Mansuetus

ON ST. MANSUETUS, BISHOP OF TOUL AMONG THE LEUCI IN GAUL AND CONFESSOR, AT TOUL AMONG THE LEUCI IN GAUL,

Probably about the year CCCLXXV.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Mansuetus, bishop of Toul among the Leuci in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 5218

BY J. L.

§ I. Toul, to which he is believed to have been sent by Peter the Apostle: its situation, antiquity, adornments; the Life and miracles, by [ ] Adso; two ancient Ms. codices containing various things about the Saint; the shorter Acts; the fictions of some.

The Leuci of old inhabited those lands in Belgica Prima, a province of ancient Gaul, where now is the most ample diocese of Toul: and to its sacred jurisdiction are subject the Southern parts of the duchies of Lorraine and Bar, together with the tract The seat of the Leuci; whose capital which lies midway between them and between the Meuse and the Moselle. Toul, although it perhaps existed in the age of Peter the Apostle, On this latter river, where it flows nearest to the Meuse, Toul was founded, an episcopal city under the metropolis of Trier. There are those who so interpret Tacitus, bk. 1 of the Histories ch. 64, Fabius Valens received the news of Galba's murder and of Otho's accession in the city of the Leuci, that the murder of the emperor Galba was announced to Fabius at Toul: but Hadrianus Valesius in his Notitia Galliarum p. 564 and Christophorus Cellarius in bk. 2 of his Ancient Geography ch. 3, p. 186 judge better, that Tacitus by the city of the Leuci designated not Toul, the capital of the Leuci, but the territory inhabited by that people. Because, however, Ptolemy, who wrote before or about the middle of the 2nd century, in bk. 2 ch. 9 of his Geography, expressly makes mention of Toul, I will readily concede — what nevertheless, as I think, cannot be conclusively proved — that this city existed in Galba's reign, and even in the lifetime of St. Peter the Apostle, who suffered under Nero, Galba's predecessor. But that the same Apostle had St. Mansuetus as a disciple at Rome, consecrated him bishop, sent him into Gaul to preach the Gospel, and through him founded the church of Toul, is a tradition which, in my judgment, does not deserve a prudent man's belief.

[2] Let the people of Toul glory that in their city there sat many prelates distinguished for holiness of life; of whom in this month of September alone five are venerated, on this day Mansuetus, on the VII Gauzlinus, on the XI Bodo, on the XV Aper, on the XXVIII Alchas. Of the rest, of whom mention must be made below, I here commemorate one, St. Bruno, who grew up at Toul and was trained in those virtues on account of which he deserved to be raised to the bishopric of the city and then to the Roman Chair of St. Peter, in which he sat under the name of Leo IX. Of this holy Pontiff we treated at the XIX day of April. At Toul too was born that prelate of Troyes, most celebrated throughout Gaul and most praised by St. Apollinaris Sidonius, and now a patron with God, St. Lupus, whose illustrious deeds, virtues, and miracles were reviewed and set forth at the XXIX day of July. These and other adornments the Leuci can truly proclaim of their Toul and of the cathedral of their church established there. But when they refer its beginnings to the very age of the Prince of the Apostles, and say that St. Mansuetus was sent to them by him, they may deservedly seem to indulge their own affection for this Saint and their zeal for antiquity more than the love of truth. Those very documents by which their opinion is alone propped up, however wrapped in darkness they may be, nevertheless send out some ray of light, by whose help I seem to myself to perceive quite distinctly that the Saint did not flourish before the fourth century. I have carefully investigated the antiquity of the tradition which makes him a contemporary of St. Peter the Apostle. No literary monument in which that is asserted could I find which is certainly known to be older than the Saint's Life, composed by Adso after the middle of the tenth century. I said, which is certainly known to be older: for although the shorter Life of the Saint, of which I shall treat at num. 12, is perhaps more ancient than that biographer, this nevertheless is very uncertain. Since I have fallen upon the mention of Adso, the reader will give me leave if I dismiss for a while the question raised, to resume it after I have given the reader some preliminary information about that biographer and his work, and about the two ancient original codices in which, besides that Life, the shorter Life of St. Mansuetus and other monuments pertaining to him are extant. Of the Saint's cult and posthumous glory there will be treatment in §3 and following.

[3] Mabillon in the Acta Sanctorum of the Order of St. Benedict, vol. 2, from p. 844, published a history of the various fortunes of the monastery of Der and of the miracles of St. Bercharius, To the question are prefixed some notices concerning Adso which an anonymous monk of that same monastery committed to writing after the middle of the eleventh century, as is plain from his own words in the aforesaid Mabillon, num. 12. Into that history a eulogy of Adso is inserted, from which it has seemed good to cull some things. The first, that is, from the restoration of religious discipline in the monastery of Der, … who shone was dom Alberic … a native of Rheims, and a monk of St. Aper of Toul, who … together with the pastoral rule took the name of abbot, having adopted to himself as a supplement of every help dom Adso… He … at Luxeuil was most fully imbued with various studies of the literary art: whom, in the earliest flower of his youth, abounding in the word of holy erudition together with the purity of an innocent life, the bishop and clergy of Toul, clearly recognizing him, with many entreaties drew from Mount Vosges, at whose foot lies the monastery of Luxeuil in the county of Burgundy, and set him over the city of Toul for the mastership of the sacred Order, that is, of the clergy, according to Mabillon, vol. 3 of the Annals, bk. 43, num. 72… There, through some rolls of time sweating at various exercises of divine instruction, after the very great instruction of many, again the brightness of the divine splendor, namely Adso, is set against the mists of Der to be driven away… There afterward, dom Alberic departing this life, being made abbot, … he laid the most ample foundations of the very great church which we now frequent…*

[4] abbot of Der, He also, at the prayers and command of St. Gerard, bishop of the city of Toul, most eloquently composed the Life of Bl. Mansuetus, the first bishop of that city, sent by the direction of Peter the Apostle… He composed besides many little works in verse… In the year of the Word incarnate CMXCII … he enters upon the road of the journey to Jerusalem … But as he hastened to greater contests the favor of the Omnipotent calls him away to the prize of the heavenly reward. For on the very sea, seized by the sickness of his last departure … he sent his blessed soul from the stern of exultation to the joys of the heavenly fatherland. In the Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. 6, p. 473, it is said that Adso, at the request of St. Gauzlinus the bishop and of the clergy, migrated from the monastery of Luxeuil to that of St. Aper at Toul about the middle of the tenth century, and that Alberic, a monk of St. Aper, was elected abbot of the monastery of Der and took Adso with him, that he might use his help, while perhaps Gauzlinus, who died in the year 962, was still living. His successor St. Gerard, of whom we treated at the XXIII of April, ruled the bishopric of Toul from the year 963 until 994. Adso under this holy prelate was substituted in the place of Alberic, whom he had assisted in the rule of the monastery of Der, not later than the year 969: for Mabillon, in vol. 3 of the Annals, bk. 47, num. 28, adduces letters of donation then given by St. Gerard, to which are appended the signatures of Adso the abbot and of others. Although it is not expressed of what place that Adso was abbot, yet for various reasons which I do not care to delay over in reporting here, it seems to me almost certain that he was none other than the abbot of Der. This abbey is situated in the Perthois tract of French Champagne, which is neighboring to the diocese of Toul. And these are the things which it will be useful for the reader to have learned beforehand concerning the person of Adso.

[5] of the Saint's Life Of the history which he committed to writing concerning St. Mansuetus, various copies are in my hands. Three are written by hand; of which one is noted at the head as having been transcribed from a Ms. of St. Maximin at Trier; another from the Mss. of Dillingen; the third from a Ms. of Ochsenhausen, a monastery of Benedictines in Swabia in Germany, and of the Benedictines of the monastery of Moyenmoutier (Moyen-moustier) in Lorraine. This last I shall hereafter call the Ochsenhausen copy. Three also have been published in print: the first in the year 1636 by François Bosquet in vol. 1 of the Histories of the Gallican church, part 2, p. 23; the second in the year 1717 by Edmond Martène and Ursin Durand in vol. 3 of the Thesaurus novus anecdotorum from column [ ]; the third in the year 1728 by Augustin Calmet in vol. 1 of the History of Lorraine in the Monuments from col. 86. In the Ochsenhausen transcript alone is Adso's Work presented entire. What is lacking in the other copies will be indicated in part, as occasion serves, at num. 7 and following. This will be done more fully in the notes with which Adso's work will be accompanied. I shall give it entire, distributed into chapters and numbers after our manner. In the preface or dedicatory letter to St. Gerard the abbot of Der testifies that he wrote the Acts of St. Mansuetus at his command, which is also read in the anonymous monk of Der. The letter's heading is: To the holy and truly most blessed lord bishop Gerard, Adso, unworthy servant of the servants of God, the least of abbots,* etc. From the fact that the biographer calls himself abbot, it becomes known that he, when he began his writing, had already been set over the monastery of Der: and this did not happen after the year 969, as was said in the preceding number.

[6] To the preface the biographer subjoins twenty-two distichs, & miracles, composed by him, in which he sketches in summary the life of St. Mansuetus, and implores his patronage and that of St. Aper. Our Saint alone is invoked in the added acrostic of eight hexameter verses, which begin with the letters MANSUETE. There follows at last Adso's work itself, divided into two books. The first three chapters, as we have them, of the first book treat of the Saint's life, in which much indeed of chaff, or of trifles, which the biographer peddles with an affected and nauseatingly verbose eloquence, but of wheat, that is, of true and solid substance, scarcely anything is found. In the fourth or last chapter of the first book, besides some notices about the ancient cult of the Saint, two miracles from popular tradition are brought forward, which one will deservedly hold suspect. The first will be examined in §3. The truth of the other Adso himself calls into doubt. The second book, by us also divided into four chapters, reports the miracles of St. Mansuetus by which he shone under SS. Gauzlinus and Gerard, bishops of Toul. These deserve firm belief: for although Adso wrote while he was abbot of Der and therefore beyond doubt absent from Toul; yet since he did it at the request of Gerard, prelate of that city, and since under the episcopate of his predecessor Gauzlinus and perhaps also for some time after his death he had lived in the abbey of St. Aper at Toul, it must be judged that he was fully informed of the miracles by which God under both those prelates made illustrious the Saint's glory.

[7] In the abbey of St. Mansuetus near Toul, of which more will be said below, and concerning two ancient Ms. codices two ancient Ms. codices are preserved, in which are found all the things which I am about to publish after this Commentary. The copies of the Life and miracles of St. Mansuetus which were reviewed at num. 5 I believe were first taken from these same codices. In one codex there is a Catalogue of the bishops of Toul, into which, after our Saint's eulogy or shorter Life, of which we shall treat separately at num. 12, Adso's work is woven, except the preface to St. Gerard and the acrostic. To Adso's second book is added a miracle of St. Mansuetus composed by an anonymous writer, concerning which see num. 59. In the Lives and miracles of SS. Aper and Gerard, which are likewise inserted in their places into the same Catalogue, the posthumous glory of our holy Prelate is set forth by the relation of those matters which will be recounted in §4, num. 53 and following, and also in §5, num. 61. The last place in that Catalogue is occupied by the Acts of St. Bruno bishop of Toul, and afterward supreme Pontiff under the name of Leo IX, who died in the year 1054. These were written by Wibert, archdeacon of Toul, a contemporary of the saint. Since the Catalogue does not go further in reviewing the bishops, I judge that it was completed before the death of Udo, who succeeded St. Bruno next, and who was still living in the year 1069; as is established from his charter in Calmet, vol. 1 of the History of Lorraine in the Monuments, col. 468. He published that whole Catalogue there from col. 83, omitting only the Acts of St. Leo IX, because these had been sufficiently published in print. Martène in vol. 3 of the Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, from column [ ], published from that codex the second book of Adso, and the miracle of St. Mansuetus which is joined next to it. The first book he omitted entirely. Of the verses preceding it he gave the distichs alone; to which he prefixed the prologue to St. Gerard from a Ms. codex of the Colbert library. There may be read the observations which the aforesaid Calmet adduces at col. 191 and Martène at col. 989 concerning the Catalogue mentioned. I wonder why Martène there affirms that it is mutilated at the end. The one which he calls entire, and which he promises to publish from a Ms. codex of the monastery of Cambron in Hainaut, does indeed report two bishops of Toul after St. Bruno or Leo IX, namely Udo and Pibo, who died in the year 1107: but these were more probably added by a later hand, as is gathered from the words by which the transition is made from St. Leo IX to Udo: Since we have learned that the Deeds of the former bishops of this see have been written, as it befell, it seems to us unfitting that we should hide the Acts of the venerable Udo … under the bar of silence.

[8] of the abbey of St. Mansuetus, which contain various In the other Ms. codex of the abbey of St. Mansuetus Adso's Work is presented entire with the preface to St. Gerard, which is omitted in the former. Since this is not lacking in our Ochsenhausen and Dillingen copies, I believe that they drew their origin from the latter codex. Whether from the same there flowed the published copy of Bosquet and the St. Maximin manuscript I cannot determine. In the latter only the first book of Adso is exhibited bare; in the former the same together with the beginning of the second. Many other monuments are extant in the latter codex which pertain to our Saint. Some of them are at hand which Bollandus noted that he had received from the Rev. Fr. Hugh Ward, whom I have learned elsewhere to have been of the Order of Friars Minor, of the Irish convent at Louvain. He who transcribed the monuments communicated to us by Ward sets forth thus the chief heads of all the things gathered into that codex: Almost all the aforesaid things about St. Mansuetus I extracted from an ancient Ms. codex of the monastery of St. Mansuetus in the suburbs of the city of Toul: which codex, in quarto, treats almost throughout of the deeds of the holy Man, as may be seen from the treatises arranged in their order and contained in it, to be noted below. In the first place, then, there is a certain sermon on St. Mansuetus, mutilated by the loss of the earlier leaves torn from the codex, wholly hortatory, bringing forward almost nothing from the Saint's life, and transferred from some Father, either Bede or Gregory, and applied to Mansuetus. Secondly there follow antiphons, responsories, and proper hymns of the Office of St. Mansuetus, but without the lessons inserted.

[9] Thirdly, the letter of Adso to Gerard the bishop, which is immediately followed by his poem on St. Mansuetus… monuments Finally there follow the two books of the same Adso on the Life of St. Mansuetus, of which the last chapter of the second treats of a certain energumen, and ends LÆTITIÆ AFFORE CESSENTEM. The last word is written corruptly, and how it is to be corrected is hidden from me: because the second book of Adso in the editions of Martène and Calmet, and also in the Ochsenhausen and Dillingen transcripts, does not end with the same or with similar words. Nor in the last chapter is there treatment of a certain energumen, but of St. Gerard the bishop, restored to his former health from a grave illness through St. Mansuetus. After the narration of which benefit the book is thus concluded: And because we have completed with a brief pen, so to speak, at his command, some things concerning the virtues of this Saint, done in the time of the bishop (Gerard) present in the flesh, in a little book that is a companion to his own, let us now in these things also make an end, aided by his prayers, with the grace of the Lord Redeemer breathing upon us. That Adso by these words set an end to his writing, their sense most clearly hints. I scarcely doubt that in the codex of the abbey of St. Mansuetus the same clause is had: but since this escaped the eyes of him who wove together the list of the things contained in it, I am plainly persuaded that from this it came about that he thought what next follows Adso's conclusion to be by the same author. From the fact that he asserts that the last narration is about a certain energumen, it is easy to conjecture that what is subjoined to Adso's second book consists of miracles of St. Mansuetus, and that these differ from those to be published after the Commentary: for among these there occurs none about an energumen freed through the Saint.

[10] In the list which I have begun to transcribe, after the mention of the energumen there is a review of the monuments pertaining to the Saint which the compiler of the list judged worth the trouble of transcribing entire, and which Ward gave to Bollandus to be inserted into our Work. What these are you will find below in §5, which almost wholly from num. 61 will treat of them. Then there is had a Life of St. Mansuetus told in verse, whose author is not known. This comprises about 320 rhythmic hexameter verses, which among the extracts received from Ward are adduced in the first place. That poem is a manifest abridgment of Adso's first book. The same judgment, the matter being maturely weighed, I pass concerning other Acts of the Saint in prose from a Ms. of St. Salvator at Utrecht, which I found set aside for this day also. There follows a Catalogue of the bishops of Toul, thirty-eight in number, the rest being omitted, who perhaps had not reached the times of the recorder or registrar. From what the writer of the list excerpted concerning that Catalogue, it is elicited that it is the same which from the Cambron Ms. codex the aforesaid Martène published from col. 991. Both end with Pibo, and place him as the thirty-eighth among the bishops of Toul. See above num. 7 at the end. There follows a sermon on the feast of St. Mansuetus, beginning: SANCTORUM PATRUM MEMORIAS … and ending after about LIV leaves,

QUATENUS … CUM EO FELICES REGNAMUS * IN

PATRIA. But that sermon is St. Maximus's on Eusebius of Vercelli, which is had in the common of a confessor bishop in the Roman Breviary; as I detected by comparing what is had from that sermon in the lessons of the Breviary with the said sermon on St. Mansuetus; although some things have been added to apply the sermon to St. Mansuetus. In this way I saw in the monastery of St. Gall a sermon of the Venerable Bede on St. Gall, which sermon, namely, composed by him for the birthday of St. Benedict, someone had adapted to St. Gall; and so it bore that title. This was the practice of the ancients, as may be seen in most of the Sermon-books on the Saints.

[11] they comprise. There follows in the codex the Passion of SS. Bertarius and Athalenus the martyrs, comprised in eleven leaves, which has been published in vol. 2 of July from p. 317. Lastly the History of St. Amo, the first successor of St. Mansuetus at Toul, gathered from the Breviaries of the same city, and distributed into ecclesiastical lessons. Added at the end is a short account of the translation of SS. Mansuetus and Amo, which, so far at least as concerns Mansuetus, has little, and marks no dates; all things are more certainly established from the fully described history of this translation above. This we have among the extracts, and it treats of the translation of St. Mansuetus made by bishop Pibo in the year 1104, concerning which see num. 70 and following. St. Amo is venerated on the XXIII of October. In the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul it is read that Herimann, who held the bishopric until the year 1026, transferred the body of St. Amo from the church of the abbey of St. Mansuetus to the cathedral church. Concerning the antiquity of the codex whose contents have already been exhibited to the reader, this only can I affirm, that in all the monuments which I have transcribed from it I have detected nothing from which it could be inferred that it is younger than the middle of the twelfth century. But neither can it be much more ancient; for the miracles which from the same will be published last after this Commentary happened under Theobald, abbot of St. Mansuetus, who presided between the years 1125 or 1126 and 1136, as will be shown below at num. 62. Calmet in vol. 1 of the History of Lorraine, in the preliminary Dissertation on the bishops of Toul, col. XXVIII, says that the other codex, of which we treated at num. 7, was written in the eleventh century: certainly nothing is reported in it on account of which you would judge it more recent. Since both codices will often have to be cited by me, I shall distinguish this one by the addition of the eleventh century from the other, which I judge to have been written in the twelfth.

[12] [Concerning his shorter Life, to be published in the first place after the Commentary together with the eulogy of St. Amo,] It remains that I advise the reader of some things concerning the shorter Life of St. Mansuetus, mention of which was made at the end of number 2. By it I understand the eulogy with which the Saint is adorned in the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul, which in the codex of the eleventh century ends with St. Leo IX, but in the other of the twelfth century and in the Cambron one with Pibo. After this Commentary it will be reprinted in the first place from the editions of Martène, vol. 3 of the Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, from col. 991, and of Calmet, vol. 1 of the History of Lorraine in the Monuments, from col. 83. From the same I shall add the eulogy of St. Amo, the second bishop of Toul, in which the ancient cult of St. Mansuetus is treated. There will follow the History of Adso, not hitherto published entire, in which number 20 with us begins thus: But just as in his Deeds (Mansuetus's), which were composed long before us, it is easy to find; purified, etc. At the beginning of number 25 these things are had: After the glorious passing of blessed Mansuetus …, as is found in the Deeds of the preceding bishops of the city of the Leuci, the holy and most blessed Amo … having been made successor of the blessed Man, etc. Let the reader attend to what is subjoined to the words just now adduced; then let him run through what is narrated at num. 4 and 6 in the eulogies of SS. Mansuetus and Amo. The comparison being made, he will detect that the passages which I have assigned from these and from Adso to be read through have such a likeness to one another that you would say Adso had seen those eulogies, were they not extant in the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul, compiled long after that biographer.

[13] Against this, however, one could reason thus: Adso in confirmation of his History cites the Deeds of St. Mansuetus and of his successors: [some things are observed: the more prolix history of Adso will also be given entire, and the reason for it is adduced.] but the Catalogue mentioned contains those in its eulogies: why then must he who in the eleventh century brought this down to St. Leo IX be said to be the author of the eulogies of SS. Mansuetus and Amo to have first composed their Deeds? If Adso obtained these, why could not he too have obtained and transcribed them? But how will you prove that he was faithful in transcribing? In the eulogies of SS. Mansuetus and Amo and of those who in the tenth and eleventh centuries ruled the church of Toul, no diversity of style appears. Whence it is elicited that the eulogies of the two first Prelates were at least interpolated by the author of the Catalogue. But now who will give me the assurance that the interpolator did not add out of his own head those words by which it is hinted that Peter the Apostle converted our Saint, instructed him in the knowledge of the sacred Letters, and consecrated him bishop? Meanwhile I confess that the rest are not narrated in a manner so little credible that I should dare to take away all belief from them. At first I had determined to publish only the shorter Life of St. Mansuetus and the eulogy of his successor, of which I have just treated; and from Adso's history to produce nothing but the Saint's miracles. But since afterward I clearly noticed that the things which are read in the Breviaries of various churches, in some more recent Martyrologies, and in most literary monuments of other names, have been drawn from that biographer, and that on his authority rests the credit of almost all the things which are circulated about St. Mansuetus, I changed my plan, and decided to exhibit the Saint's Deeds as well, disfigured by Adso with open contradictions and with gross fictions that can be handled; so that the reader may inspect the muddy spring, and so learn what is to be determined about the streams drawn from it.

[14] There are, however, those who attributed to St. Mansuetus feigned praises quite different from those The writer of the Acts of BB. Marianus and Murcheratus, which the abbot of Der thrust upon him. In the Acts of BB. Marianus and Murcheratus, which an author younger than the middle of the twelfth century wrote and Bollandus published in vol. 2 of February from p. 365, this fabulous eulogy of the Saint is found at num. 4: At the same time, by the providence of the most clement living God, it came about that a certain youth of eminent nobility and outstanding form, having his name from the reality, Mansuetus by name, from the borders of Ireland, was at Rome an intimate of the blessed Apostle Peter and received by him. With whose most blessed teaching, as of a Father, the same youth was so imbued that, having received power and license to preach, by the order and command of the same Apostle, he in a short time subjected to the yoke of Christ the fierce and untamed peoples of Lotholingia. Lothair, the fourth son of Charlemagne, obtained Lotholingia (which is also called Germany) by paternal inheritance, and named it by his own name. Meanwhile blessed Mansuetus, to whom all things fell out as he wished, reaching by preaching the Savior's name the Cilefine regions along the Rhone and as far as the African sea, and as far as the Illyrian gulfs, having returned to the renowned and populous city of Toul, after many victories, after glorious contests, after the renowned works of miracles, rested there in peace. And before he entered upon the way of all flesh, he sent certain of his disciples, men imbued with wisdom and prudence, many times before the coming of the most blessed father Patrick into Ireland: that those same envoys might, preaching through all the borders of Ireland, with signs following, announce with living voice the coming of the Savior descending from heaven into the womb of the Virgin, and the right faith, and the true knowledge of the most high Creator Adonai, as having been received, through the words and miracles done by BB. Peter and Paul the Apostles in the city of Rome, among the lords of the whole world and the powerful Roman people.* See the censures and notes with which the aforesaid Bollandus received these fictions.

[15] & other more recent writers concerning St. Mansuetus The author of the little book on the Foundation of the church of St. Peter outside the walls of the city of Regensburg fabulates thus in Ussher's Antiquities of the British churches, p. 1038: While the most blessed Peter the Apostle held the principate of the city of Rome and Tiberius Caesar was reigning, at that same time there came from Ireland a certain holy man, by name Mansuetus, with a very great company of Irish saints, to visit at Rome the Key-bearer of heaven to obtain indulgence from him. Bl. Peter, seeing the prudence of the holy Men, sent some of them into Apulia, others into Calabria, others elsewhere, that they might sow the seed of the word of God. The reverend bishop Mansuetus himself he had directed to Lorraine, that he might multiply the sons of God, etc. Aventinus, bk. 6 of the Annals of the Bavarians, p. 387: Ireland is an island which lies beyond Britain in the Northern Ocean… Mansuetus, sent thither by St. Peter, delivered to them the religion of Christ. He also subdued to Christ the Illyrians, Cisalpine Gaul, and the Belgae. He was buried at Toul, the city of the Leuci. Dempster in his Ecclesiastical History of the Scottish nation, bk. 12, num. 838: St. Mansuetus, bishop of Toul … having followed Claudia the Scotswoman, wife of St. Pudens, from Scotland, as it seems, heard St. Peter coming to Rome, and, taught by him the mystery of human salvation, being sent into Gaul, ruled the church of Toul with wondrous sanctity… The Irish impudently make him their own countryman. Presently Dempster cites some modern authors who followed Adso, by whom the Saint is said to be a Scot by nation. These, he says, stand weightily for us against the impotence of the beggars; and abbot Adso, who wrote his Life, … calls him born of the illustrious stock of the Scots. The abuse which this immodest writer hurls at the Irish they could with greater right hurl back at him: for by Scotia the abbot of Der did not understand Northern Britain, that is, present-day Scotland, since in the poem prefixed to the Life he thus sings:

The island of Ireland bore Christ-worshipping peoples: Whence he drew his race, and thence he was begotten.

The Irish by many other examples will easily prove that their fatherland was still called Scotia in the tenth century.

[16] have devised fables, different from those which Adso thrust forward. Then the same Dempster invents this concerning the Saint: He wrote on the Apostolic traditions 1 book, which the people of Toul religiously preserve. In bk. 5, num. 476, where he treats of St. Eugenius, bishop of Toledo and martyr, whom the Roman Martyrology announces at the XV day of November, he feigns other things, which the aforesaid Ussher reports and thus refutes: He asserts that the Life of St. Mansuetus expressly narrates that a certain Eugenius set out from him into Spain, a slight controversy about sacred matters having arisen between them. And not content with this (which nevertheless I find set forth in no published writer of that Life), with his usual audacity he adds besides out of his own head, that St. Eugenius the Scot, companion of St. Mansuetus the Scot and with him at Rome a disciple of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, was the first to bring into Spain the true worship of God with Apostolic sanctity, and as the first bishop of Toledo sealed the truth with his own blood; and then, but on a straw pipe, singing to himself his triumph: “We were the first to bring our fatherland to light. Wherefore Spain would be bound to Scotland, and Scotland to me”: for besides Dempster himself no one of all men attributes Scotland as a fatherland to Eugenius: so that, on so slight an occasion given, to debate controversies about the date of Eugenius of Toledo, his various names, and his deeds would, in this place at least, be labor plainly superfluous. The fables which from num. 14 I have reported from the writer of the Acts of BB. Marianus and Murcheratus, and from others, are not read in Adso, who nevertheless wrote many invented things about the Saint. Now I return to the question from which I digressed, namely whether by the preaching of St. Mansuetus, sent by the Prince of the Apostles, the light of the true faith shone upon the Leuci.

Luxovii*.

The Dillingen Ms.: suo*.

* REGNEMUS.

Lotharingiæ*.

§ II. By various reasons it is shown that the Saint was not sent to the conversion of the Leuci before the times of Constantine the Great or of his sons.

[ ] In the shorter Life, which I freely grant to be much more ancient than Adso, Being about to treat the question whether St. Mansuetus was sent into Gaul by Peter the Apostle, I shall as far as I can abstain from general arguments, which might be turned also against the antiquity attributed to other churches in Gaul; since the tradition of the people of Toul can be sufficiently weakened by particular ones. Most of these I shall seek from the very instruments by which it is chiefly propped up. First of all, for it there can be produced the shorter Life of our Saint, with which the author of the eleventh century begins the often-mentioned Catalogue of the bishops of Toul. From what was said at number 12 and following, a suspicion can arise that it, at least as to substance and the chief circumstances, does not differ from the Deeds of St. Mansuetus, of which Adso there makes mention. Hence the people of Toul, who desire their tradition to be true, will readily believe that it is much more ancient than Adso; inasmuch as it is asserted in our Saint's Deeds, transcribed by the author of the Catalogue, which the same biographer Adso says were composed long before his own times. It is not necessary that I oppose anything to that opinion, though it rests on no solid reason; because the Saint in the shorter Life, which is supposed not to differ from those ancient Deeds of his, is indeed asserted to have been a disciple of the Prince of the Apostles; but in words not so manifest but that they can be expounded otherwise. But since in that same Life some things are read from which it follows that St. Mansuetus was not coeval with the Apostles, it remains that it should rather weaken the tradition of the people of Toul than confirm it.

