Lutrudis

ON ST. LUTRUDIS, VIRGIN,

IN THE DIOCESE OF CHÂLONS IN FRENCH CHAMPAGNE.

In the VI century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Her memory in the Calendars; the translation of her body; relics honored in various places; her Acts.

Lutrudis, virgin, in the diocese of Châlons in French Champagne (S.)

BY J. P.

The memory of St. Lutrudis, whose name

various writers render variously — The Saint's memory in the more recent Calendars; for some

write Luitrudis, others

Lintrudis, others otherwise — I do not find

inserted except in some

Additions to Usuard, and in

the more recent Calendars; but constantly at the present

day. The Matric-Cartus-Utrecht codex announces her thus:

Of Lintrudis, virgin; the Lübeck-Cologne edition:

On the same day, of saint Lutrudis, virgin; Grevenus:

Of Lutrudis, virgin; Molanus: At Corbie, of Lutrudis,

virgin and nun. Our manuscript

Florarium: Likewise of S. Lintrudis, virgin;

she advanced always from good to better. To these are added the general Catalogue

of Ferrari, the German Martyrology, and most

of the Calendars of the Order of St. Benedict, in which, as

was done by Molanus, she is everywhere ascribed to Corbie and

called a sanctimonialis or nun. With this same title

Saussay marks her in the Gallican Martyrology;

while Arthur in his Gynæceum calls her a Benedictine Virgin;

but each more rightly places her birthday

in the field or territory of Châlons.

[2] she was not a nun; I readily perceive why others have ascribed her to Corbie;

but there is nothing to persuade us that she was a nun in the strict sense,

or a religious or monastic woman,

much less a Benedictine: for as we observed

in the Commentary on the Acts of St. Pusinna the virgin,

one of the six sisters of St. Lutrudis, volume III of April,

page 165, and in volume III of September in the Annotations

to the Acts of St. Alpinus, bishop of Châlons, the biographers say indeed

that those seven virgins bound themselves by a vow of virginity

and received the veil from St. Alpinus;

nay, those same biographers use here and there the words

Sanctimoniales, Rule, nuns; but in the rest

they signify more clearly that they were not bound by monastic laws

and vows, but lived piously in their father's house

until the death of both parents,

then departed to the dwellings devolved upon them

by inheritance, and there passed the remainder of their life in holiness.

These things will appear more clearly in the Acts of St. Lutrudis, in

which nothing occurs from which you might elicit a monastic life.

[3] Of the Saint's native country, of her parents and sisters,

of the century the place of her death in the diocese of Châlons. in which she lived, and of other things, there is no need to treat

particularly here; for most are sufficiently explained

in her Acts to be mentioned below, and what things

seem doubtful have partly been already discussed in the Acts of St. Pusinna

mentioned above, as also in the Acts of St. Hoyldis,

another of her sisters, in the same volume III of April, pages

773 and following, and partly may be indicated and elucidated in a few words

in the Annotations. The place of the Saint's death I have placed broadly

in the diocese of Châlons in Champagne, because to it

belongs the district of Perthes, in which she was born, and

in which — or more probably near which — is situated the mountain left to her

by her father's inheritance, and called by her, according to the biographer,

from her father's name, Mount Sigmarus, where also

she is said to have died and to have been buried in a church built there by herself

and consecrated to St. Maurice. The mountain, however,

I do not find under that name among the geographers, just as neither

among other writers any indication of a particular cult

or of relics of St. Lutrudis.

