Gurdanius

ON ST. GURDANIUS, OR GURDINELLUS, HERMIT, AT DOUAI AND ANCHIN IN THE DIOCESE OF CAMBRAI,

Before the middle of the 9th century.

SYLLOGE.

Whether St. Gurdanius is the same as St. Gurdinellus; the origins of Anchin; the various translations and cult of St. Gurdanius.

Gurdanius, hermit, at Douai. (S.)

At Douai and Anchin, now in the diocese of Arras, now of Cambrai, Douai, a not undistinguished city, and Anchin, now ruins, formerly a flourishing abbey, are distinguished by the present-day cult of St. Gurdanius, or Gurdinellus. Both places in these times are subject to the archbishop of Cambrai; but that this state of things did not always obtain, the reader will gather from the very monuments which are to be brought forward below. And lest there be any inopportune stone in the way, here in a few words is what change of jurisdiction there has been in these parts: the writers of the Gallia Christiana, namely, think that in the age of St. Remigius there was a bishop among the Atrebates, but none had his see at Cambrai; but that some years having passed, the prelate of Arras migrated to Cambrai, and Arras remained united to him. A change occurred again in the year 1093, in which Lambert received the mitre of Arras from Pope Urban II, and the diocese entrusted to him, by which Douai and Anchin were comprised, was separated from that of Cambrai. At the beginning of this century Pope Pius VII established new boundaries of the dioceses, and from that time Anchin and Douai are again subject to the prelate of Cambrai. Let us now turn our pen to the Saint himself.

[2] the present Saint obtained a cult, who is doubled by many, It is certain that there existed a holy man named Gurdanius; but a good many will have it that there existed not only one, but St. Gurdanius and St. Gurdinellus; and indeed it is established that at Douai Gurdinellus, at Anchin Gurdanius, was venerated before the memory of men. Further, from the obscurity in which the question of the identity of St. Gurdanius and St. Gurdinellus is wrapped, there has arisen a great difference among the martyrologists. Ménard, in the Martyrology of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, announces: "At Douai, the passing of St. Gordanius, hermit, who is also called Gurdiellus"; and Bucelin uses almost the same words in the Benedictine Menology. Simon Peyronet, doctor of sacred theology of Toulouse, in his Catalogue of the Saints shows clearly that this controversy was known to him, and cuts the knot of the difficulty against Molanus, who is presently to be cited. Claude Chastelain, easily the prince of universal martyrologists, adopts the same opinion, writing in his general Martyrology: "At Anchin, of St. Gurdanius (Gourdaine), hermit, whose body was translated to Soissons, and thence carried to Douai, where he is called St. Gurdinellus (Gourdinel)." I pass over the Martyrology of Paris and the general Catalogue of the Saints of Ferrari, which assent to the same. The second class of martyrologies, and that more ancient than the rest, knows one St. Gurdinellus, or rather Gurdiellus, and embraces the Usuardine codex edited by Molanus, and another Usuardine, of which mention is made in our Sollerius at the present day; the MS. Martyrology of Villers, which our museum now possesses; the calendar prefixed to the MS. Breviary of Douai, which is likewise in our keeping, and in which this Saint is called Curdimellus, Confessor; and finally the German Martyrology, commonly called that of Canisius. The third class has Molanus almost as its father: for he first discoursed at length on distinguishing St. Gurdinellus from St. Gurdanius, and with him have agreed du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, Miraeus in the Belgian and Burgundian Fasti, Fr. Willot in the Belgian Martyrology, Adrian Van Loo in the Lives of the Saints of the Belgians, the author of the MS. Universal Martyrology, which we have seen in the Library of Amiens, and the Louvain editors of Butler's Lives of the Saints. The manner of writing the name also varies somewhat: from Claude Chastelain we have drawn Gurdanius, but Molanus and the ancient monuments of Anchin commonly have Gordanius. Gurdinellus I have taken from the Proper of the church of St. Amatus of Douai, printed in the year 1740, although in the more ancient monuments I have found almost constantly Gurdiellus, sometimes Guardinellus, Curdimellus, in French sometimes Gordiel. There is no need for me to argue at length against those who have transformed St. Gurdanius into Gordianus and Gordavius. And it is enough to have given warning of these things concerning the name; we must inquire more at length whether Gurdanius and Gurdinellus are to be confounded: to accomplish which, the characteristic marks which Molanus and his followers have attached to each must be unfolded.

