Saint Ouen of Rouen: The Life of Saint Eligius
Book I
1. Eligius sprang from the villa of Chaptelat about six miles toward the western shore from
the town of Limoges in Gaul, which joins the Britannic ocean in the space of about two
hundred miles. Thus the city sits in Armorican parts, in ulterior Gaul and prima Aquitaine
which looks to the western shore. On the east, it is bordered by the province of Lyon and
Gallia Belgica and to the west and south it has the province of Narbonne which also border
Ocean. In fact, Spain may be reached from the west. So Eligius was born and raised in that
region from free parents of an ancient Christian line. His father was called Eucherius and his
mother Terrigia. By grace of divine prescience, he received the name Eligius, a fitting mirror
of his mind. And as a foretaste of what he would do, or indeed what God would do through
him, it is fitting to tell what happened before he was born. For I should not omit the sign of
his sanctity that was shown or the testimony of great men that I have heard.
2. For when the blessed man was still in his mother's womb, his genetrix had a vision
ordained in this manner. She saw a splendid eagle wheeling above her bed crying out to her
three times promising I don't know what. And when she awoke, terrified by the reverberating
voice, she began to wonder much what the vision might mean. Meanwhile the hour of the
birth approached and the mother was beginning to be endangered in the greatest pain. So they
called a certain religious priest, a man of good repute, that he might pray for her. When he
came to her, prophetic words soon seized him and he assured her: "Do not be afraid, mother,
for the Lord has deigned to bestow a blessed birth upon you. He will be a holy man and
chosen from all his people he will be called a great priest in the church of Christ."
3. So Eligius was born and nurtured in the true faith and imbued by his parents with the
Catholic Christian religion. When he had passed the years of boyhood, he entered adolescence
with industry and took up whatever work suitable to his age came to his hand and completed
it with wonderful aptitude. When his father saw that his son was so skillful, he apprenticed
him to an honorable man, Abbo, a proven goldsmith who at that time performed the public
office of fiscal moneyer (fiscalis monetae) in the city of Limoges. Soon he was fully trained in
the uses of this office and began to be honored with praises among the dwellers and neighbors
in the lord. For he acted with dovelike simplicity, lest he bring pain to anyone and he had the
wisdom of the serpent lest he fall into traps set by others. He was worthy both in having his
skills and in his easy and pure speech. Often he entered into the meetings of the church giving
gold to whomever was there reciting the sacred scripture which he longed eagerly to bury
within the memory of his heart so that even when he was absent he might ruminate with
intense meditations on what he had heard.
4. Afterwards some years went by until for some reason which I believe was guided by divine
providence, he left his native land and his parents and went to the soil of the Franks. Only a
few days passed before he came to the notice of a certain royal treasurer named Bobo, and
honest and mild man, who committed him to his patronage and put him to work under his
tuition. He strenuously employed himself at all work and won the love of everyone to whom
he could speak.
5. After a while, a certain cause brought him to the notice of King Clothar of the Franks. For
that king wanted a seat urbanely made with gold and gems but no one could be found in his
palace who could do the work as he conceived it. But when the aforesaid royal treasurer had
satisfied himself of Eligius's skill of Eligius, he began to investigate whether he might
complete the work as it was planned. When he was wure that [Eligius] could easily undertake
it, [Bobo] went to the prince and indicated to him that he had found an industrious artisan who
was at his disposal for the work without delay. Then the king most readily gave him a great
weight of gold which he in turn gave to Eligius. Having taken it, he began the work
immediately and with diligence speedily completed it. And from that which he had taken for a
single piece of work, he was able to make two. Incredibly, he could do it all from the same
weight for he had accomplished the work commissioned from him without any fraud or
mixture of siliquae, or any other fraudulence. Not claiming fragments bitten off by the file or
using the devouring flame of the furnace for an excuse, but filling all faithfully with gems, he
happily earned his happy reward. For having brought the completed piece to the palace he
gave one seat to the king and kept the other back. The king began to marvel and praise such
elegant work and ordered that the craftsman be paid in a manner worthy of his labor. Then
Eligius produced the other in their midst: "I have made this piece," he said, "from the gold
which I might have lost through negligence." The king was thunderstruck with even greater
admiration and questioned the other workmen whether any of them could do the same from
the original weight and accepted the answer he got from them acknowledging the sublime
favor of his skill: "From this, you will believe in the utmost." And indeed this was the origin
in the royal palace of honoring and believing the testimony of Eligius. From this of course,
the goldsmith rose and his work was always most wonderfully done with the most learned
skill, and he began to find increased favor in the king's eyes and the presence of his optimates.
By the Lord's will, his faith was strengthened and, stimulated by the king, he grew to the
better every day.
6. For some reason unknown to me, unless it were to obtain greater proof of his fidelity, one
day at Rueil in the fields, in my presence, while I was living among the king's boys, the king
ordered some relics of saints brought to Eligius and ordered that he place his hands upon the
sacred tokens and take an oath. But moved by divine intuition, he humbly refused all
attempted inducements. And when he was more urgently pressed, he soon burst into anxious
tears fearing to offend the king but trembling sevenfold to impose his hands on the sacred
tokens. Then the king, feeling his fear, and simultaneously marveling at the man's great
devotion, desisted from forcing him but sent him away with a kinder and gentler manner. His
face beaming, he declared him more worthy to be believed than if he had given his oath many
times over.
7. When he reached the age of virility, desiring to show himself a vessel sanctified to God and
fearing that some sin might stain his breast, he confessed his adolescent deeds to the priest.
Imposing severe penances with mortifications on himself, he began to resist the flesh with the
fires of the spirit in labors following the apostle, vigils, fasts, chastity, in much patience and
unfeigned love. For he protected himself against the present ardors of the flesh with fires of
future suffering and the memory of the ardors of Gehenna shut out lust. Day and night he
begged God for heavenly gifts always considering this from he book of Job: "I pray the lord
and place my speech to God who makes great and inscrutable miracles without number, who
places the humble on high and raises the deserving." He would forego a sufficiency of bread
so that he might gain heavenly bread. His fasts made him pale and his body withered with
thirst but always his mind thirsted more sharply with love of the eternal fatherland and as that
became heavier, he bore his sufferings more lightly. For always feeling the end of his present
life, he trembled in fear of God's judgment, knowing the scripture: "Blessed is the man who is
always afraid." And the apostle: "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." And also
that saying of Job: "For always I fear the flood of God swelling over me." He lay at night with
his feet to the Lord, beating his breast with his hands, dripping tears, with sighs his eyes
turned to heaven, always he looked about him fearing that he might have offended in some
way and his tearful voice trembled: "To you alone I have sinned; have mercy on me from
your great mercy." And that blessed Job: "Remember, for my life is as a wind" and "Spare me
for my days are nothing." And when he went out he kept in his mind, "Eyes cannot see nor
ears hear not the heart of man know what God prepares for those that love him." And the
more he pursued these meditations the more he progressed. The more he humiliated himself,
the humbler he became and so much more did he profit. As much as he sorrowed, so much he
was forgiven and as much as he humbly afflicted himself, so much did he deserve to be raised
on high by God. Oh profound benignity of God! He makes the pardon swifter than the
offense. Oh happy penitence, that so swiftly attracts the mercy of Christ to itself. He barely
ceased extinguishing the flames of crime with assiduous tears and excluding the virus of sins
with frequent fasting than he received from the Lord the mercy that he asked. Indeed through
the prophet Malachi the lord spoke of this: "I give and I fear, and he feared me and trembled
before the face of my name." Here, therefore, is it written: "Fear of the lord drives out sin."
and again, "Who fears the Lord, will tremble at nothing and will not shrink because his hope
is in him."
8. Then calling on the Lord with a breast full of faith he asked that if his penitence were
acceptable to God he might deign to give him a sign. Now, in the cubicle where he was
accustomed to rest regularly he had tokens of many saints hanging from above and beneath
that sacred covering he rested his head on a haircloth and spent the night in prayer. When as
usual he lay prostrate in that place one night, praying on his haircloth, he was weighed down
by descending sleep and dropped off for a moment and suddenly he saw someone standing
before him who said: "Behold Eligius! Your prayers have been heard and the sign you asked
for in the past will now be given to you." As soon as he heard this, he sensed a sweet odor,
and the softest drops from the chrism of the reliquaries flowed smoothly upon his head.
Exceedingly astonished by this, he swiftly arose and careful investigation disclosed chrism
like balsam distilled on the blanket that covered him. And such a sweet fragrance spread from
there that it filled the room so that he could scarcely remain there. And then, mindful of his
petition, and exceedingly amazed by the generosity of God's bounty, loudly weeping, he
blessed Christ the faithful rewarder, who never fails those who hope in him, from the bottom
of his heart. For indeed his power began with almighty God to whom all things are possible.
The holy man secretly confided in his comrade named Ouen, cognomen Dado, whom he
loved as his own soul, exacting a promise that as long as he remained in this body he would
tell no one. Hearing this, he immediately felt compunction in his heart and with the secret of
these arcane [things] began to burn inside with love. Because of this he spurned secular
blandishments and desired to emulate Eligius studiously to the good. And then they took
Dado's brother Ado into their common counsel. These were men high among the optimates at
court, the sons of Audechar. With common counsel they both began to imitate what they had
learned from Eligius and he was their familiar consort and they had one heart and one soul in
the Lord.
9. Therefore Eligius found grace in the presence of the Lord and in the presence of the king of
the Franks. And he was held in such good repute by all that the king turned over to him a huge
heap of gold and silver and gems without even weighing them. Day by day, he grew in honor
with great favor and wholly tested in every respect he flourished, devout in the court.
Meanwhile, Clothar died and Dagobert his son succeeded alone to the monarchy of the
kingdom by whom Eligius was granted such familiarity that his happiness earned the hatred
of many.
- gap -
10. He grew more in vigils, in fasts, and in charity. For the king's use, he made many utensils
from gold and gems. He sat fabricating in a mine opposite Thille, his vernaculus from the
Saxon tribe who followed in his master's footsteps and led a venerable life. Sitting at the
work, he propped open a book before his eyes so that even while laboring he might receive
divine mandates. Thus he performed double offices, his hands to the uses of man and his mind
bound to divine use. His fame spread abroad so that Roman, Italian, or Gothic legates or those
sent from any other province to make an alliance or on another mission to the palace of the
king of the Franks, would not go first to the King but would repair first to Eligius asking him
either for food or seeking healthful counsel. Religious men and monks also flocked to him
and whatever he could collect, he gave to them in alms or gave for the ransom of captives, for
he had this work much at heart. Wherever he understood that slaves were to be sold he
hastened with mercy and soon ransomed the captive. The sum of his captives redeemed rose
from twenty and thirty to fifty and finally a hundred souls in one flock when they were
brought in a ship, of both sexes and from different nations. He freed all alike, Romans, Gauls,
Britons and Moors but particularly Saxons who were as numerous as sheep at that time,
expelled from their own land and scattered everywhere. If it should happen that the number of
people for sale outweighed his means, he gave more by stripping what he had on his own
body from his belt and cloak to the food he needed and even his shoes so long as he could
help the captives. And often it was pilgrims of Christ that he rescued. Oh, daily did he wish to
be a debtor that his own debts might be forgiven? Daily did he not rip golden bracelets,
jewelled purses and other gold and gems from himself so that he might succor the miserable?
Let me briefly comprehend how many multitudes of captives over successive periods of time
he freed from the harsh yoke of dominion and how much alms he distributed to people of both
sexes, diverse churches and monasteries, though no orator, however studious or eloquent,
could tell the tale. Standing directly in the presence of the king, redeemed captives threw the
denarius before him and he gave them charters of liberty. To all of them he gave three
choices: since they were now free, they could return to their own country and he would offer
them what subsidy they required; if they wished to remain he would accommodate them
willingly and include them not among his servants but as his brothers; and, if he could
persuade them to embrace the venerable life of monks and take the cloister of a community,
honoring those marked for the lord, he would supply clothing and whatever else was needed
for their care. He had several vernaculos in his contubernio helping him with these needs. One
was Bauderic, his countryman, who took care of his things with all honesty. Tituin of the
Suevi tribe was a faithful lay cubicularius who achieved the highest reward when he was later
killed. Buchin, converted from the gentiles, later lived at the community of FerriŠres. Andreas
and Martin and John at his procurance deserved to come to the clergy. These and more others
than I can count were in his chamber day and night striving to complete the solemn canonical
course with all effort.
11. - mostly missing; ends: but since I have seen the man why not depict his form?
12. He was tall with a rosy face. He had a pretty head of hair with curly locks. His hands were
honest and his fingers long. He had the face of an angel and a prudent look. At first, he was
used to wear gold and gems on his clothes having belts composed of gold and gems and
elegantly jeweled purses, linens covered with red metal and golden sacs hemmed with gold
and all of the most precious fabrics including all of silk. But all of this was but fleeting
ostentation from the beginning and beneath he wore a hairshirt next to his flesh and, as he
proceeded to perfection, he gave the ornaments for the needs of the poor. Then you would see
him, whom you had once seen gleaming with the weight of the gold and gems that covered
him, go covered in the vilest clothing with a rope for a belt. Sometimes the king himself
would see him despoiled for love and devotion to Christ, tearing from himself what he had
given him even to his clothing and his belt. For he said that the ornaments that served his
appearance to the world were worthless and all that which was inglorious he gave up for the
sake of Christ. While he was with the king he had a mansion carefully joined with Dado
whom he loved as his own soul. From this, we could take many examples if we had enough
time to repeat them. He had many tokens of saints hanging there in his cubicle and several
holy books turning on an axis. Thus after exchanging psalmody and prayers, like a careful
bee, he secreted the choicest from a variety of flowers from different readings in the beehive
of his breast. At night, it was his custom to stretch out before his bed on a haircloth and either
from the first twilight or after a little rest rising from bed to pray prostrate with his head
bowed and passing many nights in tears keeping watch. For he had the great grace of tears. In
various ways, he determined as far as human nature could permit, that every night would be
consumed in the service of God. So he would pray at length interrupting the prayers for some
relief, reciting the psalms in order and then turning to chanting or reading. And when he was
struck by some sacred words, you would see him suddenly raise his eyes to the sky, joining
sigh to sigh, mixing tears with the reading striking his breast and pouring out an ocean of
weeping. And when during this reading he was weighed down by invading sleep, he would
meditate on the words in a sort of dream. Then starting awake he would finish the reading and
according to custom turn to prayer in which work he strove with so much silence never
moving his head or any other part that you could barely hear the fleeting breath. Often, for
various reasons, he was called to the king's chamber at night but even when one messenger
followed another, he would not go until he had completed his service to Christ. Then leaving
the house, he was armed with the sign of prayer and the cross. Returning home he prayed first
thing. And thus he did every day of his life longing for his eternal homeland. For he was
affable in every way and subtle, with pious heart and a spirit strong for battle.
