MASTER NEGATIVE NO. 92-81 094 MICROFILMED 1 993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a ::'r reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair "^er may be liable for copyright infringement. ■^ j"^ ji*"% use * %i4i %. %f This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: HOPE, ANNA FULTON TITLE: CONVERSION OF T TEUTONIC RACE ... PLACE: ONDON DATE: 1891] COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record Master Negative U 931.7 H77 Hope, Anne Fulton, 1809-1887. The conversion of the Teutonic race; or. The first apostles of Europe. Edited by the Rev. John Bernard Dalgaims. 2d ed., rev. and enl. from the author's notes. London, Bums & Gates cl^^la 2 V. Bibliographical footnotes . Contents.— V. 1. Conversion of the Franks and the Eng.Uch.— v. 2. S. Boniface and the conversion of Ger- many. Restrictions on Use: y TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: ZOK FILM SIZE:_^25hlM__. IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA QIA^^IB IIB DATE FILMED: ^-R^33^ INITIALS sToL^. FILMED BY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOQDBRIDGE. CT r Association for Information and Image Management 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centinneter 1 2 3 u u "" Iiiiiliiiil Inches iiiiiiiiii 5 6 iliiiiliiiiiiii I I I I 7 8 9 10 iiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliii 11 1.0 I.I 1.25 ■ 90 2.8 3.2 4.0 1.4 T 1 I ill 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 12 13 14 15 mm iiliiiiliiiiliiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiii i MfiNUFfiCTURED TO OHM STRNDRRDS BY APPLIED IMfiGE. INC. v-OJ^SIt^vx MUi-VvOlSj^X ^CVXJ^ZJ^ mtljeCttpofiHruigark THE LIBRARIES GIVEN BY Carlton J. II. Hayes o O ^6> ir / It M If ')» 'Si i >lx THE CONVERSION OF THE TEUTONIC RACE -*■* fctf t7 V\.m.J^m -•'i Kf/m. iV^ ,tX.'^- . J^fcAj *>i|s^SSS5lpBS|iyS|Si^^ ^£^7%!^^^^^ I Zhc Complete WORKS OF MRS. HOPE, In uniform type and binding, are issued at the following prices : — Life of St. Philip Neri . .10 Franciscan Martyrs 16 Life of St. Thomas of Canterbury 2 o Early Martyrs 26 The Conversion of the Teutonic Race. In Two Volumes, each volume complete in itself. Vol. I. Conversion of the Franks and English 26 Vol. II. S. Boniface and the Conver- sion OF Germany 26 THE CONVERSION OF THE TEUTONIC RACE, OR XTbe jfirst Hpostles of Europe* CONVERSION OF THE FRANKS AND THE ENGLISH. By Mrs. HOPE, i( AUTHOR OF "the EARI.V MARTYRS," ETC. EDITED By THE REV. JOHN BERNARD DALGAIRNS, OF THE LONDON ORATORY OF S. PHILIP NERI. SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED FROM THE AUTHOR'S NOTES, ' ' ' ; ! • !.. • • • • • • • ' > • • • • • . : • : • :*• • • * • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • LONDON,. T^URIiiS;^-OA-X^§. 4.;mited. NEW YORK, CR!C^NNATi;'ci^lci6p*;'Bi;NilGB:R BROTHERS. • • •» • • » • • • • • ' • • * ' • • « • • , i: .1 • ■ I ' % • • < ( t I • 1 1 I • II I •■ ' • f 1 . I • . * • '^ . I . > I I ... * . » I , < I I c > • CONTENTS. -M- PART L ©ID (Bermani?. CHAPTER I. PAGE The Germans 3 Origin of the Germans, 3. Their political and social organisation, 9. National character, 17. Religion, 17. CHAPTER II. The Invasions 32 Earliest intercourse of the Germans with the Greeks and Romans, 32. The Cimbri and Teutones, 33. Character of the invasions, and mutual relations of the Germans and Romans duiing five centuries, 37. Subdivisions of the German tribes, 42. Revolution in the spirit of the invaders, 43. Extent of the ruin, 46. CHAPTER III. The Church in the Storm 52 Early conversion of the Germans, 52. Alaric in Rome, 56. S. Germanus, 57. Attila, S. Loup, S. G^n^vi^ve, and S. Aignan, 57, 58. S. Ursula, 59. S. Leo, 62. S. Severin, 62. Relapse of the Germans into Paganism or heresy, 66. The Irish Celts her last hope, 69. ii-aftjiiaaftg-ft'J VI CONTENTS. PART II. CHAPTER I. PAGB The Eldest Son of the Church . . . .73 Clovis's baptism, 73. The Merovingians, 78. Their redeeming virtues, 78. Clovis and Albofleda, 80. Fredegonde and Chilperic, 80. Clotaire L, 81. S. Nizier, 82. Childebert I. and S. Eusitius, 83. S. Marculph, 85. CHAPTER II S. Benedict S. Benedict's parentage, and flight from Rome, 87. At Vicovara, 90. At Subiaco, 91. At Monte Oassino, 96. His rule, 96. His supernatural gifts, 101. Totila, 104. S. Scholastica, 106. His death, 107. Success of his Order, 108. 87 CHAPTER HI. Life Springing out of Decay 110 S. Honoratus, Cassian, 110. S. Germain of Auxerre, S. John of Reome, S. Csesarius, 110. S. Romanus at Condat, 112. The Abbey of Agaune, 113. Hermits, 114. S. Clotilda, 117. S. Cloud, 120. S. Rade- gunda, 120. S. Maurus and the first Benedictines in France, 130. CHAPTER IV. The Island of Saints 136 S. Patrick's parentage, 136. Date and place of birth, 137. Captivity in Ireland, 139. Escape, and % CONTENTS. VU PAOB return to his own country, 142. The "Fleurs de S. Patrice," 144. Sojourn at Tours, S. Martin, 145. Ordination, and visit to his relatives, 147. Hears "The voice of the Irish," 148. Sojourn at Lerins, S. Honoratus, 148, 149. Relations with S. Germanus, 150. Visit to Britain with him, 153. Mission of S. Palladius to the Irish, 154. His return and death, 156. Patrick appointed by Pope Celestine to suc- ceed him, 158. Consecrated bishop by S. Maximus at Ivrea, 159. Departure for Ireland, 161. CHAPTER V. The Irish 168 Early Celtic settlers, the Nemedians or Firbolgs, and Tuatha De' Dananns, 164. The Milesians, Gaels, or Scoti, 166. Characteristics of each, 167. Contrast to the Celts of Gaul, 169. Supremacy of Milesians, 170. Social and political institutions, 171. Litera- ture, 174. The Brehon Laws, 175. Internal strife, 176. Invasion and repulse of the Picts, 177. Supremacy of Ulster, 178. Conair^ Mor, 109 to 40 B.C., 182. Revolt of the Attacotti, 183. Re- establishment of the old dynasty till the twelfth century, 185. CHAPTER VI. S. Patrick in Ireland 187 Condition of the Irish, 187. S. Patrick lands in Wicklow, Meath, and Down, 188. Death of Milcho, 190. Conversion of Dichu and Ros, 190, 192. S. Patrick lights the Easter fire on hill of Slane, 193. Conference with Laeghaire, 194. Contest with magicians, 195. Numerous conversions, 197. Evan- gelisation in Leinster, 197. Destroys idols at Magh- Vlll CONTENTS. PAQE Slecht, 200. Enters Connaught and converts Laeg- haire's daughters and their guardians, 201. S. Patrick's fast and prayers on Croach Patrick, 205. After seven years in Connaught returns to Ulster and founds see of Clogher, 206. Through Leinster visits Munster, converting ^ngus at Cashel, 209. S. Patrick's miracles and prophecies, 209. His frequent perils and the martyrdom of Odran, 212. Revision of the Brehon Laws, 213. Conversion of Mac-Cuill, 214. Foundation of see of Armagh, 217. Remaining years passed in confirming and consoli- dating the rising Church, 217. Letter to Coroticus and Confession, by S. Patrick, 218. His death, 218. Summary of his work, 218. CHAPTER VII. S. COLUMBAN 220 S. Columban, 221. His rule, 231. S. Columbau, Brunehaut, and the French bishops, 235. S. Colum- ban expelled from Luxeuil, 241. S. Agilus and S. Waldelin, 241. S. Columban in Allemannia, 249. At Bobbie, 254. CHAPTER VIIL S. Columban's Disciples S. Gall, 257. S. Desle, 265. S. Ursicinus, 269. S. Germanus, 269. Duke Waldelin's family, 271. S. Ermenfried, 272. S. Amulph, 273. S. Romaric and S. Amatus, 274. S. Ouen and his brothers, 276. S. Agilus, 277. S. Philibert, 278. S. Vandrille, 279. S. Valery, 280. S. Riquier, 282. S. Omer, 282. S. Bertin, 283. S. Columban's rule superseded by that of S. Benedict, 284. Bishoprics in Germany at the end of the seventh century, 286. 257 CONTENTS. IX PART III. Conversion of tbe jBrxQliBb. CHAPTER L PAGB Conversion of Kent 289 S. Gregory the Great, 289. State of Britain, 291. S. Augustine, 294. In Kent, 296. Conference with the British bishops, 304. At York, 309. In Dorset- shire, 309. Conversion of Essex, 311. Relapse into idolatry, 314. Mellitus and Eadbald, 314. CHAPTER IL Conversion of Northumbria 317 S. Edwin, 317. S. Ethelberga and S. Paulinus, 321. Conversion of East Anglia and Lindsey, 325. Re- lapse into idolatry, 328. S. Oswald, 329. S. Sige- bert, 331. CHAPTER in. Conversion of Wessex, Mercia, Essex, and Sussex . 333 S. Birinus, 333. Conversion of Wessex, 334. Of Mercia, 335. Of Essex, 339. Of Sussex, 342. S. Wilfrid, 342. Ceadwalla, 344. CHAPTER IV. Characteristics of the Conversion of England Rapidity and thoroughness, 345. Purity of faith, 349. Devotion to S. Mary, 350. To S. Peter, 350. Christian legislation, 352. Morality, 353. CHAPTER V. 345 English Kings .... S. Oswald, 354. S. Oswin, 356. 354 S. Oswy, 358. I X CONTENTS. Wulfhere and Cenwealh, 361. Attraction to mon astic life, S. Sigebert, 362. S. Sebbi, 363. S. Ethel- red, Cenred, and Offa, 364. Ceadwalla, Entwin, S. Richard, Ceolwulf and Eadbert, 365. S. Ina, 365. CHAPTER VI. English Queens and Princesses S. Ethelberga, 368. S. Eanfled, 369. S. Hilda, 369. S. Elfleda, 373. S. Ebba, 374. Heresuid and her family, 377. S. Etheldreda, 378. S. Sexberga, 382. S. Earcongota, S. Ermenilda, 382. S. Werberga, 383. S. Ermenburga and her three daughters, 384. Caugyth and Eadburga, 385. S. Kineburga and S. Kineswitha, 386. S. Ethelberga, abbess of Barking, 387. S. Cuthburga and S. Coenburga, 388. S. Eri- desvvide, 389. S. Bathildes, 390. CHAPTER VII. English Bishops and Abbots S. Cutiibert, 392. S. Wilfrid, 398. S. Benedict Biscop, 400. S. Wilfrid at Lyons, 401. Returns to Northumbria, 404. The Easter controversy, 405. Synod of Whitby, 407. PAGS 368 392 CONTENTS. Returns home, and is imprisoned and banished, 427. S. Cuthbert Bishop of Lindisfarne, 430. Visit to S. Elfleda, 431. Egfrid's death, 433. Ermenburga's penitence, 434. S. John of Beverley, 435. S. Wil- frid restored to his see, 436. CHAPTER X. English Bishops and Abbots {continued) . S. Benedict Biscop at Jarrow, 437. S. Wilfrid banished by Aldfrid, and given the see of Lichfield by Ethelred, 439. S. John of Beverley, 440. Synod of Nosterfield, 441. S. Wilfrid goes to Rome, 443. Illness at Meaux, 444. Synod at the Nid, 446. S. Wilfrid's last years and death, 447. CHAPTER XL SL Theodore and the English Schools S. Theodore's archiepiscopate, 451. Church govern- ment and discipline, 452. S. Hadrian and the school at S. Augustine's Abbey, 454. Ceadmon, 458. S. Aldhelm, 459. Bede, 461. Alcuin, 465. Mission- ary spirit, 466. XI PAGE 437 451 *»3 CHAPTER VIIL English Bishops and Abbots {continued) . . .409 S. Wilfrid consecrated bishop, 409. S. Chad, 409. S. Theodore, 412. S. Wilfrid Bishop of York, 412. S. Chad at Lichfield, 415. S. Benedict Biscop at Wearmouth, 418. CHAPTER IX. English Bishops and Abbots {continued) . . .421 S. Wilfrid ejected from his see, 422. Appeals to . Rome, 423. In Eriesiand, 424. At Rome, 426. PART I. OLD GERMANY. "»!■% ( CHAPTEE I. 1 I i! t THE GERMANS. At some unknown period in the pre-historic age, the Aryan, or Indo-European family, broke up from its primeval home in the East and divided into two branches, which, moving in opposite directions, formed themselves respectively into the Eastern and Western groups of nations. The Eastern Aryans first took possession of Persia, and then, invading India through Sind, gradually made themselves masters of the country as far as the Ganges. As they advanced they drove before them the older Druvidian population, a race resembling the Australian savages in physical conformation and now represented by the natives of the Deccan and the hill tribes of the Indian peninsula.^ In this fertile region the Indian Aryans easily supplied themselves with the necessaries of life, and were thus enabled to advance early to a high state of civilisation. From their first appearance in history they are found formed into powerful states, possess- ing disciplined armies, and cultivating learning and the arts, commerce and manufactures. Also, such ves- tiges of past ages as may now be gleaned from the waitings of their poets and philosophers, their great ^ Huxley. Quarterly Journal of the Ethnological Society, October, lb69. A OLD GERMANY. national works, and their fine archseological remains, all point to a distant period of higher culture and . Sn. 8. Grimm, c. xix. p. 526. Ozanam, c. 2, ^* 2 Siem. 33^ 35^ 45^ ; Sn. 8, 9. W. Muller, 1. ii. c. 1, p. 165. Grimm, c. xix. p. 526. Ozanam, c. 2, p. 32. ' 3 Sfiem. 2 ; Sn. 15. Grimm, c. xix. p. 527. Muller, 1. ii. c. 1, p. 169. Ozanam, c. ii. p. 33. sight, and hearing. The central region of the uni- verse, called Mittilgard, was assigned them for their abode. And in the centre of the earth was Asgard, the city of the gods, in which were the throne of Odin and twelve seats for the Ases.^ Highest in the hierarchy of gods was Woden, or Odin, as he was called in Scandinavia, the omni- present, almighty creator, the father of gods and men ; who ruled the universe, riding on the clouds, and sending rain and sunshine ; in whom were centred all godlike attributes, of which he imparted a share to the other gods ; and from wliom proceeded all beauty, wisdom, strength, and fruitfulness, the knowledge of agriculture and the arts, the inspira- tions of music and song, and all good gifts. He was the giant hunter, who in the darkest nights rushed through the air on his white charger, clad in a brown mantle, his white locks streaming from beneath his slouching hat, followed by a train of wild huntsmen, the horses snorting fire, the bloodhounds baying, announcing war and carnage, danger and distress, as lie passed along with lightning speed. But he was in a more special way the god of war, revelling in blood and slaughter, giving courage and victory to his votaries, and admitting to his Yalhalla, or hall of bliss, none but those who died by the sword. Next to him was his son Tiior, who rode on the thunder-cloud and whirlwind, whose hammer was the thunderbolt, whose arrows were the lisjhtninf]: flashes, and whose waggon dashed through the heavens with crashing noise and ungovernable fury. The third place was given in Germany to Saxnot, ^ Saem. 3^ ; Sn. 10. Grimm, c. xix. p. 527. Muller, 1. ii. c. 1. p. 169. Ozanam, c. ii. p. 33. In SaBm. 3^ the brothers of Odin are called Hoenir and Lodhr (or Loki) ; and in Sn. 10, Vili and Ve. But these are supposed to be different names for the same gods. See Miiller, as above, and A. Schrader, Germ. Mythol. iii. f. 22 OLD GERMANY. THE GERMANS. ^Z I the stone-born son of Woden. Ilis name appears with those of Woden and Thor, in the well-known abjuration of Paganism required of Christian con- verts ; but he was also worshipped as Eor, Are, Ere, or Cheru, and Tyr, Zio, Tuisco, or Tins, from whicli last the name of the third day of the week, and the national designation *' thiuda," were derived. The deity known by these various names was the god of war, who rode to battle on the clouds at Woden's side, resplendent with light and glory, hewing down hosts with his sword of stone or iron, and spreading death on every side. But in Scandinavia the third place in the trilogy with Odin and Thor was given to Freyr, known also as Fro or Fricco, the god of love and marriage, of joy and pleasure, and the dis- penser of rain and sunshine, of famine and plenty, of barrenness and fruitfulness. After these supreme gods may be placed the great Goddess Mother of earth, universally worshipped, though under various names, as Xerthus, Ilertha, Bertha, Erche, llolda, Ostarn, Cisa, Frigg, Frea,^ &c. The variety of her names and worship in different places has given rise to much dispute as to the identity of the goddess. She seems to have been worshipped under the double character of the house- mother, the patroness of sj)inning and all domestic duties, and of the mother, or source of all fruitful- ness. Sometimes she is compared to Juno or Diana, at others to Ceres or Cybele, and at others to the mother of the Redeemer, whose worship may be traced in the myths of Mithra, lo, and Isis, thus connecting the far East with the distant West.^ ^ Grimm, c. xiii,, where the various names of the goddess and the varieties in her worship are fully discussed. Miiller is disposed to think that Nerthus, mentioned by Tacitus, was a Celtic and not a German deity. Geschichte, 1. i. c. 2, p. 47. * Nicolas, Etudes sur le Christianisme, vol. i. 1. 2, c. 4, p. 5. Besides the foregoing, there was Balder, the bravest, most beautiful and brilliant, the wisest, gentlest, most eloquent, and best beloved of tlie Ases.^ There was also the voluptuous Freyja, Freyr's sister, the Venus of the North ; and Loki, the god of fire, and his daughter He], or death ; and (Egir, god of the sea, with his cruel wife, Ran, whose nine daughters were the currents and waves ; and Surtr, the swarthy giant who ruled in Mus]iilli, the southern world of lire and heat. And besides all these there were countless hosts of deities and spirits of infinite variety, who gave life and soul to every mountain, plain, wood, and stream, every spot on the face of the eartli, in the wide ocean, and in the high vault of heaven, nay, even to the very trees and plants, rocks and stones. Endless existence would seem naturally to be a necessary attribute of godhead. But the Germans did not deem it so. On the contrar}^, they believed that the race of Odin and his creation was doomed to destruction. In the awful last day, Loki, the god of fire, will be unchained ; his son Fenrir, the hell- wolf, with all the evil spirits in wolfish form, will break loose and muster in the train of Ilel (death). One wolf will devour the sun, and another the moon. The stars will fall from heaven. lormundgandr, the great sea-serpent, will rush out of the ocean. The world of fire will vomit forth the race of giants, who, with flames in their hands, ami the swarthy Surtr at their head, will march in battle array against Odin and his host. A deadly struggle will ensue; the Ases will be defeated and killed ; all men will die ; and the world, wrapped in flames, will sink into the sea. Then Avill come the night of the gods. But this night will be followed by a bright and happy ^ Sn. 21, 26, 27, comp. with Saem. 41^ Miiller, 1. ii. c. 2, p. 251. 24 OLD GERMANY. THE GERMANS. 25 morrow. A new and moro beautiful earth will rise from out of the sea; new Ases will be created; Balder and the souls of all good men will enter into this abode of bliss, while the wicked will be punished in hell ; and thus a new cycle will be inaugurated.^ It is a disputed question whether the Germans had temples and images, or whether their worship was conducted only in the open air and through symbols. There exists evidence, however, that both kinds of worship were common. It is undoubted that the gods were worshipped in sacred groves, at fountains, hills, and trees, and that worship was oiFered to the sword of Tyr or Saxnot and to obscene symbols. There was also in Saxony the celebrated Irminsul, or column of the universe, which Charlemagne destroyed, and which was a block of wood of great size, in the centre of a grove.2 J^^^^\ there was the trunk of a tree *' covered with diverse images," which S. Walaric found in Neustria.^ There is also constant mention of both temples and images, in writings from the fourth century up to the lists of Pagan rites forbidden by councils of the Church. In the low state of German art it is probable that the images were often little more than rude blocks of wood. But when definite distinctive forms, even to the colour of their hair and their dress, were ascribed to the gods, it is reasonable to suppose that attempts, limited only by the artists' want of skill, would be made to give a material expression to these ideal forms.*^ It is easy to conceive how strong must have been ^ Grimm, c. xiv. p. 288 ; c xxv. p. 774-784. Miiller, 1. ii. c. 7, p. 386. - Trans'atio S. Alexandri: Anctor. Ruodolfo. Pertz, Monu- menta Gerinaniae Historica, ii. p. 676. 3 Vit. S. Walaric. Acta SS. O. S. B. soec. ii. p. 78. * For a full discussion of this subject, see Grimm, c. vi. p. 88. W. MiilUr, Geschichte, 1. i. c. ii. p. 56. the influence of such a religion on a race of great religious susceptibility, happily isolated from the contaminations of Pagan civilisation, and left free to develop their sensitive and vigorous moral char- acter in wild solitudes. In the' grandest and the loveliest forms of nature which surrounded them, they ever beheld that spirit-world, in the midst of which they lived and moved. The drifting clouds were Odin's messengers of fertility. The pealing thunder was the angry voice of Thor, and the flashing lightning his liery glance, commanding the cessation of the act then in progress. The corn, the fruit-trees, and all other blessings, were the gifts of the gods, and under their protection. Each critical event of life, birth, marriage, death, the election of a chief, the marshalling of the host fur war, the sending forth of a colony, household works, and agricultural labours, each and all had their special spiritual patrons. Each village and tribe, each tree and fountain, each forest, river, and rock, had its tutelar spirit. When at dead of night the storm gusts swept through the forest, and the crash of falling timber marked its course, the brave -woodsman who feared nought earthly, hastened his homeward steps, or crouched in awe without his hut, lest he should behold the dread hunter and his ghostly train. When the soft wind moaned sadly throuf^h the branches, the bereaved mother dried her eyes, lest her falling tears should weigh down the pitcher, which hung on the arm of her lost little one as it glided through the woodland in Holda's train. 1 ^ A beautiful legend tells that a woman of Wilhelmsdorf having lost her only son, used to go every night and weep at his grave. One night as she wept, she saw the goddess Holda sweep past, followed by a train of children spirits, the last of whom was a very young child, on whose arm huno- a pitcher full of water, the dripping of which wet its little ilUI 26 OLD GERMANY. The great mid-winter festival was the most joyous season of the year, for then the visit of the good mother-goddess was anxiously looked for. Then there would be great care and liaste to linish the spinning, to clean the house, to tend the cattle in their stalls, to put the garden in order, and to correct the children's faults, lest when she came on her round of inspection she should find cause to reprove, instead of blessing the household. The men, too, would beat and shake the fruit-trees, saying, " Sleep not, little tree, for the good mother is coming;" for should she find them sunk in their winter sleep they would miss her blessing, and bear no fruit the following season.^ On the other hand, the destructive mountain torrents, the piercing north wind, the raging hurri- cane, pestilence, famine, drought, bodily injuries, and unfortunate accidents, all were the work of the evil spirits. The alternations of the seasons, also, were viewed as the struggle constantly going on between good and bad spirits. In the early spring the fight began with the first burst of vegetation^; and then in all countries inhabited by the German race a joyful festival would be celebrated in honour of the fructifying mother of the earth, Hertha, Ostara, Bertha, or by whatever other name she was known ; and her waggon or ship would be carried round the territory in solemn procession with ap- propriate symbolic w^orship. In the summer the ripening of the corn and fruit showed that the good spirits were gaining victories; in the autumn the plentiful harvest proclaimed their triumphs; but shirt. Quickly she recognised her own lost darling, and as she pressed him to her bosom he said, " How nice and warm are mother's arms ! But, dear mother, do not cry so much ; for you see that my pitcher is full and heavy, and my shirt is wet through." — Ozanam, c. ii. \\ 57. ^ Freytag, Bilder, c. i. p. 92. THE GERMANS. 27 with the advance of winter the decaying vegeta- tion, the ice and snow, the floods of rain, and^'the howling tempests, announced their defeat by their malignant foes. In this never-ending war between good and bad spirits the German took his part by prayer, exor- cisms, and sacrifices. Horses were the victims pre- ferred for the most solemn festivals; but cattle, boars, rams, cocks, and various otlier animals, as well as the fruits of the earth, were offered, according to the deity whose favour or pardon \vas sought. The religious idea equally governed the civil life of the German. He obeyed the laws and customs of his tribe because they had been imposed by his divine progenitor. He followed a chief because the gods had directed his election. He began no work or enterprise without ascertaining the will of the gods and securing their favour by various super- stitious rites. He appealed to their judgment by ordeals or by single combat; and he called them in as witnesses to his veracity; for perjury was held in such horror by gods and men, that the most cruel punishments in hell Avere reserved for the perjurer, and the grass w^as said never to grow on his <^rave.i Though he loved pillage and rapine, he dfd not hoard wealth for his own present use, but gave it to the gods by burying it in the ground, or burning it, or throwing it into the sea or a rapid-flowing river, expecting to receive it again in a future life! And finally, from the same hope of futurity he sub- mitted to be punished, or even put to death by his equals; because he believed that punishment is an expiatory sacrifice, and that Odin, who loved to be invoked as " The lord of the hanged," Avould come by night and sit under the gibbet to converse with him. 2 ^ Ozanam, c. iii. p. 120. « Ibid., 122. I 28 OLD GERMANY. Thus, in spite of gross ignorance and error, the German was trained to contemplate the spiritual and invisible, to aspire to something higher than the })resent material world, and to form habits of natural virtue far above those of wild barbarism. He 'svas distinguished from all other Pagan nations, even the most civilised, by his conscientiousness, his sense of honour, truth, and justice, his fidelity, piety, tender- ness, and even in some degree by his appreciation of ])urity. But there was unliapi)ily another side to the picture. The worship of the two great principles of nature unavoidably led to the deification of violence and obscenity. In the Scandinavian trilogy Freyr, the god of love, was associated with Odin and Thor ; but in Central Germany all the three principal objects of worship, Woden, Thor. and Saxnot, were warlike deities. War was the cliief occupation and delight of all the German's gods. Even Freyja, the northern Venus, had a sword and took her place on the battle- field, hovering over the blood and carnage, and bearing off with joyful triumpli the souls of the slain to Odin's Valhalla. In that Elysium of bliss the life of elect souls alternated between the joys of con- stantly massacring visionary foes, and drinking with- out satiety out of the skulls of the slain brimming ale-cups presented by lovely Valkyrja, or battle- virgins. But this supreme felicity was reserved for those alone who bore in death the mark of the sword. Thus carnage and pitiless cruelty came to be ranked as the higliest virtues; revenge was a duty; suicide was meritorious ; and it was a pious act to kill in cold blood the wounded who lay on the field of battle. This passion for war mingled even with the German's tenderest affections. He wooed not his maiden love with fond epithets expressive of natural THE GERMANS. 29 or ideal beauty, but with names drawn from images of war, such as " dear spear," *' arbitress of combats," " wolfs beloved," and the like.^ Human sacrifices were the natural expression of this sanguinary temper. The tenth of the captives was the ordinary offering ; but on extraordinary occasions the special favour of the gods was secured by a vow to kill all the captives, as was done after the great victory gained by the Cimbri over the Uomans, when all the captives and the spoil were thrown into the Rhone. But prisoners of war were not the sole victims. Women and children were sacrificed to check an inundation, and children were buried alive to obtain a good harvest. King On sacrificed nine sons in succession to procure a long life for himself. The Swedes during a terrible famine, finding all other offerings unavailing, sacri- ficed their King Domaldi.^ And what made these human sacrifices even more revolting was that, the victim being always eaten at the sacrificial feast, cannibalism was a necessaiy consequence of the horrible rite. Nor was this all, for cruelty and sensuality always go together.^ The processions in honour of many of the deities, as, for instance, Freyr, Freyja, and the Goddess Mother, were polluted by the shameful licentiousness which characterised similar processions in Rome and Egypt in honour of Cybele and Isis. Drunkenness and gluttony were general vices. Every event of life, whether it were birth, marriage, or death, or a religious ceremony, or the arrival of a truest, or the eve of a battle, or the celebration of a victory, all were pretences for feasting. The guests vied with each other in deep potations of ale, while ^ Freytag:, Bilder, c. i. p. 89. 2 Yngl. Saga, c. c. 18, 29. Grimm, c. ill. p. 40. ^ Rosmini, II Divino nella Natura, eez. iii. c. 12, § 147. m lif 30 OLD GERMANY. the Lard, who was never absent en these occasion.9, and whose gift of song was deemed a divine inspira- tion, celebrated in spirit-stirring strains the noble deeds of their gods and ancestors. The atrocities which were the favourite subjects of their verse could not be credited on any lower authority than the existing fra,2:nients of these poems. As, for instance, how Wieland (or Volundr) having been taken prisoner and cruelly lamed by Nidhudr and his queen, killed their two sons, and then setting their skulls in silver as drinking-cups, the pupils of their eyes with precious stones, and their teeth in a necklace, he sent these loathsome gifts to their father, mother, and sister, mocking at their grief with fiendish laughter and gloating at the fulness of Ijis revenge.^ Or how Gudruna, having been taken to wife by Atli (or Attila) after the death of her liusband Sigurd, made him eat his own two sons before she treacherously killed him at a feast.^ As the strong ale heated their blood, these horrible tales roused their worst passions, till they would break out into frenzy, sometimes falling on each other with blind fury, at others starting on a sanguinary foray ; or, if it were the eve of a battle, encouraging the drunken delirium as a heaven-sent presage of victory, and keeping up the blood-thirst till they could rush upon the foe. The strange contrasts in the character of the Ger- mans corresponded to the twofold task which was assigned them by God's providence. As Pagans, their natural virtues had no power to cope with their impetuous bursts of fierce passion. Thus they were well qualified for their terrible work of destruc- tion, when they took possession, as conquerors, of the Eoman Empire, overthrowing and trampling under ^ Sara. ii. Ozanam, c. v. 216. 2 Ssem. 133-139. Muller, l.ii. c. 3, p. 311. Ozan. c. v. p. 245. THE GERMANS. 31 foot the hideous fabric of atheism, demon-worship, tyranny, selfishness, and abominable sensuality, known by the name of ancient civilisation. But when they were themselves in turn conquered by the Divine might of Christianity, the case was reversed. For their natural virtues were now for- tified, and their wild passions were curbed by super- natural graces, derived from union with the Sacred Humanity through the sacraments. Thus they be- came, under the Church's guidance, the great instru- ments for the regeneration of Europe, infusincr fresh hfe and vigour into the dying world, and bre^athin^- into the relics of the old corrupt societv a spirit of truth justice, purity, love, and heroic self-sacrifice, which classic ages had never dreamt of, and mere human reason could never have called forth. THE INVASIONS. 33 CHAPTER II. THE INVASIONS. Century after century the Germans roamed through the northern ^vil«Ierness, their very existence un- known, or, at most, only suspected by their civilised brethren. The Greeks, it is true, liad a tradition that in the far distant north, where the year was divided into one six months' summers day, and one winter's night of sindlar length, there dwelt a peace- ful and pious nation, called Attakerns, who sowed their corn in the morning of that long day, reaped it at noon, and in the evening gathered their fruit: into barns for winter use.^ They liad once sent virgins of their tribe with ollerings to the temple of Delos ; but these messengers having been ill-treated by the nations on their route, the offerings were afterwards transmitted through the intermediate tribes, till at last they were discontinued. Adventurous Greek traders had found their way across the German border, and tlius the Greeks had been brought into contact with the more southern Germans. Philip and Perseus enlisted the Bastarni, a Gothic tribe, into their service ; and it was only the rapid cl()^^e of the Macedonian war, which pre- 1 Freytag conjectures that these may have been the Adna- tnker, a tribe of the Cinibri, who remained at home to guard the common property, when the rest of the nation advanced towards Italy.— Bilder, c. i. p. 41. vented the first collision between Eomans and Ger- mans taking place upon the plains of Greece. Greek mariners, too, about 400 B.C., had sailed as far as Scandinavia; and about a century later Pytheas, a daring Greek trader of Massilia, described the Guttones, on whose shores amber was found, and the Teutones, who traded in amber, adding that in those northern lands the corn was threshed in barns and not in the open air.^ But his tale was not credited. For when Scipio ^milianus heard about these giants of the north, he was seized with an in- tuitive presentiment of the danger that threatened Rome, and incjuired more about them ; but well- informed Greeks quieted his fears by the assurance that Pytheas was an impostor, and his story a mere foolish fable. Before many years elapsed, the phantom whicli had terrified Scipio assumed an unmistakable bodily form. In the year 113 B.C. there appeared in the region now known as Carinthia an enormous horde of strangers, estimated at 300,000 armed men, but rerdly far more numerous, accompanied by their wives and children in covered waggons, and also by their horses, cattle, and dogs. They called themselves Cimbri and Teutones, and said that they came from the far north, and had been above a year on the journey. They had spent the winter with a tribe, apparently the Boii, in Bohemia, with whom they liad first fought, and then made friends, and had resumed their wanderings in the spring. Many of the Boii and other Celts had joined them, but their host consisted chiefly of a nationality totally unknown to the Romans. Alarmed at this unexpected apparition, the Consul Papirius hastened to take possession of the passes of ^ Freytag, c. i. p. 27. ■4 I It *t 'i I i'l 34 OLD GERMANY. the Alps, and forbade the intruders to remain in the neidibourhood, because the Celtic tribes to whom the district belonged were allies of Rome. The strangers apologised, and prepared to retire ; but the Konian general gave them a treacherous guide, who led them into an ambush, where he fell on them with his whol(i army. Kotwitlistanding, the Germans had the best of the fight, and the Romans escaped extermination only through a storm of thunder and hail, which tlie (lermans interpreted as a sign of Thor's anger, and accordingly put an end to the slaughter. The Germans then retired towards Gaul, where they remained for four years without violating the Roman frontier. But in the year 109 B.c. a Roman army, under the Consul Silanus, again appeared to protect the allies of Rome. The Germans petitioned earnestly for land, and promised in return to light for Rome. Their request was unheeded, and Silanus at once fell upon them. In the battle which ensued he lost his army, his camp, and his life, and the road to Rome was left open to the barbarians. The victors, how- ever, with singnlar moderation, contented themselves with sending envoys to the Senate to ask for land ; and even when their petition was refused, they still respected the Roman territory, and turned their arms ajjainst the neidibouring Celts. Four more years elapsed, and then three large Roman armies appeared in the field. The first was led by jMarcus Aurelius Scaurus, who at once crossed the frontier, boasting within hearing of the Germans that Romans were invincible. In the ensuing battle his army was defeated, and he himself being taken prisoner, he was contunieliously killed by the King of the Cimbri in the midst of the assembled warriors, in order to avert the ill omen of his arrogant boast. Once more the victors sent envoys to Servilius Ctepio, the general of the second army, to ask for THE INVASIONS. 35 land; but their messengers were ill-treated, ami hardly escaped with their lives. Roused to fury by this base, cowardly act, they made a solemn vow that, if victory were granted them, they would send every Roman to the gods. The next day they stormed Caepio's camp, took it, and totally destroyed his army. A like fate befell the third Roman army under Cneius Mallius. The terrible vow was faithfully observed; for out of 120,000 legionaries and auxiliaries, only ten escaped. The horses were slaughtered, the arms were broken to pieces, and all the rich booty, gold, silver, and line draperies, were piled in a heap, and thrown into the deep, swift-rushing Rhone. Then, for the third time, the victors forbore to trespass on Roman soil, and turned their arms against the Celts. Great was the consternation at Rome when the extent of the calamity was known. Each hour the terrified citizens expected to see the barbarians at tlie gates of the city. Senators rushed with their families and treasures on board the galleys, prepared to seek safety on some distant shore. Confusion and dismay reigned on every side. Nor was it a passing })anic ; for full two years elapsed before an army could be led against the dreaded foe. At last, in the year 102 b.c., Marius marched against the Germans, who had recently divided into two bands, with the intention of forcing their way into Italy. He pre- pared to give battle to the Teutones and Ambrones at Aqua Sextia (Aix). The day of battle was to the Germans a great festival. They unbound their long hair, and decked it in bridal fashion ; they threw^ oH' their clothes in reckless defiance of danger ; and then, excited by drink to bloodthirsty delirium, striking their swords against their shields, singing, shouting, screaming, leaping, running, they rushed upon their foes, bewildering them by the turmoil : I ^ W i I p. 36 OLD GERMANY. and daring of the onslaught, crushing them by their weight, or dazzling them by the rapidity with which, wielding their long swords and heavy battle-axes aa if they were riding-wands, they dealt right, left, and all around, thick as hail, sweeping blows that clove a head or lopped off a limb at a single stroke, and made fearful gaps in the close ranks of the enemy. The Komans, on the contrary, were trained to be steady and cool in combat, to waste no strength, to calculate each blow, and to stand firm or advance in close array. Consequently, these towering naked forms, the wild, flowing hair and flashing blue eyes, the stunning noise, the frantic fury of the German attack, and their demoniac revelry in blood, never failed on their first encounter to confuse and awe the Roman legions. The battle at Aqua Sextia was fierce and obstinate. While its issue was in suspense the German women shouted and screamed, to excite the courage of their warriors, and the children drummed on the leather coverings of their waggons, to remind the gods whose images they bore to give their aid in the hour of need. But, in spite of up- roar and dashing recklessness, discipline triumphed, and all the barbarians were either killed or taken prisoners. When the fight was over, one thought alone occupied the faithful German wives and mothers. They asked protection for their honour, and leave to devote themselves to the service of the goddess Yesta. But their request being refused, they all, with one accord, first killed their children, and then themselves. Meanwhile the Cimbri had crossed the Alps. They met and defeated a Roman army in the valley of the Adige, and then took quiet possession of lands to the north of the Po. Here they settled down peaceably, tilled and sowed their lots of ground, and in due time reaped their crops. But, after the TUE INVASIONS. 37 lapse of a year, a Roman army under Marius and Catulus arrived to disturb their tenure. With characteristic German chivalry, they bade Marius choose the time and place for the combat. He appointed a rough plain and a certain hour the next day ; but with no less characteristic Roman faithless- ness, he contrived to fall unawares on the Germans before that time, and killed or captured the entire host. Then the women, who knew that it was vain to sue for honourable terms, made a desperate defence within their encampment ; and when victory and escape alike became hopeless, they killed their chil- roud of flighting under the Tloman eagles, yet there was much which, on closer contact, was most re- j)ulsive to them. While the Roman administrative system responded to their natural love of order and justice, its stern inflexibility was abhorrent to their free and independent spirit. Rome directed her elforts only to the conquest of nations and their complete subjugation beneath her iron yoke; but she never gave a thought to the formation of their consciences, or the cultivation of their hearts, for truly this task was beyond her power and sphere of action. Thus it came to pass that behind tlie civili- sation to which she trained the German there lurked the barbarian with all his fierce passions still un- tamed. Then too, the Roman cruelty and avarice were revoltincr to the Germans : for, i^reat as was their own love of blood and spoil, it was coujded with the excitement of heroic deeds, and far different from the cold, seliish passions of the Roman, united as they too often were with physical weakness and moral degradation. Hence it was, that while the Romans looked with w^onder on those barbarians, who knew not what fear meant, and whose honour and truth could be implicitly trusted, the Germans felt only scorn and hatred for those who hired them. And these feelings w^ere intensified towards the Greeks ; for while they were incapable of appreciating their refinement, they beheld with contempt and disgust the sycophancy, falsehood, meanness, and 45 empty ostentation which characterised the Byzantirc Court. Latin was commonly spoken by the Germans but tliey never condescended to speak Greek. i ' Every German who crossed the frontier was con- scious of his own superiority; he saw that military renown, the favour of princes, gold, silver, slaves luxurious revels, and all the blandishments of sen- suality, were within his reach ; and though all could not wm the highest prizes, yet this uncertainty onlv added zest to the great game of chance. As reports of these a lurements, with the enticing adjuncts of lertile land, sunny skies, and balmy climate, were earned back to the rude forest homes, and circulated through the wide wilderness, it was only natural that ambitious chiefs should be attracted like vultures to the dying Empire, and that restless warriors should vow themselves to follow their favourite heroes to the conquest of the glittering piize. ^ But besides these general" reasons for the change in the character of the invasions, a more special cause has been found in a revolution which occurred about this time on the borders of China 2 The impulse given on the farthest limits of Asia thrilled Jike an electric shock to the most distant point of Europe All the dwellers in the vast wilderness from the Wall of China to the Rhine and Scandi- navia were disturbed; and that mighty ocean of nations, Germans, Slaves, Sarmatians, Huns Tartars heaving from the foundations on which it had rested for ages, was driven from east to west, rushincr wave after wave, each pressing on the one immediately before it, and all forcing on those in front, till thev broke upon the Roman Empire. This great move- ment dates from a.d. 376, when the Visigoths, who had long been settled on the northern bank of the ^ Freytag, Bilder, c. ii. p. 107. 2 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, c. xxx. ^5 OLD GERMANY. Danube, were diivQii across the river by the advance of the Huns ; and it is said to have ended about a.d. 600 ; though the restless spirit which it created con- tinued through the early middle ages, till the develop- ment of the feudal system tied down the great body of the people to the soil on which they dwelt, and the Crusades turned the current of the stream back upon the East. Across the Danube, the Alps, the Rhine, the lihone, the Pyrenees, and over the Hellespont, Hocked millions of Goths, Quadi, Marcomanni, Her- niaudiiri, Vandals, Lurgundians, Franks, Slaves, Huns, Sarmatians, Lombards, and others too nume- rous to name ; while Scots, Picts, Angles, and Danes overran Britain, and made descents on the coasts of Gaul. Sometimes they came in great hordes under kadcrs of renown, Alaric, Khadagaisus, Genseric, Odoacer, Theodoric, and Attila, who, though a Hun and not a German, took, with his followers of the fame nationality, s^o prominent a part in these in- vasions that his name ought not to be here omitted. At other times smaller bands of barbarians gathered round a favourite hero, their only bond of union the common thirst for blood and plunder; and such marauders were naturally more pitiless and destruc- tive in proportion to their smaller numbers. Often, too, straggling detachments would entrench them- selves in'^'a ruined fort, and maintaining themselves as brigands, would be the scourge of the neigh- bourhood. No language can adequately depict the frightful misery of that terrible period. As the invading hosts passed along, ruined cities, heaps of corpses, smoking farms marked their course. The devastated land was sown everywhere with brambles, to be succeeded only by impenetrable forests. Man and domestic animals disappeared from entire districts, and w^ere THE INVASIONS. 47 replaced by wolves, bears, buffaloes, bisons, and deer. Of the Vandal invasion of Auvergne in the begin- ning of the fifth century it was said, that "iflilie entire ocean had overflowed the fields of Gaul, its vast waves Avould have made fewer ruins." i Treves was sacked live times, and after the third sack only Salvian wrote, ^'The first city in Gaul was but a sepulchre. Those whom the enemy spared suc- cumbed to^ the calamities which succeeded. Some died of tlieir wounds ; others perished of hunger and cold; and thus in different ways all went together to the tomb. I have seen, and my eyes have endured the sight of bodies of men and women, naked, torn by dogs and birds of prey, lying in the streets which they polluted. The infection of the dead bodies killed the living, and death, so to say, was exhaled from the dead." 2 At the beginning of the sixth century there Avere ill the kingdom of Burgundy alone no less than six districts to the north of the Rhone which were too truly called "deserts," and were totally devoid of population and cultivation. Switzerland and Savoy were little more than one vast forest.^ In Spain the inhabitants, terrified by the reports that crossed the Pyrenees, gave up their towns and all they possessed to the invading hosts of Suevi, Alani, and Vandals, who divided the whole by lot among themselves. Famine and pestilence succeeded to the horrors of war and pillage. Such was the wretchedness of the con- quered, that they fed on human flesh, mothers eating tlieir own children ; while the wild beasts, satiated with the dead, fell upon the living.^ As for un- ^ S. Prosper of Aquitaine, De Provid. divin. p. 618, ed. Migne. Montaletiibert, Moines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. 3. * Salvian, I)e Gubernatione Dei, 1. vi. 3 Montalembert, Moiner; d'Occident, torn. ii. 1. 8, c. 1. * Idac. Chronic. Ozanaui, Les Germain^, &c., c.'vii. p. 365. IVfli ^1 ii ?^ ^S OLD GERMANY. liappy Italy, which was the great centre of attrac- tion, it endured within fifty years no less than four irreat invasions, those of Rhadagaisus and Attda in the north, and those of Alaric and Genseric, who laid waste tlie south and pillaged Kome, the former for three days, and the latter for no less than a fortnight. The populous district which had once been adorned with the flourishing cities of Bologna, Modena, Rhei^ium, and Placentia, was totally ruined ;i the Emilia, Tuscany, and the adjacent provinces, were almost depopulated ; 2 and even to the present day the abiding evidence of these barbarian devastations maybe seen in tho diminished population and un- cultivated or unhealthy condition of wide districts, which were in past times a continuous lovely garden, thickly studded with luxurious country-houses. To these material calamities was added the loss of that spiritual influence and sympathy which unite men into civilised society, and thus multiply the results of individual talent and labour. Regular communications being interrupted, and all sense of security lost, industry and the hope of future progress were crushed, society was paralysed, and men quickly fell back into that state of isola- tion which distinguishes the rude barbarian from the civilised nian.^^ So tremendous was the calamity that even saints were appalled by it. After the first sack of Rome. S. Jerome wrote that his voice failed him, and sobs choked his utterance, for the terrible rumour that reached him, that the city which had captured the whole world was herself « 1 S. Ambrose. Kp. 39 ; ap. Muratori, Antichitk, t. i. Dissert. 29. p. 354. 2 Pope Gelasius, Ep. ad Andromachuin ; ap. Baronius, Annul. Eccles. A.D. 469. ,-»*•.. 1 i. 3 Guizot, Cours d'Histoire, t. i. p. 297 ; apud Michelet, Hist. Fiance, 1. ii. c. i. THE INVASIOXS. 49 captured."^ S. Augustine, unable to endure the sufferings of his flock during the Vandal invasion of Africa, prayed that God would "give His ser- vant strength to bear His will, or at least take him to Himself out of this world." 2 g. Gregory, over- whelmed by the cruelties practised by the Lombards, was unable to continue his homilies on Ezekiel, and excused himself by saying, *'Let no one blame me, . . . because our tribulations are increased beyond measure. On all sides we are surrounded by swords, on all sides we see only danger and death. Some return to us with their hands cut off; and others, we hear, are killed or carried away as slaves. I am constrained to suspend the exposition of the Holy Scripture, because my life is henceforth a burden to me." 3 In common with the Church in general, he believed that this could be nought else than the last tribulation preceding the end of the world. Nor is it only over that old heroic world, round which still lingers such a halo of fascination, that one has to mourn. The fate of the Germans during thnt long ivanderzeit (wandering time), as it is graphically styled, is scarcely less deplorable. The defenders of the Empire, as Avell as its assailants, were, for the most part, Germans, and thus, in the innumerable battles that were fought, whatever were their issue, it was always German blood that dyed the field. Also, it often happened that portions of the same nation or tribe were arrayed on each side, the vow of service to Rome superseding, according to German custom, the claims of nationality and kindred ; and consequently the contest assumed in some degree ^ Hieronym. Epist. ad Principiain ; Ozanam, Les Germaius «c., c. vn. p. 367. * ^ Possidius, Vit. S. Aucrustin. c. 28. Ozanam, Ibid. 368. r. 97A ^^^' ^^°- ^^ Ezechiel. Homil. 18. Ozanam, Ibid. p. «j/U. ^ I so OLD GERMANY. THE INVASIONS. 5^ IHr t}ie form of a civil war. Moreover, it was inex- pressibly sad to see those young barbarians issuing from their forests simple, true, lion-hearted, then carried away by the fierce thirst for blood and gold, throwing off all those associations of home and fatherland which had formed the nucleus of their natural virtues, adding the vices of civilisation to those of the savage, and thus sinking into the foulest depths of Roman sensuality and corruption. When one considers the gigantic nature of the catastrophe, one wonders how any fragment of that Roman world outlived the storm, and survived, not only to attest its greatness, but to transmit its power- ful influence to modern society. Happily the very extent of the misfortune became its alleviation. For when a tract of country had been laid waste by fire and sword, it offered no attraction to future marauders ; and thus the few wretched surviving inhabitants were left unmolested for a time, to sow and reap in the patches of land which they could rescue from the advancing forest, while they sheltered themselves in the blackened and crumbling ruins of splendid palaces and temples. In other places the relics of society shut themselves up in towns, which they fortified so as to resist the attacks of the smaller bodies of depredators ; and here they carried on the municipal government of Roman colonies, and transmitted to the modern world that peculiar spirit of city life which was one of the great characteristics of ancient Rome. In like manner the miserable survivors from the ravages in North Italy took refuge in the marshes and lagoons on its eastern coast, where, protected by their poverty and the inaccessible character of their retreat, they formed themselves into a society on the model of the Roman republic, from which in course of centuries emerged the beautiful Queen of the Adriatic. While thus, on the one hand, the Roman forms of government were preserved, on the other the new world which was springing from the ruins of classical antiquity was being inoculated with the freer and j)urer German spirit. Fragments of tribes, weary of wandering, would separate themselves from the invading hosts, settle down on some spot that took their fancy, and follow the agricultural life of their old forest home. Too often they would be disturbed, and driven forward by succeeding waves of invasion; but notwithstanding, it was through such settle- ments that the German race and the German spirit gradually took root on the soil of the old Empire. '•m TUE CHURCH IN THE STORM. S3 CHAPTEn III. THE CHURCH IN THE STORM, But the true saviour of Europe and of Christianity at this period was the Church. Her first conquests over the Germans must have dated from the Apostolic age. Early in the second century S. Justin wrote, "There is not a single race, whether of Greeks or barbarians, . . . whetlier they dwell in waggons, or in tents, or sleep without a roof under the open sky, who do not offer prayers to the Father of all things in the name of the Lord Jesus. " ^ A few years later S. Irenaeus said, tliat though "languages differ, tradition does not vary ; and the Churches founded in Germany have no other law or doctrine than those of the Iberians and Celts, of the East and Asia, and the others established in the centre of the world." 2 Tertullian also mentions "the Sarma- tians and Dacians, Scythiaus and Germans," ^ among the nations who had received the faith. At the beginning of the fourth century the names of German bishops appear in the records of councils. Maternus, Bishop of Cologne, assisted at a council in Rome, a.d. 313. In the following year Agritius, Bishop of Treves, and also Maternus, took part in the Council of Aries, at which thirty bishops were present. Theophilus, Metropolitan of the Goths, was ' S. Justin. Dial, cum Tryth. § 117. Ozanam, Civiliaatiou Chrdtienne, c. i. p. 2. ^ S. Irenseus, Adv. Haeres. i. 10. ^ Tertuliian, Adv. Judaeos, 7. 52 one of the fathers of the Council of Nicasa. By the beginning of the fifth century Christianity was the dominant religion among the Germans in the Roman provinces. In the scanty records of that time now extant are to be found the names of Bishops of Treves, Cologne, Tongres, Metz, and Toul in the north, of Coire, Laybach, Pettau, Lauriacum, and Tiburnia in the south, and of bishops without fixed sees in Rhsetia and Noricum. It further appears, from the history of S. Severin, that all the orders of clergy were established ; hermits, monks, and nuns existed; and the usual liturgical forms of worship were carried out. This young German Church had, moreover, the fullest credentials of orthodoxy. For it was founded by the successors of S. Peter,i and it was consecrated by the blood of its martyrs ^ during the Pagan persecutions, and by the sufferings of its confessors at the hands of the Arians. The circumstances of the age and the peculiar characteristics of the Germans greatly assisted their conversion. Christian bishops and priests were often carried captive into Germany, where their saintly lives, their eloquence, and their miraculous gifts brought about the conversion of whole tribes.^ When, on the contrary, the Germans were led to the south as captives, or wandered thither voluntarily, their worship of nature lost its hold on them. They missed the sacred oak, the grove, the spring, or the 1 Pope Innocent I. wrote, "In omnem Italiain, Gallias . . . nullum instituisse ecclesias, nisi eos quos venerabilis apostolus 1 etrus aut ejus successores constituerunt sacerdotes." Ep. ad Decent. Eugubin. ap. Mansi, iii. p. 1028. Ozanam, Civil. Chrdt c. 1. p. 4. Gaul then included Rhjetia, Noricum, and the two German provinces. J ^' -Y^^*"^^'"^^* bishop of Pettau, was one of the martyrs under Diocletian ; and S. Sabas and his companions were put to death by their fellow-countrymen, the Goths, A.D. 372. Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. 1. ii. c. 6. \ : 54 OLD GERMANY. THE CHURCH IN THE STORM. 55 I i hill which was the sanctuary of their gods. The whole aspect of nature, the seasons, and even the stars in heaven were changed, so that they could no longer carry out their daily routine of life under the guidance of their familiar deities. Perplexed by the strancre novelty that met them on all sides, they would naturally look around to discover the new gods, to whom they must trust for aid and blessing. On the one hand, they would behold the gorgeous Pacran worship, associated with ideals of beauty and phUosophy which were unintelligible to them, and with foul corruptions whicli were revolting to their better nature, while they would find that in point of depth and earnestness, especially as to the doctrine of a future life, it was far inferior to their own national religion. So palpable was this inferiority that Koman Paganism had no hold on the Germans, though the Komans were wont to admire the hriu faith^of the Germans, and often adopted their super- stitions.1 On the other hand, they would hnd the Christian Church, whese simple creed was easily understood, and could even be connected with their own oldest national traditions and customs. Its poverty and chastity, the equality and fraternal union of its members, their devotion to the Lord to whose service they were vowed, their heroisni as martyrs, were the supernatural expression of those virtues which they had been wont to prize in their old forest home. When they became acquainted with the central dogma of the Incarnation, and learned that as its necessary consequence man is admitted to loving union with God through the sacraments, that Mary is the common mother of God and of men, and that the saints enjoy everlasting communion with each other, their warm affections 1 Ozaoam, Lea Gerraains, c. vii. p. 336. and their yearnings after the invisible found a development of which they had never dreamt. And even the reverence which the majesty of Rome involuntarily commanded would be deepened when they came to look upon the Eternal City, not as the capital of an empire tottering to its ruin, but as the abode of the Vicar of the Lord of the Universe, and the earthly seat of that heavenly kingdom which would endure for ever in a world without end. The presence of many great saints in Germany and Gaul during the fourth century must have helped on the work of conversion. S. Hilary was at Poictiers, and S. Martin at Tours. S. Athanasius sought refuge in Treves during the Arian persecution ; S. Jerome went thither to study ; and there S. Ambrose was born. S. Ambrose was so venerated by the Germans that Frigitil, queen of the !Marcomanni who were settled in Swabia, sent messengers with gifts to him, to inquire how she ought to believe and pray ; where- upon he wrote her a letter, which was the means of converting the entire nation. Again, Arbogastes, the Frank chief, who was for a time the arbiter of the destinies of Gaul,^ was asked one day by some other chiefs whether he knew Ambrose ; and when he answered that he was beloved by him, and had often sat at table with him, they exclaimed, " We no longer wonder that thou conquerest thine enemies, since thou art the friend of a man who says to the sun, * Stand thou still,' and it stands still." While the Church thus attracted reverence even from the Pagan Germans, their natural virtues were ^ He attempted to erect an independent empire in Gaul, and after killing Valentinian II., gave the imperial crown to Eugenius, a.d. 392. After a short reign of two years Eugenius was defeated and beheaded at Aquileia by Theo- dosius the Great, A.D. 394, and Arbogastes committed suicide. K(.hrbacher, Hist. Egl. t. vii. 1. xxxvi. pp. 292-304. 't I 56 OLD GERMANY. fully appreciated by the Christians. Comparing them to the Koman?, Salvian says,i " You think that you are better than the barbarians ; they are heretics, and you are orthodox. I answer, that by your faith you are better ; but by your lives, I say it with tears, you are worse. You know the law and break it ; they are heretics and know it not. The Goths are per- fidious, but modest ; the Alani are voluptuous, but faithful; the Franks are liars, but hospitable; the cruelty of the Saxons inspires horror, but their chastity calls forth praise. . . . And we wonder that God should have delivered up our provinces to the barbarians, whose modesty purifies the land, which Koman debauchery had so deeply polluted." It must not, however, be supposed that the Church escaped the calamities of that dark time. On the con- trary, she shared the common suffering. Churches and monasteries were pillaged and burnt; bishops and priests were tortured and massacred. But as soon as the tide of blood had swept by, her Divine character and mission would appear in the comfort and support that she afforded to the afllicted. How- ever great might have been her own losses, whatever remained to her was given to the destitute, while she cheered the broken-hearted by words of faith and hope, and laboured with intelligent activity to repair the ruin. Often, however, her influence with the barbarians was used to avert, or at least to mitigate their ravages. When Rome was sacked by Alaric, who was an Arian, while the greater part of his army were Pagans, fewer senators were plundered than Sylla had killed in his last proscription alone. The churches were respected, and no blow was struck and no pillage committed in them. When a soldier found in a house which he ^ Salvian, l)e Gubernatione Dei, 1. iv. THE CHURCH IN THE STORM. 57 had forcibly entered gold and silver vessels of great value, which he was told belonged to the basilica of S. Peter, he forbore to touch the tempting prize till he should receive orders from Alaric as to its disposal. Tlien,^ by Alaric's command, the trumpets sounded a truce, the fugitives, who had been expecting each moment to be killed, issued from their hiding-places, a grand procession was formed, the barbarians carried the precious vessels on their heads, victors and van- quished joined in singing hymns of praise, and thus they were borne in triumph to S. Peter's. " He must be blind,'* exclaims S. Augustine,^ **who does not recognise in this the power of Christ and the blessings of a Christian age." Nor was this a solitary instance of the Church's influence. In the year 447, the Arraoricans having revolted, the imperial minister, jiEtius, sent Eocari, king of the Alani, to chastise them by laying Avaste the province. In the extremity of terror the Armori- cans sent to S. Germain of Auxerre, beseeching him to come to their aid. S. Germain hurried to the spot, met Eocari at the head of his army, and humbly entreated him to spare the contrite Armori- cans. But his prayers were unheeded. Then seizing the fierce chiefs bridle, he checked his advance, while he boldly reproached him with all the sins of his life. Awe-struck by the bishop's daring and solemn admonitions, the barbarian for once was merciful, and withdrew his army.^ In the year 451 the terrible Attila crossed the Rhine at the head of an army of from five to seven hundred thousand barbarians. Town after town was taken, pillaged, and burnt ; the devastation being so complete, that the escape of the chapel of S. Stephen at Metz has been deemed worthy of record. ^ Paul Oros. vii. 28. ^ S. August. Civitat. Dei, 1. vii. ^ Rohrbacher, t. viii. 1. 40, p. 156. M ; iff I 58 OLD GERMANY. As the invaders approached Troyes the inhabitants were in an agony of terror. S. Loup, their bishop, prayed, wept, and fasted day and night in their be- half, till at length, animated by supernatural hope and confidence, he resolved to go forth and meet the dreaded foe. Vested in full pontificals, he stood face to face with Attila, and boldly demanded, •*Who art thou who dost conquer so many kings and nations, and destroy so many cities, and wishest to subjugate the universe 1" "I am the King of the Huns, the scourge of God," answered Attila. " If thou art the scourge of God," replied S. Loup, '• beware that thou dost naught but what is per- mitted thee by Him who inspires and governs thee." Filled with reverence for God's minister, the Pagan chief was softened, and promised to spare the town, through which his army accordingly passed without committing any violence. In Paris the alarm was so great that the in- habitants were preparing to retire to some more strongly fortified place, but S. Genevieve, the poor shepherdess, whose sanctity had won their confi- dence, exhorted them not to fly, but to join her in prayer and fasting ; assuring them that Paris would be uninjured, while the phice to which they thought of going would be destroyed. With simple faith they obeyed her, and the event verified her words. Orleans was besieged, but S. Aignan, the bishop, had foreseen the danger, and gone to Aries to demand succour from iEtius, the Imperial general. Then hurrying back to the post of danger, ho was always to be seen on the walls, encouraging the inhabitants to defend the town, watching anxiously for the promised aid, or praying fervently to God. At the last moment, when all seemed hopeless and the gates had actually been forced, a large army under THE CHURCH IN THE STORM. 59 i^tius and Theodoric the Visigoth suddenly ap- peared, and completely routed the Huns. Attila reunited his scattered forces on a plain near Chalons, where one of the greatest battles on record was fought. The combatants on both sides amounted to a million, of whom 300,000 were left dead on the field. Theodoric was killed ; -^tius narrowly escaped in the darkness of the night ; and flight alone saved Attila. 1 Ke treating through the part of Belgium from Louvain to the Rhine, then called Thuringia, of which Tongres was the capital, he crossed the Rhine by the bridge at Cologne, and entered that city about the 21st of October.2 In Cologne Attila found, not only the usual conflux of terrified fugitives from the neighbourhood, but also a large party of British women, chiefly virgins, who, flying from the Saxon invaders of Britain, had crossed to Holland under the guidance of S. Ursula and S. Pinnosa, a British king's daughter, with some me;i to protect them, and had gone thence to Cologne. Some of the British virgins appear to have accompanied the Bishop S. Servatius to Rome, where he went in the year 450 to pray at the tombs of S. Peter and S. Paul, in whom lay his only hope of escape from Attila's threatened invasion ; but the greater part remained in Cologne. Attila and his Huns, exasperated by their late defeat, and infuriated by the insuperable chastity of these women, collected them in a field, now called ^ Ri>hrbacher, t. viii. 1. 40, p. 221. Ozanam, Civil. Chret. c. ii. Jornandes, De Rebus Geticis, c. 36-43. ^ Acta SS. Oct. 21, De S. Ursula et Sociabus. In this very learned article, by Father Victor de Buck, will be found the historical verification of the history of S. Ursula and her com- panions as here given. A popular summary of it is contained in Cardinal Wiseman's essay on "The Truth of Supposed Legends," in "Essays on Religion and Literature," edited by H. E. Manning, 18t)5. I 60 OLD GERMANY. S. Ursula's Acker, and massacred them all by shooting them with bows and arrows. When the Huns had departed, the citizens came out of their hiding-places, and finding this great number of virgins and others lying where they had fallen, they got sarcophagi, or made graves, and collecting their blood, buried them reverently and erected a basilica in their honour. About fifty years after the martyrdom, Clematius, " who came from the East," being " terrified by fiery visions, and by the great majesty and holiness of these virgins, rebuilt this basilica," as is said on the inscription still to be seen there. A convent too was built to their honour, and an extraordinary devotion to them sprang up and exists in Cologne to the present day. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries some trans- lations of the relics took place, but the greater part of the martyrs remained undisturbed till, on the 2nd of July, A.D. 1640, there was a formal exhumation in the" presence of the learned Jesuits, Papebroch and Crombach, who published an account of what they saw. Some were found separately in stone sarcophagi ; but the greater number were buried in fosses sixty feet long, sixteen wide, and eight deep, not thrown in promiscuously, as is done in cases of pestilence, but placed regularly in two rows, side by side, at the distance of a foot from each other, and in three tiers one above another, a quantity of earth being laid between the tiers. All these skeletons were°entire, their arms were crossed on their bosoms, their faces looked towards the east, they were dressed as the Church had ordered in the case of martyrs, and beside almost every one of them was a vessel containing blood, or sand tinged with blood. The form of their skulls proved their Celtic origin, and their skeletons showed that all, except a few chil- dren and about ten or fifteen men out of a hundred, THE CHURCH IN THE STORM. 6t were strong healthy young women, and not the pro- miscuous victims of war or pestilence. Above these three tiers of skeletons was a fourth tier, consisting of separate bones and an immense quantity of arrows, some of them sticking in the skulls and other bones, thus proving that they had been killed by the Huns, who alone used bows and arrows as instruments of death. And with those bones also were placed vessels of blood and bloody sand. The enormous multitude of skulls and bones, which line the Golden Chamber in the Church of S. Ursula at Cologne, in addition to great numbers that have been sent to churches in other places, have led to the conjecture that among them are included the victims of an in- discriminate massacre of all the women in the town, in which the Huns would probably have indulged after their rage had been excited by the virtue of the British virgins. The following year Attila reappeared suddenly in Pannonia. The Komans had been lulled into a delusive negligence by the victory at Chalons, and had flattered themselves that he was finally over- thrown. His unexpected return created a general panic. iEtius, instead of closing the passage of the Alps, thought only of saving himself by flight, and tried to persuade the Emperor Valentinian III. to go with him into Gaul ; but shame overcame terror, and Valentinian shut himself up in Rome. Mean- while, Attila advanced with fire and sword through Pannonia and Noricum into Italy. Augsburg, Aquileia, Concordia, Padua, Vicenza, Yerona, Brescia, Bergamo, were pillaged and burnt ; while Milan and Pavia were so fortunate as to escape with pillage alone. Resistance was vain, and Yalentinian's only hope was negotiation. But who would dare to go as ambassador to the ferocious barbarian? S. Leo, the Pope, ofl'ered himself for the perilous office, and, 62 OLD GERMANY. accompanied by two senators of consular rank, lie repaired to the camp of Attila, on the banks of the Mincio, near Mantua. He was at once admitted to an interview, for Attila was overjoyed to see one whose fame liad already reached him. The contrast between the king and the saint was striking. Attila's bearing was proud and defiant ; but his large head, flat nose, small restless eye, dark complexion, light Ijeard and grey hair, his short stature, and unusually broad chest, made him look so hideous, that he was generally said to be of demon birth. S. Leo, on the contrary, bore himself meekly and humbly, like Him -whose Vicar he w^as ; but the irrepressible light of sanctity that beamed in his countenance gave him an air of supernatural majesty. Attila was so impressed by his saintliness, his eloquence, and his pontifical character that he readily consented to evacuate Italy on the payment of a large sum. He did so the more Avillingly, because S. Peter and S. Paul are said to have appeared to him and threatened him with death if he rejected the prayer of their suc- cessor.^ He had, moreover, a superstitious dread of entering Rome, because Alaric had not long survived his doing so. One of the most interesting episodes of this time, is the history of S. Severin, the Apostle of Noricum.^ Nothing is known of his birth or his life, till he appears as a hermit, living with a few companions on the confines of Pannonia and Noricum. He spoke Latin, but his habits were those of the Eastern deserts, while his military and administrative talents made it probable that he had formerly held high 1 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, c. xxxv. Baronius, Annal. Eccles. a.d. 452. Jornandes, De Rebus Geticis, c. xlii. Rohrbacher, t. viii. 1. xl. p. 269. ^ Vit. S. Severin : Auctore Eugipio, ejus Discipulo. Fez, Script. Rer. Austriac. t. i. p. 62. THE CHURCH IN THE STORM. 63 ofTices in the armv and the state. He w^as looked upon as the bulwark of the surrounding country. Wherever danger threatened, he was summoned; and when the people saw him walking barefoot on the ice, always fasting till sunset, sleeping on a hair- cloth, and dead to all human infirmity, they felt as if an angel from God had come to help them. He took on himself the direction of the military defence of the province, collecting the country population into the towns, deciding which were the places most capable of defence, and ordering the others to be abandoned. At the same time he preached repent- ance, led the people to confession and amendment of life, and collected money to ransom captives, feed the poor, and provide for the public exigencies. The result was, that the inhabitants of Salzburg and Passau having disregarded his advice, these towns fell a prey to the invaders ; but those whom he col- lected in Lauriacum, and encouraged by his words and example, made a brave stand, till, all further resistance seeming hopeless, he himself went to the fierce barbarian king and obtained the most favour- able terms for them. Then, on the strength of his word alone, the besieged returned to their homes, tilled their fields, and rebuilt the ruined cities. S. Severin's reputation stood very high with all the German tribes. When the Allemanni were ravaging the country round Passau, Gibold their king expressed a wish to see him. S. Severin obeyed his summons, and spoke so boldly to him that he at once put a stop to the ravages and set the captives free, confessing that never, even in moments of the most imminent danger, had he trembled as he had done before that old man. One day a party of barbarian recruits for the Im- perial Guard came to ask his blessing before their departure. Among them was a young Herulian, 6^ OLD GERMANY. Avhose gigantic stature obliged him to stoop as lie entered the lowly cell. "Go to Italy," said the saint to him ; *' you are now clothed in skins, but you will soon lavish gifts on multitudes." The young man was Odoacer, who gave the final blow to the Western Empire. As King of Italy he respected the feelings and prejudices of the conquered, enforced the Roman laws, entrusted the government to Roman officials, protected the clergy and monks, and by his wisdom and humanity mitigated the misery of Italy.^ Who can say what share S. Severin's influence may have had in fostering the moderation and clemency which distinguished Odoacer from the other barbarian con- querors 1 After he became King of Italy he wrote to S. Severin, reminding him of his prophetic words, and at his request pardoned a man who was con- demned to exile. S. Severin also took the greatest pams to reclaim the Rugii from the Arian heresy. He w^as in the liabit of inviting their chiefs to his cell, where he would converse familiarly with them, taking the most lively interest in their temporal concerns. When he was dying he sent for their king and queen, Feva and Gisa. After he had exhorted the king always to keep God in his thoughts, and to treat his subjects gently, he laid his hand on the barbarian's heart, and turning to the queen, who was very cruel and was always'' urging her husband on to acts of oppression, he said to her, "Gisa, lovest thou this soul more than gold and silver 1" And when she answered, like a true German wife, that she did so love him, he replied, " Well, then, cease to oppress the just, lest their oppression prove your ruin. I beseech you both, at this moment when I am returning to my Master, to abstain from evil, and to do such good * Gibbon, c. xxxvi. I THE CHURCH IN THE STORM. 65 works as may be an honour to your lives." Thus did the old Roman hermit expire between his two weeping German children. But his influence did not end with his life. His memory was long cherished, and the order which he established, together with the traditions that he left, were the means of pre- serving Christianity and civilisation in Noricum for two hundred years under various changes of bar- barian rulers. 1 Thus did the Church, with her supernatural wis- dom and flexibility, adapt herself to the circumstances of the time. It was beyond her power to save the doomed Empire, but she could retard its fall and bridge over the chaotic period of the invasions, so as to save from the wreck of the old w^orld all that was most valuable for the new. Every town from which she diverted the steps of the ravagers, every year of respite that she obtained for a city or a province, every Roman w^hom she strengthened by her word and example, every barbarian whose heart she touched by her loving gentleness or awed by her superhuman courage, was so much gained for Chris- tianity and civilisation. But even the barbarian invasions did not fill up the measure of the miseries of the time. The founda- tions of the Church in which lay the sole hope of the world were being undermined by heresy, while she herself was held down prostrate and well-nigh helpless under the tyranny of the State. The con- version of Constantine, which was supposed to give her peace, had in fact robbed her of liberty, brought her enemies into the heart of her fold, and extended their power from the bodies to the very souls of her flock. The newly converted emperors claimed over her the same authority they had formerly exercised ^ Ozanam, Civil. Chr^t. c. ii. E 66 OLD GERMANY. as Pontifex Maximus. The great Arian heresy, which had been cliecked by the fires of persecution, now burst out openly, and was followed during three centuries by successive phases of religious unbelief, all springing from the same root, and constituting the last throes of Pagan revolt against the funda- mental Christian doctrines of the Triune God, God Incarnate in human flesh, and the operations of the Holy Spirit. Against these heresies the Church fought, so to say, in chains, constantly checked in her action and often persecuted by the State. Even Constantine, though ho had summoned the first General Council at Nicaea and executed its decrees, after some years recalled Arius, and banished Atha- nasius. His son Constantius, and later the Emperor Valens, persecuted the Church with greater violence than Decius or Diocletian had done, and in the fifth century persecution recommenced, and went on from generation to generation. Meanwhile society, which she was called on to Christianise, continued Pagan in its laws, morals, and spirit. Christian emperors crushed down their subjects under a thoroughly organised system of cruel oppression, which has never been paralleled. Christians of every rank gave themselves up to the indulgence of all the vices and voluptuousness of their Pagan ancestors, aggravated by the refinements of a debased civilisation. The Church was powerless to stem the flood of social corruption, and it almost seemed as if God had forsaken her, and forgotten His promise, that the gates of hell should never pre- vail against her. Never, however, did she assert her supernatural character more powerfully than at this crisis. The courage and fortitude which had supported her under Pagan persecution now led successive Popes and bishops, regardless of their own personal difficulties, THE CHURCH IN THE STORM. 67 to concentrate their efforts on the P^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ transmission to future ages of the Sacred Deposit committed to her charge. During one hundred and skSy years after the conversion of Constantine, whde the frontiers of the Empire were being constantly driven in, and scarcely a province was secure from invasion, ^vhile Italy and Greece were a prey to fire and sword, and Rome itself was again and again pi aged amid national and domestic suffering that well-nigh broke the hearts even of great samts, in spite of imperial persecution and the opposition of false bXren she defined in the four first General SuS and innumerable Provincial Synods the fundamental doctrines of the faith The Holy Scriptures also claimed her care. She collected the MSS which had been scattered during the last Paean persecution, certified their genuineness and authenticity, and through S. Jerome, in consultation with the most learned Christian, Jf ^^^V''^? W scholars of the age, corrected and verified the tex^^ before heretical sects had corrupted it, or countless MSS. had perished in the Mahomedan conquests She also separated Inspired Scripture from the writings of saintly men whom she honoured and revered, and authoritatively decreed the Sacred ^Eo^ a time the Church rested her hopes on the new family the invasions were bringing her to take the place of her elder children who had deserted her But they too slipped out of her grasp, in 57b Ulfilas, Metropolitan of the Goths, having come to Constantinople to ask aid of the Emperor Valens a-ainst the advance of the Huns, adopted the Arian heresy and carried it back to his diocese. The in- fection quickly spread from tribe to tribe, and by the middle of the fifth century the two eastern divisions of the German family, who were the noblest 68 OLD GERMANY. of the race — Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Heruli, Rugii, Vandals, Suevi, and forty years later the Burgundians, were lost to the Church. ^ Arianism was a union of theology with paganism which reduced Christianity to a sort of philosophy, and placed the Church under the State. By denying the divinity of Christ it robhed religion of all mystery, and consequently of all demand for the exercise of faith. At the same time, by rejecting the Atonement and placing a mere man on the Cross, it weakened the claim for love, and thus blotted out from its creed the two mvstical forces through which Christianity was to regenerate the world.2 Under the shade of this cold, rational- istic creed, the hopes which had been inspired by the simplicity, purity, and healthy vigour of the barbarians vanished like a dream. The paralysing effect of Arianism is seen in the subsequent history of the above nations. The Goths, who had taken a prominent part in the overthrow of the Empire, no longer possess a nationality, and their language, after attaining to a literature of its own, died out in the seventh century.^ The Vandals have vanished. Only a small remnant of the Eastern Burgundians is to be found in Berne. The existence of the Heruli, Rugii, and other kindred tribes in Bavaria and Austria, is a mere conjecture.* Though disappointed in the eastern divisions of the German family, the Church still continued to hope in the barbarian nations. Beyond the frontiers of the Empire hovered Lombards, Gepidi, Alani, Franks, Saxons, and countless other German tribes ; and far away in the Western Ocean were the Irish Celts, all Pagans, but uncontaminated by contact ^ Ozanam, Civil. Chrdt. c. ii. pp. 32, 51. * Ibid., p. 35 ; Michelet, Hist, de France, 1. ii. c. i. p. 117. ^ Von Raumer, Einwirkung, 1. i. c. i. * Ibid., 1. ii. c. ii. THE CHURCH IN THE STORM. 69 with Rome In them her last hope seemed to lie, b^ t£y w;^^ known to her chiefly for their ferocity surpassing even that of ^l^e earlier in vade^^^^^ must therefore await the guidance of God s in pim Uon and Providence before she could ^e-d f o^h an apostle to announce to them the ^^V^],^^^^^^^^ I^ve. In the same year that Pope S. Cele^^^^^^^^^^^^ firmed the decrees of the General ^ouncd of ^^^^^^^^ the nrovidential call came to her through b. PatricR, l\o&d by God, offered himself and was ac- cepted by the Pope as the apostle of Ireland. CHAPTER I. THE ELDEST SON OF THE CHURCH. On Christmas Day, a.d. 496, the city of Rheims was all astir. A grand Christian function was about to be solemnised. Rich tapestries carpeted the streets and hung in festoons round the windows and porticoes. The cathedral was brilliantly lighted with scented tapers ; exquisite perfumes exhaled from the sanctuary; the baptismal font and the holy oils were prepared ; bishops and priests stood at the principal entrance in joyful expectation. A solemn procession, chanting litanies and hymns, issued from the royal palace. At its head were borne the Cross and the Book of the Gospels ; next walked the saintly Bishop Remi, leading a barbarian chief by the hand ; then came the queen and two princesses, sisters to the chief, followed by three thousand barbarian warriors and their families. As they passed along, crowds of Pagans flocked to gaze at the strange spectacle. Enchanted and awed by the religious pomp and sweet solemnity that breathed around, the chief said simply to the bishop, "Father, is this the kingdom of Jesus Christ which you promised mel" "No, my son," answered the bishop ; " it is only the beginning of the road which leads to it." On their arrival at the cathedral, the chief asked for baptism, whereupon the bishop said, "Sicamber, bow thy head meekly; burn what thou 73 74 THE FRANKS. hast adored, and adore what thou hast burned."^ After publicly professing the Catholic faith, the chief stepped to the font, and the three thousand warriors, with their families, followed him. The chief was Clovis, the long-haired Merovingian King of the Salian Franks; and this day was the birth- day of the French Catholic nation. There are critical events in the world's history, which, though there was nothing extraordinary in their outward circumstances, seem to have inspired contemporaries with an unaccountable presentiment of their paramount importance. The baptism of Clovis was an event of this class. What could it avail that a single rude chief was baptized, or that the warriors vowed to his service followed him to the font as readily as they would have done to the battle-field? Many a chief with his warriors had been thus received into the Church, and yet now she was none the better for them. At the best there were only a few thousand more Christians in France, and they were as nothing among so many heretics and Pagans. Notwithstanding, the Church hailed the event as a great crisis. S. Avitus, Bishop of Vienne, wrote, " Behold, a new light has risen in the West." 2 And Pope Anastasius said in a letter to Clovis,^ " We congratulate ourselves, most illus- trious son, that your entrance into the Christian faith is contemporary with our entrance on the pontificate. For must not S. Peter's successor feel a thrill of joy when he beholds the nations run towards him, to fill the net which the fisher of men, the doorkeeper of heaven, was ordered to cast into the sea. . . . Our bark is tossed about by a furious tempest. But we 1 Greg. Tur. 1. ii. n. 31. Rohrbacher, t. viii. 1. xlii. p. 486. « Ep. xli. Aviti Vienn. Greg. Tur. 1. ii. 31. ' Ep. Anastas. Pap. D. Achery Spicil. iii. 304. Ozanara, Civ. Chr^t. c. ii. p. 54. Rohrbacher, t. viii. 1. xlii. p. 488. THE ELDEST SON OF THE CHURCH. 75 hope against hope ; and we praise God that He has drawn you out of darkness, in order to give His Church a protector capable of defending her against all her enemies." This joy and hope were a true in- tuition, which the course of modern ages has verified. Clovis was king of only the Salian Franks ; but already he was distinguished by his prowess and the success of his arms. He had married Clotilda, niece of Gondebald, King of the Burgundians. Happily she was a Catholic, though the Burgundians had become Arians under Gondebald, a.d. 490. She often tried to persuade Clovis of the worthlessness of his gods; and when her first son was born, she insisted on his being baptized. But as he died a week after, Clovis ascribed his death to his not having been consecrated to the gods of his nation. Notwithstanding, Clotilda had her second son bap- tized ; and when he also fell ill shortly afterwards, Clovis said, "It cannot be otherwise than that he should die, since he has been baptized in the name of your Christ." But his life was granted to his mother's prayers, and he recovered. Some time after the Allemanni, settled in Alsace and Lorraine, attacked the Kipuarian Franks, who were established at Cologne. Clovis marched to the aid of the latter, and fought a great battle at Tolbiac, now Zulpich, in the territory of Juliers. Before the fight began he invoked his national gods, but the day seemed to be going against him ; for the King of the Ripuarians being disabled by a wound, his troops took to flight, and those of Clovis were about to follow their example. Then remembering the words of his wife, Clovis cried with tears to Jesus, the God of Clotilda, to help him, promising to be baptized if victory were granted him. Scarcely had he finished this prayer when the Allemanni began to give way, and their king being killed, they threw down 7« THE FRANKS. their arms and submitted to Clovis. He accordingly put a stop to the slaughter, and united them to his own people. Clovis lost no time in fulfilling his vow. On his inarch back to Rheims he sent for S. Vedast or Vaast, a priest of Toul, of great reputation for sanctity, in order to be instructed by him in the Catholic faith; and the miraculous cure of a blind man by S. Yaast further confirmed his faith. But still there was a struggle in his heart.* For it seemed to him a hard thing to adore Jesus, an unarmed God, who did not belong to the race of Thor or Woden. Then, too, he feared the prejudices of his subjects. They had dethroned his fatlier in disgust, and they might do the like to him ; for his royal title rested on his descent from Woden, and in abandoning his national gods he was, in fact, abdicating his own divine right to the throne of the Salian Franks. But .these difficulties were happily overcome. His personal followers joyfully accepted baptism ; and though great numbers of Franks adhered to paganism, and even for centuries Christians and Pagans sat side by side at the king's table, and heathen rites mingled with Christian blessings on the food, yet the event proved that the royal authority was strengthened, instead of weakened, by the adoption of Clovis as tlie first-born son of the Church. The night before the baptism, S. Remi paid a private visit to Clovis and Clotilda. After giving them much instruction about their future lives, he assured them, that if they and their posterity would keep God's law faithfully, they should inherit the power of the Roman Empire, exalt the Church, restrain the incursions of other nations, and reign most gloriously. Clovis at once grasped the idea that S. Remi set before him, and transmitted it as an heirloom to his successora From that time the THE ELDEST SON OF THE CHURCH. 77 formation of a compact dominion, inviolable by foreign foes, the maintenance of Catholic unity, and the exercise of a powerful influence over all civilised nations, have been the objects most dear to tlie heart of Catholic France. Clovis looked upon himself as the heir of the Western Empire ; and he and his successors tried to introduce, or to retain at their court and in their kingdom, as much of the forms of Roman administra- tion as they could. They sternly held the barrier of the Rhine against the vast hordes of barbarians, who were ever moving about in restless agitation behind its eastern bank. Within their territory Catholic unity reigned; and as time passed on, and their frontier advanced, Aquitaine, Burgundy, Provence, and at a later period Friesland, Swabia, Thuriiigia' Hesse, and finally Saxony, being conquered by them,' each province as it fell under their rule was brought into the fold of the Catholic Church. The words which S. Gregory addressed to Childebert, King of Austrasia, and son to the celebrated Brunehaut, were full of import, "It is a small thing," said he, "to be a king where others are kings ; but it is much to be a Catliolic where others do not share this honour." i France has always been conscious of this honour. Clovis declared to his assembled leudes, that it was an insupportable sorrow to him that the Arians possessed the half of Gaul. Dagobert called on a band of Slave ravagers to respect the servants of God. And even though one may question the disinterested- ness of Clovis, or may acquiesce •in the Slave king's retort, "If you are the servants of God, we are the dogs of God, who bite the legs of His wicked ser- vants," yet the mere announcement of a religious motive by a barbarian chief was a proof that^con- ^ S. Greg. Ep. vi. ad Childebert II. Montalembert Moines d'Occident, t. il 1. v. p. 142. ^8 THE FRANKS. science was awaking, and that higher prizes than laml, or gold, or captives, were henceforth to be fought for by brave warriors. Thus was first struck that grand keynote, which resounded through the middle ages, and found its noblest expression in the Crusades. But though the Merovingian kings and their per- sonal followers became Christians, they did not cease to be barbarians. Their lives were a constant struggle between two contrary principles, and thus they fur- nish a curious chapter in the history of the human race. On the one hand are found cold-blooded murders, even of their nearest relatives, relentless cruelty and revenge, polygamy and unrestrained sensuality, with every passionate excess that would naturally spring from savage ferocity and barbarian pride. But, on the other hand, there are fine acts of simple faith and humility, a remarkable apprecia- tion of supernatural virtue, and a strong sense of God's presence and retributive justice, which often served as a check to their wildest bursts of passion. In dealing with them the Church began her work where Rome had turned aside, and had consequently failed. She cared not for order, or intellectual culture, or civilisation, except in so far as they promoted her own special ends. Immortal souls were all that she thought of ; and to save them she made efforts which surpassed even those by which Rome conquered the world. But in saving souls, she saved all else^ that was worth saving out of the wreck of ancient civilisa- tion. It was no easy task to curb the proud inde- pendence of these barbarians, to teach them their own spiritual helplessness, and to lead them to prefer Immility, gentleness, mercy, and forgiveness of in- juries, rather than the blood-thirstiness, revenge, and fearless reliance on their own physical strength, which they and their forefathers for long ages had deemed * Ozanain, Les GerniuiiiH, c. vii. p. 381. THE ELDEST SON OF THE CHURCH. 79 the highest virtues. And the task was the harder, because the converts lived in the midst of the strongest temptations, from the disordered state of society and the Pagan atmosphere which surrounded them. This was the opening of that struggle between physical and spiritual force, which forms the history of Europe during the next thousand years ; and the Church's work must be estimated, not by its imme- diate results, but by the way in which it was carried on, and the objects to which it was directed. The Merovingians were like self-willed, passionate, and impulsive chihlren, full of great faults and noble instincts ; and the Church treated them like children, reproving, encouraging, making excuses for them by turns, and above all labouring to inspire them with Christian motives and principles. Thus she never wearied of reminding their kings, that if they would excel by their deeds as well as their faith, they must be merciful to their subjects, restraining their power, so as to act according to right rather than might ; i not allowing anger to overmaster them, but govern- ing with the affection of a father, and not with the harslmess of a tyrant ; 2 administering justice accord- ing to the laws rather than the king's will ; 3 ^nd in their conduct substituting the pure morality enjoined by God's law for the drunkenness, voluptuous songs, and immodest dances of their Pagan ancestors ; In all which things, she told them, the power of kinf^s ought to support the authority of the Church.'* "^ Though the ferocious and profligate acts of the 1 S. Greg. Ep. vi. ad Childebert II. Moines d'Occident t ii. 1. V. p. 142. « " Exhoi tatio ad Francorum Regem Clovis II. " MS. in Vatican. Ozanam, Civil. Chret. c. iii. p. 71. '' 3 Canon.s of Council of Paris, a.d. 614. Ozanam Ibid p 69 * Epistolae Childeberti I. Ozanam, Ibid. c. iii. 'p. Q8 8o THE FRANKS. f THE ELDEST SON OF THE CHURCH. 8i Merovingians unhappily take a more prominent place in history than their good impulses, or the struggles between their passions and their conscience, yet enough is recorded to show how the Church was gradually leavening the mass of barbarism with Christian feeling and thought. What can be more touching than to watch Clovis, the barbarian chief, still wearing his white robe of baptism, and listening with riveted attention to S. Remi, as he tells him the story of the Crucifixion, till, unable longer to restrain himself, he starts to his feet, grasps his spear, and cries aloud, "Would that I had been there with my brave Franks ! I would have avenged His wrongs." ^ By his side appears his sister Albo- fleda, who was baptized on the same day as himself. Touched by the same tale of Divine love, she devotes herself to Jesus^by a vow of virginity, renouncing the world with its honours and pleasures ; thus early setting a noble example to the thousands of nuns, who in every age have been the glory of France. Then there is Fredegonde, odious alike by her cruelty, her avarice, and her licentiousness. Arrested in her career of vice and crime by the dangerous illness of two of her sons, she is struck with com- punction and remorse, and going to her husband Chilperic I., aptly styled the Nero of the North, she says to him, "God has long borne with our sins. lie has often chastised us with fevers and other maladies, but we have not amended our lives. Now we are about to lose our children ; and they are being killed by the tears of the poor, the wailing of the widows, and the groans of the orphans. We amass treasures, and we know not who will inherit them. Come, let us burn all the edicts by which we have laid oppressive taxes on our people." Then striking her breast, she sends for the registers of ^ Fredegar. Epitom, t. ii. c. xxi. p. 400. Gibbon, c. xxxviii. I ( the taxes which she has laid on her own towns ; and as she throws them into the fire, she says to her husband, " Why do you hesitate 1 Do what you see me do, in order that, if we lose our children, we may at least escape eternal punishment." Then Chilperic sent for his edicts and registers of taxation, and threw them into the fire. Notwithstanding, the two young princes died ; but, softened for a time by the grace of God, Chilperic and Fredegonde distributed alms liberally among the poor and the churches. 1 Again, there is the ferocious Clotaire, the pitiless murderer of his two infant nephews, and of his own son and grandchildren, whom he cruelly condemned to be burnt. His licentiousness equalled his cruelty ; for he asserted the royal privilege of polygamy claimed by his Pagan ancestors, and had no less than six wives and an innumerable host of concu- bines. He had sought eagerly to obtain possession of Consortia, a Provencal heiress of great wealth and beauty ; but when she came to him as an orphan, and told him that she had vowed her virginity and her possessions to God, he at once gave her permis- sion to keep her vow, and granted her his protec- tion against all who should molest her.^ He also allowed his favourite queen, S. Radegunda, to sepa- rate from him in order to lead a religious life. After some time his love for her got the better of him, and he set out to force her to return to him ; hearing, however, on the way that she had taken refuge at the tomb of S. Hilary at Poictiers, he did not dare to violate the sanctuary, but overcome by religious feelings, gave her the means to build a cloister for herself at Poictiers. Some years after, being at Tours, the close vicinity to his favourite ^ Greg. Tur. 1. v. c. xxxv. Rohrb. t. ix. 1. xlv. p. 299. ' Vit. S. Cons. cc. xii. xiv. Acta 3S. 0. S. B. saec. i. p. 237. F 82 THE FRANKS. queen once more awakes his passion for lier, and he is about to go and tear her from the cloister; but he is met at the tomb of S. Martin bv S. Germain, Bislioj) of Paris, who, on his knees and with tears, entreats him to desist. Touched by supernatural ^Tace, the passionate barbarian raises the saintly bishop, and prostrating himself at his feet, confesses that he deserves not to have for his queen one who had always i)referred God's will to his, and begs her pardon for his wicked intentions ; then, humbled and contrite, he retraces his steps and leaves her in ])eace.^ The last w^ords of this fierce barbarian graphically express the struggle between habitual pride and simple faith. As he lay on his death- bed, lie "was freed from the excommunication which his wicked life had drawn down upon him ; and as he was about to expire, he said to his courtiers, " AVhat think you must be the power of that King of Heaven, who can thus cause such a powerful king to die 1 " -' It is also interesting to see how those proud Franks bore the reproofs of courageous bishops and monks. S. Xizier was in the constant habit of reproving Thierry I., Clovis's eldest son, for his dissolute life ; notwithstanding, when the see of Treves fell vacant, Thierry appointed S. Nizier to fill it, and sent some of his nobles to fetch him from his monastery. On their way back to the court the party halted at a village, when the nobles, with their habitual lawlessness, turned their hordes loose into tlie corn-fields. Then the abbot indig- nantly exclaimed, *'Take your horses instantly out of the harvest of the poor, or I will excommunicate you." "AVhat!" cried the enraged Franks, "you ^ Vit. S. Radegund. 1. ii. cc. vi. vii. Acta SS. 0. S. B. «ajc. i p. 310. !Mi)ines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. vii. - r.reg. Tur. 1. iv. n. 21. Kohrbacher. * ix. 1. xlv. p. 255. THE ELDEST SOX OF THE CHURCH. S3 are not yet a bishop, and already you threaten ex- communication." " It is the king," replied the abbot, *^ who tears me from my monastery to make me a bishop. God's will be done ; but as to the king s ^vill when he wills what is wrong, it shall never be done if I can prevent it." And forthwith he set to work himself to drive the horses out of the stand- in<' corn. He never ceased to reprove Thierry and liis son Theodobert for their licentious lives, being wont to say, " I am prepared to die for justice." He was at last banished by Clotaire I., whom he had excommunicated ; but on his journey to a foreign land, the news of Clotaire's death recalled him.i Childebert I., King of Paris, brother to Thierry and Clotaire, was the most humane of the sons of (Uovis, though he was not guiltless of the blood of his own family; for it was he wdio excited his brother Clotaire to murder their two infant nephe^ys. liut when one of these innocent children ran to him for protection, he tried, though in vain, to induce tlie infuriated Clotaire to spare him. This was the great blot in his life, but otherwise he seems to have been humane and pious. He always treated the clergy and monks with great respect, and was very liberal in his donations for the foundation of churches and religious houses. When he was about to march into Spain against the Visigoths, a.d. 542, he hap- l>o-ned to pass by the cell of the monk Eusitius, at Selles, in Berry. Pausing at the door, he offered lifty gold pieces to the holy man. ''What am I to py men, who, despite the censures of the Church, had thrown off tlieir vows and quitted the cloister, often wandering from place to place in idleness and profligacy. In two other points S. Benedict's rale differed from those that had preceded it. These were the obligations to manual labour and to study. In all previous ages manual labour had been considered derogatory to rank and wealth, and fitted only for slaves and persons of low position. Even the Ger- mans, as they wandered south, gave up the agricul- tural life of their ancestors, and left the culture of their lands to serfs and captive slaves. But the obligation to manual labour imposed on the Bene- dictine monks gradually brought about a mighty revolution in society, restoring to labour the honour which was morally due to it, and thus bringing society back into harmony with the natural law, by whieli God has imposed labour, in one form or another, on all the children of Adam. The obligation to study was scarcely less important. Every monastery had its school, in which every monk on entering the novitiate was taught to read if he could not already do so, and trained to classical and patristic studies if he showed any taste or talent for learning. Not only did the daily obligation to read for two^'hours result in the revival of learning by the celebrated monkish scholars, but it had a more widely beneficial influence by leavening the whole society with Christian and educated thought. For as the monks were very numerous, and were taken from every class, and were, moreover, constantly brought into' close relations with persons of all ranks, it is evident that they must have unconsciously diffused around them educated ideas, which, working in the mass of barbarism and ignorance into which they were thrown, slowly and imperceptibly softened and S. Bi:XEDILT. lot enlightened it. Even at the present day, the dif- ference in average intelligence between populations, liowever rude and simple, who are in contact with monks and nuns, and the unhappy heathen poor of large English towns, is very striicing. How much greater, then, must have been the influence of educated monastic orders, when the other helps to education which now exist were totally wanting. According to this rule Benedict trained his monks at Monte Cassino. Though he never was raised to the priesthood, yet he ruled all around him like a patriarch. One of the means by which he main- tained his power was the supernatural gift by which he could read the thoughts of others and know the acts of the absent. Some of the brethren having broken the rule by eating while they were making the usual round in search of food, were greeted on their return by Benedict with the inquiry, " Where did you oat 1 " And when they denied that they had eaten, he told them all particulars of place and time, and the quality of the food of which they had partaken. Again, one of the monks whose father filled a high j)ublic office happened to be appointed to hold a light to the abbot as he ate. As the young man stood before the table with the li'dit, proud thoughts took possession of his heart, and he said to himself, " Who is this man that I should wait on him while he eats, holding a light and Ijeing his servant 1 And Avho am I that I should serve him *? " Then Benedict turning to him, began to reprove him sharply, saying, ''Make the sign of the cross on thy heart, brother. AVhat is that thou art saying 1 Make the sign of the cross on thy heart." Calling some other monks, he bade them take the light, and dismissing th(? proud one, ordered him to go to his cell. And when the monks asked the offender what he had been doing to incur the abbot's displeasure, he confessed 102 THE FRANKS. to them the proud thoughts that had been passing through his mind, and what he had been saying to himself. Whereupon they all saw that they could hide nothing from Benedict, since even the words that passed unspoken through their minds sounded in his ears. The gift of prophecy also was granted him. In the year 538 the whole of Italy was afflicted by a grievous famine. There was such a scarcity of all sorts of food in Campania, that the flour in the monastery was exhausted, and at the dinner hour no more than five loaves could be had for all the brethren. Benedict, seeing that they were greatly cast down, said to them, " Why are you troubled by the want of bread ] To-day indeed there is very little, but to-morrow there w^ill be abundance." His words were verified the next day, when two hundred measures of flour in sacks were found before the gate of the monastery ; but who had placed them there was never known. There was a man of nol)le birth and great virtue, called Theoprobus, who had been converted by Bene- dict, and enjoyed his confidence. He happened one day to enter Benedict's cell, and found him weeping bitterly. As he continued weeping for a long time, and it was evident that his tears did not flow from devotion, but from sorrow, Theoprobus at length inquired what it was that grieved him. Then the saint answered, " This monastery that I have built, and all that the brethren liave created by their labour, will be given to the barbarians by the judgment of Almighty God. Scarcely could I obtain the favour that the lives of all in this place should be granted to me." This prophecy was fulfilled about a.d. 580, during the pontificate of Pelagius II., when tho Lombards destroyed the monastery of Monte Cassino, the monks, however, escaping with their lives, as S S. BENEDICT. 103 Benedict had foretold. The Pope gave them the Church of the Lateran in Rome, where they remained till about A.D. 720, when S. Petronax, at the com- mand of S. Gregory II., restored the old house at ^lonte Cassino. But even a higher gift than that of prophecy was granted to Benedict. One day when he was out working in the fields with the other monks, a peasant wild with grief, carrying his dead son in his arms, came to the monastery and asked for Benedict. Hearing where he was, he laid down his son's body at the gate, and set out to find Benedict, whom he met returning to the monastery with the other monks. As soon as the poor man saw him, he began to cry out, " Restore me my son, restore me my son." On hearing his words, Benedict stopped and said, '*How liave I taken away your son?" To which the other replied, " He is dead. Come, and raise him from the dead." But Benedict, greatly troubled, said, ''Go away, brother, go away. Such power belongs not to us, but only to the Apostles. Why would you lay this task on us who cannot perform it ? " Still the poor man persisted in his petition, vowing that he would not go away unless his son were raised from the dead. At length Benedict asked where his son was; and hearing that he lay at the gate of the monastery, he went with the brethren to the spot. Then kneeling down, and prostrating himself on the body of the child, he raised his hands to heaven, saying, " Lord, look not upon my sins, but upon the faith of this man, who prays to have his son raised from the dead. Graciously restore to this body the soul which Thou hast taken away." Scarcely had he uttered these words than the corpse began to tremble, as if agitated by some wonderful operation, and Benedict, taking the child's hand, restored him alive and well to his father. I 104 THE FRANKS. S. BENEDICT. Benedict's great sanctity seemed to give liiin a mysterious power over all who approaclied him. In the year 541 Totila, King of the Ostrogoths, invaded Italy, destroying the towns and practising great cruelties. There was in his army a Goth called Galla, who, like the rest of his nation, was an Arian, and encouraged Totila in his atrocities against the Catholics. This man one day got hold of a peasant, whom he tortured cruelly in order to extract from him any treasure that he had hid. The poor man, hoping to be released from torture, cried out in his agony that he had given all he possessed to Benedict, the servant of God. Galla therefore ordered him to take him to this Benedict, and tying his hands behind his back, drove him before his horse. Thus they reached the monastery, at the door of which sat Bene- dict reading. " There," said the peasant, " is Father Benedict, of whom I spoke.'' Instantly the Goth cried out savagely, "Get up, get up, and give me this man's goods, which thou hast received." At these words the saint looked up calmly from his book. But no sooner did his eye rest on the peasant than the bonds fell from his arms, and he stood up erect and free; at which sight Galla, struck with awe and fear, threw himself down before the saint, and touching his feet with his forehead, besought him to pray for him. Then Benedict, without rising from his reading, called the brothers, and bade then"! take the Goth into the monastery and give him some blessed food ; ^ and when he had recovered himself, he reproved him for his ferocious cruelty. Then he ^ Besides the bread and wiue used for consecration at Mass-, the faithful made offerings of both, which were blessed by the bishop or priest after Mass, and distributed to those who were present, the surplus bein«; reserved for the use of the clergy or monks, and for alms to the poor. Acta SS. O. S. B. scec. iii. t, i., Pra^f. c. liii. ^05 1 dismissed him, and the barbarian went away Iiumbled and contrite, not daring to make any further demands on the peasant, and vanquished by a single ^rlance from that saintly eye. * ^ Benedict's fame reached Totila, who, wishing to see the saint and test his spiritual power, stopped at some little distance from Monte Cassino and sent ou to announce his visit. Benedict returned an invita- tion to him to come ; whereupon he dressed up Ricrcro his sword-bearer, in his royal robes, and sent liinTto Benedict, accompanied by three of his chief personal attendants, who were to treat him with the ceremonial and deference due to royalty. But as soon as they came within hearing of the spot where Benedict was sitting, he cried out, " My son, take off what thou wearest, for it is not thine." Whereupon Rigcro and his companions, trembling at their own p're- suniption in trying to deceive the saint, returned to the king, and told him how quickly they ha'd been detected. Totila himself then went to Benedict, and when afar off he caught sight of the saint, he fell on his face, not daring to approach him. Thrice Benedict bade him arise ; but he had not courage to do so till the saint took him by the hand and raised him, at the same time reproving him for his wickedness, and telling him in a few words what would hereafter befall him. "Thou committest many sins; thou hast committed many sins ; refrain henceforth from iniquity. Thou slialt indeed enter Rome ; thou shalt cross the sea ; thou shalt reign nine years, and in the tenth year thou shalt die." On hearing this Totila was terribly frightened, and after asking the saint's prayers he retired. But from this time he was less cruel than formerly. Benedict's prophecy was ful- filled For Totila soon after entered Rome, after ^vhicli he crossed into Sicily, and in the tenth year I io6 THE FRANKS. S. BENEDICT. 