OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish saints in Europe

  • Saint Pellegrino delle Alpi di Garfagnana, August 1

    The month of August opens with the feast day of an enigmatic Irish hermit, known only as ‘Pellegrino’ (pilgrim) who pursued the eremitical life in Italy. Fra Anselmo Tommasini has summarized his story (and what a story!) as follows:

    Pellegrino, ‘Pilgrim’ was born in Scotia, the son of a king named Romanus, who had already been converted to Christianity; in the full vigour of youth, he renounced his right of succession to the throne, distributed his substance to the poor, and set off incognito for Palestine; after making the round of the holy places, he remained for forty years in the desert where Our Lord kept his long fast, and then betook himself to preach at the court of the Sultan. There he was scourged, loaded with chains, and thrown into prison; miraculously set free, he suffered ordeal by fire and emerged unscathed. A prompting from Heaven then directed his course towards Italy; he was thrown into the sea by a ruffianly crew during a storm, but with great presence of mind converted his cloak into a raft, his stick into a mast, his wallet into a sail and seven days later floated into Ascona. He then visited the tombs of the Apostles in Rome and St. Nicholas in Bari, and the shrine of St Michael in the Gargano. Another heavenly prompting then came to him and, under the guidance of a star, he went up into the wildest district of the Apennines and settled in a wood which he afterwards called Romanesca.

    After twelve years of terrifying ordeals he succeeded in clearing the wood of evil spirits and retired to live in a cave on a diet of herbs and dew with only the wild beasts of the neighbourhood for company. After living this life for a number of years ‘Pilgrim’ quitted his cavern to discover in a place called ‘Thermae salonis’ a stately age-old tree with a hollow trunk. He clambered in and made his home there for the next seven years. Finally at the age of ninety-seven years, nine months and twenty-three days he departed this life.

    A certain Peter, who lived with his wife Adelgrada in a village in the neighbouring country of Frignano, had a revelation of the death of the holy anchorite. Husband and wife, with the assistance of an angel, climbed the mountain together, came upon the body, learned the history of the saint from a parchment held fast in his hand, and gave the saint an honourable burial. The news of the precious discovery spread on both sides of the Apennines and Tuscans and Lombards together climbed the hill to possess themselves of the remains. A riot would have broken out had not the bishops present suggested that the body should be placed upon a cart, the cart yoked to a pair of wild oxen, one Tuscan the other Lombard, and the oxen allowed to go as their fancy dictated. The suggestion was greeted with applause and forthwith carried into effect. The oxen departed so quietly as to give the impression that they were tame and came to a halt on the border between Tuscany and Lombardy, more precisely at ‘Thermae Salonis’. The building of a basilica in honour of the saint was forthwith taken in hand, and the canonisation and translation took place simultaneously with the dedication of the basilica on 1st August, 643. God immediately began to perform countless miracles through ‘Pilgrim’s’ intercession, and such was the affluence of the faithful that a hospice had to be erected for their accommodation near the church. The first persons to render assistance to those who undertook the pious journey were Peter and Adelgrada. The feast has been fixed ever since on 1st August.

    Fra Anselmo Tommasini, O.F.M., Irish Saints in Italy , translated J.F. Scanlan, (London, 1937), 346-7.

