CONCERNING THE HOLY CONFESSORS FRIARDUS AND SECUNDELLUS, RECLUSES IN THE DIOCESE OF NANTES IN GAUL.
6th Century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The cult, relics, age & Acts of both Saints.
Friardus, recluse in the diocese of Nantes (S.) Secundellus, recluse in the diocese of Nantes (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
Concerning the city of Nantes, its territory and the adjacent islands, since it has already so many times had to be treated in this work, it does not seem worth the while to repeat these things here anew. Not equally accessible will it be to find the place, Not so much about the place of the anchoresis in which both those Saints spent their solitary life, so designated by St. Gregory bishop of Tours, that I have hitherto sought it in vain. Thus he speaks in the Lives of the Fathers chapter 10, in which he alone has embraced whatever can be reported concerning either Saint: There was therefore, near the island Vindunitta of the city of Nantes: Whether in the very city? Whether not in the vicinity of the city? Whether not in some island among those of which there is treatment on 25 March, where the Acts of St. Hermeland abbot of Antre are illustrated, with this beginning: The Loire, among the greater rivers of Gaul, which it intersects, a few miles below the city of Nantes, encloses in its bed some islands, of which the chief was called Antre from St. Hermeland. Let it be allowed to number among the less noble ones the Vindunitta of the Turonensian Gregory, concerning which, since the editor Ruinart had nothing to say beyond this little note; most editions read Vindimitta, the Colbert & Bellovacensis read below Vindonitensem; I beg to be pardoned that I waste no more oil and labor upon it.
[2] Let it therefore be Vindunitta, let it be Vindumitta, let it be Vindonita, the place, about whose cult it is asked, or, as Cointius writes, Vindinuta, the place of the anchoresis of our Saints, it will be for us some island, if not in the very city of Nantes, at least situated in its vicinity, concerning which we leave further inquiry to the inhabitants themselves, more skilled in their own territory. This is first to be established by us, that Secundellus equally as Friardus is honored as a true Saint among the people of Nantes, although Albert le Grand, as if studiously, shuns to attribute the appellation of saint to Secundellus, which at first the recent Gallic Legendist seemed to imitate, who nevertheless toward the end dares not deny that a temple was erected to St. Secundellus equally as to St. Friardus in the place of the burial of each. Castellanus, more scrupulous in observing the days of death, places St. Friardus indeed on this day on an island of the Loire, which he dares not name; but he refers St. Secundellus to 29 April: rightly enough perhaps, as others too speak with Albert; but to us it does not seem that one should depart from the Martyrologies, which, although a little more recent (for in the ancient or Classical ones they are altogether unknown), mark both Saints on this very day, and under the same announcement.
[3] sufficiently established in the codices of Usuard; Among these the most ancient, which indeed I know, is that which, among the Usuardine martyrologies named from the celebrated monastery of Anchin, reads very briefly in this manner: Likewise of the holy Freardus (for Friardus) & Secundellus. Nearest to this is our Florarium of the Saints, Ms., compiled in the middle of the 15th century, as we have noted more than once elsewhere, in the monastery of Rougevallée, in which they are announced in this manner: Likewise of the holy confessors Friardus & Secundellus. Thence, with so many others, I would dare to say they were received from the Lübeck-Cologne edition, where for Likewise is substituted; On the same day, of the holy confessors Friardus & Secundellus, which is the very announcement of Grevenus, only both said particles now being omitted: for he writes; Of the confessors Friardus & Secundellus. Finally Molanus in his first edition announcing; Of Secundellus abbot & Friardus, concerning whom Gregory of Tours, shows, unless I am much mistaken, that he did not consult St. Gregory, whom he cites, at the source: whence in the later editions more correctly & briefly, with the above-cited Anchin codex, he simply writes Friardus & Secundellus.
[4] To this belongs what Cointius in his Annals at the year 577, though it varies in the day. number 50, observes in this manner: Molanus in the additions to Usuard & the author of the Gallican Martyrology in his Supplement at the Kalends of August have made mention of the holy Friardus & Secundellus, who, it is agreed, were most closely joined in friendship, & led an eremitic life on the same island. Nevertheless Albert de Mont-Relais observes that St. Secundellus departed to God on the third day before the Kalends of May, & St. Friardus on the Kalends of August. Gregory of Tours attests that St. Friardus survived St. Secundellus a long time: which from the Life soon to be given will be most manifest. Add what the same Cointius mentions at number 49: St. Friardus, who led a solitary life on the island Vindinuta near Nantes, is venerated on the Kalends of August in the Supplement of the Gallican Martyrology & in Armorica sancta; but his festivity is transferred to the following day by the people of Nantes, because the Kalends of August is impeded by the feast of St. Peter in Chains. That this was sometime in use among the people of Nantes, I dare not indeed deny; but that another rite or order of the Breviary is today observed there, is clear from this, that among the proper Offices of that diocese, published already from the year 1623, which are in our hands, nowhere does even the sole commemoration of either Saint appear.
