ON BL. IRMGARD, VIRGIN AND COUNTESS OF ZUTPHEN,
AT COLOGNE
About the end of the eleventh century, or the beginning of the twelfth.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Her ancient cult, the year of her death, her noble birth, her Life to be published from the German.
Irmgard, countess of Zutphen, at Cologne. (Bl.)
BY C. S.
Cologne, among the almost countless remains of Saints which it religiously embraces in its bosom, rejoices also in the sacred body of Blessed Irmgard, a virgin of exceptional humility and religion, The Blessed one's cult is proved whose yearly memory I find to have been customarily celebrated there on this day in the Fasti. Take some of these: first of all, our Florarium, written in the year 1486, mentions this Virgin twice; and once indeed at the IV of September, saying: At Cologne, in the cathedral (church), of St. Irmgard, virgin: but then at the X of November: At Cologne, of St. Irmgard, virgin. That the latter day was that of her death, the Necrology of Cratepolius in the Catalogue of the bishops of Cologne holds, on the testimony of Theodor Rhay in the Illustrious souls of Jülich. Nevertheless it is established that this Blessed one's memory should be referred to the IV day of September, both from
other Martyrologies and from the yearly festival of the same Virgin, of which we shall treat below. Meanwhile let us hear the martyrologists.
[2] from the Martyrologies Grevenus in the additions to Usuard, in our Sollier, thus announces her at this day: Of Irmgard, virgin, in the greater church of Cologne. Molanus in the same place adds an indication of her cult: At Cologne in the greater church, of Irmgard, virgin, on whose eve the bells are rung there as on the eves of Saints, although she has not been canonized. Likewise the German Martyrology ascribed to Canisius commemorates her on the day before the Nones: Likewise in the metropolitan church of Cologne, the holy virgin Irmgard. On the same day she is announced in the Additions to the Roman Martyrology for the use of Belgium; the words, turned from Flemish into Latin, are these: At Cologne, the birthday of blessed Irmgard, daughter of the count of Zutphen; whose sacred body rests there in the chapel of the three Kings. There is added Menard in the Benedictine Martyrology, saying: At Cologne, in the greater church, of St. Irmgard, virgin. To the same day, with the title of Blessed, she is referred by Castellanus in the Universal Martyrology, Ferrarius in the general Catalogue of the Saints, Wion in the Lignum vitæ, Le Mire in the Fasti Belgici, etc. And all these assign Cologne alone as the place of her cult: but Theodor Rhay of our Society, in the Work just cited, ascribes her yearly memory on the IV of September to another town besides, in these words: Cologne and the collegiate church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Rees keep every year with festival Irmgard, or, as others have it, Irmtrud, of whom various authors think there were two.
[3] From what has been said it is manifest that Blessed Irmgard, although she has not been solemnly canonized, her cult is immemorial; at Cologne enjoys a lawful and immemorial cult, of which indeed no beginning can be assigned, and which she already enjoyed in the year 1486, as our Florarium assures us, and which she has gone on enjoying down to our own times. Down to our own times, I say: for although her cult at Cologne seems to have been discontinued, yet it still flourishes in the chapel near Süchteln consecrated to her veneration, as we shall show at number 6. And about the cult discontinued at Cologne these things have been transmitted to me from that city: Her festival day, the IV of September, was solemnly celebrated in the cathedral with the ringing of bells, as Gelenius testifies, and as some vicars of this church wish to affirm; and that also on the same day High Mass was kept in her own chapel (where her body rests).
[4] But now neither High Mass nor the ringing of bells is observed. discontinued, Formerly also, at the least on her feast day, her sepulchre was shown open to devout persons, in which sepulchre is also seen the wooden dish which she used for her food in her lifetime. But for about three or four years (doubtless by command of the most illustrious metropolitan chapter) her sepulchre has been sealed with alien locks, so that it has never until now been opened; and that without any known cause: hence also the devotion of the people gradually falls away. And the sepulchre and body of St. Irmgard are in the chapel or oratory of St. Agnes, V. and M., beside the little shrine of the three holy Kings in the metropolitan church of Cologne.
