Vita Sancti Desiderii

The Life of Saint Desiderius by Saint Warnaharius, Bishop of Langres. (Bolland. Acta SS., May, vol. V.) Prologue. How great are the virtues in the elect and predestined priests of almighty God, the praises of the most blessed Desiderius, martyr and pontiff of the city of Langres, whose solemn feasts we celebrate according to custom with the returning cycle of the year, make manifest: whose deeds, even if the rusticity of the place of his rule cannot publish in order, yet he himself, with his clear virtues and with God’s help, does not cease to make himself known. For the insignia of his goodness and virtues are innumerable, yet our slender eloquence can cull but few as is fitting. For as much as the aforementioned martyr is rendered glorious by divine gift, so much more does the writer appear tedious through ignorance in narrating his virtues. Chapter One. The Invasion of the Vandals. The Martyrdom of Saint Desiderius and his Companions.

At that time, when the barbarous and pagan ferocity of the Vandals had come to ravage the provinces of Gaul, and, having defeated and overcome the Gauls, was devastating the cities of Gaul as well with the onslaught of war, and was cruelly laying waste to everything in the plunder of booty at the instigation of greed; by the nod of God, and also by the outcome of the affair and the journey, that nefarious people with their king Crosco were led as far as the city of Langres. At that time, the most blessed Desiderius was performing the pontifical office in that same city, a priest most outstanding in virtues. And although, with the mountain opposite rising high, the fortification of the city is for the most part secure by natural position, and the carefully joined structure of square stones renders the walls of that city more secure, yet to test the faith of the aforementioned bishop, and of those who are known to have obtained glorious martyrdom while remaining in the holy confession of Christ, the surrounding multitude of Vandals encircles the city on all sides, and the city is surrounded in a siege of destruction from every direction. Without delay, the Vandals, pressing more fiercely, assail the walls with missiles, slings, arrows, and various weapons, urging on with the persistence of cruelty. On the other side, the most blessed pontiff Desiderius, with his priests and the other citizens, cried out from the wall, saying: "We are servants of Christ, we worship Christ, our Lord, the living and true God, who established the whole world.

Do not commit a cruel crime against us, by which you would provoke the power of God to wrath against yourselves. But since, by God’s predestination, the preordained day of martyrdom had arrived, terror and fear together seized all the citizens at once, nor did they any longer attempt to defend themselves with any boldness of valor, but, driven back, they fled within the walls, each not knowing where to go. The Vandals, however, rushing in with headlong speed, entered the walls after breaking through the gates. Others, having placed ladders against the walls, rushing in from different directions, set fires to the citadels; with swords and various javelins they laid low all the citizens in impious slaughter. Age profited no one, nor did impiety spare any sex or time of life: impious cruelty cut down infants hanging at their mothers’ breasts together with their mothers; a single groan and lament of the dying resounded throughout the entire walls. Finally, the most blessed Desiderius, the bishop, is found placed in prayer, and is presented, along with the other Christians, to the sight of the king. But he, filled with sorrow in his pastoral solitude over the destruction of the citizens, did not wish to plead for himself before the prince, but more earnestly begged that he might come to the aid of the perishing citizens, saying: “If you are merciful, now spare, I pray, best of rulers, the wretched citizens, and I humbly entreat that you altogether restrain the hostile hands of your men from such a slaughter of cruelty.

To these words the savage barbarian prince, hardened by the natural harshness of his cruelty, swollen with the success of victory, delivered this contemptuous reply to the holy Desiderius in his barbarous speech, which the blessed bishop could grasp with no capacity of understanding. And therefore the most cruel king was ignorant of what the priest of God had previously prayed for. The pious shepherd also offered himself for his citizens, his neck prepared for the sacrifice, so that the ruin of the perishing citizens might cease, or at least abate somewhat. The impious ruler was moved by no pity; but, inflamed with the persistence of his cruelty, he ordered the priest’s head to be cut off, and also ordered many more Christians to perish at the same hour and by the same sentence. For throughout all Pergamum, those persevering in the confession of Christ were on that same day laid low by slaughter in various places. Questioned about the worship of their religion, whoever confessed and said he believed in Christ could never escape in the whole city. O city of Langres, do you then lament, suddenly left desolate, over your citizens? You have all the more reason to exult, since you have gained so many martyrs at the same time for your protection.