107 from that time, a.d. 552, he was killed in a battle fought against the Greeks under Narses. Nearly fifty years had now elapsed since Benedict had fled into the desert to preserve his innocence. He was above sixty years old, and his life was drawing to its close. He had a twin-sister called Scholastica. She w^as his sister by grace as well ai* nature ; for she had been dedicated to God from her childhood, and she was now leading a holy life under her brother's direction, in a monastery not far from his.^ She was in the habit of coming once a year to see him, when, accompanied by a few monks, he would go out of the gate of the monas- tery, and spend the day with her. On 7th of February, a.d. 543, she came as usual, and Benedict went out to meet her. The day was spent in chant- ing God's praises and in holy conversation; and as the sun declined they took their evening meal. Absorbed in sacred coUoipiy they sat long, and night was closing in when Scholastica said, "I beseech thee not to leave me, but talk with me till morning about the joys of heaven." But Benedict answered, "What art thou saying, my sister 1 I cannot on any account remain out of the monastery." Then Scholastica placed her hands on the table, and laying her head down on them, she began to pray to God with such fervour that her tears flowed in a stream on the table. When she bowed her head the sky was serene, and not a cloud was in sight ; but as she raised it the lightning flashed, thunder * pealed, and torrents of rain poured down, so that it was impossible for Benedict and his monks to 1 It is supposed that her monastery was that of Plumbariola, which stands in a valley quite close to Monte Cassino. It was afterwards rebuilt for the wife and daughter of a Lom- bard king, who became a monk of Monte Cassino. Moinea d'Occident, t. ii. 1. iv. return to the monastery. Sorrowful at the thought of remaining out all night, he said, " Almighty God forgive thee, my sister ! What hast thou done 1 " And she answered, " Behold, I asked thee, and thou wouldst not listen to me. I asked my Lord, and He has heard me. Go out now if thou canst, and return to thy monastery." Thus, he who would not remain of his own free w^ill was compelled to remain against his will ; and they watched through the night, and satiated themselves with holy conversa- tion. The next morning S. Scholastica and S. Bene- dict returned to their respective monasteries. Three days after, being the 10th of February, it came to pass that as Benedict was in his cell, raising his eyes to heaven he saw his sister^s soul in the form of a white dove ascending to the mansions of the blessed. Rejoicing and thanking God, he announced her de- parture to the brethren. They sent to her convent for her body, and, bringing it to Monte Cassino, they ])laced it in the tomb in the chapel of S. John Baptist Avhich Benedict had prepared for himself. Nor did the tomb long remain unfilled. In con- versation with some of his sons, and in writing to others, he foretold that his death w^ould take place on the 21st of March; and six days before that date he ordered his grave to be opened. Soon after he was attacked with fever, which from day to day became moro violent. On the sixth dav he was carried, at his own desire, to the church, where he received the Holy Viaticum ; after which, supported in the arms of his sons, he raised his hands ta heaven, and while still breathing acts of love and prayer he expired. Two of his disciples in difibrent places, one being in the monastery and the other, S. Maurus, being in France, saw in vision innumerable stars forming a bright path of light going towards the East, and f jo8 THE FRANKS. S. BENEDICT 109 reaching from the monastery up to lieaven. Tiien a man clothed in light, who stood by, asked them whose path it was tliat they belield ; and when they answered that they knew not, he said to them, " This is the path by which Benedict, the beloved of the Lord, has ascended to heaven/' ^ The monks laid S. Benedict by the side of S. 8cholastica in the Chapel of S. John Baptist, which he built on the s[)ot where the altar of Apollo had stood. Their tomb is still to be seen under the high altar of the Church of Monte Cassino with the in- scription, " Benedictum et Scholasticam uno in terris partu editos, una in Deum pietati coelo redditos, unus hie excipit tumulus, mortalis depositi pro eternitate custos."- Great as were S. Benedict's supernatural gifts, they were surpassed in marvellousness by the vast work of which he was the chosen instrument. 'Jlie ins])ira- tion of the Holy Spirit may be seen in the perfect adaptation of his rule to the great work which it was destined to perform, and in his total unconsciousness of that destiny when he framed it. His only thought was to meet the w^ants of his own sons ; and so little did he dream of anything further, that he made no provision for the central government of the Order. Within a century from his death his rule had taken root in Italy, France, England, Germany, and Spaiu.3 It was confirmed by S. Gregory the Great at the * There have been disputes about the date of S. Benedict's death, about the extension of his rule to women by S. Schol- astica, and about its introduction by S. Gregory into his monasteries. In all these points the writer has followed Acta SS. O. S. B. S£ec. i. Pnef. cc. xxxii. xxxix. xlviii. Ixxxi. xciv. - Moines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. iv. ^ It was introduced into Spain a.d. C40. 4sa;c. i. Pra;f. c. Ixxiv. Council of Rome, a.d. 595,^ and again at another Council of Home, a,d. 610, by Boniface IV. ,2 who then gave S. Benedict the title of " iMonachorum Praeceptor." From it have branched, witli few ex- ceptions, all the modifications of religious life which have since spread through the world ; and its his- tory for a thousand years from its birth is that of religion, learning, and civilisation. ^ Baronius, Annal. ad an. 59.' ex MS. Sublacensi. Some doubt has been thrown on the authenticity of this MS. ; but S. Gregory's confirmation is also proved by the seventh canon of the second Council of Donzy, near Sedan, a.d. 874, which says, " Eadem re^nila S. Spiritu promulgata et tandem aucto- ritate B. Pnpre Gregorio inter canonicas scripturas et catholi- corum doctorum scripta teneri decreta est." Ap. Moinef^ d'Occident, ii. 1. v. c. vi. - Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. ii. Praef. c. i. Acta SS. 0. S. B. n I # CHAPTEK III. LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY, The great law of nature by which life is developed from decay was working in France in a remarkable way during tlie fifth and sixth centuries. Out of the calamities of that period a vigorous religious life was springing forth. The misery of the world was more than men could bear ; and in very weariness they fled to solitude in search of repose and consolation through converse with God. As early as a.d. 410 S. Honoratus founded on the rocky island of Lerins a monastery, which became the retreat of learning and the bulwark of the faith, lie opened the arms of his love to all who wished to love Christ, and men came to him from all parts of the world ; so that there was no country or nation which did not send him disciples.^ There was also the Abbey of S. Victor, founded 'at ^larseilles by Cassian, where was practised the contemplative life, as he had witnessed it in Palestine and the Thebaid ; in which, and the houses attached to it, five thousand monks were soon collected. There was also the great Abbey of S. Germain at Auxerre ; and, at no great distance, in Burgundy, that of R^ome, afterwards called Moutier S. Jean. Its founder was John, son of a senator of Dijon, who, at the age of twenty, retired to one of the deserts which the invasions had created. Disciples flocked to him ; but alarmed at the honour in which ^ Vit. S. Honorat. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec, i. no LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. Ill his sanctity was held, he fled secretly to Lerins, w^here he remained hid as a novice for eighteen months, till he was recognised by one of his monks, who was in search of him. On his return to his own monastery he established regular discipline, and set his monks to clear away the forest and till the soil. One day their tools were stolen, whereupon he bade them study while he went to look for the tools. ( Joing out, he knelt down to pray ; and as he prayed a man ran to him, and, laying the tools at his feet, confessed that he had stolen them; when John not only pardoned him, but gave him an alms of blessed bread. ^ There were also at Aries two monasteries for men and women, founded, a.d. 508, by S. Caesarius, who wrote a rule for both. In the monastery for women, over w^hich his sister Caesaria presided, two hundred nuns were collected, and the rule which he gave them was generally used throughout Gaul till the Benedictine rule displaced it. It required the nuns to study for two hours daily, to occupy themselves in copying MSS., and that one of them should read aloud while the rest worked. As to Auvergne, which suffered so terribly from the invasions of the Yandals and Visigoths, it seemed as if the whole population had taken refuge in religion, so that almost all the modern towns and villages owe their origin to mon- astic communities. But the most celebrated of all the monasteries of this period were Condat and Agaune. In the year 425, Romanus,^ a Gallo-Roman of Sequania, aged thirty-five, fled to the solitudes of the Jura, carrying with him only the history of the Fathers of the Desert, some seeds, and agricultural ^ Vit. S. Joan. Reoman. auctore Mona^iho Reomanensi fcuppari. Acta. SS. O. S. B. saec. i. p. 613. ^ Vit. S. Roman. Acta SS. Feb. 28. 112 TIIC FRANKS. implements. Ensconced on an almost inaccessible spot, shut in by three steep mountain peaks and dense thickets of trees and brushwood, with no shelter except a lofty pine, he set himself to read, to pray, and to sow his seeds in the arid soil, flatter- ing himself that in so uninvitinj^ a spot he would be safe from intrusion. But soon his l)rother Lupicinus found him out ; and after him flocked novices in such numbers, that an old monk complained they did not leave him even room to lie down. Thus the nook in which Romanus had hid himself, becoming too narrow to hold them all, they went forth like swarms of bees, and took possession of all tlie most secluded spots in Sequania and the neighbouring provinces. Women, too, were attracted by the sanc- tity of the two brothers ; and their sister, with one hundred and five nuns under her rule, placed herself on a neighbouring rock overhanging a precipice, where now stands a church, called S. Romain de Roche, in which S. Romanus is buried. In this monastery of Condat, now called S. Claude, buried in snow during the winter, and scorched in summer by the heat reflected from the rocks, clothed in skins so rudely sewed as to be scarcely a protection from the cold, with no other food than what they could procure by the labour of their hands in a soil un- suited for cultivation, the two brothers instituted a rule whicli vied in austerity with that of the Eastern deserts. From this mountain peak they ruled all the numerous communities which had gone fortli from their hive, and exercised great influence over the Burgundian monarchs, the AUemanni, and all the neighbouring tribes. True to monastic instincts, all the time that was not spent in prayer and agriculture they devoted to letters and art. Condat became one of the most celebrated schools of Gaul, in which Greek, Latin, and eloquence were taught both to the I LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. 113 monks and to seculars. Manuscripts also were copied ; and the manufactures of box-wood, w^hich are still to be found in the cottages of the Jura, may be traced back to these monks. The Abbey of Agaune was founded a century later by S. Sigismund, the last of the Burgundian kings. It stands in the picturesque Alpine pass in the Valais, through which the Rhone rushes down to the Lake of Geneva,^ on the spot where S. Maurice and the Theban legion, to whom it was dedicated, were martyred. Its first inhabitants were a hundred monks from Condat, who brought to it the severe rule of their founder. But before long it contained no less than nine hundred monks, who, divided into nine choirs, kept up the Laus Perennis, singing uninterruptedly day and night the praises of God. Here S. Sigismund retired and received the tonsure, during the brief interval between his dethronement and his murder by the sons of Clovis, a.d. 522-23. It has been calculated 2 that during the sixth century alone eighty-four new" monasteries were founded in the valleys of the Rhone and the Saone, ninety-four between the Pyrenees and the Loire, fifty-four l)etween the Loire and the Vosges, and ten between the Vosges and the Rhine. The princely munificence of the early Merovingians fostered this religious development. Many a royal country seat or villa, to which the court had been wont to resort for hunting, was bestowed on some saintly bishop or hermit, and became a centre of Christianity to the surrounding population. ^ Moines d'Occident, t. I 1. iii. Some writers say that this abbey had been founded two centuries earlier, or at least since A. p. 478, and that Sigismund only rebuilt and endowed it. * This calculation is made from Mabillon by Mignet in •' Memoire sur la Conversion de TAllemagne par les Moines," p. 32. Ap. Moines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. vii. 114 THE FRANKS. But the wildest and most inaccessible spots were those which were preferred by hermits and monks ; for in them they had less chance of being interrupted in their devotions. Often they would fly to a forest, w liere they would have to cut their way with their axes, and to creep and climb through fallen trees and brusliwood. There, in a cave, or hut made of branches, or perchance an old ruin, they would take lip their abode, regardless alike of the bandits and the wild beasts who infested the wilderness. Lawless men were more to be feared than wild beasts. ^lany a hermit was robbed of his axe or his small supply of bread ; and sometimes he was murdered by bandits, who, mistaking liim for a seeker of buried treasure, were irritated on discover- ing his ])overty. More frequently, however, the sanctity of the hermit would touch their hearts, and even convert them. Thus S. Lauromar, afterwards abbot of a monastery in Perche, about A.D. 590,^ while living as a hermit, suddenly found himself surrounded by a wild band, who, at sight of him, fell awe-struck on their knees before him, confessing that they came to murder him for the sake of the treasure which they supposed that he had found. AVhereupon he said gently, "God have mercy on you ! Turn from your robber's life that you may merit His forgiveness. As for me, I have no treasure on earth. Christ is my only treasure." Then they departed and left him unmolested. Again, S. Sequanus*^ being told that cannibals dwelt in a forest which he was about to enter, calmly replied, "It matters not! Only show me the way to it ; for if my desires come from God, the ferocity of these people will be turned into the gentleness of ^ Vit. S. Lauromar. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. i. p. 322. - Vit. S. Sequan. cc. vii. viii. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. i. p. 250. LIFE SPIUXGIXG OUT OF DECAY. 115 the dove." As he was entering the thicket, he knelt down and prayed, "Lord, if Thou orderest me to abide in this wilderness, make me know Thy will, and prosper what Thou hast given me grace to begin." His faith and hope were rewarded; for when the wild men came to know him, they were turned from wolves into lambs, making themselves his servants, and helping him and his companions to build the cells, which were the nucleus from which sprang the abbey and town of S. Seine. - There was also S. Ebrulph,i j^jy 519-596, who being accosted in the gloomy forest of Ouche by a brigand, who asked why he came there, answered, "To weep for my sins. With God's protection I fear neither man's threats nor hard labour. He can prepare a table in the wilderness for His servants ; and thou, if thou wilt, canst sit with me at it." Tlie robber retired in silence. . But the next day he brought the saint three loaves and a honeycomb ; and before long he and his companions became the lirst monks of the Abbey of Evroul in the diocese uf Lisieux. As to the wild beasts, not a single instance is known of a hermit becoming their prey. But many cases are on record of their dwelling in peace with these holy men, seeking shelter with them from their pursuers, and even lending themselves to their service. Thus, a hare pressed by the king's dogs hid itself under S. Marculph's habit, and let him take it in his arms. On seeing this one of the huntsmen cried out fiercely, " How darest thou touch the king's game ! Lay it down instantly, or I will cut thy throat." Marculph obeyed, but the dogs would not touch it — a fact which was attested by the eye-witnesses before the king.^ ^ Vit. S. Ebrulf. Moines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. viii. c. i. - Vit. S. Marculf, c. xviii. Acta SS. 0. S. B. saec. i. p. 124. I£6 THE FRANKS. A stag chased by wolves fled to S. Lauromar,^ who seeing in it the type of man's soul pursued by the devil, cried out to the wolves, "Cruel ravening beasts, cease to persecute this poor stag, and return to your dens." Whereupon the wolves paused, and turning round, returned to the depths of the forest. Birds used to nestle in S. Columban's cowl ; and he would pass unharmed through packs of wolves, who touched his clothes, but did not dare to hurt him. 2 A wild boar pursued by Clotaire II. took refuge at the altar of S. Desle,^ where it was found by the king lying peaceably, while the saint con- tinued his prayers. Another wild boar found safety with S. Basolus,* founder of the monastery of Viergy, near Rheims; in attestation of which fact it was for many centuries the inviolable custom of the neighbourhood to spare all game hunted in the forest of Rheims which could reach the little wood surmounted by the cross of S. Basolus. S. Martin,^ Abl)ot of Vertou, in Brittany, about 690, obliged a bear, which had killed his ass, to carry the ass's burden. S. Corbinian,^ Bishop of Freisingen, about A.D. 720, made a bear, which had killed one of his pack-horses in the Tyrol, carry its load after him to Rome. Similar cases, occurring in all ages and countries, and authenticated by eye-witnesses, docu- mentary evidence, and enduring popular traditions, leave no room for rational doubt as to the broad fact of the power acquired by hermits and monks over the animal creation. Marvellous as is this fact, it ^ Vit. S. Lauromar, c. xiv. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. i. p. 323. 2 Vit. S. Columban, cc. xv. xxx. Ibid. yioc. ii. pp. 9, 14 3 Vit. S. Deicol. cc. xii. xiii. Ibid. ssec. ii. p. 99. * Vit. S. Basol. cc. xxii. xxiii. Ibid. saec. ii. p. 68. * Vit. S. Martin, ^liracul. i. Ibid. sjcc. i. p. 362. « Vit. S. Corbinian, c. xi. Ibid. saec. iii. t. i. p. 476. LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. 1^7 cannot properly be said to be contrary to the order of nature. For, as man lost his dominion over the animals through sin, it is very conceivable that he should recover it whenever he regained close union with God; and thus, as S. Bede says, "It is not to be wondered at if all creatures are in subjection to the will and governance of him who serves the Creator of all creatures faithfully and with his whole heart." i In glancing over the religious history of this age, a few words are due to S. Clotilda, to whose zeal France owes its faith. Her life was a sorrowful one.- In early youth she had seen her father massacred, her mother drowned, her only sister driven ignominiously into exile, while she herself, a captive in the house of her parents' murderer, was at last compelled to marry a Pagan. There came a brighter period, from the conversion of Clovis, a.d. 495, to his death a.d. 511. But whether in sorrow or in joy, Clotilda was equally devoted to God's service. Under the roof of her Arian uncle she alone had clung to the true faith, and had sought consolation for her own unhappiness in charity to the poor. To her zeal her husband owed his conversion ; and the influence which that event gave her she exerted in advancing Christianity and building churches and monasteries. The prin- cipal of these were the church in Paris dedicated to S. Peter, but since called S. Genevieve ; a monastery at Tours, also dedicated to S. Peter; and another at Audely, near Rouen, dedicated to the Mother of God ; so that from the very first devotion to Christ's Vicar and to our Blessed Lady took root in Catholic France. But in spite of Clotilda's virtues, the German nature was not yet dead in her. The love of her ^ Vit S. Cuthbert, c. xxi. Acta SS. 0. S. B. s»c. ii. p. 859. * Vit. S. Clotildis. Ibid. saec. i. p. 92. ii8 THE FRANKS. old Burguiuliaii home still lived in her heart, and with it was associated the old German idea of revenge. On the death of her husband ^ she said to her sons, Clodomir, Ciiildebert, and Clotaire, "^ly dear children, let me not have reason to repent that I have reared vou with such care. Show me that you feel the injury that has been done me, and revenge the cruel murder of my father and mother." The young princes responded to her appeal by march- incr aj]:ainst Sifjismund, w^ho had succeeded his father Gundebald, and totally defeating him. He escaped to Agaune, where he became a monk ; but after a time his retreat was betrayed by one of hia subjects to Clodomir, who carried him, his wife, and his two sons captive to Orleans. Before long Godemar, Sigismund*s brother, re- covered the throne of his fathers ; whereupon Clodomir, greatly enraged, determined to kill his captives before setting out to reconquer Burgundy. S. Avitus, Abbot of Mici, boldly confronteil the anc,'ry king, and said to him, "0 king, if for God's sake thou hast mercy on thy captives, God will be with thee and give thee victory. But if thou killest them, what thou doest to them will befall thee and thy children.'* But Clodomir only answered, " It is folly to bid a man leave his enemy behind him." Sigismund, his wife, and two sons were murdered, A.D. 524, and tlieir bodies, deprived of Christian burial, were thrown into a well near Columelle, on the frontiers of the Orleannais and Beauce, which has ever since been known as the well of S. Sigismond or S. Simond. It was not long before S. Avitus's prediction was fulfilled. Clodomir was defeated and killed by the Burgundians, and his head, placed on the point of a * Kohrbacher, t. ix. 1. xliv. pp. 34, 133. LIFE SPRINGING OLT OF DECAY. ik; pike, was borne in triumph through their ranks. His wife was taken by his brother Clotaire as one of his many wives, and his three infant sons were committed to the care of their grandmother. She lavished such love on them that her son Childebert became jealous, and said to Clotaire, " Our mother is so fond of the?e children that she will give them their father's kingdom. Let us then kill them, or tonsure them, and divide the kingdom between us." For long hair was among the Franks the distinctive mark of a freeman, and the tonsure of a Merovingian disqualified him for the throne. Accordingly, Childe- bert and Clotaire asked Clotilda to send them the children, under the pretence of placing them on their father's throne ; and she, suspecting no evil, made a feast on the joyful occasion, saying to them, " I shall no longer weep for my son's death, if I see you reigning in his stead." As soon as the brothers got hold of the children, they sent a naked sword and a pair of scissors to Clotilda by Arcadius, a noble of Auvergne, who said to her, *'Most glorious lady, your sons, our lords, ask you what is to be done with these children. Do you prefer that they be tonsured and allowed to live, or that they be put to death 1 " In the first revulsion of feeling Clotilda exclaimed, *'I would rather see them dead than tonsured." Whereupon Arcadius, catching at her impulsive exclamation, hurried Va^k to the two kings and said, "Do as you will, the queen consents." Then Clotaire fell upon the eldest child, who was ten years old, and pierced him with his dagger. At this sight the second child, who was only seven, fell at Childebert's feet, and embracing his knees, cried to him to save him. Childebert, touched with pity, tried to bribe Clotaire to spare the child. But the furious Clotaire exclaimed, " Give him up, or die thyself. It is thou who hast drawn *< LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. 119 118 THE FRANKS. old Burgundiaii home still lived in her heart, and with it ° was associated the old German idea of revenge. On the death of her husband ^ she said to her sons, Clodomir, Childebert, and Clotaire, "^ly dear children, let me not liave reason to repent that I have reared you with such care. Show me that you feel the injury that has been done me, and revenge the cruel murder of my father and mother." The j-oung princes responded to her appeal by march- ing againsl Sigismund, who had succeeded his father Gundcbald, and totally defeating him. He escaped to Agaune, where he became a monk ; but after a time his retreat was betrayed by one of his subjects to Clodomir, wlio carried liim, his wife, and his two sons captive to Orleans. Before long Godemar, Sigismund's brother, re- covered the throne of his fathers; whereupon Clodomir, greatly enraged, determined to kill his captives before setting out to reconquer Burgundy. S. Avitus, Abbot of Mici, boldly confronted the angry king, and said to him, "O king, if for God's sake*' thou hast mercy on thy captives, God will be with thee and give thee victory. But if thou killest them, what thou doest to them will befall thee and thv children.-"' But Clodomir only answered, "It is "^folly to bid a man leave his enemy behind him." Sigismund, his wife, and two sons were murdered, A.D. 524, and their bodies, deprived of Christian burial, were thrown into a well near Columelle, on the frontiers of the Orleannais and Beauce, which has ever since been known as the well of S. Sigismond or S. Simond. It was not long before S. Avitus's prediction was fulfilled. Clodomir was defeated and killed by the Burgundians, and his head, placed on the point of a 1 Rohrbacher, t. ix. 1. xliv. pp. 34, 133. pike, was borne in triumph through their ranks. His wife was taken by his brother Clotaire as one of his many wives, and his three infant sons were committed to the care of their grandmother. She lavished such love on them that her son Chddebert became jealous, and said to Clotaire, " Our mother is so fond of tliese children that she will give them their father's kingdom. Let us then kill them, or tonsure them, and divide the kingdom between us." For long hair was among the Franks the distinctive mark of^'a freeman, and the tonsure of a Merovingian disqualified him for the throne. Accordingly, Childe- bert and Clotaire asked Clotilda to send them the children, under the pretence of placing them on then- father's throne ; and she, suspecting no evil, made a feast on the joyful occasion, saying to them, " I shall no longer weep for my son's death, if I see you reigning in his stead." As soon as the brothers got hold of the children, they sent a naked sword and a pair of scissors to Clotilda by Arcadius, a noble of Auvergne, who said to her, *'Most glorious lady, your sons, our lords, ask you what is to be done with these children. Do you prefer that they be tonsured and allowed to live, or that they be put to death ? " In the first revulsion of feeling Clotilda exclaimed, '^I would rather see them dead than tonsured.'"' Whereupon Arcadius, catching at her impulsive exclamation, hurried la -k to the two kings and said, *'Do as you will, the queen consents." Then Clotaire fell upon the eldest child, who was ten years old, and pierced him with his dagger. At this sight the second child, who was only seven, fell at Childebert's feet, and embracing his knees, cried to him to save him. Childebert, touched with pity, tried to bribe Clotaire to spare the child. But the furious Clotaire exclaimed, " Give him up, or die thyself. It is thou who hast drawn 120 THE FRANKS. LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. 121 II me into this afifair ; and dost thou so soon fail to thy word?" Then Childebert threw tlie child from him, and Clotaire thrust his dagger into his heart. Thus two of Clodomir's sons paid with their lives for the two sons of Sigismund. His third son, Clodoalde, escaped, and cutting off his hair with his own hand, took refuge with a hermit near Paris, who brought him up as a monk. He built a monastery, in which he lived and died ; and his memory is still preserved in the name of the church, town, and palace of S. Cloud. Overwhelmed with grief embittered by remorse, Clotilda retired to the tomb of S. Martin at Tours, where she spent the rest of her life in prayer, penance, and works of charity. She died about a.d. 545, and her body was laid beside that of Clovis in their church of S. Peter in Paris. One of the most interesting personages of this time was Clotaire's queen, S. Eadegunda,i a Thurin- gian princess. Thuringia was at this time a powerful kingdom,^ held by three brothers, one of whom, Berthar, w^as Eadegunda's father. But her uncle Herioanfried, wishing to be sole king, dethroned and killed both his brothers with the aid of Thierry I. son of Clovis. Thierry now claimed a share in the kingdom, which Hermanfried refused him ; where- upon Thierry and his brother Clotaire united their forces, and calling the Saxons to their aid, conquered Thuringia, which henceforth ceased to be an inde- pendent kingdom, and was divided between the Franks and the Saxons, about a.d. 530. Herman- 1 Vit. S. Radegund. Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. i. p. 302. This life is in two books, of which the first is by Venantius Fortunatus, her friend and secretary ; and the second by Baudonivia, one of her nuns, who had been in her service when she was a queen. 2 Seiters, Bonifacius, c. iii. p. 90. fried perished by treachery; and Radegunda and her brother were taken prisoners by the Franks. Thus Eadegunda's life opened in sorrow. Though she was only a child, her beauty was so great that both Thierry and Clotaire wished to have her, and nearly came to blows about her. In the usual division of the spoil she fell to Clotaire, who placed her at Athies, one of his villas on the Somme, to be carefully educated till she should be old enough to marry him. Here she received instruction in the ordinary feminine accomplishments, and also in the learning of the day. But even at this early age her heart was given to God. In talking with her young companions about their future lot, she would wish only to shed her blood in martyrdom. She would gave the food which remained after her meals, and collecting a number of poor children, would wash them, and wait on them as a servant while they ate. It was also her delight to go through the services of the Church in her oratory, singing psalms in pro- cession, with a wooden cross carried before her, all being done with great reverence and devotion. When the time for her marriage arrived, she fled by night in a boat with a few attendants. But she was soon overtaken, and brought to Soissons, where Clotaire made her his queen, a.d. 538, and showed lier publicly to his subjects, according to the custom of the Franks, though he had already as many as five wives. Radegunda's marriage made no change in her devo- tion. She avoided all worldly pomp as much as possible, and when compelled to appear in royal state, she wore haircloth under her robes. Her charity was unbounded, for she deemed everything wasted which was not spent upon Christ's poor ; and not content with making gifts, she collected a number of poor persons under her roof, on whom she waited 122 THE FRANKS. LIFE JSPHIXGIXG OUT OF DECAY. 12J i. ! in person, wasliing them, dressing their sores, and performing the most menial offices for them. Once, when she was travelling, she happened to pass a temple where sacrifice to idols was being offered ; whereupon she stopped, and ordered her attendants to destroy the temple and altar. The idolaters, in defence of their gods, rushed upon her party with swords and staves ; but she calmly kept her seat on her horse, and did not move till the shrine sank in the flames and peace was restored through her prayers. Often when evening closed in, and she was ex- pected at the king's table, she would be found making candles for the altar ; for she was in the habit of making with her own hands those that were always kept burning in her oratory before the Blessed Sacra- ment. And in the middle of the night she would rise from her bed, and remain in prayer till she was almost frozen. Often the king would scold her, and would complain that he had got a true nun, and not a queen; but still his love for her continued, and whenever he spoke angrily to her he would make amends for his rough words by rich gifts. She used her influence with him to obtain liberty for captives, pardon for criminals, and justice for the oppressed. After six years she regained her liberty in an un- expected way. A young brother had been the sole companion of her captivity, and she loved him tenderly. Clotaire now put liim to death for some unknown reason, though he was perfectly innocent. On hearing of her loss Radegunda indignantly ex- claimed, " This day I am doubly a slave. I feel again the full weight of the enemy's yoke." She sought Clotaire, and in an interview, the particulars of which are lost, she obtained his leave to quit his palace and throne, and devote herself to God's service. Ko sooner was she free than she left Soissons, nnd going to Noyon, besought S. Medard, the bishops to give her the veil and consecrate her to God. S. Medard hesitated, and some of Clotaire's leudes, who were in the church, dragged him wdth violence from the altar, forbidding him to presume to consecrate one whom their king had publicly made his queen. Then Radegunda w^ent to the sacristy, and exchanged her royal robes for a nun's habit; after which, re- turning to the church and walking up to the altar, she said to S. Medard, " If thou delayest to consecrate me, if thou fearest man rather than God, the Good Shepherd will demand an account of thee for the soul of one of His sheep." Overcome by this solemn adjuration, S. Medard, without further hesitation, consecrated her.^ As soon as the ceremony was over, she offered on the altar the royal robe, the crown, and the jewels that as queen she would have worn on a high festival ; and her cincture of solid gold she broke into pieces and distributed among the poor. Radegunda now retired to a royal villa at Saix, in Poitou, between Tours and Poictiers. On her w^ay she stopped at the tomb of S. IMartin at Tours, where, while Mass was being said, she lay prostrate on the floor, shedding tears of joy and fervour. After Mass she offered on the altar one of the rich robes with the jewels she used to wear on state occasions ; and on each recurring festival she celebrated her ow^n joyful release from worldly pomps by making similar gifts to various hermits and abbots. ^ Some writers have found a difficulty about Radegunda'.'* consecration, because the Church does not permit a married woman to take rehgious vows unless her husband does the same. But the fact that Clotaire had already several wives proves that his union with her could not have been a Christian marriage, but only a national form by which he publicly made her his queen. The tone of her adjuration, and S. Medard's response to it, show that it was the fear of man and no law of the Church which caused liis hesitation. 124 THE FRANKS. LIFE SPRING IXG OUT OF DECAY. ^^S At Saix she had free scope for all the pious practices in which she had contrived to indulge even amid the restraints of her Imsband's palace. Her food was vegetables and herbs, and her drink was water mixed with honey or perry. During Lent she lived in solitude, eating only every fourth day, and grinding with her own hand all the corn that was required for her table. Besides those who were daily fed at her gate, she had a number of sick poor, to whose care she devoted herself. Every Thursday and Saturday she would bathe them, cleansing their neglected hair, dressing their sores, serving them at table, feeding those who were blind, and performing the most menial and loathsome oftices for them. It seemed as if she could never do enoutjjii to satisfy her love for Him whom she beheld in His suffering members. Lepers, whom every one shunned, were her especial care. Fearless of infection, she would embrace them, wash and kiss their sores, feed, clothe, and wait on them, heeding not the remonstrances of her attendants, but «ver contemplating in them the tender comj)assion of Him who, for love of sinners, deigned to be wounded, despised, and " thought as it were a leper," in order to heal the foul leprosy of sin. During the first year of her stay at Saix our Lord appeared to her one night in a vision, with a number of men placed on all parts of His body, while she sat upon His knee. And He said to her, *'Now thou sittest upon my knee, but after a time thou shalt have a place in my bosom ; " and He showed her what graces she would hereafter enjoy. This vision gave fresh fervour to her already fervent spirit ; but like all such favours, it seemed to be sent to prepare her for fresh trials. Before long there came a rumour that Clotaire was about to force her to return to him. Hereupon, in great distress, she sent one of her female servants to John, a holy monk of Chinon, whom she 1 greatly reverenced, asking for his prayers, offering on his altar the jewels and gold which still remained to her, and bidding the woman say to him that "she would rather die than return to that earthly kingy after she had already enjoyed communion with the King of Heaven." The holy man watched and prayed all through the night, and the next morning he sent her word that God would not permit the king to do as he wished. It has already been told how Clotaire, driven by his passionate love for Radegunda, had sought to recover her ; how, awed by religious motives, he had not only desisted, but had given her the means to found the Abbey of Ste. Croix, at Poictiers, a.d. 545 ; and how some years later the temptation had re- turned, and had been conquered by the aid of S. Germain, Bishop of Paris. The Abbey of Ste. Croix was a double monastery, consisting of two separate houses for men and women. The two communities were quite distinct, but they had the same rule, and common property. Some double monasteries were governed by the abbot ; but at Ste. Croix, as in many others founded by women, both communities were subject to the abbess. Radegunda had always been very devout to the saints, and had been at great pains to obtain their relics, even sending as far as Jerusalem for tliat of a martyr. But nothing less than a portion of the True Cross would satisfy her for her own monastery; and she sent messengers to Constantinople to solicit a piece from the Emperor Justin. When it arrived at Poictiers, the whole community, with all the clergy and laity of the town and neighbourhood, went in solemn procession to meet»it, singing the beautiful hymns, "Vexilla Regis," and "Pange lingua," which were written for the occasion by Venantius 126 THE FRANKS. Fortunatus, the great poet of the sixth century.^ As he has said that he wrote some of his poems from the words that dropped from S. Radegunda's lips, it is not too much to suppose that these hymns were the effusions of her joy and sanctity. Radegunda passed the remaining forty years of her life in the Abbey of Ste. Croix. In all her words and actions there shone forth the finest characteristics of tlie German woman— warm and tender affections, de- votedness, generosity, courage, and strong purpose, all supernaturalised and directed to the object most worthy of human love. Round her gathered a group of young girls, to the number of two hundred, some of royal and noble blood, others of poor and lowly birth, and among them Chrodielde and Basine, daughters of Caribert and Chilperic, the sons of Clotaire. She went to Aries to study the rule of S. Csesarius, which she established in her convent ] and through her influence the bishops of the second Council of Tours, a.d. 566, sanctioned the irrevocable enclosure of consecrated nuns.^ On this spiritual family she lavished her warmest affections. She often said to them, " I love you so much that I no longer think of my parents, nor re- member that I had a king for my husband. I have chosen you to be my daughters, and you, young flowers that I have planted, are my light, my life, my rest, and all my happiness. Act with me in this world, so that w^e may rejoice together in the world to come. Let us serve God with perfect faith and 1 Veuantius Fortunatus was an Italian, and at this time a layman. He loved and revered S. Radegunda as a mother, and acted as her secretary and steward to the convent. Some Frtnch writers give the authorship of "Pange lingua to Claudien Mamert ; but in the last edition of Venantius Fortu- natus's works his right to it is proved from the most ancient :MSS. Moines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. vii. c. vi. - Moines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. vii. c vi. LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. 127 love ; let us seek Him in fear and simplicity of heart, 60 that we may be able to say to Him with con- fidence, ''Lord, give what Thou hast promised, for we have done what Thou hast commanded." But her love for this new family that God had given her did not narrow her heart, nor make her forgetful of those public objects which had claimed her prayers as a queen. She prayed constantly for all the kings between whom France was divided, and all of whom she loved. She was unremitting in her efforts to promote peace among them; and when any important public affair w^as pending she would redouble her prayers and penances, and would make her congregation pray night and day, urging them to do so fervently, that through their inter- cessions the miseries of war might be mitigated, and peace and safety granted to their native land. Tlien if God heard their prayers, and sent peace and victory to the kings, she would give vent to her ratitude by fresh acts of devotion. All the time that was not occupied in works of charity she gave to prayer and spiritual reading. 8he established the custom of reading aloud during meals and in every interval of leisure. Even during the brief period that she allowed herself for sleep some one would frequently read to her ; and often if the reader, thinking that she was asleep, paused in the reading, she would rouse herself and ask, " Why are you silent ? Don't stop reading." As if, like the Spouse in the Canticle, she would say, "I sleep, and my heart watcheth." At other times she would chant psalms in her sleep. Also, even though she might have alreadv chanted the whole office in her cell, she would rise at midnight to go through it with the community in choir, unconscious of fatigue, and rejoicing to be able to say with truth, "I rose at midnight to give praise to Thee." 128 THE FRANKS. LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. I 29 Whether sleeping or waking, or however she might be employed, she was so absorbed in God that she took no notice of anything which was not connected with devotion or charity. It happened one day, as evening was closing in, that some musicians and dancers passed along the walls of the convent, singing noisily as they went by. Kadegunda had been praying for a long time, when one of two nuns who were with her said gaily, " Madam, I used formerly to sing one of those tunes." "I greatly wonder," answered the saint, "that, being espoused to God, thou takest pleasure in that worldly noise."" "Indeed, madam," replied the nun, "I only recog- nised in the dancers' music two of my own songs." "God is my witness," answered Kadegunda, "that I did not hear a single note of that profane music." Nor was her thirst for suffering inferior to her devotion. Kot content with observing the most severe fasts, with wearing a hair-sliirt, and encircling her neck, arms, and waist with iron chains, which were drawn so tight that they wore into her skin, she was always inventing new modes by which she could share the sufferings of her Lord, and in some degree satiate her longing desire to shed her blood in martyrdom. On two occasions she made an iron cross red-hot, and applied it to different parts of her body ; and at another time she rubbed burning coals over her limbs. And all this she did secretly, not betraying her sufferings by word or look, till the blood oozing through her clothes revealed her secret. The crowning virtue of humility placed the seal on her sanctity. AVhen she had established perfect discipline in the community, she would not let them elect her as abbess, but transferred that dignity to Agnes, a young girl whom she had herself educated. Then she took her place as one of the other nuns, distinguished only by her humility and obedience. I She would rise early and clean the shoes of the nuns while they slept ; and would take on herself all the most arduous and disagreeable tasks in the house- cooking, scrubbing, washing dishes, fetching wood, drawing water, straining oil, toiling in the laundry, and waiting on the sick, even when it was not her turn to do so. Thus Kadegunda lived for about forty years, ilie year before her death she saw in a vision the place in heaven prepared for her ; and our Lord, as a young man of marvellous beauty, came to her, and caressing her, said, " Why dost thou ask for My presence so ardently with tears, and seek for Me with sighs and prayers, and afflict thyself with penance, when I am always with thee 1 " Up to the day of her death she kept the rule, and joined the community m the choir, performing to the last all that she had prescribed to others. Then, having long before died to the flesh through her mortifications and love of God, she passed away quietly while her children stood round her bed, weeping and beating their breasts with all the wild- ness of barbaric grief. Gregory, Bishop of Tours, celebrated her obsequies. As she lay in her coffin he was struck with her remarkable beauty, though she was then above sixty years of age. The nun Baudonivia, who served her when she was on the throne, followed her into the cloister, and after her death wrote her biography, has left a touching record of the passionate sorrow of those two hundred German women, who had been drawn to her by the sweet odour of her sanctity, and to whom, while so severe to herself, she had been a loving and indulgent mother. When the corpse was borne out of the monastery to be laid in the Church of our Lady, where all the community were buried, the nuns, whose strict cloister prevented their follow- ing^ the procession, rushed to the walls of the convent, I 130 TUE FRANKS. drowning the sound of the chanting by their lamenta- tions, and beseeching the bearers to pause at the base of a certain tower, so as to indulge them with a last glance at her face before she finally passed out of their sight. The Benedictines early took part in the religious movement in France. In the year 542 Innocent, Bishop of Mans, sent messengers to Monte Cassino, to ask for some monks to come and found a monas- tery in his diocese. S. Benedict chose S. Maurus ^ and four other monks for the purpose, and gave them the rule written with his own hand, and also a pound weight and a measure for the daily allowance of bread and wine. On their way to France Maurus and his com- panions visited Agaune and Condat, and then went on to the Abbey of Font Rouge, near Dreux, which had been built by S. Romanus, the monk who had fed S. Benedict in his cave. They arrived at Font Rouge in the evening of Good Friday, which that year fell on the 20th of March, and were joyfully received by Romanus. But their joy was clouded when, after the evening office, Maurus told Romanus that their father had warned them that he should die the next day. All through the night they ^ Vit S. Maur. by Faustus, one of tlie monks who went with him to France. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. i. p. 263. Some writers have doubted the authenticity of this biography, because Theodebert is said to have possessed Anjou, which they suppose must have belonged to Clodomir, and have fallen to Childebert or Clotaire. This is not a valid objec- tion, because the boundaries of the Merovincrian kingdoms are ill defined, and it is uncertain whether Theodebert did not possess a certain suzerainty over the whole. Also, though Gregory of Tours says (Hist. 1. iii. c. xviii.) that Clodomirs kingdom was divided between Childebert and Clotaire, Pro- copius (De Bell. Goth. 1. i. c. xiii.) says that Theodebert shared it with them. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. i. note, p. 274. Moines d'Occident, t. ii 1. viii. c. ii. w I LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. 131 ^'atched, and prayed that S. Benedict might have a happy death. And at nine o'clock the next morn- ing, as Maurus lay prostrate on the pavement of the church, he saw a stream of light, as already described, and a man clothed in glory said to him, *'This is the road by which Benedict, the beloved of God, has ascended to heaven." Thus they all knew that their father was dead. But Maurus consoled them, saying, ** We ought to rejoice rather than to w^eep at his removal, for we shall possess a powerful patron, and lie will be nearer us now than when he was in the flesh." Maurus and his companions found on their arrival at Mans that Bishop Innocent was dead, and the new bishop refused to admit them into his diocese. Their position was now a difficult one in a strange land, so far from all their friends. But Harderad, one of the messengers whom Bishop Innocent had sent to fetch them, took tliem to his own house in Anjou, and entertained them hospitably while he sent the account of their position to Florus, a cousin of his at the court of Theodebert, son of Thierry I., King of Austrasia, and grandson of Clovis. Florus was a man of great power and wealth, and held the office of Viscount of Anjou ; but from his early youth his heart had been devoted to God. It had long been his wish to meet with some monks, for whom he could build a monastery, and to w^hom he could give his only son, hoping that he himself also might be allow^ed to quit the world and devote himself to God*s service. As soon as he heard about S. Maurus's difficulty, he joyfully seized the oppor- tunity to carry out his preconceived design. With Theodebert's permission he made over to S. Maurus the domain of Glanfeuil on the banks of the Loire, and gave him his only son Bertulph, who was eight years of age, to be trained as a monk, vowing that if 1^2 THE FRANKS. LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. T '♦ ^ it were God'j? will, he would himself join the com- munity at some future time. The land that fell thus unexpectedly into Maurus's possession was bounded on one side by the Loire, and on the other by a high hill. On the slope of this hill the monastery was built ; and as Theodebert liberally supplied materials and the best workmen in his dominions, the building was well suited to its purpose, and worthy of its royal and noble founders. It contained four churches, the largest of which, used by the monks for their services in choir, was dedicated to S. Peter ; the second was dedicated to S. Martin, the patron of their old home at Monte Cassino, whose convent of Marmoutier, on the Loire, was at no great distance ; the third, which was the smallest of all, was dedicated to S. Severin, the Apostle of ^^oricum ; and the fourth, which rose to a great height in the form of a quadrilateral tower at the entrance of the monastery, was dedicated to S. ^lichael the Arch- angel. It took eight years to erect this building, and during tlas time the number of Maurus's monks had increased from four to forty. When the monastery was completed, Florus asked leave of Theodebert to fulfil his vow. In those unsettled times the stronir arm of a brave and faithful noble was worth far more to a king than lands and gold, and Theodebert was very loth to part with his trusty leude. And when at last he consented, he went with him to see the place which was to be the home of his valued friend. As soon as he arrived at the Abbey of Glanfeuil and caught sight of Maurus, he dismounted from his horse and fell at his feet ; and when Maurus raised him, he besought him with tears to i»ray for him and his son TheodebaUl, whom he presented to him. He went through the monastery, making minute inquiries as to every particular of the daily life. He asked for Bertulph, who w^as now sixteen, and also for the monks who had come from Monte Cassino, and embraced them all. He then assisted at Florus's tonsure, cutting ojff the first lock of his hair as he knelt before the altar, confirming all his donations to the abbey, and adding to them many valuable gifts of his own. When he was about to go away, he asked to be allowed to bid Florus farewell ; and on seeing him in his monk's habit, he threw himself into his arms and w^ept. Then exhorting him to serve God as perfectly as he had served his king, he kissed him frequently, and asking for tlie abbot's blessing, he departed. Florus lived twelve years as a monk, and died a holy death. Theodebert continued his favours to the Benedic- tines as long as he lived. His son Theodebald also was very liberal to them ; and when, after his prema- ture death, the whole kingdom devolved to Clotaire I., they still enjoyed the royal protection. S. Maurus governed the community for nearly forty years, and saw its members increase to one hundred and forty. Two years and a half before his death, his bodily infirmities disabling him for active w^ork, he resigned his office of abbot to I'ertulph, who had grown old under his instruction. Then, retiring to a cell which he had built for himself near the Church of S. Martin, he spent his last days in prayer and contemplation. When he felt that the end was come, he had himself laid before the altar of S. Martin, wliere he expired on the 15th of January, a.d. 584. Two of the monks who had accompanied him into France had died before him ; but the other two, Faustus and Sim- plicius, after his death returned by his desire to Monte Cassino, where Faustus wrote his life. The early history of the Benedictine Order in f 134 THE FRANKS. LIFE SPRINGING OUT OF DECAY. ^35 France is buried in obscurity. The councils held in Gaul during this century occupied themselves with laying down the first principles of monastic discipline, without mentioning any particular rule.^ There can be no doubt that the Benedictine nde was adopted by some of the many communities founded at this time ; but it was not till the next century, when it had been tested by comparison with that of S. Columban, that its great superiority was acknowledged, and it began to take its future place as the universal rule of France. But great as was the advance of religion at this time, it seems to have taken hold chiefly on the Gallo-Eoman population, while the Franks, though baptized, were not j'et subdued by the Christian spirit. The IMerovingian kings, despite their im- pulsive generosity to the Church, w^ould not always brook opposition to their will; and the history of this period by Gregory of Tours is full of the acts of violence committed by them against bishops and monasteries. Pretextat, Bishop of Rouen, was killed at the altar by order of Fredegonde. Nicetius of Treves was banished for refusing to say Mass before Theodebert till the excommunicated leudes left the church ; and S. Avitus for excommunicating Clotaire I. The two royal ladies, Chrodielde and Basine,^ who were reared in the Abbey of Ste. Croix, enraged that one or other was not elected abbess, quitted the convent, and took possession of the cathedral of S. Hilary in Poictiers, where they maintained them- selves by hiring a band of robbers, who broke into the convent, ill-treated the nuns, pillaged the sanc- tuary, and drove away with bludgeons the bishops who were appointed to try their cause. And all 1 M(»ines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. vii. c. ii. 2 Greg. Turon. Hist. Eccles. 1. v. c. xxxix.-xliii. Moines d*Occi(lent, t. it 1. vil c. v. was done with impunity, till at length Basine sub- mitted of her own accord to the abbess, and Chro- dielde was induced to retire peaceably to an estate which King Gontram gave her for her support. In fact, it was evident that the refined Gallo-Roman clergy could not cope with these impulsive bar- barians, and that a stronger and sterner instrument was needed to make an impression on them. Such an instrument had already been provided by the Vicar of Christ, through one of those wonderful chains of Providential circumstances which in all ages prove the Divine character of the Catholic Church. tl THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. 137 CHAPTER IV. THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. The conversion of Ireland forms a critical point in the Clmrch's liistory. Through it she began un- consciously to lay the foundation of the new Roman Empire, which was destined to take the place of the old empire crumbling around her, to conquer her conquerors, to transform them into devoted children, and to make them the instruments of the Christian civilisation with which she was to re- generate society. S. Patrick's mission has been unparalleled in rapidity, completeness, and durability since the apostolic age, and his own character has been compared to that of the old prophets and apostles, and especially of S. Paul.^ S. Patrick was well born, his father Calphurnius being a decurio or senator in a Roman colony,^ and his mother Conchessa the sister or niece of S. Martin of Tours. She had been carried off captive from her home by a band of barbarians, who sold her as a slave to Potitus, father of Calphurnius. Her remarkable beauty, her virtues and attractive manners, soon won the love of her master's son, and with his father's consent he married her. Both were Christians, and so devout that, while conforming outwardly to the world, they showed both by word and deed that their hearts were in heaven. After the birth of several 1 Tillemont, Hist. Eccles. xvi. pp. 454-464. - Acta SS. Miut. xvii. p. 539 ; Cusack, Life of S. Patrick, p. 651. 136 children they separated by mutual consent, and Calphurnius took sacred orders, and in course of time became a priest.^ According to the unanimous Irish tradition, which says that S. Patrick died a.d. 493, at the age of one liundred and twenty, he must have been born a.d. 373. The place of his birth is a subject of contro- versy. All his contemporary or nearly contemporary biographers agree that he was born in Nemthur, which they identify with Campus Tabernia and the Armoric Bonavem in the region of Strato-Clud, or Alcluid. Probus further says that he was born " in Britanniis," and that his father was a native of the village of Bonavem in the region of Tabernia near the western sea, which he had ascertained with certainty was in Xeutria — no doubt Neustria, the region between the Meuse and the Loire, where, according to William of Malmesbury, a British colony had settled in the time of Constantine.^ S. Patrick also mentions that his father lived in Bonavem Tabernia, and had a small country house close by.^ Thus there would appear to be no doubt that S. Patrick was born in Armoric Gaul, and near Boulogne, where the Romans had long had their principal camp in the north of France, and the Celtic name of which, Bonavem, latinised into Bononia, came into general use in the reign of Constantine."* Notwithstanding, some later writers claim the honour of his birth for Dumbarton, formerly called Alcluaid, or for Kilpatrick in the same neighbour- hood. But the only ancient evidence they can advance in support of this claim is a passage in ^ Acta SS. Mart. xvii. p. 540. - Gesta Regum Aug. 1. i. ssec. i. Ap. Morris, Life of S. Patrick, p. 45. ^ Acta SS. Mart, xvii p. 533 ; Cusack, p. 614. * Cusack, p. 90. i 1 1^8 THE FRANKS which the ** scholiast" or commentator on S. Fiacc's Hymn, the oldest life of S. Patrick, says that at the time of his captivity his family had gone from the Britons of Alcluaid southward across the Iccian Sea or British Channel to the Britons of Letha or Armorica,^ where they had relatives. But this passage does not touch on his hirth. It merely states that before his captivity his family had crossed the Channel from Alcluaid to Gaul, where there can be no doubt their property was situated. Moreover, it would have been impossible at the time of Patrick's birth for a Roman senator to be living in or near Dumbarton, because in the preceding century the Irish, or Scots as they were then called, had taken possession of the whole of North Britain, and within four years of S. Patrick's birth they had advanced as far as London, whence they were driven back by Theodosius, who was afterwards emperor.^ Regarding Patrick's infancy, various beautiful legends foreshadowing his future sanctity are extant. His nurse took him to a priest blind from his birth to be baptized, and there being no water at hand, the priest made the sign of the cross on the ground with the infant's hand, whereupon a spring of water gushed forth, with which washing his own eyes he received his sight, and then baptized the child. Some time after, his nurse having taken him to a great popular assembly, the man who carried him dropped down dead, and his weeping relatives, aware of Patrick's supernatural gift, cried out, " Why, child, didst thou let the man who was carrying thee die?" Then 1 The name Letha or Latium was applied by early Irish writers to Armorica as well as Italy. Arniorica was northern Letha, and Italy southern Letha. O'Curry, MS. Materials of Irish History, p. 502. Ap. Cusack, p. 99. 2 Knight's '• Hist. Engl.," p. 54. For details of the reference* to old writers see Moran's ' ' Essays on the Early Irish Church, p. 9, and Cusack's "Trias Thaumaturgas " pp. 87-101. TUE ISLAND OF SxVlNTS. 139 Patrick, though too young to understand what they meant, threw his arms round the man's neck, saym^,, "Get iip, and let us go home." And the man, obeying the child's word, got up and went home in perfect health. At another time, when Patrick was running in the fields with his sister, she fell down, and striking her head against a stone, was at the pomt of death, but terrified and weeping aloud, he made the sign of the cross on the wound, which was instantly healed, a white scar alone remaining to attest the miraculous cure. Again, one day in the depth of a severe winter, while at play with his conjpanions, he brought home to his nurse an armful of sheets of ice, and she reproving him for not rather bringing dry wood for the fire, he answered, "Believe God can make the sheets of ice burn like faggots," and throwing them on the fire and breathing on them, flames burst forth and light issued from his face, as of old the face of Moses shone with the light of God. Other similar instances of the way in which faith in the sovereignty of God and the power of prayer were 'instilled into Patrick from his very birth are recorded. ^ When Patrick was nearly sixteen, and was living on his father's farm at Bonavem Tabernia a band of Irish pirates, headed by the seven exiled sons of a kmcr of Britain, made a descent on the coast ot Armoric Letha, ravaged the whole neighbourhood, killed Patrick's parents, and carried off captive Patrick, two of his sisters, Lupait and Tigris, and thousands of other persons. Then sailing north- wards round Ireland, they sold Patrick to Milcho, King of Dalaraida, and his three brothers and his sisters to a tribe in the present County Louth near the Boyne. But neither Patrick nor his sisters- knew what had become of each other.2 1 Acta SS. Mart. xvii. p. 541. 2 Ibid. p. 533 ; Cusack, p. 139. 140 THE FRANKS. At this time there were in the north-east of Ireland two districts known as Dal-Kiada and Dal- i\rdidhe. From the former, which was in tlie present County Antrim, issued the colony that established Itself in Scotland, while the latter extended from the present town of :N'ewry, County Down, to Shabh Mis, now Slemish, in County Antrim, and of^ this district Milclio was king.i Patrick had re- ceived in baptism the name Succat, which meant "Strong in War;" but now he got the name Cothrighe, because he had four masters. But Milcho, soon finding he was a faithful servant, bought him from the three others, so that hence- forth he served him alone.2 He was set to tend swine in tlie wilderness of Sliabh Mis, now known as the valley of the Braid from the river whicli runs through it, dividing the parishes of Skerry and Kathcavan.3 Great were the hardships he endured, for whether in summer or in winter, by day or by night, he had no shelter except the caves and thickets, scant clothing, and little food except the herbs and roots he could pick up. Though he was scarcely more than a boy, yet amid his great sufferings he turned instinctively to prayer for help and consolation. It cannot be doubted that with such pious parents Patrick must have been well instructed in the faith, and his supernatural graces prove that he was leading at least an innocent life. But now he was brought into so much closer union with God that it seemed to him he had never known Him before. He accused himself, as is the habit of saints, of all the sins that he had witnessed among his neiglibours at his own home, confessing that he and his fellow-captives J Cusack, p. 143. - Ibid. p. 141. 3 Ibid. pp. 141, 143 ; Acta SS. Mart. xvii. p. 542. THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. I4f deserved their fate because they had forsaken God and had not kept His commandments, and were disobedient to their priests, and thanking Him for the great benefits and graces He was now con- ferring on him.i While he was tending his swine he was constantly praying, and the love of God and His faith and fear grew more and more in him, and the spirit increased so, that in a single day he said as many as a hundred prayers, and in the night nearly the same. He remained in the woods and mountains, and before the dawn he was roused to prayer by the snow, the ice, and the rain, yet he did not suffer from them, nor was there any sloth in him, because the spirit was burning within him.- At this time the Angel Victor, who was ever after his guide and adviser, began to visit him every seventh day, and "spoke to him as man is wont to speak to man."^ One night jNIilcho saw in a dream Patrick come into the house all on fire, flames issuing from his mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears. As he approached him, Milcho pushed away his burning hair, so as not to allow the flames to touch him. Whereupon they seemed to turn aside, and catching his two little (laughters, who were lying in the same bed, burnt them to ashes ; after which the wind rose and carried off the ashes to many parts of Ireland. Then Milcho awoke, and lay in his bed meditating what could be the meaning of this terrible vision. The next day he sent for Patrick, and telling him his dream, besought him if he could to interpret it for him. Patrick, full of the Holy Spirit, answered, "The fire which you saw issuing from me is the faith in the Holy Trinity with which I am entirely illuminatedy \ Acta SS. Mart. xvii. pp. 533-4. Ibid. p. 534. Probus Trias Thaumaturga, p. 49 ; np. Morris, p. 54. 142 THE FRANKS. THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. M. and which I will try to preach to you; but my words will find no place in you, because your blind soul repels the light of Divine grace, and you will die in the darkness of your unbelief. Your two daughters, however, will believe in the true God at my preaching, and will serve Him in holiness during their lives and die the death of the just; and their ashes — that is, their reliques— will be carried to many parts of Ireland, and will bring health and blessings to many." Patrick's words made no impression on Milcho, who sent him back to his usual work.^ Thus six years passed by. At last one night Patrick lieard in his sleep a voice saying to him, "Thou dost fast well — thou shalt soon go to thine own country." And again after a little while it said, " liehold, thy ship is ready ; " and he was directed to go to a place tw^o hundred miles off, where he had never been, and none of the people who lived there were known to him. As he was at no great distance from the Irish coast opposite to Scotland, a journey of two hundred miles would not have been needed had Scotland been his own country. But the length of his journey shows that he must have travelled southward, and his embarkation in Bantry Bay leaves no doubt that Gaul was "his own country" to w*hich he was directed in the vision. Shortly after, Patrick fled from his master and journeyed on fearlessly in the strength of the Lord, who guided his steps till he reached Benum, now Bantry, where the ship lay. Soon after he arrived the ship moved out of her place, and he asked to sail in lier. But his request displeased the master, who answered angrily, "By no means attempt to come * Acta SS. Mart. xvii. p. 543. with us." When he heard this answer he turned away to go to the cottage where he had lodged, and as he went he began to pray ; but before his prayer was ended he heard some one shouting after him, "Come quickly, for these men are calling you." Then returning at once, they said to him, "Come, w^e receive you in good faith; let us be friends in Avhatever way you will." After sailing with them for three days they landed, and then travelled for twenty-eight days through one of the deserts at that time so common in Gaul. Their provisions running short, they suffered greatly from hunger, and many of their party fell exhausted by the roadside. Then the captain said to Patrick, " What sayest thou, Christian ? Thy God is all- powerful. Why canst thou not pray for us, for we are perishing with hunger, and may never see the face of man again?" Patrick answered, "Be con- verted with all your heart to the Lord, my God, to whom nothing is impossible, that He may send us food on our way, for it abounds everywhere for Him." And so with God's help it came to pass, for lo 1 a lierd of swune came that way, and they killed many of them, and remained there for two nights greatly Ftrengthened and refreshed, for which they gave great thanks to God, and Patrick was honoured in their eyes. Still, however, they clung to their Pagan superstitions, for finding soon after some w^ild honey, they offered it in sacrifice. They gave some to ]^atrick, who tasted it without being aware of what they had done. But when one of them said, "This is offered in sacrifice," he would not take any more, and filled with grief and indignation, he fasted for twenty days in reparation. ^ S. Patrick adds that after some time he was again taken captive, but at the end ^ Benedict XIV., Treatise on Beatification and Canonisa- tion, 1. iv. p. i. c. xxvii. Ap. Morris, p. 56 (3rd ed. p. 71). M4 THE FIJAXKS. of two montlis he was liberated, and during tlie rest of the journey God provided them with food, fire, and dry weather, until on the fourteenth day, wlien their provisions were again exhausted, they arrived at the place to which they were going. ^ Patrick was now twenty-two years of age. He resolved to devote himself to God's service, and with this intention he set out for Tours, of which hi.^ saintly relative, S. Martin, was archbishop. His journey thither is commemorated by a remarkable natural phenomenon, to which tradition has attached his name. A few leagues from Tours, on the slope of a hill by the bank of the Loire, not far from the Chateau de Kochette, there stands a shrub of black- thorn (pruniis spinosa) which blossoms annually in the depth of winter. At the end of December the sap begins to circulate under the bark, flower-buds appear, and in due time the branches are covered with swx^et-smelling, sloe-like flowers, while a few leaves brave the icy north wind, till at the beginning of January a small berry appears, which soon shrivels and dries up. The oldest inhabitants of the place say they have seen this occur annually, however severe the season may be, and the tradition of its occurring from time immemorial has been handed down to them from their forefathers. The shrub itself appears young, whence it is probable it is renewed from its roots. But the above peculiarity is confined to it alone, as cuttings from it do not manifest it. The flowers are called ".Fleurs de S. 1 Acta SS. Mart, xvii, p. 535. Cusack, pp. 152, 627. Probus makes this second captivity, of which he gives full details, quite distinct from the first. The Rheims°Breviary says that it took place while he was flying from Milcho, and that his captor Kienan repented, and set him at liberty. Kienan was afterwards baptized by S. Patrick, and founded a monastery, which bore his name, at Duleek, in the Countv Meath. ^ THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. M5 Patrice," and the local legend is that when S. Patrick on his return from Ireland was going to Tours, he sat down on the bank of the Loire under this shrub. It was Christmas. The cold was intense, and the ground was covered with snow. But in his honour the shrub, shaking off" the snow which hung on its branches, arrayed itself in flowers as white as the snow itself; and to the present day it annually repeats this act of homage to the saint, though at the same time the ground remains covered with snow and the other shrubs do not blossom. A church dedicated to S. Patrick has been built close by, and the village itself bears his name.^ S. Martin was born in Pannonia, and was the son of a tribune in the Roman army. Both his parents were Pagans. But he had early imbibed the faith, and when only ten years of age, and still a catechu- men, he fled from home to become a hermit in the desert. The laws of the Empire, however, requiring him as the son of a veteran to serve for twenty campaigns, his father informed against him. He was seized, chained, and enrolled in a troop of cavalry, with which he went into Gaul. One day, as he was entering Amiens, he met a beggar quite naked, to whom he gave one half of his cloak. That night our Lord appeared to him clothed in the half of the cloak, and said to the angels who surrounded Him, "Martin the catechumen has clothed Me with this cloak." Inflamed with Divine love by this vision, Martin on awaking went at once to be baptized. Two years later, on the eve of a battle with the ^ This phenomenon is recorded by an eye-witness in the " Annales de la Socidt^ d' Agriculture, Science, &c., du D^parte- ment d'Indre et Loire," t. xxx. an. 1850, f. 70. He appeals to the testimony of thousands of witnesses to confirm his report. Ap. Morris, Life, p. 168 (3rd ed. p. 73 and Ap- pendix ; Ireland, &c., p. 38). *^ K 1^6 THE FRANKS. Germans, having refused the largess distributed to his fellow-soldiers, which was understood to pledge them to the service, he was accused of cowardice and wishing to avoid the battle of the morrow. Whereupon he answered, "I ask only to be placed at the head of the army, without arms, or shield, or any other defence than the name of Jesus and the sign of the cross, and I will rush fearlessly into the thickest squadrons of the enemy." His challenge was accepted. But during the night the Germans sued for peace. ^Martin, however, obtained his dis- charge as a reward for his heroism.^ He immediately placed himself under S. Hilary, Bishop of Poictiers, the great champion of the doctrine of the Trinity in the Western Church. When S. Hilary was exiled by the Arians he went to a monastery in Milan, and thence to the desert island of Gallinaria opposite to Genoa, where^ he lived on roots as a preparation for the religious life. On the triumphal return of S. Hilary, a.d. 360, he accompanied him to Poictiers, where out- side of the gates of the city he built the monastery of Ligui^e. He had now reached the height of his ambition. But before long he was dragged from his long coveted retreat and placed on the archi- episcopal throne of Tours. During the rest of his life he laboured incessantly for the repression of heresy and the conversion of pagans in his diocese, and Christendom resounded with tlie fame of his sanctity and his miracles. Patrick found him living in the monastery since called Marmoutier in his honour. It was situated in an uninhabited wild, shut in between the right bank of the Loire and impending rocks. His cell was made of branches of trees interlaced, and his » Sulp. Sev. Vit. «. Martin. A p. Rohrb. vol. ii. 1. xxxiii. p. 408. THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. M7 eighty monks dwelt for the most part in lioles in the rocks. They were clothed in skins, and never ate meat. Considering the climate, and the solid food to which as Gauls they had been accustomed, this perpetual abstinence was much harder for them than for the monks of the Eastern deserts. From S. Martin S. Patrick is said to have re- ceived his "learning and doctrine. '* So fully too was he imbued with the spirit that breatlied around him that from the moment of his tonsure " he put away all earthly cares and pleasures, and resolved never more to eat meat.'' ^ But the training of this great saint by another saint of equal reputation could not have extended beyond two years, for S. ^lurtin died a.d. 397. Probably S. Patrick was among the weeping disciples in answer to whose entreaties the dying saint uttered his celebrated })rayer, '*Lord, if I am still necessary to thy people, I refuse not labour." He was doubtless among the 2000 monks who followed S. Martin to the grave. So great was S. Patrick's devotion to S. Martin that he copied with his own hand his "Life" by Sulpicius Severus, and took it with him wherever he went.2 S. Patrick probably remained at Tours a few years longer, till he was nearly thirty, when, it would appear from his Confession, he was raised to the diaconate.3 About the same time he visited his relatives. They received him as a son, and earnestly besought him with tears to remain with them, offering him gifts and reminding him of all lie had gone through since they parted. No doubt the temptation to one of so loving a nature was ^ Trias Thaumaturga, pp. 48, 121 ; ap. Morris, pp. 33, 60 (3rd ed. p. 80). - Cusack, p. 164. 3 Acta SS. Mart. xvii. p. 535 ; Cus. p. 629 ; Morris, p. 34. 4. lit jaS the FRANKS. very great, especially as he involuntarily oftVndecl his seniors by his refusal.^ But supernatural help came to his aid. In the middle of the night he saw a man who seemed to come from Ireland and bore innumerable letters, one of which he gave to him. He read the beginning of the letter, in which was written, "The voice of the Irish." And as he read these words aloud he thought he heard within him the voices of those who were near the wood of Fochlut w^hich borders the Western Sea, who cried out, ** We entreat thee, holy youth, to come and walk still among us." And his heart was greatly touched, so that he could read no more, and so he awoke. Another night, he tells us, "Whether in me or near me, God knows, I heard eloquent words which I could not understand until the end of the speech, when it was said, * He who gave Hir^ life for thee is He who speaks to thee,' and so I awoke full of joy." He mentions another vision of one praying within him, that is, "above the inner man," and at the end of the prayer it came to pass that it was a bishop." 2 Thus his future mission was plainly revealed to him. Some have supposed his future episcopal character was in- timated by the last vision. But thirty years elapsed before he could obey the Divine call. Where he spent these thirty years is not positively known. Various facts are narrated concerning him, but they are not supported by sufficient authority. All the old Irish writers, however, agree that ho was for some years in the celebrated monastery at Lerins, that for thirty years he was under the direction of S. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, and that he accompanied Germanus to England, when he went thither to preach against the Pelagian heresy. 1 Acta SS. Mart. xvii. p. 536 ; Cusack, p 634. 2 Acta SS. ]VIarr. ii. p. 535 ; Cusack, pp. 628, 629. THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. 149 But many years still remain unaccounted for, be- cause S. llonoratus did not found the monastery of Lerins till a.d. 410, and S. Germanus did not enter tlie clerical state till about a.d. 418. S. Honoratus belonged to a consular family. After much opposition from his relatives, he at last (a.d. 410) found rest in Lerins, one of a group of little barren islands on the coast of Provence, which were so infested with serpents that no one dared to live in them.^ The serpents before long gave place to a crowd of disciples. Honoratus received lovingly all who wished to love Christ, often by his tears and caresses drawing from the world those who had not courage to break its fetters. Men flocked to him from all parts, so that there was no nation or country which did not send him some of its citizens. He governed his numerous family by the tenderness of liis paternal love, reading to the bottom of their hearts, sympathising with their sorrows, watching over their health, their sleep, their food, their work, and leading each to serve God to the full measure of his strength. Thus he insi)ired them with love more than filial. Tliey were wont to say, " In him Ave have found not only our father, but our entire family, our country — nay, even the whole world we had given up.'' When S. Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons, who had been one of his sons, received his letters on tablets of wax, he used to say, "He has poured honey from his own heart on this w^ax."^ His monks divided their labours between the cultivation of the soil and the study of theology and philosophy. The desert soon became a blooming paradise, while learning and religion found an asylum in which Christianity and civilisation were kept alive in the West. Here were trained S. Hilary of Aries, S. ^ Acta S.S. .Januar. ii. p. 17. 2 Ibid. p. 20. Ji I CO THE FRANKS. Eucherius of Lyons, 8. Lupus of Troyes, S. Germaiiiis of Auxerre, and many other saintly bishops. Here S. Vincent laid down the celebrated rule of the Catholic faith rej^arding tradition, " Quod semper, uhique et ah omnibus credifur." Here, too, Salvian wrote his work, **De Gubernatione Dei," denounc- ing the vices of the time, which has won him the title of the " Jeremiah " of his age.^ Even in this severe school of ascetic virtue Patrick could have found little to learn. But he must have imbibed the ideas which gave a peculiar character to his future work. In S. Honoratus he beheld the reflection of his own ardent and yet tender nature, and from him he learnt how to use these priceless qualities with courageous self-forget- fulness and simplicity for the conversion of souls and the glory of God. In this little islet, at once monastery, university, and the refuge of religion and learning," he might have seen in prophetic vision that greater " isle of saints and doctors " which was to be^ for above a century *' the storehouse of the past and birthplace of the.future,"2 and from which were to go forth the bishops and priests who were to lead the van in the Church's war against the dense mass of Pagan barbarism which encircled the expir- ing Empire. • v a r« At Lerins Patrick became acquainted with S. Ger- manus. Bishop of Auxerre, who had taken S. Martin's place as the champion of the faith in Gaul. S. Ger- manus's dedication to the service of God is charac- teristic of the age. He was of noble birth, rich, highly educated, and held the high position of Duke or°Oovornor of Auxerre. He was a Christian ; but 1 Rohrb. t. viii. 1. 39, pp. 9-12. U. d'Occ. t. i. 1. iii. pp. ogg 251. "2 'cardinal Newman's Historical Essays, vol. i. p. 124 ; ap. Morris, p. 14. THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. i;i notwithstanding, he persisted, in spite of the re- monstrances of S. Amator, the bishop, in hanging up the trophies of his skill in the chase on an old tree in Auxerre to which idolatrous rites and super- stitions were attached. The bishop therefore took advantage of his absence on a hunting expedition to cut down the tree, and scattered the trophies in various distant places. Germanus on his return was furious, and set out with a band of soldiers for Auxerre to revenge himself on the bishop. But meanwhile it had been revealed to S. Amator that his own life was drawing to a close, and Ger- manus was to be his successor. He therefore took measures accordingly. As he proceeded at the usual hour to the cathedral, finding the court filled with Germanus, his soldiers, and a crowd of citizens, he ordered them to lay aside their arms before entering the building dedicated to prayer ; and awed by his dignified manner, they obeyed. Then, after they had all entered the cathedral, he caused his clergy and friends to seize Germanus, and telling him of his revelation, he removed his secular dress, cut off liis hair, and clothed him in a monastic habit. From this moment Germanus was a new man. He separated from his wife. He gave all his wealth to the poor, and devoted himself to a life of extraonlinary aus- terity. It is uncertain when this great change took place, but it was probably not long before the death of S. Amator, a.d. 418.^ It would seem that Ger- manus immediately after his conversion had gone to Lerins to prepare himself for his episcopal office. He received Patrick with the greatest honour, as one whose virtues were already well known. But Patrick, guided by his angel Victor, placed himself ill humble submission and obedience under him, like ^ Acta SS. Julii, xxxi. 152 THE FRANKS. THE ISLAND OF SAIXTS. 153 i S. Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, and spent many years with him " in patience, obedience, charity, and chastity," "applying himself to tlie study of wisdom and the Scriptures." ^ After being nine years at Lerins, he went with Germanus's ai)proval to " Rome, the see of Peter, who was endowed with the firmness of the rock," and the " head of all churches, whither Christians resorted from all parts of the world," in order that he might the more fully learn the canonical practices of the Holy Roman Church.'^ He remained for some time in the islands off the coast of Italy, at that time inhabited by hermits, whence S. Ambrose has compared them to " a collar of pearls " upon the sea.3 He also " read the canons " with Germauus in Italy, "applying himself with great fervour to the study of wisdom and the Holy Scriptures," and " all ecclesiastical learning and discipline."* Germanus^s early training in secular learning peculiarly fitted him to prepare Patrick for his future mission, not only as the apostle, but as the law-giver and schoolmaster of Ireland. After above thirty years thus spent in holy pre- paration, Patrick at last entered on active missionary work. The Pelagian heresy having spread in Britain, S. Palladius, archdeacon at Kome, was sent thither by Pope Celestine to oppose it, but utterly failing in this task, he returned to Rome and reported the desperate state of religion in the island. In a.d. 429 the Catholics in Britain petitioned the bishops of Gaul to send some one to their assistance, and the latter as well as Palladius having recommended Germanus, the Pope appointed him his legate for the purpose. Accordingly S. Germanus, accompanird ^ Trias Thaumiit. pp. 13, 23, 4S ; ap. Moran, pp. 19, 20. 3 Trias Thaumat. pp. 23, 70 ; ap. Moran, 19, 21. ^ Cusack, p. 160. * Trias Thaumat. pp. 1, 13, 30 ; ap Moran, pp. 13, 18, 19. by S. Lupus of Troyes and with S. Patrick amon^ his attendant clergy, went to Britain. ^^ On their arrival Germanus and S. Lupus preached not only in the churches but in the streets, the fields, the highways. Crowds flocked to hear them, and while the Catholics were strengthened in the faith by their authority, learning, and saintly ex- ample, those who had been led away through ignorance, were converted. At S. Albans they refuted the Pelagian teachers in public conference, and forced them to recant in the face of crowds, who were with difficulty restrained from laying violent hands on them. At the same time they proved their Divine mission by restoring sight to a blind girl. They then proceeded through the island preaching tlie Catholic faith, and converted not only the heretics, but a great number of Pagans who were still to be found in the rural districts. They closed their mission by a bloodless victory on Easter Day over a host of Saxons and Picts who were ravaging Plintshire. Germauus placed his white-robed, newly-baptized converts behind a lull, and directed them at a given signal to mount to its summit and cry "Alleluia" in chorus. The Saxons and Picts, startled and dazzled by their j^udden appearance in white robes, mistook them for an angelic host come to fight for the Christians, fied in terror, and many of them were drowned in the adjacent river. ^ Patrick was a witness of S. Germanus's success, and probably took part in it under his direction. i|ut he is heard of on only one occasion. It happened that at one town the inhabitants were quite obdurate in spite of all S. Germanus's efforts, and he therefore consulted his clergy as to what was to be done. ^ ActaSS. Jul. xxxi. pp. 211-214; Bede, pp. 26-32, ed. Boh n. ^54 Tllf: FRANKS. THE ISLAND OF SAINTS. »55 When it came to Patrick's turn to speak lie suggested, on the strength of our Lord's declaration that certain evil spirits cannot bo cast out but by prayer and fasting, the adoption of a custom ^vith which he must have become familiar in Ireland, saying, Let us for three days observe a strict fast at the city [oran, pp. 22-31. name being Ivrea. S. Patrick seems to have been at this town, on his way to Ireland, when he heard of S. Palladius's death and his own appointment by the Pope to be his successor, and his consecration would naturally have been performed by the Archbishop of the see, the celebrated S. Maximus, whose character entitled him to be styled "a man of wonderful sanctity," and whose name in the old Celtic form would be Amahor, easily Latinised into Amator or Amatorex.1 The presence of Pope S. Celestine and the Emperor Theodosius is easily explained. Though Theodosius was nominally Emperor of the East, he really governed the Western Empire also through his sister Placidia and her son Valentinian III., who was then only thirteen years of age. The present was a very critical moment. In the preceding June the Council of Ephesus had condemned and deprived Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, as a heretic. Theodosius, deceived by the friends of Nestorius, hesitated to execute the decree of the Council till his sister Pulcheria persuaded him to do so. But four months thus elapsed before the new Patriarch Maximian was elected. The Nestorian bishops con- tinued their opposition to the Catholics, and a schism was imminent.2 Under these circumstances it was natural that Theodosius should have gone to Italy to consult the Pope. As Ivrea stood on the road from both Rome and Ravenna, which was at that time the seat of the Western Empire, it would have been a suitable and probable place for the meeting between Theodosius and S. Celestine. Immediately after his consecration S. Patrick pro- ceeded to Ireland, arriving there in the course of the ^ Moran, Irish Ecclesiastical Record, October 1866 ; ap. Morris, p. 68 ; Acta SS. Mart. xvii. p. 529. '■^ Rohrbacher, viii. 1. 39, pp. 54-87 ; Neander, Church History, iv. sect. 4, pp. 152-172, ed. Bohn. l62 THE FRANKS. I year. For sixty years ^ his labours there were con- tinued. Thirty years he went about preaching the faith, and thirty more he spent in founding monas- teries and schools, and training his barbarian sons in the spiritual life and the learning of the age. So marvellous was the success of his twofold work, that even before his death Ireland on the one hand liad won her peculiar title of "Isle of Saints" and " Sacred Isle," a second Thebaid of ascetic virtue,^ and on the other had become the great western school of sacred and classical learning. Before describing in somewliat more detail S. Patrick's work in Ireland, it will be interesting to take a general survey of the character and antecedents of the nation with whom he had to deal. 1 S. Patrick's will, as given in the Tripartite Life, and translated by Ussher, is as follows : — " Ter denis annis peragravi loetus lernain, Ter denis aliis versatus in cede Sabelli,^ Centum et vicinos annos vivendo peregi." Acta SS. Mart. xvii. Comment. Praev. vi. 42. All the old writers give sixty years as the length of S. Patrick's sojourn in Ireland ; but the Acta SS., on Jocelyn's autliority, curtail it to forty-four years, and date his death a.d. 476. - "Passim Insula Sanctorum et Insula Sacra dicebatur . . . etiam ad asceticse. vitse fovenda exercitia, ut Tebais altera, communisque ad sapientiae, sacranun scripturarum vacandum studiis Occidentis Indus litttrrarius." Colgan, Acta SS. p. 535, on the Litany of S. J^.ngus the Culdee, written A.D. 799, which is to be found in the Leabhar Breac in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, and also in the Book of Leinster in Trinity College, Dublin. Ap Petrie's Round Towers of Ireland, part ii. sect. ii. p. 135. Bolland, Acta SS Mart xvii. Comment. Prajv. i. CllAPTEPt V. THE IRISH, Though the Irish were the last of the Celtic race to take their place among European nations, yet they were the first to settle down after their migration from the East, and their internal development with- out any foreign influence was far in advance of that of their brethren. The materials for the study of their history are quite unparalleled. This study, liowever, is unhappily still in its infancy ; and till the vast mass of Irish MSS. in tlie libraries not only of Ireland, England, and Scotland, but of France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy, and the archaeological remains scattered all over Ireland, are fully examined and tested by competent criticism, national tradition must be the student's chief guide. This tradition is recorded in chronicles and other historical works of a very early date, and is confirmed by local names and details which may still be identified, and by monuments of the past corresponding in age and circumstances with the statements in the above records.^ The chronology of the pre-Christian period is generally acknowledged to be confused and in- accurate, but notwithstanding this, tradition may fairly be considered a safe guide for the leading events of Irish history. Ireland was inhabited from a remote period by three subdivisions of the Celtic race, corresponding ^ Petrie, Round Towers of Ireland, pp. 100-106. 163 I 164 THE FRANKS. in language and character with the three subdivisions of the race in Gaul. The first persons of this race who came to Ireland are said to have been Neimhidh and his four sons, who arrived there from Greece about six hundred years after the Flood. They and their descendants were greatly harassed by the Fomorians, pirates of unknown origin, who for centuries swarmed in the German Ocean, till at length after 216 years they attacked and destroyed the Fomorians' strong- hold on Tory Island, off the coast of Donegal. In the battle which ensued nearly all the combatants on both sides were killed, and only thirty of the Nemedians escaped to different parts of Europe.^ Two hundred years later, B.C. 1324, the Firbolgs, descendants of one of the Nemedian chiefs who had fled into Thrace, arrived under the leadership of five brothers. They divided the country between the brothers, elected one of them as their king, and chose as their seat of government the green hill in Leinster since called Tara.- Their sovereignty lasted only thirty-six years, when the Tuatha De' Dananns, descendants of another Nemedian chief who had escaped to the north of Europe, landed on the north-east coast. They ad- vanced stealthily into the County Leitrim, where they met the Firbolgs. A division of the land and a league to defend it against future invaders was proposed by their respective champions. But the Tuatha De' Dananns, alarmed at the ferocious bear- ing and massive spears of the Firbolgs, retired far- ther to the south-west, and took up a strong position on a plain near Cong in the County Mayo. Thither the Firbolgs followed, and the battle began on Mid- summer Day. It lasted four days, when the Firbolgs, 1 Four I^Iasters, i. pp. 9-13 ; O'Curry, I.( ctures on MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History, pp. 249, 280. 3 Four Masters, i. p. 13 ; O'Curry, p. 244. THE IRISH. 1 65 being reduced to three hundred, demanded a single combat. But the Tuatha De' Dananns offered them peace and the choice of one of the five divisions of the country. Sreng, their champion and king, accord- ingly chose Connaught, which down to the second century of the Christian era was called "Sreng's Province," and in which his descendants were re- cognised as late as 1650 a.d. The site of this battle is still called Moytura, i.e., " the plain of pillars," from the numerous pillar stones, mounds, and huge graves or cromlechs with which it is still covered. A hun- dred thousand Firbolgs are said to have been killed. But the above monuments prove that though the slaughter was very great, it did not reach the above number.^ The migration of the Firbolgs and Tuatha De* Dananns from Greece is proved by the existing remains of their fortresses, dome-roofed houses, and sepulchres of stone without cement or a knowledge of the principle of the arch, like those of the an- cient Greeks, in the style now called Cyclopean and Pelasgic.2 The Tuatha De' Dananns ruled Ireland for 197 years, till the eight sons of Milidh or Milesius, ac- companied by their mother, Scota, arrived with a fleet of 120 ships, b.c. 1090. They tried to land at the mouth of the river Slaney in Wexford. But a tempest, in which five of the brothers were drowned, scattered their fleet. Eremon, the youngest, at length effected a landing at the mouth of the Boyne, and the two other survivors, Eber and Amergin, landed on the coast of Kerry. A battle was fought at the f(^ot of a mountain called Sliabh Mis (from Slien ^lish), in which the Tuatha De' Dananns were routed with great loss. The site of this battle is still pointed 1 Four Masters, i. p. 17. O'Curry, pp. 244-247. « Petrie, pp. 124-126. w l66 THE FRANKS. THE IKISH. 167 ij ' m out, as are also the graves of Scota and Fas, the wife of one of their chiefs, who were killed in the battle, and were buried in the present parish of Annagh. Eber then forced his way to the mouth of the Boyne, where he joined his brother Eremon, and a battle was fought at Taillten (now Telltown) in Meath, in which the power of the Tuatha De' Dananns was totally overthrown. 1 From this time till the extinc- tion of the Irish kingdom the descendants of Eber, Eremon, and Ir,one of the brothers who were drowned, ruled Ireland. The family of Milidh traced their descent to Magog, tho son of Japhet. The earliest traditions say that their original seat was in that undefined region called by the ancients " Scythia ; " that a branch of them migrated to Egypt, but after several generations re- turned to Scythia, whence they went into Greece, and thence to Spain ; and that, after a long residence in Spain, a colony came to Ireland under the sons of Milidh.- They called themselves Gaedhil, or Gael, which was the generic name of their tribe, and also Milesians and Scoti, from the parents of their leaders. Thus for well-nigh a thousand years from the fourth century of the Christian era all the Irish were called Scoti or Scots. The three Celtic tribes thus established in Ireland corresponded in character with the three divisions of the race in Gaul. The Firbolgs, like the Belgge, with whom their name evidently connects them, were re- markable for ferocity and indomitable courage, as appears in their first encounter with the Tuatha De* Dananns. After tlie conquest of Ireland by the ^lilesians they continued to resist them for three hundred years, and it was only after being defeated » O'Curry, p. 447. 2 Ibid. p. 207. J in fifty battles by iEngus Olmucadha that they were at last subdued.^ The Tuatha De' Dananns, or " people of the gods," resembled the Cymry, with whom their Nemedian ancestor had probably taken refuge. They were superior to both the Firbolgs and Milesians in per- sonal appearance and in their knowledge of science and art. But they especially pretended to excel the whole world in magic and diabolic arts, whence the Milesians believed their leaders to be gods. The invention of letters is attributed to Ogmar, brother of their king Dagda. These letters were not, however, the ancient Latin alphabet, now to be seen only in an- cient Irish MSS., but the occult Ogham characters.- The Milesian or Scotic race were evidently allied to the Gaels of GauL They possessed the same brilliant soldier-like qualities, the same passionate temperament and love of war and fighting, which they looked on as a mere pastime, and, like them, they were eloquent, imaginative, and highly sym- pathetic, and peculiarly susceptible of culture. The distinctive characteristics of the three tribes are thus described from an old book by a distin- guished antiquary in the seventeenth century : — "Every one who is white (of skin), brown (of hair), bold, honourable, daring, prosperous, bountiful in the bestowal of property, wealth, and rings, and who is not afraid of battle or combat ; they are the descendants of the sons of ^lilesius in Erinn. " Every one who is fair-haired, vengeful, large ; and every plunderer ; every musical person, the professors of musical and entertaining performances ; who are adepts in all druidical and magical arts ; they are the descendants of the Tuatha De' Dananns in Erinn." 1 Four Masters, i. pp. 39, 43, 47, 49. - Ibid. p. 24, note ; Irish Nennius, ed. Todd, pp. 45, 47, and note by Herbert, p. ix. 1 68 THE FRANKS. THE IRISH. 169 " Every one who is black-haired, who is a tattler, guileful, tale - telling, noisy, contemptible; every wretched, mean, strolling, unsteady, harsh, and ia- hospitable person; every slave, every mean thief, every churl, every one who loves not to listen to music and entertainment, the disturbers of every council and every assembly, and the promoters of discord among people; these are the descendants of the Firbolgs, the Gailinns, and the Fir Domh- nanns in Erinn. But the descendants of the Fir- bolgs are the most numerous of all these." ^ The Firbolgs, after their final subjugation by the Milesians, were kept down by them as a serf and helol class, and the faults here ascribed to them are those natural to a high-spirited but oppressed and enslaved race. Shut up in the barren districts of Connaught, it was their custom to carry mould and lay it on the flat-surfaced rocks, so as to convert them into poor arable land, the Fir Domnanns digging the mould from deep pits (doimhne), and the Gailinns standing under arms to protect them with their spears (gaibh) while they were at work.^ The perpetuation of this toilsome work after the lapse of above three thou- sand years by their descendants, the miserably poor peasants of Connaught, who are still in the habit of laying soil on the boulders and planting potatoes on them, is one of the proofs of the accuracy of the Irish records. The Tuatha De' Dananns almost disappear from history after their overthrow by the Milesians ; but they lingered on in the country, practising the arts of which their conquerors were ignorant, and as late as the third century of the Christian era they were the principal practitioners and professors of medicine.* 1 Duald Mac Firbis, ap. O'Curry, p. 223. 2 Irish Nennius, p. 45, note. > O'Curry, p. 46. I > . They seem to have dwelt chiefly in retired situations where they would be more free to practise their secret arts. The popular belief was, that, disdaining to live in subjection to their more material and less spiritual conquerors, they retired from this life to enjoy a heathen immortality in the most beautiful hills, lakes, and islands, where they lived as sprites or fairies, but reappeared at pleasure in human bodies, taking husbands and wives from the sons and daughters of men, and giving and receiving mutual assistance in their respective wars. Their dwellings were called Sidhe (pron. She-e), or fairy mansions, and they them- selves were known as " far-shee" and " bann-shee," or men and women of the fairy-mansions. The ancient belief in them may still be traced in the superstitious reverence for fairies or " Good People," and the belief in the " bann-shee." ^ For above a thousand years genealogists have been unable to trace any living family back to the kings or chieftains of the Tuatha De' Dananns, though several families of Firbolgic descent are found, probably to the present day, in various parts of Connaught. 2 Though the Irish Celts were similar in general character to the Celts of Gaul, yet there were marked points of difference between them. One of these is the steady resolution with which every one of the Irish colonists settled down in their new home, and clung to it even under adverse circumstances, thus showing that they had never shared the wandering life of their Gallic brethren. Hence it is evident they were not an off'shoot from the Celts of Gaul and Britain, but an independent branch from the common stock. Another strongly marked diff'erence is their higher ^ Four Masters, i. p. 24, note ; O'Curry, pp. 36, 504. 2 Ibid. p. 25. lyo THE FRANKS. THE IRISir. 171 civilisation and greater capacity for social organisa- tion, of which the Gauls were quite incapable. The Clanna-Nemheidh had a formally appointed physi- cian, poet, and historian, whose names are handed down in very ancient writings, as are also the names of the physicians and the poets of the Firbolgs and Tuatha De' Dananns, " who related history, poetry, and stories to tliem;" "besides which, it is recorded, all the nobles of the latter were full of learning and of Druidism." ^ The great sepulchral mounds of the Tuatha De' Dananns, which are still to be seen, prove at once their higher civilisation and organised social life.2 As the Milesians held the country permanently, their social organisation is better known. On their arrival in Ireland it was evident the colony was not a loose collection of adventurers bound together only by the common hope of enterprise and rapine. On the contrary, it was a community closely united by ties of blood, in which each individual had his defi- nite rank and occupation, and all were governed by a code of law. Amergin and his eldest brother Donn are described in ancient books as "just judging judges," and others of the colonists as hrehons or judges, historians, poets, musicians, and " learned in the arts." 3 Bonn was drowned with four of his brothers at the islands at the entrance to Kenmare r>ay, still known to the peasantry as Bonn's house, but commonly called the Bull, the Cow, and the Calf.* Amergin continued to exercise alone the office of chief iudf^e,^poet, and chronicler, and as late as the reign of Corraac Mac Airt, a.d. 226-266, his first judgment was referred to as authoritative. 1 O'Carry, pp. 217, 221. » Petrie, p. 100 ; Four Masters, i. p. 22, note. > O'Curry, p. 217. * Irish Nennius, p. 57, note. After the subjugation of the Tuatha Be* Bananns, the two other surviving brothers, Eber Finn and Eremon, divided the island between them, the former taking all the part south of the Boyne and the Shan- non, and the latter all that was north of these rivers. Each of them took an equal share of the chiefs and people, who proceeded to settle themselves tliroughout the country, and soon erected the numerous raths, forts, and cathairs, which still bear their names. ^ The people were further divided into tribes and families, which were subdivided into various grades or ranks, and their relative positions and reciprocal duties to each other and their chief, and his duty to them, were all defined by law.- The rule of descent was that the headship of a tribe or family should go to the senior person of the tribe or family, and the same rule applied to the chieftainship or sovereignty, provided there was no junior who was equally noble and had more supporters, wealth, and powder. But should there be a junior with these superior advan- tages, he was to be the chief. The succession, however, was not to go beyond the tribe or family, and every free-born man of the tribe was entitled by blood, should it come to his turn, to succeed to the chief- taincy.^ So strictly was this rule observed, that though Eber Finn fell in battle within a year of his landing in a dispute with Ereinon about the right to three hills, yet the sovereignty of the south re- mained with his descendants, and portions in both the north and south were assigned to the descendants of Ith and Ir, two of the brothers who were drowned before landing. Till quite recent times all the great chieftain lines of the south w^ere descended from Eber Finn, wuth the exception of the O'Briscolls, who re- ^ Irish Nennius, p. 449. - O'Curry, p. 655. 3 Ibid. pp. 206, 227. Il |J rf 172 THE FRANKS. THE IRISH. 173 presented Ith, and all those of Ulster and Connaught from Eremon with the exception of the Magennises, who represent Ir. This ancient family clings to the present day to the district in the County ©own which was once their patrimony, and though now compelled to hold it as tenants, in the proud consciousness of their birth they still regard it as their own. This strict rule of descent by consanguinity rendered it necessary to keep genealogies of all the free-born persons in the kingdom. Nothing could be more simple than the method adopted. Every tribe and sub-kingdom or province had its own officer specially set apart for this purpose. Every principal famdy also kept its own pedigree as a clieck on this officer, and an authority for its own claims should occasion arise. And, finally, the king of all Ireland kept an officer Avho was bound to make periodical visits to the provincial courts and the houses of the chiefs, to inspect their family records, to enter the names of the members of the eldest branches of each family in his own book, and on his return to the king's court to write the whole into what was called the Monarch's Book. King Eochaidh, generally styled Ollamh Fodhla, 707-668 b.c., having instituted the great annual Feast, or Feis, of Tara, which all loyal subjects were bound to attend under pain of bemg punished as the king's enemies, decreed that all the provincial and family records were to be compared at every triennial feast with those in the Monarch's Book, and purified and corrected wherever it was necessary.^ On these occasions, and at all other national festi- vals, the genealogies and numerous historical tales founded on them were publicly recited or sung, and thus they were authenticated by national consent, 1 O'Curry, pp. 204, 206, 218 ; Four Masters, i. p. 53. while at the same time the slightest error would be detected and laid bare by the families or in- dividuals to whose hereditary claims justice was not done. Another check on errors in these records was afforded by the general habit of distinguishing individuals by mentioning the name of their father or grandfather by way of surname, as is still done in Russia. Family surnames did not come into general use till the reign of Brian Boroimh^, about a.d. 1000. Brian himself took the surname of O'Brian, " " being the Gaelic for "grandson." The O'Donnells, O'Neills, and O'Connors of Connaught followed his example, while Donoch, son of Muroch, took the surname of Mac Muroch of Leinster, " Mac " being Gaelic for "son." And all the other families in the kingdom did the same.^ These genealogies constitute an invaluable national history. In them are recorded great physical changes through the " bursting forth " or " eruption " of lakes,^ the "springing forth" of rivers and encroachments of the sea, all of them accounting for the present peculiar conformation of Ireland, the clearing away of forests, the early division of the country into " cantreds," or hundreds, and townlands of a certain size, and the appointment of chieftains and head- farmers over them; 3 the principal battles fought by great monarchs, successive advances in art, and other minor details. It is characteristic that the advance in arts was at once connected with the dis- tinction of ranks. Thus, on the introduction of the art of dyeing in purple, blue, and green, variety of colour in each man's raiment, from the lowest to the highest, was adopted to mark his rank, slaves being allowed only one colour, and the other ranks in 1 O'Curry, p. 214. 2 Four Masters, i. pp. 48, 49, 59, 79. 8 Ibid. p. 53. i 174 THE FKANKs. re.'ular gradation up to the kings and q"«"«'7?J^ it-j^uiai. fe i.ui^i in cpvpn 1 So, too, on the in- SXcUr oT'i art oTrelting'gold and silver, itr Sds .-ere given by the king to h^ W of noble birth, and gold ^vas Avrough mto chains Id rin"s, worn only by kings and clucftain..- Side bv side ^v^th this territorial and f am ly or< ai'aSn, but distinct from it, existed a regular Sated order of learned men. At Us head was Smer'n the brother of Eberlmn and Eremon who h aCdy been mentioned. . It -^^^f^^.^^^^^ poets or bards, historians, '^"««=\'''^%''"J l^^^'.^a' of law medicine, Druidism, and all the arts ana ienTe's thL kno;. Its members had to undergo a lr,n<' and minute probation, extending over twelve vears "of hard work." In this education, poetry, 'u ic and the history of the nation formed a leadmg ,T T Ic students had to pass regular examinations e;cho which were attached additional rank and : WUeges as well as additional duties; and he who !„, ,.omt)letin<' his course was "ordained by tnt, king Id X.;. (pron. ollav) or- df or, took mecedence at table next to the king, and enjoyed a '^income and many valuable privileges, one of hi h was not only that his own F-on and property were inviolate, but he could extend the same im munity lo any' person or place by having his wand carried over them.s ., , , t^ ti,p nre- Such great importance was attached to the pre serSn^f the Lth of the -tio-l his ^ P^^^^^ and unbroken to succeeding generations tha ever^ member of this order, according to h's ra"t jas bound to make himself perfect ""f^o. that history, and teach it to the people by the recital at public 1 Four Masters, i. p. 43. 2 Ibid. pp. 52, 53. 3 O'Curry, pp. 2, 3, 240. n THE IRISH. W5 fissemblies of historic tales which, though mixed with minor incidents of an imaginative character, were mainly composed of undoubted facts, and have always been regarded as a high authority. Thus the oUarnhj or perfect doctor, was required to have at least seven fifties of these historic tales ready for recital on public occasions, and all the lower ranks, in due gradation, were to have a corresponding number of them down to the lowest, who was to liave at least twenty of them. It naturally followed that the ollamlis were the legal referees on all subjects in dispute as to the rights of property, which were closely connected with the accuracy of the national history and genealogies. Accordingly no one but an ollamli could be a brehon or judge, with the exception of the king, who, being supposed to be gifted with peculiar judicial wisdom, was bound to pronounce judgment in all cases of difficulty, how- ever trifling, which were referred to him by even the meanest of his subjects.