Theobaldus the Priest
Acta Sanctorum, June 30
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://actasanctorum.org/june/day-30/theobaldus-the-priest.html
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CONCERNING ST. THEOBALDUS THE PRIEST,
HERMIT OF THE DIOCESE OF VICENZA IN ITALY.

IN THE YEAR 1066

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

Theobaldus, Priest, Hermit, of the diocese of Vicenza in Italy (St.)

BY G. H.

§. I. The Acts of his life and translations; his age; his sacred cult.

There flourished the most holy Hermit Theobaldus
in the eleventh century of Christ, with many
miracles in life and immediately at his
death illustrious. [The Acts are given, the former indeed from 6 Mss and Surius,] His Acts double
we have, perhaps from a greater
account, arranged by ancient and contemporary
authors, within six and eight years of the Saint's death,
from the most certain account of his mother and other intimates.
The former we give, from the manuscript codex of the Queen of Sweden;
another, of the monastery of Beaufont in the diocese of Rheims; and
of Cîteaux, inserted in a third codex: and they are extant also
in the monastery of St. Hubert among the Ardennes; and the same

Jacob Mosander, found in a manuscript codex,
published in the Supplement to the works of Surius, which then to the second
and third Surian edition, on this June 30,
are found inserted; and finally we collated them with
other copies sent by our Peter Francis
Chifflet from the manuscripts of Mont-Sainte-Marie, and of the Monastery of Acey.
The later Acts we have in our parchment manuscript
codex, [the later from two.] distributed into Lessons, wont to be recited at Matins,
and in these in place of a Prologue is reported the Decree
of Pope Alexander II, by which he grants his memory
to be solemnly celebrated, so much that it can seem a Bull
of Canonization, or an Office approved by the Apostolic See;
taken partly word for word from the Life already said;
but partly from new notices, brought to promote the cause:
which that it may more clearly appear, fitting
I judged it to print that whole Pontifical Decree, as it is found;
since the matter in itself is brief, nor otherwise easily
can the order of the composition be conceived. An illustrious compendium
thence took Vincent of Beauvais, [Various Compendia are indicated.] book 25 of his Speculum
Historiale, ch. 28, which also was inserted in the manuscript
Legendary of Utrecht of the Church of St. Salvator. Some things
also from these later ones are reported in Peter
de Natalibus, book 6 of the Catalogue, ch. 36; likewise in
the Breviary of Autun in Gaul, printed about
the year 1534: and in the Sermon on St. Theobaldus,
by Josse Clichtove published in part 2 of the Homilies,
printed under the note of the year 1541.

[2] From all the aforesaid places it is certainly established, that St. Theobaldus
on this June 30 met his last day, [His death on June 30] because in
those it is said he migrated from this world on the day before or the second
[day before] the Kalends of July. Certainly also is gathered the year 1066,
in which it was, [in the year 1066.] which is indicated in the first Life, the fourth Indiction,
when from this life he departed, around the evening of the sixth
feria [Friday]: and then on the fourth day from his death, the second feria [Monday],
the third day of the month of July, the body was solemnly carried
into the Cathedral Church of Vicenza. For
in the said year 1066, the cycle of the sun being 11, the Dominical letter
A, these things thus fell out. Besides, Henry, son
of Henry Augustus in Italy, and Philip in Gaul
reigned. Indeed also Alexander II the Pope presided over
the Church, who after his death lived six years and
ten months; in which time he decreed his veneration,
on account of the many (as he says) miracles which were done
at Vicenza: [Miracles done at Vicenza,] which we, written within the sixth year from his death,
from the four above-cited manuscripts and Surius subjoin,
where are reported eleven blind men by the merits of St. Theobaldus
given light. Alexander the Pope was succeeded by St. Gregory
VII, whose various Acts we illustrated on May 25.
In this Pontiff's time there was a solemn cult of St. Theobaldus
at Lagny in Gaul, also with various miracles
adorned; [at Lagny in Gaul,] which immediately after committed to writing,
are extant together with the later Acts in the manuscripts
of Cardinal Mazarin, just as we described them at Paris,
not knowing meanwhile that they had been by Francis Combefis the Dominican
transmitted to Antwerp to Bollandus. Another
at the same time there was a Church with a monastery, to the honor
of St. Theobaldus built, in the diocese of Rheims,
in the castle of Bazoches; [and at Bazoches in the diocese of Rheims.] commonly called Bazoches; where also
he shone with miracles, some of which were subjoined in
the cited codex of the monastery of Beaufont of the diocese of Rheims,
and another of ours, which also we give, by an Author likewise
contemporary described.

[3] His memory on the day June 30 is inscribed
in the manuscript Martyrology of the monastery of Hilariac in Lorraine, [Memory June 30] dedicated to St. Nabor the Martyr, which at Paris with
the Feuillant Fathers we found; where these things are read: "On the same
day of St. Theobaldus Confessor of Christ:" but the memory of Theubaldus
the Confessor is read in the very ancient Calendar
of Trier of the monastery of St. Maximin. More accurately
it is written in the manuscript Florarium: "Likewise of St. Theobaldus,
Hermit and Confessor." In the Appendix of Greven
to Usuard, printed in the years 1515 and 1521,
these things are read: "In the territory of Coutances of St. Theobaldus,
Priest, Hermit, and Confessor."
Where for "Coutances" we judge should be read "Vincentia"
or "Vicenza." Meanwhile this was followed by Canisius,
who adds more from the Acts in his German Martyrology;
Cratepolius, on the Saints of Germany;
but Ferrari in his general Catalogue twice places St.
Theobaldus, one at Constance, whom in the Notes he rejects, and
another at Vicenza.

[4] [and July 1,] But on the following day, the very Kalends of July, his memory
also is celebrated, both because of the error of Peter de Natalibus,
who wrote that he reposed in peace on the Kalends
of July, [in the Martyrologies,] because the last day of June is impeded, both
by the solemn Commemoration of St. Paul the Apostle, both by the feast
of St. Martialis, as we said above, through Gaul then
wont to be celebrated in several churches. Hence these things in
Galesinius are read: "In Gaul of St. Theobaldus Confessor.
He, born in a noble place, to the contempt of human
things wondrously instructed, at Vicenza,
whither he had withdrawn, in solitude the divine
way of living followed, how pleasing he was to God,
he showed by the greatness of his miracles. His
Relics translated to that province, piously stored,
are religiously venerated." Canisius, on the very Kalends
of July, reports the same again, adding, that about him on the day before
treatment was made. Maurolyco has these things: "In the castle
of Provins of Gaul of St. Theobaldus the Hermit." Molanus:
"In the territory of Provins of St. Theobaldus the Confessor,"
because there he was born, and besides
is venerated on account of some Relics of his brought thither, as below
will be said. On the same first of July the feast of St. Theobaldus
is celebrated with an Ecclesiastical office, [and in Breviaries:] in the above-cited Breviary
of Autun, with nine Lessons prescribed from
his Life. But in the Breviary of Toul of the year 1535; of Angers,
of the year 1624; and of Sens, of the year 1625,
only a Commemoration is prescribed. [in these also on the 2nd, 8th, 9th,] To the second day
of July is translated this feast in the Breviary of Amiens
of the year 1550, and then are prescribed nine Lessons,
taken from the Life. But in the Breviary of Meaux, of the year
1640, and the more recent Parisian, of the year 1636,
this Saint is proposed to be venerated on the day July 8; but
in the more ancient one of the year 1584 he is reported on the day July 9: in
these are prescribed three Lessons from the Life, and
at the end of the last these things are read: "Whose bones, into Gaul
translated, found much veneration in many places."
[and July 12.] Finally in the Langres Breviary
of the year 1604, the feast is indicated for the Kalends of July,
but is prescribed to be deferred to the day 12th of the same
month. And these things from several Breviaries of Gaul
we have drawn. But Saussay, on the Kalends of July, after
adds: "Whose bones, more precious than gems, [Likewise with an Octave at Metz.] and with marvelous
splendors gleaming, into Gaul presently translated,
gained for the Blessed himself great
honorableness: especially at Metz, where his feast with
an Octave by ancient custom is celebrated, on account of received
long ago from the sacred pledges the supports of a powerful
patronage." These things Saussay.

§. II. The cult and Relics of St. Theobaldus in Gaul and Belgium.

[5] Charles Jamotte in the year 1669, about St. Theobaldus
had a French treatise printed at Liège, [In the diocese of Sens is Provins, the paternal home with an oratory,] divided
into three parts: of which the first contains the Life, the second
the veneration in various Churches, and the third the miracles,
of which below some we will give, in the village of Mercurol
(where the said Jamotte acted as Parish-priest) in the last
years performed. From the second part here some things we cull.
And first, that in the Archbishopric of Sens the cult
of St. Theobaldus flourishes, is established from the Breviary above
indicated. In this Archbishopric is Provins,
educated St. Theobaldus; and his paternal house
is still said to survive with a small oratory; and over against
it is a church of two gates, erected to
this Saint's honor. In it is preserved a statue of the half
body, of silver, and in several places gilded, with
the insignia of the provinces of Champagne and Brie: whence
it is thought to be the gift of some Count of Champagne, of the kinship
of St. Theobaldus, some bone of whom in that statue
is contained. There is also some little reliquary
of gilded wood, in which several bones of the same Saint
are preserved: nay that his Head there once was deposited,
the report is. This church in its jurisdiction depends
on the Royal and Collegiate [church] of St. Quiriacus
of the same town, [and an altar in the church of St. Quiriacus;] where is seen a silver Arm with
Brie, adorned, in which is enclosed some bone of the arm
of St. Theobaldus. There likewise on an altar is an image of solid work;
and another above the gate over against the paternal
house, in the figure of a noble knight, such as he was
before his departure from it. From this church on the day first
of July, with solemn apparatus, is instituted a procession,
by which ceremony the Patron of this place is acknowledged. There is besides
outside the town a fountain, surnamed of St. Theobaldus,
from which the water taken to various sick is said to have brought health.
In the very city of Sens also, at
St. Columba the Greater, is held a most magnificent silver case,
in which almost the whole Body is said to be contained (thither
perhaps brought from Provins), as to us testified
Claude Castellan, a Parisian Canon.

[6] Under the same Archbishopric of Sens was once contained
Paris, not so long ago by Gregory XV
raised to the Archiepiscopal dignity; [in the diocese of Paris, at Lagny;] in which a solemn
cult exhibited to St. Theobaldus, his Breviaries declare,
as also the sermon of Clichtove delivered on his annual
feast. In that diocese is Lagny, celebrated for the miracles
of the same Saint, on whose account more
below we note. In neighboring Champagne is the Archbishopric
of Rheims, [and in that of Rheims in various places:] in which flourishes the veneration of the same
St. Theobaldus: and several in that diocese were
erected to him Churches, of which we treat below at the Miracles,
in the parish of Bazoches by his aid performed. In a like
manner in the Bishopric of Toul greatly is esteemed the patronage
and veneration of St. Theobaldus: in whose diocese
is the Abbey of the Order of St. Augustine, Chaumousey,
and there is a chapel dedicated to St. Theobaldus, [in that of Toul, at Chaumousey,] in
which is kept his Head with two bones of the Shins:
wine also to his honor is consecrated with the Relics dipped,
which by the fever-stricken, that they may obtain health,
is wont to be drunk. They suspect, that these Relics
once were kept in the church of the village of Ambacourt,
sacred to St. Theobaldus, [at Ambacourt,] whose Parish-priest is taken from
the said Chaumousey. His there is an image at the side of the Gospel,
in an eminent place exposed at the wall, in
the habit of a knight, with a body great and youthful, holding
in his compressed hand a captured bird; and there by devout
pilgrims wax tapers and candles are hung up. A few
paces thence is distant a fountain of St. Theobaldus, from which, as in at Sens, the fever-stricken drink the drawn water, with
their great consolation. At Nancy also, the chief city of Lorraine,
there was near the walls a chapel of St. Theobaldus:
but afterward, for the cause of fortifying the city, it was thrown down. But
at Vaucouleurs, [and elsewhere:] a little town on the Meuse, at Carislaire in the County
of Vaudémont, and in the suburbs of St. Michael in
the Convent of the Minims, are churches sacred to the same St. Theobaldus.
In the city and diocese of Metz also
the feast is celebrated with an Octave, [in the suburb of Metz,] as above from Saussay we said;
and there is in the suburb a Collegiate church, on the
ground of the Nuns of the Abbey of St. Glodesindis built,
and therefore brought into controversy, which Stephen
Bishop of Metz settled by a diploma of the year
1163, as in the History of the Bishops of Metz
of Meurisse, p. 400, printed it is read. This Church's
Canons, the authority of the Bishop of Toul being interposed,
obtained in the year 1483, from the above-named
people of Ambacourt, a particle of the ear of the head, and
another of the collar-bone; and the former in a silver head, the latter
in a case likewise silver they enclosed. This church was,
on account of various causes of war twice destroyed, the Canons
being translated into the parish church of St. Martin;
and again in another place rebuilt. There finally one
of the urban gates retains the name of St. Theobaldus.

