ON ST. PAVACIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,
AT LE MANS IN GAUL.
4th Century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Pavacius, bishop and confessor, at Le Mans in Gaul (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
§ I. His age, cult, the first translations of his relics, and his Acts.
Of the first two holy bishops of Le Mans, Julian and Thuribius, there was treatment long ago on their natal days, January 27 and April 16, where concerning their deeds nothing other could be reported than what the thinness of the material suggested, the things which were ambiguous concerning his age, not much amplified, let alone illustrated, either by Corvasserius or by Bondonet, the most well-known historians of that city. Nor, after the various efforts of our predecessors, and the endeavors of the learned men of Le Mans themselves, could the matter be brought to this point, that fuller or more solid things about the first apostles of that city might be obtained, conducive to the elucidation of the first centuries, however much John Morel of Laval, doctor of theology of the University of Paris and canon of Le Mans, in the Nomenclature or Golden Legend of the pontiffs of Le Mans, alleged most ancient codices. Mabillon seemed to open a purer source, but one itself sufficiently sterile, when in the year 1682 he inserted into his Analecta: The Names or times of the life of the just or unjust pontiffs dwelling in the city of Le Mans; a part of which, that pertains to the earlier bishops, the praised men of Le Mans had long ago sent to us in manuscript, from which the things that pertain to St. Pavacius we collated with Mabillon's edition.
[2] That history, in its beginnings sufficiently confused, have somehow been explained long ago in this work. as Henschen had long ago noted in treating of St. Thuribius at April 16, number 5, and expressly connecting St. Pavacius to the 4th century, Papebroch undertook to elucidate, on the occasion of St. Innocens or Innocentius, the eighth bishop of Le Mans,
at June 19, namely in volume 3 from page 854, where he directs the preliminary Commentary to this, that he may reduce the chronology both of St. Innocentius himself and of the predecessor bishops to somewhat juster reckonings; in §11 determining the times of SS. Liborius, Pavacius, and Thuribius, from the opinion of Severus and Gregory about the first apostles of the Gauls, in such a way that — since in the whole five lustra since they were published nothing more accurate has appeared — we judge that we must so far adhere to those things which were there established, nor therefore are the things to be repeated here which Papebroch abundantly discussed in that place about the deeds of St. Pavacius, from the already-mentioned edition of Mabillon, explaining the very titles about the times of the emperors Maximinus and Aurelian, and the rest about the ordinations, about the consecrations of churches, about the census of the lights of wax and oil, in such a way that we desire all those things to be held here as inserted: thence take also his age, and fix it thus, that St. Pavacius was probably ordained in the year 303, on August 22, sat for 43 years, [and] died on August 24 (read July) 346. Let us now pursue his cult and his Acts, such as they are.
[3] Concerning the Saint's cult no doubt at all is left, for he is expressly marked both in the old Kalendar of Le Mans, which is in our possession, The cult is plain from the Offices and Martyrologies as also in the Martyrologies and Offices of the church of Sens, as is to be seen in the Breviary of the year 1625; and his relics, translated to various places, were always exposed to veneration: by Aldric indeed with a more solemn rite, as you have in the instrument reported on April 16, treating of St. Thuribius, who with his predecessor St. Julian and his successor St. Pavacius was fittingly and reasonably placed in the altar of the elder church; and there it is notably expressed "the body of St. Pavacius, third bishop of the aforesaid city and an excellent preacher." Our manuscript Florarium of the Saints also joins St. Pavacius to another, when on this day it announces thus: At Paderborn, the laying-to-rest of the holy bishops of Le Mans, Pavacius, Thuribius, and Gundanisolus. Of this announcement there was treatment on the said April 16, where St. Thuribius, with Pavacius, is said to be assigned to Paderborn also in the Cologne Usuards, where nevertheless they are attributed to Le Mans. It is true that Werner Rolevinck, in book 3 On the Situation and Manners of the Westphalians, chapter 8, page 176, wrote that Badurad solemnly translated the bodies of SS. Liborius, Pavacius, Thuribius, and Gundanisolus, bishops of the city of Le Mans, to his church, with much glory of miracles.
[4] in which, with St. Liborius, Concerning St. Liborius the matter was explained on the preceding day; the people of Le Mans do not so agree about the others, however much in the Paderborn Monuments, Kalendars, Breviaries, and Sanctuary the memory of SS. Thuribius, Pavacius, and Gundanisolus has been observed for many centuries, and our John Velde asserts the same about St. Pavacius in the manuscript Westphalian Calendars, openly professing that he follows Werner. But whatever that translation was, it seems altogether to be joined with the Liborian one itself. Have here now the very texts of the Cologne Usuards, or the Lübeck-Cologne edition and Greven's. Thus the former: At Le Mans, the laying-to-rest of the holy bishops and confessors Pavacius, Thuribius, and Gundanisolus; Greven inserts these words, "of the aforesaid city." Molanus joined Pavacius to Liborius on the preceding day. Nowhere else, as far as I know, is there a memory of St. Pavacius in the somewhat more ancient Calendars; Saussay added a eulogy, but wrongly called the Saint himself "Panacius." Thus he speaks at this day: On this same day at Le Mans, of St. Panacius, bishop and confessor, who, third prelate of his see, wholly converted to Christ this whole city and the surrounding region, still for a great part defiled with heathen filth; and was the first to bring the clergy to the plan of the common life in his diocese: and, having performed as many miracles as acts of a most holy life, completing his episcopal office by a glorious death, he received the stole of glory in the heavens from the Lord.
[5] and he is said to have been translated to other places. Nothing there about the translations, which it is a wonder that Saussay was ignorant of: but the Westphalian one, though the Cologne Usuards do not so openly express it, they certainly seem to insinuate sufficiently, when, after the example of our manuscript Florarium, they join the three Saints of Le Mans on one day. But which, or how small, a part of them the people of Paderborn possess, it is not free for me at least to conjecture: this seems certain, that that translation, as I was already saying, is to be connected with the Liborian one, so that at one and the same time those sacred remains were carried into Westphalia, namely in the 24th year of the emperor Louis the Pious, from which he was named Augustus: so that it is in the year of Christ 837. And indeed the shorter history of the translation of St. Liborius, as was once observed by Bolland, handed down that many relics of other Saints, together with the body of St. Liborius, were given to the people of Paderborn by St. Aldric, as see there, number 16. How, or for what cause, it came about that Gundanisolus, otherwise unknown at Le Mans, was added to the others, that indeed is what I could by no means ascertain hitherto, so that it was not permitted to number him with the rest of the Saints, as was said above in the "Passed Over."
