Beatus

ON ST. BEATUS OF VENDÔME IN THE DIOCESE OF CHARTRES.

Beatus, of Vendôme in the Diocese of Chartres in Gaul (S.)

G. H.

[1] Some difficulties appear concerning S. Beatus, so that it can be doubted whether one or several are to be established. We will indicate clearly what is the sense of the ancients. The first memorial is made in four ancient apographs of the Hieronymian Martyrology but on various days, especially toward the end augmented in Gaul and England. Of these the most ancient is the Epternacian, Ancient cult. inscribed nearly a thousand years ago. In which toward the end these things are read: And elsewhere of Beatus the Confessor: in the other three, namely Corbeian, Lucan and Blavian, these things are had, The birthday of S. Beatus the Confessor. But the MSS. of Reichenau near Constance in Swabia, of Prague of the Cathedral Church, the Augsburg of S. Udalric and the Parisian of Labbe, not at Rome mention only Beatus the Confessor, who in the MS. of Trier of S. Martin is called Beatus the Presbyter. Behold the illustrious vestiges of ancient cult, but no place is indicated. First Rabanus in his Martyrology hands down these things: At Rome the birthday of S. Beatus the Confessor. Rabanus was copied by the author of the Martyrology supposed under the name of Bede, and this by Galesinus. But the MSS. of Arras of the Cathedral Church, of Brussels of the church of S. Gudula, and of Tournai of the monastery of S. Martin, conjoin these things: At Rome the birthday of the Saints Beatus the Confessor and S. Primolus. That an error crept into these from the adjoined Primolus, who suffered at Rome, and is immediately placed before S. Beatus in the cited four apographs of the Hieronymian Martyrology, is gathered from the MS. Epternacian: where between Primolus and Beatus is expressly placed, and elsewhere: which is the same as if it were said, not at Rome. But that place in the most ancient Martyrology of the Queen of Sweden marked num. 313 is thus indicated: but to be assigned to Vendôme. In the territory of the city of Chartres at the castle of Vendôme, the birthday of S. Beatus the Confessor. The same things drawn from there Lucas Holstenius has in his Animadversions to the Roman Martyrology. But Usuard: At the castle of Vendôme the deposition of S. Beatus the Confessor. The same or similar things have Bellinus, Grevenus, Molanus, Maurolycus, Felicius, Canisius, Saussay, with today's Roman Martyrology.

[2] Various Acts found multiple times differing only in style. In the MS. of Ado of the monastery of S. Lawrence at Liège it is added, that his Acts are had. These we have multiple, but none of first note and credit: which we have differ from one another only in style. Wherefore we give only those which we think older than the others, transcribed by Father John Gamans from a notable parchment Passional of the Bodecense monastery, of the Order of Canons Regular of S. Augustine in Westphalia and the diocese of Paderborn, collated with another codex MS. of the Church of the Holy Saviour. Others, somewhat more adorned with cultivation of words and almost extended to double, we have from four MS. codices, namely those we ourselves transcribed from the MS. codex of the above-indicated Queen marked num. 863, likewise at Paris from two MS. codices preserved among the Fathers of the Feuillants, among the collectanea of R. P. John a S. Martino, of which the prior copy lacked a Prologue; the other was distinguished into nine Lections, and in place of Beatus bore the name of Siviardus. The fourth copy was sent to us from Rouen by R. D. Francis Pommeraius Religious Benedictine. With these four copies collated with each other, we had prepared a second Life for the press, with that intention, which in January and February we used several times, concerning those Saints, of whom we had no life of preeminent authority and antiquity, we gave several of inferior note and credit, differing almost only in style, that free choice might remain to the reader. But because we have observed by use that it is the judgment of many, that those Lives are little usefully multiplied, of which even one would be too much to read, desiring that more certain and only first- credit Acts be proposed in this work; we judged that we should abstain from its edition, and refer to the notes if anything singular occurred in others. From either Life moreover are taken Lections from an old MS. Breviary, sent to us formerly by P. John Wallon at Rouen: likewise other compendia which exist both in the Breviary of Chartres printed in the year MDCXXXIII, and in the proper offices of the Church of Constance in Swabia, in these themselves it is read that his body was given for burial in the castle of Vendôme. Namely, as also has the Breviary of Chartres, when in a crypt close to the castle of Vendôme he had passed the rest of his life; and all the Lives, which we have mentioned, agree.

