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English Correspondence
St Boniface, tr. Kylie, 1911
Letter 18: Some One [Lul] Writes to an Abbess and a Nun, and Tells of His Pilgrimage to…
To * * *, endowed with virgin chastity and refreshed from on high by the honey-sweet flood of heavenly dew, ennobled not merely by high birth, but also, as is better, by the dignity of her spiritual office, governess of the daughters of Christ who bear the light yoke of God, tireless guardian of the flock entrusted to her care, and of a rule of monastic life determined in accordance with the authentic opinions of the ancient Fathers; and to the young and distinguished * * *, adorned with the white garment of uncorrupted purity, steeped in the living and ever abundant waters of the broad-flowing heavenly stream, illumined not only by the outer brilliance of learning, but by the inner light of divine wisdom, * * *, who, without the prior claim of merit, discharges the duties of a spiritual office, kindly greetings on the stone of the corner, which is Christ.
I confess to your love: when, touched as I think by the beneficent warning of the divine goodness, I departed from the famous kingdoms of Britain, leaving the fruitful soil of my native island whose craggy coasts the dark green waves of the foaming sea hem in on every side, and conscious of my weakness and mindful in some measure of my sins, together with a band of almost all my kindred, crossed, by the favour of Christ, the threatening hills of the raging sea, and happy in the fulfilment of my wish rejoiced in having reached the shores of this land; then I longed to present myself at the shrine of the blessed apostles, that I might pray to have put off from me the weight of innumerable sins, but there, after almost all my kindred had fallen into the long sleep of peace, I was left alone and widowed in this sad exile. None the less must I tell you in what distress and grief I remained. I did not escape the onslaught of the plague with my former health and robust strength of limb; but, praise and thanks to the Scourger, all the joints of my limbs were shaken and twisted, and I am still weak and outworn... from my experience, both new and old, I declare, not to flatter you, but relying on the strength of truth, that I have found, among all those of your sex who dwell here, none more faithful: while for five times five long months the heat and cold of panting fever in turn tortured my sick body, I remember with what loving kindness I was cared for. This mercy, as I am aware, you showed me in my infirmity and sickness obeying the precepts of the Lord, and hoping for the eternal reward; and to this day you have displayed towards me as towards a brother this same unwearying affection in consideration of the divine love.
Wherefore, when I have found fit ing material for writing to you, I shall celebrate, in verse, the spiritual bond of your loving kinship with us. Since Christ, the giver of all good things, in His wonderful clemency, let me share in this gift through the heavenly dew of His grace, I long held it fixed in my mind, and dear to my heart, to send you some poor verses, composed in metrical sequence, because I knew none among those who read, to whom I should more gladly send them: for with you I am certain that the tooth of suspicion will not bite, nor the claw of harsh judgment rend the writer, though the contents be faulty and the composition rough. This poetic art I have but lately learned under the instruction of our common and my special master, our revered leader Boniface, to whom,—after the Heavenly Lightbearer, before whom the secrets of the heart are revealed, and from whom the dark and the hidden things do not lie concealed—the eye of my mind is open, and by whom my dry heart is watered daily with the heavenly shower of nectar from on high.
The verses you will find designed after a droll fashion, if you will with care scan the capital letters, that is, those which every fourth line enclose with their embrace, the others placed in the centre. Those, with which I designated your name, as that of my spiritual mother, begin at the beginning and run on regularly to the end. My pupils begin from the end of those letters devoted to you, not improperly, because the pupil should follow her mistress as does the maid her lady;
Esto Susanna memor Domini regnantis in ede:
And so they begin at the end:
Ernklind esto memor Domini celorum in arce.
But if you find anything unsuited to the work, anything involved or contrary to the rules of grammatical art, this remember to polish, taking a file from the shop of the grammarians. And I beg of you with earnest prayers by that imperishable bond of spiritual love, not to show this work to any one without my consent, or to betray the author of it without my permission; that a dangerous crop of envy may not grow, where the concord of true peace should flourish. But rather be ever mindful of the plighted troth and the intimacy formed between us by the firm link of our hands. And I do humbly beseech you, deign to lighten the burden of my toil with your pure and holy prayers.