OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish saints in Europe

  • Saint Deodatus of Nevers, June 19

     

     

     

     

     

    June 19th is the commemoration of a 6th/7th century bishop of Nevers, Deodatus (Saint Dié). The evidence that this saint was an Irishman is at best sketchy, but as a disciple of the Irish missionaries Argobast (Arbogast) and Floratius (Florentius), I am pleased to reproduce Canon O’Hanlon’s account of his life. I found the latter two saints most interesting, they seem to have brought a devotion to Saint Brigid of Kildare with them to continental Europe as the church of Saint Thomas, associated with the pair, had an altar dedicated to Ireland’s patroness. Whether or not he was a countryman, Deodatus of Nevers was one of their fellow-strugglers in the ascetical life before he too was called to the episcopate.

    St. Deodatus, Adeodatus, or Theodatus, Bishop of Nevers, France. [Sixth and Seventh Centuries]

    We know not, on what sufficient authority this holy prelate has been classed among the Irish Saints, except it arose from his having been a disciple and companion of St. Argobast and of St. Floratius. At this date, Colgan had intended to publish a Life of St. Deodatus, as we find from the posthumous list of his writings. This is probably the saint, elsewhere called Adeodatus, or Theodatus, bishop of Nevers, and thought to have been an Irishman by birth. This, too, is stated, by Father Stephen White. A Life of the present holy man was composed by a monk of St. Dié, in the ninth or tenth century. This was afterwards amplified by an Abbot of Mayenne, in the eleventh century. This Life was approved of by Pope Leo IX., in the year 1049. Surins has published his Acts, at the 19th of June. These are said to have become vitiated in some passages, through the carelessness of copyists. The Bollandists have published the old Life of St. Deodatus, at the same date; and this is supposed to have been written from collections, made by the holy man’s own disciples, by a learned and pious man, who had been inspired to compose the memoir of such a distinguished patron. Different copies of this biography have come down to our times. Before his death, Father Godefrid Henschenn had prepared this Life for publication, and Father Daniel Papebroke afterwards edited it for the press. A previous commentary accompanies it, and several notes are appended. This Life had been previously edited at Nancy, in the year 1619, and it was afterwards translated into French, by Jean Ruyr or Ruer, in 1624, and printed at Trecis. The Petits Bollandistes have a Life of this holy man, whom they designate as St. Dié, Didier, Deodat, Adeodat, or Dieudonne, Bishop of Nevers. There are notices of St. Deodatus by Rev. Alban Butler, and by Rev. S. Baring-Gould.

