Coming back to the little body of the dead man, they found the
unlit candle that they had put there burning brightly. And all at
once, such a great fear entered them that they did not dare to
touch any of the things related to the service of the altar. So
taking up the clothing and some bed coverings, they retraced their
steps in haste back to where they had come from.
Now there were some ravens who used to come regularly to the
servant of God when he was alive and take what was offered from his
hands. And as if wishing to avenge the dead man, the ravens
followed the thieves while they were fleeing from the hermitage,
and filled the woods with loud cawing. And flying as close to the
murderers' heads as they could, they published the crime that had
been committed.
Not long afterwards, the
evil men were arrested, and the crime which they had committed in
secret was revealed, since God did not wish to postpone the
punishment of the sin that they had merited by killing the servant
of God. For indeed, after the judges and the Christian people under
count Adalbert condemned them to it, they were burned alive.
Now the candle they had put at the head of the man of God and
which was lighted by heaven burned down to the straw they had put
over his body. The fire burnt part of the straw and went all the
way up to the limbs of the dead man. But when it touched his limbs,
just as it was divinely lit, so also it was extinguished at the
command of God. From this, however, the news of his death spread
abroad.
When it became known, the venerable abbot Walter[10]
and the brothers living under him took the body of the man of God
from his hermitage, and transferring it to the monastery of
Reichenau, buried it there with due honor. So suffered the holy
martyr, on the 21st day of January in the eight hundredth and
sixty-third year from the incarnation of the Lord, while Louis
reigned as king over the east Franks, in the 28th year of his
reign.
Footnotes
