文集（教會史以外） 第 5 章

[1] In the aforementioned year of the eclipse just mentioned and of the pestilence soon following—in which also Bishop Colman, overcome by the unanimous resolve of the catholics, returned to his own people—Deusdedit, the sixth bishop of the church of Canterbury, died on the day before the Ides of July; and also Eorcenberht, king of the Kentish men, dying in the same month and day, left the seat of the kingdom to his son Egbert, which he, having received it, held for nine years.

Then, the episcopate ceasing for no small time, there was sent to Rome by him together and by Oswiu king of the Northumbrians—as we briefly said in the preceding book—Wigheard the presbyter, a man most learned in ecclesiastical disciplines, of the race of the English, with the request that he be ordained archbishop of the church of the English; with gifts likewise sent to the apostolic pope, and with not a few vessels of gold and silver. When he reached Rome—over whose apostolic see at that time Vitalian presided—after he had disclosed the cause of his journey to the aforesaid apostolic pope, not long after both he himself and almost all the companions who had come with him were destroyed by a pestilence supervening.

But the apostolic pope, having held counsel concerning these matters, earnestly inquired whom he should send as archbishop to the churches of the English. Now there was in the monastery of Niridanum, which is not far from Naples in Campania, an abbot Hadrian, a man African by nation, diligently imbued with the sacred letters, instructed in monastic as well as ecclesiastical disciplines, and most skilled equally in the Greek and the Latin tongue. The pope, having summoned him to himself, bade him, having received the episcopate, come to Britain. He, answering that he was unworthy of so great a rank, said he could point out another whose erudition and age would better suit for undertaking the episcopate.

And when he offered to the pontiff a certain monk from a neighbouring monastery of virgins, by name Andrew, this man was judged by all who knew him worthy of the episcopate. But the weight of bodily infirmity stood in the way, that he could not be made bishop. And again Hadrian was urged to undertake the episcopate; he asked for a respite, in case he might perhaps in time be able to find another who might be ordained bishop. There was at that very time at Rome a monk known to Hadrian, by name Theodore, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, a man learned in both secular and divine literature, and instructed both in Greek and in Latin, of upright morals, and venerable in age—that is, having sixty-six years of age. Offering this man to the pontiff that he might be ordained bishop, he obtained his wish;

these conditions, however, being interposed, that he himself should conduct him to Britain, since he had already twice gone to the parts of Gaul for various reasons, and on that account had a greater knowledge of accomplishing this journey, and was sufficiently provided in the possession of his own men; and that, being a fellow-worker in doctrine, he should diligently attend, lest the other should introduce anything contrary to the truth of the faith, after the manner of the Greeks, into the church over which he should preside. Being ordained subdeacon, he waited four months, until his hair grew, so that it could be shorn into a crown; for he had had the tonsure after the manner of the easterners, of the holy apostle Paul. He was ordained by Pope Vitalian in the year of the Lord's incarnation 668, on the seventh day before the Kalends of April, a Sunday.

And so together with Hadrian he was sent to Britain on the sixth day before the Kalends of June. When they had come together by sea to Marseilles, and thence by land to Arles, and had delivered to John, archbishop of that city, the letters of commendation of Pontiff Vitalian, they were detained by him until Ebroin, mayor of the royal household, granted them leave to proceed wherever they would. This being received, Theodore set out to Agilbert, bishop of Paris, of whom we spoke above, and was kindly received by him, and was kept a long time. Hadrian went first to Emme, bishop of Sens, and afterward to Faro, bishop of Meaux, and was for a good while well treated under them; for the impending winter had compelled them to remain at rest wherever they could.

When sure messengers had related this to King Egbert—namely that the bishop whom they had sought from the Roman prelate was in the kingdom of the Franks—he sent thither at once his reeve Raedfrith to conduct him; and when he had come, he took up Theodore with Ebroin's leave, and led him to the port whose name is Quentavic; where, wearied by infirmity, he tarried for some little while, and, when he had begun to convalesce, sailed for Britain. But Ebroin retained Hadrian, because he suspected that he had some embassy of the emperor to the kings of Britain against the kingdom of which he himself then bore the greatest care. But when he had truly ascertained that he neither had nor had had any such thing, he released him, and permitted him to go after Theodore.

As soon as he came to him, he gave him the monastery of the blessed apostle Peter, where, as I have aforesaid, the archbishops of Kent are wont to be buried. For the apostolic lord had commanded Theodore, on his departing, that he should provide for him in his diocese, and give him a place in which he might fitly dwell with his own people. [2] Now Theodore came to his church in the second year after he was consecrated, on the sixth day before the Kalends of June, a Sunday, and held it for twenty-one years, three months, and twenty-six days.

And soon, the whole island being traversed wherever the English peoples dwelt—for he was most willingly received and listened to by all—he disseminated the right order of living and the canonical rite of celebrating Easter, Hadrian accompanying and co-operating in all things. And he was the first among the archbishops to whom the whole church of the English consented to give the hand. And because both were abundantly instructed, as we have said, in sacred as well as secular letters, a crowd of disciples being gathered, rivers of saving knowledge daily flowed forth to water their hearts; so that they imparted to their hearers the discipline even of the metrical art, of astronomy, and of ecclesiastical arithmetic, among the volumes of the sacred writings.

A proof of this is that there still survive to this day some of their disciples, who know the Latin and Greek tongue as well as their own, in which they were born. Nor were there ever in any way happier times since the English sought Britain; for while they had kings most brave and Christian, they were a terror to all the barbarous nations, and the desires of all hung upon the joys of the heavenly kingdom newly heard of, and whoever wished to be instructed in the sacred readings had teachers ready at hand to teach them. Moreover, the sounds of singing in church, which until then they had known only in Kent, from this time they began to learn throughout all the churches of the English;

and the first master of singing for the churches of the Northumbrians—except for James, of whom we spoke above—was Æddi, surnamed Stephen, invited from Kent by the most reverend man Wilfrid, who was the first among the bishops who were of the English nation to learn to hand down the catholic manner of living to the churches of the English. And so Theodore, traversing all things, ordained bishops in suitable places, and corrected, with these also helping, the things which he found less than perfect. Among whom, when he reproved Bishop Chad with not having been duly consecrated, he himself, answering with most humble voice, said: 'If you know that I have not duly received the episcopate, I willingly withdraw from the office; seeing that I never reckoned myself worthy of this;

but I consented, though unworthy, to undergo this, being commanded for obedience' sake.' But he, hearing the humility of his answer, said that he ought not to lay down the episcopate; but he himself completed his ordination anew by the catholic rite. Now at that time when, Deusdedit being dead, a bishop was being sought, ordained, and sent for the church of Canterbury, Wilfrid too was sent from Britain to Gaul to be ordained; and since he returned before Theodore, he himself also ordained presbyters and deacons in Kent, until the archbishop should come to his see.

