Naamatius

ON ST. NAAMATIUS, DEACON OF RODEZ,

AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME

Naamatius, deacon of Rodez, Appendix on (S.)

6TH CENT.

BY C. D. S.

[1] St. Naamatius marked at the 2nd day of November To St. Amantius we join St. Naamatius, who is said to have been his deacon. He ought by all means to have been treated at the 2nd day of this month, on which day his memory is marked in the calendars of the 14th century. Why he was entirely passed over in that place we shall not try to explain at length. We acknowledge the fault, we ask that it be pardoned, we undertake to amend it.

[2] [in calendars of the 14th and 15th centuries; but afterwards at the 3rd day in the Proper of Rodez;] Thus no mention of St. Naamatius, deacon of Rodez, is found anywhere, whether in martyrologies or in other monuments, before the 14th century. At that time, in the calendars which two codices of Rodez contain, he is read mentioned at the 2nd day of November in these words: Of St. Naamatius, confessor Servières, Hist. de S. Amans, p. 475.. There follow four breviaries of Rodez of the 15th century, in whose calendars we recently found the same mention Cat. codd. hagiogr. Paris., vol. III, Supplem. II, at 2 Nov.; and in two of these a very brief lesson on his history has been added in the body, which we shall recite shortly. At the 2nd day too he is read inscribed in the calendar of a certain breviary printed in the year 1482, which has been accommodated to the use of Rodez by handwritten additions, in the missal of Rodez published between the years 1530 and 1560, and in the calendar of the Ritual of Rodez published in the year 1603 Servières, pp. 475, 476, 479.. But afterwards (on account of the concurrence, as may be conjectured, of the commemoration of all the faithful departed) he was thrown back to the 3rd day, namely in the Proper of Vabres published in the years 1650, 1702 and 1752, in the Proper of Rodez published in the years 1670, 1703, 1706, 1824, 1838 and 1851, and finally in the same Proper of Rodez, approved by the Holy See, published in the year 1859 Ibid., pp. 479, 481, 484, 485..

[3] but again at the 2nd day in the more recent martyrologies. No older martyrologies, as we have already advised, record St. Naamatius, but only the more recent ones, at the 2nd day of November. Namely, to omit the Hagenoy addition to Usuard, in which at this day is noted: Likewise of St. Naamatius, bishop and confessor [Ed. Soller., p. 646. Where, however, the error committed is not in the name of Naamatius substituted for Amantius, as was wrongly said in our preceding volume (vol. I Nov., p. 419), but in the added title of bishop.], Filippo Ferrari's Catal. gen.: At Rodez in Gaul, of St. Naamatius, deacon; André du Saussay's Martyrol. gallic., in the Supplement: On the same day, at Rodez, of St. Naamatius, deacon, ordained by St. Amantius, bishop of Rodez, whose illustrious deeds are kept in the archives of that church; and his power flourishes perpetually in freeing energumens; Claude Châtelain's Martyr. univ.: A Rodès, S. Nâmas, diacre At Rodez, St. Nâmas, deacon; and the Paris Martyrology published in the year 1727 by order of Cardinal de Noailles: At Rodez, of St. Naamatius, deacon.

[4] His history in breviaries of the 15th century and of the end of the 17th century Of the history of St. Naamatius the oldest monument of all is that very brief legend inserted in the breviaries of Rodez which the Paris codices of the 15th century 1262 and 13236 present Cf. Cat. Paris., vol. III, p. 591 (Alb. 3 and 6)., couched in these words: The most blessed Naamatius, then, was a citizen of the city of Rodez, a levite, a confessor, who made his own church illustrious by the merits of his virtues, corrected it by the severity of his life, and ascended the heavens with the palm of a blessed consummation; and who even now commends the city entrusted to him by the Lord with the suffrages of his happy merits, protects it with his patronage, and inflames it with his examples Cod. Paris. lat. 1262, fol. 495r.. More is reported by the Proper of Rodez published in the year 1670, in which at the 3rd day of November these lessons on St. Naamatius are set forth: Lesson IV. Naamatius, a native of the city of Rodez, already from his very youth began to shine with virtues; moved by which St. Amantius, bishop of the same city, initiated him into sacred orders and co-opted him into the levitical order. In which office, setting before himself the footsteps of the blessed Stephen, Lawrence and Vincent to be followed, he made such progress in holiness that he cast out demons from possessed bodies even by a word alone, so that those wicked spirits could not even bear the presence of Naamatius. — Lesson V. Wherefore, when that enemy of the human race was most atrociously tormenting the body of a certain youth, and he, brought to St. Naamatius for the sake of recovering his health, was ordered by him to go out, and could no longer resist the commands of the holy man, and said he would soon go out, that crafty enemy nevertheless proposed this to him, namely, since he commanded the spirits with such power, that he would carry him, if he ordered, as far as Rome, where

