by Bede
He was also allowed to take the aforesaid Abbot John with him into Britain, that he might teach in his monastery the system of singing throughout the year, as it was practised at St. Peter’s at Rome. The Abbot John did as he had been commanded by the Pope, teaching the singers of the said monastery the order and manner of singing and reading aloud, and committing to writing all that was requisite throughout the whole course of the year for the celebration of festivals; and these writings are still preserved in that monastery, and have been copied by many others elsewhere. The said John not only taught the brothers of that monastery, but such as had skill in singing resorted from almost all the monasteries of the same province to hear him, and many invited him to teach in other places.
Besides his task of singing and reading, he had also received a commission from the Apostolic Pope, carefully to inform himself concerning the faith of the English Church, and to give an account thereof on his return to Rome. For he also brought with him the decision of the synod of the blessed Pope Martin, held not long before at Rome, with the consent of one hundred and five bishops, chiefly to refute those who taught that there is but one operation and will in Christ, and he gave it to be transcribed in the aforesaid monastery of the most religious Abbot Benedict. The men who followed such opinion greatly perplexed the faith of the Church of Constantinople at that time; but by the help of God they were then discovered and overcome. Wherefore, Pope Agatho, being desirous to be informed concerning the state of the Church in Britain, as well as in other provinces, and to what extent it was clear from the contagion of heretics, gave this matter in charge to the most reverend Abbot John, then appointed to go to Britain. The synod we have spoken of having been called for this purpose in Britain, the Catholic faith was found untainted in all, and a report of the proceedings of the same was given him to carry to Rome.
But in his return to his own country, soon after crossing the sea, he fell sick and died; and his body, for the sake of St. Martin, in whose monastery he presided, was by his friends carried to Tours, and honourably buried; for he had been kindly entertained by the Church there on his way to Britain, and earnestly entreated by the brethren, that in his return to Rome he would take that road, and visit their Church, and moreover he was there supplied with men to conduct him on his way, and assist him in the work enjoined upon him. Though he died by the way, yet the testimony of the Catholic faith of the English nation was carried to Rome, and received with great joy by the Apostolic Pope, and all those that heard or read it.
CHAP. 19
Accepit autem rex Ecgfrid coniugem nomine Aedilthrydam, filiam Anna regis Orientalium Anglorum, cuius sepius mentionem fecimus, uiri bene religiosi, ac per omnia mente et opere egregii; quam et alter ante illum uir habuerat uxorem, princeps uidelicet Australium Gyruiorum uocabulo Tondberct. Sed illo post modicum temporis, ex quo eam accepit, defuncto, data est regi praefato; cuius consortio cum XII annis uteretur, perpetua tamen mansit uirginitatis integritate gloriosa; sicut mihimet sciscitanti, cum hoc, an ita esset, quibusdam uenisset in dubium, beatae memoriae Uilfrid episcopus referebat, dicens se testem integritatis eius esse certissimum; adeo ut Ecgfridus promiserit se ei terras ac pecunias multas esse donaturum, si reginae posset persuadere eius uti conubio, quia sciebat illam nullum uirorum plus illo diligere. Nec diffidendum est nostra etiam aetate fieri potuisse, quod aeuo praecedente aliquoties factum fideles historiae narrant; donante uno eodemque Domino, qui se nobiscum usque in finem saeculi manere pollicetur. Nam etiam signum diuini miraculi, quo eiusdem feminae sepulta caro corrumpi non potuit, indicio est, quia uirili contactu incorrupta durauerit.
Quae multum diu regem postulans, ut saeculi curas relinquere, atque in monasterio, tantum uero regi Christo seruire permitteretur; ubi uix aliquando inpetrauit, intrauit monasterium Aebba abbatissae, quae erat amita regis Ecgfridi, positum in loco, quem Coludi urbem nominant, accepto uelamine sanctimonialis habitus a praefato antistite Uilfrido. Post annum uero ipsa facta est abbatissa in regione, quae uocatur Elge; ubi constructo monasterio uirginum Deo deuotarum perplurium mater uirgo, et exemplis uitae caelestis esse coepit et monitis. De qua ferunt, quia, ex quo monasterium petiit, numquam lineis, sed solum laneis uestimentis uti uoluerit; raroque in calidis balneis, praeter inminentibus sollemniis maioribus, uerbi gratia paschae, pentecostes, epifaniae, lauari uoluerit; et tunc nouissima omnium, lotis prius suo suarumque ministrarum obsequio ceteris, quae ibi essent, famulis Christi; raro praeter maiora sollemnia, uel artiorem necessitatem, plus quam semel per diem manducauerit; semper, si non infirmitas grauior prohibuisset, ex tempore matutinae synaxeos, usque ad ortum diei, in ecclesia precibus intenta persteterit. Sunt etiam, qui dicant, quia per prophetiae spiritum, et pestilentiam, qua ipsa esset moritura, praedixerit, et numerum quoque eorum, qui de suo monasterio hac essent de mundo rapiendi, palam cunctis praesentibus intimauerit.
