearly established, sufficiently clear documents being lacking. In the Register or Inventory of the sacred vessels, … reliquaries and other furnishings belonging to the church of St. Quintinus (État des vases sacrés, … reliquaires … et autres ustensiles), there is marked a Reliquary of gilded wood, furnished with little windows (à glaces), containing in the lower part the hand of St. Quintinus, and in the upper the other surviving parts of the body (except the head, which is noted as preserved there in another reliquary, as we shall declare below). To this register, moreover, which is still found in manuscript in the archive of the church of Saint-Quentin, the date of August 1 of the year 1802 is written. Thus we are taught that the surviving parts of the sacred body were already collected in one and hidden in a reliquary; but from what time is unknown to us. We have more certain testimony for the year 1805, in which Peter Fortier, parish priest of Saint-Quentin, by order of the bishop of Soissons, recognized the sacred pledges, and laid them in two reliquaries (in one of which was the head of the holy martyr) protected by the seal of the ordinary, with this end, that, as formerly obtained, they might be presented to the people to be venerated. These things we read in the instrument of the year 1807, of which we shall soon have to treat: for the authentic letters of the recognition made in the year 1805 I have hitherto sought in vain at Saint-Quentin and Soissons. Nor does it seem to me doubtful that the same reliquaries are here marked as are recorded in the Inventory of the year 1802. What then? Were the reliquaries, in which the pledges might be more fittingly preserved, already made in that year 1802; but in the year 1805 diligently recognized and fortified with the seal by the aforesaid Peter Fortier? If this were not so, I do not see on what ground the credit of the Inventory could be proved, at least as to the day and year (August 1, 1802) on which it is read to have been drawn up.

ACTS OF JUNE 8 OF THE YEAR 1807.

[107] and in the year 1807: John Claude Leblanc Beaulieu, by divine will and the authority of the holy apostolic see bishop of Soissons and Laon, to all who shall see these presents, greeting and blessing in Our Lord. Having examined the various acts, given on July 29, August 3, 17 and 30 of the year 1795, and signed by Messrs. Peter Blot, formerly canon of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus, Nicholas Joseph Rambach, also formerly canon, Florent Francis Mauroy, formerly canon and provost of the collegiate church of St. Pecinna, and chaplain of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus, Louis Ambrose Pontruet, also formerly chaplain of St. Quintinus, and Messrs. Charles Christopher Francis Duuez, merchant and today subprefect of Saint-Quentin, Charles Felix Bartholomew Dubois-Muller, churchwarden, Eligius Fouquier, notary, John Baptist Trombert, formerly merchant, Forestier, physician, and Florent Oudart, formerly usher of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus, all inhabitants of the city and witnesses of whose genuineness we are particularly assured; from which acts it is certainly shown that some parts of the relics of the blessed martyr St. Quintinus were withdrawn from the fury of the impious by the zeal of certain pious persons ("de quelques personnes pieuses:" I should think devout women are meant, who first withdrew the sacred remains and then handed them over to Peter Oudart and John Mainsner: these, as we have seen, having received them, laid them up hastily in the crypt destined for the burial of the canons), while in the years 1793 and 1794 the sacred temples were being devastated throughout the whole of France; and that the witnesses named above, after they had diligently examined the aforesaid pledges shown to them, recognized them to be exactly the same as were formerly proposed to the veneration of the Christian people with the good permission of our most reverend predecessors; having seen also the instrument of the recognition of the said relics made in our name, on January 3, 1805, by Mr. Peter Fortier, parish priest of the city of Saint-Quentin and regional archdeacon (de l'arrondissement), at which there were present Messrs. Dominic Mary de la Sone, formerly canon of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus, and Nicholas Joseph Rambach, likewise formerly canon, who again recognized them to be the same: which recognition being made, We had the said relics, of whose genuineness there was assurance, laid up in two reliquaries, fortified with our seal, with this end, that, as formerly obtained, they might be presented to the Christian people to be venerated.

Being most fully persuaded that those precious relics are genuine, we desired to take out some parts of them, with which to present various churches. And so, the integrity of the seals having first been recognized, we ordered both reliquaries to be opened in our presence, and a new comparison of the relics with the instruments having been made by us, we drew out a part of a thigh bone, which we granted to the parish called l'Atre S. Quentin in the diocese of Arras; likewise one vertebra, two fragments of a rib and other greatly mutilated fragments. Then what remained we enclosed in two reliquaries, which we at once secured with our seal, so that they can no longer be moved from their place.

The relics (that is, both the aforesaid reliquaries) are kept in a gilded wooden casket, quadrangular, oblong, closed by four oval panes, furnished with a small superstructure fashioned in the manner of a tomb, and having on its four sides eight panes, also oval: and these are what survive of the bones of the body of St. Quintinus the martyr; which the collegiate church had possessed entire until the change of the commonwealth. The remaining things are enumerated thus:

1. The whole right hand, showing the appearance of a mummy, with muscles, flesh and nails, the bones of the carpus still adhering.

2. Two tibias, but mutilated at the ends.

3. Part of the hip bone.

4. The sternum, nearly entire.

5. One vertebra.

6. Two ribs and a fragment of another broken rib.

7. One kneecap.

8. Part of a bone which seems to be from the leg bone called the fibula (péroné); likewise another part but shapeless.

9. The calcaneum, on which are seen traces of a saw.

10. Several bones of the head, so mutilated that they could not be gathered into one in the casket in which are preserved the precious relics of the same head, namely the temporal bone, nearly entire, part of the parietal bone, two fragments of the upper jaw, of which one is still furnished with a molar tooth, likewise a fragment of the lower jaw.

The aforesaid relics we have recognized and again by these present letters we declare certain and genuine, and belonging to the body of the blessed martyr St. Quintinus; which we permit to be displayed in public in the parish church of St. Quintinus and to be solemnly carried around in supplications, that the memory of the holy patron of Vermandois may be venerated, and his protection won for the inhabitants of the city and of our whole diocese, and also for ourselves. We will that these our authentic letters be deposited in the reliquary, before it is fortified with seals; but that a copy of them, recognized by us, be written in the registers of the fabric, and preserved in its archive.

Done at Saint-Quentin, during the diocesan visitation, on June 8 of the year 1807.

Signed: J. Cl. bishop of Soissons.

[108] they were then preserved in two caskets. From these instruments we learn first that the bones of St. Quintinus, on November 19 of the year 1793, when there was great disturbance of affairs in France, were hidden in the sepulchral crypt of the canons, having at any rate first been brought out of their reliquaries; that they remained there covered with earth for about two years; and at length, the storm having abated, were taken out of their hiding places in the year 1795. There is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the parts which are so accurately designated in the instruments then made, and recognized by thoroughly competent witnesses. Finally we are taught that the relics so listed were afterwards enclosed in two reliquaries: in one (for this is the way the acts published above seem to be interpreted) were preserved the chief bones of the head, in the other the right hand and the other parts which they had certainly found to belong to the sacred body. Both those reliquaries the bishop of Soissons ordered to be enclosed in a larger casket. We hold for certain that those two reliquaries mentioned by the most reverend Mr. Leblanc de Beaulieu are the same as are listed in the Recognition or Inventory of the year 1802: namely that in which the hand and several bones of the body are indicated to be contained

(cf. above, no. 106), and moreover a casket of gilded wood containing what remains of the head of St. Quintinus, furnished with a golden jeweled cross, and another plain golden cross etc.; the same I saw described in the Inventory made on November 6 of the year 1790, when the church of St. Quintinus was closed, which is now preserved in the public archive of Saint-Quentin.

ACTS OF JUNE 3 OF THE YEAR 1818.

[109] In the year 1818 one of the ribs was extracted, Annexed to the public instrument of the year 1807 are read these things, written in the same hand as the copy of that instrument.

On this third of June of the year one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, we Anthony John Nicholas Debully, vicar general of the diocese of Soissons, in the presence of Mr. Peter Fortier, parish priest and archdeacon of Saint-Quentin, and Mr. Delvas, vicar, by mandate of the most reverend lord bishop, extracted one of the ribs of which mention is made in the present instrument, that it might be divided into two parts, of which one is to be handed over to the cathedral church of Soissons, the other to the parish church of Fère-en-Tardenois in the greater district of Château-Thierry (arrondissement de Château-Thierry). Subscribed by Debully vicar general, Fortier and Delvas.

ACTS OF NOVEMBER 26 OF THE YEAR 1829.

[110] and in the year 1829 the hand was translated into a new casket. Thus far, as I have said, everything is written in the same hand; what follows, however, in another hand: but each one has written his own name.

We the undersigned, parish priest and archdeacon of Saint-Quentin, testify that this copy agrees with the authentic exemplar, which was laid in the new casket into which, according to the powers given to us by the most reverend bishop of Soissons and Laon through the reverend Mr. Delaloge, vicar general, we translated the hand of St. Quintinus, patron of this city and parish; the other bones described in it being left in the old casket, as is declared in our instrument made on this day and laid in the new casket. In faith of which things we have subscribed and fortified with our seal this copy; which also have signed with us Messrs. Louis Francis Demory, priest, first vicar of this parish, and Nicholas Joseph Rambach, priest, formerly canon of the royal chapter of Saint-Quentin, now vicar of this parish, and superior of the sacred rites in the hospital of the city, who were present at this translation, and recognized the precious relics described in the instrument. At Saint-Quentin, on Thursday, November 26 of the year 1829. Grandmoulin, parish priest and archdeacon of Saint-Quentin. Rambach, vicar. L. F. Demory, vicar.

Recognized in faith of the names signed above: Debully, vicar general of Soissons.

ACTS OF JULY 19 OF THE YEAR 1840.

[111] Fragments of these relics were given to several churches in the year 1840, Then in the year 1840 the relics of the blessed martyr were recognized by Jules François de Simony, bishop of Soissons and Laon, by the drawing up of this diploma:

Jules François de Simony, by divine mercy and the favor of the apostolic see bishop of Soissons and Laon, dean and first suffragan of the province of Reims.

Holding the pastoral visitation of our diocese, we inspected in the city of Saint-Quentin three reliquaries containing relics of Bl. Quintinus the martyr, which the parish church of this city possesses. The recognition of the said reliquaries having been made, we first acknowledged that the seals were intact which Mr. Francis Grandmoulin, parish priest and archdeacon of the said parish, had set on, when, by a special faculty given to him by us, he transferred part of the said relics into two new reliquaries, obtained by the piety of the clergy and people of this city for keeping the precious deposit. The said translation, all things to be observed having been observed, was made on the twenty-sixth of October of the year 1828, and the twenty-sixth of November 1829, in the presence of the witnesses noted in the instrument which was laid in each reliquary. Then, having broken the seals, we reverently received the relics laid in the several reliquaries, with the authentic letters signed and fortified with the seal of our most reverend predecessor, of pious memory, Mr. Leblanc Beaulieu, and also with the acts of the aforesaid translation. Having read those instruments, and having recognized and compared all and each of the relics recorded in those letters, we acknowledged them to be such as they are each described in them, namely:

I. In one of the reliquaries, fashioned in the manner of a Gothic church, oblong, of gilded copper, with gold ground dull and dark; whose measure and form are accurately described in the aforesaid instrument; was the still surviving part of the head of blessed Quintinus.

II. In another reliquary of the same metal, of the same measure and form as the above reliquary, the right hand of the blessed martyr.

III. In a third reliquary of gilded wood, hexagonal, itself also described in the instrument, these bones:

1. Two tibias, mutilated at the ends.

2. A portion of the bone called the hip bone.

3. The sternum, nearly entire.

4. One vertebra.

5. One rib with a small piece of a broken rib.

6. One kneecap.

7. Part of a bone which seemed to have been of the calf, with a certain other part of the calf, but deformed.

8. The calcaneum, on which are traces of a saw.

9. Various parts of the head of St. Quintinus, so mutilated that they could not be gathered into one in the casket which holds the relics of that precious head: the temporal bone, nearly entire; part of the parietal bone; two fragments of the upper jaw, of which one still retains a molar tooth; a fragment of the lower jaw.

We declare that we have taken out from the aforesaid relics, to satisfy the request of the most eminent lord Cardinal de La Tour d'Auvergne Lauraguais, bishop of Arras, and that some parishes of our diocese might be presented with them:

1. The small piece of a broken rib noted above at no. 5.

2. Two parts of the bones which are noted at no. 7.

3. Part of the parietal bone noted at no. 9.

The other relics, noted under other numbers, were laid by us on the cushion on which we had found them collected, and put away in the aforesaid reliquary of gilded wood, which we fortified with our seal. In the two reliquaries of gilded copper we laid also the part of the head of St. Quintinus, and the holy man's right hand, and we fortified those reliquaries also with our seal.

Of all these things we have drawn up this instrument, of which three copies were written, to be laid in each of the aforesaid reliquaries together with the former authentic letters and the other aforesaid acts.

There were present and assisting us Messrs. Anthony John Nicholas Debully, our vicar general, dean of the chapter of our cathedral church, and Francis Grandmoulin, parish priest and archdeacon of the parish church of St. Quintinus, who also signed this instrument. Done in the city of Saint-Quentin under our hand and our seal, on the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, the nineteenth of July of the year one thousand eight hundred and forty.

Jul. Fr. bishop of Soissons and Laon. Debully, vicar general. Grandmoulin, parish priest and archdeacon of Saint-Quentin.

ACTS OF JULY 4 OF THE YEAR 1851.

[112] and in the year 1851. On this fourth of July of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, we Charles Florimond Tavernier, parish priest and archpriest of St. Quintinus and canon of Soissons, in the presence of Messrs. Sueur, Cornilus, Rivié and Mathieu, vicars of the church of St. Quintinus, and Mr. Peter Florent René Oudart, sacristan of the church, having received under date of June 25 of the same year a faculty from the most reverend lord Paul Armand Ignatius Anacletus de Garsignies, bishop of Soissons, extracted, to be distributed to the churches called Liéramont, Villers-Faucon, Tincourt and Boucly, Fressenneville, S. Quentin-Motte-Croix au Bailly, of the diocese of Amiens, Gricourt, Corbeny, Jussy, and to the clerics whose names are noted here: namely Messrs. Tavernier, parish priest and archpriest, Sueur, Cornilus, Rivié, Mathieu, vicars; Marest, parish priest of Maceria (Mézières), and Messrs. Oudart, sacristan, and Hippolyte Vatin, organist:

1. A fragment of a tibia, which we cut with a saw at one of its ends.

2. A fragment of the bone called the hip bone.

3. A fragment of the lower jaw, which we cut in the middle with a saw.

What remained of the relics noted above was laid by us on the cushion on which we found them gathered, and then enclosed in the said reliquary of gilded wood, which we fortified with the episcopal seal, sent to us for this purpose.

Of all which things we have written this instrument. In faith of which we have signed it thus: Tavernier, parish priest and archpriest of Saint-Quentin and canon of Soissons. Sueur, vicar. A. Mathieu, vicar. L. Rivié, vicar. Cornilus, vicar. Oudart, sacristan.

ACTS OF SEPTEMBER 26 OF THE YEAR 1864.

[113] A fragment of the jaw is enclosed in its own reliquary. We, John Jules Dours, by divine mercy and the favor of the holy and apostolic see bishop of Soissons and Laon, dean of the province of Reims and first suffragan of this see, opened this reliquary containing part of the relics of St. Quintinus the martyr. After we had ascertained that they were authentic, we extracted that portion of the jaw which retains a tooth of the holy martyr, that we might lay it in another reliquary. This being done, we closed the said reliquary and fortified it with our seal impressed in red Spanish wax. In faith of which things we ordered this instrument to be written so that their authenticity might remain to the aforesaid relics, and that they might hereafter, as before, be shown for veneration to the faithful of our diocese. Given at Saint-Quentin under our seal, and the subscription both of our vicar general and of the archpriest of St. Quintinus, on the twenty-sixth of September of the year of the Incarnation one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four. V. Guyart, vicar general. Tavernier, parish priest and archpriest of St. Quintinus. By mandate: T. Biseau, priest, secretary for this purpose.

[114] In the year 1870, as war raged, That separated fragment of the jaw with the molar tooth was enclosed in a reliquary of gilded wood; which I saw in the sacristy of the church of St. Quintinus in the month of June of the year 1870. At the same time I found the other relics distributed in three parts. The bones of the sacred head, collected into one, and put together each in its place, were laid in a separate throne, at the right side of the choir; on the left, however, the hand of the holy martyr was seen in its own reliquary. Each casket, as being of no great mass, was easily moved from its seat and was wont to be shown for veneration to the Christian people. In a third and larger casket were the other fragments mentioned in the instruments. But this arrangement had soon afterwards to be changed again. For when in this very year 1870 the French and Germans were at war with each other, and a hostile incursion threatened the town of Saint-Quentin, thought was at once given to taking the relics into safety. At that time these acts were written, which indicate what was done.

ACTS OF SEPTEMBER 6 OF THE YEAR 1870.

[115] the sacred treasure is carried to Brussels, In the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, on Tuesday, the sixth of September, at three o'clock in the afternoon, I the undersigned Louis Leonard Gobaille, parish priest and archpriest of St. Quintinus, honorary canon of Soissons, in the presence of Messrs. 1° Felix Eligius Genty, first vicar of our collegiate church of St. Quintinus, honorary canon of Soissons, knight of the legion named of honor (de la Légion d'honneur); 2° Adolphe Mathieu, vicar of the said collegiate church, honorary canon of Soissons; 3° Louis Henry Peter John Edmund Oudart, secretary and treasurer of the said collegiate church; 4° Edward Theodore Cardon, sacristan of the said collegiate church; on account of the necessity arising from the unhappy times in which religion and France find themselves; since by no

means could we ask and obtain from the most reverend lord John Jules Dours (now bishop of Soissons and Laon, in whose diocese our city is situated), that the reliquaries containing the precious relics of the martyr Quintinus, patron of our city and of the whole former province of Vermandois, be opened, that the relics of our holy patron, if not all, at least a great part, may be placed in safety; after we had ascertained that the seals of red wax were intact, we began to open a small reliquary of gilded wood, of quadrangular form, oblong, whose sides are of these measures: the breadth is 56 centimeters, the length 34, and the depth 25. In the sides of this reliquary there are four oval panes: its upper part or lid is fashioned in the manner of a roof or tomb; which on its four sides has eight oval or round panes. After we had found that the new seals were intact, set on the bands of red silk with which the bones were attached to their cushion, we drew out all the sacred bones which were contained in this casket; they were namely:

1. Two tibias, but mutilated at the ends.

2. Part of the hip bone, from which a certain portion was cut with a saw.

3. The sternum, nearly entire.

4. One vertebra.

5. One rib.

6. One kneecap.

7. The calcaneum, on which there are traces of a saw.

8. The temporal bone, nearly entire.

9. A small piece of the upper jaw.

10. A fragment of the lower jaw, in which are two sockets of teeth.

When we had most diligently inspected these various bones, we divided them into two bundles, in this way:

I. The two tibias and the sternum we carefully wrapped in a band of red silk, fortified with the seal of our collegiate church.

II. In a little casket of thicker cardboard, quadrangular, oblong, covered with a pane, which we carefully wrapped on every side with a band of red silk, fortified, together with the little casket itself, with the seal of our aforesaid collegiate church, we laid up these bones:

1. Part of the hip bone;

2. One vertebra;

3. One rib;

4. One kneecap;

5. The calcaneum, on which there are traces of a saw;

6. The temporal bone, nearly entire;

7. A small piece of the upper jaw;

8. A fragment of the lower jaw, in which are two sockets of teeth.

III. In the reliquary which we have just opened, and under the sacred relics named above, we found three writings, of which this is the list:

1. A copy of the instrument formerly enclosed in the reliquary described above, in which were enumerated the relics laid in the aforesaid reliquary before the eighth of June of the year one thousand eight hundred and seven. On the same leaf was written a copy of the instrument made on the third of June of the year one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, reporting that one rib of the holy martyr St. Quintinus was divided into two parts by Mr. John Nicholas Debully, vicar general of the diocese of Soissons, that with one part the cathedral church of Soissons might be presented, with the other the parish church of Fère-en-Tardenois. On the same leaf was written a copy of the instrument made on Thursday, the twenty-sixth of November of the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, by Mr. Grandmoulin, parish priest and archdeacon of Saint-Quentin; reporting that the hand of St. Quintinus, previously enclosed in the aforesaid reliquary, was translated into a new reliquary: which copy Messrs. Grandmoulin, parish priest and archdeacon, Rambach, vicar, formerly canon of the chapter of the royal and collegiate church of St. Quintinus, and Demory, vicar, testify to agree with the authentic. And below the subscriptions were the seals of the most reverend bishop of Soissons and of Mr. Grandmoulin, archdeacon of Saint-Quentin. Below is read: "Recognized in faith of the names signed above." Signed: Debully, vic. gen. of Soissons.

2. The acts of the recognition of the relics of the blessed martyr St. Quintinus made by the most reverend lord Jules François de Simony, bishop of Soissons and Laon, on the nineteenth of July of the year one thousand eight hundred and forty. In which acts the most reverend lord de Simony is said, at the request of the most eminent cardinal de La Tour d'Auvergne Lauraguais, bishop of Arras, to have taken out of the reliquary named above, that some parishes of the diocese of Soissons might be presented with them: part of a broken rib, two fragments of bones which seemed to be, the one of the calf (péroné), the other of the same bone deformed, part of the parietal bone. To the said acts was subscribed: Jul. Fr., bishop of Soissons and Laon. Grandmoulin, parish priest and archdeacon of St. Quintinus. Debully, vic. gen. On the same leaf was written another instrument, given on the fourth of July of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, by Mr. Charles Florimond Tavernier, parish priest and archpriest of St. Quintinus, honorary canon of Soissons, in the presence of Messrs. Sueur, Cornilus, Rivié and Mathieu, vicars of St. Quintinus, and Peter Florent René Oudart, sacristan. From the said instrument it is established that by permission of the most reverend lord Paul Armand Ignatius Anacletus de Garsignies, bishop of Soissons and Laon:

1° A fragment of one of the tibias;

2° A fragment of the hip bone;

3° A fragment of the jaw which we cut in the middle with a saw; that these fragments namely were taken from the parts indicated in the inventory, to be given to the churches: Liéramont, Villers-Faucon, Tincourt and Boucly, Fressenneville, S. Quentin Motte-Croix au Bailly, of the diocese of Amiens, Gricourt, Corbeny, Jussy, and to the clerics and laymen here named, namely: Messrs. Tavernier, parish priest and archpriest of St. Quintinus, Cornilus, Sueur, Rivié, Mathieu, vicars of St. Quintinus, Marest, parish priest of Maceria on the Oise, Oudart, sacristan, and Vatin, organist. To this instrument was subscribed: Tavernier, parish priest and archpriest. Cornilus, Sueur L. Rivié, A. Mathieu, vicars. Oudart, sacristan. Then below the subscriptions the episcopal seal.

3. An instrument concerning the same reliquary opened by Mr. Guyart, vicar general of the diocese of Soissons and Laon; by which it is established that from this reliquary was taken out, to be laid in another, the part of the jaw retaining a tooth. The aforesaid instrument was thus signed: V. Guyart, vic. gen., Tavernier, parish priest and archpriest, T. Biseau, as secretary for this purpose; and fortified with the episcopal seal.

All these things, namely I. the bundle containing both tibias and the sternum; II. the casket containing part of the hip bone, one vertebra, one rib, one kneecap, one calcaneum, one temporal bone, part of the upper jaw, and a fragment of the lower jaw; III. the three papers showing the aforesaid instruments; and also:

IV. A notable particle of the holy Cross, left, with seals intact, in a small silver casket; which had been given as a gift by St. Louis king of France to the chapter of the collegiate and royal church of St. Quintinus. The said relics of the holy Cross were only taken out of the larger cross of gilded silver in which they were enclosed. — The instrument made on the feast of the Finding of the holy Cross, on the third of the month of May of the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five; reporting that the reliquary or small silver casket mentioned a little above was extracted from an old cross of gilded wood, to be reverently laid in a new cross of gilded silver, in which it is now kept. This instrument was signed: Grandmoulin, parish priest and archdeacon. Duclert, Delvas, Guyart, Sueur, vicars. Godart, Margerin, presbyters. Fouquier-Cholet, president of the board of the fabric. Lagrassière, Leopold Tripick *, of the board of the fabric. Martinet, Mont, Pontruet, Gras, Oudart sacristan, members of the confraternity of the holy Cross.

All these things then, with the consent of the board of the fabric of the said church, were committed to Mr. Louis Henry Peter John Edmund Oudart, secretary and treasurer of this church, that he might carry them to Brussels (in Belgium), and ask the reverend Father Bossue, living in the College of St. Michael at Brussels, to be willing to guard them diligently, until it should be permitted to us to bring them back without danger and again propose them for the veneration of the faithful in our collegiate church. Moreover we ordered that, if the reverend Father Bossue could not take them, the said Mr. Oudart should go to Mechelen, to beseech the most reverend bishop (sic) of Mechelen to deign to take them into his care.

Done in three copies at Saint-Quentin, on the sixth of September of the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy. Gobaille, parish priest and archpr. of St. Quintinus. A. Mathieu, vicar. Genty, vicar. E. Oudart, secretary and treasurer of the coll. of St. Quintinus. Ed. Cardon, sacristan. Benard, master of works, secretary of the board. Moureau, of the board of the fabric. Lecerf, of the board of the fabric. Desains, president of the board of the fabric.

The signatures of men not named at the beginning of the instrument are the signatures of members of the board of the fabric who assented both to the aforesaid translation and to the writing out of the present instrument. The others of the board of the fabric who did not subscribe were absent.

After the treasure was handed over to me, the reverend Mr. Oudart wrote this, which I signed:

I the undersigned B. Bossue, a Bollandist member, testify that I have today received from Mr. Oudart, secretary and treasurer of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus, … (then the things said above are listed, namely the relics of St. Quintinus, the instruments, the particle of the Holy Cross). Given at Brussels (in Belgium), on the ninth of September of the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy. And it is subscribed: B. Bossue, S. J., Boll.

[116] and in the year 1875 it returns to Saint-Quentin. Finally, when all things in France were safe and tranquil, in the year 1875 the sacred riches were brought back to Saint-Quentin, as is declared in these instruments.

ACTS OF JULY 20 OF THE YEAR 1875.

We the undersigned Adolphe Mathieu, parish priest and archpriest of St. Quintinus, honorary canon of Soissons; Lecerf, C. Lecot and S. Cailleret, all of the board of churchwardens of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus, commission this business to Mr. Louis Henry Peter John Edmund Oudart, secretary and treasurer of the said collegiate church of St. Quintinus, that he betake himself to Brussels (in Belgium) to receive and bring back into the collegiate church of St. Quintinus: I. the two tibias (then are listed the relics and writings which are enumerated in the instrument immediately preceding; and there is added:) V. the two codices which are called 1 the Gospel Book of Charlemagne; 2 the Authenticum of the martyr St. Quintinus.

Which relics, instruments, manuscript codices the aforesaid Louis Henry Peter John Edmund Oudart, secretary and treasurer of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus, had been ordered by the reverend parish priest and archpriest (then the reverend Mr. Gobaille), with the consent of its board of the fabric, on the sixth of September of the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy, as is established from the instrument given on the same day, to carry to Brussels (that they might be saved from the destruction or profanation which were threatening, the Prussians holding the region) and to commit to Rev. Fr. Bossue, of the College of St. Michael of Brussels; and to ask the said Rev. Fr. Bossue to be willing to keep them until it should seem good to the reverend parish priest and archpriest of St. Quintinus to bring them back to the city of Saint-Quentin. These commissions the said Mr. Oudart carried out, as is established from the receipt which Rev. Fr. Bossue wrote on the aforesaid instrument of September 6 of the year 1870.

Done in four copies, at Saint-Quentin, on the twentieth of July of the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five: of which copies let the first be left with Rev. Fr. Bossue, that it may be his discharge; let the second be placed in the casket in which the relics of St. Quintinus recorded in the present instrument shall be laid; the third in the archive of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus; let the fourth be left with the aforesaid Mr. Oudart, secretary and treasurer of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus.

In faith of which things we have subscribed the present instrument, on the said day and month. A. Mathieu, parish priest and archpriest. Lecerf. C. Lecot. Cailleret.

To these Mr. Oudart a little later added:

I have received from Rev. Fr. Bossue: 1° The relics of St. Quintinus and of the true Cross; 2° The instruments; 3° The manuscript codices: all of which are listed in the present instrument. At Brussels, on July 28, 1875. E. Oudart, secretary and treasurer of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus.

[117] The head of St. Quintinus was placed behind the principal altar, The bones of the holy martyr, at last given back to the people of Saint-Quentin, did not remain collected in one place, but were distributed in several caskets. In the year 1877, on October 25, the heads of SS. Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian were laid each in its own throne by the most illustrious bishop of Soissons Thibaudier, more than a hundred presbyters assisting; and then, carried through the church in solemn supplication, they rested at the entrance of the choir, until they should be transferred to the altar. Namely on Sunday, October 28 of the same year 1877, the most illustrious archbishop of Reims Langénieux, with many other bishops, raised the sacred heads; and in the little shrine which, lately built in magnificent fashion, rises behind the principal altar, he placed them with most ceremonious pomp. In which place they are still shown to the Christian faithful for veneration [Cf. Mathieu, S. Quentin, sa vie, son culte, bk. III, chap. 3, p. 247 and following].

[118] and the other bones in five coffins. It comes next that we should set out in few words the present state of all the relics of St. Quintinus which are preserved in the basilica of the holy martyr. In enumerating which the venerable archpriest Mathieu says Ibid., p. 224 that they are now contained in six coffins.

I. In the casket which is placed in the little shrine, behind and above the principal altar, are:

Those relics which are called the head of St. Quintinus.

II. In a casket placed in the lesser northern transverse part (transept):

1. One temporal bone.

2. Part of the upper jaw.

3. A fragment of the lower jaw.

4. One tibia.

5. One hip bone.

6. The sternum.

III. In a casket placed in the lesser southern transverse part:

1. The entire right hand, with its flesh.

2. One rib.

3. One vertebra.

4. The calcaneum bone.

IV. In a casket of gilded wood, in the treasury of the sacristy:

One tibia.

V. In a small gabled casket, which is laid in the principal altar:

Part of the lower jaw with the last molar tooth.

VI. In the tomb of St. Quintinus in the crypt:

One kneecap.

[119] Many fragments are missing, To one reviewing these it at once appears that not all the bones of St. Quintinus are there; indeed quite many were already missing when in the months of July and August of the year 1795, as we showed above, they were recognized. It must be then that the beadle and usher of the collegiate church, who hid the relics, received only part of them, and that the rest slipped away through the tumult and were lost: and in very truth in the instruments of the year 1795 (cf. above, no. 102), we read that Peter Oudart laid up as many relics of St. Quintinus as he had been able to collect; that no small part was burned by the keeper, fearing … lest they be profaned. Moreover I rather suspect that of those relics which are said to have been carried into the sepulchral crypt, many were buried indiscriminately with the remains of other saints, so that one can no longer be distinguished from another. Perhaps too pious fraud was not lacking. Moreover not even all those which in the year 1807 were inspected and listed by the bishop of Soissons survive today, so far as I know. The reliquaries seem therefore, besides the recognitions recorded above, to have been at some time unsealed, and perhaps not with the diligence and caution that would have been fitting. It is also credible that in these circumstances some parts were taken away, no instruments being drawn up on the matter.

[120] especially of the head. Of the head by name it is certain that it was broken and that certain fragments were separated, either when at the end of the eighteenth century it was brought out of the casket and thrown into the crypt, or later. For on the one hand it is established, on the testimony of two old breviaries (of the years 1511 and 1642), that the head was formerly kept entire in its own reliquary; on the other it is evident that only fragments survive today. Of the arm, which the same breviaries record as having once existed entire in a separate casket, and which is now sought in vain, a like complaint would have to be made, were it not that in the breviary of the year 1774, no longer the arm, but only the hand is commemorated: There were laid aside in three vessels the heads and one hand of SS. Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian. If this reading is the truer, there is no reason for us to say that the arm was mutilated or taken away.

[121] The arm is said to have been lost already in the sixteenth century; Not a few think that it was lost long ago. For in the year 1559 thieves stole half of the precious things of the church: by that sacrilege they judge that the arm of St. Quintinus was lost, the richest of all the relics in gold and gems; not indeed that small piece of bone of the arm which in the year 1395 had been deposited with other relics in a certain new shrine, but the right arm itself of the holy patron, laid in its own reliquary in the year 1228 or 1229: which, sought assiduously and diligently, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 299 and following, could not be found. Moreover in the ms. lipsanology of the royal monastery of St. Lawrence, commonly the Escorial, a copy of which, written in the year 1722, exists in our museum, we read this: Quintinus martyr. October 31. A fragment of the bone of the arm seven fingers long.

[122] but the hand was, as they report, restored in the seventeenth century, But above all there was dispute in the seventeenth century about the hand of the holy martyr. For in this age there lay hidden with Dame Marguerite Libault, wife of Mr. Bordier, secretary in the king's privy council, in her picture gallery, relics which an attached paper testified to belong to the church of St. Quintinus. It was, as he says to whom the chapter of Saint-Quentin had committed the business of recovering the treasure, if it could be done, a right hand, with the skin entire, wrinkled and hardened by long age. On a finger was inserted a gold ring… A certain slip inside advised that that hand had once been enclosed in a silver arm very rich with gems, and had been bought for much money by Nicholas Aurillot, lord of Champlatreux, master of the gold accounts, in those years in which, Saint-Quentin having been stormed by the Spaniards, he, sent to the royal armies, held the charge of administering justice in Picardy, the seller being a certain fugitive soldier; that the metal and small stones of the arm were dispersed at public auction …; that the relics were deposited with a notary … and guarded by him for forty-five years and more, and at length given by him to the distinguished Mr. Bordier. That hand was believed to be of St. Quintinus, both for other reasons and on account of the twin letters S. Q. which, figured in enamel around the bezel of the aforesaid ring and at length worn away by use, Voyer the notary, its keeper, testified to have existed. But for this reason it was carried to Saint-Quentin for a time in the year 1642, that by comparing the right hand with the left and with the other parts of the sacred carriage which were enclosed in the larger shrine …, a very firm argument might be gathered. Which, though attempted, could not however be accomplished, nor the upper shrines opened. The question indeed being put among those whom the college had chosen, whether that hand was the hand of Quintinus the martyr, … it was so disputed that some piously believed; others, not indeed denying that they were relics of some unspecified saint, yet thought that the belief by which it should be believed to be the hand of Quintinus the martyr … should be held back until the truth of the matter should shine forth by more evident arguments Ibid., p. 362 and following. This right hand is reported to have remained at Saint-Quentin Corblet, Hagiog. du dioc. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 382: can it not then be said to be the same that was found in the year 1795 in the sepulchral crypt, and is today venerated with particular devotion?

[123] survives. Here I shall note only what I observed, when with my own eyes I inspected and diligently examined the sacred hand on October 17 of the year 1869. The carpus exists entire, and some part of the metacarpus adheres to it. This hand is very large (which is observed also in the other limbs: whence the holy martyr is commonly shown as of eminent stature). There appears absolutely no trace of the nails which, as we know from the passion, were driven into the fingers, between the nails and the flesh. Thereupon I confess that some doubt arose in me whether this hand was truly St. Quintinus'. Yet it is easily understood that marks of this kind, the flesh being contracted and dried by so great an age, have scarcely remained visible; and if anything had survived, that after varnish was added it was altogether effaced. The nails are missing, which they report were taken away long ago.

[124] Relics of St. Quintinus were formerly given to several churches, Thus far we have spoken only of those relics which are shown for veneration in the basilica of the martyr itself. But almost innumerable are the churches which either formerly gloried in particles of the sacred body, or were not long ago presented with them; such as most of those temples which in France, in Belgium and elsewhere have been dedicated to St. Quintinus, as we shall see below. It will be useful, however, to review in this place the chief portions of the relics which formerly rested or are even now venerated in various places. Particles of the relics existed, as Arnold de Raisse testified in the year 1628 Hierogazophylacium Belgicum, p. 304 and 332, in the cathedral church of Arras; in the collegiate church of Bl. Mary at Valenciennes, namely of the crown of St. Quintinus, who by contending for the name of God merited to obtain a crown of eternal beauty, on the day before the Kalends of November, in the year of the Redeemer 303. Likewise from ancient times portions of the relics of the holy martyr were venerated in the church of Reims Acta SS., vol. I of Jan., p. 180 and in the convent of Centula Ibid., vol. III of Feb., p. 162. In the Cistercian convent of Le Jardinet near Walcourt in Belgium was seen a part of the head of St. Quintinus the martyr, to kiss and venerate which, says de Raisse Hierogazoph., p. 253, very many suffering from swellings flow together here; among the veiled noble virgins of the Order of St. Benedict at Bourbourg, relics from the head of St. Quintinus, martyr and Roman citizen… Ibid., p. 127. In an instrument of the year 1283, among other sacred pledges of the monastery of Corbie are recorded of St. Quintinus a large bone, some of the hair of St. Quintinus and other relics of St. Quintinus Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B., cent. IV, part I, p. 354 and following, Venice 1735; likewise part of the hair of St. Quintinus was formerly kept in the Mechelen church of the Society of Jesus De Raisse, p. 495; and other relics in the churches of St. James of Amiens, Holy Cross of Arras, St. Quintinus of Besançon, in the village called Gouy-en-Artois; in the monasteries of St. Austreberta of Montreuil, St. Benedicta of Origny, St. Vaast of Arras, of Soissons, Longpont, Ourscamp, Sithiu; among the Carthusians of Abbeville Cf. Corblet, Hagiographie du diocèse d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 383; in the church of the Mother of God at Cologne Gelenius, On the Wonderful Greatness of Cologne, p. 310, Cologne 1645 etc. When those relics came each to its seat cannot be closely defined.

