[MISSIONS TO THE FRISIANS AND OLD SAXONS.] pervenirent ad satrapam et loquerentur cum illo, averterent illum a diis suis et ad novam Christianæ fidei religionem transferrent; sicque paulatim omnis eorum provincia veterem cogeretur nova mutare culturam. Itaque rapuerunt eos subito, et interemerunt: Album quidem Hewaldum veloci occisione gladii, Nigellum autem longo suppliciorum cruciatu et horrenda membrorum omnium discerptione quos interemptos in Rheno projecerunt. Quod cum satrapa ille quem videre volebant audisset, iratus est valde quod ad se venire volentes peregrini non permitterentur; et mittens occidit vicanos illos omnes, vicumque incendio consumpsit. Passi sunt autem præfati sacerdotes et famuli Christi, quinto nonarum Octobrium die. Nec martyrio eorum cœlestia defuere miracula. Nam cum perempta eorum corpora amni, ut diximus, a paganis essent injecta, contigit ut hæc contra impetum fluvii decurrentis, per quadraginta fere millia passuum, ad ea usque loca ubi illorum erant socii, transferrentur. Sed et radius lucis permaximus atque ad cœlum usque altus omni nocte supra locum fulgebat illum ubicumque ea pervenisse contingeret, et hoc etiam paganis qui eos occiderant intuentibus. Sed et unus ex eis in visione nocturna apparuit cuidam de sociis suis, cui nomen erat Tilmon, viro illustri, et ad sæculum quoque nobili, qui de milite factus fuerat monachus; indicans quod eo loci corpora eorum posset invenire, ubi lucem de cœlo terris radiasse conspiceret. Quod ita completum est. Inventa namque eorum corpora juxta honorem martyribus condignum recondita sunt, et dies passionis vel inventionis eorum congrua illis in locis veneratione celebratur. Denique gloriosissimus dux Francorum Pippin, ubi hæc comperit, misit et adducta ad se eorum corpora condidit cum multa gloria in ecclesia Coloniæ civitatis, juxta Rhenum. Fertur autem quia in loco in quo occisi sunt fons ebullierit, qui in eodem loco usque hodie copiosa fluenti sui dona profundat. Primis sane temporibus adventus eorum in Fresiam mox ut comperit Vilbrord datam sibi a principe licentiam ibidem prædicandi, acceleravit venire Romam, cujus sedi apostolicæ tunc Sergius papa præerat, ut cum ejus licentia et benedictione, desideratum evangelizandi gentibus opus iniret: simul et reliquias beatorum apostolorum ac martyrum Christi ab eo se sperans accipere, ut dum in gente cui prædicaret destructis idolis ecclesias institueret, haberet in promptu reliquias sanctorum quas ibi introduceret ; quibusque ibidem depositis, [MISSIONS OF WILLIBRORD AND SUIDBERT.] consequenter in eorum honorem quorum essent illæ, singula quæque loca dedicaret. Sed et alia perplura quæ tanti operis negotium quærebat, vel ibi discere, vel inde accipere cupiebat. In quibus omnibus cum sui voti compos esset effectus, ad prædicandum rediit. Quo tempore fratres qui erant in Fresia verbi ministerio mancipati, elegerunt ex suo numero virum modestum moribus et mansuetum corde Suidberctum qui eis ordinaretur antistes, quem Brittaniam destinatum ad petitionem eorum ordinavit reverentissimus Vilfrid Episcopus, qui tunc forte patria pulsus in Merciorum regionibus exulabat. Non enim eo tempore habebat Episcopum Cantia, defuncto quidem Theodoro, sed necdum Berctualdo successore ejus qui trans mare ordinandus ierat, ad sedem Episcopatus sui reverso. Qui videlicet Suidberct accepto Episcopatu, de Brittania regressus, non multo post ad gentem Boructuarorum secessit, ac multos eorum prædicando ad viam veritatis perduxit. Sed expugnatis non longo post tempore Boructuaris a gente antiquorum Saxonum, dispersi sunt quolibet hi qui verbum receperant; ipse antistes cum quibusdam Pippinum petiit, qui interpellante Blithrydae conjuge sua, dedit ei locum mansionis in insula quadam Rheni, quæ lingua eorum vocatur "In littore:' in qua ipse, constructo monasterio quod hactenus hæredes ejus possident, aliquandiu continentissimam gessit vitam, ibique diem clausit ultimum. Postquam vero per annos aliquot in Fresia, qui advenerant docuerunt, misit Pippinus, favente omnium consensu, virum venerabilem Vilbrordum Romam cujus adhuc pontificatum Sergius habebat, postulans ut eidem Fresonum genti Archiepiscopus ordinaretur. Quod ita ut petierat impletum est anno ab Incarnatione Domini sexcentesimo nonagesimo sexto. Ordinatus est autem in ecclesia sanctæ martyris Cecilias, die natalis ejus, imposito sibi a papa memorato nominė Clementis: ac mox remissus ad sedem Episcopatus sui, id est, post dies quatuordecim, ex quo in urbem venerat. , Donavit autem ei Pippin locum cathedræ Episcopalis in castello suo inlustri, quod antiquo gentium illarum verbo Viltaburg, id est, Oppidum Viltorum, lingua autem Gallica Trajectum vocatur; in quo ædificata ecclesia, reverentissimus pontifex longe lateque verbum fidei prædicans, multosque ab errore revocans, plures per illas regiones ecclesias, sed et monasteria nonnulla construxit. Nam non multo post alios quoque illis in regionibus ipse constituit antistites. ex eorum numero fratrum qui vel secum, vel post se illo ad [MISSION OF WILLIBRORD.]