ON ST. NUNCIUS, CONFESSOR, IN THE COUNTY OF NAMUR,
PERHAPS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
Account of his cult and relics.
Nuncius, confessor, in the county of Namur. (S.)
BY C. B.
The monastery of Hastière, of the Order of St. Benedict, which was founded, as it appears, in the 9th or 10th century, The Saint, who was buried at Hastière, which the nuns of St. Glodesindis of Metz held for some time, as the Chronicle of Waulsort in d'Achery witnesses, and which, these having been removed from there, was transferred to secular priests and afterwards to monks, and thereafter obeyed the same abbot as the monastery of Waulsort, distant from it only one mile, is situated in the county of Namur, at an almost equal interval between Dinant and Charlemont, towns of the diocese of Liège, on the right bank of the Meuse. In the church of that sacred retreat, which, before it was handed over to the nuns, was occupied by clerics, as the spurious charter of the foundation of the same retreat, which I shall mention below, reveals, or at Hastière, St. Nuncius obtained burial. So, namely, the constant tradition of the place has it, and further Molanus in the Index of the Saints of Belgium, and likewise also in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium the same Molanus, or rather (for these, since he had already died in the year 1583, came out only in the year 1595) Peter Louwius from Molanus's Notes (see Miræus in the Codex Donationum Piarum, page 84 at the end), not obscurely reveals, inasmuch as he announces the Saint today in that place at Hastière thus, from the rescript of Paul Thonon, sub-prior of Hastière, which he found among the said Notes of Molanus: In the basilica of the blessed Mother of God at Hastière, the deposition of St. Nuncius, confessor. He was, as is said, the son of a certain king, but from desire of eternal life fed swine, and received deposition at Hastière.
[2] But that the body of the Saint, which, buried at Hastière, had been preserved there, as everyone will easily gather from what is to be said below, for several centuries, and long after, translated from there to Waulsort was at length carried from there to Waulsort after the disaster inflicted on the monastery of Hastière by the Calvinists in the year 1568, and was preserved there in the year 1595, in which he was writing these things, Molanus, or, if you prefer, Peter Louwius, today clearly teaches us in the eulogy of St. Nuncius, or rather in the further account which he subjoins to the announcement of the Saint just given. Miræus indeed, in the Belgian and Burgundian Fasti, which, although they do not show the year in which they appeared, were nevertheless most probably published in the year 1622, in which their dedication and approbation are signed, writes thus today: The body … of St. Nuntius still rests at Hastière; but although this writer thus seems in some way to oppose Molanus here, yet Gazet in the Ecclesiastical History of Belgium, page 311, supports Molanus or Peter Louwius, as also Fisen at this day in the Flowers of the church of Liège, printed in the year 1647, and John Baptist de Marne in the History of the county of Namur, which appeared in the year 1754, page 88; of whom the penultimate affirms that the body of St. Nuncius was carried from Hastière to Waulsort at the time when the monastery of Hastière had been almost destroyed by the atrocity of wars and the impiety of heretics, and the last in the year 1568, in which, as he says, most of the sacred relics that were kept at Hastière were profaned and burned by the Calvinists, having made an irruption into the region.
