Genesius

ON ST. GENESIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF LYON IN GAUL,

ABOUT THE YEAR DCLXXX.

Genesius, bishop of Lyon. (S.)

BY C. D. S.

§ I. The memory of Genesius in the sacred calendars. Whether he was an Arab by birth. Whether abbot of Fontenelle. Of the office of royal arch-chaplain undertaken before the episcopate.

Having been passed over three times already At the days 14 April, 13 June and 14 August. , St. Genesius, archbishop of Lyon, must at last be given a place in our Acts, whom at this day the Hieronymian Martyrologies celebrate, that of Lucca or of Fiorentini, St. Genesius, celebrated in ancient and more recent martyrologies, of Saint-Germain and of Gellone, with the related ones of St. Gall, Saint-Remi and Baluze. The same is mentioned at the 4th day of this month by the Arras and Tournai auctaria of Bede's Martyrology. Again at 1 November he is announced among the more recent writers by André Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, in Chastelain's General Martyrology, as in the martyrologies of Paris, published by order of Cardinal de Noailles, and of Auxerre of the year 1751, and among the Benedictines Hugues Ménard, Gabriel Bucelin, Cherle and Lechner. He is announced besides in Bucelin at the 13th day of June, and in Saussay in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology and Ferrari in the General Catalogue at the 14th day of April.

[2] whom some have feigned to be an Arab by birth, That this Genesius was an Arab or Armenian and, having passed over from the errors of the Manichees to the Catholic faith, came into the Gauls, is supposed by Jacques Severt Chronologia historica archiantistitum Lugdun., 2nd ed., p. 163. , on no other foundation than that in Baronius At the year 685, no. 2. he read, from Cedrenus and Peter of Sicily, that certain Manichees in Armenia were consumed at the stake, but that one who was destined for the same punishment escaped, a certain Paul the Arab, who had two sons Genesius and Theodore, although that Genesius is nowhere said to have renounced the doctrine of the Manichees or to have come into the Gauls, nor, as Severt confesses, do those times agree sufficiently with the age of our Genesius. He had, then, no other ground for his conjecture than the similarity of name, as if there did not exist many other Genesii in those ancient times too, and as if very many of the same name were not also found enrolled among the saints [Cf. Act. SS., vol. I June, p. 322; vol. V Aug., pp. 123–124; vol. XII Oct., p. 547.] .

[3] was almoner These fabrications being removed, what we know of St. Genesius up to his episcopate is reduced to what occurs in the contemporary life of St. Bathild the queen, to St. Bathild the queen, wife of Clovis II, king of the Franks: whose most holy life being greatly approved by the king, he is narrated to have assigned Genesius to his pious wife, whom she might chiefly use for distributing alms to the poor and to holy places. Whom the pious king himself consoling (so the ancient writer), according to her faith and devotion, gave her as her helper his faithful servant Abbot Genesius: by whose hands she, ministering to priests and the poor, fed the needy and clothed the naked with garments, and zealously arranged for burying the dead: sending by him to the monasteries of men and virgins most generous gifts of gold and silver. This same servant of Christ, the lord Genesius, was afterwards at Christ's command ordained bishop at Lyon in Gaul: for he was then assiduous in the palace of the Franks, through whom, as we have said, the lady Bathild herself, together with the command of King Clovis and by the suggestion of that same servant of God, the king's generous alms went forth among all the poor through many places Act. SS., vol. I Jan., p. 739, n. 4. .

