Evurtius

ON ST. EVURTIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT ORLÉANS IN GAUL.

More probably about the year CCCXL.

PREVIOUS COMMENTARY.

Evurtius, bishop and confessor at Orléans in Gaul (S.)

BY J. S.

§ I. The Saint's most ancient memory and cult in the Calendars.

The memory of St. Evurtius, bishop of Orléans, is celebrated in most of the ancient Calendars, but with the name somewhat changed: for sometimes he is written Evurtius, as in the manuscript Acts; sometimes Evortius or Evortus; nay, even faultily Evotus. His memory in the most ancient Calendars The Hieronymian codices which Florentinius followed, and in which we not rarely find the names of Saints distorted, have it thus: At Orléans, the deposition of St. Evotus, bishop and confessor. The most ancient Antwerp or Epternach codex, in the same place in the annotations, more briefly in this manner: At Orléans, of Evortus the bishop. The Corbie: At the city of Orléans, the deposition of St. Evortius, bishop and confessor. With these nearly agree the other Hieronymian codices which have been published among us in tome VII of June, in d'Achéry in the Spicilegium, and in Martène, tome 3 of the Anecdota, excepting nevertheless a few in which the memory of St. Evurtius is passed over. These auctaria of the Hieronymian Martyrology, which without doubt are very ancient, show the Saint's ancient cult, which is further to be confirmed from what follows, and from what will be disputed about the translations of his body in §4.

[2] Those who in the middle age, that is in the ninth century and afterwards, announced the memory of St. Evurtius, composed elogia out of the Acts. and in the chief Calendars of the middle age, yet not in Bede or Ado: Rabanus has it thus: At the city of Orléans, of St. Evortius, bishop and confessor, who after Desinianus obtained the bishopric of that church: who also by the divine nod, in the form of a dove, was shown worthy by the election of the Holy Spirit to receive the bishopric, as is written in his Life. He fulfilled his days in a noble and holy manner of life, and was famous for miracles, and himself, knowing the day of his death by revelation, chose beforehand the holy Anianus as future bishop, lest sedition should arise among the people; and so he passed to the heavenly glory. Usuard wove together a briefer elogium from the same Acts thus: At the city of Orléans, the deposition of St. Evurtius the confessor, who, as his deeds testify, was first a subdeacon of the holy Roman Church, then by a divine gift was designated by a dove as bishop of the aforesaid city. These words the author of the Hagiologium Franco-Galliæ, which Labbe published, adopted. Wandelbert most briefly commemorates the same Saint in these words: Evortius the prelate keeps the seventh day. But in Bede and Ado the memory of St. Evurtius is not found in their genuine Calendars, although it is generally celebrated in the Martyrologies published under their names. Georgi indeed, who lately reprinted the Martyrology of Ado, doubts whether Evurtius was rightly banished by Rosweyde into the Appendix. But that the announcement of St. Evurtius is not to be attributed to Ado seems to be sufficiently proved from the fact that it was not found in the more ancient codices. The elogium which Georgi found in certain codices, and recited in his Annotations, seems rather to have been added to Ado from Usuard than to have been written by Ado.

[3] For the same reason I judge that the elogium is not Florus's which was given under his name by Papebroch together with the Martyrology of Bede, published before tome 2 of March. nor is the elogium here recited Florus's, as many have thought: For since Florus went before Ado, Ado would neither have omitted Evurtius, nor announced him with a brief elogium, if he had found so lengthy a one in Florus. Yet because it is ancient, I transfer the whole hither. At Orléans, the deposition of St. Evurtius, bishop and confessor, who in the time of the emperor Constantine, having gone forth for the sake of seeking his brothers, entered into the city of Orléans: where, while the clergy and people were then celebrating a three days' fast for the bishop to come, he was received in lodging by the doorkeeper of the church, and by God's nod was detained until the third day of the appointed fast. When the bishops who had been summoned and all the people were flocking to the church, he too entered together with his doorkeeper. And as they prayed and awaited the mercy of the Lord, behold, by God's prompting a dove sent through a window that had been set in entered, shining like an immense light, and began to fly about through nearly the whole church after the manner of one searching out a person. Which, having spied St. Evurtius standing by the door, at once settled upon his head. Which sign the people wondering at, poured out further prayers to God that the miracle might be doubled and tripled again. As they thus prayed, the dove came a third time, and a third time settled upon the head of the aforesaid Man. By this token given from heaven he was made bishop for the people of Orléans: to whom the Lord conferred so great grace that he afforded a medicinal remedy to the sick, and boundless benefit to those worn out by divers calamities. For at the hour of the breaking of the heavenly bread, when after the priestly custom he offered for blessing the Host offered to God three times with uplifted hands, there appeared above his head as it were a shining cloud, and a hand stretched out from the cloud blessed the offerings with fingers extended. Which miracle to him alone and to the subdeacon

and to one penitent and one woman vowed to chastity alone it was permitted to see. And his captive brothers he received back safe after forty years. Written in his deeds.

[4] the chief feast is celebrated on the VII day of September, I pass over very many Martyrologies of the following centuries, published by various men or hitherto unpublished, in which the memory of the same Saint is briefly announced on the VII day of September. In one only of them I observe that the Saint is announced as a martyr. It is the Trier one, and it is not rightly inscribed with the name of Bede, as the editor Martène confesses, in whom, tome 6 of the Ample Collection, it is thus read at the aforesaid day: And the passion of St. Evortius the bishop. But all the other Calendars, agreeing thus far with the Acts and the Offices, announce St. Evurtius as a confessor, and he has always been venerated here as a confessor in the church of Orléans, so that that single one must certainly yield to the common consent of the others, although the editor liberally attributes to it eight hundred years of age. The more recent martyrologists nearly all, with the Roman Martyrology, announce the chief feast of St. Evurtius on the VII day of September, on which likewise the Office of the same Saint is found in the Breviaries of Orléans. The most recent writers assert that it is celebrated on the same day even now in the diocese of Orléans, nor does there seem to be any doubt about it. That the same feast is also kept in the dioceses of Chartres, Le Mans, and Tournai, Le Maire writes in the Antiquities of Orléans, or in the History of the bishops, page 142.

[5] but the translation on the XII of June. Moreover, that a feast of the translation is commemorated by some on the XII day of June our Predecessors already observed in the same place among the Prætermissi. I transfer the words hither: A translation of St. Evurtius, bishop of Orléans, is indicated in the Roman manuscript of the duke of Altemps, and by Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology. The same is mentioned by Belinus in the enlarged Gallia, and by Canisius. The praised Saussay, from the Office of the translation to be given below, pursued it in more words, of which I subjoin the latter part: The memory of which thing, on account of the merits of so great a Prelate and for the glorification of the divine magnificence, pious antiquity religiously venerated, adorning it with anniversary rites, and left it to posterity also to be piously kept by hereditary religion, as the day inscribed in the Calendars of the church of Orléans, and the anniversary celebration which flourishes even now, clearly testify. This feast also I find noted in the Calendar of Orléans, in manuscript among us, where also a miracle is reported that was wrought at the translation.

§ II. The Life of St. Evurtius defiled with various fables, in which the false are hard to separate from the true; yet it is to be published from the manuscripts.

[ ] Various copies of the Life sufficiently agreeing with one another; The Life of St. Evurtius is found both in manuscript and in print, but is not sufficiently approved by more recent writers, who read it in Surius, or in some other edition, I know not whose. Surius changed the style: but another edition in quarto, of which I have only the leaves, agrees well enough with the manuscript copies. And of manuscript copies we have not a few, and we know that more exist in various places. For first we have one in a parchment codex, marked P. Ms. 158; a second in another paper codex of smaller size, which is marked P. Ms. 6. Of the same Life there are two copies to hand, collated with several others; one namely from a most ancient manuscript of D. Preudhomme and of the illustrious Puteanus, and that collated with three others, as is read written in the margin; the other sent hither by our Chifflet from two other manuscript codices. This last is mutilated at the end; but that defect Chifflet partly supplied from another most ancient codex. All these manuscripts agree so with one another that in a collation of all I have not found many differences of any moment, but very many slighter changes of words. Everywhere there is added a very brief epilogue, in which the writer of the Life is named as Lucifer the subdeacon, except however in our parchment codex, where the author's name together with that whole epilogue has been omitted, as was done also in Surius.

[7] The praised Chifflet transmitted to us another copy of the Life of St. Evurtius from a manuscript of the monastery of Acey and of St. Bénigne of Dijon, another one interpolated. which differs so notably from all the preceding that it might be called another Life. This agrees with that which Charles Saussay mentions in the Annals of Orléans, page 58, where he says that it is had in the monastery of St. Evurtius of Orléans. Certainly the things which Saussay recites from his are also read in this of ours, but not in the former. No author's name is read inscribed to this latter one; no preface is prefixed, it is closed by no epilogue, as the preceding is. Moreover not a few circumstances of the facts are found in the latter of which there is nothing in the former. Some facts also are not only more briefly narrated in the latter, but also in some other manner, yet in such a way that all the things which displease in the former are read also in the second, so that this cannot be approved if the former be disapproved. Now it seems it cannot be doubted that the one was composed out of the other, or rather somewhat interpolated. Wherefore I suspect that the Acey copy was interpolated by someone who wished somewhat to emend the former Life, and to augment it with certain circumstances. For this reason I shall publish the former from the manuscripts collated with one another, and shall recite the notable differences of the Acey manuscript in the Annotations.

[8] Tillemont in tome 8 of the Monuments of the Church, in St. Justus of Lyons, declares of the Acts of St. Evurtius Some judge these Acts not only faulty, but altogether to be repudiated: that they labor under such great difficulties that it is at once the safest and the shortest course to abandon those Acts altogether: and this criticism the authors of the Literary History of France, tome 4, page 88, followed. Baillet too, in the critical Table at the VII of September, acknowledges the Acts of St. Evurtius to be either altogether supposititious, or at least interpolated with fables in various places: nor yet did he believe they should be altogether abandoned, since it is from these Acts that the things are had which he chose to narrate about the beginning of the episcopate and about the sepulchre of St. Evurtius. Now the praised Tillemont, in note 8 upon St. Justus, alleges the reasons by which he was led to pass so severe a judgment upon these Acts. And these reasons are such that it cannot be denied that the said Acts are defiled with various errors, and that not a few facts are reported in them which are not likely. Wherefore I would neither wish to defend these Acts as genuine, nor to publish them as such: nor yet would I think it necessary to adopt all the severity of Tillemont's censure. Let us therefore hear and examine the chief arguments which persuade us that the Acts must either be disapproved and corrected, or even altogether repudiated.