    The old Life of St. Deodatus informs us, that he belonged to an illustrious family of Western France. In French, the name has been rendered into Didier, Did or Dieudonne. He was born about the year 590.From early youth, he was distinguished for his virtues. While he made progress in learning, the fear of God was continually before his mind. About his youth and manhood little is found recorded, but that he was dear to the Almighty, and loved by all who knew him. After the death of Eucherius, he was elected bishop of Nevers, about the year 655. He fulfilled all the duties of this pastoral charge, but with great fear and trembling, knowing the responsibility he had assumed. He assisted at the Council of Sens, a.d. 657, under the presidency of Archbishop Emmon, and there he met St. Ouen, Bishop of Rouen, St. Faro, Bishop of Meaux, St. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon, St. Amandus, Bishop of Maestricht, St. Palladius, Bishop of Auxerre, and St. Leucon, Bishop of Troyes. This holy bishop occupied the See of Nevers for three years, when he resolved on a life of solitude. He recommended a successor to his clergy, lest the ship of Christ’s Church should be left without a skilful pilot. However, in retiring from the more busy scenes of episcopal life, St. Deodatus found companions in St. Argobast and St. Florentius, who were the first bishops of Strasburgh. The first of these holy companions had his dwelling in the sacred grove, which in the German language is called Heilgestorst, and there he passed an eremitical life, until he was called upon to preside as bishop. In another desert, and near a rivulet known as Hasale, in Alsace, the second holy man had built an oratory, and from this he was removed to succeed St. Argobast, when the See of Strasburgh became vacant. Taking with him three companions, Villigod, Domnole and another Dieudonne, St. Deodatus left Nevers, to seek a place among the Vosges Mountains, and he went to Romont, and afterwards to Argentelle. There he thought to have rested and to have built a monastery. He had even begun to raise its walls, when the people of that district, conceiving a jealousy towards the saint, excited distrust and persecutions. Foremost among his enemies appears to have been the lord of the soil, who would not suffer him to reside on the banks of the Arrentelle. Whereupon, the holy man left that place, and then directed his course through a broken and desert country, until he reached Alsace. At length, he reached the forest of Haguenau, among the Vosges Mountains. There, he lived an eremitical life, with St. Argobast, until the latter was elected bishop of Strasburgh. Even here, Deodatus did not escape contradictions and illwill, manifested by the foresters; so that, for the sake of peace, he was obliged to look elsewhere for a settlement. Afterwards, Deodatus moved to the Island of Novientum, afterwards known as Ebersheim. It is situated on the Ill, about two leagues below Schelestadt, and seven leagues from Strasburgh. In 661, St. Deodatus associated with some solitaries there, and he was elected their superior. His virtues attracted many pious persons to live under his rule. The lord of that territory, Val de Galilee, was Hun, who bestowed it on the saint. It was near the Vosges Mountains. Such was the origin of the monastery of Ebersmunster, in the diocese of Strasburgh. The King of Austrasia, Childeric II., aided him to found the Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul, in that place. This he is said to have placed under the rule of St. Columban, which was subsequently changed to that of St. Benedict. There he left some relics of St. Maurice, chief of the Theban Legion, while the consecration of our holy bishop took place in presence of a great concourse of persons. However, Deodatus found, that the resort of persons to his new habitation did not admit of sufficient leisure to indulge in his favourite exercise of contemplation, and he resolved once more to select some other place for a life of solitude. He retired from the companionship of his monks, and finding a lonely spot in the diocese of Basle, he built a hermitage at Ongiville. Finding, however, that these solitudes were infested by marauders and disturbed by petty warfare, he resolved to leave that part of the country, and return to the Vosges Mountains. He traversed the valley of Kaisersburgh, and for some time, he dwelt in a place, which afterwards took its denomination from him, and it was called Diedolshofen or Diedolshausen, affixing the epithet of “good man” to his name. At length, he settled in a quiet valley, where he built in 669 the Abbey of Jointures. It was so called, because it was at the junction of the Rothbach and Meurthe Rivers. From him, that place was afterwards known as Val S. Didier. King Childeric II. Bestowed on our saint a large property near this valley. Here a most fervent family of religious collected around him; and, as his example, morals, and dispositions were so perfect, they deemed it a great happiness to live under his rule. The vigils of Deodatus were frequent, his prayers were continuous, while religious exercises and singing the Divine praises occupied much of his time. So great was his reputation for the mastery of a spiritual life, that his disciples daily increased; and after a little time, they had attained to such perfection, that they separated into different places through the adjoining forests, where they led contemplative lives. In certain situations through the valley of Galilee, Deodatus constructed cells, in which they dwelt; he found the people willing to assist their labours in building and in agriculture. Then, villages sprung up, which subsequently were converted into parishes. Around the Abbey of Jointures, a town grew in process of time, and from the founder it was called St. Dié. It was afterwards converted into a collegiate church. When St. Hildulph had left his See of Treves and had retired to Moyen-Moutier, a holy friendship with our saint was the result. Whenever St. Deodatus visited St. Hildulph, the latter came out to meet him with all his monks, and then taking him by the hand, he was led into the church, where both prayed together. Afterwards, on entering the monastery, both of them spent the night conversing on heavenly subjects and in singing the Divine praises. The same acts of courtesy and of piety were imitated, whenever St. Hildulph came to Jointures.

    When he grew very old and feeble, St. Deodatus left his Abbey and retired to a little cell, which was near a chapel he had built and had dedicated to St. Martin. Thence he continued to govern his religious with as much care and devotion, as if he had been living among them. At length, having attained nearly the ninetieth year of his age, a mortal illness fell upon St. Deodatus, and his friend St. Hildulph had a heavenly admonition, that the end was drawing near. He was visited in his cell by St. Hildulph during his last illness. From him, Deodatus received the last Sacraments, and by him were his eyes closed in death. During this illness, he recommended the care of his disciples to St. Hildulph, who charged himself with such a duty, and it gave great consolation to the dying saint. The death of this holy man is said to have taken place on the 19th of June, in 679. In a Manuscript Florarius, the date for his Deposition is set down at the 2nd of January. Afterwards, his monks carried the sacred remains to the Church of the Holy Mother of God. They shed abundance of tears for the the loss they had experienced. St. Hildulph offered up the sacrifice of propitiation, according to the rites of the holy Catholic Church, when the body of the venerable defunct Deodatus was committed to the earth. During the year after his death, St. Hildulph often visited the monastery of Galilee, to offer Mass for the repose of his deceased friend. The monks there resumed their ordinary exercises and celebrations; and recollecting the former practices of both saints, they wished to continue the custom of bringing to St. Hildulph the tunic of St. Deodatus. When owing to his great age, St. Hildulph could no longer leave Moyen-Moutier, the tunic of St. Deodatus was brought to him in like manner. Such was his veneration for that relic, the holy Archbishop went down on his knees to kiss it, and he applied it devoutly to his weak limbs. After his death, the religious of St. Hildulph and of St Dié were accustomed to visit each other alternately in solemn procession, and carrying the tunics of their respective patrons, while their bodies had been consigned to the earth, and even while they had been encased in their proper shrines. Great miracles were wrought afterwards, at the tombs of these holy men. In 787, the monks of St. Dié brought the remains of their holy patron in the same coffin, in which they had been deposed by St. Hildulph, and placed them before the altar of the Holy Cross, in the church dedicated to St. Maurice. Not only through the Vosges Mountains, but throughout France, the veneration for St. Deodatus was extended.

