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EDITOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTE: HOLY AUSTRIA
Recently more and more people have come to know and to love the Orthodox
saints of the West.
We would like to introduce two such saints, Rupert of Salzburg and the nun
Erendruda, whose lives
have apparently not previously appeared in English. ("Rupert" is the
German
spelling of
"Hrodibert," rendered "Robert" in French and English.)
While the Roman provinces of Noricum and Pannonia had been strongholds of the early church -- St. Martin of Tours,for example, was a native of Burgenland -- the barbarian invasions hit them with such violence that Christianity eventually almost disappeared. The re-introduction of the faith was due largely to Theodo I, Duke of Bavaria in the late 600s. St. Rupert was not the only Frankish missionary whom Theodo brought into his territory; another, St. Emmeramus, met a martyr's death when, to help a distressed princess, he pretended to be the father of her illegitimate child, thus permitting her lover to escape the vengeance of the clan.
Although Rupert was a Frank, tradition also associates him with Ireland; certainly the old Roman city of Juvavia (Salzburg), which he refounded as his headquarters, quickly became a center of Irish missionary activity in Central Europe. The Austrian church was pervaded with Celtic influence, and was even organized on Celtic lines under "abbot-bishops" in succession from Rupert. The most famous was St. Virgil the Geometer, otherwise Feargal O'Neill from Leinster. St. Virgil is remembered today mostly as an astronomer who shocked his more intellectually staid contemporaries by speculating about the habitibility of the Antipodes; he was also an outstanding Orthodox hierarch who evidently tolerated the use of the vernacular at baptismal services and launched, in Carinthia and Slovenia, one of the first attempts to evangelize the Slavs.
The Austrian Church did not long retain its free-spirited identity. Four years after St. Virgil's passing, the Austro-Bavarian duchy was conquered by Charlemagne and rapidly integrated into the European mainstream. The abbot-bishops gradually changed from spiritual leaders into worldly potentates, Electors of the Western Empire. By a terrible irony, the inheritors of the mantle of St. Virgil became the chief opponents and persecutors of Cyril and Methodius whom he had foreshadowed. Nevertheless, although Austria and Bavaria have not been Orthodox for a thousand years, the saints of the Orthodox period still live in Christ, interceding for their countries and all humanity. May the reader of the following Lives be saved through the prayers of Saints Rupert and Erendruda! --N. Redington
THE LIFE OF SAINT RUPERT OF SALZBURG, APOSTLE TO BAVARIA AND AUSTRIA
(March 27)
1. Today is the feast of St. Rupert, a most holy and blessed man. This
feast
reminds us of his
passing into joyful paradise; it shows forth mystical gladness to devout
minds. It renews delight in
our hearts while the course of years runs. As the Scriptures say, "The
righteous shall be in
everlasting remembrance." [Psalm 111(112):6] He who passes into the
angels'
joy is made worthy of men's
remembrance: as the Scriptures say, "A wise son is the glory of the
father",
[Prov. 10:1; 15:20] and how great is his
glory, who redeemed so many barbarian nations by the knowledge of God in
Christ Jesus through
the Gospel!
2. When Childebert the king of the Franks was in the second year of his
reign, the Bishop of
Worms was the Holy Confessor Rupert, who was born into the ranks of the
Frankish nobility, but
was nobler in faith and piety. He was gentle and chaste, simple and
prudent,
devout in praise of
God, full of the Holy Spirit. He was also provident in his plans and
righteous in his judgement. He
was secure in the strength of both his right and left arms, and his good
deeds shaped his flock in his
own image, because he admonished them with his words and the example of
his
works confirmed
them. He frequently kept vigils; then he weakened himself with fasting. He
adorned his work with
compassion. He gave away his riches that the poor might enrich themselves,
because he believed
himself to be one who should receive the naked and poor.
3. Therefore, when the exceeding fame of this most venerable man had
spread
to the ends of the
universe, very famous men, not only in that region but from other nations,
poured in to hear his most
holy teaching. Some in anxious sorrow came to receive consolation through
his pious conversation,
and others from the church came to hear pure truth from him. Many were
freed
from the snares of
the ancient enemy by his loving dedication, and they started out on the
way
to eternal life. But the
unfaithful, who were often numerous in the vicinity of Worms, not
understanding his sanctity, exiled
him from the city in great shame. They afflicted him with terrible
sufferings and beat him with rods.
At that time Theodo, the Duke of Bavaria, hearing about the miracles which
this most holy holy man
had done, and about his blessedness, desired to see him, and, having sent
resolutely his very best
men, he summoned him: how long might he consent to visit the regions of
Bavaria, and could he
instruct him in the way of life-giving faith? The blessed bishop, when he
saw such a legion of
questions, and knew that these came from Divine dispensation, thanked the
Merciful One, because "
those who sat in the darkness and the shadow of death" [Psalm 106
(107):10]
longed to know the author of life, Jesus
Christ.
