ON ST. LUPENTIUS, ABBOT AND MARTYR, AT CHÂLONS IN GAUL,
ABOUT THE YEAR 584.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Lupentius, abbot and martyr, at Châlons in Gaul. (S.)
BY B. B.
§ I. The passion of St. Lupentius is had from St. Gregory of Tours, whose text Le Cointe wrongly said was apocryphal. Where and when the holy Abbot was slain.
The martyrdom of Lupentius, commonly St. Louvent, we have from St. Gregory of Tours, a contemporary author, The slaying of St. Lupentius, inasmuch as he, born in the year 539, died in the year 593 Biographie universelle., or according to others born in the year 544, died in the year 595 D. Ceillier, auteurs ecclésiastiques, vol. XVII, page 2 and 5.. The matter, as it was done, Adrien de Valois renders thus, and not inelegantly, in book XI of the Rerum Francicarum Vol. II, page 167. Paris, 1658.: "Him (Lupentius), abbot of the basilica of St. Privatus the martyr, situated in the city of the Gabali (in the vernacular Javouls or Javoux Histoire générale de Languedoc, by D. Vaissette, vol. I, page 293. Paris, 1730.), Innocentius, count of the Gabali, had accused before Brunhild of treason, and had affirmed that he had spoken ill of her. And so, when he had come, summoned by the queen (namely to Metz in Lorraine Ibid. Likewise Baillet, Vies des Saints, 22 Oct. page 343. Paris, 1739.), and the cause being examined he had been found innocent, he was ordered to depart. And already he had begun to make his journey secure, when he is seized by Innocentius his enemy, and is led to a public estate named Ponthion, and there, having been visited with many injuries, he is at length released. But the savagery of Innocentius, a most nocent man, was not yet sated, and abbot Lupentius seemed to have been released for no other purpose than that he might be killed secretly on the journey, with few aware of it. For as soon as he came to the river Aisne, and pitched a tent there for the sake of refreshing himself, the count again rushed upon him unexpectedly, and overpowers him off his guard by force and slays him; and that the crime might be hidden, he encloses the severed head of the Abbot in a sack filled with stones; to the rest of the body he likewise ties a rock, and casts both into the river. Lupentius is said, after a few days, to have been seen by shepherds as they slept, indicating in what place his body had been put, and asking that they would draw it out of the river and bury it; and when this was being done, suddenly an eagle, poising itself from on high, seized the sack seen at the bottom of the river and laid it on the bank. So the head, found by the shepherds, is restored to its trunk, and buried together with it." Thus far Valois, following St. Gregory of Tours. It will not be out of place to have added here from Mabillon, where he treats of St. Bercharius, first abbot of the monastery of Montier-en-Der, likewise slain [Annales Benedictini, vol. I, page 530. Lucca, 1739. Compare Acta SS. vol. VII of Oct. page 1001 and following.]: "So they called Martyrs pious men who had been killed unjustly or for no cause." And more explicitly our Papebroch [Response to the Exhibitio errorum, art. 11, §17. Acta Bollandiana vindicata, page 378.]: "As all Saints who died a bloodless death are named and venerated by the church as Confessors, although this title was formerly given only to those who, having confessed the faith in judgment, had endured prison, torments or exile; so common usage now calls Martyrs all those whom the church venerates who were formerly killed by a bloody death, although they were killed for various causes; nor has anyone ordered that title or rite to be changed... So SS. Rumold, Rupert, Lambert, bishops, killed for another cause than the faith; Evermar, Trudpert and the like slaughtered by highwaymen; Canute of Denmark, Edward of England, Wenceslas of Bohemia, kings, fell for the sake of the kingdom, and are held Martyrs without any contradiction from anyone: nor does any month run its course for us which does not afford very many examples of this kind in both sexes."
[2] attributed to Brunhild, Although Gregory of Tours does not expressly declare it, Valois concludes that that unspeakable slaying was perpetrated by order of the queen: "This end," he says Rerum Francicarum, vol. II. Where cited above., "had Lupentius, a holy man, who I do not doubt was slain by order of Brunhild, since I observe that a reward for so atrocious a crime was paid a little after to the slayer. For Innocentius, count of the Gabali, was substituted by the favour of Brunhild in the place of Theodosius, bishop of the Ruteni (Rodez), and after many contentions and foul canvassing was preferred to Transobadus the presbyter: a man more worthy of punishment than of the priesthood, whose hands, polluted with the blood of an innocent Abbot, ought not to have been honoured by the kisses of the people and employed in episcopal ministries." D. Vaissette hesitates Histoire de Languedoc, vol. I, page 294. to call the queen guilty of so great a crime; Baillet asserts that she is falsely accused Where cited above, page 344.. The old breviaries of the church of Châlons favour Valois. Aptly, therefore, Beschefer, canon of Châlons, after the middle of the 18th century, noted: "Authors vary much concerning the martyrdom of Lupentius. Some make Innocentius, count of the Gabali, the one author and perpetrator of the crime, and remove from Brunhild all suspicion of the crime; others pour back the whole outrage upon Brunhild, and will have it that Lupentius was killed not by the count Innocentius but by two nobles, Agnuinus and Rodo. Yet Innocentius is called nocent, because Lupentius was accused by him before the queen, as if he had torn her with verbal insults. Others finally say that both Brunhild and Innocentius forged the compacts of the crime, and that Innocentius, Agnuinus and Rodo are constituted guilty of the slaying inflicted... There is preserved at Châlons in the monastery of St. Peter ad Montes a ms. Life of St. Lupentius... in it Innocentius is not even named. Lupentius is killed by Boso, a tribune of soldiers, and by two nobles, Agnuinus and Rodo.
These things the aforesaid canon Beschefer has in ms. notes on that part of the Gallia Christiana which treats of the church of Châlons, namely vol. X, col. 856 – 977. Those notes, inserted in the very volume just mentioned, are kept in the archive of the cathedral church, and were kindly communicated to me by the very Reverend D. Musart, dean of the chapter of Châlons. I should not dare to settle the matter. Certainly Brunhild was such a one as would not be much, nor easily, shaken by horror at committing a crime; and on the other hand it is fairly natural to deduce from the text of Gregory that she was not a stranger to this slaying. "Innocentius," says Mabillon Annales Benedictini, at the year 584. num. 28, vol. I, page 170., "was substituted in the place of Theodosius, bishop of the Ruteni, by the favour of Brunhild, who by this deed not undeservedly seemed to have been a sharer in the crime perpetrated." Yet besides conjecture more or less founded we have nothing else from Gregory, in whom, as I shall show below, alone it seems trust is to be placed.
[3] is described by St. Gregory of Tours; More diligently therefore the opinion of Charles Le Cointe comes here to be examined, who will have the text of Gregory to be apocryphal: "The published thirty-seventh chapter of Gregory's sixth book," he says Annales ecclesiastici Francorum, vol. I, page 254., "in which the martyrdom of St. Lupentius is described, ought to be considered inserted, and not worthy of entire credit, because it testifies that Lupentius was killed by Innocentius, count of the Gabali, who a little after undertook the bishopric of Rodez. For we do not think so ill of the comprovincial prelates as to believe that they would have admitted into the college of bishops a man who had defiled himself with so great a crime." Le Cointe therefore, relying on a twofold reason, holds the thirty-seventh chapter suspect; both because it is interpolated, and because it contains incoherent things about count Innocentius. To the former Ruinart answers in the Preface to the works of St. Gregory of Tours Migne's Patrology, vol. LXXI, col. 72 and following.: "When he (Le Cointe) had come upon some written codices, and those indeed very ancient, in which some chapters of the published editions are lacking, he took it into his mind that these very chapters had been added by some interpolator of Gregory's history, and therefore ... he rejected them as spurious, or certainly, if some of them make for his purpose, he brings them forward under the name of the interpolator, whose authority he contends must be much less than Gregory's." And he adds: "If we shall have demonstrated that the arguments (of Le Cointe) are null, the learned man's opinion will collapse and the integrity of Gregory's works will stand unshaken." Ruinart therefore professedly weighs and refutes each of the reasons; nor should I think that after his learned and clear discussion anyone has been found who has gone over to Le Cointe's opinion.
