Gratian

ON ST. GRATIAN, MARTYR, IN THE TERRITORY OF AMIENS,

PROBABLY BETWEEN THE YEARS 285 AND 287.

HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.

Gratian, martyr in the territory of Amiens. (S.)

BHL Number: 3629

BY J. V. H.

§ sole. The memory and cult of the Saint; the time of the martyrdom and of the translation; on the hazel tree that bears fruit yearly on his feast; the Saint's relics.

The name and passion of St. Gratian are passed over in silence by the Martyrologies commonly called classic, His memory in the sacred calendars. those of Usuard, Ado, etc. Most of the Hieronymian copies also omit him: which is perhaps also why the cult of the holy Martyr escaped Baronius. Nevertheless in a very ancient Martyrology of about eight hundred years, which was kept in the monastery of Corbie in the territory of Amiens, we read under this day, the 10th before the kalends of November: In Gaul, the deposition of Saint Gratian, Martyr D'Achery, Spicilegium, volume II, page 20.. And from this source, as also from the cult of the Church of Amiens and of the monastery of Colombes, the elogium of St. Gratian flowed into the Additions to Usuard in Du Sollier. So Molanus has: In the territory of Amiens, of Saint Gratian the glorious Martyr: the Lübeck-Cologne edition places the contest of St. Gratian in the territory of "Ambiacum": even more faultily Ferrarius in his General Catalogue of the Saints: In the territory of "Halbianum", although in the Notes he professes to have borrowed the elogium from Molanus: then he says that it should be seen whether he ought to be called Gatianus. And this indeed more scrupulously than truly: for all who have treated of the holy Martyr, especially those who lived in the territory of Amiens or were neighbouring to it, have called our Martyr Gratian. The Addition of Centula or of the monastery of St. Riquier has this special feature, that it indicates a yearly prodigy in these words: In the territory of the same city (of Amiens, because St. Domitius the presbyter had been treated) of Saint Gratian the Martyr, to prove whose sanctity the Lord every year makes a hazel tree within the space of a single night come into leaf, flower and produce nuts. Of this prodigy we shall treat more at large below.

[2] And in the Breviary of Amiens: But as certain as the passion of St. Gratian is, so unknown are its circumstances; since no Acts exist, as is shown by the sermon on his feast, fragments of which we shall exhibit below at no. 9. For it says: Whose passion, as our sins require, we do not know. In the twelfth century, therefore, no Acts of St. Gratian existed. The older Breviary of Amiens, printed in the year 1554, has at the 23rd of October the feast of St. Domitius with a memory of St. Gratian the Martyr from the Common of Martyrs. The more recent Breviary, printed by order of Bishop Louis Gabriel de la Motte in the year 1746, similarly attaches to the feast of St. Domitius a simple commemoration of St. Gratian the Martyr; yet in such a way that it has added a brief legend to the lessons on St. Domitius, in these words: On this day falls the memory of Saint

Gratian the Martyr, of whom mention is made in the Martyrology most ancient of all, which is called the Hieronymian, as also in various Martyrologies of this diocese. He confessed Christ before the governor Rictiovarus, and consummated a noble martyrdom by the cutting off of his head in that village of the territory of Amiens which from this received the name of Saint Gratian. His body was buried there, and over it was built a church, consecrated to God under the name of Saint Gratian, where the most holy Martyr was always in great veneration. Blessed Gervinus, abbot of Centula, used to withdraw to his tomb, as into a solitude, at the beginning of the eleventh century. Toward the end of the same century the body of the holy Martyr was translated to the monastery of Colombes in the diocese of Chartres, where it is religiously venerated.

