Here begins the Life of Saint Sampson, Archbishop and Confessor

¹ There was a man of royal stock, Ammon, from the region of Methiana, and his wife was Anna. His younger brother Umbrafeles took as his wife Affrella, the sister of Ammon’s wife Anna, and she bore three sons.

² Anna, however, remained barren for a long time. Both were barren, both grieved over their exceeding barrenness, and feared that after their death the headship of the whole kindred and their heirship could be remedied by no medicine nor aided by any endeavour. As they were now drawing very near to the grave and old age, and almost without hope of offspring, they said to one another: “Was not Elizabeth, who was barren and past all hope of offspring, made fruitful with so great a man as John? And may not God, who created all things from nothing, ever constant through the ages, both unutterable and wonderful, to whom all things are possible — all things that are pondered and done by word, by deed or by thought being manifest to him, and the things that are past, present and future to us all present to him — and who by his own will redeemed the human race from its error and from the ancient dregs, may not that same one free us, sinners in all things, from this childlessness and barrenness? Let us therefore fast and pray and give alms, so that he who freed Sidrac, Misac and Abdinago, the three boys in the furnace, from the burning and imprisonment, may himself free us from sin and make us rejoice with offspring — fruitful, and with an heir.” Having made this prayer with fasting, they besought holy Dubricius, archbishop of western Britain, and also Abbot Ildutus, that by their intercession the highest Creator and Governor might grant them a child; and they vowed it to God through them that, if he should grant it, they would render it to them by name, most of all for instruction in letters and for the performance of the divine office. When these things were done, they heard of a certain learned man in the north, dwelling in a distant land and prophesying true things to many, and they set out to him with gifts.

³ And on the third day they came to him. He, receiving them kindly into his house, declared the reason for their journey, saying: “I know the reason for your coming. Make a silver rod measured equal to your wife, and distribute it to Christ’s poor, and you shall have offspring and the fulfilment of your desire.” Hearing this, Ammon said: “I shall give three silver rods measured equal to her.”

⁴ The following night the blessed Anna saw in a dream an angel saying to her: “The Lord has deigned to comfort your sorrow, and your tears shall be turned into joy for you. For you shall bear a son and call him Samson, worthy of the episcopal office, and he shall be seven times brighter than that silver which your husband gave to God on your behalf.”

⁵ She recounted to her husband everything she had heard from the angel, as it had happened. The learned man, rising in the morning, spoke to Anna, saying: “This night the Lord revealed to me concerning you and your offspring: such a one Britain has never brought forth, nor ever will. For as it is said: ‘God is wonderful in his saints.’”

⁶ Through the prayers of the holy men, the woman conceived and bore a son. The name Samson was bestowed on him by the blessed man Ildutus, since it was he who lifted him from the holy font and baptised him. And once brought back to his father’s threshold, the child grew from day to day, comely in bearing and stature. As soon as he reached his full growth, he was loveable in countenance and cheerful in aspect, not only to his own kindred but even to foreign peoples. As he grew in body, so he grew in wisdom and in like discernment. When he spoke, he was heard with marvellous attentiveness on account of his exceeding sagacity, so much so that from his early youth the clergy and the people would say: “This boy — a man to us — will be the comfort and hope of the whole country, a man of wonderful memory and the highest prudence; and, as it is said, a good son is the joy of all the kindred.”

⁷ One night, as his father Ammon slept, he was suddenly stunned and awoke in dread at an exceeding and terrible vision, and crying out he said: “Oh how fearful I am — why do I tremble? Oh how weak I feel! I can scarce lift my hand or move my foot.” His wife, hearing his cry and his bewilderment, said to her husband: “Oh my dear, oh husband! You cry out — why did you cry out? You mourn — why this grief of yours? Either in a dream or beforehand you saw something untoward; for it commonly happens that whatever a man ponders before sleeping comes about in it.” He said: “I was thinking of my only son, and marking beforehand his qualities — honest in all things, fitted both for the royal court and for the kindred, as is fitting, and meant for no other use than to rule his people with the sword and with lay justice. How impiously, how unjustly this wicked forethought now sits upon my heart: that what God gave me for a time, to console me, and what I promised to him before the time of his conception and pledged after the time of his birth to himself and to my highest father Dubricius and to my patron Ildutus — that same thing I wished to take from him in the prime of his life. But now, may he whom I had purposed as my heir in this world be henceforth my heir in paradise, so that together we may share in everlasting solace and in the palace on high.” Father and mother being of one mind, they led away their only son, who longed to do good; and though he seemed small in stature, yet for great joy he desired to go to Ildutus and see him again.

