ON S. RAGNEBERTUS THE MARTYR IN BRESSIA A PROVINCE OF GAUL.
ABOUT DCLXXV.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On his cult & places sacred to him, & the Abbey, & Acts.
Ragnebertus, Martyr in Bressia, a province of Gaul (S.)
G. H.
The author of the Gallican Martyrology, Andreas Saussay, subjoined 7, some names of Saints, from a very ancient manuscript Martyrology of the monastery of the Benedictine Fathers of S. Sabinus or Savinus in Levitania, in the Pyrenean mountains in the territory of Tarbes, written about four hundred years ago on parchment. Cult 13 June In this on the day XIII June thus he says is read: In the territory of the city of Lyons, the natal of S. Regnebertus, whose death precious in the sight of the Lord frequent miracles attest. We have of the Breviary of Lyons, a Calendar to the form of Trent for both printing & reciting, & Lives of the Saints, by Master Stephanus de Vernay a Lyons Presbyter, with the approbation of Lord Chaumont, Doctor of Sacred Theology & Canon of the Collegiate Church of S. Justus in the city of Lyons. There on the same day XIII June, for the feast of S. Ragnebertus the Martyr, is set this elogium. Ragnebertus, born of high family of the Franks, had as father Radbertus the Duke, who governed quite vigorously several provinces between the borders of the Loire & Seine in his times. He from his earliest age prudently discharging the offices of this world, on account of the faith he had in God supremely beloved especially, studied in all his acts thus to pass through advantages of time, that he might deserve to come at some time to the eternal joys promised. Which he both held & holds from this day, transfixed with the point of a lance; after many persecutions, by the work and command of Ebroin, the Mayor of the Palace of Theoderic, who was made King of the Franks in place of his brother Childeric in the year of Christ DCLXXVII. The place in which he undertook such a death, unjustly from the impious Tyrant, for the cult of justice, the enemy of God & the Saints, & the bloody extirpator of the nobility of the Franks, formerly called Bredo, situated in the borders of the Lyonnais at the mountains of Jura, was illustrated with the gleamings of divine glorification . For at the tomb of the Saint hung lamps, the oil, which fed the perennial light, without human aid produced.
[2] Two places of S. Ragnebertus. The place is double celebrated in the name of S. Ragnebertus. Among the Segusians, now called the Forezians, & those Upper, occurs the Priory of S. Ragnebertus of the Order of S. Benedict, which is little distant from the bank of the river Loire; in which a stone bridge our ancestors took care to make, thence commonly named le pont de S. Rambert, & is in the Archpresbytery of Montbrison. Another place of S. Ragnebertus is in the Bugey region of Bressia, at the small river Albarine, at that great road by which is gone to Bourg-en-Bresse, between the high mountains of Jura. It is said both the parish or town & the Abbey of S. Ragnebertus is in the Archpresbytery of Ambronay, in the Register of Benefices of the diocese of Lyons.
[3] Acts of the martyr We have various Acts of the Martyrdom; most perfect are those, which extracted from the Breviary of the said Abbey of S. Ragnebertus Samuel Guichenon edited in the History of Bresse & Bugey, part four in the Probations page 232. Next come those which were sent us by Joannes Ferrandus of the Society of Jesus from Lyons in the year MDCXLIX, as supplied by Lord Laboureur Provost of Insula Barbara. In these are lacking the Prologue & Epilogue, & in place of this some things about the malice, death & damnation of Ebroin are related; which we judge to be omitted. In the third place can be reckoned, those which twice were sent us from the same Ms. of Nicolaus Fabricius: but these are nearly the same, but mutilated at the end, in vol. 1 of the Writers of the History of the Franks by Andreas du Chesne p. 625 edited from the Ms. Codex of Claudius Dormieux of Arras, a man very well known to me when he was living in the Isles. In Andreas du Chesne in the margin is read Ides of July, when it should have been printed Ides of June, by an easy error, & already often by us detected: on account of which yet Saussay in the Corollary to the Gallican Martyrology, on the Ides of July or XV day, some elogium of S. Ragnebertus has set forth, to be reduced to the Ides of June or XIII day.