[5] These unexpected answers about the discontinued veneration of the Blessed one had struck me, but it flourishes near Süchteln on the hill called St. Irmgard's: when, to me unexpecting, a hope shone out of seeking her cult from another quarter: for while I was diligently searching out the places in which I had learned that she led a solitary life, I found in the Maps of Frederick de Wit a little shrine set upon a certain hill and marked S. Ermgard. This hill is situated in the duchy of Jülich (according to the praised maps) about three German miles from the town of Roermond, and about one from Süchteln (by the inhabitants Suchtelen), not far from the river Niers, where it divides the aforesaid duchy from the dominion of the archbishopric of Cologne. Since therefore I perceived that these were the very places which blessed Irmgard is reported to have inhabited, there presently came into my mind the hope that I should learn something more certain about her public veneration; nor did my expectation deceive me: for by the procuring of Father Kaspar Hartzheim, doctor of sacred Theology in the university of Cologne, of the Society of Jesus, the Reverend Lord Quirinus Froitzheim, Pastor at Süchteln, instructed me — briefly indeed for the greatness of the matter, yet clearly. I subjoin his words.
[6] where a yearly festival is celebrated and various benefits obtained: Of St. Irmgard, born countess of Zutphen, sister of blessed Hermann called the Humble, once a most worthy prelate of the abbey of St. Pantaleon, I know not how to write more than that her feast is celebrated here in the place near the town of Süchteln, where there is a chapel built in honor of St. Irmgard, where also she caused a spring to rise — in the place, I say, called the Mount of St. Irmgard — on the fourth of September with plenary indulgences; on which day, as also through the whole Octave, there is there the greatest concourse of people. Various persons oppressed with various infirmities ascribe the health they have recovered, from the devotion practised there, to the intercession of St. Irmgard. Every week on Tuesdays and Fridays at a fixed hour Mass is read there; on which days too there is a frequent concourse of the neighbors. It was subscribed: Quirinus Froitzheim, of the Order of St. Benedict, professed of the abbey of St. Pantaleon within Cologne, Pastor p.i. at Süchteln, and rural Dean of the same Christianity. The praised Father Hartzheim then subjoins: This he answered to my inquiry in the year MDCCXLVI, on the XX of February.
[7] this cult appears very ancient. The veneration of our Blessed one was already flourishing in the aforesaid place, and doubtless had long flourished, in the year 1636, as appears from a letter of the XII of September of that same year given to our Bolland by the Reverend Lord Peter of Streithagen, canon of Heinsberg; in which among other things I read this: At Süchteln, the Deposition of St. Irmgard, countess of Zutphen, who bestowed in alms upon her brother Hermann, made abbot of St. Pantaleon in the year MLXXXII and dead in the year MCXXI, that whole tract (near Süchteln), and who shines with daily miracles in the chapel set above the hill beside the town. Similar things has the Life of the Blessed one published in German at Cologne in the year 1602, which also expressly mentions the indulgences granted by the Apostolic See and the twofold sacrifice of the Mass wont to be said each week. That Life we shall present below in Latin: but from what time this cult began in that place I would not dare to affirm with certainty: yet I cannot doubt that it has flourished there for some centuries already. For since blessed Irmgard departed from among the living at the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the twelfth, as we shall presently show, and since no one assigns any beginning of this public veneration, it seems most likely that she began to be venerated either in the very century in which she died, or at least in the next following. Certainly in the year 1486 she was already held in sacred veneration at Cologne, as we saw from the Florarium cited at number 1: and it is not likely that the inhabitants and neighbors of Süchteln would have wished to yield to the people of Cologne in this religious service: especially since she was both the lady of the people of Süchteln, and long dwelt as a solitary in the woods near Süchteln, and ennobled them too by a spring divinely raised. However that may be, from what has been said thus far it is established that no room for doubting the lawful cult of blessed Irmgard is left.
[8] Of the Blessed one's year of death nothing certain can be established, except that it must have fallen at the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the twelfth. And this I gather thus: Irmgard was alive in the year 1040; for then she rebuilt at her own expense the church of Rees, [The year of her death, uncertain, is to be referred to the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the twelfth.] as the little verses assure us which a certain anonymous writer, in a fragment of a manuscript Life which I have in hand, says he read subscribed to that Blessed one's picture in the church itself. The verses are of this sort:
In the thousandth year of Christ, and likewise the fortieth, happy Irmgard founded this pleasant church; and offered it to pious Mary, that she herself might protect it.
She was still surviving among the living in the year 1082, in which her brother Herimann or Hermann was set over the abbey of St. Pantaleon in the city of Cologne: for it was in consideration of him, then already abbot, that she gave the town of Süchteln with its adjacent land to the aforesaid monastery, as Gelenius relates, On the bishops of Germany, letter I, writing the following on St. Irmgard: St. Irmgard, daughter of the count of Zutphen … assigned the town of Rees to the church of Cologne, and gave Süchteln with all its appurtenances to the monastery of St. Pantaleon, because the abbot of that Convent was her brother. Now if in the year 1040 she built the church of Rees, she was certainly at that time about 20 years old, and so, if she reached the beginning of the twelfth century, she must have died at eighty or more than eighty. It is therefore certain that the Blessed one's death is to be referred to the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the next. Now let us say a few things about her illustrious birth.
