ON SAINT AYA THE COUNTESS
AT MONS IN HAINAUT IN BELGIUM.
CENTURY 7.
LifeAya the Countess, at Mons in Hainaut, in Belgium (Saint)
By G. H.
CHAPTER I.
Sacred cult. Lessons recited at Matins.
Among the Martyrologists John Molanus first,
most diligent investigator of the ancient veneration
of the Saints, mentions this holy
Matron. He in the first edition
of Usuard of the year 1568, without any
mention of Aya, refers on the day June 23 her husband
Hidulphus, Duke of Lotharingia, at Binche. But
in the second and third edition of the same Usuard, Memory in the Calendars, of the years 1573
and 1583 adorned, on this day April 18 at the end
he added this: "At Mons, of Aya the Countess of Hainaut,
famous both by blood and life, whose memory
the Church of Mons makes in the Litanies." The same
Molanus in the Indiculus of the Saints of Belgium, published at the end of
the said Martyrology, "Aya," he says, "is joined with her husband
Saint Hidulphus." In his eulogy then he adds this: "Mention
is made of him, Hidulphus, in the Annals of Hainaut, and
of his wife Aya, who is buried at Mons in Hainaut,
but not elevated. Yet she is invoked in the Litanies of the Mons
Church." These same things Arnold Wion copied thence in
his Monastic Martyrology on this April 18. The Litanies
of the Mons Church that Molanus indicates exist with
the proper Offices of the Saints of the Mons Church of Saint Waldetrude
printed at Douai in the year 1625, Name in the Litanies. under this title, "Old
Litanies of the Mons Church"; and in them are invoked Saint
Dominic and Saint Francis, and after the holy Confessors
are referred Saint Mary Magdalen, Saint Mary the Egyptian,
Saint Waldetrude, Saint Aldegundis, Saint Gertrude,
Saint Aya, and then other women up to
twenty-nine.
[2] The relics visited and approved. Saint Aya's relics, as Arnold Rayssius relates in
the Hierogazophylacium Belgicum p. 546, "are now with the devotion
and concourse of the faithful piously venerated: and lately
by the most Reverend Lord Francis Buisseret
Bishop of Namur, afterwards Archbishop of Cambrai,
were visited and approved." The said
Francis was created Bishop of Namur in 1602,
and in the following year consecrated on February 10. Then in the next year
he died on the second day of May. In the old Breviary according
to the use of the Church of Saint Waldetrude of Mons, which on
parchment is found written in the Jesuit library of Lille,
is prescribed on this day the ecclesiastical Office of Saint
Ursmar the Bishop, without any mention of Saint Aya. But
Romanus Chocquet, of whom below, brings forward a statute made in 1314
with the consent of the Bishop of Cambrai (who then was
Peter of Mirapice) in the Chapter, by which with other
Saints the cult of Saint Aya is prescribed by semidouble rite and a lesson
to be recited concerning widows: "Who shall find a valiant woman?"
[3] Ecclesiastical Office. This cult, if perhaps by the lapse of time it had been omitted,
after her sacred Relics were approved was renewed and augmented
with an Ecclesiastical Office indicted under double rite, and
with proper Lessons prescribed in the second Nocturn at Matins
to be recited, which formerly with the proper Oration were
wont to be read, the said Romanus Chocquet asserts. In the third Nocturn
is read the Homily of Saint Gregory on the Gospel: "The
kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden," and the ninth Lesson
is of Ursmar, of whom also at the first Vespers and Lauds
is a Commemoration. These Lessons exist with the Oration
among the proper Offices of the particular Saints of the noble
collegiate Church of Saint Waldetrude of the town of Mons,
conformed to the norm of the Roman Breviary, and first
examined and approved by the Doctors of sacred
Theology of the University of Douai: which afterwards in 1625
on September 3 Francis Vander Burch Archbishop
of Cambrai ratified, and that both privately
and publicly by ecclesiastical persons, both of the aforesaid
Chapter and others of that diocese, they be recited, sung,
celebrated, and for the convenience and use of the same persons
separately from the Roman Breviary be printed
freely and lawfully, he granted and indulged. The prescribed
Oration is this: "Almighty eternal
God, Oration show your mercy to your suppliants,
that we, who distrust the quality of our merits,
by the intercession of your chosen Blessed Aya, may not feel your judgment,
but your indulgence. Through our Lord."