[4] The before-mentioned Guichenon, in the Continuation of the second part of the History page 97, the monastery named from him broadly describes the town of S. Ragnebertus Jurensis, commonly S. Rambert de Joux, where he asserts, S. Ragnebertus crowned with martyrdom, handed to burial, & translated to the church of S. Domitianus, there illustrious with frequent miracles unto now to have rested; not however in the Priory of S. Ragnebertus among the Forezians is his sacred body with the body of S. Domitianus preserved. Yet not the false continuously will be the history of the Translation, to I July to be examined. For what prevents, that with the body of S. Domitianus, some Relics of S. Ragnebertus were translated? Greatest splendor accrued to the joined monastery from the miracles, as appears, of S. Ragnebertus alone; of which monastery Guichenon counts thirty-four Abbots. The sixth of these Humbertus obtained a Bull from Pope Celestine III, signed in the year MCXCI, & the place subject to it: by which all privileges are confirmed: where he says, he had thought the places subject to the monastery ought to be expressed by their proper names; namely the place itself, in which the said monastery is situated, with all its appurtenances & with the adjacent burg; the cell of Chamon, the Church of S. Michael of mount Andricus, the Church of S. Peter of Villari-Cayerius, with all their appendages, the Cell of Villars-Sales, the Church of S. Julianus of Mont-major with all their appendages, the Cell of S. Mary of Granerii, & the Church of S. Peter of Sauciacus, the Church of S. Peter of Aspero-monte, the Church of S. Baldulfus, the Church of Munascum with their appendages, the Cell of S. Mary of Luceys, the Church of S. Mary of Janua, the Church of Luziacum, the Church of S. Desiderius, the Church of Campanieu with their appendages, the Church of S. Peter of Benonzia, the Church of S. Andrew of Tenayus, the Church of S. Mauritius of Argit, the Church of S. Martin of Vaugii, the Church of S. Laurence of Onciacus, the Church of S. Peter of Aranda, the Cell of S. Michael of Rupes, the Church of S. Mauritius of Langii, the Church of S. Hilary of Turciacus, the Church of S. Martin of Cleysieu, the Church of S. Martin of Varey, the Church of S. Mauricius of Ambutriacum, the Church of S. Mauricius of Meyri, the Church of S. Andrew of Rigniacum, the Cell of S. Peter of Vilieu, the Church of S. Mary of Hospitalarium, the Chapel of S. Magdalene of Loyes, the Cell of S. Christopher of Burgum, the Cell of S. Vincent of Faramans, the Church of S. Martin of Stingiacum with their appendages. So far there. The complete Bull with other privileges & exemptions Guichenon exhibits in the Proofs page 234 & following.
[5] The town honored with a Marquisate. The burg or town of S. Ragnebertus, when before it was subject to the Abbots alone, by a certain commutation, made by Renerus the Abbot in the year MXCVI, passed to the Dukes of Savoy; by whom in the year MDLXXVI it was erected into a Marquisate, indicates the charter of erection in the same Guichenon page 236. But the monastery itself, handed over to Commendatory Abbots, lost (as those subject to that calamity tend to) its ancient splendor, nor is forced to suffer small ruin of its things, with Guichenon as witness: who denies it ever to have been subject to the Cluniac monastery; & the Bull in the Cluniac Library, attributed to Innocent II, as about the year MCXXXVIII a witness of such subjection, he wishes to be believed to be revoked.
ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM.
From Guichenon, du Chesne, & various Ms. codices.
Ragnebertus, Martyr in Bressia, a province of Gaul (S.)
BHL Number: 7059
FROM MSS.
