ON SS. DESIDERIUS AND REGNIFRID, BISHOP AND ARCHDEACON, MARTYRS IN ALSACE,
In the seventh or eighth century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The place where the Saints are venerated: their memory and cult in the Martyrologies: the Acts written and to be published.
Desiderius, bishop and martyr, in Alsace. (S.)
Regnifrid, or Rainfrid, deacon and martyr, in Alsace. (S.)
BY J. S.
[ ] In the farthest part of Upper Alsace toward the county of Burgundy, or in the Sundgau, The Saints mentioned in some Martyrologies on the seventeenth, there is a village called of saint Desiderius, commonly saint Disier, which took its name from St. Desiderius, who suffered in its neighborhood with his companion Regnifrid, because both Saints were buried there and have for many centuries been held in great veneration. I have much doubted whether the praised Saints belong to this day rather than to the preceding one, because I find them announced by several martyrologists on both days, and because the very copies containing the Acts of those Saints are divided between those two days. At length, in choosing this day, I have followed those martyrologists who seem to have been more attentive than others to referring Saints to their own proper days. Those who refer the Saints to the seventeenth of September were assigned in that place among the Passed Over thus: Of Desiderius the martyr today (that is, on the seventeenth) the Murbach Martyrology makes mention, in Martène, volume 3 of the Anecdota. Of Desiderius and Reginfrid together mention is made by the Hagenau Usuardine Martyrology, enlarged in this part, as also by Greven's edition. Desiderius alone is set down by the codex of Mont-Saint with the title of bishop of Rudunum. It is by no means to be doubted that in all those calendars St. Desiderius is designated who is commonly believed to have been bishop of Rennes in Armorica, and who is commemorated by others on this day. For the first two Martyrologies were written or enlarged in Alsace, the last in Lorraine; and thence it came about that they announce a Saint who is absent from other calendars of the same period.
[2] The Saints are more accurately announced on this day by Aubert Le Mire in his Belgian and Burgundian Calendars, in others on the eighteenth of September. and indeed in two places. First at page 39, where the Saints of the diocese of Besançon are reckoned, all of whom are venerated with an ecclesiastical Office, from the Martyrology of the metropolitan church of Besançon, he has thus about today's Saints: On the XIV of the Kalends of October, in the territory of Besançon, the passion of the holy martyrs Desiderius, bishop of the church of Rennes, and Rainfrid the archdeacon, whose deeds are extant. The body of this St. Desiderius is kept in the village of St. Disier, in Upper Alsace, in the diocese of Besançon. The same at page 545, on the eighteenth of September: St. Desiderius, bishop of Rennes … was crowned with martyrdom in the territory of Besançon, and rests in the village of his own name among the Alsatians. He had as companion in martyrdom St. Rainfrid the archdeacon. Ferrari followed him on the same day in his General Catalogue, writing thus: On the borders of Alsace, of the holy martyrs Desiderius, bishop of Rennes, and Rainfrid the deacon. On the same day too Saussay celebrates Desiderius the bishop and Rainfrid the archdeacon in his Gallican Martyrology, and again in the Supplement. There is added Castellain in his Universal Martyrology, page 980, where in the addenda to the eighteenth of September he commemorates our Saints thus: In Alsace, St. Desiderius, bishop of Rennes, and St. Rachnefrid his archdeacon, slain by impious men.
[3] [Their Acts written nearly a century after their death by a writer given to conjecture.] The Acts of SS. Desiderius and Rainfrid, which seem to have been not only unpublished but also unknown to most modern scholars, we have received from a twin manuscript codex. The one copy our Chifflet transmitted to my Elders, without noting the codex from which he transcribed it. The other was sent in the year 1641 to Bolland by John Gamans, frequently, as also Chifflet, praised in this Work, who assigned the codex and the place whence he received it in these words: From the notable manuscript parchment Passional for the month of September of the monastery of Böddeken, of the Order of Regulars of St. Augustine, in the diocese of Paderborn, folio 106, page 3. These two copies agree well enough as to substance; in wording, however, they not seldom differ. Which is to be preferred I do not determine: for some things seem more correct in the one, others in the other. I shall publish chiefly the Chifflet copy; but from the other I shall correct clear and open errors. But wherever the reading seems doubtful, I shall warn the reader in the Annotations, especially when proper names occur, or matters of some moment. For the slighter transpositions or changes of words, which are of no weight for the matter, I shall commonly leave unnoticed, to avoid tedium. The author of the Acts is unknown, and not altogether contemporary with the Saints. He can nevertheless in some measure be called nearly contemporary, since he does not seem to have written a whole century after the killing of the Saints, as I shall observe in the Annotations at the letter p. Nevertheless he does not deserve undoubted credit as to all the circumstances, since he seems to have indulged somewhat much in conjecture, and to have written more than he himself sufficiently knew.