[9] Concerning the age of the Acts, Tillemont first observes that they are praised by Usuard, [the same think they were written in the eighth century: but they seem more ancient,] and thence concludes that they were written, at the least, in the eighth century. For the same reason the writers of the Literary History just praised refer the Acts to about the middle of the eighth century. Baillet, although he believed that Florus, more ancient than Usuard, drew from those Acts, preferred to assign the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth. But if anyone should seek my judgment about the age of the Acts, I shall answer that the age of the Acts is indeed very uncertain, yet that they seem much more ancient than the praised writers believed. For first, nothing is read in the Acts which compels us to call them later than the sixth century. Why then should we determine that they were composed in the eighth century, when they were praised in the ninth by Usuard and Rabanus, who speak of them as of an ancient monument? If we consult the style of these Acts, it certainly agrees better with the fifth or sixth century than with the eighth, in which barbarism and ignorance most of all reigned until the study of letters was restored by Charlemagne: for the style of these Acts is not indeed altogether pure; yet it lacks those barbarous words and expressions with which the monuments of the eighth century, and most of those of the seventh, swarm. If we run through the Acts from the beginning to the end, we shall find nothing reported in them which was done after the fifth century, no person named who is known to have lived later.

[10] as is probably shown by certain reasons: Then, if we weigh all those things which are reported to have been done after the Saint's death, we shall see indeed that the Acts are not by a coeval writer; but we shall find nothing by which we should remove the writer four centuries from the Saint. Certainly he is silent about the translation of the body, which we shall see must be connected with the eighth century, and fixed about the year 731 or 732. He reports also that the Saint was buried in the field of Tetradius, a man of prefectorian rank, and says that a small cell was built by him over his burial-place, where he affirms that miracles are and have been wrought: but he adds no word about that oratory having been enlarged or amplified. Yet it does not seem to be doubted that that cell grew much before the eighth century, since in the time of Charlemagne it was an abbey of canons. From these things I conclude that there is in the whole Life no indication whereby it is hinted that it was written after the sixth century, and that the style also and the other characteristics of the Life agree with no century more than with the sixth, in which the science of chronology and of antiquity had already much declined in Gaul, and in which miracles were most of all written in the Lives of the Saints, as was done in the Life of St. Evurtius, without sufficient knowledge of things formerly done and of the times; but with a style less barbarous than was customary in the eighth century; nay, and far purer than that which St. Gregory of Tours used toward the end of the sixth century.

[11] these Acts seem to have been composed not only in the sixth or seventh century, For these reasons I think it far more probable that the Life of St. Evurtius was written in the sixth or seventh century than in the eighth. Nay rather, in my judgment he will sweat much who shall wish to show for certain that it could not have been written toward the end of the fifth century in the manner in which we have it written. Certainly neither the faulty chronological order, nor the errors inserted into the Life, nor the facts reported in a manner little likely, certainly prove this; since a writer of little prudence could fall into all these faults, even if he were but one century later than the Saint. Now another doubt also occurs about this Life, namely whether it is the first lucubration about St. Evurtius, or rather the work of some interpolator who wished to augment and adorn the first lucubration about the Saint. The preface rather implies that there has not come down to us the pure offspring of the first writer, but that this has been changed by an interpolator and published in a new style. The words from which I judge this may be gathered I transcribe hither: As it is a matter of reward, for the instructing of souls in the Catholic religion, he says in the preface, to compose something new of doctrine and of good conversation: so is that also not unequal to it, to bring into the knowledge of most faithful men and to spread abroad that which has already been composed. Therefore, … that we too may be sharers with those who are the authors of the aforesaid, we have preferred to set forth in honorable style the Life of the holy and most blessed bishop Evurtius, how

he conducted himself in human affairs, etc.

[12] The writer says that not only he receives a reward from God who composes new things for the instructing of the faithful, but he also who spreads abroad ancient things; but even out of more ancient Acts. and that for the sake of this equal reward he sets forth the Life of St. Evurtius in honorable style, implying that it had already been written before, but in a humble style, and such that it seemed worth while to set it forth more, that is, to expound it more widely and clearly. This I judge to be the mind of the writer, who, after the Life had been expounded in such style as he could, at the end, or in the epilogue, speaks thus of himself: I, Lucifer the subdeacon, have written down in truth these deeds of the manners and acts of the holy and most blessed bishop Evurtius, adding nothing and speaking nothing superfluous: but lest too lengthy a discourse should have bred not delight but weariness in readers, I have passed over many of his miracles. Thus indeed the biographer.

[13] But we cannot agree with him when he says that he has spoken nothing superfluous, [Nevertheless the biographer narrated false things, since all cannot be reconciled:] since it is clear that not all is true which he narrated: for he says that Evurtius was elected bishop under the rule of the emperor Constantine, and makes his successor St. Anianus, who at least survived until the year 551, as is established from St. Gregory of Tours; so that these two bishops must have administered the see of Orléans for nearly 120 years, if the author wrote truly. Charles Saussay in the Annals of the church of Orléans wishes to substitute Constantius for Constantine; but that not even so can all things be reconciled in a sufficiently probable manner, Tillemont shows, especially because the biographer attributes only twenty years of episcopate to St. Evurtius: for so it will be necessary to protract the episcopate of St. Anianus to seventy years. Moreover that correction profits the biographer nothing, since he says that Evurtius was elected in the time of St. Silvester the Roman Pontiff, who died before Constantine. Rightly therefore Tillemont noted that the chronological order of the Life is most faulty, and that the succession of St. Anianus can in no way be reconciled with the rest.

[14] Nor must it be denied that Tillemont accurately observed many things too are not likely. that many things are reported in this Life in a manner little likely, and that they consequently are either not likely, or at least too greatly exaggerated. Such are the things which are said about the two years' vacancy of the see of Orléans, and about the tumults then stirred up and the slaughters perpetrated before the election of Evurtius. Such likewise appear most of the circumstances set forth by the author where he reports the building of the church of the Holy Cross. The election itself of St. Evurtius, and several other things which I shall point out in the Annotations to the Life, are clothed with such ornaments that they seem rather invented than true circumstances of the events. Wherefore I gladly acknowledge that there is great difficulty in all the things which are reported in this Life, and that scarcely any article occurs to me about which doubt cannot be entertained. Since nevertheless the memory of St. Evurtius in the most ancient Martyrologies is most famous; and thence it is rightly gathered that the Prelate himself was famous for sanctity and miracles; and since the Acts are ancient in some degree, and many things seem to have been transferred from them to the manuscript Life of St. Anianus, and some things pleased Usuard also and Rabanus, it seems it will be worth while, if we do not cast away everything without distinction, but investigate a little more at large what of it all appears more or less probable.

§ III. It is inquired whether Evurtius seems to have been at the council of Valence, at about what time his episcopate seems to be fixed, and the year of his death.

[ ] It is doubted whether the Saint was bishop in the time of Constantine, or later; That I might be able to determine something about the age of St. Evurtius, or rather about the time of his episcopate, I judged that the various manuscript Acts of St. Anianus should chiefly be consulted, hoping that some light would arise from them: and since we have divers Lives of St. Anianus, and these contrary to one another in the things which pertain to the age of St. Evurtius, it had again to be inquired which of the Lives seems to be preferred to the others. Moreover learned moderns have believed that they had found from other quarters certain helps for fixing in some fashion the time of the episcopate of St. Evurtius. For first they observe that Diopetus, prelate of Orléans, is read as having subscribed with other bishops to the council of Cologne of the year 346; and although most acknowledge that the Acts of that council are faulty, they yet judge that Diopetus was at that time bishop of Orléans, because the same in the year 347 subscribed among the bishops of Gaul to the council of Sardica, on the testimony of St. Athanasius in the Apology against the Arians, where, with the name somewhat changed, he is called Declopetus. There is no reason why we should deny that Diopetus was at that time bishop of Orléans, since the writers of Orléans attribute certain other deeds to him also, and his name is generally found in the catalogues among the first prelates of Orléans. Hence therefore arises the first doubt about the time of St. Evurtius, namely whether he sat in the time of Constantine the Great before Diopetus, or rather after the times of Constantine, and after the Diopetus just mentioned.

[16] secondly, whether he was at the council of Valence, A second doubt arises from the first council of Valence, which was held in the year 374. For among the prelates of that council there is found a certain Eortius, whom most believe the same as St. Evurtius of Orléans. But this matter appears to me more ambiguous and uncertain than it has seemed to many others. For first, I nowhere find the name of St. Evurtius written Eortius: but I gladly acknowledge that this variation of the name is not of great moment. Greater is the difficulty about the episcopal see of that Eortius, whether it was at Orléans or in another city: for that is nowhere expressed. Assuredly, since most of the bishops were of the old Gallia Narbonensis, and very few among them, and these by uncertain conjectures, are reckoned from other provinces of Gaul, the conjecture of attributing Eortius to Orléans is far-fetched. Then, if it were certain that some Eortius sat at Orléans at that time (which is plainly uncertain), it might still be doubted whether he be the same as St. Evurtius, not only on account of the variety of the names, but rather because, from the Lives of St. Evurtius and of St. Anianus, Evurtius seems to have been bishop much earlier, or later.

[17] The third doubt is about the successor of St. Evurtius, whether he must be set down as St. Anianus, thirdly, whether he had St. Anianus as successor in the episcopate. as pleased Charles Saussay and Francis Le Maire, nay and Baillet also at the XVII of November in Anianus (where he liberally attributes sixty-two years to his episcopate); and lastly the modern writers of Gallia Christiana, tome 8, in the catalogue of the bishops of Orléans, col. [ ]. These, however, proceed hesitantly, nor do they assert that Anianus succeeded Evurtius at once; but they merely reckon Anianus soon after Evurtius: which cannot be disapproved, if St. Evurtius was present at the council of Valence, as they believed. Tillemont, whose hesitation the praised writers seem to follow, so far inclines as to suspect that Evurtius was present at the council of Valence, and warns that it is expedient that we determine nothing certain about Evurtius, save that he was bishop toward the end of the fourth century. But this very thing is most uncertain, since it neither agrees with the beginning of the Acts, nor can be proved from the council of Valence, nor from the end of the Acts, that is, from the succession of St. Anianus asserted in the Acts: for all these things are equally doubtful. Wherefore a threefold opinion may be formed about the time of the episcopate of St. Evurtius: the first, namely, by which he is set down as bishop in the time of Constantine before Diopetus; the second, by which his episcopate is fixed about the time of the council of Valence, at which he is believed to have been present; and lastly the third, by which he is placed before St. Anianus, with no other intermediate. Let us therefore examine which of those three opinions appears the more probable.

[18] For the first opinion, by which the Saint's episcopate is referred to the reign of Constantine, Reasons are alleged, there may be adduced the Saint's Life itself, which names Constantine not only in the election of St. Evurtius, but also in the building of the church of the Holy Cross, and which is so written that everything can conveniently be referred to the reign of Constantine, except only the election of Anianus as successor, which I shall clearly show must be held for a fiction. I confess indeed that the Life of St. Evurtius is not so written that everything which is read in it about the Saint's election and about the building of the church of the Holy Cross ought to be held for true, much less for certain. Nevertheless I would rather judge that something of extraordinary miracle happened at Evurtius's election, and that it was too greatly exaggerated by the writer of this Life, than that nothing about that whole election is true. I say the same about the church of the Holy Cross founded by Evurtius, since it may easily be admitted that the Saint was aided in founding it by the munificence of Constantine. Certainly Francis Le Maire in Evurtius affirms that it is the ancient opinion of the people of Orléans that the church of the Holy Cross was built by the liberality of Constantine, and says that the feast of Constantine is celebrated at Orléans on the XXI day of May, and that of St. Helena his mother on the VII of February, as of patrons and benefactors. These feasts I find likewise noted in the manuscript Calendar of Orléans.

