21 The various
convulsions
to which Ger-
many had been subjected from the third to
the fifth century are set forth in Jules Albiacum.
many had been subjected from the third to
the fifth century are set forth in Jules Albiacum.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v7
Kelly, p.
xxviii.
u It is not very clear what the error was to 96 Thus: " S.
Chilianus Epis.
Hiperbo- which our author here alludes.
He probably
lensis genere et martyris nobilissimus.
meant the error in the name. He does not, however, quote the Mart. Rom. correctly; perhaps for " Colmanus et Colonatus," we should read Colmanus vel Colonatus. "
103 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
190, 191.
I04 There can be no doubt, that the
Chilianus of the Rom—an Martyrology, and
"
Colomanus, et Totnanus martyres et socii
Wiziburgi. 8 Julii. "
S. Colonatus, seu
beati Chiliani Albiniaci. 8 Julii. "
See ibid. ,
cap. x. , p. 48.
97 See O'Sullevan Beare's Historic
" Catholicae Iberniae Compendium," tomus i. ,
lib. iv. , cap. xii. , pp. 55, 57.
98 This writer remarks
tres martyres, Gyralde. " See "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. ii. , p. 15, cap. iii. , p. 23.
99 In these terms
pago Austria et Castro nomine Wurtzbourg, juxta Maenum fluvium, natale S. Kiliani
:
:
martyrs notwithstanding
"en tibi novos
his fellow
the are the same as
" Octavo idus Julii in
variation in the names—
Cele-clerech, Aedh, and Tadg.
ios A note by Dr. Todd says at Uairse-
burg : "i. e. , Wirtzburg in Franconia. " The more recent hand adds here in Roman letters, u Vide aliter apud. M. Taml. "
I0° See iii. , "Apologia pro Hibernia," cap.
July 8. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 143
With regard to the great Apostles of Gentile nations, we may safely assert, that the person, who imparts Christian knowledge to those who have it not, islikeonewhogivessighttoablindman. Heisatrueenlightenerofmen. Although, indeed, the words of a preacher may contain little that is very striking or remarkable, and although intellectually, the holy man may be below mediocrity ; yet, the true preacher knows how to teach old and young, the doctrines and precepts of Jesus, with a startling and an awakening freshness, which present them as with a voice of power, thrilled and inspired by an eloquence from on high. When this is felt by his hearers to be earnest, and when it is known his own life is one of self-sacrifice, the mustard seed soon begins to take root and to grow into a large tree. The labours and zeal of those Apostles of Franconia, as on this day celebrated, flourished and faded, for a brief time ; but, their blood sealed and watered that soil, where they preached words of efficacy. In after time, the withered plant revived, and it became that seed, which gave many Christians to the Church.
ARTICLE II. —ST. DISIBOD, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR. [SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. ] CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—STATE OF GERMANY IN PAGAN AND EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES—BIOGRA- PHIES OF ST. DISEN OR ST. DYSIBOD—HIS IRISH BIRTH—HIS YOUTHFUL DISPOSI- TIONS AND EDUCATION—ADVANCED TO THE PRIESTHOOD—ELECTED AS BISHOP— TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES IN HIS NEW POSITION—HE RESOLVES TO LEAVE IRELAND FOR A DISTANT COUNTRY.
not wholly reliable in all statements, the most valuable and
authentic account of we is that furnished ALTHOUGH Pagan Germany 1 possess by
the celebrated Roman historian, Caius Cornelius Tacitus. 2 We are, however, more concerned with the subsequent state and condition of that most impor- tant country, which extended from the Rhine to the Vistula, and from the Danube to the German Ocean and the Baltic Sea. 3 According to Rhineland tradition, the first teacher of Christianity, Crescens or Clemens, came with the twenty-second Roman Legion, which had been with Titus in Palestine. Afterwards, it was quartered at Mainz, about a. d. 78. In Mainz, he began to announce the truths of the Gospel. A teacher, named Eucharius, in Trier or Treves, also aided his efforts, to preach and propagate the Christian Reli- gion throughout that wild tract of country, lying between the Main, the Rhine, the Moselle, and the Saar. In the year from the foundation of Rome 651, or before the birth of Christ, 102, Marius delivered Rome from the
:
Situ, Moribus et Populis Germaniae, pp. 415 to 430. Edinburgi, 1826, 8vo.
3 He was born about the year 810, after the building of Rome, or the year 57, after the birth of Christ. He wrote this Treatise, a. d. 98, M. Cocceius Nerva, Aug. iv. , and M. Ulpius Trajanus Caesar II. being then
—l
1. See A. R. consuls.
Article 11. —Chapter
Carson's edition " C. Cornelii Taciti Opera
ad Fidem optimorum Exemplarium. " De extent. See Rev. Fathers Catrou and
3 Some ancient writers give it even a larger
Rouille's "Roman History; with Notes Historical. Geographical and Critical," done into English from the original French, vol. vi. , book lxii. , sect, xxx. , n. 105, p. 90.
* See Jules Zeller's " Hisioire d'Alle-
magne," tome i. , liv. i. , chap, ii,, sect, ii. , pp. 53 to 62.