[4] but not abbot of Fontenelle, The first, if I am not mistaken, was Symphorien Champier, or, as he himself wished to be named, Campegius, in his Hierarchy of the Church of Lyon Lyon 1537, fol. , who made Genesius abbot of Fontenelle, successor of St. Wandrille, no old authority being adduced. And from no other source than from that author's work on the bishops of Lyon, sprinkled with so many fables and fabrications, have this recorded Jacques Severt Loc. cit. above. , Jean Chenu In Archiepiscoporum et episcoporum Galliæ chronologica historia. , Claude Robert In his Gallia christiana. , Théophile Raynaud In Indiculo sanctorum Lugdunensium. , who falsely asserted that he was designated abbot of Fontenelle by St. Wandrille, and that this is read towards the end of the Acts of the same St. Wandrille in Surius at the 22nd day of July, Saussay Martyrol. Gallican., 1 Nov. , Bucelin Menolog. Benedict., at the days 13 June and 1 Nov. and other Benedictine writers, against the opposition of Henschen Comment. on St. Ansbert, no. 15 (Act. SS., vol. II Feb., p. 345). , Le Cointe Annal. eccl. Franc., at the year 654, no. 17 end. , Mabillon Act. SS. O. S. B., sec. II, p. 1053, note b. .

[5] as is manifestly proved from the contemporary Life of St. Wandrille Occasion for their error seems to have been given, besides the title of abbot with which Genesius is adorned by the author of the Life of St. Bathild, by that place of the Life of St. Wandrille to which Théophile Raynaud appeals, although from that place the same error is openly manifest. For there is read in that place Gall. Christ., vol. IV, p. 47. : The monks then asking (of St. Wandrille near death) whom they should set over themselves after his most happy passing, he is said to have given such an answer: The eternal Creator of things, he said, who has granted you a suitable place in which his people may serve him for ever, he himself, dearest sons, after the departure of my littleness, will mercifully give you a worthy and devout ruler. Yet there are two in your presence, my dearest sons, who in turn, after the departure of my frailty, will succeed to the place of governance. For one was by name Lantbert, a man of exceptional religion and birth, sprung in the territory of Thérouanne, who after blessed Genesius undertook the prelacy of the church of Lyon. The other, the man of the Lord Ansbert, who succeeded blessed Audoenus in the pontificate of the church of Rouen: whose life and virtues the little book written on their acts brightly narrates. And these were the successors in the governance of the aforesaid most holy man.

[6] and from the Life of St. Ansbert, Behold, then, the contemporary writer of the Acts of St. Wandrille clearly indicates that there succeeded the holy abbot in order Lantbert, who after blessed Genesius undertook the prelacy of the church of Lyon, not, however, the governance of the monastery of Fontenelle, as they seem to have understood, and Ansbert. And this is confirmed by the likewise contemporary author of the Acts of St. Ansbert, who narrates this very prediction of St. Wandrille and the subsequent election of his successor thus [In Surius, 22 Jul., Vit. S. Wandregisili, no. 23; Act. SS., vol. V Jul., p. 280, n. 25.] : Therefore when the illustrious priest of the Lord Wandrille, before the day of his passing from this life, seized with languor, had reached his last extremity, on being asked by the brothers whom from among themselves they should elect as ruler, he is said to have returned to them such an utterance: There are two in our presence, my most illustrious sons. These I wish to succeed me in turn, namely that on my departing the former of them, Lambert, be put in my place, and, he being taken from among mortals, the latter of them, Ansbert, be substituted. And so, he being taken up into the society of the heavenly kingdom, the whole band of monks elects the servant of the Lord Lambert, his holy disciple, as successor… Analect. Bolland., vol. I, p. 183, n. 10; Act. SS., vol. II Feb., p. 349, n. 13. .

[7] and it can be confirmed by a chronological argument From these things, then, it is amply clear that to Wandrille, founder and first abbot of the monastery of Fontenelle, there succeeded immediately in the governance of this monastery Lambert, who was taken from there to be put in place of Genesius in the see of Lyon: so that accordingly no place is found for the latter in the series of the first abbots of Fontenelle, nor is it necessary with the writers cited above to have recourse here to a calculation of the years in which Wandrille presided over the monastery of Fontenelle, and Genesius over the church of Lyon, from which it might appear that the reckoning of times stands in the way of his being judged to have been abbot of Fontenelle. Although we do not deny that from this too an effective argument can be taken.

