Gilduinus

CONCERNING S. GILDUINUS, CANON OF DOL IN BRITTANY.

Year of Christ 1077.

Gilduinus, Canon of Dol in Brittany (S.)

[1] Dol is a city of Armorican Brittany, where S. Sampson, as will be said on 28 July, established a See--whether episcopal or archiepiscopal is uncertain. He himself is said to have been an Archbishop in the island of Britain; hence his successors used the pallium, while the Archbishop of Tours contended that they were obliged to obey him, as were the other Armorican bishops. The feast of S. Gilduinus, At length, however, a judgment was pronounced in favor of Tours by the Roman Pontiff. In this Church of S. Sampson at Dol, S. Gilduinus was a Canon and was elected Bishop, whose feast is celebrated on 27 January; on which day Saussay writes in the Gallican Martyrology: "At Chartres, the deposition of S. Gilduinus, Bishop-elect of Dol in Armorica and Confessor," etc. Bertrand d'Argentre also testifies in book 3 of his History of Brittany, chapter 40, that Gilduinus is held to be a Saint.

[2] The Life of S. Gilduinus was written by an anonymous monk of the monastery of S. Peter-in-the-Valley, Life, which was formerly in the suburbs of Chartres, and is now within the city itself, where Gilduinus died while returning from Rome and was buried. The author himself indicates this below, at number 17: "He was buried on the sixth day before the Kalends of February in the middle of the choir of our church." The life appears to have been written before the translation about to be mentioned, since it does not recall it. Whence published here: Augustine Du Paz, in the book entitled Genealogical History of the Illustrious Families of Brittany, published it from the manuscript History of Brittany of Pierre le Baud and from ancient records of the aforesaid monastery of S. Peter-in-the-Valley, omitting the innumerable miracles, as he says, which occurred at his burial and afterward. Albert le Grand of Morlaix also published the same Life in French in his Lives of the Saints of Armorican Brittany, but assigns his feast to 31 January.

[3] Sebastien Rouillard, in his History of the Church of Chartres, part 2, chapter 13, commemorates the translation of S. Gilduinus as follows, listing the relics preserved in the monastery of S. Peter-in-the-Valley: "Moreover," he says, "the body of S. Gilduinus, who, returning from Rome, where he had gone to see Gregory VII, elevation, while he was Bishop-elect of Dol in Brittany, passed through the territory of Chartres and turned aside to this monastery of S. Peter, where he was seized by illness, died, and was buried in the choir of the church; then, when he worked very many miracles, his body was exhumed and enclosed in a reliquary, through the action of Abbot Fulcher, miracles, who had experienced the help of this Saint against incurable and most severe pains of gout; and he established, as a mark of gratitude, that in perpetuity every Saturday the sacristan should light a candle before the shrine of this Saint." Du Paz narrates the same from Rouillard.

LIFE

By an anonymous monk of Chartres, published from manuscripts by Augustine Du Paz.

Gilduinus, Canon of Dol in Brittany (S.)

BHL Number: 3545

By an anonymous author, from Augustine Du Paz.

CHAPTER I.

S. Gilduinus declines the episcopate.

[5] Hearing this, the young man of excellent disposition was made most joyful; and having consulted with his companions, he said that it was indeed most pleasing to him to have obtained from the Lord Pope what he had been unable to secure from his companions themselves--namely, that a still beardless and very young adolescent should not be promoted to so great a rank of ecclesiastical governance. His counsel and desire, however, was that they should elect in his place one of his companions, the Lord Eventius, the venerable Abbot of the monastery of S. Melaine at Rennes, as their Archbishop, he brings about the election of Eventius, and present him to the Lord Apostolic, and request that he be consecrated for their Church. When all gave their assent to this, the distinguished young man Gilduinus, having returned with his retinue to the presence of the Lord Pope, professed with all humility that the Pope's judgment concerning his age was most pleasing to him, and that he most willingly laid down the election that had been made of him. He petitioned, however, that the aforesaid senior Eventius, here present, be deigned to be consecrated as Archbishop in his place, and thus to hasten the end, or at least the desired and necessary remedy, of the labors of the Church of Dol.

