ON ST. TRANQUILLUS, ABBOT OF ST. BENIGNUS, AT DIJON IN BURGUNDY.
SIXTH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
St. Tranquillus, Abbot of St. Benignus, at Dijon in Burgundy.
[1] At Dijon, the principal city of the Duchy of Burgundy, there stands a very ancient monastery of St. Benignus the Martyr, venerated on the Kalends of November: whose Chronicle of venerable Abbots, benefactors, and founders was published by Luc d'Achery in volume 1 of the Spicilegium, written by a monk of this Benignian convent who brought this work to a close in the year of Christ 1052. On page 358, after narrating the discovery and translation of the body of the holy Martyr Benignus to the newly built church by Blessed Gregory, Bishop of Langres — In the time of St. Tranquillus various Saints were living done not in the year 485 but 535 — the following is added: "At that time many shone throughout Gaul, conspicuous for holiness of life: among whom were St. John, Abbot of the monastery called Réomé, and also Eustadius and St. Sequanus, sons of this province: of these we hold for certain that Eustadius presided over this place for some years and lived by religiously educating those under him. His miracles Whence, dying, he merited a fitting burial His burial beside the body of the oft-to-be-mentioned St. Benignus the Martyr. He was succeeded by Tranquillus, who was a man of such great holiness that the frequent healings granted to the sick from his tomb attest, as Gregory of Tours, who experienced it in his own person, reports. He was buried on the right side of the sepulchre of the holy Martyr Benignus, beside St. Paschasia, and beside him was placed St. Florida. On the other side, beside St. Eustadius, was the tomb of St. Hilary the Senator and of his wife St. Quieta. These were the progenitors of the above-mentioned John." So far this source. Of these four, the following are venerated in January: Eustadius the Abbot on the third, Gregory, Bishop of Langres, on the fourth, Paschasia, Virgin and Martyr, on the ninth, and John, Abbot of Réomé, on the twenty-eighth. Their parents were inscribed by Saussay in the Gallican Martyrologion on November 28. St. Sequanus, disciple of St. John and Abbot of Segestre, is venerated on September 19. With these in the sixth century of Christ lived St. Tranquillus, about whom St. Gregory, Bishop of Tours, in his book On the Glory of Confessors, after treating of the aforesaid Hilary, Senator of Dijon, and SS. Florida and Paschasia resting there, adds this in chapter 44:
[2] "In this place the blessed Confessor Tranquillus also rests, having his tomb above the ground, from which a great benefit is granted to petitioners. For from the mossy growths on it the people obtain remedies, from which I myself experienced a great benefit. For when my hands had broken out in small pustules and I was suffering most grievous pains on account of this, health granted to St. Gregory of Tours I touched them with this moss, and as the inflammation subsided, I immediately recovered them healed." So St. Gregory, who died on November 17, 594. He who afterwards divided his book On the Glory of Confessors into chapters, when in the MS. only the name of St. Tranquillus was given in the title, called him a Bishop, whereas he was rather an Abbot or Superior of the monastery. Meanwhile Galesin adorns him with this encomium on March 15: Sacred veneration on March 15 "In the town of Dijon, of St. Tranquillus, Bishop and Confessor, whose holiness shone forth exceedingly at his tomb, divinely
produced by many miracles." In the same way Ferrari in his general Catalog writes "Bishop." But Molanus in the first edition of his supplement to Usuard and Canisius in the German Martyrology call him only a Confessor. Saussay in the Gallican Martyrologion has: "At Dijon, of St. Tranquillus, Abbot and Confessor: who, a most holy Father of many monasteries, adorned with the glory of all virtues, formed his subjects by illustrious examples: and at length, having presided over the convent with equal praise of piety and prudence next after St. Eustadius, he attained eternal felicity, having amassed an immense accumulation of merits. And he departed the fellowship of mortals with such a reputation for holiness that he was deemed worthy to become a companion of the tomb of St. Benignus the famous Martyr: at whose left he was buried with fitting honor, and gloriously shone forth perpetually with the splendor of the divine power radiating there, as St. Gregory of Tours, who experienced the help of the same Blessed man, bore witness in a luminous testimony."