    At the 19th of June, the festival of St. Deodatus is commemorated in an ancient Manuscript Martyrology of the Monastery of Hilariac, in Lotharingia, and in that of Usuard, enlarged by Greven, as also, in the works of Trithemius, of Saussay, of Wion, of Dorgan, of Menard, and of Bucelin. In his Irish Kalendar, Father Henry Fitzsimon, at this date, calls him Theodatus. In his Scottish Kalendar, Camerarius refers the feast of St. Adeodatus, Bishop of Nevers, to the 23rd of March, and to the 19th of June. Thomas Dempster also records the feast of St. Adeodatus, at the latter date.

    The abbey of Dié was secularized in 954, and to it a chapter of Canons was attached. In some engravings, St. Did is represented as holding a church on his hand; in others, he is represented as reaching his hand towards thunder clouds; while again, he is shown as healing a woman possessed. These pictures have reference to incidents related about this holy man. In the year 1003, Beatrix, Duchess of Lorraine, caused another Translation to take place, when the remains of St. Deodatus were put in a more convenient place, in the church of St. Maurice. When Pope St. Leo IX. Visited the Val de Galilee, in 1049, he there consecrated some altars near the tomb of St. Dié, and notably those altars of the Transept, which were built after the translation of his relics. In the year 1540, on the 1st of October, the chapter reverently opened the shrine of St. Die, and then removed three joints from one of his hands, together with a tooth from the jaw-bone. One of those joints, with the tooth, they sent to Lambert, bishop of Caserte, who was then in Rome. The other two joints were deposed in the sacristy, and in 1618, these were place in a reliquary of pure silver. In the year 1635, the Swedish army burned the shrine of St. Dié, with a portion of his relics, while the rest was miraculously saved. By a Bull of Pope Pius VI., and dated July 21st, 1777, St. Dié was erected into the seat of a bishop. During the French Revolution, the relics of Deodatus were profaned. This See was suppressed in 1801, but it was re-established in 1817. Later still, on the 19th of June 1851, Mgr. Louis-Marie Caverot transferred the sacred relics of St. Dié to a precious shrine made in a pure Catholic style of art. This is also a monument of that respectable prelate’s pious liberality, and of his taste, which is manifested in the design.

     

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  • Saint Beoc of Wexford, June 15

     

    Below is a paper by the nineteenth-century scholar, Margaret Stokes, on an Irish saint, Beoc, who is linked to both Wexford and Brittany. His name, however, does not appear in any of the ancient Irish calendars. Modern scholar, Gwenael le Duc, has written a paper on ‘Irish saints in Brittany: Myth or Reality?’ in which he subjects the idea that Brittany was awash with Irish saints to critical examination. His conclusion is that the numbers have, for all sorts of reasons, been highly exaggerated and that Brittany was not a favoured European destination for the Irish at all. He believes that St Beoc (also known as Veoc and Vouagy) is a conflation of a Breton saint, Bee’heu and Vouga, an Irishman celebrated on June 15. As Stokes’ paper below shows, however, whatever the truth of his origins, the saint had a flourishing cult:

    ST. BEOC OF WEXFORD, AND LAN VEOC IN BRITTANY, JUNE 15. (DIED 585.)

    BY Miss MARGARET STOKES, HON. FELLOW.

    By the beginning of the fifth century there dwelt two brothers in the county of Wexford, Bishop Cairpre, [1] and Beoc, [2] now called Veoc. He is said to have been first a priest, and then a bishop, in Armagh. [3] But, seeking a desert place where he could devote his life to contemplation, he left that country and journeyed southwards till he reached the south-eastern point of Ireland, where he remained for some time studying the word of God with prayer and working miracles in healing. He enclosed a small tract of land upon the sandy shore near Carnsore point, and there he built a little cell and oratory, consecrating a holy well close by, whose waters are still held to be possessed of healing virtues.

