Steganography Vindicated, Unlocked and Illustrated

OF THE ABBOT.

§. 4. The Consecration of the Sponheim Monastery.

The building was finally completed—that is, the church built in the shape of a cross, the cloister, and the necessary houses, with the refectory and the dormitory adjacent to the cloister on the western side. Before the magnificent Count Megenhard handed over the monastery to the monks for habitation, he wished the church, which he had renovated in many ways, to be consecrated once again (as is the custom). Therefore, having removed the clerics and provided for them elsewhere, he went to Adelbert, Archbishop of Mainz, to arrange the consecration of the church, and revealed to him the desire of his heart regarding the introduction of monks to Sponheim. This most Reverend Prelate highly commended the Count's good plan, but because he himself could not come to the consecration as requested, he sent in his place the Venerable Buggo, Prelate of the Church of Worms, who at that time had been expelled from his own see for many years and was being held honorably by the Archbishop.

Therefore, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 1123, on Quasimodogeniti Sunday The first Sunday after Easter, also known as Low Sunday; the name comes from the first words of the Latin Introit for that day., the Venerable Buggo, Bishop of Worms, acting on behalf of Archbishop Adelbert of Mainz, dedicated the church and monastery in Sponheim in honor of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin and Mother of God, and Saint Martin, formerly Bishop of Tours in Gaul. This was done with three altars: the high altar, as we have said, was consecrated to the memory of the Mother of God and Saint Martin; another in the apse facing south in memory of Saint John the Evangelist; and the third in the apse facing north at the entrance of the cloister in honor of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The remaining altars were erected later in the course of time.

§. 5. The Introduction of Monks into the Sponheim Cloister.

In the eightieth year from the foundation of the church in the place called the Mountain of the Field original: "mons campi.", in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1124, in the second indiction under Emperor Henry V, the illustrious Count Megenhard handed over the monastery itself, along with the church and all its belongings, into the perpetual possession of the Order of the most holy Father Benedict, and gave it to the monks to inhabit. The first monks who initially began to inhabit this very place were twelve in number; by the command of Archbishop Adelbert and at the instance of Count Megenhard, they came from the monasteries of Saint Alban and Saint James near Mainz on the Wednesday after Passion Sunday. Eight of them were priests and four were lay brothers original: "conversi." In a Benedictine context, these were members who focused on the manual labor and external affairs of the monastery rather than the full liturgical choir duties.—illustrious and distinguished men, some of whom had served as soldiers in the world for a long time before entering the religious life. When they arrived at the site of the monastery, they were received quite honorably by Count Megenhard and his wife, and they began to inhabit the cloister solemnly handed over to them. Thus, having gained possession in the name of God, the aforementioned monks unanimously elected Bernhelm—a monk of the aforementioned cloister of Saint Alban—as their Abbot and Pastor according to the monastic rule.