Gerald

ON BL. GERALD, BISHOP OF BÉZIERS,

IN THE YEAR 1123

Gerald, bishop of Béziers. (Bl.)

BY E. H.

§1. On the sources from which his life is known.

[1] Commentaries on Blessed Gerald were written in the eighteenth century Blessed Gerald is of the number of those saints who had no contemporary writer whose work survives to this day. For besides the legends which are found in the breviaries, we know of Blessed Gerald only what was preserved for us by some researcher of the eighteenth century, who, as if consulting for us, excerpted from records then indeed extant but now lost whatever pertained to our blessed man [Mémoire pour servir à la vie de saint Guiraud, second prieur de Cassan, évêque de Béziers. Montpellier, 1884. This little work long lay hidden until it was published in print in the year 1884 through the work of the canon who was in charge of the archive of the church of Montpellier, the Rev. Soupairac.]. Who that writer, hitherto unknown, was, we think we can now indicate by conjecture. For in his preface Ibid., p. 2. he admits that he consulted M. François Pouget († 1723) and M. Claude Chastelain: "ayant appris que Mr l'abbé Pouget, si recommandable par son catéchisme de Montpellier, travaillait à la réforme du nouveau

bréviaire de Narbonne, cette personne… écrivit à Mr l'abbé Pouget…" [having learned that the Abbé Pouget, so commendable for his catechism of Montpellier, was working on the reform of the new breviary of Narbonne, this person… wrote to the Abbé Pouget…] Now Pouget published his work in the year 1702, Chastelain died in the year 1712, and on the 4th of June 1706 the archbishop of Narbonne, moved by the writer's reasons, restored the cult of St. Gerald; and Pouget published the first part of the new breviary in the year 1708. Between the years 1702–1706, therefore, our writer began to collect this little work, which he by no means intended to make public; but when the inhabitants of Podium Saliconis, who boasted that they were fellow citizens of St. Gerald, urged that this little work be published, the writer arranged it again Ibid., p. 3. and reduced it to the form which we now have after the year 1706, which is mentioned by him somewhere Ibid., p. 82.; indeed, as it seems to me, after the year 1709. For he writes: "Mais comme Mr l'abbé Chatelain qui avait lui-même mis cette mort en onze cent trente-six… l'a fixée depuis au lundy cinquième novembre, onze cent vingt-trois" [But since the Abbé Chatelain, who had himself put this death in eleven hundred thirty-six… has since fixed it on Monday the fifth of November, eleven hundred twenty-three] Ibid., p. 79.. Now even in his Martyrologe universel published in the year 1709 Chastelain puts the death of Gerald at the year 1136. The time at which the little work was written having been determined, we shall now without any trouble designate its author. For to anyone reading the preface it will at once appear that he was bound to the monastery of Cassan by some benefice or dignity; but what office he held when he first undertook the work the prior of Cassan, N. de Cilly, is not sufficiently clear; that he was afterwards prior, however, we are taught by probable testimony. For among the writings collected from every side in the Paris abbey of Sainte-Geneviève, so that the plan of a new breviary might be drawn up to be proposed to the general chapter of the Gallican congregation of the year 1757, these words are read: "La legende S. Geraldi est extrêmement vide de faits. On en trouve quelques-uns dans une vie composée par un prieur de Cassian, sur les titres de la maison" The legend [of St. Gerald is extremely empty of facts. Some are found in a life composed by a prior of Cassan, from the title-deeds of the house] Paris codex, Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, no. 156, fol. 17–37., and it is not to be doubted that it is this same work of ours that is in question here. Now the prior in 1674–1712 was Louis de la Vergne Montenart de Tressan, who had been made bishop of Le Mans in the year 1671. He was succeeded in the priorate in the year 1712 by N. de Cilly; whom we conjecture to have been the author of our little book.