[7] [At Luxembourg,] At Luxembourg also there is to the honor of the same, in
the church of the Franciscans, a confraternity, erected by stone-masons,
masons, glaziers, weavers, and the like.
Besides, in that district is the village Lindensis, [at Linden.]
commonly Lonieu, from Pittange, where the Saint for some time
dwelt, not far distant. There is a church
dedicated to St. Stephen, to the Mother of God the Virgin Annunciate, and
to St. Theobaldus; in which are, [granted] in the year 1518, by fourteen
Cardinals, Indulgences of a hundred years,
to those visiting on three days the Church of these Saints.
But also that at Rutilia among the Carthusians is kept
Duchy of Luxembourg is the ancient County
of Montaigu, commonly Montaigu, [at Montaigu,] of whose Counts
Cono, in the year 1066, after the Duke of Lorraine,
and the Counts of Namur and Luxembourg, subscribed
to a certain privilege of Theoduin Bishop of Liège,
produced in Chapeauville, vol. 2 of the Bishopric
of Liège, ch. 1. In the castle of this County, on
the very mountain, there was once a Chapel of St. Theobaldus: nor
the castle being destroyed did the old devotion toward the Saint vanish,
but around the beginning of the 17th century was even augmented, on account of an exposed
there wooden image, one or another, in which
1639 there began to be built a new Church,
which in the year 1660 was consecrated together with two altars,
of which the chief was dedicated to St. Theobaldus,
and in it some Relic of his is placed. At the root
of the said Montaigu is the celebrated village Mercuria,
or Martis-Curia, to whose Parish-priest, [at Mercurol,] also is subject
the aforesaid temple on the mountain. There a Parish-priest also
was, whom at the beginning of this Paragraph we praised, Charles
Jamotte, who various things about St. Theobaldus on that occasion wrote.
He, in his Treatise part 2, ch. 16, testifies, that from the Chapter
of the Church of Metz, a notable part of the Skull of St. Theobaldus
was obtained, September 22 in the year 1642:
but before, in ch. 6 he had said, that from the Abbot of Chaumousey
was sent to him in the year 1662 as a gift a fairly good part
of the Head of the same Saint: which Relics, together with
particles of the most holy Cross of Christ, he took care to insert into a Cross
of silver, fashioned to that end. At Tienen also, [at Tienen in Brabant.]
near the Hougaarde gate; to augment whose celebrity
the said Pastor asserts in ch. 8, that he sent in the year
1666 some particle.

[8] [At Huy among the Crosier Friars] At Huy besides, a city of Liège, there was to St. Theobaldus
11 of the History of Liège, to which then there the Order
of the Crosier Friars was instituted: and this they hold to have been by Theoduin
Bishop of Liège, who died about the year 1074,
built, and then often augmented; in which even now,
near the choir on the side of the Gospel, is an altar,
with an image of the Saint in the habit of a Priest, holding
in one hand a book, in the other a staff, the pilgrim's
token, and under his feet trampling the devil: where
yearly the feast with solemn rite is celebrated, with Lessons recited,
which thence we received, contracted from the former Life. [At Chiny,]
Five leagues thence is distant the town of Chiny,
in whose suburb, called Saxeo, there was in the year 1286
erected, by Louis Viscount of Chiny, a chapel of St.
Theobaldus; to which was added afterward a Priory,
depending on the Crosiers of Huy, and both there and
on the mountain are fountains, surnamed of St. Theobaldus,
whose waters are said to afford help to the sick. [in both Burgundies,] There has
also Burgundy, both the Duchy and the County, in
veneration St. Theobaldus: about whose deeds
wrote therefore Peter Francis Chifflet a treatise,
printed in the year 1663 at Dijon: and we
above cited the Breviary of Autun,
published in the year 1524, which the Lord Louis
d'Attichy approved in the year 1663; in which
diocese several parishes, churches, and priories are said
to glory in the name of St. Theobaldus; and that at Semur in
the parish church is a Chapel of the same Saint. In
the County also are various chapels, altars,
and even parish churches, for instance near Salins and
Jussey. [and in the suburb of Vienna in Austria.] Finally at Vienna in Austria, in the suburban church
of the Carmelite Fathers, that there is an altar of St. Theobaldus,
with his image in the habit of a hermit, the above-praised
Jamotte writes in ch. 8.

§. III. Controversies about St. Theobaldus; chiefly, whether he reposes among the Camaldolese at Vangadizza.

[9] [St. Theobaldus held by error to be a Bishop,] About this Saint various controversies occur, because
by some he was not distinguished from others of the same name.
First can be reckoned St. Theobaldus,
Archbishop of Vienne, the great-uncle of the grandmother
of this Theobaldus the Hermit, as if this one had also been
distinguished with the Episcopal dignity: whence in the Martyrology
of Cologne and Lübeck of the year 1490, these things on the Kalends
of July are read: "In the territory of Provins of Bl.
Theobaldus, Bishop and Confessor. He himself
withdrew from the world; and the eremitic life for nine
years seeking, for Christ most poorly
lived: whom on account of the holiness of his life Angels
from heaven with a Pontifical fillet adorned." From this
error the images of St. Theobaldus among the people of Luxembourg,
of Linden, and of Tienen are painted with a choral cope
or pluvial, mitre, and Episcopal staff: and the people of Rutilia
think they have a joint of St. Theobaldus,
the Bishop: nay the cult of St. Theobaldus the Bishop
is reported also on the Kalends of July, as at his Acts
we said on May 21.

[10] Another St. Theobaldus is an Italian, born and educated at Vico
near Mondovì, [to him are attributed the church and miracles of St. Theobaldus of Alba,] and at Alba
Pompeia dead; whose body there in the Cathedral Church
is kept. In his Life, on the day
May 27 published, it is said that a Rib was secretly carried into Burgundy;
and when it could not be moved, in a church there
built, it was deposited; where a dead man being raised
thence to Alba Pompeia made a pilgrimage. Ferrari
in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, at the said May 27
in the Notes, asserts, that to this Blessed of Alba is attributed,
what to St. Theobaldus the Hermit belongs, namely,
what was said about the dead man raised. But because nothing
similar about this one we find among so many ancient monuments,
which we have examined, that thing inserted into the Acts of St. Theobaldus of Alba
we leave.

[12] A third is St. Theobaldus the Camaldolese,
whose sacred Body reposes in the church of Bl. Mary of Vangadizza
of the Camaldolese Order, between Lendinara and
Rovigo, [another from this is St. Theobaldus the Abbot,] situated in the diocese of Adria, and commonly called
"la Badia." Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints
of Italy on the Kalends of June, of St. Theobaldus, Hermit
and Abbot of Vangadizza, these things writes: "Theobaldus,
by nation a Gaul, of Provins (which is a notable town
of the diocese of Troyes) of most noble parents
sprang; his Father Arnulf and his mother
Guilla was called. He from infancy despising earthly things, [(although the Acts are confused)]
as a youth, his parents being left, an eremitic life
led, and with marvelous sanctity, Henry III
being Emperor, flourished. But that he might more freely serve God,
his native soil deserting, into Italy he came;
and a Camaldolese Monk at Vicenza
made, within the hills of it a hard life
leading, dwelt; until Vangadizza (which
of a village and Abbey in the borders of the diocese of Adria,
distant from the town of Rovigo 10 miles, is the name) coming, [dead at Vangadizza:]
many flowing together to him, he is made Abbot;
and over that monastery for some time with much
praise and sanctity he presided. Finally with pious works
and age worn out, in the same monastery
he migrated to Christ. Whose body, there entombed,
is held in great veneration. But his feast-day
is kept with the greatest celebrity, the inhabitants
flowing together from everywhere." These things Ferrari, asserting
that he writes these things, from the monuments of the same Church,
and from the Camaldolese Chronicle. The same
Hermit of the Camaldolese Order Arnold Wion reported on the said
Kalends of June, and him followed
Dorganius and Bucelinus. These things if they be compared with the Acts
of St. Theobaldus, which here double, and from so
many manuscripts plainly solid we give; he will plainly be reckoned another
from the said Camaldolese. For this Theobaldus,
of whom we treat, when in his hut at Salanigo for nine
years he had lived, there on the day before the Kalends of July migrated,
and indeed fairly young; and on the thirteenth day of July
the body to Vicenza carried, for some time in the Cathedral
church reposed, celebrated through miracles, [this is the hermit, who died at Salanigo and was translated to Vicenza,] performed
to those running together to his tomb. The above-praised
Charles Jamotte, having sent someone to Vicenza, this thence
had as a response, published by him in part 2, ch. 3. "Silvius
Trissinus, Doctor of Both Laws, Apostolic Protonotary,
Archdeacon of the Cathedral Church
of Vicenza, and in its Bishopric of the most Illustrious
and most Reverend Lord, the Lord Joseph
Civrans, by the grace of God and the Apostolic See Bishop
of Vicenza, Duke, Marquis, and Count,
Vicar General, to all and each about to inspect the present
[document] we give faith and attest,
that in this Cathedral Church of Vicenza there exists a Chapel
and altar of holy Theobaldus, [where still is an altar and image of him,] Priest and
Hermit, with an image of the same Saint, painted
on a pillar, newly built; through the execution of the legacy
of the Lord Fabricius Mutius, once Canon of the same
Cathedral; but that the old icon of the same
Saint was translated, and now exists in
the sacristy of the aforesaid Cathedral; and that it is held by tradition, [not the body, which was translated elsewhere.]
that his body reposed in the said Chapel,
and afterward was translated to the place of the Abbey
or Vangadizza … In faith of which, etc. Given
at Vicenza from the Episcopal palace, on the day August 30
1560." And it was signed: "Silvius Trissinus Archdeacon,
Vicar general." And below, "Paul
Cornelatus, Episcopal Notary." And the seal of the Bishop
of Vicenza impressed at the side. These things there: in which
the prior tradition, that the body there reposed, plainly
holds: but the latter, about the body translated to Vangadizza, does not agree with those things which above from Ferrari and
the Vangadizza monuments we said, that there as Abbot
he had died and been buried.

[13] On account of this difficulty Augustine the Florentine,
in the latter part of the Camaldolese histories, book 4,
ch. 6. Where the Life of St. Theobaldus, Hermit and Monk,
he describes, with this beginning: "There reposes in the temple
of the Abbey of Vangadizza the Venerable body of St. Theobaldus,
the renowned Hermit, of whose life something from
the homily of Josse Clichtove, the lessons and
hymns of his Office, here to relate fitting
we have judged. Theobaldus was born of Arnulf, a noble
Count of Champagne in Gaul, etc." We omit
to relate the particulars, [Another account of Augustine the Camaldolese.] although they are set forth in another way than
in the ancient Acts they are written. Only we excerpt
those things which in favor of the Camaldolese Order are thus inserted, read.
"Bl. Theobaldus, into the region of Vicenza
when he had come, seeking a place for holy conversion
fit; by Peter the Venerable Abbot
of Vangadizza was received in hospitality; where being constrained
to stay, of the monastic Order he received the consecration."
Then, various things being interposed, these things are had: "Lastly
Bl. Theobaldus, both by the weakness of his body
and by fever broken, Peter calling, the Abbot,
with the Sacraments his passage duly fortified most devoutly;
and from this marvelous hospitality happily to
heaven migrated on the Kalends of June, in the year of salvation one thousand
and fiftieth. But when there doubled
daily the miracles at his tomb, the people of Vicenza
seize the body, as from his translation is had,
and beside the walls in a hidden place bury [it]. But
Peter the Abbot and Oddo his companion, about the loss
of the lost treasure sad, the place being explored, the dug-up
sacred body, in the silence of the dead night, to their
monastery carried on the Ides of June: where it lies
in the basilica of Blessed Mary the Virgin, of whose translation
the celebrity yearly, with immense praises to God
of Monks and Clerics, is kept. Peter himself wrote
both the Life of St. Theobaldus, and the order
of the Translation in a most brilliant style, which
however in its entirety it was not permitted to see."

[14] These things Augustine the Florentine, plainly diverse
from those which Ferrari from the monuments of the Vangadizza
Church and the Camaldolese Chronicle wrote; and also
from those which in each Life of St. Theobaldus, from so
ancient and sincere manuscripts we give. And first about Peter
the Abbot, these things in the former Life are had: "Brought to his last,
[When and what kind of habit St. Theobaldus the hermit received,] Peter the Abbot being summoned, before all
joined to him familiarly in friendship, who
to him in the same year the monastic Habit had consecrated,
he commends to him his mother and his spiritual sons,
with the care of the whole hermitage." The same, a few words omitted,
are read in the latter Life, without mention of the Camaldolese
Order and Vangadizza: and the Habit,
of what kind it was is not judged, nor in the first year of his dwelling,
but in the ninth or last did Peter consecrate it.
Why should not the Monastic Habit be understood as the same,
as the Eremitic? But this matter is of little moment.
Let us proceed with Augustine the Florentine, by whom he is said
to have migrated to heaven on the Kalends of June, in the year one thousand
and fiftieth: [dying, not in the year 1050, June 1;] at which time Theobaldus the Hermit
still dwelt at Provins with his parents: from whom
he departed in the year 1054, and after three years of pilgrimage
came to the hut of Salanigo; and when there
he had dwelt nine years, [but in the year 1066, June 30,] he migrated to heaven
on the day before the Kalends of July, in the year 1066. Moreover
in Augustine it is said the people of Vicenza seized the body,
and beside the walls in a hidden place buried it.
But on the contrary, according to the indubitable Acts, the people of Vicenza,
the Saint's death being discovered, all together to the office
of the funeral are said to have rushed: but afterward, on the second
feria [Monday], [publicly at Vicenza he was buried,] the third day of the month of July, with great
throng and dancing of peoples, the holy body
was buried in the basilica of St. Mary ever Virgin,
to whose title he had performed the honor of the Priesthood:
and there to his tomb running together from everywhere,
eleven blind men were given light; the lame, the contracted,
and others healed: and all these things from authentic instruments
are established; which the said Augustine confesses
he had not seen: but that Peter wrote them, in the silence of the ancients,
we are unwilling to assert.

