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A.D. 686.Y

the seventh century, an Irish bishop named Kyllena or Kilian appeared in it at the head of a band of missionaries, and met with a friendly reception from the duke, Gozbert, whose residence was at Würzburg. After a time, it is said, Kilian went to Rome, and, having been authorised by pope Conon to preach wheresoever he would, he returned to Würzburg, where Gozbert now consented to be baptised. The duke, while yet a heathen, had married his brother's widow, Geilana; and, although he had not been required before baptism to renounce this union (which was sanctioned by the national customs), Kilian afterwards urged a separation as a matter of Christian duty. Gozbert was willing to make the sacrifice; but Geilana took advantage of his absence on a warlike expedition to murder Kilian, with two companions who had adhered to him. The bodies of the martyrs were concealed, but their graves were illustrated by miracles; and the vengeance of Heaven pursued the ducal house, which speedily became extinct.

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A.D. 689.

(3). The tribes to the north of France were visited by missionaries both from that country and from the British Isles. Among the most eminent of these was Amandus, a native of Aquitaine, who was consecrated as a regionary (or missionary) bishop about the year 628, and laboured in the country near the Scheld. The inhabitants are described as so ferocious that all the clergy who had attempted to preach to them had withdrawn in despair. Amandus was fortified with a commission from king Dagobert, which authorised him to baptise the whole population by force; but he made little progress until, by recovering to life a man who had been hanged, he obtained the reputation of miraculous power.d In consequence of having ventured to reprove Dagobert for the number of his wives and concubines, he was banished; but the king, on marrying a young queen, discarded the others, re

▾ Pagi, xii. 89.

This circumstance is said to be an interpolation in the Life. Mabill. ii. 992.

Pagi, xii. 106.

b Vita Kiliani, ap. Mabill. ii. 991-3. This story may be traced in its gradual growth, from the notice in Raban Maur's Martyrology (July 8, Patrol. cx.), through that of Notker (Patrol. cxxxi.), &c. Besides the legendary appearance of the part which relates to Gozbert and his family, the expedition of an Irish bishop to Rome is a circumstance which savours of invention later than the time of Boniface.

A.D. 629.e

The only points which can be regarded as certain are the mission of Kilian and his murder in the neighbourhood of Würzburg. Rettb. ii. 304. 7. See the notes on Menard's Martyrology, Jul. 8. (Patrol. cxxiv.); Schröckh, xix. 144-7; Lanigan, iii. 115-121.

e Vita S. Amandi, 6 (Patrol. lxxxvii.). There is also a metrical Life in vol. cxxi., and one in prose, written in the 12th century by Philip de Harveng, in vol. cciii.

d Vita, 7-8; Neand. v. 54-6; Rettb. i. 554.

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A.D. 631.f

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called Amandus, entreated his forgiveness, and, on the birth of a prince, engaged him to baptise the child. It is said that at the baptism, when no one responded to the bishop's prayer, the mouth of the little Sigebert, who was only forty days old, was opened to utter "Amen." Amandus, who preferred the life of a missionary to that of a courtier, hastened to return to his old neighbourhood, where, although he had to endure many hardships, with much enmity on the part of the heathen population, and was obliged to support himself by the work of his own hands, his preaching was now very effectual. After a time his zeal induced him to go as a missionary to the Slavons on the Danube; but, as he was received by them with an indifference which did not seem to promise either success or martyrdom, he once more resumed his labours in the region of the Scheld, and, on the death of a bishop of Mastricht, he was appointed to that see in the year 647. He found, however, so much annoyance both from the disorders of the clergy and from the character of the people, that he expressed to pope Martin a wish to resign the bishoprick. Martin, in a letter' which is significant as to the position of the Roman see, endeavoured to dissuade him from this desire. requests Amandus to promulgate the decisions of the Lateran synod against the Monothelites, which had just been held, and, with a view to fortifying himself against the empire, he urges the bishop to aid him in strengthening the connexion of king Sigebert with Rome. Notwithstanding the pope's remonstrances, however, Amandus withdrew from his see, after having held it three years, and he spent the remainder of his days in superintending the monasteries which he had founded."