[4] Nicolas Des-Guerrois in his French book on the Christian

Sanctity of Troyes, treating at the year 470

of St. Hoyldis and her sisters, Her body says that the body of St. Lutrudis

is in the monastery of Corbie in Picardy; and Baillet seems to have thought

the same, volume 3 of the Lives of the Saints,

page 299, where he has these words: She (St. Lutrudis) died

on the feast day of St. Maurice, and was buried in the church of her

hermitage. Her body is said afterwards to have been translated

into the abbey of Corbie in Picardy, where the body of St. Pusinna

her sister also seems to have been,

before it was carried into Germany

in the time of Charles the Bald. For my part I should not wish to deny

that the body of our Saint was at some time carried to Corbie in Picardy,

and that perhaps some of her relics are preserved and honored there

to this day; nevertheless,

since neither of these things occurs confirmed by the testimony of others,

I strongly suspect that both authors were here mistaken,

and took Corbie in Picardy, or the old one,

for New Corbie in Lower Saxony or

Westphalia; because, namely, Molanus, whom Des-Guerrois cites,

and Merssaeus Cratepolius, whom Baillet alleges in the margin,

without distinction of region

simply name Corbie. Molanus's words I gave

above; Cratepolius has these in his Annals of the archbishops

of Trier, under Theodoric: He

wrote the Life of Lutrudis, virgin and nun, who rests at Corbie,

about the year 950. And

indeed, since Corbie in Picardy is so much nearer to the diocese of Châlons,

where the Saint was first buried,

it was natural to judge that this was designated by Molanus and

others; but the documents presently to be produced persuade the contrary.

[5] Here too Mabillon had hesitated, in Century 1

of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, carried to Corbie in Saxony when he set our Saint

among the Prætermissi in these words: Lutrudis,

virgin, whose Acts Surius exhibits at XXII September,

was veiled by blessed Alpinus, bishop of Châlons,

who died about the year 480. Why

she is ascribed in the Benedictine Martyrology to the monastery of Corbie,

I do not see. But when he had examined the Saxon documents

more closely, he untied the knot; namely in Century

4, part 1, of the same Work, page 525, where, treating of

the Translation of St. Vitus the martyr to Corbie in Saxony,

he hands down these things: Besides the relics of saint Vitus, that monastery

possessed also the relics both of saint Justinus the martyr

and of saint Lutrudis the virgin, likewise brought from Gaul.

Of Lutrudis the manuscript Saxon Chronicle

has these words at the year 864: “The coming of saint

Lutrudis, virgin, in the same year”: which I think must be understood

of the bringing of the relics of saint Lutrudis

the virgin, whose Acts Surius exhibits at the day

XXII of September. Hence I judge it came about that Lutrudis,

who lived in the fifth century, was ascribed to Corbie, and so to our

Order.

[6] in the year 864, The things alleged by Mabillon from the Saxon Chronicle

are confirmed in the Catalogue of the abbots of Corbie in

Saxony, which John Letzner inserted from a manuscript found by himself

into chapter 24 of the Chronicle of Corbie, published in German

in the year 1590, as follows: Adelgar

was elected third abbot in the year of Christ 856:

he presided there thirty-two years. In the year 864

he brought to this monastery the bones of Luttrudis the virgin.

In that very year, so far as we learn from the concise

Annals of Corbie in Saxony, continued from the first foundation

to the year 1471, and published

first by Christian Franz Paullini,

then by Gottfried Leibniz in volume 2 of the Writers on

the affairs of Brunswick, page 296, the aforesaid abbot Adelgar

granted the Saint's relics, or more probably a part

of them, to the church of St. Paul founded by himself.

The words are these: 863. Our Adelgar

founds the church of St. Paul near Corbie, called Negenkerken \,*

which bishop Luithehart

(of Paderborn) consecrated. In the year 864

he brought into that same church the relics of S. Luitrudis

the virgin, and others gathered from every side.

[7] she is famed for wonders Moreover, concerning the relics of St. Lutrudis, our Predecessors

rightly explained the things which are related in volume III

of March, page 658, in the Miracles of St. Ludger, bishop of Münster,

which I transfer here: A certain

woman noble in the world, from the estate called Baegge,

was named Bugge. She, falling into a palsy,

lay for twelve full years deprived of the use

of almost all her limbs. For

she could neither move head nor foot by herself, nor bring

her hands to her mouth without the help of others.

And when, for the sake of her recovery, as is usual with noble

persons, many things were either done for her or suggested to her by many,

she could receive no alleviation \.*

And now she had no hope in fleshly medicine,

but her only refuge lay in God's mercy.

Meanwhile a report went out that through the Saints

whose most sacred pledges the venerable abbot Adalgar

had brought from Gaul, many wonders were wrought.

As these were coming, the aforesaid woman, being brought

to meet them, in part received health through their merits,

and in part conceived a greater hope of the entire

restoration of her body. It is then added

that in the church of Werden, at the tomb of St. Ludger,

she was granted entire health.

[8] is famous. Rightly, I say, did they explain this of the relics of St.