[2] using the cartulary and customary of Cassan In writing this little work that prior used documents of good repute; but unkind times have not spared them. This has been testified by learned men who have searched much for these codices, and whom we have questioned on this matter [Cf. also Émile Bonnet, Bibliographie du diocèse de Montpellier (Montpellier, 1900), pp. 73, 78.]. For in the eighteenth century there were kept the cartulary of the house of St. Mary of Cassan and an old customary composed long before 1387. For our author affirms that the customs of Cassan were most certainly transcribed in the year 1387 from two books "of paper," of which "because of antiquity one is altogether destroyed, while the other is coming at an equal pace to complete destruction" Mémoire, p. 57, note..

[3] not, however, the ancient Legend, already lost at that time; Besides, de Cilly teaches us, relying on the undoubted testimony of the old customary of which above, that an ancient Legend of St. Gerald also once existed; in that customary it was prescribed: "Let there be read at dinner from his Life" Ibid., p. 11.. But by whom and at what time this Life was written, which our prior lamented as already lost, he neglected to say, or, having tried in vain, could not determine. In the old breviary of Béziers Breviarium ad usum ecclesiae Biterrensis (Lyon, 1532), fol. CCCCLXI. printed in the year 1534, in the more recent breviaries or in the propers of Béziers [Officium proprium festorum insignis ecclesiae Biterrensis. Béziers, 1631. Les offices propres des saints chanoines réguliers de l'ordre de S. Augustin, congrégation de Notre Sauveur. Toul, 1696; Metz, 1706; Officia propria … canonicis regularibus Lateranensibus etc. Vienna, 1741; Proprium sanctorum ad usum canonicorum regularium congregationis gallicanae. Paris, 1666; Proprium sanctorum ad usum canonicorum regularium congregationis gallicanae. Paris, 1758, etc., etc.] and of Narbonne, likewise of the canons regular of the Holy Savior of the Lateran, and of the canons of the reformed Gallican Congregation, whose substance it seems to report some Legend of him is found. The various recensions of this Legend, at least those which we have in hand, all seem to have arisen from the same source, that is, from the Legend of the old breviary (1534), which, written in rather rough language, each afterwards tried in his own way to make more elegant and more polished, yet they have not made their common origin obscure to us. A Legend older than that old one, however, de Cilly, although he searched diligently, did not find. To these reasons, which seem already to favor the antiquity of this Legend, no light weight is added by the words with which it begins: In our own times indeed, so that we could easily be persuaded that it was composed a little after the death of Blessed Gerald, or at least copied from some older Life written near his times, perhaps from that one of which the customary speaks. It must be admitted, however, that these things, however probably they are conjectured, have not been ascertained with certainty.

[4] the old breviary. Whatever the case, since no other Legend survives for us, we have judged that this one should be brought to light, which the reverend president of the seminary of Montpellier kindly transcribed for us, and which the distinguished Émile Bonnet collated with the exemplar which the archaeological society possesses Bonnet, op. cit., p. 87..

§2. The Legend of Blessed Gerald.

Gerald, born prematurely I. In our own times indeed a truly venerable man, of most holy simplicity, of the town of Podium Saliconis Today Puissalicon (canton of Servian, arrondissement of Béziers)., Guiraud by name, was born of parents not of the lowest according to the dignity of the world. But because he was born prematurely, his parents held him in contempt.

baptized at once II. For although, because of his smallness, he did not seem to have even the shape of a child Ed. puer., yet his crying declared that he would be a boy. And since his parents were uncertain whether he would live or not, they sent him to the church to receive the laver of holy regeneration.

by a miracle III. And when he was received by a certain honorable monk then living there, and scarcely had the offices necessary beforehand for such a thing been performed, when he wished to baptize him, at once the water of the font was seen to smoke.

he is marked out. IV. And when he had been baptized under the threefold immersion, the water of the font (as if a great mass of glowing iron had been plunged there) began to give off a great vapor and to boil thoroughly.

