Part 29

[68] This secular tradition was preserved in the following words:--"Subter gradus saxeos (secundum et tertium) climacis ascendentis et ducentis erga turrim campanarum in templo cathedrali civitatis Dunelmensis, prope horologium grande quod locatur in angulo australi fani ejusdem, sepultus jacet thesaurus pretiosus, (corpus S. Cuthberti.)" The earliest notice of such a tradition is in Serenus Cressy, (1688), Church History, p. 902. The next in two MSS. in Downside College by F. Mannock (1740), who states that he had heard it from F. Casse (1730.) Both these statements pointed to the removal of the body in the time of Henry VIII. The next notice of it is in 1828, when F. Gregory Robinson wrote to Lingard, (see Lingard's Remarks, p. 50), but in this account the removal was described as taking place in Mary's time. The secresy was partly broken when, in 1800, the sketch of the cathedral which exists in the archives of the Northern (R.C.) Province was allowed to be seen. Lingard's tradition (Anglo Saxon Church, ii. p. 80), about the exchange of S. Cuthbert's body for another skeleton is unknown to the Benedictines, who assert that they possess the secret. It is said that the Benedictine tradition concerning the site does not agree with the secular. What started the diggings in 1867, under the stairs, was that a hereditary Roman Catholic of Gateshead became a Protestant, and gave up a small piece of paper on which was written the above secular tradition, "_subter gradus, &c._" His father or grandfather had been servant to a Vicar Apostolic, after whose death he had some of his clothes, among which was a waistcoat, inside which the above was secured. It was ascertained that this was not a hoax, and the late Dean Waddington invited some of the fathers from Ushaw over, and the head of the English Benedictines to see the diggings. It was supposed that the "precious treasure" was something else, perhaps the Black Rood of Scotland, containing a portion of the true cross, and that the words above in parenthesis, (corpus Sti. Cuthberti) are a gloss. However they dug, but found nothing but concrete and rock.

S. WULFRAM, B. OF SENS.

(A.D. 741.)

[Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. Also those of Usuardus and Wyon. Authority:--A life written by a contemporary, Jonas, a monk of the same abbey of Fontenelle to which S. Wulfram retired, of this there are several editions, some much interpolated. Some of these additions are gross errors. According to the life which Surius publishes, Jonas dedicated it to his abbot Bainus. But Bainus died seven years after Wulfram had undertaken his mission. Possibly Bainus is an error of the copyist for Wando, who translated the body of S. Wulfram in 742. In the prologue, moreover, Owen, or Ovus, the lad whom S. Wulfram had resuscitated after he had been hung, is quoted as the authority for much of what the bishop did in Friesland, Owen being then priest in the abbey of Fontenelle. This indicates the date of the life as being about the time of the translation.]

Wulfram was born at Milly, three leagues from Fontainebleau, of a noble and wealthy family. His father, whose name was Fulbert, was held in great esteem by Dagobert I. and Clovis II. on account of the signal services he had rendered them in their wars. Although brought up, and constantly engaged in the camp, Fulbert took care that his son should receive an excellent education in letters; and as Wulfram exhibited a marked partiality for the clerical over the secular life, he suffered him to take holy orders. Wulfram was not, however, allowed to follow the bent of his wishes in every particular, for notwithstanding his desire to live a quiet secluded life of study, he was called in 670 to serve God in the court of Clothaire III. and Thierry III., kings of the Franks, till the death of his father. About the same time, Lambert, bishop of Sens, having died, Wulfram was unanimously elected to fill his room, by clergy and people, and the royal consent having been obtained, he was consecrated to the see of Sens, in 693. But "the Spirit breatheth where He wills, and thou canst not tell whence He cometh and whither He goeth." Moved by a divine call which could not be gainsaid, after having occupied the see for only two years and a half, Wulfram abdicted his charge in 685, probably moved by religious scruples as to the canonicity of his appointment, for S. Amæus, the rightful bishop of Sens, in the banishment to which he was sent by Thierry III. in 674, had survived the appointment of Lambert. Wulfram, freed from his charge, at once undertook a mission to Friesland. He conferred on his design with S. Ansbert, then archbishop of Rouen, after having been abbot of S. Vandrille.[69] By his advice he retired for a while into that abbey of Fontenelle to prepare for his apostolate to the Frisians, in solitude, with prayer. After awhile he came forth refreshed, and having divested himself of his property at Milly, his native place, which he gave to the abbey of S. Vandrille, that he might go unimpeded into the battle; and having obtained from the abbot, Hilbert, some monks to accompany him and assist him in his mission, he embarked at Caudebec, in 700, spread the white sail to the breeze, and flew out into the sea.