[4] the genuineness of this text is proved As regards the other, the same Ruinart replies Ibid. col. 92.: "There is no reason why the text of Gregory, book VI chap. 37, should be rejected or believed interpolated, although in it the slaying of Lupentius is attributed to Innocentius, who afterwards in chap. XXXVIII is said to have succeeded Theodosius, bishop of the Ruteni. For Innocentius, whose favour with the queen was great, could not easily have been kept from the episcopate unless this crime had been publicly known. But nowhere do we read that Innocentius was declared guilty of so great a crime, nay not even publicly accused, although perhaps rumour attributed it to him. But it was not in those times a lawful, or at any rate a sufficient, cause for hindering an ordination, which was otherwise asked to be made according to the prescriptions of the canons, by the votes of the clergy and people, or at any rate by the will of the kings. Nor are there lacking examples of more wicked men who in those times long held episcopal sees gained by crimes: even one Melantius, intruded into the place of Prætextatus of Rouen, can furnish an example of this matter... It would not be difficult to add many other things, if the matter required." On which matter these things are had in the Gallia Christiana Vol. XI, col. 11.: "Prætextatus having been killed (in the year 585 or 586), Melantius, who had already occupied his see from the year 572 to the year 584.., was again raised to the insignia of Rouen, although vehemently suspected of the shedding of the blood of Prætextatus, but supported by the favour of Queen Fredegund." The text of Gregory therefore keeps its credit.
[5] against Le Cointe, For the rest, Le Cointe does not reject universally what is read about St. Lupentius in Gregory's History. But he will have every suspicion of the crime removed not only from Brunhild but also from Innocentius. And in this respect he censures the interpolator, as he himself calls him. "Neither Queen Brunhild," he says Annal. eccles. vol. I, page 255 and 256., "nor count Innocentius caused death to be inflicted on blessed Lupentius. The Gregorian interpolator does not even call Brunhild into suspicion of the crime (compare above num. 2), and since he at once confers the pontifical insignia on Innocentius, he declares him also innocent... We cast the whole crime upon those who falsely accused Lupentius before count Innocentius or before Queen Brunhild, and who, not having been able to kill him by fraudulent delations, at length attacked him with force and arms at the river Aisne, as he was returning from the royal court to his monastery." The praised canon Beschefer made Le Cointe's opinion his own in his ms. notes. "We," he says, "if it be permitted to disclose our opinion in matters so conflicting with one another, think that the crime is to be cast neither upon Brunhild, who among the writers of the seventh century always plays the most odious part, nor upon count Innocentius, on whom the Gregorian interpolator at once confers the pontifical insignia. We pour back the whole outrage upon those who, hostile to the virtues of Lupentius, accused him by fraudulent delations before count Innocentius, by whom, all things being believed in an exaggerated way, Lupentius was arraigned for treason. The holy Abbot comes to Metz, pleads his cause, crushes the calumny, is dismissed by Brunhild. When so great an accusation had come to nothing, the delators, more and more inflamed by the refutation of the charge, attacked Lupentius with force and arms on the bank of the river Blaise, and laid bloody hands upon him." From these words it may be seen that the D. Canon was ignorant of Ruinart's dissertation, by which he vindicated his writings to Gregory. The reader also will wonder that a man such as Le Cointe without controversy was, learned and prudent, should so easily, from an extrinsic reason, and that a very light one, either mutilate or deform a historian. If this were permitted, scarcely any writer would be had whose works would not have to be cut short.
[6] who rightly censures the legends of the holy Martyr More rightly the aforesaid author censures the Life of St. Lupentius praised by Rapine. Which, since it does not seem to be other than that which we give in print below, whether from our hagiographical mss. or from an old ms. breviary of Châlons, and, as we think, hitherto unpublished, it will be worth while to have written out Le Cointe's criticism in this place. "Charles Rapine in the History of the bishops of Châlons testifies that a manuscript life of blessed Lupentius is kept in the monastery of St. Peter ad montes (S. Pierre aux monts) near Châlons; but from his epitome of it, which he subjoined to the eulogy of St. Leudomir, bishop of Châlons, it sufficiently appears how ineptly it is composed. In the first place he says that Lupentius both lived in the diocese of Châlons and was crowned with martyrdom there when Leudomir held the pontificate, and Brunhild was showing herself another Jezebel" Ibidem page 255.. In our ms. this indeed is not asserted so expressly; nay, he is said to have been born in the territory of Gévaudan; but from the words it can be concluded that the holy Man also lived in the place of his martyrdom: for so it is had: "St. Lupentius... was born of illustrious parents in the territory of Gévaudan"; and below: "... He obtained the grade of the presbyterate. And when he was discharging irreprehensibly the office entrusted to him, he is said to have been struck by a certain man in the sight of the queen... Then the Jezebel of our time ordered the Servant of Christ to be consigned to the custody of the prison," etc. In these words there is nothing had which insinuates that he came from a distant region to defend his innocence before Brunhild; nor is mention made that he was abbot of St. Privatus in the city of the Gabali. Le Cointe's note recited above therefore does not lack a probable argument. And this being admitted, the same writer rightly adds Ibid.: "Lupentius indeed received the palm of martyrdom in the bishopric of Châlons...; but he was wont to live in the city of the Gabali, where he discharged the office of abbot in the monastery of St. Privatus, and it happened only by chance that he was killed at the river Aisne, as he was making his journey through the diocese of Châlons and returning to his monastery from the court." Below at num. 11 we shall present a charter of Bruno, abbot of the monastery of Montier-en-Der, in which Lupentius is said to have built a church at Châlons; which indeed would be against Le Cointe. But it is not of such weight that we should now linger longer on these things.
[7] rightly Le Cointe continues Ibid.: "Rapine will have the martyrdom of blessed Lupentius to have taken place under the principate of Theodoric" (and this again can indeed be concluded from the Life), "who reigned in Burgundy after Childebert his father. But St. Lupentius underwent martyrdom in Austrasia, when Theodoric had not yet been brought into the light, and Childebert did not yet hold Burgundy, which obeyed Guntram until the year 593. In vain therefore did Rapine say that many things were done wickedly by Brunhild and her grandson Theodoric, that he might insinuate that thence occasion was given both to Lupentius to inveigh more sharply against Brunhild, and to Brunhild to be more vehemently angry against Lupentius." There is added Ibid.: "In the same writer Innocentius, count of the city of the Gabali, whom the Gregorian interpolator makes the one author and perpetrator of the crime, is not even named; but Brunhild... contrives death for the Abbot, and, that she may obtain her wish, uses as chief ministers Boso, a tribune of soldiers, and two nobles, Agnuinus (Aciminus) and Rodo, nowhere known in the Gregorian interpolation." Finally: "Rapine asserts that on the following day the head of the Martyr was lifted from the waters by an eagle, and buried most honourably by Paul the presbyter...: He adds that after some interval of time the body also was found, and buried by Hermentius the presbyter in the parish church of St. Remigius, into which he affirms that the head also was afterwards translated. The interpolator mentions neither the presbyters nor the Remigian church, and testifies that the body was found before the head, and not on the day next after the martyrdom, but, as he says, 'after a few days.'"
[8] [] We think Le Cointe's criticism well founded, except in two heads: the one, that he would have the text of Gregory of Tours interpolated; the other, that he assumes as certain that neither Brunhild nor count Innocentius contrived the death of St. Lupentius. On the contrary it appears certain to us that Innocentius is to be held its author and perpetrator, since this is expressly affirmed in Gregory's History; likewise it seems to us far more probable that Brunhild was not free from this crime, adhering namely to the narration of the same Gregory. For the rest, with Le Cointe we reject as fictitious the life praised by Rapine, which nevertheless we have thought should be inserted in our Work, both because it is fairly ancient, and because it is found almost entire in the older breviaries of the church of Châlons, concerning which canon Beschefer notes: "These old breviaries were revised by Godfrey III Soreau in the year 1460, Robert de Lenoncourt in the year 1539, Jérôme Bourgeois in the year 1570; Henri Clausse in the year 1636. The breviary, however, by Henri Clausse
revised, departs fairly notably from that older one which we saw in ms. at Paris in the library of the armoury (arsenal), whose text you will find entire at the end of the preliminary commentary. In the former (namely the one revised in the year 1636) these things are read" In Le Cointe, where cited above, page 254.: "Lupentius, of illustrious family in the territory of the Gabali, learned in letters, and provost of the basilica of St. Privatus the martyr, was advanced to the dignity of the priesthood. And when ... he inveighed against the vices of the court, he was denounced by Innocentius, count of the Gabali, before Queen Brunhild... Accordingly, being ordered to come to plead his cause, he so cleared the charge of treason that ... the calumny was fully established. But when Lupentius, his cause pleaded, had not prevailed upon the queen, who was inflamed with greater hatred against him ... he is harassed by the courtly flatterers both with tongue and hand and thrust into prison. But the crafty woman orders the holy Priest to be let out of prison very quickly, and resolves to kill him not by open force but secretly through snares... Into the knowledge of the wicked crime, therefore, she admits few, the nocent count Innocentius, Agminus and Rodo, purple-clad attendants," etc. Thereafter the martyrdom is described as in Gregory, but in a more elegant style. For the rest, it may be seen that the outrage is indeed poured back chiefly upon Brunhild, and yet Innocentius is not absolved; and that the Lessons were composed at once from the Life and from the words of Gregory of Tours; and accordingly they have true things mixed with false, or at least with things not sufficiently proved.
