Corbinian

ON ST. CORBINIAN, FIRST BISHOP OF FREISING IN BAVARIA,

About the year DCCXXX.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Corbinian, first bishop of Freising in Bavaria (S.)

BHL Number: 1949

BY C. S.

§ I. The writer of the Acts, Aribo, bishop of Freising: from what source the Acts are to be edited.

The Acts of St. Corbinian, first bishop of the people of Freising in what is today upper Bavaria, were left handed down to posterity by a contemporary writer, Notice is given of Aribo, bishop of Freising, the fourth prelate of the same see, Aribo by name, who is also read as called Arbio, Arbeo, Hæres and Cyrinus. This variety of name the most learned Marcus Velser, book 5 of the Boican Affairs, traces back to the ancient words Erbon and Arbon, which in the Boican tongue signified Heirs. Accordingly Aribo in Latin called himself Heres (Heir): but he is of the opinion that the word Cyrinus was borrowed from St. Jerome's little work On the Interpretation of Hebrew Names; for in it Cyrus is likewise interpreted in Latin as Heir. But whatever be the case with this etymology and variety of the name, Aribo himself in the Life which we are elucidating, below, chapter 7, num. 52, calls himself Hæres according to the Benediktbeuern Manuscript, of which below, but in the codex which Surius used, in the same place he calls himself Aribo and Heres. In the instruments drawn up under Aribo which Charles Meichelbeck exhibits in his History of Freising, tome 1, part 2, he is written now Arbio or Arbeo, now Heres. Count Arnolf in a Letter to Abbot Purchard, in Canisius, Ancient Readings, tome 2, likewise calls him by a twofold name: I was exceedingly aggrieved, he says, at the domestic deeds, namely, of our most illustrious patron Emmeram the martyr, rightly written down, as I think, long ago by a certain man who calls himself Cirinus and Heres, bishop of the church of Freising, but before our time corrupted by the negligence of our elders.

[2] who wrote the Saint's Acts Further, the deeds of Aribo the reader will find in Charles Meichelbeck, just praised, part 1, of which therefore we here only touch the sum. He says, then, that Aribo, when already initiated into the priesthood, was employed by Joseph, third bishop of the people of Freising, in the writing of instruments, and was endowed with the archpresbyterate: that he was then set as abbot over the monastery of Scharnitz, and finally in the year of Christ 764 was raised to the episcopal chair of Freising, which he left when he died in the year 784, although others think he died two years earlier. Nor should we pass over what Meichelbeck relates about Aribo from the Life of St. Corbinian. In our text, chapter 6, it is said that a certain little boy, when he had run about incautiously by the walls of the town of Mais in Tyrol, where the body of St. Corbinian rested, on the festal night of that same Saint, and had fallen headlong down a precipice, was marvellously preserved: and Aribo adds: Who by the merits of the Man of God was found not only alive, but even unharmed, and who also by the gift of the divine bounty himself presided over that bishopric for many days. That this little boy was Aribo himself, Meichelbeck rightly judges, for of no other can it rightly be understood. For concerning Erimbert, St. Corbinian's brother and perhaps his elder, and his successor, there can be no question at all: concerning Joseph, the third prelate of that see, Mabillon doubted, in the 3rd Benedictine Century, part 1: but Meichelbeck more rightly denied it, led chiefly by this reason. In the year of Christ 749 that Joseph, having obtained the bishopric, numbered at least thirty years, which he could not have numbered if after the death of St. Corbinian, which falls in the year 730, he had been only a little boy. Nothing of the sort occurs in Aribo, who, since he was first made bishop in the year 764, is rightly understood to have been a little boy even after the year 730. And from this at the same time it is more rightly understood why he suppressed the name of that boy and afterwards bishop — namely, lest he should seem to be angling for some glory to himself from a benefit received.

[3] From what has been said it is clear that Aribo, although he lived with St. Corbinian only as a boy, could nevertheless have had the things done by him thoroughly ascertained: and wrote the translation of the body performed by himself. both because, being near in time, he could easily have received them even from the Saint's own companions, and because the office of archpresbyter and then of the bishopric itself afforded him the means of investigating them more deeply. The same man's dignity and nearness of time win great authority for the Life: for as it would have been shameful for a bishop to besprinkle a Saint's acts with fictions, so it would have been easy for others at that time to refute them, since without doubt not a few survived who had lived with the Saint. Wherefore, although the things be marvellous which he himself narrates in chapter 3, num. 21, about the bear that served him, and in num. 24 and 25 about the eagle that supplied him with fish, I cannot nevertheless reckon them among fables, unless I accuse the episcopal writer either of being guilty of a lie useless to himself, or of being prodigal of his own reputation through excessive credulity; both of which be far from me. At the end of the Life the same Aribo appended the translation of the holy body, which by his own agency and as bishop was carried from the city of Mais to Freising and honorably laid to rest in the cathedral church.

[4] Laurentius Surius printed the little work of the aforesaid Aribo, that is, the Life of St. Corbinian, at the VIII day of September: Why the Benediktbeuern codex is preferred to the Surian edition from Surius, Mabillon reported it in the Acts of the Saints of his own Order, Century 3, part 1. But from what codex the former drew it, and whether he changed the style, he does not indicate: whereas Charles Meichelbeck in the oft-praised History of Freising brought forward another, differing by a variety of phrases, though not of matters save a few. For this he himself cites a Benediktbeuern codex written nearly seven hundred years ago, and far to be preferred to the Surian codex as well as to the Andechs one, which he thinks was written in the XVth century. Nor does he seem to me to think this without reason concerning the Surian edition: for in the first place the more elegant style in it savors of a certain alteration made either by Surius or by another before him; whereas the same Aribo labors under most frequent solecisms in the instruments which Meichelbeck exhibits as drawn up by him under Bishop Joseph: with which, although the Life from the Benediktbeuern codex does not so greatly swarm, yet it is not wholly free of them, and certainly in the simplicity of its diction does not shrink from them so much as does the Surian copy or edition. Concerning the Andechs copy, which I have not been permitted to inspect, I can determine nothing on this head: but the praised historian of Freising attacks both copies from another quarter.

[5] and to the Andechs codex In the Surian edition the following is said about the spring drawn forth on the mount of St. Stephen near Freising:

But when the Man of God had died and his body had been taken away by us, for forty years the ground remained dry and without water: and when he had been brought back by us again, the spring itself furnished its former abundance of waters. To this our assertion the spring itself offers testimony to the eyes of those who look upon it. But let us return to the narration of the history. All these things, which are entirely absent from the Benediktbeuern codex, are read otherwise in the Andechs one, as the praised historian testifies, who on that account holds this passage suspect of interpolation. Indeed he even endeavors to confirm his suspicion from the fact that 40 years are set as intervening between the translation of the body to Mais and its bringing back to the people of Freising: whereas he himself thinks it certain from two instruments that the sacred body already rested at Freising in the year 769; from which year, if you count back to 730, the Saint's year of death as he himself determines it, you will find only 38 or 39 years intervening. But we shall show in § VIII that these things are not so certain as he himself supposed: indeed he too admits that those years could here be assigned only approximately. For my part I would not dare to determine whether that prodigy of the spring drying up and again gushing forth was rather added by an interpolator to the Surian and Andechs codices, than omitted in the Benediktbeuern one. The arguments which can be brought forward on either side we shall examine in § VI, where we shall treat of that spring more fully.

[6] we should prefer However that may be, Meichelbeck's copy pleases me much on account of the simplicity of its style, and accordingly I shall reprint it from his edition. Further, the remaining writers who committed to writing either all or some of St. Corbinian's deeds have all followed Aribo. Of this sort are Vitus Arnpekh, priest, who flourished about the end of the XVth century, in Bernard Pez, Thesaurus of Anecdota, tome 3, part 3; Marcus Velser, Boican Affairs, book 5, whose elegant lucubration Matthew Rader of our Society transferred into his Bavaria sancta; Baillet in the Lives of the Saints published in French; and finally Charles Meichelbeck, already often praised, who besides Aribo's little work, which he published, himself also composed and illustrated a Life of the Saint; whose labor I profess will be of much use to me in these Acts.

§ II. The Saint's native land: not the county of Tyrol, but Gaul.

[ ] The Saint was not born in Tyrol, Among the writers who have treated of Boican affairs there have been not a few who thought St. Corbinian was born in the town of Mais in the county of Tyrol. Now Majæ or Maja, called by the inhabitants Mayse, according to the most distinguished Anton Roschmann in his Description of Tyrol, published in German, was formerly a city, and is now only a populous village, near the city of Merano in the province of the Adige. By Aribo, who flourished in the VIIIth century, it is called now the city of Mais, now the castle of Mais. Occasion for this opinion about the Saint's native land was furnished by a certain Conrad, canon and sacristan of the cathedral church of Freising, who in the year of Christ 1187, under Otto II, bishop of that place, wove together a series of the prelates of Freising down to the aforesaid Otto, and gathered various instruments of donations into one codex, according to Meichelbeck, who calls that book the Great Book of Traditions. He therefore, on the first leaf of his Work, writes thus of the holy Prelate: Maise, whence he himself was sprung, and Chorzes and Camina … he conferred by right of property upon that see (Freising) which he founded: which places we shall see below to be situated in the county of Tyrol.

[8] Hence it came about that John Freiberger, likewise canon of the same church and pastor of St. Peter's in Vohburg, as certain men wrongly supposed, in the book to which he gave the title The Origin of the Christian Religion of the Church of Freising, and which he published at Landshut in the year 1520, made Corbinian a Tyrolese by birth. Corbinian, he says, … sprung from the Militonensian region, from the neighborhood of Maise and Thorses near Merano, born in the castle of Zenburgk. Similarly Aventinus, book 3 of the Annals of the Boians, and Hund in the Metropolis of Salzburg, part 1, assign to him Mais in Tyrol as his native land. Indeed even the domestic codices, says Meichelbeck in his third prolegomenous Dissertation, plainly diverge into different opinions, and some maintain that he was born in Gaul, others in that part of Bavaria which is today the province of the Adige. Further, the praised Meichelbeck, besides Conrad's authority, brings forward a certain other reason by which the aforesaid writers could have been led to think so. Namely, that Mais and the neighboring places were dearer to Corbinian than the rest of the lands, that he longed to live there in solitude; that thither, and not into Gaul, he fled when he feared for himself from the plots of the incestuous Pilitrudis; that there he was buried, as he had asked while living, and that only with a mighty crash, as though he were bidding farewell to a most beloved place, was he carried back thence to Freising, as the reader will understand in the course of the Life. So, roughly, the Historian of Freising.

[9] Yet he himself, after Marcus Velser, Matthew Rader, but born in the Île-de-France Gelwold, Brunner, Ranbeck, Mezger and Mabillon, all of whom he praises, sincerely and deservedly maintains that Corbinian sprang from nowhere else than from Gaul. The matter is manifest from Aribo his biographer, who, as we have said, being a writer contemporary with the Saint and all but of the same time, and his successor in the bishopric after Erimbert and Joseph, could hardly have been ignorant of his native land, and must have had it far more certainly ascertained than Conrad the sacristan, who composed his codex only after the middle of the fifth century from the Saint's death. Let us therefore hear him: The venerable servant of God Corbinian (he says, chapter 1) had sprung from the Militonensian region, born in a village which is called Castrus. And a little after: He most devoutly settled himself at the church of the blessed confessor of Christ Germanus, built in the same Castrum, and beside it built himself a little cell.

[10] Then in chapter 2 he writes that the Saint, since his modesty and love of solitude ill bore the throng of people flocking to his cell, set out for Rome, it is shown from Aribo, so that with the kind leave of the supreme Pontiff he might be allowed to hide himself at the basilica of SS. Peter and Paul: but that, contrary to his hope and his wish, he was consecrated bishop by St. Gregory II of that name and ordered to return to preach the Gospel. But whither, pray, did he return? And having received so great an honor and privilege, says the biographer, he returned into Gaul. From Gaul, therefore, he had set out for Rome: for no one is properly said to return into a region in which he has never been. Further, after he has narrated certain deeds of the Saint in Gaul, he continues thus: He settled himself in his former little cell, at the doors of the church of blessed Germanus. You see, reader, that St. Corbinian's former cell was in Gaul, not in Tyrol — the cell, namely, which, as we saw above, he had built for himself in the same Castrum, or in the village which is called Castrus, in which Aribo also writes that he was born. But of the city or castle of Mais no mention at all is made in the biographer before he describes the Saint's return from his second Roman journey: for then he says that Corbinian, detained by Grimoald's officers at Mais, surveyed the neighboring places and came to love them on account of the tomb of St. Valentine.

[11] his biographer, But that these very things may be more clearly plain, it is worth while to elucidate Aribo's words a little. He had sprung, he says, from the Militinensian region (Surius reads Melitensian) born in a village which is called Castrus. By the Militinensian region he doubtless understood the district of Melun, so called from the ancient town of Melodunum, commonly Melun, now in the province of Brie and in the general prefecture of the Île-de-France, on the river Seine, ten leagues distant from the city of Paris to the South, according to Baudrand in his Lexicon. Of it Julius Caesar, book 7 of the Gallic War, makes mention thus: Melodunum is a town of the Senones situated on an island of the Seine, as we said a little before of Lutetia. Joseph Scaliger reads Metiosedum for Melodunum; but Hadrian Valois in the Notitia of the Gauls advises that Melodunum is to be read. No less known is the village which is called Castrus: for Chatoes is designated, which Mabillon names Castras and Castra, and Baudrand Castrum, and which he places in the same province of the Île-de-France on the small river Orge, and it is a town four miles distant from Paris, according to the same Mabillon. Concerning the church of St. Germanus, in which we have said from Aribo that the Saint dwelt, the latter adds these words in his Annotations to the Life: That oratory of St. Germanus, bishop of Paris, exists even now, and is a parish church outside the circuit of the walls of Castrum.

[12] and it is confirmed by conjecture. To these arguments Meichelbeck adds a weighty conjecture: namely that from ancient times the feast of St. Corbinian has been celebrated in the aforesaid church of St. Germanus on the Sunday after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with a proper Office, by the people of Castrum in Gaul, while in the province of the Adige no memory of him is kept in the divine office: nay, that even from Aribo's time, when the sacred body also rested there, scarcely any was kept, is shown from the same Aribo, who, concerning the reasons for which he judged that the sacred relics of the Prelate should be carried back to Freising, writes thus among the rest: I, Hæres, though an unworthy bishop of that same see of Freising, began to consider what I ought to do about the body of so great a Father, who lay there without due honor and without holy office, and from which the honor due to him could not thenceforth be rendered. But now, if the Saint had been born in the province of the Adige, if he had stayed there 21 years at a certain church of St. Germanus, no probable reason seems able to be assigned why the people of Castrum in Gaul should celebrate his feast, and the people of the Adige not celebrate it. Add that in the province of the Adige no village Castrus, no church of St. Germanus, nor any ruins or memory of one, are to be seen. There are indeed those who would have the lordship of Mölten understood by the Militonensian region, and by the village Castrus the castle Zenonberg or Zennenberg: but, to say nothing of other things, it is clear enough from what has been said that Castrus in the passage cited is used not as a common noun but as the proper name of a place, and that it lay not in Tyrol but in Gaul. Further, a fitter place for treating of the year of his birth will recur elsewhere.

§ III. Whether he was a monk, and of the Order of St. Benedict.

[ ] Arguments for the Saint's Benedictine monasticism John Mabillon both in his Acts and in his Annals numbers Corbinian among the Saints of his own Order: the same does the oft-praised Meichelbeck, who in tome 1 of the History of Freising wrote a fourth prolegomenous Dissertation on the monasticism of St. Corbinian, in which he endeavored by many arguments to claim him for his own Benedictines. For my part I should not wish to deny this excellent Prelate to that sacred Order, much less to grudge him to it: but I could wish that the praised historian had established it by reasons of such a kind as would deservedly remove all doubt from me. But lest this hesitation of mine in the matter should perhaps seem to anyone less than fair, I set before the learned reader for weighing the chief arguments which he has used. In the first place he candidly admits that express mention of the Benedictine Rule is nowhere made in Aribo: yet he maintains that it can be abundantly shown from the same writer that St. Corbinian consecrated himself to the Benedictine Rule as it were from boyhood: for in chapter 2 (in our text) it is said

that he went to Rome, that there it might be permitted him to lead his life under the rule of holy conversation. But that by the rule of holy conversation no other than the Benedictine can be understood; both because in his age no other flourished among the Gauls, Franks, Germans, Alemanni and Norici, and because that Rule expressly and with often-repeated words makes mention of holy conversation.

[14] To this end he recites the following from the Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 73: drawn from Aribo We have written down this Rule, that by observing it in monasteries we may show ourselves to have in some measure either uprightness of morals or a beginning of conversation. He adds from the Prologue: By the progress of conversation and of faith … with unspeakable sweetness one runs the way of God's commandments. Then from chapter 73: For him who hastens to the perfection of conversation there are the teachings of the holy fathers, the observance of which leads a man to the height of perfection. Finally from chapter 3, where St. Benedict says of the Sarabaites and Gyrovagi: Concerning the most wretched conversation of all these it is better to be silent than to speak. These texts Meichelbeck at last caps thus: What Rule, then, reader, will you point to which treats more distinctly of holy conversation? But, with the learned man's leave be it said, nothing certain can be concluded from this for the Saint's Benedictine monasticism. For I at least do not sufficiently see how this argument concludes: St. Corbinian, according to Aribo, wished to lead his life under the rule of holy conversation; but the Benedictine Rule mentions conversation more distinctly than the rest: therefore St. Corbinian was a Benedictine.

[15] compared with the Rule Indeed, from the fact that Aribo used the same word which St. Benedict employed, nothing is proved, since the holy patriarch himself seems by it to have denoted nothing else than a certain particular manner of living, whether good or bad, as is manifest from what he says of the Sarabaites and Gyrovagi. And indeed, did not Aribo himself, in chapter 2, num. 10, employ the word conversation in a wholly different sense, when he wrote thus: And so the Man of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, suited himself to every sex and age, so that by his zeal for holy conversation he might be able to show to each one examples of the holy virtues. What he means to be understood here by zeal for holy conversation is clear from what he had premised a little before in this manner: For the Man of God was very eloquent and outstanding in kindness, distinguished among all in conversation, quick to anger against vices, swift to pardon, etc. Add that even if we were for a moment to suppose that by the rule of holy conversation the institute of St. Benedict is designated, it will still not follow that Corbinian was a Benedictine, but only that he wished to become one: for Aribo testifies that this, whatever it was, which he desired, was refused him by the Pontiff St. Gregory II, and that he was ordained bishop and sent back to preach the Gospel.

[16] of St. Benedict, Of nearly the same force is the argument which he frames in the same place from the fact that the biographer, in describing the Saint's morals and virtues even as a young man, mostly uses the phrases and precepts of the Rule of St. Benedict. For what else, he says, do those words of Aribo in chapter 1 savor of, than the institute and sometimes the very words of the holy Rule, when that writer speaks thus: “Who, when he had grown up a boy of good disposition, pricked by divine inspiration, manfully loved the office of sacred religion.” What was that sacred religion, the author asks, in St. Corbinian's time, and what its office? Presently he adds: Aribo goes on: “And he began to love psalmody, to love fasting, to devote himself to vigils and prayers, to refresh the poor as much as he could, to pursue hospitality, and zealously to persist in the practice of good work.” These, finally, Meichelbeck caps thus: What are these, but the very institutes and words of the Benedictine Rule, expressed both elsewhere and especially in chapters IV and LIII. I do not indeed deny that similar things are prescribed in the praised Rule: but I do not see why the Saint could not have practised those virtues unless he was a Benedictine. Indeed in the VIth century St. Sulpicius the Pious, bishop of Bourges in Gaul, prescribed yet another institute for his clerics, as may be seen in our Work, tome 2 of January, page 173. Corbinian, therefore, could with the servants whom he had retained live holily at the church of St. Germanus and discharge the offices of the Christian religion, which Regular clerics too are wont to observe, although he was by no means a Benedictine. Nor is it strange that Aribo employs phrases of the Benedictine Rule here and there, if he himself was a Benedictine and abbot of the monastery of Scharnitz, as Meichelbeck will have it. But let us hasten on to other matters.

[17] prove nothing certain, The biographer in chapter 1 says this: Led also by divine love to this, that he (Corbinian) should leave behind all concupiscence of the world from the flower of his youth, and be a most watchful guardian of holy continence and of his own chastity, he most devoutly settled himself at the church of the blessed confessor of Christ Germanus, built in the same Castrum, and beside it built himself a little cell, so delighted with solitude that he possessed nothing else save only servants who should furnish him the solace of outward necessity: whom he was zealous to instruct daily in sacred discipline, that they might be imitators of his life. Then he narrates the holy Man's strict silence in the night-time, compensated by a prodigy, of which matter the Brother who presided over the cellar, Ansericus by name, was witness. From these passages the praised historiographer of Freising judges that the Saint's Benedictine monasticism is to be elicited. For, he says, by cell a monastery is designated; nocturnal silence was in the VIIth and VIIIth centuries prescribed in the Rule of St. Benedict alone, namely chapter 42; and a monk had to be set over the cell or storeroom by the precept of the same Rule, chapter 31. But how uncertain this reasoning is, everyone sees. As though indeed he could not have built himself a cell, kept nocturnal silence, and set a Brother over the storeroom, except from the Benedictine Rule.

[18] The same writer asks besides what it means that Aribo expressly illustrates the Saint's acts by an example taken from the Acts of SS. Benedict and Scholastica, nor does namely when in chapter 2, num. 12 and following, having narrated a certain miracle, he writes that it is no wonder that St. Corbinian obtained it from God, since St. Scholastica too obtained from God what she had not been able to wring from her holy brother by any prayers. But what can be inferred from this, except that the Life of St. Benedict or of Scholastica was known to Aribo? The passage adduced by Meichelbeck is found in our text in the Life, num. 15: the holy Prelate had, namely, asked of the royal officers that a robber's life be granted him; suffering a refusal, he obtained from God that the man, already hanging for three days, should be taken down alive from the gibbet. St. Scholastica had asked of St. Benedict that he spend a whole night with her in sacred conversation: when he refused, she obtained from God that, because of frequent thunder and storm-clouds, he could not return to his own place. Aribo adduced this example: is Corbinian on that account to be said to have been a Benedictine? Indeed in like manner the same biographer, in num. 25, narrating that the Saint was fed by the ministry of an eagle, illustrates that deed by the example of SS. Paul and Antony: A wondrous thing, he says, and quite unheard of, save for that ancient miracle in which a raven supplied food to Paul and Antony.

[19] Somewhat more favorable to Meichelbeck are the words which Aribo appends about the same robber: the deed of Adelbert. Then the same Adelbert, like a sparrow snatched from the snare of punishments, changed his habit, and after many spaces of time made an end of living in the life of holy conversation under the tutelage of the Man of God. He interprets the change of habit as the taking up of monasticism: and not unfittingly; for the biographer himself premised these words about the same Adelbert, when he was being dragged to punishment and receiving pious admonitions from St. Corbinian: And the guilty man himself was zealous to promise amendment, and that he must change his life, leave the world, weep for what he had committed, and beware of things to come: where to leave the world seems to sound the same as to embrace the religious life. To this also pertain the words read in a certain poem in Arnpekh, in Bernard Pez's Thesaurus of Anecdota, tome 3, part 3, column 78, in this manner:

He prays the judge that the robber be not punished with death.

