Saint Frederick of Utrecht

Such great qualities moved the bishop to advance him by degrees through the holy Orders. When he was a subdeacon, he began to afflict his body with all sorts of austerities: he fasted and kept vigil assiduously, denied himself the most necessary comforts, and gave almost all his income to the poor; lies and slander never passed his lips, he offended no one, and on the contrary, strove to do good to everyone; finally, knowing that, by his Order, he was bound to carry the sacred vessels, he kept continually before his eyes these words of the prophet Isaiah: Mundamini, qui fertis vasa Domini; "Be clean, you who carry the vessels of the Lord"; and he kept himself in great purity of body and spirit, which gave him the opportunity to participate often in the Sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The Order of the diaconate served as a further goad to animate him to a more perfect virtue. He met all the conditions that Saint Paul requires in a cleric who is honored with this dignity. He watched over himself so well that almost no fault escaped him, and moreover, he was a model of humility, gentleness, patience, chastity, temperance, mercy toward those who were in affliction, and love for Jesus Christ, whose minister he was. Ricfrid, realizing in this the desire of all the faithful, promoted Frederick to the priesthood; then he made him the second person of his clergy and entrusted him with the most important affairs of his diocese. He had no reason to repent of it: he always found in him a faithful steward and a man irreproachable in his morals and conduct.

However, this worthy ecclesiastic had resisted his ordinations greatly, and it had been necessary to do further violence to his humility to raise him above the other priests. He offered even more opposition when, after the death of Ricfrid, the clergy and the people all protested with one voice that they wanted no other bishop than Frederick. Moreover, Emperor Louis the Pious, informe d of the merits of Louis le Débonnaire King of the Franks who made Aldric his advisor and commander of the palace. this holy priest, wrote to the Church of Utrecht that it would be pleasing to him if they elected him as their bishop. Thus, all those who were interested in his election were in agreement: Frederick alone opposed it. He neglected nothing to prove that he was incapable of such a charge. But he was answered that he had been elected because he was very well known, and that he must submit in this to the dispositions of divine Providence. Our Saint groaned deeply at this response, and the weight of the pastoral charge, for which one cannot avoid rendering an account at the judgment of God, frightening him more and more, he conjured those who had elected him, with tears in his eyes and with all sorts of entreaties, to think of someone other than him. "Why," he said, "do you want me to lead you, I who do not know how to lead myself? Why do you want me to be a bishop, I who have none of the qualities that Saint Paul requires in a bishop? He wants him to be irreproachable, and I am worthy of all sorts of corrections and punishments. He wants him to have much wisdom and discretion, and you will find in me only imprudence. He wants him to know how to govern his house well, and I am obliged to admit that my conscience and my soul have always been poorly governed." During these contentions, the emperor wrote a second time to Utrecht to have him come to court with the elders of the city. The servant of God believed that this was a favorable opportunity to free himself from the episcopal charge: he therefore conjured the emperor to take his side against the Church of Utrecht. But Louis the Pious remained inflexible to his prayers and his tears, and had him consecrated bishop in his presence. To give him further testimonies of his love, he invited all the bishops and ecclesiastics at court, and wished for the day to be spent in joy.

Before dismissing our Saint, he recommended that he work to deliver his diocese from the last remnants of paganism, and the island of Wala Walacrie Island at the mouth of the Rhine where Frederick struggled against immorality. cria or Walcheren, at the mouth of the Rhine, from the dissolute morals that reigned there. The holy bishop promised to faithfully execute the wishes of the emperor and went to his Church, where he was received with great demonstrations of joy and extraordinary honors.

