There in a lonely sonet Septenarium, qui Grsec£ dicitur and uncultivated
situation
was a small iirra.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
[September 6.
admirably pictured incidents in his life, and representations of some miracles
wrought by St. Magnus. The high altar, magnificently and skilfully carved from precious marble, closed the choir, and the pavement of the choir was of black and white marble, in a varied and harmonizing pattern. There are eight chapels wi—thin the church : two larger ones within the transepts ; and
and
six smaller ones all of their altars being marble
two smaller ones. A few steps conduct to the entrance of two subterranean chapels: one of these is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and there is the baptismal font, enclosed within a marble baptistery. But, the chapel of St. Magnus, which adjoins, is still more ornate ; for not alone is the altar of marble, but the walls and pavement are exquisitely adorned with varied coloured marbles, and arranged with great artistic taste. Tradition maintains, that this latter chapel stands on the original site of the cell of St. Magnus. ? ?
CHAPTER III.
ST. MAGNUS IS PATRONISED BY KING PIPPIN—ORDAINED PRIEST BY BISHOP WICTHERP—MIRACLES WROUGHT AT FUSSEN—BISHOP TOZZO VISITED ST. MAGNUS AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH—INTERMENT BY THEODORE—A MEMOIR PLACED IN HIS COFFIN—RESTORATION OF HIS CHURCH BY CHARLEMAGNE—TRANSLATION OF ST. MAGNOALD'S REMAINS TO A NEW SHRINE—MIRACLES THEN AND AFTER- WARDS WROUGHT—COMMEMORATIONS AND FESTIVALS—CONCLUSION.
Some religious clerics were soon found to place themselves under the rule
1
of St. Magnus, and they were recommended to his care by the good prelate,
who also furnished the means necessary for their support. He is said, like- wise, to have furnished a recommendation in person to the renowned King
Peppin
Pippin d'H£ristall,3
Germany
Gaul,*
2 or who then ruled over and
Begga, of Pepin le Vieux, or of Landen,
mayor of the palace under Sigebert III. , son of Dagobert, who died A. I). 638, and whom lie survived only one year. In concert with his brother Martin, Pepin dTIeristal declared war against the King of Neustria, or rather against the mayor or his house, the able minister, Ebroin. Their career commenced by getting rid of the Merovin- gian King Dagobert II. , who then ruled in
» Father Chardon adds " Sacellum S.
:
Magni ab initio et prima monasteni funda-
tione ereclum, antiquissime documenta dicunt fuisse habitaculum et ipsissimam cellam, in qua S. Magnus primus fundator et patronus noster habitavit in vivis ; et ideo semper in summo honore habitual, ssepius cum monasterio et ecclesia, partim incendi, partim devastationibus destructum, sed semper iterum innovatum, cum ecclesia et
monasterio anno MDCCI. noviter et fundo Austrasia. However, having levied a erecto et hoc sacellum e fundo noviter ex- powerful army, they marched against Ebroin tructum et pulcherrime exornaium fuit, and the Neustrian>, but were signally de- ut hodie visitur ; ita tamen ut eumdem feated near Laon, in 680, when Martin was
semper locum servaverit, quern habuit, vivente S. Magno, postcujus obitum postliac
killed, and Pepin saved himself by flight. Not long afterwards, Ebroin Was assas- sinated, and. his successors gave such
in sacellum muta—tum est.
'
'
Chapter hi. The Acts of St. Magnus,
as published by the Boilandists, state, that he ruled over them for thirty years ; but this account does not accord with other versions of his Acts, which give him only twenty- live years, as a superior. Even the aforesaid
Acts are inconsistent with their subsequent "
of the Neustnan
leudes
relation of the death of St. Magnus, ex- the Somme, in 687. Afterwards, Thierry
pletis viginti sex annis commorationis suae III. being made prisoner, Pepin consoli-
in illo ccenobio," &c. dated his authority over all provinces
2
He. was grandson, through his mother, occupied by the Erancs. See Le Dr.
; also,a
large organ,
offence, that many
sought refuge in the dominions of Pepin. The latter then levied a confederacy of those
malcontents, together with the Saxons, Prisons, Cattes, Hessians, Thuringians and other Germans ; and with these he fought a decisive and bloody battle near Testri on
September 6. ] LIVES OI THE IRISH SAINTS. '49
while he presented also an epistle of St. Columbans directed to Lothaire,6 in favour of the holy men, Gallus and Magnus,7 who had settled in his
that 8 from some epistle, Peppin enquired
moved
of his German chiefs about that place, for which Bishop Witcherp preferred
kingdom. Whereupon,
by
his petition. Then Gungo,9 Duke of Augsburg and Rhetia, told him about its desert character, and of its being only a haunt for wild animals and
serpents. Extolling the virtues of Magnus, Wictherp stated, so marvellous had been his\ sanctity, while in that country, that like the first man, Adam, he exercised an absolute power over the savage animals,10 and how in that vicinity was a stronghold occupied by a frightful demon, which assumed the figure of a dragon, and who, under such form, usurped the supreme honour, due to God alone, among the poor and ignorant mountaineers.
However, St. Magnus resolved to encounter that demon, and fortified by
prayer, he touched the monster on the neck, with the end of St. Columban's
staff. Immediately, the demon's wrath was excited, but swelling up in fury,
he expired on the spot, and with him disappeared all the other demons, that were thought to infest those mountainous regions. While there, it was
stated, that he also freed the neighbourhood from serpents.
On hearing such accounts, King Pippin declared, that as wonderful miracles had been already wrought where the body of St. Gallus was deposed, so should that wild district have its fame diffused abroad in after times. He then asked Gunzon if there could be found tax-payers to the royal treasury in that neighbourhood, who might have their tributary returns sent to St. Magnus, instead of to the royal fisc. The king learned, that there was a
village, called Geltenstein, he bestowed by charter
"
that might serve for that purpose. Whereupon, a large tract of woodland, with the village in
Nouvelle Biographie Generate," tome xxxix. , cols. 540, 54 1.
3 So designated from a celebrated villa,
in which he dwelt on the banks of the
Meuse, near Liege. See Henri Martin's
"
Ilistoire de France," tome ii. , liv. xi. , p. 160.
4 In ihe year 700 he was Mayor of the Palace for the whole of the French Empire,
—
pas beaucoup de respect ; mais il y supleoit par une grande force, et par un certain air de fierte, qui reparoit en lui ce defaut de la nature. "
Hoefer's
" Kohlrausch's
9 Goldast has the name written Cuntzo.
He seems to have been the from magnate,
whose daughter, Frideburga, St. Gall is stated to have expelled the evil spirit.
10 See Les Petits " Vies des Bollandistes,
tant en Neustrie qu'en Austrasie. "
"
Histoire d'Allemagne," traduite de l'Allemand, par A. Guinefolle,
Deuxieme
5 In his "Vita S.
Epoque, p. 77.
Columbani," Jonas
Saints," tome vie x. , Jour
528, n. 1.
11
Septembre, p.