    Well, I said it was a good story, didn’t I? Perhaps too good a story? Fra Anselmo says that the only manuscript source is a 15th-century codex, although the earliest certain record of San Pellegrino and his church is dated 1110. I noted certain stock hagiographical devices which I’ve seen before, the fight between rival districts for the saint’s body having to be settled by oxen, for example, occurs in a number of Irish saints’ lives including that of Saint Patrick. The pious couple who have a vision of the saint’s solitary death and go to provide for the proper burial of the remains is another. I was struck too by the obvious scriptural allusions to the forty year fast in the desert and the use of the sacred numbers seven for the sea journey and twelve in the battle with the demons of the woods. There was a glaring anachronism in the supposed visit to the tomb of Saint Nicholas at Bari; since the relics of Saint Nicholas were not taken to Italy until the year 1087 it is hard to see how an Irish pilgrim could have visited them centuries earlier. Saint Nicholas is only a part of the eastern flavour to Pellegrino’s tale, I love the image of an Irishman going to preach at the court of the Sultan but since the story places Pellegrino’s death sometime before 643, which itself is just about a decade after the death of Islam’s founder, the timescale seems a little tight. It’s not totally outrageous though to link an Irish traveller with the Holy Land, Saint Adamnán published the account of a Gaulish monk’s visit in the late seventh century in his treatise De locis sanctis (On the Holy Places). The interest in pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles in Rome is certainly plausible plus there was a distinct devotion to the Archangel Michael in Ireland too. I do wonder, therefore, if under all the layers of later medieval embroidery, there is a real Irish peregrinus in there, one whose native name may have caused the Italians to throw up their hands in despair when they tried to pronounce it and so they just remembered him as ‘pilgrim’. His extreme ascetic life certainly fits the bill, as does his wandering impulse. As it stands though, the legend summarized by Fra Anselmo seems to bear out the rule that any piece of hagiography tells us more about the times in which it was written than it does about the times of its subject.

    The legend records that God quickly began to work miracles through the intercession of the holy pilgrim and in a charming piece written by an English Catholic priest blogger here, Father Nicholas Schofield records a modern miracle of his own. He was returning with friends from a visit to the mountain-top shrine of San Pellegrino. The drive was a rather frightening one and it was only when they reached the foot of the mountain that the party discovered that the brakes of the car had failed. Had this happened earlier, they would have been in real danger and as a thanksgiving to San Pellegrino, Father Schofield made available an account of the saint’s life on his blog. The account, based on various Italian guidebooks the priest bought at the shrine, is essentially the same as the story above, but do check it out as the post is illustrated with photographs and takes the story further than I have done here.

    I think I shall enjoy a glass of San Pellegrino mineral water today and toast the holy pilgrim, being an Irish ascetic living on herbs and dew he wouldn’t approve of anything stronger!

     

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  • Saint Arbogast of Strasbourg, July 21

    21 July is the feastday of yet another Irish missionary in Europe, Saint Arbogast, whose name is forever linked with that of his successor and fellow countryman Florentius; both are attractive and interesting figures.  I was struck by the echoes of Saint Brigid in Arbogast’s oak tree and was not surprised to see that the church associated with these two saints also has an altar dedicated to Ireland’s patroness. The few details below on Saint Arbogast have been taken from Roísín Ní Mheara’s guide to Irish saints in Europe:
    Arbogast and Florentius
    Strassburg, not seated directly on the Rhine, used the waterways of the Ill for river barges trading with the city. Here, outside the walls, near the Ill landing place stood the monastic school of St Thomas, another early Christian foundation with strong Irish connections. Two Irish bishops of sixth century Strassburg, associated probably with Trier, have left their mark here on the present day Protestant church of St Thomas. With an attached institute of learning, including a seminary of theology, it pays tribute to a spiritual heritage when St Thomas was called the ‘cradle of Alsatian Christianity’. Bishop Florentius, claimed to be of Irish birth and nobility by his biographers, founded the monastery, choosing the peripheral site with intent. The conversion of country folk being his main concern, he encouraged pilgrimages to the grave of his predecessor and countryman Arbogast, entombed in St Thomas. This place, associated in tradition with early Christian baptisms, had also an altar dedicated to St Brigid.

    Who are Arbogast and Florentius? The scarcity of sixth century documentation clouds the path of pioneer days when these missionaries entered Alsace, starting, we are told, with hermitages, to be consequently called to the see of Strassburg by Merovingian kings. The impression received points to the category of learned Irishmen who were drawn, first to the cultural centres of southern Gaul, becoming then infused into Trier for reformatory and apostolic reasons.

    Arbogast and Florentius are treated with awe in the tenth century life of St. Dicuil, a chronicle from the Columbanian abbey of Lure in Burgundy. They are presented as shining examples, religious leaders, ‘of all Strasburg’s holy patrons the holiest’…

    The accepted date for Arbogast’s arrival in Alsace is 550. His bishopric was preceded by a sojourn in the forest of Hagenau. This dense oakland, the haunt of anchorites, was called the Sacred Grove of Northern Alsace. Within it Arbogast had his cell. An oak tree of huge dimensions marks the spot. Indicative are the hamlets Saint-Arbogast and Chene (=oaktree) on the road from Strassburg to Weissenburg/Wissembourg.