[5] Further, that the sacred relics both of St. Friardus and of St. Secundellus were held in price & veneration, relics St. Gregory himself sufficiently attests, when he narrates the marvels which happened at the death of the former, whose glorious body, he says, the priest (St. Felix) washed and laid away in a tomb, I suppose, either in the very cell which the Saint had before inhabited, & had probably buried the body of his Companion, or at least in the vicinity; concerning which Cointius speaks thus at the already-said number 49: In that place, where St. Friardus was buried by Felix bishop of Nantes, there is today a parish church, marked with the name of St. Friardus himself & of St. Secundellus, as is read in the Breviary of Nantes. If the cited Breviary were at hand, perhaps other things too would be read there, which would bring some light to obscurer matters, & would together teach us to combine these Cointian statements with those which, toward the end of his Gregorian elogium, the above-said collector of the Armorican Saints, Albert de Mont-Relais, hands down not distinctly enough, when he says: That St. Felix of Nantes & his clerics celebrated the obsequies of St. Friardus, & translated the sacred body into the church of Presne, where it was buried, & shone with so many miracles, that his sacred relics, afterward raised from the earth, partly remained in the temple founded by him (I suppose St. Felix), where the Saint is patron of the place, partly were translated into the cathedral church of Nantes.
[6] Otherwise & a little more clearly, I know not whether more truly, speaks the Gallic Legendist, singular veneration. when he reports that the relics of St. Friardus (he could have added, unless I am mistaken, & of St. Secundellus) were, long after his death, raised from the first burial & translated into Besnay; where some contend that St. Friardus himself was born, & is today venerated as patron of the same church. Three things here are to be reconciled. 1. That the place in which St. Friardus was first buried by St. Felix is today a parish church, marked with the name of St. Friardus & St. Secundellus. 2. That the sacred body was carried by St. Felix himself into Besnay & there buried. 3. That the relics of the Saints, long after his death, were raised from the first burial, & then at last translated into Besnay. I ask therefore,
whether Besnay or Besne is situated on the very island, & so a part of the sacred bodies is today honored there; or perhaps more remote thence and on the mainland; so that on the island there now survives no vestige of cult? But I see that one need not dwell longer upon these things; let the church of Besnay be the same as that which Cointius says is a parish marked with the very name of St. Friardus & St. Secundellus; let it be different: let those examine these things more accurately who are nearer to ignoble places. Nor is one to dispute concerning the age or deeds of the Saints; concerning that Cointius has determined probably enough at the place already cited; concerning these, moreover, we have as witness St. Gregory of Tours, whose words it will be enough to have reported. Lo here in few words what is read in him concerning the year of the nativity & of the death:
[7] The age not certain enough. Gregory of Tours, in the little book which he wrote concerning the Life of St. Friardus, records his death on the Lord's Day under the pontificate of bishop Felix, after the death of king Chlothar: whence we gather that it necessarily happened, with the Sunday letter C running through the month of August, either this year, or in the year of Christ five hundred sixty-six: but that we should choose the present year of the two, this reason persuades, that in Gregory Friardus seems to have lived more than five years after Chlothar. In the Breviary of Nantes he is said to be already advanced in age; & he was born in the year of Christ five hundred eleven, if faith is given to the author of Armorica sancta. Albert's chronological ignorance, which in the Commentary on St. Felix of Nantes at 7 July we have so many times corrected, is here also deservedly to be chastised, when by his own mere judgment he defers the death of St. Friardus to the year 581, at which he had to sweat in vain, in order to combine 1 August with the Lord's Day. There remains now only the elogium of St. Gregory of Tours, which we shall call the Life of our Saints.
LIFE
From St. Gregory of Tours, Book of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 10.
Friardus, recluse in the diocese of Nantes (S.) Secundellus, recluse in the diocese of Nantes (S.)
BHL Number: 3148
From Greg. of Tours.
