Rigomer

ON ST. RIGOMER, PRIEST AND CONFESSOR,

AT SOULIGNÉ AMONG THE PEOPLE OF LE MANS IN GAUL,

About the middle of the sixth century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Rigomer, priest and confessor, at Souligné among the people of Le Mans in Gaul (St.)

BY J. P.

§ I. His memory in the Calendars; this Saint confused with another; the time of his death.

Vallis sublignea, or Subligniacum, commonly Souligné sous Vallon, three leagues from the chief city of Maine, to use the words of Le Cointe in volume 1 of his Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, His cult from the Calendars: at the year 541, number 66, was the place in which St. Rigomer, Rigomarus, or Richomerus adorned this mortal Life with virtues and merits, and exchanged it for the immortal on this XXIV day of August: on which his annual memory is announced among the auctaria to the Martyrology of Usuard, published and illustrated by our Sollier. For the Daveron codex reports him there thus: In the city of Le Mans, St. Rigomer, priest and confessor. The Lübeck-Cologne Usuardine edition: At Le Mans, blessed Rigomer, priest and confessor. In Belinus's second edition, that is the Paris one, printed in the year 1521, there is added to the former, or the Venetian of the year 1498: In the district of Le Mans, St. Rigomarus the confessor, and the most blessed Tenestina the virgin. To which may be joined our manuscript Florarium, and likewise Greven and Molanus, who also mark the memory of our Saint, as may be seen in the said auctaria. It is also found in the Martyrology which is commonly called Canisius's, printed at Dillingen in the year 1599, and in the New Catalogue of Saints in Ferrari. Among these sacred Calendars which I have indicated there are some which, from time immemorial before the famous decree of Pope Urban VIII, attribute to our Confessor of today the title of saint: which is rightly due to him, as will be confirmed from other indications of public veneration which will occur later. Now meanwhile let us discuss whether this Saint is the same as Richmirus the abbot, whose name is almost the same as his, and who was given by us long ago at the XVII day of January, in volume II of that month, page 177.

[2] Castellain would have this Saint be the same After some things, therefore — but very few — had been recited there from the sacred Calendars concerning that abbot, who was also a priest, among the people of Le Mans in Gaul, it is added that nothing is found concerning him in other Martyrologies, unless he be the Rigomarus or Rigomer of whom on the XXIV of August Molanus, Belinus in the Paris edition, Canisius, Ferrari, etc., speak. But whether he is the same as that one, or different, is not determined, but is left undecided, the matter being then by no means ripe for arriving at a decision of this controversy, for which the proper place and day now offer themselves. Claude Castellain, in his bimonthly volume, or in the volume in which he published the months of January and February separately in the year 1705, in his notes at the XVII day of January, page 321, judges that the same Saint is marked on both days, and endeavors to prove it by these arguments, which, extracted from the French, run thus: Bolland, he says, doubts whether he is the same as the one whom Belinus, Molanus, Canisius, and Ferrari set down on the XXIV day of August under the name of Rigomarus. Comparing his Life, given by the same Bolland, with the Acts of the bishops of Le Mans, published by Dom Mabillon in the third volume of his Analecta, we see that he is the same: and I was deceived, he says, in the Hagionomasticon which the late Master Ménage had asked of me, that he might prefix it to his etymological Dictionary.

[3] Saussay had fallen into an error before, in setting him down under the name of Rigomer on the XXIV day of August, as St. Ricmirus the abbot; and under the name of Richmirus on the XIV day of February, giving no reason why he chose that day. The XXIV day of August is the day of his translation: and on that day especially, on account of the convenient season of the year, his feast is celebrated in most of the places where he is honored, and chiefly among the people of Maillezais in the province of Poitou, where he is patron. He is named Ricmirus without an h in all the manuscripts of his life which have hitherto been found, and in what he there records. He who wrote it (so Castellain continues) says that he was contemporary with Arrius, the immediate successor of St. Rigomer — which with us in the place cited was likewise indicated long ago, but with the name of St. Ricmirus preserved, and not with that of St. Rigomer substituted, as Castellain does. What Castellain subjoins at page 322 from his Life is related more fully with us at the cited page 177 and the following, and in Mabillon's Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, part one of the third century, from page 228 \; an epitome of which Life, with the original phrasing of the old codices nevertheless preserved, Le Cointe gives in his Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks*, volume 4, at the year 685, numbers 13 and 14. Castellain at page

322 cited above notes that it may be observed in that Life that the bishop of Le Mans, who is there named Gilbert, is the same as the one who is named Aiglibert in the Acts of the Bishops of Le Mans, in Mabillon, volume 3 of the Vetera Analecta, chapter 14, from page 188 of the first edition published in the year 1682; where it is written, says the same Castellain, that he founded a monastery at the gate of the city of Le Mans near the river Sarthe: and he asserts that the first Religious of this monastery was St. Tenestina, honored at Maillezais together with St. Rigomer, who was the director of the same monastery, which was then called St. Albinus's, and sometimes St. Mary's. The same Vetera Analecta, page 192, may be consulted. And a little further on he says: The place where he fixed his seat the second time, not named in his Life, is called Subluniacum. In this place he died.