These are the Lessons. Lessons.
[4] Blessed Aya, as famous by blood as by life,
was joined in marriage to a noble and strenuous
man in arms, Saint Hidulf Duke of Lobbes,
who was one of the nobles and greater ones of the kingdom
of Lotharingia, under Prince Pippin. His sacred
body was buried at Lobbes, from which place, together
with seven other bodies of Saints, it was translated to Binche.
To this Aya her kinswoman Donated by Saint Waldetrude,
Blessed Waldetrude, seeing her sons and daughters despise
earthly things and yearn for heavenly, relinquished the principality
of the Duchy, which by paternal right had come to her.
Who in turn, and in turn by Saint Aya. that she might show herself not ungrateful to God and Blessed
Waldetrude, gave her own allodia, Comas, Nimy,
and Brany Willotica, to the church
of Blessed Waldetrude, with all freedom,
burial at Mons: and in the church of the same city of Mons chose
her burial: where also her sacred Relics,
long ago elevated from the earth, by the devotion and
concourse of the faithful are piously venerated: and lately were visited
by the most Reverend Lord Bishop of Namur, who
afterwards was Archbishop of Cambrai. Moreover, the miracle which happened
by reason of the aforesaid donation is not to be passed over in silence.
With Blessed Aya deceased, many years after her
decease, certain wicked men presumed to invade and usurp
those allodia, which she herself had bestowed on the church of Saint Waldetrude,
saying that they belonged to them
by hereditary and relationship right.
After a long dispute between the church and them,
the convent of that church not
distrusting its right, these decided by her long dead, which had placed its hope in the Lord,
committed the whole matter to the testimony of Saint Aya, who now many years
had lain buried there.
Who from her tomb, with both parties hearing,
testified that she had justly donated those allodia to the church
of Saint Waldetrude, and held her donation ratified.
And so all those allodia the same church
peacefully possessed, until the greater part of Brany
Willotica by exchange came to the Count of
Hainaut.
CHAPTER II.
Life written in French. Various things related from it.
[5] Romanus Chocquet, of the Order of Friars Recollects
of Saint Francis, of the Province of Saint Andrew,
to further promote the honor and veneration of Saint Aya,
expounded her Life at length in 18 chapters, published
at Mons in Hainaut in 1640 in French; and in the first chapter
writes her born of father Brunulphus, second-born son of Walbert III,
Prince of superior virtue, from the stock
of Kings Pharamund and Clodio. The noble ancestry of Saint Aya
Her mother he calls Lady Uraia, daughter of the Count
of Boulogne above the sea. Of this family we have treated at the Life of Blessed Ida Countess
of Boulogne on April 13, but of the first Kings
of the Franks at the Life of Saint Sigebert on the Kalends of February: but
nothing hitherto by which we might confirm the said genealogy
of Saint Aya could we find. kinswoman of Saint Waldetrude. Then she is handed down to have been cousin
of Saints Waldetrude and Aldegundis, as though their parent Walbert
IV was the firstborn brother of the above-said Brunulphus,
father of Saint Aya. The Life of Saint Aldegundis we gave on January 30,
and of Saint Waldetrude on April 9, in which Saint Hidulf
is said through his wife to have been her close relative.
Of this one also the Life was written by Philip Harveng Abbot
of Good Hope, where about the nobility of lineage of the parents and of the Saint
of Belgium, who flourished in the 7th century of Christ, he inserts very many
things which can be seen in him.
[6] The author of the Life in the four following chapters describes the various
virtues exercised in her youth, various virtues. and especially fasts,
abstinences and similar bodily afflictions and mortifications,
also great humility of mind and contempt of self,
and singular piety and mercy toward the poor,
with an image added of her giving alms to a poor man; he added
also the insignia on one side of the Dukes of Lotharingia, on the other
of the Counts of Hainaut, and this inscription is added below: "Saint
Agia, or Aia, Duchess of Lotharingia, Countess
of Hainaut etc. Wife of Saint Hidulf Duke of Lobbes,
lived in the times of Dagobert King of the Franks."
