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The ‘baptism of tears’ in early Anglo-Saxon sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

T. O'loughlin  and
H. Conrad-O'Briain
T. O'loughlin
Affiliation:
Dublin
H. Conrad-O'Briain
Affiliation:
Dublin
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Extract

In an article published in 1986 Michael Lapidge1 noted the occurrence of the term Umbrensium (from Humbrenses/Umbrenses) in both the U-text of Theodore's Indicia2 and the anonymous, eighth-century Whitby Vita S. Gregorii.3 This is by no means the only point of contact between the two works. Perhaps the most memorable episode in the Vita S. Gregorii is that of Gregory's weeping for the soul of Trajan, his tears having the effect of baptizing the dead emperor.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 22 , December 1993 , pp. 65 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

1 Lapidge, M., ‘The School of Theodore and Hadrian’, ASE 15 (1986), 45–72, at 48–9.Google Scholar

2 All references to Theodore's Iudicia will be to both the edition by Haddan, A. W. and Stubbs, W., Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1869–1878) III, 176–213Google Scholar, and to Finsterwalder, P., Die Canones Theodori Cantuariensis und ihre Uberlieferungsformen (Weimar, 1929)Google Scholar. The text cited will be that of Finsterwalder. On the need to cite both editions, see Kottje, R., in Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte 3 (1982), 1413–16Google Scholar, s.v. ‘Paenitentiale Theodori’; and McNeill, J. T. and Gamer, H. M., Medieval Handbooks of Penance (New York, 1938), p. 55.Google Scholar

3 The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great, ed. Colgrave, B. (Lawrence, KA, 1968).Google Scholar

4 The emphasis is ours. Vita S. Gregorii, ch. 29 (Life, ed. Colgrave, , pp. 126–8Google Scholar):‘Some of our people also tell a story related by the Romans of how the soul of the Emperor Trajan was refreshed and even baptized by St. Gregory's tears, a story marvellous to tell and marvellous to hear. Let no one be surprised that we say he was baptized, for without baptism none will ever see God; and a third kind of baptism is by tears. One day when he was crossing the forum, a magnificent piece of work for which Trajan is said to have been responsible, he found on examining it carefully that Trajan, though a pagan, had done a deed so charitable that it seemed more likely to have been the deed of a Christian than of a pagan. For it is related that, as he was leading his army in great haste against the enemy, he was moved to pity by the words of a widow, and the emperor of the whole world came to a halt. She said, “Lord Trajan, here are the men who killed my son and are unwilling to pay me recompense.” He answered, “Tell me about it when I return and I will make them recompense you.” But she replied, “Lord, if you do not return there will be no one to help me.” Then, armed as he was, he made the defendants pay forthwith the compensation they owed her, in his presence. When Gregory discovered this story, he recognized this was just what we read about in the Bible, “Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” Since Gregory did not know what to do to comfort the soul of this man who brought the words of Christ to his mind, he went to Saint Peter's Church and wept floods of tears, as was his custom, until he gained at last by divine revelation the assurance that his prayers were answered, seeing that he had never presumed to ask this for any other pagan.’