[6] Furthermore, whatever part of the sacred relics of St. Pavacius you may say was translated to Paderborn with St. Liborius, The translation of the year 840 is most certain. it is gathered from indubitable monuments that by far the greatest part of his body was left with the people of Le Mans, which could be called the body itself, inasmuch as three years afterward St. Aldric himself solemnly translated it into the monastery of St. Salvator, founded by him not far from Le Mans, the instrument of which matter Baluze adduced in volume 3 of the Miscellanea, page 111, in this manner: In the year of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 840, in the 3rd indiction, but in the 27th year of the reign of Louis the most pious Augustus, and in the 8th year of Aldric, bishop of this parish and founder of this monastery, namely on the 7th day of the Ides, there was solemnly translated by the aforesaid bishop and by other bishops and priests, and the rest of the sacred orders, the body of St. Pavacius and the right arm of St. Liborius into this church of St. Salvator, and here in a most noble urn fittingly buried by the aforementioned bishops and priests, signs following; by whose prayers we ask to be freed from all evils, and to enjoy all good things eternally, he himself helping, to whom is honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
[7] And this indeed must be called the last translation, the memory of which could hitherto be drawn out from the monuments of Le Mans; The Life as Boscius published it, of the later ones, more obscure, as being entangled with the ravages of the Normans, we shall treat in the following paragraph, when we shall have premised here a few things about the published Acts of the Saint. That they were once read in various churches, and are today recited in the ecclesiastical Offices, is indubitable, especially in those to which the relics came, or at least where some cult, for whatever cause, was established, as the distinguished man, to be often praised here, the Reverend Lord Le Beuf, canon and subchanter of the church of Auxerre, well-deserving of St. Pavacius, taught me, when at my repeated urgings he investigated some things, to be more conveniently discussed in an appendix to be subjoined to the Life. But as regards those Acts, or rather the Life, he himself attests that the same is circulated plainly everywhere in the ecclesiastical Offices, namely a mere collection of a few miracles, which John du Bois, a Celestine monk, once published in print from the monastery of Ambert, to be reprinted here by us entire, since no other exists anywhere.
[8] In what century, or by whom, that Life was compiled, it is a mere series of miracles. you would now seek in vain; from the whole context you will most easily conjecture that it is, as I said, a mere recension of miracles, which on what credit it rests is equally uncertain. The beginning coalesced entirely from popular tradition, and from the once more accepted history about the apostles of Gaul, to which the end aptly corresponds, some Deodatus or other attesting that he, at the command of the lord Liborius, … described [it] for the greater part; which Liborius, namely, his patron, ruled the aforesaid church of Le Mans holily, piously, and devoutly from the time of Valerian up to the emperor Constantine — which opinion of the common people is not today easily to be admitted. Our Henschen collated that edition of Bois with a somewhat fuller copy of the same Life in a manuscript codex of the Queen of Sweden, whose principal additions, enclosed in brackets, you will observe, contributing nothing of great weight to the purity of the history. I thought the annotations should be spared, since I have said that the opening, which alone pertains to the history, was already restored by our predecessors, and the rest are so explained that they need no greater illustration. We proceed to the other translations.
§ II. The other translations of the relics; the principal one to Château-Renard.
Whence, when, and how they reached Château-Renard, The translation of the sacred body or relics of St. Pavacius which we just now reported, it is plainly a wonder that Tillemont, in volume 10 of the Ecclesiastical Commentaries, page 308, thought was made from Le Mans to Château-Renard in the Gâtinais; for that is plainly foreign to the sense of the words reported, besides that it is ridiculous to assert that the relics were translated to a place then not yet existing in the nature of things. For that castle could not have existed before its founder, count Rainard, otherwise Reginard, from whom its name was given to it; and he is known not to have lived before the tenth century, most well known in the Chronicle of St. Pierre-le-Vif, by the author Clarius, in d'Achery, volume 2 of the Spicilegium, from page 726. So that it must be established as certain that the sacred body of St. Pavacius could not have been carried to Château-Renard before the tenth century, already well advanced. Whence, moreover, in what year, and by what means it came thither, that indeed is almost an enigma, which no one has hitherto explained, nor is it easy for me to define, as I readily and willingly acknowledge: yet I shall try to contribute to the elucidation of the matter that which neither Corvasserius nor Bondonet seem to have known, being doubtless about to say [it], if it had come to their knowledge.
[10] the writers of Le Mans did not teach. Thus the first historian of Le Mans wrote in French, page 86, which I translate into Latin: His body was first laid to rest in the church of Pré, among his predecessors; then translated to St. Julian's in the time of Aldric, the 23rd bishop of Le Mans: at last, whether God so willing, or on account of the wars of the English and Normans, plundering the churches of the province and profaning all sacred and precious things, it was brought to Château-Renard, of the diocese of Sens, where today it is frequented by the peoples with the highest veneration, on account of the manifold graces there wont to be obtained daily by his intercession. You see here the matter rather intricately touched upon, which the other left untouched, having nothing whereby to render it more explicit, the translation of the year 840 being also passed over in silence, doubtless unknown to both. That the relics of St. Pavacius were carried off by the English, or transported into England, some tradition of the common people surviving, Corvasserius could at some time have heard; which must have happened when the Normans were often infesting the Gauls toward the end of the 9th century or about the beginning of the tenth: that they were certainly brought back from England, a diploma of King Lothair, given in the year 958, teaches, in Mabillon, in the century
5th century of the Benedictine Acts, page 245, in these words:
[11] Lothair, by the grace of God king of the Franks. We wish it to be made known to our faithful, [that they were brought back from England into France, a diploma of the year 958 teaches;] that Burchard the knight, son of Duke Alberic, approached our serenity, beseeching that a certain monastery, which he had established with the consent of Hildegard his wife, and by the counsel of Theobald lord of Centumliae his brother, upon the river Seine, near Bray, in honor of the Lord Salvator, for placing, keeping, and venerating the bodies of the holy Paternus the martyr and Pavacius the confessor — which last body he brought from England with some religious, whom his uncle King Edred had given him from the monastery of Pershore, that they might be established and serve God in the said monastery under the profession of the rule of St. Benedict, and that we might grant [it] to be perpetually stable and firm, and by the force of our majesty confirm whatever he was bestowing on that place of his goods, without advowson. Assenting to whose petition, etc. Given in the palace of Laon, at the monastery of St. John, December 10, in the 5th year of the reign of the most glorious king Lothair; which is the very year of Christ that we noted, 958, in which the relics of St. Pavacius had already returned into France.