But what then was Lotharingia?
whose name first began to be heard after some centuries from
the death of Saint Aya, Whether Lotharingia was then known who, with Lothair the Younger dead, in the division
of that kingdom between Charles the Bald and Louis the King
of Germany, was first called the kingdom of Lothar—commonly
Lotherijck; whence later generations formed the name of Lotharingia.
In the same way many centuries after Saint Aya's death
the name of Hainaut began to be heard, and the names of Hainaut and in the said division
it was called Hanoium: and thus in the diploma of Louis
King of Germany given in the year 908, which Chapeavillus
in volume 1 of the Res Leodienses recites, Sigehard
is named Count of Hainuensis: and Baldric in book 1 of the Cambrai
Chronicle chapter 73 mentions Amulricus the Count
from the district of Hainaut, who had married the wife of Isaac Count
of Cambrai. Thus many formerly powerful men
through the tract of Hainaut, and in other provinces, used the title of Counts
or even of Dukes. That however the insignia are added,
which were then nowhere employed, can be excused
by the common license of painters, so that their great nobility
might be indicated.
[7] The author of the Life in chapters 6 and 7 describes the marriage of Saint
Aya with Saint Hidulf and the holy life of these spouses,
as though through its whole course they preserved chastity, with the authority
adduced of Thomas Gozee Doctor of Louvain, Marriage. who in the Notes on
the life of Blessed Walbert and Bertilia published in 1553,
related that some think and assert this; and specifically
Jerome Mord, a Religious of Villars, in his
Annals attributes to them a double crown, namely of virginity
and of marriage. Hence with the Annals of
James of Guise and the Lobbes monastery noted in the margin, but the place not indicated,
the author of the Life asserts, that these two Saints, as soon as they were
wed, had no other thoughts, than to
constitute Christ the heir in his poor. Wherefore
they made themselves father and mother and nurturers
of the servants and handmaids of Christ, thinking their Duchies, Counties,
and Baronies would be monasteries; their hospitals,
their dominions; Religious of each sex, their legitimate heirs; and
their poor and orphans, their infants and children. Which
the author in chapter 8 again confirms, where he relates them to have been
separated by mutual consent, and from the Lobbes Chronicle alleges this:
"In the year seven hundred seven,
Hidulphus the Duke died at Lobbes. He under Blessed Ursmar enclosed
his own things and himself in the Lobbes place." But these things are not
in our double copy of the Lobbes Chronicle,
nor in the same Chronicle published in volume 6 of the Spicilegium of Achery,
but in chapter 2 is handed down, "Saint Ursmar received the same monastery
to be ruled through the intervention of Hidulfus,
who was one of the nobles of the greater kingdom."
Saint Ursmar was however made Abbot in the year
698, died in the year 713 on this April 18,
as from the life already related is clear.
[8] The author of the life in the same chapter 8, from Thomas Gozee's
Annotations, adds this: Riches obtained from the husband's death. "What and how great were Hidulf's
riches one can even now see. For whatever was theirs,
this Saint Aya, surviving the said husband, gave all
to the Church of Saint Waldetrude. She then gave the whole
patrimony for the use of the holy Virgins of Saint Waldetrude:
the ornaments which she had royal,
she gave to the beauty of the churches; but the estates and
infinite possessions, by public donation she bestowed for the work
of those serving in the basilica then of Saint Peter, now of Waldetrude;
keeping nothing for herself except the cheap garment
of the nuns of the Order of Saint Benedict." The author
then explains in chapters 9 and 10 how Saint Aya, the pomp of the world
left behind, entered the sacred College of Canonesses, and
exercised herself in every kind of virtue; worthy, to succeed Saint
Waldetrude after her death in the rule of the Parthenon;
as he continues in chapters 11 and 12, where he writes
that she had familiar conversation with the Angels; and
therefore in a second image with an Angel she is depicted in the garment
of Canonesses, with this inscription: "Saint Aya or Agia
Canoness first, then Abbess of the most noble
College of Saint Waldetrude at Mons in Hainaut:
died full of merits and miracles about the year 730
on April 18": and in chapter 13 he asserts this is the common opinion.