[3] That in the diocese of Chartres and the Deanery of Vendôme is a village and parish of S. Beatus, parish, Relic. pertaining to the patronage of the Abbot of Vendôme, the Register of benefices of the diocese of Chartres printed in the year MDCXLVIII attests. There is moreover there an Abbey, dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity, of the Order of S. Benedict, in which is preserved the arm of S. Beatus enclosed in silver, the above praised Pommeraius the Benedictine indicated to us. And all these things confirm S. Beatus in the said diocese of Chartres and in the vicinity of the city of Vendôme, commonly Vendôme, to have piously passed his life and concluded it with a holy end, and there to have obtained ancient veneration.

[4] In what century he flourished. But now in what time he flourished there is to be investigated. The Acts to be given below have him among other Apostolic men chosen by S. Peter the Apostle, instructed and sent into Gaul. Meanwhile the said Pommeraius, when he sent us those Acts, in the accompanying letter indicates that he judges he flourished in the fourth or fifth century of Christ. Indeed some scruple is injected from the lections of the Breviary of Chartres, because in them no mention is made either of the city of Rome, or of S. Peter, or of the Roman Pontiffs, since from this mission of S. Beatus made by S. Peter could accrue the highest dignity and excellence to the said diocese. In the Breviary of Constance he is handed down as sent by the Roman Pontiff into Gaul, for the cause of disseminating the Gospel. What therefore is to be said to the said Acts? Perhaps they would seem to someone written from pictures formed in honor of S. Beatus, in which is indicated the mission made by some Pontiff, with keys painted in signifying the power of loosing and binding, and soon from sole love of antiquity, with which everywhere men burn in promoting the beginnings of the received faith, someone presumed that Pontiff to have been S. Peter the Apostle. Consult Francis Bosquet, who hands down similar things in the book of histories of the Gallican Church: some of which we insinuated on XXII of March, at the Life of S. Paul Bishop of Narbonne. We leave these things to be further discussed by the learned men among the Chartrains and Vendômois.

[5] Another, and perhaps more doubtful thing, is ascribed to S. Beatus, and what kind of fight he had with a dragon. as if he no less than S. George had to fight with a Dragon or some huge serpent, which he had to expel from a cave or crypt. The Acts of S. George we elucidated on the day XXIII of April, and §.III at length we showed the fight imputed to him on occasion of images, which in similar manner expressed his victory, idolatry having been destroyed won over the diabolical infernal dragon: which here also seems to be able to be believed, and therefore about the serpent or dragon nothing is handed down in the printed Lections, indeed even in the ancient Lectionary MS. as below to the prior Acts we annotate.

[6] Near Confluence the city of the territory of Trier, where the Moselle falls into the Rhine, Another S. Beatus among the Treverans. there is the mountain of S. Beatus, where Carthusians dwell, we found noted at the miracles of S. Servatius on the day XIII of May num. 34, whose body brought there is said, as if saluting the said Beatus, three times to have inclined itself. He is venerated XII of May, S. Modoald Archbishop of Trier, whose body was in the year MCVII translated to the monastery of Helmwardenhusen, together with a tooth and part of a rib of S. Beatus the Confessor, obtained at Trier from two women devoted to God, in the church of B. Mary enclosed, as there in the History of the Translation num. 16 is read. John Enen and John Scheckmann in the Epitome or Marrow of the Trevirian Deeds printed in the year MDXVII page 57, report the sacred Relics of the monastery of S. Mary at the Martyrs near the bank of the Moselle and among other things have these: A finger of S. Beatus the Confessor, who also with body here reposes. But that he is buried at Confluence among the Carthusians, is indicated in the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck printed in 1490, likewise in Canisius, Molanus and others: but on the day XXVI of July: and that he with his brother Banton lived in the Vosges, is indicated in the Life of S. Magnericus Bishop of the Treverans XXV of July. Consult Brower's Annales Trevirenses book 7 num. 32: and from all these conclude that that Beatus of Confluence is different from that of Vendôme.