[9] although inserted in breviaries. Wrongly therefore, after the words recited a little above, the praised Beschefer adds: "This then was the constant tradition of the church of Châlons from the 7th century, that is, from the times of the abbot Lupentius himself, to the middle of the seventeenth century, that the holy Abbot was not killed by Innocentius, but by Brunhild's ministers themselves, Agnuinus and Rodo"; nay, and by Innocentius, who is expressly named in the Lessons just set down: "Into the knowledge of the wicked crime she admits few, the nocent count Innocentius, Agnuinus and Rodo, purple-clad attendants." Too confidently also the same Canon draws back the origin of the tradition of the church of Châlons to the seventh century: for this is proved by no testimony, nor can it hitherto be proved; whence it would also have been more advisable for him to spare the following exclamation: "Felix de Vialart, bishop of Châlons, ordered the Breviary to be printed in the year 1646 (rather 1665); and behold, a thousand years after, in the church of Châlons, count Innocentius, a little after bishop of Rodez, is charged together with Brunhild with the slaying of Lupentius!" How these things cohere with what he noted before, let the D. Canon himself see. Finally the Lessons of the breviary of Felix de Vialart are taken word for word from Gregory of Tours, there being added at the end of the II Lesson: "His sacred relics, afterwards carried to Châlons, were laid in a silver shrine in the cathedral church." It will not be out of place to have noticed that Le Cointe, at the same time as Vialart his breviary, began to publish his ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, of which the first volume (in which he disputes about the interpolations of Gregory of Tours) was published at Paris in the year 1666. Nor did Le Cointe's opinions afterwards prevail, since the same Lessons were kept in the breviaries of the Most Reverend D. Claude Antoine de Choiseul-Beaupré in the year 1736, and of the Most Reverend D. Monyer de Prilly in the year 1840, likewise in the Proper published a few years later, namely from the introduction of the Roman rite into the diocese of Châlons. Since, however, in the year 1668 the cathedral church was struck by lightning, and by that very fact the reliquary of St. Lupentius suffered very great damage, it came about from this that the clause about the Relics had to be changed, as will be seen below. For the rest, this is placed beyond controversy, namely that, the genuineness of the Gregorian text being admitted (of which after Ruinart's investigations there is no reason you should rationally doubt), everything persuades that the assertions of a contemporary author, grave and holy, are to be preferred to the opinions of any unknown and unnamed legend-writer.
[10] St. Lupentius was slain at the Aisne; St. Gregory of Tours determines the place of the martyrdom in these words: "But when he (Lupentius, departing from the court of Metz) began to take the road, being captured again by the aforesaid count (Innocentius), led to the estate of Ponthion, he was afflicted with many torments; released again that he might return, when he had pitched a tent above the river Aisne, his enemy again rushed upon him. And having overpowered him by force, he put his severed head into a sack loaded with stones and gave it to the river; and the rest of the body, bound with a rock, he plunged into the flood." Adhering to these words, it can be admitted that the holy Abbot departed from Metz, or from the banks of the Moselle, straight westward as far as Verdun, there crossed the Meuse, then the Aire, and so came to the Aisne not far from its sources; but thence, turning very much to the south, reached Ponthion [Spruner, Historisch-Geographischer Hand-Atlas. Map 25. Likewise Gallia Christ. vol. IX. Map of the Province of Reims. Cassini, carte générale de la France, 7 K. Paris, 1808.], situated on the river Saltus (Saulx), and distant about two leagues to the east from Vitry-le-François [Expilly, Dictiontionnaire géographique des Gaules et de France, under the word: Ponthyon.]; and after the first injuries suffered from Innocentius, went up from south to north, until he came again to the Aisne, perhaps not far from Sainte-Menehould Gallia Christ. Ibid. Map., into which he was cast when beheaded. There is certainly nothing in these things which is in the least repugnant, or which cannot be held as probable. And these things are said for this reason, that the above-praised canon Beschefer in his ms. notes charges the Gregorian text with falsehood even from this, that it relates that St. Lupentius suffered at the Aisne. "What," he says, "the interpolator of Gregory and others add, that Lupentius, released from Ponthion to go back to his abbey, was slain above the river Aisne, openly opposes the truth. For to Lupentius returning from the court of King Childebert, namely from the places near the Moselle, Ponthion was across the river Aisne. Not, therefore, on the bank of the Aisne or of the river Saulx, which he was not going to cross to go back to the Gabali, but on the bank of the river Blaise, which flows into the Marne, did the holy Abbot of the Gabali undergo martyrdom." Rightly indeed, if it were altogether necessary, and that a priori, to admit that the holy Martyr was bound to go back to his country by the straightest and shortest road, and could not turn aside for any reason whatever. But who has ever seriously put forward a paradox of this kind, especially after the genuineness of the Gregorian text has been so luminously vindicated by Ruinart? And even if it were granted, though it is not conceded, that St. Lupentius wished to return by the shortest route from Metz or from the places near the Moselle to Mende (Mimatum) or to the Gabali (Javouls), there was no need to cross the Blaise; nay, nor could he come to it unless the Marne had first been crossed or a great circuit made, as strikes the eyes of one inspecting geographical maps. For the rest, reasonings of that kind are altogether vain where Gregory of Tours keeps his authority. But what Castellan writes Martyrologe universel, 22 Oct., that the Passion took place near Givry (Gibriacum) in the Argonne, of the diocese of Châlons, does not lack probability, especially on this head, that it agrees most rightly with the sayings of St. Gregory. For Givry is a town of Champagne, in the tract of the Argonne, namely a wooded region stretching between the Meuse, the Marne and the Aisne, whose chief city is Sainte-Menehould Expilly. Where cited above. Under the word: Argonne., from which Vitry is not far distant to the south, so that indeed it both approaches the city of Châlons and is not much separated from the Aisne, and lies in a place very suitable for robberies Cassini, 7 K. Givry en Argonne.. And so Castellan's opinion is very probable to me.
[11] it is not proved from the charter of Montier-en-Der Mabillon asserts something else about the place of the martyrdom Annales Benedicti, vol. I, page 170, at the year 584, num. 28.: "The place where he was beheaded is said in a certain charter of the monastery of Montier-en-Der to be the castle of Mediolanum (Molain) of the diocese of Châlons, nearest to which is the church of the holy Sepulchre, of St. Mary and of St. Stephen the protomartyr, which St. Lupentius is related to have built and inhabited until Brunhild had him beheaded, as is read in the charter of Witer, knight of the castle of Mediolanum, who bestowed this church on the monastery of Montier-en-Der in the year 1063." I do not at all doubt that it is a question of the charter of abbot Bruno, which Mabillon, perhaps by some extension, says is Witer's, from which, however, you could lawfully conclude nothing about the place of the martyrdom. A copy of Bruno's charter was sent to our predecessors by Du Cange from the Cartulary of the monastery of Montier-en-Der in the diocese of Châlons. Part of it I write out here: "I Bruno, by the grace of God abbot of the monastery of Montier-en-Der, wish to hand down to the knowledge of the faithful that Witer, knight of the castle of Mediolanum" (Molain, a little village in the diocese of Châlons, as is noted in the margin of the copy), "who was a most famous man, after he returned from Jerusalem, weary with the remembrance of his sins, established a church of God in honour of the holy apostles Peter and Paul and of St. Bercharius ... and there devoutly took the monastic habit. There is a certain church near the aforesaid castle in honour of the holy Sepulchre, of St. Mary and of St. Stephen the protomartyr, which St. Lupentius, while he was leading the eremitical life, laid from the foundations, and lived there so long until Brunhild, the most impious queen, had him beheaded; which afterwards the lord Roger, bishop of Châlons, gave to the church of Montier-en-Der, because he was intimate with it. And the aforesaid Witer, before he took the monastic habit, for love of the place and of the congregation into which he was to be inserted, gave to that church part of his patrimony," etc.