13. When the king asked him to lead a legation to Breton lands, he hastened there without
delay, secure in the love of Christ. And when he met the prince of the Bretons, he indicated
reasons for making a pact and received pledges of peace. And when some might have
intended a quarrel or to declare mutual war on them, his gentleness attracted the aforesaid
prince with so much benignity and mildness that he was easily persuaded to go with him. For
after he had remained there for some time he returned home taking with him the king and
many soldiers of his tribe. Presenting them in the villa of Creil to the king of the Franks, he
negotiated peacefully. He who brought many gifts returned home even more heavily
rewarded. Para ends with a gap.
14. Indeed King Dagobert, swift, handsome and famous with no rival among any of the earlier
kings of the Franks, loved him so much that he would often take himself out of the crowds of
princes, optimates, dukes or bishops around him and seek private counsel from Eligius. And
whatever Eligius requested, he would give without delay. Whatever he could gain, he
expended in alms for the needy, ransom of captives and remedies for the weak, whence the
prince rewarded him ever more freely because he knew that not one but many would profit by
it.
15. Among other things, he acquired a villa in the neighborhood of Limoges called Solignac,
saying: "May your serenity concede this place to me, lord King, so that here I may raise a
ladder by which you and I may both succeed in climbing into heaven. As usual, the king
freely granted his petition, agreed, and gave the order without delay that what he asked might
be conceded. That was a time when a public census from the same region was exacted to be
paid to the royal treasury. But when all the revenue collected together was ready to be brought
to the king, the domesticus and monetarius wished to refine the gold by cooking in the furnace
so that according to ritual only the reddest and purest metal would be brought into the king's
presence. They did not know that it had been conceded as a reward to Eligius. Despite every
strain and effort for three or four days, God hindered them so that they could not complete the
work. At last, the arrival of a messenger from Eligius interrupted the work being done and
asserted his ownership. As soon as the announcement was made, with the inhabitants
rejoicing, the work was completed and his wealth committed. There in that place, first the
most powerful man of God built a monastery. Then having constituted an abbot, he freed
many of his vernaculis to the number of a hundred from different provinces and added fifty
monks with enough land to support them abundantly. He lavished so much love and devotion
on the place that whatever he had, whatever the king gave him, whatever he could buy,
whatever he was paid in gratuities by the powerful, he sent to that place. There you would see
loaded carts, vessels for every use of both copper and wood, vestments and lectuaries and
linens and volumes of sacred scripture and all things needful for the use of a monastery in
such profusion that it kindled the envy of many depraved great folk. He even thought that he
would bind himself to that same monastery except that the dispensation of God obligated him
to something else.
16. I saw, when I visited the place, such observance of the holy rule there that could hardly be
matched in any other monastery in Gaul. For that large congregation is adorned with many
different flowers of grace. And they had artifices by many skilled in different arts which were
completed in fear of Christ and always prepared in obedience. For no one there claimed
anything as their own but as we read in the acts of the apostles all things were all in common
among them all. Such joy reigned in that fertile place that when anyone strolled among the
orchards and the gardens flourishing with beauty, he knew the words to be completely
fulfilled: "How good is your house Jacob, and how beautiful is your tent, Israel. Such shady
woods and cedars above the waters like Paradise above the flood." Surely, of such was it said
through Solomon: "the habitations of the just are blessed." That same community is
undoubtedly about six miles from Limoges toward the southern shore. It is surrounded by a
wall not just of stone but with a well-fortified ditch having the circumference of ten stadia. On
one side it is strengthened by a river, guarded by a high mountain covered with trees and
sheer cliffs. And they filled the whole area of the monastery with orchards of diverse fruit
trees. And so the sluggish soul is refreshed and rejoiced to occupy itself with the amenities of
paradise.
17. When he had completed that cenobium with all its works, and stabilized it with care, he
thought to build a xenodochium in the city of Paris. But God inspired him to conceive a more
excellent plan. He began to raise in his own house which he had received as a gift from the
king in that same city, a domicile of virgins of Christ. After long and sweaty labor, he
constructed a monastery worthy of holy virgins. There, constituting the strict discipline of the
rule, he gathered thirty girls from diverse tribes, some from among his own ancillae and other
more noble matrons of the Franks. He appointed an abbess fitting to God, a girl named Aurea,
daughter of Maurinus and Quiria. He assigned land with high revenue and turned it over from
all his property. From hither and thither you could see deliveries of everything necessary or
useful for a monastery, vessels and vestments, sacred books and other ornaments. The most
pious father provided whatever things appropriate to the sex might be needed with the most
solicitous and diligent care. And when all the house was complete and furnished with
everything necessary to it and made perfect, one vile but necessary thing still remained for the
building of the domicile. He had not enough land, for it was all filled by the house, but there
was a small piece from the fisc lying adjacent for the necessary work. Therefore, he ordered
the land cleared, so he might learn its dimensions and hurried off to the prince, suggested the
area and without delay obtained what he asked. And when he returned home, the lines drawn,
and the size of the habitation considered, he found that it was a foot greater in size than he had
told the king. He was sad, for he who never wished to lie to anyone had lied to the king.
Leaving the work completely, he went back to court and sought out the prince, threw himself
on the ground and accused himself of lying asking for pardon or for death. But when the king
learned the insignificance of the cause he condoled with his injury more in amazement and
soon turning to the multitude of bystanders and said: "behold how bright and venerable is the
faith of Christ! My dukes and domestics rob me of spacious villas and the servant of Christ
because of the faith that he has in the Lord will not bear to hide a palm's breadth of land from
us." And he consoled Eligius so kindly that he doubled the gift he had given him. This story
makes clear how the holy man feared to be guilty of a lie and soil his conscience with the
meanest fib kept from the king. So his faith raised him to heaven and that fidelity made him
dear to God and famous among men.
18. When the monastery was done and the edifice for handmaids of God complete, for which
the profit of the labor is its own reward, then he built a basilica for the interment of the bodies
of God's handmaids. It was dedicated to the holy apostle Paul. The roof covered with lead in
sublime elegance and Abbot Quintilianus lay buried there. Then he built and restored the
basilica in honor of Saint Martial, bishop and confessor, at Limoges. He also covered that roof
with lead in urbane stability. When he bore the saint's relics there, fully devout with great
triumph and a great company of both sexes, a chorus psalling with melodies of psalms and
sweet modulations of antiphons, the lord declared a miracle worthy of memory. Eligius was
inspired to direct that the relics be taken a certain way when he could have gone more directly
by another. But on that path there were four enclosed dungeons where three guards held seven
men, either innocent or guilty. When Eligius passed, exulting and dancing before the ark with
the relics like David of yore accompanied by the exultant voices of his flock, they came to the
dungeon. Suddenly depressed by a heavy weight, the bearer of the relics was fixed to the
ground. However much they pushed and pulled, he could not move a step which he confessed
in a stentorian voice. And while the witnesses were marvelling at this, there came a sound like
a thunderbolt from within the prison and the walls were burst with a great explosion from the
ground. And immediately the prisoners appeared at the broken gate with all their bonds
broken. Then the feet of the relic bearer lightened and they went on to the church with the
former prisoners. And all who were there in amazement began to praise the new miracle and
the joined merits of two saints, praise of Martial to declare the favor of Eligius. And all,
seeing the fruits, praised Christ the Lord who does his work in his servants and raised their
voices continually.
- lacuna; sections 19 and 20 missing -
21. Even as religious monks frequently flocked to him, he was never satisfied but grew ever
more thirsty with desire for holy conversation until he would hurry off to the cenobium of
Luxueil which was at that time the most eminent and strict of all the monasteries in Gaul. For
Gaul was not yet crowded with monasteries and those that were there were not under the
regular discipline but fermented with the ancient malice of the world. Beyond Luxeuil,
therefore, which alone is said to have held carefully the strictness of a rule, the monastery of
Solignac stood first in the western lands. Many got a start there and were inspired by its
example so that now there are many innumerable cenobia of both sexes throughout all Francia
and Gaul under the nurturing regular discipline propitiating the divinity. Thus as I began to
say, who can tell with what devotion and humility Eligius visited that monastery, going
among the brothers? You would have seen him, when he first entered the monastery, face low
to the ground, depressed from the light, his head inclined on a mound of earth. Then he would
move with great gravity, his whole body bowed, among the brothers and prostrate himself on
the earth before each monk. He listened most devoutly to all the benedictions and gave them
copious alms while he took only the humblest crust of bread from them for benediction on
leaving, which he took for the most generous reward. And every day while he could keep it
unspoiled, he consumed eulogies from it fasting as for holy communion.
- lacuna; sections 22-26 missing -
27. Another time, dressed as a layman, he took the road with his boys from the royal villa
called Etr‚pagny. When he came to the vicus of Gamaches, entering the basilica there, he
found a certain poor cripple lying before the entrance. When he saw Eligius, this man began
to clamor asking for money from him or some other consolation. Then Eligius, strongly
feeling the gift of the Holy Spirit seize him, said: "Let us pray together to the Lord to restore
your health." Conducting him quickly into the church, he ordered him to stand, supported by
prayer. Prostrating himself on the ground, he prayed for a long time. When he got up he saw
the cripple still lying there and he lay down again to prayer pouring out his request with tears.
So prolix were his prayers and so many tears did he shed that the whole pavement was
moistened as they flooded, running to the ground like a river. At last, strengthened by faith, he
arose and approached the invalid with great confidence and seized his hand saying: "In the
name of our lord Jesus Christ, the son of God on high, rise and walk." As soon as he said the
word, the invalid was healed by the Son of God and arose in health. Everyone there heard,
with great wonder, the joints and nerves and and all his twisted bones crack and solidify. He
was healed in that hour and walked carefully, blessing God with all alacrity. For he had been
bound by the chains of paralysis for many years and thus the swiftness of his cure excited the
greater wonder. The blessed man gave him alms and sent him away in peace. Adoring and
glorifying God he returned to his place. Then Eligius began to conjure the boys and each of
his companions sternly not to reveal these things to anyone while he remained in the body, for
he greatly feared lest in the use of this power his mind should be oppressed by human praise.
- lacuna -
30. One day while he was living in Paris, the custodian of the basilica of Saint Columba the
virgin sped to him at dawn trembling and falling all over his feet. He announced that, in the
silence of the night, the basilica had been robbed of all its ornaments. The news deeply
depressed Eligius but he swiftly reverted to his usual source of hope. He kindly comforted the
custodian and then hurried to that same oratory where he prayed with these words: "Listen,
Saint Columba, to what I say. My Redeemer knows that unless you restore those stolen
ornaments speedily to the tabernacle, I will have the entrance sown over with thorny plants so
that veneration will never be offered to you again in this place." He said that and left. And
behold! the following day, when the custodian rose in the morning, he found all restored as
before, down to the tiniest curtain. And his joy matched his former distress as he sped again to
Eligius and announced that everything had been returned. Seeing everything in its place, he
praised the martyr and as always magnified the name of Christ the lord with growing hilarity.
31. Among the infinity of his other good works, he obtained license from the king that
wherever he might find any human bodies executed by royal severity or judicial censure or
from cases following any diverse arguments, whether in cities or villas, he might take them
down from the gallows or the wheel or the noose and bury them. From among his
companions, he appointed respelliones named Gallebodo and Vincent to whom he entrusted
this care with their colleagues. Thus wherever they went whether in nearby towns or far away,
they carried hoes with them so that they could immediately cover any corpse they found with
earth. One day in the royal county of Austria, they came to a certain town called Stratoburg
and outside the town on a height they saw a hanging man. The noose had taken his life on that
very day. Going straight to the place, they removed the noose so that they might start the
burial rites. But the venerable man felt power working. While the burial was being prepared,
he approached the body and began to massage it gently from head to toe. When he felt the
spirit to be present, denying the power that came from him, he said without delay: "Oh what a
terrible crime, we have nearly perpetrated without the Lord's order! We nearly buried this
body in the ground when the spirit is still within!" Saying this, he ordered the man covered
with clothing and they waited. Refreshed in spirit, he arose from the ground having suffered
no injury. When news of what had happened circulated in the town, hostile pursuers planned
to seize him on the road and put him to death. But Eligius swiftly tore him from their hands
and supplied royal letters of safe conduct for him and defended him. Not long after, he
removed himself from his company, perhaps with Eligius' connivance. Lest the things he had
done should spread among the people, he never appeared again among his servants. But
enough about that. It is enough that what he did about this is known to God alone and not
hidden whether he was in secular habit or under the venerable apostolic tonsure. Meanwhile, I
will try to be brief in telling what he achieved with his handiwork. 32. Among other good
works this same blessed man fabricated tombs for the relics of saints Germanus, Severin,
Piaton, Quentin, Lucian, Genovefa, Columba, Maximian and Lolian, Julian and many more,
with gold and silver and gems. But above all, by order of King Dagobert, he covered blessed
Martin of Tours' sepulchre with wonderful work of gold and jewels and he urbanely
composed the tomb of Saint Briccio and another where the body of Saint Martin had formerly
lain. And he obtained great benefices from the king for that same church. At Eligius' request,
and for reverence to the holy confessor Martin, King Dagobert forgave the whole census that
was released to the royal tax gatherer from that church and confirmed it by a charter. Thus the
church claimed the whole use of the fiscal cens from him so that in that town even today it is
decreed through obliging episcopal letters. Above all, Eligius fabricated a mausoleum for the
holy martyr Denis in the city of Paris with a wonderful marble ciborium over it marvelously
decorated with gold and gems. He composed a crest [at the top of a tomb] and a magnificent
frontal and surrounded the throne of the altar with golden axes in a circle. He placed golden
apples there, round and jeweled. He made a pulpit and a gate of silver and a roof for the
throne of the altar on silver axes. He made a covering in the place before the tomb and
fabricated an outside altar at the feet of the holy martyr. So much industry did he lavish there,
at the king's request, and poured out so much that scarcely a single ornament was left in Gaul
and it is the greatest wonder of all to this very day.
33. At last, all these wonderful works were done and all the people about quieted, even the
ferocious Gascons broken on their own hostile swords. Then the great and famous king
Dagobert died and was buried in that same basilica of Saint Denis under the arch in the right
side. His son Clovis still juvenile in age, succeeded him to the kingdom. In his reign, the
Roman Empire being headed by Constantine, a wicked heresy which originated in eastern
lands began to pullulate. The heresiarchs began wickedly to violate ecclesiastical rule and
wandered teaching and preaching untrue things. They asserted that our lord and savior Jesus
Christ had least following the form of a slave and they jabbered in profane voices that he
never assumed true flesh from the virgin Mary. These things troubled the church much and
not only infected some folks in their homeland with the contagion of this pestiferous assertion
but even some in Rome. At that time, the bishop was the most blessed pope Martin who
carefully and manfully guarded against this, fighting many adversaries and sustaining many
trials. Discerning that the emperor and many others were giving ear to these assertions, he was
moved to gather a council of priests to restrain the case and destroy this depraved doctrine. In
that council, with the consent of all the orthodox, he published a great and accurate
declaration of faith against the heretics which he sent to Gaul with an attached letter ordering
the king of France that if there were any learned Catholic men in his kingdom he should have
them assigned to this work. Eligius would then have willingly joined with his companions
except that at that time he was impeded by a certain circumstance.
