Evodius

ON ST. EVODIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT ROUEN IN NORMANDY,

Before the middle of the fifth century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Evodius, bishop and confessor, at Rouen in Normandy. (S.)

BY J. B.

§ I. In what century he was bishop of Rouen: the credit and summary of his Acts: translations of the body.

Rouen is an ancient city of Gaul, situated on the river Seine, conspicuous for its archiepiscopal see, and the capital of the province of Normandy: St. Evodius was bishop of Rouen, that the holy Evodius, or Evodus, of whom we treat, formerly made it illustrious by his virtues and governed it as bishop, is indeed the concordant voice of the authors who in their writings have pursued the series and the deeds of the prelates of Rouen: but of these some put him back in the tenth place, namely between Innocent and Silvester; others in the sixteenth, between Flavius and Praetextatus; and, what follows from that, some fix his age in the fifth century, others on the contrary in the sixth. In the number of the latter are the brothers Sainte-Marthe, François Pommeraye, a member of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Maur, in the History of the archbishops of Rouen, and Jean Dadré in their Chronicle. To the former subscribe Noël Taillepied and the more recent writers of Gallia Christiana.

[2] That St. Evodius flourished in the time of Clothar I, as Pommeraye and Dadré say, not in the sixth century, as his Acts; his Acts testify: but Clothar reigned in Francia from the year 511 to 561: hence, further, it seemed to the writers just cited that Evodius flourished in the sixth century. Dadré, relying on I know not what reason, writes that he sat at Rouen in the year 520: but if that is so, why did he list Evodius after Flavius, who is read subscribed to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th councils of Orléans, celebrated in the years 533, 538 and 541? The brothers Sainte-Marthe say that Evodius is to be referred to about the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Clothar I, or about the year 535: but the councils just mentioned, at which Flavius was present, stand in the way. At the councils celebrated in Gaul between the years 541 and 557 no prelate of Rouen is read subscribed; and therefore it cannot be shown from them that St. Evodius did not sit at Rouen in the space between the two years: but neither do the Sainte-Marthes allege any other monument than the Acts of St. Evodius to strengthen their opinion, which indeed itself appears hardly solid enough. For not only is the age of those Acts unknown to us, but their credit also wavers: for since they affirm not only that St. Evodius flourished while Clothar I was reigning in Francia, but also that he was elected archbishop of Rouen with the consent of Clothar (which is manifestly plain from what is read in the Acts themselves, to be edited below, at number 5), St. Evodius would not have entered upon the chair of Rouen before the year 558, before which, namely, Childebert did not depart from among the living, and while he was not yet dead Clothar had no right over the city of Rouen. But Praetextatus, the successor of St. Evodius in this opinion, already from the year 557 strengthened the third council of Paris with his subscription as bishop of Rouen.

[3] but rather in the fifth century, Du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, at the 8th day of October, places St. Evodius between Gildard or Gildared, who subscribed the 1st council of Orléans, and Flavius, who subscribed the third of Orléans; and so he judged that Evodius sat at Rouen between the year 511 and 533; partly, as appears, from private conjecture, partly from the Acts of St. Evodius; but these are, from what has already been said, of slight weight and credit. The opinion of those, therefore, is preferred by which St. Evodius is set down as placed between Innocent and Silvester, and as having flourished in the fifth century and presided over the church of Rouen. For so has the Chronicle of Rouen in Labbe, volume 1 of the Library of Manuscripts, page 365, carried down to the year 1344; so Orderic Vitalis, a writer of the twelfth century, in book 6 of the Ecclesiastical History, in André Duchesne among the ancient writers of Norman History, page 558 and following; so the writer of the Acts of the archbishops of Rouen, who lived in the eleventh century, in Mabillon, volume 2 of the Vetera Analecta, page 429, whose words are: To him (St. Victricius) succeeded Innocent, to Innocent the holy Evodus, to Evodus Silvester. So the Catalogue of the bishops of Rouen of the abbey of St. Wandrille, written in the ninth century, and praised by the writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, volume XI, column 9; so finally also the Indexes and older Monuments, and indeed all of them, as Pommeraye admits; which certainly are more safely believed than the Acts of St. Evodius.

[4] as the better monuments hand down. Let there be added to these also the ancient Chronicle, as the said writers of Gallia Christiana call it, of the abbey of Jumièges; although in it Innocent is placed in the middle between Evodius and Silvester. But in what part of the fifth century did St. Evodius govern the see of Rouen? Noël Taillepied writes that Evodius succeeded Innocent in the year 426. It is established that Victricius was living in the year 404, from the letter of Pope Innocent I sent to him: the writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana would have him dead (or at least incline to it) about the year 409; others, however, about the year 417; the Sainte-Marthes say that Innocent sat 9 years; which, added to the year 417, bring us down to the year 426, to which Noël Taillepied has fixed the beginning of the government of Evodius. But in what year Evodius laid down his insignia and his life is not sufficiently plain, since, like the beginning of his episcopate, so also its duration does not rest on certain documents: there are some, according to Baillet, who say that he ruled the church of Rouen four years (others say seven): in which way he would have departed from this life about the year 430. This is certain, that Germanus, bishop of Rouen after Evodius, Silvester and Malso, subscribed the council of Tours of the year 461; from which, in the opinion which I follow as the more probable, that the age of St. Evodius is to be bound to the fifth century, it becomes most probable that he ceased to be among the living some years before the middle of the fifth century; as we noted above in the margin. Orderic Vitalis says that Evodius sat 7 years under the Pontiffs Celestine and Sixtus, of whom the one died in the year 432, the other in 440.