[125] and by name a finger, a fragment of the jaw But of certain other parts taken away and given the times and circumstances in the monuments

of history are accurately noted. Above (no. 11) we said that Guy bishop of Beauvais founded a new monastery sacred to St. Quintinus: at that time the body of the glorious martyr was translated for a time to Beauvais, and a portion of the carriage of the divine Quintinus, plucked off by the same prelate, remained in the new convent, one finger Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 125. Likewise certain parts are reported to have been cut off when the sacred pledges, King Louis IX being present, were ceremoniously translated Cf. above, no. 74. To Bartholomew de Roye also, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 300, a man most munificent toward the church of St. Quintinus, chamberlain of France, a small particle of the same body was granted, and brought into the sacred temple of Joyenval, which convent of the Premonstratensian Order he had raised in the diocese of Chartres, … and had consecrated to the Blessed Virgin and to SS. Laurence and Quintinus. But after Saint-Quentin was captured by the Spaniards in the year 1557, no slight part of the bones was lost. That the head was taken away in the year 1559 we have narrated before No. 94. But already in the year 1557, when the soldiery, as Hémeré narrates, were scattering the relics of very many saints … in the church, and plundering the gold, silver and stones of the small vessels, the bones being thrown aside and trampled, there collected them with tears and carried them to the castle of Ballohierium (Buloyer, in the diocese of Versailles) Michael Canidonus, lord of Ballohierium, and he and his successors, the lords of Ballohierium, reverently venerated them, some distinguished by titles which indicated the saints, others … unnamed Aug. Vir., p. 359 and following, until in the year 1620 they were handed over to Natalis or Vitalis Pitotus or Pistor, canon of Saint-Quentin, and through him restored to the collegiate church. But the jaw to which one tooth adhered was left to a certain pious woman of the house of Ballohierium; and given by her, in the year 1753 Cf. Tillemont, Mém. eccl., vol. IV, p. 438, ed. of 1701, to the abbey of Portus Regis (Port-Royal). It was a bone of St. Quintinus.

[126] and of the head. At about the same time as the arm of St. Quintinus was lost, one of his teeth fell into the hands of John d'Escaillon. For his son, Arnold d'Escaillon, presbyter, born in the town of Bochanium *, and chaplain there of St. Nicholas, gave to the parish church of the same place a tooth, which he testified on the word of a priest he had received from his father: and the latter asserted that it was a relic of St. Quintinus and that he had obtained it when in the year 1557 or 1558 he served as a soldier under Philip II, king of Spain. These things we read in a public instrument drawn up on August 26 of the year 1616 Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 140. Some time later, namely on May 7 of the year 1635, Louis XIII, king of France, himself went to Augusta, and received a small particle of bone cut from the sacred head of blessed Quintinus; which, says Hémeré, he had indicated that he greatly desired, James Sirmond of the Society of Jesus, a very pious and learned theologian, being the interpreter of his desire Aug. Vir., p. 359. To the church of St. Florent at Roye also the chapter gave, on November 7 of the year 1657, a finger of St. Quintinus Corblet, Hagiogr. du dioc. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 382.

[127] Of these many are still venerated today. And so much of former times. But in our age too particles of the sacred body are religiously preserved in several places. For besides those sacred buildings which rejoice in St. Quintinus as patron, and of which most, as I have pointed out, possess some of his relics Cf. above, no. III and following, there can be enumerated the churches of the nuns of St. Ursula at Amiens and of St. Martin at Laon; likewise the churches of the villages of Mailly, S. Pierre de Roye etc. Corblet, Hag. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 383. Moreover not a few churches in Belgium have some of the relics, above all those of St. Quintinus at Hasselt, Peruensis * and Louvain: to this last, in the year 1775, on February 13, the bishop of Bruges gave a portion of a rather large bone which he himself had received from the chapter of Saint-Quentin Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 200.

* Trpick in the copy.

* Bouchain

* Peruwelz

§ XII. Of the basilica of St. Quintinus. Of the history of the passion carved in stone. Whether the sarcophagus preserved today is the same that St. Eligius found. Of the crypt. The place in which St. Quintinus was first buried. The prerogatives of the basilica. The Island Monastery.

The basilica of the holy martyr at Augusta of the Viromandui Of the veneration shown to St. Quintinus we have thus far seen what pertains to his relics. It follows that the buildings sacred to him should be recorded, and above all that most magnificent basilica which, built long ago at Augusta of the Viromandui, is today seen surviving in great part. It took its beginning from the chapel or little cell which Eusebia built over the martyr's tomb Cf. above, no. 41 about the year 341. In the greater testament of St. Remigius (which not a few think genuine and made in the fifth century) we read: In the villa of Hermundus … I long ago assigned to the church of St. Quintinus [P. Varin, Archives admin. de Reims, vol. I, p. 11, Paris 1839. Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. XIII, p. 430. Cf. Dessailly, Authenticité du grand test. de S. Remi, p. 40]. But these words, even if truly written by St. Remigius, many judge are to be referred to a church of St. Quintinus not of Vermand but of Reims. This is certain: the chapel of Eusebia, at first bounded by a very narrow space, the bishops of the Viromandui enlarged, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 72, so that it was already called a basilica before Eligius; who repaired it with a better structure and enlarged it again with a precinct. But later Fulrad raised a new temple with a thoroughly royal undertaking and wider circuit, finished in the year 823, and consecrated by Drogo bishop of Metz Ibid., p. 75. Cf. above, § VII. That some authors assert that it was dedicated by Stephen the Roman pontiff, came from this, that in the ancient Saint-Quentin Martyrology is read at the 2nd day of the month of August: At Rome in the cemetery of Callixtus of St. Stephen the pope, who dedicated this church of St. Quintinus. But here there is a manifest error, says Claude de La Fons; and if some Pope Stephen, certainly no other sacred the basilica than he who was at Reims in the year 816 Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 125. Moreover the parts of that shrine still surviving, wrote Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 72, the crypt under the middle of the choir, and the immense tower rising to the skies in height, even now the frontispiece of the new fabric, sufficiently show how great that ancient mass of Fulrad was. For this Theodulf, at the beginning of the ninth century, composed verses which still exist today, and in the first of which the time of the building is thus indicated [Mon. Germ. hist., Latin Poets of the Carolingian Age, recens. Ern. Dümmler, p. 530, Berlin 1880]:

When for ten lustra less three years the renowned

King Charles was passing his time holding the pious scepter;

And, taken from human affairs, was leaving the summit of his huge

realm to you, King Louis;

And the happy Incarnation of Christ gives to add

four and ten to eight hundred courses:

The work of this venerable hall began to be founded

by Abbot Fulrad, renowned for nobility.

[129] was often restored and adorned, But in the year 883, as we read in the annals of St. Quintinus written in the ninth century [Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. XVI, p. 507. Cf. above, no. 82. Benoît, Chronique des ducs de Normandie, Franc. Michel ed., vol. I, p. 34, Paris 1836], the church of St. Quintinus was burned by the pagans, and the same is reported in many other chronicles and annals. And repaired with such work as could be managed by Abbot Tetricus, it lasted until the principate of Ralph Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 143, under whom, namely in the year 1115 [Cf. Colliette, Mem. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. II, p. 139. Gomart, Études Saint-Quentinoises, vol. IV, p. 59], a second part of the shrine, set on the same foundations on which that of Fulrad had hitherto stood, with most magnificent work … rose by a new undertaking from the very ground. And a little lower: That first part repaired was the choir, … the tombs of the saints being transferred into the nave of the church, lest they be profaned by any unseemly encounter of things, and everything by which the daily course of the divine office was fulfilled being brought together there. But there was added to the new work the crossing, at the high altar, and chapels placed around the choir, in the year 1256 Cf. Gomart, Ét. Saint-Quentin., vol. IV, p. 62, and buttresses built up, by which that lofty mass might be propped on either side. This was called the "new fabric…" in distinction from the other part, which at that time was called the "old church." For our people then kept for themselves the nave, untouched, for celebrating the sacred rites. The choir was brought gradually to its finish through an interval of more than a hundred years, and at length completed under the years of the most holy King Louis. Then the restoration of the nave was undertaken and at length completed up to the tower of Fulrad Cf. ibid., p. 56 and following, under the first years of the fourteenth century, … with a structure indeed unlike the former, which disparity however the most experienced architect dissembled with the highest art. In the following years the chapels of the nave were closed with barriers and screens and endowed with altars. The choir, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, was enclosed with squared stone, and the martyrdom of the divine patron worked around it in elegant sculpture Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 144. Thereafter other ornaments were added one after another; the tottering parts of the building were strengthened or renewed, as Hémeré narrates Cf. ibid., p. 266, 304, and Charles Gomart copiously sets out Études S. Q., vol. IV, p. 67 and following. In the fifteenth century King Louis XI raised from the very foundations, in a very elegant structure, that part of the building in which the choir is crossed toward the high altar, at the rising of the winter solstitial sun…The fabric was begun in the year 1477 and after some years nearly completed: with such skill that no more ingenious and skillful building is to be found elsewhere Hémeré, p. 321. Cf. Colliette, vol. III, p. 65. But in short? The history of that splendid structure has been written, and it is hidden from no one how magnificently the basilica of St. Quintinus rises even today. On the restoration and adornment of which we see very much labor still being expended Cf. above, no. 117. Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 214 and following. But those things must be looked at more closely which pertain more to the cult of the holy patron, namely the fashioned images in which his deeds were expressed, his sarcophagus and crypt, and finally the place in which he is said to have been found by St. Eusebia and later by St. Eligius.

[130] There the history of St. Quintinus is carved in stone, At the year 1316 Hémeré wrote this Aug. Vir., p. 266: In this interregnum (namely between the death of King Louis the Quarrelsome in the year 1316, more probably at the beginning of the month of June, and the coronation of Philip

the Tall, on January 9 of the year 1317), the piers of the choir were propped up with new columns and foundations, fitted with such art that the columns themselves and the adjacent small columns seem to have risen with one architecture and work, the workman being John le Bel. The columns being strengthened, a wall of squared stone was begun, by which the choir itself should be enclosed, and in its intervals all the acts of the passion of the most unconquered martyr were expressed in excellent and skillful sculpture, by the benefaction of canons and citizens. Of the canon Thiard alone are indicated the name and the year in which that stretch of sculpture was finished, which he paid for, toward the portal of love. Thiard died on July 3, 1322, as we learn from the epitaph inscribed on his statue Q. de La Fons, Histoire de l'Église de S. Quentin, vol. I, p. 82. The images carved by his gift show St. Quintinus, brought out of the prison of Amiens by an angel, and thereupon conferring sacred baptism on many. The work, if one may trust Colliette Mémoires, vol. II, p. 744, was not finished before the year 1342. The fashioned images, distributed in fifteen groups Q. de La Fons, Égl. de S. Quentin, vol. I, p. 81 and following, and adorned each with its own French verses, remained until the end of the eighteenth century, when the temple was impiously devastated. Now there survives only a slight part of the group first in order, where is portrayed the holy champion with his companions setting out from Rome into Gaul, as the little verses written below in the old language also teach.

[131] but drawn in a ms. codex of Louvain. Moreover, if the sculpted work has almost wholly perished, it has happily come about that a copy of it has been preserved to this day in the archive of the church of St. Quintinus at Louvain. Namely on a parchment, stretching eight meters in length and seventeen centimeters in breadth, those fifteen groups are expressed, with the little verses also written beside them. Nor do I doubt that the Saint-Quentin figures are accurately rendered there: certainly the added verses scarcely differ from those which Quintin de La Fons published. The pictures seem to have been made in the fourteenth century; but for what purpose is not clear. Since they are too small to be visible from afar, they were not drawn with the intention of being shown to the people to look at. But, since the holy martyr was in great honor at Louvain, and was venerated with the greatest ceremony in the church sacred to him, the intent was perhaps that the history of the passion should be expressed in painted or sculpted images on the wall of the church, after the pattern of the Saint-Quentin archetype [Cf. Ad. Everaerts, Vie de S. Quentin, d'après un ms. de l'église de S. Quentin à Louvain, Louvain 1874].

[132] That the marble sarcophagus preserved today at Saint-Quentin, We must now discourse of the remaining monuments of the basilica of Saint-Quentin. They say that it has been handed down in memory that after the first finding the body of the holy martyr was laid by Eusebia in a marble sarcophagus, and that this was found by St. Eligius in the year 641; that it was afterwards moved from its place, to be kept not far from there in the crypt, first prepared by Abbot Hugh in the ninth century, then enlarged and at least in some part renewed in the thirteenth century; finally that both the crypt and the sarcophagus still exist in our days. Before we inspect the several points, the marble tomb which is preserved at Saint-Quentin, and which they report was furnished by Eusebia, must be briefly described. It is a column of great weight, of white marble, and fluted, cut lengthwise into two parts. The lower is hollowed out in the manner of a trough to a depth of about fifteen centimeters, the upper in a semicircular form, the former being meant for laying the sacred body in, the latter for covering it. The sarcophagus has a length of two meters and fifteen centimeters, a breadth in the middle of fifty-eight centimeters. The column lacks ornament, and the very flutes are worn away on every side by hammer and chisel, except where it touches the ground, where they are still found intact. On the front are inscribed these words: Sanctus Quintinus.

[133] is the same which St. Eligius found, And this is the accurate description of the tomb (as I found on visiting the underground oratory myself) which Charles Gomart published [Le tombeau de Saint Quentin, Études Saint-Quentinoises, vol. II, p. 42 and following, vol. III, p. 37 and following], a diligent investigator of the affairs of Saint-Quentin. Now let us inquire whether it is the same as the sarcophagus which St. Eligius found, and whether this again is the same as the tomb furnished by Eusebia. St. Ouen in the Life of St. Eligius, where he treats of the second finding of the relics: He (Eligius) found, he says Bk. II, chap. 6, in Migne, Latin Patrology, vol. LXXXVII, col. 517, a very ancient cumbus, covering the sacred body. A cumba, says Carpentier [Glossary of Middle and Low Latin, under cumba and cumbus, Henschel ed., Paris 1842], is a stone tomb, which, hollow and long, was so named after the manner of a boat or vessel so called; and therefore du Cange wrongly thought that tumbus or tumulus should be read. In the Ourscamp auctarium of the Chronicle of Sigebert (which Bethmann writes Mon. Germ. hist., Scriptt., vol. VI, p. 469 was composed between the years 1155 and 1200), it is said: The tomb … where it was held was uncertain to all. At length … in the presence of St. Eligius the bishop a coffin was found, buried in the depth of the earth, in which that precious treasure (the body of St. Quintinus) was kept. It is established therefore that the sarcophagus of the holy martyr, and that a very ancient one, was found by the blessed prelate of Noyon.

[134] some say, others deny. Since this finding was made about the year 641, and no trace or mention of any other occurs after Eusebia, the opinion prevailed that that cumbus is the same which the pious woman Eusebia had caused to be prepared; and that this moreover is the marble column of which we have spoken. The praised Charles Gomart indeed considers this probable Études Saint-Quentin., vol. II, p. 42, vol. III, p. 39, 286 and following, and judges it to be confirmed both because the tomb of St. Quintinus is plainly of the same form as the monument of Honorius, belonging to the fourth century, which exists at Ravenna, and because several bodies of holy martyrs are known to have been laid in shafts of columns of this kind. Moreover the sarcophagus lacks ornament, as being destined to be committed to the earth. Finally the dark or yellowish color, which the marble has taken on and still keeps, seems an indication of a very long stay under the earth, in clay soil, such as is the hill on which the basilica was first built and afterwards enlarged at various times. But some say on the contrary that it is scarcely credible that a marble of so great a mass could have been moved from its place, cut and hollowed in the manner of a tomb by Eusebia, a foreign and unknown woman, not attended, as it seems, by a sufficiently suitable company; especially since there were then few converted to the faith, who could take part in the labor. Since however the monument, which in the seventh century was very ancient, must reach to an age not much removed from Eusebia, someone will perhaps say that the Christians, when Vermandois was foully laid waste by the barbarians for many years, buried the relics of their most blessed patron, inserted in the shaft of a column, deep in the earth (more than ten feet or more, as St. Ouen expresses it), that they might better protect them. To which conjecture this is somewhat favorable, that not so long after Eusebia the body of St. Quintinus lay long unknown, and is recorded to have been found by Eligius not without a prodigy. Thus the cumbus would be proved very ancient in the age of the holy prelate, and at the same time the objections would be dissolved which are sought either from the silence of the older codices or from the fewness of the Christians; since it is established that, the chapel having been built by Eusebia, the people ran to the tomb of St. Quintinus in great numbers for no slight space of time; whence the little shrine is read to have been enlarged or renewed more than once before St. Eligius [Original extracts from a ms. of Quintin de La Fons, entitled Histoire particulière de l'Église de S. Quentin, vol. I, p. 2, C. Gomart ed.].

[135] We think that that marble tomb, But we must now disclose what we ourselves think. Whether the tomb placed at the first finding of the body is the same as that which St. Eligius found, or another, it seems certain to us that each differs from the sarcophagus today lying in the crypt. St. Ouen speaks of a very ancient cumbus. Whether this agrees with a marble monument, such as is now seen, I do not know. The holy prelate of Rouen adds Life of St. Eligius, bk. II, chap. 6: When with the hoe which he bore in his hand St. Eligius had most eagerly struck the side of the tomb, at once the tomb being pierced, so great a fragrance of odor … flowed etc. Will anyone easily concede that a marble of so great a mass could be at once pierced by a hoe and by the hand of one man? Certainly no trace is to be seen either of a blow or of a piercing. Reasons indeed are also available on the other side, and, for example, it seems incredible to some that a tomb made by Eusebia or by St. Eligius should have been abandoned by the Christians, that a new one might be substituted for it. But, as my opinion is, there are certain things which remove all doubt. That the body of the most blessed martyr … was often dug up again from its tomb is testified by the old monuments of the church; first by Eusebia, then by the most holy pontiff Eligius, later by Hugh. And below: He (Hugh, in the ninth century) brought out the old tomb of the divine Quintinus from that place where the holy pontiff Eligius had put it, and built a vaulted crypt beneath the choir of the church itself, and prepared in it a marble tomb supported on small columns, into which at a suitable time to bring the relics of the most unconquered martyr. Thus far the breviary for the use of the collegiate church of the year 1642, at October 25. And again at May 2: The chapel which Eusebia set with such work as she could over the body entombed on the hill, became a basilica, … enlarged by the piety of neophytes, and it stood until Eligius … dug up the body from that monument, laid it in another more fitting, and repaired the shrine with a better and wider building. This basilica Fulrad … renewed, and his successor Hugh brought out the same relics from the tomb of Eligius, and buried them in the crypt under the middle of the choir in a marble tomb.

[136] on the testimony of an ancient breviary, Here you have two coffins different from the very ancient cumbus: one substituted by St. Eligius, the other by Hugh; and this latter indeed of marble and supported on small columns. Why should you not say that that is the very one that has lasted to this day, the small columns being taken away? Which, when the crypt was afterwards reshaped, may have been suppressed, if indeed they ever existed. Nor is the authority of the breviary of the church of St. Quintinus to be despised, which is established to have been prepared by men learned and skilled in the history of their homeland. The dean, canons and whole chapter wrote this at the head of the volume: The lessons of our feasts we have written to the plumb line of truth in somewhat more polished language, having erased from the ancient volume what the old writers had collected less accurately, … certainly in such a way that the origins of our nascent church and its state as it flourished,

and indeed the very first seeds of Christianity sown among us by the mercy of God, and of the same gradually grown and afterwards propagated, and the lives of the saints to whom those days are consecrated, .. we may seem to have represented in compendium and truly, so far as lay in us. For my part after a diligent and repeated reading of the breviary I cannot but admit that these things have been written both sincerely and most truly. And what is said there of the marble prepared by Hugh we read also in the mss. of Dom Grenier Cf. Gomart, Études S. Quent., vol. III, p. 38, note.

[137] was prepared by Abbot Hugh in the ninth century, I should not doubt, then, that Hugh's marble tomb is preserved in the crypt, which accordingly is not older than the ninth century. And that this was the opinion of the canons of Saint-Quentin in the seventeenth century seems manifest from what has been said. Not otherwise thought Claude de La Fons: Hugh, he says in the year 1627 Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 28, had a vaulted oratory built in the manner of a cavern or cave; where he also placed a very beautiful sepulchral stone resting on columns. So also his brother Quintin [Quintin de La Fons, Histoire particulière de l'Église de Saint-Quentin, vol. I, p. 62 and following], who died in the year 1650, and Hémeré, whose Augusta Viromanduorum was printed in the year 1643. He above all judges that the tomb which St. Eligius at the second entombment fabricated of gold and silver and gems of wonderful work (cf. above, no. 55) was abandoned at the third translation, and so that the splendid work made by the hand of the holy prelate has for many centuries no longer existed. What, he says Aug. Vir., p. 64, Ouen wrote, that Eligius fabricated reliquaries of others and also of Quintinus the martyr, is not to be understood of the shrine which now (that is, before the middle of the seventeenth century) is held aloft on small columns behind the high altar, midway between the shrines of Victoricus and Cassian, but of the aforesaid tomb, from which Abbot Hugh afterwards carried out the sacred body of the patron in the year 825, or rather 835, to entomb it in the crypt of Fulrad's basilica. And below: That, he says Aug. Vir., p. 75, the day of the dedication, that is, of the dedication under Hugh, might be hallowed with greater observance, "the body of St. Quintinus, brought out on the same day from the tomb in which Eligius had laid it, is placed most honorably in a marble sepulcher in the same crypt, in a third entombment." Since these latter words are printed in a different type, they appear to be copied from another book or ms. codex: Hémeré did not indicate the source or author. Certainly neither in the Book of Miracles, nor in the Sermon on the entombment, nor in the ancient breviary, which are Hémeré's chief monuments, are those words read entire. Nor have I anywhere found the passage in the Saint-Quentin Authenticum.

[138] and placed. Nevertheless there is no reason for us to doubt about the marble tomb recorded there. Mention of it indeed at October 25 was omitted in the breviary of the year 1774, because in the Authenticum of St. Quintinus the thing is not read in express words. But it is not obscurely signified in the same place. In the Sermon on the elevation of St. Quintinus, which we have said was more probably delivered about the end of the tenth century, a tomb of Parian marble is recorded: Quintinus is brought out, says the author, gladly with all devotion by the worshipers of Christ from the tomb of Parian marble and laid on the altar of Bl. Peter. Here is a testimony certainly older than the twelfth century, in which the Authenticum was written. Who moreover would have placed that Parian marble, if it did not exist before, other than the founder of the crypt, Fulrad or Hugh? Certainly no mention anywhere occurs of another sarcophagus brought in thereafter. But of columns or small columns the ancient documents available to us are altogether silent. Whence then a tradition of this kind arose and was confirmed is hidden from me. Otherwise, since there is no doubt about the marble tomb, it matters little whether it was formerly supported on small columns or not. To embrace briefly therefore what has been said, it seems to me that the marble today lying in the crypt was neither prepared by Eusebia nor found by Eligius, but was substituted in the ninth century by Hugh for the tomb of Eligius and carried into the crypt, and that there the relics of St. Quintinus were preserved until the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth year of the thirteenth century, when they were brought out of the tomb and enclosed in a new shrine, and at last in the fifty-seventh year of the same century placed behind the high altar. Thereafter the marble sarcophagus remained empty in the subterranean oratory down to our days.

[139] Of the place in which the body of St. Quintinus was found by St. Eligius, But if the very ancient cumbus uncovered by St. Eligius no longer exists, there has remained at least, as they report, the memory of the place in which it was found. For in the choir of the basilica a stone has lately been placed with this inscription, which we render into Latin: Below is the place where the body of blessed Quintinus, apostle of Vermandois and martyr of Christ, was found by the bishop St. Eligius, January 3, in the year 640. Whether it was really found there by Eligius there are those who doubt, indeed even deny. On which matter one should go to the booklet of Pierre Benard, to whom the task has been given of preserving and restoring the basilica, so far as the times and pecuniary subsidies allow Collégiale de S. Quentin, Paris 1867. He, having dug in the choir, next to that place which corresponds to the wall of the crypt, toward the west (that is, toward the nave), to a depth of four meters, came upon the solid earth on which memory has handed down that the oratory was built by Eusebia. And he found eight pavements, laid one on another, of which the lowest and so the oldest is sunk three meters and a little more, the eighth, the most recent of all, only ten centimeters Ibid., p. 19 and following. No trace of a crypt appears here, nor can those pavements be said to have belonged to any crypt; but the several layers were made for this reason, that the floor of the choir had often to be raised, to be leveled with the surrounding ground. Next to the wall of which we have made mention were found two tombs; one similar to the sarcophagus of St. Quintinus, also consisting of two segments of a column of white marble, hollowed out, so that the body, if there ever was one, was enclosed in the manner of a kernel between its shells Ibid., p. 24.

[140] the memory remains. As one turned a little to the west there appeared a mass of masonry; on this formerly rested (as is clear from the traces) arches on which had once been placed, at the entrance of the choir, a magnificent pulpit, a work of the fourteenth century: this, after the church was burned on October 14 of the year 1669, was destroyed by order of the chapter, though it could have been repaired with easy labor. The pulpit rested on three arches: under that which was to the north (the Gospel side) was seen the bronze altar of St. Quintinus (another stands today not far from there, but outside the enclosure of the choir); and under the altar table a black marble stone, placed that the memory might be retained of the place where, according to most ancient tradition, St. Eligius was asserted to have found the relics Ibid., p. 27 and following, 36; namely in that place where stood the lowest part of the choir of the former church Ibid., p. 43. The praised architect adds that lower down there was found another marble of equal color, form and size; finally a little higher a fragment of a third stone very like the first two. From which he gathers that St. Quintinus was once buried there by Eusebia and found by St. Eligius, and that our forefathers were always anxious, whenever the floor was to be raised, that the place of the finding should be marked by a perpetual sign. And you will see these things widely explained in the named booklet. Certainly the reasons for this opinion are by no means to be despised, especially because a tradition of very long age supports it. Wherefore Quintin de La Fons wrote in the seventeenth century of the bronze altar [Histoire particulière de l'église de S. Quentin, vol. I, p. 52, C. Gomart ed., Saint-Quentin 1854]: Here chiefly pilgrims come together for the sake of prayer, because in this place the body of Bl. Quintinus was found by St. Eligius. For this reason under the altar is seen a stone of black marble, supported on white figures. We hope that by new and fuller investigations undertaken all doubt will now be removed [Cf. Gomart, Études Saint-Quentinoises, vol. III, p. 363. Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 142]. It is moreover credible that the stone today placed in the choir in memory of the finding is not far distant, if indeed it is distant, from the place in which the bronze altar formerly rose, and in which most probably the sacred bones were really first buried; but the present bronze altar erected outside the enclosure of the choir is certainly distant from it, though not much. Likewise from what we have set out above it can be gathered that the body of St. Quintinus was buried by pious Eusebia and afterwards found by St. Eligius elsewhere than where the crypt was built in the ninth century, yet not far from there.

[141] The crypt which exists today, That crypt, as it exists today, was studiously inspected by Charles Gomart [Études Saint-Quentinoises, vol. III, p. 34 and following, vol. IV, p. 54 and following], and his description, whoever visits the building will not be able to deny to be diligently worked out. By eighteen steps one descends from each side of the choir into the crypt, nine meters long, four and a half broad. Quintin de La Fons sets down thirteen feet in one direction, twenty-seven in the other Histoire de l'Église de S. Quentin, vol. I, p. 64. The oratory, of Gothic form, as they say, has three hollows or vaults, far older than the building, prepared for laying three tombs: in the middle is seen the coffin of St. Quintinus, on the left that of St. Victoricus, on the right that of St. Cassian, the chief patrons. The vaults (or arches) are one meter twenty centim. wide, and two and a half meters long, one and a half high. In the hollow of St. Quintinus two stones are found, inserted in the wall on either side, which they call witnesses and some judge to be of the fourth century, and so of that age at which the body of the holy martyr was found by Eusebia; so indeed thought a man most skilled in archaeology, namely Father Arthur Martin, S. J., who died some years ago at Ravenna, as Mr. Ernest de Chauvenet, presiding judge of the tribunal of Saint-Quentin, has testified to me. Certainly it is agreed among all that they are very ancient. I add from the historian of the Church Quintin de La Fons: The place is dark because it is sunk, nor is it lit except by the gates of its two entrances, and by three latticed openings (these no longer exist), small, cut in the vault in that place which corresponds to the middle of the choir… In the middle is an altar… Opposite to which there are three vaults, … separated from one another by a thick wall… In these stand as many sarcophagi, … each composed of two great stones, of which one is the lid, the other the base. The middle sarcophagus, in which rests the body of St. Quintinus,

is opposite the altar; at its sides the other two are placed; and each was shut off by iron lattices (these do not survive). On the front also are seen three iron bars, furnished with spikes, on which are set the candles offered and lit before the sacred relics Ibid..

[142] [is to be referred in part to the ninth century, in part to the thirteenth or fourteenth.] It is certain that the crypt was first founded by Hugh, in the early ninth century. The matter, as it was done, is narrated in the breviary of the year 1642, at October 25: After Fulrad, the most munificent abbot of the same church, had raised a new basilica in honor of God and of our martyr with a royal work, Hugh, son of Charlemagne, succeeding him a little later, thought also of erecting and adorning in that basilica, according to its magnificence and dignity, a tomb of the aforesaid martyr, whom he most religiously venerated. And so having undertaken this pious work, as the situation of the place and the new structure hindered the purpose, unless he should bring the old tomb of the divine Quintinus out of the place (namely behind the high altar, as we said at no. 55) in which the holy pontiff Eligius had put it, he remained fixed at length in this plan, that it should be transferred into another part of the basilica. Wherefore, as in many churches of Gaul in that age little subterranean shrines were frequently dug out for burying the bodies of saints, in the same manner, with the consent of the emperor Louis the Pious, his brother, and by the counsel of pious men, he built a vaulted crypt under the choir of the church itself. The same is indicated in the Sermon on the entombment: The limbs of Quintinus are entombed for the third time in an honorable crypt. But so far as we can understand from the fabric itself, that crypt was renewed in great part in the thirteenth century, indeed in the fourteenth Cf. P. Bénard, Collégiale de S. Quentin, p. 34, Paris 1865, and to this age seems to be referred the little shrine which now survives, except the three vaults or arches, which are certainly older and probably belong to the structure made in the ninth century Gomart, Études Saint-Quent., vol. III, p. 34, vol. IV, p. 55 and following.

[143] The church of Saint-Quentin was formerly a cathedral, The place itself advises that, having described the church of St. Quintinus, we should now touch on what for a long space of time was its chief ornament. There namely, as we indicated before Cf. above, no. 36, the bishops of the Viromandui long had their see, and indeed from the first times. From that… chapel of Eusebia, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 60 and following, shining with daily prodigies, and by the merits of Quintinus, the piety of the neophytes increasing day by day, the origins of the clergy of Saint-Quentin are traced, and in it those of the established chair of the pontiffs of the Viromandui, so that this began not very long after the middle of the fourth century, if, as seems to us far more probable, the death of St. Quintinus is to be assigned to the year 286. Of the first prelates almost nothing but the name is known [Cf. Gallia christiana, vol. IX, col. 979 and following. Monum. Germ. hist., Scriptt., vol. XIII, p. 383 and 751], down to St. Medard, who, grieving … at the desolation already wrought of that city of the Veromandui …, and fearing a repeated incursion of the pagans Acta SS., vol. II of June, p. 90, or for other reasons, as some will have it Aug. Vir., p. 21 and following, p. 40, transferred the see to Noyon.

[144] then collegiate, Then abbots, to use the words of Hémeré Ibid., p. 63, succeeded the bishops in the old episcopal church. Yet no vows of the monastic rule are to be imposed on the clerics of Saint-Quentin on that account. For those were commonly so called who excelled by first dignity in any church; although the life … under bishops and abbots consisted of a common table and cloister (which indeed I judge probable, but it is confirmed in the author by no certain testimony), and the basilica itself of Quintinus the martyr was called by the name of monastery. But Mabillon asserts Annals of the O. S. B., bk. XIV, no. 2 that the name of monastery before the ninth century, in which it began to be used to signify colleges of clerics also, was in use only to designate the dwellings of monks. Moreover the basilica of St. Quintinus does not seem to have been raised to the dignity of an abbey, except after the finding, about the year 650, of the most holy martyr's *, and the enlargement and enrichment of the church for that reason by the pontiff Eligius. Certainly no abbots of Saint-Quentin occur before the middle of the seventh century. But from then to the end of the ninth century the place remained devoted to monastic disciplines Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 1040. But Colliette utterly denies Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 255 and following that the church of St. Quintinus was at any time devoted to monastic disciplines: which Hémeré already thought Aug. Vir., p. 113 and following. As to the abbots, from Medard to the years of Charlemagne time has unhappily obscured them; of whom not even the names, a few excepted, have survived Aug. Vir., p. 63. Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 1040. After Hugh, brother of Louis the Pious Cf. above, no. 63, there is marked in the lists of abbots Adalard, count of Vermandois and abbot of the monastery of St. Quintinus Cf. Recueil des hist. de France, vol. VIII, p. 585, and then Gunthard and Tetricus, again counts, yet not yet hereditary. At the end of the ninth century at last the hereditary counts of Vermandois held the primacy of the canons, and retained the title of abbot with the revenues Cf. Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 1040, until Philip Augustus in the year 1215 joined the county to the royal domain: from which time he and his successors were called not abbots, but patrons and first canons of the church Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 200 and 366.

[145] enjoying episcopal rights; But although the counts for the most part are said to have long aspired to the name of abbot, they should be said to have retained it for the sake of honor rather than of any domestic administration Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 1044. For this was in the hands of the deans, who certainly already existed in the tenth century; these were at first created by the chapter; but in the seventeenth century that right of free election was weakened, and soon altogether taken away by Louis XIV. Among those deans, moreover, many were most notable for the excellence of their birth and honors. Nor is it wonder, since the church not only abounded in wealth, but also enjoyed episcopal rights, such and so great as there usually are in a cathedral church deprived of its prelate Aug. Vir., p. 44; cf. p. 341. Hence, exempted from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Noyon, the canons of St. Quintinus … held every manner of ecclesiastical jurisdiction over clergy and laity. But it was not always permitted to use these privileges in tranquillity: indeed from there arose grave and troublesome lawsuits with the bishops of Noyon, which at length came to this, that in the year 1703 the church of St. Quintinus was wholly subjected to the prelate of Noyon, and enjoyed almost no longer any right of exemption above the other churches of the same diocese Colliette, vol. III, p. 410 and p. 445. These things, copiously discussed by many writers, let it suffice to have lightly touched on in this place.

[146] but now a minor basilica. To the temple of Saint-Quentin, once heaped with so many honors and afterwards cast down from its rank, there has very lately come a huge distinction. For in the month of October of the year 1876 the prelates of Cambrai, Beauvais, Amiens and Soissons, gathered at Saint-Quentin, asked the supreme pontiff in a suppliant letter that the collegiate church of St. Quintinus be adorned with the name and privileges of a minor basilica. Pope Pius IX assented, giving, on December 5 of the same year 1876, a brief to the bishop of Soissons, the most illustrious Odo Thibaudier; where this occurs among other things: The very old and notable temple in honor of the Virgin Mother of God and of the hieromartyr Quintinus, venerated with the singular piety of the faithful, by throngs and pious pilgrimages, which was once a cathedral, then collegiate, but is now a parish of thirty thousand faithful, and … rises magnificently and splendidly built, … we erect in perpetual manner into a minor basilica. A little later, on January 28, 1877, it was also obtained that the temple should be associated, or, as they say, affiliated, to the major Lateran basilica, and should enjoy all its indulgences Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 241 and following.

[147] The Island church, founded in honor of the martyr. But besides that most celebrated church of the town of Saint-Quentin, another temple sacred to the divine martyr formerly rose there, in a marshy place or island of the stagnant Somme, where for fifty-five years the head torn from the body and the rest of the corpse, transfixed with iron spits, had lain hidden Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 1079. This small building gradually grew, and a college of at first few canons, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 101, was founded by the canons of the greater basilica…. Hence it is called the abbey on the island Cf. Cl. de La Fons, Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 269. When these things took place is obscure; but several think that it began to be done shortly after the finding of the relics by St. Eligius. For thereafter, piety and confidence toward the holy martyr growing, it was fitting that that place in which the precious body had long lain hidden should be consecrated with worthy honor. However that may be, about the middle of the tenth century another church was substituted for the earlier one, cells being built around it and monks of the Order of St. Benedict being brought in. Of whom at the year 964 we read in the old annals of St. Quintinus: In this year a little band of monks was established on the island, not indeed, as the distinguished Bethmann interprets Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. XVI, p. 508, in the town of Insula, in the vernacular Lille, but at the walls of Saint-Quentin and on the Somme. Finally two centuries later a third church was built, far more magnificent, which lasted until the disaster of the city in the year 1557; after this the monks migrated within the walls of the city, new buildings being founded. Which they inhabited until, at the end of the eighteenth century, matters being foully disturbed throughout France, they were driven out. The monks having departed in the sixteenth century, a little shrine was left on the site of the former Island church. Cl. de La Fons also testifies Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 272, ed. of 1627 that he saw one of the wells of which we read in the Ourscamp Auctarium of the chronicle of Sigebert: In which place there still exist two wells, in one of which the head of the martyr himself, in the other the body, an angel revealing it, had been found Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. VI, p. 470. Hence Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 54: There were, he says, in that place of the river in which the body had lain hidden for fifty-five years, two wells built of squared stone, with their mouth emerging a little from the waters: those who drank from them were cured of any feverish infirmity and of swelling of a diseased body.

