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ST AUBIN: BISHOP OF ANGERS IN GAUL

Preliminary History :

Chapter II The Miracles of St Aubin and his Translation


5. Gregory of Tours, a contemporary of Fortunatus, in his book "The Glory of the Confessors" described 96 miracles omitted by Fortunatus which were probably attributed to Aubin after the publication of his "Life of St Aubin". This is the actual passage:

The Life of St Aubin the Confessor has recently been written by a priest named Fortunatus who mentions that miracles were performed at the Saint's tomb, thus partaking of his merit. There was a special festival day on which a paralytic, whose whole body was afflicted, was carried in a cart and was seated before the glass reliquary in which ail the relics were preserved. He fell asleep, and in his dream he saw a man approaching him who said, "How long are you sleeping. Don’t you want to be healed?" He replied, "If only I was worthy to be cured!" and the man said, "When you hear the clock strike at the third hour, get up immediately and proceed to the basilica you have come to : for it will so happen that at that very hour B(ishop) Martinus with his kinsman St Aubin will enter the basilica invisibly and after prayers will commence the restival rites of St Gregory. If you are at hand at that very moment you will be cured." The man did not delay and as soon as he heard the clock strike he went to the tomb of St. Aubin; when the priests began to chant the praises of the Psalms of David, a sweet smell permeated the basilica of the saint. The man stood erect on his feet, completely cured - and this was witnessed not just by a few but by a large number who had been brought up in that area and still lived there. Similarly in the village of Croviensis there lived a woman who was blind from birth; she called on the name of St Aubin and her sight was restored that very same day.

This is the evidence of Gregory. In the Life of St Heunelandus, the Abbot of Antrensis, it is stated that on 25th March, St Aubin used to describe from heaven the injuries which had been suffered by monasteries and other sacred buildings.

6. We have described other miracles performed at the tomb of St Aubin after the year 1000 AD. These are from the writings of Nicholas Belfort, a Regular Canon in the monastery of St John the Baptist by the city of Soissans and quoted by Vineus. There are also accounts handed down in writing by a monk who was a coenobite of St Aubin at Angers when Walterius was Abbot. These are the actual words (in chapter 2, section 11 ) :

' These words which I write I received from the lips of the Lord Walterius who was then Dean of the monastery and is now Abbot, and from several others who were present and saw the miracle - indeed Waiterius ordered me to commit this to writing.

Shortly before speaking of Girmundus and the healing of the paralytic there by St Aubin, he said:

As far as I could see, as a monk I saw Aubin my fellow-monk.

At that time Walterius was in charge of St Aubin’s monastery (it was later in 966 AD that the Canons were replaced by monks) and this is made clear in the chronicles of the same monastery, published by Philip Labbeus, and this is perpetuated up to 1306: "Walterius was appointed Abbot." Then it is written in 1055 AD that Walterius died on the 1st January. The same writer maintains that this miracle which he describes was the last one to occur. When the Venerable Abbot Othbrannus was in charge of St Aubin's abbey at Angers, the same chronicle mentions this in the year 1060:

"Therefore the Abbot died on January 7th. Othbrannus was consecrated Abbot on April 12th." In 1081, Eusebius the bishop and Othbrannus the Abbot both died. Perhaps some one else added that "last miracle" report - certainly a monk of the same community added this fine story: "The monks assembled together when they heard the cries of a man who had been dumb. After the dumb man, who was not talking, told us the whole story (and I witnessed this wonderful miracle, unworthy though U am), they recognised the mercy of God who by the lesson of this miracle prepared us to guard against evil. So we extolled God’s greatness in sweet hymns of praise."

