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English Correspondence
St Boniface, tr. Kylie, 1911
Letter 25: Wiehtberht, a Priest, Sends Word to the Monks of Glastonbury that He Has Come…
To those holy men who dwell in the monastery of Glastonbury, fathers and brothers beloved in Christ, Wiehtberht, priest, your lowly servant and servant of all the servants of God, greetings in the Lord.
Blessed be God, “who will have all men to be saved and to come into a knowledge of the truth,”1 in that of His will, He directed our journey into these provinces, on the confines of the heathen Hessians and Saxons, safely over the sea and among the dangers of this world, not through any merit of ours, but through your consent and prayers and His own clemency.
Be assured, my brothers, that no earthly distances divide us, whom the love of Christ binds together. Wherefore, my fraternal regard for you, and my prayers for you to God are unceasing; I would have you know also, beloved, that Boniface, our archbishop, when he heard of our arrival, himself deigned to come far to meet us, and to receive us with great kindness. Be assured, indeed, my friends, that our toil is not vain in the Lord, and that the reward thereof will come to you, for the Omnipotent God, through His mercy and your merits, grants a good issue to our labour, though the life here is in every respect dangerous and hard, from hunger and thirst and cold, and the attacks of the heathen. Wherefore, I beg, pray diligently for us, “that utterance may be given unto us,”2 and that our labours may abide and bring forth fruit.
Farewell in the Lord. Give my greetings to the brethren in the circle, especially to Abbot Ingeld and our community, and tell my mother Tetta and her sisterhood of our safe journey. I beg of you one and all, with humble prayers, to alternate with us in earnest intercession, and wish that the divine clemency may keep you safe to pray for us.
Notes
- 1 Tim. ii. 4.
- Eph. vi. 19.