CatholicaFrom: Acta Sanctorum, June IV (21 June), pp. 87 sqq. — translated from the Latin: the Bollandist commentary, the Life as printed from Albert le Grand, and the editorial notes; followed by the beginning of the commentary on St Leutfred, which breaks off.
Preliminary Commentary #
§1. Concerning his cult, and his life written by various but not ancient authors.
The most eminent Cardinal Baronius, when asked why he had written so little of the affairs of Spain in his celebrated Annals, is said to have answered that, since it was not his purpose to write anything of his own invention but only to gather and illustrate what is found written by competent authors, he could not report much concerning things of which he had found little or nothing handed down in the ancient writings. Let this prudent answer of that most eminent and learned historian be kept in mind whenever we must deal with the Armorican saints — always excepting St Yvo. For a people trained from the first by its apostles in great virtues rather than in letters, and taught to imitate the virtues of the saints rather than to write them down for others to imitate, left almost nothing of its saints to posterity save the fame of their holiness and their veneration. Those who succeeded their ancestors after some centuries had passed — stirred by the example of other nations — set about publishing in writing the lives of their native saints; but as these were narrated to the rude common people through an obscure and scarcely coherent tradition, they produced many things exposed to pious censure.
§2. Albert le Grand of the Order of Preachers, who collected the lives of the Breton saints into one volume, took them from monuments of that kind and added circumstances plausibly imagined and better suited, at least as to the manner of speech, to our own times. He was followed therein by Master Peter Viel, doctor of sacred theology, through whom the most reverend Father Roland de Neufville, bishop of Léon, caused the life of St Mainus to be written out from ancient manuscripts; and likewise Antonio Yepes, who in the Benedictine Annals — first published in Portuguese and then rendered into Latin by the Rev. Fr Thomas Weis, monk of Neresheim — described the life of the saint in many chapters. If one considers what properly pertains to St Mainus and is peculiar to him, they all agree in most things; but in the order and manner of narration they differ greatly from one another, while they sometimes draw out the narrative with pious admonitions and catechetical explanations interposed, such as the saint might have set before those to whom he announced the faith — and for this and other reasons it has not seemed expedient to reproduce here the texts of the different authors, since none is of such weight that anything certain can be established from it, and all were taken from the same monuments which Albert used. For he asserts that he collected the life from the ancient breviaries of Léon and of Mador, and from a proper of the saints of the church of Rennes; which, though they are not of certain authority, would deserve, if we had them, to be read in the Acta Sanctorum for want of more certain documents — so that the curious reader might know which are the most ancient monuments of this saint so far discovered. But since the aforementioned Albert wrote last after the others, I reckon that nothing has been omitted by him that could be told to the saint’s glory; and therefore we shall be content with his narrative, drawing however from the others certain observations where it seems fitting or necessary for explanation.
§3. Before all things it is established by the aforementioned monuments that this saint is to be venerated with the honour due to the blessed, and always has been. For those three writers of his life testify that the monastery built by him and dedicated to God in honour of St John the Precursor received in later times its name from its founder — because his feast is there celebrated as that of its principal patron. They also testify to the concourse of pilgrims to his church and to the fountain said to have been miraculously brought forth by the saint, in the hope of obtaining cures from sickness by his intercession. Albert likewise confirms the cult from the fact that his relics, laid in an honourable tomb at once after his death, were secretly removed by the monks to a safer place for fear of the Normans and Danes who ravaged Brittany — a thing not custom to be done save for the bodies of saints.
§4. Concerning his feast, its celebration on different days, and under different names.