[69] Anciently Fontenelle.

"To the ship's bow he ascended, By his choristers attended, Round him were the tapers lighted, And the sacred incense rose.

"On the bow stood bishop Wulfram, In his robes, as one transfigured, And the crucifix he planted High amid the rain and mist.

"Then with holy water sprinkled All the ship; the mass-bells tinkled; Loud the monks around him chanted, Loud he read the Evangelist."[70]

[70] Longfellow's Saga of king Olaf.

But as the deacon was wiping the paten, during mass, it slipped from his fingers, and glanced down through a green wave and was lost. Then he uttered a cry of dismay, for they had no other paten with them in the vessel. But Wulfram turning himself about from the altar in the ship's-bows, bade him thrust his hand over the side into the water. And he did so, nothing doubting, and brought up the paten, dripping with sea-water. This paten was preserved in the monastery of S. Vandrille till the year 1621, when it was stolen.

Now when they had come into Friesland, Wulfram went before the king, Radbod, and preached boldly to him the Word of God. The king listened, and allowed the missionaries to settle in the land, and to declare the Gospel of the Kingdom to his subjects, but he himself put off giving attention to what they taught till a more convenient season. And as Wulfram dwelt in the land, and saw it wholly given up to the worship of false gods, and to the performance of cruel sacrifices, his spirit was stirred within him, and he denounced the hideous offerings of children made to the false gods. It was then the custom among the Frisians to offer to Wodin their sons, by hanging them on gibbets. This method of sacrifice was common to all the Scandinavian and Teutonic peoples. One horrible instance is related, for instance, in one of the old Norse Sagas, of a mother thus sacrificing her child to Wodin to obtain from him the secret of brewing better ale than the second wife of her husband, in order that she might thus be able to attach him to herself more closely.

Wulfram preached in vain, king Radbod replied to all his remonstrances that it was the custom of the country, and that he could not, or would not alter it. And this was the way in which the victims were chosen. Lots were cast on the children of the nobles, and those who were taken, were hung on a tree or gibbet, to Wodin, or else were fastened to a post between tides, and left to drown with the rising flood, as an offering to Ran, the sea-goddess, to stay her from bringing her waves over the low, flat land, and submerging it.

Hearing that a child was about to be hung, Wulfram hasted to the spot, but was unable to prevent the perpetration of the sacrifice. Then after the boy had been hanging two hours, the rope broke, and the bishop casting himself on the body, cried to the Lord, and He heard his voice, and the child revived, and the bishop restored him to his parents.[71] And on another occasion, he was present when two youths, sons of a widow, were being sacrificed to the sea. He saw the poor lads waiting on the wet sand, and shrieking with fear as the waves tumbled at every instant nearer to them, whilst all the people looked on, shouting to drown their cries, upon the dyke. Then Wulfram, unable to endure the spectacle, knelt down, and covered his eyes, and prayed. And when he looked up, he saw the sea was washing around the youths, but had not touched them. So he prayed more fervently, and the people standing on the dyke shouted, to drown the shrieks of the young men; and Wulfram looked, and they were up to their chins in water, battling with the angry waves. Then Radbod called to the bishop and said, "See! there be the youths, go, save them if thou canst." Then Wulfram rose, and made the sign of the cross, and cast his mantle from him, and went boldly down to the sea, and walked thereon without fear, trusting in the Lord, and he took the two children, one by each hand, and he came to the land leading them, with foot unwet.

