ON ST. MODERAMNUS, BISHOP OF RENNES IN GAUL, THEN ABBOT OF BERCETO IN ITALY,
IN THE YEAR 719 OR 730.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
St. Moderamnus, after he had presided for some years over the see of Rennes, travels into Italy; then, his bishopric being given up, he becomes abbot in the monastery of Berceto, where he dies and is buried.
Moderamnus, bishop of Rennes in Gaul, then abbot of Berceto in Italy. (S.)
B. B.
His name is written variously; for the most part Moderamnus, otherwise Moderandus, rarely Moraneus; The deeds of St. Moderamnus before his pontificate; in the vernacular Maurand, Modéran, Médéran, Moran; he was bishop of Rennes; then, his see being given up, he was made monk and abbot of Berceto on the mount of Bardone, where he died his last day Hugues Ménard, Martyrologium, page 572.. His deeds are therefore conveniently reduced to three heads; namely what he did before, during, and after his episcopate. As regards the first, the deeds before he was made bishop rest for the most part on the sole authority of the Legends; accordingly they are to be received cautiously, as Baillet rightly notes Vies des Saints, 22 Oct.. In the Acts of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict nothing is reported except that he was "a Man born of noble lineage" Sæc. III, part I, page 517., and that from Flodoard's History of Reims, book I, chap. 20. In the Proper of Rennes is read: "begotten of the noble counts de Thornacis." Among the annalists of Brittany neither such nor a similar family name is anywhere to be found. What, accordingly, that family de Thornacis is, no one, I should think, could say. Perhaps it is a slip in the codices, or its memory has altogether perished D'Argentré, histoire de Bretagne, book I.. On this matter Paul de Villeneuve, a man skilled in archaeology, lately disputed [Mélanges d'histoire et d'archéologie bretonnes, vol. II. — Likewise Journal de Rennes. June 1855.]. In the first place he observes that the word Armoricus formerly extended more widely, so as to comprise the Gallic shores from the Rhine to the Garonne; he adds that accordingly there is nothing against the counts de Thornacis being referred to the city of our Belgium, Tournai, from which region the first kings of the Merovingian stock came forth. In those times counts were called the prefects of cities and provinces or dioceses, who, however, did not enjoy hereditary right. And this is Villeneuve's conjecture, which I too have written down here as such. Now let us proceed to other matters. Le Cointe has thus Annal. eccl. Francorum, vol. IV, page 307.: "Bertrand d'Argentré in the History of Brittany wrote not a few things about St. Moderandus; Albert le Grand de Morlaix collected more in the Armorica sancta. We shall here touch briefly only on the things done by him before his pontificate. Moderandus was born in the year of Christ six hundred and fifty-one, when Durioterus, bishop of Rennes, was still surviving among the living. He became very illustrious under William, the successor of Durioterus, by whom he was first enrolled among the clergy, afterwards promoted through the ecclesiastical grades to the presbyterate. He appeared by night to his father, far distant from him, and threatened him with menaces so grave that he recalled him from the depraved design of bringing in another wife while his lawful one survived." The apparition is passed over by the Reverend D. Tresvaux, who, as is known, put Lobineau's work on the Armorican saints into new and more correct type Vies des Saints de Bretagne, vol. II, page 224 and 225. Paris, 1836.. Albert le Grand de Morlaix sets it out more fully, and narrates that the king was informed of this matter by St. Moderamnus [Vies des Saints de la Bretagne, Armorique, page 643. Edition by D. L. de Kerdanet, 1837.].
