ON ST. SILVANUS OF AHUN, MARTYR, AT AHUN IN THE DISTRICT OF LIMOGES,
PERHAPS ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.
His memory in the sacred calendars; his cult in the monastery of Ahun, whose origins are related; the Acts of another Martyr fastened upon St. Silvanus; his martyrdom under the Vandals.
Silvanus, martyr, at Ahun in the district of Limoges. (S.)
St. Silvanus, mentioned by the martyrologists, Although the present-day cult of St. Silvanus is confined within very narrow bounds, his name must nevertheless have flown across the Rhine and the Alps, since in the Barberini manuscript codex of the Martyrology under the name of Bede, printed by us before volume II of March, the passion of St. Silvanus is announced, the place of his contest not being marked; and Greven and the Lübeck-Cologne edition, in like words, give out the memory of St. Silvanus, Martyr, in the district of Limoges. Ferrarius admitted a similar announcement, testifying that he had used the Calendar of Limoges and the records of Ahun: but he wrote Sylvarius erroneously in the text and in the notes. Du Saussay wove a broad elogium; Cl. Chastelain is very brief, but indicates the place best of all, writing: At Agedunum (Ahun), near Albucio (Aubusson), in Upper March (Haute Marche), the natal day of St. Silvanus (Sauvan), Martyr. Geoffrey of Vigeois, a writer of the twelfth century, also mentions our St. Silvanus in the chronicles edited by Labbe Bibliotheca nova, volume II, page 285.; and Bernard Gui, whose name is to be remembered in very many Lives of the Saints of Gaul, in his Historical little works also edited by Labbe Ibid., volume I, page 625., gave out this almost martyrological memory: St. Silvanus, Martyr, at the borough of Agedunum, where he was born, was slain by the Vandals with other companions of his for the faith of Christ. Thence, however, he was afterwards carried off with his companions by the Danes. His feast is recalled on the 17th day before the Kalends of November. The companions whom Bernard here commemorates are altogether unknown to me, unless they are the same who were already dealt with among those passed over at the 15th of October, and who seem to have arisen from the mere carelessness of writers. Already formerly, as may be gathered from the Breviary of Limoges of the year 1625, a commemoration of St. Sylvanus was made in the whole diocese of Limoges; but there was nothing proper; a few years ago the Breviary of this diocese was reformed: yet the Calendar of the year 1832 teaches that the commemoration of our Saint was preserved in Lauds and in the Mass.
[2] he is venerated at Ahun; Further, that Agedunum is situated on a hill or slope is indicated by the ending of its name, dunum. Past this little town, which fifty years ago was said to be rich and populous for its size, flows the river Crosa, which has given its name to the new prefecture (département de la Creuse) which contains it. Further, a twofold Crosa must be distinguished: the one lesser, the other greater; of which last we speak here, and which flows past Albucio (Aubusson), Agedunum, Varactum (Guéret), Cella Dunensis (Celledunaise), soon to be increased by the lesser Crosa, and itself finally to be absorbed in the district of Tours by the Vigenna (la Vienne). From the Dictionary of ancient geography by Mentelle, however, I gather these things: Ortelius asserts that he read on the third sheet of the Peutinger table, not yet published, but communicated to him by Welser, the name Acitodunum… D'Anville, according to this table, places this place among the Lemovices toward the north-west… Beley, interpreting the inscription of a coin belonging to the first kings of the Franks, on which Leblanc had read Adeduno, judges that Acitodunum, Agedunum, or Acedunum is meant. I pass over the opinion of those who assert that Acitodunum is the same as Felletinum (Felletin), likewise situated in the March; since I find it despised by the better geographers. These things had to be marked by me, lest anyone object that Agedunum did not exist at the beginning of the fifth century, to which time, however, the martyrdom of St. Silvanus is referred. Further, at the foot of the hill on which the said little town is built, on the bank, namely, of the Crosa, rises a village or borough called the Monastery of Ahun (le bourg du Moûtier d'Ahun), a separate parish, consisting in the times of the geographer d'Expilly of 157 hearths. In this borough there stood beside the Crosa the Abbey of Ahun (Abbaye du Moûtier d'Ahun) of the Order of St. Benedict; to which place the Lexicons of La Martinière and Moréri, the Dictionarium geographicum sacrum, and the Gallia Christiana Volume II, column 609. properly ascribe the cult of St. Silvanus, although this Saint was not the principal patron of the monastery, or rather his name was not given to the church, as will presently be seen.