[71] The boy was afterwards sent to Fontenelle, and he is the authority for the events of S. Wulfram's mission in Friesland.

Then the people were filled with wonder, and a great fear fell upon them, and many renounced their false gods, and came and submitted their necks to the sweet yoke of Christ. King Radbod also, convinced against his will, consented to receive baptism. But as he was stepping down into the water, he suddenly halted, with one foot in the stream, and asked, "Where are my ancestors, are they in the heaven thou promisest to me?"

"Be not deceived," answered Wulfram, "God knoweth the number of His elect. Thy ancestors have died without baptism, therefore they have certainly received the sentence of damnation." It was an injudicious answer. It is by no means certain that those who have not had an opportunity of knowing the truth, but have lived up to the light God has given them, are eternally lost. The result of this harsh answer was, that Radbod withdrew his foot from the water, saying, "I will go to hell with my ancestors, rather than be in heaven without them." It is only just to remark that this story is not to be found in the most correct and ancient copies of the life by Jonas of Fontenelle.

After about twenty years of labour in Friesland, his health failed, and he returned in haste to Fontenelle, to die amongst the brethren in the peace of a cloister. He died on March 20th, in the year 720. Nine years after, Wando, abbot of Fontenelle, took the body from its grave, and translated to the church of S. Peter. In 1058, it was taken to Notre Dame at Abbeville, and this church in course of years, assumed the name of S. Wulfram. The sacred relics remain there, enclosed in a rich shrine. An annual procession is made on this day at Abbeville with the shrine.

SS. TWENTY MONKS, MM. AT S. SABAS.

(A.D. 797.)

[Commemorated by the Greeks. Authority:--The Acts by S. Stephen of S. Sabas, an eye-witness of what he relates. The account in the Greek Menology is full of inaccuracies, which proves that the compiler of it had not seen the Acts, but wrote his account from tradition.]

The laura of S. Sabas between Jerusalem and Bethlehem stood in a situation exposed to hostile attack. In the invasion of Palestine by Chosroes, the monastery did not escape, but yielded up sixty martyrs to God. In 797, twenty more perished in an incursion of the Arabs. The account of this latter catastrophe, written by Stephen, a monk of that monastery, at the time, and one of those who escaped, is full of interest. It is far too long to be inserted here. We have only space for a brief outline of the events. The Arabs had been devastating the whole country for some time past, and news of the ruin of the laura of S. Charito had reached the monks of the laura of S. Sabas. A laura is a collection of separate cells, of caves, or huts, the monks assembling only in the church; whereas a monastery consists of one or more large buildings, in which the monks live in community. On hearing of the pillage of the laura of S. Charito, the brethren assembled in the church to pray God to deliver them from a like infliction, or should He deem expedient to send it upon them, to strengthen them to meet it manfully. As they were in prayer, a brother who was on the look-out, came running to tell that he saw a party of some sixty Arabs, armed with lances and bows, galloping over a sand hill in the direction of the laura. It was the 13th of March, and the second hour of the morning. Then there went forth a deputation of the monks to meet the marauders, and to beseech them to spare the defenceless brethren. But they were greeted with shouts of derision, and were driven before the arrows and stones of the robbers back into the church, some of their number mortally wounded, and in all, thirty were wounded. The physician Thomas extracted the arrows and bound up their wounds, as they were brought in. But he had little space for attending to them, before the Arabs came into the laura, and gathering thorns into bundles, piled them about the cells and set fire to them. They were preparing to do the same to the church, when an alarm was given that succour to the monks was at hand, and in an instant the Arabs had vanished over the sand hills.