[3] by the various marks assigned to such a double Saint; First, in the eleventh century it was reported that at Anchin there had formerly lived a holy hermit named Gordanius, and that a little church or chapel had been built there by him, as will be said more at length below. Secondly, in the village of Montiniacum, which is called in French Montigny, where the road goes from Anchin to Douai, a spring is seen, spoiled by the neglect of the country people, which is called the well of St. Gordanius. There was also in the storeroom of the destroyed monastery a well which had most excellent water; and this they credited to the Saint's blessing. Thirdly, in the time of Molanus the monks of Anchin asserted that they had learned from the report of the ancients that St. Gurdanius still lay buried at the doors of their church, under a marble monument which was conspicuous to those entering, and which Raisse in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium p. 57. testifies he often saw. Fourthly, St. Gurdanius is shown in ancient pictures as if stirring up Walter and Sicher, both nobles, to found the monastery of Anchin. So much concerning St. Gurdanius. From him they will have St. Gurdinellus distinguished by a twofold mark; of which the former is that the canons of Douai kept the body of St. Gurdinellus, and had already acquired it at the end of the ninth century; the other, that St. Gurdinellus is painted in youthful garb and bearing a palm in his hand. Molanus relates these things nearly so in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium at the 16th of October, from what had been communicated to him by word and writing by Franciscus Barrus, prior of Anchin, a man of no mean historical learning, and Adrian Besemerus, doctor and professor in the same place.

[4] but the argument from the different manner of painting, To pass over the authority of the more recent Martyrologists, which for the present, on account of their total discord, is nil, two arguments, as is clear, are at hand for denying the identity of the two: one, that the picture in which St. Gurdinellus is shown as a youth holding a palm in his hand does not seem to suit St. Gurdanius; the other, that the people of Douai venerated the body of St. Gurdinellus, whereas the remains of St. Gurdanius lay buried at Anchin. But no one will deny that the picture of St. Gurdinellus is of the slightest weight. For the people of Douai agree that this Saint is not a Martyr but a Confessor; and according to this tradition they perform his ecclesiastical Office; than which almost nothing is stronger for proof: wherefore that painter must have been inept who gave to a Confessor the insignia of a Martyr. Hear, namely, Durandus, a witness of the 13th century, in the Prochirum or Rationale of the Divine Offices Book I, chap. III, n. 14.: "Martyrs … sometimes with palms, which signify victory, according to that saying: The just shall flourish like the palm tree; so that, as the palm is ever green, so their memory may be preserved.

Hence it is that those who come from Jerusalem carry palms in their hands, as a sign that they have fought for that king who was honourably received at Jerusalem with palms… Confessors are painted with their insignia: as bishops mitred…" But that he is painted as a youth seems to be traced back to the name, which is a mere diminutive.

[5] or that drawn from a twofold supposed sepulchre, can prove nothing: The other argument, which rests wholly on the twofold burial, would be most weighty if one could entirely trust the tradition of the monks of Anchin, by which they related among themselves that the body of St. Gurdanius lay at the doors of their church in a marble monument: but this tradition is very recent, and indeed contradicts the ancient monuments. For in the Chronicle of Anchin, two copies of which are known to me (one of which is to be found in the Royal Library of Brussels, num. 7436, and was brought into use by our predecessors in volume IV of October at the Life of St. Goswin, abbot of Anchin; the other is kept in the Library of Amiens, num. 357, and was copied for us by a companion of Saint-Acheul); in it, I say, the following is read: "In the same little church (of Anchin) they relate that he (Gurdanius) died, was buried there, and from there was translated to Douai by a certain Sicher." This tradition, therefore, falls with its whole weight; and indeed, even if this testimony were lacking, who, reflecting that no sign, no mark is carved on this marble monument which records the memory of St. Gurdanius (as Raisse is an ample witness Hierogaz. Belg., p. 57.); who, I say, reflecting on these things, would not at once pronounce the story attached to this mausoleum most feeble? I say nothing of how strange it is that the body of some Saint should be kept in Belgium at the doors of a church in a marble mausoleum, and not rather in precious reliquaries. Moreover, at the beginning of the 17th century the monks of Anchin themselves gave so little credit to this tradition that in the public instruments in which they reviewed their Relics they were wholly silent about St. Gurdanius. For when in the year 1600, on the 25th day of September, the duke of Croy and of Aarschot by letters sent had inquired of them many things about the foundation of the monastery, the buildings, the rule, the Saints, the Relics, etc., in the very full answers sent on the 22nd day of January of the year 1601 not even a word is said about the sepulchre of St. Gurdanius, although abundant notices of other sacred relics are supplied. Whoever wishes to consult these answers, let him go to num. 7876 of the Royal Burgundian Library of Brussels, where he will find a threefold copy of them.