144 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 8.
incursions of the Cimbri and Teutones—who were Germans—for the first time;* afterwards,Caesarmadesomeattemptstorestrainthemfrominvad- ingGaul;5 Drusus,TiberiusandVarusconductedvariousRomanexpeditions against them, and with varying success or reverse f Germanicus in the year of Christ, a. d. 13, made a final attempt to subdue Germany, but notwith- standing his valour and military skill, he did not succeed in re-establishing the Roman dominion there. ? Although divisions prevailed among the German nations contending for supremacy, and although the Romans took care to foment and avail of those dissensions ; yet, were they unable to effect more thananoccasionalandaprecarioussupremacy. Galbasucceeded,however, in causing the Catti to abandon that district of Germany between the Lahn, the Maine and the Rhine, and it was distributed among the Roman veterans,
8
during the time of the Emperor Caligula.
began to spread ;9 although the vast extent of Germany north and east was notsubjecttoRomandominion. Itseemsprettywellestablished,thatlong before Constantine made Christianity a state religion, it obtained a firm foot-
very interesting glimpse depicting
when the " Mosella w" Idyll
1
the Belgse. ? Long before the age of Disibod and his companions, however,
the Nahegau, and even the wooded country between the Nahe and the
holdIO withinthat
particular territory. "
A the state of that district, about
371,
was written, has been left us by the poet Ausonius. ^ In it, we have a descrip-
graphically
tion of his journey from Mainz to the sources of the Moselle. 14 He crossed
theNaheat 1* andhe Bingen,
the roadovertheHuns- military
passed by
rucken to Neumagen,16 on the Moselle, below Treves, and at the frontiers of
5 See his work " Commentariorum de
Bello Gallico," lib. i. , cap. xxxi. to liv.
6"
See Carlo Denina's Rivoluzioni della
Germania," tomo primo libro i. , capo ii. ,
13 He was a native of Bourdeaux in France, 7 See Histoire des Allemands, traduite and he lived from about the year 320 to
pp. 12 to 21. Fizenze, 1804, 8vo. "
de l'Allemand de Schmidt, par J. C. de la
Profcsseur a tome Veaux, Royal Berlin, i. ,
liv. L, chap, vi. , pp. 66 to 93. A Liege, 1784, et seq. 8vo.
8
These various incidents of early German history are very lucidly set forth, in Jules
"
Histoire d'Allemagne," tome i. , liv. ii. , chap, iv. , pp. 129 to 183.
9 We do not know exactly, what amount
of actual facts underlines the rhetorical
statements of St. Justin Martyn, of St.
Irenaeus, and of Tertullian, when they tell
us, that in the second century of our era, the
Christian religion had not only spread on the Naua or Nahe. There is a common
Zeller's
Transieram celerem nebuloso flumine
Nauam,
Addita miratus veteri nova moenia
Vico,
^Equavit Latias ubi quondam Gallia
throughout the Roman Empire, but among the tribes and peoples beyond, and expressly among the Germans.
10 There Roman remains have from time
readingof Vicum for Vincum, but theltenera- rium Antonini gives the name as Vincum. The modern name could hardly come from Vicum or Vicus.
16 where Constantine estab- Noiomagum,
lished an enormous military settlement, is
easily recognised as Neumagen on the Moselle.
1 The two points at the beginning and end
to time been in considerable found,
quanti- ties. Numerous graves were in and near Kreuznach, in which coins and human re- mains have been found. There are no traces proving the pagan custom of cremation upon
any of the latter. They were uniformly east of the poet's journey being fixed, the old and west in position, which also marks Roman road from Bingen to Treves over the
Christian burial from the earliest times.
"
Herr Heep has some interesting obser- vations regarding the castra stativa, at this northern end of the Ilunsrucken, and in the
Hunsrucken, appears to have been that direc- tion in which the writer pursued his solitary way. Trackless forests spread on either side
of the route.
400. 14
"
The
following
are the
opening
lines
:
—
There, likewise, Christianity
villa rustics around.
12
See "Corpus Poetarum Latinorum," Ausonii Burdigalensis Idyllia, x. , pp. 1091 to 1095.
Cannas,
Infietseque jacent inopes super arva catervae. "
,s The former name of Bingen was Vin- cum. It is easily recognised, by its situation
July 8. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 14$
Moselle—the Hunsrucken district—bad become Christianized. Mainz and
l8
Treves were the chief cities, from which Christianity flowed out over the
surrounding districts. The scene of Constantine's vision of the cross,T 9 was at Mainz,20 in a. d. 311, when he set out with his legions against Maxentius. The best proof of the extent to which Christianity had spread, during that period, is found in the fact, that from political as well as from religious mo- tives, Constantine found it convenient to recognise its influences. 21 Never- theless, the Christianity of that district seems to have relapsed into heathen- ism, in the age of Disibod. This fact could be easily accounted for, owing to the irruptions of the wild hordes of Alemanni,22 at first, and afterwards of the Franks,23 who overturned the Roman power in Gaul, by their great victory
2
obtained at Soissons, in the year 486. + Under the Romans, colonies of bar-
barian captives had been settled on the Hunsrucken, by Constantine II. ,
statecraft of that 2* who desired people,
about a. d. to the 360, owing
wily
those slaves of their Empire to become interested in holding other conquered
lands than their own. and who expected, in the case of outbreak by their bar- barian neighbours, that the chief victims should be those who had yielded to them in war as enemies, and in whose fate the heartless conquerors felt little direct interest. Perhaps the tenacity, with which the colonists clung to their ancient practices in those districts, which became afterwards the scene of missionary labours for Disibod and for his companions, owed something to
the fact, that the population of those wild-wooded tracts had not benefited by the examples of heroism and self-devotion manifested by the early martyrs and
pastors, whose doctrines began to spread through the better organized and more civilizedprovincesoftheRomanEmpire. TheleaderoftheFranks,KingClovis orChlodoveus certainly did not—in the wilder settlements of his tribe—bring about an entire abandonment of their old paganism, after his conversion to Christianity. So late as the end of the eighth century, we find here in the forests, and under the great oaks, a rustic worship of the old gods, and main- tained by the Frankish settlers, within the episcopal diocese of Worms and Mainz.
