OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish saints in Europe

The Monastery and Library of Saint Gall

October 16 is the feast of Saint Gall, a contemporary of Saint Columbanus, whose journey led him to part company with his master and to go on to labour in Switzerland, where the canton of Saint-Gallen preserves his name. Saint Gall’s other great contribution to the religious culture of his adopted homeland was the monastery which also bears his name. Below is a paper on the Monastery and Library of Saint Gall from the Irish Ecclesiastical Record of 1894. I am unable to reproduce the footnotes and some of the foreign language material, so please refer to the original volume for the complete work. The author is the journal’s German expert, Father J. F. Hogan, who contributed a series of articles on Irish monastic foundations in Germany. In this paper he introduces us to the successors of Saint Gall and the reputation for learning which their monastery enjoyed. Along the way we will meet some of Saint Gall’s most famous sons, including the Irish scholar Moengal, the hymnographer Notker Balbulus and the physician Notker Medicus, among many others, before ending on a wistful, romantic note:

THE MONASTERY AND LIBRARY OF ST. GALL

AFTER the death of St. Gall his disciples did not disperse but continued under the rule of Columbanus to carry out the intentions of their founder. They were for the most part Irish monks who had been attracted to Switzerland by the fame of their countryman. During the disturbances that followed the decadence of the Merovingians, they had much to suffer from the barbarians who invaded the country from the north. They would, in all probability, have been completely exterminated had it not been for the protection of Talto, a powerful neighbour who earned for himself the well-deserved title of “Protector Hibernorum.” They also induced a native priest, well known for his zeal, and for his important connections in the district to join them and become their abbot. This was Othmar of Chur, who brought to the service of the abbey the most devoted and enlightened zeal, and who died a martyr in its cause and in the cause of religion. His first care was to renew the cells of the monks, to rebuild the church, which was falling into decay, and to have the relics of St. Gall transferred from their resting-place and laid beneath the high altar of the new building. His energy and success soon became known abroad. Carloman, when about to retire for ever to the solitude of Monte Casino, stopped at the monastery on his way to Italy, and was so much impressed with its discipline and spirit, that he warmly recommended it to his brother Pepin. This monarch sent to its abbot a present of a bell, of sixty pounds in money, and of a right to twenty vassals in Breisgau beyond the Rhine. Such an example of royal munificence was quickly followed. Donations from smaller, but not less devoted personages, rapidly multiplied. In the modern cantons of Zurich, Thurgau, Appenzell, Schweitz, and St. Gall, the monastery received an enormous number of fiefs. Meyer von Knonau gives an immense list of them in one of his works. Those which were donated on the northern side of the Rhine are enumerated by Bishop Hefele in his History of the Introduction of Christianity into Southern Germany. They also are very numerous, and are scattered broadcast over the territory that extends from Basle and Strasburg on the one side, to the banks of the Danube on the other.

All these fiefs or properties did not come in to the monastery at once. They gradually accrued. But in the days of St. Othmar the movement had begun. The records of donations were carefully kept in the register of the monastery, and the motives of each one were usually inscribed in the act of transfer. Some gave up their possessions “for the glory of God and the propagation of His kingdom on earth;” others, “because the monastery teaches the Gospel and the doctrine of the Apostles.” A rich proprietor, named Albrih, makes over a territory on account of ” the instability of this chequered life.” The pious Countess Beata bequeathes her property ” in view of the salvation of her soul, and in order to obtain an eternal recompense.” Adalsind of Recchinbach is influenced by a motive, to which her sex is perennially sensitive “a desire to beautify and maintain the Church of our Blessed Lady.” And thus to the end of the long chapter the formulas are renewed and repeated.

For centuries these large possessions were turned to the best account. Wherever a property fell into the hands of the monks, a church was built, and the pastorate of the country around it served from the monastery. Hence, as Bishop Hefele points out, the enormous number of churches dedicated to St. Gall, not only in Switzerland, but in Wurteinburg, Bavaria, and the Rhineland. The vassals of the surrounding country preferred to depend upon the monastery rather than on the exacting and rapacious lords who plundered and crushed them. The serfs, in particular, were delighted when they became subjects of the great institution. It meant for them kind masters, security, humane and considerate treatment, and a part, moreover, in the work of civilization which was going on, and which they looked upon, not only as conducive to a much better state of things in this world, but salutary even unto life eternal. There were, however, motives in abundance of a worldly kind to attach them to the monks. The monastery had its weavers, its tailors, its shoemakers, its blacksmiths, its smelters, its brewers, gardeners, grooms, shepherds, swineherds, besides a regular service of sailors and shipmen to manage its flotilla of boats on the Bodensee and the Rhine. All these contributed their part to the wealth of the monastery, whilst at the same time they enjoyed its privileges and protection. But, as the French proverb says, “qui a terre a guerre.” The wealth of St. Gall did not escape the covetous eyes and the jealous greed of its neighbours. Two adventurous dukes, named Warin and Ruodbart, were the first to harrass the new establishment. The dispute began about some property which was bequeathed to the monks, and which these pretenders claimed as their own. In the course of the contest St. Othmar was taken prisoner, cast into a dungeon at the castle of Bodman, and afterwards at Stein, where he died on the 16th November, 759, having been practically starved to death by his jailors. The monastery, however, survived its persecutors, and freed itself ultimately from the power of all secular enemies. Its struggle for exemption from the jurisdiction of the bishops of Constance was longer and more envenomed, but in the end equally successful. Both successes were, no doubt, only transient, and were destined in subsequent ages to undergo many vicissitudes ; but they were of sufficient duration for the time to enable the institution to develop its interior life, and to acquire a fame for science and letters as well as for sanctity that was not equalled in Europe for two centuries.

These broils, whether of secular or ecclesiastical origin, occupied a good part of two hundred years, and during that time paralyzed, to a great extent, the intellectual influence of St. Gall. It was only in the year 818 that Louis the Mild, King of France, issued the edict which liberated St. Gall from the domination of the bishops of Constance, and left it absolutely free and unfettered to pursue its mission of civilization and benevolence. All the conditions were now favourable for such a career – wealth in abundance, exterior and interior peace, schools sufficient for the education of the poor, as well as of the nobles. It required only a man of genius or at least a man of good education and commanding talents to give a new impulse to the arts and sciences, in order to bring the influence of the establishment to maturity. This man appeared in due time in the person of Moengal or Marcellus, an Irish monk, who is regarded as the real founder of the school of St. Gall.

Moengal accompanied to Rome his uncle, named Marcus, who was a bishop in Ireland, and who went, with a large retinue of pilgrims, to visit the tombs of the apostles. On their return journey they made a pilgrimage to St. Gall, and were, as usual, hospitably received. The superiority of Moengal’s education soon made its impression, with the result that he was implored by the monks to remain with them altogether, and assume the direction of their school. Moengal consented; and, as his uncle was now old and feeble, he also asked to be allowed to end his days in the monastery. He was freely accommodated, and welcomed as a permanent inmate of the cloister ; but his followers from Ireland were indignant at being deserted by the two leaders of their expedition. When they realized, however, the good that was to be done by their countrymen, they were satisfied, and received, before starting for Ireland, the blessing of the Bishop and of Moengal, who gave them over their mules, horses, money, and other accommodation for travelling, retaining for themselves only their books, vestments, and sacred vessels.

The direction of the monastic schools was now divided between Marcellus, or Moengal, and Iso. The young monks were confided to Marcellus, and the seculars to Iso. Iso was a native of Switzerland, of noble birth, and of uncommon talent. He was soon called away by the monks of Grandval, in Burgundy, who made him their abbot. After his departure, the whole responsibility of the schools fell upon Moengal. Under his direction some of the brothers were told off to make a special study of Greek ; they were the ” Fratres Hellenici.” Others cultivated Latin verse. Another class was set to master the ordinary arts of the “trivium” and “quadrivium.” Others, again, were employed in the “Scriptorium,” or in the laboratory. It was a perfect division of labour, in which nothing was neglected.

Amongst the many scholars trained by Marcellus, three became celebrated all over Europe. They were Notker, Ratpert, and Tuotilo. Notker belonged to a noble family of Thurgovia. He was, in every sense, the most admirable of the three. From his youth he had been afflicted with a delicate constitution, and with a defect in his speech, which gained him the name of Balbulus. He had, however, studied with the greatest diligence under Marcellus, and became a polished Latin scholar. His Martyrologium is one of the most important historical works of the period. He copied the Greek manuscripts of the canonical letters of the New Testament that were sent to him by Liutward, Bishop of Vercelli, and translated a few of the works of Aristotle. He wrote, besides, a book of Sequences, a sort of new lyrical church poetry then in vogue, and several other works on Scriptural and historical subjects. One of his canticles, a sequence on the Holy Ghost, was sung before Innocent III., in the eleventh century. The Pope inquired if the author were canonized ; and, on being informed that he was not, he expressed a desire that his process should be commenced. It was only centuries later, however, that Notker was beatified. Several other hymns were also composed by him. Those most generally adopted in the liturgy of the Middle Ages were the hymn for the feast of Columbanus :

” Nostri solemnis saeculi,
Refulgit dies inclyta
Quo sacer coelos Columba
Ascendet ferens trophoe.
Qui post altus Hybernia
Sacro edoctus dogmate,
Gallica arva adiens
Plebi salutem tribuit ;”

and the hymn for the Feast of All Saints :

“Omnes superni ordines
Quibus dicatur hic dies
Mille milleni millies
Vestros audite supplices.”

