ON BL. WALTER, OR WALTERIUS, ABBOT AND MARTYR, OF THE CISTERCIAN ORDER, AT QUINCY IN FRANCE,
In the year 1244.
SYLLOGE.
Galterus or Galterius, abbot and M., of the Cistercian Order, at Quincy in Gaul. (Bl.)
BY M. S.
Quinciacum, say the writers of Gallia Christiana Vol. IV, col. 830., [At Quincy, of which a brief notice is given, and which is a monastery of the Cistercian Order, there flourished] of B. Mary, near Tanlay, in the Deanery of Saint-Vinnemer, two leagues from the city of Tonnerre, a monastery of the Cistercian Order of the line of Pontigny, is founded on the 11th day before the Kalends of May in the year 1133 or 1132. Celebrated in that monastery is the memory of an abbot of the same monastery, the 12th in their series, and the second of the name, Bl. Galterus, Galterius or Gualterius, who, it is agreed among authors, flourished when the thirteenth century was not yet at its middle; although about his deeds the same have committed to writing very few things, as will become evident in the course, and almost every single thing (apart from the abbatial dignity, the year of death and the ecclesiastical cult) which pertains to this Blessed man is obscure; for about his birth on earth, parents, quality of family, and the things gloriously done in the time of his government, all the records which I have consulted are silent, and they only write that he vigorously defended justice against the enemies of the Church, and was thereupon afflicted with martyrdom by them (although they do not know by what punishments in particular he was put to death). Some things indeed pertaining here are exhibited by Henriquez in a celebrated as well as lengthy elogium of Bl. Galterus, though silent about his abbatial dignity; but of what moment the things he brings forward are, since Henriquez keeps silent the source from which he drew his material, I cannot define; it seemed good, however, to exhibit it here, such as it is.
[2] [in holiness of life, Bl. Galterus, abbot, 12th in order and 2nd of the name, and inserted in the sacred] He has it thus in the Fasciculus of the Saints of the Cistercian Order part II, p. 426.: Of Bl. Gualterus, bishop of Auxerre and martyr. Blessed Gualterus, from his very youth seized with a great desire of the solitary life, despising earthly pleasures, dwelt as a monk in Quiriacum, a monastery of the Cistercian Order, with a certain admirable reputation for holiness. And he became such and so great, and was illustrious with such astounding brightness of signs and miracles, that many from various regions flowed together to him, afflicted with various infirmities, imploring help and remedy. Nor in vain; for the Most High had made His Servant illustrious with a certain heavenly power, by which he relieved the sick oppressed by whatever disease, and restored them to the health they desired. All which things the enemy of the human race bearing ill, he attacked him with various temptations, but did not prevail: for the most valiant athlete of Christ overcame all the machinations of the enemy with the shield of humility and the sword of prayer. Finally he showed in all things so excellent a specimen of virtue that, after outstanding trophies and various victories won over the prince of darkness, when the fame of his piety wandered further with admiration, he was elected to the function of the episcopal office by the common vote of the people of Auxerre.
[3] Fasti. Which dignity he administered with such outstanding gentleness and integrity of life that not even rivals could detect the least stain in him. And when all wondered at the man's doctrine, were astounded at his miracles, and looked up to his virtues, he who is a murderer from the beginning stirred up the souls of the wicked against the Holy Man, by whom at length, being killed, he merited the palm of martyrdom. But by what kind of death, or on what occasion, he was put to death, I do not know. Having further interposed the words of Barnabas de Montalvo, in which he holds the same as prelate of Auxerre, abbot of the monastery of Quincy, and Martyr, he proceeds thus: I wonder that this Saint is not reckoned among the other prelates of the church of Auxerre (of whom we have just spoken) by Jean Chenu of Bourges in his chronological History of the archbishops and bishops of Gaul. Saussay celebrates him more briefly today in his Gallican Martyrology: At Auxerre, he says, and indeed in the first place, the passion of St. Galterus, bishop, who, when he was abbot of Quincy in the territory of Langres, strong in most holy character and also in miracles, when Bernard of Sully, pontiff of Auxerre, departed from the human path, was taken up to that see: when the Man, vigorous in holy religion, asserted the course of justice against the enemies of the Church with sacerdotal zeal; held in hatred by them without cause, and direly attacked, he received the glorious crown of martyrdom, a pastor slain for his flock.
