Monon

ON ST. MONON, HERMIT AND MARTYR, IN THE DIOCESE OF NAMUR IN BELGIUM,

BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THE 7TH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The cult of St. Monon; history of the church and chapter erected in his honour at Nassogne.

Monon, Martyr in the territory of Luxembourg. (S.)

V. D. B.

Records concerning St. Monon; Ghesquière has already treated of St. Monon, Anchorite and Martyr, in the Acta Sanctorum Belgii; because in that work not the order of the Calendar but the reckoning of time was observed. Moreover, we have in hand a twofold Life of St. Monon, the one shorter, the other fuller. And this fuller one is undoubtedly later than the 10th century, since in it is cited the writing of Heriger, abbot of Lobbes, on the Deeds of the pontiffs of Tongres, Maastricht and Liège; and since this is not done in the other, the latter seems also to be older. Nevertheless the fuller one itself seems to have been written before the times of Blessed Theodoric, who from the year 1055 to 1086 held the abbatial staff of St. Peter of Andage, or St. Hubert, namely when the clerics of Nassogne still willingly acknowledged the right of the monks of Andage. Yet the former Life is not much older, a copy of which the Reverend Monsieur Henri-Joseph Bichet, dean of Nassogne, sent to us, and which is also to be found in Surius at the 18th of October and, with a changed prologue, in the manuscript Brabantine Hagiology of Rouge-Cloître; but it is perhaps to be referred to the beginning of the 11th century, since mention is made in it of the body of St. Eloquius, kept at Waulsort. Ghesquière judged it not worth while to put either into print. But since the plan of our work is one thing and that of the Acta Sanctorum Belgii another, and since moreover it is better to have the very documents before our eyes, we shall edit here the shorter and older Life, after we have premised a few things about the cult from Ghesquière.

[2] his cult from the Martyrologies, "Although," he says Acta Sanctorum Belgii, volume II, p. 419., "no reason for doubting presents itself concerning the ancient ecclesiastical cult of St. Monon, yet nowhere among the ancient or classic martyrologists is his announcement or commemoration found; and this I think came about because his Acts were not written until after Usuard and the other old martyrologists. St. Monon is, however, reported in certain more recent Martyrologies or ecclesiastical fasti, of which I subjoin here the series and the very words of the announcement. In the compendious Martyrology excerpted from the Matricula of the Charterhouse of Utrecht, at the 18th day of October, the announcement of our Saint consists of two words only, namely these: Of Monon, martyr. In words indeed, but in substance no richer, is the announcement which exists in the Florentine Auctarium of Usuard, namely this: Of Saint Monno, or Monon, martyr; the latter of which is also read in Greven. Not so sparing was Molanus in his Auctarium to Usuard. Have his words: On the same day (the 18th of October) at Nassogne near St. Hubert in the Ardennes, of Blessed Monon, Martyr. Finally, much richer in the Natales Sanctorum Belgii, fol. 236, celebrating our Saint thus: At Nassogne, the natal day of St. Monon, martyr. Who, coming by angelic admonition from Scotia to the Ardennes, where alone he served God alone for a long time, and happily fell, stabbed by murderous robbers: where also he is buried in the church which he himself had built. After giving the notice of Nassogne, the said writer adds that St. Monon is named the disciple of Saints Remaclus and John Agnus, bishops of Maastricht on the Meuse. He would more rightly have put St. John Agnus before St. Remaclus, as being older, since St. Remaclus was raised to the see of Maastricht only after the death of John Agnus and then after the abdication of St. Amand. I pass over the announcement of Le Mire in the Fasti Belgici et Burgundici, as being drawn, if you take away one error committed by him, from the words of Molanus already transcribed. Let Chastelain and the author of the Parisian Martyrology published in the year 1727 close the not very long series of Martyrologists; of whom the former, at the same 18th day of October, speaks thus, his words rendered into Latin: At Nassogne in the Ardennes, of St. Monon, an Irishman, slain by murderers, namely, as he himself notes in the margin, about the year 630; but the other thus: At Nassovia (read Nassonia) in the Ardennes, of St. Monon, disciple of St. Remaclus, the epoch of whose death he fixes at the year 643." So far Ghesquière; who could have added to that series of announcements or writers Wion in the Lignum Vitae, Canisius in the German Martyrology, Ferrari in the General Catalogue, Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, Bucelin in the Menology and in the Annals of Germany, Willot in the Belgian Martyrology, the English Martyrologist Memorial of ancient British piety. and the manuscript Florarium, which announced the natal day of St. Monon at the 12th day of July, as was noted at that day among the Passed Over in the Acts.