Rapta est autem ad Dominum in medio suorum, post annos VII, ex quo abbatissae gradum susceperat; et aeque, ut ipsa iusserat, non alibi quam in medio eorum, iuxta ordinem, quo transierat, ligneo in locello sepulta.
Cui successit in ministerium abbatissae soror eius Sexburg, quam habuerat in coniugem Earconberct rex Cantuariorum. Et cum sedecim annis esset sepulta, placuit eidem abbatissae leuari ossa eius, et in locello nouo posita in ecclesiam transferri; iussitque quosdam e fratribus quaerere lapidem, de quo locellum in hoc facere possent;
qui ascensa naui, ipsa enim regio Elge undique est aquis ac paludibus circumdata, neque lapides maiores habet, uenerunt ad ciuitatulam quandam desolatam, non procul inde sitam, quae lingua Anglorum Grantacaestir uocatur; et mox inuenerunt iuxta muros ciuitatis locellum de marmore albo pulcherrime factum, operculo quoque similis lapidis aptissime tectum. Unde intellegentes a Domino suum iter esse prosperatum, gratias agentes rettulerunt ad monasterium.
Cumque corpus sacrae uirginis ac sponsae Christi aperto sepulchro esset prolatum in lucem, ita incorruptum inuentum est, ac si eodem die fuisset defuncta, siue humo condita; sicut et praefatus antistes Uilfrid, et multi alii, qui nouere, testantur; sed certiori notitia medicus Cynifrid, qui et morienti illi, et eleuatae de tumulo adfuit; qui referre erat solitus, quod illa infirmata habuerit tumorem maximum sub maxilla; ‘Iusseruntque me,’ inquit, ‘incidere tumorem illum, ut efflueret noxius umor, qui inerat; quod dum facerem, uidebatur illa per biduum aliquanto leuius habere; ita ut multi putarent, quia sanari posset a langore. Tertia autem die prioribus adgrauata doloribus, et rapta confestim de mundo, dolorem omnem ac mortem perpetua salute ac uita mutauit. Cumque post tot annos eleuanda essent ossa de sepulchro, et extento desuper papilione, omnis congregatio, hinc fratrum, inde sororum, psallens circumstaret; ipsa autem abbatissa intus cum paucis ossa elatura et dilutura intrasset, repente audiuimus abbatissam intus uoce clara proclamare: “Sit gloria nomini Domini.” Nec multo post clamauerunt me intus, reserato ostio papilionis; uidique eleuatum de tumulo, et positum in lectulo corpus sacrae Deo uirginis quasi dormientis simile. Sed et discooperto uultus indumento, monstrauerunt mihi etiam uulnus incisurae, quod feceram, curatum; ita ut mirum in modum pro aperto et hiante uulnere, cum quo sepulta erat, tenuissima tunc cicatricis uestigia parerent. Sed et linteamina omnia, quibus inuolutum erat corpus, integra apparuerunt, et ita noua, ut ipso die uiderentur castis eius membris esse circumdata.’ Ferunt autem, quia, cum praefato tumore ac dolore maxillae siue colli premeretur, multum delectata sit hoc genere infirmitatis, ac solita dicere: ‘Scio certissime, quia merito in collo pondus langoris porto, in quo iuuenculam me memini superuacua moniliorum pondera portare; et credo, quod ideo me superna pietas dolore colli uoluit grauari, ut sic absoluar reatu superuacuae leuitatis; dum mihi nunc pro auro et margaritis, de collo rubor tumoris ardorque promineat.’ Contigit autem tactu indumentorum eorundem et daemonia ab obsessis effugata corporibus, et infirmitates alias aliquoties esse curatas. Sed et loculum, in quo primo sepulta est, nonnullis oculos dolentibus saluti fuisse perhibent; qui cum suum caput eidem loculo adponentes orassent, mox doloris siue caliginis incommodum ab oculis amouerent.
