Part 37

On the Passover in 1144, some Jews of Norwich took the child, and having strangled him, crucified him, and then took the body in a sack out of the town, to bury it in a wood. But a certain Aelward saw them entering the wood, and followed them. Then, in alarm, the Jews ran away, and considering that their only chance of safety lay in bribing the viscount, who was chief magistrate of the town, they offered him a hundred marks of silver if he would hush the matter up. The viscount took the money, sent for Aelward, and threatened and persuaded him to hold his tongue about what he had seen. Aelward kept the secret for five years, till he was on the point of death, when the martyred boy appeared to him, and bade him disclose what he had witnessed. Now at the same time, early in the morning, a nun was walking in the wood, when she came suddenly on a child's body lying at the foot of an oak tree, with two ravens fluttering over it, and the woman was so frightened that she ran into Norwich and told what she had seen. Then a crowd of people went forth and took up the body, which though it had lain five years unburied in the wood, was incorrupt, and brought it into Norwich; at the same time Aelward made his confession, and thus the whole of the circumstances were made clear; the people readily concluding that this newly found body was the same that had been left by the Jews, according to Aelward's account, unburied in the wood, five years before. The body was buried, and a rose bush was planted at the head, about the festival of S. Michael, (Sept. 29th), and it at once put forth fresh leaves and flowers, and bloomed till the feast of S. Edmund, (Nov. 20th). Many miracles were performed at the grave. It does not appear that this discovery was followed by a massacre of the Jews.

Throughout the Middle Ages three accusations were constantly brought against the Jews by the populace; all three were denounced by the authorities of the time as imaginary. They were accused of killing children. A law of the duke of Poland, in 1264, renewed in 1343, rebuked those who made this charge, and required that it should be substantiated by the testimony of three Jews. They were accused of poisoning the wells. Pope Innocent IV. in a bull denounced this charge, and in 1349, the king of the Romans ordered that the Jews in Luxemburg should be protected against the insolence of the people, because, said he, the pope and he regarded them as innocent of the many crimes attributed to them. Lastly, they were accused of sacrilege. The Abbé Fleury, in his Ecclesiastical History gives one instance of the manner in which this charge was made, "In a little town called Pulca, in the diocese of Passau, a layman found a bloody Host before the house of a Jew, lying in the street upon some straw. The people thought that this Host was consecrated, and washed it and took it to the priest, that it might be taken to the church, where a crowd full of devotion assembled, supposing that the blood had flowed miraculously from wounds dealt it by the Jews. On this suspicion, and without any other examination, or any other judicial procedure, the Christians fell on the Jews, and killed several of them; but wiser heads judged that this was rather for the sake of pillaging their goods than avenging the pretended sacrilege. This conjecture was fortified by a similar accident which took place a little while before at Neuburg, in the same diocese of Passau, where a certain clerk placed an unconsecrated Host steeped in blood in the church, but confessed afterwards in the presence of the bishop Bernhard and other persons deserving of credit, that he had dipped these Hosts in blood for the purpose of rousing hostility against the Jews."[89]

[89] Hist. Eccles. vi. p. 110.

If, however, we consider the intolerable treatment of the Jews throughout the Middle Ages, it makes it by no means improbable that their pent-up wrongs should have exasperated them into committing acts of vengeance, when they had the opportunity. Through centuries they were ground under an intolerable yoke. They could call nothing really their own, not even their persons. They were obliged to wear a distinctive mark, like outlaws and harlots; if they emigrated, their feudal lords were under mutual agreement to seize them in foreign lands; their children were stolen from them to be baptized; if their wives wished to abjure, they were divorced; they were taxed on going in and coming out of and sojourning in any city; on the smallest pretext, their debtors refused to pay their debts. At Toulouse on every Good Friday a Jew was brought upon the cathedral stairs to have his ears publicly boxed; their lives were at the mercy of every one. The magistrates burnt them, the people massacred them, the kings hunted them down to despoil them of all, when their exchequer was low. All these insults, outrages and injustices must have created an intense hatred of Christianity, and every thing and person that was Christian, and may well have found vent occasionally in some savage murder in parody of the Crucifixion, or sacrilegious outrage on the Blessed Sacrament, which the Jews knew full well was the great object of Christian love and devotion. They would not have been human had it not been so, and though many of the stories of murders and sacrileges told against them were undoubtedly false, yet some may have been true. But at the same time it is impossible to doubt that most of these charges brought against them were invented by their enemies for the purpose of plundering them; and that others had their origin in the imagination of the people, ready to believe anything against those whose strong-boxes they lusted to break open.