^ Special virtues also were required from the poet and historian, as described in the following lines : — " Purity of hand, bright without wounding, Purity of mouth, without poisonous satire, Purity of learning, without reproach, Purity of husbandship (or marriage)." Any poet or historian who failed to observe these purities lost half his income and rank, and was subject to other heavy penalties. ^ But any ollamh who was found guilty of falsifying any fact or pedigree forfeited his privileges for life.^ The entire political and social life of the nation was regulated by a body of ancient laws, commonly called by the English the "Brehon Laws," which i O'Curry, pp. 43, 239-241. 2 Ibid. p. 220. 3 Ibid. p. 239. II iy6 THE FRANKS. dealt with every detail and illustrated the several cases by exact definitions and minute descriptions. This code of law is a remarkable testimony of the intellect and high standard of moral virtue of the nation. No fundamental change was allowed to be made in these laws, but at distant intervals they were remodelled in accordance with the advance- ment of the people, obsolete tests and ordeals were revived and important new ones were created, so as to make the law of testimony and evidence as perfect as was possible.^ They regulated the entire national life from a period lost in the darkness of antiquity down to about two hundred years, or seven generations ago, and they still influence the feelings and actions of the native Irish. 2 History presents no other instance of a fierce, im- petuous people thus subjecting themselves to such perfect organisation and holding learning in higher honour than warlike deeds. But no mere system of law and order, however perfect, can quell the fierce passions of the heart. Thus the early annals of the Irish nation are little more than a chronicle of deeds of blood for the gratification of ambition or revenge. All the Milesian kings of Ireland, with few excep- tions, were either assassinated or slain in battle with their own kindred ; and probably such, too, was the lot of the provincial kings and chieftains whose history is not recorded. But in spite of this constant family strife, the nation seems never to have fallen into a state of anarchy. The descendants of one or other of the sons of Milesius continued to reign as supreme monarchs at Tara, and the provincial kings, chieftains, and other heads of families retained the territories respectively assigned to them, in accord- ance with the descent already stated. Even from 1 O'Curry, pp. 45, 46. 2 Ibid. p. 201. THE IRISH. 177 I I the very scanty records we possess, it is evident that many of the kings must have been men of great ability, both as military chiefs and civil rulers. Few events of historic interest are recorded in detail before the arrival of S. Patrick. The earliest of those wliich have reached us is the coming of the Picts or Cruithneans in the reign of Eremon.^ They are said to have fled from the oppression of their king in Thrace and passed into France, whence they again fled, for a similar reason, first to Britain, and then to Ireland, wliere they landed on the coast of Wexford. Crirahthann Sciath-bil, a Firbolg chief under King Eremon, received them as friends, but told them there was no unoccupied land on which they could settle, and advised them to go on to Scotland. But before their departure he availed himself of their assistance to extirpate a tribe of Britons who had settled in the forests of his terri- tory, and were distinguished by their use of poisoned arrows. The Britons were defeated in a great battle, chiefly, it is said, by the agency of a Pictish Druid, who, through his incantations over a bath of new milk into which the wounded Picts werr plunged, cured the wounds inflicted by the poisoi od arrows. After this defeat the Britons were dr'ven cut of Ireland, and the Picts passed over in'.;0 Scotland.^ Friendly relations between them and the Firbolgs seem, however, to have been now established, for they are found after nearly three hundred years assisting the Firbolgs in their last great eff'ort to recover their independence.^ Evtn by the warlike Irish they were greatly esteemed for their high spirit. "^ An episode in the history of Ireland at this early * Four Masters, i. p. 75 ; O'Curry, pp. 451. - Four Masters, i. p. 49 ; O'Curry, pp. 450, 589, note ; r»ede, Eccles. Hist., c. i. b. i. » Four Masters, i. p. 49. < O'Curry, pp. 224, 581. 178 THE FRANKS. THE IRISH. 179 period is peculiarly interesting as showing the strange contrasts in the national character — the unbridled passions of the barbarian existing side by side with the love of peace and order and the sense of justice which mark a high state of primitive civilisation. It is connected with the family of Ir, the son of Milesius, who had settled in Ulster. 1 It happened that about the year B.C. 513, three kinsmen, Aedh or Hugh Euadh Roe, Dithorba, and Cimbaoth, some say the sons of three brothers, and all of them Ulster men, claimed the supreme sovereignty. But, prompted by the love of " peace and security," they agreed that each should reign successively seven years without opposition from the rest; and to carry this agreement into effect they appointed seven magicians to work evil to him that broke the agreement, seven bards to hohl him up to public scorn, which was held to be the greatest possible disgrace, and seven of the ]>rincipal nobles of Ulster to punish him by fire and sword, r.ut these precautions proved unnecessary, for the agreement was observed for sixty-three years, each of the kinsmen taking three times his seven years of sovereignty in due succession. It happened that Hugh Roe was drowned after his third term of rule in the cataract still called Assaroe, or the salmon deep, on the river Erne at Ballyshannon, and was Imried in a mound beside it, whicli also still bears his name. Notwithstanding, Dithorba and Cimbaoth continued to observe the agreement. But when Hugli Roe's turn again came around, his daughter ^facha, surnamed the red-haired, who was his only child, claimed her father's })lace in the sovereignty. Dithorba and Cimbaoth, however, refused to let a woman have any share in the government. She therefore raised an army, marched against the two ^ Four Masters, i. p. 69 ; O'Curry, pp. 70, 527. kings, defeated them, and established her claim to the sovereignty. She drove Dithorba and his sons into Connaught, where the former was killed in battle, and soon after married Cimbaoth, to whom she resigned the sovereignty and the command of her army. The sons of Dithorba continuing to lay plots for her destruction, she led an army into Con- naught, captured them, and carried them in fetters into Ulster. The Ulster men demanded that they should be put to death. But Macha refused, saying that would make her reign unrighteous. But, as a punishment for their crimes and the ransom for their liberty, she condemned them to build a rath i)r roval court for her, which should be the chief city of Ulster for ever. Then close by a hill called Ardmacha (now Ardmagh) she marked out the foundations of the ratli with a golden brooch wdiich she took from her neck, and hence the city was ever after called Eominn, from Eo (" brooch ") and Minn or Main ("neck"), now Latinised Emania. Cimbaoth held the sovereignty for seven years till his death, and was succeeded by Macha, who reigned aloye for seven years, when she was killed by the grandson of the sovereign who had preceded Hugh Roe.i The city which Macha thus founded 450 years — some say 405 — rc.^ was the capital of the provincial kingdom of Ulster for above 700 years, during which it appears to have been distinguished by the just and righteous rule of its sovereigns and the courage of its champions, known as the Knights of the Royal Branch, whose glorious deeds vie in the annals of chivalry with those of the Knights of Arthur's Round Table, or of Roland and Charle- magne's Paladins. But in the year 331 a.d. it was destroyed by three brothers, all called Colla, and ^ Four Masters, i. pp. 69-75 ; O'Curry, pp. 70, 527. 2 O'Curry, p. 72. i8o THE FKANKS. THE HUSH. l8l • « (listin^uislied by the characteristic surnames, the "jS'oble," the ** Stammerer," and the "Earthy," descendants of Eremon, wlio, having failed to secure the supreme sovereignty of Tara, determined to secure an indepenilent position by conquering the kingdom of Ulster. A battle which lasted six days was fought at Farney in Monaghan, iu which the Ulster men, being defeated, were driven over the present Newry Water into the present counties of Down and Antrim, from which they never after returned. Their royal liouse is now represented by the Magenises of Down, to whose family Cimbaoth had belonged. The three Collas destroyed Emania and took possession of the whole part of Ulster which now forms the counties of Armagh, Louth, Monaghan, and Fermanagh, and they and their descendants, the Maguires,Mac Mahons, O'Hanlons, Mac Donells, and others, held it as sword- land till the confiscation of Ul.^ter under James I.^ ^lacha's death was revenged twenty years later by Ugain^ Mor or the Great, of the race of Eremon, who, according to the custom of the time, had been fostered or brought up by Macha and Cimbaoth as their own child, and who therefore were loved by him as well as his own natural parents. Ugain6 reigrted for forty years, and won the proud title of king of the whole of the AVest of Europe by a triumpliaut expedition across Gaul to the Mediter- ranean or Tyrrhian Sea where it washes the coast of Tuscany ; but the history of this expedition is unhappily lost.^ This is the more to be regretted because he seems to have been the only Irish monarch who attempted foreign conquest or colonisation till the third century of the Christian era. The constant warfare kept up through family feuds or the ambi- tion or accidental necessities of chieftains, and the 1 O'Curry, pp. 72, 219. * Four Masters, i. p. 75. defence of the coasts against foreign invasion, seems to have kept down the population within the limits that the island could support, while the maintenance of law and order sufficed to fully employ the energies and satisfy the ambition of the sovereign monarchs. Ugaine Mor had twenty-two sons, but only two of them, Cobhthach Gael and Laeghaire Larc, left issue. Their history, unhappily too characteristic of the national strife, gave rise to a mortal hatred and feud, which continued till after the arrival of S. Patrick. Laeghair^ having succeeded his father, Cobhthach was so filled with envy that he almost pined to death. By the advice of his Druid he took to his bed, feeling sure that Laeghaire would come to visit him, and thus give him an opportunity of killing him. Lae- ghaire came and entered his brother's room alone, but as he stooped over his bed to embrace him, Coblithach plunged a dagger in his heart, lie also killed Lae- ghairc^'s only son, but spared the son of the latter, then a child, called Maen, though he so ill-treated him that he became stu])id and dumb, and was declared incapal)le of reigning. Maen, however, was so ably brought up by his two guardians that he recovered his speech, and as he grew up was dis- tinguished by beauty of feature, symmetry of person, and cultivation of mind. After making a fruitless attempt to recover the throne he went to Gaul, formed a friendship with the princes of Gaul, and after Cobhthach had reigned fifty years, returning to Ireland with a body of chosen troops, surprised (,'obhthach in his palace at Dinn Righ, and burned him with thirty princes who happened to be there, and all their guards and household. He then took ])OSsession of the throne. But the bloody revenge lie had taken for the murder of his father and grandfather gave rise to the mortal feud which sub- fcisted for centuries between the kindred families of l82 THE FRANKS. THE IRISH. 183 Connaught and Ulster, who were descended from Cobli- thach, and those of Leinster, descended from Lae^haire 1 How hard was the task of maintaining order and defending the coasts, appears in the History of Conaire Mor, who lived about a century before l^nrist Like all national heroes, he was distin- guished by great personal beauty.2 He is also described as one .of the "wisest of the kings of innn. He ascended the throne about 109 bc and ruled with justice and vigour for seventy years! during which time he succeeded in banishing from the country great numbers of idle and unruly per- sons, and among others his own four foster-brothers, the sons of a great Leinster chief. These youn'' men, who were very a.lventurous, highly gifted, and impatient of control, put to sea with a large party, inten.hng to lead a piratical life till Conair6's death should allow tiiem to return to their country. While thus beating about and making descents on both sides of the Irish Channel they fell in with Prince Tugel, son of the king of Britain, who with his six brothers and a large band of desperadoes like them- selves, had been banished by their father for their misdeed,".. The two parties entered into a compact of mutual risk and assistance, and after making a ni"ht descent on the coast of Eritain, where they committed peat ravages and carried off much booty, they turned towards Lrinn, so as to carry on their depredations equally between the two countries, and landed in the Bay of Tuirbhe (Turvey) near Malahide, on the coast ot the present county of Dublin. At this time Conair6 was returning from North Munster, where he had been reconciling two hostile chiefs. On entering Meath and approaching Tara, seeing the whole country wrapt in flames, he thought ' O'Curry, p. 2.'2. ' Ibid. p. 4': f 1 a general rebellion had broken out ; whereupon he turned to the right from Tara and drove towards Dublin. But instead of entering the city he crossed the Liffey above the town, and went to the court or mansion of Da Derga, on the river Dodder, near Tallaght. This court was one of the six great houses of universal hospitality which then existed in Ireland, and its master bore the title of the Great Hospitaller. Da Derga, having formerly partaken largely of the king's bounty, now received him as became his rank. Meanwhile the pirates, after ravaging all the eastern part of Meath, returned to their vessels and steered to the headland now called the Hill of Howth. Two of the foster-brothers landed to find out Conair^'s re- treat, and on discovering it the whole piratical force landed to the south of the Liffey, and marching over the rugged Dublin mountains, surrounded Da Derga's court. In spite of a stout resistance they plundered and destroyed the court, and murdered Conair^ and most of his attendants, about B.C. 40. ^ About a century later a great revolt of the Aitheach Tuatha (Anglice, Attacotti or Attacots) took place. Modern historians have said that they were the descendants of the earlier colonists enslaved by their conquerors the Milesians. But ancient Irish writers say they were for the most part Milesians of noble and free families who had fallen away from their caste and been reduced to the level of the conquered races, who were in a state nearly allied to slavery. It happened that about the middle of the first century of the Christian era the kings and princes had combined to lay heavier burdens than before on the occupiers of the soil. The debased Milesians were the first to resolve on resistance, and combin- ing with the other malcontents, they massacred the ^ Four Masters, i. p. 91 ; O'Curry, pp. 258, 453. I 184 THE FRANKS. I monarch and almost all the provincial kings and chieftains, and all tlieir atten ^he gross social corruption -J^ ^ " ^.,^, f^.'tlin^l ciTiVincT to decay, and that iik iumi ii.«^i T^h^^^^^ tradition ^vhieh po.nted to a future and bet er revelation, the expectation of ^vluch must iS W an abiding sense of their own misery a.rd of God's goodness. But in other snn, ar case. f«= fnr insfince with the Jews, these advantages had S^ved of i Uk ^-ail. The choice of Patrick, a man rSy, nearly worn out ^ by "f^^ -;![---' ^ this apparently hopeless nnss.on was "« «^ JP^^, ^atiiril than that of the hshermen of Galilee to con V te world. It therefore followed as a natun. consenuence that, like them, he should be ^ndue ^vith extraordinary virtues and powers, n uo. ^vith the Sacred Heart, and be under the di.ect "tZ V^S. retold that— "A Tailcend shall come acros.s the stormy se^. His garment head-pierced, his staff head-bent, His mias (i.e., altar) in the east of his house ; His people all shall answer, Amen, amen ; " ^ ^^ Tripartite, p. 405. " Acta SS. Mart. xvii. p. 954. » Tripartite, p. 403 ; Acta SS. Mart. p. 540. «.-{• I 190 THE FRANKS. and that when these signs come " our adoration and our gentility will vanish, and faith and belief will be magnified ; " ^ or, " our gods will be destroyed, our temples and altars overthrown; crowds will be seduced to follow him ; the kings who resist him will be either subdued or removed, and his doctrine will reign for ever and ever." 2 Laeghaire MacKeill, who was then the king of Ireland, had therefore ordered that whenever this intruder landed he should be driven from the shores.^ When Patrick and his clerics landed, the swineherd of Dichu, the king of Down, son of Trichem, thinking they were pirates or thieves, hastened to inform his lord. Dichu, on arriv- ing, set his dog at them, but when Patrick uttered the words, " Deliver not up to beasts the souls that con- fess to thee," the dog ceased barking and stood still. Dichu, too, on seeing Patrick, was suddenly changed, and becoming gentle, he believed, and Patrick bap- tized him. He was Patrick's first convert in Ulster. Patrick did not now stay long in Down, for he could not rest until he had seen Milcho, his old master, whose salvation he earnestly desired in proportion as he had been cruelly treated by him, and as he knew that Milcho was very covetous, he took an ottering of gold to smooth his way. But when Milcho heard that Patrick had arrived his pride revolted against the idea of submitting to him in accepting the Faitli of which he was the bearer. He therefore collected all his treasures, and shutting himself up with them in his royal house, he set the house on fire, and was burnt together with them. As Patrick was going along the northern side of Sliabh Mis he saw the fire afar off. He remained silent for two or three hours thinking what it could ^ Tripartite, p. 404. - xVcta SS. Mart. p. 546. ^ Ibid. p. 547. S. PATRICK IX IRELAND. 191 1)6, and at last he said, " That is the fire of Milcho's house, after his burning himself in the middle of his house that he might not believe in God in the end of his life." ^ A better portion awaited at least three of his family. His son Gnasacht was afterwards Bishop of Granard, and his two daughters became nuns in the neighbouring IMonastery of Glon Bro- naigli, and their memory was greatly honoured, as S. Patrick had foretold. Patrick then turned to the right and went back iigain into the eastern part of Down to Dichu, in the district of Magh-inis, and he remained there through the winter, preaching with such success that he brought all the people of the district " wnth the net of the Gospel to the harbour of life." It was not by words alone that Patrick preached. While he taught others to pray, he set the example, singing, and sang ^ach night a hundred psalms. His bed was on a stone, a rock was his pillow, and his only covering at night was a wet sackcloth, for he would not allow himself the luxury of keeping his body warm ; and during the day he worked great miracles, healing the lame and the lepers, and restoring even the dead to life.2 At this time he founded the famous Monastery of Saul or Sabhal, which is the Irish name of a barn ; probably it was in a barn given by Dichu that S. Patrick preached till a better building could be erected on the spot. It was calleil in Irish Saball Padruic, which was Latinised Horreum Patricii.^ He also made a short excursion southwards to preach to Dichu's brother, Ros, who lived at Derlus, now Bright, to the south of Downpatrick. On his way he saw a youth herding pigs ; lie was a grandson of 1 Tripartite, p. 407. - Hymn of S. Fiacc, ap. Cusack, p. 254. 3 Cusack, p. 256. f4' II I 192 THE FRANKS. Milcho's, and his name was Mocliae. Patrick called him, and the youth, at once obeying the Divine call, was instructed and baptized ; after which Patrick ton- sured him, gave him a copy of the Gospels, taught him the alphabet, and showed him how to use it. The youth, through Divine grace, made such progress that in one month he learnt the psalter, and before the year expired he attained to the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. When Patrick, after a time, a^'ain came that way he ordained him priest. He afterwards became Abbot of Aondiuim, now :Mohee Island, so called after him.^ After baptizing IMochae, Patrick continued his journey to Ros. Dichu had six brothers, all of whom are commemorated in the Irish Calendar. At this time Ros was an old man, and had lost the use of his limbs, and he was as much opposed to the Faith as Dichu was devoted to it. Patrick therefore asked him whether he would lielieve if Clirist restored him to health and vigour. Ros answered, '^f thou canst, through Christ, per- form on me such a miracle, forthwith will I believe in Him." Then Patrick prayed, and laying his hands on Ros, he blessed him, and the infirm old man was at once restored to health and vigour. After Ros was baptized, and through his influence had brought many into the Faith, Patrick asked him whether he would rather still remain on earth or go immediately to the God of Love. Ros chose heaven instead of earth, and after receiving the sacraments of the Church he commended his spirit to the Lord and entered eternal rest.^ ^ , . , When Easter (a.d. 433) drew nigh Patrick re- solved to keep the festival at Magh-bregh,^ a plain m 1 Acta SS. p. 548 ; Cusack, p. 257 ; Tripartite, p. 408. - Cusack, pp. 250, 255. ^ 1 • „ 3 The name was afterwards applied to the country lying bt^tween the Litfey and the Boyne. I t i I I S. PATRICK IN IRELAND. 193 the east of Meath, close to Tara, which Avas the centre of the idolatry and Druidism of Ireland. He and his attendants went by water to the mouth of the Boyne, where they landed and proceeded to Slane, or Ferta-fer-fec.i it happened that a great festival, which this year fell on Easter Sunday, was to be held at Tara by Laeghaire, the king of all Ire- land, attended by all the other kings and chieftains, while the Druids and magicians came to prophesy to them. It was the law that every fire m Ireland must be extinguished on the eve of the festival, and that any one who lighted a fire before that in Tara was kindled incurred the penalty of death. Patrick w^as not aware of this, and had he known it he Avould not have heeded it. On Easter Eve, after celebrat- ing the office, he lighted on the hill of Slane the new Easter fire, which illuminated the whole plain of Magh-bregh. On seeing the fire Laeghaire asked who it°was who had dared to violate the law. The Druids answered that if this fire were not put out before morning it would never be extinguished, and the man who had lighted it and his successors would reign over the whole island. Laeghaire was a man of lion-like ferocity, and full of pride at the power which he had gained over his neighbours through his own strength. Transported with fury, he set out with three times nine chariots to extin- guish the fire and put to death the presumptuous man who had lighted it. But as he approached it his Druids told him not to go near the fire, lest he should seem to do honour to the man who lighted it, but to send for Patrick to come to him, that he might see Laeghaire was a king and himself a subject. So Patrick was called out, and at the same 1 Tripartite, p. 408 ; Cusack, p. 259. K li 194 THE FRANKS. time all were forbidden to rise up to salute him, which, according to the custom of the country, Avas a personal insult. S. Patrick at once obeyed his summons, singing "Some trust in chariots," &c. The royal party had got out of the chariots, the horses were unyoked, and all were sitting with the rims of their shields against their chins, and none rose up except one man, Ere, son of Degha, whom Patrick blessed. He was afterwards baptized, and bein^' distinguished for his virtues and miracles, was made Bishop of Blane. Among the king's followers was his favourite magician, Lochru, who gave himself out to be a god. After uttering frightful blasphemies he raised himself in the air, as Simon Magus had formerly done, and it seemed to the bystanders that he was ^oing up to heaven. But at S. Patricks prayer he feU and lay lifeless on the earth. In- furiated at this sight, Laeghaire and his people rushed on S. Patrick to kill him. But the saint intoning the psalm, " Let God arise," &c., a terrific tempest swept across the plain. Some were killed by the liglitning; others were thrown down; and others, again, turning their swords on each other, forty-nine were killed. The king hid himself in a cave with the queen and only one of his attendants. The queen then threw herself at Patrick's feet and besoucrht him to spare her husband, who, she promised, should come and adore his God. At Patrick's prayer the tempest ceased. The king approached, and bend- ing his knee adored the God in whom he did not believe, and deceitfully invited Patrick to visit him the next day, in order, so he said, that he might believe in him before the men of Erinn. The king, however, placed ambuscades at all the fords that he might cross, so that, if he escaped one, he and his companions might be slain at another. But Patrick, warned by God of his intention, chose eight of his ! S. PATRICK IN IRELAND. 195 clerics and the boy Benignus to go with him, and blessing them, set out singing the famous hymn known as Patrick's Lorica or breastplate, which is still in use among the Irish peasantry. As they passed, it seemed to the king's soldiers that 'only eight deer, followed by a fawn, were going along the mountains. It was now Easter Sunday, and Laeghaire and his Court were at table with the doors shut, when suddenly Patrick stood among them. Again all re- mained seated except Dubhtach, the royal poet, and a youth called Fiacc, one of his people. A poisoned cup was then offered to Patrick, but when he blessed it and overturned it the poison alone fell out, and Patrick drinking received no injury. Luchat, the chief of the Druids, then challenged Patrick to prove his heavenly mission by signs. Patrick answered that he did not wish to go against the will of God. Notwithstanding, the Druid persisted, and covered the whole place with snow. But when Patrick challenged him to remove the snow he said he could not do so till the next day. Then Patrick prayed, and the snow at once vanished. Again the Druid brought thick darkness, which once more he was obliged to confess he could not remove till the next day ; and once more Patrick removed it by his prayers, and all the bystanders, with great acclama- tions, thanked God. The king, confused at the defeat of his magician, then proposed that both should thro-w their books into the water, and whose- soever books came out dry, his preaching would be proved true. But the Druid objected, saying that water was the element by which Patrick worshipped his God in baptism. The king then proposed they should try their books in fire, but the Druid again objected, saying that Patrick in alternate years worshipped a god of fire or of water. Patrick then il in w 11 |m 196 THE FRANKS. declared that he worshipped none of the elements, but the Maker of them all, and proposed that a house, made one half of dried faggots and the other of green wood, should be built ; that the boy Benignus, wearing the Druid's tunic, should be placed in the part made of dry faggots, and the Druid, dressed in the saint's chasuble, among the green wood, and the house should then be set on fire. Then, as Patrick prayed, the Druid and the wet wood around him were consumed to ashes, leaving the saint's casula untouched, and the flames, passing through the dry faggots, burnt the Druid's tunic, leaving Benignus unharmed. Thereupon the king, irritated by the death of his magicians, prepared to attack and kill the saint, but the earth opened and swallowed many of them, while the survivors and numbers of the terrified bystanders were converted and asked for baptism. The king, too, falling at Patrick's feet, implored mercy and promised obedience to his com- mands. Patrick forgave him ; but though for a length of time he instructed him in the Faith, he never could induce him to be baptized. He at length dismissed him to use his own free will, that he might follow the inventions of his own heart, lest he "should compel him to receive the Faith. At the same time he foretold that none of his children should ascend his throne, which would pass to his younger brother, who w^ould believe in Christ, and whose seed should rule for ages. The queen be- lieved and was baptized, and she afterwards made a holy death. Laeghaire remained a Pagan till his death, but he no longer opposed the Faith. He was buried, by his own desire, on the ramparts of Tara in his "armour of valour," with his face towards the men of Leinster, as if he were fighting with them. On Easter Monday, Patrick went to a town mid- S. PATRICK IX IRELAND. 197 way between Kavan and Kells, now called Telltown,^ where a fair and games were annually held, and here he preached and made many converts. Then he visited two of Laeghaire's brothers, Carbri and Conall, like liim sons of the famous I^iall of the Xine Hostages. Carbri had wished to kill Patrick, and drove his ])eople into the river Sele, now the Blackwater. But Conall received him with great joy, and was baptized, and also gave ground sixty feet in extent for a church for God and Patrick. This place is still called Donach- Piitrick, in the barony of Upper Kells.^ On Easter Wednesday, Patrick held a public baptism in the river Boyne, a feast in commemoration of which was anciently held on April 5th, for great numbers of ])eople had been converted by the preaching of S. Patrick and his followers. Probably it was immediately after his combat with the Druids at Tara that he baptized Ere, the son of Dega. Having asked him why he had risen up when all the rest remained seated, Ere answered, " AVhy, I know not — I see sparks of fire going up from thy lips to my lips." Then the saint asked, *' Wilt thou receive the baptism of the Lord which I have wuth me?" Ere answered, "I will receive it." Then they went to the fountain within the fort or enclosure of Tara, and here the saint opened his book and baptized Ere and many thousand men. A crowd had assembled to see the new ceremony, and some of them mocked, while others looked on with more curiosity than devotion.^ Patrick overheard the con- versation of two of the chieftains who stood near him. One of them said he was Endeus, and came from the western regions, from the wood of Fochlut. The name of these woods aroused the tenderest ^ Four [Masters, p. 22. 2 Tripartite, p. 422 ; Cusack, p. 293. 3 Cusack, p. ;301. *fli' -I» \H II IC)8 THE FRANKS. recollections in Patrick's breast, and rejoicing greatly, be turned to Endeus and said to him, "I will go witli thee if I be alive, for the Lord hath ordered me to go." Endeus, however, made some objections, probably fearing the princes, whom he knew to be ill-disposed towards Patrick. But Patrick assured him he had come to Tara on his account, and his safety would be ensured by having him for a com- panion. Endeus then consented, and requested Patrick to baptize his young son, saying that he and his brother would not *' believe " until they went to their own country, because they feared being mocked as Ere had been. Patrick therefore baptized his son by the nanie of Connell, and after he went to Tyrawley placed him under the charge of Cethire, a bishop, who brought him up to be a priest. S. Evin says that twelve sons of Amhalghaidh had gone to Tara" in twelve chariots to have their dispute decided. Aengus, who was foster-son to Laeghaire,and was the proudest of them all, hoped to have the chief- tain^^hip assigned to him, and he therefore begged the doorkeeper not to admit Connell, the son of his brother Enna Cromm, because he feared his clever- ness in argument. Connell therefore went to Patrick, and telling him he came from Fochlut, asked him to help him enter Tara. Whereupon Patrick bade him go to Eoghan, who was his faithful friend, and to lay hold of his finger next his little finger, which was a sign between them. Connell did so, and on receiv- ing Patrick's sign Eoghan said, '* Welcome; what is Patrick's wishi" Connell answered, "That you assist me." When Connell was admitted to the discussion before Laeghaire he said, " If precedence in a king's house or land is to be given according to youth, I am the youngest; if according to age of birth, Enna Cromm is the oldest." Laeghaire then answered, "Honour to the senior, truly." So tho S. PATRICK IN IRELAND. 199 chieftainship was assigned to Enna, and Patrick gave his chariot to Connell, so that it was the thirteenth chariot. But Aengus bore ill-will against Connell and Patrick. 1 Endeus was the eldest of a family of fifteen brothers, and he had gone to Tara with six of them to get some dispute decided by Laeghaire. Endeus now asked Patrick's intervention, and he agreed with the king in desiring the brothers to divide the property and let Endeus have the chieftainship. Hereupon Endeus instantly offered his portion and his son's "to the God of Patrick and to Patrick.'' ^ Patrick, however, was not able to go to Fochlut till the following Easter. Much work awaited him before he could get so far. On Low Monday he went to a place near Kells in Meath, where he founded a church and left the charge of it to Cathaceus, Cathurus, and Catnean, three brothers, his disciples, and their sister Catnea, a nun whose innocence and purity are said to have given her a singular power over the animal creation. The names of this family show that they were of Irish birth, and were therefore the foundation of tlie native church. He afterwards went on to Drumconrath, in the barony of Lower Slane, not far from Tara, where he built a church in which he left his nephew Diarmid. When Patrick was on his way to Tara he had left his nepliew Lomman, the son of his sister Tigris, at the mouth of the Boyne in charge of the ships, with orders to stay there during Lent, and then to row his vessel against the current to the place called Athruim, now Trim, in Meath. Lomman obeyed, and on arriv- ing at Athruim he spent the night at the door of Fedhlimidh, son of Laeghaire. In the morning Fort- ^ Tripartite, pp. 447, 448. '^ Tirechan, Book of Armagh, ap. Cusack, p. 301. fl- - 5,5^^,^,™.^ 1 4 200 THE FRANKS. S. PATRICK IX IRELAND. 201 ^1 J chern, Fedhliraidh's son, on opening the door was surprised to see Lomman reading the Gospel. He began to talk to him, and wondered at the precepts he heard. He stayed so long listening to the stranger that his mother came to seek him. She was the daughter of a king of Britain, and heartily welcomed Lomman as her countryman, talking to him in their native tongue. After a time she went to her husband and told him all that had happened to her and her son. Fedhlimidh received the missionaries joyfully, and he and all his family believed and were baptized. Immediately after his baptism he devoted all his territory, possessions, substance, and race to Patrick and Lomman, and his son Fortchern, whom Lomman had adopted as his foster-son, " till the Day of Judg- ment." Patrick now came there after he left Tara, and built a church, which he left in charge of Lom- man. Patrick afterwards went to Longford, which was the territory of Cairbre, Laeghaire's brother, and Cairbre's sons gave him the present barony of Granard. Here he built a church some years after, in which he placed Guassacht, son of i\Iilchu, then a bishop ; and he built adjoining the church a nun- nery for his two sisters, which became very famous, and is now known by the name of Clonbroney. Before leaving Leinster, Patrick had a great work to do. In the present County Cavan, extending into Leitrim, was a great plain called Magh-Slecht, that is, the plain of adoration or genuflexions, in which stood the chief idol of Erinn, Cenn Cruach, Crom Cruach, or Crom Dubh, ornamented with gold and silver, and twelve other idols ornamented with brass around him. Patrick went across the watet", ap- parently the small lake from which the river Earn flows, from Granard to Magh-Slecht to destroy these idols, and he a})pear3 to have chosen for this purpose the 1st of November, on which day a great festival I used to be held by the Celts, at which Laeghaire and a vast multitude were present. When he saw the idols from the water he cried with a loud voice, and when he came near the central idol he lifted up the Staff of Jesus to strike it, and though the Staff was not long enough to reach it, it fell down on its right side, and the earth swallowed the other twelve idols as far as their heads. Then, having conjured the demon in the idol to appear, he called all the people, with King Laeghaire, to behold whom they worshipped They saw and trembled, and feared death, but at Patrick's prayers he was banished to helL Patrick founded a church on the spot, and left in it Mabran Barbarus, his relative, who had a gift of prophecy, and he baptized great multitudes in the well, which loner bore his name. It is supposed that these idols were stone pillars, such as were commonly worshipped by the Druids. Their overthrow is commemorated to the present day by the Irish-speaking people, who call the Sunday before All-Saints Crom Dubh Sunday.^ In the " Annals of Lough Ce " an account is given of a battle fought at Magh-Slecht in 1256; and Mr. O'Curry, having identified the actual scene of tlie battle, declares he has no doubt that, were the plain excavated, Crom Cruach, with its twelve satellites, would be found.2 Patrick now crossed the Shannon into Roscommon, and bent his steps towards Cruachan, an ancient palace of the kings of Connaught, in which dwelt two of Laeghaire's daughters, called Ethne the Fair and Feideln the Red, under the charge of two of Laeghaire's Druids, Mael and Caplait. The Druids having heard what Patrick had done in other places* brought by their magical arts thick darkness over the district for three days and three nights. But I Cusack, pp. 305-307 ; Tripartite, pp. 425, 426. - MS. Materials, p. 103 ; ap. Morris, p. 103. w 202 THE FRANKS. Patrick prayed and blessed the place, so that there was darkness for the Druids and light for all others. As he passed along he made many converts and founded sevei*al churches. At one place, where now stands Elphin, the land on which he wished to found a church belonged to two Druids called Id and Hono or Ona. Hono asked Patrick, " What will you give me for this land ] " Patrick answered, " Eternity." Hono rejoined, "You possess gold ; give it to me for it." Patrick replied, " I have given much, but God will give more." Ilono granted the land to Patrick, who afterwards found a mass of gold where the pigs had been rooting, and gave it to Hono. Thus did Patrick seize every opportunity to teach the simple truths of religion to the people. Thus too did he teach and baptize thousands, founding churches at every place as he passed eastwards, along a route which can be clearly traced to the present day. When he arrived at the slopes of Cruachan he and his clerics sat down at sunrise at a fountain called Clibech. Before long Laeghaire's two daughters, Ethne and Feideln, came to wash their hands, as they were wont to do, and when they saw the clerics sitting at the well with white garments and their books° before them they wondered, and supposed they were Jir sidlie, the name given to fairies who inhabited the hills. They questioned Patrick, ** Whence are youT' and " Whither have you come? Is it from the sidhe 1 " " Are you gods ? " Patrick answered, " It would be better for you to believe in God than to ask regarding our race." The elder daughter said, " Who is your god, and in what place is he % In heaven or in earth 1 Is it under the earth, or on the earth, or in seas, or in streams, or in hills, or in valleys? Has he sons and daughters '1 Has he gold and silver % Is there a profusion of every- thing good in his kingdom? Tell us plainly how S. PATRICK IX IRELAND. 203 we shall see him, how he is to be loved, and how he IS to be found. Is he young or old? Or is he ever-hymg? Is he beautiful? Or have many fos- tered his son ? Or is his daughter handsome and dear to men of the world?'' S. Patrick, full of the Holy Spirit, answered, "Our God is the God of all, the God of heaven and eartli, the God of the seas and rivers, the God of the sun and moon and all the other planets ; the God of the high hills and the low valleys; God over heaven, in heaven, and under heaven; and He has a mansion, i,e,, heaven, and the earth and the sea, and all things that are in them. He mspireth all things; He quickeneth all things: He enkindleth all things ; He giveth light to the sun and to the moon ; He created fountains in the dry land and placed dry islands in the sea, and stars to minister to the greater lights. He hath a Son, co-eternal and co-equal with Himself; and the Son is not younc^er than the Father, nor is the Father older than tlie bon And the Holy Ghost breatheth in them. And the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are not divided. I desire, moreover, to unite you to the Son of the heavenly King, for ye are daughters of an earthly king.'' The daughters said, as if with one mouth and one heart, "How shall we come to believe m this King ? Teach us duly that we may see the Lord face to face— teach us, and we will do as you will say to us." Patrick replied, "Do you believe that through baptism the sin of your father and your mother shall be put away from you?" They an swered, " We believe." ^' Do you believe in repent- ance after sin ? " "Yes." Then they were baptized, and Patrick blessed a white veil upon their heads • and they desired to see Christ face to face. Patrick said to them, "You cannot see Christ except you first taste death, and unless you receive the Body of Christ and His Blood." The daughters replied 204 THE FRANKS. S. PATRICK IX IRELAND. 205 saying, "Give us the Communion, that we may be able to see the Prophesied One." After this they received the Communion, and fell asleep in death. Then the Druids, Mael and Caplait, who had had charge of them, were very angry, on account of their hftving believed and gone to heaven. Caplait, who liad fostered the second daughter, came crying against Patrick. But Patrick preached to him and he be- believed, and he cut olf his hair. Tlien the other Druid, Mael, came and said to Patrick, " My brother has believed for thee ; it shall not serve nor strengthen him; I will again lead him into paganism." But Patrick preached to him, and he too believed. Then Sen-Domhnaghof Magh-Ai, now Machaire-Connaught, was presented to Patrick for ever, and the maidens were buried there. Others say the relics of the maidens were brought to Armagh, where they await the Kesurrection.^ Patrick next travelled to various places in Kos- common, in all of which he baptized, built churches, and left priests to minister. At Tuerty, in the barony of Athlone, fifteen brothers and their sister, who were Franks, and had no doubt come to him from Armorica, left him and founded a monastery at Baslick, in the barony of Castlerea, which lasted for many centuries, and took charge of several other places.- He then continued his journey through Sligo and Mayo, his route being easily traced at tlie present day by the names of the places where he is said to have founded churches, and thence westward till he reached Clew Bay, on the shores of the Atlantic. Here stood a high mountain, then called Cruach Aighle, or " Hill of the Eagle," but which ever since has been called Croach Patrick. He ascended this mountain on Shrove Saturday to spend the Lent in prayer. Ho i Tripartite, pp. 430-432. - Ibid. p. 435. w ri had now been only eighteen months in Ireland, and he had won thousands of souls to God. What more, then, could he want ? But his heart yearned like a father over his children, and what would it avail him if, with the natural inconstancy of their race, they forgot his teaching and their last state became worse than their first ? It was, then, for their per- severance and salvation he prayed. For forty days and forty nights neither food nor drink crossed his lips, and he was beset by supernatural temptations. At length his faith and perseverance were rewarded by the assurance that his prayers were granted. ** A blessing on the bountiful King that gave," said Patrick. It was on Holy Thursday according to Jocelyn, or on Holy Saturday according to S. Evin, that S. Patrick left his solitude. Having thus reached his second Easter in Ireland,^ Patrick crossed the river Moy to Tyrawley, in the north of the County of Mayo and west' of the jMoy, where dwelt Amlialghaidh (pronounced Awley), whose twelve sons he had formerly met in Tara when they had gone there to have their dispute about the sovereignty of their district settled by Laeghaire and his brother Eoghan. Patrick had on that occasion given them money to the value of fifteen men's lives for the safe conduct of himself and his party across to the West of Ireland. 2 The mention of this pre- cise sum seems to throw light on two passac^es in S. Patrick's " Confession " of which no explanation is offered by his biographers. About the middle of the ** Confession" S. Patrick thanks God for havincr enabled him *'to come and preach to the Irish," to *' suffer injuries from the unbelieving" and "many persecutions even to chains" (c. 15). Farther on (c. 22) he says he had given rewards (prcemia) to ^ Tirechan, ap. Cusack, p. 303.^ - Tirechan, Book of Armagh, Cusack, p. 304. 2o6 THE FRANKS. the kings to the amount, he thinks, of the price of fifteen men, besides wages to their sons who went with him ; but, notwithstanding, he and his com- panions were all taken prisoners with the intention of killing him. All that they had was taken from them, and he himself was bound with chains. But his time was not yet come, and after fourteen days God delivered him, and all that they had was restored to them through God and the patrons (necessarios amicos) with wliom they had before provided them- selves.^ The mention of the above sum leads to the supposition that, either through some negligence on the part of Amhalghaidh's sons, or possibly the treachery of Aengus, the proudest of them, who bore him ill-will and had tried in vain to persuade two of his brothers to kill him, he was taken prisoner, and afterward released by the other brothers. Patrick also about this time baptized two women who were said to be the infants who called him from the woods of Fochlut. He now went on to Mublaghfarry, near Killala, where Amhalghaidh and seven of his sons, including the eldest, Euna, were baptized. Here, too, he raised from the dead Aengus's sister and baptized her, and she preached to the multitudes around of the pains of hell and the rewards of heaven ; she also besought her brother Aengus with tears to believe in God and Patrick, and he did so, and was baptized, together with twelve thousand of their people. - S. Patrick spent seven years in Connaught. At the end of that time he went into Donegal, and thence through Tyrone and the County Derry to Down and Antrim. S. Evin gives his route from place to place, mentioning little circumstances which occurred at most of them. So wonderful was the 1 Acta SS. Mart. vii. pp. 536, 537. - Tripartite, pp. 447-451. S. PATRICK IN IRELAND. 207 attraction of his preaching that at one place in the County Tyrone and the diocese of Clobber he preached for three days and three nights, and each day did not seem to his hearers lonf^er than one hour.i ° It was probably about this time that he founded the bisliopric of Clogher. As he was now very old and getting feeble, he was always carried across diffi- cult places by Bishop Maccarthend, who was called his " strong man." As Patrick was about to proceed Irom the north through Leinster to Munster, after passing Clogher, Bishop Maccarthend, after liftincr up Patrick, said, ^' Ugh, ugh I " as if he found him very heavy. Patrick remarked, *' You were not accustomed to say that word." *'I am old and in- firm," answered the bishop, "and you have left all my early companions in churches, while I am still on the road." Patrick replied, " I will leave thee in a church not too near us for familiarity, and not too distant for intercourse between us." So he after- wards left him in Clogher, and tlie bishop who now holds that see can trace his succession up to him Bishop Maccarthend seems to have been a crreat favourite with Patrick, for he left him a hfcrhly ornamented reliquary, enclosing Latin copies of^'the four gospels, called Domhnach Airgid, le., " the silver shrine," which was said to have been sent to him from heaven when he was on the sea coming to Erin. It is now to be seen in the museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy. The membranes of the manuscripts have become incorporated into an opaque solid mass, but a few of the external leaves have been detached' and found to contain part of the first chapter of a Latin gospel of S. Matthew, in uncial characters Dr Petrie says of it, ** We might with tolerable certainty ^ Tripartite, p. 479. 208 THE FRANKS. conclude that the Donihnach is the identical reliquary given by S. Patrick to S. Maccarthend," and that, " as a manuscript copy of the Gospels apparently of that early age is found with it, there is every reason to believe it to be that identical one for which the box was originally made." ^ From Ulster Patrick passed again into Lemster, where his route can be traced. Near Sletty, m Queen's County, he met Dubhtach, the principal bard of Erin, who had been converted and baptized at Tara, and ever since had devoted his talents to Christ's service. Patrick asked him for a handsome youth, not of low family, who had had only one wife, and to whom only one son was born. Dubhtach answered that Fiacc, the youth who had been con- verted with him at Tara, had all these qualities, but he feared he would not wish to be ordained. While they were speaking, Fiacc, who had been sent to Con- naught with poems for the kings, came in and asked whal- they were considering. Patrick answered, to make Dubhtach a bishop. Fiacc at once exclaimed, that would be a great loss to many, for there was not in Erin so great a poet as Dubhtach; and he asked, *' Why should not I be taken in his place?" Patrick at once assented, and Fiacc was tonsured, and an " alphabet," by which name some compendium of the Catholic Faith seems to have been called, was given to him. His progress in learning and sanctity was so rapid that not only was he before long made Bishop of Slettv, but the whole of Leinster was com- mitted to his charge, and his only son, Fiacchra, was also ordained by S. Patrick.^ , t • . How long S. Patrick spent in Ulster and Leinster after he left Connaught is not recorded, but many years must have elapsed before he passed on to 1 Tripartite, p. 479 ; Cusack, p. 336 ; Morris, p. 163. 2 Tripartite, p. 492 ; Cusack, p. 55. S. PATRICK IN IRELAND. 209 Munster, where idolatry still held its ground, though the reports of Patrick's teaching in the other pro- vinces must have greatly weakened its hold on the })eople. The kings of Munster then lived at '' Casliel of the Kings," and thither Patrick directed his steps. The king of Munster was then absent, and his son Aengus, who afterwards succeeded him, was acting there for his father. On the morning of the day of Patrick's arrival at Cashel, Aengus found when he arose that all the idols in the fort were prostrate on the ground, and accepting this as a sign from heaven, when Patrick and his people appeared at the side of the fort he welcomed them joyfully. Patrick bap- tized him and his brothers, and many of the men of Munster besides, and blessed the fort of Cashel, and prophesied that only one race should be there for ever. While Patrick was preaching and preparing the people for baptism Aengus stood beside him, and the sharp point of Patrick's crosier or Staff of Jesus, on which the saint was leaning, was accidentally placed on the prince's foot and pierced it. Aengus uttered no complaint and gave no sign of the pain he was suffering, but when the blood began to flow Patrick noticed it, and said, " Why was it you did not tell me?" "Because," Aengus answered, "I thought it was the rule of the Faith." " You shall have its reward," said Patrick ; " your successors from this day forth shall not die of wounds." From this time no one was king of Cashel till he had been ordained by Patrick's successor; and twenty-eight kings of the race of Aengus and his brother Ailill reigned in Cashel until the time of Cenngegan, who was slain a.d. 897.^ From Cashel, S. Patrick went through Tipperary founding churches, in all of which he left priests. 1 Tripartite, p. 496. 2IO THE FRANKS. S. PATRICK IN IRELAND. 2X1 1 ; Thence he passed on to Limerick. In the parish of Cullen, in the barony of Clan- William, Ailill, the father of a child who had been torn to pieces by pigs came to him in great grief, saying, "I will believe if you will raise my son from the dead.'* Patrick commanded the boy's remains to be collected, and told Malach-Britt, a Culdee {Cele Z)e), to resusci- tate him. But Malach was seized with doubt, and said, "I will not offend the Lord." Then Patrick commanded Bishops Iber and Ailbe to raise the boy, and he prayed with them. The boy was then raised from the dead, and preached to the crowd around in Patrick's presence. His parents and all the people of the neighbourhood believed and were baptized. Bishop Ailbc had gone to Rome accompanied by fifty holy men, all natives of Ireland, and having remained more than a year in Rome, he was con- secrated by the Pope and sent to evangelise Ireland.^ S. Iber, too, had been consecrated in Rome, and came thence as a bishop into Ireland. Declan also met in Rome his friend and fellow-labourer, S. Ailbe, and some years after the departure of this saint he was consecrated and received a special commission from the Pope to evangelise the Irish. An old Irish verse mentions " humble Ailbe " as the " Patrick of Munster," and Declan as " the Patrick of the Desii," a tribe in the County of Waterford.^ The men of North IVIunster came in fleets of boats with a pro- fusion of gifts to meet Patrick, and he blessed them and baptized them at Terry-Glass, on the east side of Derg, in the barony of Lower Ormond, County Tipperary. At this period he uttered several re- markable predictions, all of which have come true; he blessed the lands and islands of the Shannon, and prophesied the birth, after 120 years, of S. * See Tripartite, p. 427. - Moraii, pp. 41, 42. Senanus of Tuis-Cathaigh, now Scattery Island, in the river Shannon, and of S. Brendan, one of the greatest of the Irish monastic founders in the fol- lowing century.^ He does not appear at this time to have visited Clare or Kerry, and this tradition is confirmed by the fact that all the churches founded by him in the course of his journeys were after- wards distinguished by the name Domnach-Mor, now Donaghmore ; and though there are churches of this name in the counties Cork, Limerick, and Tip- perary, there is not one in Clare or Kerry. Even at the present day Irish-speaking people often say to persons situated to the west of them, *'I bless you all to the west, as S. Patrick said to the Kerry men." ^ Clare and Kerry may have been converted and churches founded by S. Patrick's disciples, and ]iossibly he may have visited them at a later period during the long years before his death. Limerick seems to have been at this time the central point of Patrick's preaching, and the neigh- bourhood around it abounds in memorials of his presence or supernatural power. About a mile from the city, on the heights of Singland, whence the cannons of Ireton, a.d. 1651, and of William III. and Ginkle forty years after, played upon the " Black Battery " and citadel of Limerick, is " S. Patrick's Well" It is still held in the highest veneration by all the neighbourhood, and crowds of men, women, and children may be daily seen on their way thither, either to " pay their rounds " or bring back vessels filled with the water for some invalid confined at home ; for it is well known to both the clergy and doctors of Limerick that the poor, when ill, will scarcely drink anything but "Patrick's Well-water." ^ ^ Morris, p. 116. ^ Mr. Hennessey, ap. !Morris, p. 115. » Cusack, pp. 354-356. 212 THE FRANKS. S. PATRICK IN IRELAND. 213 After l*atrick *' liad founded cells and churches in Munster, and had ordained persons for every grade, and healed all sick persons, and resuscitated the dead," bidding them farewell, he passed on to Brosna, in King's County. But the people of Munster would not part with him so easily, and with one accord they and their households went after him, and when they overtook him they all, men, women, and boys, raised great shouts of joy, whence the place was called Brosnacha, and obtained a further blessing from him. Though S. Patrick's preaching was so supernaturally successful, it must not be supposed that his journeys through Ireland were of the nature of triumphal processions. On the contrary, in the course of the Trij^artite attempts to kill him are constantly men- tioned. Aengus, son of Amalghaidh, alone plotted three several times against his life. In his Confession he refers to God's great goodness in delivering him from slavery and from twelve dangers by which his life was threatened, besides many other snares with which he will not trouble his readers. After his do] )arture from ^lunster, as he passed through the territory of the Hyfailge in Kildare, and parts of the King's and Queen's Counties, he escaped even a more imminent danger through the fidelity of Odran, his charioteer. One Foilge Berrard, a Pagan, had boasted that if he met Patrick he would kill him, in revenge for the overthrow of the idol Cenn Cruagh, which had been Foilge's god. His boast was kept back from Patrick by his people, but it was known to Odran, his charioteer. Accordingly, when they came into Foilge's district Odran said to the saint, " Since I have been a long time driving for you, Patrick, let me take the chief seat for this day, and be you the charioteer, Father." Patrick consented, and changed seats. After this Foilge came up and dealt a thrust through Odran, believing him to be Patrick. Odran at the moment of death forgave his murderer, and became the proto- martyr of the Irish Church, as well as the only martyr in S. Patrick's time. The murder of Odran proved a very critical event in the history of Ireland. After judgment had been pronounced by Dubhthach, chief of the royal poets and chief Brean of Erin, Patrick requested the men of Erin to come to one place and hold a conference with him. All the " professors of the sciences" (z.e., apparently magicians) were assembled, and each of them exhibited his art before Patrick and every chief in Erin. Then Patrick preached the Gospel of Christ to them, and when they saw Laeghaire with his Druids overcome by the great signs and miracles wrought in their presence, they bowed down in obedience to the God of Patrick. Dubhthach then exhibited to Patrick "every law which prevailed amongst the men of Erin, through the law of nature and the law of the seers, and in the judgments of the island of Erin and in the poets, . . . the judgments of true nature which the Holy Ghost had spoken through the mouths of the Brehons and just poets of the men of Erin, from the first occupation of this island." After full consideration, "what did not clash with the Word of God in the written law and in the New Testament, and in the consciences of the believers, was confirmed in the law of the Brehons by Patrick, and by the ecclesiastics, and by the chieftains of Erin." ^ The Four Masters give 438 as the date of this Christianising of the Brean law. But there is not any date given in the Senchus, according to which the work is said to have been compiled in the reign ^ Senchus Mor, or Cain Patraic, ap. Morris, p. 176. u 214 THE FRANKS. of the Roman Emperor Theodosius and the Irish monarch Laeghaire.^ This date is obviously too early, unless, indeed, the Four Masters give a much earlier date to Patrick's arrival in Ireland. Accord- ing to the Tripartite, which narrates Patrick's move- ments in regular chronological order, Patrick was in Connaught in the year 438, and Odran's death, which was the immediate cause of the above revision, occurred after he had left ]\Iunster, and could not have taken place, at the very earliest, till 448, and probably not till several years after. But even at the latest probable date tlie compilation of the Seiichiis Mor, or " Great Book " of the Christianised Brehon statutes, is the conclusive proof of Patrick's super- natural success, and is quite unparalleled in history. Equally illustrative of the saint's powers, and of his impressing on others his own intense faith, is the history of a chieftain called Mac-Cuill, who plundered and killed in the district of ^lagh-Inis. When Patrick came that way Mac-Cuill conspired with his followers to deceive him and discredit him, and afterwards to make an attack upon him, and see "if perhaps his God would assist him." So one of them, called Garban, was laid out on a bier with a cloth over his body and his face, as if he were deaJ, and taken to Patrick Avith a request that he would raise him from the dead. Patrick, discerning their fraud, answered, "I should not wonder if he were dead" The Pagans, uncovering the body, were amazed and horrified to find that he was indeed so, and being seized with remorse, besought Patrick's forgiveness and aid. Garban was restored to life by his prayers, and the whole party in that hour be- lieved in the eternal God and were baptized. After this Mac-Cuill confessed that he had intended to ^ Cusack, p. 565. 1 S. PATRICK IN IRELAND. 215 kill Patrick, and asked how much he owed for so great a crime. Patrick answered, "I am not able to judge, but God will judge. Do you, therefore, depart unarmed to the sea, taking nothing with you of your substance with which you may be able to cover your body, eating nothing and drinking nothing of the fruit of this island, and having the mark of your sins on your head. When you reach the sea bind your feet together with an iron fetter, and cast the key of it into the sea, and set out in a boat of one hide without rudder or oar, and wherever the wind and sea shall take you, be prepared to remain and obey the Divine commands." Mac-Cuill did as Patrick had told him, and the north wind arose and bore him to the south, and cast him on the island called Evonia or Manann. There he found two holy men who preached the Word of God to the people of the island. They received him kindly. He learnt the Divine knowledge from them, and in course of time got the episcopacy of the place after them. This is Mac-Cuill of Mann, famous bishop and abbot. ^ As time passed on and the weight of above eighty years pressed on S. Patrick, the desire he had long entertained of settling in some fixed abode grew stronger and stronger. Ten years before, he had wished to fix his see in Donegal, but Cairbr^, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and brother of Laeghaire, had refused to give him land. He now went to the district of the Tera-Ross, in the south of Monaghan, and began a church in Druimmor, now in the barony of Ardee, County Louth. But his angel said to him, "It is not here you have been destined to stay. Pass on to Macha northwards." Patrick remonstrated, "The meadow below is fairer." "Be its name Cluain-Cain" (beautiful lawn or meadow; * Tripartite, p. 512; Book of Armagh, ap. Cusack, p. 364. 2l6 THE FRANKS. S, PATRICK IX IRELAND. now Clonkeen), replied the angel. "A pilgrim of the Britons shall come and occupy there, and it shall be yours afterwards." ''Deo gratiaSj' rejoined Patrick. He then went on to Ardpatrick, a mile to the east of Louth, and proposed to build an establish- ment there. Here every day he used to go from the east to meet his favourite disciple Mochta, who came from the west to converse with him. One day the angel placed an epistle between them, and Patrick read in it, " Mochta, the devoted, the believing, let him be in the place he has taken." S. Mochta was a native of Britain, and had landed at Omeath, on the coast of Louth, with twelve followers, and in obedi- ence to the angel he now built the Abbey of Louth. Before departing for Macha, Patrick, as a token of atlection, assigned to him twelve lepers whom he had collected and ministered to. Patrick now went on to Macha, as the angel had ordered, to the place called Kath-Daire, which belonged to Daire, a rich and powerful personage. Patrick asked him for the great hillock below where Armagh now stands, in order to build a church. Daire refused this, but offered instead a site on the plain below. Patrick founded a church there, and remained a long time. Causes of difference between them more than once arose, but a dangerous illness with which Daire was seized having been removed by Patrick's prayers and gift of blessed water, and the saint's sweetness and patience under indignities having touched his heart, Daire at length went with his wife to Patrick to offer submission and amends, and also the hillock which he had originally desired. Patrick accepted them and blessed Daire and his wife. He then founded a church on the spot where the old cathedral of Armagh, now in the hands of the Protestants, still stands. \Vhen it was finished Patrick and his clergy, with Daire and all the 217 11 chieftains of the neighbourhood, came to mark out its boundaries, and to bkss and consecrate it. A doe with its fawn was lying in the place where the altar stood, and Patrick's companions wished to catch and kill the fawn, but the saint would not allow them to do so. Carrying the fawn on his shoulders, and the doe following him like a pet-lamb, he went to a hill a little farther north of Araiagh, where he laid the fawn down, saying, ''It will be of use here- after." From this time a sort of mystery and sanctity attached to this hill ; and now, after above fourteen centuries, this mystery has been cleared up by the erec- tion on this hill of the ncAv Catholic cathedral. The foundation of the See of Armagh is generally recognised as the point at which S. Patrick's apostolic career passed from the stage of active evangelisation of the heathen tribes whom he successively visited into tliat of teaching, training, directing, and con- solidating into one fold of sheep, knowing and obedient to the Master's voice, the vast body of believing, yet impulsive and untamed, children whom Providence had so rapidly multiplied in his charge, lletiring from this see probably about 455, he saw it held before his own death by a fifth successor. He himself henceforward took no specific charge, but exercised everywhere a supreme control. His residence was, for the most part, at Saul or Armagh, though short visits to other places may have been made on special occasions. Ancient records abound with instances of his regulating influence, at one time arresting deadly strife, reproving cruelty or heartless jesting, saving by his prayers those in peril, tending the leper, healing the sick, and even restoring to life the dead ; at another time, by his life of visions, revelations, supernatural knowledge, and communion with God, drawing men and maidens from the world into a life of virginity and ascetic devotion; and I 2l8 THE FRANKS. finally, as in his famed letter to Coroticus, demand- ing back of foreign Pagan chieftains the Church's sons and daughters, carried off into slavery by marauding descents upon the Irish coast. Feeling that his end at length drew nigh, S. Patrick composed his Confession, an autobiographical record of his inner life, interspersed with parts of his career, which is invaluable, both as a means of check- ing all contemporary and later accounts, and as afford- ing an insight into the heavenly aspirations and guidance which were the motive-power throughout his life. Later on, yielding up his own desire for interment at Armagh in obedience to an expression of the Divine will that he should die in Ulster and be buried among his first converts, the sons of Dichu, as he had once foretold, he turned back on the road to the former place and reached the Monastery of Saul, where he passed away on the 17th March 492, in his hundred and twentieth year. Regarding the details and chronology of S. Patrick's life, the miracles which he performed, the super- natural conflicts with the powers of evil he passed through, and the angelic communications which were the support of his faith and the guide of his actions, controversy has inevitably abounded, engaging alike the historian and the divine, the sectarian and the sceptic. It has been the object, in this chapter, to present a brief outline of the saint's mission, com- prising the facts best corroborated by the Confession or otherwise, expressed as far as possible in the spirit, or the very terms, of the most ancient records. In plain historical fact, the scene opens with a nation, the fiercest among Pagans, habituated to devastate, plunder, and deport captives along the coasts of all their neighbours, emboldened at in- tervals to push their marauding invasions into the heart of Europe, and at home given over to incessant S. PATRICK IX IRELAND. 219 mternecme strife, yet possessing an ancient national worship, supported by a powerful and not unculti- vated priesthood. The scene closes, within half a century, with the same nation sitting " clothed and in its right mind " at the feet of the apostle of our Lord, its idols destroyed, its priesthood converted or put away, its habits so transformed that it goes abroad no more until, in the following century, it pours forth its bands of missionaries, confessors, and martyrs, to repay to the nations of Gaul and Ger- many that treasure of the Word which originally it had unwittingly acquired in the capture of S.°Patrick. To assume that such a transformation, in so short a time, at such a period of European history, was brought about by the mere natural agency of human preaching, involves, in truth, as great a miracle as to attribute it to direct Divine interposition. What may be the limits within which diabolical power is permitted to operate in this world it would be idle to discuss; what may be the circumstances under which God may be pleased to intervene for the support of His saints, the indication of His power, or the extension of His kingdom, it would be pre- sumptuous to determine. But, whether we con- template the earnest faith and unceasing prayer which distinguished the youth on Sleniish, the patient student throughout some forty years, and the apostle in the conflicts of Tara, the perils of evangelisation, and the visions of Cruachan, Saul, and Armagh, or whether we consider the value of the millions of human souls involved in the success of S. Patrick's mission, we may well shrink from affirming that the arm of Him who specified the signs which should follow them that believe, and promised to be with them always, even unto the end of the world, is so shortened that it cannot, or will not save by extraordinary as well as by ordinary means. CHAPTER VIL S. COLUMBAN. The Church which S. Patrick founded has been characterised even to the present day by three graces, which are always inseparably united. Her faith has never been sullied by the least spot or shade of heresy. The number of her saints is countless; first an unbroken procession of bishops and confessors, hermits and virgins, followed by an army of white-robed martyrs. And finally, she has always obeyed the decree of her father, which placed her under the autliority of the Apostolic See,i and has ever borne in mind his exhortation, **The Church of the Irish is a Church of Romans : as you are Christians, so be ye Romans." 2 ^ The Canon of S. Patrick preserved in that part of the Book of Armagh " which was copied from the book written by S. Patrick's own hand " (O'Curry's Lectures, p. 372 ; Petrie, Antiquities of Tara, p. 81), is thus translated by Usher: "Whenever any cause that is very difficult and unknown to all the judges of the Scotti.^h nations shall arise, it is rightly to be referred to the see of the archbishop of the Irish (that is to say, of Patrick), and to the examination of the prelate thereof. But if there, by him and his wise men, a cause of this nature cannot easily be made up, we have decreed it shall be sent to the See Apostolic, that is to say, to the chair of the Apostle Peter, which hath the authority of the city of Rome." Religion of the Ancient Irish, p. 84. Ap. Moran, p. 120. - "Ecclesia Scottorum immo Romanonim ; ut Christiani et Roman i sitis." Dicta S. Patritii, in the Book of Armagh. Ap. Moran, p. 23. That the Irish Church acknowledged the supremacy and infallibility of the Pope is proved by the most 220 S. COLUMBAN. 221 To this Irish Thebaid crowds of Romans, Italians, Gauls, Germans, Britons, Picts, and English were attracted during many centuries by the fame of its monasteries, schools, and saints ; ^ and in return, countless bands of Irish monks went forth to carry the light of faith to Pagan nations in every part of Europe, from the southern extremity of Italy to the almost fabulous shores of Iceland. The most celebrated of these Irish missionaries was S. Columban, the chosen instrument through whom the fierce spirit of the Franks was brought under the yoke of Christ. He was born in Leinster about A.D. 540.2 From his earliest years his mother, foreseeing his future greatness, took pains to shield him from all associations that could sully his inno- ancient liturgical works, hymns, and penitentials, the collec- tions of canons made a.d. 700, and the writings of the oldest Irish authors. Full details of this subject are given in Moran's Essays on the Irish Church, Essay i. Part iii. and the Appendices. The close union between the Irish and Roman Churches is also seen in the constant pilgrimages to Rome. ^ Colgan. Acta SS. p. 530. Ap. Petrie's Round Towers, p. 134. Many names of foreigners are found among S. Patrick's disciples and in the lives of the earliest Irish saints ; and a multitude of foreign saints buried in Ireland are invoked in the Litany of S. ^ngus, written a.d. 799. 2 Montalembert gives a.d. 543 as the date of S. Columban's birth, and A.D. 573 as that of his arrival in France (Moines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. ix. c. ii.). Dr. Moran says that he was fifty when he went to France. But Jonas of Bobbie >, an almost contemporary biographer, says that he was only thirty when he left Ireland (Vit. S. Columban, c. vii. ; Acta SS. 6. S. B. saec. ii. p. 5) ; whence Mabillon, appaiently reckoning back from the foundation of Luxeuil, A.D. 590, giv;>s a.d. 560 as the date of his birth (note to p. 8 as above). The earlier dates agree best with his own words to the French bishops, about A.D. 602, where he calls himself an old man worn out by long labours, and also with the fact that S. Gall, who was above sixty years of age a.d. 613, had been his pupil frcm hie youth. 222 THE FRANKS. cence, and to have him instructed in the learning of the age. But as he advanced into manhood his remarkable beauty exposed him to dangerous tempta- tions. In vain did he take refuge in prayer and study. Still the temptation pursued him; till at length, at the suggestion of an aged female hermit, he resolved to seek safety in flight. His mother strove earnestly to detain him, and finding her en- treaties unavailing, she threw herself on the ground along the threshold of the door. But overcoming his filial tenderness, he stepped over her body, and clearing the threshold, bade her and his home a final farewell. He first placed himself ^ under the care of Silenis, an abbot who had a great reputation as a teacher. Silenis soon perceived the genius and sanctity of his new pupil In order to call out his powers, he would ask him the meaning of difficult passages of Scripture, instead of explaining them to him, as was his habit with his other pupils ; when Columban would give his opinion with great humility, but with such clearness and depth that the master him- self would gain fresh light from his pupil. In this way Columban composed at this time a Commentary on the l*salter, hymns, and other works which were very useful in imparting instruction. After some time Columban removed to the cele- brated monasteiy of Bangor, where three thousand monks were collected under the rule of the saintly Abbot Comgall. Here he gave himself up to the jx^nitential discipline for which this convent was so famous, seeking by prayer, fasting, and penance to mortify his passionate nature. ^ Vit. S. Columban, by Jonas, a monk of Bobbio, under Attalus, his successor as Abbot of Bobbio. Acta SS. O. S. B. baec. il p. 1. Some local details are from Moines d'Occident, . 11. 1. IX. S. COLUMBAN. 223 When he had spent many years at Bangor, and was thirty years of age, a great desire for the missionary life came upon him, and there ever sounded in his heart the words of God to Abraham, "Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kin- dred, and out of thy father's house, and come into the land that I shall show thee." He told his abbot what was passing in his thoughts, and after much prayer the abbot sorrowfully consented to his departure, and gave him twelve monks as companions of his journey. The missionary band first crossed to Britain, where they found the Christians retiring before the Pagan Saxons. After a short stay they proceeded to Gaul, resolving that if men's hearts there also w^ere hardened against them, they would pass on to some more dis- tant nation. But in Gaul they had reached their ap- pointed field of action. Wherever they passed men noticed tlieir patience, modesty, humility, and, above all, their perfect union. For they had but one will, and held all things in common, none seeking aught for himself, or wishing to follow his own opinion, but all living together in charity, each preferring others before himself ; and if one committed any fault, all united in correcting him. They found that though the people were Christians, yet, in consequence of the disorders of the times, few thought about doing penance for their sins, or had any love for self-mortification. Columban accord- ingly began to preach wherever he passed, and many were drawn to him by his eloquence and the miraculous cures that were granted to his prayers. Kor did it fail to be noticed, that when- ever he stayed for any time in a house, a spirit of religious fervour stirred up all its inmates to the practice of virtue. Thus the missionary party crossed Gaul, and ap- 224 THE FRANKS. peared at the court of Gontram,i king of Burgundy. Gontram was the only surviving son of Clotaire 1.^ and possessed sovereign power over all the Franks. He c^overned Neustria as guardian to his infant nephew, Clotaire II., the son of Chilperic and Frede^onde ; and he directed by his wise influence his nephew Childebert, king of Austrasia, and son of Si^ebert and Brunehaut, whom he had chosen for his heir. He is distinguished from all the other Merovingians by the triumph in him of the Chris- tian spirit over his national barbarism ; and the Church has canonised him for his fear of God, his piety, his clemency, and the penitence with which he atoned for the sins of his early life. Columban's fame had preceded him, and Gontram was rejoiced at his arrival. And when Columban preached before the court, the pious king and his leudes were so charmed by his eloquence, that Gontram entreated him to take up his abode in his kingdom and not to pass on to other nations offerincr^to give him lands and all that he might wish for But Columban answered that he desired not wealth or lands, but wished only to follow so far as his weakness permitted, the precept of the Gospel which says, "If any man will come after Me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." To which Gontram replied, "If thou wishest indeed to take up Christ's cross and follow Him, there is no need for thee to leave us and go farther ; for there is in our kingdom no lack of desert places where thou canst add to thme own merits and also help on our salvation." Overcome 1 Jonas of Bobbio says that Columban appeared at the court of Sigebert, king of Austrasia and Burgimd y This i« ^" ^rror, becaSse Sigebert never possessed both kingdoms, and Childe- bt^rt did not inherit Burgundy till A. D. o93. Acta SS. O. b. 15. ssec. ii. p. 8, note. Rohrb. t. ix. 1. xlvu. p. 502. S. COLUMBAN. 22 by Gontram's entreaties, Columban consented to re- main, and sought only for some fitting solitude in •which to settle himself. . The spot which he selected was the ruins of an old Roman fortification, called Annegray situated in the Vosges mountains, then quite wild and un- inhabited, and so shut in by rocks and trees as to be almost inaccessible. In this solitude Columban and his monks built a few rude huts for tlienise ves Their only food was herbs, berries, and the bark ol vounut Theodebert and liis leudes treated the proposal with scorn, saying, " Who ever heard of a ^rerovingian at the height of his regal glory volun- tarily becoming a monki" Wliereupon Columban replied, " If he will not of his own free will accept the honour of the tonsure, he will soon receive it against his w^ill." Shortly after his return to Bregenz, Columban was one day sitting on the stump of a decayed oak reading, and by his side was Chainoald, son of one of Theodebert's principal leudes, who had followed him from Meaux.3 As the saint read he fell ^ Moines d'Occident, ii. 1. ix. c. ii. - Vit. S. Columban, c. Ivii. Acta SS. O. S. B. s»c. ii. p. 24. ^ Moines d" Occident, ii. 1. ix. c, ii. p. 517. Surius calls him Magnoald, which was the name of the deacon who after- ■/ ] suddenly into a trance, and rapt in spirit he beheld the armies of Theodebert and Thierry engaged in a sanguinary battle on the field of Tolbiac. Soon coming to himself, he called Chamoald, and told him of the battle that was then being fought and the terrible carnage. Whereupon the young Austrasian said eagerly, *' Father, help Theodebert with thy prayers, so that your common enemy Thierry may be vanquished." But Columban answered, "Thy advice is foolish, and contrary to the spirit of religion. Such is not the will of God, who bids us pray for our enemies. The just Judge will do- to them both what He thinks fit." The young man afterwards found that on this very day and at this hour the battle of Tolbiac was fought, and Theo- debert was defeated. Three years had now elapsed since Columban had been driven from Luxeuil. He had tried to make a new home for himself in various places, but with- out success. The Pagans of Bregenz were as obdurate and unfriendly as those of Tuggen had been. Not only would they often attack the monks with sticks and stones, but they refused to supply them with food even when they were in the extremity of want. They complained to Duke Cunzon,^ to whom the district belonged, that these strangers were driving away the game, whereupon the duke was very angry, and ordered the monks to depart. They also drove away two of the monks' cows, and killed two of the brethren who went in search of them. When the dead bodies were brought to the church Columban was greatly grieved, and said, " We have found in this land a cup of gold, but it i> filled with poisonous serpents. Let our sorrow give place to wards became a disciple of S. Gall ; and Mabillon styles him Chatmoald. Vit. S. Columban, c. Ivii. 1 Vit. S. Gall. Pertz, ii. p. 8. 254 THE FRANKS. confidence. The God whom we serve will send His angel with us to lead us where we may find peace and love." Revolving in his mind whither he should turn his footsteps, he felt a great desire to go to the Venetii or Wends, a Slave nation, who had settled in Styria and Carinthia.i But an angel appeared to him in a vision, and showing him a globe which repre- sented the world, said to him, "Behold the whole world before thee. Choose thy way to the right or to the left if thou wouldst reap the fruit of thy labours." Understanding from this that he was not to leave the German nations, he determined to go and preach to the Lombards in Italy. He therefore sent Eustasius, Chamoald, and many other monks to Luxeuil and elsewhere, and prepared to take Gall and a few others with himself. But when the day fixed for their departure arrived Gall was very ill with fever, and declared himself unequal to the journey. Then Columban, fancying that he who had hitherto been the most spirited of his disciples was giving way to self-indulgence, said to him, '* I know, brother, that it is hard for thee to be wearied in labouring for me. But if thou wilt separate from me, I forbid thee to say Mass so long as I live." Thus the old friends parted, and Columban crossed the Alps into Lombardy. He met with a cordial reception from Agilulf, the Lombard king, who had been converted from Arianism by his queen Theodo- linda, a Bavarian princess, and S. Gregory the Great. Agilulf gave him a tract of land called Bobbio, situated in a defile of the Apennines near the river Trebbia. It was remarkable for its beauty and fertility, and for the abundant supply of fish in the ^ Moines d'Occident, t. ii. 1. ix. c. ii. S. COLUMBAN. 255 river.' Columban found on it a half-ruined church dedicated to S. Peter. This he repaired, and adjoin- ing it he built a monastery, which was soon filled with monks. Notwithstanding his advanced age, he took his part in the labour of erecting these build- ings ; and the inhabitants of the surrounding country would often be amazed to behold his giant form crossing precipices and ascending inaccessible moun- tain heights, bearing on his shoulders enormous beams and trunks of trees with what seemed to them super- natural strength. His indefatigable zeal found ample scope in the conversion of the Arian Lombards, over whom he gained much influence, so that the Abbey of Bobbio became the stronghold of the faith in North Italy. He also established within the abbey a school, which was long very celebrated. While Columban had wandered so far, and had found a new field of labour for our Lord's service, his predictions in France had been literally fulfilled. Theodebert having been defeated and taken prisoner by Thierry, was given up by him to Brunehaut, who had him tonsured as a monk, and afterwards put him to death. Thierry dying soon after, she placed Sige- bert, one of his illegitimate sons, on the throne. The nobles, however, were weary of her rule, and offered the crown to Clotaire, who killed Sigebert and two of his brothers, and added both Austrasia and Bur- gundy to his Neustrian kingdom. Brunehaut, seated on a camel, was led round the army in triumph, and afterwards tied to the tail of a wild horse, which as it galloped along dashed her to pieces. As soon as Clotaire was quietly installed in his new possessions, he bethought him of Columban, and wished to have him back again at LuxeuiL He there- fore sent Eustasius, accompanied by several monks and nobles laden with rich gifts, to search for him. 256 THE FRANKS. They tracked him to Bregenz, and thence to Bobbio. lie was rejoiced to behold his sons again, but they failed to persuade him to return to his old liome. In his long wanderings he had simply followed God's guidance, and he would not now retrace his steps of his own accord. He therefore wrote to Clotaire, thanking him for his kind intentions, and recom- mending his sons to his favour and protection, a recommendation to which in after years Clotaire nobly responded. He committed the care of the Abbey of Luxeuil and all its dependencies to Eus- tasius, exhorting him to maintain regular discipline, union, and the love of God among the brethren, and to labour to spread the knowledge of Christ among the neighbouring people. When the Abbey of Bobbio was built and the community was duly established, the old longing for solitude came over Columban. He therefore chose out for himself a cave in the side of a rock on the opposite bank of the river Trebbia, which he fitted up as a chapel of our Blessed Lady. To this he retired, as he had done to his cave at Annegray, giving himself up to prayer and penance, and going to the abbey only on Sundays and festivals. And here, after the lapse of a year, he expired on the 21st of November, a.d. 615. CHAPTER VIII. S. COLU MEAN'S DISCIPLES, But though S. Columban was dead, his spirit still lived in his disciples. Through them he may be said to have done more after his death than during his lifetime. The first of those who claims notice is S. Gall,^ whom he left ill at Bregenz. As soon as Columban was gone a great melancholy took possession of Gall. He therefore crossed the lake in his little boat, and threw himself on AVillimar'F charity. Willimar appointed two of his clerics, Mag- noald and Theodore, to take care of him during his illness, and through their tender nursing he was gradually restored to health. When the fever had quite left him he longed for greater solitude, and he asked Hiltibold, a deacon, who also lived with Willimar, whether he knew of any lonely spot where he could build himself a cell ; *'for," he added, "my soul is filled with an extreme desire to end my days on earth in solitude." Hilti- bold answered, " My father, I know a desert enclosed by high mountains, but it is full of bears, wolves, and wild boars." *' If the Lord is with us," replied Gall, " who will be against us ? He who delivered Daniel in the den of lions is Almighty, and can deliver me from the wild beasts." Accordingly, early the next morning Gall and * Vit. S. Gall. Anonym. Pertz, Monument, ii. p. 5. Vit. S. Gall, a Walufrid. Strab. Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. ii. p. 215. 257 R 25S THE FRANKS. Hiltibold set out, and as they walked alonrr thev prayed and chanted psahns. Thus they went on till three in the afternoon, when Hiltibold proposed that they should take some food ; but Gall said that he would not eat till our Lord had showed him the place of his rest. They therefore walked on till they reached the spot where the river Steinach falls down in a cascade and hollows out a basin in the rock. Here Gall being rapt in prayer, caught his foot in the brambles and fell. Hiltibold ran to lift him, but he exclaimed, " Let me alone. This is the place of my rest for ever. Here I will take up my abode, because I have chosen it." Then he made a cross with branches of hazel and set it up and hanging on it the relics which he wore, they knelt down and prayed that God would make this wilder- ness a habitation for them. After this they took their evening meal, and lighthig a fire to keep off the wild beasts, they lay down to sleep. In the middle of the night Gall rose to pray, and as he prayed a bear came down the mountain prowling for food, whereupon he said to it " In the name of the Lord I command thee to bring some wood and throw it on the fire." The bear instantly obeyed, and fetching a log, threw it on the fire ; in reward for which service Gall gave him a piece of bread saying, "Li the name of my Lord, Jesus Christ, depart from this valley. The mountains shall be in common between us and you, but only on condition that you injure neither us nor our flocks and herds." Then Hiltibold, who, feigning sleep, had been watching all that passed, threw himself Tt Galls feet exclaiming, ^*:n^ow I know that God is with thee, since the beasts of the forest obey thee " But Gall quickly answered, - Beware that thou tellest no one till thou beholdest the glory of God '' The next day Hiltibold went to fish at the water s. columban's disciples. 259 fall, where two demons appeared to him in the form of naked women and threw stones at him, sayin^^ "Why hast thou brought that terrible man, the implacable foe of our race, into this wilderness 1 " Hiltibold ran instantly to Gall, and when they had prayed that God would banish the demons, and sanctify the place to the honour of His name they returned to the waterfall, and Gall said to the demons, " In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I command you to retire intd the desert, and to come here no more." Then tliey threw their nets into the stream ; and as they fished women's voices were heard in the mountains, weep- mg, and saying, " What shall we do ? Whither shall we go ? For this stranger will not let us dwell either among men, or in this wilderness." And after- wards, when Hiltibold was giving chase to a hawk, he heard them asking each other clamorously whether the dreaded Christian was still in the forest ir-un''^^H'^ J'^^ "^^^^^ ^ ^'^^^^ ^^^^ for Gali he sent Hiltibold back to Arbou, while he himself remained three days alone in the desert without any food On the fourth day he went back to Willimar, and as they sat at table Hiltibold said jokincrly '* If the bear were here, perhaps Gall would°bless him." iien Willimar asking what he meant, he told him what had happened in the forest. From this time tiiey all reverenced Gall as a great saint. Ma-noald and some of the other clerics became his disciples and followed him into the forest, where from day to day they watched with wondering admiration the severe and holy life that he led. ^ Duke Cunzon, who had formerly been set against v^olumban by his Pagan subjects, was now in great trouble about his daughter, who was possessed by a devil, and he sent for Willimar to come and see her VViilimar tried to persuade Gall to accompany him f m" -i"^ ^("■ww- .^.M* 26o THE FRANKS. l)ut Gall answered, *-Tliis work is thine, not mine. Go thon, father, for what have I to do with the prince of this world T' Then, fearing lest he should be compelled to go, he quitted his cell in the forest and set out with two of his disciples as if he were going to rejoin his old master Columban in Italy. They crossed the mountain, and entered a wood called Sennwald, where, not far from the left bank of the Rhine, there was the village now called Grabs. Here they found a very holy deacon, John, who entertained them for some days, believing them to be pilgrims. ^foanwhile Willimar had gone to Duke Cunzon's court, where he found the young girl in a frightful state, screaming, and calling on Gall, as if it were he who was tormenting her. lie told the duke what a wonderful saint Gall was, and the duke immediately sent him l)ack to fetch him. In vain did Willimar seek Gall in his cell; and it was only after long search through the whole country that he at last found him sitting reading in a cave in the Sennwald. Gall was now forced to go, but shrinking from all worldly pomp, he declined the horse which the deacon Jolin offered him for the journey, and set out for the court on foot. On his arrival he drove out the devil and cured the girl. The duke in great joy gave him costly gifts, all of which he distributed among the poor, excepting only a silver chalice, beautifully chased, which he allowed Mag- noald to retain for the use of their church. The duke also offered him the bishopric of Constance, which had lately fallen vacant, but he refused it, saying, "During the life of my master Columban 1 cannot say Mass.'* The place which Gall had chosen for his abode was a fertile valley, covered with wood, lying between two rivers and surrounded by hills. When S. COLUM ban's disciples. 261 he took possession of it, it was infested by serpents : but he banished them, and none were henceforth seen there. Here disciples gathered round him, and a regular community under the rule of S. Columban was formed. Among others was the deacon John, whom he invited to go with him through a course of theological study which would enable him to be more useful to others. In the solemn stillness of that wild forest, seated on the ground or at the foot of some giant pine, Gall would pour forth those treasures of theology, of divine philosophy, and the deep science of the spiritual life which he had . B. s»c. ii. p. i>35. .-'o S. COLUM ban's disciples. 265 After S. Gall's death his community shared the calamities which befell the province during the civil wars of the period. About a.d. 650, or a few years later,! the abbey was burnt, the saint's body was left uncovered, and all the community, except IMagnoald and Theodore, were dispersed. Again, a.d. 709, Pepin Heristal's army broke into the abbey, and carried off the fugitives who had sought safety in its sanctuary. But on each occasion, as soon as the ravagers departed the monks re-assembled round their master's tomb and revived the observances that he had taught them. Thus amid great poverty and constant difficulties, S. Columban's rule was maintained for about a century. S. Gall was not the only one of S. Columban's iirst companions who made an independent religious foundation. Among the monks who had followed him from Ireland, and were expelled with him from Luxeuil, was a very old man called Dichuill,- who is more generally known as Deicolus or Desle. He had not gone many miles on the road to Eesan(;on when his aged limbs totally failed him, and after a sorrowful parting from Corumban he was compelled to remain behind. ^ Fearing to return to Luxeuil, he struck into the depths of the forest, seeking vainly for some vestige of human habitation, till at length, overcome with thirst and fatigue, he found himself quite alone on a dry and barren moor. Here raising his heart to Ood, he stuck his staff into the ground, and forth- with there gushed out a limpid stream which for centuries bore his name. Thus revived, he wandered on through the solitude till he came unexpectedly upon a swineherd and a J Vil. S. Gall. Pertz, ii. p. 18, note 71. - Moran, Essays, p. 143. 3 Vit. S. Deicol. Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. ii. p. 95. 266 THE FRANKS. herd of swine. The swineherd, amazed at his great stature and his monk's habit, the like of which he had never seen, asked, *' Who art thou ? Whence comest thou, and what dost thou in this wilderness without guide or companion ? " *' Be not afraid, my brother," answered the old Irish monk; "I am a pilgrim, and I beg thee for charity's sake to show me a place where a n^an can live." The swineherd told him of a place w^hich, tliough marshy, was habitable ; but he refused to take him there, lest his swine should wander in his absence. Deslc, liowever, answered boldly, " If thou dost me this little favour, I answer for it that thou shalt not lose tlie very least of thy herd. My staff shall re- place thee, and be swineherd in thy stead." With these words he planted his staff in the ground, and when the herdsman saw his swine collect round it and lie down, he ventured to leave them, and led the stranger to the spot of which he had spoken, and which has since received the name of Lure. Here Desle built himself a hut, and settled himself down to follow a hard and solitary life of prayer and penance. Before long, however, his sanctity stirred up the jealousy of the priest of a small churcli in the neighbourhood, who complained to Werfar, the lord of the place, of the intrusion of this foreign monk. Werfar, tliough a Christian, issued a brutal order that the stranger should be seized and cruelly muti- lated ; but before he could be obeved he was attacked by a horrible illness and died. Then his widow, in reparation for his intention, gave Desle all the land round his poor cell in the forest. All alone as the old man w^as, he now began single-handed to clear away the trees and tangled brushw^ood, animated with the hope of building a house fit for God's service, and savins' aloud, " This is my rest for ever and ever ; here will I dwell, for S. COLUMBAX's DISCIPLES. 267 I have chosen it." 1 But when the people in the neighbourhood saw the zeal of the feeble old man, they came forward generously to his aid ; and with their help before very long two beautiful chapel? were built, one in honour of S. Peter, and the other of S. Paul. By the time they were finished disciples began to collect round S. Desle, and gradually a regular monastery was built Some time after Clotaire 11. was hunting in the adjoining forest, when an enormous boar, "inirsued by the hunters, took refuge in the hermit's cell. Desle, laying his hand on the poor beast's head* said, 'SSince thou comest to ask charity, thy life shall be saved;" and the boar lay down at the foot of the altar, while the saint continued his devotions. Soon the nobles followed on the boar's track, and when they beheld the ferocious animal lying quietly beside the praying saint they ran to tell the kini^, who came in haste to see the marvel with his own eyes. Then he began to question the old man* as to how he and his companions subsisted in this wilderness, and Desle answered, *^ It is written that nothing shall l)e wanting to those wdio fear God. We lead a poor life, but with the fear of God it sufficeth us." AVhen Clotaire discovered that Desle was the disciple of his old friend Columban, he gave him all the royal forests, pastures, and fisheries in the neighbourhood of Lure, and these Avere so improved by the monks' laborious industry that the Abbey of Lure became one of the most wealthy religious houses in Christendom. Clotaire gave the boar also to Desle, who let it loose, taking care that no one should molest it in its flight. When the abbey was thus established and richly endowed, one thing still was wanting to secure its permanent prosperity. Reverting to the traditions ^ Psalm cxxxi. 14. 268 THE FRANKS. of his native isle, and taught by S. Columban's ex- perience, Desle resolved to place himself and his community under the Pope's protection. jS^otwith- standing liis age and the ditliculties of the long journey, he went for this purpose to Rome. Being admitted to an audience of the Holy Father, he said in answer to liis inquiries, "I am an Irishman and a monk, and for Christ's sake a pilgrim. I live in the part of Burgundy called Lure, where by God's lielp I have built two oratories in honour of the Princes of the Apostles to whom this city belongs. They are richly endowed by the surrounding princes with all that the brethren can need. But the people of that land are very iierce and rapacious ; and there- fore, Holy Father, I am come to commit myself and all these possessions to thy care; in token of which I and my successors for ever will give ten I)ieces of silver annually to this Apostolic See." A charter was accordhigly drawn out and sealed with the Apostolic seal, conferring on the abbot whom the brethren should elect full liberty to act in all religious matters according to his own judgment, and anathematising all princes, nobles, and others who should molest or interfere with him, save only the Roman emperor and the legates of the Po])e, under whose protection the abbey was placed. With this charter and many relics and ornaments for his churches, Desle returned to his abbey, where he died about A.D. 625. Thus was founded the great Abbey of Lure, round which was built the town of the same name, and the abbot of which, eleven centuries after, was one of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire.^ Another of S. Columban's first companions, who was ex})elled with him from Luxueil but did not follow him into Italy, settled in the heart of the Jura on tlie borders of Franche Comte and Switzer- ^ Moines d'Occideiit, ii. 1. ix. c. 5. s. columban's disciples. 269 land, among the windings of the river Doubs 1 His Irish name is lost, and he is known only as S Ursicinus, or Ursanne, a name given him by some herdsmen, who having one day found him amon^ almost inaccessible rocks covered with firs, published round the country that they had discovered on the mountain top a man, wan and emaciated as S. John Baptist, who lived with the bears and was fed by them As soon as the Irish hermit's retreat was known disciples were attracted by the hardships of his life; and as their number increased he was compelled to quit his barren mountain and come down to the valley, where, in a peninsula formed by the river Doubs, he built a convent, round which the present town of Ursanne has risen. He also built an hospital, and kept mules to brincr the sick poor to it over the steep mountain paths " A few years after his death his monastery was occupied by a colony of monks from Luxeuil, at the head of which was S Germanus, the son of a noble of Treves 2 From his infancy Germanus was re- markable for piety, and when he was seventeen vears of age he was impelled by his ardent desire to flv from the world to apply to Modoald, Bishop of Tours, to receive him as a cleric. But Modoald refused^ for he feared to offend the king, to whose court Germanus was attached. Undaunted by this refusal, he distributed all his worldly possessions among the poor, and taking with him three boys lie made his way to S. Arnulph, Bishop of Metz' who was then living as a hermit in a wild place called Horemberg. Arnulph, touched bv the youth', fervour, gladly gave him the tonsurl, and aftei- keeping him for some time, sent him to his friend ' Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. ii. note to d 401 TVr.M-«^. vr^ • dent, ii. J. ix. c. 5. ^' ^'^^' ^"^'"^^ ^ C>cci- - Vit. S. German. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. ii. p. 439. 270 THE FRANKS. Komaric's newly-founded monastery of Kemiremont, whence he afterwards passed on to Luxeuil. At this time Luxeuil Avas .i^overned by Abbot Walbert, who had succeeded Eustasius about a.d. 625.^ Such multitudes of young men were now flocking to Luxeuil that he knew not what to do with them, and he was looking out for some place to which he could transi)hint a colony. Gondoin, L)uke of Alsace, hearing of his intention, made over to him a piece of land at no great distance from S. Ursicinus's monastery; and he accordingly sent thither a number of his monks with Germanus as their abbot. They found that their new possession was a fertile and beautiful valley, well watered by streams winch abounded with fish, but so shut in by mountains that it was almost inaccessible. The monks, however, set to work to cut a road through the solid rocks, Germanus taking his share of the labour ; and when at last the task was accomplished its completion was universally ascribed to super- natural aid in answer to his prayers. The valley was quickly brought under cultivation, and an abbey, since known as ]\Ioutier Grandval, was built, which' together with the abbeys of Ursanne and Verdun,' was governed by Germanus. Meanwhile Duke Gondoin had died, and had l)een succeeded by Adalric.^ He was no friend to the monks, and affecting to regard them as rebels, lie sent a band of Allemanni to lay waste the neigh- bourhood. Germanus, accompanied by his librarian, set out to remonstrate with Adalric, and when he saw the houses in flames and the poor people mur- dei;ed he exclaimed, " Enemy of God and of truth, is it thus that you treat a Christian country ? Do ^ Various dates from ad. 622 to a.d. 625 are given by different writers. - Mabillon calls him Buuiface or Cathicus. s. columban's disciples. 271 you not fear to ruin this monastery which I have myself built?" The duke was touched, and pro- mised to stop the ravages. But as Germanus was returning to the abbey, he met some soldiers com- mitting acts of violence, and said to them, "Dear sons, do not commit so many crimes against the people of God." ^Thereupon they rushed angrily on him, tore off his priestly vestments, and Idlled liim and his companion, a.d. 670. One of the noble families of Burgundy most closely connected with S. Columban was that of the Dukes of Sequania, at the head of wdiich were two brothers Waldelin and Amalgar. Duke Waldelin beincr child- Jess, went with his wife Elavia to Columban, and asked him to pray that God would give them a son to inherit their vast estates. " I will do it willingly " answered the saint ; " and I will ask not only one'' but several, on condition that you give me the first-born, that I may baptize him with my own hand and dedicate him to the Lord." In course of time the long-wished-for son ^vas born, and the parents, in simple faith that God would give them another heir, brought him to be baptized by Columban 1 who called him Donatus and dedicated him to the religious life. After his baptism he w^as taken by his mother to be nursed, and at a fit age was brought back to Luxeuil, where he spent thirty years till a.d. 621, when he was made Bishop of Besan^on. In this city he built a monastery dedi- cated to S. Paul, in which he established the rule of Luxeuil. He also built for his mother, Flavia, the convent of Jussamoutier at Besanjon, and at her request he wrote for the nuns a very severe rule, based upon those of S. Caesarius, S. Columban, and S. Benedict. His younger brother Ramelen, too] ^ Vit. S. Columban, c. 22. Acta SS. 0. S. B. sicc. ii. p. 12. 272 THE FRANKS. rebuilt the Abbey of Romain Moutier in a pass of the Jura, and placed in it a colony from Luxeuil. I^or was the love of monastic life confined to this branch of the family. Duke Amalgar also built and richly endowed in honour of God, S. Peter, and S. Paul the Abbey of Bi^zo, over which, a.d. 630, he placed his son Waldelin, whose miraculous conver- sion by S. Egilus has already been told.i He also built an abbey for his daughter Adalsind at Brefrille, near Besan^on; but she could not long remain tliere, because of the annoyances which, in spite of her father's protection, she suffered from the wild tribes in the neighbourhood. Many years later, a.d. 676, Abbot AValdelin's elder brother being driven out of Austrasia by political troubles, the abbot united his property to that of the abbey, and thus the chief part of the lands of this noble family passed into the hands of the Church. Tiie monastic spirit, to which Columban had given so strong an impulse, spread like a contagion among the youncj nobles of the Merovingian court. Ermen- fried and his brother,^ young nobles of the Pagan tribe of the Varasques, were educated in the palace of Clotaire, and stood higli in his favour. Ermen- fried was obliged to go home to receive an inherit- ance, and as he wandered along a narrow valley where two little streams met, and his eyes rested on the ruined monastery of Cusance, an ardent desire seized him to rebuild the monastery and devote himself there to God's service. On his return to court he appeared before the king with his silk tunic falling over his feet. Then Clotaire said to him, "What is the matter, Ermenfried] What is this fashion of wearing thy tunic? Wouldst thou become a cleric T' Then the young noble, falling ^ Moines d'Occident, ii. 1. ix. c. 5. Vit. S. Agil. c. 7. Acta SS. 0. S. B. saec. ii. p. 305. ^ Moines d'Occ, t. ii. 1. ix. c. 5. s. columban's disciples. 27- on his knees answered, " Yes, a cleric, and even a Z " PI f ''^^ ^'^^ ^^ ^'^''^ ^^ ^^^''^ ^0 become one. Clotaire consented ; and both brothers quitted the court for the cloister, in spite of the remon- strances of their mother, who wished them to marrv and perpetuate the family. Ermenfried went to Luxeuil and became a priest and a monk; and then with thir y monks he rejoined his brother at Cusance. He loved work, and took to himself the humbler tasks sifting the grain which the other monks threshed. So great was the honour in which he held hard abour, that when after Mass he dis- tributed he blessed bread among the people, if he noticed hat some of the outstretched hands were hard and rough from work, he would stoop down and kiss them with tender respect and love wptT"^ *^' ''^^^'' ^* *^" ^^^^<^ of Theodebert weie two young men, called Arnulph and Komaric for the perfection with which they practised all the fn v. '^•;''^''' '^^ ^'^^' ^'''^' ^ai^^ts, though n very different ways. Arnulph 1 held high offic'es n Theodebert's court, and at the same thue cJe himself to prayer, fasting, and works of char t? He married and became the father of two sons, and eventually he progenitor of a long line of kin!?s llTl T 1 ''?' T;^'^ ^^' ^^^Shter of Blessed Pepin de Landen^ and from this marriage was born Pepin Heristal, the celebrated mayor of the palace who was the father of Charles Martel and gra^^^^^^ father Pepin-le-Bref, first king of the Carlo- vingian dynasty. In the year 611, the Bishop of Metz dying, the people clamoured to have Arnulph for their bishop ; whereupon he, nothing loath, sepa- 2 J' u u ^'""^^- ^^ta SS. O. S. B. sEec. ii. p I40 8 274 I THE FRANKS. rated from liis wife, who became a nun, while he received holy orders and was consecrated Bishop of Metz. Some years later Clotaire II. entrusted to him and Pepm de Landen the charge of his son Dagobert, to whom he had given the kingdom of Austrasia; and in this position Arnulpli initiated the Christian policy which a century later was carried out more fully, under S. Boniface's guidance I'y his descendants, Carloman, Pepiu-le-Bref, and Charlemagne. After a long life spent in God's service, Arnulpli resigned his bishopric and retired to a forest solitude, where he passed his last years in prayer and penance, barefoot and clad in sack- cloth, labouring in servile works, and livinrr ju a poor hut, amid wild beasts, and in the society of a few youtlis whom he trained to monastic life, and of crowds of poor whom his cliarity relieved Aleanwhile his friend Komaric i filled his natural station as a young noble at the courts of Thierry and Clotiure II., where he was remarked for his valour and his Christian virtues. It happened that Amatus, a monk of Luxeuil, came to preach in Austrasia. Ihis holy man had spent thirty years in a cell on the top of a high rock above the monastery of Agaune, clad in a sheep's skin, barefoot, and livin" on herbs, roots, and coarse bread made of barlev° which was grown in a little field tilled by his own Hands, b. Eustasius had persuaded him to ioin the community at Luxeuil, whence he now came to preach in Austrasia. One day he sat at Eomarie's table, when the latter asked what he should do to be saved. Amatus answered, " Thou seest this silver dish. How many masters, or rather slaves, ^as It had, and how many more will it yet have ? Xhou art its slave, for thou possessest it only to ^ Vit S. Romaric. Acta SS. O. S. B. ttec. ii. p. 399. s. columban's disciples. 2,5 •preserve it. But an account will be demanded thee 1 • \ ;,•• ^''ontler that a man of birth, wealth ford's '"'"'"r '.ke thee should not remember our Lords answer to him who asked Him how he shouhl attain eternal hfe : 'If thou wilt be perfect, go, e all thou hast and give to the poor, and follow Me and hou Shalt have treasure in heaven."' Touched by these words, Romaric gave all his lands except his castle of Habend, to the poor, set his serfs free and went to Luxeuil to be a'monk. Several of hfs serfs received the tonsure at the same time and the lowest offices, and learning the Psalter by heart St^Sd!" ^'^ ''''-''' ^" "^^ -^"-"°-f iTe hJ" ^"^.t''^\'^«%Permission, to the estate which uins o/f r1 ^"T °" ^ ^'««P 1"". ^vhere the rums ot a Koman fortress, a temple, statues an,l Z^" IT 1" *" ^^ ^^^"' '"^ ' f°'-^ inhab tVby budt'« I leagues to the north of Luxeuil, they built a large church, seven smaller ones, and the celebrated double monastery of Eemiremont for men SJe'atrtTat- he?'" 'V""'"- °* ''""^ increS™ peatly that the Laus Perennis was kept up by them in seven choirs in seven separate churches.