¹ Saint Gudwal was born in the bounds of Britain of noble stock; the time of his birth was when the sword of the Lord’s fury withheld itself from that land, which until then it had afflicted with sword, famine, and pestilence. Gudwal was handed over in infancy to be instructed in letters; and when he had grown up, he was advanced to the order of the priesthood, and finally assumed to the episcopate. For he, abhorring the things of the world, turned to the glory of God whatever worldly ambition smiled upon him. Seeing then that by his pastoral charge he was, as it were, bound to the world with certain chains, he strove to be released and unburdened from them: and so, commending the church to a suitable successor chosen by himself, he sought out a certain monastery of his diocese. For it happened that the sea next to the monastery displayed, from the midst of its bay, a vast jutting rock like a habitable island, which, resting upon marble solidity, the sea enclosed as if in a circle and shook with no turmoil of conflicting waves. The man of God, content with only one companion, hastened there and cut out for himself a narrow dwelling in the rock; and when he was suffering from a shortage of water, pouring out prayers to God with tears, he struck the rock with his staff: and at once he saw a most clear trickle ooze forth. For in that place, cut out by the brothers, he gathered one hundred and eighty-eight brothers. And because that place was too narrow for so great a multitude — when one day the sea, as is its custom, receded into its bay and flowed back, and uncovered a vast surface of sand by its retreat — the man of God approached it and, touching the sand with his pastoral staff, said with great confidence: “In the name of Jesus Christ, receive this interdict by which the same Lord forbids you the transgression of this boundary. By His authority I prescribe to you the law which I establish as binding in place of a testament: that your swelling waves should recoil into themselves, and, remaining within you, should perish utterly.” He spoke, and at once the element of the sea obeyed the divine command. You would have seen the untameable deep grow mild, hold back its power, restrain its onsets, lay aside its swellings, not presuming to transgress the boundary set for it. For when he had sent his disciples to a certain place, and the heaviest rain was falling from heaven, through the merits of Saint Gudwal the road on which they walked was free of every drop of rain.

² A certain workman, falling from the pinnacle of the temple and hurled to his death, was dashed and shattered beyond remedy upon the pavement stones. But when the holy man prayed for him, the soul returned to its dwelling in the body, and the man was restored alive to his former state, by God’s favour. A certain woman, having a son mute from birth, came to the man of God and said: “Man of God, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. For my mute son, then, I beg you, loose the bonds of his silent tongue, so that the Creator of all, whom he confesses in his heart, he may also worship blessing Him with the common use of speech.” Then the holy man said: “All things whatsoever the Lord willed, He did, in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the depths: beg Him faithfully, promise Him vows, pour out prayers; for He alone is able to save your son and loosen the bonds of his tongue.” At the woman’s prayers at last, stretching out his hand he placed a finger in the boy’s mouth and touched the string of his tongue, saying: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak.” And at once the born mute received speech. It happened that one of the little ewes, snatched from the very jaws of the wolf, was laid dead before the holy man’s feet by the shepherd: which, first pouring out a humble prayer to God, he touched with his staff, and restored to life. And turning again to the Lord, he said: “Command, O Lord, the bloody invader of our flock to come here, so that in him also we may work that which is of Your grace.” At these words the wolf appeared, more gentle than a well-pleased dog, still bloody with its fresh prey, as though making satisfaction to the blessed man, conscious of its crime, and prostrating itself on the ground at his feet. To whom the saint said: “Depart,” he said, “bloody beast, depart; from now on presume to trouble our sheep with no further injury.” Which at the saint’s command at once withdrew in meekness. The man of God, seeing the wolf in the open fields as incapable of running as of walking, and pitying its plight, cried out with uplifted voice: “Creature of the wild, lying in wait for the innocence of simple flocks, what mishap has happened to you, what harsh thing happened, that your natural swiftness has left you, and you no longer have your speed?” At these words it approached the saint, bent its neck in supplication, and showing the hoof of its pierced foot, begged with such nods as it could, as though pouring out prayers. The saint, stretching out the pastoral staff with which he had raised the dead ewe, touched the beast’s lame foot with a light touch, and said to the Lord: “Men and beasts You will save, O Lord.” And at once it was made sound. To which he also said: “You shall injure no creature ever again, but all your days you shall crop hay like an ox; on hay, I say, you shall feed, be filled with beans, and preserving a nature of innocence, tend toward paying the common debt of death.” And so it came to pass. When the poor asked alms of him and he had nothing to give them, he gave them a certain horse. And in the morning, when the workers complained about the horse given to the poor and lifted up their eyes, the horse appeared grazing in the fields — a likeness of limbs and of its whole build imitating it most exactly; and although it was truly another in essence, yet it seemed the very same in appearance. Which they at once took and put to work.