Lutrudis: for first, the author of the account just recited,

a contemporary, as appears, prefaces that he wishes to set forth

those things which are not to be sought from afar,

but are proved to have been done in the nearest time, that is, from the year

of the Lord's Incarnation 864:

which is the very same year in which the relics were translated

to the men of Corbie; secondly, although probably

together with the relics of St. Lutrudis Adelgar brought from Gaul

the sacred bones of other Saints also,

since the cited author says that through the Saints many

wonders were done, yet that these were attributed

before the rest to Lutrudis I conjecture from this, that her name

alone is expressed in the Chronicles cited above,

and that neither in these nor in the Annals occurs

mention of relics brought at another time from the Gauls to Corbie

by abbot Adelgar. For the rest,

the same author indicates clearly enough that the wonders generally

mentioned were wrought on the very journey from Gaul to Corbie,

and that the benefit particularly set forth was granted

to a noble woman who came out to meet the relics

on their passage through the Mark, a county of Westphalia,

in which is situated Werden or

Werthina, a place with a notable abbey of men of the Order

of St. Benedict on the river Ruhr.

[9] Of the often-named relics of St. Lutrudis, other churches

afterwards obtained parts, Her relics and cult at Paderborn, in which she has also

obtained a special cult. In the Catalogue of the relics

of the cathedral church of Paderborn, transcribed

and transmitted to us from a very ancient manuscript parchment sheet,

I read thus: Relics of S. Lutrudis, V. Hence

in a very ancient parchment Calendar of the same diocese,

of which likewise we have a manuscript copy,

is read at the XXII of September: X Kal. Of Maurice with his companions,

of SS. Hemerammus, bishop and martyr, and of Luithrud,

virgin. Nay, in our manuscript Sanctuarium of the same diocese,

arranged by Father John Gamans, once an outstanding helper

of our Work, the following are noted

at the XXII day of September: Old printed Breviary:

“Luetrudis V. I. antiphon.” In the body

of the Breviary, the very (day) of St. Maurice has as a suffrage

a collect in which: “Today, on the yearly solemnity of blessed

and holy Lugtrudis, virgin,” etc. Then is subjoined:

At Höxter she is Patroness or Co-patroness in St.

Peter's. Höxter, commonly Höxter, is a town in

Westphalia, distant about half a mile from Corbie,

and, like it, lying on the Weser, but on the other

bank of the river; whether here also, as is likely

enough, the relics of our Saint are honored,

I have not ascertained.

[10] Before the rest, memorable is what is reported

of the relics of the most illustrious abbey of Assindia or Essendia

(commonly Essen) in Westphalia. notable relics also are preserved at Essen The first

notice of them that met me is in the Calendars of Westphalia

holy, blessed, and pious, formerly collected by the Reverend Father

John Velde, a priest of the Lower Rhine province of the Society

of Jesus, where at this same day these things

are noted: S. Lutrudis, half of whose body is at Essen.

Father Theodore Rhay, a priest of the same Society,

in the book entitled Illustrious Souls

of Jülich, Cleves, etc., speaks a little more explicitly

of them at the XXII day of April: At Essen, he says,

of S. Lutridis, virgin, sister of blessed Pusinna, truly her own

sister, and so her true kin both in manners and in holiness that

whoever knows the one knows both. Her body of old

was held in veneration by all; nor were our forefathers ignorant

that by her beneficence they drew rain from heaven

upon their thirsty fields.

[11] That the aforesaid relics were carried about at Cologne in a solemn

procession through the city in the year

1634, in a precious reliquary, given by the emperor Otto II an eyewitness teaches us, Giles Gelenius,

in the little book which he entitled Colonia supplex,

and in which, declaring the order of the procession,

at page 48 he prefixes this title to §8: SS. Marsus,

confessor, and Lugtrudis, virgin. Then he thus continues:

After this another pair of Saints, brought forth from the domestic chapel

of the residence of the most illustrious princess of Essen,

eight Capuchin Fathers piously carried. The tomb

of these Saints was wrought of pure gold and of most precious

and utterly rare gems, the gift

of the emperor Otto the second and of Theophano

the empress his wife, bestowed on the convent of Essen at that time

when Mathilda, daughter of those same

sovereigns, presided over it, most illustrious both in piety and in the splendor

of her birth: I learned this from the very inscription

of the sacred tomb, of which these traces survive.

Inscription of the tomb

Of SS. Marsus, confessor, and Lugtrudis, virgin.

