De sancto Lamperto
The Humble Bishop in Exile
Saint Lampertus demonstrates profound humility and patience while enduring unjust expulsion and monastic discipline.
Lampertus was of noble birth, but he was even nobler in the holiness of his life; from his earliest years, he was so well-educated in letters and so loved by everyone for his holiness that, after his teacher Theodard, he... he deserved to be promoted as bishop of the church. King Childeric loved him dearly and always held him in higher regard than any other bishop, but as the malice of envious men grew, these wicked people expelled him without cause, stripped him of his rightful honor, and placed Feramund in his seat. But Lampertus entered a monastery and lived there in an exemplary way for five years. One night, however, while rising for prayer, he accidentally made a noise on the floor. Hearing this, the abbot said, 'Whoever made that noise, go to the cross at once.' Lampertus immediately ran to the cross in his hair shirt and barefoot, and he stood there fixed in the snow, frost, and ice for so long that, when the brothers were warming themselves after Matins, the abbot noticed he was missing. Upon hearing from a brother that it was he who had gone to the cross, the abbot had him brought in and asked his forgiveness in front of the monks. Lampertus not only forgave him kindly but also gave them a profound sermon on the virtue of patience.
The Martyrdom of Saint Lampertus
Restored to his see, Lampertus chooses the path of non-violence and prayer, ultimately laying down his life for the truth.
After seven years, Feramund was expelled, and by the order of Pepin, Saint Lampertus was restored to his own see. Since he continued to excel in word and example as he had before, two wicked men rose up against him and began to harass him severely, but the bishop’s friends killed them, just as they deserved. At that time, Lampertus rebuked Pepin severely for a certain mistress he was keeping. Dodo, however—a relative of the men who had been killed and the brother of that same mistress—was a servant of the royal court; he gathered an army and besieged the bishop’s house on all sides, wanting to avenge the death of the slain men upon the saint. But when a boy told Lampertus, who was at prayer, what was happening, he trusted in the Lord and grabbed a sword to fight them off; yet, coming to his senses, he threw the sword from his hand, judging it better to win by enduring and dying than to stain his consecrated hands with the blood of wicked men. Then the man of God urged his people to confess their sins and face death patiently; the wicked immediately rushed in and killed Saint Lambert as he lay prostrate in prayer, around the year of our Lord 620. When they had left, some of his servants escaped and secretly took his body by boat to the cathedral church, where they buried him with great sorrow from the city.
Read the original Latin
Lampertus mobilis genere, sed nobilior sanctitate vitae et a primaevo aetatis suae litteris eruditus adeo pro sui sanctitate ab omnibus amabatur, ut post Theodardum magistrum suum 7 Tre. censis ecclesiae in episcopum meruit promoveri. Quem Childericns rex plurimum diligebat et prae omnibus episcopis carum semper habebat, sed crescente invidorum malitia eum sine causa impii expellentes honore debito privaverunt etFeramundum in ejus cathedram statuerunt. At Lampertus monasterium ingressus per )quinque annos ibidem optime conversatus est. Quadam vero nocte ad orationem surgens in pavimento per ignorantiam sonum fecit, quod andiens abbas dixit: quisquis hunc fecit sonut, statim vadat ad crucem, Tunc Lampertus illico nudis pedibus in cilicio ad crucem cucurrit ibique tamdiu et in nive et gelu ac glacie fixus stetit, dum fratribus post matutinas se calefacientibus abbas eum deesse cognovit et audiens a quodam fratre, quod ille esset, qui ad cracem ivisset, eum introduci fecit et ab eo cum monachis veniam postulavit, Ille vero non solum clementer indulsit, sed et de bono patientiae iis sublimiter praedicavit. Post septem annos Feramundus est expulsus et sanctus Lamperlus jubente Pipino ad sedem propriam est reductus. Cum autem sicut prius verbo et exemplo polleret, insurgentes in eum duo maligni eum graviter insectari coeperunt, quos amici pontificis, sicut meruerant, occiderunt, Eo tempore Lampertus Pipinum de quadam meretrice, quam tenebat, plurimum increpavit, Dodo autem consanguineus eorum, qui occisi fuerant, et frater ipsius meretricis, domesticus aulae regiae congregato exercitu domum episcopi circumquaque obsedit, volens occisorum necem in sancto vindicare. At cum puer Lamperto in oratione posito nuntiasset, ille confisus in domino, ut eos expugnaret, mucronem arripuit, sed ad se rediens gladium de manu projecit, melius judicans, ut persistendo et moriendo vinceret, quam ut sacratas manus de impiorum sanguine macularet.
Tunc vir Dei suos admonuit, ut peccata sua confiterentur et mortem patienter sustinerent, statimque impii irruentes sanctum in oratione Lampertum prostratum peremerunt circa annos dominiDCXX. Quibus discedentibus quidam ex ejus famulis evadentes corpus ejus octulte ad cathedralem ecclesiam navigio perduxerunt et cum multa civitatis moestitia sepulturae dederunt.
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