34. Meanwhile, during the delay, the enemy of human kind, being sharply incited, struck
powerfully against the walls of the church. Men were lost and turrets weakened with all sorts
of attacks and he hoped to bring bishop Martin himself down with affliction. But though the
unclean spirit struck with all his armed might, Martin resisted by the grace of Christ and
stood, filled with virtue like an immobile rock amidst the flood, repelling the jabberers with a
virile spirit. Imperial letters ordered him to make a proclamation against the faith of the
fathers. But he, to whom that holy faith was venerable, denied that he could speak impious
words against God, judging it wiser to lay down his temporal life that he might keep his
conscience of faith unwounded. We know a certain brother from eastern parts who witnessed
all these deeds that I now report in his own presence. Though he suffered many injuries,
scourged for many days in the people's presence with his hands tied [behind] his back like a
scapegoat, no persuasion could deflect Martin from the Catholic faith. With the whole city
lamenting, he was finally driven into exile. After he was brought to Constantinople and
relegated to exile there, he succeeded by his prayers alone in restoring the light to a blind
man. Thus lingering in exile, after many torments, the noble life of this exalted and venerable
man came to an end. Now the heretics might pretend as much as they liked but they were
confounded and blushed that he had made himself a martyr. Although they clamored that his
soul had been peacefully exhaled still he did not kill himself but they contrived their own
defeat by his death, as pain will not consume him in whom pain was consumed. And if they
were here now, they would hear from me these words for the martyr: "So," I say, "under the
protection of Him Who was made flesh, he did not die by the sword, but relegated to exile for
confessing the Catholic faith, after continuous and unwearying profession he earned the exit
of a glorious death. And thus, having returned to his Lord, he was received as a martyr in the
heavenly court. For his virtue and honor is no less than that conferred on the blessed martyrs
seeing that he bore all that his adversaries inflicted on him with a stout heart. As Scripture
attests, it is no lesser glory but rather more excellent to sustain martyrdom to keep the church
from being torn by heresy than it is to be sacrificed for pulling down idols. For people endure
persecution by the pagans for the sake of their own souls but suffer from heretics for the sake
of the universal church. So I call him greater because without doubt he was proved more
outstanding and excellent." These few words about so excellent a man have been inserted into
the life of Eligius because Martin did so much to brighten the faith in the part of the world
where he lived. And it suffices us to have narrated it for love of grace so that the memory of
that special man who impended much good to my colleagues in Rome shall not be forgotten
in the West although he was brought to the East.
35. While these things were happening in the city of Rome, a heretic from overseas struck a
blow at the province of Gaul. He came to that city once called Aedua, now Auxerre, and
began most fraudulently to preach nefarious dogma. And when this came to the ears of
Eligius in the palace, vigilant as always, with Ouen and other Catholic men, he began to seek
out every manifestation of this plague. He did not stop reminding the bishop and the
optimates, and by his order the sacerdotal princes were gathered in a council at Orl‚ans. The
aforesaid heretic was led before them and they questioned him about different things,
knowing him to be learned, but could reach no conclusion. He answered their questions so
craftily that just where he seemed to be absolutely straight, he opened up holes, slithering like
an oily snake. And when no one could stop him or overcome him in any way, a most learned
bishop named Falvius emerged among us by God's providence who was his match in
everything and we rejoiced in his skill. Now all his previously hidden cunning and arts were
revealed as dissimulation and his arguments were uncovered. Thus all the bishops imposed a
sentence against him and sent a decree above his name to all the cities to eliminate the error to
the ends of Gaul.
36. But when Eligius discovered another apostate disturbing the people of Paris, he
energetically extirpated him from the city. Similarly, after long imprisonment, he ejected
another man who circulated through villas and squares deceiving the populace by pretending
to be a bishop from the boundaries of the kingdom of the Franks. And with great authority he
pursued everyone else who attempted to subvert the people. For he hated all heretics,
schismatics, and every figment beyond the Catholic doctrine and followed every trace of them
with outrage. His eloquence flowed out and he was most subtle in the study of scripture, and
when he had been sufficiently instructed, he went everywhere preaching with the evangelical
cohorts to the people to hold unshakably to their faith in Christ and take care to protect
themselves from every contagion of heresy.
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40. But it would take far too long to recount every sign of his virtue and it is time to put an
end to this part of the book. Words fail and words attenuate our aridity and we will succumb
long before we have exhausted all there is to tell of Eligius. Indeed, I will never tell even a
hundredth part of all the ornaments of good which are so precious that he earned as his
heavenly reward. And we have only covered part of his life. For now the time came when he
put off the dress of a layman and so we can impose an end on this part of the book before our
audience sinks into boredom. The things which he accomplished in his episcopacy and the
way in which he migrated from this world and the virtues he performed after his death, if the
lord grants me life and power, I will explicate in another book. For we do not confide in
ourselves but his merits, to take the work happily begun faithfully even to the end. If Christ
deigns, he will intercede for us in heaven who earned his reward to work such miracles on
earth through the same our lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit
reigns and lives through the cycle of the ages. Amen.
Here ends the first book of the life of Saint Eligius, Bishop and Confessor.
Book II
Propitiating the Lord, I left the work I began on the life of the blessed confessor Eligius
imperfect, lifting my weary and exhausted pen in the middle of the path. Now somewhat
refreshed in strength, with desiring vow, joyful heart, and charming pen, I will attempt to go
on with the work I began. The road may be hard and deep but I will walk willingly and where
my feet cannot take me, love will guide me and so I will go with devotion where words
cannot enter. I accuse myself of being unworthy to pass the life of such a man on to posterity's
memory with the skill due to his literary monument which should draw from the narrative of
deeds the maximum edification for those who read. But he did so much that I simply cannot
surpass the magnitude of good. The multitude of deeds forces me to omit so much that my
soul thirsts in doubt while I try to decide what to keep and what to leave out. For if I tell all I
wish to add, the days will run out while I am still telling and I will far exceed the limit. But on
the other side if I include less, I fear the laughter of hypochritarum, who will say: "This man
began a building and now he cannot finish it." I fear even more that I will offend the prelate,
lest in struggling to expound his accomplishments within the limits set by the aridity of my
eloquence, I will seem more to do him an injury than to reveal his life. So discreet on both
sides, I concentrated the article to the membrane and what I rejected from the first book
follows in this. So it was sufficient in the first book to reveal the things he did while in lay
dress and now we will take up what he did as a bishop.
The Preface ends.
Here begins the second book
1. Eligius once served the eternal king of all princes, Christ, in the palace under secular habit.
He remained in this way from the middle of Clothar's time as king of the Franks, through the
whole time of the famous prince Dagobert and his son Clovis and even to the beginning of the
reign of the junior Clothar. But in those days the simoniac heresy cruelly pullulated in the
cities and even to the borders of the Frankish kingdom and most of the time the unhappy
queen Brunhild violated the Catholic faith with this contagion even to the time of King
Dagobert. The holy men Eligius and Ouen in common council with certain other Catholic
men, warned the prince and his optimates that this death dealing virus must swiftly be
eliminated from the body of Christ which is the universal church. Their pious petition had its
effect and they freely obtained what they had requested devoutly. Thus a single counsel was
pleasing to all, accepted in the Holy Spirit and by royal order, that no one who had paid a
price should be admitted to sacerdotal offices, nor those who, like rapacious wolves, profited
by putting the gifts of the Holy Spirit up for sale. But only men of good reputation and
irreproachable life should be chosen for the pontifical offices.
2. And in that spirit they chose Eligius for the merits of his sanctity and good works, now
radiating light, for the holy sacerdotal office. He was to preside over the church of Noyon
after Acharius, the antistes of that town, had died in the turning of his years. And at the same
time, they chose his comrade Ouen who is called Dado to preside over the church of Rouen.
So the unwilling goldsmith was tonsured and constituted guardian of the towns or
municipalities of Vermandois which include the metropolis, Tournai, which was once a royal
city, and Noyon and Ghent and Courtrai of Flanders. They made him pastor in these places
because the inhabitants were still caught in the errors of the gentiles. Given over to vain
superstition, they were wild peasants who could in no way comprehend the word of salvation.
But when the blessed man recognized that he could in no way escape the imposition of the
office, he would not permit himself to be consecrated priest until he had run the normal course
and time of the clericature. And so there was some delay before he and Ouen were ordained
by Deodatus of Matiscon from the lands across the Loire. But by his counsel, in the same day,
they earned equally the grace of articulated apostolic benediction. For it was the time when all
the people of Gaul celebrate the rogations. Therefore gathering together in Rouen on the
fourteenth day of the third month, in the third year of the reign of the younger Clovis, the
Sunday before the litanies, among crowds of people and flocks of priests and psalling choirs
of the consecrated, we had the grace to be made bishops by that bishop, I to Rouen and he to
Noyon. And being thus made bishop he removed to his see where he presided with more
dignity than I can narrate. There is no amount of words sufficient or no flowing abundance of
prayers to pour out that can tell his goodness as it should be told. Can I go on?
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3. With the care of a solicitous pastor, he cast his eye over the towns or municipia committed
to him and their surroundings. But in Flanders and Antwerp, Frisians and Suevi and other
barbarians coming from the seacoasts or distant lands not yet broken by the plow, received
him with hostile spirits and averse minds. Yet a little later after he gradually began to
insinuate the word of God among them by the grace of Christ, the greater part made truce and
the barbarian people left their idols and converted, becoming subject to the true God and
Christ. Thus like a light shining from heaven or the rays of the sun breaking through, he
illuminated every barbarian land.
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5. In the town of Noyon he built a monastery of handmaids of Christ where he introduced a
great congregation and strict institution of life. And for that he designated an ample piece of
land and all thigs that were necessary for such a monastery. And many other monasteries were
likewise built by him and his disciples which are known today among the Gauls for many of
his disciples now head churches and many rule healthfully over monasteries and many have
been preferred to the episcopal regimen over the highest churches.
6. Among other miracles of his virtue it was conceded to that most holy man from the Lord
that the bodies of holy martyrs, which had until then been hidden from the people through
many ages, were brought to light when he investigated and searched with the great ardor of
his faith. Some had formerly been venerated by people in places where they were not while
being completely ignored in the places where they were certainly buried. But from the time
that Eligius, consecrated bishop, was given as pastor to the churches, not a few were declared
found by the people. Among them first and foremost the holy martyr Quentin was sought with
great urgency in the beginning of his episcopate. He who had been hidden in the past
advanced openly in public. When Eligius was first given to that place as bishop, a certain
unprincipled man called Maurinus, who wore a religious habit in public, was cantor in the
royal palace. Having won praise for telling the King's fortune, he became swell-headed. His
heart shameless and his actions dissipated, deceived with the audacity of his presumption, he
began to clamor that he would seek and find the body of the martyr Quentin for himself. But
the Lord revealed his shamelessness and the merits of Eligius. As soon as he broke the earth
with a hoe, the handle stuck to the digger's hands until the miserable man abandoned his
presumptuous work. On the following day, he died miserably, his hands seething with worms.
And after that, all the people were afraid and even men of respectable lives did not dare
approach Eligius about this business. But as soon as he was ordained, Eligius began to search
the place energetically. The saint had undoubtedly come from the town of Vermandois and
had been buried on the mountain where the martyr was once raised from the flood by Eusebia.
But Eligius, instigated by God's nod, considered this in his mind and openly proclaimed to the
people that his body was not where they had been venerating him but rather in another place
altogether. And when his mind had thus been stimulated for some time, he began to launch a
probing investigation through the pavements of basilicas here and there trying to sense some
sacred tomb. But when no sign of a tomb appeared, the brothers began to abandon him,
fearing among themselves that such an investigation betokened a proud mind which would
end in a sorry death. Moreover, they tried to turn his mind from the idea because the antiquity
of the body and the length of time assured that it must be consumed and reduced to dust. But
when he realized this opposition by his brothers, he cried to them loudly: "Oh brothers, don't,
I beg you, don't impede my devotion. For I believe my Creator will not deign to defraud me of
such a treasure when I long for it so much." And persisting he went on a three day fast
praying loudly to Christ the Lord with tears and vowed that he would not take any food until
he knew that he would deserve what he wanted.
His faith and his constancy were so great that he might overcome in this way just as he
believed it had been done [before], that sometimes he could speak with God as to his earthly
lord and that he would decree what he proposed and indubitably he believed that God would
complete it. Whence when he was drained by so much, he said: "You lord Jesus, Who know
all things before they happen, You know that, unless You show me a sign of this witness's
body who suffered for Your name's sake, unworthy as I am, I will never act as bishop to these
people but rather I will be an exile from this province and take myself away somewhere to die
among the beasts." What more? Persisting in the work begun, he went with his helpers to
diverse churches where they hoped to find something. In one such place, which no one had
suspected, he ordered digging in the back of the church. But when they had opened a trench
nearly ten feet deep, their hopes vanished. But as the middle of the third night flowed by,
Eligius grabbed the hoe and, throwing off his cloak, began with all his strength to dig at the
holy ground with his hands by the light of candles and lamps. And soon at the bottom of the
ditch, to the side, he began to scratch at the earth and uncovered the wrapping of the holy
body. Then filled with great joy, he opened the tomb with the hoe he held in his hand and a
fragrant odor with a great light spread from it so that Eligius could barely sustain his strength
in the power of that odor and that light. A globe of splendor proceeded from the tomb at the
striking blow. It shed the strength of its brightness so much that it blinded the eyes of those
who were standing around and changed night to day in the greater part of the region. Whence
all who had kept watch in that hour gathered. Though ignorant of the cause, they knew they
had been given a great sign from Heaven. For this happened in the middle of night and the
night was dark and stormy but the spreading radiance was like the light of day and it shone for
some time before it grew dim.
Having found the holy body, Eligius kissed it with tears of joy and raising it from the depths
of the ground he divided the desired relics into eleven parts. As he extracted the teeth from the
jaws, a drop of blood flowed out from the root of each tooth. He abstracted nails of wondrous
magnitude which the persecutors had fixed into the body at the time of his passion from the
head and other limbs and sequestrated them with the relics. He divided the hair and chose the
most beautiful reliquaries to hold each one. And then he brought the body to the altar wrapped
in the most precious silk and decently laid out. And he built a tomb wonderfully decorated
with gold and gems. He widened the church to hold greater gatherings of people and
decorated it. And then he distributed the relics which he had taken from the saint's body to
many places where they healed many invalids praying for help.
7. After that, with much labor and urgency, he found the holy martyr Piaton in the territory of
M‚lentois at the town of S‚clin and showed similarly enlarged nails from the body in proof to
the people. Then he composed the body elegantly decked out as a martyr and fabricated an
urbane mausoleum above it. And at Soissons, he wonderfully composed the holy martyred
brothers Crispin and Crispinian, removed from a certain crypt, and decorated them with
ornaments in sign of their memory. And at Belloacus he found and similarly fabricated and
composed the blessed martyr Lucian a comrade of Saint Quentin. And now my tongue is
insufficient to develop the tale of how much more he did so diligently in memory of the
saints.