A very different man from the gentle and delicate Notker was the ardent Tutilo. He was a powerful, man, well built, and equal to any labour. He was an orator, a linguist, an engineer, a painter, an illuminator, a musician, a poet, a sculptor. A perfect portrait of him has been drawn for us by Ekkehart. He was particularly skilled in music, painting, wood-carving, and decoration. It is related of him that once, in the city of Metz, when painting a figure of the Virgin, he was assisted by our Blessed Lady herself, and left behind him an image that was considered the most perfect work of art of the whole period. On another occasion, at the monastery of St. Alban’s, at Mayence, he carved and decorated a high altar; which, according to Ekkehart, was not surpassed in the whole of Christendom. The ivory decorations on the covers of the Evangelium Longum are the work of his hands. They are marvels of delicacy and artistic combination. In music he surpassed all others; and, as Ekkehart reminds us, reflected the greatest credit on his Irish master, Marcellus. He could play on all kinds of musical instruments, and took particular delight in combining melodies and composing verses to suit them. The most famous of his hymns were the “Hodie Cantandus est,” for the feast of Christmas, and the ” Omnium virtutum gemmis” for the Ascension. Many tropes and fragments of hymns in honour of other festivals were also composed by him. Thus, for the Resurrection, he writes:

” Exurge rector gentium,
Nec moriturus amplius,
Orbemque totum posside
Tuo redemptum sanguine.”

Some desultory verses were turned off at a moment when he was impressed with the infinite goodness of the Redeemer:

“Rex pie, rex regum, regnans, Christe, per aevum.”
“Qui mare, qui terras, coeli qui sceptra gubernas.”
“Noxia depellens, culparum debita solvens.”
“Qui super astra sedes, Patri deitate cohaeres.”
“Es quoque sermo Patris summi, reparator et orbis.”
“Lux, via, vita, salus, spes, pax, sapientia, virtus.”
“Hic tibi laus resonet ; chorus hic in laude resultet.”

In addition to these numerous accomplishments Tuotulo was an inveterate traveller, a fencer, and an athlete. When attacked in the forests his assailants usually suffered for their temerity. On one occasion in particular two powerful men waylaid his companions ; but when Tuotulo came up with them they surrendered all their plunder, and were glad enough to escape with their lives. The calm and home-loving Rathpert often warned his companion against the dissipation of travelling; Tuotilo in his turn joked at the slippers of his mentor, and proved by his marvellous activity how much he had benefited by a change of air.

Nothing is known [writes the late Dr. W. K. Sullivan] of the origin of this singularly gifted man. If he were a Swiss or German, something would be known of his parentage or birthplace, as in the case of his friends Batpert and St. Notker. But if he were a foreigner, as he may have been, there is nothing singular in the silence of the monastic chroniclers concerning the events of his early life, about which they could know nothing except incidentally. Of the crowd of Irishmen who poured out of Ireland from the end of the sixth to the beginning of the tenth century, and who took an active part in the intellectual movement of the time, how few have left sufficient evidence to enable us even to connect them with the land of their birth. Their lot was cast in the darkest period of the Middle Ages, and they have consequently suffered the fate which too often befalls those who are the precursors or originators of great intellectual or moral movements, or founders of new branches of science or art.

In the second half of the ninth century there appear to have been many Irishmen at St. Gall, besides Moengal ; and everything that we know of Tuotilo favours the view that he also was one. In the first place, the name is, to say the least, as much like a latinized form of the Irish Tuatal, Tuotal, or Tuathal, as of the Gothic Totilo. Again, the wandering disposition, the warm, impulsive spirit which made him equally ready to use his tongue or his arm against an enemy, remind us forcibly of St. Columbanus ; and lastly, his great skill in instrumental music, and especially the decidedly Irish character of the melodies of the two tropes ‘Hodie Cantandus est’ and ‘Omnipotens Genitor’ which have been published by Father Schubiger, seem conclusive as to his nationality. This Irish strain in his melodies may be the reason why these were considered in the Middle Ages to be peculiar and easily distinguishable from those of the other St. Gall composers. It is worth remarking that one of the oldest musical monuments of this period, the Liber Ymnorum Notkeri (still preserved at Einsiedlen, Codex 121), noted in Neunies, was illuminated, if not entirely written, by an Irish hand.”

Tutilo was buried in the chapel of St. Catherine, in the church of St. Gall, and the inscription placed over his resting-place in after ages gratefully recorded that “no one ever went away sad from his tomb.”

Ratpert was the third of the inseparable companions who formed what has been designated as the ” Trifolium Sangalleuse.” To him we are indebted for a most valuable history of his monastery from the death of St. Othmar down to his own times. He also is the author of several hymns, amongst others of the processional litany which begins:

“Ardua spes mundi, solidator et inclyte coeli.”

But he was particularly successful as a teacher in the schools. Before his death his pupils came to present him with a book which they had ornamented and illuminated in the style of which he himself was such a master. Their address, which was read by the youngest, ran as follows :

” Hoc opus exiguum puerili pollice scriptum.”
” Sit Ruhtperte tibi magnum, promtissime doctor.”
“Largo lacte tuo potatus, pane cibatus.”
“Ipse, precor, vigeas, valeas venereris, ameris.”
” Hoc optant mecum pueri, juvenesque, senesque.”

There were several other Notkers at St. Gall besides Notker Balbulus. Notker Medicus was the great physician of his age. He wrought wonderful cures by means of his art, and varied his occupations by painting a series of frescoes in the church of St. Gall and decorating manuscripts with inimitable miniatures. He was particularly devoted to the memory of St. Othmar, in whose honour he composed the hymn ” Rector aeterni metuende saecli.”

Another Notker was a nephew of the Emperor Otho I. He became Dean of St. Gall, Abbot of Stavelot, and Bishop of Liege. Notker Labeo was one of the earliest writers in the German language, into which, about the end of the tenth century and commencement of the eleventh, he translated a considerable portion of the Bible, and the works of several ecclesiastical and profane authors.

A contemporary of most of those mentioned above was Salomon, Abbot of St. Gall and Bishop of Constance. Salomon was one of the most troublesome friends the monastery ever had. From being a spoiled and wayward child he became an exceedingly clever but worldly ecclesiastic. The wise men of St. Gall shook their heads with good reason when he was allowed to put on the robe of St. Benedict and enter their community. His handsome appearance, and his noble connections, the protection of kings and courts, contributed to make him believe that monastic severity was not intended for such as he. He was, however, too powerful to be refused admittance; and once within, he behaved with discretion, if not with humility and submission. He bided his time until political disturbances gave him an outlet for his ambition, and the Emperor Arnulph, whom he served, was in a position to order the monks to elect him as their Abbot. Later on he also obtained for him the bishopric of Constance. And thus the monastery was brought once again under the sway of the Bishop. For the time it gained materially by the transaction, but a wide gap was opened to abuses from which the establishment was free in the days of its autonomy. It must be said, however, that once Salomon had reached the height of his ambition, he worked earnestly for the good of religion and the advancement of learning. As a minister under four successive emperors, he was one of the most powerful men in Europe. Yet he never lost his affection for St. Gall, and loved to retire there every year to discharge his functions as Abbot, and take his part in the simple and laborious life of the monks. He was, moreover, like Wolsey and Richelieu, a munificent patron of art and letters, and the Vocabularium Salamonis, drawn up under his directions, is one of the earliest encyclopaedias that was printed in Europe.

The Ekkeharts, like the Notkers, formed a regular dynasty amongst the distinguished sons of St. Gall. Ekkehart I. was at the head of the schools for many years, and afterwards councillor of the Emperor Otho the Great. The most famous of them, however, was the fourth of the name.

About the year 1040, the Emperor Conrad II. was led to believe that the discipline at St. Gall was fast on the decline, and he had recourse to the extreme measure of sending some monks from Cluny to reform the monastery. This proceeding was resented at St. Gall, and life was practically made so uncomfortable for the reformers that they had to withdraw. Ekkehart IV., who had spent some years directing the royal school at Mayence, just then returned to his old home at St. Gall. He was known to be a writer of talent, and was asked by his brethren to take up and immortalize the ancient glories of his Alma Mater. Ekkehart did not require to be pressed. He was passionately devoted to the grand old monastery, and was determined to relate its great achievements and confound its enemies. It is evident, however, from the first page that he and his monastery are on their defence. There is gall in his pen, and cutting sarcasm and bitter invective in his pages. The enemies of St. Gall are roundly denounced, and their treacherous intentions exposed to the world. There is little of the historic calm in this work. It is on the face of it a partisan production. Nevertheless, it gives many interesting glimpses into the interior of the monastery, draws life-like pictures of its most famous monks, and says the last word on the merits of its most glorious days. It is by turns jovial and angry, generous and unjust, accurate in detail and plainly dishonest. Nor are its pages altogether free from the coarse joke and the questionable anecdote, which are the surest signs of monastic decay and.the clearest proof that reform was urgently needed.

