Bodo or Leudinus Bodo

ON ST. BODO OR LEUDINUS BODO, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR AT TOUL OF THE LEUCI IN LORRAINE,

Between DCLX and DCLXXX.

A CRITICAL-HISTORICAL COLLECTION.

Bodo or Leudinus Bodo, bishop and confessor, at Toul of the Leuci in Lorraine (S.)

BY J. S.

§ I. The Saint's memory in the Martyrologies, and his ancient cult: eulogies once composed by the men of Toul concerning Leudinus and Bodo, who were wrongly distinguished.

[ ] Saint Bodo the bishop, whom for some centuries now the church of Toul venerates among its Saints, The Saint is mentioned in the more recent Martyrologies, the older martyrologists did not indeed record: but the more recent announce him in rivalry. Of these Greven leads the train in the enlarged Usuard at this day, where he has thus: Of Bodo, bishop of Toul and confessor. Who, being translated to Lugdunum, is venerated with wonderful devotion of the faithful. Plainly the same words Molanus gave in his additions to Usuard; the same also are maintained in the German Martyrology of Canisius. Hence Ferrari in the General Catalogue, and Ghini in the Birthdays of the holy canons, wrongly announce S. Bodo at Lyons: as also does Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, weaving a prolix eulogy, but one to be corrected in various places. More rightly the Saint is recorded at Toul of the Leuci in Ménard, Bucelin, Castellan, and in the Paris Martyrology. And this has thus: At Toul of the Leuci, of holy Bodo the bishop, whose body rests at Laon. Castellan also adds: Whose body is honored at Laon. Finally Miræus in the Belgic and Burgundian Fasti, and Molanus in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium, wove a brief eulogy for S. Bodo.

[2] Further, that the Saint is venerated with a public festival in the church of Toul on this XI day of September, and is venerated at Toul, and at Laon, whither his body was translated: various historiographers also testify, and that this was already done some centuries ago will be clear below. Further, what was said above by Greven and others about the body translated to Lugdunum was taken from the monuments of the church of Toul, not indeed very accurate ones, but to which at least in this matter we can give credit. Nevertheless the most recent writers do not here understand Lugdunum of the Segusiani in Celtica, commonly called Lyons, but Lugdunum Clavatum in Belgic Gaul, which is now everywhere called Laudunum, commonly Laon, where we shall see that the Saint was a monk, and his sister an abbess. Calmet in the History of Lorraine, most lately enlarged and reprinted, vol. 1, col. 456, writes of the translation of the body and of the cult in French, which I render into Latin: He was buried (at Toul) in the church of S. Mansuetus: thence translated to the abbey of S. John of Laon, where he is venerated as a saint, as also in the church of Toul. The festival is celebrated on the XI day of September. François Riguet, provost of Saint-Dié, in a manuscript little work on the bishops of Toul, chap. 15, has the following in French: Bodo is named a Saint in the Missals and Breviaries of the church of Toul, both ancient and present-day, and his Office is performed on the XI day of September. This was already done in the year MCCCLIX, as is clear from the Directory which was published in the synod held in the same year by Bertrand de la Tour, bishop of Toul.

[3] The name also of S. Bodo the bishop is read

in the Calendar already in the 10th century he was venerated as a Saint. which is prefixed to an old manuscript Breviary. Nevertheless in that Breviary, which seems to have been written in the XIII century, and which we said at the III of September in S. Mansuetus seems to be of Toul, I do not yet find an Office prescribed for S. Bodo. Mabillon, vol. 1 of the Benedictine Annals, p. 440, observes that in the Calendar of Saints which is prefixed to the psalter of Hemma, queen of the Franks, the books of S. Salaberga, sister of holy Bodo, are mentioned, with other kinsfolk of Salaberga, and that among these at the IV of the Kalends of July mention is made of holy Bodo the bishop; and that likewise all are reviewed in the litanies inserted in the psalter of the same Hemma, wife of king Lothair and mother of Louis V, who flourished in the X century. Our Longueval in the History of the Gallican church, vol. 3, p. 559, likewise records that little book of queen Emma or Hemma, and the holy kinsfolk of Salaberga reviewed in it together with her, and reckons among them our S. Bodo. It is clear therefore that from the X century, in which queen Emma lived, Bodo was invoked and venerated as a Saint. Which here suffices for our purpose: for of the other Saints there reviewed there will be occasion to treat at the Acts of S. Salaberga, or at the days proper to each.