^ S great fervour of the community caused the abbey to be regarded as a model for nuns, as Luxeuil was for monks, and for many centuries i^ was known by AbbltVf te^remon^afrur* ""^ ij"'"^,^'^- ^^^S" The I 276 THE FRANKS. the name of Le Saint Mont. Botli monasteries were first governed by Amatus, and after his death for tlnrty years by Romaric, who bequeathed the govern- ment to his granddaughter, from which time it was vested in the abbess. S. Arnulph, S. Romaric, and S. Amatus were buried side by side in the Church of Remiremont. S. Cokmiban's influence was not confined to J3urgundy and Austrasia. After his expulsion from Luxeuil, when he was travelhng tlirough Neustria, he happened to stop at the castle of a Frank noble on the banks of the Marne. The noble had three sons, whom he brought to receive the saint's bless- ing.i Some time after tlie youths were sent to be educated in the court of Clotaire II. and his son Dagobert ; but the blessing of S. Columban clung to them. Before long Adon, the eldest, left the court and founded on a hill overlooking the Marne the double monastery of Jouarre, in which he lived as a monk under the rule of S. Columban. Then Radon, the second brother, who had risen to be treasurer to Dagobert, retired from court and founded the Abbey of Reuil, also on the JMarne. The third brother, called Dadon, but since known as S. Ouen, was the ravourite of Dagobert, who chose him for his con- fidant, and appointed him his referendary, or keeper of his seal. But he, too, could not throw off the heavenly desires with which the saint's blessing had inspired him ; and he devoted his wqaltli to building in the forests of La Brie a monastery called Rebais"^ from the torrent near which it stood, but to which he gave the name of Jerusalem. Here he wished to retire and end his days as a monk, but God had other work for him to do. The king and the nobles were so fond of him that they would not part with ,..^ V^- ^- Columban, c. 50. Acta SS. 0. S. B. saec. ii. p. 22. Vit S. Agil. c. 14. Ibid. p. 307. Moines d'Occ. ii. I. ix. c. 5. i S. COLUMBAN'S DISCIPLES. 277 him ; and he was obliged to remain at court till at last he was chosen to be^Archbisliop of Rouen. In this very important iwsition his zeal for God's service did not cool, nor did he forget his love for b. Columban. His first object was to find an abbot for his monastery at Kebais. Among the monks at l^uxeuil the most beloved was Agilus, who has alreac y been more than once mentioned. So "reat was the fame of his eloquence and miraculous gifts, that city after city asked to have him for Iheir bishop; but the monks of Luxeuil would not part with him, for they hoped he might some day be their own abbot ; and nothing less tlian a written command irom the king could induce them to let him "o to the new Abbey of Rebais. Twelve monks "from Luxeuil went with him, and he was joined by so many young nobles from the court and the neighbour- hood of the abbey that the number of the communitv soon rose to eighty. Like all the monks of the time tliey laboured to bring back into cultivation lancb winch the ravages of the barbarians had turned into uninhabited wilds. They also gave unlimited alms to the poor and boundless hospitality to travellers, especially the Irish pilgrims who flocked to the abbey on their way to Rome, till often their resources would be almost exhausted. One winter's night, when the doors had been ocked Agilus made the round of the house to see tiiat all was in order. As he entered the hospital he heard a feeble, plaintive voice outside, and looking through the wicket, he beheld on the ground a leper covered with sores, who begged for admission. Turn- ing to the monk who was with him, he cried "See how we have neglected our first duty for these other ^'T.f" T., '^'^ ^"'^^'^ ^^"^ S°' something for him to eat. Then opening the postern, he said to the poor man, " Come, my brother, we will do for thee 27S THE FRANKS. I * all that thou neeJest." And taking the leper on his shoulders, and carrying him in, he placed him in fetch water and linen to wash him. But when lie returned, lo! the poor leper had vanished nd on ly a sweet odour that filled the house remained to toU of h>3 presence. Thus did S. Agilus receive una res an ange or rather the Lord of angels, who deigns to Identify Himself with His poor and s ck membe according to His promises in the GospeL "'^°"''''' vnn^"'°"°n- ^f''''' ^^'^'^'P''^^ ^™s Philibert,! a young noble educated at Dagobert's court and warmly attached to S. Ouen. a1 the age of twen ' he became a monk at the Abbey of Eebai. and tt: rif '' -f'l ']T'' °^ ^^'^'t' "^^ «P-'' "-^ t^me at LuxcuiJ, Bobbio, and other houses under S Columban's rule ; and finally founded the Abbey o Jum.6ges, on the Seine, in the diocese of his frieml b. Ouen. Besides the ordinary monastic labours of bringing waste ground into cultivation, he took advantage of he position of his abbey to carry a trade with British and Irisli sailors, taki^c. car" however, to observe the invariable monastic rule of allowing Ins customers more favourable terms than were usually given by lay traders. His monks also made oil from the porpoises, which then came up the Seine ; and they fitted out ships, in which they sailed to chstant parts to spend the tithe of theTr wealth in the redemption of poor captives. Probablv many of these attached themselves to the abbev which ,n course of time contained nine hundred monks, besides fifteen hundred servants who filled lay offices. S. Philibert also founded the Abbey " Noirmoutier, on the coast of Poitou, and that of Montivillers for women in the Pays de Caux.2 I y,": S- Filibert. Acta SS. 0. S. B. sa;c ii d 7S-1 » Moines dOooident. ii. I. ix. c. 5 ^^ '**• I s. columban's disciples. 2-0 n..'^v°*,",/"'"'^ °^ ^- Oueu's was S. Vaudre-isil or Vandrille, grandson of S. Arnuln . 1%^^'^' l!\ T' ""'^ *'^^°«^ to I^«bbio; and so "reat was his ardour m the practice of mortification "that he proposed even going to Ireland to ^rfnk in i?s • hit r /,^'/°""''''"-^^''^'- ^"t it was n Fmnee that God had assigned him his task. AccorSv after spending ten years at Eomain Mou fer^K went to visit his friend S. Ouen at Rouen. S Ouen I ^ff W^^'o-r^..-^^ Franc, I. ii. c. 2. Vit. b. VVandregisil. Acta SS. O. S. B. sajc. ii. p. 503. 2So THE FRANKS. " would not part with Inn., and per.naded Inm a d to build four churches for their u^p i\; ? name has come down to posterity wfth !.', much honour as tliose of the above noble founder Z pening to see some noble children goin. to a neiT hounng school the love of learning awoke Sn lum and he asked a n.onk to write^out an alplnb" ]ifp on.1 off«« 1 • • . ^ '^ooli to monastic vw to S P 1 l^ '" ^'"' "'onastcries, found his cW.e of tl, '"^'"'. "* ^'^^^"■1- H<"-e he had cnarge ot the novices (rarden in a • i i wondeifully under ]ii. pTvp o'S fl^^^'^shed so ^ iiij uuutr JUS care, and so sweet n. nprfnmn always lunu' around him fi^^f i. '''^^^^ ^^ peiiume be sjeciallffrou a 1^'gS 'E^n s"'r f ";! ^° charmed with the lad^ parity ';;T vttSwouTi exclaim with saintly humilitv "Tt 7= tf' -ell-beloved, who ar't the S^e' abl t nd i"^ this monastery." After S. Columban'rdeih t£ nuss,onary spirit took possession of h m, a'^V'^! S. Eustasiuss permission he set out for SsTrH He wandered about for a time, and a tast sett ed at Leuconaus. at the mouth of the Somme on , piece of land given him by ClntlhTu 'Z. generosity enabled him to bu^ld an abbey ' Hen e he made excursions, mounted o„ an ass, 'pread.r Vit. S. Walaric. Acta SS. O. S. B. stec. ii. p. 71. s. columban's disciples. 281 felling sacred oaks, and also a taU wooden pillar carved with images of the gods, which stood on the banks of the Somme near Eu. Though he fearlessly braved violence, and even death, often arresting the outrages of the Pagans by his calm intrepidity, yet his gentleness was so great that flocks of birds would sport familiarly round him and eat out of his hand Alter his death his converts erected a chapel to us memory on the spot where had stood an oak which he cut down at the risk of his life. One dav some women were passing it, when one of them went m to pray, and exhorted her companions to do the same. But spurning the suggestion, a Pa-an gir saui scornfully to her mother, "Dear mother, would these people have us venerate the man whom we used to see going about the country mounted on an ass and miserably clad?" "Yes," answered the mother, ■ it ,s as you say ; these peasants erect a temp e in honour of him who did among us onlv vile and contemptible things." As they spoke thus a violent spasm seized the girl, and being in ex- cruciating agony, she bethought her of the saint, and going to his shrine, humbly begged his i.ardon and in ercession, and was instantly cured. Round tiie Abbey of Leuconaiis grew the town of S. Valerv 6ur Somme ; and the Abbey and town of S. Valerv en Caux arose after the translation thither of his relics, A.D. 1197, by Richard Coeur de Lion 1 Another abbey in Ponthieu, not far from S. Valerv sur Somme owed its origin indirectly to S. Coluraban. When he first landed from Ireland he sent two of his monks to preach in that neighbourhood.2 The J^agans attacked them and were about to ill-treat them, when a noble called Riquier received them I Moines d'Occident, ii. ]. ix. c. 5. p. 179."" ^' ""'''*''"' ^^' ^'™'"- Acta SS. 0. S. B. sjec. ii 282 THE FRANKS. priest anTa mJnk, and Tnt about p.^achin^'with Srovir K- *° ^""^ r'^ ^"'^ P"''^' «>"l even bold y Z 7r.L ° ,^»S°^ert, at wbose table he always t^l^riHi 'f'^ ^r-''- ^" ^-^^'^''J^^l J"« missions to Lritam ; and on his return to France lie built on h. estate at Centule north of the Son.merau bb" which afterwards took his name, and was one of the principal monasteries of France. an?b!/"l/'°"'/''''%'"°"'''''' settlements there was Tcl.t''^ ^'°'" ^"•^•^"'^- ^bo"t the time that S. Columban was at Bregenz there arrived at Luxeuil,! probably through his influence, a G rman noble from the neighbourhood of Constanie, S Ws Luxeuir n o''"""' '"°"¥ T^'° f^"'«' ^li«l « years itpr . " '™'''*"i''^ """"^ ""' "''""t twenty years later, he was made Bishop of Terouann/ Mormi Many martyrs had shed their blood here in ear her times, but notwithstanding, the people had either totally relapsed into idolaky. or mS 1 on'. SO ° '""' :f T^^^ grossest Pagan super ^Ll! °Y^. nation the youngest of whom, Bertin was a relative of his own. He established them h a marshy island in the middle of an almost im passable morass, the soil of which they S Ty excessive labour, and on it they built^ an abbeV afterwards known by S. Berlin's name. The con^' munitysoon increased to two hundred the nde "f S. Columban was strictly observed ; within fifty aTd sn r T'"" r '"''"'''"^ '»'» - fertile plaint and so high was the general tone of sanctity, that ' Moinea d'Occident, ii. 1. ix. c. 5. s. columban's disciples. 283 no less than twenty- two of the monks have been solemnly canonised. w„5i'"-*'j'''*^ y^f' °^ apostolic labour, S. Omer was buried in a church which he had built on a neighbouring hill, and which has become the cathe- oral of the town bearing his name which was built round It. As for S. Bertin, after ruling the abbey tor tifty years, and exercising an extraordinary in- fluence on the neighbouring population, he resigned the dignity of abbot and retired to a hermitage in an island to prepare for death. AH these places have a peculiar interest for En-^lish Oatholics. It was in the abbey and hermitage olf S. Bertin that S. Thomas of Canterbury took refuge in his flight from the oppression of Henry Plantag«iet. I was in the city of S. Omer that, durin| the bloody times of the Tudors and Stuarts, fugitive priests found a kindly welcome ; and in the seminary *■ . T,"'. 'T" ^''"'"^'^ ^'lo^e heroic youths who Fn°U° p.^ r ''P ^'7' *^" ^^^'^^ °f ^^'^ persecuted Jinghsh Catholics, and to water the soil of England with their blood. Such are a few of the great monasteries which sprang up at this time among the Franks and Bur- gundians. To mention them all would be impos- sible. For such numbers of men of all ranks flocked to Luxeuil, that Abbot Walbert knew not how to dispose of them; and also "throughout all the pro- vinces of Gaul, colonies of monks and nuns were to be seen, swarming forth like bees into the plains and villas, the towns and castles, and even into un trodden wilds, to make themselves homes, in which they could live under the rule of S. Benedict and o. Columban. "1 Each of tliese innumerable monasteries was a ' Vit. S. Salaberga, c. 7. Acta SS. 0. S. B. .isc. ii. p. 407. I I f 284 THE FRANKS. centre of religion, learning, charity, and civilisation. Within each the voice of prayer and praise rose day and night to heaven ; the education of old and young, rich and poor, was constantly carried on; the traveller, the sick, the needy and tlie oppressed, found a refuge in wliich every Avant was supplied and every sorrow was soothed. And while thus, on the one hand, the monks were infusing the leaven of religion, purity, and cultivated thought into the mass of barbarism and vice, and impressing on the nation its indelible Catholic character, on the other hand, by their wonderful industry in clearing forests, reclaiming wilds, draining marshes, and making roads and bridges, they won for the land its dis- tinctive name of "la belle France." But while S. Columban's name and influence were thus penetrating France, his rule was being super- seded by that of S. Benedict. Even under his two first successors, S. Eustasius and S. Walbert, the Benedictine rule alone, or the two rules conjointly, were established in foundations wliich issued from Luxeuil, and were ^ made in S. Columban's name and honour. So often were the two names united, the monks being ordered to follow the rule of S. Benedict "in the way of Luxeuil" (ad modum Luxoviensem), tliat some have supposed, though erroneously, that the rules were identical, and that S. Columban introduced the Benedictine rule into Luxeuil. 1 At length, about a.d. 674,^ at the Council of Autun, at which S. Leger, formerly a monk of Luxeuil, presided, fifty-four bishops formally im- posed the Benedictine rule on all the religious houses of France. Seventy years later, at the J Acta SS. O. S. B. sscc. ii. Preface, c. 14. - Different dates, from A.D. 665 to A.D. 674, are assigned to this council. Moines d'Occident, ii. 1. ix. c. 7. s. columban's disciples. 285. Council of Leptines, held by S. Boniface a.d. 742, its observance by all the monasteries of Gaul and Germany was commanded. ^ And finally, when, A.D. 817, S. Benedict of Anagni was appointed by Louis le Debonnaire to visit all the convents of France, it was said, that "as one rule was professed by all, all should have the same customs." 2 Thus ended the mission of S. Columban, who like a blazing comet swept across the vault of heaven, leaving behind him a resplendent stream of light, which was gradually absorbed by the steady glow of the rising sun. The short duration of S. Columban's rule has been ascribed to his peculiar Irish customs, his want of union with the Eoman See, and his strong nationalism. The two first causes have been much exaggerated, though doubtless the want of the Pope's support was a great loss to him in his contest with the French bishops. But his strong Celtic spirit alone sufficed to account for his limited influence. S. Columban and his rule were, like his nation, pure, impetuous, and heroic, but narrow, unbending, and incapable of organisation. His sole idea of the spiritual life was what he had learnt at Bangor, and his great object to transplant to Gaul what he had witnessed there. His yoke and his rod were of iron ; but they were not too heavy nor too strong for the fierce, passionate men with whom he had to deal, and who were attracted rather than terrified by the heroic self-sacrifices that he demanded of them. His influence with the Franks was accidentally strengthened by his being a barbarian like them- selves, free from all taint of Eoman civilisation, while to the Gallo-Romans he inspired admiration, 1 Acta SS. 0. S. B. ssec. i. Preface, c. 48. 2 Concil. Aix. a.d. 817. Vit. S. Bened. Anian. by his disciple S. Ardo, n. 36. Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. ii. Preface, c. 18. 286 THE FRANKS. as being their superior on their own vantage-ground of learning and Christian virtue. But when S. Columban had roused the barbarian spirit, and given it the first impulse to monastic life, it was universally felt that more practical and pliable guidance than his was needed by both abbots and monks, in order to meet the varying circumstances that were con- stantly arising. All that was wanted was supplied by the rule of S. Benedict. It, too, partook of the national spirit of its founder; but it was the strong, pliable, organised, and Catholic spirit of Rome that it breathed. It has been remarked ^ that the Irish monks succeeded only in those countries in which they found Celtic populations, and that where they came in contact with purely German races they were able only to sow in their own blood the seed which missionaries of a diilerent nationality would soon come to water and to reap. By the end of the seventh century many bishoprics had been founded on German soil — Augsburg, Con- stance, and Strasburg in Allemania; and Mayence, Spire, Worms, Treves, JNIetz, Toul, Verdun, Cologne, Maestricht, and Cambrai in Austrasia ; all of which were within the old Roman Empire. Thus the Church had hitherto been only recovering lost ground, without adding to her territory. The time, however, was now close at hand when her frontier was to be extended; but the honour of this victory was re- served, neither for Ireland nor Gaul, but for a nation of the Teutonic race, fresh from the baptismal font, and still breathing the purity and heroic fervour of its first Christian love. ^ Ozanam, Civilisation Chretienne, c iv. p. 140. PART III. CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. CHAPTER I. CONVERSION OF KENT. One morning, about the year 576, a monk, tliirty- six years of age, above the average stature, with a high, broad forehead, and a noble and gentle ex- pression of countenance, was seen to enter the slave- market of Rome.^ Though he wore only the coarse black habit of a Benedictine monk, all saluted him with respect as he passed along, and many a word of love and blessing hung upon his footsteps. For this was Gregory, a member of a noble and saintly family, and the largest landed proprietor of Italy. He had formerly filled the high office of praetor of Rome, and had won the love of the Romans bv his justice and magnificence. He had also built and endowed six monasteries in Sicily, where he had large estates; and not satisfied with these princely donations to the Church, he had only the year before turned his own palace on the Caelian Hill into a monastery dedicated to S. Andrew; and after dis- tributing all his goods among the poor, he had himself become a monk. As Gregory looked wistfully on the unhappy bar- ^ This date and the fact of S. Gregory's being a Benedic- tine monk are given on the authority of Mabillon. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. i. Preface, cc. Ixxvii.-lxxxii. ; and Rohrbacher, ix. 1. xlvi. p. 263. S. Gregory's personal appearance is taken from a picture in the monastery of S. Andrew at Home. Rohrbacher, ix. 1. xlvii. p. 517. 289 rri 290 CONVEUSION OF THE ENGLISH. CONVERSION OF KENT. 29T barian captives exposed for sale, his attention was attracted by a group of three beautiful boys with fair complexion, rosy cheeks, and golden locks. Ask- ing whether they were Christians, and being told that they were Pagans, he exclaimed with a deep sigh, *' Alas ! that the Prince of darkness should possess such beautiful faces, and that with such fair coun- tenances their minds should be devoid of the grace of (Jod." Then asking what was their nation, and hearing that they were Angles, he said, ** Rightly are they called Angles or angels ; for they have angelic faces, and it is meet that such should be companions of the angels in heaven." Hearing that they came from a province called Deira, he replied, *' Truly are they De ira, being withdrawn from wrath, and called to the mercy of Christ." And being told that their king was ^lla, he added, " It is well that the king should be ^Ua, for Alleluia to the praise of the Creator must be sung in that land." Going quickly to the Pope, Benedict I., he urged him to send missionaries to Britain ; and when no one could be found to undertake the arduous task, he offered liimself for the work. Greatly were the Roman clergy opposed to Gregory's departure ; but so earnestly did he press his request, that Benedict at last consented, and giving him the Apostolic blessing, sent him forth to convert the Angles. No sooner, however, did Gregory's departure l)ecome known in Rome, than the people beset the l*ope on his way to S. Peter's, crying out, "You have offended S. Peter, you have destroyed Rome, because you have sent Gregory away." Nor could they be appeased till Benedict, overcome by their clamours, sent messengers to bring Gregory back.i ^ Vit. S. Gregor. Magn. a Joanne Diacono, c. 21-24. Acta SS. O. S. B. siuc. i. p. 31)7. They found him on the great northern road, three days' journey from the Flaminian Gate, resting in a meadow at noon. He was reading, while his com- panions lay around on the ground. A locust rested on his book, whereupon he said, "Rightly is it called Locusta^ for it seems to say loco sta (stay in your place). I see that we shall not be able to iinish our journey. But rise, load the mules, and let us go as far as we can." As he was still speaking the Pope's messengers galloped up in hot haste, and forced him to return to Rome. But though Gregory was thus stopped in his work, the thought of those angel faces never died out of liis memory.^ Many years passed on, and he became Pope A.D. 590. Five years after, having occasion to send a legate, Candidus, to collect some money in Gaul, he bade him lay out what he received in the purchase of Angle slaves of seventeen or eighteen years of age, whom he would train in his monastery for the service of God ; adding w^ith paternal thought- fulness, " But as they will yet be Pagans, they must be accompanied by a priest, who may baptize them if they fall ill by the way." ^ About this time he heard, probably from Bertha, the Christian queen of Ethelbert, king of Kent, that the English were "earnestly longing for the grace of life." ^ He therefore resolved to send Augustine, the prior of his own monastery, with forty monks to jK'each to them. The nation to wdiom Christianity was now about ^ Ep. S. Greg. 1. ix. 108. In writing to Syagrius, Bishop of Autun, he said that the mission to Britain had been in his thoughts long before it was accomplished. Lives of the Knglish Saints (ed. Toovey), S. Augustine, c. ix. p. 76. - Ibid. 1. vi. 7. Ap. Rohrbacher, ix. 1. xlvii. p. 482. ^ Ibid. 1. vi. 58, to Thierry and Theodebert. English Saints, S. Augustine, c. ix. p. 84. 29- COXVERSIOX OF TUE ENGLISH. CONVERSION OF KENT. 293 to be offered was composed of Jutes, Saxons, and Angles, the three most powerful Low German tribes, who dwelt between the mouths of the Elbe and the Khine, and at the neck of the Cimbric Chersonesus, or Holstein, where there still is a district called Anglen.^ They were closely allied to each other by blood and marriage ; they all spoke the same language, and were governed by chiefs, who claimed descent from one or other of the sons of Woden. They had invaded Britain in the middle of the fifth century, when the Jutes settled in Kent, the Isle of Wight, and the opposite coast of Hampshire, the Saxons in Essex, Sussex, and Wessex, and the Angles in East Anglia, Middle Anglia or Mercia, and the two Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira.- The most powerful of these tribes were the Angles,* who came over in such numbers that their old home in Germany was quite deserted. By their family alliances and the wealth which they had collected in their piratical and trading voyages, they had attained to pre-eminence among their neighbours. They were distinguished, not only by the general noble char- acteristics of the Teutonic race, but by their fine intellectual powers, uniting quick perceptions and * Palgrave, Hist. England. Anglo-Saxon Period, c. ii. p. 27. - Bede, Hist. Eccles. 1. i. c. xv. p. 24, ed. Giles. ^ From them the whole nation came to be known on the Continent a3 Angli, and later as English, while the country was called xVngleland, or Engleland. The name Anglo-Saxon was used by Edward the Elder, who, after uniting Nor- thumbria to his own Saxon kingdom of Wessex, sometimes styled himself Rex Anglo-Saxonum, and at other times Rex Anglorum. Freeman, Old English History, c. iv. p. 31 ; and c. viii. p. 138. Thus Anglo-Saxons does not mean the Saxons in England, but the nation composed of Angles and Saxons. We have used in preference throughout the name English for the whole nation. i deep thoughtfulness with a rich flow of ideas and tender sensitiveness, 1 while they were happily free from all taint of that Koman corruption which proved so fatal to the Goths and Franks. But tliey were no less remarkable for their ferocity and rapacity. Tliey pursued with passionate eagerness the traffic in human beings, and sold not only captives fairly taken in war, but others wliom they carried off in their freebooting excursions, and also their own countrymen, even those of tender years; so that at the time when no foreign invader had access to England, English youtlis were constantly to be found in the slave-markets of both Rome and Gaul. Thus even by other barbarians they were regarded with peculiar horror and dread. Notwithstanding their prowess, and the enfeebled state to which the Britons had been reduced under Roman rule, the latter made so desperate a stand in defence of their homes, tliat at the end of the sixth century, after tlie struggle had continued for a hun- dred and fifty years, they still possessed consider- ably more than half of their native land. At that time they still retained all the territory west of the Severn and south of the Axe, including Wales, Cornwall, Devonshire, and great part of Somerset- shire; also Strath Clyde, from the Cl.yde south- wards, taking in Ayrshire, Galloway, Cumberland, Westmoreland, the West Riding of Yorkshire, Lan- cashire, and a broad tract of land between Chester and Lincolnshire, which jutted like a peninsula into tlie territory of the Middle Angles and West Saxons, as far as Warwick and Bedford. 2 But what w^as wanting to the conquest in its extent was made up for by its ruthless cruelty. All the public and private buildings were destroyed; 1 Freytag, Bilder, c. ii. p. 134. 2 Freeman, Old English History, Map to c. v. p. 39. 294 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. the whole country was plundered and burnt ; the bishops and priests were killed at their altars ; the people were butchered without mercy, and left in heaps unburied ; while of the survivors some fled abroad, others lived miserably in the woods and mountains, and others again, exhausted by their privations, gave themselves up to endure a cruel servitude. So complete was the ruin of the van- quished race, that no Christians were to be found within the conquered territory when Augustine arrived.^ Such were the people to whom Augustine and his companions were sent. No wonder, then, that by the time they reached Provence, they were so terrified at the accounts of the ferocity of the Englisli which they heard on all sides, that they sent Augustine back to Kome to entreat tlie Pope not to compel them to undertake so dangerous, uncertain, and difficult a work among fierce, unbelieving barba- barians, of whose language even they were ignorant. But Gregory wrote back to remind them that it had been better not to begin a good work than to think of desisting from that which they had begun. He therefore exhorted them not to let the toil of the journey or the tongues of evil-speaking men deter them, but to persevere with all possible zeal and earnestness, being assured that much labour is followed by an eternal reward in the heavenly country, in which he hoped to see the fruits of their toil and partake of their joy, since he was willing, though unable, to labour with them. He also gave Augustine commendatory letters to Brune- haut and her sons, soliciting their protection, and to /Etherius, Archbishop of Lyons, and the bishops of Gaul, authorising them to consecrate Augustine Arclv ^ Hi!>toria Gildae, cc. xxiv.-xxvi. Gale, H'titoriie Briton, Saxon, et Anglo-Dan. Script, p. 15. CONVERSION OF KENT. -95 o bishop of the English, if they should prove willin to receive him.^ Thus encouraged, Augustine rejoined his com- panions, to whom he communicated the Apostolic fervour and courage with which S. Gregory had in- spired him. They passed safely througli Burgundy ; but on crossing the Loire in Xeustria, they had a foretaste of what they might expect in Britain. One evening, arriving hungry and toil-worn at the town of Sai or C^ in Anjou, they were about to enter it, when they were rudely driven away by a crowd of women, who attacked them with sticks nnd stones as if they were wild beasts, pursuing them with shouts of derision at their poor appearance and strange garb. The monks escaped with difficulty from their pursuers, and retiring to a large elm at some distance, spent the night under its shade, singing the praises of God. But, lo ! as the day closed a wondrous light appeared over the elm, and all through the darkness its celestial splendour illumined the spot where God's saints reposed. When the inhabitants of the town beheld this light they were filled with awe and contrition, and striking their bre^^sts, exclaimed with sighs and groans, " Woe to us ! Woe ! We drove these angels from our gates, and we have lost their blessing ! " At the first break of dawn the whole population sallied forth, and besought the holy men to enter their city and accept the best gifts they could offer. Gladly did the weary pilgrims receive this un- 1 Gotcelin, Vit. S. Augiistin. 6. 24. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. i. pp. 493, 501. S. Gregory in his letter to Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, after mentioning S. Augustine's great success in England, says, " Data a se licentia a Germanonim Episcopis Episcopuni factum." Ang. Sacra, i. p. 89. Some have asserted that S. Augustine was consecrated by S. Gregor) before he left Rome, but this is contradicted by the above, and also by Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. i. c. xxvii. 296 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. expected liospitality ; in return for which they preached the gospel of peace to these Pagan bar- barians. Upon the spot where they passed the night a cliurch was built, which, as late as the last century, was used as a parisli church. It was dedicated to S. Augustine, or S. Autun, and within its walls was a spring, celebrated for its healing virtues, which was said to have gushed forth miraculously for his use.^ Augustine and his companions continued tlieir journey to the coast. Then crossing the Channel, and passing the line ports of Sandwich and Kich- borough in Kent, they entered the Stour, at that time a broad river, and landed at the promontorv of Ebb's Fleet on the Isle of Tlianet, now lying within Pegwell Bay.^ The kingdom of Kent, to which the Isle of Thanet l)elonged, was then governed by Ethelbert, the great- great-grandson of Ilengist. He had come to the throne, a.d. 560, and proud of his descent, had aspired to dominion over the other English kings by being elected Bretwalda. But he was constantly unsuccessful, and at last, a.d. 568,3 he suffered a crushing def(;at at Wimbledon from Ceaulin, King of the West Saxons, wlio was chosen Bretwalda in his stead. In the year 570 he married Bertha, daughter of Cliaribert, King of Paris, and from this time his fortune changed; so that on the death of Ceaulin, a.d. 593,"* he at length became Bretwalda. Bertha was a Christian, and Ethelbert had obtained her hand only on the condition that she should be J Acta 8S. O. S. B. saec. i. p. 495, note. - There still exists a farmhouse called Ebb's Fleet. But the sea having receded, it stands no longer on a promontory, but on a high ridge, which runs inland from Pegwell Bav. Stanley, Memorials of Canterbury, i. p. 1 2. 3 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an. 568. Ed. Giles. * Ibid. an. 593. CONVERSION 0\r KENT. 297 allowed the free exercise of her religion. She had, therefore, been accompanied to Britain l)y S. Liudhard, Bishop of Senlis, but he was now dead,i and she was thus left alone among Pagans. As soon as Augustine and his monks landed at Ebb's Fleet, they sent some Franks, whom they had brought with them as interpreters, to Ethelbert, to tell him that they were come from Kome Avith a joyful message, whicli most undoubtedly assured to all who took advantage of it everlasting joys in heaven and a kingdom that would never end with the living and true God. Ethelbert, who had already heard of this kingdom from Bertha, gave them a courteous reception, but ordered them to remain in the Isle of Thanet, where they should be provided with all they needed, while he considered Avhat he should do. Before many days Ethelbert went to the Isle of Thanet to give audience to the strangers; but he would meet them only in the open air, for he feared their practising magical arts, whicli he fancied would have effect only in a house. Augustine and his com- panions went out in solemn procession to meet the king, bearing as their banner a silver cross and a picture of our Lord, and singing litanies for tlieir own salvation and that of the people to whom they were sent. Ethelbert bade them sit down, and when they were seated Augustine announced the Gospel to all who were present. When he had linished his discourse Ethelbert answered, " Your words and promises are very fair: but as they are new to us and of uncertain import, I cannot approve them so far as to forsake that which I have so long followed with the whole English nation. But because you are come from far into my kingdom, and, as I conceive, ^ Gallia Christiana, x. p. 1382. He is said to have died A.D. 596. English Saints, S. Augustine, c. x. p. 92. 29S CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. CON\'ERSION OF KENT. 299 I \ i are desirous to impart tliose things which you believe to be true and most beneficial, we will not molest you, but will give you favourable entertainment, and take care to supply you with your necessary suste- nance ; nor do we forbid you to preach, and to gain as many as you can to your religion." ^ Having obtained leave to go to Canterbury, then the capital of Kent, they entered the city in solemn procession as before, carrying the silver cross and the picture of our Lord, and sin^ijing in unison, " We beseech thee, Lord, in Thy infinite mercy, to turn away thy anger from this city, and from Thy holy house, because we have sinned. Hallelujah." They first took up their abode at the Stable-gate, a stone's-throw from the king's palace, and near the present cliurch of S. Alfege, where there was a heathen temple, at which the king's servants used to worship. 2 In the church of S. Martin on the east side of the city, where Queen Bertha had been in the habit of praying, they assembled to carry on the devotions and mode of life to which they were accus- tomed in their monastery at Rome ; and at the same time they preached the faith to all who would listen. Their lowly and sim{)le demeanour, the beauty of their doctrine, and the miraculous gifts which proved the truth of their words, soon drew many converts to them ; and at length Ethelbert himself received the faith, and was ba[)tized on Whit-Sunday, June 2nd, A.D. 697. He now gave Augustine leave to repair the British churches, and he bestowed on him settled possessions for the maintenance of himself and his monks. Augustine having thus got a firm footing in England, went over to France to receive Episcopal consecration, as Pope (Jregory had ordered. On ' Bede, 1. i. c. xxv. p. 37. ' Stanley, Meiiiorials of Canterbury, c. i. p. 18. the 16th of Kovember, a.d. 597,^ ^therius, Arch- bishop of Lyons,2 consecrated him Archbishop of the English, thus leaving him at liberty to fix his chair where he should hereafter deem expedient. On Augustine's return to England, increasing crowds flocked to hear the word of God ; and so rapidly did the faith spread, that on Christmas Day, A.D. 597, ten thousand converts were baptized. Plthelbert naturallv showed more favour to those who were his fellow-citizens in the kingdom of heaven, but he would not compel any to be bap- tized, for Augustine had taught him that the ser- vice of Christ ought to be voluntary, and not compulsory. Augustine now sent two of his monks, Laurentius and Peter, to carry the good news of his success to S. Gregory. The exultation with which it was received appears in the letters of the saintly Pope announcing the great victory to his correspondents, and thanking God that the swelling waves of the ocean had become a pathway to the foot of His saints, and loud Alleluias were sung to His praise by barbarous tongues.^ Augustine had also written ^ English Saints, S. Augustine, c. xi. p. 110. 2 Bede calls ^therius Archbishop of Aries, and John the Deacon in his Life of S. Gregory, and Gotcelin in his Life of Augustine, follow him. But Mabillon shows (Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. i. notes to pp. 412 and 493) frona the rolls of the bishoprics, that /Etherius was Archbishop of Lyons and Vir- gilius of Aries. Hence Giles and other modern writers say that S. Augustine was consecrated by Virgilius. But Hen- schenius and John Stilting are of opinion (Acta SS. Aug. 27 S. iEtherius. Syllog. Historic. 8, 9) that y^therius was the consecrat(»r, since Bede would more readily fall into an error as to the name of a place than of a person, more especially since S. Gregory, in many of his letters, and probably in the original of this one, mentions only the name of the bishop to whoui he writes. * Vit. S. Augustin. c. xxvi. fH 300 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. CONVERSION OF KENT. 301 to S. Gregory, asking for instructions on various points connected with the discipline of the Church that he was about to found. In answer, S. Gregory gave him minute directions on each head; and this letter, with others which followed it, became the rule, not only of the Englisli Church, but also of that founded in the next century in Germany by S. Boniface. S. Gregory also sent chalices and patens, vestments, ornaments for the altars, relics of the Apostles and Martyrs, books, and all that was re- quired for tlie proper celebration of Mass, as well as singers skilled in antiphonal chanting. For the noisy, harsh singing of the German barbarians, whether at feasts or in church, being very offensive to refined Koman ears, S. Gregory had composed the (rregorian tones, as being suited alike to the lowest capacity and the most cultivated taste ; and he was anxious that his infant Church should be trained from the first in the best style of chant.^ But though S. Gregory was at such pains to have the worship of God performed with due reverence, he took so wide a view of the subject that he wrote to Augustine, *'You know, my brother, the custom of the Koman Church, in which you were bred up. Hut it pleases me, that if you have found anything, either in the Koman or tlie Gallic, or any other I'iiurch, which may be more acceptable to Almighty God, you carefully make choice of the same, and sedulously teach the Church of the English, which as yet is new in the faith, whatsoever you can gather from the several Churches. For things are not to be loved for the sake of the places, but places for the sake of good things. Choose, therefore, from any Church those things that are pious, religious, find upriglit, and when you have, as it were, made ^ Vit. S. Gre<:or. 1. ii. cc. vi.-viii. them up into one body, let the minds of the English be accustomed thereto.^ Further, he sent back with Laurentius and Peter, on their return to England, several priests and monks, the principal of whom were Paulinus, Mellitus, Justus, and Kufinianus, all of whom afterwards held high offices in the English Church. He also sent a pall to Augustine, as Bishop of London, for he concluded that he would choose that city, as the British bishops had formerly done, for his metropolitan see; and he bade him ordain twelve bishops as his suffragans, and also a Bishop of York, to whom he would send a pall, and who also was to ordain twelve suffragans. He further made Augustine primate, not only over the newly founded Church, but over " all the priests of Britain ; to the end that from his mouth and life they might have the rule of believing rightly, living well, and fulfilling their offices in faith and good manners." ^ At this time neither London nor York was open to Augustine, and he therefore chose Canterbury for his metropolis, and Gregory's suc- cessors, Popes Boniface and Honorius, confirmed his clioice. Thirty years elapsed before a bishop made his way to York ; and the twelve northern suffragan bishoprics which Gregory planned have not yet been erected ; though after the lapse of twelve centuries and a half his appointment of London as the prima- tial see has been carried out. Ethelbert's magnificent generosity rendered Canter- bury at that time the most suitable place for the metropolitan see. Not content with his former donation of S. Martin's Church, he gave up his own palace in Canterbury and his royal city to Augustine, and retired to Keculver. Within the precincts of the palace Augustine found a church, which he was ^ Bede, 1. i. c. xxvii. p. 41. * Ibid. c. xxix. p. 54. 302 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH, CONVERSION OF KENT. 303 i told had been built and used by the Roman Christians. This he repaired and consecrated afresh as his own cathedral, by the name of Christ Church ; and adjoining it he fitted up a monastery for himself and his monks. Thus it came to pass that from that time till the sixteenth century the Archbishop of Canterbury always was abbot of the monastery of Christ Church. There was also at some little distance from the city a small Roman church, where Ethelbert had formerly worshipped his Pagan gods. He now gave it also to Augustine, who reconsecrated it and dedicated it to S. Pancras,^ the Roman boy of fourteen who had been martyred in the Diocletian persecution, and on whose family property stood the monastery of S. Andrew at Rome. On an adjoining plot of land he built a monastery, which he dedicated to S. Peter and S. Paul, but which was afterwards known as the Abbey of S. Augustine. He intended it to be a scliool of learning, and he placed in it the books that S. Gregory had sent him. These were a Bible in two volumes, a Psalter, a Book of the Gospels, Lives of the Apostles, and Expositions of certain Gospels and Epistles. And in the Canter- bury Book, now at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, it was written, "These are the foundations or beginning of the library of the whole English Church." 2 peter, who carried the news of Augustine's success to Rome, was the first abbot of this monastery, and Rufinianus, one of those who accompanied him back from Rome, was the third. These foundations and the establishment of Chris- tian worship and disci[)line in the infant Church, fully occupied Augustine for some time. He re- ceived further directions from S. Gregory in a letter ^ English Saints, S. Augustine, c. x. p. 93. * Bede, 1. i. c. xxv. p. 38, note. atldressed to Mellitus, but he was left at liberty, **as being on the spot, to consider how he was to order all things.'' In this letter 1 S. Gregory bids liim not *' destroy the temples, but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected, and relics placed. For if the temples be well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God; that the nation, knowing and adoring tlie true God, may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have been accustomed. And because they have been used to slaughter many oxen in the sacrifices to devils, some solemnity must be exchanged for them on this account; as, for instance, that on the day of the dedication, or nativities of the holy martyrs whose relics are there ^leposited, they may build themselves huts of the boughs of trees about those churches which have been turned to that use from temples, and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting, and no more offer beasts to the devil, but kill cattle to the praise of God in their eating, and return thanks to the Oiver of all things . . . that whilst they offer the Fame beasts they are wont to offer, they offer them to God and not to idols, and thus they would no longer be the same sacrifices. ... To the end that while some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, ^they may the more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God. For there is no doubt that it is impossible to efface everything at once from their obdurate minds ; because he who endeavours to ascend to the highest places rises by ilegrees or steps, and not by leaps." When the Church in Kent had been placed on a ^ Bede, 1. i. c. xxx. p. 55. 302 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. told had been built and used by the Roman Christians. This he repaired and consecrated afresli as his own cathedral, by the name of Christ Church ; and adjoining it he fitted up a monastery for himself and his monks. Thus it came to pass that from that time till the sixteenth century the Archbishoj) of Canterbury always was abbot of the monastery of Christ Church. There was also at some little distance from the city a small Roman church, where Ethelbert had foimerly worshipped his Pagan gods. He now gave it also to Augustine, who reconsecrated it and dedicated it to S. Pancras,^ the Roman boy of fourteen who had been martyred in the Diocletian persecution, and on whose family property stood the monastery of S. Andrew at Rome. On an adjoining plot of land he built a monastery, which he dedicated to S. Peter and S. l*aul, but which was afterwards known as the Abbey of S. Augustine. He intended it to be a school of learning, and he placed in it the books that S. Gregory had sent him. These were a Bible in two volumes, a Psalter, a Book of the Gospels, Lives of the Apostles, and Expositions of certain Gospels and Epistles. And in tlie Canter- bury Book, now at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, it was written, " These are the foundations or beginning of the library of the whole Endish Church." ^ peter, who carried the news of Augustine's success to Rome, was the first abbot of this monastery, and Rufinianus, one of those who accompanied him back from Rome, was the third. These foundations and the establishment of Chris- tian worship and discipline in the infant Church, fully occupied Augustine for some time. He re- ceived further directions from S. Gregory in a letter ^ English Saints, S. Augustine, c. x. p. 93. - Bede, 1. i. c. xxv. p. 38, note. CONVERSION OF KENT. 303 atldressed to Mellitus, but he was left at liberty, *'as being on the spot, to consider how he was to order all things.'' In this letter 1 S. Gregory bids him not "destroy the temples, but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected, and relics placed. For if the temples be well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God; that the nation, knowing and adoring llie true God, may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have been accustomed. And because they have been used to slaughter many oxen in the sacrifices to devils, some solemnity must be exchanged for them on this account; as, for instance, that on the day of the dedication, or nativities of the holy martyrs whose relics are there is men threw the earth round Its foot. As soon as it stood firm, Oswald cried with a loud voice to his army, " Let us all kneel down an,l pray to the true and living God Almighty mercifully to defend us from our proud and fierce enemy ; for He knoweth that ours is a just war for the safety of our nation." Then all knelt and prayed. This done, they retired to rest. During the niglit Oswald slept soundly. And as he slept, S Columba, whose monks had been his spiritual fathers, appeared to him and promised him not only victory in the morrow's fight, but also a happy reign.- At the first break of dawn he advanced with his htte band to the place where his cross stood, and fall ng on the Britons, completely defeated them, Ceadwalla himself being killed in the battle. Ihis cross, which was the first erected in Bernicia, for neither church nor altar had yet been built there Tn fl7f r'\v",'/'Vf "' miraculous powers. About A.D. 07 J b. Wilfrid founded a monastery and built a beautiful church at Hexham, and eveiv year, on the eve of the anniversary of the battle in which Oswald was afterwards killed, the monks of Hexham watched through the night at this cross, and prayed for his soul. This victory having given Oswald possession of the kingdom, his first care was to provi.le his people with Christian teachers. He naturally turned to the 'Smith says that Hallington, a mile north of Bincrfield was Bedr"'7.^o"''\ H?,^?»f^'t''' - Heavenfield. Appendix ta Jinglish Saints, S. Oswald, by the Rev. F. W Faber d 53 ^zt^A^TrVii **>•' "^■"" *" ^-'"ey Abbot o'i;S CONVERSION OF NORTHUMBRIA. n ■^ X monks of lona, and asked them to send him a bishop. They accordingly sent him Gorman, a very holy many but of a narrow, austere spirit, who could make no impression on the Angles, and soon returned home, declaring that it was impossible to do them any good because they were so uncivilised and stubborn. The monks of lona were loath to give up this nation who had asked for the faith, and they assembled a great council to consult on the matter. Then Gorman stated his experience; whereupon another of the monks, called Aidan, said, " Brother, it seems to me that thou wert too severe with thy unlearned hearers, and didst not, according to the apostolic rule, give them the milk of more easy doctrine, till, nourished gradually with the word of God, they should be capable of greater perfection." So true and wise was this remark, that all the monks concluded that none could be more fit than Aidan to be the teacher of these rude Angles. Accordingly he was sent to Oswald, who gave him Lindisfarne for his episcopal see; and from this Holy Island, as it was rightly called, went forth a race of saints who quickly con- verted all the people of Northumbria. In East Anglia the eclipse of the faith, though it continued longer than in Korthumbria, did not last above three years. In the year 636, Sigebert, brother of Eorpwald, obtained possession of the throne. He had been banished by his father, Eedwald, for some unknown cause, and had continued in disgrace during his brother's reign. During his exile he had been converted, and he now returned home as a Ghristian. He spared no pains to spread Ghristianity among his subjects, and with the assistance of S. Felix, a Burgundian priest whom Archbishop Honorius con- secrated a bishop and sent to him, he succeeded in converting the whole of his kingdom. He gave S. Felix the city of Dommoc, or Dunwich, for his k ll: ??2 JO CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. episcopal see ; and though this city has been sub- merged by the advance of the German Ocean, the village of relixsto\7, or « the dwelling of Felix " on the coast of Suffolk, still remains as a memorial of the holy bishop. Sigebert was not only remarkable for his saintly spirit, but also for his love of learnincr Wishing to imitate the good institutions that he had seen abroad, he established a school for youth at either Dunwich or Seaham, in which he placed able teachers, whom S. Felix procured for him from France liius was East Anglia also permanently won to Christianity ; and from this time Paganism became extinct both in that kingdom and in Northumbria CHAPTEK III. CONVERSION OF WESSEX, MERCIA, ESSEX, AND SUSSEX. The very same year, a.d. 634, that the light of Chris- tianity was extinguished in Northumbria, it shone out at the otlier extremity of England. For the mis- sionary zeal of the Koman Church was truly that fire which our Lord threw on the earth, and which could not be quenched ; but when it was smothered in one quarter it only blazed forth the more brightly in the opposite direction. In the year 634 S. Birinus landed on the south coast of England. Nothing is known of his previous life, and it is even doubtful whether he was a monk.^ He is first heard of as asking leave of Pope Honorius to go and preach the faith in the remote parts of England, beyond the region whither it had been already carried. Honorius granted his request, and gave authority to Asterius, Bishop of Genoa, to con- secrate him a bishop. It is narrated 2 that when he was embarking for Britain from some port on the coast of Gaul, he for- got in the hurry of departure to take with him the Blessed Sacrament, which pious travellers in those perilous times were accustomed to carry in their breast, as the palladium of both soul and body. As soon as he remembered his omission, he entreated 1 Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. ii. Index Sanct. praetermiss. ' Wilhelm. Malm. De Gest. Pontif. 1. ii. Ap. Milner, His- tory of Winchester, c. vi. p. 68. 333 334 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. the captain to put back and let him go ashore. But the wind was fair, and the captain and crew, who were Pagans, only laughed at his proposal. In the extremity of distress he threw his cloak upon the waves, and jumping upon it, was carried quickly to land ; whence, after getting the Blessed Sacrament, he was borne back in safety to the ship. The sailors received him as a demi-god rather than a man, and on reaching England they published tlie wonderful act that they had witnessed. Crowds flocked to see him, and thus his Christian doctrine found ready entrance into tlie hearts of his hearers. Whether this story be true or not, there is no doubt that his preaching was successful. Finding tliat there were no Christian teachers among the AVest iSaxon Huicci, or Wiccii, who inhabited the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, and part of Warwick, he thought it better to preach to them than to go further in quest of hearers. Before long he obtained admis- sion to Cynegils, the king, and he was so fortunate as to have an able coadjutor in Oswald, King of Northumbria, who had come to Cynegils' court to inarry his daughter. Under their joint influence Cynegds received the faith, and was baptized a.d. 635. Oswald was his sponsor, thus being tlie spiritual father of him whose son he afterwards became by marrying his daughter. Many of the West Saxons were baptized at the same time. Cynegils now gave S. Birinus for his episcopal see the town of Dorcic, or Dorchester, about eight miles from Oxford ; and Oswald, having succeeded Edwin as Bretwalda, confirmed the gift. The year after, A.D. 636, S. Birinus baptized Cuichelm, son of Cyne- gils ; and three years later, a.d. 639, Cuthred, the son of Cuichelm, both of wliom had the royal title ; ^ for ^ Anglo-Saxon Chrou. ann. 636, 638, 648. WESSEX, MERCIA, ESSEX, AND SUSSEX. 1 o 35 Mi the government of the West Saxons was divided among the members of the royal tribe, who were styled kings, while over all these " under-rulers," i as they were sometimes called, presided one who bore the title of King of the West Saxons. In the year 643 Cynegils died, and was succeeded as the king of the whole nation by his son Cenwealh, who had always rejected the faith. Two years after, having put away his wife, who was the sister of Tenda] King of the Mercians, and married another, Tenda invaded Wessex and drove him out of the kingdom. Cenwealh retired to the court of Anna, King of the East Angles, with whom he remained for three years. Here, in his adversity, and through his intercourse with Anna's family of saints, he re- ceived the faith which he had rejected in his pros- perity, and was baptized a.d. 646. During the five years which intervened from the death of Cynegils to the restoration of Cenwealh, A.D. 648, Paganism must have been triumphant ; and yet Christianity had already taken so firm and deep a hold on the West Saxons, that during this period S. Birinus continued in possession of his episcopal city of Dorchester. In the year 648 Cenwealh re- covered his throne, and his first act was to cause a minster to be built at Winchester and dedicated to S. Peter.2 g^ Birinus died a.d. 650, and was buried at Dorchester ; but in the time of Hedda, his fourth successor, when the see was removed to Winchester, and the cathedral was finished, his body was carried thither. The baptism of Cynegils by S. Birinus is still to be seen in the carving of an old font in W^inchester Cathedral.^ The Mercians, or Middle Saxons, and the East Saxons, embraced Christianity about twenty years 1 Bede, 1. iv. c. xii. p. 191. - Anglo-Saxon Chron. A.D. 648. 3 Bede 1. iii. c. vii. p. 119, note. i 33^ CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. later than the West Saxons, and both in the year 653, through the zeal of S. Oswy, the brother and successor of S. Oswald. The kingdom of the Mercians, or march men, was formed of various tribes who dwelt on the march or border of the other kingdoms. Its nucleus was several tribes of Angles, such as the Lindisfaras and 'Gainas in Lincolnshire, each under its own ealdorman or king, which were formed into a compact state by Penda, who ascended the throne a.d. 628. But as the kingdom increased in power and extent, it in- cluded the British Magessetas in Herefordshire, the Saxon Huiccii or Wiceii in Gloucester, Worcester, and part of Warwickshire, till, in the following century, it became one of the largest English king- doms, embracing the midland counties from the Thames to the Humber, and from the Welsh border to the confines of Norfolk and Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex. 1 Penda was a prince of more than ordinary military prowess, and he proved a terrible scourge to his Christian neighbours. Not that he persecuted the Christians, for, on the contrary, he did not obstruct the preaching of Christianity among his people, if any were willing to hear it, and only hated and de- spised those Christians who did not live up to their faith, saying of them, ''They were contemptible and wretched who did not obey the God in whom they believed." 2 But in his career of war and conquest one saintly Cliristian king after another — S. Edwin, and S. Oswald of Northumbria, Sigebert, Egric and Anna, of East Anglia, and many young princes of the royal blood— all perished by his sword ; while S. Oswy and his subjects suffered for above twelve years from his fierce ravages. In vain did ^^ Freeraan, Old English History, p. 39. - Bede, 1. iii. c. xxi. p. 144. WESSEX, MERCIA, ESSEX, AND SUSSEX. 337 Oswy try to purchase peace by rich gifts. Penda would not hear of peace on any terms, being resolved to extirpate the whole Northumbrian nation from the highest to the lowest. But notwithstanding this bitter spirit of hostility, Penda's family intermarried with that of Oswy. His daughter Cymburga^ was married to Oswy's son Alchf rid, and his eldest son Peada sought in marriage Oswy's daughter Alhfleda.^ But his suit was rejected, unless he and his subjects would become Christians. Peada accordingly placed himself under Christian in- struction ; and when he heard the preaching of the truth, the promise of the heavenly kingdom, and the hope of resurrection and future immortality, he de- clared that he would willingly become a Christian, even should he be refused the virgin.^ He was baptized by Einan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, with all his earls, soldiers, and servants, a.d. 653, at a village called At-the-Wall,4 because it was near the Koman wall. He then returned home with much joy, taking with him five priests, through whose preaching many of the Mercians, both nobles and ceorls, were converted and baptized. Two years after Peada's baptism Oswy renewed his offers of rich gifts to Penda in exchange for peace ; but his overtures being once more rejected, he vowed to God, if He would give him victory, the presents that the Pagan had refused, and also his daughter Elfleda, who was scarcely a year old. He then gave Penda battle at Winwickfield, near Leeds, defeated 1 Acta SS. Mart. vi. SS. Kineburga et Kineswitha. Cym- burga is sometimes called Kineburga, and confounded with her sister. - Acta SS. Feb. viii. p. 180. S. Elfleda, c. iii. 14, with whom Alhfleda is sometimes confused. 3 Bede, 1. iii. c. xxi. p. 144. * Generally supposed to be Walton. Smith thinks it was Wanbottle near Newcastle. Giles' note, Bede, p. 144. Y 33^ CONVERSION OP THE ENGLISH. and killed him, with thirty men of the roval race and many of his people. In fulfilment of his vow he gave his infant daughter, with land containing one hunclred and twenty families, to S. Hilda, then Abbess iL^T ^' f ^f ^/??°^1 ^ ^^^ S. Hilda built on this land the celebrated Abbey of Whitby, in which Elfleda succeeded her as abbess, i After Penda's death Oswy governed the Mercians for two or three years, his son-in-law Peada holding the country south of the Trent as his vassal. Throu-h their exertions Christianity spread greatly in Mercia and the adjacent provinces. They also began to build at Medeshamstede, no the glory of Christ and the honour of S^Peter,- the abbey afterwards so famous as that of Peterborough. But the following Easter 1 eada was murdered, through the treachery, it is said, of his wife and soon after, a.d. 658, the Mercians rebelled and set up as their king Wulfhere, a youna son of Penda's, wliom they had kept concealed so lonS Usw) s oflicers, and recovered their liberty and their and, being thus free witli their king, they rejoiced to serve Christ he true King, that they might obtain the everlasting kingdom which is in heaven." 2 ^ulf here lost no time in finishing the Abbey of b. Peter at Medeshamstede. When the building was comple ed, he sent through all the nation to invite all who loved God " to the consecration. It was consecrated a.d. 664, by Deusdedit, Archbishop of SS'^'^'w- ^\?'^'^'''^ ^f -tthamar, BishoJ of Rochester Wmi Bishop of London, S. Jaruman, Bishop of the Mercians, Tuda, Bishop of Lindis^ fame, and S. Wilfrid, then a prie'st. There were also present S. Oswy, S Sebbi and Sighere, Kings of the East Saxons, Wulfhere's brothers and sisters, and a ' Bede, 1. iii. c. xxiv. p. 151. ^ j^^^ ^ ^., ^^ ^^.^ ^ ^^^^ WESSEX, MERCIA, ESSEX, AND SUSSEX. 339 host of priests, earls, dukes, and thanes, all of whom subscribed the charter of the abbey "Avitli their fingers on the cross of Christ, and assented to it wdth their tongues." Wulfhere richly endowed the abbey with land, and at the abbot's request he gave the monks " an island called Anchoret's Isle, in which they were to build a minster to the glory of S. Mary, for such as wished to lead a life of peace and rest " as hermits. Then feeling that all his gifts fell short of his devotion, he said, "This gift is little, but it is my will that it shall be held so royally and so freely that neither gold nor tribute be taken from it, except for the monks alone. And so free will I make this minster, that it be subject to Kome alone. And it is my will that all of us who are unable to go to Eome shall here visit S. Peter. . . . AVhosoever shall take from this my gift or the gifts of other good men, may the heavenly gatekeeper take from him in the king- dom of heaven ; and whosoever Avill increase it, may the heavenly gatekeeper increase his state in the kingdom of heaven." ^ All these privileges were confirmed to the abbey by Pope Vitalian, at Wulf- here's request. The same year that Peada was baptized, Christianity once more found an entrance into the kingdom of the East Saxons. Sigebert, their king, was in the habit of visiting Oswy ; and on these occasions Oswy would endeavour, in a brotherly and friendly way, to per- suade him that those could not be gods that had been made by the hands of men. Because "God is rather to be understood as of incomprehensible majesty, and invisible to human eyes, almighty, eternal, the Creator of heaven and earth, and of mankind, who governs and w^ill judge the world in righteousness ; whose everlasting seat is in heaven, 1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an. 657. 338 CONVERSION OP THE ENGLISH. and killed him, with thirty men of the royal race and many of his people. In fulfilment of his vow lie gave his infant daughter, with land containing one hunclred and twenty families, to S. Hilda, then Abbess of Heruteu, or Hartlepool ; and S. Hilda built on this land the celebrated Abbey of Whitby, in which Elfleda succeeded her as abbess, i After Penda^s death Oswy governed the Mercians lor two or three years, his son-in-law Peada holdincr the country south of the Trent as his vassal. Throu-h their exertions Christianity spread greatly in Mercia and the adjacent provinces. They also began to build at Medeshamstede, "to the glory of Christ and the honour of S Peter," the abbey afterwards so famous as that of Peterborough. But the following Easter 1 eada was murdered, through the treachery, it is said, of his wife, and soon after, a.d. 658, the Mercians rebelled and set up as their king Wulfhere, a youna son of Penda's, whom they had kept concealed so Ion" as Oswy ruled the land. And when they had expelled Oswy s officers, and recovered their liberty and their and, being thus free with their king, they rejoiced to serve Christ the true King, that they might obtain the everlasting kingdom which is in heaven." 2 Wulfhere lost no time in finishing the Abbey of fe. Peter at Medeshamstede. When the buildin- was comple ed, he sent through aU the nation to invite all who loved God " to the consecration. It was consecrated a.d. 664, by Deusdedit, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of Ithamar, Bishop of Rochester Wini Bishop of London, S. Jaruman, fame, and S. Wilfrid, then a priest. There were also present S. Oswy, S Sebbi and Sighere, Kings of the East Saxons, Wulfhere's brothers and sisters, and a ' Bede, 1. iii. c xxiv. p. 151. « j^^^ ^ ^^ ^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ WESSEX, MERCIA, ESSEX, AND SUSSEX. 339 host of priests, earls, dukes, and thanes, all of whom subscribed the charter of the abbey "with their fingers on the cross of Christ, and assented to it with their tongues." Wulfhere richly endowed the abbey with land, and at the abbot's request he gave the monks " an island called Anchoret's Isle, in which they were to build a minster to the glory of S. Mary, for such as wished to lead a life of peace and rest " as hermits. Then feeling that all his gifts fell short of his devotion, he said, "This gift is little, but it is my will that it shall be held so royally and so freely that neither gold nor tribute be taken from it, except for the monks alone. And so free will I make this minster, that it be subject to Konie alone. And it is my will that all of us who are unable to go to Kome shall here visit S. Peter. . . . AVhosoever shall take from this my gift or the gifts of other good men, may the heavenly gatekeeper take from him in the king- dom of heaven ; and whosoever ^vill increase it, may the heavenly gatekeeper increase his state in the kingdom of heaven." ^ All these privileges were confirmed to the abbey by Pope Vitalian, at Wulf- here's request. The same year that Peada was baptized, Christianity once more found an entrance into the kingdom of the East Saxons. vSigebert, their king, was in the habit of visiting Oswy ; and on these occasions Oswy would endeavour, in a brotherly and friendly way, to per- suade him that those could not be gods that had been made by the hands of men. Because "God is rather to be understood as of incomprehensible majesty, and invisible to human eyes, almighty, eternal, the Creator of heaven and earth, and of mankind, who governs and w411 judge the world in righteousness; whose everlasting seat is in heaven, 1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an. 657. 340 COXVERSION' OF THE ENGLISH. and not in vile fading matter." i After some time Sigebert consulted with those about him as to these new doctrines, and they agreeing with him, they were all baptized at the village At-the-Wall, a.d. 653. Sigebert took back with him into Essex S. Cedd, brother to the celebrated S. Chad, who was conse- crated the first Bishop of the East Saxons by Finan, Bishop of Lindisfarne. He built two large churches at Blackwater near Maldon in Essex, and at Tilbury on the Thames, to both of which he attached monas- teries. Ho also built a monastery at Lestingau, or Lastingham, in Yorkshire, where he died. He was buried first in the open air, and afterwards in the stone church of the monastery, which was built " in honour of the Mother of God." 2 After some years Sigebert was murdered by two brothers, his own kinsmen, who assigned as their motive that they hated him because he was in the habit of sparing his enemies, and easily forgivin^^ the injuries they had inflicted on him. Sigebert's death, however, did not check the progress of°Chris- tianity, for his successor Suidhelm, and after him Sebbi and Sighere, between wliom the kingdom was divided, all professed Christianity. But during a terrible plague which raged in both England and Ireland a.d. 664, Sighere and his subjects, through one of those wild, impious delusions which are so strangely common in times of pestilence, fell back into idolatry, hoping to escape the mortality through demon-worship. As soon, however, as Wulf- here heard what was going on, he sent S. Jaruman, Bishop of Lichfield, to preach to them ; and before very long Sighere and his people, repenting of their wickedness, "reopened the churches and rejoiced in confessing the name of Christ, preferring to die in ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. xxii. p. 145. 2 ibj^ i^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^j ^ j^^^ i WESSEX, MERCIA, ESSEX, AND SUSSEX. 341 Him with the faith of the resurrection than to live in the filth of apostacy among their idols." ^ Thus, in less than sixty years, the whole English nation, with the exception of the small kingdom of the South Saxons, had been converted to Christianity. The South Saxons came to England a.d. 477, under iElla and his son Cissa, from whose camp or city the modern Chichester has its name. They must then have been a powerful tribe, for ^lla was the first Bretwalda.2 But from that time they took no part in the constant wars of their neighbours, living isolated behind the ramparts of woods and cliffs with which nature had provided them, and sunk in the lowest stage of barbarism. Thus Christianity did not reach them till nearly twenty years after it had gained a firm footing in the other English kingdoms. It happened that, some time before the year 681, Ethelwalch their king paid a visit to the court of Wulfhere, King of the Mercians, where he heard the Christian doctrine, and, through Wulfliere's per- suasion, was baptized. Wulfhere was his godfather, and gave him as a baptismal gift the Isle of Wight and the eastern part of Hamj^shire, which he had conquered from Cenwealh, King of the West Saxons. Ethelwalch married Ebba, a West Saxon princess and a Christian. But though both the king and queen of the South Saxons had thus received the true faith, it did not spread among their people. Nor was any im- pression made on them by the preaching of Dicul, an ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. xxx. p. 169. 2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an. 477. Bede, 1. ii. c. v. p. 76, and 1. iv. c. iv. p. 179. Ceaulin, King of the West Saxons, vas the second Bretwalda ; S. Ethelbert, King of Kent, the third ; Redwald, King of the East Angles, the fourth ; and he was succeeded by S. Edwin, S. Oswald, and S. Oswy, after whom the title remained in abeyance till Egbert united England into one kingdom, and became eighth Bretwalda. Anglo-Sax. Chron. an 827. I J '1 342 CONVERSION' OF THE ENGLISH. Irish monk who lived with five or six brethren in a small monastery at Bosanham, or Bosham, four miles from Chichester. At last, in tlie year 681, S. Wilfrid, of whom more will be said hereafter, having been driven out of his diocese of York, took refuge with King Ethelwalch. It was a season of frightful suffering. No rain had fallen for three years, and a terrible famine was the consequence. Numbers of the people died, and the survivors fell into despair, so that it was no uncom- mon sight to behold forty or fifty men kill themselves together, by jumping hand in hand from some pre- cipitous clilF, or by rushing into the boisterous waves. When Wilfrid saw their misery he was touched with compassion, and noticing that, though their rivers and coasts abounded with fish, they were so ignorant as not to be able to catch any except eels, he and his people set to work both to catcli fish for them, and to teach them how to provide for themselves. These poor Pagans, who had no idea of Christian charity, and had never before experienced such kind- ness, became very fond of Wilfrid, and listened readily to his preaching. Before long he baptized several of tl\e principal men of the nation ; and on the day of their baptism there fell a soft but plentiful rain, which put an end to the drought and famine. This naturally inclined the people to the faith, and Wilfrid and four priests who accompanied him baptized all the rest of the nation. King Ethelwalch gave him for his main- tenance the peninsula of Selsey, eight miles south of Chichester, which contained eighty-seven families, be- sides two hundred and fifty slaves, to whom, in obedi- ence to the law of the Church, he gave their liberty. The South Saxons being thus converted, Paganism still lingered only in the Isle of Wight and a narrow strip of land along the coast of Hampshire, both of which were colonised by Jutes. They also became WESSEX, MERCIA, ESSEX, AND SUSSEX. 343 Christian, a.d. 686, under the following circum- stances. Cenwealh, King of the West Saxons, dying a.d. 672, his widow Sexburga reigned for a year; after which the under-kings, or ealdormen, seized the kingdom and divided it among tliemselves,^ though Escwin, a descendant of Cerdic, and Centwine, the son of Cynegils, seem still to have possessed some sort of authority over the rest.- At length Cead- walla, a daring young man of the race of Ceaulin, subdued the rebellious under-kings, a.d. 685, and united the kingdom in his own person. Then wishing to recover the position which his nation had lost during the late anarchy, he turned his victorious arms against his neighbours, laid w^aste Kent in two successive years, conquered the South Saxons, killed Ethelwalch, and brouglit the nation into permanent subjection to the West Saxons. The Isle of Wight still maintaining its independence, he resolved to exterminate its inhabitants and repeople it with his own subjects ; and as this w\as no easy task, he made a vow, though still a Pagan, to give the fourth part of the land and the booty to our Lord. Accordingly, when he had conquered the island he gave Wilfrid a quarter of it, with three hundred families; and Wilfrid committed them to the care of his sister's son, Beorthwine, and a priest called Heddila, who instructed and baptized them.^ But all the other inhabitants, to the number of nine thousand, were most cruelly butchered. So merciless was Cead- w^alla, that two boys, sons of the Jute king, who had escaped to the mainland and hid there, being at last taken and brouglit to him, he ordered them to be killed. In vain Cyneberht, the abbot of a small monastery at Roodford, or Relbridge, pleaded for ^ Bede, 1. iv. c. xii. p. 191. ^ gaxon Chronicle, a.d. 674, 676. 3 Bede, 1. iv. c. xvi. p. 199. 344 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. 14 their lives. All that he could obtain was that their execution should be deferred till he should have in- structed and baptized them. The poor boys, reft of all earthly hope, joyfully received the heavenly promises, and their souls being cleansed by baptism, they c^ladly suffered that temporal death through which they did not doubt that they would pass to eternal life. Ceadwalla also gave the town of Pagenham, in Sussex, to Wilfrid, who obtained for the townspeople many valuable privileges. The charter granting these IS a curious proof how completely Christian habits had been established in England ; for though Cead- walla was still a Pagan, he said in it, that in con- iirmation of the charter he " put a turf upon the holy altar of our Saviour ;'' adding, "by reason of my Ignorance of writing my name, I have expressed and subscribed the sign of the Holy Cross.'' i Soon after the cruel slaughter of the Jutes, Cead- walla became a catechumen, probably through Wil- frid's influence and prayers, though history fs silent on this point. The grace that was now given him was of no ordinary kind. For in the year G8S while still unbaptized, he "laid down his earthly crown for the sake of our Lord and His everlastincr kingdom," and went to Rome to be baptized in the Church of the Apostles, hoping that as soon as he was baptized he might lay down his flesh, and " pass immediately to the eternal joys of heaven." His pious wish was granted. For on Easter Eve, a.d. 689, Pope Sergius baptized him and gave him the name of Peter, his "love for whom had brought him from the utmost bounds of the earth ; " 2 and a few days after he fell ill and died, while he still wore the white robe of his baptism. Thus in ninety years from S. Augustine's arrival the conversion of England was completed. I English Saints, S. Wilfrid, by the Rev. R W. Faber, p. 143. - Hede, 1. v. c. vii. p. 244. CHAPTER IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND. The conversion of England is one of the most re- markable events in history. For the new faith, in the brief period of sixty years, took so strong a hold on the nation that it completely revolutionised its life and habits ; and this mighty work was efi'ected without persecution or compulsion, or the shedding of a single drop of blood, and entirely through the full exercise of liberty. When S. Augustine arrived England was the abode of pirates, who surpassed other barbarians in ferocity, and were devoted to the worship of Woden and Thor, Ostara and Freyr, and their long train of bloodthirsty and obscene deities. But no sooner was kingdom after kingdom regenerated in baptism, and fed with the " Bread of the elect and the wine that germinates virgins," i than the full perception of supernatural virtue burst upon each in succession, and humility and purity, charity, mortification, and missionary zeal, sprang forth abundantly. What makes this great revolution the more striking is, that side by side with the bright lights of sanctity one meets witli frequent wars between neighbourinc^ kingdoms, difficulties about the Christian restrictions on marriage, and collisions between royal and ecclesi- astic authority, such as might naturally be looked for in a disorderly society. The simple and graphic ^ Zach. ix. 17. 345 34^ CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. narration of these opposite facts by contemporary liis- torians not only attests the veracity of the writers, but also proves that the saintly virtues which com- mand admiration were no Utopian dream of ideal perfection, but the fruits of the hard fight of grace against nature, and the triumph of Cliristian hope and love over national habits and vices. So completely did the nation abandon its piratical practices, that when Alfred resolved, in the nintli century, to defend England by wooden walls, he was actually obliged to create a navy. We are told i that the ships which he built " were shapen neither like the Frisian nor the Danish " vessels, " but so as it seemed to him they would be most efficient," as if the old national model of a ship of war no lon^^er existed. And he brought over many Frisians to teach the English how to manage them. In fact, so fully was the new Christian life developed, that for about one hundred and fifty years the title of Isle of Saints might well be applied to this former Isle of Pirates. The peculiarities of the nation's social organisation naturally affected its conversion. The German tribes who conquered Britain were among those with whom the family, and not the village, was the nucleus of society,^ as appears from their custom of estimating the value of land by the number of families that it maintained. They were all divided into three classes — the eorls or nobles, the ceorls, who were the great mass of the nation who bore arms; and these two classes alone con- stituted the body politic, for the third class, theowes or serfs, had no political privileges, and were more or less dependent on the upper classes. When an important matter had to be settled, it was first dis- J Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an. S97. - Freytag, Bilder, c. i. p. 76. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONVERSION. 347 cussed in the witena-gemot, or council of wise men, composed of nobles, priests, and heads of families! Afterwards it was submitted to the national assembly, in which the ceorls accepted or rejected by acclama- tion the decision of the Avitena-gemot ; and their vote was required to be unanimous, or nearly so, for these free Germans had no idea that an assembly could be supposed to assent to what had been carried by only a small numerical majority.^ This process seems to have been adopted with the new religion, which, as soon as it was accepted by the wise men and heads of families, became the re- ligion of the kingdom. But this national decision did not interfere with individual liberty. For it has been seen that several members of Penda's family, besides Mercian nobles and ceorls, and also Ethel- walch and his queen, were Christians, while their respective kingdoms continued to be Pagan; and, on the other hand, the profession of Paganism by Cenwealh and Ceadwalla did not affect the position of Christianity, except so far as their personal influ- ence might have extended. The characteristics, then, of the conversion of England are very remarkable : rapidity united with thoroughness, wholesale baptisms with freedom for the individual. We do not mean that the great revolution effected succeeded at once in effacing all the old Adam out of the Saxon barbarian. We often meet still with great crimes, yet we never in the old English history come upon such hybrid monsters as Brunehaut and Fredcgonde. In order to see how utterly different a Saxon king was from a Merovino-ian monarch, we have only to contrast the Venerable Bede with Gregory of Tours. The circumstances of the Saxon conquest of England will explain the ^ Burke, Abridgment of English History, 1. ii. c. 7. Works- vol. ix. pp. 347, 360, ed. Rivington, 1826. 348 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. difference. The ^lerovingian was a barbarian witli a varnish of Roman culture. The Englishman was a fresh child of nature with the virtues of a Christian. The Frankish kings on the Continent found them- selves in the midst of the ancient Roman Christianity, and settled themselves amongst and intermingled with the Romanised Gaul. It was not so with the German pirates who conquered Britain. Of course it is im- possible to exterminate a nation, and British women no doubt often became the wives or slaves of the Saxons, and the serfs of the South and West were very probably enslaved Britons; yet the policy of the Saxon was one of extermination, while that of the Frank was, on tlie whole, of preservation. While the Franks dwelt amidst the churches and amphi- theatres of the ancient Roman civilisation, the Saxons drove the old population into the mountains and the fens, absolutely destroyed Silchester, Pevensey, and Wroxeter, and repcopled waste cities. The peculi- arity of the conversion of the English by S. Augustine and his successors was the consequence of this state of things. The Saxon king was not a bloodstained burlesque of a Roman emperor, like the Merovingian Frank. He was still a genuine German chief, and pure German ideas were to be found in England when they were adulterated on the Continent. Hence, when the king was converted, Christianity was pro- posed to the AVitan, and the nation gave to the religion of its king and nobles a hearing, which could not have been extorted by his command. Grace found a tirgin soil in the frankness and independence of the Saxon, unspoiled by a decaying civilisation. Christianity, instead of fdtering through the remains of Gallo-Roman churches into the Allemanic tribes, as it chiefly did on the Continent till the English undertook the work of conversion, flowed like the orderly rise of a beneficent river over the genial land CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONVERSION. 349 of Saxon England. Our ancestors received the faith through the pure lips of a few holy monks, instead of through the gradual pressure of a conquered and often degraded people. All this has left traces even to the present time. English bishoprics are not, like those of France, seated in the old Roman towns, but in the capitals of Saxon kingdoms, and thus bear witness to the thorough annihilation of the ancient British Church. Above all, the remarkable union in the old English Church of nationality and of loyalty to Rome is explained by its direct origin from the holy city, as well as by the circumstances of its kings. The Saxon king who could not point, like the Frank, to an investiture from Caesar, was glad, like the boy Alfred, to be consecrated by the Roman Pontiff, instead of being a bad imitation of the Roman emperor; and the Saxon bishop was ever docile to the See of Peter, from which he derived the pure stream of the faith. In consequence of this the English Church offers a fine example of thorough organisation imposed once for all, and carried out perfectly from the very first. All the orders of clergy, with bishops and metropolitans, the monastic discipline, the solemnities of Divine worship, even trained singers, with books as the foundation of a library — all were provided ; and the whole was knitted together and consolidated by the closest union with the Chair of S. Peter. As to the faith, the English Church was happy in its insular position, which protected it from con- tamination by heresy. The only Christians* besides the Roman Church, with whom it came in contact, were the Britons and Irish, the purity of whose faith has never been impugned. At the council of Rome, held by Pope Agatho, a.d. G80, S. Wilfrid, then Bishop of York, " in the name of all the churches in the north of Britain, . . . i' 350 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. made open profession of the true Catholic faith." ^ And about the same time S. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, assembled the English bishops at Hatfield, where they unanimously declared their adhesion to the true Catholic faith as expressed in the creeds, in the writings of the holy Fathers, and in the canons of the five general councils and the synod held in Kome by Pope Martin I. for the con- demnation of nionothelitism.- For many centuries this pure Catholic faith was that of the English Church, and no heresy found entrance within her. As to the national devotions, that to "our Lady S. Mary" was expressed from the earliest times by the erection of churches to her honour, and by the solemn dedication of all the property of the English Church "as an everlasting inheritance to the glory of Christ, and of our Lady S. Mary, and of the holy Apostles," by Withred, King of Kent, in his own name and that of his successors, at a great council of his kingdom held a.d. 694.^ For this reason England was wont to be called "Mary's dowry." The festivals of her Nativity, Annunciation, Purifi- 4jation, and Assumption were celebrated. Her in- tercession was constantly sought. And her glories, especially her perpetual virginity, and her dignity as Mother of God, were celebrated by both poets and prose writers.* The general devotion to S. Peter is seen in the fact that most of the churches first founded were dedicated to him. It also appears in the constant pilgrimages to Kome by kings, bishops, and persons of all classes — the laity flocking thither to receive ^ Bede, 1. V. c. xix. p. 272. - Ibid. 1. iv. c. xviii. p. 203. 2 AugIi)-Saxon Chronicle, an. 694. ■* Bede, Honiil. 24, in Purificat. Works, v. p. 173, ed. Giles, S. Aldhelm, in Bibl. Patr. viii. 14, Ap. Lingard, Anglo- Saxon Church, ii. c. x. p. 86. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONVERSION. 351 absolution at the Apostle's tomb, and the clergy to be more perfectly instructed in Catholic doctrines and customs. The necessity for communion with the Holy See cannot be more clearly expressed than by the Venerable Bede, who says " that the powers of the keys had been given to S. Peter, to the end that all throughout the world might know, that whoso- ever should separate himself from the unity of Peter's faith and Peter's fellowship could never obtain ab- solution from the bonds of sin, nor admission through the gates of the heavenly kingdom." ^ It has been already told in what a large and gentle spirit S. Gregory's directions to S. Augustine were conceived, and how tender he was to the natural feelings and habits of the converts, taking care only to puiify them from error and associate them with Christian truth. But in all more important points, such as the administration of the sacraments, the due succession of holy orders, and Church government and discipline, the Roman customs were carried out with the greatest strictness. This is evident from the care which Bede takes to record by whom the various bishops were consecrated, and the several lines of succession. Also, when the see of Canter- bury was vacant from a.d. 664: to 668^ S. Wilfrid went to France to be consecrated; while S. Chad, who was not equally careful, but accepted consecra- tion from Wini, Bishop of the West Saxons, in the presence of two British bishops, was obliged, on the arrival of Archbishop Theodore, to resign his see and be consecrated afresh, his former consecration being declared invalid.^ Similar care was taken to make sure of the validity of baptisms, as appears from the lives of S. Boniface and S. John of Beverley. On one occasion, S. John having questioned one of his ^ Bede, Homil. 27. Works, v. p. 199. ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. x xviii. and 1. iv. c. ii. ) ii 1^1 352 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. attendants as to the circumstances of his baptism, baptized him anew, saying, "If you were baptized by that priest, your baptism is not perfect; for I know him, and that he could not, by reason of the dulness of his understanding, learn the ministry of catechising and baptizing: for which reason I commanded him altogether to desist from his pre- sumptuous exercising of the ministry, which he could not duly perform." ^ In the civil government of the nation, too, the influence of Christianity was evident. S. Ethelbert was so anxious to bring the laws and customs of his people into harmony with Christian morality and the laws of the Church, that "by the advice of wise persons, he introduced judicial decrees after the Roman fashion, which, being written in English," continued to be "observed by the nation."- His example was followed by Withred, one of his suc- cessors, Ina, King of the West Saxons, and Offa, King of the Mercians ; and these codes, being handed down by Alfred and S. Edward the Confessor, became the basis of Christian law and liberty in England. Further proofs of the Christian spirit of the newly converted raonarchs are found in their generosity to the Church, and even more in the fact that, as each kingdom received the faith, bishoprics were estab- lished, monasteries were founded, synods were held, and ecclesiastical canons and papal decrees w^ere ac- cepted without the opposition which might naturally have been expected from a barbarian nation unbroken to obedience and jealous of its independence. At the same time, notwithstanding the frequent wars between rival states, the subdivisions of the country were not allowed to interfere with the perfect carry- ing out of ecclesiastical government and discipline. ^ Bede, 1. v. c. vi. ^ Ibid. 1. iL c. V. p. 77. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONVERSION. 353 ^ Moreover, the Church did not encounter the same difficulties about marriage in England as in France. This may perhaps be partly attributable to the morality of the nation, even as Pagans, being of a higher tone than that of the Franks ; polygamy not being the privilege of kings and nobles, and the family relations being strengthened by the social organisation. It cannot, however, be supposed that a people accustomed to the worship of Ostara and Freyr fell at once into habits of Christian purity. But it was not till the next century, when its re- ligious fervour was subsiding, that gross cases of licentiousness ^ were placed on record. ^ Ep. S. Bonifac. 72 Wurdt. 19 Serar. CHAPTER V. ENGLISH KINGS. The Teutonic nations far surpassed the Greeks and Romans in the tirmness of their belief in the super- natural world and a future life. When S. Augustine came to England the English seem to have been much occupied with these subjects, and the hope which Christianity held out to soothe their fears and anxiety was the chief incentive to their conversion. S. Ethel- bert's answers to S. Augustine, the long deep thought- fulness of S. Edwin, the speeches of his council, 1;he arguments addressed by S. Oswy to Sigebert, are all very remarkable in the chiefs of a nation of ferocious pirates. They show habits of self-control and intellec- tual powers wliich raise the speakers far above the ordinary level of barbarians; while the similarity which is apparent between their just, conservative, and reflective tone, and the best points of the modern English character, attests the veracity of Bede's record. In the history of that period many little incidents give interesting glimpses into the character of these barbarian converts, and show how simply they prac- tised the virtues of that supernatural life on which they had so joyfully entered. Many instances of S. Ethelbert's and S. Edwin's generosity and zeal have already been mentioned. S. Oswald was not in any respect their inferior ; and he did for his paternal kingdom of Bernicia what S. Edwin had done for Deira. Churches and monasteries were built; Christian teachers were brought from 3|4 ENGLISH KINGS. 355 Scotland ; and as S. Aidan spoke English imperfectly, S. Oswald was accustomed to accompany him as he went about preaching, and to interpret the Word of God to his subjects.! It has been told how he erected a cross and knelt in prayer before his great battle with Ceadwalla. Prayer was the great business of his life. Not only did he join the clergy in chanting the night office, but he prolonged his devotions for many hours of the night betw^een lauds and the break of day. He was so constantly occupied in praying and giving thanks to God, that it was his habit always to sit with his hands on his knees, turned up in the atti- tude of prayer; and it became a proverb, ^'that he ended his life in prayer." For in his last battle with Penda, amid the excitement and confusion of defeat, when old Pagan thoughts of blood and revenge might naturally have rushed to his mind, even as he felHie l)rayed for his enemies, saying, " Lord, have mercv on their souls." ^ His charity equalled his piety. One Easter Day he sat down to table with S. Aidan, and a silver dish, full of choice dainties in honour of the festival, was set before him. But just as grace was about to be said, the servant whose business it was to relieve the poor came in and told the king that a crowd of desti- tute persons was asking alms at the gate. Oswald instantly ordered the dainties of which he was iroing to partake to be given to them, and the silver^'dish to be cut in pieces and distributed among them; where- upon Aidan, charmed with this act, seized Oswald's right hand, exclaiming, "May this hand never perish !" These words proved prophetic For when Oswald fell in battle, his right hand and arm were cut off, and long preserved incorrupt in a silver case at S. Peter's Church at Bamborough.3 ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. iii. p. 112. 2 jbid. l. iii. c. xii. p. 128. 3 Ibid c. vi. p. 118. 356 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. ENGLISH KINGS. 357 The most interesting and saintly character of this age was S. Oswin.i He was the son of S. Edwin's cousin Osric, who succeeded him in Deira, and apos- tatised from the faith. When Osric was killed by Ceadwalla, Oswin being only a child, his friends managed to carry him off to Wessex. Here he re- mained in exile for ten years ; and as he grew up he was remarkable for his personal beauty, his attractive manners, and his great virtue, especially his humility, . so that he was beloved by all, whether noble or simple, who approached him. After Oswald's death, a.d. 642, he was raised to the throne of Deira, but whether by Oswy, Oswald's brother and successor in Bernicia, or by the choice of the Deiri, is not known. For seven years Oswin reigned peacefully and prosperously. S. Aidan often came to visit him, and a warm friendship sprang up between the saintly bishop and the saintly king. The king " looked on the bishop as an angel, treasured up his words, and obeyed him as if he were inspired ; correcting at his reproof whatsoever he had dcxne amiss." The bishop, on the other hand, loved the king as though he was part of his own soul, "and delighted in his humility and obedience, one while upbraiding him as a son, if he were too much occupied with secular matters, and another while cherishing and inflaming him, like a dear friend, with familiar spiritual conversation . . . about the contempt of the world, the sweetness of the heavenly life, and the glory of the saints." 2 The bishop's lessons produced their due effect. Oswin watched, fasted, and prayed ; he took care of all his subjects with fatherly affection, relieving the poor, especially strangers, feeding the hungry, cloth- ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. xiii. p. 131. English Saints, S. Oswin, by the Rev. F. W. Faber, which is taken in great part from " Vit. S. Oswin," by a monk of Tynemouth, published by the Surtees Society from the MS. Cotton. - S. Oswin, p. 82. ing the naked, bestowing favours graciously on all who asked them, and repressing with firmness all infractions of the laws. But though he was beloved by all, and everything prospered with him, yet, " freely drawn by the sole contemplation of his Creator, he lived in the royal purple as David did, poor and sorrowing; poor in spirit even while he abounded in wealth and royal state ; sorrowful in spirit, because he trusted not his heart to his abundance of good things. ... In the midst of a noisy court, which was ever too much for him, he fled far off and remained in the solitude of his mind, even when his subjects thronged about him. Abroad he carried himself as a kins:, in a kingly way, but inwardly he was a king over his own affections, courageously exercising himself in humility and poverty, . . . and pouring out his whole soul in works of mercy." ^ It was the habit of S. Aidan, as of all the monks and bishops of that day, to travel on foot through his diocese. In order to spare his spiritual father this fatigue, and the danger which attended his crossing rapid rivers on foot, the young king gave him an extraordinarily fine horse, capable of carrying him safely through every peril. But soon after, as S. Aidan rode along, he met a poor man who asked an alms of him ; whereupon, dismounting, he gave the fine horse with its royal trappings to the beggar. "When the young king heard what had become of the horse, he was vexed, and said to S. Aidan, " Why did you give the poor man that royal horse ? Had I not many other horses which would have been good enough for that poor man, instead of giving him that horse, which I had chosen specially for yourself?" But S. Aidan answered, " king ! is that foal of ^ S. Oswin, p. 94. is*--l 358 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. a mare more dear to you than the Son of God?" They went in to dinner, and the bishop sat down ; but the king stood at the fire warming himself.' Then all on a sudden, ungirding his sword and giving it to a servant, Oswin threw himself at S. Aidan's feet, beseeching him to forgive him, and saying, "From this time forward I will never speak any more of this, nor will I judge of what or how much of our money you give to the sons of God." S. Aidan, touched with the king's humility, raised him, and bade him sit down to table and banish his f^orrow. Oswin obeyed, and soon began to laugh and joke ; but S. Aidan became more and more sad, even to tears. Then one of his priests asked him in Irish why He wept, and he answered, "I know that the king will not live long ; for I never before saw so humble a king. Whence I conclude that he will soon be snatched out of this life, because this nation if? not worthy of such a ruler." 1 Too soon, alas ! was S. Aidan's presentiment veri- fied. Oswy long looked enviously on the virtues and popularity of his saintly colleague ; but for some time he suppressed his feelings, chiefly through S. Aidan's influence. At lengtli, at the end of seven years, his pent-up anger began to manifest itself in a succession of petty disputes, in which Oswin's gentleness and humility always placed him at an advantage. Thus passed two years of trial and trouble, till at last Oswy lost all self-control, and breaking out into fury, collected a large army and marched against his hated foe. Oswin, too, collected such troops as he could, and met Oswy at Wilfar's Hill, about ten miles from Catterick. But when he saw how inferior was his own force to that of Oswy, he could not endure the ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. xiv. p. 132. ENGLISH KINGS. 359 thought of the slaughter that must ensue, and know- ing that it was his crown, or at the most his life, that Oswy aimed at, he resolved to disband his army] and calmly await alone whatever God might order for him. In vain his soldiers, "wounded with a deep wound in their hearts," knelt to him, and im- ploring, besought him to let them fight for him. "Haply," said they, "we may conquer; we may break even through those wedges of men. But if not, let us die, and not pass into a proverb as de- serters of our king." But Oswin was unmoved, and explaining to them his motives, he added, " I pant after martyrdom and the joys of the heavenly king- dom." Then, kneeling down, he prayed aloud, "Father of mercy, and God of all consolation, whose Son is the Angel of great counsel, whose Spirit is the Comforter in difficulties, grant me in this strait to choose the better way. For if I fight, I shall be guilty before Thee of the shedding of blood. If I fly, I shall be accounted to have degenerated from the nobility of my parents, and to have fallen short of my station. Flying I displease men ; fighting I displease Thee." So saying, he made his choice, and "fixed his anchor in God." Having dismissed his soldiers, Oswin retired with one faithful follower, Tondhere, to the village of Grilling, not far from Kichmond, which he had lately given to Count Hunwald. But when Oswy found that Deira was his without striking a blow, no gene- rous or noble emotion stirred his breast ; and he only felt that he had been balked of his triumph, for the meek and humble Oswin was still his superior. He therefore ordered Ethelwin, one of his chiefs, to go with a band of soldiers in search of the fugitive king, and kill him. Quickly they found him, for Hunwald basely betrayed his benefactor. On learn- ing Ethelwin's errand, Oswin was disturbed by the 36o CONVERSION OP THE ENGLISH. suddenness of his doom and the perfidy of his friend But soon recovering himself, and making the sign of vt "°t\°° ^' heart and tongue, he said to Ethel- win, The sentence of your king depends upon the or Thp1?f 1 ?^ f^^-" ^' pleaded with EthelwVn W L°r '" f°"o^«'-i ''"t Tondhere, with true Teutonic fidelity, would not survive his lord. Both o7Ai5~Ltf '°'"''" -^^ ^'"'"«' ^'^ ^'^^ 20'^ It is hard to turn from S. Oswin to his cruel enemy with any other feeling than horror and disgust. Yet truth requires it to be told that the murder of Oswin was a solitary blot on Oswy's fame. His contrition for this sin was deep and sincere ; and at the instance and S Ethelberga, he humbled himself before his subjects, and built a monastery at Gilling as a public confession and lasting memorial of his sin and his penitence. His earnest but vain endeavours to live at peace with Penda, his pious vow and trust in God to give him victoiy in a just war, and his zeal in spreading the faith among the Mercians and Eas^ ba.xons, have already been menUoned. The same piety appears in all his actions ; and in none mo^e conspicuous y than in the conference, held a.d. 664, at ^Vhitby for the decision of the Easter controversy when, on heanng that our Lord had given the keys fJr^'' ""^ ?-^ ^'^\ *° S. Peter, he instantly al W f til? Fejudices of his Irish education and the habits of his life, m obedience to the Word of God ^iit « wi""'. °^ ^if ^'^* h« ^'^^ preparing to go with S. Wilfrid to Eome, to end his days in prayer and penance. His Christian course, sullied by onlv one great crime, won for him from his subjects and contemporaries the reputation of a saint, and his ?5rh of Ka^;. ''^ ^"""^'^ ''^^'^'^'^^^y - *h« ENGLISH KINGS. 36 1 In such characters as Osvvy, Wulfhere, and Cen- wealh can be traced the lingering imperfections of their barbarian nature and habits, together with the triumph of Christian grace. All three were warlike princes, drawn by their own ambition, or driven by the restlessness of their barbarian subjects, into frequent aggressions on their neighbours. Oswy pressed down upon Wulfhere, who made amends for his losses in the north by subjugating the East Saxons, and wresting the Isle of Wight and great part of Hampshire from Cenwealh, who in his turn compensated himself at the expense of the Britons in Somersetshire and Devonshire. But though all three had once been Pagans, and must often°have joined in the worship of Woden and Thor {ind the bloodthirsty fury which it inspired, yet all three laid aside their cruel Pagan customs, and fought much as Christian nations now fight for territory and dominion ; while the use which they made of their victories might well shame modem civilisation. Oswy's three years' occupation of Mercia spread the blessings of Christianity throughout that kingdom. Wulfhere watched with paternal carefulness over the faith of the East Saxons, hastening to revive the hope and courage which had failed them amid the horrors of pestilence. While Cenwealh, far from exterminating the vanquished Britons, as his fore- fathers had done, nobly granted them the protection of the laws in return for the contempt and hatred with which they continued to treat his nation. It is also remarkable that, though they had been trained in youth to consider pride and revenge as duties, yet, after their conversion, these natural feelings did not interrupt their Christian harmony. The history of the Abbey of Peterborough is a case in point. This abbey was begun by Oswy and Peada during Oswy's occupation of Mercia, but it 9 363 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. uswj. ihus It was a monument of Wulfhere's numph and Oswy's defeat. Notwithstanding L the joyful day of consecration Oswy was uresent and signed the charter after Wulfhcre f wMe' Widfhere we are told "favoured the abbey much folrWe of his brother Peada, and for the love of Oswy his brother by baptism," .0 that « it waxed very rich " Oswy and also lie friend and adviser of his rival Wufhere. And though Oswy had set aside S VV^ilfnls nomination to the bishopric of York and given It to S Chad, yet, when Ard.bishop Theodo e degraded S. Chad and placed S. Wilfrid in the ee neither Oswy nor the two bishops seem to have had any sore feeling on the subject. There was one point in which the En-lish sur- passed al other converts to the faith except Z Irish, and this was in their remarkable attect on to monastic life. The whole of England was Chrk tianised through monks ; all the fiSt bishops were £ V. T°^' "!°"«^teries were attached to all the prmc.pa churches and bishoprics,! and the English of all c asses and both sexes flocked to them by hundreds and thousands. The English kings and queens set their subiects an example m this respect which has no parallel in history no less than twenty-six of them havin-' la d aside their crowns, and exchanged the di-niU and p easures of royalty for the obedience and po'^er^y Kii. .] If'-'p^ V": '^"'"P'° ^»^ ''^ by S. S gebert! King of the East Angles, who "became so ^eat a ^ Acta SS. O. S B r^pp i;; f ; -d r 1 J. • •*-'' sdiC. Ill, t. 1. Frefaop n wirj; a^ only eShtt:! sturct^rc.™.:x'^' "="""'' '=''"""^' ^'^^ ENGLISH KINGS. 36^ lover of the heavenly kingdom that, quitting the affairs of his crown, ... he went into a monastery, . . . and having received the tonsure, applied him- self rather to gain a heavenly throne. Some time after Penda made ^var on the East Angles, who, finding themselves inferior to their enemy, entreated Sigebert to lead them to battle. He refused; where- upon they drew him against his will out of the monas- tery and carried him to the army, hoping that the soldiers would gain confidence from the presence of one who had been distinguished as a brave leader. But he, remembering his religious profession, even in the midst of the battle would carry nothing but a wand in his hand, and was killed with his kmsmau and successor Ecgric." ^ There was also S. Sebbi, the son of Siward, one of the three sons of Sabert,2 who had restored Paganism among the East Saxons. Sebbi governed the East Saxons conjointly with his nephew Sighere, under Wulfhere, King of the Mercians. He led a life of prayer, penance, and almsdeeds amid the cares and temptations of a throne, so that it ^vas often said that he ought to have been a bishop rather than a king. He long wished to exchange the wealth and honours of his kingdom for the peace and retirement of monastic life, but his wife positively refused to bo divorced from him. At length, when he had reigned thirty years, being attacked ^vith a mortal malady, he persuaded her to consent " that then at least they should jointly devote themselves to the service of God." He accordingly received the tonsure from Waldhere, Bishop of London, a.d. 693, and became a monk in the monastery of S. Peter and S. Paul, whither he carried a large sum of money for the poor, ** reserving nothing for himself, but rather ^' Bede, 1. iii. c. xviii. p. 138. 2 Acta SS. Aurthe m un deth '"e^; f^''^". '^'' '''^'''' b^ tornCm' h m by' death. But though he consented to the wisdom of her words, he constantly kept deferring the great .act of «elf.renunciation. At length it came to ^Tass that he |,^ave a gl^.^t feast to his noble., when th walls were rd^ri ' r^ tapestry, the tables were covered S In t!j\ ■'''^'' ^'"^^ ''''^ ""'"''y- Tlie next day and ^1) ^""''"V"'^ ""^ ^'' ''''^'^'''' ^^ hi« houses^ and as they were about to start Ethelburga called the- ste^v-ard and said to him, *' As soon as the\irfsVone nev litter of pigs m the bed where the kin- sleot " The stewai-d did a. the queen commanded. AiMen Ina and tlie queen had gone about a mile from the house, she said to him, '* Turn back, my lord t^ the house whence we have come, for it' will be 4eatlv turned back And when he reached the house rrreatlv amazed was he to find all the curtains and Sus vessels gone, and the house full of filth and rEh ana a sow and her litter in his own bed. Then Ethel bur^ said to him, '' Seest thou, O king, hoVthe pomp ^oo f] ^^.""^^ ^T'^^ ""'^^y ^ ^Vl^ere'are now allThe goodly things, the curtains, the vessels, the meats and Bede, 1. V c. vii. p. 245. An-lo-Sax. Chron an 79S Ozanam, Civilisation Chretienne, c. n*. p 169. ENGLISH KINGS. 367 drinks, wherewith thou and thy lords feasted yesterday ? How filthy is now the house which but yesterday was goodly and fit for a king ! What a foul beast lieth in the bed in which a king slept only last night ! Are not all the things of this life a breath, yea, smoke, and a wind that passeth away ? Are they not a river that runneth by, and no man seeth the water any more ? Woe then to them that cleave to the things of this life only. And shall not we, who have more power and wealth tlian others, have worse punishments than others if we cleave to these things alone ? Thou growest old and the time is short. Wilt thou not lay aside thy kingdom and all the things of this life, and go as a pilgrim to the threshold of the Apostles in tlie great city of Rome, and there serve God all the rest of the days that He shall give thee?" So King Ina listened to his wife ; and he gave up his kingdom to his kinsman Ethelard, and went to Rome.^ His wife joyfully bade him farewell, hoping to meet him again soon in the heavenly kingdom; and she too gave up her queenly dignity, and went into the con- vent at Wimburn whicli Ina's sister had built, and there she lived as a nun in poverty and obedience till her death. ^ Wilhelm. Malmesbur. de Reg. Ang. 1. i. c. ii. ap. Acta SS. O. S. B. socc. iii. t. i. p. 465. Freeman, Old English His- tory, p. 71. Some have doubted whether S. Ina became a monk, but it is asserted by Bromton in his Chronicle, by William of Malmesbury, and by Henschenius. See Acta SS. O. S. B. as above. It is also proved by the letter at the end of S. Boniface's correspondence, addressed to a king, generally supposed to be Ina, the superscription of which begins with ** Reverendissimo Fratri." Ep. 162 WurJt. 48 Serar. CHAPTEE VI. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. The German tribes who colonised Britain conceded to their women even a higher position than the honourable one granted them by the other branches of their race. For as the family was the nucleus of the national organisation, the influence of the wife and the mother was proportionately increased. It has been remarked as a distinctive honour of the Enghsh saints that so many of them were connected by ties of blood,i so that sanctity seemed to run in famihes ; a peculiarity which is evidently to be attributed to the influence of female relatives. The Enghsh queens and princesses after their conversion to Christianity made a noble use of their influence and m no way fell behind their husbands and fathers m the practice of heroic virtue. It has been already seen how S. Bertha and her daughter S. Ethelberga, by their fidelity to Christian worship, opened the way respectively to the conversion of Kent and JS'orthumbria. S. Ethelberga also set the example to English queens and widows of quitting? the world and entering the cloister, and encoura<^ed Englishwomen of all ranks to devote themselves to the monastic life. After her return to Kent, her brother Eadbald built her a convent at Liming, an old Roman villa between Canterbury and the sea, where she spent ^ Acta SS. Feb. 7, S. Richard. Comment. Prav i 1 ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 369 the last fourteen years of her life.^ Her sister, S. Eadburga, became a nun under her rule; and also her niece, S. Eanswitha, the daughter of Eadbald, for whom he afterwards built a convent at Folkstone, which he dedicated to S. Peter and S. Paul.^ The Abbeys of Liming and Folkstone were the first founded in England for women.^ S. Ethelberga's only daughter, S. Eanfled, having been taken as a child to Kent, grew up under her mother's eye till she became the wife of S. Oswy. In the history of his reign she frequently appears, exercising a good influence on those around her; now exhorting her husband to contrition and penance for the murder of Oswin ; then inducing her stepson, Alchfrid, and others at her court, to follow the Eoman custom as to the observance of Easter ; again, discern- ing the merits of the young S. Wilfrid, and sending him to Rome to be more perfectly instructed in Catholic customs; and also uniting with Oswy in the pious dedication of her infant daughter, S. Elfleda, to God's service. When she was left a widow, a.d. 670, she became a nun in the Abbey of Whitby, which, after S. Hilda's death, a.d. 680, she governed conjointly with her daughter, S. Elfleda.