[5] Of the Acts of St. Evodius there is no need to say much: we have them from a Rouen manuscript formerly sent to us: His Acts are of no great credit, the most recent writers of Gallia Christiana pronounce that they do not merit credit among the learned, at least insofar as they make St. Evodius contemporary with Clothar I, king of the Franks: they have an author not properly informed of the affairs of St. Evodius, which his discourse about St. Evodius seems to betray, so meagre that it records scarcely anything particular about St. Evodius which would not suit almost any holy bishop; if the names of his parents, and the prodigies

which the holy Prelate wrought either while living or after his death, and these indeed received, as far as appears, only from popular tradition, you except. You have at least the principal heads and substance of them set out in the French language in Pommeraye, who not only had them in hand, but also, having transcribed their Latin text in the margin, quotes them from time to time. The summary of his deeds from Pommeraye runs roughly thus.

[6] The father of St. Evodius was Florentinus; his mother Celina, a pair of spouses illustrious for the splendour of their race, of which a summary for the endowments of mind and body, but above all for the praise of Christian virtues. Evodius, born of them and handed over from his earliest age to men pious as well as learned, made such progress both in piety and in learning that he undoubtedly seemed to be destined by God for great things. Accordingly, like another Samuel, he is presented by his parents to the Cathedral church of Rouen: and from the time he was enrolled among the clerics he shone forth by chastity of morals, by contempt of perishable things, by austerity of life, but above all by charity toward the needy. By these virtues he was raised to the pontifical chair, which he made illustrious beyond what can be said by uprightness of life, vigilance, zeal, by words and deeds. He restored speech to a mute by the sign of the cross; by his prayers he extinguished a fire which threatened destruction to the city of Rouen: when he did not have enough wherewith to relieve the poverty of the needy, he received from heaven what was sufficient. He was a terror to the demons, whom he very often expelled from the possessed, even when absent: for it was enough for this if his pastoral staff, the sign of the cross being made, was brought near to the possessed: nay, even the very straws which were his bed drove away fevers and various kinds of diseases. And these things indeed he performed while living.

[7] The holy Prelate was diligently visiting his diocese when a fever attacked him at Andely, is set forth. and in a short time brought him to extremity: therefore, having called together the chief men of the clergy and people, he imparted his last admonitions of salvation, and having received the most holy Viaticum, and having at last made the sign of the cross, he rendered his soul to God, to the very great grief and mourning of those looking on, on the 8th day of October. His body, wrapped in a silken cloth, was carried back with notable pomp from Andely to Rouen into the cathedral church, and not without prodigies: by his aid thirty persons detained in prison, at the very entrance into the city, their chains having broken of their own accord and the doors having opened, obtained their liberty (whether at that time prisons had been set up in the gates of the city at Rouen, as is now done in some places, let others see); and in the Greater church, in which he was entombed, he restored sight to four blind persons and the power of walking to eighteen lame. These things concerning the deeds of St. Evodius from Pommeraye.

[8] His body was translated in the ninth century to Braine, The tomb of St. Evodius in the Cathedral church of Rouen, he then says, afterwards became renowned by many prodigies, by the multitude of which it came about that his body was enclosed in a notable reliquary and honourably preserved until the irruption of the Normans into the city of Rouen, of which the Fragment of the Chronicle of Fontenelle, written by a contemporary author, in volume 7 of the Writers on Gallic Affairs, page 40, speaks in this manner: In the year of the Lord's Incarnation DCCCXLI, in the fourth Indiction, on the fourth day before the Ides of May, the Northmen came, and also Oscher their leader. On the day before the Ides of May the city of Rouen was burned by them: on the 17th day before the Kalends of June they withdrew from Rouen: on the 9th day before the Kalends of June they burned the monastery of Jumièges with fire. That the faithful, when the incursions of the barbarians were imminent, were wont to carry the sacred remains of the Saints to safer places is very well known. And as regards the people of Rouen, it has already been said in volume 2 of August, page 197, that they carried the remains of St. Victricius, their bishop, to Braine when this very irruption of the Normans was imminent: likewise in volume IV of the same month, page 802 and following, that by the like solicitude on their part the relics of St. Audoenus, likewise bishop of Rouen, were translated to Gasny. At the same time, therefore, says Pommeraye, the relics of St. Evodius were translated to Braine together with those of St. Victricius; which indeed I have not found said of St. Evodius by Sigebert of Gembloux, whom he praises; although what has already been said, and the very reckoning of the time, make it most probable.