    The wide sands near Beoc’s cashel are strewn with huge dark boulders rounded by the Atlantic waves. Standing on one of these, Beoc longed to reach the continent that he knew lay beyond the far horizon, but he could see no boat to bear him thither. Then, as he prayed, the stone on which he stood began to move, and gliding down the shore, floated with him out to sea. In a night and a day it bore him to the shore of Brittany and leaving the saint at a place to the south of the bay of Douarnenez, called Lan Veoc, the stone returned whence it came. One fragment, however, that bearing the impress of the saint’s head, was broken off and left behind in Brittany. Albert le Grand thus continues this legend : At the port of Comouaille, the name of which was Penmarch, many who at that time were walking on the shore, and sailors of ships which were standing at anchor in the harbour, when they saw this huge mass floating to them from afar, thought that some great ship was being driven to land by the force of the waves, the storm having broken over it and having destroyed its mast. But when it entered the harbour, they all stood terrified, because that huge rock, like a ship, was carrying towards them a man seated on its summit. The saint descended to land, and immediately the rock turned back to sea, and all the crowd who were present looking on it directed its course towards Ireland whence it came.

    That miracle being noised abroad among the surrounding villages, called up a great multitude of men desirous of seeing the saint. The Penmarchian citizens, also moved by so great a miracle, offered thanks to God, because he had sent to them so holy a man, and receiving him with great hospitality, they assigned him a house wherein to dwell. There he often preached the word of God and miraculously healed the sick, winning many souls to Jesus Christ.

    Subsequently the saint erected a hermitage half a-mile from the city, into which he betook himself to live quietly to God ; but when the people flocked to him daily in great crowds he resolved to change his abode.

    On a certain day, the saint going forth from his hut met a woman upon his way who, inspired by an evil spirit, sang insulting songs before him. The saint gently reproved her, but when nothing availed, leaving her, he silently went his way ; yet she, unhappy woman, soon felt the divine condemnation of her wickedness, for, seized with great internal pain, she fell dead on the earth. Beholding her punishment, St. Veoc ordered the corpse to be carried into the church, and unmindful of the injuries he received from her, he knelt upon the ground, and with tears besought the Lord that he would permit the soul of that wretched woman to return to her body, lest, dying impenitent, she should at the same time forfeit eternal life. The saint had scarcely finished his prayers when she flung herself at his feet, beseeching forgiveness. This being granted, she went home praising God, who had shown himself wonderful in his servant St. Veoc.

    Immediately the fame of so great a miracle spread abroad through all Cornouaille, and called forth very many from all the places around to his hermitage. But he, fearing lest so great a crowd of men should disturb the quiet of his devotion, determined to carry out the scheme he had long proposed to himself. He therefore went across an arm of the sea from LAN VEOC, and came to Brest, where he was unwilling to stay ; but crossing over through the district of Lesneven, he buried himself in a very dense wood, where, having erected an oratory with a little hut beside it, he was joined by some religious men, with whom he spent his time in holy works until it pleased God to call him away to the reward of his pious labours. He died on the 15th of June, about the year 585. His disciples buried him under the altar of his chapel, in which place God afterwards wrought so many miracles through his intercession that, the wood being cut down, a chapel was built in the same place, and dedicated to his name, which St. Tenenan, Bishop of Leon, subsequently raised to the rank of a parochial church. The revered relics of St. Beoc were honourably preserved here until the arrival of the Northmen in Brittany, at which time this country was desolated, and his remains were transferred elsewhere. However, his missal is religiously preserved in his sacred church, by touching which fever patients think themselves relieved. Many of his relics are also preserved in the chapel called after his name, erected on the shore of the great ocean, one mile from Penmarch, in the parish of Treguenec, in the diocese of Cornouuille, which chapel is constantly visited by persons suffering from fever, who gradually regain their health there.

    Some part also of the rock remained which had brought him over, and it stands to this day in the parish of Treguenec, a mile from Penmarch, in a cemetery of a chapel called from the Saint, and on it is seen, even now, the impress of the saint’s head. Wherefore pilgrims who visit the chapel for the sake of religion, in order that they may be relieved from fevers, are wont to recline their head upon the rock, and to carry away with them water blessed by contact with the sacred relics, which is drunk by those suffering from fever, or is sprinkled on their forehead.

    The vestiges of St. Beoc which still remain in the County of “Wexford are to be found on the seashore, in the parish of Cam. They consist of a ruined church, and cashel, enclosing an ancient cemetery, a holy well, and a huge boulder-stone just above tide-mark, on which a cross is incised.

