by Bede
CHAP. 6
Non multo post haec elapso tempore, offensus a Uynfrido Merciorum episcopo per meritum cuiusdam inoboedientiae, Theodorus archiepiscopus deposuit eum de episcopatu post annos accepti episcopatus non multos; et in loco eius ordinauit episcopum Sexuulfum, qui erat constructor et abbas monasterii, quod dicitur Medeshamstedi, in regione Gyruiorum. Depositus uero Uynfrid rediit ad monasterium suum, quod dicitur Adbaruae, ibique in optima uitam conuersatione finiuit.
Tum etiam Orientalibus Saxonibus, quibus eo tempore praefuerunt Sebbi et Sigheri, quorum supra meminimus, Earconualdum constituit episcopum in ciuitate Lundonia; cuius uidelicet uiri, et in episcopatu, et ante episcopatum, uita et conuersatio fertur fuisse sanctissima, sicut etiam nunc caelestium signa uirtutum indicio sunt. Etenim usque hodie feretrum eius caballarium, quo infirmus uehi solebat, seruatum a discipulis eius, multos febricitantes, uel alio quolibet incommodo fessos, sanare non desistit. Non solum autem subpositi eidem feretro, uel adpositi curantur egroti, sed et astulae de illo abscissae, atque ad infirmos adlatae citam illis solent adferre medellam.
Hic sane priusquam episcopus factus esset, duo praeclara monasteria, unum sibi, alterum sorori suae Aedilburgae construxerat, quod utrumque regularibus disciplinis optime instituerat; sibi quidem in regione Sudergeona, iuxta fluuium Tamensem, in loco, qui uocatur Cerotaesei, id est Ceroti insula; sorori autem in Orientalium Saxonum prouincia, in loco, qui nuncupatur In Berecingum, in quo ipsa Deo deuotarum mater ac nutrix posset existere feminarum. Quae suscepto monasterii regimine, condignam se in omnibus episcopo fratre, et ipsa recte uiuendo, et subiectis regulariter ac pie consulendo praebuit; ut etiam caelestia indicio fuere miracula.
Chap. VI.
How Wynfrid being deposed, Sexwulf received his bishopric, and Earconwald was made bishop of the East Saxons. [675 a.d.]
Not long after these events, Theodore, the archbishop, taking offence at some act of disobedience of Wynfrid, bishop of the Mercians, deposed him from his bishopric when he had held it but a few years, and in his place ordained Sexwulf bishop, who was founder and abbot of the monastery which is called Medeshamstead, in the country of the Gyrwas. Wynfrid, thus deposed, returned to his monastery which is called Ad Barvae, and there ended his life in holy conversation.
Theodore then also appointed Earconwald, bishop of the East Saxons, in the city of London, over whom at that time reigned Sebbi and Sighere, of whom mention has been made above. This Earconwald’s life and conversation, as well when he was bishop as before that time, is said to have been most holy, as is even now testified by heavenly miracles; for to this day, his horse-litter, in which he was wont to be carried when sick, is kept by his disciples, and continues to cure many of fevers and other ailments; and not only sick persons who are laid under that litter, or close by it, are cured; but the very splinters cut from it, when carried to the sick, are wont immediately to bring healing to them.
This man, before he was made bishop, had built two famous monasteries, the one for himself, and the other for his sister Ethelburg, and established them both in regular discipline of the best kind. That for himself was in the district of Sudergeona, by the river Thames, at a place called Cerotaesei, that is, the Island of Cerot; that for his sister in the province of the East Saxons, at a place called In Berecingum, wherein she might be a mother and nurse of women devoted to God. Being put into the government of that monastery, she showed herself in all respects worthy of her brother the bishop, by her own holy life and by her regular and pious care of those under her rule, as was also manifested by heavenly miracles.