⁸ And when the son commended to him for ever was five years old, Ildutus instructed him. And he outstripped his contemporaries in the study of letters, so that he who at first was a pupil became, in wondrous wise, at once their master and their fellow-pupil. So greatly did holy Ildutus, his teacher and master, love him that at all times he held him dearer in every way than all the other scholars, and with him he served the church the more diligently.

⁹ Holy Ildutus, labouring that he might rest and living by labour that he might live, had one field under crop, for the keeping of which at harvest-time he would send his disciples in turn, so that the sparrows would not consume the barley as was their custom. At last the duty came to brother Samson, and with the greatest joy he went to the keeping. All the sparrows he found — white winged things, like sheep in the fields — he gathered together and drove into the granary. The door closed, he returned to the crop, and there, with not a sparrow remaining, he fell asleep for a while. His companions, wondering at Samson’s long delay and yet touched with a certain envy, said: “Let us go and see — for we do not know — what the lovable boy is doing.” Rejoicing at finding him asleep, they returned to the master. And together with the master they came back to the boy, and said to him: “The one you love, we found drowsy, disobedient and idle.” Coming up to him, they roused him, saying: “Boy, do the sparrows sleep, your enemies and ours? Or have you killed them all with your sling?” But he, calmly and without any heat, said: “I found the ravagers in the crop, and with God’s help I keep them for us and for you alike, shut up in prison.” And he said: “With them all kept in the granary, we shall never need such care or keeping again.” And so it proved. Abbot Ildutus, a disciple of St Germanus, skilled in things human and divine, noble in birth and foreknowing of things to come, gave thanks to God and, looking up to heaven, said: “This Samson God has deigned to send us as a light for the country. Here is our venerable head, and a bishop most high who shall greatly profit the church of God! Here is the illustrious priest! Here is the most skilled founder of churches after the apostles!” Wondrously, charity and wisdom so burned in him that within a few years he seemed to surpass his master in prudence. With him he led a holy life through days and seasons, a distinguished and honest life, which the longer he led it was amended for the better. What he spoke with his mouth he believed in his heart; what he believed, he loved.

¹⁰ For on a certain day, he and his master having come upon a deep question and being unable to resolve it, holy Samson gave himself to fasts and vigils, asking through the Lord what he could not through his master. On the third night of the fast he heard a voice saying to him: “Be wearied no longer — this, and whatever else you shall ask of God, you shall obtain.”

¹¹ And so one summer’s day, while the brothers were going to cleanse the harvest, an ilider, leaping from a bramble, bit a certain brother on the fingernail. He was already drawing his last breath when holy Samson set the sign of the holy cross on the serpent’s bite and gave him water mingled with oil, and restored him unharmed to the brothers.

¹² But blessed Eltutus, seeing holy Samson growing in virtues, had him consecrated into the order of the diaconate. And when the bishop named Dubricius celebrated the mass of his ordination together with master Eltutus, he saw a dove sent from heaven standing wondrously above holy Samson. And when the bishop raised his hand over him, the dove descended onto his right shoulder, and sat there as long as the bishop celebrated the office.

¹³ Not many years having passed after this, he was consecrated by the same bishop into the order of the priesthood. And the dove from heaven descended over him just as before, and marked God’s chosen one with its innocence.

¹⁴ Now this Eldutus had in his monastery two nephews, brothers, of whom one was a priest while the other, being without rank, was his cellarer. But the priest, desiring to possess the monastery after his uncle, yet fearing holy Samson — that on account of the grace of his virtues he might be elected to the abbacy by all, and he himself thus be deprived of the monastery — entered into a deadly counsel with his brother. For the brothers of that place had the custom of taking a draught of herbs after mass. The cellarer, on his brother’s advice, concocted a poison and by deceit proved it deadly, and poured it into holy Samson’s cup. But he, perceiving it through the Holy Spirit, blessed the drink and drank it all, feeling no ill from it.

¹⁵ On the same day after dinner, holy Samson held a most friendly conversation with the cellarer: “My dearest brother, may God keep you whole from all sickness, for the cup which you gave me today afforded great health to my body.” He, hearing this, pricked in conscience, groaned, and warned his brother, the instigator of the wickedness, to repent. But he would not.