[1] In every contest he is the victor, who has killed the enemy; Prologue. but in our battle no one is believed to have obtained victory, except him who has been killed. A soldier in war, if he has acted more expeditiously, if he has held his spear more bravely, if more by his enduring right hand's strength he has thrown down wounded, if a sword from the enemy he has taken bloody, is praised for having conquered; only the Christian , unless in the contest itself he dies, is judged less fit. The death of our faith is victory: then we conquer, when we are killed: then the troubles of labor & of the whole contest we overcome, when we pour out our soul from our chest. A new battle, new discipline of fighting! Let that man be stronger, who is tortured & endures: that one is victor, who endures death patiently. Saint Ragnebertus therefore, by conquering the enemy, died, that to the desired glory of his labor he might come: who if he had remained in body, would not have the glory of his victory, which today by the merit of his faith he possesses obtained. He sustained for a short time torture, felt the punishment, which the persecutor cruelly inflicted: but now in those pleasures of delights he is delighted, which by no judgment of human estimation can be defined: as is written, that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor into man's heart has ascended, what God has prepared for those who love him a.
[2] The most blessed Ragnebertus therefore, sprung from a most excellent family of the Franks, of the most noble Duke b Radbertus according to worldly dignity was son: Noble by birth & holily instructed, who namely between the streams of the Seine & Loire borders many provinces vigorously governed in his times. This athlete of Christ, most noble in the world, but more noble in faith; in scholastic & Sunday doctrine was educated in the hall of the palace; strong in heart, ready in genius, learned in arms, assiduously with flowers of worldly wisdom was adorned everywhere. And when from his earliest age he prudently bore the brave things of the world, as later in the end was made clear, he loved more attentively with his heart the Lord. For he studied in all his acts so to pass through temporal advantages, that he might come at some time to deserve eternal joys. And when he saw many burning with envy against him, he more studied by dissimulation to trample down the traps of the malevolent , than to render to the wickedest more wicked things.
[3] Therefore in those days arose a certain most iniquitous Soldier, Ebroin by name, the injury of Ebroin, contrary to God & the Saints ; who sprung from a low family, had been elevated to the honor of Mayor-of-the-Palace by c the King. To this one it was a study, that whomsoever, of the Franks' family, born of a lofty progeny of nobility, he had seen advancing in worldly utility ; d either having killed or driven away or removed them, such persons in their honor he might elevate, who either bound by softness, or weakened in sense, or by some baseness of family degenerate, would not dare to resist his impious commands. And when on this account he saw several of the more noble of the Franks grieving against him; cunningly preventing the factions of all, obstinately by his cunning all he overcame.
[4] Therefore this most impious Ebroin, on the already-mentioned servant of God Ragnebertus studied to impute, that he with two Nobles of the Palace, Bodo & e Guiscandus by name, had entered such a counsel, that they might attempt without the decree of the King to kill Ebroin himself. But since he was neither willing to betray the crime , nor to deny the deed, with the servant of God f Audoenus interceding, Pontiff of the city Rouen, he is sent away to the parts of Jura, whose fame of Priesthood at that time had filled the world of Gaul, he was not immediately killed; but to a certain powerful man, Theudofredus by name, in the parts of Burgundy into exile was commended; namely with this pretext of a faction, that while he was believed to have been thrust into exile; without the command of the Franks secretly he should be killed. But by God's disposing, in whose hand the hearts of men are; the noble man himself, to whom he had been delivered to death, by compassion compunct, rather studied to keep him alive, than the fierce commands of Ebroin the Prince in his blood to fulfill.
[5] So this was done by divine clemency, by whose judgment the hidden things of the heart are cleansed, that while just death is suspended, the servant of God Ragnebertus, where for a time being free to weep, a future Martyr, through penance might be cleansed; & when for a time of a few years he had been in the relegation of exile, with his whole heart converted to the Lord, what with fragile conversation he had stained in the world, he washed with tears & prayers in the chamber of his heart. Meanwhile when now the promised time was approaching, that the blessed man, to be transferred from the world, was to be presented to the sight of Christ; again the bloody beast with serpentine hiss sent mandates, that without delay they should kill the holy servant of God. And when his ministers, though unwilling, had taken him up, to fulfill the commands of the Tyrant; they led him through a certain desert, namely in the border of Lyonnais territory near to Jura. Leading him therefore, ignorant they came at night to a certain place g called Bebronne, where a certain servant of God, named Domitianus, for the sake of religion in honor of h S. Genesius the Martyr, is led to a desert, when in that desert by the example of the holy Fathers he was living, had constructed a narrow oratory. The athlete of Christ therefore besought those leading him, that they might permit him in that church to make prayer. And when they would by no means grant this, the servant of God understood , that they were leading him to death: wherefore with the executioners permitting, in the place where he was, his prayer he completed: which finished he said to the swordsmen : Behold, what is ordered i fulfill, but I beseech through the Lord, that you do not make weariness for me longer. And when they had made him sit on a certain stone , one of these with the point of a lance extorted his life. Returning from the crime, he is transfixed with a lance to the cultivators of the oratory they said, that they had found in the vicinity a certain little body; & they urged, that for the sake of reward they should study to commit him to a sepulcher: who seeking the body of the most holy Martyr, most diligently they handed it to burial.
