ON ST. VINARDUS, OR WINARDUS, CONFESSOR, NEAR LANGRES IN GAUL,
PERHAPS IN THE 8TH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The memory of the Saint in a few sacred Fasti, and those only more recent; ecclesiastical cult; the time of death uncertain; the Life attributed to him, why it is to be edited.
Vinardus, or Winardus, confessor, near Langres in Gaul. (S.)
BY C. B.
Among all the Hagiologies of various names extant in great number in our possession, [The Saint, who, inserted only in the Martyrology of Paris and the Universal one of Castellanus,] only two are found, namely the Parisian and the Universal of Castellanus, distinguished by the appellation of Martyrologies, which celebrate Vinardus or Winardus today; but although it be so, and this Saint therefore stands inserted in no sacred Fasti at all that are ancient or classic, he nevertheless rightly demands for himself a place here in our Work; for he enjoys today a certain ecclesiastical cult, as I shall show below, when I have first placed before the reader's eyes in what manner he is mentioned in the two Martyrologies just mentioned. He who composed the Parisian Martyrology, which came out into the light in the year 1727, briefly mentions St. Vinardus in it today thus: Of St. Vinardus, whose memory exists near Langres; while Castellanus, calling the Saint in French not Vinart but Guenard, does so in these following words, which I turn from the French language into Latin — Of St. Vinardus, confessor, venerated both near Langres and near Nouaillé in the district of Poitou — in the Saints of Gaul which he added in his Universal Martyrology to the present day's list of the Saints inscribed in the Roman Martyrology; but in his Additions and Corrections to that Martyrology he wishes this announcement of our Saint to be reformed in the following manner: Of St. Guenard, venerated near Nouaillé in the district of Poitou, and near Andilly, in a place of the diocese of Langres distinguished by the name of Celle, where he is called Vinardus.
[2] [he is asserted by him to be venerated also at Nouaillé, and truly also in the church of Celle] If therefore that martyrologist is to be stood by
here, it will have to be said that our Saint is honoured with ecclesiastical cult not only in a place of the diocese of Langres distinguished by the appellation of Celle, where he is called in Latin Vinardus, in French Vinart, but also at Nouaillé in the district of Poitou, where he is called in Latin Guenardus, in French Guenard. But since I have been able to find nowhere, either in the sacred Fasti or in the other books extant in our possession, though the most diligent investigation was made, a Saint who is called in French Guenard, in Latin Guenardus, and is venerated today at Nouaillé in the district of Poitou, I am truly not able to declare whence Castellanus learned that our Saint enjoys ecclesiastical cult there. But although it be so, I can assert, and that without danger of error, that he was honoured with ecclesiastical cult in a place of the diocese of Langres distinguished by the name of Celle, or, as it is written by others, Cellula, and situated six miles from the city of Langres near Andilly, more than a hundred years before the decree of Urban VIII, issued in the year 1634, that Servants of God not yet inscribed by the Church on the roll of the Saints are not to be publicly honoured; and that therefore (for it does not appear likely that what was done there then, and in the century just elapsed, as will become plain from what is to be said below, is no longer done there now) he is honoured even today.
[3] [he was venerated from antiquity, and is further venerated even today, with an ecclesiastical, in which all] For that Winardus or Vinardus was honoured with that honour in the aforesaid place of the diocese of Langres from a time preceding by as many years as I have said the decree of Urban VIII just mentioned, is most plainly proved by a copy extant in our possession, which comprises nine rather long Lessons and other parts of the ecclesiastical Office to be recited of Vinardus or Winardus, excerpted from an old manuscript codex of the church of Celle near Langres by Jacques Vignier, priest of the Society of Jesus, and transmitted to our Predecessors. He indeed does not declare of what age that manuscript codex of Celle was; but since, after the art of printing was invented in the 15th century and had in some places been already solidly established, books both spiritual or ecclesiastical and profane were accustomed no longer to be copied by hand but to be printed in type, this truly shows that that manuscript codex of the church of Celle was older than the 16th century, and therefore that the Saint, as one of whom, from what has been said, an ecclesiastical Office is contained in it, was honoured with the honour proper to the Saints, more than a hundred years before the aforesaid decree of Urban VIII, in the place of the diocese of Langres distinguished by the appellation of Celle or Cellula. Nor was St. Vinardus honoured there only, but already then in the whole of the same diocese also with an ecclesiastical Office, although in the meantime in this, contrary to what was done in the Office which Vignier copied for us from the aforesaid manuscript codex of the church of Celle, no lessons at all were recited as proper to the Saint.
