Historical setting: 602 C.E. The Vosges Mountains
I was cutting wood here on the solitary path to Annegray, and here is a man in the robes of a bishop walking this path alone.
“Hello Father, are you looking for the monks of Annegray?”
“I know no one is here anymore. I just came from Luxeuil.”
The man’s hood falls back, and I see he has no tonsure, no hair at all. And I recognize a familiar face.
“Father Felix? I visited your church in Châlons.” [#35.3 and #37.11]
“I thought you look familiar. You are Brother Lazarus! You were traveling with two women and a donkey cart, last we met.”
“You remember us? My wife and our midwife that would have been.”
“Well, I was just thinking of you. I’m staying at Luxeuil, and there was a young monk minding the dovecote there that could be your twin brother.”
Can I laugh aloud in a quiet wood? “My twin brother? No, he is my son; his twin brother is elsewhere.”
“A son?”
“And now I see you’re draped as a bishop as you should be.”[Footnote]
“It was Pope Gregory himself who elevated me to bishop. The bishops of Gaul are still of a different mind.”
“I know that, only too well. I was in Châlons last spring in an unfortunate circumstance and I was thinking then how glad I was not to see you with that council there.”
“Oh, yes, the council. A squirrelly lot they are. A decade now, they’ve been after Father Columbanus for his tonsure, and with Guntram gone the Father may simply be at their mercy.”
“I’m not sure it’s just an issue of tonsure and the date for Easter. I suspect the popularity of the Father is what sets them on edge. So is your journey here just to see old Annegray?”
“No. Some of us came all this way so that I could have an audience with Father Columbanus, but at Luxeuil they said he’s taking his wilderness retreat, so we just have to wait for him to return. I thought, possibly, his retreat might have brought him back here. So, I decided to wander up here alone. I see now he isn’t here.”
“Ana and I and our children just live up on the hill, would you like to stop in while you’re here?”
“My guards will come searching for me if I’m gone too long.”
[Footnote] Ref. Blog Posts. Fact or Fiction? Someone named Felix of Burgundy is known to have been the first bishop to East Angles, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_of_Burgundy retrieved 2-22-23.
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 