[9] We have already seen that blessed Irmgard is called by Gelenius, and in the Additions to the Roman Martyrology for the use of Belgium, the daughter of the count of Zutphen. She is reported to have been born of the counts of Zutphen; but it is uncertain The same title Bucelin attributes to her in the Germania sacra, part 2, page 250, in the Catalogue of the abbots of St. Pantaleon, writing thus: Hermann, count of Zutphen, brother of St. Irmgard, countess. Denis de Sainte-Marthe agrees, Gallia Christiana, volume 3, column 739 of the latest edition; where, reckoning the heads of the praised abbey, he has the following to our purpose: IX. Blessed Hermann or Herimann I, surnamed the Humble, drew his descent from the counts of Zutphen; and had as sister St. Irmgard, who made over many possessions to St. Pantaleon. Likewise the German Life, and many other writers, adorn her with the same title, with none, so far as I know, contradicting. But who were the Blessed one's parents? This indeed is neither easy to determine nor pleasant to divine. Johannes Pontanus indeed, in the History of Gelderland, book 5, page 88, suspects that she was either the daughter or the sister of Godeschalk, count of Zutphen, when in the genealogy of Hermann he says: Perhaps Hermann and Irmgard, and likewise Rupert, were the children of Godeschalk, whose genealogy was set down above (among the counts of Zutphen), or both his brother and sister. But he brings forward no sufficiently convincing argument.
[10] Yet not improbably she may seem able to be set down as Godeschalk's sister. of what parents determinately. For at the same time in which it is established that the Blessed one flourished, the lordship of the city of Zutphen was in Godeschalk's hands. The praised Pontanus proves this from a diploma in which certain tithes are adjudged to Godeschalk and his wife Adelheid, lords of the town of Zutphen … summoned to Utrecht. This instrument, drawn up and signed by William of Gelre, prelate of Utrecht, in the year of Christ MLIX, indiction XII, in the fifth year of king Henry, he asserts to be preserved in the archives of the court of Zutphen. But that I judge she should be thought his sister rather than his daughter (if indeed she was one of the two) is persuaded both by the inscription just mentioned about the church built at Rees, and by another diploma by which Henry III in that same year 1040 delivers certain estates to our Irmgard to be possessed, with the power added of disposing of them freely: which things seem to suit better a virgin bereft of her parents; and bereft then
she would not have been, if she had had Godeschalk for father. Besides, Gelenius in the Colonia supplex, page 172, affirms that it is certain to him from the archives that Irmgard's brothers were blessed Hermann and count Rupert: but in the praised diploma only two sons of Godeschalk, Gebehard and Otho, are reckoned. And let these things said about Irmgard's stock suffice, which, as they persuade that she sprang from the counts of Zutphen, so leave it doubtful what parents determinately fell to her lot.
[11] To blessed Irmgard there probably belongs But since our Blessed one is greatly praised in the Life which we are about to give for sacred places erected and endowed, I judge it will not be beside the purpose if I insert into this commentary the diploma of Henry III which we mentioned just now, so that hence her illustrious stock may be confirmed, and also so that it may thus be clear that she did not lack the wealth with which to promote the worship of God the best and greatest. I found that instrument in a certain fragment of a manuscript Life of this Blessed one of the year, as it bears, 1621, where the author briefly prefaces about it thus: Since it is authentic and hitherto exists nowhere, and is such as savors of the simplicity of that age, and makes much for our purpose, and can harm no one, I shall give it entire, as it was transmitted to me by the dean of Rees. Exactly the same I find in the sheets which our Elders set aside for this day: but whether that Irmgard is the same as this one of ours I would not dare to affirm for certain. A doubt is raised in me by the indult itself, in which Henry calls Irmgard his niece, and says that he grants it to her at the intervention and petition of both the dukes, Gobelo and his son Godfrey. These things, I say, raise a doubt in me, because about these times there lived a certain Ermengard, daughter of Charles I, duke of Lorraine: and Gobelo or Gothelo, who had a son Godfrey, obtained at that same time the duchy of Lorraine, as the genealogists everywhere relate: whence I strongly suspect that this diploma was granted in favor of that Lorrainian Ermengard.