    On the northern fringe of the forest Surburg, Arbogast’s first monastery was founded. It was destroyed in the Thirty Years War. The abbey church has since been restored to house the founder’s tomb. His effigy is also in an old Gothic sanctuary in the centre of Surburg village. The cult of Arbogast was widely spread throughout Alsace, but his ministry was concentrated in the North and there are further indications that he travelled to these parts from Trier.

    Roísín Ní Mheara, Early Irish Saints in Europe – Their Sites and their Stories (Seanchas Ard Mhacha, 2001),113-115.
    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Etto of Dompierre, July 10

     

    July 10 is the commemoration of the seventh-century Saint Etto (Hetto, Zé), whom tradition links to the great Irish missionary Saint Fursey. Etto laboured in Belgium, where sources name him as an Irishman and where his memory is still very much cherished. John Montague, in his book The Saints and Martyrs of Ireland, notes this interesting historical tidbit:

    In 1920, Cardinal Mercier of Belgium sent a famous letter to the Irish Bishops at the time of the Irish Troubles, and named Etto as one of the Irish missionaries to whom Belgium was especially indebted.

    Canon O’Hanlon brings us a full account below of Saint Etto’s life and labours, including a history of the translation of his relics. I was struck by the agricultural element of the saint’s cult in Belgium, in particular how his intercession was sought for farm animals, especially cattle. This brings to mind how people here related to Saint Brigid, who, like Etto is often portrayed with a cow:

    ST. ETTO, HETTO, OR ETHON, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR.
    [SEVENTH CENTURY.]

    AFTER the Church of Christ had been founded, and when Christians were redeemed through his precious blood; then her illustrious children, whether as Martyrs, Apostles, Doctors, Virgins or Confessors, began to exhibit those virtues and labours, which served to extend her sway over the hearts of men. Several holy missionaries banded together for this purpose, and left the shores of Ireland for more distant countries. Among those was Etto, and he became a saint illustrious for his apostolic zeal and miracles. The particulars of his Acts are only to be gleaned from popular tradition, nor do we know that any very ancient written accounts regarding him are to be found. No doubt, there are several inaccuracies that have been incorporated with the more authentic accounts, yet even for those incorrect statements, reasons may be assigned, and allowances must be made.

    A Life of this saint has come down to us, but it does not appear to be a very ancient one. The date of its composition is uncertain, and it is supposed to have been the composition of a monk at Liesse. It has a Prologue of the Author, and then follows a narrative of public events, connected with the period of Etto’s arrival on the Continent, as also the subsequent traditional accounts, regarding his mission and career. His offices and the Martyrologies hardly serve to throw any additional lights on his history. In French, this saint is called Zé; but, in the ancient Lives, his name is written Etto or Ethon. Sometimes, too, he is named Hetto. It was Colgan’s purpose to have published his biography, at the 10th of July. In the “Natales Sanctorum Belgii,” there are some notices of St. Etto, as also in Miraeus. The Bollandists have special accounts of this holy man. A commentary precedes his Acts. These follow, with the author’s prologue, in two chapters and seventeen paragraphs. His Acts have been published from a Manuscript, belonging to the Abbey of Marchiennes. This has been collated with two other Codices; one of these having been in the hands of D. Pruedhomme, a Canon of Cambrai, and another belonged to the collection at Alnensis. In the “Acta Sanctorum Belgii,” Etto is particularly commemorated. Some notices of him are to be met with, in the work of Bishop Challoner. The Petits Bollandistes also have an account of St. Etton or Zé, at this date. There is a notice of St. Etto, likewise, in Rev. S. Baring-Gould’s “Lives of the Saints.”