8. Beyond this he labored much in Flanders. He joined the struggle at Antwerp where he
converted many erroneous Suevi; with apostolic authority. Protected by the shield of Christ,
he destroyed many fanes. Wherever he found any sort of idolatry, he destroyed it at the
foundation. And all the while he kept to the sober discipline of religious virtue, frequently
assailed and often even provoked to contumely by an ingrate and perfidious people, he was at
no point moved from his original teaching, but ever more gentle, patient, humble, and kindly
himself, he prayed the Lord for them. Thus he scoured and composed the land around him
smoothly with ineffable subtlety. With hope for the future, he solicitously put his faith in
words softly studied enough to stimulate the idle minds of the barbarians and lift them to love
of the eternal fatherland. He preached peace to the troubled, quiet to the violent, gentleness to
the ferocious, teaching all to gather as one in the church, to build monasteries and to serve
God sedulously with good works. Not a few barbarians were converted by this oratory,
suddenly springing up as fecund crops and a fruitful harvest in a dry and barren field. You
would see many people hurry to repent, give up their wealth to the poor, free their slaves and
many other works of good in obedience to his precepts. Oh, how many gentiles did Eligius
industriously pluck from error to join them to the venerable flock of Christ. How many
followed his example, spurning the allurements of the world to embrace the blessed life of
monks! How many maidens at his persuasion, refused carnal nuptials to be received into the
bosom of mother church as worthy spouses of Christ! How large the flock of both sexes
gathered in a single year that he cleansed with his own hands in the holy font in the paschal
solemnity! How sweetly he lifted them out, men and women, old and young, drawing them
manfully from the jaws of the enemy with assiduous and salubrious admonition, he converted
so many to the way of salvation. And among so many infants, you would also see many
decrepit in age with tremulous limbs, hoary heads, wrinkled faces, reborn in the sacred font
under his hands and suddenly rejuvenated in their white garments. And you would see many
hurrying to the purifying confession and, like a most learned physician, Eligius restored those
who were wounded by the arrows of the enemy to health so that no scar remained on them
and no crime of prior guilt attended them. But what further remains? Certainly it is clear and
evident that he provoked many to imitate him through divine grace. Indeed, these were the
virtues that shone most brightly in him: modesty with shame, wisdom with simplicity,
severity with kindness, learning with humility, humility with rigor. And when he was most
merciful with others, he was harshest with himself. Pious with others he was severe in his
own abstinence; generous to all but miserly with himself. Among his colloquies, his holy
words always resonated; solicitous for peace, careful for the health of the fatherland, he
prayed the prince day and night for the quiet of the churches wherever they were and for
peace, and calling upon his name in whom the strength of the spirit and magnificence of
heavenly grace were in concord.
- lacuna -
11. Once he had to go to a certain place in Provence. And one day he was travelling a road in
that province with a certain noble of his comitatus and a certain unclean man met them, filled
with a raging spirit. When he saw the holy man, struck with fear, frothing and turning pale, he
said to him: "Why are you here, Eligius?" And turning to him, holy Eligius said: "And what
[is that] to you, unclean devil? In the name of Jesus Christ shut up and get out of him." And
immediately violently shaking the man, he left him. For fifteen years that vile spirit had
occupied and tormented the man. But now he was swiftly restored to health and arose, whole
from that hour forth.
12. So Eligius came to a villa called Ampuis which is situated on the banks of the Rhone and
pertains to the estate of Erchenbert, an illustrious man. There was a woman there who had
long been infested with a demon. Eligius entered into the basilica in that place to pray and
when he finished and came out the women met him and began to cry out his name loudly and
insolently. Then Eligius fixed his attention on her, knelt on the ground and prayed. Then he
turned to her and said: "I adjure you, malign spirit, through God the almighty Father, and
Jesus Christ His Son and the Holy Spirit Paraclete, that by their virtue you leave this vessel
whom you have held captive." And immediately at his word, the spirit struck the woman to
the ground and she seemed like the dead; then by the great power of the demon, blood from
her very guts poured out the woman's mouth and he was poured out from her and fled from
the face of the man of God. Then holy Eligius ordered the woman to be relieved and gave her
a blessing with water and oil in a cup and when she had tasted it her spirit was rekindled and
she was well without harm from that hour.
13. Now beyond all this I think, although it may be ignoble, that the blessed man had another
experience on that same road. When he had completed the business for which he came and
visited all his friends and bishops in Provence, Eligius prepared to pack all his things and
leave for his own country from the house of Aspasius of the Iuvini family, a most illustrious
Christian man. Last of all, he met with Bishop Aurelian of Uzes, who told him that amidst the
bustling of the servants of both their houses one of his servants had suddenly lost a basket
which he always kept with him to lead the pack-camel so that in the confusion he could keep
him to the road. Then Eligius secretly called a man whom he knew to be the thief to him and
ordered him saying: "Go to that nearby cliff. There among the thorns you will find what you
seek bound with a thong and hidden. Cut it free and take what is yours and without any injury,
without harsh words, return to the designated man the basket in which the bundle was tied."
And when he had done that, the man was struck by such shame and amazement, that he
prayed for pardon offering reparations to the offended man.
- lacuna -
15. At that time, with the affection of piety and the solicitous care of a pastor, he came to visit
his own paternal possessions in the city of Limoges. Hearing the holy fame of the monasteries
constituted after his example in that same town, he greatly desired to cast his gaze on his own
and particularly on all the institutions which imitated his own venerable monastery. When his
company neared the city of Bourges, having directed each of his comrades on their way, he
himself with a few others headed for the memorial of Sulpicius to adore the confessor. When
he arrived there and had made his prayer, he heard that recently several persons condemned to
death had been bound in the fiscal prison. They had killed a fiscal judge and therefore were
held in chains. Eligius, mindful of the Lord's word, "I was in prison and you visited me," and
"Whatever you do for one of the least of mine, you do for me," asked to be taken to them. But
when he approached the prison guard, the soldiers rising soon obstructed him violently and
would not permit him to come nearer. Sorrowful and indignant in spirit, he left and returned
to the original road. When he came to his destination, he remained there for some time near
the city of Limoges, and made the circuit of all the monasteries in the city and its suburbs,
listening devoutly to all their benedictions. He visited his own monastery of brothers and
placed a second abbot over them--for the first had been captured to the episcopate--showing
paternal solicitude for each of them exhorting all to serve God in truth and simplicity of heart
and daily come together in the better, to follow the accepted plan with all zeal even to the end.
Then he went to the estate of his parents where his brother Alicius had built a monastery in
his father's dwelling. There too he comforted the convent of brothers and then prepared to
return to his own city. And when the road passed Bourges, he wished again to turn off at that
city. His spirit moved since he had not been of any help before to those who were held there
in prison and could not free them. Acting on this, therefore, he prayed on the road that the
Lord would not suffer his labor on behalf of the prisoners to be consumed in vain. Therefore
on the day he entered the city, at dawn, he raised his eyes to the heavens which were
exceedingly darkened with storm and clouds so that the city-dwellers could barely see beyond
a stone's throw. No sooner had Eligius entered the city than he approached the prison gates
and, by God's nod, immediately with a great bang they were broken open, the hinges torn off,
the gates yawned and all the chains were loosened from the men's feet. Then Eligius
pretending that the power conceded to him had nothing to do with himself, went swiftly away
to the prison; he gave the prisoners advice that as soon as they left the prison they should seek
refuge in the church. And coming out they hurried straight to the church of Saint Sulpicius
and when they were all there they found the gates of the church barred. Though they searched
high and low, they could find no way in until suddenly one of the largest windows in the front
of the church burst and one of the side gates opened. They got into the basilica and hurried to
the throne of the altar. So when Eligius came there in his circuit of all the places where he
prayed, he found them all around the altar and before the sepulchre of the aforesaid primate.
And when the soldiers found the prison emptied, they followed them to that place and entered
the basilica, and attempted to lay hands on them and drag them into iron chains. Blessed
Eligius spoke mildly to them saying: "Don't, I beg you, men of God, don't behave this way in
a holy place. Why do you strain to slay those whom the pious Lord has freed? Wherefore do
you act so impiously in the house of God? Why do you not fear the guilt of such wickedness?
For this house is the house of life, not death. It is a refuge for the delinquent, not damnation
for the refugee. This is the place of prayer, not a den of thieves." But when none of his words
would move them, then he said, "The Lord God sees what you are doing. You, if you refuse to
listen to me, must, I believe, hear him who never deserts those who trust him." So turning to
his accustomed guide, he prostrated himself on the earth between the altar and the memorial
of the confessor and prayed urgently to the Lord. And when he raised his head from prayer,
immediately, the chains fell to the ground and all on whom they had been placed were
instantly freed with a mighty blow. Seeing this, the soldiers were struck with fear and
trembling threw themselves at the feet of Eligius praying for his pardon, saying: "We have
sinned, lord father, we have done evil, we were stupid to try and contend with you. We admit
that we have done wrong and pray you to overlook our impiety." And then he said to them:
"and I realize that you have acted in ignorance. For the Lord works as he will. I pray that he
who freed them give pardon to you and, propitiated, absolve you from all sin. For not I, as
you suppose, but the holy Sulpicius defends those who flee to him." And in this way Eligius,
or the Lord through Eligius, absolved criminals twice from dire danger of death. The pious
one, the merciful one, who ripped Peter from raging Herod, putting his guards to sleep, now
worked in Bourges with his servant Eligius. He who freed His vessel of election, Paul, from
the chains of prison now emptied the prison to humble the arrogance of the proud. Therefore
praise to him, glory to him through whom his servant can do such wonders in the world. So
therefore, Eligius gave the freed criminals, who were practically naked, clothes and alms and
ordered that in future they amend their lives as should many others as well, and that same day
he distributed money to various paupers and monasteries. Then he resumed his original path
and at last came to his own. Every day attending to people entrusted to him, he tirelessly
worked for their salvation. Evidently burning with zeal for the truth, he wished to show the
people that they should maintain fearless faith, ordering all to serve God in truth and do
justice at all times and that they should be mindful of the benefices of Christ and bless his
name every day of their lives. Collecting crowds from all around into the church, he offered
them many great admonitions encompassed in sermons that were brief but rich in spiritual
edification, exalting his voice with prophetic assurance.
16. I ask you dearest brothers and admonish you with great humility to command your intent
spirit to listen to what I wish to suggest to you for your salvation.
- gap -
Before all else, I denounce and contest, that you shall observe no sacrilegious pagan customs.
For no cause or infirmity should you consult magicians, diviners, sorcerers or incantators, or
presume to question them because any man who commits such evil will immediately lose the
sacrament of baptism. Do not observe auguries or violent sneezing or pay attention to any
little birds singing along the road. If you are distracted on the road or at any other work, make
the sign of the cross and say your Sunday prayers with faith and devotion and nothing
inimical can hurt you. No Christian should be concerned about which day he leaves home or
which day he returns because God has made all days. No influence attaches to the first work
of the day or the [phase of the] moon; nothing is ominous or ridiculous about the Calends of
January. [Do not] make [figures of?] vetulas, little deer or iotticos or set tables at night or
exchange New Years' gifts or supply superfluous drinks. No Christian believes impurity or
sits in incantation, because the work is diabolic. No Christian on the feast of Saint John or the
solemnity of any other saint performs solestitia [solstice rites?] or dancing or leaping or
diabolical chants. No Christian should presume to invoke the name of a demon, not Neptune
or Orcus or Diana or Minerva or Geniscus or believe in these inept beings in any way. No one
should observe Jove's day in idleness without holy festivities not in May or any other time,
not days of larvae or mice or any day but Sunday. No Christian should make or render any
devotion to the gods of the trivium, where three roads meet, to the fanes or the rocks, or
springs or groves or corners. None should presume to hang any phylacteries from the neck of
man nor beast, even if they are made by priests and it is said that they contain holy things and
divine scripture because there is no remedy of Christ in these things but only the devil's
poison. None should presume to make lustrations or incantations with herbs, or to pass cattle
through a hollow tree or ditch because this is to consecrate them to the devil. No woman
should presume to hang amber from her neck or call upon Minerva or other ill-starred beings
in their weaving or dyeing but in all works give thanks only to Christ and confide in the
power of his name with all your hearts. None should presume to shout when the moon is
obscured, for by God's order eclipses happen at certain times. Nor should they fear the new
moon or abandon work because of it. For God made the moon for this, to mark time and
temper the darkness of night, not impede work nor make men mad as the foolish imagine,
who believe lunatics are invaded by demons from the moon. None should call the sun or
moon lord or swear by them because they are God's creatures and they serve the needs of men
by God's order. No one should tell fate or fortune or horoscopes by them as those do who
believe that a person must be what he was born to be. For God wills all men to be saved and
come to the knowledge of truth and dispenses wisdom to all as he disposed it before the
constitution of the world. Above all, should any infirmity occur, do not seek incantators or
diviners or sorcerers or magicians, do not use diabolic phylacteries through springs and
groves or crossroads. But let the invalid confide solely in the mercy of God and take the body
and blood of Christ with faith and devotion and ask the church faithfully for blessing and oil,
with which he might anoint his body in the name of Christ and, according to the apostle, "the
prayer of faith will save the infirm and the Lord will relieve him." And he will not only
receive health for the body but for the soul and what the Lord promised in the Gospel will be
fulfilled saying: "For whatever you shall ask, you will receive through believing prayer."
Before everything, wherever you are, at home or on the road or at table, let no foul and lustful
language drop from your mouth because the Lord announced in the Gospel: "For all the idle
words which men speak while on earth, they will give account on the judgment day."
Diabolical games and dancing or chants of the gentiles will be forbidden. No Christian will do
them because he thus makes himself pagan. Nor is it right that diabolical canticles should
proceed from a Christian mouth where the sacrament of Christ is placed, which it becomes
always to praise God. Therefore, brothers, spurn all inventions of the enemy with all your
heart and flee these sacrileges with all horror. Venerate no creature beyond God and his
saints. Shun springs and arbors which they call sacred. You are forbidden to make the crook
which they place on the crossroads and wherever you find one you should burn it with fire.
For you must believe that you can be saved by no other art than the invocation and cross of
Christ. For how will it be if groves where these miserable men make their devotions, are
felled and the wood from them given to the furnace? See how foolish man is, to offer honor to
insensible, dead trees and despise the precepts of God almighty. Do not believe that the sky or
the stars or the earth or any creature should be adored beyond God for he created and disposes
of them all. Heaven is high indeed, and the earth vast, and the sea immense and the stars
beautiful but more immense and more beautiful by necessity is he who created them. For if
the things seen are so incomprehensible, that is none of the variety of fruits of the earth, the
beauty of flowers, the diversity of fruits, the types of animals, some on earth, some in water,
some in the air, the prudence of bees, the breath of the wind, the dewy clouds and clashing
thunder, the turning of the seasons, the alternation of days and nights, can be comprehended
by the human mind. If all this is so, as we see, and we cannot comprehend them at any point,
what should we think of those heavenly things which we cannot see? What of that artisan at
whose nod all this was created and at whose will all is governed? Therefore, fear him,
brothers, above all; adore him among all; love him over all; hold to his mercy and never
despair of his clemency.