But if she reached the year 730, she seems to have reached
quite a great old age. It is wondrous however that in
the proper Lessons no mention is made of cenobitic life
and rule, if any foundation for asserting it is held
in the ancient documents, or from a sufficiently
solid tradition.
[9] In chapters 14 and 15 her cult and veneration is treated,
with the testimonies of Molanus, Wion, and others adduced. In whose
place from the Gallican Martyrology of Saussay we give this eulogy,
not without errors conceived in this way. "Likewise at Mons
in Hainaut, then under the Presulate of Noyon
(correct: under the presulate of Cambrai) the deposition of Saint Aya
the Countess, a woman of admirable piety and charity,
who was wife of Blessed Hidulf Toparch of Lobbes,
entering with him upon the plan of dedicating herself to Christ, when he
professing the religious life, shining in the splendor of his merits,
had been made Abbot and Bishop of the same place;
she herself entering the monastery of Castrilocum, which her cousin
Blessed Waldetrude had founded, not only with revenue
increased, but also illustrated with the ornaments of extraordinary virtue:
and so intent on pious works, and persevering in the holy
religious purpose, immaculate from
this world she rendered her soul to God. Whose memory
the Mons Church cultivates, and is accustomed to invoke her help
in Litanies." Thus Saussay, who wrote the last parts about Saint Aya
copied from Molanus: the earlier parts about Saint Hildulf drew from
Trithemius, On the Illustrious Men of the Order of Saint Benedict book
3 chapter 303 and book 4 chapter 232; where is said, "Hildulphus, from
Duke a monk of Lobbes, and afterwards Abbot
there and finally Bishop of Lobbes." But
Trithemius is argued guilty of error in the Notes on the *Natalities of the Saints
of Belgium* of Molanus, in the Douai edition of 1616. Which
will be shown at greater length on his natal day.
[10] Privilege of Philip the Good. What above in the Lessons is referred as the donation of the Duchy
left by Saint Waldetrude to her kinswoman Aya, and her mutual
liberal offering of her allodia, the same is contained
in the author of the Life in the Privilege of Philip the Good Duke of Burgundy
signed on January 14 of the year 1458: the allodia
in French are thus brought forth: "Quesme, Nimy, Masieres, and
Braine la Wihotte," where also is said among other sacred bodies
to be preserved the body of Saint Aya, of which in chapter 16 that
ancient testimony is brought forth in these words: "The whole treasury
of Saint Waldetrude three times was reduced to ashes, Relics saved from the fire. and
very many relics of Saints, and among the principal ones
of Saint Aya, were burned with the reliquary." The year of that last fire
to have been the twelfth above a thousand and a hundred
the same author asserts, and that a great part of the relics of Saint
Aya was by God's singular providence saved.
CHAPTER III.
The patronage of Saint Aya in lawsuits, various graces. Relics and cult at Antwerp and Brussels.
[11] The often-cited French Life is closed with that notable
miracle, in which Saint Aya is said to have spoken from the very sepulchre,
and testified that she had donated her allodia to the church of Saint Waldetrude;
She is venerated as patroness in lawsuits, as also James of Guise relates
in part 2 of the Hainault History book 11 chapter 4, and is confirmed
in the Lessons premised. For that reason because the action, brought against
the Chapter by adversaries, is believed to have been terminated; therefore
the Blessed one began to be held as Patroness of those whose just causes
are in danger under the doubtful or long discussion of forensic contentions;
or the necessary documents for proving justice,
unhappily lost, or fraudulently withdrawn, are not hoped
able to be recovered by human diligence. Nor
in vain: for effective help many have felt and feel,
afterwards testified gratitude, by having a solemn Mass sung in honor
of the Saint helper: as was testified to us by Lady
Margaret of Jausse, called of Mastaing, one of the principal
and senior members of the Chapter, by her letter written on this matter
on November 13, 1671, in which she expressed various other things, among
all especially certain favors referred to the patronage of Blessed Aya
by pious people of Mons, from the year 1620, in which
by the multiplication of such benefits the affection of devotion
toward the Blessed one was warmed up again.
