De religiosa vita fratrum de Balga.
Known Only to God
The hidden purity and strict discipline of the brothers of Balga and other castles are known only to the all-seeing God.
What purity of life, what great virtue of abstinence, and what rigor of discipline the rule has maintained among the brothers of Balga and the other castles mentioned—no one knows this except the One to whom every heart lies open and from whom no secret is hidden.✦12
Night Vigils of the Cloister
Prayer and bodily mortification filled every hour and corner of the castles, especially after Compline and Matins.
The chapels were never or rarely without a prayer-leader, and there was no corner in those castles where, after Compline and Matins, some brother would not be found hidden away, afflicting his own body with rods.34
The Mountain of Angels
Religious visitors to Engelsbergk, learning its name means 'mountain of angels,' declare that its inhabitants truly lead an angelic life.
To the castle of Engelsbergk came certain religious men who, when they observed the state and way of life of the brothers there, asked what the name of the castle was.5 When they were told that it was Engelsbergk—6 —that is, the mountain of angels.7 They answered: "Truly the name is deserved, because the inhabitants lead an angelic life within it."8
Read the original Latin
Qualis vite puritas quantaque virtus abstinencie et quantus rigor regularis fuerit discipline inter fratres de Balga et de aliis castris predictis, nemo no vit, nisi ille, cui omne corc patet, et quem nullum latet secretum. Oratoria nunquam vel raro fuerunt sine oratore, nec erat angulus in dictis castris, in quo post completorium et matutinasd non lateret frater aliquis, qui virgis affligeret corpus suum. Ad castrum Engelsbergk venerunt quidam religiosi viri, qui dum viderent statum et coilversacionem fratrum ibidem, quesiverunt, quod esset nomen castri. Quibus cume diceretur, quodf Engelsbergk i. e. g mons angelorum vocaretur, responderunt: vere nomen habet a re, quia habitantes in eo angelicam ducunt vitam.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Sam.16.7 — But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man sees does God see, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin reads 'nemo no vit' with 'corc' for 'cor'; both appear to be scribal corruptions. The translation follows the most plausible intended reading: 'nemo novit' (no one knows) and 'cor' (heart).
- 2 ↩The closing clause echoes the divine attribute of omniscience (cf. the sense of 1 Sam 16:7, 'the Lord looks on the heart'). The translation preserves the solemn register appropriate to this theological claim.
- 3 ↩'matutinasd' is a scribal corruption, normalized to 'matutinas' (Matins). 'Oratoria' rendered as 'chapels' (prayer rooms).
- 4 ↩'orator' rendered as 'prayer-leader' rather than 'orator' to avoid confusion with the modern English sense of public speaker.
- 5 ↩'coilversacionem' is a scribal corruption for 'conversationem' (way of life, conduct).
- 6 ↩The Latin is fragmentary and corrupt: 'cume' (likely for 'cum'), 'quodf' (for 'quod'), and 'i' (uncertain abbreviation, possibly 'id est'). The translation reconstructs the most plausible sense from context.
- 7 ↩The isolated 'e.' likely abbreviates 'est' or serves as a connector meaning 'that is.' The translation supplies the fuller sense from the context of the following sentence.
- 8 ↩The initial 'g' is an uncertain scribal mark or abbreviation and is omitted from the translation. 'a re' rendered as 'deserved' / 'from the thing itself' — i.e., the name fits the reality.
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