De prima ejus translatione et corporis incorruptione.
The Growing Desire to Seek Edward's Relics
As Edward's miracles spread, the brothers' devotion grew and Abbot Gilbert Crispin decided to set a day to bring out the holy king's relics so that faith and feeling might be carefully served.
When, therefore, Saint Edward was flourishing with these and similar miracles, there was frequent conversation among the brothers about his holiness. From day to day the feeling for so great a patron of everyone was growing stronger, and this stirred the teachers all the more powerfully to revisit his sacred relics.1 There was also among them a kind of friendly dispute, some affirming that the king's virginal flesh, free from corruption, was being kept whole and untouched in the sacred dwelling of his own body, while others out of fear urged silence about such a great presumption, lest, if this hope were disappointed, the glory of so great a confessor could easily be diminished. For they said, 'Since the bodies of the apostles, the martyrs, and countless saints have been dissolved into ashes, if nature itself is at work in Edward, he is no less to be loved by us, nor ought he to be less acceptable to God.' When this dispute was being carried on before the venerable abbot of that monastery, Gilbert, surnamed Crispin, he decided that the body of so great a patron must be visited in every way and that what was to be thought about these matters must be explored with certain signs. He therefore set a day on which the holy man's relics would be brought out into the open, so that the faith of some would be provided for and the feeling of the others would be cared for.
The Fragrance and First Sight of the Body
Noble witnesses, including Bishop Thurstan of Rochester, are summoned to the tomb, and when the sarcophagus is opened a wondrous fragrance fills the church as spices seem to well up from within.
He now summons to this heavenly spectacle persons of honor and religious commitment, among whom the Bishop of Rochester, Thurstan, whom we mentioned above, stood out with special favor and glory.2 And so, in the thirty-sixth year after he had departed from human affairs, those who had been invited for this purpose approach the tomb of the holy man, and when the stone that closed the sarcophagus was removed, such a fragrance of scent filled everyone's nostrils that the church was filled with it, and spices seemed to be welling up in the tomb.
The Body Found Whole and Radiant
The cloak, garments, arms, fingers, joints, and flesh of Edward are all found solid, flexible, and remarkably whole, with flesh purer than glass and whiter than snow, showing forth the glory of the resurrection.
First, then, they see that the cloak in which his most holy limbs had been wrapped preserved its original beauty and wholeness. Then, inspired by the hope of greater glory, with the cloak drawn out they examine the remaining ornaments and garments, and they found everything solid and whole. They stretch out the arms, bend the fingers, explore the joints, and everything is sound, everything flexible, and is found remarkably firm with its original vigor. Finally they examine the wholeness of the flesh and its color, which was purer than glass, whiter than snow, and showed forth the glory of the future resurrection.
Bold Touch and Gentle Rebuke
Bishop Thurstan boldly touches Edward's beard and tries to take a hair, but it holds fast; Abbot Gilbert Crispin gently rebukes him, urging that the king's wholeness be left undisturbed.
But when everyone alike had feared to touch his longed-for face, the aforementioned bishop of Rochester, made bolder by the witness of conscience or by love, thrust his hand into the cloth that covered the most holy head, and tearing it from below, he pulled out the blessed beard, white as snow with grey hair, full of faith, and perceiving that it clung more firmly to the chin, as if Edward were alive. Delighted by the miracle and inflamed with longing, he tries to pull out one hair and keep it for himself; but it clung more firmly, and the result did not follow his will. Gillebertus noticed this, and gently rebuking the bishop he said: 'Allow, father, neither disturb the rest of so great a king, nor diminish anything of that wholeness which Christ has preserved up to this point.' To this the bishop: 'You speak excellently, abbot.'
Devotion, Wholeness, and Hidden Glory
The bishop defends his act as devotion rather than presumption, Edward's body is left whole to await resurrection, and the sweet earth is carefully stored away as many blessings flow through his merits.
But don't think of what I've attempted here as presumption — it's devotion; because if the chance had been given me, I would have valued even a small share of his relics above all the wealth of Croesus. But because a royal soul disdains to have anything taken from itself, let it keep everything whole, and in its wholeness await the day of blessed resurrection. So keeping the pall in which his most holy limbs had been wrapped, they place another cloth of equal value over it, and carefully store away that sweetest earth in its own chamber. Through his merits very many blessings are bestowed; and from these, for the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, we believe a few must be added here concerning the many.