[4] So, namely, the same Vignier, who did what I have said, clearly teaches us. [an Office of the common of a Confessor not Pontiff, long honoured in the diocese of Langres, in the year 1604] For after he had transcribed from that old manuscript codex of the church of Celle the nine Lessons mentioned above and other parts of the ecclesiastical Office to be recited of St. Vinardus, immediately, in the copy of them thus made by him, which is at my hand, he expressly affirms that at the 5th day before the Ides, or the 11th day of October, an Office of nine Lessons of the common of a confessor not pontiff, of St. Vinardus, confessor, is read in the old manuscript Breviaries of Langres, and therefore older than the 16th century, as everyone will gather from what has just been said. Nor is there any reason why credence should not be given him in this matter, since he no doubt received it from those Breviaries inspected by himself. Further, the Saint continued to be venerated in the diocese of Langres in the same manner, as the same Vignier presently adds, until the time when Claude de Longwy, called the Cardinal de Givry, who was snatched from the living in the year 1561, as the writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana teach in volume 4, column 635, governed the church of Langres; nor do I find that any change was introduced into the ecclesiastical Office of Vinardus before the year 1604, in which, as the praised Writers of Gallia Christiana relate in the cited volume, column 638, Charles d'Escars, bishop of Langres, reformed the Breviary of Langres; but then, as I learn from the very Breviary of Langres which is at my hand and which is noted as printed in the said year 1604 by the mandate of the bishop of Langres just praised, there were introduced into it six shorter Lessons, which are proposed to be recited as proper to Vinardus in his ecclesiastical Office at the 11th day of October.
[5] Those Lessons, before I deliver my judgment concerning them, as also concerning the nine longer Lessons mentioned above of the Office six in it, which, transcribed here in continuous series with which Vinardus is venerated in the church of Celle, or certainly was formerly venerated, from what has been said, I transcribe here in uninterrupted series. They run thus: Vinardus, son of Genitus, a Roman citizen, and of Alcia, was born in the time of the persecution inflicted on the Christian name by the emperor Decius. Him his parents, long barren after contracting marriage, obtained from the Lord by many prayers and pious works, and, reborn in the sacred font of Baptism, named him Vinardus. Seeing him endowed with good disposition and keen wit, they handed him over to Sixtus, the Roman Pontiff, to be instructed in letters and in piety and religion. Diligently taught by him, he attained no contemptible progress. And so great was his affability and his patience in bearing the insults of his contemporaries against him, that, although he was very often attacked by them, he strove to overwhelm them with benefits, mindful of the Lord's precept by which we are commanded to bless those who curse. Then, his mother having died, when his father was being consumed by anxiety over the loss of his wife, blessed Vinardus consoled him with such efficacious reasons that he took all sadness from him.
[6] [were transcribed, the Lessons, as proper to him, from the nine Lessons of the church of Celle] Afterwards the same Vinardus, asked by a certain Roman to help by his prayers his daughter, who was lying gravely ill, with a promise to receive the Christian Faith if his daughter were restored to health, having obtained this by his prayer, made him a Christian with his whole household. And since he was famous for many miracles, he is accused before Dioscorus of being a Christian and a magician. When he was being compelled by him with many threats and tortures to the sacrifices of the idols, and most constantly refused it, being afterwards sent into prison, he was divinely freed, many being converted to the faith by his constancy in asserting Religion. Afterwards, seeking Gaul, he came to a place which has the name of Cellula, six miles distant from the city of the Lingones. Where, having built a short oratory in honour of the holy Virgin and gathered some disciples, who desired to imitate his piety and religion, passing the remaining time of his life day and night in prayers, and many miracles having been wrought, he migrated glorious to Christ. Such are the six Lessons which, as proper to Vinardus, to be recited in his ecclesiastical office at the 11th day of October, were introduced into the Breviary of Langres of the year 1604; and these are certainly more recent, as everyone will gather from what has been said, than the nine lessons of the Office mentioned above, with which St. Vinardus is venerated, or certainly formerly was venerated, in the church of Celle.