^ Thus three successive generations of S. Bertha's female descend- ants became nuns and saints. Two more generations will hereafter come under our notice. S. Elfleda, though a descendant of S. Bertha, belongs more properly to the royal race of North- umbria, which was no less illustrious than that of Kent through the sanctity of its princesses. At the head of them all stands S. Hilda, one of the most ^ Zell. Lioba, und die frommen Angelsachsischen Frauen, L i. c. iii. p. 48. ^ ^cta SS., S. Eanswid. Aug. 31, p. 684. 3 Moines d'Occident, t. v. 1. 17. * Bade, 1. iii. c. xv. p. 133 ; c. xxiv. p. 152 ; c. xxv. p. 154 ; 1. iv. c. xxvi. p. 224 ; 1. v. c. xix. p. 269. 2 A 37° CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. remarkable personages of her time. She was tU born AD. 614. She was one of S. Paulinus's first converts ha vmg been baptized by him at the same time as her great-uncle, S. EdAvin, when she w"s thirteen years of age. The first thirty-tliree years of her h'fe « ^ Ozanam, Civilisation Chr^tienne, c. iv. p. 118. Zell. pp. 193-226. 372 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. But though united by common government, disci- pline, and property, the inmates of the two monasteries lived quite distinct. The monks never entered the nuns cloister, with the exception of the priest who went into the nuns' chapel to say mass, and withdrew at Its dose. The nuns never left their own monasterv or entered that of the monks. Not only laymen and clergy but also bishops, were refused admittance to their cloister ; and even the abbess, if she had occasion to receive advice or give orders, spoke to both cler^rv and laymen through a window, or grille.i Under tWs strict discipline saints of both sexes grew up side by side. The double communities were universally re- garded with veneration; the most famous bishops were educated in them, and slander did not dare to approach them. ^ S. Hilda ruled at Whitby as a queen. Nothincr of importance was done in the kingdom without lier concurrence She took a leading part in the Easter controversy,2and warmly advocated the Scotch custom to which she was attached through her long intimacy with S Aldan. The great synod for the final de- cision of the question was held in her abbey, a.d 664 and she presided at it, as was usual with abbesses in her position; but there is no record of her having spoken on the occasion. She established the same strict discipline at Whitbv as she had already done at Hartlepool; and she "tau-ht the observance of justice, piety, chastity, and other virtues, and especially peace and charity. . . Her prudence was so great, that not only indifferent persons, but even kings and princes, asked and re- ceived her advice. She obliged tliose who were under her direction to attend so much to reading of tHe Holy Scriptures, and to exercise themselves so „ nZ'*- ^- ^^^^*' ^^- '• "*• Acta SS. O. S. B. sffic. iii. t. ii. P- 22^- ' Bede, I. iii. c. XXV. p. 155. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 373 much in works of piety, that many might be there found fit for ecclesiastical duties and to serve at the altar." ^ Five bishops of great sanctity were taken out of her monastery ; namely, S. Jolin of Beverley, successively Bishop of Hexham and of York ; Hedda, Bishop of Dorchester, who removed the see to Win- chester ; Of tfor, Bishop of Worcester ; Bosa, Bishop of York, and Wilfrid, the second successor of S. Wilfrid in the see of York. The first English Chris- tian poet, Ceadmon, was one of S. Hilda's farm-servants, and she discerned and developed his genius.^ S. Hilda died a.d. 680, and was succeeded by S. Elfleda, who had grown up from infancy under her rule, and who at first conjointly with her mother, S. Eanfled, and afterwards alone, governed the Abbey of Whitby for thirty-five years. She held the same high position as S. Hilda, being styled the " consoler and best adviser of the whole kingdom." 3 When S. Theodore wished to make amends for his injustice to S. Wilfrid, he wrote to her as well as to Aldfrid, King of Northumbria, to obtain his restoration to the see. When Aldfrid, having despised the Pope's judgment and S. Theodore's request, was struck with remorse on his death-bed, he sent for S. Elfleda, and confessing to her his sin, he committed to her the pious task of seeing that his successor made peace with the saint for the sake of his soul. And when, shortly after, a synod was held at the river Nid, she took part in the discussion ; and by her testimony as to Aldfrid's dying vow, and her own influence as a " most wise virgin," she succeeded in restoring imity, and thus putting an end to a scandal which had disturbed the peace of the Northumbrian Church for above five-and-twenty years."* S. Elfleda is also ^ Bede, 1. iv. c. xxiii. p. 213. - Ibid. I. iv. c. xxiv. p. 217. 3 Eddius. Vit. S. Wilfrid, c. Iviii. Gale, Scriptores Brit. Sax. &c., p. 85. 4 jbid. p. S6. II j 374 CONVERSIOX OF THE ENGLISH. remarkable as the great friend of S. Cuthbert, who would quit his hermitage at her call, and would admit her to his confidence, telling her in answer to her in- quiries the future events which our Lord had revealed to him. He also at one time cured her of a dangerous illness.^ Another saintly princess of the royal race of Nov- thumbria was S. Ebba, the daughter of Ethelfrid and sister of S. Oswald.^ From her earliest youth she turned away from the pomps and pleasures of the world, and longed only to consecrate herself to the service of her heavenly Spouse. She rejected the hand of Edan, the King of the Scots, who sought her in marriage ; and after receiving the veil from S. Finan, the second Bishop of Lindisfarne, she built for herself, with her half-brother S. Oswy's help, a con- vent in Durham, on the river Derwent, at a place still called Ebchester. How long she remained there, or why she left it, is not known ; but after some time she removed to Coldingham, in Berwickshire, where she founded a double monastery. The fame of her sanctity spread far and wide ; the whole kingdom revered her as a spiritual mother ; even S. Cuthbert found edification in her society, and when she sent for him he would remain entire days in spiritual converse with her. But notwithstanding her own great virtues, the discipline of her monastery became relaxed. The English were remarkable, even amonoj barbarians, for their passion for gaudy dress and feasting ; and these national sins, which in the next century proved the ruin of religious life in England, crept, unobserved by Ebba, into her monastery. At length the evil was brought to her knowledge in an awful way. ^ Acta SS. Feb. 8, S. Elfled. Comment. Historic, saec. vi. zxxiii. ^ English Saints, S. Ebba, by the Rev. F. W. Faber, p. 107. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 375 There lived in the monastery an Irish monk, called S. Adamnan, who was remarkable for his unusually austere life.^ In his youth he had committed a great sin, and being filled with horror at his own guilt and terror at God's impending judgment, he went to con- fession to a priest, who advised him to anticipate God's wrath and deprecate His mercy by giving him- self up, as far as he was able, to fasting, reading of psalms, and prayer. In the fervour of his contri- tion Adamnan answered, "Father, I am young and strong, and can easily do what you command me, even though you should order me to spend the whole night in prayer standing, and to fast all the week, if only I may be saved in the Day of our Lord." The priest replied, " It is too much for you to remain the whole week without food, and it is sufficient if you fast two or three days. I will come again to you shortly, and will then tell you fully what you are to do, and how long you arc to continue your penances." Soon after this the priest was unexpectedly called to Ireland, where he died, so that Adamnan did not see him again. But Adamnan never forgot his injunc- tions nor his own promise; and from this time to the end of his life he "gave himself up to^ tears, penance, watching, and fasting; never eating or drinking except on Sundays and Thursdays. Thus what he had begun from fear of God he continued from Divine love." It happened one day that as Adamnan was returning to the abbey with a brother, as soon as he came within sight of the building he burst into tears. His com- panion asking why he wept, he answered, "The time is at hand when a devouring fire will consume all this structure." On arriving at the abbey, the brother told Ebba what Adamnan had said, whereupon she 1 Bede. 1. iv. c. xxv. p. 220. 376 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. '1 sent for him, and asked him why he had spoken thus. Then he told her that, one night as he was watching and singing psalms, a person whom he knew not stood by him and said to him, *' You do well to spend this night-time of rest, not in sleep, but in watching and prayer. . . . For you and many more need to redeem your sins by good works. . . . But this very few do. For I, having visited the whole monastery, and looked into all the cells and beds, have found none except yourself busy about the care of his soul. But all of them, both men and women, either indulge in slothful sleep, or are awake to commit sin. Even the cells that were built for praying or reading are now converted into places of feasting, drinking, talk- ing, and other delights : the very virgins dedicated to God . . . whensoever they are at leisure, apply themselves to weaving fine garments, either to use in adorning themselves like brides, to the danger of their condition, or to gain the friendship of strange men ; for which reason a heavy judgment from heaven is deservedly ready to fall on this place and its in- habitants, by a devouring fire." In great distress Ebba said to Adamnan, " Why did you not tell me this sooner?" And he answered, "I was afraid to do so . . . lest you should be too much afflicted. But you may have this comfort, that the calamity will not happen in your day." When this vision became generally known, the monks and nuns were frightened, and began to amend their lives and do penance for their sins. But their repentance was not deep and sincere ; and after S. Ebba's death, which took place before long, they returned to their sins, and became even more wicked. Then God's judgment came on the abbey, and it was destroyed by fire, a.d. 686.^ The circum- ^ This date is given from English Saints, S. Adamnan, by the Rev. F. W. Faber, p. 132. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 377 stances of the conflagration are unknown; but the above facts were told to Bede by Edgils, a priest and monk of Coldingham, who went after the fire to the Abbey of Wearmouth. Coldingham was rebuilt, and was in a flourishing condition at the time of the Danish invasions, when it was again destroyed.^ Two queens of Northumbria, S. Etheldreda and Ermenburga, who under opposite circumstances cast away their crowns and took the nun's veil, will here- after be mentioned. But meanwhile another saintly Northumbrian princess claims notice. It is Heresuid, the sister of S. Hilda, and great-niece of S. Edwin, who, twice married, attained to the next highest glory after virginity which belongs to her sex, being the mother of generations of saints and abbesses ; besides which she had the honour of exchanging an earthly liusband and throne for the heavenly Spouse and kingdom. The name of her first husband is un- known, but she had by him a daughter called Sethrid. ller second husband was Anna, King of the East Angles, who also had a daughter, Ethelberga, by a former wife ; and by him Heresuid had two sons and three daughters. After some time, but previous to A.D. 647,2 qY^q became, with her husband's consent, a nun in the Abbey of Chelles, ten miles from Paris, which had been built by S. Clotilda, and was after- wards rebuilt and enlarged by S. Bathildes.^ A D. 679 ; but this is evidently too early, because Egfrid and Ermenburga paid a visit to S. Ebba at Coldingham about A.D. 681. 1 English Saints, S. Ebba, p. 133. 2 There is some difficulty about the time of Heresuid s reli- gious profession. Bede says (1. iv. c. xxiii. p. 212) that she was at Chelles when S. Hilda went to East Anglia, A.D. 647, at which time Anna was still alive. Pagi supp«)rts this assertion (Moines d'Occident, t. v. 1. xvii.). On the other hand, Thomas, the monk of Ely, who wrote in the twelfth century, says ( Vit. S. Etheldrit, c. ii. ) that she became a nun after her husband's death. 3 Bede, 1. iv. c. viii. p. 1'21, note. 378 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 379 n Of the two sons of Anna and Ileresuid, Aldwolf, who afterwards was King of the East Angles, had three daughters, of whom two in succession were abbesses of S. Hilda's convent of Hackness; and the third, Eadburga, was abbess of Repton, and the spiritual mother and friend of S. Guthlac.i Their other son, S. Jaruman, Bishop of the Mercians, was a canonised saint. As to their daughters, Heresuid's daughter, S. Sethrid, and Anna's daughter, S. Elhel- berga,2 became nuns at Farenioutier in Burgundy, where "both of them, though strangers, we're, for their virtue, made abbesses." Of the three daughters of both Anna and Hercsuid, the oldest, S. Sexberga, married Earconbert, King of Kent, and was the mother of S. Earcongota and S. Ermenilda, and the grandmother of S. Werberga ; and after her husband's death she became a nun. Another daughter, S. Wit- berga, founded an abbey at Dirham in Norfolk, where she lived to a great age, dying a.d. 743. The third daughter, S. Etheldreda, though twice married, lived and died the virgin spouse of our Lord. From infancy S. Etheldreda 3 was remarkable for her devotion, quitting her childish companions to pray, and having no other thouglit or wish than to devote herself to our Lord. When she grew up, being very beautiful, she had many suitors ; but she turned in horror from them all. At length, a.d. 652, without her consent, her father gave her in marriage to Ton- bert, prince of the Southern Girvii, who settled the Isle of Ely on her as a marriage gift. But she inspired ^ Moines d'Occident, t. v. 1. xvii. - The French call her S. Aubierge. Bede saya that she was Annas "natural daughter," which in his time did not mean that she was illegitimate, but only that she was not an adopted child. Bede, 1. iv. c. viii. p. 121, note. Vit. S. Etheldrit. by Thomas of Ely. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. 11. p. 707. Bede, 1. iv. c. xix. p. 204. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an. 673 and 679. him with such high and pure aspirations, that he lived with her as a brother for two years, when his death set her at liberty to follow her own inclinations. She then retired to her Isle of Ely, where, shut in by woods and marshes and unnavigable streams, she dwelt with her attendants as in a desert solitude, given up entirely to prayer, fasting, and penance. Thus she spent six years, till a.d. 660, when, once more against her will, and probably on the occasion of some state exigency, she was given by her relations in marriage to Egfrid, the favourite son and successor of S. Oswy. He was greatly enamoured of her beauty and holiness, and there was nothing that he would not have done to bend her to his will. But she had bound herself to be the virgin spouse of Jesus, and like S. Agnes and S. Agatha, she would have shed her blood rather than break her troth to Him. For twelve years she lived at the Northumbrian court, arrayed in royal robes as Egfrid's wife and queen ; but for all these long years phe resisted every allurement and persuasion, nay, even threats ; and ever making within her heart, through prayer and mortification, a temple for the Holy Spirit, she was in return preserved pure and spotless in the observance of her mystic marriage vow. At last Egfrid employed S. Wilfrid, now Bishop of York, to°try and overcome her resolution, promising to give him money and lands if he could persuade her to consent to be his wife. S. Wilfrid undertook the task, but finding that she was actuated, not by a mere womanly fancy, but by a true vocation from God, he advised her to ask Egfrid for a separation. Reluc- tantly and sorrowfully Egfrid granted it, and the marriage, which had never been a true Christian union, since mutual consent is essential to the Sacrament, was declared to be null and void. But from this time Egfrid ceased to look upon S. Wilfrid with affec- tion and favour. 38o CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. As soon as Etheldreda had thus recovered her liberty, a.d. 672, she went to the Abbey of Colding- ham; where, laying aside her crown and her royal purple and silk robes, she received the veil and the coarse black habit of S. Benedict i from S. Wilfrid, and offered herself solemnly at the altar to our Lord! She remained at Coldingham for a year, and was instructed by Ebba in the practices of religious life. Then Egfrid, being unable to overcome his love for her, came to the abbey to carry her off, and she was compelled to fly with two faithful attendants. For a week they remained hidden in a rocky hill by the seashore, suffering greatly from exposure and thirst, and protected by an unusually high tide, which, sur- rounding the hill, made it inacessible to Egfrid's people. After a fruitless search all round the neic^h- bourhood Egfrid retired at the end of a week ; and then Etheldreda, issuing from her hiding-place, set off for Ely on foot and unknown, with her two com- panions. The journey was long and painful to one delicately nurtured ; and she suffered so terribly from fatigue and want of food, that she w^as supposed to have accomplished it only through miraculous aid. Once more in her island home in the fens, she set to work to build the abbey, which, for well nigh a thousand years, was the sanctuary of holiness °and prayer. There had formerly been at Ely -a church built and dedicated to S. Andrew by S. Augustine ; but Penda in one of his cruel raids had razed ?t to the ground. Etheldreda now restored it, and added to it a double monastery ; and when all was completed she dedicated the structure to S. Mary, the Mother of God. Happily tlie place was free from the jurisdiction of all u Vit S. Etheldrit. p. 717, note. The colour of the habit shows that It was the Benedictine, and not the Irish rule which was observed at Coldingham and Ely. The Irish habit was white. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 381 the neighbouring kings, so that none interfered with her, and calumny did not approach her, but she ruled alone with royal liberty. She placed herself and her community under the direction of S. Wilfrid, who consecrated her an abbess ; and she acted in all things by his advice. In this happy retreat she passed the last six years of her life, surrounded by a large family of monks and nuns, many of whom were her own relatives. She never wore linen, but only woollen garments, and would rarely ^ indulge in the luxury, then very common in England, of taking a hot bath, unless just before any of the great festivals, as Easter, Whitsun- tide, and the Epiphany ; and then she did it last of all, after having, with the assistance of those about her, first washed the other servants of God there present. Moreover, she seldom ate above once a day, excepting on the great solemnities, unless some urgent occasion or considerable distemper obliged her to do so. She always continued at prayer in the church from matins till it was day ; and it was said that by the spirit of prophecy she not only foretold the pesti- lence of which she was to die, but also the number of those who should then be snatched out of her monastery. She died in the midst of her children A.D. 679, and was buried in the churchyard. But sixteen years after, her body being taken up to be removed into the church, not only was it uncorrupt, but to the amazement of all the nuns, and also to S. Wilfrid and Cynefrid, the physician who had attended her on her deathbed, and who were now present, an open wound from an abscess at the time of her death was found to be healed. Many miracles were wrought at her tomb, both before and after her translation ; and the great devotion to her has lingered on to the 1 Bede, 1. iv. c. xix. p. 205. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 673-679. .:^:;t v^*^*f^:. ■ 382 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. present day. Her hand is still preserved at the con- vent of S. Dominic, at Stone, in Staffordshire. Meanwhile her sister, S. Sexberga,i had married Earconbert, King of Kent, the grandson of S. Ethel- hert and S. Bertha, by whom she had a son, Egbert, and two daughters, S. Earcungota and S. Ermenilda. After her husband's death, a.d. 664, she governed the kingdom for four years during her son's minority. When he came of age she threw aside her crown, and retired to a cloister which she had built in the Isle of Sheppey, where she governed seventy-seven nuns as their abbess. But after five years, from motives of humility and a desire to apply herself more exclusively to the care of her own soul, she placed her daughter, Ermenilda, now a widow, as abbess over her convent, and became a simple nun under her sister S. Ethel- dreda. After S. Etheklreda's death, however, she was chosen to be abbess, and governed the Abbey of Ely for twenty years. S. Sexberga s daughter, S. Earcongota, was a nun at Faremoutier, where the tradition of her wonderful virtues and miracles long remained. When the time of her death approached, she saw in a vision a number of men all in white enter the monastery ; and asking them, "What do you want, and why come you hither?" they answered, " We are sent to carry away the gold medal that was brought hither from Kent." That same night, at break of dawn, leaving the darkness of this world, she departed to the light of heaven. At the same hour several monks of the abbey, who were in other houses, heard choirs of angels singing ; and going out to see wliat it might be, they beheld an extraordinary great light coming down from heaven, which conducted that holy soul, set loose from the ^ Vit. S. Etheldrit c. ii. p. 708, and c. xxv. p. 729. Zell. 1. i. c. vii. p. 97. Bede, 1. iii. c. viii. p. 121 ; 1. iv. c. xix. p. 205. Acta SS. Julii 6. S. Sexburga. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 383 bonds of the flesh, to the eternal joys of the celestial country.^ S. Sexberga's other daughter, S. Ermenilda, married . Wulfhere, King of the Mercians. In her station as a queen she softened the hearts of her husband's Pagan subjects by her gentleness, her modest demeanour, and her works of charity, and thus drew them to Chris- tianity.2 After her husband's death, she too laid aside her crown and became a nun, and eventually abbess in her mother S. Sexberga's convent in the Isle of Sheppey, as has already been told. But after a time she also was drawn to the Abbey of Ely, where she succeeded S. Sexberga as the third abbess.^ S. Ermenilda had an only daughter, S. Werberga, who gave herself up in her youth to the religious life under her great-aunt, S. Etheldreda. Her uncle, S. Ethelred, was so struck with her prudence, talent, and holiness, that he placed her over all the convents of women in his kingdom. Thus she governed the Abbeys of Weedon, Trentham, and Hanbury. It happened one day that she saw the steward of the Abbey of Weedon ill-treating a poor shepherd, who led a very holy life. Falling on her knees before him, she cried, " Eor the love of God spare this innocent man ; for he is more acceptable than you and I in the sight of Him who beholds all our actions from His throne in heaven." Her remonstrances being un- heeded by the brutal fellow, she turned to God for help. Suddenly the steward found himself paralysed and crippled, when, terrified and contrite, he threw liimself before her, and, beseeching her to have pity on him, obtained his cure through her intercession.* After some years, from lowliness of spirit, she ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. viii. p. 122. 2 Acta SS. Feb. 13, p. 686. S. Ermenilda, Vit. Epitom. ex Capgrav. c. xxiii. ^ Vit. S. Etheldrit. cc. xviii. xxxvi. p. 724. ♦ Acta SS. Feb. 3. S. Wereburg. xii. p. 389. I t1 I I .1 384 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. resigned her dignity in Mercia, and became a nun in the Abbey of Sheppey, where, however, she soon suc- ceeded her mother as abbess. Once more she laid down her rank, and went as a nun to Ely ; and on her mother's death she was again chosen abbess. But still impelled by humility and the love of obscurity, she for the third time gave up her crozier, and died as a simple nun.^ The beautiful cathedral of Chester was in Catholic times the abbey church of S. Wer- berga, and thither in the tenth century her relics were translated from Ely, to save them from desecration by the Danes. There was another family of saints in the royal house of Mercia, who, like S. Ermenilda and S. Wer- berga, were also the descendants of S. Ethelbert and S. Bertha. Their son, Eadbald, had two sons, Ear- conbert, who succeeded him and married S. Sexberga, and Ermenred,'- who also had the title of king under his brother, and had two sons and two daughters. His sons, S. Ethelbert and S. Ethelred,^ were youths of great promise ; but their cousin, Egbert, King of Kent, allowed them to be treacherously killed by Thunner, one of his generals, whose enmity they had incurred. Ermenred's daughter, S. Ermenburga, or Domneva,* married jNIerval, brother to Wulfliere, King of Mercia, by whom she had a son, Mervin, who died°in childhood, and three daughters, S. Milburga, S. Mildreda, and S. Milgitha. After her husband's death S. Ermenburga returned to Kent, where, having received from her cousin. King Egbert, a large piece of land in the Isle of Thanet, in payment for her brothers' blood, she built on the spot where S. Augus- 1 Vit. S. Etheldrit. cc. xvii. xxxvi. pp. 724, 756. 2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an. 640. » Acta SS. Oct. 17. SS. Ethelbert and Ethelred. * This name is supposed to be a corruption of her title DoTiiina ahbatissa. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 3^5 tine had landed, a convent for seventy nuns and dedicated it to S. Mary, Ever Virgin and Mother of God. When it was finished she placed her daughter S Mildreda over it as abbess, and she and her sister S'. Ermengitha both lived in subjection to her as simple nuns.i Another daughter, S. Milburga built the Abbey of Wenlock, in which she was abbess; and the third daughter, S. Milgitha was a nun in the convent of one of her sisters, but whether at AVenlock or in the Isle of Thanet is not known 2 It has been already pointed out that S. Ethelberga S. Eanfled, and S. Elfleda, and also S. Eadburga and S. Eanswitha, formed three generations of b. iitnei- bert's and S. Bertha's family of saints. S. Ermenilda and S. Werberga, S. Ermenburga, 1^^^ ^f^^^^^f ^^f ' her sister, and her three daughters, add the fourth and fifth steps in the saintly pedigree. Nor did the chain end with them. Eor in S. Bonifaces corre- spondence ^ are found Caugyth, and her daughter Eadburga or Bugga, both of them abb^^^^^ ^ ^ ^^ J being relatives of Ethelbert II., King of Kent, no doubt they were, like him, descendants of S. Ethel- bert and S. Bertha. Little is known about them but Eadburga is believed to have been the samt of that name who succeeded S. Mildreda^ as abbess of Thanet, and built the abbey church, m which she was buried.^ „ , ^ -i i -d Several other descendants of the terrible Pagan king Penda, were remarkable for their Christian virtues. The piety and zeal of his sons Peada and Wulfhere have already been mentioned. His tnree 1 MS Saxonic, Narratio de Sanctis qui requiescunt in terra ^"/vrS MUbur?* V:%1 a\ B. S.C. iil L i. p. 420. ^^^Ipp^ttotif^^^^^^^ 84, Wurdt. 38. 2. 20. 40,Serar 4 V?t S. Cuthburg. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. 111. MS. Saxonic. Acta SS. 17 Oct. p. 101. 2 B £ I i If . 386 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 387 other sons, Ethelred, Merval, and Mercelon, all appear as saints in the royal genealogy of Mercia, though the names of the two last, as saints, are not now to be found in any ecclesiastical record.^ Also two of his daughters, S. Kineburga or Kinefrida, and S. Kineswitha, vowed themselves as virgins to our Lord,- and after uniting with their brothers in the foundation of the Abbey of Peterborough, built for themselves a monastery two miles from it, where they spent their lives in great sanctity. They were buried in the Al)bey of Peterborough, together with a relative, S. Tibba, of whom nothing is known except that she led a saintly life in solitude.^ They were held in such great veneration, that when the abbey was burnt and all the monks except one were killed by the Danes, a.d. 870, the preservation of their relics was the first care of the sole survivor.^ In the latter half of the seventh century there began a movement w^hich added two remarkable characteristics of the conversion of England to those ah'cady mentioned. Scarcely had this island of pirates received the faith, when, suddenly emerging from barbarism, it tended to become one of the chief seats of learning in the West, and the source whence Christianity and civilisation flowed to their barbarian and Pagan kindred in their old German home. England was the place where pure German ideas and the culture of Christian Rome met together. The first German, as it has been observed, wdio made him- self master of the treasures of learning bequeathed by antiquity, was an Englishman, the Venerable 1 Acta SS. Feb. 8, S. Ermenilda. Comment. Historic, ii. xli. p. 688. - Acta SS. Mart. vi. S. Kineburga, S. Kineswitha, et S. Tibba, i. 2. S. Kineburga has been confounded by William of Malmesbury and his followers with her sister Cymburga, who married Oswy's eldest son, Alchfrid. 3 Ibid. ii. 14. -» S. Kiheburga, &c. ii. 8. 9. Bede ; while the first German dialect, in which his- tory was written and laws were drawn up, was that of Encrland.1 In this educational and missionary movenrent the women of England took their part, under the guidance of West Saxon princesses, its centre was the Abbey of Barking in the kingdom of the East Saxons and its offshoot the Abbey of Wim- burn in that of the West Saxons. ^ The Abbey of Barking^ was built by S. Earconwald, afterwards Bishop of London, for his sister S. Ethel- berga, at the same time that he built for lumself the Abbey of Chertsey, in Surrey. At Barking S. Lthel- berga conducted herself in all respects as became the sisttr of so saintly a bishop, being eminent for her piety the religious discipline of her community, and her supernatural gifts. Thus she became "the mother and nurse of many devout women,'' and the abbey maintained its high character for nine hundred years, till its dissolution in the sixteenth century/* S. Ethelberga was succeeded, a.d. 676, by b. Hildelith " who governed the monastery till she was of an extreme old age."^ She not only kept up monastic discipline, but also encouraged her nuns to apply themselves to the study of the Holy bcrip- tures and the writings of the Fathers, so that her community became famous for its learning no less than for its virtue and devotion. S. Aldhelm dedicated his Latin book, "De Laudibus Virgini- tatis " to her and her nuns, whom he addressed thus : '' Hail flowers of the Church, sisters, monastic dis- ciples,' Christ's scholastic pearls, gems^of paradise, and partakers of the heavenly country 1 " ^ 1 Ranke, Englische Gescbichte, 17. 2 Bede, 1. iv. c. vi. p. 184. » Acta SS. Aug. 31, S. Cuthburg. Comment. Prsev. saec. 11. xi. Acta SS. O. S. B. s^c. iii. t. i. V it S^ Cuthburg. * Bede, 1. iv. c. x. p. 138. ^ S. Cuthburg. 11. xii. 3S8 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. One of the nuns whose name appears in this dedication is S. Cuthburga, the sister of S. Ina, and the foundress of the Abbey of Winiburn. She was married to Aldfrid, the illegitimate ^ son of S. Oswy, who succeeded his half-brother Egfrid as King of Northumbria; but after a time they separated by mutual consent,^ and Cuthburga, who from her childhood had ardently longed to devote herself to God alone, laid aside her crown and royal robes, and became a nun in the Abbey of Barking. After spending some years at Barking, S. Cuth- burga, with the aid of S. Tna and S. Coenburga, her sister, built the double monastery of Wimburn. Here she was joined by S. Coenburga, who seems to have succeeded her as abbess.^ And here too came 8. Ethelburga, S. Ina's queen, who ended her days as a nun, while her husband died a monk at Rome. After the royal sisters, the abbey was governed by the Abbesses Eadburga and Tetta. The former corresponded in Latin with S. Boniface,^ and was skilled in writing and Latin versification, in which latter she instructed S. Lioba.^ It was under Tetta's rule that S. Lioba and S. Walburga, both of them of the royal race of Wessex, with a host of other nuns, went forth from Wimburn as missionaries to Germany. 1 Bede, Hist. Eccles. 1. iv. c. xxvi. p. 224. Vit. S. Cuthbert, c. xxiv. Acta SS. O. S. B. sa2c. ii. p. 863. 2 There is a difference of opinion as to the circumstances of this separation. Mubillon, Capgrave, and others assert that the marriage was null and void, as in S. Ethelreda's case ; but the Bollandist, John Stilting, takes the opposite view, and believes that she was the mother of Osred, Aldfrid's son and successor. The silence of both Bede and the Saxon Chronicle, an. 741, strengthens the latter opinion. 3 Vit. S. Cuthburg. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. iii. p. 424. Mabillon gives a.d. 724, and the Englisli Martyrology a.d, 727, as the date of S. Cuthburga's death. * Epp. S. Bonifac. 16-20, Wurdt. 7, 13, 14, 21, 28, Serar. 5 Ibid. 21, Wurdt. 36, Serar. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 389 There is still another royal English nun, S. FriJes- wide,^ the daughter of Didan, one of the under-kings of Wessex, and the patron saint of Oxford. Her father built, a.d. 727, a church and a monastery dedicated to the Blessed Trinity and S. Mary, Ever Virgin and Mother of God, where, with his consent, she vowed herself to our Lord. Some time after, her father being dead, Algar, a powerful under-king in the neighbour]) ood, wished to marry her, and resolved to carry her off by force. She accordingly fled by night with two companions, and going in a boat down the Thames to Abingdon, she remained liid in a wood for three years, living in solitude and enduring great hardships. All the old writers say,^ that when Algar found that she was gone, he threatened to destroy the town of Oxford ; but as he was about to enter the gates, he was struck with sudden blindness, from wliich he was cured only by the intercession of S. Frideswide. Hence arose a popular superstition, extending even to the time of the Normans, that it was dangerous for a king to enter Oxford. At the end of three years S. Frideswide returned to Oxford, but not to the monastery that her father had built ; for having become enamoured of solitude, she took up her abode in a marsh overgrown with rushes at Binsey near Oxford, where she built a rude hennitage and oratory for herself and her companions. One day she went into Oxford, and as she passed crowds gathered to gaze at her with love and ad- miration. Among them came a leper, from whose touch all shrank with fear and horror. Standing aloof, he cried with a loud voice, "I adjure thee, holy virgin, by tlie Almighty God, to give me a kiss in the name of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ." 1 Vit. S. Frideswid. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. iii. t. i. p. 524. 2 Acta SS. 19 October. S. Frideswida, c. xxix. 390 CONVEUSIOX OF TUE ENGLISH. Inspired bj Divine love, S. Frideswide rushed through the crowd, and, making the sign of the cross over the leper, gave him the kiss of peace. Instantly the scales began to fall from him, and in a very short time his skin was as clean and pure as that of a child. S. Frideswide died a.d. 740, and was buried in the church which her father had built at Oxford. Her tomb and her oratory at Binsey were for eight centuries favourite places of pilgrimage ; and still in the church of Binsey may be seen the empty niche in which her image stood, and the *' stone pavement worn away by many feet and many kisses." ^ At the time of the massacre of the Danes in the reign of Ethelred, a.d. 1004, a crowd of Danes having fled to S. Frideswide's tomb, the church was sacrilegiously burnt down. In reparation Ethelred rebuilt'' it and endowed it richly, and in the follow- ing century it passed into the possession of the Canons of S. Augustine. Thus it remained till the reign of Henry VIII., when Cardinal Wolsey dis- solved the priory, and made over its property to the College of Christ Church which he was founding; and soon after, on the establishment of the new religion, S. Frideswide's church became the cathedral of Oxford. Her tomb continued, however, to be venerated till the reign of Elizabeth, when, in a diabolical spirit of mockery, the bones of an infamous woman were mixed up with her relics, so as to pre- vent their being distinguished till the last trumpet shall sound and the dead shall arise, and God's judg- ment shall eternally sever the sinner and the saint. This catalogue of saintly English queens and princesses would be incomplete without the name of S. Bathildes,2 a noble Englishwoman by birth, and 1 Christian Schools and Scholars, vol. ii. c. iv. p. 144. 2 Vit. S. Bathild. Acta SS. O. S. B. saic. u. p. / 42. Rohrbacher, x. 1. xlix. p. 276. ENGLISH QUEENS AND PRINCESSES. 391 a queen of France by marriage. Having been taken captive in war, she came as a slave into the posses- sion of Clovis II., who compelled her against her will to marry him. After his death she governed France during the minority of her two sons; and during this time she founded the Abbey of Corbie, and rebuilt and enlarged that of Chelles. When both her sons were of age she resigned her royal dignity, and took the veil in the Abbey of Chelles, wliere she died as one of the community about A.D. 680. I 1^ t 11 u CHAPTER VII. ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. To commemorate all the saintly bishops and abbots who at this time governed the English Church would far exceed our limits. But, besides those who have already been mentioned in connection with the conver- sion of England, there are a few others who may well be selected for notice, not only because their names stand out prominently in the history of the age, but also because their memory is still celebrated year by year at every English altar. Such are S. Cuthbert, S. Benedict Biscop, S. Wilfrid, S. Chad, and S. John of Beverley. They were all contemporaries, and though each had his own distinct field of labour, yet all were, in one way or another, connected with S. Wilfrid, who is thus the central figure of the group ; and consequently their histories cannot be totally separated, but must be given side by side with each other. To begin, then, with S. Cuthbert. S. Cuthbert^ was born of poor parents in the south- east of Scotland, not far from the river Tweed. When he was eight years of age he happened one day to be amusing himself with athletic sports, in which he excelled, when a very young child who stood by reproached him for playing with children, since God intended him to be a bishop and a teacher of virtue to his elders. These chance words made a great im- 1 Vit. S. Cuthbert, by Bede. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. ii. p. 844. Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. iv. c. xxvii. p. 225. 392 ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS 393 pression on him, and from this time he gave himself up to prayer and religious practices. As he crrew to manhood he received many favours from Godwin answer to his prayers. It happened one day that the monks of an adjacent abbey on the coast, having been sent to some distance to fetch wood, were returning home on rafts, when suddenly the wind rose and the rafts began to drift out to sea. All the monks within the abbey assembled on the shore, and prayed earnestly for their brethren who were in such imminent peril ; but at a little distance was collected a crowd of Pagans, who enjoyed the sight and laughed at their trouble. In this crowd stood Cuthbert, who said to those around him, "Brethren, why do you laucrh at those whom you see drawing near to death I It would be better to pray to God for them than to lauc^h at their distress." But the Pagans answered an-rily, " No man will pray for, and no God will have me°rcy on, those who destroy the old worship and.set up new customs, which no one has ever heard of Then Cuthbert knelt down, and bowing to the earth, prayed aloud; and as the prayer issued from his lips, the wind veered round and wafted the rafts safely to shore. At this sight the Pagans were awe-struck, and greatly lauded Cuthbert's faith and charity. One night in the year 651 he was up m the hills tending sheep, and while his companions slept he watched and prayed. All on a sudden a bright light illumined the darkness, and he beheld choirs of angels descend, and soon mount again to the gates of heaven, bearin- with them a soul resplendent with glory. Waking his companions, he called on them to pmise God, because the soul of some saint had just been borne from this world of darkness to the mansions of Clory and the blissful sight of Christ the King. And so indeed it proved, for they heard next morning that during that same night S. Aidan had died. 394 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. This vision, and otlier tokens of God's favour which were vouchsafed to S. Cuthbert, infused sucli grace and love into liis heart that he resolved to give up all earthly tilings and devote himself to the attain- ment of that heavenly glory, of whicli a glimpse had been granted him. He therefore set out for the Abbey of ^Melrose, which was then attached to that of Lindisfarno, hoping to gain admittance to this community. As he alighted from his horse and was entering the church to pray, he met Eoisil the prior, who, turning to the monks around him, said, ** Behold a servant of God in whom is no guile." Boisil, on learning his wish, gave him a hearty welcome, and after a few days presented him to Eata, the abbot of Lindisfarno and 'j\rel rose, who tonsured him. Cuthbert spent some years at Melrose, diligently applying himself to study, manual labour, and prayer, watching every word and act of his master Boisil, and striving to imbibe liis spirit. For Boisil was a very saintly man, endowed w^ith the gift of prophecy and other supernatural graces. When Cuthbert had thus been trained to monastic life, he went with Eata to Ripon, which Alchfrid, who governed Deira for his father, S. Oswy, had given him for the foundation of a monastery. At Ripon Cuthbert filled the office of guest-master. Happening, early one cold winter's morning, to go to the cell set apart for guests, he found a young man sitting there. He accordingly fetched water, washed and dried the guest's feet, and rubbed his benumbed hands ; and perceiving that he was much exhausted by the night journey through storm and snow, he invited him to wait till the third hour, when he should be able to bring him some food. But the young man was impatient to be gone, as the house to whfch he was bound was a long way off. Still, however, Cuth- ENGLISII BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 395 bert pressed him to wait, lest he should faint on the way ; and at last he adjured him so earnestly in God's name to stav, that the stranger was compelled to do so. As soon as the office for tierce was finished Cuthbert laid the table, and placing some food on it, he said to his guest, *' I entreat thee, brother, to eat, while I go and fetch some hot bread, which I hope is now taken out of the o\^n." Quickly he went, but on his return the guest was gone, though the untrodden snow, which lay thick all around, showed no trace of human footstep. But from the spot where the stranc^er had sat there issued an unearthly perfume, and on the table lay three small hot loaves, which surpassed the lily in whiteness, the rose in fragrance, and honey in sweetness. Then Cuthbert exclaimed, " Behold ! it was an angel whom I entertained, who came to feed, and not to be fed. What wonder that he should refuse earthly food, who partakes of the bread of life eternally in heaven 1 " After some short time Alchfrid, finding that Eata was much attached to the Scottish customs, whde he himself preferred those of Rome, took the land at Ripon from him and gave it to S. Wilfrid. Cuth- bert then returned to Melrose, and lived, as before, in obedience to Boisil. But on Boisil's death he took his place as prior, which office he retained till a.T). 664, when Eata removed him to Lindisfarne, in order that he might by his authority and example train the monks to the Benedictine rule,i ^hich was now being adopted in all the English monasteries. Both at Melrose and Lindisfarne, Cuthbert, not satisfied with leading his own monks to perfection, strove to convert the people far and near from a worldly life to the love of God. For many Chris- tians profaned the faith by their wicked acts, while 1 Vit S Cuthbert, a monacho cosevo anonym. Lindisfarn. c. ni. note.* Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. ii. p. 855. !l 396 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. 1 others, in a time of mortality, neglected the Sacra- ments, and had recourse to magic and other Pagan l)ractices. In order to correct these errors, Cuthbert often went out of the monastery, sometimes on horse- back, but more often on foot!| and repaired to the neighbouring towns, where he preached the way of truth to those tliat were gone astray. For it was then the custom of the linglisli, when a monk or priest came into a town, to Hock together to hear liis word, willingly listening to what he said, and more willingly practising those things that they could hear and understand. Cuthbert's preaching was so eloquent, so persuasive, and so forcible, and such an angelic brightness shone in his face, that his hearers, feeling sure that nothing could be concealed from' him, would confess to him the most hidden secrets of their hearts, and would faitlifully perform such penance for their sins as he would enjoin. He would chiefly go to such villages as were placed high up amid craggy mountains and frightful precipice's, the inhabitants of which were so poor and barbarous, and so hard of access, that other teachers were not in the habit of visiting them. So great was his love for those poor isolated boors, that when he went among them he would often stay a week, and some- times two or three, or even a month, away from his monastery, allured on by their simple fervour, and in turn exciting them by his sweet eloquence and saintly example to give themselves to God and to heavenly contemplation. Meanwhile he did not relax his own practices of devotion. He would often keep vigil for three or four nights in succession, praying and singing psalms, and sometimes doing manual work, or walking round the island, to shake off drowsiness. On one occasion, when he was at Coldingham, the monk who accom- panied him noticed that after spending the day in ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 397 conversation with S. Ebba, he quitted the monastery when night closed in ; and being curious to know whither he went, he watched him secretly. Then, to his amazement, he beheld him walk into the ocean waves up to his neck, and chant the praises of God, while the fishes clustered around him, as if they would join in his canticle to the honour of their common Creator. So great was the fervour with which Cuthbert said mass, and so deep the contrition which pierced his heart as he offered the Holy Sacrifice, that his voioe would be scarcely audible through his tears, and it would be by sighs rather than words that before the Preface he would call on the people to raise their hearts and give thanks to God. Years rolled on, and as Cuthbert advanced in the spiritual life a great yearning for solitude grew upon him. When he had been twelve years at Lindisfarne, he retired to a small rocky island called Fame at some little distance from the coast, which was quite barren and uninhabited, and had a bad name as being haunted by evil spirits. As he was leaving the monastery he said to the brethren, "If it shall please God to grant me to live there by the labour of my hands, I will stay; but if not, I will, by God's permission, very soon return to you." The evil spirits quickly fled at the command of God's servant. With the help of his brethren he built two cells for himself, one of which was to serve for an oratory. There being no water near, he bade them dig a hole in the stony rock on which they stood; and the next day, in answer to his prayers, it was found full of water, and continued to supply his wants so long as he remained in the island. At the sowing season the monks brought him some wheat, which he sowed, but not a stalk or a leaf sprouted from it. He then ordered the 398 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. monks to bring him some barley. " For," said he, " it may be the nature of the soil, or the will of God, that wheat will not grow, while barley may produce me sufficient food." And so it proved, for though the barley was sown late, it yielded a fine crop ; and thus he had the means of living by the labour of his hands, as he wished to do. In this hermitage Cuthbert led a life similar to that of the Fathers of the Thebaid. Abiding ever in close communion with God, all nature seemed to be bound in subjection to him. The little birds at his bidding refrained from yducking his growing corn. The crows, at his command in the name of their Creator and his, forbore to tear the straw from his roof. The waves brought to his shore a plank, with which his brethren had forgotten to supply him. Many persons, too, of all classes, from far and near, tlocked to him for advice or consolation. lie spoke to them from the window of his cell, as had been the custom of the old Fathers ; and none went away from him unsatisfied. For so great was his spiritual experience, and so full was he of Divine love and unction, that he could sympathise with the sorrows mul difficulties of all his visitors, or dispel the delusions which troubled them ; while by his gift of prophecy he could calm their fears, or inspire them with courage to meet impending misfortunes ; and by his miracu- lous powers he would heal many a sickness, and restore joy to many a mourning heart. But sweet as was this solitude, Cuthbert knew that it would not last to the end of his life ; and he would often say to his brethren, " My saintly master Boisil told me all that would befall me. One thing alone now remains un- fulfilled, which God grant may never come to pass ! " ^leanwhile, leaving him in his island cell, let ns turn to S. Wilfrid, whose name has already been incidentally mentioned. ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 399 S. Wilfrid was born 1 about a.d. 634. His parents were noble, but what were their names, or where they lived, is not known. His birth was marked by one of those prodigies so common in the lives of faints. For at the moment he was born a heavenly light enveloped tlie house, so that the neighbours ran to see if it were on fire, or whether some celestial visitant had entered it. His mother died when he was very young, and, his father marrying again, he suffered so much from the violence of his stepmother, that before he had completed his fourteenth year, with his characteristic fearlessness and decision, he asked of his father arms, horses, and attendants befitting his rank, and set out to seek his fortune at S. Oswy's court. Great per- sonal beauty, pure and simple manners, a joyous temper which never was rufiled, and rare powers of speech, quickly gained him friends on every side, and secured him the favour of the queen, S. Eanfled. But beneath the worldly pursuits which now occu- pied Wilfrid there lay deeper thoughts ; and before very long he confided to the saintly queen that it was to the service of the heavenly King, rather than that of an earthly prince, that he aspired. Then, by her advice and aid, and with his father's consent, he laid aside his military accoutrements and went to the Abbey of Lindisfarne with an old noble, called Chad, who wished to become a monk there. Wilfrid spent several years at Lindisfarne, beloved alike by young and old, and distinguished by the perfection with which, though untonsured, he prac- tised the monastic virtues of humility, obedience, ^ Vit. S. Wilfrid, by Eddi Stephani, his precentor, Gale, p. 40. Ibid, by Fridegod, an English monk of the tenth century, Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. iii. t. i. p. 150. Ibid, by Eadmer, S Anselm's secretary, Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. iii. t. i. p. 176. Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. v. c. xix. p. 268. 400 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. and charity. He also learned the Psalter by hearty and mastered the usual subjects of study. After the lapse of some years there arose in his heart a great desire to behold the successor of S. Peter, and obtain the Apostolic blessing and absolu- tion for his sins. His master perceiving that his wish came from God, he applied to his patroness, S. Eanfled, who sent him to her cousin Earconbert, King of Kent, with a letter requesting him to forward him on his way to Kome. The faith being still new in England, the road to Rome was as yet almost untrodden by English pil- grims ; and Wilfrid was detained five years in Kent before he could meet with any one with whom he could travel. But this time was not lost to him. For the chair of Canterbury was then filled by Honorius, a very learned man, who taught him much that was new to him, and especially the Roman customs on many ecclesiastical matters. Meanwhile he followed the monastic rule of prayer, fast, vigil, and reading, and Earconbert " loved him marvellously." At length there arrived in Kent one who through life was no less remarkable than Wilfrid for his great love of Rome, and his zeal in introducing Roman customs and learning into England. This was S. Benedict Biscop, of whom it is said by one who knew him well ^ that, being an Angle noble by birth, he was still more noble in mind by his constant communion with the angels. Like his great name- sake, truly was he Benedictus, or blessed, both by name and by grace, for from his earliest childhood he was wise above his years, pure and grave in con- duct, and aspiring only to join that virgin choir who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. 1 Bede. Vit. S. Benedict Biscop, c. i. Acta SS. O. S. B Fsec. ii. p. 962. Bede, Eccles. Hist 1. iv. c. xviii. p. 202 ; 1. v. c. xix. p. 270. ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 401 He filled a high office at S. Oswy's courfc, and held large estates suited to his rank. But when he was about twenty-five years of age he left his home, his kindred, his possessions, and his native land, for the love of Christ, and set out on pilgrimage to Rome, looking forward to receive a hundredfold and life eternal in the world to come. On his return from this pilgrimage he never ceased to tell all around him what glorious things he had beheld, trying to inspire them with the same love and veneration for the Roman Church as inflamed his own breast. King Alchfrid was so stirred by his eloquent nar- rations, that he made preparations for accompanying him to Rome; but his father, S. Oswy, hearing of his intention, forbade him to leave the kingdom. Benedict therefore set out alone, and as he passed through Kent the youth Wilfrid was committed to his care by both Earconbert and Eanfled. The precise date of Benedict's and Wilfrid's de- parture is unknown ; but as they left England during Honorius's archiepiscopate, it must have been at latest m the year 654, when Honorius died. They travelled together as far as Lyons, where, Wilfrid being ill, Benedict left him with the Archbishop S. Delphinus,i and proceeded alone to Rome. After spending some months there, he went to Lerins, where he received the tonsure. He remained for two years at Lerins, diligently following the monastic discipline; and then, drawn away by his great devotion to S. Peter, he once more retraced his steps to the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, where he took up his abode for above ten years. Meanwhile Wilfrid had been well cared for in Lyons. At the first glance S. Delphinus had been ^ S. Delphinus is commonly honoured in France under the name of S. Chaumont. English Saints, S. Wilfrid, p. 15, by the Rev. F. W. Faber. Rohrbacher, Ix. I. xlix. p. 286. 2 C 402 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. attracted to the youth by that bright English beauty which liad so captivated S. Gregory, and which, now crowned by Divine grace, betokened such purity and strength. On further acquaintance he became so much attached to him, that he offered to adopt him, to give him his niece in marriage, and to get him a good appointment in Gaul. But Wilfrid answered, "I liave vows which I must pay to the Lord. I have left, like Abraham, my kindred and my father's house to visit, the Apostolic See and learn the rules of ecclesiastical discipline, that my country may make proof of them in God's service ; and I would fain receive from God for leaving father and home, honour and lands, what He hath promised to those that love Him, a hundredfold now, and hereafter eternal life. If it please God, I will see your face again on my return." Having now spent a year with S. Delphinus, Wil- frid went on to Kome. His first visit was to S. Peter's, to worship at the Apostle's tomb and receive absolution for his sins. His next was to the Church of S. Andrew, to whom there was great devotion in England, and especially in Kent. Diffident and anxious lest hitherto he had run in vain, he knelt down before the altar, on which lay the book of the Gospels, and he prayed humbly and fervently to S. Andrew to obtain for him grace to read that book aright, and to preach " the eloquence of the evange- lists" to the people. Soon after he gained the friendship of Archdeacon Boniface, who was secre- tary to two successive popes ; and he considered this acquaintance as an answer to his prayer. For Boni- face, being struck with his application to prayer and study, did all that he could to help him, and taught him the right computation of Easter, and many points of ecclesiastical discipline which he could not have learned in his own country. He also presented ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 403 him to the Holy Father, who, on hearing what had drawn him to Rome, blessed him and the purpose of his journey. After the lapse of some months Wilfrid quitted Kome, and on his way back to England stopped at Lyons. Here he lingered for three years, studyin0. s-if.-.. [liai«..WSiitit»Wail f ' CHAPTER VIII. ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS {continued). When S. Colman resigned the see of Lindisfarne, Tuda, an Irisli monk who observed the Catholic Easter, was appointed bishop in his stead. But after a few months he died of the pestilence, which was committing fearful ravages in both England and Ire- land. Then all agreed that there was no one so well fitted as Wilfrid to succeed him. But he made great difiSculties about accepting the see, because it was not possible for him to be properly consecrated in England. For the pestilence had carried off not only Tuda, but also Deusdedit, Archbishop of Canterbury, and S. Cedd and S. Jaruman, Bishop of the Mercians, and Damian, Bishop of Rochester,! so that Wini, Bishop of the West Saxons, was the only bishop in England whose ordination was valid. At last Wilfrid accepted the see, on the condition that he should be allowed to go to France for consecration. He accordingly went to Agilbert, now Bishop of Paris, who consecrated him at Compi^gne in the presence of eleven other Catholic bishops. But during his absence, which was longer than had been anticipated, those who were attached to the Irish customs persuaded Oswy that, as it was quite un- certain when Wilfrid might return, it would be well to consecrate to the vacant see Chad, the youno-est of the three saintly brothers of S. Cedd, to whom ^ Bede, 1. iv. c. ii. p. 173. 409 4IO COXVERSIOX OF THE EXGLISII. I S. Cedd had bequeathed the charge of his Abbey of Lestingau, or Lastinghani, near Cleveland, in York- shire. Oswy yielded to their arguments, and Chad, being a simple man and unacquainted with ecclesi- astical law, made no difficulty about being consecrated by Wini in the presence of two British bishops. S. Chad 1 placed his chair at York instead of Lin- disfarne. He at once entered on his episcopal duties with great zeal, travelling about on foot to preach in all the towns, the open country, the cottages, villages, and castles. He was well versed in the Holy Scrip- tures, which he had studied for some years in Ireland, where he had been the companion of S. Egbert. He was also remarkable for his humility, his love of poverty, and his habit of seeing God's hand in every event. Thus, if a fine fresh wind began to blow, he would pause in his reading, and thanking God for it, would pray Him to extend the blessing to all man- kind. If the wind blew stronger, he would close his book, and, prostrate on the ground, would pray more earnestly. But if it were a thunderstorm, he would go to the church, and pray and sing psalms till the weather became calm. When his disciples asked him why he did so, he answered, " Have you not read, * The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High gave forth His voice. Yea, He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He shot out lightnings and discomfited them'? For the Lord moves the air, raises the wind, darts lightning, and thunders from heaven, to excite the inhabitants of the earth to fear Him, and to remind them of the future judgment. Wherefore, as often as He lifts ' His hand, as it were to strike, it behoves us to answer His admonitions with fear and love, to implore His mercy, and to search and cleanse our hearts, so as never to be struck by Him." ^ Bede, I. iii. c. xxviii. p. 165. ENGLISH BISIIOrS AND ABBOTS. 4ir Meanwhile Wilfrid, returning from France and finding his diocese occupied, pointed out the irregu- larity that had been committed, and then humbly and calmly retired to his Abbey of Kipon. But he was not long permitted to remain in obscurity. S. Sexberga, who then governed Kent during the min- ority of her son Egbert, invited him to take charge of the vacant archiepiscopal see ; and Wulfhere wished to make him Bishop of the Mercians. Though he declined these offers, yet he took advantage of this great opportunity for advancing the Church's work. He went into Kent, where he ordained many priests and deacons, and exercised the episcopal functions for some time in such a way as to win the love and veneration of the whole kingdom. He also visited Wulfhere, and induced him to build many churches and monasteries, of which there were as yet but few in Mercia ; and it was probably at this time that he built his own monastery at Oundle in Northampton- shire, to which he came forty years later to die. All the monasteries were placed under the Benedictine rule, and throughout the kingdom of Mercia all was done according to the true Catholic discipline; for Wilfrid's influence was unbounded with Wulfhere, who did nothing except by his advice. Besides this great work of maintaining ecclesiastical discipline in Kent, and planting it in the recently con- verted kingdom of Mercia, it was no doubt through Wilfrid's influence that Oswy and Egbert agreed, A.D. 667, to send Wighard to Kome to be consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. Unhappily, Wighard and almost all his companions died in Konie of a pestilence that happened then to be raging. The Pope Yitalian ordered Hadrian, an African by birth, and Abbot of the Niridian monastery near Naples, to accept the arch- bishopric. Hadrian answered that he was unworthy of so high a dignity, but he knew one whose learning and 412 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. I m age well fitted him for the onice. He therefore pre- seuted to the Pope Theodore, a monk of Tarsus, sixty- five years of age, who was a very learned and holy man. The Pope consented to his appointment, but only on condition that Hadrian would accompany him to England ; for he feared lest Theodore, being a Greek, sliould introduce into the English Church anything contrary to the true faith. Theodore's consecration was deferred for four months, till his hair, which had been sliorn in the Greek way, should be grown sufhciently for him to receive S. Peter's tonsure. He was then consecrated on Sunday, the 26th of March, a.d. 6G8; and two months later he and Hadrian set out for England, under the escort of Benedict Biscop, whom the^Pope xjalled on to quit the pilgrim's life, and act in Christ's service as their guide and interpreter. In May, a.d. 669, Theodore and Benedict Biscop arrived at Canterbury; but Hadrian, having been detained a prisoner by Ebroin, the Xeustrian mayor of the palace, did not rejoin them till some time later. Theodore's first care was to inquire into Chad's conse- cration, which he declared to be invalid. On hearing his decision Chad meekly answered, " If you know that I have not duly received episcopal ordination, I willingly resign the office, for I never thought myself worthy of it ; but, though unworthy, in obedience I submitted to undertake it." Chad accordingly re- signed the bishopric of York to Wilfrid, and "retired to his monastery at Lestingau. As to Wilfrid, Theodore approved of all that he had done, whether in Kent or elsewhere. There was but one thing of wiiich he disapproved, which was, that Wilfrid always went about on foot. He therefore commanded him to go on horseback whenever he had a long journey to make. But Wilfrid hesitated to obey, fur he was a true monk, and loved the way of ENGLISH 13ISI10PS AND ABBOTS. 413 poverty and hardship. Whereupon Theodore, deeming him a holy man, lifted him with his own hands on horseback, and thus compelled him to ride whenever it was necessarv. As soon as Wilfrid had got possession of his diocese, his first care was to restore the old stone church of S. Peter at York, which S. Paulinus had begun and S. Oswald had finished. The foundations had sunk, the walls and roof were cracked, moss and green mould covered the pillars, birds' nests hung within the build- ing, and the altar vessels, books, and vestments were mean and worn-out. He therefore sent to Kent and Gaul for skilful workmen, and they repaired the walls, leaded the roof, scraped the pillar.^, and glazed the windows, which had hitherto had only wooden lattices and curtains, for till then glass was unknown in England. He also procured handsome vestments and altar vessels, and a copy of the Gospels written in gold on a purple ground, and several copies of the jjible set with gold and jewels. When York minster was finished Wilfrid sent the workmen to Ripon, where they built a new stone church with beautiful pillars and porches, the wonder of Yorkshire for its extra- ordinary magnificence. When it was completed it was dedicated to S. Peter, and the festival of conse- cration was attended by great crowds of all classes, from the two kings, Egfrid and Elfwin, down to the very poor and lowly, all of whom were entertained sumptuously for three days by Wilfrid and his monks. Wilfrid next turned to the north of his large diocese. There, in the valley of the Tyne, near the spot where the town of Hexham now stands, and close to the Heavenfield and S. Oswald's cross, he built a church and abbey of wrought stone, dedicated to S. Andrew, which all declared to be the finest building on this side the Alps. Besides this church-building work, Wilfrid paid -d^^ v-'s ; and the see of Lichfield becoming vacant the following year he gave it to him Foi eleven years Wilfrid held this diocese, thus, by a strange providence, exercising episcopal power m a 1 Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. v. c. xxi. p. 277. 2 Eddius, c. xliv. Eadmer, c. hi. 440 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. I l| fourth English kingdom, and establishing Koman discipline in it also. At this time he consecrated Oftfor, one of S. Hilda's monks, as Bishop of Wor- cester. He had also the happiness of consecrating Swidbert, who had been one of his own monks on the Scottish border, to be bishop of the new mission in Friesland, of which more will be said hereafter. During AVilfrid's second absence, Bosa and John of Beverley resumed their places at York and Hexham ; and when Bosa died, a.d. 704, John succeeded him' ni that see, which he resigned the following year to Wilfrid on his final restoration to his diocese. Charity and tenderness to the poor and suffering were S. John of Beverley's distinguishing virtues, of which the following is one among several instances on record. There was a hermitage in a very secluded spot, about a mile and a half from Hexham and on the other side of the Tyne, to which John would retire with a few companions as often as he could, and especially during Lent, when he was in the habit of taking with him some poor or sick person, whom he might keep by way of alms. One Lent, when he bade hil attend- ants look out for some such person to take to the hermitage, they brought him a young man who had been dumb from his birth, and whose head was covered with a loathsome disease. The bishop had a shed made for him within the enclosure of the hermitage, and daily supplied him with food. On the second Sunday in Lent he sent for the young man and bade him put out his tongue. Then taking him by the chin, he made the sign of the cross on it, and told him to draw it back and say " Yea." The youth did as he was ordered ; whereupon the bishop went througli the alphabet letter .by letter, the youth re- peating each letter after him. The bishop went on to syllables and words, and at last to sentences, the ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 441 youth always doing as he was bid ; and as the power of speech thus marvellously came to him, he continued to repeat his lesson day and night, as long as he could keep awake, so overjoyed was he at his newly acquired gift. The good bishop, too, rejoiced ; and he ordered the physician to take in hand the cure of the youth's head, which was accomplished before very long. So well known was S. John's charity that people ■would often appeal to it by way of inducing him to grant their requests. One day he refused to remain to dinner at an earl's house, but the earl offered, if he would do so, to give alms to the poor, and an abbot who was present did the like. Whereupon John consented for the sake of the poor to dine with them, though it was otherwise inconvenient to him. Meanwhile, the honourable position that Wilfrid held in Mercia was very mortifying to Aldfrid, and the more so because the depressed state of his kingdom disabled him from resenting it. He could not leave Wilfrid in peace, but was ever trying to set the new archbishop against him. S. Berchtwald had been a monk first at Glastonbury, and afterwards at Eeculver. He was a very holy man, and led a very austere life, but he was not learned in ecclesias- tical matters. Aldfrid at length persuaded him, a.d. 703, to summon a council of all the bishops of his province at Nostertield, five miles north of Kipon, before whom AVilfrid was cited to appear. Then some of the abbots, who were friends of Aldfrid's, brought false charges against him, and when he refuted them they accused him of not obeying Theo- dore's decrees. To which he answered, "I did submit to those decrees which he promulgated in peace and with a canonical authority, and will in every particular obey them. Nevertheless, tell me how it is that for two-and-twenty years you can be disobedient to the letters sent from the Apostolic See, 442 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. and so vehemently accuse me because I obey not those d<'crees of Theodore, which he did not compose by canonical authority, but by the councils of discord^ as you very well know." Still they pressed the charge, and even threatened him. But he only answered as before ; till at last, being unable to get anything further from him, they caught at his words, as being in tliemselves proud and disobedient, and on this plea they sentenced him to be deprived of all his property, whether in Northumbria or ]\[ercia. This sentence, however, excited such general horror, that Aldfrid and Bercht- wald were induced to allow him to retain his Abbey of Kipon, but upon condition that he was not to go beyond its precincts. Then his enemies tried to persuade him that it would be better for him if he would resign his bishopric, and place liimself in the archbishop's hands. But having been forewarned by a young noble of Aldfrid's court that this was only a stratagem to make him a party to his own condemnation, he boldly replied, "Wherefore would you compel me to turn against myself this sword of direful calamity, the subscription of my own con- demnation ? Unworthy though I am, I have now borne the name of bishop these forty years ; and shall I, without any guilt, make myself a suspected person now ? Since the first bishops sent by S. Gre- gory, was not I the first to root out the evil plants of Irish planting, and bring the Northumbrians back to the Easter and the tonsure of the Holy See? Was I not the first to teach you how to sing like those of old with double choirs, responsories and antiphons; and the very first to bring into these parts the monastic rule of the holy Father Benedict ? And now must I condemn myself, conscious as I am of no iniquity ? I appeal with all confidence to the Apostolic See. Let him who wishes to depose me ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 445 accompany me to that judgment. Let the learned men of Rome declare for what' fault I am to be degraded before I consent thereto." ^ The name of Rome was not now heard with laughter and contempt, as it had been four-and-twenty years before, for Wilfrid since then had proved its majesty and might. Aldfrid, provoked at the issue to which matters had been driven, would have resorted to vio- lence, but the bishops insisted, that as Wilfrid had appealed to Rome, he must be left at liberty to go there. Wilfrid first went into Mercia. Ethelred was true to him, expressed great disgust at the proceedings in Northumbria, and promised to keep his abbeys for him till his return. Then Wilfrid went on his way to Rome. He was seventy years of age, but notwithstanding, he made the long journey for the most part on foot. He arrived in Rome about Christmas. Messengers from Berchtwald with letters of accusation were there before him. The Pope, John VL, a Greek by jirth, summoned several bishops to meet in synod and try the cause. To them Wilfrid presented a petition, praying them, in virtue of Pope S. Agatho's decree, to order that all the abbeys and lands which Wulfhere and Ethelred had given him should be left to him inviolate, and to entreat Aldfrid to fulfil all that Pope S. Agatho had decreed. "Or, if that perchance should seem hard to the king, that at least his bishopric of York and the monasteries which he held, which were very many, might be bestowed, at the Pope's pleasure, on whom he should think would best govern them, the two abbeys of Ripon and Hexham, with their possessions, being alone reserved for him."^ The mention of Pope S. Agatho rendered it necessary to refer to the records of his synods. When it was 1 Eddius, c. xlv. p. 76. 2 Ibid. c. xlix. p. 79. \ 444 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. read aloud from them that Wilfrid, Bishop of York, had sat in the council of a hundred and twenty-five bishops, and had confirmed the true and Catliolic faith on behalf of the people of England and Ireland, all who were present were amazed, and be^an to ask who this Bishop Wilfrid was. Then Wilfrid's old friend, Boniface, told them that it was he who was appealing to the Apostolic See ; and he gave them all the particulars of the former case. Whereupon the Pope and all the rest declared that a man of such authority, who had exercised episcopal functions for nearly forty years, ought not to be lightly condemned. The charges against him were accordingly examinetl in seventy sittings of the synod ; and all being proved groundless, he was honourably acquitted, and given letters to the two kings and the archbishop, ordering that he should be restored to his diocese and all his possessions. On his journey home Wilfrid had a paralytic seizure, and being carried to Meaux, he lay for four days apparently insensible, his faint breathing alone showing that he was not dead. On the lifth day he suddenly sat up„ as if waking from sleep, and fetch- ing a deep sigh, asked for Acca, the priest. Then sending the others out of the room, he said to Acca, " A dreadful vision has now appeared to me, which I wish to keep secret till I know how God will please to dispose of me. There stood by me a certain person in white garments, who told me that he was Michael the Arcliangel, adding, * I am sent to save you from death, for our Lord has granted you life through the prayers and tears of your disciples, and the inter- cession of His blessed Mother Mary, Ever Virgin. Wherefore you will recover from this illness ; but be ready, for I will visit you again in four years. But when you return to your own country you will recover the possessions that have been taken from ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 445 you, and will end your days in perfect peace.' "^ Wilfrid being thus cured, continued his journey to England, where he arrived safely. Berchtwald received the Pope's letter with due reverence, and promised to reverse the harsh sentence that he had pronounced at Nosterfield.^ Wilfrid next went to Ethelred, no longer King of Mercia^ but a monk of the Abbey of Bardney in Lincolnshire. Ethelred received the Pope's letter on his knees ; and when he had read it he -went wuth Wilfrid to Cenred, to whom he had given the kingdom of Mercia } and Cenred restored all Wilfrid's abbeys to him. But Aldfrid obstinately refused to obey the Pope's decrees. Scarcely, however, had Wilfrid's messengers de- parted, when Aldfrid became very ill, and lost the use of his limbs. When he found that he was dying, he sent for Elfleda, and in the presence of several witnesses confessed to her his sin in perse- cuting Wilfrid, adding, " If Wilfrid could have come soon enough to me, I would have made amends for my offence. For I have vowed to God and S. Peter, if I get well, to observe all things according to the holy Wilfrid's mind and the judgment of the Apos- tolic See. But as it pleases God that I shall die, I require, in the name of God, whoever succeeds me to make peace with Bishop Wilfrid, for the repose of my soul and his own." Aldfrid died a.d. 705, and Eadulf succeeded him. But his only answer to Wilfrid's messengers w^as, " I swear by my life, if he does not depart my kingdom in six days, as many of his people as I can find I shall put to death." Brief was Eadnlf's power to execute this threat, for in two months the nobles 1 Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. v. c. xix. p. 273. Eddius, c. liv. 2 It is not certain what place is meant. The original is Onesterfeld. See new edition of Wilkins, iii. p. 254. II 4 446 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. conspired against him, dethroned, and killed him. Then Osred, Aldfrid's son, a boy of eight years of age, who was being educated at Ripon, was placed on the throne. Berchtwald now summoned a council on the river Kid, which w^as attended by Osred, and all the Northumbrian bishops, abbots, and nobles. The archbishop explained to the council that only two alternatives lay before them. For they must either be perfectly reconciled to Wilfrid, and reinstate him in those parts of the Church which he had formerly governed, or they must appeal again to Rome. And should any one attempt to do otherwise, were he the kin<' or other lavnuin, he would be excommunicated ; but were he a bishop or priest (which was more execrable and horrible than could be said), he would be degraded from his sacred office.^ The bishops made some difficulty about upsetting what had been done at Kosterfield by almost all the English bishops and King Aldfrid. Whereupon El- fleda said, " I bring forward the will of my brother the late King Aldfrid, at the making of which I was present. There he declares that if he recovers he will carry out without delay the commands of the Apos- tolic See ; and he charges his successor and heir to complete whatsoever he may not be able to perform." Berechtfrid, the first of the nobles, also said, "When we were besieged in Bamborough and were hard pressed by Eadulf 's men, we vowed that, if God would give the throne to the young king, we would follow Aldfrid's dying wishes and obey the Apostolic See. This, then, is the will of the king and his nobles." The bishops held some further consultation, now with the archbishop, and then again with Elfleda, whose high reputation for wisdom gave her great ^ Eddius, c. Iviii. p. 86. ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 447 influence. But at length the king, bishops, and nobles were all perfectly reconciled to Wilfrid, and restored to him his diocese, his abbeys, and all his possessions. 1 After which, mass being sung, all the bishops embraced, gave each other the kiss of peace, and received Holy Communion together. Wilfrid survived four years, governing his Church as a father. His word w^as a law to all in the kingdom, none contradicted him, and no slander was breathed against him. But he knew that his time was short, and he was constantly going from place to place, putting his diocese and his numerous abbeys in order. And as the days and months slipped by, and his strength decayed, his thoughts turned more and more to Rome, the earthly centre of his love and devotion. One day, in the year 707, he was riding from Hexham, and it was noticed that he stooped f ery much. The monks heard him mutter half aloud, " It was there I found justice ; it is there I will go to pass the remnant of my days, and weep for my many sins." Soon he fell forward on the neck of his horse. The monks carried him, motionless and speechless, into the nearest house. It was a paralytic seizure such as he had had at Meaux, but before long he revived, and they conveyed him to Ripon. At Ripon he made his last arrangements. He bade the monks divide his gold, silver, and jewels into four lieaps. One they were to give to the poor ; a second was for the faithful companions of his exile ; a third was to be divided between the abbeys of Ripon and Hexham ; and the fourth and best of the heaps he would take to Rome, where he hoped to go and finish liis days, and ofifer it at the churches of S. Mary, the Mother of God, and S. Paul the Apostle. But if God should provide otherwise, he charged his monks to ^ Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. v. c. xix. p. 274. Eddius, c. Iviii. Eadmer, c. lix. I 448 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. send his gifts to these churches. He appointed Tat- hert to be prior, gave parting advice to his monksy and at last told them that Cenred, King of the Mer- cians, wished to confer with him about the state of his monasteries in that kingdom, and had promised to dispose his entire life as he should advise. Weep- ing, his monks fell at his feet. He blessed them and departed, and they saw him no more. The fruit of Wilfrid's conference with Cenred soon appeared. Cenred, and Offa, King of the East Angles, laid down their crowns, a.d. 709, and went to Rome, where they received S. Peter's tonsure ; and Egwin, Bishop of Worcester, went with them. Before long there came a letter from the Pope, ordering Berchtwald to assemble a synod, and publish w^hat great privileges he granted to the Abbey of Evesham, which Egwin had built in honour of our Blessed Lady's appearing to him in the fields on which it stood. Berchtwald summoned the synod to meet at Alcester, seven miles from Eves- ham, and there, w^ith graceful courtesy, reminding all present that it was Wilfrid who had brought the Benedictine rule into Mercia, he laid on him the task of consecrating Evesham Abbey. This was Wilfrid's last public act. Soon after, as Wilfrid rode to his monastery at Oundle,^ he felt the approach of death. While still on horseback he made a confession of his whole life to Tatbert, enumerated and described all the lands belonging to the different monasteries, and appointed Acca Bishop of Hexham. On reaching Oundle he said a few words to the brethren ; but he was very ^ Bishop Patrick and all the antiquaries of Peterborough maintain that Oundle was a cell of Peterborough. Eddius and Bede both say that it belonged to S. Wilfrid. Probably it originally belonged to S. Wilfrid, and afterwards was at- tached to Peterborough. Smith's Note to Bede. Ap. English Saints, S. Wilfrid, p. 197. ENGLISH BISHOPS AND ABBOTS. 449 weak, and could not say much. The- he ^^^^^^^^^^ on his bed, and while he lay silent and motionless the monk stood around chanting and weeping And r in the course of the Office they came to the 103rd Psalm and sang the words, "Thou shalt send orth Thy spirit, and they shall be created ; and Thou Shalt rene; the face of the earth," he turned ids head gently on his cheek and passed away. When his brethren were placing him m his wmd- h^. sheet "there was heard a sweet melody and lapping of wings, as of birds restnig above he house and then flying up to heaven, . . . wHere fore devout and V^ent 1-sons there present interpreted it to be a company of angels, who, accordS as had been promised him, were come to :i of s/huI's monks. He then retired to hi. Abbey of Deirwood, where he ended his days, a.d. ^'ihe history of these Northumbrian bi^^^^^^^^ and abbots dating from a few years af ter S. Edwin s con version, and written in minute detail by their contem^ ^oraries Bede and Eddi, affords remarkable proof of ?hTSS w^ which Christianity took f u 1 posses- sk)n of he E^ nation. Except in connection with S Cutl bert's^bours on the wild northern border and S. Wilfrid's among the South Saxons, there is no reference to Paganism. Christian customs objects, and mot™ ^^^ are recorded ; and the chief task which Ml to these saints was to cultivate and perfect the Christianity already flourishing around hem Th^ does not prove that Pagan observances did not hngei 1 Eddius, c. Ixiii. p. 78. 2 F 11 in;! 450 CONVERSIOX OF THE ENGLISH. here and there. The Saxon Penitential Book and the Canons of Council show that even as far down as the end of tlie eighth century heathen superstitions sub- sisted. ^ ^""evertheless, it is remarkable that compara- tively little trouble seems to have been experienced in putting them down. Though the simple annals of the poor find little place in histor}', yet it must not be forgotten that the foundation of each abbey necessarily involved the consecration of a number of men or women of the middle and lower classes, often hundreds, or even thousands of them, to a life of prayer, obedience, and chastity. These were the true material with which the work was accomplished. In vain would bishops have erected monasteries, or kings have endowed them, if the mass of the nation had not supplied the monks and nuns. The mere fact that, in a land just withdrawn from the lawlessness of piracy, so vast a number of persons of both sexes should have voluntarily sub- mitted themselves to a severe penitential discipline, and lived together in harmony, is the strongest proof that the new religious principle of personal love to God, which Christianity had revealed to the world, had taken a strong hold on the English nation and penetrated to its very heart's core. It is only reason- able to suppose that among this host of nameless devotees to a life of perfection there must -have been many saints, who will appear in the great Last Day as resplendent with glory as any of those whose sanctity has been celebrated in the foregoing pages. ^ See S. Theodore's Penitential, and the report of the Leea- tine Synods, a.d. 787. CHAPTER XL S. THEODORE AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS. The archiepiscopate of S. Theodore forms an era in the history of the English Church. The conversion of the whole country being completed, and the gene- ration of the first apostles and converts having died out, the Church was passing beyond its missionary state, and what had hitherto been left dependent on individual fervour and sanctity must henceforth be made more secure by the usual ecclesiastical organisa- tion S. Gregory's directions to S. Augustine had been so explicit that Theodore was only required to carry them out more fully than had hitherto been possible. The circumstances of his appointment to the bee of Canterbury have already been mentioned.!^ His first care was to inquire into the orders of his bishops and priests, when he declared S. Chad's consecration invalid, and placed S. Wilfrid in his stead in the see of York. His next business was to fill the vacant sees. Rochester having been unoccupied for five years, he consecrated to it Putta, who was learned in ecclesias- tical discipline, and " extraordinarily skilful in the Roman style of church music." 2 Winfrid, "a good and modest man," ^ he made Bishop of the Mercians, which see had been vacant for five years since S. 1 Vit. S. Theod. taken from Bede. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. ii, p. 986. o Ti .J 1 • ••• T-n -^Bede, I iv. c. ii. p. 173. ^ jbid. 1. iv. c. in. p. 1/9. 451 452 CONVERSION OV THE ENGLISH. Jaruman's death ; aud Eleutherius he appointed Bishop of the West Saxons, this see having been vacant even longer under the following peculiar circumstances. On S. Birinus's death, a. d. 650, Agilbert, a French priest, happening to come to Wessex from Ireland, was asked by Cenwealh to accept the see. But after ten years, Cenwealh, who understood no language except English, took a dislike to him on account of his " barbarous tongue," divided the diocese without consulting him, and placed Wini, a West Saxon, at Winchester ; whereupon Agilbert quitted the king- dom, A.D. 660, and went first to Alchfrid, King of Deira, and afterwards to France, where he became Bishop of Paris. But in the course of three years Cenwealh quarrelled with Wini also, and expelled him from his diocese, a.d. 663 ; after which the see remained vacant till a.d. 670, when Theodore at Cenwealh's request consecrated to it Eleutherius, nephew of Agilbert. Meanwhile AYini took refuge with Wulfhere, King of Mercia, "of whom he purchased for a sum of money the see of London," where he remained till his death.^ To prevent a repetition of such abuses, Theodore decreed that the appointment of bishops should be made in the synod, and that deputies from the vacant church should attend to express their wishes and give their consent. This was the custom followed by him and his immediate successors. But in the diocese of York the bishop was elected by the clergy of the church. 2 The estabhshment of synodal action was another great work of Theodore's. His first synod was held at Hertford, a.d. 673. In it the bishops adopted all the canons of the Church, and at Theodore's ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. vii. p. 120. ^ Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Church, i. c. ii. p. 91. S. THEODORE AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 453 recommendation they more specially confirmed ten. These refer to the keeping of Easter, the restricting of bishops and priests to officiate only in their own diocese, confining monks to their own monasteries, protecting the independence of the religious bodies, enforcing the Christian laws of marriage, and appoint- incr synods to be held annually at Cloveshoe.^ In the ninth canon, the necessity for increasing the number of bishoprics was set forth in general terms ; but this was a delicate affair, demanding time and prudence. Bisi, Bishop of the East Angles, be- coming superannuated, Theodore took advantage of the occasion to divide the diocese into two. Wmfrid, Bishop of the Mercians, being deposed for some act of disobedience, Theodore divided Mercia into five dioceses. Then came the division of the diocese of York, the troubled history of which has been given. Good, however, resulted from these troubles, for they dvew out more clearly the true rules of ecclesi- astical discipline and the right of appeal to Kome. Theodore's successor, Berchtwald, divided the diocese of the West Saxons into two bishoprics ; but he had to threaten King Ina and his witan with excommuni- , cation before he could carry out this arrangement. Theodore also drew up a Penitential and a Book of Canons. The estimation in which he was held appears from the fact that his canons for ordination are quoted both in the Roman Ordo and the Irish Collection of Canons. . Theodore's archiepiscopate was also an epoch m the intellectual development of the nation. Its rapid progress in learning is one of the remarkable points connected with its conversion. It is hard to conceive or to over-estimate the difficulties which had to be 1 Bede, 1. iv. c. v. p. 181. Cloveshoe is generally believed to have been Clifif, in Kent, but some suppose it was Abingdon, in Berkshire. 454 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. overcome by the first English students, barbarians by birth and early habits, living in the midst of a barbarous society, cut off from the unconscious help afforded by civilised associations, and with very few books. Notwithstanding, in less than a century, not only had these barbarians become the best scholars of the age, but the Pope sought their aid to solve difficult questions,^ and the reputation of some of their writings still survives. For the first seventy years after S. Augustine's arrival, education in England seems to have been confined to the rudiments of learning, the students who aspired to anything more going to Ireland in its pursuit. But Theodore and Hadrian brought in a higher style of education. Both of them were fine Greek and Latin scholars, and were familiar with all the sciences then known, and Hadrian especially has been styled "a fountain of letters and a river of arts." 2 Both of them, and more particularly Had- rian, who was abbot of S. Augustine's at Canterbury, devoted all their leisure to the school of that monas- tery. S. Benedict Biscop, who had had charge of the school for two years on Theodore's first arrival, trans- planted its educational system to the north, where it flourished in his own Abbeys of Wearmouth and Jarrow. Monks came from other monasteries to study at Canterbury, and returned as accomplished scholars to teach in their own schools. And thus within a very few years the highest style of education then known was spread throughout England. The studies included Latin and Greek, grammar, ^ Letter from Pope Sergius to Cedfrid, abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow, asking that Bede, or some other learned monk, be sent to Rome. Bede's Works, ed. Giles, i. Life of Bede, c vi. p. 62. 2 William of Malmesbury. De Pontificibus, 1. v. sect. 1. Gale, p. 338. S. THEODORE AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 455 rhetoric, logic, and arithmetic, which in that age was a science of extreme difficulty. For Arabic numbers being unknown, all calculations had to be made with Rom°an letters, often helped out by words and a sort of duodecimal system, each number being divided into twelve parts, corresponding to the divisions of Roman money.i Versification and geography, or cosmography, as it was called, were also taught, of both of which the English were very fond. Great account, too, was made of music, especially the Roman chant. But the motive and central object of the whole course of education, to which all else tended, was theo- logy and the study of the Holy Scriptures, both m th'e text itself and in the commentaries on it by the Fathers of the Church. The feeling of these first Encrlish scholars cannot be better expressed than by the° following extract from a letter addressed by S. Aldhelm to one of his former pupils. '' Never suffer yourself to be made a slave to the love of money, or of secular ^^lory, or of that vain parade which is so hateful to^God. . . . Rather, my beloved, devote yourself to the reading of the Scriptures, or to holy prayer ; and if, in addition, you wish to acquire some knowledge of secular learning, do it, but only with this view that, ... as the meaning of every word or smallest part of Holy Writ depends on the rules of grammar, you may be the better able to dive into the deep and most spiritual signification of God's Word by your more perfect acquaintance with those various forms of speech in which it is expressed." 2 Thus, as the relics of ancient civilisation had been preserved during the barbarian invasions through the Church s efforts to preserve the knowledge and love of God, so the same supernatural motive became the spring of the 1 Christian Schools and Scholars, vol. i. c iii. p. 100. 2 Wilhelm. Malmesbur. De Pontificibus, 1. v. sect. 1. Uale, p. 341. 45 6 CONVEHSION OF THE ENGLISH. new civilisation, and holy bishops and monks, while seeking to gain and to spread the more perfect know- ledge and love of God, laid the foundations of that in- tellectual culture which is the pride of modern times. The English showed such aptitude for acquiring knowledge, that remarkable success crowned the labours of Theodore and Hadrian. Many of their scholars were as familiar with Latin and Greek as with their own tongue.i A crowd of disciples, both lay and clerical, flocked round them ; and the passion for learning was so widely diffused that princes and nobles sent their children to the cloister schools, and kings gave their leisure hours to study. The love of letters spread even to the women. Schools were established in their convents. English nuns corre- sponded with learned bishops in Latin, sought recrea- tion in composing Latin verses,2 read the Latin Scriptures and commentaries of the Fathers, and even wrote books in Latin,3 besides applying them- selves to the study of profane history, chronology, and grammar. The high education common to English nuns appears from the fact that S. Aldhelm addressed his treatise, ^'De Laudibus Virginitatis," to S. Hilde- leth, abbess of Barking, and her nuns.^ In the course of a few years the English schools and scholars were universally looked upon as the best in Europe. And when, after the Danish invasions, England fell back into darkness and ignorance, the national reputation was kept up by S. Boniface's school at Fulda, by Alcuiu's labours at the court of Charlemagne and in his Abbey of S. Martin at Tours, and by the wide diffusion of the works of S. Bede, S. Aldhelm, and Alcuin. Though the Latin of the I Sf^^' ^' '^- ^' "• P- ^''^- " S. Boniface's Letters. * The lives of S. Willibald and S. Winibald were written by an English nun, who was probably their sister, S. Walburea. * Vit S. Hildeleth. Acta SS. O. S. B. sac. iii. t. i. p. 289. I S. THEODORE AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 457 English writers and their German scholars cannot bear comparison with that of Cicero and Virgil, yet competent and unprejudiced judges rank it as equal, and often superior to that of the Latin writers of the fourth and fifth centuries, when the language had gone through those phases which are inseparable from the vitality of every living tongue.^ The zeal of the English scholars in the pursuit of knowledge- may be estimated by their success in collecting books. As soon as Theodore and Hadrian had given an impulse to learning, books were sought for with untiring activity and perseverance. Every scrap of ancient literature was eagerly caught at and treasured. Long journeys were made to buy books, or even to get a sight of them ; rich scholars deemed no price too high to give for them, and poor ones deprived themselves of the necessaries of life to obtain • them. A book was the most precious gift that a friend or patron could offer. Even the loan of a book was received with gratitude, and hundreds of monks and nuns were daily employed in copying them. By dint of such zeal and industry the English libraries became so rich that when, about a century later, Charlemagne set to work under Alcuin's guidance to revive learning in Gaul, it was to England that he sent for books. It is impossible to say how many of the precious relics of antiquity have been preserved for the present age solely through the diligence of nameless English book- lovers. In common with all the German nations, the English bad a passion for poetry and music. The bard or gleeman was to be found in every thane's house, and in all the villages, and even the common people knew the popular songs by heart, and could sing them to the harp. Their Pagan poetry is totally lost, but it long 1 Lingard, ii. c. xi. p. 215. 458 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. lingered in the memory of tlie people, and must have been committed to writing, for it was one of the charges brought against S. Dunstan in the tenth century, that he had learned the Pagan poetry of his ancestors. 1 It was very desirable to supplant these Pagan songs by Christian poetry, and this was the first use to which the new learning was applied. For it is sup- posed that all the early English Christian poems were written between a.d. 680 and a.d. 731.2 The first English Christian poet was Ceadmon, a farm-servant of S. Hilda's, who could neither read nor write ; and being unable to sing, he was in the habit of going home when it was proposed at feasts, accord- ing to custom, that all present should sing in turn. One night he had thus retired to the stable, in which were the horses of which he had charge, and here he lay down to sleep. As he slept, a person appeared to him and said, " Ceadmon, sing me a song." He answered, " I cannot sing ; for that was the reason that I left the feast and came here." The other replied, "However, you shall sing.'* "What shall I singl" rejoined Ceadmon. " Sing the beginning of created things," said the other. Then Ceadmon began to sing verses which he had never heard, to the praise of God in the creation ; and when he awoke he remembered the verses that he had sung in his sleep, and was able to add others to the glory of God. The next morning he went to the steward under whom he worked, and told him what had happened. The steward took him to S. Hilda, who called in several holy monks to help her to judge of his gift. They explained to him a passage of Scripture, and bade him turn it into verse ; and the next morning he returned, ^ Lingard, ii. c. xiii. p. 270. 2 Wright's Essay on the Literature of the Anglo-Saxons. Ap. Bede, iv. c. xxiv. p. 217, note. S. THEODORE AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 459' and repeated to them all that they had taught liim, but in such beautiful poetry, that every one declared he had received a great gift from God. Ceadmon then became a monk in the Abbey of Whitby, and by S Hilda's command he was fully instructed m the Scriptures and the doctrines of religion. He remem- bered all that was told him, and meditated upon it > and he would repeat the whole in the most harmonious verse. Thus he sang of all the historical events of the Christian faith ; and being a man of no less zeal than humility and sweetness, the great object of all his poetry was to glorify God, and to inspire men with a love of holiness and a hatred of sm. His poetry was quickly caught up and spread far and wide ; many tried to imitate him, but it was acknowledged by ail that none could bear comparison with him.i What the illiterate ploughman, Ceadmon, did tor the north of England, was done for the south by the learned abbot and bishop, S. Aldhelm.^ He was nearly allied to the royal family of Wessex ; and his father^ wishing to give him an education suited to his high birth, sent him to Hadrian's school Here, besides followincr the usual round of study, he paid great attention to Koman jurisprudence, and read the Hebrew Scriptures. Alfred called him the prince of native poets,^ and besides writing ballads which wexe verv popular for many centuries after his death, he translated the Psalter into English. But no fragment of his English poems is now extant. His Latin poetry and prose works, too, were highly esteemed during the early middle ages.^ He wrote a long letter to Gerontius, the British King of Dumnonia, or Devonshire, on the ^ Bede, 1. iv. c. xxiv. p. 217. . 2 Vit. S. Aldhelm, by William of Malmesbury. Anglia Sacra, ii. p. 1. 3 Ibid. p. 4. , , . ... .f.f. * Christian Schools and Scholars, vol. i. c. m. p. lUU. 4^0 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. subject of Catholic unity, but apparently without any results.^ When Aldhelm's education was completed he went to the monastery of Meldum, or Malmesbury, which Meildulf, an Irish hermit, had built on the ruins of an old castle. Here he received the tonsure, and rose in time to be the master of the school, and afterwards the abbot. He so greatly enlarged the monastery, building a beautiful church in honour of our Lord and S. Peter and getting so many privileges for it, that he may be regarded as its founder. He was a great friend of S. Wilfrid's, and warmly advocated his cause in a letter addressed to some abbots, who, having followed him into exile, were disposed to make their peace with Aldf rid in order to return to their homes. In the year 705, when Berchtwald divided the diocese of the West Saxons, Aldhelm became Bishop of Sherborne, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Berkshire, Somersetshire, and Devonshire being included in his see, while Hampshire and Sussex alone remained to Daniel, Bishop of Winchester. But, however high were Aldhelm's station and reputation, he was true to the principles which he had laid down in his letter already quoted, and prized knowledge only in connection with God's gloiy. He deemed it not beneath him to assume, for the love of souls, the office of gleeman. For having noticed that his flock were rude, ignorant people, who performed their devotions in a formal way, rushing out of church and hurrying to their work the moment mass was over, he would often place himself on a bridge or at the junction of cross roads, and would sing to the harp the poems that he had composed to interest the common people ; and when a crowd had thus collected he would preach the Gospel to them. He died a.d. 709. ^ Ep. S. Bonifac. 163 Wurdt. 44 Serar. S. THEODORE AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 46 I But the scholar of that period who had the widest and most enduring reputation was the YeneraWe Bede. He tells us, "I was born" (about a.d. 673) "in the territory of the monastery of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, which is at Wearmouth and Jarrow, and being given at seven years of age to be educated by the most reverend Abbot Bene- dict, and afterwards by Ceolfrid, and spending all the remaining time of my life in that monastery, I wholly applied myself to the study of Scripture, and amidst the observance of regular discipline, and the daily care of singing in the church, I always took delight in learning, teaching, and writing. In the nineteenth year of my age I received deacons' orders, and in the thirtieth those of the priesthood, both of them by the ministry of the most reverend Bishop John of Beverley, and by order of the Abbot Ceol- frid ; from which time till the fifty-ninth year of my age I have made it my business, for the use of me and mine, to compile passages out of the works of the venerable Fathers, and to interpret and explain them according to their meaning." ^ These simple lines graphically depict the life of the humble monk, whose fame as a scholar spread over Europe even in his lifetime, while his sanctity won for him the dis- tinctive and endearing title of the Venerable. One incident alone of his early life is recorded. ^ Conclusion of Bede's Ecclesiastical Hiatory, p. 2^7. There has been considerable discussion as to Bede's having gone to Rome in consequence of an invitation from Pope Sergius I,, his name being inserted in some copies of the Pope's letter, while a blank space for the name is left in the older MSS. His own words, given in the text, support the idea that he did not go ; and also in his treatise De Natura Rerum he says expressly that he did not accompany the monks who went to Rome a.d. 701, which was the year after Pope Sergius wrote, and also the year of that Pope's death. Bede's Works, vol. i. Life of Bede, c. vi. p. 61. 462 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. In the year 683 he was sent from Wearmouth to the newly founded monastery at Jarrow, where three years later a terrible pestilence carried off all the monks except himself and Ceolfrid the abbot. ^ But the abbot and the little boy continued in the midst of their tears the usual round of devotions, and chanted the office in choir day and night at the regular hours. Besides the commentaries on Holy Scripture above mentioned, which embraced almost the whole of both the Old and New Testaments, Bede also wrote a mar- tyrology, the lives of S. Cuthbert and the abbots of his own monastery, a summary of universal history from the creation of the world, the Ecclesiastical History of England, which preserves its reputation to the present day, and treatises on all the sciences then known. His works are marked by the high and generous spirit which characterised the learning of that age. His first object was to use all human knowledge as steps whereby to lead the student to God, and his second to diffuse learning, rather than to increase and amass it as a personal treasure. His historical works are considered to have done much towards giving a Christian tone to the awaking intellect of Europe; and his treatise on grammar and orthography contributed to impress a regular and lucid character on the modern languages, which were being formed during the eighth and ninth centuries.^ But what most endeared Bede's memory to his countrymen was his translation of the four gospels and the Psalter into English— a task of extraordinary difficulty, as the language had only recently assumed a written form, and was still destitute of regular grammar. A poetical fragment of the twelfth century, found in Worcester cathedral, speaks of him affection- ^ Rohrbacher, t. x. 1. li. p. 436. S. THEODORE AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 463 ately as the saint " who taught our people in English," and "wisely translated for their instruction."^ The account of his last illness and death, written by his disciple, Cuthbert, who waited on him, is most touching. 2 " He was much troubled with shortness of breath, yet without pain, for a fortnight before the day of our Lord's resurrection, and in this condition he continued till the day of our Lord's ascension (May 26th). All this time he passed his life cheerfully and joyfully, giving thanks to Almighty God both by day and night, or rather at all hours of the day and night. He continued to give us lessons daily, spending the rest of his time in psalmody, and the night also in joy and thanksgiving, unless he were interrupted by a short sleep ; and yet even then, the moment he awoke he began again, and never ceased with outstretched hands to return thanks to God. I declare with truth that I have never seen with my eyes, nor heard with my ears, any man so earnest in giving thanks to the living God. ... He also sang antiphons according to our custom and his own, one of which is, *0 glorious King, Lord of all power, who, triumphing this day, didst ascend above all the lieavens, do not forsake us orphans.' . . . And when he came to that word * do not forsake us,' he burst into tears and wept much ; and an hour after he began to repeat what he had commenced, and we, hearing it, mourned with him. By turns we read, and by turns we wept, nay, we wept always while we read. In such joy we passed the Lent till the aforesaid day ; and he rejoiced much, and gave God thanks, because he had been thought worthy to be so weakened. He often repeated, * God scourgeth every son whom He ^ Christian Schools and Scholars, vol. i. c. iii. p. 118. 2 Vit. Venerabil. Bed. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec iii. t. i. p. 503. This translation is taken from Lingard, ii. c. xl p. 195. 464 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. receivetli ; ' and much more out of Holy Scripture. . . . During those days, besides the lessons which he gave us, and the chant of the psalms, he undertook the composition of two memorable books, that is, he translated into our language the Gospel of S. John . . . for the benefit of the Church, and made a collec- tion of extracts from the notes of Bishop Isidore, saying, * I will not have my pupils read what is false, and labour therein without profit after my death.' On the Tuesday before Ascension his difficulty of breathing began to distress him exceedingly, and a slight swelling appeared in his feet. He spent all that day and dictated to us with cheerfulness, saying occasionally, * Go on quickly ; I know not how long I may last. Perhaps in a very short time my Maker may take me.' It seemed to us that he knew the time of his death. He lay awake the whole night praising God, and at dawn on the Wednesday morn- ing ordered us to write diligently, which we did till the hour of tierce (9 a,m.). At that hour we walked in procession with the relics, as the rubric for the day prescribed ; but one of us remained to wait on him, and said to him, * Dearest master, there still remains one chapter unwritten. WiU it fatigue you if I ask more questions]' He answered, *^o. Take your pen and mend it, and write quickly.' This he did." That afternoon at three o'clock he distributed his few valuables in his little chest — " pepper, handker- chiefs, and incense " among the priests of the monas- tery, and " he spoke to each one in his turn, remind- ing and entreating them to celebrate masses and pray diligently for him, which all readily promised to do. When they heard him say that they would see him no more in this world, all burst into tears ; but their tears were tempered with joy when he said, " It is time that I return to Him who made me out of nothing. I have lived long, and kindly hath S. THEODORE AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 465 my merciful Judge forecast the course of my life for me. The time of my dissolution is at hand. I wish to be released and to be with Christ.' *' In this way he continued to speak cheerfully till sunset, when the fore-mentioned youth said, ' Beloved master, there is still one sentence unwritten.' He answered, *Then write quickly.' In a few minutes the youth said, at is finished.' He replied, ^Thou hast spoken truly. Take my head between thy hands, for it is my delight to sit opposite to that holy place in which I used to pray : let me sit and invoke my Father.' Sitting thus on the pavement of his cell a-nd repeating, ' Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost '—as he said the word ' Ghost ' he breathed his last, and took his departure for heaven," 1 May 26th, a.d. 735. During the worse than Pagan ravages of William the Conqueror the Abbey of Jarrow was totally destroyed. But at a later period three monks took up their abode in the ruins, and showed strangers the little stone cell in which Bede prayed, read, and dictated to his disciples, and the altar on which he offered mass, in the centre of which was a piece of green marble. In the modern town of Jarrow there is a fountain, still called Bede's fountain, to which it was the custom, as late as a.d. 1740, to bring children to be cured of their diseases.