ON SAINT MELANIUS, Bishop of Troyes in Gaul.
AT THE END OF THE FOURTH CENTURY.
CommentaryMelanius, Bishop of Troyes, in Gaul (Saint)
G. H.
[1] Nicolas Camuzat, in the Promptuarium of sacred antiquities of the diocese of Troyes, sets forth a Catalogue of the Bishops of Troyes: among whom fifth is reckoned Saint Melanius, who, as received among the Heavenly Ones, and admitted into the Order of the Saints, in the monastery of Celle is invoked with common vows and prayers: in which his bodily relics, laid in a wooden case, are preserved. Cult on April 22, A solemn commemoration of whose translation is held there on the 22nd day of the month of April. But the natal day of the Saint himself is not celebrated either there or elsewhere, so far as I know. So Camuzat, whom others have followed: and John Chenu also calls him a Saint. Claudius Robertus has this: "Fifth Saint Melanius. His relics are preserved in the monastery of Celle and are venerated on April 22." The same the Sainte-Marthes repeat. On the mentioned monastery of Celle at Troyes we treated broadly on January 8, in the Life of Saint Frodobert the first Abbot. Nicolas Des-Guerrois establishes that he flourished about the year 390, and asserts that he has read in a very ancient Calendar of the monastery of Celle, that Saint Melanius is placed among the Saints whose festival is kept in the church of the said Abbey, and that his feast is devoutly celebrated on April 22, with the Ecclesiastical Office of the Translation of the relics of the said Saint. Further, that his relics are preserved in a very ancient and painted case, deposited behind the high altar, relics, in the second niche toward the cloister on the North; but that his sacred head, enclosed in a wooden head painted and gilded, is separately exposed for worship.
[2] The same Des-Guerrois writes that the Translation of Saints Melanius and Bobinus is reported in the MS. Calendar of the same monastery of Celle, and in the MS. Martyrology of Saint Lupus of Troyes; of him and Saint Bobinus. and in an old parchment of the Priory of Gannay of Saint George this is read: "Three arms, one rib, two hips of Saint Bobinus or Melanius. For I found their bodies together, I Peter the Abbot." Saussay also in the Supplement of the Gallican Martyrology celebrates both, as we have more broadly set forth on January 31 in the Life of Saint Bobinus.