Alpinus

ON ST. ALPINUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT CHÂLONS IN THE CHAMPAGNE OF GAUL.

About the year DX.

PREVIOUS COMMENTARY.

Alpinus, bishop and confessor at Châlons in the Champagne of Gaul (S.)

BY J. S.

§ I. The Saint's memory in the more recent Calendars and his cult: two Acts, but written long after the Saint's death and not without errors.

[ ] Although St. Alpinus, bishop of Châlons in Champagne, shone with a signal glory of virtues and miracles, St. Alpinus's memory in the more recent Calendars, and has been honored with a sufficiently ancient cult, yet I find his memory neither in the more ancient Martyrologies nor in the modern Roman. It was inserted after Usuard's times in the Reims codex of Usuard of SS. Timothy and Apollinaris, in these words: At Châlons, of St. Alpinus, bishop and confessor. The Besançon codex of the same Martyrology has it thus: At Catalancium (read Châlons) of St. Alpinus, bishop and confessor, whose praiseworthy virtue most illustrious miracles testify. To two editions also of the Martyrology of Usuard the memory of St. Alpinus has been added at the same VII day of September, as may be seen in the same place in our Sollerius among the Auctaria of Usuard. Greven's words I transfer thence hither: At Châlons, of St. Alpinus the confessor, disciple of the same blessed Lupus (of Troyes): whence from the merits of the disciples it may be allowed to estimate the sanctity of the master. A like elogium has the Lübeck-Cologne edition. But Molanus wrongly announced St. Alpinus at the 2nd of September at Reims, unless for Albinus we must read Tilpinus, who died on that day, but lacks a cult. The manuscript Florarium of the Saints has it briefly: At Châlons, the deposition of St. Alpinus the confessor.

[2] The more recent martyrologists nearly all recorded the same Saint. an ancient cult, Of these Saussay had less knowledge of St. Alpinus, since he does not record him today, but at the 2nd of September announces Alpinus with Molanus at Reims, saying nothing of his episcopal see. Yet at the XXIX of July in the elogium of St. Lupus he makes mention of St. Alpinus of Châlons, and again in tome 2 in the Catalogue of the Saints, page 1234, records the same; but does not assign the day of the lawful cult. The Parisian Martyrology more correctly has it thus today: At Châlons, of St. Alpinus the bishop, disciple of St. Lupus of Troyes, in whose Life he is said in very many places to have driven demons out of men, and to have shone forth by the prerogative of a long-continued sanctity *. In the margin his death is fixed about the end of the fifth century. I do not adduce more of the moderns, because from various monuments and notices, partly printed, partly manuscript, it is certainly established that St. Alpinus is venerated in the diocese of Châlons on the VII day of September. And that the Saint's cult is ancient is plain from the translations of his body.

[3] Charles Rapine in the Annals of the diocese of Châlons, in Alpinus, page 65, records the following. the translations of the body: The first, which is also mentioned in the Acts, was made by Erchanrandus bishop of Châlons, who was elected after the middle of the ninth century, and therefore this translation may be broadly fixed about the year 860, since the praised prelate died before the year 870. And the Saint's body was then translated from the place of burial to the church of St. Andrew, which is now called St. Alpinus's, and is a parish church in the city of Châlons. A second translation the Acts likewise record, and Rapine with them, but without a note of time. In this translation the relics of St. Alpinus were divided, and the sacred ashes left in the said church of St. Alpinus; but the Saint's bones were placed in a precious casket, and carried to the cathedral church, where thenceforth they have been honorably preserved and exposed to the veneration of the faithful. That the sacred ashes in the church of St. Alpinus were visited by the prelate in the year 1623 on the festivity of St. Nicholas, that is, on the VI day of December, Rapine testifies, saying that he himself preached to the people at that solemnity. Thus far of the cult, from which I proceed to the Acts.

[4] Two Acts of the Saint, one shorter, the other longer: We have two manuscript Lives of St. Alpinus, which I have not seen published. The one is written summarily, the other in a style sufficiently diffuse and, for the time in which it seems to have been written, sufficiently Latin. Now I cannot clearly distinguish whether the shorter Life was composed as a summary from the longer for the lessons of the Office; or rather whether the author of the more lengthy one wished to polish and amplify the shorter Life, or the lessons of the ancient Office, in his own style, as appears to me more likely. This is certain, that these two Lives do not agree with one another in all things; but that certain things are found in the one which are not read in the other: some things also are narrated in a different manner in each, so that the shorter cannot be held for a mere summary of the more lengthy, nor this for the shorter merely amplified. For this cause I have judged that both must be published, the shorter in the first place, because I suspect it is more ancient; the more lengthy in the second place, because it seems to have been composed later. Of the former I have two manuscript copies, one of Châlons, the other from a manuscript of St. Victor of Paris, which I shall collate together. Of the latter I have three copies nearly agreeing with one another, except at the end, where in two copies many things are read under the title Miracles of St. Alpinus, which are not in the third copy, whether they were cut out of it as less worthy of credit, or whether they are by a more recent writer.