[15] Finally it is most certain, that among the people of Vicenza the body was not
left; but into Gaul translated we judge, [the body seems to have been carried into Gaul,]
namely to Provins, Lagny, Bazoches,
and to other places, which above we indicated. And this Sigebert,
in the Chronicle at the year of Christ 1050, clearly indicates
with these words: "Saint Theobaldus, among the Nobles
of the Franks not lowest, at this time was illustrious:
who, the world and himself being renounced, having followed Christ,
in Vicenza a city of Venetia, as a recluse, there in the twelfth
year of his conversion, with a blessed end reposed.
How acceptably he served God, after his death
the greatness of miracles showed. His bones
into Gaul translated, much veneration in many places
deserved." These things there. Arnold
Wion, on the Kalends of July, some similar eulogy
formed, and to the territory of Provins the body attributed, but
to the Camaldolese Order ascribes the Saint himself. The Martyrology,
printed at Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490,
with Greven, and Molanus in the Appendix of Usuard, ascribes
his veneration, not to Vicenza, but to Provins
in Gaul, on account of the cult in that place celebrated and
the Relics carried thither; perhaps by the Saint's own mother,
returned; for that she remained in Italy we do not know,
nor was there [reason] that she should remain, the Body being carried off thence. Besides,
as below is said, in the History of the miracles
done at Lagny, "A great part
of the same Saint's body being translated thither from Vicenza, with great
dancing and retinue at Lagny, great
miracles were done, and a basilica built for him."
The rest above in §. 2, and below in the Notes
are observed. These things be said without any detriment
to the Camaldolese Order, [but that another is at Vangadizza,] to which we grant that from this Saint
another St. Theobaldus [is distinct], who, as above from Ferrari
we said, Abbot of Vangadizza, with much praise
and sanctity lived; and with pious works and age worn out,
on the Kalends of June in the year one thousand and fiftieth,
in the same monastery migrated to Christ:
whose body there entombed in great
veneration is held. Ferdinand Ughelli, in vol.
5 of his Italia Sacra, among the Bishops of Vicenza, col. 1109, [translated in the year 1411 and 1626.] testifies
that his bones at Vangadizza were, long ago, in the year 1411
on the day June 23; and in the year 1626 with solemn
pomp into a more becoming place in the same Church
translated. The same things are reported by Francis
Barbarano, in the first book of the Ecclesiastical History of Vicenza,
ch. 57; who adds, that in the last translation of the year 1626,
the sacred bones were deposited in a silver tabernacle;
besides the right hand, which every year
in a solemn procession is carried about, in the concourse
of all the subjects of the said Abbey. That some of this saint's
Relics at Verona in the Church of the Most Holy Trinity,
and others elsewhere are kept, indicates the same Barbarano.

LIFE
By a contemporary author.
From four very ancient manuscript codices and Surius.

Theobaldus, Priest, Hermit, of the diocese of Vicenza in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 8032, 8033

BY A CONTEMPORARY AUTHOR

PROLOGUE.

The lords * of arms, and the warlike conquerors of nations, or founders of cities,
we know by the proclamations of loquacious Poets
(so to speak) to be raised to the stars, and with the very long
windings of annals or histories, to the memory
of posterity, with crackling words we have heard
frequently with most vain zeal, in reading, to be praised.
But if the praises of false gods, or of their satellites,
with such efficacy of words are adorned: why
should we not rather, for the edification of the hearers, the gratuitous gifts
of omnipotent God, which to his faithful
daily to bestow he does not cease, with all elegance
of speech, as he himself shall grant, relate?
For the true Prophet and Savior of the world,
when from five loaves and two fishes five
thousand men he had satisfied, to the crowds seeking
to make him King, said: "Work, not
the food which perishes, but which endures unto eternal life. [John 6.]"
And a little after; "My Father," he says, "until
now works:" [The Acts of the Saints adorn the Church.] who without testimony of his goodness
allows no order of the ages to pass;
who the Church's adornment in the Patriarchs and Prophets
begins, in Apostolic firmness solidifies,
in the victory of the Martyrs crowns, in the purity of the Confessors
decorates, in the flowers of the Virgins adorns.
Truly, I say, until now he works; who his Church
in war with roses surrounds, and in peace with lilies
clothes. [Canticles 2.] Whence the Church herself, namely the spouse of God,
wounded with the dart of love, to the holy preachers says:
"Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples, for I languish
with love:" by the flower indeed the tender virtue
of those beginning, but by the apple the solid working
of the perfect is designated. The Church therefore asks to be stayed up
with flowers; because to all the weak the virtue of those beginning
she commands to be preached: to be compassed with apples
she desires; because the marvelous deeds of the perfect to the faithful
to be imitated she proposes. Therefore lest the studious ears of the hearers,
with circumlocutions of words, we offend;
simply and faithfully, as God shall grant,
why thus we have made this prelude, let us open.

[Note]

* otherwise, "The Ancients"

CHAPTER I.

His birth, education, pilgrimages.

Therefore Theobaldus, a man of good disposition, of the nation
of the Franks, his father Arnulf, his mother Willa,
born in the territory of Sens, but in the castle
of Provins educated, a flower, so to speak, from
thorns burst forth: [At Provins of illustrious parents he is born,] of parents indeed, not only noble,
but also most illustrious and most rich, he shone forth.
Whose nativity, by St. Theobaldus
Bishop of Vienne, without doubt by the relation of his truthful intimates;
and, what is firmer, by the assertion
of the mother of that same blessed man, foretold we have found.
For that Prelate was great-uncle of the grandmother of St. Theobaldus,
and from him, the appellation of an identical name
he received. [foretold by the Bishop, his mother's great-great-uncle,] Who when once a conversation
he had with the mother of the Lady Willa,
the mother of this blessed man, among other things said: "O
generous parent, rejoice and be glad, because from you
will proceed a mother, who is to bear a son of great merit;
who all the men of our affinity
will surpass, and before God and men great
will be called, [what kind he was to be,] and will be." To this presage testimony
bore also, a certain poor woman of good will;
who, meeting the now-pregnant mother of the blessed man,
with friendly words thus consoles: "Rejoice,
Lady," saying, "who in the womb carry a son,
who with God a chief place will obtain, and
of his parents will be the glory. O honor, O sweetness
of nectar! Blessed Theobaldus by the holy Prelate is predicted;
by the poor woman, to be likened to that evangelical widow,
[and by a certain poor woman.] is foretold: that he may truly
be believed to be a member of him, who by the Prophets
was prophesied, by the Angel announced, by the host
of the heavenly army praised, by a star declared,
by the Magi adored, in the arms of old Simeon
carried, and by Anna the widow in the temple
as God recognized.

[3] Let us return to the matters proposed, and let us see about the place,
whence so great an honor emanated. But finally
let us set down the names of the Kings or Princes, in whose
times this man flourished; that both the chronicle's knowledge we may leave to posterity, and to the praise of this
blessed man, from how great a genealogy he sprang, and
from what worldly ambition to voluntary poverty
he was converted, more clearly let us strive to unfold.
The castle of Provins, where we foretold the Saint
was born, is a populous place, once of the jurisdiction
of that Odo the famous Count of Champagne,
to whom that the blessed man was kin is well known.
But he flourished in the times of Henry Augustus,
and of Henry King of the Franks, and of his son
Philip. Who when he reached the goal of adolescence,
he followed not the wantonness of the world, [He loves the eremitic solitude,] but rather
whatever of the precepts of God he could perceive by hearing,
like a most prudent bee, into the hive
of memory he studied to convey. There moved the soul of the
youth especially, the solitude of the Hermits, of whom
the beginning was Elias, and John the Baptist:
and after them Paul and Antony. He emulated the thinness
of their food, the roughness of their garments, the contemplation of the mind, [he takes a companion of his own institute,]
and the fellowship of the Angels in solitude.
By these therefore and such
torches inflamed, by a clandestine departure he went to
to whom he opened the ardor of his heart, not
burning, but illuminating. With whom counsel being taken,
and a certain Soldier Gualter being taken as companion, both having mounted
horses, with their individual squires
came to the city of Rheims. The Soldier
therefore of Christ Theobaldus, his home, father,
mother, brothers, slaves, and most ample
estates being left, with all the pomps of the world, as if
at the next Easter about to gird on the belt of soldiery,
with the said companion took up his journey. [he frequents at Rheims the shrine of St. Remigius,] And when at
St. Remigius in the aforesaid city they had lodged,
on the occasion of friends to be addressed; the squires
and horses being left in the lodging, on a journey on foot
by night to the interior they attempted to advance.

[4] Two pilgrims being found, having stripped off their best
and military garments, and put on their
patched (so to speak) rags, with bare
feet they came to the place, which is called
Pittange, namely in the kingdom of the Teutons: and there
for a long time sustaining voluntary poverty for
the love of Christ, [At Pittange he takes up the basest services,] with much labor
their food they sought. For, as generally,
not specially, of Joseph is sung in the Psalm,
"Their hands served in the basket"; even
to the basest and laborious works of the peasants
they descended: namely by carrying stones, by cutting hay
from the meadows, by tending stables, and especially
(as the same man afterward simply related) by making charcoal
for the smith's works, their food
with little gain they provided. [Ps. 80.] A most slight
gain of money therefore being collected, [he makes a pilgrimage to Compostela,] to the tomb
of St. James in Galicia, a part of Spain, with bare (as
we have already said) feet they proceeded. And when from there
they were returning, the devil on the way, a human
form being assumed, prostrating himself across the way,
compelled the man of God to fall: and he the name of Christ
invoking, and with the sign of the Cross fortifying himself,
the malign enemy like smoke vanished. Nor
is it a marvel, if for the man of God he prepared a fall, who to our
Lord Jesus Christ dared to urge ruin,
saying: "If you are the son of God, cast yourself down."
At Trier at last the city with his colleague seeking again,
his father being found there, [thence he returns to Trier.] he was much saddened. To Rome
then [he set out, and thence] returned,
with the desire of seeing the tomb of the son of God, Venice,
as if about to cross the sea, he sought.

NOTES OF G. H.








h Henry I, King
of the Franks, succeeded his father Robert in the year 1031; and dying in the province of Brie
in the year 1060, had as successor his son Philip, who died in the year
1108: in which time reigned Henry III, son and successor of Conrad, called
Niger [the Black], from the year 1039 to the year 1056; whom succeeded Henry IV his son, who died in the year 1106.




to be a village, near Luxembourg in the diocese of Trier: and as the maps show, above the river Prüm, three leagues from Trier.

appears from the other Life, no. 4; although not even there is the text sufficiently
entire, but needs some supplement also.

CHAPTER II.

His life spent at Salanigo. His death. His Translation.

[5] The amiable [servant] of the Lord, Theobaldus, with
this intention wandering through the borders of Italy, [At Salanigo he builds a hut,] at last
came to a place, to which antiquity, gave from Salanica the name.
The place being surveyed, and by divine
(as we believe) disposition beloved; he found a spacious
woodland, and ruins as of an old church.
There after the fatigue of his long journey he settled,
and from the lords of the place, asking for a house of dwelling
for himself, they freely granting it to him, obtained [it].
A small hut being built, [in great abstinence he lives:] confidently there
he began to dwell, and an Angelic life on earth to lead
he began. First from flesh and all fatty food
he abstained: then indeed barley bread
and water only he used: at the last
from bread and all drink abstaining, on fruits
only and herbs, and their roots, for some
years he lived, always using a hair-shirt. By divine
disposition therefore it was brought to pass, that, his merits advancing, [he is ordained Priest.]
he obtained all the Ecclesiastical grades up to
the Priesthood in the Church of Vicenza,
the See of that same Church being presided over by
Sindeker the Prelate, a man in ecclesiastical and secular
affairs most energetic.

[6] But now who could worthily explain, what crosses
to his body the savage persecutor brought in? how
daily carrying his cross having followed Christ
he was, [he sleeps only sitting,] when from leather a many-thonged scourge being made
often himself he scourged; who worthily
could relate? For five years therefore, as his faithful
and intimate [companions] attest, never lying down,
but sitting, he took sleep; and this
with such caution he performed, that, as if the whole night in
sleep about to remain, diligently with cloths he was covered;
but after the departure of his attendant, at once rising,
the times of the dead of night in prayers and praises of God,
with hands extended he continued: but at the hour of rising
to the matins hymns, that he might escape his [companions'] notice, to
his bed he returned. [then upon a board:] But that
bed first indeed was a certain chest of even surface,
and to his head being placed a most hard log, and added over it
the heat: then indeed, when all the members of his body
he had armed, under the aforesaid little linen-cloth he placed
and hewn board. Two years being completed, since
the man of God had begun to inhabit the said place;
his companion Gualter, with a good confession, paid the debt of nature,
and (as we believe) was joined to the number of the faithful.

[7] To blessed Theobaldus therefore there were not lacking the temptations
of the ancient enemy, [he puts to flight a demon rousing him at night by the sign of the Cross.] lest he should seem to be without that blessedness,
of which James says; "Blessed is the man
who endures temptation, for when he has been proved,
he will receive the crown of life, which God promised
to those who love him." For on a certain night, while he was
lying in his bed, yet not sleeping;
the malign spirit, with great force shaking the wall,
was present; and the man of God, to the nocturnal hymns
by name calling, urged him to rise. [James 1:12] And when
he, moved by these clamors, thought that one of the Brothers
was calling him, to his little cell he hastened;
and him resting, the door being barred,
he found. The diabolical illusion therefore being recognized, the holy
Trinity he invoked; the enemy, by fortifying
himself with the sign of the Cross, he put to flight; and him, like a multitude
of peasants, with axes laying low a wood,
he heard departing.

[8] At a certain time, the Saint performing an embassy of peace,
while sitting in a wagon, [by him he cannot be cast into the river:] near Lonigo
castle, a new river he was crossing (for from the
failure of his feet he could not advance farther),
the devil tried to cast him into the river:
for one of the wheels of the wagon suddenly
appeared nowhere. Yet the enemy did not prevail, to
wet the man of God in any way; but so from the gulf
of the river, as if a light feather, or a chariot,
unwetted he leaped out.

[9] [he is visited by Angels,] Hitherto in the night of labors or temptations the path
of our narration we have directed: now to those things which are full
of joys, like those honestly walking in the day,
let us gird ourselves. Often and most frequently, as his truthful
and careful intimates, Christ being witness, affirm,
by an Angelic vision this Blessed deserved to be visited; and
sometimes in the form of a dove, sometimes in the form
of a man, and in other shapes, which he alone
knew, by the addresses of the supernal spirits worthy
he was to be soothed. On a certain day, when his committed [sins]
he was bewailing, and like the daughter of Caleb, the lower spring, [and by SS. Hermagoras and Fortunatus:]
and the upper spring he was sighing for; a voice to him
was made; "Weep not, your sins are forgiven
you." At the same time St. Hermagoras and St.
Fortunatus, in whose honor the oratory of his little cell
was consecrated, with great brightness to him
appeared, and said; "May you obtain grace and
blessing from God, who so diligently,
in memory of us, this church serve."

