Reginald

ON BL. REGINALD, HERMIT,

VENERATED IN THE CHURCH OF MELINAIS NEAR LA FLÈCHE IN THE PROVINCE OF ANJOU.

IN THE YEAR 1104.

COLLECTION.

Reginald, hermit, venerated in the church of Melinais near La Flèche in the province of Anjou. (Bl.)

BY J. S.

§ I. The translation of the body, the cult, the miracles.

[ ] Blessed Reginald, whom my predecessors referred to this day, The relics of Bl. Reginald kept in the abbey of Melinais, I have been able to find in no Martyrologies, not even French ones. But the elevation and translation of his body, solemnly made on the 11th day of August, caused our Sollier in the Passed Over at that same day to note this: The translation of St. Reginald the hermit in the church of Melinais, of the diocese of Angers, made in the year 1653 on this day, is commemorated on the first Sunday of August. We desire that his Life may somewhere be dug out, and the ancient book of his miracles, on the day on which he is read to have died, the 17th of September. Thus Sollier, conjecturing from certain indications that some Life of the Saint and a book of miracles existed. But from various letters which I have before me on these matters, I sufficiently perceive that neither does a Life exist, nor a report of miracles so copious that it could be called a book. Yet I shall give below concerning his deeds and miracles as much as I have received. Of the church of Melinais, which is an abbey of Canons Regular, the brothers Sainte-Marthe have this in the Gallia Christiana, vol. 4, page 532: St. John of Melinais, of the Augustinian Order, of the diocese of Angers, acknowledges as its founder Henry II, king of England …

The abbey was afterwards enlarged, … with which are kept the relics of Bl. Renaud the hermit, who with his companions inhabited the place where the abbey is situated, and they were called the anchorites of Bl. Mary of Melinais. It is now united to the College of La Flèche of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, namely by Henry IV, king of France.

[2] Further, since the Canons Regular of the said abbey desired at the request of the Canons of the abbey, that the body of Bl. Reginald might be raised and more becomingly placed, they offered to the bishop of Angers, who was the most illustrious lord Henri Arnauld, a petition which, rendered into Latin from the Acts of the translation, I here transfer: Whereas for some years past, in the repairing of the church of St. John the Evangelist of Melinais, there has been found in many places the image of a certain Hermit, at whose base was written S. Renauld; and likewise in a little window near the high altar on the Epistle side a wooden chest marked with these words: Jesus, Mary, S. Renauld; and on the stone capital of that same little window there appeared written also S. Renauld 1556; and whereas in the chapter-house records of that same abbey there exist many authentic documents by which it is established that for more than one century a great concourse of peoples was made to venerate those relics — which, when part of the church was falling into ruin, were afterwards deposited in the domestic oratory, and a remedy for desperate diseases was found there; and whereas therefore on solemn feasts those same relics were wont to be incensed: since nevertheless no day has yet been assigned on which the memory of that Saint may be commemorated; wherefore the Canons Regular of the abbey of Melinais, of the Order of St. Augustine, beseech the most illustrious and most reverend lord Henri Arnauld, bishop of Angers, that he be pleased to send thither some man of approved faith and virtue, who may inquire into the truth of the matter: and then, if it be convenient, that he himself be pleased to come, that he may with solemn rite translate the relics of St. Reginald from the place in which they are into a more becoming one, that is, into the first of all, duly repaired. Thus far the petition.

[3] by the bishop of Angers in the year 1653 But in the Acts, as they were transmitted to us in Latin, there is presently subjoined: This petition being admitted, the bishop sent to Melinais the venerable man Pierre Syette, canon and precentor of the church of Angers: who found the matter to be as it had been set forth, on the 4th of September of the year 1652. Behold, then, in what manner the matter was thereafter carried out, the bishop's public instrument. Then follows the authentic Instrument of the bishop of Angers concerning the translation of the relics of St. Reginald. Henri, by the mercy of God and by the grace of the Apostolic See bishop of Angers, to all whom it concerns, greeting in the Lord. We make known to all that, whereas at the prayers of the Canons Regular of the abbey of Melinais of the Order of St. Augustine, already from the 30th day of July, after inquiries previously made by our order concerning the relics of St. Reginald the confessor, we decreed to go in person to the said monastery of St. John the Evangelist, situated in the parish of St. Columba near La Flèche, of this our diocese, in order to translate those same relics from the place in which they are now deposited into the place designated by us, with the assistance of the venerable and discreet men, masters Charles Ogier our penitentiary and René Brecheu our promoter, both canons in our cathedral church; then Sylvain Gandon, doctor in theology, canon of the church of St. Peter of Angers, and Jean Baptiste le Mercier, bachelor, parish priest of Morannes, our almoners, and master Balthazar Musard, who is our secretary — on Saturday the 9th of August of the year 1653, having set out from Angers, we came the same day to La Flèche, and two days after, on Monday the eleventh of the same month, in the morning we came together with the same men to Melinais.

