ON ST. APRONIA, VIRGIN,
AT TOUL IN LORRAINE.
AT THE END OF THE 5TH OR THE BEGINNING OF THE 6TH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Cult, epoch, country, and Acts.
Apronia, Virgin, at Toul in Lorraine (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
Toul, commonly Toul, an ancient city of Lorraine, of which we treated on the XXIII day of April in the Life of St. Gerard, bishop of Toul, honors with religious cult St. Apronia, sister of St. Aper, its seventh prelate. The cult of the Saint. Besides other indications of public veneration expressed in the Acts, numbers 8 and 9, the Breviary of Toul, printed in the year 1535, celebrates her festivity with an office. But when in the Calendar of the said Breviary, on the XVII of the Kalends of August, is placed "Of Apronia, virgin and martyr, of IV lessons," I judge it to be an error of the printer, who wrongly added to the holy virgin the title of martyr: For in the Rubrics she is called only virgin, and the whole Office is prescribed from the common of virgins. For the rest, her memory occurs among few and more recent Martyrologists. Saussay, in his Gallican Martyrology, on the XV day of September, treating of St. Aper, the brother of this holy virgin, thus records her at the same time: He had a sister, holy Apronia, whom he espoused as a virgin to Christ, whose head with her body rests in the principal church of Toul, adorned with fitting cult. Arthur in the Gynæceum, on the same day, has it thus: At Toul of the Leuci, of St. Apronia, virgin, sister of St. Aper, bishop of the same city, who embraced her with special love, on account of the singular purity of mind and love toward Christ which he beheld in her. Of the same he makes mention also on the XII of July under the vernacular name of St. Euronia, and testifies that she is treated of on this day in the Breviary of Troyes. These are the things which I could find concerning the cult of St. Apronia.
[2] It is uncertain in what year this holy Virgin began or ceased to live. Arthur indeed, in the Gynæceum, on the XV day of September, in his Notes, says: Error concerning the time of St. Aper, bishop of Toul, She flourished about the year CCCCX. Nicolas Des Guerrois, in the Christian Sanctity printed in French at Troyes in the year 1637, refers her together with her brother to the year of Christ 420. But I see that these conjectures rest on no foundation, and I rather judge that the epoch of this Saint is to be gathered approximately from the age in which St. Aper presided over the church of Toul. But the very time of this episcopate is obscure. For Saussay, in the place cited above, and certain manuscripts of Toul, place St. Aper under the Emperor Hadrian. Mabillon, in the Benedictine Annals, book 6, chapter 78, at the year of Christ 579, thus refutes this error: In the Acts of the bishops of Toul, not yet edited, St. Aper is said to have been the seventh bishop of that city, and to have held this see seven years… But that which that anonymous author adds, who wrote the book on the deeds of the bishops of Toul, that St. Aper lived in the time of the Emperor Hadrian, is far mistaken, from a place ill understood of the Life of the same holy Pontiff, where it is read that he, having set out to the city of the Cabillonenses, found in prison three accused men bound with chains, and interceded for them with Hadrian, who at that time exercised the office of judge there; but, having suffered a repulse, obtained from God that the bars of the prison should burst open, and the chains, with which the accused were bound, should be broken. Where that which the ancient writer of the Life attributes to Hadrian the judge, the aforesaid anonymous writer wrongly referred to the Emperor Hadrian.
