ON ST. VITALINA, VIRGIN, AT ARTONNE AMONG THE ARVERNI.
ABOUT THE YEAR 390.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Vitalina, Virgin, at Artonne among the Arverni in Gaul (St.)
By the author I. B.
[1] Artonne is a town among the Arverni in Gaul, where there is also a college of Canons, in whose church I believe St. Vitalina the Virgin is venerated. She was certainly venerated in former times, as St. Gregory of Tours attests St. Vitalina is venerated at Artonne on February 21 in his book on the Glory of the Confessors, chapter 5, which we shall presently quote in its entirety. Concerning her, Molanus in the first edition of his supplement to Usuard writes: "In Gaul, Vitalina, a most holy Virgin." He omitted this in the later edition, for what reason I do not know. Canisius has the same. Saussaius adorns her with a distinguished eulogy on this same day in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology, of which this is the beginning: "Among the Arverni, in the village formerly called Arthona, St. Vitalina, a Virgin consecrated to God, a Virgin devoted to God who, having spent her life in the pure service of God, departed from this light by a peaceful and premature death, so that she might be joined to her heavenly Spouse as her merits deserved. She was buried in that same village, and since she always lived in great repute for sanctity among the inhabitants, it happened that St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, passed through there while going to Clermont."
[2] Let us hear the rest from St. Gregory: "Similar to this event" (he had treated in chapter 4 of St. Gatian the Bishop, who had responded to St. Martin from the tomb) -- "Similar to this event, then," he says, she requests a blessing from St. Martin at the tomb "I have often heard elderly men relate concerning the Arvernian village of Arthona. A certain religious woman named Vitalina rests in this place. When Bl. Martin came to her tomb, he gave a greeting, and she requested that he deign to bless her. After they had completed their prayer, the blessed man turned and said: 'Tell me, most holy Virgin, not yet enjoying the vision of God have you already merited the presence of the Lord?' She replied: 'One obstacle remains for me, which seemed a trivial matter in this world. For on Friday, on which we know the Redeemer of the world suffered, I washed my head.' for having washed her head on Good Friday But the blessed Confessor, withdrawing from the Virgin's tomb, said to his companions: 'Woe to us who dwell in this world! If this Virgin consecrated to Christ has merited this stumbling-block because she washed her head on a Friday, what shall we do, whom the deceitful world daily persuades to sin?' The blessed man also worked many things in that village, which I have thought it would be too long to pursue."
[3] "When the man of God had left the village of Arthona, he directed his steps toward the city of the Arverni. When the Senators of the city, St. Martin avoiding worldly pomp who at that time shone in that place with the lineage of Roman nobility, heard that the holy man was approaching the city, they went out to meet him with horsemen and carriages, with chariots and coaches. But he, mounted on a donkey, sitting upon a most wretched covering, when he had arrived at the summit of Mount Belenate, from which the position of the village of Ricomagus is observed, saw these men approaching him with this pomp and said: 'What do these men want, who approach us with this display?' One who had come forward first answered: 'Because the Senators of the Arverni are coming to meet you.' 'Why,' said he, 'it is not for me to enter their city with such ostentation.' And immediately, turning his donkey's bridle backward, he began to retrace the road by which he had come. But they, following after him, humbly begged him to come to the city, saying: 'We have heard the fame of your holiness; for there are many sick whom you ought to visit.' he heals the sick And when they could not prevail upon him, having laid hands upon the sick who had come, he restored them to health and returned to the village of Arthona. Moreover, there still stands in that place a latticed enclosure in which the Saint is said to have stood. After this, approaching the Virgin's tomb, he said: he returns to her and indicates she will see God in three days 'Rejoice now, most blessed sister Vitalina; for after three days you shall be presented to the Lord's majesty.' And he departed from that place."
[4] "After this the Virgin was shown to many in a vision, and she granted the favors requested, and she declared the day of her death on which her commemoration should be celebrated. Vitalina declares in a vision the day on which she should be venerated This is to be understood in no other way than that through the intercession of the blessed Bishop she had merited the presence of the Lord's majesty, so that she might thenceforth do these things. At a certain time, when vigils had been celebrated in her honor, when Eulalius, the Archpriest of the place, had invited the Clergy to a banquet, she divinely provides the necessities for the feast on that day and Edatius, another Priest, was preparing food for the widows and the remaining poor; and one lacked fish and the other good wine -- a certain fisherman was admonished in a vision by the Virgin to bring an abundance of fish to the Archpriest. He rose from his bed and found an enormous fish caught for him, which he presented where he was bidden. To the Priest Edatius she likewise appeared in a vision, saying: 'Go, and under one tree of the courtyard you will find one gold coin; giving this, you will procure wine worthy of the feast of the poor.' But he told no one what he had seen; he went, searched, and found it. Having bought wine, he refreshed the poor of Christ. And thus the virtue of the Virgin, appearing to each, provided the kinds of provisions that were lacking in each place."
[5] So far St. Gregory of Tours. Saussaius narrates the same from him in other words; what was her fault? our Francis Lahier does the same in French in his Menologium of Virgins. Lahier conjectures that some law at that time forbade the washing of one's head on Good Friday in Gaul. For what offense would it otherwise have been to Vitalina? I have nowhere found any mention of such a law. He adds the punishment? that she was not then tormented with any punishment of the senses, but solely with the desire of seeing God.
[6] Saussaius adds: "This blessed Virgin is also venerated at Metz by ancient custom, as is clear from the ancient diptychs of the greater Church." We have not seen those diptychs. she is also said to be venerated at Metz Ferrari likewise writes in his General Catalogue of Saints: "At Metz in Gaul, St. Vitalina the Virgin." He cites Molanus and the tables of the Church of Metz. I believe St. Vitalina lived at the very time when St. Martin was presiding over the Church of Tours, and died perhaps a month or two before the Saint himself came to Arthona -- when did she die? about the year 390, says Lahier.