From some earlier — as seems most
accounts, probable,
St. Raban M—aur 2(S
28 andMarianusScotus2? orratherhisinterpolatorAbbotDodechinus have
18 With these stations, the Nahegau and 23 These poured across the Rhine, when even the Hunsrucken stood connected by they harried and wasted the country, and
military roads, which remain to this day.
finally settled in the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. See Edward Gibbon's
"
History
man Empire," vol. iv. , chap, xxxviii. , p. 349. Rev. Dr. William Smith's edition.
"* The Franks defeated the Alemanni, A. D.
496, in the decisive battle of Tolbiacum, or
19 This is described in his own Eusebius.
Epistle
to
20
This is the oldest Christian See in Ger-
many.
21 The various convulsions to which Ger-
many had been subjected from the third to
the fifth century are set forth in Jules Albiacum. This is held to be Tulpich, on the
"
liv. ii. , chap, v. , pp. 184 to 264.
Lower Rhine ; or, if we read Albiacum, then
Albich, near Alzir, in the neighbourhood of Kreuznach.
"
p. 125.
" 26 Rivoluzioni della Germania," di Carlo
Zeiller's
Histoire d'Allemagne," tome i. ,
22
The Alemanni for a time were dominant
people, until their superiority was disputed. " La Germania Mendionale e Mediterranea
era tuttaviadaTuringi, da Sassoni, dagli Ale-
manni posseduta. Questi ultnni occupavano
la maggior parte della Svevia, perche gli
Alemanni erano per la piu parte di quelli
Svevi che abitavannoanticamente nella Ger—- Royal a Berlin, tome i. , liv. i. , chap, viii. , mania Settentrionale tra l'Elba e 1 Oder. "
Denina, tomo primo, libro ii. , capo ii. , p. 95.
His Life has been treated of already, in the Secon—d Volume of this work, at Feb-
of the Decline and Fall of the Ro-
2S The Emperor Julian reproached Con- stantine with having been the fiist to elevate the Barbarians to offices of importance in
Histoire des Alemands," traduke de l'Allemand de Schmidt, par J. C. de la Veaux, Professeur
civil and military affairs. See
his
ruary 4th the date for festival. Abou
.
146 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [JulyJS. taken their notices of the holy man Dysibod. The Life of this saint was written,
thenincirculation,andwhichwerebutamplifiedinparticularpassages,3* withthe pious reflections of St. Hildegarde. It is very certain, that the narrative is in- volved and intricate, nor can we depend much on its general historical accuracy. The present saint's virtues and labours are commemorated by Molanus, Canisius,andArnoldus. 3* TheAbbotJohnofTrittenheim3<5hasanaccountof St. Disibodus ; as also the Abbot Dodechinus, who was Abbot of Dissenburg, and John Wilson,3? commemorate him. The Acts of this holy missionary and bishop have been included in the collections of Lippeloo, 38 of Surius, 3 ? of the
1
Father John Mabillon has an account of St. Disibodus, in his " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti. " 42 He is
according
to the direction of Abbot 2^ St. 30 in the Helinger, by Hildegardis,
year 1 1 70. This distinguished woman received her education, at Disibodenberg, from the Abbess Jutta. 31 St. Hildegarde was subsequently the last Abbess over that convent. 32 She tells us, in the beginning of her biography, that she had revelations or some sort of internal monitions to undertake this work. 33 However, it seems probable, that earlier Lives of St. Dysibod were
Bollandists,4° and of the Benedictines. *
his Martyrology, more has been stated in the First Volume. Introduction.
sanctity and austerity, while her revelations have made her celebrated, not alone during her own age, but through all succeeding cen-
27 In G. Waitz's edition of Mariani Scotti
" Chronicon," there is no entry regarding turies. Her feast is celebrated on the 17th
our saint, as may be noticed by referring
to the " Monumental Germania Historica,"
tomus v.
38
This Codex version, of what professes to be the Chronicle of Marianus, has been so filled with local historic incidents, that it
"
might better deserve the title Annales S.
Dysibodi. "—Ibid. , pp. 483, 484.
29 He was the fifth Abbot over the Abbey,
built on Disibodenberg Mount.
30 For nearly one hundred years, after
of September.
33 See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,"
tomus ii. , Julii viii. De S. Disibodo Episc, et Confess, in Dysenberg, Territorii Mogun- tini, in Germania. Vita auctore S. Hilde- garde moniali. Ex M. S. Maximini Trevi- rensis, in Four chapters and Fifty-four para- graphs, pp. 588 to 597. A previous Com- mentary in Three sections and Thirty-three paragraphs, by the Editor, Father John Baptist Soller, precedes, and notes are added.
34 Such is the opinion of Mabillon, when treating on this subject, in the "Acta Sanc- torum Ordinis S. Benedicti. "
35 See Father Stephen White's "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. iv. , pp. 26, 44.
36 In his "Chronicon llirsaugiensis," ad annum Christi 1108. Likewise, in his work " De Viris Illustribus Ordinis S. Benedicti,
lib. eclviii. iii. , cap.
37 "
In his Martyrologium Anglicanum,"
at Julii viii.
The "Vita Sanctorum. " The Third
Volume contains Acts of St. Disibod, Bishop, at July the 8th. See pp. 113 to 119.
39 See Vita St. Disibodi, Confessoris, in
a cloister for nuns of noble families existed at Disibodenberg, as well as the cloisters for the monks. And
" Die Nonnen sangen ; O Christe du bariitigam suss und traut !
Die Monche seufz'ten : Maria, O Komm, du susse Braut I"
31TheAbbess of — — Jutta Disibodenberg
one of the old Sponheim race went through the Glan with dry feet, and she turned water into wine, according to the Legend of her Life.