Lauerunt
igitur uirgines corpus, et nouis indutum uestibus intulerunt in ecclesiam, atque in eo, quod adlatum erat, sarcofago posuerunt, ubi usque hodie in magna ueneratione habetur. Mirum uero in modum ita aptum corpori uirginis sarcofagum inuentum est, ac si ei specialiter praeparatum fuisset; et locus quoque capitis seorsum fabrefactus ad mensuram capitis illius aptissime figuratus apparuit.
Est autem Elge in prouincia Orientalium Anglorum regio familiarum circiter sexcentarum, in similitudinem insulae uel paludibus, ut diximus, circumdata uel aquis; unde et a copia anguillarum, quae in eisdem paludibus capiuntur, nomen accepit; ubi monasterium habere desiderauit memorata Christi famula, quoniam de prouincia eorundem Orientalium Anglorum ipsa, ut praefati sumus, carnis originem duxerat.
Chap. XIX.
How Queen Ethelthryth always preserved her virginity, and her body suffered no corruption in the grave. [660-696 a.d.]
King Egfrid took to wife Ethelthryth, the daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles, of whom mention has been often made; a man of true religion, and altogether noble in mind and deed. She had before been given in marriage to another, to wit, Tondbert, ealdorman of the Southern Gyrwas; but he died soon after he had married her, and she was given to the aforesaid king. Though she lived with him twelve years, yet she preserved the glory of perfect virginity, as I was informed by Bishop Wilfrid, of blessed memory, of whom I inquired, because some questioned the truth thereof; and he told me that he was an undoubted witness to her virginity, forasmuch as Egfrid promised to give him many lands and much money if he could persuade the queen to consent to fulfil her marriage duty, for he knew the queen loved no man more than himself. And it is not to be doubted that this might take place in our age, which true histories tell us happened sometimes in former ages, by the help of the same Lord who promises to abide with us always, even unto the end of the world. For the divine miracle whereby her flesh, being buried, could not suffer corruption, is a token that she had not been defiled by man.
She had long asked of the king that he would permit her to lay aside worldly cares, and to serve only Christ, the true King, in a monastery; and having at length with difficulty prevailed, she entered the monastery of the Abbess Aebba, who was aunt to King Egfrid, at the place called the city of Coludi, having received the veil of the religious habit from the hands of the aforesaid Bishop Wilfrid; but a year after she was herself made abbess in the district called Elge, where, having built a monastery, she began, by the example of a heavenly life and by her teaching, to be the virgin mother of many virgins dedicated to God. It is told of her that from the time of her entering the monastery, she would never wear any linen but only woollen garments, and would seldom wash in a hot bath, unless just before the greater festivals, as Easter, Whitsuntide, and the Epiphany, and then she did it last of all, when the other handmaids of Christ who were there had been washed, served by her and her attendants. She seldom ate more than once a day, excepting on the greater festivals, or some urgent occasion. Always, except when grievous sickness prevented her, from the time of matins till day-break, she continued in the church at prayer. Some also say, that by the spirit of prophecy she not only foretold the pestilence of which she was to die, but also, in the presence of all, revealed the number of those that should be then snatched away from this world out of her monastery. She was taken to the Lord, in the midst of her flock, seven years after she had been made abbess; and, as she had ordered, was buried among them in a wooden coffin in her turn, according to the order in which she had passed away.
She was succeeded in the office of abbess by her sister Sexburg, who had been wife to Earconbert, king of Kent. This abbess, when her sister had been buried sixteen years, thought fit to take up her bones, and, putting them into a new coffin, to translate them into the church. Accordingly she ordered some of the brothers to find a stone whereof to make a coffin for this purpose. They went on board ship, for the district of Ely is on every side encompassed with water and marshes, and has no large stones, and came to a small deserted city, not far from thence, which, in the language of the English, is called Grantacaestir, and presently, near the city walls, they found a white marble coffin, most beautifully wrought, and fitly covered with a lid of the same sort of stone. Perceiving, therefore, that the Lord had prospered their journey, they returned thanks to Him and carried it to the monastery.