But he himself, coming soon to the city of Rochester, where, Damian being dead, the episcopate had now long lain vacant, ordained a man more instructed in ecclesiastical disciplines and content with simplicity of life than vigorous in the affairs of the world, whose name was Putta; most skilled, however, in chanting in church after the manner of the Romans, which he had learned from the disciples of the blessed Pope Gregory. [3] At that time Wulfhere ruled over the province of the Mercians, who, when, Jaruman being dead, he sought a bishop to be given to himself also and to his people from Theodore, did not wish a new bishop to be ordained for them;

But he asked of King Oswiu that Chad be given to them as bishop—a man who at that time was leading a quiet life in his monastery at Lastingham, while Wilfrid administered the see of the church of York, and indeed of all the Northumbrians, and even of the Picts, as far as King Oswiu was able to extend his dominion. And because it was the custom of that most reverend prelate to carry out the work of the Gospel by going about on foot rather than on horseback, Theodore commanded him to ride whenever a longer journey lay before him; and as he greatly resisted out of zeal and love for the pious labour, Theodore himself lifted him onto the horse with his own hand, for he had perceived that the man was holy, and compelled him to be carried by horse wherever it was necessary.

And so Chad, having received the bishopric of the Mercians together with that of the people of Lindsey, took care to administer it in great perfection of life, after the example of the ancient fathers. King Wulfhere also gave him land of fifty households for the building of a monastery in a place called Barrow—that is, At the Wood—in the province of Lindsey, where to this day the traces of the regular life he instituted there still remain. He had his episcopal seat in a place called Lichfield, in which he both died and was buried, and where to this day is also the seat of the bishops of that province who came after him. He had made for himself a dwelling somewhat remote, not far from the church,

in which, whenever he was free from labour and the ministry of the word, he was wont to pray and to read more privately with a few brethren—that is, seven or eight. When he had governed the church in that province most gloriously for two and a half years, by the disposing of the judgment from above there came the time of which Ecclesiastes speaks: 'A time to cast stones, and a time to gather them together.' For there came a plague sent from God, which through the death of the flesh might transfer the living stones of the church from their earthly seats to the heavenly building.

And when very many had been taken away in the flesh from the church of that same most reverend prelate, his own hour came that he should pass from this world to the Lord. It happened on a certain day that he chanced to be staying in the aforesaid dwelling with one brother only, whose name was Owine, the rest of his companions having returned to the church on a fitting occasion. Now this Owine was a monk of great merit, who had forsaken the world with the pure intention of the heavenly reward, and was worthy in all things that the Lord should reveal His secrets to him in a special way, worthy that those who heard should give credence to his telling. For he had come with Queen Æthelthryth from the province of the East Angles, and had been the chief of her ministers and the steward of her household.

When, with the increasing fervour of faith, he resolved to renounce the world, he did not do so half-heartedly; but he so stripped himself of worldly things that, leaving behind all that he had, clothed only in a simple garment and carrying an axe and an adze in his hand, he came to the monastery of that same most reverend father, which is called Lastingham. For he signified that he was entering the monastery not for ease, as some do, but for labour. And this he also showed by his deed; for the less he was equal to the study of the Scriptures, the more zeal he applied to the work of his hands. In short, having been received among the brethren with the bishop in the aforesaid dwelling out of respect for his devotion, while they within gave themselves to reading, he laboured outside at whatever seemed needful.

On a certain day, while he was busy with some such work outside—his companions having gone off to the church, as I began to say, and the bishop alone in the oratory of the place being engaged in reading or prayer—he suddenly heard, as he afterwards related, a most sweet voice of singers rejoicing, descending from heaven down to earth. This voice, he said, he first heard from the south-east—that is, from the height of the winter sunrise—and then little by little it drew near to him, until it reached the very roof of the oratory in which the bishop was; and entering it, it filled the whole and surrounded it round about.

And while he, anxious, was fixing his mind upon the things he heard, after the space of about half an hour had passed, he heard again that same song of joy rise up from the roof of that same oratory, and by the very way it had come return to the heavens with ineffable sweetness. When he had remained for a little while as though thunderstruck, and was searching out with attentive mind what these things might be, the bishop opened the window of the oratory and, making a sound with his hand as he was often accustomed to do, commanded that if anyone were outside he should come in to him. He went in quickly, and the prelate said to him: 'Go at once to the church, and cause these seven brethren to come hither; you too be present at the same time.'

When they had come, he first admonished them that they should keep the virtue of love and peace toward one another and toward all the faithful; and that with unwearied diligence they should follow the institutions of the regular discipline which they had either learned from him and seen in him, or had found in the deeds or sayings of the fathers who had gone before. Then he added that the day of his death was now very near at hand. 'For that lovable Guest,' he said, 'who was wont to visit our brethren, has deigned today to come to me also, and to call me forth from the world.'

'Wherefore, on returning to the church, tell the brethren that they should both commend my departure to the Lord with prayers, and also remember to forestall their own departure—whose hour is uncertain—with vigils, prayers, and good works.' And when he had spoken these and many more things of this kind, and they, having received his blessing, had gone out now very sorrowful, he who had heard the heavenly song returned alone by himself, and prostrating himself on the ground said: 'I beseech you, father, may I ask something?' 'Ask,' he said, 'what you will.' And he said: 'I beseech you, tell me what that song of the rejoicers was, which I heard coming from the heavens over this oratory, and after a time returning to the heavens.' He answered:

'If you have heard the voice of the song, and have recognized the coming of the heavenly hosts, I charge you in the name of the Lord that you tell this to no one before my death. In very truth they were the spirits of angels, who came to call me to the heavenly rewards which I always loved and desired, and promised that they would return after seven days and take me with them.' And this indeed was fulfilled in deed just as it had been told him. For he was immediately touched by a bodily sickness, and as this grew worse day by day, on the seventh day, as had been promised him, after he had fortified his departure by receiving the Lord's body and blood, his holy soul, released from the prison of the body, sought the eternal joys, led—as it is right to believe—by angels as his companions.