[12] that this happened at the castle of Mediolanum. At any rate the context of the words suggests what I said above, that Mabillon pointed to that same charter. And if this be so, he read it altogether cursorily and negligently, unless you prefer that the instrument itself was not in his hands. For first, the charter is Bruno's, not Witer's; then, not the latter, but rather Bishop Roger gave the church of the holy Sepulchre to the monastery of Montier-en-Der; finally, from the words "and he (Lupentius) lived there so long until Brunhild had him beheaded" it in no way follows that the head of the holy Man was cut off in that place. For the rest, Mabillon himself, describing the matter a little before from Gregory of Tours, says: "This was done at the river Aisne." Now the castle of Mediolanum (Molain, Cassini writes Moulins) is distant many leagues from the Aisne Gallia Christ. vol. IX. Geographical Table.; today it is in the diocese of Soissons, not far to the north of the town of Vervins near the town of Wassigny; and it is a village numbering 480 inhabitants Dictionnaire géographique, statisque de la France. Paris, year XIII or 1804.. No mention of it is made in the ecclesiastical Calendar of France Almanach du clergé de France. Paris, 1854. Page 576 583.. What credit further is to be given to the aforesaid charter I could not easily say. The year is lacking; its age, however, becomes known from elsewhere. Bruno was blessed at Rome in the year 1050 in the Lateran chapel
by Pope Leo himself Gallia Christ. vol. IX, col. 917.; he died about the year 1082 Ibid. col. 918.. They add: "In the year 1063 very many donations were made to the monks of Montier-en-Der; among them was given by Roger, bishop of Châlons, the church of the holy Sepulchre and of Stephen, which St. Lupentius the hermit had founded and inhabited before he was beheaded by order of Queen Brunhild" Ibid.. In the fifth century from the death of Lupentius, therefore, mention first occurs of a church founded by him, which assuredly is not of such weight as to make of itself a sufficiently firm argument. Assertions of this kind (the genuineness of the instrument being admitted) for the most part have their origin from popular traditions, by which sacred edifices are reported to have been built by those whose relics are kept, or of whom some peculiar memory is made. Nor indeed should I doubt that St. Lupentius had a cult at the castle of Mediolanum, nay and in the monastery of Montier-en-Der. And so much about the place of the martyrdom, about which nothing is certain besides what is related by St. Gregory of Tours; namely that it took place at the river Aisne; probably, however, not far from Châlons, as the translation of the sacred Body to that church suggests.
[13] The Passion seems to be assigned As regards the year of the martyrdom, writers also differ very much from one another. "There are those," says Baillet Vies des Saints, 22 Oct. page 344., "who would have him suffer at the beginning of the seventh century, under Theodoric, king of the Burgundians" (so in the Life published at the end of this commentary); "but others, and indeed more plausibly, refer the slaying of the holy Man to the times of Childebert, towards the year 584, or at least before the year 593, in which Childebert, Guntram having died, obtained the kingdom of Burgundy." Baillet hesitates between the year 584 and 590 Ibid. page 343.. Simon de Peyronnet writes that he was slain Catalogus Sanctorum et Sanctarum, page 315. Toulouse, 1706. in the seventh century, and Nicolas Desguerrois, who weaves a very long history, or rather legend, of St. Lupentius, as will be seen below in the Annotations, sets down the year 613 [La Saincteté Chrestienne, or Lives of the Saints honoured at Troyes, fol. 126 – 132. Troyes, 1637.]. Rapine is not consistent with himself: he will have the martyrdom to have taken place under the episcopate of Leudomir; but this man, according to the editors of the Gallia christiana Vol. IX, col. 862 and 863., sat at Châlons in the year 580; his death is not indicated, but in the year 589 Felix I held that see. On the other hand the same Rapine refers the slaying of St. Lupentius to the principate of Theodoric II. Compare num. 7. These and other things of the kind sufficiently declare that the work of that writer is rightly called mediocre (passable) in Lenglet du Fresnoy Méthode pour étudier l'histoire, vol. XIII, page 58. Paris, 1772.. Surius has the year 590; Castellan writes in the margin Martyrologe universel.: "about the year 589"; Ferrari in the general Catalogue has the year 588; Baronius in the Annals Vol. X, page 446. Lucca, 1741. the year 587; Le Cointe Where cited above., Adrien de Valois Rerum Francicarum, vol. II, page 166., D. Vaissette Histoire de Languedoc, vol. I, page 339., Longueval Histoire de l'église Gallicane, vol. IV, page 188. Paris, 1826., and likewise Mabillon Annales Bened. vol. I, page 170. Lucca, 1739. the year 584. Butler finally leaves the matter in the middle, assigning no year Vies des Saints vol. XVI page 154. Louvain, 1832..
[14] about the year 584. In our opinion the following things suggest that the death of St. Lupentius is to be placed about the year 584. That it took place before the year 595 is plain from the death of St. Gregory of Tours, which is not to be deferred beyond this year Histoire de l'église Gallicane, vol. IV, page 320.; in the following year (596) Childebert, son of Brunhild, died Ibid. page 335.. His piety and justice are given praise Ibid.; so that it does not appear that so atrocious a deed could have been committed at least in the last years of his reign. Whence great probability accrues to the opinion of Baillet, who determines that the death of Lupentius is to be placed before the year 593. Besides, King Sigebert, father of Childebert, was unexpectedly killed at the siege of Tournai by the machinations of Fredegund in the year 575 or 576 Valois, Rerum Francicar. vol. II, page 61.; Childebert, aged 4 years and about 9 months, was soon substituted for his father in the kingdom of Austrasia Ibid. page 69.. A little after, Brunhild herself, wife of Sigebert and mother of Childebert, came from Rouen, where she had stayed for some time as an exile, to the Mediomatrici, that is, Metz (the metropolis of the Austrasians), to her son; and having returned home she ruled not only Childebert her son but also the commonwealth Ibid. page 77.; and it is right to believe that this lasted at least a decade; and so we easily reach to the year 584, near the beginning of which, from the Gregorian series of deeds D. Bouquet, Recueil des historiens, vol. II. Chronological Index, page LXXXVII., the death of St. Lupentius falls. And since Childebert was joined in matrimony towards the sixteenth year of his age (nay earlier, as Valois would have it: "Being about XV years old," he says Where cited above, page 481., "he had a son by his wife"), as is shown from the fact that in the year 586 a son was born to him D. Bouquet. Ibid. page XCI., it is credible that the king even from then applied more diligent cares by himself to administering public affairs. However that may be, the chief reason by which we are persuaded to refer the death of St. Lupentius towards the year 584 is deduced from the series of deeds in the books of the History of the Franks of St. Gregory of Tours, as may be seen from Bouquet's chronological Index Where cited above., where very many deeds succeeding one another in the narration of the holy prelate are noted at the year just mentioned, among which is also the passion of the holy martyr Lupentius.
§ II. Of the festal memory, relics and Acts of St. Lupentius.
