Agricola

ON S. AGRICOLA, BISHOP AT CHALON IN GAUL.

YEAR 580.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Agricola, Bishop at Chalon in Gaul (S.)

[1] Saint Gregory of Tours, to whom alone the history of the Franks owes as much as to all other writers before him taken together, gave us nearly all the knowledge we have about S. Agricola, Bishop of Chalon; From S. Gregory of Tours, a contemporary: and this in brief words, but ones that are indicative of no small virtue, which we transcribe here from his fifth book of Histories. This fifth book ends in the likewise fifth year of King Childebert, who succeeded in the year 575, when Sigebert died on December 25, as we have demonstrated with the most manifest evidence on February 1, Section 9 of the Prolegomena to the Acts of S. Sigebert, King of the Austrasians. Therefore whoever thinks that Gregory made an error of memory when he assigns the death of S. Agricola to this fifth year is vainly mistaken: as if this corresponded to the year of Christ 583, The year of death is established with certainty: when it is in fact the year 580, in which no one has hitherto doubted that this holy Bishop died. Indeed, since the writer of whom we treat, from his own testimony, was ordained Bishop 172 years after the death of S. Martin, and ceased writing his history in the 21st year of his ordination, and therefore in the year of Christ 589: it is remarkable how it could enter anyone's mind to think that one who was virtually an eyewitness to events that occurred when he was writing should be accused of error; although no other arguments were available to support his authority: but now, since there are very many such arguments, and, as we have said, convincing ones, let us hold without any scruple of doubt that all the things he wrote about the bishop who was his contemporary are true and solid.

[2] And the eulogy of S. Agricola: Under the fifth year of Childebert therefore, the year of Christ 580, he records the following: Agroecula of Chalon died at this time: he was a man of great elegance and prudence, of senatorial family. He built many structures in that city, arranged houses, constructed a church which he supported with columns, diversified with marble, and decorated with mosaic. He was a man of great abstinence: for he never took lunch, but only dinner, at which he sat down so early that he rose while the sun was still up. He was small of stature, but great of eloquence. He died in the forty-eighth year of his episcopate, and the eighty-third of his age: Flavius, the Referendary of King Guntram, succeeded him. From which it follows that he came to the episcopal rank in the year of Christ 532, and was born in the year 498. What else the same Gregory wrote about him in his book on the Glory of Confessors, chapters 85 and 86, Acts of the invention and elevation: is inserted in the Acts of the invention, which we give from an old Legendary of Chalon formerly transcribed for us by Claude Perry of the Society of Jesus, and afterward printed at the end of his History of Chalon, as also by Pierre Cusset after volume 2 of the same history: we have compared what was thus received with another manuscript found at Dijon in the possession of Father François Chifflet.

[3] Of him and of others: This invention is indeed common to several other saints of Chalon; namely Saints Lupus and Silvester, likewise Bishops of the same Church: but concerning S. Agricola the account treats especially and more carefully, and it concludes with a miracle performed in the very year in which Pope John exposed his sacred body to public veneration. But which John? The author designates the year 879, Not the year 879: writing of an event that occurred in his own time, as he prefaces: but that 878 ought to have been written we demonstrate from the timing of the Council of Troyes as follows: the body was found on the day before the Nones of May, and in the same year the Pontiff came to Chalon, and from there departed for the Council convoked at Troyes, and returning again to Chalon, he canonically enrolled the recently discovered saints among the company of the Saints: But done in 878: and when he had reached Turin on the eighth day before the Kalends of December, returning to Italy, he wrote a letter to the Bishops of Lombardy, which is number 142 among the published letters, in which he ordered them to come to Pavia for the celebration of a Council on the fourth day before the Nones of December: so that the Pope's double visit to Chalon cannot be assigned to two different years, such that the last fell in the year 879. For the Pope's stay in Gaul was only four months, as is clear from what has been said, and this in the year 878, Indiction XI, as is stated multiple times in the Acts of the Council of Troyes and in the letters preceding and following its celebration: As also the miracle that followed: but since the French began the following year 879, of Indiction XII, not from January but from Easter, which then fell on the last day of April, it follows that the illumination of the blind man, which is narrated as having occurred in the very year of the Canonization, must be said to have happened in the eighth year as we have stated, although it would have belonged to the first four months of the ninth year according to the modern reckoning beginning from January.