- lacuna -
17. This summation of so many of the man's familiar admonitions must be enough to narrate.
It does not represent anything he said in a particular day in order but is a digest of the precepts
which he taught the people at all times. And at the end, he inferred saying: "For this, brothers,
if you take care, you will have your reward.
- lacuna -
But enough has been said about this. Now let us proceed as we proposed to his virtues.
18. There was a certain man dwelling in a suburb of Paris, doubtless staying at the basilica of
blessed Peter prince of the apostles, whom Eligius loved familiarly for his faith and devotion,
and who loved him in turn for reverence of his unique sanctity. One day, as Eligius circled the
estates of his monastery, he passed through Gentilly on his way back to Paris. And he and his
nobles were not far from his house when, as usual, he waylaid the company on the road,
having spied them from a height, for he knew Eligius would be passing there. On meeting, he
began to embrace his knees saying: "There is a drop of Falernian in a large jar at my house;
turn, I beg you my Lord, for a moment into the house of your servant, that those who are with
you may drink it down and the Lord my bless me at your coming." And when he wished to
excuse himself he was conquered by the prayers of the company and at last turned to his
house. Now the man had two or three vessels in his cellar which the vulgar call tuns holding
about a metreta of wine each. So when he had entered he was asked to receive some by way
of benediction and blessing the cup he drank from it to his satisfaction. And at the same time
his companions drank very freely. Then, having blessed the house and saying farewell to the
man, he left and turned to his monastery which was in the city. But as soon as he had gone,
through the exuberant grace of divinity, the jar which had been emptied for the sake of his
followers was filled to the brim. And another event that day: the man fortuitously entered into
cellar found the tun which the day before stood nearly empty full even to the lip. Greatly
astonished, he began to marvel and committing the merits of his guest to memory, he hurried
to him telling him how much the lord had rewarded him for his entertainment. But when
Eligius heard this, giving thanks to the Lord, he said to him: "Peace to you, brother, keep
these words to yourself nor suffer to divulge them to anyone but go and give thanks that the
lord has been generous to you [for having] expended necessaries in use.' And then he began to
ask him if he would deign to rest at his house again and bless that liquor and take something
from that same vessel. He swore that unless he would do so, he would never take a single
drop of it. And seeing the man's devotion, he hurried to the house and at the entrance
prostrated himself on the floor and poured out prayer. After the prayer he considered the full
jar and ordered it to be opened and the wine in the vessel to be poured. And when it was done
and he had tasted some and all who were with him had drunk heartily from the liquor, he
raised his eyes and hands to the heavens and giving thanks and glorifying the name of the
Lord returned on his road.
19. But neither do I think I should be silent about something which I trust would incite my
readers and listeners to study humility because of his example, lest at some time rascals
should presume recklessly to cast frivolous words against holy men when they should fear to
succumb to a like disaster. One day an ill-starred man with a rash and lazy mind, a familiar of
Ebroin, complained for many days against Eligius wishing with the greatest pertinacity to cut
down the trees of his church and steal its property. For which reason, he frequently harassed
him and finally provoked him to injury with his frivolous words; whence one day the man
went to Eligius and began violently to repeat them to him in front of a great multitude. And
when Eligius answered him mildly, he, with human boastfulness, put himself forward boldly,
berating him further with many hostile words. Bearing this patiently, Eligius strove to calm
him with soft words saying: "Friend, restrain your greed! Don't you blush to covet so blindly
what belongs to others? If you asked me for what is my own, I might give you what you
asked. But now you ask from me what is not mine but belongs to the church. I will not give
you what is dedicated to the needs of the poor." Thus incited, he violently insulted him with
harsh words saying: "If you won't give it to me willingly, I will take it, willy-nilly." At last,
Eligius reacted and said with a menacing face: "My Creator knows, unless you desist
immediately from this intention, you will receive the excommunication worthy of your
deserts." No sooner did he hear the words than he broke out into raucous laughter, frivolously
hurling many shameful and abusive insults. Then, seeing that nothing else would calm him,
Eligius pointed at him with his right hand and inflicted the terrible bolt of excommunication
upon him. Oh wondrous power of virtue! Immediately, divine indignation took the man at his
word. He found all strength and vigor and every sign of life drained from him, falling on the
floor even as Eligius spoke. He was so stricken by the Divinity all the bystanders thought he
had died. And all who saw this were stupefied that the wrath of God repaid an injury to
Eligius. So they carried away that miserable man and prepared him for a funeral. Meanwhile
all who were there prayed the man of God to overlook that ill-starred frenzy and pray that,
restored to health, the man might repent what he had done against him. Whether he did so or
not, we are still uncertain. We will offer no more than this for [your] admiration: his word
obtained from divine largesse the great power that threw the proud to earth and humiliated the
arrogant without whips but only by the power of the word. How dear God held him to visit
such swift revenge on a man simply at his word. But lest you think his words were his only
power, listen to what else he did.
20. Once when the diocese was celebrating the natal day of the most blessed Peter the Apostle
in the town of Noyon, Eligius went to the vicus and preached as was his constant custom, the
word of God with skillful constancy, denouncing all demonic games and wicked leapings and
all remnants of inane superstitions as things to be thoroughly abominated. Some of the leading
people in that place bore his preaching most grudgingly, resenting that he would upset their
feasts and weaken their customs, which they deemed legitimate. Chief among these depraved
ones were the servants of Erchenwald who, as praepositus of the palace at the time, emulated
Eligius but not to the good. They decreed together that, if Eligius should again attack their
frivolities, they would kill him boldly. When Eligius learned of this, stimulated by the desire
for martyrdom, he swiftly rose and ordered all his people that none should follow him but two
priests and a deacon. So he went into the middle of a crowd of people and stood on a high
place before the basilica where he began to preach urgently. Heatedly, he abjured the people
that by turning their backs on his admonitions to salvation, they would be extremely
threatened by diabolical phylacteries. Violently moved by this exhortation, the crowd
answered him with shameful and impudent words, threatening him: "Never, Roman, however
hard you try, shall you uproot our customs but we will attend our solemnities always and
forever as we have done till now nor can any man forbid us our ancient and gratifying
games." When he saw that he was getting nowhere and further games were being organized,
he was moved with indignation and called forth to Lord Jesus from his heart, saying: "Lord, I
seek your divine clemency. May you permit these, who dare to contradict your holy
admonitions with such pride and audacity and prefer the seductions of demons to your
precepts, be given an example of such ferocity and terror that they shall know whose work
they are and your Holy Name shall be glorified by men who believe in you." As soon as he
spoke these words, many people were suddenly possessed by unclean spirits, particularly
Erchenwald's partisans who, despising divine mandates, had been prepared to raise their
hands against him and they began to rave. The whole crowd except those who were with
[Eligius] were filled with terror and began to lick his footsteps showing reverence lest they
suffer the same fate, each one begging to be enrolled among his sincere followers. To them,
the blessed man said: "Don't be afraid, but rather glorify the just judgment of God, seeing that
it is worthy of respect that he draws those who seem to run against His will to face what they
love that their preceptors may feel whose cult they serve. You too, if you obey the precepts of
Christ willingly, should fear nothing because you will always be safe from these robbers."
Many then prayed for those who were being harassed but he did not wish to pray for them
immediately. Rather, he said: "Let it be, let it be; they must bear it; they must bear it; they
must know whom they despised and whose orders they have obeyed until now." So when a
year had passed and the anniversary of that festivity arrived, he ordered all the harassed to
come to him. And when they were present, he prayed, exorcised some water, and gave it to
them for a cure, freeing them immediately from the devil's traps. For there were more than
fifty of them. Healing them in this way he corrected them and sent them home healed and
punished.
21. Another time, when he was visiting his diocese following episcopal custom, he interdicted
the course of the oblation being celebrated in a basilica for a particular reason. For there was a
priest there suffering in bad conscience whom he excommunicated because of his guilt. He
took the bishop's words lightly, not thinking that he had to obey the order. When he thought
[Eligius] had gone far enough away from the place, he began to ring the bell at the usual hour
as was his custom. Then confuting the human presumption, the creature more insensible than
rational heeded the bishop's words imposing silence on it and not a sound emerged from his
strenuous ringing of the bell. For a long time the priest pulled at the rope, until he realized that
the bells would remain mute. Then he went out of the basilica, the cause being made clear at
the same time. Then mindful of Eligius' excommunication, he hurried after him praying that
he would reconcile the basilica. But although he was kind, he did not want to act hastily but
first to have satisfaction that his sentence reflected. Thus a day and a night passed while the
priest vainly tried to ring the bells and no sound attended his ringing. Then another night and
day and still no ringing. A third day and night went by, still with no sound. But then nuncios
came with letters from the optimates and seniors and at last their prayers overcame and the
prelate was satisfied with the penitence and the place was reconciled with a single word from
Eligius and soon, when the signal was touched, the bells were restored to their
tintinnabulation.
22. Another day taking the road for necessary purposes, he came to a place not far from the
royal estate at CompiŠgne. Weary from traveling, he turned into a certain colonus's field.
There was an arbor of nut trees there, heavily laden with edible fruit. And when Eligius had
rested a while, some of his servants went out and began to pick nuts from the trees for it was
time for them to eat together. Rushing forward, the lord of the orchard loudly complained that
his nuts were being stolen from him. Eligius called his men to him and softly and mildly
soothed him saying: "Friend, don't be a nuisance to us because of this. If the boys took a little,
there is much still remaining and I will give you money in satisfaction for anything that they
have taken." But with swollen mind, spurning his mildness, he reviled him, taxing him closely
with hard words. Thus Eligius with unruffled spirit, scolded his servants more harshly for
what they had done and ordered them to give the man three gold pieces for the substance he
had lost. Then, after the example of the Lord with the fig tree, he turned toward the orchard
and ordered: "Since we were so attacked for you, nevermore till eternity shall you bear fruit."
And, oh wonderful power of God, whose example was followed in this word, his virtue
achieved the same effect. For after a little while the arbor dried up and remained permanently
arid. So in this case he merited to follow the Lord's example, ordering the orchard with
confidence, because he had put his whole faith in the Lord's words Who said, "He who
believes in me, not only shall he do what I do but what is more it shall be done."
- gap -
26. - gap -- meanwhile Eligius flourished in such sincerity of mind, sedulously serving God
with hymns and prayers. The most sublime virtues of the spirit flowered so that no one could
be in his presence for long before he foretold their future about which I would be criminal not
to tell a little.
27. Once a certain praepositus from Erckenwald's palace for some reason asked to travel to a
town in his company. But considering the size of his group, he refused to accompany him. But
the elders and abbots of his city pressed him to agree lest the man should use the excuse of the
trip to take offense or become an enemy. At last, forced to answer them straightforwardly, he
said: "What is the need, brothers, for us to get all upset about this? For unquestionably I know
what none of you know, that if we hurry off there, we will suffer great injury. This man will
get there in a hurry but he will not return alive but will die there." Indeed after several days
his words were fulfilled for when they came in their own time to the said estate they learned
that it had happened as he predicted. Then one night when everyone else was deep in sleep,
Eligius happened to leave his tent and as he walked about before the vestibule, revolving I
don't know what psalm internally, he suddenly saw a column of fire descend from heaven and
violently penetrate Erckenwald's chamber. And silently considering the event within himself,
he indicated the death of that beast to his deacon who was always with him at that time.
Immediately struck with divine punishment, Erckenwald was afire with a sudden
conflagration in his inmost bowels and straight off ordered that Eligius be called to him.
When called, he came. Seeing him violently choking, he began to persuade him as he was
about to die to do what he had not done willingly when he was alive, because faith had not
been alive in him. Without delay, he must give the great sacks bursting with unrefined golden
metal which traveled with him on horses to the poor for the refreshment of his soul. He added
that nothing could be beneficial to him except to relinquish that treasure that had undoubtedly
damaged his soul. But greedy as always, tenacious and avaricious, he kept dithering and in his
long delay exhaled his spirit. Taking his corpse with him for mercy, Eligius brought him to
burial and so the fulfillment of his prophecy was complete.
28. Similarly he foretold the death of a certain most cruel man, Flavadus, to his brothers. For
that tyrant most wickedly killed a Christian man, Willibad, a patrician of Burgundy and his
death was announced to Eligius. He responded in opposition to that narrative, saying: "You
tell me that Willibad is dead and Flavadus is alive. But I tell you that I know that he whom
you have killed now lives more happily in heaven for his great merits; and he whom you
applaud as still living will soon be dead in all his evil ways." And he remained unmoved,
openly predicting: "I tell you this, because that dead man was a worshipper of the true God
during his life, now he lives happily without end. But Flavadus who seems to be living for a
longer time, will pursue evil for but ten more days and then, as is fitting, he will die." And it
happened just as he said it would. For in seven days Flavadus was struck down and soon was
miserably dead following the sentence of the man of God.
29. And another time, when he was still in lay clothing, he made a wonderful prediction. One
night when he had finished his accustomed prayers, he was resting a little in his chamber
when suddenly he began to be violently agitated in sleep. Soon his clerk awakened and asked
him the cause of the vision and heard this in response from him: "Just now, Simplicius, the
bishop of Limoges, migrated from this world and behold, Felix, who has now become a priest,
sends messengers to us that we may give support to his party. Now I spoke with them for my
part. Be careful therefore for they are undoubtedly at hand." Having spoken, he rested and
behold! when daylight appeared, they soon began to hear the messengers pounding on the
door of the vestibule, as he had said. Entering there, they announced the death of the bishop
and it all turned out to be as Eligius had foretold. They offered him a lot of money which
Felix sent for support to the episcopate but they could in no way persuade him to accept
anything from them. But soon he went to the prince and obtained what they asked gratis and
so sent them back to their own place.- gap -
31. And another time, Eligius visited his monastery in the territory of Limoges and on his way
back stopped at Bourges where he wished to see a certain inclusus named Ebrigisilus whose
good fame was then celebrated by everyone in the town. Keeping indiscreetly to the rigor of
his own institutions, the inclusus would not allow Eligius even to see his face through a
window and, as was his custom, answered his questions with his rude window closed. After a
brief exchange of words, not asking to see him, Eligius bade him a last farewell, saying: "I
cannot see you here, brother, in any way; but without doubt I will see you soon in the king's
court at Clichy." And when he got no response, he continued: "Aye, aye, you will prove this
on that day when I will see you there before the people and the princes in public." And indeed
the words came true after a little while. For some reason, the inclusus was compelled to leave
his enclosed cell and go to the king's palace where Eligius received him in honor. And once
he was there, they had some honest and friendly talk between them and then he returned to his
own place with this business successfully transacted.
32. He predicted many other things in the course of familiar speech such as when he foretold
the death of the former king Charibert and it happened a little later and the death of the
famous king Dagobert and the birth of Clothar junior. For when he was still in the womb and
the queen was greatly afraid that she might have a daughter and the realm succumb because of
it, Eligius came to her and reassured her. In the presence of the pregnant woman, he predicted
a male birth to all and foretold her son from the mystery of regeneration. He then named the
child in the womb and promised certain pieces of work that a child could use and had them
made and ordered them to be kept against the birth. And all happened as he predicted which at
last was attested by the king. For the queen brought forth a son and he was like a little son to
Eligius. And the king called him by the name Chlotar which Eligius had bestowed upon him.