[6] but from the feast day, the likeness of the names and the places of cult, No one, therefore, will deny that the reasons for denying the identity of St. Gurdanius and Gurdinellus are most feeble, or rather none at all. On the other side, a twofold kind of arguments can be brought forward by which the contrary opinion is established: the first is that the names of Gurdanius and Gurdinellus are very like each other, that Douai and Anchin are almost adjacent to each other, and that on one and the same day Gurdanius is venerated at Anchin and Gurdinellus at Douai. There is no need for me to press the likeness of the names at length; that Gurdinellus is a diminutive I have already noted above: this I will add here, that a Saint who is young or a boy is not necessarily signified by the diminution of a name: of which examples obtain almost everywhere. But that Gurdinellus is derived from Gurdanius will be clear to everyone if it is noted that in French they are commonly called Gourdaine and Gourdinel; which Molanus and Chastelain attest. And if to this likeness of the names is added the small distance of the places, which consists of only two leagues, and above all that at Douai the feast is kept on the same day as at Anchin (which last is of almost irresistible authority), I do not know how it could be denied that St. Gurdinellus is the same as St. Gurdanius. The remaining argument is of still greater weight.

[7] [and above all from the old tradition of Anchin and Douai it is established that St. Gurdanius is the same as St. Gurdinellus.] For, as Molanus himself records in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium from the information of Franciscus Barrus, prior of Anchin, the people of Douai formerly asserted that St. Gurdinellus was the same as St. Gurdanius, and that he had been translated from the island of Anchin to Douai by Sicher: which was also formerly held among the monks of Anchin, as we showed a little above from the old Chronicle of Anchin: wherefore what, I ask, will at length settle this dispute, if the old and concordant tradition of both places is spurned? I do not wish, however, to conceal a twofold exception which can be opposed to this tradition, but which is valid only in appearance. The first is that the body of St. Gurdanius is said to have been translated to Douai by Sicher; which Sicher is held by some to be the same as he who at the end of the 11th century founded the monastery of Anchin, whereas the body of St. Gurdinellus had already been carried in the 9th century to Soissons and to Douai: but Molanus himself distinguishes this Sicher from the founder of the said monastery, since with the letters changed he calls him Siger, and in the cited chronicle of Anchin two Sichers, clearly different from each other, are shown; as will be seen below from the text itself. The other exception is drawn from what Molanus relates, that it was asserted by the canons of Douai that the body of St. Gurdinellus had been given to them by the people of Soissons: but that knot is easy to untie, since it will be clearly established from what is to be said that this sacred pledge was not given, but merely restored, by the people of Soissons, to whom it had been carried for fear of the Normans.

[8] No Life exists; whatever is known is drawn St. Gurdinellus and Gurdanius having thus been made one, it remains for us to inquire into his deeds, cult and other things of this kind. First of all it is to be regretted that no Life exists; wherefore the monks of Anchin, celebrating his birthday on the 16th day of October, sang the Office from the common of Confessors, apart from two proper prayers at Sext and None; which proper prayers not even the canons of St. Amatus of Douai had; who, although this feast was for them a greater double, celebrated the Mass Justus from the common of a Confessor not a pontiff, and likewise the whole Office from the common, apart from the lessons of the third nocturn, taken from the sermon of St. Fulgentius on Confessors. Further, what is known about St. Gurdanius is to be drawn from the beginning of the chronicle of Anchin, which we have noted is kept in the libraries of Brussels and Amiens.