[8] [and from the old tables of the abbots of Fontenelle. Nor is it necessary to suppose that he was pro-abbot or prior.] Another confirmation not to be despised is brought forward by Arthur du Monstier Neustria Pia seu de abbatiis Normanniæ, p. 137. from the old manuscript tables of the monastery of Fontenelle, where in the review of the abbots there is altogether silence about Genesius (whence also the Sammarthani in that review Gall. Christ., vol. XI, p. 166. rightly omitted him). He himself, however, supposes that Genesius, while Wandrille was still living, was set by him as abbot or pro-abbot or chief Prior over his monastery, that meanwhile he might thus more easily serve God and be more readily free for other urgent business; but when St. Genesius himself was called by the king and Queen St. Bathild to the court, and thereafter stayed there, Blessed Wandrille was compelled to take up the care of the monastery entirely, and to exercise it most holily to the end. Which conjecture, since it rests on no other foundation than

that opinion of Severt and the others whom we have cited above No. 4. , is as easily despised as it is gratuitously asserted. But neither is it sufficiently established that Genesius was ever a monk in the monastery of Fontenelle Cf. below, no. 21. .

[9] St. Genesius was palatine abbot But you will ask by what title, then, Genesius was called abbot in the place praised above No. 3. from the Life of St. Bathild. To which question we judge it should be answered, with Mabillon Act. SS. O. S. B., Sec. II, p. 1053, note b , that he was a camp or palatine abbot, that is, a priest set over the clerics who in the royal palace were devoted to the ministry of sacred rites. For, as Du Cange learnedly notes in his Glossary of Middle and Low Latin at the word Capellani Ed. Henschel, vol. II, p. 127. , it is established that palatine chaplains gave their service to carrying out the sacred offices in the chapels of palaces and formed the clergy which Hincmar calls palatine; he who presided over this, the chaplain κατ᾽ ἐξοχὴν, was afterwards called Arch-chaplain. For thus Hincmar, De Ordine palatii, ch. 16: The apocrisiarius, whom our people call Chaplain or Guardian of the Palace, ruled all the clergy of the palace under his care and disposition… But originally these chief Chaplains, who were set over the palatine oratories and chapels, were called Abbots. The Life of St. Desiderius, bishop of Cahors In Bouquet, Rec. des Hist. de Fr., vol. III, p. 527. , ch. 1, concerning Rusticus his brother and likewise bishop of Cahors: Rusticus, made a cleric from the first years of puberty, administered the office of archdeacon in the city of Rodez and of the ABBACY under King Lothar. And ch. 2: Rusticus, as we have said before, held the ABBACY of the palatine oratory, which royal ambition frequents, and the office of archdeacon. The Life of St. Sulpicius the Pious, bishop of Bourges Gall. Christ., vol. IV, p. 47. , n. 10, concerning King Clotaire: He at once asks the bishop that for his salvation and that of his army leave should be given that the blessed man might obtain the office of ABBOT in his camp, that is, that he should preside over the royal chapel. From which it is evident that from the beginnings of the Gallic kingdom the kings had oratories and chapels in their palaces. The same dignity of Abbot Pope Adrian attributes to Angilbert, arch-chaplain under Charlemagne: There has been directed to us by your most exalted royal power your faithful familiar Angilbert, ABBOT and minister of the chapel. He is called Primicerius of the palace by Alcuin, Epist. 42, as Angilramnus the archbishop is called Primicerius of the Holy Chapel by the same, Epist. 79. Hilduin in Agobard, in the Epist. to the nobles of the palace, prelate of the sacred palace: who is called ABBOT of the sacred palace and chief of the clerics in Hincmar in the Epist. to Charles the Bald on the Life of St. Dionysius.