[4] carefully examined, There met us Brother André Freslon, prior of the monastery, and the other Religious with cross, candlesticks and holy water, and led us to the high altar. The holy Eucharist being adored, we went into the sacristy. There we put on the pontifical vestments, and the rest those proper to their offices. Terce having been said in the choir, we proceeded to the conventual oratory of that same abbey. Many accompanied the Religious, partly parish priests, partly chaplains from the neighborhood, namely from the parishes of St. Columba, St. Quentin, Vaulandry, Clefs, Thorée, etc., and very many priests from the town of La Flèche itself. When the hymn Veni Creator had been sung, we ourselves also made inquiry concerning the relics of St. Reginald. And so at the Epistle horn there was shown us a wooden chest well closed, whose key was in our keeping, given namely by the commissioner whom we had sent thither a little before. In the chest was a likewise wooden case, inscribed with these words: Jesus, Mary, S. Renauld; in which the Prior asserted were the relics of St. Reginald the confessor, formerly a hermit in those parts, brought into that oratory eight or nine years before from a chapel of the church which was falling down from age. Many witnesses of this matter were heard. It was opened upon the altar, in the presence, besides the others named before, of Master Antoine Barard, physician, and Urbain de la Plamese, surgeon, both summoned from La Flèche. When the bones had been drawn out, after the incensing, the physician and the surgeon, who examined the matter beforehand, after the customary oath, affirmed that those bones were of a man of tall stature, and of one and the same man: which they judged from the color and the proportion; and further that they were ancient, so that very many were missing.

[5] From the relics thus previously examined we took some part for the dedication of altars and with great solemnity and for the use of a pectoral cross, and distributed a part to some other churches. The far greatest part of the bones was left at Melinais, and being enclosed again in a little case and placed upon a bier, after a solemn incensing was borne in procession by the deacon and subdeacon and the elders, whom some Religious accompanied with copes and torches, while meanwhile the choir sang the antiphon Surgite Sancti, etc. When they had come into the church, the sacred bones were laid on the Gospel side upon a table prepared for the purpose. Then a procession was made with the relics restored thereafter to their own place. For the rest of the day, until the translation was made, two Religious were appointed as guardians of them. Mass of one Confessor not a bishop was celebrated according to custom. When it was ended and the pontifical blessing given, an indulgence of forty days was published in favor of those who had been present at this ceremony or at any part of it. Then Sext was sung. After the midday meal, None having been said, a sermon was delivered by one of the Religious on the prerogatives of the solitary life and the veneration due to sacred relics. Afterwards we sang Vespers in pontifical habit.

[6] There followed a procession, as in the morning; and while the choir sang the antiphon enclosed in a new chest and translated, De Hierusalem and others suitable, the sacred relics were deposited in the chapel formerly called St. James's, in which they had rested for nearly five hundred years, until, the wall giving way, they were taken thence in the year 1636 and translated first beside the altar, and afterwards into the conventual oratory. There were enclosed in a new case of gilded wood, within a white veil figured with flowers, the skull, certain other bones of the head, and others partly smaller, partly larger. There were enclosed in the same place the authentic Acts of that same translation with the Saint's eulogy. These are the chief points. “In the year of the Lord 1653, on the eleventh day of August, in the reign of Louis XIV, these relics of the body of St. Reginald the confessor were visited, translated, and laid in this case with public and solemn rite by the most illustrious and most reverend lord Henri Arnauld, bishop of Angers. The keys of this same case we gave to the Prior, forbidding that anyone open it without our leave, and we enclosed it within the upper structure * of the altar itself.”