The first mention of the crucifixion of a boy by the Jews is in Socrates, (Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. 16.) He says that about A.D. 414, at a place called Immestar, between Antioch in Syria and Chalcis, "the Jews, while amusing themselves in their usual way with a variety of sports, impelled by drunkenness, were guilty of many absurdities. At last they began to scoff at Christians, and even at Christ himself; and in derision of the cross and those who put their trust in the Crucified, they seized a Christian boy, and having bound him to a cross, began to laugh and sneer at him. But in a little while they became so transported with fury that they scourged the child until he died under their hands." The emperors being informed of this ordered the delinquents to be punished with the utmost severity.

The Jews in England were accused of having crucified a child in 1160, a boy, Robert, at Bury S. Edmunds, in 1181, at whose tomb miracles were also wrought. Another boy, Hugh, is said to have met with the same fate at Lincoln, in 1255, the place of whose image and shrine is still shown in the cathedral of that city. Matthew Paris, in his English history, under the date 1239, says, "In this year, on the feast of S. Alban, and on the following day, a great massacre and destruction of the Jews took place by order of Geoffry the Templar, a particular councillor of the king, who oppressed, imprisoned, and extorted money from them. At length, after great suffering, these wretched Jews, in order to enjoy life and tranquillity, paid the king a third part of all their money debts, as well as chattels. The original cause of this calamity was the perpetration of a clandestine murder committed by the Jews in the city; and not long after this, owing to a boy having been circumcised by the Jews at Norwich, four of the richest of that community, having been clearly convicted of that offence, were hung."

And again, under 1240, "About this time the Jews circumcised a Christian boy at Norwich; they then kept him to crucify him. The father of the boy, however, from whom the Jews had stolen him, after a diligent search, at length discovered him, and with a loud cry pointed out his son, shut up in a room in one of the Jew's houses. When this came to the knowledge of William de Rele, the bishop, a wise and circumspect prelate (!) and of some other nobles,--that such an insult to Christ might not be passed over unpunished, all the Jews in the city were made prisoners, and when they wished to place themselves under the royal protection, the bishop said, 'These matters belong to the Church, they are not to be decided by the king's court.' Four of the Jews, having been found guilty, were dragged at the tails of horses, and afterwards hung on a gibbet."

Six boys are reported to have been martyred by the Jews at Ratisbon, in 1586; another, named Johannet, at Siegesburg, another at Bacharach, another, S. Richard, at Paris, in 1182, Simon of Trent has already been spoken of (March 24th), and Raderus in his Bavaria Sancta mentions another, George, at Sappendalf, in 1540. There was another S. Richard, child-martyr at Pontoise; and the last we hear of was in 1650, in Bohemia.[90]

[90] See for fuller particulars, and more instances, the Lives of S. Werner, April 19th, S. Albert, April 20th, and S. Ludwig, April 30th.

March 26.

S. CASTULUS, _M. at Rome, circ._ A.D. 286. SS. MONTANUS AND MAXIMA, _MM. at Sirmium_. SS. BATHUS, _P.M._, VERCA AND CHILDREN, _MM. among the Goths, circ._ A.D. 370. S. EUTYCHIUS, _Subd. M. at Alexandria_, A.D. 356. S. FELIX, _B. of Treves, circ._ A.D. 426. S. BRAULIO, _B. of Saragossa_, A.D. 646. S. MOCHELLOC, _Ab., in Ireland, between_ A.D. 639-656. S. LUDGER, _B. of Munster, Ap. of Westphalia_, A.D. 809. S. BASIL THE LESS, _H. at Constantinople, circ._ A.D. 952.

