ON SAINT MEDANUS, OR MELDANUS, AN IRISH BISHOP, AT PERONNE IN GAUL
Toward the End of the Sixth Century.
Preliminary Commentary.
Medanus, or Meldanus, Irish Bishop, at Peronne in Gaul (Saint)
By the author G. H.
[1] Peronne, a town of the Vermandois in Gaul on the River Somme, celebrates as its patron Saint Fursey, a native of Ireland, whose twofold Life we published at January 16. The relics of Saint Medanus were deposited at Peronne by Saint Fursey. In both Lives mention is made of Saint Medanus and his companions, and of their relics deposited at Peronne by Saint Fursey. The author of the earlier Life, a contemporary, treats of these in Book 2, number 20: "Then," he says, "Erchinoald sent one boy of seven years from the party of Berchar, and Berchar likewise placed his boy from the party of Erchinoald. They immediately, lifting up the bier of Saint Fursey, by the Savior's command conveyed the holy body to the mount of Cygnopus... where the Saint himself had previously deposited the relics of many Saints, namely Patrick, Beanus, Meldanus, and the rest, whom he had brought with him." He had written, moreover, in number 13, that the mount of Cygnopus is called Peronne. In the other Life, by a somewhat
more recent author, these things are thus related in Book 2, number 28: "Erchinoald indeed and his aforesaid wife established religious canons to serve God and his Saints, and especially those whose presence was had there, according to the decrees of the blessed Fathers, and enriched them with their most ample possessions. For in the first church which had been there, the Blessed Fursey had entombed his holy companions Patrick, Beoan, and Meldanus, whose souls he had seen in the vision in which he endured the wondrous reproaches of the demons, and also the relics of other precious servants of God, famous for miracles which he had brought with him... through whose merits to this very day the heavenly King has honored that place with many signs of miracles."
[2] The Venerable Bede, in Book 3 of the English History, chapter 19, briefly touches upon this vision of Saint Fursey, and calls these men who appeared among the Angels holy and just, and urges that whoever wishes to know more fully about these things he himself is praised by Saint Bede should read the little book of the Life of Saint Fursey, and will receive much spiritual profit from it. That is the earlier Life published by us there, from which we here repeat the same apparition. First those men are said to be from the province in which that man of the Lord, Fursey, was born: whence certain matters about the place of his birth are here to be examined.
[3] He was Irish by homeland. First, that Saint Fursey was Irish is established from the Acts. Therefore Medanus's homeland was the same. The region of the whole island which most inclines toward the west is called Connaught, or Connachtia. There in the county of Galway, Saint Brendan formerly built two monasteries; from the province of Connaught one in its southern part, on the island of Clonfert or Cluainferta; the other in the western part, on the island of Orbsen, which others call Erbsen -- in the second Life of Saint Fursey, numbers 12 and 20, Esbrem and Ebren. When Philtanus had gone to the earlier monastery of Clonfert to visit his uncle Saint Brendan, bringing with him his pregnant wife, Saint Fursey was born there, and on the other island, when already more advanced in years, he had as his Confessor Saint Meldanus, concerning whom the Irish writer Cathal Maguire writes thus at January 16, as cited by Colgan: "Saint Meldanus Mac-Hua-Coinn, from Lough Oirbsen in Connaught, was the spiritual Father of Saint Fursey the spiritual director, or spiritual Father, of Saint Fursey." Indeed Fursey himself also built a monastery near Lough Orbsen on the island of Rathmath, called to this day Hill-Fursa from his name. Moreover Saint Meldanus is called Mac-Hua-Coinn because he was descended from the lineage of Connus, or Constantine, a most celebrated king among the Irish.
[4] Saint Meldanus is thus inscribed in the Irish Martyrologies of Marianus Gorman, Cathal Maguire, and the Martyrology of Donegal, as cited by the same Colgan: he is venerated among the Irish on February 7 "Saint Meldanus Mac-Hua-Coinn." In the Tallaght Martyrology it reads: "Saint Meldanus of the island of Mac-Hua-Coinn." The Calendar of Cashel adds: "In Lough Oirbsen, in the region of Ibhsean in western Connaught." So writes Colgan at note 72 to the fourth Life of Saint Columba, and again at this date of February 7, where he treats of Saint Meldanus; and in note 12 he cites the same Martyrologies, with the wording slightly altered. He believes this same Meldanus to have appeared among the Angels to Saint Fursey, and his relics to have been translated to Gaul by the latter.
