A famous martyr of the East, called the 'Great Martyr' by the Greeks, Saint Mammes is the principal patron of the Langres Cathedral. His relics, including his head and arm, were transferred from Constantinople and Jerusalem to France. He is historically invoked against intestinal ailments and rabies.
Guided reading
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CULT AND RELICS.
SAINT MAMMES OR MAMMERCE, DEACON,
Renown and dispersion of relics
Saint Mammès, nicknamed the Great Martyr in the East, saw his cult spread from Constantinople to Rome, with relics distributed as far as Jerusalem and France.
There has been no more famous Martyr in all the East. The Greeks call him, by excellence, the great Martyr. It was in his honor that Gallienus, and Julian, later the apostate emperor, undertook to build churches: but Gallienus having succeeded in his enterprise, Julian could not execute his, Saint Mammès bei ng unable to Saint Mammès Deacon and martyr, highly celebrated in the East and patron of the Langres Cathedral. suffer that such a wicked man should have the glory of having made him a gift. Nicephorus speaks of a famous basilica of Saint-Mammès in Constantinople; and Suidas, of a bridge of Saint-Mammès; there was also a temple in his name in Rome, where Saint Gregory the Great, on t saint Grégoire le Grand Pope contemporary to Saint Psalmodius. he day of his feast, delivered his Homily XXXV on the Gospels. His relics, at least in part, were carried to Jerusalem; and it is from there that Saint Radegund obtained the little finger of his right hand, through a miracle that we have described in the life of this Saint. The city of Constantinople was also enriched, in the course of time, with such a precious remnant. We have, in Sursum, the history of the translation, first of the nape bone, then of the arm, and finally of the venerable head of our Saint to the cathedr al of Langres, which cathédrale de Langres City of origin of the cleric Warnahaire and several cited martyrs. took him as its patron and its principal titular, in place of Saint John the Evangelist who was previously. During the revolutionary turmoil, the nape bone disappeared. Today the cathedral of Langres possesses only the head of the Saint and a small part of the arm. The head is displayed in a vermeil reliquary. It is a gift from His Eminence Cardinal Mathieu, Archbishop of Besançon, former Bishop of Langres. Saint Mammès is honored in a great number of parishes in France, where altars and churches have been dedicated to him. The church dedicated to Saint Mammès, in the parish of Sceaux, in the diocese of Paris, possesses a fragment of the arm bone. From time immemorial, the parish of Saint-Mammès, in the diocese of Meaux, was a pilgrimage site, where people went to invoke the great Martyr against intestinal ailments and rabies. The parish of Saint-Mavieu, in the diocese of Bayeux, still possesses a fairly considerable relic of the holy Martyr: it is a bone of 17 centimeters. A confrat ernity was es Une confrérie Religious association dedicated to the saint in the Diocese of Bayeux. tablished in this parish, in the last century, in honor of Saint Mammès, and enriched by Pope Clement XII:
The patronage of Langres and the pilgrimages
The cathedral of Langres adopted the saint as its principal patron. His cult developed in several French dioceses for the healing of intestinal ailments.
1° Of a plenary indulgence on the day of entry into the confraternity, at the point of death, and on the day the solemnity of the Saint is celebrated;
The Confraternity of Saint-Mavieu
Pope Clement XII grants special indulgences to the Confraternity of Saint-Mavieu, re-established after the French Revolution.
2° An indulgence of 7 years and 7 quarantines on the days of the Circumcision, the Blessed Sacrament, Saint Peter, the patron of the place, and Saint Michael;
3° An indulgence of 60 days each time the confreres attend the Masses and other divine offices that are customarily celebrated or recited in the said church, or perform the other good works detailed in the penitential letter. The confraternity was re-established after the Revolution, on August 19, 1803.
Sources and historiography
The accounts of the saint's life are based on the works of Walahfrid Strabo, the Bollandists, and the bishops of Langres.
We have his history in verse, by Wala hfrid Strabo, in Walofride Strabun Author of a verse history of the saint. volume VI of the Ancient Lessons of Cantates. It can also be found in the library of Fleury, in the translation by Raynard, bishop of Langres, who was the one who brought his arm from Constantinople. — See in the Bollandists, the acts of the Saint, and especially the Life of Saint Mammès by M. Abbé Tincoelin, which we have used to rectify and complete Father Giry.
Annexes & related entities
Structured data for exploration: events, miracles, quotes, places, attributes, patronages, and important entities cited in the text.
Key Events
- Martyrdom in the East
- Translation of his relics from Jerusalem and Constantinople to the West
- Establishment of his cult as the principal patron of Langres Cathedral
- Re-establishment of a confraternity in his honor on August 19, 1803
Miracles
- Prevents Emperor Julian from building a church for him
- Miraculous gift of a finger to Saint Radegund