Michomeres

ON SAINT MICHOMERES

AT TONNERRE IN FRENCH CHAMPAGNE

ABOUT THE YEAR 440

Michomeres, at Tonnerre, in Gaul (Saint)

BY D. P.

Tonnerre, a town in Champagne where it borders on Burgundy, of the diocese of Langres, reckons Saint Michomeres among its Patrons and Tutelaries. Monuments of ancient cult at Tonnerre Among the monuments of ancient cult, there still remains a small chapel there, now called of Saint Lupus: which many centuries ago bore the title of Saint Michomeres, the charters of the archives of Molême teach, besides the constant tradition of the ancestors: in which William Count of Tonnerre is written to have given moreover to Lord Robert Abbot of Molême the Chapel of Saint Michomeres, which is outside the castle.

[2] There is also an old parchment Ms. Missal, written, as it appears, four hundred years ago, in the middle of which a Mass of Blessed Michomeres is found, written in an ancient and larger character than the rest, Mass for him, the Introit running thus: "The just shall not be disturbed." In the same book is held this kind of Benediction for making "vinagium" for the sick, with the help of Saint Michomeres implored: "Lord Jesus Christ, Benediction Almighty King and Creator of all, who for the health of both the soul and the body of men, in your last supper with your disciples on the day before you were to suffer, deigned to confect and institute the most holy Sacrament of your Body and Blood, and to consecrate it from the substance of bread and wine: mercifully grant through the invocation of your most holy and excellent name, and through the pious merits and intercessions of the most glorious Virgin Mary your Mother, and also of the Blessed Lupus the Bishop, Marcellus the Martyr from Greece, Micomiris the Confessor from Ireland, a northern and distant region, your servants, whose memory is held in this oratory, that all who shall have reverently tasted from this bread and cup (which you deign to bless ✠ and sanctify ✠) may receive the health both of soul and of body."

[3] statue, Also an ancient stone statue is seen at the top of the oratory, expressing Saint Michomeres, carrying in hand a traveling staff and on his head a broad hat, on whose base is inscribed "S. Micomer": which name is also read engraved on the bronze bell of the chapel in these words: "I am called Micomeres, summoning to the Recluse of God those who pray, in the year of the Lord 1511." As here "Recluse" is said, so the chapel is commonly called "Saint Loup le Reclus": which we take as though it were said, "Saint Lupus of the Recluses." And we have taken these from the French booklet of Robert Luyt, Canon of Tonnerre, printed in the year 1656.

[3] cenotaph Concerning the body nothing is established; only Robert narrates that there was from immemorial time in the middle of the said chapel, near the very altar, a large tomb of cut stones, raised two or three feet from the ground, whose end gaped with a great and wide opening, and whoever applied his ear, would hear the response of a sensible voice to whatever was asked about most secret matters. Which indeed I would boldly affirm was not free from superstition: and therefore that hermit seems to me not to be so gravely reproached, so that he is even called sacrilegious, who about the year 1628 took care to have that tomb demolished. Yet this same hermit, when he had caused the altar itself also to be dug under, so that a chamber might be built for him under it; a chest with a body found under the altar. and the workman applied to the work, witness sworn and eye of the whole matter according to the author, had struck against a large stone chest, destitute of a cover; which, I say, within the same chest were found bones of a whole human body and six skulls; without any discussion, which the very circumstance of the more sacred place could suggest (for other than bodies of Saints are not wont to be deposited under an altar), he buried them all alike outside the chapel to the left, between two pine nuts, adorning the entrance of that little garden which served as a cemetery for the hermits living there; in this indeed he must be said to have acted not very prudently or religiously. And the chest indeed was carried off, and brought into the city, says the author; but one may suspect the body to have been of Saint Micomeris, and the skulls of persons of proven virtue, for the sake of reverence composed within the same chest; then he promises that work will be given by himself to seek the same body, if those whose consent is necessary permit. He also mentions an ancient little chest, bearing traces of certain old letters, still to be seen in the said chapel, which seems to have had the use of a reliquary.

