720 St. Otilie, virgin born blind, rejected by
Lord Adalric, reared by abesses, baptized at 12 by Saint Erhard
of Regensburg (Bishop of Bavaria) and immediately gained her
sight.
In território Argentoraténsi
sanctæ Othíliæ Vírginis; In the territory of Strasbourg,
Saint
Odilia, (circa 660 - 720; Ottilia, Othilia, Otilie, Adilia,
Odile; Virgin and Abbess,
Odilia_Mt_Ottrott_France.jpg
patron of the vision, eye disease
and eye problems, and opticians) the patron saint of Alsace
and Strasbourg, was according to legend the daughter of Lord
Adalric, a leader of the Alemanni, and first duke of Alsace; her
mother was Bereswind (Berchsind), said to be the niece of St Leodegarius.
They lived at Obernheim in the Vosges Mountains, about 20 miles south
of Strasburg (eastern France), at the foot of the hill of Hohenburg
or Altitonia.
For years they had no children but finally, in answer to their
prayers they had a child. They had hoped to have a son, but Adalric’s joy
turned to rage when he realized his child was not only female, but blind.
He felt humiliated and ordered the child to be killed, or at least to be
taken away and left to die. At the same time he had it proclaimed with trumpets
that the duchess had given birth to a stillborn child. Bereswind’s faithful
nurse took the baby and nursed it as her own at Scherweiler. About a year
later, the child was given to the convent of Baume-les-Dames (Palma), near
Besançon, in Franche Compte, or by some
variants of the legend, she floated down the river to Beaume
in a chest.
At the age of twelve, she was
baptised by Saint Erhard of Regensburg (then Bishop of Bavaria),
abbot of the newly built monastery of Eberheim-Munster. Odilia
miraculously gained her sight and looked steadily at Erhard, who
said, "So, my child, may you look at me in the kingdom of heaven."
Adalric and Bereswind had several
other children, and when their eldest son Hugh was grown up,
he located his sister and without asking his father’s permission,
brought her home. The Duke was so angry that he struck and killed
the brother; but horrified at his own violence, he accepted his
daughter and did penance for his crime. Her personal beauty, and
her father's wealth and power, began to attract many rich suitors.
A nun from England became a servant to attend to Odilia and when her
parents planned a marriage for her with a German duke, she fled her
home and crossed the Rhine. In 686, Adalric found her one day carrying
meal in an earthen dish, under her cloak, to make food for the poor.
Since he had already begun to give alms and endowments for the good of
his soul, he gave Odilia his castle of Hohenburg, with all its lands
and revenues, that she might make it into a nunnery (modern Odilienburg/Mont
Sainte-Odile).
The hill of Hohenburg rises over
2,000 feet abruptly from the valley of the Rhine. It had a pre-Christian
wall around it, still called the heathen wall, and there was a
plateau on top, on which the monastery was built. Within ten years
the place had a hundred and thirty nuns, amongst whom were the three
daughters of her brother Adelard, St Eugenia, her successor, St
Attala, abbess of St Stephen's at Strasburg, and St Gundelind. There
Odilia served her Lord, governed a large community, and gave relief
to every sort of suffering.
In the 7th and 8th centuries there
were frequent pilgrimages to Hohenburg, but Odilia's hill was
so high and steep that very few of the pilgrims managed to climbed
to seek her hospitality; so at the foot of the mountain and with the
approval of her community, she founded the Odilienberg monastery at
Niedermunster. There she entertained such numbers of pilgrims that
very soon the two chapels which Adalric had built were too small that
she begged him to build a large church, which he did in 690. Olilia’s
parents both died shortly afterwards. Then she died December13, 720 and
was buried in a chapel near the convent church on the Odilienberg. The
tomb where once Odilia's body originally lay was evidently destroyed
in 1793. In recent times, an abbey has been founded by a new Benedictine
congregation at Sankt Ottilien, between Munich and Augburg.
Odilia shares the same feast day,
December 13th , as Saint Lucy, while her shrine on the Odilienburg
is still a celebrated place of pilgrimage, visited by devout
pilgrims and those afflicted with blindness or other eye diseases.
She also gave her name to the Guild of St Odilia (Consulting Opticians)
early this century. In art, she is frequently depicted as an abbess
with a book on which are two eyes. She can therefore be easily distinguished
from Saint Lucy, who is shown much younger and with two eyes on a
plate.
Some eye conditions cannot be
helped by operations, medicines, or eyeglasses. Although the
invoked stories of Odelia and the other saints of the eyes may
be the consequence of both fact and fiction, this still provides
the hope of a miraculous cure for some believing patients.
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720
St. Hermenland Evangelizer of Normandy miracle worker gift
of prophecy
In
Antro, ínsula Lígeris flúminis, sancti
Hermelándi Abbátis, cujus gloriósa conversátio
insígni miraculórum præcónio commendátur.
At Indre, an island in the Loire, Abbot
St. Hermeland, whose glorious life was commended by outstanding
miracles.
France, a miracle worker
also called Erblon, Herbland, and Hermel and. Born near Noyon,
he entered Fontenelle Abbey under St. Lambert after serving King
Clotaire III. Hermenland led a group of twelve monks to evangelize
Nantes, erecting an abbey on an island in the Loire. He died at
Aindreete. Hermenland had a gift of prophecy and performed miracles.
Hermenland, OSB Abbot (RM) (also
known as Hermeland, Herbland, Erblon) Born in Noyon; died c.
720. Saint Hermenland served as royal cup- bearer in his youth.
Later he withdrew to Fontenelle and became a monk under Saint Lambert.
Following his priestly ordination, Hermenland was sent with a band
of 12 monks to become the first abbot of a new abbey on the island
of Aindre in the estuary of the Loire, which had been founded by Saint
Pascharius. Hermenland had the gift of prophecy and could read minds
(Attwater2, Benedictines).
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720 St. Wulfram
Bishop missionary preach among the Frisians miracle while
praying and several miracles after death
In
monastério Fontanéllæ, in Gállia,
sancti Wulfránni, Epíscopi Senonénsis,
qui, relícto Episcopátu, ibídem, clarus miráculis,
decéssit e vita.
In the monastery of Fontanelle in France, St. Wulfran,
bishop of Sens, who resigned his bishopric, and after having
performed miracles, departed out of this life.
Wulfram (d. early eighth century)
+ Bishop and missionary Born at Milly. France, he was the son
of Fuldert, a courtier in the service of the Frankish king Dagobert
(r. 623-639). Wulfram served in the Court of King Thierry (r.
670-687) of Neustria (parts of France). Ordained a priest, he was
appointed bishop of Sens, replacing the rightful occupant of the
see, St. Amatus, who was then in exile. Owing to the controversy,
Wulfram resigned after two-and-one-half years and set out to preach
among the Frisians.
With a group of monks, he converted
many Frisians, including the son of the pagan ruler Radbod,
before finally returning to Fontenelle, France, where he died.
Wulfram of Fontenelle, OSB B
(RM) (also known as Wolfram, Wulfrannus) Died at Fontenelle,
France, April 20, c. 703 (or 720?); feast of his translation,
October 15. The story of Saint Wulfram takes us back to the days
of the Franks and the dark gods of the north, and of the wild Teutonic
tribes and old Norse sagas, when a handful of devoted men sailed into
the northern night with the Cross at their prow and challenged the
power of Odin and Thor.
Wulfram came of a gentler race,
born and bred in a civilized land, nurtured in the wealthy
home of his father, an official of King Dagobert. He found his
first employment in the French court under Clotaire III, and, in
682, was rewarded with the archbishopric of Sens in place of its rightful
bishop, Saint Amatus. But, strangely moved by God's Spirit to acknowledge
the see's licit bishop and by the challenge of the pagan lands, within
three years he laid aside his high employments and gave his property
of Maurilly to the Church. In order to prepare himself to take the
Gospel to the Frisians and obtain the help of monks, he retired for
a time at Fontenelle. Then he set sail for Scandinavia with a small
group of followers.
Longfellow in his poem, The Saga
of King Olaf, vividly describes how during the voyage Wulfram,
surrounded by his choristers chanting into the night, held
service on deck:
To the ship's bow he ascended,
By his choristers attended,
Round him were the tapers lighted, And the
sacred incense rose.
On the bow stood Bishop
Sigurd, In his robes as one transfigured, And the Crucifix he
planted
It was a hard and
evil time, and only with great difficulty did his enterprise
make headway. The son of king Radbod was converted. Wulfram,
however, was allowed to settle and to preach the Gospel.
The missionaries had some success, but as in other parts of Europe
during the period, the attitude of the king was likely to be decisive.
Wulfram found that children were
sacrificed to appease their heathen gods, hung on roadside gibbets, or fastened
to posts on the shore and left to drown with the tide. On great pagan festivals,
the people would cast lots to see who should be sacrificed. Immediately the
chosen one would be hanged or cut into pieces. In vain he appealed to Radbod
to prohibit such inhuman practices, but the king replied that it was the
custom of the country and he could not alter it.
He even cynically challenged Wulfram
to rescue the victims if he could, whereupon Wulfram, taking
him at his word, strode into the raging sea to save two children
who were helpless and almost submerged.
At other times he cut down the
bodies of those who were nearly dead from the gallows to which
they were tied and restored them as in the case of Ovon. The lot
decided that Ovon should be sacrificed. Wulfram earnestly begged
King Radbod to save him: but the people ran to the palace, outraged
at such a sacrilege. After much discussion they agreed that if Wulfram's
God should save Ovon's life, he should ever serve him and be Wulfram's
slave. The saint went into prayer. After hanging on the gibbet for
two hours, the man was left for dead. The cord hanging him broke.
When the body fell to the ground,
Ovon was found to be alive. He was given to the saint and became
a monk and priest at Fontenelle.
The missionaries and their miracles
so impressed the inhabitants that, filled with fear and wonder,
they renounced their false gods and were baptized, and even Radbod
himself was converted. But at the point of baptism, Radbod asked
where his ancestors were. Wulfram answered that hell was the destiny
of idolators. Radbod then declared: "I will go to hell with my
ancestors rather than be in heaven without them."
Radbod later sent for Saint Willibrord to baptize him, but
when the saint arrived the king was already dead. Thus, he
was never experienced the mercy of the sacrament.
For twenty years Wulfram continued
his arduous missionary activity until failing health compelled
him to return to France; but always he is remembered as the captain
of a Christian crew, who "bore the White Christ" through the vapors
of the northern night. His relics were translated
from Fontenelle to Abbeville, where Wulfram is venerated as patron
and where several miracles occurred.
In 1062, his relics were moved
to Rouen. Both his feasts are celebrated in Croyland Abbey
(Lincolnshire), England, probably because their abbot Ingulfph
(1086-1109) was a monk of Fontenelle.
The vita of Wulfram was written
by the monk Jonas of Fontenelle eleven years after his death
(Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth).
Saint Wulfram is depicted in
art as baptizing a young king. Sometimes (1) the young king
is near him; (2) he is shown arriving by ship with monks and baptizing
the king; or (3) he is shown baptizing the son of King Radbod (Roeder).
Wulfram is venerated at Fontenelle, Frisia, and Sens (Roeder).
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720 Silvin of Auchy
40 yrs indefatigable preaching Christian truths essential obligations ransomed
slaves, held in great honour,
not only on account of his charity and holiness, but also for the gift of
healing with which he was credited. OSB B (RM) (also known
as Silvinus)
In
pago Tarvanénsi, in Gállia, sancti Silvíni, Epíscopi
Tolosáni.
In the territory of Terouanne in France, St. Silvinus,
bishop of Toulouse.
720 ST SILVIN, Bishop held
in great honour, not only on account of his charity and holiness, but also
for the gift of healing with which he was credited.
NOTHING is definitely known of the parentage of St Silvin. His early manhood
was spent at the court of Kings Childeric II and Thierry III. He was betrothed
and was about to be married when he felt the call to abandon the world and
to follow Christ in the path of poverty and celibacy, and he accordingly
retired from the court. He received holy orders in Rome and afterwards became
a bishop. Some accounts say that his diocese was Toulouse, others give it
as Thérouanne, but as his name is not found in any register of either
of these churches it seems more likely that he was ordained a regionary bishop
to preach the gospel to the heathen.
Silvin worked zealously in
the north of France, spending most of his time in the region of Thérouanne,
which was then full of pagans or of nominal Christians who were not much
better than heathens. He was indefatigable in preaching to them and he gained
a considerable harvest of souls by his teaching and example.
Much of his private fortune
was expended in ransoming slaves from the barbarians, and he devoted the
rest to charity and to the building of churches. Although he was endowed
with good looks and a courtly address he wore the meanest clothes and practised
great austerities; it was remarked that in his humble house he received
every stranger as though he were Christ Himself. St Silvin’s biographer
says that for forty years he ate no bread, but lived on potherbs and fruit,
and the only possession he retained for himself was a horse which he rode
when he became too weak to walk. His great wish was to live the life of
a hermit, but his bodily infirmities would have precluded it even had
he obtained release from his episcopal duties. He appears to have died at
Auchy-les-Moines near Arms, and was certainly buried in that monastery.
Even in his lifetime he was held in great honour, not only on account of
his charity and holiness, but also for the gift of healing with which he
was credited.
There is a
Latin life of St Silvin by Bishop Antenor, who must have been a contemporary,
but it has undergone revision and amplification at a later date. The text
will be found in the Acta Sanctorum,
February, vol. iii, and in Mabillon. Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux,
vol. iii, p. 534, thinks that Silvin was probably a “Scot”, and
points out that Folcuin makes it clear that he was still living at the time
of the battle of Vincy (717).
Born at Toulouse (?), France; died February 15, c. 718-720.
Silvinus, a courtier of Childeric II and Theodoric III, gave up his worldly
life and became a penitential pilgrim to Jerusalem and other holy sites.
In Rome, he was ordained, then consecrated regional bishop
and evangelized in the area around Thérouanne and Toulouse. He was
indefatigable in preaching Christian truths and essential obligations; and
taught pagans to despise and renounce pleasures of this life, by appearing
on all occasions a strong lesson of self-denial and mortification. Thus,
instructing them both by words and actions, he gathered a large harvest
in a wild and uncultivated field. After some 40 years of missionary activity,
which included the ransoming of many slaves, he retired to the Benedictine
abbey of Auchy-les-Moines, where he died worn out by evangelizing.
He is commemorated in Usuard, the Belgic, and Roman martyrologies,
on February 17, the day of his burial, and at Auchy on February 15. Most
of his relics reside now in Saint-Bertin's Church at Saint- Omer, to which
they were translated in 951, for fear of the Normans.
His original vita, which was ascribed to Antenor, a disciple
of the saint, is lost; the one that remains was compiled in the ninth century
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
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722 St. Richard
of Swabia brother of St. Boniface Miracles reported at
his tomb father of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and
Walburga
Richard was the father of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and Walburga. He was on a pilgrimage to
Rome from his native Wessex, England, with his two sons when he was stricken
and died at Lucca, Italy. Miracles were reported at his tomb and he became
greatly venerated by the citizens of Lucca, who embellished accounts of
his life by calling him "king of the English".
Richard the "King" (RM) Died 722.