    [Please refer to the original volume for details and illustrations of this church]

    The holy well of St. Beoc is in the field between the church and shore. Here steps may be seen leading down to a natural spring of clear water about two feet in depth. A semicircular enclosure of strong masonry confines three sides of the well, which is open in front, and shadowed by briars and creepers, a tangle of quick and bryony and wild rose-bush threatening to hide the steps from view by which the pilgrims still descend to the healing waters, said by the poor in the neighbourhood to be an unfailing cure for toothache. The stone of St. Beoc, on which he is said to have sailed from Carnsore point to Brittany, and which returned after depositing its burthen on a foreign shore, is still shown upon the seashore. It is a huge boulder, well rounded by the action of the waves. At the sides are two deep cuttings, apparently meant for iron stanchions, by means of which the stone appears to have once been fixed, so as to stand upright. A rude cross is deeply incised on the front of the stone, which, having fallen on its face, only reveals its back to view. However, by kneeling down and peering under the stone a portion of this cross may be discerned. It is possible that at one time it may have been fixed up on end and marked to commemorate the departure of some remarkable person from the shore.

    “The county of Wexford, being the gate of the Kingdom of Ireland” as Colonel Richards, writing in 1656, has termed it, is probably a rich field for the explorer or pilgrim in search of vestiges of the first missionaries to and from the continent in the early Christian period ; yet it will be difficult to find any of greater interest than the view we have here described. As seen from the summit of the casbel or enclosing wall which surrounds its cemetery, it would form a good subject for a landscape painter. To the north-east lies the bright village of Churchtown, its low headland stretching far into the sea, the sandy reaches of the shore to the south scattered with huge dark boulders of granite, whose grey tones, broken by the rich bronze and umber of the sea weed, form a solemn contrast to the dancing wavelets and blue distant sea. Such is the fresh and charming background to the pathetic little ruin, the Irish home of our Breton saint, now overgrown with ivy and brambles, sea-pink, blue scabious, and other sea-side plants.

    Notes

    [1] Cairpre, patron of Cill Carbrey in Wexford, near the meeting of the rivers Boro and Slaney.

    [2] Beoc. The name of this saint has gone through many changes and corruptions, and is now printed Vaugh on the Ordnance Survey Map. He is sometimes styled Mobioc or Dabioc Vake, Vogues, Vauk, Vouga.

    [3] Father Shearman traces his origin to Tennon Dabeog, at Loch Derg in Ulster “Loca Patriciana,” p. 158.

    [Authorities “Boll. AA. SS.,” June 15, p. 1061, par. 4. ” De S. Vouga seu Veo, episc. in Britannia Annorica . . . ab Alberto le Grand.” Lobineau, “Les Vies des SS. de Bretagne,” ed. M. L’Abbe Tresvaux, Paris, 1836, vol. i. Shearman, ” Loca Patriciana,” p. 157. O’Hanlon, ” Lives of Irish SS.,” vol. vi., p. 668.]

    Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1893, 380-385.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Cunera, June 12

     

    On June 12  Canon O’Hanlon brings us an account of a saint from one of the most popular hagiographical romances of the Middle Ages – The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula and her Companions. I have found myself increasingly interested in the tale of the British princess who set sail for the continent accompanied by her maidens, only for all of them to meet a martyr’s death. Some of the companions were said to have been of Irish or Scottish origin and it is on this basis that Canon O’Hanlon has noted a number of their feastdays in his Lives of the Irish Saints. The virgin martyr Cunera, commemorated on this day is one such saint, the 17th-century Irish hagiologist Father John Colgan had investigated her life. It is one of the strengths of O’Hanlon’s work that he is able to access the European sources for such saints and thus he is able to bring us a detailed account of Saint Cunera and her relics. As I read his account I couldn’t help feeling that hagiography of this type must have been the medieval equivalent of the blockbuster movie, our saintly heroine is the product of a romantic elopement between two people caught up in the Crusades, saved initially from the martyr’s fate of her companions by a dashing ruler, she falls foul of his jealous wife and ends up being strangled on the orders of her rival. The wicked queen, needless to say, comes to a sticky end herself whereas her victim’s remains are discovered through divine intervention and go on to work many miracles. The picture above shows a 16th-century reliquary bust from the Netherlands of an unknown saint who is probably a companion of Saint Ursula. It formed part of the ‘Treasures of Heaven: Saints Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe Exhibition’ held at the British Museum in 2011.

    St. Cunera, Virgin and Martyr.