There was almost no change in his conduct: the more he saw himself raised above others, the more he lowered himself at the feet of everyone. His income being increased, he also increased his alms and his liberality toward the miserable: he visited the sick, clothed the naked, received pilgrims, delivered prisoners and captives, and made himself affable and helpful to all those who implored his aid. His greatest delights were to watch at the feet of the altars and to pray. He preached assiduously to his people, and his preachings were so effective that they entirely uprooted idolatry. He was always seen in such a wonderful tranquility and self-possession that it seemed that all passions were dead within him. His vigilance for spiritual affairs did not prevent him from also applying himself to temporal ones. He had the walls of his cathedral and the episcopal house restored. He also had the houses of the canons repaired, so that, being comfortably lodged, nothing would prevent them from attending to the celebration of the offices and the holy mysteries, and that they could study and pray at home with more rest.

When he had worked so usefully in Utrecht, he undertook the visitation of his diocese; he began with the island of Walacria, where the greatest immorality reigned. Incest was common there: those who were guilty of it banded together against Frederick and threatened him with the direst consequences if he disturbed them in their disorders. But the Apostle stood firm: he assembled the leaders of the island, explained to them the mission that the emperor had entrusted to him, and charged them to announce to the rebels that, if they persisted in this scandalous violation of Christian morality, they would answer for their conduct to the emperor. They submitted, frightened by his threats, touched by his exhortations, and above all by the grace that the Saint asked of God in prolonged vigils and fasts. He made them renounce these illegitimate unions and imposed upon them a salutary penance. Then, having left in this place some zealous priests to confirm what he had established and to prevent the evil from being reborn, he continued the course of his visitations, instructing the faithful everywhere, preaching the word of God, correcting the abuses that had slipped into the parishes or that had not been able to be rooted out, repairing ruined churches, converting sinners and the rest of the idolaters, and perfectly discharging all the duties of a true pastor.

Shortly after, God sent him an incomparable man to assist him in the duties of his office: this was Saint Odulph , a great pre saint Odulphe Missionary and collaborator of Frederick. acher and one of the most zealous missionaries then in the Church. As this holy personage was resting one night on his bed, an angel appeared to him in his sleep and said: "Arise, servant of God, and go to Utrecht to assist Bishop Frederick there in the preaching of the Gospel."

He arose immediately, and, leaving his house and all that he had at Orschot, he traveled, after a three-day journey, to the place the angel had designated for him. Saint Frederick was warned, for his part, of the help that divine Providence was sending him, and, having informed his people, he went to meet him with his clergy and received him as an angel come from heaven. He then lodged him very honorably, giving him a beautiful apartment with a garden. Thus, he received great assistance from him, and his sermons bore such marvelous fruit in the city that the holy bishop and his clerics regarded him as the master of piety and the father of all the servants of God.

At that same time, Saint Frederick learned that the Frisians had allowed themselves to be so deceived by the artifice of certain seducers that they held very poor sentiments regarding the ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity, some following the errors of Sabellius, and others those of Arius. He was extremely afflicted by this, and, unable to suffer the loss of their souls, he departed immediately to go and dispel their darkness. The obstinacy of these unfortunate people was so great that at first he could obtain nothing from their minds: some fled his sermons; others attended only in body; some listened only to contradict; others, finally, made for themselves a brazen brow and a heart of bronze against all his remonstrances. In this conjuncture, knowing almost no longer what to do, he had the inspiration to send for Saint Odulph, whom he had left in Utrecht. This saint departed immediately to go and join him, in the hope of enduring martyrdom; and, having joined him at Staveren, a city of Frisia, he offer ed hi Frise Region of the saint's origin and mission territory. mself to him to work for the salvation of these poor souls. They therefore traveled together through all the cities, towns, and villages of this province, and their labors were then so effective that they changed wolves into lambs and brought them back into the bosom of the Catholic religion. Our Saint composed on this occasion a small symbol, in the manner of that of Saint Athanasius, where the whole mystery of the Trinity was explained, and he sent it to the parish priests of his diocese to teach it to their parishioners. He also made a collect on the same mystery which he ordered to be recited in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. Finally, to confirm what he had so holily established, he left Saint Odulph at Staveren, gave him the care of the peoples of Frisia, and returned laden with merits and glory to the city of Utrecht.