[3] [He does not seem to have been Abbot of the monasteries of St. Aper and St. Marcellus] Concerning the other monasteries over which he is said to have presided, Claude Robert noted, in his work on Dijon, that in the margin of a transcript of the Catalog of the Abbots of St. Benignus it was read that Abbot St. Tranquillus had also been Abbot of the monasteries of St. Aper at Toul and St. Marcellus — that is, of Chalon-sur-Saône. The Sainte-Marthe brothers copied these notes in volume 4 of their Gallia Christiana under the Abbey of St. Benignus. But they contradict themselves in reporting that the Abbey of St. Marcellus, formerly an abbey and now a priory of the Cluniac Order, was afterwards built by King Guntram: which besides them is also stated by the writers of the History of the city of Chalon, Claude Perry on folio 39, Pierre Cusset in volume 2, page 118, and the author of the Chronicle of St. Benignus on page 373. Indeed, what is said here about both monasteries, both St. Aper of Toul and St. Marcellus of Chalon, we believe should be transferred to St. William, Abbot of St. Benignus, whom we have said was placed over various monasteries by St. Majolus, Abbot of Cluny, on January 1 in his Life. But conversely, it could be proposed to the people of Chalon whether the St. Tranquillus of whom we treat might not be wrongly listed among the Bishops of Chalon — third according to Claude Robert, but fifth according to Claude Perry and Pierre Cusset — whom the Sainte-Marthe brothers removed from the list of Bishops.
[4] What Rule was then observed? Gabriel Bucelin in his cited Benedictine Annals and Lilies of Benedictine Gaul (besides Gregory of Tours, the Chronicle of St. Benignus, and the Gallican Martyrologion, whose words we have given) inscribes St. Tranquillus in the Benedictine Menologion of Gaul — which Wion, Ménard, and Dorgan had not previously done: and rightly so, since there is no trace of him in the Chronicle of St. Benignus. These monks lived, as generally others in the monasteries of Gaul in the fourth and fifth centuries, according to a Rule individually assumed or common to several. When King Guntram, as is read in the said Chronicle, page 370, enriched the monastery with new revenues, then that of the Agaunum monastery he furthermore instituted that, in imitation of the monastery of the Saints of Agaunum, the divine Office should be performed in this church day and night. And lest this institution should grow lukewarm over succeeding times, or the monastic Order should decline, he established that the Abbots of that place, namely Agaunum, should be the Rectors and Overseers in this house at Dijon, so that one congregation and one order should be observed in both places. He similarly instituted the same for the place of St. Marcellus, where the King himself rests in body: as will be said on the day of his birthday, March 28. The Rule of the Agaunum or Tarnatensian monastery was published by Luc Holstenius, and is very frequently cited by St. Benedict of Aniane in his Concordia Regularum. The Benedictine Rule was, however, adopted afterwards, then in the 9th century the Benedictine Rule was adopted either under Louis the Pious or at least under his son Charles the Bald, when Isaac, Bishop of Langres, restored the basilica of St. Benignus, which was already nearly in ruins, to its former state, reestablished the monastic order, and added properties for the sustenance of the said monks... "He therefore gathered monks in this place under a co-Bishop and Abbot named Berthilo... and above all he granted the right of proper election in succeeding times, and allowed the monks of this place to elect an Abbot from among themselves according to the Rule of St. Benedict." As these things are read on page 411 and following of the Chronicle of St. Benignus, where part of the diploma or privilege of Charles the Bald is also inserted. So that the monastery appears to have been then exempted from the jurisdiction of the monastery of Agaunum and granted permission to live according to the Rule of St. Benedict, while the monks continued to venerate the ancient Saints and Abbots of that place.