[3] the origins of which monastery, somewhat entangled, Since the opinions about the origins of this monastery seem extremely various, I reckon it will be neither useless nor unwelcome to discourse a little about it. The Rev. Parish Priest of Ahun has written back to us that this abbey is said to have been founded at the end of the tenth century, but that it is contended by others that its beginning was given by Hilduin, bishop of Limoges, in the year 1012. Denis de Sainte-Marthe Ibid., column 608. fixes its foundation to the year 997; but immediately adds these words: *Thus, however, our Dom Cl. Estiennot sets forth the beginnings of this monastery: Hildegar, bishop of Limoges, gave a beginning to this monastery about 980, which, as Geoffrey of Vigeois says, after Adhemar he set in order with a great band of monks. Yet the monks remained in it only a few years: for Alduin, bishop of Limoges after Hildegar, who first the charter of Boso
count of the March, had subscribed in the year 997, wishing that no one should presume to alienate this place from the monastic religion and the power of the abbot, and who had subjected it to the monastery of Uzerche, which Hildegar himself, at the urging of his dearest father, the lord Gerald the viscount, had restored, a little afterwards, at the persuasion of the devil, expelled the monks and the monastic order from the same place, and instituted canons there, as Geoffrey du Breuil, prior of Vigeois, relates in his chronicle, who indeed adds, after Adhemar of Chabannes, that Hilduin paid the penalty in the very place where he had offended: for when on a certain occasion he went to the church of St. Stephen of Agedunum, whence he had thrust out the monks, he breathed out his spirit there, and was buried at St. Martin's.* So Estiennot in Sainte-Marthe, who calls St. Stephen the first patron of the abbey of Ahun.
[4] are set forth, But in these statements of Estiennot, from which Mabillon in his Annals did not altogether shrink, two monasteries are confused: that of Agentum (also called Ainnum and Antimonasterium, Eymoûtier and Esmoûtier), whose patron was St. Stephen, and that of Agedunum, which rejoiced in the name of St. Mary. Further, behold the words of Adhemar as I copy them from the Bibliotheca nova of Labbe Volume II, page 171.: But bishop Alduin (the same as Hildoin) destroyed, at the persuasion of the devil, three years before he died, the monastery of St. Stephen of Agentum, which Aldegerius (the same as Hildegar) had handsomely set in order with a great band of monks, and established canons there. The rest to which Estiennot alludes see likewise in Labbe Ibid., page 175.; where again you will find the Church at Agentum, not of Agedunum. Now, that one may see more clearly that this church was that of Agentum, not of Agedunum, but Antimonasterium or Ainnum or Eymoûtier, also situated in the district of Limoges, I shall refer the reader to the proofs of Baluze's History of Tulle Page 825 and following. or to the Historical collection of Dom Bouquet Volume XIV, page 335 and following., in which the whole controversy about the church of Agentum or Ainnum is described at greatest length. Those, however, who say that this monastery was founded in the year 1012 seem to have drawn out this error from these words of Adhemar Bibliotheca nova of Labbe, volume II, page 175.: The Bishop, having returned, arranged that the basilica of the see of St. Stephen, which St. Martial had dedicated, should be pulled down and enlarged, and laid the lines for the foundations, so that after fifteen days he might press on with the work; going thence to the aforesaid church at Agentum, whence he had thrust out the monks, he breathed out his spirit there. Whence, since the opinion prevailed that Hildoin died in the year 1012, it is deduced that the basilica of the see of St. Stephen, or the monastery of Ahun, was begun in the same year: but here again occurs that error by which the monastery of Ahun is confused with the basilica of St. Stephen.
