Saint Eustace of Flay

Pious, learned, of good counsel, and strongly attached to his duties, the Saint became dearer to the Pontiff day by day. He also gained the esteem and affection of the religiou s of Flay Monastery of which Eustace was abbot. Flay. They often resorted to his advice, and, after the death of Hugh the Poor, they elected him as their abbot. A historian has preserved for us the letter they wrote, on this occasion, to Philip of Dreux, to beg him to ratify their choice. "After having implored," they said, "the clemency of the Holy Spirit, without whose help all prayer is vain, we have elected your secretary, an honorable, simple, and upright man, to whom, from all sides, a good testimony is given. We present him to you, venerable father, so that you may deign to extend your hand over him to bless him."

Although it cost the Bishop of Beauvais much to part with Eustace, knowing how useful his election would be to the Church, he consented to ratify it. Following the custom used in those times, the newly elected promised submission and obedience to Philip, to his successors, as well as to the Church of Beauvais, and received canonical institution from the prelate.

Our Saint governed his abbey with as much prudence as kindness. His charity and gentleness caused him to be considered less as a superior than as a father. But the religious of Flay did not long enjoy his presence among them. To call his children to a new crusade against the infidels, to combat the monstrous heresy of the Albigensians, and to destroy the vices and disorders of which many Christians gave a sad example, the Church demanded the assistance of priests animated by holy zeal and gifted with the talent of speech. The courage, devotion, and eloquence of Eustace did not fail him. He went to share in the apostolic labors of the famous Fulk of Neuilly, and of several other preac hers chosen from am Foulques de Neuilly Famous preacher associated with Eustace. ong the Premonstratensians and the Cistercians. Striking successes crowned his efforts: wherever he raised his voice, he awakened the fear of the judgments of God, and brought forth generous resolutions.

The fruits that the Church gathered from the preachings of Eustace prompted the illustrious p ontiff Innoc Innocent III Pope who commissioned Pierre de Castelnau against the Albigensians. ent III to send the Blessed o ne to Engl Angleterre Country of origin of Blessed Ralph. and, with the title of apostolic legate. There too, religion had great evils to lament. One saw a sad mixture of corruption and ignorance: the holy day of Sunday was profaned; ruthless usury devoured the substance of the poor; cemeteries and the entrances of churches were used for mercantile operations.

Eustace appeared in the midst of this people like an apostle of the first centuries: he had their faith, their zeal, and their charity; he worked with ardor to reform the morals of the Christians and to inspire in them the love of chastity. His examples and his discourses, often accompanied by miracles, brought about many conversions. Not far from Canterbury, the Saint blessed a fountain, in a place called Vui: fr om Vui Site of a fountain miracle in England. that moment on, a great number of the sick found their healing there. In our day, the memory of these miracles is still alive in that region. The heretics themselves call the fountain of Vui the Well of Saint Eustace or the Holy Well. They go there to draw water which they keep in their homes for the healing of eyes, the relief of sick children, and persons afflicted with fever. At Rumesnel, a country not far from Vui, Eustace gave a new proof of the power that God had granted him. As wholesome water was lacking there, he caused a spring of living water to gush from a rock with his staff, which still flows, and thus renders a lasting testimony to the holiness of the glorious minister of Jesus Christ. However, our holy preacher was stopped in his labors at the moment when he was producing the happiest fruits of salvation. Some members of the clergy, instead of rejoicing at his successes, made a crime of his zeal and accused him of putting his sickle into another's harvest. Eustace, no longer having the freedom necessary for an apostle, saw himself in the sad and painful necessity of returning to his monastery, before having finished a mission begun under such favorable auspices.

Innocent III learned with sorrow of the trials his legate had just endured; but, desiring that this mission should produce all the fruits he expected from it, he soon ordered the Saint to return to England. The latter, obedient to the voice of the Pontiff, went to resume his preaching in York. He applied himself above all to recalling the violators of Sunday to their duty, promising pardon to the repentant, and threatening hardened hearts with the severest punishments. Several times, the vengeance of heaven pursued the guilty who, in contempt of his salutary warnings, persisted in their sacrilegious conduct. When a sinner came to confess his faults to him, before admitting him to penance, he required a promise to cease all work, from Saturday at the hour of None until Monday at sunrise. Is it not permissible to believe that the missions and miracles of Eustace contributed, in large part, to deeply engraving in the hearts of the English this respect for Sunday, which has survived even the invasion of heresy?

To provide the piety of the faithful with nourishment and consolation, Eustace strongly exhorted them to maintain in every church a lamp intended to recall the presence of Jesus Christ in their midst. He had no difficulty in obtaining this sacrifice of gratitude and faith from the Christians who had just returned to grace with God: they also consented to devote a portion of their income and earnings to the burial of the poor. But, as Eustace wished to take advantage of these good dispositions to give these works a lasting character, Richard I, King of England, under the specious pretext of protecting the ancient cu Richard Ier Successor to Henry II, often in conflict with Hugh. stoms of his kingdom, raised obstacles and contradictions against him on all sides.

Eustace did not recoil before these new difficulties. His zeal increasing with the obstacles, he spoke with renewed strength against those who despised the law of Sunday. He reminded impenitent sinners of the severity of divine justice, until the day when he knew, by the exhaustion of his strength, that the end of his life was not far off. The Saint could go to await in peace in his abbey the day of eternal reward, for he had fought valiantly the battles of the Lord.

Reunited, never to be parted again, with his beloved religious, Eustace led them to the perfection of their state through his vivid and frequent exhortations, but even more so by his holy examples. After leaving them the edifying spectacle of his humility, his continual prayers, his austerities, and his vigils, he entered, full of merits, into the joy of his God. His death occurred in the year 1211, on the day of the Nativity of the Mother of God, for whom he had always had a tender devotion.

The body of the virtuous abbot was first buried in the middle of the nave of the abbey church of Flay. It was removed some time later to be placed in a vault in the elegant chapel that Pierre de Vessencourt, one of his successors, had caused to be built.

The name of Eustace is found in several martyrologies: he is cited with honor among the principal Saints of the Order of Cîteaux.

Vies des Saints Ordre de Cîteaux Monastic order to which Bertrand and the Abbey of Grandselve belong. de Beauvois, by the Abbé Sabatier.