32 Having found the community of goods between monks and nuns there not quite to her severer taste, she insisted on a separa- tion. With the help of the Counts of . spon- heim and others, after great resistance on the part of the abbot and monks, she accom- plished her object, and founded a new reli- gious Parthenon for herself andhernuns, about 1 1 50, on the Rubertsberg, and on the left bank of the Nahe near Kreuznach. The only male inmate of their house, in that place, was the holy Rupert, a saint who was buried there many hundred years before, in the times of King Pippin. The abbess Hilde- garde has been renowned for extraordinary
1005,
Gcrmannia, in thirty-seven paragraphs of "
Surius, tomus iv. of "Acta Sanctorum, pp. 141 to 148, at Julii viii.
40 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Julii viii. , pp. 581 to 599.
41 In the Appendix to the Fourth Volume
of the "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene-
dicti," sax iii. , pars ii. , A. D. 700 to A. D. 800,
is written the Life of St. Disibod, Confessor,
in 8 paragraphs, pp. 496 to 498.
4i
i. , lib. xvi. , num. xliv. , pp. 43 In his work " Annalibus Trevirensibus,
522, 523.
Sec tomus
July 8. ] LIVES Ofi THE IRISH SAINTS. 147
noticed, likewise, by Christopher Brower. 43 The Bollandists 44 had obtained Acts of St. Dysibod, which were taken from a vellum Passional, belonging to
the monastery of Bodensee, but to which they attached very slight importance, as the accounts contained in them appeared to have been very unskilfully compiled from other Acts of saints, and to have been mainly taken up with a puerile Legend of King Dagobert's hunting and of his bestowing a munificent endowment for the monastery of Dysibod, as also with an account of miracles which had been wrought through his intercession after the time of St. Hilde- garde. It is supposed, that these legends had been collected probably in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. There is an unreliable account in Dempster 45 of this holy missionary. It was Colgan's intention to have written his Acts at this date/6 Adrien Baillet 4? has some notices regarding him, as Abbot of Disenburg. Among the more modern Irish writers, in
Walter Harris' Ware,48 as also in the works of the Rev. Dr. Lanigan w and
A brief account of St. Disen or Disibode is to be found in Les Petits Bollandistes'51 collection.
of John D'Alton, 50 there are notices of St. Dysibod.
As a great portion of St. Hildegarde's Acts of this holy man are diffusely rhetorical and traditional, we shall confine ourselves to an abbreviated state- ment of the few facts they present, with some notices of him from other sources. St. Disibod, or Disen, is said to have been descended from a noble Hiber- nian family, although his parents were not possessed of a superfluity of this world'sriches. Theywereoppressedbythehostilityofacertainpowerfuland
tyrannic chief, who was dominant in their part of the country, and who had re-
duced them and others as well, to a state of depression and dependence. Disi-
bod was still a boy, at this time, and from the very earliest age he was distin-
guishedformanyvirtues. AlthoughsomeoftheScottishwritersclaimhimasa
2
compatriot,* hewasborninIreland,andasseemsmostprobable,53sometime
after the year 620. It would appear, that his dispositions were all of a pious tendency ; that he was pure of mind, and prudent for his age ; avoiding evil
anddoinggood,totheveryutmostofhisability. Nowonder,thathisparents were unwilling to surrender him as a hostage to that tyrant, whose caprices wereofapassionateandanill-naturedbent. Wherefore,theywatchedanoppor- tunity and fled with him to a more remote part of the country, where a river flowed into the sea. 54 At this place, there was a town and an institute of religious men, who conducted a school. These taught various liberal sciences, and Disibod was placed under their care. His learning and intellectual abilities were only surpassed by his proficiency in the graces of the Holy Ghost, which gave great comfort to his parents, during their forced expulsion fromtheirformerhome. Disibodhadamostretentivememory,andasday by day he grew in stature and in mental resources, he applied also to the practice of good works, to prayer and to alms-giving, daily becoming more perfect in the knowledge and observance of God's law. He was resolved to devote himself entirely to the Divine service. Accordingly, step by step, he received the various minor charges of the ministry. At thirty years of age, he was promoted to priest's orders. He then resolved, more sedulously, if possible, to cultivate the Lord's vineyard. It so happened, in that part of
ad annum Christi 639.
44 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomusii. , Julii
Mensium et Dierum. "
v See "Les Vies des Saints," tome Hi. ,
viii. De S. Disibodo Episc. et Confess. , &c. pp. 67 to 69.
Commentarius sect, Preevius,
ii. ,
num.
48 See vol. " 15, p. i. ,
Archbishops
of
Dublin,"
584, and pp. 597 to 599.
4 > See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco-
torum," tomus i. , lib. iv. , num. ccclxxiii.
46 As may be seen from "Catalogus Ac- tuum Sanctorum quae MS. habentur, ordine
p. 304.
« See "Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," vol. hi. , chap, xviii. , sect, ix. , pp. 114,
115.
s° See "Memoirs of the Archbishops of
148 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 8.
the country, one of the bishops belonging to the place had been called away from this life ; and according to the custom prevailing, all the people assem- bled to chose his successor. The holiness of Disibod, and his suitability for that exalted office, were thoroughly well known. Accordingly, he was unanimously elected. Through humility, he at first refused, but those, whose prudent opinions he respected, urged him to comply with what seemed to be the will of Divine Providence. He was soon afterwards elevated to the dignity of Bishop, although he accepted this position with extreme reluctance. However, he collected around him some persons of great judgment and piety, by whose advice he desired to be chiefly guided. They gave him the greater courage to discharge the duties of his trust faithfully, and while loyal to their spiritual superior, they afforded him great consolation, in some trials and difficulties to which he had been subjected. Notwithstanding, his greatest refuge was in distrust of himself, and in prayer to God, whereby his deficien- cies might be supplied. We are told, that the See over which he presided wasthatofDublin;ss andsomewriters,whohavetreatedregardingthesuc- cession of Prelates in that See, make him succeed St. Wiro,s6 another sup- posed bishop in that See. He is said to have resigned it, and to have left for Belgium, where he died at Rurimond, on the 8th of May, a. d.
lensis genere et martyris nobilissimus.
meant the error in the name. He does not, however, quote the Mart. Rom. correctly; perhaps for " Colmanus et Colonatus," we should read Colmanus vel Colonatus. "
103 Edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves, pp.
190, 191.
