ON ST. LEODEGARIUS THE PRESBYTER
IN THE DISTRICT OF PERTHES IN GALLIC CHAMPAGNE.
5TH OR 6TH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On the place of cult, and the acts of the Life, Finding, and Translation.
Leodegarius, Presbyter in the district of Perthes in Gaul (St.)
AUTHOR. D. P.
Near the shrine of St. Desiderius, and not
far from the river Marne in Champagne,
there is an old village, Perta,
commonly called Perthes, once so celebrated, Perthes, whence is named the district of Perthes,
that it gave its name to the whole surrounding region, by which it is found
called the District of Perthes in the precepts of Louis
the Pious, signed in the year 815 and 832;
and that on occasion of the monastery of Dervum, belonging indeed to
the diocese of Châlons, but nearer to the city of Troyes
than to Châlons, and yet
attributed to the District of Perthes, commonly "le Partois";
so that it appears that the same District, of which now
the chief town is reckoned Vitry-le-François, between Châlons
and Perthes in the middle, was widely extended to
twenty leagues or more. In that village the Patron
venerated is St. Leodegarius, on the 23rd of June is venerated the Translation of St. Leodegarius, laid to rest indeed on the eighth
day before the Kalends of May; as was said there among the Passed-over,
but for the second time translated on this ninth
day before the Kalends of July, when his feast is celebrated more solemnly,
with an Octave and proper Office. Hence the twelve
Lessons, copied out, were transmitted to us by Peter
Francis Chifflet, our member, in the second of which
it is said that the aforesaid Village was of such
authority that all the Princes of that region
would gather there to arrange what was necessary for them,
and would settle all judgments according to the local custom,
which in French is said (says Chifflet in the Annotations) "to judge according to the custom
of the Partois," which manner of judging is very
ancient. Meanwhile I would hardly believe that outside
the District of Perthes the sanctity of this
St. Leodegarius was very celebrated; [The Collegiate body of Canons restored in the year 1115 after the 9th-century restoration,] inasmuch as no
mention of him is found in Florus, Ado, or Usuard,
the Frankish Martyrologists; and therefore I think it was done by chance rather than by
any regard to him, that the same
name was given to the Holy Bishop and Martyr of Autun,
who suffered under Ebroin
in the year 676; and commonly called Saint Léger or
Ligier, is venerated on the 2nd of October: by which name also
there is a village on the Aube between Bar and Arcis,
towns situated on the same river, probably from the same
St. Leodegarius the Bishop and Martyr;
which, however, is to be determined from the day on which the local Patron
is venerated, not yet known to me.
[2] The first Translation, which immediately followed the Finding of the body,
in what year and on what day it was done, is unknown:
only it is read that the counsel of Bishop Gibuin was sought
and employed. Now there sat at Châlons of this name
two in succession, from the year 947
to 1004. Meanwhile that Translation from the place
of burial to the altar of Blessed Mary, with the miracles that followed it,
is fully described: then, all things being passed over
which pertain to the second Translation to the proper
altar or chapel, there is immediately subjoined,
This Translation … was made in the time
of William, Bishop of Châlons … in the eighth
Indiction, and so in the year of Christ 1116: for he was ordained
in the year 1113 in the sixth Indiction, and
died in 1122 in the fourteenth Indiction. Before the age of Gibuin,
how long the holy body lay hidden, you would not rightly
determine from the names of King Crogus and the Vandals,
so badly intruded here as unskillfully
joined; but rather from this point, that when
by a revelation made to a certain blind man the place was indicated to the Canons,
in which the body was to be sought;
amazement and wonder struck them, because from the time when
they had come there nothing of the kind had reached their
ears. It is necessary, therefore, that those four
through whom the Collegiate body of Perthes was restored were not
very long before brought into the church of St. Mary;
namely under Bishop Letoldus, who in the year
909 was present at the Council of Trosly. And so
those Barbarians, through whom the former Canons
were destroyed, the place desolated, the body of the Saint obscured,
it is not necessary to refer back to the times of the Alemanni,
the Huns, the Vandals, who successively
depopulated the Gauls and in them the District of Perthes;
for we have nearer the Normans, who about
the middle of the 9th century were most troublesome to Charles
the Bald by their pirate incursions, and most destructive to the whole kingdom,
for sixty years and more, at which time it is not credible
that the sacred places of Perthes were restored, and this could amply have sufficed
for inducing the aforesaid oblivion.