This excellent work, adorned with gems and gold,

Mathilda vowed, which Theophano well discharged,

Mathilda giving these golden gifts to the King of kings

… [ ] …

May the spirit of Otto rest in the heavenly [ ]

The lady [ ] me to be made

Mathilda [ ] commanded.

Here Gelenius notes that there is then subjoined the effigy of the emperor Otto II

in the midst between two Greek inscriptions,

which he thus renders into Latin: ONE IN

*CHRIST, A FIRM BROTHERHOOD. EMPEROR*

*OF THE ROMANS, GL. OT.*

[12] according to some, The first verses, but a little differently, are given also

by Bucelinus, volume 2 of Germania sacra, page 143;

and likewise by Papebroch, volume V of May, in the Annotations to

chapter 1 of the Acts of Erenfrid or Ezo, of Mathilda,

and of Richeza; but he, having collated Bucelinus's edition

with a transcript sent here, thinks they should be read thus:

This excellent work, adorned with gems and gold,

Mathilda vowed to Theophano, which she well discharged,

The good abbess Mathilda, giving these golden gifts

To the King of kings: which thing demands that for ever

The spirit of Otto may rest in the heavenly shores:

The lady Mathilda bade me be made.

Besides, Papebroch there observes that Bucelinus erred

when he said that Mathilda, daughter of Otto II and Theophano

(which Gelenius also did), was

abbess of the convent of Essen. And indeed from her Acts

just cited we learn that she dwelt

at Essen, but that thence, with the consent of her brother Otto

III, she was taken out and married to Erenfrid or Ezo,

count palatine, to whom she bore ten children, and

among these blessed Richeza. He contends, therefore,

that Mathilda daughter of Theophano, who made the vow, and Mathilda

the abbess, who discharged it, are different persons: there is added,

that, as he shows in the same place, she was married to her husband

before the year 990, whereas the other was still abbess

in the year 1003.

[13] but more probably given as a gift by Otto the third: For the rest, since Gelenius, ascribing that precious tomb

to the gift of Otto the second, confesses

that he learned it from the inscription itself, it is greatly doubtful

whether it ought not rather to be attributed to Otto the third,

who, that he might satisfy his sister's vow, supplied the expense

by which the abbess Mathilda might have the tomb

made. The latter is certainly indicated by the aforesaid Rhay

in the Illustrious Souls, treating at the XVI day of May

of St. Marsus: take his words: Essen triumphs today

in the relics of S. Marsus, given to that place by Otto the third

of that name, emperor. To which most religious

emperor it was a solemn custom to translate the bones of many Saints

from darkness into light with magnificent pomp, as

also he piously placed the remains of this S. Marsus in an urn of gold,

worth seeing both for the fineness and variety of the work

and for the splendor of its gems. So he, citing the Records

of Essen. Gelenius himself is in agreement, in his Sacred Calendars

of Cologne, at the VIII of June, treating of St. Marsus:

His body, he says, was afterwards translated to Essen, a town

of the diocese of Cologne, by the wife and children of Otto

II, where it is enclosed in a golden shrine.

Finally, according to Rhay at the same day,

the VIII of June, that tomb or golden shrine,

containing, as we saw above, the sacred remains both of St. Lutrudis and

of St. Marsus, is from time to time through the year

exposed to public veneration. More about St. Marsus may be said

at the VI day of October, to which our Predecessors

deferred the examination of his Acts.

[14] I have not been able to learn with certainty when, or on what

occasion, the virgins of Essen were enriched

with the relics of our Saint: the said relics were probably obtained in the 9th century, our Saint, I say; for as such

Rhay and Gelenius evidently acknowledge her,

when they call her the sister of St. Pusinna; and again Gelenius

in the Sacred Calendars of Cologne, when today he thus

announces her: At Essen in the diocese of Cologne

blessed Lutrudis, virgin of Châlons, is enclosed in a golden

tomb, whose festivity is today commemorated. But most probably

they were brought thither by the care of Altfrid, who,

from a monk of Corbie in Saxony, was about the middle of the ninth century

made bishop of Hildesheim in the same

Lower Saxony, and afterwards founded the most illustrious

convent of Essen, as was said in volume

III of August at the XV day, where his deeds were illustrated.