[4] The Saint's eulogy from the writings of Toul, These things about his cult being observed, I should presently undertake to narrate and examine the Saint's deeds in order, did I not see that our Saint, who had a twofold name, was on that occasion divided into two bishops. For this cause I first transfer hither those few things, and those infected with errors, which could hitherto be had about S. Leudinus Bodo from the manuscripts of Toul. The eulogy of S. Bodo from a manuscript codex of S. Mansuetus of Toul our Chifflet sent hither in the past century, which, collated with the edition of Calmet — who has it in vol. 1 of the History of Lorraine among the documents, col. 168 — I subjoin: When he had departed from life (namely Godo, the XXI bishop, as it stands in Calmet) there arose lord Bodo, who, leaving the love of the world and being converted to Christ, was a follower of a most religious life, and a founder of churches and monasteries. Whose life, praiseworthy in all things, remains worthy of the memory of posterity. For, sprung from the district of Oderna, born of his father Bertold and his mother Bertildis, approved in manners and converse, he deserved to be made bishop of Toul. Who among the other pursuits of goodness which he unceasingly carried on, built a monastery in honor of the most blessed Mother of God Mary and of S. Peter, prince of the Apostles, appointing there consecrated virgins for the service of God, over whom he set his own daughter by name Teutberga , which to the honor of his name is called to this day the monastery of Bodo, and that very place, with all that he could acquire there, he left by right in profession to the church over which he presided, and thereafter deserved to receive an Apostolic privilege from the great doctor Gregory and from his predecessor Agapitus. He gave also to the same church, out of his own property, in the district of Oderna the villas which are called Nasius and Nasitus .

[5] The same also conferred upon holy Stephen the place Stivayum , left him by his parents, stained with various errors: where he built a monastery in honor of blessed Peter the apostle upon the river Meurthe, and gathered there XII canons. In the same manner he handed over to his aforesaid see the monastery of Offo's villa in honor of S. Leodegarius, granted him by paternal right for the service of God. After the exercises therefore of holy works, the labor of the present world being completed, he was buried in the cemetery of B. Mansuetus the pontiff. Whence, being afterward translated to the city of Lugdunum, he is there venerated with wonderful devotion of the faithful. The last day of his life was the III of the Ides of September.* Thus far the eulogy from the manuscript, collated with the edition of Calmet, in whom another like it is at col. 216. What is said about the privilege of the Pontiffs Gregory and Agapitus is a manifest error. Other errors, or less probable assertions, will be assigned in the course of this work.

[6] In the praised Calmet, col. 167, Leudinus, as the fifteenth among the bishops of Toul, Bodo and Leudinus, distinguished in the catalogues of Toul is honored with such a eulogy: Whom in the order of pontifical dignity there followed Leudinus the bishop, who, truly a lamp of God set upon a candlestick, shone round about upon those near and far by the example of holy religion. Raised also on the wings of twofold charity to the vaults of heaven, he despised the toys of the world, being enriched with heavenly riches. Nearly the same words about Leudinus are repeated in Calmet, col. 215, where Leudinus is likewise said to have been the fifteenth. Claude Robert in the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul distinguished Leudinus from Bodo, as was natural before the Life of S. Salaberga had been seen.

[7] But the brothers de Sainte-Marthe in the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul observed are but one man, called by a twofold name Leudinus Bodo. that by two names one Saint is designated, who was called Leudinus or Leuduinus, and by surname Bodo, as the Life of S. Salaberga has it, written by an almost contemporary author, and to be praised below. That opinion afterward all the learned everywhere followed, and most lately Calmet, who at the eulogy of Bodo given noted in the margin that he is the same as the Leudinus who is reckoned fifteenth. Certainly the thing is most likely from this very fact, that it is certainly established that Bodo had both names. Since, however, that likelihood alone might deceive, if notable reasons occurred for the distinction, I read through the whole Calendar of Toul praised above, to see whether I should find in that Calendar the name of Leudinus, whose sanctity is wonderfully commended in the eulogy just given: but Leudinus I did not find there. And so I cannot doubt that that eulogy, conceived in general words, belongs to S. Bodo, or to Leudinus Bodo: for neither can the authority of him who composed those eulogies be of any weight, since in the more ancient bishops he errs almost everywhere.