^ The worthy successor of these Christian scholars was Alcuin, a native of York, born before a.d. 740, within a few years of Bede's death. But he belongs to another period and sphere of labour, and therefore it will here suffice to record only his name, which threw such lustre on the English schools. ^ Bede is said to have died on Ascension Day, because at that time the day was reckoned to begin from sunset. Ascen- sion Day that year fell on May 26th. ^ Bede's Works, vol. i. Life of Bede, c. xii. p. 100. 2 G i 466 CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH. But notwithstanding the joyful fervour with which the Engh'sh nation had received Christianity, and the rapidity with which it had transformed the national character, one glorious jewel was still wanting to the English Church ; for none of her children yet wore the martyr's crown, nor happily could they aspira to win it in their native land. 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Boniface a whole group of saintly English men and women, w^hose history gives us a delightful insight into the inner life of the Christians of the time. The object, however, of the book is not to present to the reader an interesting biography, or a life of a Saint. Its origin lay in a deep conviction, on the part of both author and editor, that the great proof of the Divine origin of the Church, is its history. I believe that the more the grand story of the Catholic Church is known, the more it will be certain that the Christian revelation lies historically in the Church in communion with Kome ; that that has ever been the centre of its life, and that all bodies out of it are visibly sects in a state of dissolution and of death. In order, however, to show this, the history must be known in its totality. What is needed is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." It mav seem to be a truism that the object of V h VI PREFACE. history is truth, yet to some it may appear a paradox. History is often written as if its end were edification. It must he rememhered, however, that in the long run truth is always edifying, though isolated facts may often he scandalous and startling. The annals of the Church are those of the hattle of God's reve- lation with sin and error. To slur over scandals is to omit the enemy in the story of a fight. On the whole the career of the Church has heen one of most marvellous victory, and it only requires to be told courageously as a whole in order to make this clear. History is God acting through facts, and each fact is to be considered a sacred thing, because it throws light on a portion of His dealings with mankind. For this reason an attempt has been made to arrive at accuracy, even in matters apparently indifferent. Of course to say this is to invite criticism, and in a book which covers so much ground in so small a compass, mistakes are inevitable.^ However, we trust that the great features of the time are accu- rately rendered. It is important that Catholics should be familiar with the results of modern re- search. That Charlemagne was a Frenchman, that Francia in the eighth century meant France, that any individual then called himself an Anglo-Saxon, are myths which it is high time to explode ; because, harmless as they appear, they give a false view of the whole period. 1 For instance, the evidence for S. Augustine's Northern journey, Part III. chap. i. of the first volume, seems insuffi- cient. Vide new edition of Wilkins' Concilia, iii. 4. / \ Hi i i I I h J I it \ i •11 t» PREFACE. Vil Precisely the same reverence for truth has led to the insertion of the miraculous parts of the narrative. If I am asked why I have not exercised the same minute criticism in this respect as in other portions of the book, I answer that my reason is, that after all deductions to be made for the indiscriminating faith of the period, the greater part of the stories are true. I have preferred to leave here and there tales which are startling and rest on insufiicient evidence, to running the risk of omitting what after all has probably a basis of fact. It is not that criticism is unlawful. Tlie Breviary itself has been frequently altered when light has been obtained by research ; and few of the stories in this book have the authority of the Breviary. What is unlawful, is to assume a priori that at that period no miracles were done. This is not only wrong, but unhistorical. It is quite undoubted that S. Gregory warns S. Augustine not to become proud on account of the miracles wrought by him ; and that ^Elfric asserts that signs and wonders took place in his time. It is simply im- possible to eliminate the miracles from the histories of the period. In this very age of S. Boniface there occurs a notable instance of a mistake in fact, made by an eminent writer in attempting to expel the supernatural. In his new and excellent History of France Guizot asserts, that the abbey of Fritzlar was burned by the Saxons, in opposition to the story of S. Boniface's promise, told in these pages. The one thing, however, which is certain is that the abbey was spared, whether supernaturally or not. This is Vlll PREFACE. asserted both by Eginhardt and by the Annals of Lauresheim,! though they differ in the supernatural cause which they assign. In order to avoid the supernatural, M. Guizot has been obh'ged to sacrifice the natural. In fact, I am not afraid to maintain that modern research has on the whole been favour- able to the acts of saints and martyrs. For instance, Rossi's profound study both of martyrologies and of the catacombs has marvellously corrected, while it establishes, the lovely legend of S. Cecilia. In like manner Friedrich,^ on such a point a most un- suspicious authority, has shown the truth of the story of the martyrdom of that mysterious Theban legion, which seemed with such unaccountable ubiquity to flit from the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle to St. Maurice in Switzerland. The learned Professor has traced step by step the quarters of the legion and the march of Maximian, and shows the minute truth of the bloody story of frantic heathen cruelty and courageous Christian faith; while antiquarian researches in Cologne and Treves have laid bare the very bodies of the slain and the instruments of their martyrdom. Such coincidences between historical facts and the acts of the martyrs, carry conviction with them in spite of mistakes in detail. Even the legend of S. Ursula has gained by the help of science since the time when Earonius in his martyrology complained, that the loss of the real story of the Virgin Martyrs had given rise to fictions, ^ Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Church, 2. 101. 2 In ann. 774, Migne, torn. 104, p. 305. \ PREFACE. IX I \ I i , I "to the great detriment of truth." The reputation of the legend has unfortunately suffered by its con- nection with the fictitious visions of Elizabeth of Schonau. It must not, however, be forgotten, that Dr. Dollinger has but little to boast of in his ex- posure of these revelations. Earonius had long ago disposed of Pope Cyriacus, and Eusebius Amort of the visions. Mr. Earing-Gould's attempt to turn S. Ursula into a goddess of German heathen mythology, a view which he has borrowed from Simrock, has already been destroyed by Friedrich, who considers that '*the martyrdom of the Virgins of Cologne in the Roman period, is an established fact." ^ Ey a scientific examination of the inscription preserved in S. Ursula's Church it is proved, that in the very first years of the sixth century the fame of the martyrdom of a number of virgins, was sufficiently wide-spread to bring an eastern pilgrim to their shrine. It is quite true that the whole of the details of the present legend are so utterly baseless, that even the name of Ursula has but little foundation. In a sermon preached in the beginning of the ninth century the complaint is already made, that the story of the virgins was fading from the memory of man. Even at that time, however, tradition spoke of Eritain as the native country of the multitude of martyrs, among whom it is said were several married women, at the head of whom was the virgin Pinnosa. After having thus cleared the story from a large incrustation of ^ Deutsch Kinder-Gescbichte, 1. p. 166, PREFACE. fiction, the pilgrim to the shrine of S. Ursula's Church at Cologne, may still be sure that he is veneratinc^ the relics of British women martyred for the Christian faith. As the battle of Chalons was fought the year after the date assigned to the establishment of the kingdom of Kent by Ilengist, history falls in with the view, that the martyrs were a party of British emigrants flying from the Saxon invaders, and mas- sacred by the Huns in hatred of the Christian faith. ^ In times like the present, when the Church of God is in a state of suffering, it is a consolation to look back upon her past history. She is not in greater danger now than at the time when S. Grefjorv, as he O %.■ 7 writes to the Emperor Maurice, saw from the walls of Rome, at the time of Agilulph's invasion, " Roman citizens dragged like dogs with ropes round their necks to be sold for slaves to the Franks." There was not a single part of the Christian world to which Gregory could look with complacency. His long residence in Constantinople had taught him how little dependence could be placed on the pedantic intermeddlers with dogma, who filled the imperial throne. The few remnants of the empire left to them in Italy, could only be an incumbrance, not a help. In the East, Christianity was undermined by Monophysitism. The Lombards and the Spanish Goths were Arians. North Africa was filled with ^ It is curious that Catherine Emmerich asserts the ficti- tiousness of the common legend. Schmoeger, 2. 351. In another place she is represented as narrating the story. The contemporary Pope is there said to be S. Leo. I i PREFACE. XI wild sects of Donatist origin. The Frankish king- dom, it is true, was Catholic; yet it is enough to say that in S. Gregory's time Fr^d^gonde reigned in Neustria, and Brunehaut in Austrasia. Ireland was the most promising part of Christendom, yet not even Ireland was quite satisfactory. Admirable as were the Irish as leaders of forlorn hopes in the attacks on Teutonic heathendom, they organised little, and founded comparatively few bishoprics. S. Columba's letter to Boniface IV. betrays a certain rudeness of tone, which must have brought home to the Holy See the fact, that the Celtic spirit was not sufficiently flexible to be a perfect instrument in the conversion of the continent. The rest of Europe was savage and heathen. Root and branch, the old Christian Church of Britain had perished. It was at such a time that Gregory cast his eyes upon Pagan England. The beautiful story of the Yorkshire boys is no doubt true, but will hardly account for the sort of passionate yearning for England, which lasted so many years, and haunted Gregory amidst the anxieties of his high office. There was a supernatural sagacity in thus resolving to win England, which, if converted, would become a fortress for Christianity amidst the shifting revolutions of the continent, and which was inhabited by a race, whose young energy contrasted with the feebleness of the decaying civilisation and half-civilised barbarism with which he had to do. S. Gregory's success in the conversion of England illustrates the principle of compensation, which is a law in the dealings of Christ with His Church. i ) I I i xu PREFACE. I Simultaneously with the separation of a large por- tion of the Teutonic race through the influx of Protestantism, the success of S. Francis of Xavier and the spread of Christianity in the newly-dis- covered world across the -Atlantic, compensated a thousandfold for the losses sustained in Europe. There are now many millions more Catholics in the world than could be counted at the time when Luther died. The same principle was in operation in the conversion of England and of Germany. The East was lost to Christianity by the success of the Mahometan arms at the very moment when the con- version of England was effected. Syria, Palestine, Persia, and Egypt, were torn from Christianity in about twenty years, between a.d. 630 and a.d. 651. At that very moment was the crisis of the Christian cause in England. Up to that time it had made little progress beyond Kent, its original seat, for a.d. 633 was " the accursed year " in which Edwin was slain, Paulinus was expelled from York, and a Pagan reaction took place in the north. In these twenty years East Anglia and Wessex were converted, and Northumbria was finally w^on to the Cross of Christ. By the time that the seal was set to the Christian-" ising of England by the conversion of Sussex and the Isle of Wight, the North of Africa and a great part of Spain had ceased to be Christian. Hardly had all England received the faith when it began its marvellous work in Germany. Tlie foresight of S. Gregory was justified by the event; the conse- quences of S. Augustine's mission went far beyond TREFACE. Xlll the spiritual conquest of the English. They spread all over the Teutonic race. The loss of the East, which had failed in its mission and allowed the State to interfere with its faith, was more than compensated by the gain of the nation to whom the future of Europe and the world was entrusted. What sufferings may await the Church we cannot tell, but w^e may be quite certain that the persecu- tions which she may have to undergo can only be her gain. As the question has been asked, it may be well to say something as to the amount of my work as editor of this book. I have exercised such a super- vision as was compatible witli my occupations and limited knowledge of the subject. A few pages here and there, not much more than a dozen altogether, are mine. The book is bond fide due to the industry, ability, and zeal for God's glory of the author. J B. DALGAIRNS. I ^'1 I CONTENTS. -M- CHAPTER I. First English Missions English Pilgrims in Ireland, 1. S. Egbert, 2. Pre- pares to go as a missionary to Germany, but is obliged to give up his intention, 3. S. Wigbert's mission to Friesland, 4. S. Willibrord, 6. Sets out for Fries- land, 7. Goes to Rome to obtain the Pope's authority for his work, 7. S. Swidbert, 7. The Ewalds, 8. S. Willibrord goes again to Rome, and is consecrated Archbishop, 9. His labours in Fries- land and Denmark, 10. Narrowly escapes martyr- dom, 11. Prophesies Pepin-le-Bref's future great- ness, 12. S. Adalbert, 12. S. Werenfrid, 12. S. Wiro and S. Plechelm, 12. S. Wulfram, 13. Pre- vents human sacrifices, 14. Ratbod is nearly con- verted, but dies without baptism, 15. Death of S. Wulfram and S. Willibrord, 16. CHAPTER 11. S. Boniface Winf red's birth and childhood, 17. At Exminster, 20. Removes to Nutscelle, 21. His success in the school and as a spiritual director and preacher, 22. I« ordained priest, 23. Attends synods, 25. His missionary vocation, 25. First mission to Friesland, XV PAQR 1 17 ■.vA m I 1 XVI CONTENTS. PAGE 26. Anarchy in the Frank dominions, 26. Winfred returns to Nutscelle, 28. Refuses the dignity of abbot, 28. Bishop Daniel sanctions his devotion to the missionary life, 28. His prophetic vision, 28. CHAPTER III. First Visit to Rome 29 Win f red's journey to Rome, 29. Crisis in the Church's history, 30. S. Gregory II., 31. Receives Winfred graciously, 32. Sends him as apostolic missionary to the Germans, 33. Foundation of the German Church, 33. CHAPTER IV. Bavaria 35 The Frank Empire takes the place of Rome as the citadel of Christianity and civilisation, 35. Broad divisions of Germany, 35. Bavaria, 35. S. Eustasius and S. Agilus, 36. S. Emmeran, 36. S. Rupert, 37. Duke Theodo II. goes to Rome, 39. S. Gregory II.'s capitulary founding the Bavarian Church, 39. Difficulties in carrying it out, 39. Death of S. Rupert and Theodo, 40. S. Corbinian's first visit to Rome, 40. Passes through Bavaria on his second journey to Rome, 41. Is detained by Grimoald on his return and settles at Freisingen, 42. Retires to Magise, 42. CHAPTER V. Thuringia Winfred passes through Bavaria and Allemania to Thuringia, 43. Early history of the Thuringians, 43. S. Radegunda, 44. S. Bilhilde, 45. S. Kilian arrives at Wiirzburg, 46. Goes to Rome, 46. Re- turns to Wiirzburg, 46. Duke Gotzbert's conversion. 43 M CONTENTS. XV II PAQH 47. Martyrdom of S. Kilian, 48. Death of Gotzbert and expulsion of Hethan II., 49. S. Irmina, 49. Hethan's deeds of gift to S. Willibrord, 49. Winfred in Thuringia, 50. Goes to Austrasia and thence to Friesland, 51. CHAPTER VI. Friesland ^2 Prosperous state of the Church in Friesland, 52. Winfred assists S. Willibrord, 52. His character and plan of action, 52. Letter from Bugga, 53. Work in Friesland, 54. Letter to Nidhard on Holy Scripture, 55. Refuses to be S. Willibrord's co- adjutor and successor, 56. Returns to Thuringia, 57. Is joined by Adela's grandson, Gregory, 58. Miserable state of Thuringia, 59. Winfred's suc- cess, 60. Founds a monastery at Hamelburg, 60. Makes an excursion into Hesse, 61. Reports pro- gress to the Pope, 62. Sets out for Rome, 63. CHAPTER VIL Second Visit to Rome 64 Winfred's reception by S. Gregory II., 64. His con- fession of faith, 64. Is consecrated bishop by' the Pope, who gives him the name of Boniface, 65. Vow- on S. Peter's body, 66. Is granted special union with the Holy See, 67. Is given letters of recom- mendation, 67. The Pope on parting prepares him to accept martyrdom, 68. CHAPTER VIIL Bishop Boniface in Hesse 69 S. Boniface at Charles Martel's court, 69. Letter to Bishop Daniel about his difficulties at the court, 70. Goes into Hesse, 72. Fells Thor's oak, 75. Popular ll xviu CONTENTS. CONTENTS. XIX PAGE traditions of his labours in Hesse, 76. Asks Bishop Daniel's advice how to meet the arguments of the pagans — Bishop Daniel's answer, 78. CHAPTER IX. Bishop Boniface in Thuringia 81 S. Boniface goes into Thuringia, 81. Encounters opposition from immoral and heretical priests, 81. Also from the Bishop of Cologne, 81. Letters to Bishop Daniel and Eadburga, Abbess of Wimburn, 82. Builds the church at Altenberga, 86. Sub- sequent history of this church, 87. Popular tradi- tions of his labours in Thuringia, 87. Legend in connection with the church at Tretteburg, 88. CHAPTER X. I*ROGRESS 91 S. Boniface's vision of S. Michael, 91. Founda- tion of the monastery of Ohrdruf, 92. Aid from England and other countries, 94. Letter from S. Lullus, S. Burchard, and Denval to an English abbess, 95. Letter from S. Gregory II., 97. Death of S. Gregory IL, 99. CHAPTER XL Archbishop Boniface 100 S. Gregory III. makes S. Boniface Archbishop, 100. His letter, 100. Foundation of the Abbey of Amana- burg, 102. Of the Abbey of Fritzlar, 105. S. Wig- bert joins S. Boniface, 106. His work at Fritzlar, 107. History and present state of Fritzlar, 108. Abbey of Amorbach, 110. S. Pirminian, 110. Letters about the conversion of the Saxons, 111. S. Boniface goes to Bavaria, 112. Its state, 113. S. Sturm is given to him, 113. 1 CHAPTER XII. PAGE Third Visit to Rome 114 Critical position of Christendom, 114. Battle of Poictiers, 115. S. Boniface arrives in Rome, 117. Motives of his journey and lengthened sojourn, 117. Probable subject of his conferences with the Pope, 118. S. Richard and his family, 119. S. Willibald, 122. S. Winibald, 122. Joins S. Boniface, 123. S. Willibald follows them to Germany, 125. CHAPTER XIIL The Church in Bavaria 127 New work opens out to S. Boniface, 127. Organisa- tion of the Church in Bavaria, 128. S. Gregory III.'s letter about doubtful baptisms and ordina- tions, 130. Bavarian Council, 130. Rapid develop- ment of monastic life in Bavaria, 130. Monks of S. Gall adopt the Benedictine rule, 132. CHAPTER XIV. The Church in Thuringia and Hesse . . .134 State of Thuringia and Hesse, 134. See of Buraburg, 135. S. Wizo, 135. See of Erfurt, 136. S. Adalgar, 136. See of Wurzburg, 137. S. Burchard, 137. S. Irmina, 138. Meeting of bishops at Salzburg, 139. S. Willibald and the see of Eichstedt, 140. CHAPTER XV. The Church in Austrasia and Neustria . State of religion among the Franks, 141. Death of the Emperor Leo, 145. Of Charles Martel and S. Gregory III., 146. Carloman and Pepin-le-Bref, 141 XX CONTENTS. PAGE 146. S. Boniface's letter to Pope Zachary, 147. Zachary's answer, 149. First German Council, 149. Council of Lif tina, 1 50. Difficulties in Neustria, 152. Correspondence about the erection of archbishoprics, 153. Council of Soissons, 154. The heretics Adel- bert and Clement, 155. CHAPTER XVL Boniface Archbishop op Mayence and Utrecht . 157 Death of S. Willibrord, 157. S. B(»niface takes the see of Utrecht, 157. Death of Regenfried, Arch- bishop of Cologne, 158. The see is offered to S. Boniface, who is disposed to make it the metro- politan see of Germany, 159. Death of Ceroid, Archbishop of Mayence, 160. Gewilieb succeeds him, 160. Is deposed, 161. S. Boniface takes his place, 162. Mayence is made the primatial see of Germany, 162. Councils, 163. Spirit and scope of S. Boniface's legislation, 163. Difficulties about bap- tism, 165. Samson, Virgilius, and Sidonius, 165, 166. Another Virgil, 167. These two Virgils con- fused with S. Virgil of Salzburg, 167. CHAPTER XVII. Development of Monastic Life S. Sturm, 170. His search for a home in the Bucho- nian forest, 171. Selects Hersfeld, but S. Boniface disapproves of it, 171. Foundation of the Abbey of Fulda, 176. S. Sturm visits Monte Cassino, 178. Establishes the Benedictine rule at Fulda, whence it spreads throughout Germany, 178. S. Winibald, 179. Founds Heidenheim, 179. S. Solus, 182. 170 Ql CONTENTS. XXI CHAPTER XVIII. English Nuns S. Boniface's correspondence with English nuns, 183. Letters from Bugga and Cangyth, 184. Letters to Bugga, 186. Her subsequent history, 188. Letter from Egburga, 189. English nuns go to Germany, 191. S. Walburga, 192. Goes to S. Boniface at Mayence, 193. Settles at Heidenheim, 193. In- stances of her humility and sanctity, 194. PAOB 183 CHAPTER XIX. English Nuns {continued) 197 S. Lioba, 197. Tetta, 197. S. Lioba's vision, 200. Her letter to S. Boniface, 201. Goes to Germany and settles at Bischofsheim, 202. Her character, 203. Instances of her supernatural gifts, 204. Of her humility and obedience, 207. Thecla and other English nuns, 207. CHAPTER XX. Loss OF Fervour in England 209 Transition state of the Church in England, 209. Fervour declines, but spiritual life is still vigorous, 210. Bede's letter about the state of Northumbria, 211 . Abuse of the monastic system by the laity, 213. Egbert, Archbishop of York, 213. S. Boniface's letter to Archbishop Cuthbert, 214. Love of dreas, 215. Synod of Clovesho, 216. Ethelbald, King of the Mercians, 216. S. Guthlac, 216. Croyland Abbey, 219. S. Boniface's letter to Ethelbald, 220. c XXll CONTENTS. CONTENTS. li If \ CHAPTER XXI. PAQB The Cahlovingtan Dynasty 222 Carloman abdicates and goes to Monte Cassino, 222. Luitprand at Monte Cassino, 224. Revolt of Grifo and Drogo, 224. Letters from S. Boniface and an abbot, 224. Pepin consults the Pope about assuming the rJyal title, 226. Is elected King, 227. Childeric III., 227. S. Boniface's share in the change of dynasty, 228. Pepin's war with the Saracens, 228. Astolphus, King of the Lombards, seizes the Exar- chate and threatens Rome, 229. Pope Stephen goes to Pepin, 230. Death of Carloman, 230. Stephen attends a Frank assembly at Quercy-sur-l'Oise, 231. Crowns Pepin and his sons, 231. Pepin enters Italy and conquers Astolphus, 231. Astolphus breaks his promises and besieges Rome, 232. The Pope's letters to Pepin, 232. Pepin subdues Astolphus, 233. Makes a donation of the Exarchate, Pentapolis, and Emilia to the Roman Church, 234. CHAPTER XXII. The Martyrdom • • ^35 S. Boniface's letter to Fulrad in anticipation of his own death, 235. The organisation of the Church in Gaul and Germany completed, 236. S. Boniface makes a final visitation of his diocese, 236. Meets S. Pirminian, 237. His last council, 238. Parting with S. Lioba, 238. Last directions to S. LuUus, 239. Journey through Friesland, 240. The martyr- dom, 244. Interment of the martyrs, 245. Of S. Boniface, 247. CHAPTER XXIII. After S. Boniface's Death S. Gregory at Utrecht, 248. S. Lullua, 248. Sturm, 248. S. Lioba, 251. S. Winibald, 253. 248 S. S. XXlll PAQI Walburga, 254. S. Willibald, 255. S. Walburga's relics and oil, 256. S. Lebuin, 257. S. Willehad, 258. S. Luidger, 259. CHAPTER XXIV. Charlemagne 262 Charlemagne a fellow-worker with S. Boniface, 262. His heroic attributes, 263. His Teutonic nature, 264. His Christian character, 265. Councils and capitularies, 265. Personal part in the work of education, 266. Military career, 268. Wars against the Saracens, 269. Wars in defence of the Pope, 269. Visits Rome, 271. Conquest of Lombardy, 271. Second Council of Nicaea, 272. Attack on S. Leo III., who flies to Charlemagne, 272. Charle- magne replaces him in Rome, 273. Is crowned Emperor, 274. Respects the Pope's authority and independence, 275. War against the Saxons, 276. Conversion of Witikind, 278. Conquest of the Huns, Bohemians, and Slaves, 279, 280. Conversion of the Saxone, 280. CHAPTER XXV. Learning and Education 282 Educational movement begun by S. Boniface, 282. The principal schools, 283. Inner and outer schools, 283. Extent of education, 283. Classics, 284. Struggle with ignorance, 285. Poetry, 286. Notker Balbulus, 287. Spirit of the scholars of this age, 287. Alcuin, 288. Rabanus Maurus, 288. Wala- fridus Strabo and others, 289. Books most read, 289. Spiritual training of the clergy and monks, 290. S. Boniface's writings, 292. Primary schools, 293. Religious training of the laity, 294. Con- fession, 295. German language, 297. Glossed MSS., XXIV CONTENTS. PAOB 298. Christian ideas Germanised, 300. Glimpses into the interior of the abbeys and schools, 301. Spirit and motives of the scholars who Christianised the German language, 302. CHAPTER XXVI. The Conclusion 303 S. BONIFACE AND THE CONVERSION OF GERMANY. -M- CHAPTER I. FIRST ENGLISH MISSIONS. In the crowd of monks and scholars who, for many- centuries, flocked from all parts of Europe to Ireland, there mingled many of the recent converts from England, and especially from Northumbria, who re- tired thither ^ either in pursuit of learning, or in order to lead a stricter life. Some of these devoted them- selves in monasteries to the practice of virtue, while others chose rather to apply themselves to study, and wandered from one master's cell to another. The Irish received them all with generous hospitality, and supplied them with food, books, and teachers free of all cost. Among these !N"orthumbrian pilgrims were S. Chad, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, three young nobles, S. Egbert, Ethelhun, and his brother Ethelwin, afterwards Bishop of Sidnachester 2 or Stone in Lindsey, and also S. Oswy's illegitimate son, Aldfrid, who succeeded Egfrid on the throne of Is^orthumbria. ^ Bede, 1. iii. c. xxvii. p, 162. 2 This see was afterwards removed to Lincoln. Bede, 1. iii. c. xi. p. 127, note. I 5 I M I 2 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Egbert and Etlielhun,i ^yho were closely united by friendship, took up their abode in the convent of Rathmelsigi, now called Melfont. In the year 664, soon after their arrival, the dreadful pestilence, which made such ravages in both England and Ireland, broke out. Many of the monks of Kathmelsigi died, and Egbert and Ethelhun fell desperately ill. Egbert, believing himself to be at the point of death, left his cell, and°sitting down in the open air, began to review his 'past life as in the sight of God. Struck with compunction for the sins of his childhood and youth, he shed floods of tears, and prayed to God fervently that he might not die till he had made amends for them; and he solemnly vowed, if God would spare his life, to recite the whole Psalter daily, in addition to the usual canonical office, to fast for one whole day and night in every week, and never to return to England, which was the greatest self-denial that the home-loving Angle could offer. Then going back to his cell, and finding Ethelhun asleep, he lay down to compose himself to rest. Meanwhile it had been revealed to Ethelhun in his sleep what Egbert had prayed for, and that his vow had been accepted. Wherefore, waking soon after and looking at him, he said, ** Alas ! brother Egbert, what hast thou done ? I was in hopes that we should have entered together into life everlasting. But know that what thou prayedst for is granted." The next night Ethelhun died, but Egbert survived sixty-four years, till he was ninety years old. He led a life of great "humility, meekness, continence, simplicity, and justice," and did much good to those among whom he lived by his example, his industry in teaching, his authority in reproving, and his charity in distributing the alms bestowed on him by the rich. Not only did 1 Vit. S. Egbert. Acta SS. 0. S. B. ssec. iii. t. i. p. 459. Bede, 1. iii. c. xxvii. p. 163. FIRST ENGLISH MISSIONS. 3 he keep his above-mentioned vow, but he also added to it by eating only a little bread with a small measure of stale skim milk once a day in Lent, and for forty days before Christmas, and after Whitsuntide. After he had lived thus in exile for above twenty years, he conceived, a.d. 686, a great desire to go and preach the Word of God to some of the German nations, from whom his people were sprung, who had never heard the Gospel, and were still practising Pagan rites. 1 He thought of sailing round Britain, and going to the Frisians, Danes, Saxons, and Bructerii, to try whether he could deliver any of them from Satan, and win them to Christ ; and if he should fail in this, he would go to Rome, to visit the tombs of the apostles and martyrs. He accordingly chose several com- panions, remarkable for courage, learning, and virtue, and made all necessary preparations for the voyage. But one morning when everything was nearly ready, one of his companions, who had been a monk in Melrose Abbey under Boisil, came to him and told him that his old master had appeared to him the night before, and had said to him, " I am come to bring Egbert a message from our Lord and Saviour, which must be delivered to him by you. Tell him, therefore, that he cannot perform the journey that he has undertaken ; for it is the will of God that he should rather go to instruct the monastery of Columba." On hearing this, Egbert desired the brother not to mention to any one what he had seen and heard, lest it should prove a delusion ; and though he believed it was a real vision, he did not desist from his preparations for the voyage. A few days after the brother came once more to him, and told him that Boisil had again appeared to him that night after matins and said to him, " Why \ Bede, 1, v. c. ix. p. 247. \ 4 S. BONIFACE AND CON^^:RSION OF GERMANY. (lid 3'ou tell Egbert in so light and cold a manner what I bade you ? Go now and tell him, that whether he will or no, he shall go to Columba's monastery ; because their ploughs do not go straight, and he is to bring them into the right way." Egbert now felt sure that the vision was from God ; but still he bade the brother tell no one, and resolved to try to make the voyage. Everything was put on board ship, and they were only waiting for a fair wind, when one night a violent storm arose, and the ship being driven ashore, great part of the cargo was lost. But all that belonged to Egbert was saved. Then he said to his companions, " This tempest has happened on my account." And he gave up the undertaking, and stayed at home. God had indeed prepared another great work for him to do. For in the year 716 he w^ent to lona, and being honourably received by the monks, he persuaded them to give up tlieir peculiar customs, and to conform to the Catholic practice, both as to Easter and the tonsure. He remained thirteen years with them ; and by a singular favour, he died after celebrating Mass in their presence on the true Easter day, A.D. 729.^ But though Egbert had been personally hindered in his missionary enterprise, he did not abandon it. S. Wigbert, one of his companion?, who was famous for his learning and contempt of the world, and had led for many years a very holy life as a hermit in Ireland, was induced to take it up, and went to Friesland. The Frisians then possessed the country north of the Waal, all the islands now called Seeland, and the coast as far as the mouth of the Ems, and pro- bably to the Eyder, since Heligoland certainly be- longed to them.- They were a very barbarous people, 1 Bede, 1. v. c. xxii. p. 289. 2 Seiters, Bonifacius, c. ii. p. 52. FIRST ENGLISH MISSIONS. r wljwl^'^" ^f- '"^ the water, and holding intercourse with other nations only by sea."i Their land was quite barren and uncultivated, and so inhospitable that scarcely a human habitation was to be seen J^usus Germanicus is said to have visited the country in search of the Pillars of Hercules ; but the poverty of the Frisians their courage, their passionate love of freedom, and their peculiar skill in navigatin- the rivers and arms of the sea with their "kiule> or little ships, had hitherto protected them from foreirm conquest and preserved tlieir independence About A.D. 678, S Amand, Bishop of Maestricht, b. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon, and other Frank mis' sionanes, tried to draw them into the Christian fold But they looked with such jealousy and aversion on the very name of the Franks, that the attempt totally tailed. The following year, however, the stormy ocean waves brought them the heavenly message of peace and love in a Jess suspicious form. For S Wilfrid was driven on their coast, as already related, and being hospitably received by Aldgisl, preached with success to his subjects. As all the first English mis- sionaries belonged to S. Wilfrid's diocese, it was pro- bably this accident which led to Wigbert's selection of iriesland as his field of labour. Moreover, the J^risians were closely allied by blood to the English and at that time both spoke the same language.^ But Wigbert found on his arrival that Aldgisl was dead, and the throne was filled by Katbod, a bigoted i agan btiU he was not discouraged, and durinrr two 3^ears he preached the faith to Ratbod and his people. At tlie end of that time, perceiving that he reaped no fruit from his great labours, he returned to Ireland and resumed his life of solitude, " taking care, since ii/p.^sll^^t'et"- P^^^^^^-^^^-iect. Pertz, Monumenta, - Freeman, Old English History, c. viii. p. 137. 6 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. he could not be profitable to strangers by teaching them the faith, to be the more useful to his own people by his example." ^ . . Notwithstanding the failure of Wigbert^s mission, Egbert was not deterred from his pious design He resolved to make another attempt, and selected Willi- brord for the task. , • xr ii, Willibrord ^ was born of noble parents in JN orth- umbria, a.d. 657. His father Wilgils, after leading with his wife and all his household a very devout life in the world, became a monk ; and as his spiri- tual fervour increased, he retired to a small island at the mouth of the Humber, where he built an oratory in honour of S. Andrew, intending to live there in solitude. But the fame of his sanctity spread on all sides, and crowds flocked to him for advice and consolation ; till at length' S. Oswy and his nobles gave him some land on the adjoining coast, on which he built a monastery, which he ruled till his death.^ Before Willibrord's birth his mother had a dream, in which she saw the new moon increasing till it reached its full; and understanding this to signify that her child was destined to dissipate the errors of darkness by the light of truth, she and his father gave him, while still an infant, to S. Wilfrid, then Abbot of Kipon. Here he received the tonsure at an early age, and as he grew up he excelled his young companions in activity, humility, and application to study, his gravity far exceeding his childish years, so that it was said of him as of the little Samuel, that "he advanced, and grew on, and pleased both the Lord and men." When Willibrord was twenty years of age, he was 1 Bede, I. V. c. ix. p. 249. a Bede, 1. v. c. x. p. 249. Vit. S. Wilhbrord, by Alcum. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. iii. t. i. p. 563. » Alcuin was afterwards abbot of this monastery. riRST ENGLISH MISSIONS. 7 attracted to Ireland by the love of travel, and the reputation for learning and sanctity of many holy men who were to be found there, and especially of Egbert and Wigbert, to the former of whom the title of Saint was given even in his lifetime. Accordingly, with the consent of Wilfrid and his brethren, he went to Ireland, and placed himself under Egbert and Wigbert. His intercourse with them kindled the spirit of missionary enterprise within his breast, and ripened his virtues so as to fit him for the great work which lay before him. At length, a.d. 690, when he was thirty-three years of age, he devoted himself, at Egbert's suggestion, to the conversion of the Germans; and with eleven companions of like spirit to himself, several of whom became martyrs, he set sail for Friesland. • The little missionary band landed at the mouth of the Rhine, whence they went to Utrecht, where Ratbod then resided. But soon finding that there was no hope of success in that quarter, they turned their steps towards Pepin Heristal, who, as Mayor of the Palace, then governed France. Pepin, being very anxious to spread Christianity, was rejoiced to have such zealous and learned teachers for his people ; and set them to work at various places within his own frontiers, which were still Pagan. But Willibrord had learned at Ripon and in Ireland that something more was necessary to secure success. He therefore went to Rome to obtain the Pope's permission and authority for his work ; and as soon as he had accom- plished this object, he returned to his companions. The missionaries laboured successfully among the frontier tribes, and as they advanced, they found it desirable to have a bishop. They therefore chose Swidbert,^ one of their number, who had formerly ^ Vit. S. Suidbert. Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. iii. t. i. p. 234. Bede, 1. iv. c. xxxii. p. 234 ; 1. v. c. xi. p. 2.52. M 8 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. been Abbot of Dacre, in Cumberland, and sent him to S. Wilfrid to be consecrated by him a.d. 692. After his return ^vidbert went to preach to the Bructerii, who were so much better disposed to the faith than the Frisians that he made many converts among them. But soon after, the Bructerii being almost extirpated by an inroad of the Saxons, Swid"^ bert retired to Pepin's court with such of the sur- vivors as he could collect. At the pressing entreaty of his wife, Plectrude, Pepin gave the fugitives an island in the Khine, now called Kaiserswerth, six miles from Dusseldorf, where Swidbert lived till his death, a.d. 717. Two others of S. AVillibrord's companions, also natives of Xorthumbria,i resolved to go and preach to the Saxons in Germany. Both had the same name, and they were distinguished, on account of the colour of their hair, as Black Ewald and White Ewald. Both were very holy, but Black Ewald was the most learned in the Scriptures. On their arrival in Saxony they went to the house of a certain steward, and asked him to take them to his ealdorman, for whom they had a message which was much to' his advantage. The steward received them into his own house, and entertained them hosi)itably for some days, promising to send them on to the ealdorman. But when the Saxons discovered by their constant praying, singing of psalms, and celebration of Mass, that they were Christians, they became alarmed lest their ealdorman should be converted by them to the new religion; and falling suddenly on tliem, they killed them on the 3rd of October, a.d. 692. White Ewald they slew with the sword, but Black Ewald they put to the torture, and then tore limb from limb ; after which they threw the bodies of both into 1 Alcnin. Be Pontific. et Sanct. Eborac. 1044. Gale n /21. Bede, 1. v. c. x. p. 250. ' FIRST ENGLISH MISSIONS. 9 the Khine. When the ealdorman heard what had happened, he was very angry that the strangers had " not been allowed to come to him ; and he burnt the village, and put all the inhabitants to death. As for the bodies of the martyrs, they were carried up the stream about forty miles to the place where their companions were, a pillar of light rising every night up to heaven over the spot where they lay; tilfat length being discovered, they were buried by Pepin's command with due honour in the church at Colo^rne. Meanwliile Pepin had sent Willibrord again to Kome to Pope Sergius, requesting that he might be consecrated Archbishop of the Erisians. The Pope compiled with the request, and consecrated him on the feast of S. Cecilia, a.d. 694, in her Church, givin^r him the name of Clement, and conferring the pall on him. So great was Willibrord's anxiety to return to Ins work, that this second visit to Rome did not ex- ' tend beyond fourteen days; and hurrying back to his see, he resumed his labours with indefatigable energy. Pepin was very successful in his war with Ratbod • and as he advanced, Willibrord followed in his foot-' steps, sowing the seed of peace on the track of blood- stained victories. Pepin having now conquered Hither Eriesland, made over the country between the Rhine and the Meuse to Willibrord, and gave him the city of Utrecht for his episcopal see ; for he had learned from experience that the best way to secure his conquests was to Christianise them. The boundaries of the Erank dominions, however, did not limit Willibrord's zeal, which, overstepping all national barriers, carried him into the unconquered parts of Eriesland, and even to Ratbod's court. But though he met with a courteous reception, his mission- ary efforts proved fruitless. Eor Christianity was linked m the minds of the Erisians with Erank til !1 lit I- i 10 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. dominion ; and their love of independence led them to reject the proposals of the stranger, while they treated him with the hospitality which their national laws commanded. Finding his progress barred in Friesland, Willibrord turned his steps to Denmark. But here he was equally unfortunate. For the King of Denmark " was more ferocious than any wild beast and harder than any stone," ^ and was sunk in sensuality as well as in the darkness of Paganism. The only fruit that Willibrord could obtain from his journey was thirty children whom he brought away with him, intending to educate tliem and send them back to their own country, either as missionaries, or as good Christians whose example would prepare the way for the entrance of the Gospel. But as he was returning by sea, he took the precaution to instruct them and prepare them for baptism, lest any disaster should befall them on the way. On the homeward voyage they were driven by con- trary winds to an island at the mouth of the Elbe, called Fositesland from the god Fosite, to whom it was dedicated, and Heligoland from the reverence with which it was regarded. So great was the awe which this Pagan sanctuary inspired, that no one dared to molest the wild animals which made it their abode, or to draw water from a spring within its con- fines except in solemn silence. Willibrord being de- tained in the island, took the opportunity to baptize three of the children, and had some of the wild animals killed for food. The natives expected to see the sacrilegious strangers struck with sudden madness; but as nothing befell them, they seized them and carried them to Ratbod. Death alone could atone for so horrible a sacrilege, and Ratbod, ^ Vit. S. Willibrord, c. ix. FIRST ENGLISH MISSIONS. II transported with fury, cast lots three times on three successive days to ascertain who were the most guilty. The lot fell on one alone, who, offering himself a sacrifice to the true God, joyfully suffered martyrdom. Ratbod poured out threats and reproaches on Willi- brord for his offence against the island god. But Willibrord answered fearlessly, *' There is but one true God, Who created the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that in them is ; we who serve Him will go into eternal life. And I, the servant of this true God, conjure thee this day to turn from the folly of the old delusion, with which thy fathers were en- trapped, and to become wise and believe in the One Almighty God." Ratbod could not but admire the saint's courage, and allowed him to return home un- harmed. Pepin rejoiced at his escape, and exhorted him to confine himself for the future to preaching within his territory. Within this sphere Willibrord found many Pagans to be converted, and many idols to be overthrown. He travelled over the whole district, visiting the places where he had formerly preached, confirming the faith of the weak, building churches and con- vents, and establishing priests and teachers wherever it was possible. One day he went to the Isle of Walcheren, in which was a famous sanctuary dedicated to Woden, where the people were wont to assemble in crowds at certain seasons. Going up to the image of Woden, he dashed it down in spite of the re- sistance of its guardian, whose weapon fell harmless on his head. The inhabitants were converted, and held his memory in such reverence that they after- wards chose him for their patron saint, and were accustomed to wear his relics when they went to battle. Thus Willibrord worked on for fifty years. Like all great missionary apostles, he had the gift of 12 S. BOXIFACE AXD CONVERSION OP GERMANY. FIRST ENGLISH MISSIONS. 13 miracles and of prophecy, and many instances of their exercise are on record. One of the most strik- ing of his prophetic sayings is connected with Pepin- e-Bref For when Pepin was brought to him bv his ather, Charles Martei, to be baptized, he said to Charles in tlie presence of the court and his own disciples, - Jvnow that this infant will be higher and more glorious than all tlie dukes of the Franks who fulfilled when Pepin became the first king of the Carlovmgian dynasty. ^ in ^i- ^'] '""f '' ^°f^P^^!^ions preached in various places nn w l") ^ ^' '^f ^'"'"''^y- ^- ^^^^^^rt, who be- 3 nf '^ 1.' l'^'' '"f "^ Northumbria, and was a K 11 ^- ^-^^^ «> ^^'^'^ the north of Holland for bv fS' i ^'"'; . ^'' ^'^''^^^"o was well received by the 1 agans, and he was long revered at E-mond where he died.1 S. Werenfrid preached lo the Batavii, who inhabited the island formed by the Khine and the AVaal.2 And S. AViro and S. Plechelm were the apostles of Gueldres. S. Wiro is said by Alcuin, who was born only a few years after his death, to have been one of the saints of the diocese of York.3 A writer of about the ten h century however, claims him as a native of It .' ^^'' ^^'^^ ^""'^'"''^ ''^'^'^ «'^i»ts equal the stars of heaven in number." ^ ^^t whether he hat hT-'\W^.'^ '' ^^ ^^^^^^^> ^^'''' i« ^- doubt that he imbibed his missionary spirit in Ireland where he was a disciple of S. Egbert, and whence he brord n ?'"f ' ^1* ^[''^''^'''^ accompanied S. Willi- bishop of his district, and went with Plechelm and 3 ^- W^renfnd. Acta SS. Aug. 28. ^ * Acta'sS M^? «"^'\v. ^^""'•. ^^"^^^- ^0^^- G^l^' p. 721. Acta bb. Mau 8, S. Wiro, c. ii. p. 315. ^ Otger, his deacon, to Rome, to obtain authority from the Pope ; but with the secret hope of being allowed to decline the dignity. The Holy Father, however, far from falling into his wishes, confirmed his election, and with his own hands consecrated both him and Plechelm bishops. On their return to Gaul, Pepin Heristal gave them a very lonely spot at the confluence of the rivers Meuse and Rura, since called Ruremond, where they could best follow their devotions in solitude. Here Wiro built a church, which he dedicated to S. Marv, Ever-Virgin and Mother of God, and a monastery in honour of S. Peter ; and from this centre Christianity soon spread over Gueldres. Pepin was in the habit of going annually in Lent to the abbey, where, laying aside his purple robes of state, he would make a retreat, as would now be said, ending with a general confession to S. Wiro, and after his death, to S. Plechelm.^ But the most celebrated of S. Willibrord's coad- jutors, excepting only S. Boniface, was S. Wulfram. He was the son of a Frank noble, who held a high military rank at the court of Clevis II.,2 and possessed an estate at Maurillac, now Milly, in the Gatinais. He became a monk in the Abbey of Fontanelle, a.d. 684, when he made over his paternal estate to the abbey. He was elected Bishop of Sens, a.d. 690, but after some years ho resigned his see in obedience to a Divine inspiration, and returning to his monastery, obtained from it some monks, with whom he em- barked on the Seine for Friesland. Once more the Gospel was preached to Ratbod, but still in vain. Many of his subjects, and even his son, were baptized; but as his son died within, a few days, while he still wore his baptismal robe, ^ S. Wiro. Comment. Prajv. ii. 21. 2 Vit. S. Wulfram. Acta SS. 0. S. B. ssec. iii. t. i. p. 340. I I ij In Iff 14 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. RatbocFs aversion from Christianity only became the stronger. S. Wulfram turned his attention especially to pre- venting the liuman sacrifices, which were constantly offered to propitiate the gods. One day, as he was preaching to a great crowd of people, it came to pass that a youth called Ovo, on whom the lot had fallen, was led out to be hanged as an offering to the sea god, on whose favour the Frisians believed themselves to be especially dependent. AVulfram begged the king to give him the youth, in order that he micrht offer him to the true God. But Ratbod said that their sacred laws, which could not be broken, forbade the release of any on whom the lot had fallen. Still Wulfram pressed his petition, and Katbod seemed dis- posed to yield ; but the fanatical mob objected, and cried out, " If Christ deliver him from the bonds of death, then ho shall belong to Him and to thee." The holy bishop accepted the condition, and becran to pray earnestly and confidently. The youth was strung up : he hung for two hours in the sight of an immense crowd of Pagans and Christians'; and when at last he was cut down, he fell on the ground unhurt. He was given to S. Wulfram, wh'^o sent him to be educated in the Abbey of Fontanelle where he became a monk and a priest. ' On another occasion two young boys, seven and five years of age, were torn from their mother's arms and carried off to be drowned. They were placed at low tide on a tongue of land, which would be covered when the tide flowed in. Ratbod and an immense crowd stood on the beach, watching the rising flood. Already the tide had covered the'head of the younger, and his elder brother held him up over the water; but the advancing waves were quickly submerging both of them. On hearin^^ what was going on Wulfram had rushed to the shore and FIRST ENGLISH MISSIONS. 15 besought the king to spare the children. But Ratbod only answered, "If Christ, your God, can rescue them from this peril, they shall be His servants." "Be it so," replied Wulfram, with saintly confidence. Then raising his hands in prayer, he walked over the waves as on dry ground, seized a boy in each hand, brought them safe to shore, and restored them to their weep- ing mother. He instructed and baptized them, giving to one his own name, which henceforth was very common in Friesland. Such miracles added to the power of Wulfram's words, and great numbers were converted. Even Ratbod was softened, and consented to be baptized. But as he was about to step into the font, he paused and asked whether tlie princes, his forefathers, were in that heavenly abode which Wulfram promised him if he would be baptized, or in that dark place of punishment with which he threatened him. And when Wulfram could not assure him of their salva- tion, he drew back from the baptismal font, saying, " I cannot give up the society of my forefathers and the entire Frisian nation for that of a few poor people in that heavenly kingdom ; nor can I lightly approve of this new doctrine, for I would rather persevere in that belief which the Frisians have so long held." Some time after, a.d. 719, being taken dangerously ill and feeling that his life was drawing to a close, he sent for Willibrord to come to him, promising that if he should find that his teaching agreed with that of Wulfram, he would become a Christian. But Willibrord answered his me.-senger, "If your duke despises the preaching of our holy brother and bishop, Wulfram, what good can my words do him ? Last night I saw him in a vision bound with a fiery chain." He set out with the messenger; but on their way they were met by the news that the un- happy Ratbod was dead without baptism. lUi! m l6 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Wulfram worked indefatigably in Friesland for several years, returning from time to time to Fonta- nelle to recruit his strength. At length, soon after Katbod s death, the infirmities of age compelled him to give up the missionaiy life and retire to the monastery for tlie rest of his days. After a lon^r confinement to his bed, during which it was noticed that all the sick wlio approached him were cured he expired on the 19t]i of April, a.d. 720. ' Willibrord survived him twenty years, dying about A^D. 744, when he had held his bisliopric fifty^ears.i He had the satisfaction of leaving the work which he had begun in tlie hands of S. Boniface, who carried It forward with a marvellous degree of success, to which his most sanguine hopes could scarcely have aspired. '' ^ Ep. a Bonifac. 105 Wurdt. 97 Serar. I CHAPTER II. S. BONIFACE. About the year 680, Winfred, better known as S. Eoniface,^ the Apostle of Germany, was born at Crediton, in Devonshire.2 The names of his parents are unknown ; but his fatlicr was of noble birth, and is sometimes said to have been a king ; 3 ^nd it is possible that he may have been one of tl/e under- kings, who were so numerous in Wessex, and who at the time of Winfred's birth had divided the kingdom among themselves. He had other children besides Winfred j but tradition has handed down the name if ! Thh ^'nlT'^n' f 1^^^^^ Willibald. Pertz, Monumenta, 11., Ibid Othlo, Canisius Thesaurus, iii. ; Ibid. Presbyter Uitraject., Presbyter Moguntin., Auctor. Monasteriens., Acta w i""'. ' Bonifacius, Seiters ; Epistol. S. Bonifac. ed. Wurdtwein. Various dates, from a.d. 670 to a.d 695. are assigned for S. Boniface's birth, but the year 680 is generally preferred, because it agrees the best with his ordination /a priest when he was above thirty, a few years before his de- parture for Friesland a.d. 716, and also with his refusing the see of Utrecht, a.d. 722, on the ground that he was not yet fifty. Seiters, c. i. p. 26. •' 2 Some Irish writers claim S. Boniface as a fellow-country- ^.^Vr , ^^^^ *^ contradicted by his own letters (Epp 36 51 /I, Wurdt.) and that of Pope Zachary to him (Ep. 12 Wurdt ) by Othlo and the two anonvmous writers of Utrecht and Munster (Acta SS. Jun 5). Egilward (Vit. S BurchaTd I. c II. . S. Lmdger ( Vit. S. Gregor. Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec 111. t. L) and Annal. Xant. (Pertz, ii.) ' Tw'^"!^ formerly in Mayence Cathedral an old inscrip- tion (Wurdt p 4), which said that Boniface was of wfy race. Though of a later date, it expressed an older tradition '' B I! I ' ' 1 8 8. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. of only his daughter, Winna, who married S. Richard, and was the mother of S. Willihald, S. Wiuibald, and S. Walburga.^ Nor were these the only saints who threw lustre on this family; for S. Lioba,^ S. \Villibrord,3 S. Burchard,* and S. Willehad,^ are said to have been connected with it. Winfred was surrounded from his birth by the pomp and luxury that befitted the household of a 8axon prince. His mother nursed him with peculiar tenderness, and his father, preferring him to all his other children, centred his affections in him and spared no pains on his early education. Winfred quickly responded to this training. Ere long the germs of a noble disposition became visible, and the fond father joyfully watched the development of a character, on Avhich he might well build up the most ambitious hopes. But when the child came to be four or five years old, he took an uidooked-for turn. Monks and priests were frequent visitors at his father's house, for at this time the spiritual wants of the English people were chiefly supplied by monks from the monasteries, which were scattered over the country. These itine- rant missioners were honoured guests in every English household ; but by none were they more joyfully greeted than by the little Winfred. He loved to listen to what they said about heaven, to question them on the subjects which occupied his pure and simple mind, and to ask them what he was to do to become like them. Thus supernatural desires sprang up in his heart, and while the father was 1 Vit. S. Willihald, S. Wunbald, S. Walpurg, Canis. ii. * Ep. S. Bonifac. 21 Wurdtwein 36 Serarius. » Jac. Gretser, in Philipp. Eichstett, L i. c i. Ap. Seiters, c. i. p. 29. * Egilward. Vit. S. Burchard, 1. i. c. L Acta SS. O. S. B. 83BC. iii. t. i. * Wolterus, Chron. Bremena. Ap. Seiters, c. i. p. 29. S. BONIFACE. 19 cherishing plans of worldly ambition, the child's only thought was to enter a cloister and spend his life in poverty, self-denial, and prayer, awaitin^ that eternal kingdom which alone could satisfy his desires. At length Winfred told his father his wishes, and asked his leave to be a monk. Astonished and dis- tressed at this unexpected proposal, the father did all in his power to divert the child from his purpose promising to make him his heir, and seekin^r u> touch his loving heart by gentle words, or to*" in- timidate him by threats. But all in vain ; for the more the father opposed the boy's supernatural voca- tion, the more ardently did the latter strive to acquire treasures in heaven. At length He who had inspired the wish, and given the weak, gentle child strength and courage 10 persevere in it, removed the obstacles to its attainment Winfred's father fell dangerously ill • and as he lay at the brink of the grave, the nothing- iiess of earthly greatness was revealed to him, and he learned to appreciate his son's aspirations after heavenly joys Assembling all his family round bis bed, he consulted them, according to the custom of the time as to Winfred's future destination : and it cloLer' ^"^ ^'""^'^^ ^''' ^''^' ^"""^ ^'^^ ^^^ ^^ ^ Though all the Germans enjoyed personal freedom yet every free man was required to attach himself to a chief whom he was to follow to battle when called on to do so.i Consequently, the laws of Endand and France at that time gave parents power to make over a child to the king or a noble, or to a bishop or monastery, either to be educated till it should be fourteen years old, or for life; and all 1 Freeman's Old English History, c. v. p. 41. h I 20 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. through the Middle Ages this custom continued, and formed the strongest tie between the feudal lord and his " man." As to children made over for life to an abbey, their parents could not afterwards recall the offering made to God, and give them in marriage ; but the children, when they grew up, were not com- pelled to adopt the monastic life. On reaching a suitable age they had the option of confirming their parents' offering, though they were not allowed to take vows as deacons or nuns till they had attained the age of twenty-five.^ But in any case, they were bound, as long as they lived, to give their services to the abbey to which they belonged. As soon as the family council had come to a de- cision, Winfred's father took the usual steps to make him over to Exminster, a Benedictine abbey near Exeter. The boy was sent thither with an attendant, who also was given to the abbey, and who was the bearer of a message to the abbot, Wulfhard. The abbot assembled the monks and consulted them, as the Benedictine rule required, about receiving Winfred. Then the boy pleaded his own cause with such simplicity and earnestness, that the gift was accepted ; and Winfred joyfully devoted himself to the li^e to which God had so early called him. Winfred was only six years old when he went to Exminster, a.d. 686. No particulars of his life in this abbey have been handed down. His biographer only mentions that he showed remarkable natural talents and desire for knowledge, while at the same time the religious training which he enjoyed elevated his youthful aspirations to the noblest objects of pursuit, and cherished within him the seeds of the * Phillips, Anglo-Saxon Laws. Egberti, 93, 94. Ap. Seiters, c. i. p. 313. Ep. 75 Wurdt. 126 Serar., S. BONIFACE. 21 highest virtue.^ But during this period two events occurred which must have stirred even the stillness of his cloister. One was Cead walla's abdication of the West Saxon crown, and pilgrimage to Rome, a.d. 688; and the other was the departure of the first band of English missionaries under S. Willibrord, A.D. 690. It may well be supposed that these ex- amples of heroic virtue in his own neighbourhood and family must have excited the fervour of the young Wihfred, and given a colour to his future life. Exminster stood on the border of the West Saxon territory, which Cenwealh had only recently con- quered. Its library was a poor one, and Winfred, in his ardent pursuit of knowledge, quickly -ex- hausted its scanty stock of books. This was a great mortification to him, and long and earnestly he ])rayed to know God's will, till at last he asked the abbot and his brethren to allow him to go elsewhere. They generously consented, and by their advice he removed to the Abbey of Nutscelle, in Hampshire. The passion for learning which S. Theodore and S. Hadrian had inspired in England was now at its height. The influence of S. Aldhelm, as Abbot of Malmesbury and Bishop of Sherborne, had been felt over all the southern counties; and the school of Nutscelle, under Abbot Winbert, was rich both in books and in teachers. In this atmosphere of piety and learning Winfred made rapid progress. Before long the attention of his superiors was attracted by liis exemplary observance of the rule, his application to prayer and study, not only by day but by night, and especially by his remarkable power of seizing the deep mysteries of Scripture, and explaining them to those less gifted than himself. In course of time he 1 Willibald, c. ii. p. 6. II if »l :; I I 2 2 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. was placed at the head of the school, when his former teachers were glad to sit at his feet and be his pupils.^ In this position Winfred was not only a teacher, but also an example in word, conduct, faith, chastity, and charity, to all around him. Daily he applied himself to manual labour, as the rule required, and far from being puffed up by his own mental attain- ments, he treated the inferior talents of others with respect, and preferred them to himself. All who knew him looked up to him with mingled fear and love, fearing him as a father on account of his Apostolic exhortations, and loving him as a brother for his humility, affability, and charity. His fame soon spread to all the convents in the south of England. Crowds of monks flocked to him to examine the Scriptures, and drink with him from the inspired fount of Divine knowledge. The saintly abbesses of Barking, Thanet, and Wimburn, too, craved his instructions for themselves and their nuns; and though they were naturally less fitted for abstruse study, yet he would impart to them such a spirit of understanding and fervour, as he went hastily through a few pages of Scripture with them, that they would hereafter be able to meditate profitably on the hidden mysteries of Divine love. In this inter- course with monks and nuns he laid the founda- tion of many a warm and enduring friendship, which afterwards proved of great service to him. He also preached to the people with marvellous eloquence, skilfully interweaving his expositions of ^ Some have said that he went to Jarrow to study under Bede ; but this is a mistake, as appears from his letter to Egbert, Archbishop of York (Ep. 54 Wurdt. 8 Serar.), in which he asks for copies of the writings of Bede, adding, " whom, as we hear, Divine grace enriched not long since with spiritual and intellectual gilts . . . that we also may enjoy tae light which our Lord has granted to you." 8. BONIFACE. 23 our Lord's parables with such practical instructions as would be most profitable to his hearers. His exhortations and reproofs, boldly addressed alike to rich and poor, noble and serf, were distinguished by their spirit of discretion, so that, neither flatter- ing the great nor pressing hardly on the poor, he made himself all things to all men in order to gain all. While thus labouring for others, he did not neglect his own soul.^ Works of charity and prayer were his constant occupation ; while by fasting, penance, and mortification of his lower nature, he attained to that perfect mastery of self which not only sheds peace and calm over the soul, but gives irresistible power over others. He was also remarked for that peculiar union of strength and gentleness which is characteristic of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; and hence the fire of his zeal was ever tempered by the sweetness of love, so that love breathed througli his sternest rebukes, and the strength of his words was increased by their gentleness. Thus, in the calm seclusion of the cloister, Winfred led a holy and hidden life till he reached the age of thirty, which was then the usual period for ordination to the priesthood. 2 His humility, however, made him shrink from this dignity, and it was not till about two years later, a.d. 712,^ that he was induced by the pressing entreaties of Abbot Winbert and his brother monks to accept it. No words can tell with what depth of contrition he was wont to prepare for the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. He said Mass daily, but from motives of reverence he never said it more than once a day, though others would often I Willibald, c. iii. p. 9. - Seiters, c. i. p. 35. ' Willibald says that he was above thirty at the time of his ordination, c. iii. p. 9. W i if 24 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. offer three Masses, or even more, in the same day ^ After he had attained to this closer and deeper familiarity with our Lord in this supreme act of His love, he daily became more and more weaned from earth, and strengthened for the great work which awaited him. ♦Soon after Win f red's ordination to the priesthood a great change came over his life. S, Ina, Kin^r of V\ essex, having summoned the clergy and laitv of his kingdom to a council, Winfred repaired thither in attendance on his abbot. The place and date of this council are not known, but it was not the one m which S. Ina promulgated his celebrated code of laws. Its occasion was some seditious movement among his people; and as everything was then regulated on religious principles, the bishops even sitting with the ealdorman in the hundred court to judge civil causes,^ the bishops and abbots joined the king and nobles in consultation about this civil emergency. When the council had come to a decision, S. Ina asked the clergy who was the person best qualified to Jiead the deputation which they were about to send 1 "De Ex(.r(l._ et increment, rer. Eccles." c. xxii. Ap. beiterH, c. 1. p. 3o. Mass used to be said daily from the sixth century ; but from the eighth it was m<.re common, though r^r:.TlZ «'^"""rp°" ^^'^ «"^J''^t i« ^^^^ «f the Council of licino, A.D. 8.'>5. The custom, as to its daily celebration by e^h priest, varied indifferent monasteries. (ActaSS O S B f^.^'"• ^' \ ^""fM, ''• ^''-^ ^"*^'^" ^''"^^ «ay several Masses the same day till a.d, 967, when they were forbidden to say ore than three Masses in one day. After the eleventh cen- Dav fTh^H ' Z""''. *"V^"^ ^^ ^" ^^^^ °"^y «" Christinas Day (Ibid. s«c. n. Pref. c. iii), except in Spain and Portugal, where this privilege still extends to All Souls' Day ° " 1 ? ?'!^'*^^ ^'' ^- ^"^'^ ^*^^« it is said that they were promulgated during the lifetime of Hedda. Bishop of Win- chester, who died A.D. 705. Seiters, c. i. p. 37. 3 Lmgard, Hi^t. Eng. ii. p. 54. ^ S. BONIFACE. 25 to S. Berchtwald, Archbishop of Canterbury, to obtain his sanction to their proposed measures. Then Abbot Winbert, Wintra, Abbot of Tisbury in Wiltshire, Leorwart, Abbot, of Glastonbury, and all the rest of the clergy, strongly recommended Winfred for this important mission. He accordingly set out for Canterbury, where he explained the matter to S. Berchtwald with such clearness and judgment, that within a few days he returned to the council with a satisfactory answer from the archbishop. From this time Winfred had so high a reputation for the management of both civil and ecclesiastical affairs, that he was summoned to assist at several other •synods. Much important business was entrusted to him, and worldly honours and wealth were at his command. But meanwhile a far nobler ambition was stirring his heart. It has already been told how the Germans in their wanderings always retained a claim on the lands from which they had started, and how in many cases tiiey returned alter the lapse of years, or even centuries, to the loved home of their fathers. Thus the English, in the seventh and eiglith centuries, turned towards " Old Saxony," i much as the English colonist and the American citizen now speak of England as "home," and the "old country." But Christianity had supernaturalised this pure, natural affection; 2 and England was now beginning to be agitated by that noble enthusiasm, which ere fong led thousands of men and women away from their English homes and their fondly cheri^^hed ties and comforts, in order to carry the Gospel of peace and hope to their poor Pagan kindred in their old German home. This missionary spirit had taken deep hold of Winfred; and while he was moving among kings ^ Bede, H. E. 1. i. c. xv. Ep. 36 Wurdt. 6 Serar. p ■' r 26 S. BONIFACE AXD CONVERSION OF GERMANY. and nobles, and was breathing the sweet incense of human applause, he was constantly revolving in his secret thoughts how, for the love of Jesus, he mi^ht quit kindred and friends and his native land, and turn his steps to some distant shore. At len^'th he laid bare his wishes and his conscience to Abbot Winbert At first the good abbot opposed his wisli, and tried to turn him from it. But finding this mipossible, he came to the conclusion that this missionary desire was inspired by God;- and then ^xTc ?}^ ^'^ "'^"^^ ^^^^ «^c^^ a ^eep interest in Winfred s plan that they not only joyfully gave their consent, but offered him all the temporal aid in their power. Accordingly Winfred, accompanied bv two of his brethren and followed by the tears and prayers of the rest, set out on his first missionary enterprise early in the spring of the year 716. The travellers hrst went by land to London, and there embarkin- for I^rieslaiul, they landed after a short voya^re a't Dorstat, or Wyk-to-Duerstede. ° On their arrival in Friesland they found S Willi- brord's successful work, as described in a former chapter, totally ruined. Pepin Heristal having died A.D 714, the office of JNfayor of the Palace devolved on his grandson Theodoald, who being only six years old, and the Merovingian king, Dagobert III., being an imbecile boy of fifteen, the kingdom was governed by Pepm s widow, Plectrude. That discordant Frank empire, which Pepin's strong hand could scarcely hold together, naturally fell away from the feeble grasp of two children and a woman. In the north the J^^eustrians set up Raginfred as a rival mayor of the palace, while the south was divided between the Burgundians, Eudes, Count of Aquitaine, and the baracens who, having conquered Spain after the battle of Xeres, a.d. 711, claimed the territory ad- joining the Pyrenees, which had formerly belonged 8. BONIFACE. 2 J to the Visigoths. The Austrasians, being defeated by the Neustrians, broke open the prison in which Plectrude had immured Pepin's illegitimate son, Charles Martel, and proclaimed him Duke of Austrasia. Though only twenty years of age, Charles at once proved his genius.^ He gained two great victories over Raginfred and the Neustrians A.D. 717 and 719; he made peace with the Count of Aquitaine; and Theodoald being now dead, he secured the undisputed possession of the nominal king and the mayoralty. But it took several years to establish Charleses supremacy, and meanwhile the frontier German tribes profited by these dissensions to assert their independ- ence and retrieve their losses during Pepin's mayoralty. Among them was Ratbod, wlio had seized Utrecht and recovered his lost territory in Hither Friesland ; after which he had burnt the Christian churches, expelled Willibrord and his clergy, and begun a cruel persecu- tion of the Frisian converts. Such was the unhappy state of Friesland when Winfred arrived there. Notwithstanding, he did not abandon all hopes of success. After making some fruitless efforts at Dorstat, he went on to Utrecht, where ho awaited Ratbod, who happened to be absent. On Ratbod's return he made repeated attempts to soften his heart and rouse his better feelings. But the moment was not propitious for such an attempt, as the unhappy prince was flushed with the pride of victory and maddened by the drunken orgies and Pagan rites common on such occasions. Still hospitality was respected, and Win- fred remained unmolested. Finding nought else to do, he seized the opportunity to gain some know- ledge of the country and the national customs, hoping ^ Rohrbacher, Hist. Egl. t. x. I. li. p. 479. I-. - I: 28 8. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OP GERMANY. at some future time to turn it to good account Thus he spent the summer and autumn, and on the approach of wmter he returned to Nutscelle. About the end of the next year, a.d. 717, or the beginning of the following one, Abbot Winbert died, when the monks besought Winfred to take his place. VV^infred gently expostulated with them, represent, ing to them liow he Iiad devoted himself to the missionary work. Then, to add the weight of authority to his own poor words, he laid his case before Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, in whose diocese the abbey was situated. By dint of gentle- ness and humility he gradually won over the bishop and the monks to what seemed to be the will of Crod; and another monk of great repute, called btephen, was elected abbot. Then Daniel, who was an able and zealous prelate, encouraged and assisted Winfred in his pious under- taking. As the latter had learned from liis late failure that the Apostolic blessing would be the best guarantee for his future success, Daniel gave him a sealed letter addressed to the Pope, and an open one^ recommending mm to the kings, bishops, abbots, and clergy whom he should come across. At a later period, also, he aided iiim by his gifts and wise advice. During this last summer which Winfred spent at Nutscelle, he had a vision, in which an angel foretold to him how rich a harvest of souls he would reap, and promised him the martyr's crown. The particu- lars of this vision are not recorded, but it is referred to by more than one con temporary. 2 Strengthened bv this Divine favour, Winfred joyfully bade a final adieu to his home and his brethren towards the close of the autumn, a.d. 718, and set out on his Apostolic work. i In I w"' u* J^^ ^'"^' *^ *^^ P^P^ i« unhappily lo8t. SS.Ju'„.\';r^4'8.'''""- P-byter Ultraject,'c^!^ Acta CHAPTEK III. FIRST VISIT TO ROME. Embarking as before in London, Winfred landed at Cwentavich, now Etaples, in Picardy. Here he waited for some time, till he had the opportunity of joining a party of pilgrim monks, who were animated by a spirit of devotion and fervour akin to his own. The winter was setting in when they started on their long and perilous journey, the usual difficulties of which, from thick forests, impassable swamps, and the want of roads and bridges, were at this time greatly increased by civil wars and the disordered state of the countries through which they passed. But they kept up their courage by visiting the celebrated shrines that lay on their route, and re- cruited their failing strength within the hospitable abbeys which were now to be found in every part of France. How long they spent on the road is not re- corded ; ^ but at length, having passed safely through all the dangers that threatened them, they arrived at the gates of Rome. ^ Bede says (De Tempore Ratione, c. xlvi. Ap. Eccles. Hist, note, p. 181) that the English Indiction began on the 24th September. Consequently Winfred left England at the beginning of the year 718, and he probably spent the winter in France, crossed the Alps in the spring, and arrived in the course of the summer in Rome, where he spent his second winter, quitting it the following spring, as appears from the date of the Pope's letter to him, May 15, a.d. 719. Ep. 2 Wurdt. 118 Serar. 29 I I ■'"^""'•"«-- — ■• I; ji It 4- n 30 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. In that age of faith the pilgrim's first thought on entering Rome was not the glories of the Eternal City, nor the memorials of tlie martyrs, nor even the blessing of Christ's Vicar, but the intolerable burden of his own sins. Accordingly Winfred and his com- panions went at once to S. Peter's, where, at the tomb of Heaven's Gate-Keeper, they made full con- fession of the sins of tlieir past lives, received the Apostolic absolution, and were admitted to joyful Communion with their Lord and the saints whose blood hallowed the soil on which they knelt. It was only after these pious duties had been fulfilled that Winfred humbly sought an audience of S. Gregory 11. who then filled the Apostolic throne. *' Winfred arrived in Rome at a critical period. For three centuries the Roman Church had been by turns neglected, insulted, and oppressed by the Emperors of the East, but now the last link that had bound her to them was on the eve of being severed. The year before, a.d. 717, Leo the Iconoclast mounted tlie Imperial throne, and a few years later he was breaking images, desecrating churches and altars, per- secuting Catholics, and threatening even to hurl down the statues of the Apostolic Princes in Rome. The Italians rose in arms, and were restrained only by the Pope from choosing a rival emperor, and marching with hira to Constantinople. At the very moment however, when Rome, in fact though not in theory siiook herself free from the Eastern Empire, the pressure of the Lombard kingdom began ^rrievously to be felt. ^ All around, the position and prospects of Christianity were most gloomy. The Mahometans were tramplinrr down Church after Church in the East. Africa was lost. So also was Spain, except only the mountain fastness to which the Christians had retired. The storm was now gathering on the French frontier- FIRST VISIT TO ROME. 3^ while infidel corsairs scoured the Mediterranean, and spread terror along the coasts of Italy. ^ As to the German nations, to whom the Church had once looked with fond hope as her future stay and glor}^ it seemed as if they were indeed incapable of retaining the faith. Scarcely were they converted, than one after another they fell into heresy, or re- lapsed into idolatry. Bavaria and Allemania were over-run by heretics. Thuringia was once more Pagan. Even tlie realm of Clovis, her first-born, after four centuries of Christian life and ten genera- tions of Catholic kings, was fast sinking back into barbarism. Heresy, gross licentiousness, and simony were rampant. Bishoprics and benefices were given to laymen and blood-stained clergy as the reward of military service. In many places idolatry was reviv- ing, and the faith seemed to be on the point of dying out.2 At the same time the Pagan tribes, alive to the great fact of Christianity, were banded together in defence of their national religion and independence. The furious and invincible Saxons were the centre and chief strength of this Pagan confederacy, of which the Frisians in the north-west, and the Hessians and Thuringians in the south, were the frontier bulwarks ^ while behind in the north were Danes and Scan- dinavians, and in the east. Slaves, Avars, Sarmatians, Tatars, and countless other nations, stretching out into unknown and infinite barbaric space. When S. Gregory II. took possession of the Apos- tolic Chair, a.d. 715, two great objects demanded his care. One was the conversion of Germany ; the other was the development and consolidation of the Church's interior resources, so as to secure the pre- servation of the faith amid the chaos of society. But he knew not where to find instruments fitted to ^ Ozanam, Civilisation Chr^tienne, c. viii. p. 3o2. * Ibid. c. V. p. 191. I 1 1 30 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. In that age of faith the pilgrim's first thought on entering Korae was not the glories of the Eternal City, nor the memorials of the martyrs, nor even the blessing of Christ's Vicar, but the intolerable burden of his own sins. Accordingly Winfred and his com- panions went at once to S. Peter's, where, at the tomb of Heaven's Gate-Keeper, they made full con- fession of the sins of their past lives, received the Apostolic absolution, and were admitted to joyful Communion with their Lord and the saints whose blood hallowed the soil on which they knelt. It was only after these pious duties had been fulfilled that Winfred humbly sought an audience of S. Gregory II who then filled the Apostolic throne. ^ -^ •» Winfred arrived in Rome at a critical period. For three centuries the Roman Church had been by turns neglected, insulted, and oppressed by the Emperors of the East, but now the last link that had bound her to them was on the eve of being severed The year before, a.d. 717, Leo the Iconoclast mounted the Imperial throne, and a few years later he was breaking images, desecrating churches and altars, per- secuting Catholics, and threatening even to hurl down the statues of the Apostolic Princes in Rome. The Italians rose in arms, and were restrained onlyby the Pope from choosing a rival emperor, and marching Tirith hira to Constantinople. At the very moment however, when Rome, in fact though not in theory shook herself free from the Eastern Empire, the pressure of the Lombard kingdom began grievouslv to be felt. ^ All around, the position and prospects of Christianity were most gloomy. The Mahometans were tramplincr down Church after Church in the East. Africa was lost. So also was Spain, except only the mountain fastness to which the Christians had retired. The storm was now gathering on the French frontier* FIRST VISIT TO ROME. 31 while infidel corsairs scoured the Mediterranean, and spread terror along the coasts of Italy. ^ As to the German nations, to whom the Church had once looked with fond hope as her future stay and glory, it seemed as if they were indeed incapable of retaining the faith. Scarcely were they converted, than one after another they fell into heresy, or re- lapsed into idolatry. Bavaria and Allemania were over-run by heretics. Thuringia was once more Pagan. Even the realm of Clovis, her first-born, after four centuries of Christian life and ten genera- tions of Catholic kings, was fast sinking back into barbarism. Heresy, gross licentiousness, and simony were rampant. Bishoprics and benefices were given to laymen and blood-stained clergy as the reward of military service. In many places idolatry was reviv- ing, and the faith seemed to be on the point of dying out. 2 At the same time the Pagan tribes, alive to the great fact of Christianity, were banded together in defence of their national religion and independence. The furious and invincible Saxons were the centre and chief strength of this Pagan confederacy, of which the Frisians in the north-west, and the Hessians and Thuringians in the south, were the frontier bulwarks ; while behind in the north were Danes and Scan- dinavians, and in the east. Slaves, Avars, Sarmatians, Tatars, and countless other nations, stretching out into unknown and infinite barbaric space. When S. Gregory II. took possession of the Apos- tolic Chair, a.d. 715, two great objects demanded his care. One was the conversion of Germany ; the other was the development and consolidation of the Church's interior resources, so as to secure the pre- servation of the faith amid the chaos of society. But he knew not where to find instruments fitted to * Ozanam, Civilisation Chr^tienne, c. viii. p. 352. * Ibid. c. V. p. 191. iJL I! 8 : ii ■ I. 32 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GEnMANY. carry out these objects. It may, therefore, be con- ceived with what joy he hailed the arrival of tlje humble and docile Winfred, beneath whose simple and calm exterior there lay hid all the deep en- thusiasm and heroic devotion of the German, united to the plain common sense, the indomitable energy, and the dogged perseverance which distinguished the English tribes. Winfred, at his first audience of the Holy Father, told him his country and his life from childhood* what was the desire that for years had filled his heart, and what the motive of his long journey. On hearing the simple and ingenuous tale the Holy Father smiled, and looking kindly on the youncr stranger, asked if he had not brought any letters from his bishop. Whereupon Winfred, taking otf his cloak, in which he had deposited the precious documents for greater safety, drew them both forth and presented them to tlie Pope. On receiving them, Gregory dismissed him, promising to send for him when he should have had time to consider his request. Bishop Daniel's private letter to the Pope has been lost, but there can be no doubt about its tone ; for S. Gregory at once selected Winfred for the great work that he had in hand, and gave him his confidence. Daily through the winter Winfred was admitted to private audiences of the Pope, who care- fully questioned him as to the faith, instructed him on various points, and gave him special directions as to the work in which he was about to employ him. Meanwhile, he fed and deepened his devotion by making the round of the countless touching memorials of apostles and martyrs who had lived and died for the love of Jesus alone. And besides all these, there were points of special interest to the Englishman— the slave-market, the convent of S. Andrew on the Coelian Hill, the tomb of young Cead walla, and many another FIRST VISIT TO ROME. 33 tomb where lay pilgrims of his own race, who had been irresistibly drawn to the throne and centre of Christ's kingdom on earth. The Eorgo did not pro- bably become the Saxon quarter till a few years later, but no doubt he met at Rome Cenred, Olfa, and others of his countrymen, who had given up crowns, wealth, liome and kindred fur the hope of the heavenly kingdom. In converse with such, and amid such memorials, Wlnf red's aspirations were purified and strengthened. Thus Winfred spent the winter, and when fine spring weather set in he prepared to depart. S. Gregory gave him a letter dated the 15th of May,' AD. 719, wliich may be regarded as the fundamental charter of the German Catholic Church. In it the Pope commanded him '*in the name of the Indivisible Trinity, and by the immovable authority of S. Peter Prince of the Apostles, whose office of teacher and whose Chair he filled, to haste and kindle among the nations bound in the errors of Paganism tliat savinavaria, which then included nearly one-third of 35 1*1 li* :|- ii \ if i 36 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Germany, extended from the Alps to the old Roman frontier, along the mountain forests of Bohemia and the modern towns of Baireuth, Nurnberg, and Ans- l)acb, and from Styria to the river Itl, wliich separated it from Allemania.1 Christianity had early taken root there ; and in the Diocletian persecution its bishops, S. Maximilian, 6. Dionysius, S. Yictorinus, and S. Quirinus, the tribune S. Florian, the penitent b. Afra and her three associates, and many others, had suffered martvrdom. Here S. Severin, the Apostle of Noricum, ^ S. Virgil Bishop of Trent, and b. Valentine, Bishop of Rhoetia, had laboured while this was the highroad for barbarian hordes to Italy. And here, when the flood of invasion subsided, Mar- comanni, Rugii, Heruli, Goths,^ and other tribes, who were either Pagan or Arian, had settled. In the middle of the sixth century Duke Ganbald I. formed Bavaria into an independent state. He and all his descendants were Catholics, and very zealous for the conversion of their subjects ;3 and his daughter, Theodolinda, who married successively Antharis and Agilolf, Kings of the Lombards, co-operated with S. Gregory the Great in converting that nation from Arianism. . , , . r t ■^ About the year 615, S. Eustasius, Abbot of Luxeuil, and S. Agilus came, in obedience to S. Columbaa's last injunctions, to preach in Bavaria. Duke Gari- bald li. received them well, and they founded several churches on the Danube."* But they did not remain long, and their work was not enduring, for when S. Emmeran, Bishop of Poictiers, went in the middle of 1 Seiters, c. vi. p. 253. 2 Freytag, Bilder, c. i. p. 39. Rudolf von Raumer, Jl.in- wirkunsi, 1. ii. c. ii. p. 170. a Seiters, c. vi. p. 254, et seq. o i a . 4 Vit S. Eustas. a Jona Monach. Bobbieus, cc. 3, 4. Acta SS. O. *S. B. ssec. i. p. 109. Vit. S. Salaberg, c. iv. ibid. p. 406. * ) BAVARIA. 37 the same century to preach in Bavaria, he found the people either Pagans or sunk in a gross mixture of Christianity with Paganism, their priests even using the same chalice fur the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and for libations to Pagan gods. Duke Theodo L, struck by S. Einmeran's humility and zeal, strove to detain him at his court, and gave him Ratisbon for his episcopal see. He preached with great success for three years ; but a shameful crime being then laid to liis charge, he was put to death. His innocence was proclaimed after his death, and his body was translated with great solemnity to the chapel of S. George, which was converted into a splendid abbey dedicated to him, to which the see of Ratisbon was attached.^ But in spite of the zeal of these dukes, Christianity made no progress in Bavaria. Fresh seeds of Pagan- ism and Arianism were constantly brought in through the restless sliifting of the barbarian tribes. The Christian clergy did not all preach the Catholic doctrine, nor administer the Sacraments in a valid form; there was neither discipline nor unity; and thus even zealous and devoted priests toiled merely as feeble individuals, and not as members of the one powerful Catholic body. Towards the close of the seventh century the throne was occupied by Theodo II., a prince of extra- ordinary ])iety, whose most fervent desire was to see all his subjects united in the Catholic faith before his death. With this view he invited to his court S. Rupert,2 a Merovingian and Bishop of Worms, the fame of whose sanctity had reached him. S. Rupert on his arrival, a.d. 696, instructed and bap- tized Theodo and many of his subjects of all classes, ^ Seiters, c. vi. p. 257 ; c. vii. p. 282. 2 Vit. S. Rudpert. Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. iii. t. i. p. 235. Vit. et Miracul. S. Ruperti, Eberhard. Archiepiscop. Salzburg, v/auis. ill. p. 282. 1! ' 38 8. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. whose baptism he found had been invalid Then, having obtained leave from Theodo to place his epis- copal lee wherever he would, and to build churches and monasteries, he embarked on the Danube and sailed down it to the frontier of Lower Pannonia, sowing the word of life as he went along. On his return he stopped at Laureacum, or Lorch, where he made many converts and performed many miraculous cures. Resuming his journey, he arrived at Walarium where the river Vischaha runs out of the lake, and here he built a church which he dedicated to b. Teter Afterwards hearing that there were at a place called Juvavia, now Salzburg, the ruins of fine buildmgs overcrrown by the forest, he asked Theodo s leave to clear" the spot and fix his see in it. Theodo, accord- in^lv, gave him two square leagues of land, on wluch he built a church and monastery dedicated to b. Peter in which he established the dady chanting of the Divine office. He also built many other churches and monasteries. , , ^ ^ir x After some time S. Rupert went back to Worms to seek more labourers for his vineyard ; and he brought thence with him to Bavaria twelve disciples and his niece S. Erndruda. She, too, was a Merovingian, and had been abbess of a convent in France ; but the discipline becoming relaxed, and quarrels arising in her abbey, she was glad to follow 8. Rupert to Bavaria. He built for her, on a hill near Salzburg, a monastery dedicated to S. Mary the Mother of God, where she collected a numerous community, among whom she shone like the moon surrounded with stars, setting them a bright example of devotion and all other virtues. ,. ., , -o • - i About the year 700 Theodo divided Bavaria into four provinces, of which he gave one to each of his three sons, reserving the fourth for himself. He now longed to see a bishop like S. Rupert in each of BAVARIA. 39 I these provinces, with a centre of unity on which the whole might rest ; and he therefore went to Rome, A.D. 716, to ask counsel and aid of S. Peter's suc- cessor. S. Gregory received Theodo most cordially, gave him a capitular, or concordat, as the foundation of the Bavarian Church, and sent with him to Bavaria three legates, who would help him to organise it fully under the Apostolic authority. This capitular throws much light on the state of Bavaria at this time. Tlie first article directed the duke to summon a council of all the principal persons in the dukedom, both clergy and laity, in order to examine into the faith, morals, and orders of the clergy, and remove from their offices all who should be found wanting in any of these points. Then followed the usual regula- tions about the erection of a metropolitan chair and three or more bishops' sees, and the placing of a priest in each church ; the prohibition of idolatry, polygamy, and marriage Avithin the forbidden degrees of kindred; and finally, the prohibition to fast on Sunday, and exhortations to marry, to do penance as the only means of obtaining pardon for sin, to look for the resurrection of the body and the final judgment, and to reject the idea that Satan and his angels would eventually be restored to their original state. ^ The last heads prove that Gnostic^ and Manichaean heresies had taken root in Bavaria. Theodo encountered great difficulties in carrying out these measures. Pious and educated clergy could not be at once found. The restrictions on marriage naturally excited opposition, and still more so when Grimoald, one of his sons, married his brother's widow, Piltrude, in defiance of the Pope's authority. Before these difficulties could be overcome S. Rupert 1 Seiters, c. vii. p. 261. Labbe, t. vi. p. 1452. Ap. Rohr- bacher, t. x. L li. p. 458. 40 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. died on Easter Day, April 8th, a p. 718 ; and the .ood duke followed him before the close of the ^^But iust at this r.oment, when the struggle for ,,nitv and discipline seemed hopeless, another saint Tsldt Bava'ria to keep alive Catholic t-diU^^^ This was S. Corbinian, a native of Chatres near Varis 1 At a very early age he had built h mselt ;: Uclofe to the church of S. Germain out^de^^ of rhatres where, with a few companions, he foUo^^ed ^hetonastic life. His sanctity and n^aeubiis gif J soon drew to his cell crowds of men ^nd — «* all ranks and ages, and among others 1 epmHer.sta^ all of whom asked his prayers and loaded him wiin Sfts Often ^vould he complain, with sighs and tears, ?hat tliev robbed him of the solitude and poverty Sicl behoved, and forced him to quit his prayers n oiSer to receive their visits, answer their ques- tions and distribute their alms among the poor. "Tf'ter leading this life for fourteen J-ars, ^0 «et out with his little community for Rome, fbo«t a.d 709 There, prostrate at the Holy Father's feet he opened out lis heart to him, told hini how he had kst the solitude and poverty which he longed for, and e treld him to Jive him and his companions some obscure corner, where, under the patronage o the Holy Apostles, they might hide themselves and follow he Benedictine rule. But Pope Constan ine, a from entering into his wishes, "--^^e him a bis^^ .rave him a pall, and sent h.m away with the Apos- tolic authority to preach wherever he chose. For seven years S. Corbinian travelled with Ins companions through various pavts of 1 ranee preach- inc- with extraordinary success. At the end of that timeTA.D. 717, he set out again for Rome, hoping to 1 VU. S. Corbinian. by Aribo, his third successor in the see of Freisingen. AcU Ss' 0. S. B. s»c. in. t. .. p. 4<0. BAVARIA. 41 I be more successful with S. Gregory II. than he had been with his predecessor, and obtain leave to retire to some solitude. On his way he passed through Bavaria, where both Theodo and Grimoald tried to persuade him to remain. But no tempting offers could allure him from the object of his journey. Whereupon Grimoald gave secret orders to the vil- lagers in the Alpine passes, to seize and detain him on his return from Rome. It Avas during this journey through the Tyrol that occurred the circumstance already referred to, which showed his supernatural power over the brute creation. It happened one night that the men in charge of the pack-horses fell asleep, and when they awoke in the morning, tliey saw a bear seated on the carcase of one of the horses, which he had killed and was eating. When Ansericus, the bishop's old and faithful atten- dant, told him of the accident, he heard it unmoved, and only answered, *• Take this whip, and punish the bear well for the injury it has done us." And as Ansericus was afraid to obey, he added, " Go, and don't be afraid. Do as I have told you, and then put the pack and the bridle on the bear, and drive it on with the other horses." Ansericus obeyed ; he whipped the bear, and laid the pack on its back ; and the beast bore its load, like a tame horse, to the gates of Rome, where the saint dismissed it and it went its way.^ S. Corbinian's second journey to Rome. prospered no better than the former one. For the Pope and his council unanimously decided that, far from be- coming a recluse, he must return to his missionary labours. Retracing his steps, he crossed Lombardy, and arrived at Magise, or Mays, near Meran in the Tyrol, ^.Vit. S. Corbinian, c. xi. ij If*- 42 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. ^vlle^e, in obedience to Grimoald's secret orders, he was seized and detained till that prince's pleasure should be known. During this delay he went one day to pray in the neighbouring church of b. Valentine, and on his way thither he noticed that the country was fertile and well-wooded, and that there was a solitary and pathless spot between two rivulets, called Camina, which he fixed on as a desirable site for a monastery. In due time the village messengers returned from Grimoakl with orders to brhig Corbinian to him Corbinian reluctantly obeyed ; but on his arrival at the court he refused to hold any communication with Grimoakl, who had lately formed the incestuous connection with Piltrude. For forty days the guilty pair continued inpenitent; but at last they confessed their sin, promised amendment, and were reconciled to the Church. 4. t? • Corbinian now consented to fix his see at J^rei- sin^en, where he built a cathedral and a monastery to the" honour of S. Mary, the Uothev of God, and S. Benedict. He also built at Camina, near Magise, a monastery which he dedicated to S. Valentine and S Zeno. But though Grimoakl had broken off his connection with Piltrude, she retained her influence over him and caused much annoyance to S. Corbinian, till at last she sent some men to kill him. Then, finding that he could do no good, he retired to the monastery that he had built in the peaceful solitude at Magise, there to await happier times. CHAPTEE V. THURINGIA. When Winfred arrived in Bavaria, a.d. 719, S. Kupert and Duke Theodo had been dead about a year. The dukedom was divided between Theodo's two surviving sons, Theodebert and Grimoald ; and S. Corbinian was settled at Freisingen with the latter. Gladly would they have detained him to aid their work ; but it was to the Pagans that the Pope had sent him, and it was to them that his own heart also turned. Twenty years later he did much in Bavaria ; but now he contented himself with dropping passing rebukes and exhortations as he travelled through the provinces on his way to Allemania.^ In Allemania, also, there was a Church, bishops at Constance, Spire, and Augsburg, priests scattered about here and there, and a large Christian popula- tion, either Gallo-Komans, or Germans who had been gathered into the fold by S. Gall and his sons, in whose abbey S. Columban^s rule was still observed. Winfred, therefore, made no long stay in Allemania, but passed on to Thuringia. The name of the Thuringians first appears in the fifth century, when their dominion extended over the whole of central Germany.^ Their origin is very uncertain, but some writers suppose that they were descendants of the Hermanduri. Only scattered fragments of their history are known ; but it is dis- ^ Presbyter Ultraject, c. ix. 2 Seiters, c. iii. p. 87. 43 hi ... ? 11 1 if 1 [1 44 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. tinguished by the remarkable fact, that though the nation was most bigoted in its hatred of Christianity, no less than three canonised female saints are to be found in the royal family. It lias been already related how, in the early part of the sixth century, Hermanfried, one of three brothers who jointly governed the territory, got rid of his brothers with the help of the Franks ; and afterwards quarrelling with them, was conquered by them and the Saxons, who divided Thuringia between them. It was after this overthrow that Herman- fried's niece, 8. Kadegunda, was led captive to France, where she threw the halo of sanctity over the throne of her conqueror. The acquisition of this territory w^as an extra- ordinary gain. to the Franks. For great numbers of them, afterwards distinguished as East Franks, transplanted themselves to the district since called Franconia, which became a second cradle of their race in the heart of Old Germany. From this forest home the national vigour was constantly re- cruited, and thns they were preserved from that decay and feebleness into which the Goths, Yandals, and other barbarian nations so rapidly fell after they had given up their connection with Old Germany. After the overthrow of the Thuringian tribe, the country relapsed into its former state of Paganism and barbaric anarchy. But after the lapse of a century, a.d. 630, Dagobert, the better to resist the incursions of the Wends, gave the government of the Franco-Thuringian territory, with the title of duke, to Radulph, a Thuringian noble, in whose family it remained for four generations. Under Radulph and his son, Hethan I., both of whom were Pagans, the Thuringians were so violently opposed to Christianity, that the few Christians who were in the land did not dare to make open profession of their faith. So THURINGIA. 45 \ fierce was their bigotry, that when Hethan I., wlio had married the beautiful S. Bilhilde, one of these hidden Christians, was summoned to follow the Frank king to the field, he could not venture to leave his young wife in his heathen home, but took her to her uncle Sigebert, Bishop of Mayence. Hethan being killed, she built a convent at Miinster, in which she spent the rest of her life, and after her death she was venerated as a saint. ^ Meanwhile Gotzbert, son of Hethan by a former marriage, had succeeded to the dukedom. He was a Pagan, like his predecessors ; but in his reign the Gospel was brought to him and his subjects by a band of Irish monks, whose love of souls had drawn them from their home. At the head of this band was S. Kilian,^ an Irishman of noble birth, who had early entered a monastery, in which he rose to be abbot. In this position he was so much beloved and revered, that he began to fear lest his own soul should suffer from this flattering intercourse with men ; and he often revolved in his mind how he should escape from it, and give himself entirely to communion with God. It happened one day that in the Gospel there occurred the text, ** Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me ; " and as the words sounded in his out- ward ears, the voice of Our Lord seemed to repeat them in the depths of his heart, as if addressing them specially to liim. Deeply moved, he proposed to eleven of his disciples to quit their country and their kindred, and go forth to win souls for Christ. These fervent young Irish monks quickly responded 1 Serar. Rer. Mafr. 1. ii- c. xxx.-xxxii. Eckhart, Franc. Orient. 1. xiii. nr. 1 659. Ap. Seiters, c. iii. p. 96. '^ Vit. S. Kilian, Cauis. iii. p. 175. II m I*' 46 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. to tlieir abbot's call, and before long the party started for Pagan lands. In the year 686 they arrived at Wurzbnrg, the capital of Tluiringia, where they were charmed with the beauty of the country and the simplicity and nobleness of the German character. Then Kilian said to his companions, *' Brethren, you see how fair and rich is this land, and how handsome and attractive are its people. If it please you, let us go to Kome and visit the threshold of "the Apostolic Princes, as we agreed on when we were in our own country. Let us present ourselves before Pope John, and if it be God's will that we should get permission from the Apostolic See, let us return here and preach faithfuily the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the advice that the Holy Father shall give us." The whole party agreed to this pro- posal,"and they set out without delay for Kome. On their arrival in Rome they found that Pope John was dead, but " they were lovingly and honour- ably welcomed " by his successor, Conon. When he heard whence they came, what was the motive of their journey, and to what country they wished to devote themselves, he received their profession of the Catholic faith, and then gave them authority, in the name of God and S. Peter, to teach and preach the Gospel of Christ. In the course of their journey back to Thuringia the little band separated, only Koloman a priest, and Totman a deacon, remaining with Kilian, and the others going elsewhere. As soon as Kilian reached Wiirzburg he began to preach. The people came at first from mere curiosity to listen to his novel doctrine ; they marvelled at his flow of eloquence and his supernatural gifts; and thus the truth gradually made its way with them. At length the duke sent for him. Gotzbert was a \ ( THURINGIA. 47 man of powerful intellect, and when the fundamental dogmas of the Christian faith were expounded to him, he was deeply interested. He would often go secretly to Kilian to discuss these subjects with him, till at last he arrived at the conviction, that if Kilian's words were true, he must forsake the religion of his forefathers. Then came the struggle of conscience between the newly-found truth and the lifelong error ; but by God's grace the truth triumphed, and on the following Easter Day Gotzbert and many of his sub- jects were baptized. And now an unforeseen trial met him. As a Pagan he had married Geilana, his brother's widow, but Kilian told him that this was an unlawful union. On hearing this Gotzbert started ; and sighing deeply, for he loved the woman tenderly, he answered, " Father, this is more difficult than anything you have yet taught me. For the love of the Almighty God I have left all that was dear and pleasant to me. For the same love I now give up my most beloved wife, if it be not lawful for me to have her, for there is nothing more precious or more lovable than the love of God. I am about to march against the enemies of my country, and cannot now make arrangements to put her away ; but as soon as I return I will do so." But while Gotzbert thus nobly gave up his heart's dearest treasure to God, the unhappy Geilana was infuriated, and resolved to kill the Christian teachers during Gotzbert's absence. Kilian and his companions, foreseeing their doom, redoubled their fasts and devotions, praying night and day, and rejoicing in expectation of the crown of martyrdom. It happened one night that they lay down to take a little rest, when, as Kilian was half asleep, there appeared to him a man of most beautiful countenance in shining garments, who said to him, M Ah f ; t- 4 48 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. "Beloved Kilian, arise. I will not have thee toil much longer; one combat alone awaits thee, and thou shalt be a^'conqueror with me for ever." Then Kilian knew that their hour was come ; and waking his com- panions, he said, ''Bretliren, let us watch; for our Lord will soon be here, and will knock at the door. Beware lest He find us sleeping." They therefore began to pray; and about midnight, as they were singing God's praises, two assassins entered with drawn"^ swords in their hands. On seeing them Kilian joyfully exclaimed, *'My sons, behold, the long-wished-for day is come ! Fight the good fight with me without fear and trembling, for our Lord has said, ' Fear not them who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.' '' As he said these words the ruffians fell on them and cut off the heads of all three. They buried them in haste on the spot on which they fell, and placed their crucifix, their box of books, and their vestments, in their grave. And the better to conceal the foul deed, Geilana turned the building into a stable. When Gotzbert returned he asked what had become of the holy men ; and Geilana answered that they had ^one away secretly, no one knew whither. But before ?on^ one of the assassins committed suicide, and the other became mad, and went about crying, in a loud voice, " Kilian, thou persecutest me horribly. I am burning as in a fire." Geilana, too, was possessed by a deviT, and in her ravings she would call on the martyrs as if they were torturing her, and would be so violent that several men could scarcely hold her. Then people were sure that the holy men had been murdered, but the circumstances of their death were long unknown. There was, however, one witness of the martyrdom. A noble matron, called Burgonda, whom Kilian had converted, had built herself a cell adjoining his THURINGIA. 49 oratory, in order that she might take part in his prayers. As she was watching and praying, she saw through a chink in the wall the murderers come in and do the wicked deed ; and after they departed she went into the oratory and dipped a handkerchief in the martyrs' blood. She was in the habit of going secretly to pray on the spot ; but fearing lest Geilana or the Pagans might remove the holy relics, she told no one M'hat she had witnessed; till, being on her death-bed, she confided her secret to a few Christian friends, who handed it on till a happier day shone on this dark Paojan land. After S. Kilian's death Gotzbert remained firm in his profession of Christianity. But it is conjectured ^ that he and his son and successor, Hethan IL, tried to force the new religion on their subjects, with whom they were henceforth constantly embroiled. Gotz- bert was murdered by his servants, a.d. 706; and about ten years after, when Pepin HeristaFs death had deprived the Christian party of the support which he had afforded them, the Pagan Thuringians rebelled and killed Hethan II. and all his family, ex- cept his daughter S. Irmina. She, the third female royal saint of Thuringia, continued in possession of a church in Wiirzburg, which her father had built in honour of our Blessed Lady ; and here she was found by S. Boniface five and twenty years later, at the head of a small religious community. Two memorials of Hethan's piety still exist, in the form of two deeds of gift to S. Willibrord.^ The earliest, dated May 1st, a.d. 704, made over to him certain lands and houses, with all they contained, at Arnstadt on the river Welge, at Muhlberg, four leagues south-west of Gotha, and at Miinchen, be- ^ Seiters, c. in', pp. 100, 105. " Martene and Durand, t. i. pp. 13, 22. Eckhart, Franc. Orient. 1. xviii. c. ix. ; 1. xx. c. ii. Ap. Seiters, c. ill. p. 106. D > 1*8 !^ In lI ■' 50 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. tween Amstadfc and Weimar. The other deed, dated aZ 19th, A.D. 716, gave him all the property at Samelburg on the Saalfwhich Hethan had inherited. More will be heard of these gifts. When Winfred arrived in Thuringia three years after the date of this last deed, the country was divided among numerous independent chiefs and tribes : the Saxons held the greater part of it , and the bitterest hatred of Cliristianity existed. StiU, the Christian religion was not quite extinct, and priests were to be found here and there ; but heresy Ld immorality prevailed to a frightfd extent, and even a mixture of Christianity and Paganism was not uncommon, the priests and their flocks often going direct from the celebration of Mass to take part in Pagan sacrifices and the most abominable " Here Winfred fovmd full scope for his zeal. He went about diligently among all classes, striving to infuse missionary ardour into the few pious priests ^hom he met, stirring up the Christians to live according to the pure precepts of their religion, and exhorting those sunk in vice and sacrilege to repent and amend their ways. He succeeded, too, m per- suading some of the Pagans to destroy the images and heathen symbols, which he found in groves and at springs, where the people used to assemble to worship their demon gods.i But he did not meet with the success that he anticipated. For the country being in a very un- settled state, the people were too much agitated by ' civil feuds to give heed to his exhortations, while the bitter enmity against Christianity, which had been in- creased by the late revolt against their dukes and the Franks, restricted his intercourse with the Pagans. 1 WilUbald, e. vi. 16 Othlo, 1. i. c. X. Presbyter Ultra- ject, c. viii. THURINGIA. 51 Under these circumstances, being uncertain where to establish himself, he passed into Austrasia with the monks with whom he had been travelling. Here he heard that Ratbod was dead. This was a provi- dential opening; and accordingly he immediately embarked on the Rhine, and scattering the seed of the Gospel as he passed along, he followed the course of the river to Utrecht. i » FRIESLAND. 53 CHAPTEE VI. FRIESLAND, Katbod's death led to a total revolution in Friesland. Charles Martel, having in this same year established his authority in Neustria, was now able to turn his arms to the frontiers. He quickly recovered Hither Friesland, and made the rest of the nation tributary. Thus the whole country was laid open to Christian influence. S. Willibrord returned to Utrecht, and assembled his scattered clergy in synod. They decided no longer to confine themselves to the Frank province, but to preach in all parts of Friesland.