[4] St. Desiderius was perhaps at the council of Rouen about 688: The time in which St. Desiderius was bishop, and in which he passed with his Companion to a better life, is not certainly ascertained from the Acts. It is indeed said near the end of the Acts that the killing of the Saints happened in the time of king Childeric. But the author does not explain whether he meant Childeric II or Childeric III. The former administered the kingdom in the declining seventh century; the latter held the royal title about the middle of the eighth. Besides, we do not know whether the biographer was sufficiently exact in chronology, which was rare in his age. In the council of Rouen, which St. Ansbert celebrated, as is reported in his Life, given in us on the ninth of February, there was a certain bishop Desiderius, whose see is not expressed. But Henschen in his Annotations on the Life, page 353, and after him Le Cointe and others, suspect that that Desiderius is none other than today's, commonly believed to be of Rennes. Pagi, at the year 682, number 8, without any doubt numbers St. Desiderius of Rennes among the bishops of the synod of Rouen, and will have the synod celebrated in the year 688 or 689. But about the epoch of that synod I scarcely find two writers agreeing, nor do I think Pagi's opinion altogether certain, although it cannot be far from the truth by many years. This is certain, that St. Desiderius, if he was present at the synod of Rouen, died long after Childeric II, and did not live until the reign of Childeric III, but fell between the two.
[5] But I do not see that it is sufficiently certain that it is our Desiderius who sat in that council: this, however, is not certain, as many other things are doubtful. for the name alone, and a name so common, cannot make the matter certain. Wherefore about the time of the martyrdom of SS. Desiderius and Rainfrid I have only noted that it is to be fixed in the seventh or eighth century. For this will be true, whether he was at the council of Rouen, as is likely though not certain; or whether he was not at it, and had already died before under Childeric II; or whether he even survived to the time of Childeric III. Le Cointe, at the year 684, number 13, writes that St. Desiderius was made bishop in that year, but without any suitable foundation. Indeed, while I diligently weigh all that pertains to St. Desiderius, I do not believe that even the place of his episcopate is so certainly established that no doubt can be raised. The opinion that he was bishop of Rennes arose from nowhere else than from the Acts now to be published; because some learned men saw these, and believed that no other episcopate could be designated in them than that of Rennes: for the people of Rennes themselves two centuries ago were plainly ignorant of Desiderius, so far as I can conjecture from their ritual books, from the catalogues of their bishops, and from the Lives of the Saints of Armorica. But now, if we consider attentively that the episcopal city of St. Desiderius is never written in the Acts Redonensis, as the city of Rennes in Armorica is written, but is always called, with a difference in the first syllable, Rhodonensis; and that in the Hagenau Martyrology in Alsace St. Desiderius is called bishop of Rudunum, we shall easily see that a conjecture can also be made about the episcopate of Rodez. Certainly the first syllable both in the Acts and in the said Martyrology favors rather the city of Rutena or Ruthena, called in French Rhodes or Rhodez: for, as the name is written in the Acts, the first syllable agrees with the French name; as it is in the Martyrology, with the Latin name; but in neither place does the first syllable agree with either the Latin or the French name of the city of Redones or Rhedones in Armorica. I confess, however, that the remaining syllables of the word favor rather the people of Rennes, and I observe these things with no other intention than that no one should wish St. Desiderius's episcopate to be more certain than it really is.
ACTS
By an anonymous author,
From two manuscripts collated with each other.
Desiderius, bishop and martyr, in Alsace. (S.)
Regnifrid, or Rainfrid, deacon and martyr, in Alsace. (S.)
BHL Number: 2147
By an anonymous writer.
