ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



nad so filled the bridge over the river that he could scarce pass over that evening. In truth, almost all had 

 gone out, so that the judge remained in the city without attendance. St. Alban, therefore, urged by an 

 ardent and devout vcish to attain the sooner to martyrdom, drew near to the stream, and lifted up his eyes to 

 heaven, whereupon the channel was immediately dried up, and he perceived that the water had given place and 

 made way for him to pass. Among the rest, the executioner, who should have put him to death, observed 

 this, and moved doubtless by Divine inspiration hastened to meet him at the appointed place of execution, and 

 casting away the sword which he had carried ready drawn, fell at his feet, praying earnestly that he might rather 

 be accounted worthy to suffer with the martyr whom he was ordered to execute, or, if possible, instead of him, 



Whilst he was thus changed from a persecutor into a companion in the faith and truth, and the othei 

 executioners rightly hesitated to take up the sword which was lying on the ground, the holy confessor, 

 accompanied by the multitude, ascended a hill, about half a mile from the arena, beautiful, as was fitting, and 

 of most pleasing appearance, adorned, or rather clothed, everywhere with flowers of many colours, nowhere 

 steep or precipitous or of sheer descent, but with a long, smooth natural slope, like a plain, on its sides, a 

 place altogether worthy from of old, by reason of its native beauty, to be consecrated by the blood of a 

 blessed martyr. On the top of this hill St. Alban prayed that God would give him water, and immediately 

 a living spring, confined in its channel, sprang up at his feet, so that all men acknowledged that even the 

 stream had yielded its service to the martyr. For it was impossible that the martyr, who had left no water 

 remaining in the river, should desire it on the top of the hill, unless he thought it fitting. The river then 

 having done service and fulfilled the pious duty, returned to its natural course, leaving a testimony of its 

 obedience. Here, therefore, the head of the undaunted martyr v*as struck off, and here he received the 

 crown of life, which God has promised to them that love Him. But he who laid impious hands on the holy 

 man's neck was not permitted to rejoice over his dead body ; for his eyes dropped upon the ground at the 

 same moment as the blessed martyr's head fell. 



At the same time was also beheaded the soldier who before, through the Divine admonition, refiised to 

 strike the holy confessor. Of whom it is apparent that, though he was not purified by the waters of 

 baptism, yet he was cleansed by the washing of his own blood, and rendered worthy to enter the kingdom 

 of heaven. Then the judge, astonished at the unwonted sight of so many heavenly miracles, ordered the 

 persecution to cease immediately, and began to honour the death of the saints, by which he once thought 

 that they might have been turned from their zeal for the Christian faith. The blessed Alban suffered death 

 on the twenty-second day of June, near the city of Verulam, which is now by the English nation called 

 Verlamacaestir, or Vaeclingacaestir, where afterwards, when peaceable Christian times were restored, a church 

 of wonderful workmanship, and altogether worthy to commemorate his martyrdom, was erected. In which 

 place the cure of sick persons and the firequent working of wonders cease not to this day. 



It is obvious that these narratives are taken from different sources. 

 That of Gildas lacks all the detail given by Bede, which has been traced to 

 a foreign origin.^" It may perhaps be suggested that as the early British 

 legends were not so much given to the miraculous as those of the Continent, 

 Gildas may have drawn his information from some British legend then 

 surviving in Wales or Britanny." 



The interesting discoveries of Professor W. Meyer have lately thrown 

 considerable light upon the sources of Bede's account of St. Alban. ^'^ He 

 clearly shows that Bede drew his narrative almost word for word from a 

 passio, of which a 9th or 10th-century copy is preserved at Paris, and this is 

 again drawn with variations in details from an earlier passio, of which an 8 th- 

 century copy is now at Turin. He further shows that these two passiones were 

 compiled, as regards details, from excerpts taken from lives of other saints, a 

 practice common at the time. By means of these borrowed sources he is 

 able to prove that the date of the original compilation of the Turin passio 

 was between 500 and 540, and that it came from mid-Gaul. He suggests 

 that German brought the legend to Auxerre, where, after his return from 

 Britain, he built a church in honour of St. Alban, and that the life of German, 

 written by Constantius about 480, stimulated the compilation of the passio}^ 



1" W. Meyer, Die Legenie desH. Albanus des Protomartyr Angliae in Texten vor Beda, 22. 



^^ Dr. Williams calls attention to the fact that the miracle of Alban crossing the river on dry ground is 

 the only miraculous Incident introduced by Gildas into theDe Excidio (op. cit. 103, 106). 



1^ W. Meyer, op cit. passim. 



^' The confusion in the Turin text as to the person that tried Alban and authorized his execution, who 

 is called indifferently Caesar and judex, points to its having been compiled from still earlier texts. This 

 same person in the Paris text and Bede is named indifferently /riw^/x ind. judex. 



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