De sancto Adelfo
The Life and Ministry of Saint Adel
Saint Adel is born to noble parents, raised in the Church, and serves as a holy and devoted Bishop of Metz until his death.
The feast of Saint Adel, Bishop of Metz, is celebrated; he was the tenth to govern that see after Saint Clement, who had first received the charge of leading it from Saint Peter. His father, Felix, was from Aquitaine, and his mother, Beatrix, came from a noble Burgundian family. An angel of God appeared to her in a dream to announce that she would have a son, revealing how great his name, virtue, and merit would become. Once he was born and weaned, the blessed Adel was handed over for training in the disciplines of the Church, where he made such progress that he seemed second to none. After his education was complete, he was entrusted to his uncle, Saint Rufus, the Bishop of Metz, to be formed in good works and upright character for a life of holiness. When Saint Rufus died in the twenty-eighth year of his episcopate, Saint Adel was elected bishop by the unanimous vote of the clergy and the people; though he resisted, he was consecrated as pastor of the Church of Metz. Once he became bishop, no words could fully describe how generous he was in almsgiving, how he spent his nights in prayer, or how vigilantly he applied himself to fasting. After he had ruled that see for seventeen years in complete holiness, he departed this world for the heavenly kingdom, and near... the blessed one. He was buried in the church of the martyr Saint Felix, and miracles show how great the merit of each was before God.
The Translation and Miracles of the Saint
The body of Saint Adel is translated to New Wilere, accompanied by miraculous signs and judgments upon those who witness his passage.
Many years later, in the year of our Lord's incarnation 840, under the Emperor Louis and while the venerable Bishop Drogo was governing the see of Metz, the venerable body of Saint Adel was translated to the aforementioned monastery—which is called New Wilere—at the request of Lamtfrid, co-bishop of that same church, and the entire congregation of the monastery, with the clergy and people of the province of Alsace also asking with great devotion that this be done, since that place was subject to the Church of Metz. When the most sacred body was lifted from the tomb, those standing by were filled with a fragrance of immense sweetness, and this scent did not leave the nostrils of those accompanying it until they reached the destination. The very forest of the Vosges, along the road that ran nearby, bowed down as if in greeting to honor the sacred body. When a multitude of people from the villages and fields and all the surrounding areas gathered to escort the body of the man of God, one man who was busy in a field refused to join the others; furthermore, he heaped insults upon the saint of God, saying that he was not truly a saint of God, but that his body was being carried on a bier just to collect money. As soon as he spoke those blasphemous words, he was struck with such a fever that he couldn't return home unless others carried him. We don't know whether he recovered from this illness or remained in his unbelief. Another man, who had been weighed down by a great illness for a long time, approached the bier and offered himself to help carry it, and immediately... he received the health he longed for. When it arrived at the place already mentioned, a great crowd of clergy and people received it, and it was placed with great honor in the church of Saint John the Baptist; there, it is proven by clear signs and wonders that he reigns with Christ.
Read the original Latin
Deati Adel Metensis episcopi celebratur natalis, qui decimus a beato Clemente, qni prünus eandem sedem regendam a beato Petro susceperat, gubernavit. Hujus paler Felix nomine de Aquitania ortus exstitit, mater Beatrix de nobili Burgundionum genere originem duxit, Huic in somno angelus Dei apparens, quod filium paritura esset, annunliavit, et cnjus nominis quantaeqne virtutis et meriti succedente tempore foret, intünavit, Natus ergo beatus Adelfus et ablactatus ecclesiae disciplinis unbuendis traditur, in quibus ita profecit, ut nulli videretur esse secundus, Ad perfectum igitur eruditus beato Rufo avuncnlo suo Melensi episcopo traditur, ut ejus bonis actibus probisque moribus ad bene vivendum informaretur, Beato autem Rufo vicesimo octavo episcopatus sui anno defuncto sanctus Adelfus concordi voto cleri et populi episcopus eligitur et licet reluctante pastor Metensi ecclesiae consecratur. Adepto autem episcopatu, quam largus in elemosinis, quam pernox in orationibus et vigil assiduus in jeju qnam iis fuerit, nullius lingua ad liquidum enarrare poterit. Cum autem eandem sedem decem et septem annos in Omni sanctitate rexisset, de hoc saeculo ad coelestia regna migravit et juxta. beatiun. Rufwn avunculum suum in ecclesia sancti Felicis marliris sepultus est, et quanti meriti apud Deum uterque fuerit, iniracula ostendunt. Post multa vero annorum curricula anno videlicet dominicae incarnationis DCCCXL sub Ludovico imperatore Drugone venerabili episcopo Metensem regente sedem, petitione Lamtfridi coepiscopi ipsius ecclesiae et totius congregationis monasterii, quod dicitur Novum Wilere, clero quoque et populo Alsatiae provinciae id summa devotione fieri poscentibus ad supra nominatum coenobiwn venerabile corpus sancti Adelfi translatum est, eo quod idem locus Metensi ecclesiae subjectus sit. Cum antem sacratissimum corpus de tumulo levaretur, odore immensae suavitatis adstantes períusi sunt et hic odor, usque quo ad destinatum locum perventum est, a naribus comitantimn nona recessit, Silva etiam Vosagi viae, quae ferebatur contigua, se ob honorem sacri corporis quasi salutando inclinavit, Cum autem de villis et agris omnibusque locis ad Dei viri corpus deducendum mnltitudo populi concurreret, quidam homo in agro occupatus cum caeteris occurrere noluit, Insuper etiam sancto Dei convicia ingessit dicens, quod non vere Dei sanctus esset, sed propter pecuniam congregandain ejus corpus in feretro deduceretur.
Statim ergo, ut blasphemiae verba ore protulit, ita febribus colligatus est, ut ad propriam domum nisi aliorum manibus deportatus redire non posset, Utrum autem ab hao infirmitate convaluerit vel in sua infidelitate. defecerit, nobis manet incognitum, Alius quoque multo tempore in magna infirmitate depressus accessit ad feretrum et se ad deportandum subinisit et stalim. sanitatem, quam desiderabat, accepit. Ut antem ad locum saepe jam nominalum pervenit, maxima cleri et populi turba excipitur et cum magna gloria in ecclesia sancti Johannis baptistae collocatur ibique, quod cwm Christo regnet, manifestis signorum indiciis comprobatur.
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