[12] With these Clarius plainly agrees, page 725. But that this Pavacius the confessor is other than the one of Le Mans, nor are they to be said to be of any other than the bishop of Le Mans. there is nothing that could persuade, however much some Benedictine, to be met below, thought otherwise. The people of Le Mans themselves confess that the sacred body neither survives with them, nor in that monastery to which it was translated by St. Aldric in the year 840: no mention of it anywhere is known to have been made in all the rest of the ninth century: his memory somehow revives in the cited diploma at Bray in the year 958: it is known that, violently carried off from the monastery of Bray, it was deposited in the tower of Sens by count Rainard; it is known that it was afterward restored, wholly or in part: it is known that it is now most celebratedly venerated, and has been venerated from time immemorial, at Château-Renard: there seems, therefore, no doubt that the entirely same body, whether whole or at least for the greater part, is today preserved in that castle, so that for that reason Pavacius is not to be doubled. What the monks of Ferrières say, in Morin, in the history of the Gâtinais, page 788, that the head of blessed Pavacius is preserved there, that too can be true, at least of some portion of him: nay, at Sens too, and perhaps elsewhere, other parts will be found, just as we said that some was formerly carried off to Paderborn with the body of St. Liborius. These things must now be set forth a little more clearly, at least as far as can be done.
[13] But first I candidly profess that the Reverend Lord canon Le Beuf, already praised by me, contributed great — I would almost say all — the labor hither, they could not be brought to Château-Renard before the 10th century, consulted more than once by letter, that he might show me some plain way of extricating myself from that labyrinth, by inquiring especially from the people of Château-Renard themselves, the possessors of the sacred pledges and their exceptional venerators, by whom, on what occasion, and at what time that treasure of St. Pavacius had been brought to their church. But I was frustrated of my hope: he replied, after an excursion undertaken thither for my sake, and the Prior and the vicars being consulted, that there was there so great an ignorance of these matters, that the inhabitants of the place suppose that the relics were carried to them by angels, who settled at the fountain near the town, by which one goes to Auxerre; as if one must have recourse to a God in the machine. This at least must be most certain, that it came thither, and that by men, not before he — from whom, as I said above, the castle got its name — had founded the castle, and since he only departed from the living in the year 999, it is most evidently deduced that he built the castle, into which the sacred pledges might be received, only some years before.
[14] since it was founded only in that century. Of the death of count Rainard we have as witness the Chronicle of Clarius, already cited more than once, under the annal of the aforesaid year 999, page 737, from which I transcribe the whole paragraph. Thus it has there: Therefore the old count Rainard, holding the abbey of St. Columba as a benefice, took away very many things from it, retaining them for his own uses. Likewise he burdened in many ways the monastery of the holy virgin Fara, which he held in lordship, and also destroyed the abbey of the holy Virgin Mary as much as he could; in the possession of which he fortified the castle which is called Joigny. But another castle he built on the land of the monastery of Ferrières, which from his own name he called Château-Renard the castle of Rainard. And in a certain part of the city itself he built a very great tower: and thus, intent on the cares of this world, HE DIED OLD AND FULL OF DAYS, and was buried in the basilica of the holy virgin Columba, whom his son Frotmund succeeded. This count Frotmund is called below by the same Clarius "born of a bad stock," whose son, the other Rainard, is clearly given to understand from the following passages to have conducted himself most wickedly; which things, to have said as a sample of the old Rainard, of the son, and of the grandson, let it be enough here.
[15] How they came thither, is the Rhodes and the leap. This is chiefly to be sought by us, whether that old Rainard, or the other, the grandson, claimed to himself the relics of St. Pavacius. That they were certainly carried to Bray, Clarius also relates, as I said, page 725, when he says that Burchard and Hildegard built there a monastery of monks on their inheritance, in honor of the Lord Salvator, carrying thither the bodies of SS. Paternus the martyr and Pavacius the confessor. That this happened in the year 958 was shown above, so that the body of St. Pavacius must have rested there for some time. Hear now Clarius, page 726: In those days there was a certain knight, by name Boso, a most powerful plunderer and crafty in manners, who, having entered the little fortress of lord Burchard at Bray, plundered the whole province, Hildegard, the wife of the aforesaid Burchard, being still alive. Therefore count Rainard, indignant over this matter, burned that little fortress, Boso being captured, together with the basilica of our Salvator, carrying thence the relics of the church with the bodies of the holy Paternus and Pavacius into the tower of the city of Sens. But afterward he restored them, at the entreaty of count Theobald, under whose dominion the same place seems to be.
[16] This is most probably to be ascribed to the old Rainard; And this is the last place in which Clarius makes mention of the aforesaid relics, recording nothing about them afterward in all the rest of his Chronicle, so that from it it cannot be distinctly drawn out by whom at last they were brought from the monastery of Bray (if indeed they were carried back there whole) to Château-Renard, which nevertheless must have happened about that time. Nor indeed does anyone seem fitter for carrying out that deed than the already-mentioned old Rainard, whom Clarius numbers more than once among the impious, as page 729, where he hands down that Anastasius, archbishop of Sens, endured much persecution from the impious; for the old count Rainard, he says, always acted contentiously against God and against him, inflicting many injuries, etc. He who is adorned with such dubious commendations must certainly be judged capable of having reserved to himself the greatest part of the body of St. Pavacius, restoring to the monks of Bray those things which seemed good, they perhaps rejoicing even in the benefit of the robbers. This indeed is my conjecture, and also that of the praised Lord Le Beuf, not altogether to be rejected, since in that darkness nothing more opportune for explaining the matter could hitherto be adduced. For to have recourse again and again to the ministry of angels, what is it other than to confess supine ignorance?