[18] Take the passage which favors the tradition. For at the time [some things are had which favor the tradition; but as they can not unfittingly, so they must otherwise] in which the Roman Church shone by the preaching and apostolate of Bl. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, he was led thither under Christ's guidance; and submitted himself to the Apostolic teaching, by whom, being imbued with the documents of the Catholic faith … consecrated by the Pontifical benediction, he was directed to the aforesaid city of Toul, like a shining lamp, to drive back the darkness of error. Why could not the earlier words be so understood that the Saint came to Rome at the time when, the persecutions having ceased, the Roman church shone, founded there by the preaching and apostolate of Bl. Peter? But the little words by whom are referred to the Prince of the Apostles: he therefore sent his disciple Mansuetus. Hear Jean de Cordes in his Dissertation on the time of St. Martial's mission into Aquitaine, published in vol. V of June from p. 538, num. 18: Since the Roman Church has always been called the See of Peter, those who were sent as legates from that See have been said to have been sent by Peter, although they came from Peter's Successors long afterward: which, manifest in many places of writers, is confirmed by the dignity of Boniface, sent by Gregory II into Germany for the sake of the Gospel, who is called the Envoy of St. Peter in the letter of Charles Martel, and in ch. 2 of bk. V of the Capitularies. Other examples which are at hand I do not adduce, being confident that of the learned no one will judge that the exposition given by me is new.

[19] [be expounded, unless all credit be taken from the shorter Life: for in it there are narrated of the Saint,] I should not wish anyone to think that I wish to persuade the people of Toul that I have attained the mind of him who is the author of the shorter Life: this only do I contend, that they cannot disapprove the interpretation given, if they believe the shorter Life worthy of any credit; because the particular deeds of the Saint which are narrated by the writer of the aforesaid Life cannot for the most part be reconciled with the times of the Apostles. And these few things are narrated: So great was the grace of virtues with which he deserved to be made illustrious, that the son of the chief man, that is, of the foremost man, of that same city of Toul, raised by his prayers from death, he restored unharmed to life. Terrified by which miracle the father … together with his son and the whole multitude of the pagans deserved to be purified by St. Mansuetus in the laver of baptism. All the superstitious and vain filth of idols being therefore cleansed away, he built there (at Toul) a church in honor of the perpetual Virgin Mother of God, and of the holy protomartyr Stephen, and other churches round about, presbyters and deacons being ordained, where the wonderful God might be glorified in his Saints unto the present day. A little below, mention is made of another church near Toul erected by the Saint to Peter the Apostle, in which he was afterward buried. If all these things are true, the mission of St. Mansuetus must be deferred to times later than the Apostles, as will presently be proved.

[20] which with the times of the Church newborn in Gaul Sulpicius Severus in bk. 2 of the Sacred history, treating of the fifth persecution stirred up under Marcus Aurelius the emperor, testifies that the religion of God was received beyond the Alps rather late. Those who refer the beginning of the Gallican church to the very first beginnings of the universal Church are compelled so to explain the passage of Sulpicius that the Christian religion was indeed then preached to the Gauls, but was received by so few that it could not be reckoned to have been received — a comparison, that is, being made with Italy, where the first heralds of the Gospel made richer progress than in Gaul, which was more tenacious of gentile superstitions. This explanation is conformable to the testimony of the seven bishops in the Decree to Radegund composed about the year 567, which Gregory of Tours reports in bk. 9 of the History of the Franks, ch. 39: When with the very beginning of the Catholic religion the venerable first beginnings of the faith had begun to breathe within the Gallican borders, and the then ineffable sacraments of the Lord's Trinity had as yet come to the knowledge of few, etc. It is also consonant with what is read in the Passion of St. Saturninus, bishop of Toulouse, which Ruinart inserted into his Genuine and select Acts of the Martyrs: After the sound of the Gospels had gone out little by little and by degrees into all the earth, and with a like (that is, slow) progress the preaching of the Apostles had flashed in our regions; when rare churches in some cities were rising by the devotion of a few Christians, but nonetheless the temples, thick with the pitiable error of the gentiles, smoked with foul reeks in all places; fifty years ago, as it is kept in the public Acts, that is, in the consulship of Decius and Gratus, as is retained by faithful remembrance, the city of Toulouse had first begun to have the first and greatest priest of Christ, the holy Saturninus. The Passion of St. Saturninus Ruinart published from the codex of Fossés, which he asserts to be more than about 900 years older than himself, and in which those words fifty years ago are, he affirms, neatly written. If that reading, which some suspect to be corrupt, is genuine, the Passion was composed about the year 300; for Decius and Gratus held the consulship about the year 250. However that may be, it is older than Gregory of Tours, who in bk. 1 of the History of the Franks, ch. 28, took the last words of the passage adduced from it.

[21] Just as the testimonies adduced make it credible against some moderns [cannot be put together, and are more fitly referred to the reign of Constantine the Great or of his sons.] that the Apostles were more solicitous for the salvation of the Gauls than that they should have sent none of their disciples to announce Christ to them, so they convict of falsity the author of the shorter Life, in which St. Mansuetus is narrated, in the time of the newborn Church, to have baptized the whole multitude of the pagans, to have purged the vineyard committed to him of all idolatry, to have built a church to the Virgin Mother of God and to the protomartyr Stephen at Toul, and to have built other churches round about in the land of the Leuci. These things the people of Toul will not put together with what the author of the Passion of St. Saturninus, Sulpicius Severus, and the seven bishops in the Decree to Radegund have handed down; nor will they be able to lift away their authority by a weightier one. Accordingly, if they do not wish all credit to be taken from the shorter Life, let them understand the earlier passage produced from it in that sense in which I have shown that it can not unfittingly be understood: but let them remove the beginning of St. Mansuetus's episcopate to the times of Constantine the Great or of his sons. Under their rule he could safely and freely promulgate the Gospel, build churches publicly, and give his labor to the extirpation of idolatry: although meanwhile I have no slight reason for doubting whether he did this with so great fruit that all the Leuci, their ancestral superstitions abandoned, embraced the true religion, and churches were then erected round about to the true God, as is asserted in the shorter Life. I have advised the people of Toul to defer the mission of their first Bishop to the reign of Constantine the Great or of his sons. To bring them to follow this counsel of mine, the things which will be adduced at num. 23 and following ought to serve.

[22] The eulogy of St. Amo, which in the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul immediately follows the shorter Life of St. Mansuetus, [Nor did St. Aper, the seventh bishop of Toul, sit in the 2nd century, nor his successor Albinus in the 3rd:] agrees with what Adso subjoins in these words: As is found in the Deeds of the preceding Bishops of the city of the Leuci. Suppose, for all I care, that the eulogies of Amo, nay, if you will, of his successors Alchas, Celsinus, Auspicius, and Ursus were extracted from those Deeds by the author of the Catalogue. He writes among other things of St. Aper, seventh bishop of Toul: Who, as is found in the authoritative books, is known to have lived in the times of Hadrian, the most cruel emperor: … in whose fourth year the blessed bishop Aper was ordained, and in the eleventh put off the man. The eleventh year of the emperor Hadrian Pagi's Critica on the Annals of Baronius fastens to the year of Christ 127. After St. Aper the Catalogue places Albinus, or as it is in Calmet's edition, Albauldus, who, it says, lived under the supreme Pontiffs and martyrs Stephen and Fabian, as is found in the most ancient tomocartæ. (This word is compounded of tomus and charta, and signifies literary monuments.) St. Fabian, according to the same Pagi, was crowned with martyrdom in the year 250, St. Stephen in the year 257. After Albinus it reports Trisoricus, Dulcitius, Praemo, Autmundus, Eutulanus, and Teufridus; which last it asserts to have flourished under Dagobert I, who died in the year 638, and under his son Sigebert, king of Austrasia. If the instruments in which the compiler of the Catalogue says he found that Aper administered the bishopric of Toul in the 2nd century, and Albinus in the 3rd, you believe to be the same as the Deeds of the preceding bishops of the city of the Leuci, seen by Adso, again I shall oppose nothing; because although they are older than the abbot of Der, they cannot establish the tradition of the people of Toul; for that Aper and Albinus sat at Toul in the centuries mentioned is certainly false: nay, they furnish us with an argument which fights against that tradition, if they name the seven first bishops in the order in which they are placed in the Catalogue of the eleventh century, and in seven others, more recent, which I have inspected.

[23] [for the fifth bishop Auspicius lived about the year 472, when he was of great age: from which epoch] At the XXVIII day of July Sollerius treated of St. Auspicius, the fifth bishop of Toul, and against Baronius most evidently demonstrated that that saint's letters to Arbogastes, count of Trier, which may be read in Duchesne, vol. 1 of the Writers of France, p. 864, were written to the younger Arbogastes, to whom St. Apollinaris Sidonius sent letter 17 of book 4. From this I take a little sip for our purpose: These things will be more justly sought from priests near in place, of great age in years… For to leave aside the bishop of your city of Trier, … far more opportunely are the illustrious fathers and chief hierophants of the Gauls consulted by you about any questions whatever — Lupus, not too far off, nor Auspicius, not a little close at hand. St. Apollinaris, when he wrote these things, was bishop of the Arverni, to whose sacred rule he was taken up at the end of the year 471 or the beginning of the year 472. And so St. Auspicius, whom he names in the letter to Arbogastes and calls of great age, did not die before the end of the year 471. Lupus, of whom Apollinaris there makes mention, was that most celebrated bishop of Troyes who in extreme old age departed this life in the year 478 or 479. From these things it is clearer than the midday light that St. Aper could not have sat at Toul in the 2nd century under Hadrian the emperor, nor Albinus in the 3rd under the Pontiffs Fabian and Stephen; since in all the Catalogues of that church which I have consulted both are placed after St. Auspicius, who flourished in the fifth century, and after his successor Ursus. But now, since in the same Catalogues only four bishops — Mansuetus, Amo, Alchas, and Celsinus — are reported before Auspicius, it is necessary that the people of Toul, who make the first of them coeval with Peter the Apostle, should build up a very long vacancy of the see, and moreover confess that very few of the Saint's deeds are likely: because what is read of him in the shorter Life of the anonymous writer and in the more prolix Life of Adso does not for the most part agree with the first century, nay, not with the two following. Whence, if they will listen to me, they will defer the beginnings of their church to a time after that of the gentile emperors, and will place them, in St. Mansuetus, under Constantine or his sons, who all reigned in the fourth century. Thus most of the things, at least those narrated in the shorter Life, will appear more credible, and it will also be conveniently understood that the succession of the five first bishops was interrupted by no gap of a longer time.

[24] In this way therefore the people of Toul would more rightly order the series of their bishops. [there is arranged a most probable chronological succession of the first bishops of Toul,] St. Mansuetus would have held the chair first erected by him at Toul until the year 375; Amo would have sat until 400, Alchas until 423, Celsinus until 445. The death of Auspicius the aforesaid Sollerius noted at about the year 478. Let there be given him therefore 33 years. St. Apollinaris Sidonius in the letter cited to Arbogastes calls him of great age in years, say 80 years old; it could therefore easily have happened that he ruled the church of Toul for 33, nay for more years, so that some years can be subtracted from his predecessors, or the year of the death of St. Mansuetus drawn back to years earlier than the three hundred seventy-fifth. Ursus would have filled out the fifth century; Aper would have begun the sixth, who is handed down to have presided only seven years. In the year 507 or 508 Albinus would have been substituted for him, and for the latter in the year 525 Trisoricus; whom Alodius or Alogius would have followed, omitted in the ancient Catalogues, who in the year 549 subscribed to the Fifth Council of Orleans. The middle time between his death and Teufridus, who sat under Dagobert I, who died in the year 638, and under his son Sigebert, could easily have been filled by his predecessors Dulcitius, Praemo, Autmundus, and Eutulanus; between whom and Teufridus the Rev. Lord François Riguet, grand Provost of Saint-Dié, in his Ms. chronological System of the bishops of Toul, sent to us in the year 1700, places Austrasius: but Calmet in vol. 1 of the History of Lorraine, bk. 9, num. 57, judges that Austrasius is not to be distinguished from Teufridus. Which of the two judges more rightly it is not the place here to examine.

[25] If you admit the chronological arrangement given, and at the same time believe that [& the mission of St. Mansuetus is deferred to Constantine or his sons, but his death to about the year 375] which is read in the proper Offices of the church of St. Peter of Remiremont in Lorraine, published in the year 1657, and in the Breviary of Toul, printed in the year 1684, namely that the first Bishop and apostle of the Leuci cultivated the vineyard committed to him for 40 years, his mission must be called back to the year 335, in which Constantine the Great was still reigning. But since so long a duration of the episcopate is not confirmed from elsewhere, the Saint's coming into the land of the Leuci, and the beginning of the see of Toul, can be deferred to the times of the sons of Constantine, of whom the one who lived longest, Constantius, died in the year 361. At number 1 of the Commentary I noted in the margin that the Saint was called away to the reward of his Apostolic labors about the year CCCLXXV, following the chronological succession of the first bishops of Toul which I proposed, and which appears to me most probable. Whatever succession they devise who bind the mission of St. Mansuetus to the 1st century, it must needs be liable to grave inconveniences: nor would anyone withdraw himself from them who should affirm that the Saint sat under the gentile emperors before the fourth century. Further, from what has been said flows this consequence, that the things which from the Catalogue of the eleventh century I have thus far produced overturn rather than establish the tradition about the antiquity of the see of Toul. The same must be said of the Deeds of St. Mansuetus and of his successors, which Adso cites, if those things were taken from these. If the author of the Catalogue is supposed unfaithful in transcribing, and to have corrupted the documents seen by Adso, let the people of Toul accuse him: but let them not then object to me his authority, which on that hypothesis is none.

[26] The chief propagator of the tradition was Adso, abbot of Der, Adso fabulates much about the Saint and things far from the truth author of the more prolix Life of St. Mansuetus. That from it flowed the things which most writers younger than that biographer record about the Saint I hold as ascertained. I have also sufficiently noticed that many of them perceived that Adso's history is unworthy of entire credit; whence each after his own judgment abridged it, cutting away the false or the improbable, and sometimes substituting other things in their place which would win for the narrative a greater appearance of truth. Yet with the abbot of Der they everywhere agree in affirming this, that the church of Toul was founded by St. Mansuetus, a disciple of Peter the Apostle. At this I wonder the more, the more the aforesaid abbot adduces things which are utterly foreign to the times of Peter. With us, at num. 2, he says that the Saint was born in Scotia, by which name in the tenth century Ireland also was called, and that he shone from very boyhood with those virtues from which one would rightly deduce that he had been brought up by his parents in the Christian religion. He expresses his mind more openly in the poem prefixed to the Life.

The island of Ireland bore Christ-worshipping peoples; Whence he drew his race, and thence he was begotten. Of excellent disposition, who soon, attended by the honor Of virtues, shone forth in peaceful pursuits… Peter was strong on the summit of Apostolic Rome: And following him with love, he himself gladly seeks him out, etc.

[27] & far from the times of St. Peter: In the Life, num. 4, he writes that St. Mansuetus was taught the sacred sciences by the Prince of the Apostles, consecrated bishop, and sent into Gaul, joining to him as a companion of the journey, among others, St. Sinicius, bishop of Rheims; whose mission, however, must be deferred to about the year 288, as has been shown in this volume from p. 121. At the time when the Disciple of St. Peter came to convert the Leuci, the city of Toul, he says at num. 5, was fortified round about on every side with a circuit of walls, with bars and towers. He adds at num. 6, thronged with troops of peoples, most rich in stores of goods, and filled with the traffic of various furnishings. A king too, gentile and barbaric, Leo by name, etc. In the following number he narrates that it came to the queen's ears that a foreign Man was at hand, a worshipper of the Christian faith, coming from the parts of Italy from him whom the greatest part of the Romans follows as the standard-bearer of the true faith and as Pope, truthfully asserting that he had been sent by Peter, preaching God … with open and assiduous words. These trifles I have drawn from the first chapter of the Life: the following are full of like nonsense. It wearies me to report them here. Meanwhile those which I have adduced can be chewed over by all who believe that the Saint preached the Gospel to the Leuci in the first century of the Christian religion. This one thing I add, that Adso's fabulous history can much more hardly be put together with the 1st century and the two following than with the fourth, as will be plain to anyone who considers the whole more attentively.

[28] [that St. Mansuetus was his disciple, the more prudent men of the 10th century do not seem to have believed.] Among the other monuments in which the Saint is affirmed to have been a disciple of the Apostle Peter or to have been sent by him into Gaul, after diligent inquiry I could find no other more ancient than the Life of St. Deicolus the abbot, published in vol. 2 of January from p. 200; which in the Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. 6, p. 411, is judged to have been written about the year 980, that is, about 12 years before the death of Adso. But now, says the author of the said Life at num. 4, I judge that the city of the Leuci must by no means be passed by with forgetful foot, to which it fell to be ennobled by the eminence of such great Fathers, namely of Mansuetus, its first bishop and beloved disciple of Bl. Peter the Apostle, and also of the most sacred bishop Aper, both of whom are there frequented with worthy veneration. What at last will the patrons of the popular tradition infer from this? I do not deny that it was believed in the age of Adso and of the writer of the Life of St. Deicolus: but did it then so prevail that the more learned and more prudent did not doubt of its truth? In §4 of this Commentary various instruments will be recorded, drawn up while both biographers were living, namely the diploma of the emperor Otto I given in the year 965, and three charters of St. Gerard, bishop of Toul, drawn up in the years 969, 971, and 982. In all of them the Saint is honorably addressed, and is called now the first bishop of the church of Toul, now its first doctor, now its first pastor. If Gerard, who, as will be seen below, was affected toward the Saint with a singular piety, acknowledged him a disciple of Peter the Apostle, why, among the titles with which he adorns him, did he pass over the chief one in silence? Why in the ancient Martyrologies too, whose announcements will be adduced at the end of §3, is there no mention of St. Mansuetus as having been sent by the prince of the Apostles? These things impose upon me the suspicion that the tradition wavered in the tenth century, and was received only by the ruder or the too credulous. In the eleventh century, from the times of Gregory VII the Pontiff, the people of Toul believed things about the Saint which are exceedingly adverse to their tradition. Those I shall produce, after I have set out some things which are connected with them.

[29] Among the churches which St. Mansuetus is narrated by Adso and by the author of the shorter Life to have built, A suburban church built by the Saint: relics of SS. Peter and Paul found in it: none was more probably erected by him than that which, consecrated to St. Peter the Apostle, was once to be seen in the Northern suburb of Toul. There is no reason why anyone should doubt the most constant tradition which asserts that the saint was first buried in it. That St. Martin of Tours prayed in it at the tomb of St. Mansuetus in the year 384 or 386, although uncertain, is nevertheless credible, as will be seen at num. 37. That the tombs of the bishops of Toul who next succeeded the Saint existed there is beyond doubt. That ancient church is mentioned in Otto I's diploma of the year 965 and in St. Gerard's charter drawn up in the year 982, which in §4 from num. 47 will be partly transcribed: in the latter it is called ancient, in the former founded from of old, but … to have fallen badly to ruin, its buildings collapsing. It was repaired by SS. Gauzlinus and Gerard: then rebuilt from the foundations under bishop Pibo, and solemnly dedicated in the year from the Lord's Incarnation one thousand one hundred and seven; as is established from the history composed by an anonymous writer of the twelfth century, of which there will have to be fuller treatment in §5 from num. 62. When before the dedication of the church the ancient high altar was being pulled down, on the right side beneath the front corner there was uncovered a stone chest with this inscription: In this repository are laid the relics of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and besides also of the wood of the Lord. The repository being opened, straightway there appeared with the bones a rose-colored dust congealed with blood. The relics being sorted out, there were found there, by the help of the mercy of God, besides eleven of the bones of the head and the said dust, seven teeth, and sixteen fragments in the manner of a square die from the triumphal wood of the life-giving Cross. These things I have taken from the aforesaid history of the anonymous writer; at the beginning of which are narrated the things which I now subjoin, and which happened before the finding of that sacred treasure.

[30] Under Gregory VII the Pontiff, who in the year 1073 began to sit, the foremost men in the city of Toul set out for Rome to venerate the relics of SS. Peter and Paul. They are admitted to an audience with the Pontiff, who addresses them thus: The people of Toul were persuaded that these had been procured by the Saint; Happy city of the Leuci, adorned with the body of the glorious confessor of Christ and Apostolic bishop Mansuetus, but still more gloriously marked by the vigilance of that same man with the relics of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul! For as is proved by the truthful judgments of the historiographers, and as is shown by the tomochartæ of the Roman library, after Rome … so the city of Toul is frequented by the visitation of Apostolic protection, so that nowhere else in the whole world can so great a portion of those relics be found. When the people of Toul, returned to their fatherland, had reported what they heard from the Pontiff's mouth, the day sacred to the Princes of the Apostles began to be kept yearly with greater solemnity in the church in which afterward the aforesaid relics of them were found. For the holy bishop too, namely blessed Mansuetus, the observance of so great veneration was increased, so that through the neighboring regions and provinces the celebration of his feast was more famously proclaimed, etc.

[31] which is adverse to their tradition, From the passages alleged it is plain that the people of Toul were once wholly persuaded that their suburban church had been enriched with notable relics of SS. Peter and Paul through St. Mansuetus. If their descendants believe the same, when will they say that these were procured by the Saint, if he was sent into Gaul by the Prince of the Apostles himself? They can reply nothing that has even the shadow of likelihood. How little credible it is that any particles were separated from the bodies of Peter and Paul in the 1st or 2nd century, Papebroch long since showed in vol. V of June, in the Analecta on both holy Apostles, p. 435 and following. In our system, which lays down that the first Bishop of the Leuci was sent in the year 335 by St. Sylvester the Pontiff or later by his successors, it is easier to believe that the relics of the holy Apostles were brought to Toul by him or transmitted to him from Rome. The Pontiff named raised their bones with a solemn rite, and distributed them among the three basilicas built by the emperor Constantine — to Christ the Savior in the Lateran palace, to Peter the prince of the Apostles in the Vatican, and to Paul the doctor of the gentiles on the Ostian way. It could, says the aforesaid Papebroch at p. 459 num. 45, have come about then that some portions, even notable ones, separated from the remaining bones, were carried to other churches within and outside the city, and that these now truly glory in the possession of such. Those same, once so separated, could also have migrated under Sylvester's successors to various Transalpine churches: although in general there remains a just fear lest many of them have been foisted in by fraud. Further, the arguments which in this paragraph I have heaped up against the tradition of the people of Toul, taken if not singly, at least collectively, abundantly prove that no time in which the Saint flourished can be more probably determined than that which I have now several times indicated.

§ III. The ancient cult from Adso and from the old Martyrologies: did St. Martin of Tours pray at the tomb of St. Mansuetus?

[ ] [The miracles of SS. Mansuetus and Amo after death, and the concourse to their tombs.] After narrating St. Mansuetus's death and honorable burial, Adso brings forward some notices of the public veneration paid to the Saint in ancient times. First of all he reports that God manifested his merits and his glory in heaven by signs and miracles as soon as his body had been laid in the church which, he had asserted a little before, was built in the suburb of Toul by the holy Prelate himself while he lived, and dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle. Then he writes that St. Amo, the second bishop of the Leuci, was buried beside his predecessor Mansuetus in the said church. Whence also, he says, by the merits and intercessions of both, to the praise of the divine name that same place has been seen from that time to shine forth with magnificent miracles; since, namely, the eyes of the blind pressed by long-lasting darkness, the darkness being driven out, rejoice to have carried back to their own homes the longed-for light through the intervention of these Saints; and the languishing, stripped of the plague of various disasters; and many creeping on the ground with contracted sinews; and also however many were infected with divers and innumerable ailments — the joys of health: to whose patronage, namely, we read (doubtless in the Deeds of the preceding bishops of the city of the Leuci, since Adso had cited these a little before) that a throng of kings and princes flowed together, and that they devoutly bestowed very many gifts of their own right for the relieving of the want of the servants of God and of the poor: where also at divers times wondrous tokens of miracles were shown by the merits of both; but either because of the irruptions of barbarian peoples, or certainly because of the lack of writers, they have without doubt been passed over or lost.* Two benefits, however, the biographer subjoins, the memory of which tradition had transmitted down to his own times. From the account of each I shall in this place cull out and examine those things which pertain to the Saint's cult.

[33] The first benefit he begins to report thus: Martin, the holy bishop of Tours, most famous in all the world, It is handed down that St. Martin of Tours prayed at our Saint's tomb: as is known, had been quite most intimate with blessed Maximinus, bishop of Trier, so that they often enjoyed conferences together, and, being about to go to blessed Peter at Rome in company, supported each other on the way with mutual talk. Blessed Martin therefore, being about to do this at a certain time by common arrangement, enters the oratory of blessed Mansuetus, to which he had turned aside to entreat the divine clemency, devout as he was. The rest I shall here sketch in summary, to be more fully narrated below. And so Martin, when he had entered for the sake of prayer the church in which St. Mansuetus rested, hears a woman, buried not long before, redoubling his name from the tomb with repeated cries, and asking that he take pity on her soul held in the expiatory flames, and that he intercede with God for her deliverance, and beseech St. Mansuetus to do the same in heaven. Martin performs what he had been asked, and pursues the journey he had begun. On his return from the city of Rome he turns aside again to our Saint's tomb to pray, and from a certain token which that woman had appointed he recognizes that she has been delivered from the purgatorial fire.

[34] [the stone on which he bent his knees was once shown to pilgrims in the abbey of St. Mansuetus:] Calmet in vol. 1 of the History of Lorraine, bk. 5 num. 21, and in the Dissertation on the first bishops of Toul prefixed to it, col. XXIX, adduces some things which may seem in some way to confirm St. Martin's passage through the city of Toul and the prayers he poured out at our Saint's tomb. Receive here transcribed not Calmet's own words, but their substance. In the church of the abbey of St. Mansuetus near Toul there was long preserved a stone upon which St. Martin had bent his knees. It used once to be shown to pilgrims, as a monument from which they might learn Martin's piety toward our holy Prelate, and the latter's most ancient cult. But when in the year 1552 Charles V was drawing near with a strong army to recover Metz, Toul, and Verdun for the empire, the French destroyed the ancient church of St. Mansuetus in the suburb of Toul. The said stone was then carried into the city, and set down in the cloister of the collegiate church of St. Gengulphus: where afterward it was seen for many years with an inscription in which St. Martin's coming to Toul and his prayers at our Saint's tomb were affirmed. But it is now no longer found there. So, roughly, Calmet in the places cited. In vol. 3 of his aforesaid History, published in the year 1728, bk. 33, num. 66, he writes that the church destroyed had not yet been rebuilt in his times, and that the religious who profess the rule of St. Benedict had turned the old refectory into a church for the performance of the divine Offices. That in this the body of St. Mansuetus is preserved, two Benedictine monks of the Congregation of St. Maur teach me in the book which under the title of Itinerarium litterarium they published at Paris in the year 1717, part 2, p. 130. Further, the abbey, rich in our Saint's body and notable in his name, is to be seen in those suburbs of Toul which adjoin its walls facing the North. Its church, overthrown in the year 1552, had been built in the same or certainly in a neighboring place where once that most ancient church stood, sacred to the Prince of the Apostles, in which St. Mansuetus was given over to burial, and first began to be venerated. Of the foundation of that same abbey by St. Gerard, bishop of Toul, and of the very great celebrity which it once obtained by the frequent concourse of men to our Saint's tomb and by his repeated miracles, there will be treatment in §4 and following.

[35] [but the tradition is made suspect by the fact that he reports the thing to have happened on Martin's Roman journey] To the tradition committed to writing by Adso, by which it is asserted that St. Martin prayed at the tomb of St. Mansuetus, that stone monument of which the preceding number spoke adds something of credit: yet it also makes it very suspect that the same Adso writes that the thing happened on the Roman road, to which Martin, bishop of Tours, had committed himself together with St. Maximinus, bishop of Trier. This cannot be true: for Maximinus had been dead 21 and perhaps more years, and out of his bishopric, before Martin was taken up to the see of Tours. There are those who assign his promotion to the year 370. Many contend for the year 371. Tillemont, in vol. 10 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, p. 315, prefers the year 372. Chifflet in his Dissertation on the reckoning of the times of St. Martin, num. 16, removes his consecration to the year 375, to which Pagi also defers it. Which opinion is truer will be considered at the XI day of November, on which St. Martin is venerated throughout the universal Church. Of St. Maximinus Henschen treated at the day XXIX of May, and fastened his death to the year 349, in which St. Paulinus is proved to have succeeded him, in vol. VI of August, p. 669 and following. This anachronism, however, which makes the episcopates of both saints, separated from each other by so many years, contemporaneous, will be excused by those who are displeased that we have deferred the year of St. Mansuetus's death to about 375. Adso, they will say, used a prolepsis, and meant nothing else than that Martin, who afterward presided over the church of Tours, undertook a journey to Rome while he was still serving under the standards of Constantine the younger or of Constans; under whose rule in Gaul Maximinus, bishop of Trier, flourished, and Martin had already received baptism, as the aforesaid Chifflet judges. But was Martin the soldier at that time quite most intimate with the bishop Maximinus, so that they often enjoyed conferences together? Did he obtain leave to be absent from the camp or from his station for so great a space of time as a pilgrimage to the thresholds of the Apostles requires? In Sulpicius Severus and in the other ancients who wrote of St. Martin I have read nothing which would lend any likelihood to conjectures of that sort.