* another reading: Bertaldus and Bertardus

* another reading: a little monastery

* another reading: Theutberga

* another reading: Narsytus

* another reading: Stivavium, now Stivagium

§ II. The Saint's native land, parents, age, marriage, foundations, monastic life, episcopate and death examined in order of time.

[ ] Of the birthplace of S. Bodo, about which the writers Of the native land of S. Leuduinus Bodo the writers have various things, both the older and the modern. In the eulogy given at num. 4 he is said to have sprung from the district of Oderna, for which Molanus not rightly substitutes that of the Ardennes. Saussay in the Martyrology wished to assign the place more nearly in these words: Who, born of illustrious race in the district of Oderna, in the diocese of Besançon, in a corner of the Vosges, above the beginnings of the river Saône. With these Mabillon nearly agrees in his Annotations on the Life of S. Salaberga, vol. 2 of the Acts of the Benedictine SS., p. 428, where he has thus: It must be written, in the district of Oderna in a corner of the Vosges, commonly le Comté de Darney. Valois in the Notitia Galliarum, p. 389, disputes about the district of Odorna, and thinks it was named from the river Odorna or Orna, commonly l'Orne, which rises at the village Odorna or Orna not far from the Meuse, and flows into the Moselle between Metz and Thionville. To this opinion about the district of Oderna Calmet assents in the reprinted History of Lorraine, vol. 1, col. 452, where in his Annotations he affirms that the district of Oderna is in the present-day duchy of Bar. Nevertheless Calmet does not judge that S. Bodo was born in the district of Oderna, but in the village Mosa, which is of the diocese of Langres, and situated near the spring of the river Meuse between the city of Langres and that of Toul, but nearer to Langres.

[9] speak variously, it is not certainly established. This is certain, that Bodo, when he was a young lad, was in the village Mosa with his parents, and was by them, with his brother and sister, presented to the holy Eustasius and Agilus, as we have it from three trustworthy Lives, namely those of Eustasius, of Salaberga, and of Agilus. In the Life of S. Salaberga in Mabillon, vol. 2, p. 424, S. Eustasius the abbot is said to have come to Gundoin, the Saint's father, who at that time was staying at a villa by name Mosa, so called from the river flowing down at that place: which river, taking its source from the borders of Langres, after many windings and frequent circuits of the land, receiving into itself in part the streams of the swiftest river Rhine, enters broadly the barbaric Ocean. That village Mosa is also named in the Life of S. Eustasius, and in the Life of S. Agilus given at the [ ] of August, chap. 3, where from Valois I noted things agreeing with these, and said that the place is commonly called Meuse en Bassigny. Nevertheless it is not altogether certain that S. Bodo was born in that place where as a young lad he was living with his parents, especially since in all three Lives Gunduin the father is said at that time to have stayed in the village Mosa, and so it seems to be hinted that this was not his perpetual dwelling. If we consider the words of the Life of S. Salaberga about the place where she is said to have been born, that seems to have been nearer to Toul: for she is written to have been born in a suburban town of the Leuci, bordering on the territory of Langres. I should not wish therefore to lay down anything certain about a matter which does not appear to me plainly certain. This one thing seems to be held for certain, that S. Bodo was born in the diocese of Toul, or in some place near the diocese of Toul: for it is likely that his father, who enjoyed many possessions in the diocese of Toul and in places near it, did not always have his dwelling in the same place. Hence it can be true that he was born in the district of Oderna; but that district is not assigned on such certain grounds that no doubt remains about its situation.

[10] The parents of S. Bodo, who in the eulogy given are called Bertold and Bertildis, The Saint's parents, eminent in nobility, wealth and piety, become more clearly known from the Life of S. Salaberga, where the father is named Gundoin, the mother Saretrudis. The Saint had also a brother called Fulculf, and by surname Bodo, and a sister S. Salaberga. Let us hear about these the Life of S. Salaberga already assigned in Mabillon at num. 5: Then, returning from Bavaria, (S. Eustasius the abbot …) at length came to a certain most illustrious man, mighty in wealth and riches, and famous in reputation according to the dignity of the world, and fit for courtly affairs, by name Gundoin, who at that time was staying at a villa, Mosa by name … The piety of Gundoin shines out also from what follows: Gundoin therefore, having seen the venerable man, received him as a most welcome gift. Further, as is wont, and as human affairs stand, amid the wholesome words of exhortation, while by the converse of faithful men the minds of the pious grew, that same man of God began to inquire whether that illustrious man, sprung of the birth of the Franks, had offspring. For he saw, as I suppose, that offspring was foreknown by God to be his: which the outcome of the matter afterward proved. Then the illustrious man Gundoin with his wife Saretrudis, a woman of elegant form and noble, presented two young lads of good disposition to receive the grace of Benediction: of whom the elder was Leuduinus , by surname Bodo, and the younger Fulculf,*

who also himself was by another word called Bodo. To these several things are subjoined about his sister Salaberga, who was then blind, and was healed by Eustasius.

