Legenda maior Sancti Stephani regis
The King's Holy Resolution
Stephen, filled with spiritual joy after victory, resolves to become a storehouse for the gospel seed, devotes himself to almsgiving and prayer, and begins to gather clergy by messengers and letters.
So when Christ's soldier had defeated his enemies and was filled with spiritual joy, he resolved that the plan of his whole mind would become a storehouse for the gospel seed. Giving himself to almsgiving and prayer, often prostrate on the pavement of the holy church, he poured out tears and committed the perfection of his purpose to God's will—so that he who could do nothing without God might, helped by the fulfillment of God's design, bring to completion the good he had conceived, from the first beginnings of virtue to its end.✦1 So then, to begin this work and bring it to completion—because he held the counsel of Christ's faithful to be necessary—he made his desire known in every quarter by messengers and letters.2
The Gathering of Holy Men
Many priests, monks, and abbots respond to Stephen's call, including Ascricus and his disciples, among whom Boniface is martyred in Hungary, and two Polish hermits, Andrew and Benedict, who attain martyrdom.
From this, many priests and clerics, pierced with compunction by the Spirit the Paraclete, left their own seats and chose to go as pilgrims; abbots and monks who wanted to own nothing longed to live by the rule under the protection of so devout a prince.3 Among them came Father Ascricus, a man of religious life, with his disciples. One of these, named Boniface, was made abbot in his father's place; and when the blessed king sent him to the lower parts of Hungary to preach, he was struck on the neck with a sword—and though he lived afterward, he was not denied martyrdom.4 Two others also came from Poland, choosing the hermit life for the sake of contemplation. One of them, named Andrew, was joined through the merit of his confession to the angelic choirs, with the signs of miracles worked by the Lord through him as witnesses; the other, Benedict, was marvelously crowned for Christ after pouring out his blood.56
The Monastery of Iron Mountain
Ascricus builds a monastery at Iron Mountain under the Rule of St. Benedict, where the community thrives in discipline and charity, needing only to wash feet as the Gospel commands.
Abbot Aescricus, received with honor along with his companions, built a monastery at the foot of Iron Mountain under the title of the holy father Benedict. There, to this day, a monastic community thrives in the discipline of the rule, more than well supplied with temporal goods, needing nothing—except to wash its own feet and the feet of others according to the Gospel.7
Read the original Latin
Dævictis ergo Christi miles hostibus gaudio spirituali repletus, totius ingenii consilium evangelici seminis decrevit fore receptaculum, elemosinis et orationibus vacans, frequenter pavimento adherens domus sancte æcclesie, lacrimis fusis perfectionem propositi sui Dei commisit voluntati, ut qui sine ipso nichil agere valeret, opitulante dispositionis ipsius expletione, bonum quod cogitaverat cum inceptione virtutum, ad finem perducere posset. Ad hoc igitur incipiendum et consumandum, quoniam fidelium Christi consultum habebat necessarium, nunciis et litteris in omnes partes suum diffamavit desiderium. Inde multi presbiteri et clerici, spiritus paracliti compuncti, relictis sedibus propriis ælegerunt peregrinari; abbates et monachi nichil proprium habere cupientes sub tam religiosissimi principis patrocinio regulariter vivere desideraverunt. Inter quos vite religiosus Ascricus pater cum suis discipulis advenit, quorum unus, Bonifatius nomine, in loc patris constitutus abbas, dum a beato rege causa predicationis in inferiores Ungarie partes essæt missus, in cervice percussus gladio, licet postea viveret, non est privatus martyrio. Venerunt et alii duo de terra Poloniænsi, heremiticam vitam causa contemplationis æligentes, quorum unus, Andreas nomine, per confessionis meritum angelicis choris est associatus testibus miraculorum signis per ipsum a Domino factis, alter, Benedictus pro Christo sanguine fuso mirabiliter laureatus. Aescricus abbas cum suis honorifice susceptus, ad radicem Montis Ferrei cenobium sub titulo Sancti patris Benedicti construxit, ubi usque hodie congregatio monasterialis disciplina regulari pollens temporalium sustentatione copiarum superhabundans non est alicuius egens, nisi ut suos et aliorum pedes secundum ævangelicum lavet.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.15.5 — I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.
Notes
- 1 ↩Dævictis read as Devictis ('enemies defeated'); nichil as nihil.
- 2 ↩diffamavit here means 'spread abroad / published,' not 'defamed.'
- 3 ↩ælegerunt read as elegerunt; spiritus paracliti taken as genitive of agent ('by the Spirit the Paraclete').
- 4 ↩in loc patris read as in loco patris; essæt as esset. 'patris' may mean the abbot-father (Ascricus) whose place Boniface took.
- 5 ↩per confessionis meritum: rendered as confessor's merit (profession of faith / confessor-saint status), set against Benedict's blood-martyrdom.
- 6 ↩Poloniænsi / æligentes treated as Poloniensi / eligentes.
- 7 ↩nisi ut... lavet is a deliberate paradox: material sufficiency leaves only the Gospel duty of humble service (foot-washing).
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