When the grave was opened and the body of the holy virgin and bride of Christ was brought into the light of day, it was found as free from corruption as if she had died and been buried on that very day; as the aforesaid Bishop Wilfrid, and many others that know it, testify. But the physician, Cynifrid, who was present at her death, and when she was taken up out of the grave, had more certain knowledge. He was wont to relate that in her sickness she had a very great tumour under her jaw. “And I was ordered,” said he, “to lay open that tumour to let out the noxious matter in it, which I did, and she seemed to be somewhat more easy for two days, so that many thought she might recover from her infirmity; but on the third day she was attacked by the former pains, and being soon snatched out of the world, she exchanged all pain and death for everlasting life and health. And when, so many years after, her bones were to be taken out of the grave, a pavilion being spread over it, and all the congregation, the brothers on the one side, and the sisters on the other, standing about it singing, while the abbess, with a few others, had gone within to take up and wash the bones, on a sudden we heard the abbess within cry out with a loud voice, ‘Glory be to the name of the Lord.’ Not long after they called me in, opening the door of the pavilion, and I found the body of the holy virgin taken out of the grave and laid on a bed, like one asleep; then taking off the veil from the face, they also showed me that the incision which I had made was healed up; so that, in marvellous wise, instead of the open gaping wound with which she had been buried, there then appeared only the slightest trace of a scar. Besides, all the linen clothes in which the body had been wrapped, appeared entire and as fresh as if they had been that very day put about her chaste limbs.”
It is said that when she was sore troubled with the aforesaid tumour and pain in her jaw and neck, she took great pleasure in that sort of sickness, and was wont to say, “I know of a surety that I deservedly bear the weight of my trouble on my neck, for I remember that, when I was a young maiden, I bore on it the needless weight of necklaces; and therefore I believe the Divine goodness would have me endure the pain in my neck, that so I may be absolved from the guilt of my needless levity, having now, instead of gold and pearls, the fiery heat of a tumour rising on my neck.” It happened also that by the touch of those same linen clothes devils were expelled from bodies possessed, and other diseases were at divers times healed; and the coffin wherein she was first buried is said to have cured some of infirmities of the eyes, who, praying with their heads resting upon that coffin, were presently relieved of the pain or dimness in their eyes. So they washed the virgin’s body, and having clothed it in new garments, brought it into the church, and laid it in the sarcophagus that had been brought, where it is held in great veneration to this day. The sarcophagus was found in a wonderful manner to fit the virgin’s body as if it had been made purposely for her, and the place for the head, which was fashioned separately, appeared exactly shaped to the measurement of her head.
Elge is in the province of the East Angles, a district of about six hundred families, of the nature of an island, encompassed, as has been said, with marshes or waters, and therefore it has its name from the great plenty of eels taken in those marshes; there the aforesaid handmaid of Christ desired to have a monastery, because, as we have before mentioned, she came, according to the flesh, of that same province of the East Angles.
CHAP. 20
Uidetur oportunum huic historiae etiam hymnum uirginitatis inserere, quem ante annos plurimos in laudem ac praeconium eiusdem reginae ac sponsae Christi, et ideo ueraciter reginae, quia sponsae Christi, elegiaco metro conposuimus; et imitari morem sacrae scripturae, cuius historiae carmina plurima indita, et haec me
tro ac uersibus constat esse conposita.
Alma Deus Trinitas, quae saecula cuncta gubernas, Adnue iam coeptis, alma Deus Trinitas.
Bella Maro resonet, nos pacis dona canamus; Munera nos Christi, bella Maro resonet.
Carmina casta mihi, fedae non raptus Helenae; Luxus erit lubricis, carmina casta mihi.
Dona superna loquar, miserae non proelia Troiae; Terra quibus gaudet, dona superna loquar.
En Deus altus adit uenerandae uirginis aluum, Liberet ut homines, en Deus altus adit.
Femina uirgo parit mundi deuota parentem, Porta Maria Dei, femina uirgo parit.
Gaudet amica cohors de uirgine matre tonantis; Uirginitate micans gaudet amica cohors.
Huius honor genuit casto de germine plures, Uirgineos flores huius honor genuit.
Ignibus usta feris, uirgo non cessit Agathe, Eulalia et perfert, ignibus usta feris.
Kasta feras superat mentis pro culmine Tecla, Eufemia sacras kasta feras superat.
Laeta ridet gladios ferro robustior Agnes, Caecilia infestos laeta ridet gladios.
Multus in orbe uiget per sobria corda triumphus, Sobrietatis amor multus in orbe uiget.