After this, God multiplied his progeny and he sired two more sons. But in those days when
the three procreated were still young and the king and queen remained peaceful and happy,
Eligius predicted: "In a nocturnal vision, I saw the sun hurrying and shining brightly about the
third hour of the day. Suddenly it disappeared into nowhere. And while I was still skillfully
straining this formless prodigy, I looked there and behold, the moon sprang in the midst with
three stars circling around, seemingly bound to that path where the returning sun turned daily.
So I waited, astounded by this portent and soon before my wondering gaze, the moon was
fortuitously removed leaving the stars remaining. After that, I earnestly watched the three
stars until the noon hour came and their rays reflected one another in turn and one which
seemed brighter than the others was unexpectedly withdrawn and the two openly poured out
as much [light]. And then the same thing happened with the two: one of them was obscured or
subtracted and only one remained in view which alone followed the path imitating the sun and
shone with great brilliance and when it set in the west, great brightness was propagated on
that side. And when at last it came to the final setting, so much brightness from its lamp was
shed that it seemed to outshine the brightness of the sun. And this was therefore the order of
the vision. After the death of King Clovis--for he soon will come to an end--this kingdom of
the Franks will be left for some time to the queen and the three little boys. And after she will
be removed from ruling, one of the three sons remaining will fall at last. And after no great
time, one of the two will be deprived of the kingdom and the third will have the monarchy
alone and will be magnified above all his affines and obtain the three kingdoms for his own.
And so this vision will be consummated." Thus spoke Eligius. It remains for us to see whether
these words will come true for they are now only partially completed. But we do not doubt
that consideration of the preceding which has been fulfilled, points to fulfillment of the rest.
For following his sentence, King Clovis died at peace within thirty days. Then his widowed
queen with her boys obtained the reign for a few years. She was afterward removed by law
and left the principate to her sons and, after a few years, the eldest born among them, who was
seen to hold the most power, died one day after reigning peacefully and quietly and left his
two surviving brothers. Now what will happen to them will only be decided by the judgment
of God. Therefore this and similar other things which it would take too long to tell, were
prophesied by Eligius.
33. - gap -- But because through the changes of time, speech runs to an end and the pen moves
toward his happy transit, it will be sufficient to describe some of the events of his life in order.
For as I hope, though we produce words in a rustic style, whatever merits we are capable of
narrating come from his virtues. So I think it worthy to record for the edification of the
audience how he migrated from this life.
The Death of the holy and most blessed Eligius bishop and confessor.
34. In those days, after Eligius had borne all the burdens and labors of this world with
equanimity, transacted all the administration of this temporary life, after so many works of
mercy, after sweet examples, after freeing an innumerable flock of prisoners, after binding a
copious multitude of monks and virgins to God in communities, after distributing an immense
heap of his substance in alms, after the accumulated merits of dispensation of money to the
believing faithful, he became elderly. Having passed seventy years of age full of good works,
he felt his body approaching dissolution. One day he was walking with his disciples around
the town of Noyon and by chance spied the basilica of Saint M‚dard from a height. It was
falling into ruin with crumbling and broken walls. Thus he ordered the workmen to be called
to reinforce the weakness of the walls there with linen bandages. One of his disciples said,
"We are waiting for an opportune time, lord, when it may be more easily and solidly fixed."
And he answered, "Let it be this way, boy, seeing that if it is not fixed this way, it will not be
corrected while I remain in my body." And at these words they shrank away and turned to
sorrow, and began sighing together: "May it not happen, lord, that your servants see what you
have said but may the lord permit your blessed presidency to flourish here for many more
years as an ornament to his church and the poor." To this, directing supplicating eyes to the
heavens, and drawing a long sigh from his breast, he said: "In this, is it not for our will but for
the Lord's will to be done to me? For the condition of nature exacts that after the multiple
pleasures of this life at last we shall approach pardon. But it comes to you and you cannot
change the effect or oppose your will to the will of God in this, because beyond doubt the
time is already fixed." And since all were sorrowful at these words, he said: "Don't be sad
about all this boys, but be glad and rejoice with me because in the past I have desired this
time, in the past after a long labor of life I have sought this harvest." Thus they were all cast
into sorrow, nor was there much time for doubt to rule, after the conversation thus ended. For
with little delay, his body began to sink beneath a fever. Then ever more certain that divine
providence was bringing his death, he ordered all his servants and ministers to be gathered
whom he had governing for a long, fleeting time. And he began to pass his last days publicly
as he had always done, preaching to them always to keep peace with one another, considering
themselves their brothers' keepers in charity, bound by the chains of love and unity. Then
having summoned Baldred, abbot of the church of Tournai, he said to him: "I will not conceal
something from you, brother, which I have certainly revealed before. I am making my way
following the course of the fathers. I warn you against wanting to return to Tournai but rather
be content to stay here with your brothers, living with them. For if you go there, ignoring my
words, I know for certain that you will not return alive." And so it happened as he predicted
after his death. For Baldred negligently disobeyed the warning. After the blessed man's death,
he hastened to that town without hesitation and only a few days later, he was violently cut
down and killed by a crowd rushing upon him. Now, as I began to say, when the blessed man
lay in his last illness and his infirmity had continued for five or six days, he pretended that he
could go on as always, walking about supported by a staff. Nor would he abandon the works
of God, seeking good to the exhaustion of his strength, so that he retained even to the end
what he had borne under the yoke through the long space of his life. All night long, with
prayers and vigils he forced his weakening limbs to serve his spirit. Keeping in mind the
memory of future bliss, he awaited the road to his desire with great joy. Meanwhile, on the
Calends of December, when he felt the day of his completed salvation approaching, he
gathered all his servants and disciples whom he was leaving as orphans, not in spirit but in
body, and exhorted them:
- gap -
36. - gap -- and this said, among these words he emitted his spirit. And suddenly at the first
hour of the night a blinding brightness was seen, shining like a great beacon from that house
and among the wondering watchers a fiery orb taking on the shape of the cross scattered the
density of the clouds with its swift course to penetrate the heavens on high. So in this manner
his holy soul was liberated from the pressure of the abject flesh which encased it and flew
joyfully to its author. After long wandering here, to the rejoicing of heaven, the weeping of
earth, and the applause of the angels, it arose at last rejoicing to [its] ancient estate. So all the
love that the blessed man had among the people was clearly demonstrated in his death. Hardly
had he exhaled his spirit and rendered the soul he owed to Christ than, as the messengers ran,
weeping resounded through the whole town to heaven and all the streets were suddenly filled
with noise and in the city everyone mourned this death as a common disaster. What more?
When the composed body was carried to the church on its bier, as is customary, the people
came for vigil, keeping watch in turns, the clergy with hymns and the people lamenting
through the night.
37. So by dawn a multitude of both sexes had gathered in the town. Queen Balthild was there
with her sons and a multitude of nobles who speedily entered the town and went to the funeral
course, and broke into tears weeping and wailing that she had known him so little in life. And
when she had wept for a long time lying with laments on his bier, she asked that preparations
be made for her to carry the body of the blessed man to her monastery of Chelles. But when
she tried to raise him nothing could prevail to move him from the spot and with sorrow she
ordered that the church's triduum of fasts with psalling be celebrated. While that was done,
she celebrrated that triduum in continuous vigil with her optimates and clerks persisting in
their longing. When this was over, the venerable queen weeping uncontrollably, could in no
way keep back her tears. And since she could in no way bear the absence of the holy man
because of her excessive sorrow, at last, to satisfy her desire, she revealed his face kissing it
sorrowfully and began to wet his hands and breast and drown his cheeks with a sea of tears.
And behold! suddenly as she was stroking the holy body with kisses, a miracle occurred. For
it was winter time and the corpse lay frozen until fortuitously a flood of blood flowed from
this nose and began to moisten the holy one's cheeks. Seeing this, the bishops and the most
Christian queen quickly placed a linen napkin there. Diligently, they collected the blood
wherever it ran and the better to conserve the gift separated it into three pieces. Meanwhile,
with the fast finished, the queen was determined, as we said, to move the body of the holy
man to her monastery at Chelles. But others wanted to bring him to Paris and yet more
insisted that the city of Noyon most justly deserved the legacy of her antistes' limbs. Thus
altercation arose among them all with pious devotion alternating with holy rapine, about who
most justly deserved the relics and the sepulchre. When the bishops and forestanders
(praestantiores) who were of the queen's party prepared to bear him to her monastery a great
roar and tumult rose among the whole people of Noyon. Then the queen, taking more prudent
counsel and committing the cause to God said: "Now let these tortuous debates be discarded
and we will test whether it is the Lord's will that this holy man be there where I desire. In that
case, [the bier] may be raised without difficulty, or otherwise." And when she had spoken
they went to the bier and attempted to raise it but felt so much weight depressing it that they
could not move it from that spot. Then in turn others tried but none could prevail. Finally the
queen, wishing to prove it for herself, stretched out and turned up her forearm and began to
push trying to move a single corner of the bier. And when she had struck with all her strength
radiating covetousness, [it was] like a giant mountain and she could accomplish nothing. Then
turning to the optimates she said: "Behold! we must acknowledge that it is not his will that we
take him away. Let us concede to this people what we still would not wish to accept." The
counsel was acceptable and they all decreed with one voice that he should be buried in that
city. And after that decision, when again they tried to lift the bier, they found it very light,
carried easily by two people which before no number could move. What a miracle for the
citizens! With the queen watching, they magnified the glory of the Lord saying: "Great and
wonderful are your works, Lord" and "You are wonderful, God, in your saints."
38. So the corpse was brought to burial with all the city doing homage in tears. And the
devout queen, though it was winter and very swampy, could in no way be persuaded that a
vehicle and horses should be used but followed the bier on foot. With great labor, she went
through the flood with continual lament with all his household. Oh how many tears of all, of
monks and poor people, flowed together on that day echoing through all the streets. The
chorus rendered psalms with sobbing voices, chants and weeping flocks resounded with
sorrow through the air; all the people of the town quaked with tears and the highest peak of
Olympus was filled with plangency. The rhythms of the antiphons rang in the choir and the
sorrow of Noyon sounded in heaven. Every path gave forth the funeral chants, dire ululations
filling every abode and the wailing of the people poured out over the entire globe. "AND
THEY FILLED WAVES OF TEARS WITH GOLDEN VOICES." What pomp the extinct
pastor emanated all around! What crowds brought the body to the tomb, here preceded by the
chanting choir, there with the flocks of the people in continued wailing! They complained that
they had lost their father and nurse and quaking with sobbing they could barely get out the
words: "To whom, good pastor, will you commit the service of your people, or to whom will
you entrust the pastoral care of your flock? Oh Eligius, you sweetener of the poor, strength of
the weak, protector, comforter without peer! Who after you will give such great alms, who
will be our protector, as you were, good pastor? Would it not be sweeter to die with you today
than to live on without your presence?" In this way they proceeded to the grave, giving cries
with all their voices mixed to the heavens so that it was not easy among so many tearful
voices to separate the accents of the chant, the psalling of the clergy or the ululations of the
people. For on that day who could be so heartless that, hearing the laments of the poor, he
would not burst into tears himself? Or who could discern the vociferations of all the people
and remain so merciless as not to begin roaring himself? Who had so iron and stolid a
stomach that, when he saw the weeping queen with the princes, he would not immediately
break down into lamenting? Who now could record with dry eyes how he was brought to the
sepulchre with such ardor of desire, such movement of love, such impulse of sorrow? The bier
was held back, drawn away by the people to the rear so that for a moment the corpse might
remain in the open and they might satisfy their desire. For they kept causing all these delays
to keep the body from being enclosed in the sepulchre because no one could bear his absence.
But finally the strength of the people ebbed and as I have said, rapt from strong to stronger, it
was released to the bishops who had advanced to the sepulchre. And so the stone opened and
it was kept with great honor, and with all surrounding the tomb he lay in glory. Thus while the
venerable queen with the people buried him the prelates adoring his limbs, she returned to her
own fasting, her tears preventing her from taking food until she had fulfilled the three days of
mourning.
- gap -
This is enough for us to say about the death of the holy man. Otherwise we shall bore our
readers. I had judged that, with the end of his life, our words should also end but the
unwearying Lord did so many miracles through the holy body that I am impelled to go on
talking. Therefore I shall take the opportunity to extend the reading and show some in this
present book.
39. After the blessed man migrated from this world and his body was brought to the
sepulchre, there happened to remain in the place where he had lain a gross garment of goat's
hair from the bishop which evidently should have had a place of honor on the bier. When
everyone went out, a deacon named Uffo, Suevi by race, pushed by his aroused greed,
secretly stole it and hid in his bed under the covers. When the body was brought to the
sepulchre, as is the tradition, and the ministers had rendered the services and realized that it
was missing, they were horrified and began to seek it everywhere. Hurrying here and there,
searching for a long time, they found no sign of what they had lost and unheard of
disturbances arose among the servants because of it. But when night came and sleep
advanced, they all went to bed as usual. Suddenly the holy man appeared in a vision to a
certain abbot named Sparvus, and with soft speech told him where the thief had hidden the
stolen item. When daylight returned to earth the next day, Sparvus called two trustworthy
brothers to him and exposed the order of his vision. Rising, they hastened to the place and
when they had searched diligently they immediately found the stolen item where the holy man
had indicated. And soon they scolded the deacon with harsh words but did not punish him
with whips because they followed the orders of saint Eligius. But from this event, to the day
of his death, he began to fear and venerate him greatly which they showed from day to day.
- gap -
41. A little while after his death, the blessed man appeared in a shining costume in a night
vision to a certain person living in the royal palace whom he ordered to go without delay to
Queen Balthild and warn her that in reverence for Christ she should not regret removing the
insignia ornamented with gold and gems which she still used in her dress. When his order was
not carried out, he appeared again and on the second night made the same warning. But when
the recipient still shrank from relating the vision to the queen, he appeared a third time with
very threatening manner and ordered him to go to the queen or he would be sorry. And the
next day he was felled by fever. The queen came to visit the sick man and asked the cause of
his illness. Then, with the opportunity presented, the invalid opened his secret heart and gave
the queen the indicated order and told her the whole content of the visions. Without delay as
he told the tale, the fever receded and he was restored to health. And the queen, never
doubting the admonitions of the confessor, immediately stripped the ornaments from herself
keeping nothing except gold bracelets. And all were dispersed in alms being stronger in the
work of the cross. And she ordered that those which appeared to have the most elegance
should be used to steady the head of saint Eligius. Moreover, she ordered a golden cover to be
fabricated which should be placed above the limbs of the confessor. In this work a great
weight of gold and gems in pins and different things were used which are hardly worth the
many words to enumerate.
42. All this being done, it was the custom that during Lent the splendor of the gold and
brightness of gems on the tomb should be veiled with linen urbanely embroidered with silk.