[5] [another account also inserted into the longer Life, which is plainly fabulous and to be omitted:] Certainly that whole history, to which the author or interpolator gave the title of miracles, appears plainly fabulous; and therefore I prefer to pass it over. Rapine expressed the whole in French in Alpinus. I deliver the matter in summary. When Attila with his army was approaching the city of Châlons, St. Alpinus is said to have fortified a neighboring hill, and to have placed many defenders on it. Attila, attacking that hill, had almost stormed it,

when the defenders suddenly called aloud upon Alpinus, who was staying in the city. The Huns, seized thereupon by a panic fear, break off the assault and withdraw toward the city. But Alpinus goes forth outside the city to meet Attila, and persuades him to pass by the city untouched. Nay more, not content with these things, Alpinus followed Attila as far as the Rhine, and demanded back the captives of Châlons. There he found Attila easy to his wishes, who ordered the captives to be restored; but he found the Huns resisting, if we believe Rapine, or the fabulous scrap. Grievous diseases therefore had to be inflicted from heaven to compel the Huns, so that Alpinus returned home in triumph with the captives. I cannot doubt that all these things are fabulous, and with some change wrested from St. Lupus to St. Alpinus; whatever Rapine may say about a procession wont to be instituted yearly by the people of Châlons: for this procession could have had another cause. And that this account is not by the writer whose lucubration I am about to give I am persuaded, because it is not had in one copy, and in the other two is separated from the rest by a different title, and lastly because I do not perceive why the biographer should have torn it from its place, in order to write separately the dealings with Attila after relating the Saint's death.

[6] It does not therefore please me to publish that fabulous history, which could be omitted without any loss, both Lives were written too late and defiled with errors. even if it belonged to the Life and were by the same author. For this cause I shall publish that copy in which it is neither found nor noted as omitted. We have that copy from a manuscript of André Duchesne, most well known for his writings, as I find noted above in the margin. I shall collate it with two other manuscripts of Châlons, from which it differs very little, and only in a few words now and then faultily written or slightly changed, which can easily be corrected. But now about both Lives I again forewarn the reader that, although I suspect the shorter was written first, yet I somewhat doubt about that matter, but can by no means doubt that both were written many centuries after the Saint, and therefore that both lack that authority which [ ] contemporary writers; nor can we believe that there was so great diligence in the author of either Life that it should supply the defect of the age; but it must rather be said that each attributed too much to his own conjectures, and so fell into various errors. And that these errors may be more certainly and clearly shown, the time of the episcopate and of the death of St. Alpinus must be diligently investigated.

otherwise, better, sanitatis*

§ II. The time of the episcopate of St. Alpinus is investigated: and thence the various errors of the Lives are shown: he was probably present at the council of Vannes.

[ ] Many have held that Alpinus sat in Attila's time; The praised Rapine in Alpinus, the Sainte-Marthes in tome 2 of Gallia Christiana, page 502, and other writers of later centuries have asserted without hesitation that Alpinus was bishop when Attila king of the Huns in the year 451 laid waste part of Gaul. Both Lives went before these, or rather poured darkness upon them. Our Sollerius too, at the V day of August in St. Memmius the first bishop of Châlons, admitted that opinion, but without the examination which was to be made in this place about St. Alpinus, and which was not necessary for Sollerius's purpose: for it comes to nearly the same thing for fixing the age of St. Memmius, whether Alpinus be the first bishop of Châlons who has a certain epoch, or Amandinus be the first, who is certainly established to have sat in the year 461, in which he was present at the council of Tours. And so by what is to be disputed the epoch which Sollerius attributed to St. Memmius's see will not be shaken. I observe, however, from the Acts of SS. Sixtus and Sinicius, which were given at the 1st of September, and from what was there disputed in the previous Commentary about those first bishops of the church of Reims, than whom I do not judge St. Memmius more ancient, that the coming of the praised Memmius can be deferred a little longer than Sollerius deferred it, and be fixed as the third century verged to its end.

[8] [but to Tillemont he seems to be placed after Amandinus, that is, after the year 461.] But now, to return to Alpinus: Tillemont in tome 16 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, in St. Lupus of Troyes, page 139, observed that a long episcopate is attributed to St. Alpinus, and that this cannot easily be found if he sat before Amandinus, known from the council of Tours of the year 461, after whom for this reason he believed Alpinus must be placed. This opinion I wished to examine diligently without any prejudice, and to survey various monuments to that end; and when I perceived that Tillemont's opinion could be strengthened by other reasons also, I judged that it must altogether be followed, especially since what can be brought forward for the contrary opinion is most slight. For I suspect that this prevailed from conjectures alone: namely, Alpinus was a disciple of St. Lupus: and he became most famous from the British legation against the Pelagians, and from his dealings with Attila king of the Huns. Hence it was easy for writers who did not weigh particulars to refer Lupus's Disciple to those times also.

[9] He was certainly a disciple of St. Lupus: in the year 461 he was not bishop: Now for fixing the episcopate of St. Alpinus we have these chronological notes, which are altogether certain and beyond doubt. First, he was a disciple of St. Lupus of Troyes, who held the see from the year 426 or 427 to 479. From this note it becomes certain that Alpinus flourished in the fifth century, nor does it seem to be doubted that he was made bishop before the end of the same century. But thence it cannot be inferred that he was bishop in Attila's time, that is, in the year 451, although some perhaps believed and wrote it by conjecture. The second note is Amandinus or Amandus the bishop, whose time becomes known from the council of Tours of the year 461: for to this subscribed Amandinus bishop of the city of Châlons, as may be seen in Labbe, tome 4 of the Councils, col. [ ]. And from this note it is certainly inferred either that Alpinus had already ended his episcopate in the year 461, or that he was made bishop after that time. It must therefore be seen which is more likely; and thence the epoch of St. Alpinus's episcopate must somehow be fixed; and not from the Acts, which go astray, as most have hitherto done.