[36] The Roman pilgrimage of both prelates is indeed affirmed in the Acts of St. Maximinus, with St. Maximinus, bishop of Trier; for that journey seems fictitious: written in the seventh century by an anonymous writer and published by Henschen in vol. VII of May, p. 21: but the things which are there narrated to have happened on the journey are so abhorrent from the truth that I scarcely doubt any longer that the journey itself is fictitious. What these are, receive in a few words. SS. Maximinus and Martin, going away to Rome, come to a certain fort: Martin enters it to buy food, Maximinus being left to guard the pack-ass. But while sleep seizes him, wearied from the journey, a bear devours the ass. Maximinus, roused by the returning Martin and told where the beast was, having sharply rebuked it, orders it to take the place of the devoured ass. The bear obeys, and, all its ferocity laid aside, goes on with the holy men to Rome, carrying their baggage. On their return it renders the same service. At last, warned to harm no one thereafter, the bear is dismissed free by Maximinus in a place which from it received the name Urseria. To have reported these things is enough for you to recognize a popular little fable, like that which is had in the Life of St. Humbert of Maroilles, vol. III of March, p. 561 and following. The conjecture of the aforesaid Henschen is that by Urseria, or, as he himself writes, Ursaria, is designated the village Ursel on the right bank of the Rhine, between Worms and Mainz; and that not a true history gave occasion to the name, but the name to the invention of the story.

[37] But did Martin then, passing through the city of Toul, not pray at St. Mansuetus's tomb? [yet Martin could, in the year 384 or 386, when he went to Trier, have passed through Toul and venerated our Saint's body.] That some appearance of truth may be won for that tradition, nothing better can be adduced than what I now subjoin. From Sulpicius Severus in the Life of St. Martin, ch. 23, and Dialogue 2, chs. 6 and 7, it is certain that this saint, when he had already administered the bishopric of Tours for many years, more than once set out abroad for Trier to the palace of the tyrant Maximus. Chifflet in his aforesaid Dissertation, num. 8, proves that he came to Trier twice in the year 384: but since he shows at the same time that the first coming was separated from the second by a moderate interval of time, I believe that Martin betook himself the first time from abroad, but the second from nearby, to the court of Maximus. He returned to the same in the year 386, when with the consul Euodius he reclined at the tyrant's table. How great an intimacy came to be between the holy prelate and Maximus, Sulpicius Severus in his Life, chapter 23, makes sufficiently plain in these few words: Although supplication had to be made to the king on behalf of certain persons, he commanded rather than asked; and in Dialogue 2, chapter 7: This man often summoned Martin and received him within the palace, and honored him reverently. Hence it is plain that the words of Adso, Martin, bishop of Tours … with Maximinus … was on the most familiar terms, so that they often enjoyed conferences together, are perfectly true, if for Maximinus Maximus be substituted. It could easily have come about that the first author of that error, which a posterity unskilled in historical and chronological matters spread abroad in talk, and then Adso in writing, was deceived by the kinship of the names, and understood of St. Maximinus the bishop, better known to him, or thought was to be understood, that which he had received concerning Maximus the tyrant, perhaps unheard of by him. Him in his error there could have confirmed a tale which he had perhaps read or heard, about the bear compelled to carry the baggage of SS. Maximinus and Martin because it had devoured their ass. And since the story has it that this befell on the Roman journey, hence perhaps another error was born, namely that Martin of Tours on that same Roman journey venerated the tomb of St. Mansuetus. Whatever be the case with these conjectures of mine, it cannot be denied that Martin made the journey to the court of Maximus at least twice, and that from the city or diocese of Tours: for whence else should he be said to have come? But the direct road, which led thence to Trier, was not so far distant from Toul that on that ground one may raise a question about his passing through this city: it is therefore not alien to the truth that Martin in the year 384 or 386 — to which years I with most writers refer his journeys to Maximus — prayed at the tomb of St. Mansuetus; who, according to our chronological system set out at number 25, passed about the year 375 to a happier life. Out of all that I have brought forward both against the aforesaid tradition and in its favor, I leave it to others to judge whether it has more the likeness of falsehood than of truth. There will not be wanting, I suppose, those to whom it will seem not unworthy of all credit.

[38] The pious pilgrimages of the Scots to it: The other benefit, which Adso received from the mouth of the people and committed to writing, St. Mansuetus bestowed upon a poor Scot, to whom he restored alive a little pig that had been carried off by a thief and slaughtered. His account he thus begins: From the transmarine borders of the Scots it was the custom of many to seek out these parts; among whom at that time a certain poor man with his wife is said to have come: for the report of ancient time had roused many to seek the most holy Man of their own nation (Mansuetus), to be sought above all by Scots setting out, as was their wont, on pilgrimage. Whence this man, aware, as the report was, of his love and favor, having obtained lodging not far from the church of the blessed Man, had wished to take up his abode there. And from these things is known the celebrity of the cult with which the Saint was honored in the place of his deposition in ancient times; inasmuch as to his tomb even the Scots themselves, divided by so great an interval of land and sea from the city of Toul, were wont to make pious pilgrimages.

[39] [the roll of the poor, who were fed by gifts made out of piety toward SS. Mansuetus and Amo.] What the biographer meant by the love and favor, on account of which that poor Scot resolved to dwell not far from the church of the blessed Man, may be gathered from the same author's words, given at number 32. Their substance I will here repeat from the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul of the eleventh century, in the eulogy of St. Amo: By whose merits, that is, of holy Mansuetus and of the aforesaid blessed Amo, very many held by the sickness of blindness, of leprosy and of fever, and of the other maladies, are restored to health. To whose patronage many kings and princes were wont to come, and they enriched their place out of their own substance: for there was there a confluent crowd of comers, and a countless multitude of poor, for whom the means of living was appointed by the faithful; whence to this day it is called At the roll of lord Mansuetus and lord Amo. Calmet, volume 1 of the History of Lorraine, in the preliminary Dissertation on the first bishops of Toul, page XXIX, by matricula here understands a catalogue of the poor who were fed by the alms made at the sepulchers of the Saints. But that word, as Du Cange proves by various examples in his enlarged Glossary, was also often formerly used for the house in which the poor were fed, built for the most part at the doors of churches. If such a house was not attached to the church of St. Peter, in which the bodies of the Saints reposed, at least there, I believe, was the roll of the poor, that is, the catalogue on which those who were entered received fixed allowances for the sustaining of life; and that the revenues out of which these were distributed came either from the offerings made in the said church, or from other donations of pious faithful. Further, that pilgrims of the Scottish nation were inscribed on the roll or catalogue of the poor, the biographer indicates not obscurely in the words reported in the preceding number. But what nation he understands by Scots, the countrymen of St. Mansuetus, has been said at number 15 at the end.

[40] In the suburb of Toul, toward the south, lies an ancient monastery of the Order of St. Benedict, [The church in which the body of our Saint reposed was ruinous and less frequented by the concourse of the faithful] bearing the name of St. Aper its patron; to whose abbot Archembald, between the years 936 and 948, as will be seen at the beginning of §4, St. Gauzlin, bishop of Toul, gave the church of St. Peter, on condition that he should send some of his religious thither to sing the praises of God at the sepulcher of St. Mansuetus. Adso, about to relate the miracles of the Saint which were done in his own time, after the monks of St. Aper had entered upon possession of the said church, prefaces this about the wretched state in which they found it: Whether … by the inbreaking savagery of barbarian nations, or also by the very frequent pursuits of peoples against one another, through succeeding times that same place, stripped of its goods, its fortifications scattered, had been reduced almost to nothing, and was frequently subjected also to the lordship of secular men. That the same place had indeed been founded of old, but through the neglect of preceding times left destitute of goods, its religion corrupted, and, its buildings falling in, badly gone to ruin, I read also in the diploma of the emperor Otto I, given in the year 965. Its restoration begun by St. Gauzlin, and the other things of which Otto then treats, you will find in the following §, number 49. From the testimonies produced it is drawn out that the church of St. Peter, once most famous for the concourse of the faithful to the sepulcher of St. Mansuetus, before it was handed over to the monks of St. Aper in the tenth century, was frequented by no pilgrim or by a rare one; that no roll of the poor any longer existed there then; and that the revenues once annexed to the church had so perished that not only was there lacking the means whereby the needy might be fed, but even that whereby its ruinous building might be repaired.

[41] It may perhaps seem to someone that the words of the biographer and of Otto hint, about the year 936: yet the Leuci then kept his birthday with festive solemnity. that the temple of St. Peter at that time had fallen into ruin, or, if it only threatened ruin, that all cult of the Saint had there ceased. But neither is probable: for Adso below in our number 38, relating a miracle which happened before the death of St. Gauzlin, who departed this life in the year 962, expressly affirms that the festival of St. Mansuetus was then celebrated throughout the whole diocese of Toul with that solemnity which bound the faithful to abstain from servile works. Was so festive a cult not decreed to the Saint before the time when the place where his body was kept had already been given by the same Gauzlin to the abbey of St. Aper? I for my part believe that the solemnity of the first Founder of the church of Toul and apostle of the Leuci was instituted before the episcopate of St. Gauzlin, and was continued to his own times and those of his successors. And this is the reason why from the words of Adso and of Otto I reported above no more is to be deduced than I have deduced from them; namely, that the temple of St. Peter, when it was committed to the care of the monks of St. Aper, was indeed near to ruin, but not wholly fallen; and that the cult of our Saint was at that time indeed less frequented there, but had not altogether failed. For is it credible that the people of Toul, who kept his feast-day with so great celebrity, would have left so precious a treasure of his sacred body buried under the ruins of the temple, if it had fallen; or, if it had not fallen, would have followed with no veneration the holy Patron resting there?

[42] Cult from ancient Before the Benedictine religious of the abbey of St. Aper obtained, between the years 936 and 948 from St. Gauzlin, the place made venerable by the body of St. Mansuetus, his name had already been entered in various Martyrologies. Whence very much support is received by the things which I have hitherto alleged about his ancient cult. Martène, in volume 3 of the New Thesaurus of Anecdotes, published at Paris in the year 1717, at Col. [ ] gives a fragment of a very ancient Martyrology of the church of Tours, in which at III September the memory of our Saint alone occurs: At the city of Toul, of Mansuetus the bishop. In the preliminary Admonition, Col. [ ], he notes that he transcribed that fragment from an old Tours codex at least eight hundred years old. In volume 6 of the Collection of Ancient Writers, published by the same at Paris in the year 1729, col. 637, there stands another Martyrology of the monastery of St. Maximinus at Trier, bearing before it the name of Bede, and commemorating the Saint on the said day thus: The birthday … of St. Mansuetus the confessor. In the preliminary Observation, col. 635, he affirms that it was written eight hundred years ago. In the Martyrology of St. Jerome of Labbe, which our Sollerius made public in volume VI of June, part 2, page 22, at the same day this announcement is read: At Toul, of Mansuetus, bishop and confessor. In the preface, number 16, he writes: In the whole Labbean codex nothing is found from which we should be hindered from asserting that it is of an age near to the Gellonense. But that this was drawn up about the year 804 its editor Luc d'Achery testifies in volume 13 of the Spicilegium, in the preface to the reader, number 5. His words are adduced by Sollerius, just now praised, at number 6, nor does he disapprove the antiquity asserted by him. D'Achery, in volume 13 of the said Work, from page 388, published that most ancient Gellonense Martyrology together with various Readings out of two very ancient manuscript Martyrologies, in one of which, which he says he received from Étienne Baluze, at III Nones of September there is added: At Toul, of Mansuetus and confessor. The conjunction and is omitted in the same d'Achery's Spicilegium, reprinted at Paris in the year 1723, volume 2, col. 34.

[43] Martyrologies. In our museum are preserved six other Martyrologies in transcript, which are attributed to St. Jerome or to Bede, and briefly announce St. Mansuetus. Since it is hidden from me in what century they were first written, I do not adduce their names and words for establishing the ancient cult of the Saint. One remains to be produced in this place, Ado, who before the year 860, in which he ascended the see of Vienne, composed his Martyrology. At III of this month, in both the edition of Mosander and that of Rosweyde, he has this: On the same day the deposition of holy Remaclus … and of the most blessed Mansuetus, confessor and pontiff of Toul. Sollerius in his Observation on today's text of Usuard somewhat doubts whether SS. Remaclus and Mansuetus are truly Adonian, because of the silence of the Usuardine codices, at least the purer ones, and of Notker. Yet, granting, he says, that they were noted by Ado, I nevertheless think it certain that they were passed over by Usuard, whose pure and entire text, as produced by me, it seems can by no means be doubted, all those things being excluded which in the Variants we above rejected. In the Auctaria to Usuard, which Sollerius presently subjoins, most frequent mention is made of St. Mansuetus. The codices from which he collected these, and the other sacred Fasti in which I have found the Saint inscribed, will be brought forward in the last §. These are surpassed in antiquity by the documents from which I now set about illustrating the cult and glory of the Saint which he obtained on earth from that time in which the Benedictine monks were established in the place where his body was kept.

. elsewhere, To holy Men*

§ IV. Posthumous glory under the tenth-century bishops of Toul, [ ] SS. Gauzlin and Gerard, founder of the abbey of St. Mansuetus, gathered from various documents.

[Gauzlin, bishop of Toul, gives the temple made venerable by the sepulcher of St. Mansuetus] When the biographer, in the words adduced above at number 40, had set forth the worse state into which the place, once most famous for the cult of St. Mansuetus, was seen to have been brought in his own and St. Gauzlin's age, he subjoins this about its restoration: This man therefore (Gauzlin), considering that the aforesaid place was falling by divers mishaps, as we have said, having called to himself from the place of holy Aper, that excellent confessor of Christ, the venerable father lord Herchembold, whom he had himself also formerly set up as abbot there, commits this place to be repaired into the order of religion. Which venerable man, indeed, as he was most religious, appointed some monks under the hand of provosts; and because allowances were lacking there at that time, he had arranged for them to be fed at the expense of his own monastery. St. Gauzlin, about to reform the monastery of St. Aper, which had fallen away from its original institute, had already from the year 936 set over it as abbot the religious man Herchembold, or, as I read elsewhere, Archembald; as is attested by the charter drawn up in the name and by the order of St. Gauzlin on V Ides of October of the same year, which is found in Calmet, volume 1 of the History of Lorraine, in the Appendix containing various instruments, col. 342. In the same place, col. 352, is brought forward the diploma of king Otto, afterward emperor, the first of that name, given III Nones of August in the year 948, by which whatever the charter of the year 936 contains is ratified and strengthened by royal command. In this charter St. Gauzlin enumerates one by one all the possessions of the abbey of St. Aper, most recently reformed by him. One by one Otto also enumerates the same, and besides them certain other goods which, as is established for me from sure documents, had been given to the monastery of St. Aper after the year 936. Since in St. Gauzlin's charter no mention is made of the church of St. Mansuetus, but is made in Otto's diploma, hence I judge that it is to be reckoned among those things which were granted to abbot Archembald after V Ides of October of the year 936.

[45] to Benedictine monks, under whom his cult flourishes again: The words by which Otto confirms the donation of that church made by St. Gauzlin I here subjoin: Nor less have we decreed that this be confirmed by the command of our authority, that the church of St. Mansuetus, which is situated in the suburb of the same city, conferred on the same place (namely the abbey of St. Aper) by the aforesaid venerable bishop on this condition, that some of the same monks should serve God and holy Mansuetus, should pass with all the things which he conferred there to the said abbey by perpetual right; and we confirm by decree that henceforth no one may have power of taking away any of those things.* After Archembald had sent some religious from his own monastery to the place granted to him, that they might dwell there under the government of a Provost, by their pious care it was at once brought about that the cult of the Saint, which had greatly failed, flourished again, and his tomb was once more frequented by a great concourse of the people. Notable miracles also God there wrought through the Saint, of which all those which Adso relates in our edition, book 2, chapters 1 and 2, were done before the death of St. Gauzlin, who in the year 962 passed to a happier life. While he was still alive, the temple of St. Mansuetus began to be restored. The unfinished work St. Gerard completed, who in the year 963 succeeded Gauzlin. The church dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle I at once called, and hereafter shall several times call, by the name of our Saint, whose usage I find to have prevailed chiefly from those times in which it was given to the monks of St. Aper. For sacred buildings often draw their appellation from those Saints by whose cult and miracles they are chiefly made famous, although they were not originally consecrated to them.

[46] [Gauzlin's successor Gerard commits himself and his diocese to the Saint's protection; his pious vow:] The begun repair of the church of St. Mansuetus not only did St. Gerard, Gauzlin's successor, complete; but he also did liberal benefit to the monks who sang the praises of God in it, and set an abbot over the same, who before were subject to a Provost. Various instruments are before my eyes, which treat of the abbey erected and endowed by the holy prelate, and of its church restored by him. These I shall here produce, because what they contain adorns the memory of our Saint. And in the first place I shall transcribe the words of St. Gerard himself from the instrument drawn up on the Ides of October of the year 982, by which the excellent bishop grants the temple at Medium-vicus (a place near Toul, commonly called Moyen-vic) to the abbey of St. Mansuetus lately founded by him: Let all the assembly of the faithful know, he says, both of time to come and of the present, how I, by God's disposition confirmed bishop to the pontificate of the city of the Leuci, turned aside for the sake of prayer to the oratory of B. Mansuetus; and there I gave over wholly myself and the pastoral charge of the people I had undertaken to his merits in a spirit of tearful devotion, and vowed, wherever a fitting occasion should offer itself, to look with the eye of piety on the needs of those serving him, and to sustain them with a consoling hand. And when the ardor of charity often put me in mind of the memory of this promise, and by the intervention of blessed Mansuetus the state of our diocese within and without had begun to prosper, I resolved, so far as possibility should present itself and the fitness of the place should shine forth, to discharge myself of the vow of my promise, and with fatherly solicitude to succor the need of the brethren joined to us by love. The charter from which I have taken this stands in Calmet, praised above, from col. 387. From it above all the reader learns that St. Gerard, when, chosen and confirmed bishop, he was being led to Toul to be installed in his see in the year 963, turned aside to the suburban temple of St. Mansuetus, and committed himself and his diocese to his protection, and moreover made a vow to God that he would neglect no occasion of providing the necessary things of the religious to whose care his predecessor Gauzlin had commended the church of St. Mansuetus.

[47] The same Calmet, from col. 389, gives another instrument, by which St. Gerard ratifies whatever of goods or privileges had been granted before to the monks of St. Mansuetus by himself [ ] he founds by others. It was issued on the Ides of October of the year 982, that is, on the same day and in the same year in which the other charter was drawn up, of which we have just treated. How much of the vow made in the year 963 the religious prelate had discharged before the said day of the year 982, you will learn abundantly from the words of that instrument, which, taken from it, I here set out: To the knowledge of all the faithful of the Church of God, both present and following, we wish it to come, that, after by the divine condescension, and at the dictating command also of lord Otto the most victorious emperor and ever august, and likewise of lord Bruno, the glorious archbishop (of Cologne), preeminent also by royal brotherhood (for he was the full brother of the emperor Otto I), we undertook the guardianship of souls and the government of the church of the people of Toul, it was our zeal as much as possible to apply diligence to the flock committed to us, to restore according to our strength what was ruined, and to order better what seemed to be disposed otherwise than justly. Among the rest, therefore, which pertaining to the worship of God and of his servants we perceived to be done by the hand of him who lifts up, we found a certain place of our see founded from of old, consecrated indeed in honor of the blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, but made illustrious by the bodily presence of holy Mansuetus our first pastor, begun by our predecessor for the sake of religion, but left unfinished. Kindled indeed with ardor for its restoration, for the zeal of eternal recompense we began to search out how we might be able to reform that same place more fittingly.*

[48] Whence, counsel being taken with the clergy of our whole see, with the abbots also, the abbey the monks and the faithful laity, we found that this could in no way be done by an abiding right, unless we should set a pastor over the aforesaid place, and, goods being granted whereby the brethren serving under the command of an abbot might be fed according to rule, we should mercifully provide for that same monastery: and when at length the discussion of this pious investigation had been carried through, we found a certain man suited to the business of our desire, called by his own name Adam, a son of our church, brought up in regular disciplines; whom by the common consent as well of spiritual persons as of all our faithful, by an equal election we designated, appointed, and set over that place. For which cause we have established and decreed, that the monks also, living in the same place under the regular discipline of holy Benedict, may serve God without any disquiet and disturbance of our succeeding bishops, and may live secure and free from the invasion of other persons. For the greater firmness of all the things which I have here transcribed, St. Gerard had obtained on IV Nones of June in the year 965 a diploma from the emperor Otto I: whence it follows that the pious prelate did not delay to fulfill his vow, made to God in the year 963; since the things which he commemorates in the charter of the year 982 he had already from the year 965 performed.

[49] of St. Mansuetus; Receive the emperor's words from Calmet's edition, col. 373: To the knowledge of all our faithful, both present, that is, and to come, we wish it to come, that Gerard, the venerable prelate of the church of Toul, approaching the presence of our imperial clemency, humbly suggested that a certain place in the suburb of that same his city had indeed been founded of old; but through the neglect of preceding times left destitute of goods, its religion corrupted, and, its buildings falling in, badly gone to ruin. Which place indeed, consecrated in honor of the blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, and made illustrious by the bodily presence of the holy confessor of Christ Mansuetus, first bishop of the same city, and at the same time adorned with the body of blessed Amo, bishop of the aforesaid city, had been begun to be repaired by Gauzlin of good memory, his predecessor, but was left with the work unfinished. This place therefore the aforesaid bishop, by divine prompting, desiring to repair more fully, and determining to furnish it with workshops suitable to sacred religion, and wishing to enlarge it with subsisting goods, set over the brethren dwelling there an abbot named Adam, learned in regular disciplines, with the counsel of archbishop Bruno and of the princes of the realm; and both from those things which could be proved to have once been subject to that same place, and also from those which, out of the goods of the bishopric, with the consent of the faithful of his church, seemed to be added, he asked that they be confirmed by the decree of our authority, that those things which have been handed over there for the performing of God's service may be able to be preserved unharmed forever. Wherefore we, for the love of God and the stability of our kingdom, and also for the hoped-for succession of our line, by our present authority as well as by that of our son king Otto, of the same name as ourselves, establish and decree that the monks living under the regular discipline of holy Benedict in that place may serve God without any disquiet and disturbance of the succeeding pontiffs of the city of the Leuci, and may live secure and free from the invasion of other persons, and may always possess by undisturbed right the goods which we grant them by the command of our imperial dignity. There follows an enumeration of the goods which had been given to the monastery of St. Mansuetus before they were confirmed by Otto: whose diploma is marked as given IV Nones of June in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 965, Indiction VIII, in the thirtieth year of Otto's reign, that is, the fourth of his empire.

[50] [he completes the temple begun to be repaired by Gauzlin, which he had vowed to God he would do;] Otto's diploma indeed insinuates plainly enough that St. Gerard, when he sought it, had not yet finished the restoration of the church of St. Mansuetus begun by Gauzlin: yet this, as I believe, he had already then begun to complete, or at least to procure the funds necessary for pushing on the work; because before he was inaugurated he had bound himself also by a vow to bring the begun building of the temple to perfection. Hear Richer, book 2 of the Chronicle of the abbey of Senones, chapter 13: When … bishop Gozelin had died, B. Gerard succeeded in the episcopate. Who, when he had been elected to the episcopate, and was being led to the city of Toul to be installed, when he had come to the church of St. Mansuetus, which formerly the same St. Mansuetus had built for himself as an oratory on his coming to the city of Toul — because Mansuetus had been the first bishop of that same city — is said to have entered that oratory for the sake of prayer, and to have prayed there so long, until he had vowed, with the consent of the whole clergy, that he would build that church to something better: which he also did. The Chronicle of Senones was published by d'Achery in volume 3 of the Spicilegium, from page 271. In the preface, page 15 and following, he shows that its author Richer lived in the thirteenth century. Although he is more remote from the age of St. Gerard, I do not doubt, however, that he handed down true things about him: since from the testimony of that same praised prelate, adduced at number 46, it is established that he, in the place and time determined by the chronicler of Senones, vowed, wherever a fitting occasion should offer itself, to look with the eye of piety on the needs of those serving him (St. Mansuetus), and to sustain them with a consoling hand. To one who considers these things more attentively, the vow of which the aforesaid Chronicle treats cannot come under suspicion of falsehood. To the same point tend the things which are read in the Acts of St. Gerard, written by the contemporary author Widric, abbot of St. Aper: By the prompting of pious devotion the man of the Lord cultivated the place of holy Mansuetus with the highest love: whose monastery also, falling down through slipping decay, he busied himself to renew; and both by his unceasing admonition and by the exceedingly winning intercession of the most pious Patron, a frequent crowd of peoples supplied to the begun work no small bounty of alms. The Life of St. Gerard written by Widric Henschen gave at 23 April; but for the greater part curtailed, the preface also being omitted, and the whole book of the same author on the saint's miracles, canonization, and translation. Martène, in volume 3 of the New Thesaurus of Anecdotes, from Col. [ ], and Calmet, praised above, from col. 132, published the entire work of Widric: which we too shall have to do in the Supplement to the Acts of the Saints.

[51] At once, as I believe, upon the finishing of the temple's renovation, Gerard, he transfers the Saint's body into a becoming chest; having raised the body of our Saint from its ancient burial place, laid it in a more becoming one. Another elevation of the sacred body took place in the year 1104 by Pibo, bishop of Toul. He, who has left us the history of this, to be published below, records this of the earlier one, which was carried out by Gerard: For from the ancient fathers we have received it as handed down, and even to our times it has been believed without doubt, that holy Gerard, after many times his most worthy successor in the episcopate of the Leuci (that is, of St. Mansuetus), translated his sacred body, and placed it within the church, which he had found consecrated under his name, in a wooden chest in a fitting place; presiding in which he might receive the voices of the monks singing psalms in the same church and perpetually serving him, and might bestow upon the people of the Leuci the benefit of his accustomed governance. These things and the others which from various monuments I have hitherto shown to have been done by Gerard in honor of St. Mansuetus, I judge are to be referred to the first years, that is, to 963 and the next following years of his episcopate.

[52] Besides the two charters of Gerard of the year 982, which I used at numbers 46 and following, [he withdraws from the abbey founded by him the estates he had given; but is compelled through St. Mansuetus to give them back:] I have found four others granted in favor of the abbey of St. Mansuetus by the same prelate. The substance of the first, drawn up in the year 969, Mabillon gives in volume 3 of the Annals of the Order of St. Benedict, book 47, number 28. The second, which is of the year 971, Calmet published at col. 383. The third was written in the year 974, from which the praised Mabillon, book 48, number 14, relates this: Gerard gave to that same place (the monastery of St. Mansuetus) the estates of Angeriacum and Molisiacum, which he had acquired from Odelric, archbishop of Reims. But afterward, as if repenting of the deed, the same Gerard brought the aforesaid estates back under his own jurisdiction: until holy Mansuetus, as if grieving at the want of the monks serving him, by a certain force wrested them from him anew. For, as Gerard himself says in his authentic document, being seized by a certain languor of excessive fever, and brought even to the last extremity, he was so long worn down by the violence of the disease, until he was compelled to give back what he had taken away. Whence by the counsel of his faithful men, monks, canons and laymen, he renewed the first donation by a new instrument … Further, upon the violators of this donation he threatens curses from blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, and from blessed Mansuetus his patron, by whose merits and intercession he asserts that daily the languors of bodies and souls are healed. The fourth charter of Gerard, finally, by which he did benefit to the monks of St. Mansuetus in the year 986, stands in the often-mentioned Calmet, col. 392.

[53] in public necessities he appoints solemn With the miracles of St. Mansuetus which happened under Gerard's episcopate and were committed to writing by Adso, many things are intermingled from which you may learn that Gerard placed enormous confidence in the patronage of our Saint, was moved by a singular piety toward him, and with the highest zeal promoted his cult. Among other things Adso, below in our edition, number 44, relates that Gerard decreed a solemn supplication to St. Mansuetus for obtaining rain by his intercession after a long drought. The Saint's body was then carried through the suburban fields with a great concourse of men to the monastery of St. Aper: and when they had arrived there, a copious shower refreshed the parching fields. Thence the sacred body was carried into the city; in whose presence Gerard consecrated to the Virgin Mother of God and to St. Mansuetus a church built by himself within the walls of the city; which from that time, says Adso, and even now is magnificently made illustrious by the merits of holy Mansuetus, where everywhere the bonds of burdening sin are loosed. The dedication being performed, the Saint's bones were carried back to the place from which they had been taken. At number 50 it is related that Gerard, at a time when a plague was raging with great savagery, appointed another supplication, in which a procession went with the body of St. Mansuetus to the church situated at Scropuli , which is wont to be made illustrious rather often by the miracles of the blessed Mother of God. This being done, the plague seemed to grow somewhat milder in its fury. To these things Adso at once subjoins: But not even so is the terror of the frightened peoples cut off: for again, laying the clod of the blessed Man upon their shoulders, they seek the principal monastery of the same Mother of God at Buxeriæ ; which was formerly of nuns of the Order of St. Benedict, founded by St. Gauzlin. Now under the title of canonesses and the rule of an abbess noble virgins, bound by no vow of religion, inhabit the place. It is about five hours' journey distant from Toul, and lies on the river Meurthe, where it almost empties itself into the Moselle. After that pious journey, which a huge train of suppliants had accomplished, the plague so unlearned its own advances that the whole people openly recognized the Saint's benefit.*

[54] supplications, in which Yet the evil did not then wholly cease. Certainly it afterward raged no less atrociously than before. Again Gerard fled to the patronage of St. Mansuetus and at the same time of St. Aper, and appointed for the people a sacred procession through the streets of the city of Toul, in which the bodies of both Saints should be carried about. When this was performed, God at last set an end to that deadly calamity. This last supplication Widric describes in the Life of St. Gerard. Before I bring forward his narrative, I would have the reader observe two things. The first is, that the Life and miracles of St. Mansuetus were written some years before the death of Gerard, which happened in the year 994, since their author Adso had then already been two years dead, as was said at number 4. The other is, that Widric in the Acts of St. Gerard purposely passed over what Adso had inserted about that holy prelate among the miracles of St. Mansuetus. Plainly enough Widric insinuates this in the words which he prefixes immediately to Gerard's Roman journey: Whose most devout intention toward the glorious prelate Mansuetus we would here set forth in brief, did we not know that it was already noted down among his venerable miracles, committed to writing, that is, by Adso. Both these observations will, I suppose, easily lead the reader to believe that Adso and Widric treat of different supplications instituted at the time of the pestilence, of which Widric handed down to posterity only the last, because it was lacking in Adso, who perhaps had already made an end of writing when that one happened. Now receive Widric's narrative from Calmet's edition, col. 144.