. prædicandum venerant; ex quibus aliquanti jam dormierunt in Domino. Ipse autem Vilbrord, cognomento Clemens, adhuc superest longa jam venerabilis ætateh, utpote tricesimum et sextum in Episcopatu habens annum, et post multiplices militiæ cœlestis agones ad præmia remunerationis supernæ tota mente suspirans. [M.H.B. 256-260.] • The Bructeri in Westphalia. Radbod is stated, in the life of S. Wulframn, Bishop of Sens (ascribed to Jonas a monk of Fontenelles, but of questionable authenticity), to have rejected baptism at the hands of that Saint (Mab. AA. SS. sæc. III. part I. p. 345). His war with Pipin seems to have begun about A.D. 689 (Cont. Fredegar. ap. Bouquet, II. 453). He was defeated by him, according to the Annales Metenses (Ibid. 680), in A.D. 692, 693, 697, etc., which agrees with the statement of Bede; but his whole life was a long struggle against the Franks: his daughter however was married to Grimoald the son of Pipin. He died A.D. 719 (Ann. Franc., ap. Bouquet, II. 639, 641, 642, etc.). The life of Willibrord was written by Alcuin in both verse and prose (Opp., ed. Froben., part II. pp. 183, 196). He was the son of S. Wilgis, the possessor of a little monastic settlement on the Yorkshire coast, which afterwards was inherited by Alcuin himself. He was in his thirty-third year when he began his missionary work. The names are given in the spurious or interpolated Life of S. Suidbert (Surius, AA. SS., II. 3, ed. Ven. 1581), as Willibrord, Swidbert, Acca, Wigbert, Willibald, Winibald, Lebwin, the two Hewalds, Werenfrid, Marcellinus the author of the Life, and Adalbert a son of the King of Deira. But this is inconsistent with the statement of Bede about the Hewalds, and the whole work is so corrupt as to be utterly worthless. See Mabillon, AA. SS., sæc. III. part 1. pp. 234, etc. And the list appears to be simply a list of the early missionaries who are either connected with S. Willibrord or recorded to have preached to the Frisians. Acca merely visited Frisia on his way with Wilfrid to Rome (B., III. 13); Wigbert retired from the work before Willibrord undertook it (B., V. 9); Willibald, Bishop of Eichstaedt, and his brother Wunibald, abbot of Heidenheim, belong to a generation at least later than Willibrord; the Hewalds preached in Saxony, not in Frisia; Lebwin, who died A.D. 773, and was buried at Deventer (Surius, VI. 88), Werenfrid (AA. SS. Boll., 27 Aug., vol. VI. pp. 102-105) of Elst in Guelders, and Adalbert of Egmond (died about A.D. 740, Mab., AA. SS., sæc. VOL. 111. III. part I. pp. 586, etc.), were all historical persons. Whether Marcellinus, or Mercelmus as it may be read, was also, may be doubted. Hussey quotes the Annales Xantenses (Pertz, II. 220), under the year 690: "Sanctus Willibrordus tunc presbyter, miræque sanctitatis vir Adalbertus confessor, cum aliis decem de Brittannia gentis Anglorum ob gratiam Evangelii in Gallias transeuntes ad Pippinum Francorum ducem pervenerunt;" and under A.D. 694: "Pippinus dux Ratbodum ducem Fresonum bellando vicit, Fresiamque sibi subjugavit, et sanctum Willibrordum a beato Sergio Papa Archiepiscopum consecratum, illuc ad prædicandum verbum Dei direxit. Sanctus vero Adalbertus in loco qui dicitur Ekmunda usque ad tempus exitus sui apud quendam Eggonem mansit, et plurimorum corda ad fidei salutem erexit." The life of Suidbert by Marcellinus is so full of anachronisms that no credit can be given to any of its statements: according to it, however, Suidbert was a son of a Northumbrian earl Sigebert, and was a monk of Bardney he was consecrated in A.D. 693 by Wilfrid, because Egbert Archbishop of York (who did not become a Bishop until A.D. 733) was ill. But the whole seems to be a fabrication. Besides what is known of him from Bede, the Annales Francorum give A.D. 713 as the date of his death (Bouquet, II. 641) his seat was Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, which has been confounded with Verden, and even with Verdun. The list of authors who have written on his history may be seen in Potthast, Bibl. Med. Ævi, p. 897. 