CHAP. 7
In hoc etenim monasterio plura uirtutum sunt signa patrata, quae et ad memoriam aedificationemque sequentium ab his, qui nouere, descripta habentur a multis; e quibus et nos aliqua historiae nostrae ecclesiasticae inserere curauimus. Cum tempestas saepe dictae cladis late cuncta depopulans, etiam partem monasterii huius illam, qua uiri tenebantur, inuasisset, et passim cotidie raperentur ad Dominum; sollicita mater congregationis, qua hora etiam eam monasterii partem, qua ancellarum Dei caterua a uirorum erat secreta contubernio, eadem plaga tangeret, crebrius in conuentu sororum perquirere coepit, quo loci in monasterio corpora sua poni, et cymiterium fieri uellent, cum eas eodem, quo ceteros exterminio raptari e mundo contingeret. Cumque nihil certi responsi, tametsi saepius inquirens, a sororibus accepisset, accepit ipsa cum omnibus certissimum supernae prouisionis responsum. Cum enim nocte quadam, expletis matutinae laudis psalmodiis, egressae de oratorio famulae Christi, ad sepulchra fratrum, qui eas ex hac luce praecesserant, solitas Domino laudes decantarent, ecce subito lux emissa caelitus, ueluti linteum magnum, uenit super omnes, tantoque eas stupore perculit, ut etiam canticum, quod canebant, tremefactae intermitterent. Ipse autem splendor emissae lucis, in cuius conparatione sol meridianus uideri posset obscurus, non multo post illo eleuatus de loco, in meridianum monasterii, hoc est ad occidentem oratorii, secessit, ibique aliquandiu remoratus, et ea loca operiens, sic uidentibus cunctis ad caeli se alta subduxit; ut nulli esset dubium, quin ipsa lux, quae animas famularum Christi esset ductura uel susceptura in caelis, etiam corporibus earum locum, in quo requietura, et diem resurrectionis essent expectatura, monstraret. Cuius radius lucis tantus extitit, ut quidam de fratribus senior, qui ipsa hora in oratorio eorum cum alio iuniore positus fuerat, referret mane, quod ingressi per rimas ostiorum uel fenestrarum radii lucis, omnem diurni luminis uiderentur superare fulgorem.
Chap. VII.
How it was indicated by a light from heaven where the bodies of the nuns should be buried in the monastery of Berecingum. [675 a.d.?]
In this monastery many miracles were wrought, accounts of which have been committed to writing by those who were acquainted with them, that their memory might be preserved, and succeeding generations edified, and these are in the possession of many persons; some of them we also have taken pains to include in our History of the Church. At the time of the pestilence, already often mentioned, which ravaged all the country far and wide, it had also seized on that part of this monastery where the men abode, and they were daily hurried away to the Lord. The careful mother of the community began often to inquire of the sisters, when they were gathered together; in what part of the monastery they desired to be buried and a cemetery to be made, when the same affliction should fall upon that part of the monastery in which the handmaids of the Lord dwelt together apart from the men, and they should be snatched away out of this world by the same destruction as the rest. Receiving no certain answer from the sisters, though she often questioned them, she and all of them received a most certain answer from the Divine Providence. For one night, after matins had been sung, and those handmaids of Christ had gone out of their chapel to the tombs of the brothers who had departed this life before them, and were singing the customary songs of praise to the Lord, on a sudden a light from heaven, like a great sheet, came down upon them all, and struck them with such amazement, that, in consternation, they even left off singing their hymn. But that resplendent light, in comparison wherewith the sun at noon-day might seem dark, soon after, rising from that place, removed to the south side of the monastery, that is, to the westward of the chapel, and having continued there some time, and rested upon those parts, in the sight of them all withdrew itself again to heaven, leaving no doubt in the minds of all, but that the same light, which was to lead or to receive the souls of those handmaids of Christ into Heaven, also showed the place in which their bodies were to rest and await the day of the resurrection. The radiance of this light was so great, that one of the older brethren, who at the same time was in their chapel with another younger than himself, related in the morning, that the rays of light which came in at the crannies of the doors and windows, seemed to exceed the utmost brightness of daylight.
CHAP. 8
Erat in eodem monasterio puer trium circiter non amplius annorum, Aesica nomine, qui propter infantilem adhuc aetatem in uirginum Deo dedicatarum solebat cella nutriri, ibique meditari. Hic praefata pestilentia tactus, ubi ad extrema peruenit, clamauit te
rtio unam de consecratis Christo uirginibus, proprio eam nomine quasi praesentem alloquens, ‘Eadgyd, Eadgyd, Eadgyd’; et sic terminans temporalem uitam, intrauit aeternam. At uirgo illa, quam moriens uocabat, mox in loco, quo erat, eadem adtacta infirmitate, ipso, quo uocitata est die de hac luce subtracta, et illum, qui se uocauit, ad regnum caeleste secuta est.
Item quaedam ex eisdem ancellis Dei, cum praefato tacta morbo, atque ad extrema esset perducta, coepit subito circa mediam noctem clamare his, quae sibi ministrabant, petens, ut lucernam, quae inibi accensa erat, extinguerent. Quod cum frequenti uoce repeteret, nec tamen ei aliquis obtemperaret, ad extremum intulit: ‘Scio, quod me haec insana mente loqui arbitramini; sed iam nunc non ita esse cognoscite; nam uere dico uobis, quia domum hanc tanta luce inpletam esse perspicio, ut uestra illa lucerna mihi omnimodis esse uideatur obscura.’ Et cum ne adhuc quidem talia loquenti quisquam responderet, uel adsensum praeberet, iterum dixit: ‘Accendite ergo lucernam illam, quamdiu uultis; attamen scitote, quia non est mea;
nam mea lux, incipiente aurora, mihi aduentura est.’ Coepitque narrare, quia apparuerit sibi quidam uir Dei, qui eodem anno fuerat defunctus, dicens, quod adueniente diluculo perennem esset exitura ad lucem. Cuius ueritas uisionis cita circa exortum diei puellae morte probata est.