[55] The faults of the people pressing, a lamentable disaster had grown rife here and there. The Saint's body The wretched slaughter had already almost filled the streets of the city of Toul with human corpses; and, no house being empty either of a sick man or of a dead one, a mournful despair of this slipping life had now seized upon all. Then the blessed prelate (Gerard), not least solicitous for the people committed to him, was pressed by divers anguishes of cares, thinking by what remedy he might succor the imperiled flock as quickly as possible. Animated therefore by divine counsel, he appoints a three-day fast; thereupon he calls together into one the people of the neighboring parishes, and with suppliant devotion raises up the venerable bodies of the glorious pontiffs Mansuetus and Aper, trusting to be relieved of the imminent distress by their patronage. With these going before he goes round all the streets of the city, the voice of the people tearfully supplicating being lifted on high. But by the hidden judgment of God, so greatly did the pestilence of the dying increase on that very day that, before the relics of the Saints reached the basilica of blessed Mansuetus, sixteen biers of the dead were joined to the preceding multitude.

[56] But the venerable pontiff, having exhorted the people not to desist from prayer, is carried about. retracing the journey, went to the monastery of holy Aper with frequent throngs of people; and there he completes the mournful sevenfold course of litanies, stretched on the ground with the clergy before the bodies of the Saints. Rising from thence, the earth flooded with his tears, when he had begun the antiphon In the voice of supplication, at that same hour three of the people fell down and expired in the midst of the multitude. But the almighty Pitier, his servant’s tearful prayers did not long pass by with a deaf ear: and there he set an end to the raging plague, nor did anyone further in that same year complain that he was straitened by the heaviness of the accustomed pestilence. All these things are wanting in the defective Acts of St. Gerard published by Henschen. By the mournful sevenfold course of litanies, which Widric says was completed by Gerard, prostrate on the ground before the bodies of SS. Mansuetus and Aper, is to be understood the litany which was gone through with mournful chant by seven choirs, whence it was wont also to be surnamed Sevenfold. For the further instruction of the reader I subjoin the words of Paul the Deacon, book 3 on the Deeds of the Lombards, chapter 24: When Gregory the Great had ordained a sevenfold litany against the inguinal plague which was laying Rome waste, within the space of a single hour, while the people were praying to God, eighty of them, suddenly falling to the ground, breathed out their spirit. And the sevenfold litany was so called because the people of the whole city was by blessed Gregory divided into seven parts to beseech God. For in the first choir was all the clergy; in the second all the abbots with their monks; in the third all the abbesses with their congregations; in the fourth all the children; in the fifth all the lay men; in the sixth all the widows, and in the seventh all the married women. I have given Paul's words as they are read in the latest Paris edition of the Works of St. Gregory the Great, volume 4, col. 16. At the end of volume 1 stands the holy Doctor's sermon on Mortality, in which he exhorts the people to come together to the sevenfold litany for obtaining the ceasing of the pestilence. This was different from that of which Paul the Deacon, cited above, writes, and Gregory of Tours, book 10 of the History of the Franks, chapter 1: for both these writers report a division of the people into seven choirs plainly other than the praised Gregory does. Consult the Annals of Baronius at the year 590.

[57] lying dangerously ill, he is suddenly healed by SS. Mansuetus and Aper Neither is there read in Adso the marvelous apparition of SS. Mansuetus and Aper, made to Gerard when he was sick unto death, who through them suddenly received back his former health. The notable miracle was handed down to memory by Widric in his Life, in Calmet col. 146. He was tried also on one occasion by a desperate sickness of body, through which almighty God was gloriously declared in the majesty of his power. At a certain time, indeed, being weighed down with excessive languor, his body already growing cold, he was brought to the last extremity; nor did anyone presume to promise him hope of returning health: no one busied himself save about his funeral rites alone. Then there came upon him a heaven-inspired thought, that he should commend himself to the merciful protection of the most holy Pontiffs Mansuetus and Aper; and he ordered their venerable relics to be carried into the oratory of holy John the Baptist, that by their presiding suffrage he might receive either a present remedy of his desperate languor, or, in his last departure before the severe Judge, a propitiatory consolation. The consecrated pledges therefore being brought within the city, with worthy honor vigils are celebrated by the faithful through the night; nor are funereal watchers wanting to the pontiff lying in the adjoining chamber. But in the dead of night , the noise of the frequent crowd subsiding, behold, upon him who had been sick a health-bringing sleep began beyond hope to creep: and soon he is visited by the holy Pontiffs through the quiet of sleep in a much-to-be-desired vision.*

[58] appearing to him. For it seemed to him in his languor that there stood before his little bed those same magnificent Men, becomingly mitered in prelatical habit; who as it were inquired of him with merciful compassion how he did, and with what kind of languor he was so grievously sick. And when the manner and kind of the sickness were disclosed by the sick man, it seemed to him as if they bade him follow them, and that they turned their steps back toward the oratory in which their sacred pledges were kept . But he, who had languished not a few days, rose up sound, roused, and astonished with the amazement of the glorious vision. He believed that the blessed Prelates had stood by him in bodily presence: and he took the road, as though about to follow their footsteps. But coming to the doors of the church, and gaining possession of his own mind, he recognized the power of the Saints, which they had deigned to show him: and soon he intoned the antiphon, THE LAME MAN LEAPED UP, AND WALKED, in the praise of jubilation. Thereupon he is prostrated before the venerable relics, repays magnificent thanks to the Saints for the benefit, and with untiring mouth glorifies God, who is to be praised in his Servants.*

. hoc*

. ejusdem*

. ipsius*

. read egere*

*. Écrouves near Toul.

*. that is, the body

*. Bouxières-aux-dames

. in Martène's edition, volume 3 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, Col. [ ], ut*

. perhaps intra*

. Martène: nocte*

. Martène: servabantur*

§ V. The Saint's glory in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, made illustrious by miracles, by the increase of veneration, and by the solemn elevation of his body.

[ ] A miracle to be published: The public veneration of St. Mansuetus, as under SS. Gauzlin and Gerard, so also flourished under the bishops their successors; nay, it grew from the times of Pope Gregory VII, as will appear from number 63 and following. Calmet, praised above, col. 104, and Martène, volume 3 of the New Thesaurus of Anecdotes, Col. [ ], published a marvelous history which they had found appended to the Saint's miracles written by Adso in a Mansuetine codex of the eleventh century, about which we forewarned the reader of various things at number 7. It bears this title: Of a girl bound with iron rings, and how she was loosed at the sepulcher of the holy Pontiff. The anonymous author at the end of the narrative notes that the thing happened in the year from the Lord's Incarnation one thousand and nine, while lord Bertold was bishop over the church of Toul, in Indiction VII. We shall give the miracle from Calmet, collated with Martène's edition.

[60] In the year 1027 there was consecrated bishop of Toul St. Bruno, [he does benefit to the abbey of St. Mansuetus, having often experienced the Saint's help in sicknesses:] who afterward ruled the universal Church under the name of Leo IX. His merits toward the monastery of St. Mansuetus see in Mabillon, volume 4 of the Annals, book 56, number 7, book 57, number 37, and book 59, numbers 87 and 88. Of the places cited, number 37 of book 57 deserves in part to be transcribed. Then, that is, in the year 1034, Hunald was abbot over the monastery of holy Mansuetus at Toul, who in this year issued letters concerning the donation of Odelric of Novum-villare. He, being harassed by frequent sicknesses again and again, had been wont to frequent the house of holy Mansuetus, and often the compassion of that same Saint came to his aid. Hence his benevolence toward that same place so grew that he decreed that he and his wife should be buried there, not despairing to obtain a remedy for his soul by the intercession of him by whose intervention he had deserved, while he lived, to be sustained and defended. On that account he conferred upon holy Mansuetus two mansi (the word mansus was formerly wont to be used for a certain portion of land with the dwelling of the tenant) and certain other estates … Bruno the bishop confirmed that donation in the year 1034 by his authority and fortified it with his seal.

[61] Among the extracts from the Mansuetine codex of the twelfth century, another miracle to be published. about which various things were noted at number 8 and following, I find a miracle of a certain Rusticus struck by St. Aper and healed by B. Mansuetus; which happened in the month of September in the year 1049, when St. Leo IX was staying at Toul. In the other Mansuetine codex of the eleventh century, from which the cited Martène from Col. [ ] and Calmet from col. 118 committed it to type, inserted among the miracles of St. Aper, it has this title: Of a certain miracle composed by Peter, deacon of the holy Roman church. Our manuscript copy, taken from the former codex, is full of faults. It stands indeed more correctly in Calmet, but mutilated in its latter part. Entire it was published by Martène, whose edition we shall use, collated with our manuscript and with Calmet's printed copy. That this miracle happened in the month of September in the year 1049, at which time St. Leo IX was staying at Toul with Peter, deacon of the Roman Church and prefect of that same city, and that the latter wrote the history of it which is to be published by us, the animadversions with which we shall follow it will put beyond all doubt.

[62] [The times are determined of the four abbots under whom the following things happened:] Among the manuscript extracts from the aforesaid codex of the twelfth century we also have a sacred history of memorable things which happened under the abbots of St. Mansuetus Grimbald, Albric, Theomar, and Theobald. When and about how long each of them presided, we shall teach the reader: for it is helpful to know to what times the things we are about to produce from that history are to be referred. In Calmet, volume 1 of the History of Lorraine, in the Documents, col. 457, Grimbald is read among the witnesses who signed the charter of Udo, bishop of Toul, given in the year 1065. The first mention of Albric occurs in the cited Calmet, col. 476, among those subscribed to a certain privilege which Pibo, Udo's successor, had granted in the year 1076. Not long before Grimbald had died; for the things which will be transcribed from the following number out of our transcript were done while he was living, after Gregory VII had been created supreme Pontiff in the year 1073. Albric's successor Theomar is noted in our same transcript as having been buried on 11 Kalends of February in the thirty-third year of his ordination. He was still living on the 2 Kalends of February in the year 1124, when he subscribed the charter of Riquin, bishop of Toul, which Calmet gives in volume 2, in the Monuments of his History, col. CCXXIII. In the same place, col. CCLXXXI, Theobald is read subscribed to a certain instrument of the year 1126. From which it is manifest that Theomar died at the end of January in the year 1125 or 1126, and that he was substituted for Albric about the year 1092 or 1093. Further, Theobald, who succeeded Theomar, was already dead on X Kalends of July in the year 1136; since Rainald his successor confirmed by his subscription an instrument drawn up on the said day and year, which the same Calmet exhibits at col. CCCXII. The anonymous author who committed to writing the things done by those four abbots or in their times I suspect to have been a monk of the abbey of St. Mansuetus. He wrote under Theobald, or at least not long after his death, as will be shown at the end of number 68. The things which from his history I now set about transcribing stand also in Calmet, col. CCLXXVII. Our transcript, which we shall use, differs in many things from his edition. Variety of reading of any moment will be assigned in the margin.

[63] chief men in the city of Toul at Rome After the prologue, in which nothing worthy of note occurs, the anonymous author soon begins to relate how Pope Gregory VII afforded the occasion that the cult of St. Mansuetus under abbot Grimbald took very great increase. God being the author, he says, while Gregory the Seventh presided over the holy Roman Church, and in the city of Toul Pibo was bishop, certain magnates of the realm and most renowned and illustrious men of each order, by the inspiration of the holy Spirit, conceived a desire of approaching the holy Apostles; and worn down by many straits of the journey and especially of labor and cold on this side of the Alps, they at length came beneath the walls of the toilsome citadel of Romulus, and the longed-for thresholds of the holy Apostles with suppliant vows. And so, being received by the Pontiff of the Roman See with due veneration, as venerable men, after they had received from him the Apostolic blessing and the pardon of absolution; and being asked by him who and whence they were, they professed themselves to be inhabitants of the city of Toul.*

[64] Which the Pope having learned, sighing more urgently and stirred inwardly by a certain vigor of mind, Happy, he said, is the city of Toul, adorned with the body of the glorious confessor of Christ and Apostolic prelate Mansuetus; [they hear from Gregory VII that they possess notable relics of Peter and Paul procured by St. Mansuetus:] but by his vigilance more gloriously distinguished with the relics of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul! For as is proved by the truthful judgments of the historians, and as is shown by the volume-records of the Roman library, after Rome, which shines everywhere with the triumphal blood of the martyrdom of the holy Apostles, so is the city of Toul frequented by the visitation of Apostolic protection, that nowhere else in the whole world can so great a portion of the same relics be found : nor need you labor exceedingly to seek out farther, by pilgrimage , the sepulchers of those whom you may more frequently trust to be present in relics of your own. By these and suchlike instructions our countrymen, pilgrims, being taught by the universal Pastor, having under Christ's auspices obtained their vow, returned to their own; and what they had learned by faithful hearing they announced everywhere by a still more faithful report. The words in which the Pontiff declares that the people of Toul received through St. Mansuetus the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul greatly favor us, who deny that he was sent into Gaul by St. Peter. See number 30 and following.

[65] From that time, therefore, in which the oracle of Gregory VII was reported at Toul, [whence a more solemn cult and the holding of a fair on the Saint's feast-day are instituted;] God being propitious, so great a devotion of the faithful boiled up toward SS. Peter and Paul, that to the suburban church — of which read at number 29 and below at number 67 at the end — dedicated in honor of the holy Apostles, the bishop, the clergy, and the whole people flock in troops on the day of their martyrdom, and run through the nightly watches and vigils with tapers and lights, and the daytime praises with vows and prayers in urgent exultation. To the holy Pontiff also, that is, to blessed Mansuetus, the religious observance of so great veneration was increased, that through the neighboring regions and provinces the celebrity of his feast was proclaimed more famously; so that from the peoples of foreign nations and islands men come together there to the public fair, and now by God's grace no one of the solemnities through almost tripartite Gaul is held more memorable. The anonymous writer by tripartite Gaul perhaps understood the Belgic, the Aquitanian, and the Celtic or Lugdunensian. Certainly Julius Caesar, book 1 on the Gallic War, in fact so divided it: All Gaul, he says, is divided into three parts; of which the Belgae inhabit one, the Aquitani another, the third those who in their own tongue are called Celts … Into four provinces the emperor Augustus divided Gaul, the Narbonensian being reckoned with the three former. Of that fair, instituted on the feast of St. Mansuetus, which the anonymous author perhaps makes more famous than in fact it was, Pope Hadrian IV makes mention, in Calmet, col. CCCXLVIII, in a bull of the year 1154, by which he confirms all the possessions of the abbey of St. Mansuetus: By Apostolic authority also we forbid that the market of the fair, which is held in the meadow adjoining your monastery on the feast of holy Mansuetus every year, be lawful for any ecclesiastical or secular person whatever to remove in times to come from the place in which it is now celebrated.*

[66] At that time (the words are the anonymous author's, pursuing his narrative) Grimald was abbot over the aforesaid church, [a larger church, to hold the multitude of the faithful flocking to the Saint's tomb,] a man exceedingly simple and strenuous in the repair of the place; who was the author * and institutor of the same celebrity, and raised up that same church without with buildings, within with ornaments, and adorned the altar of the holy Apostles with a silver panel radiant with gems and gold. Besides, the fabric of the tower, which his predecessor Dodo had carried from the foundations up to the roof of the church, he finished with laborious beauty, and adorned the point of its roof notably with a gilded cross bearing a triumphal eagle. When he was taken from our midst, Albric succeeded, a man second to none, eloquent in knowledge and speech, who grieved that the throng of the multitude coming together to the solemnities of the holy Confessor could not be received within the enclosure of the monastery; whence also by divine inspiration he vowed to enlarge that same church from the sanctuary and upward. Pressing therefore upon the begun work as an untiring workman, he raised the circuit of the wall up to the curving of the arches all round; and, snatched away by the human lot, he obtained a sepulcher in that same crypt for the memory of the foundation. The last words throw in some suspicion that the anonymous writer had earlier made mention of a crypt built by Albric, which has been omitted in our manuscript copy and in that which Calmet used. However it be, if Albric was buried in that same crypt for the memory of the foundation, he certainly built some crypt. Calmet, volume 1 of the History of Lorraine, book 20, number 106, writes in the Notes that in the crypt of the ancient church this epitaph of Albric was lately found:

Abbot Albric, wise, pious, and chaste, set up this fabric; he was its cause and head.

This annotation of Calmet's is immediately preceded by another, in which he asserts that the underground crypt which Albric had constructed was consecrated on 5 September in the year 1090 by bishop Pibo: he does not add to what Saint. One may conjecture that Pibo dedicated it to St. Mansuetus, and that his body was deposited in it.

[67] is built; on which occasion the relics of SS. Peter and Paul are found; Albric was succeeded by abbot … Theomar, … who … with unlooked-for speed completed the wonderful structure of the church, which his predecessor had carried round to that height where the walls are arched into a vault, supported on two towers. The day pressing … that the new work should be joined to the old, necessity and reason dictated that, for the founding of new altars, the ancient ones should be pulled down: for indeed, out of a desire of the highest devotion, a three-day fast being performed, the abbot and the whole congregation began to burn for the relics of the holy Apostles; which the opinion both of ancient and of modern men held to be contained beneath the high altar. There follows the account of the finding of the relics of SS. Peter and Paul together with fragments of the wood of the Lord's Cross. The words in which the anonymous author sets forth the sacred treasure distinctly I gave at number 29. Since it was found beneath the high altar, I believe it true, what the anonymous author wrote at number 65; namely, that the church was dedicated in honor of the holy Apostles. I have hitherto called it either by the name of St. Peter or of St. Mansuetus, because nowhere have I found it called otherwise in the monuments which I have followed, older than the anonymous author's history. See number 45 at the end.

[68] [the dedication of the temple; new miracles of St. Mansuetus to be given after the Commentary.] Of the rest which is then related, this alone I produce, that abbot Theomar brought to the summit the larger church which was to hold the multitude of men flocking to the sepulcher of St. Mansuetus. And this he solemnly dedicated with a famous throng in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand one hundred and seven, Pibo being bishop in the city of Toul, Henry the fourth ruling. Some years afterward being happily passed, the said abbot … full of days departed by a happy end to the Lord, being buried with worthy honor in the same church on II Kalends of February in the thirty-third year of his ordination. Whom there succeeded a man of venerable life, Theobald; in whose times blessed Mansuetus deigned to show himself the protector of the city and church of Toul by frequent miracles. Those miracles, published in type by no one, so far as I know, hitherto, will be issued separately. In our edition, number 9, it is related that St. Mansuetus called back a dead boy to life; which, says the anonymous writer, came to us by the agreeing report of the father and mother. Hence it is drawn out that he wrote either while abbot Theobald, under whom the miracle happened, was living, or not long after his death, which he had already undergone by X Kalends of July in the year 1136: for his successor Rainald then subscribed the charter of Henry, bishop of Toul, by which he confirms the donation made to the monastery of St. Mansuetus by Simon I, duke of Lorraine, and his wife Adelaide. From that charter I shall transfer some things hither, because they seem to me not unworthy of record.

[69] For the stirring up … of the industry of those who come after in good works, [the pious liberality of Simon I and his wife, dukes of Lorraine, and their promise made to God.] we make known both to those to come and to those present, that by divine prompting Simon, the most renowned duke of the Lorrainers and marquis, and the venerable duchess named Adelaide, his wife, bearing a pious solicitude for the salvation of their souls, disposed in their lifetime to give to God the things which each believed would profit them after death. Indeed, with their sons Matthew and Baldwin standing by and consenting, they handed over to the church of blessed Mansuetus, our first pastor and pious protector … their allod of Monces … to be possessed perpetually, that is, in lands tilled and untilled, meadows, fields, woods, mills, etc. When therefore this gift had been laid upon the altar of holy Mansuetus by illustrious and fit men in their stead, that is, of the duke and duchess (for at that time the duchess could not come, because she was near her delivery), afterward in our presence, and before a great multitude of clergy and people, and of very many nobles and witnesses whose names are subscribed, they laid it upon the altar of holy Mansuetus by our hand, or with their own hand; and they vowed to God and to his Saints, and to the whole congregation, that for the rest, as long as they lived, they would be most ready defenders, if ever necessity required, or anyone should attempt with rash daring to stir up a calumny about it; and they made their aforenamed sons, still very young, promise to keep this same thing after their death.*

[70] In the year 1104, when Theomar was over the abbey of St. Mansuetus, [The second elevation of the body carried out by bishop Pibo, who did not write its history:] his body was transferred with great solemnity by Pibo, bishop of Toul, from the chest in which we said at number 51 it had been placed by St. Gerard, into a new and more honorable burial place. The history of the whole transaction we have among the manuscript extracts from the Mansuetine codex of the twelfth century. It also, from the manuscript of St. Mansuetus, Martène published in type, volume 3 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, Col. [ ], from which we shall reprint the same, collated with our transcript. In both places this title is prefixed to the history: Treatise on the second translation of St. Mansuetus, spoken and composed by lord Pibo. For dicta perhaps ought to be read indicta, so that the sense is that the translation of the sacred body was appointed and arranged by bishop Pibo, that is, ordered and carried out. Whatever be the case with this conjectural exposition of mine, it seems certain to me that the history of the translation itself was not spoken and composed by Pibo, that is, not recited and elaborated by him: for it is not credible that he in speaking and writing would have made this mention of himself as though already dead: Straightway bishop Pebo of pious and holy memory,* etc. Besides, could the same prelate, who from an older Catalogue of the bishops of Toul and from elsewhere is established to have died at the end of the year 1107 — could he, I say, have called Theomar of most pious memory an abbot, who did not cease to live until the year 1125 or 1126, as was shown at number 62? These things leave me no doubt that the treatise on the second translation of St. Mansuetus was not written by Pibo, but by an anonymous author after the death of abbot Theomar. Let the reader observe that he understood by the translation of the body its elevation and placing in a new and more becoming burial place.

[71] a record of the burial place into which Pibo transferred the sacred bones. In the anonymous author's account the new chest which received the Saint's body is said to have been of wood, but overlaid with gold and silver and adorned with precious stones. This record of it I find in Calmet, volume 2 of the History of Lorraine, in the Documents, col. CCLXXIX. Of the shrine of St. Mansuetus. God and holy Mansuetus inspiring, lord Theomar, abbot of happy memory of that church, ordered this bier to be made: Gobert, goldsmith of Metz, made it: Gilbert, a faithful layman, procured it: Arnulf, a knight of Jerusalem, who died a monk in the same place, contributed the greater part of the price; desiring to have a part by the merits and prayers of this Saint in the kingdom of God. And there was placed in this bier the most sacred body with the head and in all entirety, raised in the presence of the magnates of the country and of a copious multitude of the people from the other bier, where it had been placed by holy Gerard in the first translation. In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1104, XVII Kalends of July, Pibo being bishop, Henry IV being king, the Lord Jesus Christ reigning.* These things I have inserted into the Commentary, because they are not part of the history to be published below immediately before the miracles done under Theobald; which will occupy the last place, because they are later in time.

. in Calmet's edition, totius*

. Calmet: valeat*

. Calmet: sepulchrum peregrinando*

. what follows is wanting in Calmet as far as Pontifici*

. in Calmet and elsewhere Grimbaldus*

. Calmet: auctor*

. Calmet: irradiante*

. Calmet adds Mansueti*

. the same adds sancti Mansueti*

. ceu*

. in the manuscript Pibo*

*. read XVIII. See below, number 75

§ VI. Memory in the less ancient Fasti; the principal festivity; the day sacred to the second elevation of the body; the Mansuetus of the people of Trier is the same as ours; altars and temples dedicated to him; the cult extended to other churches.

[ ] [The less ancient Martyrologies are reviewed which announce the Saint at 3 September:] To the documents about the cult and posthumous glory of St. Mansuetus which I adduced in §§4 and 5, I prefixed announcements from Martyrologies which are reckoned older than they. Now is the place for reviewing the other sacred Fasti which celebrate the Saint. In the pure text of Usuard, which Sollerius produced at III September, St. Mansuetus is not read: but in the Auctaria frequent mention of him occurs. The Usuardine manuscript codices — the Antwerp, the Utrecht, the Leyden, the Louvain, the Antwerp Maximus, the Alberg, the Danish, the Brussels, the Ughellian, the Florentine, the Paris of St. Victor, that of the most serene queen of Sweden marked with the number 130; the printed Lübeck Maximus, likewise those edited by Belinus and Molanus, briefly report the Saint. In the Martyrologies of Maurolyco, Felicius, Galesinius, and Castellanus he is commemorated with equal brevity. The announcement of the Roman, At Toul in Gaul, of holy Mansuetus, bishop and confessor, embraces whatever in the enlarged Usuards and the other mentioned Martyrologies is proclaimed of the Saint. The Paris of the year 1727 has this: At Toul of the Leuci, of holy Mansuetus, first bishop of that same city. In the margin it is noted that he flourished in the fourth century, than which no more probable can be determined, as was shown in §2. That he was a disciple of the Apostle Peter, or sent by him into Gaul, is asserted in the Usuardine codices published by Greven and in the Lübeck-Cologne, and in the manuscript Hagenau and in another extracted from the roll of the Carthusian house of Utrecht: the same is affirmed in our manuscript Florarium of the Saints, in the German Martyrology of Canisius, the English of Wilson, and others, which I do not enumerate one by one. I transcribe none of the eulogies from them. Let that one stand for all with which Andreas Saussay adorns the Saint in the Gallican Martyrology, which he published before he was promoted to the mitre of Toul.

[73] At Toul of the Leuci, of holy Mansuetus the bishop, who, a noble man, a eulogy from Saussay's Gallican: a Scot by origin, and among the first a hearer of Peter, Prince of the Apostles; by whom also he was washed in the saving waters, and, the old man being put off with the name of his heathenism, obtained the name of Mansuetus from the meekness of the lamb which he bore before him, and was sent to enlighten this city with the torches of Evangelical truth. Which, on first entering it, he found so given over to the wicked rites of idols that he would have profited little by his preaching, had not the divine power advanced the word of piety by an admirable work; by which the Herald of salvation called back to life the son of the governor who ruled the city, fallen from a watch-tower while he was watching the horse-races, and torn asunder. For hence it came about that the governor's whole household, and he himself with a copious troop of citizens, marked with the saving character, was joined to the sheep of Christ, and the word of God ran swiftly, and he formed in the knowledge of salvation not only the citizens but most of the dwellers in this tract. Mansuetus therefore, having obtained deep peace, erected and consecrated a temple to the one and triune God under the patronage of holy Stephen the protomartyr; he ordained clergy, and, the people being composed to all piety, that he might at last enjoy Christ, for whom alone he thirsted, in the fortieth year after he had entered upon his Apostolic office, lulled in the peaceful sleep of death, he flew away to the rewards on high.

[74] The Martyrologies, both the older ones which I adduced at the end of §3, the festivity of his birthday among the people of Toul, and the more recent ones whose names I ran through at number 72, announce the Saint at III Nones of September. From the miracle which Adso relates from number 38, it is certain that in the times of St. Gauzlin the hearing of Mass and abstention from servile work on that day was enjoined throughout the whole diocese of Toul: which day was also passed with festal cult in the eleventh and twelfth centuries under Grimbald, abbot of St. Mansuetus, and his successors. Read number 65. There is kept in our museum the summer part of a Breviary of the church of Toul, written by hand on parchment; of whose antiquity you may judge even from this, that in its Calendar neither St. Louis king of the French, nor the patriarchs Francis and Dominic, nor even any other Saint younger than they is found. Another Breviary of the same church is at hand, printed at Paris in the year 1530. In the Calendar of this one as well as of the former, St. Mansuetus is distinguished at III September from the other Saints by a rubric. In both Breviaries the holy Prelate has an Office, in which there are nine lessons and other things proper to him, but taken over from the Acts written by Adso, which are of no credit. The prayer is prescribed to be recited at Vespers and Lauds thus: We humbly implore, O Lord, the power of thy majesty, that as through blessed Mansuetus thy confessor and pontiff thou hast granted us to be worshipers of the true faith, so by his merits thou mayest make us to be sharers of the heavenly life. Through our Lord.