7. The same writer described (in chapter 2, sections 8-9) the large gathering and the great festivities with which the feast day of St Aubin was observed; this religious custom had become a regular feature from ancient times. Fortunatus (in book 11, poem no. 27) says that he was "dragged" to St Aubin’s festival after he came to the monastery at Tintillac. He wrote: "Domitianus, the holy Abbot, 'snatched' me away from here and 'dragged’ me to the joyful festival of St Aubin." On this point, our friend Christopher Browerus is mistaken when he writes: "Moreover, according to the memories of the Blessed Domitianus, Aubin was seen walking in Campania - he was a bishop, renowned for his piety and had his See at Chalons." Fortunatus had such difficulty in sailing up the River Matrona, where Domitianus lived, that one can easily understand this conjecture. For Domitianus at Chalons could invite or "drag" Fortunatus to the feast of St Aubin as he (Aubin?) was a friend of Memmius who lived several generations before Fortunatus and before St Aubin himself whom Browerus acknowledged as Bishop of Angers.

8. Several translations (to heaven) of St Aubin are recorded in writing. The first occured when Eutropius, Aubin's successor, was in charge and was acknowledged with honour by St Germanus and other bishops from Paris and adjoining provinces; Fortunatus takes this (in chapter 3, section 17), adding that miracles were performed at the same time. It happened not many years after his death and was related by Domitianus, the successor of Eutropius at the 3rd Council of Paris in the 46th year of King Childebert (in 555 AD); the same translation seems to have been included in the very old Martyrologies in the monasteries of St Martin of Tours and St Maximus of Treves on the 1st July, referred to in both texts in these words, "The translation of the body of St Aubin, Bishop and Confessor from the city of Angers... " Hermannus Greuen and Canisius also tell the same story. Saussaius in his Appendix in the old manuscript also dates it on July 1st. Another translation of St Aubin is quoted in the Chronicle of the monastery which took place in the year 1070 when Eusebius was bishop of the church at Angers and Othbrannus was Abbot of the monastery. The story is found in the Chronicles written in 1070 AD as follows: "The bodies of these holy leaders, Aubin and Clarus with several others, were translated on October 10th." Hugo Menardus describes that translation in the Benedictine Martyrology as occuring on that same day - this is quoted in the margin of the Breviary of St Aubin's monastery. When the Abbot Clarus was translated with St Aubin, he was the "Apostle of the Nannetenses" and their first leader. Morlaix wrote that he was remembered on October 10th. Several priests and Abbots of Clarus are mentioned in the Martyrology, but I have not read of any bishop of that name. The third translation in the same Chronicle took place in 1128 AD - the account of the translation of St Aubin on 1st March is preserved in a new case of books.

9. Saussaius maintains that another more recent translation of the body of St Aubin and others took place at Lezatum. This town is situated by the bank of the River Leza which joins the River Auriga 3 leagues from Toulouse and there is an old monastery there of the Benedictine Order. In the supplement of the Gallic Martyrology there is an entry to 27th August about the treasure of its reliquary which reads as follows:

In the monastery of Leza in the dioceses of Rivenius near Toulouse the birthdays of the martyrs St Calixtus and St Cyprian are observed on this day with great solemnity. The sacred bodies of these two are preserved in two very old chests in which they have rested for a long time. In the year 1621 AD on 5th April these were transferred to a new and more ornate resting place by the Prior of the monastery assisted by the monks and were locked up with due honour in the chapel of St Antony with the body of St Aubin and other veritable citizens of heaven. They were preserved in due solemnity with several sacred pledges of the 2 saints and martyrs, Crispin and Crispinian at Soissons where they suffered martyrdom and by the great mercies of God were rescued from the impious iconoclasts who had burnt so many of the bodies of the saints with sacreligious hands.

We have not discovered whether the relics of St Aubin of Angers were removed to Leza or whether it is another Aubin. For, as Baronius says in his Martyrology for the 1st March, there were several Aubins even before our saint, e.g. a bishop of Lyons venerated on 15th September and several other are called Alpinus like that bishop of the Cataiausi a disciple of St Lupasof Trecensis; in the Life of this man it states (towards the end of July, about the 29th), "We cannot omit the name of St Alpinus (Suruis and other authorities have Albinus) the head of the Catalausian area renowned in several places for the pre-eminence of his abiding sanctity and who was often seen drawing out devils." Suruis calls him famous because of the renown of his abiding holiness. The Budicensis Manuscript also calls him Albinus and also attributed to him "outstanding and eternal sanctity". The author of a second Life of St Lupus, which we still have with us in the records of the church of St Martin at Vitrayectum records that tribute to Aubin - these are the actual words:

"Nevertheless there was a third disciple of Lupus, Alpinus, bishop of the city of Catalausia who was conspicuous because of the integrity of his life and most skilled in healing all sorts of diseases of both body and soul. The sweet memory of his virtue not only in his works of healing the flesh but also the spirit is remembered everywhere and remains, not only written in books full of his deeds but also in the memory of that those who were present and saw his deeds."