[9] a notice of which place is given, The writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, however, suspect that this was perhaps done on another occasion, speaking thus of the matter in volume IX, column 488 and following: This villa (Braine), handed over perhaps by Dagobert, grandson of Clothar, to St. Audoenus in the seventh century, was subject to the jurisdiction of the church of Rouen up to the tenth century, in which interval it was ennobled by the sacred pledge of Blessed Evodius, archbishop of Rouen: by which words indeed they seem not to deny the epoch asserted by Pommeraye for the body of St. Evodius translated to Braine, but not to approve it either. However that may be, that the relics of St. Evodius were carried to Braine already long ago will become manifest also from what is shortly to be said. Further, concerning Braine, hear Valois in the Notitia of the Gauls: Brennacum or Brannacum, he says, was formerly a villa of the kingdom and of the district of Soissons, situated on the river Vesle; in which Chlothar had built a palace and was wont to stay, where also his treasures were kept: mentioned by Gregory, bishop of Tours (Book 4, chapter 22, and book 5 of the History of the Franks, chapters 26, 36, 40, and elsewhere), by Fortunatus (bishop of Poitiers, book 9, in the Poem to king Chilperic, in the Writers on Gallic Affairs, volume 2, page 520), by Fredegar (in the Epitomized History of the Franks of Gregory, in Ruinart, column 569), and by the rest: where bishops from the whole kingdom of Chilperic assembled to try the case of Gregory himself. It is commonly called "Braine"… "Almost all" more recent writers "call it Brana for Brennacum or Braina".

[10] To our matter, however, that is most relevant which Valois adds in the same place: where in a monastery dedicated This place is notable for the basilica of St. Euhodius (so he calls Evodius), commonly called St. Iued: which abbatial basilica, enjoying from its origin a double title and patronage, was formerly called the church of St. Mary and St. Euhodius; now, the name of Blessed Mary being omitted, it has long been called the church of St. Euhodius. The most recent church of St. Evodius at Braine was founded, as Hugo, bishop of Ptolemais and abbot of Étival, writes in the Annals of the Premonstratensian Order, column 395, by Agnes, daughter of Guy, count of Braine, married to Robert, count of Dreux, son of Louis VI, king of France; and it was consecrated with solemn rite by Albericus, archbishop of Reims, and Haynardus, bishop of Soissons, in the year 1216. But before this the lords of the place had raised another to St. Evodius, as the same Hugo writes at column 393 and following, in these words: In order that the counts (of Braine) might pay him (St. Evodius) greater worship and honour, within the circuit of the castle which, the old one having been demolished, they had some time before erected on the plain beside the walls of the town (of Braine), they founded a collegiate church named after St. Evodius, and there deposited his remains with great display; namely André de Baudemont and his wife Agnes, whose granddaughter was the Agnes mentioned a little before. About what time this older church of St. Evodius was founded you will gather from the fact that the same Hugo asserts that, with the consent of André de Baudemont and Agnes his wife, namely the founders of this church, Premonstratensians were substituted for the secular canons in the year 1130 by Goslenus, bishop of Soissons. Further, I find the title of St. Mary and of Saint Evodius, which Valois says it had of old, attributed to this older church of St. Evodius in the Letters of Goslenus, bishop of Soissons, of the years 1137, 1145 and 1150; likewise in the Bull of Eugene III of the year 1147, and of Adrian IV of the year 1154; in the letters of Robert, count of Dreux, of the year 1179, and of Nicolas de Bazoches of the year 1189, in the same Hugo, in the Documents of his Annals, column CCCXXI and the 5 following.

[11] No mention is made in the Monuments just cited of a church which was called first of St. Remigius to his name and afterwards of St. Evodius; so that I do not know what is to be said here of the writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, when in the Series of the Archbishops of Rouen they write thus of Evodius: He is said to have died at Andely, and to have been carried out for burial into the church of St. Mary of Rouen, and thence afterwards into the church which was then called of St. Remigius, now by his own name of Saint Evodius, and is subject under an abbatial title to the Premonstratensian canons. Did another church, sacred to St. Remigius, exist earlier at Braine, which contained the body of St. Evodius, before the church of St. Mary and St. Evodius was raised by André de Baudemont and his wife Agnes? Or did the church raised by André de Baudemont and his wife obtain, besides the title of St. Mary and St. Evodius, also the title of St. Remigius, though it is not mentioned in the Monuments just praised? However that may be, from this it is at any rate plain not only that the relics of St. Evodius were translated to Braine; but that he was also always held and venerated as a saint both at Rouen and at Braine: and that the Premonstratensian canons, from the time they were introduced into Braine, did not lack care that the sacred cult of that Saint should take no detriment but even an increase, was shown by the abbot Gerard, of whom Hugo writes thus: Gerard (thirteenth abbot of Braine) in the year MCCXLIV procured that the body of St. Evodius should be translated with solemn display into a new reliquary by the bishops of Soissons and Laon; concerning which translation the following verses are read; but their author partly followed the Acts badly. They run thus:

Hospitable Braine possesses the blessed Prelate of Rouen: Let the reliquary rejoice, Evodius being present, he who is called upon; Whom Florentinus and Celina, while Chlothar held the Gallic realms, Begot by the Lord's favour. Here you have made a vessel adorned with gems and gold, In the thousandth and the two-hundredth year and also the fourth, With the fortieth of the Lord likewise joined.