[3] and from other Belgian and foreign indications; Among foreign historians or hagiographers not only Butler, whom Ghesquière names, makes mention of St. Monon; but also Giovanni Severano, enumerating the more illustrious Roman pilgrims Memorie sacre delle sette Chiese di Roma, volume I, p. 242., Le Cointe in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks At the year 643, volume III, p. 171. and also the historian of the Irish Church, Lanigan Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, volume III, pp. 195 and 197.. Nor does St. Monon obtain a cult at Nassogne only; but formerly in the whole diocese of Liège, in which Nassogne was comprised; and now in the diocese of Namur, in which that village is now included, commemoration is made of him; and indeed in the new Proper of Namur you have the ninth lesson on St. Monon. Butler relates Lives of the Fathers, etc., volume X, p. 413. Edition of 1814., following King's Calendar, that a church exists under the patronage of St. Monon in Scotland near the city of St. Andrews

with the vernacular name Monon's kirk; of which, however, I find not a word in Carlisle's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland. In Bolland's adversaria I also find noted that with Colgan, an Irish Minorite and most versed in collecting the Lives of the Saints of his homeland, there was found by him an Office of St. Monon, which had proper antiphons and hymns, but by no means lessons; wherefore he did not think it worth copying. In other Annotations in Bolland's hand I find that in the Irish and Scottish Calendars the feast of St. Monon was marked at the present day, the 18th of October.

[4] [but it flourishes most at Nassogne, which village some would have to be the same as the ancient Nasonacum;] But the cult of St. Monon flourished most, and flourishes still, at Nassonia, in French Nassogne or Nassoigne, formerly in the diocese of Liège, now in that of Namur; where his festival was celebrated with an octave; and indeed on the last day proper lessons were recited again, drawn from the history of the church of Nassogne. But there is no need for us to present them to the reader. Yet it is not right to pass over the much-vexed question of the origins of Nassogne. The Theodosian Code shows, from the year 367 up to the year 375, several laws given at Trier during the colder months and in the vicinity during the warmer; and since this series is continuous, it must be judged that he dwelt in those places where the laws are inscribed as given; which I observe for this reason, because generally the place of the emperor's residence cannot be concluded from the place of a law's being given, as Baluze made manifest by most splendid examples [Notes on the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors, chapter XLV, Works of Lactantius, volume II, p. 338. Edition of 1748.]. Further, at the year 372 there comes forth a Law to Probus, praetorian prefect, given on the 7th day before the Kalends of May at Trier Codex Theodosianus, volume V, p. 348. Lyons, 1665.; then a Law to Julian, proconsul of Africa, given on the 3rd day before the Kalends of June at Nasonacum Ibid., volume II, p. 581.; after that a Law to Probus, praetorian prefect, given on the 6th day before the Kalends of July at Trier Ibid., .III, p. 400.; others to Ampelius, prefect of the City, given on the 3rd day before the Nones of July at Nasonacum Ibid., volume II, pp. 77, 84, 92, 101 and 119.; then a Law to Bappo, prefect of the City, given on the 11th day before the Kalends of September at Nasonacum Ibid., volume II, p. 58.; finally a Law to Paulinus, governor of New Epirus, given on the Kalends of December at Trier Ibid., volume VI, p. 51.. In the summer of other years laws are given at other imperial villas [Cf. Dom Bouquet, volume I, p. 756 and following, and Steininger, Geschichte der Trevirer unter der Herrschaft der Römer, p. 274 and following.]. From this series, therefore, it follows that Nasonacum was so far distant from Trier that those who were staying at Trier on the 6th day before the Kalends of July, or the 26th of June, could have reached Nasonacum on the 3rd day before the Nones, or the 5th of July; unless, however, what we noted from Baluze holds in the law given at Trier. However that may be, no one will deny that Nasonacum was an imperial villa not so very far distant from Trier. But whether Nasonacum is the same as Nassonia, the opinion of the learned is not one. In the Geographical Dictionary of Belgium, which that most deserving man Philippe Van der Maelen edited, it is asserted that nothing is more certain Dictionnaire géographique, Province de Namur, under Nassogne; Godefroy indeed does not proceed with the same assurance, yet he thinks it is Nassonia; and of the same opinion is our Wiltheim Luciliburgensia, p. XVII., Steininger doubting somewhat Work cited, p. 275., Ghesquière Acta Sanctorum Belgii, volume II, p. 418., Hontheim Prodromus Historiae Trevirensis, part I, p. 170. and a good many others.