[3] An oratory founded in the Saint's honour by St. Gervinus: Some things occur in the cited legend that need interpretation. Certainly, as we have seen above, some copy of the Martyrology commonly called Hieronymian records the passion of Gratian. But it is that of Corbie; that is, as it seems, a local addition: for the monastery of Corbie is contained within the bounds of the bishopric of Amiens. Perhaps it is also less accurate, what is said, that St. Gervinus, abbot of Centula or of St. Riquier, withdrew to the tomb of St. Gratian at the beginning of the eleventh century. For if we go to the Life of St. Gervinus at the 3rd of March Acta Sanctorum, volume I of March, page 283., we find that he obtained the rule of Centula while William the Bastard governed Normandy, and therefore after the year 1035: it is therefore said less truly that St. Gervinus venerated the place of the Martyr Gratian at the beginning of the eleventh century, seeing that he could first show this devotion when the eleventh century was well advanced. Next, it is related in the cited Breviary that the same holy abbot withdrew to the tomb of St. Gratian as into a solitude. Which is true to this extent, that St. Gervinus founded three oratories, namely the priory of Vieilleville near Luilly in the diocese of Amiens… And in the same bishopric, in a secluded place he built an oratory, founded in the name of Blessed Gratian the Martyr; and in the Forest of Augi (in French Eu in Normandy) one in the name of Blessed Martin Acta Sanctorum, volume I of March, page 286.. Of this last Malbrancq adds De Morinis, volume II, page 813.: Which he visited more frequently, to chastise his body after much fatigue and to give his labour to the psalms. Nevertheless if we go to the Life itself, we shall easily perceive that he cultivated solitude in these three oratories, as occasion allowed, in order to withdraw himself from the crowd and from business. For, having related the foundation of the three oratories, the biographer continues Acta Sanctorum, volume I of March, page 286.: At the hours at which the divine offices were being sung in the church of St. Riquier, he always stood in prayer with bended knees, carrying with him Relics of the Saints, as if he had been present first and in person in his said church, sleeping little, fasting continually, continually celebrating Mass each day at sunrise.

[4] The time of the passion, between the years 285 and 287: If indeed St. Gratian is reported to have undergone martyrdom under Rictius Varus, a most bitter enemy of the Christian name, we must inquire into what time his passion could most likely have fallen. Now it seems very likely that it happened at the time when many shed their blood for Christ in the provinces of Belgica Prima and Secunda, whose metropolises were the cities of Trier and Reims. It is further worthy of observation that the most ancient Martyrologies record many Martyrs as having suffered around the month of October in both provinces under Rictius Varus: as if indeed the tyrant, raging through both provinces in an expedition of about a month, had wished to wipe out the Christian name. I know indeed that the day assigned in the Martyrologies is not always the same as the day of the passion or deposition; yet usually the day of the Martyrology and that of the passion are one and the same Daniel Papebroch, Conatus chronologicus, page 25*., and chiefly when that day is recorded in the Acts of the Martyrs. Which generally happens in the case of the Belgian saints who suffered under Rictius Varus. So St. Firminus, bishop of Amiens, on the 25th of September; St. Piatus or Piato, at Tournai, on the 1st of October; SS. Thyrsus, Boniface and Companions, at Trier, on the 4th of October; also at Trier SS. Palmatius and Companions, on the 5th of October; SS. Gereon, Victor and Companions likewise at Trier, on the 6th and 10th of October; St. Justus the boy, at Beauvais, on the 18th of October; SS. Crispinus and Crispinian, at Soissons on the 25th of October; St. Quentin, at Augusta Veromanduorum, on the 31st of October. One may conjecture that St. Gratian, who suffered on the 23rd of October, belongs to the same time. Once the time of one martyrdom carried out under Rictius Varus has been found, it will be easy to judge that the rest occurred when the tyrant was running through both Belgic provinces: and thus the day, month and year will be determined with easy labour in one way or another. Now our James Bue, in the preliminary commentary on the Acts of SS. Thyrsus, Boniface and Companions at the 4th of October, no. 92 and following Acta Sanctorum, volume II of October, page 353., ties the Martyrdom of these Thebans to the year of Christ 287, and demonstrates this at length: yet most of the leaders of sacred erudition, Philippe Labbe Abrégé chronologique, volume II, page 154., Thierry Ruinart Acta sincera Martyrum, page 274., Tillemont Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique, volume IV, page 697., Jacques Longueval Histoire de l'Église gallicane, volume I, page 115. and others prefer to place the martyrdoms of the Thebans back in the preceding year 286. What the cited Bue learnedly brings forward for his opinion, lest we do over what has been done, may be seen in the said commentary. Finally Francesco Zaccaria, in a special dissertation which he wrote on SS. Adventor, Solutor and Octavius, Theban soldiers who suffered at Turin, judges that the Theban tragedy belongs to the year 285 Dissertazioni di storia ecclesiastica, volume I, page 270.. This question, since it will recur rather often, can be examined on the critical scales at the Acts of SS. Crispinus and Crispinian at the 25th of October, in this very volume that we are publishing; for which reason we have marked the passion of our St. Gratian as between the years 285 and 287 at the head of this sylloge.