the servant of God had resolved to go for the sake of religion, so as to relieve the troubles and labour of the journey. Smiling at him, Naamatius said: “Learn, serpent, that the strength of the soldiers of Christ is not broken by labour, but proved.” This said, that youth, feeling himself free from all infestation of the demon, throwing himself at the feet of the holy man, gave immense thanks to Christ the redeemer and deliverer. — Lesson VI. But that malignant spirit, departing thence and flying to Rome, invades the daughter of a prince. And when he could nowhere be driven out by exorcisms, and cried out that he would yield only to the command of Naamatius alone, the fame of whose holiness had already spread through very many places, the man of God was at once sent for by messengers dispatched. And when he was already approaching near the city, and the father of the maiden, coming to meet him and anxious for the safety of his daughter, whom the demon was tormenting more cruelly, was urging that he would deign to hasten his steps, he sent ahead his cloak, taken off from himself, to be placed upon the girl; at whose touch the wicked spirit was at once driven out, and the girl freed from all his infestation. Thereupon Naamatius, spurning the gifts which were offered him and turning away from the honours conferred on him, went back to his homeland; and there, the space of the rest of his life having been spent in holy works, renowned for merits and miracles, he was borne up to the heavenly glory Servières, p. 479 – 80..

[5] drawn from uncertain sources. These lessons are indicated as excerpted From the Gallican martyrology and Gui, bishop of Lodève, in the Sanctorale. But how little was taken from the Gallican Martyrology will easily be recognised by whoever has read what we recited from this Martyrology above No. 3 middle.. As regards Bernard Gui, nothing at all about St. Naamatius is read in the codices of the Speculum sanctorale which have come down to us [Cf. L. Delisle, Les manuscrits de Bernard Gui, §135 – 138 (in Notices et extraits des mss., vol. XXVII, part II, p. 276 – 86).]. Whether, then, those who put together those lessons found some things about him consigned by Bernard Gui in a codex now lost or hidden, or wrongly attributed to this writer some writing composed by another, or what, finally, they drew from written monuments or added from popular traditions or by their own effort, is unknown to us. Hence neither would I dare to pronounce how probably that little narrative may be believed about Naamatius summoned to Rome to free the energumen daughter of a prince, such as is read also in some other Acts of saints, but of doubtful credit, as in the Life of St. Abercius, bishop of Hierapolis Act. SS., at 22 Oct., vol. IX, p. 504 ff., and in the Passion of St. Tryphon Cat. Paris., vol. I, p. 287 – 88, nos. 10, 12..

[6] in the more recent ones mention of the elevation of his body was added. The Proper of Rodez published in the year 1706 repeated the lessons recited above at the 3rd day of November, where these words also were added at the end of lesson VI: His body was laid in the church of Saint Amantius, and there rested in a stone tomb until the year 1670, in which the reverend father in Christ Gabriel de Voyer de Paulmy, bishop of Rodez, accompanied by the canons of the venerable chapter and in the presence of the parish priests of his whole diocese convoked to a synod, raised his sacred pledges with great solemnity Servières, p. 482. Cf. below, no. 9.. The same, with the addition, were also repeated in the Propers published in the years 1824, 1838, 1851 and 1859 Servières, pp. 484, 485..

