Amarandus

ON ST. AMARANDUS, MARTYR, AT VIEUX AMONG THE ALBIGENSES,

AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME

Amarandus, martyr, at Vieux among the Albigenses. (S.)

BY H. D.

[1] St. Amarandus among the Albigenses, Vieux [Vieux, department of Tarn, arrondissement of Gaillac, canton of Castelnau de Montmirail] is a place six leagues distant to the west from the city of Albi [E. A. Rossignol, Monographies communales du département du Tarn, vol. III (Toulouse, 1865), pp. 320 – 35], where there was once a famous monastery dedicated to SS. Eugene, Amarandus and other saints, as we have both from other monuments and from a charter of the year 924: that house of God of St. Eugene, St. Amarandus, St. Carisima and a hundred saints Cf. A. Longnon, Géographie de la Gaule au VIe siècle (Paris, 1878), p. 521; for the most part, however, the name of St. Eugene alone On St. Eugene read Acta Sanctorum, July vol. III, pp. 487 – 495 is expressed, whence it has seemed to some that the monastery was founded by St. Eugene; not correctly, since it is handed down that St. Eugene died his last day in the place where St. Amarandus the martyr lay buried and was laid in the same place, where thereafter a church and monastery were raised [Devic-Vaissete, Histoire générale de Languedoc, new ed., vol. II (Toulouse, 1875), pp. 132 – 33].

[2] Of St. Amarandus, or, as others prefer, Amaranthus, nothing has been handed down to memory besides those things which we shall presently bring forward from the little book of Gregory of Tours In gloria martyrum, chs. LVI, as Gregory of Tours witnesses, LVII. Gregory testifies that he read a history of the passion, which now lies hidden, and from which, apart from a few things on the saint's posthumous glory, he excerpted nothing. Now he speaks thus: (LVI). Now Amarandus the martyr, near the city of Albi, having completed the course of a faithful contest, lies buried and lives in glory. His sepulchre, as the history of his passion declares, lay hidden a long time covered with briars and thorns, but, at the Lord's bidding, it was revealed to the Christian peoples, and the crypt in which he rested was opened and shone out. But when, under the pressure of hostility, that place had been emptied of its inhabitants, the inhabitants coming from far off strove to pay honour to the blessed martyr as to their own guardian. So when Christian devotion frequently brought candles, it happened one day that someone, because of the length of the journey, did not have the kindling of fire by which the candle might be lit. And seizing a flint he strikes it with iron, as if to draw out fire. While he was doing this, and shaking the stone with frequent blows, could strike out nothing of fire, the candle, which was already fixed to the blessed sepulchre, is lit by a heavenly lamp; and it came about that what human industry had not accomplished was performed by the majesty of the divine name. Human effort ceasing, heavenly services are ministered, and the candle, kindled, is made bright with the brilliance of a new light. When this had been made manifest to the peoples, no one any longer presumed to bring kindling of fire to light the light. But after that place began to be inhabited by men constantly, and houses were there in which fire might be kindled, this miracle was no longer granted to the people, though it is made illustrious more frequently by other miracles.

[3] He is celebrated with St. Eugene. (LVII). To this crypt is joined also that martyr of the Honorician persecution, Eugene, of priestly

dignity, the greatest glory, whom the passion either of himself or of his companions narrates to have been thrust into exile in this city. He, when he was strong in great virtues in the world and had already come forth a victor from the martyrs' torments, learned by the Lord's revelation the time of his calling, when he was to be summoned to glory. Knowing this especially, which was hidden from the peoples, as a manifest thing, that he would be a companion to the martyr Amarandus, he directs himself to his sepulchre, and prostrate on the ground he poured forth prayer to the Lord for a very long time. Then, with his arms spread out over the pavement, he directed his spirit to heaven; and he, gathered up by the Christians, was committed to burial in the very crypt of which we have spoken MG., Scriptores rerum merovingicarum, vol. I, pp. 526 – 28.

