No More Learning

:
Acts of St. Magnus, whether printed or in
manuscript.
Hi In the "Vita S. Galli" of VValafridus
Strabo, this desecration of the holy abbot's
introduces him as bearing originally the name
Magnoaldus, and then having had the name
of Magnus bestowed on him,by Columbanus,
the same holy abbot now proclaiming in the
ii. ,
• ^ The Bollandist editor, Father
fa This is to be found in all the known by the writer of St. Magnus' Acts, who first
tomb is said to have occurred forty years spirit of prophecy, that the people of his
afterthetimeofhisdeath. Mabillonwrites: futuremissionshouldbestowonhimsucha
"
nem hoc loco esse viri docti existimant. "
" Annales Ordinis Sancti Benedicti/' tomus dist version—chap. i. and ii. , with accom- i. , lib. xiii. , sect, xxxiii. , p. 393. panying notes.
QuamquamneeWalafridumerrorisimmu—- name.
B? See the Vita Pseudo-Theodori—
Boilan-
134 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
CHAPTER II.
ST. MAGNUS BECOMES THE ATTENDANT OF ST. GALL—HE IS SENT BY THE LATTER TO BOBBIO—HK BRINGS BACK AN ACCOUNT OF ST. COLUMBAN'S DEATH, AS ALSO HIS EPISTLE AND STAFF, TO ST. GALL—MAGNUS ASSISTS AT THE OBSEQUIES OF ST. GALL- OUTRAGES OFFERED TO THE REMAINS, AND RESTORATION OF HIS TOMB BY ST. MAGNUS AND THE MONKS—ST. MAGNUS AND THEODORE LEAVE ST. GALL'S MONASTERY AND JOURNEY EASTWARDS—THEY VISIT KEMPTEN, WHERE A DRAGON IS DESTROYED BY A MIRACLE—ST. MAGNUS GOES TO FUSSEN, WHENCE DEMONS ARE EXPELLED—THERE HE FOUNDS A MONASTERY.
Thus had St. Columban prophesied, that St. Magnoald should convert the
'
people of the Julian Alps to the faith of Christ j and, full of tenderness for
the helpless condition of his new superior, after the departure of St. Columban
2
into Italy, Magnoald attached himself to St. Gall.
holy priest, named Willimar,3 lived at a place called Arbon, of which he had pastoral charge and direction. About the year 612, and during the summer or autumn season, St. Gall appears to have sought his protection. 4 Magnoald and Theodore s had then become the faithful disciples and servants of St. Gall, so that their cares were employed with those of Willimar, to procure their beloved superior's restoration to health. This was happily effected after some time, when St. Gall resumed his apostolic labours among the people, and by his preaching to them the words of truth, he also brought
Chapter ii. —* The are well known Gall, has edited, in a Vita S. Galli, and Alps 1829,
as the dominant chain of European moun- for nearly 900 years previous, it had been tains. The highest of those is Mont Blanc, noted as a codex, in the Catalogue of St. 15,732 feet above the sea-level. From tiie Gall's books, as "VilaSS. patrumColumbani knot or culmi. ating points, in which meet et Galli, in vol. II. antiquitus dicata. " This the St. Gothard, the Vogelsberg, the is much more ancient than the Life of St.
Bernardine, the Splugen and the Sep- timer—that group known to the ancients under the name of Mom Adtila—a. ? , in a common centre, branches are divergent, and by which a connection is established with the Apennines, the Pyrenees, the • Vosges, the Hartz, the Sudetes, the Car- pathians, and the Balkans. The highest summits are in Switzerland. The Julian, or Panonian, Alps send one branch north- wards into Sclavonia, separating the basins of the Save and of the Drave ; while the other branches or southern Alps form a
range of bare and rocky mountains, rising
almost perpendicularly on the north-wc^i
shores of the Adriatic, and stretching thence
to the confines of Servia and Macedonia.
The course of the Julian Alps is very sinuous,
Gall by Walafridus Strabo, who describes it
to his own biography.