11 I2
states, that when King Clothaire earnestly besought the holy Abbot to return and again preside over Luxeu, St. Columban wrote to Eustasius—then Superior over Luxeu—that he would excuse him to the King for not undertaking such a charge, but only to ask lor the assistance and protection of the monarch on behalf of his community, that
? Jonas makes no mention of Gallus and S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , lib. xxxii. , sect,
Magnus, and Father Suysken observes, xiv. , p. 609.
then lived in the monastery at Luxeu. 6"
So written in the Acts, as published by the Bollandists. In the edition of Canisius, it is written Geltinstein ; in that of Goldast, Keltinstein, and called by the Abbot Henry Geltenstain. The latter writer notices, that no longer was it known by such a name, bub he supposed it to have been in the Tyrol. Mabillon quotes a charter of Ludo- vicus Augustus, in favour of Kempten, and
Jonas adds : Litteras castigationem
affamine plenas regi dirigit gratissimum in which mention of it is thus made, "in munus," &c. pago Keltenstein. " See "Annate-; Ordinis
" 12 non dubito taman, quin hasce litteras
In the Acts as published by Goldast we
interpolator noster designet. "
8 " Gros et court comme son surnom le
read :
"
Dedit ei totum ipsum saltum cum
marcha, firmitatemque in epistola," &c. At portait, il etoit d'unc taille a n'imprimer this passage Goldast remarks, that by
—M. de Limiers' " Annates de la Monarchic Francoise, depuis son Etab- lissement jusques a Present. " Premiere Partie. Seconde Race, Pepin dit le Bref, pp. 49, 50. Amsterdam, 1 724, fol.
i5°
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 6.
x3 and a of one hundred and yearly payment
1* This was to be binding on himself and his successors for ever/s That grant was placed, also, under the jurisdiction of Bishop Wictherp and
all his episcopal successors. Receiving some royal present for Magnus, the bishop returned with great satisfaction to urge him there to supplement the
question, of silver.
twenty-three pounds
religious
services of St. and of St. 16 as also to and Mary Afra, regulate
institute all canonical observances. There accordingly St. Magnus founded
his chief monastic institution, and during the life-time of King Pepinxi
enjoyed his friendship and patronage. The latter monarch was viitual
sovereign, as Major Domus, in the palace of the French kings, and he died
December 1 6th, 18 while 714,
Dagobert
III. '9 was under his
tutelage.
No sooner had he been well settled in Fiissen, than his former com-
panion, Theodore of Kempen, paid him a visit, and after the usual
religious salutations had passed between them, Magnus was informed
and consulted about the persecutions and injuries Theodore had suffered
from the people around him,20 and how he had built a small church
on the banks of the Iller. He was desirous of having it consecrated
in honour of the Holy Mother of God, Mary, by Bishop Wictherp.
Both of those attached friends then went to see the at 21 bishop Eptaticus,
where he then resided, and preferred their request. He was then
sitting and at prayer in his oratory. On learning the object of their interview, the venerable prelate said: "I will first tell you what I had in my mind before you came, and then at a proper time, in the name of God, I shall go with you. Indeed, my most dear Father Magnus, as the Lord hath
marcha he means the
called Keltinstein, and that such term has
of a
16 In Goldast's edition of St. Acts, there is no mention of St. Afra.
the modern district.
l? his wife, By
signification
territory
Plectrude,
sons,
Aschauer usque ad Erspach, et quo spatio pnecipue continetur tota parochia Aschaver, Saxenriedt, Hohenfurch, bona in Nider- hoffen ei Altenstat, Dienhausen, Weyssensee et Fiiessen," &c.
virtues so justly merited. Grimoald left a son named Theudoalis or Theobaldus, who was styled Major Domus while still a youth ; but, (luring his minority, Plectrude, the wife of Pepin, took upon herself the chief administration of public affairs in the king- dom, which afterwards became the prey of great disorders. See Natalis Alexander's " Historia Ecclesiastica Veteris Novique Testamenti," tomus xii. , scec. vii. , cap. vi. ,
14
In the Acts as published by the Bol-
"
landists, the text reads,
viginti tria," but in other copies "centum et tredecim. " The Abbot Henry notes: "
village, previously
Magnus'
or
13 Henry, Abbot of Fiissen, gives the their father. Her he repudiated, and after-
he had two Drogon and Grimoald, who pie-deceased
" Nota saltum wards cohabited with whom he Alpaide, by
following interpretation :
ilium, quen. Pippinus S. Magno donasse had two illegitimate sons, Charles and dicitur, fuisse totum ilium districtum et Childebrand. However, repenting his illicit fundurn, magnum et spatiosum desertum, connexion, he recalled Plectrude to the quod se extendit ab Hornbach et parochia position his religious obligation and her
vectigalia centum
Si conjecturari licet, puto esse centum et
tredecim libra* argenti, qose quotannis art. vi. , p. 102, and saec. viii. , cap. vii. , art.
pendenda; erant ex Aschawensi S. Magni ecclesia : nam centum et tredecim librae
faciunt sexaginta quatuor Morenos, triginta crucigeros et tinum halerum. Sic hodie dttm nobis etiamnum pendunt Aschawcn-. es quotannis pro censu sexaginta quatuor florenos. Quod ego pro ratione conjecturce meas assertum volo. "
'5 Father Suysken, in a note, points out cer-
tain coincidences of statement and phrase-
ology, between what is given in the Acts of
St. Magnus, and in the text of Walafridus or in the village situated on its banks. In Strabo, in " De Miraculis S. Galli,"
cap. xi.
i. , ii. , iii. , iv. , v. , pp. 382 to 388.
,8 See Georgius Heinricus Pertz's "Monu-
menta Germanise J listorica," tomus v. , Bernoldi Chronicon, p. 417.
"SonofChildebert III. , who died A. D. 711.
"
See J. (J. L. Simonde de Sismondi's His-
toire Francois," tome ii. , chap, xii. , p. 104.
20 The Acts have
it,
" narravit ei Theodo-
rus diversa et innumerabilia, qua? passus est
a pagensibus Hilargaugensibus," &c. This
means either the people living near the Iller,
the Ratisbon Manuscript is substituted " ab incolis Canipidonensibus. "
September 6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
exalted you in this place by His great miracles, I had intended to send for and ordain you a priest through Divine assistance, on the coming fast of the seventh month. " 22 However, the humble Magnus declared himself to be unworthy of such an exalted dignity, on account of his many sins. Still, if on their meditated journey, the Almighty should manifest His approval of that intention, Magnus declared, as an obedient servant, he would oppose no further obstacle to the prelate's desire. On making that statement, Wictherp and Theodore saw a brilliant crown of glory encircling his head. The prelate, then rising, embraced Magnus, and cried out: "Almighty Lord, who hath deigned in the plenitude of Thy power to show such virtues in you, who have left your country to observe His precepts, may He cause you to magnify and guard the place destined for you, through the grace of Thy Holy Spirit. " Theodore devoutly answered, " Amen. " Again the Bishop said :
been called 23 because it lies midway 2* Eptaticus,
of the Blessed Afra 2 s and own cell. Therefore your
" Well has this
place monastery
between the
shall you know, that after my departure, I desire this possession to belong to
the Blessed and to St. Virgin
26 as if this is destined to be a place
Afra,
mediator between thy monastery and my church of Augsburg. " All three
then came to Kempten, and on the day of the church's consecration, Wictherp preached an impressive sermon before a great number of people.