LIFE

From the MSS. Bodecense and Utrecht.

Beatus, of Vendôme in the Diocese of Chartres in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 1064

FROM THE MS.

[1] In those days, when very many Provinces were devoted to warlike pursuits, Among other Apostolic men Aquitaine and at the same time all Germany were sweating in public errors, and the whole multitude of the gentiles lay subject to the vanity of idols; it was done by the providence of divine restoration, that for recalling peoples from their madness, very many athletes, armed with piety and faith, by S. Peter the Apostle from the city of Rome were directed into all the ends of the earth: who by the seedbed of the doctrine of God might call the Gentiles to grace, so that from the throng of believers daily growing the Church of Christ might leap forth. Among whom stood out the man of God, Beatus by name and by work, great and excelling in religion, noble in birth, but more noble and more sublime in faith; comely in form, endowed with wisdom, rich in resources, but more rich in the grace of God. He coming with not double but suppliant heart to conversion, S. Beatus, his goods having been distributed to the poor in part distributed his substance to the poor, in part divided to the Church and brethren, and retained nothing for himself except simple clothing, fearing that example of Ananias and Sapphira or punishment, especially that which the Lord in the Gospel says: He who does not announce all that he possesses, cannot be my disciple. Thus therefore naked and unencumbered to the world, but with the arms and virtues of Christ clothed, by Bl. Peter sent to preaching, a pilgrimage into Gaul ^a he is handed down to have undertaken joyfully, that he who among acquaintances was venerated as greatest, among the unknown might be reckoned a beggar; recognizing in himself, in Gaul he preaches: what the Lord to the poor and humble his own promises again, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall possess the earth. Luc. 14, 33, Matth. 5, 3

[2] And so the journey of preaching having been undertaken, the word of truth in seed was not lacking to him, nor fruit in operation, nor harvest in retribution. For to whatever peoples he came preaching the word of God of their conversion he merited to receive from the Lord very much fruit. ^b But he was glorified by signs and virtues in all things, so that whatever sick or feeble ^c his healing right hand touched, it conferred salvation and health on them from divine mercy. Nor wonder, for he was of such great continence, innocence and purity, that it did not seem to him to be absurd, what in the Psalm he daily ruminated the canticle, Innocent of hands and clean of heart, who has not received his soul in vain. Ps. 23, 4 For now in flesh dead beforehand, in mind he unceasingly desired heavenly things; and the songs of prayers without ceasing resounded his lips. he labors with his hands: Nor less did he work servile work with his hands, that he might have whence to give to those suffering need, offering an example to others, that they not refuse the daily work of labor. He performed with his hands work in rushes, nor did he diminish the work of the mouth in Psalm: he wove little baskets, and exchanging them for daily food, he imitated the examples of the ancient monks, and observed the precept of the Apostle with diligence, who in order to rouse the sluggish and idle, He who does not labor, he says, let him not eat. Thess. 3, 8

[3] he converts very many to the faith. Faith burned in his breast, and the dignity of religion flashed in his face. He regenerated through the laver multitudes, and from the error of paganism removed huge troops. For through his prayer and divine inspiration; the very worshippers of idols destroyed the temples of the images and profaned the rite of sacrifices of their own, confessing and desiring to observe the true religion of the Christians. For wherever the man of the Lord S. Beatus the Presbyter remained, he could in no way long lie hidden, because the light upon the candlestick was placed: since for his daily virtues he was venerated with the highest honor and loved by all. But if ever he conceded a little sleep to his eyes, sparing in sleep and food. he cast his weary limbs upon the ground and the bare hair-shirt: but about food and drink there is no need to say, since he was of such great abstinence, that many even after his death taking the example of his continence, obtained the effect of his virtues and signs. One Companion ^d little, S. Beatus had in fellowship with himself, to whom strenuously and continually he rendered service, so far that he often took off his shoes and bestowed the love of pure and sincere charity on him; procured food for him fasting, and indefatigably extended his own fasting through three days, nor however did he remain more severe thence.