[4] How great a chaos of confusion there is in the above-cited notes of Castellain, but that these two Saints, what a heap of blunders! And what wonder? Since he has fused into one single person two Saints as different as heaven from earth, namely St. Ricmirus the abbot among the people of Le Mans, and St. Rigomer the confessor and priest in the same place, applying to the latter the Acts of the former, just as if the Acts of the two, most widely different from each other, did not exist — whereas Castellain himself in the year 1681 sent hither the Acts of St. Rigomer, as Papebroch noted upon our copy. The same author committed the same error in his Universal Martyrology, as may be seen at the XVII day of January, and in the index of Saints to the said Martyrology. Nor indeed was he alone in confounding these two Saints: for Le Cointe, cited above, at number 15, having noted the various formations of the name Aiglibert, says: The case of Ricmirus is the same; for he who to Claude Robert is Ricomirus, is by others called Richmirus, Richimirus, Ricmirus, and Ricimirus, and is by some wrongly confounded with Richomerus or Rigomer or Rigomarus, of whom we speak in volume 1, to be cited here presently. Mabillon, in the Acts of the Saints of his Order which I indicated before, begins his preliminary observations on the Life of St. Richmirus the abbot with these words: Richmirus, other than St. Rigomarus or Rigomer, the spiritual father of St. Tenestina, likewise among the people of Le Mans in Gaul, etc.

[5] most distinct from one another, But since the confusion of which we here treat is so clear and evident that it ought not to be proved by many arguments, I shall reduce the matter to three chief heads. Let the first, then, be taken from the Acts of each Saint. The prologue to the Life of St. Richmirus (we use Mabillon's edition) begins thus: To narrate the lives and acts of religious men is undoubtedly to praise God. But that of St. Rigomer thus: Since by the Lord's gift we wish to commemorate something, and it is worthy, etc. The Life of Richmirus begins thus: Blessed Richimirus, then, a native of the district of Tours, is born of no mean parents; but he shone forth the most worthy offspring of a worthy stock… And at that time, when King Theodoric ruled over the Franks, and Gilbert, a bishop worthy of God, governed the church of Le Mans, etc. In the Life of Rigomer, below with us at number 2, there is this: At that same time, therefore, when the aforesaid king Childebert and Chlothar his brother had divided Neustria or France between them by lot, since they had Christian queens — Chlothar the king, then, [had] the lady Radegund, a most Christian woman, and the lord Childebert Ultrogotha. In the times of these kings, by their permission, certain monasteries began to flourish: and their beginnings too must be commemorated… In those times… there was born in the place Saugonense, of free parents, a holy and religious man… Rigomer. Thus in his Life. How immensely these differ from the Life of Richmirus, no one fails to see. Let us pass to another specimen of the most manifest diversity, namely of the day of death and of the age.

[6] he wrongly fused into one, The Life of St. Richmirus says: The aforesaid St. Richimirus died on the sixteenth Kalends of February. But the Life of St. Rigomer writes this: St. Rigomer died… on the ninth Kalends of September. If we consider the age in which each flourished, our Rigomer of today preceded Richmirus the abbot in time by about one hundred and forty years. For Mabillon, in the aforesaid Acts of his Order, on the same page 228 \, indicates that the latter's death occurred about the year 710; and in a note on the Life, page 232 \, he observes that he died before the year 715, in about which year Gilbert or Engilbert resigned the bishopric to Herlemundus by his death. But with us at the XVII day of January, which I lately indicated, the death of the same holy abbot is set about the year 700; and his deeds are recorded by Le Cointe at the year 685, number 13. That Saint therefore lived in the seventh century, and died at the end of that century or about the beginning of the eighth. To confound him, therefore, with St. Rigomer — what else is it but to be blind in the noonday light? For this holy confessor and priest belongs to the sixth century, as the chronological marks prove which shine out in the various persons named in his Life, and of which we shall speak below in the Annotations after the Life.

[7] Le Cointe rightly separated St. Ricmirus the abbot from our St. Rigomer in his Ecclesiastical Annals, volume 1, at the year 541, number 56, is demonstrated by various where he narrates his deeds; and rightly before him Corvaisier, in the History of the Bishops of Le Mans, page 141 and following, in relating the order of his life, fitted the Saint to that same century, when he wove into the same Life what took place between him and St. Innocent or Innocentius, bishop of the see of Le Mans at that time. The same does Bondonnet in the Lives of the Bishops of Le Mans, page 169. But why do we linger longer than is fitting over a matter so clear? Let it stand, then, that St. Ricmirus the abbot and St. Rigomer the confessor and priest are unskillfully confounded by Castellain. Take the third specimen of their diversity.

[8] For while the same Castellain thought that he had found not two but only one in the Acts of the Bishops of Le Mans, published by Mabillon, arguments. as we saw above at number 2, he is refuted from those very Acts in volume 3 of the Vetera Analecta, chapter XI; where in the testament of Bertichramnus, page 142, ten shillings are ordered by him to be given to the basilica of St. Richomerus. Of this holy prelate of Le Mans we have treated in volume 1 of June, at the VI day, from page 710; where his death is fixed in the year 623, which Le Cointe also marks in volume 2 at the same year, number 10; and therefore long before Aglibert, with whom St. Ricmirus the abbot lived, the church of St. Rigomer — ours, without doubt — was in existence; because in the testament cited Bertichramnus orders donations to be made throughout all the basilicas which are known to be about our city, he says, that is, of Le Mans. Corvaisier in his account of St. Innocent the bishop, page 144, judged the same, whose text, rendered from the French, runs thus: I do not doubt that this was the church in which the body of that glorious confessor had been laid, which by the harshness of the times and the change of the centuries was perhaps afterward so destroyed that the memory of its name and of the place in which it had formerly been built utterly perished.

