Erneus

ON ST. ERNEUS, ABBOT, AMONG THE CENOMANI

IN GAUL.

At the CLOSE OF THE SIXTH CENTURY

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Erneus, Abbot, among the Cenomani in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR P. B.

The memory of St. Erneus, by others Ernæus, Erineus, Herneus, we have nowhere found celebrated in the ancient Martyrologies; His cult among the Cenomani and the Burgundians and so it seems to have remained unknown outside one or another province and a very few churches until the year 1625, in which Benedict Gonon published it to the Catholic world in the Lives and sayings of the Fathers of the West, book 4, page 251, first indeed by exhibiting the Life of the Saint, and then by subjoining to it this note: His festival is set down on the IX of August in the Breviary of the church of B. Mary of Belna, commonly Beaune, of the diocese of Ædua, otherwise Augustodunum, commonly Autun. Hence it passed into the Gallican Martyrology of Saussay, and, I know not on what score, into the Benedictine Menology of Bucelin, where at this day he is announced nearly thus: At Beaune among the Ædui, of St. Herneus the abbot, with a eulogy added in both places, abridged from the Life. He is announced otherwise by Castellanus in the universal Martyrology, who at the same IX day of August has it thus: At Celsiacum among the Cenomani in the archdeaconry of Passagium, of St. Erineus the confessor; where you see that another place is designated for the cult, and another province of Gaul; namely that in which, both living and dead and buried, he shone forth with many prodigies, as will be established from the Acts.

[2] And indeed that in both provinces, the Cenomanic and the Burgundian, ancient. the cult of St. Erneus flourished from all memory, no one will deny who shall have weighed both the Acts of Gonon and ours: for both are copied from ancient Breviaries; those, as has already been said, from that of the church of B. Mary of Beaune; these of ours from a Breviary, or rather a Legendary, of one at least of the Cenomani, namely of the collegiate church of St. Peter de Curia. We have said, of one at least of the Cenomani: for besides the transcript of St. Peter de Curia, we have two others, which differ indeed very little among themselves, yet enough that they may seem to have come forth from different copies; each divided into nine lessons, so that no one can doubt that they were once publicly recited in the ecclesiastical Office of St. Erneus. Although this is to be lamented, that neither by those who sent them to us, nor by our Elders when they received them, was anything appended after the custom from which it might be gathered whence they were excerpted. This meanwhile is certain, that they were taken neither from the Beaune Breviary nor from the Legendary of St. Peter de Curia: for they are purer than the latter, richer than the former: whence we think that they belonged rather to the Cenomanic churches than to others placed outside the Cenomanic province; since it is not likely that these would have wished to attend a foreign Saint with a more solemn Office than the men of Beaune, or even with one as solemn as it was fair that a Saint of their own household should be honored with by the Cenomani. More concerning the cult is not available to us; unless perhaps what will be said of the translation in the Annotations at the letter l.

[3] Whence we give the Acts; As regards the Acts, we shall give them from the Legendary of the Cenomanic church of St. Peter de Curia; not because those other two manuscripts of which we have just made mention are not better, but because we cannot assign the original exemplars of these: but the transcript of St. Peter we received inscribed thus: The Life of holy Ernæus the confessor. This Life is excerpted from the manuscript of the Legendary of the collegiate church of St. Peter de Curia of Le Mans, by the procurement of the lord John Verdie, Canon of the same church. And in the margin is added: From the Ms. collectaneum of the Feuillant Fathers at Paris. Further, when we say that this transcript is less refined than the two others, we by no means wish this to be understood of the substance of the narration (for this in those three Mss. is entirely the same), but of the words, and indeed of a very few only, which in the Ms. of St. Peter are either inserted or transposed or faultily written. These accordingly we have judged should be corrected from those two other Mss.