[11] More briefly these matters are treated in the Life of S. Eustasius. In the Life of S. Agilus among us at the XXVIII of August, num. 15, it is had thus: whose names were Gundoin and Saretrudis. They (Eustasius and Agilus) come to a certain most powerful man, by name Gondoin, who, shining with the pride of high birth and with an immense abundance of dignity, and near to the most blessed Agilus by the bond of consanguinity, was staying at that time in a villa which they call Mosa, from the river upon which it is situated. He received the most holy men and apostles of Christ, as a gift sent from God, with dutiful attention, and kept them with him at some length. When they had entered the house, a blessing having been given first, after many conversations of spiritual doctrine, there were offered to them for blessing two sons of that man: whom, hallowing with their blessings, they marked out by a true prophecy both that they would flourish in the dignity of the world, and that they would happily pass to the life to come; as afterward most evidently appeared. From these things we have it that the father of S. Bodo was most eminent in wealth, nobility and piety, and was certainly called Gundoin. But, since he could have had two names, as many others at that time had, perhaps he was also named Bertold; just as his wife also, who was called Saretrudis, could have been called by another name Bertildis. Gundoin Castellan inserted in the Universal Martyrology at the XXX of October, where his cult can be more accurately examined.

[12] Bodo born between 600 and 610, afterward bound in marriage, begot a daughter: Further, from the words just given it can also be gathered in about what year Leudinus Bodo was born. In the Commentary prefixed to the Acts of S. Agilus, num. 19, I showed that that preaching of the Gospel from which Eustasius and Agilus were returning when they came to Gundoin was probably undertaken by them in the year 617. But S. Leudinus, the elder by birth, and his brother Fulculf are called young lads when they were brought to Eustasius and Agilus. It does not therefore seem to be doubted that both were born between the year 600 and 610, and it can probably be said that S. Bodo was born about 605 or 606. If anyone, however, should believe that the birth of S. Bodo must be fixed a year or two earlier or later, I shall not gainsay him. But Calmet doubtless fixed it later than is right in the Prolegomena to the History of Lorraine, p. 50, where he says Bodo was born about the year 615 or 616. For thus each Bodo would have been an infant when S. Eustasius blessed them, whereas nevertheless they are called young lads. Further, since the Saint was bound in marriage, and begot a daughter, whom he afterward made an abbess, the marriage of S. Bodo can be fixed about the year 625 or 630. The wife of S. Bodo was called Odila, and was mighty in nobility and in a good nature of wit, as the Life of S. Salaberga has of her at num. 17. That the Saint lived many years with his wife before he embraced the monastic life is gathered from his daughter Teutberga, whom he set over the convent he had founded: for that the foundation of that monastery probably happened before his monastic life we shall presently see. And Bodo at the time of his marriage was an industrious and powerful man, on the testimony again of the Life of S. Salaberga at num. 17. Whether, besides his daughter Teutberga, he begot other children, I do not find.

[13] afterward he embraces the monastic life, and not long after becomes bishop. From marriage to the monastic life S. Bodo passed over, his wife Odila doing the same. What the praised Life of S. Salaberga has of these things at num. 17 I transfer hither: For among the other women of the noble Sicambri, Odila, mighty in nobility and in a good nature of wit, who also herself had formerly received from the venerable Walbert (abbot of Luxeuil) the badge and wholesome antidote of Christian vigor, counsel being taken with her lawful husband, the illustrious Bodo, whom above we have called Leuduinus, who at that time was industrious and powerful, the trappings of the world being set aside, they were converted to the Lord. Their goods being conferred upon monasteries, treading the same path after B. Salaberga, they hastened to Lugdunum (Clavatum, that is, Laon). Bodo, his hair being cut, performed (so far as circumstances allowed) the office of a monk: and not long after, having obtained the episcopate of the town of Toul, he paid the debt of nature. The venerable Odila also, the mark of Christ being received, joining herself to the choir of holy virgins, and living a blessed life under the tenor of obedience, rendered up the spirit, to whom all things are owed.* From these things we have it that S. Bodo with his wife first stripped himself of his possessions, and then passed over to the monastic life, but did not long remain a monk, since he is said not long after to have been promoted to the episcopate.