I find his feast celebrated on this twenty-first of June, and on the fifteenth of the same month — as we said above among those passed over. The calendar of Dol and of Saint-Malo, revised by John du Bec bishop of Saint-Malo in the year 1603, preserves his memory on the twenty-first. Menard, in the Benedictine Martyrology, records him on the fifteenth in these words: “In lesser Britain, St Mainus the abbot, who converted many to the faith.” Dorganius follows him in the calendar printed at Saint-Malo in 1622, adding to Menard’s words: “and illustrious for holiness, departed to the Lord.” On the same day the life of St Mainus is included among those published in French by Renatus Benedictus. Antonio Yepes in the Annals says he yielded up his spirit on the seventeenth of the Kalends of July [15 June] — contrary to Albert le Grand, who says the saint gave back his soul to the Creator on the twenty-first of June. Each was led, I believe, by finding the saint’s memory on that day in the writings he used; and it may be that for some reason unknown to us he had a cult on both days — just as he received different names among Latin authors: for the Bretons call him St Meen or Mein, while some Latin writers call him Majanus or Mainus or Conanidus, and others Mavennus or Mevennus. When Saussaye found this out, reckoning that no further enquiry was needed, he entered St Mainus on the fifteenth in his Gallican Martyrology and St Meventius on the twenty-first, giving each a different eulogy — which belongs properly to those saints only insofar as it is common to several. Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology, partly following Saussaye, assigns the fifteenth to the feast of St Mainus, contracting the principal acts written of this saint into one eulogy; but on the twenty-first, finding nothing of Mevennus elsewhere, he took the eulogy from Saussaye: “In Armorica, St Mevennus the abbot, who being a supreme despiser of human things, a scorner of himself, a shunner of honour and an enemy of his own flesh, strove to please God alone, and so rendered to Him the pure service of heart and work throughout the whole course of his life.”
§5. That Majanus flourished in the sixth century, and that he was not Bishop of Nantes nor a Benedictine.
All say he flourished about the sixth century of Christ under Alan I of that name, king of Armorican Britain, of whom d’Argentré writes in book 1, chapter 29, p. 108: “Although King Alan was very ruinous to his country, afflicted by the Gallic wars, the age was happy in this — that at no time did so many holy men flourish, both natives and strangers driven from Great Britain by the Anglo-Saxons… among them were St Samson, archbishop of York, of noble birth; St Maglorius his sister’s son; St Paul; St Mainus; St Malo; St Brieuc; St Columban — who were afterwards consecrated bishops, therefore certain bishoprics are called by their names to this day.” Perhaps deceived by this, Belforest adds St Mainus to the bishops of Nantes — which Yepes refutes at p. 242. There is no doubt that Belforest went astray. For many French historians have plied their pens in expounding the deeds of this servant of God; of whom Robert Cenalis and Bertrand d’Argentré composed the wish of the bishops of Nantes, passing over St Mainus — whose life Roland de Neufville also diligently relates, yet does not set the mitre of the church of Nantes upon him: we should have to charge him with negligence if he had been ignorant of, or had dissembled, his episcopate. Besides other authors, the Order of St Benedict itself reckoned him only an abbot, and never placed him among the bishops. But on what grounds Yepes numbered him among the Benedictines I do not see — especially if he came from Great Britain into Armorica, driven out by the Anglo-Saxons. For there were no Benedictines in England before the Anglo-Saxons’ time — they entered first with St Augustine; nor do I find him numbered among the Benedictines in Mabillon — unless perchance Yepes associated him with the Benedictines because his successors in the monastery submitted themselves to the rule of St Benedict.
The Life #
From the French of Albert le Grand, of the Order of Preachers.
1. Piously educated by his parents. St Majanus was born in the province of Cambria, called South Wales, in the island of Britain. His parents lived in a certain region named Venta, in the city of Orc[h]a, and were nearly related to St Samson, archbishop of York in England and afterwards of Dol in Armorica. These with pious solicitude brought up their son from infancy, teaching him while yet tender to pray to God — to which he was already inclined of his own accord. His infancy past, he was given to the schools, wherein he applied himself so to letters and to virtue that he far surpassed his fellows — yet he put himself before none, nor sought the esteem of men, being well grounded in humility.