He redeems the robber from destruction on the third day.

He ordains as a monk the man redeemed from the death of the cross.*

[20] nor the deed of Adelbert. If it were certainly established that that Adelbert was in fact made a monk, the monasticism of St. Corbinian would likewise be probable; since the former is said to have died in the life of holy conversation under the tutelage of the Man of God after many spaces of time. But nothing stands in the way of some other regular life, such as recluses or anchorites in antiquity not rarely led, having been designated by Aribo through the changed habit and the world left behind; and therefore neither the one man's nor the other's monasticism is established beyond all doubt from the passage adduced. As for the poem, Meichelbeck calls it most ancient: but he did not read this in Arnpekh, whom he praises; for the latter, recording nothing of its antiquity, only prefixes this to the poem: Concerning the miracles of this holy Man it is written by the man of Freising. Now Arnpekh flourished toward the end of the XVth century, and so not much antiquity can be ascribed to the praised poem from the fact that it is cited by him: for it may have been written first some centuries after the Saint. Finally, of Benedictine monasticism nothing at all is said even in that poem: I confess, however, that it could not improbably be understood, if the monasticism were established.

[21] The church For the further establishing of his opinion Meichelbeck asserts besides that near the cathedral church of Freising a church to St. Benedict and a monastery were erected by Corbinian: which he would rather have dedicated to another lawgiver, if he had followed another's Rule. This observation would not be inapt, if the Saint's monastic life were established; but this had to be not supposed but solidly proved, in order to be held as certain and undoubted. Yet let us weigh what is true about this church and monastery. The author testifies that it still exists, and that on its principal altar this inscription is read:

The altar

Together with this church, sacred to the holy patriarch Benedict from the first times of the bishopric

He does not, however, declare how ancient that inscription is: nor does it make St. Corbinian the founder of the church or of the altar: for the first times of the bishopric certainly admit some latitude, and can look to the first bishops of that see after the Saint — namely Erimbert, Joseph, Aribo, or Atto, all of whom sat at Freising in the same century as Corbinian.

[22] and monastery of St. Benedict do not seem Indeed Aribo, an almost contemporary writer, makes the matter at least doubtful, since he nowhere mentions either a church dedicated to St. Benedict or a monastery instituted by Corbinian under the Rule of the same holy patriarch. And this silence in Aribo carries more weight than any other, if he had really, as the historian maintains, professed the Benedictine Rule in that same monastery. For what reason shall we say there is that Aribo, a Benedictine writer, contemporary with St. Corbinian, and, on the supposition, first a nursling in his monastery and then his successor in the bishopric, should have passed over so memorable a matter,

when he commemorates so expressly buildings of less moment. Hear him at num. 37: Then too the man of the Lord Corbinian hastened to build himself a dwelling there (near Mais), built a basilica, and placed in it the patronage of St. Valentine and of blessed Zeno, and dedicated it in their honor. And num. 41, concerning a house founded on the mount of St. Stephen: There he ordered a small house to be built for himself to stay in. So Aribo; but of the monastery of Freising and of the church of St. Benedict, not a word.

[23] Further, the first who wrote that that church with its monastery was founded by St. Corbinian to have been founded at Freising by St. Corbinian, was Otto I, surnamed the Great, bishop of Freising, who is said to have died a little after the middle of the XIIth century. He, in his Chronicle, book 5, chapter 24, has this about St. Corbinian: Kindly received by Duke Tassilo and his son Theodo, he received the mount of Freising; where he first built a church, which is seen to this day, in honor of the blessed Benedict, and gathered there a holy community of monks. Otto was followed by Conrad, sacristan and canon of Freising, says Meichelbeck; to whom afterwards others assented, whom he recites. But it is clear that the testimony of Otto, who wrote four centuries after the Saint's death, is by no means sufficient to settle the present controversy beyond all doubt; especially since Aribo's silence furnishes so weighty an argument for the contrary opinion, and Otto himself in the passage assigned is convicted of having erred shamefully. For he places St. Corbinian's arrival at Freising under Tassilo — the second, namely — and his son Theodo, the first of whom succeeded his father Otilo not before the year 747 or 748, and so long after the Saint's departure from among the living. Further, Tassilo II, holding the duchy of Bavaria down to the year 788, in which he was deposed, is said in Mabillon, 3rd Benedictine Century, part 2, where his eulogy is recited, to have either endowed or founded many monasteries. Perhaps the Freising monastery of St. Benedict was built under him, and thence it came about that Otto, wrongly supposing St. Corbinian to have come to Freising under that duke, ascribed it to that Saint. Indeed in the charter of Henry the Fowler, to be reported at num. 52, the monastery is said to have been founded there not by Corbinian, but in his honor.

[24] About monks who lived under the holy Prelate's discipline nor monks Aribo is likewise silent. Meichelbeck thinks, however, that monks are designated in the praised biographer under the name of clerics; for monks frequently go under that word. Moreover, that it came about from the Benedictine Rule, chapter 47, that Corbinian, in the Life num. 40, when hindered by bodily ill health he could not discharge the morning lauds in the oratory of St. Stephen as usual, roused his clergy and ordered them to go thither. The words of the Rule are of this kind: Let it be the abbot's care, day and night, that the hour of the work of God be announced — either that he announce it himself, or that he lay this care upon such a careful brother, that all things may be fulfilled at the fitting hours. I do not indeed deny that monks could also sometimes be called by the name of clerics; but neither can it be denied that some clerics were distinct from monks. It had therefore to be shown that those clerics of whom Aribo speaks were at the same time Benedictine monks; and that this is by no means established from the adduced deed of the Saint, explained by the Rule of St. Benedict, is clearer than needs to be shown.

[25] Nay rather, Aribo himself raised a strong suspicion for the opposite side, that Benedictines lived there under him. since he calls St. Corbinian's servants clerics and nowhere monks, and yet in chapter 2, num. 12, most expressly distinguishes the latter from the former. For, treating of the Saint's return from the city of Rome into Gaul, he writes thus: Then too throughout all Gaul the word of his teaching began to grow in the holy morals of men and women, and to spread in the breasts both of sacred virgins and widows and of monks and of clerics. Who would not see that some are designated by Aribo in this passage under the name of monks and others under the name of clerics; and hence that it cannot be said with sufficient probability that the former are called by the latter's word by the same author when the servants of St. Corbinian are in question, unless other weighty reasons wholly persuade it? Next, what is it, pray, that the biographer, who in Meichelbeck's judgment insinuates the Saint's Benedictine monasticism by phrases drawn from the Benedictine Rule, nowhere calls his servants monks — whom he distinguished above from clerics — though that word is so often used in the praised Rule for Benedictines?

[26] Reply is made to objections from certain Chronicles The cited historian praises besides various Chronicles which in fact expressly affirm that St. Corbinian lived with his companions under the Rule of St. Benedict. He says that those Chronicles were written by order of various prelates of Freising: but I could wish he had added under which bishop each was drawn up, and at what date, so that a prudent judgment might be passed on them. Meanwhile I observe that they can be of no great moment for settling this controversy; since Meichelbeck himself disapproves, in §12 of the Life, the text which he recites from the most ancient of them in favor of his own opinion. The Chronicle has this: Corbinian in that place (Tetmons, today Weihenstephan, says the historian) began to build an oratory or chapel, which he dedicated in honor of St. Stephen the protomartyr; where with twelve Brothers he lived most religiously under the Rule of St. Benedict. The same author affirms that exactly the same is repeated in a second Chronicle; nevertheless, in the passage cited, rejecting the opinion of those who say that the chapel of St. Stephen was built by St. Corbinian, he rightly says: That the oratory of St. Stephen was already before Corbinian's arrival famous and frequented by the faithful will become sufficiently manifest to those who weigh Aribo. From these things one may gather what is to be thought of the remaining Chronicles praised by him and less ancient: nor ought it to seem strange that I refuse to stand by the authority of those Chronicles, the two more ancient of which the author himself, by whom they are produced, does not hesitate to charge with falsehood.

[27] and from a certain uncertain He tries further to establish his opinion from a certain old instrument, which is entitled The Order of the Office in the house of St. Benedict before Easter, and which Mabillon exhibits, drawn from a codex of the library of St. Ulrich at Augsburg, in tome 4 of the Old Analecta, page 454 of the earlier edition — written about 900 years ago, as he himself judges, and so in the same century in which the Saint died. Mabillon, he says, … exhibits certain rites of the people of Freising, written nine hundred years ago, which wholly savor of the Rule of St. Benedict, and which several times make mention of the house of St. Benedict. So he indeed; but Mabillon does not affirm this as certain, but only conjectures it: We conjecture, he says in his Annotations, that this is the ancient Order of the church of Freising, which was also consecrated to St. Benedict, having been first entrusted to monks by St. Corbinian the bishop, as we have shown elsewhere.

[28] instrument, So Mabillon only conjectures that those rites were those of the people of Freising: but this conjecture is very uncertain, first, because he himself supposes that the cathedral church, dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, was also consecrated to St. Benedict, contrary to what Meichelbeck will have — who by the house of St. Benedict understands a church built by St. Corbinian not far from the cathedral: and if this were true, it appears strange that in that Order no mention at all is made of the cathedral, since in it mention is made of other churches, namely of St. Peter and of St. Salvator. It is uncertain, secondly, because a procession is said to be appointed to the cell of the holy Salvator: and of this cell, according to Meichelbeck, no mention survives among the people of Freising. I pass over the rest: but however that may be, from the praised instrument it could at most be inferred that some church and monastery of St. Benedict existed at Freising in ancient times, which we do not deny; but that these were founded by St. Corbinian is by no means proved.

[29] Nor do Meichelbeck's remaining arguments prove more, and it is concluded: framed from records more recent than those we have thus far produced, or even from more ancient ones; but such as persuade indeed that a monastery and Benedictine monks existed anciently at Freising, yet do not prove that it was founded by St. Corbinian, or that the Saint himself was a Benedictine. I confess, however, that Meichelbeck's opinion does not lack its probability; nor do I deny Benedictine monasticism to that holy Prelate; but I would not dare to assert it as certain and undoubted until more certain things be brought forward.

* read: ordinat hunc

§ IV. The Saint's twofold journey to Rome: the time of his taking up the bishopric and of fixing his see at Freising.

[ ] Reasons which persuade Aribo relates that Corbinian went twice to Rome, and that on the first journey indeed he was consecrated bishop by Pope Gregory, namely the second of that name, and that on the second, when he was returning from Rome, he was detained by Grimoald, duke of Bavaria, and set his see at Freising. Of both journeys there is no one who doubts: but he himself narrates them with such attendant circumstances as partly cannot stand together, and partly cannot be reconciled with other ancient and trustworthy records. Hence arises a most difficult and intricate question about the year to which the beginnings of the bishopric of Freising are to be referred. The source and head of the whole difficulty is that the praised biographer writes in chapter 2 that the Saint on his first Roman journey was ordained bishop by Gregory of blessed memory, and yet would have Pippin of Heristal to have been alive together with him when he returned into Gaul. But it is agreed that Pippin died in the month of December of the year 714, and that St. Gregory II succeeded in the year 715 to the place of Constantine, who died in that same year, as was shown in the Acts of that same holy Pontiff, tome 2 of February, page 693 and the following. It is therefore manifest that an error has been made either in the name of Pippin or in that of Gregory.

[31] Our Bolland, in the praised Acts of St. Gregory, that the Saint was consecrated by Pope St. Gregory II page 696, ascribes to him Corbinian's consecration. The same is the judgment of Baronius, tome 9, at the year 716, num. 10; of Marcus Velser, Boican Affairs, book 4; of Le Cointe, Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, tome 4; of Pagi in his Critique at the year 716, num. 7; of Meichelbeck in the History of Freising, tome 1, part 1, prolegomenous Dissertation 5, and others. They give a reason indeed probable: namely that Aribo, who was created bishop of the people of Freising thirty or a little more years after Corbinian, could hardly have been ignorant of the name of the Pontiff by whom the Founder of his see had been consecrated: that therefore the error is in Pippin, and that for him is to be substituted Charles Martel, who had succeeded Pippin. This foundation laid, of the praised writers some set slightly different years for the two journeys. Baronius mentions the first at the year of Christ 716, writing that St. Corbinian came to Rome in the first years of Pope Gregory: and because he had read in Aribo that he had already preached in Gaul as bishop, and then after seven years, having been brought back to his former cell, had stayed for some time in Bavaria, he speaks thus of the second arrival in the City at the year 724: At about the same time

when St. Corbinian, bishop of Freising, had completed eight years of his bishopric, he came to Rome out of love of quiet.

[32] that he was consecrated bishop Pagi in his Critique at the year 716, num. 7, dissents somewhat from Baronius: This earlier Roman journey of Corbinian, he says, was undertaken in the preceding year, so far as can be gathered from his Life. Hence also at the year 724, num. 6, he says: The (second) Roman journey, undertaken at latest in the year DCCXXII, according to what we brought forward at the year DCCXVI, num. VII: namely because the seven years spent in his cell, added to the year 715, reached the year 722. Charles Meichelbeck fixes the first pilgrimage to the year 716, the second to 724, to which accordingly he refers the epoch of the church of Freising. He rests on the same reasoning as the authors adduced in the preceding number, and then speaks thus: Our opinion is supported by Baronius, prince of Ecclesiastical History, likewise by Spondanus and the most accurate Pagi, at the year of Christ DCCXXIV. There agree also the Acts of the councils of Hardouin's edition, where in the index of tome III, at that year, is alleged “The Roman Council, in which St. Corbinian, seeking his dismissal from the bishopric from the Pontiff, did not obtain it.” So there. To all these most learned witnesses let it be permitted to add William Cave in his Ecclesiastical Writers, where, reporting the councils celebrated in the VIIIth Christian century, he has this: “The third Roman Council, held in the year DCCXXIV in the cause of Corbinian, bishop of Freising.” Here you see, reader, with how great firmness the true beginnings of the bishopric of Freising are fixed at that year (724).

[33] are weighed. But these things are not so certain as I could wish: for, to pass over the fact that Baronius assigns the years only approximately, Pagi certainly is in part contrary, as we showed in the preceding number. The Acts also of the Roman council which he praises are nowhere extant in Hardouin and Cave; but each of them mentions that council only in the words recited, citing no witness except the Acts of St. Corbinian by Aribo, published in Surius at the VIII day of September. The same does Labbe in his Collection, tome 6, column 1459 and the following. In vain, therefore, does he allege for his opinion those Acts of the council, which do not exist; nor does he have any support from the writers adduced, except that some of them, relying on the Life of St. Corbinian, entered upon the same reckoning as he, and thought the aforesaid council was celebrated in the same year as he did. Next, it is uncertain whether eight or seven years intervened between the two journeys; and even if that were certain, still no year could be certainly established for the second, so long as the year of the first remains doubtful.

[34] I would nevertheless gladly go over to their opinion, if other reasons did not forbid. Difficulties against this opinion In chapter 3 Aribo writes that the Saint, when he went to Rome the second time, was kindly treated by Theodo, duke or tetrarch of Bavaria. For at that time, he says, there was there the most devout Duke Theodo, notable in power and manly in virtue, adorned with sons and outstanding for the alacrity of his nobles, whose happy fame had grown far and wide; he divided that province among himself and his offspring into four parts, and priests were held dear there, as the custom of novices compels. And when he learned that the man of God Corbinian had come thither, he invited him to himself, etc. This Theodo was the second of that name, whom he calls a novice, because he had not long before been converted from idolatry or heresy to the Catholic faith by St. Rupert, bishop of Salzburg, as is read in the Acts of the aforesaid bishop.

[35] The older writers referred the death of St. Rupert to the year of Christ 623 or 628: from the age of St. Rupert and of Duke Theodo their reason was that in his Life he is said to have been bishop at Worms in the second year — elsewhere the fifth — of the reign of Hildebert, and to have died on the day of the Lord's Resurrection, the VI Kalends of April; for since they interpreted this as Childebert the second, who began his reign as the VIth century was growing old, and since from the first year of his reign Easter did not fall before the year 623 and 628, nor did that happen again in all that century, they consequently supposed that St. Rupert died in one or the other of the assigned years. They are favored by the epitaph which Marcus Hansiz, Germania sacra, tome 2, page 49, testifies was cut on his tomb and found when the tomb was opened in the year 1627, on the XXII of June, and which is of this kind: In the year DCXXIII from the Incarnation of the Lord, on the day of his Resurrection, died St. Rupert, founder of this monastery and first bishop of Salzburg, buried here. But that that inscription is of later date, the praised Hansiz and other learned men show. This opinion, then common, our Papebroch also followed, when in tome III of March, illustrating the Acts of St. Rupert at the XXVII day, he judged that his death should be fixed to the year 623 or 628: and if that were true, both journeys of St. Corbinian would already have to be bound to the growing VIIth century.

[36] But these men anticipated St. Rupert's death by a whole century, [age] because they believed that the Childebert under whose reign the Saint is said to have sat at Worms was Childebert the second, as I noted above, and did not observe that in his age, and for a whole century after the beginning of his reign, there was no Theodo, duke of Bavaria, who was converted by St. Rupert. Mabillon proves this at length in the Acts of that same Saint, 3rd Benedictine Century, part 1, and at greater length the praised Hansiz in his Rupert; where they solidly show that no other can be understood than Childebert III, who began to reign about the end of the VIIth century. It is not the place here to treat that controversy more fully; wherefore I refer the studious reader to the cited writers, while I, following in their footsteps, hold that Theodo, duke of Bavaria, who was converted by St. Rupert, and who invited St. Corbinian to himself, was the same man, and I hold for certain that he was surviving among the living in the early VIIIth century.

[37] Further, from this opinion there arises a certain new difficulty not easily unravelled. and the time of his death St. Rupert, both in the ancient Lives and in other records, is written to have died on the day of the Lord's Resurrection: in the Life which Papebroch published in the second place from the Manuscript of Rooklooster, is added: On the sixth Kalends of April. The same day is marked in a certain instrument of the year 1131, in which it is said: Of the day of his death, which is celebrated on the VI Kalends of April, it is thus read: At the dawn of the day of Resurrection … he put off the man. The praised Hansiz recites this at num. 32, who at num. 51 and the following thinks that one must by no means depart from that epoch, and therefore fixes St. Rupert's death to the year 718, because Easter in that century fell on the XXVII day of March in the years 707, 718 and 791: but the Saint's death cannot be referred to the first of these years, because he survived Theodo, who in the year 716 was still among the living, as we have from Anastasius in the Life of Pope St. Gregory II, where at the XIVth Indiction, in which a lunar eclipse had fallen, that is, at the year 716, he says: At that time therefore Theodo, duke of the people of the Bavarians, came first of that people to the thresholds of the apostle blessed Peter, first of that people, for the sake of prayer. And that it cannot be fixed to the later year either is clear from this, that toward the end of the VIIth century he is said to have been already a bishop.

[38] drawn St. Rupert's death being fixed at the year 718, it follows that Theodo II, duke or tetrarch of Bavaria, died in the same year, or in 717 or 716. For that the latter died before the former is expressly said both in the Life published by Papebroch and in the little book of the Salzburg donations, praised in Hansiz at num. 5, 42 and elsewhere, who thinks it several centuries older than the year 1186. He adduces also the Indiculus of Arno, bishop of Salzburg, written in the year 788, concerning the donations made to his church, where, after he has treated of Theodo, he presently adds: And his son Duke Theodbert succeeding, who handed over a small farm called Utzhilingh in the aforesaid district of Salzburggau: but from this nothing certain can be established, since Arno does not say whether Theodbert handed over the aforesaid farm to St. Rupert while he still lived, or rather to the church of Salzburg after he was already dead. Clearer are the things which he praises at num. 52 in these words: That Theodo died in the year DCCXVIII is related by the Chronicle of Salzburg, by Vitus Arenpek in the Chronicle of Bavaria, and by nearly most of the other writers of Boican affairs, both printed and in Manuscript. To these is added a Manuscript catalogue of the dukes of Bavaria, composed by a certain ascetic of Kremsmünster at the beginning of the XIVth century. Another catalogue of the XIIIth century has this: “In the year DCCXVII Theodo II, duke of Bavaria, who converted Germany (read: Bavaria) to Christ, died.”

[39] are set forth. Now let us set forth the difficulty which arises from the aforesaid in the chronology of St. Corbinian. If with the writers praised at num. 31 we hold that our Saint was consecrated bishop by Gregory II, and therefore bind the first Roman journey to the year 715, we cannot fix the second before the year 722, since Aribo expressly affirms that at least seven whole years elapsed between the two. How then could the holy Prelate, as we have from the same Aribo, on his second Roman journey approach Theodo, who according to what has been said above had at that time been dead for about four years? Indeed, to reconcile all these things, it will be necessary to acknowledge in Aribo a twofold error instead of one, and not only to substitute Charles Martel in the place of Pippin, but also to contract those seven years to one or two, so that the Saint may be understood to have approached Theodo on the second journey.

[40] Mabillon, in the 3rd Benedictine Century, part 1, prefers to believe The opinion of Mabillon. that an error crept into Aribo in the name of Gregory. He holds therefore that Corbinian was initiated into the bishopric not by St. Gregory II, but by his predecessor Constantine. Then he refers the second journey to the year 717, wrongly refuting the most eminent Baronius, as though he had fixed it to the year 716, whereas Baronius in that place treats of the first and not of the second journey. Wrongly likewise does he cite the same Baronius for substituting Constantine in Gregory's place: for Baronius maintains the contrary, as will be plain to one who consults him. Further, Mabillon in tome 2 of his Annals partly abandoned the aforesaid path: for although he narrates the first journey at the year 714, in which Constantine was not yet dead, yet he refers the other to the year 722, in which, according to what has been said, Theodo had already died.

[41] If the things we reported above from Hansiz concerning the time of the death of St. Rupert and of Theodo were wholly certain, It appears more probable, it would likewise be certain that Corbinian's second Roman journey did not happen after the year 717, and hence that the first, which had preceded it by seven or eight years, fell within the Pontificate of Constantine; unless one prefers to say that Aribo erred in the number of years and wrote seven for one or two. But in the Life,

which Hansiz thinks the original and drawn up in the year 872, it is indeed read that St. Rupert died on the day of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, but the VI Kalends of April is not added. This same thing is also absent in the first Life reprinted by Papebroch. Whence one might suspect that the latter words were afterwards added to the second Life and to the other instruments, because his feast is kept, and was anciently already kept, on the VI Kalends of April. But this is mere suspicion, which, when it is destitute of other reasons, cannot overturn the Salzburg tradition, which Hansiz calls ancient. Next, it is not necessary that we rest on that tradition alone; since the things we reported at num. 38 about the year of Theodo's death persuade us that St. Corbinian's second Roman journey cannot be deferred so long as the writers praised at num. 31 and 32 supposed. Add that the catalogue of the dukes of Bavaria, drawn up in the XIIIth century according to Hansiz, after it had referred Theodo's death to the year 717, as we said at num. 38, adds at the year 719: In these times flourished St. Corbinian, bishop in Freising, under Pope Gregory: which indeed coheres rightly with what has been said.