3 So is he called in the Vita S. Galli, by
Walafridus Strabo. By Canisius he is named Willimacus.
in many cases ; but, it lies generally to the excited, that the missionaries were expelled
south east, and along the shores of the from that neighbourhood. See Dr. Dun-
""
Adriaiic. See Gazetteer of the World,"
vol. i. , pp. 180 to 185.
"Mud] o! what here follows is omitted from
Europe during the Middle Ages," vol. ii. , chap, ii. , p. 185. London, 1833, l2mo.
5 According to Walafridus Strabo, at first, they had been clerics of Willimarus. In the from Walafridus Strabo's Liie of St. Gall. more ancient Vita S. Galli, they are
the Acts of St. Magnus, as given by Gokiast, and the substance appears to have been taken
However, in Georgius Heinricus Pertz's "Monumenta Germanise Historica," tomus ii. , Udephonsus von Arx, Librarian of St.
designated Maginoldus or Maginaldus and Theodorus. See Pertz's " Monumenta Ger-
maniae Historica," tomus ii. , pp. 5, 13, 14.
as rude in style, as wanting a
ham's
At this time, a very
division into chapters, as incorrectly writing Alamanniam by the term Altimaniam, and as not having the Miracles which he added in the Second Book of St. Gall's life. Nevertheless, as Walafridus Strabo evidently used the more ancient Life in compiling his Vita S. Galli, it has an authenticity for particulars, superior
4
idolatry, St. Gall had thrown the offerings of the pagans to their idols into the Lake of Zuric, and by even burning their temples, the indignation of the idolaters was so
In the excess of his zeal to extirpate
September 6. ) LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 135
salvation to their souls. A certain deacon, named Hiltibold,6 knew all the passes of that rough country, and in the wilderness he selected an open and a spacious plain, with a circle of mountains around, and a river running through it—most beautiful and suitable for a religious establishment. But, it was infested with wild beasts and serpents, as also by demons who haunted the place. Thither St. Gall brought his disciples, Magnoald and Theodore, to a mountain called Himiiinberg. ? Through their united exertions and prayers, the noxious animals were banished. Then a cell was there built.
While they were living in that place, a messenger came to the priest,
announcing the death of the Bishop of Constance,8 named Gaudentius,? and
this caused them great sorrow, but they unitedly offered up prayers for the
repose of his soul. After a short time, a letter was sent from a magnate
named Gunzon, 10 who besought St. Gall to visit his only daughter " possessed
by a malignant spirit, and to release her from such an evil. The holy
superior, thinking very humbly of his own powers, refused to go ; but, pressed
repeatedly by the noble, and on being told, that for three days his daughter
could not take food, St. Gall betook himself to earnest prayer. Trusting in
God's mercy and goodness, he set. out with the Duke's messengers for his
12
The
and Theodore as his
of Magnoald and the order of St. Gall caused the energumen's restoration to a sound state of mind, to the great joy of her parents. The father then offered St. Gall rich presents, and also prayed him to accept episcopal conse-
having Magnoald
house,
cration. ^ Whereupon, the holy man answered
this incident here, for my beloved Magnoald is aware that my blessed superior Columban has interdicted my offering at the altar while he lives, and I dare not accept such an office without his permission. Wherefore, I cannot assume the weight of such government. But, if you greatly desire this to be accomplished, wait awhile, until I shall have sent my present companion with a letter to my abbot the blessed Columban, and if I learn his will, and have his permission, then shall I undertake the burden of
care
you have said. " Accepting the gifts offered by the Duke, St. Gall took a courteous leave.
pastoral
urged by you. " Whereupon
6
a deacon subject to Willimar. is said to have been espoused to Sigebert, the
7
In his glosses to the Vita S. Galli, son of Theodoric ; but, after her cure by St.
AccordingtoWalafridusStrabo,hewas. sheisnamedFridiburga. Atthattime,she
Goldast writes regarding this mountain :
Gall, she embraced a religious life, and by Sigebert himself, she was installed as Superioress of the Parthenon of St. Peter, in Metz. However, several particulars recounted in this narrative are regarded as
"Mons Coelius nonnumquam a monachis,
interdum Mons Cceli, olim Monkelen, nunc
Menkelen, dictus. " According to Matthaeus
Merianus, this mountain was not far from
the city of St. Gall. See "Topographia fabulous. See Pere Charles le Cointe's
Helvetia? ,'' P» 59-
"Annales Ecclesiastici Francorum," tomu s
ii. , at A. D. 614.