[19] From the Life of St. Anianus, which we have in the codex marked Q. Ms. 2, which probably prove that St. Evurtius that ancient tradition or opinion of the people of Orléans can be confirmed by a probable reason, since it interposes many years and many bishops between Evurtius and Anianus, and so persuades us that Evurtius was bishop in the time of Constantine. The author of that Life relates that the said church was carried to a loftier height by St. Anianus, touching at the same time on its building in these words: Many years before, the most blessed prelate Evortius, building from the pavements in divine love the church of God in the city of the city of Orléans, was seen to have constructed a great fabric of a church. And long afterwards, MANY BISHOPS HAVING DIED, the holy man full of God, Anianus, the Lord consenting, came to the pontifical office: to whom it seemed good, for the adornment of so great a fabric, the roofs being taken down, to raise the fabric itself higher. Two other Lives of St. Anianus, from one or the other of which Duchesne published some fragment in tome 1 of the Writers of Gallic Affairs, page 521, and which we have entire in two manuscript codices, both agree about the church built by Evurtius, and afterwards carried to a loftier height by St. Anianus. Wherefore from what has been alleged I deduce various things to our purpose.

[20] was bishop under the rule First, St. Anianus was raised to the episcopate long after the church was built, and after many bishops had died. Not at once therefore did St. Anianus succeed St. Evurtius, nor after one or another interposed between them, but after the death of many who were intermediate between these two Saints. Whether four or five, or seven or eight, or even more are here to be understood by many cannot be determined, since the memory of most has perished, as happened in nearly all the other churches of Gaul with regard to the bishops of the fourth century. But at least those many prelates seem to have presided over the church of Orléans for a longer interval of time than would be left between Evurtius and Anianus,

if the former had been present in the year 374 at the council of Valence, and had presided over the church of Orléans toward the end of the fourth century. For since Anianus, from either Life, must be said to have died about the year 453, he could easily have been bishop from the year 420 or 430, and therefore between the two only thirty or forty, or at most fifty, intermediate years would be left, for the filling of which, in the peace of the Church, many bishops were not necessary, since two or three could easily fill that whole space, or even one.

[21] of Constantine the Great. Yet I would not contend that this argument is such as to refer Evurtius certainly to the times of Constantine. But at least it certainly proves that Anianus was not substituted for him, since the Life interposes many prelates between the two, and is altogether silent about the prodigious election of Anianus. Moreover it makes it appear more probable that Evurtius belongs to the times of Constantine than to the time of the council of Valence. The restoration of the church itself also hints that it had been founded longer than forty or fifty years before Anianus, and that it needed restoration. Lastly, each of the other two Lives has such a beginning as this: At that time when the new planting of the faith, shining in the wheel of the world, was being spread abroad in the Gallic land, the fourth Pontiff of the church of Orléans, Desinianus by name, now departing from this present world. And by these words, which agree with no time more than with the reign of Constantine, is designated the time of Evurtius's election after Desinianus. In one also of those Lives, toward the end, the election of Evurtius is referred in express words to the times of Constantine. And both have it thus about this election: While the election of the people concerning the ordaining of a prelate hung upon the judgment of God, a certain subdeacon of the Roman Church, Evurtius by name, is put into the chair of the aforesaid basilica, by the token of him giving a sign beforehand who in the river Jordan under the form of a dove had descended upon the head of Christ. To the opinion which I judge the more probable these things also are favorable, because Desinianus, for whom all substitute Evurtius, is called the fourth bishop: for Charles Saussay believes that the three first bishops of Orléans were these, Altinus, Alixtius or Alipitus, and Auspicius, to whom Desinianus could succeed as fourth, and Evurtius as fifth.

[22] Now let us briefly hear what can be objected against the opinion just asserted, An answer is given to the arguments of adversaries, and against the order given of the first prelates of Orléans. Some will say, I suppose, with the modern writers of Gallia Christiana, that the Acts of St. Anianus are no better than the Acts of St. Evurtius, and that therefore no solid argument can be had from them. But I answer that this can prudently be said by no one of all the Acts of St. Anianus, since St. Gregory of Tours in book 2 of the History of the Franks, chapter 7, testifies that the Deeds of the Virtues of St. Anianus, that is, the Acts, are faithfully kept among them. The Life of St. Anianus had therefore been written before the times of St. Gregory of Tours by a coeval author or one nearly so. That this Life has been lost Baillet indeed asserts in the critical Table at the XVII of November; but this he neither proves nor could prove. Certainly the Life which I praised first agrees so exactly with what is reported of Anianus by St. Gregory that he seems to have excerpted everything from that Life. I would not indeed here investigate more laboriously whether this must be called that very Life which Gregory had, which will be examined in its own place in Anianus: but meanwhile I assert that I have found nothing in that Life which I could accuse of open error, much less condemn. It contains indeed more miracles than other deeds of the Saint, according to the genius of the century in which it seems to have been written; but that cannot prevent the Saint's deeds which are reported in it from being judged true. Nay rather, the more attentive the author was to reporting the miracles of St. Anianus, so much the more certainly is it gathered from his silence that that miracle which is narrated to have happened at the Saint's election must be held for fictitious.

[23] As regards the other Lives of St. Anianus, of which Duchesne published a part, and it is shown that not all the Lives of St. Anianus are to be held faulty. and which Charles Saussay especially seems to have followed; that these are not accurate, nor free from errors, I readily acknowledge. The whole beginning of this one I judge to be patched together from the Life of St. Evurtius; but the rest received from Gregory of Tours or from elsewhere and interpolated. Its author errs first when he asserts that St. Anianus was elected in the same way as is read in the Life of St. Evurtius; and thus far he also contradicts our opinion. He errs again when he asserts that Aëtius the patrician administered Gaul under the rule of Majorian: for it is established that Aëtius was killed by order of Valentinian III some years before the reign of Majorian. Duchesne indeed published under the Roman rule; but in our two codices there is clearly read under the rule of Majorian. He errs thirdly, the unskilful patcher, when he narrates that the famous defeat of Attila happened chiefly near Orléans: for thence indeed he was repulsed, on the testimony of the writer of Tours and of the other Life, but not with so great slaughter as he afterwards suffered. Nay, a fourth manifest error is in one Life, which is nearly the same as the other, but enlarged toward the end, in which Evurtius is said to have been elected bishop in the time of Constantine and Silvester, which I do not disapprove; but it is added that St. Anianus came to him and was ordained priest by him, a most gross error, since Anianus survived Constantine by one hundred and sixteen years. These later Lives of St. Anianus therefore I have praised only that I might show that in them too Evurtius is referred to the times of Constantine, and that they therefore favor our opinion only so far as they might otherwise harm it by reporting the fabulous election of Anianus. But I acknowledge that these Lives are faulty; not so the first Life of St. Anianus, chiefly on account of which I judge it more probable that St. Evurtius must be set before Diopetus.

[24] [Evurtius was more probably bishop under Constantine, nor does he seem to have been at the council of Valence:] The ancient opinion, I say, of referring the episcopate of St. Evurtius to the reign of Constantine I judge more probable than the rest in such a way that I would not deny that the opinion of those also seems probable who prefer to believe that he lived toward the end of the fourth century, and was present at the council of Valence. Nay, I shall gladly embrace this opinion of the moderns when I shall see it more firmly established. But since I sufficiently perceive that this opinion has pleased only on account of the name of Eortius found in that council, and because thus St. Evurtius came nearer to the times of St. Anianus, whom most will have to be Evurtius's successor; that opinion appears to me so much the less probable, the further Anianus seems from his own Life to be removed from Evurtius: for from other quarters too it is not only uncertain, but also appears less probable, that that Eortius who was present at the council of Valence was prelate of Orléans, since no other from those parts of Gaul in which the city of Orléans is situated is known to have been present at that council. There were assuredly in the year 374 sufficiently many bishops in the provinces of Gallia Narbonensis, which are distinguished by the name of the Five Provinces in the Synodal letter, so that it may easily be believed that nearly all were of those five provinces, and that very few were present from other provinces of Gaul. Certainly not all the bishops of Gaul seem to have been called to that council: for thus far more would have been present.

[25] Tillemont's conjectures about some bishops of the council are partly improbable, Tillemont in St. Justus of Lyons confesses that most of the bishops of the council of Valence were of Gallia Narbonensis, yet suspects that some from other provinces of Gaul were present, and strives to show this by very uncertain conjectures. Some among them are metropolitans, about whom I shall not dispute, although these also are very few and uncertain. But his conjectures about the other bishops, among whom is Eortius, I examine in a few words. First, him who is written Fœgadius in the council he believes to be St. Phœbadius of Agen: secondly, he who is Eumerius in the council can be Evemerus of Nantes, he says. Thirdly, about Simplicius he conjectures that he was of Autun, who probably was made bishop later, as can be gathered from his Acts given at the XXIV of June. Fourthly, what is said of Nicetius, that he can be of Mainz, is already improbable from the catalogue of the Prelates of Mainz in tome 4 of the reprinted Gallia Christiana: and lastly and fifthly, that what is observed about St. Vincent, bishop of Aquæ Tarbellicæ in Novempopulania, as if he were the same as the Vincent mentioned in the council, is likewise not probable enough, I have shown in St. Vincent at the 1st of September.

[26] partly uncertain: Wherefore about St. Phœbadius also it may be doubted, and more about Eumerius of Nantes, whether they were present at the said council: for Fœgadius is not read in the subscriptions, but in the heading of the Synodal letter Fœgadius is set in the first place, and Eumerius in the second, before Florentius of Vienne the metropolitan himself, in whose province the council was held, and who is set first in the subscriptions. These things can instil a suspicion that the headings of the letter or the subscriptions of the council are corrupt, since not only are some had in the headings of both letters who are not found in the subscriptions of the council, and conversely, but the order of the bishops also is not the same in the two places. It may therefore be doubted, as I said, whether St. Phœbadius of Agen was present at the synod of Valence, since he is neither found in the subscriptions, nor does the first place seem to agree with him in the headings of the letters.