[17] If anyone should perhaps contend that the translation of St. Pavacius was not procured by the old count Rainard; as various conjectures prove, let him, I pray, both assign another count of Sens, and more convenient times, that a translation of this kind may be devised. The chief, nay almost the only, author of the Chronicle of Sens is Clarius, who makes mention of the aforesaid relics transported back and forth; but in the Chronicle itself no time is determined to which the translation to Château-Renard, which we seek, could be attached, although it is carried down to about the end of the twelfth century: but from elsewhere it is most certainly established that the body of St. Pavacius was preserved in the very castle of Rainard in the 13th century; as will be manifest from the appendix to be subjoined to the Acts; we therefore most probably conjecture that the body was purloined by the often-mentioned old count Rainard, received perhaps in great part as a gift extorted from the monks themselves; it is certainly quite clear that it was deposited in that castle, and retained there to this day, held in the highest honor, and shone forth with very many miracles, however much the deplorable sloth of the inhabitants neglected to note the same.
[18] Our conjecture is not a little confirmed by a certain little Roman Martyrology cited by my diligent helper the distinguished Le Beuf, confirmed from an old Martyrology. on which he read, written by Castellanus's own hand: At Le Mans, of St. Pavacius, third bishop of this see, of whom there exists a parish title at St. Salvator near Bray in Brie, where also his body rests in part, but in part at Château-Renard near Mont Argis. And hence you may refute the author of the Life of St. Paternus published in the year 1685, in which, on pages 27 and 29, as Lord Le Beuf writes to me, he entirely allows himself to be persuaded that the St. Pavacius who is venerated at Bray, and consequently at Château-Renard, is other than the bishop of Le Mans; namely because the monuments of the cathedral church of Le Mans nowhere make mention of the English translation: but if this proves anything, it must follow that the relics were never carried off from Le Mans, since no old monuments record that either. As if it did not suffice that the people of Le Mans confess that the sacred body has not existed with them for many centuries, nay, expressly assert that it was once conveyed to Château-Renard, by whatever way or means: certainly other arguments are needed, that St. Pavacius may be doubled. By what reasoning the surviving relics at Château-Renard can be called the Saint's body itself, it will be given to gather somehow from the already-mentioned appendix to be subjoined to the Acts. Behold now the Acts themselves, such as they are.
THE LIFE
Published by John du Bois, a Celestine, from a codex of the monastery of Ambert. Collated with a manuscript of the Queen of Sweden.
Pavacius, bishop and confessor, at Le Mans in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 6602
FROM THE EDITION OF DU BOIS.
PROLOGUE.
[Although the venerable deeds of all the Saints are read and heard reverently and sweetly by pious minds, lest anyone, either by reading or by hearing the great deeds of the Saints, be able to remain slothful or lukewarm in faith, so as not to strive eagerly, his mind shaken from its weakness, to hasten to their examples, we are afraid to be silent about those things which are seen to be praiseworthy or imitable in the divine works.]
CHAPTER I.
On St. Pavacius's coming to Le Mans, and his various miracles.
The mission of St. Pavacius, third bishop of Le Mans. The third bishop of the church of Le Mans was St. Pavacius, sprung from Roman nobility. Who, following the discipline of the Apostles, so flourished in the ornaments of his character that he pleased all good men. For he was prudent in doctrine, illustrious in nobility, provident in counsel, conspicuous in goodness, truthful in speech, faithful in what was committed to him, strenuous in intervention,
outstanding in the whole honorableness of his manners; for the aforesaid St. Pavacius was wisely learned and prudently instructed in the doctrine of the Apostles, [and] was given as a helper by blessed Clement, third successor of Peter the Apostle, to St. Julian, first bishop of the city of Le Mans and a disciple of the Apostles: and was sent with him to preach, in the office of archdeacon. Who, after the death of the aforesaid St. Julian, and after the death of his successor, namely St. Thuribius, was consecrated bishop in the see of Le Mans. But the people of Le Mans loved him as their own soul, because signs and miracles preceded his preaching and his acts.
[2] The matron Casta is healed; By his prayers, therefore, in the name of our Lord Jesus, he restored sight to the blind, walking to the lame, hearing to the deaf, the restoration of speech to the dumb. He drove out unclean spirits from possessed bodies, and took away every bitterness from the human body by heavenly grace. And doing these things, he fled the praise of men, and sought secret places. At that time there was a certain matron by name Casta in the district of Le Mans, greatly sick, who had spent all her substance and all her own goods upon physicians: but nothing had profited her. But when she had heard the report of the aforesaid St. Pavacius, and the power which he exercised toward the healing of the sick, she asked that she might deserve to enjoy his visitation. And when she, half-alive, was carried to him by her kinsfolk and friends and servants, trusting in faith, and his doctrine and power being proved, she asked with ready mind that the holy Man would grant her health. Who, praying for her, and instructing her with divine words, cured her of her infirmity. But she, being made whole, and restored to her former health, lawfully made over all the goods of her property to him and to the church committed to him, and thenceforth strove to live in a holy life. But the goods which she handed over to him by name are recognized to be inserted in the pontifical deeds. Therefore they are not inserted here.
[3] But in the following time, the power of God being known, likewise a paralytic, many sick and feeble, coming to him, ask health to be given them by him; among whom one paralytic, coming, grinding in all his limbs, began to ask that he would have mercy on him, because he had paid out all his substance upon physicians, and had received from them no medicine, or only a little. At whose misery and grave infirmity, moved in mind and mercy, he began to ask the Lord that he would furnish him help, according to his loving-kindness. And the paralytic, dwelling for some days beside the holy Man, and beseeching him day and night with a loud voice, trusting with ready mind and faith, kept asking [him] to succor him. Moved by whose persistence, St. Pavacius began, among his other prayers, also to offer sacrifices to God, and to celebrate the solemnities of Masses for his infirmity.