    We are not able to understand, on what grounds the present holy woman has been classed among our Irish saints. Her personality, as also her period, has raised various historic doubts. A wonderful combination of impossibilities and improbabilities, it is stated, must be found in the household tale, adopted for the account of this saint, who is supposed to have been one of St. Ursula’s companions. It is not possible now to say, what foundation of truth may underlie that fabulous character, which the story presents, for it abounds in absurd anachronisms and misstatements. In the very infancy of the typographic art, her Legend had been printed. Thus the “Hystorie plurimorum Sanctorum,” printed at Louvain, a.d. 1485, has a notice of Kunera, Virgo et Martyr. To this Molanus alludes in his work. This St. Cunera is mentioned by Father Hermann Crombach, S.J., in his work on St. Ursula and her companions in martyrdom. He used for this purpose a Manuscript, which belonged to the Cathedral Church of St. Martin, at Utrecht, as also one submitted to him by the Archbishop of Phillipi, who was named Philip, and who was Vicar Apostolic of the Federate States of Holland. It seems to have been Colgan’s intention, that the Acts of St. Cunera, a virgin, should be published, on the 12th day of June. Her name is found in anothei memorandum. In Colgan’s posthumous Calendar he mentions St. Cunera, virgin, at the 12th of June, as one whose Acts he had prepared for publication. The Bollandists have published Acts of this holy virgin and martyr. A previous commentary has been added by Father Daniel Papebroke, who has entered upon a process of difficult investigation to illustrate her history and period. Her Legend is given in a sermon, which was delivered on the day of her festival, and it seems to have been composed about the beginning of the fourteenth century. To this various miracles are added, and which have been attributed to this holy virgin’s and martyr’s intercession. These Acts are illustrated with notes. In the “Acta Sanctorum Belgii Selecta,” the Acts of St. Cunera, virgin and martyr, are given at the 12th of June, in a Historico-critical commentary by Father Daniel Papebroke. A simple notice of this holy woman occurs in the compilation of Mgr. Paul Guerin. The Latin Legend of St. Cunera seems to have been compiled from popular traditions, and to have been incorporated into the Lessons of a Breviary, or of some office, used in the church of Rhenen. Of this Legend there are other versions, but they are all worthless and unreliable.

    The Legend of St. Cunera states, that there is a certain part of Europe, according to Isidore, called the Orcades, consisting of thirty-three islands, which were governed by the King of Orkney. Then it goes on to state, that it was at a future time governed by the King of England, in which land there was a great royal city, anciently called Orcada, but at that time known as Jork. In this city is said to have reigned King Aurelius, who was a Christian. He marched at the head of his armies in a crusade against the Saracens, according to the Legend. He was taken prisoner and carried before the Soldan of Babylon, and by the latter he was condemned to captivity. The Sultan had a daughter named Florentia, who loved the captive, while through him she was instructed in the Christian faith, and afterwards she was baptized. She effected his escape from prison, and to Orkney, together they eloped. In its capital Jork, their daughter Cunera was born. A Jewish astrologer predicted before her birth, that the child should be a paragon of virtue. The astrologer’s wife made advances towards King Aurelius. These he indignantly rejected. Aurelius merited to become a saint, and afterwards he became illustrious on account of his miracles.

    When the celebrated St. Ursula was about to sail from Britain on a pilgrimage to Rome with her eleven thousand virgins, St. Cunera—who is said to have been her kinswoman—joined this company. The object St. Ursula had in view was to visit the shrines of St. Peter and of St. Paul, with those of other holy persons there resting. She had previously sent messengers to the Orkney city of Jorc, entreating permission that her parents might allow their daughter Cunera to leave with her. This permission she obtained, and accordingly Cunera accompanied her to Rome. Having accomplished their pious wishes there, all were on their way home to Britain, and they sailed down the Rhine to Cologne. When the illustrious pilgrims were on their return, the whole party was massacred by the Huns, with the exception of St. Cunera. The exact time when this martyrdom took place, and its special circumstances, have been greatly contested by historians. Some have thought it referable to the Emperor Maximin, who lived in the third century; others again state, it was in the time of the tyrant Maximus, who flourished about A.D. 385; while most writers treating about this occurrence assign it to the middle of the century succeeding, and in the time of Attila. In the year 1156, many tombs, with inscriptions, were discovered at Cologne, which were thought to have been those of St. Ursula and her companions. Among these are said to have been found the names of many bishops and of other holy persons, supposed to have been her companions. At the time of that massacre Radbod, King of Frisia, and a great foe to Pepin of Heristal, is assumed to have been at Cologne. This account, however, is altogether inconsistent with historic indications. Radbod was so struck by the beauty of Cunera, that he saved her from the massacre, and hid her under his mantle, as the Legend states. Thence he carried her off to Rhenen, his capital on the Rhine, and which was in the diocese of Utrecht. This city was formerly on the left bank of the old Rhine, the bed of which is now nearly dried up; but it is on the right bank of the later course of the Rhine, which in those parts is called Lecka. The city was so called, probably because it was situated between the two Rhines. A probable conjecture has been offered, however, that St. Cunera had been a daughter to one of those chiefs who had been baptized in Frisia, by St. Willibrord; that she had deserved the reverence of a king with whom she lived; and that she had been put to death, owing to the jealousy of his wife. Afterwards, when miraculous indications had revealed her sanctity, a church was built over her place of sepulture. In reference to her the popular traditions becoming obscure, she is thought to have been regarded as one of St. Ursula’s contemporaries and companions. However, we have only to pursue the narrative regarding her, as we find it in the Legend.