[7] [What besides is narrated about St. Naamatius in the French ms. Life of St. Amantius] Some things besides about St. Naamatius were added by the author of the French manuscript Life of St. Amantius written after the middle of the 17th century Cf. above, p. 272, no. 7., the credit of which must rest with the anonymous writer of that Life. First of all, namely, he indicates that St. Naamatius clung to St. Amantius as an inseparable companion from the beginning of his apostolate among the people of Rodez, and that he was the boy who stood near, mentioned in the ancient Latin Life of St. Amantius Cf. above, p. 278, col. 1, line 8.. Then he narrates that St. Amantius, already advanced in age, entrusted the care of his church to Naamatius, and that that energumen youth Cf. above, no. 5, lesson V., who had first been brought to him, was directed to Naamatius by the same holy bishop. But concerning what happened on St. Naamatius's journey to Rome too he reports certain particulars which the lessons of the Proper of Rodez either pass over entirely or narrate less distinctly. Namely: (Le diable) s'étant allé jetter dans le corps d'une jeune demoiselle de Rome, niéce de l'empereur, il la tourmenta si étrangement qu'elle ne pouvoit se tenir droite ni couchée. L'empereur … envoya des gens dans la dite ville (de Rodés) pour le prier de prendre la peine de venir à Rome guérir sa niéce. S. Naamas … prit incontinent son chemin vers Rome, y allant tout à pied. Quand il fut au milieu de son voyage, le diable se mit à tourmenter plus fort cette demoiselle, ce qui obligea l'empereur de redoubler ses messagers pour le faire avancer, car la fille etoit aux abois et prete à rendre l'âme. St. Naamas ne pouvant aller vite, à cause qu'il etoit à pied, leur bailla son manteau, leur enjoignant de s'avancer pour le mettre sur la possidée, ce qui fut fait d'abord qu'ils furent arrivés à Rome. Le diable incontinent qu'il sentit le manteau du saint, sortit du corps de la demoiselle, criant tout haut: “Naamas de Rodés m'a tiré d'ici.” L'empereur fut si aise de la delivrance de sa niéce qu'il alla au devant du saint lorsqu'il arriva dans la ville de Rome, et après lui avoir fait grand honneur, il lui présenta beaucoup d'or et d'argent qu'il refusa, ayant seulement demandé à l'empereur de lui donner des ouvriers pour achever la batisse d'une église que St. Amans avoit commencée de batir dans la ville de Rodés, ce que l'empereur lui octroya, et lui donna beaucoup de reliques qu'on voit encore dans l'église de St. Amans. Savoir une cote de St. Pierre apotre, la plus grand part du crane de St. Laurens, du pain de la derniere céne de Jesus-Christ, et une portion de la vrai croix. St. Naamas s'étant remis en chemin avec les maçons que l'empereur lui avoit donnés, arriva à Rodés et y fut reçu de St. Amans avec grand joye, le quel fit continuer le batiment de son église par ces ouvriers venus de Rome, en sorte que la dite église fut bientot achevée, la quelle St. Amans consacra et dédia à l'honneur de St. Pierre et St. Paul, et y mit les susdites reliques. Mais cette église ne porte plus le nom des dits St. Apotres, ayant par succession du temps changés en celui de St. Amans à cause de la devotion que les habitans de cette ville ont eu pour ce saint leur patron dont le corps repose en la dite église. [(The devil), having gone and thrown himself into the body of a young lady of Rome, niece of the emperor, tormented her so strangely that she could neither stand upright nor lie down. The emperor … sent people into the said city (of Rodez) to beg him to take the trouble to come to Rome to heal his niece. St. Naamas … at once took his way towards Rome, going there entirely on foot. When he was in the middle of his journey, the devil began to torment this lady more strongly, which obliged the emperor to redouble his messengers to make him advance, for the girl was in extremity and ready to give up her soul. St. Naamas, not being able to go quickly because he was on foot, handed them his cloak, enjoining them to go ahead to put it on the possessed girl, which was done as soon as they had arrived at Rome. The devil, as soon as he felt the saint's cloak, went out of the lady's body, crying aloud: “Naamas of Rodez has drawn me out of here.” The emperor was so glad at the deliverance of his niece that he went out to meet the saint when he arrived in the city of Rome, and after having done him great honour, he presented him with much gold and silver, which he refused, having only asked the emperor to give him workmen to finish the building of a church which St. Amans had begun to build in the city of Rodez; which the emperor granted him, and gave him many relics which are still seen in the church of St. Amans. Namely a rib of St. Peter the apostle, the greater part of the skull of St. Lawrence, some of the bread of the last supper of Jesus Christ, and a portion of the true cross. St. Naamas, having set out again with the masons whom the emperor had given him, arrived at Rodez and was received there by St. Amans with great joy, who had the building of his church continued by these workmen come from Rome, so that the said church was soon finished, which St. Amans consecrated and dedicated in honour of St. Peter and St. Paul, and placed in it the aforesaid relics. But this church no longer bears the name of the said holy Apostles, having in the course of time been changed into that of St. Amans, on account of the devotion which the inhabitants of this city have had for this saint, their patron, whose body rests in the said church.]