Read the original Latin
Cum igitur his atque hujusmodi miraculis sanctus floreret Edwardus, erat inter fratres frequens de ejus sanctitate confabulatio. De die in diem circa tantum patronum cunctorum augebatur affectus, quo ad revisendas sanctas ejus reliquias magistrae magis incitabantur. Erat et inter eos amica quaedam plerumque contentio, aliis affirmantibus virgineam carnem regis corruptionis expertem, integram et illibatam in sacro sui corporis hospitio detineri; aliis prae timore indicentibus illis de tanta praesumptione silentium, ne forte hac spe frustrata, facile tanti confessoris gloria posset imminui. Cum enim, inquiunt, apostolorum, martyrum, innumerabiliumque sanctorum corpora sint resoluta in cineres, si hoc ipsum natura operetur in Edwardo, nec a nobis minus amandus, nec Deo minus videri debet acceptus. Haec cum ante virum venerabilem ipsius monasterii abbatem Gillebertum, cognomento Crispyn disputatio verteretur, discernit tanti patroni corpus omnimodis visitandum, et quid de his sentiendum sit, certis indiciis explorandum. Statuit igitur diem quo sancti viri reliquiae proferentur in medium, ut istorum fidei, illorum consuleretur affectui. Vocat autem ad hoc coeleste spectaculum personas honestas et religiosas, inter quas Roffensis episcopus Cumulfus, de quo superius fecimus mentionem, speciali gratia simul et gloria praeeminebat. Itaque tricesimo sexto anno ex quo rebus humanis excesserat, accedunt ad tumulum sancti viri qui ad hoc fuerant invitati, sublatoque lapide quo sarcophagum claudebatur, tanta odoris fragrantia omnium naribus, ut et ecclesia repleretur, et in sepulcro aromata scaturire putarentur.
Primum deinde pallium quo sacratissima membra fuerant involuta, pristinam venustatem et integritatem reservasse conspiciunt. Spe deinde gloriae potioris animati, extracto pallio caetera ornamenta vestesque considerant, et omnia solida invenerunt et integra. Producunt brachia, plicant digitos, articulos explorant, et omnia sana, omnia flexibilia et antiquo reperiuntur vigore firmissima. Investigant postremo carnis integritatem pariter et colorem, quae vitro purior, nive candidior, futurae resurrectionis gloriam praeferebat. At cum desideratam faciem ejus attingere omnes pariter timuissent, praefatus episcopus Roffensis testimonio conscientiae vel amoris factus audacior, sudario quo caput sanctissimum tegebatur manum injecit, et a parte inferiori discindens, barbam beata canitic niveam fide plenus extraxit, eam ac si viveret mento firmius inhaerere persentiens. Delectatus miraculo et desiderio ignitus pilum unum extrahere sibique servare conatur; sed haesit firmius, nec sequitur voluntatem effectus. Animadvertit hoc Gillebertus, et episcopum blande corripiens: «Sine, inquit, pater, nec tanti regis velis infestare quietem, nec integritati ejus quam Christus huc usque servavit aliquid minuere.» Ad haec episcopus: «Optime, inquit, loqueris abba.
Non tamen conatum hunc meum praesumptioni deputes sed devotioni, cum reliquiarum ejus vel modicam portionem, si mihi copia praestaretur, Croesi opibus praetulissem. Sed quia regius animus aliquid sibi detrahi dedignatur, habeat sibi omnia, et cum integritate sua diem beatae resurrectionis exspectet.» Itaque retento pallio quo sanctissima ejus membra fuerant involuta, aliud aeque pretiosum apponunt, diligenterque curatam glebam illam dulcissimam suo recondunt in thalamo. Ubi per ejus merita plurima praestantur beneficia; ex quibus ad laudem Domini nostri Jesu Christi pauca de pluribus credimus subnectenda.
Notes
- 1 ↩magistrae could be genitive singular ('of the teacher') or nominative plural ('teachers'); rendered as plural nominative, which fits the sense of multiple persons being incited to visit the relics.
- 2 ↩The gloss identifies 'Cumulfus' as the bishop's name, but the historical Bishop of Rochester at this time was Thurstan; 'Cumulfus' appears to be a source-text error, and the translation uses the historically attested name.
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