[12] his relics are held in honour. I read the same in the Braine Appendix to the Chronicle of Fécamp, which ends at the year 1220, in Labbe, volume 1 of the Library of Manuscripts, page 328; but here the year 1246 is marked for the year 1244: the words of the Appendix are these: The body of St. Evodius was translated in the monastery of the castle of Braine by the venerable fathers the bishops of Soissons and Laon, the Lord Gerard, abbot of the said place, procuring it, into the reliquary which the same Girard had caused to be made, a copious multitude of the people standing by. The said Appendix in Labbe ends, though written in a hand different from the Chronicle of Fécamp, at that same year 1246. But whether this happened in that year or two years before matters little. The bishop of Soissons in the year 1244 was Raoul de Coudun; but in the year 1246 Guy de Château-Porcien; while the bishop of Laon in both years was Garnier. For the rest, from what has already been said it follows that St. Evodius had long enjoyed sacred cult at Braine, where his body still rests today, in the diocese of Soissons, bordering on that of Rouen: but no less was already paid to him of old in his own diocese, that is, that of Rouen, as the following § will declare.

§ II. The sacred cult of St. Evodius at Rouen; relics in the monastery of St. Loup at Troyes; mention among the martyrologists.

[The people of Rouen, his body having been translated to them from Andely shortly after his death,] St. Evodius at Andely, which in the diocese of Rouen near the river Seine from Rouen

the city about seven leagues distant, laid down his mortal remains, as was said above, which were thence translated to Rouen and placed in the Greater church: this, then, was the first translation of the body of St. Evodius; which seems to have taken place not long after his death, and to have been celebrated every year afterwards: it seems indeed to have taken place not long after the death of St. Evodius; because it would not seem probable that the longing of the people of Rouen for their bishop was so slight that they allowed it to remain long in a place perhaps little conspicuous at that time: yet not, so far at least as appears, immediately after his death: for since this same translation of the body of St. Evodius was more probably made on the 8th day of July, the day namely on which, as we shall soon see, the church of Rouen celebrated his memory every year, and he himself is believed to have departed this life on the 8th day of October, his body perhaps remained at Andely at least until the year which next followed his death. Further, I judge that this translation of the body of St. Evodius was celebrated every year by the people of Rouen for this reason: that on the one hand I have it ascertained that some translation of the same body was formerly celebrated on that day in the diocese of Rouen: and on the other I have found no mention of another translation of the relics of St. Evodius, except that to Braine: but that this translation was celebrated every year by the people of Rouen is not probable: for churches are not wont to celebrate the translations of the Saints by which they are deprived of their sacred remains, but those by which they are enriched with them. If, therefore, any translation of the body of St. Evodius out of these was to be celebrated by the people of Rouen, it seems certainly to have been that by which his sacred body was carried from Andely to Rouen.

[14] Further, that the feast of the translated body of St. Evodius was formerly celebrated in the church of Rouen kept the feast on the 8th day of July, becomes manifest from its Missal, published in the year 1585, in whose Calendar at the 8th day of July these words are read: The Translation of St. Evodus, archbishop of Rouen. Three lessons. Similar things are found in the Calendar of the Breviary of Rouen of the year 1578: but in the Breviary those lessons are prescribed to be recited from the Common, and the Prayer from the 8th day. Greven also mentions the same translation at the 8th day of July, in Du Sollier, in these words: In the city of Rouen, the translation of St. Euodus, bishop and confessor. But the Missal just praised presents the Mass which used to be recited on that day, which I transcribe here. Ye priests of God, bless the Lord, etc. Psalm. All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord, etc. Prayer: O God, who by the merits of blessed Euodus Thy pontiff didst restore both light to the blind and walking to the lame, grant us, we beseech Thee, by his intercession to walk in the way of salvation, so that we may be able to come to Thee, the author of light. Through, etc. Epistle: Every Pontiff, etc. Gradual: I have found David my servant, etc. Verse: The enemy shall have no advantage, etc.: Verse: I have made a covenant with my chosen, etc.: Gospel: Watch, for you know not, etc.: Offertory: My truth and my mercy, etc.: Secret: May Thy right hand, O Lord, both bless and receive the gift of our oblation: and through it may the glorious prayer of blessed Evodus Thy prelate free us from the stain of all sin. Through, etc. Communion: Once have I sworn, etc. Postcommunion: Having been satisfied, O Lord, by the exchange of our redemption: may the daily intercession of blessed Euodus Thy pontiff make us, we beseech Thee, worthy of the participation of it. Through our Lord, etc.

[15] From which indeed it is plain that the translation of the relics of St. Evodius used to be celebrated in the church of Rouen: but his birthday on the 8th of October; now however on the 10th, but today that custom seems to have ceased: for the 8th day of July is vacant in the Calendars prefixed to the Breviary of Rouen of the year 1627, as also of the year 1736. Du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology at the 8th day of July writes thus: Likewise at Soissons, of St. Evodius, bishop and confessor: He probably saw the translation of St. Evodius noted somewhere on this day, but by mistake expressed Soissons for the city of Rouen, as was observed in our Work at the 8th day of July among the Passed Over: for there was no bishop of Soissons of this name; nor do I know Evodius of Rouen to be venerated at Soissons on that day. Besides, another day is sacred to St. Evodius in the cited Missal and Breviaries of the church of Rouen, namely the 8th or 10th day of October; the former indeed in the Missal of the year 1585 and the Breviary of the year 1578: the latter, that is, the 10th of October, in the Breviaries of the years 1627 and 1736. The reason for the change was not that the 10th day of October was believed to be the birthday of St. Evodius, but that in the years last mentioned the Dedication of the church of Rouen, which falls on the Kalends of October, was celebrated with an Octave, which was not done in the years 1578 and 1585: and the 9th day of October, sacred to SS. Dionysius, Rusticus and Eleutherius, was celebrated as a feast among the people: wherefore the feast of Evodius, which had by no means been wont to be kept with a like rite, although he is believed to have died on the 8th day of October, was transferred to the tenth day of the same month.