[4] and how ancient they are. But these Acts are of far greater value than those of Gonon, which came forth mutilated by nearly two thirds, and which above all omit that from which alone the age of the original writer can become known, and accordingly from which all the weight and credit of the Acts must be sought. They omit, I say, that notable prodigy by which the Saint restored a Brother of his monastery, already wrestling with death, as may be read below at number 5, at once to health and to his office; and what the biographer there subjoins concerning the same Brother thus: Who (the Brother healed by the Saint while he was living), living a long time after, related these same things TO US. And who does not see how much weight is lost to the Acts by the omission even of this one little verse, since from it it becomes manifest that they were written by an author almost contemporary, as one who heard those who had lived with the Saint?

[5] The Saint flourished in the sixth century. Now although at what time St. Erneus began to live, and at what time he ceased, cannot now be defined by fixed spaces of years, yet the Acts indicate it so far as is necessary, when at number 1 they assert that he came to St. Innocent, bishop of the city of Le Mans, who, having learned his sanctity, long kept him with himself, then, having initiated him in sacred Orders, set him over the Brethren who professed the evangelical manner of living in the village of Celciacum, or, as others write, Celsiacum: for St. Innocent, whose Acts we illustrated in volume III of June from page 854, we said presided over the church of Le Mans from the year 496 to 542. Before this year 542 therefore Erneus had already attained the gravity, constancy, doctrine, and age suitable for governing monks; nor accordingly can his birth seem able to be deferred beyond the beginnings of the sixth century. From the same Acts, number 2, it is established that this holy Man survived in the monastery of Celciacum while Clothar the first turned his arms against his son Chramnus, which the annals of the Franks report to have happened in the year 560. But how much later he lived is unascertained. He certainly did not reach the year of Christ 584, since the Acts at number 8 make St. Domnolus, prelate of Le Mans, survive him, of whom treatment was made at the XVI day of May, and whom we afterwards, in volume III of June, page 862, determined to have sat from the year 557 to the December of the year 583. Here now are the Acts for you.

THE LIFE

by an anonymous and nearly contemporary author.

From a Ms. Legendary of the Cenomanic collegiate church of St. Peter de Curia, collated with two other Ms. copies.

Erneus, Abbot, among the Cenomani in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 2618

FROM THE MSS.

The Saint is ordained a priest among the Cenomani, Holy Ernæus was a man of venerable life, and sprung of a noble stock of the province of Aquitaine, and from infancy learned in sacred letters and fully imbued with regular discipline, temperate in manners, assiduously given to sacred prayers and readings, of his own accord ministering to the poor, and himself for Christ made poor and a pilgrim, venerable in aspect, comely in form, praiseworthy in bearing, and distinguished by the gifts of the virtues. And he, leaving his own fatherland ^a, his parents and homes, and many possessions, fulfilled the saying of the Lord who says: Whosoever shall leave father, or mother, brothers, and sisters, houses, and fields (and the rest which the Savior enumerates), and shall have followed me, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life. And he, hearing the fame of St. Innocent, bishop of the city of Le Mans, came to him together with his companions. Who, having discovered his sanctity, keeping him long with himself, ordained him first a deacon, and not long after consecrated him a priest.

[2] This being accomplished, he gave him his village named Celciacum ^b, and, being set over monks, is visited by king Clothar, and enriched; that he might teach according to rule the Brethren who were there holily leading the common life handed down by the Apostles, and might holily govern them under his authority, that he might gain more for Christ. Who took care to fulfil the obedience he had undertaken to the best of his powers, and beside the aforesaid village, with the help and ordering of the aforesaid bishop, built a church in honor of St. Martin together with a cloister regularly arranged beneath them, which [c], and took care to gather monks not fewer than thirty, and thoroughly taught them to live under a holy rule. For at the time in which these things were done, Clothar, king of the Franks, pursuing his son named Chramnus, coming thither, was nobly received by the already named holy Ernæus with a chanting of psalms ^d, as befits a king; and from the little wine which he had there, the Lord increasing it, he gave him and his men to drink abundantly. Then indeed the aforesaid Saint was enriched by the king himself both with gifts and with goods. And the aforesaid king gave him some estates and gifts, whereby he might complete the work begun: since indeed he loved the servants of God, and desired to enlarge the worship of the holy Church of God, and therefore in his times and those of his brother Childebert ^e many monasteries and hospices * were built: whence also they obtained the grace of God, and moreover, as is to be believed, everlasting life.