[9] from the monuments which explain the origins of Anchin, It runs thus: "The island of Anchin, with a great deal of land round about, was originally of the right of the church of Cambrai; but having been given in benefice by the bishop of Cambrai, it so remained by succession of the family until the times of Anselm the younger. Anselm the old, his father, obtained it and the other benefices from the bishop in his military service. When he died at Cassel in a sedition or betrayal, the inheritance of uncle and nephew passed to the young Anselm. The thing was widely believed and handed down by the report of the ancients, that this island of which we speak, because within its inner circuit it contains solid and spacious ground, was once inhabited by a certain Saint Gordanius, and that, having built a little church there, he led the hermit's life as in a solitude. For in truth entering and returning were made very burdensome to one going in, owing to the difficulty of the surrounding marsh. In the same little church, then, they relate that he died, was buried there, and from there was translated to Douai * by a certain Sicher. That little church, as it was very old and its walls thrown down and of almost no condition, remained, for the blessing of so great a man, the parish of another little estate which was adjacent. The dead to be buried were carried there; and because, as we have said, the access was difficult, the inner land was inhabited by two poor men and worked by digging. By the providence, therefore, of God, who is not deceived in His disposition, it came about that two freeborn men, Sicher, with his wife consenting and professing chastity, and Walter with his brothers, having left his mother, disdaining temporal things, came to love heavenly things, so that, giving themselves and their goods, they might serve God more devoutly and more readily. And there were joined to their most pleasing devotion and mutual love certain men of knightly rank, like them in so great virtue, equal in like manner, in the same mind, in equal faith, in the same will, and following the apostolic life; so that in the same society no one called anything his own or his property; but they lived in common, one served another, and you would believe it written of them: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."

[10] whose circumstances, as to the founders, To clarify these premises in a few words, there is no need for me to describe in this place whatever has been said about this monastery. It will suffice to have brought forward a few things from the cited chronicle of Anchin, from the diploma of foundation and from the Belgian historians. From the chronicle, then, we learn first of all that Anselm, who elsewhere is called Ansellus II, was lord of Ribemont, who, as the Gallia Christiana witnesses Vol. IX col. 615. Compare Miraeus, diplomas, Vol. I, p. 136., founded the monastery of Ribemont in the diocese of Laon, and having set out for Syria with Godfrey of Bouillon [Chron. of Geoffrey of Vigeois, Dom Bouquet, Vol. XII, p. 428. Chron. of Tours, ibid., p. 467.], perished by the cast of a stone at the castle of Arqa in the year 1098 or 1099 [Auctarium Aquicinctinum of the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux, Pertz, Monum. Germ., Vol. VI, p. 395.]. Walter, however, is called by Molanus in the Birthdays Lord of Montiniacum (Montigny) and Piscuaria (Pecquencourt), and Sicher Lord of Los and Corcella (Courcelles). In the other appendix of the Chronicle of Balderic, where this foundation is also explained at length, Siger of Lohes and Walter, son of Urso, are celebrated as noble by birth. To the wife of Sicher, whose name was Mathilda, the first thought of founding this monastery is ascribed in the Auctarium Aquicinctinum of the chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux; and there she is said to have often urged her husband to this work, chiefly because a certain Saint Gordanius was reported once to have led the hermit's life in that place Ibid., p. 393..

[11] the first gifts, the first abbot, Since the instrument of foundation, edited by Aubert Miraeus Diplom., Vol. I, p. 163., is of greater authority, I prefer to copy what follows from it rather than from the aforesaid chronicle. In the diploma, then, Sicher and Walter are said to have wished to restore in that place the church which they had heard was once built by St. Gordanius, leading the hermit's life in the same place. "This counsel, namely, Walter and Sicher, Walter confirmed by his mother, Sicher by his wife, disclosed to Ansellus. And Ansellus himself rendered into my hand that island of Anchin, and the reed-bed belonging to it, and the estate which is called Vedretum (commonly called Vred, on the left of the river Scarpe between Marchiennes and Anchin), contiguous to the same island, which he held in benefice from us (Gerard II, bishop of Cambrai), and I gave them in perpetual right to the church of Anchin itself. Moreover, rejoicing together at their religiousness and the beginnings of their most Christian labour, I restored to the church the liberty which it had long lost, and I made the altar free of the persona (see this explained at length by du Cange in the Glossary at the word Persona) and of all revenue; except that I retained the staff of the abbacy in my hand; so

however that I should give it to him whom the monks of that place should elect as abbot according to the rule of St. Benedict." From the chronicle of Anchin, further, and from the cited Auctarium of Sigebert Pertz, Monum. Germ., Vol. VI, p. 393. we learn that two of the monks of the monastery of Hasnon, men of upright life, were summoned by Bishop Gerard to instruct the monks of Anchin; to one of whom, Alard by name, Gerard committed their care and ordained him abbot [Compare the second Appendix to the Chronicle of Balderic of Thérouanne. Ed. by the celebrated Mr. Le Glay, p. 358.].

