Unknown author

Betha Fursa

English translation

Edited by Whitley Stokes

The Life of Fursa

1.

When Sigebert ⁸ was on the throne of (East) Anglia then Fursa the Pious ⁹ crossed the sea ¹⁰ to seek a place and stead wherein he might dwell; for he was shining in word and deed, and wise in miracles and marvels, wherefore it was meet for him to go for pilgrimage and to get a pilgrim's stead. When that man came to the province of the East Saxons he was honorably received by the king, and a stead was bestowed upon him, and there he wrought to manifest the word of God; and a multitude of men were brought by him to belief, and others were confirmed in their belief, and faith and love of God were greatened by him.

2.

Then tribulation and bodily weakness attacked him, and through his well-deservingness he was deemed worthy to behold the angels of heaven before him; and he saw a vision there; and this is the vision (wherein) he was admonished to be an incitement in teaching the word of God, inasmuch as he was certain to find death, and it was not known when he would find it, as Christ said: “Watch, for ye know not the day or the hour in which a hand will be laid upon you.” And because of that vision he made haste and speed to build his monastery and to set it in order with regular disciplines. It was indeed a beautiful monastery there, built on the edge of the woods and the sea in a certain camp, and this was its name in English, Cnobheresburg ¹¹ i. e. a town named Cnobheri; and afterwards  p.391 Anna ¹², the king of that province, and the other noble folk who dwelt in that town, added to it afterwards.

3.

Now Fursa was of the kindred of the Gaels ¹³, but though he was noble in blood he was nobler in spirit; inasmuch as from the time of his infancy he cared for sacred books and for holy disciplines, and, what is most becoming to holy men, doing beautiful deeds, those are what he used to do.

4.

Howbeit, when he had built the church we have mentioned, a serious illness attacked him therein from one Saturday to another, as the Book of his own Life relates; and from evening to cockcrow he was taken out of his body, and he heard the chanting of the angels of heaven, and he beheld them before him. And this is what they were chanting: ‘Ibunt sancti de uirtute in uirtutem’ ([Ps. 83, 8]) i. e. “the saints shall advance from virtue to virtue”, And this also they were saying: ‘Videbitur Deus deorum in Sion’ ([Ps. 83, 8]) “the God of gods will be seen on Mount Zion.”

5.

Thereafter he was restored to his body till the end of three days, and on the third day he was taken up again, and then he beheld many more angels fighting against a great host of devils; and this is what they were endeavouring, to seize the road to heaven and to close it against Fursa, and to utter evil and abuse against him. However, they were unable to do that, for there were angels of heaven defending him on the road.

6.

Now, says Beda, let him who wishes the vision which Fursa saw to be fully related read the Book of Fursa's Life. ¹⁴

7.

However, says Beda, there is one thing which we desire  p.393 to declare, namely, when he was taken up towards heaven the angels said to him: “Look down at the world” ¹⁵, say they. There he turned and looked from above, and beheld beneath him a valley deep and dark in the lower part of the earth. He beheld four vast fires red-flaming in the air over that valley, and not far was the distance between those fires. Then he asked of the angels what things were the fires that he beheld, and the angels spake: “Yon”, they say, “are the fires that are consuming the world. The first fire, now, is the fire of Falsehood, for when each one is baptised he promises this, to renounce and refuse the Devil and his works. Those who afterwards do not fulfil that (promise) and transgress it, they are burnt in yonder fire. But the second fire is the fire of Covetousness, that is greed, when those that mark out or covet the things of the world for their greed rather than the heavenly things, 'tis they that are burnt therein. Now the third fire, that is the fire of Disunion, when ye do not deem it lamentable or sad that your brethren and your neighbours should be engaged in very vain things and in idle matters, 'tis then ye are burnt in yonder fire. The fourth fire, then, this is the fire of Impiety. They that are burnt therein are those who do not deem it loathsome to spoil and to plunder the weak and the wretched: 'tis they that are burnt in that fire.”

8.

Then the fires grew and greatened, and they met so that (one) vast fire would be made of them. Now when Fursa drew nigh to the fires, fear seized him and he said to the angel: “Lord”, says he, “behold the fire coming towards us!” Then the angel answered: and this he said: “Since it was not thou that has kindled them, thou wilt not be burnt in them; for though great and fearful is yon fire, it will not burn anyone save according to his merits; for every one's concupiscence”, saith he, “is that which burns him in yonder fire. For every one who is burnt in his body by unlawful desire, and hurts himself, after the separation of his body from his soul is burnt there by the punishment which he deserves.”

9.

