ON ST. EUNUCIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,
AT NOYON IN BELGICA SECUNDA.
IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY, BEFORE THE YEAR 748.
SYLLOGE
The Saint's cult, the translations of his body, his episcopate and its time.
Eunucius, bishop and confessor at Noyon in Belgica Secunda (St.)
BY J. S.
Various more recent martyrologists have mentioned St. Eunucius today, with his name somewhat changed: The Saint's memory in the more recent calendars, for I find him indeed named Eunucius by several; but I see him also called Eunutius, Eunuchius, Enuchius or Ewicichius among French writers. Molanus announces his memory in his additions to Usuard thus: On the same day, of saint Eunucius, bishop of Noyon and confessor. Molanus was followed by Ferrari and Canisius, and among the very latest by Castellanus and the author of the Paris Martyrology, who all briefly record St. Eunucius as bishop of Noyon, as does Saussay also with a somewhat longer elogium. Molanus treats of him in the Natales of the Saints of Belgium at this same day, where he observes that he is found in the Calendar of the Breviary of Noyon; but with the addition: Nothing is done.
[2] his cult at Noyon, not at Tournai: Yet afterwards a commemoration was made of Eunucius, and a third lesson recited concerning him, as I learn from the Breviary of Noyon which was printed in the year 1630: for in it at the 10th of September there is prescribed an Office of three lessons of the Octave of the Nativity of the most blessed Virgin Mary, in which the third lesson is of St. Eunucius, bishop and confessor, of whom a commemoration is made both at first Vespers and at Lauds. From letters given to our Papebroch in the year 1670 the same commemoration is also established. Guillaume Gazet, in the Ecclesiastical History of Belgium, page 214, affirms that in the church of Tournai on the 4th day of September the Office of St. Eunucius is celebrated with a semi-double rite. The Sainte-Marthes also, in tome 3, page 812, have it thus: St. Enuchius or Ewicichius is recalled on the 10th of September in this church (of Noyon), and his memory in that of Tournai on the fourth day of the same month. But these are deceived: for Cousin, later than Gazet, writes in the History of Tournai, book 2, chapter 41, that no Office of St. Eunucius is kept at Tournai; nor have I found mention of Eunucius in the Breviaries of Tournai.
[3] The relics of St. Eunucius were translated at various times. The Saint's body translated Miraeus in the Belgian Calendar at this day writes this concerning one translation: His head Ralph, bishop of Noyon, translated about the year 962 to the monastery of St. Loup, which is now called St. Eligius, outside the walls of Noyon, founded by the same Eligius. The same, concerning the body translated, writes Jean Cousin, whom Miraeus cites, in the History of Tournai, book 2, chapter 10, and adds that it was preserved there in his own time. I do not know why Miraeus wrote head, since Cousin, whom he cites, asserts that the body was translated. But I suspect that this happened by a slip of memory, especially since Molanus also in the Natales of the Saints of Belgium, Guillaume Gazet in the Ecclesiastical History of Belgium, page 251, Jean Buzelin in the Gallo-Flemish Annals, book 3, page 90, and the Breviary of Noyon cited above agree concerning the body translated by bishop Ralph to the monastery of St. Eligius. Miraeus therefore erred, and his error was adopted by Saussay, to be cited below, who also has head for body, because, I suppose, he had Miraeus in his hands.
[4] Nicolas de la Haye, dean of Noyon, in a letter given to Papebroch in the year 1670, recorded the following concerning the said translation and the others that followed: at various times, and the festival of the translation celebrated. His body was translated several times, namely on the tenth of the Kalends of July to the church of St. Loup, which has also been called St. Eligius, in the suburb of Noyon: on the sixth of the Ides of July, of which translation an anniversary solemnity is kept on the same day in the monastery of St. Eligius: and lastly on the 21st day of June in the year 1509, on which that sacred body was translated by Charles de Hangest, who governed at once the cathedral church and the said monastery of St. Eligius, from a smaller chapel into the greater church, and laid in one of the caskets which rested upon the high altar. Thus far concerning the various translations of the body.