[27] Tillemont indeed in tome 8, page 554, suspects that the first place was given to St. Phœbadius on account of his age and singular piety and learning. his inept conjecture about St. Phœbadius, To prove this conjecture he adduces the words of St. Basil from epistle 62 (which in the latest edition is 28), about Musonius bishop of Neocæsarea. For the Latin version has it thus of him: Hence he was also held worthy of the first place, not according to age, in the assemblies of bishops, but he was above all in the antiquity of his wisdom, obtaining the chief place by common consent. But I do not see what the example of Musonius has to do with the matter, or how it can avail to prove a conjecture so abhorrent to the manners of the Church: for Basil is not treating of episcopal synods, since he only says that Musonius was always treated with especial honor in assemblies or gatherings. In the Greek text there is no mention of bishops, nor of councils of bishops. The Greek words themselves are these: Ἐν τοῖς συλλόγοις τῶν ὁμοτίμων, that is, in the gatherings of his equals, or of those worthy of equal honor. Who would carve ecclesiastical councils out of gatherings or assemblies of equals, especially since Musonius is not read to have been present at any council, much less to have presided at one? Moreover Basil testifies that Musonius was thought worthy of that honor not according to age. Why then does he say that a more honorable place was granted to St. Phœbadius on account of his age, as had befallen Musonius?

[28] Receive, studious reader, Tillemont's other proof also, it is refuted as improbable: which he believed must be supported by the example of Musonius, however inept: Nor do we see, he says, any other reason which could have brought it about that Osius presided over all the Westerns in the great council of Sardica. If Tillemont

had been as fond of the dignity of the Roman Church as he was versed in ecclesiastical history, he would easily have found another reason why Osius presided at the council of Sardica: for he would not have doubted that he presided both at the council of Nicæa and at that of Sardica as legate of the Roman Church; nor would he have been so zealous to render this truth doubtful as to be willing to have recourse to a reason not only inept and destitute of every example, but also plainly contrary to the Hierarchical order of the Church. If Basil said altogether of Musonius that he was thought worthy of especial honor in councils, as could truly be said of St. Augustine in the African councils of his time, that would not therefore be so to be understood as if he had presided over the rest, but that the bishops had followed his judgment more than that of others. Nevertheless that new invention of Tillemont so pleased Denis de Sainte-Marthe that in tome 2 of Gallia Christiana, col. 896, he enlarged upon it and intrepidly asserts of St. Phœbadius: He presided at the council of Valence in the year CCCLXXIV by the privilege of age and the merit of his person, as Osius at that of Sardica. That this is altogether improbable, and can be confirmed by no example, I am persuaded.

[29] But the singular virtue and learning of Phœbadius could bring it about and the death of St. Evurtius is fixed about the year 340. that he himself should be invited to the council out of the ordinary course, with perhaps some metropolitans, of whom St. Justus of Lyons probably was present at the council of Valence. Wherefore neither the presence of St. Phœbadius nor that of St. Justus, even if both were held for certain, compels us to believe that all the bishops of Gaul were called to that council, or that St. Evurtius was present there, since it is more probable that he had died before that council. For the Saint's death, from the monuments hitherto known, seems able to be fixed at no time more probably than about the year 340, yet with a latitude of some years, in which he might have died later or earlier, even in our own opinion. For the rest, it ought not to seem strange that in this chronological order an empty place is left for some bishops, two namely or three, between Diopetus, probably Evurtius's successor, and St. Anianus; for this is common to the church of Orléans with many churches of Gaul, that the names of certain bishops have dropped out; and the better Life of St. Anianus altogether persuades us of it, since otherwise there cannot be found the many bishops whom it testifies to have sat between Evurtius and Anianus.

§ IV. The Saint's burial, where an oratory was founded, which grew into an abbey: a twofold translation of the body, whose Acts are to be given, as also of the Finding: a wondrous apparition.

[ ] Over the Saint's sepulchre an oratory was founded, where now is an abbey: The Acts at the end, as also the Acts of the translation, have it that the body of St. Evurtius was buried in the field of Tetradius, a most noble man, who is also said to have built a small cell over the Saint's body. Concerning these things the modern editors of Gallia Christiana, tome 8, col. [ ], write: St. Evurtius, having died, … was buried in the field of Tetradius, a man of prefectorian rank, in a plain situated three or four hundred paces from the city of Orléans to the East, where an oratory was built in honor of Bl. Mary, whom together with St. Evurtius it had for patron until the eleventh century, in which, and in the following, St. Evurtius alone was called patron. This church canons already inhabited in the XV year of Charlemagne, who bestowed very many things upon them by a diploma, which, although adulterated, it has yet seemed good to report in the appendix, both because nothing but what is certain is recited in it, and because it is recalled in many other charters. And from this charter and from the others which followed it, it is plain that the monastery of St. Evurtius from the beginning belonged to the mother church, a member of the church of Orléans, and was of the bishop's table, of which the bishops of Orléans both were and were called abbots. Thus far the praised writers: and the charter of Charlemagne of which mention is made is inserted into the Acts of the translation to be given below. That to the secular canons who administered that church of St. Evurtius there succeeded in the twelfth century regular canons will be plain from the account of the finding of the body, likewise to be given below. A catalogue of the regular abbots carried down to our own times, and certain other things about the abbey itself, the studious reader has in the praised writers of Gallia Christiana.

[31] The Acts of the twofold translation to be given: this translation happened The Acts of the translation of which I have made mention are divided into nine lessons in such a way that they seem formerly to have been read on the feast of the translation, as the title prefixed also implies, which is such: At the translation of the body of St. Evurtius, which is held on the fifth day of the month of March. This day for the feast of the translation I do not find elsewhere; but both in the Calendars of Orléans and in certain others I see the XII day of June assigned to the feast of the translation, as I said at number 5. But it appears to me likely enough that the translation which is narrated in the manuscript was formerly celebrated on the V of March, but that the other is celebrated on the XII of June: for that a certain translation of the body was also made in the twelfth century we shall see below. Further, it will be useful to investigate in some fashion the time of the translation of the body: and to this end I subjoin a brief account of the twofold translation, as it is had in the manuscript Calendar of Orléans, of which I have already made mention above. The account is noted as taken from the manuscripts of the monastery of St. Evurtius, and has it thus: At that time when the rage of the Vandals, exiled from its own borders, having entered the Gauls, was besieging cities, overthrowing walls, laying waste towns, farms, and villages with sword, flame, and famine, it seemed good to the clergy and people of Orléans to translate the body of the most blessed Evurtius, which was in the church of St. Mary in the field of Tetradius outside the walls of the city, into the city to the church of St. Stephen, lest perchance, the Vandals drawing near, it should be plundered by military insolence.

[32] But the harshness of that hard lot ceasing, and peace being restored to the churches, [from fear of the Vandals, and the bringing back of the body was honored by a miracle:] it was brought back again from the church of St. Stephen with the same honor with which it had been carried thither, with a great multitude of the people, into the former church. At which bringing back of the relics of the Saint's body this miracle also happened. For from a clear sky a dark and most dreadful rain came down: yet about the sacred pledges not a drop was seen to fall, nor even to touch the bearers of the pledges. Of the deed Agius, bishop of the city, gave assurance to the most holy emperor Charlemagne, king of the Franks, who was visiting the holy places at Orléans, and who therefore enriched the monastery of St. Evurtius with many gifts. These things rightly agree with the Acts to be given, from which, so far as I judge, the whole account has been given in summary. But there is a manifest error by which bishop Agius is connected with Charlemagne: for from the writers of Gallia Christiana praised before, in the catalogue of the prelates of Orléans, col. [ ], and from what follows, it is most clearly plain that Agius presided over the church of Orléans long after Charlemagne, and was made bishop about the year 844 under the rule of Lothar, and while Charles the Bald was administering part of Gaul. Wherefore either bishop Agius must be abandoned, or we must look rather to the times of King Charles the Bald than to the times of Charlemagne. Assuredly Charles the Bald could by an easy error be taken by later men for Charlemagne. But with the same ease the Greek word agius, which was now and then used in those times for the Latin word sanctus or beatus, could be taken by later men for the proper name of a bishop, and thence the confusion arise. For the whole confusion seems to have arisen from the diploma of Charles, which is certainly faulty, as I shall observe in the Annotations.

[33] Meanwhile I do not doubt that Charles Saussay strays from the right chronological order, but by the Vandals here are to be understood the Saracens, when in book 6, number 72, he writes that the translation was made in the time of bishop Agius, that is, about the middle of the ninth century; and still further Andrew Saussay in the Martyrology at the XII of June, where he says the body was translated while the Danes, Normans, and Hungarians were laying waste the Gauls. For, whether that corrupted diploma be Charlemagne's, as I shall show to be more probable, or Charles the Bald's, the irruptions of the Hungarians into Gaul are later than both, since they were made in the tenth century: the Norman or Danish devastations also are later than Charlemagne, and flourished most in the time of Charles the Bald. But when the miracle wrought at the second translation was being reported to Charles by the bishop of Orléans, those incursions had already long ceased: for when the persecution ceased the body had been brought back to its former place. Wherefore the Vandal persecution which had given occasion to the first translation is here to be understood as no other than the irruption of the Saracens, who widely laid waste Gaul in the eighth century, and especially about the year 731 and 732, when they are said to have been repulsed by divine power from the city of Sens through St. Ebbo the bishop, as may be read in his Life given at the XXVII of August, where also the Saracens are called Vandals, as also in other writers, so that the name of Vandals here altogether implies the Saracens.

[34] [and the translation is to be fixed about the year 731 or 732, the bringing back about 740.] And so the first translation is to be fixed about the year 731 or 732. But the second may be fixed by conjecture some years later: for the Saracens not long after were visited with a memorable defeat in the province of Poitiers by Charles Martel, nor did they afterwards ever penetrate so far into Gaul that so much was to be feared from them near Orléans. If therefore the sacred body was brought back a little after that famous slaughter of the Saracens, which Pagi binds to the year 732, it was probably in the church of St. Stephen only one year or two. Nevertheless, since the Saracens in nearly each of the following years again attempted to advance into the Gauls, I rather judge that that sacred deposit remained longer in the city, and its bringing back may by conjecture be fixed about the year 740. That what is written as reported to Charlemagne about the miracle wrought at the translation rightly agrees with this epoch I shall show in the Annotations.