[42] All things being maturely weighed, so far as one may see in this darkness of antiquity, that the first journey took place under Constantine, the later in the year 717 it appears to me more probable that the first Roman journey, in which St. Corbinian was ordained bishop, happened under the Pontificate of Constantine, and that in the year 709, but the second approach to the city of Rome in the year 717, in which accordingly he seems to have fixed his chair at Freising. The reason why I think so is that, an error in the name of Gregory being admitted, on that view all things are rightly explained and fitly cohere which are narrated both about St. Corbinian in Aribo and about St. Rupert and Theodo II in others. In the first place it is understood that our Saint, returning from Rome and now a bishop, could have dealt with Pippin of Heristal, Mayor of the Palace of France, who died in the year 714; which on the view of those who think Gregory should be retained cannot be explained. It is understood, secondly, how the Saint, after taking up the bishopric, could first preach in Gaul, then dwell in his former cell for seven continuous years, and at last, having set out through Alemannia and Germany, and having stayed some time in Noricum for the sake of preaching the Gospel, be kindly received by Theodo, and come to Rome to St. Gregory II.

[43] as is proved by various Finally, with these are rightly reconciled the things which authors have besides handed down about Theodo: namely, that Theodo in the year 716 came to Rome to the thresholds of the Apostles Peter and Paul, as Anastasius the Librarian writes in the Life of St. Gregory II; secondly, that he died before St. Rupert, whose death from what has been said above is more probably bound to the year 718; thirdly, that Theodo's death happened at the time of St. Corbinian's second journey, as writers everywhere gather from the fact that in the Saint's return from the City into Bavaria no further mention of that duke is made in Aribo. To these is added another reason drawn from the time of the destruction of the house of Duke Grimoald. Aribo relates that Grimoald, who had succeeded his father Theodo in a part of the duchy, was killed by plotters according to St. Corbinian's prophecy, and that Pilitrudis, with whom he had contracted an incestuous marriage, followed Charles Martel into Gaul, and, repudiated by him, paid the deserved penalties of her crimes.

[44] reasons. That these things more probably happened in the year 725 we shall show below: wherefore if with Meichelbeck we refer the beginnings of the bishopric of Freising to the year 724, or with Pagi to the year 722, on the former's view St. Corbinian will have to be said to have spent not even two years, and on the latter's scarcely three, in that bishopric under Grimoald, and to have passed the remainder of the time down to the year 730, in which they write that the Saint departed this life, under Hucbert, Grimoald's successor. But this becomes by no means probable from Aribo, who whatever he handed down to posterity of the Saint's deeds in the bishopric of Freising, he narrated under Grimoald; but under Hucbert nothing except the Saint's return to his see, and the baptism conferred either on that duke or on his offspring, and finally his most holy death. Whence one may gather that Corbinian governed that chair longer under Grimoald than under his successor.

[45] Reply is made to the argument It remains that we answer briefly the argument on which our opponents rest. It is a single one, as we have seen; namely, that it is far more probable that Aribo erred when he wrote that Pippin of Heristal survived to meet St. Corbinian on his return into Gaul from the first Roman journey, than when he says that the same Saint was created bishop by Gregory II; for Aribo could scarcely have been ignorant by what Pontiff the first Prelate of his own see, whom he had succeeded after thirty or a few more years, had been consecrated. I confess indeed that this reason is very probable: but it does not appear to me of such weight as to overcome or equal the considerations adduced on the contrary side.

[46] of our opponents. Nor indeed is it improbable that Aribo slipped in the name of Gregory: for it was established for him that the holy Founder of his see had been sent back by Gregory II to the apostolic office, when, returning from Rome and detained by Duke Grimoald, he instituted the bishopric of Freising. Hence, since he well knew that St. Corbinian's second Roman journey and the beginnings of the aforesaid see were to be referred to St. Gregory's Pontificate, it could happen that, being less attentive to the reckoning of time, and confusing the first journey with the second, he referred the consecration of the first Bishop to the same Pontiff. And that it so happened, the reasons brought forward above seem to persuade. Further, on this view it is also understood that a greater hope shone upon Corbinian of being freed from the episcopal burden when he came to Rome a second time: for he could scarcely have hoped for this from St. Gregory, if from him, instead of the religious retreat and pious leisure which he had asked, he had received some years before, almost unwilling, the bishopric and the apostolic office to be discharged. But if we say that the Saint was consecrated by Constantine, he could more easily bring himself to think that what the latter had denied he might obtain from his successor Gregory.

§ V. The Saint fixes his chair at Freising, of which place a description is given: the incest of Grimoald being expiated, he procures estates for his church.

[ ] The chair is fixed at Freising, The time of St. Corbinian's arrival among the people of Freising being fixed as far as was possible, we proceed to the erection of the bishopric itself. Theodo, duke of Bavaria, whom we mentioned above, had instituted a tetrarchy, dividing his duchy into four parts, one of which he had retained for himself, and had granted the others to his three sons. To Grimoald had fallen southern Bavaria with the town of Freising, to which afterwards was added Rhætia, which Theodbert, succeeding to the lot of his dead brother Theodbald, had yielded to him, as Hansiz supposes in his St. Rupert, num. 38. This much is certain, that Grimoald reigned in that region when Corbinian came thither. Further, the praised duke had begged the Saint with many entreaties to establish his episcopal chair in his own domain; for he was attached to no fixed see, as not rarely happened in that age: but he, aspiring to sacred leisure, rejected the prayers and had continued his Roman journey. Grimoald meanwhile had given orders to his men that, if ever he should return from Rome through his domain, they should by no means permit him to depart before he had met with him. That matter was the salvation of Bavaria: for when he had entered the castle of Mais, being detained by the officers and honorably treated by the duke, he at last erected his episcopal chair at Freising.

[48] But that what is to be said may receive greater light, I have judged that a description of the ancient and of the present city of Freising should be premised in this place. of which a twofold description Otto I of that name, bishop of the people of Freising, who died a little after the middle of the XIIth century, in his Chronicle, book 5, chapter 24, treating of St. Corbinian's arrival, says this about Freising, to our purpose: Now that mount (of Freising) is situated in a most beautiful and most pleasant place, conspicuous for the course of most limpid waters and especially of the most rapid river Isar, surveying far and wide, as from a watchtower, the whole face of that region and, from the southern quarter, a very broad level of plain. In those days, hedged about with woods, it is said to have been as it were a watchtower for hunters. There remain even now traces of the woods on the plain among the reed-beds, namely ancient stumps; and to this day too a copious multitude of stags and roe-deer. But from the northern quarter a not inconsiderable wood, commonly called a forest, is seen surviving, most useful to the city for building and for fire. The land also adjoining the mount, enclosed on the south by the Isar and on the north by the Amper, extends into a certain most fertile bosom for four German miles: at the end of which, where the aforesaid streams flow together, there is known to be situated a place which is called Moosburg, very beautiful and delightful, having in the church of blessed Castulus a congregation of clerics.

[49] is given. So Otto: which you should not so interpret as though Freising in Corbinian's time was not a town: for Aribo expressly calls it a city, when in chapter 5 he says that the Saint ordered the gifts taken from the sorceress to be distributed to the poor at the gate of the city. The present appearance and site of the city Meichelbeck describes in his 1st prolegomenous Dissertation, from which I skim what conduces to the illustrating of the Saint's Acts. Our Freising, he says, occupies that … place of upper Bavaria, near which the Isar, a most rapid river running down from the Tyrolese Alps, is joined by the stream Moosach, which has its springs near the village Moosach of the same name, four German miles distant from this city. The city itself lies beside two mounts, on the first of which the episcopal palace with the cathedral basilica and the adjoining church of St. Benedict, likewise another collegiate church of the divine Andrew, and several other sacred and profane buildings, sit splendidly: but the summit of the other mount the famous monastery of Weihenstephan of the Benedictine institute, and its middle another collegiate church, likewise of St. Vitus, adorn with a truly most pleasing spectacle. They say that this latter mount once had the name Tetmons… Another mount, enclosed within the walls of the city and moderately lower, has no name different from the city itself, and has commonly been wont to be called the Mount of Freising. These things noted, let us resume the sequence of events.

[50] The duke's incest being expiated, the place Camina Duke Grimoald had joined to himself in incestuous marriage the widow of his brother Theobald, Pilitrudis by name, and was living with her at Freising, when Corbinian, detained by the officers, as we have said, was brought to his palace. The matter being known, the holy Prelate took care that word be sent to the prince that he would by no means come into his presence before he had expelled the incestuous concubine; and when the latter refused to comply, he likewise persisted in his own resolve. That obstinacy of Grimoald's lasted forty days; after which he at last owned himself beaten, and, together with Pilitrudis prostrating himself at Corbinian's feet and promising better things, expiated the incest, and only then earned to receive the holy Bishop as his guest. Now Corbinian, while he was detained in the castle of Mais, had considered a neighboring place called Camina, and had come to love it, both because it appeared convenient for the leading of sacred leisure, and because not far thence, namely at Mais, the body of St. Valentine rested, toward whom he was borne with a singular devotion.

[51] he acquires for his church: He therefore asked of Grimoald, and obtained, that in expiation of his crimes he should buy the aforesaid estate with his own money, and give it to God and to the holy Mother Mary, for her holy church situated in the castle of Freising. Having gained his wish, he hastened to build himself a dwelling there, built a basilica and placed in it the patronage of St. Valentine and of Zeno, and dedicated it in their honor; and planting there an abundance of vines, he adorned it also with fruit-bearing trees and prepared sustenance for the poor — so Aribo, whose words these are. This was the first possession of the bishopric of Freising, procured by its own holy Founder; wherefore it is well to add a few things about it. Aribo in chapter 4 has this about the aforesaid place: He also found (Corbinian, near the castle of Mais), between two little streams, which he then calls Timo and Finalis, a place secluded and passable, without an inhabitant's path, which was called by its usual name Camina. He understood that not without divine regard and will was he detained there, and he considered the seclusion of the place and its delightfulness for the practice of holy religion, and loved it with great affection, and thought to build himself a secluded little lodging there, if he could procure this place at a worthy price. Yet he inquired diligently whose property, of one man or of several, it was, so that, a fit occasion of time arising, he might claim it for himself as a secluded lodging, on account of the nearness of the church of the holy and blessed Valentine. This desire of the Saint, as we have said, Grimoald fulfilled.

[52] But as regards the place itself, the most distinguished lord Anton Roschmann, a great lover of geography and known by his published little works, where that place is, in the Manuscript notices which he transmitted to us, caps the praised words thus: The place is plainly delightful, somewhat more than an hour from the church of the divine Valentine, and about more than half an hour from Merano, set back on the right bank of the Passer toward the Passeier valley, not unlike a village, in the middle among fruit-bearing trees and vines on a high spot between two little streams (Timo and Finalis) and mounds of shrubbery, most pleasantly resounding with the sweetest singing of nightingales, and much worth seeing. Then after much else he advises that the place Camina must be sought in the neighborhood of Mais, since in this age you would look for that name in that spot in vain. Wherefore he supposes that it, like many others, was contracted and altered, and is the present Khains. He confirms his opinion from the diploma of Henry the Fowler given in the year 931, in which it is said: The estate formerly bought by St. Corbinian and hitherto unjustly taken away from the monastery built in his honor, we restore by this precept of our authority into the right and property of the aforesaid monastery, to be possessed perpetually — that is, Majes and Chorzes and Chæines. The praised diploma is extant in Meichelbeck, tome 1, part 1, page 163.

[53] Roschmann cites besides letters of Henry, bishop of Brixen, given in the year 1291, whose original he says he has inspected, in which the church is likewise called in Chains. it is inquired. In his description of Tyrol published in German too he calls Khains a small village, formerly called Camina. Now that place was distant about twenty-eight German miles from Freising, unless the geographical maps which I have inspected err; so that one may wonder that the holy Prelate should have wished a place so far from his cathedral church to be bought in preference to others — unless perhaps he did it in order that, being about to cultivate that region by apostolic labors, he might procure a convenient lodging for himself; or, as Meichelbeck insinuates, because that place lay beyond the envy of Pilitrudis and others, and could offer a refuge against the future events which perhaps he foresaw, as afterwards in fact happened.

[54] Aribo in the words recited at num. 51 expressly affirms Where and of what sort the church was, that St. Corbinian built a dwelling for himself, and a basilica for SS. Valentine and Zeno. Mabillon in his Acts supposed that that church was founded by him in the castle of Freising: but Meichelbeck rightly observes that Aribo's words are by no means to be referred to Freising, and thinks that the old church of St. Valentine was restored or enlarged by him. On the contrary Roschmann in his Manuscript notices maintains that a wholly new church was founded from the foundations by the Saint, and in no other place than in Camina. He draws his reason from Aribo just praised, whose words certainly favor him: for the old church of St. Valentine was situated not in Camina, but in the castle of Mais. Then, inquiring into that church built by the Saint, he is of the opinion that it is the very one which stands to this day between the two little streams Finalis and Timo, which he himself calls Ponalis, and which still belongs to the bishopric of Freising. He admits, however, that it is sacred, and was already of old sacred, not to SS. Valentine and Zeno, but to St. Maurice and his Companions; as he asserts is established from the original letters of indulgences given by Henry, bishop of Brixen, in the year 1291, and consulted by himself.

[55] founded or restored by Corbinian to SS. Valentine and Zeno. He adds besides that no trace of SS. Valentine and Zeno survives in it, if you except only a very narrow and rather long little window, at which two bishops are seen painted with an ancient brush. Now such little windows, he continues, mostly only one, and paintings, in the most ancient churches especially throughout the Vinschgau, as a sure testimony of antiquity, I noted last year in three churches of Mals …, whose beginning is unknown, and I have seen none older in the whole region. From these things he at last concludes thus: Plainly, were this church not situated in the neighborhood of Mais between the Finalis and the Ponalis, and did it not alone in the whole diocese (of Brixen, I suppose) belong to the bishopric of Freising (today to the chapter of St. Andrew there, as the Reverend lord parish priest, appointed by this chapter, related to me by word of mouth in the year MDCCXXXVI), and did not four and a half farms in Passeier pay tribute hither, and did not the place itself, or fifteen farms in it, pay yearly sixty urns of new wine to the church of Freising, and were there not besides other things sacred to the divine Valentine in the whole neighborhood, nor the remnants of the name to persuade it, there could not undeservedly be doubt about this Camina of our holy Prelate. In this his own Camina, then, a place secluded and passable without an inhabitant's path, St. Corbinian built a basilica to the divine Valentine, our bishop and apostle — and indeed, as I think, from the foundations.

[56] So the praised Roschmann; by which it becomes altogether probable that the church of SS. Valentine and Zeno in the place Camina was founded from the foundations by St. Corbinian: but the following things prevent me from holding it as certain. Camina, according to Aribo and with Roschmann's agreement, was near the church of St. Valentine built in the castle of Mais: we can therefore conveniently interpret the words reported at num. 51 of a church restored or enlarged in the neighboring castle. Secondly, the Saint was zealous to procure Camina for himself, and to build a dwelling there, on account of the nearness of the church of the holy and blessed Valentine, for no other reason surely than that he might use it for pouring out prayers to God at that holy bishop's tomb, beside which he also wished to be buried. And if that is so, why, I ask, should he presently have founded another church in that place? Thirdly and lastly, the church praised by him, already from the XIIIth century sacred to St. Maurice and his Companions, retains no trace of SS. Valentine and Zeno: it could therefore have been built in the glory of those martyrs after Corbinian's times: but the ancient paintings, since they do not display the names of the Saints whom they exhibit, teach nothing certain, and perhaps a pious posterity afterwards represented in one of them St. Corbinian himself, once lodged in Camina. But these things I leave to be examined by learned Tyrolese.

[57] Not long after, so far as appears, the holy Prelate besides bought from Duke Grimoald, the price being paid, another estate for the church of St. Mary of Freising, Another estate from the alms in which he had already fixed his chair — an estate called Chorzes. Surius, Mabillon in the Acts, and Marcus Velser read Chories, but wrongly, say Meichelbeck and Roschmann: that it is called Chorzes in the diploma of Henry the Fowler we saw at num. 52. This place is situated in the Vinschgau, and to this day is called Cortsch, about six hours distant from Mais and Merano, says the geographer just praised. Now this estate had belonged to a certain widow, Fausta by name, who, having divided her inheritance between her two daughters, had bequeathed the part which she had kept for herself to Grimoald on this condition, that while she lived he should protect it. Accordingly, Fausta being dead, Corbinian (the words are Aribo's) gave to Prince Grimoald nine hundred solidi of gold, which Pippin, Mayor of the Palace and prince of the Franks, had long since bestowed on him for his own almsgiving, and procured this very property in Chorzes; and both together afterwards, the same blessed Corbinian and Prince Grimoald, handed it over to God and to holy Mary for the aforesaid church in the castle of Freising, where the blessed Corbinian then held the pontifical chair.

[58] Meichelbeck supposes that that sum of money was not received from Pippin alone, given to him he procures. but grew together out of the gifts conferred on the Saint both by Pippin himself in Gaul and in Noricum and Italy. And not undeservedly; for in chapter 3 Theodo and Grimoald, and in chapter 4 the king of the Lombards, are said to have given him many gifts. Again in the same chapter he is related to have received, besides the gifts offered by the king, two hundred solidi from a certain widow, and another two hundred solidi of gold from Count Husing. Whence it ought not to seem strange that so great a sum of money was at hand for the holy Prelate to buy up the aforesaid estate. Moreover, in the diploma of Henry the Fowler cited at num. 52, Chorzes too is reckoned among the places bought by St. Corbinian.

§ VI. He rebukes Grimoald: he removes to the mount of St. Stephen, on which he draws forth a spring, famous once and to this day.

[ ] He is wondrously angry with Grimoald, Thus far matters had flowed according to the holy Prelate's wish, and the beginnings of the bishopric of Freising, with Grimoald as its patron, were taking happy increase, when Pilitrudis attempted to turn everything upside down. For the wanton woman grieved that by St. Corbinian's doing she lived separated from the duke's incestuous bed, and therefore watched for every occasion to remove out of the way, like a second Herodias, the Admonisher hateful to her. Now it happened that, while Corbinian was dining in the palace, Grimoald threw a piece of bread from the table to a dog: but the Bishop, not bearing that food blessed by himself with the sign of the Cross, as was his custom, should be offered to a dog — being, as Aribo testifies, quick to anger against vices — with an example of rare zeal overturned with a thrust of his foot the table at which they were reclining, and going out of the palace threatened that he would not thenceforward take meals in common with the duke.

[60] and, though Pilitrudis gnashed her teeth in vain, he is reconciled to him. This seemed to Pilitrudis a fit occasion for accusing the Saint. This being done, says Aribo, the woman began to plot the death of the Man of God, kindled by the torches of envy, because by the word of the Man of God she had been estranged from her husband's unlawful embrace; and unceasingly into her husband's ears of envy and hatred

she supplied fuel against the Man of God. She said also that the Bishop had done this out of contempt for the prince; that the Bishop deserved nothing else but to be adjudged worthy of death. Yet the woman's taunts availed nothing: for the duke, taking the holy Prelate's zeal in good part, appeased him with prayers and gifts, brought him back to dinner, and treated him familiarly as before. Meanwhile Corbinian, intent on founding his bishopric, acquired new estates. What these were, however, the biographer did not hand down, who only says: And the riches of the Man of God, which he had not loved, began to grow daily, and his properties to increase.

[61] He builds himself a dwelling on the mount of St. Stephen, After these things the biographer adds a miracle wrought in the chapel of St. Stephen — namely, a prodigious light and a heavenly melody perceived by the Saint's clerics while he himself was sick; which put into his mind the thought of building himself a dwelling beside it, and of staying there with his own people thereafter. This church is situated on the ridge of the other mount which adjoins Freising, and is called in the vernacular Weihenstephan, in Latin the Mount of St. Stephen, as was shown at num. 49. Meichelbeck in §9 of the Life doubts whether the order of events in Aribo has not here been somewhat disturbed; because the Saint is said to have dwelt on the mount of Freising before he removed to the mount of St. Stephen. This doubt is raised in him by certain codices of Freising, among which a certain Chronicle has this: Then he took with him the Brothers from the mount of Weihenstephan to the cathedral mount of Freising, and there with the Brothers he lived monastically and religiously according to the Rule of St. Benedict. The praised historiographer therefore suspects that Corbinian first dwelt on the mount of St. Stephen, and thence withdrew with his people to the mount of St. Mary. But although in a doubtful matter he prefers to establish nothing certain, he observes nevertheless that no reason appears to him why St. Corbinian, if he once began to inhabit the mount of St. Mary, should afterwards have deserted it and chosen the other, that of St. Stephen, and, having again renounced that, should have moved to the Blessed Virgin's.

[62] and moves to it with his people: To me, however, there is no doubt at all, from Aribo, that the Saint first dwelt on the mount of St. Mary and then on the mount of St. Stephen, as will be plain to one who consults chapter 5 of the Life. For there it is said: When on a certain day he had sat down in the bishop's house, a bodily affliction shook him, so that he could not, as was his wont, come to the neighboring mount, to the oratory of blessed Stephen the martyr, to discharge the morning lauds to God, and rousing his clergy he ordered them to go thither *. Then he adds the miracle which happened in that sacred building, and the little dwelling built there, into which the Saint removed. The cause, therefore, of changing his dwelling was that prodigy, of which, since Corbinian could not be a partaker, being hindered by ill health on another mount, he wished a house to be built there — either because he had known by that sign that the place was pleasing to God, or that he too might enjoy the heavenly favor if anything similar should happen thereafter. Nor is there reason why we should suspect the order of events in the biographer to be disturbed on account of the praised Chronicles, which certainly are to be corrected from him rather than he from them. See what was said at num. 26. Finally, the things which the historian of Freising observes in the last place press nothing: for where, I ask, does Aribo teach that Corbinian changed his dwelling from the mount of St. Stephen to that of St. Mary? Is it because he held the episcopal chair on the latter mount until his death? But nothing stands in the way of his having his see in the church of St. Mary while dwelling on so near a mount. Now let us return to the biographer's narration.

[63] It fell out inconveniently indeed for the Saint's servants that on the mount of St. Stephen no water was at hand for domestic uses, on that same mount he draws forth a spring: about which which therefore they were compelled to draw with daily labor from the river Moosach, which flows past its foot, not without grumbling. To meet this evil Corbinian, rising one day at dawn, says the biographer, going round the sides of the mount alone, prostrated himself on the ground in prayer on the southern side: which being finished, he fixed in the earth the staff by which he supported himself; and when he had dug a little, presently so great an abundance of waters flowed out of the same hollow that it was sufficing for the service of the whole little cell, so that it had flowed down even to the foot of the mount, and while he lived it had never failed . In the Surian edition there is added: But when the Man of God had died, and his body had been taken away by us, for forty years the ground remained dry and without water: and when he had been brought back by us again, the spring itself furnished its former abundance of waters. To this our assertion the spring itself offers testimony to the eyes of those who look upon it. But let us return to the narration of the history.