[10] [according to what is asserted in the Lives Alpinus cannot have died before the year 461,] I say therefore that it is far more likely that St. Alpinus was made bishop after the year 461 than that he died before the aforesaid year, which is not even likely, and which most clearly contradicts both Lives of St. Alpinus. For both Lives make Alpinus a disciple of St. Lupus when already bishop, and both attribute to Alpinus forty-seven years of episcopate. Now St. Lupus was made bishop in the year 426 or 427. And so according to the Lives he did not die before the year 461, since he was certainly made bishop after St. Lupus, and the episcopate of Lupus himself in the year 461 was still far from the forty-seventh year. Rapine confesses that forty-seven years are attributed to Alpinus's see in all the monuments: and therefore he begins his episcopate from the year 433 and carries it to the year 480, fixing the council of Tours in the year 482. But this is a certain error, since the learned no longer doubt that the council of Tours was held in the year 461. Moreover both Lives indicate that Alpinus remained long under the discipline of St. Lupus, so that the assertions of the Lives can in no way be reconciled with the episcopate of Amandinus.

[11] Nay, the shorter Life refers the death of Alpinus to the year 546, [so that the Lives cannot be reconciled with the former opinion, nor be of profit to it.] and I find that year of death also noted in the margin of the more lengthy Life; nor do I doubt that it is the little note of some man of Châlons, but I know not whose. This epoch is indeed liable to error, since Lupus bishop of Châlons had already in the year 535 subscribed to the council of Clermont. Hence, however, it is plain how little ought to be attributed to those Lives for chronological order, and how we are not compelled by them to set St. Alpinus before Amandinus. Nay, the Hymn about St. Alpinus, sent to us together with the shorter Life, associates Amandus with SS. Lupus and Germanus of Auxerre, and joins Alpinus to them as their disciple and helper. But since neither this hymn nor the Lives of St. Alpinus are free from various errors; and since for that cause anyone might deservedly say that no solid argument is had from them, but that the years of St. Alpinus's episcopate must be reduced, I shall draw an argument from a better monument, being content to have shown thus far that the Lives of St. Alpinus must be corrected in many things, and that they are of no profit to the adversaries for setting Alpinus before Amandinus.

[12] The first Life of St. Lupus, given among us at the XXIX of July, The better Life of St. Lupus, whose author seems to speak of Alpinus as living, which all critics judge to be by an honest and coeval writer, and hold for authentic, at number XI records three distinguished disciples of St. Lupus and among them sets last St. Alpinus, of whom he seems to speak as of one living. And if St. Alpinus was living when that biographer wrote, he certainly did not die before the year 480, and probably survived long after St. Lupus. Let us therefore hear the words of this writer: Of St. Alpinus also, pontiff of the city of Châlons, resplendent with the prerogative of long-continued health, it must not be kept silent in very many places how often he was a purger of demons. This sentence Surius at the XXIX expressed thus in his own style: St. Albinus also, prelate of Châlons, eminent by the prerogative of a long-continued sanctity, we ought not silently to omit, how often he in very many places drove demons out of men. From these words of Surius Tillemont already gathered that Alpinus was long a bishop, and thence inferred that he does not seem to have died before the year 461. Yet the same is far more clearly gathered from our edition, since in the manuscripts the word sanitatis was found, which also agrees better with the phrase; not sanctitatis, as Surius has. For in what manner would the biographer praise in Alpinus the prerogative of long-continued health, if the Disciple had died nearly twenty years before his master, who died in the year 479? Nay, I rather judge that the biographer spoke of Alpinus as living, since his words altogether imply it. Nor does it matter that he honors him with the title of Saint: for living bishops at that time were not rarely called Saints, especially when they discharged the episcopal office in holiness, and were adorned with the glory of miracles.

[13] [it certainly proves that Alpinus did not die before 461, but lived at least in the year 480,] But now, if the biographer called Alpinus resplendent with the prerogative of long-continued health because in advanced age he was sound and vigorous, as his words seem altogether to be explained, this passage alone settles the whole controversy; since these things were certainly not written before the year 480, and probably after it: perhaps even about the end of the fifth century or the beginning of the following. If, however, anyone should wish to act more contentiously, and to wrest clear words into an alien sense, or ineptly to substitute long-continued sanctity for health from Surius,

not even so would he bring it about that it should remain credible that Alpinus died before the year 461. For these causes it seems it must be said that Alpinus was made bishop after the year 461, and presided long over the see of Châlons. That he was bishop about 465 is probably gathered from the council of Vannes, as I shall show at number 18. And if he administered his episcopate for forty-seven years, as the Lives have it, whose writers may have found this noted elsewhere, he cannot have died before the sixth century had begun some years, nor long before the year 510. Nor do I know any monument of any value which stands in the way of his being able to preside until the year 510 and longer.

[14] the year of his death is fixed about 510. Nay rather, if we attend to the name Alpinus, which was wrested to the Germanic dialect from the Roman name Albinus, as the Saint was without doubt named, and is thus already expressed in the Life of St. Lupus, we shall easily be able to believe that the Saint survived not a few years after the Franks, sprung from Germany, got possession of affairs in Champagne, which happened as the fifth century verged to its end. German too are the names of those seven sisters whom the Saint is said in the second Life, chapter 2, to have veiled, as I shall observe there in the Annotations. I suspect therefore that St. Alpinus lived not a few years with the Franks possessing Champagne, and I broadly fix his death about the year 510, until someone shall teach something more certain: for neither do I judge the forty-seven years of episcopate certain, nor do I think it certain that Alpinus lived until nearly the year 510. Nevertheless I can scarcely doubt that he sat after Amandinus, and prolonged his life beyond the year 480.

