author: Berno of Reichenau

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 150, coll. 1079B–1086B

source_text:
## Liber qualiter adventus Domini celebretur

[1079B] Incipit epistola Bern. Augiensis monasterii abbatis, ad Aribonem Moguntinum archiepiscopum, de eo qualiter Adventus Domini hoc anno celebrari debeat quando Nativitas Domini secunda feria evenerit.

Summae dignitatis apice sublimato ARIBONI archiepiscopo, per quem in area Domini bona conservis fideliter administratur tritici mensura, BERN, etsi vile Dei Matris mancipium, illud servi boni Euge optat in prooemium.

Quoties in Ecclesiastici ordinis ritu minus concordamus, oportet ut ad consilium magistrorum recurramus, per quos, ut Scriptura testatur, Sapientia divina profunda fluviorum scrutata est et abscondita produxit in lucem, legislatore id etiam praecipiente: Interroga patrem tuum, et annuntiabit tibi; majores [1079C] tuos, et dicent tibi. Hujus rei gratia te potissimum, piissime Pater, de his quae in dubium de Dominici Adventus celebratione venerunt, consulendum censuimus, cui superna providentia tantam scientiae plenitudinem donavit, ut te per aquam divinarum Scripturarum non solum usque ad talos vel ad genua, seu etiam usque ad renes transduceret; verum etiam ad ipsum torrentem quem non possis transire perduceret: Quoniam, inquit, intumuerant aquae profundae torrentis, qui non potest transvadari. Qui etsi non pertransiri, ad illum tamen ipsa Dei sapientia adjuvante, quae per torrentem designatur, potest perveniri. Igitur hujus aquam torrentis, quem nullus mortalium transire potest, aliquatenus tange, ac aliquem intelligentiae gustum sitibundis pectoribus [1079D] nostris praebe.

## CAPUT PRIMUM. Proponitur argumentum praesentis quaestionis, et afferuntur diversae sententiae, statuiturque non nisi quatuor hebdomadas Adventui celebrando dandas esse.

[1080B]

Ut enim apertius unde quaeramus agnoscas, intimamus quod tamen jam dudum te latere minime credimus, quotiescunque Natalis Domini in secunda feria, velut in praesenti anno, evenerit, magnus error per Ecclesias Dei se infundit, aliis dicentibus non debere plus quam quatuor dies Dominicos cum ipsa sacratissima Dominicae Nativitatis vigilia celebrari; aliis vero e regione contendentibus, magis oportere quatuor plenas hebdomadas Adventum Domini habere, quintum diem Dominicum specialiter vigiliae Domini dedicantes, nullum aliud, ut investigare potuimus, defensionis suae argumentum vel rationem habentes, nisi ut illa quatuor officia, [1080C] quae in nocturnalibus Antiphonariis inveniuntur, vel lectiones sanctorum Evangeliorum nec non et apostoli plenius adimpleantur.

Ad haec alii pleniorem veritatis ratione subnixam antiquorum, beati videlicet Gregorii papae ac presbyteri Hieronymi, proferunt sententiam, quorum alter in libro Sacramentorum, id est: Missali, ita praetitulavit: Dominica prima de Adventu Domini; Dominica secunda; Dominica tertia; Dominica quarta, quae proxima est ante Natale Domini. Alter vero in Lectionaria, quem librum Comitis appellavit, sic: Dominica quarta ante Natale Domini (quam Ama larius presbyter praeparationem Dominici Adventus nominavit), deinde Dominica quarta ante Natale Domini; Dominica tertia ante Natale Domini; Dominica secunda [1080D] ante Natale Domini; Dominica prima ante Natale Domini, ut converso modo, quae apud Hieronymum dicitur prima vel proxima ante Natale Domini, apud Gregorium dicatur Dominica quarta de Adventu Domini, [1081A] non inconvenienter, ut reor, propter quinque hujus saeculi aetates, in quibus humanum genus sub jugo diaboli captivum tenebatur, quousque per intactae Virginis uterum nascendo carne appareret, qui carnis peccata per sui corporis hostiam aboleret et initium sextae sequentis aetatis sanctificaret. Vel quia interior noster homo per quinque sensus corporis corrumpitur, ita ut in nobis mors operetur, sicut propheta dicit: Introivit mors per fenestras vestras; quatenus in his quinque hebdomadibus hospitium mentis illi regi nostro praeparetur, quem prophetica lectio in ipsa hebdomada quinta his verbis pronuntiat venturum: Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo David germen justum.

Item in Antiphonario diurno post tria officia statim [1081B] sequitur jejunium, deinde Dominica vacat, ut ex hoc liquido comprobetur quantum etiam in hoc delinquant qui in praesenti anno jejunium, quod praecedere debuit, post Dominicam quae vacat ponunt, Adventum Domini inchoantes VI Kal. Decemb.

Quod si hoc caventes prius jejunant, nihilominus contra Patrum instituta agunt, qui jejunium decimi mensis semper in proximo Sabbato ante Natale Domini celebrandum statuerunt. Quaternarium vero numerum, quem, ut supra notavimus, S. Gregorius in quarta Dominica de Adventu Domini diebus posuit tali celebrans sacramento: ut homo, qui quatuor consistit elementis, per quatuor hebdomadas ejus exspectet Adventum, quem per tres ordines librorum, legis scilicet, prophetarum, psalmorum olim [1081C] promisit, et per quartum, id est principium Evangelii, angelo sanctae Mariae semper virgini conceptus ac nativitatis ejus ordinem narrante, ad salutem humani generis, certissime scimus huic mundo praesentatum. Et ne tanta illa parvitatis meae attestatio, quam ex aliorum magis quam ex propria protuli sententia, videatur parvipendenda, majorum dicta ponantur in medio, ut vel ex his liquido comprobetur quorum usus rectior habeatur.

## CAPUT II. Idem confirmatur ex Amalario, Fortunato et Beda.

Ait nempe Amalarius [n: (lib. III Eccles. Offic., c. 40)] , divinorum officiorum scrutator non contemnendus: « In antiquis libris Missalium et Lectionariorum reperitur scriptum, hebdomada quinta ante Natale Domini: [1081D] totidem enim lectiones habentur in Lectionario, et totidem Evangelia a tempore memorato per dies Dominicos usque ad Nativitatem Domini. Antiphonarius habet tria officia diurna, et quartum in die Dominico, qui vacat, post lectiones duodecim; nocturna vero quatuor, ut superius dixi, per dies Dominicos. Auctor Lectionarii excitat fidem nostram ad recolendum Domini nostri Jesu Christi venturi in mundum praeconium per quinque aetates mundi. Auctor missalis qui nominatur Gregorialis, et Antiphonarii, nos tangit, ut recolamus nativitatem Domini celebratam per tres ordines librorum, scilicet legis, prophetarum et psalmorum, nec non et per quartum, id est principium Evangelii, in quo narratur [1082A] Gabriel archangelus missus ad Zachariam, videlicet nuntius nativitatis praecursoris Domini. Verum etiam et prophetia Zachariae de Adventu Domini, et Gabriel missus ad Mariam virginem narrans ei conceptionem Salvatoris nostri, et caetera talia usque ad ipsam Nativitatem. Nempe et ipsa quarta hebdomada, hoc est, quae proxima est ante Natale Domini, sive in qua celebratur, singularis est. Habet in matutinali officio per unamquamque feriam antiphonas proprias in psalmis. Et alio modo auctor Lectionarii docet nos quam fortis sit Dominus, qui venturus est ad nos, et intraturus domum nostram, ut in ea habitet, quam solemus sordidare quinque sensibus nostris. Illices formae intrant per oculos, suspicio mala de fratre per aures, odor libidinosus [1082B] per nares, per os ingluvies polluit, per tactum crudelitas. In sordibus non vult habitare rex venturus. Nisi itaque purgetur hospitium, ut nec saltem pulvis talium phantasmatum remaneat, non dignabitur hospes venturus intrare in illum. Ideo scribit auctor quinque lectiones quinque hebdomadarum ut nos hortetur circumcidere quinque sensus nostros ab omni vitio, et parare mansionem dignam regi et Domino atque vero prophetae.

« De ipso rege dicit prima lectio: Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo David germen justum, et regnabit rex, et sapiens erit. Et iterum de Domino: Et hoc est nomen, quod vocabunt eum, Dominus justus noster. Et iterum in Evangelio de propheta: Quia hic est vere propheta, qui venturus est in mundum.