Perhaps Saint Richard was not really a king--early Italian
legend made him a prince of Wessex--but his sanctity was verified
by the fact that he fathered three other saints: Willibald, Winebald (Wunibald), and
Walpurga (Walburga).
Butler tells us that "Saint Richard, when living, obtained by
his prayers the recovery of his younger son Willibald, whom he
laid at the foot of a great crucifix erected in a public place
in England, when the child's life was despaired of in a grievous
sickness. . . . [he was] perhaps deprived of his inheritance by
some revolution in the state; or he renounced it to be more at liberty
to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Christian perfection. . .
. Taking with him his two sons, he undertook a pilgrimage of penance
and devotion, and sailing from Hamble-haven, landed in Neustria on
the western coasts of France. He made a considerable stay at Rouen,
and made his devotions in the most holy places that lay in his way
through France."
He fell ill, died suddenly at
Lucca, Italy, and was buried in the church of San Frediano.
A later legend makes him the duke of Swabia, Germany. Miracles
were reported at his tomb, and he became greatly venerated by
the citizens of Lucca and those of Eichstatt to where some of his
relics were translated. The natives of Lucca amplified accounts
of his life by calling him king of the English. Neither of his legends
is especially trustworthy--even his real name is unknown and dates
only from the 11th century. A famous account of the pilgrimage on
which he died was written by his son's cousin, the nun Hugeburc, entitled
Hodoeporicon (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth,
White)
In art, King Saint Richard
is portrayed as a royal pilgrim (ermine- lined cloak) with
two sons--one a bishop and one an abbot. His crown may be on a
book (Roeder). He is venerated at Heidenheim and Lucca (Roeder).
February 7th Troparion (Tone
3) Accepting Christ our God as King, O Father Richard, thou
didst leave thy native Wessex to be a pilgrim. Pray that in our
pilgrimage we may find salvation for our souls.
St. Richard of Swabia also known
as St. Richard, King of Wessex (Kingdom of the West Saxons) is
the brother of St. Boniface. It is uncertain whether or not he
was crowned a king in this life, but he is certainly numbered with
the "kings and priests" in the Kingdom of Christ. His sons, Willibald
and Winebald are also Saints, as is his daughter, Walburga. He and his
two sons left England to undertake a pilgrimage of penance and devotion.
They made their way through France. Then Richard fell ill and reposed
in Lucca, Italy, in 722. He was buried in the Church of St. Frediano.
Miracles were reported at his tomb. His sons, now joined by their sister,
were recruited by their uncle, the newly elevated Bishop Boniface of
Germany, to evangelize Germany. St. Walburga was the first abbess in Heidenheim.
St. Willibald settled in Eichstatt. Some of St. Richard's remains were
then translated to Eichstatt, and many there were healed through his intercessions.
His connection to Swabia is apparently due to devotion to him after his
repose for miracles worked through his intercession.
http://www.comeandseeicons.com/inp23.htm
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721-724 Malrubius
priest Abbot austere monastic life known for piety learning
miracles M (AC)
(also known as Maelrubha) Descended
from the princely line of Niall, Saint Malrubius was a member of
Saint Comgall's glorious company at Bangor Abbey,
where he was ordained to the priesthood. He migrated to Scotland
to spread the Gospel among the Picts much as Saint Columba did
in the 6th century. There he led an austere monastic life and was
known for his piety, learning, and miracles.
He founded a church at Applecross in
County Ross on the Isle of Skye from which he led a revival of the Celtic
Church. It is said that, at the age of 80, he was massacred
by Norwegian pirates whom he tried to evangelize. According to
legend, the parish church at Urquhart is said to have been the
site of the chapel built over the site of his execution.
A six-mile area around
his burial mound outside Applecross, Cloadh Maree, was accorded all the rights
and privileges of a sanctuary many were healed at his holy well
.
Place names throughout the western
highlands, particularly between Loch Carron and Loch Broom,
note Malrubius as titular patron. Twenty-one known parishes were
dedicated to Malrubius under names such as Maree, Mulruby, Mary,
Murry, Summuruff, and Summereve. He is invoked for the cure of
insanity, because so many were healed at his holy well and spring
near his cemetery and oratory on Inis Maree in Loch Maree. Malrubius
is venerated especially in Aberdeen and Connaught (Attwater2, Benedictines,
Coulson, D'Arcy, Husenbeth, Montague, Montalembert, Moran, Mould, Simpson,
Skene).
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724
St. Giles Abbot the highest repute for sanctity and
miracles (Patron of Physically Disabled).
In província Narbonénsi sancti
Ægídii, Abbátis et Confessóris,
cujus nómine est appellátum óppidum, quod
póstea crevit in loco, ubi ipse monastérium eréxerat
et mortális vitæ cursum absólverat.
In the province of Narbonne,
St. Giles, abbot and confessor. A town which later arose
in the place where he had built his monastery and where he died
was named after him.
St. Giles is said
to have been a seventh century Athenian of noble birth.
His piety and learning made him so conspicuous and an object of such
admiration in his own country that, dreading praise and longing
for a hidden life, he left his home and sailed for France. At first he
took up his abode in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone river, afterward
near the river Gard, and, finally, in the diocese of Nimes.
He spend many years in solitude
conversing only with God. The fame of his miracles became so
great that his reputation spread throughout France. He was highly
esteemed by the French king, but he could not be prevailed upon
to forsake his solitude. He admitted several disciples, however,
to share it with him. He founded a monastery, and established an
excellent discipline therein. In succeeding ages it embraced the
rule of St. Benedict. St. Giles died probably in the beginning of the
eighth century, about the year 724.
St. Giles (Latin Ægidius.)
An Abbot, said to
have been born of illustrious Athenian parentage about the middle
of the seventh century. Early in life he devoted himself exclusively
to spiritual things, but, finding his noble birth and high repute
for sanctity in his native land an obstacle to his perfection, he
passed over to Gaul, where he established himself first in a wilderness
near the mouth of the Rhone and later by the River Gard. But here again
the fame of his sanctity drew multitudes to him, so he withdrew to
a dense forest near Nîmes, where in the greatest solitude he spent
many years, his sole companion being a hind. This last retreat was finally
discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued the hind to its place
of refuge. The king [who according to the legend was Wamba (or Flavius?),
King of the Visigoths, but who must have been a Frank, since the Franks
had expelled the Visigoths from the neighbourhood of Nîmes almost
a century and a half earlier] conceived a high esteem for solitary,
and would have heaped every honour upon him; but the humility of the
saint was proof against all temptations. He consented, however, to receive
thenceforth some disciples, and built a monastery in his valley, which
he placed under the rule of St. Benedict. Here he died in the early
part of the eighth century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles.
His cult spread rapidly far and
wide throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by
the numberless churches and monasteries dedicated to him in
France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the British Isles; by the
numerous manuscripts in prose and verse commemorating his virtues
and miracles; and especially by the vast concourse of pilgrims
who from all Europe flocked to his shrine. In 1562 the relics of the
saint were secretly transferred to Toulouse to save them from the
hideous excesses of the Huguenots who were then ravaging France, and
the pilgrimage in consequence declined.
With the restoration
of a great part of the relics to the church of St. Giles in
1862, and discovery of his former tomb there in 1865, the pilgrimages
have recommenced. Besides the city of St-Gilles, which sprang up
around the abbey, nineteen other cities bear his name, St-Gilles,
Toulouse, and a multitude of French cities, Antwerp, Bridges, and
Tournai in Belgium, Cologne and Bamberg, in Germany, Prague and Gran
in Austria-Hungary, Rome and Bologna in Italy, possess celebrated
relics of St. Giles. In medieval art he is a frequent subject, being
always depicted with his symbol, the hind. His feast is kept on 1
September. On this day there are also commemorated another St. Giles,
an Italian hermit of the tenth century (Acta SS., XLI, 305), and a
Blessed Giles, d. about 1203, a Cistercian abbot of Castaneda in the
Diocese of Astorga, Spain (op. cit. XLI, 308).
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725 Barontius monk vision
to become hermit (Barontus) & Desiderius , OSB
Monks (RM)
Pistórii,
in Túscia, sanctórum Confessórum Baróntii
et Desidérii.
At Pistoia, the holy confessors Barontius
and Desiderius.
695 ST BARONTIUS
AFTER a career “in the world” Barontius about the year 675 withdrew
with his young son to the abbey of Lonray in Berry; but though he professed
first to distribute all his property he secretly retained some of it
for his own use. One day after Matins he was suddenly attacked with violent
pains, accompanied by difficulty of breathing, and he fell into a state
of coma which lasted many hours. Upon coming to himself he described
a series of extraordinary visions which he had experienced. He thought
that two demons had seized him by the throat and had tortured him till
the hour of Terce, but that St Raphael had come to his assistance and had
delivered him from their hands. He had then been brought before St Peter,
and the devils had accused him of the sins of his past life, but Peter (who
was also the patron of the monastery) had defended him and had declared
that he had expiated his lapses, but imposed a penance for his deceit about
the property. After having sent him to witness the torments of Hell (where
Barontius recognized certain bishops suffering for their avarice) and a
wait in Purgatory, St Peter had bidden him return to his monastery, give
his remaining possessions to the poor, and be careful not to relapse
into sin.
Deeply impressed by this experience,
Barontius went on a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle in Rome, and
then retired to a hermitage near Pistoia, together with another monk,
named Desiderius. In 1018 a monastery was built on the site where the
two hermits had lived and died. It was dedicated under the name of St
Barontius, but it is possible that this recluse Barontius and he of the
vision were not the same person.
We
have two documents which supply information concerning St Barontius—the
Vision and the Life. The former, as W. Levison has shown in MGH.,
Scriptores Merov., vol. v, pp. 368—394, is of early
date, possibly the close of the eighth century, and is an interesting specimen
of the same type of experience as those of Fursey and Drithelm recorded
in the pages of Bede. The life can hardly be older than the year 1000,
and little reliance can he placed upon the incidents it professes to record.
Both these texts had previously been edited by the Bollandists and Mabillon.
Barontius was a gentleman of Berry who, together with
his son, became a monk at Lonrey in the diocese of Bourges. As a result
of a vision, he asked permission to become a hermit, set out for Italy,
and established himself in the district of Pistoia.
There he lived a most austere life with another saintly
monk, Desiderius (Attwater2,
Benedictines).
|
727 St. Hubert Bishop
of Maastricht noted for miracles; converting hundreds.
Eódem
die sancti Hubérti, Tungrénsis Epíscopi.
On the same day, St. Hubert, bishop of Tongres.
Netherlands disciple of
St. Lambert
727 ST HUBERT,
BISHOP OF LIEGE
“God called St
Hubert from a worldly life to his service in an extraordinary
manner; though the circumstances of this event are so obscured
by popular inconsistent relations that we have no authentic account
of his actions before he was engaged in the service of the church
under the discipline of St Lambert, Bishop of Maestricht”.
The “extraordinary
manner” referred to in Alban Butler’s commendably guarded statement
is related to have been as follows:
Hubert was very fond of hunting and
one Good Friday went out after a stag when everybody else was
going to church. In a clearing of the wood the beast turned, displaying
a crucifix between its horns. Hubert stopped in astonishment, and
a voice came from the stag, saying, “Unless you turn to the Lord,
Hubert, you shall fall into Hell”. He cast himself on his knees,
asking what he should do, and the voice told him to seek out Lambert,
the bishop of Maestricht, who would guide him.
This, of course,
is the same as the legend of the conversion of St Eustace (September
20).
However the retirement of Hubert
from the world came about, he entered the service of St Lambert and was ordained
priest. When the bishop was murdered at Liege about the year 705 Hubert was
selected to govern the see in his place. Some years later he translated Lambert’s
bones from Maestricht to Liege, then only a village upon the banks of the
Meuse, which from this grew into a flourishing city. St Hubert placed
the relics of the martyr in a church, which he built upon the spot where
he had suffered and made it his cathedral, removing thither the episcopal
see from Maestricht. Hence St Lambert is honoured at Liege as principal patron of the diocese and St Hubert as founder of
the city and church, and its first bishop.
In those days the forest of
Ardenne stretched from the Meuse to the Rhine and in several
parts the gospel of Christ had not yet taken root. St Hubert penetrated
into the most remote and barbarous places of this country and
abolished the worship of idols; and as he performed the office of
the apostles, God bestowed on him a like gift of miracles.
Amongst others, the author of hss life relates
as an eyewitness that on the rogation-days the holy bishop
went out of Maestricht in procession through the fields
and villages, with his clergy and people according to custom,
following the standard of the cross and the relics of the saints,
and singing the litany. A woman possessed by an evil spirit disturbed
this procession but St Hubert silenced her and restored her to her
health by signing her with the cross. Before his death he is said to
have been warned of it in a vision and given as it were a sight of the
place prepared for him in glory. Twelve months later he went into Brabant
to consecrate a new church. He was taken ill immediately after at Tervueren,
near Brussels. On the sixth day of his sickness he quietly died, on
May 30, in 727.
His body was conveyed
to Liege and laid in the church of St Peter. It was translated in 825 to
the abbey of Andain, since called Saint-Hubert, in Ardenne, on the frontiers
of the duchy of Luxemburg. November 3, the date of St Hubert’s feast, is
probably the day of the enshrining of his relics at Liege sixteen years after
his death. St Hubert is, with St Eustace, patron saint of hunting-men, and
is invoked against hydrophobia.
St
Hubert was formerly, and perhaps is still, greatly venerated
by the people of Belgium. It is therefore not altogether surprising
that Fr Charles De Smedt,
writing in 1887, devoted 171 pages of
the Acta Sanctorum (November, vol.
i) to do him honour. But the one short primitive memoir by a
contemporary tells us nothing of his origin, of his alleged time
at the court of Austrasia, or of his wife; and the “son”, Floribert,
who became bishop, seems to have been his son only in a spiritual
sense. It is clearly manifest from the succession of lives printed
by Father De Smedt, and from his introduction, that the details of
St Hubert’s early career and conversion were not heard of before the
fourteenth century. But the story of the stag and the other miracles
attributed to the saint made his cult popular far beyond the confines
of the Netherlands. Two orders of chivalry, one in Lorraine and one
in Bavaria, were founded under his patronage, and there is a considerable
literature, dealing especially with his relics and with the folklore
aspects of the case. On this last subject see Bächtold-Stäubli,
Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens,
vol. iv, pp. 425—434; E. Van Heurck, Saint Hubert et son
culte en Belgique (1925) ; and L. Huyghebaert, Sint Hubertus, patroon van de jagers…(1949). Consult also A. Poncelet in
the Revue Charlemagne, vol. i (1911), pp. 129—145; the Analecta Bollandiana,
vol. xlv (1927), pp. 84—92 and 345-362. H. Leclercq, in DAC., vol.
ix (1930), cc. 630—631 and 655—656.
A useful handbook is that of Dom Réjalot, le culte et les reliques de S. Hubert (1928). The
best work from an historical point of view is by F. Baix in
La Terre Wallonne, vol. xvi (1927),
et seq.; see also “Une relation inédite de la
conversion de S. Hubert”, ed. M. Coens, in Analecta
Bollandiana, vol. xlv (1927), pp. 84—92.