[15] Alpinus did not go into Britain with SS. Lupus and Germanus, But from this chronological order it follows that various things must be corrected, or rather altogether cut away, in both Lives. But those things are such that they could hardly be admitted as true, even if we followed that chronological order by which Alpinus was believed to have sat before Amandinus; since it does not seem to be doubted that all these things were asserted about Alpinus by biographers on slight conjectures, men imbued sufficiently with neither chronological nor historical knowledge. First therefore St. Alpinus's journey into Britain with the holy bishops Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes must altogether be repudiated. For the biographers narrated that journey so incongruously that the falsehood is manifestly plain. For both say that Alpinus was a young man when he was made a disciple of St. Lupus. And the second indeed brings him to St. Lupus in his adolescence, at numbers 2 and 3: nay, he is called by the same a most skilful Youth at number 4, when he was already under Lupus's discipline. The first at number 1 asserts that he was nearly twenty years old when he came to St. Lupus. Now, as the authentic Life of St. Lupus among us has it at number 4, St. Lupus set out with St. Germanus into Britain when a space of two years had run out from his episcopal ordination. And so Alpinus, according to the biographers themselves, was an adolescent or a youth when that British expedition against the Pelagian heresy was undertaken. An adolescent, I say, or a youth he was, even if, against likelihood, it be supposed that he came to Lupus in the same year in which the latter was consecrated bishop.

[16] Nevertheless the biographers make Alpinus not only a companion of the journey, when he was not yet a disciple of St. Lupus: but even the chief helper and official of the prelates, as both speak. All that about St. Alpinus I judge not only fabulous; but I suppose also that in the year 429, in which Germanus and Lupus set out into Britain, St. Alpinus was scarcely born, or at least was an infant or a boy. To that opinion I am led by the Life of St. Lupus, in which he is set only third among the three chief disciples of St. Lupus, as I have already observed. The other Life of St. Lupus, given in the second place at the XXIX of July, although otherwise less exactly written, here likewise deserves to be heard, because it explains the first. It has it thus at number 58: The third nevertheless of his hearers was Alpinus, bishop of the city of Châlons, conspicuous for every uprightness of manners, and most prompt in healing any sicknesses whatsoever of souls or of bodies; whose flowers of virtues, wrought both in the flesh and in the spirit, everywhere give forth their fragrance, and cling both to books full of things past and to men who behold things present: for by his aids chiefly the people of the city of Châlons believes itself to be fortified.* These words I have adduced the more gladly, the more illustrious is the elogium. But if he is only third among the holy disciples of Lupus, it is not likely that he was made his disciple in the first or second year of his episcopate. Further, at about what time he came to St. Lupus I nowhere find; but we can conjecture that Alpinus came to his discipline not long before the middle of the fifth century.

[17] The second error of both Lives is no less clear, nor was he consecrated bishop by St. Nicasius, by which St. Alpinus is said to have been consecrated bishop by St. Nicasius, bishop of Reims and martyr. This error I have already sufficiently refuted in St. Viventius, of whom I treated at this day: for I showed that the martyrdom of St. Nicasius happened in the year 407 by the Vandals bursting into Gaul. Nor can the opinion of those profit this Life who believed that St. Nicasius was killed in the year 451 by the Huns; since even so Nicasius died long before the episcopate of St. Alpinus, as is plain from the chronological order just given. Wherefore, if Alpinus was consecrated by the metropolitan of Reims, as is likely, it was more probably St. Remigius, of whom there will be discussion at the 1st of October. The biographers seem to have slipped into this error because they knew that St. Nicasius is joined with St. Lupus by Flodoard and others: for thence they could seize an occasion of joining Nicasius with Alpinus the disciple of Lupus.

[18] A third error, which occurs chiefly in the first Life, nor did he help the people of Châlons in Attila's time: seems to have arisen from a like occasion. The author knew that St. Lupus lived at the time when Attila was bursting into Gaul, and had earned much praise for saving the city of Troyes. He believed therefore that Alpinus his disciple was solicitous also for his own city of Châlons, and must have profited it much. But he would have written nothing of those things if he had investigated the times more accurately: for he would have learned that Alpinus was made bishop many years after Attila's irruption. These things may suffice for correcting the chief errors of the Acts. Yet there remain certain other things to be corrected, as I shall observe in the Annotations.

[19] Before, however, I subjoin the Lives, something else must be said about St. Alpinus, although I have seen it observed by no one. but more probably he was present at the council of Vannes; St. Perpetuus, prelate of Tours, celebrated two councils, the one in his own city of Tours in the year 461, to which, with nine other bishops, Amandinus of Châlons subscribed, the predecessor of St. Alpinus, as has been said; the other at Vannes in Armorican Brittany, whose year is uncertain; but generally that council is fixed about the year 465. To this council six bishops subscribed without the expression of their episcopal cities, and hence it comes about that the episcopal sees of two or three are unknown. And among these bishops of unknown sees is Albinus, subscribed in the third place. Wherefore I strongly suspect that this is our Alpinus of Châlons, especially because his predecessor Amandinus was present at the council of Tours, and indeed alone from the province of Reims: for St. Perpetuus was president of both councils.

[20] to which Albinus subscribed: he cannot be of Quimper or of Tréguier. Tillemont indeed in tome 16, in St. Perpetuus, page 401, lightly asserts that the two bishops whose sees are unknown, namely Paternus and Albinus, are probably of Quimper and of Tréguier . But he would have sweated much and labored in vain if he had wished to prove that the bishoprics of those cities had already been erected in the year 465. Certainly the author of the Parisian Martyrology at the XII of December fixes St. Corentinus the first bishop of Quimper in the sixth century; and at the XXX of November says that St. Tugdual was buried about the year 553 in the monastery out of which afterwards was made the episcopal church of Tréguier. But Tillemont did not attend to the beginning of those bishoprics, and therefore gave an improbable conjecture. A more diligent examination about the beginning of the said sees I too refer to the Lives of SS. Corentinus and Tugdual: but meanwhile I observe that it is most likely that it is our Alpinus who was present at the council of Vannes. Nor let anyone think that Albinus is another name than Alpinus; since it cannot prudently be doubted that our Saint's proper name is Albinus, which by the German dialect became Alpinus.