So they entered as Lent began and hid the radiant weight of the metal during the penitential
days. But several days later, while many people were standing around the tomb, an unheard of
miracle occurred. For suddenly the linen which wrapped the tomb began to sweat and then it
smoked and it was drenched in a flood of dew. And the bystanders were overwhelmed with
awe and waited to see what the generosity of Christ would produce. When they saw the linen
was soaked, it occurred to the highest of the council of elders that if they took it from the
tomb and collected the liquid in a vessel, some of it might be saved as a medicine and so it
was done. And soon bearing [the linen] from the precincts they wrung the liquid into a copper
vessel and from it many sick people who were there were healed. And so abundant was this
sweat that even the urbane embroidery was colored and from the excessive infusion of dew
gave up its color and faded into the linen. So I perceive this to be like to the work of Gideon.
For he received a sign of dew in the wool of the sheep which was infused. Here a great
infusion of divine virtue was conferred for the cure of the sick. There the dew from the sheep
filled a conch shell and here the linen acted as a conch with holy liquor extracted to the
measure of two sextares.
43. At that time, a terrible plague devastated many of the cities of Frankland. We thought that
the liquor might be a cure from a watchful divinity so that if an invalid who appeared to be in
danger of death could obtain that medicine soon, he might healed with all evil repelled. At
that period, there was a certain count of the city of Th‚rouanne named Ingomar, an
exceptionally rich and powerful man. Greatly fearing the devastating plague all around and
hearing about the miracles done, he gave Eligius the first place in his deepest heart. And from
the greatest faith he asked to be given some of the liquor, pledging and vowing that if that
same antistes should persuade the Lord not to allow that raging sickness to penetrate his
estates, he would delegate him a tenth of all he had on hand on that day and give a major farm
to his church. So going to his estates, he had all of the inhabitants called and with vows and
devotion to touch the liquor. And so it happened that as the plague raged all around the
province, none of them who pertained to him sensed the least discomfort. After this the
rejoicing man separated a tenth of everything from his preserved subjects and, as he had
pledged, conferred it with thanks and devotion on the church of Saint Eligius. Indeed so
copious was that tenth that a tenth part of the whole became a hundred souls to the part of
blessed Eligius, and still [there were] a great many as well as cattle.
- gap -
47. When the blessed man was still alive he kept one horse, who was gentler than most, which
he rode when necessity demanded it. After his death, the horse came into the possession of the
abbot who presided over the same basilica. Mummolenus the greedy bishop of that same
place, violently took it from that apostolic man and vindicated his right. The abbot not daring
to try to obtain it, hastened to Saint Eligius with much weeping and commended the cause to
him. So when the aforesaid horse was led into the bishop's possession, he began to have a
sickness of the feet and his whole body withering, wasted into decay. Then the bishop got a
mule doctor and ordered him to make an effort to cure him. But although he tried hard, he
could make no progress. Indeed whenever he approached, it became like a wild beast roaring
and kicking, seeking to kill its healer. And when for several days he had tried and could in no
way improve things, at last the bishop saw that if the remained in this condition he should lose
him totally. So he offered him as a gift of thanks to a certain matron whom he loved. She took
him and diligently strove for a cure. One day she took the road riding on his back and he
began to rage kicking and bellowing and threw her heavily to earth so badly hurt that for a
year she shook with fever. When it was clear to that woman that she was violently sick, she
sent back to the bishop who had given her the horse reproaching him that he sent her
exacerbation for a gift and thank you. Having gotten him back the bishop ordered that he be
cared for but all his diligence was consumed in vain and the more care he was given the worse
he got. Then a certain religious priest saw how things were and advised the bishop that since
nothing about the horse could profit him he should return him to the abbot from whom he had
unjustly taken him. And when it was done following this advice, after a few days the horse
was healed and regained his gentleness and remained well behaved in every way in the
abbot's hands.
48. With all this happening while the bishop was buried at the side of the altar, it seemed to
the bishop as well as to the queen and her council that with a vault built above the altar, they
should make a fitting translation of his body. And when the idea had been conceived, they
went there and disposed themselves properly. Suddenly, a threatening crack appeared in the
wall around the window like an arch in the rotunda so that it seemed to be made liquid. At
God's nod, they saw that the crack clearly outlined what they intended and that they should
break through the broken place. Everyone seeing this with great wonder, understood it was
the will of the Savior for the merits of the antistes. So they acted with confidence to pierce the
walls in that place so that the work could be perfected. Spontaneously, without their labor, the
break opened so that no person or the tomb itself which lay nearby was in any way hurt in the
falling ruin. So with the antistes himself presiding, the determined work went forward and
they constructed a mausoleum worthy of the blessed confessor. Meanwhile as the day of his
deposition approached the citizens prepared for his anniversary to make a translation
honorific in every way. The queen prepared vestments all embroidered with the most precious
silks so that on the day of transmigration he would be extracted from the humble garments
and dressed in those prepared anew. And when the day of his deposition came, a great
multitude of people gathered in the town. Then all the clerks of the canonry with voices
celebrating the melody, and all Christians assisting, the confessor's limbs were raised from the
tomb carefully. And just as he was raised from the open tomb, a great miracle was seen by all
the bystanders. For when the holy body was uncovered a wonderful aroma wafted forth. And
it was seen that he was solid and uncorrupted with no diminution of his limbs so that he
seemed to be alive in the tomb and what is still more wonderful his beard and hair which had
been shaved according to custom had grown in the tomb so that everyone was stupefied by
the miraculous thing. Then the trembling bishop raised him from the tomb and changed all his
clothing for the wonderful vestments which the queen had prepared. Then he was recovered
and deposed again with great care under a seal. And all the time the chorus was psalling and
cymbals clashing and the sweet tones of the organ made modulations as the holy man was
moved from the place where he had lain and deposed with the greatest care and in the urbane
sepulchre prepared for him composed as was proper conserving eternal memory and ever
more honored each day. And after this miracles multiplied which you may hear if you open
your ears.
- gap -
50. Among other miracles which were worked there with divine grace, the light which hung at
the head of the holy man was half empty one day when a sudden inundation filled it and it
suddenly gave forth a divine light and burned the whole and overflowed. And the Lord
demonstrated the merits of the blessed man by a miracle using that same light. For while he
was still in his body, a certain count of Vermandois named Garifred had offended against him
and when blessed Eligius migrated from the body he had not yet made atonement among his
men. After a long interval, negligently forgetting that atonement, he came at last to adore at
the holy sepulchre, where the light was burning as usual at the confessor's head. When he
crossed the threshold, the light suddenly went out of the candelabrum. Along with his
companions, he prayed, trembling and pale. And when they were leaving the church after the
prayer, the divine light immediately returned, and the candles put forth their usual brilliance.
Just as the man was about to mount his horse, one of his servants who was left behind in the
basilica told him the whole thing in order as he had witnessed it. As he listened, sorrow
moved him and his secret conscience began to whisper that he was guilty which had been
shown by this portent. And when he deprehended his guilt, remembering what he owed to the
holy man he returned immediately and went back to the basilica. As soon as he set foot on the
floor, the light was put out of the candelabrum and it was seen to hang extinguished. Then
seeing it publicly, he was seized with fear and prostrated himself with laments and great
groaning before the holy sepulchre. Atoning for his long guilt he began to shed tears for his
crime, calling himself a unworthy and unhappy one because of whose fault the candelabrum
in this sacred place hung extinguished. And when he had remained there for a long time
weeping and wailing, he proclaimed in a loud voice that he would die there if the lamp were
not rekindled. At last, his satisfaction was accepted and the Divinity restored the light of the
candelabrum which it had removed. Then he, ever so little refreshed, swiftly ordered his
servant to bring immediately a vessel filled with silver which he took and offered as a gift of
peace to the confessor of Christ. He laid it near his tomb promising to confer not a few of his
belongings on the basilica, as much as the guilt just now ended that he had admitted to the
holy man. So at last adoring and glorifying the power of the Savior, with the light shining
brightly from the candelabrum, he left that place joyously.
- gap -
52. Something wonderful succeeded all these wonders. For a certain woman mute and blind
was once an oblate at the sepulchre of Eligius. One day when she awaited remedy from
heaven, bereft and without speech, sleep at last depressed her and a dream claimed her limbs.
And behold! suddenly while she rested she had a vision of holy Eligius standing before her
and sweetly touching her eyes. Gesturing like a doctor with knife and shears, he gently cut the
bonds on her tongue. And from this she was immediately cured, her eyes open and her freed
tongue forming words. And after this, restored to health, she arose and went back to her own
village.
53. - gap --Among other things I cannot be silent about what he did in a time of mortality in
Paris.
54. It happened when an evil calamity depopulated the city of Paris, not a few virgins from
the holy man's monastery where Aurea was abbess proceeded to the Lord. The blessed Eligius
appeared one day to a certain adolescent in the basilica of the maidens, dressed in a white
mantle covering a toga. The person who was there, in terror, sought a place to hide but the
blessed man smoothly and kindly compelled him [eum], ordering that he should go
immediately and tell the mother of the virgins to come to him with deputies from the virgins.
He who heard this ran and soon found Aurea: "Arise, quickly, because the lord Eligius calls
you to the church." Having heard this, with great joy, she hastened without delay; but when
she finally arrived, the vision of the blessed man had disappeared. But the very church was a
firm witness that he had been there for it was filled with cloud so thick that the candelabra
were veiled and a distillation of dew was perceived. Then Aurea turned within herself, and
understood that she was being called from this world. Immediately, convoking all her sisters,
she began to say goodbye to each of them, sequestrating not a few of them from the others
who would accompany her. Then she herself migrating to the Lord, the rest finally followed
likewise, so that at that time from that same monastery as many as a hundred and sixty
monachae died.
55. Now the news got around that miracles were being done through the most sacred body of
Eligius. One illustrious man the graffio Garefred, coming to the basilica of the holy antistes
said his prayers and then heard a great crowd of paupers crying out. And when he had a few
in his presence to whom he could distribute alms, moved toward them by mercy, he began to
express sorrow: "Never, o miserable ones, will you have such comfort, as you had with this
blessed antistes! Oh, what cause could obstruct him who was ever active because of your
misery, giving ear to your complaints, as so many make now and I, [am but] a miserable one!"
And when he was crying out in this way he fell into a sort of ecstasy and the holy man came
in a vision. And he was so consternated by the vision that he could barely stand there and
suddenly he discovered gold in his hand and clothing which he could give to the poor and he
did so at the same time. And with many companions who saw what had happened, he went
out of the church and departed.
56. And let us not avoid this: the illustrious praepositus of the palace Ebroin-- whom the
vulgar call major domo--had an adolescent son called Bobo, whom he and his wife greatly
loved for he was their only child. Once the boy, struck to the marrow with disease began to
weaken from fever which caused his parents great anguish which no one could solace.
Steadily weakening, the boy began to fail and no one could help him as death seemed
imminent. But as hope for his survival faded, the anxious parents confided in Eligius for their
son believing in the antistes who had accomplished so many miracles. They would devote
their son there and offered many gifts of thanks for the boy with grill ornament in every way
fixed to the sepulchre at the same time. And this done, without delay by the intercession of the
confessor the sickness left and the boy is convalescing even now, remaining in health and
unharmed.
- gap -
58. And let us know what he did lest silence hide the punishment visited on a certain man who
was killed when greed for a field at Chaumont-en-Vexin pertaining to the basilica of Saint
Eligius invaded him. For when by evil order he was inclined to take an estate from his wealth,
the abbot Sparvus of that same church opposed him energetically. And when the invasion had
gone on for some time, he finally took the case to the royal palace and accepted judgment
from the prince that, if he could take an oath (coniurare) in that holy place, it would vindicate
his claim to part of the church. But he preferred that the same evil man who sought to invade
it, should confirm his swearing. And when it was judged that the man should discharge his
oath with many others according to Frankish law, the abbot himself forgiving that said: "I
know that he wickedly invaded it, and therefore I ask, that each of the oath takers be asked, if
it pleases God, to claim it by his personal oath." And when he said this, the word pleased the
king's optimates and they decreed that it should be so. Thereafter they proceeded to the church
of blessed Eligius and entered the place of his burial, awaiting the outcome of the affair. Thus
the designated man, taking the business lightly, with importunate audacity placed his hand for
the oath on the holy place. In the middle of the vow, he began to tremble and his body
violently bent backward, his head twisted on his neck, and soon he fell with gnashing teeth
and rolling eyes, his head down and foam issuing from his mouth. And he could say no words
but these: "Abbot Sparvus, take your land." So he was struck by Divinity and there, prostrate
on the ground, the miserable man met the death he had not feared with fortuitous caution. And
all who saw were struck with awe, recognizing that the power there as everywhere came from
Christ.
- gap -
61. Modolenus, a certain centenarius, a colonus of the town of Noyon, had a good wife,
honest and devout, who once while she was living a quiet life was struck wickedly with a
nasty pustule. The decay growing, it lay swollen over her whole body and, the wound
growing gradually, only her burial remained for her husband's care. So one morning when the
abbot entered the basilica of blessed Eligius for prayer, he met the husband weeping and
wailing over his wife. He said that his mate was dead and asked pleadingly that she be buried
in the basilica. And when he asked him if she was truly dead: "It remains the same whether
she is or soon will be, when now she lies mute and all her body dying." But he hastened
swiftly to the sepulchre of the confessor and taking up from it the oily liquor which had
poured from it he hurried to the house of mourning. For in the night he had had a vision of
Saint Eligius who had ordered him that he should heal the woman of her disease by means of
that oily liquor. So entering the house, he saw the corpse lying swollen and cold, among the
mourners. And approaching, confident in the saint's order, he anointed the corpse with the oil
he brought and said: "This saint Eligius ordered that by the virtue in the name of Christ you
shall arise healed of this illness." And immediately the holy oil penetrating her guts, she
began to move her eyes and as though waking from a deep sleep she sighed. And then
wonderfully, the swelling went down all over her body and she regained her strength and the
woman sat up. Without delay, after that all pain fled from her body and not the least swelling
remained on her skin and her face became rosy and she arose from her bed blessing and
glorifying her creator who had recalled her from death. So healed from this effect, she began
to compel them there that day to eat food and would allow no one to leave her house without
sitting down and letting her serve them a little meal.
62. One day after this there was a theft in the area of Noyon, and when people sought
someone to admit to the crime, a certain youth who gave signs of a guilty conscience was
brought to judgment. For at that time the youth was in contention with his father and had
attempted to ambush him. Thus when the occasion arose and he had successfully cleared
himself of guilt, he began to try to shift it onto his father. All this led to a public dispute
between them which involved many others who joined in an examination before the count and
bishop. Thus they argued in turn, the son working to reflect calumny on the father and the
father, as well as he could, defending himself as innocent of crime, and in this manner they
contended before duke and bishop. Thus did we see fulfilled what the Lord predicted long ago
in the gospel: "Sons will rise against parents and bear hatred for them." Some of the witnesses
favored the son but others held that they could not believe it right for a child to judge a father.