[10] or Great Almoner. Rightly, therefore, did the Sammarthani in their index of the Great Almoners of France [In Surius, 22 Jul., Vit. S. Wandregisili, no. 23; Act. SS., vol. V Jul., p. 280, n. 25.] give a place to Genesius. But at what time he took up this function or how long he discharged it cannot be defined at all. For although it has long been agreed among the learned [Cf. Henschen, Exegesis præliminaris to vol. III April, renewing the diatribe on the three Dagoberts, p. V; Mabillon, Dissertatio historica de anno mortis Dagoberti primi et Chlodovei junioris in Vet. Analect., vol. III, p. 514 and in Bouquet, Script. rer. Franc., vol. III, p. 708; G. Richter, Annalen … der Merovinger, p. 162 ff.] , that Clovis II was born in the year 633 or 634, was joined in marriage to St. Bathild in the year 648 or 649 and, after he had had three children by her, closed his last day in the year 656, and although it may also easily be supposed that as soon as she was married to the king Bathild used Genesius as almoner Cf. above, no. 3. , yet from the very words of the writer who has handed this down to us it is dug out that the same Genesius was not first at that time, but already before, abbot or arch-chaplain of the royal chapel, nor does anything stand in the way of supposing that he had already held this office for many years then. Nor again is it indubitably established that it was given up by him from the time of his taking up the episcopate, since it is certain both that Angilramnus Cf. above, no. 9 end. and certainly many bishops after him were adorned at the same time with the episcopal dignity and that of Great Almoner. And so this alone may be pronounced with certainty, that Genesius around the year 650 was engaged in the royal palace under the name of Arch-chaplain up to that year in which he was called to the insignia of Lyon; but whether he was adorned with that title before or after this period of years, the documents known up to now do not allow us to define.

§ II. At what time he was created bishop of Lyon, what he did and endured in the episcopate, and in what year he died.

He was created bishop of Lyon in the year 657 or 658. Genesius succeeded in the governance of the church of Lyon St. Annemund or Dalfinus. And that this man's killing is to be attached to the year 657, our John Perier, after Mabillon, has sufficiently clearly shown in his Commentary on the same saint, nos. 37–39 Act. SS., vol. VII Sept., p. 728. . From which it follows that to the same year or the next there should be attached the beginning of the episcopate of Genesius, since no reason appears why the see of Lyon should be judged to have been long vacant after the death of Annemund. I would not, however, wish with the Sammarthani Gall. Christ., vol. IV, p. 47. to seek a confirmation of this matter from the Life of Bertila composed by a contemporary writer Ed. in Mabillon, Act. SS. O. S. B., Sec. III, part I, p. 21. , in which they speak thus: Queen Bathild, having diligently prepared the monastery (of Chelles), earnestly requested Bertila to rule it from the abbess of Jouarre, who ordered her with certain holy girls to be brought to Chelles with the highest diligence and due honour by the great priest the lord Genesius Ch. 4 (ibid., p. 24). . This Genesius could be called great priest for no other reason than because he was bishop of Lyon. Further, that this happened in this year (658) is deduced from the fact that the monastery of Chelles is said to have been then completed, and it was completed before the death of St. Eligius, who departed this life in the year 659. These things, I say, are not altogether acceptable to me. For whatever may be the case with the year of the founding of the monastery of Chelles, a matter to be treated more distinctly when at the 4th or 5th day of November the Acts of St. Bertilia will come before us to be elucidated, I do not see why it cannot be supposed that by the name of great priest there is indicated the Arch-chaplain of the palace, who in those more ancient times was called Primicerius of the Palace, Prelate of the Sacred Palace, Chief of the Clerics Cf. above, no. 9. , and in more recent times Great Almoner.