2. He flees to his uncle the bishop, is made monk and priest, and crosses into Armorica. Leaving the schools he returned home; and his parents hoped they would enjoy his most sweet company and that he would share in the care of the household. But the saint, called by God and aspiring to a higher degree of perfection, implored God’s help to lead him into the way of salvation; and so, secretly withdrawing from his parents, he went to his uncle St Samson of York, by whom he was most kindly received. For the bishop knew that he was led by the Holy Spirit, and would one day be a father of monks who should labour strenuously in the vineyard of the Lord. He remained for a while in the monastery in secular habit, receiving his uncle’s doctrine and ministering to the brethren, until he had proved his virtue, patience, devotion and perseverance. Then he received the religious habit from St Samson, and bound himself by holier vows. And when his growth in virtue was plain to the eyes of all, he was raised to the priesthood, having duly received the sacred orders.
3. After a little while St Samson, bidden by the Lord to cross over into Armorica, chose for himself religious companions whom he judged most fit for the conversion of souls — of which happy number St Majanus was one. Having crossed the strait they landed on the coast of Armorica, where St Samson, having wrought certain miracles, moved the inhabitants to wonder and to desire him: he stirred such goodwill towards himself that they eagerly helped him build a monastery for himself and his companions in the town of Kerfeunteun, today called Landmeur, two leagues from Morlaix. There fixing his dwelling with his followers, he gave himself to prayer and sacred exercises; he preached also, instructing the inhabitants and catechising those who flocked to him in troops. But God, to magnify His glory, increased the labours of St Samson in the conversion of souls, and so ordered it that all the bishops of Brittany chose him for their archbishop, conferring on him the same authority over them as he had held over his suffragans while he held the archbishopric of York in the island of Britain. Then he set St Maglorius over the monastery of Kerfeunteun as abbot, himself persevering in preaching the heavenly doctrine to the peoples round about.
4. Sent forth to spread the faith. Not long after, St Samson — judging his disciple Majanus fit to win souls — took counsel with the brethren and dismissed him, giving him his blessing, and joined certain brethren to him for company, and granted him authority competent for an abbot: to accept monasteries wherever they should be offered, and to receive religious into the order. Majanus therefore, bidding farewell to the brethren, set out on the way with the companions assigned to him; and journeying through the country he came to the land of the Lord of Gael, a man well Catholic, charitable and religious — who, meeting them and exchanging greetings, begged them to enter his house and refresh their strength with rest and food. Majanus, giving thanks for his kindness, accepted what was offered; and entering the house he tarried there some days.
5. He begins to build a monastery, and in the scarcity of water brings forth a miraculous spring. Amid the spiritual converse they held all that time, the Lord of Gael was so enflamed with the love of God and the desire of religion that he begged St Majanus to accept his lordship with its lands and territories for the founding of a monastery. Then the saint, thankfully acknowledging the favour of God, accepted the gift; and leaving some monks there he returned to Dol to inform St Samson and St Maglorius — who, having given thanks to God together, sent him back to that work with full power. And he, returning, reported the desired answer to the Lord of Gael, who without delay summoned workmen from every side, gathered all the material needed for building, and bade the work be set in hand; and the eagerness of the builders gave hope of the work’s speedy completion. But one thing troubled the workmen — namely the scarcity of water needed to soften the mortar; for the nearest water was so far off that fetching it consumed much time and labour.
6. St Majanus, prostrate in prayer, besought the Lord with full confidence to provide water; then rising he fixed his staff in the earth, and drawing it out saw a spring of living water burst forth — which is famous to this day for its power of healing the disease which physicians call the itch, vulgarly named St Majan’s evil: a scab of sharp bile that eats the flesh even to the bones. The monastery now finished was dedicated in honour of the glorious Precursor John the Baptist, whose virtue and austerity of life those monks had proposed to imitate. The fame of their holiness, spread through the whole region, drew very many noble youths who flocked there desiring to live under the discipline and rule of St Majanus — among others Judicaël, king of the Armoricans, who could not have his fill of the pious admonitions of St Majanus, which he both gladly heard and diligently followed. Hence he conceived the desire of serving God under the sweet yoke of religion. Therefore, returning from the Gallic war crowned with victories, trampling that very victory underfoot, he went to the monastery of Gael; there he put off his royal ornaments and put on the monastic habit, to pass the rest of his life in that monastery — which, being narrow and ruinous in many parts, he caused to be enlarged and repaired, assigning great revenues to it; and he led his life in such perfection that after his death the honours of a saint were paid to him.