[5] which opinion the nearby Roman road favours, For this opinion they urge the similarity of the names; but perhaps a stronger argument is added from the traces of the Roman Consular road, of which Wiltheim has this Luciliburgensia, p. 109.: At Manda (Mande-Saint-Étienne), which looks towards Bastonacum (Bastogne) within a spear's cast, there stretches a portion of embankment from Senonchamps as far as Givroulle, three leagues in extent, built of stone, lime and sand brought in; for the Ardennes are wholly barren of these. The witnesses of the extremities of the portion described, not having followed them, did not teach anything, except that, report bearing it, they asserted that it extended on one side into Lotharingia, on the other into the interior of Belgium. But the very situation of the said portion looks from Givroulle straight towards Marche and Namur; but from Senonchamps towards Orolaunum and Divodurum. From Orolaunum indeed, back as far as Manda, traces being left, the embankment shows itself in more than one place. First at the village of Schackweiler and, the very great Anslar forest having thereafter been traversed, at the village of Wisembach, where, crossing the Sûre by a ford, it shows the top gravel under the waters (which are for the most part clear). Thereafter, through places still unknown to us, it reaches Manda, which I interpreted as Meduantum, and there meets crosswise another road going from Reims to the Ubii. Wiltheim therefore indicates two roads here, of which the former proceeds from the Meuse near Mosomagum through Epoissum, across the river Semois, and inclines through Meduantum and Merica towards the Ubii or Cologne; but the other seeks Meduantum from Orolaunum, where it cuts the former road, and, leaving Ambra and Nassonia on the right, stretches to Namur or Namurcum. Schayes, who while writing his commentary on Belgian affairs under the dominion of the Romans had before his eyes Wiltheim's work, then not yet printed, made mention of neither road; nevertheless Wiltheim's indications seem certain enough: whence Steininger too drew each road on the Map which he inserted in the history of the Treveri, with this difference, that he placed Nasonacum on the left. However that may be, hence it becomes manifest that in the time of Valentinian the journey to Nassogne was not so arduous for the people of Trier; and accordingly that there could have been an imperial villa at Nassogne.

[6] but other arguments are adverse. A difficulty, however, is created by the fact that from the Passion of St. Monon this place seems to have been wholly deserted and solitary in the 7th century, as will be clear at once to the reader. Then in both Passions of St. Monon is read not Nassonia but Nassania or Nasania; and the same spelling is constant in Pertz's edition of the Cantatorium or Chronicle of St. Hubert of Andage. It did not please Valois, therefore, the writer of the Notitia Galliarum, to make Nasonacum the same as Nassonia; he preferred to place the imperial villa at Schoneck or Schonnech, a municipium or certainly a fort between Prüm and Bitburg, notable villages on the river Nims. To which opinion he seems to have been led by no other argument than that there was formerly a fort or municipium there. A third opinion could perhaps be proposed, namely that Nasonacum is the same as the present Nassau, which gave its name to a principality in Germany. For this was formerly called Nassonia, as we have from Wandelbert of Prüm, writing of Charlemagne [Miracles of St. Goar, no. 16, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, century II, p. 291.]: For which reason there was given by the emperor a villa which is named Nassonia; and that this Nassonia is the present Nassau is gathered from the very diploma of Charlemagne, in which the district too is indicated, namely Longenahe from the river Longa or Lahn, while the villa is called Nasonga Hontheim, Historia Trevirensis diplomatica, no. 59, volume I, p. 142.. Nor do I see accordingly why Nasonacum could not be Nassau, where from the most ancient times there was also a fort. Further, let the reader choose from these three opinions, having now before his eyes the most important instruments.

[7] St. Monon builds a little chapel at Nassogne, Returning, therefore, to Nassogne, made illustrious by the cult of St. Monon, we find it situated in the midst of the forests of Belgian Luxembourg, two leagues from the town of Saint-Hubert, formerly a monastery. It seems worth while to weave in here in a few words what the fortunes were of the church built there in honour of St. Monon. From both Passions the village seems to have obtained its name from the spring Nassonia, since at no. 2 we read that the place itself was formerly called Fridier (which is also now the name of the adjacent forest), and that it was watered by the spring Nassonia. St. Monon built there a very poor little chapel, as the Passion has it at no. 4. But after his death divine worship was increased there by the foundation of a chaplaincy and then of a chapter. It is narrated in the shorter Passion that St. John Agnus ordained that priests from the castle of Huy and the villa of Ammania should celebrate mass by weeks at the sepulchre of St. Monon; that afterwards King Pepin came to these parts for the sake of hunting; and, having heard of the miracles, gave his royal cap and the tithes between the Ourthe and the Lesse, and founded a college of canons who should supplicate God and St. Monon for King Pepin and the kingdom of the Franks. It will be useful, however, to adorn all these things with some other testimonies.