4. Consequently, he sent his own priests, as if they were rays of faith,
with the ambassadors before
him to the Duke, and he himself, after a short time, undertook the journey
to Bavaria. When the
Duke heard the news, he was overcome with great joy, and he and a large
retinue hastened to meet
St. Rupert. In the city of Regensburg, he with the greatest zeal overtook
the saint. Then St. Rupert,
not saying he was hungry, instructed the Duke in the mysteries of the
heavens, and he strengthened
him in the true faith. He made the Duke renounce the cult of idols, and he
baptized him in the name
of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity. The nobles and the people, whether
gentry or plebians, were
baptized with him, praising Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world, who
considered them worthy to
be called wonderously into His light from their darkness through His own
confessor, the most
blessed Rupert. Through his word, their darkened hearts were lit up, and
the
breasts of the unfaithful
thirsted for the fountain of life.
5. When the saint had demonstrated the Divine grace by baptizing the Duke
and his people, Theodo
understood the sacrament of saving baptism. He begged the saint, and
Rupert
boarded a ship and
sailed up the River Danube. Through the towns, villas, and forts, he
declared the gospel of Christ in
a free voice. To the ends of Noricum, into the lower parts of Pannonia, he
himself brought the light
of Christ's ministry, placed as it were like a bright lamp above a
candelabra. Then, having returned
through the land, he entered Lauriacum (Lorch on the River Enns), in whose
water he converted
many who were regenerated in baptism from the cult of idols. In the name
of
the Lord he cleansed
more who had been oppressed by various weaknesses. After he had left
Lauriacum, he saw with
fervor the errors of the race in that region; he boldly undertook to
destroy
idols, to smash images, to
proclaim everywhere the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as His
sacred incarnation, that they
might believe Him to be at once God and man; who was truly begotten of the
Father before the
Morning Star; who is the Word of God truly born of a virgin mother in the
latter days for the
salvation of humanity; who illumines all men who come into the world.
6. But when the man of God considered whether to become the Bishop
according
to the entreaties
of the Duke and his people, he went to the stagnant waters of the
Wallersee,
where a church had
been built in honor of the chief apostle Peter. He moved from there to the
Juvavian (Salzach) River
where once the city of Juvavia stood, which had been erected in ancient,
miserable times. Among
the Bavarian cities it had held noble eminence, but by this time it had
been
overrun by thickets and
few people lived in the near-ruins. The servant of God considered this
suitable for his episcopal
cathedral, because being among the mountains it was remote from the tumult
of the crowds. He
entrusted himself with propriety to the Duke, and recounted to him with
great enthusiasm his plan to
build a basilica there in honor of the blessed Peter, Chief of the
Apostles,
and endowed with all the
splendors necessary by the generosity of Theodo. Afterward having ordained
priests, he made all of
them celebrate the daily offices in an agreeable order. The holy man of
God
wished to supplement
his site, so he asked the Duke for more money, and with the appropriate
legal formalities bought the
manor of Piding for thousands of solidi. Thus, successively, by the aid of
God and the bequests of
kings or dukes or faithful men, the establishment began to grow.
7. Later after a certain number of days worthy men told the blessed
hierarch
something of great
wonder which had happened when they had gone into the unnamed wilderness
area now called
Bongotobum (Pongau). Three or four times they had seen heavenly portents
of
fiery lamps, and they
had experienced the smell of sweet and wonderful aromas there. So the
pious
bishop sent the priest
Domingus to that same place, because of all the marvels which were present
on top of these
portents. He hoped that the priest would diligently test the truth of such
signs by setting in that place
a wooden cross which the holy one had blessed and constructed with his own
hand. Domingus,
when he arrived, at once began the First Hour with the religious who had
come with him. They saw
a bright lamp emitted from the sky descend and light up the entire region
as
if it were the sun.
Domingus saw this vision on three nights, accompanied with the sweetness
of
a wondrous odor. He
erected the blessed cross in that same place, and it moved back above the
hut toward St. Rupert,
confirming the first assertion with a sure report! St. Rupert,
communicating
his design to Theodo,
went away into the wilderness to the very same place, and seeing that it
was
suitable for human
habitation he began to cut down aged oaks, and to bring heavy material
back
into the plain of level
ground, that he might build a church with dwellings for the servants of
God.