[12] given by Henry III On the other hand, since we have from elsewhere that the collegiate church of Rees was raised from its ashes by our Irmgard in that very year 1040, and since it is established that Rees belonged to the same Virgin, it becomes altogether likely that the praised diploma, which the dean of Rees probably drew from the archives of the chapter or of the town, belongs rather to our Blessed one than to any other: since she was both lady of the city of Rees and foundress of its church; whereas of the Lorrainian we read of no such connection with the people of Rees. There is added that to her sacred picture, which, engraved on copper in the year 1648, I have by me, there is subjoined an inscription of this kind: St. Irmgard, daughter of the count of Zutphen and niece of the emperor Henry III, a most noble virgin, who vowed her virginity to Christ her bridegroom and offered herself and her goods to God. She flourished about the year ML. Nor further can it seem a wonder to anyone that we cannot from elsewhere assign the consanguinity or affinity between Henry and the Blessed one, if he considers that even that same Virgin's own parents lie hidden in the shadows of that antiquity. Now receive the diploma itself.
[13] In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Henry, by the favor of divine clemency king. Let the shrewd diligence of all our subjects, both present and to come, a diploma, in which certain estates know how, at the intervention and petition of both the dukes Gobelo and his son Godfrey, such an estate as by the judgment of the aldermen came to the imperial right of our father of good memory, Conrad the emperor Augustus, and remained to our royal power after his departure — and which we held in full power in the villages of Iterve, Vals, Apine, Falkenborgh, situated in the district of Lemgoue and in the county of count Dutbald — we have given and delivered as her own to Irmgard, our beloved niece, with all its appurtenances whatsoever; that is, bondservants of either sex, citadels , buildings, churches, tithes, fields, meadows, lands tilled and untilled, hamlets belonging to the aforesaid villages, pastures, plains, woods, hunting-grounds, waters, watercourses, mills, mill-works, fisheries, roads, trackless places, outlets, revenues, things sought and to be sought, with every advantage which can in any way come from it.
[14] That is to say, on this condition, that the aforenamed Irmgard shall thenceforth have free power over the aforesaid estate delivered to her by us, are given to Irmgard. namely of holding, giving, selling, exchanging, granting in precarium, or of leaving it, or of doing whatever shall please her. And that this royal authority of our delivery may remain firm and unshaken now and through the succeeding courses of time, we have commanded this page to be written, confirmed by our own hand as is seen below, and to be fortified with the impression of our seal. There is subjoined the royal monogram with this subscription: The sign of King Henry III, the most unconquered. And below: Given on the V of the Kalends of March, Indiction VIIII, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation M.XL. And in the year of the lord Henry III, of his ordination the XIII, and of his reign the II. Done at Trier happily. Thus far on the credit of each manuscript, which agrees so perfectly in everything, even to the smallest points, that either the one seems transcribed from the other, or both from the original at Rees itself. For the rest, as concerns the diploma, I find nothing in it whence it may be held spurious or suspected of forgery, as will appear from the annotations subjoined.
[15] First of all, Martène in the Amplissima Collectio of ancient writers, volume 2, column 59, exhibits another diploma of the same Henry granted to Poppo, abbot of Stavelot, on the Nones of June in the year 1040, Of this diploma whose method of beginning and closing, and finally its very phrases, are so like those which are found in ours that anyone can easily discern that both proceeded from the same king. They differ only in this, that in the Stavelot one Indiction VIII is marked, in ours VIIII: yet rightly in both: for when the former was given at Stavelot, according to the common manner of beginning the year the year 1040 was still running with Indiction VIII: but in ours, given at Trier, the day XXV of February of the year 1040 fell, by the usage of Trier, in the year 1041 and Indiction VIIII according to that same method of reckoning. We learn this from Brower, Annals of Trier, book 18, page 1052 of the first edition; where he says that the people of Trier were wont to begin the year from the feast of the Virgin's Annunciation, or from the XXV of March: the same may be read in Du Cange's Glossary at the word Annus. Hence it comes about that the first two months, with the greater part of March, which belonged to the year 1041, are by the usage of Trier to be reckoned to the year 1040: and thus Indiction IX will rightly agree with the year 1040 and with the epochs assigned.
[16] For in the year 1028 of the common era, on the XIV of April, as Pagi has it in the Critica, Henry III was crowned king: the genuineness is examined, count from this to the XXV of February of the year 1041, in the manner now everywhere received, and you will find the XIII year of Henry's ordination or coronation drawing to a close: but since the feast of the Annunciation is celebrated on the XXV of March, in the year 1041, according to the manner of beginning the year at Trier, the year 1040 was still running, and thus the same month of February was under different reckonings referred to the beginning of the year 1041 and to the end of 1040: but whichever way you take it, Indiction IX was then running. Judge the same of the year of his reign assigned: for Conrad, Henry's father, departed from among the living on the IV of June 1039, and from that time Henry began to reign alone: therefore in the year 1041, otherwise 1040, in the month of February, he was in the 2nd year of his reign: and so the epochs subjoined to the diploma hang together rightly. On the contrary they would hang together badly if Indiction VIII had been added, for then the year would, according to the now received usage, be marked 1040, in whose month of February he counted only the XII year of his ordination and the 1st of his reign.