7. His brother Hoel, oppressor of the poor. A fourth brother of St Judicaël, by name Hoel, a youth of fiery spirit differing greatly in temper and manners from the holy brethren Judicaël, Judoc and Winnoc, had his dwelling in a certain castle near the monastery of Gael, oppressing the country folk with violent exactions. One of his servants — either because he had not executed an unjust command, or for some other cause — had incurred his anger, and was therefore shut up in an underground dungeon, bound with iron fetters and tormented with other miseries. The wretched man could bear these things no longer. It befell that St Majanus, going round the cells of his religious, heard the lamentation and wailing of that poor captive; and asking the cause of the weeping, he was told that a poor man was held in bonds by Prince Hoel. At once he sent two of his monks to intercede in his name with the prince for the wretched man’s liberty. They did as they were bidden — but in vain; they could not bend the obstinate mind of the prince.
8. He would not release the captive, and sacrilegiously dragged him from the monastery where he had taken refuge. When this was reported to the saint, he gave himself to prayer, imploring the divine mercy for that wretched man. Scarcely had he finished his prayer when the poor man was freed from the dungeon by angelic aid, and at once hastened to the monastery to give thanks to God and to St Majanus, and to find liberty within his arms. But when Hoel learnt that his captive had escaped the dungeon and fled to the monastery as to a sacred asylum, he at once sent certain of his men to St Majanus to demand the captive back. The saint, answering with a fair excuse, said he could in no wise deliver a wretched man into his hands who had fled to his monastery as to an asylum. And he hid the fugitive in the church, judging he could in no wise be dragged from there by force — but it fell out altogether otherwise. For the prince, receiving the saint’s answer, would in no wise acquiesce; but, burning with rage, rushed to the monastery, broke open the doors, and violently tore away the wretched man as he clung to the sacred altar — in vain did St Majanus and his monks entreat him; they, seeing their prayers poured out in vain, comforted the man and exhorted him to patience, in the hope that his liberty would soon be restored. And Majanus, going to Hoel, admonished him in the spirit of prophecy to examine his soul and prepare for penance; for within three days he should die and stand before the tribunal of the supreme Judge.
9. Despising the saint’s prophecy, he is punished and dies penitent. Hearing this, the prince of youthful madness burst into laughter and despised the holy abbot’s words as the ravings of an old man; and so mounting his horse he rode back, dragging his captive with him, resolved in hardened spirit to wreak his fury upon him — but God turned it aside. For when at the entrance of his palace he clapped spur to his horse, the beast, driven into a fury, threw its rider, breaking the bone of his thigh with so violent a shock that he fell on his back as though every bone were shattered. Then, recollecting himself, he remembered what the saint had foretold him; and lo, now moved to repent, he bade himself be carried into his house and laid in his bed, restored his captive to liberty, and humbly begged him to repair to the monastery and tell the holy abbot Majanus of the calamity that had befallen him — to ask pardon for his madness, and pray him not to disdain to come to him. Receiving the message, Majanus betook himself to Hoel, rebuked him for his past offences, earnestly exhorted him to ask pardon of God and patiently to endure the affliction — which was light indeed, weighed against the gravity of his crimes — stirred him to true contrition of soul, heard his confession of sins, administered the other Sacraments, and disposed him piously for death; which he underwent on the third day, according to the saint’s prophecy.
10. He puts to flight the noxious insects. The territory of Gael — a fat and fertile soil — was vexed by certain insects that infested the grain as it ripened. St Majanus, experiencing the loss they brought upon his monastery, offered prayer to God and went to the little caves wherein they hid, and in God’s name commanded them to fly into the desert, that they might no longer harm the monastery or its people. The insects obeyed his bidding and flew into another region — so that none such has been seen in Armorica since. When therefore the monastery was finished both spiritually and materially, and his holy order well established in regular discipline, and the people round about had been taught the Christian faith by his religious, he resolved to make a pilgrimage to Rome, to venerate the tombs of the princes of the apostles, Peter and Paul, and the other sacred churches of that city within and without the walls.
