Letter to Prior Baldric and the other Brethren at Bec
13. Prayer to St Stephen
Holy Stephen, blessed Stephen, loving Stephen,
mighty soldier of God,
first of the blessed army of the martyrs of God,
powerful prince, one of the great lords of heaven.
5
I call upon you, sir, with joy,
because I believe this of you:
when you were on earth
such light of holiness glowed within you
that your venerable face shone with the nobility of an angel,
10
for purity made your heart so clear
that your blessed eyes saw God in his glory;
and you were on fire with so much love
that in your goodness you prayed for the evil men
that surrounded you.
15
It was so, good Stephen, it was indeed so,
and I rejoice, praise, and exult that I know this of you.
For I am fearful,
knowing the wrath of the strict judge,
for I am a sinner, a prisoner deserving punishment,
20
and I need someone to help me.
In love and assurance I send you as my intercessor,
that you may make peace
between me and your powerful friend,
the Lord and Creator of both you and me.
25
For I am quite certain, sir,
that by your great merits you can do this,
and I am sure that out of your great charity you will do this.
I hope in the immense mercy of the Judge
that he will not refuse you.
30
So anxious and trembling I come to you for refuge
only too well aware that I am a sinner.
So, good Stephen, behold my wretchedness
and pour over it your love.
*
For see, the accused stands before the tremendous Judge.
35
He is accused of many and great offences.
He is convicted by the witness of his own conscience
and by the witness of the eyes of the Judge himself.
He has done no good deeds
that can be weighed against the bad ones.
40
He has not deserved to have a friend of the Judge
to act as his advocate because of some former service;
having offended everyone, he deserves to be accused.
Terrible is the severity of the Judge,
intolerably strict, for the offence against him is huge,
45
and he is exceedingly wrathful.
Once given, his sentence cannot be changed.
A prison with no remedy gapes;
in that prison lie great torments,
tormentors are ready, to snatch away to torment
50
those upon whom sentence of condemnation is given.
Torments without end, without interval, without respite,
horrible tortures which never slacken,
on which no one has pity.
Fear shakes the accused, his conscience confounds him,
55
thoughts beset him and he cannot flee.
Thus he stands,
with the heaviest of sentences hanging over him.
The wretch is in peril because of his distress
and in distress because of his peril.
60
See how much such a man is in need of swift aid!
Where now is the help of the one
who under the weight of stones
had pity on those who were stoning him?
He it is who will pray for him,
65
for he appeared before the severe Judge
to intercede for his murderers.
*
Stephen, Stephen,
indeed you are ‘Stephen’, for you are truly crowned!
Stephen, Stephen, I say:
70
here is a place for goodness, here is a time for mercy,
here at least is an opportunity to show charity!
For I stand continually in danger
although I do not always recognize this,
and I am the more miserable and wretched
75
when I forget that it is so.
For God always sees me and my sins,
always his severe judgement threatens
the sinfulness of my soul,
always hell gapes and its torments are ready
80
to snatch my wretched soul away to that place.
Thus am I placed when I wake, thus when I sleep;
I am thus when I smile, thus when I jest;
thus when I am proud, thus when I am humiliated;
thus when angry, thus when vindicated;
85
thus, thus I am when I miserably love
the delights of the flesh.
Thus am I then always and everywhere.
So I pray you, Stephen, make haste
before I am condemned,
90
before the enemies of the human race
snatch me away to torment,
before the prison of hell swallows me up,
before the torments of gehenna consume me.
*
But you, O my sins,
95
you are too great, you are too many,
and rightly is pardon refused to my soul.
It really is so, I acknowledge that it is so.
But however grave my unhappiness,
however bitter my need,
100
how much more wonderful will be
the goodness of him who forgives,
how much greater will appear
the grace of the one who intercedes
in the presence of the one who forgives!
105
I know well enough, sir, Stephen, beloved of God,
that in offending God
I have offended you also and all the saints.
Truly my need is great
when it impels me to ask for the help
110
even of those by whom I deserve to be punished.
But you and all the saints are so full of such wealth
from the unending fount of all goodness,
that you delight rather to free by your goodness
those whom by justice you are able to condemn.
*
115
Great Stephen,
your merits are so great
that they suffice for both you and for me,
and if they are used for me, they are not diminished for you.
See, blessed Stephen, before God and before you,
120
are all my sins
which terrify, distress, and weigh down my soul.
Do you, as a man of love, say to your best and dearest friend,
‘Lord, lay not these sins to his charge.’
Speak up for someone in need who asks it of you,
125
as you did for those who killed you.
If in your goodness and love you ask this, I am sure
the most loving God will remit the whole of my evil deeds.
For he is merciful and my creator,
I am wretched and his workmanship,
130
and you are the beloved friend of him who is
‘blessed for ever. Amen.’
*
When those who in their folly were your enemies
pressed upon you, O friend of God,
– this is what the truth of scripture testifies –
135
on your knees you cried with a loud voice,
‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’
O heart, rich with the treasures of charity,
from which when it was afflicted
such copious mercy poured!
140
O mind, vehemently ablaze with love,
filled with the oil of charity,
from which when it was in tribulation such sparks shone,
sweetly burning and burning with sweetness!
O honeycomb, rich with the honey of love,
145
from which when it was pressed
such rich and joyous drops were distilled!
*
‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’
Blessed man,
what hope you give to sinners who are your friends
150
when they hear that you were so concerned
about the wicked men who were your enemies!
Vessel of love, overflowing with fullness,
how richly will you give drink to those
who desire to hold you in their heart,
155
when you poured out so much
on those who cast you out of their city.