[3] and is kept there today, Moreover, all the things which Molanus records in the above-cited account of our Saint, and hence also what he writes about the body of St. Nuncius having been translated from Hastière to Waulsort after the disaster inflicted on the monastery of Hastière by the Calvinists in the year 1568, he drew, as he himself reveals in the title prefixed to the same account, from the rescript or letters of the above-mentioned Thonon; and since these, as it is easy to gather from what has been said, were written by Thonon to Molanus, who died in the year 1583, and he undoubtedly, since, as follows from this, he was living at the very time of the disaster inflicted on the monastery of Hastière by the Calvinists in the year 1568, most probably had thoroughly ascertained what he wrote to Molanus about the body of St. Nuncius having been translated from Hastière to Waulsort after it, it follows as a consequence that the latter, committing this to writing in the aforesaid account, wins greater credence for himself than Miræus, and would further win it even if this writer were expressly to assert, which however he does not do, that the body of St. Nuncius was never carried from Hastière to Waulsort. But since Miræus only insinuates that the body of St. Nuncius was still resting at Hastière in the year 1622, in which, as I said, he most probably published the cited Fasti, there will perhaps be someone who will opine that, after it had been carried from Hastière to Waulsort in the year 1568, it was brought back to the latter monastery before the year 1622. Certainly I myself, when I had read Molanus and Miræus, of whom the former reveals that the body of St. Nuncius was preserved at Waulsort in the year 1595, and the latter at Hastière in the year 1622, at first suspected this, in order to bring both these writers into concord; but having seen what Chastelain, de Marne and Raissius relate, I laid aside that suspicion and judged Miræus to have strayed from the truth. For since Raissius in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium, which he published in the year 1628, pages 225 and 542, Chastelain in his Universal Martyrology, printed in the year 1709, and finally de Marne in the History of the County of Namur, which appeared in the year 1754, page 88, affirm that the body of St. Nuncius is preserved or rests at Waulsort, it appears indubitable that it was preserved there in the year 1622 also, and further is preserved there today, and was never brought back from there to Hastière.
[4] But although this is so, the Saint is certainly venerated both in this latter monastery in those two and other places of the diocese of Namur and at Waulsort. And indeed Molanus affirms in the above-mentioned account of our Saint that this is done every year, at Hastière with the highest, and at Waulsort with an Office of twelve Lessons, on the sixth day before the Nones (in the Index of the Saints of Belgium, printed in the year 1583, he has more correctly the sixth day before the Ides) of October, presently also adding: On which day to have done any work in the ban of Hastière is wont to be a sin unheard of in its greatness. But now that charity has grown cold, although he is still much celebrated by the inhabitants and neighbours, as the frequent imposition of his name in Baptism also witnesses; and since Molanus, as no one will fail to gather from what has been said above, learned all these things from Thonon's rescript or letters, and he certainly had thoroughly ascertained with what cult the Saint was honoured at Hastière and Waulsort, there is indeed no doubting that the Saint is truly venerated, or at least was once venerated, at Hastière and Waulsort, as Molanus says. Nor only in those two monasteries of the diocese of Namur, but also in other places of it the Saint enjoys ecclesiastical cult. At Namur the pious memory of Blessed Nuntius, confessor, is venerated, says du Saussay at this day in his Gallican Martyrology, and Miræus agrees with him, inasmuch as he affirms in the Belgian and Burgundian Fasti that the Saint is venerated today at Namur by the canons of the cathedral church.
[5] Moreover, in the Proper of the Saints of the diocese of Namur, which I have at hand, he is venerated today in places, an ecclesiastical Office from the common of a confessor not a bishop is prescribed to be recited today in honour of St. Nuncius, and hence I conclude that Nuncius is truly honoured with the honours of the heavenly ones at Namur in the cathedral church, and indeed in the whole diocese of Namur, and by name also in its monastery of Gembloux, where part of his skull, as Raissius teaches in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium, page 225, is religiously preserved; but whether this is likewise done outside that diocese, in the collegiate church of St. Peter at Douai, where, as the same Raissius witnesses on page 409, part of the head of St. Nuncius is kept in a silver reliquary together with some other sacred relics, I am not in a position to declare. Nor indeed is this necessarily required for our purpose; for that the Saint is venerated in the diocese of Namur is altogether certain from what has already been said, which is sufficient for us here. But although this is so, and the words of Molanus just recited also render it indubitable that he was venerated for a very long time at Hastière, yet for a long time the Saint was so little known outside the county of Namur that his name is not found in any Auctaria of Usuard older than Molanus, still less in the classical Martyrologies.