[9] Now it is well to subjoin something to this concerning the age of our Saint. The time of his death We have seen above indeed that he flourished in the sixth century: but it remains to consider further whether we can determine anything more distinct concerning the years in which he then lived. The author of the Life, with us below at number 12, narrates this: St. Tenestina received the veil under the sacred honor of virginity from St. Innocent… who also, in the time of the aforesaid holy bishop Innocent and afterward of the lord Domnolus, built a little monastery or basilica in honor of St. Mary… at Le Mans within the walls and the water… and obtained by the bishop's letter a place for St. Rigomer, out of the property of the aforesaid church, where the Saint himself might build a cell. Our holy Confessor therefore flourished under Innocent, bishop of Le Mans, whose Acts we illustrated in volume III of June, at the XIX day, from page 854, and whose death is there attached to the year of Christ 542, Le Cointe deferring it to the next following year, as may be seen in him, volume 1, at the same year, number 6; who writes of the aforesaid prelate's promotion to the bishopric at the year 531, number 22. But whatever be the case with the beginning of the see which he entered, amid so great and so various a chronological series of the bishops of Le Mans — which we hope will be corrected by the continuators of the new edition of the Gallia Christiana — whatever, I say, be the case, at least Innocent or Innocentius was sitting in the year 533, in which he subscribed the second synod of Orléans. See Labbe, volume 4 of the Councils, column 1783, and Longueval, volume 2 of the History of the Gallican Church, page 392. St. Domnolus, bishop of Le Mans, of whom mention was made above, is given in volume III of May, at the XVI day, from page 603: where his passage to a better life is set in the year 581, which Longueval also marks in volume 3, page 211, recording that he then died after twenty-two years of his episcopate. But what I read concerning the beginning of his episcopate is likewise intricate. This is certain, that in the year 567 he presided over the see of Le Mans, since he then subscribed the second council of Tours, in Labbe, volume 5, column 865. And these things indeed help toward forming some idea of the time in which St. Rigomer and St. Tenestina flourished, even though the year of the death of either is not sufficiently ascertained by us.

[10] it happened about the middle of the sixth century. Le Cointe at the year of Christ 559, number 9, does indeed determine the death of St. Rigomer in these words: Richomerus, having long dwelt in Vallis Sublignea, there closed his life on the ninth Kalends of September — the biographer with us below, at the end of the Life, likewise assigning the same day to his death; but since the aforesaid author of the Annals brings forward in that place no competent writer for that determination of the year of death, we have circumscribed it within wider limits of time at the beginning of this Commentary. For if the word of the bishop in the biographer's text cited above must be referred either to both prelates, namely Innocentius and Domnolus, or to Domnolus alone, then on the credit of the same biographer St. Rigomer may have survived beyond the middle of the sixth century; but because neither the biographer's sense nor the beginning of St. Domnolus's see is sufficiently certain, therefore at the beginning of this Commentary I have marked him about the middle of the sixth century — which I would have understood in a broad extension of time; and let the same judgment hold concerning St. Tenestina.

§ II. The writers of the Life, the copies, and the translation of St. Rigomer.

Various observations are given He who wrote the Life of the Saint is anonymous; nor does he give any sign by force of which it can even be guessed who he was, of what institute, or of what century. But that he wrote at a time or place sufficiently remote after the Saint's death is drawn from these indications which he has scattered through the Life. For with us

at number 4: In those times indeed, as is proved by the testimonies of truthful and faithful men, and as has been known through many of the faithful, there was born… a holy Man; and at number 10: Then the king is reported to have said. The deeds of St. Rigomer were also gathered by Corvaisier, indicated above, as may be seen in him from page 141; by Bondonnet, a Benedictine ascetic of St. Vincent's of Le Mans, in the Lives of the Bishops of Le Mans, among the things which he writes of St. Innocentius at page 168 and following; and by Le Cointe, whom I cited at the beginning of this Commentary. Now these three authors and our anonymous writer report almost the same things in substance. But I do not read his prologue in them. The same Le Cointe corrects a slip of Corvaisier's out of Bondonnet, in these words: Observe, he says, that, Chlothar being expunged, who fell wrongly from the writer's pen, Childebert is rightly restored by Bondonnet: because as long as Innocentius sat at Le Mans, Maine obeyed King Childebert. Now this correction agrees with our anonymous biographer, as is plain in the Life with us at number 10.