Festal memory at Châlons From time immemorial the church of Châlons celebrates the feast of St. Lupentius on the 22nd day of October. There exists at Paris in the Library of the Armoury (de l'Arsenal) among the Mss. a most splendid volume, marked T. L. 123 o, in which is contained a Breviary and Missal of Châlons of the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th century. Certainly in its second part is read on folio recto I: "As happened in the seventy-second year," and in the margin is written in another hand: "Note the epoch, the year 1272." In the calendar is had: "On the 11th of the Kalends (of November), of Lupentius, martyr, of IX lessons, solemn double." And in the second part, folio CXLIII recto and verso, the Office and Mass are set down in this manner. "Of Lupentius, martyr. Prayer. Be propitious, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to us Thy servants through the glorious merits of Thy holy martyr Lupentius, that by his pious intercession we may always be fortified against all adversities." Then follows the life distributed into nine lessons, which you will find entire at the end of this commentary. The Mass is the same as in the two older printed Missals; the one of the year 1509, the other of the year 1543, both from the Paris presses. The title of the former, which is kept in the aforesaid library of the Arsenal, is: "Missal for the use of the distinguished church of Châlons, newly corrected by order of the reverend father and lord in Christ, the Lord Gilles de Luxembourg, bishop of Châlons, and peer of France." And at the end: "In the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred and nine, on the XVI day of January." In the calendar: "On the 11th of the Kalends (of November), of Lupentius, martyr, third double." The title of the latter (which is found at Châlons) is: "Missal for the use of the distinguished church of Châlons, newly corrected by ordinance of the most reverend lord, the lord Robert de Lenoncourt," etc. Paris, in the year 1543. In the calendar: "On the 11th of the Kalends (of November), of Lupentius, martyr, third double." In both: "Introit: The just shall rejoice in the Lord. Prayer: Be propitious, etc., as above. Epistle: Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom. Gospel: Except a corn of wheat. Secret: May Thy clemency, we beseech Thee, O Lord, receive the gift offered from our hands, and through the prayers of Thy holy martyr Lupentius cleanse us from all sins. Through our Lord. Postcommunion: Partaking of the divine mysteries which we have offered to Thy majesty for the veneration of Thy holy martyr Lupentius, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that through them we may merit pardon of sins and be refreshed with the gifts of heavenly grace. Through our Lord." In the Breviary of the Most Reverend D. Felix de Vialart of the year 1665 the calendar has: "On the feast of St. Lupentius, martyr. Double of the fourth order in the cathedral church, through the diocese Semidouble. Prayer: Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who keep the birthday of blessed Lupentius, Thy martyr, may by his intercession be strengthened in the love of Thy name. Through our Lord." Finally the Breviary of the Most Reverend D. Marie Joseph Monyer de Prilly, published in the year 1840, has: "On the XXII day of October. Of St. Lupentius, abbot and martyr. Semidouble. In the cathedral greater double. From the common of one Martyr. Prayer: O God, who blessed page XII. Two Lessons from the History of Gregory of Tours," the clause about the translation to Châlons being added. "Gospel: If any man will come after me, with the homily of St. Augustine: What is it, I ask you: If any man will come after me," etc. The memory of St. Lupentius, therefore, flourished from of old in the church of Châlons; and indeed formerly solemn, as is plain both from what precedes and from what is to be said about the relics; but in the course of time the cult declined, which today in the cathedral is that which they are wont to show in churches to Saints whose Relics are had. One may conjecture that the solemn procession recurring every year on the Monday of Pentecost in the cathedral of Châlons, in which all the relics of the Saints are carried through the city, has its origin from the translation of the body of St. Lupentius into another case, made in the year 1413, on the very day of holy Pentecost, as I shall say below.
[16] and elsewhere. St. Lupentius is also venerated in his native church of Mende, in whose breviary he has an office on the same day; the Lessons are arranged according to the text of St. Gregory of Tours; a clause is added about the notable part of the relics sent by Claude Antoine, bishop of Châlons, towards the end of the 18th century. From the charter of Bruno, of which above at num. 11, it is right to conclude that the holy Abbot had a cult at the castle of Mediolanum, as also in the monastery of Montier-en-Der. In Saussay's Gallican martyrology a twofold memory is celebrated. The one on the 22nd of October: "At Mende of the Gabali in Aquitaine, the birthday of St. Lupentius, abbot of the basilica of St. Privatus." A lengthy encomium is added, drawn as much from the Life and the ancient breviaries as from Gregory of Tours. The other on the 6th of November: "In Champagne, under the prelacy of Châlons, of St. Lupentius, martyr, who, of his own accord separated from the world, when he had given himself wholly to divine services, was beheaded in a little church which he had built in the desert, by order of the impious Queen Brunhild." This one, therefore, in Saussay's mind, seems to be different from the other. It is clear besides from the very words that the latter announcement was taken from the aforesaid charter of Bruno. Wrongly did Saussay forge two Saints
of the same name: for nothing stands in the way of Lupentius of the Gabali having stayed for some time among the people of Châlons or at the castle of Mediolanum, as I have already noticed at num. 10. For the rest, it is known to the learned how little the assertions of the aforesaid writer are valued, especially where the discourse is of more ancient matters. In the martyrologies of Ado, Rabanus, Usuard, etc., the name of St. Lupentius does not occur, as neither in the present Roman one. It is found in certain additions to Usuard, namely in Molanus, as may be seen in the Usuard of our Sollerius at this day, the 22nd of Oct. Finally Nicolas Desguerrois testifies La Saincteté Chrestienne, fol. 132. that at Troyes in Champagne the feast of St. Lupentius is celebrated on the 13th day of October, whose bones (the head excepted) he asserts rest in the village named from St. Lupentius (St. Lupien), distant six leagues from the aforesaid city; and he adds that on the said day, as also on the following Sunday, there is a great concourse of the people, and that several healings are obtained there; and since at Châlons the day of the same Lupentius is kept on the 22nd of October, Nicolas Desguerrois thinks that here the Deposition, but in the church of Troyes a certain Translation, is celebrated. But that this writer is dreaming will be plain from what is to be said both in the following number and in the Annotations on the Life; so that the bones of Troyes (if any are had) belong altogether to another Lupentius.
[17] The relics; Treating of the relics, we shall first recite the opinions of several writers, not a little discordant; then we shall indicate their present state from certain monuments. It is beyond doubt from St. Gregory of Tours Migne's Patrol. vol. LXXI, col. 405. that the head (of St. Lupentius) was buried with the rest of the limbs not far from the place of the martyrdom, and remained there for some space of time; for Gregory adds: "They report that a light now also appears; and if a sick man shall have prayed faithfully at this tomb, he goes away having received health." How long the sacred remains stayed there I find nowhere, as neither by whom nor how they were translated to Châlons. About the fact of the translation itself, however, the graver writers agree to a man. "Blessed Lupentius" (the words are Le Cointe's Annales eccles. vol. I, page 254.) "rests today at Châlons in the cathedral church, and is venerated there on the eleventh of the Kalends of November." Baillet, Ruinart, Vaissette, Butler and others speak similarly in the places cited above. But they do not so agree where the question is of their present state. To Ruinart Migne's Patrology. Where cited above, col. 405, note a. "the body of St. Lupentius, brought to Châlons, was kept in the cathedral church until the year 1667, in which the church, struck by lightning on the XIX day of January, burned down, and at the same time the sacred relics which were kept there were consumed. But what survived, namely half-burned bones and ashes, gathered together, are kept in a case behind the high altar." Which words, so express, would indicate that the learned writer had inquired not sluggishly on this matter. In place of the year 1667, however, the Gallia Christiana has the following Vol. IX, col. 900.: "But when in the year 1668, in the month of January, the cathedral church had been struck by fire sent down from heaven, Jules Felix Vialart, then bishop of Châlons, called Felix III, repaired all its ruins within four years." And this year is altogether certain, as being inscribed today in large red figures on the inner vault of the choir of the cathedral church of Châlons. It is had besides from an authentic instrument which is kept in the archive of the same church. Mention of this will recur a little below. This year 1668 Butler also sets down, who departs much more widely from Ruinart in other matters too (and not, as I shall presently show, without reason): he relates namely Vies des Saints, vol. XVI, page 154. — Louvain, 1832. that relics of St. Lupentius are had down to our age, and that only part of them perished in the fire; nay more, that some bones of the holy Man were given to the cathedral church of Mende (commonly Mende) by Claude Antoine de Choiseul-Beaupré, who as bishop of Châlons died his last day in the year 1763. Again something else is recorded in the history of Languedoc Histoire de Languedoc, vol. I. page 294., namely that the greater part of the relics of St. Lupentius were burned in the 16th century by the Calvinists. Which things, although little agreeing, yet clearly demonstrate that the assertions of Nicolas Desguerrois cannot stand, namely that the head alone of the blessed Martyr was kept at Châlons, but the rest of the members in the village of St-Lupien in the tract of Troyes. For the rest, he himself confesses Saincteté Chrestienne, fol. 130, verso. that he does not know at what time the sacred remains were brought thither, although he suspects that this happened during the Norman incursions, nay in the year 882, when Upper Champagne had been foully laid waste; whence, in his opinion, it may be inferred that so precious a treasure was hidden in the midst of the woods and that a little town gradually arose there. See the following number, and the Annotations on the Life, letter a.