For he lived in the same monastery with abbot Adelgar,

who brought the bones of St. Lutrudis from Gaul,

and, having been made bishop, was joined to him in familiarity,

as I gather from the concise Annals cited at number

6, in which at the year 872 these things are reported:

Adelgar with others took part in the solemn consecration

of the church of Hildesheim, built there by Alfred,

our fellow monk, the bishop.

The Saxon chronographer agrees, whose words

we gave from Mabillon in the cited volume III of August, page

213, where he says that that church was dedicated by

Altfrid its bishop, by Rimbert of Bremen,

by Liuthard of Paderborn, and by Theodoric, bishops,

with the intervention of Adelgar, abbot of Corbie.

[15] Finally, my conjecture about the relics of St. Lutrudis obtained from Adelgar

through bishop Altfrid for his new

convent of Essen as also those which are at Hildesheim, where she is honored. is somewhat

confirmed by this, that in the cathedral

church of Hildesheim itself the sacred remains of the same Saint

have been preserved and honored for many centuries,

most probably left there also by St. Altfrid.

These and their cult I know from a Fragment

concerning the relics of the said church, which from a manuscript

parchment codex Leibniz published in print, volume I of the

Writers on the affairs of Brunswick, page 771, whose

beginning is such: In the year of the Lord's Incarnation

1061, in the XIV Indiction, this temple was renewed by the venerable

bishop of this see, Hezelo,

and devoutly consecrated on the III Nones of May, in the ninth year

of his ordination, in honor of the holy and

undivided Trinity and of the most victorious Cross, and

of S. Mary the Mother, of whose milk and hairs there is something here,

and of the Saints whose relics are here enclosed

and whose names shall be written below. Among these is reckoned

the name of Ludrudis, as also that of Pusinna; and the following are subjoined:

On any feast of the aforenamed Saints,

and on any feast of nine Lessons,

a candle shall burn behind the altar of holy Mary, set there

at Matins from beginning to end, and at the Matins

of S. Mary. I add the Breviary of Hildesheim,

printed in the year 1516, where at second Vespers of St.

Matthew the apostle and at Lauds of SS. Maurice and

his Companions, martyrs, a suffrage or

commemoration of St. Lutruda the virgin from the Common is prescribed.

[16] It remains that we should inquire in a few words what is to be determined

about the Acts. The Saint's Acts Copies of three kinds are in my hands;

and of the first, two, of which one

was communicated to our Predecessors in the year 1659

by Father Nicholas Elsen, S.J., priest, transcribed

from a manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Matthias at Trier;

the other, sent by the often-praised Father John

Gamans in the year 1641, so far as I understand from the notices

of our Museum, was taken from a Bödeken manuscript. There is no

discrepancy between the two, except that words

are here and there written differently, and that in the Bödeken one

this last sentence is wanting: May He (Christ)

grant to the soul of His servant Theodoric, archbishop and prelate,

everlasting joys. Amen. Those Acts were written

in rhythmic verse by the aforenamed

bishop of Trier, as the title in both copies declares.

Of the second kind I have a copy, subjoined to the just-mentioned

Bödeken one, and, as is noted, drawn from the same

Passional. Of the third kind, finally, the copy

was received from a Utrecht manuscript,

but it is plainly the same as that which Surius published, and which he thought

was an abridgment of Theodoric's Rhythm.

[17] of what kind, and which are to be given here. That Rhythm, which I should not dare to praise for elegance or

charm, cannot be much commended

for antiquity, as being composed about the fifth

century after the death of St. Lutrudis, since Theodoric

its author flourished only in the tenth century,

and died about the year 970; nor does he anywhere signify

by what documents he was helped in writing.

Nevertheless, when I compare his Work with the Acts

from the Bödeken Passional, mentioned in the second place,

I find almost everywhere so great an agreement

in the matters narrated that it becomes altogether probable to me

that these lay before him. In the matters narrated, I say;

for the Rhythm is more prolix and here and there enlarged with circumstances,

the Acts shorter and simpler; but even

on that head they are to be preferred and to be printed instead of it,

although their author is unknown and their age

uncertain.

\ elsewhere Nuwe kerke*, that is, the new church

\ relief*

ACTS

By an anonymous author

From the manuscript Passional of Bödeken.

Lutrudis, virgin, in the diocese of Châlons in French Champagne (S.)

