Stapinus

ON ST. STAPINUS, CONF.,

Bishop, as is reported, of Carcassonne in Gaul.

Stapinus, confessor, or Bishop of Carcassonne in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

Although this Saint is quite unknown to the hagiologists, yet three writers chiefly teach us of his cult: His cult namely Théophile Raynaud in the Lyons Hagiology, pages 584 and 598 of the edition of the year 1662; likewise the Historical Chronicle of the bishops and memorable matters of the church of Carcassonne, by the author Gérard de Vic, presbyter and Canon, in the Supplement of the bishops of the same church, of whom it is not indicated at what time they lived, taken, as he adds, from an ancient series of the same written in the year 1552 from a more ancient Martyrology which the same church now uses. That Supplement begins at page 298. Besides these, Don Giuseppe Girolamo Sementi, a Clerk Regular of the congregation of Somascha, sent to Daniel Papebroch an Italian little book, whose title is: A Succinct Narration of the life and miracles of St. Stapinus, bishop of Carcassonne, and protector of those who suffer the infirmity of gout in the feet and in the hands, published at Milan with this faculty of the Superiors: Let it be printed. Friar Michele Pio Torres, master of sacred theology, and Commissary of the Holy Office at Milan. Giacomo Saita, Canon of the Basilica of St. Ambrose on behalf of the most reverend Chapter, the see being vacant. Arbona on behalf of the most excellent Senate. These three documents will be of the greatest use for our purpose.

[2] Raynaud writes these things on page 584: All the hagiologists hitherto seem to have passed over this holy Dweller in heaven. public; His festive memory is marked on the VI of August. From the Italian Narration, page 3, we have it that a pious affection toward the Saint is spread through many cities of Europe. As to what pertains to Gaul, the author of the Chronicle of Carcassonne praised above records these things on page 299: From the same (ancient, as he had premised) tradition arises blessed Stapinus, who is handed down as being sprung from the village or town of Dourgne, of the diocese of Lavaur: whose cult flourishes from a long time back in the same place, and also in the place of Ventenac of the diocese of Carcassonne; likewise in the cemetery of the church of St. Vincent of the Borough of Carcassonne: where even now we see standing a chapel, to which a very great multitude of people was wont to flock, to hear Mass with the Office of Vespers, and also to venerate the relics on the sixth day of August, on which day the memory of this bishop is recalled. Castellan, among the Saints added on that day to his Roman Martyrology, announces In Languedoc, St. Stapinus (in the margin, however, Agapetus is placed) as a bishop honored in that region in two churches of the same name as he. What I have reported from the cited Chronicle I thus confirm from the Italian Narration.

[3] The most illustrious Jean Vincent de Tulles, bishop of Lavaur (commonly de Lavaur in Upper Languedoc), signed with his own hand an authentic testimony on the XXVII day of June in the year 1663 at Castres (Or is this at Castrum S. Izerii, and benefits conferred on gout-sufferers in Gaul, since I find that in the said bishopric?), by which he gives assurance that in the parish of Dourgne of his diocese there is found a chapel at the foot of a mountain with the title of St. Stapinus, invoked and held in veneration by a continual concourse of persons who are piously affected toward him, both healthy and sick; especially by those who labor under arthritis, and also other pains, hot and cold; and who return thence praising God because by the intercession of St. Stapinus they have recovered health, on the testimony of the Italian Narration from page 15. From the same source we also learn on page 17 that the most worthy Lord de Silvacane, the vicar of the most illustrious Lord Charles François d'Anglure de Bourlemont (concerning whom the new edition of Christian Gaul treats among the bishops of Castres, volume 1, column 78), gave a similar testimony with his own hand at Castres, on the 2nd day of June in the year 1663.

