Menulfus

ON ST. MENULFUS, BISHOP,

IN THE BORDERS OF THE BITURIGES IN GAUL.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On the cult, episcopate, age, and Acts.

Menulfus, Bishop, in the borders of the Bituriges in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

A certain holy Meinulfus, Meginulfus or Megenulfus, a deacon, celebrated especially in the ninth century, I had long known, venerated with the due honors of the Saints in the Böddeken or Büddeken monastery of the Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine of the diocese of Paderborn in Westphalia, Passed over by the ancient Martyrologies, whose deeds will be illustrated on the V of October; but not so clearly perceived by me were the things which pertain to the present, almost synonymous, Bishop, namely one in the diocese of Bourges, passed over by all the ancient Martyrologies, first marked by Greven in the additions, of whose age or deeds not even a scrap occurred among our manuscripts. That I might therefore become more certain concerning the cult, the monuments of Bourges had to be sifted, from which I at last drew out this, that a peculiar festivity of St. Menulfus is annually celebrated not far from Souvigny, in the Bourbon dominion, by the nuns of the monastery called after him Saint Menouil (otherwise Menou) en Bourbonnois, of which matter I refer the first notice received to the Universal Martyrology of Castellanus, to be cited a little below. Every doubt therefore concerning the true cult being altogether removed, in further investigating I consulted Labbe, illustrating his fatherland, where among the Lives and elogia he described concerning St. Menulfus the things which he had found in the tables of the collegiate church of St. Austregisilus, of the suburb of Bourges, as will be plain more fully below: here we shall premise the things which are handed down in the more recent Martyrologies.

[2] he is commemorated by more recent ones on this day, I have already said that Greven was the first who

referred the memory of St. Menulfus into the sacred Fasti, from whom it is necessary that almost all the rest received their own. Thus he has it on this day: In the territory of Bourges, of St. Menulphus, bishop and confessor; from which the words of Molanus differ little: In the territory of Bourges, of blessed Meinulphus the prelate; and these are read nearly the same in the German of Canisius. Maurolycus agrees: In the field of Bourges, of St. Menulphus the prelate. Likewise Ferrarius: In the territory of Bourges, of St. Menulphus the bishop: in the annotations rightly observing, that the name of St. Menulfus is not found in the tables of the Bishops of Bourges in Demochares (I add Chenu, Claude Robert, and the Sammarthani), perhaps, he says, because he was bishop of another city, nay probably of no see or city, unless the merely popular tradition be admitted for a while, which the praised Castellanus first added, from whom we elicited some more distinct notice of the Saint. His words are: At Souvigny in the Bourbonnais, of St. Menulfus, under whose name there exists there an abbey of nuns with his relics, where he is honored as bishop of Quimper after St. Corentin.

[3] Thus Castellanus, yet daring to determine no time (which is in a certain way proper to him) in which the Saint lived, to which Saussay referred the finding. by no means doubting of the day of cult. Meanwhile it can, and deservedly, be asked, whence to that Saint, celebrated almost by name alone, sacred honors were decreed on this day rather than another, since neither of his age, nor of the year or day of death anything has been handed down to memory? That difficulty Saussay seems to have had before his eyes, when in his Gallican Martyrology he referred the cause of the present festivity not to the day of death or deposition, but to the finding; of which Labbe also, presently to be adduced, mentions, at the end of the Life published by him, where nevertheless he did not expressly add this day of the aforesaid finding: whether Saussay found it elsewhere, or rather supposed it, I shall not inquire at length; with such an elogium certainly he adorned the Saint: In the prelacy of Bourges, in the village of Maliacum, the finding of St. Menulphus, bishop and confessor, whose bones, revealed by a heavenly messenger, were adorned with fitting honor by Dagobert archbishop of Bourges, in the time of Adalgasia the abbess, and then added very much light to that village itself, before very obscure, on account of the divine benefits bestowed: the venerable name of the same holy Confessor being also given to the same place (of which he is now venerated as tutelary). These things for the cult sufficiently constant, now the dignity must be inquired into.

