DLH VII.1

English, pp.

Although I have every intention of picking up the threads of this history of mine from the point which I reached in the preceding books the feeling of reverence which I have for him compels me to begin by saying something about Saint Salvius, who, as everyone knows, died in this year.

Salvius used often to tell the story of how, during his long years as a layman and while he was busying himself with worldly affairs, he never permitted himself to be ensnared by the carnal desires which so frequently fill the minds of young people. When the spirit of the Holy Ghost finally found a place in his heart, he gave up the struggle of secular existence and entered a monastery. As one now dedicated to Almighty God, he came to I understand that it was better to serve the Lord in poverty and to humble oneself before Him, rather than to keep striving after the wealth of this transient world. He spent long years in his monastery and observed the rule instituted by the Fathers. When the time came for the abbot of the house in question to die, Salvius took over the charge of feeding the flock, for he had by then reached the full force of his physical and intellectual powers. Once he had been given this appointment, it was his duty to mix more freely with the brethren, in order to maintain discipline among them, but instead he became even more withdrawn. He chose for himself a cell which was still more remote, although, as he often used to tell, in his former cell he had become so weak as the result of continuous fasting that he had cast his skin nine times or more. Now that he had been elected Abbot, he lived just as frugally as before, devoting all his time to reading and to prayer. He became convinced that it suited him better to remain hidden away among his monks rather than to appear in public and be addressed as Abbot. Having once come to this conclusion, he said good-bye to the monks and in tum received their farewells. He became a recluse: and in the loneliness of his cell he submitted himself to even greater abstinence than before. At the same time he took good care to observe the law of Christian charity, offering up prayers for all who came to visit the monastery, and giving them the bread of oblation with grace abounding. Time and time again those who arrived with grave afflictions went away cured.

One day when Salvius lay on his bed, gasping for breath and weakened by a high temperature, his cell was suddenly filled with a bright light and the walls seemed to shake. He stretched forth his hands to heaven, and as he gave thanks he breathed forth his spirit. The monks, and his own mother with them, carried his dead body out of the cell, lamenting as they did so: then they washed it, dressed it in the last vestments and placed it upon a bier. They passed the long night in weeping and singing psalms. When morning dawned and all was ready for the funeral office, the corpse began to move on the bier. Salvius' cheeks flushed red again, he stirred himself as if awakened from a deep sleep, opened his eyes, raised his hands and spoke. 'Merciful Lord,' be said, 'why have You done this to me'? Why have You decreed that I should return to this dark place where we dwell on earth'? I should have been so much happier in Your compassion on high, instead of having to begin once again my useless life here below.' Those around him were nonplussed. When they asked him the meaning of the miracle which had occurred, he made no reply.

He rose from the bier, feeling no ill effects from the illness which he had suffered. For three days he remained without food or drink. On the third day he summoned the monks and called his mother in, too. 'My dearest friends,' said he, 'listen to what I have to say. You must understand that all you see in this world is quite without value. "All is vanity"," exactly as the prophet Solomon proclaimed. Happy is he who manages to behave in such a way in this earthly existence that he is rewarded by seeing God in His glory in heaven.' As he said this he began to wonder whether he should speak more fully or leave it at that. He remained silent for a while, but the monks begged him to tell them what he had seen. 'When my cell shook four days ago,' he went on, 'and you saw me lying dead, I was raised up by two angels and carried to the highest pinnacle of heaven, until I seemed to have beneath my feet not only this squalid earth of ours, but the sun and the moon, the clouds and the stars. Then I was led through a gate which shone more brightly than our sunshine and so entered a building where all the floor gleamed with gold and silver. The light was such as I cannot describe to you, and the sense of space was quite beyond our experience. The place was filled with a throng of people who were neither men nor women, a multitude stretching so far, this way and that, that it was not possible to see where it ended. The angels pushed a way for me through the crowd of people who stood in front of me, and so we came to a spot to which our gaze had been directed even while we were still a long way off. Over it hung a cloud more luminous than any light, and yet no sun was visible, no moon and no star: indeed, the cloud shone more brightly than any of these and had a natural brilliance of its i' A Voice came out of the cloud, as the voice of many wate . 8 inner that I am, I was greeted with great deference by a numer of beings, some dressed in priestly vestments and others in everyday dress: my guides told me that these were the martyrs and other holy men whom we honour here on earth and to whom we pray with great devotion. As I stood in the spot where I was ordered to stand there was wafted over me a perfume of such sweetness that, nourished by its delectable essence, I have felt the need of no food or drink until this very moment. Then I heard a Voice which said: "Let this man go back into the world, for our churches have need of him." I heard the Voice; but I could not see who was speaking. Then I threw myself flat on the ground and wept. "Alas! Alas! Lord," I said. "Why have You shown me these things only to ~ take them away from me again? You cast me out today from before Your face and send me back again to a worldly existence which has no substance, powerless as I am ever to return on, I entreat You, Lord, do not turn Your mercy aside from me. Let me stay here, I beseech You, lest, falling once more to earth, I perish." The Voice which spoke to me said: "Go in peace.' I will watch over you, until I bring you back again to this place."! Then my guides left me and I turned back through the gate by which I had entered, weeping as I went.'