[4] The testimonies of the martyrologies Gregory was copied by the martyrologist whom Ado follows on the 7th day of November Quentin, Les martyrologes historiques (Paris, 1908), p. 315, and Ado by Usuard, nor does the verse of Wandalbert on the seventh of November flow from any other source:

The seventh, Amarantus, you hallowed by a holy death Dümmler, Poetae latini aevi Carolini, vol. II, p. 598.

The Hieronymian martyrology is silent today about Amarandus; but on the following day it announces In africa of primus, macchareus, iustus, Amarantus and twenty-eight others (otherwise eighteen). How uncertain are the things handed down by the Hieronymian, especially under the rubric in Africa, we have already said rather often, and it is generally agreed among the learned; it is not, therefore, from this alone, that he seems to belong to the African troop, that that Amarantus is to be said really to have suffered in Africa; but neither is any reason available from which it may be gathered that he was the Gallic one, and that very one who was venerated at Vieux. But if the Amarandus of Ado and the Hieronymian one are different, how does it come about that they meet at almost the same place in the calendar? I think the matter is to be explained thus. From Gregory of Tours the martyrologist learned that Amarandus of Albi was to be placed among the saints and martyrs, but he did not at all understand the day on which he was venerated, nor did he know it from the liturgical usage of the place. He therefore sought, as is the custom of compilers of this kind, on what day Amarandus occurred entered in calendars, say the Hieronymian ones, and he found an Amarantus on the 6th or rather the 7th before the Ides of November, to whom he attached the history excerpted from Gregory. It is more probable, therefore, that the 7th day of November is not the birthday of St. Amarandus of Albi, but that it was later introduced by the authority of the martyrologists Cf. Quentin, in the volume cited, pp. 380 – 81, and accepted by the church of Albi Catalogus codicum hagiographicorum Latinorum Parisiensium, vol. III, p. 716.

[5] How they are to be understood. There will perhaps be those who arrange the matter otherwise, and think that Gregory of Tours either drew from a troubled source or spoke with too little accuracy, since Amarandus is really to be called an African, who suffered not indeed among the Albigenses, but in his own homeland, whence his relics were translated to Vieux; hence the martyr's body was not found by St. Eugene near the place of his exile but brought by him, a fugitive from Africa, which other African bishops too, driven from their sees, are reported to have done. Such an interpretation of the matter, which presents itself to the mind as if obvious, but rests more on conjectures than on facts, seems to be rejected until it is proved by arguments. Meanwhile, I know not by what right it is asserted by Ruinart In the notes to Gregory of Tours, P. L., vol. LXXI, p. 757 and others that Amarandus completed his martyrdom in the times of Decius Histoire générale de Languedoc, new ed., vol. I, p. 334.

