Ulfacius

ON ST. ULFACIUS, ANCHORITE, PERHAPS ALSO PRESBYTER AND ABBOT,

IN THE VILLAGE OF THE SAME NAME IN THE PROVINCE OF LE MANS IN GAUL.

VI century.

A COLLECTION

Of the veneration, age and deeds of the Saint, who seems the same as S. Ulfardus.

Ulfacius anchorite, and perhaps presbyter and abbot, in the village of the same name in the province of Le Mans in Gaul (S.)

BY J. S.

Castellanus in his universal Martyrology announces to us today a holy Anchorite passed over by others, The Saint's memory and the place in which he lived: of whom he has thus: On the borders of the provinces of Perche and Le Mans, between Montmirail [\] and La Ferté-Bernard [\], of S. Ulfacius the anchorite, Companion of S. Baumadus (or Boamirus) the notable catechist. A village distinguished with the French name of S. Ulfacius (S. Ulface) is found in various geographical maps in the territory of Le Mans near the border of Perche, on the little river Brigia, commonly called Braye. This is the very place in which the Saint led a solitary life, and of which mention is made in the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans in Mabillon's Vetera Analecta, chap. 19, and again chap. 21, where the emperor Charlemagne commits to Franco bishop of Le Mans, along with others, the little cell of saint Almirus, and the little cell of saint Ulfacius, and the little cell of S. Baomadus etc. The Life of S. Almirus, which is to be given at the XI of September, shows that S. Ulfacius lived in the VI century with SS. Almirus, Boamirus and other monks in the district of Le Mans: nor have we other monuments from which the deeds and age of S. Ulfacius become better known.

[2] Further, since the praised Life, which is by an ancient and almost contemporary writer, is to be inserted in this very volume, he seems to have been born in Auvergne toward the end of the 5th century, from it I shall only briefly gather the chief heads of the matters by which the Life of S. Ulfacius will in some measure become known. First, from this Life we have that S. Ulfacius was probably born in Auvergne, as the V century was running to its end: for S. Avitus and S. Carilefus are said to have come from Auvergne to the monastery of Micy in the time of S. Maximinus the abbot, and the same seems clearly enough to be said of SS. Almirus, Ulfacius, Boamirus and Senardus. In the Life of S. Maximinus of Micy indeed nothing is said of these four, but the coming of SS. Avitus and Carilefus is there narrated, no mention being made of their Companions. But this seems to have happened only because these became less famous than Avitus and Carilefus. Certainly the writer of the Life of S. Almirus says of all in general: The aforesaid holy Men, going forth from Aquitaine (taken broadly), and made exiles for Christ especially from the district of Auvergne, come to Orléans, and there, praying with S. Maximinus at that time under a holy rule not far from the aforesaid city etc. A little before, all are said also to have left their own country, parents, estates, and all things, and to have deserted their own monasteries. Wherefore I judge that S. Ulfacius came from Auvergne to Micy no less than SS. Avitus and Carilefus. And since they came some time before the death of S. Maximinus, which is fixed by Mabillon at about the year 520, I judge that Ulfacius was born in Auvergne before the end of the V century.

[3] Secondly, since we have it from the Acts of S. Avitus, which were given at the XVII of June, he was a monk and afterward an anchorite. and from the Acts of S. Carilefus, published at the 1st of July, that both began the monastic life in the monastery of Menat, which still exists in Auvergne, we can hardly doubt that their companions, among whom is S. Ulfacius, were monks there also. What therefore is said of their own monasteries being left, I judge that all these did first with respect to Menat, just as afterward they also deserted Micy, that they might embrace the anchoretic life. And this S. Ulfacius embraced with certain other Saints presently named in the diocese of Le Mans in the time of S. Innocens or Innocentius bishop of Le Mans, by whom they are said to have been kindly received. And with S. Innocens permitting and affording no small help, they each built for themselves separate cells with oratories, where they lived, having as master S. Avitus, whom they visited from time to time, and there at length they died and were buried. Various of them too were consecrated presbyters and gathered disciples, so that they can be called abbots. But both are uncertain concerning S. Ulfacius. All these things may be seen more at large in the Acts of S. Almirus, to be published at the XI of September. His death is fixed broadly in the VI century, because we do not know how long he lived

in his cell. S. Ulfacius seems the same as S. Ulfardus, whose relics were carried to Tulle:

[4] Castellanus, announcing S. Baumadus at the IV day of August, affirms that the relics of S. Ulfacius were translated, together with the relics of S. Baumadus, in the time of the Norman incursions, to Tulle, a city of the province of Limoges. Castellanus therefore supposes that Ulfardus, who is venerated at Tulle, is the same as the Ulfacius of whom we treat; and the same appeared probable to our Sollerius in the Prætermissi at the V of August. Étienne Baluze in the History of Tulle inclines to the same opinion, which I too judge should be followed. The praised Baluze had already said some things about S. Ulfardus in a Dissertation published in the year 1656 on SS. Clarus, Laudus, Ulfardus, Baumadus, in which at pag. 26 he speaks thus: Who this saint (Ulfardus) was, or of what country, is unknown to me. This only I know, that his body was carried to Tulle from Angers the metropolis of the Andes. But whether he is to be confounded with S. Lyphardus, which I see pleases some, has not yet been made convincing to me, and I await one who may convince me. Certainly I have found no one by whom Ulfardus is called Lyphardus except Turrianus alone. Elsewhere he is always named Ulfardus. His feast day is found noted in the old Breviary of Tulle at the III of the Nones of June, and again at the Nones of August; where he is always called confessor. In the chapel of blessed Mary, which is in the cloister of the cathedral church, saint Ulfardus is painted in a Benedictine habit, a painting indeed ancient. Nevertheless he was not a Benedictine, as is clear from his age.