But our iniquities have at length made us unworthy of those heavenly benefits. That well which had formerly been constructed in the nave of the church the workmen found and uncovered, when in the year 1671 they were laboring at the fortification of the town. This is set out by Charles Gomart, who discourses at length on the Island abbey, using other documents and especially a ms. codex of the public library of Saint-Quentin Cf. Gomart, Ét. S. Quent., vol. IV, p. 331 and following, which has this inscription: The Island Convent of St. Quintinus or History of the Island Church of St. Quintinus, by Robert Wyard, monk of the Island, a learned and diligent man, who finished his work on August 17 of the year 1673. The history of the monastery was also sketched by the authors of the Gallia christiana [Vol. IX, col. 1080 and following. Cf. Mabillon, Ann. O. S. B., bk. XLVI, no. 96. Gomart, Études S. Quent., vol. IV, p. 157 and following], who in some things depart from Claude and from Quintin Hist. partic. de la ville de S. Quentin, vol. I, part I, p. 207 and following de La Fons. From more recent writers we learn that there exists there today a chapel built not long ago, which also has the name of St. Quintinus. Other sacred buildings consecrated to the glorious martyr will be listed later.

* supply relics

§ XIII. Pious journeys to the tomb of St. Quintinus. The feasts formerly and now accustomed to be celebrated. The feast day of St. Quintinus exempt from fasting.

The pilgrimages to the town of St. Quintinus are renewed. In honor of St. Quintinus pious journeys were formerly undertaken, both to several other places which will soon be indicated Below, no. 162, and especially to the very tomb of the martyr: here came suppliant kings, bishops, men of every kind [Cf. Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 250, 340, 359. Quintin de la Fons, Hist. de l'Église de S. Quentin, vol. I, p. 77. Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 156]: here flowed together the sick, and above all the dropsical, to implore the help of the patron with novena prayers, washings, counterweights Cf. Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 332, and other means, to be set out below Cf. below, note to the book of miracles. That those pilgrimages, abolished after the unhappy times of the eighteenth century, might at last be resumed, the people of Saint-Quentin have labored in our age; and not in vain. For in the first year, 1875, in the month of October, a huge concourse took place from every side, and there were present from the dioceses of Soissons, Amiens, Beauvais, Cambrai, Arras, Verdun and others more than fifty thousand men; and in the years 1876 and 1877 the pomp was still greater, several bishops being then present; and one may hope that this celebration of St. Quintinus will be more splendid year by year. Moreover at the time when the sacred pilgrimage revived, in the month of October 1875, a pious sodality was instituted in honor of the illustrious patron, enriched with many indulgences Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 230 and following.

[149] Of the feasts formerly accustomed to be celebrated Although in this way the old veneration flourishes again, yet much is lacking for all the feasts formerly accustomed to be celebrated in the basilica to have been restored. For besides the semidouble office of St. Quintinus during the week, which was held every Wednesday not impeded by any vigil, or day within an octave, or feast of semidouble or above; these feast days are indicated in the breviary of the year 1774:

On January 3, there is to be celebrated the second finding of about the year 641.

On January 19 (and in the older breviaries on the 12th), the entombment made at the beginning of the tenth century.

On May 2, the elevation of SS. Quintinus, Victoricus and Cassian, in the year 1228 or 1229.

On June 23, the first finding of about the year 341.

On September 2, the veneration of the relics, in the year 1257.

On September 14, the memorial of the bringing back of the head, in the year 1569.

On October 25, the translation of St. Quintinus into the crypt, in the year 835.

On October 31, the feast of the passion.

On November 7, the celebration of the miracles (elsewhere, the octave of the passion).

[150] few are still kept. When at the beginning of the nineteenth century the cult of the eminent martyr was restored, it was decreed that the feasts of the passion, of the second finding and of the elevation should each be kept on its own day, that is, on October 31, January 3 and May 2: later however they were put off to the Sunday immediately following. Daily through the octaves of these feasts Mass is celebrated at the altar of the crypt (which same is done, since the year 1875, every week, on Wednesday), and the litanies of St. Quintinus are recited. Which custom, introduced on May 2, 1847, persisted even after the year 1852, in which, the Roman liturgy having been received into the diocese, the celebrations of January 3 and May 2 were abolished. In memory of the former, however, on the Sunday next after the feast of the second finding, that ancient ceremony is carried out which is commonly called La Lumerie, and very early in the morning matins and lauds are sung Ibid., p. 225 and following. But certain other old customs have vanished, such as that singular and very well-known privilege concerning fasting.

[151] [Formerly on October 31 the people of Saint-Quentin neither fasted nor abstained from meat.] For it was the custom among the people of Saint-Quentin that on the chief feast day of the holy patron or October 31, neither was there fasting, although it was the vigil of All Saints, nor was there abstinence from meat, even if the feast of St. Quintinus fell on a Friday or Saturday; in exactly the manner that obtains at the Nativity of the Lord. The fast preceding the solemnity of All Saints was moved to the preceding day or October 30. The origin of this privilege, which stood so until nearly our own age, some trace to a concession of the Roman pontiff: but the instrument of this is nowhere found, and certainly when in the year 1597 the cardinal of Florence was staying at Saint-Quentin, legate of Pope Clement VIII to make peace between the French and Spanish, and had asked the capitular canons by what authority they acted so, they could find no trace of a bull or rescript. Whence the native writers, Claude de La Fons Hist. de S. Quentin apôtre, p. 215 and following and after him Colliette Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 335 and following, who discussed the matter at length, gather that the custom rather arose from a very ancient and general practice of rejoicing and celebrating feasts at the Memorials of the martyrs Cf. Baronius, Roman Martyr., pref., chap. IV, when the anniversary day of the triumph recurred; that this practice, which elsewhere has almost wholly perished, persisted in the city of Saint-Quentin, and that it thus came about that on October 31 neither was penance done nor was the fast later prescribed for this day kept. Later, I say; for the praised authors will have it that this institution of theirs arose immediately from the death of St. Quintinus, and prevailed much more after the finding of the body by Eusebia and the building of the oratory: whence it follows that it began to flourish long before Louis the Pious, at the urging of Pope Gregory IV and with the bishops' support, in the year 834 or 835, ordered the feast of All Saints to be celebrated throughout Gaul and Germany. Less ancient also to many seems the fast customarily kept on the day before, and it is not proved to have been enjoined before the eleventh century; although others propose another time [Cf. Martène, On the Ancient Rites of the Church, vol. III, p. 215, Venice 1783. Binterim, Denkwürdigkeiten der Kath. Kirche, vol. V, part I, p. 491, part II, p. 159. Baillet, Les Vies des Saints, vol. VII, p. 464].

[152] Of which immunity, older than the twelfth century If, as the aforesaid historians contend, the people of Saint-Quentin were already accustomed in the fourth century not to fast on the feast day of their patron, and so went on until the celebration of All Saints was promulgated in Gaul, or the fast prescribed on its vigil, a reason is thus easily given why the same rite continued thereafter. But whatever is to be thought of that extreme antiquity, it is established that the immunity is older than the twelfth century or at least the following one. For John Beleth, treating of October 31, says: Nor ought anyone to eat on that day until vespers, nor should the fast be changed, as some do on account of St. Quintinus. So Durandus, in the Rationale of the divine offices Fol. 275, Lyon 1551; which, on the testimony of Claude La Fons Histoire de S. Quentin, p. 216 and following, are the very words of J. Beleth, whose book is not at hand for me. It is not altogether established in what years this author wrote: yet far more probably toward the end of the twelfth century, or indeed about the year 1165 or 1182 [Fabricius, Bibliotheca latina mediae et infimae aetatis, vol. IV, p. 56, Padua 1754. Bulaeus, Historia universitatis Parisiensis, vol. II, p. 749. Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. XIV, p. 218]. Another testimony, and this his own, is brought forward by the praised Durandus, who, as is known, died at the end of the thirteenth century: In certain places, he says, in which there are churches of St. Quintinus, there is no fasting on the vigil of All Saints, but on the third day preceding Rationale of the divine offices, bk. VI, chap. 7, fol. 162.

[153] and legitimate, It is thus sufficiently established that already in the twelfth century the usage of which we are treating prevailed; and certainly it was not then first born. Thus we are easily brought to the eleventh century, and if the fast preceding All Saints was in fact imposed only about the eleventh century, as some think, the institution of Saint-Quentin may not absurdly be called older than that. But however that may be, Claude de La Fons confirms that the custom is undeservedly reproved by Beleth, since there are many causes for which fasts are not rarely transferred from one day to another Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 236 and following. Moreover that custom is to be judged legitimate, say the people of Saint-Quentin, which is shown to be confirmed by the usage of several centuries, and was neither disapproved by the cardinal legate, nor ever reproved by the bishops of Noyon, much less prohibited Colliette, Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 339; yet so that the privilege is not extended beyond the limits of the city and suburbs, and on this condition, that there be fasting on the day before.

[154] Clement IV made sharers But what of those certain places in which there are churches of St. Quintinus Cf. above, no. 152, as Durandus says? Odoricus Raynaldus wrote this in the Continuation of the annals of Baronius at the year 1268: Clement IV to foster the piety of the French toward Bl. Quintinus granted to all the faithful of Christ, parishioners of the churches which had been raised in honor of that saint in the diocese of Périgueux, that on his feast, if on the vigil of the feast of All Saints, on Monday,

or Tuesday, or Thursday it should fall, they might eat meat Vol. III, p. 250, Lucca 1748. The author brings as witness a letter of Clement, bk. 4, ep. 42, at any rate from the Vatican ms. registers. No slight part of these letters you have published in the Anecdota of Martène Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, vol. II, col. 97 and following, Paris 1717; but neither here nor in other collections have we found the writing praised by Raynaldus Cf. Bréquigny-Pardessus, Table chronologique des diplômes, vol. VI.

[155] certain other churches. Colliette reports Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 337 and following that the learned man Jean Lebeuf, canon of Auxerre, when, anxious on this question, he had had the archive of Saint-Quentin vainly searched, at last, the end of his life being already near, received from Eustace Le Blancq, treasurer of the abbey of Cluny, a copy of a certain bull preserved in the archive of that monastery. There existed, namely, in that place a codex of the fourteenth century, of parchment, in folio, with this inscription: Register of bulls of several pontiffs (registre de bulles de plusieurs papes). The years in which they were given are not indicated, nor the names of the pontiffs. There, on fol. 210 v°, one reads: On the transfer of the vigil of All Saints on account of the feast of blessed Quintinus. And this is written in rubricated letters, the following in black: Having, as we have learned, great reverence and devotion toward blessed Quintinus, as toward your special patron, you keep his feast, which is celebrated every year on the vigil of All Saints, with a celebrated solemnity, and honor the same saint with festive joys. That therefore on that same feast on which you exult spiritually, something more joyful in the worldly way may accrue to you, if the aforesaid feast shall come on a Tuesday, or Thursday, we impart to you by apostolic authority free license to eat meat on that day, the appointed fast notwithstanding, yet so that on the first suitable day before that feast you fast for the said vigil. To no one then, our grant etc. Louis Colliette, who testifies that these things were communicated to him by Jean Lebeuf, judges that this is the letter mentioned by Raynaldus at the year 1268. It can indeed be said against this that in the Cluny bull no region is designated by name; moreover that the immunity is there granted for only two days, whereas Raynaldus asserts that it held for Monday, or Tuesday, or Thursday. But perhaps someone will answer not ineptly that the Cluny copy is faulty and defective; and that the mention of the diocese of Périgueux was omitted for this reason, that this mattered little to the inhabitants of the monastery of Cluny. He who wishes more may go to the praised authors of Saint-Quentin. One thing is to be added in this place: we nowhere see that the old privilege was abolished by ecclesiastical authority: but it fell of itself, unless I am mistaken, from the time that the feast of St. Quintinus among the people of Saint-Quentin was moved from October 31 to the Sunday immediately following [Cf. above, no. 150. Corblet, Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 384. Lequeux, Antiquités relig. de Soissons et de Laon, vol. I, p. 288].

§ XIV. The cult of St. Quintinus outside Augusta of the Viromandui. Churches and monasteries formerly dedicated to him in France and Belgium. Buildings still sacred to him. Springs of St. Quintinus.

In almost every century, from the seventh onward, He certainly errs who thinks that the veneration of the renowned martyr is contained within the slight bounds of one city. Not only at Saint-Quentin, but also in all of France, in the neighboring regions and almost everywhere his name and glory have spread. But since the number of churches formerly dedicated to St. Quintinus can scarcely be reckoned, we shall review only the chief ones, keeping roughly the order of the times. To omit in this place the churches built at Augusta of the Viromandui Cf. above, § XII, Lando, archbishop of Reims, in the year 649, mentions in his testament a basilica of St. Quintinus, at any rate of Reims, as all agree [Cf. Mon. Germ. hist., vol. XIII, p. 455. Colliette, Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 225]. A Benedictine monastery in the diocese of Tongeren or Maastricht, founded in the year 662 by St. Trudo, was a little later dedicated in honor of SS. Quintinus and Remigius Gallia christ., vol. III, col. 952. In the city of Troyes there once existed, and indeed from the age of St. Frodobert, who died about the year 673, a convent of maidens consecrated to the name of St. Quintinus, and afterwards reduced to a simple priory, which was subject to Molesme [Ibid., vol. XII, col. 534. Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B., cent. II, p. 604, Venice 1733]. Likewise to the seventh century are referred by many writers the monastery of Mont-Saint-Quentin near Péronne, which however the authors of the Gallia christiana confirm arose in the tenth century Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 1097 and following; a chapel of St. Quintinus near Saint-Denis in the district of Paris, of which mention is made in a certain charter fabricated, as it seems, in the ninth century Cf. Pardessus, Diplomata ad res Gallo-Francicas pertinentia, vol. II, p. 95, although it is pretended to be given in the year 652; the church of St. Quintinus of Maubeuge [Ibid., p. 118. Acta SS. of Belgium, vol. IV, p. 302. Cf. Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 102]. In a diploma given by Charles the Fat in the year 880 is recorded a monastery … not far from Spigno, which is named St. Quintinus [P. Puricelli, Ambrosianae basilicae monumenta, p. 235. Cf. Mabillon, Annals of the O. S. B., bk. XXXVIII, no. 43], where there is a town of Monferrato. About the same time lived an anonymous monk of Fontenelle who, in the Miracles of St. Wandrille, recalls in the territory of Boulogne and on the estate of Walbodingheim.., a basilica of the holy martyr Quintinus Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B., cent. II, p. 528, Venice 1733.

[157] there were dedicated to St. Quintinus In the eleventh century a building was constructed at Besançon in honor of the saint of Vermand. Some indeed assert that of his relics conveyed to Laon during the Norman irruptions, a part was carried off to Besançon in the year 898 Cf. Vie des Saints de la Franche-Comté, vol. IV, p. 571, Besançon 1856: others think that all rested there for a time in the year 890 Cf. Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 184. On what authority this is handed down I do not know. Certainly Chifflet narrates nothing of the kind Vesontio civitas imperialis, part II, p. 196 and following, Lyon 1618, who could not yet find anywhere the first foundation of the church of St. Quintinus, long and much searched for. He adds however: In that church, now very narrow, … restored in the year 1514, there is preserved a certain bone of St. Quintinus the martyr, enclosed in a very old iron coffer… But afterwards it was learned that the church built in the year 1047, restored in the year 1315, perished at the end of the seventeenth century; and that the name of St. Quintinus passed from there to a chapel built in the tower of St. Quintinus. But these things too have been brought out not long ago Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 184 and following. Even today in the province of Besançon the feast of the holy martyr is celebrated with a semidouble rite on October 29 Vie des SS. de la Franche-Comté, p. 572. Nearly equal in age to the church of St. Quintinus of Besançon is that of Beauvais, which, as we said above No. 11 and 125. Cf. Gallia christ., vol. IX, col. 818 and following, Bishop Guy consecrated in the year 1069.

[158] churches, In the year 1224 the sacred building of the convent of Joyenval was dedicated by the bishop of Chartres to SS. Laurence and Quintinus Aug. Vir., p. 300. After in the year 1228 or 1229 some relics had been cut from the sacred body and transported into several dioceses of France, Hémeré judges that very many chapels were then founded for the illustrious champion. Certainly at that time Erard de Lésignes, bishop of Auxerre, raised chapels of his name, one in the parish of St. George of Bazarnes on the Yonne, the other in the parish of St. Ciricus of Monestallum of his diocese Ibid., p. 242. About the year 1316 a chapel was built at Amiens in that place where the prison of St. Quintinus was believed to have once existed, and where there is still seen a huge crypt, which they used to call the Vault of St. Quintinus. This little shrine was destroyed at the end of the eighteenth century. Opposite that place, at the crossroads where they report the patron of the district of Vermandois to have been tortured, there rose already in the ninth century a hospital, assigned to those pilgrims who came from every side to implore the help of the holy man [Corblet, Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 397. Cf. de La Morlière, Antiquitez d'Amiens, p. 33]. Likewise in the fourteenth century the cult of our saint flourished in the abbey of Ourscamp of the diocese of Noyon, in the priory of Donchery near Rethel, in the abbey of St. Mary of Soissons, in the parish of St. Remigius of the city of Laon, in the church of St. James at Amiens Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 185 and 192, in the diocese of Chartres Cf. ibid., p. 191 etc.

[159] chapels and altars. But there would be no end for one who should wish to pursue each in order. For besides those we have indicated, Claude de La Fons Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 273 and following, Colliette Mem. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. II, p. 674 and following and other authors Cf. Corblet, Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 390 enumerate very many priories dedicated to the divine martyr; likewise many parish churches, chaplaincies, chapels, altars, as in the Parisian churches of St. Eustace and St. Gervase, in which sodalities of St. Quintinus had been instituted; in the churches of St. Stephen of Troyes, St. Nicasius of Reims, St. Bartholomew of Noyon, and very many others.

[160] Very many churches of St. Quintinus still exist today, Almost all those monuments of the cult of St. Quintinus have perished. But many others are numbered which have either not been consumed by age and the times, or have lately arisen. We see churches named from the martyr of Vermand even in remote regions, as at Parma in Italy, where there was formerly a Benedictine monastery and there is now a very ancient parish church [P. Donati, Nuova descrizione di Parma, p. 79. Chronica Parmensia, p. 516, Parma 1858]; likewise at Mainz in Germany [Nic. Serarius, Rerum Moguntinarum Scriptores, vol. I, p. 75, Frankfurt am Main 1722], etc., but many more in France and in Belgium, and of these not a few very ancient. St. Ghislain, as we read in his Life, and St. Waldetrude in the seventh century resolved by common counsel to build in the villa of Quaternio an oratory in honor of the holy martyr Quintinus Acta SS. of Belgium, vol. IV, p. 382. There now stands there the village of Quaregnon in Hainaut, between Saint-Ghislain and Mons: where the holy patron is held in special cult even today. In the same seventh century they report that the church of St. Quintinus of Tournai was begun;

although in the monuments of history it is not recorded before the tenth century [B. du Mortier, Étude sur les monuments de Tournai, p. 123 and following, Tournai 1862]. Old also, although they do not reach that age, are certain other churches and chapels of St. Quintinus in our regions; for example, to the tenth century are referred the churches [Mabillon, Annals of the O. S. B., bk. XLVI, no. 20. Colliette, Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 538] of Thin (Thin-le-Moutier), of Gesiacum (Jussy) and others Cf. Harbaville, Mémorial histor. et archéol. du Pas-de-Calais, vol. II, p. 173; and the chapel which exists today in the cathedral church of Amiens was already dedicated to the holy martyr in the thirteenth century [Cf. Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 185. Gilbert, Descript. hist. de la cathédrale d'Amiens, p. 245 and following, Amiens 1833].

[161] That the reader may see at one view those churches of France and Belgium of which St. Quintinus is patron (for we cannot speak widely of each), it is useful to copy out the index which the venerable presbyter Ad. Mathieu composed S. Quentin, sa vie, son culte, p. 187 and following. We have changed or added only a very little. The names of places moreover we have written as they are pronounced in the vernacular tongue.

INDEX OF THE CHURCHES WHICH HAVE ST. QUINTINUS AS PATRON

IN FRANCE.

in France and in Belgium. ECCLESIASTICAL PROVINCE OF REIMS.

DIOCESE OF SOISSONS.

DIOCESE OF AMIENS.

DIOCESE OF REIMS.

DIOCESE OF BEAUVAIS.

DIOCESE OF CHÂLONS.

ECCL. PROV. OF CAMBRAI.

DIOCESE OF CAMBRAI.

DIOCESE OF ARRAS.

ECCL. PROV. OF PARIS.

DIOCESE OF BLOIS.

DIOCESE OF MEAUX.

DIOCESE OF ORLÉANS.

DIOCESE OF VERSAILLES.

ECCL. PROV. OF ROUEN.

DIOCESE OF ROUEN.

DIOCESE OF BAYEUX.

DIOCESE OF ÉVREUX.

DIOCESE OF SÉES.

ECCL. PROV. OF BESANÇON.

DIOCESE OF BESANÇON.

DIOCESE OF NANCY.

DIOCESE OF SAINT-DIÉ.

DIOCESE OF VERDUN.

ECCL. PROV. OF RENNES.

DIOCESE OF RENNES.

DIOCESE OF SAINT-BRIEUC.

ECCL. PROV. OF BOURGES.

DIOCESE OF CLERMONT.

DIOCESE OF LIMOGES.

DIOCESE OF LE PUY.

ECCL. PROV. OF SENS.

DIOCESE OF SENS.

DIOCESE OF NEVERS.

DIOCESE OF TROYES.

ECCL. PROV. OF TOURS.

DIOCESE OF ANGERS.

DIOCESE OF LAVAL.

ECCL. PROV. OF LYON.

DIOCESE OF AUTUN.

DIOCESE OF DIJON.

DIOCESE OF GRENOBLE.

ECCL. PROV. OF BORDEAUX.

DIOCESE OF BORDEAUX.

DIOCESE OF AGEN.

DIOCESE OF ANGOULÊME.

DIOCESE OF LUÇON.

DIOCESE OF PÉRIGUEUX.

DIOCESE OF LA ROCHELLE.

ECCL. PROV. OF TOULOUSE.

DIOCESE OF MONTAUBAN.

DIOCESE OF PAMIERS.

ECCL. PROV. OF AVIGNON.

DIOCESE OF NÎMES.

ECCL. PROV. OF ALBI.

DIOCESE OF ALBI.

DIOCESE OF PERPIGNAN.

ECCL. PROV. OF CHAMBÉRY.

DIOCESE OF ANNECY.

IN BELGIUM.

DIOCESE OF MECHELEN.

DIOCESE OF TOURNAI.

DIOCESE OF LIÈGE.

DIOCESE OF NAMUR.

DIOCESE OF BRUGES.

[162] Several springs are named from St. Quintinus. But in some of those churches the holy patron is venerated with special devotion, whether by the institution of a certain sodality of religious men Cf. Du Breul, Antiquitez de Paris, p. 602, or by the celebration every year of a novena before the feast day, as in the district of Ecourt-St.-Quentin of the diocese of Arras Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 186, and others, or by the holding of a public supplication or the undertaking of pious journeys or pilgrimages, as to the villages of Vermand, Brasle, Saint-Quentin-les-Louvry etc. [Corblet, Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 389. Cf. Cl. de La Fons, Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 275, 278 and following, 282]. St. Quintinus is narrated, when he was being dragged from Amiens to Augusta of the Viromandui to be killed, to have passed through the place called Holnon, and there, perishing with thirst, to have approached God in prayer: whereupon a spring at once gushed forth. To the chapel afterwards set over the spring very many still go every year in supplication, on the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, to implore the holy martyr Gomart, Études S. Quentin., vol. III, p. 355. About fifty years ago there was still seen at Amiens the spring which St. Quintinus, held in prison there, was reported to have called up by a miracle: and over which a chapel was afterwards built Corblet, vol. III, p. 397. The waters of this spring and of others in the villages of Marteville, Quiquery, Brasle etc., which were named from St. Quintinus, the sick used with a confident mind Mathieu, S. Quentin, p. 183. Cf. Colliette, Mémoires, vol. II, p. 675.

[163] The feast day differs in different churches. The churches which still celebrate the feast of St. Quintinus assign it various days, as May 2, or November 15 Cf. Corblet, Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 390, but most of them October 30 or 31: at the former he is commemorated, so far as I see in the Orders for celebrating the divine office, in the dioceses of Blois, Orléans, Troyes, Verdun etc.; and he is venerated with a semidouble office in the dioceses of Reims, Sées, Toulouse etc. At the 31st he is commemorated in the dioceses of Autun, Bourges, Chartres, Lyon and others; his feast is kept with a semidouble rite in the Churches of Châlons and Limoges, but with a double rite in those of Arras and Cambrai. In the Church of Besançon he is venerated on October 29.

§ XV. Manuscript monuments of the cult of St. Quintinus. The Sermon of thanksgiving. Books of miracles. Sermon on the octave and on the entombment. Poems. Hymns composed by Santeul. Images.

The Sermon of thanksgiving In the Saint-Quentin codex which is commonly called the Authenticum Cf. above, no. 9 and following, between the Acts of the passion and the history of the first finding there occurs the Sermon of thanksgiving on the feast of St. Quintinus, which the distinguished Ernest de Chauvenet, as well as the Acts themselves and the narrative of the finding, thinks can be attributed to Raimbert Cf. above, no. 15 and following; but on what ground I do not know. Moreover that Sermon contributes nothing to illustrating the history of the cult of St. Quintinus: from beginning to end it is as it were a continuous exclamation of a man rejoicing, marveling, and especially giving thanks to God, who called St. Quintinus to his passion, strengthened him, consoled him amid torments, and now heaps him with blessedness in heaven, and grants him to us as a notable patron. Perhaps for this reason the Sermon is found in the Authenticum between the Passion and the first Finding, because it is as it were a corollary of the former. It will be useful, by way of specimen, to add the close: For we believe that Quintinus, your servant, your soldier, your martyr, your sacrifice, your holocaust, rests in the bosom of Abraham, which you have prepared as the most ample and most blessed receptacle of the saints in the paradise of your delights, happy and immortal, rejoicing and exulting among your saints, enjoying the sight of the glory of the saints, the fellowship of the angels, the confession of the martyrs, the glorification of the prophets, the joint inheritance of the apostles; seeing you, holy Godhead, so far as you grant, and ever thirsting to see; rejoicing in you, supreme fatherhood; exulting in you, Christ, holy splendor; jubilant in you and for you, holy charity of God, Spirit of truth, one God and our Lord, reward of the saints, crown of the blessed, glory of the happy. With whom you, O most blessed martyr Quintinus, we beg with suppliant prayer that you intervene for us, who are still bound by the chains of mortality and the snares of sins. Pray for the suppliant clergy, intervene for the most devout people, intercede for the choir of monks; let us feel your suffrages, who trust in no merits of ours. Return, we pray, the favor of your lover; obtain pardon for your lovers, ask grace from God for those who venerate you, that, helped by your intervention, we may so pass through these temporal things that we may merit to come to the eternal rewards, through our common God and Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father etc. These words certainly betray a man neither devoid of eloquence nor ignorant of oratorical rhythm or of the Latin tongue.

[165] was perhaps spoken in the year 1069 at Beauvais The sermon was delivered on the feast of St. Quintinus, as is shown from more than one place: While rejoicing we recall the triumph of this blessed martyr; and below: For in your honor, Lord, we keep the solemnities of this martyr. But where? In the church of Vermand? The first obstacle is that no mention, not even the slightest, is made of the sacred body. But who will easily persuade himself that this could have been passed over, if the sermon had been held in the chief church of Bl. Quintinus, adorned with his relics; finally in sight of the tomb, to which there was so great a concourse of men coming from every side, to which miracles wrought and benefits obtained were frequently attributed? Next the words are to be noted: Intercede for the choir of monks. Are they not an indication that the oration was spoken in a regular church? Indeed perhaps in the monastery of Beauvais and by Ivo the abbot, afterwards bishop of Chartres and enrolled among the saints Cf. Acta SS., vol. V of May, p. 247 *, a man learned and eloquent as few, such as, as my opinion is, the author of the Sermon most certainly was.

[166] by St. Ivo. Several sermons of Bl. Ivo survive, at least twenty-four Migne, Latin Patrology, vol. CLXII, col. 505 and following. When I had studiously read these through, I could not but recognize, whether I looked at the style, or the sentences, or the kind of oration, a certain affinity with our Sermon. The author delights in those as in this one in antitheses, periods ending alike, sentences rendered briefly and elegantly, although in our writing he exults a little more youthfully. Moreover a conjecture comes to mind, that the oration was perhaps spoken at the dedication of the church of St. Quintinus at Beauvais in the year 1069, which there is nothing to oppose having been made on the very feast day of the holy martyr, and which contemporary monuments testify to have been celebrated with the highest ceremony [Cf. Dachery, Spicilegium, vol. II, p. 136. Louvet, Histoire de Beauvais, p. 457 and following, Beauvais 1631. Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 124. Delettre, Hist. du diocèse de Beauvais, vol. I, p. 485 and following, Beauvais 1842]. That I should deny the Sermon to Raimbert I am moved by the difference of style. Certainly if, as I have said is probable, Raimbert composed the rubrics of the Passion and the Finding, I should not easily believe him to be the author of the Sermon. The one diction differs greatly from the other. Here it is terse and for the time good Latin; there nearly barbarous.

[167] The Book of Miracles was written Among the most ancient monuments pertaining to the cult of St. Quintinus, the Book of Miracles holds no lowest rank. Unless we hold the whole writing to be spurious or corrupted and interpolated (which no one has so far made plain, nor indeed even judged), we must trust the writer who often testifies that he was present at many of the prodigies narrated. Some things, as he himself advises in the epilogue, narrated in writings and words by the fathers (such as SS. Gregory of Tours and Ouen), some seen by my littleness, I have taken care to commit to the pages in faithful language, as I could. Then, in chap. 13, he begins thus: Things thus far set out to us by faithful fathers; now we shall note down in faithful language things inspected by the keen sight of our own eyes. And a little below: A boy, he says, by name Angalharius, following his father, came to the palace of Aachen; who, kept there long by his father, was suddenly wholly deprived of the use of his steps. Whom the excellent emperor Charles of good memory seeing, having called him, asked from what place, of what district, or of what family he was. And he said: "From the village of St. Quintinus of Vermand, a servant

of the same holy martyr and of Abbot Fulrad." When by the order and with the help of Charlemagne he had returned there, we all marvel at his being brought, says the writer; Lo! we all say etc. Then it is said that his limbs were restored to the lame boy. Certainly, since the emperor died on January 28 of the year 814, it is clear that the event took place before this year.

[168] about the middle of the ninth century But the author of the book was still surviving long afterwards, as he himself testifies in the last chapter: These things then being accomplished, it seems to me very fitting that we should here touch in summary on the translation of the body of the most holy martyr Quintinus, as we have seen and known. Formerly then Abbot Fulrad of good memory … took care to construct a new temple… Later its abbot… Huh by name, … in the eight hundred and thirty-fifth year of the Incarnation of Christ, … raising that sacred body from the place where St. Eligius had put it, buried it in an excellent place, where even now it lies excellently entombed, …. Hence Claude de La Fons pronounced Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 324 that the book was written under Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. And Hémeré, at the year 854: There lived, he says Aug. Vir., p. 78, about the same years the canon who collected the first miracles of St. Quintinus. The first, I have said: for others … were written later.

[169] by an unknown author. There is therefore no reason to doubt about the age. But who is the author? The name lies wholly hidden. I should not doubt that he was a canon of Saint-Quentin: for who else would so diligently have observed and faithfully noted the wonderful things, wrought for the most part in the very basilica of St. Quintinus? Moreover certain errors with which the writing is infected, and which I indicated above (no. 50), do not prevent it from being much to be valued, as being very ancient and showing very many things concerning the cult of the holy martyr. We shall therefore publish it entire. We have also found the book both in other ms. codices, and in Paris 5575 Catalogue des mss. de la bibl. nationale, vol. IV, p. 134, Paris 1744 and in Brussels 7460. If anything different occurs in those copies, I shall mark it.

[170] Another little book on the miracles, at the end of the tenth century, There exists a second little book of the miracles of Bl. Quintinus, which, as the inscription in Hémeré reports In the Regestum, p. 22, were done on the Island, written by a certain canon of the church of the same martyr by order of Lindulf bishop of Noyon; which we shall likewise subjoin to the Commentary. This is much shorter than the former, as it comprises only five chapters, with a little prologue set before. Of the two things which Hémeré asserts, namely that the little book was both made by order of Lindulf bishop of Noyon and written out by a canon of the church of St. Quintinus, the former is altogether certain. For the author begins thus: The astounding and very evident great works of power, which the mercy of Almighty God deigned to work in ancient times for the merits of the eminent martyr Quintinus, we see committed by the zeal of very prudent men to suitable letters for the memory of posterity. (These words manifestly look to the former book of miracles.) But those which have been newly wrought have hitherto been covered in silence through the carelessness and dullness of writers. Wherefore, the grace of Christ dawning, and the intervention of the aforesaid witness supporting, although in unskilled language, yet desiring to obey the commands of Lindulf, prelate of the church of Noyon, we have striven to describe these few things in compendium. Lindulf sat at Noyon from the year 977 to the year 980 Gallia christiana, vol. IX, col. 992 and following. The little work thus appeared toward the end of the tenth century.

[171] was composed by a monk of the Island. What Hémeré said of the author is less approved. The writers of the Gallia christiana Vol. IX, col. 1081: Lindulf, they say, had the series of the miracles … wrought by Quintinus the martyr described by a monk of the restored convent. Hémeré made the little book public in the Augusta Veromanduorum illustrata; but, led by party zeal, against all reason of fairness and goodness, he attached it to a certain canon of the church of St. Quintinus, although the author most openly betrays himself as a monk of the Island in these words of chap. 1: "How the power of the divine majesty relieved this place." Then chap. 2: "A miracle which certain Brethren of ours who still survive confess that they know, and have truly reported to us that they saw." And chap. 3: "A certain youth, Giroldus by name, was serving in our bakehouse… He by order of our superiors climbed the beams of the new stone church." Then chap. 4: "Until, rising again from the ground, he recognized his kinsmen and thankfully, as we beheld, kissed them." Finally chap. 5: "He showed us on that same arm of his etc." The rest no less lower the credit of Hémeré. Which indeed, though abbreviated, are proof that Hémeré's opinion is false. Which is more manifest to one running through the whole little book. Moreover it is more readily believed that an inhabitant of the Island monastery wrote of things done in that place.

[172] The author and age of the Sermon on the octave are unknown. The little book of miracles is followed in the Authenticum by the Sermon on the octave of St. Quintinus. It begins thus: The present festive day has shone on us, dearest ones, consecrated to blessed Quintinus the martyr, which the revolution of the year has presented for celebrating today… And below: Because the citizens of heaven, he says, as we believe, exult, it is fitting that our church also should rejoice, which the presence of so great a martyr raises up. For we do not doubt of his spiritual presence, whose death is precious in the sight of the Lord, whose body we embrace with pious cult as worthy of veneration, on account of the eminent imitation of his life. The mercy … of God willed that he should shed his blood in our borders. Then having set out the tortures and death of the holy patron, he adds: These few things we have recalled from the history of the sacred passion of the glorious martyr, that we might show to those less understanding that his glorious merits after the victory of so great a contest are most worthy of God. Which also both the sight of the blind among us, and the hearing of the deaf, and the bursting forth of speech of the mute most evidently show to us… From these words it is easily gathered where the oration was held, but of the age and the author we have so far found out nothing. For that Colliette ascribes it Mém. pour l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 39, as also all the other little works of the Authenticum, to Raimbert is plainly baseless, as the distinguished E. de Chauvenet judges in the dissertation already praised Cf. above, no. 14. He also notes that the author aimed at verbal rhythm and sentences ending alike, but was more sparing of redundancies and antitheses than the author of the Sermon of thanksgiving Cf. above, no. 164. Certainly, he says, this writing was composed before the age of Raimbert …, as manifestly appears even from the very place which it holds in the codex, among little works of which the more recent is to be referred to about the year 980. The argument does not wholly convince us. But however that may be, this Sermon does not seem to be published entire, since it shows nothing new by which the history or cult of the holy martyr may be illustrated.

[173] The Sermon on the entombment was probably delivered Much more to be valued is the Sermon, which we have already often praised, on the entombment of the holy martyrs of Christ Quintinus and Victoricus, and of the holy confessor Cassian. Since it may be affirmed as certain that the entombment took place at the beginning of the tenth century, after the year 902 and perhaps about the year 903 Cf. above, no. 14, it is clear that the sermon does not exceed this age. But it is asked whether it was delivered at the entombment itself, or on some anniversary day of it, recurring every year on January 12. It begins thus: Ever most loving in Christ, bowels of fathers and brethren, society most pleasing to God, the solemnity of the present day stands very celebrated and venerable to us. For it is consecrated to the honorable entombment of the saints Quintinus, Victoricus … and Cassian… Because we rejoice in their presence and are helped by their mercy, for the sake of their embraceable memory we endeavor to raise up the praises of this festival. If the word ever is referred to stands, so that one must read ever stands, this is not conveniently understood of the entombment itself: for then it would have to be said altogether: ever will stand; but rightly it is said ever stands, if the sermon was delivered on an anniversary day. But if the word ever, as I for my part judge, is to be joined with the words most loving and most pleasing, either with both or with the former only, the following words: the solemnity of the present day stands very celebrated and venerable to us, can not absurdly be referred to the very ceremony of the entombment: but if so, it seems strange that nothing is found in the whole sermon which clearly indicates so splendid a celebration of religious cult. And for this reason it seems to me more likely that it is a question only of an anniversary feast of the entombment.