[14] In the eulogy of Toul given at num. 4, the foundation of three monasteries is attributed to S. Bodo. He founds the monastery of Bodo for maidens, The first seems certain, nor has it ever, so far as I know, been denied by anyone — namely the foundation of the convent for maidens, which from its founder was called the Monastery of Bodo. Richer the monk in the Chronicle of Senones, bk. 1, chap. 10, has thus of the erection of that monastery: For a little time having elapsed after that most blessed man Deodatus (from bishop become abbot of the Vale of Galilee in the Vosges, whose Life is given among us at the XIX of June) had come into this Vosges, there was a man equally most holy, Bodo by name, bishop of Toul, who, led by zeal of God, on a certain estate of his own, which from his name is called the Monastery of Bodo, a not small convent of nuns being gathered, established a cloister there, and, several revenues being conferred upon that monastery, the order of nuns lasted there a long time. But afterward by a certain successor of his, Berthold, bishop of Toul, that same monastery was destroyed, and in a higher place, which is now called S. Salvator's, that bishop built one for it from the foundations, and there established monks under the rule of B. Benedict the abbot: who afterward being driven thence, Canons of the Order of S. Augustine, as they remain there until now, were enthroned. Thus far Richer, with whom things agreeing were written by John of Bayon, historiographer of Moyenmoutier. Part of that Work Humbert Belhomme the abbot published in the History of Moyenmoutier, part 3, where the praised John of Bayon at p. 232 has thus: Bodo, bishop of Toul, a man praiseworthy in all things, a little time having elapsed after B. Deodatus, burning with zeal of God, established a convent of nuns on his own estate, and enriched it with very many revenues: but in the year MX from the Incarnation that convent of nuns was by Berthold, successor of the said Bodo, translated to the slope of the mountain … and filled with monks living according to the Rule of B. Benedict, and called the monastery of S. Salvator. But perhaps the faults of the monks requiring it, the monks being driven out, Canons are established there under the Rule of B. Augustine, as until now appears.

[15] Jean Herculan Pleinfisin also treats briefly of this foundation in the Antiquities of the Vale of Galilee, chap. 24, and says that the Monastery of Bodo was destroyed by Berthold. [which is afterward said to have been translated elsewhere, and now does not exist:] This little work Charles-Louis Hugo, abbot of Étival, published among the Monuments of Sacred Antiquity, vol. 1, and noted at p. 204 and following that the said abbey was afterward translated to a third place. Receive the words: To a threefold change of guests there answered a threefold change of place. From the Monastery of Bodo to S. Salvator's, and from S. Salvator's to Domnus Aper (commonly Domèvre) there was successively made the passage of the inhabitants. The cause of this latter passage may be seen there. But the same writer also observes that the Regular Canons of Domèvre do not acquiesce in the account just given from Richer about the Monastery of Bodo being translated to S. Salvator's. They affirm that the monastery of S. Salvator was built by Berthold; but that the Monastery of Bodo was not destroyed by him, but forsaken by the monks themselves. Nevertheless most present-day writers follow Richer and those who agree with him. This is certain, that the possessions of the Monastery of Bodo passed to the convent of S. Salvator; and that it perished shortly after the other had been erected. And so the Monastery of Bodo no longer subsists under its own name; but it is believed to have been in the Vale of the Monastery of Bodo near the large village of Badonviller, as Calmet observes.

[16] [this foundation seems to have been made before his monastic life, as also the others, if they are Bodo's:] This writer doubts whether that foundation must be fixed in the time of S. Bodo's episcopate, or before his episcopate. And he says that this latter seems to him more probable, because Bodo distributed his goods to monasteries before he took up the monastic life. This reason pleases me, and seems effectual enough for laying aside the doubt, especially because the Saint is said to have erected that monastery on his paternal estate: for he could not build on paternal estates after he had renounced them. The same reason proves that the foundations of the monasteries of Offo's villa and of Étival must likewise be fixed before Bodo's monastic life, if we believe that these are truly to be attributed to him: for in their foundation also he is said to have used his paternal goods. I could wish therefore that the often-praised abbot of Senones in the Prolegomena to the History of Lorraine, col. 50, where he gives a chronology of the deeds of S. Bodo, had fixed all the foundations before the Saint's withdrawal to the monastic life, which he fixes about the year 660; and had not put the foundations after it. Certainly the reason given by Calmet himself proves as well that the foundations were prior to his monastic life as that they were prior to his episcopate, since already before his monastic life he had stripped himself of his goods.