¹⁶ On the following Sunday, as that same priest received the holy communion from holy Samson’s hand, at that very moment the Devil seized him. And he, while singing psalms, at once tore himself all over and, biting his lips, said to those standing by: “Why do you stand here? If I did not see Samson, my master, present, I would care nothing at all for you.” But when Ildutus saw this, he ordered him to be bound and led outside. And his brother, hearing this, declared the guilt of them both, and asked pardon of holy Samson.

¹⁷ But holy Samson, moved with grief, wept. He blessed water and oil, and ordered it to be given the man to taste; and so he freed him from the snares of the Devil. And so it came about by the just judgement of God that the primacy which he had wickedly sought he could never have.

¹⁸ Now not far from this monastery there was a certain island, on which a monastery had been built by a man named Piro.

¹⁹ There holy Samson, God leading him and his master approving, went in haste, and there led a glorious and angelic life — loveable in his ways, devoted to pious works, ever watchful in prayers.

²⁰ After this, at a certain winter time, holy Samson’s father, weighed down by a grave illness, was urged by his neighbours to receive the sacrifice of communion, as is the custom. But he firmly declared that he would never taste death, never take the sacrifice, never recover health, before he should see his son Samson and through him recover health of body and soul alike. His family therefore sent messengers to him, asking him to visit his father lying at death’s door.

²¹ But holy Samson, moved with grief, said: “God is able to heal a sick man without me.” At length, overcome by his abbot’s pleas, he sent the messengers back and granted that he would come.

²² So when morning came, having received his abbot’s blessing, he set out on the journey with a young deacon. And when they had gone through a vast wilderness, they heard a terrible voice near them. At that voice the deacon, terrified, let go of his horse and, casting off his cloak, turned in flight. Then a shaggy, horned theomaca, flitting through the vast woods, laid him low half-dead with her three-pronged lance. But blessed Samson, advancing unafraid and seeing the theomaca fleeing afar, cried after her, saying: “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you — stay and speak to me.”

²³ He said to her: “Who are you?” She answered: “I am a theomaca. For my kin have been trespassers against you all this while, and none of my race remains in this wood except me. I have eight sisters and a mother who still live, and they dwell in a farther wood. And I was given to a husband in this wilderness; but because he is dead, I cannot leave this wood.” Holy Samson said to her: “Can you restore the brother whom you struck to life, and turn aside from evil?” She answered: “Neither can I heal him, nor can I be restored to a better state; for from infancy I have always lived wickedly.” Blessed Samson said: “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to harm men no more, but to depart from this life most speedily.” And at once, making a headlong leap, she fell down and breathed her last.

²⁴ Holy Samson returned to the brother who was half-dead and, in the manner of Elisha, set mouth to mouth and limbs to limbs, and so restored him to health.

²⁵ And so they continued on the journey they had begun, and on the third day they came to Ammon. And Ammon, when he saw them, said with exceeding joy: “Here is the help of my body and soul, which the Lord deigned to show me in a dream!” For on that very day he recovered from his sickness through holy Samson’s blessing. And on humble petition he was granted, together with his brother Umbrafeles, to take the monastic habit. And the venerable Anna too, with her sister Affrella, was consecrated by his blessing. One part of his substance he distributed to the poor, one part he committed to the building of a monastery, and one part he granted for the use of his mother and brothers. And when all things had been ordered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, taking his father and uncle with him, he returned to his monastery by another way than that by which he had come.

²⁶ And on that road he found a serpent of wondrous size, which he laid low by speech alone.

²⁷ And when they returned to the monastery, he found Bishop Dubricius staying there at the beginning of Lent.

²⁸ And the bishop, calling the deacon to himself and learning from him all that had been done on the way, received holy Samson and his companions with the greatest honour. And on the same day he appointed holy Samson cellarer of that place. And he, as though divinely commanded, served the brothers with great diligence and ministered to the poor as much as he could.

²⁹ But the brother who had been in the same office before him, envying his good works, said that holy Samson had lent out everything at interest to excess, and had shamefully emptied the jars that were full of honey. The bishop, hearing this and wishing to know the truth of the matter, entered the cellar. Blessed Samson, perceiving through the Holy Spirit the jars which he had emptied, set the sign of the cross upon them, and the bishop found them full. And the bishop, marvelling, believed Samson to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and judged him worthy of the highest office.