[174] on an anniversary day, Which also you may judge with sufficient probability to be confirmed by the epilogue: These things thus being completed, the aforesaid prelate, devout and joyful, for the commemoration of the saints themselves, fittingly celebrated the solemnities of the Mass and as a suppliant offered holocausts to the Creator of all. Amid which, by the counsel of all he decreed, and confirmed by his pontifical authority, that this day, for the praise of the holy Trinity and the venerable love of the saints themselves, should every year be held festive and solemn. Which certainly do not seem to be spoken by one who was making an address before the pontiff of Noyon and the chapter of Saint-Quentin, while the entombment itself was being performed, but rather by one who on a feast day recalls and sets out a thing done formerly. And that nowhere in the whole sermon is a time indicated later than the burial does not seem to harm our opinion. For it was not necessary that the orator, speaking at the annual celebration of the entombment, should also narrate what took place after the entombment: since these would not pertain to his purpose.

[175] certainly not after the twelfth century, However the matter stands, if the Sermon was made on the very day of the entombment, it will have to be ascribed to the beginning of the tenth century; but if on an anniversary day, its age is hidden from us. But certainly it is not later than the twelfth century, since the Authenticum, in which it is contained, was written in that age Cf. above, no. 85. Of the author likewise nothing sufficiently certain can be brought forward. If the Sermon, as seems to me nearer to credibility, was delivered on some anniversary day of the entombment, you might not absurdly attribute it to that Raimbert, whose portrait and name we have in the Authenticum Above, no. 11. In the writing you will find some rhythmic passages, which in diction and form do not differ much from the metrical rubrics of the Passion and first Finding: which moreover it is the opinion of very many, and that a probable one, were composed by Raimbert Above, no. 17.

[176] by a grave and by no means unskilled man. Moreover whether Raimbert or any other is the author of the Sermon, he certainly bespeaks a grave man and by no means a stranger to the history of his Church and city. He shows in summary the passion, findings, translations, and whatever else of the kind, of SS. Victoricus, Cassian and above all Quintinus, from the ancient monuments of his native city, which at any rate were at his disposal in great number; likewise from various chronicles and annals,

or, as he says, from the annalistic chronicle. He errs indeed in some places; but where he treats of the double translation of SS. Quintinus and Cassian to the town of Laon, of the Norman irruptions and of the succession of the kings of the Franks, he notes the times more accurately than seemed to be expected from a writer of that age. We have already touched on these things above Above, no. 62, and they will become more evident when we communicate the writing itself to the reader. This last: although the author did not write very good Latin nor elegantly, yet his diction is by no means to be despised, especially if the events which had to be narrated are attended to.

[177] There exist poetic monuments of the cult of St. Quintinus, There exists in the library of Saint-Quentin a ms. codex of the fourteenth century; which is indicated thus in the catalogue: Manuscript hymnody formerly sung in the choir of the church of St. Quintinus. There is preserved an old copy of the same work, which has this inscription: Mystère de la passion de Monsieur Sainct Quentin, suivi du mystère de l'invention du prétieulx corps de Monsieur Sainct Quentin et de l'invention de Sainct Quentin par Sainct Eloy [Mystery of the passion of Monsieur Saint Quentin, followed by the mystery of the finding of the precious body of Monsieur Saint Quentin and of the finding of Saint Quentin by Saint Eligius]. That drama, written in verse, is distributed in three parts, which the title itself indicates [Gomart, Études Saint-Quentinoises, vol. II, p. 70. Cf. Corblet, Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 391]. We find mention of it more than once in Hémeré: Of the estate of Baionvillare there is an old tradition that it was given to Bl. Quintinus by a certain Baion, lord of the place, that by that alms he might profess that he remembered the benefit of recovered health. For when Baion was defiled by elephantiasis, when the martyr was being dragged through that tract from Amiens to Augusta, they report that he was cleansed of his leprosy by the touch of the linen cloths with which Quintinus had wiped the sweat from his face; and that for this reason the miracle is expressed around the circuit of the choir of the church in elegant sculpture, like the rest; rhymes also being added which interpret the figure, taken from a longer poem by which our people of Saint-Quentin formerly represented the passion of the martyr from the stage for three or four days… We ourselves once saw another volume like this in the library of St. Victor at Paris. But our fathers confused the times. For neither was there any clergy at Augusta in that age of Quintinus, to whom the gift could be conferred; and Baion was cleansed of that defilement of body long afterwards, by the use of cloths which had received, as happens, a cleansing power from the relics of Bl. Quintinus Aug. Vir., p. 194 and following; cf. p. 340.

[178] liturgical Of the liturgical monuments of the cult of St. Quintinus there is no reason for us to discourse at length in this place, since we have touched on most of them above. For what feasts are appointed and what offices are read in the breviaries of the years 1511, 1642 and 1744 has been said in this very Preliminary Commentary § V and following. One thing seems to be added here, that at least twelve hymns in honor of the martyr were composed by that very well-known Santeul. Nine were printed together in a separate booklet, which I found added to the breviary of the year 1642. It may be conjectured that they were used in the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, in place of the hymns which are found in the breviary itself: this namely had been printed before Santeul (born in the year 1630 and died in the year 1697) composed his verses. In our copy of this breviary two other hymns are written by hand for the office of St. Quintinus during the week: these also are to be ascribed to Santeul, since they are found among the hymns of Santeul collected into one and published more than once [Cf. Hymni sacri, by Santeul, of St. Victor, newest edition, p. 203 and following, Paris 1698], of which nine pertain to St. Quintinus and his basilica. In this book, however, this is to be noted, that for the feast of the illuminations a new hymn is proposed, those two being omitted which, as I said before, were published in the separate codex and joined to the breviary of the year 1642. That these nevertheless are to be attributed to Santeul is shown by this subscription of the booklet: Santeul of St. Victor. Other hymns were composed by Sebastian Rouillard, Levasseur and unknown authors Cf. Corblet, Hagiogr. du dioc. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 395 and following.

[179] and iconographic. The last thing, before we publish the Acts, is to speak briefly of the images of St. Quintinus. Not only were painted images, or images carved from stone or wood, venerated from ancient times in several places, but we also see the portrait of the holy martyr both on the seals of the city and of the canons, and on the badges of pilgrims [Forgeais, Plombs histories, vol. II, p. 194 and following, Paris 1863. Gomart, Ét. Saint-Quentinoises, vol. IV, p. 145 and following], on old coins, and on the insignia of former sodalities. In the recognition of the sacred furnishings of the church of Saint-Quentin, written in the year 1399 [Les joyaux de Monsr saint Quentin, in Revue archeologique, N. S., vol. VII, p. 67, Paris 1863], there is recorded a head of St. Quintinus with shoulders, pierced by two silver nails. So too the holy patron is fashioned both in very many images, especially in the more recent, and also on the counterseal of the city of Saint-Quentin of the year 1559 Gomart, Ét. S. Quent., vol. III, p. 13. Sometimes also nails are fixed in the head, arms and thighs; which at times the martyr holds in his hand Cahier, Caractéristiques des Saints, p. 232. He is not rarely seen seated on a chair, tortured by two torturers standing on either side, as on the seal of the chapter of Saint-Quentin of the year 1278. In others, and by name on the seal of the basilica of Saint-Quentin of the year 1213, he is shown standing, bearing in one hand the palm of martyrdom, in the other a church Gomart, Ét. S. Quent., vol. III, p. 13 and following. Not rarely he is fashioned in military dress, for this reason, as it seems, that he was the son of a senator and born of noble family [Cahier, Caracterist. des Saints, p. 81, 193; cf. p. 628. Cf. Die Attribute der Heiligen, p. 26, 86, 164, Hanover 1843]. That he is sometimes shown as a deacon, as on a certain Saint-Quentin seal of the sixteenth century and in the windows of the cathedral church of Beauvais Corblet, Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 405 and following, will be explained below, in the Notes, where we shall inquire whether St. Quintinus was a bishop, or a priest or layman.

FIRST PASSION AND FINDING OF ST. QUINTINUS

from the Paris codex 5299.

Quintinus, martyr at Augusta of the Veromandui (S.)

BHL Number: 7000

FROM THE MSS.

CHAPTER ONE.

St. Quintinus comes from Rome to Amiens. He is seized by Rictiovarus. Miracles. Various tortures. The martyr's head is cut off.

Under the emperor Maximian St. Quintinus comes from Rome to Amiens, Here begins the passion of St. Quintinus the martyr, on the day before the Kalends of November ^b. At that time, then, under the emperor Maximian ^c, many Christians suffered persecution for the kingdom of God and the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many hid themselves in mountains and in caves of rocks and were suffocated. But St. Quintinus, together with the most blessed Lucian ^d, who himself also became an approved martyr of God, betook themselves from the city of Rome into this region ^e, not refusing the cause of martyrdom, but that they might make Christ manifest to us, interceding for our offenses. When therefore they had arrived in Gaul at the city of the Ambiani, they chose places in which to dwell: St. Quintinus the martyr settled at Amiens ^f, and blessed Lucian went to Beauvais, that through their signs and prayers the souls of many might be saved. They enlightened the blind by the sign of the cross, and restored to the limbs of paralytics their former health, persisting in fasts and prayers, entreating the Lord at all hours like monks.

[2] and seized by Rictiovarus, Now it came to pass in those days that a persecution of the Christians arose through the whole world. The prefect Riciovarus ^g sought from the emperor Maximian that he might exercise the power of the prefecture in Gaul. Coming therefore to the city of Basilica, where the river Arola enters the Rhine ^h, he drowned many Christians there; whose tomb under the water is reserved for testimony in the age to come. Thus an inquisition of the Christians being made through all places, he reached the city of the Ambiani, hearing the fame of blessed Quintinus, that the Lord was showing very many signs through him among the people; and at once he seized him and ordered him in chains to be thrust into prison ⁱ. And while he was being led to prison he sang psalms, saying: "They have plotted against me; Lord, do not forsake me, lest perhaps they be exalted." And having completed the end of that psalm, he said again: "O Lord my God, rescue me from the hand of the sinner and from the hand of him who acts against the law and of the wicked, for you are my patience, O Lord, my hope from my youth ^k."

[3] with promises, threats, And on the following day the prefect Riciovarus ordered a tribunal to be set up for him in the consistory, and commanded the holy martyr Quintinus to be presented. And when he had been brought, the prefect Riciovarus said to him: "What is your name?" St. Quintinus answered: "I am a Christian, and I confess Christ; and yet, if you wish to know my name most certainly, I am called Quintinus." Then Riciovarus said: "Of what family are you born?" St. Quintinus answered: "I was born of the city of Rome, and I am the son of Zeno ^l the senator." Riciovarus said: "What has happened to you, that you, of so noble a family and the son of such a man, have given yourself over to the most vain religions, and worship him who was crucified by men?" St. Quintinus answered: "It is liberty and nobility to know the maker of heaven and earth and the creator of us all." Ricciovarus said: "Quintinus, withdraw from this folly by which you are held, and sacrifice to the gods." St. Quintinus answered: "I am not a fool, but I seek wisdom; for those are fools who obey you and sacrifice to the gods. They are not in the faith of truth and know not the light of justice, but they are in darkness and shall be burned with perpetual fire." The prefect Riciovarus said: "Come forward now, and sacrifice to the gods; for if you refuse, I swear by the gods that I will afflict you with various penalties." St. Quintinus said: "I swear by God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them, that I do not fear your penalties. Do quickly what you will: you have my flesh in your power, but my soul you do not have, but God alone who gave it."

[4] and tortures he is tempted. Then the prefect Ricciovarus, moved by fury, ordered him to be stretched out and commanded him to be beaten by four men together ^m. And as the holy man Quintinus was being beaten, raising his eyes to heaven, he said: "O Lord my God, who know all things before they happen, I give you thanks by the glory of your power, that I suffer these things for your holy name. But you, O Lord my God, give to me, unworthy and a sinner, the fortitude and helping power of your right hand, how I may overcome all the weapons of the enemy and, at your command, confound the tribunal of the prefect Riciovarus, that your name may be magnified among the nations

which is blessed for ages of ages." And a voice was heard from heaven saying: "Act manfully: and I will be with you."

[5] But he being by no means hurt, the torturers are divinely punished. Then it came about that those who were beating him could not stand on their feet; and while they thought they were beating him, they themselves were rather being tortured by angels. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying to the prefect: "Lord, help us; for we are rather being beaten by angels and burned with fire, so that we can now neither speak nor stand." But St. Quintinus felt no harm: for the help of the Holy Spirit defended him. The prefect Riciovarus said: "I swear by the gods that he is a magician and that his sorceries prevail." Then he ordered him to be consigned to prison, saying: "Take him into a darker place, where he may neither see light nor anyone of the Christian people may be able to go in to him." But St. Quintinus sang psalms, saying: "Rescue me, O Lord, from the evil man; free me from the wicked man. Who have plotted to trip up my steps, all the day they have set battles; they have sharpened their tongues like serpents; the venom of asps is under their lips."

[6] At the angel's command he leaves the prison, speaks of Christ, And on the following night ⁿ, when he had given himself to sleep, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision, saying to him: "Quintinus, my servant, arise, and stand in the middle of the city; comfort and strengthen all the people, that they may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized, for their redemption has drawn near, and that the enemies of the Lord and the prefect Riciovarus may be confounded." And St. Quintinus, waking, when he had passed the first and second watch, found the place of which the angel of the Lord had spoken to him. And he began to preach and to praise the name of the Lord, who had deigned to show such mighty works in him to the people through Jesus Christ, his son, our Lord, saying to them: "Men, brethren, hear me, and be converted from your evil ways, and be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them; who raised the dead, restored sight to the blind, healed the sick; quickly freed the woman from the flow of blood, cleansed lepers, made paralytics walk, in Cana of Galilee made wine from water, showed many wonders of which there is no number. Never has he forsaken his servants, but has freed them from tribulations." And when he had prolonged his discourse, six hundred men believed in him.

[7] and converts the guards of the prison to God. And the guards, waking, found the prison shut and no one within. Running therefore with great trembling, they found him in the midst of the people preaching the word of the Lord. Running again with great trembling, they announced it to the prefect, saying: "Truly great is the God of the Christians, in whom one must believe, whom we have come to know through his servant Quintinus. For be it known to you that your gods are weak, and those who obey you, for they are not in the faith of truth and know not the light of justice, but they are in darkness and shall be burned with perpetual fire." Ricciovarus said: "Have you then been made magicians?" They said: "We are not magicians, but we are confessors of the son of God Jesus Christ, our Lord, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them." Ricciovarus said: "You speak mad things; your credulity is nothing; depart from me, you senseless and foolish of heart." Then they departed. So Ricciovarus, raging and gnashing his teeth, said: "If I do not kill Quintinus, to blot out his name from the earth, this vain and superstitious sect will seduce many, and the honor of our gods will perish."

[8] Not at all caught by promises, On that same day therefore he ordered blessed Quintinus to be presented, and said to him: "I blush and am confounded for your nobility, that out of the so great wealth of your riches, which belonged to you and your parents, so easy a madness has invaded you that you should abandon everything and now seem to be poor and a beggar. But now hear my salutary counsel: come forward now, and sacrifice to the great gods by whom heaven stands, and I will confer on you a great dignity, and I will send to the most sacred emperor, that all the riches you have abandoned may be restored to you, and that you may be covered with purple and fine linen, and receive great honor, and be girded with a golden belt." St. Quintinus answered: "Ravening wolf, foolish and senseless, in whom there is no understanding, as in a rabid dog , did you think to overturn the gift of God with money? Let your wealth go with you into perdition; but me you cannot change from my mind which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord from my boyhood ^o. You do not know, unhappy man, that he is not poor who begs in Christ: he shall possess eternal life here and in the eternal age. For your power is blind and perishing, your honor is temporal; but the honor of Christ, which he gives to those who love him, has no end, but will remain for ever." Ricciovarus said: "Do you then hold to this counsel, and do you wish rather to die than to live?" St. Quintinus answered: "This is not death; but if I persevere in your torments which are inflicted on me by you, then I shall begin to live." Ricciovarus said: "I swear by the great gods that I will have you punished the more quickly." St. Quintinus answered: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man may do to me."

[9] he experiences every kind of torment; Then Ricciovarus, moved by fury, ordered him to be racked on the pulleys, and commanded him to be cut around with iron thongs, so that all his bowels burst open; and he commanded glowing oil and pitch and boiling fat to be poured on his back; moreover they began to apply glowing lamps to his sides. And when they had applied all these things, St. Quintinus said to Ricciovarus: "Gallows-bird, mind of the devil, son of iniquity, all these things inflicted on me afford me not pains but refreshment, like the dew that comes down from heaven on the grass." Ricciovarus said: "Bring me lime and vinegar and mustard, and I will pour them into his mouth, that at least so he may be silent and no longer delude this my people." St. Quintinus said: "How sweet to my palate are your words, Lord, more than honey and the comb to my mouth." Ricciovarus said: "I swear by the great gods, Asclepius, and Hippocrates [p], and Jupiter, and Mercury, and the Sun, and the Moon, that I will have you presented bound at Rome, where you may be subjected to many torments before the great emperor, from whom you have become a fugitive [q]." St. Quintinus said: "Here and there is God who will overcome your madness; but I am confident that I shall receive the course of my end in this province."

[10] from there he is led to Augusta of the Viromandui, Then Ricciovarus ordered heavy chains to be put around his neck, and commanded the soldiers, saying: "Go, and diligently guard him until I follow you." And going out on the road [r] which had been commanded them, St. Quintinus sang psalms, saying: "Lord, make your ways known to me, and teach me your paths." And again: "Lead me, Lord, in your way, and I will walk in your truth; let my heart rejoice, O God, that it may fear your name , which is blessed for ages of ages, amen." And when he had arrived at a certain town which is called Agusta of the Veromandi, he had ordered him to wait in that place, not as though he should have commanded him to return from here, but Christ willed that his athlete should receive the course of his end in that very place.

[11] he is pierced with nails, Ricciovarus himself, coming on the following day, commanded St. Quintinus to be brought before him, and said to him in coaxing words: "Brother Quintinus, I am still patient with you; agree with me and sacrifice to the great gods Jupiter and Apollo [s]; and if you do not wish to return to Rome, I will have you enriched with great wealth in this province, and I will send a report to the most sacred emperor that he may appoint you prince and judge in this place [t]." St. Quintinus answered: "I have told you often already: I do not sacrifice to demons, who did not make heaven and earth. Let them perish and those who serve them, for they are carved works, made by the hand of men, without hearing, without any breath, without step, in which there is neither speech nor Holy Spirit; as the Prophet said: Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them." Then Ricciovarus ordered a smith to be called, that he might make two tarincae [u] which should reach from his neck to his legs, and ten others, which they should thrust between the nails and flesh into his fingers; and so he should be finished off. Then that smith did what had been commanded him. So Ricciovarus ordered them to be driven through the neck of St. Quintinus; likewise he brought the glowing tarincae into his fingers, saying: "Kill him, that the Christians may have an example from this penalty."

[12] and, having poured out a prayer to Christ, he is beheaded. Then Ricciovarus took counsel from a certain most severe Honoratus to order him to undergo capital sentence. And when he had been brought to that same place where he was to receive the course of the end of his consummation, he asked of the executioner that he might be free a little for prayer; and when he had knelt down, he prayed saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, true light, who are and who were before the foundation of the world, who measured heaven with the palm and the earth with the fist, who bring forth clouds from the end of the earth and winds from their treasuries, who call those things which are not as those which are, who order your sun to rise on the good and the evil, and order it to rain on the just and the unjust: I beseech you in your holy truth, Christ, whom I confess, whom I hold fast, whom I desire to see, to whom I have given myself with all my heart and with all my strength, receive my spirit, and do not forsake my soul for ever, who reign, Christ, for ages of ages." And when he had said these things, he offered his neck to the executioners, saying: "Do now what has been commanded you." And they, drawing the sword, cut off his head. And he was drenched with the wave of his sacred blood.

[13] From his neck goes forth a dove. The body is sunk in the Somme. At once there went forth from his neck a dove white as snow, which penetrated the heavens; and a voice from heaven saying: "Quintinus, my servant, come, receive the crown which I have prepared for you, and let my angels receive you, and lead you into the heavenly Jerusalem." Then Ricciovarus ordered the body of the blessed man Quintinus to be guarded * until night, and secretly ordered his body to be weighted with lead in the river, and commanded it to be covered with the mud of the earth,

saying that not even the body of the blessed man Quintinus should receive honor or praise from the Christian people. He consummated his martyrdom on the day before the Kalends of November. And water * was the tomb of that body for about fifty-five years. Here ends the passion of St. Quintinus the martyr [v].

NOTES.

p. The venerable presbyter Corblet conjectures Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 356 that Hippocrates, whom we are surprised to see numbered among the gods in this place, crept into the text by a copyist's error: that the latter, namely, took Asclepius (which is the Greek name of Aesculapius) for Hippocrates; and that some other scribe afterwards inserted both names. In very truth those who followed the physician Aesculapius from the same family … and who professed the same art, and so Hippocrates himself, were called Asclepiadae Cf. V. De Vit, Onomasticon of All Latinity, p. 137 and 505, Prato 1867. The praised author adds moreover that the Surian Acts appear older also for this reason, that there is no mention of Hippocrates in them. But we must note that this mention is neither missing in all the codices of the Surian Passion, nor found in all the copies of the first Passion. In the Acts which Colliette published Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 146 from the codex of the abbey of Saint-Maur, and which scarcely differ from our Passion I, we read: I swear by great Jupiter, Aesculapius and Hippocrates, and Mercury, and the Sun and Moon; in the Acts contained in the Brussels codex 9120: By the great gods Asclepius and Hipocrates, and Jupiter and Apollo and Mercury, the Sun and Moon; the same in the codex of Theodore Canter collated with those of Trier and Saint-Omer; but in Mombritius: I swear by great Aesculapius and Jupiter and Mercury, and in the Brussels ms. codex 3398: I swear by the great gods, Asclepius and Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, the Sun and Moon. Thus far of the Acts of the first class. But Surius has this: By the most mighty gods Jupiter and Mercury, the Sun and Moon, and Asclepius; finally in another copy of the Surian Acts, namely of the monastery of Anchin, collated with the codices of St. Bénigne of Dijon and of La Charité: By the most mighty gods Jupiter and Mercury, the Sun and Moon, Asclepius and Hypocrates. Beside this place of the Acts one of our predecessors wrote in the copy of Canter's codex: perhaps Harpocrates? It is established indeed that that Egyptian God had been known to the Romans long before the fourth century.

q. Fugalis effectus es: in the Brussels codex 9120 and in the second Passion of Colliette Ibid., vol. I, p. 141: cui tu fuga lapsus effectus es: in the Trier codex of St. Maximin: cui tu fuga lapsus es; in the codex of Saint-Maur Ibid., p. 146: cui tu jugalis effectus es. Why Rictiovarus wished to send St. Quintinus to Rome and in fact ordered him to go to Augusta of the Viromandui various writers explain in various ways. Whose opinions and conjectures are not to be weighed in this place [Cf. Cl. de La Fons, Hist. de S. Q., p. 53 and following. Corblet, vol. III, p. 357].

r. On that journey from the city of the Ambiani to Augusta of the Viromandui the holy martyr is said to have passed through the places which are today called Bayonvillers, Foucaucourt, Villers-Carbonnel, Vermand, Marteville, Holnon and others; indeed wonderful things are narrated which then took place there. At Marteville, says Hémeré Aug. Vir., p. 32 and following. Cf. Gomart, Études S. Quentin., vol. II, p. 335, it is indeed a tradition of our grandfathers that the martyr stopped in that place, when he was being dragged from Amiens to Augusta, either to be lacerated by the tortures of the tarinchae, or to be bound more harshly with chains reforged and patched up; and that for this cause the place was condemned by this heavenly vengeance, that the Vulcans … and Brontes (because those men had forged there great nails and stakes for torturing Quintinus, or chains or shackles for binding him) who set up their seat and tavern there must at length most miserably perish, all their property being gradually gnawed away by a certain hidden and inevitable calamity, as by a cancer. The historian rightly adds: I have called it a tradition: for neither the writers nor the parchments of the country make any mention of these things; and the easy and credulous piety of our fathers once devised many things which posterity retained out of fear; lest, if they had not believed, they should incur the crime of neglected and violated religion. Likewise the holy martyr, held in prison at Marteville, is said to have obtained that a spring should leap up from the ground; to which afterwards the sick and especially the dropsical frequently came Prelim. Comm., no. 162. Colliette, Mém. p. l'hist. du Verm., vol. I, p. 91. Of Bayonvillers we have already made mention above Prelim. Comm., no. 177. In the village of Salouel they point out a certain place of the cemetery in which the holy man is said to have preached. The same man, on the journey from the city of the Ambiani to Augusta of the Viromandui, is reported to have stopped between Holnon and Marteville, in which place a chapel has lately been built. Finally, to omit other things, near Vermand there exists a little shrine sacred to St. Quintinus, and there a stone is shown on which the holy martyr, before he was beheaded, is said to have piled up his nails or tarincae: but nearly all agree that these things are very doubtful Cf. Corblet, Hagiogr. d'Amiens, vol. III, p. 362 and following, vol. IV, p. 706.

s. Of Jupiter and Apollo worshiped at Amiens Dom Grenier wrote at the end of the eighteenth century [Introduction à l'hist. de Picardie, p. 199 and following, p. 202, in Mém. des Antiq. de Picardie, Documents inédits, Amiens 1856].

t. As our forefathers received from the unshorn fathers, there is still seen at Saint-Quentin the place of the subterranean prison, into which the martyr was thrown and reserved for the last punishment, and the house is still called of St. Quintinus; at which in the greater litanies the clergy and the crowd following are accustomed to stop; and while they sing the sacred antiphons, a young maiden … places a flowery garland on the sacred relics, that the memory of Quintinus guarded in that prison may be preserved Aug. Vir., p. 33. Cf. Gomart, Ét. Saint-Quent., vol. II, p. 130.

u. Tarincae or Taringae are recorded also in the Acts of SS. Fuscian and Victoricus. It is an old French word, as our Ghesquière wrote Acta SS. of Belgium, vol. I, p. 154, whose sense appears in this place of the third Passion: Rictiovarus … ordered a smith to be called, commanding him to make two iron stakes, which in the French tongue are called taringae. Moreover that the martyr is said to have been pierced through with nails is no singular thing either. For, to omit very many other examples, St. Ouen narrates that the holy martyr Piato was found by St. Eligius, from whose body likewise he showed to the people long nails taken away, in proof Life of St. Eligius, bk. II, chap. 7. In the History of the Metropolis of Reims Vol. I, p. 76 and following, published in the year 1666, William Marlot narrates this: Thirty years ago next to the church of St. Xystus a sarcophagus was found, covered with a stone: which being removed, a stretched-out corpse at once appeared, whose temples were transfixed on each side with two sharp and oblong iron nails… Three more bodies were found in the house of a certain canon of St. Timothy …, whose temples were likewise pierced with iron nails, as also very many others next to the public road which leads to St. Nicasius. The author conjectures that these are the bodies of martyrs who experienced that kind of torment which Rictiovarus is reported to have often used.

v. It has long been said that a similar narrative was inserted in the Acts of several saints, and that perhaps it was at first nothing else than a certain simile or metaphor, which was afterwards taken literally.

* supplied from other codices

* rapido in the codex

* nomentum in the codex

* so in the codex

* correct to custodiri

* A qua in the codex

CHAPTER TWO.

Eusebia is warned to seek the body of St. Quintinus. It is found by a miracle. The matron's sight is restored.

Eusebia, blind, warned by an angel, Here begins the finding of St. Quintinus the martyr ^a. These days being completed ^b, God willed to show here to the people a hidden treasure and an abundant mystery. For the Lord God raised up a certain matron from the city of Rome, Eusebia by name, rich in great wealth and noble in birth; whose riches were great ^c and the number of her household infinite and her service abundant. And she had been made blind for nine years ^d; and when she was most readily entreating the Lord, an angel of the Lord appeared to her in a vision by night, and said to her: "Eusebia, your prayer has been heard: arise, and go into Gaul, seek out the place which is called Agusta of the Veromandi ^e, beside the river which is called Somna, where the public causeway passes which comes from the city of the Ambiani and goes toward Lugdunum Clavatum ^f. In that very place then seek, and you will find under water the corpse of St. Quintinus, my martyr. And when what lay hidden, being revealed, shall have been shown by you among the people, at once you will recover the health of your eyes, and with sound body and firm mind you will return with all your people to your own dwelling."

[15] goes to Gaul, And when this vision had appeared to her twice or three times, she, not doubting in the faith of her belief, endeavored to set out on the journey which the angel of the Lord had announced to her. She yoked her carriage, and took with her all the things necessary for her on the road, boys, girls and an abundant service, that she might find the body of the blessed man Quintinus; she took up with her linen cloths for the burial. And when she had entered into Gaul, the angel sending her ^g, she quickly arrived where she desired, at that same place which the angel of the Lord had shown her in a vision.

[16] to search out the body of St. Quintinus; Then a certain old man, Eraclianus by name ^h, met her on the road; and she began diligently to inquire of him: "Where is the place or town which is called Agusta of the Veromandi?" The old man answered: "It is now close by." And she said: "Lord, tell me, I ask and pray, whether at any time you have known of a certain Christian named Quintinus, who was killed by persecutors." The old man answered: "I have heard, certainly ⁱ, but it is now a long time since these things were done." Eusebia asked him, saying: "Where has he been laid?" The old man answered: "I do not know, lady." She said: "By the Lord I ask you specially to show me where the public causeway * and this river pass and go together ^k." The old man showed her, saying that this was the place.

[17] and that, God being invoked, Then the aforesaid matron got down from her carriage, fixing her knees on the ground, bowing her head, and at the same time striking her breast with her hands, she prayed saying: "O Lord God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God of the prophets, God of the apostles, God of the martyrs, God of all confessors, God by whom the elements were made, God at whose nod all things are governed, through whom thunders and lightnings and flashes burst forth; O God, Father Almighty, I beseech you: hear me, a humble sinner, as you heard Tobias and Sarah, when they were praying in the court of their house; so deign to hear me, as you heard Moses and Aaron, and showed them the bones of Joseph their father; as you revealed the desire of blessed Helena and showed her the hidden treasure, so deign to show me the venerable pledge, him who suffered for the holy name of your glory; so, father of all ages, do not suffer me to depart from this place, unless my soul find what it desires, that my eyes may see your salvation, that your name may be magnified among the nations, which is blessed for ages of ages. Amen."

[18] she finds by a miracle, And as she finished her prayer, at once the place was moved where the holy body lay under water, and as it were curling waves set themselves under its back ^l. Then the body of the venerable man began to float on the water, and his head, leaping out through another channel: neither swelling nor livor had invaded it, but it was white as snow, and of an odor as of rose and lily, like the odor of a full field which the Lord God has blessed, and like precious alabaster. And all who were present said within themselves ^m: "How have the heavenly powers and the great works of Christ been forgotten by us?"

[19] and buries it at Augusta of the Viromandui. She is freed from blindness. Then the aforesaid matron, receiving the venerable body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and wished to bury it in the city of the Viromandi. And as they set out on the road, they came to a certain town which is called Agusta of the Veromandi; setting it down ⁿ, because they could not go on on account of the weight. Understanding what was happening, the aforesaid matron buried it in that same place, and built a little cell over his tomb; and in reward for the benefit of the burial, there went from her eyes as it were scales * and she recovered the light of her eyes; and she felt her strength return in herself as it had been in her youth. At once as many sick as came there at that very hour recovered their former health ^o. The river Somna is surrounded on the right and on the left over a vast interval by marshy moisture [p]. And the tarincae which had been driven into the body of St. Quintinus, these too the most faithful

woman, receiving as relics of his body, returned with all her people to her own province; and she received many gifts, which she dispensed in the service of the poor [q]. She buried the body of the most blessed man Quintinus the martyr on the 8th of the Kalends of July after the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and honor, praise and dominion for ages of ages. Amen. Here ends the finding of St. Quintinus the martyr.

NOTES.

p. In the former Passion of Colliette: The river Somena is surrounded on the right and on the left, between ramparts, by a vast mass and marshy moisture.

q. In the copies of Colliette: She left many gifts in the service of the poor.

* ager in the codex

* so corrected, previously Laudunum.

* ager in the codex

* so in the codex

SECOND PASSION AND FINDING OF ST. QUINTINUS

from the codex of the monastery of Anchin collated with the Surian edition.

Quintinus, martyr at Augusta of the Veromandui (S.)

BHL Number: 7007

FROM THE MSS.

CHAPTER ONE.

St. Quintinus the Roman goes to Gaul. Apostolic labors and miracles. Thrown into chains by Rictiovarus, he is loosed by an angel.

The glorious martyr of Christ Quintinus, To proclaim the blessed contests of the holy martyrs and the triumphs of the glorious witnesses of Christ is to speak praises to Christ; because he whose members they were extiterunt. had conquered in them, and through this the praise and palm of the whole victory redounds redundant. to him. For Christ is omitted. the king of the martyrs, the form est added. of the martyrs, the strength of the martyrs, the victory of the martyrs; he himself permits to suffer and he himself suffers; he himself conquers, and he himself crowns. The whole martyrdom martyrum. of the saints then, the whole is Christ's, from whom has flowed the blessed condition of martyrdom, with which the multitude of the saints now shines garlanded. Whose pious contests, although they have long preceded our times, yet we have received set down in sacred writings, and we have come to know cognoscimus., Christ favoring, the order of the deeds. Of whom, reviewing the glorious deeds of blessed Quintinus, we think it a business to write his holy passion, according as we have received the order of that passion brought faithfully, as we believe, down to us. By whose merits we desire to be helped cujus-optamus omitted., who we trust reigns and glories perpetually with Christ and in Christ in inestimable dignity ^b.

[2] St. Quintinus then, the servant of Christ and most glorious martyr, while he is famous among the Ambiani for preaching and miracles, although he was by origin of the Roman nation Romana gente. and ennobled by being born of senatorial stock, yet more notable for the brightness of his faith, followed Christ his king in devotion as a most faithful soldier. For love of whom first leaving homeland, nation and parents, leaving also the position of worldly rule, he betook himself to Gaul, and with blessed Lucian came as far as Amiens Ambianos.. But, St. Lucian going to the city of the Bellovaci Bellovacensium., blessed Quintinus, awaiting the time of his contest, settled at Amiens. Which we believe to have been done by the providence of the divinity, that the seeds of the divine word might be spread more widely to the faithful, and that more plura. places of the earth might be consecrated by their sacred blood offered to Christ. Meanwhile the name of Christ began to be made manifest through these holy men and the distinctions of his power to be made known, not only by the teachings of their preaching, but also by the testimonies of mighty works and miracles. For a new light arose for the blind, given by the sign of the cross; limbs wearied by diseases took up their former vigor; the babbling balbutiens. tongue burst out into words and the lame caught at running gressus cod., who before had not known walking. But these miracles of Christ shown through his servants, as they were for the faithful to the profit of salvation, so for the unbelievers to the increase of stirred-up suscitandi. fury. And blessed Quintinus and Lucian, et added. persisting in fasts and prayers, commended the struggles of their contests to the Lord, and implored with all their efforts that the endeavors of their labors might be directed by the Lord.

[3] by Rictiovarus, a dreadful persecutor of Christians, At that time then, Diocletian and Maximian bearing the imperial scepters, such envy blazed up against the religion of the Christian name tanta in c. n. religionem., that everywhere Christians added from S., omitted in cod. were persecuted and handed over publicly and privately to deaths of various penalties. For neither the loss of a popular multitude could restrain the madness of the pagans coercere potuit populi multitudinis damnum., nor compassion for ages, nor distinction of sexes; but the more sharply they were slaughtered, the more abundantly, by the favor of the grace of Christ, they fled from every side to the confession of his faith confugiebatur., so that the Church could possit. truly say: "When I called upon you omitted., you heard me, O God; in my omitted. tribulation you have enlarged me." While the aforementioned princes bore the insignia of their primacy, a certain Rictiovarus was appointed to exercise the rights of the prefecture in Gaul Galliis.. Who soon blazed up with such madness of cruelty against the Christians, that he thought his rage could never be sated with their blood; which he soon took pains to show by deeds manifeste., namely in the slaying of those blessed martyrs whom, coming to the city of Basel ^c, he had sought out, and for the confession of the holy name of Christ, in that place where the river Arar Arar. pours into the bed of the Rhine, he commanded them to be drowned and cruelly killed. But although their bodies in the deep whirlpools

the savage attendant plunged, yet their souls, most worthy of God, were carried by a happy lot to the upper air; and this by the great mercy of God, that his soldiers, entombed in the waters, might receive the loftiness of the heavenly kingdom suspicerent.; where now Rictiovarus could not fatally pursue them, but could pray to them for his offenses, if he wished.