About the same was time, Magnus
duly
remained for two days. Leaving Theodore in charge of Kempten, Magnus
set out for Fiissen, and the venerable prelate, Wictherp, went to his own place of residence.
St. Magnus spent six-and-twenty years of his life, at Fassen. 28 The
vation of the name as given in the text, "quasi idem vocabulum (Eptaticum) inter- pretetur medium, et non potius numerum
31 Father Charles Stengel supposes he had
discovered the site of this place, not far from
the River Lech, and an hour's journey from
the village of Eppach.
There in a lonely sonet Septenarium, qui Grsec£ dicitur and uncultivated situation was a small iirra.
chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and to St. Laurence. This information he re-
"
24 To the objection in the previous note, Father Suysken replies : "Recte : sed quidsi locus ille septem circiter leucis utrimque
ceived from a rustic.
earn omnino deveni sententiam, at mihi dissitus fuerit, inter Augustam scilicet et
September, &c. : for Quintilis, afterwards Julius, was the fifth month from Marcli ;
Quo responso in
Fauces medius ? Turn sane nihil erit, quod
improbet anonymus. "
25 Unless this be an interpolation of the
more recenr writer, according to Father
.
Martyrs, is celebrated on the 5th of August.
2? St. Gelasius, who flourished towards
the end of the fifth century, thus writes :
•'
Ordinationes etiam presbyterorum et diaconorum, nisi certis temporibus et diebus Sextilis, afterwards Augustus, the Sixth, exerceri non debent ; id est, q—uarti mensis
persuaded paterer, hanc ipse esse ecclesiam,
delectatum fuisse B. — qua Wicterpum legi-
nms, ubi et postea Herluca vitam egerit. " "
Monasteriologia. "
22 By this is understood the fast of Quatuor
Tense, in the month of September. It was
called the seventh month, because it is held,
that Romulus had ordered the year to com-
mence from March ; and although Numa Bernard Hertfelder states. However, Pompilius placed January and February Father Suysken would hesitate to place the before March, nevertheless the previous Regular Canons there in the age of St. numerical order of the months continued in
the writings of the ancients and ecclesiastical
authors. " That the year originally began with March is shown by the names of
several of the months ; as Quintilis, Sextilis,
and —wereaddedto &c. January February
the end of the year. " Thomas Henry
Dyer's History of the Kings of Rome," &c metres, south from Augsbourg, and 33
:
jejunio, septimi
etdecimi/'&c. Epistolaix.
Prefatory Dissertation, p. cxxvii.
23 The anonymous writer of the saint's
Ratisbon Acts thus finds fault with the deri-
kilometres south-east from Kempten. At present it contains about 2,000 inhabitants. On the 18th of April, 1745, a treaty was
ordained a 2? There they priest.
Suysken, by the monastery of St. Afra, we are to understand a community of Regular Canons, that occupied it before A. D. 1012, when the Benedictines succeeded them, as
Magnus.
26 The festival of St. Afra and Companions,
2b about kilo- This town of Bavaria is 90
152 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
miracles he wrought there caused the conversion of numberless infidels, so
2
that he was afterwards regarded as the Apostle of Suabia. 9 It is related, in
the Legend of his Life, that when he travelled through the mountains and valleys in different places, the bears remarkable for their ferocity, through the efficacy of his prayers, lost all their wildness, and went before him tamely as didoxenbeforetheherdsman. Atonelime,havingascendedahighmoun- tain, called Suilinc,3° through a miracle, veins of iron were discovered by him, in that district of country where h» dwelt. 31 These were afterwards worked to great advantage by the inhabitants. 32 He is said to have founded many monasteries,inthedioceseofAugsburg. Itmayherebeobserved,thatJoannes Tamayus Salazar 33 has converted this saint into a bishop and abbot of Spain ; but, this is a ridiculous statement, and not deserving the slightest attention. He also absurdly places Fauces in Spain, and states, that the saint had been canonized by Benton or Lanthon of Caesar Augusta, the classic name for the
present city of Saragossa.
After the death of Bishop Wictherp, it is stated, that through the recom-
mendation of the Blessed Magnus, Tozzo was elected to succeed him in the
see of Augsburg. In the twenty-sixth year of his incumbency,3< the holy Abbot took ill of a fever, and then Tozzo sent word to his most faithful
friend, Theodore, at Kempten, to hasten and comfort him. Immediately he
sorrowfully set out, taking with him what he supposed requisite for the aged patient. He found the holy Abbot of Fussen in the last extremity, and then Theodore sent a message for the Bishop to hasten with all speed. Tozzo lost no time in coming to his bed-side, and seeing the Blessed Magnus near
death, said in tears
:
" Alas ! beloved Father, alas ! illustrious teacher, do
youleavemeasanorphaninthemidstofmydangers! " Totheseexclama- "
tions, Magnus was able to reply
see me struggling in the storms of worldly adversity, since I have faith in God's mercies, and that my soul shall rejoice in the freedom of immortality ; however, I entreat you, not to withhold your pious prayers for me a sinner, nor cease to afford the aid of your intercession. "
:
Weep not, venerable prelate, because you
The Life of St. Magnus states, that he departed on a Sunday, about the ninth hour, and on the viii. Ides of September^ which correspond with the 6thofthismonth. WhileBishopTozzoandTheodorestoodweeping,they heard a voice from Heaven " and receive the
saying: Come, Magnus, come,
crown for ! " Then Tozzo said to Theodore " let us prepared you ; Brother,
cease weeping, for rather should we rejoice than grieve, on hearing such
"
Vita S. Magni," Babenstuber Austria. See Pierre Larousse's " Grand states, that they had been deserted in his
there concluded between Bavaria and 32 In his
Dictionnaire Universel du XIX. Steele," tome viii. , p. 895.
day, "sed cum ferritin habeant notae non
adeo bona-, at aliucl. quod ut vicinis nego-
ciatorilms — tolerabili importatur, venditurque
pretio, piidum desectae sunt. ' Lib. iii. ,
iii.
cap.
31 In his Spanish Martyrology. He wri'. es :
"Ad Fauces, oppidum in Vettonia His-
paniae, sancti Magni, qui cum Hispanias cum S. Columbano venisset, et monas- terium S. Martini in Placentinae urbis territorio abbas inclytus construxisset, et alia plura contra haereticos machinasset, post hujus vitas excursum miraculis Celebris et sanctitate conspicuus. ad aeternam quietem confessor properavit strenuus. "
29 See Les Petits
Bollandistes, e
" Vies des
Saints," tome x. , Jour vi Septembre, p.
n. 1.
30 In the edition of Goldast, it is written
Swilinjr, and in the German Life of our
saint Seyling. Under the latter form, it is
noted Merianus, in "
by Topographia
Suevise," as being near the town of Fuessen, on the other side of the Lech River.
