100. SAINT IVO, BISHOP OF ST. IVE’S

Our holy Father Ivo was a Persian bishop who came to Britain in the sixth century. (According to Florence of Worcester, it was shortly before the arrival of St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597.) William of Malmesbury writes that «one day he wearied of the pleasures which his very powerful see commanded and he secretly left everything to his people and set out with as few as three comrades on a very long pilgrimage. Therefore after a journey of many years, pretending he was a peasant with ragged clothing, he at last set sail for England. And he was very amused by the outlandishness of the unknown language, because everyone would laugh at him as if he were a fool. So he stayed in the muddy province where he spent the rest of his life. His companions died after him in turn as God foresaw. The provincials knew neither the place of his tomb nor the name of the saint.»

More details are supplied by the earliest life of the saint by Goscelin of Canterbury, who derived it from the account written by Abbot Andrew of Ramsey, who had travelled to Jerusalem in 1020 and on his return put down all he knew about Ivo: «After Great Asia, after Illyricum, after Rome, after traversing countless cities and peoples, he entered Gaul, and there he sparkled none the less with such signs that wonderful powers proclaimed his heavenly life and angelic teaching. And when the king of the Franks and the nobility of the kingdom and the people tried to keep him there – such an angel of God was he – with fitting honours, he, who had fled as an exile from the worldly glory of his parents and was fighting his way through many trials to enter the kingdom of God, could not be kept back by any earthly favour.

«Therefore, with all his acts confirmed by faith, he crossed the sea with his worthy comrades and companions to Britain; and according as the Lord had granted, he took pity on the white peoples with fatherly devotion and, as much by miracles as by preaching, he released them from the error of idolatry and more truly purified them with baptism. There was also, following the very loving father, a young man of noble rank called Patricius, son of a certain senator, who for the love of Christ, calling him through St. Ivo, not only disregarded his gentle birth and hereditary honours, but truly even deserted the maiden betrothed to him and with her all hope of descendants, and Stuck inseparably to his gentle master as much out of affection as from imitation. Blessed is he who followed the example of John, that most intimate and bosom friend of Christ.

«Then the healthgiving foreigner Ivo proceeded... to the village which is called Slepe [now St. Ives in Huntingdonshire]. Because he knew he had been led by the Lord to this particular place he persisted there for many years to the end of his life. Here indeed he assumed his divine role with such ardour, as if only now at last he had begun, and as if after a long thirst he had found the spring he sought. Here, I say, by keeping watch perpetually for his own life as well as everyone elsés; here by waiting for the Lord right to the end, his lamps of virtue blazing with an aura of chastity, at last he opened up with joy to the One who came and knocked; and the Lord's Ivo went to the Lord, who had left the Father and come into the world, and from the conquered world brought back the victory of the chosen people. Here his home was made in peace, and in peace he was buried: where, although he lay hidden from men's knowledge for about four hundred years (as is calculated from the discovery which follows), his name lives for ever.

«Also before these times,» writes Goscelin, «there was a very old man in Rome, talking to someone who came from England to pray, and when he learnt he was English he questioned him rather closely as to whether he knew a village called Slepe. When the Stranger replied that he knew it very well the old man continued with these words: "Believe this, and preserve it as my memory begins to fail: not far from the ford in the nearby river some very bright light-bringers lie hidden who in their own time will be raised up and clearly known.» The Englishman returned to his own country and with joyous faith spread the news of these things which afterwards were revealed to us and which today the truth has proved. A certain faithful priest, Durandus by name, also survived to these times, and he quite often promised those things which we have seen done.»

On April 24, 1001 or 1002, continues Goscelin, «a villager struggling to furrow the earth with a plough hit against a holy coffin. Astonished and excited by the hope of wealth, he called back the oxen, which were at a standstill, and put every effort into clearing the site. And when he realised that it was a human burial he called his fellow ploughmen to him. When the cover was lifted they found religious tokens suggesting a priest. They were captivated by the shining brightness of a chalice there; thinking it silver they vied with each other to break it in pieces. They seized the priestly brooches, transparent with the lustre of glass, which Ramsey Abbey afterwards inherited with the holy body and those same fragments of the chalice.

«Soon a prior, the bailiff of the village, arrived, accompanied by a smith. They quickly sent a messenger to Abbot Eadnoth [of Ramsey, future bishop of Dorchester- on-Thames, who was killed by the pagan Danes in 1016], and after the remains of the man who was so clearly God's servant had been carefully washed he had them carried into the church and placed next to the altar.»