[35] [The sacred body in the ninth century seems to have been hidden from fear of the Normans: the Acts of the Finding to be given:] I cannot, however, deny that no less was to be feared for the sacred body of St. Evurtius in the ninth century from the Normans than in the eighth from the Saracens; but the keepers of that sacred treasure seem then to have used another counsel: for the Saint's body was hidden beneath the earth in a place so secret that in the twelfth century it was unknown in what place it had been laid. Certainly Roger, the first abbot of the regular canons in the monastery of St. Evurtius, zealously sought his sacred body and happily found it. This finding Abbot Roger himself narrated in a letter to the abbot and monks of St. Ouen of Rouen. And this letter of Roger Martène published in tome 1 of the Thesaurus anecdotorum, col. 413: the same Father Frederick Flovet transmitted hither in the year 1644 from a manuscript of St. Ouen at Rouen, as our Bolland noted in the manuscript copy. The title prefixed to the praised letter, which I shall publish after the Acts of the translation, is such: The Revelation which the lord Roger, abbot of the church of blessed Evurtius of Orléans, transmitted to the monks of St. Ouen

of Rouen concerning the finding of the same most holy pontiff Evurtius. The year of the finding is nowhere expressed; but it cannot be far from the middle of the twelfth century. For it is likely that regular canons were introduced into the abbey of St. Evurtius not long before the letters of Pope Eugenius III by which their possession is confirmed, especially since nothing is adduced about abbot Roger which was done before Eugenius's letters. Now these letters are noted as given on the VI Kalends of March, in the ninth Indiction and the 2nd year of Eugenius the third, Pope. Into the year of Christ an error has crept, as the writers of Gallia Christiana testify, who published them in tome 8, col. 507, among the instruments, where they note that for the year MCXIV, which they found in the letters, MCXLVII must be read. But both the IX Indiction and the 2nd year of the pontificate of Eugenius III designate the year 1146, not 1147, as can be gathered from Pagi at the year 1145, where he begins the pontificate of Eugenius on the III Kalends of March.

[36] From these things it is probably gathered that Roger was made abbot of St. Evurtius in the year 1145. that finding happened in the year 1149, or about that time: Wherefore if five years after his election he had found the body of St. Evurtius, as the praised editors of Gallia Christiana write, col. [ ], the finding would most probably be bound to the year 1150. But Roger only says in his letter, of the secular canons, Who nearly five years before this were serving in the holy church of the blessed confessor. He does not therefore seem to set a whole five years between his promotion and the said letter, much less between his promotion and the finding of the body, which preceded it by some days at the least. For this reason it is more probable that the finding happened in the year 1149, especially since it took place on the festivity of the Innocents, that is, on the XXVIII day of December. Certainly the reasons alleged persuade us that it is not far from that year. For the rest, it does not seem to be doubted that the Saint's body was elevated in the following year, and translated to a more seemly place, as Roger hints must be done at the end of his letter. That translation may have been made on the XII day of June, and thenceforward honored with an annual festivity: but I find nothing written about it. This is certain, that the sacred body was preserved in its own abbey, until by the impious fury of the Calvinists in the sixteenth century it was reduced to ashes.

[37] In Labbe's New Library of Manuscripts, tome 1, page 653 and following, there is reported a wondrous apparition of St. Martin of Tours, a marvellous vision, conducing to the praise of St. Evurtius, if it be true. with whom St. Evurtius is said to have appeared. The matter indeed is said to have been confirmed by the oath of that canon to whom the vision was offered: yet I suppose many will doubt of its truth on account of the marvellous circumstances. It does not please me to transfer the whole vision hither, because it chiefly regards St. Martin, at whose Acts it will be better able to be examined. Hither therefore I transfer only what regards St. Evurtius, who is said to have been seen, celebrating the morning Office with very many holy bishops, among whom St. Martin was preeminent, in the closed church of Tours — whom the pious canon, passing the night alone in that church, is said to have seen advancing to the choir after St. Martin and his companions with three other bishops, and to shine taller and more comely than the rest; and who is said to have been the first to indicate to St. Martin that that canon lay hidden in the church. About him the canon asked St. Martin, who had kindly approached to lead him out, the church being closed, who he was: when St. Martin is written to have answered thus: That reverend bishop about whom thou askest is St. Evurtius , once bishop of Orléans, of such merit before God that, so long as the present world shall last, God every day for his sake frees one soul from the place of punishments *. The whole account may be seen in Labbe: the same is among us in a manuscript copy, from which I have corrected two words faultily printed. That canon, to whom St. Martin is reported also to have foretold his death shortly impending, and who in truth is reported to have died after eight days, is said on the next day, with a previous oath, to have narrated everything to Hugh, archbishop of Tours. Judgment on the whole matter I meanwhile leave to the discretion of readers, until the Acts of St. Martin shall have been reached.

Ms. archbishop*

Lab. Euvertus*

Lab. frees*

A LIFE DEFILED WITH FABLES

by Lucifer the subdeacon,

From four manuscripts collated together.

Evurtius, bishop and confessor at Orléans in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 2799

By Lucifer.

PROLOGUE.

The reason for publishing this Life in a new style. As it is a matter of reward, for the instructing of souls in the Catholic religion, to compose something new of doctrine and of good conversation: so is that also not unequal to it, to bring into the knowledge of faithful men and to spread abroad that which has already been composed ^a. Therefore, weighing long and much in a just balance the recompense of one reward, that we too may be sharers with those who are the authors of the aforesaid, we have preferred to set forth in honorable style the life of the holy and most blessed bishop Evurtius, how he conducted himself in human affairs, and to declare it for imitation to the knowledge of those who know it not ^b.

ANNOTATIONS.

otherwise accendere*

otherwise fidelissimorum*

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's marvellous election to the see of Orléans, which seems augmented with fictitious circumstances.

[ ] Bishop Desinianus being dead, the greatest dissensions arise at Orléans; Desinianus ^a, a most blessed man, at that time by God's nod prelate of the church of Orléans, after he had fulfilled in holy and venerable manner the spiritual warfare granted him by the Lord, paid the debt of nature and of his condition. And after his death, when a successor was in question, dissensions arose in the city, so that not only the common and unknown crowd was rent into contrary factions, but also the nobles and all the powerful men who possessed dwellings in the same ^b. Then at last, not according to the inspiration of God, but according to carnal affection, two were elected by divers parties: by whose canvassing so great a sedition arose among the people through length of time that even human blood was shed, and horror everywhere, and mourning, and very many an image of death appeared. Which slaughters and seditions could not lie hidden from the emperor Constantine ^c; who, after the imperial manner always providing for the advantages of his subjects, sent Proforius ^d prefect of the city ^e to quiet the sedition of the people; who, learning all that was being done, with wise counsel took to himself the bishops of the Gallic region to deliberate on the business of God. And the bishops, being summoned, came into the city, in which, finding so great a discord of the peoples, they knew that such an election was not of God, but of men. Then they by common deliberation enjoined a three days' fast upon all that people, seeking to learn, not by their own but by God's disposing, whom he would have to offer him a pure office and libation as their prelate, that he himself should show it by sure signs.

[2] And when, all being gathered in the sacrosanct church, the appointed fasts were being fulfilled for three days with hymn-bearing prayers, [when for this cause prayers had been enjoined by the bishops, Evurtius comes to Orléans,] every age and sex had been gathered in the manner of one seeking knowledge, so that to none was childhood, to none old age, to none the weaker sex a hindrance . Now God, who had joined together both the emperor's heart and the bishops' , had destined for himself a chosen vessel, endowed with the perseverance of his grace, by name Evurtius. He therefore, having gone forth from the city of Rome for the sake of seeking captives, on the second day of the appointed fast entered into the city of Orléans in a habit not too proud. Who, when after the manner of Christians, and especially of clerics, he had prayed to the Lord in the church, going out he stood still, looking about a little, to see who might deign to receive him into lodging. Then the doorkeeper of that church, having questioned him, said: Tell me, Servant of God, what honor dost thou enjoy? Whence comest thou, or whither goest thou? To whom the aforesaid man : I am a subdeacon of the holy Roman Church; going forth thence, I travel through the provinces in solicitude for my captives . To whom the doorkeeper again: Tell what is the name of those captives; perhaps we know or have heard, and can make it plain to thee. To whom again the Subdeacon: These whom I seek are my own brethren; and the one is named Eumorfius, and the other Cassia ^f. And the doorkeeper said: Come, blessed one, into my little cell, and stay with me today, and afterwards thou shalt set out. And when they had entered together beneath the doorkeeper's hut, he, quickly observing the custom of religious usage, gave water for his feet, and washed them with his own hand, and wiped them. The office of religiousness being performed, they took food together of the poorer sort.

[3] But on the next day, rising and bidding farewell to the doorkeeper, and coming to the church in which the bishops were assembled, he began to take his way. But the doorkeeper, the Lord consenting, cried out behind his back, saying: Friend of God, return to me, that I may speak with thee: and when he had returned, he said to him: Dost thou not know what has been done in this city in these days? He answered, I know not anything. But he said: The most blessed Desinianus, bishop of the present city, died two years ago, and our citizens, flattering themselves and thrusting themselves into his place, have stirred up no small strife; in which divers and wicked slaughters have been done; so far has the report of their quarrels grown gross that it has reached the imperial ears. Which being learned, the emperor sent from his own side ^g one who should both check the civil wars, and with hastened speed seek out and appoint a prelate pleasing to God. For this man who was sent, they say, is prefect of the city, who, not content with his own authority alone, gathered the bishops with him, who with prudent deliberation have determined by fasts and prayers to explore the will of the Lord concerning a successor; and behold, today is now the third day since they began to celebrate litanies. Therefore, Brother, wait a little while; perhaps God will make known to his servants whom he has chosen for himself for the honor of the episcopate, and thou too, wheresoever * thou goest, wilt be able to relate the wonder of so great an act. Then most blessed Evurtius: Well indeed dost thou admonish, but delays are being made for me; yet that thy will may be done, let us go on to that church where the peoples are. And when they had come there, being as he was unknown, he stood nowhere except with the doorkeeper.

[4] while all pray for a happy election, a dove settles upon his head: After a little while the bishops order the doors to be barred; and they themselves, cleaving to the pavement, began to pour forth tearful sobs to God, and to ask of God the knowledge of the person owed to that honor *. And all the people groaned, demanding an end of the quarrels, and awaiting the answer to the bishops bowed in prayer. As they therefore prayed and lamented, behold a dove, sent by God's prompting through a window that had been set in, shone like

an immense light, and it entered the church, and being lifted with the clapping of its wings, began to fly about through nearly the whole church after the manner of one searching out a person; which, having spied St. Evurtius standing by the door, at once settled upon his head; and he, stretching out his hands, drove it away from his crown. This sign the people standing by wondered at, and so much the more poured forth prayers to God that he would send that Spirit who under the form of a dove descended upon the head of Christ after the laver of our regeneration, to make manifest that he was the Son of God. And the dove, having shown the ministry enjoined upon it, returned whence it had entered.

[5] and when this had been done a second time, he is questioned by the bishops, After the return of the dove therefore there is a noise of joy among the people: with attentive minds the bishops, and every order, began to inquire who he was upon whose head such a manifestation was shown to all. Then a dissension of persons and of words arose among the people: some said, It is the doorkeeper; but certain, No, but another like him ^h. Then the priests, seeing the varying mouths of the crowd, again bow themselves in prayer, and beseech God the creator of all that the miracle be doubled for them. As they therefore asked, again the dove, beating back its wings, sought the inner part of the church through the same window with a certain chattering; and as before it had gone round the whole church in its flight, so accomplishing it a second time also, again it settled upon the head of the future prelate Evurtius. But he, astounded at the coming of so great a miracle, in like manner began to drive it from his head with his hands; and it, being repulsed, returns by the way by which it had been borne. Then, the peoples murmuring, the bishops give order that he who was held worthy of so great a miracle should stand before the altar in their company and with a like vow. And when this had been done, as the bishops had ordered, they ask of him from what cities he came, or to what borders he was making his way. Then he, just as before he had rendered an account to the doorkeeper when he was questioned, laid all open to the bishops also by his telling. Then they, knowing that they had been heard, gave thanks to almighty God, the worker of marvels, who from that same city sent even then a Shepherd whence in olden times he sent most holy preachers to preach the religion of the Catholic faith.