[18] their present state, And these are the things which various writers have written variously about the relics of the holy Man. We have obtained more certain documents, when on the 8th and 9th days of July of the year 1855 we were at Châlons, received as guests by the most illustrious and Most Reverend D. Marie Joseph François Victor Monyer de Prilly, bishop of Châlons, a venerable man and most loving towards our Society. The chief is an authentic instrument deposited in the archive of the chapter of Châlons, which, translated from French into Latin, we give here in full, where the present state of the relics is clearly set forth. And it is of the following tenor:
[19] from an authentic instrument, "In the name of the most holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, to the greater glory of God and the veneration of the Saints. In the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and five, on the nineteenth day of March, we, Augustin Joseph Becquey, priest, formerly canon of the cathedral church of Châlons, now honorary canon of the cathedral church of Meaux, and counsellor of the Most Reverend D. Louis Mathias de Barral, bishop of Meaux, specially delegated, and by authority of the Reverend D. Dubois de Crancé, vicar general for the internal forum, canon archpriest of Meaux, in the presence and at the request of D. Joseph Alexandre Benjamin Hurault, priest, parish priest of the said church of St. Stephen, of DD. Louis Charles Valois and Jean Baptiste Wareuflot, both vicars of the same church, and also of DD. Jean Baptiste Bulard, priest and inhabitant of the above-named parish, and Antoine Meunier, one of the chief officials of the prefectural administration (chef de bureau à la préfecture), having his domicile at Châlons, proceeded to the inspection and verification of a certain relic which the church of St. Stephen, formerly the cathedral, possesses in the city of Châlons, in form and manner as follows. After the grace of the Holy Spirit had been invoked, there was presented to us by D. Hurault, parish priest of the said church of St. Stephen, a little packet containing a fragment of scorched bone, which Marie Arentz, a hospital religious in the Hôtel-Dieu of Châlons, and present when the aforesaid packet was opened, testified that she had taken out of the reliquary of St. Lupentius, martyr, all of whose bones had been carried from the church of St. Stephen into the hall of the Hôtel-Dieu when the churches were being plundered, and that she had kept it until now with much veneration. The said fragment of bone we wrapped in a cloth of green silk, to which we affixed the seal of the bishop of Meaux impressed in red wax, so that it might be enclosed in a reliquary and exposed, as before, to the veneration of the faithful. In faith of which we have subscribed the present instrument together with the witnesses above named, which we have also fortified with the episcopal seal in red wax. Becquey, c. h. d. M." (honorary canon of the diocese of Meaux). It was signed: "Hurault, parish priest of the church of St. Stephen, Vallois, vicar of St. Stephen's, Wareuflot, vic. of St. Stephen's, Bulard, Meunier-Clauzet." To the same instrument is added the following attestation of the Most Reverend D. Marie Joseph de Prilly: "In the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, on the fourteenth day of April, we, Marie Joseph François Victor Monyer de Prilly, bishop of Châlons, visited the relics of St. Lupentius, martyr, which we found such as they are described in the instrument presented above, to which we affixed our seal, as also to the little case in which they are enclosed. At Châlons, on the 14th day of April 1845." It was signed: "M. J. F. V., bishop of Châlons."
[20] their state; From these two things are shown; one, that part of the relics of St. Lupentius still survives, as is accurately rendered in the present Proper of Châlons (after the Roman breviary was introduced into that diocese a few years ago): "The sacred body of Lupentius was translated from the district of Perthois to Châlons, where some part of this venerable pledge, surviving the disturbances of the end of the eighteenth century, is religiously kept in the cathedral church." The other, that in the burning of the church struck by lightning at least a great part of the relics of St. Lupentius survived, since Marie Arentz testifies that she took a fragment of a bone of the holy Martyr out of the reliquary; and that all the bones were carried into the hall of the Hôtel-Dieu. This is confirmed to some extent from another document which I saw in the archive of the fabric of the same cathedral church, namely the Report made by public authority by Louis François Lefèvre de Caumartin, royal counsellor, on the damage arising from the fire. It begins: "In the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-eight, on the twenty-first of January, we, Louis François Lefèvre de Caumartin ... a petition having been presented by the DD. Dean and canons and chapter of the cathedral church of St. Stephen at Châlons in Champagne, in which it is reported that on the nineteenth day of this month (January), about the sixth hour and a half after noon, the tower of that sacred edifice was struck by lightning, which was entirely consumed by the flames, and, collapsing, broke through the vault of the choir, shattered the high altar and the cases of holy relics raised above it; it also overthrew the vaulting of the underground chapel called N. D. de la Crouste; several, both clerics and laymen, perished crushed by the ruin, while they were bringing help to the D. Dean to save from the fire the sacred species, as also the relics of the Saints kept in the cupboards," etc. "This petition being received, therefore, we went to the church, and entering the choir ... we found it so reduced to ruin that nothing but the columns now remained. We saw also the vault of the underground chapel (which, six fathoms long and five broad, is called N. D. de la Crouste), on which the high altar rested, likewise collapsed and shattered, so that no trace of it could now be seen... The aforesaid altar too ... was broken, burst and melted, with three cases of silver gilt, in which were contained three bodies of Saints, of which very little altogether (fort peu) survives." Comparing these two instruments with each other, this seems to be shown, that some scorched bones of St. Lupentius existed after the fire (compare num. 22); but that now, except one fragment kept by Marie Arentz, the rest are wanting. That fragment further, enclosed in a little case, has been laid in a reliquary of gilded wood of fair size and divided into two parts: in the one are the relics of St. Lupentius, in the other the remains of St. Quentin. The reliquary is now kept behind, under the high altar, and on the second day of Pentecost it is wont to be carried about with other holy relics in public procession. Another devotional
signs do not appear among the people. Of the aforesaid procession the French Journal of this year makes mention in these words L'Ami de la Religion, 24 May 1856. Vol. CLXXII, page 488.: "The churches of the city of Châlons possess very many holy relics, and those very precious. That all of them together may be honoured with public and solemn cult, from time immemorial on the Monday of Pentecost there takes place through the city a notable procession, which is customarily called the Procession of the Reliquaries. On that day, namely, all the reliquaries kept in the churches of St. Stephen, St. John and St. Loup are carried with pomp through the city and exposed in the cathedral church to the veneration of the faithful; on the following day the relics belonging to the cathedral are laid back behind the altar in the sanctuary; the others are carried again by way of procession each to their own proper seats."
[20] the translations Here I shall briefly review the various translations of the sacred Body. We learn from St. Gregory of Tours that the holy Man was buried not far from the place of his passion. See num. 17. But how long he remained there is not plain. It is added in the ms. Life, as also in the ancient breviary, likewise ms. (although, as I shall say in the Annotations, they do not altogether agree with each other), that after the first burial it was revealed to the holy man Hermentius that he should gather the members of so great a Martyr and place them within the enclosure of a basilica. "And he buried the body of the holy Martyr in the basilica of St. Remigius," etc. But this we said above with Le Cointe, at num. 7 and 8, can in no way stand. When, however, the sacred remains were translated from the place of the first burial to Châlons is unascertained; yet there is no reason why one may doubt of the fact itself, so constant and clear is the tradition had on this matter. It is nevertheless worthy of note that neither in the ms. Life nor in the ancient ms. breviary of the 13th or 14th century is any mention made of the translation to Châlons. From the ms. notes of canon Beschefer on the Gallia Christiana vol. X, where it treats of the church of Châlons, another translation is had: "In the year 1413, on the day of Pentecost, Louis de Bar, bishop of Châlons and Cardinal of the H. R. C., translated the relics of St. Lupentius into another case." For the rest, almost the same words are read in the catalogue of the bishops of the aforesaid work Gallia Christ, vol. X, col. 894.. It is to be noticed that the aforesaid Cardinal Louis exchanged his see of Langres with Charles de Poitiers, bishop of Châlons, so that the latter passed to Langres, the former to Châlons, in the year, as above, 1413 Gallia Christ. vol. X, col. 894.. D. François Histoire du diocèse de Châlons-sur-Marne, ms. page 377. will have it that the translation of the relics of St. Lupentius was made before the exchange, and accordingly took place under Bishop Charles. I have nothing from which to settle this question. But it matters little, since the fact and the year are established. In the breviary of Châlons, which was first printed in the year 1665 under the episcopate of Felix Vialart, I find at the end of the Lessons: "His (Lupentius's) sacred relics, afterwards brought to Châlons, were laid in a silver shrine in the cathedral church." But Rapine was writing in the year 1636 in his Annals of the diocese of Châlons: "His most holy body rests in a splendid silver case on the high altar of the cathedral church." And in the Necrology of the same church is read at the year 1535: "The death of the deceased Gilles de Luxembourg of good memory, bishop of Châlons, who bequeathed seven hundred gold crowns for the repair of the shrine of St. Lupentius" Gollia Christ, vol. X, col. 896.. From which it is fairly natural to conclude that with all of them it is a question of the reliquary into which the sacred body had been translated in the year 1413; which afterwards, under the same Felix Vialart, in the fire of the year 1668, was broken, burst and melted.