According to William of Malmesbury, «immediately after the saint's body was exposed, wrapped in linen, from those very folds of the sepulchre there sprang a very plentiful fountain, bubbling swiftly. The spring remains to this day, sweet to drink and suitable for all illnesses. It is not possible to estimate the number, much less to recount the stories, of the many people healed by that blessed one, so much so that no saint in England is more responsive to prayer than Ivo, or more capable of effecting a cure.»

The following night, continues Goscelin, «so that it would be obvious that the discovery had been made not by a lucky chance but by God's will, glorious Ivo appeared the following night to the smith of that same village as he slept. [His name was Ezi.] He was a harmless and simple man – to such the Lord speaks face to face, and entrusts His secrets, and he reveals to children things hidden from the wise.

«The saint was tall in Stature; he had a white face, lively features and a burning gaze; he held a bishop's crozier in one hand, and an archbishop's cross in the other. He soothed the man, who was astonished by the vision, with an unusually sweet voice, and said: «The body you are surprised to have found just now in such a place is mine: I am Bishop Ivo, who was buried here and have lain hidden with my blessed companions until now. Go tomorrow and measure out the place eight feet on the right-hand side of my grave, and you will find the tomb of one of my holy companions. The other also who was buried with us is to be found not far away, and these two exult with me in glory. When you are convinced by these proofs, supply them to the bailiff from me so that he may tell Abbot Eadnoth who may translate me with these my companions to the community at Ramsey.»

«Truly, since the poor man was terrified in spirit to report these heavenly orders, on the following night his negligence was rebuked and he was reproached by the same power. None the less on the third night while he was Still hesitating, when he was in his first sleep the teacher himself appeared; and now he charged him quite severely with disobedience, and as the smith trembled and demanded a sign, he Struck him with his bishop's crozier: «And you will have this sign,» he said, »and will never get rid of it, unless you tell what you have been ordered to.«

«Waking up after this the smith was sore in the place where he had felt the blow, as if he had been stabbed with a sword. And when he had reported the orders along with his painful sign, the man himself recovered: however the bailiff refused to believe the saint's great revelation, and pushed away the villager as if he was relating some fantastic tale. »And should we translate,» he said, «and glorify the worthless remains of some old cobbler as those of a saint?»

«His nightly sleep overcame the scoffer, and the holy bishop, seeming rather severe in manner and appearance, woke him up with a harsh speech: «Get up,» he said, »get up as quickly as possible. For I am that man whom yesterday you mocked as a cobbler and I have made for you leggings that will last. Put them on, and you will ride home in them in memory of me.» At these words the sleeping man Stood up and sat down again; his just reprover had fashioned leggings very tightly for his legs. And so, Struck down like this, he woke up, and then a very severe pain tied up all his shinbones from the feet up and he could neither Stand nor walk. He rode to the monastery on someone elsés horse; and after he entered he reported all his own pains one by one, which he had refused to believe when they happened to someone else: and with much sorrow as well as in a truthful voice he proclaimed those things which he had condemned as fantasies.»

Abbot Eadnoth was «delighted at such a wealth of unexpected treasure», and gave thanks to the bountiful Lord while the whole monastery rejoiced exceedingly (although they sympathized with their suffering brother). Then he rode to the relics of the saint and his companions in accordance with the revelation. But the horses were slow, and before he could reach Slepe the news of his intention had flown on ahead of him. So when he alighted in the field he was met by both nobles and people, who joyfully led him to the spot. Having bent the knee and implored the help of God with the brethren, he himself took a spade, and, following St. Ivós instructions, had no sooner started knocking than he found this desire. The bodies of the saints indicated by the saint, together with the above-mentioned Patrick, were found. Then he took them into the church and laid both them and the body of St. Ivo out in preparation for a more fitting translation.

As for the smith, for fifteen years, to the very end of his life, he remained in the shackles that the holy Father had devised for him. However, he used this time in a spiritually profitable manner. For on the seventh day before his death, the saint appeared to him, this time as a kindly comforter, with shining face and vestments, and said in a most heart-warming voice: «Now the time has come for the wounds I inflicted on you to become the source of your healing, and for you, after your long night, to possess the joyful day of eternal felicity. Only be prepared on the seventh day from now – I shall come to take you up from this prison of flesh into our light.» When he had told this to the brethren, the smith resolutely prepared to appear before the face of the Lord, and passed away on the day foretold by the saint.