[75] [who keep the memory of the body's second elevation on 14 June: it is also assigned to other days.] We have treated of the twofold elevation of the body of St. Mansuetus, which others have named by the word of more general signification, translation. The later one, on which see number 70 and following, was made by bishop Pibo in the year 1104 on XVIII Kalends of July. The instrument which we gave at number 71 has XVII Kalends of July; but faultily: for in the history of the translation itself, to be published after the Commentary, it is set down at length as the eighteenth of the Kalends of July; at which day Greven has this: At Toul, the translation of S. Mansuetus, bishop and confessor. At the same day the translation of St. Mansuetus is noted in the Calendars which are prefixed to the ancient manuscript Breviary of the church of Toul, and to the other printed in the year 1530. This last notes in its place: On the translation of S. Mansuetus. Of him it is done as of one confessor, yet ferially. Then are assigned the things which are to be taken from the Saint's Office which is recited on his birthday. In the extracts from the Luxeuil Martyrology, which the Rev. Father Pierre-François Chifflet transmitted to us, there is set at 25 April, The translation of holy Mansuetus, bishop and confessor. Either here there is an error about the day, or the announcement is to be understood of the first translation, or elevation of the body, of which there was mention at number 51: but that it took place on 25 April, or that the people of Toul ever kept its memory on that day, cannot be confirmed from elsewhere. The Anchin manuscript codex of Usuard makes the day 2 September also sacred to St. Mansuetus. Without doubt he has been ascribed by error to the Saints of that day, whose birthday is kept on the day after.

[76] [Which Mansuetus the people of Trier reckon among their bishops, and endow with the title of Saint,] In the Usuard of Greven, enlarged with the manuscript Additions of the Brussels Charterhouse, at 18 February there is set Mansuetus, bishop of Trier. He who not long ago brought back into chronological order the prelates of this most famous church, a learned man of our Society, in the transcript of the Work begun by him, which he courteously transmitted to our Sollerius of pious memory, writes thus about Mansuetus, who is believed to have sat seventh in order at Trier: Whether he whom the people of Trier claim for themselves is the same as Mansuetus of Toul, or a distinct man, is not my doubt only. Indeed Henschen, in the Exegesis on the bishopric of Tongres and Maastricht, prefixed to volume VII of May, number 7, thinks that Mansuetus may be conceded to the people of Toul without harm to the records of Trier; that nevertheless a sufficient number of bishops will remain. There is added that, although Mansuetus of Trier is reckoned among the Saints, yet there is nowhere any mention of him in the tables of the Martyrs, not even his name; whereas of him of Toul an express memory occurs in four places, namely 2 and III September, likewise 25 April and 14 June; it would scarcely seem credible that the Martyrologists would be so unmindful of the chief church of the Belgic lands, if they had recognized a Mansuetus peculiar to it and distinct from him of Toul. It is nothing new, when the cult of some saint has been taken into any diocese, to insert him into the tables of the bishops. Thus, when the church of Trier, as mother and metropolis, took to itself for veneration from wherever it might the more illustrious Saints of its province, it perhaps came about that in course of time it acknowledged Mansuetus of the people of Toul, and Clement of the people of Metz, as its own household saints.

[77] A little below, treating of Clement, the eighth, as it is said, prelate of Trier, What, above, he says, I said of Mansuetus, [we do not distinguish him from him of Toul; as neither Clement of Trier from him of Metz.] some suspect the same of Clement, namely that he too was called to Trier from elsewhere; Clement, I say, whom they will have to be a bishop of Trier, is in fact no other than Clement of Metz, whom they report to have been sent into the Gauls together with Mansuetus and Eucharius: whose festivity is chiefly celebrated on 24 November. But of Clement of Trier there is no memory in the Tables of the Saints, nor is anything suggested about his ecclesiastical veneration,* as Henschen says, who makes mention of him on the day 16 May among the Prætermissi. That the first bishops of the church of Toul and of Metz, St. Mansuetus and Clement, were wrongly inserted into the catalogues of the bishops of Trier is an opinion which receives much probability, both from the reasons which the writer of our Society, whose name is unknown to me, brings forward, and from the huge number of prelates who are handed down as having sat between SS. Maternus and Agrœcius. Brower places twenty-three between them. Agrœcius subscribed the First Council of Arles in the year 314. The death of Maternus, who succeeded SS. Eucharius and Valerius, is fastened by Brower and others to the year 128 of the common era; from which to 314, in which Agrœcius was in office, 185 years flowed by. Since for filling these thirteen bishops, or even fewer, suffice, out of the twenty-three, besides the eight bishops of Tongres whom Henschen in his praised Exegesis judges are to be struck from the number of those of Trier, there can also be subtracted the first prelates of the people of Toul and of Metz, Mansuetus and Clement; and that with the tradition of the people of Trier left safe, who believe that Eucharius, Valerius, and their successor Maternus were sent by St. Peter into Gaul. A fitting occasion of discussing it will be given at 14 September, on which St. Maternus is venerated.

[78] That our Saint had of old an altar consecrated to his name in the suburban church of Toul, where his body rests, Temples and altars in various places is certain from his miracles, done in the tenth century under bishop St. Gauzlin and in the twelfth under abbot Theobald. But in other places also altars and even temples and chapels were dedicated to him. First of all Adso, in our edition, number 46, testifies that Gerard, with the Man's body present, dedicated within the walls of the city a basilica which the prelate himself (Gerard) had before built from the foundations, venerable in honor of the holy Mother of God and of holy Mansuetus; which from that time and even now is magnificently made illustrious by the merits of holy Mansuetus, where everywhere the bonds of burdening sin are loosed. Udo, bishop of Toul, in the charter of the foundation of the collegiate church of St. Gengulphus, drawn up in the year 1065, makes mention of the mother church of Furentela, … which is consecrated in honor of the holy martyrs Laurence and Vincent, and of the holy confessors Mansuetus and Aper, by the hands of the holy and venerable Leo IX, the Apostolic. That charter stands in Calmet, volume 1, among the Instruments of the History of Lorraine, col. 455. Furentela is not to be sought elsewhere than in the county of Fauquemont, situated between the duchy of Jülich and the river Meuse; for to the words adduced there is soon subjoined mention of two chapels pertaining to the aforesaid place of the mother church, of which one is situated in Herle, … the other in Walthine. Which places, well known to me, lie in the same county not far from Furentela; which parish the inhabitants in their native dialect call to this day Vourentel, though they write it a little otherwise. Its church St. Leo IX dedicated in the year 1049; for then, as Hermann Contractus, his contemporary, witnesses, he was at Aachen, from which city Furentela is not so very far distant. Bishop Udo, in another charter, which his praised editor Calmet, col. 463, notes was given in the year 1069, gives among other things to the abbey of St. Saviour the chapel of Sisseium in honor of St. Mansuetus. By Sisseium is without doubt designated either Sexey aux bois or Sexey aux Forges. Each place is not far distant from Toul, in whose suburban field Udo founded the abbey of St. Saviour.

[79] dedicated to our Saint; Humbert Belhomme, in the History of the monastery of Moyenmoutier in the Vosges mountain, from book 2, chapter 84, of the Chronicle written by John of Bayon in the year 1326, excerpted this at page 276: In the year from the incarnate Word 1090 … brother Thietbert and Gizebors, a nun, the cells being divided by walls, are enclosed beneath Balma beside the chancel of holy Mansuetus (that is, unless I am mistaken, a chapel closed with chancel-screens). What place Bayon designates by the name Balma he himself indicates in Belhomme, chapter 67, page 256, and chapter 74, page 263; where he says that Balma, subject to Moyenmoutier, is now called Alta petra. In various geographical maps near the said monastery, which lies on the confines of Lorraine and Alsace, I have found Alta petra under the word of the French tongue Haute pierre. Bayon, chapter 86, in the same Belhomme, page 277, writes: In the year from the Incarnation of the word 1091 the churches of the holy Boniface, Hydulphus … [and] Mansuetus … are consecrated in various places by Pibo, bishop of the Leuci …: for these the men of Moyenmoutier hold for their diocese. In the older Catalogue of the bishops of Toul St. James, of whom Henschen treated at 23 June, is said to rest in the crypt of holy Benignus the martyr of the church of Dijon, having at his head an altar in honor of holy Mansuetus the confessor. In the other Catalogue, which is entitled Epitaphs of the bishops of Toul, about the bishop Roger, who died in the year 1252, I read this: At Liverduno-castrum (commonly Liverdun, which lies below Toul on the Moselle), putting off the man, he is held honorably buried in this church on the right side of the choir before (an altar, I suppose) of the blessed confessors Mansuetus and Gerard.

[80] the cult propagated to other churches; relics. In the Mainz Missal printed in the year 1493, at III September there are a Collect, a Secret, and a Complenda, that is, a prayer after Communion, of SS. Mansuetus and Remaclus. In the Besançon Breviary of the year 1590 there is prescribed a commemoration of S. Mansuetus, bishop and confessor. In the Breviary published in the year 1600 for the use of the three monasteries of SS. Maximinus and Willibrord in the territory of Trier, and of St. Nabor in the diocese of Metz, these words are set: Of Remaclus and Mansuetus. All from the common of several confessors. In the Langres Breviary printed in the year 1604: Of holy Mansuetus, ferial. In the proper Offices of the church of Würzburg, brought to light in the year 1625: Of S. Remaclus and Mansuetus, confessors and pontiffs. All from the common of a confessor pontiff. Yet the second and third lessons are proper to St. Remaclus. The church of Verdun honors St. Mansuetus with Remaclus by a more solemn rite than the ferial or simple: for in its Breviary of the year 1625 it is noted: Of them are made NINE LESSONS, and all are taken from the common of several confessor pontiffs. In the proper Offices of the year 1657 of the church of St. Peter of Remiremont (Remiremont in Lorraine) these words are read: On the feast of S. Mansuetus, bishop and confessor. Double. All from the common of a confessor pontiff except the lessons of the [ ] Nocturn. Lastly the proper Offices of the year 1619 of the notable collegiate church of St. Maximus of Cainonum (it is a town of Gaul in the province of Tours on the river Vienne, commonly called Chinon) have this: Of holy Mansuetus, bishop and confessor. Double solemn on account of his sacred relics, which are in the basilica of holy Maximus. In the ferial or simple Office of Langres the third lesson, in the double of Remiremont the lessons of the second Nocturn, in the solemn double of Chinon besides the lessons of the second Nocturn, various other things about St. Mansuetus are ordered to be read; of which I transfer nothing hither, because they are taken from Adso, the author of the fabulous Life. What relics of the Saint the people of Chinon venerate, is hidden from me. The chapel of the metropolitan church of Prague, sacred to St. Wenceslaus, is rich with a huge treasure of sacred relics, sought out by the pious emperor Charles IV, which are religiously kept at the high altar in a chest of most elegant work. In compartment 52 of that chest is kept a part of the arm of Mansuetus, bishop of Toul, as the catalogue of the said relics published in the year 1679 notes. The abbey which bears the Saint's name still possesses his body, or the greater part of it. See number 34.

*. read XXIII

SHORTER LIFE

by an anonymous author, From the editions of Martène, volume 3 of the Thesaurus of Anecdotes, from col. 991, and of Calmet, volume 1 of the History of Lorraine, in the Monuments, from col. 83

Mansuetus, bishop of Toul among the Leuci in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 5211 ^a

[The opening of the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul, of whom the first is St. Mansuetus,] Although the virtues and examples of all the Saints deservedly ought always to be recalled and commended to memory, according to the word of Scripture: “The wisdom of the Saints all peoples relate, and the Church announces their praise;” yet the deeds of those are more frequently to be turned over by us by whose patronage, the Lord granting, we are governed, and whose relics we possess. Therefore, since we determine to write of the Acts of the pontiffs of the Leuci, as the Lord shall grant, for the memory of those who come after, it is fitting that we take our beginning from the very first Father and prelate of that same city, namely holy Mansuetus.

[2] For that same venerable Father was, as we have learned by the report of our elders, an exile from his fatherland, sprung of noble blood of the Scots; but by the foresight of the divine clemency, which wonderfully preordains and disposes all things, he was made an exile from his own borders, that he might become a dweller in the region above, and might make those who were exiles from the fatherland of the heavenly kingdom coheirs of the citizens on high. No wonder therefore if the Lord and Savior of all, who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, destined so great an Author *, called from the remote parts of the earth, for the sowing of the seeds of the divine word and for the enlightening of the blind hearts of the peoples; he who also of himself, coming down from the heavenly seats, deigned to visit the human race bound by original and actual sin.

[3] For at the time in which the Roman Church shone by the preaching and apostolate of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, he was, Christ leading, brought thither, [he is converted at Rome, is ordained bishop and sent to Toul, raises a dead man, baptizes the pagans,] and submitted himself to the Apostolic teaching: by whom, being imbued with the instructions of the Catholic faith, and fully instructed in the knowledge of the divine Oracles, consecrated with the Pontifical blessing for the aforesaid city, he was directed thither like a shining lamp to drive back the darkness of error ^b. And there how much he shone by the sanctity of his life and by the urgency of his preaching, a barren tongue does not suffice to relate. For not only did the copious doctrine of the Evangelical faith shine forth for overcoming the fierceness of the heathen; but he also deserved to be made illustrious by so great a grace of powers, that he restored to life unharmed the son of the chief man of that same city, raised by his prayers from death. Terrified by which miracle the father submitted his neck to the devout faith of Christ, and, all diabolical error being shut out, deserved with his son and with all the multitude of the pagans to be purified by holy Mansuetus with the laver of baptism.

[4] idolatry being rooted out, he builds temples; the faith among the Leuci All the superstitious and vain filth of idols therefore being cleansed away, he built there a temple in honor of the perpetual Virgin and Mother of God, and of the holy protomartyr Stephen, and other churches round about on every side , presbyters and deacons being ordained, where the admirable God may be glorified in his Saints unto the present day. But it is impossible to touch on in writing all the things which so great and such a Man, placed in the body, did, and how much he taught, and how great a multitude of believers he begot in Christ through the Gospel, and also how he watched in guarding the flock entrusted to him, by teaching worthily and living holily. But this only we set down in a brief compendium, lest such a lamp, through our undue silence, should lie hidden as though placed under a bushel; but should shine to all who are in the house of God.

[5] [being confirmed, he dies and is laid in the church founded by him: the Saint's cult:] For, the wonderful course of his life being accomplished, and the church being confirmed in Christ, that glorious Priest of the Lord himself left the shipwreck of the present world, seeking the harbor of perpetual quiet, crowned by Christ forever. For his most holy body, buried not far from the aforesaid city, is held in the church which is said to have been founded by himself, and dedicated under the name of the blessed Apostle Peter ^c: which also, by the presence of his relics, almighty God makes illustrious with innumerable powers. Where, when anyone comes to make petition, he gives thanks that through his merits he has obtained it. Whose help let us implore with humble supplication, ^d that by his patronage and pastoral defense he may guard us in the present from all adversities, and, the contest of this life being finished, may cause us happily to attain the prize of reward, by the mercy of the grace of our Redeemer, who set forth * such a Shepherd for his sheep, and who with the coeternal Father and the Holy Spirit holds the Trinity of equal Deity through the infinite ages of ages. Amen. ^e

[6] miracles and the concourse to his and St. Amo's sepulchers. After the departure therefore of the aforesaid most holy Pontiff and excellent doctor, let us record who succeeded him in the episcopal see. First after him lord Amo ^f obtained the dignity of the pontifical chair; who rests together with him, that is, with his predecessor blessed Mansuetus, in the aforesaid church of the most holy prince of the Apostles Peter: by whose merits, that is, of holy Mansuetus and of the aforesaid blessed Amo, very many held by the sickness of blindness, of leprosy and of fever, and of the other maladies, are restored to health. To whose patronage many kings and princes were wont to come, and they enriched their place out of their own substance: for there was there a confluent crowd of comers, and a countless multitude of poor, for whom the means of living was appointed by the faithful; whence to this day it is called: At the roll ^g of lord Mansuetus and lord Amo.

ANNOTATA.

. in Martène's edition Doctorem*

. ibid. circumquaque,* more correctly

. ibid. glorificaretur*

. ibid. præposuit*

MORE PROLIX AND FABULOUS LIFE, AND MIRACLES,

By Adso, abbot of Montier-en-Der, From various copies, both manuscript and printed, collated with one another.

Mansuetus, bishop of Toul among the Leuci in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 5210 ^{a b}

A. By Adso, abb.

PREFACE

to St. Gerard, bishop of Toul. ^c

To his ^d lord and truly most blessed bishop Gerard, Adso ^e, unworthy servant of the servants of God, last of abbots, first of sinners, the gift of eternal redemption. It is supported by sacred utterance, that as the power of commanding shines forth in holy prelates, so also there ought to shine in good subjects the devout will of carrying out: for as it behooves the former to be acquitted for their just commands in the sight of the divine majesty, so also it is expedient that the latter, by the fruit of obedience that follows, be saved with eternal reward. Of this judgment I, being not devoid, moved by your command have undertaken a work not, as I believe, in every way ungrateful to the reader, but in every way to be feared by its author: because as, when the spaces of time have run out, the knowledge of things past is obscure, so also the certainty of present things is unhindered. What therefore you commanded I have humbly undertaken; what you enjoined beforehand I have fulfilled, however unskillfully. Take therefore the little book, imposed * by your command, accomplished by my labor. Indeed, from the likeness of the dove descending upon the Lord, and also from the merits — to be cultivated ^f — of most blessed Mansuetus, whom you honor, whom you love, I determine that it should be called dove-like ^g; that he may be called dove-like who is distinguished by the deeds of so great a Father.

ANNOTATA.

. in Martène compositum*

POEMS

preceding the Life, in which the Saint is praised and invoked.

The renowned offspring of Mansuetus, sprung of illustrious birth, shone in the world with its own titles. The island of Ireland bore Christ-worshiping ^b peoples; whence he drew his race, and thence was he begotten. Of excellent disposition, who soon, attended by the honor of virtues, shone forth in peaceful pursuits. And when with ripe understanding he entered his tender years, the mirror of justice scattered the Man abroad everywhere. An ardor is in his mind, that, an exile from his native fields, being so placed , he should strive to go the Ausonian ways. Peter was mighty on the Apostolic summit of Rome; and following him in love, he himself gladly seeks him out. Peter receives the burning Nursling of piety, and makes the Man privy to holy secrets: Handling the doctrines from whose mouth with pious words, he had drunk in from the fount of salvation a steadfast help. Diligent through long times, he clung by love of him to the service of Peter, the Ausonian master. Whom Peter advanced to the highest citadel of the summit, and rejoicing gives him the pontifical honor. Hence it pleases to send heralds to the swollen Gauls, to teach minds savage in speech and in faith. The chosen come from the Roman citadels, they are at hand, Men about to wage battles for piety. Among whom thou, Bishop, art strong in the name of Mansuetus, and thy rank shines forth in the honor of thy voice. And these approach other cities in the regions of the Gauls, whom the open world has, that it may consult them. Thou, Father, alone enterest the rustic city of the Leuci, trusting, unto the work of piety. Ever watchful among the people, blessed Peter going before, that the city of Toul ^c might be marked among the eternal sheep. Through thee the first way of salvation was known to us: through thee may our end be everywhere, Father. If yet the matter of merit in helping is also to be increased, let thy companion Aper ^d be equal in helping us. For you, two pillars above the axle of heaven, are ready hence to raise up us, your flocks ^e. Now therefore may that confidence profit our vows which our breasts hold fixed within us . O Mansuetus! defend, we beg , thy faithful, and make long joys to be given with the Saints. Be present also, most gentle Shepherd, at our prayers, that thy peoples may hold the blessed realms.

Those whom of old the Angel of great counsel imbued through thee, raising them on high in the seemly citadel of faith, and enriching them with the charism of his own most high name — but let thy loving-kindness, who standest forth as our Apostle, be such that the habitation of the heavenly * city be given us, where, joined through the ages with all the elect, we may deserve with thee to praise [and] to bless, to magnify, and to behold God in gladness for ever.

ANNOTATA.

. Ochsenhausen: fulget*

. elsewhere citus*

. elsewhere expertum*

. Ochsenhausen: Ejus*

. in Calmet astra*

. ibid. relevate*

. ibid. vobis*

. ibid. primus*

*. that is, heavenly

BOOK I.

Acts unworthy of credit; cult and miracles earlier than the biographer's age.

CHAPTER I.

Birth; youth; the Roman journey to St. Peter, whose disciple he becomes: he is sent into Gaul; he announces Christ to the people of Toul; the king spurns the Herald of the faith, but the queen believes. [ ] St. Peter transfers the chair from Antioch to Rome: After the glorious triumph of the heavenly victory, with which the Founder of the ages, the enemy being conquered, entered * the kingdom of the heavens, Peter the Apostle, chosen and marked out beforehand as author by the presence of the Savior himself for the Apostolic dignity, deserved to receive the keys of heaven, and to obtain the helm of the universal Church. And when first, as we read in the Ecclesiastical histories, he had poured the rays of divine enlightenment into the regions of Jerusalem, afterward of Antioch, and had driven off the darkness of diabolical superstition with manifest truth, determining to enlarge and exalt the dignity of the Roman empire with the title of Christianity and the standard of the holy Cross, he approaches Rome, mistress of the world and head of the globe, and, God disposing, by the mastery of heavenly discipline he is made the chief Pastor and master of the holy Catholic Church; namely that where a multitude of divers nations had flowed together, thence also the sound religion of Christianity might grow more freely and more strongly toward God. And when he had darted forth, like the brightest rays of the sun, his holy preaching solicitously through divers parts of the earth, gathering multitudes of believing peoples, he strengthened them in the hope of eternal salvation: whose holy fame of name had been carried not only to neighboring, but even to foreign nations.

[2] At that time, as we have learned by the evidence of writing, there was a certain youth of holy disposition, [St. Mansuetus, from Scotland, where he had profited very much in virtue and letters,] Mansuetus by name, begotten in the transmarine parts of the illustrious offspring * of the noble Scots ^b; but marked far more preciously with the nobility of an excellent mind. While he stood indeed in the progress of an age still tender, with the presage of his name he was advanced to the height of holiness, and, his manners sounding in accord with his appellation, he strove always to become more exalted by increase of piety. Who, since with the other pursuits of good works he had stood forth a lover of true innocence, so also, passing by his own advantages, he more gladly pleaded the causes of strangers, and flowed into the misfortunes of others ^c as into his own; to be joined to the hearts of the meek, but to be broken off the more urgently from the harder, to be taken up into the purity of sanctification, to be released into the prelude of a lower mockery, to be brought with the whole intention of the mind to the weak and to those laid low by want, and to make the groans of the wretched his own. So great also was the infusion of virtue and piety in him, that he was made unto salvation not only to himself, but even to his parents. The efficacy also of his natural talent, heavenly inspiration going before, so loved and so pursued the discipline of literary training, that he had no one of his fellow college more discerning, no one going before him in these studies.

[3] he sets out to the Prince of the Apostles, and submits himself to his teaching: And when, with happy auspices, the urgency of divine fervor inspired the mind of the Youth, since from the Roman citadels the diligence of the blessed Apostle Peter shone with the title of the Christian faith, having set out for Rome he sought the presence of him whom with all his heart he courted; and submitting himself, all things being cast aside, to the mastery of Apostolic instruction, he cast his eyes upon him with desire of whose holiness he burned. And so, with the notable heralding of divine works going before, he chose out for himself the Prince of Catholic instruction, from whose fount he might take what by most true testimonies, as appeared, he might afterward approve. But blessed Peter, seeing the signs of future increase and of good virtues shining in him, and the brightness of heavenly enlightenment flashing forth by manifest tokens, had drawn the blessed Man the more closely to himself by the virtue of confession, to be taught for the heavenly mastership, in proportion as he had need of manifold fellow workers of the truth for the salvation of believers, both present and to come.

[4] he is consecrated bishop, and sent with others into Gaul; Which most blessed Pastor of the universal Church, weeping that the whole world, which he had received as entrusted to him by the Lord Jesus Christ, was wrapped in and subjected to the errors of demons, ordained all the most perfect heralds of the divine word; who, being sent by him into Gaul, approved by the virtue of constancy and by the testimony of faith, might rescue the peoples of the Gauls, who were held by the yoke of the devil, and might call them forth to the sacraments of divine worship. Of this college's number, therefore, we do not doubt were blessed Maternus ^d, pontiff of the city of Trier, and holy Sinicius ^e of Reims, and of the Mediomatrici Clement, Felix, and Cælestis ^f, and Memmius ^g of the people of Châlons. With whom he had also appointed this blessed Man as colleague of a shared ministry, as one taught by long exercise of Apostolic loftiness and approved to the highest degree in all things by experience of the heavenly mastery. Whom indeed, judging him to be of greater dignity and grace, he fortified beforehand with the privilege of pontifical authority, that the sacrament of the priestly office might go before the fruit of divine preaching.

[5] he arrives at Toul, where he announces the true God; And so the Disciple, having perfectly carried out the command of his eminent master, armed with his edict, instructed in speech, obedient in precepts, faithful in promises, having gone out from Rome, through the very long windings of the journey already spoken of , separated from blessed Peter in body but not in the gaze of the mind, of his own accord subjecting himself to a far pilgrimage for the kingdom of Christ, brought himself in among the citizens of the city of the Leuci, prepared to endure all kinds of tortures. Which city, watered with streams, most rich in pastures, pleasant in the circuit of its walls, fortified round about on every side with bars and towers, had nevertheless been everywhere polluted and confounded with the filth of idols. And so, having entered the bounds of the aforesaid city with Christ as leader and with the authority of blessed Peter going before, fearing nothing of the barbaric multitude, he began to preach to the nations the sacrament of the true faith and the worship of the Christian religion; that the idols were empty, deaf and dumb, made rather by the hand of men and by their invention than existing from the beginning of true reason, having nothing divine, nor pertaining at all to that blessed happiness which is to follow after this mortal life: that they should rather worship the one God, who had founded lands and seas, who holds the height of heaven under his dominion, who would grant to bodies life after death, and more happily the faculty of living: that the worship of so many false gods was the mockery of a dreadful vanity, the loss of souls, and nothing else than future provocations of everlasting torments.

[6] At that time the aforesaid city was thronged with troops of peoples, [the king spurns the Herald of the faith, who withdraws to a humble hut in the suburb, where he goes on] most rich in abundance of goods, and filled with the traffic of divers furnishings. There was a king also, heathen and barbarous, with his wife, Leo by name, ignorant of God, with all his people subjected to the worships of idolatry. To whom, when the holy Man's arrival had been reported, and the preaching of the divine word which he was sowing among the peoples, he spurned and refused it, and passed by the Herald of the true and eternal Deity with a deaf ear. But the Man of the Lord, struggling against it with urgent constancy, prepared for himself near the walls of the city a lodging of scanty habitation; and all who came to him he called back from the superstitions of demons to the knowledge of the true God, choosing rather that his body should be given over to divers torments and punishments, than that he should turn aside from that ministry of eternal salvation which he had undertaken by the edict of the blessed Apostle his master.

[7] He pressed on therefore perseveringly with the business which he had begun. [preaching the word of God: which the queen learning, she summons to herself Mansuetus, whom she desired to hear,] And when the courses of very many days of unwearied diligence were spent on the aforesaid business, the solemn frequency of this report is brought to the notice of the queen: to which her intimates and household add, reporting such things; namely that there was present a certain man, a stranger indeed as to country, unknown as to race, unlike in address, in countenance and habit wholly not of their fellowship; yet by condition a worshiper of the Christian faith, coming from the parts of Italy, from him whom the greatest part of the Romans follows as standard-bearer of the true faith and Pope; truly asserting that he had been sent by Peter, and preaching with open and assiduous words the God of heaven and maker of men. And when by those who reported these and like things with new wonder at the matter the mind of the heathen queen was in some way bent to hearing, her king being absent, and free opportunity being given , using the secrecy of her chamber, she ordered the Man of God to be brought in to her: What is, she said, this new religion, unheard of by us hitherto, which, longing to bring in over the worships of our gods, thou dost declare that other things are to be worshiped by us, which even to the present remain both unknown and uncultivated to our race?*

[8] But the blessed Man, understanding the intention of the inquiring queen, [and she believes the Saint as he sets forth the mysteries of the faith; but for fear of her husband defers baptism.] and having hope in her of regenerating life, said: God, one and true in the distinction of three Persons, that is, of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the unchangeable beginning of all things, who is the fount and origin of good things, from whom every race of mortals took the beginning of existing, whose power neither began to be nor ceases for ever; through whom to the perishing world there came the remedy of eternal redemption, after God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the almighty Father, was sent from the heavens to the lands, clothed with human flesh through the womb of an untouched Virgin, shown visible to mortals, declared by very many and wonderful signs of powers, and at the last, that he might shut out the dominion of the devil, hung upon the cross by the unbelief of the Jews, by the voluntary dispensation of his own counsel, and by the price of his shed blood he loosed from the error of demons those whom he foreordained to be heirs of everlasting life ^h. What more? The queen believed, and, had the power of the pagan king not stood in the way, being bound in lawful wedlock she would not have ceased to be cleansed in the saving font. Yet, the king being taken up with the outcomes and cares of other matters, as often as the queen's serious concerns thought fit *, she attended to the Man of God, more frequently summoned, as he strenuously showed the way of salvation.