[6] These things being done, they order the holy and most blessed Evurtius to bow with them in prayer, and to put his head beneath the altar, and they themselves within the upper chambers of their hearts pondered such things as these, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, [and he is bidden to pray with them, and with the two others contending for the episcopate,] who givest prayer to him that prays, and blessest the years of the just; if by thy command this partaker of our prayer has been brought to this city, that he may take away the discord of thy people, and, being made prelate of thy church by pastoral rule, may guard and cherish the Christian congregation, show us, that it may be manifest to our unbelief, the power of a threefold miracle shown. And while they were still praying thus, behold a dove, beating back its wings with a mighty clapping, flew down to the place in which the Man of God had before stood; and when it did not find him there, after the manner of one searching it began before the eyes of all to seek out that most approved man. And these who had been summoned to that same consolation were many bishops ⁱ. Then the aforesaid Bishops said one to another: Let us bring both those whose election has wounded the whole Church, and this man who has already been made known by the dove, and let us see whether the frequent miracle will again embrace him: and it was so done.

[7] When therefore all three persons had stood assembled with the bishops, [then, being designated by a third flight of the dove, he is elected bishop and consecrated.] the people being astonished and hanging upon the flight of the dove, behold the most holy bird, as though by the touch of the first order choosing a Priest out of the midst of the unworthy, began first to fly round about, and lifting itself a little upward drew near, and was borne over their heads; yet it touched the head of none of them, save of that most blessed Man whom it had already twice shown to have been its dwelling. Then with united voice and united heart all cry out unanimously: He is worthy, he is just: this is he whom the Lord has chosen for the highest priesthood; he it is whom he has predestined a shepherd for us, a pontiff for himself. But the bishops, signing silence to the people with the hand , judged it right to learn the will of every order and degree, and said to them: You all, Christians, have seen so great miracles wrought today, and the will of God fulfilled in this present Servant of God: therefore bring forth one by one the purpose of your heart into the midst: and although, if any of you should be unwilling, he will make God, not this man, his enemy: yet we wish to know the intention of your mind. Then all as with one mouth said: Let the will of God be done; and since God has prepared you, through whom he might show his greater works and things singular among men, bid him quickly be consecrated a priest to the Lord and a shepherd to us. Why say more? the will of God is accomplished; all go to the basilica of most blessed Mark according to the rite of that city; most blessed Evurtius is made a levite ^k. Thence they lead him to the city with hymns and spiritual songs, he discharges the honor of a kindly priest, the heavens rejoice with those who dwell in them over the ordination of the Pontiff ^l.

ANNOTATIONS.

otherwise ignarum*

otherwise divisis*

otherwise impedimentum*

otherwise compunxerat*

otherwise Romana*

otherwise Aurelianensium*

otherwise there is added Evurtius*

otherwise prædatorum*

otherwise ubi & ubi and ubicumque*

otherwise honore debito*

otherwise majestate manus*

otherwise primi*

CHAPTER II.

A fire extinguished by the Saint: a treasure found, and thence, with Constantine's help, the church of the Holy Cross built: a miracle at the sacrifice of the Mass.

[ ] He stops a fire by his prayers: All things therefore being accomplished which pertain to the worship of God, God, who had shown him a Priest worthy of himself by the aforesaid miracles, began to work greater things through him among the people, and afforded a medicinal remedy to the sick, and boundless benefit to those worn out by divers calamities. Passing over therefore the signs of healings, and the grace of virtues, which one and the same Holy Spirit wrought through him, and which are known to him alone, let us unfold the series of those which became known to nearly the whole world ^a. The anniversary day of his ordination being past, it came about that the city blazed with an accidental fire. Then all the inhabitants of the city, seeing the flames raging upon themselves or in their dwellings, ran together to the oft-named most blessed bishop Evurtius, crying out and saying with a loud voice: Man of God, man of God, succor the city sinking in flames. Which being heard, the Bishop hastily flew to the church, and prostrating himself in prayer besought the Lord, saying: Lord God of Israel, who didst snatch thy holy three children unhurt from the heap of fires, grant to this city also to be able to escape from the onrushing balls of flame. While he was still praying, the voracity of the flame was quenched, and because the Church in which together with the peoples he was beseeching the Lord was still simple, he said to them: Behold, the Lord according to his mercy has snatched us from the burning of a blazing flame; and therefore make a votive collection, that the spaces of this church may be made ample. All with one accord of heart answered: Let the will of God be done: and going out, each according to the measure of his means made preparation for the holy building.

[9] while digging to build the church, he finds a treasure, On the appointed day therefore, that the holy church might be enlarged, he took in his own hands, according to the custom of certain provinces, a mattock *, and the standard of the cross being made, he began to dig. He had already dug nearly three feet, and behold there presented itself to his eyes a closed and pitched jar, reserved by God's dispensing for the fabric of the oft-named church: which when he had opened, he found no small treasure, most beautifully stamped with the mark of Nero. Then giving thanks to God, he called the archdeacon, saying: Come, brother, take this that has been found, and carry it into the sight of the ruling prince; for it does not become us to conceal this, and least of all us who are set over the people. Which being received, according to the Bishop's command he set out for Rome: where, coming, he asked to be presented to the emperor. Then the emperor bids him be at once brought in; and when he had entered, the emperor said: Delay not to disclose by thy narrative for what cause thou hast been sent to us. And the archdeacon, first holding out the writing of his most blessed Priest, then offered him the treasure, informing the emperor's mind of all things which had been done in the city of Orléans, and how that treasure had been found in the place marked out for the church. This portent of God in a Roman citizen is suddenly proclaimed through the Roman regions; all give thanks to the Bestower of all good things: hence they pour forth prayers to him who is present to all who hope in him.

[10] and Constantine gives many things to the same end. On the following day therefore the emperor bids the archdeacon Mansuetus be called to him, who had been the bearer of the treasure found: and says to him: Carry back all that thou hast brought in to thy Priest, and return in peace. Tell me, archdeacon, of how many cubits is the church which you purpose to build? He answered, of as many as the poverty of the church or of the inhabitants of the city shall permit: for it is known to your majesty that nearly all of that city or territory are poor. These things being heard, the emperor ordered Anatolius ^b, then prefect, to come to him; to whom he said: Restore whatsoever the archdeacon here present has brought hither, since it is God's provision, not our empire's. And we wish moreover to give him over and above this double the money, sufficient for the fabric of the church: and we command the church itself to be extended in length one hundred and seventy cubits, and in breadth forty-two cubits, and to be built in the fashion of a cross: for we wish the church to be so spacious because Christianity is daily enlarged, and there is a frequent concourse and eagerness of the peoples toward the habitation of God. We command further that it have three altars, and that the one which shall be set between have wood of the most glorious cross, by which the whole world has been saved. For the ministry also of that same sacrosanct church we offer seven dishes of purest gold, and seven chalices of the same metal, in which, while the divine Mystery is performed, there may be a help also to our remembrance. To all of that territory also we wish the tax on their own property to be remitted for three years ^c, that they too together with the priests and with us may be able to appease God with continual supplications, and to give assistance that the work of that church may be brought to perfection. But this also pleases our serenity, that it be extended with six arches, three on the right side and three on the left, and so by their vaulting it may seem to be one church. All these things being assigned and the church delineated , the archdeacon, receiving the threefold money and its quantity set down in sacred letters, with the greatest gladness, following backward the footsteps he had marked, returned by the way by which he had come.

[11] These things being done, we have judged it fitting to join to them this also, The brothers of Evurtius, as is reported, found, how the most blessed man Evurtius found after forty ^d years his brothers whom he had set himself to seek. On a certain day therefore, God impelling it, the bishop of the city of Soissons set out for the sake of praying to the tombs of the blessed martyrs Crispin and Crispinian ^e; and while he had prostrated himself in prayer, he heard voices asking such things as these: Witnesses and friends of Christ, grant us before the day of our death not only to behold but also to embrace our brother Evurtius the subdeacon. And when they had persisted asking this with repeated cries, the bishop, lifting up his eyes, saw persons in religious dress going about the sacred tombs, whom when he had called, he inquired of them who they were. And they said: We are Roman citizens; we were three brothers: but we two fell as prey to enemies; but our brother remained in the city, whom with the highest desire, God providing, we long to see; and we are now in the service of the most religious widow Vibiana *. For so tearfully did they narrate their misfortunes to the bishop that he himself also wept as though he had been a partaker of their captivity. All being known therefore, he writes back by his archdeacon Leo: which course of letters was by chance the messenger of the captives to the most blessed bishop Evurtius. And so almighty God, who does greater things, and reserves men for greater works, granted that on one day the city should be gladdened by the outcome of two matters.

[12] Hence Mansuetus the archdeacon enters the city with the aforesaid imperial gifts: and ransomed: the church of the Holy Cross dedicated: thence Leo the archdeacon is brought with the confirmation of the finding of the Bishop's brothers. Gladness is doubled for all; that becomes public which had lately been private: all run together to the Bishop's lodging, gathered in eagerness to see the gifts and to hear the reports about the captives. The price of redemption is sent at once; they are led out from the yoke of servitude and restored to their former liberty. O good God! what a day was that, on which after forty years brothers by blood were presented to each other; what a weeping of all joys, when embracing they kissed one another? Why say more? The church is built according to the prince's devotion, founded with such speed that, three years being past, on the fifth of the Nones of May its dedication ^f took place, as is the general celebration in certain parts of the world of the wood of the Cross found.

[13] various relics obtained: But after the dedication, for the sake of bringing sacred relics, divers men sent into divers parts of the world seek divers things: some to Jerusalem for relics of the holy Cross; but some to Rome for relics of the most blessed apostles and martyrs Peter and Paul, who all, having obtained their votive desire and returning to the city, gave thanks to God. Then indeed the blessed Prelate, the bishops being assembled, with fear and exultation brought the aforesaid relics from the place in which they had been deposited to the church in which they were to be laid. And when the hour had come of offering the sacrifice, after which it is customary to lay up relics, the invited bishops beseech the Pontiff that he himself should immolate the host to the Lord at the first altar, on account of his own vow, and of his old age and the degree of his ordination: and when he long resisted, being pressed by their frequent exhortations he yielded obedience.