Having entered the monastery of Cassan V. Given over, indeed, to the disciplines of letters, he became a religious of the order of St. Augustine and in the monastery of the Virgin Mary of Cassan, in the diocese of Béziers. In which he so subjected himself that in the charity ed. caritatis. of God and of neighbor he was found second to none.

he becomes its prior, VI. He shone forth, then, with such great chastity, charity and humility that, the prior of the said monastery having died, he was promoted to his place as prior, where he appeared so discreet afterwards bishop of Béziers. that, the episcopal see of Béziers being vacant, he was elected by all. And when, lest he be crushed by such a burden, he had fled from it, he was espoused to it unwillingly, and having exercised it for a very long time, struck by the infirmity of dropsy ed. Eutropisis., he breathed out his spirit. His body was placed in the collegiate church of St. Aphrodisius of the said Béziers and canonized, shining daily with innumerable miracles.

§3. On the birth and infancy of Blessed Gerald.

[5] He seems to have been born about the year 1070, Our blessed one is not undeservedly thought to have been born about the year 1070 Gallia christiana, vol. VI, col. 312. in Podium Saliconis, which is a village two leagues distant from the town of Béziers. For since to a donation made by Pierre de Thesan in the year 1085 to the house of Cassan he added only these words, Gerald wrote Mémoire, p. 5., although in so many other charters which he wrote afterwards he always declared himself either levite, or canon, or prior, you would not imprudently conjecture that he was then a recent novice in the monastery; and since we are taught by the old breviary that as a youth, after completing his studies of "letters," he subjected himself to the rule of Cassan, we suspect that he began his novitiate when about 15 years old, and so we reckon that he was brought into the light about the year 1070.

[6] of parents of whose condition nothing is established. But from what family he sprang, what the condition of his parents' fortune or rank was, or what they deserved of the city or of the church, how, brought up by them in virtue and discipline, he conducted himself in his father's house, I seem to myself able to attain nothing at all, not only by a certain and firm judgment, but not even by probable conjecture. The old breviary indeed affirms that his father held a not inconsiderable place among the leading men of the same village, but in words no more definite than those which are applied to almost all saints in a certain hagiographic style, so that by this conventional form of writing we are taught little or nothing. De Cilly certainly went further, who, having more than once read in the cartulary the name Guiraud of Possilicone before the names of the lords of Thesan and of other certainly noble men, wished to prove the nobility of his stock Mémoire, pp. 6–8.. But for the argument to be valid, since the name Gerald was fairly common in that region, this above all had to be demonstrated, that this Guiraud of whom the charter speaks was really the father of our blessed one; which certainly will by no means be made out from the few records, and those mutilated, which we now have. Perhaps when de Cilly was writing these things he learned from other indications that they were joined by kinship; we think it worth noting, however, that the citizens of Podium in the eighteenth century showed a certain hovel where the saint was born, whom they thought to have been poor. The whole matter, therefore, is uncertain Col. 105F. Of his boyhood we know nothing certain. About the boy Gerald popular report, being as it is a friend of little tales, peddled many very wonderful things, which our writer prudently omitted. See what the breviary narrates about his baptism Cf. also Mémoire, p. 9.. Let these and similar things be believed only by those who have been able to investigate them.

§4. On his entry into the monastery and on his priorate.

[7] Having entered the monastery about the year 1085 Instructed in the disciplines of "letters," that is, in the art of reading and writing [Cf. John of Salisbury, Metalogicon, book I, c. 13 (P. L., vol. CXCIX, col. 840A).], perhaps also in the use of the Latin language, as a youth he was enrolled among the canons regular of the order of St. Augustine in the monastery of St. Mary of Cassan about the year 1085, as it seems to us, in which year he wrote the charter as a novice, as we said by conjecture (no. 5). From this

time until the year 1094 the name of Gerald is found inscribed nowhere in the charters of Cassan Mémoire, pp. 12–14.. In this year, on the 30th of October, he signed the instrument of a certain sale as deacon Ibid., p. 24.; which he was accustomed to do in charters until the 27th of September 1101 Ibid., p. 25.. Thereafter, with the name of canon added, he either wrote or confirmed with his sign about twenty-five charters Ibid., p. 26.. From the fact that he already calls himself canon, it may be conjectured that he had then been distinguished with the priesthood. He led a pious life among the brethren devoted by their profession to divine worship, and in the monastery, celebrated for integrity of morals, austerity of life, observance of the rules and the pursuit of knowledge, he so excelled the others in virtues that, the prior Peter having died, about the year 1106 he is elected prior, he was elected prior of the house of St. Mary between the 4th of May of the year 1105, on which he still subscribed as canon, and the 9th of August 1106, on which one reads in the cartulary: Gerald the prior wrote Ibid., pp. 83–84; cf. also Gall. christ., vol. cit., col. 312; Mémoire, p. 89..