[64] On these words, which are absent from the codex he himself used, in the edition of Surius and the Andechs codex Meichelbeck writes thus in § IV on Aribo: The Andechs codex has the same, though not in the same words: in the older Benediktbeuern codex that narration is omitted: whence we suspect that an interpolator has again come in, who indeed wrote a true thing (for we see with our eyes that that spring pours forth most healthful waters even today), but is nevertheless convicted of having added something to Aribo's history. So he; which things must be examined a little. The aforesaid narration ought not to be suspected of interpolation on the ground that it is read in other words in the Andechs codex than in Surius: for the latter could (as is altogether probable) have changed the style, and hence the variation of words seems to be ascribed not to the ancient codices, or to their interpolator, but to Surius. Besides, toward removing the suspicion of interpolation the Benediktbeuern codex itself makes; for while in it, in the words recited at num. 63, it is said that while he lived that spring had never failed, a suspicion arises that when he was dead it did fail, as is read in the Surian and Andechs codex. I do not see, therefore, why we should charge these rather with interpolation than the Benediktbeuern one with a dislocated text.

[65] I wonder rather that the praised Benedictine admits as true that prodigy of the spring drying up and again gushing forth, a certain prodigy is narrated. although he would have it added to Aribo's history by an interpolator. For what reason shall we say there is that Aribo should as if of set purpose have kept silent about so memorable a prodigy, by which the translation of St. Corbinian performed by him had been divinely approved, and of which he certainly could not have been ignorant — he who is everywhere wholly intent on relating marvels? To me indeed this prodigy appears either invented, or, if it is true, seems to have been handed down by Aribo and omitted in the Benediktbeuern codex by the copyist's fault. He attacks that same passage indeed also on the ground that forty years are said in the same place to have intervened between the carrying away and the bringing back of the Saint's body; but that this is no obstacle we shall show at num. 92.

[66] The dried-up spring gushes again. In the Chronicle of Weihenstephan, according to the same writer in the Acts of Aribo, §4, something similar is said of the drying up and restoration of the spring's flow; and it is added that in the times that followed the water failed once and again on account of the wickedness of men, who did not shrink from practising their foulness there. Then, after some verses drawn from an ancient poem, the author of the Chronicle concludes in this manner: And so again, at the suppliant prayers of the followers of Christ, richly flowing waters began to run there, that men might understand that this spring was granted to them by God's clemency alone and by the merits of the blessed Corbinian. Let filth, therefore, and shameful speech cease there, and let only an honorable and necessary use of the waters be sought. That old poem is extant in the oft-praised History of Freising, published from the Andechs codex, from which I exhibit to the reader the following, which bear on our subject.

hurls itself down steeply on the southern side.

For the rest, it descends, it is agreed, in an open level,

which the hoof of a climbing horse strikes well.

Thence from the brow of the slope which faces the South winds,

a wave is drawn forth, running in flowing springs.

Not the nature of the place poured forth that spring at its origin,

nor does a slender pipe lead the waters.

Corbinian, prelate by the gift of Christ,

bade it pour forth waters ever unexhausted.

All burned to use the newness of the liquid,

and rejoiced, I believe, to enjoy the gift of God.

Thence health, drawn in draughts, ran to many who drank,

as report bears, when fever was swiftly driven off.

The vein, created to give healing remedies, *

had been wont also to put diseases to flight by its spring.

But to what, avarice, seething with brimstone, dost thou not drive

mortals — thou, of whose plague who shall be free?

Wherefore the malignant, attempting to sell * the manifest gifts

of the Lord, were deprived of these goods.

the water which the Lord had given to the worshippers of Christ,

They lost it at once; and in the dry channel no drop

passes, nor does a droplet sprinkle the parched ground.

After many seasons, therefore, the days having gone by,

the people thirsted for the waters once granted.

They kindle their spirits to vows, and weave prayers anew;

heaven itself is wearied with their plaintive voice.

They fast, then, and a three days' station being completed,

the place is sought * perchance, with crosses brought near.

There was present too the Father's crozier, which his shrine looks up to

as it hangs, cherishing his bones from above.

Relying on this, clergy, people, and unwedded maidens

are present and beseech Christ with suppliant voice.

They explore the pit with the staff, then try to cut it open,

but for a short time error mocked them:

Until our Udalbald, mindful, lo, of the denied

spring, says: There was here a flowing stream.

The men press on, therefore; the earth is eagerly dug out

from the hollows with a hoe, and living water is called forth.

the hoarse-sounding water tempers the smooth fields.

Moreover a sweet liquid, a drinkable wave, offers healthful

draughts abundantly to him who asks in due measure.

Winter does not harden it, nor does it dry up from scorching heat, *

nor does it feel the sun, nor fear a flood.

To the little hills there, and to those who desire to serve the blessed

martyrs, that water suffices.

Let only filth and things shameful to speak keep away,

for an honorable use alone is sought there.

Hence the example of the dog of the aforesaid count showed what must be held,

whom he confessed that he had loved too much.

For while his censorious master was accomplishing his pleasure

on the topmost summit of the mount,

That dog, too little provident, touched the medicated food,

and presently a deadly poison was in his savage mouth.

The venoms bind him fast, the poisons pressing at the Last, *

and a black plague rages in his inward parts and fibres.

The water that was to profit man harms him; the dog dies of food

by which rational flesh is well fed.

The same drink tore the beast away from a human mouth;

whence indeed a man thrives, thence the dog fell.

Who persuaded thee, speak, O dog, to lap the life-giving

cups — who, to defile the sacred drop with filth?

[70] So the poet; in what year these things were done cannot be declared: The staff by which the spring was raised. for the name of Udalbald, from which alone this could be established, I do not find among the bishops of Freising or the abbots of Weihenstephan.

Concerning the cambutta or staff of the Saint, which he writes was employed in seeking the spring, Meichelbeck in §13 of the Life has this: The staff or rod with which the holy Man drew forth that spring in the middle of the mount of St. Stephen had hung suspended, both for the perpetual memory of the thing and for public veneration, in the cathedral basilica not far from the tabernacle, in which, namely, the Sacrament of the Eucharist is wont to be kept after the Catholic manner: but in the year of Christ MDLXXXI, on the feast of the Mother of God saluted by the angel, it was taken away, no one knows by whom, and has not yet to this day been restored. Finally, the dog which is related to have been marvellously killed by drinking of the health-giving spring belonged to Count Timo, as is said in the preceding verses, which do not bear on our subject.

[71] The reverence for the spring afterwards grew, a chapel having been set over it, The chapel set over the spring is splendidly renewed. which Matthew Merian in his Topography of Bavaria exhibits, engraved on copper, on the slope of the mount toward the southern side, where it looks toward Munich and the Alps. But that chapel, says Meichelbeck, being by the lapse of years on the verge of ruin, a very few years ago, while we write this, the most reverend and most eminent lord Ildephonsus, abbot of the famous monastery of Weihenstephan and president general of the Benedictine-Bavarian Congregation, demolished, and at truly vast expense erected there another splendid building, a church rather than a chapel or oratory, which (on the XIV day of July of the year MDCCXX, as he advises should be read, tome 2, page 466) the most exalted and most reverend prince and bishop John Francis most festively consecrated to the honors of the most blessed Corbinian. Finally, of the spring itself, still flowing today, he writes in the Life of the Saint, §9: That spring flows perennially even now, and remains for the singular solace both of the healthy and of the sick.

* read: præcepit.

* read: tanta

* read: sufficeret

* read: defluxerit

* read: defuerit.

* medelas

* tentantes

* quæritur

* æstu

* that is, God

§ VII. Escaping the plots of the impious Pilitrudis, he flees to Mais: in what year the destruction of Grimoald's house, foretold by the Saint, took place: the Saint's return to Freising, his death and his stature.

[ ] The Saint, escaping the plots of Pilitrudis, We left Corbinian occupied in founding and establishing his bishopric and enjoying a happy success in his affairs; now let us dispatch what remains. Aribo, who in writing the Life was almost solely concerned to commend the Saint's marvellous deeds to posterity, after the building of the house on the mount of St. Stephen presently narrates the Saint's flight, flight, and the cause of his fleeing. Corbinian, meeting by chance a certain little sorceress-woman who boasted that she had healed Pilitrudis's son by a wicked incantation, with a truly marvellous example of zeal soundly beat her with his fists and stripped her of the gifts which she had received as the wage of her impiety, to be distributed among the poor. When these things were learned, Pilitrudis, driven almost into a frenzy, committed the murder of the holy Prelate, which she had long conceived in her mind, to a certain Nino, to be perpetrated without Grimoald's knowledge. Nor is there any doubt that the crime would have succeeded according to the woman's wishes, had not Corbinian, warned by a certain pious man through his brother Erimbert, withdrawn to another villa in the silence of the dead of night, as the reader will find at greater length in chapter 5.

[73] flees to Mais, where he foretells the punishments of Grimoald and Pilitrudis. Matters being disturbed in this manner, Corbinian fled to the castle of Mais, and thence through one of his own people warned Grimoald of his imminent death and of the near punishment of the impious Pilitrudis. It is uncertain whether the duke had secretly returned to his vomit with his former incestuous concubine: yet she seems to have prevailed with him with greater authority than was fitting, both because she attempted so great a wickedness with impunity without the prince's knowledge, and because Corbinian, recalled by him with many entreaties through envoys, did not dare to return, saying repeatedly that he must beware the plots of Jezebel, that worst of women. Further, the castle of Mais, which we have seen was formerly Grimoald's, and which about the time of Corbinian's death was subject to the Lombards, was probably already in their power when he fled thither: for otherwise he could neither have lived there safe from Pilitrudis's plots, nor have spurned Grimoald's entreaties; since the latter could have arranged to have him brought to himself by the garrison of Mais, as he had once done when the Saint, returning from Rome, had entered that same castle. But there was nothing to fear from the Lombards, whose king Liutprand had some years before received him most kindly and had even heaped him with gifts.

[74] The destruction of Grimoald's house, Of the things done by the Saint in this voluntary exile the biographer is silent, and presently appends the destruction of Grimoald's house in these words: But what vengeance followed upon such plots is not to be suppressed in silence. The aforesaid boy also, over whom, as we said, the woman chanted with a wicked incantation by the devil's contrivances, departed from human affairs, and when he was dead Grimoald was killed by plotters. And the aforesaid Nino, who formed a conspiracy for the Bishop's murder, ended his life by a shameful death, for while he was sitting to purge his belly he was struck by a lance and perished. But at the last the aforenoted woman Pilitrudis followed Charles into the Gauls, and, repudiated by him as her deserts required, lost all honor and glory, and, stripped of her own substance, at the very last possessing nothing but a single little ass for her conveyance, made her way into Italy and ended her life; and her children, who came forth from her womb, deprived of their realm with much tribulation, lost the breath of life. On what occasion, or for what cause, Grimoald was killed, the ancients did not hand down; but some of the more recent guess, with Aventinus, that he fell in a war unknown to the rest, undertaken against the sons of his uncle Theodbert and Liutprand, king of the Lombards. Moreover the domestic Annals, says Velser, book 4 of Boican Affairs, refer Grimoald's death to the seven hundred and eighth or ninth year: I think the twentieth should be added, as is noted in the margin. Velser was followed by John Adlzreitter in the Annals of the Boican people, part 1, book 7, num. 19, where he says: The Annals refer Grimoald's death to the year DCCXXVIII.*

[75] But that Grimoald's death happened some years earlier which is shown to have happened in the expedition of Charles Martel I am persuaded, with Le Cointe, Pagi, Eccard and Hansiz. For it is manifest from Aribo's account that Pilitrudis was carried off into the Gauls only after the duke's slaying, since after the destruction of him and of Nino he adds: But at the last the aforenoted woman Pilitrudis followed Charles into the Gauls, etc. Nor is there any doubt that the Continuator of Fredegar treats of the same captivity of Pilitrudis when he says: In the days following, the circle of the year having rolled round, (Charles Martel) having gathered a multitude of troops, crossed the river Rhine, traversed the Alamanni and the Suevi, went as far as the Danube, and having crossed it, occupied the Bavarian territories. That region being subdued, he returns with many treasures, together with a certain matron named Pilitrudis and her niece Sonichildis.

[76] But at what time these things were done we learn from the ancient Annals of Tilius and of Petau, running from the year 708 to 800, in the year 725 in Du Chesne, tome 2 of the Writers of the history of the Franks, in which is read: In the year DCCXXV, when Charles was first among the Bavarians. Similarly in the same author other Annals, likewise of Tilius, continued from the year 708 to 808, have: In the year DCCXXV Charles first fought in Bavaria. To these is added Regino, book 1 of his Chronicles, writing thus: Prince Charles in the Xth year of his rule fought with the Bavarians and conquered them: and that the tenth year of Charles's rule coincided, in Regino's view, with the year of Christ 725, is clear from the fact that he writes that he died in the XXVIth year of his rule and of the Lord's Incarnation DCCXLI; whence it comes about that in his reckoning he began his rule in the year 715, in which he escaped from custody; to which if you add ten incomplete years, you will arrive at the year 25, in which he places the Bavarians as conquered by him.

[77] With these likewise agrees the time of the death of Rotrudis or Chrotrudis, it is shown to have happened: Charles's first wife, whom Pilitrudis, or at any rate Sonichildis, succeeded in his bed. For the Annals of Lorsch, running from the year 707 to 790, in the praised Du Chesne have this: DCCXXV, Hrotrudis died. The Annals of Tilius or of Petau cited above: DCCXXV, when Charles was first among the Bavarians. And Chrotrudis dies. From which we learn that in this very year, in which Charles subdued the Bavarians, Chrotrudis died, and that in her place Pilitrudis or Sonichildis could have been taken to wife by him. I said Pilitrudis or Sonichildis: for Le Cointe maintains that the former of these was never married to Charles; and that when she is said in Aribo to have been repudiated by him, this is to be understood in no other way than that she fell from Charles's favor and was ordered to be gone from the court. That Sonichildis was Charles's wife Einhard relates, in the same Du Chesne, where he begins his Annals from the year 741 in this manner: In this year Charles, Mayor of the Palace, died, leaving three sons as heirs, namely Carloman, Pippin and Grifo; of whom Grifo, who was younger than the rest, had a mother named Swanahild. Similarly the Annalist of Metz too calls Charles's third son Grippo, whom he had by Sonihildis, whom he had brought as a captive from Bavaria.

[78] but not in the year 722 or 723, nor in 728. Which of the two succeeded Rotrudis I do not dispute: but I judge it sufficiently clear from what has been said that Pilitrudis was carried off into the Gauls by Charles Martel in the year 725, and hence that Grimoald's slaying happened either in this very year and in the same war, or, as Eccard supposes, a little before. Wherefore I cannot agree with Andrew Brunner, who in part 1 of the Boican Annals, book 5, binds that war and Pilitrudis's captivity to the year 722 or 723, relying, as it appears, on the Annals of Fulda, which wrongly, against the credit of older authorities, place Charles as fighting in Bavaria in each of those years. Nor do John Adlzreitter, already praised, and after him Meichelbeck, seem to stray less from the truth, when they think the aforesaid expedition should be deferred to the year 728. Yet they have favoring them the domestic Annals, as they call them, in which Grimoald's death is marked in the year 728: there favor them also, after a fashion, the Annals of Tilius cited above, which at the year 728 note a second expedition of Charles against the Bavarians in these words: DCCXXVIII, Charles fought a second time in Bavaria. Meichelbeck embraced that opinion, because he saw that neither Brunner's view nor the one we follow could be rightly reconciled with the time of St. Corbinian's arrival, which he had fixed to the year 724. But the things we have adduced thus far are more certain than that they can be broken by uncertain domestic Annals, whose character the authors do not declare: and from the Annals of Tilius just produced nothing is had except that Charles fought there again in that year.

[79] Corbinian, recalled by Duke Hucbert, Further, over subdued Bavaria Charles set Hucbert, otherwise Hugibert, who recalled the holy Prelate from his exile and treated him most kindly. Hucbert also (says Aribo), when he had begun to reign, recalled to himself with all sweetness and the highest honor the man of God, Bishop Corbinian; whom he venerated with as great honor as he was worthy of by his holy merits, and joined himself to him in the sacred laver of the font. Arnolf

of Vohburg, from a count become a monk of St. Emmeram, who at the beginning of the XIth century wrote the Miracles of St. Emmeram from the ancient records of his monastery, writes thus in Canisius, Ancient Readings, tome 2, book 1, of the three dukes under whom St. Corbinian flourished in Bavaria: Theodo, a strenuous and eager man, under whom the most illustrious confessor of Christ Rupert came with other servants of God to Salzburg,… This duke, then, had sons as successors in his realm, namely Diotpert and Grimald: after whom Hucbert furnished a duchy to this people. The first of these, as we said in §4, tried to retain in his own domain Corbinian, whom he had honorably received when he was making for Rome: under the second, whose slaying we have just related, he fixed his chair at Freising; to which he returned under the rule of the last.

[80] Arno, bishop of Salzburg, in the little book of the donations made to his church, he returns to Freising. which he composed in the year 788, asserts that the Hucbert of whom we are treating was the son of Theodbert, who by Arnolf is called Diotpert: he was therefore Grimoald's nephew by his brother, who, that man's family being destroyed or deposed, obtained the duchy through Charles Martel, and, taught by his uncle's example, took care to recall the holy Prelate to his bishopric. Moreover, when Aribo writes that the praised Hucbert joined St. Corbinian to himself in the sacred laver of the font, I think this must be understood of a Baptism conferred not on the duke himself, but on his offspring; for it is not probable that a son of Duke Theodbert — once a friend of St. Rupert, and, according to Arno, munificent toward the church of Salzburg — should have grown up without the laver of Baptism, or that Charles Martel would have entrusted the duchy of Bavaria to a heathen man.

[81] The Saint's remaining deeds down to his blessed departure from among the living the biographer passed over: The license of electing successors, obtained through the Saint, but Meichelbeck in §12 of the Life refers to his last times the license obtained for his church, confirmed by royal letters, of freely electing bishops as successors after his death. He praises for this matter a diploma of the emperor Louis III, or rather of Louis, king of Germany, by which he acknowledges that this faculty was formerly granted by his predecessors to the church of Freising at the prayers of St. Corbinian, and confirms it as such. The whole of it is extant in the praised historian, page 152, under Bishop Walto, whence I skim a few things. In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, Louis, by the favor of divine clemency, king. It behooves the royal dignity also to be benevolent to all, but especially to those who are made over to the divine services. Whence we desire it to be made known to all the faithful of God's holy Church, both present and future, how St. Corbinian, bishop of the church of Freising, had obtained from our predecessors by his intercession a license for his people and his household of electing bishops among themselves after the time of his summoning hence, and asked that the security of this election be confirmed by the writing of royal precepts, and earned to obtain his petition from them. And in like manner all the pastors of the same see in order obtained from our predecessors the same security of election down to the time of Walto, our beloved bishop.

[82] But in his own time it happened by chance that his house, it is renewed in the year 906. built there in honor of the Lord and of his Saints, was burnt by a kindling of fires, the same aforesaid precepts being likewise burnt. These things being so done, the aforesaid Walto, pontiff of the aforementioned see, .. besought our clemency that we should by our authority lend our assent to the aforesaid household and clergy of electing a bishop among themselves according to the former concession, and should strengthen the former precepts by a renewal of our precept. We too gladly assented to their wholesome counsel and petition, etc. The same author asserts that the original of this diploma is still preserved unharmed in the archive of the most illustrious cathedral college: but it must be attributed not to the emperor Louis III, but to Louis, son of the emperor Arnulf, king of Germany, to whom Bavaria was subject; and to him the dates subjoined to the instrument rightly agree: Given the IX Kalends of May, in the year of the Lord DCCCCVI. In the IXth Indiction. In the VIIth year of the lord king Ludwig. That the aforesaid instrument is authentic I do not deny: nevertheless, if it lay with the people of Freising to elect their bishop freely, I do not know why that bishopric, on Meichelbeck's own testimony, lay vacant for eight or nine years after Corbinian's death, Erimbert having been first substituted in his place by St. Boniface about the year 739, as may be seen in the latter's Acts, tome 1 of June, page 454.

[83] He dies more probably in the year 730. In what year the Saint was summoned to the reward of his labors Aribo does not teach. Vitus Arnpekh in the Chronicle of the Bavarians, book 2, chapter 18, guesses about it thus: But when the day of Mary's Nativity came, he rendered his spirit to God in the year, I think, of Christ DCCXXXV, or thereabouts. From his reckoning Marcus Velser departs somewhat, book 4 of Boican Affairs, where he says: The Annals count the seven hundred and thirtieth year. The same is marked also by three catalogues of the bishops of Freising, says Meichelbeck; who, although he adds that elsewhere the year 732 is noted, subscribes to the opinion of Velser and others, which is the common one, and we too embrace the same: we confess, however, that it is not so certain that it may not be placed one or two years earlier: but that it cannot probably be deferred beyond 730 will appear in the following §, where we shall show it probable that the Saint's body was carried back from Mais to Freising in the fortieth year from his death, where in the year 770 it was already resting, and perhaps had already been resting for a year or two. Moreover the day of his death, which the biographer likewise did not express, is assigned in the records of Freising and in the Martyrologies to the VIII of September. From what has been said it follows that St. Corbinian more probably died about the 21st year from the bishopric conferred on him by the Pontiff Constantine, and about the 13th from the fixing of his chair at Freising; although neither can be certainly determined, as we have more than once noted in the course of this work. But certainly Hund is not to be listened to, when in tome 1 of the Metropolis of Salzburg, among the bishops of Freising, confusing everything, he insinuates that the Saint died indeed in the year 730, but nevertheless ascribes to him twenty years in the bishopric of Freising, which he would better have reckoned from his episcopal ordination.

[84] The Saint's age and stature. Of the Saint's final age the oft-praised historian of Freising discourses thus in §13 of the Life: It is certain that Erimbert, Corbinian's brother, who succeeded him in the bishopric, was older than he: for since Aribo narrates that, before Corbinian was born, his father Waldekisus departed from human affairs, it is necessary to admit that Erimbert was born before Corbinian; unless we invent that Corbiniana, his mother, hurried into a second marriage: but to invent is not the historian's part. And since Erimbert was snatched from among the living only nineteen years after Corbinian's death, … we are compelled to assert that Corbinian did not reach an advanced age, and perhaps did not pass the fiftieth year of his age, nor was born into the world before the year of Christ DCLXXX. This observation is indeed probable, but not conclusive: for although Erimbert is not said by Aribo to have been begotten of Corbiniana's second marriage, that is nevertheless not certain. Nor do I see why he should be said to invent who doubts about a thing which could easily have happened and has frequently happened. Of the holy Prelate's stature the same writer adds this: That he was not so very tall in bodily stature we measure from his sacred relics: and although the bones do not fall much short of a man's due stature, the bulk of the sacred head is certainly not plainly great: so he.

* prodibant

§ VIII. The body, first buried at Freising, is translated to Mais, then brought back to Freising: the present state of the church at Mais in which the Saint was buried.

[ ] The body is translated to Mais after 30 days: Corbinian, foreknowing his imminent death, had charged his people to bury his body at Mais beside St. Valentine, whom he had honored with a special cult during the time of his bishopric. But because at that time the Lombards were masters in the castle of Mais, he sent his brother Erimbert eight days before his death to their king Liutprand, to request his royal consent. Then, as the last day of his life drew near, he directed another of his people to Hucbert, duke of Bavaria, to announce his death and at the same time to ask that he permit the funeral to be transferred to Mais. While these things are being done, the holy Prelate dies, and is buried by his clergy at Freising in the church of the blessed Mother of God Mary, in which he had held his chair. But it presently became plain that this was done against the Saint's will: for a storm divinely sent at once harassed the people of Freising for thirty unbroken days and as many nights, until, Duke Hucbert's answer being received, they translated the sacred body, not without miracles, to Mais, where it was honorably placed beside the remains of St. Valentine, as is narrated at greater length in chapter 6.