[12] and the time is declared to some extent. But no precise mark of time is attached to this foundation either in the chronicle of Anchin or in the cited Auctarium of Sigebert. Whence the continuators of the Gallia Christiana Vol. III col. 408., coming upon the History of the Restoration of the monastery of St. Martin of Tournai, written by Abbot Herman d'Achery, Spicilegium, Vol. II, p. 904. Second edition., reckoned that this monastery was begun in the year 1077. But Mabillon Annals of the Order of St. Benedict, Vol. V, p. 141., Locrius Chron. Belgii, p. 212., Miraeus [Origins of the Benedictine Monasteries in Belgium, p. 126, and Belgian Annals, p. 634.], and Jean Buzelin Annals of Gallo-Flanders, p. 186. place its beginnings two years later, and have in their favour the chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux, as Pistorius edited it Writers of German affairs, Vol. I, p. 843. and the continuators of Dom Bouquet Recueil des Hist. de Fr., Vol. XIII, p. 257., the chronicle of Iperius Martène, Anecdota, Vol. III, p. 586; and Dom Bouquet, Vol. XIII, p. 456., Alberic of Trois-Fontaines [Leibniz, Accessiones Historicae, Vol. II, p. 123; and Dom Bouquet, Vol. XIII, p. 685.], and the chronicle of Andrew, prior of Marchiennes, on the kings of the Franks Dom Bouquet, Vol. XIII, p. 419.. From these, however, there dissents the short chronicle of Saint-Amand (Elnone), edited by Martène Thes. Anecdot., Vol. III, col. 1397., by the associates of Dom Bouquet Rec. des Hist. de Fr., Vol. XIII, p. 453., and very well lately by the Rev. Canon De Smet Corpus Chronic. Flandr., Vol. II, p. 17., no less than the chronicle of Tours Martène, Ampl. Coll., Vol. V col. 1009 and Dom Bouquet, Vol. XII, p. 463.; and since this uses almost the same words as that of Saint-Amand, it is plain to conjecture that the chronicle of Tours is in this place a copy of that of Saint-Amand: be that as it may, the editors have warned [Compare Rec. des Hist. de Fr., Vol. X, p. 280; Vol. XI, p. 346 and Vol. XII, p. 461.] that the chronicle of Tours is deceptive in assigning years; and as regards that of Saint-Amand, it may be observed here and there in it that its author did not follow the common reckoning, but rather often refers events a year earlier: whence it is to be asserted that the Chronicle of Saint-Amand agrees with the rest in assigning the aforesaid foundation to the year 1079. For the rest, since the things adduced from the diploma of foundation sufficiently indicate that the foundation had not yet been begun before the diploma was given, this dispute can perhaps be settled from the year ascribed to it; and it ends thus: "This was done in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1079, in the 2nd Indiction, and in the 26th (rather, the 23rd) year of King Henry, and in the 4th of the episcopate of the Lord Gerard II, bishop of Cambrai." What is said in the chronicle of Anchin: "The dead to be buried were carried there," is explained by Molanus, who says: "Further, on account of the blessing of so great a man, the people of Pecquencourt were buried in the cemetery of the old little church, which is now more confined, and receives only the household servants of Anchin." Of Pecquencourt, too, is to be understood whatever is said in the cited chronicle about the adjacent little estate, of which this little church remained, having been made its parish.