Meanwhile, the relics of the saint and his companions had been translated to Ramsey Abbey with great ceremony by Abbots Eadnoth of Ramsey and Germanus of Cholsey, to the accompaniment of a huge crowd. «They flocked here,» writes Goscelin, «from countryside and town: the open fields could scarcely hold the rush of people. Prayers and hymns of praise graced the air: heaven itself seemed to favour the saints, the sun seemed to rejoice with all its rays, such a sweet season and clear day had dawned. Many of the faithful also claim that during the entire journey of this joyful translation a snow-white dove flew over blessed Ivós remains, a miracle so widely observed that all would affirm the dove had come from heaven to favour the saint. A crowd from Ramsey met with the rest of the people, dressed in white and crowned with purple ornaments, carrying before it banners bearing Christ's cross and Christian gilding, and splendid books of the saints, and lights on candelabra, and incense burning in censers, and whatever proof of devotion it could. The whole island echoed with songs and cymbals and the sound of bells; the woods and rivers were brilliant. In this way, with the angels rejoicing on high with the human choir, the precious pearls were taken to their promised temple.»

It was decreed that the day of the uncovering of St. Ivós relics, April 24, together with the day of his translation, June 10, should be celebrated as feasts in perpetuity.

That night «Ivo himself appeared by night to a certain pious brother and asked the father of the monastery that they would build him such a place as would be accessible to anyone who wanted to pray. Thus the holy body was brought back, and wrapped in precious cloth, and reburied on the way up to the sanctuary: it may still be seen there today, and be touched by eyes and lips»

At the place where the saint's relics had been discovered, «Abbot Eadnoth at the wish of all the brothers built a church in honour and memory of the blessed Ivo in that very same place of his burial and discovery. It was furnished in this way: the sepulchre with its restoring flow was half below the wall and half sticking out outside, so that whether the doors were open or closed there would be water of grace for people who hurried there. For the Lord is wonderful in His saints and He brought out a river from the rock; the tomb itself gushed with a healing spring, and the flow of this stream gladdens the city of God in His faithful people.»

The church was dedicated to St. Ivo and his blessed companions by Bishop Sigfrid, who had already proved his worth «as a soldier of Christ with Brother Wilfred of Ramsey Abbey through deep perils of the sea and heathen nations [the Norwegians]. Together they were unconquerable by many persecutions and insults; they sought out a tribe and gained it for the Saviour, and at last, when their swordsman failed them, they returned to England.» Later Bishop Sigfrid went to Sweden, becoming the holy apostle of the Swedes.

Several miracles of healing were worked at the consecration of the church of St. Ivo, and many more were recorded later.

Thus Abbot Eadnoth was cured of gout after washing his foot in St. Ivós spring. At another time «when he had been summoned to King Aethelred a very bad sickness attacked his entire body, and having taken over all his limbs it almost stole his voice when, look, remembering some brooches found with St. Ivo, which he kept with him, he dipped them into water that he himself had blessed. After his shoulders were sprinkled with it the troubling and upsetting pain fled and the sick man rested, and refreshed by sleep he got up well and, a happy man, he blessed the Lord in His saint.

During the time of Abbot Elfsige (1006/7–1042) a brother called Odo «was weak to the point of death with a pricking illness». Then someone remembered St. Ivo and a boat was sent (by far the fastest mode of transport in those watery fens) to bring back water from the spring. The monk, at his very last breath, had a vision of a bishop, drank the water and recovered completely.

A certain boy was zealously fulfilling the duty of cook which had been assigned to him by his masters when some merchants came and drew some water from the tomb of St. Ivo. They poured into a big jug and placed it on the fire. However, when the meat which was supposed to have been boiled in the water was placed before the diners, it was found to be raw. The cause was soon discovered: the water in the jug was found to be stone-cold. For the water of St. Ivo never changes state.

Again, «a monk of the Coventry community, Patrick by name, was making a journey, and he excited the horse he was riding on by rushing to and fro with youthful frivolity until suddenly it fell with him in such a way that he lay as if lifeless with fractured shoulder-bones. And so he was carried off to the nearest village. When at last a long time had passed during which he lay without speaking, he had an inspiration and remembered the miracles he had heard of which had been performed long ago by divine influence through the blessed Ivo; he was strong enough to find the words and asked that water for a bath be brought from Ivós tomb and poured over his bruised body. When this had been done, he got better at once and as if he had had not a single injury on his body, and he instantly set out for Ramsey to offer thanks for his health. He planned also to do this every year on the anniversary day of his cure.»

Goscelin himself was a beneficiary of the saint's healing power: «The author of this text, no less, explains that he fled for help to the protection of this most merciful father when he was twisted with gout both in the feet and the hands, and he promised for the sake of his health thirty masses and the same number of psalms, and so, when the fetters and handcuffs of his illness were released, the joy of good health took over.