[5] The body of the holy Martyr, at an uncertain time, St. Gratian, having obtained burial in the very place of his passion, gave his name to the place until the present day. There is namely a village of Saint-Gratien in the present diocese of Amiens, in the district (canton) of Villers-Bocage, and it is about eleven kilometres distant from Amiens toward the north. How long the body of the holy Martyr rested there is not clearly established. At what time, says Mabillon, book LXXII of the Annals, §126, or on what occasion the Relics of the Martyr were translated to the monastery of Colombes, is uncertain. From what we said above in no. 3, it is rather doubtful whether, in the time of St. Gervinus, who took over the government of the monastery of Centula after the year 1035, the remains of this Martyr still remained in the village of Saint-Gratien. For it was from his own store that Malbrancq drew the statement that the Relics of the Martyr were kept in the village of Saint-Gratien, when Gervinus inhabited it for the sake of solitude De Morinis, volume II, page 813.: for nothing similar is found in the Life, published by our men at the 3rd of March. Moreover there appears no cause why, in the eleventh century, a time safe for religious monuments, the entire body of some Saint should have been translated to another diocese. Further, when St. Gervinus began to frequent the place of St. Gratian, it is said: In a secluded place he built an oratory, founded in the name of Blessed Gratian the Martyr Acta Sanctorum, volume I of March, page 286.. The place, then, was not frequented; which to some extent indicates the absence of the sacred body, which would otherwise have been frequented by the faithful. It is added too that the oratory was founded in the name of Blessed Gratian the Martyr; whereas if the sacred Relics had been present, the biographer of St. Gervinus would have spoken more accurately by saying that the oratory was founded at the body of St. Gratian. Yet I should not believe that the body of St. Gratian was translated to the monastery of Colombes before the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the following one, as we shall show below: but that it lay hidden for some time, perhaps from the time of the Norman devastation, and in the course of time was discovered and given to the monks of Colombes.

[6] Translated to the monastery of Colombes: The first notice of the monastery of Colombes occurs, as the Gallia christiana has it Volume VIII, column 1248., about the year 930, when secular clerics occupied the deserted place; which they themselves afterward also deserted. In succeeding time the monastery came by right of benefice to Roger, bishop of Beauvais, who, says the diploma of restoration, dated in the year 1028 Ibid., Instrumenta, column 293 and following., seeing the abbey miserably plundered through his own as well as through his predecessors' negligence, disfigured in its building, more miserably profaned in its office, at God's touch, touched inwardly with grief of heart, girded himself manfully to this, both to rebuild the place, and to restore it with adjoining properties of his own right, and to adorn it for the time with the office of serving clerics, as circumstances allowed. To whose pious desire the goodness of God so far breathed favour that within no long time he saw with his eyes what he had conceived in his mind. For he both finished the church splendidly from the foundations, enriched it with properties, and decorated it with clerics and with no small ornament. Yet he remained still in this suspended intention of mind, that if God assented, he might some day distinguish it with the monastic order. But God of all goodness, willing that his heirs should become co-heirs of this alms, Bishop Roger having been gathered to the holy fathers with this good longing of will, his nephew Bishop Odolric, who succeeded him by hereditary right, like another Elisha, embracing in his heart the pious deeds of his uncle, praised them, and efficaciously fulfilled his good intention: finally he exalted the abbey, so often named, with its own abbot, Berengar by name, and with monks, and gladly increased it from his own property… Done publicly at Paris in the year of the Incarnate Word 1028. Roger occupied the see of Beauvais from about the beginning until about the twenty-second year of the eleventh century Ibid., volume IX, column 705.: while Odolric occupied that of Orléans from the year 1021 to at least the year 1035 Ibid., volume VIII, column 1434..