[10] At the same time a certain attendant of his,
named Odo, to a very great fever and a fig-tumor was given over
in infirmity, [he heals his attendant by the sacrifice of the Mass,] so that he was thought to be on the point
of breathing out his life. And when often he prayed the Saint
to pray for him, first indeed he refused, and with dove-like,
as he was, simplicity answered: "To God's will
to go contrary I fear, by whose nod I know you
to be sick." But when he saw the disease worsening,
and death threatening the faithful attendant, grieving over
his absence, he ordered him to be carried to the church. And when
he being present the sacrifices of the Masses he celebrated,
in the mysteries of Christ he made him share. At the same hour
the brother to the little cell on his own feet returned, who by others'
help had been carried.

[11] Hearing therefore the father and mother of the renowned
fame of their blessed son, [he is visited by his parents,] with much nobility to him
came, and at the sight of him exceedingly rejoiced.
O with how many tears the mother overflowed, when she rejoiced
to find found, whom she had grieved to have lost: and amid
tearful sighs she almost doubted, what she preferred;
because both her homeland with her husband and children she was unwilling
to desert, nor from the son of her only love Theobaldus
did she wish to be separated. Yet the love of her son, nay the love
of Christ, conquered the love of the world. For all the bonds
of the world being broken, to the Lord God alone with her son to serve she clung: for strong is, by the testimony
of Solomon, as death, love. [Canticles 8.] Through the love of her son
to the love of God she came, and she who a great
amplitude of estates in the world had possessed,
of one short little cell, with her son about to serve God,
chose the solitude. Whom her son with such
humility obeyed; that it cannot easily
be related. From this indeed his obsequiousness can be argued;
that by no rigor of winter, [he serves his mother:] by no inclemency of cold
coming on, from the sight of his refreshing
mother, not even for a little, did he suffer to be absent.

[12] For two years therefore this Blessed before his passage,
from all temptation of the devil, from all carnal
pollution, [for two years covered with wounds,] to his believing Brothers showed himself
free. In which time so with wounds of his body
on every side covered he was, that sometimes neither
to fix his step, nor even his hand to his mouth to bring
he could. For the supernal artificer, a vessel of election
fit for himself, by the fire of tribulation and the file of infirmity,
wished sevenfold to purge; that him without
rust, in his own house he might make blessedly to dwell.
But that is more astonishing, that by no
kind of infirmity, [he fails] by no failing of flesh, from
his purposed rigor of fasting could he be bent. The sickness
of his ulcers therefore worsening, he both knew and foretold,
that soon he would migrate. And when the twelfth
year was turning, since his homeland he had left
(for three years he was a pilgrim, and
nine in solitude remained) brought to his last,
of bodily vigor he began altogether to be destitute.

[13] Peter the Abbot being summoned, before all
to him in friendship familiarly joined, [He commends his mother and disciples to his friend the Abbot.] who to him in the same
year the Monastic habit had consecrated; he commends
to him his mother, and his spiritual sons,
with the care of the whole hermitage. Before the third day of his
migration, five times a most grievous earthquake
occurred; of which some standing outside, but all
those standing in the cell of the Saint felt [it].
Whence it is conjectured, that the presence of that Majesty
was present to the one migrating, of whom it is said: [Ps. 105.] "Who looks upon
the earth and makes it tremble." But they testify,
who were present, [and an earthquake having occurred] that he tasted the cup of a hard
death. Nor is it a marvel: for he had clung to him, who
for us sinners, by the Jews to a most shameful death
condemned, our sins himself bore,
by whose stripe we are healed. And when long in agony
he sweated, one of his intimates, divinely
(as I believe) inspired, certain of the common people,
men and women standing by, with a bland voice to depart
persuaded. They withdrawing, [he happily falls asleep June 30,] the Viaticum of the Lord's
body being received, when he had often repeated;
"Lord, have mercy on your people," wearied with the divine
offices, his spirit he rendered, his [companions] weeping, the Angels
rejoicing. But they who to the holy body
were standing nearer, testified, that not even a thin
spot had darkened him, but with a certain decorum of resurrection
his face shone. He migrated on the day before
the Kalends of July at evening, in the fourth Indiction,
Henry, son of Henry Augustus, reigning
in Italy; Philip, in Gaul reigning; with the help
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in the perfect Trinity
lives and reigns God, through all ages
of ages. Amen.

[14] The people of Vicenza therefore, the Saint's death being discovered, all
together to the office of the funeral rushed. The Clergy, all
the urban and rustic populace, into one resolve came.
The armed and the unarmed, young and old, not
only from the city, but also from the neighboring castles burst forth;
and with great force into the solitude penetrating,
from the church of his cell, the blessed man's clod [body] they took up.
But the rest, who in the city had remained,
the matrons, boys and girls, to the holy body went forth
to meet, two miles from the city, in
the place which is called "at the Court," where the bearers of the blessed
body rested.

[15] [He is buried in the temple of St. Mary.] On the next day, the second feria [Monday], the third day of the month
of July, with great throng and dancing of peoples
was buried the holy body in the basilica
of St. Mary ever Virgin, to whose title, of the Priesthood
he had performed the honor. In all things blessed
be God, who alone does great marvels. After
the entombment of Bl. Theobaldus, it pleased the divine Majesty,
the blessed Mother of God Mary assenting, the holy Martyrs Leontius and Carpophorus cooperating,
in whose basilica he reposes, to glorify
his Saint with virtues and miracles.

NOTES OF G. H.



called; as below p. 599, no. 12, it recurs. I would prefer therefore to read with
the cited manuscript of the Queen, "without a wheel"; because the other wheel, from the vehicle already
before, was taken off by diabolical art; and so falling into the river, he ought
sooner to have been wetted, unless quickly like a light feather he had leaped out.





ANOTHER LIFE,
Joined to the Bull of Canonization,
from a certain manuscript Codex of ours.

Theobaldus, Priest, Hermit, of the diocese of Vicenza in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 8038

FROM A MS.

[1] Alexander the Bishop, servant of the servants
of God, to all worshipping the faith of Christ,
grace and Apostolic benediction.
Many illustrious things and worthy of admiration,
about a certain Hermit, [He is ascribed to the Saints by Pope Alexander.] a religious man, Theobaldus
by name, the famous report divulges. How
holily and religiously he lived, and stripped of all things,
the Lord's precepts followed, since at present
he has been, manifestly is clear. But of his miracles
the signs, with undoubted faith, his merits commend;
many religious men, about these things known and
true reporting. Wherefore the conversation of his life
being known, and the signs of his miracles
proved by not deceitful testimonies; with Mainard and Damian the Bishops,
and the people of Vicenza, suggesting to us about him,
him worthy of celebrated memory the Roman
Church decreed. And
because without doubt with the elect he is crowned in heaven,
we command that his memory, like that of other
Saints, solemnly be celebrated on earth.

Lesson I.

[2] St. Theobaldus, before the constitution of the world
by the foreknowledge of God elect, of the nation of the Franks, his father
Arnulf and his mother Willa, was born, in
the County of Troyes, but in the castle of Provins born
and educated. For of parents not only noble,
but also most illustrious and most gentle
he shone forth: whose nativity, by St. Theobaldus the Bishop of Vienne,
[His nativity is foretold by St. Theobaldus the Bishop,] from the relation of his intimates,
and the assertion of the mother of that same blessed man, foretold
we have found. For that Prelate, great-uncle
of the grandmother of St. Theobaldus, was: who when once
generous parent, rejoice and be glad, because from you
will proceed a mother, who is to bear a son of great merit,
who all the men of our affinity
will surpass, and before God and men great
will be called, and will be." To this presage testimony
bore a certain poor woman of good will, [and by a poor woman.]
who, the now-pregnant mother of the blessed man meeting,
with words thus consoles, friendly; "Rejoice, Lady,"
saying, "who in the womb carry a son, who
with God a chief place will obtain, and the glory
of his parents will be." The castle of Provins,
in which the holy man was born, under the jurisdiction once
was of the powerful and famous Odo, Count of Champagne,
and of Theobaldus the father, his successor in the County,
who were kinsmen of this holy man.
The happy boy therefore in baptism the name of his prophet
Theobaldus of Vienne the Prelate, and of Theobaldus the Count,
his kinsman, by whom he was raised from the sacred fount,
the name received.

Lesson II.

[3] Who when he reached the goal of adolescence, not the wantonness
of the world followed. For there moved his soul
the solitude of the Hermits, of whom he emulated
the frugality in food, and the roughness in clothing.
And so incited he went to a certain Hermit
named Buchard, on a certain island of the Seine
hiding. [He makes a pilgrimage to Rheims,] With whom counsel being taken, and Walter
his Soldier being taken; his home, father, mother,
brothers, kinsmen being left, with all the pomps of the world,
he took up his journey. And at last to the city of Rheims
they came. And a feigned occasion of friends to be addressed
[being made], the squires being left in the lodging,
on a journey on foot by night to the farther parts they attempted to advance.
Where two pilgrims being found, having stripped off their
military garments, and having received the pilgrims'
mean clothes, with bare feet they proceeded to
the place which is called Pittange, in the kingdom of the Teutons: [Pittange,]
and there for a long time sustaining voluntary poverty,
the basest and most laborious works of the peasants,
by carrying stones, by cutting hay in the meadows,
by tending stables, by making charcoal for the smith's
works, by cleaning vineyards, and laboring,
with much labor their food with little gain
they provided. In the aforesaid place therefore of the Teutons
for some time remaining, a most slight gain of money
being collected, [Compostela.] to the tomb of St. James
in Galicia, a part of Spain, with bare feet
with his companion he proceeded. And when from there they were returning;
the devil on the way, a human form being assumed, across
the way prostrating himself, compelled the man
of God to fall: but he, with the sign of the Cross fortifying himself, like
smoke vanished. Then with two companions [proceeding;]
after the want of two days, by the journey,
by hunger, and by thirst afflicted, he was failing on the way; [In hunger he receives Bread, prepared by God.] and his companions
somewhat preceding, bread in the rut of a wagon,
by God prepared for him, he found. And because near
was a streamlet of water, his companions to be refreshed he invited.
They asking with what bread they would feed
in the solitude? "This," he says: and the bread which under
his garment lay hidden, he showed. They then understood,
that an Angelic administration it had been.

Lesson III.

[4] After their return he advised his companion Walter,
that he should seek a Cleric, [he learns the 7 Psalms,] who to him the seven Psalms
should teach. By which being taught, a Psalter he lacked.
Then Walter persuaded Wilerm, the holy man's
Cleric, that to Gaul he should go, and to the father of the holy man
intimate, that a Psalter to his son he should transmit.
Then the Cleric the holy man approached, license asking
that to Gaul he might go. Which being given, he asked what
to his father and mother he should carry. He a small loaf,
which from a certain monastery charitably he had had, [he sends bread to his father:]
that to his parents he should carry, handed over. Which his parents
as the highest gifts received: and the sick, who ate of that bread, from every kind
of fevers were healed. Then the Cleric the father, pining with desire
of seeing his son, to Trier leads;
and him outside the city under an elm, where
the Saint was wont to read, hides. Afterward the disciple
he advises, to go to the accustomed place, that he might see
what meanwhile he had profited in his reading. Who
as he went, with a prophetic spirit said, that what
he would not wish, on this journey he would see. Unwilling however to
the place he came, and his father with soldiers, lying,
holding the bridles, he met. Then sad; "You have betrayed
me," he said, "my guides." [and addressing him with few words, he departs:] With a quick step
thus speaking he was returning. Whom the father with tears
followed, thus chiding his son: "O son,
whom do you flee? why do you flee? Your father you flee, not an enemy.
I do not wish to recall you from your desire. Let it
be permitted me once to see you, mouth to mouth to speak, and to have seen
you as a son to your sad parent to report." To whom he,
"Do not, Lord," he said, "disturb me. Go in
peace: and me in Christ to have peace permit."
Then his father's sight and conversation he escaped. So returned
the father glad and sad, by the sight and address of his son.

Lesson IV.

[5] Forestalling for the future the holy man, lest the importunity
of his parents he should suffer, to Rome went,
that a longer pilgrimage he might undertake: but
the clemency of God for our parts reserved him.
For impiously beaten through all his limbs, to cross
he could not; and on account of many inconveniences from Rome returning,
with desire of seeing the tomb of the son of God,
Venice, about to cross the sea, he sought. Who with this intention
wandering through the borders of Italy, came to a place
which is called Sallaniga. [At Sallaniga he sets up a hut:] The place being surveyed,
he found a spacious woodland and ruins of an old church,
where he settled, Walter his colleague failing.
Who, when to advance farther he refused, by the assent of the holy
man the city of Verona he sought: and the Lord of the place
inquiring after, from him a place to dwell
obtained. Which being granted, the man of God Theobaldus,
began, and a life Angelic on earth to lead
he began. For knowing that the flesh lusts
against the spirit, [he studies the mortification of the body,] but the spirit against
the flesh, with a scourge, made of leather, his body often
he scourged. So the mortification of the flesh in
his members bearing, long in hunger and thirst, in beatings
very many, his body he afflicted; but in the night,
which to all rest is given, for the whole five years
never lying down, but sitting, sleep
he took. Two years being completed, in which the man of God the said
place he had begun to dwell, his companion Walter
in holy religion paid the debt of nature.
At which time it happened that some men of Milan,
to St. Mark for the sake of prayer going, having heard the fame
of the holy man, to that same place (as from diverse
places to him they flowed together) came. To whom
refreshed with the word of God, then the refreshment of the flesh
taking, he commanded a certain Deacon, named
Dionysius, who was teaching him letters, to administer drink.
Who to the commands did not obey, [an empty vessel he fills with wine:] because wine
he had not: for he himself the preceding night
when he was thirsty, the vessel, where the wine had been, had emptied.
Then twice and thrice admonished, on account of the importunity,
the holy man's commands obeying, to
the vessel which empty he had left, he went; and
full found [it]. Which opened, and the wine with force
leaping out, his whole lap it bedewed. By which
miracle stupefied, with fear the guests he served:
whence the pilgrims fully were refreshed, and
the Brothers from the rest for three weeks lived.