«Afterwards as well, he reveals, pierced by a sharp pain in his teeth, he spent a sleepless night giving out troubled sighs, psalms and prayers; his rest upset and pain breaking out again and again. He meditated painfully, then, at the time of lauds he took himself to the healer-saint Ivo, and having delivered a speech there, he bathed his limbs in the saint's consecrated water and dipped in his mouth and teeth three times, and directly, among fellow-choristers of absolute trustworthiness, the pain ceased, and rejoicing in good health he proclaimed the saint's power.»

Again, «a leprous woman, ulcerous, itching and bristling like a hedgehog with thorny prickling pains, had wandered all over the world looking for the protection of the saints. Then she came to St. Ivós health-giving tomb. She washed herself in the spring which flowed there by divine providence, and by her Christian perseverance, because the Saviour approved her cure on account of her faith, not long afterwards she cast off her leprosy, put on clean skin and flesh and, leaving with her health completely restored, she made known to everyone the great works of God through his saint.»

«The news of such a rare thing attracted the county of Huntingdon and its numerous people, because there emerged not only a clear spring from the saint's sepulchre, but even one which cured sick people by a bath or a drink, Who was not glad, either healthy or feeble, to take home from there a little bottle full of such healthful liquid, the feeble for healing, the healthy for blessing?»

«One man sent away his wife, having divorced her against the command in the gospels because she had become blind, which he considered her fault. She went in the direction of each and every of the saints» dwellings in the hope of recovering her health, binding herself by a vow and a solemn oath not to return to her own husband ever again, nor ever to marry another man, if divine pity thought fit to give her back her sight.

«And when she had been around very many saints» shrines praying to be made whole by their illumination, for about eight years, then she groaned that she could never be cured. And perhaps divine providence gave heed to this, so that blessed Ivo might grant with greater glory something other saints had denied. Ivós great and godly affection took pity on her sorrows, and at last gave her back the clear sight she had longed for. Therefore she was ordered in a dream to go on to the village of Slepe, to light up the home of blessed Ivo there. When she had set out according to the divine instruction, she poured out prayers and soon acquired her former eyesight. And now the new light made her more happy than her previous daily blindness had made her sad. For indeed delayed wishes are more happily received when granted, and things got with difficulty are held more dear. Moreover with her eyesight restored she set out with enormous joy and no one leading her, who had previously walked with such great grief and with another's guidance. And just as she had vowed, as long as she lived she remained in widowhood dedicated to God.»

«A man from the neighbourhood was bent and twisted so that he walked on all- fours, as would be more appropriate for two very little foot-stools. When this man had prevailed upon blessed Ivo in the place of his discovery, he was raised up, made whole, and turned into a biped. The brothers who were resident there in the saint's service offered him daily alms for a few days afterwards.»

«In the same way a young boy from Hampshire, who had been crippled in his hands and feet from his mother s womb, was carried by his relations to the shrine of the martyr-king [Edward] in Shaftesbury where he was straightened out as far as the hands were concerned. At St. Ivós shrine, indeed, he was restored as to the other disability which remained, and walked on his own. When he Stretched out his loosened sinews while the brothers sang psalms, St. Ivo appeared to him as an unknown man of remarkable dignity, who was eager to draw him towards him and to straighten out the bend in his knees, while in the meantime the boy, who found it unbearable, protested at the severity of the pain. Then standing on his feet and walking upright, and already giving thanks because he could go back to his family as himself, he encouraged everyone into divine praises.

«But yet one night when he had arranged to depart as a hired man according to an accepted agreement, or at least to escape the favour of learning which was perhaps urged on him, look what happened to him after Vespers! He was attacked by an unbearable weakness, and he began to fill the walls of the monastery with loud shouts. And when the brothers, who put it down to his sins, kept on prostrating themselves for him in the chapel, the boy got his health back there, all his torments flew away, and in the same place, where he was now to serve the saint, he was taken in as a scholar.»

«We know an elderly monk of Ramsey, honoured and loved by all, whose name we shall keep quiet out of respect. Along with God's examining and His corrective scourge the name is bequeathed to the time of Satan (i.e. Judgement Day).

«The glory of the first martyr Stephen distinguishes the day following the Lord's birthday: this day the old monk fell ill and was put in a cell in the infirmary. About evening he began to rave, to gape horribly, to gnash his teeth, to attack the people there with bites. Everyone was upset and rushed in; the hostile patient's strength was enormous; twenty men could hardly overcome him, and one body was not big enough for so many hands, so many hands could not be effective on one rebel. At last however he was subdued and, with his hands bound to his knees like a ball, he was knocked out with a crowbar. The pitying brothers blessed a large wine jar with water and put him in. The enemy's rage grew, detesting holy water more than fire. They hung round the monk's neck all sorts of religious charms, and the madness of the enemy was thereby increased rather than tamed and the devilish anger threw more graspings and attacks. In fact the man could not be set free there to wait for the power of remedy entrusted to blessed Ivo.