He

About the same time with Amandus, and in districts which bordered on the principal scene of his labours, two other celebrated missionaries were exerting themselves for the furtherance of the Gospel. One of these was Livin, an Irishman, who became bishop of Ghent, and was martyred about the year 650;" the other was Eligius (or Eloy), bishop of Noyon. Eligius was originally a goldsmith, and, partly by skill in his art, but yet more by his integrity, gained the confidence of Clotaire II. He retained his position under

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Dagobert, to whom he became master of the mint, and coins of his workmanship are still extant. While yet a layman he was noted for his piety. The Bible always lay open before him as he worked; his wealth was devoted to religious and charitable purposes; he made pilgrimages to holy places; he built monasteries; he bought whole shiploads of captives--Romans, Gauls, Britons, Moors, and especially Saxons from Germany -and endeavoured to train them to Christianity. Such was his charity that strangers were directed to his house by being told that in a certain quarter they would see a crowd of poor persons around the pious goldsmith's door; and already, it is said, his sanctity had been attested by the performance of many miracles. After having spent some time in a lower clerical office, he was consecrated bishop of Noyon in 640, his friend and biographer Audoen (or Ouen) being at the same time consecrated to the see of Rouen." The labours of Eligius extended to the neighbourhood of the Scheld. The inhabitants of his wide diocese were generally rude and ferocious; part of them were heathens, while others were Christians only in name, and the bishop had to encounter many dangers and to endure many insults at their hands. His death took place in the year 659."

X

(4). Among the tribes which shared in the ministrations of Eligius were the Frisians, who then occupied a large tract of country. The successful labours of Wilfrid among them at a later time (A.D. 678), have already been mentioned; but the king whom he converted, Aldgis, was succeeded by a heathen, Radbod.b Wulfram, bishop of Sens, at the head of a party of monks, undertook a mission to the Frisians.

Vita S. Elig., i. 5, 9, 14 (Patrol. lxxxvii.). Ascribed to St. Ouen, but probably altered or re-written by a later hand (ib. 478; Rettb. ii. 508).

P Barthélemy, in his translation of the Life (Paris, 1847), gives engravings of some of these.

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See Barthélemy, note, p. 338. Vita, i. 10, 15-18, 21. s Ib. 20, 37, &c. t Ib. 22-31. Ib. ii. 2; Gallia Christ. quoted in Patrol. lxxxvii. 485-6; Pagi, xi. 345. Vita, ii. 3, seqq.; Barthélemy, 358. The sermon of Eligius, De Rectitudine Catholica Conversationis,'-or rather the composition which his biographer gives as containing the essence of many of his sermons (Vita, ii. 15-6; Barthél. 412),-is celebrated on account of the injustice done to its character

He found that they were accus

as a piece of Christian teaching by
Mosheim, Maclaine, Dr. Robertson, and
other writers of the last century, whose
misrepresentations have been repeatedly
exposed, especially by Dr. Maitland, in
his viith Letter on the Dark Ages."
It is printed not only in the Life of
Eligius, but in the Appendix to St. Au-
gustine's works (Patrol. xl. 1169-1190),
and is said to be in great part derived
from the sermons of St. Cæsarius of
Arles, which were very popular in Gaul.
Bähr, ii. 468.
z Vita, ii. 3.
Page 74.
b Rettb. ii. 502, 512.

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Life, by Jonas, in Mabill. iii. 357, seqq. The date is uncertain. Pagi gives 689 (xii. 177); Baronius, 700; Döllinger, about 712 (i. 314). Neander thinks that Wulfram was probably later than Willibrord, v 60.

tomed to offer human sacrifices, the victims being put to death by hanging. In answer to the taunt that, if his story were true, the Saviour of whom he spoke could recall them to life, he restored five men who had been executed, and, after this display of power, his preaching made many converts. Radbod had allowed one of his children to be baptised, and had himself consented to receive baptism; but, when one of his feet was already in the font, he adjured the bishop in God's name to tell him in which of the abodes which he had spoken of the former king and nobles of the nation were. Wulfram replied, that the number of the elect is fixed, and that those who had died without baptism must necessarily be among the damned. "I would rather be there with my ancestors," said the king, "than in heaven with a handful of beggars;" he drew back his foot from the baptistery, and remained a heathen."