[1082C] « Auctor Missalis sive Antiphonarii eamdem praeparationem hortatur nos facere per quatuor hebdomadas. Sicut enim homo internuntiis quinque sensibus ad animam bene aut male operatur; ita per quatuor elementa aut ruit ad mala corporalia, aut surgit ad bona. Quapropter hortatur nos, ut dixi, auctor memoratus, ut, si usque modo torpuimus negligentia, dehinc surgamus ad mundandam domum nostram, ut qui non excitatus est in quinta hebdomada, saltem surgat in quarta. Ipsum enim sonat lectio quae legitur in quarta hebdomada: Scimus quia hora est jam nos de somno surgere, et reliqua.

« Non dubito, propterea cantorem in memorata hebdomada cum tuba suam exaltare vocem: Ad te levavi animam meam, ut excitet eos qui in quinta [1082D] hebdomada sopore negligentiae oppressi sunt.

« Quomodo autem nostram domum praeparare debeamus, in sequentibus memorata lectio monstrat: Non in comessationibus et ebrietatibus, non in cubilibus et impudicitiis, non in contentione et aemulatione, sed induimini Dominum Jesum Christum.

« Eamdem praeparationem inculcat in aures cordis nostri Sacramentarium: Suscipiamus, inquiens, Domine, misericordiam tuam in medio templi tui, ut reparationis nostrae ventura solemnia congruis honoribus praecedamus.

« Si quis voluerit nostra dicta infringere, quasi non sint quatuor hebdomadae plenae a memorata Dominica usque in Nativitatem Domini, videtur mihi [1083A] ignarus esse regulae sacrae Scripturae, quae a parte totum solet implere. »

His verbis satis datur intelligi quod hanc sacrae Scripturae regulam, quae non solum a parte totum, sed etiam aliquando ex toto partem significat, ii transcendant qui in Nativitate Domini non quatuor, sed quinque Dominicos dies annumerant. Astipulatur huic narrationi illud famosissimi ac sapientissimi calculatoris, domni videlicet Bedae, argumentum, si tamen ipsius et non alterius esse conceditur, toto pene orbi, ut puto, notissimum. « Notum, inquit, sit omnibus hominibus ut quicunque Adventum Domini diligenter voluerit celebrare, videat ut nec ante V Kal. Decemb. inchoet, nec III Nonas ipsius mensis transeat, sed in his septem diebus, ubicunque [1083B] dies Dominica advenerit, ibi sine dubio celebrare valebit. »

Hunc morem tota, tota pene, ut fertur, observat Gallia ac ipsa civitas Romana, quondam mundi domina, ut per veracissimos relatores ac praecipue sanctae recordationis Adalboldum episcopum, qui scriptis nostris pulsatus Romae positus hoc requisivit, didicimus, quamvis postea nescio qua de causa aliter agerent: Placentina tamen, ut ipsi ego eodem in tempore et audiendo et videndo cognovi, aliisque Italiae civitatibus antiquae institutionis regulam servantibus. Sed et abbas Herigerus, vir non parvae auctoritatis nostris temporibus, proprium super hac re libellum composuit, in quo, ut asserunt qui illum legerunt, probabilibus argumentis eos convincit [1083C] contra Patrum instituta agere, qui plus quam quatuor Dominicos dies Adventus Domini celebrare contendunt.

## CAPUT III. Objectio contra dicta dissolvitur.

Quod vero ex adverso objiciunt, ideo quatuor Dominicos dies excepta vigilia Domini debere celebrari, ut illa quatuor nocturnalia officia vel sancti Evangelii, seu Apostoli lectio in illa Dominica, quae vacat, possint impleri, facili responsione potest enervari. Quis enim non videat incongruum valde esse propter tria vel quatuor responsoria, quae retroactis hebdomadae diebus, si tamen ita visum fuerit, decantari, vel sancti Evangelii seu Apostoli lectio, quae feria tertia ante jejunium, sicut in Italiae regionibus [1083D] nos ipsi agere audivimus ac vidimus, vel potius in ipsa Dominica, quando vigilia celebratur cum hymnis matutinalibus, primo mane possint adimpleri, tam mysticas rationes quatuor hebdomadarum evacuari debere?

Non utique quarta Dominica Adventus Domini vacaret, si proprium officium haberet. Introitus, Memento, in nullo authentico invenitur Antiphonario; sed ipsum officium a quodam pro libitu est superadditum, ideoque nec summopere est curandum, si pro rationabiliori causa aliquando fuerit intermissum. Vacat enim ista, quemadmodum et caeteri tres Dominicae dies, qui simili modo ponuntur post duodecim lectiones; quibus tamen minime desunt lectiones [1084A] Epistolarum atque Evangeliorum ad implendum numerum quinquaginta duarum anni Dominicarum. Habentur enim inter Natale Domini et Septuagesimam officia quatuor per dies Dominicos, a Septuagesima usque in Pascha octo (nam nona in medio vacat), a Pascha vero usque in octavas Pentecostes octo. Deinde sequuntur viginti tres usque in Adventum Domini. In Adventu Domini tres tantum ponuntur, quarta, ut supra diximus, vacante. Quatuor et octo, itemque octo atque viginti tres, et tres fiunt quadraginta sex. His adde quatuor Dominicas vacantes, et unam, quae est praeparatio Dominici Adventus, nec non de sancta Trinitate, summam quinquaginta duarum Dominicarum videbis adimpletam esse.

[1084B]At vero missae in libro Sacramentorum plures inveniuntur appositae, utpote post Theophaniam abundant tres, post octavam Pentecostes una, et una in septimo mense, quando jejunium est celebrandum, non incongruo, ut puto, ordine, ut quinarius, qui quinquagesimum secundum numerum hic supergreditur, quintae nihilominus Dominicae ante Natale Domini per verba deprecationis adunetur. Sic enim orat sacerdos: Excita, Domine, quaesumus tuorum fidelium voluntates, etc. Quanquam et in quibusdam Missalium libris etiam altera, nescio a quo, inveniatur composita. Quod si in aliquibus plures inveniuntur libris, non tamen authenticis.

His ita sese habentibus, eos qui tanto annisu hoc anno unam hebdomadam Dominico Adventui conantur [1084C] adjicere, libet percontari quidnam agendum censeant, cum primum Pascha in XI Kal. April., Septuagesima vero XV Kal. Febr. evenerit, et ob hoc duo officia, quae sunt: Omnis terra, Adorate, velut minus necessaria remanebunt, nisi forte priori, id est: Omnis terra, tali modo locum dent, ut ante Epiphaniam: In excelso throno contra morem canant, cum in omnibus authenticis Antiphonariis id ipsum ita praetituletur: Dominica I post Epiphaniam Domini.

Non solum hoc, sed et responsoria: Domine, ne in ira, nullum diem Dominicum poterunt attingere, octava Epiphaniae proxima tertia feria ante Septuagesima occurrente. Quod si ita est, imo quia ita est, unum horum necesse est intelligant, aut ut haec omnia, id est: officia, responsoria: Domine, ne in ira, [1084D] lectiones quatuor, missas quinque, omnino quasi non necessaria praetermittant; aut ubi locorum possint, interserant, et concedant nobis, id una tantum missa et una lectione apostolica seu evangelica agere, quod sibi putant in plurimis licere. Alioquin terminum paschalem eotenus transferant, quatenus illa duo officia, ne dicam lectiones et missas, inter Epiphaniam et Septuagesimam locum inveniant, et nos illis concedimus Adventum Domini anticipare, ut Dominica quae vacat, cum integritate hebdomadae possit vigiliam Natalis Domini hoc anno praeire.

Quod si respondebunt hoc canonica auctoritate esse prohibitum, et nos veraciter dicimus quia ritum quo Adventum Domini celebramus, a sanctis [1085A] Patribus Gelasio, Gregorio, Hieronymo atque Hilario indubitanter accepimus, quae velut bases consistunt in sanctae Ecclesiae fundamentis, quorum sententiis nolle acquiescere transgressio est legis divinae.

## CAPUT IV. Implorat Berno Aribonis auctoritatem, ut ne plures quam quatuor Adventus Dominicas celebrari permittat.

Haec esse etsi ita credimus, haud facile tamen aliis persuadebimus. Quapropter ex sanctae sedis tuae auctoritate sententia prodeat, quae sanctorum Patrum instituta servare decernat, ne sanctae matris Ecclesiae filii, in schisma diversi, minus unanimes possint habitare in domo Domini. Nam ex dulcissimo sacri pectoris tui fonte purum hujus scientiae potum tandem haurire cupimus, ne per varios [1085B] errorum rivulos diutius a vero nos aberremus, ut illa valeas mercede donari quam Dominus per prophetam talibus verbis dignatus est polliceri: Beati, qui seminatis super omnes aquas.