[16] and they read only one proper Lesson in his Office; Further, the Missal of the year 1585, as it presents a Mass proper to St. Evodius at the 8th day of July, so also on the 8th day of October it presents the Mass Statuit to be recited in his honour; but the Prayer, Secret and Postcommunion alone are proper to St. Evodius; namely the same ones which I have already transcribed at number 14. The Breviary of the year 1736, however, presents only a single Lesson proper to St. Evodius, which, taken from Le Cointe's Annals of the Franks at the year 544, runs thus: Evodus, devoted from boyhood to the church of Rouen, succeeded in the episcopal see Innocent, who had had St. Victricius as predecessor. Conspicuous for the fame of his holiness, he died at Andely, whence his body was carried back to Rouen, to be buried in the Greater church. Together with the bones of St. Victricius it was translated to Braine, a town of the Suessiones. The place, obscure before, was so made illustrious by the fame of miracles that, by the frequent gathering of men who flocked there, it was afterwards enlarged and increased by its inhabitants. In the twelfth century a monastery of canons was built there, distinguished by the name of St. Evodus, in whose basilica his bones are honoured with the greatest veneration. The Breviary of Rouen of the year 1627 presents a somewhat longer lesson on St. Evodius; but the one which came out in the year 1578 presents nine lessons, which, since they reproduce only a mutilated form of the Acts, receive supplemented from elsewhere, yet to be corrected in this, as I advised above, that they make Evodius contemporary in age with Clothar I, king of the Franks, contrary to the ones just mentioned. They run thus.

[17] but formerly nine, First. There was in that time in which Clothar, son of the renowned king of the Franks Louis (that is, Clovis I), held the sceptre, a certain man named Florentinus, descended from the most noble and most valiant race of the Franks: endowed with all sagacity and industry and an abundance of all things, he was strong also, adorned in every way with the religion of holy Christianity. Second. Having moreover obtained, at the exhortation of noble friends, a wife lofty in birth, abounding in riches and means, he remained with her a long time with all honour and chaste union. They therefore besought the Lord with assiduous prayers, that they might so pass through the temporal goods granted them by Him as not to lose the eternal. Third. Accordingly, by the disposition of the grace of God, his wife, named Celina, conceived and bore a son, to whom they gave the name Evodus: who in the seven degrees of baptism comprehended the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. His boyhood years being passed, he is handed over to learned and wise men to be imbued with sacred letters. And he, by God's favour, advanced in ecclesiastical nurture beyond the rest of the throng of his companions.

[18] Fourth. For in the city of Rouen, that he might render devoted service to almighty God, which are presented, he is handed over by his parents to be brought up. Where, conducting himself holily and justly, adorned with many virtues, he shone forth before all. For he was most pious and conspicuous in all sweetness: cheerful of countenance, with shining eyes, gentle in words, excelling in virginity, most beautiful in body, comely of stature, filled with all goodness. Fifth. He imitated the simplicity of the dove, and the astuteness of the serpent, according to the Lord's precept. Because neither simplicity without astuteness, nor astuteness without simplicity ought to be in us. And how both are to be held the Apostle intimates to us, saying: I would have you wise in good, and simple in evil. Sixth. He walked also with his loins girt with chastity, and toiling in the works of good deeds. Holding a lamp in his hands, he showed the lamp to his neighbours. His will was in the law of the Lord day and night. He frequently wore the thresholds of the churches: and going over with most intent mind the things that were recited there, like a most prudent bee he stored up for himself the flowers of sacred Scripture.

[19] Seventh. Meanwhile it happened that the archprelate of Rouen departed from this world, they were wont to recite. and that the people remained bereft of the support of a pastor: in fine, the unanimous intention of the clergy and people acclaimed that blessed Evodus would be worthy of the pontificate: who, as he went before all in good deeds, so it was fitting also that he should excel all in rank of honour. Eighth. This every sex, this every age, this the will of all adjudged ought to be done: that a Man of such great merit should become their ruler, who would nourish them with the teaching of the right way. By the prompting of the Godhead, therefore, the unanimous cry of the whole people came to the royal ears: namely, that blessed Evodus should be set over them in the pontificate. Ninth. And the king, hearing these things and understanding that the Saint would be worthy of so great an honour, most willingly gave assent to their will. The most blessed Euodus is therefore elected, invested * with the honour of the pontificate, and, all acclaiming on this side and that, with unanimous vow he is led to the see of Rouen with harmonious voices of praise. What is lacking here I supply from the single Lesson of the Breviary of Rouen of the year 1627: When he had administered this episcopal office for seven years with the highest praise, renowned for holy works he fell asleep in the Lord, and was buried at Rouen in the Greater church dedicated under the title of the Virgin Mother of God. At his dead body light was restored to four blind persons, and many other miracles took place, by which God made illustrious the holiness of His Servant. But this above all is to be remembered: that on the very day of the funeral thirty accused persons, who, shut up in the public prison, had commended themselves to his prayers, their chains having been loosed and the doors having opened of their own accord, were wonderfully led out thence.

