Euticius

ON ST. EUTICIUS, ABBOT OF BAUME IN BURGUNDY.

Ninth Century.

Euticius, Abbot of Baume in Burgundy (Blessed).

From Various Sources.

[1] Two illustrious monasteries called Baume are found in the Archbishopric of Besancon: one of virgins, on the river Doubs, between Besancon and Montbeliard — called by others Palma, and in French Baume-les-Nonains. The monastery of Baume. This is said to have been begun in the fourth century after Christ by St. Desideratus, and completed by his successor St. Germanus the Martyr, both Bishops of Besancon; the latter is venerated on October 11, the former on July 27; but on December 13, St. Othilia the Virgin, who was educated in that place. We shall discuss these on their respective days. The second is a monastery of men, Baume, in the same Upper Burgundy, which Aubert Le Mire asserts in his Fasti Belgici et Burgundici still to flourish, in the eulogy of St. Berno, of whom more presently.

[2] The Emperor Louis the Pious, in a certain decree issued at Aachen in the year of Christ 817, established which monasteries of his realm were to provide gifts and military service, which were to provide gifts alone without military service, and which were to provide neither gifts nor military service but only prayers for the safety of the Emperor and his sons and for the stability of the empire — having regard, of course, to the resources of each. The monastery of Baume, as being sufficiently wealthy — being one that should give gifts without military service — was assigned to the second class. About seventy years then elapsed, during which all the vigour of religious life at Baume grew old. St. Berno, reformed by Blessed Berno, formerly a monk of Autun and then Abbot of Baume, revived it anew according to the customs prescribed by St. Euticius, as will be said at greater length below in the Life of St. Berno, from the manuscript Life of St. Hugo, the monk of Autun who was his most faithful assistant in restoring discipline at Baume, concerning whom we shall treat on April 20. John the Italian, a Cluniac monk, in book 1 of the Life of his Abbot St. Odo — which we shall give on November 18 — writes that this monastery in the valley of Baume was recently constructed by the Abbot Berno; an imitator of Blessed Euticius. rather, it was restored, as will soon become clear from his Life. "For the founders of that place" (John adds) "were imitators of a certain Father Heuticius, whose life's merit and manner of conversation I did not wish to insert into this work; but what manner of death he merited, I have taken care to commend to your memory."

[3] The monastic life of Blessed Euticius. "This same man lived in the times of the great Emperor Louis, dear indeed to the King and beloved by all. For although he was a layman and educated in secular studies, abandoning those things from which human frailty is wont to grow proud, he gave himself wholly to the rules and institutions of the blessed Fathers; from these authorities he drew various customs and collected them into a single volume. his writings, Then, not long afterwards, he was made a monk, and was held in such love by the King that the King built a monastery for him within his own palace. When the course of the present life had been run, his death, with the brethren standing around him on every side, he suddenly gave up his spirit. It happened meanwhile, while the funeral rites of the devoted Father were being prepared by his disciples, that behold — he who had been dead returned to life. While they were astonished and marvelling, Father Heuticius said: 'Thanks be to God. his penitence, You know that in these forty years I do not recall a single day on which I took food without first having wept. For today, with my sorrow taken away, the Lord has consoled me his glory, and has granted me a place of rest among the choirs of the angels.' Saying these things, he rested in perpetual peace. For this Father Heuticius himself was the founder of those customs which are observed in our monasteries to this day. When the venerable man Adhegrinus beheld these, he hastened to report them to our Father Odo. And Odo, taking with him one hundred volumes of books, soon removed to that same monastery."