[5] In the Life of Saint Cuthbert as found in Capgrave, two bishops in Scotland are mentioned, Meldanus and Eatanus, maternal uncles of Cuthbert, This Meldanus, uncle of Saint Cuthbert, appears to be another person? whose mother, having lived with them for some time, left her son Cuthbert under their care and set out for Rome. She is said to have been born of a father Muriardach, a wealthy and powerful king, of the royal lineage of the Irish, and of a mother Sabina, celebrated as a Saint for the holiness of her life and wonderful manner of living. These matters are to be examined on March 20, the feast day of Saint Cuthbert. Colgan writes that this is the same Meldanus of whom we here treat, and that the one called his brother, Eatanus, is elsewhere called Beanus; and that they also lived in Britain. And again, together with Saint Nassadius, whom he conjectures to be a third brother, he is venerated on October 26, on which day he reports the following from the Tallaght Martyrology: "Feast of Saints Nassadius, Beoan, and Meldanus. Three Saints from Britain, and they are in one church, namely in Tallaght-Umhuil in the region of Ivagh in Ulster, near Lough Bricreann." Colgan thinks they are venerated there on that day because they were buried there. But they do not seem to have been removed from there when that Martyrology was written; so that this appears to be a different Meldanus, and, if Capgrave is to be trusted, he should rather be called the uncle of Saint Cuthbert, younger than that other Medanus, Fursey's Confessor -- since Colgan would have the latter to have flourished before the year 580, in the time of Saint Columba the Abbot, who died in the year 595.
[6] It is surprising that in so many and varied Martyrologies of so many churches of Gaul and Belgium, the names of Saint Meldanus and his companions have not been found by us, at least thus far. Perhaps their memory perished together with the veneration of the relics, about which Desmay writes thus in the Life of Saint Fursey published by him in French: His relics have perished. "Saint Fursey caused the bodies of Saints Beodanus and Meldanus, which he had carried with him from Ireland, to be buried at Peronne in the church of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul. In what part of this place that precious treasure lies hidden, whether through the injury of time or through the carelessness of our forebears who were heedless of so great a matter, we are ignorant to this day." Formerly we had deferred the memory of Saint Medanus to the Life of Saint Fursey on November 14, on which day Hermann Greven in the supplement to Usuard reports Saint Modanus. But he is called in the Aberdeen Breviary Middanus, Bishop or Abbot, Confessor, Patron of Fillorth in Scotland, under King Conran in the year 503 -- so that he now seems to us to be different from the one treated here, insofar as it is permissible to judge in obscure matters. There was also a Meldanus of Cluain-Chembre, a disciple of Saint Patrick, in the latter's Tripartite Life and in the Life written by Jocelin. Colgan says he is venerated on January 28 and October 26.
ACCOUNT OF THE APPARITION OF SAINT MEDANUS,
From the Life of Saint Fursey.
Medanus, or Meldanus, Irish Bishop, at Peronne in Gaul (Saint)
From the Life of Saint Fursey.
[1] The Blessed Fursey then, looking upward, saw immense hosts shining with extraordinary brightness, of Angels and of holy men who had gone before, who, flying as if on wings, Saint Medanus appears to Saint Fursey among the Saints and Angels surrounded him with immense radiance, driving far away all dread of fire and the terrors of demons. He also beheld two venerable men of that province in which the man of the Lord, Fursey himself, had been born, of whom one was called Beanus and the other Medanus. Seeing these things, he believed he had died. The memory of these bishops is celebrated by all to this day. Drawing nearer to him, they began to speak to him familiarly, telling him their own names.
[2] Then he beheld the great serenity of heaven, and two Angels returning to the nearest joy of heaven, choirs singing and entering as though through an ethereal doorway; and as a wondrous magnitude of brightness burst forth around them, there were heard, as it were through four choirs, multitudes of singing Angels, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth." Isaiah 6:5. Then, as his soul attended to the sweetness of the heavenly melody and the sound of ineffable joy resounding beyond heaven, hosts of Angels standing at his right also surrounded him; of whom one said: "Do you know where this joy and gladness take place?" When Fursey replied that he did not know, the holy Angel answered: "In the heavenly assembly, whence we also come." Then his mind, forgetting all the labor of tribulation, was filled with immense joy; for hearing the heavenly songs resound more clearly and melodiously, he thought they were being sung for himself alone, and marveling, he said: "Great is the joy of hearing these songs..."
[3] He commands him to return to his body. Then he beheld the aforesaid priests, proceeding from the secret place of heaven with great brightness, radiant in angelic form, coming to him; and they commanded him to return to the world. But he, silent and stupefied with sadness at this announcement, in a moment was returned, the holy Angels leading him back. The aforesaid venerable men asked for time to speak with him, and said: "Why do you fear? It is a journey of one day that you are to labor. Preaching therefore, announce to all that vengeance is near." When the Blessed Fursey inquired about the end of the world, they said that the end of creation was not yet at that time, although it was near; revealing many things but that the human race was to be vexed by plagues of famine and
pestilence -- which was also signified by the sign of the sun, which in the previous year had hidden its rays and shone continually like the moon. Future calamities. "There are two kinds of famine: one in the abundance of wisdom, understanding the word of the Lord and not fulfilling it; the other in the tenacity of mind amid abundance of riches. But they are generated from one root of bitterness. For just as the miser is not satisfied with money, because the bitterness of avarice does not feel the sweetness of goods received, in its craving for those gains which are unlawful; so also souls occupied and held captive by malice and bitterness do not feel the sweetness of the Lord's word. Mortality indeed, on account of God's patience, has been somewhat delayed; but whoever has seen these signs and despises the warnings of Holy Scripture, if he does not do penance, death is near at hand for him."
