ON ST. BOAMIRUS, PRESBYTER AND MONK, IN THE DIOCESE OF LE MANS,
SIXTH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Boamirus, monk, in the diocese of Le Mans. (S.)
BY C. D. S.
The Life of St. Boamirus Or Baumerus or Baudomirus, commonly Baumer, Baumez, Bomer, Bommer, Boumer. was written by a certain author contemporary or nearly so, as is established from the last number of this Life, St. Boamirus, whose Life we publish from four copies, where the writer, recording that innumerable persons suffering from fevers were healed by the prayers of Boamirus while he was still living, says: of whom some are alive today and live with us. From the last words of this place one may perhaps also gather that our author was a monk of the monastery founded by St. Boamirus. That Life was published by Labbe Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, volume II, 508. from an apograph of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Prelate of Montpellier. Besides, a double apograph is preserved in a codex formerly of the Bollandian museum, now of the Royal Library of Brussels 8931: the one taken from old codices of the royal and collegiate church of Saint-Pierre de la Cour at Le Mans (whether these codices are still available in the public Library of Le Mans we do not know); the other from a manuscript of M. André du Chesne, of the sort which codex 11761 of the National Library of Paris also displays. A fourth copy of the same we have found in a codex likewise of Paris 14651, of the fifteenth century: whose text seems more accurate than the others, and therefore we display it here, with variant readings added from the other codices and the edition just mentioned.
[2] he led the monastic life first perhaps among the Arverni, then at Orléans, That St. Boamirus came from Aquitaine, from the pagus of the Auvergne, and that he first professed the monastic life in the monastery of Micy near Orléans (and perhaps earlier also in the monastery of Ménat among the Arverni), may be gathered from the Life of St. Almirus Acta Sanctorum, volume III of September, p. 803., where these things are read: number 1 While Childebert and Clothar his brother were reigning and governing the monarchy of the kingdom of the Franks…, certain men, kindled by divine desire of a holy life, leaving their fatherland, parents, estates and all things, and deserting their own monasteries, and seeking a stricter life, came to the pagus of Le Mans . Of these some near the wilderness of Perche , and others through other places laboured to root out with their own hands… Among whom the first were St. Avitus and St. Carilephus… Some also afterwards followed them: and some, joined to them, came to the aforesaid pagus of Le Mans, that is, St. Almirus, St. Ulphacius, St. Boamirus and Senardus, with other companions and the rest of their subjects and disciples. For, as has been said, St. Carilephus and St. Avitus were the first and masters of them; and all obeyed Avitus … number 3.… The aforesaid holy men … and especially from the pagus of the Auvergne (from the monastery, that is, of Ménat in the Auvergne to Orléans, as Stilting notes on this place, and then to the neighbouring monastery of Micy came Avitus and Carilef; and the same seems to be said also of the others) made exiles for Christ, came to Orléans, and there with St. Maximinus (first abbot of Micy), not far from the said city, at that time praying under the holy rule, some had already been consecrated priests. At length, then, the Lord leading them, they hastened to the pagus of Le Mans and lay hidden in secluded places near the wilderness called Perche…
[3] [until he began a monastery near the spring of the brook Braye in the diocese of Le Mans.] Number 8. And so St. Almirus found by prayer the place which is now named Gressus, and obtained it by the largess of the aforesaid bishop (Innocent) … and with his help built there a monastery in honour of blessed Mary and St. Peter, and gathered there forty monks living under the holy rule, besides the other disciples and servants. This place , as Stilting also noted, is on the border of the provinces of Maine and Perche, near the little river Braye . And the beginning of the Life of Boamirus narrates his coming to the same place in almost the same words: And so St. Boamirus by his prayers found a solitude in the vast wilderness, namely in the place where the brook Braye rises, which he merited to obtain by the largess of St. Innocent, bishop of Le Mans: supported by whose help he was zealous to gather in that same place some monks living under the holy rule, and began to build there a little cell in honour of St. Peter, and started a monastery there. So that you may easily judge either that our author is the same as the author of the Life of St. Almirus or that one nearly copied these things from the other; and certainly that Boamirus chose his little cell not far from the monastery of St. Peter or St. Mary, which afterwards received its name from St. Almirus [Cauvin, Géographie du diocèse du Mans, p. 174; compare Gallia Christiana, volume XIV, p. 432, n. 5.]. For the village which is today called Grez, from a certain stone, as the cited writer of the Life of St. Almirus says Number 8., which was found there for sharpening their iron tools, is situated next to the place where the brook Braye rises, being in fact only two kilometres distant from it See Carte de Cassini, table 9 G, upper left side.. But too rashly did the recent continuator of Gallia Christiana Volume cited, p. 433, n. 7., reading in a diploma of Charlemagne of the year 796 and another of Louis the Pious of the year 840 the Cell of St. Baomadus, think that by this name was designated the monastery to which St. Boamirus gave a beginning, led to this, as it seems, by no other argument than the similarity of the names, which has deceived some others also Compare below, numbers 5–8.. A yet more open error was committed by Dom Piolin, when, finding in Labbe's edition of the Life of St. Boamirus the word Alba wrongly written for the word abbas or abba Life, number 2., he judged that by this name was designated the place to which St. Boamirus withdrew.