Dilectus Ecclesiae Sponsus, qui quotidie descendit in hortum suum ad areolam aromatum, te pascentem in hortis virtutum, inter lilia castitatis convallium post hujus vitae terminum colligat in horreum [1086A] suum! Salutat te humilis Augiensium fratrum catervula, semper tui memor inter sacra orationum libamina.

Rescriptum Aribonis archiepiscopi.

Sanctitatem vestram aevo sempiterno intemeratam conservare optantes, circumspectae vestrae in his, quae ad Dominum sunt, sollicitudini gratulamur. Tandem etiam vestris bene et artificiose inventis, optime dispositis, facunde elocutis, et postremo firma memoria pronuntiatis, ex animo favemus tractatibus, et, si qua illa est pontificatus tantilli auctoritas, ejus, sicut rogastis, manum imponimus eis. Fecundet Dominus et amplificet tantam in vobis gratiam, ut, si quod adhuc etiam, in quo Ecclesia offendat, obstaculum restare senseritis, eadem [1086B] cautela propellere velitis et industria.

De caetero, orationibus vestris et sancti examinis sub vestro regimine mellificantis recreari optamus; et qui nunc sub crucis habitu assi piscis parte cibamini, ut quandoque favo mellis digni habeamini, me quoque a longe haud strenue certantem et interdum statione relicta loco cedentem, precibus vestris revocare velitis, sollicite rogamus.

english:
## A Book on How the Advent of the Lord Is to Be Celebrated

[1079B] Here begins the letter of Berno, abbot of the monastery of Reichenau, to Aribo, archbishop of Mainz, on how the Advent of the Lord ought to be celebrated in this year, when the Nativity of the Lord has fallen on the second weekday.

To ARIBO, archbishop, raised on high to the summit of the highest dignity, through whom in the Lord's threshing-floor the good measure of wheat is faithfully dispensed to his fellow servants: BERNO, though a worthless bondman of the Mother of God, wishes him for a preface that "Well done" of the good servant.

As often as we are less than agreed in the rite of the ecclesiastical order, we must have recourse to the counsel of the masters, through whom, as Scripture testifies, divine Wisdom searched out the depths of the rivers and brought hidden things into the light — the lawgiver also enjoining this: Ask thy father, and he will declare unto thee; thy elders, [1079C] and they will tell thee. For this reason we have judged that you above all, most devoted Father, are to be consulted about those matters which have come into doubt concerning the celebration of the Lord's Advent — you to whom the providence from above has granted such a fullness of knowledge that it has led you through the water of the divine Scriptures not only as far as the ankles or to the knees, or even as far as the loins, but has brought you all the way to that very torrent which you cannot cross over: For, he says, the deep waters of the torrent had swollen, which cannot be waded through. And though it cannot be crossed, yet one can come to it with the help of that very Wisdom of God which is signified by the torrent. Therefore touch in some measure the water of this torrent, which no mortal can cross, and offer some taste of understanding to our thirsting [1079D] breasts.

## CHAPTER ONE. The argument of the present question is set forth, and various opinions are brought forward, and it is established that no more than four weeks are to be given to the celebration of Advent.

[1080B]

That you may recognize the more plainly what we are asking about, we make known what nevertheless we by no means believe to have escaped you this long while: that as often as the Lord's Nativity has fallen on the second weekday, as in the present year, a great error pours itself through the churches of God — some saying that no more than four Lord's days ought to be celebrated together with the most sacred vigil of the Lord's Nativity itself; but others contending on the opposite side that the Lord's Advent ought rather to have four full weeks, dedicating the fifth Lord's day especially to the vigil of the Lord, having, so far as we have been able to investigate, no other argument or reason for their position, except that those four offices [1080C] which are found in the night Antiphonaries, and likewise the lessons of the holy Gospels and of the Apostle, may be more fully carried through.

Against these, others bring forward the fuller opinion of the ancients, resting on the reason of the truth — namely that of blessed Pope Gregory and of Jerome the priest — of whom the one, in the book of the Sacraments, that is, the Missal, gave these titles: The first Sunday of the Advent of the Lord; the second Sunday; the third Sunday; the fourth Sunday, which is nearest before the Nativity of the Lord. But the other, in the Lectionary, the book which he called the Comes, thus: The fourth Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord (which Amalarius the priest named the preparation of the Lord's Advent), then the fourth Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord; the third Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord; the second Sunday [1080D] before the Nativity of the Lord; the first Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord — so that, by an inverted manner, the one which in Jerome is called the first or nearest before the Nativity of the Lord is in Gregory called the fourth Sunday of the Advent of the Lord; [1081A] not unfittingly, as I think, on account of the five ages of this world in which the human race was held captive under the yoke of the devil, until by being born he should appear in the flesh through the womb of the untouched Virgin — he who by the victim of his own body should abolish the sins of the flesh and sanctify the beginning of the sixth age that followed. Or else because our inner man is corrupted through the five senses of the body, so that death works in us, as the prophet says: Death is come in through your windows; so that in these five weeks a lodging of the mind may be prepared for that king of ours, whom the prophetic lesson in that very fifth week announces as about to come, in these words: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch.

Likewise, in the day Antiphonary, after three offices there [1081B] immediately follows the fast, and then the Sunday is vacant, so that from this it may be clearly proved how greatly they also fail in this matter who in the present year place after the vacant Sunday the fast which ought to have preceded it, beginning the Advent of the Lord on VI Kal. Decemb.

But if, guarding against this, they fast earlier, they nonetheless act against the institutions of the Fathers, who laid down that the fast of the tenth month is always to be celebrated on the Saturday nearest before the Nativity of the Lord. But the number four, which, as we noted above, St. Gregory set in the days of the fourth Sunday of the Advent of the Lord, celebrating it by such a mystery: that man, who consists of four elements, should through four weeks await the Advent of him whom of old he promised through the three orders of the books, namely of the law, of the prophets, of the psalms, [1081C] and through the fourth, that is, the beginning of the Gospel — the angel telling to holy Mary ever virgin the order of his conception and birth — and whom we know most certainly to have been presented to this world for the salvation of the human race. And lest so great an attestation of my littleness, which I have brought forward out of the opinion of others rather than my own, should seem to be lightly esteemed, let the sayings of our elders be set forth in the midst, so that from these too it may be clearly proved whose usage is held to be the more correct.

## CHAPTER II. The same is confirmed from Amalarius, Fortunatus, and Bede.

Amalarius indeed says [n: (lib. III Eccles. Offic., c. 40)] , no contemptible searcher of the divine offices: « In the ancient books of the Missals and Lectionaries it is found written, the fifth week before the Nativity of the Lord: [1081D] for just so many lessons are had in the Lectionary, and just so many Gospels from the time mentioned, through the Lord's days, up to the Nativity of the Lord. The Antiphonary has three day offices, and a fourth on the Lord's day which is vacant, after the twelve lessons; but four night offices, as I said above, through the Lord's days. The author of the Lectionary rouses our faith to call to mind, through the five ages of the world, the proclamation of our Lord Jesus Christ who was to come into the world. The author of the Missal which is called the Gregorial, and of the Antiphonary, touches us so that we may call to mind the Nativity of the Lord celebrated through the three orders of the books, namely of the law, of the prophets, and of the psalms, and likewise through a fourth, that is, the beginning of the Gospel, in which is narrated [1082A] the archangel Gabriel sent to Zechariah, that is, the messenger of the birth of the Lord's forerunner. And also the prophecy of Zechariah concerning the Advent of the Lord, and Gabriel sent to the Virgin Mary telling her of the conception of our Savior, and other such things up to the Nativity itself. Indeed that fourth week too — that is, the one which is nearest before the Nativity of the Lord, or in which it is celebrated — is singular. It has in the morning office, for each several weekday, its own antiphons in the psalms. And in another way the author of the Lectionary teaches us how mighty is the Lord who is to come to us and to enter our house, that he may dwell in it — the house which we are wont to befoul with our five senses. Enticing forms enter through the eyes, evil suspicion of a brother through the ears, a lustful smell [1082B] through the nostrils; through the mouth gluttony defiles, through touch cruelty. The king who is to come does not wish to dwell in filth. And so unless the lodging be cleansed, so that not even the dust of such phantasms remains, the guest who is to come will not deign to enter into it. Therefore the author writes five lessons for five weeks, that he may exhort us to circumcise our five senses from every vice, and to prepare a dwelling worthy of the king and Lord and true prophet.