[4] The name of S. Agricola in Councils: Besides these things, which are the principal ones, the memory and name

of S. Agricola were commended to posterity both by various Gallic Councils celebrated in his time and by ancient manuscript Martyrologies which confirm his title of Saint. The Councils are the Third Council of Orleans, held in the year 538, at which Avolus the Presbyter, directed by his Lord Agricola, Bishop of the Church of Chalon, subscribed; then those to which he himself appended his name in person, the Fourth and Fifth, in the years 541 and 549: likewise the Second Councils of Clermont, Paris, and Lyon, in the years 549, 555, and 567 of the same century. The Martyrologies we have found are these: And in Martyrologies: the Vatican and Prague; then Usuard variously augmented in the ancient manuscripts of Anchin, Trier, and Paris (S. Victor); also printed and augmented by Molanus and Greven, as well as the manuscript Florarium of the Saints: all of which use the same words: At Chalon, otherwise Cabilone: S. Agricola, Bishop and Confessor: and with this title the Church of Chalon instituted that he be honored with an Office of double rite, and composed two proper Lessons for him, A feast at Chalon: printed in the year 1620: which, taken from the aforesaid passage of Gregory of Tours with only the words changed, have the following about his body: His body, first buried in the church of S. Marcellus, was reverently exhumed by Bishop Gilbardus and reposed in a fitting and honorable place, in the year of salvation 879; in which same year Pope John VIII enrolled him among the number of the Saints, his holiness being attested by miracles. We have found nowhere any miracles preceding the Canonization: we have already demonstrated that for the ninth year one should write the eighth.

[5] Claude Perry testifies with sorrow that nothing more of his relics survives, which can be attributed to the detestable iconoclasts of the preceding century, to the execration of that most impious sect. The same author says that in the aforesaid church of S. Marcellus an episcopal tomb is pointed out, And a cenotaph: which is said to be that of S. Agricola, joined to the wall of the aisle which is to the left of those entering, at the Gospel side, next to the partition of a smaller chapel: but he adds that no inscription appears to confirm this, and therefore he cannot pronounce anything one way or the other. It had nearly escaped us that our Agricola was not only a contemporary and close friend of Venantius Fortunatus, the distinguished poet of his century; but also that the one who was father to Agricola had been a teacher of learning and virtue to Venantius; and that this is attested by the poem which is read in book 3 of his poems, number 22, A poem of Venantius Fortunatus addressed to him: and which invites Agricola to succeed to the same role:

O Bishop, summit of honor, pinnacle of family and faith, Mighty tiller of the field, most bountiful shepherd of the flock. Since my land was once plowed by the hand of the father, Let it be cultivated now under the name of his son. For your father, sweet in affection, memorable to the world, Nurtured us both with one love together. A parent in heart, a nurse in nourishment, a good teacher in speech, He loved, tended, guided, and gave what was honorable. With pious zeal he sowed the plowed fields; What the father poured forth, nourish this seed for me. That he would be his teacher in place of a father:

ACTS OF THE ELEVATION

OF S. AGRICOLA AND OTHERS

SS. Lupus, Silvester, and Desideratus.

From an ancient manuscript Legendary of the Church of Chalon.

Agricola, Bishop at Chalon in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 0169

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

[1] Desiring to proclaim the glorious merits of the blessed Fathers, The author trusts in God: the heavy burden of a conscience laden with sin terrifies us from undertaking to set forth their examples for others, from whose works we, entangled in the snares of errors, are entirely estranged. But while we behold them shining with celestial light on account of their distinguished deeds, let us not, having fallen into despair on their account, omit to seek pardon: rather let us with every effort of body and heart lift up the confidence of our mind toward their most salutary contemplation: so that he may be the most merciful pardoner of our crimes, who was the most abundant recompenser of their endurance and their struggle. He will also give us, intent upon this work, the support of the Saints for speaking, who willed us to undertake this not from a zeal for boasting, but from the vow of obedience, which he made admirable in himself to all. He writes of the invention of S. Agricola and others: Now therefore let a reverential account set forth how the precious bodies of the most sacred Confessors and Pontiffs of Christ, Silvester and Agricola, and the most blessed Presbyter Desideratus, came to be revealed by divine inspiration in the age of our time.

[2] For although a certain writer had included in his works many wonderful things about them that were always readily available, nevertheless negligence and carelessness caused it to be doubted in which specific places their glorious ashes were buried. Under Bishop Girbald: Whence, so that they would not forever remain unknown to the faithful, it pleased the Divinity to manifest them to the clergy and people who had long desired them, in the manner noted below. While the venerable Girbald, Bishop of the city of Chalon, was administering the pontificate of the Church, among other pursuits of sacred activity, he was searching with frequent investigation for the bodies of the holy Bishops of the same city; especially of those whose memorials some writers had inserted in their books. Moved by sufficiently pious solicitude, so that, with their tombs known and laid open, a greater devotion of veneration might inflame the people.

