Saint Pome of Châlons

Pome possessed all the advantages so highly esteemed in the world. Her beauty was accomplished, and every grace shone upon her face. She came from an illustrious family and enjoyed a considerable fortune. It would not have taken much for her to be sought in marriage. But she had vowed her virginity to God. To escape all importunities, she came to seek a secure refuge with her brother. What was her consolation when she saw the true God known, adored, loved, and served by all the inhabitants of Châlons!

Memmie received his sister with holy joy, Memmie First bishop of Châlons, spiritual mentor of Saint Manna. like Abraham when Sarah, his sister and wife, returned to him after the impious Abimelech had been forced to let her leave his palace. He assigned her a separate dwelling on a street that touches the Rue Grande-Étape, which was later named Rue Saint-Lazare, and which is not far from the church of Notre-Dame.

Even now, people still stop every year in front of this house when the solemn procession of the reliquaries takes place on Whit Tuesday, and the parish priest of Notre-Dame incenses the reliquary of Saint Pome.

This pious virgin, finding herself thus placed in the center of the city, could more easily fulfill the mission that was destined for her. Memmie served as her guide on the path of perfection, and had her practice the exercises of the contemplative life and the active life. At times, like Mary, she listened to the words of salvation that flowed from the mouth of the holy pontiff, or the voice of God Himself in meditation; at other times, like Martha, she received the poor, who are the suffering members of Jesus Christ.

Here are two noble rivals in the career of good. If Memmie was the model for men, Pome became the mirror for women, and especially for Christian virgins. She seconded her brother in an admirable way, through the care she gave to persons of her own sex and through her virtues.

Her modesty was perfect. She had so renounced worldly pomps that, far from taking her for a person of noble extraction, one would have believed she was but a servant. She only went out with her head veiled and her face covered. Her dress was simple and her demeanor modest. She sought to please only her celestial spouse; she had given Him her heart and consecrated her body to Him.

Nothing is more difficult to observe than silence, which is the guardian of virginity. Pome had enough strength to make a pact with her tongue; she had regulated the hours when she must keep it chained, unless charity or a great necessity compelled her to speak. How she loved to dwell in the solitude she had made for herself in her heart!

When she was obliged to converse with men, her conversation was extremely amiable. As the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart, her discourse revolved only around the greatness of God, the charms of virtue, and the happiness of serving one's neighbor. Her words, inflamed by divine love, appeared as so many burning arrows, which set those who listened to her on fire. Calumny, slander, rash judgment, biting humor, and even more cruel reticence never rested upon her lips.

Her most ordinary occupation was hospitality. Travelers and the poor all had a place at her table, found a place of rest in her dwelling, and experienced how inexhaustible her charity was. She knew that what is done to the least of the disciples of Jesus Christ is done to Him, that almsgiving covers a multitude of sins, that all our works of mercy are inscribed in the great book of life, and that the supreme Judge will reward us a hundredfold for them. Her affection for the unfortunate was so ardent that all her happiness consisted in relieving them.

She practiced another work much more painful to nature and therefore much more pleasing to God. Together with Memmie, she established a hospital where she received all the sick. This hospital was in the first enclosure of Châlons, to the west, at the place where the railroad has just been built, where a statue of Saint Pome as well as medals of Tiberius were found. Pome cared for the sick with her own hands, rendered them the most repulsive services, and reserved for herself alone the care of dressing the most infected ulcers. How God took pleasure in contemplating his chaste spouse in these humble exercises, which a servant would not have wanted to undertake!

It was a marvel to see a girl of quality spend her life among the poor, render them with affability all the services they needed, treat them with the tenderness of a mother, and console them with words so touching and affectionate that she imprinted patience deep in their hearts. What divine balm she poured into the souls of the sick! She made them understand the great mystery of afflictions, inspired in them an invincible courage, and even made them say with the Apostle of the nations: "I am filled with joy in all our troubles": *Superabundo gaudio in omni tribulatione mea*.