I04 There can be no doubt, that the
Chilianus of the Rom—an Martyrology, and
"
Colomanus, et Totnanus martyres et socii
Wiziburgi. 8 Julii. "
S. Colonatus, seu
beati Chiliani Albiniaci. 8 Julii. "
See ibid. ,
cap. x. , p. 48.
97 See O'Sullevan Beare's Historic
" Catholicae Iberniae Compendium," tomus i. ,
lib. iv. , cap. xii. , pp. 55, 57.
98 This writer remarks
tres martyres, Gyralde. " See "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. ii. , p. 15, cap. iii. , p. 23.
99 In these terms
pago Austria et Castro nomine Wurtzbourg, juxta Maenum fluvium, natale S. Kiliani
:
:
martyrs notwithstanding
"en tibi novos
his fellow
the are the same as
" Octavo idus Julii in
variation in the names—
Cele-clerech, Aedh, and Tadg.
ios A note by Dr. Todd says at Uairse-
burg : "i. e. , Wirtzburg in Franconia. " The more recent hand adds here in Roman letters, u Vide aliter apud. M. Taml. "
I0° See iii. , "Apologia pro Hibernia," cap.
July 8. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 143
With regard to the great Apostles of Gentile nations, we may safely assert, that the person, who imparts Christian knowledge to those who have it not, islikeonewhogivessighttoablindman. Heisatrueenlightenerofmen. Although, indeed, the words of a preacher may contain little that is very striking or remarkable, and although intellectually, the holy man may be below mediocrity ; yet, the true preacher knows how to teach old and young, the doctrines and precepts of Jesus, with a startling and an awakening freshness, which present them as with a voice of power, thrilled and inspired by an eloquence from on high. When this is felt by his hearers to be earnest, and when it is known his own life is one of self-sacrifice, the mustard seed soon begins to take root and to grow into a large tree. The labours and zeal of those Apostles of Franconia, as on this day celebrated, flourished and faded, for a brief time ; but, their blood sealed and watered that soil, where they preached words of efficacy. In after time, the withered plant revived, and it became that seed, which gave many Christians to the Church.
ARTICLE II. —ST. DISIBOD, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR. [SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. ] CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—STATE OF GERMANY IN PAGAN AND EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES—BIOGRA- PHIES OF ST. DISEN OR ST. DYSIBOD—HIS IRISH BIRTH—HIS YOUTHFUL DISPOSI- TIONS AND EDUCATION—ADVANCED TO THE PRIESTHOOD—ELECTED AS BISHOP— TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES IN HIS NEW POSITION—HE RESOLVES TO LEAVE IRELAND FOR A DISTANT COUNTRY.
not wholly reliable in all statements, the most valuable and
authentic account of we is that furnished ALTHOUGH Pagan Germany 1 possess by
the celebrated Roman historian, Caius Cornelius Tacitus. 2 We are, however, more concerned with the subsequent state and condition of that most impor- tant country, which extended from the Rhine to the Vistula, and from the Danube to the German Ocean and the Baltic Sea. 3 According to Rhineland tradition, the first teacher of Christianity, Crescens or Clemens, came with the twenty-second Roman Legion, which had been with Titus in Palestine. Afterwards, it was quartered at Mainz, about a. d. 78. In Mainz, he began to announce the truths of the Gospel. A teacher, named Eucharius, in Trier or Treves, also aided his efforts, to preach and propagate the Christian Reli- gion throughout that wild tract of country, lying between the Main, the Rhine, the Moselle, and the Saar. In the year from the foundation of Rome 651, or before the birth of Christ, 102, Marius delivered Rome from the
:
Situ, Moribus et Populis Germaniae, pp. 415 to 430. Edinburgi, 1826, 8vo.
3 He was born about the year 810, after the building of Rome, or the year 57, after the birth of Christ. He wrote this Treatise, a. d. 98, M. Cocceius Nerva, Aug. iv. , and M. Ulpius Trajanus Caesar II. being then
—l
1. See A. R. consuls.
Article 11. —Chapter
Carson's edition " C. Cornelii Taciti Opera
ad Fidem optimorum Exemplarium. " De extent. See Rev. Fathers Catrou and
3 Some ancient writers give it even a larger
Rouille's "Roman History; with Notes Historical. Geographical and Critical," done into English from the original French, vol. vi. , book lxii. , sect, xxx. , n. 105, p. 90.
* See Jules Zeller's " Hisioire d'Alle-
magne," tome i. , liv. i. , chap, ii,, sect, ii. , pp. 53 to 62.