[8] which St. John Agnus enlarges and furnishes with priests summoned from elsewhere Further, of the fuller lessons which were recited at Nassogne in the octave of St. Monon, this was the beginning: John too, the bishop, having seen the death of his most beloved one, paid the tribute of grief to his slaying out of the affection of humanity; although he knew that one should rather rejoice with him, who it was established had already been crowned by Christ in eternal life. And, the neighbouring faithful co-operating, he built for him a becoming basilica; which also, consecrated in honour of the blessed and glorious ever Virgin Mary, he decreed by episcopal authority in a provincial synod to be a mother church and free from every exaction in perpetuity: and lest from then on the priestly office should be lacking there, he procured priests from the church of Huy to do this, who, succeeding in fixed turns, should offer there to God the solemnities of Masses in honour of the holy Martyr, until in the course of time the same church, profiting by the devotion of the faithful, should suffice by its own stipends to serve itself. And this priestly succession persevered there from the time of John, pontiff of the Tungri, who flourished under Pope Martin and King Dagobert, up to the time of King Pepin the third.

[9] between the year 630 and 647, not long after the death of St. Monon; And here the first question occurs, namely at what time St. John Agnus founded this church at the sepulchre of St. Monon; which, if we determine it in any manner, the time of St. Monon's death will at the same time be established. Further, Ghesquière in the Commentary on St. John Acta Sanctorum Belgii, volume II, p. 424. showed from fairly certain indications that he was promoted to the see of Maastricht (afterwards Liège) between the year 622 and 624. But on the other side our De Smet Ibid., volume IV, p. 184 and following., going over again the controversy about the year in which St. Amand succeeded St. John in the see of Maastricht, showed that the year 647 is to be retained. Whence the episcopate of St. John must have lasted from about the year 623 to 647; in which space of time St. Monon also flourished; so that his beginnings are to be connected with those of St. John

episcopate (for to this pertains the little narrative of the pallium which is in the Passion); then that he spent some years in the episcopal household and some others in the desert of Nassogne; and finally that he who placed the death of St. Monon and the building of the church at his sepulchre between the year 630 and 647 acted prudently. But in what determined year? asks Ghesquière Ibid., volume II, p. 421.. About 630, as Chastelain has it? or on the contrary about the year 643, as Le Cointe relates at this year, no. VI, or in that very year, as the author of the Parisian Martyrology will have it at the 18th day of October? This indeed is what I, to use Ghesquière's expression, the testimonies of the ancients being lacking, cannot define without doubt.

[10] priests could not have been summoned from Amania, it being not yet founded; As regards Hojum, whence the priests are related to have been summoned, it is also called Huum, Huyum, Hoyum, in French Huy, in Dutch Hoey, and lies on the Meuse between Namur and Liège, among the ancient Condrusi. A church under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary seems to have existed there from the times of St. Maternus Cf. Corrissen, Histoire de la ville de Huy, p. 32.; and St. John Agnus himself is read to have furnished an oratory of SS. Cosmas and Damian there with revenues; where also in the year 1230 his relics, raised from the earth, were laid up again in a more honourable place Acta Sanctorum Belgii, volume II, p. 423.. Nothing therefore stands in the way of priests of Huy having already gone to Nassogne in the time of St. John Agnus, to give attention to the sacred rites. But the same cannot be said of Amania, or the villa of Ammania, whence according to the shorter Passion priests also would have been called: indeed I should think that this is rightly passed over in silence in the Passion or fuller lessons: since St. Oda, a disciple of St. Lambert, bishop of Liège from the year 670 up to about the year 709, is read to have built there, on her estate which they call Amanium, not far from Liège, a church in honour of Blessed George the Martyr [Cf. Dominicy, Ansberti familia rediviva, at the end, p. 19; Acta Sanctorum, volume V of September, pp. 527 and 611; and volume IV of July, p. 425.]. Whence that oratory would have been founded only half a century after the death of St. John Agnus. Yet on that account I would not deny that the care of the church of Nassogne was at some time entrusted to priests of Amania together with those of Huy; but it seems by all means to be held that this was done later. Indeed, a doubt arises hence whether the building of the church of Nassogne is rightly attributed to St. John Agnus. Certainly it could easily be that all these things belong to the end of the 7th century.