8. At that time, Theodo fell into ill health, and as he felt the end of
his
life approaching, he called to
his bedside his son Theodobert. He appointed him to be the Duke of
Noricum,
admonishing him to
obey St. Rupert and to aid him conscientiously in his divine work, as well
as to raise up aptly the
sacred place of the Juvavian church with love, honor, and dignity. He
adjured him also to honor it
and exalt it. When he had instructed his son with these doctrines and all
that he desired, he closed
his last day and fell asleep in the Lord. After this, the Duke Theodobert
continued to go with his
best men to St. Rupert, because his sanctity was worth seeing. Coming to
the
saint in his far
hermitage, the Duke showered him with pious affection, and he went to the
church which the saint
had built there. The Duke donated three milestones in honor of St.
Maximilian. He also gave
property on all sides of the forest, as well as an Alpine villa. He
contributed other gifts to nurture the
monks, whom the most blessed Rupert had ordained to the service of God.
9. When these things had been done, the man of God saw that the height of
Bavarian dignity had
submitted himself to the yoke of Christ but had left worldly matters to
the
errors of the clan.
Therefore he accompanied the Duke to his homeland. From thence Rupert
returned with twelve of
his special friends (among whom were Kuniald and St. Gisilarius, both
priests and both holy men).
His neice St. Erendruda, a virgin dedicated to Christ, accompanied them to
the city of Juvavia.
There in the high fortress of the city he built a monastery in honor of
Our
Lord Jesus Christ the
Saviour and His sacred Mother, the Ever-Virgin Mary. He placed in that
same
monastery St.
Erendruda, that she might serve the King of Heaven. And with the support
of
Duke Theodobert,
who gave many gifts to the community, he developed their social life
rationally in all things.
10. When these things had been done, the blessed man became eager to
complete the teaching he
had begun with the help of the High Priest. Escorted by his flock, he
resolved to visit his followers in
the Norican kingdom. Leaving the city of Juvavia and visiting the people
on
whom the light of faith
had not yet shown, he sowed the wheat of faith amidst the grass. The
deception of the devil fled
from the hearts of these barbarian hordes, and Rupert sowed there faith,
love, mercy, and humility,
for through these Christ, the giver and source of all good, is able to
enter
the domicile of the human
mind. When he had travelled to the ends of Bavaria, he had converted all
to
faith in Christ, and had
strengthened those who remained steadily faithful. Having sent out several
priests and men of God
who brought the Divine Mysteries to the people, he was eager to go back to
Juvavia. Because he
was full of the spirit of prophecy, he knew that the day of his calling
was
at hand. He told this to his
disciples, who showed sadness and consternation. This was the reason that
there was much
weeping and great mourning when he left the brand-new Christian people.
11. He, however, with the hope that had been established by Christ,
commended the city, the
Norican people, and all who had turned to faith in Christ to the Most High
and All-Knowing God,
and he chose Vitale, a holy man whom the people themselves had accepted,
as
his successor.
When the forty days of Lent had been observed, Bishop Rupert, the man of
God, began to be
exhausted by a high fever. When the most holy day of the Resurrection of
Our
Saviour Jesus
dawned, he celebrated the solemn liturgy, and he was fortified for the
journey with the sacred body
of Christ. By his mellifluous admonitions to natural piety and his last
words of love, he strengthened
his brothers and sons. Then, amidst the holy tears of the band, amidst the
weeping of the holy ones:
the death rattle. He returned his most pure soul to God. The host of
angels
heard from the saints in
the heavens and bore his holy soul with a melodious voice to eternal
happiness. Thus he rested in
peace. He whose life was praiseworthy and blameless was in death equally
blessed. Thus it is
written: " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints,"
[Psalm 115 (116):15] whom the angels bear into
heaven. Frequent miracles were attributed to him, for God was gracious
through the body of this
holy man in visitations. His intercessions adorned his faithful and the
Church through innumerable
miracles. Indeed the Blessed God - one in three persons - lives and
reigns;
to Him be all praise and
glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
THE LIFE OF SAINT RUPERT, CONTAINING THE LIFE OF SAINT ERENDRUDA OF
SALZBURG
(June 30)
1. The blessed and pious confessor of Christ, Rupert, was born of a noble
and royal family of the
Franks, but he was far nobler in faith and in devoutness. He was a man
prudent, gentle, and truthful
in his conversation, just in his judgement, and circumspect in his
counsels.
He was known for his
charity, and in the universe of morals he stood out in his honesty. Indeed
many flocked to his most
sacred teaching, and they received the proclamation of eternal salvation
from him. When the report
of his blessed conversation grew far and wide, he found in his
acquaintance
the Duke of Bavaria,
Theodo, who asked of the man of God as many intercessions as he was able.
He
began to ask
through his distinguished messengers that the saint might consent to visit
his province with his blessed
teaching. To this the preacher of truth, stung by divine love, gave his
assent, and, having first
arranged his affairs, he consented to go to the flock of Christ which
would
be gained because of
him.