You consider the temporal loss as nothing in your judgment to mourn; while without any fixed price, you now have and will have gains without end to rejoice in. You were then distressed by fires, swords, and plunder, reduced to ashes with every example of humility, whence you are now adorned and illuminated, fortified by the support of strength and protection, and you are and remain forever glorious above other cities. CHAPTER II. The Executioner and the King Punished: Miracles and Memory of Saint Desiderius. The divine mercy revealed the beginning of the blessedness of such a renowned martyr Desiderius and the special grace of perfect love in the shedding of his blood through sudden signs in his persecutors. His executioner, immediately condemned by a sense of madness, seized by a frenzy of impatience, ran through the walls crying out with horrible shouts, and with a deliberate course struck his head against the city gate; and with repeated blows, his brain emptied, he lay lifeless there, observed by his terrified companions. Upon hearing this, fear and trembling penetrated the minds of all the stunned enemies, and they ceased for a while from shedding blood. Finally, not long after, God, a just judge, convicted by the vengeance of his martyr Desiderius and of the other martyrs of this city, delivered Prince Crosco in the city of Arles to his enemies.

He who was captured and chained was afflicted for a long time by various torments, until the most cruel and relentless butchery brought him to the intended death according to his own merit. The most blessed pontiff Desiderius, however, on account of his previous manner of life and his zeal for good works, merited a crown worthy of martyrdom, because he was first found and proven to be just. The beginning of his life was found to be chastity, sobriety, the giving of alms, mercy toward the poor, piety, probity of character, equanimity of patience, and he was so acceptable to God in all things that he arrived at the kingdoms of heaven, joined with the militia of many martyrs, by his own acquisition with the greatest blessedness. In his own city, the holy pontiff was especially enriched by the gift of martyrdom; in that same city, he was also buried with due veneration, along with the other martyrs, for the benefits of salvation. In times past, how much he was honored and loved by his fellow citizens is shown to be declared by the manifest signs of his burial place, to such an extent that within the walls, the love of the people received the body of the priest for burial, whom they had greatly loved while he was alive for his gentleness of goodness and constancy of sanctity.

For if any sick person comes to his threshold, he returns strengthened by God’s help; if one is terrified by grief, through the intercession of the holy martyr he immediately returns cheered; if a blind, lame, deaf, or mute person, or one afflicted by an adversary, comes, each one there receives his own medicine and former remedies without delay, at the opportune moment. Among the many and manifold signs of his virtues, the martyr does not allow perjury to go unpunished in his name. For if anyone within the precincts of his church, having invoked the name of Christ upon his holy altar, attempts to commit a false oath through the deceit of falsehood, he is immediately condemned by the sentence of divine destruction; faith is preserved through the faithful martyr. No one there, with divine grace prevailing, dares to invoke or mention the name of that martyr in deceitful oaths. O martyr, to be preferred in blessedness, who obtained so much from God that he can show after death that he hates iniquity and loves truth, that he is a detester of perjuries and condemns falsehood. The pious shepherd, having care for his sheep even after death, exhorts good citizens to preserve the integrity of faith without stain for the salvation of their souls. He detests the wicked, emulates perfidy, and gives an example of destruction to special ones so that they may correct themselves.

You have, then, illustrious priests, nobles, and all the people of the Lingonian populace, the renowned martyr, to whom is joined a throng of other martyrs, an excellent protection of the city within and a special guardianship of the town from him, and externally, from the three twin brothers, martyrs, a singular bulwark of the city placed before it, and the greatest ornament of divine reward for the town. To be sure, there is more than enough to be said in praise of this holy martyr Desiderius concerning his virtues, but excessive length of speech would generate weariness in the hearer. For to confirm the truth of the testimony of the renowned martyr, the gate, where the executioner, guilty of the admitted crime, killed himself by a blow to the head, has from that time offered no service to travelers for entering, nor has it further opened the customary access for people to leave the city; but, closed with stones, it persists rather as condemned, as evidence of the offense. Moreover, when the gladiator himself cut the sacred body of the priest, a burning blow reached the open divine book. There it pierced many leaves indeed, but the flow of blood did not touch the path of the letters, by divine preservation. The stain in the book clearly shows a sign of the blessed martyr’s passion, and in no way disturbs the sequence of the scripture for readers.

In both respects the truth of the testimony lives, and is shown to the present people, and is always preserved by God’s ordinance to be seen by the future, while it has been granted to the iron, by its own sharp edge, to enlarge the blessedness of this martyr or to pierce the leaves of the book, yet the omnipotence of the Lord did not permit the divine words, inserted there in the records of letters, to be violated for the glory of His martyr; our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom is honor and glory, power and might for ever and ever. Amen.