11. At Angers he puts to flight a dragon. Taking therefore certain of his brethren as companions of the journey, and bidding the rest farewell, he set out on the way — miracles accompanying him wherever he went. When he came to Angers he was invited to preach to the people in the greater church; which he did with great applause and spiritual fruit. In that city a certain pious lady, hearing the fame of his holiness and of the miracles which God wrought by him, came to him beseeching that he would free her from the losses she suffered from a certain horrible dragon. The beast had its lair in a wood adjoining her most fertile fields, which lay untilled for fear of the dread beast, no husbandman daring to approach them. The woman was of great virtue; and the saint promised to do what she asked. The dragon’s cave was not far from the monastery of St Florentius, on the bank of the river Loire. Majanus bade himself be led there; and when the place was in sight, neither his guides nor the people following him, eager to see the outcome, dared come near — they showed him the cave from far away. There he knelt on the ground and poured out his prayers to God; then, having offered the sacrifice of the Mass in the nearest church, he went straight to the dragon’s den and bade it come forth. It came out at once, eyes flashing, its scales scraping the ground, giving such a dreadful hiss that it was heard through the fields round about. The saint went up to it and cast his priestly stole about its neck, and so led it like a domestic beast to the river bank, where in the name of the Lord he commanded it to cast itself into the stream — which it did, all the people looking on.
12. And he founds a monastery. This done, he returned to Angers, all the people coming out to meet him with the veneration his holiness deserved; and that noble lady, in grateful acknowledgment of the benefit and in perpetual memory of so great a miracle, gave him in perpetual possession the fields from which he had driven the dragon. In that place the saint founded a monastery, granting to its superior the title of prior, and willed that it should be subject to the abbot of Gael. Here he established certain of his monks and others newly admitted.
13. About to die, he returns to his own; he reveals another’s death at hand; and having received the Sacraments, he dies. After this he resolved to continue his journey to Rome; but see, God revealing it, he understood that he would soon be called to the reward of his labours. When he had told his brethren, they all counselled him to return to Gael, that there among his brethren he might rest from his labours. He approved the counsel and returned to his monastery, received with joy by all who lived therein. Not long after, he fell into a sickness whereby, old age and the mortifications wherewith he had subdued his body all his life coming upon him, he was so weakened within a few days that he felt the end of his life at hand. He called together his brethren, who stood weeping about his bed, and with grave and loving words exhorted them to perseverance, to the fulfilment of their vows, and to keep the purity of the rule. And seeing among the younger ones a monk named Ausonius, sadder than the rest and unable to restrain his tears for the loss of so good a father, he bade him come near the bed, and wiping away his tears with his own hands said in the spirit of prophecy: “Weep not, my son, for my departure — for we shall not long be parted from one another. I go before as a father; within eight days you shall follow me; meanwhile prepare yourself for a happy passing.” These things said, he asked to be strengthened for his last bed with extreme unction — having already received sacramental penance and the Body of Christ as viaticum. Then, rapt in high contemplation, lifting up hands, eyes and heart to God, he rendered up his last spirit into the hands of Him who had created him for His glory, on the twenty-first day of June, about the year 665, Alan II of that name reigning in our Armorican Britain — grandson of King Solomon, second king of upper and lower Brittany, which had been divided and were united in one when St Judicaël resigned of his own accord. His body was honourably laid in his monastery in a tomb raised above the ground at the right of the prince’s altar, where God works great miracles in testimony of his holiness. There his sacred relics were kept in due honour and veneration until the year 878, when the Normans and Danes descended into Brittany, overthrowing churches and monasteries, burning and scattering the sacred relics they found: the monks withdrew them from their fury and carried them to St Florentius, where they remained for some centuries. In later times certain particles were found deposited in the monastery of Gael, which is called St Majan from its founder.