ANNOTATA.

. elsewhere penetraverat*

. Dillingen and San-Maximinian propagine*

. elsewhere aspiraret*

. elsewhere expetiit*

. elsewhere indicti*

*. this word is superfluous, or another is wanting.

. Dillingen subirent*

. elsewhere perfertur*

. elsewhere potita*

. Bosquet and San-Maximinian conciderant. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen concederent*

CHAPTER II.

The Saint's virtues: he restores to life the king's drowned son: the royal household with all the people receives the faith and baptism.

[ ] [Dwelling in the place which he had chosen in the suburban wood, he becomes famous for virtues:] There was then to these a little son, who was being trained up to the rite of his profane parents. Whose scanty times of boyhood , although by nature he passed them under tender years, were nevertheless to his parents, as the event afterward showed, the beginning and the increase of belief and salvation so long deferred. But the blessed Pontiff had chosen, as we said, within sight of the city, a place covered over and remote with the shady leafage of the woods; in which, giving himself more attentively to the Lord alone, he carried on with assiduous vows the work which he had begun. Who, leaning not so much on his own supports as on those of his master the Prince of the Apostles, flashed with signs and powers; bright in aspect, sweet in manners, mild in address, strong in constancy, long-suffering in patience, outstanding in chastity, generous in benefits, inclined to the miseries of the needy, cautious in counsels, full of mercy, pursuing the grace of hospitality, assiduous in prayers, devout in reading, profuse in tears, worn down in compunction of heart, in the other good acts approved and perfect.

[10] Whose power very many have experienced both in the greatest matters and also in the least and in the mean outcomes of affairs. [wild beasts fleeing thither safe from the hunters: the king in vain plans to kill the Saint.] For when, in carrying out the pursuit of wild beasts, that class of men who were entangled in such exercises pursued any animals with the violence of dogs, on coming as far as the place where the Man of God remained, you might have seen them stiffen in amazement, and no longer attempt the killing of the quarry taken from them. Wherefore the royal power, often indignant, had decreed that the holy Pontiff of the Lord should be slaughtered; whom nevertheless the divine power preserved unharmed amid barbarian arms and most ferocious manners, for the instructing of the people of the faithful and for the cleansing of the city from the dregs of idols, not willing to consummate his life in the brief moment of martyrdom; but that, lingering through the long sweats of times, he should bear more copious fruit, and that the ship of the church which he was to steer, bringing back manifold merchandise, should pass over to the kingdom of the heavens.

[11] Meanwhile an occasion arose on which the king and the populous multitude of the heathen kept a solemn assembly at their games, The king's son, slipping into the Moselle, is drowned: public mourning: and gave themselves to the accustomed exercises of their leisure. And while they were held intent on such things, it happened that the only little son of the aforesaid king, falling from the wall, upon which he then chanced to be seen standing — namely in that part where, the fold being drawn back a little which chance had given to the builders, the circuit of the wall had bent a certain angle — slipped from the lofty place and fell by mischance into the river Moselle. Which river indeed, holding the neighboring places by the course of its channel, at that time flowed near the walls of the city: and so great was there the depth of the waters, that the skillful industry of the men seeking him gave up the art and the hope of the boy swallowed by this whirlpool. The whole city rushes to the funeral rites, the shout of the country folk is raised, the father and mother are carried back almost lifeless, the tragedies of the women resound, false gods are in vain called upon under their semblance , the day is turned into mourning, the games into misery, the festival into grief. Thus in squalor *, all being consumed with twofold grief and toil, night rushing in, the day is closed.

[12] [the queen promises to Mansuetus appearing to her that she will do what he commands, if she may receive even her son's corpse:] And when they laid their weary limbs upon the bed after so great toil, each parent is weighed down by heavy sleep: when behold, suddenly, to the sleeping wife of the king, as both were lying down, blessed Mansuetus appeared in a vision, saying: Deservedly, queen, art thou troubled; deservedly art thou confounded; deservedly dost thou pay the sad funeral of thy son: for if thou didst know thy Creator, and if thou and thy king had once given credit to my words, thou wouldst perhaps have been free from this misfortune, or these things would have fallen out much more healthfully, since the blessed rest of the life to be born again would have received the soul together with the body of the one perishing. But what wilt thou now do, if thou but deserve to receive the body of the dead? But she, vowing that she would do what he commanded, when she was seeking longer conversations with the holy Man, his vision is broken off amid the words. But she, at once roused from sleep, made known to her husband in order what she had seen. Then he said: O that I might be able to earn the presence of him whom thou declarest to be the Saint of God! For I promise that I will give assent to his words; only let me obtain through him that the lifeless corpse and the limbs to be mangled in the deep may not lack a sepulcher.

[13] the king also promises that, on receiving him, he will embrace the faith: Amid these things, the night departing, the next day is brought on. The holy Man is sought by the royal officers; but on that day he could by no means be found. The toil of those seeking him in vain was drawn out even to the third day; and now the hope of finding him is almost withdrawn. But on the dawning of the third day, at last the Man of the Lord, found according to their wish, is presented to the royal gaze. To whom the king, the rigor of his former fierceness laid aside, said: O Saint of God, whom we rejoice to have come from foreign parts for our salvation, have pity on a bereaved parent, have pity on a dead child, still lying deathly beneath the waters. Now I stand bowed down and believing, I destroy the altars, I overturn the temples and images, I despise all the figments of demons, I shun the blood of sacrifices, I take up the faith which thou preachest, I promise to adore the God of heaven, whom the Roman world has already perceived by the teaching of Peter; and I will subject both myself and my people to the divine laws, if only through thee I may deserve to receive back even dead him whom it is certain I have so cruelly lost.

[14] [The Saint gives back the son's corpse to his parents, and promises him alive again, if they stand by their promises:] And so the holy Man, who already assuredly knew what he was about to do, moved by these words, pricked by these tears, at once perceiving that with so great a harvest of peoples the divine power was present to him, ordered himself to be brought to the place of the wall, from whose top the noble boy had rolled and fallen into the whirlpool. In which place indeed, pouring out prayer and above all trusting in the Lord, he lay upon devout prayers, and, the name of Christ being invoked, while all who had lined the shores looked on, the body of the lying boy appeared; and, drawn out from the depths, began to be borne upon the waters. Which, being swiftly snatched from the waves, was at once brought before the feet of the blessed Man. Behold thou hast, he said to the father, the lifeless body which thou didst ask. Yet if thou determine to fulfill what thou hast promised, there will be present also the divine clemency, which may be able to grant thee still much greater things. For to this I came, for this only I undertook my pilgrimage, that through me the gate of the heavenly kingdom might lie open to you. Sent by the Prince of the Apostles, I pursue the business of your salvation, rejoicing I seek the gains of your souls.

[15] Then the father and all who were present unanimously profess the vow of receiving the faith being repeated, the boy is restored to life; that, idols being renounced, they will be worshipers of the true God, if he who lay lifeless should be shown, his spirit returning, to be able after death to breathe again among those above. Hence the holy Pontiff, ever full of the bowels of piety, understands by the spirit that what was asked was to be wrought. Again, his knee being bent in prayer, about to make supplication to the divine Majesty, he is prostrated on the ground, and fortified the Christians, who then chanced to be present very few in number, to do the same with heavenly vows: when, the prayer being finished, the dead boy is suddenly shaken in his limbs with the breath of life, and at the holy Man's command is raised upon his feet, and, while all wonder, is restored unharmed to his father. Then all who had come together to this spectacle, at the manifest power of God, began to weep for joy, the name of Christ to confess in common, and that he above all was to be worshiped who gave to all mortals the breath of life, and after the deadly funerals of the dead restrains their spirits by his command, and again, when he shall will, bids them be called back to those above with bodies alive again.

[16] Then the faithful Priest of the Lord, turning to the boy raised up, [who, having told the punishments which he had seen prepared for himself, his parents, and the people among the dead,] said: Come nearer, and by thyself relate to thy parents what thou hast seen, or where thou hast been; show it openly to all at once. Then he, as he had lately come forth and emerged from the shades below, opening his lips at the Bishop's nod and drawing deep sighs from his tender breast, began freely to declare what, being placed in hell, he had felt or seen; namely many and innumerable kinds of torments, and that among the fires of Tartarus flame-belching serpents were rife, and that immense multitudes of the guilty were consigned to divers punishments, and that the spirits of the wretched, straitened between flames and frosts, failed with gnashing, and out of their failing were renewed again for fires revived; where there is no recovery to life, but a forgetfulness of all good things, and only the unspeakable torturing of present punishments; to which the king himself also and the queen, and all who were there present, without doubt would come, unless they believed the blessed Bishop's words and deeds, and subjected their necks to the Christian faith: and that he himself had been led to those same places of punishment, and had been assigned to the darkness of perpetual damnation, had not the intercession of the blessed Confessor of Christ more swiftly come to his aid, which snatched him from the malignant spirits and from the infernal bars, and called him back to those above.

[17] Having pursued these things thus and many like them, the boy, groaning, is prostrated at the Saint's feet, [asks for baptism; at his exhortation the king, queen, and people do the same, idols being overthrown:] and humbly and devoutly professes that he is to be washed in the font of salvation. His father and mother, and the rest for whom he was the more solicitous, he urged with such vows and admonitions as he could to do the same, saying that their * Pontiff had been destined by God for the city, had come for the salvation of the citizens, and had been chosen by divine disposition and Apostolic institution as holy shepherd of souls, ruler and guardian; by whose coming he himself and the whole city in common would be saved. Then therefore, amid the boy's words and the most evident power of his raising up, all being stupefied at the unwonted miracle of so great a novelty, seeing the manifest power of God, which none of them could resist or in anything gainsay, they spurn the idols, overturn the altars, cast down all the workshops of the devil, and, stretching out their hands, began in common to call aloud upon the name of Christ and to make his praises resound in heaven. Then, breaking out in clear voices, they all humbly demand the sacrament of baptism, which before they obstinately refused.

[18] [The Saint baptizes them after instruction, and they by common vote set him over themselves as bishop.] Then indeed, according to Catholic discipline, being first taught by the blessed Bishop the rule of the holy faith, and thereafter they obtained the grace of baptism; that is, the king and the queen, and all their household, all the military order, the whole multitude of country folk: and there was great joy in that city. Then the whole company of the candidates, and the heavenly cohorts in the praise of Christ, having obtained a new kind of redemption, and stripped of the old squalor of the serpent's covering, admiring the divine power, and magnificently proclaiming the glorious merits of blessed Mansuetus, with equal vow and equal consent choose the holy Man as the supreme ruler and pastor of the whole church; it being just * that he who had come for the salvation of the whole people should by the election of the whole people hold the rights of a pastor: and so, all acclaiming that this man was worthy, that this man was glorious, that this man would in all things profit the citizens, they set him, now not as a stranger, but as their own pastor, upheld by the privilege of Apostolic dignity, in the seat of pontifical honor.

. elsewhere pueritiæ*

. Dillingen consecutus*

. Ochsenhausen deficeret, San-Maximinian desisteret*

. elsewhere suppetiæ*

. Bosquet forte, elsewhere forte*

. elsewhere adhiberes*

. Bosquet vel, Dillingen &*

. elsewhere protelatur*

. elsewhere persensit*

. elsewhere præceps*

. elsewhere tantam*

. elsewhere Hic*

. elsewhere præmonuit*

. elsewhere sanctum*

. in the San-Maximinian there is added autumant, ut; in others only ut.*

CHAPTER III.

The royal edict; the Saint's pious works; idolatry being rooted out, he builds many churches: his death; solemn obsequies.

[ ] [The king sanctions by edict that all his subjects be baptized: the virtues practiced by the Saint:] Then the king and his princes, now grounded in the Catholic faith, command that through all the bounds of their dominion the word of salvation be brought to all far and wide; willing thus that, willing or unwilling, men should either be truly converted or be driven from their country, and that no one be left within who is either not baptized, or, if to be baptized, not instructed in the faith. Thus therefore the chosen Man of God, first indeed consecrated bishop at Rome; but afterward, as appears from the preceding words, taken up by the general acclamation of the peoples, by signs and prodigies, to the summit of the pontificate of the city of the Leuci — it cannot be comprehended in speech how many and how great things he deserved to be freed * by God. For mercy and piety were ever in his mouth and mind, nor did episcopal authority loosen the reins of his former rigor and abstinence: continued prayer often consumed nights and days. He so restrained the motions of his mind with meekness that, while he knew how to have pity, he knew not how to be angry, being clement to all and merciful to all. But the miseries of those who came he so bore that whoever had come mourning, being exceedingly consoled, went back more glad. And the languors of those who were ill he freely healed, not only by his own intercession, but also by the authority received from the blessed Apostle Peter. Thus a Shepherd among the peoples, he was truly acknowledged to be a physician of salvation.

[20] idolatry being utterly extinguished, he builds many temples through his diocese; But as in his Deeds, which were written long before us, it is very easy for the studious reader to find, that same city of the Leuci being cleansed, as we said above, of all the superstitious filth of idols, he built within the walls of the city a temple to the Lord, namely in honor of the Mother of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the perpetual Virgin Mary, and also of the holy protomartyr Stephen. But another temple he constructed on the side in the southern quarter, which with a solemn concourse of peoples he dedicated in the honor and veneration of holy John the Baptist, where it is called At the springs. And thereafter through the whole province of his diocese he constructed very many churches, presbyters and deacons being ordained; where due praise is rendered to the divine Majesty, and God is glorified, admirable in his Saints, unto the present day.

[21] But in that place where, first arriving, he had, as we said, the less prepared for himself a lodging [he passes the nights in prayer, and spends the days on the salvation of souls, the Apostle of the Leuci:] in the suburb of the city, in the day-time indeed he carefully ministered in the city the food of the divine word to the flock committed to him, but in the night seasons, that he might more freely press upon prayer, he returned to that same dwelling as to one privy to him: where, that is, he washed away with a flood of tears whatever, being taken up about the salvation of others, he had less perfectly provided for himself in the spaces of the day. Pressing therefore unceasingly upon so many and such things, as we said before, by long exercise of time, the divine Workman could not be wearied, whom the fervor of the Holy Spirit kindled. Who, according to the Apostle's saying, though he was not an apostle to others, yet to this people truly stood forth an apostle, which he himself acquired for God by so many signs and powers, by so many sweats of his labor and urgency. And although we perceive that many things are lacking to our manners and conversation which that blessed Man both taught and cultivated, yet the signs of his apostolate are we all in the Lord: because that beginning which he took from the very first origin of the holy and universal Church , this he afterward poured out * upon our race with free authority, armed rather with faith than with iron.

[22] Besides, the blessed Apostle Peter, who is chosen first in the number of the Apostles, St. Peter's martyrdom made confessor of the Son of God, chosen Shepherd of the human race, foundation of the Church, key-bearer of the kingdom of the heavens, approved by his confession of Christ the Lord, afterward crowned by his passion, had fully filled Galatia, Pontus, Cappadocia, Bithynia, Asia, and Italy with Evangelical instructions. Who, when under the earlier Caesar Claudius he had first perfectly founded the Church of Antioch in the Catholic faith, and ruled it for seven continuous years, being taught by the Holy Spirit and coming , he enters Rome to pursue that same Simon the magician, whose wiles, fleeing everywhere from the truth of Apostolic instruction, sought to stain the rays of sound doctrine with his own darkness; and there, being made Shepherd of the Church by the election of the faithful, preaching the Gospel, he held the Principate of that city for twenty-five years. Against whose most illustrious preaching, as the histories report, that same Simon, being made assuredly a member of Antichrist, rising up with rabid mouth, trusting in the audacity of Nero and of Agrippa the prefect, did not cease to assail the Apostolic assertion by the depravity of his lie. Whence, having striven by magic arts to mount to heaven, by the power and prayer of B. Peter the Apostle, while he is borne through the air, he fell senseless to the earth to be dashed in pieces. Which things being done, he was proscribed by Nero's order, and in the thirty-sixth year after the Lord's passion, in the city of Rome, as he himself willed, crucified head downward, after his Apostolic merit he enters the realms of the heavens on high , crowned with the glorious blood of martyrdom.

[23] Whose passion, to be recalled with merit in the whole world, blessed Mansuetus, as a most faithful disciple, hearing of his master's, which having learned, he dedicates a church to him: he dies holily: in the place where we said before that the blessed Man had lodged for a time not far from the city, which also he had long since made illustrious with the title of a sacred oratory, founded a nobler church: which indeed, setting it in the honor and memory of the blessed Apostle Peter, assuredly his teacher, he consecrated with the blessing of that sacred pledge of his which he is said to have brought with him ^a. Where, that is, coming together by days and nights when the office of preaching was performed, and desiring to give himself to God alone, passing there many years afterward, gathering multitudes of the faithful in the faith of Christ, he sent them on before to the fellowship of the Angels. And when now the chosen Athlete of God was full of days and of advanced age, wearied with many and daily sweats of good works and exercises of labors, as we said before, and also greatly made illustrious by powers and signs of miracles, as a faithful and prudent servant who had dealt out to the Lord's household their measure of wheat in due season, being called, at the Lord's bidding, to receive the wages of eternal recompense, laying down the burden of the flesh, on the III of the Nones of September he rendered his spirit to heaven, and received the robe of blessed immortality, to reign perpetually with his Lord: where he now rejoices, mingled with the companies of the Angels, and is made a far more excellent and powerful intercessor for his sheep still dwelling on earth .

[24] honorable burial: his glory in heaven made manifest by signs and powers. To the solemn intercourse of whose obsequies it can now not be told how great a multitude of the faithful had come together, whom indeed he himself, by the urgency of his labor, had transformed into sons of adoption through the grace of the Holy Spirit. You might have seen the greatest troops of peoples throng the sad funeral, not now of a stranger and unknown man, but of their own Father and shepherd, and the lamentable obsequies on every side with a certain array, as it were, of weeping and grieving folk, mingled in confused order. Thus, with a train of those going before and following after, the lifeless body is carried to the place of the sepulcher, and in that place where we said before that he had dedicated a church to the honor and merit of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, it is given over to a most worthy burial. For where he had accomplished the course of his contests and labors, there, the Lord disposing, he willed to have the burial due to his body. Which place indeed, his merits obtaining it, from that time and even now the divine power makes illustrious with signs and powers, to the praise and glory of his own name, that it may be shown how greatly he shines in the heavens in the sight of eternal brightness, who daily flashes with the admiration of so great powers in the sight of mortals. Whose glorious merits let us, who are his sheep and flock, venerate with humble devotion and due honor, that by his intervening merits we may deserve to rejoice with him without end.

ANNOTATION.

. elsewhere meruerit operari*

. elsewhere cominus*

. elsewhere exordio*

. elsewhere profudit*

. Bosquet præveniens*

. elsewhere superna*

. Dillingen Nonas*

. elsewhere agentium*

CHAPTER IV.

Ancient cult and miracles.

[ ] Amo succeeds Mansuetus, and is buried beside him in the temple of St. Peter, Now also, since we have in part learned the end of his life and conversation while he dwelt in the flesh, we have judged it fitting to insert into this narrative with compendious brevity who was his successor. After the glorious passage of Mansuetus, the first pontiff of this city, from this world to the heavens, as is found in the Deeds of the preceding bishops of the city of the Leuci, holy and most blessed Amo, by God's providing clemency, being ordained bishop in this see by the common vow and consent of all, was made the blessed Man's successor: who, having followed to a nicety the manners and institutes of his Predecessor, it cannot be set forth of how great goodness and holiness he was proved by his works. For he, surpassing the pontifical dignity in all uprightness of manners, not only by words and examples fittingly cultivated the people subject to him round about; but also made them illustrious with wondrous and magnificent powers. Who thus also, when he gave beauty to the celebrations and adorned the seasons, as it is written, unto the consummation of his life, departing from this world, in the oratory which we said above was zealously constructed by the holy Man in the honor of blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, was given over to a worthy burial with that same most holy Predecessor of his.

[26] Whence also, by the merits and intercessions of them both, to the praise of the divine name that same place from that time is seen to have shone forth with magnificent miracles; [the concourse to the tomb of each; gifts offered there; miracles which have perished.] when, that is, the eyes of the blind, pressed with long-lasting darkness, rejoice to have carried back to their homes, the darkness being driven off, the longed-for light; and the sick, stripped of the plague of various disasters; and very many creeping on the ground with their sinews drawn together; and also how many infected with divers and innumerable languors — the joys of health by the intervention of these. To whose patronage indeed we read ^b that a throng of kings and princes flowed together, and devoutly conferred very many gifts of their own right * for the relieving of the want of the servants of God and of the poor: where also at divers times wondrous tokens of powers were shown by the merits of them both: but either on account of the inroads of barbarian nations, or certainly on account of the scarcity of writers, they have without doubt been passed over or lost; since we know that this city also, on account of the enormity of the crimes of its inhabitants, was laid waste together with its goods by the persecution of the cruel Vandals ^c, and afterward, by the atrocious snares of the ancient enemy, burnt up with conflagrations of flames ^d.

[27] [St. Martin prays at the sepulcher of St. Mansuetus: a soul freed from purgatory through them both:] This, however, is not to be suppressed in silence, which was faithfully related to us by the mouth of certain persons. Martin, holy bishop of Tours, most famous, as is known, in the whole world, had been on the most familiar terms with blessed Maximinus ^e, bishop of Trier, so that they often enjoyed conferences together, and, being about to go alike to blessed Peter at Rome, leaned on mutual conversations by the way. Blessed Martin therefore, at a certain time about to do this by common arrangement, enters the oratory of blessed Mansuetus, to which he had turned aside to entreat the divine clemency, devout as he was. When behold, suddenly the spirit of a certain consecrated maiden ^f, whose body had not long before been buried in that place, with repeated cries redoubles the holy man's name from the sepulcher. And when the blessed man gave heed to her prayers, she at once goes on: Most holy pontiff, she said, most powerful in heaven and on earth, have pity on the soul of one buried. The body indeed is here still covered with earth, but the spirit is amid punishments. Bring to my aid the patronage of most holy Mansuetus and thine own, and thou shalt believe her saved when, returning, thou shalt not hear the voice of the suppliant. Hence he, departing, sets about the journey which he had begun, solicitous above all to succor her who asked. Meanwhile, that whole journey being accomplished, when on his return he did not pass by the clod of most blessed Mansuetus, as he was wont, and perceived no signs of the dead woman now asking; he rendered thanks to the Creator, because he recognized that she was saved by the intervention of both. For how could she perish, on whom the immense mercy of God had conferred such Intercessors? These things being thus done, since we press on to others, let us here too make an end according to our wish.

[28] [The pilgrimages of the Scots to the Saint's body, who restores alive to a poor man a little pig carried off by a thief] This also it has seemed not unworthy to be inserted, which, published abroad by frequent testimony, still passes among the mouths of very many. From the transmarine borders of the Scots it was the custom of many to seek out these parts; among whom at that time a certain poor man with his wife is said to have come: for the report of ancient time had roused many to seek the most holy Man of their own nation, to be sought above all by Scots setting out, as was their wont, on pilgrimage. Whence this man, aware, as the report was, of his love and favor, having obtained lodging not far from the church of the blessed Man, had wished to take up his abode there ^g. He had exceedingly scanty furnishing in his household goods. So much only among the comforts of his household stock, that he was wont to feed a little pig of no great size, to be brought in for his future uses of food. But as is wont to happen in so great a multitude of men, when he saw the friendly little beast absent too long, the poor man understands it has been taken from him by theft.*

[29] and slaughtered. But since he could nowhere detect the person of the thief, not bearing the loss of his damage, he goes to the sacred church, and, with fierce spirits, as is the nature of the Scots, cast himself sorrowful upon the Saint's tomb and full of complaints, and, that I may speak in the countryman's words: O Saint of God, a Scot, I say, thou a Scot and I: be propitious and have pity on the Scottish race ^h. Me, set far away, thou perhaps oughtest to have helped: behold, being placed in a foreign land , why sufferest thou me to be in straits ⁱ, why permittest thou me to be stripped of my goods? Give back, I beseech thee, what I have lost: give back what the wicked thief perhaps is now consuming. Pursuing these and many things like these, that poor man is received sad into his lodging. Meanwhile the greedy robber had already choked that wretched animal with the knife, rejoicing in the hope of glutting his gullet from those spoils which he had gathered by theft. Nor did the Saint long defer the complaints of his own poor man: for as the dead beast was being covered in hiding-places, by the Saint's power, its breath returning, it is raised upon its feet, and is violently snatched from the thief's house, and, entering the stall of its fellowship, not without the wonder of many is restored alive and unharmed to its own master. So was the presumption of the wicked thief mocked; so was the poor man refreshed after the grievous misfortune which he had suffered. So also was the most evident power of holy Mansuetus made admirable not only in the greatest things, but * also in mean ones, if it be sought with faith. But if anyone shall wish to be incredulous of this matter, it will be nothing to us ^k; since if it please him to inquire into this, he will prove it by the reports of many still living* ^l.

ANNOTATA.

. elsewhere conversationis*

*. this little word I have added from Bosquet

. Bosquet Viris sanctis*

. Bosquet's edition and the Ochsenhausen manuscript hanc quoque*

*. that is, the body

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen supellex*

. elsewhere contiguum*

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen quantum*

BOOK II.

Miracles done in the tenth century under SS. Gauzlin and Gerard, bishops of Toul.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint, after the ruinous church in which his body lay had been given to the abbey of St. Aper, heals a blind woman, one vexed by demons, and a leper.

Since in the carrying out of the earlier Work, according as the divine loftiness had granted to our littleness for the renewing of the memory of present times, The place, venerable by the body of St. Mansuetus, but almost fallen down we briefly set forth few things out of many, namely those which, while he remained in the body, he wrought by the power of God, omitting those which either by neglect or by the sloth of long-drawn antiquity have been passed over in silence or neglected; let us turn the zeal of the business undertaken also to those things which were done in our own age ^b : which indeed we bring forward with the more confidence, in that we hold without doubt ^c that these also were done more nearly to us. First of all noting, indeed, ^d that whether, as we said, by the inbreaking savagery of barbarian nations, or also by the most frequent * pursuits of peoples against one another, through succeeding times that same place, stripped of its goods, its fortifications scattered, had been reduced almost to nothing; and was frequently also subjected to the lordship of secular men ^e.

[31] Meanwhile, a long ^f series of times having also rolled by, Gauzlin gives it to the monks of St. Aper; and while they dwell there, after Drogo, the renowned Bishop of the city of the Leuci, lord Goslin ^g, sprung of the most noble birth of the Franks, conspicuous for piety and religion, exceedingly learned in the studies of letters, chosen by God's providence, was ordained pontiff in this see. Who, diligently instructing the clergy, gathering prudent men from everywhere, enlarged the city with goods, adorned it with wisdom, and fortified it with foreseeing management. He therefore, considering that the aforesaid place was falling by divers mishaps, as we said, having called to himself from the place of holy Aper, that excellent confessor of Christ, the venerable father lord Herchembold ^h, whom he had himself also formerly set up as abbot there, commits this place to be repaired into the order of religion. Which venerable man, as he was most religious, appointed some monks under the hand of provosts; and because allowances were lacking there at that time, he had arranged for them to be fed at the expense of his own monastery. In the time therefore of the aforesaid most happy bishop lord Gauzlin, while that same place was carried on under the keeping of provosts, as we said, of the things which happened either shortly before, or afterward, by sight or by hearing, let it suffice to set out even a few out of many.

[32] Many knew Wido ⁱ, count of this city. He had a certain hamlet, The Saint restores sight to a blind woman, set not far from the city, which, because he himself had built it, to the present time bears the name of Wido. In this there had been a certain maidservant of his, who now for seven years remained blind. She had both a husband and sons rather for calumny than for help. What she should do, she knew not at all; unhappy, lying open to the contempt of all and chiefly of her own, subject to present want. Meanwhile the day was at hand on which on the morrow were awaited the joys of the yearly solemnity of blessed Mansuetus. Then she, enduring her hostile blindness, mingled with the troops of those flocking together, leans on another's guidance, groaning enters the house of the blessed Pontiff, her face bathed with weeping , calls upon the Friend of the divine Majesty, entreats that the clemency of the mild Shepherd may be present to her. And when, desiring to pass the night in the oratory, she is shut out with the rest by the provost of the church, she keeps watch before the door thronged with people, having confidence in him on whom she had set her whole mind. When behold, at midnight, with lifted voice she gives thanks to God, asserting that by the Saint's intervention the burning lamps lie open to her. Ho, she says, Saint of God, thou hast enlightened the blind, thou hast made firm the infirm, thou hast cherished the sorrowful. Henceforth hold me as thy servant in thy offices, over whom thou hast shown thy power.* Thus she who had come with another's guidance, returning free, proclaimed to all the Author of the light bestowed.