God often honored his servant, who humbled herself in this way for his love, by miraculously healing the infirm she treated. Tradition recounts that she resurrected one or more of the dead. But far from glorifying herself in these wonderful works, she attributed all the honor to God. She took extreme care to hide them. When they were noticed, she never failed to say that God gave his blessing to the remedies she had the sick take, because of their faith.

It was in these exercises of the most heroic charity that she spent her days and nights, from her arrival in Châlons until her death. She had come, like her divine master, not to be served, but to serve.

The memory of the charitable works of this holy virgin remained so imprinted in the hearts of the people of Châlons that it has not been erased by the long succession of centuries. All antiquity attributes to Saint Pome, sister of Saint Memmie, the establishment of the first hos pital in Châ saint Memmie First bishop of Châlons, spiritual mentor of Saint Manna. lons, and the old hospital has always been called the hospital of Saint Pome.

These works of mercy toward her nei l'hôpital de sainte Pome Charitable institution founded by the saint to care for the sick. ghbor did not make her any less assiduous in fulfilling her duties toward God; it seemed on the contrary that she lived only by prayer. Far from the love of God being incompatible with the love of neighbor, joined together, they support one another, ignite, and do everything with a divine harmony. Pome was always praying and always working. The exercises of the body did not interrupt her prayer, nor did her prayer interrupt her works of charity; because she did both with the same desire to please her God. When she prayed, she spoke to God. Was she caring for the sick? It was the suffering members of Jesus Christ that she was relieving. Thus praying and working, she was always united to God. This is true piety, which knows how to reconcile one's duties toward God and one's duties toward one's neighbor.

Pome did something even greater. She was not content to practice so many virtues herself; she wanted to teach an infinite number of young girls to walk in her footsteps. She served as a mistress to all those who fled the world, who consecrated their virginity to God, and who devoted themselves to the relief of the unfortunate. But she showed herself to be the humblest of all, and formed them in virtue and works of charity more by her examples than by her words.

We must confess that most of the actions of this holy virgin are known to God alone, who takes account even of a cup of cold water given to a poor person in His name. The misfortunes of the times have robbed us of the history of her life, her good works, her miracles, and her precious death before God.

Pome, whom we must regard as the queen of the virgins of Châlons, continued her pious exercises for thirty years. Memmius assisted her in her final moments, helped her soul to fly into the bosom of God, and rendered funeral honors to her body. He placed her mortal remains in a tomb that he had dug in his solitude of Buxerre. It is there that he hims Buxerre Initial burial place of Saint Poma and Saint Memmius. elf would soon rest. Later, their bones would be placed in the same reliquary, so that those whom nature had united during their life would be even more so after their death.

Pome passed from this earthly life to heavenly glory on June 27, the day on which her feast was celebrated annually, which was ordered by Saint A saint Alpin Bishop of Châlons who canonized Saint Pome. lpin when he canonized her by erecting an altar and an oratory over her tomb. Today she is honored on August 8.

As this holy virgin had honored God through the highest virtues, God, who is never outdone in generosity, honored her, during her life and after her death, with the gift of miracles.

Father Rap ine, who provi Le Père Rapine Historian who examined the saint's relics in 1624. ded us with most of these details, saw, in 1624, the precious bones of Saint Pome, which were in a gilded silver reliquary. Now, these bones were recognizable among all the others of the holy bodies, which were then examined, by a vivid golden color, which is a testimony to the vivid gold of her virginity and her charity both toward God and toward her neighbor, with which this blessed virgin was inflamed during her life. It can only be by a particular miracle that they remain so solid and so vividly colored. Through this, this saint makes it understood that her power is still great before God, in favor of those who invoke her.

Since the revolution of '93, the relics of Saint Pome have been enclosed separately in a painted wooden reliquary.

Excerpt from the *Rues* of the history of Champagne, by Abbé Boitel.