« Of this king the first lesson says: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch, and a king shall reign, and shall be wise. And again of the Lord: And this is the name that they shall call him, The Lord our just one. And again in the Gospel, of the prophet: For this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.

[1082C] « The author of the Missal, or of the Antiphonary, exhorts us to make the same preparation through four weeks. For just as man, by the five senses as go-betweens, works well or ill toward the soul, so through the four elements he either rushes down to bodily evils or rises to goods. Wherefore the aforesaid author exhorts us, as I have said, that if until now we have been sluggish through negligence, from this point we should rise to cleanse our house, so that he who was not roused in the fifth week may at least rise in the fourth. For this is what the lesson sounds which is read in the fourth week: We know that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep, and the rest.

« I do not doubt that for this reason the cantor in the aforesaid week lifts up his voice as with a trumpet: To thee have I lifted up my soul, that he may rouse those who in the fifth [1082D] week have been overwhelmed with the drowsiness of negligence.

« But how we ought to prepare our house, the aforesaid lesson shows in what follows: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.

« The Sacramentary drives home the same preparation into the ears of our heart, saying: Let us receive, O Lord, thy mercy in the midst of thy temple, that with fitting honors we may go before the coming solemnities of our restoration.

« If anyone should wish to break down what we have said, as though there were not four full weeks from the aforesaid Sunday up to the Nativity of the Lord, he seems to me [1083A] to be ignorant of the rule of Holy Scripture, which is accustomed to fill out the whole from a part. »

By these words it is sufficiently given to be understood that those men overstep this rule of Holy Scripture — which not only signifies the whole from a part, but sometimes also the part from the whole — who reckon up to the Nativity of the Lord not four Lord's days but five. Agreeing with this account is that argument of the most famous and most learned reckoner, namely the lord Bede — if indeed it is granted to be his and not another's — an argument most widely known, as I think, to nearly the whole world. « Let it be known, he says, to all men, that whoever wishes diligently to celebrate the Advent of the Lord should see that he neither begin it before V Kal. Decemb., nor pass beyond III Nonas of that same month; but on whichever of these seven days [1083B] the Lord's day shall have fallen, there without doubt he will be able to celebrate it. »

This custom the whole of Gaul — nearly the whole, as is reported — observes, and the city of Rome itself, once mistress of the world, as we have learned through most truthful reporters, and especially through Adalbold, bishop of holy memory, who, being urged by our writings, inquired into this while he was staying at Rome; although afterward, for what cause I do not know, they acted otherwise: the church of Piacenza, however, as I myself at that same time learned both by hearing and by seeing, and other cities of Italy, keeping the rule of the ancient institution. But the abbot Heriger too, a man of no small authority in our times, composed a book of his own upon this matter, in which, as those who have read it assert, he convicts by convincing arguments of acting [1083C] against the institutions of the Fathers those who contend that more than four Lord's days of the Advent of the Lord are to be celebrated.

## CHAPTER III. The objection against what has been said is dissolved.

But what they object on the other side — that four Lord's days, the vigil of the Lord excepted, ought to be celebrated so that those four night offices, or the lesson of the holy Gospel or of the Apostle, may be carried through on that Sunday which is vacant — can be undone by an easy reply. For who does not see that it is exceedingly unfitting that, on account of three or four responsories which can be sung on the earlier days of the week (if indeed it should so seem good), or a lesson of the holy Gospel or of the Apostle which can be fulfilled on the third weekday before the fast — as we ourselves have heard and seen done in the regions of Italy — [1083D] or rather on that very Sunday, when the vigil is celebrated with the morning hymns, in the first hour of the morning: that on account of these such mystical reasons for the four weeks should have to be emptied out?

The fourth Sunday of the Advent of the Lord would certainly not be vacant if it had its own proper office. The introit *Memento* is found in no authentic Antiphonary; but that office was added on by someone at his own pleasure, and therefore no great care need be taken if for a more reasonable cause it should sometimes be omitted. For that Sunday is vacant, just as the other three Lord's days also are, which are set in like manner after the twelve lessons; to which nevertheless there are by no means lacking the lessons [1084A] of the Epistles and of the Gospels, so as to fill out the number of the fifty-two Sundays of the year. For between the Nativity of the Lord and Septuagesima there are four offices through the Lord's days; from Septuagesima up to Easter, eight (for the ninth in the middle is vacant); but from Easter up to the octave of Pentecost, eight. Then there follow twenty-three up to the Advent of the Lord. In the Advent of the Lord only three are set, the fourth, as we said above, being vacant. Four and eight, and again eight and twenty-three, and three, make forty-six. Add to these the four vacant Sundays, and the one which is the preparation of the Lord's Advent, and likewise that of the holy Trinity, and you will see the sum of the fifty-two Sundays fulfilled.

[1084B]But in the book of the Sacraments more Masses are found appended — as for instance after the Theophany three abound, after the octave of Pentecost one, and one in the seventh month when the fast is to be celebrated — by no unfitting arrangement, as I think, so that the number five, which here goes beyond the fifty-second number, may nonetheless be joined to the fifth Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord by the words of the prayer. For thus the priest prays: Stir up, O Lord, we beseech thee, the wills of thy faithful, and the rest. Although in certain books of the Missals yet another is found, composed by I know not whom. And if in some books more are found, they are not, however, authentic books.

These things being so, it is worth asking those who this year strive with so great effort to add [1084C] one week to the Lord's Advent, what they judge is to be done when Easter shall have fallen first on XI Kal. April., but Septuagesima on XV Kal. Febr., and on this account two offices — namely *Omnis terra*, *Adorate* — will be left over as less than necessary; unless perhaps they give place to the former, that is, *Omnis terra*, in such a way that before the Epiphany they sing *In excelso throno* contrary to custom, although in all authentic Antiphonaries this very thing is titled thus: The 1st Sunday after the Epiphany of the Lord.

Not only this, but the responsories *Domine, ne in ira* will be able to reach no Lord's day, since the third weekday nearest to the octave of the Epiphany falls before Septuagesima. And if it is so — nay, since it is so — they must understand one of these two things: either that they pass over all these things altogether as though unnecessary, that is, the offices, the responsories *Domine, ne in ira*, [1084D] the four lessons, the five Masses; or that they insert them wherever they can find room, and grant to us to do with only one Mass and one apostolic or evangelical lesson what they think permitted to themselves in very many. Otherwise let them transfer the paschal term so far that those two offices — not to speak of the lessons and the Masses — may find place between the Epiphany and Septuagesima; and we grant to them to anticipate the Advent of the Lord, so that the Sunday which is vacant, with the whole of its week, may this year be able to go before the vigil of the Nativity of the Lord.

But if they answer that this is forbidden by canonical authority, we too say truly that the rite by which we celebrate the Advent of the Lord we have without doubt received from the holy [1085A] Fathers Gelasius, Gregory, Jerome, and Hilary, who stand like bases upon the foundations of holy Church, and to be unwilling to acquiesce in their judgments is a transgression of the divine law.

## CHAPTER IV. Berno implores Aribo's authority, that he not permit more than four Sundays of Advent to be celebrated.

Although we believe these things to be so, we shall not easily persuade others of them. Wherefore let a sentence go forth from the authority of your holy see, decreeing that the institutions of the holy Fathers be kept, lest the sons of holy mother Church, divided in schism, be less able to dwell of one mind in the house of the Lord. For we desire at last to draw a pure draught of this knowledge from the sweetest fountain of your sacred breast, lest through the various [1085B] rivulets of errors we stray any longer from the truth — so that you may be worthy to be given that reward which the Lord has deigned to promise to such men through the prophet in these words: Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters.

May the beloved Bridegroom of the Church, who daily comes down into his garden to the bed of spices, gather you — you who feed among the gardens of the virtues, among the lilies of the chastity of the valleys — into his barn [1086A] after the end of this life! The humble little band of the brethren of Reichenau greets you, ever mindful of you amid the sacred offerings of their prayers.

The reply of Aribo the archbishop.

Desiring to keep your holiness undefiled for everlasting ages, we rejoice at your circumspect solicitude in those things which pertain to the Lord. And at last we favor from the heart your treatises also, well and skillfully devised, excellently arranged, eloquently expressed, and finally set forth with a firm memory; and, if there is any authority in so slight a pontificate as mine, we lay its hand upon them, as you asked. May the Lord make fruitful and enlarge so great a grace in you, so that if you should perceive that there yet remains any obstacle by which the Church is offended, you may be willing to drive it away with the same [1086B] caution and diligence.