[7] At length, when the hymn Te Deum laudamus had been sung, we assigned the eleventh day of August for celebrating the feast of his translation every year. Given at Melinais on the eleventh day of August in the year of the Lord 1653. Henri, bishop of Angers. And below: a feast of the translation being instituted, By command of my lord the bishop. Musen. But the festival, which is here fixed on the very day of the translation, the 11th of August, was afterwards transferred by the same bishop to another day, as follows: That the peoples of the neighborhood may more conveniently assemble to celebrate that feast, the first Sunday of August was thereafter assigned to it by the same most illustrious bishop.

[8] and some relics distributed to various churches. Further, to what sacred places the bishop gave some part of the relics of Bl. Reginald, he himself sets forth in a document likewise subscribed, which I here render into Latin: Some part of the relics of St. Reginald at his translation was had, besides the most illustrious bishop and the abbey of St. John of Melinais, by the abbey of All Saints at Angers, of the Order of St. Augustine; the abbey of Bl. Mary of Beaulieu near Le Mans, of the same institute; the church of the priory of Le Châtelet, of the same Order; the hospital of Angers; the nuns of St. Ursula at Angers; the nuns of Bl. Mary at La Flèche ; the nuns of St. Francis at La Flèche; the hospital of St. Joseph at La Flèche; the nuns of the Visitation at La Flèche; the Benedictine nuns of Baugé ; the hospital of St. Joseph at Baugé. These things abundantly suffice to demonstrate the cult of Bl. Reginald. And the reader will be able to observe that he is here commonly called Saint; but by us Blessed. I would not therefore condemn the manner of speaking of those who attribute the title of Saint to Bl. Reginald; but it seemed to me that the title of Blessed could suffice, since his cult, attached almost to one place, does not exceed the cult with which the Blessed are venerated.

[9] The Blessed honored with a great concourse of the neighboring people, In a certain written account of the Blessed, formerly sent by the men of Melinais to our Papebroch, this is added concerning the celebration of the festival: For it is indeed done with an unwonted concourse of men from the neighboring towns and villages, especially since Pope Alexander VII granted a plenary indulgence to those visiting the church of Melinais on that day. Thither many flock daily, especially those whom fever vexes, that they may be freed from it, and many barren women, that they may become fruitful. How much St. Reginald can avail with God in these matters, the outcome teaches. In a French letter of the Prior of Melinais, whose name I cannot conveniently read, given in the year 1692 to our Papebroch, it is asserted that the chapel and altar in which the Blessed's relics are deposited were dedicated to him by the bishop. In the other account just praised it is only said that the sacred relics were restored by the bishop to their former place, that is, into that chapel which from the matter is now called St. Reginald's. There is added the praised Prior in his letter as a witness of the great devotion with which the people of the neighboring places have recourse to the Blessed in their necessities, chiefly in fevers, women in barrenness, and for the recovery of lost goods. He adds that before the translation of the relics more than thirty trustworthy persons were questioned and examined, who testified that after the invocation of that Blessed there had happened to them things unwonted and miraculous. He adds that in the sixteen years during which he had lived in that abbey, many things had been disclosed to him by private persons which they had obtained by the invocation of Bl. Reginald.

[10] to his clients Nay, he sets forth a little more fully the benefit granted to his monastery when it was endangered by the waters, of which he had been an eyewitness. I compress the matter into a few words from the French report. When abundant snows,

which covered the hills near the monastery, were suddenly melted, there was of a sudden so great an abundance of water that, the pools being filled, it rose to the top of the dyke which in the preceding year had been broken through, and consequently could be less solid. All the Religious, being warned of the peril which hung over their monastery, betook themselves together to the relics of Bl. Reginald, and implored his help. The dyke withstood the waters until these gradually flowed away, and thus all peril ceased. Thus at somewhat greater length in the praised letter. Here finally I add some benefits, as they were transmitted to us, and are believed to have been obtained by the Blessed's patronage. To them is read subscribed Pierre Syette, canon and precentor of the church of Angers, to whom before the translation the examination of them had been committed by the bishop. The title of that writing is: Miracles done at the invocation of St. Reginald.

[11] Many men of advanced age assert this with one voice, he in turn granted various benefits. that from all memory a great concourse of peoples was wont to be made, so that by this means a remedy might be prepared for almost desperate diseases, especially fevers; that barren women might become fruitful; that lost goods might be recovered.

Two sons of Pierre Busson, advocate at La Flèche, worn out with slow fevers, when they had caused Mass to be celebrated at St. Reginald's tomb, were at once healed: which the father asserted with an oath.