[6] He is consecrated by the Pope, Hearing these things, the Lord Pope most gratefully received the humility of this excellent young man, together with his most provident benevolence toward his own Church, and fulfilled the petition of his pious request without delay, with its effect following, and consecrated the elder Eventius, who had been elected, in the Lateran church without delay. Nearly all the Cardinals, Bishops, and Deacons of the Roman Church attended this consecration, among whose names are the following: Gerard, Bishop of Florence, etc. Having thus obtained the fulfillment of his wish and desire, the holy young man Gilduinus, together with his Archbishop Eventius, having received the Lord Pope's leave and favor, hastened their return to the regions of Gaul.

[7] As they were returning, when they were already approaching the Alps, the most provident young man Gilduinus addressed his Archbishop thus: "You know, he returns to Dol, at Gilduinus's urging, most reverend Father, how our Church of Dol, now committed to the governance of your paternity, is in suspense awaiting our return, and how necessary our presence is for it. Whence, if it pleases your paternity, it seems to me useful and necessary that you should return as quickly as possible, with the greater part of our retinue, to the desolate Church committed to your care. For I have a desire, if it pleases God, to visit my dear relatives on my mother's side, whom I have never seen; and since I do not doubt that I shall be detained by them for some time, I advise and counsel that you should hasten ahead." The counsel of pious compassion pleased the Archbishop, and he released his sweetest companion in body though not in spirit, and departed with the greater part of the retinue, and likewise proceeded onward.

CHAPTER II.

He exposes the frauds of a demon.

[8] The holy young man Gilduinus, moreover, having crossed back over the Alps on his return, Gilduinus turns aside to a hut with his companions: on a certain day when the evening hour for seeking lodging was already pressing, and no suitable place for lodging appeared anywhere, at length, when twilight was already almost falling, arriving at a certain river and seeing along the bank a small hut, he turned aside to it with his retinue and there begged and obtained hospitality for himself and his companions--in the house, that is, of a certain common man who was accustomed to ferry across in his small boat those who wished to cross the river. Then the servants, anxious about preparing food, began to discuss and consult with the host, the master of the house; to whom he said: "I do not know what counsel I can offer you, for this place is very poor in provisions, and the hour is already too late for an excursion to a place well-supplied with food (and he named it), seeing that it is too far away. I have, however," he said, "one retainer, a very swift runner, who could bring back the necessities from there more quickly, if you are willing to wait." That man was summoned and, having been given the money, was sent; and he returned with the food much more quickly than could be believed, astonishing everyone with a great miracle of speed in his return. For the place, as has been said, was so much more distant than any mortal could have returned from so quickly.

[9] The matter was heard by S. Gilduinus, and he himself began to regard that retainer with much greater suspicion. He detects venomous creatures placed in the food: He waited with the others, occupied with other cares--the Saint no doubt with holy ones--until they were called to the meal that had been prepared. And when he had come to dine or sup, and having first recited a hymn as was customary, prayed that the food set before them, with the sign of the cross made, might be blessed and sanctified by God, the food was so changed into the opposite that it appeared to be venomous carcasses rather than nourishment, to such a degree that it had the appearance of frogs, toads, and serpents, not of food. For even the wine itself became like muddy water. This transformation of forms, being as execrable as it was horrible to the Saint himself and to all who were about to dine, then turned the suspicion which had arisen from the runner's speed into certainty, so that all now knew that servant was not a man but a demon.