*" In the Manuscript of our saint's Acts,
used by the anonymous writer of Ratisbon, about the middle of the eleventh century, is
"
read: ab illo igitur diversae ferri venae
528,
inveniebantur in
tern diem.
in
3* Others have it the
3s Such is the statement in the Acta
"
ipso loco, usque
praesen-
twenty-fifth,
September 6. 1 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 153
words, since his soul is taken to immortal bliss ; but let us go to the church, that we may prepare to immolate the Sacred Victim for our dearly loved friend. "
St. Magnus died in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and a. d. 655, according to the best computation. The exact date for his death, however, has divided the opinions of various writers;36 some placing it, at 654, 655,37 665,38 670,39 673, 683, 689, and 691. <° After the departure of the holy servant of God^his friends, Bishop Tozzo and Theodore, found a beautifully-formed stone coffin, fashioned in ancient
12 times by a magnate named Abuzac,* who also gave the name Abuzacum*
to a fort he had erected. In that coffin, no corpse had been previously
deposited. Having carefully prepared the interior, the body of our saint was then placed in it, and buried in that place, where he had built
an oratory. Moreover, in the tomb was deposited a Memoir of his virtues,
written by Theodore.
With this was placed a certificate in the Latin
thus be rendered into " Wherefore I, English :
and which
Theodorus, monk from the monastery of St. Gall, by order of Bishop Tozzo, as I have learned from Theodegisilus,*3 monk ot St. Columban, from conver- sations with him, as also with the Blessed Columban,** and from what I have seen with my own eyes and heard with mine own ears, either after he left me in the cell at Kempten, and as afterwards from the aforesaid venerable Bishop Tozzo, I have learned about his virtues many things ; but, not all have I cared to write in my tract,*s and I have placed at his head within the coffin for futuie times, when the Lord revealing it, then those who shall be pastors and rectors of the church, may rind it to be just and right ; so that those things that should be corrected they may Correct, and what should be emended
language,
may
they may emend ; moreover, may they not forget to pray for me to the servant of Christ, so that supported by the suffrages of such a Patron, my soul may obtain eternal rest. " * 6
42
Pseudo-Theodori. In the Goldast edition
By others called Abodiacuin or Abu- is the reading, in die S. Dominici. " This diacum. It is supposed to have been on seems to be the error of a copyist ; for if the site of the present town, named Ftissen. allusion be made to the founder of the See Philipus Cluverius, " Germanke An- Dominican Order, he expired on the 6th of tiquae, Libri Tres, necnon Vindelicia et
"
August, A. D. , 1 22 1. Moreover, in the Ratisbonand other copies of the saint's Acts
"
in die Dominico. "
See Matthew Rader's "Bavaria Pia,"
p. 188.
37 Father Constantine Suysken supposes
from the Chronotaxis of his Acts, that this is the most probable date for the death of
St. Magnus. Moreover, he calculates, that in 655, the viii. of the September Ides fell upon Sunday, which the ancient life of St. Magnus states to have coincided with the
Noricum," Leyde, 1616, folio.
43 He was probably the same as Theude-
we read, 36
gisilus, mentioned by Jonas, in Columbani," cap. xxiii.
**
Vita S.
he died. 45 The Acts have " in mea. " day it, pitatione
" in pictatio meo. " According to Du Cange,
in Basilica SS. " " and
pittacium," pitacium," "pietacium"
can be variously interpreted, and have been by the various authors quoted, but they
have generally the signification of tablets, papers, epistles, briefs, parchments, and tracts. See "Glossarium ad Scriptores mediae et infirmoe Latinitatis," tomus v. ,
col. 511.
44
<8 "
Mabillon thinks he departed about this Canisiushas in epitatiomeo," and Goldast
year.
3' Bernard
Hertfelder,
Udalrici et Afrae, pars Hi. , in Chronico, has
this date.
40
of St. Magnus occurred in a. d. 689 or in
Carolus Stengelius states, that the death
"
Commentarium Rerum Augus- tanum, pars ii. , cap. iii.
41 About this chief, nothing more seems to be known.
691. See
44 This passage in the "Acta Pseudo- Theodori," "de tanti viri conversationibus simul cum 15. Columbano comperi," is rightly omitted from the copies in Goldast, and in another anonymous manuscript, according to Father Suysken, who will not allow St. Magnus or Theodore to have lived under the rule of St. Columban.
In the edition of Goldast, the fore-
154 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
In art, St. Magnus or Magnoald is represented with a dragon,*? trans-
8
fixed by his pastoral staff, or with a bear at his side,* in allusion to
legends contained in his Acts.
Aft
—er the death of 4? Tozzo—
so far as was within his power gave protection to the monastery and its inmates, guarding their rights very carefully. To the last day of his life, also, the sacred remains of the Patron were preserved with honour, lights being placed around his shrine,
"
mentum. " The Bollandist editor considers,
Ermenrici Elewangensis monachi Supple-
that it has been improperly interpolated by a later writer.
50 St. Tozzo died about the year 66 1. The
"Vita Pseudo-Theodori " inserted " tres "
menses," instead of menses quatuor," for
such was the difference between the 6th of
September, the day of Magnus' death, and
the 16th of January, that assigned for the
death of Tozzo. The Ratisbon Acts have :
14
Post obitum B. Magni in pontificatu annos v. et menses VI. gerens, xvn. Kal. Feb. vitam praesentem finiit. "
51 See Goldast's " Alamanicarum Rerum Scriptores," tomus ii. , pars i. The writer
"
of our saint's Acts adds:
clero suo Augustensi sub testimonio in eadem hatred itate. "
differences. See L.
P. Anquetil's" Hisloire
5-! His death has been to
assigned Sep- 709.
"
Historic Francorum
Magnus, Bishop
and clerics reciting the Divine Of%e. Bishop Tozzo survived the death of his friend for five years, and four months, departing this life on the xvii. of
the February Kalends. s° He had previously bequeathed some property for maintenance of the shrine of Blessed Magnus, according to a bond and stipulation of the German laws. 51 Subsequent to the death of the glorious King Pippin,s2 however, his sons53 began to quarrel among themselves. 54 Utilo or Odiloss became Duke of Bavaria, and Godefredusor Godefrit s6 was King over the Germans. Their wars caused great devastation throughout those districts where. they were waged. No longer was Theodore and his monksabletobearthepersecutionsandlosseshesustained5? atthehands of the spoilers around Kempten. Wherefore, he left the place, and sought
refuge at St. Gall, where he found the Blessed Othmar,s8 then oppressed with the weight of ^ears. Theodore told him all about St. Magnus, as also what
going account in the text is considerably
abridged.
47 He is held to have banished such a
monster from the neighbourhood of Ffissen.
53 Namely, Charles, who, when twenty- four or twenty-five years of age, had been crowned at Noyon, King of Burgundy and Neustria ; and Carloman at the age of
was at of eighteen crowned, Soissons, King
Austrasia, which included a large part of
49 What follows purports to have been a
subsequent addition to the narrative of reign of four years, and the Austrasian
48SeeRev. S.
"Livesof
Baring-Gould's
the Saints," vol. ix. , September 6, p. 95.
Theodore. In Goldast's edition it is headed,
nobles, disregarding his two infant sons, offered the crown to Charles, who then became sole monarch of France. Sec an account of these events in Capefigue's " Charlemagne," chap, vii. , pp. 117 to 142.
54 Their mother, Bertha, or Bertrada, had
much in — to reconcile then- difficulty trying
sepultusque a
burgensis," tomus i. , lib. xxiii. , num. 102, Wurtzburg, 1727, fob
5(5 According to a fragment of Erchanbert, he shook off the French yoke, and died A. D.