For the rest, we desire to be refreshed by your prayers and by those of the holy company that makes honey under your governance; and we earnestly ask that you would be willing to call back by your prayers me also, who from afar strive but feebly, and who now and then, leaving my post, give ground — you who now, under the habit of the cross, are fed with a portion of broiled fish, that we may one day be held worthy of the honeycomb.


site: migne

author: Anonymous

languages: en la

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 155, coll. 1097C–1104C

source_text:
## De primordiis et inventione sacrae religionis Hierosolymorum

[1097C]Maxima inter plerosque hactenus dubitatio fuit, unde et a quibus Hosp. Ierosolimorum primordium sumpserit. Quidam vana sompnia ingerentes deliramenta pocius quam veritatem confinxisse videntur; veteres enim historias longissime ab invicem separatas, composito quodam glutineo conjunxerunt. Quorum vanas fabulas hoc loco mihi referre cura non est; sed ad rei veritatem, id quod de sacris annalibus decerpere potui, et quae conjectura et ratione assequi, non praepositae rei seriem in medium adducam.

Sacram Jerosolymorum religionem ita principium habuisse reputo: Cum exactis, mortuo Alexandrio Philippo Macedonum rege, de urbe Jerusalem prophanis gentibus Machabeorum opera ad a. p. et [1098C] libertatem, populus proclamasset, ingentia bella a finitimis regibus cum Iherosolimis gesta sunt. Tandem, volente Domino, cum Machabeus urbem, arcem, et templum de prophanatis gentium manibus vendicasset, et ad bellum iterum gerendum exeundum esset, prius compositis in urbe Jerosolima rebus, magna manu in hostes Machabeus profectus est. Cumque multi de populo Dei ferro cecidissent, multique vulneribus debiles facti essent, Machabeus in urbe Iherosolimitana, xenoduna, hoc est pium locum et debilium constituisse dicitur; cui loco ingentes argenti et auri dragmas, ad expiandas defunctorum animas transmisit; ibique, ut miserabilibus receptaculum, et defunctis piaculum constitueretur, imposterum decrevit. [1099A] Volventibus deinde annis, cum religiosa clarissimi Machabei institutio levaretur, usque ad salutaris nostri tempora processum est; ipseque Jhesus Christus humile non dedignatus hospicium, multum pietatis opera monstravit. In eodem profecto, cum nullius rei possessor existeret, dicente illo: « Volucres coeli nidos, et vulpes habent foveas. Filius autem hominis non habet quo reclinet caput suum. » non inmerito hunc locum ipsum incoluisse existimare possimus: si enim discipulos monebat omnia in communi habere, nec de crastino esse sollicitos, si absque calceis et pera discipulos esse volebat, quis dubitet Magistrum talia monentem, omnia habuisse communia, humilemque locum inhabitasse?

[1099B]Hiis igitur rationibus confirmati, confidenter dicere possumus hunc locum communem et humilem coelestis Imperatoris habitaculum fuisse. Hic discipulorum pedes Magister lavit, eosdemque presbyteros fecit, suique corporis preciosissimi memoriam reliquit. Hic Petro Ecclesiae potestatem et claves tradidit. Hic Veteris Testamenti finis, et Novi initium fuit. De hoc loco acenti ( *sic* ), ad gloriosissimam passionem, ut nostrae carnis fieret redemptio, Christus profectus est. Hic post ejus passionem discipuli cum Maria matre ejus, confugientes, admirandae Resurrectionis revelationem habere meruerunt, et post quadraginta dies promissum Spiritum sanctum acceperunt. Hic, post gloriosam ascensionem, sanctum primum concilium [1099C] habitum est, fideique simbolum ad duodecim factum. Cumque gloriosi principes Christianae fidei, inter se ad praedicandum, provincias sortiti essent, septem viros elegerunt, qui pauperum et Hospitalis curam habituri essent; quibus Stephanum primum martyrem praepositum constituerunt. Et quia gloriosus novae legis praecursor Joh. Baptista, Christi baptismum praedicans, ab Herode nuper decollatus erat, cujus vitae testimonium cuncti admirabantur: et quia hiis locis natus et usque ad infantiae annos educatus erat, ob venerandam ejus memoriam Hospitalis patronum appellaverat; subsedentibus postmodum temporibus, cum magna inter homines de fide opinio esset, plurimi in societate pauperum discipulorum [1099D] Domini conferebant; et ut participes orationum fierent, venditis rebus suis, ante pedes apostolorum precia ponebant, communem cum illis vitam ducentes.

Verum, cum Christianae fidei devotione crescente, hujus sacrae domus facultates longe multiplicatae essent, qui eas tuerentur, conducti milites constituti sunt, ut et facultates Hospitalis domus, sub fratre Raymundo, a quo Regula postea constituta est, tuerentur, atque paganos repellerent: ipsi namque sacerdotes sacris mysteriis et praedicationibus occupati, ea quae milites factitabant exercere non poterant; verum cum in tantam vesaniam, impellente avaricia, milites elati essent, ut se facultatum Hospitalis professores constituerent, sacerdotesque negligerent; [1100A] proinde decretum est, ut et ipsi milites Hospitalis participes fierent, et Christianam religionem defenderent; unde et ipsi, pro nomine Christi pugnantes, ante pectus crucem gestare instituerunt. Crescente deinde apud Orientem perfidia, fide deficiente, factum est ut Hospitale a Saracenis occupato, Christi milites undique dispergerentur. Cumque in Acra et Sarrya nullum amplius refugii locum haberent, in altum ascendere coacti sunt: prima eis navigatio in Cyprum fuit, insulam Iherosolimis propinquam. Ibi a Christianis principibus recepti, contra prophanas gentes, pro Christi nomine, pugnare non destiterunt. Multis deinde annis Rhodiorum insula Constantinopolitanis rebellis facta est; non valentibus ipsis, ob ingentes Rhodiorum copias, [1100B] in ditionem vendicare insulam, ipsam Jherosolimitanis militibus occupandam concesserunt. Milites vero, paratis manibus, instructis copiis, Rhodum navigantes, brevi dierum spacio in suam potestatem redegerunt; duplicique praesidio muniti, ex Cypro et Rhodo adversus nostrae fidei inimicos bella gesserunt et gerunt.

*Qualiter domus Hospitalis S. Johannis Jerusalem fuit primo inventa voluntate Domini nostri Jesu Christi.*

Omnibus praesentibus et futuris notum facimus, quod domus Hospitalis S. Johannis Baptistae et pauperum Jerosolimitanorum fuit incepta a principio, tempore primi Julii Caesaris, imperatoris Romani, et tempore Antiochi principis Antiochiae; ille qui [1100C] fecit omnia, et suus Filius benedictus nobis mittat Spiritum sanctum, qui omnes tres unum sunt in adjutorium sit, quod nos possimus dicere et retrahere de Latino in grammaticam, ita et taliter quod sit laus praedicto sancto Johanni Baptistae.

Supradicto enim tempore fuit quidam presbyter, et dominus aliorum presbyterorum in Jerusalem, qui vocabatur Melchiar; qui fregit sepulchrum David, et ex eo extraxit magnum thesaurum, videlicet aurum et vestimenta preciosa, quae ibidem fuerant posita ab aliis regibus post Davidem regem, de quo quidem facto, dictus Melchiar fuit accusatus, coram principe Antiochiae, qui tunc temporis erat dominus et dux in Jerusalem, ex praecepto Julii [1100D] Caesaris: Antiochus vero de hoc fuit valde turbatus, et cogitabat intra se qualiter posset honestius justiciam ministrare de furto supradicto. Et secunda nocte sequenti, jacendo in lecto, cogitabat multum quid faceret de tali re: et postquam satis cogitavit, obreptus fuit a sompno, et tunc angelus cepit ejus spiritum, et eundem portavit super montem Calvarii. Cui Rex regum apparuit, et dixit. « Antioche, non ponas manum super istum sanctum presbyterum, et non effundas ejus sanguinem; quoniam in isto loco, quem tibi monstravero, tu et ipse debetis facere unam domum pietatis et misericordiae, communem omnibus pauperibus ibidem advenientibus. Et ego praecipio tibi, Melchiar, quod totum illum thesaurum, qui fuit extractus de sepulchro [1101A] Davidis, ponatur in aedificio mansionis pauperum; quoniam Spiritus sanctus ubi vult spirat. » Eadem nocte, ipse manifestavit se sancto presbytero Melchiar, et dixit eidem: « Vadas ante montem Calvarium, et ubi tu invenies fundamentum aedificatum, ibidem facite mihi unam domum fortem et firmam, quoniam in eadem recipi multae mansiones gentium, quia qui pauperes recipit, me recipit. » Et quando de mane in aurora diei ille presbyter descendit de monte Calvario, obviat principi, et incoeperunt adinvicem loqui, quomodo Dominus noster Jesus Christus unicuique ostenderat bonam viam, et illud quod Dominus noster ostenderat ambobus multum placuit et eorum toto concilio; et quod ille sanctus presbyter donabat se et [1101B] totum illud quod invenerat de thesauro in sepulchro David ad constructionem dictae sacrae domus causa serviendi pauperibus toto tempore, sicut scriptum reperitur in libro de Machabaeis.