[4] is thrown into chains. An inquisition of the Christians having been made round about by the aforementioned impious prefect, he himself came to the fort which in ancient times was called Somanobrium ^d, now Amiens Ambieni.; where already the blessed labors of St. Quintinus in preachings, signs and mighty works were gloriously evident. When he had learned of these, deeply indignant, he soon commanded blessed Quintinus to be seized and led in chains to prison, and thrust back there, that his holy freedom, being restrained, might no longer find an occasion for winning peoples for Christ. But blessed Quintinus, while he was being led by the soldiers to prison, joyful et added. and exulting, entreated the Lord not to forsake him, saying that word of David: "O Lord God, rescue me from the hand of the sinner, and from the hand of him who acts against the law and of the wicked: for you are my patience, O Lord, Lord omitted., my hope from my youth."

[5] Questioned On the following day Rictiovarus, sitting on the tribunal in the consistory, ordered blessed Quintinus to be presented to his sight. When he had been brought by the attendants, the prefect said to him: "What is your name Quod nomen e. t. omitted.?" Blessed Quintinus answered: "I am reckoned by the Christian name, because I am a Christian, and believe Christ with the heart and profess him with the mouth; yet properly I was called Quintinus by my parents." The prefect said to him: "Of what family are you?" Blessed Quintinus said: "I am a Roman citizen, son autem added. of Zeno the senator." Then the governor said: "What is it that a person so noble, and the son of so great a man, has given himself over to so superstitious religions, that you say you venerate as God him whom we have heard was once crucified by the Jews?" St. Quintinus answered: "The highest nobility is to know God and to obey his commands most devoutly; for the Christian religion, which tu added. you have called superstition, cannot be subjected to so ignoble a name, which raises its followers truly to the highest degree of blessedness. For by it God Almighty is known, the creator of heaven and earth, and his son Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom all things were made, whether in heaven or on earth, visible and invisible; who is coequal with the Father in all things, because begotten of him before all ages he is consubstantial with him and coeternal with him."

[6] and vainly tempted with threats, The governor vero added. said: "Quintinus, withdraw from this folly tua added. by which you are held, and sacrifice to our gods." Blessed Quintinus answered: "I will not sacrifice to your gods, because our religion shows that your gods are demons to us nobis daem.. And the folly by which you assert that I am held is not folly, but wisdom est, sed sap., shown to us by the son of God, who is the power and wisdom of the Father. But those are certainly fools who obey you by sacrificing to your gods." Then the governor said: "Unless you now come forward, and sacrifice to our gods, I swear by our gods and goddesses deos deasque nostras. that I will rack you torquebo. with various tortures even to death." To this blessed Quintinus answered: "And I promise you by my God Dominum. that what you order I do not do, what you threaten I do not fear. Do quickly what you will. Whatever the will of God shall permit quicq. Deus permiserit., I am ready to bear. For you can inflict penalties on the body, but Christ will have mercy on the soul."

[7] amid the scourges he gives thanks to God and is divinely strengthened. Hearing this the prefect, moved by monstrous fury, commanded him to be beaten caedere. with the hardest scourges. But the blessed martyr of Christ, while he was being sharply beaten, raising his eyes a little to heaven, giving thanks to God Deo ag., said: "O Lord my God, I give you thanks, because you have willed me to suffer these things for the holy name nom. s. of your son, my lord Jesus Christ. And now, O Lord, grant fortitude Et n. pr. fort., Domine.; grant strength, stretching out your helping right hand, that I may be able to overcome the penalties with the tyrant to the praise and glory of your name, which is blessed for ages." And when, praying amid the scourges, he had finished compleret. words of this kind, a voice is reported to have been heard: "Quintinus, be constant, act manfully, I am with you." And immediately the attendants, who were beating him with cruel crud. eum. slaughter, falling to the ground terram., lost the ability to stand, and feeling themselves most sharply acer. torq. tortured by a spiritual spiritali. power, they besought the governor with loud voices to help them; confessing that they were being tortured with immense blows and burned with fires, so that they had lost the use of standing and almost of speaking.

[8] From a most dark prison Hearing this the governor, when he saw blessed Quintinus acting ever more confidently, and persisting more constantly in the confession of his faith, moved by a more ferocious anger, said before all coram c. with a great shout: "I swear by the sacred gods and goddesses that this ille. Quintinus is a magician, and uses incantations, by which he is manifestly helped q. eum man. e. adjuvari.. Now igitur added. with great severity eum. drag him out, and cast him omitted. from my face, shutting him up in the excessive darkness of the prison, and let no access for comforting him be afforded to any of the Christians; that so he may pay the penalties of his follies." But St. Quintinus, while he was being led insultingly to the most gloomy places of the dungeon, ever giving thanks to the divine mercy, entreating the Lord Dominumque. with most intent words, besought with all his heart that he might be succored and seque. helped; that he might be freed quickly from that evil man and from the wicked man, in whatever ways it should please God. In this place then the holy martyr Quintinus, monstrously condemned to chain catenae. and darkness, while he saw that human comforts were denied him, merited the greater comforts of divine regard.

[9] he is led out by an angel, and speaks to the people of the true religion. For on the following night, when he had given his blessed limbs, afflicted with great pains, to rest, an angel Domini added. stood by him in a vision, and addressing him with coaxing words, said: "Quintinus, servant of God, arise, and be comforted, and go confidently, and stand in the middle of the city, consoling and strengthening in the faith of Christ corroborans. all the people, that they may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, sanctifying themselves et sanctifica eos. with sacred baptism, because their liberation draws near, that the enemies of the Christian name may be confounded with their impious prefect Rictiovarus." The angel thus Haec sancto angelo ita. speaking, blessed Quintinus waking arose, and under the angel's guidance passed through all the guards of the prison. When Cumque. then omitted. he had reached the place which he knew had been indicated by the angelic command visu cod., the crowds turbis. flowing together to him from every side, he said: "Men, brethren, hear me; for the Lord has sent me Dom. mis. to speak to you, that I may show you the ways of the true faith and win you for my Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal savior. Be converted therefore from your evil ways, and do penance, and be baptized baptizabimini. with the baptism of salvation, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in which is the washing and remission of all sins, for those who believe in God the Father Almighty, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them, visible and invisible; and in Jesus Christ, coeternal and consubstantial, and co-omnipotent, his son, our Lord, who by the great counsel of his goodness came down from heaven, and by being born through a virgin's womb took the form of a servant; the nature of God Dei virtute. remaining in him in truth et added., he was made in the likeness of men, and found in habit as a man, human nature being united in himself to the divinity, that Jesus Christ may be one person of God and man; whom, as human birth, hunger, weariness, passion for our salvation, and death, and burial show to be true man; so the distinctions of divine power, wine made from water by change of nature, the sight of the blind, the hearing of the deaf, the walking of the lame, the tongue loquela. of the mute, the resurrection of the dead, most fully manifest as God; and in the Holy Spirit, God and Lord, to be worshiped and adored, by whom every creature is sanctified, and through whom to us remission and cleansing of offenses tribuitur added., by the undivided cooperation of the Father and of the Son and of the same Holy Spirit, who is one, eternal, and true, and blessed God for all ages of ages." These and similar things having been concluded by blessed Quintinus in a long preaching, a great part of the people, having acknowledged the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, believed, to about six hundred usque ad sexc., that by the help of the Lord it might be manifested into how great a harvest of people the small seed of the divine word, sown by the ministry of blessed Quintinus, rose up in fruit-bearing, and that the soldier militis. of Christ, through his glorious passion, the contest being finished, might offer the fruits added from S. of his works, entering the walls of paradise, to the divine sight for the increase of his glory.

NOTES.

CHAPTER TWO.

The guards of the prison converted to God. St. Quintinus is racked with tortures of every kind. Miracles. Holy death and burial.

On account of the guards of the prison being joined to Christ, Rictiovarus anew. The guards of the prison then vero. being awakened, when they found that blessed Quintinus was missing, the prison being shut, going out to search for him, they found reperiunt. him standing in the midst of the people and preaching. Moved to the marrow by this miracle, they themselves also were converted to the faith ipsi conversi ad fidem Christi sunt.; so that they publicly professed the great God of the Christians, whom blessed

Quintinus preached. And omitted. reporting autem added. to the prefect what had been done concerning blessed Quintinus, they began to disparage his gods d. s. convicia irrogare., and all their worshipers eor. cult.; professing also that the one only and true God sufficed them, whom they had gloriously come to know through blessed Quintinus. Hearing them omitted. the prefect Rictiovarus, disturbed by monstrous fury, said: "So, as I see, you too have been made magicians". And they said to him: "We are not magicians, but confessors of the one and true God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them." Rictiovarus said to them: "You are mad. For the vain assertion of your credulity is nothing est en.. Go from my face, and depart as quickly as possible from my sight."

[11] he solicits St. Quintinus with promises, When they therefore had withdrawn and gone away, Rictiovarus, enraged with excessive indignation, began to be anxious anxiari. and to rage with all his senses against blessed Quintinus, and to threaten in such ejusmodi. ferocious words: "Unless, he said, I kill this magician and sorcerer Quintinus, and extinguish his name, he will seduce all this people, and wholly bring to nothing annullabit. the worship of our gods." And he soon commanded blessed Quintinus to be presented to him, and turning to the crafty contrivances of cunning fraud, he began to address him in coaxing words, and said c., dixitque. to him: "Quintinus, I confess that I blush and am greatly confounded for your nobility, that from the so great wealth of riches, which most worthily befit you by the lot of parentage and of nobility parentalis nobilitatis., you have come pervenisti. to so great a poverty for the sake of your most vain sect sect. t., leaving everything, and giving up all, despising it dim. atque despiciens. so far that you seem needy egens. and a most poor beggar mend. vid.. Hear me omitted. therefore, and accommodate yourself to my counsels. For there is only one thing en. est. for you to do, and how strongly you will be magnified by our benefits, namely et largissime n. augeberis ben., diis vid. nostris. only that you sacrifice to our omitted. gods and invoke them as propitiators for yourself, and I mox added. will send a report in haste to the most sacred emperors sacr. imp., that they may restore all your wealth, which you have unadvisedly left, and confer on you moreover most ample dignities as a friend of the gods and of the Caesars, namely that you may be clothed with purple and fine linen, and be put in a golden collar and girded with a golden belt."

[12] and him, constant and unbroken, Then blessed Quintinus, perceiving the contrivances of fraud in the most savage prefect, answered: "Ravening wolf and as it were a dog full of madness, how foolishly and senselessly you understand my mind, which you think you can overturn by the multitude of promised gifts and the unhappy heap of wealth ev. multitudine promissorum munerum et infelici op. congerie.. For Sed. your wealth be with you in perdition. Ego vero added. For omitted. I cannot change the constancy of my faith, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you not omitted. know, unhappy man, that he is not poor who is rich in God? For Christ suffices me, because to me C., qui mihi. to live is he himself and to die is gain. I desire his riches, I embrace his riches Illius ego divitias concupisco, illius opes ampl.; for his riches I am ready not only to be sharply afflicted, but also, if he shall command, to die; because his riches m., div. enim ej. are eternal, and he who merits to receive adipisci. them will afterwards deinceps. lack no goods, nor ever be without them illis.. For Porro. your honor and power and riches pot. et opes. are temporal and fleeting, and they vanish like smoke, and never nec umquam perm. know how to remain. But what God bestows on those who love him quae ipsum diligentibus Deus. is eternal, and such sunt, atque ejusmodi. as neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have they ever omitted. ascended into the heart of man."

[13] with the pulley, iron thongs, fire, Then Rictiovarus, perceiving the holy martyr of God to be unconquerable in this constancy, said: "So, Quintinus, you have chosen this counsel, that you wish rather to die than to live?" Blessed Quintinus answered: "The death which you can inflict on me I do not fear at all. But the life which quem cod. is not in your power, but is bestowed by God on the faithful, I long for with all my prayers here by dying for his name ejus amore morientibus.. For if I shall have been given over to death by you, then I confidently fidenter. believe that I shall live in Christ fuero, Christo me.." After which Rictiovarus said: "Again and again I swear to you, Quintinus, that I order you to be punished the more quickly." To whom blessed Quintinus applied that word of blessed David, saying: "The Lord, he says omitted., is my helper: I will not fear what man may do to me." Then the prefect, moved by tyrannical fury, commanded St. Quintinus to be so racked on the pulleys that his limbs were forced to be loosed from their joints by the hardest force. Moreover he ordered jussit. him to be beaten with iron thongs, and boiling candens. oil and pitch and most fervent fat to be poured on his back, that no penalty or torture might be lacking to the bodily pains. But since these things did not yet satisfy the most mad prefect Rictiovarus, to sate satiandum. the most monstrous rage of his thirst, he ordered jussit. burning torches also to be applied, that, burned at least by flames, he might at some time give assent to being conquered vinc. se omitted.. But the martyr of Christ, who yielded neither to blandishments nor to terrors, stood unconquerable by all fires. For burning inwardly with the flame of the divine spirit, he despised bodily tortures outwardly, and said to the prefect Rictiovarus: "Most savage judge and son fili. of diabolical fraud, do you not omitted. know that all these things which I suffer at your command for the name of my Lord Jesus Christ I reckon as refreshments, and through this I despise your threats and punishments, because I feel that the dew of consolation is present to me from heaven by the divine mercy?"

[14] he tortures with other torments. Then Rictiovarus, increasing his anger and savagery in a most furious mind, said: "Bring lime, vinegar and mustard sinapim., that they may be poured into his mouth, that being thus at least silent he may come to his senses from his injury to us and our gods, and cease to delude with false persuasions the multitude multitudini. of our faithful." Blessed Quintinus then, perceiving that his penalties were to be increased, turned his words to the Lord, saying: "Sweet to me are all things, O Lord sunt m., Dom., omn., whatever I take with mouth and heart et added. for your holy name; although they are most bitter and deadly, yet I reckon them to my mouth ori tam. for the sweetness of honey and the delight suavitate. of the comb." But the prefect Rictiovarus after this protested on oath, saying: "By the most mighty gods Jupiter and Mercury, the Sun and omitted. the Moon et added., Asclepius and Hypocrates et Hyp. omitted. ^a, I swear that I will have you presented bound and tied with heavy ponderatis. chains at Rome to the Augusti ^b, before whom you will be confined by monstrous punishments, and that deservedly for the merits by which immanibus-quibus omitted. you presumed to take flight." To this St. Quintinus answered the prefect: "I do not dread going to Rome, prefect, because I do not doubt that God et added. is here and there, who will overcome your madness and that of the Caesars, by which you rage against adversum. the Christians. Yet I am confident and hold a most certain hope spe certissima. that I shall end the course concursum. of my labor in this province."

[15] He orders him to be taken to Augusta of the Viromandui; Then the prefect Rictiovarus with a harsh order commanded the neck of the holy martyr and his other limbs to be surrounded with heavy chains and most grievous bonds, and ordered the soldiers militusque cod. to guard him with diligent care, leading jus. cum d. c. servare ducereque. him until that same tyrant should overtake them. But blessed Quintinus, like a most simple animal led to sacrifice, his hope fixed deep in the Lord, besought with most devout prayers that his ways might be directed by him and that he might be taught his paths. When Cumque. then omitted. the attendants who were leading the most blessed soldier of God, as had been commanded them, had reached a certain place called by the name of Augusta of the Viromandi quemd., cujus vocabulum est Aug. Veromanduorum., they were ordered to wait for the governor. For the Lord Christus., looking already then at the narrow and most hard labors et added. of his most devoted soldier, chose the time of rewarding him, and appointed the place el., locumque. to be consecrated to his name; beyond which, not suffering him to go farther, he soon, as he willed, made him stop.

[16] where, having used blandishments in vain, Rictiovarus the prefect, coming there on the following day, commanded St. Quintinus to be presented to him, and turning again, as we have recalled above, addresses him with coaxing contrivances and fraudulent words, saying: "Brother Quintinus, because you are a young man of good hope, I am still patient with you: agree with me therefore, and sacrifice tantum added. to the great gods only omitted. Jupiter and Apollo; and if you do not wish ita S., volueris cod. to return to Rome, I will enrich you with great honors in this province, sending mittamque. an embassy to the most sacred emperors about you de te omitted., announcing to them and asking et rog. omitted. that you be appointed prince and magnificent judge ut constituant te principem et magnificum judicem. in this place." To this St. Quintinus answered: "Rictiovarus, I have often saep. tibi, Rict. answered you pursuing such things, and now again I answer: I will by no means sacrifice to your gods, because I know that your gods are demons, in whose honor you fabricate images and carved things; which carved things also when you call them gods quae cum tu deos app., are without sense and lacking all reason, because, made by hand, they can help neither themselves nor others. Like them become those who make them, and all who trust in them, because dead in their senses they venerate dead figments."

[17] he has the martyr pierced through with iron stakes and nails Then the prefect Rictiovarus, seeing him ever more strongly fortified with constancy, arranges constituit. to increase his tortures adhuc. for the increase of his glory ejus aug.; he ordered then igitur. a smith to be called, to make two iron stakes duos s. ferreos cod. by which blessed Quintinus should be transfixed from the neck to the legs, and in like manner ten other nails which should be cruelly fixed infigerentur. between the nail ungues. and the flesh in all his fingers, that thus at least, his body being pierced and his limbs bored on every side, he might either fail or, overcome, yield ced. sup. ^c. All which things being completed, the blessed martyr of Christ, by the wonderful power of God still standing up under such punishments inflicted, nothing resists

tantis irrog. suppl. adhuc durans et subsistens, n. recusat., but conscious of a great good he bears it most patiently; nor did he yield to these cruelties, who had borne with even mind the others mentioned above for the greatness of the love of Christ. But Rictiovarus, when cum. he saw blessed Quintinus thus pierced through with iron spits verubus. and made rigid omitted., said insultingly: "Behold, let the other Christians see this Christian thus given over to my punishments, and from his penalties let them learn an example poen. exemplum capiant.." In which words the prefect seems not to have known what he said diceret., while cum., St. Quintinus being set in the midst as an example of martyrdom, he openly showed monstraret. a spectacle to the Christians: for his imitable and venerable constancy in the passion was shown for the perfect non parva. profit of all Christians.

[18] and orders him to be beheaded. At his death miracles are wrought. After this the prefect, having taken counsel from a certain Severus Honoratus, having given the order data jus. omitted., commanded him to undergo capital sentence. And when blessed Quintinus was being led by the executioners, coming to the place of his sacrifice, he asked of them that they should grant him a little opportunity spatium. for praying. Having obtained this, when he had prostrated himself in prayer orationem prostravisset., with such prayers and words as he could he prayed the Lord, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, God from God, light from light, who are and who were before the foundation of the world, I beseech you in your holy omitted. mercy veritate., whom I confess, whom I hold fast in my heart, whom I desire to see, for love of whom I have given over this my totum. body to punishments and now offer my soul. Receive therefore my spirit and my soul offered to you with all desire, and do not forsake me, pious king and most merciful God, who live and reign for ages of ages." And having said this, offering his holy neck to the executioners: "I am ready, he said: do what has been commanded you." And they, having drawn the sword gladio evag., cut off the holy head of the martyr with a most cruel blow. And soon his happy soul, freed from the fleshly mass, was seen like a dove white as snow to have gone out exire. from his neck and to have penetrated penetrare. heaven in freest flight. And a voice Voxque. is reported to have been heard from heaven: "Quintinus, my servant, come and receive the crown which I have prepared for you for your merits." So then blessed Quintinus, an acceptable sacrifice and holocaust of God, enters the heavens, and for the tortures most patiently borne here, inestimably crowned, is placed in added from S. the seats of the holy martyrs.

[19] The body is sunk in the river. But his body, drenched with the rosy waves of his own blood, was ordered added from S. by the prefect to be kept and diligently guarded, not for the reverence of due honor, but until time should afford a chance of destroying it secretly clanculum perdendi.. And when night returned, he ordered the body of the most blessed martyr to be sunk immergere. in the stream of the Somme and most strongly to be weighted with lead by the addition of earth et terrae-supplumbari omitted.; that [ut.] so huge a good and a treasure so omitted. most beloved of God b. Deoque. might be denied to the sight of the Christians. The most blessed martyr of Christ Quintinus, serving God with all devotion, completed his time and the long penalties of martyrdom sui added. on the day before the Kalends of November. Who [Et.], although he was entombed in the bottom of the water for fifty-five years, in added. nevertheless gloriously attained susceptus. the kingdom of Christ among the sacred company of the blessed martyrs; where we trust that he now intervenes with God for us so much the more, the more we here with pious love, as befits a most holy martyr, embrace his venerable merits mer. ven..

NOTES.

CHAPTER THREE.

The journey of Eusebia the Roman into Gaul. The search for and wonderful finding of the body of St. Quintinus. His burial. Prodigies.

A certain blind matron, warned by God, After vero. then Christ had looked with mercy on respexit. his Church, tossing amid the whirlwinds of so many persecutions, the impious emperors being now dead, he appointed Christian princes to rule the whole monarchy of the world universi mon. orb.: that now the multitude of the faithful, having obtained the quiet of breathing, might rejoice in the end of many tortures. While ergo. there reigned Constantius, son of Constantine Cons. fil., and with him his brothers Constantine and Constans, there was a certain noble matron at Rome, Eusebia by name, very rich in dignity and wealth, but for nine years blinded orbata. of the light of her eyes: whose huic namque cod. custom it was to apply herself assiduously to prayers, and most devoutly to entreat the mercy of the Lord for herself. And on a certain night, when for the cause of her infirmity, namely that which had happened to her ea-acciderat omitted., she entreated the Lord more readily, on that same night an angel of the Lord appeared to her in a vision D. promptius oraret p. v., and comforting her, said: "Eusebia, the prayers of your supplication Eus., prec. tuae. have been heard, and accepted before the Lord Deo.: arise therefore, and go into Gaul, and search out the place which is called Augusta of the Viromandi Veromanduorum et sic deinceps., whose site is beside the streams of the Somme, where the public road passes from the city of the Ambiani, coming toward Laudunum Clavatum. In that place therefore diligently search, and you will find the body of blessed Quintinus, martyr of Christ, long since entombed in marshes and waters. When this has been brought out, and made manifest through you to the peoples, you will recover the sight of your eyes and the former state of your bodily weakness salutis.."

[21] betakes herself to Augusta of the Viromandui, When she had heard this, and the same vision a second time confirmed the matter as credible, in nothing nihil loco in n. wavering mutabunda cod., she took up arripit iter. the journey indicated, and as was ordered ut-est omitted., she went to the parts of Gaul, a carriage being prepared suited to her weakness, and the other things necessary for so great a journey, and also atque etiam. very clean and suitable linen cloths being prepared, with omitted. which she might receive the revealed treasure of the Lord, and having received it fittingly wrap it in pious wrappings pio studio.. When therefore cumque., under the guidance of the angel, she had begun to arrive at the place indicated to her, a certain old man, Eraclius Heraclius. by name, came to meet her on the road. Having called him to her she began to question him and to inquire of him where voc. interrogavit ubin. the place was that was called Augusta of the Viromandi. He answered her: "It is close by." Eusebia said to him: "Tell me, I pray you ait added., whether you ever knew in that place a certain man, named Quintinus, killed by the pagans?" To this the old man answered: "I have certainly praesertim cod. heard, but you may know for certain that it is now omitted. a long time since this ejus. deed." Then Eusebia said: "Tell added from S., if you know, where his body has been laid." The old man answered: "I do not know." But Eusebia, now more fully taught by the angel, said: "By God I ask you, that you show me this only tant. m., where the public road coming from Amiens, and going to Laon, crosses the river Somme."

[22] and, having implored the help of God, And as they went there together Q. cum p. pergerent., the old man said to her: "Behold, this is the place." Then Eusebia, recognizing that she had arrived pervenisse. at the place which the Angel had spoken of, joyful in further ultiori cod. hope, exulting got down from the vehicle, and ordered herself to be led there [eo.]. And when she had arrived, soon prostrate in prayer, she most intently besought God to show her the body of his holy martyr, and to make manifest to her ipsi., sinner though she was, where so great a treasure was; and praying she said: "O Lord God, Father Almighty, I beseech you to hear me omitted., a humble sinner, and to show me the body of your holy martyr; and as you, Lord tu D. compl., fulfilled the desire of your handmaid Helena, and showed her the hidden standard of the holy cross, so deign now to show me the venerable treasure in the glorious body of your martyr, who for your holy name nom. s. offered his whole self to most monstrous tortures. And now, Lord omitted. God Almighty, do not suffer me to depart from this place, until you grant the signs of my desire, to the praise and glory of your name, which is blessed for ages of ages."

[23] she finds in a wonderful manner the body of St. Quintinus, Her prayer being thus completed, that place where the holy body lay under the water began to move, and to give signs by curling waves; and at length by the great power of God the body of the holy man was raised, and, the wave offering its back, was carried out, and so by a wonderful ac secura. floating brought to the hands of men. And the head, which had not lain with that same body, leaping out through another channel, is brought in a wonderful manner to its body, the wave bearing it and Christ favoring. Receiving these together the venerable matron with joy raised them from the waters, and willingly carried the so holy weight to be wrapped in cloths: and the body itself had been found corrupted by no stain, but most entire and incorrupt, God preserving it ^a. That same body also shone fulgebat. with an unaccustomed whiteness, and was fragrant flagrabat cod. with an inestimable odor, so that those standing around, filled with that savor, forgot the other delights of the world [(as he testifies who was personally present at this event, who also wrote the earlier history of this most blessed martyr), filled with that sweetness of odor, seemed to have forgotten the other delights of the world.] ^b.

[24] and that, warned by a prodigy, she buries at Augusta. Her sight being recovered, The aforesaid venerable matron then Porro venerab. matrona Eusebia., having received the most blessed body, wrapped it in linen cloths, and arranged to convey it to the fort of the Viromandi ad Veromandensium., which is about five miles distant from that place, to be reverently entombed. But the most blessed martyr, unwilling to leave the place consecrated by his blood, as soon as he came up from the water to the top of the hill, most manifestly showed by the heaviness gravitate. of his weight that he did not wish to be carried farther. For the steps of the bearers had now failed, and their strength, pressed down by weariness lassitudine., yielded cesserunt. to the will of the venerable martyr. And blessed Eusebia, understanding the will of the holy martyr by such doings, had him set down

there, and reverently, according to what the place and time allowed, had him buried sepelivit., and thankfully built a little cell with such efforts as she then could, and soon in reward for the benefit of the burial, the densest darkness being put to flight by divine power, she joyfully recovered the friendly light once lost ^c. In like manner also et. m., as many sick as happened to come there illic cod. at that same hour, they too merited to recover their former health, for commending the precious death of the soldier of Christ.

[25] She returns to Rome with some relics. The venerable woman then autem., seeing the iron stakes ferreos cod., by which we said above the blessed martyr of Christ was pierced, still remaining manentem cod. in his body, took care to draw them eos cod. out extrahi., and for the veneration of relics carried them with her to Rome. Which being done, what perfidy had inflicted, faith, rejoicing with him, drew out; and what was then an increase of penalty, now stands as a testimony of glory. So Eusebia Rev. itaque est., the noble and venerable woman, returned, the most precious treasure of Christ having been found, with all her people, to where she had come from, showing in herself the great works of the power of God, and [et.] proclaiming the merits and glory of the witness and added from S. soldier of Christ, who, rewarded now and for ever with blessed glorification, destined to live perpetually, happily reigns in Christ. For the omitted. venerable solemnity of this finding is kept on the eighth of the Kalends of July julias., for the reverence and praise of him who thus glorifies his martyr even on earth ^d.

NOTES.

THIRD PASSION AND FINDING OF ST. QUINTINUS from the Authenticum of the Life of St. Quintinus.

Quintinus, martyr at Augusta of the Veromandui (S.)

BHL Number: 7009

FROM THE MSS.

CHAPTER ONE.

The journey of St. Quintinus and eleven companions into Gaul. He is thrown into chains. Miracles and preaching.

St. Quintinus, Here begins the prologue of the description of the life of our most blessed father Quintinus the martyr. Descriptions of the life of the holy martyrs are most victorious praises of Christ, the commendation of the contests of those same soldiers, the edification of faithful minds, the way of those who despise death, the pattern of those contending for the eternal king. Wherefore, desiring to commit to the memory of posterity the holy contests of the most blessed martyr Quintinus, I have taken care to describe them in few words ^b.

[2] Diocletian and Maximian raging against the Christians, Here begins the text of the passion of Quintinus the martyr of Christ. In the times of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, many of the Christians suffered a most grievous persecution, for the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and the hope of the eternal kingdom. Some were beaten by the filth of prison, long hunger, cudgels, rods and scourges; others, their hands bound behind their back, were hung on gibbets, by thongs or ropes; others were twisted on pulleys and dug with claws, and torn apart limb by limb; others were handed over to mockeries, exiles and various beasts; others were smothered by being cast down precipices; others were scorched by fiery plates and gridirons, with coals laid on, with oil, pitch and boiling fat and pyres; some, found hiding in caves and hollows of rocks and in mountains, were secretly slaughtered; since not even their dead corpses were spared ^c, but either they were thrown out unburied to be torn by beasts and birds *, or sunk in the waves were given to be devoured by fish, or reduced to ash were scattered in the depths of the sea.

[3] goes with many companions to Gaul. With Quintinus as leader, lo, twelve in number ^d,

the Roman youth seek the Gauls, to unlock the gift of the faith.

At this time then the most blessed Quintinus and the most holy Lucian, going out from Rome ^e, the Lord leading, came to Gaul. It is reported too, and the little books of their contests testify, that there came together with them very many scholastics ^f, Crispin and Crispinian, Rufinus, Valerius, Marcellus, Eugenius, Victoricus, Fuscian, Piato and Regulus ^g. The aforesaid two most holy men then, namely Quintinus and Lucian, coming to Amiens, a city of Gaul, chose places in which they should stay. For St. Quintinus settled at Amiens, and blessed Lucian went to the Bellovaci ; where, persisting in fasts and prayers, and devoting themselves to preachings ^h, the light of Christ began to shine by their merits, not only by the teachings of their preachings, but also by the testimonies of mighty works and miracles. For by the sign of the cross they restored light to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute and their former health to the limbs of paralytics. While the aforementioned princes bore the imperial scepters, and the persecution raged more and more, a certain Rictiovarus was appointed prefect in Gaul by the emperor Maximian.

[4] Seized Quintinus is shut up in the caves of the prison at Amiens.

Having received this power, his madness blazed up against the Christians so greatly that he never sated his rage with their blood. Coming therefore to Basel, a city of Gaul, he commanded the Christians found to be drowned and cruelly killed in that place where the river Ara ⁱ pours into the river Rhine. Whose bodies the wave of the river, but whose souls Christ received in the stars. An inquisition of the Christians having been made round about, the prefect Rictiovarus reached Amiens; where, having heard the fame of blessed Quintinus, that he was held famous both by preachings and by signs and mighty works, he at once ordered him to be seized and chained and thrust back into prison. As the attendants led him, he sang that word of David, saying: "O God, do not forsake me, but rescue me from the hand of the sinner and from the hand of him who acts against the law and of the wicked: for you are my patience, O Lord, my hope from my youth."

[5] and questioned by Rictiovarus, amid the scourges The saint and the dread tyrant join many words.

On the following day Rictiovarus, sitting on the tribunal in the consistory, ordered blessed Quintinus to be presented to him. When he had been brought, the governor said to him: "What is your name?" St. Quintinus answered: "I am reckoned by the Christian name, because I am a Christian, and I believe Christ with the heart and confess him with the mouth; yet properly I am called Quintinus." Rictiovarus said to him: "Of what family are you?" Blessed Quintinus answered: "I am a Roman citizen, son of Zeno the senator." And the governor said: "What is it that a person so noble and the son of so great a man has given himself over to so superstitious religions, that you worship him who was crucified by men?" Blessed Quintinus answered: "For the highest nobility is to worship the maker of heaven and earth and to obey his commands most devoutly." And Rictiovarus to this: "Quintinus, withdraw from this folly by which you are held, and sacrifice to the gods." St. Quintinus answered: "I will never sacrifice to your gods, who are established to be demons. And the folly by which you assert that I am held is not folly, but, to confess truly, the highest wisdom, namely to know the living and true God, and to reject mute and false idols; for those are certainly fools who obey you by sacrificing to them." Then Rictiovarus said: "Unless you now come forward and sacrifice to our gods, I swear by the gods and goddesses that I will rack you with various tortures even to death." The holy soldier of Christ Quintinus answered: "Know most certainly, governor, that what you order I will not do; what you threaten I do not fear. Do quickly what you will. Whatever you inflict, God permitting, I am ready to bear. For by the permission of my God you can afflict my body with various torments even to death; but my soul consists in the power of God alone, who gave it." Then Rictiovarus, moved by monstrous fury, ordered him to be stretched out and beaten by four men together. And when he had been sharply beaten for a long time, raising his eyes to heaven, praying he said: "O Lord my God, I give you thanks, because I suffer these things for the holy name of your Son my Lord Jesus Christ. And now, O Lord, grant me fortitude, grant strength, stretching out your helping right hand, how I may overcome all the weapons of the enemies with their tyrant Rictiovarus, to the praise and glory of your name, which is blessed for ages of ages."

[6] he is divinely strengthened and feels no pain. Stretched out for the Lord, Quintinus bears the scourges indeed:

At a voice sent from heaven every butcher falls down.

And when, praying amid the scourges, he finished words of this kind, at once a voice came from heaven, saying: "Quintinus, be constant, act manfully: I am with you." And this voice having died away, the attendants who were beating him, falling to the ground, had lost the ability to stand, and feeling themselves most sharply tortured, they besought Rictiovarus with shouting to help them, saying: "Our lord Rictiovarus, help us, because we are being tortured with immense tortures, and burned with fires, so that we have lost the use of standing and almost of speaking."

[7] Freed by a miracle from his chains, The governor shuts up the holy witness in prison again.

While they professed these and similar things with groaning and loud voices, the holy athlete Quintinus felt neither the scourges of those beating him nor the chains of the torturers, as one whom the grace of the Holy Spirit was helping. The most wicked prefect Rictiovarus, seeing this, moved by a more ferocious anger, said before those standing by: "I swear by the gods and goddesses that this Quintinus is a magician, and his sorceries prevail. Now therefore cast him from my face, and shut him up in the excessive darkness of the prison,

where he may neither enjoy light, nor anyone of the Christians be able to go in to him." And as he was being led to the darker places of the dungeon, he sang psalms with sweet melody, saying: "Rescue me, O Lord, from the evil man, free me from the wicked man." But condemned both to the darkness of the prison and deprived * of the comfort of the Christians, he merited the greater comforts of divine regard. For on the following night, when he had given his blessed limbs to rest, an angel of the Lord stood by him in a vision, saying: "Quintinus, servant of God, arise and go confidently, and stand in the middle of the city, consoling in the faith of Christ and strengthening all the people, that they may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, sanctifying themselves with sacred baptism, because their liberation also draws near, and that the enemies of the Christian name may be confounded with the impious Rictiovarus, their prefect."

[8] he brings many to the faith. A messenger leads the saint out from the caves of the prison.

Here Quintinus preaches to the peoples the teaching of salvation.

As the angel thus spoke, blessed Quintinus waking arose, and under the angel's guidance passed through all the guards of the prison, and coming to that place which the angel of the Lord had indicated to him in the vision, the peoples flowing together to him from every side, he said: "Men, brethren, hear me and be converted from all evil vices, doing penance, and be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in which is the washing and remission of sins; believing in the Father unbegotten, the Son only-begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, the quickener and sanctifier of our souls. Moreover I wish you to know that, when the fullness of times came, God the Father sent his son for our redemption, that we might be received into the adoption of sons. For he , conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and baptized by John in the Jordan, imparted not only sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the sick, but also raised the dead, cured very many from the contagion of leprosy by a word alone, and restored a woman from the flow of blood to her former health; he made the lame run, paralytics walk, water to be changed into wine by a wonderful command. Doing these and many other things wonderfully, which human speech does not suffice to recount, at the last he willed for our salvation to be fixed to the gibbet of the cross, to be placed in a tomb and on the third day to rise again. And so, manifested to his disciples for forty days, ascending into heaven, he promised that he would always be present to those who hope in him. Whence he never forsakes those who hope in him, but delivers them by his power from tribulations. But if for some time he permits them to be tempted by the adversities of the present age, it is not so that they may perish, but that he may receive them purer, like gold which passes through fire." Speaking these and similar things, when his speech was drawn out longer, about six hundred men believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

NOTES.

First of all, although not a few more recent writers refer St. Denis to this band [Cf. Grenier, Introd. à l'hist. de Picardie, in Mém. des antiq. de Picardie, vol. XXXI, p. 261], yet we must remove him, if the Acts of St. Quintinus are to be stood by. For the Passions to a man show him going out from Rome at the time when Maximian was raging against the Christians, whereas we judge that Denis came to Gaul under the emperor Decius. Regulus and Lucian also some writers either remove altogether, or think them distinct from those most celebrated martyrs of Beauvais and Senlis, who, they contend, lived in the first century [Cf. Acta SS., vol. I of Jan., p. 460. Cf. Salmon, in Mém. des antiquaires de Picardie, vol. XVIII, p. 150]. Of Lucian moreover, who in nearly all the best and oldest Acts appears associated with St. Quintinus, it does not seem to us that there is to be doubt. As to the rest, since it is not our business to dispute of each in this place [Cf. Claud. de La Fons, Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 15 and following. Colliette, Mémoires pour l'histoire du Verm., vol. I, p. 81 and following], I would neither flatly deny that those companions attached themselves to St. Quintinus, nor hold it as known, since I think that the cited testimonies flowed one from another, and can be reduced to a certain few, and those not sufficiently ancient [Cf. Acta SS., vol. IV of Oct., p. 897; vol. XI of Oct., p. 503; vol. III of Sept., p. 398. Tillemont, Mém., vol. IV, p. 433 and 701, Paris 1701]. Nor are the things more certain which some writers of Saint-Quentin have written: This sacred choir of twelve companions, dividing among themselves the cities of Second Belgica, either established several episcopal chairs in it or made them … more illustrious: they cast lots for which cities each should teach Hémeré, Aug. Vir., p. 59.