[5] Now let us hear what Saussay brings forward concerning the Saint's deeds. The Saint bishop of Noyon and of Tournai, At Noyon, of saint Eunuchius, bishop and confessor, who, taking up after Guido the government of this church and of that of Tournai, which were joined together, showed himself admirable by the holy institutes of his life and by an untiring zeal for religion: and his sanctity being attested also by divine miracles, he was called to the recompense laid up for his pious labours. And since the sacred pledges of this divine Man wrought great powers, his venerable head (nay rather, body) Ralph, bishop of Noyon, translated to the monastery of saint Loup, founded by saint Eligius, with whose name it is now distinguished. Thus far Saussay, whose statements concerning the miracles of St. Eunucius seem to flow from mere conjecture, since I nowhere find anything concerning them, and no mention of miracles is made in the lesson of the Office of the Saint. I scarcely doubt indeed that St. Eunucius wrought some miracles after his death, since the cult of Saints is wont to begin on the occasion of miracles. But I should not wish such things to be asserted without fitting testimony.
[6] some believe that he was only a co-bishop, but less probably: As to the episcopate of Noyon and Tournai; this is called into doubt by Molanus and Miraeus. Let us hear the former, to whom the latter adheres: I have read nothing else, he says, concerning him, except that Demochares in the twenty-seventh place among the bishops of Noyon, who were at once also bishops of Tournai, sets Guido together with saint Eunucius. Whence he seems to have been a co-bishop,
but not the chief bishop of the said place. But the aforesaid Cousin observes that this opinion is not very probable, because St. Eunucius in the manuscript catalogue of Tournai, and in the other published by Meyer, is set down alone as bishop. Buzelin, already cited, speaks thus of the opinion of Molanus: Those who give Eunucius to Guido as a colleague rather than as a successor please me little; because the records lead to the contrary, in which he is named bishop after Guido. I understand that he shone with a notable light of virtues, and on account of the merits of a singular life was inserted into the catalogue of the Saints of Noyon. In the lesson of the Office too he is said to have been bishop of Noyon, and the Sainte-Marthes, with most others, reckon him in the catalogue of the bishops of Noyon in tome 3 of the Gallia Christiana, page 812, between Guido and Eliseus. Wherefore to me at least it is more probable that he really was bishop of the church of Noyon and Tournai: for among us too, upon chapter 15 of Demochares, where he has: Guido with Enucius, I find written in the margin in an ancient hand: The manuscript separates these.
[7] he died in the eighth century before the year 748. The aforesaid lesson of the Office hints that the age of St. Eunucius is very obscure. For it begins in this manner: Of saint Eunucius, bishop of this see, when he was set over it, for how long a time he governed, by what deeds he made a name for himself, although we see scarcely anything handed down; yet in so great a density of things and times his name and the glory of his sanctity is not obscure. By this one praise he is illustrious: he is illustrious enough, because he is holy. Yet, since in some catalogues he is placed between Guido and Eliseus, from the age of Eliseus, which is known, the age of St. Eunucius becomes in some measure known. For the letter of Pope Zachary to Raginfrid of Rouen and the other bishops of Gaul, which Baronius rightly recited in his Annals at the year 748, as is clear from the letter of the same Zachary to Boniface, prefixed by Baronius in the same place, is also addressed to Eliseus, bishop of Noyon. Eliseus therefore, the successor of St. Eunucius, was sitting in the year 748, so that it is permissible to fix the death of St. Eunucius in the eighth century before the year 748. But a closer investigation of the year of his death we leave to others, until more light shines. Le Cointe indeed at the year 747, number 25, says: To God passed in this year saint Eunucius on the fourth of the Ides of September. But we frequently find such arbitrary determinations of times in the Annals of Le Cointe, but can never prove them.