³⁰ After a few intervening days, Piro was overtaken by death, and holy Samson was elected by all to the abbacy of that monastery. And though he obeyed unwillingly, he held the primacy of that congregation for three and a half years.

³¹ Afterwards, certain most learned Irishmen, returning from Rome, came to him; and looking into them, he knew them to be wise. And with the bishop’s leave he went with them to their country. And staying there a little while, he was received by all devout people as an angel. He gave light to the blind, cleansed lepers, drove demons out of people, and showed all the way of salvation.

³² And while he was dwelling in the stronghold, wishing to return to his own country, a ship was found already prepared; and he was begged by the sailors to board it, to whom he answered: “We shall perform the works of God before we sail from this province.” But the sailors, provoked to anger, set the sails. To whom he said: “Go in peace today — you are to return; and tomorrow we shall go together.” And as they went, a certain man came to him, asking him to visit a nearby monastery, saying: “The Devil has invaded our abbot and holds him bound; he longs to see you.” Holy Samson went with him and found him bound. And he, at his approach, cried out in a loud voice: “Here is the one I have always sought! Here is the one I have longed to see with all devotion!” As holy Samson prayed, he was restored to health from among the possessed. Leaving the monastery, he followed holy Samson.

³³ Having blessed the brothers in the monastery, he went away, and found the ship already returned to port as he had foretold. In the morning he boarded the ship with his companions, and with a favourable wind he made for the island in which he had formerly dwelt on the second day. And entering the monastery, he found that his father and uncle were profiting commendably in the religious life beyond the other residents, and for this he gave thanks to the Almighty.

³⁴ So taking his uncle Umbrafeles, who was already performing the office of priest, he sent him as abbot to the monastery in Ireland in which he had freed the prior from the Devil. And blessed Samson, with Ammon and the same abbot and a certain brother, a priest, went to a most vast wilderness, and beside the river Habrinum found a hut, and in it a most sweet spring. And there he settled his father with his two companions.

³⁵ He himself, going deeper into the wilderness, found a most secluded cave. Its entrance was set toward the east, and he loved it as though prepared by God. And in it he obtained a vein of spring-water by his prayers. There he waited upon God alone without ceasing; he feared not the wiles of the Tempter. He was accustomed to converse with angels, through whom he commended himself to the Most High. And on every Lord’s day he visited the three brothers whom he had settled in the wilderness, and received communion from them.

³⁶ And so a synod was held; and when the chief men of the land inquired where holy Samson was dwelling, there was a certain man who said that he knew the cave in which he led a heavenly life. The man was sent with the others to entreat him, and they drew him to the synod; and seeing him as it were an angel, they received him and appointed him, though unwilling, as abbot in the monastery built by St Germanus. And in that monastery, on account of its eminence, they had the custom that the bishops should sit in the chair of the blessed apostle Peter when they assembled.

³⁷ Now, as the annual feast approached and the bishops were awaiting the customary assembly, that one night holy Samson saw himself beset by very dense hosts of white-clad people, and three outstanding bishops, adorned with golden diadems, standing before him, and entering the church with them and praying. He asked gently and humbly for their names and the reason for their coming. To him the chief of the vision said: “I am Peter, the apostle of Christ, and this is James the Lord’s brother, and John the Evangelist. The Lord Jesus Christ has chosen you as his bishop, and has sent us to consecrate you.” And when they had confirmed him with heavenly blessing, they slipped away from his sight. Now the bishops, coming on the appointed day and bringing with them two to be ordained, wished to ordain three in honour of the Holy Trinity, but they did not know whom to choose for this. So on the following night an angel of the Lord stood by blessed Dubritius, and commanded him to ordain holy Samson as bishop. And blessed Dubritius, for joy at the angelic vision, gathered the brothers of the congregation into one, and joyfully declared to them what he had heard from the angel.

³⁸ And at once all, crying out, gave thanks to God, and set him with the others in the episcopal chair. And all who were present saw a dove sent from heaven standing motionless above him as he was consecrated. And on that same day, as holy Samson celebrated the most holy mysteries, blessed Dubritius, with two monks, saw a column of fire proceed gleaming from his mouth. And for the whole time of his life, whenever he celebrated mass, he merited to see angels standing by and serving him in the sacrifice of the altar.