[5] the instrument of foundation being related above all. The whole question, however, is resolved by the charter of foundation of this monastery, which, since it is perhaps found only in the old Gallia Christiana Volume IV, page 963., it has seemed good to put before the eyes of the reader: I, in the name of God, Boso, count (of the March), for the remedy of my soul and of the souls of my father and my mother, and also of my beloved brother Gaubert, by whose desire and will I have decreed to establish the tenor of this privilege, at the exhortation and request of the most noble man and our faithful Hugh Garcille, transfer a certain church which we know to have been possessed of old by right by my forebears, consecrated in honour of the holy Mother of God, Mary. We therefore convert it into a monastery and monastic religion, so that through succeeding times the monastic order and the observance of religion under the rule of the most holy Benedict may be held and kept there: on this tenor, that henceforth no successor of mine, whoever he may be, nor any kinsman by right of consanguinity, shall have licence to alienate it from the monastic order. This church, moreover, consecrated in honour of the holy Mother Mary, is situated in the district of Limoges, situated not far from the village of Agedunum; on one side the river Crosa, running down, encircles pleasant meadows; on the other side, from which the village is seen standing out, it flows more richly with an abundance of running springs and vineyards. This place, therefore, we hand over to God and to St. Peter of the monastery of Uzerche, under the lordship of the abbot Adalbald and his successors, that there may be a union of the monasteries, so that here and there memory may be made of me and of the soul of my brother Hildebert, and likewise of my father and mother and of all my kinsfolk, that by the prayers of the servants of God dwelling there we may be able to attain the seat of refreshment. We therefore, Boso and my brother Gaubert, have established this privilege, on account of the consent of Alduin (bishop of Limoges) and by the counsel of Rotger de Leron and the will of Hugh Garcil, that none of our heirs presume to alienate this place from the power of the abbot; but that it be lawful, in place of the predecessor, when the abbot of Uzerche has died, to elect one of their own, who may govern the place under the regular norm. Witnesses of the privilege: Boso himself, Count of the March, who confirmed this, and Gaubert his brother, Alduin the bishop, Adalbert the abbot, Hugh Garcil, Ramnulf his brother, Umbert Drut, Gerald, Amelius de Peyrac, Gauzelin the monk, Joshua, and Radulf the monk, who wrote this privilege in the year of the incarnation of the Lord 997, indiction X, in the reign of King Robert. And this one privilege, drawn from the archive of Uzerche, sufficiently overthrows the foregoing opinions on the foundation of the monastery of Ahun. As is clear from this charter, the monks of Uzerche enjoyed a certain right over this abbey; how long it held good I am not equal to saying, since I know only from Geoffrey of Vigeois, who was compiling his chronicle about the year 1183, that it still prevailed in his time Bibliotheca nova of Labbe, volume II, page 285.. D'Expilly in the Geographical Dictionary asserts that this monastery was subject to the Congregation of Cluny; in the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis, however, no mention is made of it; whence it seems to follow that this subjection was not so ancient; which was removed in the year 1788, when the monastery of Ahun was suppressed, as the praised Rev. Parish Priest has written back to us.
[6] The Acts attributed to St. Sylvanus by the people of Ahun These things having been set forth about the place where St. Silvanus is venerated, we must now speak of his Passion or Acts. All who have used, or at least seem to have used, only the Bibliotheca nova of Labbe say that St. Silvanus was slain by the Vandals; but those who have employed the Lectionary or Breviary of Ahun go off into an altogether different opinion: such are Du Saussay, Ferrarius, Collin in the Lives of the Saints of the Limousin, and a certain copy, somewhat enlarged toward the end, which the Rev. Parish Priest of Ahun sent to us. But this Passion of St. Silvanus was without doubt excerpted, only the names being changed, from the Passion of St. Symphorian; which our predecessors found to have often been done in the case of other Saints. For the life and martyrdom of St. Symphorian, patron of Autun, are the same in almost everything; the lesser circumstances have scarcely been changed somewhat; which perhaps (that we may exempt Collin from all blame) is to be attributed solely to the variety of the codices. And indeed the Passion of our St. Silvanus is word for word scarcely other than that one which served for composing the Breviary of Vienne of the year 1522, and which Cuper greatly praises, publishing the Acts of St. Symphorian at the 22nd of August. Nor let anyone believe that the other Passions of St. Symphorian differ much more from that attributed to our Silvanus; for they are only fuller and more ornate. I shall now show in a few words which deeds of St. Symphorian are fastened upon our Silvanus.