[4] But on a certain day, while these things were being done for him, whom he wisely instructs. the aforesaid paralytic was freed, by the will of God, by the merits of St. Pavacius, from his infirmity. And when he knew himself freed from his infirmity, he gave praise to God, who conferred on his holy Confessor this crown of virtue, and such and so great a grace of healing. But knowing that he received nothing from anyone, neither from rich nor from poor, because, according to the command of the Lord, he gave freely to all who asked him, the aforesaid sick man secretly offered St. Pavacius something, not such as befitted covetousness, but sanctity. Which, when he would not accept, the man rolled himself at his feet, beseeching and adjuring that he would deign to receive his small little gift. But St. Pavacius, weighing the name of his God, and the awful oaths by which he was entreated, received his little gift, lest he should seem to despise the name of his God, by which he was adjured. On whom he also bestowed greater gifts, and commanded him to serve the Lord Jesus Christ all the days of his life, and wisely instructed him how he ought to serve him. But these things were made known throughout that whole district, and through other regions, and all the believers were confirmed in faith, and gave thanks to God.
[5] And those who did not yet perfectly believe were converted to perfect faith, A monstrous dragon, and, believing, they praised and magnified the Lord, who gave such power to men. But in the following time, a great pestilence arose in the aforesaid district of Le Mans, and among the other infinite evils, a certain dragon arose, which ate men and swallowed cattle of various kinds. The fear of which grew so great among the people that men did not dare even to remain or dwell within five miles, in the places in which it was wont to abide. Whence it came to pass that men and women, old men and little ones, crying out, fled to Pavacius, the holy man of God, and, on bended knees, crying out, said: Help us, good Shepherd, and have mercy on us, for unless thou succor us, we shall perish by the dragon: which devours all that is ours, and pursues us to devour us. Moved by whose prayers and cries and howlings, St. Pavacius besought the Lord his God, that he would succor the people committed to him, lest it perish by the dragon. For that serpent, the aforesaid dragon, was great, and from its mouth a flame of fire boiled forth, so that it burned the shrubs and the rest in its passage.
[6] infesting the people of Le Mans Girt therefore with faith, the Man of the Lord began to go where he knew the dragon was destroying men and beasts of burden. For the aforesaid St. Pavacius was clothed with the breastplate of justice, and wore the helmet of salvation on his head, and, placing the shield of faith before him, bore in his hands the sword of the Spirit and of the divine word. And, adorned with these arms, not earthly but spiritual, he advanced to overcome the dragon. But when, protected by the sign of the Cross, he came to meet it, and beheld the flames coming forth from its mouth, and preceding it, and setting fire to the shrubs and the branches of the trees, armed with the power of God he came onto the way by which it was wont to go to a certain fountain. But when that great serpent had seen the aforesaid St. Pavacius, it began to go with quickened pace to devour him; but when it drew near to him, and reared itself up to devour him, St. Pavacius, fearing nothing, took his stole, which he bore over his shoulders in the priestly manner, with which he both ministered to and sacrificed to the Lord, and, casting it upon the neck of the dragon, bound it, and, it being adjured, made it lie as if dead in the aforesaid way, but its size we have not here described, but have only recorded the estimation of the measure, because it was painted in the episcopal house, built in our city.
[7] By the Saint's prayers the earth swallows it. Now its length was ten cubits, and its thickness very prominent. For St. Pavacius, leaving that serpent bound in the aforesaid way, went after the brethren, and called the people, whom he first wished to lead with him, lest by some cunning of the serpent they should go astray or perish. But when the people knew that the aforesaid serpent was so bound that it could now harm no one, giving thanks to God, it ran after the Bishop, that it might see the great deeds of God. Then St. Pavacius, his stole being taken back, adjured the serpent that it should harm no one any more, but should enter the earth. But when the people saw it loosed from its bonds, they feared greatly lest it should rush upon them and devour them, and began to withdraw a little. To whom St. Pavacius said: Do not, brethren, do not flee; it is not necessary for you to fear it, because, although it is loosed from my stole and my bonds, yet it is so bound with divine bonds that it can harm no one henceforth. Yet St. Pavacius, seeing the people trembling and afraid, prayed the Lord that the earth might open its mouth and swallow the serpent. His prayers, therefore, were heard, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed that great serpent, just as Dathan and Abiram were swallowed in the sight of the people of God, and the serpent appeared no more anywhere. Then St. Pavacius made a discourse to the people, saying: These things, dearest brethren, and many others which we suffer, know that they befall us for our sins.
[8] For in this life, if the service of God delights [you], you ought to despise earthly riches, Hence, apposite and to seek spiritual ones, the Lord saying: [Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you.] If truly, brethren, you desire to be rich, love the true riches, and hasten as quickly as possible to the heavenly fatherland. Commend your riches, therefore, to him who will restore them to you whole and unimpaired in the heavenly region, in which they can abide with you forever. For in this life, if you are willing to fulfill the divine word, your riches, as it were spent here, will be returned to you there, multiplied. For every delight reserved for the future life is not lost, but is made better. But if this life be extended to the space of a hundred years, on the last day it will straightway seem not to have been, and, without memory, to have scarcely left the traces of a guest remaining with you for one day. But that life abides forever, perseveres steadfastly, and, even as the years slip by, grows green and sprouts; and it takes the beginning of its renewal from where the end of the present life is received. O truly holy will and proved intention of all good things: which is not captivated by the love of this so beautiful life. Blessed is he who fears not to hand over this life, which is to die, and to receive that one which knows not to perish at all, in which delights and pleasures and riches and joys are so begun that they know no end; so take their beginning that they can never at all be finished. He who shall wish to be a lover of this so illustrious [earthly life will not only lose this one but also will not find that one; nay, he is even now seized by perpetual death and darkness, in which is unending flame, persevering tribulation, and the rest of the evils which follow.]
[9] These things being heard, the people, prostrate on the earth, an admonition to his people. prayed him, saying: Help us, Father, that we may not fall into this death, but may strive, together with thee, to the heavenly fatherland. Which being heard, his heart rejoiced in the Lord, and he gave thanks to God, who saves believers and enlightens the hearts of the faithful. To whom St. Pavacius most gladly answered, saying: It is just, brethren, that the light, departing from the mortal world, should come to our immortal minds, and enlighten the minds dwelling in darkness. But the fullness of our obedience and good will is the grace of God, not ours: who both enlightens the hidden things of darkness, and makes manifest the counsels of hearts. Blessed are you, all brethren, who have obeyed the voice of the Lord God, saying: Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls: for my yoke is sweet, and my burden light
and the rest that follows. Exhorting the brethren very often with such and similar things, he so converted many to Christ that they left all their possessions, and handed over all their goods to him and to the church committed to him, and led in it, together with the rest, the common life, holily and in common, the Apostles and their disciples leading the way by their example. O most beloved brethren, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity, blessed Pavacius sang with continual praises.