[12] But what he narrates at number 11 concerning King Childebert concerning the writers of the Life needs explanation and a fitting interpretation: Then the king, he says, ordered a basilica to be made in the above-written villa of Palatiolum in honor of St. Rigomer, where also the people are wont even now to assemble for prayer, and are seen to offer sacred oblations to the Lord. And then those Saints, bidding the king farewell, returning to their own with great honor, began to build cells. That phrase, then, in honor of St. Rigomer, beware of so understanding as though King Childebert paid to him while living the honors due to the Heavenly ones; but rather that either out of an honorable affection toward him, or in memory of the notable miracle wrought to testify to the integrity of his life against calumniators (of which matter it had been treated in the same place at number 10), Childebert ordered a sacred building to be raised to God, who alone doeth great wonders; or else that the biographer here used a prolepsis, concerning which consult the Annotations on the Life, letter u.

[13] The copy of the Life which we are about to give is written in ancient characters, and its manuscript copies, and is contained in a parchment codex which is preserved with us and is marked Lives of the Saints, Mss. ✠ Ms. 47. The title prefixed to this Life suits both St. Rigomer and St. Tenestina; for it has this: Here begins the Life of St. Rigomer the priest and of St. Tenestina the virgin. Now I have purged it of errors, using for this end also another transcript, with which I collated it, and from which I have taken variant readings and also the additions enclosed in brackets. I shall call that the anonymous one, because I do not know from what codex or copy it was transcribed. But that this Life was sent from a manuscript by Master Claude Castellain, canon of Notre Dame at Paris, in the year 1689, our Papebroch left indicated. Concerning the history of the translation of St. Rigomer to the monastery of Maillezais, which we shall bring forward after his Life, it has seemed good to note some things here beforehand, beginning with a topographical notice of the place.

[14] Malleaca, or Malleacum, says Baudrand, Maillezais, and likewise a little town of Gaul in the province of Poitou amid the marshes, on an island made by the rivers Sèvre \ and l'Autize \, and thus hardly habitable on account of the inclemency of the air, was formerly episcopal under the archbishop of Bordeaux, having been made so by the Supreme Pontiff John XXII; but on the IV day of May in the year 1649 its bishopric was suppressed by Pope Innocent X, and its episcopal see was translated to La Rochelle. It is distant 5 leagues from Niort to the west, 9 from La Rochelle to the northeast, and 2 from Fontenay to the south. Concerning this place Hadrian Valois may also be seen in the Notitia Galliarum, where among other things it is said to be notable for an ancient monastery; and the Gallia Christiana, volume 2 of the latest edition, page 1362, where the ancient monastery of St. Peter is treated, and likewise the new one of SS. Peter and Paul, which was built about the year 1010. But what follows there pertains to the translation of the Saint: The new monastery Duke William enriched with many possessions and with relics of the Saints, among which the body of St. Rigomer the confessor was solemnly translated from the district of Le Mans to the monastery of Maillezais, Theodelinus, abbot of that place, negotiating with Hugh, Count of Le Mans. There may also be read what Mabillon reports concerning the building of this monastery and the gift of the aforesaid relics, in volume 4 of the Annals of the Order of St. Benedict at the year of Christ 1010, page 213, number 37 (from which year the time of the said translation may be approximately conjectured); and above all the author of the History of Maillezais, of whom I shall now speak.

[15] concerning the translation of St. Rigomer That history is contained in volume two of the New Library of Manuscript Books, published by Labbe, from page 222, under this title: Two books of Peter, monk of Maillezais, to Abbot Goderannus, on the antiquity and the change for the better of the island of Maillezais, and on the translation of St. Rigomer. This translation, which properly concerns us, is reported by the author Peter in book 2, page 234 and following. But when he wrote it may be gathered from Mabillon, who in volume 4 of the Annals of his Order, at the year 1060, number 64, records this: Humbert, the predecessor of Goderannus… made an end of living in the year 1060. In his place Goderannus was taken up; and presently he observes that Peter composed his two books… by the command of Goderannus, when the latter was not yet bishop of Saintes…; which bishopric he obtained at the beginning of the Pontificate of Alexander II; and he seems to have retained the abbey of Maillezais until his death, which happened in the year 1074. And that Pontiff Alexander was raised to the chair of Peter in the year of Christ 1061, and died in 1073.

[15] to the monastery of Maillezais. Corvaisier at page 145 writes that the bodies of St. Rigomer and of St. Trenestina, as he calls her, were translated to the abbey of Maillezais: which being afterward changed into a bishopric, he affirms that they were honored as patrons of the cathedral church, which solemnly celebrates their feast every year. That both are honored there as patrons Bondonnet also affirms at page 170. As regards that cult, I readily admit it on the credit of those writers. But the translation of the body of St. Tenestina to the said abbey I do not read in the documents which, that they may be more conveniently elucidated by Annotations, I shall bring forward after the Life of St. Rigomer; and afterward I shall treat of that translation, which is partly ascribed to St. Tenestina, when I have finished the matters of St. Rigomer, to which I shall append a historical syllogue concerning the same Saint. It remains that we bring forward the Acts of our holy priest, which we have divided into numbers and elucidated with Annotations.

\* commonly la Sèvre. \* in Latin Altizia.

LIFE

By an author of unknown name and time,

From an ancient parchment manuscript Codex ✠ 47.

Rigomer, priest and confessor, at Souligné among the people of Le Mans in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 7256

BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER.