[86] In that castle it rested until the times of Duke Tassilo and the bishopric of Aribo, and thence to Freising after the translation of St. Valentine, by whose agency it was solemnly translated to Freising. That translation, committed to writing by the same Aribo, we shall reprint in chapter 7 of the Life, to which we refer the reader: here we shall examine only those things which we have judged to bear on its elucidation. The Lombards, to whom Mais was subject, had carried off the body of St. Valentine to Trent, and thence it had been translated to Passau by Tassilo, duke of the Bavarians. Hence there was put into the mind of Aribo, bishop of Freising, the thought of bringing back St. Corbinian's sacred remains to his own see: for since the body of St. Valentine, for whose presence the holy Bishop had chosen the castle of Mais for his burial, had been taken away from there, he rightly judged that he would by no means be thwarting the Saint's last will if he restored him also to his own see. The prelate's mind was moved besides by this, that the holy Founder of his bishopric lay there without due honor and without holy office. Accordingly, having gathered a council of bishops and of his own people, and with Tassilo's assent, he happily carried the matter out. Further, Baillet errs when at the VIII of September, confusing the translations of the two Saints, he writes that St. Corbinian's body was translated to Trent by the Lombards, and thence by Aribo to Freising.

[87] The year of the translation, no otherwise than that of the death, the biographer passed over; in whose year the Breviary of Passau errs. yet he expressly teaches that it happened after St. Valentine's remains were carried to Passau. The proper Breviary of the diocese of Passau, printed with the types of Munich in the year 1608, recites the IVth lesson concerning the translation of its holy prelate at the IV day of August in this manner: When the body of St. Valentine the bishop had rested in peace for some years, buried in the castle of Mais, it was at length, about the year of the Lord seven hundred and twenty-three, carried off to Trent by Liutbrand, king of the Lombards; which afterwards Tassilo, duke of Bavaria, son of Utilo, on the day before the Nones of August, about the year of the Lord seven hundred and seventy-seven, caused to be honorably carried to Passau and laid between two walls before the doors of the church of the blessed Stephen the protomartyr, where the bishop's see is. If these things are true, then the death of St. Corbinian, who beside St. Valentine's body

he was buried at Mais, before the year 723, and to defer the bringing back of the body, of which we are treating, to Freising until after the year 777. But that both of these are false is manifest from what has been said and what remains to be said; wherefore the time of the translation must be investigated from another quarter.

[88] Meichelbeck's opinion In the Andechs codex and in the one which Surius used, forty years are said to have elapsed between the two translations of S. Corbinian. But that passage is suspected of interpolation by Meichelbeck, both because those words are wanting in the Benediktbeuern codex (concerning which see num. 63 and following), and because it would follow from this that the Saint's body was first brought back to Freising in the year 770, whereas he maintains that it had already been resting there in the year 769, on the strength of two instruments drawn up under Aribo, which he sets out entire in part 2 of tome 1. The first contains a donation of Sikifrid made at the tomb of the holy confessor of Christ Corbinian, in the place Freising, where he himself, precious, is seen to have been buried in the body. At the foot are subjoined the following chronological notes: These things were enacted [] on the VI Kalends of March, in the XXII year of the reign of the glorious duke Tassilo. The other is a donation of Adalperht, dated: On the XI Kalends of May, in the XXII year of the most glorious duke Tassilo, Indiction VIII, in which it is likewise said: I transfer to the episcopal house situated in the place [] which [] is named Freising, where the honour of holy Mary is celebrated, or where holy Corbinian rests in the body.*

[89] on the time of the later translation He thinks that by both instruments the year of Christ 769 is designated, because he links the fifth year of Tassilo's principate with the first of the reign of Pippin, and thus brings the 22nd year of the same duke down to the year of Christ 769. And this he strives to show from an ancient instrument of Timo, which he says is extant in the most ancient codex of the Traditions of the same church, and which bears these chronological notes: In the second year of the reign of the most excellent king Pippin, when the lord Apostolic had come into the parts of Gaul, in the sixth year of the reign of Tassilo, the most elect duke, VIII Kal. of July. You will now ask, reader, the historian adds, what is the year in which the lord Apostolic, namely Stephen II (to others III), came into Gaul? Baronius replies that this happened in the year of Christ DCCLIII; and after Baronius, Pagi asserts the very same. Rightly: therefore the year of Christ DCCLIII was Pippin's second, Tassilo's sixth. Thus he: but to me that passage appears corrupt, and one ought to read the third year of Pippin for the second, and accordingly that instrument belongs to the year 754.

[90] resting on ancient monuments, which prove The reason why I so judge is that, although Stephen set out for Gaul in the year 753, this nevertheless was not accomplished except toward the end of that year and the beginning of the following, as the aforesaid Baronius and Pagi also teach. For, on the testimony of Anastasius the Librarian, he left Rome on the fourteenth day of the month of October, in the seventh Indiction, that is, in the year 753. On the journey he met Aistulf, king of the Lombards, at Pavia, and on the fifteenth day of the month of November of the aforesaid seventh Indiction, setting out from the city of Pavia, he pursued his journey into France. Finally, having tarried a little while in the Agaunensian monastery of S. Maurice, he proceeded to king Pippin, and, honourably received by him, was conducted to the palace of Ponthion on the sixth day of the month of January, on the most sacred solemnity of the Manifestation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the year 754 assuredly. Now since the instrument produced is signed VIII Kal. of July of the year when the lord Apostolic had come into the parts of Gaul, it cannot look to the year 753, in the month of June of which Stephen had not yet departed from Rome; but to the year 754, at the beginning of which he had been received by Pippin. Further, on the VIII Kalends of July of the year 754 there was running Pippin's third year, whether the beginning of his reign be reckoned from the month of March, or from the Kalends of May of the year 752.

[91] From these things it is concluded that the sixth year of Tassilo, if we must stand by the instrument produced, that it took place before 24 February in the year 770. was likewise in course on the VIII Kalends of July of the year 754. Whence it is further deduced that the donations of Sikifrid and Adalperht mentioned at num. 88, of which the first is dated the VI Kalends of March, the other the XI Kalends of May, and both in the 22nd year of Tassilo, were made not in the year 769 but in 770, in the months of February and April of which the 22nd year of the aforesaid duke must have been running, if the instrument of Timo is correct. I do not indeed wish to inquire here into the years of Tassilo, concerning which Meichelbeck may be consulted, tome 1, part 1, page 42 and following: this one thing I do wish, that from that instrument of Timo, whatever it may be, it is rather to be gathered that the donations of Sikifrid and Adalperht look to the year of Christ 770, which the Indiction VIII also plainly indicates, which is ascribed to the latter, and which in the month of April of the year 769 had not yet begun. And so from the monuments adduced we have thus far this one thing, that the translation was accomplished before the XXIV of February of the year 770; but how long before is not clear.

[92] Marcus Hansiz, in Germania sacra, tome 1, More probably it was made on 20 November of the year 769. page 136, understood Meichelbeck's opinion somewhat otherwise, and interpreted it thus. The Translation of S. Corbinian, he says, is celebrated, according to the ancient Passau Calendar printed at Venice in the year MDXXII, which I have at hand, on the day XX of November. Then, having produced the instruments of Sikifrid and Adalperht, which he too refers to the year 770, he thus concludes: From which the most learned writer of that same history (Meichelbeck) rightly argues that the body of S. Corbinian already in the year DCCLXIX lay at Freising, namely from the month of November. But that is not Meichelbeck's mind, as will be plain to one who examines it; Hansiz's own observation, however, although it is not certain, is nevertheless probable. For in the older Passau Breviary of the year 1505, likewise printed at Venice, on the same day XX of November the Translation is commemorated; the same is done in several others, which we shall review in the following §. Now from the Surian codex, the Andechs codex, and others, we have that the translation took place in the fortieth year from the Saint's death: which, if we take the years as incomplete, was running on the XX of November of the year 769, according to the more common opinion, which holds that the Saint died on the VIII of September in the year 730. Nevertheless, since neither the year of his death nor the aforesaid interval of years is altogether certain, it is also uncertain whether that translation did not take place one or two years earlier, although it cannot be placed after the year 769.

[93] The present state of the church of S. Valentine The manuscript notices of the often-praised Antonius Roschmann admonish me to add something concerning the destruction of the castle of Mais and the present condition of the church of S. Valentine. He says, then, that a sandy mountain neighbouring Mais, loosened by long-continued rains, choked the mouth of a certain stream; whereby it came to pass that (the words are Roschmann's) an immense force of waters, held back for more than the space of an hour, and at length, the barriers being broken, thrust forward together with the sandy mountain, bursting out buried the whole town of Mais and filled it with most foul ruins. Which becomes evident to one who looks upon it, especially with the added narration of the inhabitants, which commands entire belief, and since meanwhile in the year MCCCXXII the disaster was renewed once more. He sets forth the sad remains of both disasters in a lengthy discourse, and gathers from an anonymous writer of the XIII century that the first of them occurred between the years 769 and 1250.

[94] and the state of the tomb of holy Corbinian at Mais. After much concerning the church of S. Valentine he thus proceeds: This common destruction, however, of which we have spoken, whether by the providence of the Deity or by the very situation of the place, the most celebrated church of S. Valentine in this castle escaped… For lying somewhat back in a recess toward the left side, it was still sheltered by that projecting part of the mountain upon which the citadel is set, on the left bank of the river Naif; and so all that onrush of the falling mountain, of sand and stones, could never be borne thither, since, the rampart being broken, the violence was carried in a straight line… The church is large enough, of a structure, however — the choir excepted — of more recent date, so that I could find no trace of that ancient one built by S. Valentine; it is full of votive offerings, by which all the neighbourhood, indeed even distant places, honour S. Valentine. The only monument that survives is a very great flint stone, covering the whole altar, without any small altar or sepulchre or repository of sacred relics, such as some antimensia have, and this indeed of one continuous flint stone. Upon this it is permitted, by special indult of the most reverend lord Ordinary, to celebrate Mass, since this altar or stone is believed to have been consecrated by S. Valentine himself. Beneath this altar, or at least in the crypt over which it is built (for this space would scarcely have held both holy Bishops), that SS. Valentine and Corbinian were laid, no one in these parts doubts. Thus far Roschmann, so far as concerns our purpose, who himself carefully surveyed those places. Now let us return to Freising.

read hoc*

read sitam*

qui*

§ IX. The remaining matters pertaining to the Saint's cultus.

[ ] The Saint's memory in the Fasti of September, Although from what has been said thus far it is abundantly established concerning the lawful and ancient cultus of S. Corbinian, begun perhaps at the very time in which he died, and greatly promoted in the same century by Aribo; nevertheless some things must, according to custom, be added on the same subject. The Roman Martyrology on this day, the VIII of September, announces the Saint in these words: At Freising, of holy Corbinian, the first bishop of that city, who, ordained by Pope Gregory the Second and sent to preach the Gospel, brought back abundant fruits in Gaul and Germany, and at last, renowned for virtues and miracles, rested in peace. In the older classical Martyrologies no memory of him is found; some supplements of Usuard, however, celebrate him on the same day. Among these the codex of Rosweyde, in our Sollerius, subjoins after the text: At Freising, of Corbinian, bishop and confessor. The Centula codex: On the same day at Freising, of holy Corbinian, bishop and confessor. The Lübeck-Cologne edition: In the city of Freising, the birthday of holy Corbinian, bishop and confessor. Greven: Of Corbinian, bishop of Freising. Finally Molanus: And at Freising, the deposition of holy Corbinian the bishop, whose life, renowned for virtues, shone in Bavaria.

[96] To the same day he is referred in our manuscript Florarium, and of his Translation to 20 November. in which a lengthy eulogy of him is woven, but a faulty one, and put together from the Chronicle of Otto of Freising, book 5, chapter 23. The German Martyrology, published under the name of Canisius, also errs foully, in which the Saint is said to have been consecrated bishop by Pope Gregory the Great in the year 600. I pass over Galesini, who in his Annotations wrongly cites Bede for it, and many more recent writers, by whom Corbinian has been deservedly inserted into the sacred Fasti. Besides the day VIII of September, on which his birthday or deposition is commemorated, he has the XX of November also sacred to his translation in the augmented Usuardine codex of Hagenau, where it is read: Likewise the Translation of holy Corbinian, bishop of Freising. Similarly in the aforesaid Martyrology of Canisius, on the same day of November, the word translation being however omitted, it is said: Likewise at Freising,

of S. Corbinian, concerning whom action was taken above on the VIII of September. Andreas Saussay, in the Supplement to the Martyrologium Gallicanum, believed that on the day XX of November the Ordination of the holy Bishop is celebrated: On that same day, he says, the ordination of S. Corbinian, bishop of Freising in Noricum, etc. Philippus Ferrarius, however, in his general Catalogue, doubted whether on this day of November his Ordination, or his Translation, or some other festival were kept: but that the Translation is rightly noted in the Hagenau codex will be plain from what is presently to be said.

[97] It cannot be doubted that the holy Prelate, once his sacred body had been brought back to his cathedral church, The ecclesiastical Office in the Breviaries was soon honoured with a particular cultus among the people of Freising, since one of the reasons which impelled Aribo to carry out the translation was that he lay at Mais without a holy Office. That the day VIII of September, on which he is believed to have died, and on which the nativity of the most holy Mother of God together with the dedication of the church of Freising was celebrated, was formerly likewise sacred to S. Corbinian, Meichelbeck asserts, tome 1, part 1, §2 under Ellenhard and elsewhere, citing an ancient liturgy seen by Gamans. Afterwards, in what century is uncertain, the people of Freising fixed the festival of the holy Bishop to the day IX of the same month, assuredly for no other cause than that it could not be kept festively on the previous day, on account of the birthday of the Virgin Mother. Hence in the Calendar which is prefixed to the proper Offices of the said diocese, it is thus read: IX. Of Corbinian, bishop and confessor. Double. It was yesterday. The Office itself is assigned from the common of a confessor pontiff, with the lessons of the 1st Nocturn from the epistle of B. Paul to Timothy: Faithful is the saying; those of the second, however, proper, put together out of Aribo, which end with the miracles wrought at the castle of Mais, while the sacred body was resting there. The lessons of the third Nocturn are a homily on the Gospel: A certain man going into a far country. On the same day Vienna in Austria venerates him with a semidouble Office, in the proper Offices printed in the year 1632. But in the Salzburg and Passau Breviaries only a commemoration of him is made on the day VIII of September.

[98] on both days. The same people of Freising, moreover, celebrate on the day XX of November, with a double rite and with an Octave, the Translation of that same holy Patron of theirs, as we learn from the Breviary praised above. The same Office as on the IX of September is assigned to the first day: on the XXIV and XXVI everything is prescribed from the common, except the customary collect and the lessons of the second Nocturn, which are drawn from the Sermons of S. Bernard. On the Octave day the Office of the first day is repeated, with lessons from the common of a confessor pontiff, however, substituted for the second Nocturn. Further, it is most likely that the memory of the sacred body, brought back from Mais to Freising, is celebrated in that festival; and therefore I marvel that no word is made of this bringing back in that whole Office, whose lessons end with the earlier translation made from Freising to Mais, as though it were this, and not that, which were in question. The first translation, however, could not have fallen on the XX of November, if S. Corbinian, as we have said, having died on the VIII of September, was translated to Mais on the thirtieth day from his death, as is read in Aribo. But whether the second translation fell on that day is unascertained by me: I suspect, nevertheless, that it is so, since no other reason appears why he should be honoured on that day. For the rest, that the aforesaid festival was formerly celebrated on the same day in the diocese of Passau, its Breviary printed at Venice in the year 1505 teaches us, in which an Office is set forth to be recited with antiphons at all the Hours, with lessons, hymn, and all the rest proper.

[99] A third translation: a confraternity and a gymnasium dedicated to the Saint. Of the remaining matters pertaining to the Saint's cultus we have few: yet such as they are, receive them in a few words. Another translation is mentioned by the Chronologer of Wessobrunn in Meichelbeck, who, at tome 1, part 1, page 387, drew these words from him: In the year MCCV the greater church of holy Mary at Freising is consecrated, and the body of the blessed bishop Corbinian is exalted by a glorious translation. There sat at that time in the chair of Freising Otto II, who restored the church of S. Mary, which was also called of S. Corbinian, and which had suffered ruin in the Bavarian war, as Meichelbeck judges, and on that occasion solemnly elevated the sacred body of the first Prelate. Concerning the confraternity of bakers formerly instituted at Munich under the patronage of the Virgin Mother of God and of holy Corbinian, I read this in Meichelbeck, tome 2, part 1, page 140: In the church of the Reverend Fathers Augustinian at Munich there flourished already at that time (in the XIV century) a pious confraternity of bakers erected under the invocation of the Mother of God and of S. Corbinian, first bishop of Freising, and adorned with Pontifical graces, to which bakers from three hundred cities and towns had given their names. To that confraternity in the year MCCCXXIII Ludwig the Bavarian added singular graces. On the testimony of the same historian, the most exalted prince Johann Franz, bishop of Freising, solemnly assigned S. Corbinian as patron to the gymnasium which he had erected at Freising for studious youth under the direction of the Reverend Fathers Benedictine.

[100] Relics honoured; To the honouring of the Saint's relics seem to pertain those things which Arnpeck notes in book 4, page 7 of his Chronicle, in these words: From the donation of this duke Hainrich (of Bavaria, surnamed the Quarrelsome) was made the silver-gilt head of S. Corbinian, which is kept to this day in the church of Freising. On this there are verses:

While Hainrich commands, how holy Corbinian shines in the silver which he gave to God! The image of the kindly prelate Abraham gleams: may the Almighty save his soul in the citadel above.

Now duke Henry and bishop Abraham flourished toward the end of the X century. That some portion of this sacred head was in the XIV century translated to Prague, the metropolis of Bohemia, and there piously preserved in S. Vitus, Thomas Johannes Pessina writes in the Phosphorus of that same metropolitan church, page 517, where, reviewing the relics which are there venerated, he has this on the day IX of September: Of S. Corbinian the bishop, a notable part of the head, given to the church of Prague by queen Elizabeth, who was the mother of Charles, in the year MCCCXXVIII. Somewhat more memorable are the things which the often-mentioned historian of Freising relates, tome 2, part 1, page 449, concerning relics translated into Gaul in the year 1710, and the Saint's ancient cultus thereby increased.

[101] The most exalted prince and bishop of Freising, Johann Franz, some carried into France, had asked by letter from Bertrand Robine de Callemont, doctor of Theology of the Paris faculty, and likewise Prior and parish priest of S. Germain de Castres or Chatres — had asked, I say, that he would declare his opinion concerning the native country of S. Corbinian. He replied that in that place it was doubtful to no one that the Saint had been born there; and he endeavoured to establish that opinion both by other arguments and by sending the Office proper to that Saint which was recited in that church. Bertrand used the same occasion to obtain some relics of Corbinian for the church of S. Germain, in which the Saint had laid the first foundations of a holier life. The bishop granted his wishes, and destined for Gaul a notable portion, with an authentic attestation attached. When that sacred portion was carried into Gaul, it filled the people of Castres with immense joy.

[102] Bertrand then took pains that that notable gift should be brought into the church of the divine Germain with as great solemnity as could be, [and, honourably elevated, they grow famous by benefits: others granted to others.] which he also easily obtained from the inhabitants and the neighbouring folk. For with a most festive procession, by a throng of the most crowded people, the most sacred pledge was carried thither, and thereafter was laid up in a splendid altar newly constructed (in the upper part of which the arms of our most exalted prince, the bishop of Freising, were hung up), where it has conferred upon its devout citizens up to this time very many and manifest benefits, as Bertrand informed his Highness by several letters… Thus in this year (1710) S. Corbinian became known again to the French through Johann Franz, and in a manner lived again. Thus he himself, who at page 478 also writes that some small particle of the bones was given by the same most exalted Johann Franz to the abbey of Fulda in the year 1724. In the Translation of S. Norbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, reprinted in our Work on the day VI of June, page 901, mention is likewise made of relics of S. Corbinian, which the Reverend Lords Matthæus de Beir and Prosper Moriconi, professed canons of the Præmonstratensian Order of the abbey of S. Michael at Antwerp, received at Freising as they were returning to Antwerp from Prague, which they had visited in the year 1627 by reason of the translation of S. Norbert, their Founder.

[103] The millenary Jubilee is celebrated: By way of a conclusion I touch briefly on the things which the historian of Freising describes more at large in tome 2, part 1, concerning the millenary Jubilee celebrated by order of the above-praised bishop Johann Franz from the coming of S. Corbinian to Freising and the founding there of the bishopric. This was done on the Kalends of October, in the year 1724, to which the people of Freising refer the beginnings of their see, and in which the same most exalted prince was counting the fiftieth year of his received priesthood, with great pomp and splendour, the most serene elector of Bavaria Maximilian Emmanuel with his most serene family honouring the festival by his presence on the first day: and that solemnity lasted eight days. Concerning the restoration of the church and the festive apparatus, and other matters which pertain to this, the aforesaid historian may be consulted, to whom also in the year 1722 had been committed the charge of writing the history of Freising, which indeed in that one biennium he completed no less learnedly than happily. It pleases me, however, before I set an end to the commentary, to report some monuments of this jubilee from the distinguished Work of that same learned man.

[104] monuments At the beginning of the month of July (of the year 1724), he says, namely on the sixth day of it, by mandate of the most serene and most powerful duke elector Maximilian Emmanuel, a bell-metal was happily cast at Munich, reaching a weight of a hundred hundredweight, which his electoral Serenity destined for the cathedral church of Freising, about shortly to celebrate the thousandth year from its origin. On one side of it these words are read above:

I. N. R. I. have mercy on us

Cast by I. M. Langenegger and A. B. Ernst. At Munich, MDCCXXIV.

And below:

To God thrice Best and Greatest, to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God Mary, Patroness of the Diocese, to S. Corbinian the Bishop, and to the other Guardians of the Jubilee Church of Freising, dedicates as a gift the most serene Elector, Duke of both Bavarias, Maximilian Emmanuel, in the year of Christ MDCCXXIV.

And on the other side:

Consecrated by the most Reverend and most Exalted Johann Franz, Bishop of Freising, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, in the L year of his Priesthood, the XXX of his Rule. To his Church, his Spouse, M.