[3] And these things indeed are sufficiently certain: but in what
age the Saint lived, not likewise. The first
Bishop of Châlons, St. Memmius, is believed to have been sent by
St. Peter into Gaul, and to have preached the faith also in the District of Perthes;
and to have been the founder of the first and more ancient
church among them, [in the church of St. Mary endowed by St. Anna, there veiled by St. Alpinus in the 5th century,] which is to this day called St. Mary's.
The holy Prelate doubtless built some Oratory
for the new faithful, after the manner of the first centuries under
the Gentiles; perhaps in the same place
where afterward was built a church under the title of the Mother of God:
which probably, several times destroyed and restored, was perhaps so called even
in the time of St. Alpinus; when he there consecrated as a Nun
St. Ama, or Ymma, the firstborn daughter
of Sigmarus, Count of Perthes (if indeed they were then
called Counts), together with her five sisters;
and holy Ama, as Lesson VIII has it, handed over to God and to his
mother Mary her allodial property which she had at Perthes.
[4] who perhaps first instituted Canons there, But that the Founder of the church established there
[men] who would serve the Lord continually under the Canonical Rule,
to whom he also assigned many estates whence they might live,
Lesson II incongruously ascribes to
St. Memmius: and much more incongruously Lesson
III says that the same St. Memmius consecrated St. Leodegarius
as Rector of that Congregation;
both could have been done by St. Alpinus, restoring the place
devastated by the Huns, a Rector, St. Leodegarius, being given to them. after Attila was conquered
and put to flight in the year 451; and thus
it would not be an improbable conjecture that St. Ama was commended
to Leodegarius, and that both were anciently
venerated there: but that the veneration of the latter
faded away, The Acts written about the 13th century. the notice of the body being lost; which, being preserved,
preserved for his holy sisters Pusinna, Hoildis,
and Manehildis an annual festivity, as we have seen
at the 23rd and 30th of April; but the memory of Leodegarius
for the same cause persevered
in the Sacred calendars. It may also have happened that the monastery
of Perthes was first one of Nuns,
under the rule of St. Ama herself: who then being extinct,
Canons succeeded, about the year 600 or
even 700; and their Provost was this St. Leodegarius,
contemporary with or close in age to the Bishop and Martyr
of Autun of the same name; for from then
there is enough time for it to be understood that his cult flourished for some while,
and through the Normans, the place being desolated, failed.
However it be, that Leodegarius was at least
I am altogether persuaded; and that his Life,
if any was written, perished in flames together with the church
in that calamitous time: for which in the 12th or
13th century a new one was composed, and distributed into Lessons
by an Author who followed the traditions of the place as to
the miracles of the Life; but as to the finding and translation,
more certain notices of a time nearer his own.
Those Lessons, the first and second
concerning St. Memmius being omitted, to be examined on his day, the 5th of August,
I here copy out for you.
ACTS
From the Manuscript Lessons of the Church of Perthes.
Leodegarius, Presbyter in the district of Perthes in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 4857
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
Lesson III.
Lesson IV.
[1] There was in the monastery of Perthes a certain Brother,
by name Leodegarius, Leodegarius is appointed Rector very religious
in his life, as one filled with divine grace.
Whose religiousness when the Blessed Bishop
of Châlons saw (here I would substitute for Memmius
Alpinus, or another of his nearest successors
or predecessors), he devoutly consecrated him Rector of that Congregation.
