Ismido

ON ST. ISMIDO, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT DIE IN GAUL.

In the year 1120 or 1121.

SYLLOGE.

Of his cult, his age and his deeds.

Ismido or Ismion, bishop and confessor, at Die in Gaul. (S.)

BY J. S.

St. Ismido, whom I find named also Ismeon and Ismion, bishop of Die in that province of the Gauls The cult of St. Ismido, which is called the Dauphiné, is commemorated this day by the Parisian Martyrology and the Universal Martyrology of Castellanus. I do not find him in the older ones, which is the less to be wondered at, because he lived after the chief martyrologists of the middle age. His cult, however, is certain, since in the Proper Offices of the church of Die, printed in the year 1669, a double Office of St. Ismido, bishop and confessor, is prescribed for this day. He is likewise called a Saint in the Gallia Christiana of the Sammarthani brothers, in the catalogue of the bishops of Die, and by Columbi, who is to be praised presently. And in the Life of St. Peter of Tarentaise, given by us on the eighth of May, at number 16, he is reckoned among the distinguished priests of his time. This testimony is of no slight weight, both because it is that of Geoffrey, abbot of Hautecombe, who wrote in the same century in which St. Ismido died, and because he is praised together with a few, and those the most select. John Columbi, in his Work on the Deeds of the bishops of Valence and Die, book 2, where he treats of those of Die, page 287, under Stephen, St. Ismido's successor, reports letters given by Stephen in the year 1127 to confirm certain donations made to the monastery of St. Ruf, partly by St. Ismido and partly by others, and observes this: I read that the church of Tauliniacum was granted by Ismido. Stephen adds that he was writing in the sixth year of his episcopate, and he called Ismido, who had died a few years before, a Saint. From this observation it becomes probable that the cult of St. Ismido is very ancient.

[2] Concerning the time of St. Ismido's episcopate there is sufficient agreement between Claude Robert, who at the beginning of the twelfth century was bishop of Die. the Sammarthani brothers, and Columbi, praised above, although the later writers have added more indications than the first. The first only observes that St. Ismido, whom he also calls Ismion, held the see in the year 1113. The Sammarthani, in volume 2, page 555, write as follows: St. Ismido, or Ismio, whom others call Ismeon, from being a canon of Lyons presided over the church of Die in the years 1099 and 1103. Illustrious by birth, he acquired knowledge of all the disciplines and of uprightness in the household of his uncle at Valence. Having journeyed twice to Jerusalem, he brought back many relics of the blessed, which the people of Die venerate with an annual solemnity. Through him God wrought many prodigies: for that reason he is also adorned with praises in the Life of Bl. Peter of Tarentaise, chapter 19. Mention is made of him in 1113 in the regularization of the canons of St. Stephen of Dijon. In the Obituary of Lyons he is said to have died on the seventh of October. He ruled that see for about twenty years, and after his death he earned the name of Saint by the one voice of the peoples. Some of these things Columbi adopted, some he even confirmed, others he omitted, and a few he added. Most of them are read in the Office, and others are added, which I shall review in order, even though I cannot prove them by ancient documents. Concerning the Office I give this warning beforehand, that three proper lessons are indeed to be had there for the second nocturn; but that in them there is nothing about the Saint's deeds or miracles: all of them are moral. Hence I gather that fewer things were known about the Saint than would allow any legend to be put together out of them. Nevertheless in the Antiphons and responsories a few things are now and again briefly said. From these, therefore, I shall give whatever is historical.

[3] The Saint, born of noble family and rightly educated, First, concerning St. Ismido's noble family, which Columbi also asserts, the Office has this: Ismido's beginnings were illustrious. And a little later it is said more clearly: A man noble by birth. Concerning his birthplace, omitted by others, the Office has this: The new castle of Cassenaticum worthily brought forth for us a star, fortified with a great light. In the map which is set out in the History of the Dauphiné, printed in the year 1722, in volume 1 near the beginning, the village of Cassenaticum, commonly Sassenage, is placed near Grenoble. Whether this place is said to be St. Ismido's native land, or another, I leave to be examined more certainly by the inhabitants of that province. Concerning his upbringing in the house of his uncle at Valence, Columbi agrees with the Sammarthani, and the Office has this: Being led away in his earliest age, he is carried by his parents to the city of Valence, which his uncle inhabited, who instructed him eagerly. Learned in the gifts of the kindly Spirit and in the divine Letters, and steeped in the sacred dew, he shone with a most splendid light. Columbi asserts his canonry of Lyons along with the Sammarthani: but I do not find this recorded in the Office.