[33] A certain Stephen, a soldier not the lowest among his own, he frees a woman possessed by demons, dwelt not far from the city on his own land. He had received a daughter of his wife, whom he loved with tender love; and as the enemy is wont to pursue dearer things, to confound the elect, and to break in upon the unwary, our sins requiring it, the devil enters the vessel of the girl, confounds her mind, takes away her vigor, and wholly empties her senses. She, hedged about with bonds, surrounded by keepers, brought by her parents to the patronage of the Saints, at last is led into the oratory of holy Mansuetus. But being permitted to pass the night within the basilica, one man remaining awake, the rest being pressed with sleep, in that part where she had lain on the ground, demons wandering above the roof of the church, wonderful to say, imitating the voices of howling creatures and various sounds of beasts, fill the air with mingled cries, complaining publicly that they had nothing in common with the Saint, and that they could in no way carry back the gift of health which they had by desert taken away. That man, trembling, rouses the rest, that they too might perceive the voices which he was hearing. But they, when for some hours they insulted openly, the demons, going out in terrors, flee ^k, they abandon the girl, and by the Saint's power straightway vanish. The girl rises free, and, her senses restored, marvels within herself to what enemies she had been delivered.

[34] At another time also a certain man stricken with the disease of elephantiasis ^l, and heals a leper. whose skin had put forth an appearance shining like snow, wasting ^m in his whole body, judged that the suffrage of blessed Mansuetus must be sought. When he had come thither, the provost of the church was seen to be standing before the doors; and he, desiring to fall at his feet, was seen to indicate what he wished, or what he sought. But he said: Alas, wretched me, he said, living in a manner dead beforehand in my limbs on every side; whose life is led in punishments, whose flesh is straitened with deadly anguishes. For to this I came, that of this Saint, even if I do not deserve it, I might attain at least a little of remedy by the benefit of the Deity. To whom the elder, with the look of one testing him , said: What hast thou to offer among gifts? To whom he, showing at once the hem by which he was covered, of his garment: Behold, I say , a little salt granted for the relieving of want by the favor of one having pity. Go, he said, taking that to be brought in to the sacred rites. These things being said, he, thinking that those things were seriously enjoined on him which he had heard uttered in the guise of one jesting, hastily enters the temple, pours out the gift of salt before the altar, and himself is prostrated in prayers. Who, lying on the ground, suddenly felt as it were the footprint of a passer-by pressed on his back. Hence, rising up in haste, when he saw no one round about, he returns to the elder, and, now made whole, his color turned back to its former state, rejoiced to have laid aside the ill-whitening skin.

ANNOTATA.

. Marteris convertatur*

. elsewhere barbararum*

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen creberrimis*

. Bosquet inquilina*

. elsewhere perfusa*

. Bosquet and Martène facie*

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen delegit, Martène duxit*

. elsewhere jussus*

. elsewhere vivis*

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen perparum*

. Ochsenhausen sub specie tentantis.*

. Martène inquit*

. elsewhere profundit*

. in Ochsenhausen and Dillingen there is added suo*

CHAPTER II.

He restores the fever-stricken to health; he punishes those who despise to keep his feast; he gives back to its owner a cow led off by a thief.

[ ] A cleric, It is also most certain that this blessed [Man] very often conferred on the fever-stricken also the remedy of the health they sought. And that I may repeat known things, we saw a person from the clergy of no mean dignity according to the world, whom, when so great a force of fevers inflamed the more burningly with his whole body trembling, that he passed very many days and nights without food, and being now almost despaired of for life, he is carried to the sacred church by the hands of his servants: his bedding being arranged, he is set out beside the Blessed one's altar as a diligent watcher. Thus, having remained in that place two days, the scorching heat being driven out, he so felt beforehand the help of saving medicine, that with free power he returned home unharmed, from which he had before been carried out when he suffered the torments of that fiery affliction. Nor in this alone was the power shown of shutting out sicknesses of this kind, but assuredly very frequently we have seen those pressed by this anguish implore the help of the holy Pontiff, whom it befell briskly to carry back the joys of the health they longed for. But if to anyone so swift a healing does not come, let him know either that he does not deserve it, or rather that it is deferred to his advancement .

[36] At almost the same time Drogo also, a most noted soldier, a soldier, who was sprung from the district of Dülmen [a,] fully experienced the favor of this holy Pontiff. Who indeed, though he was strenuous and ready in military affairs, was nevertheless no less conspicuous for faith and goodness. He, a plague of fevers rushing upon him, is brought almost to the last extremity, and, the strength of his whole body being lost, he sees that nothing remains to him but death at hand. What was chiefly to be done he turned over * in a confused mind. Loathing the food of life and impatient of rest, he thought of death alone. When behold, amid the deadly pantings of the fevers and the hissing points of burning fire, it fell upon his mind to seek the refuge of this Saint, and, with vows going before, to implore his suffrage. He is therefore brought, carried by the help of his servants, and, entering the venerable temple, placing a chain upon his neck, from a free man he dedicates himself as a slave to the Saint, and vows a census-vow on a certain day. And so on that night he keeps watch prostrate before the altar; and on the morrow, amid the sacred solemnities of the Masses, being now snatched from the livid fury, he returns home free and whole, whither he had been carried: not forgetting thereafter the benefit of his Deliverer, by which he had so evidently deserved to be loosed from those gnashings.

[37] and many others seized with fevers are healed through St. Mansuetus: Besides, we remember that we have seen innumerable men worn down by vexations of this kind; who, with hissing flames, all the strength of their bodies poured out, pondering only their end, by the merits and power of this Saint have returned to their own homes made whole and unharmed. All which, if we should wish to pursue * fully, times will fail us sooner than all his mighty works can be comprehended in writing. Yet if we desire to be advanced by the merits of this our Protector, to be helped by his benefits, it is not fitting that we be reckoned as having no part in his praises and services: which is easy to be perceived in one instance only, which we have thought fitting to add.

[38] on his festivity the beasts of those who did carrying work At a certain time, as is the custom of countrymen, certain countrymen of the parts of Bar, in no small number, having formed a company, having taken wagons and abundance of goods *, had sought the Vici of the salt-works ^b; and, their loads being given in purchase of things for sale, desiring to return to their own homes, they were bringing back the merchandise of salt: and now, the journey being for the greatest part completed, having passed the villa of Gundulf ^c, the countrymen, foul with toil, came with that wagon of theirs to the channel of the Moselle. Where, being somewhat entangled by the obstacle of crossing the river, they were harshly assailed by the inhabitants of that place, why on that day, sweating at the work of wheels, on the solemnity of so great a Father which on that day was yearly kept, they suffered themselves, as with boorish minds, not to be sharers of the common gladness. The countrymen pursue these things on the contrary with mockeries, saying that these sacred rites did not pertain to them, nor had they anything in common with this celebration, which they knew was due to the peoples of the Leuci alone ^d and to be honored with civic vows.

[39] are driven into fury, and, repenting of the deed, they receive them sound: While they thus persisted contumaciously , divine vengeance follows. I am about to tell wonderful things. So great a madness suddenly fell upon those wretched animals, that they attacked one another with locked horns, and struck the greatest terror into all who saw. But the unhappy countrymen, almost going out of human senses, are borne wandering about on every side, and the oxen, turned to madness, paid the penalties of their own masters *. But those in whom some vigor of mind remained, breaking more swiftly into the church of the blessed Pontiff, publicly confess their guilt; they bind themselves with vows and supplications that for the rest they would be more cautious, if, being snatched from the present punishments, they might be able to return free. Nor did the Saint delay to hear the voices of those who groaned, to whom he both restored the wretched herds and granted the power of departing.

[40] a cow which a thief had led off is recovered through the Saint. By the intercession of the aforesaid lord Gozlin the pontiff, a certain Grimauld , a man of venerable life , at a certain time taken from the religious college of the monks of holy Aper, had been appointed, by the command of his abbot, ruler and provost of the same place. Who indeed, dear to all for his desert, had been distinguished by the titles of principal obedience, precious in regular disciplines. He therefore, for necessary uses, enjoyed the help of one cow: which animal indeed rendered a homely service chiefly for the seasoning of vegetables. But on a certain day, while at the fitting hour that which was not present is awaited, it is sought in divers places by the zeal of the servants. The matter is uncertain, by whose fraudulent contrivance that same animal had been led away. Then the provost said to the servant who then chanced to have come sad as the announcer of the household loss: Go therefore, tell that Saint who uses our ministries; if he will henceforth have the common service of our bondage, let him more swiftly restore the necessary animal, taken away by wicked fraud. Nor did the word fall in vain: for on the morrow ^e that same animal, driven out from its bond *, is borne to its own stall, most swiftly called back by the power of the blessed Pontiff.

[41] But the often-named lord Gozlin, bishop of glorious and happy memory forever, The eulogy of Gauzlin. approved by pious and most holy works, full of days and of the tokens of good virtues, fulfilling the times of his life, with great grief and mourning of all, in the forty-fourth ^f year of his ordination, being carried by clergy and people to the monastery of Bouxières ^g, which he himself had built from the foundations long before, receives *, as he had ordered while living, a most worthy burial among the choirs of virgins whom he had gathered there in great number for the stricter life, to be honored through long ages in the praises of God. Whose day of deposition is kept on VII Ides of September, under the protection of the Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary, abiding forever.

ANNOTATA.

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen persensit*

. ibid. profectum.*

. ibid. versabat*

. elsewhere petsequi*

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen redarum*

. Ochsenhausen hos … persistentes*

. elsewhere ferrentur*

. elsewhere luerent.*

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen Grimaldus*

. Dillingen virtute*

. Ochsenhausen and Dillingen vinculis*

. elsewhere accepit*

CHAPTER III.

Under bishop Gerard, founder of the abbey of St. Mansuetus, rain refreshes the fields; he makes a hand fit for use, he cures a boy crippled; he rouses Gerard to be present at the nocturnal Office.

[ ] Gerard, Gauzlin's successor But that the truth and order of the matter may still fittingly follow our history — the grace and power of this most holy and undefiled Virgin Mary going before, and also the blood of the blessed protomartyr Stephen shining, on whom the whole city leans, and by whose merits the whole people is sanctified and ruled — this same city of the Leuci, deprived, as has been said, of its ruler, was by no means longer permitted, God disposing, to be brought to ruin. For by the vows of each order of the faithful, the grace of the divine Majesty breathing upon them, by the establishing decree of the unconquered triumpher, that is, of lord Otto the august, with his brother lord Bruno the pontiff also acting, Gerard, sprung of the city of Cologne , illustrious among the clergy in birth and religion, is designated as the future bishop of the bereft city of the Leuci. Who indeed, since he was exceedingly learned in ecclesiastical institutes, while, the Lord Savior reigning forever, the nine hundred and sixty-third course of the times of that same holy Incarnation was being passed, with the unanimity of all the faithful acclaiming , he was in this same see both enthroned and taken up.

[43] He therefore, first of all, while he was making for the city committed to him, [sets an abbot over the monks singing the praises of God at the sepulcher of St. Mansuetus, and does them benefit:] at his first entry into the aforesaid oratory of blessed Mansuetus, which he had chanced to have in his way, it fell upon his mind, as is believed, by divine inspiration, that there he marked out beforehand for himself rest for ever and ever and a chosen habitation, according to the prophecy's oracle, the same versicle running ^a. And this, as is clearly evident, was about that same place alike a cause of greater devotion and an increase of salvation. For, the management of fitting matters being arranged, after no long interval of time, by the counsel of abbot Huncbert ^b of praiseworthy memory, who at that time gloriously ruled the monastery of blessed Aper, whose name, as we hope and desire, is held fixed in the book of blessed life, with the consent also of his faithful men, he set over that same place as abbot and ruler a certain man of good testimony, Adam by name ^c, shining in manners, well ordered in words and acts. And out of those goods which seemed to pertain to himself he becomingly enlarged the place, and the number of those serving God according to the discipline of the regular life he faithfully instructed ^d. These things at length being so accomplished, since these matters stand in the open and are in the usual manner set forth, pursuing the sequence of the history we have begun, let us briefly unfold all those works which in the time of the present lord Gerard the bishop were wrought by the power of blessed Mansuetus.

[44] [in a time of drought the Saint's body is carried about in solemn supplication, and rain is obtained:] The rains being held back in the sky, a barrenness great and unwonted for that season, hostile to the crops, had settled upon the parched fields. Then, as the earth cracked open, and the labors of men were almost burned up by the excessive onrush of the heat, the tillage of the scorched land — horrible to say! — was perishing: and, as had long before been proved by the Lord's denunciation in vengeance upon an unbelieving people, the heaven above threatened an aspect of brass, while below the cruel earth presented one of iron. And as the judgment of heavenly wrath flashed forth daily , by the bishop's order a fast to be kept for three days is proclaimed to the sweltering people: and because divine vengeance cannot easily be withstood, they entreat the prelate that the blessed Man's body be carried out to the bounds of the parched fields, as a thing to be * mercifully set against these withering heats. What more? With the lord Bishop and the whole people standing by, it is brought forth from the place in which it had formerly lain. They lift up their voices on high, they resound with heavenly hymns praising God; and with tearful voices of blessed Mansuetus imploring the patronage. And as these, with the body of holy Mansuetus in their midst, went forward, that it might be shown from heaven whose body was borne upon the earth, so great a crash from the heavens suddenly thundered twice, that it broke off the voices of those chanting and left the hearts of each one stunned. Thus, with the multitude astounded — which to the number of two thousand men, or yet more, had flowed together from every quarter on that day — they are conducted to the place of holy Aper, whither they had resolved to go. But that sultry serenity of the sky, which with the Dog-star burning seemed to scorch the lands, soon began to thicken into clouds, and, abundant showers being given, to minister fully the grace of the dew they had obtained. But what happened meanwhile is not to be passed over in silence.

[45] In this copious multitude, which had filled out so great a spectacle, [he who had carried it in the sacred procession is freed from a grievous ailment of one hand:] Sindebauld ^e, then count of this city, was one of them. He, together with a certain Immo, a knight of the lord prelate's of no mean rank, asked to be set under the holy Man's remains to bear them: for indeed a hand, destitute of all human service by reason of its pains, was greatly wearying him. This hand he had by now despaired of saving otherwise than if, as is customary, he should drive off by cautery what was grievously paining him. But when the body of blessed Mansuetus which he was carrying had been set down, and the solemnities of the Masses * were completed, he raised up his hand free of the disease, in the sight of all, as though he had never before felt anything of pain. Of which matter he himself is still a sure witness, if he be asked by anyone.

[46] Departing thence with that heavenly treasure of theirs, they enter the city, a church is consecrated to the Virgin Mother of God and to St. Mansuetus, resounding with great exultation of divine chant. Then, keeping the sacred vigils of that night, with the blessed Man's body present, they dedicate the basilica which the prelate himself had earlier built from the foundations, venerable in the honor of the holy Mother of God and of holy Mansuetus; which from that time and now is magnificently made illustrious by the merits of holy Mansuetus, where * are loosed the bonds of the sin that weighs men down.

[47] These things being thus arranged, and desiring to carry back the blessed Man's body to its own seat, who suddenly heals a crippled boy: they meet a certain countryman wailing with loud cries. He had brought, laid upon his arms, the wretched cause of his grief, a son of ten years, whose feet a knotting of the sinews held fastened to his backbone. And while with lamentations he follows the holy Man's remains to the church, a certain Jew, who had then by chance mingled with the crowds, vomiting forth a hundred blasphemies with the mockeries of his raving mouth, assails the prayers of the petitioner: Ho there, he says, why do you follow after a dead man? Why do you confound the air with your shouts? Why do you approach one who cannot be moved, to ask a benefit, when I indeed, being myself alive, could profit you far more excellently than a dead man, if you should offer your vows to me? On hearing this, greatly indignant, the bishop, who was present there, said to the brethren standing by: Alas for me, what do we venerate, what do we worship? For either there is no power of the Saint by which the Church may be gladdened, by which the madness of the Jew may be confounded; or surely another is worshipped in his stead, who, while he is supposed to be here, is in no way held here. Meanwhile, while the people were attending to other matters, the knotted joining of the sinews of the boy, laid out upon the pavement, suddenly burst and began to be loosed as the blood flowed down *; and while he strives with his hand to creep to the Saint's remains, he stood upon his feet, and the way which he had never known, supporting himself upon his own steps, to the wonder of the crowds, he recognized. Thus the holy Man, as he willed, displayed the grace of his power, and turned the mouths of the weeping into joys. And the boy, in testimony of the deed, is even to the present time maintained at the church's charges.

[48] Now among the other benefits of the powers of this most blessed Man experienced by this bishop, [at the time of the night Vigils he appears to Gerard, whom he rouses that he may be present at them.] we add also that of which we do not doubt that we were made certain by his own report. While he was still present in the same monastery in the fellowship of the Saint, as the Sabbath day was departing, night falls, since indeed the solemnity of the Lord's Day was looked for on the morrow. And when in it the Brethren rose earlier for the proclamation of the divine service, the bishop, wearied with the labor of the past days, lay upon his bed, weighed down by a heavy sleep. Meanwhile, as they were performing the praises in the accustomed manner, there stood beside the sleeping bishop, when now the pale dawn was giving back its whitening returns, a certain Man venerable in aspect, covered with a most shining stoia, distinguished in habit, ample in the measure of his stature, so that he seemed nothing else than holy Mansuetus. And when the divine Visitor entered the chamber of the sleeper, by a certain impelling power the leaves of the adjoining window suddenly flew open, and with a quivering ray the whole house shone. Then that shining Man approached the couch of the sleeping prelate, and laying his hand upon his body, stirring him with a light motion — for the others lying about him were held so bound in slumber that scarcely, though a noise were made, could they have been loosed from the sleep pressing upon them — he rouses him, saying: Why do you sleep? Why, while others are keeping the sacred vigils, are you weighed down by so deep a sleep? And, to rehearse his very words, he presently added: For the kingdom of God comes not to those who sleep, but to those who watch. On hearing this, the bishop, roused from sleep, bursts trembling into the church, and, shaken with great terror, is suffused with shame , that, having no part in these offices, he should thus seem * to be present so late. Of which matter he, its witness, relates not without shame of his own what he suffered in that secret of the chamber by the surpassing power of blessed Mansuetus.

Ochsenh. and Diling. clementia*

ibid. Othonis videlicet*

Diling. civibus*

ibid. acclamantium*

Ochsenh. and Diling. occurrente*

al. affixum*

Ochsenh. and Diling. moribus præfulgentem*

ibid. ea, quæ hujus*

Ochsenh. prolatum*

ibid. indicio*

Ochsenh. and Diling. grassantibus,*

that is, corpori*

al. jam*

Ochsenh. and Diling. solemniis*

al. ibique*

Ochsenh. and Diling. referri*

ibid. magnis*

ibid. diffluente*

ibid. qua*

al. leni*

Ochsenh. tactu*

al. perfunditur*

Ochsenh. and Diling. inesse*

CHAPTER IV.

He stills a raging pestilence; he frees bishop Gerard from a grievous illness.

[ ] After a twofold in the time of pestilence But since it is the glory of a king to conceal a word, and of the Lord to search out a discourse, I will come also to that which is proved to have been shown under that season by the merits of this blessed Man. Not long after, the severity of the divine chastisement, liable to avenge the crimes of all, had censured the sins of the peoples. The ruin of a diseased calamity, driven by God's judgment, had blazed up among the peoples. For, after the manner of the bubonic pestilence which once seized the peoples of Italy ^a, a certain litteralis affliction is everywhere scattered with a reviving seed, and, growing strong with deadly advances, ranges widely through the bounds of the regions! And so, under a certain evil omen, with a heaped-up succession of diseases, the common folk perish, the peoples fall, and without distinction of either sex or rank the ranks of the dead are rolled along. Nor is he who is seized by such a malady permitted in any way to survive scarcely beyond three days: and what was happening in other parts of the world was uncertain. The disaster, thus coming on, had so burst upon this city, that at any one place whatever, apart from the others belonging to the various churches, as the same bishop used to recall not without a groan, he would see ten or seven coffins of the dead brought in beneath his eyes to be buried.

[50] The bishop is straitened by the peril of the very many dying; a supplication, in which St. Mansuetus' at length this counsel is poured into his mind, that namely the same protector, blessed Mansuetus, taken up again from the place in which he had been laid, should be set as a mediator between the living and the dead. And so, a three days' fast being sent before, and counsel taken, it seems fitting to the bishop that, the throngs of the peoples being gathered again from every side, the blessed Man's body should be appointed to be brought to the church situated at Scropuli *, which is often wont to be made illustrious by miracles of the blessed Mother of God Mary, as though to discharge an embassy entrusted to him before the supreme Empress of the heavenly Emperor, the mother indeed of all her own sheep. And so, this being done, that ruin seemed to abate somewhat from its own fury.

[51] But not even thus is the terror of the frightened peoples cut short. the body was carried about, instituted For again, laying the blessed Man's remains upon their shoulders, with choirs of mingled order chanting psalms, and with hearts lifted up to the Lord , they seek the chief monastery of the same Mother of God at Bouxières ^b; and there, in the presence of the lord Gerard the bishop, that night being spent, while they long for the return, it can now in no way be told with how incredible a multitude the crowded cohorts of the peoples, in confused order, mingled the throngs of those suddenly coming together into one from the villages, from the fields, from the various quarters. Here consecrated virgins, there innumerable flocks of the Christian faith, hastening as far as the bank of the river Meurthe ^c; where the venerable body of the blessed Man was received by the inhabitants of that place asking for it by vow. And although the vastness of the waters seemed to them to have swollen high enough, with their garments free among the waves, wrapped in the water up to the loins, they are said to have crossed the channel on foot, not without the wonder of many. Thence all that popular throng going forward, with steps joyful in jubilation, carry back to its own seat the holy Man's remains, hedged about on every side by companies, not without the gift of their own vow. For, the clouds being driven together in the air, so great a shower as had before been implored had poured down from heaven as could plainly have sufficed for the parched earth.

[52] the people experience his help: At length therefore, as they drew near the door of the church with praises, forthwith a radiance of such brightness was seen to go before that venerable body that, flashing through the whole house of the church, it plainly gave to be understood how divine was that which was seen to be borne into the holy temple. Then by the noise of the confused multitude the harmony of the chant begun is broken; and, their prayers being turned to the contrary, very many began to weep for joy, though they knew not why they should have wept, save that the Saint's holiness had stirred up in the minds of his own sons the affection of a heavenly infusion. Nor indeed did the bishop, who was present, refrain from tears, who wondrously felt, in common with the people, the abundance of that sweetness. And behold that ruin which we said had been poured out [[ ] destruction] of men, by the favor of the grace of the Lord Redeemer toward the merits of this our ^d Protector, so ceased from its advances that the whole people plainly knew that for the house of Israel in the day of the Lord holy Mansuetus stood over against them in battle, having been made the most excellent helper of all his own sheep ^e.

[53] to whom bishop Gerard, taking refuge in a grievous illness It pleases us also to insert into this our narrative that which is known to have happened in a preceding time, likewise to the praise of this blessed Man, to almost all our people. And because the aforesaid bishop is the matter in question ^f, the clemency owed to the Divinity, extended to a sinner, does not derogate from an excellent person. Therefore, when the peoples had been struck by the severity of the scourge — those exempted by the merits of the Saints — the aforesaid bishop too is made subject to the heavenly discipline, that, touched by the stroke, he might the more quickly acknowledge that there is one all-powerful Lord, who smites and heals. Therefore, to be silent about more, he who had extended to many others the fomentations of prayers, being pressed by a grievous ailment and being very ill, lay sick abed. No strength, no vigor had remained to him; wasting away in his whole body, greatly weakened, he could take neither sleep nor food: leading a hateful life amid straits, he thought only of his impending death. What he should do, whither he should turn, the anxious man knew not: absolving the peoples, himself absolved by the peoples, in sorrow he awaited only his departure. The discomforts of which sickness we set forth in this way, namely that we may show how great a grace * followed upon it through blessed Mansuetus.

[54] For, as this trouble grew strong, when he was now all but at his last, and was passing three weeks together sleepless and deathly, he is restored to health. the sick man resolves, as the disease pressed him, to have recourse to the known refuge of holy Mansuetus. Against this stands the household service of his knights ^g, lest namely, as the rumor had been, should it happen that their lord turned to the monastic order, they too should alike be deprived of their domestic goods along with their lord. Which matter indeed had confounded their minds and spirits. But he, who had felt within himself the force of the tormenting affliction, breaks through the obstacles of those forbidding him; in haste he seeks the suffrage of the blessed Man; wholly he commits himself to his intervention with God; he applies himself more earnestly both to his own prayers and to those of the Brethren; and, bearing his vows to God and to holy Mansuetus from the depth of his heart, he did not desist before he felt the hoped-for benefits of returning health, the Lord having mercy and the power of holy Mansuetus bestowing them. Which even to this day the same bishop is wont to relate not without sighs — by how great an ailment he was at that time weighed down, by how powerful an intervention of the Saint he stood forth saved by a heavenly medicine. And since certain things concerning the powers of this Saint, wrought in the time of the bishop now present in the flesh, with a brief pen, so to speak, being about to discharge at his command a companion booklet to it ; now in these matters also let us make an end, aided by his prayers, with the grace of the Lord Redeemer breathing upon us ^h.

Ochsenh. and Diling. sub ea*

ibid. lateralis*

al. malorum*

* Écrouves near Toul.

al. promiscui*

al. Deum*

al. miscuerint*

Ochsenh. and Diling. illa; Marten. his*.

ibid. pontifex*

Diling. exemptis*

Ochsenh. and Diling. permanserat*

Marten. gratia*

al. Deo*

Ochsenh. and Diling. exsolvimus, Marten. absolvimus*

A MIRACLE WHICH HAPPENED IN THE YEAR MIX,

by an anonymous author, Published by Martène in vol. 3 of the Thesaurus anecdotorum from col. 1024, and by Calmet in vol. 1 of the History of Lorraine, among the Monuments, from col. 104.

Mansuetus, bishop of Toul among the Leuci in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 5215 ^a

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

An English girl, From parts beyond the sea also there came a certain poor woman, Godelindis by name, of the stock of the English on both her parents' side, bearing on her left arm bands of iron, not for the possession of a demon, but for the shedding of her mother's blood: and how this came to pass we wish to recall by unfolding it summarily. She had a noble father, and a mother not unequal in birth, both most rich in perishable dignities, and surrounded also with a progeny of children. Death then seizes the father, who, not unmindful of his children, calls their mother, and with his last utterance, suppliant in mind, entreats her that she guard the flock of their offspring with a mother's affection. But she, as soon as her husband fell asleep *, passed over all his admonitions with a deaf ear. For, the castle having been taken from her sons, though handed over to them by paternal right, she again joined herself in an ill-omened marriage. Hence, desiring the orphans to go to ruin, the new husband tries to drive out the boys, expelled from their own possessions as though strangers, except her whom we have mentioned; because her female sex defended the little girl from being cast out of the ancestral house.

[2] guilty of parricide, whose arm, as she did penance, At length one of them, a clerk, not bearing the injury, armed a parricidal right hand against his stepfather; to whom the aforesaid sister offered herself as an associate, taking her brothers' misery ill. At length a nocturnal battle is prepared, known indeed to none save his sister: the left had been bound with two iron chains, and while her brother hastens to break in, she at the same time unbars the gates of the castle. And behold, the stepson with his accomplices besets the house in which the stepfather lay; and, the doors being broken by force, at once the entrances are filled, and all are cut down by those coming in. Meanwhile sleep left the stepfather, and he swiftly left the deadly bed. The two go forward to the door of the chamber, touched with horror at the destruction present before them. And when the clerk had advanced against the enemy as he came, he gathered the strength of his might, with wrath mingled within; and, straining with his whole body, he directs his weapon with an unspeakable wound. But he, swift in movement, avoiding the blow, drew back; but his wife, standing behind his back, received it beneath the breast, and, the wound having straightway been taken from her son, breathed out her life as the blood flowed forth. By this crime the oft-named clerk, bound within, is bound without by his bishop with the iron of penance, and is straitened with tight rings about the whole trunk of his body. Moreover the sister, consenting to this most wicked deed, received two upon her left arm, that they might make satisfaction by a lamentable penance for the unheard-of crime ^b.

[3] Then together they set out for Jerusalem, and on the return journey the brother laid down his bodily life. at the tomb of St. Mansuetus she is freed from one: But she, of whom our account is made, faint with long squalor, carried her foot to our sanctuary. What words do we linger over in talkativeness? To our father Mansuetus she committed herself. Straightway praying for his suffrages with all her efforts, she continues a few days in unwearied prayers; but Mansuetus assails the crime with invisible arms. At length the rigidity of the iron is undone, the bite of the band being split; the arm is in part delivered, which was under the power of a double chain, while yet the soul was wholly held in the fetter of its guilt: for indeed the other ring was not seen to fall away, that it might clearly appear that the Saint had already in part blotted out the crime, but had in part deferred the blotting out of it ^c.

[4] But she, having straightway taken up the staff of pilgrimage, [going hence to the tomb of St. Udalric, she is again warned by our Saint to return to him:] together with a lay brother, Rodulf by name, who had come with her by the kindness of charity, but was by no means ensnared by the contagion of this offense, arranges to set out to the merits of holy Udalric, to seek with devout mind the aids of him whose body makes Swabian Augsburg resplendent ^d. When therefore she had reached the woods of the Vosges, to the threshold of blessed Deodatus ^e, the one only medicine offers itself to her, namely the kindly Mansuetus in sleep-bringing rest, and gives her wholesome commands that she return. She, however, completes the journey begun, and, making light of the vision, declares it a mockery, and, moving her step, seizes upon the city of Strasbourg ^f. And so the Blessed one, in the hours of slumber ^g, admonishing her more earnestly to return, forewarns her that she will labor under frequent perils if she should attempt the forbidden road any further. Godelindis, rehearsed to by his words, disobedient, presses on by the superfluous path, exulting as she goes .