[6] More recent monuments of the cult. The church of Vieux, built in the fourteenth century, which once gloried in the bodies of St. Amarandus, St. Eugene and other saints, was in the year 1494, at the order of the bishop of Albi Louis d'Amboise [He sat in the years 1473 – 1502. Hence it is not worth the trouble to refute those who place the translation of the relics in the year 1404 or 1464], bereft of its sacred pledges, and the relics of St. Amarandus with those of the others were translated into the cathedral church [Rossignol, in the volume cited, p. 332. The ancient narrative of the translation was found in the archive of the municipality of Albi and published by Cl. Compayré, Études historiques et documents inédits sur l'Albigeois, le Castrais et l'ancien diocèse de Lavaur (Albi, 1841), p. 89: Translatio de las reliquias de Vieux. L'an de la incarnatio de Nostre Senhor, mial quatre cens nonanta et quatre et lo jorn de la festa de Mossenhor Sanct Miquel, regnant nostre senhor Mossenhor Charles, per la gratia de Dieu, Rey de Fransa, lo reverend payre en Dieu, Mossenhor Loys de Amboysa, per la dicha gratia, evesque d'Alby, fesec translatar et mudar de la gleysa de Vieux en la gleysa cathedrala de Sancta Cecilia d'Alby, las reliquias dels glosioses cors sans: Mossenhor Sant Eugeny, evesque et martyr; Mossenhor Sant Amaran; Mossenhor Sant Vyndemial et Mossenhor Sant Longin martyrs et de Madona sancta Caresma, verges, filha que fouec del Castelvieh; las qualas reliquias lo dich senhor evesque per quatre senhors canorgues de la dicha gleysa fec portar venerablament am sollepna procession generala, ont los senhors cossols de la cieutat d'Alby, am illuminatio de torchas am lo popular honorablement se trobero et assisteyro, et aquela fayta, fec publicar las dichas reliquias en lo sermo general que se fes, aqui meteis per lo religios et famos frayre Olivier Mailhart, observant de l'ordre de Sant Frances; per la quala translation nos done Mossenhor Iesu Christ salvation. Amen. [Translation of the relics of Vieux. In the year of the incarnation of Our Lord one thousand four hundred ninety and four, and on the day of the feast of My Lord Saint Michael, there reigning our lord My Lord Charles, by the grace of God King of France, the reverend father in God, My Lord Louis of Amboise, by the said grace bishop of Albi, caused to be translated and moved from the church of Vieux into the cathedral church of Saint Cecilia of Albi the relics of the glorious holy bodies: My Lord Saint Eugene, bishop and martyr; My Lord Saint Amaran; My Lord Saint Vindemial and My Lord Saint Longinus, martyrs, and of My Lady Saint Caresma, virgin, who was daughter of the lord of Castelvieil; which relics the said lord bishop had carried venerably by four lord canons of the said church with a solemn general procession, where the lord consuls of the city of Albi, with illumination of torches, with the people, were present honourably and assisted; and that done, he caused the said relics to be proclaimed in the general sermon which was preached there and then by the religious and famous friar Olivier Maillard, an Observant of the order of Saint Francis; through which translation may My Lord Jesus Christ give us salvation. Amen.]]. A small part, however, seems to have remained at Vieux, whence report afterwards related that the saints still rest in their original place ["Une partie des reliques furent laissées à Vieux, et, comme par le passé, les fidèles accoururent les y vénérer. En 1706, des réparations furent faites au tombeau des saints, "afin que les reliques ne demeurassent pas toujours exposées à la vue, ce qui amène insensiblement le manque de respect et de vénération, et afin de prouver que les sépulcres des saints Amarand et Eugène étaient en cette église, ce que certaines personnes commençaient à nier." On ouvrit alors, avec l'autorisation de la dame de Carlencas, le mur de la chapelle seigneuriale qui fermait les tombeaux; on y construisit un autel et on y déposa les reliques." [“A part of the relics was left at Vieux, and, as in the past, the faithful hastened there to venerate them. In 1706 repairs were made to the tomb of the saints, ‘so that the relics should not remain always exposed to view, which insensibly brings on a lack of respect and veneration, and in order to prove that the sepulchres of Saints Amarand and Eugene were in this church, which certain persons were beginning to deny.’ Then, with the authorization of the lady of Carlencas, the wall of the seigneurial chapel which closed the tombs was opened; an altar was built there and the relics were laid in it.”] Rossignol, in the volume cited, pp. 332 – 33]. Now they think they have only one of the bones of the holy martyr [H. Salabert, Les Saints et les martyrs du diocèse d'Albi (Toulouse, 1892), p. 58. From weighing the treatment of the history of St. Amarandus by this writer, from whom we also have the little work Les Saints de Vieux (Albi, 1892), we abstain, since it was conceived with rhetorical rather than critical arts. But what he has collected about the saint's cult among the Albigenses is not to be neglected]. In the cathedral of Albi there was once a chapel dedicated to St. Amarandus with four other patrons, and in the suburban quarter of the city, named after the same saint, the Hermits of St. Amarandus, of the order of St. Anthony, dwelt. In the year 1660 and afterwards mention is made in public instruments of a confraternity of butchers under the protection of St. Amarandus Salabert, in the volume cited, pp. 58 – 59, note. There once existed at Cadalen (Cadalen, arrondissement of Gaillac), in the place called Faget, a chapel of St. Amarandus Rossignol, in the work cited, vol. I, p. 74; now too he is said to be the secondary patron of the church of Cadalen Salabert, in the volume cited, p. 59.