12 In the " Vita S. Galli " of Walafridus
8
See an interesting account of the Lake
and Town of Constance, in Rev. William "
Cox's Travels in Switzerland, and in the Strabo, "ad Iburningas villam. " To this
Country of the Grisons," vol. i. , letter 3, pp. 14 to 23.
9 He died ah. 614, according to Pere
Charles le Cointe. See "Annales Ecclesias-
tici Francorum, toraui ii. , at a. d. 614.
passage, Goldast has appended this note:
10 "
Scilicet Alamanniae seu Sueviae, . Manuscripts, Bruxelles, vol. xviii. , there
"
a Snevis, vocantur Gunsenpfenning, de of Martinus Crucis, concerning Ireland,
auctoris illorum nummorum, qui hodieque are extracts, from the
Annales Suevici,"
in libro De Nummis German- orum. "—Goldast.
'3 for the See of Namely,
quibus
Constance, then vacant owing to the death of Bishop
"" In Walafridus Strabo's
Vita S. Galli,"
Gaudentius.
companions.
prayer
:
" Behold my witness of
Gunzon u Be it then as replied :
"
mannise ac Sueviae ducum sedes, nunc libera imperii Romani urbs, Uberlingen. " In X<>. S. SMj among the Burgundian Library
In dextro litore lacus Pontamici, turn Ala-
i36 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
Magnoald assumed charge of these gifts presented, and with the aid of his
helpmates, Theodore and Othmar, 1 * he brought them to the vessel on Lake
Constance. St. GallhadobtainedfromtheDuke,thatthePrefectofArbon'5
should aid as desired in building his monastery. When he had come to the
fort, at that place, St. Gall desired Magnoald to collect all the poor he could
find, and distribute among them the gilts of Duke Gunzon. Then replied
"
have a precious silver vessel, and are you pieased I should keep it, to serve
Magnoald :
Father, all you have commanded I shall willingly do ; but I
"
you possess with other valuables to the poor, lest you be in contradiction to
a salutary example, remembering what St. Peter said to the paralytic asking for alms, 'Silver and gold I have none. ' " l6 On hearing this, Magnoald gave thanks to God for such an order, and distributed all to the poor. These
things accomplished, they retired to that chosen place in the wilderness,
where with commenced their cell. 1 ? — prudent design they building religious
as a sacred objeci ? " St. Gall answered :
Son, take heed to give that vessel
18 x St. Gall sent a letter to a certain deacon 9
of approved virtue and learning, John was presented to the Duke as a man eminently deserving episcopal promotion. Whereupon, with the approval of other bishops and of all the people, the patron selected him for the vacant
See of Constance, and with tne customary solemn rites, he was duly consecrated. i0 St. Gall preached a remarkable discourse on this occasion,-"
which the newly-consecrated bisiiop explained to the people in their own vernacular language. About the year 614, with the concurrence of St. Gall,
Not — long afterwards,
John
requesting him to come, and when lie complied, the holy
one of his disciples
Abbot gave him a course of instruction in the Sacred Scriptures. At length,
and in the thirty-second or thirty-third year ol his age, St. Magnus, who had 2-'
lived with the priest named Wnlimar, at Aruon, near Bregentz, is said to
2 havebeenordaineddeacon,3byBishopJohnofConstance. Atterreceiving
that grade of Holy Orders, and with the bishop's benediction, he returned to the ceil of his spiritual lather, St. Gall, who aitcrwards gave name to the well- known town m and Canton 25 of Switzerland. Aided by the munificence of King Sigibert and Duke Gunzon, St. Gali and St. Magnoald are said to have
M To this statement, Father Saysken takes 2I "Canisius est le premier qui a tire ce exception, as the well-known Abbot discours de la poussiere. On le trove dans
Othmar could not have been a disciple to
St. Gall. Perhaps, however, the present Othmar may have been quite a different
person.