[4] But wrongly by some is he said to have sat as bishop of Auxerre, Bucelin in the Cistercian Menology, Antonio de Heredia, Barnabas de Montalvo and others copy Saussay or agree with him, whose words therefore I do not repeat: but more neatly than all these Castellanus today, and indeed at Quincy, where he certainly has ecclesiastical cult, announces our Blessed in French in his Universal Martyrology in these words: At Quincy, in Champagne, between Melun and Molesme, Blessed Valterus (more commonly Galterus or Galterius), buried in that place, is venerated both as bishop of Auxerre and as killed for the defence of ecclesiastical rights. Or, if you prefer, as a Martyr. Now I turn to investigate the ecclesiastical cult accustomed to be shown to this Blessed man at Quincy, as Castellanus asserts: but the Reader will perhaps wonder, and will ask for what reason I exhibit Bl. Galterus, whom most writers hold to have been bishop of Auxerre, deprived of this dignity in the Title? But he will without doubt cease to wonder if he hears especially the sincere opinion of M. Lebeuf, as also of the writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, and of others, by which they judge, not without reason, that it is not conformable to the truth that this Blessed man was ever prelate of Auxerre.
[5] since others held that episcopate through the whole thirteenth century, For the reasons which impel them to think so are surely not light: let us hear M. Lebeuf's French words of the Eccl. History of Auxerre, which I put into Latin: they run thus Hist. de l'Egl. d'Auxerre, vol. I, p. 375.: Preliminary to the history of Renaud de Saligny. There is an opinion among the more recent authors of the Cistercian Order which holds that a certain abbot of Quincy near Tonnerre, called Galterus (in French Gautier), was bishop of Auxerre: but since the see through the whole thirteenth century was occupied by bishops other than Galterus, the only place which could be assigned to him in this History is that interval which the dismissal of Bernard de Sully offers: but nevertheless the contemporary biographer of our prelates notes clearly enough that he has no knowledge of this fact, and designates Renaud as successor to Bernard, no one in between. Certainly the church of Auxerre would think it very honourable to itself to behold the number of its holy prelates growing, provided there were sufficient foundation for admitting this Galterus. It is fully established to us that he is honoured with public cult in his church of Quincy, and that he rests there on the left side of the cross-shaped choir, in a sepulchre raised about three feet, indeed that he is held there as a martyr, and that his remains in the sepulchre were visited in the year 1691 by M. Bordes, dean of Tonnerre, delegated for that by the bishop of Langres. The New Gallia Christiana indeed asserts that this was an elevation of his Relics. Having then interposed certain conjectures from which that opinion could have had its origin, M. Lebeuf concludes that Bl. Galterus was by no means bishop of Auxerre.
[6] in whose lifetime this Blessed man lived, held it, With these agree the Benedictine continuators of Gallia Christiana, and they exhibit the words of a certain recent slip, which is perhaps the only foundation of those who contend that our Blessed was a bishop: here is the entire period about Bl. Galterus, whom they call Galterius Vol. IV, col. 831.: XII (abbot of Quincy), St. Galterius II, of whom a recent slip at Quincy has this: “In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1244, on the 16th day before the Kalends of October, there departed from the world the venerable man of good memory, Galterius, formerly by divine grace bishop of Auxerre, abbot of this distinguished abbey, splendid with much Holiness. And he died in this monastery, and lies before the high altar of this distinguished church, and cures many of fevers.” Now they discourse about his episcopate: Yet no bishop of Auxerre of that name exists in the published Catalogues; perhaps he was only elected, whom certainly in another slip we read as abbot and martyr only, 1244, not bishop. For the rest, his Relics in the year 1691 were translated into the raised sepulchre which is seen in the church, by the authority of the bishop of Langres (namely Louis IV de Simiane, who from the year 1671, as the same writers have in the cited volume col. 641., up to 1695 presided over the church of Langres). These writers noted similar things in vol. XII col. 305. in the series of the bishops of Auxerre.
[7] Bl. Gualterus is venerated with cult at Quincy The consequence, therefore, is that there is not sufficient foundation by which the episcopate of Bl. Galterus can be held more likely to the truth; indeed not even the more recent writers of the Cistercian Order themselves, at least whom I have seen, expressed at what time our Blessed sat as bishop of Auxerre, what special things he did, when he resigned the prelacy, inasmuch as he died at Quincy, or other things; indeed not even the conjecture of M. Lebeuf himself, whom Saussay preceded, (which, however, he himself does not hold firm) stands; for Bl. Galterius could not have been prelate when the episcopate was resigned by Bernard I, since Bernard himself increased the stipend of the chapel of the Trinitarians, as the said writers of Gallia Christiana teach us, vol. XII col. 304., in the year 1244, in the month of October, in which year, on the testimony of the slip itself, on the 14th of September, or the 16th day before the Kalends of October, our Blessed abbot had just ceased to live. Since, then, nothing occurs from which I can prove that Bl. Galterus was prelate of Auxerre, I judge that I have rightly exhibited him in the Title with this dignity excluded (although perhaps, which the writers of Gallia Christiana do not deny, he was elected as such, but before the assumption of Bernard as bishop, which took place in the year 1234). But more certain is the ecclesiastical cult accustomed to be paid to him at Quincy: for this is proved by the things which we have already seen from M. Lebeuf's History at no. 5, as also at no. 6 from the continuators of Gallia Christiana, who also have from that recent slip, of which above, that he is invoked by the feverish, and cures many of them;
indeed they assert that a magnificent mausoleum was built for preserving the Relics of this Blessed man, or that a raised sepulchre was erected in the temple.