[3] He first exhumes the body of S. Lupus: First, therefore, using the consultation and counsel of other Bishops, he took the most blessed Confessor of God, Lupus, about whose grave there was no ambiguity (because, as the account of his Life indicates, buried in the suburban basilica of Saint Peter, at the right side of the altar, he was venerated with frequent miracles), so that greater veneration might be added and easier access might lie open to visitors; taking with him the Bishop of the neighboring city of Macon, and summoning throngs of the faithful people, he reverently exhumed him from there, and carried by the hands of Priests, with exultant choirs chanting psalms, he buried him behind the altar in a worthy place, and erected a bier above in the customary manner. In the year 877: This was devoutly done on the fourth day before the Kalends of September, in the eight hundred and seventy-seventh year of the Lord's Incarnation. Afterward, the aforesaid Bishop burned with great desire to find the bodies of the holy Bishops Silvester and Agricola, and of Blessed Desideratus the Presbyter. About whom the magnificent Gregory, Bishop of Tours, writes briefly but splendidly in his books of miracles as follows. He also turns his attention to seeking others:

[4] The most blessed Silvester governed the Church of Chalon, who, having served in the priesthood of that city for forty-two years, Eulogy of S. Silvester the Bishop: departed to the Lord full of days and virtues. For he had a bed hung by ropes, under which when the sick, whether suffering from quartan fever or oppressed by various fevers, were placed once or twice, they were immediately healed by the power divinely bestowed upon it. Therefore this bed, carried into the sacristy of the Church, shines with the same power. For many, as I have seen with my own eyes, used to cut pieces from the ropes of that bed and carry them far away, and when placed upon the sick, they witnessed the benefit of healing. For my mother had such a cut piece hung on the neck of a girl suffering from fevers and chills, and when the disease was immediately suppressed, she saw the girl healed.

[5] And of S. Desideratus the Presbyter, translated by S. Agricola: There was also in this city a Presbyter Desideratus, whom I saw in the monastery of Guerdon, a man magnificent in holiness, who often put an end to quartan fevers, toothaches, and other ailments by praying. For he was even completely enclosed, that is, he did not go out from his cell: but whoever wished to see him, saw him in his cell. He, as we have said, shone forth in his age, distinguished by extraordinary virtues. When the blessed Bishop Agricola heard of this, he sent his Archdeacon to bring the blessed body to the city's cemetery. But when the monks resisted, what had been ordered was not carried out. After this, when a hospice for lepers had been built in the suburbs, the Priest gathered the citizens and all the Clergy in its basilica, transferred the blessed body, and buried it in the basilica mentioned above with the greatest care: and he now manifests by great virtues that he lives with Christ.

[6] The Acts have been lost: And indeed, that written accounts were composed of the distinguished deeds of each of these venerable Fathers should be doubted by no one, wherein the succession of their birth, the order of their holy way of life, the dignity of their priesthood, and the marks of their miracles were more clearly recorded: these, however, were consumed by the frequent fires of the same city, as is well known. Their memorial in Martyrologies: For in several martyrologies the sacred days of their deaths are found noted. But in the epitaphs on the tombs at the Church of Saint Marcellus the Martyr, across the Saone River, clearly written verses reveal how laudably they had been distinguished by miracles during their lives: which the oft-mentioned Bishop, reading them aloud, burned with a great and continual desire to find them. At last, laying open the desire long enclosed in his mind, he went there, and reading the epitaph of Blessed Silvester, and lifting up from the left side of the altar the marble with its inscribed verses, taking a hoe, the Priest himself was the first to begin digging, The body of S. Silvester is exhumed: and afterward all others who had gathered together from every side; covering the fulfillment of this vow with psalms to the Lord and with whatever praises they could.

[7] Now when the mass of earth had been removed, a sarcophagus appeared, filled within with divine honor: this was immediately reported to the Bishop who was especially waiting for it, and he ran up, led by joy. Without delay, when the covering of so great a treasure had been opened by the Priests and Deacons, they inhaled, by a divine gift, an immense fragrance of sweet ointment as they touched the sacred relics. There lay bones more precious than any treasure; the flesh itself was still felt as fresh and moist. The Priest, bathed in tears, beholding them with reverent eyes, permitted others to look upon them as they wished. And thus, covering them with a sacred veil, he continued that day with the night in praises and hymns.