It is no wonder that he looked joyfully upon the day of his death—or rather upon the day of the Lord—which he had always taken anxious care to await until it should come. For among his many merits of continence, humility, teaching, prayers, voluntary poverty, and other virtues, he was so subject to the fear of the Lord, so mindful of his last things in all his works, that—as a certain brother who was among those that instructed me in the Scriptures, and who had been brought up in his monastery and under his teaching, named Trumberht, was wont to relate—if perchance, while he was reading or doing anything else, a stronger gust of wind suddenly arose, he would at once call upon the mercy of the Lord, and pray that it might be merciful to the human race.

But if a more violent blast pressed on, then, closing the book, he would fall upon his face and apply himself more earnestly to prayer. And if a stronger storm or downpour bore down, or even flashes of lightning and thunder terrified earth and air, then, coming to the church, he would devote himself with anxious and fixed mind to prayers and psalms until the calm of the air returned. And when he was asked by his people why he did this, he would answer: 'Have you not read that the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High gave His voice; He sent forth His arrows and scattered them, He multiplied lightnings and confounded them?'

'For the Lord moves the air, stirs up the winds, hurls lightnings, thunders from heaven, in order to rouse the earth-born to fear Him, to recall their hearts to the memory of the judgment to come, to scatter their pride and confound their boldness, by bringing back to mind that dreadful time when He Himself, with the heavens and the earth ablaze, shall come in the clouds, in great power and majesty, to judge the living and the dead. Wherefore,' he said, 'it behoves us to respond to His heavenly admonition with due fear and love;'

'so that, as often as He, the air being disturbed, stretches forth His hand as though threatening to strike, and yet does not as yet strike, we may straightway implore His mercy, and—the inmost recesses of our heart being searched out and the rubble of vices cleared away—we may act with anxious care lest we ever deserve to be struck.' Now to the revelation and the account of the aforesaid brother concerning the death of this prelate there also agrees the testimony of the most reverend father Ecgberht, of whom we have spoken above, who long ago, together with the same Chad when both were young men, was diligently leading a monastic life in Ireland in prayers and continence and meditation upon the divine Scriptures. But the other afterwards returned to his homeland, while he himself remained a pilgrim for the Lord's sake until the end of his life.

When therefore, long afterwards, there came to him from Britain for the sake of a visit a most holy and most continent man named Hygbald, who was an abbot in the province of Lindsey, and—as befitted holy men—they were holding converse about the life of the earlier fathers, and rejoicing to emulate it, mention arose of the most reverend prelate Chad, and Ecgberht said: 'I know a man in this island still remaining in the flesh, who, when that man passed from the world, saw the soul of Cedd, his brother, descend from heaven with a host of angels, and, having taken his soul with them, return to the heavenly realms.'

Whether he said this of himself or of some other, remains uncertain to us; yet this, that what so great a man said is true, cannot be uncertain. Now Chad died on the sixth day before the Nones of March, and was buried at first indeed beside the church of Saint Mary; but afterwards, when a church of the most blessed Peter, chief of the apostles, had been built in the same place, his bones were translated into it. In both of which places, as a token of his power, frequent miracles of healings are wont to be wrought.

Indeed, lately a certain frenzied man, while wandering and running about through all places, came thither in the evening, the keepers of the place either not knowing or not caring; and resting there the whole night, in the morning he went out with his senses restored, and showed to all, who marvelled and rejoiced, what healing he had there obtained by the Lord's bounty. Now the place itself of the tomb is covered with a wooden coffer made in the manner of a little house, having a hole in the wall through which those who come thither for the sake of devotion are wont to put in their hand and take some of the dust from within; and when they have put this into water and given it to be tasted by ailing cattle or men, soon, the trouble of the sickness being removed, they shall regain the joys of the longed-for health.

In his place Theodore ordained Wynfrith, a good and modest man, who, like his predecessors, should preside by the office of the episcopate over the provinces of the Mercians, the Middle Angles, and the people of Lindsey; over all of which Wulfhere, who still survived, held the sceptre of the kingdom. Now Wynfrith was of the clergy of that prelate whom he himself had succeeded, and had discharged the office of deacon under him for no little time. Meanwhile Colmán, who was bishop from Ireland, leaving Britain, took with him all the Scots whom he had gathered together on the island of Lindisfarne; but also about thirty men of the English nation, both groups of whom had been imbued with the pursuits of the monastic manner of life.

And having left some of the brethren in his church, he first came to the island of Iona, whence he had been sent to preach the word to the English nation. Then he withdrew to a certain small island, which, lying far secluded toward the western quarter from Ireland, is called in the Scottish tongue Inisbofin—that is, the island of the white heifer. Coming therefore to this island, he built a monastery, and there settled the monks whom he had brought, gathered from both nations. But as these could not agree among themselves—because the Scots, in the summer season when the crops were to be gathered, leaving the monastery, wandered dispersed through places known to them, but when winter came on returned, and desired to use in common the things which the English had prepared—

Colmán sought a remedy for this dissension, and going about everywhere near and far, found a place in the island of Ireland suitable for building a monastery, which in the tongue of the Scots is called Mayo; and he bought a not large part of it, for establishing a monastery there, from the nobleman to whose possession it belonged, on this added condition: that the monks dwelling there should offer prayers to the Lord on behalf of him also who provided them with the place. And, the monastery having been at once built, with the help also of the nobleman and all the neighbours, he settled the English there, leaving the Scots in the aforesaid island. This monastery, indeed, is held to this day by English inhabitants.