[12] "A certain one," she says, "religious of the Order of Minims
asserted to me, and she has bestowed various graces upon various ones, that to his mother, for twenty years
failing with a hectic consumption, the Blessed one had appeared and said,
that she should be of good cheer, because she would come
shortly, and would take her to herself, because
she had always been singularly devoted to her; and within a week
she expired. The same grace deserved a certain
gate-keeper of this city, consumed by a similar wasting, and
similarly devoted to Blessed Aya: who manifesting herself to him
said, that he should dispose himself for death, through which from all
trouble he would soon be freed. A certain
citizen of this city of Mons, already about to lose his case,
on account of a certain instrument lost, and through all the chests
vainly sought, the loss; vowed eight continuous
Masses to be had sung in the chapel of Saint Aya, and found the desired
document on a certain board, where it was known
nothing of this kind had been placed. Another in a like
case, similarly promised some sacrifices to be had
in the aforesaid place: and soon entered the house
a little boy, who what was sought on a staff
as a banner was carrying singing. I know a person,
singularly devoted to the Blessed one, whose throat an angina so
tightened once and again, that she was awaiting the hand
and iron of the surgeon on the following day: who invoking the Blessed one's
help felt it ready; after a short sleep
she was free from every evil: and this happened in the seventieth year
of this century. I know another, who from an incurable
disease also suffering intolerable torments,
merited health, vowing an Octave of Masses,
with a sacred ex-voto to be hung at the Blessed one's altar."
[13] And these and other things, although before sacred judges not yet
legitimately testified and proved, Relics brought to Antwerp. but simply believed in the good
faith of those reporting, were sufficiently effective, that in their necessities
many ran to Blessed Aya; nor were there lacking who, having experienced her
propitious at Mons to themselves or their own, also to outsiders
propagated so praiseworthy a religion. Of these
one was Lady Anna Breyel, daughter of a senatorial man,
a virgin devoted to God, who what she sought and obtained
the most Reverend our Bishop of Antwerp proved by this instrument.
"Zacharias Maes, Archpresbyter of Mons, with legitimate testimony,
and Parish priest of Saint Elizabeth there, to all who will look
on these present, greetings in the Lord. Since the most illustrious
Lady of Mastaing, Canoness Prior of the Chapter of Saint Waldetrude,
had very much insisted with us, that we should be willing to open the reliquary of St. Aya's relics, and to extract from it some portion, for consigning to some pious person of Antwerp, so that she might expose it there to the veneration of the faithful with the Superiors' permission; wishing to yield to the prayers of the aforesaid Lady, we procured for ourselves legitimate authorization from the Most Reverend Lords Vicars General of the vacant Archiepiscopal See, which was given on the 22nd day of April, 1669, provided two Priests should be joined. And the Reverend Lords F. de la Barre called de Manissart and P. Gualtier, Apostolic Notary, were called: in whose presence we opened the aforesaid reliquary, and from it we extracted three particles, which we caused to coalesce into one, trusting that the aforesaid Lady, by her singular zeal and devotion, will procure that they be held in due honor. All which things above said we attest to be most true, and for making faith I have given these present letters, signed by my own hand and those of the aforesaid Priests, and fortified with our seal. At Mons in Hainaut, April 29, in the year of recovered salvation 1669. Z. Maes, Dean. F. de la Barre de Manissart. P. Gualtier, notary.
To these is subjoined the approbation of Ambrose Capello, Bishop of Antwerp, in these words: and with the approbation in the year 1669. "We grant that the aforesaid Relics of St. Aya may be exposed in our diocese of Antwerp to the public veneration of the faithful. Given at Antwerp, July 23, 1669."