[4] And when with such glorious fruit of good works he was running through innumerable provinces, he profits much among the Nantes: he turned aside into the city ^e of Nantes, situated upon the river Loire, where he was received as guest by a few Christians and honored after the manner of a pilgrim. Having tarried there for a short time, he kindled the hearts of all from the divine eloquence: for he spoke and exhorted all the hearers about the principate of the Patriarchs, about the consecrated number of the Prophets, about the choir of the Apostles, about the glorious army of Martyrs, about the reward of the Confessors, about the brightness of the Virgins, among whom Bl. Mary the Mother of God obtains the principate. So he instructed the souls of the faithful, proposing to them the examples of all the Saints, kindling their hearts to the fellowship of the supercelestial virtues, concluding the last sermon about the nine orders of Angels and about the beatitude of the holy souls, over whom alone reigns Christ, who is Holy of Holies, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory unto ages of ages. Amen. After these things when he had very many there confirmed in the worship of God, and having heard that near Vendôme there was a cave suitable for him, through whom of the holy Church the institute of religion might be confirmed; he began to inquire from all about a more secret and remote place from men, where he might be fed by sole divine contemplation. And when he was diligently investigating from sailors a business of this kind, he heard from the shipmasters about a town of Vendôme a message dear to him, namely that there was a cavern hewn in stone in some more remote place, not far ^f from the castle Ledum, at the roots of a mountain, above covered with a grove. But he with humility supplicated the shipmaster, that the faculty might be given him to pass through with them. Who when he asked from him fare or viaticum, he produced the little book of the Sacraments, whence he was wont to celebrate the divine ministry, when to the Lord he immolated the most holy sacrifice. Whom the shipmaster when he had recognized to have nothing more except the sole clothing, was unwilling to receive anything from him.

[5] Therefore ascending the ship, with the Lord so directing they had a prosperous course, he sails there, so that the sailors said among themselves mutually, that they had never sailed so prosperously. For a thin breeze breathed for them, and the wave was placid in service, whence with one accord all who were in the ship rendered thanks to God, saying, Now certainly we know, that this man is truly a servant of God, to whom water divinely renders service, and also the blasts of the winds give the support of aid. Thus therefore the Saint of the Lord Beatus, always bearing a blessed mind, with prosperous journey, with the Lord mediating, came to the desired place. Therefore seeing the cave in hollowed stone, remote from all fellowship of light, covered by the density of woods, and the serpent removed there as a solitary he lives he greatly rejoiced over it. They report moreover this about the same place, men dwelling not far from there, that a serpent of wonderful magnitude once possessed that habitation, who in the same region a great destruction, both in men and in beasts, is said to have perpetrated: whom the man of the Lord, relying on divine help, when he had exterminated, and had cleansed that place from its filth and stenches, as if into a workhouse he thrust himself into the cave, for the Lord and for the kingdom of heaven; that he might fulfill, that Prophetic word, He dwelt in the heights of the most firm rock, placing in the height of the mountain his nest and with the beasts his bed: and he holily dies. and again another Prophet says: He shall dwell in the heights, the fortifications of rocks his sublimity: He shall see the King in his beauty. Is. 33, 16 With roots of herbs he sustained his body: and if ever he took dry bread, he said it was the highest banquet. ^g

[6] In this place therefore, the man of the Lord remained leading a harsh and strict life, and ascended to decrepit age, honored by divine signs and virtues, until from the calling of the Lord himself he was clemently visited ^h. Then that happy soul, to the heavens gloriously migrated to the kingdoms, and in the same cave, his holy little body was honorably buried by religious men: so that the cavern itself, which had had as a guest him alive, might have him also as deceased, and might become salvation of very many ailing ⁱ.