[14] a miracle wrought as the Saint elevated the sacred Host: And behold, at the hour of the breaking of the heavenly bread, when after the priestly custom the aforesaid Prelate offered the host with uplifted hands three times to be blessed by God, there appeared as it were shining snow above his head a hand ^g, with fingers extended, blessing the offering three times. The sacrifices being duly performed, the oft-named Priest said to those who were with him, beginning from the bishops and coming down to the last of the people: Say, I pray, most blessed brethren, if you have beheld any miracle while the Mass was being celebrated. Who answering said: None. Then the subdeacon Baudelius ^h (whose was on that day the ministry of attendance) said: I saw, but for fear I falter to relate it: it seemed to me, as thou didst elevate the host, that a hand stretched out from the cloud which had covered thy head blessed three times the offering made to God. To whom the Bishop: Blessed art thou, dearest brother, to whom such sacred mysteries have been shown. Among the people also, when he had asked, there were found two who had been partakers of seeing so great a mystery, Eleusinus and Procopia, that is, Eleusinus a penitent, and Procopia a woman vowed to chastity ⁱ. To whom also the Bishop said: Blessed are you also, because flesh and blood has not revealed these things to you, but God, who is in heaven.

[15] and many pagans converted on that occasion. Which being duly ascertained, all the Church together cried out: We give thee thanks, O Lord, who hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones, whose angels always see thee sitting in heaven, and hast raised up for us in the house of the Lord a horn of David, visiting and doing marvels with us, as thou hast spoken by the mouth of thy holy Prophets who are from the beginning. And the blessing being completed, dancing for joy in the praises of the Lord they placed the relics in the middle altar of the most holy Cross; on the right side, on account of the return of the brothers and the cult of sincere veneration, those of the martyrs Crispin and Crispinian: and on the left side are laid the relics of Peter and Paul. And the report of this miracle traversed the whole world; at whose fragrance unwashed pagans ran together to receive the grace of God, and within three days nearly seven thousand pagans were baptized, blessing the Lord and giving thanks to the prelate Evurtius, through whom they had deserved to come to the laver of regeneration and to the Catholic faith. Do not, I pray, most diligent reader, ascribe the Bishop's question about the miracle ^k to arrogance, since in it he sought not his own praise but Christ's.

ANNOTATIONS.

* i.e. a hoe

otherwise intersuetum*

* i.e. and delineated

otherwise Julianæ*

CHAPTER III.

The Saint's last deeds: the fabulous election of St. Anianus: his blessed death, burial, and cult.

[ ] The Saint's virtues and miracles, The building of the church therefore being accomplished, and the perfect deposition of the relics confirmed, all the people began to fly to the oft-named Bishop for their several needs. These desiring to obtain the grace of God; those wishing to be rid of most wicked contagions: and so at daily hours and moments the glory of Christ shone forth through him from the fulness of healings, and each returned having received the fostering of the health he desired; the deaf with hearing, the blind with sight, the dumb with the office of speech *, the lame with walking, the paralytic with the curing of their limbs: to all all things the sevenfold Holy Spirit ^a bestowed through the mouth and the laying on of the Bishop's hand. And when such and very many works had shone forth through him, and nearly every kind of men gave thanks to God for him, who had set so great and such a Priest over his church, there slipped by the twentieth year ^b of his ordination; all which years he had spent in charity and holiness and purity of mind, with peoples of divers age and sex: he therefore was intent upon the works granted him by the Lord.

[17] who is said to have foretold his impending death, But on a certain day, when at dawn he was rising to the chanting of the psalms in the Church, he determined within himself to disclose to the brethren the end of his life, which Christ had revealed to him. The morning mysteries therefore being completed, he entered into the sacristy, and calling together the whole brotherhood, and certain of the laity, set forth to them each thing as it had been revealed to him. Then he added: And since, the Lord's day coming on, I am to depart to the Lord, as I have set forth ^c, I beseech you to lend a serene mind to my exhortation: for I fear, and am racked with continual anxiety, lest again on account of the ordaining of a successor to me a revived discord should sprout up: for you know how great evils were done in this city before my coming; therefore, that henceforth such things be not done among a Christian people, I urge you that after my passing you ordain as your bishop the brother and fellow-priest and abbot Anianus (whose life you have known by very many proofs) so speedily that, if it can be done, I be not yet buried, lest a prolonged interval be again the tinder of quarrels.

[18] and to have seen to St. Anianus being chosen as his successor, At that time therefore in which these things were done, there flourished in the city of Orléans a very great progeny of nobles both in the clergy and among the people; and while each sought to aid himself, or his kinsmen or friends, as the Bishop's foreboding mind had foretold, the seeds of dissension again bore fruit about the ordaining of a prelate, and parties began to be opposed to one another. One party was devoted to the last persuasions of the dying Bishop; the other, which had nothing of crime to object, under a veil struggled to drive away obedience to the simplicity of his assertion. And while these and such things were being done among priests puffed up with the pedigree of their birth, and among laymen haughty with a like participation of blood, they penetrated the ears of most blessed Evurtius. Who, calling to him again those whom he had before admonished, uses these soothing words: Dearest and unanimous brethren, and you most excellent sons, long since foreseeing what was to come, I admonished your charity concerning such a matter, doing this not as though consulting for a brother, but having the fear of God before my eyes; therefore, if to my precepts, nay rather to my persuasions, some are unwilling to lend consent, let us most patiently think of something else, whereby satisfaction may be made to all. There are therefore three on whose account the sedition of the people is wont to have arisen, and since three bishops cannot be in one city, let us consult the Lord about such a matter; let us this night, gathered unanimously, keep watch in hymns and readings; and taking a paper, let us put down the three names one by one, which names shall lie hidden all night beneath the altar, and the Masses being performed at the chosen time on the morrow, let us bring an innocent little boy who shall draw out the aforesaid papers from the bottom of the altar: and if this too be too little for consulting, let the Psalter and the Gospels be brought, and if all three trials be consonant with one another, let him whom they shall designate be ordained.

[19] The speech of his prudence pleased before all: the vigils are celebrated, is asserted by a fabulous account: the Masses are performed, an innocent boy is brought, through whom the revelation of God might be shown. And that innocent, stretching out his right hand to draw the papers, and when he touched one of them with his hand and carried it with his fingers clinging to it, began to cry out as a prophet, calling and saying: Anianus, Anianus, Anianus alone is worthy in honor of the episcopate in this city now. And this was done that there might be fulfilled what the Psalmist sang: Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings thou hast perfected praise. After these things they open the Psalter also: at which opening this was the Psalm: Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen and taken to thee: he shall dwell in thy tabernacle. The text also of the Gospel was this: Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church. Admonished therefore by these and such most evident sacraments, they designate blessed Anianus as bishop, saying to the most glorious Evurtius: We always know that the sayings of thy blessedness are most in accord with the precepts and commands of God. Then the most blessed Man, glad at God's disposing, bidding farewell to all, and having commended the clergy and people to his successor, returns to his dwelling with cheerful countenance.

[20] After these things, being taken with fever, on the day which had been shown him the Saint's sickness, death, burial, and cult: the writer of the Life. he rendered his body to the earth and his soul to heaven. He departed therefore from the living in time on the seventh Ides of September ^d, his spiritual doctrine flourishing and thriving in the world. And there was in those days, in which most blessed Evurtius received the insignia of the episcopate, Silvester ^e the Pope, prelate of the Apostolic See. The most blessed Bishop therefore being dead, he was buried in the sight of his fellow-citizens by Tetradius, a man of prefectorian rank, and was placed by him in his own field which he had before the city, looking toward the East. And the same Tetradius built over his burial a small cell, not by reason of poverty, but of necessity; since the nations were making an uproar in all the Gallic regions, and to none was there means of living freely. In which place most frequently very many kinds of miracles are wrought, Jesus Christ the Son of God working them, to whom be honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. I, Lucifer the subdeacon, have written down in truth these deeds of the manners and acts of the holy and most blessed bishop Evurtius, adding nothing and speaking nothing superfluous ^f. But lest too lengthy a discourse should have bred not delight but weariness in readers, I have passed over many of his miracles. Wherefore I ask thee, whosoever shalt read these his acts, to obtain for me by prayer the pardon of God, lest any evil come upon me, because I have written part of the miracles and concealed part, by him before whom we all shall stand, since in those things which I have pursued I have not sworn falsely ^g.

ANNOTATIONS.

Gervasius, Protasius, and the boy Celsus, he had established in the town of Orléans; where also he had prepared a burial-place for himself. But if this were true, he would not have been buried in the field of Tetradius, as the interpolator himself nevertheless writes.

otherwise loquendi*

otherwise nec*

* i.e. lying hidden

ACTS OF THE TWOFOLD TRANSLATION

by an anonymous author

From the parchment codex of the Queen of Sweden.

Evurtius, bishop and confessor at Orléans in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 2801

By an Anonymous author.

A few things about the Saint's life and burial: Lesson I. The glorious confessor of Christ Evurtius, who, as is had in his sacred Deeds ^a, by the working of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove was appointed worthy pontiff of the people of Orléans, after the course of his temporal contest faithfully consummated, delivered that holy soul to angelic hands to be borne into the rest prepared for him by God. Whose clay, of that most sacred Man, St. Anianus ^b, bishop of the same city, whom the same blessed Evurtius had by wise counsel put in his own place as a worthy successor, with psalms and canticles, as is the custom of Catholics, sung round about, with all reverence diligently gave over to burial with his own hands. For at that time a most noble man of the family of the senators, Tetradius by name, with much zeal asked that the incomparable treasure of the holy body might be buried in his own field, which he had before the Eastern quarter of the city. And the same Tetradius built over his burial a small cell, not by reason of poverty, but of necessity, since in every region of the Gauls the tumults of invaders were raging, and to none was there means of living freely. In which place very many kinds of miracles are wrought and have been wrought, our Lord Jesus Christ working them, to declare the most holy merit of his confessor, whom in his life he had chosen beforehand as Pontiff and Patron for his people.

[2] Lesson II. There rested therefore in that same place for some time the venerable body of the precious confessor Evurtius, the Vandals, that is, the Saracens, laying waste Gaul, where by the invocation of the holy name of Christ and by the intercession of the same Confessor very many kinds of sicknesses, very many afflictions of diabolical fraud, deserved to receive a saving remedy. But when, the guilt of sinners requiring it, the inhuman rage of the Vandal ^c persecution raged nearly everywhere, and especially in the parts of the Gauls, and the holy Church of God suffered the affliction of immoderate fear, whosoever a little before had been dwelling outside the townships or cities, or even outside the firmer circuit of walls, turned in flight to safer and stronger places. But those whom the beastlike rage of the persecutors perceived to be unprotected by any strength in country-houses, fields, or villages, it restlessly harassed, and cruelly destroying both them and their possessions, ceased not to satiate its ferocity with human blood.