[22] various. In the breviaries published after this year mention is no longer made of the silver shrine: "The sacred body of Lupentius was translated from the district of Perthois to Châlons, where it is religiously kept in the cathedral church." So in the breviary of Claude Antoine de Choiseul-Beaupré in the year 1736, and in the most recent, brought to light by the Most Reverend D. Monyer de Prilly in the year 1840: "The sacred body of Lupentius was translated from the district of Perthois to Châlons, where some surviving part is religiously kept in the cathedral church." A few years after this breviary was published, the aforesaid bishop took up the Roman rite. I set down above at num. 20 what occurs in the present Proper of the diocese about the Relics of St. Lupentius. It must be confessed that it is not clearly shown from the instruments praised at num. 19 and 20 what was preserved of the body of St. Lupentius in the year 1668, the cases being melted, as Louis Caumartin has it, in which three bodies of Saints were contained. Compare num. 20. Butler notes at this day, the 22nd of October, that some part of the surviving bones was transmitted to Mende, which is luminously related in the breviary of that church, where in the Lessons of St. Lupentius (which are almost the same as in the Châlons breviary of Vialart), on the aforesaid day is read: "The sacred body of Lupentius was translated from the district of Perthois to Châlons, where it is religiously kept in the cathedral church. And God provided that to the church of the Gabali, which Lupentius had adorned with excellent virtues, he should, as it were alive again, be also by his sacred remains a protection and an example. A notable part of them Claude Antoine, bishop of Châlons, with the consent of his chapter, gave as a gift to the cathedral church of Mende, of which he had formerly been archdeacon." But from elsewhere we learn that the relics given by Claude Antoine Choiseul-Beaupré were solemnly deposited in the cathedral church of Mende in the year 1738 on the 22nd day of October, on which his feast is kept.
[22] The Acts. We subjoin first the Passion of St. Lupentius from Gregory of Tours, a writer, as I have noted, contemporary, and in whom trust is to be placed beyond the rest. But what is added or different in the Legends and Lessons we judge to have little or no authority. Since, however, some things have been handed down from of old, and are commonly recited, more or less corrected, in the older breviaries and histories, we therefore add the Life of the blessed Man as it is found in our Mss., and is said to have been copied from a breviary of Châlons, at any rate ms.; and likewise another, which we ourselves obtained at Paris from the library of the Armoury (de l'Arsenal) in a ms. volume excellently written and preserved, in which are contained together both the Breviary and the Missal of the church of Châlons. The volume is marked T L. 123c, and belongs to the 13th century or to the beginning of the following. I think the former the more ancient, both because it is much more lengthy, and also on account of the barbarism of its diction and its sharper invectives against Brunhild. As regards the deeds, both agree fairly well with each other, so that I doubt which of them it is which Rapine testifies is kept in the monastery of St. Peter ad Montes near Châlons. Compare num. 6. Each is divided by Roman numerals according to the norm of nine Lessons; this division we have thought should be kept. For the rest, from the Lives compared with the Passion it may be seen how the acts of the Saints were sometimes augmented, deformed and vitiated by the legend-writers.
PASSION OF ST. LUPENTIUS, ABBOT.
From St. Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, book VI, chap. 36.
Lupentius, abbot and martyr, at Châlons in Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 5068
aFROM MSS.
Lupentius, abbot of the basilica of St. Privatus b the martyr of the city of the Gabali c, summoned by Queen Brunhild, came d. For he had been accused, as they report, by Innocentius, count of the aforesaid city, of having uttered something profane about the queen. But the causes being examined, when he had been found conscious of nothing touching the crime of treason, he was ordered to depart. But when he began to take the road, being captured again by the aforesaid count e, he was led to the estate of Ponthion f and afflicted with many torments; and being released again that he might return, when he had pitched a tent above the river Aisne g, his enemy again rushed upon him. And having overpowered him by force, he put his severed head into a sack loaded with stones and gave it to the river, and the rest of the body, bound with a rock, he plunged into the flood. But after a few days it appeared to certain shepherds, and so, drawn out of the river, it was committed to burial. But while the necessaries for the funeral were being prepared, and it was not known which of the people he was, especially since the head of the beheaded man was not found, suddenly an eagle coming lifted the sack from the bottom of the river and laid it on the bank; and those who were present, wondering, seizing the sack, while they anxiously inquire what it contained, find the head of the beheaded man, and so it was buried with the rest of the limbs. For they report that now too a light appears there divinely; and if a sick man shall have prayed faithfully at this tomb, he goes away having received health.
ANNOTATIONS.
LIFE OF ST. LUPENTIUS, ABBOT AND MARTYR.
From a ms. Breviary of Châlons.
Lupentius, abbot and martyr, at Châlons in Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 5069
FROM MSS.
Brunhild, against the nobles, Being about to tell of the death of blessed Lupentius a, it is first necessary to make known the crimes of Brunhild, the most wicked queen, so that how great her depravity and obstinacy were
of mind against the authority of the divine precept may be more easily noticed by the prudent reader; whose wicked crimes, although they cannot be comprised in a few words, yet I shall try to set forth a few out of many b. This queen then, of whom mention has been made, was kindled with the flames of avarice and was so tormented by the felicities of another that for the sake of this thing wars frequently arose among the nobles of the Franks, namely on account of the most iniquitous counsels of that most wicked woman. For she deposed the more noble from their own seats without cause, and put in their seats in exchange all the lowest and most ignoble.
[2] the priests For her wickedness and iniquitous action very many of the Franks were scattered or killed. But these so many crimes did not suffice that unhappy woman; but she cruelly forced the arms of her wickedness even against the very rams of the Lord's flock. Finally that most unhappy woman held her son's son and his kingdom, that is, King Theodoric c, and had armed him for the persecution of the priests of Christ; nay more, she condemned and destined to exile the most blessed abbot Columbanus d. Nor was a long space of time passed before she killed by the blows of stones St. Desiderius, a man equally illustrious, bishop of the church of Vienne e. And how the malice of the above-said King Theodoric was kindled against the priests of the Lord will be shown openly in what follows.
[3] and all good men with cruelty, He, forestalled and deceived by most iniquitous counsels, and as if driven by the spirit of a demon, dared to harass and war down the church of Christ; he became like a beast which thirsts for abundance of blood: not otherwise did he thirst for the hurts of the just. Finally no one dared to reprove the depravity and wickedness of the queen herself by rebuking it; because she oppressed all through secular power. And some of the ministers who, deceived, favoured her depraved action were enlarged with honours or enriched with gifts. But the most noble who refused to consent, stripped of their faculties by her, were rendered ignoble by her as far as lay in her.
[4] another Jezebel, Her decree also was that whoever should be found to disparage her depravity should cruelly be subjected to penalties, either consigned to the custody of prison, or condemned to expulsion into exile, or even punished with death. And that I may comprise briefly what was done, this must be laid open by us, that her wickedness went so far in the shedding of innocent blood that in the magnitude of her malice or wickedness she seemed to go before even Jezebel. Let it suffice to have narrated these things from the heap of her wickednesses.
[5] she is reproved by St. Lupentius; St. Lupentius then, the excellent martyr of the Lord, of whom mention has been made above, was born, according to the nobility of the world, of illustrious parents in the territory of Gévaudan; and afterwards, learned in letters and given to religion, he obtained the grade of the presbyterate, the merit of his life agreeing with the beauty of holiness. And when he was discharging irreprehensibly the office entrusted to him, he is said to have been struck in the sight of the queen by a certain man f who had been incited against him by a most wicked spirit. But the Servant of God, although he did not at all acknowledge the things which were thrust upon him, did not hesitate to reprove in the sight of all the iniquitous works of the above-written most iniquitous queen, yet with all the beauty of patience.