5 S. Gregorii Papae Vita II.44 (PL 75, 105–6)Google Scholar: ‘Huius ergo mansuetudinem iudicis asserunt Gregorium recordatum ad sancti Petri apostoli basilicam peruenisse; ibique tandiu super errore tam clementissimi principis defleuisse, quousque responsum sequenti nocte cepisset, se pro Traiano fuisse auditum, tantum pro nullo ulterius pagano preces effunderet. Sed cum de superioribus miraculis Romanorum sit nemo qui dubitet, de hoc quod apud Saxones legitur, huius precibus Traiani animam ab inferni cruciatibus liberatam, ob id uel maxime dubitari uidetur, quod tantus doctor nequaquam praesumeret pro pagano prorsus orare; qui quarto Dialogorum suorum libro docuerit eamdem causam esse cur non oretur a sanctis in futuro iudicio pro peccatoribus aeterno igne damnatis; quae nunc etiam causa est ut non orent sancti homines pro hominibus infidelibus impiisque defunctís; non aduertentes quia non legitur pro Traiano Gregorium exorasse, sed tantum fleuisse. Sic enim cum non orauerit Gregorius, plangendo potuit exaudiri, sicuti Moyses cum dolendo taceret, potuit clamasse uideri, cui Dominus tacenti labiis: ‘Quid clamas’, inquit, ‘ad me?’ Nimirum Deus omnipotens corda renesque scrutatur, et frequenter ea misertus concedit, quae homo quamuis ut carnalis desideret, tamen petere non praesumit. Unde Psalmista: ‘Desiderium pauperum exaudiuit Dominus, et desideria cordis eorum audiuit auris tua.’ Et notandum quia non legitur Gregorii precibus Traiani anima ab inferno liberata, et in paradiso reposita, quod omnino incredibile uidetur propter illud quod scriptum est: ‘Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu sancto non intrabit in regnum caelorum’ sed simpliciter dicitur, ab inferni solummodo cruciatibus liberata. Quod uidelicet potest uideri credibile quippe cum ita ualeat anima in inferno existere, et inferni cruciatus per Dei misericordiam non sentire, sicuti unus gehennae ignis ualet omnes peccatores pariter detinere, sic per Dei iustitiam cunctos non ualet aequaliter exurere. Nam uniuscuiusque quantum meruit culpa, iusto Dei iudicio tantum sentietur et poena.’

6 See Paris, G., La Légende de Trajan, Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des hautes études 35 (Paris, 1878).Google Scholar

7 See also Moralia XXXIV. 19 (PL 76, 739).

8 Life, ed. Colgrave, , p. 163, n. 123.Google Scholar

9 PL 94, 539–60.Google Scholar

10 PL 101, 1173–286.Google Scholar

11 Die Canones Theodori, ed. Finsterwalder, , p. 287Google Scholar; Councils, ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 177Google Scholar: ‘For the greater part of these [decisions] the presbyter Eoda, of blessed memory, whose surname was “Christian”, is said, by true report, to have received in answer to his questions from the venerable prelate Theodore. Supplementing these also is that element which the divine grace has in like manner provided to our unworthy hands, the things which that man is like wise reported to have searched out from the booklet of the Irish. Concerning this book the venerable one [Theodore] is said to have expressed the opinion that the author was an ecclesiastic [a man of the church]. Further not only men but also women enkindled with inextinguishable fervour, burning with desire to quench this thirst, made haste in crowds to visit a man, undoubtedly of extraordinary knowledge for our age. Hence there have been found in divers quarters that conflicting and confused digest of those rules of the second book complete with the cases adjudged’ (McNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, p. 182).Google Scholar

12 Die Canones Theodori, ed. Finsterwalder, , p. 317Google Scholar; Councils, ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 193Google Scholar: ‘If a pagan gives alms and keeps abstinence and [does] other good works which we cannot enumerate, does he not lose these in baptism? No, for he shall not lose any good, but he shall wash away the evil. This Pope Innocent asserted, taking for example what was done concerning the catechumen Cornelius. 4. Gregory Nazianzen declares that the second baptism is that of tears’ (McNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, p. 202).Google Scholar

13 Note, however, that the individual of the example is specifically called catechumenus, not gentilis. The use of this term is particularly interesting since Innocent was referring to the centurion Cornelius of Acts X.2: ‘religiosus, ac timens Deum cum omni domo sua, faciens elemosinas multas plebi’.