[2] Made bishop Le Cointe narrates the election of St. Moderamnus to the insignia of Rennes under the year 703: "But what was done wickedly," he says Annales, vol. IV, page 467., "against the ecclesiastical sanctions by Agatheus, that one bishop should administer two churches, did not pass into custom among his successors; for two bishops succeeded the same Agatheus, Moderandus and Amitho, of whom the latter governed the diocese of Nantes, the former that of Rennes. Moderandus or Moderamnus sat only thirteen years, as the author of the Armorica sancta writes in his life. He gave up the bishopric" (of which matter more broadly below), "as Flodoard testifies, when Chilperic the third was already reigning, who, as will be established below, held the kingdom five years and a half, and died in the year of Christ seven hundred and twenty-three. Wherefore the death of Agatheus cannot be thought to be much removed from the year of Christ 703, nor accordingly the election of St. Moderamnus his successor either." Baillet has this same year Vies des Saints. Oct. page 345.; the Reverend D. Tresvaux assigns [Vies des Saints de Bretagne, vol. II, page 225. — Likewise Église de Bretagne, page 11.] the election to the times in which Chilperic III was reigning, I should think because he did not read the text of Flodoard attentively enough: for the latter does not say that he was then elected, but that he flourished. See his words below. The year is passed over in the Acts of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict Sæc. III, part I, page 517 and following.. Albert le Grand de Morlaix, since he relates that St. Moderamnus succeeded William, who died in the year 684, attaches his election also to this year Vies des Saints de la Bretagne Armorique, page 643.. Le Cointe's opinion pleases me better, as being somewhat founded, yet not altogether: for he assumes as certain that St. Moderamnus sat thirteen years, for which assertion he has no sufficiently suitable surety: for he adduces only the author of the Armorica sancta. Ferrari notes Catalogus SS. Italiæ, 22 Oct. that Moderamnus is not found in the tables of the bishops of Rennes in Demochares; "from which," he says, "it appears either that those tables are diminished, or that Moderamnus was bishop of another city." At any rate the former is to be admitted: for Flodoard expressly has Hist. eccl. Remensis, book I, chap. 20. Migne's Patrology, vol. CXXXV, col. 70.: "In the times of Chilperic, king of the Franks, there is said to have flourished Moderamnus, prelate of the church of Rennes." Hence he is found in the catalogues of Severt Chronologia historica hierarchicæ successionis, part III, page 65., of the Sainte-Marthes Gallia Christiana, vol. III, page 924. Paris, 1656. and of Richard Bibliothèque sacrée, vol. XXI, page 107. Paris, 1827., in whom he comes XIII in the order of succession and is called the second of that name, because with them the series of the pontiffs of Rennes begins from St. Moderamnus I. The Reverend D. Tresvaux reckons ours only IX in the order of succession. His catalogue differs very much from the two others as regards the first prelates of this see L'Église de Bretagne, page 11..
[3] he flourishes in virtues; Placed upon the candlestick, St. Moderamnus is proclaimed to have excelled in every kind of virtue. Made all things to all, he is said to have been pleasing and dear to all. These things in particular a recent Armorican writer reports [Vies des Bienheureux et Saints de Bretagne, by M. de Garaby, honorary canon. Saint-Brieuc, 1839.]: "He governed his church with much prudence; he was of the king's council, and served him faithfully; he frequently visited the diocese, and addressed the people with great zeal. He pursued with special love the monks of St. Melanius, whose norm of living he followed as far as the solicitude of the pastoral office permitted. He spent the revenues both of his see and of his patrimony on the relief of the poor and on the adornment of his cathedral church, the building of which, long interrupted, he took up." Lobineau alone narrates that he was so ill treated by certain chief men that once and again he was forced to desert his church, and at length, having designated his successor, departed into Italy, where he died his last day Histoire de Bretagne, vol. I, page 75. Paris, 1707.. And from these things a reason would be given for the monastic leisure sought by Moderamnus, which was not permitted to bishops except to obtain a great good or to avoid a grave evil. Compare the Acts of St. Ambrose of Cahors Vol. VII of October, page 1036, num. 12.. Yet nothing similar about the holy Man is to be read in anyone else, if you except the journey into Italy, which is recorded by all, nay holds the first place among his deeds, as will be plain from what follows.