[6] Molanus undoubtedly knew this, and since he had nevertheless learned that Nuncius was venerated at Hastière and elsewhere in the diocese of Namur, he therefore, in the later editions of his Usuardine Martyrology, which came out in the year 1573 and the year 1583, and, inscribed in some more recent Sacred Fasti, by Fisen marked the Saint today in these words: At Hastière, of St. Nuncius, confessor; and Molanus, who, as we have seen above, also celebrates St. Nuncius today in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium, was afterwards followed by Miræus in the Belgian and Burgundian Fasti, Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, and Chastelain in his Universal Martyrology; but all these commemorate the Saint almost only in very few words. Nor is there any reason why this should seem strange to anyone. For the things which ought to be added about the life and miracles of St. Nuncius, and other things of that kind, are thought, as Molanus presently subjoins from Thonon's Rescript in his words transcribed here, num. 4, to have perished through the antiquity of the times and the injuries of wars, since there were nuns at Hastière, and it is likely that more perished, they themselves migrating to Metz and carrying their records away with them. And since this is so, the cited martyrologists most probably found scarcely anything sufficiently ascertained with which to celebrate the Saint. Fisen indeed, who likewise records the Saint today in the Flowers of the church of Liège, does so with some sort of eulogy, framed in somewhat more words too; but the things which he relates in it are either drawn from the account of the Saint which I have already partly given from Molanus, or certainly appear to be of such a kind as by no means to merit undoubted credence.
[7] he is also adorned with a eulogy transcribed here, I transcribe the whole of it here, adding afterwards the things by which it may become plain how uncertain and doubtful some of the things it comprises are. It runs thus: Born of an illustrious family, he (namely St. Nuncius) wished to be enrolled among the clergy which once inhabited Hastière. Leading there a life distinguished for holiness, he is said to have acted as swineherd, so that he might attain among those above a summit of glory the loftier as he had cast himself down among men to the viler things. The things which ought to be added about his life and miracles, and other things of that kind,
are thought to have perished through the antiquity of the times and the injuries of wars, when virgins, who had succeeded the clergy, held Hastière; and it is likely that more perished, the same migrating to Metz and carrying the commentaries of the household away with them; namely when Hastière, joined to Waulsort, began to be inhabited by monks. At what time Nuncius passed to eternal happiness is by no means ascertained by us; this however is certain, that it was before the six hundred and fifty-sixth year, in which, namely, the clergy having been dismissed, Hastière was granted to virgins. Our forefathers observed his birthday with such religion that they judged it a sin, almost unheard of in its very greatness, to have violated it by profane work. His sacred body was preserved at Hastière through the lapse of so many centuries, until, the monastery having been almost destroyed by the atrocity of wars and the impiety of heretics, it was carried away to Waulsort.
[8] in which he is asserted to have died before the year 656; To our Saint, whom Molanus, in the words transcribed here, num. 1, makes the son of a king, Fisen, both here and in the History of Liège, page 108, where he also speaks of him, attributes only nobility of race in general; but not even so does he merit greater credence than Molanus. Molanus indeed, by adding the words as is said, declares that what he says rests only on the untrustworthy report of the common people; but Fisen has nothing at all on his side that is better than report or popular tradition. For he alleges no ancient writer or monument of good repute in which even the nobility of race which he attributes to the Saint in general is founded, nor could he even allege one. Wherefore it is equally uncertain and doubtful whether the Saint was noble of race as whether he was the son of a king. Nor is it certain either that St. Nuncius departed this life before the year 656. Fisen indeed pronounces the contrary without doubting in the eulogy already given. But he does this only because he thought that in that year nuns were substituted in the monastery of Hastière for the clerics who had previously occupied it, and that our Saint had lived and further ended his life among these before this was done. And the first indeed, namely that nuns were substituted for clerics in the monastery of Hastière in the year 656 or still earlier, would have to be said if the charter of the foundation of that sacred retreat, dated in the year 656, which is extant in Miræus in the Collection of Diplomas and in Gramaye in the Antiquities of the county of Namur, were genuine.