2. When the Duke had heard this preaching, he was overwhelmed with great
joy, and continued
with his attendents on the way to meet the blessed saint and doctor with
all
honor and dignity, as
much as he possibly could. He caught up with him in the city of
Regensburg.
The blessed man began
to admonish him soon about Christian conversation and to instruct him in
the
universal faith. Thus, he
converted the Duke and many other noble men to the true faith, and he
baptized them. He
confirmed them in the holy religion. Praying, the Duke allowed the holy
man
to choose a place,
pleasing to himself and to his followers: whichever place he desired, so
that he could build a church
and complete all the other things needed for the work of the Church. The
man
of God, having
accepted the Duke's permission, seized the chance to sail down the Danube
valley until he came to
the city of Lorch, where he proclaimed the same doctrine of the holy life.
Many there who were ill,
many who were languishing in oppression, were cleansed by the strength of
God.
3. Passing through all the Alpine region, he came at length to the kingdom
of the Carinthians. Being
asked, he converted that kingdom and cleansed it with the baptism of
Christ.
Climbing the highest
mountain, called Tauern (Mons Durus), he preached to the Vandals and
attained the greatest fruit
graciously given by the Lord. He also built there many churches, and he
established several
monasteries. At last, having charged his disciples, religious, priests,
and
clergy to keep the Christian
faith, he returned to the territory of Passau. Having come back, he began
to
travel around the
province. He reached a certain lake which is called the Wallersee, where
he
had built and
consecrated a church in honor of the Apostle Peter. There often the
renowned
Duke distributed his
personal possessions in the same place where he originally met the saint
on
his rounds.
4. Afterward another place came to the attention of St. Rupert. It was up
the River Salzach, or as it
was known in olden times, the Juvavian Stream. It had been named in the
time
of the Roman
emperors, and a beautiful little house had been built, which was now
discovered hidden in the trees.
Hearing this, the man of God wished to look at it with his own eyes and
experience the truth about
the thing, because he thought that it would profit the faithful souls.
Giving thanks to divine grace, he
began to ask Duke Theodo that he might bestow his authority upon this
place,
to exorcize and
purify it and to establish a church according to his pleasure. The Duke at
once consented, bestowing
possessions over two leucas in length and width, that he might do what was
useful to the Church.
Then St. Rupert began to renew the place (Salzburg), building a beautiful
church to the First God,
which he dedicated in honor of St. Peter, the foremost of the Apostles:
and
he built finally a cloister
with other houses for the use of religious men, orderly throughout.
Afterward he ordained priests,
and he instituted daily solemn observance of the canonical hours. St.
Rupert
wished to increase the
places of service to God. With the help of God, from the gift of the King
and Duke, and by the
behests of faithful men, the places began to grow.
5. The man of God, seeing the flock of the Lord depart over the precipice
of
vices because of the
longings of the women, prayed to God in his heart, saying, "Lord, if it is
good in your eyes, I will
pick for myself other people fit for your service and refinement, through
whom the practice of your
good life may become attractive to the women, and, as well, to the men."
He
had in his country, that
is, Vangionum in the state of Wormatia, known a certain noble virgin,
consecrated from the cradle
to God. Her name was Erendruda (Erentraud), and he wanted to send for her
that she with others
might found a religious order for women. He built a place and a mansion
appropriate for the chaste
in the Juvavian fort, and he gave it to the charge of the Theotokos. When
it
was completed, he went
to call Erendruda to himself, and great joy came over the face of the
blessed Rupert, because he
had lived to see this before the day of his death. Therefore the holy
priest
led her into the oratory,
which was consecrated to the Theotokos, and said: "Lady Sister, do you
know
why I have asked
you here?" She replied: "Yes, Father, I know, for Our Lord Jesus Christ
has
revealed it to my
spirit, saying: Go in peace as you are called. Behold I will be with you,
and I will lead to myself
through you many women's souls, whom you shall guide by your example to
the
true religious path,
coming to me." When he heard this, the blessed priest rejoiced greatly in
God.
6. After a short time, many virgins and noble matrons came to the virgin
Erendruda, and she led
them with such discernment that in a brief time all showed their learning
and gave appropriate
service to God. Such was the virgin Erendruda in custom that she reckoned
wealth to herself
whatever solace any disciple of hers received as a divine gift. Such was
she
in prayer, that she
considered it her whole health. Such was she in aspect, that whether she
met
good people or bad,
she thought herself lower than they. What is to be remembered of the
constancy and restraint of her
life, of her largesse in almsgiving, of her rectitude, of her
steadfastness
in vigil and her sanctity in all
of religious life? If at first she was not strong in one or another of
these, it ought to be overlooked
rather than investigated.