144 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 8.
incursions of the Cimbri and Teutones—who were Germans—for the first time;* afterwards,Caesarmadesomeattemptstorestrainthemfrominvad- ingGaul;5 Drusus,TiberiusandVarusconductedvariousRomanexpeditions against them, and with varying success or reverse f Germanicus in the year of Christ, a. d. 13, made a final attempt to subdue Germany, but notwith- standing his valour and military skill, he did not succeed in re-establishing the Roman dominion there. ? Although divisions prevailed among the German nations contending for supremacy, and although the Romans took care to foment and avail of those dissensions ; yet, were they unable to effect more thananoccasionalandaprecarioussupremacy. Galbasucceeded,however, in causing the Catti to abandon that district of Germany between the Lahn, the Maine and the Rhine, and it was distributed among the Roman veterans,
8
during the time of the Emperor Caligula.
began to spread ;9 although the vast extent of Germany north and east was notsubjecttoRomandominion. Itseemsprettywellestablished,thatlong before Constantine made Christianity a state religion, it obtained a firm foot-
very interesting glimpse depicting
when the " Mosella w" Idyll
1
the Belgse. ? Long before the age of Disibod and his companions, however,
the Nahegau, and even the wooded country between the Nahe and the
holdIO withinthat
particular territory. "
A the state of that district, about
371,
was written, has been left us by the poet Ausonius. ^ In it, we have a descrip-
graphically
tion of his journey from Mainz to the sources of the Moselle. 14 He crossed
theNaheat 1* andhe Bingen,
the roadovertheHuns- military
passed by
rucken to Neumagen,16 on the Moselle, below Treves, and at the frontiers of
5 See his work " Commentariorum de
Bello Gallico," lib. i. , cap. xxxi. to liv.
6"
See Carlo Denina's Rivoluzioni della
Germania," tomo primo libro i. , capo ii. ,
13 He was a native of Bourdeaux in France, 7 See Histoire des Allemands, traduite and he lived from about the year 320 to
pp. 12 to 21. Fizenze, 1804, 8vo. "
de l'Allemand de Schmidt, par J. C. de la
Profcsseur a tome Veaux, Royal Berlin, i. ,
liv. L, chap, vi. , pp. 66 to 93. A Liege, 1784, et seq. 8vo.
8
These various incidents of early German history are very lucidly set forth, in Jules
"
Histoire d'Allemagne," tome i. , liv. ii. , chap, iv. , pp. 129 to 183.
9 We do not know exactly, what amount
of actual facts underlines the rhetorical
statements of St. Justin Martyn, of St.
Irenaeus, and of Tertullian, when they tell
us, that in the second century of our era, the
Christian religion had not only spread on the Naua or Nahe. There is a common
Zeller's
Transieram celerem nebuloso flumine
Nauam,
Addita miratus veteri nova moenia
Vico,
^Equavit Latias ubi quondam Gallia
throughout the Roman Empire, but among the tribes and peoples beyond, and expressly among the Germans.
10 There Roman remains have from time
readingof Vicum for Vincum, but theltenera- rium Antonini gives the name as Vincum. The modern name could hardly come from Vicum or Vicus.
16 where Constantine estab- Noiomagum,
lished an enormous military settlement, is
easily recognised as Neumagen on the Moselle.
1 The two points at the beginning and end
to time been in considerable found,
quanti- ties. Numerous graves were in and near Kreuznach, in which coins and human re- mains have been found. There are no traces proving the pagan custom of cremation upon
any of the latter. They were uniformly east of the poet's journey being fixed, the old and west in position, which also marks Roman road from Bingen to Treves over the
Christian burial from the earliest times.
"
Herr Heep has some interesting obser- vations regarding the castra stativa, at this northern end of the Ilunsrucken, and in the
Hunsrucken, appears to have been that direc- tion in which the writer pursued his solitary way. Trackless forests spread on either side
of the route.
400. 14
"
The
following
are the
opening
lines
:
—
There, likewise, Christianity
villa rustics around.
12
See "Corpus Poetarum Latinorum," Ausonii Burdigalensis Idyllia, x. , pp. 1091 to 1095.
Cannas,
Infietseque jacent inopes super arva catervae. "
,s The former name of Bingen was Vin- cum. It is easily recognised, by its situation
July 8. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 14$
Moselle—the Hunsrucken district—bad become Christianized. Mainz and
l8
Treves were the chief cities, from which Christianity flowed out over the
surrounding districts. The scene of Constantine's vision of the cross,T 9 was at Mainz,20 in a. d. 311, when he set out with his legions against Maxentius. The best proof of the extent to which Christianity had spread, during that period, is found in the fact, that from political as well as from religious mo- tives, Constantine found it convenient to recognise its influences. 21 Never- theless, the Christianity of that district seems to have relapsed into heathen- ism, in the age of Disibod. This fact could be easily accounted for, owing to the irruptions of the wild hordes of Alemanni,22 at first, and afterwards of the Franks,23 who overturned the Roman power in Gaul, by their great victory
2
obtained at Soissons, in the year 486. + Under the Romans, colonies of bar-
barian captives had been settled on the Hunsrucken, by Constantine II. ,
statecraft of that 2* who desired people,
about a. d. to the 360, owing
wily
those slaves of their Empire to become interested in holding other conquered
lands than their own. and who expected, in the case of outbreak by their bar- barian neighbours, that the chief victims should be those who had yielded to them in war as enemies, and in whose fate the heartless conquerors felt little direct interest. Perhaps the tenacity, with which the colonists clung to their ancient practices in those districts, which became afterwards the scene of missionary labours for Disibod and for his companions, owed something to
the fact, that the population of those wild-wooded tracts had not benefited by the examples of heroism and self-devotion manifested by the early martyrs and
pastors, whose doctrines began to spread through the better organized and more civilizedprovincesoftheRomanEmpire. TheleaderoftheFranks,KingClovis orChlodoveus certainly did not—in the wilder settlements of his tribe—bring about an entire abandonment of their old paganism, after his conversion to Christianity. So late as the end of the eighth century, we find here in the forests, and under the great oaks, a rustic worship of the old gods, and main- tained by the Frankish settlers, within the episcopal diocese of Worms and Mainz.
From some earlier — as seems most
accounts, probable,
St. Raban M—aur 2(S
28 andMarianusScotus2? orratherhisinterpolatorAbbotDodechinus have
18 With these stations, the Nahegau and 23 These poured across the Rhine, when even the Hunsrucken stood connected by they harried and wasted the country, and
military roads, which remain to this day.
finally settled in the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. See Edward Gibbon's
"
History
man Empire," vol. iv. , chap, xxxviii. , p. 349. Rev. Dr. William Smith's edition.