[4] But leaving aside this most recent writer, rightly obtaining credence in those things which he narrates from present certitude; let us pass to the older account of Saint Micomeres, which in the Acts of Saint Germanus of Auxerre, to be given on July 31, Erricus, monk of Auxerre, supplies, writing thus in the 9th century: "As therefore Saint Germanus had devoted his own head to ecclesiastical utilities from the soul, He a disciple of Saint Germanus of Auxerre for the reason of a certain business it happened to him with his beloved companions to undertake a necessary journey. He now having somewhat progressed, one of his disciples, who had followed the holy man from Ireland, whose name was Michomeri, chosen for this same expedition, because he could not go out with him, set out after his master's footsteps: He dies at Tonnerre who when he had come to the castle whose name is Tharnorium, and which is distant from the city nearly eighteen miles; intercepted by weakness he there lay down, and after a few days having passed, died, and on the slope of the same rock was committed to burial by the faithful. It happened that the most blessed Germanus, after some days, having retraced his journey, came to the same place: I believe that by the Holy Spirit foretelling him, he learned of his disciple's departure: and approaching the place where he had been buried, prayer having been sent up, he ordered the sepulchre to be unsealed. Michomeres, being called by name, and raised by him to life having resumed the use of life, is said to have sat up: of whom the most holy Pontiff, more curiously asking what he was doing, or if he was enjoying rest, is confirmed to have received this answer: 'Thanks,' he said, 'most holy Father, I both give and have to your special merits, because on your account I have suffered nothing grievous, nothing sad; all things to me are peaceful, so that he might disclose the state of his soul he again rests in peace, all are sound.' To whom the Pontiff: 'Do you wish,' he said, 'to labor with me yet in the office of preaching, or to rest as you have begun?' Then he: 'Provided it is not grievous to your Sanctity, I have no need to be further a pilgrim from Christ, to whom to cling as I have begun is best for me, and from the place whence I was called away to be called back as soon as possible by your prayers.' The aforesaid Pontiff consenting, he again laid down his head, and with all wondering rested in peace. I would confidently say that He was then dwelling in Germanus, who once called Lazarus four days dead out of the now closed tomb. and a small oratory being built, he is venerated. This miracle both widely spread then, and even now is carried round most celebrated through the mouths of all: for to Blessed Michomeri an oratory has since been built in that very place, where to those worthily venerating the Saint of God, divine benefits are today heaped up." Now the place is outside the Tonnerre castle, hanging from the slope of the neighboring hill: why it was chosen for burying the body, I do not wish to ask by divining.

[5] There remain further to be examined and illustrated the words of Erricus, which alone seem to contain all that can now be known about Micomeres. And first it is beyond doubt that he was one of the disciples of Saint Germanus: Did he follow Saint Germanus from Ireland, but it is added that "he had followed him from Ireland"; and the first prayer at the Mass is in agreement: "God, who made Blessed Michomeres come from Ireland to this slope of the rock, grant propitiously that through his coming we may merit to come to the fellowship of your elect." But this addition about Ireland has the greatest difficulty: since the name Micomeris, manifestly foreign, has no affinity with Irish names. Truly Colgan cited by Robert, I know not in what place of his works (for the place is not indicated, nor do the Indices exhibit the name of Micomeris), Colgan, I say, recognizing that the name of Michomeris is unused among the Irish, says "rather I would believe this one to have been called Mochonna"; with a word indeed familiar to the same Irish, as fourteen Saints so called and inscribed on various days in the native fasti prove; but by no means sufficient to found so bold, and least necessary a conjecture, unless it is assumed for certain (which above the other assertions of Robert about Micomeris has the least likelihood) that he was also an Irish Saint. But he is said only to "have followed from Ireland": but neither this itself can be said: for it would be presumed that Saint Germanus went to Ireland, which neither is held from any authority, nor can be feigned by any likely conjecture: because before the preaching of Saint Patrick either all or almost all Ireland was gentile, and especially the northern, as is clear from what has been said on March 17.

[6] or rather from Nivernia, What then? I suggest an easy emendation, such as we had to apply elsewhere, in the Pretermitted on March 16, where we corrected the error of certain Martyrologies attributing the deposition of Saint Patrick, Bishop and Confessor, to the people of Auvergne (Arverni), by substituting "Iverni" or "Iberni" for "Arverni." Apply a similar correction, conversely, to Erricus (if indeed this error is his, and not of the copyists, who easily err in similar names), and instead of "Ireland" read "Nivernia," bordering on the diocese of Auxerre, where Micomer born of Frankish or Saxon parents, earning Roman pay and having their quarters among the Gauls (for the barbarians did not yet hold Gaul, but many of them followed Roman service), easily could come to the notice of Saint Germanus, or Britain? and received by him into the Clerical Order adhere to him, as one brought up in the Roman language used throughout Gaul, and barbarous now only in name. But if someone would take "Britain" for "Hibernia," and would have Micomeres cling to him in it, at the time when Saint Germanus was there while it groaned under the Saxon arms, he could consequently suspect that the youth was captured in that encounter, in which the Britons unarmed obtained victory over the Saxons and pagan Picts, and with only "Alleluia" shouted drove the enemy into flight; and that the Saints, the authors of victory, so pleased by his docility to admit the faith, led him with them into Gaul.

[7] But against this is objected a certain Auxerre Ms., where these things are read about the Saint: "Blessed Micomeres, Irish by origin and of royal stock, was born about the year 410, instructed in the orthodox faith by Saint Germanus Bishop of Auxerre in the year 431, A novel fiction with whom in the following year he came into France. He stays at Auxerre in the Seminary or in the Cathedral in the year 433, an inseparable companion of Saint Germanus, also in the second English pilgrimage against the Pelagians in the year 443. Returning from England he is made Provost of Auxerre in the year 444; then he proceeds to Upper Burgundy to the Council of Besançon,

with the Empress Placidia being present and Saint Hilary Archbishop of Arles presiding: but on the journey he falls ill at Tonnerre, and so remains there while Saint Germanus goes further, where he soon died in the year 446, buried here on the hill, by the hands of Saint Lupus Bishop of Troyes. To whom N. Count of Tonnerre soon set a small chapel above about the year 1231." You may rightly doubt whether the author of this Ms. read Erricus, when he passes over that which was especially memorable, about the Saint raised from the dead; and out of a guest of a few days of the Tonnerre castle makes him a two-year inhabitant, following popular little narrations, vehemently altered in the course of so many centuries.