If you gave so much to your neighbours
who ran upon you, panting with fury,
how kindly will you deal with those
160
who run towards you, panting with fear?
*
‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’
If this was the way he responded when he was provoked,
what will he do when he is invoked?
Now he is lifted up,
165
how will he cherish those who are cast down,
who, when he was cast down,
went to the help of those who thought themselves lifted up?
Now he is free and powerful
how swiftly will he free those who are afflicted,
170
if when he was afflicted he helped those who afflicted him?
They hastened to take away your life,
and you paid your creditors
by giving your life for their souls.
Stiff-necked, they raged furiously that you might perish,
175
and you on your knees prayed with a loud voice
that they might not perish.
Certainly you prayed with a great voice
for love is great,
and on your knees, for truth is simple.
180
Their pride vexed your humility with sharp stones,
and there came out a fragrant smell of charity.
Their hatred threw stones at your love,
and it gave back the ringing sound of goodness.
Their evil pressed stones on your goodness,
185
and the oil of mercy flowed out.
*
If only I could ever call forth by prayer
this oil of the love of Stephen
which they were able to force out with stones!
But my soul is weary with a very heavy languor
190
that nothing can heal except the oil of mercy.
If only someone would suggest to God
for me and all my sins,
that he ‘lay not these sins to his charge’.
Teach me, blessed soul of the blessed Stephen,
195
in what tasting you rejoice, in what fullness you burn,
when your heart ‘rejoices in such a good word’.
How sweet is your word in the jaws of my soul,
above honey and honeycomb in the mouth.
Eaten, it grows in sweetness,
200
and when that sweetest sap is sucked
it flows more and more within.
The more this word is seen, the brighter it looks.
In whatever way one examines it,
it always grows in delight.
205
It carries the form of faith, it has the solidity of patience,
it shines with the purity of simpleness,
it glows with the colour of kindness,
its taste is charity, its smell is goodness;
touched, it gives back gentleness;
210
sounded, it responds with mercy.
*
Then tell us, blessed Stephen,
what it was you cherished within you
that broke forth outwardly in such a sweet mixture?
Undoubtedly you were full of all these things,
215
you were adorned with and reckoned with all these things.
I ask you, loving Stephen, by all these virtues
in which you abounded,
to pray that ‘love, rich and full’ may ‘fill my hungry soul’.
Help me, so that my hungry soul
220
may be satisfied with the bread of love.
Do this, so that my frigid soul
may flame with the fire of love
in the presence of God its maker.
*
‘And having said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.’
225
Ah, he fell asleep!
Sleep with rest, rest with security, security with eternity.
Happy man, to rest in joy, and joy to rest.
Safe home, you are glorified in fullness
and you are filled with glory.
230
Your joy does not change, your light does not fail.
Whatever you could not do, being far away,
you can do now you are present to those who pray.
Your soul is ‘athirst for the fount of the living God’.
You have come to him
235
and you drink of the torrent of his pleasures,
as much as you want, whenever you want it,
and as long as you want it.
Always filled, always you drink,
because always you delight to drink,
240
and you are never wearied.
You do not drink to make yourself full,
as if you were not full,
but always you drink
so that the fullness you have may endure always.
245
For you always desire what you always have,
and what is always secured to you, you have always.
Of course you desire incessantly and delightfully
that delightful desire,
and always you drink with delighted ardour
250
what you desire, with the rich fullness of it.
O sufficient blessedness, and blessed sufficiency!
How happy to fall asleep, to fall asleep in the Lord.
In how much peace do they fall asleep
who fall asleep in the Lord.
255
For the heavy weight of the flesh does not oppress them,
nor do the sorrows of corruption afflict them.
They do not fight against the sting of temptation,
nor does the consciousness of sin terrify them.
‘God wipes away all tears from their eyes.’
*
260
O rich and blessed peace, how far I am from you!
For see, when I try even slightly
to savour the taste of alien happiness,
I am compelled to swallow in full measure
the bitter draught of my wretchedness.
265
The good that I cannot reach reminds me to be silent
and weep for the heavy evils that I suffer
and am able to touch.
Alas for my unhappiness, where I am not, where I am,
and alas that I know not where I shall be.
270
How miserably my soul is in discord
when it joins itself to my flesh;
the soul cannot follow the flesh without fear,
it dares not, nor does it want, to leave it without grief;
it wants to draw it after itself,
275
and cannot do so except with labour.
Unhappy man that I am,
who will free me from the body of this death?
*
I pray you, blessed Stephen,
have compassion on me for I am poor and in misery,
280
for I rejoice with you in your bliss that knows no lack.
Free me from the body of this death
by your merits by the grace of God
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
so that some day in peace and the self-same
285
I will be at rest and sleep in the Lord,
who lives and reigns, God, for all ages. Amen.
Letter to Prior Baldric and the other Brethren at Bec
(Schmitt, vol. 3, Letter 147, pp. 293–4)
Brother Anselm, to the Lord Prior Baldric and those who are brethren with him, in the desire that all may be well with you, within and without.
I am not yet able to tell you anything about the outcome of my journey to England on the business of the community, for the King still delays in answering my petition, however much he and the other English nobles show me love and honour.
The monk of the Lord Abbot Gislebert will be able to tell you more about my safety than a letter could. I hope you will receive him with kindness. I have no hope of returning any sooner than Lent. Send me letters with any news that you think I ought to know about.
Send me the prayer to St Nicholas which I composed, and the letter which I began against Roscelin, and any other letters of mine, if Dom Maurice has any he has not sent. Salute my mothers in the Lord, the Lady Eve and the Lady Basilia. Farewell.