Page:The ecclesiastical history of England and Normandy vol 2.djvu/342

 in sacred and profane literature, came forth to meet him outside the abbey in a procession formed of the whole body of monks, with all the pomp of the church; for he said: 'If the relics of a dead man are to be received with ceremony in a church, we have much more reason for giving an honourable reception to living relics, namely such a man as this: for as to the dead, we who are still in this mortal life are uncertain where their spirits are, but for this man, we cannot be ignorant that he has been visited and delivered by God before our eyes, because he has not acted unjustly.'

"When thanksgivings had been offered to God, to the best of their ability, according to what in their estimation was due for Bricstan's deliverance, the queen sent him with great honour to the abbey of St. Etheldrida in the isle of Ely. I went myself, attended by the whole convent of monks, to meet him, with candles and crosses, chanting Te Deum laudamus. Having conducted him into the church with befitting ceremony, and offered thanksgivings to God, we delivered to him, in honour of the blessed Benedict his liberator, the monastic habit he had so long desired. We also hung up in the church, in view of the people, the fetters with which he was bound, that they might be a memorial of this great miracle, to the honour of St. Benedict, who broke them, and of St. Etheldrida, who was his colleague and assistant; and they long continued to be suspended there to keep alive the remembrance of these events.

"I have been desirous of making known to the sons of holy church these acts of the venerable father Benedict, not because he had not performed greater wonders, but because they are more recent, and such miracles appear in our days to be infrequent in England. Nor, as regards our blessed father Benedict, let any one be surprised that he wrought great and inconceivable wonders; for, according to Pope Gregory, he may be equalled to Moses for having brought water out of the rock; to Elijah for receiving the ministry of a raven; to Elisha for raising iron from the bottom of a pit and to Peter for having caused a disciple to walk on the water