Lesson V.

[6] Often also by an Angelic vision he deserved to be visited.
Whence by divine providence it was brought to pass, [Made a Priest,] that, his
merits advancing, all the Ecclesiastical grades,
up to the Priesthood, in the Church of Vicenza
he obtained. At the same time Odo his attendant,
with a great fever and a fig-tumor was afflicted in infirmity,
so that he was thought to be on the point of breathing out his life.
And when often he prayed the Saint for himself
to pray; first he refused, and with dove-like, as he was, simplicity,
answered: [by celebrating Mass he heals his sick attendant,] "To God's will to go contrary I fear,
by whose nod I know you to be sick." But
when, the disease worsening, he saw death threatening,
grieving over his absence, he ordered him to the church
to be carried. And when he being present Mass he had celebrated,
at the same hour to the little cell on his own feet
he returned, who scarcely had been carried to the church. A certain
Priest deprived of the light of his eyes, from
him relief could not obtain; the holy man saying,
that of the Saints this work was, [a blind man he gives light by the water of washing his hands:] not his. [Therefore]
from the faithful attendants the water of his hands he sought:
with which, the holy man not knowing, given, he his eyes
washed and saw. Hearing the father Arnulf the fame
of his blessed son, to Rome to go he disposed, that his son
in passing he might visit. Whose day of arrival the holy
man, with the spirit of prophecy illumined, foretold
to Odo his faithful attendant, to a villa about to go;
saying to him, that quickly he should return, because guests on that
day they were to receive. Who insisting when he inquired,
"Whom?" by name his father Arnulf, Henry
the soldier, Odo the Priest, with several
others, he answered.

Lesson VI.

[7] Returned from Rome, the father of St. Theobaldus,
Arnulf, what he saw and heard about his son, to his mother
the Lady Willa narrated. She being taken with him, [by his parents he is visited:]
with much nobility to him they came,
and at the sight of him exceedingly rejoiced. Whose mother
amid tearful sighs doubted, whether her homeland
with her husband and sons she should desert, or with the son
of her only love Theobaldus, from whom she was unwilling to be separated,
she should remain. Yet the love of her son, nay of Christ, conquered
the love of the world. For all the bonds
of the world being broken, to the Lord God alone with her son about to serve
she clung; and she who a great amplitude of estates had possessed,
of one short little cell with her son, about to serve God, chose the solitude. Whom her son
with such great humility obeyed, [he serves his mother:] that by no
time of winter, by no inclemency of cold coming on,
from the sight of his refreshing mother did he suffer
to be absent. Returned therefore the father Arnulf to Gaul,
for affairs of domestic care to be arranged, by
the affection both of so holy a son and of his holy wife,
he began to be admonished, that a little interval passing, Rome
seeking again, again Sallaniga he should visit. To whom
his son, knowing what far from him had been done, among the other
colloquies of the way, a misery foretold most great,
before he returned home, to be about to come. To whom even
the knowledge of the miseries seeking, he was unwilling to open it.
But when from Rome he was returning, [absent he knows his brother slain:] to his father what had happened
he foretold, yet not what it was he opened. After
his departure, to Odo his faithful one he manifested,
his brother slain. Then the sacrifice of praise to God
for his brother he immolated, before his mother knew.

Lesson VII.

[8] For two years this Saint before his passage
from all temptation of the devil, [for two years covered with wounds,] from all carnal
pollution, showed himself free. But with wounds
of his body on every side he was covered, so that neither his step
to fix, nor his hand to his mouth to bring he could. Among
these things the Bishop of the city of Modena, while by the Princes,
Clergy, and his Parishioners expulsion
he was awaiting, called his sister, a religious woman,
and in what straits he was declared.
He advises her, that to St. Theobaldus she hasten, [by the sacrifice of the Mass he procures the reconciliation of a Bishop,] and
her case manifest, and that he would come to the aid of one in bitterness
placed, beseech. St. Theobaldus, in compassion
marvelous, the first day celebrated supplicating
God, that the Bishop he would reconcile to his enemies.
The second day, when the same work with prayers
and tears he had repeated, to the sister of the Bishop he said, that
with joy she should return, because her brother in the Pontifical See,
all dissension being settled, she would find.

Lesson VIII.

[9] The sickness of his wounds worsening, knew
and foretold St. Theobaldus, that soon he
would migrate. And when the twelfth year was turning,
since his homeland he had left (for three years
he was a pilgrim, and nine years in solitude
remained) brought to his last, [the viaticum being received he piously dies.] Peter the Abbot being summoned,
to him in friendship joined, who to him in the same
year the monastic habit had consecrated,
he commended to him his mother and spiritual sons
with the care of the whole hermitage. When long in agony
he sweated, the viaticum of the Lord's body being received,
when he had often repeated, "Lord, have mercy on your people,"
his spirit he rendered.

NOTES OF G. H.



who afterward was made a monk in the monastery of St. Peter, of Sens, which is called Vivum, or St. Peter le Vif."




here lacking the conclusion of the Bull itself, so that the Life does not follow it, but
is interposed within it.

MIRACLES,
done at Vicenza, Lagny, Bazoches, and Mercurol.

Theobaldus, Priest, Hermit, of the diocese of Vicenza in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 8035, 8042, 8043

FROM A MS.

FROM THE FRENCH OF C. JAMOTTE.

CHAPTER I.

From the manuscript of the Arch-monastery of Cîteaux.

[1] Altavilla is a castle called, from the city of Vicenza
five miles distant, whence
[Three blind women are healed,] when the Saint's tomb she had sought, God
favoring, the office of light received. In the same city
of Vicenza, another woman, similarly of the eyes'
light deprived, while the mercy of God and
the Saint's clemency she implores, her former sight received.
The matter is manifest; the person known; the name,
because it is at hand, we keep silent; the place known, "Drixinum"
it is called, whence another, by a like misfortune seized,
coming to the tomb of the Saint, a similar
remedy obtained.

[2] A certain lame man, in limbs and gait contracted,
the clemency of God imploring, the joints of his members
being made firm, sound leaped up. Another person
of the aforesaid sex, of the vigor of her limbs destitute,
in the strength of her hands and steps was dissolved,
who frequenting the mausoleum of Bl. Theobaldus,
by his intervention to her own home returned with firmed step.
A villa is called Castanedrum, where dwelling, this
[woman] obtained the remedy. [and one having a withered hand:] O renowned Venetia, even you
have experienced the lordly virtue. For a certain woman
under the appearance of religion, with changed habit veiled, by the withering
of her hands had been disabled. She, by her own people brought from
the borders, in the presence of the crowds of peoples, the office of her hands
received, by the merits of St. Theobaldus.

[3] It pleased the divine Majesty, by the intervention of Bl. Theobaldus,
to double the miracle, [a blind man before much people,] when of the same kingdom
of his eyes. Which miracle how
celebrated, how credible it is established, thousands of the surrounding people
testify: in this also memorable, that at the same hour, namely the evening one, by the Clergy with high
voice this Antiphon was being chanted; "Many indeed
and other signs Jesus did in the sight of his disciples,
which are not written in this book."
Let us set down another miracle, which although it be in the order
of time preposterous, yet necessarily
is transposed. A boy of Villanova, named
Venerus, [a paralytic.] in foot and arm a paralytic, in a public
and celebrated assembly of the faithful, namely on the octave
of Easter, and in the presence of the holy Body, constantly
gathered together; when to his oratory he had been brought,
his step and hand received the office,
and with much favor of his own, safe, he returned
home.

[4] A certain man of Novara, a city of Italy, not
indeed for any guilt, but of his own accord, [an iron ring leaps off his arm.] on his arm bearing
an iron ring, came to the tomb:
and when there he kept vigil, and to a candle,
which by chance from the candlestick had fallen, to be raised, his bound
arm he had stretched out; the iron ring was broken;
and with a great ringing crackling, far
from his arm it leaped off. Another of Tours, named
Martin, on both arms with iron manacles bound,
after the circuits of many Saints,
the Saint still surviving, to the place of solitude,
where the Blessed himself dwelt, came: and him
conscious of his penalty and guilt rendered, and a fratricide
himself to be tearfully manifested. To whom
the Saint to perform his proposed journey to the tomb of the Savior
persuaded, and to him with a prophetic voice the loosing
of one arm foretold. He proceeded therefore, and
according to the man of God's word, at the Lord's tomb
in the loosing of one arm he rejoiced. But returned
from the Jerusalem journey, the Blessed now
from this world translated, with great and tearful
complaints his sarcophagus seeking,
with these words he began to chide him: "You," saying, "
bade me go and return: lo, I have come, and you
surviving I have not found. Have mercy on me, Saint of God,
have mercy on my unhappiness: loose the guilty, console
the pilgrim, who at your command so much have traversed of lands."
While he was pursuing these things, [likewise of another;] and many such things repeating,
the iron ring, from his arm with great
ringing far leaping out, crackled, and the bystanders with great
joy filled. These things therefore which we have reported, from
the mouth of him about whom the matter is treated, we learned.

[5] [Four blind men are given light,] Of four blind men generally we recount
the illumination: of whom one an old man, from the already
said city of Novara, another from Laugagno a boy,
from the castle of Colonia, are known to have come. But the boy
on the steps of the church, before the Saint's tomb he touched,
deserved to be illumined; but the man of Turin,
while he was assisting the attendants of another, alone and
on foot after his illumination, to the tomb of St.
Mark, as he had proposed, constantly took up
his walking.

[6] [likewise three others,] Lately also, the faithful peoples celebrating
the feast of the Lord's Ascension, with much throng of peoples
standing by, and the watches of the vigils
observing, a blind boy of Friuli, at
Bl. Theobaldus's mausoleum, of his eyes received the office.
Two blind men besides, one of Manzulino,
the other of Pauciugo, by the gloom of dark blindness
absorbed, when the bright suffrage of the Blessed man they implored,
their desired sight deserved to receive.

[7] A certain man with dropsy, from Axana coming
to that Blessed one's urn, [a man with dropsy,] the deformed swelling of his belly
being calmed, sound betook himself to his native soil.
Two disabled men, one drawn together at the knee, [and 2 contracted.] the other deprived
of gait; the first of the castle Lucus, the next
of Aurelanum, having used another's vehicle; after a long
dissolution of their members, at the tomb
of him they received the firmness of the bodily office, with the help
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives
and reigns through all ages of ages. Amen.

NOTES OF G. H.

which is an Episcopal city in Tyrol, almost equally distant from Trent and Innsbruck toward the East.










with Surius, "Pauciligno"; but neither of this nor of the above place are traces found in the maps, whence the genuine reading may be judged.


n As neither this.

universally all the names are wretchedly dislocated among the hands of unskilled copyists:
for it is not credible, that all those places equally lie abolished.

CHAPTER II.

From the manuscript of Cardinal Mazarin, now the King's.

[8] How many blind, how many disabled, or sick, or
to various sufferings given over; [Some relics at Lagny,] how many possessed,
at the most blessed Theobaldus's tomb in
Vicenza obtained soundness, it is not possible
individually to relate; a great part
of the same Saint's body being translated from Vicenza, with great
dancing and retinue, to Lagny
through Burgundy, in which were done great miracles;
and on this account there was established a church, [with a church.] where up to
now are done among the people, to the praise of the Lord,
many benefits. At last those holy Relics
are brought into the church of St. Peter at Lagny.

[9] When therefore, all things being composed in peace, things
sat in tranquillity, [after a threefold admonition in a vision,] a certain Robert, by nation
in the neighborhood. He, while on one of the nights he had given himself
to sleep, by a certain divine vision is admonished, that
indeed to Ivo he should announce, that thence the blessed
[Theobaldus] of God he should translate, into a place of a wood,
which was called Fagos. By this vision that man was troubled
in mind, thinking it safe to no one to open, what
once he had seen. A second time, about the same admonition is made
this to reveal. A third time is made to him no small vision,
but also the sharp rebuke of a chider's crackling [voice]. To whom while
he, placed in the vision, had a response; that he had feared,
lest to sleep only, and not to an admonition it should be reckoned;
and on that account no credit to his words would be had;
that he also was ignorant where the first entries of the future house's
foundations were to be made; he is bidden to follow.
There is come to a dense and very shady place of that same
wood. [and the place being shown for the church to be built and the well to be dug;] "Here," he says, "what you seek, the first beginning church's
thresholds will rise; here indeed (for already
to a place they had passed, from this little distant)
here," he says, "shall be made a well, from which many benefits
will receive any sick person, who shall approach with whole
heart about to pray. Behold," he says, "you have heard; the place
you have seen: no further pretense of dissimulation will be able to be shown:
nothing of sloth, nothing of negligence further suffer,
in performing the office divinely delegated to you."
These things showing, these things commanding, was the very same Bl.
Theobaldus, serene of countenance, illustrious in aspect.

[10] The aforesaid man, of the vision now certain,
day being made, to the aforesaid Ivo whatever to him had appeared,
with a faithful report set forth; through him also
to the Lord Abbot the matter was made known: each as
frivolous neglected it. But the poor man, [water sanctified by these Relics,] the place
marked for him of the future well, to dig with all his strength labored,
and the rubble being carried out, cleaned. The first
spring of water bubbling, into it being immersed the arm of St. Theobaldus,
and so many other pledges of the Saints,
the water is sanctified, which to many labors of the sick
was to be of profit. Of this first
such a proof God gave. A certain little woman
of Tournai, blind for six years, thither
was led; who, the vigils of the Lord's night being performed;
with that water then, by so many pledges of Saints
consecrated, the places of her eyes she bathed, [a blind woman is given light:] and her sight
received, and needing no one's help,
rejoicing her own [home] she sought again. The report flying around, and
so unhoped-for a salvation carrying, a great concourse of the sick
there is made; with the water of the well they are sprinkled, [fevers and other diseases are driven off:]
and so fevers flee; to imperfect limbs,
whatever accident coming on, perfect healths
accede. In all these things the piety of God is magnified,
and the name of his faithful Theobaldus is enlarged.
Blessed be God through all.