[20] At Troyes too, in the monastery of St. Loup, Evodius seems to have obtained sacred cult; Relics of St. Evodius in the monastery of St. Loup, in which I read in Camuzat, on the Antiquities of Troyes, in the Historical Miscellanies, page 300, that some part of his relics was preserved; where he also reports an instrument of this kind concerning an inspection of them made in the year 1496: In the year 1496, on the day of the Apostles Simon and Jude, in the presence of me, Jacques Guenin, priest, of Lycey in the diocese of Langres, curate of Novella and of Lassicuria, chaplain of the chaplaincy of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the church of Troyes, notary public by Apostolic authority, Brother Nicolas Foriot, doctor of sacred Theology, abbot of this church of St. Loup, there being present the brothers Oudin Porree, claustral Prior and of Longsol, Pierre Adelin of Lanis

at the wood, Jean Saget, provost, and Pierre Lespagnol, treasurer, visited the relics of Blessed Euodius and replaced them in the old reliquary, just as he found them, which ancient reliquary he replaced in this great reliquary, to the glory of God and of the aforesaid most glorious confessor. Signed, Guenin.

[21] and mention among the Martyrologists. I have found nothing more concerning the deeds or cult of St. Evodius: it remains that I present in a few words some Martyrologists who make mention of him. Galesini, from Démocharès, at the 8th day of October has thus: At Rouen, of saint Euodius, bishop and confessor. Molanus in the Additions to Usuard: At Rouen, of blessed Euodius, bishop of the aforesaid city and confessor. The Roman Martyrology: At Rouen, of St. Euodius, bishop and confessor. In the Annotations Baronius says that he succeeded Innocent about the year 422. Similar things concerning him at the same day are found in the German Martyrology, in Ghini, and in Chastelain in the Universal Martyrology, where he calls him in French S. Yvoize, but notes that at Braine he is called S. Yved, and that he died in the fifth century. Du Saussay, after his manner, is somewhat more prolix: At Rouen, of St. Evodius, bishop and confessor. He, most learned in the divine oracles, distinguished in prudence, innocence, piety, modesty, and excelling in the firmness of a pontifical mind, presided over the church with great fruit of souls; and, successor of saint Gildard (rather, more probably, of Innocent), the place which he found adorned with holiness he left, by the rays of his own holiness, to Flavius (rather to Silvester), who followed him in the prelacy. All these mention St. Evodius at the same day on which he is believed to have died, namely the 8th day of October, which was formerly sacred to him at Rouen. But the author of the Martyrology of Rouen, published in the year 1670, at the 10th day of October, on which he is now venerated at Rouen for the reason brought forward at number 15, announces Evodius at Andely, the place where he died, thus: In the territory of the Vexin, at Andely, the deposition of saint Evodus, archbishop of Rouen and confessor; which announcement was then recently added to the Martyrology of Rouen, as the sign prefixed to it indicates. Him the author of the Martyrology of Paris has followed, writing likewise at the 10th day of October thus: At Andelagum (that is, Andely) on the Seine, of St. Evodius, bishop of Rouen. He adds in the margin: About CCCCXXX. We, in referring Evodius to this day, have followed the Roman Martyrology, after our custom.

* Perhaps: functurus about to be invested?

ACTS

From a Rouen manuscript.

By an Anonymous Author.

Evodius, bishop and confessor, at Rouen in Normandy. (S.)

BHL Number: 2798

By an anonymous author.

The author's prologue. Being about to write the Life of the most blessed confessor Evodius, I invoke the Spirit who dwelt in him, that He Himself may grant me the faculty of writing, who not only makes the tongues of infants eloquent, but even loosens the mouths of brute animals into words. For it is very fitting that the deeds of the Saints be set before the faithful peoples for imitation, so that, following their footsteps, they may be able to obtain the eternal rewards together with them. But what does it profit to take in the deeds of the elect with the ear of the flesh, unless we also study to bring them to completion by fulfilling them? Let us therefore imitate those who were once like us on the side of the flesh, so that we too may be confirmed to their likeness in eternal blessedness. For the supernal charity of Christ, by whom the stars are made to alternate, has never ceased to minister to His holy Church, through the merits of His elect, great wonders of power, which it is very unworthy to pass over in silence, but rather to publish excellently: for it is the praise of God when these things are narrated. For the Lord is praised when His servants are glorified. Leaving these things, then, let us come to the narration.