14 Ep. clxiv (Epistolae, ed. Goldbacher, A., 4 vols., CSEL 34, 44, 57 and 58 (Vienna, 1895–1923) III, 524–5).Google Scholar

15 See similar material in Adomnán's Vita S. Columbae 1.33 and III. 14: Adomnán's Life of Columba, ed. , A. O. and Anderson, M. O., rev. Anderson, M. O. (Oxford, 1991), pp. 62 and 200–2Google Scholar. These episodes may also owe something in their presentation to the Cornelius episode. See further Conrad-O'Briain, H., ‘Beowulf and the Uses of History’ (unpubl. PhD dissertation, Trinity College, Dublin, 1990), pp. 145–7.Google Scholar

16 As we have seen, John the Deacon vehemently denied that the story has a Roman origin. There is no reason why we should doubt the Whitby biographer on this point: tour guides are seldom exact theologians and the story – with its neat blend of glorious imperial past and papal present – would appeal to guides and tourists alike.

17 For example, see Isidore of Seville, De ecclesiasticis officiis II. 25Google Scholar (De ecclesiasticis officiis, ed. Lawson, C. M., CCSL 113 (Turnhout, 1989), 103Google Scholar): ‘Baptismum enim aqua est, quae tempore passionis de latere Christi profluxit, nullumque aliud elementum est quod in hoc mundo purget uniuersa, quod uiuificet cuncta; ideoque cum baptizamur in Christo per ipsam renascimur, ut purificati uiuificemur.’

18 See Iudicia I.v.6Google Scholar, ‘De his qui per Heresim decipiuntur’ (Die Canones Theodori, ed. Finster-walder, , p. 296Google Scholar; Councils, ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 181Google Scholar): ‘Si quis baptizatur ab heretico qui recte Trinitatem non crediderit iterum baptizetur. Hoc Theodorum dixisse non credimus contra Nicenae concilium et senodi decreta, sicut de Arrianis conversis Trinitatem non recte credentibus confirmatur.’ This correction is undoubtedly valid; it is difficult to believe that Pope Vitalian and his advisors, who so carefully assured themselves of Theodore's orthodoxy, would have appointed him to Canterbury if he held such an opinion. It is more likely that the first part of this canon should be read as a question whose answer had somehow fallen out of our compiler's source (possibly what amounted to lecture notes); see also Iudicia I.x. 2Google Scholar (Die Canones Theodori, ed. Finsterwalder, , p. 303Google Scholar; Councils, ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 186Google Scholar): ‘Qui autem non ignari iterum baptizati sunt quasi iterum Christi crucifixerint, peniteant VII annos, IIII feria et VI feria; et in tribus XL mis, si pro uitio aliquo fuerit si autem pro mundantia licitum putaverint III annos sic peniteant.’ Even one who is unknowingly baptized twice is denied ordination except in circumstances of grave necessity: Iudicia I.x.1Google Scholar (Die Canones Theodori, ed. Finsterwalder, , p. 303Google Scholar; Councils, , ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 185).Google Scholar

19 PL 94, 542: ‘Tell me how many are the types of baptism? Three: the first [type of] baptism is that which washes the filth of sin through the washing of regeneration; the second that by which the individual is baptised through martyrdom by his blood; the third [is] the baptism of tears.’ On the Collectanea and the problems surrounding it, see Lapidge, M. and Sharpe, R., A Bibliography of Celtic-Latin Literature 400–1200 (Dublin, 1985), no. 1257 (p. 333)Google Scholar; and Kelly, J. F., ‘A Catalogue of Early Medieval Hiberno-Latin Biblical Commentaries I’, Traditio 44 (1988), 537–71, at 545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar There is no manuscript source for this work. The text depends upon the edition of Herwagen, J., Opera Bedae Venerabilis, 8 vols. (Basel, 1563) III, 647–72.Google Scholar The work is generally dated as eighth century, but there is some question as to whether or not its constituent elements were only drawn together in the sixteenth century.

20 Liber de diuinis officiis, ch. 19 (PL 101, 1216): ‘ubi etiam figuraliter initium sumpsit baptismus, inquit Moyses, in nube et mari. Habuit ergo mare formam baptismi, nubes Spiritus sancti, manna uero panis uitae. Deinde baptizauit Joannes in poenitentia, post hunc Christus perfectum baptizauit baptismum in Spiritu sancto et igne. Tria etenim genera sunt baptismi, primum quo sordes peccatorum per lauacrum abluuntur. Secundum, quo quis sanguine suo per martyrium baptizatur, quo etiam Christus baptizari dignatus est. Tertium lacrymarum, quibus Dauid et Niniuitae misericordiam consecuti sunt.’