[7] [concerning the Saint, compounded, he has obtained, and since these from the Lives of St. Genulph] Wherefore, since the same things are recorded in these nine as, nearly, in those six, as I find — though the dignity of bishop, which is attributed to the Saint there, is suppressed, and some other things are omitted for the sake of brevity — and since these certainly, which moreover in the title which they bear in the said Breviary are indicated to have been drawn from the ancient Tables of the church of Cellula, conflict in nothing with the said nine Lessons, I judge it beyond doubt that they were compounded from these, contraction being employed. But what is to be thought of those same nine lessons from which those other six flowed? In our Work at the 17th day of January, on which the people of Cahors in Aquitania Prima venerate St. Genulph as the first prelate of their city, we published, from two old manuscripts, the Life of this holy bishop, to which we also added another Life, written by an anonymous author, from the Fleury library of Jean du Bois. Further, as in the nine Lessons of the church of Celle concerning St. Vinardus this our Saint, so in those two Lives Genulph is narrated to have had a Father named Genitus and a mother called Aclia, to have been obtained from God by their prayers, handed over to the Pontiff Sixtus to be educated, and promoted by him through the ecclesiastical grades to the episcopate. Besides, almost all the same things which the said Lessons record of Vinardus the said Lives also record of Genulph, frequently differing from each other scarcely even in words, but almost only either in the order in which they narrate the deeds, or in the place at which the latter hold that Genulph, and the former that Vinardus, stayed with the disciples gathered by them; and since it is so, you would rightly judge that the nine Lessons of the church of Celle concerning St. Vinardus, of which we are speaking here, were compounded by contraction from the two said Lives of St. Genulph, or at least from one or the other of them.
[8] These indeed are far shorter than either of those two Lives; [are borrowed from the Lives, and therefore what they relate does not pertain to Vinardus] and when two Lives of some Saint are found, of which one is longer and the other more condensed, the longer is generally judged by the learned to have arisen from the more condensed by amplification; but you would scarcely find any Life of any Saint composed from the Lessons accustomed to be recited in his ecclesiastical office; and these for the most part, not to say always, are found to have been prepared from the Lives of the Saints, contracted into a compendium, so as to comprise many things in few words, by those who composed ecclesiastical Offices of them; and since it is so, and no Life of St. Vinardus is found, while, on the contrary, as is established from what has been said, two Lives of St. Genulph are found, most probably he who composed the ecclesiastical Office of St. Vinardus, accustomed to be recited in the church of Celle, had at hand one of these, if not the other also, which were not then commonly known everywhere; and, thinking that almost everything which is recorded in it of St. Genulph could be applied, not altogether unfittingly, to St. Vinardus, whose deeds he knew to be unknown, without any danger that a theft of this kind, of whatever sort, committed in favour of this Saint, would be detected, he put together from them, contracted into a compendium, the Lessons to be recited in that Office.
[9] That the matter was truly done so appears even from the fact that otherwise does not pertain, not even for determining the time of his death it would not seem likely that almost everything narrated of St. Vinardus in those Lessons would also be related of Genulph in his two Lives, in which, however, as we have already seen, this is done. But since, as I have already said, it is so, the things which those Lessons record are to be judged to pertain not to St. Vinardus but to St. Genulph, and therefore nothing on their credit concerning
our Saint is deservedly to be believed. Hence, although they expressly relate that Vinardus was ordained bishop by the Pontiff Sixtus, I have attributed to him not the title of bishop, but only that of confessor, moved chiefly by the authority of the church of Langres, which, as is clear from its old manuscript Breviaries cited above, venerated St. Vinardus from antiquity as a confessor not pontiff, and would better, on account of what has been said, have continued to venerate him with the same office as before the year 1604, the proper lessons which I transcribed here above at numbers 5 and 6 being omitted in it as well. Hence, although they certainly require that Vinardus — whom they reveal not obscurely to have been both born about the time of Decius and educated by Pontiff Sixtus II — be referred either to the 3rd century or to the beginning of the following one, I have preferred to refer him to the 8th century of the Christian era with Castellanus, in whose footsteps in this matter I perceive that he who composed the Parisian Martyrology, published in the year 1727, has also followed.
[10] [are suited, although meanwhile they are, for the reason adduced here, to be subjoined to this Commentary.] I do not indeed know by what reason Castellanus was moved to assign the 8th century rather than some other earlier one to St. Vinardus; but since he was not accustomed rashly either to commit anything to writing or to determine the time at which something was done, I thought I should be less exposed to error if I followed him here than if I followed the Lessons, which, since from what has been said they in no way pertain to Vinardus, are surely in no wise suited to determining the time at which he lived or died. Further, although, on account of what has been said, neither can the time of the death of Vinardus be determined, nor can anything concerning this our Saint be safely believed on the authority of those Lessons, I nevertheless append all nine of them to this Commentary under the title of a Life attributed to St. Vinardus, which I shall divide into as many numbers, adding Annotations too where the matter shall require it; and this I have seen fit to do even for this reason, that thus it will come about not only that they can easily be compared by those in whose possession our Work is, both with the two said Lives of St. Genulph and with the shorter Lessons of the Breviary of Langres transcribed here at numbers 5 and 6, but also that all and each by whom this shall have been done will certainly and clearly perceive — which chiefly bears on the matter here — that first the longer Lessons of the church of Celle flowed, or were compounded by contraction, from those two Lives of St. Genulph, or at least from one or the other of them, and then the shorter ones of the Breviary of Langres from these; and further will at the same time acknowledge that what I have said follows from this.