[2] There was, in that time in which Chlothar, son of the renowned king of the Franks Louis, held the sceptre ^a, Evodius, born of a noble family, a certain man named Florentinus, descended from the most noble and most valiant race of the Franks, endowed with all sagacity and industry and an abundance of all things, adorned also in every way with the religion of holy Christianity. He was strong in the flower of youth, adorned with the flowers of many virtues, of humility and patience, of piety and mercy. Having moreover obtained, at the exhortation of noble friends, a wife lofty in birth, in riches and means, he remained with her a long time with all honour and chaste union: they therefore besought the Lord with assiduous prayers, that they might so pass through the temporal goods granted them by Him as not to lose the eternal. Accordingly, by the disposition of the grace of God, his wife, named Celima ^b, conceived and bore a son, to whom they gave the name Evodius, who in the seven degrees of baptism comprehended the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

[3] His boyhood years moreover being passed, he is handed over to men to be imbued with sacred letters, and devoted to the ecclesiastical state, and he, by God's favour, advanced in ecclesiastical nurture beyond the rest of the throng of his companions, and began to be strong in chant, to shine with charity, to bloom with chastity, to flash with eloquence, to walk adorned with all prudence: for in the city of Rouen ^c, that he might render to almighty God the service of a devoted heart, he is handed over by his parents to the church to be brought up; where, conducting himself holily and justly, adorned with many virtues, he shone forth before all. For the man of God, saint Evodius, was most pious and conspicuous in all sweetness, cheerful of countenance, with shining eyes, gentle in words, excelling in virginity, most beautiful in body, comely of stature, filled with all goodness. He imitated the simplicity of the dove and, according to the Lord's precept ^d, the astuteness of the serpent; because neither simplicity without astuteness, nor astuteness without simplicity ought to be in us: and how both are to be held the Apostle intimates to us, saying: "I would have you wise in good, and simple in evil ^e." He walked also with his loins girt with chastity, and toiled in the works of good deeds; holding a lamp in his hands, he ministered light to his neighbours.

[4] as he flourished in every kind of virtue, His will was in the law of the Lord day and night; he frequently wore the thresholds of the churches, and going over with most intent mind the things that were recited there, like a most prudent bee he stored up the flowers of sacred Scripture; he prayed continually for heavenly gifts, he besought with assiduous contrition of heart for the salvation of the people whom Christ redeemed with His precious blood; he fasted also very often, and if ever it happened that he took food, he was content with a little bread and salt, with frequent drinking of water. If ever it happened that he saw a hungry man, he refreshed him most abundantly, and gave drink to the thirsty. He gave himself also to almsgiving, he relieved the need of the wretched, clothing the naked, warming the cold, soothing the sick too by visiting them with most wholesome consolation. If he saw anyone mourning, he consoled him with sweet address; he was the advocate of widows and orphans in all things, and succoured those oppressed by debt with fitting help. He was, like another Job, the father of the poor; he was an eye to the blind, feet to the lame, and in all things showed himself of one mind with them.

[5] as prelate of the people of Rouen Shining with these and such good virtues, Evodius was pleasing both to God and to men: meanwhile it happened that the archprelate of Rouen ^f departed from this world and that the people remained bereft of the support of a pastor; in fine, the unanimous intention of the clergy and people acclaimed that blessed Evodius would be worthy of the pontificate, who, as he went before all in good deeds, so it was fitting also that he should excel all in rank of honour; this every sex, every age, this the will of all adjudged ought to be done, that a Man of such great merit should become their ruler, who would nourish them with the teaching of the right way. By the prompting of the Godhead, therefore, the unanimous cry of the whole people came to the royal ears, namely that blessed Evodius should be set over them in the pontificate: and the king ^g, hearing these things and understanding that the Saint would be worthy of so great an honour, most willingly gave assent to their will. The most blessed Evodius is therefore elected, invested * with the honour of the pontificate, all acclaiming on this side and that with unanimous vow, and he is led to the see of Rouen with harmonious voices of praise.

[6] ordained, no less by the virtues At his entry, then, how great an exultation took hold of the hearts of the whole people the skill of scarcely any orator's eloquence could relate; for the people of mixed sex and age rendered praises to God most high, and the clerics, like good sheep, sported with one another for the pastor bestowed on them by God from heaven: for truly blessed is the people which deserved to receive from God such a pastor and patron, who being raised up on the chair, because it had received such and so great a priest *. In fine, placed on the throne, how he showed himself toward all scarcely anyone could explain. For he was bright of countenance, but brighter of mind; sweet in speech, most gentle in conversation. The excellent pastor went before the flock committed to him; the most blessed Pontiff strove toward Christ, to whom he desired that the whole flock committed to him should come: for so great a charity about him did he exercise toward all, that, though placed on earth, he dwelt in the heavenly places: for whatever he enjoined on his disciples to be avoided, he judged was not to be done in his own deeds: there was in his speech a learned exposition, in his face an angelic vision, and in his dispensing too there shone forth a most generous grace of humanity. He laid up treasures in heaven, where he might find them, when, freed from earthly things, he should begin to live more happily among the heavenly; for he loved God with all his heart and strength and his neighbour as himself, spurning all things except what was divine grace. He did not indeed neglect almsgiving among his other virtues; wherefore the Scripture testifies: As water fire, so alms ^h extinguished the sins of human frailty, if any were in him.