But the chief missionary efforts among the Frisians proceeded from the British Islands. Egbert, a pious Anglo-Saxon inmate of an Irish monastery (the same who afterwards persuaded the monks of Iona to adopt the Roman Easter), conceived the idea of preaching to the heathens of Germany. He was warned by visions, and afterwards by the stranding of the vessel in which he had embarked, that the enterprise was not for him; but his mind was still intent on it, and he resolved to attempt it by means of his disciples. One of these, Wigbert, went into Frisia in 690, and for two years preached with much success. On his return, Willibrord, a Northumbrian, who before proceeding into Ireland had been trained in Wilfrid's monastery at Ripon, set out at the head of twelve monks, a further opening for their labours having been made by the victory which Pipin of Heristal, the virtual sovereign of Austrasia, had gained over Radbod at Dorstadt. Pipin received the missionaries with kindness, gave them leave to preach in that part of the Frisian territory which had been added to the Frankish kingdom, and promised to support them by his authority. After a time Willibrord repaired to Rome with a view of obtaining the

A.D. 692.

d"Christus tuus." Jonas, 6.

e Jonas, 9-11. Neander (v. 60) supposes that Radbod was not sincere in his desire of baptism, and that he spoke "in a half bantering way." But there is no trace of this in the original writer, and his report of the adjurations which the king used is decisive against the supposition. That Radbod (as Jonas relates) died within three days after his rejection of baptism is certainly untrue;

and, as two versions of the main story
are found, which differ considerably
from each other, but agree in showing
that one who is reprobate would, even
at the last moment, be excluded from
baptism and salvation, Rettberg thinks
that the whole is an invention devised
in behalf of the rigid predestinarian
doctrine (ii. 515-6). In this he is fol-
lowed by Ozanam, 167.

See p. 76.

Beda, v. 9.

A.D. 696.

papal sanction and instructions for his work, as also a supply of relics to be placed in the churches which he should build." On his return, the work of conversion made such progress, that Pipin wished to have him consecrated as archbishop of the district in which he had laboured, and for this purpose sent him a second time to Rome. The pope, Sergius, consented, and, instead of Willibrord's barbaric name, bestowed on him that of Clement. The archbishop's see was fixed at Wiltaburg,' and he appears to have succeeded in extirpating paganism from the Frankish portion of Frisia. He also attempted to spread the Gospel in the independent part of the country, and went even as far as Denmark, where, however, his labours had but little effect. In his return he landed on Heligoland, which was then called Fositesland, from a god named Forseti or Fosite. The island was regarded as holy; no one might touch the animals which lived on it, nor drink, except in silence, of its sacred well: but, in defiance of the popular superstition, Willibrord baptised three converts in the well, and his companions killed some of the consecrated cattle. The pagan inhabitants, after having waited in vain expectation that the vengeance of the gods would strike the profane strangers with death or madness, carried them before Radbod, who was then in the island. Lots were cast thrice before any one of the party could be chosen for death. At length one was sacrificed, and Willibrord, after having denounced the errors of heathenism with a boldness which won Radbod's admiration, was sent back with honour to Pipin." The renewal of war between Radbod and the Franks interfered for a time with the work of the missionaries. After the death of the pagan king, in 719, circumstances were more favourable for the preaching of the Gospel in the independent part of Frisia; and Willibrord continued in a course of active and successful exertion until his death in 739.° Among his fellow-labourers during a part of this time was Boniface, afterwards the apostle of Germany.

h Ib. v. 10-1; Alcuin. Vita Willib. i. Franks), may both be right; and that 3-6 (Patrol. ci.).

Utrecht then belonged to Radbod, while Wiltaburg, on the opposite side of the Rhine, was Frankish (Gieseler, II. i. 24). It would seem, therefore, that Bede, who states that Pipin gave the archbishop Wiltaburg (v. 11), and Alcuin (i. 12), who says that Charles Martel gave him Utrecht (which had in the interval come into possession of the

Dr. Lingard (A. S. C. ii. 333), who sets
Bede aside in favour of Alcuin, is mis-
taken in identifying the towns.
k Schröckh, xix. 152.

He was supposed to be the son of
Balder. Thorpe, Northern Mythology,

i. 30.

Alcuin, i. 9-10.

• Rettb. 11. 520-1.

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