Chap. VIII.
How a little boy, dying in the same monastery, called upon a virgin that was to follow him; and how another nun, at the point of leaving her body, saw some small part of the future glory. [675 a.d.?]
There was, in the same monastery, a boy, not above three years old, called Aesica; who, by reason of his tender age, was being brought up among the virgins dedicated to God, there to learn his lessons. This child being seized by the aforesaid pestilence, when his last hour was come, called three times upon one of the virgins consecrated to Christ, speaking to her by her own name, as if she had been present, Eadgyth! Eadgyth! Eadgyth! and thus ending his temporal life, entered into that which is eternal. The virgin, to whom he called, as he was dying, was immediately seized, where she was, with the same sickness, and departing this life the same day on which she had been summoned, followed him that called her into the heavenly kingdom.
Likewise, one of the same handmaids of God, being smitten with the same disease, and reduced to the last extremity, began on a sudden, about midnight, to cry out to them that ministered to her, desiring they would put out the lamp that was lighted there. And, when she had done this many times, and yet no one did her will, at last she said, “I know that you think I am raving, when I say this, but be assured that it is not so; for I tell you truly, that I see this house filled with so great a light, that that lamp of yours seems to me to be altogether dark.” And when still no one replied to what she said, or did her bidding, she added, “Burn your lamp, then, as long as you will; but know, that it is not my light, for my light will come to me at the dawn of day.” Then she began to tell, that a certain man of God, who had died that same year, had appeared to her, telling her that at the break of day she should depart to the eternal light. The truth of which vision was speedily proved by the maiden’s death as soon as the day appeared.
CHAP. 9
Cum autem et ipsa mater pia Deo deuotae congregationis Aedilburga esset rapienda de mundo, apparuit uisio miranda cuidam de sororibus, cui nomen erat Torctgyd, quae multis iam annis in eodem monasterio commorata, et ipsa semper in omni humilitate ac sinceritate Deo seruire satagebat, et adiutrix disciplinae regularis eidem matri existere, minores docendo uel castigando curabat. Cuius ut uirtus, iuxta apostolum, in infirmitate perficeretur, tacta est repente grauissimo corporis morbo, et per annos VIIII pia Redemtoris nostri prouisione multum fatigata; uidelicet ut, quicquid in ea uitii sordidantis inter uirtutes per ignorantiam uel incuriam resedisset, totum hoc caminus diutinae tribulationis excoqueret. Haec ergo quadam nocte incipiente crepusculo, egressa de cubiculo, quo manebat, uidit manifeste quasi corpus hominis, quod esset sole clarius, sindone inuolutum in sublime ferri, elatum uidelicet de domo, in qua sorores pausare solebant. Cumque diligentius intueretur, quo trahente leuaretur sursum haec, quam contemplabatur species corporis gloriosi, uidit, quasi funibus auro clarioribus in superna tolleretur, donec caelis patentibus introducta, amplius ab illa uideri non potuit. Nec dubium remansit cogitanti de uisione, quin aliquis de illa congregatione citius esset moriturus, cuius anima per bona, quae fecisset, opera, quasi per funes aureos leuanda esset ad caelos; quod re uera ita contigit. Nam non multis interpositis diebus, Deo dilecta mater congregationis ipsius, ergastulo carnis educta est; cuius talem fuisse constat uitam, ut nemo, qui eam nouerit, dubitare debeat, quin ei exeunti de hac uita caelestis patriae patuerit ingressus.
In eodem quoque monasterio quaedam erat femina sanctimonialis, et ad saeculi huius dignitatem nobilis, et in amore futuri saeculi nobilior; quae ita multis iam annis omni corporis fuerat officio destituta, ut ne unum quidem mouere ipsa membrum ualeret. Haec ubi corpus abbatissae uenerabilis in ecclesiam delatum, donec sepulturae daretur, cognouit, postulauit se illo adferri, et in modum orantium ad illud adclinari. Quod dum fieret, quasi uiuentem adlocuta, rogauit, ut apud misericordiam pii Conditoris inpetraret, se a tantis tamque diutinis cruciatibus absolui. Nec multo tardius exaudita est; nam post dies XII et ipsa educta ex carne temporales adflictiones aeterna mercede mutauit.