[6] whom she commits to prison; Then the Jezebel of our time, hearing these things, moved as if by a most wicked spirit, ordered the Servant of Christ to be seized and afflicted with darker (more atrocious?) injuries, and consigned to the custody of the prison. Then St. Lupentius was handed over to Boso the tribune g. And he was kept thrust in prison as guilty, innocent (innocent), but yet by the guilty. But, conscious of his own innocence and purity, the Priest of God remained free and undaunted. And placed in (so great) tribulation he trusted in the divine help, saying that prophetic word: "The Lord is faithful in all His words, and holy in all His works" Ps. 144. ℣ 13; and knowing * of the promise by which it is said: "For the Lord hath not forsaken him that hopeth in Him" h, his heart was strengthened in the love of the Lord. To whom also, placed in prison, as he prayed most devoutly, a revelation was divinely made, that he was a little after to depart from the world, and himself as a Martyr to be associated with the holy martyrs. Whence, made joyful, he gave thanks to the Lord, and indicated to the guards this revelation granted to him by the Lord, that the dissolution of his body was imminent. Which they quickly made known to the queen. But she, knowing that the holy Priest was loved and venerated by all, did not wish to kill him publicly on account of the reproach: but ordered him to be released from custody.
[7] then she has him beheaded and plunged in the waters; But grieving, the drinker of blood, that she had not been sated with his death, she ordered him to be pursued secretly by night and killed. Then Aciminus and Bodo i, although they were bright with the lamp of earthly nobility, were yet blinded by the dye (paint?) of depraved will; who, following him after the manner of robbers by night according to the queen's command, slew him in the very horror of the dark night, namely on account of the tumult of the people. So in fact the queen had commanded. And they acted after the manner of robbers who, set in ambush, cut the throats of all innocent men. Finally they threw the severed head, which (which?) was surrounded with a weight and with clay k, into the river Mateone l. But when the body of the holy Man also was borne separately upon the waves, they, loading it with a heavy weight, consigned it again to the same flood.
[8] but thence divinely drawn out But the Lord Jesus Christ, who is wont (to be) the protector of the band of His faithful in perils, and does not cease to glorify them after the end of victory, did not leave hidden the death of this holy Man too, nor suffered it to remain unavenged. Finally, as day dawned and the darkness of the obscure night withdrew, an eagle, flying swiftly, espied the head of the holy Man lying in the depth of the sea, and, letting itself down with swift flight, lifted the head from the waters and laid it unharmed on the shore m. The divine power deigned to show another miracle also on behalf of the head of the holy Man. It lay indeed exposed by the eagle, nor was it venerated, but rather was held until the ministers of humanity n should come. For the divine power, which commanded the bird to lift this head from the depth of the flood, that same divine clemency warned (admonished) Paul the presbyter o to prepare a worthy place of burial. He, coming, found the head as it had been cut off from the body. Which receiving with veneration, he buried honourably according to canonical custom.
[9] he is honourably buried. Not a long space of time after having passed, a miracle shone forth by the Lord's command on behalf of the body of the same holy Martyr, that the divine loving-kindness might deign (to show) of what merit the holy Man was. Finally the body, sunk in the above-said river under the burden of an immense weight, together with the weight itself, the divine power guiding, the lifeless body itself swam up out of the depth of the waters. And when it had come to the shore, the inhabitants of that region buried it not far from the shore. Finally the devout man Hermensius [p] was warned through a vision not to allow the members of so great a Martyr to lie on the shore, but rather to gather them with honour and place them within the enclosure of a basilica. He, obeying the commands, translated them with honour into the basilica of St. Remigius the confessor, which lay under the care of his government, and committed them to burial with the highest honour.
[10] Invocation. Glorious martyr Lupentius, whose venerable body is shown on earth by an eagle, whose spirit is crowned by the Lord in heaven, we devoutly beseech thee, recalling thy triumph, intercede for us with our Lord, who lives and reigns, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
"Thus the Spanish author thinks he has abundantly purged his countrywoman, sacrilegious, bloodthirsty and wicked, and vindicated her from calumnies... As regards the silence of Gregory of Tours, Mariana ought to have known that this Gregory ceased to write his history twenty years before Brunhild died." Valois then heaps up very many crimes perpetrated by the queen in these twenty years, and adds: "Nor is it wonderful that Gregory was silent about those things which were done by Brunhild after his death. Although Mariana too, if he had read Gregory's history not perfunctorily, would have recognized the lion, as it were, from its claws, and would have observed some deeds of Brunhild noted by the pious prelate: the incestuous marriage contracted by the widow with Merovech, her brother-in-law's son; the unworthy slaying of Lupentius the abbot ... whose accuser and slayer Innocentius, the most nocent count of the Gabali, she presented with the bishopric of the church of Rodez," etc. Compare the Prel. Comm. num. 2, where we saw that there are many who doubt whether Gregory really calls Brunhild guilty of the slaying of St. Lupentius.
p. Nor is this man named by Gregory. See the Prel. Comm. num. 7.
* secure?
ANOTHER LIFE
From the Paris ms. of the library of the Armoury, commonly de l'arsenal. T. L 123e.
Lupentius, abbot and martyr, at Châlons in Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 5070
FROM MSS.
St. Lupentius is put in prison; Lesson I. Blessed Lupentius, born of noble lineage in the territory of Gévaudan, learned in letters, given to religion, obtained the grade of the presbyterate. And when he reproved the iniquitous works of Brunhild, the most iniquitous queen, yet with all the beauty of patience, by her command he is consigned to the custody of the prison a.
[2] released from it, Lesson II. To whom, as he prayed in the dungeon, a revelation was divinely made, that a little after he was himself as a Martyr to be associated from the world with the holy martyrs. Whence the Saint, rejoicing, made known to the guards what had been revealed to him. Hearing which, the queen, not wishing to kill him publicly because he was loved by men, released him from custody and ordered him to be pursued secretly by night and killed.
[3] he is secretly slain; Lesson III. Then Agininus and Rodo, noble by birth but degenerate in morals, by order of Queen Brunhild, following him secretly by night, threw his severed head, surrounded with clay, into the river b, and cast the headless body into the same river. When therefore his body was borne upon the wave, loading it with a heavy weight, they consigned it again to the same flood.
[4] his head is committed to the earth, Lesson IV. And when morning had come, an eagle, flying swiftly, espying the head of the holy Martyr at the bottom of the flood, letting itself down with swift flight, lifted it from the waters and laid it unharmed on the bank; guarding it rather than destroying it, seeming to adore (rather) than to devour it, until the ministers of humanity should come. For Paul the presbyter, admonished through a vision, finding that holy head and receiving it with veneration, buried it honourably.
[5] then the rest of the members also. Lesson V. But the body, sunk in the waters under the burden of an immense weight, by divine power swam with the weight to the bank; which, being found, the inhabitants buried above the bank. And it was revealed to the holy man Hermentius that he should gather the members of so great a Martyr, and place them within the enclosure of a basilica; and he buried the body of the holy Martyr in the basilica of St. Remigius, which lay under the care of his government c. Hearing which, Paul, who had buried the head, said that it was just that the members should be restored to the head; but Hermentius answered that it would be more right if the head were restored to the members. But this pleased both, that the head should be joined to the members.
[6] of Rodo, Lesson VI. But lest so great a crime should seem to remain unpunished, Rodo, who had been the executor of so wicked a work, was seized by a most wicked demon, and, having lost his senses, with great gnashings, and vociferating, cried out the name of St. Lupentius; and so, the Lord avenging the blood of His precious Martyr, he ended his unhappy life with great torment.
[7] of Agininus Lesson VII. Agininus therefore, seeing the horrible death of the most unhappy tyrant, fearing lest the like should befall him, went twice to Rome on foot, doing penance for the crime committed; whence we believe that he escaped the eternal penalties. Nevertheless the just Judge, who does not judge twice for the same thing, would not leave so great a crime unavenged in the present, that He might rather punish it here than in the future. For while that Agininus was coming from Rome, he perished, drowned by an inundation of the waters.
[8] and the punishments of Brunhild. Lesson VIII. But to Brunhild the Lord rendered upon her hundredfold the evil which she had worked. For, captured by her enemy Clothar, and shamefully placed upon his camel, she was shown to her enemies with disgrace. Finally, entangled in the tails of untamed horses, so torn apart and burst asunder, she was sent down to hell.
[9] Invocation of the holy Martyr. Lesson IX. Most glorious martyr Lupentius, whose venerable body was shown on earth by an eagle, we devoutly beseech thee, recalling thy triumph, that, looking upon our weakness, and attending to the impotence of our goodness, thou intercede for us with the Lord our God, to whom is honour and glory through infinite ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* perhaps "upon her head"
* perhaps "higher"