Quando Judas Machabaeus vidit et cognovit bene, quod bona res erat orare pro mortuis, misit in Jherusalem XII dragmas argenti, et quod offerantur Hosp. pauperum quod ipsi rogarent pro mortuis, et placeret Melchiar stabilire fratres ad serviendum pauperibus mansionis. In illa sacra domo, quam diximus, venerunt de omnibus partibus mundi multi pauperes et infirmi, qui fuerint recepti et benigniter pertractati propter misericordiam Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Princeps Antiochenus praedictus, quando obiit, donavit sacrae domui praedictae Jerosolimitanae [1101C] magnam partem bonorum suorum.

Nos facimus vobis notum unum magnum miraculum, quod auscultare debent omnes in Deum credentes. Dominus noster Jhesus Christus apparuit Zachariae prophetae una die, quando faciebat sacrificium Deo, et in illa hora Filius Dei apparuit sibi, et dixit: « Melchiar, frater tuus transivit de hoc seculo, et anima ejus est in paradiso, ex quo ego praecipio tibi, et filio tuo, et uxori tuae quod vos veniatis in Jerusalem, et serviatis mihi et pauperibus meis donec Julianus de Roma veniat in Jerusalem. » Quando Zacharias complevit sacrificium, quod ipse faciebat Deo, in parte fuit multum laetus, et in parte fuit multum stupefactus. Et quando venit in domum suam, dixit uxori suae et filio plorando [1101D] illud quod Dominus illis praeceperat. Et omnes tres Deo gratias egerunt, et quanto citius potuerunt, iverunt Jerusalem, et reddiderunt se et sua Deo et Hospitali pauperum, et servierunt multum benigne et longo tempore Hospitali praedicto.

## De primordiis et inventione sacrae religionis Hierosolymorum (cont.)

Adhuc evenit aliud grande miraculum, videlicet, quod Accamanus imperator Romanus, cum quibusdam aliis honestis viris, causa recipiendi omagium a Judaeis; accidit quando fuerunt in mare prope unam insulam Crethii, quae vocatur Rhochas, puppis eorum navis fracta est, et omnes qui supererant fuerunt perditi, excepto Juliano Romano, qui per Filium Dei ad terram fuit exportatus [1102A] benigniter. Et quando Julianus vidit infortunium quod evenerat, interrogavit Dominum, « Quis estis vos qui extraxistis me de isto periculo? » Et Dominus noster respondit et dixit: « Ego sum Filius Dei, qui ordinavi te Hospitelarium domus pauperum Jerusalem, et in futurum veniam corporaliter in illa domo; » et benedixit ei. Ille Julianus recepit ad gaudium benedictionem Domini nostri; et venit in Jerusalem ad sanctum Zachariam, ubi ipse Zacharias et alii fratres receperunt eum pro patre. Subsequenter, quando Dominus noster venit in terram, pro salute humani generis, et voluit manifestare gloriam suam populo, vocavit apostolos suos et discipulos; et venit in Jerusalem, sicut praedixerat per sanctum [1102B] Spiritum provisoribus mansionis Hospitalis. Et existens homo corporalis de praesenti, fecit miraculum praesentibus suis discipulis, et apostolis faciebat salutem animarum. Deus qui fecit magna bona huic domui, quod ipsemet voluit se ostendere eis, extendit manus suas supra suos apostolos et pauperes mansionis praedictae; et tunc dixit: « Qui vos honorabit, me honorabit, et qui vos recipiet, me recipiet. Maledicatur homo qui spernet unum de illis. » Notum facimus quod ista est mansio in qua Dominus noster dixit illi sapienti homini: « Tu amabis Deum ex toto tuo corde, et ex toto tuo cogitamine, » et alia multa secundum quod in Evangelio reperitur. Item ista est domus in qua abscondiderunt se apostoli, et clauserunt portas, [1102C] timore Judaeorum, quando Dominus noster Jesus Christus fuit crucifixus. In ista sancta domo, venit virgo Maria et sanctus Johannes evangelista ad Dominum nostrum, quando ipse erat in cruce pro nobis peccatoribus, et dixit sancto Johanni,: « Vide hic matrem tuam. » Et postea dixit matri suae: « Vide hic filium tuum. »

Adhuc est ista domus Hospitalis, in qua venit Jhesus in octavo die suae resurrectionis, portis clausis, et intravit in medio suorum discipulorum, et dixit eis: « Pax vobis. » Et ostendit eis manus et pectus, sed Thomas non erat cum illis, quando Jesus venit. Et discipuli venerunt ad sanctum Thomam, et dixerunt ei: « Nos vidimus Dominum nostrum. » [1102D] Et Thomas respondit et dixit. « Ego non credo. ego non tango, et video foramen clavorum manuum suarum et pedum, et misero manum meam in pectore suo. » Prope istos octo dies, sicut sanctus Johannes evangelista testatur, quando discipuli erant in ista sancta domo, et sanctus Thomas cum eis, venit Jhesus, clausis januis, et dixit: « Pax vobis. » Et dixit Thomae: « Mitte huc digitum tuum in foramen manuum mearum et mei costatus, et noli esse incredulus, sed fidelis. » Et in illa sancta domo recognovit sanctus Thomas suum Creatorem. Cui Dominus noster dixit: « Quia tu me vidisti, credidisti. Beati sunt, qui non viderunt et crediderunt. »

Eodem tempore Ananias et Saphira dimiserunt [1103A] seculum, et donaverunt se societati Christi et discipulorum: et quia non reddiderunt Deo et sacrae domui Hospitalis et pauperibus, et non portaverunt ad pedes discipulorum illud quod habebant, mortui sunt subitanea morte; et sanctus Petrus non permisit poni eorum corpora in cimiterio, ymmo fecit eos sepiliri extra, tanquam excommunicatos. Et tempore quo Deus misit nobis apostolos et discipulos suos ad praedicandum, et illi erant antiqui, sicut sanctus Stephanus, qui fuit primus martyr, et Philippus prothomartyr, Nichauome, Thymocenn Permanan, Nycholaus Antiochenus. Isti custodiebant domus Hospitalis et serviebant pauperibus ex praecepto Domini nostri Jesu Christi. In isto tempore erant in eodem loco multae et diversae generationes [1103B] hominum; aliquando Graeci, aliquando Caryseni, qui tenebant civitatem Jerusalem et terram promissionis; et hoc, non obstante quod dicta domus esset in magna paupertate, tamen recipiebant pauperes et infirmos. Et quando venit finaliter quod Saraceni habuerunt domum Jerusalem, et Graeci perdiderunt; unus servulus Jesu Christi, qui vocabatur Conradus, custodiebat sanctam domum hospitalis, et elemosinas, quae dabantur sibi a Saracenis, ipse donabat pauperibus, et serviebat eis benigniter.

Eodem tempore, quando Deo placuit quod Christiani haberent terram promissionis, Godfridus de Boylon, et magna multitudo barenorum et peregrinorum, qui fuerint instructi per divinam gratiam [1103C] et praedicationem, venerunt per longas terras, per montes et valles, et per terram Romaniae, in Antiochiam; et obsederunt eam, et virtute Dei ceperunt eam. In illa, perfidorum Saracenorum magnam multitudinem perimerunt. De qua iverunt ultra ad civitatem de Trypoly, et ceperunt eam. Et exinde ceperunt Acrys: et inde iverunt ad terram Jerusalem. Et in eorum exercitu habebant tam magnam famem, quod quasi non habebant panem ad comedendum. Tunc ille Conradus, qui serviebat pauperibus Hospitalis Jerosolimitani, quolibet die ter vel quater, ponebat de pane in suo gremio, et desuper muros terrae projiciebat panem Christianis, loco lapidum; et iste Conradus, qui custodiebat pauperes Hospitalis fuit accusatus coram Soldano. [1104A] per Saracenos qui custodiebant muros. Et Soldanus praecepit Saracenis, qui accusaverunt eum, quod quando projiceret panem Christianis, ipsum caperent et ducerent eum sibi, cum toto pane, et aliter eum non credebat. Deinde venit una dies Conradus vel Gerardus faciebat uti solebat, projiciendo panem Christianis; et Saraceni, cum pane quem habebat in gremio, ipsum ceperunt, et duxerunt eum coram Soldano: et quando Saraceni monstrabant panem Soldano, tunc ille panis, virtute Dei, efficiebatur lapis. Et quando Soldanus vidit maliciam Saracenorum, dimisit stare Conradum, et praecepit sibi, ut sine timore Christianos, ut consueverat, debellaret. Et quando Conradus, vel Gerardus, audivit istud, quolibet die projiciebat panem Christianis Dei.