LIFE, ATTRIBUTED TO ST. VINARDUS,
By an anonymous author,
From an old manuscript codex of the church of Celle near Langres.
Vinardus, or Winardus, confessor, near Langres in Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 8948
By an Anonymous author.
SOLE CHAPTER
The Saint's parents, birth, pious education under the Pontiff Sixtus, ordination as bishop, miracles, tortures endured for the faith, austere life, death.
By the prayers of pious but long-barren parents In the times of the emperor Decius the persecution of the Christians raged fiercely in the city of Rome, so that almost all who confessed Christ were compelled by the aforesaid impious Augustus to sacrifice to idols, or were slain by various torments. In those days, therefore, there was a certain most Christian man, Genitus by name, sprung of noble race and illustrious lineage, secretly keeping the habit of Christianity, most devoutly giving many alms to the poor, widows, and orphans, observing that saying: Give alms, and all things are clean unto you a. He, not for love of unlawful pleasure but for the procreation of children, took according to his nobility a wife sprung of most excellent birth, named Aclia, much beloved of God; who, living together for a long time, were unable to beget * a son.
[2] And both were just, walking in the commandments and justifications of the Lord, Vinardus, obtained from God, is handed over to Pope Sixtus to be educated, each of whom poured forth prayers to the Lord that He would deign to suffuse their bowels with holy seed, so that they might be able to procreate a son. He heard their prayers, and gave a conception to the most blessed Aclia; which blessed Genitus seeing, rendered innumerable thanks to God, knowing that God was propitious to him in the fruitful offspring to be begotten. Afterwards, a most illustrious birth having been brought forth by the mother, the parents, greatly rejoicing at his birth, coming together for the washing of sacred Baptism, called the boy beloved of God by his name, Winardus. And when he had grown, all wondered at his elegant form and exceptional beauty. For when he had completed the course of a lustrum, they handed him over to blessed Sixtus, Pope of Rome, asking him to imbue the Boy with sacred disciplines, so that he might be able to follow in his footsteps as far as human power allows. The most holy man then received him with joy, and within a short space delivered to him the old and new Testament by heart.
[3] And the boy himself, supported by the divine Clemency, though in age he was a boy, excelling in sanctity, he is ordained bishop by him, was yet in morals an old man. For if any of his companions and youths reviled and beat him, he bore it patiently with great joy for the name of the Lord. Blessed Sixtus also, seeing his sanctity and patience as well, committing to him in order all the ecclesiastical grades, at last ordained him bishop. And while he was staying in the scholastic disciplines, his most blessed mother departed from the world. His father, indeed, grieving much over the death of his wife, would receive no consolation; but yet, coming to blessed Sixtus, to whom he had handed over his Son, he narrated to him the grief which he had contracted from the loss of his wife. Blessed Sixtus therefore consoled him with many words; and, consolation having now been received, he went away to his house, rendering great thanks to God for his wife, whom the Lord had now translated into His kingdom b.
[4] And hearing this, a certain man named Aclibertus c he heals a sick girl and baptizes her and her parents: came to St. Winardus and fell at his feet, saying: I beseech you, lord, to come into my house and free my daughter from the infirmity by which she is held: for if you do this, I will believe in your God. Then St. Winardus went with him and healed his daughter in the name of the Lord. And the father, seeing his daughter healed, began to beg blessed Winardus to baptize him with his wife and daughter. Many sick people, therefore, hearing of the miracles which Winardus was doing, began to come to him that he might heal them: and he cured them in the name of the Lord.
[5] Meanwhile, while these things were being done, a certain man went and announced to Dioscorus the count that two magicians had come from the parts of Rome d, who were teaching that the temples of the gods should be destroyed, the ceremonies rejected, and all the decrees of the ancient law overthrown. For they preach that one God is to be worshipped, [he is accused before Dioscorus the governor, and, brought to him, answers courageously,] whose servants also they profess themselves to be. The count, hearing these things, sent soldiers to present them before him. And when they had been brought before him, he questioned them, saying: Are you not those magicians who are subverting our city? To this blessed Winardus answered: We are not magicians, but servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the count said: Unless you sacrifice to the gods and recall all whom you have led into error, I will kill you by many torments. Then St. Winardus answered: We fear neither you nor your torments, because you can harm no further than our Lord shall permit you.