CHAPTER II.
On his other miracles, his death, and his burial.
Twin youths, But as time went on, there was a certain man in the aforesaid country of Le Mans, by name Benedict, noble by birth, who had a wife of the lineage and stock of princes, by name Lopa: for they had various and diverse possessions, filled with all good things and heaped up with innumerable riches. And they had two twin sons, elegant in form, and comely in appearance, amiable in countenance, and nimble in wit. Whom the aforesaid father and the aforesaid mother so loved that they would neither do nor say anything against them. But as they grew old, and their sons grew up, so grave an infirmity seized the youths that the father and mother despaired of their life. For they invited many physicians to heal them, but nothing profited them, and it was so much worse for them that both their friends, and the other physicians, and all their kinsfolk had no hope of their life. For their father and mother, touched with grief of heart, weeping, [in the sight of their friends and kinsfolk over them said: Whence shall offspring now come to us, growing old in decrepit age, who are bereaved of both our sons at once? So then, all weeping, the father and mother beseech the Bishop] that they might be consoled by him.
[11] by the parents, For they greatly loved their Bishop, namely St. Pavacius, by whom they were also loved. Their messenger came, therefore, with quickened pace to the door of St. Pavacius. And his doorkeeper, a certain cleric consecrated to the office of doorkeeper, seeing him, asked him what he wished? But he, falling at his knees, began to ask that he might deserve to be presented to St. Pavacius the bishop. But he, entering to him, said: Lord Father, a certain man stands before the doors, and asks that he may deserve to be presented to your Blessedness. And when this was announced to him, by the will of God he knew that Benedict, his beloved, and his wife Lopa, were sending to him, beseeching for their twin sons. But St. Pavacius, consulting the Lord in his prayer, asked within himself whether he should go thither or not. To whom it was divinely answered that he should go, and by the priestly remedy heal them, because their infirmity was not unto death, but for the glory of God, that God might be glorified in them.
[12] they are offered to the Saint to be healed, Strengthened by such a response, and filled with joy, St. Pavacius prostrated himself to the Lord in prayer, and said with tears: Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, who hast deigned to reveal to me, the last servant of thy servants, the health of the boys, confirm through me in them the works of thy mercy. And he ordered the messenger to be led swiftly to him. So the messenger, entering, fell down at his feet, asking and saying: My Lord Father, thy servant, my lord Benedict, and thy handmaid, my lady Lopa, pray that thou come to them, that by thy coming they may be consoled over their sons, who are gravely sick and await thy coming. And St. Pavacius did as they had besought, and, coming to them, preached to them the kingdom of God; but among other things he said to them: You have loved your sons more than was fitting. Yet this infirmity, the Lord helping, is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that God may be glorified in them.
[13] Then St. Pavacius prayed for them, and, the sign of the cross being made, and afterward they become clerics. anointed them with sanctified oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith saved the sick. And this being done, the boys rose up, and were restored by the power of God to their former health. Then, for great joy, the father and mother could not contain themselves from the tears which burst from their eyes. But at last, by the counsel of St. Pavacius, the father and mother vowed the aforesaid boys to the Lord: and asked them to be ordained in the order of those serving God, and, if they should become worthy, to be consecrated in the course of time. But at last they also vowed themselves to the Lord, and delivered themselves into the hands of the aforesaid St. Pavacius. And they lawfully handed over all their goods and possessions and riches to St. Pavacius and to the church committed to him, and confirmed their grants by writings and stipulations and witnesses, as is the custom. Which writings are preserved to this day in our archive.
[14] But by such and similar goods and grants and gifts, A peasant of Anjou our mother church was exalted and glorified: and, the Lord helping, it grows daily, and is enlarged by the offerings of the faithful, to the praise of almighty God. For whom we also pray assiduously, and our brethren and all the servants of God, succeeding in it, will pray to the Lord, both now and always, and through the future ages of ages. But some days being interposed, a certain peasant in the district of Anjou went out one day to reap. And when, after his labor, food being taken, he had given himself to sleep, and was sleeping with open mouth, a serpent entered through his mouth into his belly. But he, waking up, did not at once understand that he had a serpent in his belly, but yet his belly pained him strongly and swelled. But when he had refreshed himself at supper, and after the meal placed himself on his bed, and began to sleep, the serpent began to roll itself about through his belly, and to torment him greatly. But he, for the exceeding pain and vexation of the serpent, began to awake, and to cry with a loud voice that he was now about to die. The neighbors, roused at his voice, ran to him, and asked him what ailed him?
[15] To whom he, answering, said: I have pain in my belly, who had swallowed a serpent, because its pain grieves me too much, and, swelling, it seems to me to be bursting in the middle. So his neighbors and kinsmen called physicians to him, that they might heal him. But they gave him no health; nay, it was worse and worse for him every hour. Then he ordered himself to be led through the churches dedicated to God, and began to frequent the places sacred to divine worship. But on a certain night he was admonished in his sleep, while he was passing the night in a certain church consecrated in honor of St. John the Baptist within the city of Angers, that he should go to St. Pavacius, bishop of the city of Le Mans, that from him he might, the Lord helping, deserve to receive the medicine of his infirmity. But he, obeying the divine warnings, began to go to the city of Le Mans, that he might come to St. Pavacius.
[16] he is wonderfully freed by him. And when he came to him, he began to ask him to succor him. And when St. Pavacius saw him held in so great an infirmity, he called him to himself, and asked him what ailed him? But he narrated to him the matter in order; and by divine inspiration St. Pavacius knew that he was being tormented by a serpent, and, touching his belly, and the sign of the Cross being applied, commanded him to bend himself down low: and put his finger into his mouth, and, making the sign of the Cross over his belly, the serpent, compelled by the power of God, began to go out through his mouth, and he vomited it up. And thus, all seeing, he was freed from the serpent. When all the multitude that was present had seen these things, it gave praise to God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: who saves all, and wills none to perish, but all to come to the knowledge of the truth, and, with the Saints of God, to possess the eternal goods.