[12] [He defends St. Leodegar against Ebroin, by whom he himself also was soon assailed.] Very few things have come down to us of what Genesius did while he presided over the church of Lyon. Among which it is especially attributed to his praise that he preserved unharmed St. Leodegar, returning from the monastery of Luxeuil, in which he had been an exile with Ebroin in the last times of Childeric, after the killing of Childeric, to his city of Autun, and assailed on that very journey by the attendants of Ebroin. The contemporary writer of the Life of St. Leodegar narrates the matter thus Act. SS., vol. I, Oct., p. 469, n. 23. : For when the man of the Lord (Leodegar) with the companions written above (the nobles of Burgundy) was hurrying on the same journey (as Ebroin), it came about, not so much as the space of one day's journey before they reached the city of Autun, at the urging of his supporters, that Ebroin, unmindful of the friendship promised a while before, wished to seize him there, had he not been prevented by the counsels of GENESIUS, bishop of the metropolis of Lyon, or terrified by the strong force which was with him: and again pretending feigned friendship, they arrived in a mixed column together at the city (of Autun). It is certain that these things happened in the same year in which Childeric was killed, that is, 673. In the following year Cf. Comment. on St. Leodegar, no. 176 (Act. SS., vol. cit., p. 398). , Ebroin, now made Mayor of the royal palace, by means of certain principal supporters of his, Leodegar having been besieged at Autun and seized, handed him over to one of them in custody. From there they turned their arms against Genesius also, by the testimony of the same contemporary author, who immediately after reporting the seizure of Leodegar and his being led away into captivity goes on thus Act. SS., vol. cit., p. 471, no. 35. : Desideratus, surnamed Deddo, together with Bobo and with Duke Adalric, whom they wished to be patrician of the province to be subjugated, proceeded as far as Lyon, so as to carry off Genesius from there as they had a while before expelled Leodegar from Autun. But a strong force of the people, gathered from every side, God being their protector, did not permit them to break into this very great city. I do not however see that it follows from this, as the distinguished Ferroud would have it Des origines du premier duché d'Aquitaine, p. 153. , that St. Genesius arrogated to himself the authority and title of patrician. For easily, in those so disturbed times, the people of Lyon could have spontaneously run together in arms to defend the prelate dear to them.

[13] [He subscribed to certain diplomas, and to the Acts of the Council of Mâlay of the year 677 or 678.] Of the other dangers which Genesius endured from Ebroin and also of any of his deeds, either the negligence of contemporaries or the devouring of time has grudged us the knowledge. And so nothing further about him comes to be recorded apart from the subscription set to the charter of foundation of the monastery of Corbie issued by Clotaire III in the 7th year of his reign, or the year of our era 662 Pardessus, vol. II, p. 114. , likewise to another diploma of immunity which in the same year Berthefrid, bishop of Amiens, granted to the same monastery In Sirmond, Conc. antiq. Galliæ, vol. I, p. 502. and to the privilege which St. Drausius of Soissons gave in the year 666 to the convent of Blessed Mary [Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Notre-Dame de Soissons (by Mich. Germain, O. S. B.), pp. 421–424.] . Finally mention is held of Genesius the metropolitan, of Lyon certainly, in the letter by which King Theuderic III, in the month of September of the 5th year of his reign, or of our era 677 or 678, permits Chramlin, bishop of the church of Embrun, who had been deposed and condemned to perpetual exile in the council of the bishops of Neustria and Burgundy, held at Mâlay, to retain his own property and to withdraw into the monastery of Saint-Denis Pardessus, vol. II, p. 178. . Where Genesius is indicated to have sat at the Council of Mâlay among the judges of Chramlin.

[14] He died in the year 678 or 679. That the holy bishop did not long survive after the completion of the Council of Mâlay, but was called to those above in that same year 678 or at the beginning of 679,

is shown from the Life of St. Condedus, presbyter and hermit of Fontenelle. He, namely, in the 7th year of King Theuderic (of our era 680) gave another authority of donation concerning the monastery of the aforesaid island (of Belcinnaca) and the things pertaining there, which was celebrated in the monastery of Fontenelle under the seventh year of King Theuderic, St. Ansbert governing the monastery of Fontenelle in his second year; since the man of the Lord Lambert had already taken up the prelacy of the church of Lyon, as is established to be most fully written in his deeds Act. SS., vol. IX Oct., p. 357. Cf. above, no. 5. . That Genesius departed this life before the year 680 is confirmed also from the end of the two contemporary Lives of St. Bathild the queen, who died in this very year, the former writer of which, reporting the death of the blessed queen, says: And without doubt, by the choir of angels, or with her most faithful friend the late lord Bishop Genesius coming to meet her, that holy soul was gloriously received Act. SS., vol. II Jan., p. 741, no. 14 end. ; and the other: But at once a divine splendour most clearly flashed in that chamber, and with that light by the choir of angels, her most faithful friend coming to meet her, namely Bishop Genesius, who was seen by those standing by to be glorious among the ranks of the angels, and that holy soul was received… Ibid., p. 745, no. 18 end. .