    Radbod, the King of Rhenen, is said to have brought her into his palace, when she had been rescued from that death which overtook the eleven thousand virgins. While there, she kept herself constantly in the presence of God, serving him day and night, by vigils, abstinence, and other good works. While strictly observing his commandments, she despised the pomps of this life, advancing steadily from virtue to virtue. The poor were constant objects of her care. The king greatly admired her life and works, placing her over his family and giving her influence throughout his kingdom; while these privileges, so far from causing her to feel proud, rather increased her deferential humility to the king, queen, and their whole family. But his wife was displeased that a young and beautiful girl had been thus preserved, and lodged with her under the same roof. Soon did the queen resort to calumnies to tarnish the fair fame of Cunera. However, the king would not believe these stories, as he found Cunera to be so virtuous; and accordingly, he felt angry, enjoining silence on the queen, who also urged that their guest was over prodigal in wasting their substance on the poor. This charge failed, likewise, to effect her object. She was filled with envy and jealousy; so that at last, she prevailed on one of her attendants to strangle St. Cunera, with a towel, while the king was out hunting. The body was afterwards buried in a stable. The queen, who assisted in the murder and also in this attempt at concealment, engaged her waiting-maid to keep it a profound secret. They had prepared a false statement for the king on his return, and the queen told him, that during his absence the parents of Cunera had come to the palace and had hastily removed their daughter. The horse of the king was startled, it seems, and refused to enter that stable, where the corpse had been interred. Having been brought to another stable, however, he readily entered. When the king had retired for rest that evening, his ostler saw a bright light appearing above Cunera’s grave, and which assumed the form of a cross, as if composed of lighted candles. This information was brought to the king, who resolved on finding out the mystery, if possible; but, when his servants were at a distance from that stable those lights appeared, yet, when they arrived at it, suddenly the phenomenon vanished. However, on entering the stable, they noticed where the earth had been recently disturbed, and again removing it, they discovered the body of St. Cunera, having the towel with which she had been strangled around her neck. She was then removed from that pit. Suspecting the queen to have been the perpetrator of this foul murder, the king flew into a violent rage, and he punished her so severely, that between consciousness of guilt and fear, she became a lunatic. Then she ran away raving mad, tearing her hair and clothes for three days, while she wandered over the country. At last, she threw herself headlong from a precipice, and thus ended her miserable life. According to the Latin Legend, this occurred A.D. 339; while it is added, that Radbod, who so greatly admired and lamented Cunera, bestowed his palace as a place, where the holy woman was to receive posthumous honours. It is said, he also richly endowed it. Thus was the place of her deposition, and her great sanctity, manifested to all.

