ON ST. SULINUS, ABBOT AND CONFESSOR, IN THE VILLAGE OF HIS NAME, DIOCESE OF SAINT-MALO,
IN ARMORICA.
In the 6th or 7th century.
SYLLOGE
Concerning his cult and deeds.
Sulinus, abbot, Conf., in the village of his name, diocese of Saint-Malo, in Armorica. (S.)
BY J. S.
Those who have illustrated the deeds of the Saints of Armorican Brittany, Albert Le Grand [St. Sulinus venerated today at Saint-Malo, on another day in the diocese of Léon,] and Guy-Alexis Lobineau, refer chiefly to this day St. Sulinus, whom they call in French St. Suliau, and rightly observe that he is venerated on this very day in the diocese of Saint-Malo. For in the proper Offices of the church of Saint-Malo, which we have printed in the past century, at the 1st of October there is had an Office of nine lessons concerning St. Sulinus, of which three are about the deeds of the Saint, and with a proper prayer, which runs thus: May blessed Sulinus, thy confessor and abbot, be, we beseech thee, O Lord, the guardian of our acts, and may the evil works and malignant desires which our frailty cannot overcome be conquered by his pious intercession, thy kindness assenting. Through our Lord, etc. Before the prayer these things are read: Feasts of October. On the 1st day the feast of saint Sulinus, abbot and confessor, is kept. Likewise at the 1st of October there are had other lessons about St. Sulinus, which were communicated to our Elders from an older manuscript. Concerning his cult, and concerning this day for the church of Saint-Malo, the aforementioned writers agree. Both, however, add that his Office is had in the Breviary of the diocese of Léon at the 29th of July. And indeed in the Calendar which was written from an old Breviary of Léon and formerly sent here, at the 29th of July I find these words: Of Sulianus, conf., 9 l., that is, of nine lessons.
[2] Wherefore Châtelain ought not to delay us, who announces St. Sulinus at the 8th of November, [announced on another day by Châtelain: the place where he was buried and is venerated.] for no other reason, I think, than that he read that he died on that day. But whether that death-day seems certain I shall inquire below. Meanwhile let us hear the words of Châtelain rendered into Latin. Near Solidor, he says, in the diocese of Saint-Malo, of St. Sulivus, abbot, son of Brocquemar, prince of the Welsh. Everything here is moderately changed, so that I should suspect that another was announced, had not the last words plainly insinuated the same man. For instead of the French name Suliau, which others use, he himself said Suillac, afterwards, however, noting in the index that he is the same as Suliau. For the Latin name Sulinus he preferred to say Sulivus. For near Solidor he said in the index near Saint-Malo. In Blaeu, in the map of Aremorica, the village where the parish church of St. Sulinus is, is called S. Suliac. Albert le Grand writes at the end about the burial of the Saint, and explains the place more distinctly. I render the French words in Latin: His body, he says, was buried in his abbatial church, now a parish and priory, which is called Saint Sulinus on the river Rance (commonly Saint Suliau sur Rance), distant from Saint-Malo two French miles, from Dol five, from Dinan three, from Châteauneuf (Chasteau-neuf) one and a half. So much he about the place, which has been abundantly pointed out by the words given. Of the cult he subjoins: God has worked many miracles at his tomb, which is piously visited by pilgrims: and these obtain there huge favours through the patronage of that Saint. Lobineau adds that the stone tomb of the Saint is still shown in the lower part of the church, and on it nothing of a figure is represented except a large cross.
[3] From a manuscript Breviary is given That the reader may have a compendium of those things which are narrated of the deeds of St. Sulinus, I transfer here the lessons from the manuscript Breviary sent here. Blessed Sulinus, of Brochmaus, king of the Welsh, while still a boy, was imbued with letters and morals by blessed Guimarchus the presbyter. And his father having died, crossing the sea, he came to a place which is called Letau, next to the river which is called Rentius (in French Rance), and there in a deserted and wooded place he set up a little hut. And when he was cultivating the untilled sod, that he might prepare himself sustenance from herbs and vegetables, whatever he sowed and planted there a crowd of wild beasts devoured. Whence the Man of God, complaining to the prince of the region, received such an answer from him: If you wish to guard your crop, take care to fortify it by hedging it. He, having returned home, went round his little field with his staff, and, fixing single rods at the four sides of his little field, left it as a hedge around. The wild beasts, coming there as usual to the food prepared, as they thought, for them, as soon as they touched the touch of the staff of the Man of God, began to grow so rigid that, standing in the same place, they could neither reach the food nor move a foot to return. The prince, hearing this, struck with amazement at the miracle, at once hastened to the Man of God, and, rolled at his feet, asked pardon. And the Man of God, prayer having been made, both released the animals, and baptized the prince with many others.