[4] Made a presbyter, before the middle of the sixth century by miracles We are taught further by the writer of the Life of St. Boamirus that our saint was ordained presbyter by Innocent, bishop of Le Mans, and that it was committed to him by this bishop to destroy a certain shrine dedicated to the cult of idols, which he carried out, not without a miracle. he was renowned, and he is venerated as a saint. By command of the same bishop also, he undertook an embassy to Childebert, king of the Franks, for the business of the church of Le Mans, which again, the divine power manifestly protecting him, he happily completed. Returning thence to his little cell, he was renowned for holiness and miracles, and died on the third of the Nones of November. But in what year he was born, or in what year or at what age he ended his life, monuments being lacking, it is not possible to define, but only, from what has been said, that he flourished in the time of Innocent, bishop of Le Mans, and of Childebert I, king of the Franks, that is, before the middle of the sixth century. His sacred remains, at the time, as they believe (for no historical document of this matter survives), when the Norman fury devastated the western region of Gaul, were translated to Senlis together with the body of St. Frambald and laid in the collegiate church that was soon dedicated there under his name. Some, however, remained in the church which still retains its name from St. Boamirus Compare the next number., and there they were found about the middle of the seventeenth century Bondonnet, Les vies des evesques du Mans, p. 165..
[5] With St. Boamadus There remains to be solved, if it can be done, a question over which Labbe Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, volume II, p. 509. and our predecessors hesitated in doubt, namely Sollerius Acta Sanctorum, volume I of August, p. 335, number 3. and Stilting Volume III of September, p. 808, annotation a., whether Saints Boamadus, who is venerated at Tulle on the 4th day of August, and Boamirus, who is treated on this 3rd day of November, are to be judged different, or one and the same. The latter alternative Castellano explicitly chose in his Universal Martyrology written in French, where at the 4th day of August he records thus: In the same place (namely in the Le Mans territory) of St. Boamadus , solitary, an Aquitanian by origin, whose relics with others of St. Ulfacius were translated in the time of the Normans to Tulle, where he is called St. Baumardus; and at the 3rd day of November: At Odonis-mansio in Perche, of St. Baomadus, deacon, catechist under St. Innocent, bishop of Le Mans; who, being at Paris at the time when King Childebert was ill, healed him by his prayers. His body is honoured partly at Tulle, where they call him Baumarus, partly at Saint-Dié near Blois, where he is called Baudomirus, partly at Saint-Frambaud of Senlis,
where he is called Baumezius. This opinion may be urged by the similarity of the names, or, as I should rather say, the confusion in so great a variety, and especially the fact that Boamadus in the Life of St. Alneus Volume just cited, p. 807, numbers 1, 2., and Boamirus in the Life of St. Almirus Compare above, numbers 2, 3. are each said to have been of the number of those who passed over to this province under Innocent, bishop of Le Mans, and in different places are read to have obtained from that bishop some parts of the wilderness and to have built little cells. Nor is it an obstacle that they are venerated on different days: for Boamirus in his Life Last number. is reported to have died on the 3rd of November, while the 4th day of August may very well be considered to be celebrated for the translation of his body to Tulle.