[17] The Saint's other miracles. [But the other miracles, many and innumerable, which shone forth by the merits of this Saint, are inserted in another little book, which, on account of prolixity and the burden of readers and hearers, are not inserted here; but whoever delights to hear them will be able to find them to this day in the archive of our mother church. But whoever shall wish to know the rest of his deeds, and the consecrations of bishops, priests, deacons, and ministers of the other grades, and also the consecrations of churches, and the censuses of them established by him, and owed to the mother church, and the acquisitions of many things, and the good deeds of his many acts, let him read the little book which, written concerning the acts of the pontiffs living for God in the city of Le Mans, is kept in the archive of the aforesaid mother church, and in it he will be able to find more fully those things which are written concerning his acts and his innumerable good deeds. Blessed Pavacius at last rested on the ninth day before the Kalends of August, and at the place of his burial many and innumerable benefits are afforded to the peoples: there by his merits the blind receive sight, the weak walking, the deaf hearing. There the sick are healed, demons are cast out, the feverish and those oppressed with various infirmities are healed, our Lord Jesus Christ affording it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through the immortal ages of ages. Amen.
[18] The ending corresponding to the beginning. I, Deodatus, a levite of Christ, have for the greater part described the Life of St. Pavacius, to the praise and glory of almighty God, at the command of the lord Liborius, my patron, but I have omitted many things on account of prolixity; which many, seeing and hearing with me, who still remain in the body, more wise, can meditate upon, that they may be described more honorably and more fully. St. Liborius ruled the aforesaid church holily, piously, and devoutly from the time of Valerian up to the emperor Constantine.]
APPENDIX
On the relics happily withdrawn from the fury of the heretics in the year 1562; on the same recognized in the year 1644; and on their present state and cult.
Pavacius, bishop and confessor, at Le Mans in Gaul (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
How much the people of Château-Renard valued their precious treasure, with how great veneration they attended it, For fear of the passing Huguenots, with how zealous a care they watched over its preservation, then became most evident, when the Calvinist iconoclasts, ravaging through the Gauls, foully and sacrilegiously profaned the sacred remains of the Saints, burning or scattering them, as has been more than once demonstrated in this work by so many baleful examples; it became evident, I say, when with singular solicitude they then placed their sacred remains of the Saints in safety. There is in my possession a French instrument transcribed by Lord Le Beuf, in which it is most faithfully narrated, witnesses being employed, in what manner, on Tuesday the third of November of the year 1562, between the ninth and tenth hour of the evening, the Prior or curate of the parish church there, the Reverend Lord Peter Prevost, with his vicars, the sacristan and the sextons, or provisors of the church, and other notable men of the same town (when at the same time everything was burning elsewhere), most diligently provided for the saving of their sacred remains. Of the instrument
I shall not pursue the individual words, worn away here and there, content to have tasted the marrow from it, whereby the whole series of the matter will be clearly explained.
[2] In that most turbulent season an army of Huguenots was about to pass through there on Wednesday and Thursday, carried in good time into the citadel, the 4th and 5th of the same month, of about fourteen or fifteen thousand soldiers, of whom some were Germans, others Swiss, others French, all most hostile to the Catholics, under the leader Andelot, the most famous standard-bearer of the heretics. The most pressing necessity urging, the priests and others soon assembled, and were admitted to the treasury of the church, and the reliquary was unlocked, although no one within human memory knew that it had ever been opened; with the highest reverence, as was fitting, they immediately took out from it one and another little sack of ash-gray color, in which the relics of St. Pavacius and of other Saints were stored, the due inscriptions being affixed on parchment, and had them carried into a citadel sufficiently fortified, so that they need not fear the assaults of the heretics. But eight days afterward, when the aforesaid forces had all advanced toward Paris, being free from danger, they seriously thought about bringing back the same relics: and, torches and tapers being lit and several witnesses employed, the lord Prior visited and reviewed them there.
[3] So the sacred remains, brought back from the aforesaid place, were for a while placed in a chest, then on December 21 solemnly replaced in the shrine. until on December 21 of the same year, on the feast of St. Thomas the apostle, the said lord Prevost, most honorable witnesses being again present, decently replaced the same bones in new sacks prepared for that purpose, and, the due ceremonies being applied, not without chant, restored them again to the shrine of St. Pavacius, and it at last was carried to its former place. An instrument being lawfully drawn up, there subscribe, with lord Prevost, his two vicars, the sacristan, the lieutenant of that town for the duke of Orléans, the sextons or provisors of the church, and others whose surnames are these: Symonnet, Gastelet, Avignon, Audebert, R. Molinet, Voillequin, Renaut, Rouet, Cotaud, Garnier, J. de la Faye. Furthermore, the aforesaid sacred relics so remained from that year 1562 until the year 1644, Octavius de Bellegarde sitting in the see of Sens, by whose order the last recognition was made; we shall also excerpt from the verbal proceedings those things which chiefly conduce to their present state and cult.
[4] The deputy of the archbishop of Sens For that last visitation or recognition, the curators of that very church especially demanding it, there was deputed by the archbishop's authority the very Reverend and eminent Lord Henry du Hamel, doctor of the Sorbonne, parish priest at St. Maurice's not far thence, who, departing on November 20 at the fourth hour after noon, arrived at Château-Renard about the sixth, about to carry out on that very day what was commanded; and, noble men being taken along — the Lord Augustine de Liste, royal counselor, holding there the first dignity, and his son Claude, royal lieutenant and criminal assessor — he proceeded to the church about the ninth hour of the evening, and, having also called, as was fitting, the venerable lords the priests Charles Blondeau, Hubert Jollyvet, Stephen Mandart, and James Bardin, vicars of the lord and master John Coqueley, royal counselor in the Parlement, and prior of the same church of Château-Renard, likewise the noble man Stephen Bourgoing, royal procurator, Anthony Bonnet, esquire, lord of Bessay, Stephen Gallots, and Francis Cornier, provisors or sextons, he carried out the whole matter most accurately, so that for the due and lawful inspection sufficient witnesses, and above all exception, were by no means lacking.
