¹ When the venerable father Willebrord, coming from England to Frisia with his companions, had converted many to the faith, following their example two priests of the English nation—who had lived for a long time in exile in Ireland for the sake of the eternal homeland—came to the province of the Old Saxons, to see whether by preaching Christ there they might gain some people. They were both alike, both in devotion and also in name: for each of them was called Hewald; but with this distinction, that because of the difference in the appearance of their hair one was called Black Hewald and the other White. Both were imbued with the piety of religion, but Black Hewald was more thoroughly trained in knowledge of the sacred scriptures. When they came into that province, they entered the lodging of a certain steward, and asked him that they might be sent on to the satrap who was over him, because they had a matter of embassy and a useful cause which they ought to lay before him. For those Old Saxons did not have a king, but many satraps set over their people, who, when the crisis of war arose, cast lots equally, and whoever the lot indicated, all followed him as leader in time of war and obeyed him; but when the war was finished, all the satraps again became of equal power. The steward therefore received them, and, promising that he would send them to the satrap who was over him as they requested, kept them with himself for several days.

² When they were recognised by the barbarians as being of a different religion—for they were always devoted to psalms and prayers, and daily offered to God the sacrifice of the saving victim, having with them sacred vessels and a tablet consecrated to serve in place of an altar—they were regarded with suspicion, lest, if they reached the satrap and spoke with him, they might turn him away from his gods and transfer him to the new religion of the Christian faith, and thus little by little compel their whole province to exchange the old worship for the new. And so they suddenly seized them and put them to death: White Hewald indeed with a swift blow of the sword, but Black Hewald with a long torment of punishments and a dreadful dismemberment of all his limbs; and, once slain, they cast them into the Rhine. When that satrap whom they had wished to see heard this, he was exceedingly angry that foreigners who wished to come to him had not been allowed to do so; and sending men, he put all those villagers to death and destroyed the village by fire.

³ The same priests and servants of Christ suffered on the fifth day before the Nones of October, and heavenly miracles were not lacking to their martyrdom. For when their slain bodies had been thrown into the river by the pagans, as we have said, it came to pass that, against the force of the flowing stream, they were carried for almost forty miles to the very places where their companions were. Moreover, a most brilliant beam of light, rising even to heaven, shone every night over that place, visible even to the pagans who had killed them. One of them also appeared in a night vision to one of their companions, whose name was Tilmon, who had been made a monk from a soldier, indicating that he could find their bodies in the place where he saw the light from heaven shining upon the earth. And so their bodies were found and laid to rest with honour befitting martyrs; and the day of their suffering or of their discovery is celebrated with due veneration in those regions. Finally, the most glorious duke of the Franks, Pippin, when he learned these things, sent for their bodies and, when they had been brought to him, laid them with great honour in the church of the city of Cologne beside the Rhine. It is also reported that in the place where they were killed a spring burst forth, which to this day pours out in that same place the abundant gifts of its flowing waters.

⁴ There was a certain old man, a solitary living in the desert, and he said to himself that he was perfect in the virtues. And he prayed to the Lord, saying: “Show me, Lord, what the perfection of the soul is, and I will do it.” But God, wishing to humble his thoughts, said to him: “Go to that archimandrite.” And a voice came to the archimandrite before the old man came to him, saying: “Look, that solitary is coming to you; therefore tell him to take a whip and go and tend your pigs.” So the old man came and knocked at the door, and went in to that archimandrite. And when they had greeted one another, they sat down. And the old man said: “Tell me what I should do that I may be saved.” And he replied: “Take the whip and go and tend the pigs.” But those who knew him and had heard about him, when they saw that he was tending pigs, said: “Have you seen that solitary about whom we used to hear? Look, his heart has become foolish, and, vexed by a demon, he is tending pigs.” But God, seeing his humility, because he bore the reproaches of men with such patience, commanded him to return again to his own place.

⁵ A certain old man said: “When a thought of pride or exaltation enters in, examine your conscience: whether you have kept all the divine commandments, whether you love your enemies, whether you rejoice in the glorification of your adversary and are grieved at his humiliation, whether you recognise yourself as an unprofitable servant, and whether you know yourself to be worse than all sinners; for such an examination will utterly dissolve that thought of yours.”