And so the man of the Lord Leodegarius,
taking up the governance committed to him,
most decently, as became the house of God,
provided for the cloisters of the monastery and the workshops of the Brothers and
what was necessary for them; and the well,
which to this day is called the well of St. Leodegarius,
he dug out by his own labor. He weakened his body
with continual fasts, was intent on vigils, with the best success; persisted
in prayers, loved God and called upon him
with countless sobs. * O! of how great
purity and how great perfection he was, God himself,
knower of secrets, knows, by whose grace
he became so great.
[2] But at a certain time a man,
contracted in all his limbs, came to him;
he prostrated himself before his feet, he heals a contracted man, praying with tears
that he would entreat the Lord Jesus Christ,
that soundness of limbs might be restored to him.
But the man of God refused
this, saying; That this was not his, but especially
of those to whom it had been given to command
the demons and to cure ailments; that as
sins were loosed, so the limbs would be made supple.
But he, persevering in his prayer, that he would have mercy,
began to affirm and to say, that he would not depart
unless he imparted to him some remedy:
and he begged the people standing around and the Brothers who were present there,
that together with him they would entreat the servant
of God to have mercy on him. Seeing
the man of God his faith, moved with mercy over
him, and prostrate on the ground, he poured out devout
prayers to the Lord for him. Rising
from prayer, strengthened by the mercy of God,
he took the right hand of the contracted man, and restored to him health
to its former state. Then all the people
who were present there for this purpose rendered immense
thanks to God and to his servant Leodegarius.
These are thy works, O Christ, thy
miracles, who art truly wonderful in thy Saints,
whom thou deignest to glorify.
Lesson V.
Lesson VI.
[3] * At another time also a certain lunatic,
hearing the fame of Blessed Leodegarius, hastens to him, he cures a lunatic:
and entreats him to beseech the mercy of God
for him. He, that Blessed one, compassionating his
infirmity, as he was full of bowels of mercy,
his knees bent to the ground, poured out prayers
to God with tears more attentively.
But God, who is always wonderful in his Saints,
did not delay to hear the voice of him who served him.
* For rising from prayer, making the sign
of the Cross on his forehead, he restored him
to health, and sent him back to his house in
peace; who soon, health recovered,
with great joy blessing God, returns
to his own. But when St. Leodegarius
was of advanced age, and dying on the 24th of April, full of sanctity
and good works, perfect in all things,
stripped of the bodily burden, he died in peace, joined
(as we believe) to the spirits of the Blessed;
whose venerable body in the right part of the church
of Blessed Mary the Virgin, he is buried in the church of St. Mary, on the 24th of April. toward the southern
quarter, was buried by the Brothers, on the eighth day before the Kalends
of May, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it,
to whom is honor and glory, power and dominion,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages.
Amen. b
Lesson VII.
Lesson VIII.
[4] Therefore when after a long time barbarous
and heathen ferocity had come to subdue the
provinces of the Gauls, and, the cities of the Gauls
conquered and overcome by warlike infestation,
was laying waste very many, and in the rapine of plunder
was most cruelly depopulating everything,
by the instinct of greed, by the nod of God, the outcome too of the affair and
of the journey, led that unspeakable nation with
their King … c even to the District
of Perthes. * Where they depopulated many churches
by their cruelty, The place being desolated by the Barbarians, and gave very many places
of the Saints to the fire. For the place
(which St. Leodegarius, buried, sanctified by his bodily presence)
was so reduced to nothing,
that it was handed over into the hands of laymen, so that neither
divine Offices nor the solemnities of Masses were
celebrated there. So when the Barbarians had returned to their homeland … f
he who was then Bishop of Châlons,
hearing the report of the common people that the oft-
mentioned place … had been reduced to nothing
by the invasion of the enemy; ordered it to be rebuilt again,
and established that there be again four Canons there.
four Canons are restored When these were celebrating the solemnities of Masses
in the Canonical manner; by divine permission,
the enemy of the Christian name, the devil,
slew one man in the very temple g: for God disdained
that a church dedicated in honor
of his holy Mother should remain so,
that the Brothers serving him in it should be subjected to lay
men. * But it happened
that the aforesaid Bishop, h visiting
in the Pontifical manner the regions of the diocese then
committed to him, and they are declared free. and after much circuit at
Perthes came, for the sake of resting: who, when
he learned of such a misfortune by the report of the inhabitants,
again blessed the church with the greatest honor;
and drawing it from the hands of laymen,
reduced it to its former dignity … k
Lesson IX.