[4] having received relics of St. Remigius Flodoard then narrates [Historia ecclesia Remensis, book I, chap. 20. Patrology, vol. CXXXV, col. 70. — Likewise Marlot's Metropolis Remensis, vol. I, page 319.]: "In the times of Chilperic, king of the Franks, there is said to have flourished Moderamnus, prelate of the church of Rennes, a man born of noble lineage; who, arranging by permission of the aforesaid king to visit the thresholds of St. Peter, turned aside to the monastery of blessed Remigius, situated in the suburb of the city of Reims. Where, received liberally by the brethren of the same place, he obtained from Bernehard, the keeper of the sacred things, relics of the stole, the hair shirt and the sudarium of St. Remigius." (Albert le Grand de Morlaix will have it Vies des Saints, etc. page 644. that St. Moderamnus was presented with these relics at Rome, not at Reims; whence he also turns this whole history upside down; both of which are truly absurd.) "Which having gratefully received, joyfully pursuing the journey he had begun, while he was passing through Italy, on the mount of Bardone (in the Apennine towards Liguria, not far from Parma [Spruner. Historisch-Geographischer Hand-Atlas. Italy num. 2. —
Likewise Paul the Deacon, On the Deeds of the Lombards, book V, chap. 27 and book VI, chap. 58. Patrology, vol. XCV, col. 608 and 668.]), having his lodging one night, he hung the said relics on the branch of a holm-oak. And when, rising at dawn, he took up the journey he had begun, forgetting them (by a divine nod, as is believed), these pledges remained in that same place. And when the Bishop had gone on somewhat further, when he becomes mindful of the relics left behind, he at once directs his cleric, Vulfadus by name, to recover them. When he came to them, by no contrivance can he reach them, since by a wonderful sign, as he wished to touch them, they were raised on high. The aforesaid bishop, having heard of this miracle, returning, pitched his tent in the same place; but he could by no means recover the pledges left behind that same night, until, when morning had come, celebrating Mass in the monastery which is called Berceto, built there in honour of St. Abundius the martyr, he vowed that he would leave part of the aforesaid gifts there. And so, receiving back what had been snatched from him, the vow being venerably fulfilled, he resumes the journey he had begun." Which things are rendered more briefly in Ferrari from the sanctuary of the church of Parma Catal. SS. Italiæ, 22 Oct.: "On the next day, continuing his journey, he noticed that he had left the relics hung on the tree; and when he had sent back a companion to receive them, and they had been lifted on high as if they had been birds; he himself, having returned, spent the night there in prayer; and when in the morning he had celebrated the sacrifice of the Mass in the church of St. Abundius at Berceto, a town of the territory of Parma, the sacred relics wonderfully came down to him as if called; part of which he gave to the monastery..."
[5] he travels into Italy; Flodoard continues: "Liutprand, the vigorous king of the Italians (Lombards), coming to meet him (St. Moderamnus), who had already learned by hearing of this power of the sacred things, led by love of blessed Remigius, made over to the aforesaid prelate Moderamnus the same monastery, namely Berceto, with all its appurtenances and the whole abbey, containing, as they relate, eight hundred (otherwise eight) manses, and in the presence of his faithful men, after the legal custom, made him investiture and a charter. And the said Prelate, returning from the city of Rome, came to the venerable sepulchre of blessed Remigius; and as the aforesaid king had handed over this land to him, so nonetheless he conferred the same on St. Remigius.