³⁹ And on a certain night of the Lord’s resurrection, while he kept vigil and prayed in the church, an angel of the Lord stood by with great brightness, and comforted him so that he would not fear, saying: “Samson, most beloved of God, act manfully; depart from your kindred and from ours. For you are destined by God to be a magnificent founder of monks beyond the sea, and a glorious ruler among the people.” And the angel foretold other like things to the blessed man with rejoicing through the whole night. And when morning came and the clergy had been called together, in no way resisting the angelic vision but obeying it with the greatest love, he said: “O holy father, by the laying on of whose hand I was raised up, however unworthily — an angelic vision compels me to leave my native bounds and to hasten overseas, and namely to cross to the Armorican lands of the British people.” Hearing this, the blessed archbishop Dubritius did not hesitate to let the man go among the Britons, on account of their tongue, and knowing that he was girded with divine strength and adorned with holiness of manners. He said: “Be a strong man; fight in the battle-line. May the prayers of Britain lead you hence with joy and eagerness.” And when the blessing of father Dubricius and Abbot Eldutus and all the clergy and people had been given him, he departed. So when the solemn office of Easter was completed and a ship prepared, taking certain brothers with him he proceeded on this side of the Abrinum sea. He visited his land and his mother, and consecrated a church made by her, and restored many sick people in those parts to health.

⁴⁰ After he had fully instructed his mother and his other kinsfolk in the words of the Lord, guided by God he crossed the Auferreum sea with his companions.

⁴¹ And while he was passing through a certain district which they call Tricurrium, he saw there men holding a wild revel in a profane rite, worshipping a certain idol. Seeing this, holy Samson groaned, and urged them with prayers and teachings to abandon the idols, hateful to the human race, and to worship the one true God who is in heaven. Their count Gedianus answered him: “The God whom you proclaim we do not know; but the gods whom our fathers worshipped, those we adore.” While they were speaking these things, a certain boy, sitting on a horse and riding around the idol, fell to the ground and lay dead, his neck broken.

⁴² As all wept, holy Samson said to them: “See — you can see that your image cannot give back life to this dead man. If you will destroy your idols and believe in my God, invoking the name of the Lord I will make your dead man rise again.” And as they assented, holy Samson, with prayers poured out by him, restored the dead man to life in the sight of all. At this, astonished at the marvellous and unheard-of sight, they all with one accord destroyed the idols and were baptised, believing in Jesus the Son of God.

⁴³ For in that same province there was a certain serpent of wondrous size, which with its deadly breath had almost destroyed two districts. Learning of this, holy Samson, pitying the people’s affliction, took with him the lately raised boy and went with Count Gedianus and all the people, now going before him, to the place where they knew the serpent lay hidden in a cave. For on the next day, as the sun was rising, they saw the cave where the serpent was, beyond a certain river. And there holy Samson sent the count away with the people; he himself, with the lately revived boy, went over the river. And when he had come to the mouth of the cave, he ordered the boy to stand at a distance. But he, fortified with the sign of the holy cross, entered the cave at once. And he bound the serpent about the neck with the linen girdle with which he was girt, and dragging it outside cast it down from a great height, commanding it in the name of the Lord to live no more. And the boy ran back and reported what he had seen to Count Gedianus and the people of God. And so all the people rejoiced greatly at this sight, and gave out lavish praise to God and holy Samson from their inmost hearts. Holy Samson ordered the people to build a monastery near the cave, while he himself meanwhile gave himself to fasting and prayer in the cave.

⁴⁴ And there by his prayers he obtained a vein of spring-water, which has not ceased to flow to this day.

⁴⁵ And when the people had finished the monastery and blessed Samson had dedicated it, he established his father Ammon in it, and with him his cousin. He himself sailed to Brittany with his people, God leading. And when he had come into the port and come down from the ship, he saw beside the port a hut, and in it a certain private man weeping miserably and ever looking to the sea. Samson said to him: “Brother, why do you weep?” He said to him: “I have a wife with leprosy in this dwelling, and a daughter possessed by a demon, both of whom the Lord promised me he would heal by a certain man from over the sea. Expecting him here these three days, I hope he will come into this port.” And blessed Samson, hearing this and entering his home with him, prayed humbly over them and restored them to health. So in that same dwelling he found a most fitting place, in which he built an honourable monastery, which is called Dolum to this day. There he worked many famous miracles of power, and built many monasteries through the provinces.