* books

* of Quimper

* of Tréguier

LIFE

by an anonymous author

from two manuscripts collated with one another.

Alpinus, bishop and confessor at Châlons in the Champagne of Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 0309

By an Anonymous author.

The Saint's birth: his excellent training: Alpinus was born in the territory of Châlons, in a village which is called Baia ^a, of illustrious family, of Christian parents, whose noble posterity for more than a thousand years ^b now retains its ancient nobility together with piety. Him from boyhood his parents took care to have imbued with letters and good morals, and when he was nearly twenty years old handed him over to the most holy Lupus, bishop of Troyes, for training. With him, when Alpinus had become most skilled in the ecclesiastical canons and in the divine law, before the lawful age, gravity of manners and an old man's prudence commending him, he was appointed judge or official of ecclesiastical causes.

[2] his election to the episcopate: But when the Pelagian heresy had infected the Britons, there were sent by the bishops of the Gauls Germanus and Lupus, to recall the erring peoples to the truth of the Catholic faith by holy preachings. Alpinus, as Lupus's official ^c in that holy legation, so bore himself in counsel, in doctrine, in the integrity of his judgments, that, although inferior in degree, he seemed equal in virtue to the most holy bishops. A few months after their return ^d into Gaul the prelate of the province of Châlons ceased to live among men. Then, with the greatest consent of clergy and people, Alpinus, though absent, is demanded; and at last, overcome by the authority of Lupus and of St. Nicasius ^e, archbishop of Reims, he is consecrated bishop of Châlons.

[3] Some years after there comes a barbarian enemy, Attila ^f king of the Huns, his dealings with Attila: insolent with many victories, who burns Reims when taken, kills Nicasius, and holds in chains very many of the citizens of Châlons whom he had intercepted: he threatens the city with ruin and burning. Alpinus, prepared to lay down his life for his sheep, goes to the most cruel tyrant: he exhorts him with holy persuasions to clemency, and so great divine grace shone forth in him that he obtained the safety of the city with the deliverance of the captives.

[4] Forty-seven years ^g being passed in the episcopate, being sick he is carried by the counsel of the physicians to Baia: his death, burial, cult. where, his disease growing worse, he passed to the Lord on the seventh Ides of September, in the year of Christ DXLVI ^h, and was buried in the church of St. Andrew of Châlons ⁱ, which is now sacred to him. The august Trinity

works a wondrous work through its Saint, for a certain madman, lacking sight, seeking food, is healed, gains, is refreshed ^k. A certain man already laid out for burial, while he was being carried to the tomb, at the Saint's prayer is quickened, rises, and praises God.

ANNOTATIONS.

A SECOND LIFE

by an anonymous author

From a manuscript of André Duchesne, collated with two others.

Alpinus, bishop and confessor at Châlons in the Champagne of Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 0310

By an Anonymous author.

CHAPTER I.

The birth of St. Alpinus: his training under the discipline of St. Lupus: his election to the episcopate: certain other fabulous matters.

[ ] His illustrious birth, The clemency of God, ever ready to succor the various misfortunes of men, stretched forth from heaven a hand of aid when it set the venerable Alpinus over the church of Châlons, that, relieved by his pastoral solace, it might be carried up from the dust of divers calamities to the lofty seat of prosperity. Whose beginning of the present ^a life is reported to have been in the village which is called Baia, of very illustrious * birth; and, what is more excellent, he was brought forth of worshippers of the orthodox religion. In the purification of the sacred font he was called Alpinus by a divine presage ^b, whom the divine condescension so filled with its grace from the very rudiments of his sacred boyhood that his still tender disposition showed beforehand by happy tokens what and how great he would be in the age to follow.

[2] Perceiving this, his most illustrious parents, and believing themselves fortunate in the fruitfulness of so great an Offspring, the studies of his boyhood: judge that the Boy must be devoted to God the bestower of all good things: nor did they delay to consign him at once to the liberal studies of letters: in which, with the grace of the Holy Spirit * accompanying, he appeared so apt that already then the opinion of all foretold of him with good omen that he would be a great salvation to his country. But now, when he had entered the years of adolescence, how great merits of sanctity increased in him, whether one should attempt to describe them with the hand, or rather to explain them all with the tongue, he will fail in the very attempt. But that our discourse be not too lengthy and so a cause of weariness to devout ears, let us bring forth in a brief speech a few things out of many, from which the reader's prudence may conjecture greater things about him.

[3] At that time therefore Lupus the prelate, worker of marvellous works, was most worthily ruling the church of Troyes. his coming to St. Lupus of Troyes, Since swift rumor bore about the deeds of his distinguished life not only through the neighboring towns, but also through divers parts of the world, it happened that these penetrated the ears of Alpinus. Presently, with divine grace as his companion, he flies to him; for he judged it a wickedness in himself if he should abstain from the presence of so great a man, by whose work and teaching he might be able to be advanced to higher things. Whom when the most holy prelate had received most joyfully and with much embracing, with great sweetness of charity, at length he asks him: O, said he, Alpinus, long most desired, whom religious acts have reported commendable to us, what cause has impelled thee to come to us? Being called forth, he said, by the fame of your blessedness, venerable father, I have come that I may be instructed in your disciplines. And the pontiff: If for this thou hast come, my Son, although a man avails little to confer any of these things upon a man, unless that supreme Artificer be present as co-worker, enlightening the hearts of the faithful; yet if thou judgest that any profit of thy contest is to be had from our humility, do as thou wilt, and abide; and may he cherish us alike and instruct us with his ministries, who has promised to be most present to those who seek him.