The biographer Since, by the Lord's gift, we wish to commemorate something, and it is worthy that in praise of God we should commemorate his Saints — as good sons commit to memory, in honor or in praise of their fathers, both their deeds and their good counsels, and since the praise of fathers avails for the dignity of the sons or for the honor of God, whatever by the gift of God is set forth in the praise of the Saints. In the times indeed of the lord Childebert ^a and of Ultrogotha ^b his queen, Christian princes, was done that which we have resolved to commemorate here at the petition of Christians and of priests for a memorial to come.

[2] At that same time, therefore, when the aforesaid king Childebert various and Chlothar his brother had divided Neustria or France between them by lot ^c, since \* they had Christian queens — Chlothar the king, then, [had] the lady Radegund ^d, a most Christian woman, and the lord Childebert Ultrogotha. In the time of these kings, by their permission, certain monasteries began to flourish: and their beginnings too must be commemorated, and likewise the names of those who are attested to have been the first abbots there ^e. The lord Maximinus, upon the Loire near the city of Orléans, a religious and holy man, devoutly served the Lord; whose disciples at that same time, namely St. Avitus ^f and St. Carilefus ^g, two companions, in the solitude of a vast desert ^h, living under a holy rule, wonderfully built two cells to God.

[3] Supported also by the help of St. Innocent ⁱ of the city of Le Mans, marks of time he premises to this Life: who first gave to St. Carilefus, out of the right of his own see, a place beside the little river Anisola ^k for the building of a monastery ^l, and gave to St. Avitus no small assistance. For at a great interval he founded, by the aforesaid help, a monastery for another holy and religious monk named Launomarus ^m, in the place which is called Curbio, from the name of the stream running down there, whose name is Curbio ⁿ; and all these things he is seen to have accomplished for him with a rule-abiding zeal.

[4] In those times indeed, as is proved by the testimonies of truthful and faithful men, after which he relates the Saint's birth, upbringing, priesthood, and as has been known through many of the faithful, there was born in the place ^o Saugonense [p], of free parents, a holy and religious Man, adorned with good morals, Rigomer, the servant of God; who from infancy was instructed in sacred letters by a certain religious priest, [St.] Launillus [q] of Auvergne; or from whom he could, he sought concerning the word of God good counsel of humility and chastity and of holy meditation: and what he diligently sought upon the testimony of prudence, by the Lord's bounty he found and kept in faith, and vowed himself to be such in his manners \*; and therefore by the providence of God, on the testimony of the faithful peoples, he was made an approved priest of God.

[5] And he began to preach the word of the Lord round about, both to his kinsfolk his apostolic labors, and to his nearest neighbors; and whomsoever he could, he most frequently admonished both to penance and to the rest of the observance of righteousness and the works of mercy, and that they should be hospitable, and should bestow alms cheerfully upon the poor and give willingly, that for these things they might be able to obtain the mercy of the divine goodness; and that they should not make vows for profane causes, nor to springs or trees, but should rather have recourse to the churches or to the priests, and should ask the oil of blessing for their infirmities. And the servant of God himself anointed with sanctified oil the sick who sought him, and in the name of the Lord brought many of them to health, asking that for this they should render thanks to God.

[6] And the Saint himself, hearing that in a place near by there was an ancient shrine and superstition overcome: which the people called Morifanum \, which the people \ venerated, and to which they paid diabolical and unlawful vows with their gifts, then the servant of God, St. Rigomer, grieving over the rustic and unbelieving people, who practiced such a worship not in honor of God unto salvation

for themselves, but rather adored it unto the superstition of the devil, to their own destruction — being kindled with the zeal of Christians, went to that place with the brethren and with faithful Christians, and inquiring diligently, and having discovered the fraud of the diabolical invention, preaching and announcing the word of God to those dwelling in that town, that they should abandon that fanatical observance and rather frequent the church of God and seek salvation from Christ Jesus: which also, with the Lord's help, they did; and that shrine being destroyed, they built a basilica in the same place, where sacred oblations are now seen to be offered to God.

[7] [he brings help to Truda in a fever, and directs her daughter Tenestina in virtue;] Now it happened in those days that a certain matron of noble race, Truda by name, being seized with a fever, and constrained by necessity, sent word to this St. Rigomer to come to her, the report of his sanctity having been heard, that through his prayer she might find health. And when St. Rigomer, for piety's sake and out of charity, had visited her, and by prayer and the pouring on of blessed oil had begun to strengthen \ that woman, there was there at that time a certain girl, her daughter, named Tenestina \ [r]: hearing the exhortation of the Servant of God himself \*, which he was wont to deliver for the salvation of the soul — how they ought to do penance, and to free their souls from punishments to come, and to be able to earn the rewards of eternal life — hearing these things, that girl, by God's inspiration, I believe, fell in love with the counsel of that holy Man; and wishing to hear that priest more attentively as a messenger of God, she began to resort often to him, and, as far as she could, to minister to him in true love.

[8] whence calumnies against her; But it happened according to the ancient custom that the enemy stirred up in the hearts of certain men the goads of malice against her; and what she did out of true love — like Mary, who wept at the feet of the Lord, and bedewed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair and kissed them — this they slanderously said that she did out of lust, not out of charity. Yet she, devoted to God, cared nothing for the adversity of her detractors, but loved more and more the above-written Rigomer, the servant of God, who preached to her the word of the Lord. Then those malicious men reported to the betrothed of that girl, Severus by name, saying that his betrothed Tenestina loved a certain cleric with too singular an affection; whence those hostile men defamed her with an unworthy report, saying that she loved that Cleric altogether more than her own betrothed.