[9] But this charter, which most clearly reveals that in the year 656, in which it is noted as given, or still earlier, nuns had already been established in the monastery of Hastière, but although this is by no means certain, the clerics who had previously occupied it having been removed, the above-cited de Marne most evidently proves, in the historico-critical Dissertations which he added at the end of his History of Namur, page 101 and the three following, to be spurious, and hence unfit for establishing this matter; and since this is so, and no other document is found that is of a nature to suggest that nuns were substituted for clerics in the monastery of Hastière in the year 656 or still earlier, it must indeed be doubtful whether this was done in fact. Moreover, even if it were otherwise, it would still be altogether uncertain whether the Saint ever lived among those clerics, since likewise no ancient document is extant by which we might be taught this. Now, since the matter stands thus, and Fisen affirms that St. Nuncius was taken from the living before the same year 656 only because he thought both that in the year 656 nuns were substituted for clerics in the monastery of Hastière and that St. Nuncius had lived and ended his life among these before this was done, it follows as a consequence from what has been said that it is surely not certain either that this had already happened at that time.
[10] And indeed, whether the Saint — whom, moreover, Molanus, and after him Fisen, without any ancient surety, write performed the office of swineherd out of lowliness of mind — and perhaps the Saint even prolonged his life until the 10th century, did not prolong his life to the end of the seventh century may not undeservedly be called into doubt, since nothing at all occurs by which the epoch of his death may be determined in any way; nay, I would not dare to pronounce one who should assert that Nuncius did not flourish even before the 10th century as certainly straying from the truth. The Writers of the augmented Gallia Christiana, volume 3, column 570, present in summary what the Chronicle of Waulsort in d'Achery, volume 7 of the Spicilegium, page 530 and following, relates, in this manner: Furthermore, in the times of Forannanus (he, of whom we have already treated in our Work at the 30th day of April, having left the see of Armagh which he occupied there, landed in Belgium from Ireland in the 10th century with twelve companions, and was set over the monastery of Waulsort as abbot), in the year 968 or 969 Hastière, the neighbouring Cell, is united to Waulsort, under the power, however, of the church of Metz, by the emperor Otto at the prayers of Count Eilbert and of Theoderic, bishop of Metz, his kinsman, to whom it belonged; and so it was brought about, with Benedict VII approving, that, the nuns who had until then remained there with a dean under the yoke and obedience of the abbess of St. Glodesindis by gift of Adalbero, bishop of Metz, having returned to the monastery of St. Glodesindis, Forannanus established four priests there, namely seculars, to celebrate the divine Offices there under the government of the abbot of Waulsort.
[11] yet I have referred his death, doubtfully, to the 7th century. What, then, if St. Nuncius followed St. Forannanus, already set over the monastery of Waulsort, from Ireland into Belgium, and was one of the four secular priests whom the latter established at Hastière, already united to Waulsort, in that place, monks being introduced only afterwards, as the Chronicle of Waulsort again witnesses in d'Achery, volume 7 of the Spicilegium, page 546, by Theoderic, abbot of Waulsort, about the beginning of the 11th century? This, which perhaps did not displease Raissius, since he calls St. Nuncius an Irish Priest in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium, page 409, will perhaps also seem to some not altogether destitute of every appearance of truth; but although it be so, and the Saint in fact perhaps lived only in the 10th century, as would follow from this, yet, because this at any rate cannot be proved to be so by any ancient document, I have indicated above in the margin, using the little word perhaps which is proper to those who doubt, that the Saint died in the seventh century, thinking that I should do so moreover both because I have found his death referred by no one to another century, and because Saints whose age is altogether uncertain are perhaps not unfittingly thought to belong to the century which, from the multitude of Saints who at that time illustrated Belgium by the splendour of their virtues, is wont to be called the Holy century of Belgium.