«At last, on the advice of the brothers, he was carried down into the church to the saints» shrine. And as they were making for the choir through the chapel of God's holy Mother, the man they were carrying began to sing out this Christmas song: «Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Lord God shine upon us.» One voice of a friend hurrying to him and suffering with him chimed in, »O most holy guardians of this sacred cloister, come quickly to the aid of your servant's difficulties, and allow him no longer to be ruled by the enemy.» The well-wisher was checked by brotherly arms, just as if he were bound, in the presence of St. Ivós health-giving memorial. Then indeed after he had hastily spoken, he took up the linen which had been placed upon the saint, and the cloak was ritually displayed more splendidly. The sick man shouted with unclouded mind and renewed health, «I see you and I recognize you, most holy father Ivo, and now I pray to you with a sound mind that your holy intervention will bring me full health.»

«As he declared these things in a rational manner, and persisted with calm feelings, the brothers suddenly released him from his outer bonds with great promptness on all sides. The free man was praying devoutly, and doing everything sensibly, and he gave quite surely proof of his deliverance. Who in that place was then able to cease from God's praises, when such a sudden calm had been created from an enemy storm? The sound of praise resounded through the whole church, and so did the offering of thanks from people blessing the Lord in His saint Ivo, and praising highly in great jubilation with hymns and cymbals. And so in this way, for the sake of our most delightful father, joy was restored more happily from this disturbance of the Lord's birthday.»

«There was a youth whose parents» devotion had led them to entrust him to the abbot of Ramsey to be directed to share in the brothers» life. He detested the rather severe rule of monastic life and tried to run away overseas, namely to Flanders where the school was that he had come from some time before. While he was working on this he went for a walk one day in a garden near the church and suddenly an evil spirit took possession of him and excited him and he ran to and fro until in a frenzy he ran into a house which happened to be next to the garden. The family of the house of course wondered sadly at his sudden madness, and held him down there with great force to see if the spirit would leave him. Almost at midnight or thereabouts when he had already started to get better, he saw two hideous men come towards him, who said to him, «Because you want to run away from that place of yours, we have come here to carry you off with us to the cloisters of hell.» When he heard this he was roused and he sprang up and, once the doors of the house were opened, he flew swiftly to the monastery, shouting often »Kyrie eleison». The brothers were woken by these shouts, and they ordered him to be caught and taken to the infirmary and guarded till morning.

«When morning came he was distressed again. So the brothers ordered the priest to be sent for, and an exorcism for the calming of madness to be recited over him. But the exorcism could not be of any use, because the power of God wanted to demonstrate how great were the merits of blessed Ivo. So the suffering youth saw a person standing near who looked to him like blessed Ivo, and the figure painted on him the sign of the cross and promised him health in the future. When he shouted this out with frenzied mouth to the brothers who were there they brought him all the way to the patron Ivós health-giving tomb, where prayers were uttered for him and a potion given to him made up of a scraping from the tomb mixed with water, and in a very little while he was at peace, with his frenzy calmed. Then, with the demon put to flight, he was returned at the same time to a whole mind in a healthy body and got up. And having thus been punished he promised he would never leave the holy place to which he had been bound by his father's presentation, and he took religious vows and joined the society of the brothers.»

«A young man from Venice, of the rank of count on his father's and mother's sides, and from a very famous family, was inspired by the devil to kill his sister, who was pregnant. Oh, monstrous grief of his parents! They could not avenge their daughter on their son, and for one eye blinded tear out the one that was left-for one eye suffer the loss of two. The bishop bound the culprit with iron chains; he was tied up with iron from his shoulders to his kidneys; his Stomach and his arms were girdled with iron; and thus, handed over to Satan for the destruction of his body and the salvation of his soul he roved through hot and cold regions of the world in suffering and hardship.

«After a long exile, after various dangers, after visiting countless shrines of the saints, at last he sailed to Britain for the favour of English saints. At St. Dionysius of Paris just one chain fell off; the rest were kept for blessed Ivo to loosen. When at last he came to the monastery of our holy father Benedict he was weak to the point of death: we believe the holy doctor arranged this so that he might be cleansed from his crime through the furnace of illness and so might be given bodily health and absolution. (So the Lord relieved the punished paralytic from his former sins, and soon said to the cured man, «Take up your bed and walk.»)