BHL Number: 4953

By an anonymous author.

by name, very rich and noble, who from his

infancy strove to fear God, serving God with fastings and prayers

day and night. And when he had come to

the lawful age, he took a wife named Liutdruda

^c, very beautiful and fearing God;

and when they were joined together, both being just, they began

to seek how they might keep themselves from the vanities of the world and from all

iniquity and rapine \*, and how all the household

of their house might be able to serve according to God's will.

Nor was anything acceptable to them but what

was pleasing to God. And not far from them there was

a certain priest named Eugenius, a man just and

prudent in all things that pertain to God;

whom, joining him to themselves by a bond of familiarity, they commended

themselves to his holy prayers; and whatever

they could bestow in the relief of the poor,

they took care to distribute and offer to the Lord Jesus Christ

through his hands.

[2] she and her six sisters consecrated as virgins And when two years had passed after he had taken

his wife, she conceived and bore seven daughters,

whom, when he had caused them to be renewed and consecrated at the font of Baptism

by the regenerating grace of Christ, he gave them

names: one Imma ^d, another Othilda ^e,

the third Liutdruda ^f, the fourth Pusinna ^g, the fifth

Francula, the sixth Liberata ^h, the seventh

Mathilda ⁱ. All these, therefore, when they had begun

to grow a little, the aforenamed father, as being most dear daughters

whom he had received beforehand from the Lord,

obtained to be instructed and taught in psalms and

hymns in his own house under the hand of Eugenius the priest.

Then, ten years having passed, when the aforesaid daughters had already

thoroughly learned to praise God in psalms

and hymns and spiritual canticles, at that time

when holy Alpwinus, bishop of the holy church of Châlons,

was going about his diocese for the sake of preaching and

of confirmation in the power of the Holy Spirit, their father offered them

to that same holy bishop, to be consecrated to Christ

and veiled with the sacred veil.

[3] Whose unanimous and concordant will in such a purpose

when holy Alpwinus perceived, by St. Alpinus; in a place left to her from her father's inheritance

he consecrated them and set the veils of virginity with

the sign of blessing upon their heads, praying

the Lord that He would grant them a service persevering in

His will [k]. And it came to pass that, when

the last days of that same Sicmarus drew near, he gave

to his aforesaid seven daughters his inheritance,

and divided to each a part of his patrimony, according

as seemed good to him; that, dwelling in various places,

they might devoutly serve God and make commemoration

of his soul. Therefore the blessed and venerable

virgin of Christ, consecrated and beloved by Christ with a special affection,

Liutdrudis, received her inheritance

in the place which her father had prepared for himself for a solitary

dwelling for the sake of prayer, and for the continual contemplation

of Christ's kingdom, planted about on this side and that

with groves, but within quite suitable for

husbandry.

[4] And so when the blessed Virgin had received this as

her inheritance, she lives piously; she gave it a name from her father's name,

calling it Mount Sicmarus ^l. And from that time

in which the venerable virgin Liutdrudis, beloved of God,

lost both her parents, at the exhortation of Eugenius

the priest, night and day she did not cease to beseech

the Lord's mercy that He would not permit her to be separated from His love,

whom she had chosen as her spouse,

and that He would keep her unspotted from the fleshly desires which war against

the soul. Meanwhile, as the divine grace grew in her, she took counsel

with the often-named priest that she should go to Rome

and stay there some time for the sake of prayer;

then, returning home, that she might, if it could be

done, bring back some relics of the Saints obtained there,

whereby she might build an oratory in the place

handed over to her by her father.

[5] And when she had completed that great and perilous journey,

and had come to Rome, she goes to Rome, and having stayed there some time, by an angel she attached herself to a certain handmaid

of God named Justina, who in like manner gave herself

to continual prayers and alms, serving

God night and day. And when three months had been completed there,

an angel of God appeared to her in her sleep, saying:

Return into the land of thy nativity; of the relics

but of the holy martyrs, about which thou art anxious and

with too great an ardor art enkindled, be not troubled: but as soon

as thou shalt have crossed the mountains and shalt have come to the monastery ^m

of blessed Maurice, thence it behooves thee to receive relics,

and what thy soul desires thou shalt be able to obtain

by his prayers. Awaking, she poured forth prayer to

the Lord, and told her companion Eugenius the priest

the vision which she had seen. And he committed to God

all that had befallen them on the journey, and the purpose

of his sister Luitdrudis.