[10] The Saint immediately ordered him to be summoned and brought before him, but he refused to come. Commanded again and again, he would not come, growing angry and quarrelsome, shouting that he and the Saint had nothing in common. Then at last, commanded to come in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of holy obedience, no longer able to delay, he compels a demon serving a good old man to reveal why he had done this, having laid aside all the terrifying vanity of his anger, he came unwillingly and trembling. Nor is it strange if the culprit, caught in his malice, feared the presence of the judge who would pronounce a fitting sentence upon him. "Behold," he said, "O most cruel enemy and most rabid foe, what had we done to offend you, that wishing to kill us, you prepared these poisons for us instead of food? Why do you have such confidence in your most malignant arts that you presume to destroy the servants of the cross of Christ? But confess now, with all hearing, both the name of your deceit and the reason for your so long a stay in this place." Then the enemy said: "I will confess, though unwillingly, since I know for certain that nothing can be hidden from the power of the almighty Lord Jesus Christ which is in you. I had assumed for myself the name Bernutio, because, living among men as if a man, having received permission to dwell among them, I could not be recognized without a name. The reason, however, for assuming a body, or for remaining longer in this place, is my intention to exercise my malignity. For I vehemently hated the just man and envied his kindness, because not so much for the sake of gain as out of benevolent desire to help, he was accustomed to ferry across in his small boat those who wished to cross this river. From the time he began this practice, it entirely impeded my malignity, because those who wished to cross but did not know the right path through the ford, I used to drown not a few of them, and I greatly harmed their souls, which were not well prepared for departure. For this reason I assumed this body for myself and offered myself to serve this man, and why he had been unable to harm him, hoping that I might somehow be able to plot against his life and salvation, and might prevail to submerge and suffocate him in the river which he frequented." "And why," said the Saint, "were you not able to harm him?" "Because," said the demon, "entering the river, he always fortified both himself and his entire boat with the sign of the cross, which is entirely contrary to me; indeed, at the beginning of everything he undertook to do, arming himself with the same sign, he shut out my snares." "And whence," whence he had assumed the body; said the Saint, "did you obtain the body you bear?" "It belonged," he said, "to a certain wicked man, and having seized his soul, I appropriated his body as an instrument for my frauds and snares."

[11] And the Saint replied: "Good that you confess yourself to be fraudulent and a plotter of snares, and that, laying bare your malignity, you are compelled even against your will to proclaim the power of the most victorious cross of Christ." "Truly," said the demon, "I do this unwillingly, because I am unable to conceal anything from you, a servant of the cross of Christ. Strengthened by that power and armed with that standard, you prevailed to escape the poisons which I had prepared for you instead of food, and thus to take from me entirely the strength and ability to do harm in this place." And S. Gilduinus said: and he puts him to flight. "Blessed be our Lord Jesus Christ God, the most victorious power of whose Cross even the enemy, vanquished by it, is compelled unwillingly to proclaim. But now, O most bloodthirsty and most deadly beast, I am no longer willing to hold converse with you. For you are proven to be a liar and the father of lies, so that even when you speak the truth, whether willingly or unwillingly, you never intend anything but to deceive. Therefore lay down at once the body which you had assumed as the instrument of your deceits and snares, and go where you shall henceforth be unable to harm any Christian." Immediately the most foul enemy withdrew with a horrible howl, and left in the midst the lifeless body, the instrument of diabolical malice. The Saint ordered the body to be quickly carried out and concealed by burial in the ground wherever convenient.

[12] Thus the innocent host, ignorant of the diabolical malice, rejoiced through his holy guest Gilduinus that he had been freed from the most wicked plotter. Thus indeed Gilduinus, the son of eternal salvation, most kindly himself, was hosted by the kind host, and the wickedness of the most fraudulent enemy was both detected by the merits of the servant of the Cross of Christ and put to flight. O admirable and unceasingly to be proclaimed piety of the Redeemer! O ever to be extolled, ever and everywhere to be admired most salutary and triumphal power and glory of the Lord's Cross, Great is the power of the Cross; great is the holiness of Gilduinus, which makes the servants of Christ who crucify themselves to vices and concupiscences such well-armed, strong, and valiant friends of God, always and everywhere, that the more wickedly and cruelly the diabolical madness rages against them, the more powerful and glorious the power and grace of Christ the Lord makes them through His Cross! Behold, the most holy young man Gilduinus strove in his youth to bear his cross and follow Christ the Lord, and he shone forth as a most proven servant of the Cross of Christ. Even the demons, enemies of the Cross of Christ, confess these things of themselves before him; they can neither hide nor remain. Behold, the strength of Christ, hidden indeed in the horns of the Cross of Christ, but manifest in the fact that death flees before His feet and face: so His splendor in His servant Gilduinus was as a light, before whose presence death could not conceal its deceptions, nor could the devil exercise them. Did Christ the Lord do anything less in this miracle through the merits of His servant Gilduinus than what is read of His having once done through S. Martin, Abbot of the monastery of Vertou, in a similar detection and routing of a demon? Was not the miracle wrought by S. Giles in the expulsion of a demon similar to this one, when at Orleans in the church of the Holy Cross a demon through the mouth of a possessed man asked the Saint that permission to depart be given him?

CHAPTER III.

His illness, death, and burial.