[4] This is the sole solid and ancient record of the life of St. Euticius that survives. Most of those who mention him have transcribed it: Vincent, in book 24 of the Speculum Historiale, chapters 55 and 59; D. Antoninus, part 2, title 15, chapter 16; and other more recent writers. Francis de Riuo, in his Chronicle of Cluny — composed at the direction of his Abbot Jacques d'Amboise, who presided from the year 1485 to 1510 — adds the following, though one may doubt whether he read it elsewhere or rather deduced it from the words cited above: "Berno," he says, "excellently followed the vigour of discipline which he had received from St. Euticius, the founder of the monastery of Baume, Whether he was Abbot of Baume. as a successor of his virtue." Arnold Wion sets forth the same more plainly in his Appendix to the monastic Martyrology, because he did not know the day of his feast: "St. Euticius," he says, "was the founder of the monastery of Baume and its first Abbot, and also the instructor in monastic disciplines of St. Berno, the first Abbot of Cluny," etc. Our Possevinus follows in his Apparatus Sacer; Claudius Robert in the Gallia Christiana, under Baume and Cluny, number 1; Andre du Chesne in his notes to the Life of St. Odo; Saussay in the supplement to his Gallic Martyrology, among the Saints whose feast days he confesses are unknown to him, His name in the sacred Calendars. although he had previously listed him on January 13 — but the one he calls "Saint" in the supplement he there assigns only to the Pious or Blessed. He follows Le Mire, who, having celebrated Blessed Berno on January 13 in the Fasti, adds Blessed Euticius, whom he also considers the founder of Baume — but not of Gigny and the monastery of Ethice, which Saussay did not sufficiently consider. Menard writes on January 14: "In Burgundy, St. Euticius, Abbot." In book 1 of his Observations he adds that he is recorded as the first Abbot of Baume in the Life of St. Hugo of Autun, in which there is absolutely no mention of St. Euticius. Antonio de Yepes, in volume 4 of his Benedictine Chronicle, at the year 910, consistently calls Euticius "Saint."

[5] The customs of St. Euticius, observed at Baume. Certain customs are reported by John the Italian in the Life of St. Odo, which we add here because St. Euticius seems to be recognized in them, and some of them were even confirmed by heavenly prodigies, as is clear from the same Life of St. Odo. "The custom of that place," he says, "was that the master of the school should go nowhere alone with a single boy — not even to relieve the needs of nature. Care for good testimony. Nor should a boy presume to speak more privately with him alone, but for the sake of good testimony, he should always take along another of the boys or one of the brethren as a companion in going about or in conversation. If it were night, or if by chance a boy should ask to go out, he dared not extend his foot beyond the dormitory without the light of a lamp and another brother. At the time of the meal, moreover, there was never a lack of reading at either table. Collection of crumbs. As for the crumbs that were produced from the cutting of the bread, each person diligently gathering those before him would consume them with thanksgiving before the reading was finished. When the reading was concluded, no one dared to consume them or any other food any longer. They confessed that these crumbs were more sacred than other foods."

[6] "There is also another practice of silence among them. Rule of silence. For at inappropriate hours no one within the cloisters of that monastery dared to speak, nor to join himself with another brother. When twelve readings are celebrated, no one within the aforesaid cloisters dares to speak, except at Chapter on the following day. On the octave day of Christmas and of the Resurrection of the Lord, the most profound silence was kept among them night and day. They confessed, indeed, that this most brief silence signified the eternal silence. For as often as necessity pressed for requesting things, so often were various signs made among them, to accomplish what they wished — which I think the grammarians would call signs of the fingers and eyes. So greatly indeed had this practice grown among them that, I believe, even if they lacked the use of the tongue, the signs themselves would suffice for signifying all necessities."

[7] The manner of the divine office. "But between ordinary days and the remaining octaves of the Saints, such a distinction was maintained. For on ordinary days, in the course of both day and night, they sang one hundred and thirty-eight psalms — of which we have removed fourteen on account of the spirits of the weak — *not counting the special prayers which our brethren continue to observe to this day, and which indeed seem to exceed the measure of the psalter. Likewise two masses, and similarly litanies. At each of the canonical hours they genuflected twice. On the octaves which we mentioned, they sang only seventy-five psalms during the aforesaid courses, and genuflected once, and took a meal twice. For there are very many other things besides which I deem should rightly be spared from this work, on account of fastidious readers."

* Perhaps "et certas" and certain (prayers).