«Therefore on the feast of St. Maurus, who is the shape and likeness of blessed father Benedict, in the evening, when this verse of the hymn of God's holy mother was being sung in canon, »And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation,» the young man in chains who was praying at St. Ivós tomb was suddenly seized by an invisible force, raised up completely from the ground, and then quite quickly put down. His iron bonds burst, not that they had been done up with a key, they had been made continuous. The chains themselves, once cast off, were scarcely to be found. Praise to the Lord, with songs and the ringing of bells, and with all the windows lit up, praise re-echoed in a loud voice of rejoicing! The miracle is correctly ascribed to blessed Ivo, with St Benedict and all the saints supporting him.

«This account is not enough to tell of the young man, rejoicing thus in his freedom and complete health: with what humility he dedicated himself to his holy liberator; what thanks he poured out to the abbot and brothers, very great because they had revived him when ill with such great kindness; and, when the abbot had given him clothing to suit his rank, how happy he returned to his own country.

«There was a rich and faithful man in this neighbourhood, Godric by name, who had friends and relations in for a festive gathering. The walls were bright with coloured tapestries, the ceilings and floors were green with garlands of leaves, the couches were adorned with hangings, the tables with banquets, and the house, full of people reclining at table, was a riot of purple and gold ornaments.

«His daughter, a girl as yet unmarried, was among the banqueters, and she was caught like a fish on a hook when she tried to swallow down a morsel of bread dissolved in her mouth. For by a hideous mischance a pin had slipped from a young servant's dress, and had been folded in and cooked when the bread was made. It stuck in the young girl's throat so that it did not move, and nothing was left untried in the way of devilish trickery; only the Lord could save her. There was a bitter and pitiable struggle which was of no use to remove the embedded barb or to make it go down. The rose of her cheeks fled, a white bloodless pallor took over, her dying eyes failed her as her sight grew dim. The inextricable pinpoint blocked the entrance of life; death stood in the wings. Troubled groans and faint sighs were borne away, and great anguish wrenched loud screams from her instead.

«The poor father rushed in; the mother hurried in, screeching that she was wretched to have been preserved to see this day. Then the table was carried out in loathing, the festivities turned into lamentation, the lute became silent, and all music was turned into grief. The idea of a banquet fell into ruin. The father was confused by a double sorrow: both for the mortal suffering of his most beloved daughter, and for the spoilt happiness of his guests. The mother wanted to enfold her dear child in her arms, to lean against her breast, to stroke her face and throat with a mother's hand, and by crushing her to comfort her in her alarm. But the girl, racked by internal pain as she was laid out for death on her bed, was afraid of it then because of a discussion among the Christians of her departing soul. Oh, nothing is more frail than human strength, nothing more destructible than man! Something so very small is big enough to be the difference between life and death! Thus stinging insects and gnats had conquered the Egypt of the Pharaohs, and likewise in Christian times had overthrown the innumerable chariots and horses of the king of Persia. But why do we hinder your decisions with many complaints, holy patron?

«So, amid all these dangers, one man, remembering about the very healing water of St. Ivo, was sent out on a swift horse, and a small draught of the holy water was brought back as fast as possible. Oh, excellent Lord, to whom nothing is incurable, who takes people down to hell and brings them back, and makes deep sorrow into joy! Suddenly when the girl drank the divine liquid the iron was dissolved and was extracted from the bottom of her throat; it came up and she had it all bloody in her mouth and spat it out. Then when people saw her as if revived from the dead, they shed as many tears of joy as they had before of sorrow, and everyone praised the Lord in His saint with suitable wonder.

«Not long afterwards the daughter returned to the feast, very healthy with a rosy face, and the rejoicing which had been interrupted returned to everyone with increased interest. With what joy they were able then to exclaim, «Oh St. Ivo, very great priest of God, what may worthily be spread about as your advertisement, you who brought up iron against the downward flow and forced it to come out and dissolve! May your glory bless the Lord of glory for ever!»

St. Ivo appeared to many people. Thus «a countryman of Bluntisham reported one of these apparitions to Abbot Eadnoth. He said that Ivo had often considered him worthy to appear to and be seen by, and that long ago, appearing with his customary grace, Ivo had said these things to him, "I am Bishop Ivo. About five hundred years have now passed since I found rest in my memorial at Slepe.» Then when they heard this the brothers were curious and they read over the chronicles where they found it was the year 580 of our Lord's Incarnation, when the heavenly flower Gregory was in his prime as pope, he who sent Augustine, the morning star of the English, to those who were sitting in darkness. So about these times the blessed Ivo is supposed to have gone over to the Lord.»