[7] A hazel tree, every year at the place of the passion, Although Roger and Odolric enriched and adorned the church of Colombes, I should not believe that the body of St. Gratian was then brought into it; and I judge it probable that this translation can be placed at the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the twelfth. For if we locate the remains of the holy Martyr at Colombes much earlier, it will seem strange how for nearly a whole century they did not inquire about the prodigy of the hazel tree coming into leaf, flower and nuts in one night, of which we have already spoken in no. 1 from the Martyrology of Centula. But if the body of St. Gratian was brought to the monastery of Colombes around the year of Christ 1100, it is understood how Torold, abbot of Colombes between the years 1103 and 1115 Ibid., column 1253., inquired of Ingelrann, bishop of Amiens from the year 1115 Ibid., volume X, column 1172., about the prodigy of the hazel tree; which indeed is explained by the following letter, published by Mabillon in book LXXII of the Annals, §126. Ingelrann, by the grace of God bishop of Amiens, to Turold,

venerable abbot of the monastery of Colombes, and to the whole congregation of monks, may you in the last examination happily hear the joyful Words of the Lord, Come, blessed of my Father, etc. Brother Peter, your monk, coming to us and diligently inquiring about the miracle which God almighty does not cease to work among us every year by the merits of his Martyr Blessed Gratian, saw and clearly recognized that the matter stands so. We, not refusing to yield to his request for the assertion of the truth, have taken care to inform your holiness concerning this miracle by letters of our authority. Know therefore beyond doubt, most beloved, that he who says in the Gospel, "My Father works until now, and I work," deigns every year, to the praise and glory and honour of the aforesaid Martyr, in our bishopric, namely at the third milestone from our city, to display such a miracle, that a certain hazel tree, which was anciently planted next to his church, that is, at the foot of the enclosure wall, and which is commonly said to have been his staff, on the feast of that Martyr, within the space of one night and day, blossoms and brings forth fruit fully formed and wholly grown. Of this let there be no ambiguity, for those with experience of it are to be believed. And what we assert in notifying your love, we have seen with our own eyes, and have learned by the disclosure of suitable witnesses and also of the lord Godfrey, bishop of blessed memory, our predecessor, who were often present at this miracle. Farewell. And I, Achard, the notary of this letter, beheld this miracle, and on the aforesaid tree itself, in the presence of Bishop Godfrey, gathered new nuts and gave them to him, of which the bishop himself ate as I watched.

[8] And on the day of the martyrdom, This prodigy was expounded by an anonymous writer, probably a monk of Colombes, in a special sermon, which Mabillon reprinted in the Appendix of his Annals, no. XCI. From it we shall bring forward what concerns the miracle itself, omitting commonplaces, especially since some things occur which you would look for in vain elsewhere. Celebrating today, most dear brothers, says the Anonymous Volume V of the Annals, page 639., the splendid solemnities of Blessed Gratian, we have so much the greater cause of spiritual joy, the more familiarly he entreats the Lord in heaven for our excesses, whose most sacred body we venerate here on earth, embracing it with pious love. For we by no means doubt that all the Saints, joined to eternal beatitude, pray for the predestined and desire them as their companions. But if we believe that we have as our own patrons those whom, venerating them with more devout services, we send as advocates to the judge, we do not err. Because of the grativa * of our Gratian, then, the anger of the supreme judge will be appeased, if he sees us intent on his festival and devoutly rendering the services due. Though, as our sins require, we do not know his passion, yet how greatly, crowned with precious stone, he shines before the Lord brighter than the sun, is declared by an all too evident miracle: and although this is recognized for the unheard-of novelty of its greatness not only by you, but also by the peoples of various regions, it will by no means be unfitting if it is related to your charity in the present sermon. There is, then, in the district of Amiens a certain church, small in compass, great in miracles, dedicated to the name of this precious Martyr, to be wondered at by all mortals, having next to it a tree which is called by the inhabitants the hazel of Saint Gratian. Here antiquity relates that the man of God underwent martyrdom: who, while he was being beheaded by the impious, fixed in the ground a dry hazel staff, which he was then by chance carrying in his hand, and, O new thing! dryness receives moisture, aridity greenness, the stock at once is turned into a tree: clinging to the soil it is made firm with deep roots, sprouting upward it spreads out into branches, is clothed with leaves, is adorned with fruits. Nature marvels, forced not to await her time; she changes her order, while she supplies new strength to the old planting. Why should I draw it out longer? Behold the miracle, so that Gratian might not be believed to die, while he dies, the wood, which had long been dead, revives…

