and was very useful in instructing the Lord's army. He wished to
emulate God, but he did not do this the way a wise man would. He was
so outstanding that after the capture of Jerusalem he was made abbot
of the church of the blessed Mary in the vale of Josaphat,[167] and
later was made archbishop of Caesarea, metropolis of Palestine. It
is an indubitable fact that had the solace of the divine Word not
been administered with great frequency to them, their patient
perseverance would never have survived the hunger and hardships of
war. Therefore we may say that those among them who were circumspect
in their lives and endowed with wisdom were not less but more
valuable than those who fought the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. He
who provides encouragement that strengthens a wavering mind certainly
is greater than the person to whom his exhortation provides strength,
especially when the advisers and the advisees share the same
suffering.

What shall I say finally about those who, on this same expedition,
were sanctified in various places by becoming martyrs? They were not
only priests, learned men, but warriors, and ordinary people, who had
had no hope of confession, but were called to this glorious fate. We
have heard of many who, captured by the pagans and ordered to deny
the sacraments of faith, preferred to expose their heads to the sword
than to betray the Christian faith in which they had once been
instructed. Among them I shall select one, a knight and an
aristocrat, but more illustrious for his character than all others of
his family or social class I have ever known. From the time he was a
child I knew him, and I watched his fine disposition develop.
Moreover, he and I came from the same region, and his parents held
benefices from my parents, and owed them homage, and we grew up
together, and his whole life and development were an open book to me.