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IX

Canute Is Rebuked and Fasts

The History of King Sweyn Estridsson and His Sons and of the Martyrdom of King Canute the Holy

As reverence for God continued to grow in the servant of God and faithful king — for to serve God is to reign, and to rule over one’s vices is to exercise true dominion — he carefully examined his past actions, his former ignorance, and the sins of his youth. Opening his heart in humble and sincere confession to devoted religious men close to him — at that time chaplains of the royal court, later to be revered as bishops, namely Gerold and Arnold — he submitted the devotion of his soul so completely to divine mercy that, astonishing as it may seem, he did not refuse even corporal discipline inflicted upon him by their hands alone, with God as witness and they as keepers of his secret.

For he had heard — and in hearing, understood — that the more the outer flesh is worn down, the more the inner spirit is strengthened. And since those who desire to belong to Christ do not shrink from crucifying their flesh with its vices and desires, he practiced this discipline as well.

On solemn fast days and on private days of fasting alike, even when seated at the royal table on Fridays and Saturdays, while those dining around him supposed he was enjoying wine or mead, he drank only pure water — something known only to his trusted attendants and to God, the observer of hidden things. The delicacies of royal feasts, though placed before him and carried to his mouth, he distributed partly among those seated around him and partly sent to the poor. He himself sustained his body with dry bread and a little salt, not so much nourishing it with pleasures as afflicting it by refusing even sufficient food.

For he did not wish his deeds to be displayed openly before men, but to be approved by the One who searches hearts, so that the left hand might not know what the right hand was doing. He sought not human praise for these acts, but the reward of the Father who sees in secret.