[6] So, according to the voice of the excellent Preacher, incomprehensible is the height of the riches of the wisdom of God; Rom. 11, 36 for that Priest, who had received his confession, after 14 years when he was in exile; for the courses of seven years had enjoined penance to be done by him, which because before the said term untimely death prevented, after a space of twice seven years had passed, then first at his tomb divine power shone forth. He had indeed been buried in the porch of the church, but with the virtue publishing itself with miracles, by the faithful was thence translated, & in the temple of the church next to k the Relic of the Holy of God was placed. for miracles he is translated to the church: Thence frequent miracles are wrought at the sepulcher of B. Ragnebertus the Martyr. There the blind receive sight, the lame find their step, the host of demons is put to flight, are driven out cold fits, fierce toothache: are granted to him seeking with faith divine consolations.
[7] Among the other miracles, which the Lord on account of the merit of the glorious Martyr Ragnebertus deigns to work, for a long time from the sepulcher of the same most holy Soldier of his he made oil to flow, from his sepulcher flows oil: in the lamps there set up; from which oil whoever in any infirmity has been held, by sickness wearied, immediately when by the hands of the faithful of that place he was touched with that liquid of oil, deserved to receive his former health l.
[8] And because Ἔλεος in Greek, in Latin Mercy is called, by which the mercy of God is indicated. rightly by divine dispensation it was done, that the works of piety should be exercised through the anointing of oil. For in the old & new Testament, with the oil of benediction Kings & Priests & Prophets were consecrated , is manifest: which what allegorically signifies, many documents of the Doctors demonstrate. Hence indeed of the ancient Israelite people it is written , They sucked honey from the rock & oil from the firm rock. Deut. 32, 13 Hence Paul says: But the rock was Christ. 1 Cor. 10, 3 If therefore Christ is the rock, & oil from the firm rock; that ancient people of God sucked a miracle, which to the glory of his Martyr Christ from oil produced from the rock of the sepulcher deigned to demonstrate. For it fitting is congruently ascribed to mercy, that confidently his faithful, even in harder & adverse cases, of his piety presume they doubt not: knowing for certain, that his mercies, according to his name, are upon those fearing him always. Let us therefore dash also our little thoughts at the rock, according to the Psalmist; & let us understand the rock itself to be Christ. Psal. 36, 9 But with hope of pardon let us implore his clemency, that by the merits of his most blessed Ragnebertus his Martyr, to the joys, which to the faithful he has repromised, he may mercifully deign to lead us. But the foretasted miracles, although (now with the time of Antichrist pressing, before whose face as is written, shall go want) seem to cease, yet a more excellent health of souls is always granted by the obtaining of his merit . Job. 41, 13 But that divine miracles cease, namely there at his holy tomb or elsewhere, the enormity of our sins makes, who after revealed grace of Christ have turned back. About the same Lord Jesus Christ is written: That on account of the obduration of the unbelieving people he was not able to do any power in Capharnaum. We therefore are not worthy that the most blessed Martyr should foster us with that favor or deign to console us, who was wont to gladden our predecessors: & yet it is not to be believed, that his power is less, or his intercession with God avails less, than if he frequented miracles. To have briefly touched on these things may suffice.