Hubert was a married courtier
serving Pepin of Heristal, France. He reportedly had a vision
of a crucifix between the horns of a stag while hunting. Widowed,
he is believed to have entered Stavelot Monastery, Belgium, and
was ordained by St. Lambert
at Maastricht. He succeeded St. Lambert about 705 as
bishop. Hubert erected a shrine for St. Lambert’s relics at Liege,
France. He was noted for his miracles and for converting hundreds.
Hubert died at Tervueren, near Brussels, Belgium, on May 30. He is
a patron saint of hunters.
Hubert of Liège B (RM) Died at Tervueren
(near Brussels), Belgium, May 30, 727. Nothing reliable is known
about Saint Hubert before he became a cleric under Saint Lambert,
whom he succeeded as bishop of Tongres-Maestricht.
In medieval times many saints derived both
the pleasure of sport and some of their food from hunting.
According to legend both Saint Eustace and Saint Hubert came upon
a stag with a crucifix between its antlers. The stag's warning to
Hubert was sterner than that to Saint Eustace, since Hubert had been
hunting on Good Friday. Stopped in his tracks by the sight of the stag
and crucifix, Hubert heard a voice warning him that unless he turned
to Christ he was destined for hell.
This was in the forest of Ardenne. Hubert
had been a courtier whose wife died giving birth to their son
in the year 685. He retired from the service of Pepin of Heristal
and became a priestly servant of Bishop Lambert. For 10 years Saint
Lambert taught the future Saint Hubert self-discipline by making
him live alone as a hermit in the forest.
Around 705 Lambert publicly criticized King
Pepin for his adultery with the sister of his wife. The woman
called on her brother and some other men to murder Lambert in
the tiny village of Liège. Hubert was elected Lambert's successor.
Hubert courageously cherished the memory
of Saint Lambert. Since the saint had been murdered at Liège,
Hubert decided that his bones should not lie in the cathedral at
Maestricht. He transferred them to Liège and also made
that village the seat of his diocese. In consequence Liège
grew to be a great city. There today Saint Lambert is regarded as
patron of the diocese and Saint Hubert as patron and founder of the
city.
In the 8th century, the forest of Ardenne
was filled with men and women to whom the Gospel had never been
preached. They worshipped idols. The saint assiduously worked
to convert these people and destroy their pagan gods. He loved to
go in procession through the fields, chanting Christian prayers and
blessing the crops.
In 726, while fishing from a boat
in the Meuse, he met with an accident that caused him much suffering,
and he died fifteen months later, murmuring the Lord's Prayer
on May 30, 727, while on a trip to consecrate a new church. His son
succeeded him as bishop of Liège (Attwater, Bentley, Delaney,
Encyclopedia).
In art Hubert is represented as a huntsman
adoring a stag with a crucifix in its horns. Variously, he
may be shown (1) as a knight with a banner showing the stag's head
and crucifix; (2) as a young courtier with two hounds; (3) kneeling
in prayer, a hound before him; (4) kneeling before a stag as an angel
brings him his stole; (5) as a bishop holding a stag with the crucifix
on his book; (6) as a bishop with a hound, hunting horn, and stag
with a crucifix (not to be confused with Germanus of Auxerre); (7) celebrating
Mass as an angel brings him a scroll (very similar to the Mass of Saint
Giles) (Roeder).
Hubert is the patron of hunters and trappers,
metal-workers, and mathematicians (Roeder). It is believed that
the 15th century legend of his conversion developed because he
was regarded as a patron of hunters in Ardenne (Attwater).
|
735
St. Frideswide Benedictine hermitess nun founded the St. Mary’s Convent
in Oxford
Oxónii, in Anglia, sanctæ
Fredeswíndæ Vírginis.
At Oxford in England, St. Frideswide,
virgin.
735 St Frideswide, Virgin
Frideswide is the patron saint of Oxford.
William of Malmesbury, writing just before 1125, first tells
her legend in its simplest form. According to it Frideswide, having
miraculously got rid of the unwelcome attentions of a king, founded
a nunnery at Oxford and there spent the rest of her life. In its
more developed form we are told that her kingly father was named
Didan and her mother Safrida, and that her upbringing was entrusted
to a governess called Algiva. Her inclinations early led her towards
the religious state, for she had learned that “whatever is not God
is nothing”. But Algar, another prince, smitten with her beauty, tried
to carry her off. Frideswide thereupon fled down the Isis with two
companions, and concealed herself for three years, using a pig’s cote
as her monastic cell. Algar continued to pursue her and eventually, on
her invoking the aid of St Catherine and St Cecily, he was struck with
blindness and only recovered on leaving the maiden in peace. From which
circumstance it was said that the kings of England up to Henry II made
a special point of avoiding Oxford!
In order to live more perfectly
to God in closer retirement, St Frideswide built herself a
cell in Thornbury wood (now Binsey), where by fervour of her
penance and heavenly contemplation she advanced towards God and
His kingdom. The spring, which the saint made use of at Binsey, was
said obtained by her prayers, and was a place of pilgrimage in the
middle ages. Her death is put in 735; her tomb at Oxford was honoured
with many miracles and became one of the principal shrines of England.
The extant legend of St Frideswide seems
to represent no real tradition, and little reliance can be
put on it; but she probably founded a monastery at Oxford in
the eighth century, and after various vicissitudes it was refounded
in the early twelfth century for canons regular of St Augustine.
In 1180 the relics of St Frideswide were solemnly translated to a
new shrine in the church of her name; and twice a year, at mid-Lent
and on Ascension Day, the chancellor and members of the university
visited it ceremonially. By permission of Pope Clement VII the priory
of St Frideswide was dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey, who in 1525 founded
Cardinal College on its site, the priory church becoming the college
chapel.
In 1546 the college was re-established
by King Henry VIII as Christ Church (Aedes Christi: “The House”),
and the church, which had been St Frideswide’s, became, as well
as college chapel, the cathedral of the new diocese of Oxford
(and was so recognized by the Holy See on the reconciliation in
Mary’s reign).
The relics of the saint had
by this time been removed from their shrine, but apparently
they were not scattered. For in the year 1561 a certain canon
of Christ Church, named Calfhill, went to such trouble to desecrate
them that it would seem he must have been insane with fanaticism.
During the reign of Edward VI
there had been buried in the church the body of an apostate
nun, Catherine Cathie, who had been through a form of marriage
with the friar Peter Martyr Vermigli. Calfhill had Catherine’s
remains dug up (they had been removed from the church under Mary),
mixed them with the alleged relics of St Frideswide, and thus reinterred
them in the church. In the following year an account of this performance
was published in Latin (and another in German) which contained a number
of pseudo-pious reflections on the text Hic jacet religio cum superstitione:
“Here lies Religion with Superstition.” It does not appear that these
words were actually inscribed on the tomb or coffin, though that they
were is asserted by several writers, including Alban Butler, whose comment
is, “the obvious meaning of which [epitaph] would lead us to think these
men endeavoured to extinguish and bury all religion”.
St
Frideswide is named in the Roman Martyrology, and her feast
is observed in the archdiocese of Birmingham.
She
is said also to have a cultus at Borny in
Artois (under the name of Frévisse).
The legend
of St Frideswide has been transmitted in several varying texts
(see BHL., nn. 3162—3169). The more
important have been printed or summarized in the Acta
Sanctorum, October, vol. viii, and have also been discussed
by J. Parker, The Early History of Oxford
(1885), pp. 85-101. Cf. also
Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue (Rolls Series),
vol. i, pp. 459—462; DNB., vol. xx, pp. 275—276; an article by E.
F. Jacob, in The Times, October 58, 1935, pp. 15—16;
and another by F.M. Stenton in Oxoniensia, vol.
i (1936), pp. 103—112 (both reprinted, O.U.P., 1953). There is a popular
account by Fr F. Goldie, The Story of St Frideswide
(1881); see also E. W. Watson, The Cathedral
Church of Christ in Oxford (1935).
Daughter of Prince Didan of the
Upper Thames region of England. She is sometimes called Fredeswinda.
When Prince Algar of a neighboring kingdom asked for her hand
in marriage, Frideswide fled to Thomwry Wood in Birnsey, where she
became a hermitess. She founded the St. Mary’s Convent in Oxford
and is patroness of the university of that city. Her relics are extant.
In liturgical art she is depicted as a Benedictine, sometimes with
an ox for companion.
Frideswide of Oxford, OSB V (RM)
(also known as Fredeswinda, Frevisse); second feast day is
February 12. Her maxim from childhood is said to be: "Whatsoever
is not God is nothing."
Little can be said for certain
about Frideswide because the earliest written account dates
only from the 12th century, when her abbey became an Augustinian
foundation. William of Malmesbury recorded the legend from a version
attributed to Prior Robert of Cricklade. Nevertheless, recent
historical and archeological research has clarified the background
and some of the details of the saint's traditional legend.
This account follows the archetypical
miracles of God preserving His holy virgins. The story goes
that Frideswide was a Mercian princess, the daughter of Didian
(or Dida) of Eynsham, whose lands included the upper reaches
of the River Thames. Her father, a sub- king under the Mercian overlordship,
endowed minster churches at Bampton and Oxford.
Frideswide took a vow of perpetual
virginity, but Algar, a local prince, (or Æthelbald of
Mercia) could not believe that she would not marry him. Desiring
to fulfill her vow, she fled into hiding at Binsey (near the current
Oxford), where she remained for three years as Algar continued to search
for her. Then Algar was struck blind. When he renounced his desire
to marry her, his sight was restored at Bampton upon Frideswide's intercession.
Eventually, Frideswide was appointed
the first abbess of the Benedictine Saint Mary's double monastery
at Oxford, where she peacefully lived out the balance of her life.
The convent flourished becoming the site of Christ Church and her
name was not forgotten as the town of Oxford arose around the abbey.
Most of the early records of the
monastery were destroyed in a fire set in 1002 while Scandinavians
were inside the church in the attempted massacres triggered by
the notorious decree of Ethelred II. The existence of her shrine
is formally attested by 'On the Resting Places of the Saints' in Die
Heiligen Englands in the 11th century. In the twelfth century her
convent was refounded for Augustinian canons .
In 1180 in the presence of the
archbishop of Canterbury and King Henry II of England, her remains
were translated to a new shrine in the monastery church. A yet greater
shrine was built nine years later. Countless pilgrims visited her
relics. Twice a year Oxford University held a solemn feast in her
honor and came to venerate her bones. In 1440, the archbishop of
Canterbury declared her patroness of the university.
Then in 1525 Cardinal Wolsey suppressed
Saint Frideswide's monastery. Two decades later the monastery
church became the new cathedral of Oxford. But the shrine containing
Frideswide's relics had been broken up by Protestant reformers
to use in other buildings in 1538. Happily some Catholics preserved
the saints bones.
Meanwhile Catherine Dammartin,
the wife of the Protestant professor Peter Martyr Vermigli,
had been buried in the cathedral. About 1558-1561, in an extraordinary
burst of fanaticism James Calfhill, a Calvinist canon, dug up her
bones and mixed them with those of Saint
Frideswide, adding the epitaph Hic jacet religio cum superstitione
('Here lies religion with superstition').
Part of her shrine has been reconstructed
from pieces found in a well at Christ Church, where her remains
are marked with four elegant candlesticks in Christ Church.
It may be assumed that Frideswide
was foundress and abbess of a religious house at Oxford in
the 8th century; her shrine was in the church of a monastery
there in 1004, on the site of Christ Church. It is unexplained
how this obscure saint, under the name of Frevisse, came to have
a cultus at the village of Bomy in the middle of Artois (Attwater,
Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer, Stenton).
In art she is a crowned abbess
with an ox near her. Sometimes she is shown being rowed down the
Thames by an angel with her two sisters. Frideswide is the patroness
of Oxford and Oxford University (Roeder) .
|
740 ST PHARAILDIS, Vipois A Flemish maiden a miracle worker
THERE is a great
deal which is extremely confused and improbable in the accounts
preserved to us of this Belgian saint, and it is difficult to
know how much of her legend can be regarded as based on historical
fact. The main feature of her story is that, though she had secretly
consecrated her virginity to God, she was given in marriage by her
parents to a wealthy suitor, without any adequate consent on her part.
Resolutely determined to keep her vow, she refused to live with him
maritaleinent, and he on his part treated
her brutally. God protected her, until at last the husband died. Little
else is recorded of her except miracles and the numerous translations
of her remains. There cannot, however, be any doubt that she became
a very popular saint in Flanders, and that her cultus
supplies abundant matter of interest to the student of folklore.
Among her
own countryfolk she is called most commonly St Varelde, Verylde
or VeerIes She is represented sometimes with a goose, sometimes
with loaves of bread, and more rarely with a cat. The goose may
have reference to a story told of her, as also of St Werburga, that
when a goose had been plucked and cooked the saint restored it to life
and full plumage. But it may also be connected with the city of Ghent
or Gand, where her relics repose, for in Flemish, as
in German, gans (cf. English “gander“) means
a goose. The bread without doubt must have been suggested by a miracle
said to have been worked beside her tomb, when an uncharitable woman
who had been asked to give a loaf to a beggar declared that she had
none, and then discovered that the loaves she had been hiding were turned
into stones.
St PharaIldis is also supposed
to have caused a fountain of water to spring out of the ground
at Bruay, near Valenciennes, to relieve the thirst of the harvesters
who were reaping for her. The water of this spring is believed
to be of efficacy in children’s disorders, and she is constantly
invoked by mothers who are anxious about the health of their little
ones.
See Hautecceur, Actes de Ste Pharalidis (1882);
Destombes, Vies des saints de Cambrai et
Arras, voi. i, pp. 30-36; L. van Der
Essen, Étude critique cur les Vitae des saints
mérovingiens (1907), pp. 303 seq. H. Detzel, Christliche Ikonographie
(1896), vol. ii, p. 583.
740
St. Pharaildis A Flemish maiden a miracle worker
Also called Vareide, Varelde,
Veerle, and Verylde, a patron saint of Ghent, she was compelled to marry
against her will and was subsequently abused by her husband for
refusing to consummate the union. She also apparently irritated
her husband with her nighttime visits to churches. Pharaildis is
honored as a miracle worker.
|
741
Eutychius (Eustathius) and Companions Islamic martyrs in Mesopotamia; His relics are said to have worked many miracles.
MM (RM)
Carrhis,
in Mesopotámia,
sancti Eutychii patrícii, et Sociórum, qui ab
Evelid, Arabum Rege, ob fídei confessiónem, interémpti
sunt.
At Carrhae in Mesopotamia, the patrician
St. Eutychius and his companions, who were killed by Evelid, king of Arabia,
for the confession of the faith.
This sizable group of martyrs was put to death
by the Islamic at Carrhes, Mesopotamia, for refusing to deny
Christ (Benedictines).