As he said this, all those who were with him were amazed. The holy man of God wept. Then he said: 'Woe is me that I have dared to reveal such a mystery! The perfumed essence which I breathed in from that holy place, and by which I have been sustained for three whole days without taking food or drink, has already left me. My tongue is covered with sores and so swollen that it seems to fill my entire mouth. It is only too clear to me that it bas not been pleasing in the eyes of my Lord God that these mysteries should be revealed. You know well, Lord, that I did that which I did in the simplicity of my heart, and in no spirit of vainglory. Have mercy on me, I beseech You, and do not forsake me, according to Your promise.' When he had said this, Salvius fell silent: then be began to eat and drink.

As I set down these words, I am afraid that my story may seem quite incredible to certain of my readers; and I am mindful of what the historian Sallust wrote: 'When we record the virtue or glory of famous men, the reader will readily accept whatever be considers that be might have done himself; anything which exceeds these bounds of possibility he will look upon as untrue. ' 8 I call Almighty God to witness that I have heard from the lips of Salvius himself everything which I have related here.

Many years later the saintly Salvius was forced to leave bis cell, so that he might be elected Bishop and then consecrated against his will. According to my reckoning, he had held this position for ten years when there was an outbreak of plague at Albi and the greater part of the population died as a result. Only a few of the citizens remained alive, but Saint Salvius, that good shepherd, refused to leave his city. There he remained, exhorting those still in the land of the living to pray unceasingly, not to relax in their vigils and to concentrate their minds and their bodies on doing only what was good. 'Always act in such a way,' he used to say, 'that if God should decide to recall you from this world, you may enter not into His judgement but into His peace.' When the time came for God to reveal to Salvius that his own death was near, he prepared his own coffin, and, so I believe, washed himself carefully and put on his shroud. He died in blessed contemplation, with his thoughts turned towards heaven. He was an extremely holy man. He had no wish whatsoever for possessions and simply refused to accept money: if anyone ever forced it upon him, he would immediately hand it over to the poor. During his period as Bishop, the patrician Mummolus carried off many of the inhabitants of Albi as his prisoners, but Salvius followed him and managed to persuade him to free them all. The Lord gave him such influence over these people that those who had captured the Albigeois accepted a reduction in the ransom which they bad asked and even gave presents to Salvius. In this way he liberated the townsfolk of his own diocese and restored them to their former state.

I have heard many other imptoving stories told about him; but I must not tell you any more, for I want to press on with the History which I have begun.

Latin, pp.