* prospiciebantur in the codex

* Belvagos in the codex

* lumine in the codex

* supplied by conjecture

* So in the codex

* mulierum in the codex

CHAPTER TWO.

The conversion of the guards of the prison. St. Quintinus is vainly solicited to idolatry. His horrible tortures. Portents at his death. His body overwhelmed in the waters.

The guards of the prison are brought to the faith. The people, believing, receive heavenly salvation in the river.

The guards of the prison then being awakened, when they found that blessed Quintinus was missing, the prison being shut, going out to search for him, they found him standing in the midst of the people and preaching. Whence moved by great terror and great wonder, they were converted to the faith of Christ, so far that they publicly professed the great Lord of the Christians, whom blessed Quintinus preached. Announcing also to the prefect what had been done concerning blessed Quintinus, they began to inflict abuse ^a on his gods and all their worshipers, saying: "Truly great is the God of the Christians, in whom one must believe. For your gods are figments and vain carved things, who neither feel, nor see, nor hear; for they are weak, and those who agree with you to adore them. For the one and true God now suffices us, the creator of heaven and earth, whom we have come to know through his servant Quintinus." Hearing this the prefect Rictiovarus, disturbed by monstrous fury, said: "So, as I see, you too have been made magicians." But they constantly answered saying: "We are by no means magicians, but confessors of the one and true God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them." To whom Rictiovarus said: "You are mad; for the assertion of your credulity is nothing. Go away as quickly as possible and depart from my sight." And they at once departed from him.

[10] St. Quintinus neither by blandishments The prefect is deserted, with his vain idols;

And he orders those to depart who denied both him and the gods.

The governor likewise soothes Quintinus, promising very many things.

As they went away, Rictiovarus, enraged with excessive indignation, began to be anxious and to rage with all his senses against blessed Quintinus, saying: "Unless I kill this magician and sorcerer Quintinus and extinguish his name, he will seduce all this people and wholly bring to nothing the worship of our gods." But lest anyone should think this a deed of cruelty and not rather of justice, soon commanding blessed Quintinus to be presented to him, he began to address him in coaxing words and said to him: "Quintinus, noblest of men, I confess that I blush and am greatly confounded for your nobility, that from the so great wealth of riches which most worthily befit you by the lot of parentage and nobility, you have come to so great a poverty for the sake of your most vain sect, that you seem needy and a most poor beggar. Hear therefore now my salutary counsel and accommodate yourself to my words: for there is only one thing for you to do. Sacrifice to our gods, and I will at once send an embassy in haste to the most sacred emperors, that they may restore to you all the possessions you have abandoned; and confer on you moreover most ample dignities, namely that you may be clothed with purple and fine linen, and be put in a golden collar, and girded with a belt of gold." Bringing forward these persuasions with very many other persuasive words, he thought to overturn him from the purpose of his contest. But the holy and most blessed martyr Quintinus, fortified by a constancy of great weight and by divine help, remained unmoved in his purpose, and poured out such things with constant mind, saying: "Ravening wolf and as it were a dog full of madness, how foolishly and senselessly you understand my mind, which you think you can overturn by the multitude of promised gifts and the unhappy heap of wealth! For your wealth will go with you into perdition. For I cannot change the constancy of my faith, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; but learn, unhappy man, that he is not poor who is rich in Christ. For the riches of Christ are eternal, and he who merits to receive them will in no way afterwards be in want, nor ever be without them. These riches I desire, these I long to embrace, and for these I am ready not only to be sharply afflicted, but also, if he shall command, to die. For your honor and power and riches are temporal and fleeting, and they vanish like smoke, nor ever know how to remain; but what Christ bestows on those who love him is eternal and such as neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have they ever ascended into the heart of man."

[11] nor shaken by threats, Thus the witness of Christ is racked on bitter pulleys;

The limbs of the blessed one are beaten with thongs of iron.

Then Rictiovarus, perceiving the holy martyr of God to be unconquerable in this constancy, said: "So, Quintinus, you have chosen this counsel, that you wish rather to die than to live?" Blessed Quintinus answered: "I desire rather to die for Christ, than to live unhappily for the world; for this death and these torments which are now inflicted on me by you prepare glory, they do not take away life; and through this what I owe by debt I long to pay by vow. For if, remaining in this confession, I shall have been given over to death by you, then I confidently believe that I shall live in Christ." Then Rictiovarus, moved by tyrannical fury, calling the gods and goddesses to witness, said: "Again and again I swear to you, Quintinus, that I will now have no mercy on you, but will order you to be punished the more quickly." To whom most blessed Quintinus applied that word of blessed David, saying: "The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what you, a man, may do to me." Then the prefect Rictiovarus, blazing up more and more with fury, commanded St. Quintinus to be so racked on the pulleys that his limbs were loosed from their joints. Moreover he ordered him to be beaten with iron thongs, and glowing oil and pitch and most fervent fat to be poured on his back.

[12] Rictiovarus tortures with burning torches, Lo, the saint is ordered by the voice of the governor to be scorched,

And what the governor orders the attendant strives to fulfill.

But since these things had not yet satisfied him, to sate the most monstrous rage of his thirst he ordered burning torches also to be applied, that, burned at least by flames, he might at some time give assent to being conquered. But the most holy martyr, who yielded neither to blandishments nor to terrors, stood unconquerable by all fires, and said to Rictiovarus: "Gallows-bird and son of diabolical fraud, and far removed from all human piety, know that all these things inflicted on me by you afford not the weariness of pain, but the refreshment of endurance, as if dew came down from heaven and dyed the greenness of the grasses with its most wholesome drops."

[13] with lime and vinegar. Behold, the harsh man gives the pious one lime, mustard and vinegar to drink.

Here Varus threatens to transfer Quintinus to Rome.

Then Rictiovarus, increasing his anger and savagery in a most furious mind, said: "Bring still further lime and vinegar and mustard, and let them be poured into his mouth, that thus at least being silent he may no longer this people

be able to delude with persuasive words." But blessed Quintinus, perceiving that his penalties were to be increased, said: "How sweet to my palate are your words, Lord, more than honey and the comb to my mouth." Hearing this the prefect Rictiovarus protested on oath, saying: "By the most mighty gods, Jupiter and Mercury, the Sun and Moon, Asclepius and Hyppocrates, I swear that I will have you presented bound at Rome to the emperors; before whom you will be tortured with monstrous torments, deservedly for the merits for which, having slipped away in flight, you lie hidden in these regions." To which St. Quintinus answered: "I do not shrink from going to Rome, because I do not doubt that God is here and there, who will overcome your madness and that of the emperors, who rage against the Christians. Yet I am confident and hold with most certain hope that I shall end the course of my labor in this province."

[14] He orders him to be taken Quintinus is seized to be bound with bitter chains.

Then Rictiovarus commanded the neck of the holy martyr Quintinus and his other limbs to be surrounded with heavy chains, and ordered the soldiers leading him to guard him with diligent care, going ahead of him until he should overtake them. Going out then as had been commanded them, St. Quintinus prayed saying: "Lord, make your ways known to me and teach me your paths," and adding he said: "Lead me, Lord, in your way and I will walk in your truth. Let my heart rejoice, O God, that it may fear your name, which is blessed for ages of ages."

[15] to Augusta of the Viromandui, and to be transfixed with iron stakes, He is led bound to Rome also, because the wicked man ordered it.

The prefect cuts short the journey of the saint on his way.

By order of the governor he is transferred to the city of Augusta.

So the soldiers who were leading blessed Quintinus, when they had reached a certain town which by an ancient name is called Augusta of the Viromandui, were ordered to wait for the governor. This indeed was done not by the arrangement of the tyrant himself, but by the prudence of Christ, that now after most bitter tortures, after great struggles of labors, he might give the crown of victory to the contest of his most devoted athlete, and sanctify that very place with the blood and name of that martyr. The prefect Rictiovarus, coming there on the following day, commanded St. Quintinus to be presented to him; and when he was before him, he began again to address him in coaxing words, saying: "Brother Quintinus, because you are a man of good hope, I am still patient with you. Agree with me therefore and sacrifice to the great gods, only to Jupiter and Apollo, and if you do not wish to return to Rome, I will enrich you with great honors in this province. I will send also an embassy about you to the most sacred emperors, informing them that you may be appointed in this place prince and magnificent judge." To this St. Quintinus answered: "I have often already answered you pursuing such things, and now I answer, that I will never sacrifice to your gods, whose carved images are established to be put together of bronze or wood or stones; which you too, deceived by excessive error, think to be gods, though they are idols mute and insensible, and lacking all reason, able to help neither themselves nor others; like whom, according to the prophet, become those who make them and all who trust in them." Then Rictiovarus, seeing him more strongly fortified with constancy, thirsting more ferociously that his tortures should be still increased, ordered a smith to be called, commanding him to make two iron stakes, which in the French tongue are called taringae, by which blessed Quintinus should be transfixed from the neck to the legs; and likewise ten other nails, which should be thrust between the nails and the flesh in all his fingers.

[16] and to be beheaded. Nails are fabricated for the torment of the holy martyr.

Behold, Quintinus is pierced with dreadful taringae.

The prefect deliberates with himself that he is to be killed by the sword.

These things being thus accomplished by the smith according to orders, Rictiovarus, beholding blessed Quintinus thus pierced through with spits, said insultingly: "Behold, let the other Christians see this Christian thus given over to my punishments, and from penalties of this kind let them take an example." Finally the most impious prefect, having taken counsel from a certain Severus Honoratus, ordered him to undergo capital sentence. Blessed Quintinus, led by the executioners to the place of his sacrifice, asked of them that they should grant him a little opportunity for praying. Having obtained this, prostrating himself in prayer, he said: "Lord Jesus Christ, God from God, light from light, who are and who were before the foundation of the world, I beseech you in your holy mercy, whom I confess, whom I hold fast in my heart, whom I desire to see, for love of whom I have given over this my body to punishments and now offer my soul. Receive therefore my spirit and my soul offered to you with all the desire of my heart, and do not forsake me, pious king, most merciful king, who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit through all ages of ages." This prayer being thus completed, offering his neck to the executioners, he said: "Do now what has been commanded you." And they, having drawn the sword, cut off the holy head of the martyr.

[17] A dove goes out from his neck and a heavenly voice is heard. The martyr, recognizing that the hardships of death are being prepared for him,

Prays that he may be cherished by the merits and piety of the Lord.

Behold, ferocious rage cuts through the neck of the saint.

From here went forth a snowy dove, climbing above the stars.

And when the body was being drenched with the rosy waves of its own blood, at once his happy soul, freed from the fleshly mass, was seen like a dove white as snow to have gone out from his neck, and to have penetrated heaven in freest flight, and a voice came down from heaven, saying: "Quintinus, my servant, come and receive the crown which I have prepared for you. Behold, there are present from every side choirs of angels to lead you as victor into the heavenly Jerusalem." So then blessed Quintinus enters the heavens, and for the tortures most patiently borne here, inestimably crowned, is placed in the seats of the holy martyrs. But his body the prefect Rictiovarus ordered to be diligently guarded, and in the secret silence of the night to be sunk in the stream of the Somme, and weighted down by the addition of earth, lead and mud; taking care lest perhaps it should be venerated with due honor by religious men, worshipers of Christ, or be given to burial with the highest veneration, as was worthy of so great a martyr.

[18] The sacred body lies long hidden in the waters. The body of the sacred witness is submerged in the waves of the Somme,

With a weight of lead, lest light should appear in the deep.

Behold, the soul of the martyr Quintinus, freed from the flesh,

An angelic company joyfully leads to the upper air.

The most blessed martyr of Christ Quintinus completed the course of his most happy labor and the contest of his most glorious triumph on the day before the Kalends of November. Whose soul was carried up to the upper air and received among the sacred company of the blessed martyrs; but his body for about fifty-five years stood entombed in the bottom of the water. For although denied to the sight of men and hidden in the deepest mud, Christ also guarding it, it remained incorrupt through the course of so many years, showing in the integrity of the body what dignity it held in the heavens. Where we desire that he now intervene with the Lord for us so much the more, the more we here with pious love, as befits a most holy martyr, embrace his venerable merits; to the praise and glory of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and thanksgiving, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always through immortal ages of ages, amen ^b.

NOTES.

CHAPTER THREE.

Divine revelation concerning the seeking of the body of St. Quintinus. The relics are found. Miracles at the tomb.

Eusebia, ordered to seek the body of St. Quintinus, This is the place where light was restored to blind Eusebia:

While she raises the body here, she lifts the head, and that again ^a.

The deposit which had lain hidden for about fifty-five years in the bottom of the river, and with Christ guarding had remained incorrupt, namely the body of the most blessed Quintinus, martyr of Christ, was revealed * in this way. There was a certain noble matron at Rome, Eusebia by name, very rich in dignity and wealth, but for nine years deprived of the light of her eyes. For it was her custom to apply herself assiduously to prayers, and suppliantly to entreat the mercy of God for herself. And on a certain night, when she was applying herself to her accustomed prayers, and was more devoutly entreating the Lord for the infirmity that had happened to her, an angel of the Lord appeared to her in a vision, and comforting her, said: "Eusebia, your prayer has been heard. Arise therefore and go into Gaul, and search out the place which is called Augusta of the Viromandui, beside the streams of the Somme, where the public road passes to the city of the Ambiani, coming toward Laudunum Clavatum. In that place therefore diligently search, and you will find the body of blessed Quintinus, martyr of Christ, long since entombed in marshes and waters; when this has been brought out, and made manifest through you to the peoples, you will recover the sight of your eyes, and the former state of your bodily weakness. And so, your health more fully restored, you will return safe with all who belong to you to your own." And when once, twice and three times the vision confirmed and reported the same matter as credible, in nothing wavering she took up the journey indicated by the angel, and as had been ordered, she went on to the parts of Gaul, a carriage being prepared suited to her weakness, and the other things necessary for so great a journey, very clean linen cloths being also prepared, with which she might receive the revealed treasure of the Lord, and having received it fittingly wrap it in suitable wrappings.

[20] betakes herself to Augusta of the Viromandui, When therefore, attended by companies of both sexes in great number, under the guidance of the angel, she had begun to arrive at the place indicated to her, a certain old man, Heraclianus by name, came to meet her on the road; having called him to her she began to question him, and to inquire of him where the place was that was called Augusta of the Viromandui. He answered her: "It is close by." Eusebia said to him: "Tell me, I ask you, whether you ever knew in that place a certain man named Quintinus, killed by the pagans." The old man answered her: "I have heard especially, but you may know for certain that it is now a long time since this deed." And Eusebia said: "Do you know where his body has been laid?" The old man answered: "I do not know." But Eusebia, joining prayers to prayers, said: "By the Lord I ask you, that you show me this at least, where the public road coming from Amiens, and going to Laon, crosses the river Somme." And the old man said: "Come, and I will show you the place." And so going together, they came to the place ^b. Then the old man showed her, saying: "Behold, this is the place."

[21] and, God being invoked, And Eusebia, arriving at the place which the angel of the Lord had indicated to her, joyful got down from the vehicle, and commanded herself to be led there. And when she had arrived, soon prostrate in prayer, entreating the Lord with most humble prayers, she said: "O Lord, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God the creator of all things, at whose nod all things are moved, I beseech you to hear

your humble sinner, your handmaid, and to show me the body of your holy martyr: as, Lord, you fulfilled the desire of your handmaid Helena, showing her the hidden standard of your adorable cross, so deign now to show me also the venerable treasure long hidden in the glorious body of your martyr, who suffered for your holy name. Do not suffer me, God Almighty, to depart from this place, until you grant the signs of my desire, making known through me among the people what has long lain hidden in the depths, to the praise and glory of your name, which is blessed for ages."

[22] she finds the sacred relics by a miracle. Her prayer being thus completed, that place where the holy body lay under the water began to move, and to give signs by curling waves. And so by the great power of God the body of the holy man was raised and, the wave offering its back, carried out, and by a wonderful floating brought to the hands of the woman. And the head, leaping out through another channel, the wave bearing it, and Christ acting, is brought forth in a wonderful manner. Which likewise the venerable matron receiving with joy raised from the waters, and wrapped in the very white linen cloths which she had brought with her for this purpose. And the body itself no stain had corrupted, no livor darkened, nor swelling made foul, nor any scar polluted with the filth of the mud; but fragrant with snowy whiteness and inestimable odor, it filled those standing around with so great a savor of sweetness that they forgot all the delights of the world ^c.

[23] The body being buried, she is freed from blindness, The aforesaid venerable matron then, having received the body of the most blessed martyr wrapped in linen cloths, arranged to convey it to the fort of the Virmandui ^d, which is about five miles distant from that place, to be reverently entombed. But God Almighty, unwilling to deprive of so great a treasure the place consecrated by the blood of his martyr, as soon as those who were carrying him had begun to climb from the water to the top of the hill, weighed down by the excessive heaviness of the weight, unable to go farther, they halted. And when they tried again and again to carry him farther, and could by no means do so, blessed Eusebia, as understanding the will of God by such doings, had him set down there, and buried reverently according to what the place and time allowed, and thankfully built a little cell with such efforts as she then could. Soon therefore, in reward for the benefit of the burial, there went from her eyes as it were scales a white film, and the densest darkness being put to flight by divine power, she recovered the friendly light once lost. And through all the limbs of her body too, the vigor of health, which had gone away on account of the blindness, being recovered, it departed. In like manner also, as many sick as happened to come there at that same hour, for commending the precious death of the martyr of Christ, they too merited to recover their former health.

[24] and she returns to Rome. The tomb is illustrious with prodigies. The river Somme takes its beginning about five miles distant from that same place of burial. In which steep place it flows slightly, but in its longer course it is drawn into a river, so namely that, when it comes to that same place where the blessed body was found, it has the size of a river ^e. The venerable woman then, finding the iron stakes, which in the French tongue are called taringae, by which we said above the blessed martyr of Christ was pierced, still remaining in his body, drew them out ^f, and took them for herself for the veneration of relics. Leaving gifts of no small value in that place, she returned safe with all her people to her own, showing in herself the great works of the power of God, and proclaiming the merits of the holy martyr of Christ Quintinus. The body of that eminent martyr was buried on the eighth of the Kalends of July. In which place frequent visitation shines by the merits of the same martyr ^g. For the blind recover their former light, the lame the walking denied them, the deaf the hearing lost; and very many laboring under various ailments, of whom very many things have been written in the other book ^h, very often obtain the health they desired, through the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory for ages of ages. Amen.

NOTES.

* admiratione in the codex

BOOK OF MIRACLES OF ST. QUINTINUS

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

from the Brussels codex 7460 collated with the Paris 5575 and with the Authenticum of St. Quintinus.

Quintinus, martyr at Augusta of the Veromandui (S.)

BHL Number: 7017, 7018

FROM THE MSS.

PROLOGUE.

The miracles show the heavenly glory of St. Quintinus. Here begins the prologue in the book of miracles of St. Quintinus ^b. Undefiled faith and the worship of our religion attain a great sum, when it truly holds the miracles of the holy martyrs, and endeavors to declare faithfully in pure words those things which have been wonderfully done; nor is it right to be silent Tacere C. about the acts of the soldiers of Christ, when he grants them to be raised to honor in this present and to shine with merits: for what dignity they hold in the heavens is shown to mortals by the miracles shining on earth. Wherefore it has seemed not off the point em C. to me to narrate certain miracles of the most blessed martyr Q. Mart. B, C. Quintinus facta added C.; of which quae B, C. some are briefly run over from the revelation of the body of that witness of Christ, others taken word for word from the writings of Gregory, bishop of Tours Turonii B. ^c, others ex ipsius t. autem omitted C. set down in writings and recounted in words script. ind. et v. omitted C. to my littleness by faithful fathers, narrata C., others indeed vero C. stand constat C. inspected contemplata C. by the keen sight of my own eyes. Here ends the prologue.

NOTES.

In the Paris codex one reads: Here begins the unfolded text of the mighty works of the eminent martyr Quintinus. Here begins the prologue. At the end, however, Here ends the prologue is missing. Also missing are the inscriptions which we see prefixed each to its chapter in the other codices. Here however some are written before the prologue itself, all together and indeed in this manner:

Here begin Note: Incipitunt cod. the titles of the mighty works notably bearing fruit Note: fructutantium cod. by the merits of the most blessed martyr Quintinus.

I. Of a certain perverse man rebuked by St. Quintinus himself.

II. Of a forger bringing forward false things against the property of that church.

III. Of a wanton judge and his subject who was beaten.

IV. Of a certain sick man and a lame one, and of his iron tool stolen, and of the guilty man of that theft.

V. Of a thief and his torment.

VI. Of the stipend of the brethren reduced by the abbot Note: abbatem morato cod. and of the invader of that stipend, and also of a mute wonderfully cured.

VII. Of a lame man healed at the gate.

VIII. Likewise of a slightly Note: medico cod. lame man made sound at that same gate.

VIIII. Of a certain bent woman healed at the same gate.

X. Of the interruption of the same building of the church

and the overseers of that work, and of one made lame for that same matter, warned by the same martyr, and of his healing and the slaying of the overseers.

XI. Likewise of a mute and his admonition.

XII. Likewise of a thief.

XIII. Likewise of the mighty works which boiled forth at the time Note: tempora cod. of the bringing of the relics of St. Sebastian.

XIV Note: XV cod. Of a certain blind man.

XV. Of a sick man healed.

XVI. Of a weak little girl healed.

XVII. Likewise of a blind man Note: coequo cod..

XVIII. Of a sick woman.

XIX. Of a languishing man.

XX. Of a certain consecrated woman healed of lameness of the foot.

XXI. Of a certain Note: quidam cod. blind woman.

XXII. Likewise of a certain weak woman.

XXIII. Likewise of another blind woman.

XXIV. Of a one-eyed man. Note: mono tello cod.

XXV. Of a woman who practiced the work of wool-making on the Lord's day.

XXVI. Of a certain hoarse man.

XXVII. Likewise of a blind woman.

XXVIII. Likewise of a weak woman.

XXIX. Likewise of a blind woman.

XXX. Of an eleven-year-old Note: undendi cod. blind boy.

XXXI. Epilogue of these mighty works.

XXXII. Of the translation of the body of the martyr himself.

CHAPTER ONE.

First and second finding of the sacred body. The prodigies then wrought. A certain man snatched from death.

He is famous for prodigies in life and after death. Here begins the text of the miracles signorum et virtutum B. of St. beati B. Quintinus the martyr. The signs then and miracles of mighty works which our Lord and Savior, by the merits of his most powerful martyr Quintinus, caused to be notably made known at the time of his soldiering, it was not necessary to extol in writing in this small little work, for this reason, that many notable things are open in the description of his life; many also more hidden, if anyone plucks at them more thoroughly, he will be able to observe; as that many were cured by the sign of the cross by the same martyr, and, a brief preaching being concluded to the peoples, he won for the Lord about six hundred. For it was a great miracle, that the small seed of the divine word, sown at one point, rose up in fruit-bearing into so great a harvest. But those things which, after his most glorious glor. ej. B. death, were done concerning the revelation of his body corp. ip. B., whether in the bottom of the water aquis cod., or in a place unknown in the earth, some are here touched on briefly, others quippe added B., because they were lesser, are more widely made public. Very many, however, because they stand exstant B. clearly explained by others, I have judged should not be explained again. Moreover et added B. those things which also omitted B. had to be drawn out here, reason and order demanded to be so made public, that those which first shone forth wonderfully should be placed first. For the first enim B. revelation of the body of that eminent martyr was in the bottom of the water, the second in a place unknown ignota B. in the earth. But because I had necessarily to note here the series of years of the chief martyr of Christ ann. ipsius praec. mart. B, C., of which the second revelation stood most in need; and Gregory, bishop of Tours, where he narrated the miracle of the first finding of the body of that witness of Christ, at once added another which was done est B. long after the second finding of the same body, and the littleness of my pen feared to cut short the writings of the same prelate; for this reason I have put proposui B. the second before the first. So the order of the second revelation, by which the Lord willed wonderfully to make manifest the body of his most holy and most blessed ac b. omitted B. soldier Quintinus, because it was most fitting to set down here the occasion of so great a thing, it was altogether necessary to make clear.

[3] The body of the holy martyr, which in the age of Julian For this holy martyr, having suffered in the tenth persecution by which the Church was afflicted after Nero, under Diocletian and Maximian, lay in the bottom of the water for fifty-five years, as is written in his deeds, namely from the time of the same Diocletian until the times of Constantius, who succeeded the pious prince Constantine in the empire heres added B.. But when a time of persecution again intervened under the impious Julian Augustus, the worship of the divine name, as much by fear metit B. as by other various occasions, began to be disturbed and not slightly imperiled. For it is no wonder that subjects and those less instructed in the truth of the faith should be imperiled, where the very summits of the priests happened to fall in so great a persecution. For to speak loquor B. of et B. these our omitted B. borders fin. n. B., St. Lucian with his companions fell by the sword of Julian; on which occasion the peoples of our borders, sharply shaken, when they ought to have been strengthened in the faith, being less solid began more incautiously to fall away.

[4] began to lie hidden, For which reason, as is believed, it came about that the worthy cult failed around the vigils of the sacred martyr, and that his blessed merits lay hidden, in however slight a measure, from human knowledge, so that the place of his body was utterly unknown to the peoples, whether, as we have said, because the practice of religion failed on various occasions, or also, so to speak, by the high providence of God, so that he might be guarded there by the ignorance of the wicked, he who had before suffered such great injuries at the hands of persecutors, not only living in the flesh, but also when already laid low by glorious death; but that hereafter the loftiness of his so great holiness ej. sanct. B., more recently made manifest in the revelation of his omitted B. body by the help of God; * torpid hearts might be stirred up to a more fervent cult of him, and the distinctions of his merits might be renewed in human sight hum. cons. B. as often as the heavenly pearl was uncovered detergeretur A.. For the treasure of the king and the gem of the heavenly emperor lay entombed in the earth telluri A. and covered by dense ignorance, through a course of no less than three hundred and twenty years, until such merits should be stirred up as should be judged viderentur B., by the divine balance, worthy of a revelation of this kind ^a.

[5] St. Eligius piously sought it, Of St. Eligius raised to the pontifical chair De religiosa sollicitudine S. Eligii erga excubias S. Quintini B.. When Eligius then, most blessed and most holy ac sanct. omitted B., was acting as bishop of Vermand and Noyon, the divine mercy now omitted B. decreed that, as it had first revealed in the waters its soldier unknown to all, so also it should make him manifest, hidden under the earth, not only for the increase of the honor of so great a martyr, but also for making manifest the merits of so great a pontiff. For his earnestness was et B. a daily solicitude for the worship of the divine religion and the vigils of the saints, above all however for the tomb of the martyr ipsius added B. of Christ. Whence it happened that at some time, when with due solicitude he was inquiring about the praises of blessed Quintinus, he learned that he was unknown, not in merits, but in the place of burial. Urged therefore by divine authority, and providing for the ignorance of the people, his mind resolved to search him out, and his thought had fixed on this with great intention intententione A.. For the divinity willed to reward him with this dignity at the beginning of his pontificate, that it might commend to his sheep omnibus B. an approved and worthy pastor, namely in finding so great a treasure, which the Lord had willed to hide from the world for so many times. But because how this was done has been sufficiently made clear by the pen in its places, let us come only to the miracles.

[6] after Maurinus had paid the penalty for arrogance; Of a certain cleric struck for his levity De Maurino cler. suimet lev. B. and de added B. by the merits of St. Eligius. Before then Eligius became bishop, a certain man, Maurinus by name, holding the office of a cleric, was wont often to applaud himself boastingly jactando B. that he both knew the place of the martyr, and could find it without faltering. Which, when at some time he was eager to prove it to his hearers, he undertook the risk of the deed, and taking a mattock, while he presumed to dig so in the margin of cod. A. violare B. the pavement of the basilica of the martyr, he paid penalties worthy dignis codd. of his errors by the judgment of God; for the handle fixed to the mattock stuck to his hands. And when it could be neither let go nor taken away, his hands began to rot, and to swarm with worms. Mulcted with which penalty, on the following day he miserably died, who presumed to undertake a business of so great holiness so irreverently. Hence so great a dread grew up in all, that no one after him, however most approved his life, except the most blessed bishop Eligius, tried to presume on a business of this kind. He indeed, raised to the pontifical chair, often, as we have said before, began to frequent the place of the aforesaid martyr; whence also, taught by divine revelation, he manifestly asserted that the body of the holy martyr was not held in that place where it was believed, but in another part, where it was not thought, and that he ought to search and by the help of God restore it to its due place. But this pious intent of his, though less considerately, brotherly solicitude endeavored to bend back, objecting the deed of arrogance, presumption and levity of the aforesaid man. But to these and similar things Eligius did not yield, whom the martyr, by his merits, Christ disposing it, fixed for accomplishing this work, refusing wicked examples, who quae B. had sought only the cause of the divine will; because, although the cause was the same, yet the grace of the two was far unequal: for they wished what was alike, but sought it unlike. Which unlikeness we have judged should for that reason be written down, that in the cause of this martyr it may be apparent what the humility of holy devotion, and what the levity of arrogance has merited.

[7] and at length he finds it, not without miracles. Of the body of St. Quintinus found De inventione corporis S. Quint. B. by Eligius the bishop. For presumptuous levity being extinguished with its author, namely Maurinus, the most knowing pontiff Eligius, kindled by divine powers and most fervent in the faith of Christ, giving himself wholly to searching out the long-hidden body of most blessed Quintinus, appointing and carrying through a three days' fast, praying with tears attentius added B., after many things began with his holy hands to dig with a hoe one place in which there could be no suspicion of the finding of the body of the same martyr De odore et immani lumine in obscura nocte micante added B.. Digging through the bottom of the pit, he found a very ancient cumbus covering the sacred body: which being bored, so great an odor of paradise paradisi genus B. with immense light came forth from it, that even the pontiff himself, delighted with the splendor of the light and the fragrance fraglantia codd. of the excess of odor, could scarcely stand. For a globe of light too, which came forth from the mausoleum at the blow of the striker, gave out so immense a brightness of splendor, that it turned the greatest plurimas B. part partes B. of that province into the brightness of day. Whence, as has been made known to us by the fathers, many from their beds

suis added B., rising up, hastened to go to servile work as if seu B. by day after their custom. For midnight had passed, and that night very dark; but it was changed into so great a brightness that it rendered altered and anxious all who at that same hour happened to be awake in that same district; and so as time went on, that brightness, which shone as it were the light of day for a significant thing, withdrew at the time when the sign had been given.

[8] By the touch of a tooth of St. Quintinus many are healed. Of the relics of the eminent sancti B. martyr Quintinus omitted B. taken by blessed Eligius ab El. B., and of omitted B. a tooth of the same ejus B. martyr omitted B. with blood flowing fluente, abstracto B., and imparting health to the people et — impertiente omitted B.. The sacred body of the most blessed omitted B. martyr Quintinus having thus been found, the aforesaid prelate took very many relics from it for himself and very many others; and when it had come to taking away teeth from his jaw, a great and unheard-of miracle shone forth. For as soon as he took away the teeth, at the root of one tooth a drop of blood came out ^b. O unheard-of and wonderful power! For the body which through the courses of so many years, as we have described above, lay either in the bottom of the water, or in a place unknown in the earth, was found so living that blood at once followed the drawn tooth. These things being thus omitted B. done there, and all those placed before it marveling at prae B. such deeds, who would suffice to recount how many thereafter down to the present, languishing, how many sick, have obtained health from those same relics? For, to be silent about the others, who could draw out how many sick, wearied by excessive pain of the teeth, we have heard were healed when touched by the aforesaid tooth taken from the body of the same martyr, and how many quodque A. we have beheld cured with the gaze of our own eyes? But let these things Isthaec B. be said in few words of them: let us pass on to the rest. Gregory then, bishop of Tours, in the first book which he published on the miracles of the saints, hera septuaginta duo [so B. so also at first cod. A; corrected by deleting inta duo with dots placed beneath.] ^c, thus spoke of the miracles of our martyr.

[9] Sight is restored to a blind woman. Of a certain omitted B. religious femina added B. long blind and enlightened. At the town of the Virmandi Viromandensim B. in Gaul Quintinus the martyr rests. Whose blessed body is found recipitur B. by a certain religious woman, who had long been blinded. But as soon as it was revealed relevatum B. from the bottom of the river, it produced a miracle, when to the woman's face ^d, where it first shone, it restored her blinded eyes.

[10] A robber is freed from death by a miracle. Of a robber hung on a gibbet for stealing a presbyter's horse and freed. In this city then one of the robbers stealthily carried off a presbyter's horse. Found by the presbyter, he is made known manifestatus B. to the judge. Without delay: seized and bound with chains vinculo B. he is put under; declaring his deed with his own mouth, he is sentenced to the gibbet omitted B. dijudicator B.. But the presbyter, fearing lest a man's soul should be taken away auferreretur B. for the cause of his own loss, entreats deprecans codd. the judge that est B., life being granted him, he, guilty in fault, should be absolved from the penalty, saying that it had been done enough for him, that quot B. through so many kinds of torments the robber had declared declaravisset B. what he had done. But since the severity of the judge could be bent by no prayers, he condemned the guilty man to the gibbet. Then the presbyter, prostrate with tears at the tomb of the blessed martyr ^e, suppliantly entreats, saying: "I beseech you, most glorious athlete of Christ, that you rescue this poor man from the hand of unjust death, lest it become a reproach to me, if this man should die through my accusation. Show, I beseech you, your power, that him whom the harshness of human wickedness has put off absolving you may loose by the governance of gentle piety." While the priest was thus entreating with tears, the bonds of the gibbet being broken, the guilty man fell to the ground. Hearing this the judge, terrified with fear and marveling at the divine power, presumed to do him no further harm. This Gregory, bishop of Tours, brought forth in these same his de B. words and these same syllables; the following things, however, have been brought out by the report of other faithful fathers.

NOTES.

* supply ut

CHAPTER TWO.

Sinners rebuked. Penalties taken on thieves and on those who offend St. Quintinus or men devoted to him.

There are punished by St. Quintinus a certain sinner, Of a certain perverse man rebuked by St. Quintinus himself. There was a certain man of most noble stock and of great wealth, and distinguished by riches, by name Wilericus Vuilericus C., who through the disdain factum B. fastu C. of his pride and the intemperance of his manners had in great part offended his Creator by sinning, and had happened to exasperate most blessed Quintinus the martyr no less by depraved depravatis B. deparvis C. works. Whom the most blessed martyr held as if hateful; but, to speak more truly, he loved him; admonishing him often in his sleep, he refuted his obstinacy. But he, obstinate in the swelling of his mind mortis timore B., since he would not yield to the admonisher, one night he struck him with blows: which beating he ordered him to show to Leoditius Leodicio B. ^a, the guardian of his martyrium, indeed to all the people, and then waking and coming with all solicitude to his tomb, cast down on the ground, soon with lowly maxima B. prayer to entreat the Lord that he would be present profuturum B, C. to him by the merits and prayers of the same martyr. Which he, although compelled, carried out secutus B. in everything the command of the one ordering, openly before all, both showing his wounds and speaking the words. After these things had been done, converted from his error, he brought into the same basilica many gifts of silver et auri added C. and very many garments, woven with gold and shining with gems.

[12] a defrauder doing harm to the church, Of a forger bringing forward false things against the property of that church. No less another false witness, Berninus by name, brought forward false testimony concerning the property of the church of the blessed martyr, wishing to carry off altogether a certain quendam C. forest from the estate dependio B. called nuncupante C. Nogaridum ^b. To whom in his sleep the blessed martyr omitted B. Quintinus was seen, and said that he was protesting falsely about his forest. And when he answered that what he testified about it was not false, seizing his nose, he proclaimed him a forger. At which word he, waking, with his shoes on his feet, when he ought to have bathed his face with water liniri A, C., calling his wife, began to explain to her what quod B. he had seen in his sleep. Coming ventus C. to that place of how the martyr himself, holding his nose word doubtful B., called him a forger, he received his nose cut off into his outstretched hand, and at once it fell into the vessel by which water flowed from ejus added B, C. his hands defluebat C.. Greatly terrified, he put off the plea to which on that very day ipsa die B, C. he was to go for the aforesaid forest. But not restrained by this punishment, moreover through the disdain of pride, he endeavored to have a golden nose fabricated for himself and fitted with little golden chains. Whom the same saint again warned in a vision, saying: "Did I not take away your natural nose ^c, to show to all that you had spoken false testimony? And now through pride you have dared to set a golden one on top. Go now, cast it from you, and strive to make known to all that you brought forward false testimony." For which cause, for an evidence of faith, that nose of gold, preserved for many days for the memory of future futurorumque B. times, remained there ib. dieb. serv. B, C..