[5] Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of his Saints: In Aquitaine to a man born blind and because God has care of
men, providing for their salvation, he wished
to manifest the body of St. Leodegarius, that through
his glorious merits his faithful might merit eternal
life. For in the parts of Aquitaine
there was a certain man named Haybertus, who
had been born blind. To him through sleep such
to receive sight, he should hasten as quickly as possible to go to the village
which is called Perthes. But he, having received
the vision, made a pretense of going, because he thought
it a fantasy: for he had often gone around many
places of the Saints, and had not been able to obtain the remedy
which he sought. * But on another night
the same vision appeared to him, the Saint appearing thrice, rebuking his unbelief
and saying; By the merits of the man of God, Blessed
Leodegarius, thou shalt receive sight, who lies there
buried from ancient time, in the right part
of the temple, which is in honor of Blessed Mary ever
Virgin: by whose intervention thou shalt obtain the remedy
which thou seekest. For God therefore delayed
to hear the prayers of the Saints whom thou hast sought,
that they might have mercy on thee, so that through thee in that
his Saint he may be glorified, and may manifest him to all:
because a lamp profits nothing as long
as it is hidden, but as soon as it is brought out
and placed upon a candlestick, then it profits
him who looks at it. He even so gave no assent.
[6] he orders him to go to Perthes to be shown where his body lies hidden. But a third time again the same
vision appeared to him, saying: Why art thou unbelieving? for
through thee God has arranged to reveal his Saint,
whose body has been given over to oblivion, through the carelessness
of the sluggish. He, soon made certain of the triple
revelation, began to seek Perthes;
and on that day on which a market was held there, that
is on Wednesday, l by the hands of his parents he was
brought: and coming to the Canons of that place,
he relates to them what he had seen, and what had been revealed to him
by the Lord: at which immediately great amazement
and wonder struck them; because from the time when they
had come there nothing of the kind had reached their
ears. So the Brothers, filled with exceeding
joy, ringing all the bells of the monastery,
order all to be called together, both strangers and
neighbors, who there (we believe) by divine providence
gathered to the honor of his holy confessor,
were engaged in various
dealings … m
[7] Greatly astonished, and not daring to touch
the holy clod of earth, The Canons, the sarcophagus found, consult the Bishop: counsel being taken, they sent
to Châlons Hugh the Archpriest and other
messengers to Bishop Gibuin, who
should announce to him how the matter had happened, and should beg him
to come there, and to decree what thereupon
he ought to do; especially because in the time
of his priesthood the Lord deigned to manifest this.
This heard, the Bishop gave thanks
to God and his Mother, who does not wish
through which he may be able to obtain remedies. he orders the bones to be raised from the ground, And he sent
religious men with the Archpriest, and ordered them
to raise the Saint from there, and, as he said, to arrange everything in the best way. To the Canons indeed he sent word back,
saying: You have done well in this matter,
which you have reported to me: but know that for the present
I cannot come there; because by such a cause
I am hindered, which I cannot leave off.
With the help, therefore, of Christ, who said, That
but as soon as it is brought out and placed upon a candlestick,
then it will profit everyone who looks at
it; raise the heavenly treasure laid away,
and place it in the best place, with those men
whom I have sent to you, so that through his intercession
the Lord may have mercy on his people.
[8] But the Canons, when they heard the Prelate's reply,
made glad, which, breathing a sweet odor, with the aforesaid men
approached the tomb of the Saint with reverence and fear;
and God, not wishing to frustrate them
of their own Patron, favored their wishes: for
they found the body of the blessed man in the aforesaid
stone sarcophagus. But soon as
they opened it, an odor of such sweetness appeared,
that they thought themselves cherished by the delights of eternity.