741 ST EUTYCHIUS, OR EUSTATHIUS,
MARTYR
DURING the
reign of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, when the empire was
being attacked and seriously threatened by the invading forces
of Islam, persecution came almost equally from both sides. On
the one hand the emperor was so determined an opponent of the cultus of sacred images that the orthodox faithful
were continually subjected to imprisonment and exile, whilst,
on the other hand, the fanatical hatred of the Arabs was directed
against all Christians alike, and their victories over Romans were
apt to be celebrated by a fresh holocaust of victims. Eutychius or Eustathius, the son of a patrician, was taken prisoner
with many others by the Arabs. He was carried off and kept for many
months in captivity, until the khalif, when another expedition of his
against the Christians had suffered reverses, growing infuriated, wreaked
his vengeance on the prisoners. For refusing to abjure the Christian
faith Eutychius was put to death at Carrhae in Mesopotamia with several
companions—perhaps at the stake—after enduring horrible tortures. His
relics are said to have worked many miracles.
See the
Anti Sanctorum, March, vol. ii, where the brief account
given is based entirely upon the Chronography of Theophanes.
|
742 St. Acca Bishop
and Benedictine scholar; companion of early English saints
and missionaries; Many
miracles were wrought through this saint;
SAINTS ACCA AND ALCMUND OF HEXHAM
Our holy Father
Acca as a young man joined the household of Bosa, bishop of
York, and later became a disciple of the great St. Wilfrid, bishop
of York and later of Hexham. For thirteen years he accompanied his
teacher on his journeys through England and on the continent, and
was a witness at his holy repose. And when Wilfrid died, in 709, he
became his successor as abbot and bishop of Hexham in Northumbria.
The Venerable Bede
called Acca "the dearest and best loved of all bishops on this
earth." Bede also praised his theological library and dedicated
several of his works to him. On becoming bishop of Hexham Acca completed
three of Wilfrid's smaller churches and splendidly adorned his cathedral
at Hexham, providing it with ornaments of gold, silver and precious
stones, and decorating the altars with purple and silk. Moreover,
he invited an excellent singer called Maban who had been taught church
harmony at Canterbury to teach himself and the people. He himself was
a chanter of great skill.
In 732 Acca either
retired or was expelled from his see, and later became bishop
of Whithorn in Southern Scotland. He died on October 20, 740,
and was buried near the east wall of his cathedral in Hexham.
Parts of two stone crosses which were placed at his tomb still survive.
In about 1030, Alfred
Westow, a Hexham priest and a sacrist at Durham, translated
the relics of St. Acca, following a Divine revelation, to a place
of more fitting honor in the church. At that time the saint's vestments
were found in all their pristine freshness and strength, and were
displayed by the brethren of the church for the veneration of the
faithful. Above his chest was found a portable altar with the inscription
Almae Trinitati, agiae Sophiae, sanctae Mariae. This
also was the object of great veneration. Many miracles were wrought
through this saint. Those attempting to infringe the sanctuary of his
church were driven off in a wondrous and terrible manner, and those who
tried to steal relics were prevented from doing so.
A brother
of the church by the name of Aldred related the following story.
When he was an adolescent and was living in the house of his brother,
a priest, he was once asked by his brother to keep an eye on some
relics of St. Acca which he had wrapped in a cloth and laid on the
altar of St. Michael in the southern porch of the church. Then it came
into the mind of Aldred that a certain church (we may guess that it
was Durham) would be greatly enriched by the bones of St. Acca. So,
after prostrating himself on the ground and praying the seven penitential
psalms, he entered the porch with the intention of taking them away. Suddenly
he felt heat as of fire which thrust him back in great trepidation. Thinking
that he had approached with insufficient reverence and preparation, he
again prostrated himself and poured forth still more ardent prayers to
the Lord. But on approaching a second time he felt a still fiercer heat
opposing him. Realizing that his intention was not in accordance with
the will of God, he withdrew.
Our holy Father Alcmund
was bishop of Hexham from 767 to 781, reposed on September 7, 781, and was
buried next to St. Acca. In 1032, he appeared by night to a certain very
pious man by the name of Dregmo who lived near the church at Hexham. Wearing
pontifical vestments and holding a pastoral staff in his hand, he nudged
Dregmo with it and said
"Rise, go to Alfred,
son of Westow, a priest of the Church of Durham, and tell him
to transfer my body from this place to a more honorable one within
the church. For it is fitting that those whom the King of kings
has vested with a stole of glory and immortality in the heavens should
be venerated by those on earth."
Dregmo
asked: "Lord, who are you?"
He replied: "I am
Alcmund, bishop of the Church of Hexham, who was, by the grace of
God, the fourth after blessed Wilfrid to be in charge of this place.
My body is next to that of my predecessor, the holy bishop Acca of
venerable memory. You also be present at its translation with the
priest." After saying this, he disappeared.
The next morning,
Dregmo went to the priest Alfred and related everything in order.
He joyfully assembled the people, told them what had happened,
and fixed a day for the translation. On the appointed day they
lifted the bones from the tomb, wrapped them in linen and placed
them on a bier; but since the hour for celebrating the Divine Liturgy
had passed, they placed the holy relics in the porch of St. Peter
at the western end of the church, intending to transfer them the following
day with psalms and hymns and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.
But that night, the
priest Alfred, who was keeping vigil with his clerics around
the holy body, rose when the others were sleeping and took a
part of the finger of the saint, intending to give it to the Church
of Durham. The next morning a great multitude came to the translation.
But when the priest and those with him came to lift the body, it was
immovable. Thinking themselves unworthy, they retired, and others came
up. But they, too, were unable to lift it. When no one was found who
could lift it, the people looked at each other in consternation, while
the priest, still ignorant that he was the cause, exhorted them to pray
to God to reveal who was to blame for this. That night, St. Alcmund appeared
a second time to Dregmo, who had suddenly been overwhelmed with sleep,
and with a stern face said to him;
"What
is this that you have wanted to do? Did you think to bring me back into
the church mutilated, when I served God and St. Andrew here in wholeness
of body and spirit? Go, therefore, and witness in the presence of
all the people that what has unwisely been taken away from my body
should be restored, or else you will never be able to remove me from this
place in which I now am."
And when he had said
this, he showed him his hand with part of the finger missing. The next day,
Dregmo stood in the middle of the people and told them all that had been
revealed to him in the night, vehemently urging that the person who had presumed
to do this should be punished. Then the priest, perceiving that he was at
fault, prostrated himself in the midst of the people and revealed to them
the motives for which he had committed the crime. Begging for forgiveness,
he restored that which he had taken away. Then the clerics
who were present came up and without any effort lifted the holy
body and transferred it into the church on August 6.
Later, Alfred translated
a portion of the relics of Saints Acca and Alcmund, together
with portions of the relics of the other Northumbrian saints: the
hermits Baldred and Bilfrid, the Martyr-King Oswin, St. Boisil of
Melrose, St. Ebba of Coldingham and the Venerable Bede, to his church
of Durham.
Holy Fathers Acca
and Alcmund, pray to God for us!
by Vladimir Moss.
Posted with permission.
(Sources: The Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History;
Eddius Stephanus , Life of St. Wilfrid; Simeon
of Durham Opera
Omnia, ed. T. Arnold, Rolls Series, 1882-85, vol. II, pp. 36-37, 51-52;
History of the Church of Durham, ch. 42; David
Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: Clarendon,
1978)
Acca was born in Northumbria,
England, and
was educated in the company of St. Bosa, a Benedictine apostle of
great courage. He also met St. Wilfrid,
who appointed him the abbot of St. Andrew's Monastery in Hexham,
England.
Acca joined St. Wilfrid as early
as 678 and accompanied him to Rome in 692. When Wilfred died
in 709, Acca succeeded him as the bishop of Hexham. He spent his
monastic and episcopal years erecting parish churches in the area.
He also introduced Christian arts and promoted learning. Acca brought
a famous cantor, a man named Maban, to Hexham, and with him introduced
the Roman Chants.
St. Bede dedicated several
of his works to Acca, who also promoted other Christian writers.
For reasons undocumented, Acca was driven out of Hexham in 732.
He retired to a hermitage in Withern, in Galloway. Just before
his death in 742 he returned to Hexham and was unanimously revered.
When he was buried, two Celtic crosses were recreated at his gravesite.
One still stands in Hexham. When his body was moved sometime later, his
vestments were found intact. The accounts of Acca's miracles were drawn
up by St. Aelred and by the historian Simeon of Durham.
Acca of Hexham, OSB B (AC)
Born in Northumbria, England, c. 660; feast day formerly October
19; feast of translation is February 19.
From his youth Acca had been close
to other saints of the time. He was raised in the household of
Saint Bosa of York and became
a disciple and constant companion of Saint Wilfrid, whom he accompanied
for 13 years to England, Frisia, and Rome (and in the last, says
Bede, 'learning many valuable things about the organization of
the church which he could not have found out in his own country'). When
Wilfrid was ill at Meaux in 705, he told Acca the story of his vision.
Later, on his deathbed, Wilfrid named Acca abbot of Saint Andrew's
in Hexham.
Acca was also a friend of the
Venerable Bede, who described
him as "great in the sight of God and man" and who dedicated
several works in his honor. For his part, Acca urged Bede to write
a simple commentary on Luke because that completed by Saint Ambrose
was too long and diffuse. He also supplied material to Bede for
the Ecclesiastical history and to Eddius for his life of Saint Wilfrid.
Saint Wilfrid was the first English
prelate to appeal to Rome in a dispute. Acca, who succeeded
Wilfrid in the see of Hexham in 709, also believed that the English
Church needed to be brought into line with Roman customs--liturgically
rather than legally. Bede writes, "He invited a famous singer named
Maban, who had been trained by the followers of Pope Gregory's disciples
in Kent, to come and teach him and his clergy." Maban, a monk of Canterbury,
taught church music for 12 years--reviving old forgotten chants as
well as bringing new ones. Acca also sang beautifully, according to
Bede, and encouraged this revival by his own example.
Acca loved the Scriptures and
studied them diligently. He refurbished the churches with
sacred vessels and lights. Above all he enlarged and beautified
the cathedral of Saint Andrew in Hexham, and adorned it with altars,
relics, and sacred vessels. He also finished three of Wilfrid's smaller
churches. He also established a fine library to which scholars and
students were drawn, all of whom received the patronage of Bishop
Acca, one of the most learned Anglo-Saxon prelates of his day.
Bede considered this library one of the finest collections available.
For some reason Acca was forced
out of his diocese in 732. He was exiled to Withern (Whithorn),
Galloway (and may have been its bishop); but he returned before
his death and was buried at Hexham. Two stone crosses decorated
with grape vines adorned his tomb in the cathedral's east wall. The
relics were translated in the late 11th century, at which time a
portable altar inscribed "Almae Trinitati, agiae Sophiae, sanctae Mariae"
was found in his coffin. They were again translated in 1154 and 1240
(Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
He is generally depicted in art
as an abbot or bishop in a library with monks, sometimes with
the Venerable Bede (Roeder).
St. Acca Catholic Encyclopedia
Bishop of Hexham, and patron of learning (c. 660-742).
Acca was a Northumbrian by birth
and began life in the household of a certain Bosa, who afterwards
became Bishop of York. After a few years, however, Acca attached
himself to St. Wilfrid and remained his devoted disciple and companion
in all his troubles. He may have joined Wilfrid as early as 678,
and he certainly was with him at the time of his second journey
to Rome in 692. On their return to England, when Wilfrid was reinstated
at Hexham, he made Acca abbot of St. Andrew's monastery there; and
after Wilfrid's death (709) Acca succeeded him as bishop. The work
of completing and adorning the churches left unfinished by St. Wilfrid
was energetically carried on by his successor. In ruling the diocese
and in conducting the services of the Church, Acca was equally zealous.
He brought to the North a famous cantor named Maban, who had learned
in Kent the Roman traditions of psalmody handed down from St. Gregory
the Great through St. Augustine. He was famed also for his theological
learning, and for his encouragement of students by every means in his
power. It was at Acca's instigation that Eddius undertook the Life
of St. Wilfrid, and above all, it was to the same kind friend and patron
that Bede dedicated several of his most important works, especially those
dealing with Holy Scripture. For some unexplained reason Acca was driven
from his diocese in 732. He is believed to have retired to Withern in
Galloway, but he returned to Hexham before his death in 742, when he
was at once revered as a Saint. Two crosses of exquisite workmanship, one
of which is still preserved in a fragmentary state, were erected at the
head and foot of his grave. When the body of the Saint was translated, the
vestments were found entire, and the accounts of his miracles were drawn
up by St. AElred and by Simeon of Durham. Of any true liturgical cultus
there is little trace, but his feast is said to have been kept on 20 October.
There is also mention of 19 February, which may have been the date of some
translation of his relics.
|
743 ST. EUCHERIUS, Bishop Charles Martel reproved encroachments; miracles.
Eódem
die sancti Euchérii, Aurelianénsis Epíscopi, qui
eo magis miráculis cláruit, pro plúribus invidórum
calúmniis fuit oppréssus.
The same day, St. Eucherius,
bishop of Orleans, who, the more he was oppressed by the calumnies of
the envious, the more he impressed them with his miracles.
THIS
Saint was born at Orleans, of a very illustrious family. At his birth
his parents dedicated him to God, and set him to study when he was but
seven years old, resolving to omit nothing that could be done toward
cultivating his mind or forming his heart His improvement in virtue kept
pace with his progress in learning: he meditated assiduously on the
sacred writings, especially on St. Paul's manner of speaking on the
world and its enjoyments as mere empty shadows that deceive us and vanish
away. These reflections at length sank so deep into his mind that he resolved
to quit the world. To put this design in execution, about the year 714
he retired to the abbey of Jumiége in Normandy, where he spent
six or seven years in the practice of penitential austerities and obedience.
Suavaric, his uncle, Bishop of Orleans, having died, the senate and people,
with the clergy of that city, begged permission to elect Eucherius to the
vacant see. The Saint entreated his monks to screen him from the dangers
that threatened him; but they preferred the public good to their private
inclinations, and resigned him for that important charge. He was consecrated
with universal applause in 721.
743 ST EUCHERIUS, BISHOP OF
ORLEANS
ACCORDING
to his biographer, apparently a contemporary, St Eucherius led a holy life
from earliest childhood. He was born at Orleans, and entered the Benedictine
abbey of Jumièges about the year 714. After he had spent six or seven
years there, Soavaric, Bishop of Orleans, who was his uncle, died, and the
senate and people with the clergy of the city sent a deputation to Charles
Martel, mayor of the palace, to ask his permission to elect Eucherius to
fill the vacant see. Charles consented, and charged one of his officers of
state to conduct the young monk from his monastery to Orleans. The saint
was filled with dismay and entreated the monks to save him from the dangers
that threatened him in the world. In spite of their reluctance they urged
him to depart, setting the public good above their own desires. He was consecrated
in 721. Unwilling as he had been to take office, he proved himself
an exemplary pastor and devoted himself entirely to the care of his people,
who loved and venerated him.
Eucherius
did not, however, retain the favour of Charles Martel. To defray the expenses
of his wars and other undertakings, and to recompense those who served
him, it was the practice of that prince to seize the revenues of churches
and he encouraged others to do the same. It would appear that St Eucherius
strenuously opposed these confiscations, and certain persons represented
this to Charles as an insult offered to his person. In the year 737,
when he was returning to Paris after having defeated the Saracens in
Aquitaine, Charles took Orleans on the way and ordered Eucherius to follow
him to Verneuil-sur-Oise, and then exiled him to Cologne. Here the saint
became so popular on account of his piety and charming character that
Charles ordered him to be transferred to a fortified place near Liege,
where he would be under the observation of the governor of the district.