[6] he cannot be confused. On the other side, however, apart from the fact that in the old documents the names of Boamirus and Baomadus are not so confused that they cannot easily be distinguished, and that nothing is found in the Acts of St. Baomadus, such as have come down to us [Published from Baluze in the Acta Sanctorum, volume I of August, p. 335, numbers 6, 7.], that has anything in common with the deeds of St. Boamirus: besides, a very strong argument is drawn from the fact that in the Life of St. Alneus or Alveus Acta Sanctorum, volume III of September, p. 807, number 1. Baomadus is read to have been a companion of him and of Erneus: St. Alveus was, namely, a companion of St. Ernaeus and of Bohamadus. Whence, as our Stilting noted Ibid., p. 808, annotation a., it becomes in some way known in what part of the province of Le Mans St. Bohamadus or Boamaldus (or Baomadus) lived, since Saints Alneus and Erneus (of whom at the 9th day of August), as is gathered from their Lives, lived in the deanery of Passais * or towards the borders of Normandy and Armorican Britain. But Boamirus had his little cell near the borders of Perche, that is, in a part plainly opposite of the province of Le Mans. Indeed, Stilting adds, I also find marked in the maps of the province of Le Mans two villages called in the vernacular St. Bomer, the one near the limits of Normandy, which perhaps has its name from Bohamadus, the other around the spring of the little river Braye, where Boamirus lived.
[7] Villages named after each of them. These two villages still survive and are still called by the same term, the one in the pagus of Authon [Canton d'Authon (Latin Odonis-mansio), department of Eure-et-Loir. Compare L. Merlet, Dictionnaire topographique du département d'Eure-et-Loir, p. 162.], which by the concordat of the year 1801 was assigned to the diocese of Chartres Piolin, Histoire de l'Église du Mans, volume I, p. 206, note 1., the other in the pagus of Domfront Domfront, department of Orne. Compare Carte de Cassini, table 7 E., which was assigned to the diocese of Sées Piolin, volume cited, p. 216.. Quite rightly, as it seems to us, especially since in the Life of St. Baomirus it is not read that he lived in any other place in the diocese of Le Mans than near the little river Braye, Dom Piolin, after Stilting, judged that the former received its name from St. Baomirus, the latter from St. Baomadus, and that hence these two saints must be altogether distinguished, who indeed both came into the diocese of Le Mans at about the same time, but in different bands, of which one took the western and the other the eastern extremity of the same diocese to dwell in for leading the eremitical life, which however most, as not a few disciples came to each, soon exchanged for the cenobitic.
[8] Whether he was with St. Samson of Dol. In the Life of St. Ethbin too at the 19th day of October there is talk of a certain Baumerus, deacon of St. Samson, bishop of Dol Volume VIII of October, p. 487, annotation b., who lived in the same age as our saint. But that he discharged the office of deacon with St. Samson or even ever stayed with him, neither his Life nor any other documents record. Whence no reason urges why we should suspect that he is designated in that place.
[9] Memory in martyrologies and liturgical books. The memory of St. Boamirus no ancient martyrologies report, but only the more recent ones of Saussay, Castellano, of Paris (Cardinal de Noailles) and Auxerre (de Caylus), as also the breviaries of Le Mans and Orléans: all of which indicate that it is to be observed on the 3rd day of November.
Annotations* commonly le Maine.
* commonly le Perche.
* commonly Grez.
* commonly Braye.
* in French Baumez.
* in French Authon.
* Passais.
LIFE OF ST. BOAMIRUS, PRESBYTER, BY A CONTEMPORARY OR NEARLY CONTEMPORARY AUTHOR.
Boamirus, monk, in the diocese of Le Mans. (S.)
BHL Number: 1382
FROM MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINT.
For this edition have been used: 1. Paris codex 14651. — 2. Apograph of André Du Chesne (Paris codex 11761). — 3. Apograph of the Bollandists (Brussels codex 8931). — 4. Labbe's edition. — Compare Preliminary Commentary, number 1.