[3] from whose epoch the age of St. Apronia is to be gathered approximately Baronius, in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology on the XV of September, supposes that St. Paulinus, bishop of Nola, who died in the year 431, wrote certain letters to this Aper, prelate of Toul. But the Reverend Lord Riguet, Provost of St.-Dié, in a manuscript chronotactic System of the bishops of Toul, which, sent to us in the year 1700, we preserve with grateful memory of its candid author, denies this supposition of Baronius and others, and with many and learned reasons contends that St. Paulinus could not have written except to some other Aper. His arguments will be able to be brought forward when, on the XV day of September, the Acts of St. Aper, prelate of Toul, are illustrated. Meanwhile the doubts proposed by Tillemont in the Ecclesiastical Memoirs, volume 14, pages 727 and 728, may be seen. Of the same controversy treats the anonymous author who elucidated the works of St. Paulinus edited at Paris in the year 1685, Dissertation 5 on St. Aper, chapter 1 and following. The Sammarthani, in the Catalogue of the bishops of Toul, placing the name of St. Aper without a chronological note, thus judge: But in no wise could Paulinus write to him, as the common Catalogues have it: for he had died before Sidonius was raised to the episcopate. From those things which I have hitherto read on that matter, I conjecture that St. Aper occupied the Chair of Toul about the end of the fifth, or the beginning of the sixth century, and therefore I judge that St. Apronia his sister is to be placed about the same time.
[4] The country and Acts of the holy Virgin. Concerning the country of our Saint the writers agree, and commonly relate that she was born in a certain village which is commonly called Tranquillus, Trancost or Trancaut. But to me a doubt arises, namely how in our Acts, number 2, St. Apronia is said to have taken the beginning of life in a suburb of Augusta of the Treveri, a village which is called Tranquillus; whereas Nicolas Des Guerrois, praised above, and others testify that that village is distant nine leagues from the city of Troyes. How a place distant nine leagues from a city can be called a suburb of the city we shall gladly learn from the people of Toul or of Troyes. Meanwhile let Nicolas Camuzat of Troyes be heard, the sincere illustrator of his country, who in the Historical Miscellanies, toward the end, thus writes: To these miscellaneous collections, as a makeweight and supplement, I shall add that very many illustrious men who flourished in the diocese of Troyes transmitted a most celebrated name to posterity, and left an everlasting memory of their holiness, among whom are eminent the Lord Aper, prelate of Toul, and the divine virgin Apronia his sister, who both were born in a certain little village of the said diocese of Troyes, withdrawn nine leagues from the city of Troyes, whose name is Tranquillus (in the margin he notes in the vernacular Trancaust), which little village also afforded origin and cradle to that famous duke of the Normans, Hastings. Then, recording St. Flavit, a native of the same diocese, he gives this candid judgment concerning their Acts: But so negligently were the histories of these Saints written, that to inscribe them here and sew them to this little work does not seem likely to profit much. From this judgment of Camuzat anyone will easily understand of how much account is to be made the Life, or rather panegyric, of St. Apronia, which, composed about two hundred years ago, we here subjoin.
ACTS
BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR
From a Manuscript of Toul.
Apronia, Virgin, at Toul in Lorraine (S.)
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
Revolving with yearly celebration the festivity of the most blessed virgin Apronia (with whose most sacred body this our church of Toul is adorned), The prologue of the author. although concerning the happy beginning of her most holy life, and its happier progress, and most happy end, few things are found among us, yet we judge that many things were illustriously done and perhaps once committed to writing; which either by the too great antiquity of the times, or certainly by the calamity or misfortune of the times, in which this very church was much and long vexed, we think were lost or blotted out. Nevertheless, however, we have thought it worthy to insert here a few things, though in a dry style, to the honor of that Virgin, both from some writings of the same church, and from a truthful relation heard, and other probable sources, that this
holy church of Toul may have things whereon on this day it may occupy itself in divine readings, and whereby it may extol that glorious Virgin with praises. For it is unbecoming and dissonant to reason, that, whereas according to the word of Scripture we ought to recall and venerate the praiseworthy life of all the Saints, we should consign to oblivion the memory of those whose most worthy bodies and venerable Relics we possess. Nay rather let us embrace, extol, and, as far as we can, celebrate them with ampler honor, to the praise of God, and to the salvation and peace of us all.