Here again the bishop won all hearts, and the governor made him distributor
of alms and allowed him to retire to the monastery of Saint-Trond near
Maestricht, where he spent the rest of his life in prayer and contemplation.
The legend that St Eucherius saw Charles Martel burning in hell is an
interpolation which does not belong to the primitive biography, but it
is worth mentioning because the incident is sometimes depicted in representations
of the saint in art.
The biography
is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. iii,
and in Mabillon. See also Duchesne (Fastes Épiscopaux,
vol. ii, p. 458), who points out that whereas the author of
the life makes Eucherius the immediate successor of Soavaric, the episcopal
lists of Orleans mention two or three bishops as intervening. There
are also other difficulties about the chronology of the life which suggest
serious doubts as to its being the work of a contemporary. See “Saints
de Saint-Trond” in Analecta Bollandiana. vol. lxxii (1954).
Charles Martel, to defray the expenses
of his wars and other undertakings, often stripped the churches of
their revenues. St. Eucherius reproved these encroachments with so much
zeal that, in the year 737, Charles banished him to Cologne. The extraordinary
esteem which his virtue procured him in that city moved Charles to order
him to be conveyed thence to a strong place in the territory of Liege.
Robert, the governor of that country, was so charmed with his virtue that
he made him the distributor of his large alms, and allowed him to retire
to the monastery of Sarchinium, or St. Tron's. Here prayer and contemplation
were his whole employment till the year 743, in which he died, on the
20th of February.
Reflection.—Nothing softens the soul and weakens piety so
much as frivolous indulgence. God has revealed what high store He sets
by "retirement" in these words: "I will lead her into solitude, and I
will speak to her heart."
|
745 St. Rigobert Benedictine archbishop of
Reims His patient acceptance of all
trials, his love of retirement and prayer, and the miraculous cures attributed
to him, gained him the repute of high sanctity.
Rhemis, in Gállia, sancti Rigobérti,
Epíscopi et Confessóris.
At Rheims
in France, St. Rigobertus, bishop and confessor.
also known as Robert of Reims. After serving
for a time as abbot of Orbais, he was appointed archbishop
of Reims, France. As a result of a dispute with Charles Martel,
the powerful Frankish mayor of the palace, he was banished and
the see was bestowed upon the prelate Muon. When the matter was resolved
and Rigobert returned to Reims, he chose not to pursue his rightful
claim to the see and instead became a hermit. Rigobert was long venerated
as a model of patience and was credited with many miracles.
745 ST RIGOBERT,
ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS
RIGOBERT seems to have been first of all
abbot of Orbais, and afterwards to have been elected to the
see of Rheims, but it is not easy to adjust the chronology, and
his life, written much later, at the close of the ninth century,
cannot be depended upon. St Rigobert, it would appear, offended
Charles Martel because he would not takes sides against Raganfred,
the mayor of Neustria. Charles accordingly banished Rigobert to Gascony
and gave his bishopric to Milon, who already held the temporalities
of the see of Trier. In the end some compromise was effected, and the
saint was allowed again to officiate in Rheims. His patient acceptance
of all trials, his love of retirement and prayer, and the miraculous
cures attributed to him, gained him the repute of high sanctity. He
must have died between 740 and 750.
See Acta Sanctorum, January 4; Levison in MGH., Scriptores
Merov., vol. vii, pp. 54—80; and Duchesne, Fastes Episcopaux, vol. iii, pp. 85-86.
There is a very important general paper on Charles Martel and
his bishops: "Milo at eiusmodi similes", by Eugen Ewig, in St Bonifatius. Gedenkgabe rum zwolfhundertjährigen
Todestag (Fulda, 1954), pp. 412—440.
|
750 St. Himelin
Irish or Scottish priest pilgrimage to Rome water turned to wine.
A maid of the parish of Vissemaeken, Belgium, gave him water
from a pitcher and it turned to wine. He died at Vissemaeken, where he
is venerated.
Himelin of Vissenaeken (AC) (also known
as Hymelin) Saint Himelin, an Irish or Scottish priest, is said to have
been the brother of Saint Rumold of Malines. He died and was buried
at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont, Belgium, on his return from a pilgrimage
to Rome. His shrine, in turn, is a noted pilgrimage center (Benedictines,
Montague).
750 ST HIMELIN
THE holy priest Himelin was
by birth said to be an Irishman, closely related to St Rumold of Malines,
and he is remembered by the following legend. Returning from a pilgrimage
to Rome, in the days of King Pepin of France, he was taken very ill one
evening at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont in Brabant. As he rested by the
roadside, weary and thirsty, he asked for a drink of water from the maid-servant
of the parish priest, as she passed with a pitcher of water which she
had drawn from the well. She had been strictly forbidden to let anyone
touch the vessel for fear of infection, as plague was raging in the district,
so “I cannot let you drink out of the pitcher, for my master has forbidden
it”, she replied.. Then, pitying his evident misery, she added, “But
if you will come to the house, you shall have both food and drink.” The
pilgrim, however, insisted, and assured her that if she would only let
him take a draught of the water, her master would be well satisfied.
She complied with his request and returned home. No sooner had the parish
priest tasted the water than he perceived that it had been changed into
delicious wine, and on questioning the girl he elicited from her what
had previously happened to the pitcher. Deeply impressed by the miracle
the good man ran out and brought back the sick pilgrim to his house, where
he nursed him tenderly until his death, although he could not induce him
to lie on a better bed than a heap of straw. St Himelin was buried at Vissenaeken,
the church bells of which pealed forth at his passing, although no human
hands had set them in motion. His shrine is still a resort for pilgrims,
especially on his feast-day, March 10.
See the Acta Sanctorum, March,
vol. ii
|
750 Saint Stephen the
Confessor Archbishop of Surrentium (Surozh) miracles at the saint's crypt
a native of Cappadocia
and was educated at Constantinople. After receiving the monastic
tonsure, he withdrew into the wilderness, where he lived for thirty
years in ascetic deeds.
Patriarch Germanus
of Constantinople (May 12) heard of Stephen's humility and virtuous
life, and wished to meet him. He was so impressed with Stephen that
he consecrated him bishop of the city of Surrentium (presently the
city of Sudak in the Crimea). Within five years, St Stephen's ministry
was so fruitful that no heretics or unbaptized pagans remained in
Surrentium or its environs.
St Stephen opposed
the iconoclasm of the emperor Leo III the Isaurian (716-741).
Since he refused to obey the orders of the emperor and the dishonorable
Patriarch Anastasius to remove the holy icons from the churches,
he was brought to Constantinople. There he was thrown into prison
and tortured. He was released after the death of the emperor. Already
quite advanced in years, he returned to his flock in Surrentium,
where he died.
There is an account
of how the Russian prince Bravlin accepted Baptism at the beginning
of the ninth century during a campaign into the Crimea, influenced
by miracles at the saint's crypt. |
752 Pope St. Zachary At Rome, the birthday
of Pope St. Zachary, who governed the Church of God with vigilance,
and at last, renowned for miracles, rested in peace.
Romæ sancti Zacharíæ
Papæ, qui Dei Ecclésiam summa vigilántia
gubernávit, et clarus méritis quiévit in
pace.
(ZACHARIAS.)
Reigned 741-52. Year of birth unknown; died
in March, 752. Zachary sprang from a Greek family living in Calabria;
his father, according to the "Liber Pontificalis", was called Polichronius.
Most probably he was a deacon of the Roman Church and as such signed
the decrees of the Roman council of 732. After the burial of his
predecessor Gregory III on 29 November, 741, he was immediately
and unanimously elected pope and consecrated and enthroned on 5 December.
His biographer in the "Liber Pontificalis" describes him as a man
of gentle and conciliatory character who was charitable towards
the clergy and people. As a fact the new pope always showed himself
to be shrewd and conciliatory in his actions and thus his undertakings
were very successful.
Soon after his elevation he notified Constantinople
of his election; it is noticeable that his synodica (letter)
was not addressed to the iconoclastic Patriarch Anastasius but
to the Church of Constantinople. The envoys of the pope also brought
a letter for the emperor.
After the death of Leo III (18 June, 741)
his successor was his son Constantine V, Copronymus. However,
in 742 Constantine's brother-in-law Artabasdus raised a revolt
against the new emperor and established himself in Constantinople;
thus when the papal envoys reached Constantinople they found Artabasdus
the ruler there. As late as 743 the papal letters were dated from
the year of the reign of Constantine V; in 744, however, they
are dated form the year of the reign of Artabasdus. Still the papal
envoys do not seem to have come into close relations with the usurper
at Constantinople, although the latter re-established the worship
of images.
After Constantine V had overthrown his rival,
the envoys of the pope presented to him the papal letter in which
Zachary exhorted the emperor to restore the doctrine and practice
of the Church in respect to the worship of images. The emperor
received the envoys in a friendly manner and presented the Roman
Church with the villages of Nympha and Normia (Norba) in Italy, which
with their territories extended to the sea.
When Zachary ascended the throne the position
of the city and Duchy of Rome was a very serious one. Luitprand,
King of the Lomabards, was preparing a new incursion into Roman
territory. Duke Trasamund of Spoleto, with whom Pope Gregory III
had formed an alliance against Luitprand, did not keep his promise
to aid the Romans in regaining the cities taken by the Lombards. Consequently
Zachary abandoned the alliance with Trasamund and sought to protect
the interests of Rome and Roman territory by personal influence over
Luitprand. The pope went to Terni to see the Lombard king who received
him with every mark of honour. Zachary was able to obtain from Luitprand
that the four cities of Ameria, Horta, Polimartium, and Blera should
be returned to the Romans, and that all the patrimonies of the Roman
Church that the Lombards had taken from it within the last thirty years,
should be given back; he was also able to conclude a truce for twenty
years between the Roman Duchy and the Lombards. A chapel to the Saviour
was built in the Church of St. Peter at Rome in the name of Luitprand,
in which the deeds respecting this return of property were placed. After
the pope's return, the Roman people went in solemn procession to St.
Peter's to thank God for the fortunate result of the pope's efforts.
Throughout the entire affair the pope appears as the secular ruler of
Rome and the Roman territory. In the next year Luitprand made ready
to attack the territory of Ravenna. The Byzantine exarch of Ravenna
and the archbishop begged Pope Zachary to intervene. The latter first
sent envoys to the Lombard king, and when these were unsuccessful
he went himself to Ravenna and from there to Pavia to see Luitprand.
The pope reached Pavia on the eve of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
He celebrated the vigil and the feast of the princes of the Apostles
at Pavia, and was able to induce the king to abandon the attack on Ravenna
and to restore the territory belonging to the city itself. Luitprand died
shortly after than and after his first successor Hildebrand was overthrown,
Ratchis became King of the Lombards. The pope was on the best of terms
with him. In 749 the new king confirmed the treaty of peace with the
Roman Duchy. The same year Ratchis abdicated, with his wife and daughter
took the monastic vows before the pope, and all three entered the monastic
life.
In 743 Pope Zachary held a synod at Rome
which was attended by sixty bishops. This synod issued fourteen
canons on various matters of church discipline. On this occasion
the pope took up the question of the impediments to marriage of
relationship in the fourth degree, in regard to which the Germans
claimed to have obtained a dispensation from Pope Gregory II. The
year previous Zachary had written on this point to the bishops and
kings of that province. An active correspondence was kept up between
Zachary and St. Boniface. The latter in his zealous labours had organized
the Church in the German territories, and while doing this had kept
in close connection with the Papal See. Early in 742, soon after his
elevation, Zachary received a letter from Boniface in which the saint
expressed his full submission to the possessor of the Chair of Peter
and requested then confirmation of the three newly established Bishoprics
of Wurzburg, Buraburg, and Erfurt; Boniface also sought authority
to hold a synod in France and to suppress abuses in the lives of the
clergy. The pope confirmed the three dioceses and commissioned Boniface
to attend, as papal legate, the Frankish synod which Karlmann wished to
hold. In a later letter Zachary confirmed the metropolitans of Rouen,
Reims, and Sens appointed by Boniface, and also confirmed the condemnation
of the two heretics Adelbert and Clement. Various questions in which
the pope and Boniface disagreed were discussed in letters. In 745
was held the general synod for the Frankish kingdom called by Pepin
and Carloman. Here decrees were passed against unworthy ecclesiastics,
and the two heretics, Adelbert and Clement, were again condemned.
Boniface sent a Frankish priest to Rome to make a report to the pope,
and the latter held on 25 October, 745, a synod at the Lateran
at which, after exhaustive investigation, an anathema was pronounced
against the two heretics. Zachary forwarded the acts of the synod
with a letter to Boniface. Pepin and the Frankish bishops sent a list
of questions respecting the discipline of the clergy and of the Christian
population to Pope Zachary, and the latter answered in a letter
of 746 in which decisions respecting the various points are given. These
decisions were communicated to Boniface so that he might make them
generally known at a Frankish synod. The following year, 747, Carloman
resigned his authority and the world, went to Rome, and was received
by Pope Zachary into a monastic order. At first he lived in the monastery
on the Soracte, later at Monte Cassino. Thanks to the efforts of St. Boniface
all the Frankish bishops were now agreed in submission to the See of St.
Peter. Zachary sent still other letters to the bishops of Gaul and Germany,
and also to Boniface as the papal legate for the Church of this region.
Boniface was constantly in intercourse with Rome both by letters and envoys
and sent important questions to the pope for decision. An important proof
of the recognition by the Franks of the high moral power of the papacy
is shown by the appeal to papal authority on the occasion of the overthrow
of the Merovingian dynasty. Pepin's ambassadors, Bishop Burkard of
Wurzburg and Chaplain Folrad of St. Denis, laid the question before
Zachary: whether it seemed right to him that one should be king who
did not really possess the royal power. The pope declared that this did
not appear good to him, and on the authority of the pope Pepin considered
himself justified in having himself proclaimed King of the Franks (cf.
SAINT BONIFACE; and PEPIN THE SHORT). The ecclesiastical activity of
the pope also extended to England. Through his efforts the Synod of
Cloveshove was held in 747 for the reform of church discipline in accordance
with the advice given by the pope and in imitation of the Roman Church.
Zachary was very zealous in the restoration
of the churches of Rome to which he made costly gifts. He also
restored the Lateran palace and established several large domains
as the settled landed possessions (domus cultoe) of the Roman Church.
The pope translated to the Church of St. George in Velabro the head
of the martyr St. George which was found during the repairs of the
decayed Lateran Palace. He was very benevolent to the poor, to whom alms
were given regularly from the papal palace. When merchants from Venice
bought slaves at Rome in order to sell them again to the Saracens in Africa,
the pope bought all the slaves, so that Christians should not become the
property of heathens. Thus in a troubled era Zachary proved himself to
be an excellent, capable, vigorous, and charitable successor of Peter.