[6] he becomes abbot of Berceto "And so, having returned prosperously to his own bishopric, he caused a successor to be ordained for himself, and, bidding farewell to his sons, went back to the monastery of Berceto, and until the day of his death lived in that place, conducting himself moderately and honourably, as a servant of God. Which place also thereafter shone forth, made illustrious by some miracles." Thus far Flodoard. In what year St. Moderamnus withdrew into the monastery of Berceto cannot be determined with certainty. The compilers of the Acts of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict note that this happened between the twelfth and twentieth year of the eighth century; "not earlier," they say, "nor later than the year 720, both because a few years before, Liutprand, created king in the year 712, had founded that monastery; and because this year 720 was the last of Chilperic, by whose permission as king Moderamnus went to Rome" Acta SS. Ord. S. Ben. sæc. III, part I, page 518.. This argumentation errs on this head, that it is doubtful whether Liutprand founded that monastery. Paul the Deacon indeed writes De gestis Langobardorum, book VI, chap. 58. Patrology, vol. XCV, col. 668.: "On the summit too of the Alp of Bardone he (Liutprand) built a monastery which is called Berceto"; which, according to Mabillon Annales Benedictini, vol. II, page 61. Lucca, 1739., he only enlarged so much that he is held its founder by Paul Warnefrid. Mabillon asserts nothing more. Falsely, therefore, it is said in the Note to the aforesaid text of Paul Patrology. Where cited above.: "That Liutprand was not the founder but the author (what difference there is between the two words let others explain) of the monastery of Berceto Mabillon proves excellently in the Annals." However that may be, I see that writers have fairly followed the aforesaid reckoning, which in other respects agrees with the times (as Flodoard has it) of Chilperic III, who, as Le Cointe asserts, began to reign in the year 715 Annal. eccl. Francorum, vol. IV page 585. and died in the year 721 Ibid. page 629.. "St. Moderamnus," says Severt Part III, page 65., "gave up his bishopric by resignation in the year 719"; but he incongruously adds that he remained in a monastery built by himself. Le Cointe refers the abdication to the year 716; Mabillon in the Annals to the year 718; the Reverend D. Tresvaux has the year 720 Saints de Bretagne, vol. II, page 226..
[7] where he dies holily. What the holy Man did while he presided over Berceto has not come down to us. In general he is said by Flodoard to have conducted himself "moderately and honourably, as a servant of God." Ferrari adds from the Sanctuary of Parma Catal. SS. Ital. 22 Oct.: "When he had given the precepts of salvation by preaching to the neighbouring peoples, illustrious for miracles he fell asleep in the Lord." In vain is it read in the Sainte-Marthes Gallia Christiana, vol. III, page 924. Paris, 1656. that he died in the monastery of St. Remigius which he had built at the mount of Bardone. The error is plain from the words of Flodoard touched on before: for the monastery of St. Abundius on the mount of Bardone had already been built before St. Moderamnus came there; nor is it related anywhere among the ancients that another was built by him, since he was abbot of St. Abundius of Berceto. Compare Hugues Ménard Menologium, page 574.. For how long a space of time he governed the monastery, and in what year he died, is no more plain. "How many years," says Le Cointe Annal. Franc. vol. IV, page 585., "St. Moderandus lived outside the borders of France in the kingdom of the Lombards, we shall not inquire. By most he is said to have died in the year seven hundred and nineteen." The Sainte-Marthes Gallia Christiana. Where cited above. and Albert le Grand de Morlaix agree Saints de la Bretagne-Armorique, page 645.. Longueval has the year 720 Histoire de l'Église Gallicane, vol. V, page 433. Paris, 1826., Severt the year 727 Part III, page 65.. I find several who attach the death of the holy Man to the year 750: so Ferrari Where cited above., the Acts of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict Sæc III, part I, page 518., likewise the Benedictine Annals Vol. II, page 48.; Castellan also and Bucelin; Baillet prefers this same year Vies des Saints, 22 Oct., which, he says, being admitted, the holy Abbot would have died almost an octogenarian. Following these things, Peter Lechner in the recent Benedictine martyrology divides the life of St. Moderamnus thus Martyrologium des Benediktiner-Ordens, 22 Oct. Augsburg, 1855.: "He was born in the year 650; bishop 703, died in the year 719 or 730." The Reverend canon de Garaby recites the same numbers Vies des Bienheureux et Saints de Bretagne, page 263 – 265..