There was a Norwegian monk who was on duty at the shrine of St. Ivo at Ramsey who «lapsed into apathy about his salvation, and he neglected the honour and reverence which he owed to blessed Ivo, or which it was fitting to display. For quite often as he crossed in front of the holy body he did not bother to bend his knee nor even simply to bow slightly.» St. Ivo appeared to him at night and reproached him, and had him beaten by one of his attendants. «When he told this to the brothers, his laziness abandoned, they became more careful of their own salvation and more devout towards God and St. Ivo. And so it happens that when one is reproached many may be improved.»

Towards the end of the eleventh century, «a certain monk of the Ely community was in charge of an estate under the abbey's authority. He ordered the villagers to plough, to thresh or to get on with other jobs on the one day in the year when they had been accustomed to come to the memorial of blessed Ivo and his companions, that is Slepe church with sacrifices and gifts. One of their elders replied to him, «Lord,» he said, »on this day all our villagers, along with the rest in the countryside round about, are accustomed to seek with prayers and offerings the support of blessed Ivo and his companions with God for their own safety, for peace and the earth's fertility. Therefore they ask you to put off to another day the work you have ordered.» The monk, like Pharaoh refusing to release the sons of Israel from hard labours and to let them leave his land in order to sacrifice to their own God, replied angrily, «Who is this Ivo, and where is his home, that you are eager to honour with such gifts? Who he might be I don't know, and Ím certainly not letting peasants take a holiday from their tasks and go off to him.»

«But St. Ivo in his usual way did not let an insult to him and his faithful people go unpunished. For when by chance the man who had denied him was passing through the village of Slepe, .and as the monk came in front of the church dedicated in honour of blessed Ivo himself and his companions, he was weighed down with heavy sleep and said to those travelling with him, «I am too sleepy: until I have rested I can't ride any further.» And getting down from his horse, he went to sleep beside the road, on the ground in the open air while the rest kept watch. And he saw in his dreams a man Standing there, noble in Stature, distinguished by his grey hair, magnificent in looks, dressed in snowy white, holding a belt in his hand and saying to him, »Do you recognize me?» When the quaking monk replied that he did not know him, he said, «I am Ivo, whom lately you said you did not know, and you forbade those who wanted to come to me. I have come just now to tell you who I am and where I stay.» And, pointing out the church to him from a distance he said, »Look, my home and the place of my habitation.» He also gave him the belt which he was holding in his hand, saying, "Wear this belt around you; and with this my token remember well from now on who I am.» And he encircled him with the belt and left.

«The monk soon woke up, breathing heavily and feeling as if he had been tied round with a very tight iron chain, and told everything which he had seen in his sleep to his companions. With their help and with great difficulty he was placed on a litter and taken all the way to the estate where he had planned to go previously. For he was racked inside by a gripping of his vitals; outside indeed he was tormented by a poisonous swelling of decaying skin: the flesh which the saint's belt had had covered was rotting away. And because he was afraid of ending his life tortured in this way, he called his friends and relations and confessed that he deserved to be punished with such an injury because he had sinned against St. Ivo, and he asked what task he might diligently perform in order to be made well. So they advised him to appease the saint's anger with prayers and gifts and to spend money on alms for the poor; also, over and above all this, to make a great wax taper, and send it along to St. Ivós shrine for his health.

«When this had been done he gradually recovered and got back to his former well-being, and after his health returned he went devoutly to deliver thanks to the house of St. Ivo, whom he had formerly despised, and thenceforth he held him in not inconsiderable fear and love.»

Again, «a certain foreign abbot, when he was on a journey nearby the place of the saints» discovery, heard news of the miracles done by them in that place and turned aside to the church to pray for their patronage. Then he also tasted the water of blessed Ivós spring which flowed in the very same place where once his holy body had lain, and which supplied a health-giving drink to people ill with a fever, and he went on with the journey he had undertaken.

«One of his monks, holding it worthless and reckoning it a falsehood, said it was not fitting for a wise and devout man to support the silliness or superstition of country people who, deceived by heathen error, worshipped the waters and the bones of any old dead people; led astray by certain imagined supernatural deeds of devils, they honoured them as if they were relics of saints many times proved.

«He had not yet finished his words when he was suddenly seized by so great a weakness that he was scarcely able at long last to reach the place he was making for, that is Ramsey. There with a very severe illness he paid the penalty for his blasphemy, and after many prayers had been poured out before the body of blessed Ivo, because he had perhaps done wrong through ignorance, at last he was restored to health.»