[105] pertaining hereto. To these I add what the aforesaid writer has at page 479 concerning the coins struck on that occasion. At the same time our most exalted prince, for the consecrating to eternity of the memory of the coming festival, ordered a double gold coinage to be struck. The first has the value of twelve gold pieces common throughout Germany: the other equals two gold pieces. On the first of them, on one side, in a square, appears S. Corbinian with the customary insignia both of the bishopric and of the most reverend cathedral college. Behind are inserted these words: S. Corbinian, I. Founder. I. Bishop. I. Patron. And on the round of the circle: Jo. Franz restorer of the church: shepherd of the sheep: F. of the poor. On the other side again

in a certain square is seen the Mother of God with the Apocalyptic wings, just as she is beheld on the high altar of this cathedral church. Near that figure are the insignia both of the bishopric and of the most illustrious Eckher family. The inscription of that square runs thus: Under the shadow of thy wings. On the round: Of his Priesthood the I. Of his Rule the XXX. In the year of Christ MDCCXXIV. The other gold coin exhibits on one side the effigy of the divine Corbinian, conspicuous in his pallium, with the bear. The inscription: S. Corbinian. On the other side, however, are set forth the customary insignia of our most exalted lord, beneath which is noted: After a thousand. And on the round is read: Jo. Franc. by the grace of God Bishop of Freising, Prince of the H. R. E. MDCCXXIV. Let these things suffice concerning the millenary jubilee of the church of Freising, founded by S. Corbinian: whoever wishes for more, let him go to the aforesaid Meichelbeck, where he will find an elaborate description of it.

LIFE

By Aribo, bishop of Freising

From the edition of Karl Meichelbeck in the Historia Frisingensis, tome 1, part the second.

Corbinian, first bishop of Freising in Bavaria (S.)

BHL Number: 1948

A. By Aribo, bishop of Freising.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's birth and names, his withdrawal into a cell by the church of S. Germain, the miracles wrought there.

[ ] Born after his father's death, first called Waldekis and then Corbinian, While we desire, for the edification of our hearers, to set forth in the briefest style the life of blessed Corbinian, and the virtues which the Lord wrought through him, it is first necessary to implore the help of the Holy Spirit, so that, with the aid of his grace, we may be able worthily and profitably to relate the miracles of so great a Man of God. The venerable servant of God Corbinian, then, had sprung from the region of Melun ^b, born in a village which is called Castrus, of his father Waldekis and his mother Corbiniana. He being not yet born, his begetter, seized by a sickness, departed from human affairs. And when he was born after his father's death, his mother caused him to be washed in the sacred font under the name of his begetter ^c, and afterwards, pricked by love of him, changed his name and called him Corbinian.

[2] And when he had grown up of good disposition, pricked by divine inspiration, [as a young man he withdraws into a cell by the church of S. Germain and instructs others.] he manfully loved the duty of holy religion, and began to be a most sagacious searcher of the divine Scripture, to love psalmody, to cherish fasting, to be instant in vigils and holy prayers, to refresh the poor, to pursue hospitality, and to persist zealously in the practice of good work ^d. To this also he was led by divine love, that he should leave the whole concupiscence of the world from the flower of his youth, and be a most careful guardian of holy continence and of his own chastity; and he most devoutly settled himself at the church of the blessed confessor of Christ Germain ^e, built in that same village, and beside it constructed for himself a small workhouse, so delighted with solitude that he possessed nothing else save only servants, who might furnish him the solace of outward necessity: whom he took care daily to instruct in sacred disciplines, that they might become imitators of his life.

[3] A great throng of believing peoples also began to flow together to him and to receive diligently his holy admonitions: for whatever he had received from the offering of the faithful, apart from necessary food, he bestowed upon the poor. He stays the must by his prayers when the cask has burst: At the time of vintage also, while certain men were bringing him the first-fruits of the vintage, his servants filled from it no small vessel in the cellar. Now it came to pass in the silence of a certain night that the must swelled up violently; and when the vessel could not bear the force of the great fermentation, it cast out the bung so forcibly that the sound of it reached the ears of the Man of God in his cell. He, at once understanding what had happened, cast himself into prayer with his knees fixed upon the ground, and, that he might keep his silence ^f, put off indicating this to his servants, so passing the night in prayer, until he was rendering to God the morning praises. These being performed, calling his servants together after the custom by the sign of the little bell, he indicated to them the suspicion which he had concerning the wine. Then indeed the brother who was set over the cellar, Ansericus by name, seizing the key, hastily unlocked the cellar, and at the entry found the bung with his foot, and took it into his hands. And when he had approached the vessel, a marvellous thing appeared, for the must was found so untouched that not even a drop had gone out. And when he announced this to the Man of God, he decreed with every caution that the miracle be kept silent.

[4] his mule, as he had been taught by an angel But on a certain day a thief, at the devil's instigation, finding the Man of God's mule outside, carried it off, and mounting it plunged into the hiding-places of the neighbouring woodland. But as evening drew on the servants of God, seeking the mule, could not find it, running here and there in their search over the flanks of the mountains and the depths of the valleys and the coverts of the woods, and searching also those places where the mule had been wont to graze before, until night grew so dark upon them that they were compelled to return home empty, and reported the loss of the mule to the Man of God ^g. But he, gently consoling them, dismissed them, and prostrated himself in prayer, and so remained praying until he had fulfilled the praises due to God in the solemnities of Matins ^h; and afterwards, when he was resting a little for the refreshment of his weary body, an angel of the Lord in the very twilight of morning appeared to him in a vision, who foretold that the thief must come with the mule.

[5] had foretold, the thief, chastised by divine power, And he, roused from sleep, rendered grateful praises to God, and to blessed Germain, at the doors of whose church he then abode: and having opened the window of his little cell, he called his servants to him by the sign of the little bell after his custom. And when they stood by, he commanded that they should in no wise hurt the thief when he came with the mule. But this he had foretold to the servants by no means from appetite for vainglory, but that he might soften the madness of their mind; lest, driven by fury, they should turn the power of God into madness, or become guilty of blood in persecuting him. And when he had scarcely finished his words of command, behold, the mule entered the door of the little cell where the holy Man was speaking with his disciples, and presented the thief sitting upon it, stiff and as though lifeless, clinging to its back, as though he were bound upon it, so that, had he wished, he could not have got down. And when, by the Man of God's order, he was taken down and cast upon the ground like a log [] of stone, senseless and without feeling, the Man of the Lord began by rebuke as much as by admonition to rouse him from his wickedness as from a heavy sleep [].

[6] And when he had been awakened as one sleeping, he laid aside the fear of his mind, he is compelled to bring it back: confessing and dreading the evil which he had done to the Man of God, and professed that he ought to sin no more, even though he should expire of life from want ⁱ. And as he lay prostrate and confessing that he ought to change his life [], the Man of God bade him rise from the ground, and he rose so briskly as though he had not been stiff and contracted at all: and thus he related the story of his misery, how he had passed the night on the mule's back [], how many mountain-tops and depths of valleys, and how he had traversed the thickets of woods and brambles, as though he had been bound by the mule: and his wounded face declared the truth of what he said. For he professed that he had been brought to the Man of God by an irrational animal without his own knowledge, and that in the dead of night he had been quite unable to find a way of escaping or of hiding.

[7] But what wonder is it that the prayers of the Just, by God's bounty, hence the author sets forth the power of prayer. should have power to cast bonds upon the reprobate and to call them back from the exercise of their mind; since God bestows so great a grace upon his elect that, when the necessity of things demands, they do all manner of marvels by prayer, and sometimes indeed by power, since John also says: But as many as received him, he gave them power to become the sons of God? Since therefore they can become the sons of God by their own power, what wonder if they have power to work signs by power ^k? or what wonder if they have power to work signs by prayer, since the Lord promised his faithful, saying: All things whatsoever ye ask when ye pray, believe that ye shall receive them, and they shall be done unto you? For by the virtue of prayer signs have always been displayed, wonders shown forth. For Moses by prayer sank the proud king Pharao in the Red Sea, destroyed the Egyptians, and freed the People of God ^l. Joshua by praying made the setting sun stand still so long, until he had destroyed the enemy in battle ^m. Elias by praying restrained the heaven from rain for three years and six months, and, when he willed, by praying granted rain ⁿ. So this holy Man by prayer bound the guilty man, that he might be loosed from the wickedness of his soul and return to penance; and he gave him three pieces of silver, and admonished him that he should not, being compelled ^o, commit theft. But he, having received the gift, departed rejoicing.

[8] For the fame of his sanctity began to grow far and wide, [He is visited by many and by Pippin the Mayor of the Palace himself through a courtier:] and a throng of faithful nobles and commoners of both sexes to flow together to him, gladly to hear from his mouth the words of eternal life; and the excellence of his life so blazed abroad that the rumour of his sanctity reached Pippin [p], at that time the highest king. And he sent one of his dearest nobles to the Man of God's little cell, and most humbly commended himself to his [*] prayers. And many elders and nobles, running together to him, asked that he would pray for them; while others sent him their gifts for the sake of prayer [q]. Then the Man of God was occupied with the frequent conversations of those who came; but his mind was afflicted thereby with great weariness, which he strove to wipe away [r] with great weeping and lamentations, and, touched with inward grief of heart, afflicted with sighs, he was frequented with groans, because he perceived that he had lost the tranquillity which he had sought and the solitude which he had desired, and greatly feared that the poverty which he had loved was failing him, and that riches, which he had not wished for, were at hand: that he was losing the pursuit of prayer beyond his custom, occupied in answering those who came, and in receiving from those who gave, and in dispensing to the needy. Wearied also in these tribulations, he had completed the fourteenth year in his little cell.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. That is, to Pippin of Heristal, Mayor of the Palace of France, who lacked nothing of royal power save the name and dignity of king. He is more correctly called below Mayor of the Palace, as Surius also calls him in this place.

q. That is, that he might pray for them.

r. Perhaps a se abstergere, that is, he strove to drive it away.

add vel*

supply suscitare*

read deberet*

pernoctasset*

ejus*

CHAPTER II.

The first journey to Rome: the episcopal consecration received: the return into Gaul and what was done there.

[ ] Having set out for Rome Then at last, taking counsel, he determined to go for the sake of prayer to the most sacred thresholds of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and there to commend himself to the teaching and the prayers of the Apostolic one ^a, and, if it might be, to beg of him that he and his companions who came with him might lie hidden in some corner, so that he might be able more secretly to attain to the patronage of the holy Apostles, and that there it might be permitted him to lead his life under the rule of holy conversation ^b. So the holy Man set his company in motion with all their baggage, and unharmed completed the journey he had begun; and having made his prayer at the confession ^c of the most blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, he prostrated himself at the feet of Pope Gregory ^d of blessed memory, and most diligently unfolded to him the secret of his soul, and by what necessities constrained he had lost his seclusion, and how he had lost his tranquil harbour through human favours, and by what tumults of secular affairs he was tossed like a ship in mid-sea by the waves, and how he scarcely descried, in recollection, the margin of solitude. And he added things yet more to be dreaded, since he expected that the temporal gifts granted him by many could turn out to his own heap of perdition ^e rather than to the solaces of this present life.

[10] The venerable and aforenoted Pope Gregory also, asking a place to lie hidden in, is by Gregory II hearing the words of the Man of God, understood the zeal of his soul; how great a purity of soul he had in the work of God; for the Man of God was very eloquent, and outstanding in kindliness, illustrious among all in his manner of life, ready to anger against vices, swift to pardon the converted, not slothful in good working, given to prayer, zealous in psalmody, distinguished in vigils, frequent in fasts, generous in alms [*], most prompt always in every good thing, a man mild and modest, second to none in piety. But what is to be said of him, who, it is not doubted, was to all men of good will, and likewise to the needy, a help toward every good so far as he could be? And so the Man of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, was suited to every sex and age, so that by the zeal of holy conversation he was able to show to each the examples of holy virtues.

[11] But the most blessed Pope Gregory, beholding these things, began to take counsel with his own, consecrated bishop: that the brightness of so great a light should not be hidden under a bushel; but, according to the words of Truth, being set upon a candlestick, that many entering in might be enlightened by it ^f; and he purposed to lay upon him, by the authority of the blessed apostle Peter, the priestly honour. And then, carrying out in deed upon the Man of God what he had handled in consultation, he advanced him through the several grades up to the highest, the pontifical honour. And so the holy Man, though compelled, yet consenting to the gift of God and to the bestower of the divine bounty, not unmindful of the Psalmist, fearing lest he should be cheated of such honour, who says: Because he would not have blessing, it shall be far from him; although by fleeing the honour he would have wished to keep his humility, he judged obedience nevertheless the greater thing, lest by resisting he should sadden the Father, or seem to go against the divine will. Compelled therefore he received the priestly blessing, and, having received the pallium ^g with the blessing and the aid of the blessed apostle Peter, he had by the grant of so great a Father the power to exercise assuredly [*] the office of holy preaching wherever in the whole world he might be able ^h.

[12] thence returned into Gaul, he preaches: striving in vain to free a robber And having received so great an honour and privilege, he returned into Gaul: and the divine word began to flow forth abundantly from his mouth, and honey-sweet preaching to be poured, after the likeness of a living fountain, into the ears of his hearers; then also throughout all Gaul the word of his teaching began to grow in the holy morals of men and women, and to spread abroad in the breasts as well of sacred virgins and widows as also of monks and clergy ⁱ; while he himself, administering the word of God like a prudent steward of the Church of Christ, began to bestow on those who came a measure of wheat apiece with a cheerful countenance. Meanwhile it came to pass that the Mayor of the Palace in Gaul, who was Pippin ^k, summoned him to his presence; and as he was journeying thither [*], it happened on the way that a certain guilty man was being led to the hanging of ultimate condemnation for robbery, Adalpert by name, with his hands bound behind his back, and a twisted rope ^l hung on his neck, and those who held the cord were already trying to drag him to his condemnation.

[13] he fortifies him, once he has confessed his sins, For the Man of God began to hasten with all his might, and, with divine attestation, to cry out with a loud voice that they should await his coming. And when he had drawn near, leaping down in haste from his horse, he ran to the guilty man himself, and inquired by every means who were the chief men of this business, and, finding them, began most humbly to entreat, with his head fixed toward the ground, that they would deign to grant him the guilty man, and to defer the penalty until he could come with all speed to the highest lord ^m; and when these by no means complied with his petition, and said that they in no way dared to omit a public function [] laid on them, lest perchance they should be punished with the penalty of him who had committed such and so great crimes; lest they should stir the royal ears to the destruction of their own condemnation ⁿ. Then the Man of God took pains to admonish the guilty man, and removed the bystanders further off, that he might uncover to him all the putrefaction and wound of his soul by a most pure confession, both in deeds and in words and in depraved thoughts: and, taking hold of him, he took care to admonish him that he should purely do penance for all his malice. And the guilty man himself took pains to promise amendment, and [] that he ought to change his life, to leave the world, to weep over what he had committed, to beware of what was to come.

[14] with the sign of the Cross, Then the Man of God fortified his head and breast with the sign of the Cross and of eternal salvation, and, turning back with a tearful countenance, and mounting his horse, pursued with all haste the journey he had begun. And since he was quite unable to complete it on that same day, passing the night on the road and completing the second day to the finishing of that journey, at sunset he came to the palace, and, descending in haste from his horse, humbly threw himself at the prince's feet, begging with most humble prayer that, however it had been done with that hanged man, he would not disdain to grant him his body; and he set forth fully how he had entreated his officers for him, and how, when they refused, with what grief he departed thence. With these things the aforesaid prince was moved to compassion, and, as for him whom, while living, so great a Pontiff could not loose from the officers, now that he had been punished, what else did anyone think but that he was dead? Ordering him to be given back [] to the Bishop, messengers of both [] were dispatched [*], namely bearing a letter of the venerable lord Pippin and of the blessed bishop Corbinian.

[15] This being received, at length on the third day toward evening — an unheard-of, and receives as a gift, alive, the man who had hung three days: and altogether incredible thing! — the robber was found hanging alive on the gibbet, just as the venerable man Corbinian the bishop had fortified him with the most holy sign of the Cross. But what wonder, if the holy Man of God so implored his life from the Lord by prayer and tears, unto the glory of God, that neither was his neck loosened by the weight of the body [], nor did the pressure of the ropes choke his breath ^o [] — a man of whom it was not known whether he had been faithful or unfaithful [p]. What wonder if this Man of God was heard in the male sex, when in the frail female sex we read that the blessed virgin of Christ Scholastica was so heard by God, that what she could not obtain from her most holy brother Benedict the abbot, that [] the divine power furnished to her asking []. For that most chaste virgin wished that her Brother should pass the night with her in prayer; and when she could by no means obtain this from him, she asked it of the Lord, and obtained so great a force of winds and rains that no one could go out from that same roof under which they had sat talking []; so that he who, being asked, had refused to remain there, remained [] unwilling [q].

[16] If therefore the holy man of God Benedict could be held back by prayer from so frail a sex, who afterwards lived piously under the discipline of that same Saint. what wonder if blessed Corbinian could by praying overcome the insideles, or even the faithful [r], he who never withdrew himself from the divine path. And so it came to pass that Adalpert, taken down from his punishment, was found not only alive but even unhurt [*], and was led to the palace by those who had been sent. At the sight of him, as at a huge spectacle, an exceeding multitude flowed together, and they beheld him not only unharmed but even in vigour, and by many it was held for a marvel. Then that same Adalpert, like a sparrow snatched from the snare of punishments, changed his habit, and in the life of holy conversation [s], under the mastership of the Man of God, made an end of living after many spaces of time.

[17] From that time also the man of God Corbinian was venerated by all, Corbinian returns to his former cell. but most of all by the household of the faith. For he began to dread the glory of the world, and to shudder at the ambition of honour, and in manifold ways to lament the tranquillity of seclusion which he had lost, and to weep over the riches heaped upon him as misers weep over riches lost [t]. He settled himself in his former workhouse, at the doors of the church of blessed Germain, and there under his protection sought his own seclusion, avoided the crowds of men, and kept with him a few clerics, whom by admonishing and teaching he was unable to forsake [u]. To these he supplied food under the care of his own labour, and daily poured the seeds of the Word of God into their breasts. And remaining there seven continuous years [x], he diligently ministered the Word of God to those who came to him and dwelt with him.

ANNOTATIONS.

o. That is, his breath.

p. That he was faithful, that is, a Christian, is gathered from those things which he narrated at num. 13 concerning the confession of sins.

q. Of S. Scholastica the virgin action was taken in our Work on the 10th day of February, where at page 402, from book 2 of the Dialogues of S. Gregory, the memorable prodigy is reported which is here touched upon. To the argument which Meichelbeck draws from this for the Benedictine monkhood of S. Corbinian, answer has been made in the Commentary num. 18. Further, what Aribo here observes about the male and female sex is empty.

r. Surius has: potuit salvare.

s. By these words Meichelbeck would have the Benedictine monkhood designated. Go to the Commentary num. 19 and 20.

t. That is: he himself began to be saddened on account of his abundant riches, just as a miser is wont to be on account of riches lost.

u. All these things do not sufficiently savour of the Benedictine monkhood of the Saint and of his clerics: for if he had been a Benedictine, he would more probably have applied those abundant gifts, of which above, to founding a monastery and gathering monks.

x. From what has been said it is clear that S. Corbinian first preached for some time in Gaul, but then dwelt seven continuous years in his former cell by the church of S. Germain, before he undertook his second journey to Rome.

eleemosynis*

read ut*

eo*

se*

supply dixit, se*

præcepit*

utriusque*

add sunt*

dissolveretur*

suffocarit*

quod* is superfluous

ministrarit*

valuerit*

manserit*

sit*

CHAPTER III.

The second journey to Rome, and what was done on it.

[ ] Preaching in Noricum on his second Roman journey But the more secretly he betook himself to lowly places, the more amply did his most holy fame stand out on high in public, and daily was he afflicted by the tumults of those who came upon him. But he, as one unable to bear the savage mass of those coming, and weeping as over a shaken little cell and a little ship battered by the waves of mid-sea, betook himself to his former help of prayer, and again arranged to go to Rome, and, pondering that he would receive release from the name ^a of so great a Father, and seek the seclusion of a monastery, and commend himself to the mastership of another, if the supreme Pontiff should grant that he might serve, under the patronage of blessed Peter as he had asked before, by the sweat of his own hands. And not now taking the public path from the parts of the Gauls, but choosing a more secret way, he came to Alamannia, then to Germany, and so coming to Noricum ^b, he tarried there for a while [*], sowing the teaching of the divine word; and there by the grace of God his holy words penetrated the hearts of not a few to the increase of the faith of Christ. Which people also was still rude, and lately converted to Christianity ^c.

[19] For at that time there was there the most devout duke Theodo ^d, kindly received by the dukes Theodo and Grimoald eminent in power and manly in valour, adorned with sons, and outstanding in the eagerness of noble men: whose happy fame had grown up far and wide. He divided that province into four parts for himself and his offspring ^e, and priests were held dear there, as the custom of new converts ^f compels it to be. And when he learned that the man of God Corbinian had come thither, he invited him to himself, and with most humble supplication endeavoured to beseech him that he would receive from him the honours due to him ^g; but he could not obtain it, because the Man of God preferred rather to choose a tranquil poverty than to enjoy perishing riches. Upon whom the said duke bestowed many gifts, and bade him farewell to depart. And leaving him, he passed [] into the territories of his son Grimoald ^h by name, who received him honourably, and rejoiced at the coming of so great a Pontiff, not he alone, but the whole multitude also which was in his portion. And when he had tasted the sweetness of his teaching, he began to entreat him with many blandishments, and to press him with excessive prayers, that he should by no means forsake him; for he promised [] to make him a co-sharer with his own sons.

[20] and enriched with gifts, he pursues his journey, But the Man of God at his promise in no wise turned aside from the settled purpose of his mind, but remained unmoved to fulfil the journey he had undertaken, and professed that he would by no means withdraw from the completion of this path. But that same Grimoald bestowed on him no small gifts, bade him farewell to depart, and appointed officers who should conduct him with the highest honour from the Norican borders ⁱ as far as the parts of Italy. And they, fulfilling his orders with due honour, and asking his blessing, returned. But they also, silently and without the Man of God's knowledge, gave charge to the agents or inhabitants of the Alps, both of the Vinschgau valley ^k and to others round about, that if ever it should befall him to return anywhere in those parts, they should by no means suffer him to depart from the borders of the Bavarians unless he had come to the aforenoted prince.

[21] He makes a bear obedient to him. Now on that very Roman journey, as he was proceeding, when he came among the Breones ^l, he was staying in camp beside a certain wood. But while the guards of the horses had incautiously fallen asleep, so that none kept watch, a bear coming out of the wood tore and devoured the Man of God's pack-horse ^m. But when morning came, as the guards were waking, they found that same bear lying upon the pack-horse and eating it. And when Ansericus, the aforesaid servant of the Man of God, learned this, he told blessed Corbinian. But the Man of God, bearing this patiently, said to that same Ansericus: Take that whip [], and go to him, and beat him manfully, and chastise him for his offence, whereby he has harmed us. And when the other was afraid to do this, the Man of God said to him: Go and fear not, but do as I have said to thee, and afterwards put upon him the pack-saddle [], and saddle him, and lay that pack upon him, and drive him with the other horses on our way. And Ansericus did as the Man of God had commanded him, and that bear, with the pack set upon him, like a domestic horse carried that same pack as far as Rome, and there, dismissed by the Man of God, went his way ⁿ.