Some of the institutions of the monastery, as described by Ekkehart and others, are worthy of attention. From the importance of the gardener, that of higher officials may be judged. He had under his orders a regular cohort of servants, who lived together in a vast farm-house, of which he was the director. He had carefully read the treatise De Villis, and knew how to cultivate not only the ordinary garden vegetables but also chervil, coriander, dill, cummin, sage, fennel, mint, rosemary, loveage, and other plants required for the preparation of infusions, and general medical and curative purposes. Another officer had charge of the mill, the granaries, the fruit gardens, the waggons and boats for the transfer of corn and merchandise. The reign of the land steward extended over vast herds of oxen, cows, horses, swine, and the numerous flocks of goats and sheep that ranged over his wide domain. He also had his retinue of servants, and ruled them with all the authority of an autocrat. Nearer to the monastery was a great group of workshops, in one series of which lances, swords, gauntlets, cuirasses, shields, and coats of arms were manufactured ; in another, stalls for the church choirs, panels, screens, pulpits, tabernacles. Further on, sculptors and stonecutters plied their chisels. In a building by itself, well guarded, and full of mystery, worked the jewellers, goldsmiths, the lapidaries, the bezellers. Here the gold and silver are melted, ores are tested, alloys are combined, which make the metals solid and pleasant to the eye ; Bible covers in ivory or wood are enriched with plates of gold or with precious stones. Here also the finishing touch is given to the rich chasubles and mitres, to the reliquaries, shrines, lustres, altar-pieces, and to the elaborate iron and steel decorations for the great doors of the castles and manor houses.

But the wonder of the whole establishment is the Scriptorium. Here the fine parchment specially prepared from the skin of the mountain goat or the young reindeer is furnished to the copyists, the illuminators, the miniaturists. It is here those wonderful initial letters were illuminated in colours that are as fresh and strong to-day almost as on the day on which they were executed. Like the decorations of the Book of Kells at home they will stand the minutest inspection and the powers of the strongest microscope. They retain their proportions and their perfection of tint and shade, no matter how they are enlarged:

“Scarcely was there any other establishment so celebrated for the beauty of its manuscripts [writes Wattenbach], nor did any other so highly prize the art or develop with such care and ardour the ornamentation of initial letters. Therein, especially, do these monks show that they were faithful followers of their Irish brethren, whom they soon surpassed and left far behind. The Scottish manuscripts are distinguished by very elaborate execution, by brilliant colouring of unfading splendour, and by the richness and beauty of their ornamentation. Their favourite ornaments are the interlaced serpents, and by them as well as by the serpents’ heads one can trace the influence of Irish art, as may be seen, for instance, in the gospels of Charles the Bald.”

It was an Irish monk who taught this art, and the study and perseverance necessary to bring it to perfection. Two strophes composed by him are still venerated in the monastery. We quote them in the translation of an admiring Frenchman, not being able at this moment to lay our hands on the original:

[please consult original volume for this French text]

One of the most famous of the copyists and illuminators of St. Gall was the monk Sintram, who wrote the Evangelium Longum which is still preserved, and is one of the great treasures of St. Gall. In the early times even the Latin works were written in Irish characters. Of these, only two complete volumes and a few fragments now remain. The others were destroyed by fire in different conflagrations at the abbey, or lost during the numerous wars and confiscations from which it suffered. The labour of transcription was often exceedingly wearisome, as attested by casual notes of the copyists on the margins, or at the end of the book. ” Written with great trouble,” is a common observation. ” As the sick man desireth health,” runs another, ” so doth the transcriber desire the end of his volume.” Another is of a happier temperament; for he writes: –

“Libro complete
Saltat scriptor
Pede laeto.”

Others, again, invoked imprecations on the heads of those who should presume, after all their trouble, to remove the book from the library. Thus one, who had just finished a copy of St. Jerome’s translation of the Psalter, writes at the end :

” Auferret hoc in quis damnetur mille flagellis.
Judicioque Dei succumbat corpore pesti ;”

and at the end of the prophets, he adds :

” Si quis et hos auferat, gyppo, scabieque redundet.”

The copyists were, no doubt, provoked to this rude method of defence. Noble visitors to the library often coveted, and obtained as presents, some of the best books that issued from the “Scriptorium.” The Emperors Charles the Fat and Otho I. were great amateurs of books ; and on the occasions of their visits to the monastery had to be accommodated in this way. ” Who would have thought,” writes the chronicler, speaking of Otho, “that so powerful a brigand would stoop to pillage the cloister and rob a poor community of monks?”

The library of St. Gall remains to the present day one of the richest in Europe. It contains over twenty thousand volumes of very rare and costly books. It counts, moreover, one thousand five hundred manuscripts, and a large number of fragments and stray quaternios or sheets which embrace all kinds of works pagan, Christian, prose, poetry, Greek, Latin, German. Early in the ninth century the whole catalogue was composed of about twenty volumes of Latin, written in Irish characters Libri Scottice Scripti. We give them below as they are found in the catalogue of Weidman, published in 1841. Of these there is now but one solitary volume remaining. It is the Gospel of St. John, written on good parchment, and in large, clear Irish letters. It is certain, however, that all the old Irish books are not included in this list, for one whole book of the Gospels in similar handwriting is still extant. It is supposed to have been brought to St. Gall by Marcellus or Marcus. These two works are splendid specimens of calligraphy. They are based on the Vetus Itala version of the Bible which was the only version used in Ireland until St. Finian of Moville brought over St. Jerome’s translation which he received as a present from Pope Palagius in 557. They agree, moreover, almost without a variant, with the Vercelli Codex published by Father Bianchini, in 1749. In addition to these there are several fragments of works written in Irish characters, and contained chiefly in the Codices Nos. 1394-1395 in the Library Catalogue. The Irish glosses of most importance in the library are those on Priscian’s Grammar. They have been to a great extent deciphered and published by Zeuss. Amongst the valuable manuscripts of general interest to be seen in the cases are nine palimpsests or ” Codices rescripti” of the fifth and sixth centuries ; a complete Bible of the ninth century, in royal folio ; the ” Psalter of Notker,” in Latin and German ; the ” Psalter of Folchard ;” the ” Psalterium Aureum ;” the ” Evangelium Longum,” all of which are written in Roman characters but decorated in Celtic style. There are two homilies of St. Isidore of Seville, written on Egyptian papyrus, dating from the seventh century ; the Antiphonarium of Pope Gregory the Great; four missals from the tenth century; the four books of the Odes of Horace, the Satires of Juvenal, Lucan’s Pharsalia, a few works of Ovid and Statius, all from the ninth or tenth centuries. The most important manuscripts in the modern tongue comprise very early copies of the Nibelungenlied, and of the romances and exploits of Percival and Roland. Soon after the invention of printing, in 1450, several exceedingly rare books were procured for the monastery. There are two Bibles, one Latin and one German, dating from 1464 and 1466, respectively ; the Commentaries of Nicholas of Lyra, published at Strasburg, in 1492 ; a Commentary of St. Thomas of Aquin on the De Consolatione Philosophiae of Boethius, printed by Octaviari Skotus of Venice, in 1494; several very early copies of the Imitation of Christ, from the presses of Strasburg and Nuremburg ; the Missals of Chur, Augsburg, Constance and Basel, from 1483 to 1497. In addition to these, nearly all the great valuable collections illustrating the sciences of theology, history, and philosophy, are to be found there. Indeed it is one of the peculiarities of the library of St. Gall, that nearly all its works are rare and costly. The early cultivation in its schools of the science as well as of the art of music makes it also a favourite resort for those who are interested in the history of the notation of music and the primitive trials of counterpoint and harmony.

After the Council of Constance, the Roman Curia sent a commission, composed of three “savants,” to examine the library, and obtain copies of the works of any of the ancient writers that they might discover there. These three men were Poggio, Cencio, and Bartolomeo di Monte Politiano. They discovered a large portion of the Argonauticon of Valerius Flaccus ; eight speeches of Cicero, bound up in a speech of Q. Asconius Pedianus ; a small work by Lactantius, De Utroque Homine ; the work of Vitruvius, on Architecture; Priscian’s treatise on Grammar. A complete Quintilian (adhuc salvum et incolumen) was found by Poggio hidden away in an old tower, under a heap of rubbish. Several other works of minor importance were also discovered ; and the learned world was in ecstasy, particularly in Italy. Niebuhr’s researches were not so fruitful. The poem of Merobaudes seems to have been the only thing of importance brought to light by him. There is no library in Europe, in which the work of research is easier than at St. Gall. This is chiefly due to the intelligence and foresight of two distinguished librarians of last century, Father Pius Kolb and Father Ildephonsus von Arx, who had all the manuscripts carefully catalogued and arranged in order, and to the most obliging and painstaking priest, Dr. Kah, who has charge of the library at the present time.

From the beginning of the thirteenth century the intellectual glory of St. Gall gradually declined. The monastery got mixed up in the political disputes of the empire and in the social troubles of later times. In 1204, its Abbot Ulrich Baron of Hohensax, was made a Prince of the German Empire, and his successors retained the title till the French Revolution. One of them led an army against Rudolf of Hapsburg, in 1280, to maintain the rights of the monastery, and they all had to contend with the revolutionary spirit of their vassals and serfs, who on several occasions made organized attempts to shake off the claims of the monastery. In 1795 a general insurrection of the tenants and labourers took place, and the Abbot Beda yielded to nearly all their demands. Cardinal Buoncompagni, Secretary of State to Pope Pius VII., negotiated a settlement between the Swiss Government and the authorities of the monastery. In 1806, however, the revolutionists got the upper hand, and the monastery was suppressed. During all these years the moral character of St. Gall was perfectly sound. In this respect its enemies had never a word to say against it. The tone and spirit may have been worldly, but the personal lives of its monks were beyond the breath of reproach. In the seventeenth century it had even a short revival of its old intellectual spirit. It was during the time that the learned Cardinal Sfondrati was Abbot of the monastery. This great canonist, theologian, and devoted churchman, was buried in Rome, in the church of St. Caecilia ; but he bequeathed his heart to St. Gall, where it is now enshrined in one of the chapels off the choir. Beneath the eloquent inscription that records the merits of the great abbot may be seen the words :

” Bene sperate.”
“Ego dormio, sed cor meum vigilat.”
“Vigilate.”