S. CASTULUS, M.

(ABOUT A.D. 286.)

[Roman and almost all Latin Martyrologies. In the Archdiocese of Prague the feast of this saint is kept as a double; so also in the dioceses of Ratisbon, Frisingen, and Passau. By the Greeks on Dec. 18th. Authorities:--The Acts, and another account of his passion in the Acts of S. Sebastian.]

Saint Castulus, chamberlain of the palace to Diocletian, was wont to receive Christians into his house, and screen them from the pursuit of the magistrates. He was denounced to Fabian, the prefect of the city, who, after having tortured him in many ways, had him cast into a pit and buried in sand. He was betrayed by a renegade Christian named Torquatus, the same whom Cardinal Wiseman has introduced into his historical sketch of "Fabiola."

SS. MONTANUS AND MAXIMA, MM.

(DATE UNCERTAIN.)

[Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede and S. Jerome. Authority:--The notices in the Martyrologies.]

S. Montanus was a priest at Sirmium, in Pannonia, and Maxima was his wife. They were drowned for the faith either in a river or in a lake; probably during the persecution of Maximian.

SS. BATHUS, P., VERCA, AND THEIR CHILDREN, MM.

(ABOUT A.D. 370.)

[Greek Menæa and Menology of the Emp. Basil the Younger.]

Bathus, a Gothic priest, his wife Verca, their two sons and two daughters, and some others were burned in the church by the Gothic Jungeric. Gaatha, a Gothic queen, collected their relics, and conveyed them into Roumania; but on her return she was stoned to death.

S. BRAULIO, B. OF SARAGOSSA.

(A.D. 646.)

[Roman Martyrology. Saragossa Martyrology on March 18th. Authority:--The letters of his great friend S. Isidore.]

S. Braulio is traditionally said to have been divinely designated for the episcopate, when the clergy and people were assembled to elect to the vacant see of Saragossa, by the appearance of a tongue of flame on his head. He was an intimate friend of S. Isidore, bishop of Hispalis, or Seville, and he has been by some writers erroneously called the brother of Isidore and Leander. S. Braulio sat in the 5th and 6th Councils of Toledo. After having held the bishopric twenty years he died. The day of his death was spent in incessant psalmody. A pleasing modern legend, which the Bollandists have shown to be without ancient authority, tells that he heard angelic voices chant in choir, "Arise, my friend, and come away," to which he replied, "Behold, here am I."

S. LUDGER, B. OF MUNSTER.

(A.D. 809.)

[Roman Martyrology, Molanus and Greven in their additions to Usuardus. The Treves Martyrology, those of Utrecht and S. Gudule at Brussels, the Benedictine Martyrology, and many others. Authorities:--His life by Altfrid, B. of Münster, his disciple, derived from personal knowledge, or from information furnished by the saint's brother Hildegrim, or by his nephew, Gerfried, or by his sister, Heriburgh. There are other lives of him in prose, and three styled litanies, written in rhyme. One of the former is by an anonymous Frieslander, a contemporary; another by the monks of Werden, composed about 890. Our saint's name appears in three forms: viz., Ludger, Liudger, and Luidger. He is commonly called Ludger, a spelling he himself adopts in his life of Gregory, abbot of Utrecht. He is styled Liudger both in Altfrid's life of him, and in the verses sent to him from York by a disciple of Alcuin.]