[11] King Pepin between the year 752 and 768 founds a college of clerics there; The donation of King Pepin, son of Charles Martel, the fuller lessons present still more clearly: The aforesaid King Pepin, then, so they have it, when in hunting he was going over the Ardennes villa, by God's disposing came to the church of Blessed Monon, and (as he was devout towards God) entered it for the sake of devotion to pray. Having seen, therefore, the signs of miracles which the sick who had been healed had left there, he wondered at the merit of the Blessed Martyr; and that he might leave there a memorial of his royal benefit, by the cap which he wore on his head, adorned with gold and gems, he delivered to Blessed Monon all the tithes of his right between the Ourthe and the Lesse, to be held in perpetuity; and left the cap itself to be kept in the same place in testimony of this his largess: of which tithes the church itself still retains a part, and grieves that it has lost a part through the violence and fraud of usurpers. Thereafter, clerics having been established there, the same church began to have a service no longer hired, but its own, persevering under the same constitution from the time of King Pepin up to the time of his grandson Louis, the most pious Augustus, namely the son of Charlemagne. The instrument of this donation does not seem to have existed any longer in the 18th century Cf. Bertholet, Histoire du Luxembourg, volume II, p. 151.. But since Pepin held the kingdom from the year 752 up to 768, we have from this some indication of the time to which this conferring of tithes is to be referred. And that the investiture is made by a cap, the learned know well enough that things of almost any kind were used as signs of conveyances. Du Cange compiled a good long catalogue under the word Investitura; the Maurists added another in the supplement to Du Cange; the distinguished Monsieur Guérard collected many other examples; and others finally others. Nevertheless investitures [Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Père de Chartres, volume I, prolegomena, p. CCXXIV and following.] or conveyances by a cap seem fairly rare. Du Cange reports only two examples, from the English writers Roger of Hoveden and Thomas Walsingham; and the Maurists added only one, taken from a Roman charter or diploma. But that Pepin had tithes between the Ourthe and the Lesse is nothing strange, if the opinion of the learned Monsieur Raepsaet is admitted, who in a special commentary [Défense de Charles Martel, Works, volume I, p. 281 and following. Edition of 1838.] tried to show that before the times of Charlemagne there were no ecclesiastical tithes, but only patrimonial ones; and that only then was the division of parishes introduced through the circumscription of tithable lands; and accordingly that the accusations thrust upon Charles Martel concerning usurped tithes are vain. Which opinion it will be useful to have reported; let others see whether it is to be approved.

[12] which is united with the monastery of Andage This state of affairs persevered at Nassogne up to the times of Louis the Pious and Walcand, bishop of Liège. For thus the fuller Lessons continue: But when the same Augustus (Louis the Pious), peace having been granted him from heaven, not only applied himself to correcting and enlarging ecclesiastical affairs, but also both incited by example and compelled by imperial edict the prelates of the churches to do this, Walcand, the venerable pontiff of Liège, applied the zeal of his devotion to the cell of Andage; and, as it was in honour of Blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, he honoured it with buildings and enlarged it with the revenues of estates. And when, by the counsel and authority of Pope Leo, of the aforesaid emperor Louis, and also of Hildebold, his metropolitan, bishop of Cologne, he had substituted there the religion of monks for the clerical order, and, having translated thither the body of Blessed Hubert, had adorned the province of the Ardennes with such a patron, he also subjected the church of Nassogne, legally handed over with all its appurtenances to the same monastery of Andage: and, as it was free from every episcopal exaction from the time of bishop John, he confirmed in perpetuity by synodal authority that it was to be cared for and disposed in all things by the abbot of the same place the clergy and senate of Liège consenting. This clause is a manifest addition.

[13] not long after the translation of St. Hubert, accomplished in the year 825; That the booklet on the Translation of the body of St. Hubert to the monastery of Andage, or St. Hubert In Roberti, Historia S. Huberti, p. 63 and following., showed the way to the writer of these lessons is manifest to those comparing both documents. From the time of the same translation it can be understood when the church of Nassogne was united to the monastery of Andage, since not much time seems to have intervened. Further, this translation was begun in the eight hundred and twenty-fifth year of the Lord's incarnation, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of October Ibid., p. 68., which was a Sunday; so that the sacred bones arrived at the monastery on the day before the Kalends of October, or Saturday Ibid., p. 69., and could be becomingly laid up there on the following day Cf. Roberti, ibid., p. 209 and following.. Which chronological notes seem by all means to be retained. In the most celebrated Chronicle of St. Hubert, which is commonly called the Cantatorium, mention is also made of the union; and signs of this persisting union are present everywhere. At the year 1074, concerning the controversy between Boso, archdeacon of Liège, and Blessed Theodoric, abbot of Andage, is read In Pertz, volume VIII, p. 584.: The same Boso had long been hostile to the abbot, because he had sought a prebend at Nassogne for a certain nephew of his and had not obtained it. Behold how Boso confers prebends at Nassogne.