1. De obitu sancti Salvii episcopi.

Licet sit studium historiam prosequi, quam priorum librorum ordo reliquid, tamen prius aliqua de beati Salvii obitu exposcit loqui devotio, qui hoc anno obisse probatur. Hic enim, ut ipse referre erat solitus, diu in habitu saeculari commoratus, cum iudicibus saeculi mundialis causas est exsecutus; numquam tamen se in his concupiscentiis oblegans, quibus adoliscentum animus solitus est inplicari. Iam cum divini spiramenti odor interna viscerum attigisset, relicta saeculari militia, monastyrio expetivit; intellexitque vir iam tunc divinitati deditus, melius esse uti paupertatem cum Dei timore quam saeculi pereuntis lucra sectari. In quo monastyrio diu sub regula a patribus instituta versatus est. Iam vero cum in robore maiori tam intellectus quam aetatis evectus esset, defuncto abbate, qui huic monasterio praeerat, alendi gregis suscepit officium; et qui se magis fratribus publicum pro correctione reddere debuerat, fit, adsumpto honore, remutior. Ilico sibi secretiorem cellolam quaerit; nam in priore, ut ipse adserebat, amplius quam novem vicibus, nimia excesus abstinentia, pellem corporis demutavit. Denique accepto honore, cum in hac contentus parsimonia orationi et lectioni vacaret, illud plerumque revolvebat, melius sibi fieri, si esset inter monachos occultus, quam nomen acciperit abbatis in populos. Quid plura? Includitur vale dicens fratribus sibique ipsis vale dicentibus. In qua inclusione in omni abstinentia magis, quam prius egerat, commoratur, studens pro caritatis obsequio, ut, cum quisque venisset extraneus, et orationem tribuerit et eoglogias gratiam plenissimam ministraret; quae multis infirmis plerumque salutem integram detulerunt. Quodam autem tempore, febre nimia exaustus, hanillus iacebat in lectulo, et ecce! subito magno lumine cellola clarificata contremuit. Ad ille, extensis ad caelum manibus, cum gratiarum actione spiritum exalavit. Mixto quoque ululatu monachi cum ipsius genetrice corpus defuncti extrahunt, aqua diluunt, vestimentis induunt et feretro superponunt, adque in psallentio fletuque labentem exegunt noctem. Mane autem facto, funeris officio praeparato, corpus movere coepit in feretro. Et ecce! malis robiscentibus, vir, quasi de gravi somno suscitatus, excutitur, apertisque oculis, manibus elevatis, ait: 'O Domine misericors, quid fecisti mihi, ut me in hunc tenebrosum mundanae habitationis locum redire permitteris, cum mihi melior esset in caelo tua misericordia quam istius mundi vita nequissima?' Stupentibus autem suis et interrogantibus, quid fuerit tale prodigium, nihil interrogantibus ille respondit. Surgens autem de feretro, nihil mali sentiens de incommodo quod laboraverat, triduo absque cibi ac poculi perstetit alimento. Die autem tertio convocatis monachis et matrem, ait: 'Audite, o dilectissimi, et intellegite, quia nihil est, quod cernitis in hoc mundo; sed sunt iuxta id quae Salomon propheta cecinit: Omnia vanitas. Felix est enim qui ea agere potest in saeculo, ut gloriam Dei cernere mereatur in caelo'. Et cum haec dicerit, dubitare coepit, utrum loqueretur amplius an sileret. Quo tacente, inplicitus fratrum praecibus, ut quid vidisset exponerit, ait: 'Cum me ante hos quattuor dies, contremiscente cellola, exanimem vidistis, adpraehensus a duobus angelis in caelorum excelsa sublatus sum, ita ut non solum hunc squalidum saeculum, verum etiam solem ac lunam, nubes et sidera sub pedibus habere potarem. Deinde per portam luce ista clariorem introductus sum in illud habitaculum, in quo omne pavimentum erat quasi aurum argentumque renitens, lux ineffabilis, amplitudo inenarrabilis; quam ita multitudo promiscui sexus obtexerat, ut longitudo ac latitudo catervae prorsus pervidere non possit. Cumque nobis via inter conpraementes ab his qui