[6] [he is beaten with clubs, thrown into fire, and, remaining unharmed, baptizes many,] Then the count, moved with anger, ordered them to be beaten with clubs. But they, while they were being beaten, blessed the Lord, who strengthened them. And seeing that he could do them no harm, he ordered them to be put into a burning furnace. When they had been put into it, an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, strengthening them and cooling the fire; the furnace at once became like dew. And the people began to cry out and say: There is no God in all the earth but the God of the Christians, whom His servants Winardus and Genitus preach. But the prefect count was seized by such madness that he even blushed at their death e, and he ordered the holy Men to be drawn out of the furnace; and, seeing that he could do them no harm, he commanded iron rings to be put on their arms and that they be thrust into prison until the morrow. And as they were being led into prison, a voice came to them from heaven, saying: Be strong, O holy Men, and be comforted in the Lord; for tomorrow all the inhabitants of this city will, through your preaching, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the people begged the most holy man Winardus that they might be baptized by him. Blessed Winardus, having taken water, consecrated it, and baptized on that day more than three hundred men, besides little children and women, and preached to them that they should have peace among * f.
[7] [he comes to the place which is called Cellula, builds an oratory there, and leads an arduous life,] Afterwards, withdrawing * from there, they came into Burgundy g to the place which is called Cellula, which place is six miles distant from the city of Langres, beside a spring from which flows most sweet water. His successors, after his passing, have named that spring in his honour, under the name of the most blessed Guinardus, up to the present day. And blessed Winardus built there an oratory in honour of the most blessed Virgin Mary, and laboured day and night so that all his disciples might be able to serve God there after his departure. Religious men also, hearing what an arduous life the most blessed Winardus was leading, came to him, handing over to him their possessions, and also laying down there the hair of their heads for the name of the Lord. For, as has been inserted above, from the day of his ordination until death he did not drink wine h: he ate no bread but barley bread; and his garment was a most rough hair-shirt. Wherever he saw people at discord, he nonetheless strove to recall them to concord. And what shall I say? His life was far from that of other men i.
[8] For one day, when he had gone to cultivate the garden, where it ought to have been done, and was with his disciples k, a little beast which is commonly called a fox seized one of their hens, and, passing before him, was carrying it in its mouth; which the venerable man of God Winardus seeing, by a mere command he compels a fox to bring back a hen it had seized, said to it: O cruel little beast, why have you come to defraud the brethren of this substance, having no licence to carry off our hen? But rather return to the very place where you took it, and release it unharmed. Then it, obeying the command of the servant of God, returned to the place where it had taken the hen, and there released it safe. And returning on its way and passing before the doors of the church, trembling within itself,
it fell and expired. Whence from that time, up to the present day, no hen has been seen taken in that same place by a little beast of the aforesaid species, through the intercession of the most holy confessor Winardus; and this is not to be wondered at, but to be proclaimed with the highest reverence: for whoever does the will of the Lord can without doubt have security that he will obtain all things which he asks of the Lord l. And as the time of his migration from this light approached, calling his disciples together, he foretold to them that on the fourth day following he would depart from this world. Among other words of admonition, he commanded them, under solemn witness, not to bury his body in the church, nor to wrap it in linen sheets, but to cover the nakedness of his body with a dry hair-cloth *. And the disciples, hearing this, began to say out of excessive grief: O father, why do you desert us so soon, or why do you leave us desolate? For all of us, abandoned by you, shall be lost.
[9] The most holy Winardus, therefore, moved by these tears, having consoled his disciples and exhorted them to virtue, he dies piously. began gently to console them, saying: Do not weep, sweetest sons, do not be saddened over me: but have firm hope in the Lord, and with pure mind and sincere heart serve Him, as you have begun; and hold to the teaching which I have taught you up to now: for if you do this, know without doubt that the Lord will always be with you. And if any tribulation befall you, bear it with joy for the name of the Lord, considering His words, saying in the gospel: Those whom I love, I chastise and rebuke m. And that saying: Know that the world shall rejoice, but you shall be made sorrowful [n]. These things having been done, a voice thundered from heaven, saying: Now o, O Servant of God, hasten and come: receive the crown which the Lord has prepared for you from the beginning of the world. And so at length, the solemnities of Mass having been celebrated, and the admonition of the disciples completed, he fortified himself with the body and blood of the Lord, and, at last saying farewell to the disciples, he migrated to the Lord on the fifth day before the Ides of October, to the praise of Him who lives and reigns now and always, through infinite ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
n. John 16, verse 20.
* read gignere
* supply se
* recedentes
* perhaps solo