ON S. MALARDUS, OR MALEHARDUS, BISHOP OF CHARTRES IN GAUL.
AROUND THE YEAR DCLX.
CommentaryMalardus or Malehardus, Bishop of Chartres in Gaul (S.)
From various sources.
[1] The name Malardus is common among the French and Belgians: the origin of the word is Teutonic, Mallaerd, or Mael-aert; with various significations: for the former means petulant or given to luxury; The name of S. Malardus. the latter moderate, or fond of banqueting. We have sometimes heard very serious men inquiring whether there was a Saint of this name whom they might adopt as their patron. There is indeed; namely the Bishop of Chartres in Gaul, about whom fuller treatment has been given in the deeds of S. Launomarus; who subscribed to the Council of Chalon in the year 650; his era. to the Privilege by which Landericus, Bishop of Paris, granted liberty to the monastery of S. Dionysius, in the year 658; and to the Precept of King Chlodoveus II concerning the same liberty in the year 659: and he appears to have died shortly after: unless, however, this was a second of his name, much later than the Saint.
[2] Public veneration. Sebastianus Rouillardus, Hist. Carnot. part 2, chapter 1, writes that his body is preserved in the monastery of S. Martinus in the valley, and that his memory is annually celebrated by that Church, with a solemn procession instituted to that church, and with hymns and antiphons composed in his praise as a Saint being sung. He does not specify the day. Galesinius, Ferrarius, Saussaius inscribe him in the roll of Saints on 19 the feast, January; and Galesinius cites a manuscript Martyrology and the Calendar of the Church of Chartres.
[3] The era in which he lived has been discussed in the life of S. Launomarus. He is mentioned by Ioannes Chenus, Claudius Robertus, and Demochares in their catalogues of the bishops of Gaul, and is always written as Malardus, his acts, as also in the Council of Chalon; in those Privileges of S. Dionysius he is written Malehardus. He rescued the body of S. Launomarus, which had been stolen from the monastery of S. Martinus, from the sacrilegious thieves, having summoned the citizens to arms, as Rouillardus relates. The rest of his acts are hidden, except for what is known from the acts of S. Launomarus.