[8] enjoys ecclesiastical, To these is added, in the Historical Sylloge of the Archbishops, etc. of Gaul Rec. des Evêch. et Abbayes de Fr. Vol. II, p. 461., Beaunier, relating these things in French, which I translate into Latin: There is shown in the temple, namely of Quincy, the sepulchre of St. Galterus (in the vernacular Gaultier), abbot of the monastery, whom they make both bishop of Auxerre and martyr; but I do not find a prelate of Auxerre of this name, and at the time in which this Saint is related to have lived, other prelates governed this chair. So too Beaunier himself, a religious of the Order of St. Benedict. But does Bl. Galterus enjoy an ecclesiastical Office at Quincy or in his Cistercian Order? I have nothing from which to establish it: for the four Breviaries which I have before me, as also two Directories of the Cistercian Order, do not mention Bl. Galterus, nor could I obtain the particular records of the abbey of Quincy, if any exist; so that I cannot declare with what cult in particular he is honoured at Quincy, although meanwhile I am easily persuaded that his sepulchre was visited by the feverish, as the slip cited at no. 6 has, with frequent remedy against this disease. Likewise the Breviary of Langres, printed at Châlons in the year 1604, does not mention him, to which the most illustrious Descars prefixes a letter, which he begins thus: Charles Descars, bishop, duke of Langres … to all the ecclesiastical men of our diocese, etc. That Breviary, I say, does not mention our Blessed, and consequently he seems by no means to have obtained an ecclesiastical Office in that diocese.
[9] and has the same, or more probably had, Now it must be inquired whether Bl. Galterus, as the martyrologists hint, is honoured at Auxerre with any honour proper to the Saints; nor is it so readily possible to define this: that Bl. Galterus was prelate of this city we have asserted, together with the writers of Gallia Christiana, M. Lebeuf and Beaunier, to be less conformable to the truth, but whether he is honoured with ecclesiastical cult in this diocese these historiographers do not investigate, and since Saussay, and indeed in the first place, and others announce Bl. Galterus at Auxerre, they have at least thrown into me the doubt whether perhaps some ecclesiastical cult is shown to him there; and this doubt was not slightly increased, indeed almost removed, by a twofold Instrument on that matter in our MS. Codex marked S. 19: the first indeed (which M. Noël, senior canon of the church of Auxerre, most kindly transmitted to our Elders in the year 1662, on the 7th of August) bears this Title: Calendar of the church and diocese of Auxerre, and it has this about our Blessed at the 15th of October: 15th of Oct. Bl. Galterus, bishop, confessor. The other, French (whose words I render into Latin, and whose title is this: Honour and felicity of the pious city of Auxerre according to the norm of the martyrology), mentions our Blessed today in these words: 15th, Bl. Galterus, bishop of Auxerre, buried at Quincy in the Diocese of Langres. [The Martyrology of Auxerre published by order of Charles de Caylus in the year 1751 is, however, silent about St. Galterus.]
[10] It is clear hence that Bl. Galterus perhaps enjoys some cult at Auxerre, [at Auxerre, and he ceased to live at Quincy, crowned with martyrdom, and was buried in the abbey church.] or more probably (for M. Lebeuf, a historiographer of this century, discoursing about the cult which the Blessed man has at Quincy, is silent about it) enjoyed it, but of what kind I could not easily say: for I have in hand a threefold Breviary of Auxerre, two indeed older, of a year unknown to me since their first pages are mutilated, while the third, more recent, was printed at Paris in the year 1736; all of which make mention of Bl. Galterus not even by a word (the 15th day of October being everywhere sacred to St. Leonard), as neither does the Directory of the year 1520; so that I likewise could not ascertain with what cult, or of what kind, our Blessed was honoured at Auxerre. Nor is the kind of his martyrdom more certain, since no one teaches me, ignorant as I am, in particular by what punishments he was put to death; but since it is agreed among most authors (whom indeed the Calendar cited in the preceding number opposes) that he underwent martyrdom in the year 1244, it is certainly not my mind to oppose these, although I do not know the determinate kind of death; but I judge with them that our Blessed ended his life by martyrdom either today, or, if credit is to be given to the more recent slip cited at no. 6, on the 16th day before the Kalends of October, or the 16th of September, and was buried in the temple of Quincy, whose sacred Relics were at length elevated in the year 1691, as we have just seen, by the authority of the bishop of Langres, and placed honourably before the high altar, if the often-mentioned slip is to be credited, or on the left side of the cross-shaped choir, if we believe M. Lebeuf.