Friardus, taught the help of God, Many & various are the degrees by which one ascends to the kingdoms of heaven, concerning which, as I think, David also says: For he has disposed ascents in his heart. These degrees, then, are taken to be the advances of divers works toward the divine worship, & no one can fix his step in these unless he shall have been, as we have often testified, aroused by the help of God. For thus the Psalmist speaks in that degree of middle advancement, saying: Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it. Which help, not only the Martyrs, but also those whom the authority of sacred life strengthened, continually seeking, alert, arrived at that which sufficient spiritual desire brought forth. For if the mind was kindled to martyrdom, the Martyr besought the aid of this help, that he might conquer: if he strove to apply the observance of fasting, that he might be comforted by it, he was afflicted: if he wished to keep his limbs unpolluted for chastity, that he might be fortified by it, he prayed: if after ignorance he desired to be converted by repenting, that he might none the less be raised up by it, he besought with tears: & if any of them meditated to exercise any good work, that he might be helped by this aid, he sought it. Through these ascents of this ladder, then, so difficult, so lofty, so arduous, though they be diverse, yet to one Lord one ascends through the aid of this help. Therefore ever must he be sought, he inquired for, he invoked, that what the mind conceives of good, he himself may perfect by his help, concerning whom it behooves us also to say without end: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven & earth. As also that most blessed one, concerning whom now our discourse is to be, who amid divers temptations, or crosses of the world, ever sought the safeguard of this help.
[2] There was, therefore, near the island Vindunitta of the city of Nantes, a man of surpassing sanctity, Friardus by name, &, having wondrously experienced it, into solitude a recluse, concerning whose life it delights my mind to say a little for the edification of the Church, because I know not whether it has been written by anyone. He was from his infancy ever devoted to God & modest: but when he had become a man, he lived ever in the praises of God, ever in prayer, ever in vigils: he exacted the necessaries of sustenance from the earth with his own hands; & if he hastened at work among the rest, he never ceased from prayer; which to his neighbors or to strangers, as the custom of rustics has it, was ridiculous. But on a certain day, while with the rest he was binding sheaves in the standing grain, the stalks being cut, they find a swarm of wretched & savage flies, which commonly they call wasps: & when the reapers, going about on every side, were most sharply torn by the darted stings, they leap over that place, in which these were gathered together, & mocking address the blessed Friardus deceitfully, saying: Let him who ceases not to pray, who ever imposes the cross upon his ears & eyes, who sends before the ways of his journey the saving standards; let him himself reap over the swarm, let him by his prayer make it gentle. Then, receiving these words as if to the confusion of the Lord's power, prostrate on the earth, he poured out a prayer to the Lord; & approaching, having made over them the sign of the cross, he said: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven & earth. At this prayer of his, forthwith all the wasps hid themselves within the cavern whence they had come forth. But he, to the spectacle of all, reaped over the swarm unharmed. Which was not without a miracle to the mockers, for that the Lord had thus deigned to strengthen one hoping in him, to their confusion. Then, after these things, when he had climbed a tree for some need, suddenly, the branch being crushed beneath his feet, he began to fall, & falling downward, at each of the branches which he struck he invoked the most blessed name of Christ, saying: Christ almighty, save me. And when he had come to the ground he was in nothing harmed, but ever said: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven & earth.
[3] Animated by these & other virtues, he began silently within the secrets of his heart to think, he betakes himself [to solitude with Secundellus;] saying: If the cross of Christ, & the invocation of his name, & the help sought from him have such power that it conquers all the rough things of the world, overwhelms the perilous, drives off the black things of temptations, & counts as nothing & disdains all the delights of this age: what have I & the world in common, save that, leaving all things which are its own, I ought to be free for the service of him alone, by the invocation of whose name I have been saved from wicked perils? And having gone out from his little lodging, forgetful of parents & fatherland, he sought the desert, lest to one dwelling in the world the solicitude of the world should confer some hindrance to prayer. He too & abbot Sabaudus, who had once been a minister of king Chlothar, receiving penance, attacked the island Vindunitensis of the territory of Nantes: they had, moreover, with them Secundellus the deacon. But the abbot, having taken his hand from the plough of the Lord, departing from the island, returned to the monastery, & not long after was slain by the sword for hidden causes. But St. Friardus with Secundellus the deacon stood immovable on the above-said island: each of them, however, had his own little cell, but placed far from one another.
[4] who, deluded by a demon, And when they were strenuously persisting in prayer, by night the tempter appeared to Secundellus the deacon in the appearance of the Lord, saying: I am Christ, whom thou daily beseechest. For now thou art made holy, & I have inscribed thy name in the book of life with the rest of my Saints: go forth now from this island, & go, work healings among the peoples. Enticed by these deceptions, he departed from the island, nor announced it to his companion: yet when in the name of Christ he laid hands upon the sick, they were healed. But returning after a long time to the island, he came to his companion with vainglory, saying: For I went outside the island & wrought many virtues among the peoples. And when the other, terrified, asked what this might mean to him, he simply disclosed all that he had done. But the elder, astonished, & sighing & weeping, said: Woe to us, in as much as I hear, thou hast been deluded by the tempter! Go, do penance, lest his wiles prevail further against thee.