[3] For the aforesaid holy Ernæus was exceedingly sparing in food and drink, given to vigils and prayers and fastings, yet none the less hard upon himself. and daily bestowed on those suffering want the things which he withdrew from himself and the other necessaries. Whence it came about that very often he ate nothing else than bread and water; content with which, he did not keep back the rest, but bestowed it on the Lord. [Whence Truth itself says: Whatsoever you shall have done to one of my ministers, you have done to me ^f.] For he was wont very often to lie not on a bed, but stretched on the ground, and thus, wearied as much by obedience as by prayer, to rest a little while ^g: knowing nothing of bed-coverings ^h, and fleeing delights, he gave himself to the Lord alone: and from the sight not only of women, but even of men, he very often restrained his eyes: praying diligently in secret and bending the knee, he abounded in tears: enjoying the vision of angels, he served the Lord alone.

[4] He heals a mute, and a blind man, But on a certain day, while he was going with the Brethren to an obedience ⁱ not far from that same cell, a certain little mute boy was brought to him; to whom the boy's mother with tearful countenance said: Servant of God, there came to me this night a certain vision by a certain servant of God, who commanded me to offer this little boy to you, that through you he might receive the function of his tongue. At which the Saint of God, astonished, answered: O sweetest sister, from the Lord will his medicine be, not from me, a sinful man. But do you keep watch in the church and pray for him, and offer an oblation; and I, returning from the obedience, will pray for him. The woman did as the Man of God had commanded. And he, returning from the obedience, prayed with the Brethren for him, and with the liquid of consecrated oil touched his lips within and without; and passing the night * with him in prayer, thus on the next day by his merits he received the function of his tongue. Finally not long after, a certain blind man, who through the long time of old age lacked the light of his eyes, is brought to the holy Man; who, touching his eyes with the spittle of his mouth and anointing them with the liquid of consecrated oil, and invoking the name of Christ, restored to him the former light of his eyes.

[5] and a dying man. Then, some time having passed, it happened that a certain one of his Brethren was so weighed down with infirmity that he was already burdened with his last breath: to whose end the Brethren run, that they might now commend his soul to the Lord and afterwards bury him. And when his end was announced to holy Ernæus, he said: The Lord can give that Brother back, that we be not burdened by his absence and by his obedience, but may enjoy his help. But do you run quickly, and by fraternal obedience charge him not to leave us without our presence. To whom the Brother said: Unless you come quickly, you will by no means find him alive; since I do not myself expect to find him alive. To whom holy Ernæus said: Go, and complete what has been enjoined on you; and I in the meantime, the Lord granting, will sing Mass, and after the Office is performed I will follow you, that I may strengthen him with the Lord's communion. And the Man of God did as he had foretold; and, the Office being performed, he strengthened him with the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord; and him, now mute and gasping, he called back from the grave, and restored to his former health and to his obedience. Who, living a long time after, related these same things to us ^k.

[6] He foretells victory to king Clothar: For the Lord conferred so great a grace upon the aforesaid holy Ernæus, and gave him such abundance, that (as has already been mentioned above) he merited to receive king Clothar pursuing his son Chramnus, and persuaded him to perform charity there and to break his fast; by whom he was enriched both from the goods of the treasury and from other goods and gifts, for building and improving that same place. And he, blessing the aforesaid Clothar king of the Franks, prophesied to him that he would have victory over his rivals and over his son; which also, by the nod of God, and (as we believe) by his merits, there is no doubt was done. But the remaining several of his signs and virtues, which the Lord, both while he was living and after his death, deigned to show forth by his merits, avoiding prolixity we have put off inserting here: but they remain acts to the praise of almighty God, who is wonderful in his Saints, and holy in all his works.