[3] the sacred body is translated from the suburban place of burial into the city, Lesson III. In the crisis therefore of so great a persecution the inhabitants of the city of Orléans, not slightly terrified, judged it worthy to translate the holy and venerable body of the blessed confessor Evurtius with all devotion within the circuit of the walls, lest, if it remained outside the city, that precious pearl should be given to swine to be trampled: and that the city itself might deserve for itself the patronage of the relics of that same most holy body. Being translated therefore from its own place in which it rested, it was diligently laid up in a certain church of the blessed protomartyr Stephen ^d within the city; and until that persecution should cease, it was there venerated with faithful cult, as was worthy, by the inhabitants of that same city.

[4] and thence brought back to the former place, the danger ceasing: Lesson IV. But in what manner, the disquiet of the barbarians ceasing, it was translated from the aforesaid church of blessed Stephen to its own place, and how great miracles at that translation Christ deigned to show to the honor of his confessor, can be weighed from the sanctions of Charles, the most Christian emperor of the Franks; which also he confirmed with the seal of his authority to the knowledge of posterity, and laid up in the church of the blessed confessor Evurtius, with estates given of royal munificence, to be preserved. But lest we seem to serve mere circumlocutions, we have judged it worthy to subscribe the privilege of the same emperor.

[5] the diploma of Charlemagne, Lesson V. Charles by the grace of God King of the Franks and patrician of the Romans, to all the orthodox baptized in Christ Jesus our Lord. The estate of our kingdom flourishing by the mercy of God, the empire being at peace on every side, when we were glorying in our palace at Orléans, and there were together with us several of the chief men of our empire ^e, and many other religious men of divers order and age, it pleased our majesty, by the dispensation of the Divine sublimity, that we should visit the holy places of that city, and give thanks to Christ the King of kings for the gifts of his benefits granted to us.

[6] in which certain things are reported about the Saint, Lesson VI. Having therefore summoned the venerable man Agius ^f bishop of that city, and several others of the ecclesiastical order, we visited the canonical churches one by one, traversing the city, and asking about the sanctuary of each. At length, when we had come to a certain church outside the city, consecrated in the honor and name of the holy Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, in which the precious confessor of the Lord Evurtius rests in the body, the aforesaid bishop, making a discourse to us all for the edification of souls, told how St. Evurtius himself, by the Holy Spirit showing it in the form of a dove, was designated bishop, and how at the dedication of the basilica of the holy Cross the hand of the Lord appeared above the head of that Saint.

[7] as also the miracle wrought at the bringing back of the body; Lesson VII. He added lastly a miracle not to be kept silent, wrought not much time ^g before, to which also several religious men who were present there bore witness; that in the time of the Vandal persecution, when the venerable body of blessed Evurtius had lain hidden within the city, in the church of St. Stephen the protomartyr, and afterwards, the persecution ceasing, it was being brought back by faithful persons to the aforesaid church of the holy Mother of God with much triumph, an abundant multitude of countless people accompanying; suddenly a rainstorm having arisen, though the day had before been clear, for the overflowing of the rains no one was able to make his way, except those who accompanied the precious relics of the holy body.*

[8] Lesson VIII. But that the merit of the glorious Confessor might shine forth, which being learned, Charles visits the body, and that he whom in the heavenly palace the King of kings has heaped with immense glory ^h might stand worthy on earth of incomparable honor, an incomparable light shone round about the bearers of the sacred body, and no drop of rain-water ⁱ wetted either them or the pall with which the holy relics were covered. Recognizing therefore the glorious merit of the most holy Confessor and one worthy of God, and praying lastly that he might stand as intercessor for us before God, we first gave thanks to God: and afterwards we approached the tomb of the most holy pontiff and one worthy of God, Evurtius, with a great throng of the peoples.*

[9] Lesson IX. Offerings also of royal munificence we laid upon his altar, and gives many things to the Saint's church: and for the uses of the canons serving God there we conferred certain lands from our treasury, to the honor of the Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ and of the most holy confessor Evurtius, namely in the district which is called Sicalonia, a certain villa by name Selimniacum with a church, and arable lands, and the woods which are round about it, and meadows, men-servants and maid-servants, a fishpond, and all things pertaining to that villa and to that church. In Beauce also we granted one villa, which is called Baldricivilla ^k, with arable lands and all things pertaining to the same villa. The justice indeed of that domain, that is, the vicarage (as our predecessors held it and we were holding it) we have wholly granted, that the canons warring for God may hold it in quiet, that the villagers of the district may live peacefully in the quiet of the clergy, and may fear the disquiet of no invader. And if there is anything else which the officials of the royal dignity have been wont to take in the lands taxed above and in the other lands of the glorious confessor Evurtius, within the dominion of our kingdom, wheresoever they are situated, we have wholly remitted and do remit ^l, have released, condone, and grant.*

[10] But if, which we by no means believe, against this our donation, and confirms the donation by many things. and against the authority of the royal majesty, anyone shall attempt to plot and to act, and either shall presume to recall the aforesaid lands to his own lordship, or shall wish to introduce or take any customary dues

in them for his own use; let him know that he has acted against the royal majesty and has incurred the wrath of the Lord Jesus and of blessed Evurtius. Moreover, being guilty of a capital censure, since he is guilty of treason, let him either be struck in the head, or pay to the treasury a hundred pounds of gold, and at last let his presumptuous petition become void and empty ^m. And that this our donation might be firmer, and might remain inviolable and stable against the assaults of all calumniators, we have confirmed it below, and have caused it to be marked below with the ring of our kingdom. We have also given order that the venerable bishop Agius himself ⁿ, and the other bishops who had come to our court, should excommunicate and anathematize all who should act against this our donation and be hostile to it, who should vex and trouble the quiet of the holy church of God and of the holy men warring for God therein; who should attempt to bring any molestation upon the ministers of the above-written church concerning those things which are inserted above: which they also did, and subscribed their anathema below, and with their own hands wrote their names beneath: We have excommunicated and anathematized ^o, and we sequester from the thresholds of the holy church of God, whosoever shall attempt to act against this donation, and whosoever shall have shaken anything of all these things which are noted above; let them be damned with Judas the traitor, let them be anathema maranatha with Dathan and Abiron. And all answered: So be it, so be it [p].

ANNOTATIONS.

p There is no subscription in our manuscript. But in the praised Gallia Christiana these follow thus: Agius bishop of Orléans and abbot of the church of St. Euvertius, Rogeius archbishop of Reims, Deodatus bishop of Soissons, John bishop of Troyes. Signed, count Aigulf. Signed, count Aimerantus, prince Dagillus. Done publicly at Orléans on the day before the Kalends of July, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Charlemagne king of the Franks, the same being patrician of the Romans. That these subscriptions are faulty and supposititious can easily be proved: but that is not necessary, since the editors themselves acknowledge that the diploma is adulterated. Yet what makes me judge that a like diploma was given by Charlemagne in favor of the church of St. Evurtius is the bull of Eugenius III, published by the same writers at col. 507, in which mention clear enough is made of a like diploma of Charlemagne, since the same villas are there named, and are said to have been given to the church of St. Evurtius by Charles king of the Franks: and there also is mentioned the immunity which Charlemagne king of the Franks conferred upon all the lands (of the abbey of St. Evurtius).

in the printed text gloriosus*

ibid. Euvertius*

ibid. quiescit*

ibid. specie*

in the printed text pluviali*

ibid. postmodum*

ibid. Seneliacum*, i.e. Seneli

ibid. quoque*

ibid. prætaxatis*

ibid. tamquam*

ibid. ut ad hæc*

ibid. fratrum*

ibid. quoque*

ibid. suis*

ibid. cassaverint*

THE FINDING OF THE BODY

by abbot Roger

from a manuscript of St. Ouen of Rouen, collated with the edition of Martène.

Evurtius, bishop and confessor at Orléans in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 2802

By Roger the abbot.

Regular canons having been brought into the church of St. Evurtius, To his beloved lords and friends in Christ, F. ^a abbot of blessed Ouen, and to all that holy congregation, brother Roger, called abbot of the monastery of blessed Evurtius, and the whole convent of the poor men of that place, greeting and love. That you honor our blessed and glorious father and patron Evurtius with the due affection of veneration, we indeed give you thanks according to our power: but that pious Servant of God himself will of his kindness obtain worthy rewards for your devotion. Now, since you rejoice with us over his most sacred finding, and zealously ask of us the manner and the day of it, receive it in a few words with fitting brevity. Our predecessors the secular canons, who nearly five years before this ^b were serving in the holy church of the blessed Confessor, had it often in their purpose to enlarge the still narrow building of the church: who even advanced so far in the matter that they even made a kiln, from whose lime they might build the sacred walls, which same lime we have among us.

[2] But suddenly by God's nod they changed their counsel, fearing namely lest, if perchance they should find that holy treasure in their own ground, they should be driven from the church, they determine to seek the Saint's body, and the place itself be handed over to monks or regular canons, who would bestow a more devout cult upon so great a Father. But when it pleased the divine mercy to place us his servants, living under a regular habit, in that holy church, we forthwith did not yield to flesh and blood, not fearing, that is, where there was no fear, but trusting in God's mercy, and we had this often and long in our prayers, this in our desires, this in our fasts and afflictions, that the kindly goodness of God might reveal to his servants the glorious body of the pious father Evurtius in these our times. The Lord had pity on us, and heard the desire of his poor. For what we asked we received, what we sought we found, it was opened to us where we knocked.

[3] Often indeed our lords and fathers, nearly all, both bishops and abbots, who turned aside to us, as is usual, for the sake of praying or of visiting us, Suger abbot of St. Denis urging it, admonished and incited our lowliness that without delay we should seek that singular joy of ours: but also the lord Suger ^c, abbot of St. Denis, a man of high counsel and excellent prudence, when on a certain day he had come to Orléans, was led by us into a certain sacristy of our church, which behind the altar of the glorious father Evurtius was shut off from public access by a certain partition of wall. We showed him a certain great wooden casket, which is set from of old above ^d the venerable sepulchre of that Saint, in whose bottom a certain long and blackish stone, which they call adhesia ^e, which seemed prepared for nothing else than for the closing of a sepulchre, afforded to the beholder a great token of a great hidden treasure. Then he said, This is it; seek here, for here you will find. And he added: Do not delay. Exalt God, and being exalted he will exalt you.

[4] and they happily find it. We gathered courage not only from the oracle of so great a father, but also from revelations made to our brethren, and also from miracles openly wrought in our sight; and after a fast and general prayer sent before, on the sixth day of the third week of the Advent of the Lord, at nightfall, we approached with a few brethren to the place of the sacred repose. Thereafter, digging, at length we found two sarcophagi, not far distant from each other, one above the other, which were themselves within four walls set opposite one another on either side, most beautiful indeed, and composed of painted bricks, smeared with excellent smooth red mortar. The first of the sarcophagi being opened secretly on the vigil of the Lord's Nativity after Mass, we found nothing at all in it. But in the lower one, on the birthday of the Innocents after Matins, what was sought was found. Further, we received this sound counsel from religious persons, that that famous exaltation of so holy a body, or translation from place to place, should be deferred until the coming of the lord king ^f.

ANNOTATIONS.

perhaps parvitatem*

in the printed text videtur*