See Duchesne's
tember 24th, A. D. 768. He ruled over Scriptores," tomus i. , p. 780, and tomus ii.
admirably pictured incidents in his life, and representations of some miracles
wrought by St. Magnus. The high altar, magnificently and skilfully carved from precious marble, closed the choir, and the pavement of the choir was of black and white marble, in a varied and harmonizing pattern. There are eight chapels wi—thin the church : two larger ones within the transepts ; and
and
six smaller ones all of their altars being marble
two smaller ones. A few steps conduct to the entrance of two subterranean chapels: one of these is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and there is the baptismal font, enclosed within a marble baptistery. But, the chapel of St. Magnus, which adjoins, is still more ornate ; for not alone is the altar of marble, but the walls and pavement are exquisitely adorned with varied coloured marbles, and arranged with great artistic taste. Tradition maintains, that this latter chapel stands on the original site of the cell of St. Magnus. ? ?
CHAPTER III.
ST. MAGNUS IS PATRONISED BY KING PIPPIN—ORDAINED PRIEST BY BISHOP WICTHERP—MIRACLES WROUGHT AT FUSSEN—BISHOP TOZZO VISITED ST. MAGNUS AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH—INTERMENT BY THEODORE—A MEMOIR PLACED IN HIS COFFIN—RESTORATION OF HIS CHURCH BY CHARLEMAGNE—TRANSLATION OF ST. MAGNOALD'S REMAINS TO A NEW SHRINE—MIRACLES THEN AND AFTER- WARDS WROUGHT—COMMEMORATIONS AND FESTIVALS—CONCLUSION.
Some religious clerics were soon found to place themselves under the rule
1
of St. Magnus, and they were recommended to his care by the good prelate,
who also furnished the means necessary for their support. He is said, like- wise, to have furnished a recommendation in person to the renowned King
Peppin
Pippin d'H£ristall,3
Germany
Gaul,*
2 or who then ruled over and
Begga, of Pepin le Vieux, or of Landen,
mayor of the palace under Sigebert III. , son of Dagobert, who died A. I). 638, and whom lie survived only one year. In concert with his brother Martin, Pepin dTIeristal declared war against the King of Neustria, or rather against the mayor or his house, the able minister, Ebroin. Their career commenced by getting rid of the Merovin- gian King Dagobert II. , who then ruled in
» Father Chardon adds " Sacellum S.
:
Magni ab initio et prima monasteni funda-
tione ereclum, antiquissime documenta dicunt fuisse habitaculum et ipsissimam cellam, in qua S. Magnus primus fundator et patronus noster habitavit in vivis ; et ideo semper in summo honore habitual, ssepius cum monasterio et ecclesia, partim incendi, partim devastationibus destructum, sed semper iterum innovatum, cum ecclesia et
monasterio anno MDCCI. noviter et fundo Austrasia. However, having levied a erecto et hoc sacellum e fundo noviter ex- powerful army, they marched against Ebroin tructum et pulcherrime exornaium fuit, and the Neustrian>, but were signally de- ut hodie visitur ; ita tamen ut eumdem feated near Laon, in 680, when Martin was
semper locum servaverit, quern habuit, vivente S. Magno, postcujus obitum postliac
killed, and Pepin saved himself by flight. Not long afterwards, Ebroin Was assas- sinated, and. his successors gave such
in sacellum muta—tum est.
'
'
Chapter hi. The Acts of St. Magnus,
as published by the Boilandists, state, that he ruled over them for thirty years ; but this account does not accord with other versions of his Acts, which give him only twenty- live years, as a superior. Even the aforesaid
Acts are inconsistent with their subsequent "
of the Neustnan
leudes
relation of the death of St. Magnus, ex- the Somme, in 687. Afterwards, Thierry
pletis viginti sex annis commorationis suae III. being made prisoner, Pepin consoli-
in illo ccenobio," &c. dated his authority over all provinces
2
He. was grandson, through his mother, occupied by the Erancs. See Le Dr.
; also,a
large organ,
offence, that many
sought refuge in the dominions of Pepin. The latter then levied a confederacy of those
malcontents, together with the Saxons, Prisons, Cattes, Hessians, Thuringians and other Germans ; and with these he fought a decisive and bloody battle near Testri on
September 6. ] LIVES OI THE IRISH SAINTS. '49
while he presented also an epistle of St. Columbans directed to Lothaire,6 in favour of the holy men, Gallus and Magnus,7 who had settled in his
that 8 from some epistle, Peppin enquired
moved
of his German chiefs about that place, for which Bishop Witcherp preferred
kingdom. Whereupon,
by
his petition. Then Gungo,9 Duke of Augsburg and Rhetia, told him about its desert character, and of its being only a haunt for wild animals and
serpents. Extolling the virtues of Magnus, Wictherp stated, so marvellous had been his\ sanctity, while in that country, that like the first man, Adam, he exercised an absolute power over the savage animals,10 and how in that vicinity was a stronghold occupied by a frightful demon, which assumed the figure of a dragon, and who, under such form, usurped the supreme honour, due to God alone, among the poor and ignorant mountaineers.
However, St. Magnus resolved to encounter that demon, and fortified by
prayer, he touched the monster on the neck, with the end of St. Columban's
staff. Immediately, the demon's wrath was excited, but swelling up in fury,
he expired on the spot, and with him disappeared all the other demons, that were thought to infest those mountainous regions. While there, it was
stated, that he also freed the neighbourhood from serpents.
On hearing such accounts, King Pippin declared, that as wonderful miracles had been already wrought where the body of St. Gallus was deposed, so should that wild district have its fame diffused abroad in after times. He then asked Gunzon if there could be found tax-payers to the royal treasury in that neighbourhood, who might have their tributary returns sent to St. Magnus, instead of to the royal fisc. The king learned, that there was a
village, called Geltenstein, he bestowed by charter
"
that might serve for that purpose. Whereupon, a large tract of woodland, with the village in
Nouvelle Biographie Generate," tome xxxix. , cols. 540, 54 1.
3 So designated from a celebrated villa,
in which he dwelt on the banks of the
Meuse, near Liege. See Henri Martin's
"
Ilistoire de France," tome ii. , liv. xi. , p. 160.
4 In ihe year 700 he was Mayor of the Palace for the whole of the French Empire,
—
pas beaucoup de respect ; mais il y supleoit par une grande force, et par un certain air de fierte, qui reparoit en lui ce defaut de la nature. "
Hoefer's
" Kohlrausch's
9 Goldast has the name written Cuntzo.
He seems to have been the from magnate,
whose daughter, Frideburga, St. Gall is stated to have expelled the evil spirit.
10 See Les Petits " Vies des Bollandistes,
tant en Neustrie qu'en Austrasie. "
"
Histoire d'Allemagne," traduite de l'Allemand, par A. Guinefolle,
Deuxieme
5 In his "Vita S.
Epoque, p. 77.
Columbani," Jonas
Saints," tome vie x. , Jour
528, n. 1.
11
Septembre, p.