    St. Etto was a native of Ireland; but, regarding his family descent, and earlier years, we have no account. He was probably born in the early part of the seventh century. There he was instructed in a knowledge of the Scriptures, and trained in the principles of virtue. This holy person is said to have been in Britain, to confer with many saints, that then flourished in these Islands; but, whether he joined St. Fursey there or in Ireland is not known. As we have already seen, in the Life of St. Fursey, that a certain Count named Madelgarius, surnamed Vincent, and who had gone to Ireland, waited upon that celebrated missionary in England, and succeeded in persuading him to visit Gaul, where he afterwards founded the monastery of Lagny. At this period, that country was just beginning to recover from the devastations of the Huns and Vandals, with other barbarous invaders. With his brothers Foillan and Ultan, as also with Mimbolus, Eloquius, Bertuin, Fredegandus, Adalgisus and Gobban, disciples of St. Fursey, Etto was one of those apostolic preachers, who, in the seventh century, went forth to spread the Gospel on the Continent. They are said to have accompanied Madelgarius and his wife St. Waldetrude, when these returned to France. The great desire of the holy missionaries was to visit Rome, in the first instance; most probably to receive the necessary jurisdiction and approval, for the tasks which they had proposed to accomplish. About the middle of the seventh century, they arrived in France, and Etto thence made a pilgrimage to Rome, but whether in company with St. Fursey or not seems to be uncertain. While he was visiting the tombs of the Apostles, it is said, that he received episcopal consecration. By Molanus, he is styled “Hiberniensis Episcopus.” Afterwards, he returned to France. With St. Fursey, it is stated, that Etto lived for a time at Lagny, and that he carried the word of God afterwards into the Low Countries. He passed into those parts with six other companions, and in the company of St. Waldetrude. Among the holy men, who went to preach in the Low Countries with St. Etto, or about the same time, was St. Bertuin, a Bishop. He built an oratory, at Maloigne, upon the Sambre. After his return from Rome, Etto chose for his abode a solitary place, near the little river Corbriol. Like many of the primitive saints, he had a Divine inspiration, that he was destined to evangelise the people, in that part of the diocese of Cambrai. St. Etto settled on a little stream at Thierache, near the town of Avesnes. There he cleared away the brambles, and built a cell for his occupation.

    At first, he experienced some difficulties and opposition, owing to a man named Jovinus, who laid claim to the land, he being unwilling that a stranger should take possession of it. Jovinus railed at the holy man, nor would he enter upon any terms of compromise, until convinced by a miracle, that he should yield, and make an humble apology to Etto. There our saint erected a church, under the patronage of St. Peter, chief of the Apostles. He used to visit the Abbey of Hautmont, where under St. Ansbert, Madelgarius lived and there he met St. Amandus, St. Wasno, and St. Humbert. There, too, St. Ursmar and his assistant bishop Erminus met him; as also St. Wasnulph, St. Gissen, St. Aldegunde, and St. Gertrude. Besides these, St. Foillan and St. Ultan came to meet him from the monastery of Fosse, as likewise many other celebrated fathers of the Church, who were living in France during his time.

    Throughout all that region, St. Etto zealously laboured to spread the Gospel seed. As a light placed on a pedestal cannot be hidden, so did theme of his virtues spread on all sides. To the place of his abode came numerous visitors, to ask his counsel in spiritual affairs, as also to obtain the succours of religion. But, Etto was exceedingly humble in his own estimation, nor could he bear that others should think highly concerning him. One of the miracles recorded of our saint is that one day, and while walking in a field, he saw a mute cow-herd sleeping. Touching him gently with a staff, the man arose, and immediately found the use of speech. Fiscau or Fescau, afterwards a priory, and depending on the Abbey of Liessy, near Avesnes, in Hainault, was the place noted in connexion with St. Etto’s demise. Here he lived for a considerable time, constantly engaged in prayer, and crucified to the world. Daily did he offer the Holy Victim in Sacrifice to the Lord. He became a father of the poor, a protector of the widow, an aid of the orphan, a consoler of those in sorrow and tribulation, a ransomer of captives, and an intercessor for all who were reduced in circumstances. Finding his last days on earth about to close, St. Etto called his disciples to him, and then gave them special instructions, to observe the precepts of charity and peace towards one another, as also to fulfil with great care the duties of a Christian and a religious life. Receiving from him an intimation, that he should soon leave this world, his monks were moved to tears, and they naturally gave way to sorrow. However, they felt consoled when Etto imparted a special blessing on them. For immediate preparation, to meet death, the holy man redoubled his prayers and vigils, fasting with still greater strictness and giving alms most bountifully. The night before his departure, Etto had a vision regarding the place of his sepulture; and, on waking, he desired one of his friends to meet another, who was then in an adjoining wood, preparing a coffin, although he knew not for whom it was destined. This coffin that man was engaged in bringing away on a cart, drawn by a bullock. The coffin was brought to Etto, who had desired to see it. Afterwards, he devoutly received the Body and Blood of our Lord in the Holy Sacrament. Then, in the presence of his disciples, who were standing round, his soul passed away to the company of the Holy Angels and Saints. He is said to have departed, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. His death has been assigned to about A.D. 670.