Then Fursa beheld one of the three angels who had accompanied him in his vision when he was before the fire, and the two other angels (flying) all around about the fire. And he beheld the devils flying through the fire, and warring against the righteous, and dragging them into the fire perforce. Then the devils were reviling Fursa; the angels, however, were protecting him. Then he beheld an army of angels there and a multitude of the holy men of his own Gaelic nation ¹⁶, who were known to himself as priests of the folk of Ireland. So he heard a few words salutary as regarded him. And when they had finished saying those few words, they went together with the angels to heaven; but the three first angels remained with him to bring him (back) to his body.

10.

Now when they drew nigh the aforesaid fire, the angel divided the flame ¹⁷. But when Fursa reached the passage which the angel had made through the flame ¹⁸ the devils seized one of the men whom they were burning in the fire, and flung him at Fursa, so that his shoulder and his shoulder-blade and his cheek burnt. ¹⁹ And Fursa knew the man who had been flung at him, and remembered that the man had formerly given him part of his raiment. However, the holy angel then laid hold of the man and cast him again into the fire. Then said the Devil: “Do not cast him away into bondage, for as you accepted the goods of yon sinful man, so you must share his punishments.” The angel answered and said: “Not through worldly greed did Fursa receive yon man's property, but in order to save his soul.” And thus the fire abated. And the angel went beside Fursa and said: “The fire which thou hast kindled is what has burnt thee, for hadst thou not received something by favour of yon sinful man the reproach of his sin would not  p.397 have fallen npon thee.” And after that the angel was instructing him as to what was proper for him to do in the case of men who repent at their death.

11.

Thereafter then Fursa was restored to his body, and afterwards in his body was the mark of the burning which had been inflicted on his soul, so that it was manifest to the world's men who beheld how it was on his shoulderblade and his shoulder and his cheek. And everyone deemed it a wondrous tale that the mark of what was inflicted on the soul should be in presence of all on the body. ²⁰

12.

His life afterwards (was spent) in teaching the men of the earth and celebrating the words of God, as he used to do before. And whatever he celebrated he himself would put into practice.

13.

The series of his visions, he would relate only to those who asked (for them) from compunction of heart. “And still”, says Beda, “there remains a certain ancient of our monastic community, and he asserts that he conversed with a certain pious truth-telling man who declared that he himself saw Fursa, and conversed with him in Essex, and heard that vision from the cleric's mouth, and that it was related in winter-time. And though there was then a hard frost together with snow, and Fursa wore nothing but a thin, little garment, a copious sweat came from him, as if he were telling his tale at midsummer, through remembering the excessive fear that was on him in his vision.”

14.

Howbeit, when Fursa the Pious suffered from the tumult of the great crowds that used to come to him in his own country, to wit, in Ireland ²¹, he left that country and came to England, as we have said, together with a few brethren, after leaving all his friends and every thing else that he had. And there he built a beautiful monastery, and therein he celebrated the word of God.

15.

So when he had finished these things, it occurred to  p.399 him to leave his monastery and the care thereof to (his brother) Fullan ²² and to the other archpriests, namely Gobbán and Dicuill, and he was fain to go, free from all mundane matters, to a stead that was safer. So Fursa and Ultán ²³ quitted the monastery and went into a hermitage; and there they remained a year, labouring with their hands and in compunction of heart and prayer. ²⁴

16.

Thereafter then, when Fursa beheld heathens and unbelievers destroying the monasteries and the whole province, he left evervthing in order in the monastery, and went over sea eastward to Frankland, and was honourably received by the king of the Franks, namely Clovis ²⁵, [or by] Ercinbald ²⁶, in the place named Latiniacum ²⁷, and a monastery was built by him; and not long after that he contracted his death-illness and reached the end of his life. ²⁸

17.

The king Clovis, [or] Ercinbald, took the body, and guarded it in the porch of the church (which he was building at Perona) until the consecration of the church (itself) had ended. Now (when the church was ready and) when, the body was brought out of the porch to be buried near the altar, thus was it found, as if Fursa had died that hour, to wit, at the end of seven and twenty days after his death. And he was buried with veneration and honour in the church, that is, in the town called Perona ²⁹, and he was honourably exalted there, to wit, where many miracles and marvels are wrought for Fursa every day.

18.

However, at the end of four years afterwards, a tabernacle was built for him apart, and into it his body was brought; and it was still found without doubt as it had been when he died.

19.

There is here nought save a few of the tidings of Fursa. Let him who desires more of them see the Life of Fursa and he will find them.

IT ENDETH.

20.

 ³⁰

@article{T201008,
  editor 	 = {Whitley Stokes},
  title 	 = {The Life of Fursa},
  journal 	 = {Revue Celtique},
  volume 	 = {25},
  date 	 = {1904},
  pages 	 = {385–404}
}
 T201008.bib