    It is added, that when Pope Sergius sent Willebrord as Archbishop to preside over the See of Utrecht, in 698, with his deacon the Blessed Adalbert, and his sub-deacon the Blessed Werenfrid, it so happened, that they passed through the town of Rhenen. There, the chief inhabitants waited on them, and reported the virtues and acts of St. Cunera. They also suppliantly stated, as the Almighty had wrought great miracles through his holy virgin and martyr, that her remains should be translated with becoming honours. Having joyfully received this testimony, St. Willibrord promised to accomplish that object which they so piously sought, but as his business was then of a pressing nature, he was obliged to postpone his intentions. However, this mission was too long placed in abeyance; and one day, while descending the Rhine with some companions, a great storm arose as they approached the eminence of Heymon, while all feared that their vessel must be submerged. St. Willibrord prayed to the Lord that the tempest might cease, and accordingly it was stilled. This threatened danger, he attributed to his neglecting that promise made to the people of Rhenen; and accordingly he directed the bark to its shore, where he landed, and he then ordered all his people to approach reverently the place, where St. Cunera’s remains were preserved. This command was very cheerfully obeyed, while with religious rites and solemnities, preparations were made for a public Translation, about the commencement of the eighth century. In his Menologium Scotorum, at the 12th of June, Thomas Dempster commemorates the transference and placing of St. Kunera’s relics by Willibrord, Archbishop of the Scots. St. Cunera is venerated chiefly in the diocese of Utrecht, where her beautiful church had been erected at Rhenen, over the spot where she suffered martyrdom, and it was distinguished by a magnificent tower. There, pilgrimages were made to her shrine by the people, who believed in the cures sa wrought through her intercession, and who also brought diseased cattle thither, hoping for their cure. It is stated, likewise, that formerly the people of Cleves and of Gelderland were accustomed to swear on the relics of St. Cunera. Females in that part of Holland frequently assumed the name Cunera, contracted to Knera or Knertje. Her festival is set down in the Cologne and Lubeck Martyrologies; as also, in some ancient Dutch Breviaries at the 12th of June. Molanus in his additions to Usuard has notices of this saint and her festival, at this date. There are other festivals of this holy virgin and martyr assigned to the 28th of October, said by one authority to have been the date for her Passion, while it may have been only the date for the Translation of her Relics; while again, in the Florarium Sanctorum, the Finding of the Relics of St. Cunera, Virgin and Martyr, is set down at the 19th December. From what has been already stated, and from what has been related regarding her relics, it is possible, there may have been two distinct Cuneras, both of them set down as a single individual. The head of a St. Cunera is preserved at Cologne, in the monastery of St. Vincent, according to the Catalogue of Ursuline Relics, which have been venerated in other churches of Cologne, besides the church of St. Ursula. Among other relics brought to Portugal in 1565, and presented to King Emanuel, by Margaret of Austria, who then ruled over Belgium, were those of St. Cunera; and while he distributed a portion of these to his niece, the rest he kept for his own kingdom. These were afterwards conveyed to France, by Antonio Notho, and bestowed on the son of Emanuel, a religious of the Cistercian order, in the year 1594.

    On the 16th of May, 1615, old style, there was an inspection made of St. Cunera’s relics, kept at Rhenen, by the Very Rev. Dean D. Wilger a Moerendael, of St. Peter’s church, Utrecht, by the Very Rev. Victor Schorelius, vicar and senior priest of the same church, and by Jacob Boelius, prebend of the church of the Blessed Virgin. In a wooden case they found those relics, enclosed in four different swathings. In the first of these, surrounded with red linen and wrapped in white linen were two large bones, and these were one palm and a half in length; three other bones one palm in length; five other bones pretty large, but not of the same length. In the second wrapper, formed of black and worn linen on the outside, and having some linen within, were found three portions of a cranium and a little longer than a finger’s length, a large bone apparently belonging to the shoulder, two parts of thicker bones and somewhat larger, seven notable fragments but of lesser size, and four portions of bones, yet still smaller. The third wrapper of red linen, with a gold lace at the opening, contained two fillets or head ornaments of linen, having insignia of the holy virgin, and gold thread intermixed. In the fourth wrapper was the towel which caused her strangulation, and more than two ells in length, by three quarters of an ell in breadth, covered with two other flowered towels, together with an old and a worn corporal over all. The Carmelite Father Damasus a S. Ludovico received a particle of St. Cunera’s relics, from Right Rev. Gaspar Munster, coadjutor Bishop of Osnabruck, for the Carmelites of the Holy Sepulchre of Rennes. There it was enclosed in a precious reliquary. In the year 1602, the Jesuit College of Emmerich obtained several relics of this holy virgin, with a letter describing and authenticating them. Various other relics were kept in Utrecht; and some of these appear to have fallen into the hands of the Calvinists, from whom a wealthy Catholic named Botter purchased them at a high price. A part of these were brought to Berlikum, and again to Bedaf, where they were honoured by the Catholics, who are said to have visited as pilgrims those places where they were kept, and to have received very many spiritual and corporal benefits in consequence. The fame of St. Cunera’s sanctity spread wonderously over the Low Countries, and especially through those provinces adjoining the River Rhine. Many extraordinary miracles are recorded to have been wrought through her intercession. Thus, the dead were raised to life, the sick were restored to health, the blind recovered their sight, the dumb their use of speech, paralytics were released from their debility, and captives from their prison, owing to faith in the efficacy of prayer to her. Epileptics and possessed persons were cured. Various incidents with details of names and places may be found in her Acts, which prove not only the extension of popular devotion towards this holy Virgin and Martyr, but likewise the continuous tradition, which, notwithstanding the mystery attaching to her, has brought her veneration down through long past ages even to our own times.

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