[17] and briefly cleared up. But if we sift the diploma itself, we shall find nothing that savors of forgery. Gobelo is beyond doubt that very man whom Antonio Albizzi, in the pedigrees of Christian Princes, page 23 verso, calling him Gothselo, reckons together with his son Godfrey among the ancient dukes of Lorraine; and he marks that the first died in the year 1044, the other in 1070. The district of Lemgoue is placed in the maps of Frederick de Wit in the circle of Westphalia on the river Weser, where you will find Falkeborgh also. That the remaining villages are not found there must be ascribed to obscure antiquity and to the changing of names. For the rest, our anonymous author rightly subjoins to the diploma he has recited: What sort of donation that was — whether wholly free, or by right of consanguinity and in a manner from obligation, or rather a remission of the direct lordship of those goods, of which our Irmgard already had only the useful lordship — though no one may easily judge without more skilled knowledge, yet I am inclined to believe the last, especially if I consider the mind and intention of the little maiden countess, who was busied not in acquiring riches but in scattering them: and therefore, since she could not do this so long as she did not have full and perfect lordship, she seems through those dukes of Lorraine, her kinsmen, first to have obtained that leave from the emperor (king Henry), which those words indicate: "of free power thenceforth, namely of holding, giving, selling," etc. — as though she had had some power indeed, but not free. Thus he, not improbably. I pass on to the writer of the Life.
[18] The Life of the Blessed one written in Latin and German by an anonymous author: I find only one Life of this illustrious Virgin, from which all the rest seem to have drawn whatever they have handed down here and there about blessed Irmgard. Molanus cites it in the Natales Sanctorum Belgii at the present day, writing thus: The memory of blessed Irmgard, from the Life printed in Latin. And a little below: in the Life printed in Latin, which is shown to those who visit her body; she is asserted to be the daughter of the count of Zutphen. Gelenius and others mention it in more than one place; but no one whom I have read indicates the author. And as to its date, Crombach of our Society, in the Life of St. Ursula, volume 2, chapter 2, has this about it: Her Life (blessed Irmgard's) I have seen set forth a hundred years ago in German and Latin, like that which I had read written two hundred years before. If these things are true, that Life must have been written 300 years before Crombach published his Work about the middle of the seventeenth century. Hence it follows that the praised Life is to be referred at least to the fourteenth century: at least, I say, for whether the one which Crombach saw was the original, or a copy transcribed from an older exemplar, is not clear from his words. Yet it cannot be older than the thirteenth century, unless the one which I have in hand is interpolated: for in it the Blessed one is said to have emulated the service of St. Elizabeth by works of mercy: now whether by St. Elizabeth the queen of Portugal or the landgravine of Thuringia is designated, it cannot be older than the century assigned: for the former was snatched from human affairs in the year 1336, the latter in 1231.
[19] Molanus's words had impelled me, for that
to be obtained, to press the people of Cologne, we shall publish the latter turned into Latin. but beyond expectation I received this answer: In the metropolitan church I find no Life of St. Irmgard written either in Latin or in German, except that very one which is painted in an old picture round the walls of the chapel of St. Stephen, as I indicated above at number two (see below in the annotations to chapter 3, letter c), which perhaps they used to show to those who visited the sepulchre. I have nevertheless one printed in German at Cologne in the year 1602, which seems entirely the same as the older ones which the praised writers mentioned. And this I gather from various passages which they themselves transferred from them into their own labors, and which differ from our German Life almost in words alone. This therefore, since no other is at hand, we shall present in Latin, keeping in the translation, so far as Latin phrases will endure it, the simplicity of the style. But if anyone should ask of me what I think of that Life, I answer in few words that there seem to me to be mixed into it, along with simple truth, circumstances so wonderful that, if they are not altogether fabulous, they can deservedly be reckoned next door to fables, as we shall observe in the annotations.
Annotationsperhaps ad* is missing perhaps relictum* read dilectæ* perhaps arcibus*
A LIFE
by an anonymous author
Written in German, translated by C. S.
Irmgard, countess of Zutphen, at Cologne. (Bl.)
A. By an anonymous author.
CHAPTER I.
The Blessed one's illustrious birth, her contempt of wealth, her love of solitude, her pilgrimage to Rome, and her return to Cologne.