[14] [In the 11th century the clerics are unwilling to be subject to the monks of Andage, but are subjected again;] Gradually, however, the bonds of subjection were relaxed, so much so that at about the year 1086 is read in the Cantatorium Ibid., p. 595.: The mother church of Blessed Monon the Martyr at Nassogne had been given by bishop Walcand, with all that belongs to it from of old, to the church of Blessed Hubert into its sovereign dominion. Its clerics, having received prebends from the abbot, yet with the consent and approval of the brethren, the service of due honour having been agreed upon and paid to them, already from then on refused through insolence to be subject to the jurisdiction of the abbot, except in clerical councils under episcopal constraint. This insolence also, at the abbot's request, the bishop (Henry) absolved, establishing the altar of the same church as free, and remitted in perpetuity to the church of Blessed Peter and Blessed Hubert all archiepiscopal and archidiaconal exactions and jurisdictions, Boso the archdeacon being present there and condoning them with him, and authorized the same remission by a privilege legally made.

[15] in the year 1253 the abuse of absence is removed. In the middle of the 13th century ecclesiastical discipline lay utterly prostrate at Nassogne, as we have from the instrument of visitation instituted in the year 1253 by the deputies of Hugh, cardinal of St. Sabina, apostolic legate, and of Henry, bishop of Liège. For it is read there [Foppens, Diplomatum Belgicorum nova collectio, sive supplementum ad opera diplomatica Miraei, volume IV, p. 556.]: We have found the aforesaid church, above the other conventual churches of the diocese of Liège, miserably destitute of due service. The defect of which has proceeded from an unjust root for a long time, namely that the six prebends which are in the aforesaid church did not come to a common hand: but were divided by places, nor were they equal, and it was in the power of any canon at once, the harvest gathered, to receive the collected fruits into the barns and thereafter to neglect the due service in the aforesaid church. But it happened that the provost of the same church, who was also the Dean of the canons, could not constrain them to make residence by the withdrawal of the temporal benefice. Then several statutes are framed against these abuses, and it is ordered that the abbot of St. Hubert, patron of the church of Nassogne, confer the scholastry of Nassogne on a suitable person, not a canon, that the number of those serving in the church may be increased. These laws were passed on the 29th day of August of the year 1253. Others on the same matter were passed by the same deputies on the 6th day of March of the following year Ibid., p. 557 and following.. This chapter persisted until at the end of the 18th century the French whirlwind laid waste all ecclesiastical institutions in our homeland. The church of Nassogne has now been made a parish church, still illustrious with the relics of St. Monon. Other circumstances can be more easily elucidated in the Annotations to the shorter Passion, which we now subjoin.

LIFE AND PASSION OF ST. MONON, MARTYR,

From a manuscript Lectionary of Nassogne, collated with a manuscript of Utrecht, the manuscript Brabantine Hagiology of Rouge-Cloître, and the edition of Surius.

Monon, Martyr in the territory of Luxembourg. (S.)

BHL Number: 6006

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

The fruit of the cult of the Saints; As often, most beloved Brethren, who are to be honoured singly, as we worthily recall the life or death of those Saints whose memory breathes precious fragrance, so often do we believe that the fruit of salvation will be present to our miseries. Wherefore, reciting somewhat, according to the dryness of our discourse, the birth, the deeds of life and the palm of martyrdom of our most holy patron, namely Monon, the excellent Martyr, specially predestined by the Lord, the bestower of good things, for our frailty, we set about describing them, Christ the Lord being propitious.