11 I2
states, that when King Clothaire earnestly besought the holy Abbot to return and again preside over Luxeu, St. Columban wrote to Eustasius—then Superior over Luxeu—that he would excuse him to the King for not undertaking such a charge, but only to ask lor the assistance and protection of the monarch on behalf of his community, that
? Jonas makes no mention of Gallus and S. Benedicti," tomus ii. , lib. xxxii. , sect,
Magnus, and Father Suysken observes, xiv. , p. 609.
then lived in the monastery at Luxeu. 6"
So written in the Acts, as published by the Bollandists. In the edition of Canisius, it is written Geltinstein ; in that of Goldast, Keltinstein, and called by the Abbot Henry Geltenstain. The latter writer notices, that no longer was it known by such a name, bub he supposed it to have been in the Tyrol. Mabillon quotes a charter of Ludo- vicus Augustus, in favour of Kempten, and
Jonas adds : Litteras castigationem
affamine plenas regi dirigit gratissimum in which mention of it is thus made, "in munus," &c. pago Keltenstein. " See "Annate-; Ordinis
" 12 non dubito taman, quin hasce litteras
In the Acts as published by Goldast we
interpolator noster designet. "
8 " Gros et court comme son surnom le
read :
"
Dedit ei totum ipsum saltum cum
marcha, firmitatemque in epistola," &c. At portait, il etoit d'unc taille a n'imprimer this passage Goldast remarks, that by
—M. de Limiers' " Annates de la Monarchic Francoise, depuis son Etab- lissement jusques a Present. " Premiere Partie. Seconde Race, Pepin dit le Bref, pp. 49, 50. Amsterdam, 1 724, fol.
i5°
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [September 6.
x3 and a of one hundred and yearly payment
1* This was to be binding on himself and his successors for ever/s That grant was placed, also, under the jurisdiction of Bishop Wictherp and
all his episcopal successors. Receiving some royal present for Magnus, the bishop returned with great satisfaction to urge him there to supplement the
question, of silver.
twenty-three pounds
religious
services of St. and of St. 16 as also to and Mary Afra, regulate
institute all canonical observances. There accordingly St. Magnus founded
his chief monastic institution, and during the life-time of King Pepinxi
enjoyed his friendship and patronage. The latter monarch was viitual
sovereign, as Major Domus, in the palace of the French kings, and he died
December 1 6th, 18 while 714,
Dagobert
III. '9 was under his
tutelage.
No sooner had he been well settled in Fiissen, than his former com-
panion, Theodore of Kempen, paid him a visit, and after the usual
religious salutations had passed between them, Magnus was informed
and consulted about the persecutions and injuries Theodore had suffered
from the people around him,20 and how he had built a small church
on the banks of the Iller. He was desirous of having it consecrated
in honour of the Holy Mother of God, Mary, by Bishop Wictherp.
Both of those attached friends then went to see the at 21 bishop Eptaticus,
where he then resided, and preferred their request. He was then
sitting and at prayer in his oratory. On learning the object of their interview, the venerable prelate said: "I will first tell you what I had in my mind before you came, and then at a proper time, in the name of God, I shall go with you. Indeed, my most dear Father Magnus, as the Lord hath
marcha he means the
called Keltinstein, and that such term has
of a
16 In Goldast's edition of St. Acts, there is no mention of St. Afra.
the modern district.
l? his wife, By
signification
territory
Plectrude,
sons,
Aschauer usque ad Erspach, et quo spatio pnecipue continetur tota parochia Aschaver, Saxenriedt, Hohenfurch, bona in Nider- hoffen ei Altenstat, Dienhausen, Weyssensee et Fiiessen," &c.
virtues so justly merited. Grimoald left a son named Theudoalis or Theobaldus, who was styled Major Domus while still a youth ; but, (luring his minority, Plectrude, the wife of Pepin, took upon herself the chief administration of public affairs in the king- dom, which afterwards became the prey of great disorders. See Natalis Alexander's " Historia Ecclesiastica Veteris Novique Testamenti," tomus xii. , scec. vii. , cap. vi. ,
14
In the Acts as published by the Bol-
"
landists, the text reads,
viginti tria," but in other copies "centum et tredecim. " The Abbot Henry notes: "
village, previously
Magnus'
or
13 Henry, Abbot of Fiissen, gives the their father. Her he repudiated, and after-
he had two Drogon and Grimoald, who pie-deceased
" Nota saltum wards cohabited with whom he Alpaide, by
following interpretation :
ilium, quen. Pippinus S. Magno donasse had two illegitimate sons, Charles and dicitur, fuisse totum ilium districtum et Childebrand. However, repenting his illicit fundurn, magnum et spatiosum desertum, connexion, he recalled Plectrude to the quod se extendit ab Hornbach et parochia position his religious obligation and her
vectigalia centum
Si conjecturari licet, puto esse centum et
tredecim libra* argenti, qose quotannis art. vi. , p. 102, and saec. viii. , cap. vii. , art.
pendenda; erant ex Aschawensi S. Magni ecclesia : nam centum et tredecim librae
faciunt sexaginta quatuor Morenos, triginta crucigeros et tinum halerum. Sic hodie dttm nobis etiamnum pendunt Aschawcn-. es quotannis pro censu sexaginta quatuor florenos. Quod ego pro ratione conjecturce meas assertum volo. "
'5 Father Suysken, in a note, points out cer-
tain coincidences of statement and phrase-
ology, between what is given in the Acts of
St. Magnus, and in the text of Walafridus or in the village situated on its banks. In Strabo, in " De Miraculis S. Galli,"
cap. xi.
i. , ii. , iii. , iv. , v. , pp. 382 to 388.
,8 See Georgius Heinricus Pertz's "Monu-
menta Germanise J listorica," tomus v. , Bernoldi Chronicon, p. 417.
"SonofChildebert III. , who died A. D. 711.
"
See J. (J. L. Simonde de Sismondi's His-
toire Francois," tome ii. , chap, xii. , p. 104.
20 The Acts have
it,
" narravit ei Theodo-
rus diversa et innumerabilia, qua? passus est
a pagensibus Hilargaugensibus," &c. This
means either the people living near the Iller,
the Ratisbon Manuscript is substituted " ab incolis Canipidonensibus. "
September 6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
exalted you in this place by His great miracles, I had intended to send for and ordain you a priest through Divine assistance, on the coming fast of the seventh month. " 22 However, the humble Magnus declared himself to be unworthy of such an exalted dignity, on account of his many sins. Still, if on their meditated journey, the Almighty should manifest His approval of that intention, Magnus declared, as an obedient servant, he would oppose no further obstacle to the prelate's desire. On making that statement, Wictherp and Theodore saw a brilliant crown of glory encircling his head. The prelate, then rising, embraced Magnus, and cried out: "Almighty Lord, who hath deigned in the plenitude of Thy power to show such virtues in you, who have left your country to observe His precepts, may He cause you to magnify and guard the place destined for you, through the grace of Thy Holy Spirit. " Theodore devoutly answered, " Amen. " Again the Bishop said :
been called 23 because it lies midway 2* Eptaticus,
of the Blessed Afra 2 s and own cell. Therefore your
" Well has this
place monastery
between the
shall you know, that after my departure, I desire this possession to belong to
the Blessed and to St. Virgin
26 as if this is destined to be a place
Afra,
mediator between thy monastery and my church of Augsburg. " All three
then came to Kempten, and on the day of the church's consecration, Wictherp preached an impressive sermon before a great number of people.
About the same was time, Magnus
duly
remained for two days. Leaving Theodore in charge of Kempten, Magnus
set out for Fiissen, and the venerable prelate, Wictherp, went to his own place of residence.