[1104B]Et Godfridus de Boylen stetit tantum, cum exercitu suo, ante Jerusalem, quod ipse cepit civitatem et interfecit multos Saracenos, et habebat magnum gaudium de victoria habita, quam Deus dederat eis et venerunt ad sanctum sepulchrum Domini nostri, cantando, et gratias Deo reddendo. Deinde iverunt ad omnia alia loca. Et deinde barones diviserunt possessiones Jerusalem, et donaverunt dicto Conrado, vel Gerardo, magistro dicti Hospitalis Jerusalem, magnam partem possessionum, ad honorem sancti Johannis Baptistae, patroni ejusdem Hospitalis. Deinde, tempore dicti magistri Conradi, vel Gerardi, Deus multiplicavit multum dictam mansionem Hospitalis de redditibus, possessionibus et dominationibus per regnum Jerosolimitanum. [1104C] Et quando Conradus fuit mortuus, anima ejus ivit in paradisum. Et frater Raymundus de Puy fuit subrogatus ejusdem, loco ejus; et ad laudem Dei aedificavit casalia, mansiones et castra; et melioravit multum mansionem de magnis possessionibus.

Ille frater Raymundus fecit stabilimenta mansionis Hospitalis, quae in eadem domo servantur adhuc; et regulam; et a papa Innocentio secundo fecit ipsam confirmari, etc.

Deus Creator omnium liberet fratres Hospitalis ab omnibus malis et eorum peccatis, et eis concedat gratiam veniendi ad coelestem gloriam cum omnibus eorum benefactoribus, Amen.

english:
## On the Beginnings and Founding of the Sacred Order of Jerusalem

[1097C]There has been until now the greatest doubt among very many as to whence and from whom the Hospital of Jerusalem took its beginning. Certain men, thrusting forward empty dreams, seem to have fabricated ravings rather than the truth; for they have joined together, with a kind of contrived glue, old histories separated from one another by the widest distance. It is no care of mine to set down their empty tales in this place; but, for the truth of the matter, I shall bring forward into the open what I have been able to cull from the sacred annals, and what I can attain by conjecture and reasoning — not the sequence of the matter as it has been set forth.

I judge that the sacred order of Jerusalem had its beginning thus. When, upon the death of Alexander Philip, king of the Macedonians, the profane nations had been driven out of the city of Jerusalem by the work of the Maccabees, and the people had proclaimed for the ancestral faith and [1098C] for liberty, huge wars were waged with the men of Jerusalem by the neighboring kings. At length, by the Lord's will, when the Maccabee had claimed the city, the citadel, and the temple out of the profaned hands of the nations, and had to go out to wage war once more, first setting affairs in order in the city of Jerusalem, the Maccabee set out against the enemy with a great force. And when many of the people of God had fallen by the sword, and many had been made feeble by wounds, the Maccabee is said to have established in the city of Jerusalem a *xenodochium* — that is, a holy place for the feeble; to which place he sent over immense drachmas of silver and gold, for the expiation of the souls of the dead; and he decreed that there, for the time to come, a shelter should be established for the wretched and an atonement for the dead. [1099A] Then, as the years rolled on, while the religious foundation of the most illustrious Maccabee was being raised up, the progress reached even to the times of our Savior; and Jesus Christ himself, not disdaining the humble lodging, showed there many works of piety. Indeed, in that very place — since he was the possessor of nothing, as he himself says: « The birds of heaven have nests, and the foxes have holes; but the Son of Man has not where to lay his head » — we may not undeservedly reckon that he dwelt in this place itself. For if he admonished his disciples to have all things in common, and not to be anxious about the morrow; if he wished his disciples to be without shoes and wallet — who would doubt that the Master who admonished such things had all things in common, and dwelt in a humble place?

[1099B]Confirmed, therefore, by these reasons, we may confidently say that this common and humble place was the dwelling of the heavenly Emperor. Here the Master washed the feet of his disciples, and made those same men presbyters, and left behind the memorial of his most precious body. Here he handed over to Peter the power and the keys of the Church. Here was the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New. From this place *acenti* ( *sic* ) Christ set out to his most glorious passion, that the redemption of our flesh might be accomplished. Here, after his passion, the disciples, taking refuge with Mary his mother, were counted worthy to have the revelation of the wondrous Resurrection, and after forty days received the promised Holy Spirit. Here, after the glorious ascension, the first holy council [1099C] was held, and the symbol of the faith was made in twelve parts. And when the glorious princes of the Christian faith had allotted the provinces among themselves for preaching, they chose seven men who were to have the care of the poor and of the Hospital, over whom they set Stephen, the first martyr. And because the glorious forerunner of the new law, John the Baptist, preaching the baptism of Christ, had lately been beheaded by Herod — the witness of whose life all men marveled at — and because he had been born in these places and brought up there until the years of his childhood, for the sake of his venerable memory they had named him patron of the Hospital. In the times that settled thereafter, when there was a great repute of the faith among men, very many brought their goods into the fellowship of the poor disciples [1099D] of the Lord; and, that they might be sharers in the prayers, they sold their possessions and laid the prices before the feet of the apostles, leading a common life with them.

But when, as devotion to the Christian faith grew, the resources of this sacred house had been multiplied far and wide, soldiers were hired and appointed to guard them, so that they might both guard the resources of the house of the Hospital, under brother Raymond, by whom the Rule was afterwards established, and drive back the pagans; for the priests themselves, being occupied with the sacred mysteries and with preaching, could not carry out what the soldiers habitually did. But when the soldiers, driven by avarice, had been lifted up into such madness that they set themselves up as the professed masters of the Hospital's resources and neglected the priests, [1100A] it was thereupon decreed that the soldiers themselves should also become sharers in the Hospital, and should defend the Christian religion; whence they too, fighting for the name of Christ, established the practice of bearing the cross before the breast. Then, as faithlessness grew in the East and faith failed, it came about that, the Hospital having been seized by the Saracens, the soldiers of Christ were scattered on every side. And when they had no place of refuge any longer in Acre and Syria, they were compelled to put out to the open sea: their first voyage was to Cyprus, an island near to Jerusalem. There, received by the Christian princes, they did not cease to fight against the profane nations for the name of Christ. Then for many years the island of the Rhodians was in rebellion against the men of Constantinople; and since these were not strong enough, on account of the vast forces of the Rhodians, [1100B] to claim the island into their dominion, they granted that it should be seized by the soldiers of Jerusalem. And the soldiers, with hands made ready and forces drawn up, sailing to Rhodes, brought it into their power within a short space of days; and, fortified with a double stronghold, from Cyprus and from Rhodes, they waged and still wage wars against the enemies of our faith.

*How the house of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem was first founded by the will of our Lord Jesus Christ.*

We make known to all, present and to come, that the house of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist and of the poor of Jerusalem was begun from the beginning in the time of the first Julius Caesar, the Roman emperor, and in the time of Antiochus, prince of Antioch. May he who [1100C] made all things, and his blessed Son, send us the Holy Spirit — who, all three being one, may be our help — that we may be able to tell it and to draw it back from the Latin into grammar, in such a way and in such manner that it may be praise to the aforesaid St. John the Baptist.

For in the aforesaid time there was a certain priest, and lord over the other priests in Jerusalem, who was called Melchiar; who broke open the sepulchre of David, and drew out of it a great treasure, namely gold and precious garments, which had been placed there by other kings after David the king. And for this deed the said Melchiar was accused before the prince of Antioch, who at that time was lord and leader in Jerusalem by the command of Julius [1100D] Caesar. But Antiochus was greatly troubled at this, and pondered within himself how he might more honorably administer justice concerning the aforesaid theft. And on the second night following, lying in his bed, he pondered much what he should do about such a matter; and after he had pondered enough, he was overtaken by sleep, and then an angel took his spirit and carried it up onto the mount of Calvary. There the King of kings appeared to him and said: « Antiochus, lay not your hand upon this holy priest, and do not shed his blood; for in that place which I shall show you, you and he are to make a house of piety and of mercy, common to all the poor who come there. And I command you, Melchiar, that all that treasure which was drawn out of the sepulchre [1101A] of David be laid out in the building of a dwelling for the poor; for the Holy Spirit breathes where he wills. » That same night he made himself manifest to the holy priest Melchiar, and said to him: « Go before the mount of Calvary, and where you find a foundation built, there make me a house strong and firm; for in it are received many dwellings of the nations, since he who receives the poor receives me. » And when at morning, in the dawn of day, that priest came down from the mount of Calvary, he met the prince, and they began to speak with one another, how our Lord Jesus Christ had shown to each of them the good way; and what our Lord had shown pleased them both greatly, and all their council; and that that holy priest was giving himself and [1101B] all that he had found of the treasure in the sepulchre of David for the building of the said sacred house, for the sake of serving the poor for all time, as is found written in the book of the Maccabees.

