prayer, study, labour, and charity. Two of his brothers had fallen into the hands of robbers, and been killed by them. The murderers were sent to him to be put to death, for by the custom of that country this office fell to the charge of the nearest relative. S. Gregory ordered that they should be washed, clothed, and fed; and dismissed them, saying, "Go in peace; never again commit such a deed, lest a worse thing happen to you; and beware of the other relations of those whom you have slain." In his habits he was simple, reserving no money for himself, and keeping nothing valuable whatsoever, except the treasures of the Church. A painful sickness, of three years, preceded his death. When he felt his end approaching, he had himself carried into the Church, and soon after breathed his last, with his eyes intently fixed upon the Altar, which told of the "purity of soul and holiness of holies of the Common Priest of us all." 1

A little later than Walburga, S. Lioba, Abbess of Bischoffsheim, was taken to her rest, and buried (according to the wish expressed by S. Boniface to Lullus before his last journey into Friesland) near the shrine of the holy martyr at Fulda.

Very shortly after S. Walburga, ended the labours of S. Sturmi, a Bavarian by birth, the first abbot of Fulda. All men have their crosses, and that of Sturmi in his later years was to be misapprehended and thought ill of even by those who, like himself, were devoted to the service of GOD and His Church. Subsequently to the glorious martyrdom of S. Boniface, Sturmi was accused of treason in favouring the ene1 Eusebius: Hist. Eccl. x. 4, 65.

mies of King Pepin, by whose orders he was driven into banishment, but shortly afterwards was recalled. False reports concerning the holy abbot were carried to S. Lullus, who in consequence took part against him. The cloud was a dark one, and cast a dreary shadow; but it passed away, and the sky was bright again. Lullus made amends for the evil imputations which he had unwittingly thrown upon him, and he lived in great respect and favour with Charlemagne. His death took place December 17, 779, and he was afterwards enrolled among the Saints.

There remain but two more of whom we have now to speak.

S. Willibald's presence at the council convened by S. Boniface in 742 is nearly the last act on record in the life of that holy Bishop, except the general statement of his manner of discharging his sacred duties. Himself the first-born of his father's children, he was the last to reach the close of his arduous yet blessed pilgrimage. The meek and gentle Winibald, the pure and humble Walburga, had departed to their rest many years, before he himself laid aside the burden of the flesh. He is supposed to have died about the year 796, and was buried in the crypt of his own Church of S. Mary at Aichstadt. Afterwards his remains were carried from their first resting-place, and, after one or two more translations, placed in that part of the Cathedral Church of Aichstadt which is named S. Willibald's Choir.

Last of all that holy band, S. Lullus ended in peace the life which he had always devoted to GOD. That he was a man of great learning, is evident from the

number of questions on the most difficult points both of doctrine and practice, which were addressed to him from Rome, France, and England. The teaching of the first historian of England had found a fitting recipient. For nearly thirty years he had presided over the see of Mayence, when, like the great S. Boniface, he too gave up his office to another, and retired to the Monastery of Harsfeld which he had built. There, on the 1st of November, 787, he peacefully rendered up his soul.

And so, from the bosom of the Church on earth, these sacred plants were translated to their heavenly soil,-through God's grace, none fallen, none coming short of the everlasting inheritance. Having shone as lights in the world, they were become jewels in the crown of Him, Who liveth for evermore.

CHAPTER VIII.

NOTICE OF THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE CHURCHES FOUNDED BY S. BONIFACE.

"Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liveth evermore."

IN the year of our LORD 735, the Venerable Bede was taken to his rest. Twenty years afterwards S. Boniface received the crown of martyrdom. Yet so immediately (observes the Bollandist historian) was his name held in honour among the Saints of God, that it is found inserted in the last and most genuine copies of the Martyrology of Bede, as though he had attained to his reward before him. It is celebrated likewise in numerous other martyrologies, as of Raban, sixth Abbot of Fulda, and the churches of Trêves and Utrecht, Mayence, Erfurt, &c.

When the intelligence of the martyrdom had been received in England, Cuthbert, then Archbishop of Canterbury, summoned a synod of bishops and abbots, which appointed the 5th day of June, the day on which his warfare was accomplished, to be everywhere kept in his honour; and, with the concurrence of the synod, he also addressed to Lullus, the successor of S. Boniface in his archiepiscopal office, the following letter:

"Rejoicing in the wonderful and ineffable goodness of GOD, we give thanks that the English nation has been held deserving to send forth from herself, for a spiritual warfare and the salvation of many souls by the grace of GoD, so illustrious a soldier of CHRIST with many disciples well trained and instructed, so that he was enabled to guide the most savage tribes, who had wandered so long out of the way, from the pit of destruction to the glorious paths of the heavenly country, by exhortation and good example, himself the leader and standard-bearer, conquering all adverse things by the help of GOD. All this the fruits of his labours demonstrate more nobly than words, especially in those regions which no one had ever attempted to enter before for the sake of preaching the Gospel. Wherefore, after the incomparable band of the Apostles-mysterious in their election and their numberand the other disciples of CHRIST who then laboured for the Gospel, we esteem and venerate this one amongst the best and noblest teachers of the orthodox faith. Therefore, also, in our general synod, while considering fully other matters which in few words we make known to your holiness, we determined to set apart the day of his martyrdom for an annual celebration in honour of him, and of those who with him obtained the same crown, inasmuch as we especially desire, and without doubt believe ourselves, to have him, along with the holy Gregory and Augustine, as our patron in the presence of CHRIST our LORD, Whom in his life he ever loved, and Whom, by His Grace imparted, in his death he glorified.

"But we are always ready to help you in whatever