14. His relics and monastery held in veneration. That monastery stood in the love and esteem of the ancient Breton princes, who conferred many and great gifts and privileges upon it. Godfrey I, duke of Brittany, had resolved to rebuild it from the foundations; but, prevented by death, he left the charge to his son Duke Alan III, who carried it out — granting the churches of St Mary and St Guicquellius to it, and moreover in the year 1029 granting to Hugh and the monks of that monastery the privilege of holding a fair in his town and of exchanging gold and silver. Thus that monastery became famous throughout Europe, pilgrims flocking there for devotion, especially those labouring under the disease vulgarly called St Majan’s evil, who often obtain health through the intercession and merits of the holy abbot — as Yepes says: “For this cause they make their way to that monastery from many provinces of the realm, undertaking pilgrimage in ordered bands with banners, which they perform with such devotion that, as Bishop Robert Cenalis testifies, they make no provision for their food but each begs an alms, however rich at home, that by humble clothing and precarious fare they may the more easily render God propitious to them.”
Editorial Notes #
a. The father [of Majanus] is called Gerascenus by Renatus. b. Baudrand shows that several cities of the name Venta existed, and one at least in Wales; a region of that name he does not assign. c. Renatus wrote “Orche”. d. Renatus calls him “of Menevia” — and of Menevia Baudrand says: “Menevia, an episcopal city of England under the archbishop of Canterbury, in South Wales.” I think we should follow Renatus here rather than Albert; for if St Samson was indeed bishop of Menevia and crossed from there into Armorica, perhaps a reason will be found why St Mainus was called Mevennus among a people to whom his true name may have been unknown. e. Albert seems to attribute Samson’s crossing to a divine revelation, while others attribute it to the violence of the Anglo-Saxons. f. Among the miracles wrought by him, Renatus relates that the wife of a certain Privatus was freed from leprosy and his daughter from a demon. g. The first monastery which St Samson built is called Dol by Yepes and Renatus — with the consent of Queretus, count of the region, St Mainus acting as envoy on Samson’s behalf. h. Yepes and Renatus call the region Transylva [beyond-the-wood], and say the lord was named Cado; I find neither Transylva nor Gael in other authors. i. Others describe the disease as “a scaly roughness of the skin” — and it seems to differ from scabies. k. Of King Judicaël, d’Argentré treats in book 2 from the beginning to chapter 7 — let him who wants more consult it. When he is called “canonised”, it is to be understood after the custom of that age. l. These appear to be SS. Judoc and Winnoc, the former venerated on 13 December, the latter on 6 November; but their legends differ not a little from what is related here, though they agree in essentials — which may be looked into at their feasts. m. He indeed died before his brethren and without children: for with Judicaël the kings of lower Armorica fail, according to Albert and d’Argentré. n. A miracle like those told of St Patrick and other Irish saints — see what was said in the preliminary commentary on his life, 17 March. o. Yepes omitted this dragon, deeming it, I suppose, fabulous or to be explained merely symbolically of idolatry or of habitual sin. p. But d’Argentré says that after the death of St Judicaël the whole state of the realm was troubled, and no king is found in the approved authors; therefore Albert, finding no other, supposes the king of upper Armorica to have reigned in the lower also. q. He held the dukedom from 992 to 1008, when his son succeeded. r. The same who is St Judicaël, king of the Bretons, spoken of above — from which the cult paid to the saint from ancient times is confirmed, if a church dedicated to his name existed in the eleventh century. s. See Yepes, quoted in the text above.
[Beginning of the next article:] Concerning St Leutfred, abbot in the diocese of Évreux in Normandy #
Preliminary Commentary — §1. Of his monastery, cult and acts. #
Évreux (Ebroicae), a city of Upper Normandy and an episcopal see on the river Iton under the archbishop of Rouen, distant about ten French leagues southward from that city. In this diocese St Leutfred built a monastery midway between Évreux and the Seine, where the castle of Gallion lies beside it. Below in the Life it is said (§14) that this monastery is two leagues from the city of Évreux, and (§24) that the river Eure adjoins it on the south. Its situation is described in §§12–13, where it is said that some years after the death of St Audoenus the archbishop the monastery was built in honour of the life-giving Cross and of the holy apostles and of St Audoenus. Hence at first it was called the monastery of the Cross of St Audoenus; but afterwards, on account of the miracles and the veneration of the abbot who gave it his name, it was called the Cross of St Leutfred. St Audoenus was succeeded in the see of Rouen by St Ansbert, at whose exhortation, and that of St Sidonius, Leutfred departed, as is said in §11, to his native soil and began to build a monastery. This they place about the year 690; and since §29 says the holy abbot presided over that monastery for about forty-eight years, his death should be referred to the year 738.