[ ] Born of the count of Zutphen and having obtained a rich inheritance In Ecclesiasticus a, chapter 3, it is written: The greater thou art, humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God. Obedient to this saying was St. Irmgard, a noble virgin, who, born of most powerful parents and of an illustrious stock, abounded in the fleeting goods of honor and fortune. For since she had for father the count of Zutphen in Gelderland, she could easily have enjoyed abundance and pomp of earthly things: but she, well perceiving the short lease of this fleeting life, learned the way by which to procure true eminence and riches in heaven. To this end she consecrated herself wholly, with a mighty heat of love, to the divine worship of the Almighty, and deserved to become the countess of our Lord Jesus Christ. When now her father, having paid the debt of nature (to which we are all bound — let each ask for himself a happy end of life), had departed from among the living, a rich inheritance came to her: and namely the city of Rees b with its territory and several other villages, the castle called Burg Aspel c with the lands subject to it, and finally the town and lordship of Süchteln d with its fields likewise.
[2] spurning the world she leads a solitary life. Powerful in so ample a patrimony, the venerable Virgin weighed with attentive mind that she, like other men, dwelt in this life as a wretched pilgrim; since the Apostle says: We have not here a lasting city. This, I say, St. Irmgard weighed with ripe mind, namely that her sojourn in these castles, lordships, and villages would not be lasting: wherefore she bound herself wholly to the divine service, striving with all her strength to attain the goal she desired. And so, bidding farewell to earthly enticements, she resolves to dwell in a place remote from all human intercourse, that she might be free for God alone: and since she was most tenderly affected toward her poor subjects of Süchteln, she dwelt for some time in the parish of Süchteln e, where also she chose a solitary place free from all human company, into which she withdrew daily for the sake of prayer, lest anyone should interrupt her sacred leisure. This place was situated not far from Süchteln in a more remote part of a certain field. So excellent a love of solitude and piety pleased the Lord God, and he endowed the aforesaid place with various privileges for the merits of his beloved Virgin; for it was once renowned for many prodigies and miracles, and is renowned to this day: whence it has been consecrated to God and approved by the Holy Roman See, with notable indulgences granted f to whosoever should there bestow a pious alms for the promoting of divine worship and the adorning of the church or chapel of St. Irmgard: which our most clement lords the archbishops of Cologne also approved. In these churches and chapels two Masses are perpetually celebrated every week to the glory and praise of almighty God and of his blessed mother Mary, and to the honor of St. Irmgard.
[3] [Departing thence elsewhere, at length visiting the sacred places at Rome she becomes known to the Pontiff;] But when some, to whom such humility was displeasing, loaded her with mockeries because for all her nobility she did not follow the world's pomp, leaving Süchteln she resolved to seek a more remote land, in which, unknown to mortals and safe from the attempts of the perverse, she might serve God. Then there came upon her a desire of making a pilgrimage to Rome to the sacred thresholds of SS. Peter and Paul: and without delay, despising the perils of so long a road, setting out on foot she crossed those lofty mountains, that she might deserve to obtain even a small place in heaven. Having entered Rome, she presently with diligent piety visited day by day the sacred churches of God, and especially the seven basilicas of the city of Rome: whence it came about that her virtues, being made known, were celebrated with the praises of the upright: but this very thing was grievous to the Virgin, as one who shunned all human praise. For it is written: the good works of men shall be seen, yet do not thou desire earthly praise from them, etc. This Virgin so gave herself to pious works that her life became known to the Pontiff, her spiritual father. Wherefore the Pontiff, filled with great joy and conceiving a worthy esteem of the noble virgin St. Irmgard, summons her to himself: and when she had been summoned, he prays for her welfare, spurs her on to perseverance, sets forth the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem, and, discoursing much and sweetly of the divine clemency and mercy, bids her remember that her heavy labors and bitter footsteps would one day be rewarded with the precious treasure of eternity.
[4] Furnished with these admonitions, she asked leave of the Pontiff to return into Germany, and obtained it: [who, having exhorted her to perseverance, asks that relics of the holy virgins of the company of St. Ursula be brought to him.] but since he ardently desired some relics of the eleven thousand virgins, companions of St. Ursula g, who rest at Cologne, he addressed her thus: "Chosen virgin and beloved daughter in God, if perchance a pious desire should again come upon thee of visiting our holy Roman patrons, I ask that this small service be rendered me, that thou bring some part of the venerable relics of the eleven thousand holy Virgins which are laid up at Cologne: for I am held by a great desire of them." But St. Irmgard, hearing the Pontiff's request, reckoned herself unworthy to handle so sacred a treasure: yet she yielded to his petition, and, leave to depart being obtained with the apostolic blessing, she took the road toward Cologne not without great hardships. Our Lord God, truly almighty, who is a help to all his own, mercifully protected the most worthy virgin St. Irmgard, so that she came to Cologne; where she again strenuously gave herself to the divine services.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER II.