[22] Received munificently by the king of the Lombards, he is dismissed: Now when the Man of God came to the castle of Trent ^o, where then a count had lately been set by the king of the Lombards [p], Husing by name, this man also, when he had seen the Man of God's stallion [q], very handsome in form, desired to buy it. And when he could not buy it, he ordered it to be taken away secretly by theft; whose vengeance, ordained by God, we reserve for the time and order of the narrative. So the holy Man of God, coming to Pavia [r], was received with all veneration by the most excellent and God-devoted king of the Lombards, and was detained there seven days on account of the holy preaching of the Word of God, which overflowed from his mouth. To his prayers that same king most humbly commended himself, and, having bestowed no small gifts, permitted him to depart with farewell taken [*]; and that same king ordered the provost of a certain city to go in his company, and to conduct him as far as the ferry of the river Po [s], and carefully to convey the Man of God with all his company across, and thence as far as the Roman borders

he caused others of his own men sent [t] with him to proceed, that the solaces of every necessity might be given him along the way.

[23] But when they had come to the ferry of the river Po, his horse is stolen from him. he who had been sent with him, seeing the delightful horse of the Man of God, clinging to it in mind, desiring to buy it []. Which [] the Man of God said he would by no means give, but signified that it was to be led to the supreme Pontiff of the city of Rome. And he, inflamed by the obstinacy of the ancient enemy, unto the heap of his own condemnation, ordering his own subordinates silently to keep it back at the last for those crossing the ferry of the stream, and the Man of God being carried across, suddenly setting himself upon the horse at the swiftest gallop, he who had been sent plunged into the neighbouring wood, and running hither and thither with his men, pretended to be seeking the robber. Then at last returning empty, he protested that he did not know the ravisher; and casting himself at the feet of the Man of God, he begged that he would not accuse his negligence to the royal ears [u]. And the most holy Man, keeper of his own patience, dismissed him with farewell taken and a cheerful countenance, not ignorant of divine vengeance. The end of this matter we reserve, with divine help, to the order of what is to be noted afterwards.

[24] For the Man of God, taking the path, pursued the journey he had begun. To him, labouring on a Friday under a lack of fish, Now when on a certain day he had come to the parts of Tuscany, on the sixth feria of a fast, on which day it behoved to abstain from the eating of flesh [x], those who were in charge of the journey, seeing that the hour of eating was being drawn out rather late, and that the horses had been unable to endure the heat under their burden through the whole space of the day, said that they should rest at least a little, and refresh the horses. When this had been said, he who furnished the provisions said that he had nothing for the Bishop's eating except flesh, which [] he knew the Bishop would not eat on that day. As he was saying this, the Man of God, looking upward, saw an eagle flying aloft in the height of the air, and said: Behold the bird, through which the Lord by the bounty of his mercy will give us food.* When he had said this, the eagle withdrew far from the eyes of the beholders; and it, with the keenness of its eyes from so great a height, saw a fish in the waves of the sea, and, with wings lowered, seized it and carried it to the shore.

[25] As they were thus proceeding, a certain cook [] of the Pontiff, seeing this after the manner of those making a journey, an eagle brings a huge fish. ran to the shore, and found the eagle sitting on the head of the still living fish, the fish quivering hither and thither. And when he came up, the eagle let go the fish and flew away. But the cook, seizing the fish, offered it to the Pontiff, and related the deed of the eagle. And the fish's size was so great that it sufficed not only for the Pontiff, but even for all who ate with him. A marvellous thing, and quite unheard of, save for the ancient miracle in which a raven ministered food to Paul and Anthony [y]. For so great is the bounty of divine goodness that nowhere does it suffer [] its own servants to be consumed by want, according to the saying of the Psalmist: for they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Great therefore [z] was the pleasantness of that same place, and great the abundance of herbage, and a plentiful spring. What else, then, is there given to be understood, but that Almighty God, who deigned to feed his Servant, was ministering also the necessary sustenance to his means of conveyance?

[26] But by no means does another miracle of his seem to be passed over. Eight days later another fish For on the eighth day from that which we mentioned before, likewise [] a sixth feria, one of his fellow-travellers ran to the shore of the sea: for there is a delightful path beside the sea for those going along it, pressed down by the tumults of the waves. He, as he went along the shore, saw swimming near the shore a fish of no small size, about eleven feet long. And when, as he walked, he was gazing at it, with a mighty shout he reported it to the ears of the Man of God. And they all, leaving the path, ran to the shore as to a huge spectacle. But the Man of God, when he had beheld it swimming, silently thinking within himself lest [] perchance it had been sent to him by God for eating (as indeed it had), calling by name a certain servant of his, Ansericus by name (of whom we made mention far above already), whom he knew to have a good skill in swimming. Commanding him, being present, to strip off his garments, charging him to have no diffidence in his mind, he indicated that he should take a dagger in his hands. And he, trusting in his words, stripped of his clothing, undaunted, entering the sea as though it were dry ground (he was vigorous in strength, brisk in wit). And plunging into the sea he betook himself to the deeper parts, swimming with his left hand and raising his right above the waves, and with his lance struck the fish so manfully with his utmost efforts that the haft followed the iron of the spear. That same fish, at once twisting itself to the higher parts of the sea, and he indeed holding the top of the shaft, followed it [aa]. And when he had wearied himself long by swimming through the sea, and the striker none the less tormented it by pursuing it, he strove also to turn it toward the shore. As they thus contended, they were already drawn far off by the waves, so that he could now scarcely descry the shore; and, trusting also in the words of the Man of God, he took confidence [bb].

[27] he orders it to be caught by one of his own men. And when certain fishermen beheld this, drawing up their nets from the side, they left them and vied with one another in sailing toward the spectacle of the man in peril. And when they beheld the wounded fish, they hastened with all their might, and wished to draw it from the sea into their boat. But when the aforenoted servant of the Man of God put his arm over the top of the stern [], the fishermen began to beat him back with fists and blows, that he should return empty to the shore from so great a prey. But he, briskly setting his foot in the stern, undaunted by the lashes [cc], manfully raising himself up, snatched an oar from the hands of one of them and began to strike his assailants with the oar. And they, straightway struck with fear, through the prayers of the Man of God submitted themselves at his feet, and drew the boat with the prey right to the shore. Then the Man of God, and those who were with him, rendered immense praises to God, and, discerning places most fit for putting in, they pitched camp, with so great a glory of abundance that his whole company could by no means consume that same fish, and they salted the remainder and stored it among their baggage [dd]. And when all had been refreshed, those who had tried to seize what was another's were chastised with deserved stripes [ee], and admonished by the Man of God that they should never thereafter dare in any way to harm pilgrims of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles: and ordering that two tremisses* [ff] be given them, that they might not depart empty of the day's work, he permitted them to go.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. He was Liutprand, who in the year 712, succeeding his father Ansprand, held the Lombard kingdom until the year 744.

q. Supply horse. Now an emissarius is a horse destined for the propagation of offspring. Du Cange gives many examples in his Glossary.

r. Ticinum, now to its inhabitants Pavia, also called Papia by Paul the Deacon, is an episcopal city in the duchy of Milan: it was formerly the royal seat of the Lombards, and was Liutprand's when S. Corbinian came thither.

s. The Padus, to the natives the Po, is the greatest river of Italy and most commonly known. By the ferry of the river Po the biographer means the place from which one had to cross to the other side of the river, as is clear from what follows.

t. Read Missos. Now missi were called envoys, or those who were sent by kings or princes as legates or messengers.

u. I explain the faulty and very obscure period thus. Since that prefect could not procure the horse for himself by price, he determined to seize it. And so he charges one of his men to keep it back as though it were to be ferried over among the last, and then, feigning to be a robber, to carry it off swiftly into the nearest wood. Then, the Saint having already been ferried over to the other bank of the Po, he first placed himself with his men between Corbinian's sight and the horse, that the horse's ravisher might not be recognized; presently he pretends to pursue the ravisher, and at length, returning, he lies that he has sought him in vain, and, lest Liutprand should impute this to his own negligence, he begs that the theft of the horse be concealed from him.

x. Meichelbeck in the Life, §5, writes thus: If on other days Corbinian admitted flesh-meats (someone objects), then he did not comply with the laws of Benedict, or he sinned against the thirty-ninth chapter of the Rule. We reply that the Rule of S. Benedict, on the testimony of our great Gregory, its confirmer, is "outstanding in discretion". Upon the brethren "who are on a journey" nothing is impressed save "that the appointed hours should not pass them by, but that, as they can, they should perform them for themselves, and not neglect to render the task of their service". Nor is anything added elsewhere about abstinence from flesh-meats, where the matter treated is "of brethren sent on a journey". Thus also concerning the use of wine and of clothing S. Benedict wrote a most moderate rule, where he always wished account to be taken of regions and of circumstances of this kind. Mabillon reviews examples of certain other holy men of our Order, who judged that the eating of flesh was at times permissible to them (especially outside the monastery and on a journey). Certainly that abstinence from flesh is not, and consequently never was, among the essentials of the Order of S. Benedict, Sixtus IV declared in the privilege granted to the Cistercians in the year MCDLXXV, on the Ides of December, as Hæfften deduces these and like things. And so Corbinian committed nothing against the most discreet Rule of S. Benedict, if, set on so great a journey and destitute of other sustenance, he ate flesh — he who on that very sixth feria obtained fish only by a miracle. So he rightly pleads for the Saint, holding for certain his Benedictine profession, on which see §3 of the Commentary.

y. Of S. Paul of Thebes, the first hermit, action was taken in our Work, tome 1 of January, on the 10th day; of S. Anthony the Great, abbot, in tome 2 of the same month, on the 17th day. Of the raven, which, having brought half a loaf daily to S. Paul, brought a whole one when S. Anthony was present, see the Acts of the former Saint, pages 603 and 606.

z. It is more correctly read in Surius: Magna autem erat eodem loco, etc.

aa. Correct the faulty period thus: That same fish twisted itself to the higher parts of the sea, but he, holding the haft of the dagger, followed by swimming.

bb. Surius has these words thus: As they thus contended, he was already drawn far off by the waves, so that he could now scarcely see the shore; trusting nevertheless in the words of the Man of God, he took confidence.

cc. Read with Surius, ad flagella.

dd. Surius restores these words in this manner: And since the grace of abundance was so great that his whole company could by no means consume that same fish, they salted the remainder and stored it in vessels.

ee. He means, I think, that those fishermen were beaten not at the Saint's order and after supper or dinner, but by Ansericus, while they were trying to wrest the prey from him, as was said above.

ff. Surius has duos tresses. Now the tressis differs from the tremissis, in that the latter is the third part of an as or solidus, but the former a coin of three asses.

aliquamdiu*

incessit*

pollicebatur*

istud*

sagmariam*

i.e. valedicens*

cupivit*

Quem*

quam*

coquus*

permittat*

simili*

i.e. an*

puppis*

CHAPTER IV.

The return commanded by Pope Gregory: what was done on the return: the approach to Grimoald, duke of Bavaria.

[ ] At Rome he asks in vain of S. Gregory a quiet retirement: But he, taking the path, came as far as Rome, and, having made his prayer at both thresholds of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, coming into the presence of the supreme Pontiff blessed Gregory, laid himself at his feet. But he, commanding him to rise, and causing a seat to be set beside him, bade him sit. And when he had sat down, he offered no small gifts to so great a man of God ^a, and related all that displeased him in his manner of life: how and by what ^b immense waves he was shaken by the honours of this world, and how not even the enclosure of walls could afford him tranquillity, and how greatly he dreaded the riches of this world — he assuredly who did not wish to have even one tenant. Begging for privacy, so that [*] he might be able freely to relate to him all the disturbances and anguishes of his soul. Then, pouring out tears before him, he lamented with a tearful voice how he had lost his seclusion ^c when the honour was laid upon him, and, persisting in his former petition, that he would permit him to go to a monastery, or would assign him to some little cell, or would grant him a small field for labour in some secluded wood.

[29] Hearing these things, the supreme Pope, marvelling at his great humility, on his return he meets the funeral of the man who had taken away his horse, and having dismissed him from himself, gathered a synod for necessary private matters ^d, and in their college promulgated such things. Which being heard, they all with one voice proclaimed that he ought to return, on many testimonies of the Scriptures ^e. As they were thus speaking, he ordered the Man of God to come into their midst. Having accepted their words in faith ^f, considering himself overcome, so that he ought in no way to lay aside the office enjoined upon him by so great a Father, and to return empty of gain to the threshing-floor, being detained there some little time with the highest honour, having received the blessing and bidden farewell to all, he departed in sadness. And when in returning he had come to Pavia, at the gate of the city the body of a certain dead man was being carried out, laid upon a bier, whom ^g the whole chief magistracy of the city followed. And as soon as they beheld the Man of God, they inquired closely concerning his person and his name. Now it was the corpse of that man who had earlier presumed to seize his horse ^h; and an immense dread invaded them all, because he himself, despaired of by the physicians, had not hidden his crime, but had publicly confessed it.

[30] and, received at Ticinum by the king, Then also the holy Man, received with all the reverence of humanity by the king ⁱ, was conducted into the royal hall; since the miracles of divine power, which had been wrought by him and through him along the spaces of his journeys, were by no means hidden from the prince. And therefore the Soldier of Christ received a fuller honour from all, although he would most gladly have wished all this to be kept back [] in silence. And when the king was seated, and the Man of God with him, the wife of the man then deceased, bereaved of her husband and widowed, with tearful countenance cast herself at the feet of the Man of God, leading the Man of God's horse, seized by her husband by diabolical devices and by wicked ambush [], comely in form and appearance, as though guilty of the death of her husband's dying; and moreover she offered two hundred solidi to the Man of God, saying that her husband had been stricken on the very day on which by alluring devices he presumed to hinder the way of the Man of God, and that from that same stroke a sickness had daily furnished fuel to his pain, and that, when he was already despaired of by the physicians, he had charged her ^k that she should with all diligence keep that same horse, and, if by God's gift he returned thither, should by all means restore it to the Man of God, and confess to him his crime, and moreover should bring him gold as a due payment, so that the most holy Man might deign to entreat the divine clemency for his soul.

[31] [he receives back the stolen horse and gifts from the man's widow and remits the offence:] At these words spoken the most eminent king was moved to compassion, and, pricked by grief and trembling, leaping quickly from his throne, cast himself at the Bishop's knees, asking [] that he would not spurn what the woman offered, and that he would moreover receive back his own, which he had lost. But the Man of God, lest he should sadden the whole household of his eminence, which he had beheld weeping over the death of so great a man, and in great despair concerning his soul, and since all were asking him to receive what the woman had offered, at length, compelled, consented; he asked the king to rise, and began gently to console him, and asked him that no one should exact any other vengeance for that guilt, saying: Because the Lord does not take vengeance twice for the same thing; and he professed that he would help him with his prayers, that he might have strength []. Having received the words of the Man of God in faith, the widowed woman withdrew.

[32] departing thence, he receives gifts for another horse likewise stolen Not long after, having been detained there with the highest honour and reverence, the Pontiff, enriched with no small gifts, was dismissed by the king with farewell taken [], and with every ordering and provision of necessity ^l came to the borders of Trent. But when he had come not far from the castle into the meadows which were called Rumannian ^m, one of his company, catching sight of the stallion which the younger men of that same prince who was then there had by theft [] taken from the Man of God by fraudulent counsel ⁿ, recognized it following a certain mare ^o, and injured in its member [p] by the kicks of the mares, unseemly with great leanness, so that it was scarcely recognized [], and took care to point it out to the Man of God. But he, dissembling that he recognized it, ordered his men to be altogether silent about it. But when he drew near to [] the gate of the city, behold, the aforesaid count Husing, coming to meet him, cast himself at his feet and did not hide the crime committed by him; but humbly confessed the loss which he had caused him in the horse, and confessed in order the theft of his alluring contrivance, and how, on account of the horse's comely nobility, he had desired to put it to his own mares for propagation, and to keep it thereafter; asserting that by this deed divine vengeance had thereupon overtaken him, since there were nearly forty-two of those same mares, which all perished of the elephant disease, save one which he had surviving, which it was then following [q].

[33] And while the aforesaid count was confessing these things, he offered to the Man of God the two beasts which he had as the best, [he receives back: detained by Grimoald's officers, he visits the tomb of S. Valentine] and moreover two hundred solidi of gold, begging with humble vow that the Man of God would not spurn to accept them for the amending of the offence which he had brought upon him, and with great humility asked that the offence be forgiven [] him. Hearing these words, the Man of God smiled; but for his satisfaction he deigned to give him pardon. And that man with great honour caused him to pass through by his officers as far as the borders of the Bavarians. And when he had entered the castle of Mais [r], he was detained by [] the guards set there, since, as we said far above, it had been commanded by duke Grimoald, and they would not suffer him to go further, unless he professed that he would go to their prince

first. And there, unwilling and constrained, he was detained for a while [*], until their messenger, announcing these things to Grimoald, should return. And the Man of God, diligently pondering these hindrances of his journey, considered that it was not void of the grace of divine power. Then also he betook himself for the sake of holy prayer to the tomb of the blessed confessor Valentine [s], situated in that same castle, and with anxious mind went round the whole mountainous region bordering upon that city [t], and saw a fruitful land, having an abundance of woods. He found also between two little streams [u] a secluded place, passable but without any inhabitant's track, which was called by its usual name Camina [x].

[34] He understood that not without divine regard and will was he detained there, he surveys the neighbouring fields and proceeds unwillingly to Grimoald. and he considered the seclusion of the place, and, delightful as it was for the practice of holy religion, he loved it with great affection; and he purposed to build himself there a secluded little lodging, if he could procure this place at a worthy price. He inquired diligently, nevertheless, whose property this was, or of what men, so that, when opportunity of time offered, he might claim it for himself as a secluded lodging, on account of the nearness of the church of the holy and blessed Valentine. Meanwhile, however, those who had been sent to duke Grimoald to announce his coming there were returning, asking him with the utmost veneration that he would not disdain to come to him; and they added also that [], if he should be unwilling to come of his own accord, a command had been given them that they were to bring him constrained. The Man of God understood their treachery, left his [] baggage in the aforesaid castle, and proceeded, sorrowing, to the aforesaid prince.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. That is, injured.

q. Correct the solecisms with Surius thus: Asserting that by this deed divine vengeance had overtaken him, so that nearly forty-two of those same mares perished of the elephant disease, save one surviving, which it was then following. Now the elephant disease is a certain species of leprosy, which after the manner of gangrene eats away skin and flesh.

r. Concerning the castle of Mais Roschmann has this in his description of the county of Tyrol, published in German: Mayss, in Latin Ad Alpes Majas, and more often called in the middle age Maja and Urbs Magiensis, lying next to the city of Meran, is now only a village; but in the aforesaid age, on the testimony of Bavarian and Tyrolese writers, it was a city on the borders of the Lombards and the Bavarians; afterwards (in what year is not known) it was overwhelmed by a mountain that fell down, so that Meran itself was thought to be a part of old Maja, etc. See also what is said in the Commentary num. 93.

s. He speaks of S. Valentine, bishop of Passau, whose Acts have been illustrated in tome 1 of January, on the 7th day.

t. Supply region.

u. These little streams he calls below at num. 37 the Timon and the Finale. Consult the Commentary num. 51 and following.

x. Of Camina we treated at length in the Commentary from the number just cited.

ut*

i.e. premi*

read nefandis insidiis*.

rogavit*

adjuturum*

dimissus*

furto or furtim*

cognosceretur*

add ad*

dimitti*

a*

aliquamdiu*

ut* is superfluous

suam*

CHAPTER V.

The incestuous marriage of duke Grimoald dissolved: the see fixed and endowed at Freising: what was done in that bishopric: the treachery of Pilitrud, and the Saint's flight: the punishment and destruction of Grimoald's family.

[ ] Grimoald, on account of his incestuous marriage with Pilitrud, But when he had come to the palace of the aforesaid prince, he sent word to that same prince through a certain beloved chamberlain of his, saying: that he by no means wished to see his face until he should drive from him his alluring wife, whom he had then joined to himself after the death of his brother Theodoald ^a, a widow, and whom he had taken in marriage with adulterous delight. She also, according to the corruption of this flesh, seemed fair and comely, illustrious in birth, who, following her mother ^b from the parts of Gaul, had come into these regions. And when they were unwilling to consent to the Bishop's words, he himself persevered in his own judgment, and sent them, among other things, the testimony of the excellent preacher Paul: that neither adulterers nor fornicators shall possess the kingdom of God. But she, following the example of the deadly Herodias, had begun to plot concerning the death of the Man of God with her ill-willing followers. For the Man of God remembered that for such a crime John had rebuked Herod and Herodias, whom he had taken as wife from his brother Philip while he was yet living, and that for this he had been slain by Herod ^c: he foretold that he would in no wise consent to so great a crime, but would rather die first.

[36] So also for forty days he withdrew himself from their sight, he refuses to approach: he reconciles them, penitent, to God and visits them. and did not cease continually to admonish them through his people, that they should give up so execrable a marriage; and at fitting times now, if they should turn to penance, he promised with kindly discourses the kingdom of God; now, if they should remain in that same malice, he threatened [] them with the terror of the great day of judgment and with eternal punishment soon to come. And at length, by the clemency of Almighty God bringing solace ^d, he brought them to the promise of their separation. Then the holy Man, trusting in the solace of the Lord Christ Jesus, caused them to come into his presence. And coming, they both prostrated themselves on the ground, and with his arms stretched out to his feet ^e, confessed that they had grievously sinned, that they were exceedingly guilty; and so with a pure confession they fled to the remedies of penance []. Laying his hands upon their heads, the Man of God took care to fortify them with the sign of eternal salvation, and, raising them from the ground, appointed penance for such as had fallen ^f, showed them the way of salvation, pointed out the solaces of remedies, to be gained by bounty of alms, by frequency of fasts and prayers: and carefully forewarned them to beware of sinning further. And so, entering the house, they took a common meal. And as the Man of God took the sustenance of the body from the prince's table, so also he ministered to them the sustenance of their souls by preaching the word of the Lord.

[37] Then also the holy Man persuaded prince Grimoald to buy at a just price from its owners the delightful place on the border of Mais, of which we made mention above, He is given the estate of Camina by the duke, on which he builds a church: so that he might have, acquired by just labour, that from which he could procure a remedy for his soul. To which exhortation the prince obeyed with willing mind, and, coming thither with blessed Corbinian, called to himself the owners of that place, which is commonly still called Camina, between the two little streams Timon and Finale ^g: and, a proper and appraised just price having been given, he had bought this for himself from noble and powerful men into his own property, both the territory of the fields, and the meadows and vineyards with a share of the Alps. And those sellers confirmed it to him with attestations and witnesses, as the custom is, into his ownership. This being done, with the counsel of the faithful and of persons devoted to God, they handed over this same property, by the hands of holy Corbinian, to God and to the holy Mother Mary, to her holy church situated in the castle of Freising upon the river Isar ^h, and with witnesses confirmed that it should serve there by perpetual right. Then also the man of the Lord Corbinian hastened to build himself a dwelling there, built a basilica, and placed in it the patronage of holy Valentine and blessed Zeno, and dedicated it in their honour ⁱ, and planting there an abundance of vines, adorned it also with fruit-bearing trees, and prepared sustenance for the poor. And the fame of his sanctity began to be spread wide throughout the world, from whose mouth the praise of God flowed continually.