For it is the very monastery which, now made great out of small, is commonly called Mayo; and, all having long since been converted to better institutions, it contains an excellent company of monks, who, gathered there from the province of the English, live after the example of the venerable fathers, under a rule and a canonical abbot, in great continence and sincerity, by the labour of their own hands. In the year of the Lord's incarnation 670, which is the second year from when Theodore came to Britain, Oswiu, king of the Northumbrians, was oppressed by an infirmity, of which he also died, in the fifty-eighth year of his age.

At that time he was held by so great a love of the Roman and apostolic discipline that, if he should be saved from his infirmity, he had even resolved to come to Rome and there to end his life at the holy places, and he asked that Bishop Wilfrid should become the leader of his journey, promising a not small gift of moneys. He, having died on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of March, left his son Ecgfrith heir of the kingdom; and in the third year of whose reign Theodore convened a council of bishops, together with those, many masters of the church, who both loved and knew the canonical statutes of the fathers. When these had been assembled together, he began diligently to teach the things that befitted the unity of ecclesiastical peace, to be observed, with that spirit which became a pontiff.

The text of this synodal action is of this kind: 'In the name of the Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, the same Lord Jesus Christ reigning forever and governing His church, it has pleased us to come together according to the custom of the venerable canons, to treat of the necessary affairs of the church. Now we assembled on the twenty-fourth day of the month of September, in the first indiction, in a place which is called Hertford: I indeed, Theodore, though unworthy, appointed by the apostolic see bishop of the church of Canterbury, and our fellow-priest and brother, the most reverend Bisi, bishop of the East Angles; with whom also our brother and fellow-priest Wilfrid, bishop of the Northumbrian nation, was present through his own delegates.

There were present also our brethren and fellow-priests: Putta, bishop of the stronghold of the Kentishmen which is called Rochester, Leutherius, bishop of the West Saxons, Wynfrith, bishop of the province of the Mercians. And when we had come together into one and had taken our seats each according to his rank, I said: "I ask, most beloved brethren, for the fear and love of our Redeemer, that we all treat in common for our faith; that whatsoever things have been decreed and defined by the holy and approved fathers may be kept incorrupt by us all." These and very many other things which pertained to charity and to preserving the unity of the church, I set forth.

And when I had finished the preamble, I asked each of them in order whether they consented to keep the things that have been canonically decreed of old by the fathers. To which all our fellow-priests answering said: 'It pleases us all exceedingly to keep, with cheerful mind and most gladly, whatsoever things the holy canons of the fathers have defined.' To them I straightway produced that same book of canons, and from that same book I showed before them ten chapters which I had noted in various places, because I knew them to be most necessary for us, and I asked that these might be more diligently received by all. The first chapter: That we all keep the holy day of Easter in common on the Lord's day after the fourteenth moon of the first month. The second:

That no bishop intrude upon another's diocese, but be content with the governance of the people committed to him. III: That whatsoever monasteries have been consecrated to God, it be lawful for no bishop to disturb them in anything, nor to draw away by violence anything of their property. IV: That the monks themselves shall not migrate from place to place—that is, from monastery to monastery—except by the dismissal of their own abbot; but let them remain in that obedience which they promised at the time of their conversion. V: That no cleric, leaving his own bishop, shall roam about anywhere at random, nor, coming anywhere, be received without commendatory letters of his own prelate.

But if, once received, he is unwilling to return when invited, both the receiver and he who is received shall lie under excommunication. VI: That bishops and clerics who are strangers be content with the gift of hospitality offered to them; and let it be lawful for none of them to perform any priestly office without the permission of the bishop in whose diocese he is known to be. VII: That a synod be gathered twice in the year. But because various causes hinder it, it has pleased all in common that we assemble once in the year on the Kalends of August, in a place which is called Clovesho. VIII: That no bishop prefer himself to another through ambition; but let all acknowledge the time and order of their consecration. The ninth chapter was treated in common:

That more bishops should be added as the number of the faithful increased; but concerning this matter we kept silence for the present. The tenth chapter concerning marriages: That it be lawful for none to have any but a lawful wedlock. Let no one commit incest, let no one forsake his own wife, except—as the holy Gospel teaches—for the cause of fornication. But if anyone shall have driven out his own wife, joined to him in lawful matrimony, if he wishes rightly to be a Christian, let him be coupled to no other; but let him so remain, or be reconciled to his own wife.

These chapters, therefore, having been treated and defined in common, in order that henceforth no scandal of contention might arise from any one of us, or that one set of things be published in place of another, it has pleased us that each one of us confirm by the subscription of his own hand whatsoever things have been defined. This sentence of our definition I dictated to be written by Titillus the notary. Done in the month and indiction written above. Whosoever, therefore, in any way shall attempt to come against this sentence—confirmed according to the decrees of the canons, with our consent also and the subscription of our hand—and to infringe it, let him know that he is separated from every priestly office and from our fellowship.

May the divine grace keep us unharmed, living in the unity of His holy church. Now this synod was held in the year 673 from the incarnation of the Lord, in which year Ecgberht, king of the Kentishmen, had died in the month of July, his brother Hlothhere succeeding to the kingdom, which he himself held for eleven years and seven months. But Bisi, bishop of the East Angles, who is reported to have been at the aforesaid synod, was himself the successor of Boniface, whom we have mentioned above, a man of much sanctity and religion. For, Boniface having died after seventeen years of his episcopate, he himself was made bishop in his place, Theodore ordaining him.

While he was still surviving, but prevented by a most grievous infirmity from administering the bishopric, two men—Æcci and Baduwine—were elected and consecrated bishops in his place; from which time to this day that province is wont to have two bishops. Not long after these things, when some time had elapsed, Theodore the archbishop, being offended by Wynfrith, bishop of the Mercians, on account of the desert of a certain disobedience, deposed him from the bishopric after not many years of his having received the episcopate; and in his place he ordained as bishop Sexwulf, who was the builder and abbot of the monastery which is called Medeshamstede, in the region of the Gyrwe. But the deposed Wynfrith returned to his monastery, which is called Barrow, and there ended his life in the best manner of conduct.

Then also, for the East Saxons, over whom at that time Sebbi and Sigheri presided, whom we have mentioned above, he appointed Earconwald bishop in the city of London; of which man indeed, both during his episcopate and before his episcopate, the life and conduct are reported to have been most holy, as even now the signs of heavenly virtues are a proof. For to this day his horse-litter, in which he was wont to be carried when sick, kept by his disciples, ceases not to heal many who are fevered, or wearied by any other ailment. And not only are the sick who are placed beneath that litter, or set beside it, cured, but even chips cut from it, and carried to the sick, are wont to bring them a swift remedy.