[6] And rising at earliest dawn, they began

to make their journey, she is admonished about her return; coming to Ravenna, according as the angel of the Lord had commanded.

And after some days, coming together

near the city of Ravenna ⁿ, they saw a certain handmaid

who had come out of her mistress's house, and blessed

Luitdrudis said to her: Return into the house and tell

thy mistress that a pilgrim asks lodging

with her. She answered: Thou canst not, Lady,

have lodging here, because my mistress's daughter is

at the point of death. Holy Luitdrudis said to her:

Shall thy mistress's daughter die because of me? The girl,

having returned, said to her mistress: Behold, mistress,

a certain pilgrim stands near the door, asking

entrance for lodging. And she rejoiced, and running

to meet her said: Lady, come into my lodging,

and see the affliction of thy handmaid, for my only daughter

is made ready for death; and I cannot obtain

from God that I should die and she live: and taking

her hand, she led her into her lodging.

[7] she obtains health for a dying girl, But she, when she had greeted the household of the house,

prostrated herself upon the face of the earth, and thus prayed: Lord

my God, who alone hast the power of giving life

and of putting to death, grant health to Thy handmaid,

and restore her unharmed to her parents: and rising

from prayer, she took the girl's hand and raised her up

sound and unharmed. Then the girl, who

for three days had not spoken a word, said to blessed

Luitdruda: Welcome art thou come, Handmaid of God,

to deliver me from the precipice of death and to gladden my parents.

I pray thee, therefore, give me to eat

and to drink from thy hand; and taking of the covering

of thy head, thou shalt veil my head: for it behooves

me to remain with thee in my life. Blessed

Luitdrudis answered and said: Because of the comeliness of thy beauty

thou wilt not be able to journey with me; nevertheless,

if thou shalt persevere unto the end in chastity

of life, thou shalt be with me in the glory of God. And the girl's parents

begged her to remain there; and when

they could in no way obtain this, they conducted

her with great honor and joy as far as another

city.

[8] returning home, she builds a church to St. Maurice; And when blessed Luitdrudis, together with her companion,

had come to the place of the martyrdom ^o of the most blessed

commander Maurice, the guardian of the church, George

by name, received her into lodging; to whom, when she had told

of the angelic vision, he with great veneration

gave her relics of the glorious martyr Maurice, which,

receiving with immense joy, and reverently bringing them

as far as the aforementioned place which her father had given her,

she hastened to build a church,

and through the ministry of her own bishop to consecrate it in honor

of holy Maurice. And beside that

church she built herself a little cell, in which until

the day of her death, solemnly serving God, she dwelt.

She also put a hair shirt next to her flesh within,

and chastising her body with fastings and afflictions,

whatever she could acquire and gather from the revenue of her own property

she took most diligent care to bestow

upon the poor. And she herself once in the week

or twice took barley bread with water;

but sweet or delightful foods, which were very often

offered to her, she distributed to the infirm and the sick.

[9] she stands by her dying sister St. Pusinna While the Lord's virgin Luitdrudis was doing these things,

behold, suddenly a messenger came who said to her: Behold, thy sister

Pusinna, who received her inheritance in the village of Basonium [p],

is sick, and calls for thee. When

the Handmaid of God had heard this, she rose from the ground and scattered

ashes upon her head, and, clothed in a hair shirt, through

the whole night she prayed the Lord, and said that she might deserve

to see her before the day of her falling asleep. And when morning

had come, she went thither together with Eugenius the priest;

and when she had entered the house, she found her sister

set at the point of death; for for five

days she had not spoken any word, but only

made a sign, asking whether her Sister were yet coming.

But as soon as holy Luitdrudis entered the house,

blessed Pusinna raised herself and said: God almighty,

I give Thee thanks, because Thou hast heard me, that I might deserve to see

my most beloved sister Luitdruda. And

she said to her: My dearest sister, now I shall die glad,

because I have seen thy face. But I pray that thou wilt not

depart from this place until thou hast given my body to burial:

and having said this, leaning upon her Sister's neck,

she began to weep, and amid weeping and the embraces

of her Sister she passed to the Lord. And blessed

Luitdrudis buried her with hymns and prayers

in the village mentioned above, in a famous place beside

the church of blessed Mary [q].