[7] After these things a long space being completed, a certain Alessia, a woman, [there is buried Aleffia the Virgin. consecrated to Christ from infancy, shining from a noble race, remaining more noble by illustrious virginity, had the fame of her religion spread far and wide. She when she was completing the term of life, issued this precept to her familiars, that they should bury her little body next to Beatus the Presbyter: that in one place they might honorably be preserved in the tomb, whom the religion of one faith had made companions in heaven. From ^k that time, with God Almighty mediating, daily there in the people signs and miracles are wrought without number, the infirm receiving health, the consolation of the oppressed, and salvation of every kind to all the faithful, through Christ our Lord, to whom is honor and glory unto ages of ages. Amen. ^l

ANNOTATA.

APPENDIX

On the veneration of S. Beatus among the Helvetii: and whether another Beatus announced the faith of Christ to them.

Beatus, of Vendôme in the Diocese of Chartres in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

[1] Some Life of S. Beatus published in the year 1511. George Carnefelt the Cologne Carthusian book 4 on the Lives of Hermits ch. I sets forth S. Beatus an Apostolic man, and writes these things: To the Index in the Life of this Saint, which bears an ancient character, and was published by Daniel Agricola in the year of the Lord MDXI at Basel. From this I will briefly narrate. While S. Barnabas was preaching in the parts of Scotland and Britain, Suetonius a young man believes in Christ, and being baptized is called Beatus: then he comes to Rome, and by S. Peter the Apostle is sent to the Helvetii to be converted. He did his work for some years strenuously; and after inflamed with love of the solitary life, withdrew into a desert; killed a dragon, and died happily in the year of Christ CXII, about the age of XC. And I think the same is he, of whom the Roman Martyrology IX of May, Molanus, Canisius, and others. And in the margin are placed these words: At the castle of Vendôme the deposition of S. Beatus the Confessor. This Life, by the work of John Grothausen Presbyter of the Society of Jesus, transcribed from the Cologne Charterhouse we obtained, and first of all began to prepare for the press, then we began to survey the other Acts, of which we have treated above; and soon we feared something of fraud lay underneath, because with some additions and changes the same matter was being narrated. Therefore we collected all monuments of antiquities, and nowhere before the year one thousand and fifty did we find any vestige of the Apostolate of S. Beatus among the Helvetii. But at length we fell upon the bright Commentaries of German Affairs,

issued in the year MDXXXI and then reprinted, by the industry of Beatus Rhenanus, born in the year MCCCCLXXXV at Schlettstadt and dying in the year MDXLVII at Strasbourg. He solicitous for his Patron, whose name he bore, book 3 page 161 of the prior edition of 1531, or page 172 of the later edition of 1551 brings forth this observation worthy of note: A certain man in past years, who I still hear survives, invented that Beatus, the Helvetian anchorite, as the common people preach, was called Suetonius, describing his life, and that he had as companion, whose name was Achates. I went to the man, intending to ask whence he asserted that: for I thought these things he did not say without an author. But hear his impudence. Therefore, he says, I added that he was called Suetonius, because I read that he came forth from Sweden: and because faithful Achates always clung to the Virgilian Aeneas, and his companion Achates, therefore I gave his comrade this name, who otherwise would be anonymous. And nevertheless this history; if so we wish to call it, is not only painted in temples and written, but also struck off in print. Thus Beatus Rhenanus. Meanwhile the said Life published by Daniel Agricola obtained credit among posterity, and at first whom the author had said to Rhenanus came forth from Sweden, in the Life he asserts to have been a young man named Suetonius converted by S. Barnabas and in baptism called Beatus, [why might he not also have invented him in England or Scotland converted by S. Barnabas?] when the said Barnabas was traversing the provinces of England and Scotland. And perhaps the author asked, why he wrote that he, whom others have said was a Roman citizen, was converted in England, of which then the appellation was not yet born, or in Scotland and baptized by S. Barnabas; would have replied, that under the beginning he might say something different from the other authors, whom he was copying: then that S. Lucius the Apostle of the neighboring Rhaetians came from Britain: and assumed Barnabas, because S. Aristobulus (whose Acts we gave XV March) is said to be brother of S. Barnabas, and to have promulgated the Gospel in Britain. As if indeed it followed thence that S. Barnabas also set out into Britain.