The buildings of the great old monastery are now used for State purposes. The library alone has been left under the care of the bishop, who appoints the librarian. The splendid Cathedral of St. Gall, with its fine choir, its rich frescoes and windows, has always remained in Catholic hands. It is one of the most spacious churches in Europe ; and, what is better still, is well filled at the Masses and evening services.

Before we take leave of the monastery we must not neglect to mention that at the rear of the old building there was a spacious enclosure surrounded by high walls, and intersected within by rows of shrubs and cypress trees. It was the last resting-place of the monks and their dependents. This field of death, “ager mortis ” as it was called, saw the end of many an interesting career. It witnessed many a touching scene which proved that the human heart was not dead under the cowl of the monk, and that the sacrifice of liberty and worldly enjoyment was amply soothed and rewarded by religion. Here lie the fathers and brethren of a thousand years, awaiting the blessed hope.

“Jusqu’au jour du grand reveil
On y trouve un doux sommeil.”

Over their graves there is no name, no cross, no stone, but the green sward and the clear blue sky. Alone in the centre of the enclosure a large wooden crucifix arises and seems to embrace the land around it. At its base are inscribed the solemn words : ” Of all the trees of the earth the holy cross alone bears fruit that tastes of life eternal.”

In the graves around lie the ashes of many Irish monks who in the ardour of faith and through love of learning and higher things became voluntary exiles. They sleep far away from their native land of Erin. But nature took their mortal bodies back to her bosom on a friendly soil. On the last day they shall rise around their Blessed Father Gall to receive the reward of their labours. Meanwhile the lofty mountains which they loved keep guard around their earthly dwellings, and their dirge is murmured for ever by the swaying forest trees and the fall of the distant cascade.

J. F. HOGAN.

Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol 15 (1894), 35-54.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2016. All rights reserved.

October 16, 2016
Saint Fiacre of Meaux, August 30

August 30 is the feast day of an Irish saint whose life was mostly spent outside this country – Fiacre of Meaux. I have previously posted a twentieth-century account of the saint here but below is a paper from 1876. The author is the then Bishop of Ossory, later to be Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, Patrick Francis Moran (1830-1911). Cardinal Moran took an active interest in the history of the early Irish church and his many writings reflect the climate of the national revival which was in full swing during his lifetime. In his account of Saint Fiacre, PFM brings together much of the traditional lore associated with the saint and gives a place also to his sister, Saint Syra. I was interested too by the seventeenth-century dimension to the cult of Saint Fiacre, in particular the visits of Irish exiles to his shrine.

ST FIACRE.

St. FIACHRA, better known by the name of Fiacre, by which he was designated on the Continent, was born about the year 590, of a princely family in the north of Connaught; but renouncing the honours and applause of the world, sought in retreat and solitude the highest paths of perfection. Whilst as yet in the world, charity was one of his distinctive virtues. A poor man one day solicited an alms for the love of God. Fiachra told his attendant to give him any money that he might have, and the attendant pretended to do so. The saint, however, fearing lest any mistake might have been made, went after the poor man and asked him how he had fared. He then learned that the attendant’s money being exhausted by preceding alms, nothing had been given to him; whereupon the saint, taking off the rich mantle which he wore, bestowed it on the poor man. This same virtue continued to characterize St. Fiachra throughout the whole of his subsequent career.

Having resolved to devote himself to a religious life, he put himself under the care of St. Cuanna, who was at this time famed for learning and sanctity, and attracted numerous disciples to his monastery at Kilcoona, on the shore of Loch Orbsen. Being ordained priest, St. Fiachra was filled with the desire to serve God in solitude, and therefore, quitting his native district, and the school of St. Cuanna, he fixed his first hermitage on the banks of the Nore, and for many years lived there leading a most holy and austere life. The spot thus hallowed by the virtues and penitential austerities of our saint is still known by the name Kill-Fiachra, or Kilfera, and is situate on the west bank of the Nore, about three miles below Kilkenny. The memory of St. Fiachra is honoured there on the 30th of August, the same day on which his festival is marked in the Martyrologies of Marianus O’ Gorman and of Donegal. The outlines of St. Fiachra’s old church or cell may be easily traced, and fragments of its stone-work are scattered through the adjoining burial-ground. A little to the south of Kilfera is the holy well of St. Fiachra.

This silent retreat had for our saint all the charms of a paradise. His virtues, however, soon became known, and many disciples flocked around him; and it seemed as if greater honour and reverence awaited him in his retreat, than would have attended him in the princely inheritance which he had abandoned. He resolved, therefore, to seek in distant countries the solitude which was denied him at home; and thus it came to pass, in the words of the Martyrology of Donegal, that he “ brought a blessing to France.” St Fiachra remained for some time in Iona, attracted thither by the fame of the virtues and miracles of its holy founder. Continuing his journey towards France, the vessel in which he sailed encountered a terrible storm at sea, but when all seemed lost, the tempest was stilled by the prayers of our saint. St. Faro, who was at this time Bishop of Meaux, had opened a hospice for pilgrims at the gates of his episcopal city. He belonged to the highest nobility of France, and for several years had ranked among the richest of the courtiers, as well as among the bravest of the leaders of the armies of King Clothaire ; now, however, as bishop, all his possessions and influence were placed at the service of religion and of the poor. At the hospice which he endowed none were so welcome as the pilgrims from Erin; for St. Faro attributed all his worldly prosperity, as well as his ecclesiastical calling, to the blessing which the great Irish missioner Columbanus, in requital for the hospitality which was shown him, had bestowed on his parents and household. St. Fiachra, journeying on whither God might summon him, entered this hospice at Meaux, and under the garb of a poor pilgrim, lived there for some years wholly devoted to the most perfect practices of piety. His relative, St Kilian, however, when making a pilgrimage to Rome, entered the same hospice, and made known our saint’s rank. Fiachra would willingly have fled elsewhere, but Faro asked him not to leave a spot where he had found such happiness and peace, and offered him a site for a hermitage at a short distance from Meaux, with a grant of as much land as he would himself surround with a fosse in one day. St. Fiachra selected for his enclosure an adjoining desert tract called Broilus (which name in mediaeval Latin means a small wood), known in later times as Breuil, and now called Brie, situated on an elevated position not far from the banks of the Marne; and whilst he traced its boundaries with a wooden stake, a fosse was miraculously formed along the track. In the retreat thus miraculously enclosed, St. Fiacre spent his whole time in prayer and manual labour. His food consisted of roots and wild herbs, and in the heart of France he renewed the austerities by which SS. Paul and Anthony and Hilarion had sanctified the deserts of the East. Like all the great saints of Ireland he cherished a special devotion to the holy Mother of God, and it is commemorated in his Acts, that close to his cell he erected an oratory in her honour, oratorio in honorem Beatae Mariae constructo. Many holy disciples soon flocked to Breuil to emulate the penitential spirit, and to copy the virtues, of our saint. He obliged them to devote themselves in great part to manual labour, cultivating the garden which he had enclosed; and the fruit of their industry was applied to the maintenance of pilgrims and to the relief of captives. After the discovery of his place of concealment, deputies came to Meaux, requesting the saint to return home, and to assume the government of his native principality, which happened to be then vacant. Fiachra asked for a little time to deliberate on a matter of such importance, and in the meanwhile prayed to God that He might in His mercy visit him with some malady that would not permit his return. The next day the saint was found covered with leprosy, and the messengers, seeing that their mission was frustrated, at once took their departure from Meaux. It is also related in the saint’s life that he was visited at Breuil by his sister St. Syra. She had from her infancy been remarkable for sanctity, frequently passing the whole night in prayer prostrate before the crucifix, and practising the most rigorous austerities. With three companions she set out for Meaux, and having received from her brother many lessons of heavenly wisdom, entered the Monastery of Faramoutiers, then governed by St. Burgundofara, sister of St. Faro, and after some years proceeded to Troyes, where she ruled a monastery as abbess for a long time, and guided many souls to God. In an ancient hymn, composed in her praise, she is thus addressed:

“ O Syra. virgo pura,
Regis Scotorum filia,
Sancti Fiacrii soror,
Tu es Stella eximia,
Praefulgens Virginum gemma,
Campaniae laus, et honor,
Ad sepulchrum confagiunt
Tuum populi, et sentiunt
Sanitatis remedium.”

The festival of St. Syra is kept at Troyes on the 8th of June, and before the French Revolution there were several convents in France that honoured her as patron. St. Fiachra died at his hermitage about the year 670, and his shrine was soon honoured by many miracles. One of these is specially recorded in the French Life of St. Fiacre. A farmer of Montigny (Seine-et-Marne) was proceeding on pilgrimage to the shrine of our saint, bringing with him his two children, who were infirm. The horse stumbled when passing a river, and the children were precipitated into the stream. It seemed impossible to rescue them, as the current was so rapid; but the father having invoked St. Fiachra’s aid, the saint appeared on the water, and taking the children by the hand, lead them to the bank in safety.