St. Boamirus began a monastery at the springs of the Braye. And so St. Boamirus by his prayers found a solitude in the vast wilderness (herem. sol.) solitudinem eremo 3., namely in the place where the brook Braye Brigiæ 2, 4. rises, which he merited to obtain is missing 4. by the largess of St. Innocent, bishop of Le Mans written variously in our apographs: Cœnoman. Cenomann. Cenomensis. Cenomanensis.. Supported fretus 3. by whose help he was zealous to gather in that same place some monks living under in 4. the holy rule, and began to build there a little cell in honour of St. Peter, and started a monastery there ædificare ibid. 2, 4.; but before he fully completed efficeret 3. it, he died, and left the place itself to his ejus 4. disciples and to the aforesaid St. Innocent, bishop, to be built up. For the death of St. Boamirus himself Ipsiusque sancti Boamiri 3; ips. n. sancti Boamiri 4. was both preceded præsentia 2. and followed by signal miracles.
[2] Made presbyter by the bishop of Le Mans and renowned for all virtues, The aforesaid St. Boamirus, then, distinguished by the miracles of the virtues, following secutus est 3. the way of truth, coming of noble family, arrived at the pagus of Le Mans [Cœnomannum 3, where it is written variously, now Cenomann. now Cenoman.; Cenomanium 4.]. By St. Innocent, bishop, then, he was afterwards dedicated deducatus 1. as presbyter, and ordained abbot Abba 2; Alba 4. in the place in which he lived under his authority and now rests. He was, then, renowned in life, temperate in morals, filled with wisdom, learned in medicine and shining effulgens 3. with spiritual gifts, enriched multarumque 3. with the goods of many virtues, profiting his bishop in many useful ways and especially maxime fuit 3. needful in preaching. For he was given to abstinence, flowering in chastity, fervent in charity, praiseworthy in almsgiving, singular in vigils, assiduous in prayer, submissive to the precepts of the Lord, and in the commands in jussionibus 3. of his bishop is missing 3. obedient in all things. And whatever he said with his mouth he busied himself to fulfil implere 3. in works. For he so abounded exuperavit 3. in such great goods that even by the signs of miracles his is missing 3. merits miracula 2; oracula 4. shone out.
[3] he destroyed a shrine of the pagans by a miracle; Now at that autem 3. time there was in the pagus of Le Mans a high rock, full of trees and built up with the ornaments of diverse things, to which a multitude of men was wont to come, so as even to celebrate celebrarent 4. feast days there is missing 3. through the whole week. For its overthrow St. Boamirus was sent by the aforesaid bishop s. Boamirus mittitur 4.; but the devil, instigating the men whose souls, deceived by fraud, he held there, did not delay to prepare the death of the aforesaid (s. p.) prædicti sancti 2, 3. holy is missing 4. man. The holy man, foreknowing his machinations in the spirit Domini 2., made fast and prayer orationem et jejunium 3.. His prayer (orat. C. o.) orationem. Quæ 4. so prevailed with God that fire from heaven even devoured voraret 3. the aforesaid shrine. And so the devil, conquered by the merits of the aforesaid holy man, departed from there, and et 2, 3. fled confugit 4. confounded.