15 An ancient town of Switzerland on the
south bank of Lake Constance, about 8 miles N. E. from St. Gall. See " Gazetteer of the World," vol. 1. , p. 318.
16 See Acts, iii, 6.
' 7 There subsequently arose the celebrated monastery of St. Gali, called by the people of that country St. Gallen, in the canton of Switzerland so named, and near the southern shore ol Lake Constance.
" The previous portion of the Acts of
St. are omitted in tiiat veision Magnus pub-
lishett by Goldast.
* The writers of "Gallia Chi istiana" have
dignified him with tne title of Beatus, and style him the tenth bishop of Windisch and Constance, in Switzerland. See tomus v. , col. 893.
le cinquieme volume de ses Legons antiques,
qui parut a Ingolstast en 1604, et dans le premier tome cie la nouvelle edition qu'en a public^ M. Basnage. "—" Histoire Lheraire de la France," tome iii. , vii. Siecle, p. 563.
"Anciently called Brigantium by the Romans, "opp. Rhoetise, in Suevia, ad Brigantinum iacum, comitat. olim, urbs
80 See Canisius, tomus v. , p. 896.
" Antiqu* Lectiones,"
Baudrand's"Novum Lexicon Geographicum," tomus i. , p. 131.
JJ However, in a note, Father Suysnen points out what seems to him connecting statements, between what is to be found in the . lets of St. Magnus and those of St. Gall, as related by Walalridus Strabo.
* 4 An account of it be interesting may
"'
found in Rev. William Coxes Travels in
Switzerland and in the Country ol the
Griaons," vol. L, letter 4, pp. 24 to 30.
,J 1 lie borders of Lake Zurich "embrace the three Cantons of Zurich, Sehwytz, and
"
St. Gall. "—J. S. Buckingham's Belgium,
the Rhine, Switzerland, and Holland," vol. ii. , chap, ii. , p. 26.
Rhcetioeprimaria,"&c. —
September 6. 1 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. '37
set about the construction of a magnificent monastery and church. 26 Both of these have long since
disappeared. 3? To them was added a
school, based on the
regulations introduced by St. Columban, in his former house at Luxeu.
The former monastery has now been con verted
into a gymnasium, and the old Abbey Library still contains over
28 1,000 manuscripts,
many of these being most rare and valu- able. ^ The former Abbey Church 3° of later erection is one of the finest in Switzer- land; and the facade especially, with its magnificent towers on either angle, has been greatly admired. 31 I n the old monastic school, apiousGerman
2 youth, Othmar,3 re-
St. Gall's Church.
that name who governed the monastery there during the eighth century. 34
26
However,thisseemst obeanexaggeration,
as it was only in the eighth century the
monastery of St. Gall began to assume its
truly noble proportions, under the rule of still pre. -eived in that library, several of
Abbot Othmar. At present, according to local tradition, a chapel is shown, as standing on the very site of St. Gall's original church.
which have been brought under the writer's
personal inspection, by the learned and courteous sub-librarian, on the occasion of a visit to St. Gallen, in September, 1886. The Chevalier Constantino Nigra, in his
Celtiche," has examined and particularly described those Irish manu- scripts in the Library of St. Gall, in his valuable and learned work. Firenze, Torino,
Roma, 1872, 4to.
3° Now the Cathedral of St. Gall. 31 An illustration of from a local
21 The monastery has been suppressed.
The last Abbot of St. Gall, Pancratius, having lost all his domains and revenues, "
Reliquie
and having vainly endeavoured to interest the Allied Powers in his favour, refused a pension offered to him, in 1814, and claimed the restoration of his former rights, lie afterwards retired to the Convent of Mtiri, in the Canton of Lucerne.
28
Among these, Poggio Bracciolini and
other learned men discovered in the Middle
Ages copies of several classic works, which tration. had been considered until then, as having 32
photo-
ceived his early educa- tion. By some, it has been supposed, he had been an early Abbot of St. Gall,33 and to be distinguished from the celebrated Abbot of
been lost. See Charles Knight's "Penny
Cyclopaedia/' vol. xi. , p. 48.