[2] Dempster wished him to be called Setonius, Dempster book 2 of the Ecclesiastical History of the nation of the Scots ch. 159 makes him a Scot, and not Suetonius but Setonius called, because there still exists a most noble and most excellent stemma of the Setonii. But of what credit Dempster is in his Scottish affairs, is known to learned men. One thing we wonder, that he did not bring forth some books written by him, as he everywhere feigns about other Scots. Dempster is rejected by Michael Alford in the Annals of the Church of Britain at the year 59 num. 10, 11 and 12, others either by others in Britain and asserts that Suetonius, son of a noble man in Britain, was converted to the faith by the first preachers of this island, and after baptism called Beatus, and was sent to S. Peter at Rome: and first Rhenanus is cited, but not read by him, because the words of him reported indicate that the plain contrary is said by him. Others whose words Alford brings forth, are Henry Pantaleon and Peter Merseus Cratepoleus, or baptized at Rome. but these hand down that he was baptized at Rome, and are more recent authors, and Pantaleon a non-Catholic man published the Prosopographia of Heroes in the year MDLXV, in whose first part page 114 about S. Beatus he treats: Cratepolius wrote his little book on the Saints of Germany in the year MDXCI. Another is Francis Guillimanus on the Affairs of the Helvetii published in the year MDXCVIII, who book I ch. 15 judges that Suetonius converted by S. Peter going into Britain, and his companion Achates, were sent into Helvetia. No more conducive to making credit are John Stumpf book 7 of Helvetic Affairs ch. 122. Eisengrenius century 2 part 5, distinct. 2, and George Wicelius book 5 ch. 38, who wrote after the year MDL or even MDLX, and one from the other took his own things, which finally all are resolved into the Life of S. Beatus published by Daniel Agricola: whence also chiefly the Life of S. Beatus written in German in Helvetia Sacra published in the year MDCXLVIII Henry Murerus drew, who also asserts that he was first called Suetonius, and separately the Life he adds of Achates, whom he also calls a holy Anchorite and Confessor, but would prefer them to have been instructed at Rome or Milan by S. Barnabas. But of whatever quality they are, they sufficed, that in the English Martyrology of John Wilson the name of S. Beatus, because another was lacking, was placed at this IX of May, where he is said to have been consecrated Priest by S. Linus the Pontiff. But alas! it is enough: let us proceed to the rest attached to this Saint.

[3] in all the Acts the same things are said about almsgiving and clothing, In the other Acts above brought forward it is said that he being about to be sent from Rome to Gaul distributed his possessions to the poor and the churches, this Agricola hands down he did in England or Scotland, before he departed thence to Rome to S. Peter. We praise the prudence of the writer, that he was mindful of his fiction. Indeed because in the other Acts he is said to have retained simple clothing; Agricola adds that he was stripped of all except a hair-shirt to the bare body, and a simple and cheap garment retained over. Then he is said to have been instructed by S. Peter, after other Orders received ordained Priest, to have confirmed the word of God with miracles, and humble in his own eyes converted many. These last things accomplished in Gaul are handed down in the other Acts, since he was sent into them, and with woven baskets. but in place of Gauls and especially of Aquitaine, are placed Helvetii, and then the same things are everywhere handed down, namely that he according to the saying of Paul, He who does not labor, let him not eat, lived from the labor of his hands, and rush baskets wove: and because in the prior ones he is said to have come to the city of Nantes, situated upon the river Loire, it is ingeniously asserted in Agricola, but in place of Vendôme Vindonissa, that to the valley Interlaken in the upper boundaries of the Helvetii he turned aside at the river Aar, whence ingeniously others interpret that valley of Interlaken to be between the Aar and the Reuss, where the village of Windisch is situated, formerly Vindonissa an Episcopal city, whence the See was translated to Constance. Further they hand down that this Vindonissa in the Martyrologies is called the castle of Vendôme. Could they also add it situated in the territory of the city of Chartres, in which the city is called by the Gauls Vendôme? The English Martyrologist thus begins: At Vendome in Helvetia the deposition of S. Beatus Confessour. But who would not spit out such ignorance? and his first Bishop, recently was handed down.