[8] For that this writing is of small antiquity and therefore of little authority, to omit other things, the mere mention of the Seminary of Auxerre can teach; since it was the discovery of the Council of Trent, in episcopal cities to raise Seminaries for forming young men for the Clerical state. And so rejecting this spurious writing as a new fiction, we are forced to reject almost the whole booklet of the aforesaid Robert, built upon it, and dilated into sixteen chapters through many rash conjectures. And first, we deny that Micomeres was Irish. Then we do not admit a royal stock, as if the Saint was born from the Kings of Ireland, much less Machomer and Michomer Irish princelings, whose name this Saint and perhaps also lineage bore, although Ptolemy, Strabo, Lily Giraldi, and Polydore Virgil are alleged as authors. Third, we consider that from those words "instructed in the orthodox faith," gratuitously set down, it is ineptly deduced that Michomer was a Pelagian, which heresy was then raging among the Britons, and was repressed and overcome by Saints Germanus and Lupus. For if Michomer followed him from Nivernia, he must have been instructed from infancy in the Christian and orthodox faith: but if in Britain he joined the Saint, he could have been a gentile: because in Britain many were still pagans, as is clear from the Life of Saint Germanus, from whom the greatest multitude of the British army sought the wave of salutary washing and obtained it: and the Saxons and Picts, as is there narrated, were waging war against the Britons with joined forces, converted by Saint Germanus from the Pelagian heresy, both gentiles; which Saxons having first been summoned against the Picts and Scots by the Britons themselves, had entered the island, and Micomer tracing his lineage from these would have been wholly gentile. But beware, reader, under the specious title of "Excellent Victory, by the Victorious Grace of Christ over the Pelagian Heresy among the Britons reported through the return of Micomer"; beware, I say, of the hidden poison. Here lurks the Jansenian snake; yet so that it not only betrays itself by its hisses, but openly raises its head, while without reverence for the Apostolic See the most damnable book of Jansenius is repeatedly indicated in the margin, for thus the grace of the Bishop of Sens must be captured, to whom, then the coryphaeus of the whole sect, this new Life of Micomeres was to be inscribed, with graver injury to the Saint himself than praise.

[9] Provost of Auxerre But I leave these things to other judges to castigate, and returning to the history founded in the Auxerre fiction, I deny that the Priesthood and Provostship of Micomeres are made credible by any solid authority; nor is Erricus proved worthy of reprehension, when he prefixed to the Chapter, where he was about to treat of our Saint, the title "of Saint Micomeres the monk." The author indeed reveals profound ignorance or more truly the innate malevolence of his sect toward the monastic order, when he refuses to admit the name of monk, as if the monastic institute was then unknown to the West. I deny moreover that from the year 446, in which Micomeres died, can be established from the time of the Council of Besançon, on a journey to the Council of Besançon he died in which Saint Celidonius was wrongly accused of bigamy and deposed from his See: for this is proved to have happened before the year 445 from the letter of Saint Leo, of which Baronius and Chiffletius in his Vesontio. Moreover, with Erricus silent about what business summoned Germanus from Auxerre, it is gratuitously presumed that it was Burgundian: and since the Tonnerre castle is outside the way which leads from Auxerre to Besançon, hence also such a conjecture is convicted of vanity.

[10] With similar lightness it is also imagined that Saint Lupus of Troyes was a companion of this journey; and left by Saint Germanus proceeding on his way with the sick man, burial taken care of by Saint Lupus. he took care of the burial of the dead man, who was raised only when Germanus, the business at Besançon being completed, retraced his way. If Saint Lupus was present either at the dying or at the burying, it is credible that from his nearby city of Troyes, upon hearing the news he came, in regard of the friendship and familiarity which he had with Saint Germanus and his disciples: yet twice nearer was Auxerre itself, so that one might more probably be summoned from there who would care for the funeral. With equal rashness, finally, it is asserted that the Counts of Tonnerre and hosts of Micomer were Hilarius and Quieta, the parents of Saint John of Réome; for this one is said in his Life, given January 28, to have been born under the territory of the city of Langres, and the parents of Saint John of Réome. nor does Tonnerre belong to this, distant from Langres by one hundred and more miles. Tonnerre afterwards received its own Counts, by one of whom the chapel of Saint Micomeres was built or restored, as proves its handing over into the right of the monastery of Molême in the 11th century, two hundred years before the Auxerre manuscript assigns its building. Perhaps in the 13th century the same chapel was restored in honor of Saint Lupus; and this gave occasion to the error, easily to be pardoned, unless the author had marked each member of his fiction with a determined year, so confidently, as if he had learned each thing from the most certain testimonies; when meanwhile he seems to have known nothing else about Saint Micomeres, than that he was a disciple of Saint Germanus; and to have been entirely ignorant that he was both raised and buried by him.