^ Winfred now offered his services to S. Willibrord, who gladly accepted them. In looking at Winfred's career, one is struck with the remarkable combination of great unity and firm- ness of purpose, with equally great flexibility of operation, which characterised him. This was a proof of his supernatural vocation. For both the firmness and the flexibility alike show the total absence of self-will, and perfect obedience to God's Providence and the Holy Spirit's guidance. The great object of his desires was the conversion of his kindred m Old Saxony, who were "of one blood and bone"^ with himself. This was the central point of all his opera- tions. Direct approach to this centre being for the present impossible, he made it his secondary object 1 Vit. S. Suidbert, cc. xiii. xiv. Acta SS. 0. S. B. sjbc. iii. t. i. p. 234. 2 Ep. 36 Wurdt. 6 Serar. 5* to Christianise the tribes on the frontiers of Saxony, striving thus to hem in the Pagans on the north, south, and west by Christian neighbours; and as hunters close in round their game, and a general draws his lines round a beleaguered town, so he hoped to advance his circle of Christian influences ever nearer and nearer round the Pagan host, till at last he should touch the very heart of the nation and transfix it with the fiery darts of God's truth and love. This idea gave unity to all his operations, and it ought to be borne in mind, in order to understand why he preferred Friesland, Hesse, and Thuringia to Bavaria and Allemania, and how, in going so frequently from one of these provinces to another, his movements were not of a desultory character, but always tended to the same central point. Thus was Old Germany conquered to Christianity ; and though Winfred did not see the final triumph of his plans, yet their perfect success proves the supernatural wisdom which inspired them. The following letter,^ addressed to him, at this time, by Bugga, an English nun, shows how he re- joiced to enter on this work in Friesland. It is further interesting, as being the first of that series of beautiful letters, which passed between him and the monks and nuns in England, to whom he was united by so warm a friendship. "To the venerable servant of God, adorned with many spiritual gifts and graces, Boniface or Winfred, the worthy priest of God, from Bugga, a despicable servant, the greeting of perpetual charity. " Be assured that I never cease to thank Almighty God for the manifold mercies, which, as I learn from your letter. He hath granted you in leading you throuorh unknown lands. First, He inclined the o 1 Ep. 3 Wurdt. 35 Serar. II 54 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Bishop of the glorious See to favour the desire of your heart ; afterwards He overthrew before you Sod, the enemy of the Cathohc Church and moreover He has revealed to you m a dream, that Z wiU reap a harvest for God, and gather sheaves of how souls^nto the barns of the King of Heaven wSfore I declare all the more, that no temporal SsTtude'wiU change my affection for you ; but my love for you will burn the more bnghtly, because I am certafn that through the help of yo^^^ P-^W shall attain to the haven of rest. I, therefore, humbly ren nd vou to deign to offer your intercessions o God o^my littLess ; that by His grace and yo- P-tec -^ I may be kept safe. I have not been able to procure theActs of the Martyrs which you asked me to send you I will do so as soon as I can. And you, deares Wend pray send, to console my littleness, what you Dromi ed in your sweet letter, namely, the collection of eTtSt ilm the Holy Scriptures. I also entreat you to offer the sacrifice of the Holy Mass for the soul of my relative, N , whom I loved above all others, /send you by the bearer fifty pieces of goM and an altar cloth. I have not b^^^^^^^^^^ anvthinf: better. x5ut tnoiign mi^ ^^^J ,, it is offered by me with the greater love Farewell in this world in holy and unfeigned charity. Durin- three years ^ Winfred travelled about Fr es- land turning to good account the knowledge of the litry ani the^people which ^e ^ad p.ked up during his former visit. He preached boldly as ne tent dong. and while his glowing eloquence drew say that he remained there only three years, and this is 8up ported by the fact that he was again in Rome a.d. Ui. FRIESLAND. 55 crowds to listen to the new doctrine, his clear reason- in" and gentle persuasiveness proved irresistible. Ibe Christians who had fallen away during the late persecu- tion, returned to the faith ; thousands of Pagans were con;erted ; the idol temples were ove^hrown and re^ placed by Christian churches; and the light of truth Can to^hine through the whole land. Severn of the%onverts devoted themselves to the religious lie under liis guidance. He taught them to chant the daUy office: to labour, and to study, m obedience to S. Benedict's rule ; and while he thus Fepared them to help him at some future day, the fervour of the whole party was kept up, amid the distractions of active work and travel, by the observance of monastic discipline. The rest of the clergy, too were en- coura.'ed by his example, and a spirit of zeal and cou ale spLd through the whole body. But how ever indefatigably the labourers toiled, they stil found themselves^ too few for the rich harvest of souls, that seemed to be only waiting to be reaped While Winfred followed thus perfectly the guiding of God's Providence, he seems to have looked on Friesland as no more than a temporary fidd of laboui This is proved by a letter written at this time to a young man called Nidhard.^ possibly one of his Thur- in"ian converts, whom he seems to have left n Au tLia to pursue his studies. This letter beautifully Expresses that ardent love for Holy Scripture which Squished these monk scholars, and with which he wSied to inspire his young friend, as being the means whereby to acquire "that Divme wisdom, which is 1 Ed 4\VurcU. 1 Serar. Wurdtwein supposes this letter to ^ ^Li:. to an ^'^^fl^-in-^Z^^^ [r.e':at«an ir^oT n t^ cr o I'' If * 56 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. more resplendent than gold, more beautiful than silver, more glowing than the carbuncle, more pure than crystal, more precious than the topaz— and to which all precious things are not worthy to be compared." " For what, Christian brother," he continues, *' is more worthy of pursuit by the young? Or what more valuable to be possessed by the old, than the know- ledge of the Holy Scriptures, which, guiding the ship cf our souls without shipwreck through perils and storms, will land us on the beautiful shores of Paradise, amid the unending joys of the angels? Wherefore, if Almighty God will, whenever on my way I return to those"parts, as 1 purpose to do, I promise to be a faithful friend to thee in all things, and a devoted help, so far as my powers go, in the study of the Divine Scriptures." Then, as if carried away by his subject, he breaks off into verse, and closes his letter with twenty-eight lines on the joys and glory of Heaven. S. Willibrord was now sixty-five years old ; he had toiled hard for thirty years in Gaul and Friesland, and was broken by age and infirmities. At the sugges- tion of his clergy he proposed to Winf red, who was universally loved and revered, to become his coadjutor now, and his successor on his death. But Winfred shrank from the dignity and its responsibility, which, moreover, would withdraw him from the missionary work which was so dear to him. He urged his own unworlihiness, and also that he was not yet fifty, which was then the usual age for episcopal consecration. But Willibrord, deeming the interest of his flock a sufficient reason for anticipating the usual age, still pressed the office on him, and even reproved him for declining it. Thus there arose an amicable contest between the two saints. • At length Winfred, driven to extremity, said to Willibrord, " Pope Gregory authorised me to preach to the Germans ; and in virtue of this Apostolic mission, I came to this western Pagan FRIESLAND. 57 region and placed myself under thy jurisdiction. Up to this day I have obeyed both thee and him, to whose service I am bound by vow. But now, I dare not set aside the commands of the Apostolic See, and accept the episcopal office without the Pope's command. I beseech thee, therefore, venerable prelate, permit me, who am bound by the chain of my voluntary vow, to return to those parts from whence I came."^ This plea was unanswerable. Willibrord, therefore, bowing to the authority of Rome, gave W^infred his blessing and permission to depart. Winfred accordingly set out for Thuringia, a.d. 722, accompanied by the Frisian converts, who, in German fashion, had given themselves to his service. On his way lie came to the Abbey of Palatiolum or Pfalzel,^ about three miles from Treves, the abbess of which was the Merovingian princess, Adela, daughter of Dagobert II., and sister of Irmina, Abbess of Horres in Treves. She was a widow and a grandmother ; and Gregory, the son of her son Albrico, a boy between fourteen and fifteen years of age, was staying with her when Winfred and his companions arrived. According to conventual custom, the young Gregory read aloud in the refectory during the repast. He read with so much feeling and impressiveness, that Winfred noticed it, and said to him, " Thou readest well, my son. But dost thou understand what thou hast read 1 " The boy thought that he did, and with childish sim- plicity, said so frankly. " Then tell me, my son," replied Winfred, '' thy thoughts about what thou hast read." The boy referred to his book, and was about 1 Willibald, c. vi. p. 17. * Vit. S. Gregor. by Luidger. Acta SS. 0. S. B. saec. in. t. ii. p. 289. In Acta SS. S. Bonifac. Comment. Praev. ii 8, this incident is placed A.D. 725, when Boniface was a bishop. But S. Luidger speaks of him as being at the time a humble and un- known individual ; and therefore Seiters (c. iii. p. Ill), following Pagi and Le Cointe, places it in the year 722, as is here done. I :j [If- 1:* || 58 S. BONIFACE A\n CONVERSION OF GERMANY. to read the passage again. But Winfred 8topi)ed hvm savin-, "No, my son, I want thee to tell me in thine own words Ihe meaning of what thou hast read This the boy could not do ; whereupon Winfred said, " Wouldest thou like me then to explain it to thee ( Gregory assenting, Winfred made him read the passage over a<4in very slowly; and then, in the presence of the abbess and all the community, he began to preach on its meaning with such glowing and attractive eloquence, that the youth was quite earned awa> and captivated, and thinking not o his Parents or lis native land, he came to the resolution never to quit this unkno'wn stranger. As soon as Wmfred cea ed sneaking, he went to his grandmother and told her thafhe wished to go with this man and become h. scholar, in order to learn the meamng of Holy Wr t. Adela loved the boy too tenderly to f a U in with Is views ; the perils of travelling m wild Pagan lands terrified her ; she represented to her dear grandchild, that he did not know the man, nor even where he rnbht be going ; and she did her best to turn h.m Lm his purpose. But all in vain. Cxregory could not be frightened, or reasoned with ; he begged and prayed, aSd wept; and at last he said that if she Luld not give him a horse, he would follow the man on foot. Then Adela's natural affection gave way to the spiritual love that had taken possession of her grandson. She gave him a horse and a servant ; and ^Tthe fishers at the sea of Galilee left then: father their nets, and their all, at the loving call of that Divine voice, so the boy, drawn on by the fragrant odour of the same Divine word, which is more sweet than honey to the palate, turned his back on the royal state in which he had been nurtured followed the stranger through toil, poverty, and peril to ynknown lands" and never left him till the martyr's death parted them. FRIESLAND. 59 On Winfred's arrival in Thurmgia he ioxinithe countrv in an indescribable state of misery. As there was no central government round which the people could rally, the Saxons were constantly making pre- datory incursions, ravaging with fire and sword and driviiic the inhabitants into the towns or strong natural fastnesses, where they lived in hourly f read for their lives, till the foe retreated ^om sheer saticy of spoil, or till neighbouring tribes could muster in Sufficient force to drive them out. Then civU war ^ould add to the desolation, the rival faction de- strovin" whatever the Saxon had spared. And by all parties alike the Christians were so pitilessly per- secuted, that their sole alternative was to relate mto Pa-ani m, or to hide themselves in secluded fl'^des- Thus whole tracts of land were left without cultiva- tion, and the scattered inhabitants were in want of the necessaries of life. Winfred and his companions shared the common privations. They had to support themselves by Lnual labour,! and their lives were in constant peril. SuUn spite o the hardships that they endured, they fou.ht out the scattered Christian flock in the wilds n wh ch they lay hid, consoling those who held firm Z The faith, and restoring many lapsed wanderers to **" Inihe midst of this gloom a ray of light soon ap- oear^d Charles Martel crossed the Rhine, drove the Saxons out of the territory which had formerly been fr butery to the Franks, and reduced ^^^J^-^^^f^ factions to subjection. The presence of Ins troops added it is true, to the misery of the province, but ft was a sure harbinger of returning peace and order. wTnfred followed in the track of the Frank army He seLs to have been unknown to Charles, being 1 Vit. S. Gregor. c. v. 6o a BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. only a humble priest ; and Charles was at this time no friend to the Church, which was constantly re- proaching and threatening him for giving bishoprics and abbeys to his military retainers. Still Charles s presence was an involuntary aid to Winfred. Three years before the latter had met with but faint response in Thuringia, but now he made thousands of converts, idol temples were overthrown, and Christian oratories rose on their ruins. Winfred took advantage of these prosperous circum- stances to gain a firm standing-point in Old Germany, by laying the first stone of those monasteries, which became the chief instrument by which the Germans were converted and civilised. The object of Duke Hethan's gift of the lands at llamelburg on the Saal, near Kissingen, to S. Willi- brord, as already mentioned, was the foundation of a monastery. Hethan's overthrow, and the troubles that succeeded it, prevented this intention being carried out, and the land remained in the possession of two brothers, Detdic and Dierolf,i ^yho are supposed to be identical with the two counts, Siegeric and Cato, who signed as witnesses the original deed of gift. These b'rothers had fallen into the sacrilegious custom, 1 There has been much dispute as to the site of this monas- tery, which Willibald says (c. vi. 17) was at Amanaburg The Centuriators place it at Bamberg (Cent. viii. c. x.). Mabillon hesitates between Amoneburg and Homburg m Hesse Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. iii. t. ii. p. 16). Seiters, who is followed in the text, asserts that it was Hamelburg on the »aal in Thurinrjia, which, being near Bavaria, was a safer position than Amoneburg in the Pagan Hesse, close to the Saxon frontier. Both Willibald and Othlo imply that Winfred did not go to Hesse till after he had founded this monastery ; and both mention his founding ten years later the monastery at Hamanaburg, the church of which was dedicated to S. Michael, as is now that of Amoneburg in Hesse, whereas that of Hamel- burg in Thuringia is dedicated to S. John Baptist, as was that of S. Boniface's first monastery. Seiters, c. iii. p. 117. FRIESLAND. 6l then so prevalent, of uniting Pagan rites with Christian worship. Winfred having converted them from this horrible impiety, obtained from them possession of the above-mentioned land, the ownership of which had, no doubt, been transferred to him by S. Willi- brord at his departure from Friesland. He now carried out Duke Hethan's intention, and built a monastery with a church dedicated to S. John Baptist, on which foundation the oldest parish church in Central Ger- many was afterwards erected. Here he placed some of the numerous disciples whom he had collected in Friesland and Thuringia, thus gaining at once a firm footing in the land, and a nursery for future labourers in the vineyard. After founding this monastery AYmfred turned his steps to the north, and entered Hesse. The Hatti, Hette, or Chatti, since softened into Hesse, were a tribe of the Sons of Isto, much dreaded for their ferocity.^ They are first heard of in the first century, when they were confederated with the Suevi, and a^rain in the middle of the fifth, when they were in afliance with the Franks. From this time they dis- appear from history, till Winfred again brings them to lif^ht. During this interval their land had been the common battlefield of Franks, Thuringians, and Saxons, with one or other of whom in turn they would 'ally themselves, though they were generally tributary to the Franks. During the late disorders they had been subject to the Saxons; but Charles Martel now drove out the latter and divided the country into Frank and Saxon districts, to the former of which the name of Hesse was generally given. No attempt had ever been made to convert them, for there is no good foundation for the traditions that S. Lubentius in the fourth century, S. Goar in the 1 Seiters, c. iii. p. 123. i'f - . ' 62 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. • *v, „„^ Tlnrrohert I in the seventh, had each built rctrTh'in^is. Thus they .vere tot^Jy Pag- ^hen Winfred, following in the track ^fC^l^^ MnrtpVs armv first came among them. He preacnea Siis ac"u tomed fervour and even more than h.s wiinnibav. biographer says with ex- SLlXv ty '' God tl £ coi^panio/throughout hirfournev"! His stay in Hesse, however was not foni and no opportunity offered itself to build either "IX" as' Winfred was in Friesland. under S^ Wmibrorl's jurisdiction, it -s not necessary tha^ he .should keep up direct communication with the rioiy £: ButU that he was in Pagan lands ^vitl.ou »n eniscopal superior, the case was different. A large X hTad suLni; sprung up, and -any -por a^t nuestions had necessarily arisen ; for Pagan idolatry was so c osely interwoven with the whole life o the ■ ermans ha^t it was not easy to draw the right line between those demoniacal superstitions and rites with whkh the Church permits no compromise, and mere Itfonal customs which she has always looked on wtPr to the Holy Father, narrating the course of his proceedlgs during the last three years and a kin 'for further direction. Bynnan executed his asking lor luru despatch, and staying XS da L R mVha^^^^^^ back to Winfred wfth the Pope's answer. Unhappily, neither of these Iptters is now extant. . t?^^^ mnLd received the Pope's letter with joy. From 1 Othlo, i. 12. FRIESLAND. 63 its general tone he gathered that S. Gregory 11. would bellad to confer personally with him, so as to make the'most of the present favourable crisis and avoid mistakes which might mar the.sn<=cess of e great work thev had in hand. Winfred accepted tne Pope's wfh as a command, and selecting a few com- paLns from among his disciples, he jcnned a i^arty of monks on their way to the Apostolic shrmes. France and Italy were covered with armies and militarv encampments; but the pilgrims passed through them without molestation. On coming Sn view of the walls of Rome Winfred was overcome with emotion, as if foreseeing what awaited him But he renewed his offering of himself to Ss will, and placed himself under the special patronage of the Apostohc Princes. \ SECOND VISIT TO ROME. 65 CHArTER VII. SECOND VISIT TO ROME. "^ * 1 t^the PoS llio received him graciously, and Sin d"it a^dgSg in one of the many hospitals provided for the reception of POor P^'S"^- ^^^. ^ Before many days ^^d eapsedS^ Gregory II. |um „.oned Winfred to mee un^ at ^'l;^^^^' the mterchango of "^ l^^ /^"^^^he Creed and the began to question ^J f f ^^^'^^, '%f the Clmrch. Catholic and Apostolic traaition. 01 . ^ But he had not proceeded (f >;: ^"\^; Xei-rner. .vith great luiuuUty 'l^^^; [^^^/Z^ci important subjects in '-'^ ^. time to I therefore pray your Holine« to ive commit my ideas to -itnig, so that by mut leUer I „,ay make confession of my ^ai h. i P _ readily consented, bidding hi»i. <^"^^ AccordinMv in sion Jith as little dehiy as po^ib^ A^^^^^^^^^^ the most lucid and eloquent language that he could '° We dus elapsed during ^vhich he heard nothing W his mpe till at length he was summoned to about hi6 paper ui o ^^^.^^^ occasion, Ind^n Xrini tKp?^^ ^e-g filled with Twe andt ar lest he shouldW erred on any point. 64 he prostrated himself at the Holy Father s feet and iisked his pardon and his blessing. But S. C^regory kindly raising him and reassuring him, made him sit down beside him. Then returning him his paper, he exhorted him always to hold and diligently teach the pure faith which was therein fully set forth. After this he kept him in conversation almost the whole day, discoursing on various subjects connected with the faith and the spiritual life, and asking many questions about the tribes to whom Winfred had preached, and about his mode of drawing them from their errors to the truth. ^ , , . ,. . When S Gregory had thus satisfied himself as to Winfred's orthodoxy and fitness for the missionary work, he told him that he intended to make him a bishop and place him over those poor people, who had hitherto been wandering without a shepherd. As an inducement to overcome his humility, he ex- plained how the grace of the episcopal office would -ive him more power over souls and add unction to his preaching, since all his words would be remforced by the authority of the Apostolic Chair, from which his consecration proceeded. Winfred did not dare to oppose the Holy Father ; and remembering the words of Scripture, " He would not have the blessing, and it shall be far from him," ^ he humbly accepted the proffered dignity. ^ . , xt v Accordingly, on the feast of S. Andrew, November 30th AD 723 Winfred was consecrated in the Church of the Vatican, by Pope S. Gregory IL, who at the same time gave him the name of Boniface. Then, m order to bind him more closely to obedience to the Holy See, S. Gregory required him to take the toi- lowing oath 2 on the body of S. Peter. 1 Ps. cviii. 18. , /» . i' u 2 Wurdtwein, p. 19. This was not the first time such an oath had been taken. It was in use m the fifth century, J»«^i^l« tlv sacred body that I will pro- Ghost and by th^ thy sacred b ^^.^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ fess the true and pure no'y v. God's grace .nil P-f ^"^^^j^.f ciS^^^^ are saved ; nV^viut'v'e^-lta^^^^^^^^^^ Tne whioe:;, to do aught that is - -J to^^.e ,aid, I ^vdl in »^[ f "S;if;„, ^he po.^r of binding and service to tiiee, lo i ^ service and loosing has been given Jy G° J^^^'^^icar and his of thy Churd. and o thy - -J^ ,,,, that ^Tftuf on arj "'the ancient canons of the a bishop acts conirary . communicate Holy Fathers, I ^v^ll not a^ocia^e ^^.^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^, ^ith him ; but if I "r^ PJ'X, "y Apostolic Lord, at least I ^vill '"^™<=f ^^^ I'^^Xh fat be from me, Should I ever be tempte^.' ^^^^ ^^tances, ^ ^^ either by my o^vn mind oi DY «: ^Q^ise, '^'^^^^'"4^;ou^I Sy^ re;:rnaiV4f t and may I he found gui«'y .„„_:„, „nd Sapphira, who incur the P'^'^f \'"Tllf he of what belonged to also presumed to defraud thee ot w ^^^^ ^^ ^^. t^hy'bXTSvelvX^i'th my own hand, and LimpoJtant differences as ">« cn^cum« -^^g^?; t. ^^ ^^„^. dmrnus Roman. P°"*'l- ^^ »• H^^f;' 137. „ote. ment. Collect, t. u. Ap. Seiters, c. iv. p. SECOND VISIT TO ROME. 67 I I « placing it on the most sacred body of S. Peter, God being Nvitness and judge, I have taken the above written vow, which I now also promise to keep. After Boniface, as he must now be called, had taken this oath. Pope S. Gregory promised on his part always to help, support, and protect him. ae also save him a book containing the rules and canons of the Church, to be a guide to him in governing his diocese; and by a special privilege, he received him and all who were subject to him into perpetual friend- ship and union with the Apostolic Chair. There is still to be seen in the library of the cathedral of AVUrzbur^, a MS. book containing the Apostolic Canons and the decrees of the first Councils, written in an Anglo-Saxon hand of the eighth century, which is supposed to be the one given to S. Boniface by Pope S. Gregory 11.^ The special union with the Holy See here mentioned, is considered to be tne earliest record of those pious confraternities whic^h have since spread so widely through the Church, formincr a close network of spiritual intercommunion between the Head and the members, and between the members with each other. S. Boniface highly prized this privilege, and on the accession of each successive Pope was careful to renew the tie. Boniface spent the winter in Rome, an I on the opening of spring, A.D. 724, made preparations to return to Germany. The Pope gave him six letters of recommendation 2 addressed respectively to Charles Martel, to the German bishops and dukes, to the German clergy and laity, to the Thuringmn nation, to five Thuringian nobles and all other Thurmgian Christians, and lastly, to the Old Saxons. These letters, taken collectively, sketch out a wide field for 1 Eckliart, Fr. Or. 1. xxi. c. xiii. Ap. Seiters, c. iv. p. 140. - Epp. 5-10 Wurdt. 119-124 Serar. Serarms does not give the letter to Charles Martel. fervent desires ^ ^j^^ p^pe, AATVipn Boniface went to uikb nave r When ^""" . , J^ had taken under his protection, but to refer all com- plaints to himself. , -n -e t Furnished with this valuable passport, Boniface set out for the part of Hesse where he had former y preached. Great was his anxiety about this little liock, which he had left without a shepherd in the Pacran wilderness. Some of his children he found firm ill their faith and uncompromising in their con- duct • while many others were weak and vacillating. But the number of the promising converts was few, in comparison with those who had fallen away more or less completely. Some openly sacrificed at sacred trees and fountains, consulted auspices and diviners, and practised incantations and various Pagan rites ; and others did these things secretly, while they still made public profession of Christianity This tendency to mix up Pagan and Christian rites, has been always one of the greatest difficulties with 1 Rohrbacher, Hist. Egl. I. li. p. 481. '- Ep. 10 Wurdt. 124 Serar. BISHOP BONIFACE IN HESSE. 73 which missionaries have had to contend. Not only are these Pagan practices supported by the instinctive leaning towards the supernatural, which is so deeply imbedded in human nature, and by all the countless associations of personal and national life, but they are based on a reality, being, in fact, the fulfilment of the delusive promise to Eve, « You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." The Fathers of the Church have always taken the view that they were a kind of demoniacal sacrament, by which the wor- shipper was brought into communication with the evil bein" who was worshipped. In this they followed the authority of S. Paul, who exhorts Christians not to be "partakers of the table of devils." It would be in vain to contend with this Pagan worship on the ground of its being simply null, for its votaries appealed to the broad fact that their ancestors for long ages believed the contrary, and rested their belfef on their own personal experience. Christian missionaries never denied that the demon mi"ht make use of the limited power which God still allows to "the powers of the air," in favour of their votaries. At the same time they worked on the rude minds with whom they had to deal, by pointing to the superior prosperity of Christians, and only con- tended that the help of demons would turn to their ultimate ruin, and certainly to the loss of their souls. Boniface soon found an opportunity of proving the superior power of the One Almighty God There stood at Geismar,i not far from Fritzlar and 1 Serarius, and others on his authority, suppose that this oak stood at Hof Geismar in Hesse, so celebrated for its mineral waters Wenck showed that as Hof Geismar was m Saxon Hesse which Boniface could not enter, this could not have Hesse wmcu Schminck was the first to fix ftToosUion at Gdsmar near Fritzlar (Seiters, c. iv p. 155) This ne ghbourhood teems with traditions of S. Boniface, and Ispot is pointed out as the site on which this oak stood. It S^: i ^ i^ I :*! 74 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Buraburg, an oak of extraordinary size, which was dedicated to Thor or Thunar, '* the God of Thunder," and was called Thunar's oak, or Donnereiche, i.e. Thor's oak, or tlie Thunder oak. Here from time immemorial the Hessians were wont to assemble for the worship of Thor. In the immediate vicinity was Wuodensberg (afterwards called Udenesberg, and later still Gudensberg), a conical hill, on the top of which was a circle of stones, within which the wor- ship of AVoden was carried on. Thus the place was the chief sanctuary of the Hessians, and had a character of peculiar sanctity. And as the principal town of the province, Maden or Mattium, where the national assemblies met, was in the neighbourhood, it was the most fitting place that could be selected for an open attack on the popular worship. Having made up his mind to fell this oak, Boniface repaired to the spot with his monks, not carrying as usual the Holy Scriptures in his hand, but armed with the formidable German axe. He made no secret of his purpose, and the report of the intended sacrilege quickly spread around. Thousands of Pagans flocked to the place, a few of the most zealous bent on pre- venting the offence to the god, but. by far tlie greater part trusting to the god to revenge himself by striking his enemy dead on the spot ; while others, whose be- lief in the gods had been shaken, watched anxiously for the result on which their faith was suspended ; and others, again, looked confidently for the triumph of their newly found religion. Every eye was riveted on Boniface as he approached the sacred spot and amid solemn, breathless silence raised his arm, and is on a hill over the river Eder, called Johannisberqf, where some ruins of an old building are still to be seen. There are many places of the name of Geismar. The word is connected with "geyser," and indicates the bubbling of the mineral spring. BISHOP BONIFACE IN HESSE. 75 struck a vigorous blow. The mighty trunk quivered, the branches shook, and a deep groan burst from the excited crowd. Then the monks fell to. Blow followed blow, and the trunk was well-nidi half cloven, when suddenly, in the topmost branches, was heard a rushing sound as of a whirlwind, and the giant of the forest toppled over, fell to the earth with a thundering crash which shook the whole forest, and echoed again and again from the Wuodensberg, and in the fall its whole length split into four parts. But Boniface and his little band stood unharmed, giving tlianks to Him through whose strength they had triumphed over tlie thunder god. The crowd, wonder-struck, acknowledged the power of the one true God, and numbers of Pagans were baptized. Nor was this the only fruit of the victory. For Boniface remembered the traditions of his native land, and resolved to convert the Pagan sanctuary into a dwelling-place of the true God. He and liis monks liewed the prostrate oak into planks, with which they built an oratory dedicated to S. Peter. A beautiful chapel attached to the great church at Fritzlar is still pointed out as the site of the original wooden slirine. Wherever it was, however, this oaken chapel was the first church in Hesse, which is mentioned in authentic historical records; and close by Boniface built cells for a few monks,^ whom he appointed to minister in it, to preach to the Pagans, and to instruct the Christians in the neighbourhood. This was not the only Pagan shrine which Boniface overthrew. His early biographers give few details of his life, but content themselves with recording the general course of his movements, and the broad fact that as he passed along he baptized thousands of the Pagans, destroyed many idol temples, and erected Presbyter Ultra ject, c. i. 8, I f -■ft [Ifl sii r* 'jflSpBi 76 & BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Christian churches and monasteries in their stead. ^ To fill up the gaps tliat they have left, recourse must be had to the popular traditions, which, in spite of Protestant influence, are still to be found in every mouth, and are connected with the names of hills and towns all over the field of his labours. These are most valuable as living testimonies to broad facts, tiiough as strictly historical records, they cannot be traced back farther than the fifteenth century.^ Following the guidance of these traditions, it would appear that before Boniface felled Thor's oak he visited Kestersberg, between Marburg and Franken- berg, where he destroyed the altar of Castor, or some say of Woden, built a church, and changed the name of the hill to Christenberg. Thence he probably passed on to the river Werra, where he built a church in honour of S. Vitus, and a small house in which he took up his abode for a considerable time. Kound this church sprang up a small town, which, even to the present day, is called Wannfried, from his old name. Near Wannfried, between Heiligenstadt and Eschwege, rose the Stuf- fenberg, on which stood an image of the god, Stuffo, which was much resorted to as an oracle. On the spot which the god had occupied Boniface built an oratory, in which he left a priest. Fifty years later, A.D. 774, Charlemagne visited this place and restored the Cross which the Saxons liad carried ofif. In thanksgiving for the victory which he had just gained over the Saxons at Trefurt on the Werra, he made a rich offering to enlarge S. Boniface's chapel, at the 1 Willibald, c. Ti. 16 ; c viii. 24 ; c. ix. 27. Othlo, 1. cc. xi. xxiii. Presbyter Ultraject, cc. vii. viii. Epp. 7. 15 Wurdt. 120. 125 Serar. 2 The earliest authorities for these traditions are Conrad Fontanus, Letzner, Benedict Laspo, Athanasius Rhor, Span- genberg, and Serarius. See Seiters, c. iv. p. 160. •1 BISHOP BONIFACE IN HESSE. 77 same time changing the name of the hill from Stuffen- berg to S. Gehulfensberg. 1 The Emperor's will seems, however, not to liave been stroncf enonc:h to eradi- cate the old Pagan tradition, for in documents of the fourteenth century the name Stuffenberg is found, though now the liill is called Hulfensberg; and on it is a large church with a chapel and well of S. Boniface, which still make it a favourite place of pilgrimage. ^ From the Stuifenberg Boniface went about mid- night to the place where Gottingen now stands, intending to destroy the image of Fortune which was erected on a desert hill, now occupied by the village of Hardegsen ; but such a crowd assembled to defend their god that he was compelled to spend the night on the moor, and to return the next morning to Eichsfeld. A chapel was afterwards built on the spot where he turned back, and was called Weende, from tlie verb loenden, to turn. Thence he would probably have gone to the Ketberg, in the principality of Gottingen, where there was an image of Eeto, and to Vielshohe on the Rhume, now Katlenberg, where there was an image of Viel, both of which he over- threw. But the Saxons having carried off the image of Viel and erected it at Ilefeld, he hastened after them, and sliivered tlie image to pieces. Where Osterode on the Hartz now stands, he destroyed the image of Astaroth ; on the site of the castle of Lohra, he demolished the Lar, which was in a temple on a hill in the middle of a grove ; and in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen he overthrew the image of the goddess Jecha, which stood on the site after- wards occupied by the castle of Jechaburg. There is no mention of these gods in the most ancient writers, whence it would appear either that they were local deities, or that these were the local names of the 1 Letzner, Carol. Magn. c. xix. Ap. Seiters, p. 161. ' Seiters, c. iv. p. 162. fl 78 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. national gods, which, it is well known, were wor- shipped by various names in different places. It was not, however, only by open attacks on Pagan shrines, that Boniface sought to convert the Hessians. In a previous chapter it has been shown, that the old German religion, though a rude and simple creed, yet manifested traces of profounder questions. The Germans were naturally so reflective, that the deeper parts of their religion seem to have been familiar to all classes, instead of being concealed, as with the Greeks and Egyptians, in mysteries, which were understood by only a few philosophers ; and hence, Boniface was often called on to discuss deep truths with these unlettered barbarians. Under these circumstances, mistrusting his own powers, he wrote to ask Bishop Daniel's advice. His letter is lost, but its purport may be surmised from the bishop's answer,^ which throws much light on the intellectual and religious state of the Pagans of Central Germany. " Do not begin," he writes, " by advancing any arguments against the genealogies of their fallen gods ; but allow them to assert that some of their gods are begotten of others in the ordinary way of human nature, so that you may afterwards prove to them, that gods and goddesses, born like men, and beginning to exist out of non-existence, are men rather than gods. But if the gods had a beginning, inasmuch as some were begotten by others, then ask whether this world had a beginning, or if it always existed 1 If it had a beginning, who created it ? For without doubt, before the creation of the world there was no place for those begotten gods to exist in or inhabit. By the world I do not mean only the visible heaven and earth, but the whole extent of universal space, which even these 1 Ep. 14 Wurdt. 67 Serar. I BISHOP BONIFACE IN HESSE. 79 Pagans can imagine or conceive. If they say that this universe always existed, refute them by the following arguments. Ask who governed the world before the gods were born? Who regulated it? How did the gods bring under their own dominion or laws this world, which had always existed before them? Also, where, from whom, and when, was the Urst god generated] Or was a goddess the first? Also, do they suppose that gods and goddesses up to the present time beget gods and goddesses? If they do not, when and why did they cease to do so ? But if they still do so, then the number of the gods must be infinite. And among so many gods, men must be uncertain which are the most powerful ; and great caution must be necessary, lest one should offend the most powerful. Again, is it for temporal and present blessings, or for eternal and future ones, that the gods are to be worshipped ? If for temporal, in what are Pagans better off than Christians ? Again, what benefit do they think that their sacrifices confer on those gods, who possess all things ? Or why do these gods permit those who are subject to their power, to retain the things which they offer? If they need these things, why do they not take them, and better ones too ? If they do not need them, it is vain to think of propitiating the gods by such sacrifices. These and many other similar reasonings, which would be too long to mention, you should bring before them, not by way of insulting and irritating them, but with great calmness and moderation. And from time to • time you should compare their superstitions with our Christian dogmas, in such a way, that when they see them, so to say, side by side, being ashamed rather than provoked, and blushing for their own absurd opinions, they may be led to confess that these are foolish and wicked fables. Further, it is to be inferred, that if the gods are omnipotent, beneficent, and just, they 8o S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. HI not only reward their own worshippers, but also punish those who despise them ? And if both of these they do in this present time, why do they spare the Christians, who, throughout the whole world, turn men from their worship and throw down their images'! And why do the Christians possess all the fertile regions, abounding with wine and oil, and all manner of wealth, while^ the Pagans and their gods, being now wrongfully driven from the best parts of the earth, are left only those frost-bound lands, in which alone they are supposed to reign 1 . . . And lest they should boast of the dominion from the beginning of time of these gods over their own nation, they should be told how the whole world was given up to the worship of idols, till, being brought by Jesus Christ to the knowledge of the one true, omnipotent Creator, Ruler, and God, they were re- stored to life, and reconciled to God. . . .'' It is very curious to find an unlettered nation, whose chief occupation was war, thus occupying itself with speculative questions and genealogies of gods not unlike the Gnostic theories, which, emanat- ing from the East, long agitated the learned schools of Alexandria, Antioch, and Greece. It is evident, too, that the Thuringians and Hessians, still living amid their national sanctuaries and ancient Pagan associations, clung more tenaciously to the old reli- gion, notwithstanding their frequent contact with Christians, than did the Jutes and Angles, to whom S. Augustine and S. Paulinus first announced the Gospel, but on whom their traditional faith had in some degree lost its hold, through their removal from the objects in nature with which it was most closely linked. St.; CHAPTEE IX. BISHOP BONIFACE IN THURINGIA. After spending some months in Hesse, and strengthen- ing his converts by the Sacrament of Confirmation, Boniface passed into Thuringia. His episcopal dig- nity and the support of the Pope and Charles Martel enabling him to act more decidedly than had formerly been possible, he summoned the principal persons of tlie province to meet him. When they were assembled he spoke to them with deep earnestness and loving anxiety, beseeching some to turn away from the idolatry into which they had relapsed, and others to give up the false doctrines and scandalous practices into which they had been seduced by immoral and heretical priests, who wandered about the country corrupting the Christians and hindering the con- version of the Pagans, in whose idol worship they often joined. But his eloquence was thrown away. For the wicked priests, the principal of whom were Torch- twine, Berchthere, Eanbrecht, and Hunred, fearing to lose their position with the people, united together and formed themselves into a sect, rallying their friends around them, proclaiming their own opinions to be the true Catholic faith, and denouncing Boni- face as a stranger and innovator. Nor was this the only opposition that he encountered. For a neighbour- ing bishop, apparently the Bishop of Cologne,^ after 1 Compare Ep. 15 Wurdt. 125 Serar. with Ep. 105 Wurdt. 97 Serar. 8i p 82 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. loniT nedectin*;]: this Pac^an reofion, now laid claim to it as a part of his diocese, and treating l>oniface's authority as an intrusion, indirectly strengthened the party of the heretics. In vain did Boniface appeal to the Papal briefs and to ecclesiastical canons ami discipline. His opponents were deaf to reason, and stirring up the passions of the people, raised a storm which threatened for a time to bar his progress. In this emergency Boniface wrote to the Pope about the pretensions of the Bishop of Cologne, and S. Gregory II. in his answer, dated 4:th December, A.D. 724,1 promised to write on the subject to Charles Martel, who, he had no doubt, would forbid the bishop to interfere with Boniface. This probably put an end to that difiiculty. As to the heretical and immoral priests, after making every effort to reclaim them, he formally excommunicated them ; after which all those of their followers who were at all well disposed, forsook them, their influence died out, and their very names were forgotten. How painfully this discord jarred on Boniface's loving nature, which instinctively sought sympathy with those around him, appears in his correspondence with his English friends. In his letter to Bishop Daniel,- he complains of *' the anguish of his weary spirit, for which he seeks advice and consolation from " his friend's " compassion.'' His sufferings are also forcibly depicted in his letters to the Abbess Eadburga, supposed to be an abbess of Wimburn, for whom he seems to have felt a warmer friendship than for any of his female correspondents except S. Lioba. In one of these letters,^ addressed to the " Most reverend and in Christ most dear Abbess Eadburga," he says, "I earnestly beseech you to 1 Ep. 15 Wurdt. 12r;Serar. 2 Ep. 12 Wurdt. 3 Serar. 3 Ep. 16 Wurdt. 7 Serar. BISHOP BONIFACE IN THURINGIA. 83 remember me in your holy prayers, as your charity led you to promise by our brother N on his return. I press this petition the more urgently in order that my bark, which is now tossed about amid the whirlpools and storms of tliis world, may be protected from the poisoned darts of the old 6nemy by your constant prayers. I send you, my revered and beloved, a small present ; namely, a silver pen and some stoiax and cinnamon, that you may know from these trifles how acceptable were your gifts and salutations to me. And if you will order aught of me, whether by the bearer of this letter or by any one else, be assured that the charity which unites us in a spiritual brotherhood, will make me fulfil your Avishes to the lest of my poor power. Meanwhile, I pray that you will not refuse to send me your sweet letters." In another letter,^ addressed to his *' sister the Abbess Eadburga, whom he embraces in the golden bond of spiritual love, and presses with tlie holy and virgin kiss of charity," he says, "We earnestly beseech your loving pity to intercede for us with the Creator of all things. That you may not be ignorant why we thus pray, know that for our sins the course of our pilgrimage is agitated by many storms. On all sides labour, on all sides sorrow, combats without, fears within. But Avhat weif^hs heaviest of all, is, that the snares of the false brethren surpass the malice of the Pagans. Pray, therefore the merciful Defender of our lives, the only safe Refuge of those who labour, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, that purifying and protecting us by His right hand in this den of wolves, He may keep us unhurt, so that the dark footsteps of Avandering apostates may not be found where the beautiful feet of those who bear the light of the ^ Ep. 17 Wurdt. 13 Serar. I i 84 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Gospel of peace, ought to be. Meanwhile, I pray you of your pity to intercede for these Pagans, who are committed to us by the Apostolic See, that the Saviour of the world may withdraw them from the worship of idols and collect them together as sons of the one Catholic Mother Church, to the praise and fr\ovy of His name, who wills that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Farewell." Another letter,^ supposed to be addressed to Eadburga, though her name is not mentioned, runs thus: *'I beseech your charity and clemency to intercede with God for us sinners, because we are shaken and agitated by many and various tem- pests and whirlwinds, whether by Pagans, or false Christians, or immoral clergy, or pseudo-priests; and chiefly are we troubled because we fear that these things are deserved by us. But we pray that we may be consoled and delivered through your supplications ; and we have confidence in Our Lord Jesus, that through your charitable prayers w^e shall obtain pardon of our sins and the calming of the tempests. ... Be not displeased that I always ask the same thing; because I must evidently ask wliat I never cease to desire. For my daily tribulations admonish me to seek spiritual consolation from my brothers and sisters. ..." But it was not by prayer alone that Eadburga helped her saintly friend ; for she seems to have been very skilful in the arts of writing and needlework, and her pen and her needle, as well as her heart and spirit, were given to lk)nif ace's service. How much he prized her gifts appears from one of his letters,^ in which he says, "May the eternal Rewarder of good works make my dearest sister rejoice with the anf^elic choir, because, in sending the gift of those J Ep. 27 Wurdt. 16 Serar. 2 Ep. 18 Wurdt. U Serar. BISHOP BONIFACE IN THURINGIA. 85 Holy Scriptures, you have consoled the German exile with spiritual light. For he who is called to purify the dark corners of the German nation, will fall into the snares of death, unless he have the Word of God as a lantern to his feet and a light to his steps.' Therefore, confiding in your charity, I beseech you to pray for me, who, on account of my sins, am agi- tated by the tempests of this dangerous sea, asking Him who dwells on high, but regards the humble, that pardoning my offences. He will grant that through my word the Gospel of tlie glory of Christ may run and be glorified among the Pagans." And in another letter,^ in which lie beseeches God to reward her for '• all the benefits " she has conferred on him, he adds, " For often your pity has consoled my sadness by the solace of books and the help of garments. I pray you now to add to what you have begun, and to write for me in gold the Epistles of my master S. Peter the Apostle, in order that when I preach, the Holy Scriptures may liave honour and veneration in carnal eyes, and because I wish greatly to have in my sight the words of Him Avho sent me on this journey. . . . Dearest sister, grant this my petition, as you kindly are accustomed to do all my requests, that this work of yours may shine in golden letters to the glory of our Heavenly Father." 1 Ep. 19. Wurdt. 28 Serar. Besides the letters here quoted, there is another (20 Wurdt. 21 Serar.) addressed to the "Most blessed virgin and beloved lady Eadburga, the model of perfect monastic life," in which he relates to her a vision which one of the nuns of S. Milburga's convent had had, and the particu- lars of which he had been told by the Abbess Hebelida. This vision resembled tlie celebrated one of S. Fursey (Bede, 1. iii. c. xix.). The nun having fallen into a trance, was carried into hell and saw the punishment of the damned and of several persons then alive, and among others of Ceolred, at that time King of Mercia, A.D. 709-716. On returning to life she re- lated what she had witnessed, and Boniface says that all that had been revealed to her came to pass. \ II m 86 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. But notwithstanding the ahnost feminine tender- ness and the distressed tone of these letters, no trace of weakness or discouragement Avas visible in Boniface's actions. Steadily and calmly he pursued his course, sharing the poverty and hardships of his suffering flock, and constantly travelling about and preaching to both Pagans and heretics. The purity of his life, his humility, and his gentleness, contrasted strongly with the pride and vices of the heretics, while his eloquence was most attractive. The Pagans came by hundreds and thousands to listen to him, and great numbers were converted. Here, again, the old biographers fail us, and recourse must be had to the local popular traditions, to trace Boniface's footsteps in Thuringia. One of the best authenticated of these traditions, which is supported by almost all the Thuringian chronicles, says that he built, A.D. 724, a church, dedicated to S. John Baptist, and a dwelling-house, on the high hill on which the village of Altenberga, near Ohrdruf, now stands. Here such crowds of Thuringians came to listen to him, that he would often be obliged to leave the church and preach in the open space before it. But so many ravens, cranes, and jackdaws congregated round the spot, and kept up such a constant cawing and chatter- imr, that his voice was drowned and his audience could not hear what he said. When this had happened frequently, Boniface complained to God of this uproar; and bidding his people pray with him, he besought God so earnestly to send away these birds, that from that time forth not a single one of them w^as to be found there.^ Great interest and pride was taken in this church by the Thuringians, for it was generally believed to be the oldest church in the province, or at all events ^ Spangenberg, c. xvii. Ap. Sellers, c. iv. p. 167. BISHOP BONIFACE IN THURINGIA. 87 \ t in that part of it. It was for many centuries the parish church for the four villages of Altenberga, Engelsbach, Finsterberga, and Catterfeld, which last is said to have taken its name from a woman called Katharina, to whom Boniface gave a house and a field close to the well in the valley. ^ At length, in the year 1662, the inhabitants of Finsterberga built a church for tliemselves. But the three other villages continued to use S. Boniface's church till a.d. 1712, when, it being very dilapidated, they built the exist- ing Immanuel's Church in the valley between Alten- berga and Catterfeld. After this the old building was allowed to go to ruin, and the waste ground adjoining the churchyard on which it had stood, being purchased by the commune, a.d. 1805, all trace of this inte- resting memorial was on the point of being effaced. But the public spirit of a poor wood-cutter of Alten- berga, called Nicolas Briickner, averted this disgrace. In his will he left a small sum of money to be spent in erecting and keeping up a stone to mark the spot on which the church had stood ; and his example reviving the general interest in this national monu- ment, a subscription was set on foot and a handsome lamp, mounted on seven steps, was erected on the site, a.d. 1811. Besides this church at Altenberga, Boniface is said to have built - in the vicinity of the Unstrut, a church at Tretteburg, oratories at Teddenborn and Ebeleben, which afterwards became monasteries ; a beautiful church at Langensalza, where S. Boniface's well is still found ; churches at Herbsleben, Thamsbruck, Great and Little Uhrleben, Greussen, Monra, and Salza, and a monastery at Humburg, which was * Briickner, Sammlung Nachrichten zii Beschreibimg der Kirchen des Herzogth. Gotha, 1. i. p. 131. Ap. Seiters, c. iv. p. 167. - Seiters, c. iv. p. 166. 88 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. afterwards totally destroyed. Also on the Werra he is said to have built a monastery in honour of S. Peter on the hill near Kreuzberg, hence called S. Petersberg, and also at Falken near Trefurt, and at Heiligenstadt, in which last he placed the relics of S. Aureus. In connection with the church at Tretteburg there is the following legend, which may be traced back to the time of Charlemagne.^ When Boniface arrived in this neighbourhood, he found all the inhabitants assembled on the hill of Tretteburg, at the base of which was a quagmire extending to the banks of the river XJnstrut. They were expecting to be attacked by the King of Hungary, who was in the habit of exacting from them the tithe of all their possessions, including their women and children, or as an equi- valent, three hundred swine and five hundred and seventy-two webs of cloth.- They had resolved to resist this oppression, and there being no fortified town in the district, they intended to make their stand on this hill. Boniface invited their chief men to a conference, and told them how God for love of men had Him- self become a man and died, in order to bestow jus- tice, peace, and all blessings here and hereafter, on all, rich and poor alike, who would believe in Him and be baptized, which he earnestly pressed them to do. After some parley the Thuringians answered, " If God has indeed been born and died for us. He can easily deliver us from the King of Hungary. If He w411 do so, we will believe in Him. But if not, why should we forsake the customs and laws of our fathers r^ Boniface hesitated how to reply, for lie knew the great power of the King of Hungary, but he promised to give his answer on the following day. ^ Legenda S. Bonifac. 1. ii. cc. i.-iv. Rer. Germanic, i. p. 342. '"^ Seiters, c. iv. p. 170. Mencken, Scriptor. BISHOP BONIFACE IN THURINGIA. 89 i That night, as he lay in bed, he heard a voice which said, '* Boniface, thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt*? Hast thou never read, ' He slew mighty kings'? If thou doubtest, what must the Pagans do ? Because I became man and redeemed men with My blood, it is My will that henceforth no man shall be in servitude to the devil, or give a tenth from his own body to another. I therefore free this people- from the tithe and the tyrannical power of the King of Hungary.'' The next morning Boniface summoned the Thu- ringians to him, and in Christ's name he solemnly absolved them from all future payments of tithe to the King of Hungary, promising not to leave them till they had seen the power of the Most High. Then he instructed them in the faith, which great numbers of them accepted, and were baptized. Before long the King of Hungary came to enforce the payment of the tithe. On beholding his vast army, Boniface, raising his eyes and hands to heaven, prayed aloud, "0 Lord, of whom it is written, *He slew mighty kings,' show Thyself to-day, and help this small, weak flock of Thine." Boniface and the Thuringians were on one bank of the XJnstrut, the ground all around being marsh and quagmire, and the Hungarians were on the other bank. The latter heeding not the river nor the soft ground, rushed like mad dogs on the Thuringians, but slipping in the mud and pressing on each other, they fell into confusion, when the Thuringians attacking them boldly, precipi- tated both the horses and their riders into the river. So great was the carnage that the Tliuringians waded in blood up to their ankles, and the river ran with blood for three days. Only two of the Thuringian chiefs were killed; and on the spot where they fell,'two stone crosses were erected. Thus were the Thurinf'ians freed from the tithe to the King of Hungary°and converted to the faith. 90 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Whatever be the foundation for this legend, it is undoubted that Charlemagne did not require of the Thuringians the tribute of swine, wliich they liad been accustomed to pay from the earliest times ; and at a later period, in the disputes between the Arclibishops of Mayence and the Abbots of Fulda about the tithes of Thuringia, it used to be said, " As far as Boniface came, no man pays tithe." ^ It must not be supposed that the churches and monasteries which Boniface now founded in Thuringia and Hesse, were solid and permanent erections. They were only huts of wood wattled with mud, and roofed in with i>lanks or branches. In many cases every vestige of them has disappeared ; while in others, a stone'' church built sooner or later, either on the same site or in its close vicinity, has served as a memorial of S. Boniface's work. For the same circumstance, such as a river or spring, or a salubrious hill, or the vicinity of a great thoroughfare, wliich originally re- commended the site to him, gave it equal claims to the preference of his successors. In fact, so carefully an'd wisely did 8. Boniface and his successors choose the ground on which they built, that even to the prese'nt day there is to be found in Germany scarcely a town or village of any importance, which was not ori^'inallv connected witli ecclesiastical foundations. 1 Seiters, c. iv. p. 170. I CHAPTER X. PROGRESS. S. Gregory II., in his letter of December 4th, aa\ 724,1 already quoted, told Boniface that he had written to his German converts, and directed them to build churches and dwellings for their bishop and his clergy. This hint led Boniface to seek for an oppor- tunity to erect a church and monastery, of a more permanent character than had hitherto been in his power; and the following circumstance decided his choice of a site. In the course of his journeys through Thuringia, it happened - that he pitched his tent one evening at Ordorp, or Ohrdruf, on the banks of the river Oraha. Throughout the night a bright celestial light was seen shining round the spot on which he lay ; and in the midst of this light the Archangel Michael appeared to him, talking to him, and strengthening him in the name of God. When morning dawned he arose, and said Mass with more than usual joy and fervour; and after Mass he told his disciples that he would dine where they were now encamped. But the brother, whose business it was to prepare their meals, answered, that he had not got their usual supply of food. Whereupon Boniface replied, ^*He who for forty years could feed His people in the wilderness with manna from heaven, will not He be able to provide me, His unworthy servant, with food for a single ^ E^. 15 Wurdt. 125 Serar. ^ Qthlo, 1. i. cc. xxiii. xxiv. 91 92 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. day?" And he bade the brother lay the table. While this was being done, a bird, carrying in its beak a great fish, flew over the place, and as it passed it dropped the fish. Tlien Boniface gave thanks to (Jod, and taking up the fish, ordered the brother to cook it. And they all dined off it, and the fragments that remained they threw into the river. Afterwards, as they journeyed slowly along, Boniface took pains to ascertain to whom belonged the place in which the Archangel had appeared to him. Finding that it belonged to Hugh, or Haug, a noble of high station whom he had lately baptized at Altenberga, he went to him and asked him for it ; and Hugh gladly granted his request, thus winning the honour of being the first Thuringian who gave land to S. Boniface. His example was followed by Albot, supposed to be the same as Albordo, one of the five Thuringian nobles to whom the Pope had written,^ who added to Hugh's gift several meadows which adjoined it. As soon as Boniface had got the land, he set his monks to work to clear away the forest, bring the ground into cultivation, and lay the foundations of the church and monastery. As these were intended to be permanent erections, they were not finished till A.D. 727 ; and when they were completed, Boniface placed ill the church a book, in which was written an account of the vision which had determined his choice of the site. The foundation of this monastery was a great event, not only as marking the advance of Boniface's work, but from its results to the whole neighbourhood. For this place, which had hitherto been a wild uncultivated waste buried in the forest, was soon brougfit under cultivation, wide clearings were made, a Christian village gathered round the church, and in course of time a town sprang up. 1 Eisenacher, Chronik. Ap. Seiters, c. v. p. 184. 2 j£p, 8 Wurdt, 119 Serar. PROGRESS. 93 The subsequent history of this church and monastery is uncertain. It was probably destroyed with many others in the terrible invasion of the Saxons, a.d. 743 ; and no doubt it suffered during the subsequent incursions of the Serbs. But these heroic monks were not to be vanquished by such trials. As the invaders retired they would return to their home- steads, collect their scattered flock, and labour with such spirit and industry, that scarcely were the smouldering fires extinguished and the charred ruins removed, than fresh crops were planted, new buildings were erected, and the landscape resumed its aspect of peace and fertility. Thus Ohrdruf outlived all casualties. In the year 777, Lullus, S. Boniface's successor at Mayence, built a new church on the old site. Another was erected there, a.d. 980, by Gotzbert, Abbot of Hersfeld ; which w^as still in existence when Othlo wrote in the eleventh centur3^ Up to this time Boniface had had but few helpers in his work. When he set off from England on his pilgrimage to Rome, he was probably acoompanied by two or three monks, as he had been on his first visit to Friesland. During the three years that he afterwards spent in Friesland, several of his converts had devoted themselves to his service ; but the name of only one of these, Gembert, has been recorded. Afterwards, on his journey back to Thuringia he picked up Gregory at Pfalzel. Then, Ceola is men- tioned as the bearer of a letter to Eadburga, and Forthere, of one to Bishop Daniel, and Binnan, of one to the Pope. Probably some of his converts in Hesse and Thuringia, also, gave themselves to him ; and as his fame spread, others may have come to him from France and Burgundy ; for he could not have accomplished so much as he had already done, unless he had had priests and monks whom he could leave at Hamelburg, Geismar, Altenberga, and all \\ 94 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. the churches which he had founded on the Werra and Unstrut, and here and there all over Hesse and Thuringia. But of all these early disciples, the only one who was distinguished hy saintliness, or rose to high office in the Church, was Adela's grandson, S. Grei^^ory, who hecame Abhot of S. Martin's at litrecht^, and succeeded Boniface in the government of tliit see Whatever may have been the number of these dis- ciples, there is, liowever, no doubt that they were far too few for the harvest that they were called to reaj). The want of labourers in the vineyard, became from day to day more and more evident. At length, im- mediately after the foundation of Ohrdruf, Boniface took steps to supply his need. During all these years of long journeymgs amid dangers, weariness, and the daily pressure of care to iind^'food for himself and his companions, Boniface liad carried on an extensive correspondence with his friends in England. It is easy to imagine how great an interest his letters from Old Germany must have excited. The deep enthusiasm, not only of abbesses and nuns, but of kings and bishops, and especially of the old friends and pupils by whom he was so loved, was stirred up. Prayers and Masses were constantly offered for his work, and books, money, vestments, clothing, and other necessaries, were generously contributed to its success. But it should be noticed, that prayers and books were the only things for whicli he asked, the rest being the over- ilowiiig oiferings of warm English hearts ; for all his other wants seem to have been amply supplied by the Germans. As Pagans they had been wont to offer their richest spoils of war to their gods, burying or burning them, or throwing them into the rushing river or the ocean weaves, in the hope of receiving them again in a future life. This grand, natural in- PROGRESS. 95 stinct being now supernaturalised, their generosity to Boniface had no limits. Land, forests, food, and all else that they possessed, were at his command ; and the industry of his monks turned these gifts to such good account, that more labourers were the only want that Boniface experienced. He now wrote to his English friends, inviting them to come and help him in the conversion of their kin- dred in Old Germany. His invitation arrived at a most opportune season. For only three or four years later, a.d. 731, Bede^ wrote, that *Hhe times being calm and peaceable, many, as well of the nobi- lity as private persons, laying aside their w^eapons, rather incline to dedicate both themselves and their children to the tonsure and monastic vows, than to study martial discipline. What wnll be the end hereof the next age will show." Tiie response Avhich met Boniface's invitation, had already begun to clear up Bede's doubt. Eor the remaining five-and-twenty years of Boniface's life, and for many years after his death, a constant stream of monks and nuns flowed from England to Germany and Scandinavia ; and in the conversion of their German kindred, which during this period was effected with such remarkable rapidity and completeness, the strong attraction of the English nation to missionary and monastic life, found its true object and end. Boniface's early biographers give no detail of the names and numbers of those who re- sponded to his call, at what time they severally joined him, or from what convents they came, the names of only a few who rose to celebrity being preserved. Among Boniface's letters, there is one addressed to the Abbess Kanebada,^ by LuUus, Burchard, and Benval conjointly, which places them among the early arrivals. Who this abbess was, is unknown, ^ Conclusion of Ecclesiastical History, p. 293. '^ Ep. 35 Wurdt. 5 iSerar. 96 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. but she was of royal race, and the writers style themselves " her sons and servants," •* wlio, from the depths of their hearts, embrace her above all other women with love." They tell her that *" after the death of their father, mother, and other relatives, they had gone into Germany, and were now all together in one of'' Archbishop Boniface's monasteries— a title which shows that the letter could not have been written earlier than a.d. 732, when Boniface was made archbishop. They had, however, all joined Boniface separately, and at different times. Denval appears from a letter of Abbess Cangyth,i to have been on a pilgrimage abroad, and he came to Bom- face previous to a.d. 726, when he was the bearer of a letter to the Pope.'- Burchard, too, had long been a pilgrim in France, when he was irresistibly drawn by an interior impulse and the fame of Boniface's sanctity to go to him. As for Lullus, he entered the Abbey of ^lalmesbury when he was only seven years old, and he went thence to Germany at Boniface's invitation, about a.d. 732.^ Both he and Burchard * are said, by some writers, to have been related by blood to Boniface. But it was not from England alone that help came to Boniface. His fame was now widely spread, and disciples flocked to him from France and Ireland.^ Some from all three countries were very learned men, others were skilful writers, and others, again, expert artisans of various kinds. Thus, hand in hand with Christianity, were learning, education, and the arts of civilised life, transplanted into the German wilderness. i Ep. 30 Wlirdt. 38 Serar. ' Ep. 24 Wurdt. 126 Serar. 3 Vit. S. Lull. cc. iii. iv. Acta. SS. O. S. B. saec. m. t. u. p. 356. Ep. 123 Wurdt. 88 Serar. .^ .. * Vit. S. Lull. c. xxiv. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. in. t. n. p. 363. Egihvard, Vit. S. Burchard, 1. i. c i. Seiters, c. i. 5 Willibald, c. viii. 24. Auctor. Monastenens. c. iv. i \ l« PROGRESS. 97 As Boniface's work increased, fresh points for con- sideration and decision were constantly arising. On many of these, such as the validity of baptisms and the non-repetition of Confirmation, which are familiar to every educated Catholic, he could not liave required instruction. But his humility and faith both alike, made him shrink from establishing precedents for the Church of Germany on his own poor authority alone, or on aught else than the infallible word of S. Peter. He was therefore in the constant habit of referring to the Pope for minute directions on a great variety of subjects. That S. Gregory appreciated his motive, is evident from a letter of his, dated November 22nd, a.d. 726,1 ill which he says, *'To these letters thou liast annexed certain questions, inquiring what this Holy Apostolic Roman Church holds and teaches. Thou hast done well, because the blessed Apostle Peter is the foundation of the Apostolate and Episcopate, and in advising thee concerning ecclesiastical matters, we tell thee, not from ourselves, as if of ourselves, but by His grace, who openeth tiie mouth of the dumb, and maketh the tongues of infants eloquent, how thou shouldst hold the doctrine of Apostolic power." The Pope then proceeds to give instructions on the following points : 1. That though it would be desirable that marriage should not be contracted between persons who are known to be related, yet, to avoid over-strictness, especially among barbarians, it may be allowed after the fourth generation. 2. Under what circumstances a marriage is null. 3. That if a priest be accused of a crime without sufficient evidence, he shall clear himself publicly by an oath, and produce such proof of his innocence as shall make it plain to all ; after which he shall retain his office. 4. That the Sacrament of Confirmation must 1 Ep. 24 Wurdt. 126 Serar. 4 98 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. not be repeated. 5. That two or three chalices ought not to be placed on the altar at Mass.^ 6. That meat said to be offered to idols, even though blessed by the sicrn of the Cross, ought not to be eaten. 7. ihat parents who have offered their children in infancy to be trained to a religious life, shall not be at liberty, xvhen they are grown up, to take them out of the monastery and give them in marriage. 8. 1 hat it persons have been baptized by immoral and unworthy priests without being questioned in the Creed, the ancient custom of the Church should be observed ; and provided they were baptized m the name ot the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they must not be rebaptized. 9. But when it is uncertain whether children have or have not been baptized, they ought to be baptized conditionally, according to the tradi- tions of the Fathers. 10. Lepers, who are Christians, may be admitted to Holy Communion, but they ought to be prohibited from eating at table with healthy persons. 11. H a mortal pestilence breaks out m a church or monasterv, it would be very foolish of those who have not been attacked, to fly from the place, hoping to escape the danger, for no one can fly from God's hand. , , . -^u Finally, as to the unavoidable intercourse with wicked priests, about which Boniface had already consulted Bishop Daniel, S. Gregory adds, "We say, that thou shouldst admonish them by the Apostolic 1 Besides the bread and wine used for consecration at Mass, offerings of both were made by the faithful. The.e were blesseel by the bishop or priest, and distributed to those present, the surplus being kept for the use o the monks or clercry, and as alms for the poor. It was this wine which Gregory forbade to be placed on the altar during Mass. About *the eighth century money began to be given, at least in private Masses, instead of these offerings of bread and wine but the custom was not universal till the twelfth cen- tury.' Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. iii. t. i. Preface, liii.-lxxiv. PROGRESS. 99 authority, and bring them back to the purity of eccle- siastical discipline. If they obey, they will save their souls and thou wilt gain thy reward. But in any case, do not refuse to converse and eat with them. For it often happens that those who are slow to receive the truth through the correction of discipline, are led to the way of righteousness by gentle admonitions and social intercourse. Thou shouldst act in the same way towards those nobles who give thee help. This, then, dearest brother, written with the authority of the Apostolic See, will suflice. ..." This is the last letter from S. Gregory II. to Boni- face, still extant. Tlie same year that the Pope thus occupied himself with petty details connected with the foundation of the German Church, he sent a legate to Constantinople, with letters threatening the Emperor Leo, the Iconoclast, with excommunication, and en- couraging the Patriarch Germanus to persevere in liis noble defence of Catholic traditions. Thus did S. Peter's successor stretch out his arms at once to the east and the west, and enclose in his Apostolic embrace both the wild forests of barbarian Germany and the centre of luxury and civilisation at Constantinople. On the nth of February, a.d. 731, S. Gregory II. expired. The conversion of Germany immortalises his name, as that of England does that of his great name- sake. And as the first Gregory, through his zeal in confirming and promulgating the Benedictine rule, has been called its second founder, so the second Gregory has the honour of being the second founder of the Abbey of Monte Cassino, the cradle and paternal home of the Benedictine order. This abbey having been destroyed by the Lombards, as S. Bene- dict had foretold, the monks retired to Rome, and the abbey lay in ruins for about one hundred and forty years, till S. Gregory IL sent S. Petronax to rebuild it, A.D. 718. t ■* \ ARCHBISHOP BONIFACE. lOI CHAPTER XI. ARCHBISHOP BONIFACE. Thirty-five days after the death of S. Gregory II., a Sy dan priest, who was present at his funeral, was pLed on S. Peter's Chair by tl- unanimous voice o the Koman clergy and people, and took the name of Gregory III. No doubt Boniface sent him without deky the usual letter of congratulation on his elec- S But the following year, a.d. 732, he wrote to im ac^ain, soliciting a renewal of the specia privilege oHriendship and union with the Apostolic See, ^^lch his predecessor had granted to him and his flock, re- newi- his vow of obedience to S. Peter's successor, and su1)mitting certain questions to his decision^ b. Grecrory III, in answer, made him an archbishop and sent\im the pall ; and further directed him as the number of the faithful increased, to " ordain bishops Tthe power of the Apostolic See" to ^; teach and movide all that was necessary for their salvation. ^ S Grecrory then proceeded to answer Boniface s questions; which show what were the customs and Crimes common among the barbarian converts and against what difficulties Boniface had to contend fhev prove how hopeless would have been his struggle in this chaos of Paganism, heresy crime and vice had there not been a centre of unity in the Church to which all divergent opinions and practices could be referred, or had he not wisely taken the precaution 1 Ep. 25 Wurdt. 122 Serar. to keep himself in the closest union with that centre. Unhappily, Boniface's letter to which Gregory's is an answer is lost, so that there is no means of elucidat- ing a few obscurities which occur in the latter, about eating horseflesh, Pagan baptisms, and greater strict- ness as to marriage. It appears from S. Gregory's letter, that a priest, whom Boniface had degraded for his criminal life, was defying his authority by boosting that he had been to Rome, where he had confessed to the Pope, by whom he had been absolved. But S. Gregory writes that the man had indeed come to him, professing to be a priest and asking for a letter of recommendation to Ciiarles Martel, but that he had not confessed to him, nor been absolved by him, nor received the least sanction for the indulgence of his passions. Where- fore, he orders Boniface to i)roceed against him and all other oticnders with the authority of the Apos- tolic See. He then forbids the eating of horseflesh, probably because feasts of horseflesh were connected with Pagan rites. And he orders that those who had been baptized by Pagans, or by a priest who ofl'ered sacrifice to the Pagan gods, no doubt in the name of a Pagan god, or who did not know whether they had ever been baptized, should be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. Masses and prayers for the dead were not to be oiiered for any except Catholics, to the ex- clusion of impious Christians. Those who had killed their father, mother, brother, or sister, were to receive Holy Communion only on their deathbed; and as penance, they must never eat meat or drink wine, and must fast three days in every week. Christians who sold their slaves to Pagans to be ofl'ered as sacrifices, were to do penance as homicides. Marriages within the seventh degree of kindred were forbidden, as was the general rule of the Church 3 and it was re- xcx> (I r^ ';>m^« t ^-^^i^^ h*^;^^*- ^ 1 02 S. BONIFACE AND CONVEESION OF GER3IANY. commended that persons should not marry more than twice. Then followed the usual rule, that at the consecration of a bishop, two or three bishops besides the consecrator were to be present. And, finally, the special privilege of communion with the Holy See, was renewed to Boniface and his flock. Though Boniface had been made an archbishop with the express object of enabling him to consecrate bishops for his increasing Church, yet none of his dis- ciples were at this time prepared for the episcopal office ; and nine years elapsed before political circum- stances permitted him to establish four dioceses in Thuringia and Hesse, though probably before that time he had made Burchard and Wizo bishops with- out fixed sees. As soon as Boniface's messenger returned with S. Gregory's answer, he set to work to build two large monasteries at Amiineburg and Fritzlar in Hesse, of the same permanent character as that at Ohrdruf. Amanaburg, now Amoneburg, on the river Amena or Ohm, was in Upper Hesse. Adalgar, one of Boni- face's converts, had a good deal of land in this neighbourhood, and as he devoted himself to Boniface's service and became a priest, it is supposed that the land on which the monastery was built, was given by him. Many years after, when Boniface was Arch- bishop of Mayence, Adalgar, being on his deathbed, made over to S. Martin, the patron saint of Mayence, all the rest of his patrimony in Amanaburg and the adjacent villages of Brettenbrunum, now J]reiden- born, and Seleheim or Seelheim, where Boniface often resided. But after his death his brothers, Asperth and Trutmund, claimed the land as their own ^ and offered to prove their right to it by oath. Boniface accordingly required them to take the oath in his ^ Othlo, 1. ii. c. xix. I ARCHBISHOP BONIFACE. 103 presence, and before they did so he warned them of the sin and danger of perjury. Notwithstanding, they persisted and swore the false oath; whereupon Boniface told Asperth that he would be killed by a bear, and Trutmund that he would derive no profit from the land. Some little time after, it happened one day, that as Asperth sat at table, his servants told him that a large bear was in a field close by. He immediately rose, seized his spear, and mounting his horse, gave chase to the beast. But when his servants, hastening after him, came on his track, they found him lying on the ground quite dead. Trutmund was so terrified by his brother s fate, that he gave back his ill-gotten possession to S. Martin's altar, thus fully verifying S. Boniface's prophetic words. On getting possession of the land at Amanaburg, Boniface began, a.d. 732, to build on it a church,^ which he dedicated to S. Michael the Archangel, and a monastery of sufficient size to accommodate a large community, who would be able to carry on both the missionary work and the observance of monastic discipline more fully than had hitherto been possible. The stillness of the primeval forest, which for long centuries had resounded with the savage war-cry or the abominable revelry of the Pagans, was now broken only by the sweet and solemn chants of praise and prayer, mounting night and day to God ; while the daily celebration of Mass, the unbroken round of fasts and festivals, of vigils and penance, purified and sanctified that dark wilder- ness, which had hitherto been abandoned to demons and their fiend-like votaries. Then there was the daily manual labour, the monks living by the sweat of their brow, clothing themselves by their own industry, creating around them, by their skill, the ^ Seiters, c. vi. p. 229. ^iiJBiSSiaSBtBSi^ I ! 104 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. comforts of civilised life, and transforming the desert into a rich and beautiful garden. Nor were the daily hours of study omitted. For there were bar- barian novices to be taught to read, as was indis- pensable to every monk, and others to be prepared for the priesthood, or trained to learned studies, and books to be multiplied by expert writers; while all, after the fatigues of hard work, found rest and strength from reading, or listening to the pages of some saintly Father of the Church. Here Boniface took up his abode from time to time, and hence he and his monks made missionary excursions. Round the abbey, too, clustered converts who had been disowned by Pagan kindred, or who fled from the contamination of a Pagan home. The peculiar methodicalness and love of order, the habit of performing all their actions as untold generations of ancestors had performed them, which still dis- tinguish the German,^ had been a snare to the con'verts in the midst of Pagan society and life-long associations. But when tliey placed themselves under the wing of their holy pastors, and were initiated into a new round of daily life, new arts, new modes of agriculture, new trains of pure and pious thought, and undreamt-of aspirations for time and eternity, this national habit came to their aid, and quickly and almost insensibly, they were trans- formed from bloodthirsty, restless barbarians into the thoughtful, industrious, and deeply religious Christians, who are still to be found in Germany. Gradually the few scattered huts of these converts formed a village ; and as time passed on, the village grew into the town of Ambneburg, which, after above eleven centuries, still stands as a monument to S. Boniface's honour. Such is the history of ^ Freytag, Bilder, Einleitung, p. 18. h ARCHBISHOP BONIFACE. 105 Amoneburg and of the principal towns of Germany, all of which have sprung out of religious foundations ; and thus was it that Christian thought and feeling infiltrated through Old Germany. Though the Abbey of Amoneburg never rose to such celebrity as other foundations of the period, yet its influence told on its immediate neighbourhood. It continued to exist till the twelfth centur}^, when, the abbey haying fallen into ruins, its property was transferred to the Cathedral of Mayence. The church, however, remained-; and in the fourteenth century, Gerlach, Archbishop of Mayence, attached to it a college dedicated to S. John Baptist. The Abbey of Fritzlar,^ which Boniface built at this time, soon became the principal monastery in Hesse. It stood in a rich country near the river Eder, and the position was very central, close to the old Pagan sanctuaries of the Donar-eiche and Wodens- berg, and the village of Maden, where the national assemblies of Lower Hesse were held. The monastery was finished about a.d. 734 ; but the church, which was dedicated to S. Peter, was a more elaborate edifice, and was not completed till a.d. 740.'^ It is a disputed question whether there existed a village called Friedeslar before the abbey was built, or whether Boniface gave it this name from Friedes- lehre, i.e. Doctrine of peace. In the crypt of the great church above the now empty tomb, which once contained the body of Abbot Wigbert, there is an ancient inscription on the wall, purporting that the name was bestowed upon the place by the apostle, who brought to it the good tidings of, the Gospel of 1 Seiters, c. vi. pp. 232-245. 2 Willibald, c. viii. 26. An inscription in the present church says that S. Boniface built the church a.d. 740 ; and. though of later date, it bears witness to an older tradition. Seiters, c. vi. p. 235. I 1 06 S. BONIFACE AXD CONVERSION' OF GERMANY. neace It appears probable, liowever, tbat the spot C:onside.^S sa Jd by the old Hess.ans .a Pagau times, and hence received its name.i Lut there is no d ubt, that in any case the s.te was previously an uncultivated wild, and that the town of iritzlai, which sprang up round the abbey, owes it origm to Boniface's monks. r 4.1 ;^ For a time Boniface kept tlie government of th abbey in his own hands, and made it his principa "$.:! of abode. But he found that ^-^^ absence interfered with the regularity of the di.ci £ and as his circle of work was daily widening, and callinc^ him away more frequently, he sent an tnvit^don^o Wigbe^t, a monk of ^lastonbur^^^^^^ come and take charge of the monastery. Wigbert was advanced in years, and it was no httle sacri^^^^^ to ask of him at his age. Notwithstanding, that heroic love of souls which animated every English cloister of that time, compelled him to accept the invitation. But how hard a trial it was o the old man to leave his sweet English home and those dear brethren with whom he had spent his life, and how strange was his new position to him, appears in the letter'^ in which he tells his abbot how God -had ne to place the ^ ^^.^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ the protection « J'" l/^^[;;^j, ^j^ ^ons Theodebert at Mays. , ^^i o civil war liavinf;' liavana, '/ '"°'^f p"^ "V. i^to France, whence she Piltrude followed Charles inio ^. , j'^^^ poverty wfts exDclled for her crimes, and Uiea in jjie."- i' j rS; and H-bert -. into P^^^^^^^^^^^ fS°rr '" ldS.^&tinian tohis see "^t^r^ ^f^^ : Katbo?, S. Rupert at Salzburg and b. .^»""«J^° Hboured bv of wh^h last Wicterp^^^^^^^^ t^'aburswU ■ every means in his powei w ici had multiplied during the late wars. When Boniface arrived in Bavaria both S Oor biaian and Wicterp were dead, and the only CathoUo 1 ARCHBISHOP BONIFACE. "3 bishop in the duchy was Vivilo, who had lately gone to Koine to be consecrated Bishop of Passau by Pope S Gregory III. Whether Boniface came by Huc- bert's invitation is uncertain, but in any case he was most cordially received. He made the circuit of the province, boldly reproving heretical and immoral priests, preaching diligently to the nobles and people, and zealously correcting abuses so far as he could. He excommunicated Eremwulf, the head of an here- tical sect, and converted many of his followers He also made himself fully acquainted with the sta e of religion in all parts of the duchy and probably planned with Hucbert the measures which he carried out a few years later for the establishment of unity and discipline in the Bavarian Church. But he could not now remain long in Bavaria, for he had a great desire to be again with his monks, and at the close of the year 737 he returned to Thuringia and Hesse In the course of this visit to Bavaria, Boniface picked up many disciples, and, among others, a youth, called Sturm, was given to him by his pa^ents who were Christians of noble birth m Noricum Sturm ioyfuUy confirmed the pious gift, and, bidding fare- well to his home and family, followed Boniface m his iourneyings, till they arrived at Fritzlar, when he was transferred to S. "Wigbert's charge. H THIRJ) VISIT TO ROME. 115 CHAPTER XIL THIRD VISIT TO ROME. While Boniface was thus pursuing liis peaceful career of bloodless victories, the most critical events were occurring. S. Gregory III. having excommuni- cated^ the Emperor Leo for his sacrilegious iconoclasm and furious persecution of Catholics, all connection between the Roman See and the Eastern Empire was finally severed. Rome, thus reft of the aid, small and uncertain though it had been, which the Imperial armies had rendered, was at the mercy of Luitprand, King of the Lombards, who frequently ravaged the Roman States, and even threatened the city. But even a greater danger was imminent. For the Saracens, flushed with the pride of their unbroken career of victory in the East, Africa, and Spain, had resolved on the conquest of France and Italy ; and the subjugation of either would have been quickly followed by the overthrow of the Greek Empire, and the expulsion of Christianity from the civilised world. In the year 719- they reduced Septimania into a tributary province. In 721, and again in 725, they invaded Aquitaine, and Duke Eudes obtained peace only by giving his daughter in marriage to the Caliph's lieutenant, Munuza. But at length, a.d. 732, * Rohrbacher, vol. x. 1. 11. pp. 527-537, where the authority of Greek and Latin historians is given. ^ Rohrbacher, vol. x. 1. li. p. 482 "4 I Abderrama, taking advantage of a civil war between Charles Martel and Eudes, crossed the Pyrenees with an innumerable host, who, accompanied by their families, resolved to settle in France. Half of the army, pass- ing on to the east along the Rhone and Saone, took Avignon, Valence, Yienne, Lyons, Chalons, Besan^on, Dijon, and Auxerre, and carried all before them till they reached Sens, where they were repulsed by S. Ebbon, the bishop. The other half of the in- vaders advanced through Gascony and Aquitaine, took Bordeaux, Saintes, Poictiers, and many other towns, burning all the churches and abbeys on their route, till they encamped before Tours, where the two parts of the host reunited. J^Ieanwhile Charles and Eudes quickly made up their quarrel at the approach of the coming foe. Charles collected all the troops he could muster in the north of France, Friesland, Bavaria, Allemania, and Germany, and met the vast Saracen host between Poictiers and Tours. Seven days were spent in skirmishing. But on a Saturday in October, a.d. 732, a great battle, on which hung the fate of the world, was begun at early dawn and lasted till night- fall. The next morning the Franks prepared to renew the fight, but the Saracens did not appear ; and before long spies brought the news that they had deserted their camp and fled during the night. Contemporary historians say that 375,000 Saracens fell in the battle. This great victory saved Europe from the Saracen yoke, but it well-nigh ruined the Church. While it added greatly to Charles Martel's power and prestige, it imposed on him the necessity of rewarding the re- tainers, who had gathered round his standard in the hour of danger. He had always been unscrupulous in the disposal of ecclesiastical benefices. He had already expelled S. Rigobert, Bishop of Rheims, from his see, and given it to Milo, a tonsured cleric, who held also I l6 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. the bishopric of Treves ; and he had bestowed many other bishoprics and abbeys on liis military followers. But after the battle of Poictiers this sacrilegious policy was more fully carried out ; and the principal benefices were occupied by either laymen or blood-stained clergy, ruthless, avaricious, immoral men, wlio basked in court favour by virtue of their deeds of arms and their subserviency to the vices of the great. The Saracens had burnt all tlie churches and abbeys on their route, and killed all the clergy and monks Avho had not fled. But when tlie scattered fugitives returned to their ruined liomes, they found that they had to deal with even a worse enemy than the pass- ing bands of Saracens. Charles, instead of helpim^ them to collect the wrecks of their property, rebuild churches and monasteries, and fill up the vacancies in the ecclesiastical government, gave their lands to his adherents, and thus perpetuated the ruin whicli the infidel sword had begun. Under the dominion of military chiefs or sacrilegious clergy, religion stood no chance. The devastated lands, torn from com- munities of laborious monks, remained untilled. The bishoprics were not filled up. The religious com- munities were scattered. Luxeuil was without an abbot for fifteen years ; and long vacancies are to be seen in many of the rolls of bishops and abbots, even in some cases till the beginning of the next century. Barbarism was quickly reasserting its sway over France, and Paganism was following close on its track.^ Nor was the danger from Mahometanism quite extinct. For the Saracens entered France ad. 737, went up the Rhone, and took Avignon ; and again, a.d. 739, they took Aries, Avignon, Marseilles, Embrun, Vienne, and many other towns in that neighbourhood. And though Charles Martel retook all these places, re- ^ Ozanam, Civilisation Chrdtienne, c. v. p. 190. THIRD VISIT TO ROME. 117 conquered Septimania, and drove the Saracens back behind the Pyrenees, yet it was only by constant vigi- lance and the most energetic efforts, that this ever- imminent peril was averted from France and Italy. Such was the state of Christendom, when, in the autumn of the year 738, Boniface went for the third time to Rome. On the two former occasions he had visited the Apostolic threshold as an obscure priest, in the company of poor pilgrim monks like himself. But now he came as a high dignitary of the Church, of widespread reputation, as being one of the greatest men of his age, and attended by a numerous retinue, English, Irish, Bavarians, Franks, Frisians, and con- verts from many a wild German tribe. His com- panions were young men of fine intellect, heroic spirit, and unlimited devotedness, either the fervent votaries from England and other Christian lands, or the choice first-fruits of his own mission ; and no rich gifts of gold and silver at the Apostolic tomb were so prized as the offering of these noble soldiers of the Cross, the chosen instruments of the Church's future work. Our Holy Father has told us,i '*that cut of the very tomb where the ashes of Blessed Peter rest, for the perpetual veneration of the world, a secret power and healing virtue go forth to inspire the pastors of the Lord's flock with daring, courage, and nobleness of mind ; and through this renewal of their strength, the bold audacity of the enemy, which is no match for the virtue and power of Catholic unity, sinks and falls in so unequal a conflict." Such was the motive that now drew Boniface to Rome,^ and made him bring his sons to receive the grace of the Aposto- late at the Apostle's tomb, before he ordained them bishops, abbots, and pastors of his flock. ^ Allocution of Pope Pius IX., June 26th, 1867. - Willibald, ix. 27. Othlo, i. 27. Ep. 43 Wurdt. 127 Serar. I l8 ?. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Soon after his arrival in Rome, he wrote ^ to hia "most beloved son?, Geppan and Eoban, Tatwin and Wigbert, and all his brothers and sisters," that the Pope had received him most graciously and joyfully, and given a favourable answer to the object of his journey, with couns«d and directions as to the future progress of his work. He added that he would wait in Rome for the meeting of a synod, though he knew not when the Pope would summon it ; and as soon as it was over he would return to Germany. There is no record of a synod having been lield in Rome at this time ; but this letter leads to the con- clusion, that there must have been some ecclesiastical assembly which answered his purpose. What was the special object of the journey above referred to, and what the subjects on wliich Boniface received advice and direction in those frequent confer- ences which he had with the Holy Father during the year that he remained in Rome awaiting the synod, is not recorded. lUit in the critical position of the Church, his personal knowledge of Charles ^lartel and the state of affairs beyond the Alps, must have been a great assistance to the Holy Father. The events which followed this visit of his to Rome have given rise to the supposition, that not only the foundation and reconstruction of the Churches of Germany and France, but also the transfer to the Oarlovingian family of tlie Churcli's protectorate and the sovereignty of the West, formed the main subject of their consultations ; and tliat soon after these conferences S. Gregory III. sent to Charles Martel the keys of S. Peter s tomb,- into which some filings from the Apostle's chains had been wrought. ^ Ep. 42 Wurdt. 27 Serar. In some MSS. Wizo takes tlie place of Wigbert. ^ Ozanaii), Civilisation Chretienne, c. viii. p. 353. Rohr- bacher, t. x. 1. li. p. 540. THIRD VISIT TO ROME. 119 During the year that Boniface spent in Rome, he found ample occupation in going the round of the churches with his sons, inspiring them with courage and fervour at the tombs of apostles and martyrs, and making them familiar with Roman customs and discipline. There were also many living saints and many old friends to be seen. There was the royal S. Ina in his monk's habit and cowl, who, no doubt, was glad to have the opportunity of consulting Boniface about his Saxon school. There was also Boniface's old correspondent, S. Eadburga, or Bugga, Abbess of Thanet, of whom more will be said here- after ; and her hostess Wiethberga, with whom also Boniface corresponded.^ And who can say how many more saints and old friends he found in that multitude of his countrymen, " noble and ignoble, clergy and laity, men and women," who at this time left England, and lived as pilgrims in Rome, in order to be ** more easily received by the saints in heaven." ^ But of all whom he met, none claimed his love like his nephew, S. Winibald. It has been already mentioned that Boniface's sister Winna had married S. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West Saxons.^ They had two sons, Willibald and Winibald,* born respectively a.d. 701, and A.D. 704. S. Richard had also a daughter, Walburga, and another son, who, being considerably 1 Ep. 32 Wurdt. 20 Serar. - Bede, 1. v. c. vii. p. 246. ' Some writers have said that S. Richard was son of Lothaire, King of Kent, who fell in a battle with Ceadwalla, A.D. 685, and of a sister of Offa, King of the East Angles ; but Henscbenius proves that this is a fable. Acta SS. Feb. 7, S. Richard. Comment. Pr£ev. v. 16. * Vit. S. Willibald. conscripta a consanguinea sanctimoniale Heidenheim. Canisius, Thesaurus, ii. p. i05. Vit. S. Wune- bald. Ibid. p. 125. The writer says that she received from S. Willibald all the facts that did not come within her own knowledge. Some persons have said, on the authority of au ! 1 ■• I20 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. younger, are supposed by some writers to liave been the children of a second marriage.^ When Willibald was three years old he fell danger- ously ill, and being at the point of death, his parents placed him at the foot of the Cross, which stood in the centre of the village, and vowed him to God's service if his life were spared. Scarcely were the words uttered when he was perfectly cured. Accord- ingly, when he was five years old he was sent to the Abbey of Waltham, near Winchester, where he was trained to monastic life by Abbot Egbald. From his earliest years he was remarked for liis modesty, wis- dom, and love of study. The Psalms were his con- stant meditation, and his thought day and night was how to conquer self and fulfil more perfectly the duties of his vocation. As he grew to manhood there sprang up in his heart the desire to go on pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles ; but not content to win this privilege for his own soul, he could not be satisfied unless his father and brother shared his merit. S. Richard at first objected to leave his wife and younger children unprotected. But Willibald spoke so eloquently about the dangers of a life of ease, the loving promises of Jesus, and the joys of Paradise, that he carried his point ; and it was finally arranged that S. Eichard, with his two elder sons and a large party of friends, should go on pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land ; and that during his absence his wife and daughter should remain in the convent of Wimburn, of which their relative S. Cuthburga was abbess. uncertain date, that S. Willibald was the younger brother, but the writer of his life, who was either his sister or a rela- tive and contemporary of the same name, speaks of him as " the representative and heir of his parents," thus implying that he was their eldest son. A Vit. S. Wunebald, c. ii. THIRD VISIT TO ROME. 121 In the year 721 the pilgrims embarked at South- ampton, and landed at Rouen. Hence they proceeded through France and Italy, till they arrived at Lucca, where S. Richard died. He was buried in the church of S. Prigidian, an Irish monk, who was formerly Bishop of Lucca. The numerous miracles wrought at his tomb excited such devotion to him, that when,i many years after, the clergy of Eichstedt wished to place his body in their cathedral, the people of Lucca refused to part with the smallest portion of it, and were with difficulty persuaded to allow some of the dust from the inside of the tomb to be carried away. After burying S. Richard the pilgrims hurried on to Rome, where they arrived in time for the feast of S. Martin, November 11th, a.d. 722. They took up their abode in a monastery, wliere Winibald received the tonsure. Though the first twenty years of his life had been spent in the world, yet he embraced his new vocation with such ardour, that he was in no way behind his brother who had been a monk from his childhood; and before long his companions so loved and revered him, that they were wont to look up to him as an example and a master, while he was still only a novice in the monastery. In the course of the following summer the brothers fell ill and nearly died of intermittent fever; but 1 Lives of English Saints, S. Richard, p. 12. Wurdt. p. 2. Over S. Richard's tomb was placed the following inscription* which, though of later date, attests the popular tradition : " Hie Rex Richardus requiescit sceptrifer almus, Rex fuit Anglorum, regnum tenet ipse polorum, Regnum distulit, pro Christo cuncta reliquit, Ergo Richardum nobis dedit Anglia sanctum. Hie genitor Sanctae Walburgaj virginis almae, Et Willibaldi sancti simul et Winibaldi : Suffragium quorum det nobis regna polorum. Amen." 4i m 12 2 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. happily it attacked them on alternate weeks, so that when one was down with it, the other was able to nurse him. However ill they were they never re- laxed the strictness of their life, but always recited the daily Office ; and as soon as they regained the least strength they resumed their study of Holy Scripture. After spending two winters in Rome, Willibald and two of his friends set out for Jerusalem after Easter, A.D. 723.1 Many and great were the sullerings and hardships they endured during this long journey. At one time they were imprisoned ; at another Willibald was ill with fever ; then again, he was blind for two months; and again, he was at death's door with plague. ])Ut such sufferings only enhanced the joys of the pilgrimage, the object of which was, not to visit the holy places from mere curiosity, or even with a view to sensible devotion, but to walk in tlie foot- steps of Him who came down from His eternal home in the bosom of His Father, and, clothed in flesh as a man, bore every human ill and infirmity, even to the shedding of His Precious Blood. Filled with this holy fervour, Willibald and his companions spent four years in visiting Jerusalem and Judea ; then they stayed for two years at Constantinople ; and at length, in the seventh year of their pilgrimage, they returned with the Pope's legates to Italy. W^illibald's devotion was now satisfied, and he took up his abode in the Abbey of ^lonte Cassino, whicli had been re- built about ten years before by S. Petronax. Meanwhile Winibald remained in Rome, a gouty affection, which eventually crippled him, probably preventing his going with his brother to the East. For seven years he followed the usual round of ^ As the English year began on the 24th of September, two winters would have elapsed between November, A.D. 722, and Eabter, a.d. 723. THIRD VISIT TO ROME. 123 monastic life in Kome, till at length he was drawn to revisit his native land. On his arrival in his paternal inheritance he was joyfully greeted, and love and reverence met him on every side. But his only thought was how to induce his kindred and friends to ascend through this transitory world by close and severe wrestling with the flesh, to the narrow gate of Paradise. With this view he went from house to house and village to village, preaching, and persuad- ing all whom he met to give themselves to God's service. He was so successful, that before long he was accompanied back to Rome by a large band of pilgrims, among whom was his younger brother. On his arrival in Kome he resumed his former life, and seven more years passed on unmarked by outward change, but noted by watching angels for his hidden progress in purity, light, and love. Then all Rome was stirred by the arrival of Boniface, the great Apostle of the north, i^obles and high dignitaries, rich and poor, young and old, gathered round him. His persuasive eloquence and the singular union of authority and sweetness in his air, touched all hearts ; his exhortations and admonitions were received with reverence ; and many young men became his disciples, and devoted themselves to his service. But by none was he more joyfully greeted than by Winibald ; and when the venerable bishop asked the young monk to be the solace and support of his declining years, because he was tenderly and closely drawn to him by ties of blood, Winibald's warm English heart instantly responded, and he gave himself to his uncle. He followed Boniface to Germany with a number of his friends, among whom was S. Sebald, the Apostle of Nuremberg. Boniface ordained him a priest, and placed him in charge of seven churches in Thuringia. Then appeared the fruit of his long years of contemplation. The words of Scripture and 4: I n 124 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. of the Fathers were, so to say, at his fingers' ends ; the history of our Lord's life on earth was ever on his lips ; and by his example he set forth those Divine things which were the theme of his constant meditation. Between him and Boniface there sprang up the closest communion ; and they were wont to discourse much together, interchanging holy thoughts, and searching out in Scripture the hidden mysteries of God's love. The gain of one saintly nephew made Boniface long the more to win the other ; and before he left Rome he petitioned the Pope to send Willibald to him whenever an opportunity should offer. Willi- bald, meanwhile, was leading a hidden life at Monte Cassino. The lirst year he filled the office of cubi- cnlariuti ; tlie next that of decaniis ; then for four years he was porter in the upper monastery, and for four years more he filled the same office, which was one of great trust, in the lower monastery ; thus making in all ten years that he spent at ^Monte Cassino. At the end of this time it happened that a Spanish monk visited the abbey on his way to Rome ; and on his departure he asked leave for Willibald to accom- pany him, which Abbot Petronax readily granted. The fame of Willibald's pilgrimage in the East was widespread, and the Holy Father, on hearing that he was in Rome, desired to see him. Willibald at his command told the story of his pilgrimage, when " many shed tears, because there stood a living man who had done so much for the sake of our Blessed Lord, and they themselves had done so little in return for His great love." ^ When the tale was concluded the Pope told Willi- bald about his uncle's wish to have him in Germany, * English Saints, S. Richard, p. 63. THIRD VISIT TO ROME. 125 and asked him to go to him. At first Willibald shrank from exchanging his peaceful cloister for the world's turmoil. But the Pope said, " Our love to God is proved by our love to our neighbour. When our Lord had thrice heard Peter say that he loved Him, then He committed to him the care of His flock. He who has attained to great virtue, and yet, preferring his own tranquillity to the profit of others, refuses to be a bishop, deserves to suffer all the pains of the lost souls whom, as a prelate, he might have converted." Then Willibald consented to go if his abbot would give him leave. But the Pope quickly replied, "It suffices for you to receive the order from me ; for if I should bid your abbot himself go anywhere, he would have neither the power nor the will to disobey." Whereupon Willi- bald instantly declared, that he was ready to go, not only to Germany, but whithersoever the Holy Father would deign to send him. After Easter, a.d. 740, Willibald, with three com- panions, set out for Germany. They visited the tomb of S. Richard at Lucca. Then they passed into Ba- varia, where they spent a week with Duke Odilo, and another week at the castle of Suitgar, Count of Hirschberg. The Count conceived a great friendship for Willibald, and on his departure accompanied him to Linthrath, where Boniface then was. The object of his visit was to offer Boniface a wide tract of land at Eichstedt, whereon to build a monastery. It was a thick forest of oaks, in which were a few poor huts thinly scattered here and there, and one small church which was dedicated to our Blessed Lady. But the position was central and well suited to be a bishop's see at some future time. Boniface therefore thank- fully accepted the gift, and sent Willibald back with the Count to explore the wilderness and choose a site for the monastery. * I : 126 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. On the following feast of S. Mary Magdalen, July 22nd, Willibald was ordained a priest by Boniface at Freisingen, after which he returned to his church of our Lady of Eichstedt and set about building the monastery. CHAPTER XIII. THE CHURCH IN BAVARIA. Boniface's third visit to Rome was a turning-point in his life. Hitherto he had toiled as the Apostle of Germany alone ; but henceforth his principal work was to be the formation of that Church of the Middle Ages, which freed Europe from the despotism of barbarian soldiers, and transmitted to modern times the blessings of Christianity and the noble inlieritance of learning, art, and education, which saints had snatched from the wreck of the ancient world. Towards the end of the year 739 Boniface received the Pope's parting blessing and set out for Germany. The commendatory letters which he took with him, were distinguished in two respects from those of which be had been the bearer on former occasions. In the first place, the letter to the German laity ^ was not addressed to the Thuringians and Germans generally, as before, but to several tribes whose very names had hitherto been unknown, and whom Boniface had brought for the first time into communication with ^ Ep. 44 Wurdt. ]28 Serar. Most of the tribes to whom this letter was addressed took their names from the rivers on the banks of which they dwelt : viz. the Borthari on the Bordaa, or Wohra ; the Nistresi, on the Nister, a branch of the Sieg ; the Wedrevi, on the Wetter ; the Lognai, on the Lahn. The Sudnosi are supposed by Eckhart to have dwelt on the south towards the Odenwald and Wiirzburg, while Kremer places them in the Grabfeld, in the modern district of Eulda. Seiters, c. vii. p. 274. 127 128 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. THE CHURCH IN BAVARIA, 129 i \ i h I l- I li II if Christian society. In tlie next place, the letter ^ to the bishops and abbots gave Boniface authority to appoint priests to officiate in places within the juris- diction of other bisliops and abbots, and called on the Bishops of Bavaria and Allemania to obey him as the Legate of the Holy See and attend the council which he should summon to meet at Augsburg, or elsewhere. Bavaria was naturally the first point to which Boniface directed his steps. He was uncertain what reception he should meet with there; because his friend Duke Hucbert was dead, and the orthodoxy of his successor, Odilo, the youngest son of Theodo II., was doubtful. But happily his anxiety was relieved by a cordial invitation from Odilo, which he received during a short stay that he made at Pavia with Luitprand, King of the Lombards. Boniface's task in Bavaria was to give full effect to S. Gregory II. 's capitular, addressed to Theodo II. He accordingly examined the orders of the clergy ; deposed the bishops and priests who had taken those offices on themselves or whose orders were invalid ; conferred true orders on those who had gone astray only from ignorance, and excommunicated the con- tumacious. He also travelled about preaching the Catholic faitli, extirpating idolatry and lieresy, and restoring the canonical administration of the Sacra- ments. He further placed a bishop in each of the four provinces into which Bavaria was divided ; for all the sees were vacant, except that of Passau, to which S. Gregory III. had consecrated Vivilo. He appointed John to Salzburg, which had been vacant since S. Rupert's death, a.d. 718; Erembercht, brother of S. Corbinian, to Freisingen, which also had been vacant since S. Corbinian's death, a.d. 730 ; Goibald or Gaubald to S. Emmeran's Church at Ratisbon ; and 1 Ep. 43, 45, Wurdt. 