[13] [Various assertions about the time in which our holy Hermit lived are weighed, and his age is referred to before the middle of the 9th century.] Now if it is asked at what time St. Gurdanius lived, one and the same opinion is not found among various writers. Since Molanus Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium at the 16th of Oct. had been informed that it was constantly related by the monks of Anchin, and expressed in old pictures, that the monastery on the island of Anchin was built on the counsel of this hermit, and knew from elsewhere that in the letters of foundation it is openly indicated that St. Gurdanius had died long before Sicher and Walter, he had written: "Yet it is necessary to refer this counsel to an apparition after his death." These words (although we do not approve them, as resting on no chronicle and no diploma, in which such things were not usually omitted) du Saussay, not having read them well, made St. Gurdanius contemporary with Sicher and Walter; which Bucelin in good faith also brought into his Benedictine Menology. The recent editor of the Universal Martyrology, the celebrated Mr. de Saint-Allais, having found in the Universal Martyrology of Claude Chastelain the year of death 685 placed beside the name of St. Mummolinus, and St. Gurdanius immediately following St. Mummolinus there, brought both Saints to the grave in the same year. The Louvain editors of Butler's Lives of the Saints seem to have indulged in conjecture when they refer St. Gurdanius to the 8th century. For that this was established by them by conjecture is clear enough, since as witnesses of their statements they adduce only Molanus in the Birthdays of the Saints, Miraeus in the Origins of the Benedictine Monasteries in Belgium and in the Belgian diplomas, the Gallia Christiana, and La Martinière, who certainly have nothing about the age of St. Gurdanius. Nevertheless this suspicion, which is perhaps not so unfortunate, seems to be supported by Claude Chastelain in the Universal Martyrology; since, following the order of time, he places St. Gurdanius between St. Mummolinus, who died at the end of the 7th century, and St. Gaudericus, whose age is referred to the end of the 9th century. This one thing I will affirm, namely that St. Gurdanius had long since been venerated before the end of the 9th century: as will become manifest from what follows.

[14] [His body was translated from Anchin to Douai, from Douai to Soissons; whence it was brought back to Douai:] From the chronicle of Anchin it has already become known that the body of St. Gurdanius was translated to Douai by a certain Sicher, which must have been done at least two centuries before the foundation of the monastery. For about the end of the 9th century it was kept now at Douai, now at Soissons, and again at Douai. That it was first kept at Douai is clear from the aforecited chronicle; that it was afterwards translated to Soissons is gathered from the Douai Proper of the year 1740. But since some oppose these things, it will help to hear the words of the Proper itself, which the people of Douai drew from the silver book Fol. 10 and 30. and from the MS. lectionary of the collegiate church of St. Amatus: "In the year of Christ 870, as the persecution of the Normans threatened, the brethren serving God and His Saint Amatus at Merville translated the body of their patron Amatus to Douai, into a church of their own right … Four years after, they obtained from St. John, bishop of Cambrai and likewise of Arras, and from Charles the Bald, son of Louis the Pious, king of Gaul, and also from Baldwin, the first of that name, count of the Flemings, that they should remain at Douai with all their possessions and privileges. The body of St. Amatus, however, was a little after carried to Soissons in Gaul, on account of the persecutions of the Normans breaking out afresh; and when these had been quieted, it was brought back to Douai into the same church, about the year of the Lord 896. For at that time the clergy serving Blessed Amatus consulted the king of the Franks, Stephen, bishop of Cambrai and Arras, and Baldwin, the second of that name, count of the Flemings, as to what was to be done about the body of St. Amatus. And it was determined that it should be brought back to Douai: which was also done; but for the sake of honour there were associated with it the sacred bodies of the Blessed Onesimus, formerly bishop of Soissons, and of St. Gurdinellus, Confessor." These things are from the Douai Proper in the Office of St. Amatus p. 55 and following; and the same are repeated p. 68. in the Office of St. Onesimus, with only the words changed. Consonant with these are Raisse in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium p. 34., Molanus in the Birthdays At the 13th of May, the 13th of September and the 16th of October., Gramaye in the Antiquities of Flanders p. 203 and 206. and the Louvain editors of Butler's Lives of the Saints in the cited Life of St. Gurdinellus.