She carries the sepulchral earth of the eleven thousand virgins to Rome: at her coming all the bells of the City ring of themselves; the aforesaid earth is turned into blood; she carries a part of the head of St. Silvester to Cologne.
[ ] [As she carries to Rome the sepulchral earth of the eleven thousand holy Virgins, the bells ring of themselves:] Afterwards it pleased her again to approach the sacred places of Rome for the sake of venerating them, and, mindful of the charge committed to her by the Pontiff, she humbly approached the place of burial of the eleven thousand Virgins: and, reckoning herself unworthy to touch the sacred bones, she prostrated herself on her knees, and, seized with pious fear, reverently enclosed a little of the earth in her glove a,
and again took the road to Rome. And now the venerable Virgin had reached the city itself, when, being violently wearied by so long and troublesome a road — which in a noble Virgin is no wonder — she sat down before the gate to take a little rest. Meanwhile no common prodigy happened b: for all the bells of the whole city of Rome, with no one ringing them, gave forth their sound of their own accord. Roused by this miracle the Romans run together, to seek the cause of a thing so unusual. The Pontiff himself sends his legates and ministers through the whole city, bidding them search in all the churches and monasteries whether they might find anyone for whose sake that astounding prodigy was happening. But they, having searched the streets, came to the gate where the most worthy Virgin was lying: but by no means supposing that the bells had rung for her sake and for the sacred relics of the Virgins which she had brought in her glove, they reported to the most blessed Father that they had found no one except a poor little woman resting at the city gate, who nevertheless did not seem worthy that these things should happen for her sake c.
[6] On the contrary the Pontiff, rightly observing that such a prodigy came about not by chance [she hands over to the Pontiff the aforesaid earth, which, turned into blood, is carried to the basilica of St. Peter.] but from the divine clemency, doubting nothing and not sparing himself, rose and, going out of the palace, wished himself to investigate the matter. When he had come to the gate, St. Irmgard presently recognized him and, coming up, fell prostrate at the feet of his Holiness. But he, rejoicing at the longed-for coming of Christ's Daughter, addressed her thus: "Welcome, Chosen one in Christ: what is that great treasure which thou bringest us?" To whom she: "That very one which thy Holiness asked of me when I lately departed hence"; and without delay she held out the glove to the eager Pontiff: which being opened, he found not sacred bones, as he had supposed, but blood d, and that so fresh as though it had been shed by the holy Virgins in that very hour. He was astounded, and, having praised the divine clemency, he recognized the cause for which the bells of bronze had given so festive a sound. Then, all the clergy being gathered, he carried the sacred relics with the utmost reverence and supplication, all singing: And they washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, to the basilica of St. Peter: where, being honorably deposited, they are kept to this day. Hence the Pope's devotion toward the Ursuline virgins grew: and again he blessed St. Irmgard, and, giving thanks, consoled and confirmed her in God's service e.
[7] After this St. Irmgard, staying some time at Rome, devoted herself with great feeling of piety and veneration to visiting the sacred places, [Then, staying a little while at Rome, she carries a part of the head of St. Silvester to Cologne.] and at length, having obtained leave from the most blessed Father, resolved to return to Cologne. But he here, not unmindful of the sacred benefit received from the holy Virgin, showed himself grateful, according to that which is read in St. Augustine: He is not worthy to give who does not render thanks for what is given. What need of many words? He gave her a precious treasure, namely the venerable head f of St. Silvester, Pontiff, the first of that name: which she, receiving it with veneration together with the apostolic blessing, carried back to Cologne: where she brought it to the metropolitan church of St. Peter, in which it is kept to this time, and is carried round every year in solemn procession, accompanied by the presbyters, canons, consuls, senate, and people of Cologne g: and St. Irmgard, for bringing so precious a treasure, deserved the highest praises and love from the people.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER III.
She goes to Rome a third time, where the image of the crucified Lord speaks to her: she enjoys the same consolation again at Cologne: she enriches churches with her goods: she dies piously and is buried.