praecedebant angelis pararetur, pervenimus ad locum, quem iam de longinquo contemplabamus; in quo superpendebat nubs omne luce lucidior, in quo non sol, non luna, non astrum cerni poterat, sed super his omnibus naturali luce splendidius effulgebat, et vox procedebat e nubi, tamquam vox aquarum multarum. Ibi etiam me peccatori humiliter salutabant viri in veste sacerdotali ac saeculari; quos mihi qui praecedebant enarraverunt esse martyres ac confessores, quos hic summo excolemus famulatu. Stans igitur in loco in quo iussus sum, operuit me odor nimiae suavitatis, ita ut, ab hac suavitate refectus, nullum adhuc cybum potumque desiderarem. Et audivi vocem dicentem: ÏRevertatur hic in saeculo, quoniam necessarius est aeclesiis nostris". Vox enim audiebatur; nam qui loqueretur, paenitus cerni non poterat. Et ego prostratus super pavimentum cum fletu dicebam: ÏHeu, heu, Domine, quur mihi haec ostendisti, si ab his frustrandus eram! Ecce hodie eiecis me a facie tua, ut revertar ad saeculum fragilem et hic ultra redire non valeam. Ne, queso, Domine, auferas misericordiam tuam a me, sed depraecor, ut permittas me hic habitare, ne illic decidens peream". Et ait vox, quae loquebatur mihi: ÏVade in pace. Ego enim sum custus tuus, donec reducam te in hoc loco". Tunc relictus a comitibus meis, discedens cum fletu, per portam quam ingressus fueram hic sum regressus'. Haec eo loquente, stupentibus cunctis qui aderant, coepit iterum sanctus Dei cum lacrimis dicere: 'Vae mihi, quia talem misterium ausus sum revelare. Ecce enim odor suavitatis, quam de loco sancto hauseram, et in quo per hoc triduum sine ullo cybo potuque sustentatus sum, recessit a me. Sed et lingua mea gravibus est operta vulneribus et ita tumefacta, ut omne os meum videatur implere. Et scio, quia non fuit bene placitum domino Deo meo, ut haec arcana vulgarentur. Sed tu nosti, Domine, quia in simplicitate cordis haec feci, non in iactantia mentis. Sed quaeso, indulgeas et non me derelinquas iuxta pollicitationem tuam'. Et haec dicens siluit et accepit cybum potumque. Ego vero haec scribens vereor, ne alicui legenti sit incredibile, iuxta id quod Salustius historiam scribens ait: Ubi de virtute adque gloriam bonorum memores, quae sibi quisque facilia factu putat, aequo animo accepit; supra ea veluti ficta pro falsis ducit. Nam testor Deum omnipotentem, quia ab ipsius ore omnia quae rettuli audita cognovi. Post multum vero tempus ipse vir beatus a cellola sua extractus, ad episcopatum electus, invitus est ordinatus. In quo, ut opinor, decimo anno cum agerit, invalescente apud Albigensem urbem inguinario morbo et maxima iam parte de populo illo defuncta, cum iam pauci de civibus remanerent, vir beatus tamquam bonus pastor numquam ab illo loco recedere voluit; sed semper ortabatur eos, qui relicti fuerant, oratione incunibere ac vigiliis instanter insistere et bona semper tam in operibus quam in cogitatione versare, dicens: 'Haec agite, ut, si vos Deus de hoc mundo migrare voluerit, non in iudicium, sed in requiem introire possitis'. Cum autem, ut credo, iam revelante Domino, tempus suae vocationis agnusceret, ipse sibi sarcofagum conposuit, corpus abluit, vestem induit; et sic intentum semper caelo beatum spiritum exalavit. Fuit autem magnae sanctitatis minimaeque cupiditatis, aurum numquam habere volens. Nam, si coactus accepisset, protinus pauperibus erogabat. Cuius tempore cum Mummolus patricius multos captivos ab ea urbe duxisset , prosecutus ille omnes redemit. Tantamque ei Dominus gratiam cum populo illo tribuit, ut ipsi etiam qui captivos duxerant et de praetio ei concederent et in reliquo munerarent; et sic patriae suae captivos libertati pristinae restauravit. Multaque de hoc viro bona audivi; sed dum ad historiae ceptum reverti cupio, plurima praetermitto.