§2. The day is there given as the eleventh of the Kalends of July [21 June], on which he rested in peace; and in the Évreux breviary (which we have, printed in 1586) the feast of St Leutfred the abbot is prescribed to be kept with nine lessons and both Vespers, and this prayer is recited: “O God, who did comfort the blessed Leutfred, Your confessor and abbot, fighting against the savagery of the ancient enemy with an angelic visitation — by his interceding merits absolve us from every bond of sins, and grant us to rejoice with him in eternal gladness.” Then the nine lessons are drawn from his ancient acts, which end thus in the ninth lesson: “After his death his virtue and grace for the working of miracles, through the invocation of his name, has endured in the monastery even to our times; by whose merits and prayers we pray to be aided by our Lord Jesus Christ.” The feast of the same St Leutfred is celebrated in the dioceses of Luxeuil, Paris and others whose breviaries we have; and lessons drawn from his life are set out in them. His memory is kept on 11 June in the Luxeuil manuscript — perhaps by a scribal error, a denarius being dropped — but Usuard confirms his cult on the twenty-first, his true day of birth [into heaven], in these words: “In the district of Madrie, St Leutfred the confessor, who — a monument of rare holiness — is said to have brought forth a spring from the earth by his prayers.” The later writers follow him throughout: Bellinus, Greven, Maurolycus, Callistus, with various manuscripts and the Roman Martyrology; likewise Wion, Dorganius, Menard and Bucelin in their Benedictine fasti. The miracle of the spring brought forth is related in the Acts, §19; and the name of the district of Madrie is found in §11 — which Mabillon, in his preliminary observations on this life, says is that over which Count Nebelong and his son Theodebert are said to have presided, spread between Évreux and the town of Vernon. Others assert it was much larger; whose opinions and controversies Charles le Cointe sets out at length at the year 690, §12 — which let the curious reader consult.
§3. The life from manuscripts and various editions. We have the life from a very ancient manuscript codex of Aroasia in Artois, and collated it with the Queen of Sweden’s manuscript no. 1466 — such as we also found at Paris in the library of Cardinal Mazarin. The same life was also printed by Jacques Bruel, a Parisian and monk of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in the Supplement to the Antiquities of Paris — because the sacred body of St Leutfred was, as will be said below, carried to that city; the same life was also reprinted by Vincentius Barralis of Salerno in the Chronology of the holy isle of Lérins, because a bone of the ulna is there preserved among the relics, brought from Paris in the year of the Lord 1599. From that chronology it was reprinted in the last Surius edition. Finally it was published by Lucas d’Achery and Jean Mabillon in the Acta Sanctorum of the Order of St Benedict, part one of the third century; and compendia are found in the breviaries indicated above, likewise in Vincent of Beauvais, book 23, chapter 12, and other recent writers, with the Martyrology of Saussaye.
§4. His elevation and translation. Below in the Acts, §29, it is said the saint was buried in the church of St Paul, and translated from there to the basilica of the life-giving Cross and of St Audoenus — which in the Appendix by Jacques Bruel is said to have been done in the year 852 on the twentieth of June by Gumbert bishop of Évreux, no rather (as is written in the said §29) by John, bishop of the church of Dol and abbot of that place. When the author of the Life asserts that this happened in his own times, he shows that he then lived a monk in that place; and to that elevation he subjoins the translation to the Parisian monastery of Saint-Germain, and the donation…
[Here the file ends — the commentary continues in the source volume.]