[4] Remaining therefore with the prelate, Alpinus was gradually formed to more perfect things as much by his exhortation as by his example, [under whose discipline he advances. When the Britons were vexed by the Pelagian heresy,] and, most devoutly persisting as an explorer of each of his virtues, the most skilful youth ^c strove with all his efforts to transfer them into himself. About that same time the Pelagian heresy had infected the faith of the Britons ^d. Wherefore, as is believed, by divine vengeance they were seized with various disasters, for they could not bear the very frequent incursions and encounters of the neighboring nations, namely of the Scots, Picts, and Angles ^e: and when they bewailed that many of their own had been laid low by the sword, and more proscribed in captivity, and when they did not obtain the accustomed help from the Romans — for once and again, being implored, the Romans had brought them aid — all alike guard their life by the help of flight, but were also nearly consumed by a dire and most notorious famine which followed. Straitened on every side by these calamities, they are compelled at length to confess that they suffer all these things for the wickedness of a defiled faith. And so, sending envoys without delay, they seek help from the Gallican pontiffs for the correcting of the faith.

[5] But the prelates, an assembly being held, inquired what useful thing could be bestowed upon men sorrowful and destitute of all comfort. Lupus therefore, prelate of Troyes, SS. Germanus and Lupus are sent thither: and they St. Alpinus and also Germanus, ruler of the people of Auxerre, being alike chosen, they decree must be sent to still the storm of this whirlwind. For these at that time, eminent above all the bishops of the Gauls as much for the signs of miracles as for the abundance of their most salutary preaching, were held the most distinguished. When each of the bishops gladly obeyed the commands and prepared the supplies with which such a journey could be accomplished, since it by no means became so great sowers of the divine word to undertake so great a labor without a minister most fit for the ecclesiastical Sacraments, they choose Alpinus alike as partner and official ^f for the supplying of this business: for he was both illumined by heavenly grace more excellently than the rest, and most effectively strong in a twofold knowledge; and, that he might answer to the dignity of his name by sacred manners, he shone also, breathing sweetly in the likeness of lilies, with the beauty of virginity, and being a glorious cultivator of the outward virtues, he stood lofty in their citadel, like a city upon a mountain's top.

[6] are said to have chosen as companion of the journey and helper. Him therefore being summoned, the holy pontiffs declare to him the aforesaid purpose. Hence he, exceedingly glad that he had been so greatly esteemed by them that they deigned to take him into the ministry of their service, falling at their feet, said: You, excellent fathers, has Christ chosen, to whom he may commit his holy things: to you, evangelizing to the world the things that are God's, the word of salvation has been given with much power, which to receive from your mouth and to keep is always most salutary to all mortals: for he who hears you hears indeed Christ, who speaks in you. Therefore it becomes us to obey you who cultivate the Lord's field, and I confess myself debtor to your excellence for no small grace, because it has not pleased you that I should be absent from the presence of your sanctity. These holy men therefore, joined by the indissoluble bond of charity, and agreeing in a like will, the Trinity of the one true God accompanying them, journey to Britain.

[7] This expedition being happily accomplished, But what and how great portents the adorable Godhead then wrought through his servants in the course of this journey, we confess ourselves, being overcome by the material, unable to declare in full. For wherever, whether in cities or in villages, they took up lodgings, before they arrived there they were announced by the fame of miracles, and very often even the names and merits of each were noted by the possessed and the lunatics, though the herald was unwilling: and so, committing themselves to the unexplored sea in wintry seasons, they calmed the waves of the terrible ocean by the rudder of prayer. Then, having been carried amid the threats of the waves into a harbor of serenity, when, as we said, they had sent before them the news of their coming by frequent miracles, at length, drawing near the walls of the cities or fortresses, they were received by the concourse of all. Here indeed to the Britons, as after the horror of blind night,

[8] and the bishop of Châlons being dead, he is elected, At that time Proventus the bishop was ruling the church of Châlons, and on his departing from human affairs ^g the citizens seek out a successor, and, as is wont to happen, when several strove to thrust themselves forward not for the sake of the Lord's gain, but from ambition for a perishable honor, God, who makes the tongues of infants eloquent, that out of the mouth of the humble, for the casting down of enemies, he may perfect his own praise, stirred up the hearts of all to the acclamation of Alpinus. At that time the most blessed man Nicasius ^h, of angelic life, presided over the metropolis of Reims, and that renowned man, afterwards an excellent martyr of Christ, famous for many wonders of signs, like a lamp set upon a candlestick, that it may give light to those who are in the house of God, blazed with flashing light. With the authority therefore of so great a man the people of Châlons, seeking their most happy Fellow-citizen, at once send men who should hasten with the greatest speed to bring him.

[9] Which when the man full of God learned, being affected with huge grief, yet greatly resisting, he began to consider whether perhaps he could escape by flight ⁱ. When the cunning men who had come to bring him had perceived his attempt, they interpellate the holy pontiff Lupus with suppliant prayers that he would deal with him, that he might consent of his own accord to hasten with them to obtain the pontifical dignity. Whom that most moderate man, having called him, approached with kindly correction, saying: Do not, dearest one, do not cast away the grace of God with which thou art abundantly endowed: for not without heavenly nod has the consonant voice of the mixed people been stirred up to thy election. Shall the Church of God, against the writings of Paul, receive thee as a Neophyte for its Ruler, whom from the very cradle it has cherished, and whom it has thoroughly imbued with the institutions of sacred discipline? What author of this obstinacy dost thou emulate? Or art thou ignorant that, just as frail and imperfect men who imprudently thrust themselves forward are condemned for the ruin of presumption, so also those whom the merit of their life makes commendable, when they are chosen for such a burden, if they prove unwilling beyond what is right, are in like manner condemned by resisting?