Indeed, before he had been made bishop, he had built two illustrious monasteries—one for himself, the other for his sister Æthelburh—both of which he had excellently instituted with regular disciplines: for himself, in the region of Surrey, beside the river Thames, in a place which is called Chertsey, that is, the island of Cerot; but for his sister, in the province of the East Saxons, in a place which is called Barking, in which she might prove to be the mother and nurse of women devoted to God. She, having undertaken the rule of the monastery, showed herself in all things worthy of her brother the bishop, both by herself living rightly, and by directing those subject to her in a regular and pious manner; as the heavenly miracles also bore witness.

For in this monastery many signs of virtues were wrought, which—for the memory and edification of those who came after—are recorded by many from those who knew them; of which we too have taken care to insert some into our ecclesiastical history. When the tempest of the often-mentioned plague, widely depopulating all things, had invaded also that part of this monastery in which the men were kept, and day by day they were being snatched away here and there to the Lord;

the anxious mother of the congregation began to inquire more frequently in the assembly of the sisters at what hour that same plague would touch also that part of the monastery in which the company of God's handmaids was secluded from the dwelling of the men, and in what place in the monastery they wished their bodies to be laid and a cemetery to be made, when it should befall them to be snatched from the world by the same destruction as the rest. And when she had received no certain answer from the sisters, although she inquired often, she herself, together with all, received a most certain answer of the provision from above.

For when on a certain night, the psalmody of matins having been completed, the handmaids of Christ went out from the oratory to the tombs of the brethren who had gone before them out of this light, to sing the accustomed praises to the Lord, behold, suddenly a light sent from heaven, like a great linen cloth, came over them all, and struck them with such amazement that they even broke off, trembling, the song which they were singing. But the very splendour of that emitted light—in comparison with which the midday sun might seem dark—not long after, lifted from that place, withdrew to the south of the monastery, that is, to the west of the oratory, and there, having tarried a while and covering those places, so, while all looked on, it drew itself up into the heights of heaven;

so that to none was there any doubt but that the very light, which was to lead or to receive the souls of the handmaids of Christ in heaven, was also pointing out to their bodies the place in which they should rest and await the day of resurrection. So great was the radiance of this light that a certain elder of the brethren, who had been stationed at that very hour in their oratory with another younger one, related in the morning that the rays of light which entered through the chinks of the doors or windows seemed to surpass all the brightness of the daylight. There was in the same monastery a boy of about three years and no more, named Æsica, who, on account of his still infantile age, was wont to be reared in the cell of the virgins dedicated to God, and there to be schooled.

This boy, being touched by the aforesaid pestilence, when he came to his last moments, cried out three times to one of the virgins consecrated to Christ, addressing her by her own name as though she were present: 'Eadgyth, Eadgyth, Eadgyth'; and thus ending his temporal life, he entered the eternal. But that virgin whom he called as he was dying, soon, in the place where she was, being touched by the same sickness, was withdrawn from this light on the very day on which she had been called, and followed him who had called her to the heavenly kingdom. Likewise a certain one of these same handmaids of God, being touched by the aforesaid disease and brought to her last moments, began suddenly, about the middle of the night, to cry out to those who were ministering to her, asking that they extinguish the lamp which was lit there.

When she repeated this with frequent voice, and yet no one obeyed her, at last she said: 'I know that you think I am speaking these things with a disordered mind; but know now that it is not so; for truly I tell you that I perceive this house to be filled with so great a light that that lamp of yours seems to me in every way to be dark.' And when, even to one speaking such things, no one as yet answered or gave assent, she said again: 'Light that lamp, then, as long as you wish; nevertheless know that it is not mine; for my light, at the break of dawn, is to come to me.' And she began to relate that a certain man of God had appeared to her, who had died in that same year, saying that, at the coming of daybreak, she was to go forth to the everlasting light.

The truth of which vision was proved by the maiden's death, swiftly, about the rising of the day. Now when the pious mother herself, too, of the congregation devoted to God, Æthelburh, was to be snatched from the world, a wondrous vision appeared to one of the sisters whose name was Torhtgyth, who, having now dwelt many years in the same monastery, herself also always strove in all humility and sincerity to serve God, and took care to be a helper of the regular discipline to that same mother, by teaching or correcting the younger ones. That her virtue might be perfected in weakness, according to the apostle, she was suddenly touched by a most grievous bodily sickness, and for nine years was greatly wearied by the pious provision of our Redeemer;

That is to say, so that whatever defilement of sin remained among her virtues through ignorance or carelessness, the furnace of long-lasting tribulation might wholly burn it away. Therefore, one night at the onset of dusk, having gone out of the chamber where she was staying, she saw plainly something like the body of a man, which was brighter than the sun, wrapped in a linen cloth and borne aloft, lifted up, namely, from the house in which the sisters were accustomed to rest. And when she gazed more attentively to see by what means this thing she was contemplating, this form of a glorious body, was being raised upward, she saw it being lifted into the heights as though by cords brighter than gold, until, the heavens opening, it was brought within and could no longer be seen by her.

Nor did any doubt remain to her as she pondered the vision that someone from that community would soon die, whose soul, by the good works she had done, was to be lifted up to the heavens as though by golden cords; and so indeed it came to pass. For not many days later, the mother of that very community, beloved of God, was led forth from the prison of the flesh; and it is well established that her life was such that no one who knew her ought to doubt that, as she departed this life, the entrance into the heavenly homeland lay open to her. In that same monastery there was also a certain nun, noble in the dignity of this present world, and nobler still in the love of the world to come;

who for many years already had been deprived of all use of her body, so that she could not move even a single limb. When she learned that the body of the venerable abbess had been carried into the church, there to remain until it should be given to burial, she begged to be carried thither and laid down beside it in the posture of those who pray. And while this was being done, she addressed the body as though it were living, and asked that she might obtain, before the mercy of the loving Creator, to be released from torments so great and so prolonged. Nor was she heard much later; for after twelve days she too was led forth from the flesh, and exchanged her temporal afflictions for an eternal reward.