[13] Having departed from the place where the Saint had wrought so great a miracle, Gilduinus is seized with fever: as he was already approaching the borders of the territory of Orleans, the Lord began to knock at his door and the time of His visitation to draw near. For, seized by fevers, he began to fall ill, and being weakened in body, to be stronger in mind. For to a man of good will, bodily infirmity avails not to the detriment of virtue but rather to its increase. "For when I am weak," says the Apostle, "then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10. And so the plainly holy young man Gilduinus, just as all the Saints, received from the discomfort of his body not a diminishment but an advancement of his virtues. Then, at Orleans and Puiset, as he had proposed, he visited his dear ones as best he could, and being visited by them in return, he remained for some days in that same territory. The fame of his holiness, commended by the report of the miracle wrought not long before, was spreading and growing at the same time, he is visited by many: and was causing nearly all the nobility of that same territory to flock to him. The serenity of his most illustrious kinship was indeed notable, but much more so the brilliance of his extraordinary holiness, heard of all around. All marveled, and those who were more modest even during his illness, he devotes himself to mortification: also rejoiced that a young man of such great nobility, both sick and a pilgrim, had been accustomed, as is read of Blessed Martin, to treat his body more harshly and severely, reclining on his noble bed with a hair shirt, rather than more softly. For he heeded what the Truth says in the Gospel: "They who wear soft clothing are in the houses of kings." Matthew 11:8. And what S. Gregory says thereon: "For those who take care to treat their bodies more softly do not serve the heavenly King but the earthly one; and we are the more wretchedly separated from the love of heavenly things, the more we are delighted by lower things." For this reason he strove, following the Apostle's example, to chastise his body and bring it into subjection, even when ill, lest he should be separated from the love of heavenly things if he were delighted by lower ones. 1 Corinthians 9:27.

[14] After some time had passed, he was conveyed with a large company of noble kinsmen to Chartres, as he had desired, either on horseback or by some other vehicle, and entered the church of the most blessed and ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God, to pray, and strove to commend his departure, He venerates the relics of the Blessed Virgin at Chartres: which he already felt was imminent, to that same Lady and Protectress of ours, and to the Saints whose relics are kept there, with most devout prayers. He kissed repeatedly the reliquary especially in which the most precious veil of that same Lady of ours is believed to be contained--which is also known to have been proven by many and frequent miracles--and venerated it in every way he could, hoping for and imploring from it protection and aid against all the powers of the air.

[15] He turns aside to the monastery of S. Peter: At length, having most devoutly completed his prayers in that same most sacred church, as he had long and greatly desired, he was either led by his dear ones or carried thence to this monastery of S. Peter, which is situated in the suburb of the same city, for the purpose of both praying and lodging; and he most devoutly entered the church; and the community of Brothers received him most attentively. Prayers were offered daily, and the recovery of his body was desired. But our most merciful Lord and Savior Christ provided for him incomparably better, hastening his departure from the body of death and making haste to transfer his blessed soul to the homeland of rest and light. The burning of the fevers increased daily, and the joyful day of coming to the joy of his Lord was approaching. When it arrived, he dies, how great was the grief and sorrow of his dear ones at his passing, and how great the lamentation, those knew who were present at his sacred funeral rites.

[16] But with how great a joy of gladness the holy Angels, its ministers, received his most holy soul into their fellowship, we, although pressed by the darkness and the prison of the closed sky and by our dying members, He becomes famous for miracles: do not altogether ignore, since we know how to weigh causes from effects, however imperfectly. By effects we mean the miracles which both accompanied and followed his burial. By causes we mean his most blessed merits and most glorious rewards. How diligently and honorably the burial of his most holy body was arranged and celebrated, there is no need to say in words what is ready to be seen.

[17] The year from the Incarnation of the Lord was one thousand and seventy-six, when this Saint Gilduinus is believed to have passed from earthly to heavenly things, from temporal to eternal--nay, it is confirmed by the evidence of miracles. He was buried on the sixth day before the Kalends of February in the middle of the choir of our church, and, as has been said, he is honorably buried, his most sacred members were interred with such care and honor that around them, in a deeper place in the earth, a stone chamber of no small size was constructed. His hair shirt is held in great esteem. Those same members, more precious than all gems, were adorned with the hair shirt which he had used while living, and then with the sacred silk vestments of his order, namely a tunic and dalmatic.