[2] The origin, therefore, of this Virgin we can clearly know from the Legend of the most blessed prelate Aper, The country and parents of St. Apronia, the seventh bishop of this church of Toul, the most worthy brother of the same virgin: since they, proceeding from the same most holy and most noble stock, are reported to have led a splendid life. This virgin, therefore, in a suburb a of Augusta of the Treveri, a village which is called Tranquillus, took the beginning of the present life. Educated by noble, and what is more excellent, most holy, as has been said, and Christian parents, and trained in all honesty of manners. And as good trees are wont to produce good fruit of themselves, so those parents, firmly rooted in the root of the true faith, and no less inflamed in the ardor of charity, of what sort they themselves were, such indeed offspring in each sex, namely Aper and Apronia, they brought forth in this world, the Lord attesting, who in the Gospel says: A good tree is not that which makes evil fruits, nor an evil tree making good fruit. These parents indeed imbued their said offspring, as was fitting, from the first, as they say, tender nails, with the faith of Christ by saving instructions, and studied altogether to adorn them with elegance of manners and clear virtues, so that of what sort they were to be in mature age, it might clearly shine forth even in their childish and youthful age.
[3] by whom, piously educated, in chastity, The aforesaid Virgin, therefore, from her very childhood endowed with good, as aforesaid, manners, and illustrated with the rays of virtues, despising all worldly delights, began to shine with the splendor of graces, and among her tender years to flourish with the nobility of praiseworthy manners; and the Father of spirits b inspiring, and instilling into her virgin breast the sweet nuptials of Christ, the illustrious virgin did not draw out her consent at length. Nay rather, kindled with the ardor of celestial fire, she despised from on high the vanities of earthly glory, and, altogether abhorring the enticements of the flesh, most devoutly offered to the Lord the integrity of her virgin body. Nor content with what she had begun, but as one who greatly desired to bring to perfection a building begun upon a firm rock, she perseveringly kept her house, namely her virgin body, on every side redounding with the sweet odors of ointments, undefiled and whole through the whole space of life, for the love of her celestial spouse. Nor is there doubt that she so shone also with humility, obedience, piety, and the other splendors of the virtues, that she was to all a wonder of herself and an example of perfection.
[4] and in other virtues, she excels, To this is added the diversity of former and present times: For who does not weigh with how great firmness of faith this very virgin shone, who in the time of that most blessed Aper the bishop led an illustrious life, at which time the faith, still new and rather recent, waxed very warm, and the Christian religion, in the fear of the Lord and the observance of his commandments and also in holiness of life, as is clear of any other Saints then living, flourished much more than in these times, in which the charity of many grows cold, vices sprout, and the faith itself suffers very great desolation. Whence that blessed virgin, among the other virgins dedicated to God, is not undeservedly believed to have been not the lowest, but the most excellent and most devoted. She indeed was one of the five prudent virgins, who, having taken oil with them in their vessels, met the bridegroom coming at midnight and entered with him to the marriage. For she, by keeping her virginity and by exercising herself in all virtues, is reported to have done this not for vain glory or ostentation, but rather to the glory and honor of God with all humility and abasement of herself. Whence, since she sought glory not from men, but from God within her conscience, she carried her vessel most full, with oil and seemly light, to the coming bridegroom. Again, since she showed herself chaste, immaculate, and clean from sins, she was anointed with the oil of gladness above her fellows: for he is anointed with the oil of gladness who is not defiled with the stain of sins.
[5] Thereupon she is not without reason likened to the five prudent virgins: on account of which she is compared to the five prudent virgins of the Gospel, for as blessed Augustine illustriously says: Every soul in the body is therefore reckoned by the number five, because it uses five senses. For there is nothing whereby we perceive in the body, save a fivefold door, either by seeing or by hearing or by smelling or by tasting or by touching. For he who abstains from unlawful sight, from unlawful hearing, from unlawful smell, from unlawful touch, from unlawful taste, for the sake of integrity itself, receives the name of virgin. Since therefore this virgin, of whom we treat, not only observed the chastity of body and mind, but also wholly withdrew the five senses of her body from the aforesaid unlawful things, she merited by a twofold reason to have the name of virgin. Moreover she carried a lamp lit in her hands, because from her good works she afforded to others examples of doing good, according to that of the Gospel: Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father, who is in heaven.