But when the aforesaid handmaid of Christ, Torctgyd, was kept in this life for three years after her mistress's death, she was so worn down by the infirmity we have mentioned that she scarcely clung to her bones; and at last, as the time of her dissolution drew near, she lost the power of movement not only in her other limbs but also in her tongue. And when this had continued for three days and as many nights, suddenly, restored by a spiritual vision, she opened her mouth and her eyes; and looking up to heaven, she began to speak thus to the vision she was beholding: 'Most welcome to me is your coming, and you have come in good time.' And having said this she fell silent a little while, as though awaiting the answer of the one whom she saw and to whom she spoke. And again, as if slightly displeased, she added:

'By no means can I bear this with gladness.' And again falling silent a little, she said a third time: 'If it cannot in any way be today, I beseech you, let the interval in between not be long.' She spoke, and, as before, after a brief silence, she concluded her words thus: 'If it is altogether thus determined, and this decree may not be changed, I beseech you, let no more than only this next coming night intervene.' When she had said these things, and was asked by those sitting around her with whom she was speaking, she said: 'With my dearest mother Aethelburg.' From this they understood that she had come to announce to her that the time of her own passing over was near. For just as she asked, after one day and night had passed, she was loosed at once from the bonds both of the flesh and of her infirmity, and entered into the joys of eternal salvation.

[10] Now there succeeded Aethelburg in the office of abbess a handmaid devoted to God, named Hildilid, and for many years, that is, until extreme old age, she presided over the same monastery most vigorously, both in the observance of the discipline of the Rule and in providing for those things that pertain to common use. When, because of the narrowness of the place in which the monastery was built, it had pleased her that the bones of the menservants and maidservants of Christ which had been buried there should be taken up and all transferred into the church of the blessed Mother of God, and laid together in one place;

how often the brightness of a heavenly light, and how great a fragrance of a wondrous odour, often appeared there, what other signs were shown—whoever shall read in that very book from which we have excerpted these things, will find them. Indeed, I think a miracle of healing that the same little book reports as having occurred at that very cemetery of the community dedicated to God ought by no means to be passed over. For there was nearby a certain nobleman, whose wife, a sudden darkness coming upon her eyes, was so burdened by the same affliction increasing daily that she could not see even the smallest particle of any light.

While she remained for some time shut up in this night of blindness, it suddenly came into her mind that, if she should be carried to the monastery of the holy nuns and seek out the relics of the saints, she might be able to recover the light she had lost. Nor did she delay to carry out at once what she had conceived in her mind. For being led by her maidservants to the monastery, since it was nearby, where she professed that she had full faith in her own healing, she was brought into the cemetery; and when she had prayed there a good while on bended knees, no later she deserved to be heard. For rising from prayer, before she went out of the place, she received the grace of the light she had sought; and she who had been led there by the hands of her maidservants, herself returned home joyful with the free movement of her own feet;

as though she had lost the temporal light for this purpose alone: that by her own healing she might show how great a light Christ's saints possess in heaven, and what grace of power. [11] At that time there ruled over the kingdom of the East Saxons, as the same little book also relates, a man much devoted to God, named Sebbi, of whom we have made mention above. For he was greatly intent upon religious deeds, frequent prayers, and the pious fruits of almsgiving; preferring a private and monastic life to all the riches and honours of the kingdom, a life which he would long since have undertaken, leaving his kingdom, had not the obstinate mind of his wife refused the divorce. Whence it seemed to many, and was often said, that a man of such a disposition ought rather to be ordained a bishop than a king.

And when he had spent thirty years in the kingdom as a soldier of the heavenly kingdom, he was seized by a most grievous bodily infirmity, of which he also died; and he urged his wife that even then they should together dedicate themselves to the divine service, since they could no longer together embrace the world, or rather serve the world. When he had obtained this from her with difficulty, he came to the bishop of the city of London, called Waldhere, who had succeeded Earconwald; and through his blessing he received the habit of religion which he had long desired. He also brought to him a sum of money, not small, to be distributed to the poor, reserving nothing at all for himself; but desiring rather to remain poor in spirit for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

When, the aforesaid sickness growing worse, he felt that the day of his death was drawing near, this man of royal spirit began to fear lest, coming to death and afflicted by such great pain, he might utter something unworthy of his person with his mouth, or display it by some unseemly movement of his limbs. Therefore, summoning to himself the aforesaid bishop of the city of London, in which he himself was then staying, he asked that, when he died, no more should be present than the bishop himself and two of his attendants. When the bishop most willingly promised that he would do this, not long after the same man of God, while he had given his limbs to sleep, saw a consoling vision, which took away from him all the anxiety of the aforesaid care, and moreover showed on what day he was to end this life.

For he saw, as he himself afterwards related, three men come to him, clothed in bright apparel; one of whom, sitting before his little bed, while those who had come with him as companions stood by and asked about the condition of him whom they had come to visit in his sickness, said that his soul would go forth from the body both without any pain and with a great splendour of light; and he also intimated the third day thereafter, on which he would die. And both of these were fulfilled just as he had learned from the vision. For on the third day thereafter, the ninth hour being completed, suddenly, as though gently falling asleep, without any sense of pain, he gave up the spirit. For the burial of his body they had prepared a stone sarcophagus;

but when they began to place the body in it, they found it to be longer than the sarcophagus by the measure of a palm. Therefore, chiselling the stone as much as they could, they added to the length of the sarcophagus about the measure of two fingers. But not even so did it hold the body. Whence, the difficulty of burial having arisen, they were thinking either to seek another coffin, or, if they could, to shorten the body itself by bending it at the knees, until it should be contained by that coffin. But a wondrous thing, and one done by no other than heavenly means, prevented any of these things from having to be done.

For suddenly, with the bishop standing by, and the son of the same king, Sigheard, who afterwards reigned with his brother Suefred, also a monk, and with no small crowd of people present, that sarcophagus was found to be of a length suited to the measure of the body, so that at the head part a pillow could even be placed in addition; while at the foot part the body fell short of the sarcophagus by the measure of four fingers. He was buried in the church of the blessed Doctor of the Gentiles, by whose admonitions, having been instructed, he had learned to hope for heavenly things. [12] The fourth bishop of the West Saxons was Leutherius. For the first was Birinus, the second Agilberct, the third was Wine.

