Adrevald of Fleury: Historia Translationis Sancti Benedicti

This account tells how the relics of Saint Benedict of Nursia were brought from Monte Cassino to the abbey of Fleury on the Loire. It begins with the Lombard invasion of Italy and the destruction of Benedict’s monastery, which Gregory the Great’s Dialogues report Benedict had foretold. It then narrates the foundation of Fleury by Leodebod under the Frankish king, the sending of the monk Aigulf by Abbot Mummolus to recover the relics, his journey with companions from Le Mans, the discovery of the tomb with the help of an unknown old man, the escape from pursuers hidden by a cloud, and miracles of healing on the way.

The translation of Benedict’s relics was the foundation of Fleury’s prestige as one of the leading monasteries of France, and this narrative was central to that claim. Monte Cassino disputed it, so the story was also part of a long rivalry between the two houses. The text, printed under Adrevald’s name, belongs to the rich body of Fleury writing about Benedict, alongside the Miracula Sancti Benedicti, and shows how a monastic community told the story of its own origins.