St. Fiachra is at present venerated as special patron at Brie, about four miles from the city of Meaux, and also as one of the chief patrons of the diocese of Meaux; and he is also honoured throughout France as the particular patron of gardeners and of the Fiacre-drivers. Indeed, the French cab is said to have derived its name fiacre from being specially called into requisition in early times for the use of pilgrims hastening to his shrine. More than thirty churches in France are also dedicated to our saint. About three miles from Brie is St. Fiacre’s well. It is enclosed in an oratory, which was rebuilt in 1852. Pilgrims also flock to his holy well at Monstrelet, near Boufflers, which is famed for miraculous cures. The other chief places of pilgrimage in honour of our saint are Aubignan, in the diocese of Avignon; Buss, in the diocese of Arras; Ramecourt and Dizy-le-Gros, in the diocese of Soissons; Ouzoer-les-Champs, in the diocese of Orleans; Bovancourt, in the diocese of Rheims; Cuy-Saint-Fiacre, in the diocese of Rouen; Saint Fiacre, in the diocese of Nantes; Saint Fiacre, near Guincamp, in the diocese of St. Brieuc ; and Radenac, in the diocese of Vannes. His festival is kept in France, as in Ireland, on the 30th of August.

The proper lessons for our saint in the Breviary of Meaux inform us, that he adopted in France the strict rule of the early Irish monasteries, which prohibited any female from crossing the threshold of his oratory or hermitage. A royal lady of France attempted on one occasion, through curiosity, to violate this rule, but was at once struck down with a violent sickness, to which the physicians thenceforth applied the name of “ St. Fiacre’s malady.”

The shrine of St. Fiachra was for centuries one of the most famous in France, and many pilgrims resorted thither even from distant nations. We read in the Annals of the Trinitarian Order; that the holy founder of that order, St. John of Valois, cherished a special devotion for St. Fiachra, and, not satisfied with emulating his virtues at a distance, wished to erect for himself a hermitage as near as he could to Breuil, that thus the sight of the spot where our saint had lived, and where his relics were preserved, might be a constant stimulus to piety. In later times the Apostle of France, St. Vincent de Paul, also made a pilgrimage to St. Fiachra’s shrine. When, in the fourteenth century, Edward the Biack Prince ravaged the country around Meaux, the sanctuary at Breuil alone was spared. He caused, however, the shrine of the saint to be opened, and extracted a portion of the relics which he desired to bring with him to England. When passing through Normandy, he deposited these relics on an altar at Montloup, not far distant from Toumay, where there was a chapel erected in honour of St. Fiachra, but no strength of man was able afterwards to remove the relics from that altar. The death of the Prince soon after was popularly regarded as a punishment for his want of due reverence for the shrine of our saint. Henry V. of England also visited Breuil after the battle of Agincourt. He ordered the sanctuary of St. Fiachra to be respected, and declared that he had nowhere seen so great devotion as that shown by the faithful to our saint. Among the other royal visits may be mentioned that of Louis XIV., who, with his Queen and the Court, went thither on pilgrimage when returning from Strasburg in 1693.

When the sword of persecution forced many Catholic families of Ireland to seek a home on the Continent, and many of her bravest sons to enter the armies of France or Spain, the shrine of St. Fiacre, at Meaux, became a favorite resort of the Irish exiles; and it would appear that each year on his recurring festival, they organized a special pilgrimage in his honour. Father Hay, in his Scotia Sacra (page 39), tells us that when sub-prior of the Benedictine Monastery of Essoines, situated on the banks of the river Marne, he himself had visited this sanctuary, and adds some verses from three Latin poems, which he found hanging on the walls around the altar of our saint. Each poem bore the heading, “ Divo Fiacrio Carmen,” i.e., “ a poem in honour of St. Fiacre.” The first thus commenced:

“ Regis Hiberni generosa proles,
Fortis Eugeni soboles Fiacri
Sancte, materno gremio corusca
Syderis instar.”This is followed by thirty-eight other verses, and at the end is added, “ This was sung by the Irish pilgrims in the year 1679.” The second poem is still longer, having 123 verses, with the note, “offered by an Irish choir in the year of our Lord 1680.” The third has 206 verses, and has at the close, “An Irish choir offered this in 1681.”The greater part of the relics of our saint were scattered and the oratory and shrine of St. Fiacre, at Breuil, were demolished in the revolutionary storm which laid waste the fairest districts of France at the close of the last century. From the time of the saint’s death his relics seem to have been famed for miracles. As early as the eleventh century we find it commemorated that the fame of the miracles performed there attracted many pilgrims to his shrine. Fulck de Beauvais, who flourished in that age, in his metrical life of St. Faro, Bishop of Meaux, mentions as one of the chief glories of that saint’s pontificate that he granted Breuil to Fiachra (who in Latin is oftentimes called Fefrus) and thus rendered the whole diocese of Meaux illustrious for miracles : —

“ Heredem Fefrum dedit in quibus esse beatum,
Huic Broilum tribuit, qui templum condidit illic,
Hic duxit vitam, vitam finivit ibidem,
Meldica nunc signis floret provincia Fefri.”

In the beginning of the reign of St. Louis of France the first solemn translation of our saint’s relics took place. By his munificence they were placed in a rich shrine, and thenceforward each year, on the Sunday after Pentecost, the anniversary of this translation, a portion of the relics was borne in procession through Breuil. Pope Gregory the IX. granted special indulgences for those, who, on his festival-day, would visit the saint’s relics at Breuil. In the year 1562 the shrine and relics of our saint were removed to the sanctuary of St. Burgundofara in Meaux, the better to preserve them from the fury of the Huguenots, and after a little time, at the request of the civic authorities, were deposited in the cathedral of that city. The pilgrimages, however, continued to be made to Breuil as heretofore, and when religious peace was restored in France every effort was made by the inhabitants to have the treasure of the saint’s relics restored to them. All that they could obtain, however, was a portion of these precious remains, encased in a silver shrine, presented to the sanctuary at Breuil by the Bishop of Meaux, in 1649. As regards the shrine in the Cathedral of Meaux, it was so richly ornamented by Queen Anne of Austria that it was considered second to none in France, before the period of the French Revolution. The illustrious Bossuet delivered some of his beautiful discourses on our saint’s festival, presenting him to the faithful as “a model of the Christian spirit of solitude, of silence, and of constant prayer;” and he loved to repeat that their cathedral “was enriched by the precious treasure of his relics.” In Mabillon’s time Breuil was still frequented by pilgrims, and miracles continued to be there wrought at the saint’s shrine. He thus writes in his Annals of the Benedictine Order (vol. i. p. 314) “Sane vix ullus alius etiam nunc celebrior miraculorum patrator in Gallia: vix ullus alius locus amplius frequentatus a peregrinis qui istuc voti causa undique confluunt.” Only small portions of these relics escaped the fury with which the revolutionists at the close of the last century raged against the shrines of the saints; and of these some at present enrich the parochial church at Brie; others are preserved in the cathedral and other churches throughout the diocese of Meaux. The parochial church of Brie retains also the large block of stone on which St. Fiachra used to rest, and which bears the impress of the saint; as also the ancient wooden case in which the relics were at one time preserved. The sites of the enclosure and of the saint’s hermitage are traditionally pointed out, and may easily be traced, but no remains can now be seen of the ancient buildings.

The late learned Protestant Bishop of Brechin, Dr. Forbes, having given a short notice of our saint in his Kalendars of Scottish Saints, remarks that this commemoration of St. Fiachra in France “suggests an allusion to that marvellous Irish Christian colonization which is one of the most remarkable facts in the history of Christianity, and to which, till the present century, scanty justice has been done. The daughter Church of Gaul, Ireland, soon returned to bless that nation from whom she had received the faith, and not that nation only, but all the West of Europe, from Iceland to Tarentum, felt its power. Combatting Arianism in Lombardy, paganism in England and Germany; cultivating letters at the court of Charlemagne, and physical science in the see of Salzburg; teaching Greek at Chiemsee, and copying the precious manuscripts of antiquity at Bobbio and Luxeuil: the (Irish) clergy grasped the lamp of religion, as it fell from the hands of the worn-out Roman races; and the austere sanctity of Irish monasticism — an austerity which, from existing rules, we know to have surpassed that of St. Benedict himself — asserted its footing in the different nations of the Continent, of which many of the patron saints belong to this family. In the Vosges and the Jura we have St Fridolin; at Luxeuil and Bobbio, St. Columbanus; in Switzerland, St. Gall; at Salzburg, St. Virgilius; in Thuringia, St. Kilian; at Lucca, St. Frigidian; at Fiesole, St. Donatus; and at Taranto, St Cathaldus.”— page 341.

St. Fiachra is also honoured in Italy, especially at Florence, where a noble chapel was erected in his honour by the Grand Duke in the year 1627, and was again richly adorned by the then reigning Duke towards the close of the seventeenth century, at whose request some relics of the saint, the gift of the illustrious Bishop of Meaux, Benigne Bossuet, were translated thither with great pomp in the year 1695. Since that time St. Fiachra has been reckoned among the chief patrons of Tuscany.