And when Coinwalh had died, in whose reign the same Leutherius was made bishop, the under-kings took over the rule of the nation, and held it divided among themselves for about ten years; and while they were reigning, he died, and Haeddi exercised the bishopric in his place, consecrated by Theodore in the city of London. In the time of his bishopric, the under-kings being defeated and removed, Caedwalla took up the sovereignty, and, when he had held it for two years, at length, pricked by love of the kingdom above, he gave it up, the same prelate still governing the church; and going to Rome, there he ended his life, as is to be told more fully in what follows.

Now in the year of the Lord's incarnation 676, when Aethelred, king of the Mercians, having led in a malign army, was laying waste Kent and defiling churches and monasteries without regard for piety or fear of God, he also consumed in the common destruction the city of Rochester, in which was the bishop Putta, although at that time he was absent. When Putta learned of this—namely that his church had been despoiled, all its goods carried off—he turned aside to Saxwulf, bishop of the Mercians, and having received from him the possession of a certain church and a not large field, he there ended his life in peace, doing nothing at all about restoring his bishopric; because, as we have also said above, he was more industrious in ecclesiastical than in worldly matters;

but serving God in that church alone, and going about, wherever he was asked, to teach the chants of the church. In his place Theodore consecrated Cuichelm as bishop in the city of Rochester. But when, not long after, Cuichelm withdrew from the bishopric on account of lack of resources, and retired to other places, Theodore substituted Gebmund as bishop in his stead. In the year of the Lord's incarnation 678, which is the eighth year of the reign of King Ecgfrith, there appeared in the month of August a star which is called a comet; and remaining for three months, it rose in the morning hours, displaying a lofty column, as it were, of radiant flame.

In that same year, a dissension having arisen between the king Ecgfrith himself and the most reverend bishop Wilfrid, the same bishop was driven from the seat of his bishopric, and two bishops were substituted in his place to preside over the nation of the Northumbrians; namely Bosa, to govern the province of the Deirans, and Eata, that of the Bernicians; the latter having his episcopal chair in the city of York, the former in the church of Hexham or of Lindisfarne, both of them taken from the company of monks into the rank of the episcopate. Together with whom Eadhaed also was ordained bishop in the province of Lindsey, which King Ecgfrith had very recently obtained, having overcome and put to flight Wulfhere in war.

And this province first received him as its own prelate, the second being Aethelwine, the third Eadgar, the fourth Cynibert, whom it has at present. For before Eadhaed it had as bishop Saxwulf, who was at the same time bishop also of the Mercians and of the Middle Angles; whence also, when expelled from Lindsey, he remained in the governance of those provinces. Now Eadhaed, Bosa, and Eata were ordained at York by Archbishop Theodore; who also, three years after Wilfrid's departure, added two more bishops to their number: Tunbert to the church of Hexham, Eata remaining at Lindisfarne, and Trumwine to the province of the Picts, which at that time was subject to the rule of the English.

Eadhaed, returning from Lindsey because Aethelred had recovered the province, he set over the church of Ripon. [13] Now Wilfrid was driven from his bishopric, and after wandering long through many places, went to Rome, and returned to Britain; and although, because of the enmities of the aforesaid king, he could not be received in his own country or diocese, yet he could not be hindered from the ministry of evangelising; since, turning aside to the province of the South Saxons, which after the men of Kent extends southward and westward as far as the West Saxons, having a land of seven thousand families, and which even at that time was in bondage to pagan worship, to this he ministered the word of faith and the laver of salvation.

Now the king of that nation was Aethelwalh, baptized not long before in the province of the Mercians, in the presence and at the suggestion of King Wulfhere, by whom also, as he came forth from the font, he was received as a son; and in token of this adoption he gave him two provinces, namely the Isle of Wight, and the province of the Meonware in the nation of the West Saxons. And so the bishop, the king consenting, nay rather greatly rejoicing, washed in the sacred font the chief leaders and soldiers of the province; while the priests Eappa, and Padda, and Burghelm, and Oiddi baptized the rest of the common people, either then or in the time following. Moreover the queen, named Eabae, had been baptized in her own province, that is, of the Hwicce.

Now she was the daughter of Eanfrith, the brother of Aenheri, who both with their people had been Christians. But the whole province of the South Saxons was ignorant of the divine name and of the faith. There was, however, in that place a certain monk of the nation of the Scots, named Dicul, having a very small little monastery in a place called Bosham, surrounded by woods and sea, and in it five or six brothers, serving the Lord in a humble and poor life. But none of the provincials cared either to imitate their life, or to hear their preaching. Now the bishop Wilfrid, in evangelising that nation, not only delivered it from the misery of perpetual damnation, but also from an unspeakable disaster of temporal destruction.

For three years before his coming into the province no rain had fallen in those places, whence also a most bitter famine, invading the people, laid them low with an impious slaughter. Indeed they say that often forty or fifty men together, wasted by hunger, would go forth to some precipice or to the shore of the sea, and joining their hands together in their misery, would all alike fall down, either to perish by the fall or to be swallowed by the waves. But on the very day on which that nation received the baptism of the faith, there descended a serene yet copious rain, the earth flourished again, the year returned glad and fruitful with greening fields. And thus, the old superstition cast off and idolatry blown away, the heart of all and the flesh of all rejoiced in the living God;

understanding that He who is the true God had enriched them with heavenly grace both in inward and in outward goods. For the bishop also, when he had come into the province, and saw there so great a punishment of famine, taught them to seek food by fishing. For the sea and their rivers abounded with fish; but the people had no skill in fishing, except only for eels. Therefore, nets for eels having been collected from everywhere, the bishop's men cast them into the sea, and, the divine grace helping them, soon caught three hundred fish of various kinds. These being divided into three parts, they gave a hundred to the poor, a hundred to those from whom they had received the nets, and kept a hundred for their own use.