[ ] [Having entered Rome a third time she receives a blessing and commands from the image of the Crucified,] The aforesaid relics the holy Virgin venerated daily with singular reverence and love; before them she was again and again instant in prayer, earnestly begging comfort, help, and grace from God and the Saints, that it might be granted her to go again to Rome and to visit its sacred places: and that, if it pleased the Lord, there would be no delay on her part in eagerly undertaking so troublesome a pilgrimage. And when now for the third time she had come to Rome, and was performing her accustomed exercises of piety by visiting the churches of God and of the Saints, she entered the basilica of St. Paul: here she found an image of the crucified Lord of exactly the same length, material, and figure as that which is set up in the church of St. Peter at Cologne before the sacristy, and such as is painted in the chapel of St. Irmgard in the metropolitan church of that same city. Scarcely had she fallen upon her knees and begun to pray, when from the mouth of the image she received these words: "Chosen and worthy daughter of mine, Irmgard, I ask of thee that, when thou hast returned to Cologne, thou go to the metropolitan church of St. Peter, and greet in my name the image of the Crucified, quite like to me, which thou wilt find set upon the altar before the sacristy a." At these words of the statue St. Irmgard stood wondering, and presently, humbly laying aside the hat which she used for her pilgrimage, she understood that that voice was heavenly, formed by the mouth of the Holy Spirit. She answered therefore that she would gladly obey, provided she were held worthy. And while she said this, she beheld herself blessed by the image, which had loosed its right hand from the cross.
[9] Seeing this, Irmgard rendered thanks and praises to almighty God, [which, having performed it at another holy image at Cologne, she is likewise refreshed by its speech.] glad that she had not spent her labors in vain. Then, God's power preserving her, seeking Germany again she returned to Cologne, where, with no delay interposed, having gone to the church of St. Peter, kneeling with humble and pious mind before the aforesaid statue of the Crucified, she broke forth into these words: "O holy cross! O noble figure! O illustrious image formed after the likeness and appearance of my Lord Jesus Christ as he hung for wretched me on Mount Calvary on the holy day of the Parasceve: it was enjoined upon me at Rome in the basilica of St. Peter, by an image in all things most like to thee, that on my return I should greet thee at Cologne." The greeting being performed, the image of the Crucified, bowing its head, replied thus: "Chosen daughter, I give thee thanks." Which voice, being heavenly, affected St. Irmgard with no small joy. When the report of this matter, spread among the clergy, had reached the bishop, he presently, a solemn procession being instituted, enclosed the heavenly Host in the head of the Crucified b, whence it is renowned for many miracles: and the head itself was again closed of its own accord, as though it had never been opened. Astounded at which prodigy, the bishop, the clergy, and the people, together with the holy Virgin Irmgard, honored the sacred image with candles and other pious gifts: and hence it has come about that even today a lamp burns perpetually before it c.
[10] [Then she names as heirs the church of St. Peter at Cologne and the monastery of St. Pantaleon, and serving the sick] After this Irmgard, anxious about the uncertain time of death, wished while still in health to make a testament of her earthly goods, by which she might hand over her whole inheritance to divine worship and name God and the Saints heirs of her goods. And so she consecrated the castle of Aspel d and the city of Rees with the fields annexed to St. Peter the Apostle, patron of the heavens, giving them to his vicar the bishop of Cologne. Besides, to the monastery of St. Pantaleon e, likewise at Cologne, because her brother f then presided over it as abbot, she bequeathed the town of Süchteln together with its lordship and all things pertaining to it, to the honor of God and of the holy martyr Pantaleon, to this end, that the sons of that abbey might be strengthened in the divine service: and the possession of this lordship, in the hands of
them, has remained until now. Nor was she forgetful of the poor: for besides that she made over great wealth to a hospice, she founded moreover another like dwelling, now called Hachtpfork, in which she spent herself and her goods day and night in helping the needy, and studied and emulated the service of St. Elizabeth g, so as to fulfil the works of mercy, since she could not exercise herself in the outward worship of God: for before she reached an advanced age she had worn out her strength not a little in her flourishing years, and had chastised her body in the divine worship, as has been said above.
[11] she dies piously in the hospice founded by her, and is honorably buried. In this hospice at last she made an end of living; and when she understood that it was at hand, she diligently prepared herself to receive the divine Viaticum, and, having committed her five senses to the good pleasure of the divine will, she commended her soul into the hands of the heavenly Father: which presently the angels bore with vast joy into the glory of eternal life. And her body, translated with great reverence into the metropolitan church of St. Peter, was entombed beside the three holy Kings, where it still rests, and her chapel is shown to those who visit h. This glory her exceptional constancy in the divine worship deserved, in which, as we have said, she persevered so long. Let us therefore emulate her religious life, and despise all the vanity of the perverse world, that one day we may reign for ever with almighty God and with his beloved virgin St. Irmgard: for it is written: not he who has begun, but he who shall have persevered, shall be saved.