"* The Franks defeated the Alemanni, A. D.
496, in the decisive battle of Tolbiacum, or
19 This is described in his own Eusebius.
Epistle
to
20
This is the oldest Christian See in Ger-
many.
21 The various convulsions to which Ger-
many had been subjected from the third to
the fifth century are set forth in Jules Albiacum. This is held to be Tulpich, on the
"
liv. ii. , chap, v. , pp. 184 to 264.
Lower Rhine ; or, if we read Albiacum, then
Albich, near Alzir, in the neighbourhood of Kreuznach.
"
p. 125.
" 26 Rivoluzioni della Germania," di Carlo
Zeiller's
Histoire d'Allemagne," tome i. ,
22
The Alemanni for a time were dominant
people, until their superiority was disputed. " La Germania Mendionale e Mediterranea
era tuttaviadaTuringi, da Sassoni, dagli Ale-
manni posseduta. Questi ultnni occupavano
la maggior parte della Svevia, perche gli
Alemanni erano per la piu parte di quelli
Svevi che abitavannoanticamente nella Ger—- Royal a Berlin, tome i. , liv. i. , chap, viii. , mania Settentrionale tra l'Elba e 1 Oder. "
Denina, tomo primo, libro ii. , capo ii. , p. 95.
His Life has been treated of already, in the Secon—d Volume of this work, at Feb-
of the Decline and Fall of the Ro-
2S The Emperor Julian reproached Con- stantine with having been the fiist to elevate the Barbarians to offices of importance in
Histoire des Alemands," traduke de l'Allemand de Schmidt, par J. C. de la Veaux, Professeur
civil and military affairs. See
his
ruary 4th the date for festival. Abou
.
146 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [JulyJS. taken their notices of the holy man Dysibod. The Life of this saint was written,
thenincirculation,andwhichwerebutamplifiedinparticularpassages,3* withthe pious reflections of St. Hildegarde. It is very certain, that the narrative is in- volved and intricate, nor can we depend much on its general historical accuracy. The present saint's virtues and labours are commemorated by Molanus, Canisius,andArnoldus. 3* TheAbbotJohnofTrittenheim3<5hasanaccountof St. Disibodus ; as also the Abbot Dodechinus, who was Abbot of Dissenburg, and John Wilson,3? commemorate him. The Acts of this holy missionary and bishop have been included in the collections of Lippeloo, 38 of Surius, 3 ? of the
1
Father John Mabillon has an account of St. Disibodus, in his " Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti. " 42 He is
according
to the direction of Abbot 2^ St. 30 in the Helinger, by Hildegardis,
year 1 1 70. This distinguished woman received her education, at Disibodenberg, from the Abbess Jutta. 31 St. Hildegarde was subsequently the last Abbess over that convent. 32 She tells us, in the beginning of her biography, that she had revelations or some sort of internal monitions to undertake this work. 33 However, it seems probable, that earlier Lives of St. Dysibod were
Bollandists,4° and of the Benedictines. *
his Martyrology, more has been stated in the First Volume. Introduction.
sanctity and austerity, while her revelations have made her celebrated, not alone during her own age, but through all succeeding cen-
27 In G. Waitz's edition of Mariani Scotti
" Chronicon," there is no entry regarding turies. Her feast is celebrated on the 17th
our saint, as may be noticed by referring
to the " Monumental Germania Historica,"
tomus v.
38
This Codex version, of what professes to be the Chronicle of Marianus, has been so filled with local historic incidents, that it
"
might better deserve the title Annales S.
Dysibodi. "—Ibid. , pp. 483, 484.
29 He was the fifth Abbot over the Abbey,
built on Disibodenberg Mount.
30 For nearly one hundred years, after
of September.
33 See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,"
tomus ii. , Julii viii. De S. Disibodo Episc, et Confess, in Dysenberg, Territorii Mogun- tini, in Germania. Vita auctore S. Hilde- garde moniali. Ex M. S. Maximini Trevi- rensis, in Four chapters and Fifty-four para- graphs, pp. 588 to 597. A previous Com- mentary in Three sections and Thirty-three paragraphs, by the Editor, Father John Baptist Soller, precedes, and notes are added.
34 Such is the opinion of Mabillon, when treating on this subject, in the "Acta Sanc- torum Ordinis S. Benedicti. "
35 See Father Stephen White's "Apologia
pro Hibernia," cap. iv. , pp. 26, 44.
36 In his "Chronicon llirsaugiensis," ad annum Christi 1108. Likewise, in his work " De Viris Illustribus Ordinis S. Benedicti,
lib. eclviii. iii. , cap.
37 "
In his Martyrologium Anglicanum,"
at Julii viii.
The "Vita Sanctorum. " The Third
Volume contains Acts of St. Disibod, Bishop, at July the 8th. See pp. 113 to 119.
39 See Vita St. Disibodi, Confessoris, in
a cloister for nuns of noble families existed at Disibodenberg, as well as the cloisters for the monks. And
" Die Nonnen sangen ; O Christe du bariitigam suss und traut !
Die Monche seufz'ten : Maria, O Komm, du susse Braut I"
31TheAbbess of — — Jutta Disibodenberg
one of the old Sponheim race went through the Glan with dry feet, and she turned water into wine, according to the Legend of her Life.
32 Having found the community of goods between monks and nuns there not quite to her severer taste, she insisted on a separa- tion. With the help of the Counts of . spon- heim and others, after great resistance on the part of the abbot and monks, she accom- plished her object, and founded a new reli- gious Parthenon for herself andhernuns, about 1 1 50, on the Rubertsberg, and on the left bank of the Nahe near Kreuznach. The only male inmate of their house, in that place, was the holy Rupert, a saint who was buried there many hundred years before, in the times of King Pippin. The abbess Hilde- garde has been renowned for extraordinary
1005,
Gcrmannia, in thirty-seven paragraphs of "
Surius, tomus iv. of "Acta Sanctorum, pp. 141 to 148, at Julii viii.