By this benefit the bishop greatly turned the heart of all to love of himself, and more willingly they began to hope for heavenly things at his preaching, by whose ministry they had received temporal goods. At that time King Aethelwalh gave to the most reverend bishop Wilfrid a land of eighty-seven families, where he might receive his own men who were wandering as exiles, a place called Selsey, which in Latin means 'island of the sea-calf' (seal). For it is a place surrounded on all sides by the sea except on the west, where it has an entrance of a width about a sling's cast; such a place is wont to be called by the Latins a peninsula, by the Greeks a chersonese.

When therefore the bishop Wilfrid had received this place, he founded there a monastery, and established it in the regular life, chiefly from those brothers whom he had brought with him; which his successors are known to hold even to this day. For he himself in those parts, for five years, that is, until the death of King Ecgfrith, deservedly honourable to all, exercised the office of the episcopate both in word and in deed. And since the king, together with the aforesaid possession of the place, had given him all the resources that were there, with their fields and men, all of them being instructed in the faith of Christ, he washed them with the wave of baptism; among whom were two hundred and fifty menservants and maidservants; all of whom, as by baptizing he saved them from the servitude of the demon, so also by granting freedom he loosed them from the yoke of human servitude.

[14] In which monastery at that time several gifts of heavenly grace are reported to have been specially shown; inasmuch as it was a place where, the tyranny of the devil having lately been expelled, Christ had now begun to reign; of which we have thought it fitting to commit to memory one, which the most reverend bishop Acca was wont to relate to me rather often, and to assert that it had been related to him by most faithful brothers of the same monastery. At about the same time at which that province had received the name of Christ, a savage mortality was seizing many provinces of Britain. When this, by the nod of the divine dispensation, was reaching also the aforesaid monastery, over which the most religious priest of Christ, named Eappa, then presided to govern it;

and many, whether of those who had come with that bishop, or of those who had lately been called to the faith from the same province of the Saxons, were being carried off everywhere from this life; it seemed good to the brothers to keep a three-day fast, and humbly to entreat the divine clemency, that it might deign to bestow mercy upon them, and either deliver from present death those endangered by this disease, or preserve from the perpetual damnation of the soul those snatched from the world. There was at that time in the same monastery a certain little boy of the nation of the Saxons, lately called to the faith, who, struck by the same infirmity, lay reclining on his little bed for no short time.

When therefore the second day of the said fasting and supplications was being kept, it happened by chance that the boy himself, at about the second hour of the day, was found alone in the place where he lay sick; to whom, by divine disposition, the most blessed chiefs of the apostles suddenly deigned to appear. For the boy was of a very simple and meek spirit, keeping with sincere devotion the sacraments of the faith which he had received. Greeting him therefore with most loving words, the apostles said: 'Do not fear, son, the death about which you are anxious; for we are this very day going to lead you to the heavenly kingdoms.

But first you must wait until Masses are celebrated, and, the viaticum of the Lord's body and blood being received, so, loosed at once from infirmity and from death, you may be raised to the eternal joys in heaven. Call therefore to yourself the priest Eappa, and tell him that the Lord has heard your prayers, and has looked favourably upon your devotion and fasting; nor shall anyone more from this monastery or from the little possessions adjacent to it die from this plague; but all who anywhere among you labour with this sickness shall rise from their languor and be restored to their former health, except you alone, who are this very day to be delivered from death, and to be led up to the vision of the Lord Christ, whom you have faithfully served, into heaven;

which the divine mercy has deigned to confer upon you through the intercession of the religious king beloved of God, Oswald, who once ruled sublimely over the nation of the Northumbrians, both with the authority of a temporal kingdom and with the devotion of Christian piety, which leads to the everlasting kingdom. For on this very day that same king, bodily slain in battle by the unbelievers, was straightway taken up into heaven to the everlasting joys of souls, and was joined to the companies of the elect. Let them search in their books, in which is recorded the death of the departed, and they will find that he was, as we have said, on this day snatched from the world.

Let them therefore celebrate Masses throughout all the oratories of this monastery, whether in thanksgiving for their petition having been heard, or also in memory of the aforesaid king Oswald, who once ruled over their nation, and therefore prayed as a suppliant to the Lord for them, as for sojourners of his own nation; and, all the brothers coming together to the church, let them all communicate in the heavenly sacrifices, and so, the fast being broken, let them also refresh the body with its own food.' When the boy had narrated all these words to the priest called to him, he anxiously asked him of what habit or appearance were the men who had appeared to him. He answered:

'Of altogether splendid habit, and their faces were most joyful and most beautiful, such as I had never seen before, nor did I believe any of men could be of such great comeliness and grace. One indeed was tonsured, like a cleric, the other had a long beard; and they said that one of them was called Peter, the other Paul; and that they themselves were ministers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, sent by Him from heaven for the protection of our monastery.' The priest therefore believed the words of the boy, and at once going out, he searched in his annal, and found that on that very same day King Oswald had been slain; and calling the brothers, he ordered a meal to be prepared, Masses to be performed, and all to communicate in the customary manner;

and at the same time he commanded that a particle from the same sacrifice of the Lord's oblation be brought to the sick boy. These things being so done, not long after, on that very same day the boy died, and by his own death proved that the words to be true which he had heard from the apostles of Christ. But this testimony also was borne to his words, that no one besides himself at that time was snatched from the world out of the same monastery. From which vision, indeed, many who could hear these things were wondrously kindled both to entreat the divine clemency in adversities, and to undergo the salutary remedies of fastings;

and from that time, not only in the same monastery, but also in very many other places, the birthday (heavenly birthday) of that same king and soldier of Christ began to be venerated annually with the celebration of Masses. [15] Meanwhile Caedwalla, a most vigorous young man of the royal stock of the Gewisse, coming with an army while he was an exile from his own country, killed King Aethelwalh, and wore down that province with savage slaughter and devastation; but soon he was driven out by the king's leaders, Berhtun and Andhun, who thereafter held the rule of the province; of whom the former was afterwards killed by the same Caedwalla, when he was king of the Gewisse, and the province was subdued to a heavier servitude.

And Ini also, who reigned after Caedwalla, subjected that province to a like affliction for a very long span of years. Whence it came to pass that throughout all that time it could not have a bishop of its own; but, Wilfrid its first bishop having been recalled home, they were made subject to the very bishop of the Gewisse, that is, of the West Saxons, who were in the city of Winchester.