21 De luminibus xviiGoogle Scholar (Tyrannii Rufini Orationum Gregorii Nazianzeni Novem Interpretatio, ed. Wrobel, J. and Engelbrecht, A., CSEL 46 (Leipzig, 1910), 130–1Google Scholar): ‘Finally I know a fifth, that of tears, but it is the most laborious: thus for example when one washes his bed with tears each night, the scars of sin release their putrefaction, it advances with mourning and sorrow, it imitates the conversion of Manasse, and the self-abasement of the Ninevites, who obtained pardon for themselves, it speaks the words of the publican in the temple and is purified as against the arrogant pharisee, it prostrates itself like the Channanite woman, who begged for grace and sought for crumbs like the scraps for a begging dog who suffers from a great hunger.’

22 De luminibus xviiGoogle Scholar (Orationes, ed. Wrobel, and Engelbrecht, , p. 131).Google Scholar

23 We believe it is safe to assume that the change from quintum to secundum must be traced to Theodore, since it demonstrates an understanding of the temporal implications of the term.

24 For in De luminibus xixGoogle Scholar Gregory speaks of a final, purgatorial baptism of fire ‘refutantes etenim baptismum lacrimarum ibi sine dubio igne baptizabuntur. Hoc enim baptismum ultimum omnium est, quod per poenam transigitur et cruciatum, quod longis suppliciis toleratur, quod comedit sicut faenum materiam corporalem et consumit omne quidquid facturae dei intulit et inuexit malitia’ (Orationes, ed. Wrobel, and Engelbrecht, , p. 135).Google Scholar

25 Although it is peculiar that while he placed the material incorrectly under baptism he did not ‘correct’ secundum to tertium.

26 PL 83, cols. 820–1: ‘Now there are three kinds of baptism. The first is that which by the regenerating washing cleanses the filth of sin. The second is that whereby anyone martyred is baptised in their own blood, by which baptism Christ also was baptised, and thus in this just as in the other form we ought to believe, since he said to his disciples, the sons of Zededee, “are you able to drink the cup which I shall drink and be baptised by the baptism with which I shall be baptised?” Therefore water and blood together are a figure of baptism, one because it regenerates through washing, the other because it consecrates with blood. The third is the baptism of tears which is brought forth laboriously, just like that one who washed his bed each night with tears, which imitates the conversion of Manasse and the humility of the Ninivites, who were shown mercy as a consequence, who imitate the publican in his prayer in the temple standing a long way off, striking his breast, nor daring to lift his eyes to heaven.’

27 Ibid.: ‘Baptismi sacramentum si prima repetens ab origine pandam, baptizauit Moyses in nube, et in mari, in typo et in figura, ita enim Paulus pronuntiat. Habuit ergo mare formam aquae, nubes uero Spiritus Sancti, manna panis uitae. Illic enim sicut patrum exempla docent, Aegyptius demergitur, Dei populus resurgit renouatus Sancto Spiritu, qui etiam per mare Rubrum inoffenso transiuit uestigio. Baptizauit et Johannes sed non … solum in aqua, nee tamen in Spiritu, sed hoc solum addidit quod in poenitentiam baptizauit,… ut Christus, qui in aqua et Spiritu baptizaturus erat, Johannis baptismate manifestaretur in Israel, quando Spiritus Sancti descensione et Patris uoce Filius Dei palam cunctis ostensus est. Coepit ergo perfectum baptisma a Jesu; ipse enim baptizauit primum in Spiritu Sancto, sicut et Johannes dicit: Ego quidem baptizo in aqua, medius autem uestrum stetit, quem uos nescitis, ipse baptizabit uos in Spiritu Sancto et igni. Haec est perfectio baptismi: Deus est enim qui baptizat, ut possint et qui baptizantur, fieri filii Dei.’