[7] And the aforesaid holy Ernæus died on the fifth of the Ides of August, He died on the 9th of August, not without miracles, and was worthily buried in the aforesaid village, in the church of St. George the martyr ^l, which he himself had built anew, by monks and fellow-disciples and by not a few other priests, to whom also the Lord showed his passing by a vision on that same night. But he did not die before all together assembled to whom the Lord willed to reveal his passing. O how venerable is that Saint, at whose passing, he not calling but the Lord revealing, so great a crowd of priests came together, which buried him with hymns and prayers becomingly and worthily! There came also many religious men to his passing, the Lord revealing it, among whom blind men, demoniacs, and other sick persons ran up: of whom two were given light, and four others were healed by his merits, in the sight of all who were carrying him to burial.

[8] At whose tomb miracles very often are wrought, and marvels, by his worthy merits: which afterwards persisted at the tomb. there the blind are given light, demons are put to flight, the lame receive their step, the deaf their hearing, the mute their speech, and the rest which it would be long to enumerate. And after the Saint, that cell itself is left in the power of holy Domnolus, namely the successor of the aforesaid holy Innocent, of the right of whose episcopal church it was. Who, being called by the Brethren of the holy place, came, and by election

of them he ordained one of them as abbot, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who three and one reigns forever. Amen [m.]

ANNOTATIONS.

* elsewhere, Erneus

* Gonon: "having learned"

* perhaps xenodochia hospices

* for "while he passed the night"

Notes

a. In this Ms. between the words "his own" and "fatherland" these were redundant: "a portion of his inheritance and"; which we have expunged on the authority of both of our other manuscripts and of the Gonon edition.

b. Celciacum, in the other Mss. Celceyacum, commonly Ceaulce, to the west, or rather the north-west, of the Cenomanic domain in the deanery of Passais, in the vernacular Doyenne de Passais, toward Normandy, was once a village and an episcopal castle; but in the thirteenth century it was utterly overthrown, on the witness of Corvaiser and Bondonnet in the History of the bishops of Le Mans, where they treat of John de Tanlay, the 48th bishop.

c. The words enclosed in brackets are lacking in the other Mss., which in their place have: in which he took care to gather monks, etc.

d. Psallentium for ecclesiastical chant is a word frequently used among the writers of the middle age. See Du Cange in the Glossary.

e. Childebert, king of Paris, long survived Chlodomer and Theodoric, the sons of Clovis the first and his brothers; yet he had already been dead three years when Clothar, then monarch of the Gauls, moved against his son Chramnus in the year 560.

f. What we have here set apart is lacking in the other Mss.

g. Thus we have corrected the text from the two Mss., which in this Ms. was as follows: that thus wearied as if by prayer he might rest a little while.

h. Lectaria are the furnishings of a bed, as Du Cange shows by various examples. In our other Mss. luctuaria is wrongly read for lectaria; or perhaps even for lintuaria, which could be barbarously written for any linen cloth and every use of it.

i. Obedience monks have been accustomed, both formerly and now, to call whatever is to be done from office or by the command of those to whom they are subject. And Erneus was subject to the bishop of Le Mans.

k. Hence above we gathered the age of this biographer.

l. What that church of St. George the Martyr was, is unknown, because there are several in the Cenomanic country. Corvaiser guesses that it was the one which is now called Saint George de Boutavant, as being less remote from Celciacum than the others. But it may have been another within Celsiacum, which perished long before that village. However it be, his body does not seem to have remained there, if of him are to be understood the things which in the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans, in Mabillon, Analecta volume 3, page 272, are narrated in these words: For he (Franco the elder, of whom the discourse is there, and whom we said elsewhere sat from the year 793 to 816) built a church from the foundation in the villa of his bishopric, and in the canonical village which is called Celsiacus, which also he consecrated in honor of St. Peter; and in it he placed the body of blessed Erineus the confessor, and adorned his burial wisely and after the Roman manner. Now indeed, if that blessed Erineus is ours, some translation of him is here indicated; if he is not, then produce another of the same name, and that among the Cenomani. Further, whither at last such precious pledges have now come, I have not yet read anyone who teaches.

m. That this clause was afterwards added by a man neither a theologian nor acquainted with the first principles of his own religion, is deduced from our other Mss., in neither of which it is found.