He also carried on theological studies and made a translation of the Dialogues
of Gregory the Great into Greek, which was largely circulated in the
East. After his death Zachary was buried in St. Peters.
|
754 Saint
Hilarion the New, Igumen of Peleke Monastery {Dardanelles} granted gifts of clairvoyance and wonderworking
From his youth, he devoted himself
to the service of God and spent many years as a hermit. Because of his
holy and blameless life he was ordained to the holy priesthood, and later
he was made igumen of the Pelekete monastery (near the Dardanelles). St
Hilarion was granted gifts of clairvoyance and wonderworking by the Lord.
Through prayer he brought down rain during a drought,
and like the Prophet Elisha he separated the waters of a river, he drove
harmful beasts from the fields, he filled the nets of fishermen when
they had no success in fishing, and he did many other miracles.
In addition to these things, he
was able to heal the sick and cast out demons.
St Hilarion suffered on Great
and Holy Thursday in the year 754, when the military commnander Lakhanodrakon
suddenly descended upon the Pelekete monastery in pursuit of icon-venerators,
boldly forcing his way into the church, disrupting the service and throwing
the Holy Gifts upon the ground. Forty-two monks were arrested, slapped
into chains, sent to the Edessa district and murdered. The remaining monks
were horribly mutilated, they beat them, they burned their beards with
fire, they smeared their faces with tar and cut off the noses of some of
the confessors.
St Hilarion died for the veneration
of icons during this persecution.
St Hilarion
left behind spiritual works containing moral directives for spiritual
effort. St Joseph of Volokolamsk
(September 9 and October 18) was well acquainted with the work of St Hilarion,
and he also wrote about the significance of monastic struggles in his own
theological works.
|
761 St. Winebald Benedictine
abbot missionary. Hugeburc, the nun who wrote
the Life of St Winebald, assures us that miraculous cures took place
at his tomb, and St Ludger writes in the Life of St Gregory of Utrecht
that, “Winebald was very dear to my master Gregory, and shows by great
miracles since his death what he did whilst living”.
761 ST WINEBALD, ABBOT
IT has
been related herein under the date February 7 that a certain West
Saxon, St Richard, set out on a pilgrimage to Rome with his two sons,
SS. Willibald and Winebald, and died at Lucca. The young men went
on to their destination, whence Willibald undertook a further pilgrimage
to the Holy Land; but Winebald (or Wynbald), who had been delicate
from his childhood and was ill, remained at Rome, where he studied
for seven years and devoted himself with his whole heart to the divine
service. Then, returning to England, he engaged several among his
kindred and acquaintances to accompany him back to Rome, and there
he dedicated himself to God in a religious state.
St Boniface came on his third visit to Rome in 739
and enlisted Winebald to help in the founding of the Church in
Germany. Winebald followed him into Thuringia and, being ordained
priest there, received the care of seven churches, which he ministered
to from Sulzenbrücken near Erfurt. Being
harried by the Saxons, he extended his labours into Bavaria,
and after some years of strenuous missionary work returned to
St Boniface at Mainz.
But he could not settle down there, and went to his brother
St Willibald, who was now bishop of Eichstätt. Willibald wanted to
found a double monastery which might be a pattern and seminary
of piety and learning to the numerous churches which he had planted,
and he asked Winebald and his sister St Walburga to undertake
it.
Winebald therefore went to Heidenheim in Württemberg, where he cleared
a wild spot of ground of trees and bushes and built first little
cells for himself and his monks and shortly afterwards a monastery.
A nunnery was set up adjoining, which St Walburga governed.
The idolaters attempted the life of St Winebald because
of his unflinching efforts to impose Christian morality, but he
escaped these dangers and continued to enlarge Christ’s fold, maintaining
in his religious community the spirit of their holy state, teaching
them above all things to persevere in prayer and to keep inviolably
in mind the life of our Lord, as the standard from which they were never
to waver and never to cease to hold up to the pagans around them.
He established the Rule of St Benedict in both the monasteries,
which formed an important centre of English learning. St Winebald
was afflicted for many years with sickness (he had an altar in
his own cell at which he offered Mass when he was not able to go to
the church) and this much hampered his missionary work for he could
undertake only short journeys. For this reason he was unable to end
his days at Monte Cassino as he wished to do. Once he set out on a visit
to Würzburg and on the way
was brought almost to the point of death at the shrine of St Boniface at
Fulda; after three weeks he was better, but at the next town had a relapse
and was in bed for another week. The end came after three years of nearly
continual illness, and after a tender exhortation to his monks he died in
the arms of his brother and sister on December 18, 761.
Hugeburc, the nun who wrote the Life of St Winebald, assures
us that miraculous cures took place at his tomb, and St Ludger
writes in the Life of St Gregory of Utrecht that, “Winebald was very
dear to my master Gregory, and shows by great miracles since his
death what he did whilst living”.
The trustworthy biography
of St Winebald was written by a nun of Heidenheirn, Hugeburc;
the best text is that of Holder-Egger in MGH., Scriptores, vol. xv, pp. 106-107. Some
further information is furnished in the Hodoeporicon of St Willibald, written
by the same Hugeburc, which is translated in C. H. Talbot,
Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany
(1954), and also for the Palestine Pilgrims Text Society by
Bishop Brownlow in 1891. Other details may be gathered from
the correspondence of St Boniface, from the Life of St Walburga
and from the earlier portion of F. Heldingsfelder’s Die Regesten der Bischofe von
Eichstatt (1915).
See also Analecta Bollandiana,
vol. xlix (1931), pp. 353—397 and W. Levison, England and the Continent.. . (1946)
see therein for Hugeberc, p. 294.
The brother of Sts.
Willibald and Walburga, he was born in Wessex, England, and
went on a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land with his brother
and father. When their father died at Lucca, the brothers proceeded
to Rome. Winebald remained in the Eternal City while his brother
went on to the Holy Land. Winebald studied in Rome for seven years,
went back to England, but then returned to Rome determined to enter the
religious life. At the invitation of St. Boniface, he gathered together
a group of English missionaries and went to Germany in 739. Winebald
was ordained, labored in Thuringia and Bavaria, and then joined Wilibald
in his missionary enterprise in Eichstatt, Frisia, Holland. With his
brother, he founded the monastery of Heidenheim, Germany, where he served
as abbot with his sister as abbess. He struggled against the local pagans
and strove to make the monastery one of the leading ecclesiastical
centers in Germany.
|
767 Monkmartyr
and Confessor Stephen the New of Mt St Auxentius & o
ver
300 monks: gift of wonderworking performed healings
with holy icons and turned many away from Iconoclasm
Constantinópoli
sanctórum Mártyrum Stéphani junióris,
Basilíi, Petri, Andréæ, et Sociórum trecentórum
et trigínta novem Monachórum; qui, sub Constantíno
Coprónymo, pro sanctárum Imáginum cultu váriis
excruciáti supplíciis, veritátem cathólicam
effúso sánguine confirmárunt.
At Constantinople,
in the time of Constantine Copronymus, the holy martyrs Stephen
the Younger, Basil, Peter, Andrew, and their companions, numbering
three hundred and thirty-nine monks, who were subjected to diverse torments
for the veneration of holy images, and confirmed the Catholic truth
with the shedding of their blood.
764 ST STEPHEN THE YOUNGER,
Martyr
ST STEPHEN surnamed the
Younger, one of the most renowned martyrs in the persecution by
the Iconoclasts, was born at Constantinople, and his parents placed
him when he was fifteen years old in the monastery of St Auxentius,
not far from Chalcedon. Stephen’s employment was to fetch the provisions
daily for the monastery. The death of his father obliged him to make
a journey to Constantinople, where he sold his share of the estate
and distributed the price among the poor. He had two sisters, one
of whom was already a nun; the other he took with his mother into Bithynia,
where he found them a home in a monastery. When John the abbot died,
Stephen, though but thirty years of age, was placed at the head of
the monastery. This was a number of small cells scattered up and down
a mountain, and the new abbot succeeded his predecessor in a cave on
the summit, where he joined labour with prayer, copying books and making
nets.
After some years Stephen resigned his abbacy, and
built himself a remoter cell, so narrow that it was impossible for
him to lie or stand up in it at ease. He shut himself up in this sepulchre
in his forty-second year.
The Emperor Constantine Copronymus
carried on the war that his father Leo had begun against holy
images, his efforts being chiefly levelled against the monks, from
whom he expected and received the most resolute opposition. Knowing
the influence of Stephen, he was particularly anxious to get his subscription
to the decree passed by the Iconoclast bishops at the council of 754.
Callistus, a patrician, tried to persuade
the saint to consent, but he had to report failure. Constantine, incensed
at St Stephen’s resolute answer, sent Callistus back with soldiers
and an order to drag him out of his cell. They found him so weak in
body that they were obliged to carry him to the bottom of the mountain.
Witnesses were suborned to accuse the saint, and he was charged with
having criminally conversed with his spiritual daughter, the holy widow
Anne. She protested he was innocent, and because she would not say as
the emperor wished she was whipped and then confined to a monastery,
where she died soon after of the hard usage she suffered.
The emperor, seeking a new
excuse to put Stephen to death, trapped him into clothing a novice,
which had been forbidden; whereupon armed men dispersed his monks
and burnt down the monastery and church. They took St Stephen, put
him roughly on board a vessel, and carried him to a monastery at Chrysopolis,
where Callistus and several court bishops came to examine him. They
treated him first with civility, and afterwards with extreme harshness.
He asked them how they could call a general council one which was not
approved by the other patriarchs, and stoutly defended the honour due
to holy images, insomuch that Stephen was condemned to banishment to
the island of Proconnesus, in the Propontis.
Two years after Copronymus
ordered him to be removed to a prison in Constantinople, where
some days later he was carried before the emperor, who asked him
whether he believed that men trampled on Christ by trampling on His
image. “God forbid”, said Stephen; but then, taking a piece of money,
he asked what treatment was deserved by one who should stamp upon that
image of the emperor. The suggestion was received with indignation. “Is
it then”, asked St Stephen, “so great a crime to insult the image of
the king of the earth, and none to cast into the fire that of the King
of Heaven?” The emperor commanded that he should be scourged. This was
done with brutal violence, and Copronymus when he heard that Stephen was
nevertheless yet alive cried out, “Will no one rid me of this monk?” Whereupon
some of his hearers ran to the jail, seized the martyr and dragged him
through the streets by his feet. Many of the mob struck him with stones
and staves, till one dashed out his brains with a club. The Roman Martyrology
mentions with St Stephen other monks who suffered in the same cause about
the same time.
A
Greek life, written by another Stephen, “deacon of Constantinople”,
is printed in Migne, PG., vol. c, pp. 1068-1986. It has been pointed
out that the text contains passages borrowed from the Life of St.
Euthymius by Cyril of Scythopolis. A short account of the martyrdom
will be found in B. Hermann’s Verborgene Heilige des
griechischen Ostens (1935).
The Monk Martyr and Confessor
Stephen the New was born in 715 at Constantinople into a pious
Christian family. His parents, having two daughters, prayed the Lord
for a son. The mother of the new-born Stephen took him to the Blachernae
church of the Most Holy Theotokos and dedicated him to God.
During the reign of the emperor Leo the Isaurian (716-741) there was a
persecution against
the holy icons and against those venerating them. With the
support of the emperor, the adherents of the Iconoclast heresy seized
control of the supreme positions of authority in the Empire and in
the Church. Persecuted by the powers of this world, Orthodoxy was preserved
in monasteries far from the capital, in solitary cells, and in the brave
and faithful hearts of its followers.
The Orthodox parents of St Stephen, grieved
by the prevailing impiety, fled from Constantinople to Bithynia,
and they gave over their sixteen-year-old son in obedience to the monk John, who labored in asceticism
in a solitary place on the Mount of St Auxentius. St Stephen dwelt
with the venerable monk John for more
than fifteen years, devoting himself totally to this spirit-bearing
Elder, and learning monastic activity from him. Here Stephen received
the news that his father was dead, and his mother and sisters had been tonsured as nuns.
After a certain time his teacher John also
died. With deep sorrow St Stephen buried his venerable body, and
continued with monastic effort in his cave by himself. Soon monks
began to come to the ascetic, desiring to learn from him the virtuous
and salvific life, and a monastery was established, with St Stephen
as the igumen. At forty-two years of age Stephen left the monastery
he founded, and he went to another mountain, on whose summit he dwelt
in deep seclusion in a solitary cell. But here also a community of
monks soon gathered, seeking the spiritual guidance of St Stephen.
Leo the Isaurian was succeeded by Constantine Copronymos (741-775), a fiercer persecutor of the Orthodox,
and an even more zealous
iconoclast. The emperor convened an Iconoclast Council, attended
by 358 bishops from the Eastern provinces. However, except for Constantine,
the Archbishop of Constantinople, illegitimately raised to the patriarchal
throne by the power of Copronymos, not one of the other patriarchs
participated in the wicked doings of this Council, thus making it less
likely to style itself as "ecumenical." This council of heretics, at
the instigation of the emperor and the archbishop, described icons
as idols, and pronounced an anathema on all who venerated icons in
the Orthodox manner, and it described icon veneration as heresy.
Meanwhile, the monastery of
Mount Auxentius and its igumen became known in the capital. They told the
emperor about the ascetic life of the monks, about their Orthodox piety,
about the igumen Stephen's gift of wonderworking, and of how St Stephen's
fame had spread far beyond the region of the monastery, and that the name
of its head was accorded universal respect and love. The saint's open encouragement
of icon veneration and the implied rebuff to the persecutors of Orthodoxy
within the monastery of Mount Auxentius especially angered the emperor.
Archbishop Constantine realized that in the person of St Stephen he had
a strong and implacable opponent of his iconoclastic intentions, and he
plotted how he might draw him over to his side or else destroy him.
They tried to lure St Stephen into the
Iconoclast camp, at first with flattery and bribery, then by threats,
but in vain. Then they slandered the saint, accusing him of falling
into sin with the nun Anna. But his guilt was not proven, since the
nun courageously denied any guilt and died under torture and beatings.
Finally, the emperor gave orders to lock up the saint in prison, and
to destroy his monastery. Iconoclast bishops were sent to St Stephen
in prison, trying to persuade him of the dogmatic correctness of the
Iconoclast position. But the saint easily refuted all the arguments of
the heretics and he remained true to Orthodoxy.
Then the emperor ordered that the saint
be exiled on one of the islands in the Sea of Marmora. St Stephen
settled into a cave, and there also his disciples soon gathered. After
a certain while the saint left the brethren and took upon himself the
exploit of living atop a pillar. News of the stylite Stephen, and the
miracles worked by his prayers, spread throughout all the Empire and
strengthened the faith and spirit of Orthodoxy in the people.
The emperor gave orders to transfer St
Stephen to prison on the island of Pharos, and then to bring him
to trial. At the trial, the saint refuted the arguments of the heretics
sitting in judgment upon him. He explained the dogmatic essence of
icon veneration, and he denounced the Iconoclasts because in blaspheming
icons, they blasphemed Christ and the Mother of God. As proof, the
saint pointed to a golden coin inscribed with the image of the emperor.