St. Magnus spent six-and-twenty years of his life, at Fassen. 28 The
vation of the name as given in the text, "quasi idem vocabulum (Eptaticum) inter- pretetur medium, et non potius numerum
31 Father Charles Stengel supposes he had
discovered the site of this place, not far from
the River Lech, and an hour's journey from
the village of Eppach.
There in a lonely sonet Septenarium, qui Grsec£ dicitur and uncultivated situation was a small iirra.
chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and to St. Laurence. This information he re-
"
24 To the objection in the previous note, Father Suysken replies : "Recte : sed quidsi locus ille septem circiter leucis utrimque
ceived from a rustic.
earn omnino deveni sententiam, at mihi dissitus fuerit, inter Augustam scilicet et
September, &c. : for Quintilis, afterwards Julius, was the fifth month from Marcli ;
Quo responso in
Fauces medius ? Turn sane nihil erit, quod
improbet anonymus. "
25 Unless this be an interpolation of the
more recenr writer, according to Father
.
Martyrs, is celebrated on the 5th of August.
2? St. Gelasius, who flourished towards
the end of the fifth century, thus writes :
•'
Ordinationes etiam presbyterorum et diaconorum, nisi certis temporibus et diebus Sextilis, afterwards Augustus, the Sixth, exerceri non debent ; id est, q—uarti mensis
persuaded paterer, hanc ipse esse ecclesiam,
delectatum fuisse B. — qua Wicterpum legi-
nms, ubi et postea Herluca vitam egerit. " "
Monasteriologia. "
22 By this is understood the fast of Quatuor
Tense, in the month of September. It was
called the seventh month, because it is held,
that Romulus had ordered the year to com-
mence from March ; and although Numa Bernard Hertfelder states. However, Pompilius placed January and February Father Suysken would hesitate to place the before March, nevertheless the previous Regular Canons there in the age of St. numerical order of the months continued in
the writings of the ancients and ecclesiastical
authors. " That the year originally began with March is shown by the names of
several of the months ; as Quintilis, Sextilis,
and —wereaddedto &c. January February
the end of the year. " Thomas Henry
Dyer's History of the Kings of Rome," &c metres, south from Augsbourg, and 33
:
jejunio, septimi
etdecimi/'&c. Epistolaix.
Prefatory Dissertation, p. cxxvii.
23 The anonymous writer of the saint's
Ratisbon Acts thus finds fault with the deri-
kilometres south-east from Kempten. At present it contains about 2,000 inhabitants. On the 18th of April, 1745, a treaty was
ordained a 2? There they priest.
Suysken, by the monastery of St. Afra, we are to understand a community of Regular Canons, that occupied it before A. D. 1012, when the Benedictines succeeded them, as
Magnus.
26 The festival of St. Afra and Companions,
2b about kilo- This town of Bavaria is 90
152 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
miracles he wrought there caused the conversion of numberless infidels, so
2
that he was afterwards regarded as the Apostle of Suabia. 9 It is related, in
the Legend of his Life, that when he travelled through the mountains and valleys in different places, the bears remarkable for their ferocity, through the efficacy of his prayers, lost all their wildness, and went before him tamely as didoxenbeforetheherdsman. Atonelime,havingascendedahighmoun- tain, called Suilinc,3° through a miracle, veins of iron were discovered by him, in that district of country where h» dwelt. 31 These were afterwards worked to great advantage by the inhabitants. 32 He is said to have founded many monasteries,inthedioceseofAugsburg. Itmayherebeobserved,thatJoannes Tamayus Salazar 33 has converted this saint into a bishop and abbot of Spain ; but, this is a ridiculous statement, and not deserving the slightest attention. He also absurdly places Fauces in Spain, and states, that the saint had been canonized by Benton or Lanthon of Caesar Augusta, the classic name for the
present city of Saragossa.
After the death of Bishop Wictherp, it is stated, that through the recom-
mendation of the Blessed Magnus, Tozzo was elected to succeed him in the
see of Augsburg. In the twenty-sixth year of his incumbency,3< the holy Abbot took ill of a fever, and then Tozzo sent word to his most faithful
friend, Theodore, at Kempten, to hasten and comfort him. Immediately he
sorrowfully set out, taking with him what he supposed requisite for the aged patient. He found the holy Abbot of Fussen in the last extremity, and then Theodore sent a message for the Bishop to hasten with all speed. Tozzo lost no time in coming to his bed-side, and seeing the Blessed Magnus near
death, said in tears
:
" Alas ! beloved Father, alas ! illustrious teacher, do
youleavemeasanorphaninthemidstofmydangers! " Totheseexclama- "
tions, Magnus was able to reply
see me struggling in the storms of worldly adversity, since I have faith in God's mercies, and that my soul shall rejoice in the freedom of immortality ; however, I entreat you, not to withhold your pious prayers for me a sinner, nor cease to afford the aid of your intercession. "
:
Weep not, venerable prelate, because you
The Life of St. Magnus states, that he departed on a Sunday, about the ninth hour, and on the viii. Ides of September^ which correspond with the 6thofthismonth. WhileBishopTozzoandTheodorestoodweeping,they heard a voice from Heaven " and receive the
saying: Come, Magnus, come,
crown for ! " Then Tozzo said to Theodore " let us prepared you ; Brother,
cease weeping, for rather should we rejoice than grieve, on hearing such
"
Vita S. Magni," Babenstuber Austria. See Pierre Larousse's " Grand states, that they had been deserted in his
there concluded between Bavaria and 32 In his
Dictionnaire Universel du XIX. Steele," tome viii. , p. 895.
day, "sed cum ferritin habeant notae non
adeo bona-, at aliucl. quod ut vicinis nego-
ciatorilms — tolerabili importatur, venditurque
pretio, piidum desectae sunt. ' Lib. iii. ,
iii.
cap.
31 In his Spanish Martyrology. He wri'. es :
"Ad Fauces, oppidum in Vettonia His-
paniae, sancti Magni, qui cum Hispanias cum S. Columbano venisset, et monas- terium S. Martini in Placentinae urbis territorio abbas inclytus construxisset, et alia plura contra haereticos machinasset, post hujus vitas excursum miraculis Celebris et sanctitate conspicuus. ad aeternam quietem confessor properavit strenuus. "
29 See Les Petits
Bollandistes, e
" Vies des
Saints," tome x. , Jour vi Septembre, p.
n. 1.
30 In the edition of Goldast, it is written
Swilinjr, and in the German Life of our
saint Seyling. Under the latter form, it is
noted Merianus, in "
by Topographia
Suevise," as being near the town of Fuessen, on the other side of the Lech River.