[8] he has a new church dedicated, While he was prior, before the second day before the Nones of October, the new church of Blessed Mary was dedicated, which survives to this day, but assigned to other uses [Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Béziers, 3° série, vol. IV (1902), p. 234.]. In the report of the pastoral visitation carried out by Jean de Bonsy, bishop of Béziers, on the 8th of February 1605, one reads: The church is very beautiful, entire, ancient and well adorned, built, as is believed, by Charlemagne, because in some places stone and painted eagles appear, and it bears one [ ] with a cross for its arms, which denotes Charles, although the religious have turned it round into the shape of an omega, in this way

It is a church under the invocation of St. Augustine of the canons regular; there are in the said church many relics described in a certain old book, where the time and day and year of the consecration of the church is described; at which there were present many archbishops, bishops, abbots and other ecclesiastical persons, now five hundred years ago [Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Béziers, 3° série, vol. IV (1902), p. 234.].

This document has been happily preserved for us both by the authors of the Gallia christiana Gall. christ., vol. cit., instr. col. 133. and by De Vic and Vaissete [Histoire du Languedoc (1733), vol. II, preuves, col. 395; Privat ed. (1875), vol. V, col. 850.]: In the year of the Lord's incarnation 1115, on the second day before the Nones of October, a countless multitude of both sexes having gathered at the estate of Cassan, by the assenting clemency of the almighty and most kindly God, the church of the same place was consecrated. At which consecration there were present archbishops or bishops: Richard, archbishop of Narbonne, and Ato, bishop of Arles Gall. archiepiscopus., and Arnald, bishop of Béziers, and Galterius Gall. Gualterus., bishop of Maguelone, and Raymundus Gall. Raimundus., bishop of Barbastro Gall. Barbastensis., and Bernard, bishop of Agde, and John, bishop of Nemosum Gall. Nemausensis., and Arnald, bishop of Carcassonne. By the authority, therefore, Gall. adds Deo et. of our Lord Jesus Christ, they consecrated that church and the high altar [This altar exists today in the church of the village called Paulhan, to which it was translated in the year 1797. Bull. de la Soc. arch. de Béziers, 3° série, vol. IV, p. 230. "En détachant les marbres dont il était revêtu, nous avons découvert sous la grande table qui formait le dessus du tombeau, au milieu de six petits vases de verre renfermant les saintes reliques, une lame de plomb d'une longueur de 25 centim. et de 12 centim. de largeur, portant des inscriptions qui nous ont indiqué l'époque de la construction de l'autel dans l'église de Cassan, celle de son ornementation ultérieure, enfin celle de son transfert à Paulhan. Sur l'une des faces se trouvait gravée au poinçon cette inscription: Hoc altare anno MCXV dedicatum, sed longa vetustate deterioratum, huius ecclesiae canonici regulares congregationis gallice exquisitis marmoribus vestiendum curarunt anno MDCCLXXXIX." [In detaching the marbles with which it was faced, we discovered under the great slab which formed the top of the tomb, amid six small glass vessels containing the holy relics, a plate of lead 25 cm long and 12 cm wide, bearing inscriptions which indicated to us the date of the construction of the altar in the church of Cassan, that of its later ornamentation, and finally that of its transfer to Paulhan. On one of the faces was engraved with a punch this inscription: This altar, dedicated in the year 1115, but deteriorated by long age, the canons regular of the Gallican congregation of this church had faced with choice marbles in the year 1789.]] in honor Gall. honore. of holy Mary, Mother of God, ever virgin, and of St. John the Baptist; and the altar of St. Michael the aforesaid bishop of Barbastro consecrated in honor Gall. in honore et memoriae. and memory of the most blessed archangel himself and of blessed Augustine; and another the bishop of Maguelone in honor of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, Andrew and James, and of St. Faith, virgin, on whose festival this consecration Gall. dedicatio. is celebrated. Likewise Gall. omits. besides, these are the relics which are contained in the altar of Blessed Mary: of the wood of the Lord's cross, of the sponge which was put to his mouth, and of the loaves of proposition, and of the virgin Mary herself Several relics are named.… Likewise in the altar of blessed Michael are contained relics of St. John the Baptist, and of Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon Several relics are named.… In the altar of St. Peter are contained relics of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul themselves and of Blessed Romanus Several relics are named.… In the cross which William the Englishman brought from parts across the sea are contained some of the wood of the Lord, of the sepulcher and of the place of his nativity and of the place of Calvary, of the stone rolled away, of the sepulcher of Blessed Mary, of Mount Sinai Several relics are named..