29 A great number of Irish manuscripts are
it,
graph, drawn on the wood and engraved by
Gregor Grey, is here presented as an illus-
According
to the Acts of St. Magnus,
i 3 8 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [Septkmkkr (>.
After the recital of the midnight office, and when the monks hud retired to their beds for a little rest, on a certain morning at day-break, St. Gall
"
arose. the Deacon Calling
he said
for the holy oblation, that without delay, I may celebrate the Divine
vigils night,
a vision, that my Abbot and Father Columbanus has passed from the troubles of this life to the joys of Paradise,35 and for his eternal repose I must immolate the Victim of Propitiation. " The usual sign being given, on entering the oratory, they prayed ; then Mass commenced, and an offering was made for the repose of St. Columban. 36 Having concluded the Holy Sacrifice,theVenerableGallussaidtohisDeaconMagnoald "Myson,let
what is Mysteries. " Magnoald asked if he were then about to offer up the holy
Magnoald,
:
Prepare
requisite
:
Mass. The Abbot answered " After the of this I learned from
:
not the weight of my request be too great for you, but set out for Italy to the Monastery of Bobbio, and bring me an exact account of what has happened tomyAbbot. Notealsothedayandthehour,sothatifyoufindhimtobe dead, you may know whether or not my vision has been truly fulfilled. Learning all those circumstances, and with careful enquiries, bring the account backtome. " Castinghimselfatthefeetofhissuperior,thedeacondeclared the way was unknown to him. But, the venerable Abbot addressed him in gentle tones of comfort and assurance, that the Lord would guide his steps. Then recollecting the prophetic words of St. Columban, that he should go into Italy, and to his tomb, as also to bring back the Cambuta, for a token of St. Gall's absolution, Magnoald asked the abbot's benediction, and immediately he prepared for the journey. Thus, in the year 615, St. Magnus is said to have been sent by St. Gall to the Monastery of Bobbio,37 in Italy, so that he might make exact enquiries, regarding the death of St. Columban.
In token of reconciliation with the great Abbot of Bobbio, St. Magnus, after one night's stay, brought a letter and his staff back to St. Gall. This latter was known as the Cambutta,38 and it was to serve as a token of his reconciliation and absolution. This seems to have been a walking-stick,
used by the venerable Abbot, and the original material was wood of an
he and St. Gall in conjunction "juxta doctrinam magistri Columbani, disciplinam Grammatical artis, seu ceterorum librorum
divinorum, eum erudientes, magistrum scola? constituerunt. "
33 Such is the opinion of Pere Charles le Cointe, who thinks that there had been two Othmars : the first a disciple of St. Gall and St. Magnus, and who flourished in the seventh century ; the other renowned as
olympiade. "—" Histoire Literaire de la
France,'' tome iii. , vii. Siecle, p. 509.
36 See Mabillon's " Annales Ordinis S.
Benedicti," tomus i. , lib. xi. , sect, xvii. ,
p. 309.
37 It was built near the River Trebbia,
Abbot of St. Gall, who lived in the eighth century. See "Annales Ecclesiastici Francorum," tomus iii. , at A. D. 661, num. 2.
at the foot of the Apennines, and about forty-five miles N. E. from Genoa. In course of time, a town grew around it, and it became the see of a bishop. See ** Gazetteer of the World," vol. ii. , 787.
the
holy
p.
38 Also written cambutla and cambolia. Du Cange derives it from " cam-bot " or " bot-cam," used by the Armorican Britons toexpressacrooked-stick. See"Glossanum
34 This opinion is rejected by Father Suysken, who admits, however, that some
— whom
Othmar about little can now be
ct
ad Scriptores Medise infimae Latinitatis,"
it
tomus ii. , col. 72. But, has other
known had received his education from St. Gall and St. Magnus.
significations. It is used to denote an 35 St. Columbanus is thought to have episcopal or abbatial crozier, while
departed this life on the xi. of the December Kalends, A. D. 615. "II est neanmoins certain qu'il avoit attaint l'age de soixante- douze-ans, lorsqu'il ^crivit son poeme a Fedolius,quiparoitavoiret6fait pendant sa derniere maladie. II dit expressement qu'il etait a la fin de sa dix-huiiieme
sometimes it seems to be distinguished from
either, although ornamented with gold and silver, as we read, in Gestis Gaufredi
EpiscopiCenoman: "Cambutamargenteam
magnipondeiisdeaurat—ametoperedecoram
cum baculo pastorali. " lecta," tomus iii. , p. 390.