[17] but the foundation of the abbey of Étival is plainly uncertain, But what is said in the eulogy of Toul about the foundation of Étival by Bodo is by no means certain. Richer, praised above, in chap. 2 writes things very different about the beginnings of the abbey of Étival, and confesses that it was founded before his own abbey of Senones. Before, he says, this our Patron (S. Gundelbert) had come to this solitude of the desert, there was held to be a certain church built on the western side above the river Meurthe, called Étival. Who its founder was, or at what time it began, I have not found: for they report that in the said church monks of the Order of S. Benedict first existed, then nuns, but afterward monks again inhabited the said place, then secular canons, and thereafter canons of the Premonstratensian Order, as they remain there until now, were established. Nearly the same about the doubtful beginning of Étival, and about changes no more certain, Herculan, praised before, writes in chap. 4. Hence Hugo, abbot of Étival, in his Annotations on Herculan confesses that the founder of his abbey is unknown: and in the Annals of the Premonstratensian Order, vol. 2, p. 889, he refutes at large what is said of Bodo as founder in the eulogy of Toul, nor does he admit Richer's statements as certain. Calmet, however, attributes the foundation of Étival to Bodo on account of the monuments of Toul: and Mabillon, vol. 1 of the Annals, p. 462, reports the foundation from them, but with some hesitation. And he indeed had already said before, in his Annotations on the Life of S. Salaberga: No other monastery seems to have been built by Bodo except the convent for maidens called S. Bodo's. Wherefore,

the more I consider the matter on both sides, the more uncertain it appears to me. For the writing of Toul, on which alone the foundation rests, is not such that this ought to seem certain: nor are those reasons alleged to the contrary such as to make it altogether improbable.

[18] as also the foundation of Offo's villa. Equally uncertain is the foundation of the monastery of Offo's villa, which Calmet admits from the eulogy of Toul, and in some measure Mabillon also, vol. 1 of the Annals, p. 533, although he had before rejected it as improbable in his Annotations on the Acts of S. Salaberga, because that monastery is said to have been built in honor of S. Leodegarius, who survived S. Bodo. The writer's error about a place dedicated in honor of S. Leodegarius Mabillon and Calmet afterward kindly excused, saying that S. Leodegarius could have become patron of the monastery afterward. But the said writers do not agree about the place in which the monastery of Offo's villa was founded: for the former places it in the diocese of Besançon, the latter in that of Toul, as I have already observed in the Annotations on the Acts of S. Gauzlin, illustrated at the VII of September. Both, however, include Offo's villa in the district of Portois, which seems rather to be sought in Champagne than in the diocese of Besançon or of Toul, as with Valois I observed in the Annotations on the Life of S. Agilus, given at the XXX of August. And so it is equally uncertain to me whether S. Bodo was the founder of Offo's villa, and whether that monastery was situated in the diocese of Toul: and on a matter so uncertain I do not linger longer.

[19] Another doubt also arises from the Life of S. Salaberga, The Saint probably was present at the death of S. Salaberga: which, as it was published by Mabillon, at num. 28, has thus: Meanwhile, as commonly happens that in abundance of goods discord is bred even among kinsfolk, her brother Bodo was retaining by unlawful usurpation certain villas which by a series of charters he had granted to that same convent. But when he had learned of his sister's (S. Salaberga's) sickness, while she, anxious for this matter, was beseeching the Lord, with the utmost haste he came to her: and presently, confirming the charters together, he brought the whole to ratification. It can deservedly be doubted whether these things are said of S. Leudinus Bodo, or of his brother Fulculf Bodo. Mabillon, vol. 1 of the Annals, p. 440, explains the deed of S. Bodo without hesitation. But Le Cointe at the year 654, num. XI, after giving the words says: The aforecited text seems rather to be understood of Fulculf, who did not send word of farewell to the world, than of Leudinus, who was bishop of Toul. But that observation does not rest on a solid foundation: for it can hardly be shown that S. Bodo was bishop when S. Salaberga died. Certainly we judge that he was made bishop after the year 654, in which Le Cointe fixes the death of S. Salaberga: nor do I judge that Salaberga lived until the episcopate of S. Bodo. Hence it is not improbable that this very man is designated by the words alleged, and that he was present at his sister's death, especially since it is not established whether Salaberga's other brother was so long among the living.

