Saint Ansegisus

The monastery of Fontenelle was chosen for him, whose current abbot, Saint Girovald, was his relative. He soon distinguished himself there by his happy qualities, his virtues, and his application to study. "Two things," says his historian, "distinguished him particularly: the art of living well and the art of teaching well." After receiving the tonsure from the hands of his relative, he was led by him to the palace and placed in the h ands of Cha Charlemagne Emperor of the Franks and uncle of Saint Folquin. rlemagne. This great prince, such a skillful appraiser of merit, did not take long to recognize the advantage he could draw from his young courtier. He first charged him with the direction of two monasteries: that of Saint-Sixte, near Reims, and that of Saint-Mummier, commonly Saint-Mange, or Saint-Memmie, in the diocese of Châlons. Doubtless, Anségise acquitted himself of this commission to the satisfaction of the prince; for, in 807, Charlemagne appointed him, as a benefice, abbo abbé de Saint-Germer Monastery in the Beauvaisis region restored by Ansegis. t of Saint-Germer, originally Flaviacum, in the Beauvaisis. This monastery had suffered much, and was, so to speak, in ruins. Anségise set himself to restore it entirely, had all its buildings rebuilt, and procured for it considerable revenues. History notes that he was skilled in agriculture, and that it was from this art that he sought not only the means to maintain the monastery, but also the means to provide for the needs of the poor of the region. His active solicitude extended to everything; his zeal was not even limited to the enclosure of Saint-Germer: he took up the cause of the churches, that of the widows and orphans; he fed the poor clergy, he welcomed pilgrims; in a word, his charity neglected no opportunity to be exercised. And, as if his multiplied occupations had not yet sufficed to feed his zeal, Charlemagne appointed him intendant of the royal buildings, under the direction of Abbot Einhard. Anségise fulfilled this new employment wi l'abbé Einhard Biographer of Charlemagne and superior to Ansegis for royal buildings. th the diligence and skill that he brought to all things. Honored by the prince with several embassies, he acquitted himself of them with no less success.

The Abbey of Luxeuil had not been able to escape the ravages of time. According to Adson, it had greatly degenerated from its primitive fervor. The political troubles that followed the death of Charlemagne reacted upon the monasteries and favored the weakening of discipline within them. Nevertheless, Louis Louis le Débonnaire King of the Franks who made Aldric his advisor and commander of the palace. the Pious remembered the brilliance that the work of Saint Columbanus had cast upon the preceding centuries, and had resolved to raise it, if possible, from its state of decadence. For this, he believed he could do no better than to give it the wise and pious Ansegis as its leader. Dadin or Dadem had just died; Ansegis was appointed in his place as a benefice (817), and immediately applied his care to re-establishing the ancient discipline. There can be no doubt that he succeeded: for, six years later (823), having bee abbé de Fontenelle Abbey where Giraud spent his final days as a reformer and martyr. n appointed Abbot of Fontenelle by the same prince and for the same purpose, he deemed that the best way to restore monastic fervor there was to bring in monks from Luxeuil, whose pious examples would have more effect than all the precepts and exhortations. This plan succeeded for him. The laxity was indeed great in this famous abbey: besides the fact that the number of religious had singularly diminished, the Rule of Saint Benedict was barely recognizable there. They lived more like canons than like monks. Saint Benedict of Aniane had already b Saint Benoît d'Aniane Carolingian monastic reformer. egun this reform; but it was given only to Ansegis to accomplish it. At the sight of their brothers from Luxeuil, the monks of Fontenelle were pricked with a noble emulation: and soon it was like a contest of virtues, which singularly benefited both one and the other.

Moreover, Ansegis was himself the first model for those he directed; "and there is no reason to be surprised," says his historian, "that soldiers of Christ walked nobly in the royal way of the cross, when their standard-bearer preceded them there so courageously." With him, example supported the lesson; he preached by action what he had first taught by doctrine. He granted nothing to personal sympathies; but he sought truth in all things, and held an equal balance for all. In his speeches, he sought to instruct, and not to please; his word was never empty. He possessed a particular talent for consoling the afflicted; in a word, everything in him tended toward the edification and instruction of his neighbor. His detachment from the goods of the earth was complete; for, although, according to the custom of the time, he was permitted to possess, or at least to administer, temporal goods and to enjoy them, his heart nevertheless held to them so little that one could call him poor in the midst of the greatest fortune. The monasteries and the indigent were the objects of his generosity; he did not regard himself as the master, but only as the steward of the considerable goods he had received from his family. By thus pouring his gifts into the bosom of the poor (and most of the monasteries deserved this title), he thought of amassing for himself treasures inaccessible to rust and worms. His lively faith, his prudence, his gentleness, his charity, his zeal, his eloquent speech, all contributed to raising him in the esteem of his subordinates and to giving him that ascendancy to which nothing resists. He did not, however, neglect fraternal correction; but he knew how to keep the middle ground between that soft indulgence which forgives everything, and that acrid and restless zeal which excuses nothing. Tempering the bitterness of reproaches with gentleness, he showed himself as benevolent toward those who accepted and benefited from them, as he became severe toward the obstinate who persisted in their deviations.