[8] [and of his death and burial, and of an innocent man freed from prison by his help.] Finally, concerning the death of St. Naamatius and his burial, and the miracle afterwards obtained by his help, the same French ms. Life continues thus: Aprés qu'elle fut achevée, St. Naamas décéda, que St. Amans enterra en icelle. A sa sepulture son corps rendit une odeur tres suave qui embauma l'air et tous les assistans. [After it was finished, St. Naamas died, whom St. Amans buried in it. At his burial his body gave forth a very sweet odour, which perfumed the air and all those present.]

Comme Dieu avait fait des miracles par les merites de St. Naamas pendant sa vie, il en fit pareillement après son decés. Entre autres il arriva qu'un pauvre religieux passant à Rodés allant en Perigord s'accompagna d'un homme, le quel, etant tous deux logés en semble la nuit suivante dans une hotélérie, vola l'hote et s'enfuit; l'hote ayant découvert le larcin et vu la faute de cet homme, croyant qu'il n'y eut de l'intelligence du voleur au religieux, et qu'il eut pris cet habit deguisé de religion pour couvrir son vol, le prend prisonier, le fait conduire dans une obscure et etroite prison. Ce pauvre religieux, qui etoit innocent, sur le minuit se met en oraison, et reclamant au glorieux St. Naamas le prie de vouloir par son intercession le tirer du danger ou il etoit. Sa priere achevée, il vit au tour de soi St. Naamas vetu de blanc avec une étole blanche, qui lui dit de sortir de cette prison et prendre le pain qu'il trouveroit au seuil de la porte pour donner au chien qui gardoit la prison et empechoit sa sortie, ce que le religieux ayant fait, la porte s'ouvrit miraculeusement, les liens dont il etoit attaché se rompirent, et il sortit et s'en retourna droit à Rodés pour y rendre graces à Dieu et à St. Naamas par l'intercession du quel il avait été delivré. [As God had worked miracles through the merits of St. Naamas during his life, he likewise worked them after his death. Among others it happened that a poor religious passing through Rodez on his way into Périgord fell in with a man, who, both being lodged together the following night in an inn, robbed the host and fled; the host, having discovered the theft and seen the fault of this man, believing that there had been collusion between the thief and the religious, and that he had taken this disguised habit of religion to cover his theft, takes him prisoner and has him led into a dark and narrow prison. This poor religious, who was innocent, towards midnight sets himself to prayer, and calling upon the glorious St. Naamas, begs him to be pleased by his intercession to draw him out of the danger in which he was. His prayer finished, he saw beside him St. Naamas, clothed in white with a white stole, who told him to go out of this prison and take the bread which he would find on the threshold of the door, to give to the dog which guarded the prison and prevented his going out; which the religious having done, the door opened miraculously, the bonds with which he was tied broke, and he went out and returned straight to Rodez to give thanks there to God and to St. Naamas, by whose intercession he had been delivered.]

Voila ce que nous trouvons de la vie de St. Naamas, les ossemens du quel reposent aujourd'hui dans la même chapelle que ceux de St. Amans dans l'église qui porte le nom du dit saint dont la fête se celebre le quatrieme jour du mois de Novembre qui est celui de son decés. [That is what we find of the life of St. Naamas, whose bones rest today in the same chapel as those of St. Amans, in the church which bears the name of the said saint, whose feast is celebrated on the fourth day of the month of November, which is that of his death.]