[8] His festal memory. Some write falsely that his name is inserted in the Roman martyrology: it is not found either in this or in other ancient or classical ones; nay, nor in the numerous additions to Usuard at this day in our Sollerius. "He is venerated," says Le Cointe Annal. eccl. Franc. vol. IV, page 585., "on the seventeenth of the Kalends of June (16th of May) in Agostino da Passo and others; on the eleventh of the Kalends of November (22nd of Oct.) in the Supplement of the Gallican martyrology and in the Armorica sancta; the one was the day of his death, the other of his elevation, which the author of the Armorica sancta assigned to the year of Christ 970" Compare Albert de Morlaix, page 645.. He is also marked on two days by Castellan in the General Index, namely the 22nd of Oct. and the 16th of March; this latter day I have not found elsewhere except in Baillet and in the Dictionary of D. de St-Allais. In a certain old Calendar in the Reverend D. Tresvaux the feast is indicated on the Ides of May, that is, on the XV day Saints de Bretagne. vol. I, at the beginning, num. 1.; in the menologies of Ménard and Bucelin mention of him occurs on the 16th day of May. On this day too some mention of him is had with us among the Passed Over Acta SS. vol. III, of May, page 561.. The rest mention him on this day, the 22nd of Oct.; so Albert le Grand, Ferrari, the Acts of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict, the Reverend D. Tresvaux, Lechner; so also Peyronet: "He is venerated," he says Catalogus Sanctorum et Sanctarum, page 322. Toulouse, 1706., "with double office (the Reverend D. Tresvaux adds: lesser Saints de Bretagne, vol. II, page 225.) by the church of Rennes on the XXII of Oct., as is plain from the breviary of the same church." Finally in the Supplement of the Gallican martyrology he is announced on the same day; but here, as also elsewhere not infrequently, Saussay slips almost supinely, when he calls St. Moderamnus the first bishop of Rennes, and says that he was overtaken by the sleep of death when he was returning to his church, which at any rate are false. It is helpful to add what the Reverend D. Houet, canon, wrote back to me from Rennes on the 14th day of June 1857: "The cult of St. Moderamnus is very ancient in this diocese. There existed an oratory dedicated to his name (commonly Chapelle de St-Moran) in the old circuit of the city, and already from the 13th century converted into a priory. The instrument, which is kept today in the chapter archive, is dated the day after the Purification of the B. V. Mary 1224, under Bishop Josselin de Montauban. The priory was suppressed in the year 1728 by the prelate Charles de Breteuil, and its endowment added to the chapter's table."
[9] His relics Ferrari relates Catal. SS. Ital. 22 Oct. that the body of St. Moderamnus rests at Berceto in its own church dedicated to his name. The same is shown from the following narration, which was first brought to light from a Ms. of Rouen by the compilers of the Acts of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict Sæc. III, part I, page 518 and following.. Namely Tiberius, abbot of Berceto, had resolved to bring forth the body of St. Moderamnus from his tomb and lay it in another place newly prepared: but he was warned in sleep to translate the relics of St. Abundius thither. I write out the part of the narration which concerns us: "In the times of the most invincible emperors Louis and Lothair there was a certain venerable abbot, Tiberius by name, of the monastery of Berceto, which is situated on the summit of the mountain whose name is Bardo. When he had extended somewhat in length the church of his monastery, according as the necessity of the congregation committed to him required, which before was small or scarcely holding the assembly of the brethren; it pleased him to prepare under the altar of the same basilica a fitting place in which the body of St. Moderandus should be placed, which lay buried there to the left of the altar. But the aforesaid abbot did not determine it worthy that the bones of so great a Man should be moved before he obtained from the Lord by prayers whether it ought to be done or not. Taking with him religious brethren, they began with fasts and supplications to seek by praying the will of God and of the aforesaid servant of Christ Moderandus. And on the third night, the father of the monastery being now wearied and from
weary with fasting, as he was keeping watch at the doors of the church about the matter which he was seeking, there appeared to him, coming out of the church, an old Man clothed in snowy garments, who soon began to rebuke the same abbot thus: 'What is it, O brother, that thou seekest me with so great labour? Why dost thou not let me rest?' To whom the abbot answered: 'Who art thou, lord, who speakest such things to me with sad words?' 'I am,' he said, 'Moderandus, whom thou seekest.'