When St. Fiachra was proceeding to France, if not at an earlier period of his life, he seems to have stopped for some time in Scotland, and his memory was long cherished in the churches of that kingdom. In Stewart’s Metrical Chronicle of Scotland, our saint appears as “Sanct Feacar,” and again under the name of “ Fiancorus.” The parish of Nigg, situate on the opposite side of the river Dee from Aberdeen, had St. Fiacre for patron, and its church was called “ St. Fiacer’s Church.” The ancient burial-ground also bore his name; his holy well was corruptly called St. Fithoc’s well, and the bay near which it stands, St. Ficker’s Bay. From these corruptions of the name arose other still more curious forms; thus, for instance, from Fithoc , arose Mofithog and Mofuttach: and we find that in the Kalendar of Camerarius, our saint is entered as S. Mofutacus, whilst in an ancient Dunkeld Litany he is invoked as St. Futtach. All these various forms, however, of the name of St. Fiachra only serve to show how widespread was the veneration of this great saint, and how generally he was honoured throughout the churches of Scotland.

P. F. M.

The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume XII(1876), 361-368.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2016. All rights reserved.

August 30, 2016
The Life, Miracles and Relics of Saint Andrew of Fiesole

August 22 is the feast of Saint Andrew of Fiesole. I have already published an account of him from the work of Margaret Stokes, now we can revisit this wonderful saint through the pages of Canon O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Irish saints:

ST. ANDREW, DEACON AND CONFESSOR, OF FIESOLE, IN ITALY

[NINTH CENTURY.]

…The Life of this holy pilgrim—an exile from his native country—has been specially written in Italian by Philippus Villanus. When treating about his sister, St. Brigid, of Opacum, at Fiesole, in Italy, Father John Colgan, and the Bollandists have not omitted to draw their account, mainly from that Life. Filippo Villani was a Florentine gentleman of an ancient and respectable family, the son of Matteo, and the nephew of Giovanni Villani, who wrote a much esteemed History of Florence. This begins with the foundation of that city, and it continues to the year of his death, A.D. 1348. His brother Matteo continued it to A.D. 1363, the year when he died. Afterwards, his son Filippo added forty-two chapters, and ended it with the year 1364. The latter wrote in Latin the Lives of illustrious men belonging to Florence; but the original Manuscript of that work has not been hitherto discovered. Two different copies of St. Andrew’s Life—the authorship attributed to Filippo Villani—were in possession of the Bollandists, with two shorter Lives, very similar to each other, and which seem to have been intended as panegyrics of the saint. They were written for one of his festival celebrations. Those appear to have been abbreviated from the longer Acts. At the 22nd of August, the Bollandists publish the Latin Acts of St. Andrew from a Manuscript of Placidus Puchinellus, and which they had obtained. These have been edited by Father Guilielmus Cuper, who has prefixed a Previous Commentary, and added notes. The editor, however, proposes some difficulties, regarding the authorship of those Acts, owing to the introduction of the name Leonardus, in the Prologue, and that person to whom the tract had been dedicated. If he were Leonardus Bonafides, the Carthusian, who became Bishop of Cortona, and who erected a chapel to St. Andrew, in the church of St. Martin de Mensula, it is quite evident, that Filippo Villani, who lived in the fourteenth century, could not have been the writer. So that, either another and a different Filippo Villani must be found; or a different Leonardus, than he who constructed a chapel for the relics of St. Andrew in the Monastery of St. Martin of Mensola, in order to synchronise the author and his patron. The Irish Franciscan Fathers of St. Isidore, at Rome, had a copy of St. Andrew’s Life, and of this the Bollandists obtained a transcript. The posthumous list, referring to Colgan’s unpublished Lives of Irish Saints, contained the name of St. Andreas, as if intended for printing, at the 22nd of August. Father Stephen White records him, likewise, as one of the Irish saints who went abroad. In Butler’s work, at the 22nd of August, is found a very brief notice of St. Andrew, Deacon, and Confessor. There is a brief account of this holy bishop of Fiesole in “Les Vies des Saints,” in the Petits Bollandistes, at the 22nd of August. Later, still, a very interesting account of St. Andrew has been inserted in a work, written by Miss Margaret Stokes.

This Irish or Scottish gentleman was born, probably towards the close of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century. In what part of Ireland, his birth took place, has not transpired, nor have we been able to find his pedigree, through any process of onomancy. From early youth, he felt a truly fraternal affection for his sister, St. Brigid, and her virtues were justly calculated to cement their mutual endearment. Andrew was the elder of the two, while he was also her constant guide and counsellor. They were the children of noble and virtuous parents. Both Andrew and Brigid were accustomed from their earliest youth to pause at the church door, to enter it and to pray, when they walked together on their way to school. This service they repeated each hour they could save from sleep. From his youth, Andrew was comely in features, modest in dress and gestures, and grave in deportment. Moreover, he loved practices of penance and mortification, while he was accustomed to fast very rigorously. He carefully avoided the company and conversation of those, who might be likely to endanger his morals. Besides, the youth of Andrew was spent in the study of letters and in the exercises of piety. There were none, however poor and miserable, who left the house in which he lived uncomforted, so deeply were compassion and the love of unhappy persons rooted in his heart. Meanwhile, his parents were careful that he should be taught the art of riding, and such other accomplishments as befitted his high rank. Time passed on, and a distinguished teacher of Divine philosophy, named Donatus, arrived near their place. He came from many miles distant. Hearing of Andrew’s great promise, Donat formed his acquaintance, took him to his school, and soon a life-long friendship was established between them. The kindly greeting he received gave Andrew heartfelt satisfaction, and afterwards, he received lessons from that Christian philosopher, named Donat, or Donatus, who is thought to have been educated at Iniscaltra or Holy Island, on Lough Derg, a wide-spreading lake on the River Shannon. This conclusion has been drawn from the circumstance, that a Latin hexameter poem, giving the Life of St. Brigid of Kildare, had been written by Caolan, who calls himself a monk of Iniscaltra, and to that Donatus of Fiesole has added the Prologue.

One day, while Donatus and Andrew were standing at the entrance of that cashel surrounding their monastery, and discoursing as was their custom on various matters human and divine; the former revealed to his disciple a desire he had long entertained, to journey into distant lands, and especially to visit all the holy places throughout Italy. Then, he resolved on seeking a spot, where his family and friends could not find him. There, too, he purposed devoting the remainder of his life to God’s service. Unable to part from his beloved master, Andrew prayed that he might become the companion of Donat’s travels. At last, it was arranged, they should pay no heed to the opposition of their families and friends, but set out at once after taking their “final leave. Great was the grief of Brigid, when she heard of that project, and she cried out: “Brother dear, why dost thou leave me? When shall we see each other again?” At last, with much gentleness, Andrew put his sister from him. Then, in a spirit of resignation, she said : “Go in peace, and pray to God for me abandoned here in sorrow.” Afterwards, accompanied by their families and friends, they went to the sea-coast, where a ship was waiting to receive them on board.

Both the master and the scholar thus left their own country of Scotia, and travelled to Italy.They had very scant provision for their journey,intending as pilgrims contented and humble in spirit to travel on foot from place to place, while resting in those monasteries, containing relics of thesaints. They often turned aside to visit certain hermitages, in almostinaccessible places, and where they might hold converse with holy anchorites. After such adventures, they at length crossed the Alps, and travelled to a resting spot among the Apennine Mountains of Italy. In those journeyings, Donatus was the guiding spirit, who directed their course. The city he went to, in fine, was situated in Etruria; and under the appellation of Faesule, it was one of the twelve cities of that province, being the most distinguished by its celebrity and beautiful situation, as also for the presumed skill of its denizens in the interpretation of omens and prognostics. With the rest of Etruria, it submitted to the Roman power, and it was colonized by Scylla. Fiesole had survived the general desolation of Italy, during the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth centuries. At the time Donatus and Andrew entered that city as pilgrims and rested in the public hospice, discord and dissension had followed those devastations caused by the Northmen, and the city had been deprived of its Bishop. The people were anxious about the appointment of his successor, and they earnestly prayed the Almighty to send them a good chief pastor. A wonderful miracle revealed to them, that two holy strangers had just arrived; and, it is stated, all the bells of the city began to ring, without human agency; while a voice from Heaven was heard, “Receive the stranger who approaches, Donatus of Scotia, and take him for your shepherd !” This was accepted as a manifestation of God’s holy will. At the same moment, the lamps in all the churches were suddenly extinguished, but only to be succeeded by a miraculous light, which spread over the whole horizon.

With the multitude of the inhabitants, those pious pilgrims sought the chief temple, and there admiring the faithful at their devotions, at first it was supposed that congregation had been collected on the occasion of some great local festival. However, one of the crowd noticing the strangers asked Donatus their names and whence they came. He answered modestly, “We are both Scots; my companion is named Andrew, and I am Donatus; we are both as pilgrims travelling to Rome.” That person, who had heard the voice from Heaven, immediately cried out: “Citizens, that man is present, who has been called by the Almighty.” Public excitement and joy then reached the highest pitch of enthusiasm,and rushing to embrace him, the people exclaimed with one voice, “Father Donatus, as you see, the Lord hath given thee to us. Have pity on our people, and effectively remove the discord and scandal that have hitherto prevailed. Have compassion also on our labours, and do not decline, we humbly request, that mercy which Heaven has thus manifested.” In vain he protested, even with tears, to be allowed to proceed as an humble pilgrim to Rome, and he tried by various arguments to dissuade the people from their purpose. However, the faithful would hear of no refusal; and, at last, knowing it to be in accordance with the Divine will, he yielded to their request. Accordingly, Donat was elected Bishop of Fiesole, where his virtues and merits rendered him so pleasing to the Almighty, that he has since been venerated as its patron saint. No sooner did he assume that sacred office, than he laboured to discharge all its duties with a zeal, prudence and moderation, which gained him the affections of his flock. His noble simplicity of character and his affable manners were united with a piety and judgment, altogether amiable and admirable. The good he encouraged, the bad he reprehended; his advice was wise and his judgments were just; he was liberal in bestowing alms ; he was assiduous in prayer; he was eloquent in exhortation, and true in word; mild and benignant in courtesy to all, it is not surprising, that he gained the affections both of his clergy and the people.