But this city was soon deprived of the happiness of his guidance; for, a few years later, two assassins came expressly to Utrech Utrecht Place where Suitbert began his ministry. t, armed with daggers, to massacre him. They asked for him when he was at the church and preparing to say mass. God having made their design known to him, he replied that he would speak to them after the mass. He therefore celebrated it with marvelous devotion, and even ascended the pulpit at the Gospel; there he predicted his death in veiled terms, wishing neither to hide it entirely nor to give a distinct knowledge of it that would have caused trouble in the audience. His mass being finished, he dismissed everyone, except a chaplain, with whom he withdrew into the chapel of Saint John the Baptist, where he had had his tomb made. There, he shed many tears for the infinite number of sins with which the world was filled; he offered himself there as a sacrifice to God with very urgent prayers; then, having ordered his chaplain to move a few steps away, he had these murderers enter, who said they had very important business to communicate to him. Having approached, they gave him several dagger wounds. The wounds did not make him cry out, nor call for help: on the contrary, he performed an act of charity, of which it is very difficult to find another example in the history of the Saints. Not only did he warn these impious men to withdraw as soon as possible, for fear of being seized; but he also had the strength and the skill to press his wounds with his hands, so that they would not appear, until they had time to escape. His chaplain having returned to the chapel, he still hid his condition, and asked him to go see over the wall if these messengers had crossed the Rhine; finally, upon his return, being already half dead and almost speechless, he was forced to confess to him that he was wounded. The chaplain's cries immediately drew the whole city to the church. Saint Odulph came there with all the clergy. One cannot express the sorrow with which they were penetrated for the loss of such a good pastor; he had himself placed alive in his sepulcher, to breathe his last there: while they were singing the psalms of the office of the dead, which he began himself, by saying Placebo Domino, he holily rendered his soul into the hands of the one whose law and doctrine he had so generously defended. His death occurred in 838.

The history of this holy bishop, reported by Surius and Molanus, and whose manuscript is kept in the archives of the church of Utrecht, says that these assassins had been sent by Empres s Judith, second wif l'impératrice Judith Second wife of Louis the Pious, suspected of having commissioned a murder. e of Louis the Pious; she had, it is said, conceived a mortal hatred against Frederick, because he had reproved her for her scandals and intrigues, which threw the State into turmoil and caused such great misfortunes for Louis the Pious. De Vence is also of this opinion, and says that the assassination of Frederick was one of the causes that made Judith more odious to the bishops and the great men of the kingdom. Baronius asserts the same thing in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology; but, in the year 838 of his Annals, he is of a contrary opinion and believes that this crime was attributed to Judith by the enemies of Louis the Pious and by the partisans of his children from his first marriage. Be that as it may, it is certain that our Saint died for the defense of justice and the law of God, and that he justly deserves the name of Martyr, as the Church gives it to him in its martyrology, and as the great miracles that have been performed through the merits of his intercession bear evident witness.

In 1362, his head, having been separated from the rest of the body, was placed in a gilded silver reliquary to be exposed to the veneration of the faithful. The same history of his life reports a terrible punishment: the clerk of the church where the relics of our Saint rested, being a debauched man and a thief, sold the gifts that were offered at the altars and did not cease to sleep every night in this temple. Saint Frederick appeared to him twice and warned him to correct himself and no longer have the temerity to sleep in such a holy place; but as this sacrilegious man treated these apparitions as mere dreams and continued to get drunk as before and then go to sleep in his usual bed, one morning he was found dead, and his body with his bed already all burning with a fire of sulfur. Since that time, no one dared to sleep in this venerable temple anymore.

He is depicted pierced by two swords; or else two murderers strike him, and his entrails escape through the wound.

Acta Sanctorum. — Cf. Ribadeneira, Godescard, Balthét.