*" In the Manuscript of our saint's Acts,
used by the anonymous writer of Ratisbon, about the middle of the eleventh century, is
"
read: ab illo igitur diversae ferri venae
528,
inveniebantur in
tern diem.
in
3* Others have it the
3s Such is the statement in the Acta
"
ipso loco, usque
praesen-
twenty-fifth,
September 6. 1 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 153
words, since his soul is taken to immortal bliss ; but let us go to the church, that we may prepare to immolate the Sacred Victim for our dearly loved friend. "
St. Magnus died in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and a. d. 655, according to the best computation. The exact date for his death, however, has divided the opinions of various writers;36 some placing it, at 654, 655,37 665,38 670,39 673, 683, 689, and 691. <° After the departure of the holy servant of God^his friends, Bishop Tozzo and Theodore, found a beautifully-formed stone coffin, fashioned in ancient
12 times by a magnate named Abuzac,* who also gave the name Abuzacum*
to a fort he had erected. In that coffin, no corpse had been previously
deposited. Having carefully prepared the interior, the body of our saint was then placed in it, and buried in that place, where he had built
an oratory. Moreover, in the tomb was deposited a Memoir of his virtues,
written by Theodore.
With this was placed a certificate in the Latin
thus be rendered into " Wherefore I, English :
and which
Theodorus, monk from the monastery of St. Gall, by order of Bishop Tozzo, as I have learned from Theodegisilus,*3 monk ot St. Columban, from conver- sations with him, as also with the Blessed Columban,** and from what I have seen with my own eyes and heard with mine own ears, either after he left me in the cell at Kempten, and as afterwards from the aforesaid venerable Bishop Tozzo, I have learned about his virtues many things ; but, not all have I cared to write in my tract,*s and I have placed at his head within the coffin for futuie times, when the Lord revealing it, then those who shall be pastors and rectors of the church, may rind it to be just and right ; so that those things that should be corrected they may Correct, and what should be emended
language,
may
they may emend ; moreover, may they not forget to pray for me to the servant of Christ, so that supported by the suffrages of such a Patron, my soul may obtain eternal rest. " * 6
42
Pseudo-Theodori. In the Goldast edition
By others called Abodiacuin or Abu- is the reading, in die S. Dominici. " This diacum. It is supposed to have been on seems to be the error of a copyist ; for if the site of the present town, named Ftissen. allusion be made to the founder of the See Philipus Cluverius, " Germanke An- Dominican Order, he expired on the 6th of tiquae, Libri Tres, necnon Vindelicia et
"
August, A. D. , 1 22 1. Moreover, in the Ratisbonand other copies of the saint's Acts
"
in die Dominico. "
See Matthew Rader's "Bavaria Pia,"
p. 188.
37 Father Constantine Suysken supposes
from the Chronotaxis of his Acts, that this is the most probable date for the death of
St. Magnus. Moreover, he calculates, that in 655, the viii. of the September Ides fell upon Sunday, which the ancient life of St. Magnus states to have coincided with the
Noricum," Leyde, 1616, folio.
43 He was probably the same as Theude-
we read, 36
gisilus, mentioned by Jonas, in Columbani," cap. xxiii.
**
Vita S.
he died. 45 The Acts have " in mea. " day it, pitatione
" in pictatio meo. " According to Du Cange,
in Basilica SS. " " and
pittacium," pitacium," "pietacium"
can be variously interpreted, and have been by the various authors quoted, but they
have generally the signification of tablets, papers, epistles, briefs, parchments, and tracts. See "Glossarium ad Scriptores mediae et infirmoe Latinitatis," tomus v. ,
col. 511.
44
<8 "
Mabillon thinks he departed about this Canisiushas in epitatiomeo," and Goldast
year.
3' Bernard
Hertfelder,
Udalrici et Afrae, pars Hi. , in Chronico, has
this date.
40
of St. Magnus occurred in a. d. 689 or in
Carolus Stengelius states, that the death
"
Commentarium Rerum Augus- tanum, pars ii. , cap. iii.
41 About this chief, nothing more seems to be known.
691. See
44 This passage in the "Acta Pseudo- Theodori," "de tanti viri conversationibus simul cum 15. Columbano comperi," is rightly omitted from the copies in Goldast, and in another anonymous manuscript, according to Father Suysken, who will not allow St. Magnus or Theodore to have lived under the rule of St. Columban.
In the edition of Goldast, the fore-
154 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September6.
In art, St. Magnus or Magnoald is represented with a dragon,*? trans-
8
fixed by his pastoral staff, or with a bear at his side,* in allusion to
legends contained in his Acts.
Aft
—er the death of 4? Tozzo—
so far as was within his power gave protection to the monastery and its inmates, guarding their rights very carefully. To the last day of his life, also, the sacred remains of the Patron were preserved with honour, lights being placed around his shrine,
"
mentum. " The Bollandist editor considers,
Ermenrici Elewangensis monachi Supple-
that it has been improperly interpolated by a later writer.
50 St. Tozzo died about the year 66 1. The
"Vita Pseudo-Theodori " inserted " tres "
menses," instead of menses quatuor," for
such was the difference between the 6th of
September, the day of Magnus' death, and
the 16th of January, that assigned for the
death of Tozzo. The Ratisbon Acts have :
14
Post obitum B. Magni in pontificatu annos v. et menses VI. gerens, xvn. Kal. Feb. vitam praesentem finiit. "
51 See Goldast's " Alamanicarum Rerum Scriptores," tomus ii. , pars i. The writer
"
of our saint's Acts adds:
clero suo Augustensi sub testimonio in eadem hatred itate. "
differences. See L.
P. Anquetil's" Hisloire
5-! His death has been to
assigned Sep- 709.
"
Historic Francorum
Magnus, Bishop
and clerics reciting the Divine Of%e. Bishop Tozzo survived the death of his friend for five years, and four months, departing this life on the xvii. of
the February Kalends. s° He had previously bequeathed some property for maintenance of the shrine of Blessed Magnus, according to a bond and stipulation of the German laws. 51 Subsequent to the death of the glorious King Pippin,s2 however, his sons53 began to quarrel among themselves. 54 Utilo or Odiloss became Duke of Bavaria, and Godefredusor Godefrit s6 was King over the Germans. Their wars caused great devastation throughout those districts where. they were waged. No longer was Theodore and his monksabletobearthepersecutionsandlosseshesustained5? atthehands of the spoilers around Kempten. Wherefore, he left the place, and sought
refuge at St. Gall, where he found the Blessed Othmar,s8 then oppressed with the weight of ^ears. Theodore told him all about St. Magnus, as also what
going account in the text is considerably
abridged.
47 He is held to have banished such a
monster from the neighbourhood of Ffissen.
53 Namely, Charles, who, when twenty- four or twenty-five years of age, had been crowned at Noyon, King of Burgundy and Neustria ; and Carloman at the age of
was at of eighteen crowned, Soissons, King
Austrasia, which included a large part of
49 What follows purports to have been a
subsequent addition to the narrative of reign of four years, and the Austrasian
48SeeRev. S.
"Livesof
Baring-Gould's
the Saints," vol. ix. , September 6, p. 95.
Theodore. In Goldast's edition it is headed,
nobles, disregarding his two infant sons, offered the crown to Charles, who then became sole monarch of France. Sec an account of these events in Capefigue's " Charlemagne," chap, vii. , pp. 117 to 142.
54 Their mother, Bertha, or Bertrada, had
much in — to reconcile then- difficulty trying
sepultusque a
burgensis," tomus i. , lib. xxiii. , num. 102, Wurtzburg, 1727, fob
5(5 According to a fragment of Erchanbert, he shook off the French yoke, and died A. D.
See Duchesne's
tember 24th, A. D. 768. He ruled over Scriptores," tomus i. , p. 780, and tomus ii.