8 Alcuin makes the consecration of Willibrord take place in S. Peter's (Opp., part II, p. 186). h According to Alcuin, Willibrord died after attaining his eighty-first year, and before the death of Charles Martel (Opp. II. 192, 199), on the 6th of November. Boniface ascribes to him loosely fifty years of preaching (Ep. 107 ed. Jaffé, 105 ed. Würdtwein). If he were thirty-two in A.D. 690, in which year the Frisian Mission was being organized, he would be eighty-one in A.D. 739, which is the latest year that can be assigned to his death, and is generally accepted as the true date. Q [JUDICIUM CLEMENTIS.] APPENDIX TO THE MISSION OF WILLIBRORD. JUDICIUM CLEMENTIS. [This fragment, which is of considerable interest as illustrating the Penitential system and literature of the Anglo-Saxons, was printed first by Kunstmann, Die Lateinischen Pönitentialbücher der Angelsachsen, pp. 176, 177 and after him by Wasserschleben, Die Bussordnungen der Abendl. Kirche, p. 433; from an Augsburg MS. (No. 153) containing a collection of 77 chapters of canons, etc., of which this is the 28th chapter. With this MS. Wasserschleben collated one of Heiligenkreuz, the variations of which he marks under the signature a. Kunstmann identifies the writer with the Anglo-Saxon Clement, that is, Willibrord: but Wasserschleben seems to doubt this. That Willibrord was known commonly by the name of Clement appears from S. Boniface's letter to Pope Stephen (Ep. 107 ed. Jaffé).] INCIPIT JUDICIUM CLEMENTIS. 1. Si quis per potestatem aut quolibet ingenio res alienas malo ordine invaserit, III. annos poeniteat, unum ex his in pane et aqua, et multas elemosinas faciat. 2. Si quis de ministerio sanctæ ecclesiæ quolibet modo fraudaverit, VII. annos pœniteat, III. ex his in pane et aqua. 3. Si quis pro mercede jejunat et aliena peccata suscipit in se, non est dignus nominari Christianus, jejunat pro se ipso quantum promisit pro alio jejunare, et quod accepit det pauperibus. 4. Si quis habens sponsam vitium ei intulerit, et sororem ejus uxorem ducit, illa vero, quæ vitium passa est, si1 se ipsam occidit, omnes qui hujus facti consensi sunt X. annos poeniteant. 5. Si quis sacerdos aut clericus se aut alium inebriaverit, si pro humanitate XL. dies poeniteat, laicus VII. dies; et si per odium hoc fecerit, ut homicida judicetur. 6. Si quis dederit alicui nesciens potum aut cibum, in quo surix aut familiaris bestia mortua fuerit, III. superpositiones faciat. 7. Si quis in Dominica per negligentiam opera facit aut se balneat aut se tondit aut lavat caput, VII. dies poeniteat; si iterum facit XL. dies pœniteat et si per dampnationem facit hoc diei et non emendabitur2, expellatur ab ecclesia catholica sicut Judæus. 8. Si quis ante horam legitimam sine infirmitate aut necessitate, per gulam prandit, II. dies in pane et aqua pœniteat. [JUDICIUM CLEMENTIS.] 9. Si quis manducat et postmodum communicat, VII. dies poeniteat in pane et aqua, parvuli de hoc vapulent. 10. Si quis Deum negat sine necessitate et iterum revertitur, X. annis pœniteat, III. ex his in pane et aqua. 11. Secundum canones pœnitentes non debent communicare ante completam pœnitentiam, nos autem propter misericordiam post annum I. aut post VII. mensibus licentiam damus. 12. Si quis vexatus est a diabolo et semet ipsum occidit, licet orare pro eo. 13. Non licet mulieri oblatam nec sindonem, nec calicem ponere super altare, insuper nec infra cancellis ad altare ingredi. 14. Si quis uxorem legitimam dimittit et aliam ducit, excommunicetur a Christianis, etiamsi illa prior uxor consentiat. 15. Non licet legitimo conjugio separari, nisi amborum consensus fuerit, ut innupti maneant. 16. Non licet laico in ecclesia lectionem legere nec Alleluia cantare, nisi psalmos et responsoria sine Alleluia. 17. Non suscipiatur in ecclesia de præda, antequam ille pœnitentiam agat, qui prædavit. 18. Si quis vexatur a diabolo, non licet eum sacra mysteria contingere, si per Dei misericordiam et jejunium mundatus fuerit, per3 X. annos suscipiatur in officio clericorum non sacerdotum. 19. Si cujus uxorem hostes rapuerint et non potuerit eripere eam, post annum integrum licet ei aliam ducere, et si postea redierit, licet eam alio viro ducere. 20. Si quis in quacunque festivitate ad ecclesiam veniens pallat1 foris, aut saltat, aut cantat orationes amatorias, ab Episcopo aut presbytero aut clerico excommunicetur et, dum pœnitentiam non agit, excommunicetur. |