[5] he visits the same with witnesses, Having entered the church with that select company, prayers being first said, and the aid of the Holy Spirit invoked as is customary, girded with surplice and stole, several torches or wax-tapers being lit, he ordered the treasury, as they call it, in which the relics of St. Pavacius and of others were stored, to be opened by the lords provisors Gallois and Cornier, and, being immediately admitted, placed the reliquary — set upon his own shoulders and those of the lord vicar Mandart, elegantly clothed with red silk and some figures or images representing the miracles of the common history — upon a table, prepared for that purpose behind the principal altar. Then, having fallen on his knees with the rest, the little window of the shrine, through which access to it lay open, being unlocked by a blacksmith, he drew out thence a sack of about fifteen inches in length, to which this ancient inscription was attached: The body of the most blessed Pavacius, third bishop and confessor of the city of Le Mans, venerably laid to rest here by Stephen, archdeacon of the church of Auxerre, and by his mother Godeburga, and by very many faithful of this place, clerics or laymen: and likewise the relics of many Saints, whose names we could not write on account of the antiquity of the short records: and they are written in the book of life.
[6] and he recounts the individual parts. The age of that Stephen the Lord Le Beuf most rightly gathered from a necrology of about the year 1250, namely that the aforesaid archdeacon of Auxerre died before that year, so that we may truly have said in the Commentary that in the 13th century, and indeed at its beginning, as is most clearly evident from the antiquity of the short records, the relics of St. Pavacius undoubtedly existed in Château-Renard, and therefore were translated thither long before. But how many bones survive, and whether they can be called a whole body, you will understand from the enumeration of them; thus writes the visitor du Hamel: A bone of the lower occiput with six teeth, four from the right side and [two] from the left, of which one canine, three molars of the right side, molars also of the left side. A shoulder-blade bone. A small particle of a bone of nine-inch dodrans size. Three vertebrae with fragments of ribs. A thigh-bone. A shin without the fibula. An elbow-bone. Another elbow-bone besides, with an elbow-bone drawn apart, requested, I think, by the lord archbishop Octavius himself, and, says the same visitor, deposited into our hands with two fragments of the collar-bones. To the other sack, likewise opened, was affixed the inscription, The relics of the holy Armagilus and Liborius. That a part of the Liborian body was joined to St. Pavacius is plain from the preliminary Commentary: of Armagilus (commonly St. Ermel) there will be treatment on August 16: let it suffice to have here most faithfully exhibited the whole substance of the instrument.
[7] Furthermore, the Lord Le Beuf so describes the present veneration of St. Pavacius among the inhabitants of Château-Renard, The exceptional veneration of the Saint among the people of Château-Renard: that a more solemn and more constant one can scarcely be found elsewhere. The feast-day itself is kept most celebratedly, the reliquary being exposed, such as we have just described, and which today is equally elegant. This was once wont to be carried to Châtillon-sur-Loing, a town distant three leagues thence, the people of Châtillon coming to meet them from that side with the sacred deposit of St. Potentiana, concerning the as it were spontaneous conjunction or agglutination of which shrines they relate marvels. It is said to have been shown more than once, wont to be received as a not-favorable omen, as they relate happened in the year 1661, more than one thousand five hundred men standing by and looking on. Similar things Morin also hands down in the history of the Gâtinais, adding also another miracle, namely that thieves who plotted to carry off the purloined little coffer of St. Pavacius were caught by the cries of the sick who flowed together thither to implore the Saint's help. The same Morin says that the Saint is invoked chiefly by epileptics: but Le Beuf attests that the Saint's patronage is asked for averting any evils and repelling diseases — and, I think, obtained — whence so great a confidence in him grew up in that whole region. We have already above lamented the negligence of the clients in recording in writing the favors of their Patron.
[8] That meeting of the reliquaries of SS. Pavacius and Potentiana, processions wont to be instituted of which we have spoken, took place not on this very natal day, but on the second festival of Pentecost, which was solemn among the people of Château-Renard, besides June 15, on which was once kept the memory of the translation of all the relics deposited there, which was afterward remitted to the Sunday next following, when, before the Mass, the shrine of St. Pavacius, which comprises all the relics, is carried in procession through the town, and that day is called by the people the little festival of St. Pavacius: but the other Châtillon procession has been quite intermitted for five or six years. It was once the custom to place the sacred pledges on the very altar, a place being prepared for that purpose, with these sacred words inscribed: The Lord keeps their bones; whence they were not taken down, except for the sake of feasts or urgent necessity. I know not how it afterward came about that the shrine is now brought back into the sacristy, to be exhibited, on the more solemn feasts, for the veneration of the people on the very seat of the curators of the church. I judge it must be ascribed to the boldness of the painter, or at least to his excessive liberty, that he depicted the Saint on the altar clothed with a pallium over the chasuble: but that he set a dragon beneath his feet could be taken from the history of the Life. However these things be, it is abundantly plain that the people of Château-Renard neglected nothing whereby to celebrate the festivals of their Saint as solemnly as possible: of the surrounding places there is nearly the same reckoning.
[9] and the cult propagated to the surrounding region. That St. Pavacius is honored with a singular cult also by the people of Sens, we showed in the preliminary Commentary from their own Breviary of the year 1625. Le Beuf adduces a Sens Martyrology of the 12th century, in which is expressly read: At Sens, of St. Pavacius the confessor; nor is there any doubt that at Bray and in the monastery of Ferrières the memory of the Saint is also solemn; not to pass over the people of Paderborn, the most ancient venerators of the same Saint. There is also among the people of Auxerre, especially in the vicinity, a most received veneration of the Saint, so much so that there, in a certain church of the municipality of Appigny, by name Esbrie, he is held as patron, although no relics are known to exist there; besides that pilgrimages to that church are wont to be undertaken not infrequently by the inhabitants: the other churches I do not count one by one. My accurate collector of nearly all these things informed me that relics reserved for himself by Octavius de Bellegarde, archbishop of Sens, from the sacred little coffer of St. Pavacius, were sent to Auxerre to the monastery of St. Germain, of which he was then the commendatory abbot. In what honor they are there, he does not signify; but the highest and for ages most received esteem of the Saint among the people of Auxerre does not allow one to doubt about the veneration of the monks and people toward them.