Nova Legenda Anglie (John of Tynemouth/Capgrave), ed. Horstmann 1901 — translated from the Latin.

² Caradoc, the friend of God, was born in Wales, of the province of Brycheiniog, and drew his original line from parents not mean; and being given to the study of letters, while he feared the rod and the words of his teachers, he made no small progress in learning. At length, forsaking the disciplines of letters, he went to the court of Rhys, prince of South Wales, and took care to subject himself to his service. Now the prince, holding him in great affection, assigned to him the keeping of two greyhounds which he loved. For he was affable, liberal, and courteous; and he was moreover most learned in the harp and in musical instruments. And when for some while he had been devoted and diligent in the services of that prince, it happened by the disposing of the Lord that he lost the said greyhounds by chance — to the end that God’s chosen one, forsaking such vanity, might pass to things more profitable and desirable. Therefore the prince, his lord, being greatly offended, threatened him with mutilation of his limbs and with death. To whom Caradoc answered: “If my long and laborious services are so lightly esteemed, as plainly appears by these words, henceforth I will bestow my labours and service upon that Prince who knows how to give rich reward for little labour; who sets not dogs before men, nor requites his servants with death, but with life eternal.” And without delay, making himself a staff of his spear, he vowed to God that from that day forward he would lead a celibate and monastic life. And taking with him certain companions, he directed his way towards the church of Llandaff and its bishop. And when, journeying through the mountains, he lacked provisions, the Lord, who deserts not his servants in need, provided provisions sufficient and abundant: for finding a roe pierced by an arrow, they took it without difficulty, and made them food thereof. Caradoc therefore, coming to the bishop, received from him the clerical crown; and he served God in the church of St Teilo for some time. At length, seeing that place, by reason of the too great concourse of men, little suited to his religion and purpose, he withdrew from there and came to the church of St Cenydd, which was then as it were deserted. Having built a hut therefore near the cemetery, and clearing the place of thorns and briars not without great labour, he was scarce able to enter the church after three days. For so it befell once at Menevia [St Davids]: for when the city of Menevia had been laid desolate for almost seven years by the continual infesting of pirates, brought in long ships from the Orkney Isles, by the occasion of the inhabitants’ sins, a certain devout priest, rooting up thorns and briars, scarce reached the tomb of the holy confessor David on the seventh day. Now when Caradoc had for some while adorned that monastery by his praiseworthy conversation, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying: “Brother Caradoc, you ought not to dwell here long, nor to fulfil the course of your life according to your purpose here, God disposing otherwise: for the church of Menevia shall be adorned both by your life and by your death.” Coming therefore to Menevia, within a short time he was found worthy to be advanced to the priesthood. And as he grew from virtue to virtue, touching with his hand a certain maiden swollen with a horrible and dropsical tumour, he restored her fully to health, both the sickness and the swelling vanishing at once. Masons and workmen of a certain church of his he refreshed, one Friday, with a few small fishes. Twelve herrings being offered to him, and a certain man asking alms, since he had nothing else at hand he commanded that they be given, with his servant; and when the servant delayed, see another man coming gave him twelve pence, which together with the herrings he bestowed upon the poor man with a cheerful countenance, saying: “Take the gift of God: for it was not for our sakes, I think, but rather for your that God sent us this.” But in the evening the servant, coming, found the herrings where they had before been laid.