[10] But if thou fearest to be ensnared in the nets of the most crafty enemy, and is consecrated bishop of that church. by which any incautious possessor of such honor may easily be deceived; yet thee, hitherto safe from these, heavenly grace will henceforth more fully protect, while thou watchest for the salvation of many. But go forward without delay, my Son, and committing thyself wholly to God, seek not the things that are thine own, but the things that are Jesus Christ's. For he assuredly will dispatch all obstacles. Overcome, or rather strengthened, by these exhortations, the holy man Alpinus said: I had determined, venerable father, never to be parted from the face of thy blessedness while this present life remained: but, lest I should seem to resist thee, through whom I know without doubt that the Lord speaks to me, let the will of God speaking in thee and thy will alike be done. Commending himself therefore to the prayers of the blessed prelate, and having sought his blessing, he is swiftly led away, and being consecrated with the pontifical blessing by the aforesaid holy Nicasius, is placed in the episcopal see with the great favor of the people.

ANNOTATIONS.

otherwise præclaris*

otherwise Dei*

CHAPTER II.

The bishop shines with virtues and miracles: he consecrates seven virgin sisters: his pious death, burial, and the translations of his body.

[ ] The Prelate's excellent virtues, But now, the episcopate being taken up, how great works of God shone forth in him, who could worthily unfold? There was in his heart the same humility which had been before; the same meekness, the same gravity, the same meanness in dress. And following by imitation the pious footsteps of the supreme and true Shepherd, he watched as a solicitous Shepherd over the flock committed to him, and beat back the darts of the enemy who lay in wait with the shield of holy prayer. Whatever was life-giving, whatever salutary to the soul, wholesomely implanting in the minds of his subjects (as he had learned from Paul), by reproving, beseeching, rebuking, as a faithful Exactor he instantly demanded back the Lord's gains. Nor indeed did he preach with his mouth in any way otherwise than as he showed in himself what was to be done. Toward offenders he uttered his speech according as the salvation of each who was corrected required. To the meek and gentle he showed himself conformed and equal; but to the proud and hard of heart, as from a judgment-seat, he threatened with menacing countenance. He was zealous to be generally loved by all rather than feared, rather to profit all than to preside over them.

[12] Amid these things he also gave his labor to works of mercy, and his excellent works of mercy: so that he seemed to say with the Apostle: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? So great was the vigor of charity in him that he by no means thought himself prospered unless the abundance of his goods supplied the want of the needy, obeying namely the precepts of Christ, and paying out the income of his patrimony, which was of ample ^a amount, to the least brethren of the same Lord Jesus, that is, to the poor, widows, orphans, strangers, the feeble, and those afflicted in whatever way, that he himself might one day receive from him the patrimony of an unfailing treasure. But since the multitude of his virtues surpasses the sum of our narration, yielding to these for the time, let us approach what follows: whence it may appear at what time he was needful in a strait.

[13] But now, as he drew near the walls of his city, a possessed man, who was also blind, is healed: all the citizens, clergy and people together, glad, bearing before them the sacred insignia with divine praises, going out to meet him, receive the Pontiff full of God. And when, surrounded by a crowd of the people, he drew near the gates of the city, a certain most wretched man, possessed for many years by a most cruel demon, deprived of sight, fed for a long time rather with madness than with bread, running through the midst of the throngs, came near, horrible in his very look, saying: Ho, said he, Alpinus, returning from the Huns ^b thou hast restored many to liberty, and refreshed more with food: I ask therefore that thou also comfort me with thy food: for I am greatly failing with hunger. Saying this, being dashed to the ground he rolled about, bringing forth foam miserably from his mouth. Which being seen, the Man of the Lord, suffused with tears, lifting his eyes to heaven, prayed with a silent prayer. He commanded the wicked spirit to leave its captive, and it obeyed; then, making the sign of the cross upon him, at once the blind man received his sight. Then, the people rejoicing, leading the man with him into the episcopal house, he refreshed him with food: to whom also, while he remained in this body, he abundantly granted garments and food. For he was a chief worshipper of the Trinity of the one true God, and therefore, supported by his help, he completed a threefold work of aid in one work of piety.

[14] Once, when for the sake of prayer he was going to the basilica of St. Memmius ^c with some clerics, he hears the tumult of a lamenting crowd, a dead man raised. and stopped, desiring to know what it was: for so great bowels of piety were in him that he could not behold one mourning without being himself also at once suffused with an abundant flood of tears. When therefore he had learned what that lamentation of the mourners signified, he went and entered the house: he beholds a man already laid out for burial, he beholds the bier on which the corpse was to be carried out: those standing round, and those who had followed him, believed that the kindly Man had come for the commendation of the soul. But he, prostrate on the ground, prayed a long while. Rising from prayer, he came close. Then, the napkin being removed from the face, he began to handle the forehead and breast of the man lying there. I am about to tell marvels: at his touch the veins began to grow warm again, the breast to throb, the several limbs little by little to move themselves. Then, gazing into his face, he calls him by his own name. And when he answered, he said: Christ commands thee to rise, and to be from this hour whole. Who, quickly rising at the Pontiff's command, was restored to the most perfect health, so that not even a sign of sickness appeared in him thereafter. Those standing by therefore, and those who before, providing for a sad funeral, were weeping, began to weep again for joy, wondering at him standing most healthy whom a little before they had seen lying dead.