[14] There is at Antwerp one of the larger streets, called Cæsarea; in which the sodality of Cloth-shearers has a chapel, in the chapel of the Cæsarea Street. in its own manner elevated and spacious, drawn up from the foundations with squared stone, where the sacred and miraculous image of the Virgin Mother of God, brought within the walls from the suburban fields at the time of the Dutch wars, had hospitality for very many years; and with frequent benefits so kindled the minds not only of neighbors but also of citizens placed farther off, to invoke there with the highest confidence of obtaining their vow the help of the Mother of God; that with peace restored to the Brabant fields, when the aforesaid image was carried back to its place, which is called the field of St. Willibrord, with alms eagerly contributed for retaining the well-established religious observance there, it came about that in a short time that little chapel was much more adorned and more frequented than before; and more so after the pious Priest Lord Peter de Louwe presides there, every year finding new arguments by which he proves his own piety and stirs up another's, they are honored. both toward the chief Patroness of the place, Mary the Virgin, and toward six other illustrious Saints, to be invoked in various bodily or spiritual necessities. But so that one of them might be Blessed Aya, the mentioned Relics were brought into the aforesaid chapel, and her image there set forth and a feast instituted, as of the Patroness in difficult Lawsuits, as can be seen in the little books and images published by the aforementioned Lord Peter, most zealous in this part to increase divine honor.
[15] This example of the Antwerpians also moved the people of Brussels, where not long ago two Virgins devoted to God, Margareta de Nymay and Anna du Bois, piously affected toward St. Aya herself, Others brought to Brussels in the year 1673 obtained in the year 1673 the Relics of St. Aya, fortified with the seal of Ladislaus Jonnaert, Archbishop and Duke of Cambrai, which the same Prelate attested on September 23 had been taken from her reliquary, kept in the illustrious and collegiate church of St. Waldetrude at Mons. When Alphonsus de Berghes, by the grace of God and the Apostolic See Archbishop of Mechelen, had recognized these presented to him on October 9, he approved the same in the tenor of the following letters. "We make known that we, on the day of the date of these present, opened a small wooden pyx, faithfully sent from Mons, and in it found the Relics of St. Aya, according to the testimonial letters of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Archbishop of Cambrai, fastened together with these of ours. Which relics we placed and enclosed in another round pyx, and with the ordinary approving skillfully made of copper and gilded, with crystal shining forth, fastened upon red silk and secured with our seal; and these, as true and legal Relics of the aforesaid St. Aya, with observance of those things which are to be observed from the sacred Council of Trent, we recognized and approved, and also decreed that they can be exposed to the public veneration of the faithful of Christ in our diocese, and by the tenor of these we decree it: granting to all and each of the faithful of both sexes devoutly visiting the said Relics, and pouring forth pious prayers before them in the spirit of humility and contrite heart, or reciting five times the Pater and Ave, according to the intention of the Church and for averting the evils hanging over our country, on the very feast of the said St. Aya each year, on the 18th day of April recurring, and through her whole Octave, and on the first weekdays of each month, forty days of true Indulgence, in the form customary in the church.
[16] solemnly exposed in the year 1674 The aforesaid two Virgins had taken care, before these things were being done about the Relics, on the very natal day of St. Aya, that her beautiful image should be exposed in the parish church of the Mother of God, called the Chapel of St. Mary: but having obtained the very relics and the permission to expose them, as said, they gave the beginning of a greater solemnity, which was performed in this very year 1674, with the annual feast of the Saint recurring: through which first they were exposed upon an altar erected for this purpose in the middle of the church and notably adorned; where they also stood for the whole octave, inserted in the gilded base of a gilded and elegant statue, representing the often-named Saint. There was added to the devotion and concourse of the faithful a plenary Indulgence, obtained from Pope Clement X; likewise a little book about the life and miracles of St. Aya was published there, and dedicated to the wife of Prince Vaudemont; who, a most religious matron, joined through marriage to the Lotharingian House, had believed it to be her duty toward that Saint (as she is now everywhere called) Duchess of Lotharingia, to honor with her presence the first act of exposing the Relics. Further, we gratefully acknowledge that we have received a copy of the said little book and the rest of the knowledge of the matter hitherto narrated from R. P. Fr. Joseph Ignatius a S. Antonio, a Discalced Carmelite, then present at Brussels when these things were happening, and with his own hand describing the diplomas kindly shown by the Pastor of the aforementioned church.