[9] who together with St. Rigomer is summoned to the king's palace, Hearing which, that man believed it, and being filled with indignation, took in an evil sense what had been done out of charity. So much the more did he begin to be indignant, that he suggested at the palace to the king or to the elders that a certain cleric, Rigomer, was attempting to draw away from him his betrothed Tenestina; and he received a messenger from the palace, who, coming, should bind by sureties the servant of God [s], Rigomer, and the above-written girl, that they should go to the palace and before the lord Childebert and the elders of the palace should render a full account concerning the aforesaid calumnies. And they, going with the utmost haste to the palace, both alike undaunted, because they, being innocent, were slandered concerning a vain accusation, both, namely the servant of God Rigomer, the holy priest, and Tenestina, the sure \* handmaid of God and a virgin girl of God, came confidently before that prince and the elders of the people; and in the place which is called Palatiolum [t] they were brought forward and presented, having candles or little tapers, religious gifts, which for oblations they there offered to the king.

[10] But certain elders spoke words of blasphemy in the king's presence, but God defended them by a miracle, saying: "O such priests, who seduce other men's wives!" Then the king is reported to have said: "If you are truly worthy, and do nothing through malice or through lust, kindle without fire, by your signs, these tapers which you offer me, that hereby it may appear whether your devotion is pure and religious." And they undauntedly and confidently, trusting in the divine goodness, on bended knees imploring the divine majesty, in the presence of the people and the king — those tapers began to smoke; and then St. Rigomer, stretching forth his right hand and invoking the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the little tapers were manifestly kindled and lighted by the power of God, and began to shine with a bright fire and a public splendor. And when that king, the lord Childebert, and the elders of the palace had seen this, straightway they bowed themselves at the knees and feet of the Saints, asking pardon for the labors and fatigues which they had caused them.

[11] Wherefore the king, wishing to reward them, granted them two villas in the district of Le Mans, and the king honors them with gifts. and ordered places for the building of cells, along with St. Innocent the bishop, and whatever of remaining allowance was according to their petition \. And he commanded that thereafter, that is after the manifestation of the aforesaid sign, no one should dare to disturb the said Saints. The aforesaid king also and the elders of the people besought them to pray constantly both for the peace of the kingdom and for the salvation of the people. Then the king ordered a basilica to be made in the above-written villa of Palatiolum in honor of St. Rigomer [u], where also the people \ are wont even now to assemble for prayer, and are seen to offer sacred oblations to the Lord. And then those Saints of God, bidding the king farewell, returning to their own with great honor, began to build cells.

[12] But St. Tenestina received the veil under the sacred honor of virginity from St. Innocent, [St. Tenestina founds a monastery and obtains a place for St. Rigomer: their virtues and miracles:] and studied to live holily and piously. And she, the handmaid of God, in the time of the aforesaid holy bishop Innocent, and afterward of the lord Domnolus [x], solemnly built, with God's help and by the assistance of the aforesaid bishop, a little monastery or basilica in honor of St. Mary upon the ground of holy mother church at Le Mans within the walls and the water [y], and there led a religious life with other maidens devoted to God, and there [z], by Christ's favor, accomplished her blessed life; and she obtained by the bishop's letter a place for St. Rigomer, out of the property of the aforesaid church, where the Saint himself might build a cell, which is now called Souligné. Both those Saints, persevering in the fear of God and the practice of religion, and giving alms to many poor, dispensed all their goods, and persevered daily in the holy precepts of God, in fastings, vigils, and prayers. Very often very many healings were granted by the grace of God to the sick through them.

[13] Many also, both men and women, were brought by their example to the worship of God: [by their example they profit many: their cult, and the day of St. Rigomer's death.] and very many peoples honored them manifoldly with gifts and presents as they continued altogether in true love; whose holy bodies, it is agreed, rest for their merits with great honor in the city of Le Mans, and are venerated with great cult by the priests and the Christian people, to the honor and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all the ages of ages. Amen. Now St. Rigomer died on the IX Kalends of September in peace. For their holy labors and their proven faith, without doubt, as \* their souls have been rewarded and crowned in the kingdom of God, so their blessed fame runs happily everywhere for an example, and they are honored by men.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Le Cointe at the year 541, number 66, has in the district of Sonnois, le Sonnois, which belongs to the bishopric of Le Mans: concerning which Hadrian Valois has more under Sagona and the district of Sagona.

q. Launillus, as here, or Launildus; Le Cointe at the year 541, number 66, has Launidus. In the anonymous manuscript he is called saint; where also is added of Auvergne, which I too have put here for deuerno, which was in the copy from which we give this Life. I have nothing ascertained about this man which I could teach the reader.

r. This Saint we shall presently give separately.

s. The anonymous manuscript: was attempting to draw away, and the messenger, the servant of God, Rigomer, etc.

t. Palatiolum takes its name from the thing itself. For it was a public or royal villa, one of the smaller ones, says Hadrian Valois; in whom see more.

u. In honor of — understand it either by a prolepsis, that the Saint was afterward honored there when he had died, or in the sense which you have in the preliminary Commentary, number 12. Perhaps this is the same church of St. Rigomer of which I treated in the same place, number 8.

x. Something is wanting, perhaps tempore ("in the time of").

y. For that monastery was built between the river Sarthe and the walls of the city.

z. Bondonnet at page 170 says that that convent in which the Saint died is one of the parishes of the city, under the name of Gourdaines. Corvaisier at page 145 may also be seen.