[ ] St. Desiderius's country, studies, episcopate, virtues: The most blessed Desiderius, a native of the city of Rhodo a, sprung from no mean parents, nay rather emerging as the most worthy offspring of a worthy stock, enlarged by the merits of a happy life the honor which he took from his birth: since in him there shone forth both what Christ chose to glorify and what the whole world might venerate. Who amid the very beginnings of his new youth burned with such ardor of faith that he rather willingly left, for the love of Christ, his parents, toward whose desire infancy is wont hastily to run: and he fled carnal affections as enemies of the soul; believing that it could suffice him if he planted all his delight in the heavenly Father alone b. And so presently he hastened to the city of Rhodo , and there, imbued and instructed in sacred letters, he brought the arts of every discipline to the highest perfection. Whatever he read in the sacred volumes, he was busy to turn into deeds; whence he was named the most famous Teacher in those regions . And when the Lord was now satisfying his vow and good purpose, his hair being cut and the grades and ecclesiastical dignities following in succession, by the election of the people and the concurrence * of the clergy he ascended to the dignity of the episcopate. In which he applied himself to the divine ministry and to the care of the poor, orphans, widows, and captives, and of all the needy c. For who can recount how outstanding he was in the sparingness of his fasts, how zealous in the prolonging of his vigils, how praiseworthy in the assiduity of his prayers, how in the work of compassion
singular, so that he both destroyed the enemy who fought against him, and from the very quarter where he afflicted himself alone, thence the greatest hope came to the aid of all *. For he was a true worshiper of God, and it was inevitable that one whom God had filled with grace should be loved by all.
[2] He sets out for Rome with Regnifrid and others: But when he had long practiced all these things most diligently in himself, and had strenuously and watchfully kept the greatest care over the little sheep of Christ, and the Lord saw them instructed and enriched with all good things, He willed also to appoint as a Teacher to foreign parts him who was always vigilant among his own. Whence he took a good counsel, namely to visit the thresholds of the Apostles, and the other shrines d of the Saints, and, wherever he should go, to preach the Gospel of Christ day and night, and never to be free from divine converse and prayers, seeing that in those times great necessity pressed upon Christian peoples, heretics and schismatics springing up. Then, having gathered his companions, who had determined to follow him with a willing and most ready mind, taking with him also his associate Regnifrid, his deacon and his son in baptism, and a not inconsiderable company being formed, he began to journey where a poor man of Christ could: then, as time went on and the days passed, traversing many churches of the blessed martyrs and confessors, he heaped up for himself relics and their examples, for divine help and a heavenly treasure. At last he came to the place long desired, namely Rome, where is the head of the churches e, and upon which the foundations of the Apostles are built; and there, prostrating himself in prayer with his companions for a very long time, he asked that there be given him by the Lord the unfading crown of the kingdom, with the other Saints, to whose Catholic faith he had all run; believing that the weights of his former sins were being loosed for him f. And when he had gone round all the shrines, and had taken with him the patronages * of all the Saints and the good examples found there, he returned by the way he had come, and pondered within himself and turned over all that he had heard and seen; and rendered great praises to his Creator, because He is made wonderful in his Saints and glorious in all his works.
[3] Now it came to pass, after the Man of God had fulfilled all these things, [returning, he loses many companions by death: in Alemannia he opposes a bishop teaching wrongly:] and saw that the sun burned more fiercely than it had done a while before when he was journeying thither, fearing also what did happen, not for himself but for those who had followed him, he determined with his companions to pass those regions more quickly, and to come to his own see, and to visit his deserted sheep. But the human mind shrinks from what has been appointed by the Lord's will. For it happened that all fell sick except himself alone and two brethren, and of that sickness many died. But he buried their bodies, and, bestowing generous alms, mourned them with prayers for many days. And when the mourning was completed and consolation received, he made his journey anxious on their account. He came into the borders of the Alemanni, to a place whose name is Morvaugia g, where a duke named Williarius h presided. Now he heard a certain bishop i teaching not according to the Catholic faith, whom, rebuking him before all, he said to him: O good shepherd, who taught you to enter the sheepfold of Christ otherwise than by the door? Have you read the Gospel, where you learned these things written? Why have you lost what you acquired with great labor, and are turned to a reprobate mind? for there it is said: He that entereth otherwise than by the door, he is a thief and a robber. But he, looking at him with a grim face and an angry breast, said that he had never preached anything but the most correct and Catholic faith. Thence therefore a most grievous contention arose among the people together with their duke; so that the duke himself ordered both to be brought into their midst, to whom he said: You surely ought to still strifes and contentions among the people, and to defend the Christian faith, since you exercise the priesthood. Why then have you stirred up and troubled this people, away from their belief? To whom saint Desiderius answered: We cannot keep silence and not speak, wherever we hear something opposing God, and deceitful doctrines preached. The other affirmed, saying: I have not troubled this people, I who speak the truth; but this man, who is known to be a stranger and alien from the faith.