Again the voices of the people are raised to the stars, again
praises to the Lord are rendered in common. are placed in a shrine behind the altar.
So the Canons approaching, and the whole
Order of Clerics, and lifting up the heavenly treasure,
wrapped in the best linens, in
they deposited behind the altar of Blessed Mary.
There was brought a multitude of the sick,
who all through the merits of Blessed Leodegarius receive the comfort
of health: for to the blind sight is restored,
to the lame walking is repaired, the fevered
are recalled to health, and the ailments of various
infirmities are cured, to the praise
of the name of the Lord.
[9] A woman, having a Tooth received thence, holding it irreverently There was there a certain very rich Matron,
who, approaching the Rector of the Canons, entreats him to give her something of the Relics
of Blessed Leodegarius. And he, yielding to the Matron's
prayers, gave her some of the blessed man's teeth:
which gift received, she handled it [not] as was fitting,
but unbecomingly placed it in her bosom:
whom immediately divine vengeance followed.
For before she went out of the gates of the monastery,
her hand so clung to her side that
it could in no way be removed from it: for God wished
so to glorify the body of his Saint, whom
he deigned to manifest for the salvation of the faithful.
For the Matron, come to herself, is compelled by the very
pain to disclose her fault; and
that which she had unjustly obtained, to restore before all
to the holy Church: and soon with great
reverence, before the altar of Blessed Mary and the body
of St. Leodegarius she cast herself in prayer, confesses
herself guilty of the unjustly acquired request; she is punished, and on confessing it is healed.
and crying out that she was unworthy, that which
she had received she restored openly before all with groaning.
When the common people who were present there had heard
her outcry, and had learned what had happened,
they were astonished: and confessing their sins,
they entreated the mercy of God for her, and his servant
Leodegarius. Nor did the Lord delay
to hear their prayers, but as they had asked,
through his servant restored to her her former
health: and thus, health restored,
she gave thanks to God together with all the surrounding people.
[10] So that day being celebrated by all the people,
for the finding of Blessed Leodegarius the Confessor, The blind man, enlightened, remains at Perthes.
each one with joy returned to
his own, except that Haybertus who had received sight.
For he remained there as
long as it remained for him to live, serving God
and his servant, who had given him the desired sight
p… This Translation of the body of St.
Leodegarius was made in the time of William, Bishop
of Châlons, The second Translation made in the year 1115 on the 23rd of June. on the Vigil of St. John
the Baptist, which is on the ninth day before the Kalends
of July, and in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand
one hundred and fifteen, in the eighth
Indiction, to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to whom is honor and glory through all
ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS D.P.
the church of St. Mary, out of its proper place.
p Thus far the acts under Bishop Gibuin in the 10th century; but the account of the second Translation from behind the altar of St. Mary, to the proper (as may be conjectured) altar or chapel, has fallen out.
It is indeed found written "eight hundred and five" [805], but then ran the 13th Indiction. Chifflet substitutes Adelelmus for William; who is neither certain enough to have sat in that year; nor does he himself agree with the Translation, which followed the Finding of the body, in the time of Gibuin, who was a century and a half later. I think it was written in Latin letters ⅭⅠƆCV [1105], which an unskilled copyist took for DCCCV [805], and wrote out at length.
Furthermore, here I would have added that near Perthes, so often mentioned, there are villages named after Saints unknown to me in the topographical map of Champagne, namely St. Hublier, St. Hulier, St. Vrau, St. Morvill: and a little further off, in the same District of Perthes, St. Compagne, St. Mare, St. Lier, St. Poy, St. Ansebe; which names, commonly used, how they should be rendered in Latin, and on what day the Patron of each place is venerated, I would gladly learn; and then,
if anything else is there known about the Life, Translations, Miracles, Cult of those same Saints, worthy to be inserted into this work.