    On the 10th of July, various ecclesiastical authors commemorate St. Etto. His feast has been noted, in the Belgian, Gallican and Benedictine Martyrologies. Thus, Saussay, Molanus, Miraeus, Ferrarius, Wion, Dorgan, Menard, Bucelin, Castellan,and Baldericus, have notices of him. In Convaeus’ list, at the same date, we find Etto set down, as “Epis. Fasciaci et Laetiarum patronus.” He is noticed, likewise, by Thomas Dempster. His festival was celebrated on this day, with a proper office, in the church of Buinvilliers. There is extant, likewise, an office with Eight Lessons, and these profess to give the Acts of St. Etto, but some of them are only foolish legends.

    The forty-second Bishop of Cambrai, Nicholas, in 1162, issued a diploma, whereby certain possessions were confirmed to the abbacy of Leisse, with a provision for the maintenance of so many monks as might be required to serve the church of Dompierre, and a prohibition against removing the body of the saint from that place. Other donations to Dompierre are on record. The monastery of Fiscau, was in the village of Dompierre. There and in all the surrounding country, St. Etto’s name was held in very special reverence. However, the disturbances occasioned by the new Reformation caused his body to be removed to a place of greater security. His relics were translated to Mons, with those of other saints, during the wars about the middle of the sixteenth century. They were temporarily placed in a house of refuge, belonging to that Abbey. Afterwards, when order had been restored, St. Etto’s remains were removed to the Abbey of Liesse, or Liessies, a suitable receptacle having been prepared for their reception, while the coffin or shrine was newly decorated and restored, as time’s effacing traces had begun to show marks of fading and decay. Other smaller reliquaries of the saint were repaired at the same time. To this resting-place, St. Etto’s body was translated, by Louis de Blois, then its Abbot, and placed in the church of his monastery, on the 22nd day of June, A.D. 1559. This establishment was subsequently an abbey of Canons Regular. There the body was kept, with great veneration, and St. Etto’s feast has become a great solemnity, on the anniversary of his death, 10th of July. In like manner is he commemorated, in the priory of Fiscau. On that day, the people assembled in great numbers, and assisted at Mass, while a vast procession on foot and on horseback accompanied a shrine containing the relics of our saint. On that day, too, the people abstained from servile works, regarding it as a superior feast. The office of his Natalis was recited in the parish, and it was sung in the monastery of Leisse, during the entire octave. However, in the church of Dompierre, the body of St. Etto is now preserved, and there is a tomb on which he is figured with a mitre, a cross in his hand, and clothed in episcopal vestments. At some distance from the church, there is a fountain, which bears the name of St. Zé. In the parish of Dompierre, for many ages past, as also in that of Buinvilliers, diocese of Arras, a confraternity has been established in honour of St. Zé. The latter was ordered to be erected, by the bishop of Arras in a letter, written June 16th, 1630; but, its inauguration was deferred, owing to the fact of two churches being in the same town—the congregation of each contending for their respective church as being the parochial one. An arm-bone of St. Etto is preserved at Buinvilliers, near Arras. St. Etto is represented with oxen at his feet, as he is invoked by cow-herds and cattle-drivers. A copperplate engraving of this character has been inserted in his Acts, as furnished by the Bollandists.

    Since the time St. Etto departed from this life to our Lord’s happy inheritance, in the seventh century, the people who lived after him had great faith in his intercession. Those who had been afflicted with various diseases were taught to believe, that through a devout invocation of his patronage, the Almighty would be pleased to remove their ailments and to prolong their lives. Even he was supposed to hear the prayers of country people, who intreated him to avert distempers from their cattle and other animals.