[4] "And although the wrath of the supreme Judge now threatens all who despise the divine warnings, on account of the sins of Doctors and princes his fury is chiefly angry at the Doctors of the Church and at Princes; for through four things the souls of the faithful perish: through the seductive vices of this world, through the suggestion of the warring devil, through the negligence of Doctors, and through the evil examples of depraved Princes. Let the Doctors therefore, considering the books of the Prophets, understand and recognize what sort of time this is. For men are of half-work: the sins of the Doctors because through the mercy of Almighty God some have obtained the grace of generosity, but are slippery through incontinence of the flesh; others indeed are chaste of body, but are covetous with the heats of avarice; some also have the grace of gentleness, but are faint-hearted through rancor of spirit; others, by not remembering their injuries, quickly forgive, but by guarding the heart less carefully and growing angry too quickly, they provoke quarrels; some glory in what God has given them by his individual bounty, as though it had been acquired by their own labor; others conquer in their vigilant heart the vices that assailed them, but neglect to obtain virtues through the practice of good works."
[5] "There are also some who are assailed by spiritual vices, but setting these aside, they afflict the body with abstinence -- for example, considering nocturnal illusions or trivial matters as grave sins, while counting pride, which cast the Angels down from the heights, as nothing, or not execrating avarice, which expelled the first man from the pleasantness of paradise; nor hating envy, through which the fratricide Cain killed his brother Abel; nor abominating false testimony, and other grave sins through which the Savior was condemned, or blasphemy; nor do they consider what manner and magnitude of punishments have been imposed upon those who committed such things. For many, abstaining from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving, consume these abominations as though they were lawful -- that is, pride, avarice, envy, false testimony, blasphemy -- through which, by detraction, they eat as it were the flesh of their neighbor together with his blood; and what is lighter in God's judgment they judge more gravely, while they consider grave matters to be lighter. Every Doctor, therefore, ought to apply appropriate remedies to individual vices. For whoever considers these vices to be lighter than gluttony or fornication is to be judged an enemy of souls rather than a teacher."
[6] "The cure for pride, therefore, is rebuke before all, and frequent humiliation in mourning and ashes. How they may be cured. The remedy for avarice is the dispensation of generosity. Envy indeed is cured through benevolence and kindness. It is fitting that whoever has given false testimony humbly confess and supplicate for pardon from the one against whom he heaped false words. The evil of blasphemy likewise is healed by a similar remedy -- that is, through the humility of submission, and the restraint of the tongue from all useless speech, and through the constancy of prayer. For contrary vices are healed by contrary virtues. Nor is it enough to afflict the body if the soul is not cured of malice and wickedness. Let the Princes therefore and Doctors of the Church of Christ call the souls of the faithful to the lament of penance after their sins, and render them sound by the spiritual pasture of doctrine and by participation in the sacred body and blood. But let them excommunicate the unwilling, lest they bear the guilt of damnation for those neglected -- lest they plant an elm for a vine, and an alder for an olive, while they love earthly and fruitless labor more than the love of God, which is recognized as the root and summit of all good works."
[7] "The Lord is angry against the Doctors because, neglecting the divine books, they pursue the cares of this world with all affection. For if by reading they understood the sayings of the Prophets, not even one who had risen from the dead could have inspired more fear and compunction in his hearers. But there is no one who forbids or who drives out. Pride is the cause of all evils. For king and priest, each one does what is right in his own eyes, according to what is written. The cause indeed and root of all evils is pride. Judges 17:6. For the people rise up against their ruler, the clergy against the priest, monks against the abbot, sons against parents, the young against the old -- in their pride they think differently. But just as each of them, being subject, has not learned to exhibit the obedience of humility to his superior, so by the just judgment of God it comes about that no one is humbly subject to the one placed over the rest; and what one unjustly suffered from that proud one, he painfully bears from another through the justice of the strict Judge. The evil of pride, therefore, which destroyed the heavenly court of the Angels by corruption, also destroys the present world by disordering it."
[8] When these things had been said by the Blessed Beanus and Meldanus, that heavenly host of Angels together with Beanus and Meldanus was received back into heaven; Saint Meldanus returns to heaven. and as the Blessed Fursey, left with only three Angels, was about to return to earth, a very great fire drew near. But the Angel of the Lord, just as before, dividing it, cleaved the fire in two... Having come forth from there, the Blessed Fursey preached the word of God throughout all of Ireland and announced to all the peoples of the Irish everything he had seen or heard.