Cum uero praefata Christi famula Torctgyd tres adhuc annos post obitum dominae in hac uita teneretur, in tantum ea, quam praediximus, infirmitate decocta est, ut uix ossibus hereret; ad ultimum, cum tempus iam resolutionis eius instaret, non solum membrorum ceterorum, sed et linguae motu caruit. Quod dum tribus diebus et totidem noctibus ageretur, subito uisione spiritali recreata, os et oculos aperuit; aspectansque in caelum, sic ad eam, quam intuebatur, uisionem coepit loqui: ‘Gratus mihi est multum aduentus tuus, et bene uenisti.’ Et hoc dicto parumper reticuit, quasi responsum eius, quem uidebat et cui loquebatur, expectans.
Rursumque, quasi leuiter indignata, subiunxit: ‘Nequaquam hoc laeta ferre queo.’ Rursumque modicum silens, tertio dixit: ‘Si nullatenus hodie fieri potest, obsecro, ne sit longum spatium in medio.’ Dixit, et, sicut antea, parum silens, ita sermonem conclusit: ‘Si omnimodis ita definitum est, neque hanc sententiam licet inmutari, obsecro, ne amplius quam haec solummodo proxima nox intersit.’ Quibus dictis, interrogata a circumsedentibus, cum quo loqueretur: ‘Cum carissima,’
inquit, ‘mea matre Aedilburge.’ Ex quo intellexere, quod ipsa ei tempus suae transmigrationis proximum nuntiare uenisset. Nam et ita, ut rogabat, transacta una die et nocte, soluta carnis simul et infirmitatis uinculis ad aeternae gaudia salutis intrauit.
Chap. IX.
Of the signs which were shown from Heaven when the mother of that community departed this life. [675 a.d.?]
Now when Ethelburg herself, the pious mother of that community devoted to God, was about to be taken out of this world, a wonderful vision appeared to one of the sisters, called Tortgyth; who, having lived many years in that monastery, always endeavoured, in all humility and sincerity, to serve God herself, and to help the mother to maintain regular discipline, by instructing and reproving the younger ones. Now, in order that her virtue might, according to the Apostle, be made perfect in weakness, she was suddenly seized with a most grievous bodily disease, under which, through the merciful providence of our Redeemer, she was sorely tried for the space of nine years; to the end, that whatever stain of evil remained amidst her virtues, either through ignorance or neglect, might all be purified in the furnace of long tribulation. This woman, going out of the chamber where she abode one night, at dusk, plainly saw as it were a human body, which was brighter than the sun, wrapped in fine linen, and lifted up on high, being taken out of the house in which the sisters used to sleep. Then looking earnestly to see what it was that drew up that appearance of the glorious body which she beheld, she perceived that it was raised on high as it were by cords brighter than gold, until, entering into the open heavens, it could no longer be seen by her. Reflecting on this vision, she made no doubt that some one of the community woul
d soon die, and her soul be lifted up to heaven by the good works which she had wrought, as it were by golden cords. And so in truth it befell; for a few days after, the beloved of God, Ethelburg, mother of that community, was delivered out of the prison of the flesh; and her life is proved to have been such that no one who knew her ought to doubt that an entrance into the heavenly country was open to her, when she departed from this life.
There was also, in the same monastery, a certain nun, of noble origin in this world, and still nobler in the love of the world to come; who had, for many years, been so disabled in all her body, that she could not move a single limb. When she heard that the body of the venerable abbess had been carried into the church, till it should be buried, she desired to be carried thither, and to be placed bending towards it, after the manner of one praying; which being done, she spoke to her as if she had been living, and entreated her that she would obtain of the mercy of our pitiful Creator, that she might be delivered from such great and long-continued pains; nor was it long before her prayer was heard: for being delivered from the flesh twelve days after, she exchanged her temporal afflictions for an eternal reward.
For three years after the death of her Superior, the aforesaid handmaid of Christ, Tortgyth, was detained in this life and was so far spent with the sickness before mentioned, that her bones scarce held together. At last, when the time of her release was at hand, she not only lost the use of her other limbs, but also of her tongue; in which state having continued three days and as many nights, she was, on a sudden, restored by a spiritual vision, and opened her lips and eyes, and looking up to heaven, began thus to speak to the vision which she saw: “Very acceptable to me is thy coming, and thou art welcome!” Having so said, she was silent awhile, as it were, waiting for the answer of him whom she saw and to whom she spoke; then, as if somewhat displeased, she said, “I can in no wise gladly suffer this;” then pausing awhile, she said again, “If it can by no means be to-day, I beg that the delay may not be long;” and again holding her peace a short while, she concluded thus; “If it is certainly so determined, and the decree cannot be altered, I beg that it may be no longer deferred than this next night.” Having so said, and being asked by those about her with whom she talked, she said, “With my most dear mother, Ethelburg;” by which they understood, that she was come to acquaint her that the time of her departure was at hand; for, as she had desired, after one day and night, she was delivered alike from the bonds of the flesh and of her infirmity and entered into the joys of eternal salvation.