[4] a compendium of his Acts, At that time blessed Samson, archbishop of Dol, having heard the fame of St. Sulinus, got round by clerics who were labouring with the sickness of envy, began to be somewhat indignant that the Man of God should presume either to baptize or to preach in his bishopric without his authority, and forbade oil to be given him, and commanded him to cease from preaching. But the Man of God, compelled by the necessity of those coming to him, fearing lest anyone should perish without baptism, asked that what human power had denied should be given him by God. And he, prayer being completed, found upon the altar a chalice filled with most pure oil. When, then, this miracle came to the ears of Samson, the man devoted to God, fearing lest the wrath of God should come upon him because he had presumed to exasperate His servant Sulinus, hastening to him with the clerics and the faithful, asked pardon for what he had committed, intending to amend in every way for the rest. At whose coming, exceedingly
rejoicing, the Man of God granted the pardon asked, invited them to table, and abundantly refreshed his guests. But one of those dining, since he would not eat the meat set before him, let it fall into his bosom, which meat was turned into a snake. Which the others seeing, sympathising with the wretched man, rolled at the knees of Blessed Sulinus, entreat him on his behalf. The serpent being put to flight at the prayer of the Man of God, all standing there bless the Lord, and His servant St. Sulinus: who afterwards, touched with a slight fever, knew by the spirit the hour of his calling: and commending himself to God, after receiving the Sacraments, he passed to Christ in hymns and praises. Thus far the lessons of the manuscript Office.
[5] The printed ones differ notably from these. Wherefore I shall recite these too. another from a printed one. Sulinus, son of Brochmail, king in Greater Britain, gave his attention under Guimarchus, a most religious presbyter, both to sacred and to profane letters. And when, still placed at a tender age, he had dedicated himself wholly to God, and wished to choose his dwelling in a monastery with the same Guimarchus, his father and brothers, desiring to turn him away from religion, and at length seeing that they laboured in vain, suffered him to remain in his holy purpose. Guimarchus and Sulinus, then, dwelt together, occupying themselves in the divine praises until the death of his father. Then, some years having elapsed, the widow of his brother burned with love for him, and wished to join him to herself in marriage. He refusing so great a crime, the woman, stirred up by a spirit of wickedness, broke out into such rage that she afflicted whomever of the holy Man's household she found; so that he went away from the monastery for the preservation of the brethren, and lived seven continuous years on a certain island: whence at length, having returned to his own at the command of Guimarchus, since he could not escape that malignant woman, he arranged to cross the sea. And so, committing himself to the winds and the sea, he landed at a certain place in Lesser Britain whose name is Letau, near the river Rentius. There he fixed his foot, and, building a little hut, received from the prince of that land leave to hedge certain lands. And since he was strong in many virtues, very many, among whom was the prince himself, coming to him, converted from the error of the pagans to Christianity, were baptized. He shone in life with very many miracles, by which he rendered his name illustrious, and at length, touched with a slight fever, full of days he rested in Christ on the sixth of the Ides of November. Whose body was honourably buried in the church dedicated to his name. Up to here the printed Office.
[6] You have, studious reader, the tradition of the church of Saint-Malo concerning the deeds of St. Sulinus. From these and other similar documents a twofold Life of the Saint was written; A more prolix Life Albert le Grand wrote from page 475, and at the end cites several documents from which he composed it, but these seem neither better than those which I have recited, nor did he bring forward almost anything else from them. It does not please me to inquire into many things here, since both the Saint himself and most of the persons named in the alleged documents are so very obscure in history that one would grope in vain in the darkness. Wherefore I shall note only briefly, on the chief heads, what the cited Le Grand and Lobineau have added. First, both agree that St. Sulinus was the son of a king or prince of Cambria or Wales, as it is now more frequently called, who above is called king of the Galenses or Gallenses, from the name Galles, by which the French express Cambria. The first calls that prince Brocmail, the other Bromail. The first attributes two brothers to St. Sulinus, the other three, Maian, Jacob and Chanaam. The first reduces the whole life of St. Sulinus to chronological order. He says he was born in the year 530 of the Christian era, died in the year 606, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. The other passes over all chronology, because he is less ready, I think, to assert uncertain things.