Louis the Pious knew, just as well as his father, how to appreciate the eminent qualities of Ansegis and to take advantage of them. He often employed him as an ambassador, notably in a dispute he had with a certain Gautselme, brother of Bernard of Septimania and son of Duke William, regarding the borders of France and Spain. An embassy to Pope Nicholas is also m entioned, wi pape Nicolas Pope who confirmed the titles of Raoul. th which our Saint was said to have been charged by Charles the Bald.

But these temporal occupations did not in the least divert Ansegis from the care of his spiritual children. The considerable gifts he made to the various abbeys for which he was responsible testify to the tender interest he bore them. In particular, he gave to that of Luxeuil the cross that accompanied him on his travels, which was entirely of gold, of marvelous workmanship, adorned with precious stones, and whose staff was covered in silver; a gold offertory, with its paten of the same metal; three silver-gilt chalices, adorned with carvings; a silver goblet; a silver ewer and vase: all artistically crafted. He enriched the altar of the Blessed Virgin with numerous silver images. He also gave to the monastery church a very beautiful rose-colored ornament; five chasubles; twelve ecclesiastical vestments in silk or Egyptian linen, of various colors; three dalmatics; six other ecclesiastical vestments, and eight precious carpets. Furthermore, he raised the walls of the church of Saint-Pierre, which he had adorned with paintings, repaired its roof, and entirely restored the portico that connected it to the church of Saint-Martin. The gifts he made to the abbey of Fontenelle were even more numerous. He also enriched the monastery of Saint-Germer with his liberality, to which he bequeathed sufficient funds for the maintenance of the monks; he also gave it his library, composed of the works of the holy Fathers Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Hilary, Gregory, etc., and very considerable for the time.

In the year 833, Ansegis was struck by paralysis. Feeling that his death was near, he called for the people of his household and his closest friends, and shared his final wishes with them. These were yet more acts of generosity, the distribution of which he entrusted to Hildemann, Bishop of Beauvais, to two laymen, Bertening and Gerlon, and to a monk named Landon. In this final sharing of the remains of his immense fortune, Ansegis mentions more than sixty convents, churches, or towns; but, among the number, his dear abbey of Luxeuil is once again privileged: for, while the other monasteries generally obtain only one, two, five, fifteen, or twenty pounds at most, Luxeuil receives twenty-five, ten of which are for itself, and the rest for its daughters Annegray, Fonta ine, and Anségise Reforming abbot of Fontenelle and Luxeuil, imperial advisor. Cusance.

Ansegis died on Sunday, the 13th of the Kalends of August (July 20, 833), at an age no doubt not very advanced, for his mother was still living. We read, in fact, that he bequeathed her twenty pounds to be distributed to the poor of Saint-Reginbert or Ragnebert, a monastery in the vicinity of Lyon, according to the conjectures of Dom Mabillon, and where he had drawn the first elements of letters. He had been abbot of Luxeuil for sixteen years, and abbot of Fontenelle for ten years. His death was bitterly mourned by all his children. If we are to believe the historian who serves as our guide, he was buried at Fontenelle, in the chapter, near the apse of Saint-Pierre. Adson, one of his successors at Luxeuil, insinuates, on the contrary, that he was buried in the latter monastery, in the church also dedicated to Saint Peter, which he had restored. But the first author is more worthy of belief, since he was nearly a contemporary of the Saint.

Saint Anségise is justifiably credited with the collection of the Capitula collection des Capitulaires Collection of Carolingian laws compiled by Ansegisus. ries of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, which bears his name. Some authors believed it to be the work of another Anségise, Archbishop of Sens; but Sirmond victoriously refuted this opinion. Others attributed it to an Anségise who was allegedly an abbot in the monastery of Lobbes, on the Sambre, in the country of Liège; but this name is not found in the catalogue of the abbots of that monastery.

Saint Anségise was honored in the ancient calendar of Luxeuil on July 20. A commemoration was also held there on May 20 for the Invention of the relics of Saint Anségise, abbot and confessor. The monks of Fontenelle honored this Saint on August 20 and November 19. Du Saussay mentions him under July 18, and Chatelain under July 20 and August 20.

Excerpt from the Life of the Saints of Franche-Comté, by the professors of the Saint-François-Xavier college of Besançon.