[13] and a wanton judge. Of a wanton judge and his subject who was beaten. In the times of Abbot omitted B Lagbard ^d, when it happened by chance that he was endeavoring to build a certain building within the cloister claustram C. of the monastery, and it was being finished in the manner of a palace, a certain man, by name Gunthlagus Guntlagus B, C., provost of a certain estate called Harthliacum ^e voc. Hardiaco B. quoddam nuncupante Hartliaco C., was over the craftsmen of that same work; and when all the work of that fabric pressed on at his order, and likewise was being accomplished, it happened that a certain man, by name Rementianus, was late in coming to carry out the works. At which that most cruel judge, dealing not humanely, but, as he was cruel, cruelly, ordered him to be beaten with scourges; and when the attendants ran there, and wished to fit him for the scourges laid on innumeris plagis B., slipping from their hands, he sought the help of flight, and with swift running reached the door of the basilica of the blessed martyr. From which the most wicked judge himself commanded him to be dragged out with criminal hands. But as he cried: "O most blessed martyr Quintinus, rescue me by your prayers, and free me from the impending danger," the judge likewise, with polluted lips and the inmost swelling of his heart and obstinate pride, exclaimed: "Never will Quintinus rescue you from my hands, never will he stand as your tui B. helper, nor will he be your rescuer from the weight of the scourges;" and soon he ordered him again to be most atrociously scourged. But not long after, not even about the middle hour of the day, and behold when

was going about the heights of that palace to oversee them, his feet slipped and he fell; and with his neck crushed and broken, and all his strength dissolved dissolutis B. , he at once expired, and died in the stubbornness of his wickedness. He perceived what the most blessed martyr can obtain in heaven, since here he has power to render to blasphemers blasphæmiis C. what they deserve.

[14] A thief is miraculously ordered to restore what he stole. Of a certain sick man and another quodam B. lame man and his tool ferramenta B. that was stolen, and et B. of the one guilty of that theft. But neither hæc B. is it to be passed over how great was the care of the same eidem C. martyr for the poor, not only while living in Christ, but also when already fallen asleep in him. For in the days of Pepin, the vigorous king Pippini regis strenui B. , grandfather avii C. aut A, B. ^f of the most noble emperor Louis Hludoici C. Hludowinci B. , a certain man, Ebroin Ebruinum B. Ebruinus C. by name, fell into a certain illness. Him the aforesaid prince sent to Jerome Hieronimo B, C. , the abbot who then presided over the place of that martyr, and commanded that the comfort of his physicians be imparted to him et B. . And he, obeying the royal commands præfectis C. , gave him lodging in the house of Wimerid Wineridi B, C. , formerly quendam C. a presbyter; where also a certain poor lame man, Vincelinus Veimcelinus aut Viuncelinus B. by name, lodging there, had a certain tool which the common people call a raslum ^g, and hollowing out small vessels with this, he sought his living by the work of his hands. The servant of the aforesaid sick man stole this from him and carried it off with him to his own country, namely beyond the river Rhine. As he lay at rest, the holy martyr Quintinus stood by him and said: "Why Quur C. , despoiling a poor man, have you stolen furasti C. the merchandise of his food? Go as quickly as you can to your master, and do not delay to confess the evil which you have done without his knowledge; and you yourself ipseque C. are to charge him by my commands that he have that stolen thing brought back and order it returned to Silvinus Silvius B. , the custodian of my place." The guilty man, counting this vision as nothing, gave it over to forgetfulness; but when he was admonished by him a second time about de C. om. B. the same matter, he put off disclosing pandere B. it. Whereupon the aforesaid martyr of Christ, coming a third time, reproved him terribly: "Come, wretch," he said; "why, disobedient to my admonitions, have you been ashamed to confess to your master the evil you have done? Up, go om. B, C. quickly, and confess unwilling the crime which you committed willingly; and there shall be in recompense recompensatione C. for the two offences, namely the theft and the contempt: you shall be deprived of the friendly light of two eyes, your sight bursting." Whose hastening being thus uttered; upon the hastening ad celerationem B. there followed at once the vengeance announced; and so, torn by the punishments he deserved, he confesses to his master the evils and the admonitions that had been carried out conf. perp. B, C. . When his master learned of these things, terrified with exceeding fear, he at once sent back remanxit C. the tool itself to the custodian named, giving instructions to make known to all ea n. fac. B, C. the things which had been lamentably flebiter C. done. On account of this matter regi C. , recalling these things often to memory, they likewise ibidem C. hung the wrought raslum before the altar of the martyr himself pependerit B. pendederunt C. .

[15] Another atones for a theft committed in the church. Of a thief and his ejusque loco et e. B. torment. What vengeance follows upon things consecrated being carried off by theft was shown by the following miracle. There was a certain tower joined to the monastery martyrio C. of the martyr himself; this, having three altars on high, was venerated in its uppermost part in memory of the holy archangel archangelis C. Michael. A certain crafty quidem B. poor man, craftily making his way into it, stealthily carried off the apples of the higher altar, wrought of gold and silver, hid them in his bosom, and took them to the house of Fredebert Fredebenti C. , formerly a cleric. There, seized at once by the great judgment of God, he began to burn æstuari A. , to be in anguish, and, inflamed with great heats, to be tormented; indeed, as many confl. m. B. flocked together, he showed the affliction divinely inflicted on him devinctus interrogator B. : for when those apples touched his ejus B. thighs, at once such blisters broke out as if they had been touched with red-hot iron; and so in such torment the wretch breathed out his spirit. What do you think, with what great punishments are they tormented in hell who commit much greater thefts, if this man received such tortures for so small a thing propter parv. B. ? But these things I would say lest perhaps forsitan C. it should seem that whoever has stolen consecrated things from God goes unpunished.

[16] A certain poor man, ordered to admonish the abbot of St. Quentin with words, Of the stipend of the brothers diminished by the abbot fr. et abbate minoratore B. , and of the invader of that stipend, and of a mute et demum B. miraculously cured. What solicitude, then, he had in his martyrium for those serving God is not to be passed over in silence. A estate which is called Villa quædam nuncupante C. Villare had formerly been assigned for the stipends of those same servants of God for a whole integra B. month. This the abbot Fulrad ^h, happening to withdraw it, gave to one who served him, Roderic by name dedig C. . From this a very great maximam B. rumor sprang up among the brothers and came to great murmuring propter stipendii immorationem add. B. pr. stip. minorationem add. C. . Pitying their hunger, Saint Quintinus, to a certain tiller of the land from the estate of Pontrudium ⁱ, who was laboring in the cultivation of the soil and was weighed down by the fatigue of a great sleep magni soporis A, B. magnis op. C. , Amalwin Amalvinno B. by name, a poor man flowering in green viri de caniciæ C. old age, appearing like a glowing sun to him illic C. as he was given over to sleep, and calling him by his own name, said: "O poor little man, worldly mondialis C. pomp smiles on some, but dashes down alludit A. others; therefore be steadfast, and commit to the ears of your heart what I shall declare in your ears: for the abbot set over our brothers, Fulrad by name, for the sake of a little pomp of the world has caused very great murmuring to arise among those same brothers; therefore go, and take care to make known to him by my command meo jussu B, C. that he has incurred very great guilt, because, diminishing the stipend stipendiam C. of those brothers, taking away the estate by which they were customarily provided for a whole month, he has presumed to give it, for a trifling thing, to a layman who serves him and the world. Wherefore I expressly command him swiftly to take it eam vel. B. back recipens C. et add. B. C. , and to provide administrans C. the accustomed stipend to those same brothers in the accustomed way; I charge also that this hæc B. be done with such haste accelebratione C. : that a wooden cross be set up above super B. the gate of that estate as a compact against that invader, so that thereafter both the benefice of the estate and the entrance of that gate may be denied him in perpetuity." Having heard this, the poor man said: "My Lord, you know better how great is the power of that abbot: how do you think I shall be able potuero B, C. to enjoy converse with him?" To at C. this he said: "Go now jamjam C. , since you are wary of his cujus B. power, and repeat clearly all the things I have made known to you tu add. B. tu juditi C. to your judge, and let him disclose my admonitions to the aforesaid abbot." The poor man therefore, waking, was in anguish over what he had heard, what he had seen, and what quid væ C. he should do about these things; fearing the severity of the judge, dreading to conceal things so great entrusted to him by ac B. the authority of so great a man; but, like the common sort, terrified by the severity of the aforesaid judge, he chose silence. Hence on another night the same martyr, returning, rebuked him for the contempt of his disobedience, and commanded him now to make known quanto cujus B. his admonitions as quickly as could be, again and again. Obeying his commands, he came to the judge, and made known to him in part what had been revealed to him. Having heard this, the judge, calling him mad with a stubborn pertinacius B. voice, bitterly provoked him and ordered him to depart from him; and he, swiftly taking to the road, dared no further ultimis B. to bring up anything of these matters.

[17] he is struck mute, Whereupon the same idem B. martyr, coming a third time, rebuked him for having unseasonably put off bringing forward his admonitions. He answered him: "My Lord, I think it is not unknown to your prudence what D., inquid C. I have done about these things, how I was provoked over them, and how harsh auster B, C. that judge of mine is." But Ad C. he at once, placing his finger upon his mouth, said: "Know that you shall never speak anything, until it please you to bring forth sic A, C. elicetis B. the admonitions of my words." These things said dicis C. , the announced sign at once followed. Made mute therefore, and flocking to his martyrium, he began to lodge in the bakehouse pistrinio C. of those same brothers; where, not long after, as he was given over deditum B. ditum C. to sleep, the martyr himself shone forth, and striking his side, ordered him to rise and to make for the church eagerly inhiantem B. and as quickly as possible. And he said to him also this: "Be present before the brothers as they discharge om. C. in the accustomed way the songs before dawn antelucanus C. to the Lord there; and at once ascending to the altar of the venerated memory of blessed Michael Michelis B. the archangel archangelis C. , take in your hands the cambota ^k of Saint Amandus, which, wrought on the outer part for relics of that religious man, hangs dependit codd. there, and before the altar of my martyrium, having kissed it three times vitibus C. , be zealous to bring forth boldly what I have commanded."

[18] nor is he healed before the command is carried out. Not daring any longer to resist his admonitions, as he had so often done, he entered the church according to the command; prostrate with his body on the ground before the altar, he uttered great groans. Rising from there, with the keenest gaze of his eyes he anxiously sought the custodian, namely Veradus sic corr., prius: Vera dum A. vera dum B. , and signaled to him with nods of his fingers, that he might allow him to take the way of ascent scantionis C. that leads to the tower. That custodian, understanding his attempts as by the nod metu B. of God, instructed his subordinate, namely the presbyter Gentfrid Gentfredo B, C. , to give him access by opening the door of the tower, warning him to take care what he meant to do. He, hastening at the instruction of his superior, followed after the mute with an urgent infesto C. forte pro incito. step as far as om. B. the door of the tower; and when the door of the tower was opened, he who had been a follower insecutor C. became at once the one who went before prædicator B. . Coming first, therefore, to the memory of the aforesaid archangel archangelis C. , he took the cambota cambottam et sic deinc. C. designated designitam C. , leapt out in haste and returned, and carrying it in his hand manus C. he came as far as the altar aforesaid memoriæ S. Petri C. . Indeed, with those looking on and he looking on, kissing it three times, with his eyes to

heaven directed, giving thanks to God Domino B. in his mind with all his strength, he first said this to those standing by: "Thus has Saint Quintinus commanded me." But the custodian and the others, hearing these things, utterly astonished, anxiously inquire percunctantes B. what the illustrious martyr himself had commanded præcipiet B. him. And he, holding the aforesaid cambota in his hand, while sweat drop by drop gutta B. flowed most abundantly from his et B. forehead fonte C. even in om. B. the winter time, manfully and carefully explained the whole order of the vision that had occurred, and about the estate and the speech taken away. Hearing these things, the abbot, after stupor and ecstasy, at once restored the estate that had been taken away to the brothers, and the brothers rendered due praises to the Creator and to their procurator. But Et B. if you should ask, reader, why I have set down cambota so many times, take this answer: I, so slight a man, worn down on every side by the bitternesses of the world, have been able to say, very well and freely, that so great a soldier of Christ, now rewarded remuneratur B. in the heavenly places by his sweetness, wished to call it by that same appellation nuncupatione C. .

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER THREE.

The lame are healed. St. Quintinus orders the building of his church to be pressed forward. Diseases and all the defects of the body are driven away. Translation of the relics.

On St. Quintinus being invoked, there are healed Of a lame man healed curato B. at the gate. What has up to now been set forth to us by faithful fathers, we shall now record in faithful speech as seen adadnotabimus C. by the keen sight of our own eyes. A certain Adalbald Adabaldus B. Adelbaldus C. , of Brie, when he had been so incautum B. in tantum C. deprived of the use of his steps offotio C. that his heels clung inhærent B. to his buttocks as if fixed with nails, flocking to the place of the same martyr, sought lodging at the gate which is joined to the market and the vicus; where, having stayed a short time, he recovered his former health.

[20] a lame man Likewise om. B. of a little om. B. lame man cured sano effecto B. at that same gate. For in the same year our own noviter B. born and our own noviterque B. fosterling, a boy named Angalharius, following his father, came to the palace at Aachen, at Grani Gresu B. ^a; and being detained there long by his father, he was suddenly deprived entirely toto est B, C. of the use of his steps. The illustrious emperor Charles Carolus C. of good memory, seeing him and sending for him arcersitum B. arcessitum C. , inquires percunctatus B. from what place, what canton, and what household he was. And he said: "From the vicus of Saint Quintinus of Vermand, a servant of the same holy martyr and of the abbot Fulrad." The august one agustus C. himself, moved by divine inspiration to pity him, by letters sealed signatus C. with his own ring gave orders to take him from place to place, to supply expenses and vehicles fully to all, and to bring him all the way to the place of his own birth, and thereafter for the abbot Fulrad to provide him his living. What more? We all marvel at him when brought in: "Alas," we all say Heusaïm C. , "he who once leapt about, now creeps on the ground!" And by counsel received at the divine nod, the lame boy is set down at the aforesaid gate. A short time afterward the accustomed divine power came upon affluit B. him by the merits of the martyr so often named nominatis B. : called by name, he is ordered to rise and go. He rose straightway, went off leaping, and was made sound.

[21] and a bent woman. Of a certain om. B. bent woman healed in eadem porta add. B. . A certain country woman, Mergenta Mergerita B. by name, the height of heaven denied to her, being bent had the earth in add. C. for her view perspectu B. . She sought the place of the aforesaid gate. Staying there for some time, she was made sound; and with the garment vestali C. of sacred religion placed imposito C. on her head, she took care thereafter to offer to God continual perennitatis B. oblations.

[22] [Ragenbold, ordered by the holy martyr to press forward the building of the church,] Of the interruption of the building of the church and of the overseers of that work ædif. et perfecti operis B. , and et B. of a man made lame on account of the same matter, being admonished by the same martyr, and of ab eodem — de om. B. his ejusque B. healing, and of the slaying of the overseers et — præf. om. B. . I think it worth the labor by no means to pass over præterire B. in silence how the same blessed beatissimus B, C. martyr, namely Saint Quintinus videlicet S. Q. om. B. , wished by preceding signs to show the church of his martyrium, and to bring its completion through to the end.

For when the structure struictura C. of that same church had been in building for about ten years or ut B. more ^b, a certain man born at Nivelles, Ragembald Niviellæ nat. Ragemboldus B. by name, going about very many places of the saints on account of his ipsius B. crimes, was planning to go peragras C. as far as Tours, seeking the intervention interventu A, B. of Saint Martin by prayer and entreaties. Coming therefore into the vicus called by the singular name of Saint Quintinus, he sought lodging with a certain et fredi C. common man. There on a certain night the same martyr, like a glowing sun, knocking at him as he slept and calling him by name, gently addresses him ei B, C. : "Are you sleeping, Ragenbold?" Scarcely able to bear his beauty and voice, he said with trembling voice: "My lord, yes; I am plainly asleep." He said to him: "Look, and with a watchful mind and an understanding sense attend keenly to what you shall hear from me: the indulgence which you seek with pious supplications by the intervention of the saints is held very pleasing; but the work of my basilica, being left off, is greatly neglected. Wherefore rise early, and take care to make known to the director, or rather to his supervisors, in our nost. ex B, C. name, that a great and swift vengeance is impending imm. ult. B, C. over them, unless they take care to hasten this more readily. For one man is given over to other works, while others, receiving payment from the workmen assigned, allow any they please to return quosl. ad propiare in ea re C. to their own homes; and so the work begun remains unfinished; therefore ideo C. call them to witness and forestall them, admonishing them by our command, that they be speedily corrected, lest perhaps uncorrected incorrecti A. and unadmonished immoniti A. they incur incurrent B. the snare of their damnation." But he said: "Who am I? Or to whom am I to say these things, my lord?" But Ast B, C. he, calling them by their own names nuncupante C. : "To that man and to these," he said, "and these things to this man, and such things to those, say agito C. ." This said, he vanished.

[23] and for neglecting the command seized in his limbs, he at last obeys When he had gone, the man, awakened experrectus B, C. from sleep, foul with much sweat, sought with chilled sense and understanding intellectui C. of mind a counsel about what he ought to do with what had been entrusted to him, not daring to disclose to anyone what he had seen, reckoning also et jam C. to himself that those things would be unknown [sic correctum ab Hemeræo. In codd.: resp. secum illi (ille C) illis et ipsi incogniti fore.] to those men and these to the others; and so he neglected to report what had been entrusted to him. On another night the martyr likewise came and rebuked him, and orders him to give the admonitions enjoined a second time. He put it off vice add. B. the second time, as he had iste B. the first. But because, as the blessed Gregory says: Upon the great mildness of grace despised a greater wrath of vengeance is wont to follow, the martyr likewise coming in a third vision visionem A. , vehemently rebuked his disobedience to what had been enjoined a second time; and at once touching his knees and legs he said: "Know that in these limbs you are to be denied the course of their accustomed function, and to lie disabled before the doors of that church until the next festival of my solemnity." Exceedingly terrified tristibus B. by these threats, he is awakened excitatus B. , and when he wished to go in his accustomed way, from the loins arenibus B.

all the way down he appeared disabled with an immovable rigidity of all his limbs, so that leaning on his hands forte legendum innixus B. and dragging his whole body after pro B. him, he began to creep along the ground after the manner of worms; and at once, sending for arcersito B. his host, he asked that by their help he might be carried into the portico sic codd. of the aforesaid church. Brought there by him, he began to confess, creeping on the ground, what he had formerly put off disclosing while walking upright. So, as the report of this vision and its fulfilment ran about, not only from the neighborhood but also from very many other places, many for the sake of this rei add. B. spectacle, and more for prayer and supplication, flocked together to the festival of the aforesaid martyr.

[24] and he recovers. For on the night of that festival, while the clergy and people were discharging persolventes C. due praises to their God in his holy martyr, and the reader lectorem A. also was reciting the course of the passion of that same athlete of Christ, the aforesaid cripple at once began little by little to be weighed down with sleep; and behold, by an invisible voice he is commanded to rise, to enter the church swiftly, and to present himself before all who were waiting. These things being said, suddenly the limbs that had cohered began coh. cœpere B, C. to be loosed, and adque C. , the blood running down, the legs bound for so long by a clinging glue were little by little restored to their former firmness, and so with straightened nectis C. knees he entered the church, and was conducted productus B, C. all the way to the altar. And indeed, as people ran together and ran to meet him, all, with gladness of soul animati C. flowing out mananti B. om. C. , with one mind burst forth prorumpunt B. into tears and praise laudes B. of the Savior. For who can set forth what fear, what qui C. dread, what eagerness, or what gladness of mind there was in all? All, raising their hands on high, most devoutly praised the Lord sabaoth add. B, C. wonderful in his saint Quintinus.

These things having so been done, not long afterward temprunt C. the vengeance which had been announced upon the supervisors of the works followed according to what was said. And he who had been made sound, afterward, for certain expiable offences committed, learned from the same admonisher that the end of his departure was swiftly at hand; and as it had been foretold, so it was fulfilled in fact [finis ei vitæ indicatus est velox, qui et post modicum ita evenit, C loco finem-expletus.] .

[25] A mute man recovers the use of speech. Likewise of a mute and his admonition. There was also another, not om. C. our own noviter B. born nor our own om. B. nosterque C loco neq. nost. fosterling, who, as he himself confessed, coming mute into our place nostrum v. locum B. , received into the lodging of a certain brother of ours, and receiving from the same martyr the property of his tongue, foretold certain things to our director, by the command of that witness of Christ, on account of the delay of the aforesaid work, and et add. B. other acts to come.

[26] A thief seeks in vain for a way out of the church. Likewise of a thief. A certain thief from the estate of Clariacum ^c, while the brothers were discharging to the Lord the course of compline completorum B. , entered stealthily through a window into the crypt which shines adorned at the footprints of the same martyr; there, going to and fro all night, he could utterly not find the way of going out. The custodian, finding him after cockcrow, asked what he meant to do there; and he, knowing that he had been held back retentus B. divinely divine esse B, C. , confessed that he had entered introiverit B. stealthily.

[27] Of the mighty works that seethed forth at the time of the bringing of the relics of St. Sebastian. At the time when the relics of St. Sebastian came to Soissons, These things were heard at various times, and some seen by us; the rest which follow seethed forth at the time when ea tempestate qua C. the bones of the relics of St. Sebastian were brought to Soissons Suasionis B. ^d.

[28] there were miraculously healed by St. Quintinus a blind man, Of a certain blind man. Milo, of the canton of Cambrai Camaracensi C. , from the estate named nuncupata B. Hermiscurtis Hermis curte C. ^e, on the 12th before the kalends of June, returning from the city of Soissons Avessionis C. with his companions contubertunalibus A. conbernalibus C. , grieving that he had not obtained healing, coming into the vicus called, as was said above, specially that of Saint Quintinus, is suddenly weighed down by great weariness. Unable in any way to hold himself up, he straightway se add. B. gave himself to sleep, while his companions on this side and that in die C. waited for the end of the matter regi C. . After post B. a little while, wishing to rise, he is ordered by an invisible voice to lie still; and when he had lain a little while, he rose, with blood flowing from his eyes ej. oc. B, C. , the sight he had lost suddenly restored, and at once he came to the house of the most surpassingly powerful martyr Quintinus, the blood itself still giving evidence on his face il. in faciem B, C. ; and making a vow to his healer, he goes back sound and glad.

[29] another sick man, Of a sick man healed. In the very heat of the day, therefore, when the din of the tumultuous people was stirred up over the aforesaid matter, another, Henry Herricus C. by name, of the same canton eod. p. B. eadem pago C. , from Mont-Vitbert, wasting away with a deadly, so to speak, sickness, recovered his health and returned to his own home.

[30] a disabled girl, Of a disabled little girl healed. On the following night, a certain little girl from the city of Soissons Vessionis C. , having stayed with us a long while, was released from the crushing a læsione B. of arm, hand and foot manibus pedibusque B. .

[31] a blind man, Likewise of a blind man. On the morrow, Hamno, of the canton of Ostrevant ^f, from the estate of Saint Amandus named nuncupante C. Fierinas ^g, received back the light that had been taken from him.

[32] a sick woman, Of a sick woman. A certain woman of the same canton and estate, Morberta by name nomen C. , going about peragras C. very many places of the saints, when she came venisset B, C. into the aforesaid vicus could stretch forth prætendere A, C. her step no further; there she was on the same day delivered from the sickness from which she had suffered for three years eodem-est om. B. .

[33] a feeble man, Of a feeble man. Lantfred Lanfredus B. , a tenant of Saint Mary, from the monastery of Homblières ^h, from an estate two miles distant from the monastery of the aforesaid martyr, called Hulmisciagum Hulmisciaco B. ⁱ, maimed in half his body, on the 9th nono B. before the kalends of the aforesaid month, suddenly rising from the bed from which for four years and more he could in no way rise, even with one utno C. helping, with no mortal supporting him, except excepto A. of the foot, flocked sound to the martyr himself. On the 8th before the kalends of that month, constrained by the exhortations of his children, he chose to return to his own home; and when he was taking the desired path calcem C. , having set foot at the boundary of the market of saleable merchandise, he at once in wondrous manner came to a stop, in no way able to go further. Astounded, he remained there so long in ecstasy extasim B. until a very large assembly gathered to him; and by their quarum A, C. counsels, turning his back on the way he had begun, he returned in haste to the monastery of the martyr himself.

[34] a woman consecrated to God, Of a certain consecrated woman om. B. healed of lameness of the foot om. B. . A certain country woman consecrated to God, Dominica by name ^k, from the estate which is called Artenmum Artemio B. , seven miles distant from the cenoby of the martyr himself, lame in one foot for twelve years, coming on the kalends kalendas A. of the aforesaid month into that cenoby, while she was completing her round of the memorials memoriam B. of the saints, is restored to her former health.

[35] a certain blind woman, Of a certain blind woman. Another woman, called Goda, from the canton of Hainaut Hagnanno B. , of the holding called Spalst Spalt B. ^l, on the ninth non B. of the same month, in the portico of the church of the same martyr obtained her own sight numm. 34 et 35, De quadam sacrata-visum om. C. .

[36] a woman seized in the arm, Item add. B. Of a certain disabled woman. Celina, a certain woman from the estate named Lucgiacum Lulgiaco B. Luziaco C. ^m, having her right arm all swollen tumentem A, C. and maimed, flocked to the martyr himself. Constrained from there by her companions, she went on to Saint Sebastian; where, having obtained no healing of that arm, she returned to the same martyr on the 8th before the ides idibus B. nona die C. of the aforesaid month, complaining with a tearful voice, beating her breast with her fists, and crying out why he did not come to her aid, a woman of his own, as he did to the others. Then, having gone round the places of prayer there, she is weighed down by a great sleep soporem C. ; and when she had slept a little, she at once rose up sound.

[37] another blind woman, Of another Item de alia B. blind woman. Likewise a woman by the name nomen C. of Adaltrude Adeltrudis C. , from the fisc named Vienna ⁿ, from the ministry of Count Gunthard, who at that time also was set over the monastery of the aforesaid martyr ^o, coming for the second time to the coffin of the most blessed martyr Sebastian locum veniens martyris B. loculum b. ven. mart. C. , stirred with distress and fury forore C. , began to burst forth in complaints against the martyr himself with a tearful voice, lamenting queritas C. why quare C. he should spurn her prayers beyond all others, when she was coming veniente A, C. to him for the second time. The custodians of that place, wishing to be rid arere C. of her complaints, sent for her arcersitam C. and inquire who she was or whence. When she had answered them that she was a widow and from the ministry of Count Gunthard, they say: "Go, because those from his ministry are healed not here but in the house of Saint om. B. Quintinus." She, taking this as per B. an omen hoc B. , and seizing the word from their mouth om. C. , flocked to that place. There, lying upon super B. the pavement of the portico of that church for three days tribus j. d. B, C. , on the 5th before the ides idarum est B. videlicet loco V id. C. of the aforesaid month, on the solemnity of the great day of Pentecost, while the clergy om. B, C. were discharging the offices of matins matutinarum officium B. m. officio C. , the cantor indeed intoning the Gospel antiphon, namely: "Receive the Holy Spirit," she at once received the longed-for light sibi add. B, C. which had been taken away depretum C. .

[38] and a one-eyed man. Of a one-eyed man monoculo B. . A certain man, Roderic Hrodericus C. by name nomen C. , of the canton of Soissons, there on the 8th before the kalends kalendis B. of the month Quintilis received the light of one eye which had been taken from him.

[39] Of a woman who practiced wool-work servile B. on the Lord's day. A woman divinely punished is freed by St. Quintinus. Ermengarde, a woman from the city of Sens, on the Lord's day dominica B. practiced a certain servile work in wool-craft, namely of balls. Reproved correcta B. for these things by the priest and her fellow-townsfolk, after per B. the third tacuit B. day, taking the road arr. ad s. B. to Saint Sebastian, with the hands with which

she had committed perpetravit B. the sin, in that same form of the stigma, with no remission intervening, she began so item oram C. to reproduce cœperat B. the manner of balls or skeins vel gl. om. B, C. , as if she saw cerneres C. the same work being done before her eyes. For which reason, coming to the place loculum B. ejusdem ad loculum C. of the same ejusdem add. B. saint, she spent two weeks there; but having obtained no release, she was in doubt what she ought to do. Whereupon, admonished by Roduin Hroduino B, C. , the provost of that place, she flocked affluxit B. to our martyr; where, completing a day and a half, on the 3rd before the kalends of the same month, while the clerics were discharging the course of the office of matins, she shone forth restored to her former health.

[40] Some recover their voice, Of a certain man who recovered his voice rauco loco q. v. rec. B. . A certain poor man Fulcrad, well known to us all, staying for many days in the bakehouse pistrinio C. of the brothers of the congregation of that martyr, on the night of the 8th before the ides idibus B. VIIIIno die C. of the aforesaid month recovered clear his voice, which he had formerly scarcely been able to offer to anyone's understanding.

[41] others their sight, Of sight recovered Item de femina cæca B. . Adalberta, a certain woman of Vermand, from the holding of Malignocurtis Maligno curte C. [p], in the portico of the church of the aforesaid martyr, on the 5th before the ides idibus B. VI die C. of that month recovered the sight she had lost.

[42] others the use of their feet. Of a woman healed in the feet De muliere debili B. . And also Adelendis Adolendis B. Adelindis C. , a woman from the canton of Vexin, from the fisc which is called Treule Treulæ C. [q], crushed in both feet and legs crucibus C. , on the 13th before the kalends of the month Sextilis was om C. restored there illicem C. to her former health.

[43] From blindness Of a blind woman given light Item de cæca B. . For also a woman of Vermand, Verazia by name, from the estate called vocata B. nuncupante C. Hortumeas Hortuineus B. Hortuineas C. [r], on the festival of the same ejus C. martyr, in the same eadem C. year was restored to her former light.

[44] many are freed. Of a man blind for eleven years undeni A. . For also Adeling, a man from the canton of Lomme [s], from the holding of Nemaus, coming to the martyrium of the same martyris add. B, C. in that same month, recovered at the beginning inchoationis A, C. of the twelfth year the light that had been taken from him for eleven years.

[45] Miracles are to be committed to writing. Epilogue of these mighty works. These things, as I have said before above sæpius B, C. , done at various times temp. div. B, C. , some told to me om. B. in writings and words in-verbis om. C. by the fathers, some seen by my littleness, I have taken care to commit to these pages in faithful speech, so far as I could: but those which have followed from this point secuti fuerint C. , I beseech that they be not left to sloth and idleness; but that, as soon as they have flowered, they be noted down in the sheets adnotetur C. by the pen et add. B. as quickly as possible, without negligence and lukewarmness tempore B. .

[46] In the year 835 the body of St. Quintinus was translated. Of the translation of his body ipsius martyris B. [t]. These things having so been accomplished, it seems to me very fitting that we should touch here in summary on the translation of the body of the most holy martyr Quintinus, as we both knew and saw vid. et nov. B, C. . So then Fulrad, formerly abbot of good memory, sprung from illustrious stock prosapie C. , took care to construct the new church, which even now shines becomingly adorned, in honor of God and D. et om. C. of the same ejus B. martyr. Afterward pro ea B. its cui C. abbot, a most noble man of good disposition, son of the most serene Charles Augustus and brother fratris B. of the emperor Louis Hludowicique B. Hludovicique C. , Huh by name, cherished with the greatest honor the tomb of the blessed præfati B, C. martyr, and most magnificently magnificentissime quo B. adorned it decorare B, C. ; but as the site of the place hindered, he could not carry this forward otherwise than if its sepulcher were moved. For which cause, in the eight hundred and thirty-fifth year of the Incarnation of Christ, being the twenty-second of the emperor Louis Hludovinci B. Hludovici C. , and the second secundi A, C. of the abbot himself, on the eighth day before the kalends of November, by the counsel of the aforesaid emperor and of very many other vicesimo A. good men, calling together Eichard Echardum C. , bishop of Noyon, and Simeon Simeonem B, C. , pontiff of Laon, and Patratus, prelate of Saxony, and two of their fellow-bishops corepiscopos B. , and priests, and very many other ministers magistros B. of God, raising that sacred body from the place where Saint Eligius had laid it, he buried it most becomingly, embalmed with spices and wrapped in pure silk and gilded garments, in the excellent place where it now lies excellently entombed Amen add. B. . Here ends the first book exp. lib. prim. om. B, C. .

ANNOTATA.

Gunthard, one of those abbots who were at the same time counts of Vermand, has given occasion for great contention among the authors. Hémeré, in the year 1633, proposed this notation of the times Tabella chronologica decanorum S. Quintini, p. 11 ff., Paris 1633. :

Abbot Fulrad died in the year 826.

Gunthard (count) was made abbot in the year 826.

Abbot Hugh in the year 833.

Adalard…

But ten years later, in the Augusta Viromanduorum, he judged these things should be changed thus P. 366; cf. p. 79. :

Fulrad, abbot and count, in the year 780.

Hugh, abbot, in the year 823.

Adalard, abbot and count, in the year 849.

Gunthard, abbot and count, in the year 860.

Teutric, abbot and count, in the year 880.

Quentin de la Fons departs somewhat Histoire particulière de l'Église de S. Quentin, p. 170 ff. :

Fulrad…

Hugh…

Gunthard about the year 845.

Adalard…

The authors of the Gallia christiana rather follow Hémeré Vol. IX, col. 1042 ff. .

Fulrad…

Hugh, abbot, about the year 825.

Adalard, abbot, certainly in the years 853 and 863.

Gunthard, abbot, about the year 870.

Teutric presided about the year 880.

In the present matter the author of the Book of Miracles seems to be held in the highest account, who, as we noted above, is contemporary with those times. To us, therefore, weighing his testimonies, the abbots seem to be ordered in this way:

Fulrad dies in the year 825 or 826.

Gunthard certainly presides in the year 827.

Hugh becomes abbot in the year 833 or 834.

Adalard…

Teutric…

All agree that the death of Fulrad is to be referred to the year 825 or 826 [Cf. ibid., col. 1041; vol. III, col. 81. Colliette, Mém., vol. I, p. 325. Vos, Lobbes, son abbaye etc., vol. I, p. 168.] . That Hugh was not placed over the people of Saint-Quentin before the year 833 or 834 we have made plain above Prelim. Comm., § VII. . Between him and Fulrad, therefore, there intervenes a space in which Gunthard can be placed, indeed altogether must be. For the miracle which in this chapter is narrated of the blind Adaltrude took place (as appears to one reading the book, nos. 27 ff.

and following) both at the time when Gunthard was count, and a little after the relics of St. Sebastian came to Soissons. Now it is altogether established that those relics were brought in the year 826. But even if you should follow Quentin de la Fons, who calls this in doubt Hist. part. de l'Église de S. Quentin, p. 172. , yet there can be no doubt about Gunthard's period. For he was count and prelate of the monastery when Adaltrude recovered her sight; and that prodigy happened on the 5th before the ides of the aforesaid month of June on the solemnity of the great day of Pentecost: but in the whole ninth century, from the year 800 to 900, the feast of Pentecost does not fall on the 9th day of June or the 5th before the ides, except in the year 827. These things are confirmed also by reasons proposed by Colliette Mém., vol. I, p. 315 ff. . As regards Adalard and Teutric, it suffices to recall that the former certainly in the year 863 and the other about the year 885 (as is indicated below, in the Sermon on the Entombment) were abbots and counts.

p. Malignocurtis is now called Malincourt Colliette, Mém., vol. I, p. 328. .

q. What this canton Vergesinus and the fisc of Treule may have been, the authors of Saint-Quentin confess that they do not know Cf. Claude de la Fons, Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 367. .

r. Perhaps Horgnies or Horgny, near Herbécourt, in the larger canton of Péronne Cf. ibid. .

s. The canton of Lomme, in the diocese of Liège, is very often recorded by the ancient writers Cf. Duvivier, Rech. sur le Hainaut, p. 16, 27, 74 etc. .

t. Cf. the Preliminary Commentary, § VII.

MIRACLES OF ST. QUINTINUS WROUGHT IN THE CENOBY OF THE ISLE

BY A MONK OF THE SAME CENOBY

from the Vallicelliana codex collated with the Authenticum of the Life of St. Quintinus.

Quintinus, martyr, at Augusta Veromanduorum. (S.)

BHL Number: 7019

PROLOGUE.

The recent miracles of St. Quintinus are to be committed to writing. Here begins om. B. the prologue to the second book of the miracles in miraculis B. of Saint martyris add. Quintinus. The stupendous and very evident mighty deeds of power, most worthy of all proclamation, which the clemency of almighty God deigned to work in former times for the merits of the illustrious martyr Quintinus, we see commended by the studies of very prudent men, in fitting letters, to the memory of posterity ^b. But those things which have been accomplished recently have until now been covered in silence through the carelessness and dullness of writers. Wherefore, as the grace gratiam A. of Christ dawns allubescente A. and the intervention of the aforesaid witness assists us, although in unskilled speech, yet desiring to obey the commands of Lindulf Luidulfi A. , prelate of the Church of Noyon, we have been zealous to write down these few things briefly. Here ends the prologue Expl. pr. om. B. .

ANNOTATA.

SINGLE CHAPTER.

The church of St. Quintinus of the Isle is rebuilt. Wondrous healings and other prodigies wrought there.