[4] In this manner therefore they contended before the king k and the rest of the assembly. and he overcomes him by a miracle, and instructs the people more rightly. Then saint Desiderius, filled with the fire of faith and with the greatest zeal which he always bore in his breast, said with confidence to the judge: Order a great fire to be kindled, where all this assembly can come together, and let us cast our staffs into the midst of it; and then the issue of the matter shall be proved. At this word the duke consents, together with the bishop and the rest of the people; and a mighty fire was kindled, whose flame spread the higher. And when they had cast their staffs into the midst of it, saint Desiderius's staff came out as unharmed l as when he cast it into the fire; but the other's was in a moment so consumed before them and reduced to ashes that it could no more be found by him who had put it in. Then the whole multitude of the people together with their duke believed the things which were said by saint Desiderius, seeing the sign which had been done; and they glorified God and his Servant, whom he had sent to free them from the error of their life. Now he remained there, at the judge's constraint, some days, and instructed them in all the things in which they had before erred; and, when they were well instructed and of one mind and advancing in the divine law, he commended them to the Lord, whom he served in the Holy Spirit. And they, bidding him farewell together with the duke, and having enriched him with sacred gifts, let him go in peace.
[5] In the village of St. Desiderius he celebrates Mass, But he departed by the road which leads to the wilderness of the Vosges m, into the region of the Burgundians, to the mountain whose name is now Saint Desiderius; and there he found a not very large shrine, built in honor of saint Martin. And when he had entered it for the sake of prayer, there was a running together of the people to him, of those who were nearer, desiring to hear and see such a Man, namely all who were foreordained to life. But the rest were drawn by a curiosity for money, which chokes the word of life so that it bears no fruit. But those who were taught attended his teaching, and gave magnificent praises to God. Now there was in that same place a consecrated woman, who kept watch in the court of that shrine, offering diligent service to all who came and entered into it. Then, after the exhortation of the people and the solemnity of Masses completed according to the accustomed manner, the Man of God said to her: I ask of you, most chaste virgin, that after the receiving of holy communion you give us some refreshment and the gift of a blessing, whereby we may sustain the thirst of this body; for that place is situated in great scarcity of water. And she said: We have a little drink kept in a small vessel, because of the need of this place; but nevertheless I do not dare that it be hidden * from so holy a Man and servant of God; and eagerly entering the sacristy, and bringing back thence the little vessel full of water, she offered a cup to the Servant of God.
[6] and, water being there divinely multiplied, he departs. Then the Man of God, pouring the sign of the cross over that vessel, wiped away the burning of thirst, and gave sufficiently to the rest of the people according to each one's wish: and thus a wonderful and great sign was accomplished, that the vessel in which the drink had first stood was not diminished of its liquor, but overflowed so up to the brim that it spilled over here and there upon the pavement of the little house all round the vessel. Which indeed must without doubt be believed to have happened through the merit of the blessed Man, and on account of the exceeding chastity, or charity, of the woman. But the people stood astounded, whose heart God had touched, and with intent mind they glorified God in all that they had heard and seen, and believed in him more and more. But the Man of the Lord attributed nothing of the miracle which had been done to his own merits; but rendered the glory to God, the author of all good things; who magnifies those who hope in him, and who does not suffer the just to be forsaken, nor his seed lacking bread. And these things being done, the most holy Bishop ordered his companion, namely Regnifrid, to lay up in the former place the vestments in which he had celebrated Mass, and then he began to pursue the journey he had begun.