When Judas Maccabeus saw and knew well that it was a good thing to pray for the dead, he sent to Jerusalem twelve drachmas of silver, and that they should be offered to the Hospital of the poor, that they might pray for the dead, and that it should please Melchiar to establish brothers to serve the poor of the dwelling. Into that sacred house of which we have spoken there came from all parts of the world many poor and sick, who were received and kindly treated for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. The aforesaid prince of Antioch, when he died, gave to the aforesaid sacred house of Jerusalem [1101C] a great part of his goods.

We make known to you one great miracle, which all who believe in God ought to hear. Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Zacharias the prophet on a certain day, when he was making sacrifice to God; and in that hour the Son of God appeared to him and said: « Melchiar your brother has passed from this world, and his soul is in paradise; wherefore I command you, and your son, and your wife, that you come to Jerusalem, and serve me and my poor until Julian comes from Rome to Jerusalem. » When Zacharias had completed the sacrifice which he was making to God, in part he was very glad, and in part he was greatly astounded. And when he came into his house, he told his wife and his son, weeping, [1101D] what the Lord had commanded them. And all three gave thanks to God, and as quickly as they could they went to Jerusalem, and gave themselves and their goods to God and to the Hospital of the poor, and served the aforesaid Hospital very kindly and for a long time.

## On the Beginnings and Founding of the Sacred Order of Jerusalem (cont.)

Yet another great miracle came to pass, namely, that Accamanus, the Roman emperor, with certain other honorable men, for the sake of receiving homage from the Jews — it happened, when they were at sea near a certain island of Crete which is called Rhochas, that the stern of their ship was broken, and all who were left aboard were lost, except Julian the Roman, who was carried to land by the Son of God [1102A] kindly. And when Julian saw the disaster which had happened, he asked the Lord: « Who are you who have drawn me out of this peril? » And our Lord answered and said: « I am the Son of God, who have ordained you Hospitaller of the house of the poor of Jerusalem, and in time to come I shall come bodily into that house; » and he blessed him. That Julian received with joy the blessing of our Lord, and came to Jerusalem to holy Zacharias, where Zacharias himself and the other brothers received him as a father. Thereafter, when our Lord came upon earth for the salvation of the human race, and willed to manifest his glory to the people, he called his apostles and disciples, and came to Jerusalem, as he had foretold through the Holy [1102B] Spirit to the providers of the dwelling of the Hospital. And, being at that time a bodily man, he worked a miracle in the presence of his disciples, and by the apostles he was working the salvation of souls. God, who did great good things to this house, in that he himself willed to show himself to them, stretched out his hands over his apostles and over the poor of the aforesaid dwelling; and then he said: « He who honors you will honor me, and he who receives you receives me. Cursed be the man who despises one of them. » We make it known that this is the dwelling in which our Lord said to that wise man: « You shall love God with your whole heart, and with your whole mind, » and many other things according as is found in the Gospel. Likewise this is the house in which the apostles hid themselves and shut the doors, [1102C] for fear of the Jews, when our Lord Jesus Christ had been crucified. Into this holy house the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist came to our Lord, when he was upon the cross for us sinners, and he said to St. John: « Behold here your mother. » And afterwards he said to his mother: « Behold here your son. »

This, further, is that house of the Hospital into which Jesus came on the eighth day of his resurrection, the doors being shut, and entered into the midst of his disciples, and said to them: « Peace be to you. » And he showed them his hands and his breast; but Thomas was not with them when Jesus came. And the disciples came to St. Thomas and said to him: « We have seen our Lord. » [1102D] And Thomas answered and said: « I do not believe. I do not touch, and I see the hole of the nails of his hands and of his feet, and I shall put my hand into his breast. » Near these eight days, as St. John the Evangelist testifies, when the disciples were in this holy house, and St. Thomas with them, Jesus came, the doors being shut, and said: « Peace be to you. » And he said to Thomas: « Put your finger here into the hole of my hands and of my side, and be not unbelieving, but faithful. » And in that holy house St. Thomas acknowledged his Creator. To whom our Lord said: « Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed. »

At the same time Ananias and Sapphira left [1103A] the world, and gave themselves to the fellowship of Christ and of the disciples; and because they did not render to God and to the sacred house of the Hospital and to the poor, and did not carry to the feet of the disciples what they had, they died a sudden death; and St. Peter did not permit their bodies to be laid in the cemetery, but rather had them buried outside, as excommunicate. And in the time when God sent us his apostles and disciples to preach, and they were of the ancient sort — such as St. Stephen, who was the first martyr, and Philip the protomartyr, Nichauome, Thymocenn Permanan, Nicholas of Antioch. These kept the houses of the Hospital and served the poor by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. In that time there were in the same place many and diverse races [1103B] of men — sometimes Greeks, sometimes Caryseni, who held the city of Jerusalem and the land of promise; and this notwithstanding that the said house was in great poverty, yet they received the poor and the sick. And when it came about finally that the Saracens had the house of Jerusalem, and the Greeks lost it, one little servant of Jesus Christ, who was called Conrad, kept the holy house of the Hospital; and the alms which were given him by the Saracens he gave to the poor, and served them kindly.

At that same time, when it pleased God that the Christians should have the land of promise, Godfrey of Bouillon and a great multitude of barons and pilgrims, who had been instructed by divine grace [1103C] and by preaching, came through long lands, over mountains and valleys, and through the land of Romania, to Antioch; and they besieged it, and by the power of God took it. In it they destroyed a great multitude of the faithless Saracens. From there they went on to the city of Tripoli, and took it. And thence they took Acre; and from there they went to the land of Jerusalem. And in their army they had so great a famine that they had almost no bread to eat. Then that Conrad, who served the poor of the Hospital of Jerusalem, three or four times a day would put bread in his lap, and from above the walls of the land would throw the bread down to the Christians in place of stones; and this Conrad, who kept the poor of the Hospital, was accused before the Sultan [1104A] by the Saracens who guarded the walls. And the Sultan commanded the Saracens who had accused him that, when he should throw the bread down to the Christians, they should seize him and bring him to him, with all the bread, and otherwise he did not believe him. Then came a day when Conrad — or Gerard — was doing as he was accustomed, throwing bread down to the Christians; and the Saracens seized him, with the bread which he had in his lap, and led him before the Sultan; and when the Saracens showed the bread to the Sultan, then that bread, by the power of God, was made stone. And when the Sultan saw the malice of the Saracens, he let Conrad go, and commanded him that without fear he should fight the Christians, as he had been accustomed. And when Conrad, or Gerard, heard this, every day he threw bread down to the Christians of God.

[1104B]And Godfrey of Bouillon stood so long with his army before Jerusalem that he took the city and killed many Saracens, and he had great joy at the victory obtained, which God had given them; and they came to the holy sepulchre of our Lord, singing and rendering thanks to God. Then they went to all the other places. And thereafter the barons divided the possessions of Jerusalem, and gave to the said Conrad — or Gerard — master of the said Hospital of Jerusalem, a great part of the possessions, in honor of St. John the Baptist, patron of that same Hospital. Then, in the time of the said master Conrad, or Gerard, God greatly multiplied the said dwelling of the Hospital in revenues, possessions, and lordships throughout the kingdom of Jerusalem. [1104C] And when Conrad was dead, his soul went into paradise. And brother Raymond du Puy was appointed to succeed him in his place; and to the praise of God he built farmsteads, dwellings, and castles; and greatly improved the dwelling with great possessions.

That brother Raymond made the ordinances of the dwelling of the Hospital, which are kept in that same house even now; and the Rule; and he had it confirmed by Pope Innocent II, etc.

May God, the Creator of all things, deliver the brothers of the Hospital from all evils and from their sins, and grant them the grace of coming to heavenly glory with all their benefactors. Amen.

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