The abbey of Utrecht, under the presidency of the devoted Gregory, had sent forth many noble labourers into the mission-field, and many more had come over from England to take their share in the good work, and to spread the knowledge of the truth. One of the most eminent of these was Ludger, the subject of this memoir. His grandfather Wrffing Ado, a noble Frieslander, though not a believer in the Trinity, was yet a help to the poor, a defence to the oppressed, and a just judge, respecting the person of no man. Radbod, king of Friesland, who had cruelly oppressed his people, banished his best nobles, and sold their estates, laid a plot against his life. Wrffing received timely warning of it from one of the king's council, and fled with his wife and son to Grimoald, "Duke of the Franks," who received him well. There he was converted to the Catholic faith; he and all his were baptized. Grimoald was the son-in-law of Radbod, and son of Pepin of Heristal. While the latter was lying on his death-bed, Grimoald went to see him, and was assassinated by a Frieslander, in the church of S. Lambert, in 714. Wrffing received the same kindness from his successors. Radbod entreated Wrffing to return; when he refused to do so, Radbod asked him to let his son come back, promising to reinstate him in his inheritance. Accordingly the younger son Thiadgrim was sent to Friesland; the king insisted on his living with him, and restored his father's lands to him.

When Charles Martel added Friesland to his Frankish dominions, "extincto Radbodo," he not only reinstated Wrffing in his former possessions, but also gave him land in the neighbourhood of Utrecht to hold in feoff for S. Willibrord, who was then labouring among the Frisians, and had fixed his see at Utrecht. Willibrord received all support and countenance from Wrffing and his family. Both he and his successor, S. Boniface, were on very friendly terms with them. Perhaps it was at his grandfather's house that S. Ludger first saw S. Boniface.

Thiadgrim, the younger son, married Liafburg, the daughter of Nothrad and Aldeburga. The latter gave her two brothers to S. Willibrord, to educate, and they first of all the Frisians received the clerical tonsure. Willibraht, the elder brother, died a deacon, the younger, before he reached that degree.

Liafburg, S. Ludger's mother, narrowly escaped being murdered at the time of her birth. Her grandmother by the father's side, a fierce old pagan, was enraged because her daughter-in-law had borne no sons but only daughters. She sent officers to snatch the new born babe from its mother, before it had sucked the breast, for it was the custom of these heathen to kill a child before it had tasted earthly food. This statement is corroborated by some old Frisian laws edited by Sibrand Siccaum.

The officers consigned the child to a servant to be drowned. As the man held the infant over a bucket of water, she stretched out her tiny arms and grasped with her hands the edge of the bucket, and with all her feeble might resisted his efforts to drown her. A woman, who chanced to be near, touched with pity, snatched the infant from the servant's hands, and ran away with it to her own home; fastening the door behind her, she hastened to a chamber and placed some honey in the child's mouth, which it instantly swallowed. The officers were sent by the heathen beldame to demand the infant: the woman said, "She has eaten honey," and at the same time she held up to them the child, still licking its lips: for this reason it was unlawful to kill the child.

The woman gave Liafburg suck from a horn filled with milk, and receiving all necessaries from the child's mother, she nursed her till the death of her unnatural grandmother, when Liafburg was received into her father's house.

Liafburg many years after, when pregnant with Ludger, heard suddenly of the return of her husband Thiadgrim from a long journey. She ran out to greet him, and her foot slipping, she fell on a stake, which entered her side. She was taken up for dead; but by God's mercy she revived, and in a few days gave birth to Ludger unhurt. This event took place probably about 744. At his baptism, which is erroneously said by one chronicler to have been performed by S. Willibrord, who was then dead, he received the name of Ludger. As soon as he was able to run about, he used to collect the bark of trees, and to sew them into books, while the other children were at play. Then he scribbled on them with reeds dipped in a black liquor and gave them to his nurse to keep as useful books. If asked, "What hast thou done to-day?" he said, "I have made books, or I have written or read all day." If asked again, "Who taught thee?" he replied, "God taught me."