127, 129 Serar. Vivilo he left undisturbed at Passau. These four bishoprics remain to the present day, thus proving Boniface's judicious selection of their sites. He also founded about this time a bishopric at Xeuburg, in the eastern part of the diocese of Augsburg, which con- tinued subject to Bavaria, though Augsburg and the rest of the diocese had been conquered by Charles Martel. But this bishopric was of brief duration. For when Charlemagne united Bavaria with his empire, a.d. 801, this district became once more a part of the diocese of Augsburg. In 798 Salzburg was made the metropolitan see of Bavaria, and its jurisdiction extended over the above bishoprics, and also over Seben in the Tyrol, a very ancient see, which having been seized by the Lombards, had been for a time under the metropolitan of Aqueleia, but on the reconquest of the Tyrol by Bavaria became sub- ject to Salzburg. This see was afterwards removed to Brixen. Charles Martel having recently gained a great victory over the Saxons, who were consequently driven out of Thuringia and Hesse, tlie Pope now wrote ^ to Boni- face congratulating him that a hundred thousand souls had been brought into the Church by his labours and Charles' arms. He also approved of all that Boniface had done in Bavaria, and ordered him to preside in his stead at a council which he was to hold on the banks of the Danube. This letter touches on two important points regarding the validity of the Sacra- ments. For while in this and many other places it was forbidden to repeat baptisms, by whomsoever they had been performed, provided only tliey had been administered in the names of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, a stricter rule was laid down with respect to priests' orders. On this latter point 1 Ep. 46 Wurdt. 130 Serar. i i' 1 30 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. the Pope says, " If those by whom they were ordained are unknown, and it is doubtful whether they were bishops, provided these priests are Catholics, well conducted, and instructed in God's law for Christ's ministry, let them receive the priestly benediction and be consecrated by their bishop, and thus be fitted for the sacred office." Finally he told Boniface not to remain in one place, but to go and preach wherever the way was open to him ; and whenever he had an opportunity he was to ordain bishops in the Pope's stead according to the canonical rule, and teach them to observe the Apostolic and canonical traditions. No record remains of the place ^ where Boniface held the council in obedience to the Pope's command, nor of the bishops who attended it. But it is sup- posed that the recently consecrated Bavarian bishops, Vivilo, Bishop of Passau, and the AUemanian bishops to whom the Pope had written, were present, excepting only Rudolt, Bishop of Constance, who had recently died. The spirit of Catholic unity which Boniface thus infused into Bavaria, gave new life and vigour to the lam^uishing Christianity of the province. Idolatry, heresy, and schism quickly disappeared through the steady and united operation of zealous bishops and priests. True sacraments diffused grace far and wide through the land. Princes and nobles, following the example of their duke, vied with each other in magnificent liberality to the sons of S. Benedict. Churches and abbeys rose on every side, and persons of all classes, nobles and serfs, rich and poor, men and women, crowded into them 1 Seiters, c. vii. p. 289. Wurdt. p. 101. Baronius, Spon- danus, Mabillon. Eckhart and others, assert that Boniface held a synod in Bavaria a.d. 740. Pagi and Mansi, on the contrary, are of opinion that bis first synod was held a.d. 742. .ilX — „,;,^!jskr ' THE CHURCH IN BAVARIA. 131 or gave their children to them for the glory and service of God. This grand awakening of Catholic life and love called into existence in less than forty years, from A.D. 740 to 778, no less than twenty-nine splendid abbeys, whicli were centres of lioliness and learning throughout the Middle Ages, and have left their mark on the Christian and civilised world even to the most distant times. S. Pirminian's name has already been mentioned in connection with the Abbeys of Amorbach and Keichenau, the latter of which being built on an island or aive of the Khine near its entrance into the Lake of Constance, received its name from its great wealth. After founding several other monasteries in Alsace and Allemania, he went with twelve monks into Bavaria. Here, through Duke Odilo's generosity, he founded the Abbeys of Upper and Lower Altach, on the left bank of the Danube, Osterhofen on its right l)ank, PfafFenmiinster to the north of the river, and Monsee on the lake of the same name. Odilo also richly endowed the Abbey of Niedernburg at Passau for women, and a monastery which the Bishop of Freisingen built adjoining the church of S. Zeno on the Isana. There were also the seven abbeys of Benedictbeuern, Schlehdorf, StafFelsee, Kochelsee, Polling, Sandau, Wessobrun, and the church of Pura, built and endowed by the three brothers Lantfried,' Waldram, and Eliland, and their sister Gailswinde' the grandchildren of Tlieodo IL's eldest son, Theo^ doald. When the brothers and their sister had each built one of the four first-named abbeys and the church of Pura, they invited Boniface to come and consecrate their off"erings. Gladly he accepted the invitation, and on the 22nd of October, some time subsequent to a.d. 742, he consecrated the church of Pura to S. Benedict and S. James the Apostle, and made Lantfried Abbot of Pura and the three other 132 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. abbeys which were subject to it. For twenty-five years Lantfried, popularly known as the good Lanzo, governed this fraternal offering as Prince Abbot, still wearing his princely robes, but distinguished by his monastic virtues and his fraternal love. His two brothers succeeded him in this office. Tlie sons and daughters of nobles and princes begged for admit- tance within these holy retreats. The unhappy Gisila, wife of the last Merovingian king, sought shelter and consolation with Gailswinde at Kochelsee. And before very long, as the throng of applicants could not find room in the four abbeys, Lantfried added to them the Abbeys of Polling and Wessobrun for men, and Sandau for women. The example of this family was followed by their cousins, Adelbert and Ottokar, who after many misfortunes exchanged their military accoutrements for the monk's frock about A.D. 746, and founded the Abbeys of Tegern- see and Illmunster, which they endowed with all their inheritance.^ The spirit of S. Benedict soon spread from Bavaria into AUemania. There still lingered the rule of S. Columban in the Abbey of S. Gall. In the year 720, Otmar, an Alleman by birth and of great repute for sanctity, was made abbot by Victor, Count of Rhcetia, and Waltram, the owner of the forest in which the abbey stood. He rebuilt the monastery, restored discipline, and collected together a large community. But they were in great poverty till a.d. 751, when Pepin-le-Bref, at the request of his brother Carloman, then a monk, richly endowed the abbey on the condition that it should be placed under the rule of S. Benedict. This S. Otmar accordingly did, and 1 Seiters, c. vii. pp. 291-295. THE CHURCH IN BAVARIA. 133 before his death ^ the abbey had risen to a very flourishing state, and the school had begun to take the lead, after Fulda, in the revival of learning and the spread of education. ^ Vit. S. Otmar, by Walafrid Strabo, which is founded on an earlier life of S. Otmar, written by Gotzbert. Pertz, ii. p. 41, :T*ssw»3?')^eKwer THE CHURCH IN THURINGIA AND HESSE. 135 CHAPTER XIV. THE CHURCH IN THURINGIA AND HESSE. At the end of the year 740, or the beginning of the following year, Boniface having completed his task in Bavaria, went into Thuringia and Hesse. The two years or more of his absence had been very eventful. In 738, Charles Martel liad made war for the sixth and last time on the Saxons, and having gained a great victory over them, had finally driven them out of these provinces. From this time they made only incursions into them with the object of plunder, but had no permanent hold on them. This was a fine opening for the missionary work. Another important circumstance was, that Charles Martel, having subdued all his enemies, now began to turn his attention to the peaceful settlement of his dominions. And more- over, it was in this same year, that in consequence of two letters from S. Gregory III., which followed each other in quick succession, he promised to defend the Holy See.^ Thus it was at a most favourable con- juncture that Boniface undertook the task of founding the Church of Old Germany. It ought to be remarked that though the names Thuringia and Hesse have been used in these pages for convenience' sake, yet at this time these distinctive appellations were unknown. The whole of this terri- tory was in the hands of numerous tribes of Thuringian, Hessian, or Frank origin, the limits of whose respec- 1 Labbe, vi. pp. 1472, 1474. Ap. Rohrbacher, x. L .'Jl, p. 541. 134 tive possessions were vaguely defined and constantly fluctuating ; and it was only through the ecclesiastical organisation that Boniface now introduced, that the restless population settled itself permanently, and the provinces of Hesse, Thuringia, and Franconia were formed. In this vaguely defined territory Boniface placed three bishops,^ namely, one at Buraburg, for the northern part of the district, since called Hesse ; another at Erfurt, for the central part, since known as Thuringia; and the third at Wiirzburg, for the region which in later times developed into the Duchy of Franconia. There still remained a district un- provided with a bishop. This was the border-land between Thuringia and Bavaria, the Thuringian por- tion of which was known as the Salafeld, and the Bavarian as the JN'ordgau. It had long been a bone of contention between the Franks and Bavarians ; but as the former advanced their frontier in each successive w\ar, Boniface seems to have purposely ex- cluded it from both the adjoining dioceses of Wiirz- burg and Ratisbon, in anticipation of the period, now close at hand, when the whole would belong to the Franks, and the bishop whom he hoped to place at Eichstedt would not be embarrassed by the claims of a divided allegiance. No place could have been better chosen than Buraburg for the site of the Hessian see. Not only did it stand in the same central position as Fritzlar, but the hill being in the form of a truncated cone, was well suited to be a frontier station of the Franks in their wars with the Saxons, and also a refuge for the Christians during the Saxon invasions. In this see Boniface placed Wizo, also called Witta or Wittana, all of which names signifying ** white," 1 Ep. 51 Wurdt. 132 Serar. I I 136 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. have been Latinised into Albimis. He was probably of Irish origin,! and was one of the monks of Fritzlar to whom Boniface wrote from Kome the letter already quoted. He lived in the closest friendship with Lullus, Boniface's successor at Mayence ; and when, A.D. 786, Lullus felt his end approaching, Wizo came to him, but his own death preceded that of his friend. Lullus lived only to carry him to Hersfeld, where both were buried near their old master, S. Wigbert. Magingoz, Abbot of Fritzlar, succeeding Wizo as bishop, the see was removed to Fritzlar ; and after his death the western portion of the diocese was added to the see of Mayence, and the eastern, which comprised the conquests of Pepin-le-Bref and Charlemagne, was formed into the new dioceses of Halberstadt and Paderborn. After the subjugation of the Saxons by Charlemagne, Buraburg lost its value as a frontier fortress, and by the fourteenth century the town had disappeared, and the church dedicated to S. Bridget and S. Boniface alone remained, and was used by the neighbouring villages till the Thirty Years' War. fn the diocese of Erfurt Boniface placed Adelar or Adalf^ar, who was afterwards one of the companions of hil martyrdom. This see was, however, of short duration, for Adelar had no successor ; and even in his lifetime, after Boniface became Archbishop of Mayence it was merged in the arch-diocese.^ 1 Seitera and others assert, on the authority of Othlo, i. c. XXV., that he was one of those who came from England ; but Othlo couples him with Gregory, who certainly was not English. The dedication of S. Wizo's church to S. Bridget seems to support the Irish claim. '^ Doubts have been raised as to the existence of this bishopric, and the identity of its bishop with the martyr. The letters of S. Boniface and Pope Zachary, and the ancient traditions of Mayence and Erfurt, attest the existence of the bishopric, added to which there is the broad fact that without this see, Thuringia would have been left unprovided with a bishop. The identity of the martyr with the bishop rests 011 THE CHURCH IN THURINGIA AND HESSE. 137 The diocese of Wtirzburg was in a more flourishing state than either Buraburg or Erfurt. Here S. Kilian had sowed the first seed of Christianity, and watered it with his blood. Here Duke Hethan had built a church in honour of our Blessed Lady, probably the oldest in Franconia. And here his daughter, S. Irmina, was still living at the head of a small com- munity on the Marienberg. All around, too, were Christian neighbours, churches, and monasteries. The first of the long line of bishops of Wiirzburg, who afterwards took so prominent a place in Ger- many, was Burchard,^ an Englishman of noble birth, said to have been related to S. Boniface. He had been devoted to God's service from his childhood, and after living for a long time in France as a pil- grim, he was irresistibly drawn to Boniface, whose fame met him on every side. The attraction was mutual ; for when they met, Boniface, who seems to have already beheld him in a vision, said to those around him, "Rejoice, brethren, for God has sent us a comrade, to whom our Lord's flock collected in Wiirzburg by S. Kilian will be entrusted." Burchard went to Rome with S. Boniface, a.d. 738, and was presented to Pope S. Gregory III,- who approved of the selection of him for the episcopal office. He was advanced in years when he became Bishop of Wiirzburg, but he is said to have been much beloved the traditions of Mayence and Erfurt, in both of which places his relics were venerated as those of a martyr bishop. He was first buried at Utrecht, then translated with S. Eoban to Fulda, and finally, a.d. 1154, both were removed to Erfurt, where they were laid in the cathedral dedicated to our Blessed Lady, which Boniface erected a.d. 743. Seiters, c. viii. t. i. p. 309. ^ Vit. S. Burchard, Auctor. Anon. Canis. iii. Ibid. Egil- ward. Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. iii. t. i. 2 Canis. iii. p. 5. The anonymous biographer says that he was presented to Pope Zachary, but this is evidently a mis- take, as Zachary 's pontificate did not begin till A.D. 741. 1 f 138 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. by his flock, and to have been worthy of their love. When he entered his see ho had neither cathedral nor episcopal residence. His only property was a hunt- ing-lodge at Norlach on the Main, the gift of Charles Martel ; and his crosier was a simple staif of wood. Strange was it for S. Irmina, after a long life of bereavement and isokition amid Pagan foes, to find herself suddenly transported to the centre of a Catholic bishopric. The increasing throng of people to Wiirz- burg, made her old asylum on the Marienberg too noisy an abode for her and her nuns; and before long she proposed to Burchard to exchange her monastery for that at Karlburg, which tradition ascribed to the Frank princess, S. Gertrude,^ and which stood in a domain that Carloman, son of Charles Martel, had given to Burchard. Her offer was joyfully accepted, and for a time the small, old church of our Lady on the Marienberg, served Burchard for a cathedral. But the steep ascent and the scarcity of water making this position incon- venient, he built a large church and monastery, which were called S. Salvator's church and minster. In the year 854 this church being burnt, the present Neumunster was built almost on the same site. Burchard's first care was to remove the relics of S. Kilian and his companions to a fitting place of honour. They were found under the floor of the stable where Duke Gotzbert's horses had been kept ; and a fragrant odour issued from the spot where ^ Who this S. Gertrude was, has been a much -disputed point. Some say that she was the daughter of Pepin de Landen, and others of Pepin-le-Bref ; but both suppositions are at variance with historical facts. The popular devotion in the neighbourhood, and her mantle preserved in the monas- tery of Neustadt, make it undoubted that there was a saint of the name who made large donations to the monastery. See Acta SS. O. S. B. ssec. iii. t. i. Appendix, S. Gertrud. p. 662. ^^ i!si m ( m»! ' m^^ * m»^jm'- THE CHURCH IN THURINGIA AND HESSE. 139 they lay. They were carried in solemn procession to the church on the Marienberg; and when the new cathedral was built, they were translated to it and laid in the crypt, which long bore S. Kilian's name. Tradition ascribes to Burchard great skill as an architect, and associates his name with the founda- tion of several churches and monasteries. In his latter years he was entrusted with the delicate office of going to Eome with Fulrad, Abbot of St. Denis, to obtain the Pope's sanction to the transfer of the French crown to the Carlovingian dynasty. After his return to Wiirzburg age and infirmities compelled him to resign the see to Magingoz, a monk of Fritzlar. He then retired with six monks to a monastery which he had built at Homburg, where he died a.d. 751.1 It is not known at what time or place Boniface consecrated these three bishops. 'But after their consecration he summoned them to meet him at Salzburg, an old royal castle on the Saal, where Neustadt now stands.^ Some have considered this meeting as the second council which Boniface held. But that it was not a council, is evident from Willibald's assertion ^ that no council was held in Franconia till after Charles MarteFs death, and from Boniface's letter to the Pope in the following year, in which he says that no council had been held for eighty years.^ At this meeting of bishops, three weeks before the feast of S. Martin, a.d. 741, Willi- bald was consecrated a bishop, but without a fixed see. Not only did the political circumstances of 1 Vit. S. Burchard, Acta SS. O. S. B. sac. iii. t. i. p. 658, note. 2 Seiters, c. viii. p. 340. 3 Willibald, c. ix. 29. * Ep. 51 Wurdt. 132 Serar. S. Boniface always uses Franci, Francia, not for Gaul and its inhabitants, but for Franconia. N II 140 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Eiehstedt at this time unfit it to be the seat of a bishopric, but it was still only a wild forest, through which Willibald had recently cut his way axe in hand, and it contained no town, as the canons required,! f^r a bishop's see. But so rapid was the development of these ecclesiastical foundations, that only four years later, a.d. 745, when Carloman had completed the conquest of the district, a town had arisen around Willibald's church, and Eiehstedt was erected into a bishopric, with him for its first bishop. Thus was the Church of Central Germany placed under regular episcopal government. 1 Ep. 52 Wurdt. 142 Serar. CHAPTER XV. THE CHURCH IN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA. Boniface had already done more than it commonly falls to the lot even of saints to do. The conversion and organisation of Germany might seem enough to fill not only one, but many lives. Yet God reserved for him a further work more difficult than the con- version of savages, namely, the reform of a corrupt race. Two hundred and fifty years had now elapsed since the submission of Clovis and his Franks to the faith of Christ, and that period is almost enough to account for the decadence of most of the empires which have been established in the world. In addition, however, to the wear and tear of the mere lapse of time, it cannot have escaped the reader who has studied the conversion of the Franks, that there existed from the first seeds of corruption which were now bearing their baneful fruit. We have already seen terrible crimes side by side with heroic virtues. This is true to some extent of all human, even ecclesiastical history, but something more than the ordinary depravity of mankind is necessary to ac- count for the fact, that the annals of the Merovingian kings are more like a I^ewgate calendar than the story of a royal dynasty. The fact is, that the con- version of the Frank empire was never so thorou<^h as that of Saxon England. This of course cannot be assumed without proof, yet there are numerous facts which show that even to the latest times of the empire heathen customs, and even heathen morals 141 I ■ 142 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. kept their ground. In a letter to Bmneliaut, S. Gregory moans over the fact, that many Franks fre- quented at once Christian churches and the altars of heathen gods. In the Italian wars of Theodebert I. the Frank army offered human sacrifices, and Proco- pius bids us not be startled, "for,'' he says, "these men are barbarians though they are Christians, and keep much of their ancient creed ; they make sacri- fices of men, and other unholy rites for the purpose of augury.'' In the sixth century the peasants in the wilds of the Ardennes were converted from the worship of Diana only by the appearance among them of a pillar-saint, S. Wulflaich, a remarkable phenomenon for Western Europe. In the same century S. Gall of Clermont burns a heathen grove near Cologne, and is pursued by the Pagan natives to the very court of the King, who with difficulty pacifies them. In 582 S. Radegunda also burnt a grove where heathen Franks still worshipped the old gods. Even down to the time of Pepin Heristal, S. Plechelm found on Frank ground men who united the worship of Christ with the old gods of the North. The frequency of the canons of councils forbidding idolatry, is a proof of the same fact ; and though, as we have seen, some Saxon synods show that Pagan usages still lingered in England, yet the tattooing of their persons and the custom of disfiguring their horses by cutting their tails and ears, which were forbidden to our Saxon ancestors, and treated as heathen enormities in tiie English legatine synods, are innocent compared with the heathen impro- prieties forbidden in the council of Chalons. That this state of things lasted down to the time of S. Boniface, is plain from his own complaint, that he found priests who called themselves missionaries, and who in the morning offered the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, and in the evening sacrificed bulls and goats to THE CHURCH IN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA. I43 idols. This portentous fact took place, it is true, in the semi-pagan lands beyond the proper boundary' of the Frank empire ; but the priests came from elsewhere and must have crossed the border from Austrasia. ' It is only by such remnants of paganism that it is possible to account for the scandalous lives of the Merovingian kings. Only in such a heathen state of morals could such an event as has been recorded of b. Kadegunda have taken place. The power of Christianity must have been enormous to have held Its ground at all in such a state of things, much more to have produced such a pure lily as the saint out of a soil so corrupt. Their whole history is the story of the courageous fights of brave bishops with the unbridled passions of the Frank sovereicrns We know from Tacitus that though the Germans in general married but one wife, polygamy was the rule among the chiefs. In addition to heathen tradition came the miserable example of the Romanised Gaul Christian writers like Salvian mourn over the de pravity of the Christians of their time. Not all the efforts of saintly bishops could root out the passion of their flocks for the obscene representations of the arena and the theatre, and Salvian describes the frenzy of the inhabitants of Treves, who, amidst the horrors of the barbarian invasions, consoled them- selves for the burning of their city and the ruin of their fortunes by plunging madly into the enioy- ments of a licentious stage. The Frank armies were rr,}''. ^^}'' "^^^^ '^^^'^^ position for the acquisition of Christian virtue. The wild lusts of barbarian conquerors were brought out by the vicious civilisa- tion of the vanquished. The vast families of slaves kept by the rich Romans were hotbeds of depravity and the households of the Frank victors were formed on this miserable model. The evil, by the end of tlie monarchy, had grown much greater, for the tendency ill ^ J 144 S. BONIFACE AN-D CON\'ERSIO\ OF GERMANY. of tlie ase ^Tas to convert the small landed pro- prietors into slaves, so that the number of freemen Ls comparatively small. Thus every bad harve t increased the number of slaves for the poor we compelled to sell themselves to the >'«1' »«Wes from whom they had borrowed money. The nobili y imitated the vices of the court. Long and bravely had the Church struggled with this enormous evil The lives of the saints of this period are a suthcient proof of their courage. Yet it is a remarkable fact that under the early Merovingian kings the Church was never sufficiently settled to admit of the estab- lishment of her regular discipline. The Irish monks, and especially S. Columban, attempted to introduce it but the old bottles of the Frank race were too weak to bear the new wine. It may be that the Celtic harshness of the apostles made the restraint of dis- cipline more unpalatable than it otherwise would ha^ve been. At all events, S. Columban, expelled from the Vosges, took refuge in Italy, and S. Gall found more patient hearers in the savage Allemanni round the Lake of Constance. , , , , Bv the times that we have reached the clergy themselves were not in a position to enforce a severe rliscicline Nothing can prove the slowness with which Christianity penetrated into the Franks more clearly than the length of time which it took to raise a native clergy. The old Roman bishops m Gaul were splendid men in a grand position ; they stood forward as protectors of their vanquished countrymen, and their virtues awed their barbaric oppressors. By the common consent of both races the government of the cities was entrusted to them and this temporal power was enhanced by the old possessions of the sees which were respected by the Lbarians, while new lands ^^/'i^.'^f .^J * " munificence of the reignmg monarchs. The statistics i THE CHURCH IN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA. 1 45 of councils prove tliat it was long before this old race of Roman ecclesiastics was replaced by a Frank clergy, and when this time came, the temporal prosperity of the Church proved a disadvantage to their virtue. Considered simply as nobles by the ]\Ierovingian kings, like the rest of the nobles they were looked upon as officials of the court. The Frank kings, though in theory protectors of the Church, ceased to respect her freedom, and the bishoprics became too often the hereditary possessions of noble families ; as, for instance, the bishopric of Metz had fallen into the hands of the Ferreoli, the family to which S. Arnulf is said to have belonged. In fact, during the period of Merovingian decay,^he corruption of the nation infected the clergy. The salt lost its savour, and only increased the ruin of the body politic. We even meet with portentous heresies which remind us of Mormonism, and which resemble far more a return to heathenism, with a mixture of semi-Christian superstition, than intel- lectual corruptions of Christianity. A lamentable state of things, but by no means extraordinary. It never has been and never will be otherwise. When ever the right relations between Church and State are disturbed, whenever the Church loses her independence, she ceases to be the guardian of the morals both of the clergy and people. The remedy for such a state of things can only come from a central authority, supreme over the clergy and independent of the State, that is, from Kome. It was to S. Boniface that Rome entrusted the cleans- ing of this Augean stable. While Boniface was occupied, as we have seen, in Old Germany, death had made great changes on the thrones of Europe. On the 18th of June, A.D. 741, the Emperor Leo the Iconoclast died, and was succeeded by his son, Constantine Copronymus. i 146 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANHr. This prince followed in his father's steps, and the rupture between Rome and the Eastern Empire was widened. On the 22nd of the following October Charles Martel died, and on the 18th of November, Pope S. Gregory III. S. Gregory's death made no difference to Boniface, for Rome's policy does not rest on human wisdom ; and after an interval of only three days S. Peter's Chair was filled by Zacbary, who inherited the zeal of his two predecessors for the conversion of Germany. It is significant that no confirmation of the election was asked from Ravenna. Even the last nominal bond between Rome and the Eastern Empire was snapped. Charles Martel's death was a great gain to Boni- face ; for Charles was succeeded by his sons, Carloman and Pepin, both of whom were princes of sincere piety. Carloman, who, as the elder, enjoyed a nominal supremacy,^ was 13oniface's pupil. Educated at his father's court among rough soldiers and worthless clergy, he knew little about the Christian religion till \q made the acquaintance of Boniface, through whose teaching and influence he became so penetrated with the fear and love of God, that his whole administration, whether of secular or ecclesiastical matters, wms regulated with a view to God's service, and not according to mere worldly policy.'^ Immediately after his accession he summoned Boniface to his presence. The result of this inter- view is told in the following letter ^ to Pope Zachary, which also depicts the frightful state of the Church in the Eastern kingdom at that time. After renewing his vows of obedience to S. Peter, and asking for the confirmation of the Holy See for 1 Othlo, 33. Canis. iii. p. 353. 2 ]bid. 36. Canis. iii. p. 355. 3 Ep. 51 Wurdt. 132 Serar. I THE CnURCH IN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA. 1 47 the bishoprics at Wiirzburg, Buraburg, and Erfurt, Boniface continues, "Be it known to you, Holy Eather, that Carloman, Duke of the Eranks, having summoned me to him, bade me assemble a synod in the part of the kingdom which he governs, and promised that he would correct and amend the ecclesiastical discipline, which has been neglected and trodden under foot for sixty or seventy years. Wherefore he wished to have the commands of the Apostolic See, in order that, by the inspiration of God, he might obey them perfectly. It is said by old men among the Franks, that for eighty years there has been neither synod nor Archbishop, nor liave the canons of the Church been enforced. Most of the bishoprics are held by laymen greedy of gain, or by grossly immoral and avaricious clergy. Should I find among the deacons some, who, though they have lived from their boyhood in sin and uncleanness, have notwithstanding been raised to the diaconate ; who though as deacons they have lived wicked lives, yet have neither been ashamed nor afraid to call themselves deacons and to read the Gospel; who then rising to the priesthood, and continuing in such sins, and even adding to them, perform priestly functions, professing to intercede for the people, and to offer the Holy Sacrifice ; and who finally, what is even worse, after rising with such a character through the different grades of Holy Orders, are consecrated and appointed bishops ; if, I say, I should find such, I ask for a command from your authority regarding them, in order that sinners may be convicted and reproved by the Apostolic reply. There are also certain bishops, who, though they are not adulterers, are drunkards and unjust, or addicted to hunting; and who go to battle armed, and shed the blood of men, whether Pagans or Christians. Because I am the servant and legate of the Apostolic See, I wish I 1 1 H I 148 8. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. my word and yours to be the same, if it should happen that I refer these cases to your decision." Boniface then proceeded to remind Zachary that S. Gregory III., in his presence, had given him leave to appoint a certain priest his successor; but this being impracticable on account of a feud between this priest's family and that of Carloman, he asked leave to appoint another successor. He also said that a layman of rank asserted that the late Pope had given him permission to marry his uncle's widow, who was also the wife of his cousin still living, whom she had left; and who, moreover, had formerly vowed her chastity to God and taken the veil, but had thrown it off and married. This marriage was creating great scandal, and he could not believe that permission for it had been given ; because in the Synod of London, in the Church of "Saxony beyond the sea," in which he had been born and educated, such a union was declared to be incest. Further, great scandals and disputes had arisen, because certain foolish persons, Allemans, Bavarians, and Franks, insisted that many things which he and his priests forbade were allowed in Rome, where they had seen Pagan feasts, with choruses singing Pagan hymns in the public streets, and women wearing magical amulets and phylac- teries, and other Pagan superstitions. Wherefore he requested the Holy Father to prohibit these Pagan customs in Rome, both for the gain to his own soul and the profit of the Church. Finally, certain Frank bishops and priests who had been habitually immoral, and to whom children had been born since they had been bishops or priests, said on their return from Rome that the Pope had given them leave to officiate in the Church. But this he resisted, because the Apostolic See had never been known to give judgment contrary to the canons. TUE CHURCH IN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA. 1 49 Zachary in his answer ^ confirmed the erection of the sees of Wiirzburg, Buraburg, and Erfurt, sanc- tioned the meeting of the council, forbade the ministrations of bishops, priests, and deacons who were living in sin, or had shed blood, or who, having been married before their ordination, did not separate from their wives, and also the second marriage of clerics, who had not yet attained to the priesthood. Against such, and all other offenders against the canons, he ordered Boniface to proceed as the Church ordered, denying that the Holy See had ever granted any indulgence, as was pretended, to clergy living in sin. He also denied that his predecessor had ever given the alleged sanction to the incestuous marriage with an uncle's widow, who was also the wife of a cousin, and had once been a nun. As to the Pagan practices in Rome, of which Boniface complained, they were detested by him and all Christians, and had been put down by himself and his predecessor. On one point alone did he oppose Boniface. For he would not give him leave to ap- point a successor, but directed that any one whom, at the hour of death, he should publicly recommeml as his successor, should come to Rome to be con- secrated. The mendacity of arrogant nobles and Church dignitaries, who resisted Boniface's authority by the plea of pretended privileges from the Pope, and the ignorant error of the multitude, who believed that whatever was done at Rome must be allowed by the Church, both alike show that the barbarians were conscious of the existence of that great spiritual force which was to control them in S. Peter's name during the Middle Ages. The council mentioned in the foregoing letters I * Ep. 52 Wurdt. 142Serar. . 150 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. was held on the 2l5t of April, a.d. 742; but the place of its meeting is not known. Some have supposed that it was at Worms, and others at Frank- furt; but there is no historical ground for either conjecture. It was attended by Boniface, Burcliard, Wizo, Willibald, Regenfried, Bishop of Cologno, Edda, Bishop of Strasburg, and Dadan, who is sup- posed to have been the coadjutor of Utrecht. It enacted seven canons,^ which confirmed the bishops in their sees and Boniface^s authority over them as S. Peter's legate, ordered synods to be held every year, and provided for the enforcement of discipline, the punishment of unchaste clergy, monks, and nuns, and the restriction of the ministrations of bishops and priests to their respective dioceses and parishes, forbidding all unknown and wandering bishops and priests to°officiate, and calling on the nobles to assist the bishops to put down idolatry and Pagan supersti- tions. It further forbade tlie clergy to dress as laymen, to carry arms or go to battle, to have women in their houses, and to hunt or keep hawks and falcons. It also ordered monks and nuns to live according to the rule of S. Benedict. In obedience to these canons another council was held on the 1st of the following March,^ at Liptiiui or Liftina, a royal villa in the diocese of Camhray, near the spot where the Abbey of Laubium, or Lob, afterwards stood. It was presided over by two lef-ates extraordinary, George and John, who seem to\avc been sent to give it weight and to inquire ^ into the errors of two heretics, Clement and Adelbert, at whose trial in Borne they afterwards assisted.3 It was attended by both clergy and laity, and its chief object was to give the authority of national laws to the canons of the former council, 1 Ep. 56 Wurdt. 78 Serar. a Ep. 57 Wurdt. 78 Serar. =* Sellers, c. ix. p. 373. fi THE CHURCH IN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA. 15 I which had been purely ecclesiastical. Only four of its canons remain, which, besides confirming the enactments of the preceding synod, prohibit marriages within the forbidden degrees of kindred, and the giving up of Christian slaves to Pagans. There is also a very important canon regulating the terms on which Church lands held by military retainers in return for their service might, on account of the im- pending wars, be kept temporarily by the present holders, but providing for their eventual reversion to the Church. To the canons of this council is appended the form of abjuration ^ required of converts from Paganism at their baptism. In ans\ver to questions asked by the priest, the neophyte said, " I renounce the devil. I renounce all communion witli the devil. I renounce all the woi'ks and words of the devil, Thunar, Woden, and Saxnot, and all the impure spirits that are with them. I love God the Father Almight3^ I love Christ the Son of God. I love the Holy Ghost." A curious list of thirty Pagan superstitions also was placed after this abjuration ; and finally came two exhortations against unlawful marriages, and the observance of the Sabbath, as being a Judaising prac- tice opposed to our Lord's precepts in the Gospels.- Irregular marriages have always been a source of trouble to the Church, and they were more especially so at this time, when the Pagan custom of inter- marrying within the family or tribe still prevailed, and the Christian restrictions were not familiar even to the clergy. Not only does this subject constantly ^ Pertz, i. p. 19. ^ These two exhortations, though evidently very ancient, could not have been delivered at this time, because they con- tain an allusion to the recent celebration of Easter, whereas the Council of Liptina was held on the 1st of March, which that year fell on the Friday in th3 first week of Lent. Seiters, c. ix. p. 401. ll'i am^v HI Ml II 152 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. recur in the canons of councils and Boniface's letters to successive Popes, but he himself had difficulties on certain points, as appears from his letters to his English friends.^ After the restoration of synodal action in Austrasia, Eoniface turned to Keustria, then generally called (raul, which was governed by Pepin. Here a more difficult task awaited him. For this was the older portion of the kingdom, where lay for the most part the richest benefices, which Charles ^Martel had given to his military retainers. Here was ]\Iilo, the tonsured cleric, who had long wrongfully held the dioceses of Kheims and Treves. Here were the heretical bishops, Adelbert and Clement, and other wolves in sheep's clothing, and sacrilegious nobles, and immoral and blood-stained clergy, too numerous to name. It is easy to imagine what a stir Carloman's proceedings must have made among such as these. Pepin long felt that he was no match for this host of opponents, and he shrank from the contest. But at length, after two years he yielded to his brother's entreaties, and fell heartily into Boniface's plans.2 Many of the existing abuses in the Neustrian Church could be traced to the defective relations between bishops and metropolitans, the cessation of synodal action, and the heretical teaching of such men as Adelbert and Clement. During the late un- settled state of the country, bishops had often fallen under a different sovereign from him who claimed the allegiance of their metropolitan; and in such cases, instead of seeking to place themselves under the authority of some superior within their own sub- division of the kingdom, they had generally taken advantage of their isolated position to assert their independence. From this cause, and from not meet- 1 Epp. 39-41 Wurdt. 11, 15, 22 Serar. 2 Willibald, x. c. xxxii. \ THE CHURCH IN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA. 1 53 ing in synods, the benefits of Catholic union were lost, and the Church was not strong enough to check abuses, to support the weak and timid, and to resist the tyranny of princes and nobles. To remedy this evil Carloman, Pepin, and Boniface wrote to the Pope in August, a.d. 743, asking him to extend Boniface's authority over Gaul as well as Germany, and to increase the number of metropoli- tans in Gaul by sending palls to Grimo, Archbishop of Rouen, Abel, Archbishop of Rheims, and Hart- bert, Archbishop of Sens, who was the bearer of the letters. The Pope accordingly sent the three palls, but before they reached Neustria Boniface wrote again, recalling the former request, and asking for only one to be sent to Grimo of Rouen. It appears that a report had been spread by the party of opposition that the palls had been obtained simoniacally by the favoured prelates, and in order to discredit the rumour Boniface wrote, no doubt with the concurrence of Carloman and Pepin, and probably at their instiga- tion, to suspend the transmission of two of them. ^In the absence of Boniface's letter it is impossible to say what he thought of the report ; but his conduct sur- prised the Pope and called forth a grave rebuke, though it did not disturb his relations with the Holy See. On the 5th of iS'ovember, a.d. 743, the Pope^ wrote : "... We find in your letters what greatly disturbs us. For you tell us such things, as if w^e corrupted the canons and violated the traditions of the Fathers, and with our clergy fell into simoniacal heresy, which God forbid, demanding and accepting gifts from those to whom we sent palls. We exhort you, dearest brother, never henceforth write to us thus, because it 1 Ep. 60 Wurdt. 143 Serar. liii 11 i' I I li mil ill 154 S. B0NIFAC13 AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. is distressing and unjust to impute to us Avliat we thoroughly detest. Far be it from us and our clergy that we should sell the gift which we have received from the Holy Spirit. The three palls which were asked of us at your suggestion we gave without desiring any profit, and also the customary letters of contirnration and instruction, without receiving any- thing for them. . . . You ask us whether you have authority to preach in Bavaria, as our predecessor granted you. Far from curtailing what our prede- cessor gave you, we, by God's help, add to it. For we enjoin you, so long as God gives you life to preach in our stead, not only in Bavaria, but in all the provinces of Gaul, that whatever you find there contrary to the Christian religion or canonical rules, you may try to reform to the standard of righteous- ness. ..." On the 2nd of March, a.d. 744, a national synod, at which eleven Austrasian and twelve Neustrian bishops assisted, was held by Pepin at Soissons.i it was summoned by Carloman's authority,- but neither he nor Boniface was present ; probably because Sois- sons was in Pepin's territory, and the Neustrian nobles might not have brooked their personal in- terference.3 Ten canons of the same tenor as those of the two German councils were enacted, with the exceptions that the heretical Bishop Adelbert was condemned, and Abel and Ardobert, or Ilartbert, were appointed archbishops, Grimo being already Archbishop of Eouen. But in spite of the authority of the council and 1 Wurdt. 61, p. 150. - Willibald, x. a 30. 3 Seiters, c. ix. p. 416. Seiters conjectures that Rathbod and Aribert, Bishop of Soissons, whose signatures follow that of Pepin to the canons of this council, represented Carlonian and Boniface. After their names comes that of Helmigaud, Pepin's Councillor of State. THE CHURCH IN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRTA. 1 55 the good intentions of Pepin and the greater part of his bishops and their clergy, it was not in his power to do all that he and Boniface wdshed. Milo, the intruder into the sees of Rheims and Treves, was too powerful to be dislodged by force ; he could not be induced to resign them voluntarily ; and so long as he lived, Abel could not exercise his functions as Metropolitan of Eheims. There arose also further difficulties in carrying out the arrangement. For in the year 751, seven years after the palls had been sent, Boniface complained ^ to the Pope that the matter was not yet completed, because the Neustrian bishops evaded or delayed the fulfilment of their promises of obedience. Mention has been made of the heretics Adelbert and Clement. They were not connected together, and their heresies were totally different; but both had been ordained to the priesthood by unknown bishops, had taken on themselves the episcoj^al office, and had managed to gain many adherents. Adelbert was a Gaul of low origin, but he pretended to have been sanctified by God even before his birth. He showed the people a letter, which he said was from our Lord, and had fallen from heaven into Jerusalem, where it had been found by the Arcliangel Michael, who, after passing it through the hands of several priests, had laid it on the tomb of S. Peter at Rome, "where the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are kept," where twelve fathers who were in the city fasted, w\itched, and prayed for three days and nights. He pretended to hold intercourse with S. Michael, and to heal the sick. He gave his hair and nails to his disciples as relics ; and teaching them to despise the Catholic bishops, saints, and martyrs, he led them to assemble in oratories dedicated to hiin- 1 Ep. 86 Wurdt. 141 Serar. , ! Il|l INI 156 S. BONIFACE AND CONVEnSION OF GERMANY. self, or at crosses erected in fields or at fountains, where tliey prayed '* through the merits of S. Adel- bert," and invoked six angels whom the Church has always held to be fallen spirits. And when people came to confess to him, he would say, " I know all your sins, for all secrets are revealed to me. It is unnecessary to confess ; but all your sins are remitted. Go home in peace, and be absolved." Clement, on the other hand, was an Irishman; being more learned than Adelbert, he set himself to refute the doctrines of the Church, and taught his own views of Scripture. Though he had two sons born in sin after he called himself a bishop, he still claimed episcopal powers. He taught that a man might marry his brother's widow ; that our Lord, when He descended to hell, delivered all the im- prisoned souls, bad as well as good ; and horrible doctrines concerning God's predestination. Both these heretics had gathered round them a large band of followers, and Adelbert, through his mystical pretensions, had gained some influence over Carloman. Boniface at first tried privately to bring them to reason ; but finding them obstinate, he summoned them before the councils of Liptina and Soissons, in both of which they were condemned. Depending on the strength of their party, they continued to defy him till they were again con- demned, A.D. 745, by a council at which eight bishops were present, who referred the case to Rome. There it was carefully examined by the Pope at a synod in the Lateran, and they were finally con- demned ; after which they seem to have been imprisoned by Carloman, and no more was heard of them.^ 1 Wurdt. 61-70, Serar. 134, 135, 148. Seiter?, c is. p. 418. ; i 5 ^1 ^ CIIAPTEE XVI. BONIFACE ARCHBISHOP OF MAYENCE AND UTRECHT. About this time several events occurred which crreatly altere(l Boniface's position and added to his inffuence. Early in the year 744 S. Willibrord died. On re- ceiving the news of his death, Boniface set out for Utrecht. As he approached the town, he was met by a procession of the monks whom Willibrord had collected in the Abbey of S. Martin's durincr the fifty years that he had held the see,i and they led him to the^ church, where he joined with many tears and sighs in their prayers for their departed father. Carloman was anxious that the see should be filled without delay, and Boniface met his wishes by keep- ing it in his own hands, as legate of the Apostolic See, and appointing as his coadjutors or chorepiscopi,^ Eoban, who afterwards shared his martyrdom, and Gregory, Adela's grandson, who had hitherto 'been his constant associate in all his labours. This arrangement was in accordance with the views of Pope Sergius, who fifty years before, in sending 1 Seiters gives A.D. 739 as the date of S. Willibrord's death (c. vii. p. 287). But this is evidently too early, because Carlomau was then at the head of the government and he did not succeed Charles Martel till A.D. 741. Henschenius who IS followed m the text, prefers a.d. 744. Acta SS. June 5, b. Uoniface. Comment. Praev. c. ii. 11. Ep. 105 Wurdt 97 Serar. 2 Chorepiscopi exercised the same functions as are now ^57 hi 158 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. Willibrord to convert the Frisians, had made the see subject to the Konian Chair as a bishopric in partibus infidelhim; and as the province was still in great part Pagan, it now naturally fell within Boniface's mission. He remained a considerable time at Utrecht arranging the affairs of the diocese,^ so as to facilitate the labours of his coadjutors when he should be called elsewhere. Scarcely was this task completed when he was summoned to the court by the death of Regenfried, Archbishop of Cologne. Kcgenfried had held the see since the year 718; but notwithstanding the example of Willibrord and Boniface, he had made no attempt to convert the Pagans, and had even tried to hinder their work by claiming jurisdiction over both. 2 Put successive Popes rejected the pre- performed by vicars-general. They did not necessarily receive episcopal consecration. S. Eoban was a bishop, but S. Gregory is generally supposed to have been only a priest. For though Othlo says (i. 38) that Boniface raised him to the episcopal dignity, and he succeeded Boniface in the see of Utrecht (Vit. S. Gregor. c. xiv.), yet his contemporaries Luidger and Lullus (Ep. 103 Wurdt. 45 Serar.) speak of him as only a priest or abbot. The title of bishop was often given to priests in charge of a church ; as, for instance, at the Synod of Ingel- heim several of those who signed the canons wrote after their names, " Presbyter vocatus Episcopus." On the other hand, the Abbot of S. Augiistine's, Canterbury, though he was a bishop and acted as the archbishop's chorepiscopus till the time of Lanfranc, appears in history by the title of abbot only. Monast. Angl. i. p. 26. Acta SS. 0. S. B. ssec. iii. t. i. Praef. cc. xxxv.-xxxvii. * Presbyter Ultraject, c. ii. 14. Vit. S. Gregor. c. xiv. Ep. 103 Wurdt. 97 Serar. - Epp. 15, 105 Wurdt. 125, 97 Serar. Regenfried's second successor, Hildegar (750-753), revived the claim to the juris- diction of Cologne over Utrecht (Ep. 105 Wurdt. 97 Serar.) on the strength of a deed of gift from Dagobert I., on the condition that the Archbishops of Cologne should preach to the Frisians, which they had neglected to do. After the death of both Boniface and Hildegac the Archbishops of ARCHBISHOP OF MAYENCE AND UTRECHT. 1 59 tensions of one who would neither sow tlie seed liimself nor allow others to do so. Regenfried's death now opened the way for an arrangement which gave a metropolitan to the new sees whicli Boniface liad founded and a primate to Germany. Under the Roman Empire the Church had adopted the organisation of the State, and placed her primates, metropolitans, and bishops in the towns already marked out for capitals hy the civil power. Thus the Roman provinces of the first and second Belgium, and the first and second Germany, which incTuded the left bank of the Rhine from Strasburg to the Xorth Sea, had each its archbishop or metropolitan at Treves, Rheims, Mayence, and Cologne, each of whom again had several bishops under him, while the Archbishop of Treves held jurisdiction as Primate over the whole. But as this arrangement did not extend to the r\^hi bank of the Rhine, some alteration in the metropolitan provinces was necessary, in order to include the new Church that was springing up in Old Germany. Boniface's first idea on Regenfried's death was to take Cologne for liis own metropolitan see, and place the new German bishoprics under it. For Cologne was in a very central position between Friesland,'' to which his heart was ahvays turning, and his own field of labour in Thuringia and Hesse ; while it also stood like a fortress on the borders of Saxony, which was the ultimate object of liis desires. This plan met the hearty approval of the Pope.i But the clergy of the diocese, who had long lived in indolent luxury, to say nothing of worse abuses, were filled with dread and horror at the thoughts of the strict discipline which Boniface would enforce, Cologne made good their pretension, and exercised jurisdiction over Utrecht till A.D. 1549. » Ep. 70 Wurdt. 138 Serar, i I I; m II I 1 60 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. and opposed his appointment by every means in their j)Ower. However, before the arrangement could Le carried out, it was upset by the unexpected vacancy of the Archbisliopric of Mayence. It may have been noticed that the name of the Archbishop of Mayence does not appear among thojso who attended Boniface's early councils. The see had been filled for many years by Gerold, a very immoral man and a homicide,^ who owed his position to his military ]U'owess, and was, like Milo, too powerful to be forcibly degraded. In the year 743 the Saxons invaded Tliuringia, when Gerold, as usual, following Carloman into the field, was mortally wounded by a shower of darts into which he had fearlessly rushed. He left a son, Gewilieb, "born in sin and brought up without restraint," who lived much at court, where he was very popular on account of his generous and affectionate disposition and his love of field-sports. He was plunged in sorrow by his father's death ; and though he was a layman, Carloman, out of pity, gave him the bishopric, and he took priest's orders, intending in course of time to receive episcopal con- secration. The following year the Saxons broke again into Thuringia, and Carloman marched against them. Gewilieb accompanied him, panting to avenge his father's death. The two armies were encamped on the opposite banks of the Weser, when Gewilieb being told that he who had killed his father w^as in the enemy's host, sent to ask him to parley with him in the middle of the river. The Saxon, fearing no treachery, consented ; but when they met Gewilieb plunged liis sword into his enemy's heart, exclaim- ing, "There, take the steel with which I avenge my father ! " This led to a general engagement, in which ^ Presbyter Mogunt. c. i. ARCHBISHOP OF MAYENCE AND UTRECHT. 161 Gewilieb took part. The Saxons were defeated with great slaughter, and Carloman's army returned home laden with spoils. But neither Carloman nor the nobles thought of reproaching the young bishop,^ for " they did not deem it a crime to avenge his father, but said that he had only taken the just retaliation for his death." Boniface, however, took another view of the case. Gewilieb's nomination to the see must always have been displeasing to him, though no doubt his ob- jections were overruled by assurances that the young man was well disposed and would assume clerical habits with his clerical dignity. Gewilieb, however, liad continued to indulge his love of field-sports, and was always to be seen surrounded by dogs and hawks, and now that he had committed homicide so publicly, there would be an end of all clerical reforms, if he were allowed to hold the metropolitan see. Boniface demanded his deposition, not only on the ground of the homicide, but also because he had himself seen him going about with dogs and hawks ; and Gewilieb was quite willing to resign the spiritual charge, for he had no inclination to perform the canonical penance, or to give up his sporting life. But he stipulated that, as he had no patrimony, he should retain the domain of Spanheim and the Church of Caput Montis. Boniface would not consent, and wrote to the Pope, who answered, that should the pretended bishop come to him, " God's will would be done to him." 2 Gewilieb was accordingly deposed by a synod, and though he at first threatened to appeal to Kome, yet after a time he retired quietly into private life. He managed, however, to retain the benefices for which he had stipulated ; and on them he lived for fourteen years, practising great hospitality, never 1 Othlo, i. 37. 2 Ep, 70 Wurdt. 138 Serar. il flu « i N: 1 i, 162 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. assisting at any public assembly, and seldom appear- ing in church, even on Holy Thursday. These proceedings occupied four years. But from their commencement all eyes were turned on Boni- face as the fit occupant of the see of Mayence. The clergy of Cologne desired his appointment, since it would relieve them from his inconvenient zeal and strictness ; while the greater part of the clergy and laity of ^layence wished ardently to have him for their bishop, though even at Mayence there was a small party of lukewarm and immoral priests who opposed him on the ground of his foreign birth. ^ As for himself, *' it was the less possible to accuse him of interested motives" for deposing Gewilieb, "because his removal to the see of Mayence was opposed to his own wishes and plans." 2 He long strove to retain his favourite central position at Cologne ; but the Pope overruled his wishes in a letter dated the 1st of May, a.d. 748.^ Accordingly, in that year Boniface became Arch- bishop of Mayence and Utrecht,* and Agilolf was appointed to Cologne. The Pope made Mayence the primatial see of Germany, with jurisdiction over Tongres, Cologne, Worms, Spire, and Utrecht, in addition to the four sees founded by Boniface, and Augsburg, Strasburg, Constance, and Coire, which were already subject to it. At a later perio^l Cologne was formed into a separate metropolitan province^ which included Tongres and Utrecht. But, on the other hand, the new bishoprics of ^ Vit. S. Gregor. Luidger. c. ix. Acta SS. 0. S. B. soec. iii. t. ii. p. 294. Presb} ter Ultraject, c. ii. - Neander, Church History, vol. v. p. 71> ed. Bohn, 1851. » Ep. 82 Wurdt. 140 Serar. * This is the title given him in the charter by which Pepin- le-Bref confirmed all the gifts of Pepin Heristal, Charles Martel, and Carlt»man, to the church of S. Martin at Utrecht. Wurdt. note, p. 280. i . ARCHBISnOP OF MAYENCE AND UTRECHT. 163 Paderborn, Halberstadt, Hildesheim, and Verden, and later still Prague and Olmiitz, were given to Mayence.^ . . ,, • Both before and after his elevation to the primacy, Boniface continued to hold councils in both Germany and France, and to attend the March or May-fields ^ at which the canons enacted by ecclesiastical synods became national laws. He was so anxious to esta- blish re^Tular synodal action, that in the year 748 he requested the Pope to appoint a legate, who should be specially authorised to devote himself to this work, which his own many other avocations and the infirmities of age prevented his carrying out so perfectly as he wished. The Pope, however refused his request, but gave him leave to appoint suitable persons to assist him in his other duties. How many councils he held is not known Seven at the very least have been reckoned ; but this number is evidently far too few.* Por as the three first councils ordered them to be held yearly, and the Pope was constantly urging the same, it ii^ay be reasonably concluded that Boniface was careful to obey in a matter in which he so heartily concurred.^ A general idea of the spirit and scope of Boniface s legislation may be gathered from the letters of Popes S. Gregory IL, S. Gregory IIL, and Zachary, in answer to his inquiries ;& from a capitulary addressed by Zachary to Pepin in consequence of an embassy sent by the latter to Rome, a.d. 747 ;« from another capitulary published by Boniface at a council held 1 Ep. 83 Wurdt. Seiters, c. xi. p. 502. 2 Ep. 91 Wurdt. 104 Serar. Seiters, c. ix. p. 4d». 3 Ep. 82 Wurdt. HO Serar. . * Harzheim, Concil Germ. i. 344. Compare with Bintenm. Cone. Gesch. ii. 32. Apud Seiters, c. ix. p. 438. °Th^se letters are to be found in the collections of Wurdt- wein, Serarius, and Giles. « Wurdt, 75, p. 204. ► f'. I - £ ■ t III II i i ., ■1 = 1 64 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. about A.D. 745,^ and from a collection of his statutes made after his death. ^ In glancing over these documents three circum- stances especially attract notice. First, one meets -with the same laws and customs as those which, after a lapse of eleven hundred years, are still to be found in the Catholic Church. There are the same Holy Orders and ecclesiastical discipline, with restric- tions as to the places where, and the priests by whom, Mass may be said ; the same Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Holy Eucharist, Extreme Unction, and Viaticum ; the observance of Lent, the Ember weeks, and the vigils of Easter and Pentecost as fasts, and of Sundays and eleven great festivals, among which are Our Lady's Nativity, Purification, and Assumption, as holidays of obligation. There are also the new fire and chrism, and the blessing of the font before Easter; the feet-washing on Holy Thursday; the exclusion of laity from the chancel, and of secular men and women from singing choirs ; and even the book marked with crosses at the places where the holy sign was to be made, which Pope Zachary gave Lullus for the guidance of the German Church. Li the second place, it is interesting in an historical point of view to notice curious references to extinct Pagan superstitions, and statutes concerning parricide, fratricide, homicide, gross immorality, theft, arson, spoliation of the Church, right of way, and the treat- ment of slaves and foundlings, all telling of an age of barbaric violence, licentiousness, and cruelty. 1 Wurdt. 63, p. 158. 2 Wurdt. 58, p. 140. Mansi has raised a doubt whether these statutes are Boniface's, because the rule of secular canons and the word "imperator" occur. Binterim, how- ever, shows that the title " iinperator " was often given to Pepin after he became king, and that communities of secular canons existed in S. Bonifaces time. Seiters, c. ix. p. 439. ARCHBISHOP OF MAYENCE AND UTRECHT. 165 But, above all, one is struck with the wide range of the subjects on which Boniface sought counsel of the Holy See and gave directions to his flock — from the validity of Sacraments and the purity of clerical, monastic, and family morals, dowm to minute details of personal modesty, sanitary precaution, and both ordinary and Lenten food. Here it will be seen what a great revolution he was attempting, and how countless were the ties, running through every action of life, that had to be broken, before the law- less Pagan or nominal Christian could be brought under the yoke of Christian self-restraint. Nor had these ties been loosened, as in England, by removal from home associations and national sanctuaries ; but, on the contrary, Boniface had to tear them asunder where they were strongest, and most firmly bound round the very heart of the German nation. For so superhuman a task nought less than a supernatural power could suffice. As he knelt at S. Gregory's feet before the Apostle's tomb, he learnt what was the spiritual force through which he was to hope for success, and thus, ever turning to S. Peter's Chair, and working in S. Peter's name, seeking in simple faith solely the greater glory of God, he overcame the lawlessness of the barbarians by his docility, and conquered princes and nations through that extra- ordinary strength which is gained only by the perfect conquest of self. In the course of Boniface's correspondence it appears how many heresies met him on every side. There was an Irish priest, called Samson, who affirmed that baptism with water in the name of the Blessed Trinity was unnecessary, and -that the imposition of a bishop's hands sufficed to make a man a Christian and a Catholic. Others doubted whether baptism administered in the right form by a heretical or immoral priest was valid, or whether ; c - 1 ■ II 166 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. immersion in water by a holy man, without the in- vocation of the Blessed Trinity, was sufficient.^ Again, two priests, Virgilius and Sidonius, wrote to Pope Zachary2 to complain, that Boniface was obliging them to rebaptize those who had been baptized by a priest who, mispronouncing Latin, was in the habit of saying, " Baptizo te in nomine Patria et Filia et Spiritus Sancti.'' The Pope was "disturbed and surprised" at this charge, which he could scarcely credit ; and as neither heresy nor error had been introduced, and there was only a mis- pronunciation of Latin through ignorance, he ordered Boniface peremptorily, ''if it was as he had been informed," never to teach such a thing again, but to observe the traditions of the fathers. As Boniface's answer is lost, it is not possible to say whether the charge was well founded. But probably it was false ; because the Pope says in a subsequent letter : ^ "As to the priests, Sidonius above-mentioned and Virgilius, wo acknowledge what your Holiness has written. We have indeed written to them, threatening them, as was fittin-. You, brother, are to be believed rather than they. If it be the will of God, and life permit, we shall summon them, as is preferable, by apostolic letters to the Apostolic See. For thou didst teach them, and they did not accept tliy teach- inf^; and what the wise man hath written* is accomplished in them: *He who teacheth a fool is like one that glueth a potsherd together. Sand and salt, and a mass of iron, is easier to bear than a man without sense, that is both foolish and wicked.' For *he that wanteth understanding thinketh vain things; and the foolish and erring man thinketh foolish' things.' Wherefore, brother, be not provoked to anger, but wherever thou findest such, patiently 1 Ep. 82 Wurdt. 140 Serar. ^ Ep. 62 Wurdt. 134 Serar. » Ep. 82 Wurdt. 140 Serar. * Ecclus. xxii. 7, 18 ; xvi. 23. ARCHBISHOP OF MAYENCE AND UTRECHT. 167 admonish, beseech, threaten them, that they may be turned from error to the way of truth. If they are converted, thou wilt have saved their souls; but if they remain impenitent, thou wilt not lose the re- ward of thy ministry ; and avoid them according to the Apostle's command." There was another Virgil, who also gave Boniface trouble. In the paragraph immediately preceding the one just quoted, the Pope says, ^*You have informed us that that Virgil (we know not if he is said to be a priest) has been acting maliciously against you, because you put him to shame for erring against Catholic doctrine; that he is trying to excite ill feeling between you and Odilo, Duke of Bavaria ; and that he says he had been absolved by us, in order to obtain the diocese of the deceased bishop, who is one of the four whom you consecrated. This is by no means true, and he has lied wickedly. As to the perverse and iniquitous doctrine, which he has uttered against God and his own soul, if it be made clear that he has said that there is another world and other men under the earth, he should be deprived of the sacerdotal dignity. We have there- fore written to the duke, and sent letters summoning Virgil to appear before us, that after close examina- tion, if he be found in error, he may be condemned by canonical authorities.'* From the above passages in Pope Zachary's letter a charge has been framed against Boniface, that he was convicted of grave error regarding baptism by S. Virgil, Bishop of Salzburg, and that he persecuted this great Irish saint, because his knowledge was so far in advance of the age in which he lived, that he asserted the existence of the antipodes. The truth, however, is that this accusation is not sufficiently supported, and in some points is even contradicted, by the facts of the case. For there is no reason for Iln II 1 68 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. supposing that Eoniface fell into this error, except the assertion of two of his opponents, whom the Pope, after hearing hoth parties, did not deem worthy of credence, but threatened and reproved in very strong tenus, while he said that Boniface had taught them the way of truth. Moreover, the Virgil who accused Boniface of the error about baptism is a different person from the Virgil who "lied wickedly" to obtain a diocese, and held the doctrine about the other world beneath the earth, as is evident from the way in which the Pope distinguishes them in con- secutive passages of the same letter. Further, there is not the least evidence whether the doctrine of the lying Virgil was connected with the antipodes, or with the opinion of certain Pagan philosophers, who affirmed the existence of a plurality of worlds. In default of evidence, one would incline to doubt Avhether it had any connection with the antipodes, be- cause, as their existence had already been conjectured by S. Augustine,^ whose writings were much studied both at Rome and in England, such an opinion could not have been called " perverse and iniquitous " by the Pope. It is more likely that it was akin to the Pagan philosophy, and that by denying the descent of all men from Adam, it was in opposition to the Catholic doctrines of the fall and redemption of man. Finally, it is impossible that either* of these Virgils could have been the great Irish Apostle of Carinthia, for his biographer says 2 that after leaving Ireland, he lived for many years at Cressy in Xeustria, till he was appointed Bishop pi Salzburg by Pepin, 1 S. Augustin. Civit. 1. xvi. c. ix. Ap. Wurdt. p. 239. 2 Vit. S. Virgil c. iii. Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. ui. t. 11. p. 279 The records of Salzburg show that John, whom Boni- face consecrated A.D. 741, held the see twenty-one years. Consequently this could not have been the see which waa vacant A.i). 748, when one of the Virgils intrigued and ' lied wickedly " in order to obtain it. ARCHBISHOP OF MAYENCE AND UTRECHT. 1 69 A.D. 764, when he came to Bavaria ; but being very reluctant to accept the dignity, he was not conse- crated till two years later. No mention is made of his ever having seen S. Boniface, nor of his having gone to Rome, much less of his having been sum- moned thither to be tried for heresy, nor of his having intrigued and ''lied wickedly," in order to obtain the other Bavarian bishopric which fell vacant nearly twenty years earlier. :-if % S t If ' ■ 1% :i ■ ii CHAPTER XVII. DEVELOPMENT OF MONASTIC LIFE, The more perfect development of monastic life was one of the objects to which Boniface at this time directed his attention. For though his monasteries at Fritzlar, Ohrdruf, and many other places, were in a nourishing state, yet as the missionary work was the primary object of their foundation, it had not been possible to combine with it the contemplative life and the pursuit of learning, to the full extent that the Benedictine rule enjoined. While he was turning this subject in bis thoughts, a circumstance occurred which opened the way to the attainment of his wishes. Mention has already been made of Sturm, ^ the noble Bavarian boy who was given by his parents to Boniface, and after travelling about with him for a time, was left at Fritzlar in charge of S. Wigbert. Here the beauty of his countenance, his sweet and recollected deportment, his rare wisdom and depth of thought, flowing from his unceasing meditation of Scripture, united to great humility, purity, charity, and aiiability, greatly endeared him to his brethren. As soon as he was old enough,- and apparently i Vit. S. Sturm, Pertz, ii. p. 366, by Eigil, a Bavarian who uas a disciple of Stiinii for twenty years, and was Abbot of I'ulda from A.D. 818 to a.d. 822. Seiters, c. xi. p. 454. - There is a difficulty about Sturm's age. He is generally supposed to have joined Boniface during his visit to Bavaria, 170 DEVELOPMENT OF MONASTIC LIFE. 171 even before the usual age, he was ordained a priest at the unanimous desire of the community. For three years he preached with remarkable success, his miraculous gifts of healing the sick and driving out demons adding power to his words, and his loving spirit compelling even the most deadly enemies to be reconciled to each other. At the end of that time the desire to lead a more austere life in solitude came to him, and after some consideration he mentioned it to Boniface, who joy- fully accepted this indication of God's will. Boniface accordingly chose two monks to be Sturm's companions, and giving them his blessing, he said to them, "Go into the wilderness called Buchonia, and look out for a suitable place for the servants of God to dwell in; for God is able to prepare a place in the desert for His servants." The three monks accordingly set forth, and entering the forest, they found themselves in a wild solitude where nothing but sky, and earth, and endless avenues of huge trees, was to be seen. For three days they travelled along till they came to the place since called Hersfeld. After carefully exploring all around this spot, they prayed God to bless it for their habitation, and building a hut, they settled themselves down to serve God by prayers, vigils, and fasts. After some time Sturm left his companions and went to Boniface, whom he told about the place they had selected, describing its position, the soil, the A.D. 736-37, and he is spoken of as being then a boy. But he cannot have been ordained later than a.d. 740, when he would have been under twenty. This being evidently im- possible, it must be concluded that he had been given to Boniface on an earlier occasion, probably when he passed through Bavaria, a.d. 724, on his way from Rome. But even then he would have been under thirty when he waa ordained. . * - li' -j ^ I. III I i^i i It 172 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. streams and springs, the hills and valleys in the neighhourhood, and all the other particulars. Boni- face took careful note of all these details ; but he would not give any answer for some days, during which he infused spirit and courage into Sturm by frequent conferences with him on Holy Scripture. At length he said to him, *' I fear the place which you have fixed on is too near the Saxons. Go, therefore, and seek for a spot farther in the depths of the forest, where you may dwell in greater safety." Far from being discouraged by this decision, Sturm returned to his companions, whom he found in some anxiety on account of his long absence. But he soon revived their spirits by the messages he brought them from Boniface. They now built a rough boat, in which they went up the river Fulda, stopping wherever a stream running into it showed the exist- ence of sjjvings, and carefully exploring all the hills and valleys up and down the banks for a suitable site. Thus they went on, till on the third day they came to the spot where the river Llidera falls into the Fulda and the village of Liidermiind now stands. But notwithstanding all their searching they had seen only one place, since called Rohenbach, which seemed at all likely to suit them ; and even that, they thought, would not satisfy their bishop. Accordingly they returned to their little hermitage, where they resumed their round of i)rayers, vigils, and fasts, beseeching our Lord to show them an abode in the wilderness where they could serve Ilim in peace and security. Meanwhile Boniface had not forgotten his hermits, and wonderinc: what had been the result of their search, he sent a messenger to bid Sturm come to him. Sturm, humbly thanking God that so holy a bishop should have remembered him, started the next day, and found Boniface at the Abbey of Fritz- DEVELOPMENT OF MONASTIC LIFE. 173 lar. Boniface received him very affectionately, and giving him his blessing, kissed him, and making him sit down beside him, begged of him for his sake somewhat to relax the severity of his fast. To which Sturm answered with due discretion, "I believe everything to be holy which you shall order for me." Then the table was laid, and Sturm ate of the food which was set before him. As soon as he had finished and the dish was removed, Boniface took him to his private room, where he was in the habit of dis- cussing spiritual matters with his monks, and began to question him as to his search. Then Sturm said, "We sailed up the river Fulda for several days, but we found no place that I should venture to recom- mend." But Boniface answered, " The place in that solitude is indeed prepared by God, which, when our Lord wills. He will show to His servants. Wherefore cease not your search, knowing and believing that without doubt you will find it there." Once more Sturm returned to his companions, greatly encouraged by Boniface's prophetic words, and animated by a still greater desire for the contem- plative life through the spiritual conferences they had had together. As soon as he was rested from his journey he mounted his ass, and taking with him a small supply of food, he set off alone in search of the wished-for abode. Day after day, from dawn till nightfall, he journeyed through the dark forest, cutting his way through close thickets of brushwood and brambles, meeting no sign of human creature, but coming frequently on the track of bears, wolves, and other wild animals, and seeing flocks of wild birds circling round his head, and breaking the solemn silence by their varied cries. And ever as lie went along he recited psalms, or raised up his heart in prayer to God. When night closed in hfe cut down some of the young trees, and formed a Ill* ^!1 ;iv I II 1 74 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. fence round his ass to protect it from the ^^•ild beasts ; and then, making the sign of the Cross on his fore- head he lay down and slept in peace. Thus he proceeded till he came to the place hy which traders were wont to pass from Thunngia to Mayence ; and at the spot at -hieh the road crosses the Fulda he found a great mu titude of Slaves hathin" in the river, swimming and sporting in the .tream°and amusing themselves by singing obscene gs a-1 -1« l-Suage. The sight o their naked bodks terrified the poor ass so that it began to tremble ; and its saintly rider was no ess hornfied at the disgusting smell, which his sp.r.tua sen es nerceived to be emitted from their sinful souls. When they saw the monk's habit they began to hoot as was the custom of the Pagans, and they were about to attack him ; but being restrained by God, they contented the.'nselves with asking whither he was bound, and finding that he was only going nto the depths of the forest, they let him r«^s unmolested After journeying on through the wildest solitudes, he came^ on the e°vcning of the fourth day to the Blace below the confluence of the Gysilaha, or Giesel, with the Fulda, where the town of Fulda now stands. As he was looking out for some high ground he passed farther on to Aihloha, i.e. the oak- grove, which lav on a path called Ortessueca, or Ortesweg, rom itfleading to the dwelling of Count Ortis or Orcisi As the sun was now set, he resolved to pass the night there, and began to make the usual fence for hfs ass. While he was thus employed he heard a noise, and being in doubt whether it pro- ceeded from man or beast, he stood listening for a w seconds; but being still unable to n-ake up his mind and not liking to shout aloud, he struck a blow 1 Seitera, c. xi. p. 462. DEVELOPMENT OF MONASTIC LIFE. I 1 75 with his axe on the trunk of a tree. Hereupon a man came running up and saluted him. It turned out that he was coming from Wetterau, and was leading his master Count Ortis's horse. They spent the night amicably together on that spot, and as the man was very well acquainted with the forest, he told Sturm tiie names of the various parts of it and all about the streams and springs, and many other useful details. The next morning the stranger went on his way, and Sturm resumed his explorings. He did not like the place where he had spent the night, so he passed on to the river Grezibach or Grezbach. Then re- tracing his steps to a spot which he had already visited, and which was to be the site of the monas- tery, he was suddenly filled with such extraordinary interior joy, that he instantly arrived at the conclusion that this must be the place which our Lord hatl predestined for him. He spent the rest of the day examining the locality, and the more he saw of it the more charmed was he with its beauty and suitable- ness ; and when evening drew on he blessed and marked the spot, and then turned his steps back to the hermitage rejoicing. The next day he rejoined his companions, who had been praying incessantly for his success ; and after telling them all about the place that he had found, he bade them prepare to remove thither, while lie hastened to Seleheim, where he hoped to hear of Boniface. As Boniface was constantly movin^^ about, Sturm had to follow him from ])lace to place. But when after some days they met, and Sturm described his future forest home, Boniface exclaimed joyfully, " You have indeed found the very spot that we wished for." He kept Sturm with him for a few days, during which he spoke much to him about the contemplative life, and incited him to more fervent kii^HatltSSIi. I 76 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. aspirations after communion with God. And at length he sent him back to the forest, while he himself went to the court to obtain possession of the land. r 1 1 i Sturm now took his companions from llersfeid to Aihloha. But here a difficulty met them. Tov some ill-disposed persons had been stirred up to dispute with them the site which Sturm had first chosen; and as the monks could not contest their claim, they moved on to another spot at no great distance called Chrylhari or Drylhar. Meanwhile Boniface had sought an audience of Carlomau and asked him to give him the place in the Pmchonian forest on the banks of the Fulda, called Aihloha, tellin^r him that he wished to build on it a monastery of quite a different character from any which had ever been erected to the east of the Khine. Carloman willingly granted his request, and assembling all the principal persons of his court, with their consent he gave Boniface a deed of gift, making over to him a tract of land of four thousand paces each way. He then sent a messenger with Boniface to assemble the chief men of the district, called Grabfeld, within which Aihloha lay ; and all of them with one accord made over to Sturm, who had repaired to the meeting, whatever rights they had to the place. This first charter is lost, but another ^ drawn out by Boniface about three years later, a.d. 747, fully describing the property belonging to the abbey, and signed by Carloman and Pepin, still exists. There is also extant a deed of Pope Zachary^s,2 ^.p. 751, granting to the abbey the privilege of being under the protection of the Apos- tolic See, and freeing it from all other jurisdiction. Sturm with his companions and several other 1 Wurdt. 106, Serar. 141. 2 Wurdt. 88. DEVELOPMENT OF MONASTIC LIFE. 177 monks, who had joined the little community, took possession of their property on the 12th of January, A.D. 744. They now divided their time between prayer and manual labour, serving our Lord on the one hand day and night by fasts, vigils, psalms, and holy meditations, and on the other by hard work, felling the oaks and clearing the ground. At the end of two months Boniface made his first visit to the place, accompanied by a host of workmen. The site corresponded in every way to his wishes and expectations. Filled with joy and gratitude, he set his workmen to clear the ground, and erect a church dedicated to our Lord by the name of S. Salvator, with cells for the monks. For one week the forest rung with the blows of hundreds of axes. Giant oaks and pines were felled ; huge piles of brushwood were heaped up; and a clear open space was laid bare. So vigorously did all work, that at the end of the week Boniface was able to leave his monks to carry on the building of their church and monastery without further help. Giving them his blessing he departed with his workmen, and the forest returned to its primeval silence, broken only by the sweet chanting of the Divine office at the fixed hours of the day and night, and by the works of the monks during the hours of manual labour. A year passed away in this calm and holy solitude ; each day was like its predecessor and its successor ; and yet each day found the monks only more and more happy and devoted to this sweet, changeless round of holy contemplation. At the end of the year Boniface came again to visit them, and was much pleased with their progress. He took great pains to imbue all of them, and especially Sturm,, who was their abbot, with the true spirit of S. Benedict, and to lead them on to the stricter observ- ances to which he had been accustomed in England, M If [ ^ ml It* ;1 i lit [If 178 8. EOKIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. and which he hoped to introduce through tliem into Germany. After a short stay he blessed them and departed. But he often revisited them and stayed with them as long as his other duties permitted. On these occasions he would take his part both in the choir and in their manual labours. Often he would phut himself up in a little cell, which he had built for himself on an adjoining hill, long called the Bischofsberg, where he would remain rapt in inti- mate communion with our Lonl, or absorbed in the study of the deep mysteries of Holy Scripture. At the end of four years the monks thought it would be well to send one of the brethren to study the Benedictine rule more perfectly at the fountain- head. Boniface approved of the plan, and appointed Sturm to carry it out. Accordingly Sturm, accom- panied by two of his brethren, set out for Italy, where they spent a year, visiting Monte Cassino^ and the most celebrated monasteries at Rome and other places. At the end of that time they returned to Germany; and as soon as Sturm was recovered from a dangerous illness, which detained him four weeks at Kissingen on the ;^^ain, he hastened to Boniface, who was now in Thuringia. Boniface was so pleased with Sturm's report of what he had heard and observed, that he said to him, "Go and teach the new community at Fulda as much as you like of that monastic life which you have witnessed." He also at this time sent him to England to obtain further help for the promotion of monastic life among women, of wdiich more will be said hereafter. As soon as Sturm was again settled at Fulda, he set to work to train his brethren in the correct tradi- tions of the Benedictine order, which he had learned in the Italian monasteries. He was always the first 1 Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. iii. t. ii. p. 258. DEVELOPMENT OF MONASTIC LIFE. 179 to practise what he imposed on others; and his monks were animated by so fervent a spirit and by such a desire to follow the example of the saints, that they responded generously to his teaching. The fame of their saintly discipline drew many novices to them, and numerous communities were established under the strict Benedictine rule. One of the earliest of these was that of Heiden- heim, founded by S. Winibald.i Qn his arrival in Germany Boniface had set him over seven churches in Thuringia, in the charge of which he was assisted by the disciples who had followed him from England and Rome, and others who placed themselves under his rule. After some years he went into Bavaria, where he was well received by Duke Odilo, and preached for three years with great success. He then went to Mayence, where Boniface was now Archbishop. His eloquence drew many, both men and women, noble and simple, to the love of God, some of whom he guided to the highest spiritual life, 'while others he fed like children with the pure milk of God's Word. Honour and veneration met him on every side ; but rapt as he ever was in con- templation, living and conversing always with God, human praise and worldly honours had no power over him. He continued as humble as before, always calm and gentle, and the only thing which could disturb him was the obduracy of sinners. Strange indeed was it to see, how one so sw^eet and re- collected would be stirred to indignation by the sight of sin, so that the severity of his reproofs would strike terror into the most obdurate hearts. For as sin is the only thing which God cannot tolerate m this beautiful world of His own creation, so Wmi- bald living ever in union with God, saw sin as God 1 Vit. S. Wunebald, Canisius, ii. p. 125. til II r. lit Eli ft;- i'- Li * I^O S. BONIFACE AND CONVEllSION OF GEUMANY. sees it, and recoiled from it as the thing most hateful to God. But INIayence did not suit him. He feared for hu monks the luxury of a capital, and especially the superahundance of Khine wine. He therefore began to consider \vhetlicr he should not serve God ^vith more profit in some retired place, where he could devote himself to the contemplative life. With Boniface's permission he gave up the charge of his churches in Thuriiigia and on the Rhine; and by the advice of his brother Willibald, now Bishop of Eichstedt, he bought a piece of land in his diocese un which to build a monastery. It was a valley in the Salafeld, near the source of the Danube, buried between high mountains, covered with thick forests, well watered by springs and rushing streams, and so perfectly secluded that it w^as appropriately called Ileidenheim, or the home in the wild. The neigh- bouring proprietors added gifts of land in return for the monk's prayers, and thus a considerable domain gradually came into the hands of the community. Winibald was forty-six years of age when, a.d. 750, he took possession of Ileidenheim. His health liad long been weak, and now his rheumatic infirmity was bec'oming so bad, that before very long it quite crippled him. Notwithstanding he joined his monks in their attack on the forest, helping them, axe in hand, to fell the oaks and pines, or carrying the up- rooted thistles and brambles in his arms or on his hack to the heap where they were to be burned. Thus a clearing was made, and a few temporary huts were erected. The church was their next care ; then came the monastery ; and when all was completed, he placed his monks under the rule of S. Benedict, and taught them to follow it perfectly, as he had himself been accustomed to do in the convent in Twome in which he had spent his youth. DEVELOPMENT OF MONASTIC LIFR l8l Thus happily settled in his peaceful forest-home, Winibald did not forget the souls who were wander- ing like sheep without a shepherd in the wilderness. Tiiough Ileidenheim stood in a perfect solitude, there was at no great distance a wild population, whose souls, during the long contest between Bavarians and Franks for the Nordgau, of which this district was a part, had not been cared for. Some were still Pagans ; others, though nominally Christians, had married their near relatives, or were living in gross sin ; and all w^ere given to the practice of magic, divination, and various sorts of devilry. In spite of threats and violence, Winibald separated all who had formed unlawful marriages or immoral connections, and day and night he strove to prevent all demoniacal })ractices. So great Avas the stir that he made, that the wild people around him often tried to kill him and plotted to burn his monastery. But he feared neither their threats nor their power, and w^ent on calmly and boldly, scattering the seed of God's Word far and wide, and winning innumerable souls by the sweetness of love and the severity of zeal, by tl)e wisdom of the serpent and the simplicity of the dove. Those whom he wounded by his zeal he healed by his gentleness and compassion; and remembering the saying, *' He will not be heard lovingly who does not love," he was as a brother to all who were in trouble, and by his loving piety led the docile in the ways of truth and peace. Year by year Winibald advanced higher and higher in spiritual perfection. Tenderly and lovingly he ruled his monks as a father, supplying all the needs of both their bodies and their souls ; and generously ne extended his paternal care to all the poor and the serfs on his domain, to all their relatives, and all wliom he fell in with. So constantly was he occu- pied w^ith thoughts of God, that he seldom or never *'^ . is. p lit- 182 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GEHMANY. ceased to praise Him in psalms, lections, or exposi- tions of Scripture ; ami whether he ate, or drank, or whatever he did, the words of Holy Writ which were treasured up in his heart ever welled forth on his lips. -n 1 r* 1 ' Nor was it coenohites alone who masmncd Ood in this wild. Hermits also took their part in singing His praises. There was a monk called Sola or Solus who had heen Boniface's pupil in England, and had followed him to Germany. Boniface ordained him priest, and employed him as a missionary ; but he had so decided a vocation for the eremitic life, that after some time Boniface allowed him to retire into solitude. He settled himself on the confines of Bavaria, on an almost inaccessible height in the Salafeld hemmed in by rocks and pines, and so sterile that nothing but rye would grow on it. in this retreat, since called Solenhus, or Solenhofen, he attained to the closest union with God. But crowds, attracted by his miraculous gifts, disturbed his soli- tude ; and others with a like vocation to his placed themselves on his barren rock. Winibald gave him a piece of land at Altheim, and Charlemagne libera ly endowed the eremitic foundation, which was gradu- ally formed round his cell. He was much attached to Willibald and Winibald, and also to Boniface, for love of whom he bequeathed his property at Altheim to the Abbey of Fulda. On his death at a very advanced age, a.d. 790, he was chosen to be one of the patron saints of the diocese of Eichstedt. 1 Vit. S. SoH. Acta SS. O. S. B. sfec. iii. t. ii. p. 389. Philipp. Eichstet. De Divis tutelar. Cos. c iv. ed. Oietoer. Ap. Seiters, c. v. p. 190. CHAPTER XVIir. ENGLISH NUNS, Boniface's work would indeed have been incomplete had he not extended his care to that sex, whom our Blessed Lady has raised to such honour, and whose ministrations the Church has always prized. More- over, women exerted so much influence on German society that he could not afford to lose their aid. His warm friendship for many English nuns has already been mentioned, and extracts from his corre- spondence with Eadburga, Abbess of Wimburn, have been given. In his public work he is seen to move along with a calm, heroic air, as if reft of all personal individuality, and animated only by that supernatural force of which he was the humble instrument. But Ids relations with these nuns have a peculiar interest, for in them appears that tender, sympathetic human nature, which gave him great influence over all who crossed his path. Among Boniface's correspondents was another Ead- burga,^ or Heaburg, surnamed Bugga, who was a ^ There is much diversity of opinion as to the identity of Eadburga, Bugga, and Egburga. Baronius, an. 719, sup- poses that they were all but one individual (ap. Wurdt. p. 47) ; Montalembert and others think there were two Ead- burgas and three Buggas (Moines d'Occident, vol. v. c. xvii.). Montalembert, Zell, and Seiters make Eadburga, and not Bugga, Abbess of Thanet ; while Mabillon (Vit. S. Cuthburga, 8?Ec. iii. t. i.) and Acta SS. (SS. Ethel red and Ethelbert, Oct 18) give the view followed in the text. There is a 183 [ 1 ^-^ I I 84 S. BONIFACE AND ( ONVERSION OF GERMANY. relative of EthelLert II., King of Kent, and there- fore, no doubt, a descendant of S. Ethelbert and S. Bertha. She is, moreover, supposed to have been the S. Eadburga ^vho succeeded S. Mildreda as Abbess of Tlianet. The first letter of this corre- spondence from r>ngga, about a.d. 719, has been already given. Its tone is that of filial confidence, asking Boniface to ^vrite out portions of Scripture for her use, and expressing confidence in his prayers. The nexti is from her mother, Cangyth or Eangyth, conjointly with herself under the name of " Ileaburg, surnamed Bugga," and both are styled abbesses. It is addressed "to him as " the venerable priest Win- fred," and must therefore have been written before A.D. 724. It is interesting to hear what were the trials of an abbess in the eighth century, and to notice the confidence with which the old woman pours out her wail, feeling sure that she addresses one who will sympathise with her. " Dearest brother," she writes,*^"our brother in the spirit though not in the flesh, and exalted by so many spiritual graces, we wish to confide to you alone, with God for our sole witness, that these lines are bathed with our tears, because w^e are weighed down with a load of accumulated misfortunes and the agitations of great difference in the style of the letters to Eadburga and those to Bugga. Those to Eadburga are characterised by their tone not only of exuberant affection, but also of venera- tion, as if addressed to one whom Boniface regarded as liis superior. There is not a word of advice or direction, but only petitions on his part for prayers or books, without even a promise to pray for her in return. The letters to and from Bugga are in a totally different tone. Though affectionate in style, they evidently bespeak Boniface's superior position. She and her mother ask for sympathy and advice, both of which he gives heartily ; and the chief subjects of the cor- respondence are their troubles and plans, while of his there is only an incidental notice. 1 Ep. 30 Wurdt. 38 Serar. ENGLISH NUNS. 1S5 worldly matters. . . . What afflicts us more than all exterior things, is the remembrance of our sins and the absence of all perfect good works ; and besides the care of our own souls, there is the far heavier charge of so many souls of both sexes and all ages, and of various characters and habits, which have been committed to us, and for whose actions, words, and even secret thoughts, hidden to men but open to God, we shall have to give account at Christ's judg- ment seat. ... To which must be added domestic difficulties, and the disputes which the enemy of all good sows among men, and especially in monasteries and religious communiiies. And because those in power suffer the most, we are in great straits on account of our poverty, our scarcity of temporal things, ^ the narrow limits of our lands, and the accusations of those who envy us. . . . There are also the exactions of the king and queen, the bishop and ealdorman, their officers and servants, all of which it would be too long to enumerate. Added to which there, is the loss of a great many friends and relatives. We have neither son nor brother, father nor uncle, but one only daughter, who has no other relatives than a very aged mother and her sister, and a brother's son, who is very unhappy on our account and without any fault of his own, but because our king hates our family. We have no other relatives, for God has taken them in different ways. Some have died in their native land. . Others left their home, and trusting themselves to the waves, sought the threshold of the Apostles Peter and Paul and of the multitude of martyrs, virgins, and confessors, whose number and names God alone knows. " From all these and many similar causes, which a whole day, even though it were a long summer's day, would suffice not to relate, we are weary of our li'ld 1 86 a BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. and almost tired of existence. Every one who is in adversity and mistrusts his own judgment, seeks a faithful friend, in whose advice he confides, and to whom he opens out all the secrets of his heart. . . . We liave long sought such a friend, and we trust that we have found in you him we wished and hoped for. . . . Therefore we want you to know, brother Boniface, that we have long wished to go to Kome, the mistress of the world, there to obtain pardon for our sins, as so many of our relatives and others have done and are now doing. And I especially, who am the older and have committed most sins, desire this ; which- wish of mine was known in times past to the Abbess Wala, and to my only daughter, who was then very young and did not share my feelings. But because we know that many persons blame this wish, and say that the canons order every one to remain in the place in which he was professed and took his vows, ... in our uncertainty we both prostrate ourselves at your feet, and beseech you to support us with the help of your prayers, . . . that through you God may show us what will be best and most profitable for us, whether to remain in our native land, or to become exiles on pilgrimage. . . . Fare- well, spiritual brother, loved with a most faithful, warm, sincere, and pure love. May you prosper in the love of God. A friend has to be long sought, to be hardly found, and to be kept with difficulty. Pray for us that we may not be punished for our sins. There are extant two letters ^ from Boniface, which might be taken as answers to this letter and the previous one from Bugga, because they refer to the same subjects. But they were evidently written some years later, when Boniface w^as a bishop, and 1 Epp. 31, 32 Wurdt. 2, 20 Serar. ENGLISH NUNS. 187 Cangyth, whose name does not appear, was probably dead, and Bugga, wearied with her trials, had resigned the charge of her double monastery. The first of these letters to Bugga expresses sympathy for the *' tempests of manifold tribulations which God had allowed to come upon her in her old age." "I sfglied," he writes, *Mn sorrow and sadness, considering that so many more and greater trials should have met you after you had cast aside the principal cares of your monasteries in order to lead a quiet and contemplative life. Now then, venerable sister, compassionating your tribulations and re- membering your gifts and our ancient friendship, I send you this brotherly letter of exhortation and consolation." He then goes on to encourage her to be patient, and even to rejoice in her tribulations, which will add in her old age to the beauty and loveliness of her soul, which in her youth she vowed to Christ her Spouse ; so that when He comes, she may merit to go forth to meet Him, with her lamp full of oil and brightly burning in her hand. The other letter seems to have been written be- tween A.D. 732 and 738, when tlie Saracens were ravaging France and threatening Kome. It is as follows : — "To the well-beloved lady and sister preferred in the love of Christ above all other women, the Abbess Bugga, Boniface, unworthy bishop in Christ, health. " Be it known to you, dearest sister, that I cannot presume either to forbid or to persuade you to under- take the pilgrimage about which you asked my advice in your letters. But I will say how it appears to me. If in order to obtain peace and communion with God, you have laid aside the cares that you formerly had about the monks and nuns and the monasteries, why should you wait with labour and wearying anxiety on the words and will of secular l8S S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. men? It seems to me, that if, on account of Feculars, you can in no way liave freedom and a quiet mind in your own country, it would be bettor that you should gain the liberty of contemplation by a pilgrimage, if you wish and can make it. This is what our sister Wiethberga did ; and slie writes to me that she lias found on the threshold of S. Peter the peaceful life tliat she had long sought. As to your wish, about which I had written to hei-, she says that you should wait till the rebellions, attacks, and threats of the Saracens, which not long since occurred among the Komans, are put ilown, when she will send you letters of invitation. It therefore seems to me that it will be best to make your preparations for the journey, and to wait till you hear from her; and then do what the goodness of our Lord shall order. As to the extracts which you asked for, you must pardon my sins. On account of my urgent labours and continued journeys, I have not yet quite written what you a>ked ; but when they are iinished, I will take care to send them to you. Thanking you for your gift of vestments, I beseech Almighty (lod to give you an eternal reward with angels and archangels in the highest heaven. I i^ntreat you, dearest sister, or rather sweetest mother and lady, to pray diligently for me, because for my sins I am worn out by many trials, and agitated much more by mental tribulations and anxieties than by bodily labours. Le assured that our old friendship never fails. Farewell in Christ." Bugga made the i)ilgrimage to Rome, where she met Boniface, a.d. 7:^8, and consulted him about her affairs. She afterwards returned to England, where she probably led a mure peaceful life than in former years, as she appears to have been on better terms with Kthelbert II., Xing of Kent, than with his predecessor. This may be inferred from the way in ENGLISH NUNS. jgo which Ethelbert mentions her in a letter ^ which ho wrote to Boniface, asking him to send him two falcons of a very fine kind, which were very rare in Kent. She died about a.d. 760, when Bre^owin Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote 2 at her request, to inform Lullus of her death, reminding him that b. I^oniface had been her father and patron. There is another letter^ addressed to " Winfred the holy abbot," by "Egburga, the last of his dis* eii)Ies," of whom nothing more is known. It exhibits most beautifully how these English women retained the passion and force, and a certain dash of melan- choly which belonged to their barbarian nature, though softened and purified by grace and Christian education. It runs thus : '*Ever since I have been united to you by the tie of affection, my soul has felt a savour of inexpressible sweetness. And thou'^h I am debarred from your bodily presence I never cea'se to encircle you with sisterly embraces. Formerly you were my dear brother, but now in the Lord of lords you are both my father and my brother. For since cruel death has taken away my brother, whom I loved above all, I prefer you in loving charity to all other men. Day and night I remember your lessons and be assured, God is my witness, that I embrace you with extreme affection ; and I am confident that you never forgot the friendship that you had for my brother. I am very inferior to him in knowled4 and merit, but I am in no way behind him in affc^c- tion for you. Though a long time has since then elapsed, the black cloud of grief has never left me • but the longer I live the more I suffer; as it is written, *The love of man brings sorrow, but the love of Christ illumines the heart.' ^ Ep. 84 Wurdt. 40 Serar. - Ei). 130 Wurdt. 103 Serar. » Ep. 33 Wurdt. 101 Serar. I 90 S. BONIFACE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. " My heart has been wounded afresh by the loss of my Wechburg. She vanished suddenly from my sight — she with whom I had grown up, who had been nursed at the same breast, and had had the same mother as myself, leaving, Jesus be my witness — *Ubique luctus, ubique pavor, et pluriraa mortis imago.' " I wished to die, if it had pleased God. . . . But it was a more cruel separation than death that divided us— she, indeed, happy, but I unhappy, who am left as a pledge in the service of the world. You know how I loved her, and now I hear that she is shut uj) in some prison in Rome. But the love of Christ which fdls her heart is stronger and more powerful than bars and bolts, and * perfect love casts out fear.' . . . She walks in the hard and narrow way, while I still lie in the depths bound by the law of the flesh. In the Day of Judgment she will sing joy- fully with our Lord, *I was in prison, and you visited me.* You, too, in the resurrection will sit where the twelve Apostles will be seated on twelve thrones, and then you will rejoice as a glorious chief, for all the souls that you will have led through your labours to the tribunal of the Eternal King. But 1 still in this valley of tears, as is my due, weep for my sins, which have rendered me unworthy of such companions. . . . Therefore I, sinner that I am, prostrate at your feet, cry to you, blessed lord, from the bottom of my heart, and implore you to raise me up through your prayers, for you are my hope, and my tower of strength from visible and invisible foes. To console my immense grief, to soothe my sorrow, I beseech you to support my weakness, and to send me some solace, either by holy relics, or at least by some words written by your own hand, that through these I may always have you present to me." Such was the ardent and devoted character of the ENGLISH NUNS. 191 abbesses and nuns to whom Boniface wrote after he became a bishop, inviting them to come and help their sisters in their old German home. They generously and joyfully responded to his call, and flocked to him in great numbers. But when and whence they came, where they settled, and how they toiled, is not known. Even the names of all except nine are lost, and of only two of these, S. Walburga and S. Lioba, have any particulars been preserved. But this obscurity is their greatest glory, since it unites them the more closely to the hidden life of their Immaculate proto- type, the Virgin Mother of Kazareth. Opinions are divided as to the time of their arrival in Germany.i Some suppose that the greater number went over about a.d. 724; others, that they founded their principal convents shortly previous to a.d. 732 ; and otiiers a.gain, that very few had arrived before a.d. 748. That some had come before a.d. 738 is evident from the letter 2 which Boniface wrote from Rom.e to "all his brothers and sfsters." But the * Baronius and those who follow him, on the authority of a passage in Othlo (1. i. c. xxv.), place the arrival of the nuns whose names are known A.D. 724 or 725. But Othlo is always reckless of chronology and minor details ; and in the passage m question he mentions Willibald and Winibald, though they did not join Boniface till fifteen years later. Seiters conjec- tures (c. V. p. 201) that the convents of Bischofsheim, Kissin- gen, and Ochsenfurt were founded by Adela, the Merovingian abbess of Palatiolum, who died a.d. 732 ; his reasons being that she was very rich and devout, that there is a resemblance between her name and that of the foundress of Kissino-en, lladeloga, Hadelonga, Adalagia, Adelheid, or Haldelogoda* and that the latter liad a rich chaplain, whom Seiters identifies with Adela's grandson Gregory. This supposition, however, is contradicted by the fact that all Hadeloga's biographers', though differing in other particulars, make her a member of the Carlovingian family. Acta SS. Sept. 28, and Acta SS. O. S. B. saec. iii. t. ii. p. 222, give about a.d. 748 as the date when the greater number came over with S. Walburo-a and S. Lioba. ° '' Ep. 42 Wurdt. 27 Serar. 1^2 S. BONIFxVCE AND CONVERSION OF GERMANY. unsettled state of tlie country, the frequent invasions of the Saxons, and the absence of either fixed bishop or civil ruler to afford them protection, render it probable that only a few went over before a.d. 748, when S. Walburga and S. Lioba are generally believed to liave arrived. It will be remembered that when S. Richard went on pilgrimage, he sent his wife and daughter to the A}>bey of Wimburn.^ Here S. Walburga grew u\) under the care of S. Cuthburga, S. Coenburga, Eadburga, and Tetta, and in the society of her rela- tive S. Lioba. She was taught the usual feminine works, especially a beautiful kind of embroidery in gold and silver, pearls and precious stones, then known as English work. She also acquired such proficiency in Latin that in after years she wrote in that language the lives of her brothers, thus winning the honour of being the first English or German authoress. She spent twenty-seven years at Wim- burn, during which time she must often have heard of lier uncle Boniface's work in Germanv, and she must have seen her brother Winibald when he was in England. No doubt, too, she heard about the nuns who first went abroad, some even whom she knew may have gone from Wimburn. But the thought of rejoining hor nearest relatives in Germany never crossed her mind, till, in the year 748, Sturm came with a letter from Boniface to the Abbess Tettn, asking her to send Walburga, Lioba, and as many more of her nuns as would come, to help him with his work. On hearing the invitation, \Vall)urga instantly retired to her cell to pray, when she came to the conclusion that the call was from God, and that she ^ Vit. S. Walpurrjis, Wolflianl, ninth century, Canisius, ii, pars iii. p. '2GS. Ibid. Philii»i>. Eiclistott. fourteenth century, Canisius, iv. p. 238. ENGUSH NUNS. 193 must not delay to obey it. Joyfully she hastened the preparations for her departure ; and as the community at Wimburn numbered five hundred, and they were both rich and generous, she was soon ready to start with thirty companions. The heroic band sailed with a fair wind and calm sea, but before long a storm arose, huge billows washed over the little vessel, and the sailors threw the cargo overboard to lighten her. But all was in vain, and death v/as each moment impending. Hereupon Walburga, kneeling down on the deck, besought Him who rules the waves to calm the storm, and to save them for the sake of His Son, and her father S. Tvichard. Then rising bold in faith, she com- manded the wind and the waves to be still, and they obeyed her. Soon after they came safely to the land, where the sailors proclaiming what they had beheld, Walburga was greeted wherever she passed with joy and veneration. But she meditated only on God's love and mercy, and rejoicing in Him alone, she hastened on to Germany. At Mayence she was received with great affection by Boniface and Willibald. But her heart yearned for her brother Winibald, whom alone of all her family she had long known and loved, and whose contemplative spirit was akin to her own. After a time Boniface sent her and her companions on to liim in Thuringia, where he placed them in a convent attached to one of his churches, which was known even till the fourteenth century as the *'Coenobium S. Walpurgis." But this was intended to be only their temporary home. For as soon as Winibald had finished his own monastery at Heidenheim, he and his monks set to work to build at a convenient distance a convent for Walburga. It was finished A.D. 752, when she and her nuns took possession of it. Both N f 194 S. BONIFACE AND CONVEIISION OF GERMAXY. monks and nuns were governed by Winibald, under the regulations usual in double cloisters, and after his death tlie government of both monasteries de- volved on Walburga. In this happy house of prayer in the wild, the saintly pair advanced from day to day in love to God and their neighbour, being especially remarkable for their spirit of compassion an