[4] King Childebert is driven by prodigies to give him satisfaction. It is also worth the trouble to commit to memory commend. est mem. 3. est mem. comm. 4. how he dealt egerit 4. with Childebert, king of the Franks. For while cum 4. for certain ecclesiastical business ecclesiasticis negotiis 3. he was sent sit missus 3. by the holy bishop of Le Mans sancto episcopo Cenomanico. to Clothar Childebertum 4., it happened that his arrival was unknown to the said king regem memoratum 2, 4.. But though it was afterwards reported to him that the bishop's envoy stante misso 3. was standing at the doors, yet he did not come before him eum 2, 4. that day ipsa die ante ipsum 3.. And when at length eandem 2, 4. the holy man spent the night watching in the oratory, the king, gravely seized by is missing 2, 3. a fever, began to be anxious. And while he was tortured by the disease, he remembered est recordatus 3. the envoy of the holy bishop, namely Boamirus. And when he had asked for him and had not found him, he said: Deservedly do I suffer this, because I did not receive him as I ought; and therefore, touched by these pains, I am afflicted. And when Cum 2, 4. morning came and the aforesaid holy man was at hand, he was venerably presented to the king; whose embassy the king, hearing it, received sweetly. When these things were done, he prostrated himself at his feet, narrating what had happened to him on his account in the night. Having promised him amends emendatio 2., and all his requests having been fulfilled et omnia ejus expostulata adimpleta 3., and having promised that such things would never again happen accidere deinceps 3., he was absolved from that crime, and anointed with the liquid of consecrated oil sancti olei 2, 4; olei sacrati 3., he was healed by his merits and prayers. Greatly honoured also by the king and queen and his attendants, he returned to his pastor, by whose merits also without doubt the things recorded had happened. Reporting to him what he had obtained, he also related in order how they had happened to him. The bishop, gladdened at his arrival and at what he had obtained, absolved him and sent him back honoured to his own little cell cellam 2, 3..
[5] He healed a man with dropsy Then, time having passed, while he was serving in the warfare of his sua 2, 4. Lord in the aforesaid little cell, the fame of his is missing 3. holiness having now been heard by many, there was brought to him a certain man with dropsy, who for three years had been unable to rise from a 2, 4. his bed; for whom his friends amici sancti 3. and parents asked erogant 3. the saint of God at least to touch him with his hands. St. Boamirus, touching his belly and legs and anointing them with the liquid of sanctified oil in the shape of a cross, healed him by his suisque 3. prayers,
and returned him sanavit-parentibus are missing 4. whole to his parents sanum suis parentibus 3..
[6] and a blind man; Not long after post tempore 2, 3, 4. a certain man named Ago, renowned by birth and enriched with much wealth, lost the light of his eyes lumine oculorum caruit 3.. But while he was being taken through many physicians and nothing helped him ei nihil 2, 3, 4., but the more medicines they applied inferebat 2., the worse he always grew habebat 3., at last is missing 3. his friends is missing 2, 4. gave him the counsel to take many gifts and come to St. Boamirus ad S. Boamirum veniret 3.. Using fisus 3. their counsel, he did as they had bidden. Brought to the holy man, he prostrated himself at his feet, humbly asking him to have mercy on him, and to give him some sight, that he might not be always in darkness. And when the holy man asked him how this hoc ei 3. had happened accideret 4. to him, and on inquiring had learned (ei-cog.) cognovisset ei sua culpa accidisse 3. that this had happened to him by his own fault (ei s. c.) sua culpa ei 4., he gave him the counsel to do true penance, because otherwise he could not obtain health. He, having received from him a strong penance, and having worthily carried it out there, when the time of absolution came, the holy priest of God absolved him with the imposition of the hand, as the canonical order teaches et ut ordo canonicus docet 3.. And afterwards touching his eyes with the saliva of his own mouth saliva oris contingens proprii 3., he poured over them the liquid liquore 3. of consecrated oil, beseeching the Lord that with the loss of his crimes he would also restore his light. The Lord, hearing his prayers, restored to the aforesaid blind man his former light. Whence it is given to be understood that through fault many lose the light outwardly and inwardly, and that by true penance crimes are blotted out and lights are restored.
[7] he repaired a withered hand, and his tomb is still renowned for miracles. In the following time also he repaired the withered hand of a certain man with a poultice fomenti 3. of consecrated oil, the sinews growing strong nervis virentibus 3., to the tasks despaired of ad desperata ita 3; in the rest ad is missing., and restored health by his prayers. And he visibly cast out demons from a good number, and healed them in the sight of all cunctis videntibus 3.. Innumerable persons suffering from fevers also he healed by his holy prayers, of whom san. qui et 3. some are alive today and is missing 4. live with us. And St. Boamirus died on the third of the Nones of November. There is no need to insert here the signs of his other great virtues, because the tomb stands with us as a witness, at which, by his merits, miracles of great virtues very often take place [3 adds ad laudem Domini Jesu Christi, cui est cum Patre et sancto Flamine majestas æqualis in æternum. Amen.].