[7] One day when many poor people had come to him by his own and asked for alms, Evodius, the man of God, learned through his ministers that he had no more than two gold coins: he orders the purse to be brought, and invoked Jesus with silent prayer; immediately the divine power was present in the purse, the gold increased, and so great a sum of coins was found there as the crowd of the poor that stood before the doors. He easily performed this who for forty years fed the Israelite multitude in the desert. Nor indeed is it a wonder if that renowned craftsman who extended the sun with its ray when called upon by His faithful little servant poured gold into a purse, so that the things which He did for His Servant might become known in the world. And when a certain Lenten season came, no one can relate what crosses, what punishments he imposed on himself, to how great maceration he gave himself, namely in the pursuit of prayer, in the address of holy preaching, in fasts, in vigils, in the largeness of alms and in manifold exercises of virtues. He awaited holy Easter with spiritual joy; and on the fifth day of the week, of the Lord's Supper, the absolution of the people having been faithfully completed, putting on the sacred vestments together with the throng of clerics he consecrated the holy oil and the chrism with balsam; on which day, a multitude of priests arriving, who belonged to ⁱ the parishes subject to the church of Rouen, so that each might carry the oil with the chrism to the church committed to him, his ministers, less cautious, without the order of the archprelate gave them all the liquid of the chrism, except what had been placed in an ampulla for reserving. On the Saturday, therefore, while the holy archprelate Evodius was celebrating the solemnities of Mass, the hour came for completing the sacrament of baptism, and he ordered the pyx of the chrism to be shown to him, and when it was presented by the acolyte, the power of Jesus Christ the Lord magnificently made known to the people of how great merit the same Prelate was held to be with Him.

[8] For there was brought to him by his parents, from infancy

a mute boy, than by prodigies, for whom, prostrate on the ground, he besought the clemency of almighty God, and when he had raised himself from the pavement, taking the consecrated chrism in his hands, he let it down with his finger into his mouth, and anointed his tongue with the sign of the cross; and he immediately spoke in the hearing of the people, and magnified with the voice of exultation the greatness of almighty God: and the people, hearing and seeing these things, were filled with joy, and were strengthened more and more in the faith. God performed also other innumerable miracles through His Servant, which on account of their excessive length, lest I cause weariness to the hearers, are passed over by us. For when he was asked on behalf of the possessed, and he, on account of boasting about himself, pretended to be busy ^k, overcome at last by pity he would order them to be brought to him, and merely by making the sign of the cross over them, without any touch, he restored them to their former health. In his absence many, signed with the pastoral staff which he was accustomed to carry in his hand, the demons being immediately put to flight, were restored to health. For if any sick person had taken away anything from his bed, it was a present remedy for those suffering from fever.

[9] some of which Moreover, for those oppressed with various infirmities too, Evodius, the most holy man of God, obtained the help of salvation in the name of almighty God with the power of prayer. At a certain time also it happened that, the city of Rouen having been set on fire, the conflagration threatened the destruction of almost the whole city. The citizens, seeing this, quickly fled to him, asking him to beseech the mercy of God that they might be delivered from so great a ruin. And he, going to the place where the fire was most violent, poured out a prayer with tears, and, the sign of the cross being made against the flames, the fire was so extinguished by the power of the Lord that it immediately failed like smoke. While blessed Evodius, Pontiff of God, was glowing with such and so great virtues, the time came at which the loving Lord, rendering the reward of the labours of His Servant, would call him from the present world to Himself.

[10] are here enumerated, For the same Saint had gone to Andely ^l, a village of his diocese, desiring to know how the clerics dwelling there were fulfilling the ecclesiastical office. Where, having stayed for some little time, struck by a slight fever, he suddenly began to be deprived of his bodily strength. The holy Man at once understood that the time of his departure was imminent, and having called together a multitude of the clergy and people, he exhorted them not to stray at all from the faith of Christ, but to give their effort to fulfilling His commandments, to persevere in acts of almsgiving and piety, to relieve the necessities of the wretched, to toil at visiting the sick, to give themselves day and night to holy prayers, to keep before all things the love of God and of neighbour, and that what one does not wish to suffer from another, he should not himself do to anyone; but doing what the Lord commanded in the Gospel: what you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. Likewise then all, raising their voices to the stars, cried out with great sobs, saying: Why do you desert us, holy Father? We earnestly ask that you not desert us, lest, having lost you our pastor, we be attacked by the bites of wolves. But he, signing with his hand that they should be silent, when silence had at length been made, received the Eucharist with great cheerfulness of mind, and, while all were weeping, answered only this with his voice: Farewell in peace, my dearest little sons, my bowels.

[11] living and dead he has flourished. When he had said this, fortifying himself with the sign of the cross he delivered his blessed soul into the hands of the angels, to live with Christ for ever. Then accordingly the people, wrapping the most holy body honourably in all-silk cloths, laid it on a bier, and noble men of the clergy and people, raising it, carry it to the city of Rouen to be entombed in the church of the ever-blessed Virgin, with a great choir of psalm-singers; and at the very entrance of the city thirty accused persons were held, bound with iron chains, who, learning that the body of the holy Man was being brought there, besought the clemency of the Saviour that He would show in them the merit of His Confessor. Presently, as they prayed, both the chains were broken and the doors of the prison were unbarred, and so, freed, they resounded thanks to God. There were healed also in the church four blind and eighteen lame. And the Saint of God was buried in the church of blessed Mary ever Virgin, where the episcopal see is ^m, with great jubilation of praise; whose falling asleep in Christ took place on the eighth day before the Ides of October; who with the eternal Father, etc.

ANNOTATIONS.

* Perhaps functurus about to be invested?

* Is something missing?