[2] St. Monon, no differently from many other Irish Saints, Lesson II. For the said Saint was sprung from the western parts of the world, namely from the Province of Scotia ^a, which sent forth to the various parts of the world many Saints like light-pouring stars, as was the precious Confessor Fursey ^b, whom Péronne joyfully keeps, with his brother Ultan ^c, much to be venerated, and their brother Foillan ^d, in whom the Castle of Fosses ^e rejoices together, and Saint Bertuin ^f, Saint Fredegand ^g, and also Saint Eloquius ^h, a magnificent Confessor, whom the Monastery of Waulsort ⁱ venerates, and very many others, whose number and names the heavenly writing keeps. To this Saint Monon, then, already mentioned and often to be mentioned, as he relaxed his limbs a little in rest from the nocturnal vigils in which he served God like an unconquered soldier, a heavenly messenger from God was present with this word: Monon, faithful servant, the most high possessor of the heavens commands you that you go without delay to Gaul, and diligently search out in the forest which is called the Ardennes a place whose name is Fridier ^k, which the spring Nassania ^l lightly waters: where you shall claim the place of your rest in the body, until the day of the general judgment, terrible to sinners, shall smile on the just, and will at the same time render to you the reward of your labour.

[3] divinely admonished, after a Roman pilgrimage Lesson III. Made anxious by which vision, the man of God asked that, if this were from God, it should appear to him a third time, which was also so done without delay. Made certain of the Angelic visitation, having taken the necessaries which he would need on the way, he took up his journey, chanting this verse of the Psalm: Show me Thy ways, O Lord, and teach me Thy paths; for Thou art my God my Saviour, and on Thee have I waited all the day. Yet it first sat in his wish to visit the thresholds of the Apostles Peter and Paul, that, relying on their help, he might afterwards seek out the enjoined place with good omen. And at that time John, of worthy memory, called the Lamb on account of the simplicity of his ways ^m, whose paternal possession had been the villa of Tyhancia ⁿ, situated beside the castle of Huy, having already crossed the ridges of the Alps with the apostolic blessing, returning to the parts of the bishopric of Tongres, met so great a man, namely Monon, already raised to the Levitical order; from whom, having heard the causes of his journey and what he would do afterwards, having given him his blessing, he being now made a most faithful friend, he enjoins upon him that on returning he should bring back the episcopal pallium which, in his anxiety to hasten his journey, he had left behind: which it is established was done ^o.

[4] he comes to St. John Agnus, bishop of Liège, Lesson IV. But how great and of what kind he was afterwards in the service of the aforesaid pontiff [p], we have to touch on some things with slender wit: for he was a lover of liberality above all, spending whole nights in continual prayers, a praiseworthy performer of fasts, a strenuous shower of peace, a lover of God beyond measure, most ready in condescension to his neighbours; what more? Whatever is praiseworthy to observe in the servants of God, these things grew abundantly in this servant of God daily, so much so that his companions, seeing such things in him, were sunk thereby to worse, whence they ought to have been raised to better. But the just man of God, not unmindful amid these things of the nocturnal vision already revealed to him by God, with the leave of the aforesaid bishop seeks the place foreshown to him from heaven, which, cleared as far as he could of trunks and brambles, he built there an oratory, in which solemn vows of prayers might be rendered to God. As he was thus applying himself to this work, the largely-flowing compassion of Christ offered him a lovely relief, namely an iron bell [q] dug up from the earth by a pig in his presence; greatly gladdened by which gift, he recognized that the Lord Jesus kindly favoured the work already begun. Soon fame, ignorant of quiet, flying round about, excited the pagans not a little to adhere to this man of God, sustained by whose help and work at once he built a little chapel, empty of the riches of the world, but full of heavenly power.

[5] then into the desert of Nassogne, where he is slain. Lesson V. For as his living merits came forth, the bodies of many sick persons offering their gifts there were restored to entire health; whence the manifold enemy of the human race, grieving beyond measure that the place of that desert was thus ennobled by the just man with the title of Christianity, anxious what he should do, or how he might interrupt the work begun, was treating with himself; at length, kindled by the torch of envy, he summoned to himself murderers who shared his will, robbers who had long savagely served him, and who took it ill that a man full of every kind of holiness should inhabit the lairs of their forests; rushing in without delay, and roaring in a pestiferous wedge, they delivered the Saint of God to a cruel death. Thus made a glorious Martyr [r], the world with its concupiscences trampled underfoot, he enjoys unfailing joys, beholding with the Angels the desirable face of the most high Father, associated with the choirs of the Prophets, the colleges of the Apostles, the dignity of the Martyrs, the society of the Confessors, the assemblies of the Virgins. Which thing vehemently struck the neighbours; and, grieving exceedingly that the servant of God had been struck with a mortal wound, satisfying their grief with streams of tears, they were nevertheless filled with immense gladness, that by the will of Christ the Lord they had in their borders a most watchful patron and protector: thence very many go to the place of the precious Martyr; and, exhibiting glorious obsequies, they render the place, made illustrious on every side by the tomb, an incomparable treasure, namely the body of the most invincible witness of God glorified on every side with white ornaments (as was fitting).