[5] There arises therefore, according to the Saint's word, no small anxiety; at length she returns, there falls upon her the deceit of robbers, the shivering annoyance of the cold, the most harsh wretchedness of want, the calamitous scarcity of hunger; and, to conclude in brief the little sum of her straits, by eating cheese and all the rest she violated Lent ^h: and so she repented that she had touched with bold soles the road which the illustrious Mansuetus had forbidden. But behold, she returns well-nigh lifeless, and, driven by the sharpest pains, perseveres with vowed vigils, imploring the Saint by name and with sighs. And while the Brethren were paying the nocturnal Vigils to the Lord, she was always offering tears with a single heart; until at the last she groaned aloud, and, wailing with a tearful voice, cried out: Alas, she said, holy Mansuetus, why do you cast off a wretched woman? Why do you suffer a pilgrim to go away half-bound? Will you indeed give men to see, so to speak, the disgrace of your imperfection? Behold, departing from you tomorrow, I shall die a long death — woe is me! — and shall be made a stranger to the health I looked for.*

[6] and her arm is freed from the second chain. Such things she had said in grief upon bended knee, and, beating her breast, she withdraws from the altar, and desires to go to her little bed at an unaccustomed hour: when suddenly the iron springs back with a shriek, so that it struck the ears of the guardian of the church with its sound. For she herself at once fell upon the pavement, and, her breath put to flight, was utterly mute and silent, lying as if wholly without blood, her neck bent, her head thrown back: whom the doorkeeper of the church, following after, found without the semblance of life; and this he hastens to signify with an inquiring finger ⁱ to the father of the monastery. But he comes anxiously, and with curved fingers tries to pluck out the iron , which, force being applied, he was scarcely able to cast off. But after some space of a full hour she felt her spirit brought back within her breast, she felt her guilt utterly extinguished, she felt her arm loosed from the chain; and, leave being asked of her Deliverer, she returned with joy to her own country. The aforesaid rings, however, hang at the feet of the crucified Lord; of which the first broke off on the Kalends of January, and the other fell on the thirteenth of the Kalends of June, in the year one thousand and nine from the Incarnation of the Lord, while lord Bertold the bishop ruled the church of Toul , in the seventh Indiction.

in Marten. obdormivis*

ibid. rursus*

ibid. iter*

ibid. eam*

the following are omitted ibid. down to Post* etc.

ibid. Tullensem*

ANOTHER MIRACLE OF THE YEAR MXLIX,

by Peter, deacon of the Holy Roman Church, From the edition of Martène, cited above, at col. [ ], collated with the printed copy of Calmet and with another MS.

Mansuetus, bishop of Toul among the Leuci in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 5216 ^a

BY PETER, DEACON OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH.

The glory of God, who works miracles through the Saints and avenges crimes. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who alone does great wonders. Let there be blessed everywhere the wonderful Founder of all places, the wonderful Worker in all places. Let him be blessed upon the throne of his kingdom, in the holy temple of his glory, which is in heaven above and on earth beneath; where his own holy and glorious name he himself day by day more and more glorifies, magnifies , and exalts. For indeed the Apostle cries out: The kingdom of God is within you; and, The temple of the Holy One is holy, which you are. But that the Saints are the throne of God is written elsewhere: The soul, says he , of the just is the seat of wisdom. For in them the power of God and the wisdom of God, as upon a certain throne of his might, sits with sublime authority, while through them he both works prodigies and decrees judgments upon matters. Upon such a throne of his kingdom, in such a temple of his glory, when we had removed hither to Toul the day before , while the illustrious birthday of blessed Aper ^b, returning in its yearly course, chanced to shine upon the fatherland, the almighty King of heaven himself, whose honor loves judgment, both showed that he is just, and plainly made clear that he is to be feared. He is the judge of the reins and the searcher of hearts; before whose eyes all things are naked and open, for whom the night shall be lit up as the day , for whom no darkness is dark. And although this is known by the corroboration of the testimonies of all the holy Scriptures, and is believed abundantly and more than enough by the very truth of the matter, yet from the evident and terrible sign which he himself willed to work upon the venerable festival of his beloved * before his body, it will be possible to perceive it more clearly than the light.

[2] [A serf of the abbey of St. Mansuetus, whose concubine was a bondwoman of the abbey of St. Aper, (seeks) from this saint a transfer of servitude] A certain peasant of St. Mansuetus, first bishop of the Leuci, a home-born slave enjoying the companionship of a certain home-born bondwoman of St. Aper, the seventh pastor of the same people after him, being overcome by the enticements of the flesh, or by the sweetness of the sons he had received of her, served St. Mansuetus with his body, but clung to St. Aper. For he had long desired to be transferred by any occasion whatever from the right of the one to the right of the other, so that both the offspring and the parents might be embraced by a single and not a double yoke of servitude . But when he had long and much, and to no effect, turned this over within himself, as he himself afterward disclosed , it happened, on that same solemnity of holy Aper, famed among all, that amid the numerous multitude of the people flowing together, to the honorable, where his venerable body lies in deserved honor, he too should come to the church to pray: and when he was now drawing near to the sacred threshold, the aforesaid transfer of servitude began to creep into his mind, and, kissing the holy threshold from the depth of his heart, the foolish suppliant, and , was mindful of his sins — but of his concubine and his sons. He importunes with shameless prayers Aper, ranging through the pleasant groves of paradise and turning away his ears from a petition of this kind; and so, going up * to the principal altar, full of such a vow he there set down a taper middling in comparison with the others, without the example of the rest,

[3] But when it was said to him by one of the monks, [he asks for an evil end, and, offering him tapers bought with stolen money, is grievously punished in his right hand.] why he had not set it at the body of St. Aper , as the others had; repenting of the deed he searches his purse, whether he might perhaps find some small coin wherewith he might buy another candle. He finds an obol, rejoices, runs, buys two little tapers for one obol. But this obol he had taken from the tithe of St. Mansuetus entrusted to him, to whose condition he was subject. But when he was carefully fitting his right hand ^c, that he might set those little tapers upon the sacred body after the manner of those who go round in reverence, Aper the most fierce, delaying not at all, struck him — not with a savage tusk, but as it were by an avenging sentence rejecting an offering of this kind — in that very right hand with which he was carrying them. For in a wondrous manner his gathered fingers began so strongly to be driven into his palm, and all his joints to be so straitened, that from the intolerable pain he roared out exceedingly , and cried aloud what he was suffering. Straightway a very great rumor arises among the people. They are astounded, they tremble, and what this portends the one asks of the other .

[4] The deed rang in the ears of my lord Pope Leo the Ninth, [witnesses of the miracle: Pope Leo IX and Peter the deacon, who wrote it: St. Aper being invoked in vain,] who long before, called Bruno, had been bishop of that same place; and he had then come thither not so much to visit as to bless the country and to confirm it in the Lord. He was about to celebrate the solemnities of the Masses within the cloisters of the monastery, when the matter was now brought to him. He came therefore, he saw, he heard how it had happened. Meanwhile he questions the man whether he had done any crime whereby he had deserved this. He searches his conscience; he recalls nothing that he may confess to have been against blessed Aper, save perhaps that alone which he was pondering when he was entering the threshold of the church. So standing I too found him, when I then first arrived, being engaged in the Lord's business: I beheld all his fingers folded together as into a fist, so sharply gripping the little tapers that the blood stood as witness of the excessive constriction, which, flowing down, stained the ends of the candles. Meanwhile by all with many complaints is holy Aper entreated, but is by no means moved to mercy. One day and another did that wretched man pass there in hope of recovery; and he accomplished nothing *, although he said that he wished to be St. Aper's.

[5] On Saturday evening the monks of St. Mansuetus are present, seeking their own man, [recourse is had to the help of St. Mansuetus, who frees the serf from the ill by which he had been punished in his right hand.] and leading him back with them. They confidently approach their own Mansuetus, and pass the night wakeful in prayer, and await the kindly gentleness of the ready Mansuetus. The bright moon held the lofty part of the sky; when one of the brethren, moved by a divine prompting, asked the man ruined in his right hand whether he had stolen anything from the office of collecting the tithe enjoined upon him, whence this calamity might have come upon him. He presently, returning to himself, disclosed for what reason he had loved Aper than Mansuetus; and he also made known about the obol whence he had got those candles which he still held in his hand: and straightway, with the end of his words, there came an extension of the fingers, which had already, the flesh being pierced through by an incredible pressure, reached the bones and sinews of the palm ^d. At this God, the wondrous artificer of all mighty works, is praised, and the merit of the great Mansuetus, to be proclaimed far and wide, is magnified. And when this came to the knowledge of the lord Pope himself, of the clergy and of the people, the light of the Lord's Day having come, amid much rejoicing a merry saying is born: that him whom the grim Aper wounded, the brisk Mansuetus cured.

[6] [The author, alluding to the name of each Saint, proclaims God's justice and clemency.] Minds of a loftier understanding, however, perceived that in Aper there was justice, and in Mansuetus clemency; although he was no more afraid thus to deny the offices of the lower members than to restore what he had denied. Wherefore in these two miracles contrary to each other no contrariety of will is to be believed among the saints, who, possessing an unspeakable felicity, rejoice together in an unending peace. But in that Aper struck, let us weigh the inevitable judgment of divine chastisement; and in that Mansuetus healed, let us take note that the gift of unmerited mercy is displayed toward us not by our own merits. That man is condemned by a sentence of equity by him to whom he wished to flee by the law of servitude. But why this? Save because the Lord is just and has loved justice; his countenance has beheld equity. And that this may be made known, that God accepts no sacrifice from another's goods, he teaches it by the small obol, which among weights holds the next-to-last place; as though by this he rejected the vow of some robber or thief , and said: I will not take calves from your house, nor he-goats from your flocks. But in that Mansuetus made gentle , it is as though by this the Lord says: I will not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live. Turn to me, and I will turn to you. I will strike and I will heal — I said through my Moses ; and this I always do by the effect of my power, I who am like a rough boar in wounding, and am also like a gentle lamb in healing. In Aper and in Mansuetus I sit, and through these I exercise my judgments. They are my thrones, for they reign with me: they have power from my power, they glory in my glory. The Lord says this in heaven; we men feel it on earth. Let no one, therefore, however full of sins, however beaten with the scourges of divine vengeance, be afraid to turn to the Lord and Creator whom he has offended: or, if he has not yet scourged him, let him not dissemble; since he it is who puts to death , who leads down to hell and brings back. To whom be honor and glory, power and dominion, through infinite ages of ages. Amen.

Mansuet. magnificat &*

ibid. Dei*

* this word is omitted ibid.

Mansuet. illuminatur*

al. adstipulantibus*

al. ipsaque*

in Mansuet. is added Apri*

ibid. and in Calm. is added mente*.

al. servilis conditionis*

al. prodidit*

al. non*

al. rursum*

other copies add cereum*

Mansuet. ejularet*

Calm. quidque*

al. ab altero*

al. ipsa*

* in Cal. this little word is wanting

al. profecit*

Calm. proditum*

add magis*

Mansuet. virtutis*

* these two words are omitted ibid.

ibid. de*

ibid. mansuete fecit*

ibid. Moysen servum*

ibid. is added & vivificat*

in Calm. Leucham*

perhaps devectis*

THE ELEVATION OF THE BODY, MADE IN THE YEAR MCIV,

by an anonymous author, From the edition of the oft-cited Martène, from col. [ ], collated with a MS. taken from the twelfth-century Mansuetan codex.

Mansuetus, bishop of Toul among the Leuci in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 5217 ^a

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

The author's prologue. The weakness of the human mind, when it has spoken of the Saints and of the Saints' deeds, most often, returning to itself, is filled with dread: because assuredly it reckons itself unworthy that so great and so weighty a business should be entrusted to it. Nevertheless, because such a purpose is not conceived out of a proud spirit, but rather with simple and humble devotion by all of the faithful it is undertaken, we hope that the Saints themselves do not receive this unworthily: we are confident that they will be at hand for us, and will mercifully inspire what ought to be said concerning them. Since therefore concerning the life and deeds of our most blessed father and patron Mansuetus we have discoursed a little, we have proposed among the rest to explain concerning his second translation, why and how it was made; so that, while he sees us more fully exercised in his remembrance, he himself may be kinder toward us, and through him the clemency of the supreme judge become more ready.

[2] That the doubt about the wholeness of the body, once elevated by St. Gerard, From the ancient fathers indeed we have received it handed down, and even to our own times it has been believed without doubt, that St. Gerard, after many ages his own most worthy successor in the bishopric of the Leuci, translated his sacred body, and placed it within * the Church which he had found consecrated under his name ^b, in a wooden chest, in a fitting place; where, presiding, he might receive the voices of the monks singing psalms and serving him perpetually in the same church, and might bestow upon the people of the Leuci the benefit of his accustomed governance. But in the time that followed, with the multitude of many years intervening, no small error began to arise, and an ambiguity sprang up concerning the wholeness of the most holy body: and it was said by very many that the blessed head had been torn from the body, and was kept hidden in another place. By which opinion the distinguished lord abbot of the same church, of most pious memory, Thiemar, and moreover the whole throng of the monks, began to be grievously saddened and beyond measure afflicted; and the loss of the sacred relics they weighed not as a matter of opinion, but bewailed it as certain and manifestly known.

[3] [might be taken away, a second elevation of him is decreed: a precious chest having been built,] What then was to be done? But the almighty Lord, who is wont to show the way to those who wander, and to those who are in darkness the light of justice, looked upon the groans of his own Leuci , and while they frequently took counsel upon this, of his great mercy he inspired a good counsel: namely, that the chest in which the holy relics were enclosed, as being old and void of all ornament, they ought to change, and to fashion a new one of new timbers; which indeed they should cover with gold and silver, and should adorn with skillful workmanship and with precious stones: for so they would both add honor to the Bishop and satisfy the long-standing ambiguity. The aforesaid abbot Thiemar ^c, a man of holy conversation, a man illustrious in wisdom, acceptable to God and to men, took also help from him from whom he had taken his counsel; and the chest which he knew must be made he rendered completed in due time ^d. Which being done, unwilling to defer his holy purpose, he straightway approached lord Pebo , at that time bishop of the Leuci, and his fellow-abbots, and also all the chief men of the city, seeking counsel, when he might fulfill his desire, and at what time he ought to remove the holy relics.

[4] Bishop Pibo, on 14 June in the year 1104, with great Straightway Pebo, bishop of pious and holy memory, by the counsel of his princes issued an edict throughout his whole province, that in that week in which the general synod is wont to be celebrated after Pentecost, they should assemble at his city, the head of the province, and there with one mind should celebrate the translation of their Bishop; and not without reason: for it was fitting that at the moving of the Shepherd the whole flock should be moved, and that the sheep should come to see again him from whom they had deserved to find the pastures of life. The report of this edict, flying abroad, so struck and so kindled the hearts of those who heard it, that at the appointed time princes and peoples vied with one another to hasten to the city with as great desire as if the holy Bishop were announced to be awaiting them alive again in the flesh. Therefore in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand one hundred and four, in the twelfth Indiction, and in the twelfth year of the ordination of the aforesaid lord abbot Thiemar, on the eighteenth of the Kalends of July ^e, the aforesaid lord bishop Pebo, and with him Theoderic, duke of that region, and the other princes of the neighboring regions, with an endless throng of peoples, with tapers and crosses and with the bodies of other Saints, assembled in the church of their own Shepherd, being ready indeed to begin the holy work in fastings and in the compunction of tears.

[5] Without delay that old chest, in which the blessed bones were covered, solemnity transfers into it the body found whole: is brought forth into the sight of the people, and by the bishop himself of that church and by the aforesaid abbot Thiemar, in the presence of other most religious abbots — lord Widric of St. Aper, lord Stephen of Bèze, and lord Odelric of St. Urban ^f — and of others standing by ^g, and of many religious faithful, it is set in a lofty place, whence it might easily be beheld and seen by all. Which, being opened, faithfully rendered up the treasure committed to it, with the limbs wrapped in order at full length in a pall, in such wise that the head and the remaining limbs were shown to all, and that from the hearts of all that once false opinion might be driven out. Therefore the new chest, fashioned with wondrous workmanship, came beneath it, and, barred about on every side with iron, received the treasure there present, namely the most holy body, to be kept.

[6] And since the whole throng which had assembled could not be received within the walls of the church, [the church not holding the people, it is carried into a neighboring meadow: the common joy and devotion:] lest anyone should seem to remain without a share in so great a gladness, it is led out into a neighboring meadow, where each might more freely draw near and present praises and gifts to the Shepherd they had longed for. Oh how great was the exultation among the monks as they sang! Oh how great the devotion among the clerks as they chanted! Oh how great the striving of those who went beneath the pious burden! Oh how wonderful the acclamation of the peoples following after! The whole assembly resounds with praises, the tongues of all are loosed in new proclamations, and because they hold the Saint in their hands, they follow him the more ardently with holy praises. That day was brighter than many others, the brightness of the sun itself shone forth purer than usual, that it might plainly appear of what merit before the Lord the holy Man stood.

[7] What more? The crowds went round the Shepherd, they greet him, when the faithful had venerated it, it is carried back into the church. and reverently touch him; what they can and as much as they can, they offer their vows and oblations most devoutly. After this the blessing of life is given to the people, and the blessed Bishop is carried back upon exulting shoulders into his own church: in which, set in a lofty place, as it is still lawful to hold , he watches over his people as from a certain watchtower, and with mighty hand drives off and repels the enemies that assail them: and his body indeed is left to us for a help upon earth; but his blessed soul enjoys perpetual joys in heaven; to which may he vouchsafe to bring us by his intercessions who did not spare to redeem us by his own blood, Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and dominion abiding * unto ages of ages. Amen.

in the Mansuet. MS. disserit*

ibid. pastoris*

ibid. intra*

ibid. tunc*

ibid. servorum*

ibid. Pibonem*

ibid. quo scilicet*

ibid. quando*

tenet*

ibid. circumeunt*

ibid. cernere*

ibid. permanet*

MIRACLES FROM ABOUT THE YEAR MCXXV TO MCXXXVI,

by an anonymous author, From the twelfth-century Mansuetan codex.

Mansuetus, bishop of Toul among the Leuci in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 5218 ^a

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

The Saint frees a woman bent double by a contraction of the sinews; When a sedition had arisen through a demonic infestation, while the count of the Saintois ^b was carrying out a tyrannical devastation upon the prebend of the canons, the bishop, the clergy, and the whole people, being troubled, besought only the divine propitiation and the intercession of the Saints. Therefore, having taken up the glorious bodies of the holy confessors Mansuetus, Aper, and Gerard, they carried them to the greater church of the glorious protomartyr with a general concourse of people; and, the relics of the Saints being reverently arranged about the chest of the holy martyr, they raised more loftily the bier of the most holy bishop Mansuetus, as of the first pastor. There with one mind, with groaning and with praises of exultation, they offered to God their vows of suppliant prayer and of devotion. Amid these things a poor woman, with the framework of her sinews grown together, bent from the loins along the ridge of her back even to her head, and for many years drawn down almost to the very ground, scarcely supported by two two-foot staves, one in either hand, is brought to the bier of the glorious Confessor; which, so far as she was allowed and able, she began to touch with hands stretched up above her back, to lick over with kisses of her upturned head, and to cry out with voices uttered amid groaning that he would have mercy on her. Those who were present saw, with a certain anguish of distress, sweat flow down from the wretched woman's body and burst forth drop by drop: when her sinews, distorted with their former knottiness, having recovered their vigor, gave forth a crack; and her body stood whole, and upright. The bystanders lifted up the proclamation of the Saints, returning thanks to God, the protector of all, and praising together the mighty works of his wonders.

[2] On the following day, when they were carrying back the aforesaid body of the Saint to its own basilica, he restores her walk to another wretchedly contracted: the clergy and the whole people, thickening the throng, were everywhere recounting the wondrous clemency of the Saint. Again a certain woman, who for many years now had endured the loss of an unhappy contraction, creeping on the ground, as though sitting, was borne along only upon the joints of her hands; who, circling through the streets and making a piteous progress, wandered by the crossways in her hard lot seeking alms, often befouled amid the puddles, and along the muddy road offered her misery to be seen by those who wondered. She, having conceived a hope of healing and being stirred by the miracles of the new report she had heard, glides — a fearful prodigy — across the Saint's pavement, leaping upon her upturned hands; and, violently bursting through the crowds, she throws herself wailing beneath the Saint's bier; straightway with arms outstretched she boldly hangs upon the Saint's bier; she prays, weeps, bites, licks, and shamelessly thrusts herself forward. And when the Saint's body was now being carried in to be replaced in a loftier shrine, she, hanging on shamelessly with her hands, could not be torn away; but, as though about to lose her physician, strengthened the more by despair, she broke out into a voice of crying, and bent all who were present to tears of compassion. Why should I delay longer? Having received entire soundness, she did not so much earn the miracle as wrest it out. And she thereafter is the witness and * herald of her Helper, and displays to the wretched hope and daring to trust ^c…

[3] On the third night likewise a certain woman, with the frame of her legs and knees withering, a woman with a grievous infirmity of the legs and knees, crept most wretchedly upon her hands and elbows. Having endured in this sickness a most protracted calamity, at the sepulchre of the holy Bishop she received soundness, herself also glorifying the same Saint's magnificent mercy, so ready toward the sick…

[4] While the Brethren of that place were celebrating the nocturnal offices ^d on the solemnity of St. James, a girl with a contraction of feet and hands, the holy Bishop relieved two sick persons of a twofold ailment. An unhappy young girl, brought to the church of the Saint with difficulty upon a little ass, standing before the Saint's altar with suppliant vow, and, her hands and feet contracted, held fast by a twofold malady, was not able to present at the altar the candle offered to her as an alms: when suddenly by a godlike power she began little by little to be raised up; vigor returns, stiffness departs, the fingers are unfolded. Being restored, she straightway broke forth into a voice of proclamation, a truthful witness of so great a prodigy accomplished in herself.

[5] In the dark season of a night of the same kind, before the altar of St. Andrew lay a little boy, a boy with paralysis, undone by paralysis and eager for healing, carried and fed by the hands of his friends. He, being suddenly roused by the shout of proclamation, began, trembling, to be helped and to be seized with sweat. Whole at length and upright, he leaps up into the midst, feels with his hand, walks with his foot, rejoices in mind, and straightway performs the office of all his limbs. The choir, roused at once by the miracle repeated, and the priest robed in white *, the Gospel having been read, leapt up with lofty praise in tuneful jubilation…

[6] A certain Wius, a woman of good hope, for nearly five years bewailed the loss of one eye of which she was bereft. and he frees a woman from a five years' blindness of one eye. She, thirsting to wrest a miracle from the Saint, when as a suppliant she had pressed a kiss upon the holy altar, straightway received back her eye, safe with the light restored: now she perceived the obstructions of the radiant sun, which she presently made known to all, to the heaping up of his power.

[7] The tongue and face of one who pursued his mother with abuse swell up foully; When the desires of the heart are kindled, the concord of charity must be examined more subtly; since by the prompting of the divine dispensation natural love depends upon the spiritual law: for in the law, after the love of God, father and mother are commanded to be honored. In Solomon we read: The eye that mocks at father and mother, the ravens of the brooks shall dig it out. And these things indeed we set forth beforehand for the caution of readers, that in our examination we may weigh both the censure of divine justice and the regard of mercy. A certain untractable boy, while he shamelessly resisted his mother as she rebuked him, was moreover carried so far as to assail her with abuse. Him, straightway struck with a grievous and dreadful stroke, vengeance punishes by divine judgment.

The swelling tongue of his mouth, driven by the goads of pain, betrayed the guilt he had brought on by his raving rancor. Scarcely sighing, scarcely rolling his troubled eyes, the wasting man chewed his words in an obscure whisper: His horrible countenance, buried in a swollen face, dulled the beholder's heart with a weight of amazement.

[8] but by the Saint's benefit they are brought back to their former state: Nevertheless God inflicted this so terrible punishment for the correction of those who beheld it, so that the prodigy displayed might thenceforth restrain the vice of detestable presumption. And so, when he had learned of the mighty works which were being gloriously done through the intervention of the glorious confessor Mansuetus, this same boy, being a head-tributary ^e of the same our Patron and protector, sought to be carried with the highest devotion to the Saint's patronage, confidently hoping to be freed by his obtaining from the danger that hung over him. Nor did the Saint's mercy delay to be present in pity to him as he groaned. As soon therefore as with the pall of the holy altar he had covered his head and face, the tongue subsiding, all the poison of the discharge, being dissolved *, flowed away; his face recovered its form: and the boy departed joyful, his soundness recovered…

[9] [he succors one afflicted with the ailments of a lame foot, a withered hand, and a mute tongue;] A certain Bruno, held perchance by a grievous ailment, is relieved by a threefold miracle at the Saint's intervention. For the shin of his left side was lame, his right hand was withered, and he throbbed, vexed by the straitness of a mute tongue; but the Saint's mercy, granting to him who asked the things he wished, makes firm his feeble step, renders his hand movable and his tongue supple. With sound foot he then went four times about the Saint's altar; imprinting the sign of the Cross, he lifted his hand on high; with a clear voice he uttered praises to God, exulting…

[10] a dead son to his mother Another miracle, unheard of for ages, happened in the same times, which came to us by the agreeing report of the father and the mother ^f. While the inhabitants of Toul were solemnly occupied on the third of the Nones of September in the holy birthday of Mansuetus, an unhappy mother at Rogeri-villa ^g was in anguish over the last offices of her dying son: who, moved within by a mother's tenderness, sorrowful and half-dead, began to set down these words: Ah, Mother of God, have mercy on a wretched woman groaning, whom the depths of her torn mind so cruelly rend. How ill, in travail, did I see the joys of his birth; whom now in sorrow I bewail, I have seen again in the jaws of death. Alas the grief! Embracing the pledges of the son taken from me, I choose more readily to die than in tears to outlive my sorrow. But to you, Saint of God, I will heap up the favor of merit, if only for one night you take away my grief. To the heaping up of your praise I will join the boy to myself, subjecting him to you while I make ready to pay my vows.

[11] O how wondrous is your clemency, O God, toward us! You whom death dreads, he restores him alive again; whom Styx shrinks from, before whom trembles the court of heaven; you work always in your Saints wonders: for whatever things are well done are done by your grace. Who would behold one swallowed up and extinguished in the jaws of death restored — one already swallowed up and extinguished breathing again — and not be struck with dread? Those who were present affirm that they saw the body already lifeless, all its limbs already spent , their framework loosed, the vigor now growing cold, the blood turning black. Appeased by the prayers of the glorious Confessor, the Lord is present from on high as one who hears — the strong lion, the conqueror of death, the valiant giver of life. At last the lifeless boy, roused by these wailings of his mother, and, his eyes opening and quivering for the use of sight, and, his vigor now resumed, his knees bending back, addresses his wailing mother as a suppliant in these words: Devout mother, the Saint of God whom you promise to seek, ask quickly, having me as your companion on the road; by whose restoring * gift I am made new, and, safe, have barely escaped the chains of death when my burial was already joined to me. That her son thus restored to life had spoken such things, the mother herself at length related to us in order; when she offered that same boy, made over to the holy altar, and, groaning, moved the bystanders to weeping. This very thing was already attested by his blackened face, his hair now thin where the skin was partly stripped of it, his squalid countenance, his pallid color and wrinkled leanness — almost as unlike a living man as ice is unlike fire…

[12] In the encounter which took place before Toul between the counts of the Saintois and of Bar, he snatches from their hands a soldier taken by the enemy and bound with a rope; when the church of Bouconville ^h had been burned and many townsmen taken, a certain soldier was being led along, violently bound by the feet beneath a horse. He, sighing, implored God's holy Bishop that he would mercifully protect him in his captivity, restraining the furious count from raging against him: he presently felt the rope slacken, his feet being loosed; escaping, he made for the wood with hurried bounds, and, hedged about everywhere by nearly two hundred soldiers, while he chanced to lift a bundle of thorns, he was by such a device taken away from them all among the brambles, while they all stood at a loss. And a little after he rendered thanks thence to the Saint as a suppliant, presenting the very rope with which he had been bound; and he became a tributary to him who had furnished this help…

[13] Two vigorous young men, eagerly hastening from the parts of Metz to the holy Confessor's solemnity, being taken on the road by an unlooked-for chance by a most savage brigand and bound with double fetters, he looses for one of them the chains into which he had been cast by a brigand. and ensnared with iron chains, are mercilessly handed over to a dreadful imprisonment. Of whom one, with anxious spirit and contrite heart, began as a suppliant to entreat God's holy Bishop for his deliverance *; when suddenly, in the dark middle season of the night, a light sent from heaven illumined the whole house, and the divine power struck apart the holds of the fetters and the bars of the chains with an invisible key. Delivered therefore, he came trembling and panting to the Saint's solemnities, and to all who were attending so great a festival he recounted in order the things that had happened…

perhaps &*

read depositus*

read anxiari*

* clothed in a white garment

read dissolutæ*

that is, exsequiis*, on Du Cange's testimony,

miseræ miserere*

perhaps effœta*

adi*

revivisco*

read ereptione*