[9] he builds cloisters and a guest-house This dedication is certainly a testimony to the piety of Blessed Gerald. Since he, having been made prior, also built the claustral buildings Mémoire, pp. 45–47., he thus made manifest his zeal for preserving discipline; and he showed his charity towards the poor by building a guest-house outside the precinct of the monastery before the year 1118, in which the first mention of it is made in the cartulary Ibid., p. 42.. Finally, by no imprudent conjecture, de Cilly judges that the man whom we have learned from some traces to have flourished with wonderful piety towards God and religion had a part in framing the laws which had long since been collected in the old customary before the year 1387 Ibid., pp. 56–57.. and so governs the monastery From the funeral praises too of Bernard, sacristan of Narbonne, formerly a disciple of Blessed Gerald, which follow, we can understand in some way how diligently the pious prior exercised himself and his pupils in the virtues, and how, as he excelled the rest in dignity, so he strove also to lead them by examples.

When this Bernard, a man of honorable life and great religion, saw that death was at hand for him, as though foreknowing his death, on the Tuesday on which his decease was to take place, he directed that from that allod of his own which he had, provision should be made for all his confreres and the poor, so that he might impart to them with his usual kindness the happiness with which he was divinely overflowing. And since he strove to imitate in all things blessed Gerald, bishop of Béziers, whom he had long had as teacher, fasting on bread and water every tenth day, mortifying his body with not a few punishments, he remained so constant in prayer that, while he had strength, he could in no way be drawn away from the divine breath. When the aforesaid day had come, calling a presbyter to him, he prostrated himself before his presence, and although he had by no means fallen into graver sins, he nevertheless accused himself, with great compunction of mind, as guilty of all. Rising from confession, leaning on a certain donatus, he went to the church, and with knees bent before the venerable altar of blessed John he received the Lord's body from him who was celebrating Mass, and so, the Mass having been celebrated, he gave back his spirit to the Lord.

Narbonne deserved this man for herself after Cassan. And Mary joined her own pupil to Paul.

† On the Kalends of May died Bernard, major sacristan of St. Paul, in the year 1151. Α. Ω. † . De Vic and Vaisete, op. cit., vol. v, p. 14*..

[10] so that it grew both in the fame of virtue and in wealth. And that, while he was prior, Cassan flourished with such piety, fervor and discipline that its fame, celebrated through the whole region, turned the eyes and minds of all towards that house, who could wonder? For it would be long to enumerate all the donations which then flowed in Mémoire, pp. 35–41., or to collect so many names both of illustrious men and women, and of churches and monasteries, which at that time eagerly requested confraternity with the house of Cassan Ibid., pp. 69–71.. Among so many testimonies by which the splendor of Cassan under our prior shines forth, it is pleasing to write this one here, that the house then numbered eighty canons Ibid., p. 56.; so at least a tradition not to be despised reports. But soon the holy prior himself was raised to a greater dignity for the merit of his life.

§5. On the episcopate of Blessed Gerald.