[4] are reported. On the same page 17 and the following it is narrated that by the cathedral church of Carcassonne there is celebrated on the VI day of August the feast of St. Stapinus, as bishop and confessor; that in the cloister of the same cathedral there exists a chapel erected in honor of the Saint; in which there is his statue in pontifical habit, as he is seen depicted in the chapel of Dourgne; where it is reported that one of his bones is preserved with great veneration, and that a part of it was granted to a certain neighboring village, by name Veutenac (perhaps Ventenac, as above), and also that in both those places continual miracles follow through the Saint's intercession. The cited Narration on page 18 affirms that in many other places of Gaul many chapels are seen dedicated under his name; and specifically in the city of Lyons in the church of the Discalced Augustinian Fathers, at the suburb or district of the Red Cross: where besides the chapel there has also been erected a confraternity of both sexes, piously devoted toward St. Stapinus: to which Pope Alexander VII granted many indulgences, as appears from a Brief which is read in the said Italian Narration, page 19, to have been given by him at Rome in the year 1671.*

[5] What at Milan. The author of that Narration in his little preface before it affirms that an altar has been erected to St. Stapinus at Milan in the sacred building of St. Mary Secreta of the Most Reverend Somaschan Fathers, and that in the same place the feast of the same Saint is recalled every year with solemn pomp. Nay indeed, that he is celebrated not there only, but besides elsewhere in Italy, the letters of Sementi, mentioned above, affirm, which I have before me among our papers, when he writes thus in them: Whom now in Italy, especially at Milan, those who labor under gout celebrate and implore. Concerning Germany and Belgium see below.

[6] A formula for invoking the Saint against gout. In Raynaud, page 598, there stands the following monument of religious invocation, with this title: A most devout Prayer to St. Stapinus against the incurable disease of gout, to be said daily. This the Antiphon follows:

Holy Stapinus, confessor and bishop of Christ, shining with virtues, Pour forth prayers to God for those who invoke you, That we be not vexed with the disease of gout for our guilt; But that we may be able to live sound and unharmed in this vile life by your intercessions. And after the end of this life may we merit to be placed with you In the heavenly abodes on high. Amen.

℣. Pray for us, blessed Stapinus, ℞. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. Almighty everlasting God, who at the prayers of the most glorious confessor and pontiff Stapinus raise up the stricken, and render men freed and sound from all pain of gout in the feet, gout in the hands, etc.: grant to us who pray, that You repay us not according to our iniquities; but that by the merits and intercessions of the most glorious confessor and pontiff Stapinus we may be freed from all vexation of gout, and from all evils. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son: who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.

[7] Nor indeed did the Lord wish the invocation of that Saint by those who struggle with maladies of this kind to be barren; but very efficacious for driving them away. For, as Raynaud reports in the same place, there are not lacking recent miracles of this holy Prelate in the pains, allayed, of the chief almoner of the Palatine princess; who lately made a pilgrimage to the chapel dedicated to this Dweller in heaven between Toulouse and Castres: and, the protection of this Saint being pointed out to his host at Toulouse, he likewise made him a partaker of the heavenly remedy, and congratulated him when he was released from a long torment of gout. A nun famous in Germany had taught the pious almoner the following prayer, from ancient monuments; which I have just given.

[8] The Italian Narration, treating of miracles from page 19, recounts, from the narration of a priest who gave his labor to the Dourgne chapel of the Saint, that by a certain leading Lady of the region, a little daughter whom she had, so seized in the use of her limbs that she could move neither arms nor legs, was commended to St. Stapinus, a vow being made that, her daughter being restored to health, she would bring to his altar as many pounds of wax as the child weighed; and without delay, the religious obligation of the vow being interposed, that she began to move her arms, and, the offering of wax at the altar being fulfilled, at that very instant of time she enjoyed the use of her feet and a free gait, which afterward also she continued to use.

A certain kinswoman of the aforesaid child, in the territory of Béziers, brought to the end of her life, and admonished by her sister that she should be mindful of the grace which their kinswoman had received by the intercession of St. Stapinus, induced her that they should together bind themselves by a vow to the Saint; which she who was healthy promised to fulfil. This being scarcely done, the sick woman was restored to her former health: hence the one, glad, as also the other, betook themselves to Dourgne, and discharged their pledge of the promise made to the Saint. These things I have taken from the aforesaid Narration: to which there are added the following from the author of the Chronicle of Carcassonne cited, page 300.