[9] It comes into leaf and bears fruit, But greater things succeed these wonders: indeed, my brothers, little, in comparison with what follows, is whatever has been narrated above concerning the tree. So great a grace does divine kindness confer on its Gratian, that a miracle like this cannot be found in the whole world. For on the tenth day before the kalends of November, when the yearly day of the sacred passion of this martyr is kept, the tree, according to the quality of the season, bereft of fruits like the other trees, stripped also of leaves, again, wonderful to say, with nature marvelling, comes forth, puts out foliage, bears nuts, which it brings to maturity before the sixth hour of the day is completed, and, not forgetful of the time at which it was planted, it proclaims to the earth-born that the Martyr's passion is to be recalled, and announces the day. There flows together to such a spectacle from various parts a huge multitude of peoples, and, playfully, as if to test the matter more openly, they clean the tree of the old leaves, if any have perhaps remained, intending at dawn to see others of new growth, and to gather the new fruits which grace confers on Gratian. In the evening they find nothing in it worthy of wonder; in the morning they discover that divine power has worked in it by night. After the celebration of the divine mystery the people run in rivalry, and the abundance of the divine gift, sent from heaven, is joyfully gathered. Vid … * there the holy tree being torn apart by the hands of those hurrying, yet you would learn that the next year it had suffered no damage on this account; for grace does not know how to yield to nature. Then, refreshed with this new food, returning joyful to their homes, they keep back a part for the future for the healing of the sick. For if any sick man, especially one with fever, tastes of the gift of Gratian, though he may deserve to be afflicted in the divine judgment, he rejoices to recover his former health: which in our time and in our homeland we have learned by certain experiments to be true not only of the fruit, but also of the twigs. Let others say what they have thought; I for my part confess that I have never heard, never read of such a miracle.

[10] As eyewitnesses bear witness, at the beginning of the twelfth century. O how great it would be, if the holy staff, turned into a tree, should follow the custom of other trees, and, living in the natural order to the memory of the martyrdom, should bring forth its fruits too in the season of fruits! But divine munificence judged that to be little for Gratian, unless it should represent to us the marks of his passion by a yearly and never failing miracle. For if it should perhaps happen sometimes that natural fruits are lacking, grace, as if compelled by a debt to Gratian, does not suffer its fruits to be lacking. It befell, indeed, as we ought not to pass over in silence, that the church of the most precious Martyr was burned up by fire, and that because it was adjoining its walls, the holy tree was so entirely burned that not even a hope of reviving remained any longer. But again the wonderful power of God is at hand, and an evident sign declares of how great merit Gratian is with him. So that the bounty of the gift owed to the Martyr might not be lacking, many shoots come forth from the roots, which, against the natural custom of new sprouting, paid their tribute in the same year, on the accustomed day… It adds to the accumulation of the miracle, that this is not done in springtime, when moisture naturally climbing to the upper parts supplies the strength of new sprouting to young trees, lest the holy tree seem to prepare the fruits of nature, not to give those of grace: but when the moisture, intending to stay in the deep roots, seeks the lower parts, then, before the natural fruits, by the bounty of grace it is decorated with leaves and made fertile with fruit. Let others then extol the deeds of their Martyrs, and transmit them committed to writing to posterity, deeds which, since they are not seen with the eyes, can be disbelieved by infidels; we ought not to keep silent about the surpassing, because never failing, miracle of our Gratian: because to say that what is seen by the eye, felt by the hand, tasted by the mouth, does not exist, (is) the mark of an insane head. Against this neither the incredulity of the Jews, nor the stiff-neckedness of the gentiles, will be able to stand. Shall we, whom credulity serves, be said to speak falsely and weave a made-up fable? Rather let them see with their eyes, who, accustomed to bodily things, seek signs, and in this miracle, which Christ deigns to work for one of his servants, let them consider in how splendid a light the faith of Christians is held…