[6] Among all states this virgin chose the most perfect. and she is shown to have chosen the most perfect state of life. For although the state of the married is praiseworthy, and that of widows more praiseworthy, yet above all is eminent and higher the state of virgins. For as that divine Jerome most expressly says: Surely to live in the flesh beyond the flesh is not an earthly life, but a heavenly: whence to acquire angelic glory in the flesh is of greater merit than to have it: For to be an angel is of felicity; but to be a virgin is of virtue; while this one strives to obtain by her powers, with grace, what the angel has by nature. Moreover she did not consign to oblivion the excellent doctrine and counsel of the Apostle saying: I would have you to be without solicitude; he who has contracted matrimony thinks on the things of this world, and is divided; but the unmarried woman and the virgin thinks on the things of the Lord, and how she may please God, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: as this virgin most perfectly fulfilled in word and deed.
[7] But finally the most illustrious virgin Apronia, after she had filled the whole space of her life with divine praises and the offices of the virtues, Her death and burial, at length merited to be called to the crown by her most blessed spouse the Lord Jesus Christ, whom she so ardently loved, and breathed forth to everlasting glory her most precious soul, long since cleaving and glued to her said spouse through hope and charity, then stripped of the bodily prison. Nor do we think that the ministry of angels was lacking to this her glorious departure, since, according to the aforesaid Jerome, virginity is ever akin to the angels, by whom she, led to the heavens with all joy, reigns with them, to abide without end. But her most holy body, buried in the said city of Troyes, was for a long time, namely until the time of the most blessed Gerard c, the thirty-second bishop of this church, there honorably venerated, not without miracles, as we believe, by the people of the said city and of the neighboring places.
[8] But when the time came in which the aforesaid most holy Gerard was, by the gift of the divine condescension, set over this church as bishop and glorious pastor, and the translation of the Relics into the city of Toul, namely about the year of the Lord nine hundred and sixty-three, among the very many and almost innumerable things which were illustriously done by him, his highest study was in seeking and having both churches and the Relics of the Saints. But among the very many other Relics which he investigated with sagacious solicitude, he merited to receive from the citizens of Troyes also the body of this blessed virgin Apronia, which for the protection of the people he studied to place within the walls of his city d. Which body indeed, resting until now in the aforesaid church of Toul, is worthy of much veneration.
[9] which, after a miracle wrought, are more solemnly venerated. But this Virgin is wont to be invoked by women laboring or in danger in childbirth, and she, being invoked, to aid them, as it has been found by the relation of truthful men to have happened in our times: For when in a certain year not long past the head of that virgin, adorned under a silver casket, had been carried to St. Nicolas de Port of this diocese, for the sake of seeking alms for the fabric of this church, it happened that a certain woman, Guyota by name, wife of a certain inhabitant of the said St. Nicolas, by name William Chevalier, labored and was in danger in childbirth, who, led by a certain divine inspiration, implored the virgin Apronia, and with humility requested that her holy head be carried to her house. A wondrous thing but most true! as soon as that sacred head was brought to the house of her who was giving birth, the woman most easily brought forth and bore her offspring, whom, naming Apronia in memory of this matter, she gave and paid thanks to God and to that most blessed virgin. Therefore, the aforesaid things, namely lately in this year 1525 e, being maturely considered by the chapter of this church, it was ordained by it in the General Chapter of St. Luke, that the very feast of the virgin Apronia, which before was transferred under a simple Office and on the morrow of the Division of the Apostles, should henceforth be celebrated on the day preceding f the feast of the Division, and under a new solemn Office, altogether as is done concerning St. Amo g.