[4] before the end of the eleventh century, greatly resisting Columbi rightly observes that we have nothing certain about the time at which the Saint was promoted to the episcopate, except that he was bishop before the year 1100. He was certainly bishop in the year 1099: for from the letters of Pope Urban II to Hugh of Lyons, given in the year 1099 on the seventh of the Kalends of May, Columbi recites these words: In the presence of your legates, Ismeon bishop of Die, Girinus deacon, etc. How long St. Ismido had by then already been bishop is not clear. Columbi found his predecessor only in the year 1088, so that Ismido may perhaps have held the see not a few years before the end of the eleventh century. Moreover Columbi says that he was given as coadjutor to his predecessor when the latter was infirm, even though he resisted very greatly. But the Office rather indicates that he was the successor of the living infirm bishop than his coadjutor. The words bearing on this I translate here: Divine predestination had decreed that such a bishop should be set over the people of Die, as would fulfil in deed what he taught in word. He was humble in heart, in word and deed alike, praiseworthy in virtues. The people of Die asked for Ismido, that he might be set over them as their shepherd, knowing him to be steeped in the knowledge of God and adorned with virtues. But resisting altogether, he refused to take up the burden, having compassion on the shepherd who presided over them in the infirmity by which he was held. For he knew that a man held by such an infirmity ought not to be deprived by the law of the canons of his pastoral pre-eminence. There was in him no ambition of honor, nor did any love of temporal gain reign in him: but he chose rather to lack both than by one or the other to incur the damnation of his soul.

[5] Considering this, the infirm prelate chose Ismido by divine inspiration. It is a rare thing, he is set over the church of Die, and by his virtues and contrary to custom, that a man while living should appoint a successor in his episcopate. But because he knew Ismido to be endowed with virtues, he set him over the people of Die. These things, as I have said, rather suggest that the infirm bishop yielded up his episcopate than that he took a coadjutor for himself. Yet which is the truer I cannot determine with certainty, since I lack ancient documents. Concerning the character and virtues of the Saint in his episcopate, the following occur in the Office: He fought strenuously to keep his sheep for God. Excellently did that man of great sanctity fight, setting forth daily the odors of sweetness, and imploring in a singular manner the help of the Godhead. He so purified the souls of his subjects that they became pleasing to God. In the hymn about his virtues these things are read:

He, a ray of the true Sun,

Was a bishop excellent:

Sober in taking food,

To all men he was kind.

Faithful in his services,

And just in judgment given,

Discerning in his counsels,

A defense to the oppressed.

And skillful with his whole zeal

In settling quarrels down,

No vengeance was there in him

For injuries received, etc.

[6] That Ismido was a Prelate of surpassing sanctity, Geoffrey the abbot persuades me still more certainly in the already praised Life of St. Peter of Tarentaise, and by his learning he is numbered among the greatest men. number 16, where he has this: There presided over the church of Maurienne Bernard, a bishop of great merit, since in that region especially a fruitful poverty of men brought forth for itself several distinguished priests, almost contemporaries with one another: namely holy Hugh of Grenoble, John of Valence, Isindion of Die, Airald and Bernard of Maurienne, this our Peter of Tarentaise, Anthelm of Belley, over whose tomb, while he was being buried, a fire falling from heaven kindled the lamps hung above that same place before the sign of the cross. Of how great sanctity Hugh of Grenoble was may be seen in his Life, printed by us on the first of April. A man of the greatest virtue likewise was St. Anthelm of Belley, whose Life was given on the twenty-sixth of June, as was that of St. Peter of Tarentaise. But these last two are much younger than St. Hugh, who had died an octogenarian before they began to administer their episcopates. Nevertheless St. Ismido died eleven years before St. Hugh, but in all likelihood at a less advanced age. The remaining three are intermediate in age. This I observe from the comparison of them all, that St. Ismido was, both in place and in time of death, the farthest removed of all from Geoffrey, who was writing about the year 1185 at Hautecombe in the diocese of Geneva; so that he would not have thought of adding him to those greatest men, had not the Saint's fame been very great.