[10] kept at Berceto, "And the abbot answered him: 'I wished, lord, to translate thy body into the place which I have prepared for thee, and to render thee service with the honour due to thee, that thou mightest be a pious intercessor with the Lord for the errors committed.' Then St. Moderandus says to him: 'The will in thee, O brother, is indeed good, but know that that place has not been granted to me. But to Abundius the martyr shall be given the sarcophagus which thou hast prepared with pious love; for my own urn will keep me sleeping.' These words said, he vanished, and the abbot rose from sleep. And at once calling the brethren whom he had made the companions of his petition, he related the thing seen, and sorrowing said: 'I know now that we were to receive, and that we are unworthy: for St. Habundius, concerning whom I received the answer, I know to be buried at the city of Rome. To us therefore, insignificant men, the Roman pope will by no means give assent on this.'" Then it is narrated how the abbot Tiberius obtained the relics of St. Abundius at the council of Pavia, through the mediation of Dominicus, bishop of Foligno, who was present at the synod, the translation of which was made amid many prodigies. "For the rest, that Dominicus began to sit in the year 850; the council of Pavia, at which the abbot Tiberius was present, was celebrated when Liutard was prelate of Pavia, who ceased to live in the year 864." These things are so noted in the Acts of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict in the place cited. Albert makes mention of a certain translation under the year 970 Saints de la Bretagne-Armorique, page 645., on what credit I for my part could not say.
[11] and of a part of them But mention must be made of another which took place recently. It concerns a part of the Relics, as the Proper of Rennes of the year 1847 has it, namely the one Thigh-bone of St. Moderamnus, which the Reverend D. Tresvaux had obtained from the bishop of Parma, and had sent to the Most Reverend D. Godefroy Brossays-Saint-Marc, bishop of Rennes, consecrated on the 10th day of August 1841. And the Translation of the sacred pledge was made on Sunday the 26th of Oct. 1845, as is established from the authentic instrument which I subjoin in full; noting, however, this, that the solemnity is wrongly referred to Sunday the XXII of October: for in that year the 22nd day of October fell on a Wednesday Art de vérifier les dates, page 114.; and from this day the Solemnity of the feast, according to the custom received in France from the Concordat of the year 1801, was put off to the following Sunday.
[12] a recent translation. These things being noted beforehand, here is the Instrument, a copy of which I received from the Reverend D. Houet, canon of Rennes: "In the year 1845, on Sunday the XXII (rather the 26th) of October, the chapter and the clergy of the parishes of the city assembled in procession in the oratory of the episcopal palace, where had been deposited the notable relic of St. Moderamnus, namely his one thigh-bone. The antiphon from the common of confessor pontiffs being sung, four deacons, vested in dalmatics, took up a bier splendidly adorned, on which was placed a gilded reliquary of gothic form, containing the sacred pledge of the holy Prelate. There went before, together with the Most Reverend D. Godefroy, bishop of Rennes, the clergy of the city and many priests of the neighbouring villages; there followed the chapter of the cathedral and also several canons dispersed through the diocese; the Most Reverend D. de Lesquen, formerly bishop of Rennes, as president of the solemnity, closed the sacred column. And so they proceeded through the larger squares of the city to the chant of the hymn of a confessor pontiff and of the litanies, a huge throng of the faithful accompanying piously and devoutly. They came to the cathedral about half past ten, and the venerable pledge was deposited amid numerous lights in the sanctuary at the Epistle horn. The Most Reverend D. de Lesquen celebrated in pontificals, who also with the same rite was present at Vespers at the third hour after noon. These being solemnly sung, the Most Reverend D. prelate Godefroy ascended the chair, to speak to the assembly of the illustrious virtues and merits of St. Moderamnus, formerly pastor of this diocese; at the same time he also spoke of the duties both of the pontiff towards the faithful and of these towards him. After this sermon, truly worthy, truly moving, the benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament was also given by the Most Reverend de Lesquen. At all and each of these ceremonies there was present in the cathedral a numerous concourse of the people. The reliquary remained exposed to the devotion of the faithful through the whole octave. The Most Reverend D. Godefroy also granted an indulgence of 40 days to those who at this time, having poured out prayer there, should venerate the sacred Pledge." The subscriptions are added. So in the chapter Register, fol. 115. — Together with the thigh-bone the Most Reverend bishop of Parma sent a finger-joint from the bones of St. Moderamnus, which the Reverend D. Canon Houet thinks is in the bishop's house at Rennes.