Blessed Notker the Stammerer

His talents and holiness soon earned him a great reputation, and Emperor Ch arles the Fat often consul l'empereur Charles le Gros Emperor of the West and husband of Saint Richardis. ted him on difficult matters. One day, when an officer had come on behalf of this prince to seek his advice on an important matter, he found him pulling weeds in the garden and replacing them with good plants. Once the envoy had conveyed his commission, the Blessed Notker, as his only reply, said to him: 'You see what I am doing; go tell the Emperor to do the same.'

Another time, the Emperor himself having gone to Saint Gall to consult the holy Religious, whom he called his friend and spiritual advisor, the prince's chaplain, a learned but proud man who saw with jealousy that his master placed all his trust in a monk whom he regarded as ignorant, said upon seeing the humble Religious arrive near him: "I am going to ask him a question that will demonstrate his ignorance"; and addressing him, he said: "Tell me then, you who are so learned, what is God doing at this moment in heaven?" — "He raises up the humble and casts down the proud."

The chaplain, shocked by this answer, which covered him with confusion, immediately left the monastery; but his horse reared, causing him to fall, which bruised his face and broke his foot. The monks, informed of this accident, ran to pick him up and brought him back to the monastery to provide him with the help he needed.

But as the injury, far from healing, continued to worsen, the chaplain was advised to have recourse to Notker's prayers. He refused for a long time out of pride; however, overcome by the severity of the pain, he finally cried out: "Bring the servant of God, so that he may forgive me and bless me, unworthy as I am."

Notker having come to him: "O my Father!" said the wounded man, "I have sinned against God and against you, forgive me, and touch my foot so that it may be healed."

Notker having begun to pray with fervor, the chaplain felt relieved instantly.

The blessed Notker died on April 6, 912, and his body was buried in the chapel of Saint Peter. Several miracles performed at his tomb led to him being accorded public veneration, and his feast is celebrated at Saint Saint-Gall Famous Benedictine abbey in Switzerland originating from the saint's hermitage. Gall on the third Sunday after Easter.

Blessed Notker is represented in the workshop where he devoted himself to the cultivation of the liberal arts, surrounded by various instruments of arts and sciences. In a popular German engraving that we have before our eyes, the monk, poet, and musician is in the attitude of a man receiving inspiration from above. Birds are singing on the roof of the convent in front of him; at his feet, a cat is playing. In a corner of the painting is a mill: this last accessory requires explanation. One day, or rather one night, while passing through a dormitory, he heard the languid and jerky sound of the tick-tock of a mill deprived of water; immediately he began to compose the melody and rhythm of an invocation to the Holy Spirit: Saint Notker had understood that man, without the grace of the Holy Spirit, is a miserable being on earth, and like a mill without water.

Blessed Notker is the author of a martyrology drawn in part from those of Ado and Rabanus Maurus, which was used for a long time in most of the churches of Germany.

Besides the martyrology, we have from Blessed Notker:

1° A Treatise on the interpreters of Scripture, in which he indicates which of the Fathers best commented, in the various senses, on this or that book of the Bible. He also provides a catalog of the Acts of the Martyrs that appear sincere to him.

2° The Book of Sequences, numbering thirty-eight: he undertook these compositions to give more precision to the canticles of the Church, which were then very long.

It has been claimed that he was the inventor of the sequences; but he declared, in his works, that he had composed his own on the model of those he had found in the antiphonal of the Abbey of Jumiège s, in Neustria. Th abbaye de Jumièges Place of exile for Sturmi in Normandy. is declaration provides new proof in support of the opinion that the Île-de-France, Normandy, Picardy, and Champagne can claim the honor of having given birth to the arts and literature known as Gothic. Very few suspect that the *Victimæ paschali laudes*, adopted and preser ved by the Roman liturg Victimæ paschali laudes Celebrated Easter sequence integrated into the Roman liturgy. y, is by Blessed Notker. It is, however, to the humble monk of the 9th century that we owe this chant which fills us with joy during the Easter feasts.

He is also credited with a war chant that was sung by crusaders and Christian armies in the Middle Ages before engaging in battle. It is as follows:

| Media vita in morte sumus, quem quærimus adjutorem, nisi te, Domine, qui juste irasceris in peccatis nostris. | In the midst of life we are in death; whom can we seek as our helper, but you, O Lord, who are justly angered by our sins? | | --- | --- | | In te speraverunt patres nostri, speraverunt, et liberasti nos. R. Sancte Deus. | Our fathers hoped in you, O holy God! and you saved them. You saved them! | | Ad te clamaverunt patres nostri, clamaverunt, et non sunt confusi. R. Sancte fortis. | Our fathers cried out to you, they cried out, and they were not confounded. O holy and strong God! | | Ne despicias nos in tempore senectutis, cum defecerit virtus nostra, ne derelinquas nos. R. Sancte et misericors Salvator, amarae mortis ne tradas nos. | Do not despise us in the time of old age, when our strength fails; do not abandon us. — O holy and merciful Savior, do not deliver us to the bitterness of death! |

The origin of this chant, so beautiful in its simplicity, is quite singular. It is said that one day Saint Notker, while watching workmen building a bridge over an abyss, was so struck by the imminent dangers they faced that he immediately went to compose this beautiful prayer for them.

3° Various Hymns. Four are in honor of Saint Stephen, martyr and patron of the Cathedral of Metz. He addressed them to Roodbert, bishop of that city, who had been a monk of Saint Gall. These hymns are reproduced in the Patrologia Latina, vol. LXXXVII, col. 37-54.

4° Writings on Music. What remains of them can be found in the Patrologia Latina, vol. LXXXI, col. 1169-1178.

5° A Life of Saint Gall in verse.

6° A Treatise on the fractions of Numbers, of which only a fragment remains. He ha d therefor saint Gall Eponymous founder of the abbey whose life was written by Notker. e also written on arithmetic. So much beautiful knowledge caused him to be regarded as the ornament of his homeland.

7° The Psalter, in the Teutonic language, which is attributed to him, is more probably by Notker Labeo Notker Labeo Another monk of Saint Gall to whom the Old High German Psalter is sometimes attributed. .

Godescard; Stoiz; Clément, Les poètes chrétiens, etc.