28 All translations of the Vulgate are from the Douai-Rheims version.

29 Osbourne, K. B., Reconciliation and Justification (New York, 1990), p. 70.Google Scholar

30 Orationes, ed. Wroebel, and Engelbrecht, , p. 131.Google Scholar

31 See MacNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, p. 5Google Scholar. On the development of the concept of the deadly sins, see ibid. pp. 18–20.

32 ‘For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay no further burden upon you than these necessary things: That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from fornication; from which things keeping yourselves you shall do well’, αἳματος being understood in the sense of ‘bloodshed’ and πνικτῶν omitted. See MacNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, p. 5, n. 5.Google Scholar

33 ‘For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have moreover tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and are fallen away: to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God and making him a mockery.’ The image of a second crucifixion of Christ is later applied to re-baptism as in Iudicia I.x.2Google Scholar (Councils, ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 186Google Scholar).

34 Tertulliani Opera, ed. Reifferscheid, A., Wissowa, G., Happe, H., Krayman, A., Buehart, V. and Borleffs, P., 4 vols., CSEL 20, 69, 70, 76 (Vienna 1890–1957) I, 222–4.Google Scholar

35 PG 2, 398.Google Scholar

36 On pre- and extra-Christian practices of confession and penitence in the Mediterranean world, see Pettazzoni, R., ‘Confession of Sins and the Classics’, Harvard Theological Rev. 30 (1937), 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37 Didache, ch. 14 (The Apostolic Fathers, ed. Lake, K., 2 vols. (Cambridge, MA, 1912–1913) I, 330Google Scholar). See also James V.16, and McNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, p. 6.Google Scholar

38 This is the first biblical text used in the Iudicia. Die Canones Theodori, ed. Finsterwalder, , p. 287Google Scholar; Councils, ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 176.Google Scholar

39 McNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, p. 16.Google Scholar

40 In Lucae Evangelium Expositio III, ed. Hurst, D., CCSL 120 (Turnhout, 1960), 166Google Scholar: ‘Indeed in the first place when alight with humility and tears she earns the remission of sins.’

41 PG 9, 647–52, esp. 649.Google Scholar

42 The Council of Nicaea mentions three of the four orders; the other three were the ‘hearers’ άκροώμενοι who stood in the vestibule and were dismissed after the mass of the catechumens, ύποπίπτοντες kneelers who were stationed just behind the congregation and knelt when they stood, and finally συνιστάμενοι the ‘co-standers’ who could take their places among the congregation but could not communicate; see MacNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, pp. 7–8.Google Scholar

43 De penitentia II.xGoogle Scholar; Ambrose pointedly adds that this is in regard only to the greater sins which required public penance.

44 McNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, p. 14Google Scholar. We note, however, the dangers of making general inferences from Spanish conciliar legislation.

45 De eleemosyna III.4 (PG 49, 298).Google Scholar

46 In De Spiritu Sancto; see Paredi, A., Saint Ambrose: His Life and Times (Notre Dame, IN, 1964), p. 130.Google Scholar

47 PL 14, cols. 1013–14Google Scholar: ‘Now on the other hand if you, baptised, have strayed bring forth the water of, not lying, but of true tears; that you might cry from the depths of the Lord your God. Send for the water of the Jordan, the water of grace, this drink first; send for the water of tears, the waters of penitence; this second drink is that which restores the first.’ Ambrose is the least well represented of the major western fathers in Anglo-Saxon England according to Ogilvy, J. D. A., Books known to the English 597–1066 (Cambridge, MA, 1967), pp. 58–62.Google Scholar