\ elsewhere quique*. \ Anonymous manuscript: bonis moribus*. \ perhaps Martis fanum* (the shrine of Mars). \ Anonymous manuscript: plurimus populus*. \ Anonymous manuscript: confortasset*. \ Anonymous manuscript: beata Tenestina*. \ In the same: his*, namely blessed Rigomer's. \ perhaps casta* (chaste). \ Anonymous manuscript: petitio*. \ In the same, faultily: ipse et populus*. \ perhaps ob animas*.

HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION

By Peter, monk of Maillezais,

Published in Labbe's New Library of Manuscript Books, volume 2, from page 234.

Rigomer, priest and confessor, at Souligné among the people of Le Mans in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 0000

BY PETER, MONK OF MAILLEZAIS.

St. Hugh, Count of Le Mans, Since in the preliminary Commentary on the Life of St. Rigomer, §2, from number 14, various observations have been given which pertain to this translation, and the narration of it was there deferred by us to this place, it remains that we now set it forth. Therefore, after the end of the aforesaid business, when he ^a of whom we are speaking had returned to his own, an occasion arose whereby Hugh, Count of Le Mans, should confer with him. For there were pressing upon him certain very great affairs which, if undertaken without his counsel (for he loved him with a free charity), he feared would be hurtful to him. And when he had received excellent answers upon all the matters on which he had prepared to consult him, and at length they exchanged with one another certain familiar conversations, amid this and that the Count, as it seems by the Lord's inspiring, asks the abbot whether abundance of goods flowed to him for the completion of so great a work, or whether, as often happens with new foundations, scarcity of means hemmed him in. But he said: "With very many, if you are speaking of temporal things, I abound in stores of all goods for its completion; but what comfort have I from these, while I lack the most sacred pledges of the Saints?" And when in the manner of one pleading he repeated some things: "But since this talk has arisen between me and thee, I beseech thy venerable head, run over and search the very broad fields of thy memory, and if thou hast any power, grant whence the ardor of my thirst may take refreshment."

[2] assigns the relics of St. Rigomer to Abbot Theodelinus: At this the Count, much astonished, first indeed for a little while shut up the words in his throat, then said: "Since I by no means think that thou askest these things for thine own sake only, but rather for the profit of many, and since, as we read, it becomes us to seek the fitting supports of others rather than our own — such as thou askest, the industry of my forefathers has kept as a treasure in a certain church of my right ^b, of which, being bound by love of thee, I strip myself, and grant it freely to thee. For there was a servant of Jesus Christ named Rigomer, whose acts are read, and who among us shines with frequent miracles: of whom perhaps thou hadst not until now even heard the fame. Send therefore with me some faithful keeper of a secret, and one approved in religion. And I, at his assignment, will attend, so far as I shall be able, with most worthy service, even to the place where he is to be brought." When he had heard this, with how great exultation the venerable man leapt for joy, and how festally he rendered manifold and innumerable thanks to the supreme Lord and the bestower of so great a good, I pass over in silence: for indeed I believe that the poems of the greatest orators fall short of these things.

[3] At length by common counsel a certain brother is chosen, most renowned for goodness, in what manner they were obtained there, and, as they say, most skilled as a manager of business of this kind, and he is joined to the Count under the pretense of some other work far off. But when they had entered the city of Le Mans, the aforesaid Count intimates to the monk that he should withdraw from his company, and, wherever he could, as though he had driven him from himself, should turn aside for the sake of lodging: and when things were darkened by night, at the persuasion of the messenger he should come to him with all speed. Thus he in words; and not otherwise did the other fulfill it in deeds. Then he enters the County: he feigns to his familiars that he wishes to visit certain places of the Saints for the sake of prayer: at last he commands his officers that pack-horses ^c, and likewise a sufficient equipment, such as the necessity of a longer journey would require, be prepared within the space of that same night. But when the day was ended, and all his men were bustling at his bidding to prepare what was needful, and the whole city supposed that he wished to go on pilgrimage, no one indeed even in the slightest suspecting what was to follow, the same Count secretly summoned, according to the agreed compact, the brother of whom we spoke above, and together with him enters the church of the glorious Rigomer; he binds the keepers by an oath to conceal the matter; then, a prayer having been humbly premised, he approaches the tomb which held the most holy body of the aforesaid Father: lastly, the doors of that tomb being opened, drawing thence the most sacred limbs with unspeakable reverence, he transfers them into caskets fitly prepared for this purpose, and seals them with all diligence.