[7] Certain wicked men, having followed the Saints, But certain men who had assembled there, hearing these things and considering the beauty of his vestments, and the appearance of the vessels, namely the chalice and paten and the silver flask which the most fortunate judge had lately offered him, burned with covetousness for them n; and, clinging to the blessed Man's footsteps, they began to think and to discuss with one another how they might kill him and seize his spoils. But he, knowing o what was to come upon him, Christ above all assenting to him, bidding farewell to the handmaid of Christ and to the other faithful gathered there, began to set out undaunted for the place of his passion, which is now called at the Cross. Yet before that he had foretold, in the hearing of many: O most beloved Brethren, if anywhere you hear that pilgrims have been slain, take care to bury them here in the oratory of the blessed Martin. And when he had come to the aforesaid place, twisting a slender twig this way and that with his hands into the fashion of a cross, he prostrated himself there in prayer, and ordered his followers to do likewise. Which twig, after his passion, grew into a great tree in that same likeness of a cross. And we, and many, saw it standing there and lasting a long time, some eighty years [p] or more; whence also that place took its name. And when his prayer was completed he rose, and, strengthening his companions, said: Now be men, and act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened; for the hour of our calling draws near [q].
[8] While he was still speaking, behold, wicked men armed with steel approaching, kill them on the road, enticed by lust for the spoils: to punish them [r]. And thus they first killed saint Regnifrid, and then left the servant of the Soldier of Christ half alive with an incurable wound, his head, namely, split in two parts with a dagger. At last, coming to the most invincible athlete of Christ, Desiderius, they found him prostrate in prayer, and struck him with the sword, because they were hastening to the spoils: yet they left him still alive. Then at last, seizing the spoils in security, and fearing no one, they returned by the way they had come. But it is reported by many that they began to quarrel on the road over the dividing of the money, and that it happened that, when they could not make peace with one another, they were all slaughtered by one another. But saint Desiderius, before he breathed forth his spirit, since he still by no means ceased from divine praise, seeing also that his servant could live, said to him: Rise (brother) in the name of the Lord, and bind up your head with the briar [s] which stands about you, and report to the handmaid of God, from whom we departed today,
that she come hither with the presbyter, and let them bury our bodies in the oratory of the blessed Martin. And he departed, and fulfilled the command of his Lord, and lived there many days, and always bore on his head the mark of the briar for a testimony. But the Man of God, feeling that he could not live longer, because the strength of the outer man had now failed, prayed and said: Lord God almighty [t], Creator of all creatures, command that our souls be received where all have been received who have pleased Thee: and give pardon to those who afflict us. And when he had said these and like things, he expired.
[9] Now the duke of that region, by name Rabiacus [u], when he had heard that the servants of God had endured such and so great things, they are buried on the Mount of St. Desiderius, and become famous by miracles: wished to translate them to another place, but the men who came with their hands, according to the judge's command, were not able to move them from the place in which those most holy Men lay. But when the presbyter of the oratory mentioned above came, together with the handmaid of the Lord, named, as is reported, Pomponia, and Willibert, the servant of the martyr of Christ, they approached and lifted them without any delay into the vehicle which they had brought with them: and carrying them to the former place, they bore them so as if they had felt no weight, and there buried them with great honor: for many miracles [x] are wrought there through their prayers. The blind receive sight, the lame their step, the sick health, demons are put to flight, and every infirmity is cured, and other innumerable wonders are wrought there through their merits by the grace of God. To draw out the pen through all of which one by one would be long, lest it beget weariness; for they were very many.
[10] Many things are preserved there which were used by St. Desiderius. Lastly, lest perchance anyone should say with silent conscience that these things are not [y] true, and that we have invented falsehoods, let us prove it by sufficiently certain testimonies. For there is there the staff of that Saint, which was delivered from the fire; and the scintorium [z] on which the most Holy one sat. There are also the holy vestments which he used while he performed the work of God [aa], still so whole as though made most recently, and they remain free from all injury. We have seen also the tablets of the Martyr himself, and a horn stylus in the same place. And if anyone suffered pain of the teeth, when he touched the tooth with it, nearly not [bb], or at once, if he was worthy, he deserved to be freed from all the weariness of the pain; and in which were contained the Saint's reckoning, and where he had been bishop, and through how many lustra of years he went round the bodies of the Saints, and other things which, from their multitude and from the lapse of days, seem to have been effaced. But the duke named above, seeing the miracles of the Martyrs, had a coffin made, and a silver tablet carved with wonderful workmanship, on which he impressed his name in letters, and placed it over the tomb. Now the holy martyrs Desiderius and Regnifrid suffered on the fifteenth [cc] of the Kalends of October, in the time of king Childeric, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, unto ages of ages. Amen.