[9] The body of St. Naamatius solemnly raised in the year 1671. Rather often from the 15th century onward the relics of St. Naamatius were recognised together with the relics of SS. Amantius and Dalmatius Cf. above, p. 275, no. 18.. But a particular translation of his sacred remains too was instituted in the year 1671, by the work of Gabriel de Voyer de Paulmy, then bishop of Rodez Cf. above, no. 6.. This the Rev. L. Servières described at length from contemporary documents Hist. de S. Amans, chap. XIX, p. 362 – 66.; which description it will not irk us to present here almost entire. After, then, there had been made, out of four dishes which were usually used for collecting alms from the faithful and out of silver plates with which

a certain wooden statue of St. Amantius had been covered, a silver-gilt reliquary in the form of a herm (whose head was encircled with a diadem, and the middle of the breast adorned with a precious crystal, while four lions supported the octagonal base, and at each of the eight angles as many angels were seen carrying garlands of flowers in their hands), the bishop came on the 13th day of April 1671, with the chief men of his clergy and the consuls of the city, to open the tomb of St. Naamatius, which had been placed in the chapel of the holy bodies Cf. above, p. 275, no. 18 after the middle.. The bones were recognised by the physicians called there and were found entire; and, what filled those standing by with admiration, the vestments too in which the sacred body had been clothed were found almost entire, namely a dalmatic, a maniple, an alb and part of a cincture. Then on the 14th solemn vespers were sung with the bishop presiding, amid the festive ringing of the bells of the churches of the whole city, the harmony of musical instruments and the crash of cannon, by which the festivity of the next day was announced. And on the 15th day of April the bishop proceeded with great ceremony to the church of Saint Amantius, there going before him the penitents, as they called them, white and blue, the Franciscan and Dominican fathers, more than five hundred priests who had been convoked to the synod from the whole diocese, the canons of the cathedral chapter and the civil magistracy and judges; and there, before an immense multitude of people, he celebrated mass in the pontifical rite, during which he delivered a panegyric sermon on the saint. In the middle of the church there rose a pyramid, which almost reached the roof of the building, and on which was placed a huge statue of St. Naamatius adorned with the insignia of the diaconal order. A little lower the Most Holy Sacrament was exposed, surrounded by innumerable lights, and at the four corners of the pyramid altars were erected, at each of which sacred rites were celebrated by priests without intermission from the fifth hour of the morning until midday. After the sung mass the bishop set forth the head of St. Naamatius to the people to be venerated, and laid it up in the prepared reliquary. Then a solemn procession was instituted, in which, other relics of saints which were preserved in the treasury of the church going before under eleven precious canopies, the head of St. Naamatius was carried by four deacons under a more splendid canopy through the chief streets of the city and even outside it; there followed also the rest of his body, enclosed in a gilded wooden casket and placed on a triumphal chariot, which forty little boys drew, crowned with laurel and flowers and representing angels by their dress. Afterwards the festivity was continued through the whole octave, the head of St. Naamatius being exposed in the middle of the church, to venerate which a multitude of people incessantly ran, and every day a sacred rite was solemnly celebrated and a panegyric oration on the saint pronounced, at all of which the bishop was always present. Finally, since strangers flocked together more every day, the celebration was prolonged until the 26th day of April; on which day the relics of St. Naamatius were again carried round, and in the evening an end was put to the solemnity by festive bonfires lit through the squares, lights arranged in order through every house, and fireworks of various colour and figure artfully shot from the top of the church tower, amid the harmony of all the bells, from the eighth hour until midnight.

[10] Of his relics and present cult. On the occasion of this solemnity a bone of a rib or of the shoulder of St. Naamatius was granted by the prior of the church of Saint Amantius to the canons of the cathedral chapter, and by Bishop Gabriel a jaw of the same saint to the church of the Holy Cross in the village of Palmas, from which he came Servières, p. 367.. The other relics of St. Naamatius underwent the same fate as the relics of St. Amantius Cf. above, p. 275, no. 19.. Finally, that we may record whatever we know about the cult of St. Naamatius, there is said to have been formerly dedicated in the city of Rodez under his name a church which was afterwards named after St. Magdalene and in the year 1798 was demolished to its foundations. Another parish church too, now levelled to the ground, formerly stood in a certain village of the diocese of Rodez. But now no other traces of his cult survive except the office of the saint which is celebrated every year by the clergy of Rodez on the 3rd day of November, and a chapel dedicated to St. Naamatius in the present church of Saint Amantius, in which are seen a statue rising above the altar and a glass window, by which the holy deacon is represented Servières, pp. 367, 368., and his head exposed on the high altar of the church.