He asked the judges what would happen to a man who threw the coin to
the ground , and then trampled the emperor's image under his feet. They
replied that such a man would certainly be punished for dishonoring
the image of the emperor. The saint said that an even greater punishment
awaited anyone who would dishonor the image of the King of Heaven
and His Saints, and with that he spat on the coin, threw it to the ground,
and began to trample it underfoot.
The emperor gave orders to take the saint
to prison, where already there were languishing 342 Elders, condemned
for the veneration of icons. In this prison St Stephen spent eleven
months, consoling the imprisoned. The prison became like a monastery,
where the usual prayers and hymns were chanted according to the Typikon.
The people came to the prison in crowds and asked St Stephen to pray
for them.
When the emperor learned that
the saint had organized a monastery in prison, where they prayed
venerated holy icons, he sent two of his own servants, twin-brothers,
to beat the saint to death. When these brothers went to the prison
and beheld the face of the monk shining with a divine light, they fell
down on their knees before him, asking his forgiveness and prayers,
then they told the emperor that his command had been carried out. But
the emperor learned the truth and he resorted to yet another lie. Informing
his soldiers that the saint was plotting to remove him from the throne,
he sent them to the prison. The holy confessor himself came out to the
furious soldiers, who seized him and dragged him through the streets of
the city. They then threw the lacerated body of the martyr into a pit, where
they were wont to bury criminals.
On the following morning a fiery cloud
appeared over Mount Auxentius, and then a heavy darkness descended
upon the capital, accompanied by hail, which killed many people.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Trained on the mountain in ascetical
labours, with the whole armour of the Cross thou didst vanquish
the spiritual arrays of unseen enemies; and when thou hadst stripped
thyself with great courage for contest, thou didst slay Copronymus
with the sword of the true Faith. For both these things hast thou
been crowned by God, O righteous Martyr, blest Stephen of great renown.
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
With songs and hymns, O ye feast-lovers,
let us all extol the godly Stephen, that great lover of the Trinity,
for he honoured with his whole heart the comely image of the Master,
of His Mother, and of all the Saints. Now with one accord, with longing,
and with joy of heart, let us cry to him: Rejoice, O Father most
glorious.
Reading:
The righteous Stephen was born
in Constantinople in 715 to pious parents named John and Anna.
His mother had prayed often to the most holy Theotokos in her church
at Blachernae to be granted a son, and one day received a revelation
from our Lady that she would conceive the son she desired. When Anna
had conceived, she asked the newly-elected Patriarch Germanus (see
May 12) to bless the babe in her womb. He said, "May God bless him through
the prayers of the holy First Martyr Stephen." At that moment Anna saw
a flame of fire issue from the mouth of the holy Patriarch. When the child
was born, she named him Stephen, according to the prophecy of Saint Germanus. Stephen struggled
in asceticism from his youth in Bithynia at the Monastery of Saint Auxentius,
which was located at a lofty place called Mount Auxentius. Because
of his extreme labours and great goodness, he was chosen by the hermits
of Mount Auxentius to be their leader. The fame of his spiritual struggles
reached the ears of all, and the fragrance of his virtue drew many
to himself.
During the reign of Constantine V (741-775),
Stephen showed his love of Orthodoxy in contending for the Faith.
This Constantine was called Copronymus, that is, "namesake of dung,"
because while being baptized he had soiled the waters of regeneration,
giving a fitting token of what manner of impiety he would later embrace.
Besides being a fierce Iconoclast, Constantine raised up a ruthless
persecution of monasticism. He held a council in 754 that anathematized
the holy icons. Because Saint Stephen rejected this council, the Emperor
framed false accusations against him and exiled him. But while in exile
Saint Stephen performed healings with holy icons and turned many away
from Iconoclasm.
When he was brought before the Emperor
again, he showed him a coin and asked whose image the coin bore.
"Mine," said the tyrant. "If any man trample upon thine image, is he
liable to punishment?" asked the Saint. When they that stood by answered
yes, the Saint groaned because of their blindness, and said if they
thought dishonouring the image of a corruptible king worthy of punishment,
what torment would they receive who trampled upon the image of the Master
Christ and of the Mother of God? Then he threw the coin to the ground
and trampled on it. He was condemned to eleven months in bonds and imprisonment.
Later, he was dragged over the earth and was stoned, like Stephen the
First Martyr; wherefore he is called Stephen the New. Finally, he was
struck with a wooden club on the temple and his head was shattered, and
thus he gave up his spirit in the year 767.
Stephen the Younger M (RM) (with Basil,
Peter, Andrew & Comps.) Born at Constantinople in 714-715; died
there 764-765. When the Iconoclast persecution was renewed by the
Byzantine emperor Constantine V (Copronymus), this Stephen was the
foremost defender at Constantinople of the veneration of religious
images. He was a hermit-monk on Mount Saint Auxentius (near Chalcedon),
and in 761 was banished for his activities to the island of Proconnesus
in the sea of Marmara.
After three years he was brought before
the emperor and questioned. Stephen produced a coin and asked if
it were not wrong to treat the imperial effigy on it disrespectfully:
"Very well," he continued, "how much more then does he deserve punishment
who stamps on an image of Christ or his mother, and burns it" (which was
what was being done).
He threw the coin to the floor and trampled
on it. Constantine ordered him thrown in jail, where he spent 11
months with over 300 other monks, living a sort of monastic life together.
Saint Stephen continued to be resolute in his principles, and was
finally battered to death. It is said that the emperor was not willing
to order his death but--like Henry II and Thomas a Becket--Stephen
provoked it by the intemperance of his language. And so Stephen together
with SS Basil, Peter, Andrew, and a band of over 300 monks were put
to death for our faith (Attwater, Attwater 2, Benedictines, Coulson).
|
770 St. Opportuna Benedictine
abbess; The legends
which grew up about her after her death, as well as many reputed
miracles, made the saint very popular in France.
770 ST OPPORTUNA, VIRGIN AND
ABBESS a life of humility, obedience, mortification and prayer;
many reputed miracles after death,
ST OPPORTUNA was
born near Hyesmes in Normandy. At an early age she entered
a Benedictine convent near Almenèches, receiving the veil
from her brother Chrodegang, bishop of Séez. As a simple
nun and afterwards as abbess she edified the whole community by
her piety and austerity. Her brother the bishop came to a violent
end: he was murdered; and the tragic fate of this brother to whom
she was warmly attached was so great a shock to St Opportuna that she
died shortly afterwards, leaving behind the memory of a life of humility,
obedience, mortification and prayer. The legends which grew up about
her after her death, as well as many reputed miracles, made the saint
very popular in France.
There is a
life by Adelelmus, Bishop of Séez (best text in Mabillon,
vol. iii, part a, pp. 222—231), but the prominence given to the
miraculous element does not inspire confidence.
See also L. de Ia Sicotière, La vie de ste Opportune (1867), and
Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp. 231--234.
Born near Hyesmes, Normandy, she
was the sister of St. Chrodegang,
bishop of Seez, and entered a Benedictine convent at Monteuil,
eventually becoming abbess. She died of shock after learning of
her brother’s murder.
Opportuna of Montreuil, OSB V, Abbess (AC)
Born near Ayesmes, Normandy; Saint Opportuna was the sister of
Saint Chrodegang, bishop of Séez. When she was still very
young, Opportuna received the veil from her brother and entered
the Benedictine convent of Montreuil at Almenèches, three
miles from Séez, where her cousin Saint Lantildis governed. (Chrodegang
was killed on the way to visit the abbey.) Later Opportuna succeeded
her cousin as abbess. Opportuna, a model of humility, obedience, mortification,
and prayer, is described as "a true mother to all her nuns."
Her cultus has always flourished in France.
In 1009, during the invasion of the Normans in the reign of Charles
the Bald, her relics were translated to the priory of Moussy between
Paris and Senlis. Later they were moved to Senlis. In 1374, her right
arm and a rib were enshrined in a small church dedicated to her
in Paris near a hermitage called Notre Dame des Bois Paris. As the
city grew, so did the church. Most of Opportuna's head still rests
at Moussy; her left arm and part of her skull at Almenèches;
and a jaw bone in the priory of Saint Chrodegang at Île-Adam.
The Parisien shrine is carried in processions with those of Saints
Honoratus and Geneviève (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson,
Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Opportuna holds an abbess's crozier
and a casket of relics. She may also be shown with the Virgin
appearing at her deathbed or as a princess with a basket of cherries
and a fleur-de- lys (Roeder). She is venerated at Ayesmes in Normandy
(Roeder).
|
770
St. Sebald Hermit, missionary assisting in the work. of St. Willibald in the
Reichswald; miracles.
Patron saint of Nuremberg. Most likely an
Anglo-Saxon from England, he arrived on the Continent and became
a hermit near Vicenza, Italy, and then participated in the missionary
enterprise of the times, assisting in the work. of St. Willibald
in the Reichswald. Many
miracles were attributed to
him, including turning icicles into firewood. |
773 St. Amicus
martyr French knight, companion of Amelius Charlemagne's champion.
These knights took part in Charlemagne's
campaign against the Lombards in northern Italy. In Mortara,
Lombardy, Amicus and Amelius are venerated as martyrs.
Amicus and Amelius MM (AC). As French knights,
Saints Amicus and Amelius participated in Blessed Charlemagne's campaign
against the Lombards in northern Italy. Because they fell in battle
against heretics, they have been venerated as martyrs in Mortara,
Lombardy, Italy (Benedictines). |
781 St. Alcmund
Bishop and miracle worker
Ss. Alcmunid and Tilebrt, Bishops of Hexham (A.D. 781 And 789)
No details are known of the lives of these holy bishops, respectively
the seventh and eighth occupants of the see of Hexham. St Alemund
succeeded to St Frithebert in the year 767, and at his death was buried
beside St Acca in the cemetery outside the cathedral-church. During
the Danish raids all trace and memory of his grave were lost, but about
the year 1032 it is said that the saint appeared in a vision to a man of
Hexham, pointed out the place where his body lay, and asked him to tell the
sacristan of the church of Durham to have it translated to a more honourable
resting-place within the cathedral. This was accordingly done.
Tradition says that during the translation the Durham monk, Alured, secretly
abstracted one of Alcmund's bones to take back to his own church; but the
coffin became so weighty that it was found impossible to move it-until Alured
restored the stolen relic. Alban Butler includes St Tilbert with St
Alcmund on this day, but the chronicler Simeon of Durham records the date
of his death as October 2. In 1154 the relics of all the six saints among
the twelve early bishops of Hexham, which then ceased to exist as a bishopric,
were collected into one shrine; they were finally and completely scattered
by the Scots when they raided Hexham in 1296.
For historical details consult
the volumes of the younger James Raine, The Priory of Hexham (1864-65).
Here, as in the Acta Sanctorum,
September, vol. iii, extracts are given from Simeon of Durham. There seems
to have been no liturgical cultus.
Also called Alchmund in some lists. He was the bishop of Hexham
in Northumberland, England, in 767, succeeding to the see established by
St. Wilfrid. His tenure as bishop
lasted until his death on September 7, 781. He was buried near St. Acca beside
the Hexham church, but invasions by the Danes decimated that area of England,
and the grave was forgotten. In the eleventh century, St. Alcmund appeared to a parishioner,
telling him to inform the sacrist of Durham, a man named Alfred or Alured,
to move the bones. Alfred agreed, but he took one bone from the remains
when the grave was opened. No one could move the remains of St. Alemund
until that one bone was placed among the rest. In 1154, Hexham was again
invaded, and the bodies of the Hexham saints were gathered into one shrine.
Remains destroyed in 1296, when Scottish Highlanders attacked the region.
|
786 St. Willibald Bishop and missionary native
of Wessex England brother of Sts. Winebald and Walburga related
to St. Boniface; Willibald was the first recorded English pilgrim
to the Holy Land, and his vita the earliest travel book by an English
writer; honoured with many miracles.
786 ST WILLIBALD, BISHOP
OF Eichstätt
WILLIBALD was born about the year
700, in the kingdom of the West Saxons, the son of St Richard
(February 7) and so brother of SS. Winebald and Walburga.
When he was three years old his
life was despaired of in a violent sickness. When all natural remedies proved
unsuccessful, his parents laid him at the foot of a great cross which was
erected in a public place near their house. There they made a promise to
God that if the child recovered they would consecrate him to the divine service,
and he was immediately restored to health. Richard put him under the abbot
of the monastery of Waltham in Hampshire. Willibald left here about the year
720 to accompany his father and brother on a pilgrimage, as is narrated in
the life of St Richard on February 7.
After staying for a time in Rome,
where he suffered from malaria, Willibald set out with two companions to
visit the holy places which Christ had sanctified by His presence on earth.
They sailed first to Cyprus and thence into Syria. At Emesa
(Homs) St Willibald was taken by the Saracens for a spy, and was
imprisoned with his companions, but after a short time they were
released. When first the prisoners were arraigned, the magistrate
said, "I have often seen men of the parts of the earth whence these
come travelling hither. They mean no harm, wishing but to fulfil
their law." They then went to Damascus, Nazareth, Cana, Mount Tabor, Tiberias.
Magdala, Capharnaum, the source of the Jordan (where Willibald noticed
that the cattle differed from those of Wessex, having "a long back, short
legs, large upright horns, and all of one colour"), the desert of the
Temptation, Galgal, Jericho, and so to Jerusalem. Here he spent some time,
worshipping Christ in the places where He wrought so many great mysteries,
and seeing marvels that are still shown to the pious pilgrim to-day. He
likewise visited famous monasteries, lauras and hermitages in that country,
with a desire of learning and imitating the practices of the religious life,
and whatever might seem most conducive to the sanctification of his soul.
After visiting Bethlehem and the south, the coast towns, Samaria and Damascus,
and Jerusalem several times again, he eventually took ship at Tyre and, after
a long stay in Constantinople, reached Italy before the end of the year
730. Willibald was the first recorded English pilgrim to the Holy Land,
and his vita the earliest travel book by an English writer.
The celebrated monastery of
Monte Cassino having been lately repaired by Pope St Gregory II, Willibald
chose that house for his residence, and his example contributed to settle
it in the primitive spirit of its holy rule during the ten years that he
lived there: indeed he seems to have had an important part in the restoration
of observance there. At the end of that time. coming on a visit to Rome,
he was received by Pope St Gregory III, who, being interested in his travels
and attracted by his character, eventually instructed Willibald
to go into Germany and join the mission of his kinsman Boniface.
Accordingly he set out for Thuringia, where St Boniface then was,
by whom he was ordained priest. His labours in the country about
Eichstätt, in Franconia, were crowned with great success, and
he was no less powerful in words than in works.
Very shortly afterwards he was
consecrated bishop by Boniface and given charge of a new diocese
of which Eichstätt was made the see. The cultivation of so
rough a vineyard was a laborious and painful task; but his patience
and energy overcame all difficulties. He set about founding, at
Heidenheim, a double monastery, whose discipline was that of Monte
Cassino, wherein his brother, St Winebald, ruled the monks, and his
sister, St Walburga, the nuns. From this monastery the care and evangelization
of his diocese was organized and conducted, and in it the bishop
found a congenial refuge from the cares of his office. But his love
of solitude did not diminish his pastoral solicitude for his flock.