[9] It has been signified to us, he says, by the reverend Father Joseph of Castelsarrasin, his patronage custodian, whom people commonly call Guardian, of the Convent of the Capuchin Friars of the city of Carcassonne, that he had received by means of a letter from the Reverend Father Léonard of Paris, likewise Guardian or Custodian of the Capuchin Friars of one of the three Congregations recurring at Paris, that a venerable priest, Canon of the church of Noyon, had asserted to him that he had formerly borne not only pains of gout in the hands and feet, but torments scarcely tolerable; nevertheless that for three or four years back he had been greatly relieved of the burden of this sickness, after he had been accustomed to recite each day the Antiphon with the prayer of St. Stapinus, with a vow of building a chapel under his name, as prescribed. Which when he shall shortly have completed, the canon hopes that he will be wholly freed from all this trouble. These things we wished to have added, that it might be more firmly established that the prayers of St. Stapinus are most pleasing to God, granting relief, nay even entire health, from this disease: as is daily heard from many parts of the Catholic Church. So he there concerning Gaul.

[10] against the same disease. The same author had premised in the same place these things concerning Germany, page 299: In certain parts of Germany the cult of the same Saint flourishes, I know not on what day, in which he is proclaimed bishop of Carcassonne, as we have received from certain of the venerable presbyters of the Society of Jesus, who asserted to us that the prayers of Stapinus are most pleasing to God, when relief is sought

for those afflicted with gout in the feet or hands, as is established concerning the relief of some. Nay even that the patronage of our Saint extended as far as the territory of Namur in our Belgium, I would suspect from a letter given at Namur on the XX day of September, 1689, to Father Daniel Papebroch; for its writer affirms that he had twice been in the place in which St. Photinus, otherwise Stamp., is honored; yet he adds that he had learned nothing certain concerning that Saint: that the elders of the village of Anchée, where he is honored, believe that the relics were carried off by the French: that there is a great concourse of women, who bring to the chapel children deprived of the use of their feet. I would suspect, I say, that these things are to be understood of our St. Stapinus, although the name is written otherwise there; if the due foundations for suspecting were present.

[11] His deeds uncertain and obscure. The deeds of the Saint, whom the Italian Narration on page 5 makes bishop of Carcassonne, lie in a very obscure ignorance; it adds that he was a Gaul; but that it has not been ascertained in what place he came forth into the light, and of what parents. Concerning his solitary life on a certain mountain not far from the place of Dourgne it treats on page 7; concerning the flocking of the people to him on page 9; concerning the fame of him spread through the neighboring regions on page 10. Then it narrates how he was summoned from his cave to the see of Carcassonne by the Clergy of that same city, the other citizens applauding; and it writes that he accepted this sacred office by divine revelation and command, and adorned it with his merits; but so confusedly that neither a mark of time nor the name of his predecessor appears anywhere. Of the same kind are the things which it has on page 17 concerning his body, which is supposed, it says, to be buried in the cathedral of Carcassonne. But if you ask when, by whom, on whose testimony; there is deep silence. To Raynaud, page 584 cited, St. Stapinus was bishop of Castres in Septimania; but with what appearance of truth? For since the first prelate of Castres was created in the year 1317, from Christian Gaul in the Sainte-Marthe brothers; how can it be that, if our St. Stapinus ought to have a place among them, he remained so unknown? But neither do I find St. Stapinus in the same work among the bishops of Carcassonne. But if you wish the matter to be established from the long-standing tradition of that church, according to what was said above at number 2 from the Supplement alleged in the same place; there will without doubt be those who desire that that tradition be proved by some ancient document of good repute. Finally, since the author of the Italian Narration writes on page 19 that he brings forward those things which could be received from the monuments of the church of Carcassonne, and from the long tradition of the neighboring people; the difficulty will return both concerning the matter which I was just touching upon and concerning his other deeds, and the learned will not have anything in which they may safely enough acquiesce.

* perhaps 1661