And when the altercation between them went on in this way for a long time, and it proved not
to be easy to discover a solution, at last the bishop took counsel with the duke. When they
could in no way find the truth of the matter, they committed the judgment to the most blessed
confessor: "Because we know not whom to believe in this thing, holy Eligius, we commit this
judgment to the sentence of God with our prayers." Then, standing together before the holy
sepulchre, they awaited God's judgment through an oath. And behold! just as he began to take
the oath the young man was seized by a demon and heavily crushed to earth and plucking at
himself violently the miserable man was twisted, shaking and spuming and turning white.
And all the witnesses were dumbstruck with awe, and they glorified the judgment which came
from almighty God. So was it made publicly manifest, and went out from the church. After
this, the young man's punishment continued for a long time until many people who
sympathized with the wretch went to the father and asked him to pray for him and so all
prostrated themselves in the church to the blessed confessor and asked that he would hear
them at the judgment and so hear with mercy. And when they persisted for a long time in this
prayer, at last by the commiserating grace of Christ the malign infestation fled and the youth
was restored to wholeness.
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65. One day, with the sun nearing vespers, when the clerics customarily say the vespertine
prayers, it happened by an attack of negligence that everyone had gone out of the basilica,
each to his own occupations and at that hour the guardians had stationed no one inside.
Suddenly a man with a faulty conscience, burning with greed, as a thief in his frenzy grasps a
secret friend, swiftly ran to the sepulchre and, looking carefully around here and there,
impelled by wicked cupidity, when the miserable man discerned that there was no one
present, he did not fear to snatch furtively one of the innumerable golden hangings that
ornamented the sepulchre. But when he tried to grab one of the golden chains from which he
saw it hanging and violently pulled it to him, it broke and, as soon as he drew it, a pulse of
sound gushed out that carried to the guards some way outside, who believed that some great
crash had occurred in the church. Whence rushing as fast as they could to the church, they
found the thief with his plunder held by the Divinity on the threshold of the basilica, unable to
take a single step forward. Surrounding him at that moment where the sound had drawn them,
they interrogated him about what he was doing there. Then indeed the wretch, discovered in
the midst of his theft, was compelled to reveal what he removed and confess he tried to flee
silently but could not lift a foot over the threshold of the basilica. So with shame the thief
restored it and asked pardon for his crime with all his heart and then he could move from the
place, freely discharged though mercy.
66. One day a certain secular man from a noble family, through guilt or accident, made the
prince in every way hostile. Evidently to avenge this mishap, he was led into the palace by
princely order to be executed. There his sentence of death was proclaimed. He was meanwhile
put for safekeeping with Amalbert, an illustrious man, Count of Noyon. When he had been in
his custody some days, one day he understood from the frequent vulgar words of the servants
that the capital sentence would be discharged against him on the next day. And hearing that,
he feared greatly that he would die and had no hope of escaping. He believed that his only
hope was to keep vigil during that night near Saint Eligius. And when, by asking and pleading
most ardently, he gained the confessor's mausoleum, he spent the whole night in tears and
groans, begging the holy antistes that he might extend his protection to him the next day. And
it was done. After the matutinal hymns which the clerk sang by custom, the man suddenly fell
into deep sleep, worn out by his sorrow. And behold! suddenly Saint Eligius stood before
him, refreshing him with his kindly face, and began to console him, promising to be with the
prince on the following day. He swore that the prince would in no way take his life for the
fault but having been pardoned, he would return unharmed to his own place. And so it
happened. The next day when the man was brought into the prince's court, as the holy man
predicted, he was freed and went home rejoicing.
67. The reward of the work is that virtues were not only effected for those who attended upon
the sacred body but to others near and far wherever his relics were distributed. Therefore
these things which I tell were done in my own monastery. One of the brothers was hurt in the
face with a terrible ulcer which the vulgar call a pustule. In that same monastery, there was an
oratory in which relics of Saint Eligius has been deposited. Therefore, when the brother lay on
his sickbed and the doctor prepared to treat the ulcer by heating an iron, the brother was
overcome with fear and urged him to give up that operation with red hot iron. Confiding in
the merits of the confessor, he asked that some of the healing oil that hung before the said
antistes' relics be brought to him. As soon as it was brought he smeared it on his face and neck
with the swelling pustule and, oh wondrous power! after the infusion of that liquor the cancer
dried up at the root without the application of any fire and was removed at once so that no
vestige or scar remained on the monk's face. I have added that which I know only from
hearsay.
68. When blessed Eligius in his secular dress fabricated the tomb of Saint Martin in the city of
Tours, he lodged in the house of a certain matron outside the walls in the vicus. Naturally,
when that woman noted the holy man intent upon his work and knew that he was prompt to
all good works, frequent in prayer and most generous for the consolation of the poor, as he
truly was, she believed him to be a servant of God. And one day when, as usual, he was being
barbered by one of his servants, she seized upon the linen upon which the hair fell in order to
collect whatever of his hair and beard she could and hid the linen in her chest. Years passed
and the woman almost forgot about the whole thing. But after Saint Eligius' death, when the
woman lay at night in secret silence, she heard right in her cubicle a celebration of psalling
with sweet modulations and when, curious about what this portended, she looked about, she
noticed a great radiance luminously shining. And when she had seen it she was terrified with
great fear and did not dare to remain that night in her lodging. For at no point could she recall
what she had formerly done through faith. Meanwhile she called Ageric, abbot of the basilica
of Saint Martin, and expounded the case to him in order, weeping that she was unable to rest
safely in her house at night. The abbot went to the house in which was the portent and began
to inquire of the woman whether something might have been left there by the servant of God,
whether she had been given something as a gift or eulogy by that holy man, whether or not
she might have taken something sometime from the belongings of the saint. Then indeed, as
through a dream, despite the length of time, remembering holy Eligius' hair, she struck her
breast often while telling the matter in order, how she had taken some of the shorn hair of the
blessed man out of faith. And immediately when the place was scrutinized, those same relics
appeared aromatic as with pungent unguents, intact as when she had collected them. And then
she cleaned them with liquid and great as was the merit of the antistes so greatly pleasing to
God was the faith of that matron so that after the running of so many years in the same place
by divine order prodigious miracles were displayed. For I have heard that after in that same
house a place of prayer was built by the faithful. And there miracles similar to those at Noyon
occurred.
69. And in the monastery the holy man built at Noyon, an old woman collected his hair
clippings for herself and put them in a covered basket in a sack under her bed. But often, after
the blessed man migrated from the world, when all were blinded by the gloomy shadows of
night, so splendid a ray shone from that place that it drove out all the nocturnal darkness from
the house. When the nuns discerned it to be from that woman's place, they called the sister
and strove to learn from her what might cause radiance that shone from her bed at night. Then
recalling the relics of the holy man, she explained, to the wonder of them all, that this must be
the cause. And hearing this the women went straight to the place and took up the relics soon
bringing them to a worthy place, glorifying and praising God who is faithful in his words and
furnishes such glory to his saints.
70. But neither should I be silent that a brother in a monastery in the Touraine received a cure.
There was a certain honorable monk known familiarly to me, who labored for several days
with an advancing illness in his viscera and when he could not regain any part of his strength
or recover his health, inspired by the mercy of God, he finally covered himself with holy
Eligius's chasuble which he had preserved with great reverence. Of course, clothed so out of
faith and wrapped like an old woman with each limb failing from severe weakness, leaning on
a staff, he received the communion of Christ. Afterwards he was rendered whole and sound
and so that while he convalesced he was more vigorous than he had been before.
71. Another brother in my monastery, his body filled with pus was troubled by a most serious
tertian fever. When the disease grew stronger over many days, he was greatly terrified that he
would shake himself to pieces with each of his limbs trembling with weakness. One of the
deacons of the monastery inspected the tremor and offered to impose a certain piece of linen
which blessed Eligius had once worn on his body on the sick man's breast. After he had done
that three times, the sick man began to sweat copiously and turn red. With a violent gasp his
chest quaking, suddenly he vomited a great abundance of bile. and thereafter, by the merciful
grace of Christ, convalescing, he received his pristine health.
72. And I certainly must add this, that a certain man living not far from the confines of the
city of Rheims conceived, by the desire of a religious mind, that he should build a basilica in
honor of holy Eligius on his estate. And when it was done, desiring it to be adorned with
relics of this same holy confessor, he went to the municipium of Noyon. When he arrived
there he sued for relics and obtained what he required. But when he wanted to leave the town,
a certain cleric agitated by greed appeared and began violently to detain him saying that he
could not allow him to take the relics away for free but he must pay some reward for them.
Then the aforesaid man, in order to escape speedily from his hands, gave him a small present
of what he happened to have with him at the moment, not without grief. Avidly grabbing the
offering, without hesitation, he hid it within his pocket. Immediately glowing with divine fire,
it suddenly began to burn his breast and his clothing with an intense conflagration compelling
him to cry out in a loud voice, "Spare me, Saint Eligius, because miserable I should never
have presumed to act as I have!" Soon the bystanders hastily pulled off his smoking clothes
and restored the gift he had accepted to the traveller. Then they led the penitent weeping many
tears to the tomb of the confessor, where, rubbing him with oils, they soon sedated the burns
and he was freed from torment. I don't doubt that this happened so that those of similar
greediness might be more easily attacked and their rapacity confounded, at least those who are
not respectful of them perversely accepting money to sell the relics of saints. Therefore cease,
I beg, this contagium in all places, lest it kindles the same fire.
73. I add something that I know from the testimony of the devout man Fredegisil the priest. A
certain monk coming from Noyon carried relics of blessed Eligius with him so that naturally,
as is proper, he bestowed them with great reverence on the basilica. After some days two men,
one blind and the other lame faithfully prostrating themselves there were healed only by the
saint's intervention; the blind man, of course receiving light and the lame one the ability to
walk and, after being cured, both returned home. Likewise in another basilica which was most
elegantly built in Aquitaine, a man similarly stricken with a lame foot was healed when he
was anointed with the oil which had been placed on the altar before worship. The bonds on
his nerves were loosed and he was healed.
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75. One of the brothers from among the monks of blessed Eligius lay at one time in his bed
struck by a gouty humor in the foot so swollen that he could in no way bear to put his foot on
the ground. After some while he confided this about the merits of the confessor, melotem of
blessed Eligius, that for a great reward to one who served him, touched him devoutly and
softening the swollen and immobile foot with his mouth, he restored his ability to walk and
from that time forward he was free of the gout. Indeed I have thought it fitting to include it in
this book what he declared to be a miracle.
76. When the blessed man was accustomed to go frequently to he royal villa at CompiŠgne,
he established a hospice above the river Oise where he installed one of his servants named
Waldoleno. And after he migrated from the world, that host showed little reverence for the
episcopal blanket which he wore out through careless bedding, draping in over so many beds
of men of no account. The bed frame which his holy hands had often touched, made a
threshold for the door. And with no hesitation, he joined with his wife in that place where the
blessed man had rested. And behold! that very night he was seized with fever and began at the
same time to weaken, tremble, sweat and turn pale; and his feet which had trampled the couch
with the bedding began to hurt terribly and to aggravate the strength of the burning fever so
that he was compelled to keep them from making a step. And when he was thus tormented so
fiercely, his wife in a vision was warned that they should both move as far as they could and,
with the utmost diligence, restore the couch which they had thrown down so carelessly to its
original place with all the bedding as it had been composed. But she was carelessly forgetful
of the vision so her husband was tortured even more atrociously and the next night he was
admonished that unless he got up immediately from the bed he would be even more severely
afflicted. Once the vision had instructed him, the fever began to recede and he arose so that he
could restore the bed. When he had diligently gone out of the place and restored the cleansed
bed as it was before and made much penitence, he was healed. News of this miracle spread
abroad people began to understand that gifts were coming in that place and crowds of people
began to come and declare the great wondrous powers demonstrated there. And they began to
make contributions. A basilica was constructed and the hospice worthily kept the bed Eligius
possessed worthily wonderfully adorned in eternity. And Clement the bishop of Beauvais had
it under his regimen and many miracles occurred from which I shall commemorate only two.
77. One day the brother kings Clothar and Theuderic, having left their palace, turned into this
place to pray. When they had prayed, they were returning home when one of their optimates
gave wise counsel that they should leave some alms in that place in veneration of the saint.
But the elder king in swift disdain neglected these words while the younger, who had
progressed further into maturity, placed some gold coins with a vow from the radiant metal.
They both left and went home. King Clothar was seized with fever rolled into a ball with his
whole body burning and suddenly, [blood] flowing from his head, he began to suffer from a
sharp toothache. And that night in the greatest agony he remembered how negligent he had
been the day before when he had fled the sanctuary of holy Eligius while his brother had
given alms and he had offered nothing. Therefore, he had earned this punishment. He sent
much public money by a trusted person. And as soon as the gift was laid down there, he was
immediately cured and regained his health without delay.
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79. Many other similar things, by order of the lord, were achieved by the virtues of his merits,
among which a lamp overflowed, exuding an excess of oil from which many by that holy
liquor were anointed here and healed of diverse disabilities and were blessed in the name of
the savior our Lord. And all this was done in CompiŠgne. But likewise his bed. situated in the
monastery on his estates called Vitry-en-Artois, announced similar virtues and effected
diverse cures. All of which we would lead us to proceed away from the order of our words
and therefore about them we complete but a few syllables because now we must hasten to
cease from this overlong locution.
80. Miracles from the blessed man still help some in this place and from different other places
but particularly his most sacred body revealed so many things that if we tried to steer a course
through them one by one as they happened we would greatly exceed this volume and in that
way irritate the reader with overwhelming boredom. So let us be content to have said enough.
For the faithful will recognize that each thing we have said will stand for many more. One of
these things will be shown by the chains which now are shown hanging from his tomb. We
might just sample something from the many things we could commemorate. For many broken
chains testify to all and the broken leg shackles that are shown, smashed stones and crutches
of the lame are shown in proof. Expulsion of demons and enlightenment of the blind are only
marked by blood on the pavement. And these deeds are repeated many times over. If only
there were time and space, how many and what sort of things were done and do not cease
today to mark the tomb of the prelate? For no, there is no cessation even today but the sick
come and are given healing. They flee in irons and are loosed. The sick come in litters and
walk away returning on foot to their homes. They come in peril and with demons troubling
them. Demoniacs come and are freed; the blind come and are illuminated.
81. But because by the generosity of the lord, we have set out this word we now must pray the
reader not to despise the vileness of our words because it might be possible to make a more
eloquent prayer but we correct the pen most studiously that we might commend something
better than words to the readers. So this work should not be swollen with inflated eloquence
that springs from an antistes of such eloquence. So let these pages show that I am more
devout than daring because I have not snatched by presumption the burden of such strength
softened, when I know so insignificant and trifling an author to be unworthy of such excellent
things. But when I am the debtor for 10,000 talents, I have hastened to render up this
insignificant gift to him from whom I received them, fearing to incur guilt by keeping silence
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This ends the life of Saint Eligius, bishop and confessor.
translation and notes by Jo Ann McNamara