ON ST. GONERIUS, PRESBYTER AND ANCHORITE,
IN ARMORICAN BRITTANY.
From the Proper of Vannes and Castellanus.
CommentaryGonerius, Presbyter and Anchorite, in Armorican Brittany (S.)
J. B. S.
I call it especially the Proper of Vannes, because by its authority I have dared here to place St. Gonerius, deferred long ago by our Elders from the IV of April to the XVII of June, which by a hasty pen slipped for the XVIII of July, Passed over by Saussay, Castellanus marked him, on which day in the said Proper of Vannes his commemoration is marked in the three editions which are in our possession, of the years 1630, 1652, and 1660. For the rest, in no Martyrologies anywhere, either of the IV of April or of the XVIII of July, have we found the name of St. Gonerius inscribed, not even in the great Gallican one of Saussay, so that the only one to be cited is the most recent Castellanus, referring him to the IV of April in these words: "At Plougrescant, of the diocese of Tréguier, of St. Gonerius the presbyter, who had spent many years of his life as a solitary in the hermitage of the wood of Breinguilly near Rohan." Scarcely more has Lobineau in his new history of Armorica, only adding that St. Gonerius was sprung from greater Britain; so that you may easily understand that from the adduced testimonies we are made more certain only of the cult. But why the festival of the Saint is celebrated on various days, I think is not to be sought elsewhere than from the mere discretion of the churches of Vannes and Tréguier.
[2] But although the deeds and age of the Saint are wholly unknown, Albert composed a Life, nonetheless, in his usual manner, Albert le Grand of Morlaix fitted a Legend to him for the IV of April, asserting that it was collected from the ancient manuscript Legendaries of the cathedral church of Tréguier, from the Proper of Vannes (namely in which, as we have already said, only a commemoration is made from the Common of a confessor not a Pontiff), and likewise from an old manuscript Legendary which exists in the parish church of Plougrescant. In vain did our Elders await the Latin Legend, in vain do I myself hope for it today; so that only the history of Albert the Great survives, to which how much we are wont to attribute, it is not worth while here to set forth at length. I shall therefore not undertake to translate it, but it will suffice to contract a few things which will seem less improbable. That he was a Briton by origin, and crossed over to Armorica, where in the territory of Vannes he sought out a fit solitude for himself, an oratory being built in which he might perform sacred things, which is now converted into a church, can easily be admitted; as also that he led an austere life, content with bread and water alone, distributing all other food to the poor, passing the night in prayers, the day in the work of his hands, and exercising himself in every virtue.
[3] whose chief points are reviewed. There is subjoined a long history about Aluandus the petty king, a fierce man, who, because on returning from the hunt he had not been greeted in return by the Saint, threatened him with many things, but the servants of the Lord so anticipated his commands that they beat St. Gonerius in a horrid manner, two ribs being broken: which cruelty was followed by a divine punishment; then the penance of Aluandus himself and his servants, their conversion to God, and at last their healing. On account of the too great frequency of the people running together, the Saint is said to have deserted his first solitude and betaken himself to the diocese of Tréguier, namely to Plougrescant, where he passed the rest of his life most holily, and there died and was buried, famous for many miracles both in life and after death. His sacred head and some bones are preserved, Albert says, in the sacristy of the cathedral of Tréguier, and various chapels were erected to the Saint through that diocese, besides that in which after death he was laid up.