Owing to the persuasion of St. Donat, Andrew became a Deacon to serve the church of Fiesole. At first, he was reluctant to accept that grade of orders, as through sincere humility he did not think himself worthy to advance from the ranks of the laity. However, under the precept of obedience, united with argument and persuasion, he at length conformed to the wishes of his spiritual guide and master. His compliance likewise gave great satisfaction to the clergy and people of Fiesole, among whom he lived, and with whom he was especially popular. In his new position, he endeavoured to emulate the examples of the holy Levites, St. Stephen and St. Laurence, especially in looking after the wants of the poor, and in cheerfully devoting himself to the other various duties assigned him. Thus, the faithful disciple who had followed Donatus from Ireland remained at his side until death, serving him in humility and goodness. Such was his modesty and wisdom, that he was loved and trusted by the people of Fiesole no less than by his master. Furthermore, Donatus had desired to promote him to the office of Archdeacon, so as to raise his rank and esteem in the people’s eyes.

It so happened, that while Andrew was still a deacon, the beloved daughter of a noble and wealthy inhabitant of Fiesole had become paralyzed, while all that medical skill could avail had been tried in vain for her recovery. At last, the father kneeling besought Bishop Donatus, and earnestly implored him to visit his house, and to place his hand on the girl’s head. The Bishop extended his hand, and raising the suppliant, by a sudden inspiration, he called Andrew to their presence. He then declared, that for his deacon was reserved that gift of healing, and then asked Andrew by a precept of obedience, to part with the noble for his house, and to effect the cure. Andrew obeyed accordingly, and when they had both entered the house, that girl was found reclining on a couch. The holy deacon fell upon his knees, and extending his hands towards Heaven prayed with great fervour; then, as if moved by a sudden impulse, he arose, and cried out with a loud voice : “Daughter arise, for our Lord Jesus Christ hath healed thee.” Immediately she arose, to the great astonishment of all present. Then, in a transport of gratitude, she threw herself at the feet of Andrew, kissing them, giving thanks to God and to his servant, through whose intervention she had been restored to strength. Soon the fame of that miracle spread abroad, and especially was Bishop Donatus gratified with the result. Knowing that Andrew was now a choice favourite of Heaven, he pressed on him the acceptance of the highest office in his church. The holy disciple had still a lowly opinion of his own merits ; however, he humbly submitted his own will to that of his beloved Bishop. He was accordingly promoted to be Archdeacon, under him, in the church at Faesule…

It happened one day, that the two attached friends, Donatus and Andrew, were walking together round the foot of a hill at Fiesole, when they came to the banks of the little river Mensola, which flows beneath a certain height. It was crowned by a church dedicated to St. Martin. Ascending the hill, they found that ancient sanctuary in ruins, and on inquring the cause of this desolation from people in the neighbourhood, they learned that it had been laid waste in former days by the barbarous soldiers of Totila. As he stood in his sadness among the broken walls, and bewailed the destruction of that temple, the Bishop wept, and then in silent prayer Donatus entreated of God, to send someone who would restore His church. The deacon Andrew, standing by, and seeing the tears of his most holy father, inquired the cause for his sorrow. Then, lifting up his voice to Heaven, Donatus cried aloud : ” Behold how Thy sanctuaries are laid low, and Thy high places are made desolate, and Thy temple has become the den of robbers and of wicked men, who show tyranny against Thy house before the eyes of all men”. Hearing these words, and filled with the zeal of charity, Andrew humbly offered to the bishop his earnest service for the restoration of the temple, and then, fixing his eyes on the ground, awaited his pleasure and commands. Donatus praised the devotion of the holy man, whose offer corresponded with his own thought. He made the sign of the cross, with hands stretched over him. Blessing him in God’s name, the Bishop said, that henceforth he was free to devote himself to a pious work, and that when he had restored the monastery, he might therein dedicate the remaining days of his life to the Lord, along with such of the brethren as he should chose.

The basilica of St. Martin had almost gone into ruin at that time, but St. Andrew restored it suitably to serve for purposes of public worship. Though the work seemed arduous for a poor and needy man ; yet, strengthened by the holy bishop, Andrew began to clear the sacred place from brambles and from thorns, to search for the ancient foundations, and to dig out the stones of the old walls, hidden under the rubbish. He also prepared new stones, cement, and other things necessary for the building, and with sedulous care. He sought alms from pious and faithful persons in the neigbourhood around ; he hired builders, with whom he laboured himself, continually prosecuting these labours in the restoration of the church, so far as his little body attenuated by fasting allowed.

In a short time, the basilica was not only restored, but enlarged ; moreover, the man of God bought lands sufficient for his small company of monks, with such sums as he could save by a holy parsimony, or earn through his own labours, and that of his brethren. During their labours, they lived on a most scanty subsistence, rejecting all superfluous things, that might soften and enervate the rigour of their penitence. After the completion of their work, he distributed the surplus funds among the poor, not allowing those offerings he received to be hidden in chests, even to the amount of one iota ; for the man of God thought avarice one of the greatest sins of which an ecclesiastic could be guilty.

Having thus established his monastery near that of his master Donatus, Andrew led a holy life in that place, until he attained a good old age. Were we to relate all the miracles which God deigned to grant, in return for the prayers of this holy man, the account should expand beyond those limits usual in sacred writings. In San Martino a Mensola, St. Andrew drew around him a number of devoted men, who, invested with the religious garb, led a life of austerity and purity. Nor can the pen record those glorious deeds of his old age. His gift of working miracles was very extraordinary. He cast out demons, gave sight to the blind, health to the fevered, and strength to the infirm, so that they might live to render thanks to their Creator. Even the afflicted, who touched only his garments, received spiritual comfort, and often bodily health. At San Martino de Mensola the holy man lived, and there, too, he expected, with a tranquil mind, the approach of his latter end.

Thus favoured with supernatural powers by the Almighty, the mind of His holy servant Andrew received spiritual illumination also regarding his approaching dissolution. Having contracted a fever, he called all his brethren together, and affectionately exhorted them to preserve their souls in patience and perseverance, while always fearing the judgment of God. Moreover, he desired them to serve the Lord in that place which he had selected. His moving admonitions greatly affected the children of his household, especially as they now understood their superior’s term of life was fast drawing to a close.

It seems to be pretty well established, that St. Donatus and St. Andrew lived together in Fiesole about the middle of the ninth century; although no certain date can be assigned for their respective dates of death. Nevertheless, as Grausolphus, Bishop of Fiesole, was present at the Council of Rome, held in 826, most likely he was immediately succeeded by Donatus, who nourished there as Bishop forty-seven years, and he was again succeeded by Zenobius Fesulanus, who, among other Bishops, subscribed an Epistle, which issued from the Council of Ravenna, A.D. 877. It seems very probable, as Andrew is said to have survived his master Donatus, and as he was a junior in age to him, that the date for his death must have been towards the close of the ninth century.

Having outlived the holy Bishop Donatus, his faithful friend and master, St. Andrew was afterwards called to bliss. Just before his departure, the memory of his childhood and of his native country came to his mind, and above all others, he thought on his dearly loved sister Brigid, whom he had left behind in Ireland, and whom he had not beheld for upwards of forty years. He longed greatly to see her before his death. Mercifully willing to comfort Andrew, the Lord was pleased to gratify that earnest desire. At this time, Brigid was seated at her retired home, where she lived usually on a frugal meal of salad and of small fishes. Then an angel came to her chamber, and bore her in a miraculous manner to the bedside of Andrew. The monks who stood around his couch were quite amazed, and they were struck dumb at her appearance. In like manner, trembling and awe-struck, Brigid gazed upon her aged and dying brother, as also on those who were there in their strange costumes. She thought it was a vision. However, on lifting up his eyes, Andrew knew what had happened, and looking upon her, he said in tender tones: “Brigid, my beloved sister, long have I wished in my soul to see thee before I die, but all my hope was fading out as death approached, and I remembered the great distance between us. But the fount of eternal love has granted to me, a sinner, this great favour that thou hast now known. Fear not, for it is in very deed and truth Andrew of Ireland, thy brother, whom thou beholdest before thee. Now thou shalt but for a short time see him, whom thou hast thought had long departed from this world. I trusted that God would grant my dying request through thy merits; I always hoped thou wouldst come, a solitary and a penitent, to this place, where far from my country, I have passed my days a feeble soldier, so that my shortcomings might be filled up by the measure of thy virtues. Behold herein the mercy of God. Fear not, but pray for me with all the fervour of thy soul. Behold the hour is at hand and my summons has come. Abandon thy amazement, and know that what thou here seest is true.”