[11] Britain deserved not to be shut out from the partaking
of so great a benefit. In it there was to a certain father and mother
that only the image of death seemed in him.
He was not contracted, not "endeticus," not
change of side could he make, except this
by the sad labor of paternal and maternal grief. The joints
of his hams used no alternation of loosing:
and the knees themselves as if cohering were bound:
the legs and feet against each other were dashed,
and unless by paternal and maternal labors, either little cloths,
or something of the kind one took care to interpose,
an interlacing with each other they seemed to make: his hands
and arms as if they were not, so were twisted
useless.

[12] This boy, both wretched, and by failing
imperfect, both parents, the holy man's
Theobaldus's fame having heard, on a chariot placed; and
because of all help they were destitute, themselves they applied [as draft];
and so, after much sweat and anguish,
after much hunger and thirst, they came,
whither their desire impelled them. Seeing him
all marveled, and lest anything of the kind they should suffer,
the Lord they besought. His cure
is deferred for some days' interval, that as many
witnesses as his misery had, so many witnesses also
the divine piety might have. Therefore he who once said; "If
he will not rise because he is his friend, yet for
his importunity he will rise, and will give him as many
as he needs"; he, I say, by that boy's parents'
tears at last overcome, through his beloved
son Theobaldus, fully heals the sick boy. [Luke 11:8] [he is healed,]
At this cure several were present, who even
now surviving, are held true witnesses. About the received
medicine of the sick boy a great joy of all arises;
God is praised, St. Theobaldus is glorified.
Blessed be God, who has not removed from himself the prayer
of the poor, and his mercy from all
fearing him.

[13] According to custom a certain woman married a man: good was
their union, but for a narrow time remained the concord
of that union. For by the hidden judgment of God,
who alone knows what is done and why so it is done,
that wife blindness struck. [a blind woman is given light,] Her husband
also, from her love little by little began to withdraw
himself, nor about her love to care. Sometimes
he reviled [her]. She with bitter mind to be, sad
and weeping to perform all things. But that unspeakable
once husband, by diabolical fraud circumvented,
secretly the chest, in which her little things were,
broke. The wretched woman to the holy [Theobaldus]
of God fled, and therefore consolation deserved, and
her sight received. Then the little woman rejoices, because from grief arises gladness, when to her is restored health
unhoped-for.

[14] Ivo, Abbot of St. Denis, upon a certain one of his men,
his faults demanding it, [bound with a chain] as he said, a bond of a chain
on his neck put; and that chain beyond the wall
he threw, so that to no one it might be easy to loose.
Inexorable and harsh Ivo in his purpose persevered,
nor did any command of divine piety bend him.
The chained man the faithful [Theobaldus] of God redoubled [in invocation].
That Abbot in the hardness of his adamant heart
remaining (which is marvelous to say) that wall,
[he is freed.] over which the chain had been thrown, in the eyes of all
made a ruin; and the chain as if committed to itself
loosed, all seeing. That bound man,
free and unburdened to the holy [Theobaldus] of God
came; and the witness of his loosing, the chain, with him
carried: which before the holy altar hung,
testifies, that it is better to trust in the Lord,
than in man.

NOTES OF G. H.

with a Benedictine monastery in the province of Brie, on the Marne river, of
which more fully was treated on May 16, at the Life of St. Fursey the Abbot and founder.



d Ivo, Abbot
of St. Denis near Paris, in the time of St. Gregory VII the Pontiff, who
rebuked him in letter 61 of book 2, written in the 13th Indiction, in the year 1075 to
the Monks of St. Denis. And Latiniacum is in the diocese of Paris, and to the patronal right of the Abbot of Lagny
belongs the parish of St. Theobaldus de Vinea, in
the Deanery of Château-Fort, as is indicated in the Register of benefices of the diocese
of Paris, p. 74 and 76. From Latiniacum also not far distant is Meaux,
in which city is the parish church of St. Theobaldus, under the Patronage of the Abbot of St. Faro Bishop of Meaux.

CHAPTER III.

From our manuscript, and that of Beaufont.

[15] If the prudence of the holy Doctors, the great deeds of God, which to the praise of his name and
of his elect he deigned to work, to the volumes of pages
had neglected to commend; the memory
of the Saints among men less celebrated
would be held; and very few there would be who the virtues of their acts
would imitate. Therefore worthy and
laudable it seems, [Prologue to two miracles.] that in this the magnificence of God
may triumph, the memory of his Saints worthily
be commended: insofar as to the example of good
works, by this kind of art the members of Christ may be invited.
Yet very many miracles of the Saints, which
the divine power openly worked, as if abortive,
to nothing seem to be reduced; not by the lack of writers
indeed, but by their laziness, and
by the envy of certain adversaries. But although
against the good the poisonous envy always swells;
yet charity, which never fails, will not
cease to glorify the marvels of God. Let us labor therefore
with the office of the pen a certain miracle to all the faithful to make known,
which for the reverence of his name,
and the honor of his most blessed athlete Theobaldus,
it pleased the mercy of Christ to work.

[16] There were then once the fishermen of the Archbishop of Rheims,
at that time the venerable Rainald,
fishing at Rheims in the river, which received the name Vesle [Vidula].
Who while the ministry of their art
they exercised, by chance one of them looked up, as is wont
to be done; and saw wild and untamed swans
flying above himself, and the meadows of that river by flying
circling, and near the bank as if beside
them wishing to settle. Then with true faith the most blessed
athlete of God Theobaldus, [First, the patronage of St. Theobaldus being implored] his companions hearing,
he invoked saying: "Would, O true confessor of Christ
Theobaldus, by your merits and prayers,
two of those untamed swans today I could capture!
for certain to your monastery, which is situated
beside Bazoches, them I would carry, and to God
and to you there upon your altar I would offer." This
said, he and his companions, on that day fishing much
laboring, the cause for which they had come accomplished.
Their nets therefore being gathered, and the stern
of their little boat being turned, by the vessel they took up
their way, and returned by the same channel
of the aforesaid river by which before they had come. And when
cleaving the waves of the river, swiftly they hastened
to the desired places where they were heading (marvelous
to say) two of the aforesaid swans, as if domestic
(in no way terrified) coming to meet
them, with lowered necks and wings, began to swim
in the waves of that river, one indeed on their right,
the other on their left.

[17] [two wild swans are captured,] Which the fishermen seeing, with exceeding joy
filled, with quick hand seized those birds, which
God so kindly offered them. Which tamely
captured into their boat they glad set down; and with swift
course glorifying God, the desired [port] as quickly as possible
they reach. And when their little boat
they unloaded, the nets, and the catch
of fish, and other tackle carrying to land;
about the swans, what they should do, whether to the aforesaid
Archbishop of Rheims, to whom faith of all,
which they were to catch, by oath they had promised;
or to the blessed Confessor of Christ Theobaldus,
at whose invocation them captured they believed to be,
they should present, they began to waver. At last
however that it was more salutary, reason persuading, [and they are offered to the Archbishop of Rheims,]
it seemed to them, that to the Archbishop, as they had sworn,
them they should carry; and all to him in order,
as to them they had happened, narrate: if he indeed
the gift given by God to the holy Confessor,
as they had promised, should grant, they would rejoice; but if
otherwise, themselves freed to be from the guilt of the promise they trusted.
And so it was done. To the aforesaid
Prelate therefore in haste they came; and those birds
as domestic carrying, to him presented;
and all as it had been done, he gladly
hearing, in order set forth.

[18] Which heard, the Archbishop of Rheims
with great joy, over the virtue of God, which for
his servant Theobaldus he deigned to show, filled;
commanded those standing by him, that
those birds modestly they should receive, and without any
injury diligently treat, until them to the monastery
of the glorious Confessor of Christ at Bazoches
he should cause to be carried; that he himself there before the altar
of that same Saint to God as an acceptable oblation
might offer. Those few days being passed,
it was necessary for the aforesaid Archbishop of Rheims
to go to a certain Council. Who his journey
through holy Theobaldus turned, [and from him to St. Theobaldus.] and the aforesaid
swans he commanded to be carried with himself; that
the oblation, which of them he had pledged
by word, that he would make to the Saint, also in deed to perform
he might be able, devout. Which deed thus to have been done
we do not doubt, as we write to you, since in
the pond, which is beside the monastery of the Saint, those
birds for a long time with our eyes we saw; and
the effect of the miracle, as to your charity we have foretasted,
from a truthful reporter faithfully we learned. Whence
the Lord, always in his Saints marvelous and
glorious, be blessed and magnified; to whom is
honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen.

[19] Another miracle also is not, Brothers,
by our smallness to be passed over in silence, [The second miracle.] that they may have,
the envious, what to grieve over, and the faithful for increase
may imitate what they can. For these,
that which always opposes their depravity, to tear apart
and a lie to proclaim do not cease; but those,
God, to whom nothing is established as impossible, in his Saints
marvelous to confess do not doubt. To the confusion
therefore of those living ill, and to the imitation
of those trusting in the Lord's mercy; to
investigate, what through his servant the most blessed
Theobaldus the Lord deigned to work, the pen's
office let us turn. And although, by the smallness of my talent
and the gravity of the work, that I to the holy petition of certain Brothers
by no means sufficiently respond,
I do not doubt; yet, because charity me
compels, and because their sacred familiarity straitens me,
with God's help the enjoined work I will attempt
faithfully to undertake. But if, fittingly less
than would be becoming, anything I shall do; let charity which all things
bears, to me grant pardon, and the more obscurely done [matter]
by the brightness of its understanding rebuild.

[20] There was then in the villa of Bazoches, beside Magnum-pratum
situated, [A contracted boy] a certain poor little woman,
having a son, from the loins and below contracted, who
always lying, even to sit himself by no means
could raise. The woman indeed, of her son's so great
misery
impatiently grieving, his death,
as the refreshment of her consolation, awaited.
But omnipotent God, while to the praise
and glory of his name, of how great merit had been the man
most blessed Theobaldus, by flying fame, far
and wide wished to declare; to the aforesaid mother both the help of her labor
ministered, and to the son the aid of health bestowed.
Because therefore the buried fame of so great and so most renowned
wings flying over all things occupied; God
assenting, how great things through him divinely had been worked,
to the ears came of that same mother. What
more? [by the mother to St. Theobaldus carried,] Placed upon her neck (for he was, as we said,
that boy, contracted) to the blessed man's basilica,
near the castle of Bazoches founded,
she carried the little infant; trusting in his merits,
of the divine piety that she could obtain help. The boy
therefore being brought and in the church set down, the woman began
with maternal affection, both with voice, and with tears
and most sharp sobs, the Lord's
mercy to beseech, that, to declare the Saint's merits,
of her offspring he would relieve the inertness. There was awaited
therefore by all the outcome of such a matter, and all's
eyes wept, moved by piety. They marveled,
all, at the mother's so great sighs, consoling her,
lest, exceeding her strength, she be troubled by the intemperance of too great
suffering. But the woman illumined by faith, in heart
holding, that God hears the one praying with
perseverance; was unwilling to be consoled, of God's piety hoping
to come to her the aids. Why longer should I delay?
At last very few days having passed, to the mother's
prayers the Lord acquiesced and to her tears. On a certain
day in the morning, around the first hour;
while a certain Monk, Robert by name, by whose
testimony such things we confirm, near the aforesaid
little infant Psalms singing, through the church walked;
began that same infant to ask him, that
to him for the grace of being raised he would furnish his hand. [suddenly he recovers,] The Monk
indeed, as I believe, divinely inspired,
his extended hand to the boy proffered: and (a marvelous thing!)
as if by no infirmity he had been weighed down,
upon his feet sound he leaped up.

[21] Who ever, good God, you faithfully
invoked, and was not heard? Who to you
fled, and from you was repelled? Truly you, Christ,
marvelous, truly you are to be glorified; who so
your Saints on earth marvelously make to be praiseworthy;
that, all ambiguity being expelled, we may believe
of the heavenly citizens them to be consorts. Stupefied
was therefore the aforesaid Monk; because him whom
long he had known infirm, under such great speed to health
he saw restored. The Brothers therefore being gathered,
to God, in the faithful manner the bells ringing, as
was worthy, praise they rendered. And so the neighbors
running together, by the novelty of so great a miracle struck,
the Author of all goods began to praise
and glorify, who in his Saints always
is praiseworthy. And lest anyone think this to be fabulous;
I call God to witness, that from that boy's mother,
and from the aforesaid Monk, what we have written we learned.

Moreover also long afterward the infant, [often seen by the author.]
dwelling in the house of the Monks, we saw,
and him these same things testifying we heard;
to amplify the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to whom is, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
praise and dominion, without end remaining, forever
and ever. Amen.

NOTES OF G. H.



on the Vesle below Fismes, where over against is the parish of St. Theobaldus, and
once a little monastery, still a Priory: and there is a church also dedicated to him:
where very many were Relics of that same St. Theobaldus, of which two
parts, one of the arm, the other of a rib, carried to the Priory, in the Castle
of Porcien situated on the Aisne river, and dedicated to that same St. Theobaldus. There
is some Prayer about him printed, which after touching the Relics is applied
to drive off tertian and quartan fevers. There is kept a spur,
which the soldier Theobaldus is believed to have used. So Jamotte part 2, ch. 9, alleging
two letters about that matter sent to him, one of Collin the Sacristan of the Priory
of Bazoches, the other of Burgund the Parish-priest of Château-Porcien, both in the year 1666 signed. It is indicated besides, in the Register of benefices of the diocese of Rheims, a chapel of St. Theobaldus in the castle of Vienne in the Deanery of Cernay, of the jurisdiction of Dormois, on the confines of Lorraine.

d There seems
to be hinted the Council of Soissons, held in the year 1092, over which presided the said
Raynald. Consult Labbe and Cossart's volume X of the Councils, col. 434.