[11] Eyewitnesses: There was moreover a certain man, a monk, Peter by name, at that time sacristan * of this church, who, like another Thomas, doubting too much of the miracle, said that he would in no way believe, unless he should behold the fact with his own eyes. Therefore, having sought and received permission from the lord abbot Torold, he proceeded to the place where the witness of Christ fell for the Lord himself, and where the miracle noted above occurs every year; he saw with his own eyes, as he had desired, on the vigil itself, with many others who by accustomed practice had flocked together from everywhere to the festival of the most holy Martyr, and with his own hand he stripped the leaves and whatever else from the aforesaid hazel, and within the one space of a night he gathered the nuts that had been born and had grown entirely, carried them away, showed them to many; he even gave two of those nuts to the lord Geoffrey, bishop of Chartres, which the lord himself gladly received and, while the monk watched, ate: the rest he placed among the Relics of this church in a certain small box, for the memory of those present and the testimony of those to come. And so that his pilgrimage might be ratified, he brought with him letters of the lord of Amiens, signed with his seal, which run thus. There follow the letters of Ingelrann, bishop of Amiens, which we gave above at no. 7. Mabillon adds, in the cited book LXXII of the Annals, §126, that this yearly miracle has long since ceased, although the fame and name of the nuts of St. Gratian persist in the mouth of the people until now.

[12] The Relics of St. Geoffrey, of whom mention is made in the cited sermon, is the second of this name, who ascended the see of Chartres in the year 1116 Gallia Christiana, volume VIII, column 1134.. Gratian partly perish in the year 1830, From which it is evident that Torold, abbot of Colombes, extended his life beyond the 23rd of October 1116; since Peter the monk, who was present as a witness of the miracle on that day, brought back the letters of Isengrann, first made bishop of Amiens in the year 1116, and Geoffrey II was placed on the see of Chartres in the same year. Further, since the sermon was delivered on the feast of St. Gratian, as the beginning teaches, we believe that it belongs to the year 1117. To these things Mabillon adds, in book LXXII, §126, that in the monastery of Colombes, handed over in the year 1648 to the Maurist Benedictine congregation Ibid., column 1251., the Relics of the holy Martyr are kept in a silver reliquary, which, he says, was recently and skilfully made by our men. On the old reliquary being opened, as was asserted to me by our Antoine Beaugendre, then prior of that place, a small box of lead was found, in which those nuts, brought by Peter the monk from the church of St. Gratian, were found wrapped in little linen cloths. The Huguenots, namely, when the prince of Condé was besieging Chartres, had plundered the basilica of Colombes, its chapels, the sacred vestments, the images of the saints, the tombs of the buried Ibid., place cited.; but the body of St. Gratian had happily been withdrawn from their fury; and it was afterward held in greater veneration and reverence until the sorrowful vicissitudes of the declining eighteenth century, when, on the silver reliquary being sent to Paris to be turned into money, some employee of the mint took out the sacred remains, and at an opportune time brought them to the archbishop's residence at Paris. There the body of St. Gratian remained in keeping until the 29th of July 1830, when, the plundered

archbishop's palace having been sacked, the Relics perished, or at least disappeared Butler at this day; Ami de la Religion, volume LXV, page 4..

[13] In part they are preserved until now in the village of Saint-Gratien. But the inhabitants of the village of Saint-Gratien, near Amiens, were more fortunate, for until this day they have preserved Relics of the holy Martyr, translated to them in the century just past. For the Reverend Lord Maillard, parish priest of the place, kindly wrote back to us on the 7th of January 1859. The people of Saint-Gratien grieved at being deprived of the Relics of their holy patron: wherefore they besought their bishop, the venerable Louis François Gabriel d'Orléans de la Motte, that, through the mediation of the bishop of Chartres, Pierre Augustin de Fleury, they might obtain some part of the Relics from the monks of Colombes. The monks gladly assented to the religious petition, and the prior of the monastery of Corbie brought to Amiens the more noble part of the skull of St. Gratian, which on the 23rd of November the bishop of Amiens recognized with solemn rite and transferred into a bust, together with authentic instruments of the recognition and translation. These sacred remains are until now carried about every year in religious procession on the Sunday within the octave of the Ascension of the Lord: and in memory of the celebration the said Reverend parish priest has sent to us canticles composed in the French language, which relate what has been narrated. As regards the wondrous hazel tree, the said Reverend Lord replied that no memory of this tree survives.

* gratia

* Vidi, it seems?

* sacrista