Throughout the following week the monks were kept in incessant alarm and expectation of a renewed attack. Messengers came to them from the old Laura, to warn them that a band of ruffians had attacked it and was on its way to the Laura of S. Sabas. The news reached them on Saturday night late, as they were keeping the vigil of the Lord's day in the Church. Their terror and anxiety was greatly increased somewhat later, when an old white-haired monk arrived from the monastery of S. Euthymius, bearing a letter from the abbot, to tell them that a second party of Arabs was on its way to attack them. A bright full moon was in the sky, shining in at the church windows, and by its light the frightened monks deciphered the epistle. Some fled over the desert, vainly seeking hiding places; some retired to their cells, some remained praying in the Church. Here occurs a great gap in the history, a whole sheet of the MS. is lost, and we next hear of the Arabs driving the flying monks before them with bow, and spear, and club, towards the church, scouring the desert around and catching the runaways, penetrating into the cells, and dragging them forth.

John, the guest-master, was found among some rocks, the barbarians pelted him with stones, then ham-strung him, and dragged him down the rocks by his feet to the church, till, mangled and bleeding, he fainted. Sergius, the sacristan, had concealed the sacred vessels, and had sought refuge in flight, but was caught, and because he refused to surrender the holy vessels, was hacked to pieces by the barbarians. A number of the monks had secreted themselves in a cave. The Arabs ran into it, thrusting their swords and spears into every corner, and one of the monks, a young man, named Patricius, resolved to sacrifice himself to save the others. He, therefore, cried out that he would surrender, and, coming forth, delivered himself up. The robbers, supposing he was the only one there concealed, left the others unmolested. He was one of those who were afterwards suffocated.

Now there was a winding cave under the guest-house, which was used for various purposes. Into this a number of monks were driven, and they were threatened with death unless they would ransom their lives by surrendering the Eucharistic vessels and vestments. This they refused to do. Then the Arabs bade them point out which were the heads of the community. They replied, with truth, that the abbot was now absent, he having gone away on some business a few weeks before. Then they insisted on the physician being indicated to them, for they had an idea that he was possessed of money. Again the monks refused to declare which of them was physician. Then the Arabs thrust them all into the cave, and choking up the entrance with thorns and grass, set fire to it. And when there had been a blaze and smoke for some little while, they shouted to the monks within to come forth; so the unfortunate men came through the blaze and over the red coals, and fell panting for breath on the ground. Their hair, beards, eyelashes, and their garments were burnt, and their faces were discoloured with smoke. The Arabs again bade them deliver up their superiors, and as they again refused, they drove them back through the flames into the cave, and heaped on more fuel, and kept up the blaze, till all within had been suffocated. Then they dispersed themselves over the Laura, and entered every cell, and took from them all that they wanted, and laded the camels belonging to the monks with the spoil that they had found, and departed.

And after many hours, the brethren who had escaped came forth from their places of concealment, and sought water and food to satisfy their appetites; and they scattered the embers of the great fire, and as the smoke rolled forth from the cavern, and a pure air entered, they lighted tapers and went in, at the setting of the sun, and found all the fathers therein dead, with their faces to the ground, and in various attitudes, some as though creeping into a corner in quest of air. And they made great lamentation over them, and drew them forth and washed them, and buried them with reverence.

S. AMBROSE OF SIENNA, O. P.

(A.D. 1287.)

[At Sienna on the Saturday before Passion Sunday; but by the Dominican Order on March 22nd; the Roman Martyrology on March 20th, the day of his death. He was beatified by Gregory XV. His Acts were written by friars Gisberti, Recuperato di Petromala, Aldobrandini Paparoni, and Olvado, by order of Honorius IV., the then reigning pope, from documents transmitted to them within a month of the decease of S. Ambrose. These originals also exist, and have been printed along with the Acts by the Bollandists.]