CHAPTER IV.

More recent [miracles], from the printed French of Charles Jamotte, Parish-priest of Mercurol, and first about two deprived of gait.

[22] John, son of Paul, the son of the late Theodoric,
born of Ozo of the district of Durbuy,
of about 24 years, in the year 1639, in the time
of Lent, [A tile-maker, fallen from a roof,] in the burg of St. Hubert within
the Ardennes, the walls of certain stables with wooden tiles,
which here they call "baucae," covering,
from the ladders fell into a neighboring garden, from a height
of more than thirty rungs, and somewhat
injured the skin, which the bone of the front shin covers,
nor did he therefore desist to pursue the work begun.
But this was impossible for him the next day, when
he felt the shin so swollen, [and hence injured in the shin,] that from the stocking it
to draw out unless it being torn he could not. There had come
to that same shin, now even up to the ankle of the foot
black, the extreme torment; nor move
himself could the young man, much less rise from his bed. There were summoned
therefore soon, the Surgeon of the monastery
of St. Hubert, Master Christopher; and Peter Moureaux,
Surgeon of the burg itself; and another from Neufvillers,
called John Poncin, separately each:
of whom the first two, the shin being inspected, pronounced
that no other remedy remained, [for him, on account of gangrene the member to be cut off,] than
the cutting of that member, which now with gangrene infected
they judged, or at least mortified, as being
of all sensation destitute: but the third, who also
himself despaired of the cure, to mitigate however the pain
applied a certain plaster; and so him
he had under his hands for eight days, but without
any relief: nay rather more and more rotted
the shin, so that thence great pieces of withered flesh
fell off at each dressing, and
certain death of the sick man was held. And so also this
third deserted him.

[23] The neighbors could not bear the stench,
coming from the member now of flesh bare, [he attempts by himself to heal it;] and only
bones and nerves having: he did not despair however in mind,
John, but only linens, to cleanse the shin,
he himself by himself applying, committed himself to the divine
will; until after fifteen days, without
any medicine so passed, the stench ceased,
and the torment began to withdraw: there flowed however
from the wound blood, and the shin was contracted and
bent. Then indeed he tried, supports being applied, whether at least
the left shin he could for walking use, first through the house, then through
the village up to the month of June; when confidence
he took to set out with the supports to his father,
in the wood of Mercurol laboring; and at last
to Villanova, one league from St. Hubert, he came
in the space of one day: thence by a cart to be conveyed
he caused himself up to Rocca, one only league distant,
but with the supports, to his father he came.
Here he, some days remaining, understood
how great miracles St. Theobaldus worked, [and attempting to go to the Saint's Chapel,]
in his chapel of Montaigu at Mercurol:
whence he felt himself moved, that himself thither to go for obtaining
the cure he should vow. He went therefore thither on the second-to-last
day of June, in the company of several others thither making pilgrimage.
And when to the Ourthe river between Mercurol
and Montaigu he had reached, he did not
dare the river by the ford to cross, fearing
yet before he did this, his eyes
he turned to the chapel which then was being built, with joined
hands proposing to return the next day, with his father
and mother and several others, about to accompany him.

[23] Now the middle of the village of Mercurol all were holding,
when, weak and full of sweat, [he is healed on the way.] behind
the others he stopped, and somewhat sat down. Then indeed
his shin (to which so ill, as we said, affected and
shorter, he had applied no remedy, since
the surgeon of Neufvillers had dismissed him) wholly bathed
he felt, as if with sweat; and heard a crackling
proceeding from it, while it was extended
and rectified into its former form; and himself a little
after raising, and on it no less than on the other
standing, no one assisting him and the supports onto
his shoulders thrown back, freely he walked to the wood
of Mercurol: and on the day of St. Theobaldus immediately
following, he came with his prior company to
the aforesaid chapel, sound and brisk; and there, Mass
being heard, he laid down the supports, before a great multitude of people,
God praising for the cure so sudden.
But the flesh, which had flowed away, little by little also
was restored to the shin, no longer aching at all, but
constantly afterward always sound.

[24] Henry Maurice de Meny-fontaine, of
the parish of Faville, in the Deanery of Bastogne, [In both legs for 15 months impeded,]
of about 57 years, on the day March 22 of the year
1647, solemnly affirmed, before the tribunal
of the aforesaid Deanery; that since three years now
elapsed, suddenly there invaded him a most grievous
pain of the right hip, which upward to the kidneys
and lower belly creeping, also the left
hip seized: so that the use of each leg
was impeded for him, for the space of fifteen or
sixteen months: in which whole time almost he lay
in bed, and with great expenses a remedy
from physicians and surgeons he sought. Thence to the divine
to be solicited turning himself, he sent one who for him a pilgrimage
should perform to St. Maur, in the village of Hamipré
near Neufchâteau of the Ardennes,
and to the Mother of God the Consoler at Luxembourg: but
without relief, nay rather with increase of pains, [after various things, vainly attempted,]
as often as any remedy he applied to the evil;
even when he used oil, from the Marian lamp
brought; for then it seemed to him that with kindled
torches to his body he was burned. His legs were as if
bound around with ropes; for there appeared visibly
swellings as of bound ropes, which however
ordinarily leaped up and the legs drew back,
so that to extend them he could not, when that
pain urged him: which to him was daily
and almost continuous; so that to move himself
he could not, but had to be carried between arms,
if anywhere there was need. And during the torment
so often he was twisted, [the Saint's chapel being visited, somewhat relieved;] that from the anguish of his breast
to speak nothing he could, and even now about to expire
he was believed. Finally no moment was for him from
pains empty; and when now in this, now in
that part of his body he was tortured more atrociously, wholly
he was bent, and of the use of all his actions destitute.

[25] At last, by the counsel of friends and neighbors,
at Montaigu near Mercurol, at once to be performed
when by that Saint's merits he should have received the faculty
of walking. Meanwhile on that very day, which was
July 15, 1645, he sent in his name Anna,
the wife of Antony le Tissies of Fremont, a village
neighboring Meny-fontaine; who when the half of the way
toward St. Theobaldus she had reached, the sick man vehemently
his pains to be lightened felt; so that before
the woman returned, he himself now on his feet stood,
and walked through the house, with two supports applied,
and felt his former vigor little by little
to his legs returned. And so before the feast
of St. Luke in the aforenoted year, [but on the return again deprived of gait,] for the fulfillment of his vow
he committed himself to the way, and to the Saint's chapel came:
where when to his devotion he had done satisfaction, he returned
thence, and on the same day took lodging in a village
called Roumont, three leagues from Montaigu,
always on supports leaning. But in the morning about to depart, again
he felt his legs more than ever stiff
and weak; wherefore, when upright on his feet, to sustain
himself he could not; and beyond measure he trembled,
he exclaimed, that maimed he was forever.
By the persuasion however and exhortation of friends, with him so afflicted
sympathizing, and that confidence in the Saint should be placed
advising, from whose image visited
he was returning; he went out of the village as best he could, although
quite with difficulty. But removed from it
only so far, [on the way he recovers.] as a stone thrice or four times thrown
one could measure; suddenly aided he felt himself,
and his legs so robust, that the supports onto his arm
being taken, freely he advanced, as if nothing ever
he had suffered; and on the same day early enough
his home he reached, distant from Roumont
about four leagues, nor after that did he need supports,
or feel anything of the evil. In whose memory
and thanksgiving he himself, on the feast of
Pentecost of the year 1646, his supports brought to
St. Theobaldus, by whose merits healed he believed himself.

[26] These two cures to Liège to the Episcopal
examination being brought, thereupon the consultors'
judgment of this kind was: [Each cure duly examined, is ascribed to a miracle,] In the congregation of the reverend
Theologians and most expert
Doctors of Medicine, before the most Illustrious Lord Baron
de Groesbeck, Provost of Liège, etc.,
on the ninth day of the year 1658, upon certain authentic
relations, concerning the cures
miraculous or marvelous, which happened
to certain persons through the invocation of St. Theobaldus,
near the village of Marcour and in its parish;
the aforesaid Theologians and Physicians judged
and decided; First, the healing of John Paul,
as is reported in the public instrument of the Vice-praetor
and Aldermen of St. Hubert in the Ardennes,
joined with the attestation of the surgeon testifying, that it was a gangrene
and sphacelus or mortification, from which
he was healed through the invocation of St. Theobaldus; this,
I say, healing they judged and decided
miraculous, the cure being so sudden, considered. Second,
as to the healing of Henry Maurice, as
is reported,
they judged it to be also miraculous,
and beyond the order of nature done. And below was
signed, [and it is permitted to be published.] Br. Bartholomew d'Astroy, of Theology

Doctor; Servatius Sacre, of the Society of Jesus;
Br. Bonaventure Persan, Lector of Theology; J.
Paradis, Doctor of Medicine; John Gaen, of Medicine
Doctor. And consequently to these, "Maximilian
by the grace of God Archbishop of Cologne,
etc., Bishop and Prince of Liège, etc. Having seen,"
he says, "the testimonies of several, both Lectors of sacred Theology
and Doctors of Medicine, we permit,
that the benefits or favors, to John Paul
and Henry Maurice the sick, by the aid of St. Theobaldus,
near the village of Marcour of our Liège
diocese, divinely imparted, be published. In faith
of which, through our Vicar in spirituals
general, to be subscribed, and with our seal to be fortified we have caused.
Given in our city of Liège, A.D.
1658, on the 15th day of the month of April." And signed
it was, "John Ernest de Surlet, Vicar General of Liège."

CHAPTER V.

Other prodigious cures, obtained at the same chapel of Montaigu.

[27] On the 5th day of September 1641, Lawrence
de Marcour, [A boy weak in the legs] greater Lieutenant and Recorder
of the said place, declared and attested before
the Court, that full notice and memory
he had, that 41 or 42 years before, when only
he was eight or ten years old, into so great
weakness of the legs he fell, that neither move
from his place could he, nor walk, but had to be
carried elsewhere. Wherefore his father then living,
caused him to be carried, by a manservant and maidservant, to
Montaigu, a little above the fountain of St. Theobaldus,
which already then was in honor. Where from their shoulders
set down, he remained on the ground for about half
an hour: then one of the attendants took him on his
back, to be carried back home. And when now
they had descended much, he felt himself unexpectedly healed; [he is cured beside the Saint's fountain.]
and to be set down on the ground asked, and freely the manservant
and maidservant outran to his paternal house, before
they could reach it. His father indeed
as a monument of his gratitude, ordered near
the aforesaid fountain to be planted a wooden Cross: and the cure's
fame little by little drew many thither,
who individually at that same Cross their
offerings laid down; until a sufficient sum
was at hand for planting there another greater Cross,
with the effigy of St. Theobaldus, which was on the summit
of the mountain placed.

[28] [Another so born, and at the same time contracted and dropsical,] Peter, son of John Colignon of Novilla
in the Provostship of Bastogne, so ruined was and
afflicted in the legs from his very nativity, that for him impossible
it was on his feet to stand, much less anywhere
to walk; in his whole body besides he had swollen, and
namely from the knees down, so that his shins
scarcely could anyone with two hands grasp:
they were also so contracted, that if by force they were extended,
at once to their former shortness they returned.
Such a one pitying his parents, on a certain Thursday
of the year 1635, their prayers poured out, and
the glorious Saint invoked before his image,
inserted in the Cross. But while they go and return,
the boy excreted excrements, beyond the ordinary copious
and stinking; and on the following Lord's day began
himself to raise himself onto his feet; here and there to walk
through the house, by leaning on some seat or wall;
and at last within seven or eight days, no longer
needed any help. And thereafter his body
and shins subsided, and to such health he advanced,
that nothing more of evil he felt.

[29] Gerard, son of William Denys, Sergeant
of the supreme Court of Champlon in Famenne; [and a third useless in his whole body,]
when in his 8th year of age, on the vigil of Pentecost
of the year 1637, he labored in the field; with such great
pain of his arms was suddenly seized, that
he was forced to prostrate himself on the ground, and the whole
that day in wailing to pass. Two or fewer
days after, the same pain spread itself through his whole
body, but especially through his legs; and so
weak in all his members he was made, as if
of no nerves and bones he consisted. [equally cured,] He turned his head
from one to the other shoulder, nor food
or drink could he bring to his mouth, but had to be fed
like an infant: and if sometimes at home he was left
alone, he let his head fall toward
that part, where was placed the food prepared for him; and if
luckily it reached his mouth, he ate something,
and so remained stretched upon the ground, until coming
someone raised him. Moreover lifted
into the air, he could not even one foot move
to step; well enough however he ate
and drank, when to him it was given. In this
pitiable state he remained for the space of six weeks,
without any medicine; until his
father, having pity, with full confidence ran
to St. Theobaldus; and within a week three times
to his chapel, he betook himself with his son. And this one
the first day indeed thither he brought upon a horse, and
having entered the chapel he folded the boy's knees, and on them
to stand made him, under the arms holding him, and
bidding him pray to God, that through the merits of St. Theobaldus
health he might receive. The prayer being finished to Champlon
they returned, as they had come: where from the horse
descending, he found the boy's shins somewhat
firmer; so that holding him upright on his feet,
he made him stand. The second pilgrimage likewise
by horse was made: but the boy now more robust,
could on the horse's haunches behind his father's back firm
sit, without other help: and thanks being given to God
for the happy beginning of the desired soundness, they prayed that
the benefit begun the Saint might complete. Thereafter
from day to day the sick boy received the use of some
of his members; so that toward the end of the month of July of the
same year, when a third time thither they set out,
on his feet to step the boy could, leaning on supports; and a journey
to make, his father from time to time him between arms carrying.
At last within the chapel praying he was wholly healed,
and there his supports leaving, with
his father glad home he returned.