[11] Elected bishop of Béziers For when Arnald, bishop of Béziers, had been translated to the see of Narbonne Gall. christ., vol. cit., cols. 47, 312., Blessed Gerald was elected bishop by the votes and favor of all. He, after he had long resisted, at last unwillingly took up the pastoral office. In what year he was distinguished with the episcopal honor, however, may not seem so clear. The authors of the Gallia christiana say that he was consecrated at the end of 1121 or the beginning of the year 1122 Gall. christ., loc. cit.. about the middle of the year 1122 We judge, however, that this did not happen before about the middle of the year 1122. For 1st in the cartulary of Cassan de Cilly found a certain instrument given on the 23rd of February, the fifth weekday, of the year 1121, which Gerald, servant and minister of Mary the Mother of God, wrote at the request of the aforesaid donors Mémoire, p. 74.. He was therefore not yet bishop then. But that this 23rd of February, the fifth weekday, was really of the year 1122 according to present-day reckoning will easily be decided by anyone who has noticed both that in that region at that time notaries commonly used the style of the Incarnation [In the cartulary of Cassan itself other examples of this custom are found; cf. e.g. Mémoire, p. 38.], according to which the year began on the 25th of March, and that the 23rd of February fell on the fifth weekday not in the year 1121, but in the year 1122. 2nd It is added that a certain instrument, which Catel affirms he saw, was subscribed by Blessed Gerald's predecessor Arnald, bishop of Béziers, in the year 1122 Catel, Mémoires de l'histoire du Languedoc (Toulouse, 1633), p. 959.. And the same Catel refers to the month of August of the year 1122 the homage rendered by Aimeric, viscount of Narbonne, to the same Arnald, already translated to the archiepiscopal see of Narbonne Ibid., p. 587.. 3rd Finally, in the cartulary of Saint-Just there are read letters of Callistus II to Berengar, archbishop of Narbonne, given on the days

21st and 22nd of June and the 4th of October of the year 1121 and the 22nd of April 1122–1124 [U. Robert, Bullaire du pape Callixte II (Paris, 1891), nos. 241, 245, 252, 466. Cf. Jaffé-Loewenfeld, nos. 6913, 6917, 6925, 7127. Mention of this Berengar, archbishop of Narbonne, is found nowhere else. Hitherto, however, Arnald's predecessor was believed to be Richard, who on the testimony of a certain necrology of Narbonne is affirmed to have died on the 14th or 16th day before the Kalends of March of the year 1121 (Gall. christ., vol. cit., col. 48).]. All of which persuade that Arnald was translated to the see of Narbonne not before the end of the month of April of the year 1122 nor after the month of August of the same year, and that consequently Gerald's election must be placed within the same limits. This seems to be contradicted by what Catel says, that Arnald, already archbishop of Narbonne, received in the year 1121 the profession of vassalage from Bernard Ato, viscount of Béziers, and from Raimund de Termes Catel, op. cit., p. 787.; and he adds Ibid., p. 788. that he presided over the church of Narbonne 28 years, 5 months, 14 days, and died on the 30th of September 1149; from which it would have to be concluded that he was translated to the see of Narbonne on the 16th of April of the year 1121. But these things are proved by no document adduced, either in Catel or in the Gallia christiana [Vol. cit., p. 50; where only what Catel had taught seems to have been copied. Likewise in De Vic and Vaisete, Histoire du Languedoc, vol. IV (1872), p. 220. It is also certain that in no document besides those which we have adduced is Arnald named as archbishop of Narbonne before the year 1122.], and consequently they are not to be thought to prevail against the more certain testimonies brought forward above.

[12] He follows Cassan with benefits. How Blessed Gerald governed the church of Béziers, our de Cilly too could not narrate; for the records of Cassan, which by good fortune he had in hand, were silent on this matter. From the charters preserved, however, he found that certain benefits were conferred by Blessed Gerald on his church of Cassan Mémoire, pp. 75–77.. In the year 1123 he confirmed the gift of the provostship and sacristy made to the canons by Bishop Matfred Gall. christ., vol. cit., col. 313; cf. col. 310 and instr., col. 133.; on the 23rd of October, with Adalbert, bishop of Agde, he subscribed a charter for a certain exchange Mémoire, p. 76.. He did not govern the church for long; for in the year 1123, overcome by the disease of dropsy, as the breviary reports, he departed this life and was granted honorable burial in the church of St. Aphrodisius; which the people of Béziers adorned with these verses Ibid., pp. 79–80.:

Praesulis hic almi sunt condita membra Geraldi Hic vir honestatis et mirae simplicitatis Moribus ornatus fuit et flos intemeratus; Hunc meruit florem Catianus habere priorem. Hic speculum terris, fit praesul in urbe Biterris; Eximitur membris quinta sub luce Novembris, Quo Deus in pannis iacuit vergentibus annis Bis quingentenis Mémoire, p. 80 quingentesus. centum tribus et duodenis.

[Here are laid the limbs of the kindly prelate Gerald. This man of uprightness and of wonderful simplicity was adorned with good morals and was an undefiled flower; Cassan deserved to have this flower as prior. This mirror to the lands becomes prelate in the city of Béziers; he is taken from his limbs on the fifth day of November, in the years running on since God lay in swaddling clothes, twice five hundred, a hundred, three and twelves.]

The necrology of St. Nazarius of Béziers had: On the 10th day before the Kalends of December died the lord Guiraud, by the grace of God bishop of Béziers Mémoires de la Société archéologique du Midi de la France, vol. III, p. 105.; better the necrology of Béziers: On the Nones of November died the reverend lord Guiraud, bishop of Béziers, in the year of the Lord 1123 [Gall. christ., vol. cit., col. 313; De Vic and Vaissete, Hist. du Languedoc, vol. VIII (1879), col. 260.].

§6. On his relics and cult.

[13] An arm of the blessed man granted to the people of Cassan; Of those sacred relics, one of the arms was granted to the brethren of Cassan. But I would not dare to determine the certain time of this donation. This treasure is listed in the catalogue of the sacred furnishings of the house of St. Mary, which was drawn up in the year 1562. An older testimony, however, by which we might be taught the time of the donation, we do not have. The blessed bishop did not lie long at rest in his sepulcher. For Raymond de Vailhauquès, who presided over the church of Béziers between the years 1247 and 1261, his body translated to the nuns of St. Clare, overcome by the assiduous prayers of the sisters of St. Clare who had their house in the suburb called after St. John, gave permission for the sacred body of Gerald to be translated there. But in the year 1355, when the whole suburb was being destroyed, the sacred bones were carried back to their original place, in the year 1355 carried back into the church of St. Aphrodisius, this alone being granted to the sisters, who in the year 1363 had re-established their convent within the walls of the city, that every year in a solemn procession the sacred body of Gerald should make a station in the church of the convent [Mémoire, p. 101; cf. also Azais, Notes sur les Sœurs Minorettes de Béziers, in Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Béziers, vol. II, 4e livraison, p. 142 ff.]. Not only at fixed times did the citizens carry the holy relics through the streets, but also, when oppressed by some cruel and unexpected calamity, they led their patron — for he was held by this name — around as suppliants. That this happened twice we have learned from the consular chronicles of Béziers, about the middle of the fourteenth century and again on the 15th of June of the year 1464 Chronique de Mercier et Régis, in Bull. Soc. arch. de Béziers, vol. III, p. 101..

in which he is honored. Then, in the time of disturbances, about 1562, the sacred relics, together with the relics of St. Aphrodisius, were in the greatest danger of being burned by the heretics. Afterwards, however, peace having been restored, the relics of the blessed Gerald and Aphrodisius, laid up in the same small vessel and distinguished by red or white linen, were replaced with the greatest veneration in the place in which they were seen until the end of the eighteenth century [Mémoire, pp. 83–86. On the history of the relics cf. also Soucailles, État paroissial de Béziers sous l'épiscopat de Jean IV de Bousy, in Bull. Soc. arch. de Béziers, 3e série, vol. IV, p. 159; and Soucailles, Continuation des visites pastorales de Clément de Bousy, in Bull. Soc. arch. de Béziers, 3e série, vol. V (1904), pp. 292–294. From the same documents we are taught that the collegiate church had a chapel erected in honor of St. Gerald. Ibid., pp. 296–97.].