ON ST. OLLA, VIRGIN, NEAR CAMBRAI IN SECOND BELGICA,
Perhaps in the tenth, eleventh or twelfth century.
SYLLOGE.
Her memory in the sacred Fasti, and her cult.
Olla, virgin, near Cambrai in Second Belgica. (S.)
BY C. B.
Molanus, in the Natal days of the Saints of Belgium, announces St. Olla today thus: In the territory of Cambrai, the natal festivity of St. Olla, virgin; The Saint, who today by Molanus and others who was born and lived in a village which is near Cambrai on the road to Arras, and which even today takes its name from her; and then he subjoins: "On the same day," has the Martyrology of the church of Cambrai, "the festivity of St. Olla, virgin." Likewise that of Arras: "In the territory of Cambrai, the natal day of St. Olla, virgin." From which it appears that the Saint is of Cambrai; and she has a church named after her not far from Cambrai on the road to Arras, which is also frequented by the people of Cambrai; but it is still hidden from me whether her body either rests there or once rested there. To Molanus are added Galesini, Miraeus, Chastelain and Du Saussay, who also commemorate the same holy Virgin today in the sacred Fasti compiled by them. And Galesini indeed most probably drew his notice of her from the Martyrology of the church of Cambrai, which Molanus praises in the words just now recited. Certainly in the Annotations which he added to his Martyrology he cites for St. Olla the tables of the Saints of the church of Cambrai. Nor do I doubt that Miraeus likewise drew either from a document of this kind or from the words of Molanus just transcribed here what in the Belgian Fasti
and Burgundian he supplies today about St. Olla, writing thus: She was born and lived in a village neighbouring the city of Cambrai, on the road to Arras, which takes its name from her; and there is a church dedicated to her name.
[2] is celebrated by hagiologists in the sacred Fasti compiled by them, But as regards Chastelain and Du Saussay, the former indeed celebrates St. Olla today in these few words: Near Cambrai, of St. Olla, virgin; and so he most probably followed Ferrari, who commemorates our Saint at this day in plainly the same manner in his General Catalogue of the Saints, the announcements of Molanus and Galesini, whom he praises, being slightly changed; but what is now to be said of the latter, that is Du Saussay? He today in the Gallican Martyrology adorns St. Olla with the following elogium: On the same day, in the district of Cambrai, of St. Olla, virgin, who, patroness of the place in which she rests and is venerated, repays to her fellow-countrymen a perennial return for the birth which she took thence, bestowing on them by her suffrages the gifts which she obtained with Christ by her merits; but since he thus indicates that St. Olla rests in the chapel or church named after her not far from Cambrai, as Molanus teaches in the words transcribed above, he certainly did not learn this either from Molanus or from the other hagiologists mentioned above. For these do not supply even a word from which you might conclude that St. Olla rests in that place, and Molanus signifies not obscurely that he does not know whether the Saint either rests there or ever rested there. But since it is so, whence then did Du Saussay ascertain that the Saint rests in the chapel or church named after her not far from Cambrai? That indeed I cannot say, unless perhaps he received the matter either from tables of the church of Cambrai unknown to me, or gathered it by conjecture drawn from the cult which the Saint enjoys there.
[3] For neither are any Acts of St. Olla found, by whose help I might do it; nor is she known better from elsewhere than from these, and although, besides the hagiologists praised above, there are still others who also commemorate St. Olla today in the sacred Fasti compiled by them; these nevertheless make absolutely no mention of the place in which the Saint rests, nor could I find any other documents which either do so or furnish any other notice of St. Olla in any way worthy of note. Meanwhile I most diligently turned over to this end all the writers extant with us who treat of the affairs of Cambrai; but I lost oil and labour. These supply absolutely nothing by which either the Saint herself, or the place in which she rests, or any other things pertaining to her, might become better known than from the hagiologists praised above. Hence, in so great a scarcity of literary monuments treating aptly of St. Olla, I took care to write to Cambrai to the most illustrious lord Mutte, most skilled in historical matters and especially in those which pertain to the archdiocese of Cambrai, hoping for a fuller notice of St. Olla from that most sagacious man; but he, having said beforehand that not much light was to be expected about St. Olla, subjoined only these few things in answer: The chapel or little building under the invocation of St. Olla is a chapel of ease of the parish church of St. Aubert of Sailly. That chapel and the village which have their name from St. Olla lie beside the ancient Roman road which leads from Cambrai to Arras, only a quarter of a league from Cambrai.
[4] [she enjoys an ecclesiastical cult, and died in the tenth century or one of the two following.] Thus he. And partly from these words of his, partly from those of Molanus transcribed above, everyone will gather that our Saint enjoys an ecclesiastical cult and further enjoyed it of old; but what is to be said of the rest of what pertains to her? Truly it is clear enough and more than enough from what has already been said that almost all these things are unknown, and that it is even to be doubted whether the Saint rests in the chapel named after her; and although it seems that we should assent to Molanus, who affirms in the words transcribed above that the Saint was both born into the world and lived in the village named after her even today, yet the time at which she was born and then migrated from this life to the Lord is altogether in obscurity for lack of monuments to betray it; but although it is so, I nevertheless wrote above in the margin Perhaps in the tenth, eleventh or twelfth century, thus indicating, namely, that our Saint died either in the tenth century or in one of the two following; and I thought it should be done so because, since she is not mentioned by the classical martyrologists who flourished in the ninth century, I think her later than that century, and probably earlier than the thirteenth century, since otherwise, as appears, more things about her would be ascertained.