[30] On the 3rd day of July in the year 1647, Martin
de Presseux, [A boy blind for seven years,] once Burgomaster of the ban of Sprimont
in the Duchy of Limburg; John Denys
de l'Isle, dwelling at Aywaille; and Lawrence,
son of the aforesaid Martin, before the Mayor and Aldermen
of the ban by oath asserted, that in the year 1640,
the same Lawrence, then twelve years old, of sight
deprived lived, ever since the fifth year of his age;
so that nothing at all to see, nor without a guide
anywhere could he go: and that, after several remedies
in vain tried, they undertook a pilgrimage to
our chapel, with many others accompanied. On the return,
when somewhat from Mercurol they had withdrawn, [little by little he is given light.] said
the boy that he saw a flower of broom, which to pluck
he went off no one leading him; and with his hands brought [it],
crying, that even the neighboring woods he saw. Whence
gladdened the father and son, two other times visited
the Saint's chapel: but on the last, with perfect
sight to enjoy began the boy, and enjoys it thereafter
up to today, on which he still lives.

[31] Anna Massin, of Chisogne in the parish
of Tillet, of the Provostship of Bastogne, born, and twenty years
old, [An epileptic girl,] daughter of Henry Massin and Pasquette
Roussignon, in the year 1633 toward evening,
once returning from the field, so was
terrified, that having entered the house she fell like
one dead: thereafter indeed the falling sickness (as is believed)
she suffered, three times sometimes in one day,
sometimes once only, or even only on the third
or fourth or eighth day; until with her mother and
neighbors she came to St. Theobaldus, where again in
the chapel itself grievously she was afflicted; [at a second visit she is fully healed:] and thence returning
within the space of one league a third time she fell: but
at once after, wholly cheerful, altogether relieved she felt herself
of that evil, with which for nearly seven whole years she had labored:
for that pilgrimage she undertook in the year
1640 on the feast of the Holy Trinity, but thereafter up
to the year 1657 only four or five times,
but very lightly, she felt the evil recur;
but a second pilgrimage being undertaken, wholly
and stably she recovered.

[32] [and one suffering in the teeth,] In the month of February of the year 1640, Mathias
Tourneus, Mayor of Vesqueville in the district of St. Hubert,
when from a grave infirmity in bed he was lying,
felt a furious torment of his teeth, whence
no rest was granted him. There assisted him
two unmarried daughters with other women; to whom among
themselves narrating St. Theobaldus's miracles, a certain
one of them said, the little image was very small.
Then the sick man, such conversations greedily drinking in;
"Lord," he said, "St. Theobaldus, succor
me I beseech, at least that not, [the Saint's little image being seen in sleep.] beyond the disease by which
I am held, I be tortured by pain of the teeth, which all my
sleep takes from me." Scarcely had he uttered the words, when
to sleep he began: his daughters with their companions perceiving it,
withdrew thence, since it was evening.
But he at once as if to dream began, that he was
in a certain great field, and saw coming to him
an image, to which all had great
reverence. Asking of someone,
what it might be; it seemed to him to hear in answer,
that it was of St. Theobaldus. And when the same
to him nearer was made, it seemed to say, that it had come,
that him from the pain of his teeth it might free. Hence he
awakened, and of his evil at once mindful, his hand
to his mouth he brought; nor any swelling there did he feel,
which before there had been; nor pain, from
which also free thereafter he remained: wherefore his daughters
being summoned at once the whole matter he narrated;
but the next day to those two women, who to them
had been present.

[33] [A contracted shin is rectified:] Elisabeth, widow of the late Henry John
Lambert, at Borsut in Condroz dwelling,
at the beginning of Lent of the year 1641, so great a weakness of the shins
began to suffer, that not even the least
could she walk without two supports,
because the left notably shorter than the other had become.
In this state she remained up to after the feast
of St. John the Baptist of the same year; when a vow
she made of visiting the chapel of St. Theobaldus, firmly
believing that through his merits she would be helped. She gave
herself therefore to the way, on supports leaning; and the vow being completed,
much more easily than before she felt herself
to walk. Hence more spirited made, she proposed
to the same to return a little before the month of August: [the colic pain is put to flight;] and
afterward daily the evil remitted, and the more contracted shin
little by little returned to its due length:
in memory of which benefit, her supports she brought
on November 14, of the same year. In the same year
John de la Haut, Alderman of the court of Our Lady
of Rendeux, solemnly declared, that
toward the end of October by colic pains suddenly oppressed,
when with them he had struggled the whole night; until
mindful of St. Theobaldus, he promised his chapel
to visit; and at that very instant all pain
ceased, nor afterward returned.

[34] In the year 1641, June 6, the Lord Claude
Hermann, Baron of Milandon and Pesches, [likewise a fever.]
sent me an attestation of his own hand, by which he professed,
that since he had promised to St. Theobaldus
to set out, and there a novena to celebrate; the fever,
with which long before he had labored, him left, and then
little by little he recovered. The Lord Antony de Vervy,
residing in the village of Telcin of Rochefort, by his own
chirograph testified, that on the very day on which St. Theobaldus's help he implored, from a long-lasting fever he was freed, [A boy with a twisted and weak shin is cured.]
which made his whole [body] tremble. Everard,
son of Everard de la Croix, a little boy of four or
three years, from his nativity very weak
and deformed was: for to whom both shins
were so twisted below the knees, that on them to stand by no means
could he. His parents, several things in vain having tried
of remedies, vowed to carry him to St. Theobaldus:
which also soon they did, between their arms
carrying him. The prayer being made, with alms,
and a Mass attended to, they were returning home.
And when into the village of Hampternix they had come, half
time, to stand on his feet, with the greatest signs of joy,
and surpassing the grasp of his age.
And thereafter always he advanced for the better, his shins being brought
little by little to their due straightness, and an easy
gait using, as if never he had suffered
anything.

[35] About the month of May of the year 1641, Maria,
daughter of Henry Pecquet of Werme of the territory
of Stavelot, [likewise a bedridden girl with one eye;] fixed to her bed by a grave disease,
which had both taken from her one eye, and the other
notably darkened, by no remedies could be helped.
Wherefore her father vowed to make a pilgrimage to
St. Theobaldus, and the daughter at once better to be began,
and her sight little by little recovered. The Damsel
Michaela de Montplainchamps, wife of the Lord Louis
de Monin, Toparch of Rendeux of Our Lady,
in the same year and almost the same time, so great
that nothing at all could she retain: whence
on a certain night at midnight a swoon suffering, and of voice
and senses destitute for more than half an hour, [and dying, vowing a candle.]
she was not believed to survive until morning.
The Parish-priest being summoned, the last [rites] to her to administer,
found her delirious. But soon to her mind
returned and having confessed, she said, that nothing she remembered
of those things, which during the swoon around her had been done;
except that St. Theobaldus she had invoked, promising
him a great candle of white wax,
and like it, which a little before had been brought by the parishioners
of the ban of Sprimont in the Duchy of Limburg:
and that at the same instant she recovered
the faculty of speaking; and she asked the Lord
her husband, that the vow he would fulfill; which done
fully she recovered. The Lord de
Monin himself also, [A fever is cured:] about the same time, a tertian fever to his bed had fixed
for several continuous weeks; and on the same
day on which the candle was sent, his paroxysm
he awaited. When therefore the Lord Canon
d'Aubrebis, Scholastic of the church of St. Mary of Namur,
went to sing the Mass, and to carry the candle
in their stead; the Lord de Monin asked
him, that during the sacrifice him especially
he should remember, promising that a priestly chasuble
green he would send for the adornment of the chapel.
And about the hour at which the Mass was sung, and he himself
ought to be feverish, so nothing he suffered,
that the returning Canon found him walking and
quite well; nor afterward did any fever return.

[36] John Simon de Vericumont, of the ban
of Lierneux in the territory of Stavelot, [a mute man receives speech:] three sons
had from nature mute: whom in the year 1642
he vowed to lead to Montaigu, with good hope
led, that to them speech he would procure by the merits
of St. Theobaldus. In fact thither with his sons he went,
through three consecutive Fridays, as many
times there causing Mass to be said. This when the third
time he did, a little before the feast of St. John the Baptist,
to the chapel came a certain procession; during
which, one of the three, Matthew by name, twenty-eight years
old, ceased to be seen; and long sought,
was found near the fountain of St. Theobaldus washing
his head three times. This done, all together,
the father namely and mother, with the three young men,
and one of their neighbors Henry Leonard, descended
to Mercurol, to take dinner
at the Recorder's. But as they sat at
table, and to one another pledging [healths]; Matthew,
to Henry handing a glass of beer, with a clear
voice said; "To you, Henry;" with great admiration
of those present, especially of his mother, who from
excess of joy a swoon suffered, because from her son's
mouth no word ever she had heard. But neither
afterward for about nine months did he any more
speak: but then began little by little
better and more easily to utter anything.

[37] [incurable abscesses of the shin] Master Peter Foullon, Priest and Bursar
of the monastery of St. Hubert, of 53 years, in
the Paschal week, on Thursday of the year 1646, when
in the evening about to lie down, his clothes he put off, felt the greatest
torment around the ankle of his left foot on the outside:
by which when he was prevented from standing on his feet,
he was forced to throw himself into bed, nor thence
could he except with supports rise. In the following
days the evil grew, and utterly took away
all appetite for food. On Saturday medicine he took,
which nothing profited him; nor more profited
whatever other medicines the monastery's surgeon
knew to apply, but the infirmity grew
more and more. On the next Tuesday again him
the physician visited, [suddenly] and finding him very ill
began about his recovery to doubt; he prepared
nevertheless for him some potion; but for it to be taken
strength to the sick man was lacking. Seeing therefore the human [remedies] to fail,
to have recourse he resolved to the divine remedies;
and a vow making to St. Theobaldus, to his
chapel he sent a certain Ecclesiastic, with
an offering and a wax shin to the measure of his own; and proposed
by himself thither to go, if by the Saint's merits
health he received. On Thursday arriving at
the chapel the bearer of the vow, together with the Parish-priest of Champlon
in the Ardennes, and Hubert Baclin nephew of the sick man.
When therefore there to their devotion they attended,
and the offering being made the Mass they attended to; the sick man himself
his own offices also joined to theirs; [they are consolidated;] and the Confession's
and Communion's Sacraments being received, he commended
himself to the Saint; repeatedly repeating, as
also the preceding whole night he had done; "St. Theobaldus,
pray for us." On the same day furthermore, about the eighth
morning hour, coming to visit him
the physician and surgeon, saw the flesh of his foot
raised to the size of an egg, in the manner of an abscess,
and another similar swelling more toward
the ankle; which being opened by the surgeon, about noon
came out a great abundance of pus; whence at once
the physician pronounced, that he had escaped the danger:
and the saying confirmed his soon restored appetite
for food, and placid rest. And from that time
began to be consolidated, both those two wounds last
made, and the other three, which from Christmas
he had borne in his shin, distilling a certain humor,
which with medicines daily applied could not
be stopped.

[38] John de l'Isle, Mayor of Beures near
Houffalize, kept to his bed for over four months, [and another is cured who had been bedridden 4 years from a shin.]
so that thence to be relieved he could not except with the help
of his wife and household, on account of a symptom
of the shin exceedingly hard. In vain
he had used whatever remedies he could: those
therefore being laid aside, he vowed himself to St. Theobaldus a pilgrim;
and at that moment he felt the evil alleviated,
and from day to day better he was. A little
after he undertook the votive journey, with his wife and a certain
neighbor of his; but not without labor and pain
the greatest he came to Montaigu; where his
devotion having performed, and leaving a coin
of silver for a Mass to be attended to, he felt himself with an extraordinary
joy anointed, and from the torment of his
shin freed: and in memory of the benefit,
he left there the crutch, which he had used along the way,
nor afterward felt anything of the evil.

[39] At the beginning of spring in the year 1663, I felt
myself, who write these things, [The writer himself from various symptoms brought almost to death,] in the bottom of my stomach an unusual
heat of something, by which at intervals I was rendered very
weak, and there was taken from me appetite. This when
to a physician I had indicated, he judged, that thence could come
proceed, unless in time it were provided for. This when to do
I had neglected, I began toward the beginning of November with vehement
obstructions of the hypochondrium and mesentery
to be vexed, with sharp prickings around
the kidneys, liver, and spleen: which there accompanied vomits
frequent, and much red sand
through the urine excreted. These symptoms so foreign,
when they took daily increase, and me
involved in intricate and long-lasting diseases;
about Easter of the year 1664 almost to the last
I was brought, so that now rumor spread, that I had died.
In this state I persevered almost up to August:
toward whose end by a certain cold intemperance
of the liver I was seized, there following as it were a boiling-up
of various ulcers, from indigestion and the rheum
of the stomach proceeding: and finally a fever
symptomatic came upon me, from the putrefaction
of the humors, because together with the blood a great
abundance of serous liquid the liver produced.
That fever, having vehemently weakened me, into a great
crisis brought, yet always trusting in
the help of St. Theobaldus, which to me to be granted, often
I asked. [that he might complete the little work, he is freed from them.] Such prayers however with greater
fervor I began to repeat, about the beginning of January
of the year 1665, supplicating, that so much of strength
to me he would obtain from God, as was necessary, that
I might complete the little book, which to his honor to write
I had destined. The vow therefore being made and completed, at once
from the fever free I was for three weeks: within
which much relieved I arranged in order the memoirs,
collected from everywhere for this little book's composition,
and I wrote of them a little index, or
synopsis of the argument, to be carried out by any other,
if it should happen that I before life than the work undertaken
should die. The fever returned then toward the beginning
of February, yet not so vehement as before,
and up to August it lasted. I felt meanwhile
my other infirmities to diminish, and my strength
to increase: I remained nevertheless among all these things
in such a state the whole year, that my friends asserted, that I
would never be restored to my former health; nay
the Physician, who was curing me, to several said, that I must die
of that disease, although I were
the last man in the world. But by God's grace
fully I recovered, and firmly I believe this to me granted
by the intercessions of St. Theobaldus, to whom be honor
and to God glory.