[4] That he was a Bishop all hand down, but it seems certain that he never ascended the chair of Bourges. Whether that of Quimper, In the Acts in Labbe he is wrongly said as the received tradition in Castellanus reports? Neither can this seem to be judged, since in all the tables of that church, as well as in those of Bourges, he is altogether excluded. But the Life, such as it is, published by Labbe in volume 2 of the Library of Mss., page 433, not obscurely declares him the successor of St. Corentin, first bishop of Quimper. Thus the anonymous writer of the Life hands down there at number 2. But when (St. Menulfus) for some time, pleasing all, had prudently put out to interest the talent committed to him, it happened that the already-mentioned prelate (St. Corentin) died. But the people and clergy, embracing St. Menulfus with the greatest love, did not suffer him to be separated from them. And when the holy man had obtained the order of the episcopate, he did not cease with holy preaching faithfully to instruct the flock committed to him. But upon what faith these things rest, it is not difficult to gather from the monstrous confusion of times, when King Dagobert is joined with the age of St. Menulfus, who is supposed to have lived contemporary with St. Corentin and to have succeeded him in the governance of the church of Quimper. Hear the exordium of the Legend:

[5] to have been bishop of Quimper after St. Corentin, When now throughout the world, the darkness of errors being driven off, and the light of truth having arisen, the faith of the holy Church enjoyed tranquil peace in the whole reign of Dagobert King of the Franks, the saints throughout the world flourished like venal [*] flowers. In an island of the Ocean sea, which in the barbarous tongue is called Yrilanda, that is iron land, a holy and venerable man Menulfus was born, who, moved by divine inspiration, his parents and kindred being left, leaving greater Britain, carried by ship arrived at the lesser, in the province of the city (he means in the city of the province) which by the ancients is called of the Oximi, of which St. Corentin was Bishop. He called Menulfus to him etc. The writer stumbles, ignorant of geography as well as of chronology; for the province of the Oximi or the district or tract of Exmes is situated not in Armorican Brittany, much less in its southern part, but in Normandy, so called from the town of Oximum, commonly Exmes, distant from Séez toward the north four leagues, between Aigle, Falaise, and Caen, as the geographers note, in which region I judge it indubitable that St. Corentin was never Bishop.

[6] with whom are connected the times of Dagobert. But another most shameful lapse of the author is here to be noticed, which we chiefly impugn, when he most ineptly connects the fourth century with the seventh. For if there be any certain or at least probable epoch of St. Corentin, whether he was a disciple of St. Martin of Tours, or of another; this seems admitted by all, that he lived toward the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth, as the catalogues of the Bishops of the see of Quimper note, to be more diligently examined at the birthday of St. Corentin either on the V of September or the XII of December. But who, ever so little skilled in Frankish history, is ignorant that King Dagobert flourished in the 7th century, and was taken from the living in the 44th (otherwise 38th) year of his age? So that it is manifest that the most disparate times are combined by the ignorant man in that Legend; perhaps because from other Lives, in which he had read the age of Dagobert flourishing with holy men, he compiled his own, little solicitous about the concord of the disjoined epochs. And what at last would you draw from such a combination, from which anything certain concerning the episcopate or age of St. Menulfus might be established, since in the whole course not the least mark appears whence these could be established? That he was a Bishop, I would not deny, but of an uncertain place or regionary, as they call them, of which kind that many Irish, Scots, and English existed, we have elsewhere more than once demonstrated.

[7] But what ought to be judged concerning the rest of the narration of the Life, anyone will easily understand from it, The rest also are of no great moment. which we said was first published by our Labbe, bringing forth nothing in its commendation; as one who sufficiently perceived, I suppose, that the history is incomplete and gaping through the clauses "etc.," as though from some longer history those few things were transcribed, or as though there could be added commonplaces which suit all Saints. But whether it was more prolix, or contracted in the manner in which the praised Labbe exhibits it, it is certainly so conceived that you sufficiently perceive that it was drawn up by I know not whom, nor in what century, for the sake of the clients of St. Menulfus, who, as we know has so often been done elsewhere, wished to have before their eyes the Legend of their patron saint: for as you will most clearly conjecture from the whole matter, either the writer did not know the men of whom he speaks, or if he names any, he enormously errs from the true reckonings of things. Thus from naming the prince of Britain, who held some noble captive, freed by St. Menulfus; and the Roman Pontiff whom he met at Rome, he much more prudently abstained. We shall therefore give the Acts themselves, such as they are, as Labbe published them, with an appendix from the Breviary of Bourges, to confirm the cult, which we also have ascertained from the directories of the same diocese and from Catherinot.

* Or not "vernal"?

ACTS

Menulfus, Bishop, in the borders of the Bituriges in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 5931

FROM THE MSS.

From the Ms. codex of the church of St. Austregisilus de Castro, in Labbe in the Library of Mss.

When now throughout the world, the darkness of errors being driven off, and the light of truth having arisen, the faith of the holy Church enjoyed tranquil peace in the whole reign of Dagobert King of the Franks, Irish by origin, carried into Armorica, the Saints throughout the world flourished like venal [*] flowers, etc. In an island of the ocean sea which in the barbarous tongue is called Yrilanda, that is iron land, a holy and venerable man Menulfus was born, who, moved by divine inspiration, his parents and kindred being left, leaving greater Britain, carried by ship arrived at the lesser, in the province of the city, which by the ancients is called of the Oximi: of which St. Corentin was Bishop. He called Menulfus to him, and asked whence he was, and for what cause he had come thither. Who answering in the British tongue, confesses that he is Irish by race, and that he wishes to exercise himself in the service of God, etc.

