Imperia

ON ST. IMPERIA, IN THE VILLAGE OF MAUPROUVOIR AMONG THE PICTONES

IN GAUL.

Imperia, in the village of Mauprouvoir among the Pictones in Gaul (S.)

BY J. S.

The cult of the Saint among the Pictones: Of St. Imperia, Saussaye made mention in the Gallican Martyrology, volume 2, page 1251, from monuments of the church of Poitiers received rather late, writing these things: St. Imperia (saincte Impere), whether she was a virgin or a martyr, is not known. She has her feast on the VI of September: and a parish church in the village of Mauprouvoir in the diocese of Poitiers; where is situated the abbey of St. Salvator of Charroux. Peyronet repeated these things in his Catalogue of Saints, pages 409 and 483, adding however that St. Imperia is one of the patrons of the diocese of Poitiers, and, either by a slip of memory or by a printer's error, wrongly referring the festival of the Saint to the XXVI of September. Of the festival of Bl. Imperia the virgin, as she is there called, mention is made in volume 2 of the Gallia Christiana, column 578, on the occasion of the burial of the abbot of St. Augustine of Limoges, and there too the feast is connected with the VIII Ides of September. And from the festival mentioned among the people of Limoges it is gathered that St. Imperia was at some time venerated there also.

[2] where her body was kept: It may be doubted whether the body of St. Imperia, or at any rate certain of her relics, were not preserved in the diocese of Limoges. For Geoffrey, prior of Vigeois, who wrote about the end of the XII century, in his Chronicle in Labbe, volume 1 of the Bibliotheca of Manuscripts, page 286, treating of the Saints of the diocese of Limoges, mentions Imperia in these words: Blessed Imperia adorns the monastery of Charmæ. Then Bernard Gui in the same Labbe, volume 2, page 632, writing likewise about the Saints of the diocese of Limoges, has thus: Saint Imperia by her honor adorns the monastery of Charnix. But since I find no monastery of Charmæ or of Charnix in the diocese of Limoges, I scarcely doubt that the name of that monastery is dislocated; and since the abbey of Charroux (in French Charroux) is not far distant from the diocese of Limoges, being situated on the river Charente in the district of Briou [*], I strongly suspect that this very one was designated by the said writers.

[3] For the prior on page 285 says that he will recite the names of those her deeds and date unknown. who are held the more illustrious in the whole bishopric. The other declares on page 629 that he will give also the names of certain Saints who were born in the diocese of Limoges, or lived there, although their bodies were preserved elsewhere. Therefore, since on Saussaye's testimony, to which Castellan also accedes, St. Imperia is still venerated and has a parish church in the village of Mauprouvoir near the abbey of Charroux, I think that this abbey was indicated by the dislocated word. For the rest, the said Castellan calls St. Imperia a married woman. Whence he learned this condition of hers, after others who had learned nothing about her beyond her cult, and how certainly he asserted her marriage, I am wholly ignorant: for not even the time in which she lived do I find written anywhere.

* of Briou