Pierre le Boussier, of the parish of Clefs, had incautiously cut off his own foot almost entirely. The holy Confessor being invoked, he was healed yesterday, which N. Langlois, surgeon of La Flèche, attested.

Renée le Barbier, widow of René Busson, advocate of La Flèche, obtained health in the same way for many, and especially for her firstborn son, who was suffering from a quartan fever, when other remedies had been in vain. This she herself attested, having likewise been delivered from a grave sickness by the help of St. Reginald.

Marguerite Nadreau of La Flèche, when in her twenty-fifth year she was suffering from a tertian fever, was suddenly cured, when she had come as a suppliant to the tomb of the same Saint.

Martial Blondeau, a blacksmith, when he had suffered from a quartan fever for three months at the beginning of winter, on having the relics of St. Reginald applied to him, suddenly recovered.

All these asserted this on oath before the lord Syette the commissioner.

Anne Vedie, a domestic sister, as they call her, in the hospital of Baugé, long languishing with a slow fever and almost dropsical *, remedies having been tried in vain, was healed on that very day on which François Maudoux, her kinsman, then parish priest of Thorée, celebrated the Holy Sacrifice at Melinais. This she herself attested in writing, under oath.

* the word is doubtful

* La Flèche

* Baugé

* dropsical

§ II. The Blessed's age, and his deeds, little certain.

[ ] Conjectures about the Blessed's deeds Of the deeds of Bl. Reginald very few things are known. It is established, however, that he flourished in the eleventh century, and died at the beginning of the twelfth. He is believed first to have been a Religious in the abbey of St. John of the Vines at Soissons, then a disciple of Bl. Robert of Arbrissel, founder of the Order of Fontevraud, of whom we have treated at the 25th of February; and at last to have built for himself an oratory in the solitude, sacred to St. John the Evangelist, where now is the abbey of Melinais, and there to have lived piously with disciples and to have ended his life on the 17th of September of the year 1104. The aforesaid things I have from letters and accounts sent to our Papebroch in the year 1692. Brother Soriz, Prior of the monastery of Fontevraud, declares his mind in these words: Concerning holy Reginald receive this. He, near La Flèche in the province of Anjou, a disciple and companion of Bl. Robert of Arbrissel, a dweller in the desert after his example, built and ruled a monastery in the field, or in the wood, of Melinais, which still shows certain traces of our house of Fontevraud. For Canons Regular inhabit it, and holy Robert was a Canon Regular. It has a church sacred to St. John the Evangelist: and Robert had consecrated the chapels of the men in his Order under the same name. The arms of this monastery are an eagle, and so are ours. Finally, that house was founded at the same time as the arch-monastery of Fontevraud. All these things are held for certain among us, are related by historians, and are indicated by the Chronicle of Maillezais itself at the year 1104 *. The Canons who dwell in that solitude hold that he is the same Reginald of whom Ivo of Chartres speaks in his Letters, and it is likely. Thus far concerning Bl. Reginald the praised Prior of Fontevraud.

[13] probable conjectures of various writers; The other account, a little fuller, has it thus: Saint Reginald, a Frenchman by nation, born in Picardy, having entered the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, spent many years in the abbey of St. John of the Vines at Soissons in the eleventh century, with great praise of holiness. But when, zealous for a more perfect life, he wished to flee the tumult of cities, being seized by love of solitude he gave himself as companion and disciple to Bl. Robert of Arbrissel. He had made himself a hermitage in the wood of Craon (Craon is a not ignoble town among the Angevins), in which he gave himself to God together with several disciples. Ivo, that great bishop of Chartres, since he did not approve that manner of life — truly unusual in those times — left nothing undone to call Reginald away from that purpose, writing him a truly sharp letter, which among his Letters is the two hundred and fifty-third . But all in vain. Therefore he so clung to Bl. Robert as a disciple to a master, as a son to a father. But when Robert afterwards had chosen the wood of Fontevraud, in which to lay the first foundations of his Order, and his disciples had withdrawn some one way, some another, Reginald hid himself in the wood called Melinais near La Flèche: and there he built a chapel sacred to St. John the Evangelist, for his own use and for that of those whom he had as companions and, as it were, disciples of the solitary life.