[7] in which some things were added, others changed, That St. Sulinus was made a monk under Abbot Guimarchus both biographers agree, as also about the city of Meibot, in which they say Guimarchus's monastery was. Both add that the Saint's father did much to draw back from it the Youth, whom they assert went away to the monastery without his father's knowledge; but that so great was the constancy of the Recruit that the father at length acquiesced in his desire. Then both again affirm, but against the given words of the Saint-Malo Breviary, that St. Sulinus withdrew from Guimarchus's abbey to a priory subject to it, and situated on an island of the river or strait of Menai, lest, his father's will being changed, he should be drawn away from the monastery. Seven years are attributed to his dwelling on that island; but in the Saint-Malo Breviary those seven years of dwelling on the island are placed after the death of his father, and on account of the persecution of the woman, as may be seen. The biographers add that that island is even now called after St. Sulinus Enès-Suliau, or the island of Sulinus, namely in the Armorican idiom, in which island is called Enes. Whether that is true I leave to be inquired into by those who are nearer the place. The cited biographers further affirm that after the seven years Sulinus was recalled from the island by Abbot Guimarchus, who desired to set out for Rome. But the Saint is asserted to have dissuaded the abbot from that journey: nay, Albert le Grand added that that desire was taken from Guimarchus by the Saint by a prodigy more wonderful than credible, who says that the same died not long after, and fixes his death in the year 558.
[8] others also by the second biographer Soon each writer of the Life asserts that Sulinus was elected abbot in place of Guimarchus, who by the arbitrary chronology of the former then had twenty-eight years of age. On the assertion again of the same, after six years of his rule he lost his father in the year 564, and two years after his brother, who had succeeded to the paternal principate. His widow survived, who wished to contract marriage with Sulinus, as the Saint-Malo Breviary also has, and began to persecute him when unwilling. Hence the Saint fled again to the island already mentioned, says the first biographer, the Office of Saint-Malo agreeing: the other says that he fled to Bullaeum. But both agree that the Saint then crossed over into Armorica, and came to a deserted place near the river Rentius, commonly Rance, where he dwelt until the end of his life. This dwelling is much more certain than is the cause of the crossing, nay also than are all the things related so far by the biographers about the Saint's family and deeds in Cambria, of which only a few are asserted in the manuscript Breviary. Albert first brings him to St. Malo, but by mere conjecture, I think; as he also attributes fifteen companions to him from the beginning. He then narrates the miracle asserted in the manuscript Breviary about the wild beasts made motionless at the touch of the line which the Saint is said to have drawn: but Lobineau preferred to pass this over. The thing is not in itself incredible; but it cannot seem certain, since it is not had from a sufficiently old monument.
[9] omitted. Most things are uncertain, What is read in the said Breviary about the indignation of St. Samson against St. Sulinus both biographers omitted, together with the miracle of the oil divinely supplied. This miracle indeed does not seem probable to me, not only because it lacks suitable testimony, but most of all because it is contrary to the hierarchical order of the Church. It can also be doubted whether St. Sulinus lived in Armorica at the same time as St. Samson, in whose Life, given by us at the 28th of July, no mention at all is made of St. Sulinus. Nevertheless both biographers assert that Sulinus was visited by St. Samson, nay that the holy bishop stayed with him some days. The first also asserts the prodigy of the serpent born, as the Office has, from meat, and put to flight by the Saint; but for meat he substitutes bread. It is not indeed very likely that meat was set before a bishop and his clerics by a holy Monk. But the whole thing is no more probable: and doubtless for that reason Lobineau preferred to cut off the whole prodigy, as he cut off the other miracles. I gladly confess that all things are uncertain and little probable. But if the cited writer had wished to report only the certain deeds of St. Sulinus, he could have written the whole Life in a few words: for I do not believe much more certain the things which he narrated assertively about all the Saint's deeds, except perhaps the homeland and the dwelling of the Saint in Armorica.
[10] Of such a kind again is what each biographer narrates before the Saint's death, and some things less probable. namely that two monks were sent to the Saint from the monastery of Cambria over which he is asserted to have formerly presided, to inform him that the widow of his brother had died, and to invite him to return into Cambria: of which there is nothing in the Offices recited above. For all those things which are asserted about the persecution stirred up against the Saint by his brother's widow seem no less suspect, nay the other things too which are asserted about his stock are not much more probable than the prodigies cut off by Lobineau. For it was no less familiar to some, especially in England, Scotland and Ireland, to call little-known Saints sons of kings or princes than to adorn them with fictitious miracles. The time at which the Saint died, although Albert le Grand fixes the year 606, is uncertain, because the persons recorded in his deeds are not known, except only St. Samson, about whose last age writers greatly disagree: for some wish Samson to have died in the sixth century about the year 565, with our Du Sollier; others defer his death to the seventh century. Moreover we can doubt whether St. Sulinus truly lived with St. Samson, or whether the conjecture about Sulinus's being visited by St. Samson was not sought from the nearness of the places in which they lived. Wherefore I have fixed the age of the Saint broadly in the 6th or 7th century. In the printed Office he is said to have died on the 8th day of November. But I judge that too uncertain, since Le Grand asserts that the Saint died on the 1st day of October, perhaps from a similar document; and the cult favours this day.