[4] And while these things were being done, suddenly unexpected thunders crash, and were carried elsewhere, and very thick lightnings flash, although a little before the weather was calm enough. Presently too the agents of the business, except the Count and the monk, withdrawing themselves from thence, seized with fear, cried out together that the holy pledges ought to be restored to their former place, otherwise they would by no means escape perils of this kind. Which things the divine power wrought, as we believe, to this end, that he who was being translated might be venerated and honored with a more solid diligence. And indeed a little after, the calm being restored, by Christ's will, all things being fitly disposed which the matter demanded, the men go out of the church, and taking the road, they journey on that same day with wonderful speed as far as the town of Angers ^d. And since on that very same day the people were keeping the festival of the anniversary solemnity of blessed Albinus ^e, bishop of the city of Angers, the bearers of the holy treasure, out of a desire to obtain Mass, turn aside into the basilica of that Saint, set down the caskets, and seek the office for the sake of which they had come to the sacred building. But what new thing the supreme Judge then wrought through the lifeless limbs of our Rigomer seems more agreeable to be set forth than to be kept silent: for, that I may here sing a little in sport:

Virtue hidden avails little, and so does vice buried.

[5] Now while the men were awaiting the most sacred mysteries, a miracle being wrought on the way: and while the caskets, which, as we said, were enriched with the sacred pledges, were set in a certain place of the church, forthwith a certain paralytic, deprived of almost all bodily strength, is brought thither by the service of a bearer; and by chance lying down upon the aforesaid caskets for the sake of prayer, not knowing what they held within, he grows stiffer than usual; then he is agitated by so many assaults of his infirmity that he seemed to have lost the breath of life. But a little after (wonderful to tell!), all who were present being amazed, unlooked-for health is at hand, and through the limbs of a dead man the long-awaited remedy is extended to a living one. This being wrought, while the people who had come together thither to keep the festival exulted, together with the healed sick man, in the praises of the Lord for the miracle, and no one knew the certainty of the matter except the Count and his companions — but they, for fear of Fulk ^f, Count of that city, to whom the County of Le Mans also pertained, kept wholly silent about the carrying off of St. Rigomer and about the health bestowed by him upon the sick man — that prodigy is magnificently ascribed to the praises of blessed Albinus. But the bearers of the holy treasure, breaking off all delays and eagerly pursuing the road they had taken, on the following day sought the monastery of Bourgueil ^g. And since they suspected that the aforesaid father Theodelinus had come thither (for he had promised), and was very anxiously awaiting their arrival, and was watchfully providing an equipment sufficient for so great a matter, they send ahead one of their companions to make known that they were at hand, and likewise that they had, by the authorship of Christ the Lord, diligently accomplished all they had desired, and even beyond what they had hoped. When the man of God received this, with how great exultation he was gladdened and with how great jubilation cheered, when

will the speech even of any rhetorician set it forth? At length, having summoned the brethren of that monastery, he made the matter known, and as a suppliant implored them to prepare themselves for the reception of a heavenly protection. And they, performing this most solemnly, received them with all zeal, and set them forth in the church of Bourgueil right seemly, pronouncing those happy to whom God directed such a patronage.

[6] and afterward solemnly Meanwhile father Theodelinus at that same hour, having summoned a very swift courier, made known the whole course of the business to the brethren of Maillezais, and set down in a letter what must be provided by them in readiness for the longed-for reception, and what most of all must needs be procured. Drinking in his instructions, the men of Maillezais send out messengers on every side, and with wonderful quickness gather crowds of many peoples and likewise no small assembly of monks and clerics. Meanwhile, on that night on which the removed and most sacred treasures were to be brought into the monastery of Maillezais, one of the brethren resting there, a Barcelonan \ by nation, Tezo by name, [saw] in his sleep \ an immense splendor of light rise from the east, then little by little fill the whole body of the monastery, and not long after an innumerable throng of peoples running together from every side, and awaiting in suspense I know not what marvel in that same light, and likewise promising it to themselves as it were with a low murmur. And indeed hitherto the coming of blessed Rigomer was hidden from him. But if our conjecture is worthily extended to the dreams of mortals, it seems not absurdly to portend, not the solemn gladness of that one day only, but rather the abounding affluence of all good things, and the consolation, not only in the flesh but also in soul, which the Lord bestows upon the sick who run together to the suffrages of blessed Rigomer.

[7] translated to Maillezais: which afterward were illustrious for miracles. But when the bearers indicated above, together with the venerable Theodelinus, had brought the most precious gem into the island of Maillezais, a mighty shout arose on both sides: the sacred assembly of the brethren is present; here also and there a manifold throng of crowds resounding the praise of the Lord on every side: the ministers, with others standing about with crosses and tapers, rejoicing, place the holy body upon their shoulders; but the rest of the multitude, on bended knees, with many tears — greatly though they desired it — beg the patronage of the glorious Rigomer. At length, the due supplication being completed and the antiphon begun, they bring into the church of Maillezais the graces long since predestined by the Lord, gladness resounding on every side. And since the greater crypt of that church still remained unfinished in those days, they lay them with all diligence in the right transept, where also is the altar of the holy Mother of God and perpetual Virgin. Concerning the miracles indeed wrought there afterward through him, which are so many and so great that no man, as they say, would suffice to relate them fully, we for the present keep silence: but if God grant a life somewhat long, we shall attempt to write down in whatever style, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath made the things that are to come, whatever and however great things we have received concerning them upon the assertion of the most approved elders ^h.

ANNOTATIONS.

\ elsewhere Barcinonis*. \ perhaps videt* is to be added.