⁴⁶ For in those days a foreign count — restless, savage and ill-fated — was ruling over all the Bretons; he had killed Ionas, the Bretons’ native count, and delivered his son Iudualus to King Hildebertus and the queen to be kept in captivity. Hearing this, holy Samson grieved for their misery, and hastened to King Hildebertus, wishing to redeem Iudualus from captivity and to free the people from the foreign ruler.

⁴⁷ As blessed Samson entered the king’s palace, he found there a certain count who was possessed, whom he anointed with blessed oil on the face and breast, and so freed him from the Devil.

⁴⁸ And the king, when he had heard these things and that he had come to plead with him for Iudualus, took counsel with his nobles and received blessed Samson with due honour, and prevailed on him to dine with him. But the queen, since she held Iudualus bound in her captivity and would not release him, provoked blessed Samson by withstanding his prayers and shouting insulting words. And to destroy him she prepared a deadly cup. And when the king and the blessed archbishop had sat down to feast, and all who were present had rejoiced at his coming, the queen, at the Devil’s instigation, mixed poison with wine in a glass and offered it to blessed Samson to drink through her servant. Then he, doubtless divinely inspired, set the sign of the cross on the glass, and the glass cracked into four parts. And the poison, spilling over the hand of the man holding it, corroded skin and flesh to the bone, before all their eyes. Then blessed Samson said: “This cup is not fit for drinking.”

⁴⁹ And so, the king being troubled and all marvelling, blessed Samson signed the injured man’s hand and restored it whole. After they had dined, blessed Samson, with the king’s leave, hastened to the place where Iudualus was kept. The queen sent against him a raging horse to kill him; but the chosen one at once marked it with the cross and, placing his own saddle on it, mounted it. And it went so gently, as though the King of heaven himself had tamed it beneath his soldier.

⁵⁰ Yet still, her heart hardened, she sent against him a fierce lion with its keepers to attack him. But God’s right hand protected the chosen one, and the lion, as though struck by a pole, turned in flight. But blessed Samson, looking after it, said: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to harm no one any more, but to perish most swiftly.” At once, making a headlong leap, it breathed its last. And the king, seeing such miracles in the saint of God, gave him Iudualus, led in chains. The queen too, prostrate at his feet with her supporters, begged pardon of the saint.

⁵¹ Which done, all being knit together through God’s grace and filled with great joy, the king said to blessed Samson: “There is a serpent in this province, afflicting the lords and the inhabitants with a grievous pestilence; and because we see you shining with virtues, we ask that you deign to free us from it.” Holy Samson said to him: “Find a guide for the journey, and in God’s strength I will drive it from your parts.” So a guide being found, taking two brothers with him and leaving the rest with Iudualus in the palace, he took to the road at once, trusting and rejoicing ever in the Lord. And when he had come to the cave where the serpent was, and had there prayed to the Lord on bended knees, he seized the serpent by the neck and drew it out, and commanded it to swim beyond the river which is called Sigona, and to remain there under a certain rock.

⁵² A little afterwards he drowned it in the sea by speech alone. For in that same place he built a monastery, and settled in it brothers who would serve Christ. At last King Hildebertus loved blessed Samson greatly for such mighty works, and freely bestowed on him great gifts — gold and silver, precious vessels, estates and many possessions — and commended himself to his prayers. And so, taking Iudualus with him, he went to Lesia and Angia, and there gathered an army, and returned with it to Brittany. And as blessed Samson fasted and prayed, and Iudualus fought with his army against Commorus, Iudualus laid low the enemy with one blow through the saint’s prayers. And from then on he and the successors of his line held dominion over Brittany. Soon afterwards, Iudualus was joyfully received by his people and chosen as duke of all Brittany; he surrendered himself, with all that belonged to him, to blessed Samson, and commended himself devoutly to his prayers. Let the duke give thanks to his redeemer; the people exult, committed to so great a shepherd. For this reason the leadership of all Brittany is seen justly to reside at Dolum to this day. For how great were the mighty works the Lord worked through him beyond and on this side of the sea, and how greatly he shone in teaching, the eloquence of no writer or teacher can contain.

⁵³ And so, his life and days fulfilled and adorned with all virtues, seized by a sharp sickness, in the monastery of Dolum, the clergy weeping around him, he rendered his body to the world and his soul to heaven. The clergy buried the holy body with ointments, and while he himself heard it, the heavenly host escorted his soul to Christ with hymns and praises. And we have a sign of his blessedness among us, namely in those miracles which God works daily through him to the praise and glory of his name, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The End. Amen.