[20] For the rest, since I find no more written about the Saint's deeds, he certainly was bishop before Deodatus, known in the year 680: it only remains that I inquire at about what time he was made first a monk, then a bishop, and at last died. Calmet in the Prolegomena, p. 50, fixes the beginning of his monastic life about the year 660, the beginning of his episcopate about 665, his death before 680, in which Deodatus was already bishop. With these Riguet rightly agrees in the manuscript System on the bishops of Toul praised above, although he does not express the very years here assigned. According to this chronology S. Bodo is placed after Eborinus and before Deodatus. Of Deodatus, who in the year 680 was present at the Roman council under Pope S. Agatho, as may be seen in Labbe, vol. 6 of the Councils, col. 579, there can be no doubt at all that S. Bodo preceded him. But it is not equally certain that S. Bodo was the successor of Eborinus: for not a few writers have reckoned S. Bodo after Theodefrid and before Eborinus. And so I shall briefly say what is chiefly brought forward for the opinion of Calmet and Riguet, that the studious reader may be able to judge of the probability of that view.

[21] [some will have it that Bodo sat after Eborinus, but they rest on an uncertain foundation:] The interpolated Life of S. Deodatus, from bishop become abbot, given among us at the XIX of June, which most wretchedly tears the bishops of Toul away from their own times, first has thus of Bodo at num. 14: But we do not take our argument from what is uncertain; especially since we know that B. Bodo presided over the bishopric for very many years, and established in the Vosges a monastery of virgins. To these that interpolator, on occasion of the coming of S. Hildulph to S. Deodatus, subjoins many things about the time of the bishops of Toul which are plainly faulty, and presently: This is shown from the aforesaid privilege, and from the subscription of B. Bodo, in the year from the Lord's Incarnation six hundred and seventy, and from the coming of lord Hildulph to us in the year of the Lord six hundred and one. These words of a writer most unskilled in chronology are all that can be brought forward to show that S. Bodo was bishop in the year 670, and sat between Eborinus and Deodatus. For Eborinus also becomes known from the privilege of S. Numerianus, archbishop of Trier, which Mabillon published in vol. 1 of the Annals, p. 696. If each was truly given — this one by Numerianus, that one by Hildulph — since S. Numerianus seems to have held the chair of Trier before Hildulph, it will also have to be said that Eborinus, to whom the privilege of Numerianus is directed, sat before S. Bodo, who is reported to have subscribed the privilege of Hildulph. So indeed we should have to reason, if the said privileges were certain and authentic enough. But who could conclude anything certain from uncertainties? This province I should prefer to leave to others.

[22] [nor are there wanting reasons which persuade that Bodo should be set before Eborinus:] Riguet judges that his opinion is favored also by the words of Richer given at num. 14, by which Bodo is said to have been bishop of Toul a little time after the coming of S. Deodatus to the Vosges. But (not to say that Richer's authority is slight for the chronology of things so ancient), since S. Deodatus came into the Vosges in a year unknown to us, and could have come there between the year 650 and 660, those words can easily be adapted to either opinion, and according to Richer's words the episcopate of S. Bodo can as well be fixed about 660 as about 670. Moreover, if we consider the age of S. Bodo, we shall doubt the more whether he was made bishop after Eborinus: for thus he must have been at least sixty years old when he undertook the administration of the episcopate. But it is less likely that a man who a little before had passed from secular business to the monastic life should presently have been willing to take up the episcopal burden, his age already growing heavy. Finally, the author of the Life of S. Salaberga wrote not long after the year 680, as will be proved in its own place. But he does not speak of S. Bodo and of his wife Odila as lately dead, as he might have done if S. Bodo had been made bishop so late. I should not indeed wish to attribute much to these conjectures, or to dig out anything certain from them. But I do not see why anyone would be saying improbable things if he should conjecture that S. Bodo professed the monastic life immediately after the death of S. Salaberga, and a year or two later was made bishop; and finally, his episcopate having been borne for a few years, passed to the heavenly ones. Let each choose what he will.

* in our manuscripts: Leudinus

another reading: they conferred*