St. Neot was a monk at Glastonbury, and an angel was sent to him, telling him to prepare to go a long journey. After many wanderings, he reached a place in Cornwall among the hills. Each morning, both in summer and winter, he went and stood up to the neck in a well, repeating the Psalter through. One day, in the depth of winter, he was disturbed by a hunting party, and sprang hastily out of the well, and was retiring, but dropped one of his shoes. He had not time to wait; but soon afterwards, when he had finished his psalms and prayers, he remembered the shoe, and sent his servant to fetch it. Meantime a fox had passed and wanted to steal the shoe; but an angel who hovered over that place smote the fox, and the thongs of the shoe were found in the creature’s mouth at the time of its death. Another time St. Neot was standing in his valley by the water’s side, when a young and beautiful fawn bounded from the adjoining thicket, and, panting from weariness and terror, sought a refuge at his feet. Hitherto the poor creature had known man only as its foe; but the serene countenance of the holy man had no terror for the innocent and oppressed; and crouching closely to him, with upturned imploring eyes, it appeared to beseech his protection. Not so the fierce and hungry bloodhounds that followed hot behind. Nature has nothing more terrible to savageness and cruelty than the gentle majesty of virtue, and the frightened animals shrank back cowed and overawed into the wood. Up came the wild huntsman, and hallooed them towards the prey; but his hot spirit too was quenched in the pure influences which flowed from the countenance of the saint. He felt the reproach; the mild rebuke cut him to the heart; and in the first enthusiasm of repentance he hung up his horn as an offering at the shrine of St. Petrox, and himself assumed the habit of a monk. St. Neot soon founded the monastery of Neotstowe, where he not long afterwards died, about 890.
THE CONVERSION OF RUSSIA IN 864.
Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, took credit for having assisted in the conversion of the Russians about 864, with the aid of the missionaries. But the new doctrine took no visible root till 955, when the then ruling Queen, Olga, resolved to visit Constantinople. Constantine Porphyrogenitus is said to have received her with great pomp, and her vanity was gratified with titles, banquets, and presents. She openly professed to be baptised along with her retinue of domestics, ministers, and leading merchants. On her return to Kion and Novgorod, she persisted in her new religion, but her family and nation remained obstinate and indifferent. Her example, however, was long appealed to by a few, and the Greek missionaries worked with zeal and led the people to imitate the dome of St. Sophia, with its pictures of saints and martyrs, the pomp of priestly vestments and ceremonies. A little later, in 968, the marriage of King Wolodomor with a Roman bride gave a fresh impulse to Christian zeal; and the god of thunder, the chief Pagan deity, was dragged through the streets, battered with clubs, and thrown into the sea. Other relics of Paganism soon followed, and a broad foundation was laid for the culture of Christian rites.
BISHOP OTTO IN POMERANIA (A.D. 1124).
Bishop Otto, of Bamberg, was induced in 1124 to set out as a missionary to Pomerania. Amid the difficulties caused by the Pagan superstitions, a mob in Stettin was incited by the native priests to destroy the Christian church and all who were assembled in it. Otto was not alarmed, but by his calm confidence and courage reassured his band of followers. After commending himself and his friends in prayer to God, he went forth in his episcopal robes in the midst of the clergy, who bore before him the crucifix and relics, singing psalms and hymns. The calmness of the bishop confounded the raging multitude for a while. A stout priest, of portly stature and sonorous voice, tried to inflame the fury of the Pagans and incite them to vengeance. But Otto’s venerable appearance, at the head of a company of believers, enabled them to proceed without further difficulty in consecrating a church and founding a permanent society of Christian worshippers.
NORBERT DENOUNCING CLERICAL VICES (A.D. 1134).
About 1114 Norbert, the founder of the Premonstrants, had been in early life a courtly ecclesiastic, and a favourite of Henry V. While riding for pleasure he was caught in a storm, and prostrated by a flash of lightning. On recovering his senses, he was so impressed by this escape from sudden death that he at once began a new life. He laid aside his sumptuous apparel, entered the order of priests, became an itinerant preacher, went barefoot and wearing a sheepskin, and having his body girt with a cord. He exposed the worldly-minded and degenerate clergy of his time, and became popular, having obtained from the Pope a roving licence to preach. Whenever he entered a village or approached a castle, the herdsmen who caught sight of him circulated the news; the bells were rung, and young and old hastened to church, where, after performing Mass, he exhorted the people. After the sermon he conversed with individuals on the concerns of their souls. Towards evening he was conducted to his lodgings, and all were eager to have him as their guest. He did not, like others, take up his abode in monasteries or priests’ houses, but preferred the populous places, where he could reach the multitude with ease. The Pope wished to see him, as a means of reforming the lives of the clergy; but so violent was their opposition that Norbert retired to a desert region in the valley of Premonstre, in the forest of Couchy, and founded a new spiritual society, resembling in its rule that of Augustine; and his power was so great that he made the wolves do the duty of sheepdogs. Finally, Norbert became Archbishop of Magdeburg, being chosen because he suddenly appeared at an election there. He died in 1134. The Premonstrantensians were, by their rules, specially forbidden to keep rare and curious tame animals, as deer, bears, monkeys, peacocks, swans, or hawks. Even when Norbert became archbishop he went barefooted and meanly dressed, and once his own porter was about to shut him out as a beggar. The order thus founded long kept up its austere discipline; but after a time, like other societies, it grew rich and careless.
FULK, A ROUSING MONK PREACHER (A.D. 1190).
About 1190 a bustling priest near Paris, named Fulco of Neuilly, said to be ignorant and worldly-minded, achieved a great reputation. He had attended the lectures of Peter Cantor, and obtained an insight into his impressive style. In a coarse cowl, and girt about with a leather thong, he fearlessly denounced the vices of the time. His sermons wrought such deep conviction that people scourged themselves, fell down before him on the ground, and confessed themselves in public. Usurers made restitution of their gains; engrossers and corndealers threw open their granaries; abandoned women forsook their haunts; the clergy separated from their concubines. A curse from his lips spread alarm like a thunderbolt. His hearers would fall down in convulsive fits, foaming at the mouth. The sick were brought to him to be healed by his touch. His garments were sometimes seized and torn into shreds, to be preserved as precious relics. He was so mobbed in the street that he had to swing his staff violently about to clear his way; and those wounded, so far from murmuring, kissed the blood that flowed from their wounds, as if they had been instantaneously healed. His stirring example gave a great impetus to preachers, and students of theology were turned into itinerant missionaries. Afterwards Fulco stood forth as a preacher of the Crusades, and great sums of money were sent to him, which he divided among the Crusaders. It was noticed that, however impressive were his discourses when delivered by himself, those who redelivered the same after they had been taken down by shorthand writers and copied fell far short in their effect. It was also said that he impaired his influence by riding on horseback, shaving his hair, and indulging in dress and food. It was he who reproved Richard of England for cherishing his three daughters—pride, covetousness, and luxury; to which the King replied that he had bestowed his pride on the Templars, his greed on the Cistercians, and his luxury on the prelates.