[6] Pepin and St. John increase his cult. Lesson VI. How many benefits of God afterwards flowed from that place upon the limbs of the sick, namely of the lame, the blind, the withered, the feverish and those held by very many other pains, no discourse of ours would suffice to tell. When in the course of time King Pepin [s], of divine memory, came to this venerable place for the sake of hunting, it was made known to him that there rested the body of the Martyr Monon, illustrious for miracles, and that he granted health to those who asked: then, having heard and seen the signs of miracles which the sick who had been healed had left there in testimony to the praise and honour of God, with body prostrate he adores the most sacred tomb, rendering due supplications, and moreover offering the royal cap [t] which he used, decorated with gold and gems, and delivering likewise the tithes which he had between the Ourthe and the Lesse [u]; of which the college of Nassogne, possessing part up to now, has lost the other through the cunning of evil men stealing it. But the holy bishop mentioned, surviving for the example of those who followed, grieving that the servant of God, bound to him in service, had been snatched from the converse of men and had thus unexpectedly finished the course of transitory life, ordained [x] suitable priests from the castle of Huy and the villa of Ammania, who, succeeding one another in turn by weeks at the body of the Martyr, should render there the due celebrations of Masses, until by the mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ canons should be established from the pontiff's flock, who in the day-time, namely, and in the night-time should pay odes to the Lord and to His glorious Martyr Monon, praying for the state of the kingdom of the Franks, and especially for the life of King Pepin, by whose munificence our church was endowed and built, our Lord Jesus Christ at the same time helping and granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

insignia, such as the pallium is, had been granted by the supreme Pontiff, and that bishop of Maastricht had made so little of it as to have returned to Belgium without it? On account of Heriger's silence both about the pilgrimage and about the received pallium I will willingly concede that a fable is narrated in the Passion. But the argument that the pallium is not given to bishops cannot be approved by me: this indeed is generally true according to present ecclesiastical discipline; but formerly the same was not so: on which matter there is to be seen, among a good many others, Pertsch in the canonical Treatise on the origin, use and authority of the archiepiscopal pallium.

p. Of the discipleship of St. Monon under St. John Agnus we read these things in Heriger Gesta Pontificum, chapter XXXIX, in Chapeaville, volume I, p. 71.: How he (John Agnus) showed himself, what kind and how great, in holy works after his enthronement, the foregoing declare, since it is established that he, endowed with every uprightness of character, had a great many perfect disciples: of whom we have received that one, namely Blessed Monon, applying himself under him to ecclesiastical responses, displayed a perfect martyrdom.

q. Of the iron bell Ghesquière has this: Absent also from Butler's narrative, and deservedly absent, is the finding of an iron bell dug out of the earth by a pig; all which I think are to be reckoned among trifles and popular little tales. So Ghesquière; others perhaps will detect in this finding nothing wonderful, as also nothing improbable. However that may be, it is worth while to observe that in the Lives of the Irish Saints mention is commonly made of a bell, which nuns as well as monks carried about with them Cf. Acta Sanctorum, volume II of April, p. 33.. They commonly hold now that St. Monon used that bell for gathering the neighbours into his little chapel: which I would not deny, although it is more probable to me that it served plainly monastic or eremitical uses.

r. See what we have already noted in the present volume See above, p. 96. concerning martyrdom in the Commentary on SS. Ethelred and Ethelbert. From the Passion it is manifest that St. Monon died before St. John Agnus, and accordingly that he could never have been a disciple of St. Remaclus, who ascended the episcopal see of Maastricht only after St. Amand, the successor of St. John Agnus, being ordained, namely, in the year 653 on the 3rd day before the Nones of February, which was a Sunday. Much more did Ware stray, who, as Lanigan witnesses Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, volume III, p. 197., laid down that St. Monon lived in the 13th century.

s. See the preliminary Commentary, no. 11.

t. See what we said about the manner of investing by a cap at no. 11.

u. Urta, in French the Ourthe, and Lessia, the Lesse, are two streams which spring from the Ardennes forest, and between which in the middle lies the town of Saint-Hubert. The sources of the two are scarcely two leagues distant from each other. The lesser Ourthe, of which mention is made here, is to be distinguished from the greater Ourthe, that, I say, which flows to the west of Houffalize. The tithes, therefore, which are given by Pepin were not so copious; especially if it be attended that not all were given, but only those which the king himself had from his father Charles Martel. Within the same space many lands had been given to the nascent monastery of Andage.

x. Cf. the preliminary Commentary, no. 10.