40 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Julii viii. , pp. 581 to 599.
41 In the Appendix to the Fourth Volume
of the "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Bene-
dicti," sax iii. , pars ii. , A. D. 700 to A. D. 800,
is written the Life of St. Disibod, Confessor,
in 8 paragraphs, pp. 496 to 498.
4i
i. , lib. xvi. , num. xliv. , pp. 43 In his work " Annalibus Trevirensibus,
522, 523.
Sec tomus
July 8. ] LIVES Ofi THE IRISH SAINTS. 147
noticed, likewise, by Christopher Brower. 43 The Bollandists 44 had obtained Acts of St. Dysibod, which were taken from a vellum Passional, belonging to
the monastery of Bodensee, but to which they attached very slight importance, as the accounts contained in them appeared to have been very unskilfully compiled from other Acts of saints, and to have been mainly taken up with a puerile Legend of King Dagobert's hunting and of his bestowing a munificent endowment for the monastery of Dysibod, as also with an account of miracles which had been wrought through his intercession after the time of St. Hilde- garde. It is supposed, that these legends had been collected probably in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. There is an unreliable account in Dempster 45 of this holy missionary. It was Colgan's intention to have written his Acts at this date/6 Adrien Baillet 4? has some notices regarding him, as Abbot of Disenburg. Among the more modern Irish writers, in
Walter Harris' Ware,48 as also in the works of the Rev. Dr. Lanigan w and
A brief account of St. Disen or Disibode is to be found in Les Petits Bollandistes'51 collection.
of John D'Alton, 50 there are notices of St. Dysibod.
As a great portion of St. Hildegarde's Acts of this holy man are diffusely rhetorical and traditional, we shall confine ourselves to an abbreviated state- ment of the few facts they present, with some notices of him from other sources. St. Disibod, or Disen, is said to have been descended from a noble Hiber- nian family, although his parents were not possessed of a superfluity of this world'sriches. Theywereoppressedbythehostilityofacertainpowerfuland
tyrannic chief, who was dominant in their part of the country, and who had re-
duced them and others as well, to a state of depression and dependence. Disi-
bod was still a boy, at this time, and from the very earliest age he was distin-
guishedformanyvirtues. AlthoughsomeoftheScottishwritersclaimhimasa
2
compatriot,* hewasborninIreland,andasseemsmostprobable,53sometime
after the year 620. It would appear, that his dispositions were all of a pious tendency ; that he was pure of mind, and prudent for his age ; avoiding evil
anddoinggood,totheveryutmostofhisability. Nowonder,thathisparents were unwilling to surrender him as a hostage to that tyrant, whose caprices wereofapassionateandanill-naturedbent. Wherefore,theywatchedanoppor- tunity and fled with him to a more remote part of the country, where a river flowed into the sea. 54 At this place, there was a town and an institute of religious men, who conducted a school. These taught various liberal sciences, and Disibod was placed under their care. His learning and intellectual abilities were only surpassed by his proficiency in the graces of the Holy Ghost, which gave great comfort to his parents, during their forced expulsion fromtheirformerhome. Disibodhadamostretentivememory,andasday by day he grew in stature and in mental resources, he applied also to the practice of good works, to prayer and to alms-giving, daily becoming more perfect in the knowledge and observance of God's law. He was resolved to devote himself entirely to the Divine service. Accordingly, step by step, he received the various minor charges of the ministry. At thirty years of age, he was promoted to priest's orders. He then resolved, more sedulously, if possible, to cultivate the Lord's vineyard. It so happened, in that part of
ad annum Christi 639.
44 See "Acta Sanctorum," tomusii. , Julii
Mensium et Dierum. "
v See "Les Vies des Saints," tome Hi. ,
viii. De S. Disibodo Episc. et Confess. , &c. pp. 67 to 69.
Commentarius sect, Preevius,
ii. ,
num.
48 See vol. " 15, p. i. ,
Archbishops
of
Dublin,"
584, and pp. 597 to 599.
4 > See " Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Sco-
torum," tomus i. , lib. iv. , num. ccclxxiii.
46 As may be seen from "Catalogus Ac- tuum Sanctorum quae MS. habentur, ordine
p. 304.
« See "Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," vol. hi. , chap, xviii. , sect, ix. , pp. 114,
115.
s° See "Memoirs of the Archbishops of
148 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [July 8.
the country, one of the bishops belonging to the place had been called away from this life ; and according to the custom prevailing, all the people assem- bled to chose his successor. The holiness of Disibod, and his suitability for that exalted office, were thoroughly well known. Accordingly, he was unanimously elected. Through humility, he at first refused, but those, whose prudent opinions he respected, urged him to comply with what seemed to be the will of Divine Providence. He was soon afterwards elevated to the dignity of Bishop, although he accepted this position with extreme reluctance. However, he collected around him some persons of great judgment and piety, by whose advice he desired to be chiefly guided. They gave him the greater courage to discharge the duties of his trust faithfully, and while loyal to their spiritual superior, they afforded him great consolation, in some trials and difficulties to which he had been subjected. Notwithstanding, his greatest refuge was in distrust of himself, and in prayer to God, whereby his deficien- cies might be supplied. We are told, that the See over which he presided wasthatofDublin;ss andsomewriters,whohavetreatedregardingthesuc- cession of Prelates in that See, make him succeed St. Wiro,s6 another sup- posed bishop in that See. He is said to have resigned it, and to have left for Belgium, where he died at Rurimond, on the 8th of May, a. d.