[15] contrary opinions are refuted, But Henschenius Acta SS., Vol. IV of May, p. 204., having produced Raisse relating that the bodies of SS. Amatus, Onesimus and Gurdinellus were translated from Soissons to Douai, added: "Others relate that only the bodies of this one (St. Gurdinellus) and of St. Onesimus were translated from Soissons." By which words he surely wished to designate Malbrancq, who in his work on the Morini and the affairs of the Morini Vol. II, p. 305., having stated that the monks of Merville, or of Broilum, came to Douai in the year 870 with the body of St. Amatus, adds: "There are those who write that the body of St. Amatus was first translated to Soissons, then to Douai with the bodies of SS. Gurdinellus and Onesimus: and this when the wars of the Northmen ceased, about the year 896: but the things that are to be related next plainly contradict this." And he then relates in what way the monks of Broilum obtained a stable seat at Douai, as we have already understood from the Douai Proper. But the origin of the error in which the distinguished historian entangled himself in this place is not difficult to detect. For from a note placed in the margin it is clear that he had it in mind to refute Molanus, who at the 16th of October had written: "But the canons of Douai assert that the body of St. Gurdinellus, together with the body of St. Onesimus, was given (rather, restored) to them by the people of Soissons, when the body of St. Amatus was brought back by them, the wars ceasing, about the year of the Lord 896." By which words the historian of the Morini believed it to be indicated that the body of St. Amatus was carried from Broilum or Merville to Soissons, and thence in the year 896 was first translated to Douai. But by the word "brought back" Molanus had plainly meant something else; there is nothing here, therefore, that contradicts the statements of the Belgian Martyrologist.

[16] and the said translations are confirmed by new testimonies, It must indeed be confessed that our Trentecamp, in the Preliminary Commentary on St. Amatus Acta SS., Vol. IV of September, p. 121., does not utter a word about this translation; and that in the Acta Sanctorum Belgii Vol. IV, p. 573. whatever Trentecamp had written is set out without any addition. Nevertheless I am persuaded that this translation really took place. For I have already said above from what sources the cited lesson on St. Amatus is drawn; which sources I shall have vindicated from the criticism of Gramaye Antiquit. Flandr., p. 202. if I warn the reader that he certainly used a corrupt copy; which will be evident to anyone comparing his statements with the Douai Proper and the cited passage of Malbrancq. Moreover, since all the exceptions are drawn from the fact that St. Amatus is not thought to have been carried to Soissons, it will help to cite again the short Chronicle of Saint-Amand Corp. Chron. Fland., ed. by Canon De Smet, Vol. II, p. 12., of which its most recent editor did not hesitate to assert that at least from the century

IX the authority of a contemporary writing belongs to it Ibid., p. 1.. Further, at the year 880 you have there these words: "King Louis died. The Northmen at Ghent. The body of Saint Vedast is carried to Belvagus (Beauvais). Saint Amatus is carried to Soissons." And the same are repeated in the Annales Elnonenses minores, edited by the celebrated Mr. Pertz Monum. hist. German., Vol. VI, p. 19., and in the much-praised short Chronicle of St. Martin of Tournai, printed among the historians of Gaul Rec. des histor. de Fr., Vol. VIII, p. 285.; except that in the Tournai Chronicle the year 881 is marked; which mark of time is to be retained, since the Saint-Amand chronographies, as we have already said, are wont to run a year ahead. Nor does it harm these testimonies that Gramaye affirms that it is related by Meyer from the Chronicle of Iperius that Douai was destroyed by the Normans in the year 879: but besides the fact that Meyer relates this at the year 880, citing no one Annal. Flandr., fol. 14., it is altogether erroneous that such a thing is asserted by Iperius, who is moreover very little accurate in his years, as the reader himself will gather if he goes to volume III Col. 528. of Martène's Thesaurus Anecdotorum, where he will find the pretended passage of Iperius. And the cited Chronicle of Saint-Amand, when it teaches that in the year 883 all the abbeys which lie on the banks of the Scarpe were laid waste by the Normans, at the same time hints how prudently the body of St. Amatus was carried to Soissons three years before, since Douai is cut into two parts by the Scarpe.

