62 “In world is naught, nature has wrought, that shall stay.
Therefore serve God, keep well the rod, thy fame shall not decay.”
63 The chronicles do not say how she passed her time at Brisgau. They
merely state that she lived there about a year as a hermitess and
mendicant.
64 S. Attale became the superior of the chapter of S. Etienne at
Strasbourg, founded by her father and composed of thirty canonesses.
She lived to a good old age, and died in the odor of sanctity, her
soul wafted to heaven by a troop of angels and their Queen. Her
feast is celebrated at Strasbourg on the 3d of December.
65 S. Eugénie succeeded S. Odile as abbess of Hohenbourg, and died in
735. She was buried in the Chapel of S. John, and her tomb remained
entire till the Lutheran soldiers of Mansfeldt broke it open in
1622. Her relics were collected by the clergy, and afterwards
restored to the convent. Later, the Swedes cast them to the winds.
Only a portion is preserved at Oberehnheim, and still exposed on her
festival, Sept. 16.
S. Gundeline became the second abbess of Niedermünster. Her remains
were once in a shrine of silver beside the grand altar, but were
mostly lost in the Thirty Years’ War. What remain are at Einsiedeln.
66 Roswinde, who had renounced the world before the Monastery of
Hohenbourg was erected, lived holily under the direction of her
sister. She was buried in the chapel of SS. Peter and Paul. The name
of S. Roswinde is found in an ancient litany formerly chanted in the
Diocese of Strasbourg.
67 To endow this monastery with relics, he made a pilgrimage to Rome.
Pope Adrian I. gave him the bodies of S. Sophie and three other
saints, which he solemnly enshrined at Eschau. He died March 20,
783, and was buried at Eschau. He is revered as a saint.
68 This chalice was still at Hohenbourg in 1546. All the chronicles
declare that no one could ever tell of what it was composed. The
Abbey of Hohenbourg had a chalice on its coat‐of‐arms.
69 Probably about the year 720. The year is disputed. A popular legend
says she lived to be one hundred and three years old, which would
make the year of her death 760.
70 This will is to be found in the _Histoire de l’Eglise de
Strasbourg_, by Grandidier.
71 This precious work was carefully preserved in the Library of
Strasbourg until the late siege. It is greatly to be hoped that it
was transferred to a place of safety, and did not share the fate of
that noble library. The manuscript throughout is by the hand of
Herrade. It is composed of three hundred and twenty‐four leaves of
parchment. It is especially interesting because it shows the state
of the sciences and literature, the manners, and the public and
private usages of the XIIth century.
This work is a systematic collection of extracts taken from
ecclesiastical history and from the fathers, mingled with
reflections and observations on astronomy, geography, philosophy,
history, and mythology, naturally introduced by the subject the
author is treating of. To these are joined the poems of Herrade. It
is illuminated with naïve and charming miniatures.
This work is dedicated by the illustrious abbess to her spiritual
children. She explains in the preface, written in prose, the object
she had in view in undertaking it. “Like a bee,” she says, “I have
amassed in this book the honey drawn from the sacred and
philosophical writings, that I may form a honey‐comb to delight you
and lead you to honor our Lord and the church. Seek herein an
agreeable food for the soul, refresh hereby your fatigued minds,
that you may always be occupied with your heavenly Spouse,” etc.,
etc.
She then enters upon the work. After speaking of God and his
attributes, the angels and their fall, she comes to the creation,
discusses man before and after his fall, passes in review the Old
Testament in its relations with the New, with the history of the
human race, the development of the arts, sciences, and philosophy.
She comes finally to the mystery of the Redemption, to which she
joins the genealogy of our Saviour, traced upon a mysterious tree
planted by the Divinity. She gives an account of the life, miracles,
teachings, and parables of Christ. Then follow numerous extracts
from the Acts of the Apostles, to which are annexed very curious
paintings.
The history of the Roman emperors is naturally connected with the
development of the Christian Church, and there are ingenious
miniatures representing allegorically the virtues of the faithful
followers of Christ, the hideousness of sin, the vanities and
temptations of the world, the assaults of hell, and the means we
should use to oppose them.
Finally, Herrade represents, in a series of considerations and
paintings, the dignities, rights, and obligations of the
ecclesiastical state.
This work, by the Abbess of Hohenbourg, is the production of a
thoughtful mind, and is one that required much time. She very
carefully indicates the numerous and authentic sources whence she
draws her materials.
Herrade has also left a list of all the popes from S. Peter to
Clement III., and several astronomical works, which also are, or
were, in the Library of Strasbourg.
72 The relics of S. Odile venerated in other places are not of our
saint. There are three other saints of that name—one a companion of
S. Ursula; a second, Abbess of Hohenbourg in the XIth century; and a
third, who was a widow of Liege.