[2] Ordained therefore and devoted to the Ecclesiastical office, and given as successor to St. Corentin, he so flourished in perfection, that when, devoted to God, he offered the oblation daily, by the mortification of his body he himself became a living victim pleasing to God. For he was devout in faith etc. But when for some time, pleasing all, he had prudently put out to interest the talent committed to him, it happened that the already-mentioned Prelate died. But the people and clergy, embracing St. Menulfus with the greatest love, did not suffer him to be separated from them. And when the holy man had obtained the order of the Episcopate, he did not cease with holy preaching faithfully to instruct the flock committed to him etc.

[3] At a certain time, when he had determined to go to Rome, a certain noble man of that region, he wonderfully frees a captive: who now for a long time was held under the hand of the Prince of Britain in close custody, hearing and marveling at his sanctity, it stood in his mind that, if he were not pressed under prison custody, at the preaching of so great a man he would wish to be reborn in Christ and to enjoy abundantly his blessing. Which visitation of the supernal kindness most quickly became known to the man of God, who sent him his ring, saying, that he should not despair of the mercy of God, but rather incessantly give thanks to the divine kindness. Which he benignly receiving, touched with it, with a believing intention of heart, the chains with which he had been bound, and, all who stood by seeing, the bonds being broken, with free foot he hastened to the walls of the already-mentioned Pontiff. Presently prostrate at the feet of the Bl. man, giving thanks for the granted gift, reborn at the sacred font of baptism, and instructed by the address of the divine word, joyful he returned to his own.

[4] who, having gone to Rome, The venerable Pontiff therefore, defrauding his vows of nothing, some religious brothers having been taken with him, set out on the journey which he had proposed. Who coming to Rome, about to speak with the Apostolic Lord concerning his own and the people's advantage, was worthily received by the venerable Pope as an honorable Pontiff. But lest the fame of his sanctity should be hidden from the Roman people, before the very thresholds of the Apostles a certain man, detained by the disease of paralysis for a long time, came to meet the man of God, asking from him that something necessary for his want be administered. But the man of God, trusting in the mercy of the Lord, to the man seeking earthly substance, imparted the soundness of his limbs by the sign of the cross. By which deed the Lord Pope, made cheerful, seeing the sanctity of the religious Prelate, began

to admonish him with many words, that he should stay with him longer etc.

[5] returning thence he holily dies at Malliacum. Who, returning with his brothers through the district of Bourges, came to a place which is called Malliacum: and there foretold to the brothers that the end of his life was imminent, and predicted the certain day and hour of his death. On that day therefore on which he had indicated the dissolution of his body, his brothers and companions, weeping, gathered into one, began to beseech his sanctity, that as he had been their Master of justice on earth, so he would deign to be by his intercession a perennial patron to them in the heavens. Who, when he admonished them to persevere in their holy purpose, fortifying himself with the Sacrament of the Lord's body and blood, the frame of his limbs being stretched out, and placed as if he were falling asleep, on the fourth Ides of July, leaving his bones to the ground, amid the words of prayer rendered his spirit, as unharmed by the pain of death as he had been free from the contagion of crime. Thus the holy and just man migrated to his Lord, and, crowned with perpetual glory, exults world without end. Amen. Claude Robert in Dagobert 56 [*], Archbishop of Bourges, has these things: Besides, in the life of St. Menulphus the Bishop it is said that his bones were revealed, Dagobert Archbishop of Bourges being present, in the time of Adalgasia the Abbess, in the village of Maliacum, which now from his name is called Saint Menouil en Bourbonnois. Which Supplement I confess has not yet fallen into my hands.

* perhaps "vernal"

* (in the Sammarthani 53)

From the most ancient Breviary of the church of Bourges on the XII day of July.

[6] His memory in the Offices of Bourges. Bl. Menulphus the Bishop is said to have been sprung from the race of the Britons. He, taking a journey to Rome to the thresholds of the Apostles, died at the village of Maliacum: where he asked to be buried in the last place of the cemetery of Bl. Germanus, for the sake of humility. But afterward a certain Prince, Arcadius by name, on account of a certain soldier of his, freed there by the merits of the Saint from the misfortune of a contraction, caused a church to be built over his tomb, which as quickly as it was built up to three times, three times fell of itself. Which the same Prince beholding, and ignorant why this happened, beseeching the clemency of the supernal Maker, saw a splendor of inestimable brightness fallen from heaven, over that place in which by him the church was to be constructed and his sacred bones to be translated. Which when he recognized, he completed the work.