[17] [the last of which took place at the beginning of the 10th century, together with the bodies of SS. Amatus and Onesimus.] Above, it could be gathered from the Douai Proper that the body of St. Gurdinellus, or Gurdanius, was brought back to Douai about the year 896. This mark of time seems to have been thrust in, not from the Douai MSS., but from Molanus; for Gramaye omits it, nor is that manner of indicating time customary in old histories; and certainly this year does not agree with the episcopate of Stephen, who is said to have given the counsel for this translation. For this Stephen, who was long believed to have been promoted to the mitre of Cambrai in the year 895, was not adorned with this honour before the year 900, as the editors of the Gallia Christiana teach Vol. III, col. 14.; from whom it is also established that he held this dignity up to the year 933 or 934; within which space, therefore, this translation of the Relics is to be confined. There is no need for me to dwell on the vain conjectures of those who state that the body of St. Gurdinellus was brought back to Douai at the same time as the body of St. Maurontus was carried there. Le Moyne Hist. des antiq. de Soissons, Vol. II, p. 210., giving the reason why this translation of the Relics was made, affirms that the body of St. Onesimus was translated from Soissons to Douai on account of fear of the threatening Normans. But since anything can be done for a twofold reason, this opinion does not conflict with the Douai Proper, in which the bodies of SS. Gurdinellus and Onesimus are said to have been associated with the body of St. Amatus for the sake of honour: we know besides from the Chronicle of Bèze that in the year 901 Dom Bouquet, Recueil des Hist. de Fr. Vol. IX, p. 20., for dread of the Normans, certain Relics of the Saints were carried elsewhere from Soissons. But as regards St. Gurdinellus or Gurdanius, another cause for transporting the body was present, namely justice, by which this sacred pledge ought to be among the people of Douai and not among the people of Soissons. And these things are manifest enough from what was said before, and can be confirmed by the testimony of Nithard, grandson of Charlemagne, who in book III of his History, num. 2 Recueil des Hist. de Fr., Vol. VII, p. 24., reviewing the bodies of the Saints which Charles the Bald in the year 841 translated into the new basilica of Soissons, does not number among them the body of St. Gurdinellus or Gurdanius, since it had not yet been carried to Soissons at that time. Wherefore Molanus is to be blamed when he writes that these holy pledges were given, not restored, by the people of Soissons.

[18] His new sepulchre and image, now destroyed. Further, when in the time of Stephen, bishop of Cambrai, the remains of St. Gurdanius were brought back to Douai into the church of St. Mary the Virgin, afterwards of St. Amatus, they were received with fitting honour, and so held thereafter. Gramaye in the Antiquities of Flanders, after he has shown at length p. 206 and following in what way in the year 1206, on the 14th day before the Kalends of November, the Relics of St. Amatus were laid in a new sepulchre, adds: "At this same time the bodies of SS. Onesimus and Gurdinellus were laid in similar mausoleums of marble." But since this solemnity pertains chiefly to St. Amatus, I pass over the account of it which the Douai Proper sets out at the 28th of April from the cited silver book of Douai, with the letters of Ralph, bishop of Arras; being content myself to have noted that there were present at that translation, besides Ralph, bishop of Arras, Gerard, bishop of Châlons, and Goswin, bishop of Tournai.

To St. Gurdanius, or Gurdinellus, too, and to SS. Amatus, Maurontus and Onesimus, are referred the following, which I draw from the Belgian Hierogazophylacium of Raisse p. 34., treating of the collegiate church of St. Amatus of Douai: "On the front of the ambo of the choir, which in the vernacular we call the Doxale, of this church, the aforesaid four Saints are seen painted, with the following verses in very ancient characters:

The most holy bodies of these four Saints This church holds, pledges dear to itself. The stars hold their souls, who have drunk the heavenly nectar; That we may be joined to them, Christ Jesus, bring us aid."

These things, however, as the Rev. Mr. Semaille, parish priest and dean of Douai, and the most learned man Dutillœul, librarian of the town of Douai, have written to us, must have perished in the year 1795 and the following, when the church of St. Amatus was levelled to the ground and changed into a public square, now planted with trees. There perished then also the sacred remains of St. Gurdanius, or Gurdinellus, no less than those of the other Saints whose pledges were kept there; and the silver book and other documents, which we have often cited from printed books, suffered the fate of the other monuments of the church of St. Amatus, which vanished amid the ecclesiastical and civil tumults of the last century. That Anchin is now mere ruins we have often noted. And here we must lay down our pen, wishing that at least whatever may remain of the cult of St. Gurdanius may not perish, since his sacred Relics and the two churches where he was venerated have suffered impious destruction forever.

* Understand Douai