[5] after penance he dies holily, Understanding this, & fearing that he had perished, with weeping he prostrates himself at his feet, asking that he would beseech the Lord for him. Go, he said, & together let us ask his omnipotence for the salvation of thy soul: for the Lord is not hard to have mercy on those who confess themselves; since he himself says through the Prophet: I will not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted & live. But while they were praying, the tempter came again in a like appearance to Secundellus the deacon, saying: Had I not commanded thee, for that my sheep were sick & lacked a shepherd, that thou shouldst go forth & visit them, & bestow the help of healing upon them? And he: In truth I have found that thou art a seducer, nor do I believe thee to be God, whose appearance thou feignest to have; nevertheless, if thou art Christ, show that cross of thine which thou hast left, & I will believe thee. And when he did not show it, the deacon making the cross of the Lord upon his mouth, he vanished confounded. And again coming to him with a multitude of demons, he smote him with so great a slaughter that he was scarcely thought to escape; & departing, he nowhere appeared. The same deacon afterward, persevering in the highest sanctity, died on the appointed day.
[6] Friardus, after various miracles, But the blessed Friardus, when he shone with great virtues, on a certain occasion gathered a branch broken from a tree by the wind, which, as they say, he himself had grafted, & made himself thence a fashioned staff, which he might carry in his hand. But after a long time he planted the already-dried rod in the earth, & water being poured on it often, that staff put forth foliage & fruit, & within two or three years grew, stretched out into the great height of a tree; & when this was held as a great miracle by the peoples beholding it, & daily a huge crowd flocked together to see it, so that the virtue disclosed made public even the very remoteness of the island; the Saint of God, lest he should be undermined by the stain of vainglory, cut down the tree, seizing an axe. And again the Saint, beholding the ruin of another tree, which, driven by the violence of the wind, had fallen full of flowers, moved with mercy prayed, saying: Let not, I beseech thee, O Lord, the fruit of this shrub perish, which at thy bidding brought forth the ornaments of flowers: but rather, the increase of repair being granted by thee, let it deserve to attain the effect of fruits. And saying these things, taking an axe, the trunk of the tree cut off, upon the roots which still clung, he made the trunk itself sharp in the manner of a stake, & fixed it in the earth. Soon, the branches being bound without root, restored to their former state, the flowers which had withered grew green: in that same year too this tree restored fruits to its cultivator. I believe, of the mercy of God, that the present miracle demanded to be told, because he could obtain
by his prayer that life should be imparted to the dead by the Lord, he who obtained that dry trees should sprout in reviving greenness.
[7] The same, when he for the most part foretold his passing to the brethren, restored by St. Felix the bishop, he also passes over. on a certain day, touched by a fever, says to his own: Go to Felix the bishop, & announce to him my departure, saying: Thy brother Friardus has said: Behold, the course of this life being consummated, I am released from this world, & that thou mayest be more certain of this word, on the Lord's Day I receive my passing, & go to the rest which the eternal King God has promised me. Come, I beseech thee, that I may see thee before I die. And when he was detained by some occasion, he sent a message, saying: I ask, if it can be done, that thou sustain me a little, until, the delays of my duties being dissolved, I may come through to thee. But when the messengers returned & said these things, since he now lay upon his little bed, he said: Let us rise, then, & sustain our brother. O man ineffable in sanctity! who, although he hastened to be dissolved & to be with Christ, yet, not forgetful of charity, obtained with the Lord to be still in the world, that he might behold his brother with a spiritual gaze. But neither do I reckon him to have been of the lowest merit, by whose coming the Lord deigned to prolong the days of this Saint, of which delay the tidings being received, forthwith, the fever quieting, he rose healthy from his bed. But after a long time, the bishop coming, he is seized by a fever, & salutes & kisses him as he enters to him, saying: Great delays of the appointed journey thou makest for me, O holy priest. While these were watching, on the night which was the Lord's Day, morning being come, he gave up the spirit; which being sent forth, soon the whole cell, filled with an odor of sweetness, trembled entirely: whence it was beyond doubt that an angelic power was there present, which, marking the merit of the Saint, made the cell fragrant with divine aromas: whose glorious body the priest washed & laid away in the tomb, Christ received the soul in heaven, leaving to the earth-born examples of virtues.