[4] In the Chronicle of the Episcopate of Constance to the year MDCVII brought down, and published by John Pistorius, S. Beatus is established as the first Bishop of Vindonissa, and were followed by Bucelinus, in part I of Germania Sacra published in the year MDCLV, and Jacob Merck in the Chronicle of the Bishops of Constance published in German in the year MDCXXVII. But no mention of Episcopal dignity conferred on him is had in any Acts, even those published by Agricola. But Caspar Bruschius, in the Bishops of Germany printed in the year MDXLIX, enumerates these alone as Bishops of Vindonissa: Paternus, Lando, Maxentius, Bubulcus, Grammatius, and Maximus or Maximinus, who is held the first Bishop of Constance. We have the Breviaries of the Church of Constance, revised by the order of Christopher Bishop, and at Lyon in the year MDLXI printed, and again by the authority of Marius Sittich the Bishop and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church revised and at Dillingen reprinted in the year MDLXXV, but without any notice of S. Beatus. But in the proper Offices of the same Church of Constance, printed some years ago, he is celebrated equally as in the Breviary of Chartres under the rite of a Confessor not Pontiff and an Antiphon is assigned, I shall liken him, and the Prayer for the Constancers the first from the Common, God who us of S. Beatus Confessor etc. but for the Chartrain the second from the Common, Be present O Lord to supplications. the same about anchoretic life,

[5] But these being rejected let us proceed to the remaining Acts of S. Beatus, in which he is said to have panted for the anchoretic life, and when he had nothing but the book of the Sacraments, which he used while sacrificing, kindly received by the sailor and freely transported, with the highest tranquility and admiration of the sailor. These things are common to all the Acts. but with places changed, But in the prior Acts and Martyrologies he is said to have sailed from the city of Nantes through the Loire, and leaving it to have come to Vendôme-castle of the diocese of Chartres upon the river Loir. But in Agricola it is said, that he sailed across the lake to the root of the mountain, and then what is in fewer indicated about the huge serpent or dragon in the prior Acts, are described in Latin in Agricola: likewise about the dragon expelled and the flight of the Dragon through the air in the image at Murerus is expressed: by which symbol nothing else is signified than idolatry conquered with the demon, we have shown above. abstinence and death are said. In the cave S. Beatus in great abstinence and on wild herbs, and dry bread lived, and at length in good old age holily died, and buried in his crypt shone with miracles, all the Acts have. In Agricola by Achates his companion, to whom he had commended this, is said to have been given burial. By others the year of death is assigned the one hundred tenth and the place of habitation and burial not far from Lake Thun under the town of Under-Seven: where the cell of S. Beatus is said to be, where also a boy fallen from a height and harmed by a grave bruise is handed down in Agricola to have been healed in the year MDXI.

[6] Relics at Lucerne and elsewhere. Murerus adds that some bones of S. Beatus, because heresy prevailed there, thence in the year MDLIV to Lucerne were translated. Bucelinus in the Sacrarium Benedictinum at this IX of May, writes that the arm of S. Beatus the Apostle of the Helvetii is at Einsiedeln. Why might not all those Relics translated to Vendôme, commonly Vendome, or to Trier, have given occasion of inventing this third S. Beatus? whose Beati they are. we propose these things with all reverence to be discussed for further and safer knowledge, wishing nothing detracted from the Helvetii, if they can prove some Beatus their Apostle from elsewhere with greater certainty.