In the restored abbey of St. Quintinus of the Isle, Here begins the second book of the miracles of Saint Quintinus the martyr. Of the restoration of the Isle on which the most blessed martyr once rested Incipit-martyris om. B. De restauratione-quievit add. ex B. . In the first place we must relate in summary how the power of the divine majesty, which, according to the voice of the psalmist, raises up the needy from the ground terra B. , and lifts the poor out of the dung, has raised up this little place, when it was already almost reduced redactum A. to nothing. Anselm ^a, then, a man most wealthy in every way omnimode B. , and of full stature in the canonical dignity, and crowned with all abundance of goods, whom many of you have seen with your own eyes, on the death of a certain cleric called Hugh, merited to obtain the abbacy of the Isle from the venerable Count Adalbert; which some before him desired to buy, but in no way prevailed. And not undeservedly: for so we believe it pleased almighty God and his renowned soldier Quintinus, whose blessed limbs lay in it, unless we are mistaken, for eleven quinquennia. Wherefore the above-mentioned Anselm first built a bridge of stone, by which one might come more quickly to the little place of the Isle Insulam B. . For before one came by boat. This done, you would at once see two-wheeled carts with wagons bringing a mass of stones and earth to cast out the enormous bulk of the waters. Finally, when the troubles from the water had been driven off, he at once built a basilica, as becomingly as he could, of wood; around which he established dwellings for the servants of God, as elegant as wood allows. These things completed, he placed there monks serving the divine clemency, all the canons who were there being put out. For that rich man, an outstanding fellow-worker ins. h. op. B. in this work, rejoiced to bestow his goods on Christ, laying up treasures in heaven, where he might possess them, and making Him a sharer of earthly things, that He too might make him a co-heir of heavenly goods.

[3] a priest seized in the leg is healed, Of a certain venerable cleric restored to health on the Isle De-reddito add. ex B. . Nor ought we by any means to pass over in silence that miracle which certain brothers of ours who still survive declare that they know and saw, and have truthfully told us. At that time, therefore, when the fabric of this work was being built at outstanding expense, there came a certain famous priest, Erchenbold Erchembodus B. by name, from the city of Noyon, on some necessary business necessitate B. of his, to the fortress called by the old name of Augusta. When he had departed from there, he turned aside to the Isle for the sake of prayer. Entering the basilica, he inquired of those serving there where the well was, in whose depth the little body of the most surpassingly powerful martyr Quintinus had formerly been sunk by the pagans ^b. When they had shown him, forthwith actu tum B. he began to beg them to go out a little from the threshold of the church. And when they had gone out, he straightway shut the doors behind their heels. Having unshod and bared his leg, he washed from the waters of the aforesaid well whatever pain he had in that eo B. leg, and earnestly besought the maker of heaven and earth et terræ B. for the recovery of his health man to man. When it had been thoroughly washed, by the help and intervention of the aforementioned witness he felt the divine benefit. For his leg, which had been swollen by the long-continued trouble of feebleness, with the pain so gradually fleeing and health following, was restored to its old soundness, so that thereafter he suffered patiretur B. scarcely any pain. Whereupon he gave manifold praises to almighty God and to his contest-judge agonothetæ B. Quintinus, and so returned sound and glad to his own home.

[4] and a youth thrown down from a height is kept safe; Of a certain young man who was saved on the aforesaid Isle De-salvatur add. ex B. . Another Illud B. outstanding miracle also, which in the building of the second basilica almighty God deigned to display through the same servant of his Quintinus, we have thought it best should be told narraretur B. , that it might not be unknown to future peoples. For a certain young man, seeking his living by working, from the estate which is called Mansiunculæ Mansiumculas B. ^c, Gerold by name, a home-born servant of the above-mentioned martyr, served in our bakehouse, ready for every work that was commanded him. He by the order of our superiors went up onto the beams of the new stone church, to work there ibi B. at whatever should be ordered. When he was going about on these incautiously, suddenly his feet slipped and he fell to the ground, right upon om. B. a certain stone of great miræ B. size. But when many ran to his fall, not only was he found alive, but also sound. And he who was thought to be already dead was found safe and in every way brisk, and so, by the merits and intercession of the most illustrious witness Quintinus, forthwith extimplo A. went out from that same basilica, so that he suffered no injury in the limbs of his body.

[5] [on the application of water from the well of St. Quintinus, a woman is freed from blindness,] Of a woman given light by the holy martyr De-illuminata add. ex B. . Nor is it fitting that that miracle which was done in the same place of the Isle should be covered in silence, for the edification of those hearing or reading. A certain woman, then, called Ermentrude, was living in the vicus ^d of the most excellent martyr Quintinus, who was so blind that unless she was led esset d. B. by the hands of others she could by no means go from place to place, as the chief men of that same vicus still testify, and indeed also Count Albert ^e, who very frequently had alms given to her. She was brought with right faith to the Isle, where quo B. the most sacred limbs of Quintinus were long ago sunk by Rictiovarus. And when there with bended knee and intent mind she was earnestly begging the help of the Lord for the recovery of her health, suddenly by the merits and intercession of the aforesaid martyr she began gradually to see the light so long denied. And at once rising from the ground where she lay, she brought forth this first speech, saying: "Behold, I give manifold thanks to almighty God, because I now behold this altar." Looking therefore this way and that atque illac B. , she sees the sacristan of the church standing near her, and thus she says to him: "Dear senior, I beg you to bring me water from the well sanctified by the blood of the sacred sancti B. Quintinus." The water being then given her, again she prostrated prosternavit B. herself before the altar, touching her eyes with it for so long, until, rising again from the ground, she recognized her kinsfolk and joyfully, as we saw, kissed them. Thereafter she related to us that it seemed videbat B. as though dust was being wiped tangere B. from her eyes, while she washed them with that holy water. Afterward she stayed three days in the same place, and so, the function of seeing being restored to her, she who had been led there with the assistance of others, in the sight of all, small and great, who were living in the same vicus, seeing, returned rediit B. without a guide to her lodging. And she left the little staff by which she had been supported, for a sign, under the altar of that same basilica. But as very many wavered and did not believe this miracle, the rumor reached the ears of the prelate Lindulf Luidulfi A. , who, using prudent pio B. counsel, had her at once called. When she had been summoned, he spoke to her thus: "Poor woman, a very large crowd doubts about your being given light. For which cause I strictly order you that you shall have no ni B. license to conceal, if it is true, nor to say, if si add. ex B.

it is false." The woman answered him with these words om. B. : "What you say, Lord, I long for; what you bring forward, I desire; but I wonder what speech add. ex B. would have profited me, if the deed had been lacking, and what my assertion would avail, if the light had not been restored to me mihi lum. B. ." And likewise all the men and women who had known her before began together to say that they themselves would be willing to swear this for her, if he should so order.

[6] and another from pain in the arm. Of another woman restored to health on the same Isle De-Insula add. ex B. . Nor ought we by any means to pass over in silence silendo B. that admirable miracle also which was done at that very time. At the same time also a certain om. B. woman, Geila by name, from the estate called Garelgeæ ^f, which is a possession of the kindly Mother of God om. B. Mary and of Saint Medard of the Church of Noyon, was strongly shaken by a long-continued pain of one arm, namely of four years, and she was so deprived of its function that she could in no way bring it id B. to her mouth, nor sign herself with the sign of the holy cross, nor do any weaving work. For her hand and arm were weakened by a strong contraction of the sinews, so much that there was now no hope for her of recovering health. On a certain night, therefore, when she had given herself to rest, she is suddenly caught up in ecstasy of mind, and is brought before the gate of the monastery of the Isle, and there se add. B. she seems to be plunged under the waters. Awakened from sleep, she understood that this vision was divinely wrought, and that she was being admonished to come to om. B. the Isle for the grace of health. Rising therefore in haste, she came to the monastery of the Isle, as she had learned in the revelation. Having entered there, at once prostrate on the ground, she adores Christ humbly, and makes earnest request concerning her sickness. Rising from the ground, she began suppliantly to implore the minister ministrum B. , that he would deign to give her water from the spring of Saint Quintinus. Having received the water, therefore, she washed the pain of the arm all over with it exesi B. , and while in washing she was begging the help of Saint Quintinus, as all omn. d. B. pain receded, she merited to recover the straightness of hand and arm ^g. Finally, after a few days had passed, the aforesaid poor woman showed us in that same right arm two openings, through which all the corruption had gone out. Here ends the second book Explicit feliciter, amen B. .

ANNOTATA.

APPENDIX TO THE BOOK OF MIRACLES OF ST. QUINTINUS.

St. Quintinus obtains healing for many suffering from dropsy, Besides the miracles recounted in the books above, a number have taken place from those ancient times onward which we think should be indicated at this place. Certain ones are related in the Sermon on the Entombment and in the Sermon on the Elevation of St. Quintinus, of which mention was made above Preliminary Commentary, nos. 84 and 87. . Henry Hubault, son of Robert Hubault and Marie Salle, dwelling in the city of Amiens, when, eleven years old, he was suffering from a very grave dropsy and could not be restored by any remedies, was clothed by his parents in an undergarment which had been brought into contact with the relics of St. Quintinus, and novena prayers were instituted in honor of the same saint. In the space of one hour the sick boy plainly recovered, as is established by a public instrument made at Amiens, on the 15th day of November of the year 1563, and sealed both by the aforesaid Marie Salle and by a notary and others. This instrument is deposited in the archive of the collegiate church of St. Quintinus. Passing over the many healings to which the wax hands, legs and other limbs suspended in the church of St. Quintinus still bear witness Cl. de la Fons, Hist. de S. Quentin, p. 386 f. , Claude de La Fons discusses those prodigies which took place in his own time (he published the book in the year 1627), and about which he asserts that he is fully certain Ibid., p. 404 ff. . A certain inhabitant of the town of Saint-Quentin, Marguerite Poilbarbe, wife of Noël de Levincourt, when in the year 1617 she had begun to suffer from a body violently swollen, and had already been given up by the physicians, was led to the reliquary of the holy martyr, and visited his chapel on the Isle for nine continuous days. Soon she recovered from the disease, as very many witnesses asserted.

[2] he keeps safe a girl fallen into a well. On the 14th day of the month of August of the year 1618, Jean André Dodrimont, councillor of the archdukes Albert and Isabella, undertook a pious journey to the town of Saint-Quentin, and offered an embroidered crown, because when sick he had been relieved by the holy martyr, and hoped that he would obtain perfect healing from him. In the same year, a certain girl of fourteen or fifteen years, Isabelle Domont, daughter of a heretical woman, having fallen into a deep well, was on the point of being drawn up, when, the rope by chance breaking, she plunged down again. Soon however she was taken out, and when all marveled that she was unharmed and uninjured, she asserted that she had been helped by St. Quintinus, whose church she had visited on that very day (on the feast of the dedication), without her mother's knowledge.

[3] Sick persons despaired of, on the application of the water of St. Quintinus, In the year 1619, Sister Martine Le Fez, a nun of the hospital, having undertaken the greater sacred novena in honor of St. Quintinus, was entirely freed from a tumor from which she was suffering. A certain poor man, who lived at Paris, was so troubled by swellings that he could scarcely stand on his feet. He resolved nevertheless to make for Saint-Quentin, and with very great labor indeed arrived there in the year 1623. But having prayed to St. Quintinus for nine days, he returned home healed. In the same way, in the year 1625, a sick man despaired of by the physicians escaped from his disease. In this very year, Jean de La Rozée, a soldier of Lorraine, then living in the town of Ham, was afflicted for seven or eight months with fever and after that with dropsy. Having used remedies in vain, he implores St. Quintinus; and he delegates Adrienne Pintel to his sepulcher, to undertake a sacred pilgrimage in his name. A little after, having been washed for nine days with water which the woman had brought back with her from Saint-Quentin, he was better, was himself able to visit the martyr's relics, and in a short time recovered health. At the beginning of the year 1626, the wife of Matthias Precelle, prefect of Ham, sent the same Adrienne Pintel to supplicate St. Quintinus, when her son James, suffering very gravely with fever and swellings, had been given up by the physicians. That six-year-old boy, washed with water brought back from the town of Saint-Quentin, a few days later so recovered that his parents and the physicians cried out a miracle.

[4] are freed from disease. On the feast of the Most Holy Trinity of the year 1626, a certain charcoal-burner from Lorraine, who by reason of disease could scarcely walk or stand, having prayed a little while in the church of St. Quintinus, rose up and said that he was restored from his disease. There somewhat later an inhabitant of the village of Cambronne, near Noyon, whom tumors had deformed, was healed. Many others, says Claude de La Fons, have ascribed their health to the holy martyr, in former times indeed very many blind, but in our times almost innumerable sufferers from dropsy Ibid., p. 413 and 404. . Nor did miracles cease to take place thereafter; of which it is good to touch on one, because it has been made plain by many witnesses. In the Capitular Acts of the collegiate church of the town of Saint-Quentin, at the 23rd day of February of the year 1673, these things are related: The verbal processes having been read concerning the sudden health restored to Master Eligius Souillard, presbyter of the diocese of Noyon, curate of St. Martin (St. Desiderius) of Chaulnes of the said diocese, and concerning his liberation from the dropsy from which for two months he had been suffering in

the hospital of God, where he lay reduced to extremity; the said verbal processes having been drawn up both by the said Souillard and by Master Jean Bunot, presbyter, chaplain and confessor of the aforesaid hospital, and also by the nuns of the said house of God; the informations likewise having been read, made juridically by the lord official at the instance of the promoter; from which it is to be seen that the aforesaid Souillard, after three novenas made in honor of St. Quintinus, that by his interceding merits he might be freed from the dropsy, was suddenly healed on the 5th day of last November 1672 (which was the sixth day of the third novena); the signatures finally having been read of all the physicians of this city, attesting that such a cure is miraculous; the lords have permitted the aforesaid Souillard to attend Mass on the feast day of St. Matthias in the higher stalls, and toward its end to go through the choir to the treasury, holding in his hand a candle, which he shall deposit there in thanksgiving, during which interval the lords have ordered the antiphon "Egregie, etc." to be sung by the musicians Cf. Gobaille, Vie de S. Quentin, p. 64 ff. .

[5] The holy martyr protects the city. These things indeed are held as ascertained; but to follow out one by one those things which have been handed down by uncertain memory and carried about by rumors would be an endless task. The chief ones we touched on lightly in the Preliminary Commentary Nos. 68, 162 and 177. Cf. Passion I, chap. I, annot. r, p. 784 f. ; to which we think only these few things should be added. It has long been a thing established among the inhabitants that, when some disaster has been impending over the city, the glorious martyr has often been seen in the form of a splendid youth walking about the walls and bulwarks, and, by sending a sudden terror upon the enemy, has preserved the city dear to him from the present danger Saussay, Martyr. Gallic., p. 979. .

SERMON FOR THE ENTOMBMENT OF THE HOLY MARTYRS, QUINTINUS THE MARTYR AND HIS COMPANIONS Sermo de t. SS. Christi MM. Q. et Victorici et sancti confessoris Cassiani B.

from the Brussels codex 7460 collated with the Authenticum of St. Quintinus.

Quintinus, martyr, at Augusta Veromanduorum. (S.)

BHL Number: 7020

FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.

God is to be praised, who his saints Ever in Christ most loving hearts of fathers and brothers, company most pleasing to God, the most renowned solemnity of the present day stands forth for us as greatly et add. B. to be revered. For it is consecrated by the honorable entombment of the saints, namely of Quintinus the glorious martyr and our most devoted protector, and of Victoricus his renowned fellow, and of Cassian the illustrious pontiff. Because we rejoice in their presence and are aided by their clemency, we strive for their cherished memory to raise up the proclamations of this festival. Nevertheless, to almighty God and et B. Lord must be turned back the praise of them and all rendering of thanks, who has adorned adornavit B. them with such great merits that in the present age they glow with innumerable miracles, and in heavenly dignity they glory in the reward of eternal felicity. Thus indeed has the supernal majesty ordained the crowns of his faithful, that to him as God and king there may remain perpetual praise and jubilation, and to the saints there may be glory and exultation. This God, Christ and man, then plainly displayed for himself, when, having wondrously celebrated by divine power the sacrament of death and resurrection, he joined the most holy Church to his majesty maj. s. B. ; presenting to God the Father in the heavens the lost sheep, which diabolical seduction was holding on earth given over to its perdition.

[2] rewards in the heavens. Hence rejoices the glorious court of heavenly paradise, for it shines with the faith of the patriarchs, and is adorned with the praiseworthy company of the prophets; there plainly sits the glorious choir of the apostles, enjoying fruens B. the sight of their king, who are to judge all the race of men, and to reign ineffably with God for ever. There the innumerable troop of the martyrs receives the emoluments of its contest, possessing unfading glory and the palm of most delightful sweetness. There the happy sanctity of the confessors, and the innumerable crowd of the priests, truly sacrifice saving holocausts to their redeemer, and enjoy the glory of most fruitful rest. There quid A. the happy army of the virgins follows the lamb, exults for ever eum B. , seeing the king of kings and God of gods from the watchtower of his faithful. But if the holy mater add. B. Church still seems videatur B. in part to sojourn in worldly ærumnis hujus sæculi B. ær. ejus C. trouble, yet it is never wholly deprived of supernal helps, for ut add. B. we read in the songs of the psalms: The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants, and will not forsake derelinquent A. all who hope in him; and in the Gospel writings in Evangelio B. the Savior himself promised his disciples, or rather all who believe in him: "Behold, I am with you all days until the consummation of the age." Wherefore, believing so great a promiser, we sinners and unworthy, who are still dashed by the waves of worldly tempest, render to you, unchangeable truth, praises add. ex B. and thanks; who make the weapons of attacking enemies to be the proofs of your tuor. esse B. faithful. And moreover, Lord, you repay them such a reward for their labor rep. p. lab. merc. B. , that they may remain unconquered, and receive glory without end. Hence that ancient serpent grieves groaning, because he sees the unconquered warriors of Christ possess per pos. B. perennial triumphs, and, enriched with the gain of immortality, be et add. B. eternal heirs of supernal blessedness.

[3] [St. Quintinus, who rests here with SS. Victoricus and Cassian, in the rage of the tenth persecution,] To their most radiant army are joined these our seniors, resting here in body, reigning happily there with Christ; namely the glorious martyr Quintinus, most unconquered athlete of the supernal king, most steadfast preacher of this country, and our most clement consoler. The second is Victoricus, becomingly entombed at his left hand. The third, venerably placed at the right hand of the aforesaid martyr, is called by the honorable name of Cassian. Because their account is in part unlike, the narrative of this little sermon must of necessity be distinguished separately. For things that are done in a different manner are rightly merita B. distinguished by a different narrative. Their memorable passion, then, and their contest to be embraced as one et nimium B. , although it is known to almost all, is yet not to be omitted in the present little work; rather, for the more fully gladdening of the memory of each, the history is to be gone over in few words. For the Church suffered ten persecutions from Nero to Maximian. At that time, then, of the tenth persecution, when Diocletian and Maximian, cruel beasts, seemed to hold regere B. the imperial dignity, filled with a demonic dæmonico B. spirit, and raging with all ferocity, they ordered the servants of Christ throughout the whole circle of the world om. B. to be grievously persecuted and tortured even to death. For which cause, exactors having been sent who atrociously obeyed parantibus A. their cruelty crudelitatis A. , the people of the Christians is slaughtered with such impiety, and so many totque B. martyrs are destroyed in this persecution, that within the space of one month eighteen thousand and seven martyrs decem et septem millia martyrum B. are read to have been slain [b]. Their bodies were glorified on earth by the gift of martyrdom, while Christ received their souls among the stars, where they enjoy the most delightful joys of paradise.

[4] accompanied by eleven companions, he makes for the Gauls, Those most wicked Cæsars also established in the regions of the Gauls a certain lictor Rictiovarus as minister of their cruelty. For at this time twelve faithful men came from Rome, indicating by the typical number that they believed in the holy Trinity, and were resolved to preach the Gospel of Christ to the peoples of the Gauls. The precious om. B. names of each one of them are told by the history, which declares that the men of glorious nature, Quintinus and om. B. Lucian, Crispin and om. B. Crispinian, Fuscian and om. B. Victoricus, Rufinus and om. B. Valerius sic A, C. Valericum B. , Marcellus and om. B. Eugene, Piato Pictonem B. and om. B. Regulus, arrived together. It is also said by many that St. Dionysius the Areopagite Dionisius Ariopagita A. arrived with them ^c; but the sequence of time temporum B. refutes this, nor does the reckoning of truth permit it to be believed credi B. ; for that precious confessor of the Lord obtained the palm of martyrdom in the times of Domitian, while these vero add. B. entered aggressi A. the Gauls in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, and began to preach the mighty works of Christ. Their times, calculated according to the reliability of the chronicles, are proved to be two hundred and ten years distant.

[5] and by preaching and miracles he brings over the people of Amiens to Christ. For itaque B. the aforesaid twelve men, instructed in the volumes of both laws, and strengthened with the arms of faith, when they had come within the Gauls, chose for themselves places and cities in which they might preach the Gospel of Christ, that those believing in Christ might escape death, and might be able to receive heavenly life. The holy martyr om. B. Quintinus, then, obtained the city of Amiens; the blessed Lucian went to Beauvais Belvacus B. ; Fuscian quippe add. B. and Victoricus, martyrs flourishing with the twin flower of brightness caritatis B. , made their way to Thérouanne Taroannam B. , and announced the word of life there. Plainly these witnesses of the Lord flowered with great preaching, and shone forth with many flashes of miracles; while they restored denied light to the blind, granted hearing to the deaf, and gave back health to all the disabled. Persisting continually, then, in such things and such most surpassingly powerful acts, they drew very many away from the worship of idols, and faithfully associated them with God the Father, made white in baptism, like lambs to be presented to their holy mother.

[6] Slain, he is sunk in the Somme. The relics are found and venerated. Hearing this, Rictiovarus, the most wicked governor, than whom no other was more cruel, came to the city of Amiens, and there found B. Quintinus preaching the mighty works of Christ to the crowds. Seizing him also om. B. and om. B. savagely om. B. afflicting him afflixit B. with various punishments of torments; the same sed B. soldier of Christ, most patient among all kinds of punishments, remained most unconquered in faith. At last, on the order of the impious governor, and, as I confidently dare audeam B. say, by the disposing mercy of almighty God, he was led out from that same city of Amiens by the servants and brought to this place for our deliverance ad hunc loc. p. l. n. est add. B. ad h. — add. om. C. ; where first in vain being urged with many blandishments sic A, C. blandiens B. by the lictor himself, he was then most harshly assailed with threats asp. est p. C. deindepulsatus om. B. . At length cruelly pierced with twelve iron spikes, he was finally struck with the sharp point of the blade and punished in his head. His soul was borne up to the heavens and ineffably crowned est add. B. , and his holy body also, weighted with lead in the waves of the Somme for fifty-five years, by God's keeping remained incorrupt. Afterward Post B. , however, found by a certain noble matron, Eusebia by name a q. nob. matr. n. E. invent. B. , it is given becoming burial, and there for about three hundred et add. B and twenty-five years it is wondrously hidden ^d. Then, sought by Eligius with great zeal, it is notably found, and clearly declared to the people;

and by that prelate himself it is entombed tumulatus B. elsewhere. Thereafter, in the eight hundred and twenty-fifth year of the Lord's Incarnation ^e, by Hugh, the monastic abbot, and by Drogo, namely the pontiff of Metz, it is again raised from that illo B. place, and gratefully bathed in the liquors of spices. And when the basilica, honorably constructed by Fulrad, the memorable abbot, had been dedicated add. ex B. with episcopal blessing, the limbs of the martyr of Christ Quintinus are entombed a third time in an honorable crypt; and there for many days they are glorified from heaven by distinguished miracles.

[7] The body of St. Cassian, bishop of Autun, The aforementioned confessor of the Lord om. B. also et jam B. , Cassian, was a revered prelate pontifex B. of Egypt, renowned for many kinds of virtues, and filled by God a Deo om. B. with all goodness. Having attained the highest precepts of the Gospel, at the nod of the grace of Christ, leaving wealth omnibus A. and country, after many dangers of land and sea marisque B. , as a happy pilgrim of the Lord, he came with a few companions to the city of Autun Augustodunensium B. . There he was honorably received by a certain Simplicius, at that time bishop, and in om. B. the space of one year he was worthily occupied with him in various preachings, and given over day diu B. and night to divine praises; and when Simplicius had been happily crowned in the heavenly kingdom, one year indeed having passed, greatly constrained and overcome Sic A, C. cinetus B. by the voices of the supplicating people, the blessed Cassian in turn was by God's ordinance substituted subr. e. B. on the pontifical throne ^f, not indeed quippe B. for ambition's sake, as if the priest's soul perdigni add B. had sought this, but because the ever-unshaken predestination of God præd. D. B. had so ordained it should be with him before the ages of time. Him, as we read openly in his illius B. acts and without doubt believe, Christ the Lord so loved, that signs were done through him no less than through the apostles. For he gave back, God being the author, by his venerable merits, light to the blind, hearing to the deaf, longed-for health to the disabled.

[8] is translated to Saint-Quentin; Enriched thus with such merits, discharging the priestly office for twenty years, he was received into the palace of eternity, to be enriched with the prize of most delightful immortality. Thereafter he is glorified both by the wondrous gift of mighty works, and by the adorable sign of the Lord's cross, with which his mausoleum was signed from heaven. His most holy body, for the praises of its miracles and the power-workings of its most famous repute, was suppliantly requested and prudently obtained by a certain sophistic ^g abbot, namely the aforesaid Hugh. The body of so great a confessor, therefore, was brought into the basilica of Saint Quintinus the martyr Beati mart. Q. B. , made public by most brilliant sic A, C. perfulgidis B. prodigies of power, in the eight hundred and fortieth sexagesimo B. quadragesimo secundo C. year of the Lord's Incarnation, the twenty-eighth indeed quidem B. of the reign of Louis, the august emperor ^h.

These very few things it has pleased me to say briefly, brothers,

So that, the clouds being scattered, to the cause of this festival

Of ours we may come, about to say something in brief ⁱ.

[9] then with other relics it is placed in safety at Laon, When, therefore, the justice of the supernal king wished, for the negligence of our sins, to chastise castigari B. us by the fierce savagery of the pagans, the monuments monimenta A. of the renowned witness Quintinus, and the limbs of the precious confessor Cassian, were raised from their own tombs, and carried by night to the walls of Laon the Nailed, as fear timore B. compelled. Oh the crime! Who will give water to my head, and to my eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep and mourn not in B. only the destruction of one city, but the scourge of the whole land. Alas, I am compelled to bring out in writing the matter of truth. As the guilt of Christians grew strong, and the boldness of the pagans wickedly nequit B. gnashed sic A, C. fraudente B. , many bodies of the saints are cast out of their sepulchers, churches without number are set on fire, men of both sexes are everywhere butchered, all justice is grievously trampled, law and truth are utterly brought to nothing, many are torn by the attack of beasts, very many die from the want of famine. In very truth vera B. , as the holy psalmist says, the nations have come into the inheritance of God, they have polluted the temple templa B. of the saints, they have set the whole kingdom in the reproach of desolation; and elsewhere et al. om. B. : O God, you have cast us off, and have destroyed us; you have been angry, for you have moved the earth, and troubled it. But he whose works of mercy excel all things, not willing the death of sinners, somewhat tempered the scourge of so great a severity.

[10] in the year 881, while the Northmen were ravaging the Gauls. Here, however, that the sense of the discourse may be clearer and be understood more manifestly, a few things are to be inserted from the annalistic chronicle. And since twice the bodies of the same saints were carried with mourning to Laon, and twice brought back to us with honor, it is good to bring out more openly both the mischance causam B. of the flight and the event of the return. For in the eight hundred and eighty- om. B. first year from the Lord's Incarnation, on the kalends kalendas B. of January, as the fear metum B. of the Northmen sic A, C. Normanorumque B. compelled, moved first from their tombs, they were first carried to the aforesaid hill. For in the previous year, at Compiègne, the city of Charles, Louis the Carolingian, weighed down gravatus B. by excessive illness, on the day of Good Friday Parasceve B. breathed out the spirit of life ^k. Wherefore his sons, the one called Louis and the other alter B. Carloman, were established as kings. In the same year also a great multitude of pagans, coming veniens part. B. from overseas regions, occupied the monastery of Ghent ^l, and cruelly laid waste all things round about sic A, B. Occupaverat… vastaverat C. . In that same Ipso etiam B. year, the king from beyond the Rhine, Louis, came into Francia, and extorted part of the kingdom of Lothar from his nephews, and waged a war against the Northmen in the fisc of Timion Fumon B. ^m. He inflicted a great slaughter on them eis B. , with God's favor stood forth as victor, and, having lost his son, returned sorrowful to his own land. At length our Louis and Carloman went to Amiens Amb. ad. B. , and there by the counsel of the princes divided the kingdom between themselves by fixed limits ⁿ. From there they made together for Burgundy, and cast down Boso from the royal regis B. dignity, and stayed there almost one year.

[11] These overcome, the relics are brought back in the year 882; Meanwhile the pagans, invading Courtrai [o], and finding Francia empty of king and princes, came as far as Péronne of the Scots, and set it on fire. Hearing this, the young king juv. rex B. Louis, moved permotus B. by grief of mind, left his brother in Burgundy fr. Burgundiam A. , and himself et in B. returned to Francia. But om. B. the pagans, made fiercer by their prosperous successes, confident that no one could resist res. pos. B. them, went out from Courtrai [p] with an impious and terrible army, and, spread out over forty or more miles, depopulated all things even to extermination. When the aforesaid king had learned this for certain, ringed with a multitude of Franks, supported by the comfort of God, he came upon them unexpectedly. He is said then to have destroyed in the estate of Saucourt so great a multitude of them, as we believe never fell elsewhere in Francia [q]. For which cause both those who escaped, and the rest who had remained at Courtrai, struck with exceeding terror, fled fugerunt B. , and made for petentes B. the Betuwe, and om. B. atrociously laid waste all the places around the Meuse [r]. Finally autem B. in the following year the bodies of Saints Quintinus and Cassian, descending from Laon on the kalends of February, with an incredible ingenti B. throng of peoples and a melody of praises and hymns hymnorumque B. , were brought back into their own basilica on the day of the purification of St. Mary the Virgin om. B. [s].

[12] but a little after they return to Laon, At that same time, when the aforesaid king was arranging to go to Angers and to make a pact with Alstem Alstenio B. , he fell into an illness, and from there returned to Saint Denis, and there Proh dolor add. B. breathed out his spirit vitæ add. B. [t]. After his death, the Franks established Carloman as king. When ut pag. B. the pagans heard this, they entered the Scheldt Scaldim C. with ships om. B. and came as far as Condé et usque Cond. perv. om. C. . Wherefore the bodies of the aforesaid prædictorum B. saints were carried a second time to the hill of Laon ad m. Laud. del. s. B. [u]. Afterward the Northmen, having reached pervenientes B. this place, killed many with the sword; they led away many also as captives, and so the church of the lord beati B. martyr Quintinus was cruelly burned; which had fifty-nine years from its completion [w]. So, with almost every place desolated devorato B. , the pagans, proceeding this way and that et illac B. , set out for other parts.

[13] until Saint-Quentin is fortified, Thereafter, all things being afflicted on every side by various misfortunes, with the favor of Christ, in the fifth year the lord Dominus C. count and abbot Teutric [x], using usi B. prudent counsel, began cœperunt B. to build the walls of this place, on the twelfth day before the kalends of May om. B. ; relying quos freti B. on most acute ingenuity he caused fecerunt B. them to grow quickly, as necessity compelled. Whereupon the precious bodies of the saints, namely of Quintinus and Cassian, with an innumerable throng pressing around innumera stipata B. , on the third before the kalends of November were brought back again to their own place ad proprias it A. , and placed within the walls of the burned house.

[14] The body of St. Victoricus in the same crypt as the bones of St. Quintinus But now let us come to the rights of the blessed martyr Victoricus, that the course of our words may proceed according to the reckoning of the times. The aforesaid martyr Christi add. B. Victoricus, then, the most beloved companion of our senior, preached to the people of Thérouanne Taroanensi B. together with the most blessed Fuscian. By their proclamations they consecrated many at leisure for Christ, yielding longed-for strength to the crowds of infirm. And when they had returned from the regions of the Morini, and were desiring to speak the duties of God to Quintinius Quintino B. , they are bound with the chains of the governor Rictiovarus. At length, condemned to many punishments, deprived of the light of their eyes, their heads being cut, they merited the palm of triumph. Their bodies, buried with the blessed Gentian in a wagon, the country of Amiens preserved through the course of many times curr. t. B. , until, by God's disposing, they were anxiously sought and sagaciously found by a certain man of memorable life, formerly a canon of that same place [y], but then bishop of the Church of Amiens, Otger by name. This bishop therefore, for divine love and et B. the zeal of his kindly devotion, conveyed the limbs of the aforesaid prædicti B. martyr Victoricus here with great cum m. B. honor; and placed them beside the pledges of the glorious witness of Christ Quintinus, in the eight hundred and ninety-third year from the Lord's Incarnation, on the third day om. B. of the kalends of November kalendas novembris B. , and after the passing of a space of ten years since

the church of blessed Quintinus was burned by the pagans, in the fifth year indeed quidem B. of the reign of King Odo [z], and the seventh year an. sept. B. from the construction of the walls.

[15] is interred by Raubert. When vero add. B. the clemency of God had willed to have mercy on us, and to bestow the helps of his consolation, he stilled the dangers of the burnings, he pressed down the savagery of the pagans, he granted peace and concord, and he abundantly gave the fruits fructuum B. of the earth also. Wherefore it was salutarily discussed by the faithful of this place, that the bodies of those same saints should be becomingly laid back in their mausoleums. For the venerable prelate of the Church of Noyon, Raubert by name, relying on a prudent simplicity and adorned with a simple mildness, arrived, and with the other brothers serving God there, on this present day suppliantly entombed the wagons of the three saints so often named in their crypts [aa].

[16] There appears a portentous light For meanwhile, while these things were being done cum hæc autemag. B. and the litanies were being sung by the clergy, and the helps of God were being earnestly begged, upon the tomb of the eminent martyr Quintinus there came from heaven a wondrous globe of light, like a ray of the sun, shining around that same coffin with brilliant light three times. Plainly neither was the air clear on that day, nor could the sun in the ether æthera B. be seen luxit loco vid. q. B. openly, for it was covered by a veil of clouds; as it came with a sign, so indeed with a sign it withdrew.

[17] and a feast day is instituted. These things thus accomplished, the aforesaid prelate et add. C. , devout and glad, for the commemoration of the saints themselves most becomingly om. C. and gratefully decenter B. celebrated the solemnities of the Mass, and et B. suppliantly offered holocausts to the creator of all. During these, by the counsel of all he established statim B. , and by pontifical authority requested firmavit B. , that this day dies festa B. , for the praise of the Holy Trinity, and for et ipsorum B. venerable love ven. am. S. B. of those saints, should be held festal and solemn every year, to the praise et gloriam add. B. of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATA.

p. That fort, which the author calls now Curtraium, now Cortraium, is today called Courtrai.

q. The king met the Northmen (so we read in the Annals of Saint-Vaast at the year 881), in the canton of Witmau (Le Vimeu), in the estate which was called Sathulcurtis Ibid., p. 199. . Now, says Bouquet Hist. des Gaules, vol. VIII, p. 82; cf. Index chronol., p. LXV f. , it is a place called Saulcourt, three leagues distant from the city of Abbeville …. By Regino it is called Sodaltcurt Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. I, p. 593. .

r. The Northmen, says Sigebert of Gembloux Ibid., vol. VI, p. 343. , … having entered the river Waal, burn the whole Betuwe, and also the palace of Nijmegen. That Betuwe in Holland is also called Bethua, the island of the Batavians, Batuwa, Betuwe etc. [Cf. Hermann Oesterley, Hist. Wörterbuch des deutschen Mittelalters, p. 60, Gotha 1881.] .

s. The day was the 2nd of February of the year 882.

t. Louis died about the 5th day of August of the year 882; namely the king made for the Loire, wishing to cast the Northmen out of his kingdom and to receive Alsting into friendship; which he also did… He began to be sick, and being carried to Saint-Denis, dying on the nones of August, he left the greatest grief to the Franks [Annales Vedastini, in Mon. Germ., Scriptt., vol. II, p. 199. Cf. Bouquet, Hist. des Gaules, vol. VIII, p. LXIX and 215.] .

u. The second translation is to be referred to the end of the year 882 or the beginning of 883 Preliminary Commentary, no. 81 f. . Not only from the city of Saint-Quentin, but from other places the bodies of the saints were carried to Laon, the strongest fortress of Picardy Cf. Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B., sæc. II, p. 391. . For the rest, there survive some ancient monuments of the histories, from which we learn where, through those ill-omened times, the relics of the saints were placed in safety Cf. Peigné-Delacourt, Les Normands dans le Noyonnais, p. 92 ff., Noyon 1868. .

w. The writer is consistent with himself, who a little before (no. 6) said that that church was dedicated in the year 825; he rightly supposes, therefore, that it was already built in the year 824. If fifty-nine years are added to this, we come upon the year 883, in which the historians everywhere relate that the church of St. Quintinus was burned Cf. Prelim. Comment., no. 81 f., 129. .

x. Cf. the Preliminary Commentary, no. 82. In the Vallicelliana copy of the Sermon it is openly indicated that Teutric was at once count and abbot: but in the Authenticum the count seems to be distinguished from the abbot. Yet Hémeré thinks that the plural number is employed merely for the sake of honor, since an old martyrology calls Teutric abbot and count Aug. Vir., p. 80. .

y. To this man are ascribed some verses on St. Quintinus, whose first letters make these words: Otgero decano. A manuscript codex was formerly kept in the Parisian church of the Mother of God Cf. Histoire littéraire de France, vol. VI, p. 88. .

z. Cf. the Preliminary Commentary, nos. 81 and 84. The years of the reign of Odo are reckoned now from the year 887, now from the year 888 or the next Cf. Nouveau traité de diplomatique, vol. V, p. 724. . Therefore the author could write: of the reign of Odo … in the fifth … year.

aa. We showed above that these things were done at the beginning of the tenth century, but not before the year 902 Prelim. Comment., no. 85. .