[5] for Ulfardus does not seem the same as Liphardus. In the History of Tulle, book 1, chap. 10, he writes some things contrary to what has gone before, because he had, I suppose, subjected what he had said about Ulfardus to a fresh examination. First he distinguishes Ulfardus without hesitation from S. Liphardus in these words: They err too violently who confound Ulfardus with blessed Liphardus, the brother of the most famous saint Leonard: for no mention of Liphardus is found among us before these hundred years. Secondly, where Baluze had said that the translation of S. Ulfardus is not recorded in express words in the Calendar of Tulle, he subjoins this: But since in the same Calendar and in the Missal of Limoges … the feast day of saint Ulfardus is noted at the III of the Nones of July, it is probable that the ancients believed him to have been taken up to heaven on that day: and so the Nones of the month of August, on which day the feast day of saint Ulfardus is also noted in the same old Calendar, seem to note the day on which his sacred relics were carried from the district of Le Mans into our monastery. For they are greatly deceived who think that the relics of saint Baumadus and of saint Ulfardus were carried hither from the city of Angers, since from the so often praised parchment of Tulle it is established that the body of Baumadus came to us from the district of Le Mans. Thus Baluze, here assigning the III of the Nones of July, or the 5th day of July, to one or the other festival of S. Ulfardus, which he had before fixed at the III of the Nones of June, or on the III day of the same month: nor do I know well enough in which of the two places he writes more rightly, since the monuments praised by him are not at hand for me.

[6] The relics of S. Ulfardus have been at Tulle since the 10th century, Thus he asserted before that the relics of S. Ulfardus were carried to Tulle from Angers the metropolis of the Andes; which here, with changed words, he denies, and indeed more rightly, as I shall presently show. But first the ancient possession of the men of Tulle must be proved, and the translation itself of those relics. In the Appendix of the praised Work, col. 353, he adduces a charter of a donation made in the X century to the church of Tulle. But in it these things are read about the church of the monastery of Tulle: Where are the bodies of the saints Clarus, Laudus, Baumadus and Ulfardus. And so already in the year 934, at which Baluze notes that the charter was given, the relics of S. Ulfardus were said to be preserved in the monastery of Tulle. Another instrument, written in the year 1153, he adduces at col. 481 and following, and that is the very one from which Baluze draws his arguments. It is narrated in that instrument that the bodies of SS. Laudus, Baumadus and Ulfardus were translated into new caskets.

[7] But of Ulfardus these things are contained: Then also the body of the most holy Ulfardus, [at which time of the Norman incursions they are believed to have come from the district of Le Mans:] which, brought from the same parts, rests here, was laid up in a new chest. That from the same parts is referred to the place whence the body of S. Baumadus had come to Tulle. But he is there said to have led a solitary life in the district of Le Mans, and there to have died. But when the aforesaid persecution of the gentiles (namely of the Normans) was growing strong, his body was by the divine disposition carried by the rectors of that same church to this place. From these things Baluze at pag. 45 rightly reasons thus: Since that old parchment of Tulle seems to indicate that his relics were carried hither from the same parts from which the body of S. Baumadus came thither, I am not unwillingly drawn to this opinion, that I should judge him to be no other than Ulfarius the monk of Le Mans, who is established to have lived under the same bishop Innocentius… But he had come from the district of Auvergne into that of Le Mans, as the ancient monuments of that church teach, and with the consent of the same bishop erected himself a cell in the farm of Apiacum on the stream of the Brigia: and when he had died there, he was buried in the church of that same farm, which is now named from the name of saint Ulfarius. And he died on the III of the Nones of July. The rest is right. But of the day of death I doubt, since it seems to be deduced by Baluze only from conjecture.

[8] S. Ulfardus is among the patrons of Tulle. S. Ulfardus is reckoned among the patrons of Tulle by Geoffrey Prior of Vigeois and by Bernard Gui, whose words Henschen gave in tom. 1 of June, pag. 9. In the year 1532, when on account of continuous rains fear was had for the harvest, the body of S. Ulfardus with the bodies of SS. Clarus, Laudus and Baumadus was carried around at Tulle by suppliants on the VII day of April, which fell on Low Sunday, and there followed the greatest abundance of crops; as our Sollerius too said in somewhat more words in his account of S. Baumadus at the IV of August. The year and day are noted in the Instrument published by Baluze at the end of the Dissertation. Nevertheless the praised writer in the History of Tulle referred the event to the year 1533, but wrongly: for in that year Low Sunday did not fall on the VII of April. For the rest, whether S. Baumadus, who is venerated at Tulle, is the same as S. Baomirus, who is recorded in certain Calendars at the III of November, may be investigated there. Saint Ulfacius, although I should more probably believe him the same as S. Ulfardus, whom we have seen to be venerated at Tulle on another day, I suspect to be celebrated on this IX day of September in his own church, on account of Castellanus' announcement: but that I have nowhere found for certain.

\* Montmirail

\* Ferté-Bernard