Again, «a certain slave, who had done something wrong and was terrified of an excessive beating from his furious master, fled for sanctuary to St. Ivo. His master pretended to make peace and forgave him for his wrong-doing, but not from his heart. For he nursed his anger inside him and not long afterwards he falsely accused the slave of a crime and satisfied his fury by cutting him with fearful lashes, and between lashes he reproached him saying, «Take that one for Ivo; or if you like just run off to him again.»

«When he had said this, at the very same hour, he was struck down by a serious illness and took to his bed. Then when his survival seemed hopeless he summoned the slave boy to him and asked for his forgiveness. And having dressed him and presented him with his own clothing the master made peace with him, and sent him to the blessed Ivo to beg for forgiveness. When the slave had prayed to Ivo for him, the master recovered from his illness straight away; and then he did not dare to inflict on the boy, who had now been given his freedom, any insult or annoyance, but from that time on he was keen to fear and honour the blessed Ivo, because he had personal experience of his Strength and power.»

«Once, when a wild and ungovernable tribe of Britons were rushing everywhere and ravaging Huntingdonshire, the inhabitants of Slepe took their possessions into the church of St. Ivo and entrusted them to the saint. When the wolfish greed of the raiders got to know of this they hurried there in ferocious spirits, broke down the church doors and carried off everything that had been put there for safekeeping. But then one of them, looking about, saw a pair of bells hanging from the beams in the church roof. And coveting them he climbed up to take them for himself. Just when he put out his hands to take them down, he suddenly slipped and fell to the ground. All his limbs being broken, he died. When the rest saw this they were seized by a great terror let something similar happen to them, and realising the holiness of the place, and paying tribute to God and St. Ivo, they brought back humbly all the things they had arrogantly taken away.»

Again, «in Stanton, a village very close to Slepe, there was a young man by the name of Alwold, who is thought to be still living. He came once to this same town of Slepe with a devout crowd who were flocking to the miracle-working tomb of blessed Ivo. He was not seeking health but faithfully seeking faithlessly to mock. The stupid boy did not know that God is not mocked but rather the person who is pleased to mock.

«He put a snow-white hen on the holy altar, not as an offering but to stir up peasant gossip, as if she would settle there to hatch eggs. The boy was standing on his left leg and he bent his right at the joint onto his thigh, and shouted this in joking insolence: «Hey you, St. Ivo, do you see that I am brought here stunted by illness? Why don't you put me onto the road to recovery?» He talked thus because he wanted

to put down his leg and foot in the usual position and raise a laugh from the people by saying »Look! You see a miracle, how your saint has cured me?» But in complete accordance with God's justice his pretended illness was made very real; for as he had bent, so he stayed for ever curved back stiffly. Then he believed indeed from true experience, and from true necessity; he demanded with deep groans what he had previously pretended did not exist – that the saint's holy power should restore him, now he had thoroughly learnt his lesson, to his former strength.»

«One evening some people of Slepe and others from the adjoining countryside, when they were lingering agreeably over supper and drinks well into the night, suddenly saw a very bright light in the red sky; they went out to investigate such a great omen, and saw flashing pillars of golden light piercing the sky from the tomb of blessed Ivo and his companions and illuminating the outlines of things far and wide. . . Therefore while they were gaping there at the celestial light, some of the bolder ones rashly hurried to that place of the light, but as they arrived it disappeared like a lamp in darkness.»

Again, «a huge extent of light was often seen openly across the sky, that is from the church at Ramsey all the way to the memorial at Slepe, which here swelled up, there sank down. There were also faithful souls in abundance who testified that they had clearly seen our heavenly leader himself, with a numerous host dressed in white, and he had revisited one or other of his places by way of a Starry road, itself sparkling brightly with glittering ornaments. Generally, none the less, it was seen in broad daylight, a great procession of clergy and people following, all dressed in white, around the chapel at Slepe, and many candlesticks, and censers, and crosses, and shining banners were carried, which all proclaimed the supreme merits of the very famous Ivo.»

St. Ivo is commemorated on April 24.

Holy Father Ivo, pray to God for us!

(Sources: Goscelin, Vita S. Yvonis, P.L. 154, 84ff; S.D. Edgington, The Life and Miracles of St. Ivo, St. Ives, Cambs.: Friends of the Norris Museum, 1985; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, IV, 181; G.H. Doble, The Saints of Cornwall, Felinfach: Llanerch Publishers, 1997, pp. 43–52; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: Clarendon, 1978, p. 206)