48 PG 12, 417–19.Google Scholar ‘Listen now how many are the means of remission of sins in the gospels. The first is this, by being baptized in remission of sins. The second remission is through the passion of martyrdom. The third is through charity, for the Saviour says, “But yet of that which remaineth give alms; and behold, all things are clean unto you.” The fourth remission of our sins is on this account that we forgive the sins of our brethren. For exactly this does the Lord our Saviour himself say,“For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offences. But if you will not forgive men from your heart, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your offences.” And thus in prayer we are taught to say: “and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors”. The fifth remission of sins is when one converts a sinner from the error of his life. For thus says divine Scripture “he must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins”. The sixth remission is through abundance of holy love just as the Lord says: “Amen I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved so much.” And the Apostle says: “For charity covers a multitude of sins”. There is also a seventh, though it is hard and laborious, being the remission of sins which is given when the sinner washes with tears his bed and his bread is made with tears day and night, and he does not blush for the Lord's priest to judge his sin, or to seek healing, according to that which he [David] says, “I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my heart.”’ Origen then expands on this seventh form of repentance: ‘Si autem in amaritudine fletus tui fueris luctu, lacrymis et lamentatione confectus, si carnem tuam maceraueris et ieiuniis ac multa abstinentia aridam feceris, et dixeris, quia sicut frixorium confrixa sunt ossa mea, tune sacrificium similam a sartagine, uel a craticula obtulisse te noueris: et hoc modo inueniris tu uerius, et perfectius secundum Euangelium offerre sacrificia, quae secundum legem iam offerre non potest Israel.’

49 The Irish Penitentials, ed. Bieler, L. (Dublin, 1963), p. 110.Google Scholar

50 Finsterwalder, , Canones, pp. 201–3.Google Scholar

51 Penitentials, ed. Bieler, , p. 198.Google Scholar

52 Ibid. p. 76.

53 Ibid. p. 184: ‘But more fitting <for> pardon, according to the examples of the Scripture, is a short penance with weeping and lamentation and a garment of grief, under control, than a long and lax one with a lukewarm mind.’ It is used in the Collectio canonum Hibernensis at XLVII. 8: ‘De penitentia cum lacrimis agenda’ (Die irische Kanonensammlung, ed. Wasserschleben, H., 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1885), pp. 198–9)Google Scholar; see also T. O'Loughlin, ‘Tears in Early Irish Penitential Practice’, Irish Theological Quarterly, forthcoming.

54 See for example Canon 21 of the Penitential of Finnian (Penitentials, ed. Bieler, , p. 80)Google Scholar: ‘Si autem genuerit, ut diximus, filium et manifestum peccatum eius fuerit, ui.annis, sicut iudicatum est de clerico, et in septimo iungatur altario, et tune dicimus posse renouare coronam et induere uestimentum album debere et uirginem nuncupare.’

55 Die Canones Theodori, ed. Finsterwalder, , p. 315Google Scholar; Councils, ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 192Google Scholar; McNeill, and Gamer, , Handbooks, p. 201Google Scholar: ‘In the ordination of a monk, indeed, the abbot ought to perform the mass and complete three prayers over his head; and for seven days he shall veil his head with his cowl, and on the seventh day the abbot shall remove the veil as in baptism the presbyter is accustomed to take away the veil of the infants; so ought also the abbot to do to the monk, since according to the judgement of the fathers it is a second baptism in which, as in baptism, all sins are taken away.’

56 Die Canones Theodori, ed. Finsterwalder, , p. 306Google Scholar; Councils, ed. Haddan, and Stubbs, III, 187Google Scholar: ‘For that reason [probably referring to sections 2 and 3 preceding in which priests are allowed to receive penitents back into communion] reconciliation is not publicly established in this province, and because of that there is no public penance.’

57 Bede, , Historia ecclesiastica I. 27Google Scholar (Beds's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. Colgrave, B. and Mynors, R. A. B. (Oxford, 1969), pp. 80–2).Google Scholar

58 Hoffman, R., ‘The Theme of Judgement Day II’, ELN 6 (1969), 161–4, esp. 163.Google Scholar

59 We have in preparation a study of the motif of weeping for the sins of others in Insular literature.