[8] Then of S. Agricola the Bishop: Meanwhile, while the Priests with the other ministers attended to this duty, the Lord Bishop hastened with some of the clergy to Saint Agricola: the reason for translating his body was as follows. The same most blessed man had been buried at the feet of S. Marcellus, separated by only a single wall. In that place afterward, a crypt was built by devout and religious people, of wonderful workmanship and ornament, adjoining the side of the building on the outside, adorned with marble panels and columns, extending upward to the height of the basilica: Whose tomb had once been splendid: and the sepulcher was covered by a beautiful marble slab, containing an inscription written upon it, by which it was revealed how greatly he whose lifeless remains were preserved there ought to be venerated.

[9] But the entire fabric of this work had already perished through the negligence of the elders of that place, to such an extent that the Saint's sepulcher, covered by no roof, was drenched by rains and showers. The devout Priest, no longer enduring this disgrace, on the same day, as he had long intended in his mind, uncovered the slab of the sepulcher, inspected the blessed bones with the sacred ashes, and cared for them with what diligence he could; wrapping them in linen cloths and placing them in a casket, he carried them the following day to the altar of Saint Peter inside the church, A solemn translation of both: with the clergy and people rejoicing. And there, exhilarated with great joy, he celebrated Masses. When these had been celebrated in the ecclesiastical manner, taking a portion of the relics from each, he covered Blessed Silvester again with earth and marble as he had been before: but the precious remains of Blessed Agricola, secured with seals and covered with palls, he left upon the aforesaid altar. These things concerning the Saints of God were done on the day before the Nones of May: on which same day their relics, with crowds of people coming from every direction, were brought into their proper city.

[10] In that same year, which is the eight hundred and seventy-^m ninth from the Incarnation of the Lord, the Lord John, Apostolic Pontiff of the supreme See of Rome, entered Gaul to treat with Louis ^o the Stammerer concerning the ⁿ insults inflicted upon that Church, John VIII passes through Chalon: and to hold a General Council with the Bishops. And while he was reaching the cities along his route, he came to Chalon, where, while he lingered for twelve days, the Bishop reported to him about the discovery of the blessed bodies. But then, weighed down by a manifold burden of affairs, he deferred going there. Having departed from Chalon, he sought the Augustan city of Troyes, where he deliberated at length with a great assembly of Bishops, and there with them he confirmed Louis as King by the anointing of sacred oil.

[11] And returning that way, he enrolls them among the Saints: When these things and others for which he had come had been accomplished as time and circumstance permitted, as he prepared to return, he revisited the city of Chalon: and as he was departing from it, he was led by the aforesaid Bishop to the monastery of Saint Marcellus. Then, when the sarcophagus had been brought beside the altar of Blessed Agricola, the Lord Pope therein deposited with worthy honor his precious body, and by Apostolic authority enjoined that henceforth these most Blessed Confessors of God should be held in veneration, and that the days of their glorious deaths should be celebrated festively. And that we ought to fulfill this with great reverence, a miracle performed there not long after demonstrated.

[12] A blind man is given sight at the body of S. Agricola: For in that same year, a certain man in the district of Tours named Solomon, who had been without the light of his eyes for ten years, was often admonished in dreams to hasten to Burgundy, to the monastery of the Blessed Martyr Marcellus, and there, approaching the tomb of Saint Agricola, to obtain by his merits the joy of his illumination. Having obtained a certain man familiar with the roads as a guide for his steps, carrying as an offering a small piece of wax, he set out to hasten on his way. Swift heavenly medicine of mercy attended him on his journey: for in the middle of the road, the sight of his eyes, long closed, was opened as the darkness somewhat receded. Rejoicing in daily progress, it brought the man to the Saint's tomb seeing perfectly, where spending three days he revealed in order to the brothers of that place the joys of his salvation. And thus, having offered the little gift of his devotion that he had brought with him, giving thanks to God who had illuminated him by the merits of His Saint, he returned to his homeland, no longer needing a guide.

f. April 30.

p. In the same manuscript, the following was added:

He should be compared in all respects to that leper of the Gospel, who was sent with the others to the Priests, and being cleansed along with them on the way, alone returned to the Lord for his cleansing, falling on his face at his feet and giving thanks. This man, hastening to the place designated for him and being granted health along the way, did not return to his home before he went there and offered to his illuminator whatever gift he could.