Legenda maior Sancti Stephani regis
Divine Chastisement and the Father's Counsel
Stephen endures illness and the death of his sons, finds consolation in his surviving son Henry, and composes a book of spiritual counsel for him.
In the blessed man as well, that apostolic saying is shown to have been fulfilled which we read: "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" — and in the book of Wisdom: "those whom God loves he disciplines, and a father scourges the son he receives."✦✦ For in many ways he submitted to divine chastisement, suffering for three years under unbroken illness. After he then recovered by the medicine of God's mercy, he again felt, through the secret of the Eternal One's counsel, the blows of a certain testing hanging over him in the death of his sons — for the One who had given them took them away while they were still innocent, in the very stages of infancy.✦1 At their death, the father restrained his grief through the comfort of his love for his surviving son, Henry, a man of holy character. Loving him almost as if he were already his only son, with deep affection he entrusted him each day in prayer to Christ and to Christ's mother, the perpetual Virgin. So he longed for this son to outlive him, and for this one, with all his prayers, to rule that same kingdom. And so that he might become more capable of holding the helm of so great a government, by the teachings of orthodox men and by the habit of daily reading he made him lend both ears.2 He himself also, moved by the fire of a father's love, composed a little book on the formation of character, in which he addresses him faithfully and affectionately with words of spiritual counsel, teaching how above all he ought to keep the Catholic faith, strengthen the estate of the Church, show honor to the dignity of bishops, love princes and soldiers, uphold justice, have patience in all his deeds, receive guests kindly and care for them still more kindly, do nothing without counsel, keep his elders always before his eyes and set them as his pattern, keep up the duty of prayer, and hold piety and mercy together with the other virtues.3
The Heir's Death and the King's Mercy
Henry dies, leaving Stephen grief-stricken yet obedient to God; he turns to almsgiving and generous patronage of the Church.
Trained by such disciplines and others like them, the outstanding young man, obeying the eternal disposition to which all things are subject, in the year 1031 of the Lord's Incarnation exchanged this death-bound life for everlasting life, joined to the company of the citizens of heaven.4 Oh, how great was the grief of everyone—but especially of the princes, among whom the desolate father drew a heavy sigh. For he saw himself left alone without hope of offspring, and he grieved with a father's tender affection.5 Yet knowing the Scripture—'There is no prudence, no wisdom, no counsel against the Lord'—and that saying in the canons that no one ought to grieve too much over the death of loved ones, he laid his mourning aside and gave himself entirely to seeking the abundance of God's mercy.✦ Having comforted the ministers of monasteries and churches—monks and clerics—with various gifts of alms, he distributed the whole of his present resources, whatever he could have on hand at the time, to pilgrims, widows, and orphans.6 He also often, through his messengers, visited the monasteries of foreign provinces with countless gifts of royal generosity.7
Read the original Latin
In beato quoque constat apostolicum illud impletum, quod legitur, 'quoniam per multas tribulationes oportet intrare in regnum Dei' et in libro Sapientie: 'quos diligit Deus, castigat et pater flagellat filium, quem recipit'. Multis enim modis correptioni divine succubuit, tribus annis infirmitate continua laborans. Postquam inde propitiationis Dei medicamine convaluit, iterum æterni per secretum consilii quandam examinationem in filiorum suorum obitu sensit imminere verbera, quod in ipsis infantie gradibus insontes, qui dedit, abstulit. De quorum morte mestitiam genitor propter amorem filii superstitis, sancte indolis viri Hæinrici solacio compescuit. Quem quasi iam unicum diligens affectu precibus Christo cottidianis et eius genitrici virgini perpetue commendavit. Hunc igitur fore superstitem, hunc regni eiusdem votis omnibus preesse desideravit. Et, ut efficacior fieret ad tenenda tanti regiminis gubernacula, virorum documentis orthodoxorum usu lectionis cottidiane fecit auditum utrumque prebere. Ipse quoque paterne dilectionis ardore compunctus libellum de institutione morum constituit, in quo fideliter et amicabiliter verbis eum admonitionis spiritualis alloquitur instruens, qualiter ante omnia debeat observare fidem catholicam, confirmare statum æcclæsiasticum, honorem impendere dignitati pontificum, principes et milites diligere, iudicium observare, patientiam in cunctis actibus habere, hospites benigne suscipere, benignius nutrire, sine consilio nichil agere, maiores suos ante oculos semper habere et ad exemplum statuere, orationis officium frequentare, pietatem et misericordiam cum cæteris virtutibus possidere.
Talibus et his similibus discilinis institutus iuvenis preclarus dispositioni eterne, cui cuncta subiacent, obediendo, millesimo XXXIo dominice incarnationis anno vitam hanc exitialem commutavit sempiterna, supernorum civium adiunctus contubernio. O quantus luctus omnium, sed maxime principum, inter quos pater desolatus grave traxit suspirium. Videns enim se solum sine spe posteritatis derelictum, pietatis affectu doluit. Sciens vero scriptum: 'non est prudentia, non sapientia, non consilium contra Dominum', et illud in canonibus: neminem propter obitum carorum nimis debere contristari, deposito merore se totum contulit ad querendam largitatem misericordie divine. Cenobiorum et ecclesiarum ministros, monachos et clericos diversis ælemosinarum donis consolatus, expensas totius sumptus, que ad presens habere poterat, peregrinis, viduis, orphanis erogavit. Exterarum etiam monasteria provinciarum munificentie regie donis innumeris per nuncios suos sepe visitavit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.14.22 — strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to remain in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
- ↩Prov.3.12;Heb.12.6 — For the LORD reproves the one he loves, as a father delights in his son. Heb.12.6 — For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he scourges every son whom he receives.
- ↩Job.1.21 — And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.'
- ↩Prov.21.30 — There is no wisdom, no understanding, and no counsel against the LORD.
Notes
- 1 ↩propitiationis Dei medicamine rendered as 'the medicine of God's mercy'; propitiatio can also mean propitiation/atonement, but here the cure of illness is in view.
- 2 ↩auditum utrumque prebere is idiomatic: 'give both ears' = listen with full attention; not a medical sense of hearing.
- 3 ↩compunctus here is the participle of being pricked/moved by love (ardore), not the technical noun compunctio as grace-pierced sorrow for sin; rendered 'moved' to avoid doctrinal over-reading.
- 4 ↩Latin discilinis is treated as disciplinis ('disciplines'); no normalization note was supplied.
- 5 ↩pietatis affectu rendered as fatherly/tender affection (parental pietas), not abstract 'piety' alone.
- 6 ↩expensas totius sumptus, que ad presens habere poterat: rendered as the whole of his present means/resources available at the moment, not a technical accounting phrase.
- 7 ↩visitavit with per nuncios suos: physical travel is not implied; he attended to foreign monasteries by sending messengers with gifts.
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