Mabillon's "Ana-
September 6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. i39
unknown species, which, at a later period, had been covered with silver-
plating^ partly intended for ornament, and partly to preserve it from the
decay of time, especially as it was liable to be frequently used, and it bore
1
other relics enclosed/ It was ornamented with a carved figure/ supposed
to represent St. Magnus, with curious figures and designs. The staff is about three feet, Antwerp measure, in height; whether originally curved is not
known, but at present it presents a straight appearance. This was long afterwards preserved at St. Gall/2 and at a later time, as a relic in Fiissen. 43
Withallpossiblespeedthemessengerreturnedhomewards,butit tookhim
eight days to accomplish that journey through a rough and mountainous country. When the Epistle of Columban had been presented to St. Gall and read by him, tenderly recollecting their mutual love and former relation- ship, he shed tears. Calling the monks together, he manifested the greatness of his sorrow, and all joined in prayer and sacrifice for the beatitude of their illustrious Patriarch.
For ten years after this Italian visit, St. Magnus remained with St. Gall. *4
At the end of that period, seeing his superior begin to fail in strength, and when he had contracted a fever, a message was sent to John, Bishop ot
Constance. Hearing of that illness, the devoted prelate immediately set out,
with him delicacies of food and drink 4 $ for his venerable friend but, when he approached the town of Arbon,46 news reached him, that St.
bearing
;
Blessed Abbot Notker Balbulus, who flourished there in the ninth and beginning 01 the tenth century. At this time it sus- tained a fracture. The account is contained in the tract of Ekkehardus Junior—a writer of the eleventh century—"De Casibus
1'
39 A description of this staff, furnished by
the Rev. Father Columban Zeiller, a
professed religious of the monastery at Fiiessen, to the Rev. Father Maurice
Chardon, Rector ot the Jesuit College of
Constance, had been communicated to
Father Suysken, and from his details, we
have incorporated the particulars in our
text. To make the description stilt more Gall, in a Life of the same Notker, and a intelligible to the student of ecclesiastical writer of the thirteenth century, as found antiquities, Father Suysken has introduced in the Bollandists' "Acta Sanctorum,"
an interesting copperplate engraving of the subject, and which runs the length of a
column on page 725.
40 Whether this be of gold, or silver-gilt,
is not stated.
41 The Abbot Henry, writing on the 14th of August, a. d. 1607, causeu the case in whien they had been kept to be opened, in the presence of Father Abraham Hayl, sub-prior, Father Caspar Weber, sacristan, and some seculars. Then were disclosed s—evenparticles—in Germansivenpenggelin
tomus i. , Aprilis vi. , the date assigned for his testival.
43 At what time it had been transferred to this place does not appear ; but, in the process of Notker Balbulus' Canonization, begun on the 2nd of July, A. D. 1513, Ulricus Herr, a professed religious of the monastery of St. Gall, testifies, that a very ancient staff, having a fracture, and of which mention had been made in the Twenty- sixth chapter of "Vita B. Notkeri,'' was produced, "qui dicitur baculus S. Colum- bani, cum quo idem B. Notkerus dacmonem
find any statement to inform us, as to whether the staff had been brought at that time from the monastery of St. Gall, or from that of Fiissen.
yet no papers were placed, they were then destroyed through
inveni, rehquias divae Vnginis, S. Benedicti,
elegantly arranged
;
to be found, or if such had been there verberasse asseritur. " However, we do not
lapse of time- He adds
et bacuhun S. iMagni, aperire curavi, ubi,
:
" liac occasione
S. Magni, S. Galb, S. Udalrici, 44 In Goldast's edition we read " Com- :
S. Seba. stiani, S. Eustachi et Mauritii, cum moratus est autem B. Magnoaldus cum S.