[10] And the funeral rites of her dearest sister being performed,

she returned to her little cell, and she herself dies. and always persisted untiring

in the work she had begun, avoiding human praise

and shunning the boastfulness of human vanity.

But after the consummation of good works in

a good old age [r], full of days and of heavenly merits,

in the best confession she passed to the Lord.

Nor was there delay: the divine power was present, and by the hands

of angels raised her soul to the starry mansions.

The blessed virgin Luitdrudis was therefore buried

in her own church before the altar of holy Maurice. Then,

a few days having passed, a glass vessel which before

her sepulcher had once been filled with oil began to overflow,

and a multitude of oil ran down from above

upon the ground: whence a very great throng of the sick,

anointed with it, was healed by the grace of the Holy Spirit of various

infirmities [s], our Lord

Jesus Christ granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit

lives and reigns God through all the ages of

ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

k. What has been

narrated thus far agrees plainly in substance not only with the Rhythm of Theodoric,

bishop of Trier, but also with the aforesaid Acts of SS. Pusinna and

Hoyldis, nay, with the Life of St. Alpinus given in the second place in volume 3 of September at

the 7th day, page 89, where at numbers 15 and 16 the biographer reports the consecration of the seven sisters

by St. Alpinus, and greatly praises their holiness.

For the rest, since from the times of Alpinus we must learn in what century the said sisters

lived, Baillet was incidentally corrected there in the Annotations to chapter 2, letter g,

when he says at the 22nd day of September that St. Alpinus does not seem to be known except from these Lives

of the holy virgins; whereas he himself on the 29th of July,

in the Life of St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, reckons among his disciples

Alpinus of Châlons; and rightly indeed, since the ancient and trustworthy biographer of that same St.

Lupus, published by us in volume VII of July, page 70, names among his disciples in express words: Holy Alpinus also, bishop of the city of Châlons. We fixed St. Lupus's death in the year 479; St. Alpinus's about the year 510; hence gather at what times St. Lutrudis and her sisters lived: but see also below at letter r.

if the first, and the monastery of Agaunum be designated, founded or restored by St. Sigismund,

we might conjecture from it that the Saint lived long after the year 515, which is probable enough.

p. It is a place not far from Corbie in France, as Saussay and Castellanus note.

q. Whatever you have here about our Saint's coming to her dying sister, the biographer of St. Pusinna also described, but much more fully, in volume 3 of April, page 169 and following.

r. Those words in a good old age moved

me to attach the Saint's death to the sixth century, since St. Alpinus, who as bishop of Châlons

consecrated her a virgin to God, died about the year

510, as we showed with more probability in volume 3 of September.

Brower,

volume 1 of the Annales Trevirenses, page 479, giving from ancient parchments of the library of St. Matthias

an abridgment of the Rhythmic Life composed by Theodoric, archbishop of Trier,

set out that prodigy — but wrongly, in my judgment — as though the oil, healing to the sick,

had flowed from the Saint's tomb: But of the oil, he says,

which flowed perpetually from her tomb and brought health to the diseased,

Theodoric the archbishop left it thus written, that you may see the form of his rhythms.

Wholly wondrous is God's power, wondrous his own Note: elsewhere thy merit:

The little vessel once filled and the oil once kindled

Began to suffer no diminution from its use:

[Nay, growing little by little and flowing over above,

Its abundance ran down from above upon the ground,

Thus giving a clear token of thy merits.]

What shall I say of sight restored to the blind anointed with it?

What of hearing to the deaf, of the tongue's office to the dumb?

Shall I now unfold the use of walking bestowed upon the lame?

The diverse distresses of every several infirmity,

By which either the body grows faint or the soul wastes away,

Have again and again through you obtained their former healing.

The words enclosed in brackets (with one word, however, transposed, since the reading ran copia labebatur) I have supplied from both of our manuscript copies. But from the whole context I understand nothing else than that the oil of the lamp set before the tomb was prodigiously increased and was health-bringing to the sick, which the verses immediately preceding likewise suggest; they run thus:

How much, O Blessed one, you can do, how much, O virgin, you avail;

The healing of so many, lately rendered through you, proves it;

The joys of so many, whom you help when entreated, prove it;

The healthful oil proves it, poured upon the ailing,

Which in the days next after your passing then

Was set before your tomb together with your vessel.

\ add se*