Then, as he grew in grace and years, he earnestly besought his parents to entrust him to some man of God to be brought up. They accordingly, probably in 757, gave him to abbot Gregory, a noble Frank, and a disciple of the great S. Boniface, who had a monastery at Utrecht. Either here, or before this, Ludger, as he tells us in his life of S. Gregory, "saw with his own eyes S. Boniface when his head was white with hoar hairs, and his body decrepit with age." Gregory, he adds, was his preceptor, "ab infantia," he brought up his disciples with as much love, zeal, and care, as if he was their father, and they his children; they were joined to him by a tie of strong affection. He proclaimed both in deed and in truth, as well as in word the Apostolic utterance of S. Peter, concerning the calling and election of all nations, "In every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him." Acts x. 35. For his disciples were gathered not from one tribe only, but were the flower of all the neighbouring nations; they were enlightened with wondrous gentleness and spiritual joy, and joined into one body, because they were begotten in charity of one spiritual father, and of the one mother of all. "Some were of noble Frank families; some were English; some of the new planting of God begun amongst the Frisians and Saxons; some of the Baquarii and the Suevi; some of whatever nation God hath sent thither: of all these I, Ludger am the least, yea, the weakest and most insignificant."

"The holy father Gregory bestowed on all these gathered from all parts into one fold the spiritual food of God's doctrine and Word. Inspired by God he burned with love for his disciples and for their instruction, so that scarce a day passed on which he did not sit in the morning to receive his disciples singly, and to hear their questions, and then he gave them to drink of the cup of life, and watered them with God's Word as each had need."

Altfrid tells us that Gregory received Ludger with joy, and found great pleasure in instructing him, as he was an intelligent and sagacious child. Under his loving care Ludger advanced in the fear of the Lord, and laid aside his secular habit in that monastery; perhaps in 760, and devoted himself wholly to the study of the spiritual science. Some of his schoolfellows became bishops or teachers of Churches. Ludger was much loved by them, by reason of his wondrous gentleness and kindness: his face was cheerful, though he was not easily provoked to laughter; he combined prudence with moderation in all his actions, for he constantly meditated on Holy Scripture, and especially upon those portions of it which pertained to the praise of God, and to the Catholic faith, for all which reasons he was loved by his venerable master as an only son.

Alubert came to Utrecht in 766, or 767, being sent by the bishop of York to preach the Gospel in Frisia. Gregory besought him to be made a bishop. He consented after some reluctance, provided Gregory would despatch him to England with some native clergy. Accordingly he received as companions Sigibod and Ludger. Sigibod was ordained priest, Ludger deacon, and Alubert bishop at York, probably by Elbert, who succeeded Egbert in that see on his death in 766. Elbert on his accession had ordained Alcuin, who was his favourite pupil, deacon, and made him master of the cathedral seminary. His fame as a teacher spread far and wide; and students from all parts eagerly sought in York that instruction which no other master could supply. Ludger assiduously drank of the stream of knowledge which flowed from his lips, and it was with reluctance that he accompanied his friends at the end of a year to Utrecht, which they reached in 768.

His first act was to petition Gregory for leave to return to Alcuin, and sate himself "with the honey which he had tasted." Gregory gently but firmly refused his request: finding that in spite of all persuasion he cherished the determination of journeying to York, he sent for his father to induce him to desist from his purpose. But the studious Ludger remained firm, and at last vanquished all opposition by entreaty. He was accordingly furnished with all necessaries for his journey.

He stayed three years and a half at York, under Alcuin, where he was beloved by all for his good character and holy studies.

At this time, when the citizens of York were going forth to battle against their enemies, the son of an earl of that province was killed in a quarrel by a Frisian merchant. All Frisians deemed it prudent to quit England for fear of the wrath of his relatives. Alcuin sent his deacon Patal with Ludger, lest his love of learning should induce him to go to some other town of those parts, and he should there fall a victim to the vengeance of the young earl's friends. He returned home, in 774, with a large stock of learning and books, and was received warmly by Gregory.

About or before this time, Liafwin or Lebuin, a learned priest, was sent from England to Utrecht. He desired to preach the gospel to the people who dwelt by the river Yssel. The faithful of those parts first built him a church at Wulfre, on the west side of that river. Afterwards one was erected at Deventer, on the east side. He gained so many converts there that the Saxons made a furious attack on the place, drove out the Christians, and burned the church. When the enemy had retired, he returned, and rebuilt the church, and laboured there peacefully and successfully till his death, when he was buried in the church. Then the Saxons again sacked and burned the church, after making an ineffectual search for his body.