[7] the names being changed, they are the same as the Acts of St. Symphorian. Each, born of a noble father, Faustus, obtains a liberal and Christian education. The one has as homeland Augustodunum (Authun, afterwards Autun), the other Acitodunum or Agedunum (Ahun): whence the easy derivation of the name from one to the other. The occasion of martyrdom is the same for both: contempt of Berecynthia or Cybele, who was carried on a carriage, thronged by crowds of people. The judge is the same, Heraclius, a man of consular rank; thus Du Saussay styles him. The accusations are the same, attempts at sedition and contempt of Cybele; the judge's interrogations and Symphorian's answers, chiefly in the lessons of Vienne, are almost word for word the same; the sentence that then followed is the same; the one is led before his mother's house, the other before the wall of the city; but each hears his mother crying out the same words to him; each meets the same death, slain by the sword; and this at the same time, under the emperor Aurelian, or rather Aurelius; finally, if I were to bring here the last words of the lessons of Vienne, I should almost have translated Collin's statements from the French into the Latin idiom; that the reader may wonder even at the topographical agreement, behold them: Thus St. Symphorian … laid low by the persecutor, was also secretly carried away thence by religious men. Thus the Martyr, carried to the spring which is outside the public (Collin says neighbouring) field, and there buried at that time in a small cell (Collin writes that a cell or oratory was built a little afterwards), always nevertheless made himself known by miracles, so that, the gentiles being astonished on account of the wonderful gifts of healings, he was held in the greatest honour even in those times. That spring, moreover, which Collin testifies still existed in his time, is called in French Fontaine de St Sauvan, and is a sixth of a league distant from the town itself. Now if the differences between the Passion of St. Silvanus and that of St. Symphorian must be assigned, nothing else occurs to me than that the name of St. Symphorian's mother is passed over in silence, while that of St. Silvanus is said to be Silvia; then that Silvanus is said to have spat upon the idol, Symphorian only to have despised it; and as regards the age of each, St. Silvanus is commonly said to have perished at 15 years of age; St. Symphorian, from the common codices, seems indeed to have died in youth; but a certain age is not marked, although there are codices Bosquet, Ecclesiastical History, book II, chapter XXVII. in which twenty years are attributed to St. Symphorian. Since I think there is no one who, reversing the opinion, would contend that the acts of St. Silvanus were fastened upon St. Symphorian, a most celebrated Martyr, whose Acts St. Gregory of Tours himself knew, I seem to myself to have said enough about these inventions.
[8] [He is related to have been slain by the Vandals, and his Relics were carried off by the Normans.] The other opinion, by which St. Silvanus is related to have been slain by the Vandals, and which Denis de Sainte-Marthe, La Martinière, Moréri, and the author of the Dictionarium geographicum sacrum follow, each copying his predecessor, I have found in no writer of an older age than Geoffrey of Vigeois, a not obscure chronologist of the end of the twelfth century; behold his testimony, taken from the Bibliotheca nova of Labbe Volume II, page 285.: The people of Agedunum venerate with pious devotion Silvanus, who suffered at the hands of the Vandals, … The other testimony, that of Bernard Gui, I have already recited at number 1 of this Commentary. In the renewed Breviary of Limoges these words from the praised hagiologist have been added to the lessons of St. Junian: On this day is celebrated the memory of St. Sylvanus, who, while the Vandals were raging against the Christians, is related to have endured martyrdom at Agedunum in Upper March. His Relics, laid there, perished in the stormy times of the Danes or Normans. But since the traditions of churches
are of very great weight, so long as a contrary opinion to them has not been proved, the narrative of the Breviary of Limoges seems to be admitted, and therefore the death of St. Silvanus is to be referred to about the year 406, at which time the Vandals burst into Gaul and raged very greatly against the worshippers of Christ; about which persecution Ruinart formerly treated, with the approval of the learned Historia persecutionis Vandalicæ, page 402 and following., in such a way that almost nothing is to be added to his inquiries. As to the time, however, at which the Danes and Normans scattered the sacred Relics of St. Silvanus, scarcely anything seems to be determinable; since it is not established when they plundered Ahun. It will be useful, however, to have cited the History of the Monastery of Uzerche edited by Baluze Historia Tutelensis, page 825. and by Bouquet Recueil des Historiens de France, volume XIV, page 334.; there these words are referred to the times of Turpio, bishop of Limoges: In these times the Normans were laying waste these lands. Turpio, moreover, sat at Limoges from about the year 905 to 944. But the aforesaid words can safely be referred to the beginning of his episcopate, since about the year 930 Turpio was already engaged in restoring the monasteries of his diocese; compare the Gallia Christiana Volume II, column 575 and following..