[11] A Hymn on the Saints, with a prayer. 11 Hymn.
We keep with praises the day [dd] dedicated to two witnesses, to Desiderius the bishop, and to Regnifrid the levite.
Of whom Desiderius, sprung of illustrious birth, adorned the nobility of his race with good character.
He, bishop of Rhodo, nurturing Regnifrid, made his little son by baptism an archdeacon.
Nor were various wonders lacking to be told: he received his staff back sound from a mighty fire.
He signed a little cup, he gave drink to a great people, he renders the mouth of the chalice full, for the charity of the virgin.
Ever ready, O Lord, to suffer for thy name, he had foreknown the time of his death, and had foretold its coming.
After this the holy Man twisted a twig into a little cross, which had grown, and by this measure was called by the name of the cross.
The Martyrs praying there the dread executioners strike down. Presently they slay with the sword the Levite with his little servant, and then the Prophet.
To the Trinity be glory, power, honor, victory: who gives the crown to the witnesses by whose bones we are made strong.
Amen.
Prayer. Almighty everlasting God, grant us so worthily to venerate the merits of thy holy martyrs Desiderius and Regnifrid, that we may both be freed from present perils and be made worthy of everlasting joys. Through our Lord, etc.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. From the eighty years for which the author writes that that tree stood, since he says that it was seen by himself and many others, it is rightly gathered that he was later than the Saints by nearly eighty years, and in all likelihood wrote not a whole century after their death.
q. In the Böddeken manuscript: Of our calling and of our passion.
r. Perhaps it should be read, that they might destroy them; in the Böddeken manuscript it is, that they might deliver them to death.
s. In the Böddeken manuscript: with one of the briars. I should indeed doubt whether the word were not corrupt, if I held all the author's assertions for beyond doubt.
t. This prayer of St. Desiderius at least the author could not know, because no one was present to him as he prayed. From this passage therefore it is clear that he amplified by conjecture the things which could have become known about the Saints.
u. In the text Rabiacus, but in the margin is noted Rabiarus. In the Böddeken manuscript the passage is interpolated in this way: The duke of Burgundy, named Raurachus, etc. Who that was, I do not know. But he will have been the prefect of a neighboring place or town or city, if what follows about the translation of the bodies attempted by him is true.
x. That miracles were wrought at the sepulcher of the Saints I do not doubt: for their cult was without doubt begun on account of them.
y. Perhaps we should be added and it should be read, and that we have invented falsehoods. But the author does not sufficiently answer that objection by enumerating all those things which had been in St. Desiderius's use and were kept there. For from their preservation it is only gathered that the Saint was at once held in veneration; but it by no means follows that all the things which the author narrated are true.
z. What scintorium may be I do not find. But perhaps more correctly in the Böddeken codex is read stratorium, which can be taken for the saddle-cloth of a beast of burden, on which the Saint had sat, or for some other coverlet on which he had sat down to rest.
aa. In the Böddeken manuscript, in the celebration of Mass.
bb. Nec fere is read corruptly in the manuscript. In the Böddeken manuscript: With which, if anyone having pain of the teeth touched those teeth, he will deserve to be freed from all weariness. But there all the things which are said to have been found on the stylus are omitted.
cc. In the Böddeken codex, on the fourteenth of the Kalends of October.
dd. After the Acts in Chifflet's copy is subjoined the Hymn on the Saints with the prayer; as they are subjoined here. The studious reader will see that in the Hymn certain wonders are repeated which were already related before in the Acts.
* in the Böddeken manuscript, Hyrodomensem
* the same: in those parts
* the same: with the concurrence
* the same: to many
* elsewhere, relics
* elsewhere, to deny