[15] Seven sisters, dwelling with their parents, There were at that time at Perthes ^d in the territory of Châlons seven sisters ^e, sprung of the noble stock of each parent ^f, most noble, strong in body, most beautiful in face, happily reared with great care by their parents. On a certain day therefore, while the man of the Lord Alpinus ^g out of pastoral diligence was traversing the villages of his diocese for the sake of preaching, he is related to have come to that estate on which the aforesaid virgins, as has been said, were being brought up with no slight care by their parents. Who, when they had liberally received the holy Prelate with joy, the most chaste Pontiff, beholding the beautiful virgins (for they were already marriageable), silently prayed the Lord that the counsel of chastity might be sown in their minds. After many things therefore had been brought forth and offered from that fount of a most holy breast to the bystanders and to the crowds flocking together, concerning what in the stadium of this exile is to be avoided by each contender and what is to be sought, he poured forth so lofty a discourse also on the praise of virginity that forthwith they devoted

themselves, the girls, to keep their virginity while the present life should be their companion.

[16] he consecrates the virgins: their exceeding holiness. For when the Pontiff had departed, they disclose to one another what they had in mind, and renouncing their parents and their patrimonies, burning with one and the same ardor of chastity, they hastily go to the Bishop, the author of their salvation, and falling at his feet, most devoutly implore with a great flood of tears that he would provide and deliver to them a rule of a wholesome life ^h. Which when the most clement Man had heard, lifting his eyes to heaven, he said: I give thanks to thy clemency, Jesus Christ, who, deigning to hear the prayer of my littleness, hast inflamed these little maidens in the sweetness of thy love, pouring thy Spirit into their hearts. Instructing them therefore in monastic ⁱ disciplines, and covering them with the sacred veil, he consecrated them to God, and had care of them all the time of his own life ^k. Whose life shone forth with so holy a conversation, so with miracles, that the works of each need volumes of their own: for they commanded demons, cured paralytics, gave light to the blind, raised up the lame, and healed all the sick by holy prayer ^l. Deservedly in all these things is to be proclaimed and recalled the praise of Alpinus, the most wise architect and founder of so great a building: for he made him praiseworthy in all things, wondrous in all things, whose love and whose praise never departed from his heart and mouth.

[17] Heavy with years and merits, But when the merciful God, the strength and crown of the blessed, decreed now to complete the contests of his Servant and to render the wage of so great labors, he deigned to hear his tearful sighs and groans, in which he lamented that he was a pilgrim from the Lord. For the dwelling of this mortality was heavy to him, because he was kept back from the soil of the generation that lives for ever: he desired to be dissolved from the bonds of the flesh, that he might deserve to be rejoicing with Christ, whom he had loved with his whole heart, cherished with his whole mind, sought with all his strength: armed with whose faith, strengthened by hope, protected by charity, engaging in the stadium of this contest with the prince of the world, he stood forth victor. And like a veteran soldier bearing back a triumph from the enemy, he awaited to receive the palm of victory from the King of kings. Blessed his mind, blessed his soul, worthy of the praise of all blessedness: whose limbs, though the sword of persecution did not cut them off, yet will not lack the glory of martyrdom, since both in labor and in soul he wished to be a martyr, and could not.

[18] When he perceived the day of his calling drawing near, an ailment of the body coming upon him, when sickness came on, he is carried to Baia, and there dies: calling together his household, the clergy and people of the city, he addresses them after his wonted manner concerning the observance of the law of God, exhorts them, and at last admonishes them not to bear his bodily absence heavily: and so bidding them farewell, and blessing them, and being dismissed with many tears of his own people, he revisits Baia, namely the soil of his birth, that she who, having been well enriched by his birth, was fruitful of so great a Germ, might also, opening the bosom of burial to him dying, be the more blessedly sanctified. In which place, his languor growing heavier for some days, at length on the seventh Ides of September, full of sanctity and of the grace of God, in the forty-seventh ^m year of his episcopate, leaving his body to the earth, he sent his soul, borne by the ministry of angels, into heaven: whom the choir of the blessed, joyfully receiving, embraces and caresses, and exulting that he has been made their fellow, does not omit to render unfailing thanks to almighty God: standing with whom, he enjoys his presence, thence without doubt looking upon us, ever mindful of us; whom whosoever, weighed down by the burden of his sins, shall devoutly and faithfully and without hesitation invoke, will easily feel his aid at once obtained, for the bestowing * of it.

[19] And that venerable body was buried in the basilica of St. Peter ⁿ the chief of the Apostles, his burial and the translations of the body. at whose sepulchre the power of the Lord deigned to work many and stupendous miracles, which slothful beholders have hitherto left unwritten. This, however, is stupendous, that although the barbarians attempted many times, out of envy, to destroy the crypt with which his sepulchre is covered, they prevailed nothing at all. After many years at length that venerable body was translated by Erchenrad the bishop, of good memory, and laid up in the church of blessed Andrew the apostle, situated not far from the wall of the city of Châlons ^o. Then in course of time it was carried into the city with much devotion of the citizens, and honorably placed in the basilica of the holy martyr and protomartyr Stephen [p], that is, in his own see, where many benefits are afforded to the peoples by his prayers and merits [q].

ANNOTATIONS.

their father's house, and then after their father's death each in her own dwelling, which they had acquired from their paternal inheritance: for, as is said in the Life of St. Pusinna at number XI, the father, being about to die, determined to divide the inheritance among the blessed virgins, lest anything should be wanting to them whereby they might the less be free for their purpose of sanctity.

p It is the cathedral of Châlons. This translation the writer of the first Life omitted, perhaps because it had not yet been performed when he wrote.

q In one copy there is added, unto this present day, which I do not find in the others, and therefore I have omitted it.

perhaps præstandum*