[38] he buys another estate: he fixes his see at Freising. And there dwelt not far thence a certain widow, Fausta by name, with two daughters, having [] a good substance. This Fausta, dividing her possession with her daughters, handed over her own portion to prince Grimoald on this condition, that so long as she lived he should protect and guard her, and that after her decease he should have this as his own property, in the place which is called Chorzes ^k, with all things pertaining thereto. After her death also blessed Corbinian gave prince Grimoald nine hundred solidi* of gold, which Pippin, Mayor of the Palace and prince of the Franks, had formerly bestowed on him for his almsgiving ^l, and purchased this same property at Chorzes; and both together afterwards, the same blessed bishop Corbinian and prince Grimoald, handed this over to God and to holy Mary, to the aforesaid church in the castle of Freising ^m, where blessed Corbinian then held his pontifical chair.

[39] [By an example of rare zeal he is angry with the duke, and, though Pilitrud opposes in vain, is reconciled to him.] Now on a certain day the man of God blessed Corbinian, reclining at dinner with the aforesaid prince, when the table was set, marked [*] the food set upon it with the saving sign of the Cross of Christ and with praise of God. And the aforesaid prince from the table threw a loaf through carelessness to a dog dear to him. And when the Man of God had seen it, he gave a kick with his right foot to the three-legged table, and cast the table down, so that the silver vessels hither and thither over the pavement

were scattered; and leaping up from the bench he said that he was unworthy of so great a blessing, which he did not scruple to throw to a dog. Going out of his house he said that he was withdrawing altogether from his court, and that he ought by no means thereafter to take common bread with him ⁿ. This being done, the woman began to plot concerning the death of the Man of God, kindled by the torches of envy, because she had been estranged from the unlawful embrace of her husband by the word of the Man of God ^o, and ceaselessly ministered into her husband's ears the fuel of envy and hatred against the Man of God. She said also that the Bishop had done this out of contempt for the prince, and that the Bishop deserved nothing else save to be guilty of death. But that same prince, weighing the matter diligently, keeping the guard of patience, ordered the approach to the castle to be closed, lest so great a Man of God should withdraw from him, moved by anger [p]. And he himself, going out of the palace with his chief men, cast himself at the feet of the Man of God, promised satisfaction, and with great prayers and blandishments, and with gifts too, mollified the angered Bishop, and at length hardly ever obtained the kiss of peace from the blessed Bishop [q]; and so again together they took a common meal. And the riches of the Man of God, which he had not loved, began daily to grow, and his places to increase.

[40] When on a certain day he had settled in the bishop's house [r], a bodily indisposition shook him, On account of marvels seen in the church of S. Stephen so that he could not [] come after his wonted manner to the neighbouring mountain, to the oratory of the blessed martyr Stephen [s], to render to God the morning praises. Rousing the clergy, he commanded them to go thither [t]. And as they were going up, the voice of men chanting in the church met them, and with so great a harmony of melody did it resound more and more in the ears of the hearers, the nearer they came to the church. From the windows also and the roof so great a force of bright light radiated along the flanks of that same mountain that it surpassed the brightness of day. And as they hastened, when they had entered [] the door of the church, so great a splendour of brightness vanished; but an odour of incredible sweetness blazed there for three days [u]. And the clerics, exceedingly terrified with fear, fell to the ground like dead men, some before the doors, others having crossed the threshold of the church. And when at length they recovered their strength, they ran home and reported such things to the Man of God.

[41] Hearing these things, he commanded himself to be carried thither, and ordered a small house to be built for himself there for his abiding. He builds a house on that mountain: he draws forth a spring there. But when the servants began to murmur about the scarcity of water on account of the height of the mountain, up which they wearied themselves daily by carrying it [x], that same Man of God, rising at dawn on a certain day, going about alone along the flanks of the mountain, prostrated himself upon the ground in prayer on the southern side. This being completed, he fixed in the ground the staff [y] by which he was supported, and when he had dug a little, so great [*] an abundance of waters at once flowed forth from that same hollow that it sufficed for the service of the whole cell; so that it flowed down even to the foot of the mountain, and while he lived it never failed [z].

[42] Now when on a certain day that same holy Man wished to come at the evening hour to the church of blessed Mary in that same castle of Freising, to render praises to God, With marvellous zeal he assails a sorceress and despoils her; behold, a certain country-woman came to meet him with gifts, who had already before been reported to the Man of God on suspicion of sorcery, with whom went men laden with flesh-meats, and they led a live animal with them. And when the Man of God had seen this, he inquired closely what her coming might be. To this the deceitful woman, asserting that a certain offspring of the prince in the flower of youth [aa] had been troubled by certain delusions of demons, boasted that by her charm and by her arts she had brought him to health, and that thence she was carrying off these gifts. Hearing which, the Man of God was vehemently horrified, and, leaping from his horse, was moved to such fury that he did not spare to beat her with his own hands [bb]; and he ordered all the gifts which were being carried with her to be distributed [] to the poor at the gate of the city. And returning home [] from the gate of the city, he did not cease to weep over the prince's perfidy.

[43] escaping a murderer sent by Pilitrud, he flees to Mais And the woman, an associate of the ancient enemy, like the serpent in Paradise, with dishevelled hair, her strength recovered and her face bloodied, presented herself to the eyes of the prince; and when the prince's incestuous wife had seen her weeping thus, at diabolical instigation, kindled with fury, her countenance changed, she showed to the beholders the force of venom which she held in her heart: for she was contriving to take away the Bishop's life: which nevertheless she put off disclosing to her husband, and secretly did not delay to prepare treacheries for him as a snare of death for herself, silently charging a certain secretary of hers, Nino by name, that when the Bishop had withdrawn from that same village, he should gather servants and slay him []. And when the Man of God was arranging to proceed to another village, a certain God-fearing man took care to send word to him, through that same Bishop's brother of blessed memory, Ermbert [cc] by name, that on that same night, by the counsel of the most wicked woman, he was to be [] killed, unless he zealously saved himself by change of place.

[44] and foretells the destruction of Grimoald's family: To these words he gave credence, and in the silence of the dead of night secretly betook himself to another village. And at the following twilight, behold, the aforenoted Nino, having gathered servants, surrounded the house of the Man of God; and when they searched it most diligently, that they might kill him, but did not find him at all [dd], they overturned all the buildings and returned empty and confounded. But the Bishop, taking the clergy with him, left the place and proceeded to the castle of Mais. Through one of his men he sent word to the prince that with all speed that same malignant woman was to fall into the pit which she had prepared for him [*], and that he himself would soon end his life. And when Grimoald had learned of these treacheries, and of the Man of God's departure, he sent and with humble prayer asked him to return; but he by no means did so, but said that the treacheries of that most wicked woman Jezebel must be guarded against [ee].

[45] the prediction is confirmed by the event. But what vengeance followed upon such treacheries must not be suppressed in silence. That aforesaid boy of his also, over whom, as we have said, the woman was chanting with a wicked charm by the devices of the devil, departed from human affairs; and when he was dead, Grimoald was slain by conspirators [ff]. And the aforesaid Nino, who formed a band for the killing of the bishop [gg], ended his life by a shameful death; for as he was sitting to purge his belly, he perished struck by a lance. And at the last the aforenoted woman Pilitrud followed Charles into Gaul, and, repudiated by him according to her deserts, lost all honour and glory, and, stripped of her own substance, at the last possessing nothing but one little ass for conveyance, going into Italy, ended her life [hh]. And her children, who had come forth from her womb, deprived of the kingdom with much tribulation, lost the breath of life [ii].

ANNOTATIONS.

p. That is, anger.

q. In Surius it is read: And at length with difficulty he obtained the kiss of peace from the blessed Bishop.

r. The episcopium is the palace or house of a bishop.

s. Of the mountain of S. Stephen we treated in the Commentary num. 49.

t. Meichelbeck would have it that this was done by the precept of the Benedictine Rule. See what is said in the Commentary num. 24 and following.

u. Read, but an odour of incredible sweetness was fragrant there for three days.

x. The faulty period is thus restored in Surius: But when the servants had begun to murmur about the scarcity of water on account of the height of the mountain, because they wearied themselves daily in carrying it thither, the Man of God on a certain day, etc. Now the water had to be drawn from the river Moos, which glides at the foot of the aforesaid mountain.

y. Of the staff which the Saint used in drawing forth the spring, see what is said in the Commentary num. 68 and 70.

z. In the Surian codex and in others there is presently subjoined: But when the Man of God had died and his body had been taken away by us, for forty years the soil remained dry without water. When he had been brought back by us again, that same spring supplied its former abundance of waters. To this assertion of ours the spring itself offers testimony to the eyes of beholders. But let us return to the narration of the history. Whether these things are to be ascribed to an interpolator, as Meichelbeck suspects, we examined in the Commentary num. 64 and 65. Of the spring itself, and of the chapel raised over it, and of other matters pertaining to it, we said enough in §6 from num. 66 to 71. For the rest, for deficiebat, defluxerat and defuerat, read sufficeret, deflueret, deesset.

aa. Read, quamdam in juventutis flore principis sobolem.

bb. Read, ut ipse eam propriis manibus cædere non parceret. Further, this example of marvellous zeal shows how rightly Aribo said of the Saint above at num. 10: He was … ready to anger against vices.

Ermbert or Erimbert, the brother of S. Corbinian, succeeded him in the bishopric, consecrated and instituted by S. Boniface, archbishop of Mainz, in whose Acts, tome 1 of June, page 468, it is thus read: He divided the province of the Bavarians, with the consent of duke Odilo, into four dioceses, and made four bishops preside over these parts, whom, ordination being made, he raised to the grade of the bishopric: of whom … the second was Erembrecht, who held the principate of overseer of the church of Freising. Meichelbeck, tome 1, part 1, page 73, judges that Erimbert was formerly venerated at Freising, because in a certain instrument, which he recites in part 2, page 46, Albuina makes a certain donation at the tomb of that same confessor Corbinian, and to their Companions, whose relics are venerated in that place. He says that he has read similar things in other parchments; and he thinks it not to be doubted that among the companions Erimbert is designated. In the year 1699, on the 29th day of August, there was found in the cathedral church a body conspicuous in pontifical vestments, and it was translated to a new and better tomb. That it is Erimbert's the people of Freising think, on the testimony of the aforesaid Meichelbeck. The same writer says that in the fourth, or great, book of the Traditions of Freising this distich is read concerning Erimbert:

Dead to the world, father Erimbert, second, thou followest thy brother, next also in merits.

dd. Read: And while they searched it most diligently, that they might kill him, but had not found him at all, etc.

ee. He alludes to the history of Elias, fleeing the treacheries of impious Jezebel, book 3 of Kings, chapter 19.

ff. Of the slaying of Grimoald, and of the time at which it happened, we treated in the Commentary num. 74 and following, where we said that it is to be referred to the year 724 or 725, and that to the latter year the captivity of Pilitrud is likewise to be bound.

gg. That is, who had gathered murderers for inflicting death upon the Saint. So in Du Cange's Glossary collegium is read for an army.

hh. It is manifest that the matter here treated is the Bavarian expedition of Charles Martel, completed in the year 725, as was shown in the Commentary §7 from num. 75. But whether Pilitrud actually married Charles was doubted in the same place, num. 77 and 78.

ii. Whether Pilitrud had these by Theodoald or by Grimoald is uncertain. For prodebant read prodierant.

minabatur*

confugerunt*

habens*

consignavit*

nequiret*

introgressis*

read tanta*

erogari*

domum*

interimeret*

deberet*

Magense*

ipsi*

CHAPTER VI.

The return to Freising: his death, holily undergone: burial: the translation of the body to Mais, famous for miracles.

[ ] Returned to Freising, foreknowing his death, he asks to be buried at Mais: Hucbert ^a also, when he had begun to reign, with all sweetness and the highest honour called back to himself the man of God bishop Corbinian: whom he venerated with as great honour as he was worthy of by his holy merits, and joined him to himself by the sacred laver of the font ^b. And when the Man of God's departure had drawn near, not unaware of the time [] of his death, he sent his brother according to the flesh, Ermbert, into Italy to the prince of the Lombards ^c, asking the confirmation of his own acquisition at Mais ^d, which he had handed over to holy Mary, that it should not be taken away therefrom, and that he should give order to receive his poor body for burial in that same place, which while living he had commended there to blessed Valentine; because at that time the Lombards held dominion in that same castle. This therefore he took care to command on the eighth day before his death; and, foretelling the hour of his departure, he sent another of his disciples to prince Hucbert, to announce his death, asking [] that he would order his corpse to be carried ^e where while living he had promised.

[47] And when the day of his departure had now come, he ordered a bath to be prepared for him, he dies piously, and is buried at Freising; but against God's will: and, washing his body after his custom, he had his hair cut, his head and beard shaven: clothed in his vestments, he offered sacrifice to God, and received the Viaticum with his own hands. And the solemnity of the Mass being completed, entering the house, after the reception of the Body and Blood of Christ, he ordered wine to be brought to him, and tasted a little, feigning no pain; he impressed the sign of the Cross of Christ on his head, and rendered up his spirit to God ^f: and he was given to burial by his servants in the church of the blessed Mother of God Mary ^g. But so great a rain forthwith followed, and a storm for thirty days and nights, that it never ceased [*] even for one hour: whereby it was openly shown that he did not wish to have the rest of his body there, but in the place where while living he had asked.

[48] But the messengers sent by prince Hucbert, returning, brought a mandate that the body of the most blessed Man should be carried to Mais, as he himself while living had arranged; that it might there be buried in the church of holy Valentine. And when on the thirtieth day from his death he was raised from the ground, wherefore he is carried to Mais: a blaspheming girl punished. he was found of such an appearance that by many he was thought [] to be alive, and as though he were sleeping in vigour. For a great multitude of men and women flowed together thither, as to a huge spectacle, and lamented the departure of so great a Pontiff. And when they had laid his body on a wagon, with the multitude standing round, a certain girl, Magata by name, was standing apart not far thence with a companion of hers, and asked ^h what was being done concerning the bishop; and she uttered an exceedingly wicked speech, that he had been an associate of her wantonness and uncleanness. And she said this so heedlessly because she wished to mock her companion. Upon her [] at once the vengeance of divine power followed: for her right thigh was so bent that her heel was stiffened right up to her buttock ⁱ; and she remained in her lameness as long as she lived; she was supported by two staves, and used the step of one foot only, yet in mourning and penance, and in continual confession of her sins, and in the zeal of holy prayer, she led her life for many years ^k.

[49] He sends forth warm blood from his nostrils: a man in fever is healed: So as they went on and carried the bishop's body, blood began to flow from his nostril, as warm as is wont to flow from a living body. And gathering it [] into a small earthen vessel, they carried it as far as the camp ^l, where they remained that night watching with the holy body, and the vessel full of that same blood they dug down [] into the ground in that same place and covered it. But when they had come with his holy body to the parts of the Vinschgau ^m, a certain noble Roman, Dominicus by name, a citizen of the people of the Breones ⁿ, vexed with great fevers, when he had come to the body of the Man of God, trusting that by the merits of the holy Man he could receive health, laid himself under his body on one side: he rose restored to his former health so vigorously that, leaping upon his own horse, praising the power of Almighty God and the merits of the blessed Man, he returned home whole.

[50] again he sends forth blood: when he is buried, the church When the servants of the Man of God came with his body to the castle of Mais, they were repulsed at the very gate of the city by the Lombard guards, who said that it was by no means the body of the Man of God, but that it was a stratagem of ambush, that they might be able to take the city. As they were thus speaking, behold, letters of the king of the Lombards arrived there from Pavia, which commanded [] that the body of so great a Man be received with the highest honour. When he had been received, they opened the little vessel, that they might learn [] the truth thence by proof. And when the pall spread over his body, and the napkin which had been over his head, they had removed, behold, again blood came forth warm from the nostrils of the Man of God, who had been carried through so many spaces of mountains, and the beauty of his face was found of such colour as it was before while he was living. Then all with one voice magnified God in his Saints, and gave his holy body to burial in the church of holy Valentine, confessor of Christ, as he himself had arranged.

[51] [is filled with splendour and a sweet odour: a boy fallen from a precipice is preserved.] But on the third night after the burial, at midnight, wax tapers were found burning with a light of great brightness in that same church, so that they surpassed the gleam of day and the whiteness of snow, and a great and most excellent odour followed there, which remained there until the solemnities of matins. Now on a certain day, when a small boy on the night of the solemnity [*] of that same Man of God ran incautiously beside the walls of the city, his foot slipping, he fell down a precipice. Now there was there a space of such height that great dread invaded the beholders, and at the foot of that mountain the river Passer had swollen with its waves [o]. For who thought anything else of that boy, but that he was dead, dashed to pieces among the huge crags of rocks, and that, even if he had reached the foot of the mountain, he could by no means have escaped the river. And as they went seeking the corpse, having crossed the river by the bridge, they beheld the boy clinging to a certain rock. And, seizing ropes, they climbed up through the caverns of the rocks, until they came to the boy as he lay. And he

by the merits of the Man of God was found not only alive, but even unhurt [p]: and he also, by the gift of the divine bounty, afterwards presided over that same [*] bishopric for many days [q].

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Piously indeed does the biographer set down this preservation of the boy as received from the Saint; nevertheless it cannot be held for a certain miracle, since it could have happened naturally and by chance that his garment caught on some sharp crag.

q. That this boy, afterwards a bishop, is Aribo himself, the writer of this Life, Meichelbeck deservedly judges, as we showed at num. 2 of the Commentary.

temporis*

poscens*

cessarit*

putaretur*

quam*

quem*

effoderunt*

præcipiebat*

discerent*

solemnitatis*

decidit*

ipsi*

CHAPTER VII.

The bringing back of the body to Freising, made illustrious by prodigies.

[ ] Bishop Aribo determines in a synod Meanwhile, when the body of blessed Valentine, confessor of Christ, had been carried off by the nation of the Lombards from that same castle, and taken to the city of Trent, and afterwards conveyed with the highest honour by the venerable duke Tassilo ^a to the city of Passau ^b: I, Hæres ^c, though unworthy, bishop of that same see of Freising, began to consider what I ought to do concerning the body of so great a Father, who lay there without due honour and without a holy office, and to whom thereafter the honour due to him could not be paid. I betook myself to divine counsel, and had begun to treat with my fellow-bishops and with the other approved ecclesiastical men, that he might be brought to his own see, as he was bishop ^d, to the glory of God, and to the honour due to him. Strengthened by the counsel of holy Men, a synod being generally gathered, I brought forward into the midst both my thoughts and the counsel of the blessed men, how the holy body of the Man of God might be conducted to its own place ^e. And we treated likewise, lest the holy Man, taken away from our care, should remain without a holy office, and we, in so great an absence ^f, without a light. And we treated of the fact that the body of blessed Valentine had been led away thence, on whose account [*] this Man of God had determined to have his own body brought thither.

[53] that the Saint's body be brought back to Freising: For, a general counsel having been entered upon, we decreed that a three days' fast be celebrated throughout that whole diocese, and that psalmody be performed [] by all generally without intermission, and celebrations of Masses, and that all with one accord daily beseech the divine clemency with the utmost devotion and humility, that Christ through his mercy might deign at some time to show to someone his will thereupon: whether he ought to be brought back to his former place, or ought to await [] the resurrection of the last and great day. And lest this should be done heedlessly against the divine counsel, when at length the three days' fast had been performed, before we were parted [*] from one another in bodily presence, to seven of our men, by the grace of the divine bounty, it was revealed in sleep that we should so accomplish as we had planned, that the body of the Man of God should be brought back to his own place. And all of us thereupon most humbly praised together the clemency of God, and, bidding one another farewell, we departed.

[54] Then also, with the counsel of all our fellow-bishops to this end men are sent to Mais, and after prodigies and of the other ecclesiastics and of the venerable prince Tassilo himself, we sent, to fetch back the body of the Man of God, worthy and prudent ecclesiastical men with other followers of theirs. And when they came to the aforesaid city of Mais, and had suppliantly fulfilled their prayers, the day being declined toward evening, counsel being taken, they left some in the church, while others entered a house to take food. And behold, suddenly a great sound was made in the church, so that it seemed to surpass the force of a mighty thunderclap; and it shook not only the whole church, but the city as well. For so great had been the serenity of the day that no cloud seemed to appear: and so great a fear invaded all who were in the church that, terrified with exceeding trembling, they fell [] to the ground and became [] as it were lifeless. And after a little, their strength recovered, they attempted to go out at the door of the church.

[55] And behold, those who were in the house came to meet them, they solemnly translate the uncorrupted body and so all, entering the church with immense dread, passed the night with all reverence in vigils until the morrow. But what wonder, if by such a sound the Man of God had wished to show that it was his will that his body be called back. And when morning came, approaching with great supplication and opening the tomb, they found the holy Man's body so beautiful and of so excellent a colour that he might even have been thought to be gently sleeping. And being raised from that same place with all glory and honour and laid upon a bier, he was brought along with great speed by religious men on foot, so that those riding could scarcely follow them []. And having left behind the transalpine ridges, when the religious men came with such great relics to the ferry of the river Inn ^g, a great troop of clerics and of laity of both sexes was there made to meet the holy body of the Man of God [], and he was received with great praise of litanies.

[56] And when they came thence into a certain field fit for rest, on the way a withered hand is restored, one possessed is cured: and were resting there, a certain man, having a withered hand from the flower of his youth, drew near and put himself beneath the bier of the sacred body, trusting in God's mercy and in the merits of the Man of God; his hand was restored to health, like the other. On the same night also a certain man, coming thither, seized by a demon, was moved with such fury that he could [] scarcely be held by the strongest men, who was resounding with great and disordered cries, and shouting monstrously. When he was placed beneath the bier of the Man of God's body by faithful men, by the aid of God's grace and the intercessions of the holy Man the unclean spirit so departed from him that it never thereafter had [] any power of harming him in any way.

[57] Now it happened that, as the holy body was being carried, they came to the place to be approached ^h, at the place where the blood was found a chapel is built where formerly, when those going from Freising with that same body had pitched camp, they had buried his blood collected there, as was said above, in an earthen vessel with a board laid over it [*]. But the bearer of the holy cross unknowingly fixed the cross over that same little vessel, and that same blood of the Man of God was found of such colour and comeliness as if it had flowed that very day from a living body. And there all with rejoicing mind suppliantly chanted hymnic praise [i] and glory to the Lord our God: and that same blood was there laid up with all honour, and a church was there built with great haste, where the clemency of Almighty God has deigned to work innumerable miracles of many healings ^k, to the honour and glory of his holy Name, through the intercessions and merits of the most blessed Man of God.

[58] The Body is honourably laid down at Freising. And when the holy body of blessed Corbinian had been moved thence, the whole assembly of pontiffs and an immense throng of ecclesiastics, together with their supreme prince Tassilo, running to meet it, with every ecclesiastical observance worthily, with hymns and spiritual songs, and with all praise and glory from all, in the church of holy Mary, where he had first been buried, he was honourably exalted ^l, to the honour and glory of the name of Christ and of the whole Christian people asking his suffrages. For whose merits and prayers the divine power deigns daily to work great wonders there ^m, and confers help on many who truly believe in God and faithfully ask it, by the bestowal and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God through all ages of ages, Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

translation to the year 723, and the second to about the year 777: but both are false, as we advised at num. 87 in the Commentary. That the latter certainly did not take place after the year 769 is clear from those things which we brought forward in the same § concerning the time of the translation of S. Corbinian.

i. That is, hymns.

* ob

* agi

* exspectare

* separaremur

* corruerint

* sint

* potuerint

* corpori

* posset

* habuerit

* suffoderunt