[15] The rest of his history is unknown. These are the things we have been able to gather concerning the history of St. Genesius of Lyon, leaving aside, namely, what André Saussay after his fashion, without any old authority, has supplied by invention Martyrol. Gallican., at the day 1 Nov. . The Acts of St. Genesius were also composed by Arthur de Monasterio (du Monstier) in an unpublished work which he inscribed Neustria Sancta Bibl. Nat. Paris., lat. mss., n. 10051. , at the 1st day of November.

§ III. Of the relics of St. Genesius and his cult.

[The body of St. Genesius rested at Lyon in the church of St. Nizier at the beginning of the 14th century;] I likewise find nothing handed down to memory concerning the honours paid to Genesius immediately after his death. That he was buried in the church of St. Nizier at Lyon in a more honourable place is first discovered from the instrument of the visitation of the holy bodies resting in that church, instituted in the year 1308, the see being vacant, by Hugh, bishop of Tabaria Cited in Severt, Chronologia historica archiantistitum Lugdunensium, p. 155. , in which is read Ibid., p. 165. : Likewise we found near a certain altar in honour of Blessed Genesius his tomb, as the assertion of the attendants of the aforesaid church of St. Nizier holds and has held: above which tomb there was no inscription. And in accordance with the same assertion, assuredly, William de Sure indicated our Genesius among the bodies of the saints placed in the church of St. Nizier, in his letter given in the year 1337, by which he granted an indulgence of forty days to all who on certain festivities, and especially that of St. Genesius himself, should visit that church Ibid., p. 56. .

[17] [from there he was afterwards translated to the monastery of Chelles: an arm bone was recently restored to the church of Lyon.] Afterwards, however, the body of Genesius was translated to the monastery of Chelles * near Paris, founded by St. Bathild, perhaps at his own prompting or certainly with his help Cf. above, no. 11. , but at what time is uncertain: for the sole source from which all have drawn the knowledge of this translation is held to be Jacques Severt, writing thus Op. cit., p. 165. : Nineteen years ago (a. 1606) we learned that the body of that saint lies in the aforementioned abbey of women of Chelles of the Order of St. Benedict, distant from the city of Paris four double-miles, and that it is kept there in honour. For this very thing the most noble and venerable abbess who today administers the place has recently asserted by letter. In our days, however, His Eminence de Bonald, archbishop of Lyon, obtained that there should be restored to his cathedral church a bone from the arm of St. Genesius, which is still seen today in the treasury of the same church, enclosed in a gilded bronze reliquary adorned with very many crystals Notice sur les reliques des saints de l'Eglise de Lyon, par D. M., p. 36. . I have not been able to learn more about the relics of Genesius.

[18] [Five parish churches in the diocese of Lyon dedicated under the title of St. Genesius, but it is uncertain whether of ours.] Of the veneration of the people of Lyon towards St. Genesius Severt adds this Op. cit., p 165. : Hence finally his diocese of Lyon so venerated such a saint that in his memory and to implore his patronage with the Divine Power some, I think, hamlets or rural and parish churches near Lyon obtained their name from him for the sake of devotion, which the people in the diocese call at most five, S. Genys de la Val, S. Genys des Olières, S. Genys Lert, S. Genys de Maiefour and S. Genys de terre noire. Of which although the greater part perhaps are seen to be consecrated to God under the protection of more ancient martyrs, Genesius the Roman mime and Genesius the notary of Arles …, yet there is scarcely any doubt that at least some of those churches were devoted to this St. Genesius the Confessor as to their own chief shepherd of Lyon in the seventh century, although he is by no means venerated at Rome in the published martyrology. For from his miracles he is openly celebrated in the church of Lyon, and his office is held in the breviaries or martyrologies of the diocese, certainly approved by the Roman Church, since also even shortly after his death he appeared to mortals (30 January). These last words are manifestly to be referred to the apparition of Genesius which the writer of the Life of St. Bathild reports Cf. above, no. 14 end. , the memory of which holy queen is announced in certain martyrologies at the 30th day of January Cf. Act. SS., vol. II Jan., p. 733, no. 2. . But I would not dare to call the conjecture expressed in this place by Severt very probable.