[14] who say he died at the beginning of the twelfth century: In that place, known to almost no men but most fully known to God and the angels, he exercised himself for very many years in works of a chiefly austere penance, being besides most illustrious in every kind of virtue: and in the same place he rendered up his spirit to God, at the beginning of the twelfth century; on what day or in what year is uncertain. Only this is established, that he was still among the living in the year 1104 *, according to the Chronicle of Maillezais. In that chapel in which he had served God — that is, in his own work — he is buried, and thereafter grew famous by many miracles. Whence it came about that from the neighboring provinces a great concourse of men was made to his tomb, and the solitude itself ceased to be a solitude. Not long after, in the same place Henry II, king of the English and at that time also count of Anjou, founded a notable abbey. Thus far that account.

[15] most of the assertions about his deeds are weighed: But now some things must be observed concerning the Blessed's deeds, which in the accounts given are reported almost from conjecture. Our Longueval, in the History of the Gallican church, vol. 8, pages 130 and 131, reckons also our Bl. Reginald among the disciples of Bl. Robert of Arbrissel, and agrees about the monastery of Melinais founded by him for solitaries. The Chronicle of Maillezais, which is praised, has at the year 1103 only this, after two others flourishing in holiness have been reviewed: A third monk also, Rainaldus, was flourishing on the borders of Brittany and Touraine. These words are with some likelihood explained of our Bl. Reginald, who lived among the Angevins, not far from the borders of Brittany and of the province of Touraine. I do not know, however, whether that explanation is altogether certain, since the author could more briefly have named the province of Anjou itself, in which our Blessed lived. It is likewise rather likely, as the praised Prior says, than certain, that the Letter of Ivo of Chartres, which in the second edition is the 256th and is addressed to brother Rainardus, was written to Bl. Reginald. From that Letter, I think, arose the conjecture that our Blessed formerly dwelt in the abbey of St. John of the Vines at Soissons. For Ivo disapproves that Rainardus, having left the church of blessed John the Baptist in which he had begun to serve God, had undertaken the solitary life. And so it is not more certain that Bl. Reginald formerly dwelt in the monastery of St. John the Baptist of the Vines than it is certain that the praised Letter of Ivo was written to him.

[16] But what is said about the year and day of his death being unknown the Saint's death fixed on this day and in the year 1104: does not agree with a twofold copy of a certain ancient writing which I have before me. Whence that extract was taken, he who sent it neglected to note. But the script was so ancient that some things could not be read, as I find noted in French. First, both copies, written in an entirely different hand, have thus: On the 15th of the Kalends of October died Raynaldus, venerable hermit, in the time of the lord Bernard the second abbot, in the year 1104. Then follows this epitaph: Blessed Raynaldus *, an excellent anchorite, lies beneath this tomb, who in the time of the lord Bernard, second abbot of this monastery, died on the 15th of the Kalends of October, in the year of the Lord 1104. After whose death a frequent and almost innumerable throng of those languishing with various diseases and pains, when prayers had been poured out at his tomb, received soundness. Who that Bernard was, second abbot already in the year 1104, I do not find. Certainly the foundation of the abbey of Melinais is later than that time, and was made by Henry II, king of the English, as is clear from the charters given about it in the brothers Sainte-Marthe, praised at num. 1. Bernard, then, will have been abbot of that monastery which Bl. Reginald had begun to raise, who perhaps, from love of solitude and of a private life, appointed Bernard as his successor while he yet lived. Certainly nothing stands in the way of the royal foundation having been able to be added to this place, long since begun and inhabited.

[17] a benefit granted to a Religious. But whoever that abbot Bernard may have been — whom I confess is not sufficiently known to me — I here transfer a certain benefit of Bl. Reginald from the written copies already praised: In the year of the Lord 1538, from the tenth day of September to the fifteenth of December, brother Georges Carrel, a Religious of this monastery, suffering from the powerlessness and weakness of almost all his limbs, when prayers had been poured out at the tomb of the divine Reginald, and that over the space of nine days, wholly recovered from the gravity of his disease. On account of which benefit received, he had this bier made and painted at his own expense in the year 1547. These things, which could have been joined with the Blessed's other benefits, I have rather referred to this place, because they are noted in the same papers in which his death and the year of his death are treated of. I add no more, because no more has come to our knowledge.

* rather, in the printed text, 1003

* Craon

* rather, 256

* in the printed Chronicle, 1103

in the other, Regnaldus*