S. Ambrose was of the family of the Sansedoni, on his father's side, and of the Stribelini on that of his mother, both illustrious in Sienna. He was deformed at his birth, his legs and feet being twisted, but as his nurse was hearing mass one holy-day, in the church of the Dominicans, and was praying before some holy relics, afterwards exposed to the veneration of the faithful, the child suddenly pronounced the name of Jesus thrice, and lost at the same moment every trace of deformity.

As he grew up, his play was connected with holy things. Till he was seven, he amused himself with carving little crosses, making little oratories, imitating with other children the processions and psalmody of the Church. When he grew older, he obtained his father's consent to his lodging pilgrims. He furnished for the purpose a room in the house, and went to the gate of the city every Saturday to bring home with him the first five pilgrims whom he encountered. He then washed their feet, and ministered in every way to their comforts. On the morrow he went with them to mass, and guided them about the town to all the places of devotion. Every Sunday evening after vespers he visited the hospital, and every Friday the prison. He continued these holy exercises till he was seventeen, when he entered the Dominican order. He made his full profession next year, in 1238, and was then sent to Paris and to Cologne to prosecute his studies. At Cologne he became the pupil of Albertus Magnus, along with the great S. Thomas Aquinas. When his education was complete, he taught theology in Paris for two years, and then preached in France, Germany, and Italy. The people of Sienna having taken part with Mansfeld, the bastard of Frederick II., who was in hostility with the pope, were placed under an interdict. Ambrose undertook to reconcile them with the Holy See, and was so successful, that the Siennese have chosen him, on account of this eminent service rendered them, as the patron of their city.

During the forty-nine years of his monastic life, he maintained the utmost self-discipline. He never slept more than four hours every night. After matins he remained for two hours in prayer in the choir, and spent the rest of the night in study till prime. He preached with singular fire and action. In the Lent of 1286, he broke a blood-vessel as he was preaching, and was obliged to leave the pulpit. The hæmorrhage ceasing next day, he insisted on resuming his sermon, but the vessel burst again, and he lost so much blood that he felt his hour was at hand. He made his general confession, and having received the last sacraments, breathed forth his pure soul in the sixty-sixth year of his age, on March 20th, 1286.

March 21.

SS. SERAPION, _Monk_, AND COMPANIONS, _MM., at Alexandria_. SS. MARTYRS OF ALEXANDRIA, _in the reign of Constantine_, A.D. 367. S. SERAPION, _B. of Thmuis, 4th cent._ S. LUPICINUS, _Ab. of Condate, circ._ A.D. 430. S. ENDA, _Ab. in Aran-more, circ._ A.D. 540. S. BENEDICT, _Ab. of Monte Cassino_, A.D. 543. S. ELIAS, _B. of Sion in the Valais_.

S. SERAPION, B. OF THMUIS.

(4TH CENT.)

[Roman Martyrology. In the ancient Latin Martyrologies is found the mention of S. Serapion, Monk and Martyr, and many Companions at Alexandria; but Baronius, instead, inserted in the Modern Roman Martyrology another and wholly different Serapion, bishop of Thmuis and Confessor in one of the Arian persecutions, when S. Athanasius suffered their pursuit. This Serapion is mentioned by S. Athanasius.]

Serapion bishop of Thmuis, in Egypt, a friend of S. Antony the Great, and a champion of S. Athanasius, wrote an epistle to the great defender of orthodoxy, and another on the death of Arius, together with treatises on the titles of the Psalms, and on Manichæism. He is said by S. Jerome to have suffered for his zeal in the orthodox cause, under Constantius, when the Arians were in power.

S. LUPICINUS, AB. OF CONDATE.

(ABOUT A.D. 430.)

[Roman and Benedictine Martyrologies; that of Usuardus, and that attributed to Bede. Authority:--A life by a contemporary, a monk of Condate, "Ego adhuc puerulus," he says. This life is very curious from its barbarous Latin, teeming as it does with words and phrases adopted from the Burgundian language. Also a life of SS. Romanus and Lupicinus by S. Gregory of Tours, written in the 5th cent., see Feb. 28th.]