[19] [His memory celebrated not on the 14th day of April, but on the 1st day of November;] Nor do I judge that sufficient trust can be placed in the assertion of Saussay, who Martyrol. Gallican., 1 Nov. says that in the diptychs of the church of Lyon his venerable memory is recorded on the eighteenth day before the kalends of May: whence in the supplement to his martyrology he too announced him at that day. And that assertion is the more suspect to me in that, since on the 14th day of April is celebrated the memory of St. Lambert, who succeeded Genesius in the see of Lyon, it seems that it can deservedly be feared that there has been a confusion here like that other by which many have judged that our saint was abbot of Fontenelle Cf. above, nos. 4–8 . Certainly Severt Op. cit., p. 165. indicates nothing of the kind, but on the contrary, from the breviary of Lyon, that the solemnities of the saint were celebrated on the kalends of November, which day, as was noted above No. 1. , is assigned to his memory in the more recent martyrologies. But whether, as more recent writers also commonly say, the same day was that of the death of St. Genesius, for want of any old testimony, I would not dare to define at all.

[20] but in more recent calendars and breviaries assigned to the 3rd day of November. From the liturgical monuments of Lyon I have been able to inspect only these, namely the calendars of the year 1696 and of our century of the years 25, 26, 27, 42, 44 and 48, and the breviary published at Lyon in the year 1844 by order of His Eminence Card. de Bonald. In the calendar of the year 1696 there occurs no mention of St. Genesius. In the others, however, only at the 3rd day of November is there prescribed a last lesson on St. Genesius, and the rest of the office of the octave of All Saints. This lesson is found also in the breviary, and it contains only those things that can be more securely affirmed of St. Genesius from the documents cited throughout this Commentary, and it can certainly be said to have been quite recently composed. And why the memory of St. Genesius, anciently, as has just been indicated from Severt, attached to the first day of November, has now been translated to the third day, the reason can easily be assigned that the first day is impeded by the solemnities of All Saints: for which cause Saussay indicated that in his time the office of St. Genesius was recited by the nuns of the monastery of Chelles on the day before the nones of the same month.

[21] The cult of St. Genesius in the monastery of Fontenelle. In the monastery of Fontenelle or of St. Wandrille in the diocese of Rouen the cult of St. Genesius began to be celebrated in more recent times, his office, namely, being inserted with proper lessons in the breviary after the middle of the 17th century [Histoire de l'abbaye de S. Wandrille depuis le temps auquel la reforme y fut introduite (whose authors are believed to be Dom Toussaint and Dom Tassin) among the manuscript codices of the Municipal Library of Rouen, Mss. Norm. Y. 119. This testimony and the other soon to be cited we owe to our most learned friend E. P. Sauvage, priest of Rouen.] ; and in a copy of the Roman Martyrology (Paris edit., Coignard, 1735), adapted to the use of the monastery of St. Wandrille by added handwritten little notes Now placed in the Municipal Library of Montivilliers (Montivilliers). , at the 3rd day of November is read this announcement, written in around the middle of the 18th century: Of St. Genesius, bishop of Lyon and first Provost of Fontenelle. That in an earlier age the cult of St. Genesius was altogether unknown in that monastery may be concluded from the list of the saints of this sacred and royal monastery of Fontenelle which at the very end of the 15th century William la Vieille assiduously composed and which the venerable man E. P. Sauvage has recently edited with no less care [In the appendix to the excellent little book Abrege de la vie et miracles de saint Wulfran… (Rouen, 1876), p. 32.] . From which document the name of St. Genesius is altogether absent: and by this negative argument, most valid in the present matter, there are sufficiently effectively, as it seems to me, refuted the things which Severt and others from the beginning of the 16th century have invented, no ancient document being brought forward, concerning the monastic state of St. Genesius at Fontenelle Cf. above, nos. 4–8. . Yet relying on these testimonies alone, if I am not mistaken, the monks of Fontenelle numbered Genesius among their saints.

* Chelles.