Then, awaking as it were from sleep, Brigid wept through joy, and fervour, and grief; kissing her brother’s hand, she held it tightly, but could not speak, so choked was she by sobs and sighs. She folded her brother in a chaste embrace, and crying out in prayer, she bathed him with her tears. Then wearied in this hour of sorrow, she was at first silent, but afterwards kneeling, she thus broke forth in prayer: “All powerful God, who alone doest marvels, whom the powers of Heaven serve, whom the elements obey, on whom all creatures justly wait, I give Thee thanks with praise and blessing, since Thou hast vouchsafed to Thy handmaiden to lead her to the presence of her brother. All honour and glory be unto Thee.” Then turning to the dying man, she said: “O most holy brother, long years ago the best guide of my youth and the director and guardian of that life which through thy holy persuasion I have dedicated to the Lord, now I both rejoice and mourn at the same moment. For when I see thy weakness, I pity thee in my affection, and yet I grieve and mourn that thou shouldst go so soon from this miserable world wherein thou leavest me unconsoled. But, when I see with what great striving thou hast resisted the temptations of this life, and hast defeated the evil one, and in thy good deeds art justified before the Lord, I exult and rejoice. For the rest, I do but say: whatsoever days remain for me, after thou hast gone, I am resolved to dedicate to thy just will, following in thy footsteps so far as the weakness of my sinful frame allows. I will tarry patiently in this place, whither the angel of the Lord has borne me, so long as God wills, but praying of thee, dearest brother, to entreat of Him, that He may grant a man’s strength to aid my woman’s frailty. And now, my brother! be strong in the Lord, and show in death that strength in the cross, which thou didst bear in life.”

We have already seen in the Acts of this holy sister, St. Brigid, how she was thus miraculously conveyed from Ireland to Fiesole, and how she appeared at her brother’s bed-side to console him when death was approaching. She then expressed her intention of remaining in that place, and of devoting the remainder of her days to the service of the Almighty. When she had spoken, and in the manner already related, the man of God, strengthened by his sister’s words, raised himself on his knees from the hair couch on which he lay, and having clasped his hands on high, so far as his failing strength allowed, he bade farewell to his sister and to his brethren. Then raising his eyes to heaven he prayed, “Receive into thy bosom, O Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour, the spirit of Thy servant Andrew.” Then having covered his eyes, he straightway died. The brethren, who with his sister were praying around him and expecting the hour of his departure, suddenly beheld a splendour of light descend upon the man of God from heaven. Owing to excessive brilliancy, it was more than their eyes could endure, and at the same time, the whole house was filled with a fragrant odour. When that great light returned to the heaven whence it came, and when they could look upon the holy corpse again, they saw Andrew laid upon the bed, as if in sleep, his arms folded and crossed upon his breast.

The monks then, according to their usual custom, reverently carried the body thence, and laid it on a bier opposite the altar, until such time as they could duly celebrate the funeral obsequies. Meanwhile, all the people of Fiesole, male and female, young and old, as if summoned by a heavenly trumpet, left the city and hastened in crowds to the monastery of St. Martin on the Mensola. Moreover, crowds assembled from regions round about, to that place where the body lay. They kissed Andrew’s hands and feet, in their reverence and devotion, carrying away with them as relics whatever little fragments of the holy man’s garments they could secure.

His body was buried in a chapel of the basilica of St. Martin, which he had restored. At the shrine of St. Andrew, many miracles were afterwards wrought, in favour of the infirm and afflicted; while numbers of the faithful from the country around, and pilgrims from afar, were accustomed to frequent his chapel, and to pray for spiritual and temporal blessings, through his merits and intercession.

When consigned to the earth, no particular mark seems to have indicated that exact spot where his body lay; or, at least, in course of time, all memory of it had passed away from popular traditions. However, a miracle revealed the secret, when a married lady of rank and great beauty, but of light character, died. She had been buried over the coffin of St. Andrew, and before his altar. In a vision, the holy man thrice appeared to a priest, who was chaplain to certain nuns at Fiesole, and warned him, that the remains of that lady should be removed, and that the chapel should be purified. As the priest at first had neglected that warning, he was suddenly struck with epilepsy, to the great horror of the nuns, who poured forth their prayers to St. Andrew for his recovery. He was thus restored to his former condition, when that priest declared what had happened in the vision. Then it was resolved, that the mortal and putrid remains of that lady should be removed, and this labour was effected with some difficulty and loathing by the grave diggers. Nevertheless, when that work had been accomplished, on digging somewhat deeper, the workmen found St. Andrew’s coffin, in which his remains were freshly preserved, and from which an agreeable odour then emanated. This event took place in the year 1285. The remains of St. Andrew were therefore raised from that grave, in which they had been so long buried, and with great solemnity, they were placed before the high altar. A handsome shrine had been prepared for their reception; and thenceforward, the veneration for our saint became more extended.

It is stated in the Latin Life of this saint, the miracles then wrought so frequently were notified by testimony sufficiently convincing to the sovereign Pontiff at Rome, who did not hesitate canonically to inscribe Andrew’s name in the Catalogue of the saints. However, confirmation of such statement is otherwise wanting; yet, it seems to have been derived from an ancient local tradition. About the year 1380, a certain noble Florentine matron, having experienced the efficacy of St. Andrew’s intercession, ordered a silver bust of the holy patron to be made, and on it were inscribed these characters: ” D. Andreae natione Scoti, S. Donati Episcopi Faesulani concivis, discipuli, comitis, ac Levitae. Claruit circa Annum DCCCLXXX.” This she brought, and with gratitude she placed it in the church of St, Martin at Mensula. However, as that sanctuary had been exposed to various depredations, the Benedictine monks at Florence translated it thither to their abbey, and for greater security. In it, they enclosed the middle part of St. Andrew’s head. On solemn festivals, and on the octave of the Festival of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that relic was exposed on the high altar of their church; for veneration of the faithful.

From a time very remote, the people of Florence, of Fesule, and of that country around, had established a Confraternity, which assembled in the Church of St. Martin at Mensola, on Sundays and on Festival Days, to practise devotions, and to ask the intercession of St. Andrew. In lapse of time, that religious confraternity had dissolved; but, in 1473, a pious servant of God resolved on its revival, by associating women with men to perpetuate more those devout exercises. However, even the latter sodality fell away, owing to the casualties of intestine wars and pestilence. It was again revived, in 1600, owing to the pious zeal of Father Luke Bartolino, Abbot of the Florentine monastery, and he also ordered the ancient tomb of St. Andrew in the middle of St. Martin’s Church to be restored. Honours were likewise paid to the memory of St. Andrew, long after his death, by the noble family of Mazzini, and in the Church of St. Donninus, where they erected a chapel dedicated specially to him. Also Leonardus Bonafides, afterwards raised to the see of Cortona, took care that a chapel in honour of St. Andrew should be erected in the Church of St. Martin de Mensula ; and, he transferred the relics of our saint to the altar of that chapel with great solemnity. The Roman Pontiffs also granted various indulgences to the faithful who devoutly visited his shrine. Moreover, Leonardus restored the chapel of St. Andrew, and erected a marble altar in it, which was consecrated in 1602, on the xv. Of the August Kalends. In fine, about the year 1613 or 1614, certain workmen repaired the confraternity room and chapel of St. Andrew; in which they were accustomed to assemble, and to celebrate the Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, with St. Andrew, was regarded as their particular patron.

It may be inferred from the foregoing narrative, that the local veneration for St. Andrew has been observed, especially in the country around Fesule, from the ninth to the present century. In the Calendars, he has been recorded, and in many of them with high eulogy. Thus, the Florentine copy of Usuard has the feast of St. Andrew, deacon and minister to St. Donatus of Scotia, at the 22nd of August. While Dempster and Camerarius assign the feast of St. Andrew, Archdeacon of Fesule, to the 4th of August, nearly all other Calendarists are agreed, that his festival belongs more properly to the present date. At the 22nd of August, this holy Archdeacon is commemorated by Philip Ferrarius, in words of eulogy, and he is followed by Castellan. That this was his true festival has been shown by Placidus Puccinello, in the Life of St. Andrew, which is written in Italian. He proves it to have been an ancient custom for the Benedictine monks of the Abbey at Florence to expose, on the 22nd of August, a part of St. Andrew’s head for public veneration of the faithful each year, on the high altar of their church. Moreover, on that same day, the Florentine monks went to the Church of St. Martin at Mensula, and there with the congregation, St. Andrew was solemnly reverenced by them, while the other part of his head was carried around in religious procession. Nor is this proof weakened owing to the circumstance, that a confraternity of working men, instituted to honour their patron saint, have selected the first Sunday after the 22nd of August for a special religious ceremony; because they deemed Sunday to be a more suitable day for collecting a greater number of people to join in their devotions, and to add much more to the solemnity. This saint is probably the Andreas mentioned in Henry Fitzsimon’s list, but without a date for his festival being assigned. A notice of him occurs in the ” Circle of the Seasons,” and also at the present date. Long after St. Andrew’s time, we learn from certain Manuscripts remaining to our own days, that the people of Florence, Faesule and the neighbourhood, were accustomed to assemble, and to celebrate his Festival with great devotion, as also to hear his panegyric pronounced by eloquent preachers.

Although nearly forgotten in his native country, or at least not honoured in a similar manner; yet, among the heavenly choirs, and in the assembly of the saints, his glory remains perpetually preserved, while his virtues on earth have only their transitory record.

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August 22, 2016