³ And when afterwards, in the island named Ary [Barry?], he was rendering service to God, Norwegian pirates coming upon them seized him and his companions and brought them to their ships. For sailing all night with a south wind blowing to their desire, in the morning they saw that they were close by the island. Which thing seen, the barbarians and unbelievers, stricken with dread and horror, set the holy man and his companions free upon the land. And when he had sent his companions to land from the island, Satan drew near to him and appeared visibly in human form, to whom he said: “Why do you persecute me in vain, you wretch? you shall find nothing in me, by the grace of God.” And the demon said: “That you might not remain here alone and without a servant, surely I have come to serve you, unasked.” “Begone,” said the man of God, “Satan, enemy of the human race, for I care not for your services.” And again, when the holy man, wearied with the great labour of his hands, put off his tunic and cast down his girdle, Satan drew near and secretly stole away the girdle with the purse. But when his labour was finished he sought the girdle, and could by no means find it; and he saw the evil one not far off, jesting and dancing. “have you, wretch,” he said, “carried off the things that are lost? I adjure you by the name of the Lord that you restore the things taken, though unwilling.” And so it was done. And when he could no longer remain in that island by reason of the inroads of the barbarians, the bishop of Menevia assigned to him the monastery of St Ismael in the province of Rhos, commonly called Ysam. Where while he tarried a while serving God, there came upon them the Flemish men, strong in arms, sent there by Henry the First, king of the English, with their wives and children; who, driving out the Welsh, began to inhabit the land. And when they had driven out the inhabitants of the region, they strove in every way to cast out Caradoc. Whereupon a certain cruel man named Richard Tancard kept his sheep and cattle — of whose milk he used to refresh the poor — shut in for two days; and the man of God, moved thereby, poured forth prayers to God that this cruelty and obstinacy should not long remain unpunished. And without delay the wife of the same man came to the holy man, humbly praying that he would deign to implore divine help for the youth’s sudden mishap; for he had suddenly fallen to the ground as if to death. And when the youth had recovered at the saint’s prayers, and was in no wise humbled nor corrected, while he gave himself to hunting, a certain stag, going before him even to the sea-shore, and he urging his horse with spurs, cast himself from a rock into a precipice and at once expired; nor could anything afterwards be found either of the stag or of the youth’s body. Now from the monastery of St Ismael the sea, withdrawing for the space of seven furlongs at the prayers of Saint Caradoc, gave the man of God a dry way. Once, at a certain Paschal season, as he was preparing himself for the ministry of the altar, see two men, clad in white stoles, were seen to enter in to him bearing a golden table; and it was written upon the table: “Follow us: for we have food to eat, which you know not.” And when he had read the writing, he understood that the day of his death drew near. And wishing to know the day, he said: “When shall I feast with my brethren in your banquet?” “At the supper,” said they, “of the Lamb that was provided”; and adding nothing more, they departed. But being stricken with fever on the fourth day after, he said to the brethren: “Know you, dearest brethren, that on the Lord’s day my soul, loosed from the prison of the flesh, will pass to the Lord, whom it loved and desired.” He died in the year of our Lord 1124, and was delivered to burial with great honour in the church of Menevia. And after many years, when his body was being translated, a great company of men being gathered, it was found incorrupt and undefiled. And when William of Malmesbury, a monk and an illustrious historian, tried for devotion’s sake to cut off his finger and bear it away with him, the saint, as though feeling the severing of his members, gathering his fingers into the hollow of his hand and folding them into his palm, withdrew his hand into his sleeve. Which seen, the terrified monk humbly begged pardon of the saint.

Narratives. #

¹ For when the perfidious race of the Huns, beleaguering with their king Attila the walls of the people of Orléans, aspired to the destruction of the city, Saint Aignan the bishop, bearing the relics of the saints, poured forth prayers to the Lord, walking upon the wall. Then a certain wretched priest, taken captive by the barbarians, addressed him in these words: “What you are now doing, every one of us did earnestly in his own city, but it availed nothing.” Having spoken these words, by divine vengeance he at once fell down dead, condemned to everlasting pain. Meanwhile the hostile army cast their darts and battered the wall with rams. Then, as the people fled to the church, the bishop exhorted them to hope in the Lord; but he himself ascended the wall and, silently looking up to heaven, prayed. And when he had perceived that the help of the Lord was at hand, he suddenly spat towards the barbarians: and with the spittle there descended so great a mass of rain, and it repressed the onslaught of the impious with a four-day flood, so that it forced the hostile band to flee from the walls.

² Now in the Thebaid there was a monastery in which more than five thousand brethren lived under one abbot. And so great was the obedience in every age as cannot be found in us — that even one man should obey one. For they were trained to hide no itching thoughts at all in their hearts, but at once, as soon as they had arisen, to lay them open to their senior, nor to commit anything touching their judgement to their own discretion, but to reckon that evil or good which the examination of the senior had decided. For they pronounced it a general and evident token of a diabolical thought if they were ashamed to reveal it to the senior. With such observance of obedience was the rule kept, that without the knowledge or permission of their superior they not only dared not go out of their cell, but presumed not to satisfy even a natural need upon their own authority. And thus they made haste to fulfil all things whatever had been commanded by the abbot, as though they had been uttered from heaven by God, without any questioning. It was counted the height of luxury if a herb seasoned with salt, which they call lapsanum [rocket], diluted with water, were set before the brethren for their refreshment. And when they heard the signal for prayer or for work, they broke forth in rivalry, so that he who exercised the work of a scribe dared not finish the letter he was found to have begun. Among whom no private work was desired by anyone, I say not in deed, but not even in thought. “We miserable men,” says Cassian, “what shall we say, who, dwelling in monasteries, set in care and solicitude, carry about our own keys? and who are sometimes so inflamed for vile and worthless things, claiming them as our own, that if anyone shall have presumed to touch any of them even with a finger, we are filled with such wrath against him that we can scarce recall the commotion of our heart?” Thus far Cassian.

[Here follows in the original: Of Saint Carantoc the confessor.]