We cannot prove what Baronius quoted in his Martyrology - he observed that this was perhaps the Albinus whom Dynamius wrote about in his Life of St Maximus, the Bishop of Regiensis (or Reiensis) as follows: "When he built the basilica in honour of St Aubin inside the castle (or fort) of Regensis with the utmost possible devotion, he also used yoked oxen in sufficient numbers to drag the columns which can now be seen everywhere." St Maximus died before St Albinus (or Alpinus) and there seems no reason why he should build a sanctuary for the leader of a church in Belgium so far away, in the castle of Regiensis or the city of the Reiensis which was in the province of Narbonensis. When it is stated that it was built in honour of St Aubin, no mention is made of him being a bishop. St Aubin is now venerated in the Regiensian Church as can be seen from the records of him compiled in 1635 and he is remembered as a martyr on the 22nd June in a two-fold ceremony. The second one celebrates the martyrdom of St Alban who at Verulam in Britain, at the time of Diocletian, gave up his life for a priest to whom he had given shelter, and after cruel tortures and floggings was beheaded. Although there is no mention in these passages about Britain or the city of Verulam, it is now agreed and confirmed by ancient tradition that Albinus is quoted instead of Albanus, and perhaps that is what happened in the writings of Dynamius.

10. But of all who are correctly called by the name of Albinus, the most famous is the one from Angers of whom we have been writing; it is to him that the largest number of buildings, shrines and monasteries are dedicated in the whole of Gaul. So many towns have publicly adopted him as their Patron Saint, like Guerrandum in the diocese of Nantes (we shall describe his miracles later on). There is also another place in Rhedonensis called by Paulus Aernilius and other the "Shrine of St Aubin"; situated almost by the frontier of the Cenomani not far from the Rivers Vigelania and Coesnum. A great battle was fought there in the year 1488 on 5th August on the night of the full moon, according to Joannes Tilius and Argentraeus. In the battle the Bretons were defeated by Tremollius the leader of the forces of Charles VIII, King of France. The Duke of Aurelia was taken prisoner and also Charles’ brother in law who was King Ludovic XII. The battle is commemmorated to this day in writings and speeches of the French under the name of St Aubin, viz. - "La Bataille de Saint Aubin". It is called after St Aubin in several districts, especially in Britain, Armorica (Brittany) and Mutua.

11. Baronius with due respect remembers St Aubin and certain of his deeds in his Annals (volume 7, section 30) for the year 540 AD. Petrus from Nataliumalso mentions him and Bishop Equilinus (in book 3, chapter 164). Arnoldus V, however, has suffered from a lapse of memory when he wrote as follows in his Life of Lignus at this period:

"Mombritius in his 2nd volume about the Saints has the same Life of St Aubin which was written by Fortunatus the priest."

But he did not have it and even if he had, he would not have put it in his second volume because he arranged these lives in alphabetical order and the first name in the second volume was that of St Hermetus the martyr. Augustinus du Paz in his history of the Genealogies of famous people in Britain (volume 1, section 33, page 266) makes a brief reference to St Alban of Verulam, the British martyr. He remembered St Aubin and is responsible for the tradition that people who lived in the diocese of Venetum maintained that Aubin was born of a flourishing family in Spinetum in the Parish of Languidic or Land-Guidic, by the shores of the River Blenetus about half a league from the town of Henneboutum. Albertus (whom we mentioned before) said that the distance between Henneboutum and Land-Guidic was two leagues - his account seems to support the British story. Argentraeus (mentioned above) also writes about St Aubin and he is quoted again in his Observation of Miracles ( chapter 3 ) .