ST. LUDGER was born in Friseland, about the year 743. His father, who
was a nobleman of the first rank in that country, at the child's own
request, committed him very young to the care of St. Gregory, the
disciple of St. Boniface, and his successor in the government of the see
of Utrecht. Ludger had the happiness to have seen that holy martyr, and
received from him strong impressions of virtue. Gregory educated him in
his monastery, and admiring his progress in learning and piety, gave him
the clerical tonsure. Ludger, desirous of further improvement, passed
over into England, and spent four years and a half under Alcuin, who was
rector of a famous school at York. He was careful to employ his whole
time in the exercises of piety, and the study of the holy scriptures and
fathers. In 773 he returned home, and St. Gregory dying in 776, his
successor, Alberic, compelled our saint to receive the holy order of
priesthood, and employed him for several years in preaching the word of
God in Friseland, where he converted great numbers, both among the
pagans and vicious Christians, founded several monasteries, and built
many churches. This was the state of affairs, when the pagan Saxons,
ravaging the country, obliged him to leave Friseland. Whereupon he
travelled to Rome, to consult pope Adrian II. what course to take, and
what he thought God required of him. He then retired for three years and
a half to Mount Cassino, where he wore the habit of the Order, and
conformed to the practice of the rule during his stay, but made no
religious vows. In 787, Charlemagne overcame the Saxons and conquered
Friseland, and the coast of the Germanic ocean as far as Denmark. Ludger
hearing that by this revolution the mission was again opened, returned
into east Friseland, where he converted the Saxons to the faith; as he
also did the province of Sudergou, now called Westphalia. He founded the
monastery of Werden,[1] in the county of La Mark, twenty-nine miles from
Cologne. His old master Alcuin being come into France, made his merit
known to the emperor Charlemagne. In 802, Hildebald, archbishop of
Cologne, not regarding his strenuous resistance, ordained him bishop of
Mimigardeford, (or ford of the river Mimigard,) a city which afterwards
changed this name for that of Munster, from the great monastery of
regular canons which St. Ludger built there, to serve for his cathedral.
He joined to his diocese five cantons of Friseland, which he had
converted, and also founded the monastery of Helmstad, afterwards called
Lodger-Clooster, or Ludger's cloister, in the duchy of Brunswick.
He was very learned in the holy scriptures, and read daily lectures
thereon to his disciples. He fasted and watched much, and always wore a
hair shirt, but secretly, se that no one knew of it till a little before
his death. {662} He ate some flesh at certain times, chiefly to conform
to others, but always observing a strict temperance. When invited to any
entertainment, his discourse the whole time was on religious subjects,
and he withdrew immediately after. To the poor he was affable and
courteous, but firm and resolute to the proud rich. He exerted an
episcopal vigor against impenitent sinners, and refused all manner of
presents from an incestuous lady, and at length excommunicated her.
Except what was absolutely necessary for his subsistence, he employed
the revenues of his own estate, and those of his bishopric, in
charities. He was accused to the emperor Charlemagne, among other
things, of wasting his income, and neglecting the embellishment of
churches within his jurisdiction. And this prince, who loved to see
churches magnificent, giving ear to the information, ordered him to
appear at court. The morning after his arrival, the emperor's
chamberlain brought him word that his attendance was required. The
saint, being then at his prayers, told the officer that he would follow
him as soon as he had finished them. He was sent for three several times
before he was ready, which the courtiers represented as a contempt of
his majesty; and the emperor, with some emotion, asked him why he had
made him wait so long, though he had sent for him so often. The bishop
answered, that though he had the most profound respect for his majesty,
yet God was infinitely above him; that while we are occupied with him,
it is our duty to forget every thing else; and that in this he judged he
had rather obeyed than neglected his majesty's orders, who, when he was
chosen bishop, had recommended to him ever to prefer the service of God
to that of men. This answer made such an impression on the emperor, in
favor of the saint, that he looked upon it as a complete justification
of his conduct as to every particular that had been laid to his charge:
he accordingly dismissed him with honor, and disgraced his accusers. The
saint took this liberty with a religious prince, that he might condemn
the sloth of many who suffer distractions or earthly trifles to
interrupt their commerce with God; but they who leave prayer for
necessary works of charity or obedience, find God still in the exercises
of those virtues. St. Ludger required so devout an attention at divine
service, that being at prayers one night with his clergy, and one of
them stooping down to mend the fire and hinder it from smoking, the
saint after prayer severely rebuked him for it, and inflicted on him a
penance for some days. St. Ludger was favored with the gift of miracles
and prophecy. He foretold the invasions of the Normans from Denmark and
Norway, and what ravages they would make in the French empire, and this
at a time when there was not the least apprehension of any such thing.
His great zeal inclined him to go and preach the faith to these northern
nations, but the king would not allow of it. His last sickness, though
violent did not hinder him from continuing his functions to the very
last day of his life, which was Passion-Sunday, on which day he preached
very early in the morning, said mass towards nine, and preached again
before night, foretelling withal to those that were about him, that he
should die the following night; and fixing upon a place in his monastery
of Werden where he chose to be interred. He died accordingly on the 26th
of March, at midnight. His relics are still kept at Werden. Joseph, an
Englishman, a disciple of Alcuin, whom he attended into France, wrote,
in sixteen verses, an eulogium of St. Ludger, published by Vossius[2]
and Mabillon, as a specimen of good poetry for that age.
* * * * *
Nothing so much scandalizes the very infidels, or shows the decay of
piety, and loss of all sense of religion among Christians, as their
disrespectful {663} behavior in the house of God and at the time of
prayer. An awful, strict silence, the most profound exterior respect,
and penetrating inward devotion of heart, must essentially accompany our
homages when we present them before the throne of God, in whose presence
the highest seraphims annihilate themselves. This silence we must
observe not only with our tongues, but also with our bodies and all our
limbs, both out of respect to the presence of God and his altar, and
also not to give the least occasion of distraction to others. Prayer is
an action so sublime and supernatural, that the church in her canonical
hours teaches us to begin it by a fervent petition of grace to perform
it well. What an insolence and mockery is it to join with this petition
an open disrespect and a neglect of all necessary precautions against
distractions! We ought never to appear before God, to tender him our
homages or supplications, without trembling, and without being deaf to
all creatures, and shutting all our senses to every object that can
distract our minds from God. In the life of F. Simon Gourdan, a regular
canon of St. Victor's at Paris, who died in the odor of sanctity, in the
year 1729, the eighty-fifth of his age, it is related that king Louis
XIV. came to see him, and to recommend himself to his prayers. The
servant of God made him wait till he had finished his thanksgiving after
mass, which edified that great prince, who said, "he does well; for he
is employed in attending on a much greater king." Though St. Francis of
Sales on the like occasions chose rather to forego or defer his own
private devotions, than not to be ready immediately to wait on others,
in order to give them all the spiritual advice they desired; yet at
prayer at least he and all truly religious persons seemed in some degree
to rival the heavenly spirits in their awe and reverence. Silence at
that holy time, or place, has always been esteemed a thing so sacred,
that when the temple of Solomon was building, God commanded that there
should not be heard so much as the sound of a hamster, or any other
instrument. Even when we come from conversing with God, we ought to
appear all penetrated with the divine presence, and rather as angels
than men. Sanctity, modesty, and the marks of a heavenly spirit, ought
to shine in our exterior, and to inspire others by our very sight with
religious awe and devotion.
Footnotes:
1. Some have, by mistake, confounded this place with Ferden, or Werden,
beyond the Weser.
2. Voss. de histor. lat. l. 2, c. 3.