[7] That St. Ismido was in the year 1099 at Rome the legate of Hugh, archbishop of Lyons, to Urban II, we have already seen, and from that legation we gather

that the man was, by learning and prudence, fit for the conduct of affairs. He is said to have journeyed twice to Jerusalem, That the same man journeyed twice to Jerusalem, and thence brought many relics of the Saints to his own church, Columbi asserts along with the Sammarthani. The Office agrees, in which these things are read: Having set out twice for Jerusalem, so labors the perfect Man, and returning he adorns the bosom of his bride with relics. He brings to her ornaments which are the signs of a sacred thing, and zealous for his bride with the zeal of God, he endows her with wedding-gifts. If the double journey is sufficiently certain, it may be doubted whether both took place during his episcopate, in the order in which it is reported in the Office. For perhaps St. Ismido, before the expedition of the crusading Christians, about the year 1080 or 1090, journeyed to Jerusalem, which was then groaning under the power of the Saracens, in order to visit the holy places, as not a few others did in that century. This St. Ismido may in fact have done, and then in his episcopate, after Jerusalem had been stormed in the year 1099 by the Christian princes, have journeyed thither again, so as to satisfy his piety more freely. Yet he may also have journeyed twice to Jerusalem during his episcopate: but what he did we do not know. There is at any rate no reason why we should deny that the holy Prelate went to Jerusalem when it was under the Christians, and thence brought relics to his own church.

[8] and to have been famous for miracles in his lifetime. The Sammarthani attribute many miracles to St. Ismido. They do not, however, declare whether he worked any while living. Columbi ascribes two to him while living, writing thus: God did many prodigies through the Man. A wolf was calling * a boy, and Ismido put the beast to flight by his command, the boy being unharmed. A thief was secretly carrying off the Bishop's property, unknown to all, and God destroyed the man from heaven. These things are also commemorated in the Office in these words:

By a word the wolf is put to flight, by which a boy is being devoured:

vengeance is taken upon the thief, but he laments his destruction.

These things seem altogether to be said of him while living, as Columbi believed. More are asserted after his death, as I shall presently report, when I have said a few words about the year of his blessed death.

[9] He died in the year 1120 or 1121, The Sammarthani report nothing about St. Ismido after the year 1113. Yet they fix the beginning of his successor Stephen only in the year 1121, and rightly, I think. Columbi likewise reports nothing more about the Saint's deeds: but from what he asserts about his successor Stephen it becomes highly probable that St. Ismido died in the year 1120 or 1121. Both testify that Stephen in the year 1127 gave letters by which he confirmed certain donations of the bishops Hugh and St. Ismido. Columbi adds that these letters were marked by Stephen as of the sixth year of his episcopate. But if in the year 1127 the sixth year of his episcopate was still running, Stephen did not obtain the episcopate before the year 1121 or 1122. That he was bishop in the year 1121 is established from elsewhere. For on the Kalends of October of that same year he is said to have been present at the consecration of the sacred building of the Charterhouse of Durbon, as the Sammarthani have it, who mean, I think, that he was present there as bishop, or at any rate assert that he was made bishop in that same year. Therefore, if it were established that St. Ismido died on the seventh of October, as the Sammarthani say is asserted in the Obituary of Lyons, or even on the twenty-eighth of September, on which he is venerated, his death would seem to be assigned to the year 1120. But since these things are perhaps less certain, and he may have died in the same year in which Stephen succeeded, I have preferred to leave the year doubtful and to express it as the year 1120 or 1121.

[10] and he shone with many prodigies after his death. Concerning the Saint's miracles after death Columbi writes only this. The dead body also of Ismido taught that his soul lived in heaven, when another man's corpse, which was brought into contact with it, was raised from the dead. More things are asserted in the Office, from which I transfer here those which bear upon the miracles. Guilla, a daughter of the faith, rises again by the power of God, at the pious prayer of Ismido, who called her back to this world from a dreadful death: on account of which miracle her parents hung up a shroud at the sepulchre. The shroud, or burial-linen, hung up at the Saint's sepulchre proves that a miracle after death is spoken of, which would otherwise seem doubtful from the earlier words. A little later these words follow: Two rise again from death, the shrouds bearing witness. The dead have risen, the shrouds bearing witness; the blind see, the deaf man hears with unstopped ears. Those in chains break their strong bond, nay, the narrow gates lie open. Then again: He loosens those bound from their chains, when they humbly entreat God: and in all dangers he brings help unto health. The shrouds bear witness, because he raises the dead again to the glories of his sepulchre. Concerning the miracles in general I subjoin one passage: O good Jesus, who makest blessed Ismido to flash with innumerable miracles; grant that the craft of the deceiver may not beguile us, but draw us to the realms of peace by the prayers of the holy Prelate. It was the miracles, I think, that led Geoffrey the abbot to reckon him, when he had been dead almost sixty-five years, among the greatest and holiest men.

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