[9] He is distinguished from those of the same name: Now if I digress to distinguish our St. Silvanus from those of the same name, a hundred or so Martyrs, for the most part, occur to me, and indeed one or another slain in the Vandal persecution: but there is none among these to whom I could suspect that any relation with our Saint could be attached. For, to pass over the testimony of Bernard Gui, by which the holy Martyr is determined to have been a native of Ahun, I should be convicted of rashness if I affirmed that St. Silvanus was translated to Ahun from elsewhere; for in the seventh century, at about which time the bodies of the Saints began to be carried about in the West, Ahun seems to have been very obscure, and destitute of a monastery or abbey; which obscurity and lack of a monastery, destined to last until after the times of the Normans, surely did not favour the receiving of any holy body. Nor do I know anyone who has adopted an opinion contrary to this. Our Martyr is, however, confused with a certain St. Silvanus. The distinguished De Saint-Allais, who in the year 1838 published a new universal Martyrology, enlarged with very many additions, sets beside the memory of our St. Silvanus that another feast of his is celebrated on the 22nd of September; on which day, in very truth, St. Silvanus, patron of Leprosium (Levroux) in the district of Bourges, is venerated; but apart from the name this Saint has nothing in common with ours: it will suffice to have said that he is a Confessor and that his Relics existed in the fifteenth century. See our Work more at large at the 22nd of September Page 404..
[10] The church of Ahun is not to be confused with the church of St. Silvanus. I cannot determine whether our Saint is the same as the titular patron of a certain church which belonged to the monks of Uzerche. If he was the same, our Saint must have obtained a more notable cult in two places in the tenth century: for this church seems not to be confused with the monastery of Ahun, which likewise belonged to the monks of Uzerche and had been built in the midst of vineyards, as appeared above from the charter of its foundation. In the charter or privilege, however, which Hildegar, bishop of Limoges, granted for converting the church of Uzerche into a monastery, these words occur: My brother Guy … with no unlike devotion, for the love of God and the remission of his sins, gives back two churches, one in honour of St. Silvanus, planted among vineyards, the other which is called Benagias. In the year 1133 the monks of Uzerche still possessed this church, since in the history of the monastery of Uzerche already often cited Bouquet, volume XIV, page 340. one reads: When the brethren murmured against him about the relaxation of the order, in the year 1133, reckoning himself insufficient, he (Aldebert, abbot of Uzerche) left the abbey in peace, retaining for himself, however, the church of St. Silvanus, where he might somewhat relieve the weakness of his old age from the rigour of the monastic order. Whoever, however, attends to the fact that the privilege of Hildegar is to be referred to about the year 958, and that in the year 997 the church of the borough of Ahun was dedicated to Blessed Mary, Mother of God, not to St. Silvanus, and moreover that in the Uzerche fragment the church of St. Silvanus comes without mention of a monastery, will surely not doubt that the monastery of Ahun is distinct from this church, and that it can by no means be concluded from the cited records that the church of the said monastery formerly used the name of St. Silvanus; although a very great people flocked thither to venerate him, as Collin is a suitable witness. And so much for the indications of the cult paid to St. Silvanus in the tenth century. A more recent biographer of the Saints of the Limousin, Labiche de Reignefort, canon of Limoges, gives out some other signs of cult, which perhaps belong to later times. He writes, namely Six mois de Vies de Saints … de tout le Limousin, 1828, page 243., that St. Silvanus is patron of the little town of Ahun and of its parish church: in which Hugh XIII Moréri, Dictionnaire historique et géographique, volume I, part II, page 92., count of Angoulême, founded in the year 1302 several vicarages or chaplaincies under the title of St. Silvanus; that similar ecclesiastical benefices existed at Anzême, in the place of the archpriestship of Guéret; and that parish churches at Château-Hors-Chervix, at Chirac near Mimac, and at Chrosmas rejoice in the name and patronage of St. Silvanus. More about this Saint we have neither learned, nor think can be learned.