He was attentive to all their spiritual necessities, he often visited
every part of his charge, and instructed his people with indefatigable
zeal and charity, so that "the field which had been so arid and barren
soon flourished as a very vineyard of the Lord". Willibald outlived both
his brother and sister and shepherded his flock for some forty-five years
before God called him to Himself. He was honoured with many miracles and
his body enshrined in his cathedral, where it still lies. St Willibald's
feast is kept in the diocese of Plymouth on this day, but the Roman Martyrology
names him on July 7.
The materials for St Willibald's
life are unusually abundant and reliable. We have in particular
the account of his early history and travels (the "Hodoeporicon")
taken down by a nun of Heidenheim, Hugeburc, an Englishwoman by
birth and a relative of the saint. The best text is in Pertz, MGH.,
Scriptores, vol. xv. Besides
this there are several minor biographies and references in letters,
etc. All that is most important will be found both in Mabillon,
vol. iii, and in the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. ii.
For English readers a translation of the "Hodoeporicon" will be found
in C. H. Talbot, Anglo-Saxon
Missionaries in Germany (1954), and in the publications of
the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society (1891). There has been much
debate over obscure questions of chronology. See also Hauck,
Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands,
vol. i; H. Timerding, Die christliche
Frühzeit Deutschlands, part ii (1929); Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlix (1931),
pp. 353-397; Abbot Chapman in Revue
Benedictine, vol. xxi (1904), pp. 74-80, and St Benedict and the Sixth Century
(1929), p. 131; and W. Levison, England and the Continent in the Eighth Century
(1946).
After studying in a monastery
in Waitham, in Hampshire, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome (c.
722) with his father, who died on the way at Lucca, Italy. Willibald
continued on to Rome and then to Jerusalem. Captured by Saracens
who thought him a spy, he was eventually released and continued on
to all of the holy places and then to Constantinople (modern Istanbul,
Turkey), where he visited numerous lauras, monasteries, and hermitages.
Upon his return to Italy, he went to Monte Cassino where he stayed
for ten years, serving as sacrist, dean, and porter. While on a visit
to Rome, he met Pope St. Gregory III (r. 731-741), who sent him to Germany
to assist his cousin St. Boniface in his important missionary endeavors.
Boniface ordained him in 741 and soon appointed him bishop of Eichstatt,
in Franconia. the Site of Willibald's most successful efforts as a
missionary. With his brother Winebald, he founded a double monastery
at Heidenheim, naming Winebald abbot and his sister Walburga abbess.
Willibald served as bishop for some four decades. His Vita is included
in the Hodoeporicon (the earliest known English travel book). An account
of his journeys in the Holy Land was written by a relative of Willibald
and a nun of Heidenheim.
Willibald (Willebald) of Eichstätt
B (RM) Born in Wessex, October 21, c. 700; died on July 7, 786;
canonized 938 by Pope Leo VII; feast day formerly on July 7.
The life of Saint Willibald had
been despaired of as a child and he had been cured, so it was
believed, by being placed at the foot of a market cross where his
royal parents had prayed and made a vow that if his life were spared
it should be dedicated to the service of God. As a result, when
five years old, he was placed for education in Waltham Monastery in
Hampshire.
In 721, he accompanied his father,
King Saint Richard of the West Saxons, and brother, Saint Winebald,
to Rome and the Holy Land. Richard died at Lucca in Italy. At
some point Willibald was arrested at Emessa as a spy and imprisoned
at Constantinople for two years. After an absence of six years,
during which he visited many lauras, monasteries, and hermitages,
Willibald settled in the great monastery of Monte Cassino, where he
assisted Saint Petronax in its restoration. During his ten years there,
Willibald was appointed sacristan, dean and, for eight years, porter.
While on a visit to Rome
in 740, he met Pope Saint Gregory III, who sent him to Germany
to join his uncle (or cousin) Saint Boniface in his missionary
labors. Soon after his arrival, Boniface ordained him priest (741)
and then consecrated him bishop of Eichstätt in Franconia (742).
It was a hard and rough task in a barbarous land, for it was pioneering
work demanding great qualities of energy and evangelism.
During that period he lived in
the Heidenheim Abbey ruled by his brother, Saint Winebald,
and afterwards by his sister, Saint Walburga. There he found a
welcome retreat from the cares of his work, but was no less diligent
in his pastoral oversight. "The field which had been so arid and
barren soon flourished as a very vineyard of the Lord."
For over 50 years he labored for
God in a foreign land and no story of missionary enterprise
is more exhilarating than that of this faithful prince, who, whether
as porter of a monastery or bishop of a diocese, served the needs
of men and to the glory of God. And thus these three children of
the good Saxon King Richard came to be numbered among the saints.
Willibald was the first known
Englishman to visit the Holy Land. The account of his wanderings,
Hodoeporicon, is the earliest known English travelogue. It was
dictated from his memories and recorded by a nun at Heidesheim (Attwater,
Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill).
Saint Willibald is depicted in
art holding two arrows. Sometimes he may be shown (1) with
a crown at his feet as he talks to a woodsman who fells a tree;
(2) in infancy as he is dedicated by his parents at the foot of
the cross; (3) as a pilgrim with his father and brother; (4) receiving
the mitre from the pope; (5) with the words fides, spes, charitas
on his cloak or arm; (6) with a broken glass; or (7) directing the
building of a church (Roeder).
|
787
St. Leo of Catania Bishop of Catania, Sicily.
called ii Maravigloso, “the Wonder-Worker.”
He was revered for his holiness and learning.
Cátanæ,
in Sicília, sancti Leónis Epíscopi,
qui virtútibus atque miráculis coruscávit.
At Catania
in Sicily, St. Leo, bishop, illustrious for virtues and miracles. |
788 Patto of Werden abbot
many miracles attributed OSB B (AC)
(also known as Pacificus) Born in Britain; died at Werden (Verden), Saxony,
Germany, c. 788. Saint Patto was abbot of the Irish monastery
of Anabaric in Saxony, which was established by Blessed Charlemagne
about 780. Later he was consecrated bishop of Werden to succeeded
its first bishop, Suibert.
Because many miracles have been attributed
to him, his body was exhumed in 1630 (a common action during
a papal investigation of sanctity), but no record was made of
the result. This may have been because the remains of Bishops Suibert,
Saint Tanco, Saint Patto, Cerelon, Nortrila, Saint Erlulf, and Saint
Harruch, plus debris of mitres, sandals, and episcopal ornaments
were all found in the same tomb. The relics were collected into a new
casket and rested behind the high altar until they were taken by
the bishop to Regensburg during the Swedish invasions in 1659 (Benedictines,
D'Arcy, Fitzpatrick2, Kenney, Montague, O'Hanlon). |
789 ST WILLEHAD, BISHOP OF BREMEN: see also Nov 08:
St Anskar,
seems to be responsible for the book of miracles attached to his
life
In vico Blexen, ad Visúrgim flúvium, in Germánia,
sancti Willehádi, qui primus éxstitit Breménsis
civitátis Epíscopus; atque, una cum sancto Bonifátio,
cujus discípulus fuit, in Frísia et Saxónia
Evangélium propagávit.
In the village of Plexem, on
the Weser River in Germany, St. Willehad, first bishop of Bremen,
who, together with St. Boniface, whose disciple he was, spread
the Gospel in Friesland and Saxony.
WILLEHAD was
an Englishman, a native of Northumbria, and was educated probably at York,
for he became a friend of Alcuin. After his ordination the spiritual conquests
which many of his countrymen had made for Christ, with St Willibrord
in Friesland and St Boniface in Germany, seemed a reproach to him,
and he also desired to carry the saving knowledge of the true God
to some of those barbarous nations. He landed in Friesland about the
year 766 and began his mission at Dokkum, the place near which St Boniface
and his companions had received the crown of martyrdom in 754. (The Roman Martyrology mistakenly calls St
Willehad a disciple of St Boniface.) After baptizing some, he
made his way through the country now called Overyssel, preaching as he
went. In Humsterland the missionaries were all put in peril of
their lives, for the inhabitants cast lots whether he and his companions
should be put to death; Providence determined the lots for their preservation.
Having escaped out of their hands, St Willehad thought it prudent to go back to Drenthe, in the more favourable neighbourhood
of Utrecht. Here, in spite of the labours of St Willibrord and his
successors, there was still plenty of heathens to convert, but the
promising field was spoiled by imprudent zeal. Some of Willehad’s fellow
missionaries venturing to demolish the places dedicated to idolatry, the
pagans were so angered that they resolved to massacre them. One struck
at St Willehad with such force that the sword would have severed his head
but that the force of the blow, as his biographer assures us, was entirely
broken by cutting a string about the saint’s neck by which hung a little box
of relics which he always carried with him. The whole incident bears a suspicious
resemblance to that recorded of St Willibrord on the island of Waicheren.
Having
made so little progress among the Frisians St Willehad went to
the court of Charlemagne, who in 780 sent him to evangelize the
Saxons, whom he had recently subdued. The saint thence proceeded into
the country where Bremen now stands, and was the first missionary who
passed the Weser; some of his companions got beyond the Elbe. For
a short time all went well, but in 782 the Saxons rose in revolt against
the Franks. They put to death all missionaries that fell into their hands,
and St Willehad escaped by sea into Friesland, whence he took an opportunity
of going to Rome and laying before Pope Adrian I the state of his mission.
He then passed two years in the monastery of Echternach, founded by St
Willibrord, and assembled his fellow labourers whom the war had dispersed;
here, too, he made a copy of the letters of St Paul.
Charlemagne
put down the Saxon rebellion in ruthless fashion, and Willehad
was able to return to the country between the Weser and the Elbe.*[* Charlemagne’s dealings with the barbarous Saxons
were not such as to make solid missionary work any easier.]
When the saint had founded many churches, Charlemagne
in 787 had him ordained bishop of the Saxons, and he fixed his
see at Bremen, which city seems to have been founded about that
time. St Willehad redoubled his zeal and his solicitude in preaching.
His cathedral church he built of wood and consecrated it on November
I, 789, in honour of St Peter. A few days
later he was taken ill, and it was seen that he was very bad. One of
his disciples said to him, weeping, “Do not so soon forsake your flock
exposed to the fury of wolves”. He answered, “Withhold me not from going
to God. My sheep I recommend to Him who intrusted them to me and whose
mercy is able to protect them.” And so he died, and his successor buried
his body in the new stone church at Bremen. St Willehad was the last
of the great English missionaries of the eighth century.
Our knowledge
of St Willehad is almost entirely derived from a Latin life
written about the year 856 by some ecclesiastic of Bremen. It
was formerly attributed to the authorship of St Anskar, but this
view has now been abandoned, though Anskar seems to be responsible
for the book of miracles attached to the life. The best text of both
is that edited by A. Poncelet in the Acta Sanctorum,
November, vol. iii ; but they have been printed several
times before, e.g. by Mabillon, and in Pertz, MGH.,
Scriptores, vol. ii. See also H. Timerding,
Die Christliche Frühzeit Deutschlands,
vol. ii (1929); Louis Halphen, Etudes critiques
sur l’histoire de Charlemagne (1921); and Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. ii. Cf. W. Levison, England and the Continent
. . . (1946).
|
793 Ethelbert of East
Anglia a man of prayer from his childhood miracles revealed at his hidden
tomb M (AC).
Died near Hereford, England, in 793. King
Ethelbert had a considerable cultus during the middle ages,
although some, such as William of Malmesbury, have misgivings
about the continuance of his veneration. He was murdered at Sutton
Walls in Herefordshire, apparently for dynastic reasons at the instigation
of the wife of Offa of Mercia.
His pious vita, written by Giraldus Cambrensis, tells us
that Ethelbert was a man of prayer from his childhood. While still very young,
he succeeded his father Ethelred as king of East Anglia and ruled benevolently
for 44 years. It is said that his usual maxim is that the higher the station
of man, the humbler he ought to be. This was the rule for his own conduct.
Desiring to secure stability for his kingdom
by an heir, he sought the hand of the virtuous Alfreda, daughter
of the powerful King Offa. With this in mind, he visited Offa
at Sutton-Wallis, four miles Hereford. He was courteously entertained,
but after some days, treacherously murdered by Grimbert, an officer
of king Offa, through the contrivance of queen Quendreda who wanted
to add his kingdom to their own.
His body was secretly buried at Maurdine
of Marden, but miracles revealed its hiding place. Soon it
was moved to a church at Fernley (Heath of Fern), now called Hereford.
The town grew around the church bearing Ethelbert's name after King
Wilfrid of Mercia enlarged and enriched it.
Quendreda died miserably within three months
after her crime. Her daughter Alfreda became a hermit at Croyland.
Offa made atonement for the sin of his queen by a pilgrimage
to Rome, where he founded a school for the English. Egfrid, the
only son of Offa, died after a reign of some months, and the Mercian
crown was translated into the family descended of Penda (Attwater,
Benedictines). |
794 Saint Stephen
Sabbaites, nephew of St John of Damascus entered Lavra of St Sava
at 10 spent his life there; given gifts of wonderworking and clairvoyance;
healed the sick, cast out devils
Born in the year 725. The ten-year-old boy entered
the Lavra of St Sava and spent his whole life at this monastery,
sometimes going out into the desert for solitary ascetic deeds.
The venerable Stephen was given the gifts of wonderworking and clairvoyance.
He healed the sick, cast out devils, and discerned the thoughts
of those coming to him for counsel. He died in the year 794, foretelling
in advance the day of his death. The Life of the monk was compiled
by his student Leontius.
Stephanus der Sabait Orthodoxe Kirche:
13. Juli Katholische Kirche: 31. März
Stephanus wurde 725 geboren. Mit
10 Jahren trat er in das Sabakloster ein, das er bis zu seinem Tod
794 nicht mehr verließ. Er zog sich zeitweise in die Einöde
zurück und wurde mit den Gaben der Heilung, Teufelsaustreibung
und Prophetie beschenkt.
|
795 Saint
Timothy of Symbola Italian gift of healing sick casting out
unclean spirits
He became a monk at a young age and pursued
asceticism at a monastery called "Symbola," in Asia Minor near
Mount Olympus. At that time Theoctistus was the archimandrite
of the monastery. St Timothy was the disciple of Theoctistus and
also of St Platon of the Studion Monastery (April 5).
Attaining a high degree of spiritual
perfection, he received from God the gift of healing the sick
and casting out unclean spirits. He spent many
years as a hermit, roaming the wilderness, the mountains and forests,
both day and night offering up prayer to the Lord God. He died at a
great old age, in the year 795. |
8th v. Saint Stephen
Impressed by the lives of the great asceticss glorious departure
into Heaven with the angels.
he made the rounds of many monasteries
in Palestine, and in the wilderness visited also the great
Fathers Euthymius the Great (January 20), Sava the Sanctified
(December 5) and Theodosius the Great (January 11). Tonsured into
monasticism, St Stephen founded his own monastery in Bithynia, near
Mount Oxos near Chalcedon. Many monks gathered at the monastery
near Moudania in Asia Minor, which was called "chenolakkos" ["by
the goose-pond"].
The holy ascetic foresaw his own
death, and certain of the brethren were granted to behold his
glorious departure into Heaven with the angels. |