³ Now an angel of the Lord appeared to him, come down from heaven in appearance, saying: “Renowned athlete of God, may the Lord’s joy ever increase to you, and His peace remain with you. Be ready: for after a little while, summoned by the divine calling, you are to pass from here, to meet your King with the palm of victory.” And that messenger of the heavenly King, staying long with him, poured forth a honeyed sweetness known to God alone. At another time the angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying: “I am,” he said, “Michael the archangel; having discharged the legation of my Lord, by His command I make known to you the things that are shortly to come to you. See, I foretell the hour of your passing: ten revolutions of the sun’s orbit from now, you will joyfully leap out from the prison of the flesh and escape free from the prison of this world. To meet your King you will proceed with inestimable joy; He will receive you, borne up by our aid, with glory, and will enrol you as a citizen of His court in His kingdom.” While he was still speaking, Peter the keeper of the keys of God’s kingdom, and also Paul the apostle, appearing gloriously to the same holy man, gently soothed him wearied with the desire of immortality. Saint Gudwal died on the eighth ides of June, and when his body was placed on a wagon for burial, the oxen stood motionless, nor could they be made to move a foot by any prodding. Counsel therefore being taken, it was decided that two unbroken cows be yoked to the wagon, and that wherever the grace of God should drive them, they should have free course. Which done, halting from the former route, they directed their course by a straight path toward the place of the island named Plei; where he was honourably buried. Then, the courses of many years having run, on account of the infestation of barbarians and pagans the British people, scattered in great part this way and that, left their homes and were diffused throughout the world. So the brothers, taking up the holy body, crossed the sea, reached France, and near Mount Clair, in the monastery of Blandinium, chose a place of perpetual rest for the holy relics.

⁴ Now in the year of the Lord 1043, on the feast of Saint Gudwal, when his body was being carried in procession, the image of the Crucified which had been raised in the midst of the church, with a great crash — the fixing of the nails giving way and the hands being lifted from the cross — turning its whole body to the east, was seen to bow humbly three times, as though in reverence to Saint Gudwal. And forty-one years after that, on the feast of the same saint, this same thing happened in the same manner. And when there was a great drought in that region, and the procession of the people, spread through the fields with the holy body, was imploring the Lord’s clemency, suddenly in the sky, opposite the sacred shrine, a crown shone with tricoloured beauty, in the midst of which appeared the sign of the cross flashing, which held the eyes and minds alike of the onlookers in amazement; and a torch as it were of fire fell from heaven. And when they carried the holy body to the church, and went round the cemetery, the sign followed them as far as the church door: and heaven at once gave most abundant rain.

An account. #

¹ It is read in the life of the emperor Henry that when he and his wife Radegund remained virgins together, at the Devil’s instigation he, suspecting his wife of a certain knight, made her walk over fifteen red-hot ploughshares with bare feet. As she went up, she said: “As you know me untouched by Henry and by all others, so, Christ, help me.” To whom a voice said: “The Virgin Mary will free you, a virgin.” When therefore Caesar died, a very great multitude of demons passed before the cell of a certain hermit. He, opening the window, asked the last of them who they were and where they were going. “We are,” it said, “a legion of demons, hastening to the death of Caesar, in case we may find anything belonging to us in him.” When solemnly commanded to return to him, it returned and said: “We have accomplished nothing: for while the false suspicion of his wife, and other goods and evils, were being placed in the balance of the scales, that burnt one, Lawrence, brought a golden pot of immense weight, and while we seemed to be prevailing, when it was thrown in, that side of the scale weighed most heavily. Then I, enraged, broke off one of the pot’s ears.” By the pot he meant the chalice which the said Caesar had made for the church of Enistia in honour of Saint Lawrence, which on account of its size had two handles. And it was found both that the emperor had died at that time, and that one handle of the chalice was broken.