Saint Seine

Taken from the Proper of Dijon, and supplemented with the Lives of the Sai nts of Dijon, by M. l'abbé Duplus Author of the Vie des Saints de Dijon. Abbé Duplus; and the Hagiology of Nivernais, by Mgr Crousier.

Sequanus, commonly Saint Sène, born around the year 514 in the town of Mémont (Magnus Mons), which is today but a very small village in the Doubs department, gave great signs of his future holiness from childhood. He left his parents, of whom he was the only child, and withdrew into the solitude of Verrey-sous-Drée (Valeriacus). He built a cell and an oratory with tree branches, and led a very harsh life, always in prayer, and inflicting upon his still tender body a perpetual fast that he would only break after the recitation of the entire Psalter. He was then admitted into the clergy, and, after five years spent in the diaconate, he was ordained a priest while still young in age, but mature in his morals and the holiness of his life. Subjected to the jealousy of the clerics of his native town, he thought of embracing the monastic life, and went to Réome to place himself under the discipline of the famous abbot Saint John. Having returned to his country (536), he sought in his father's domains a place suitable for founding a monastery; he chose for this a very thick forest, hitherto inaccessible and uninhabited, and built there cells and an oratory in honor of the most holy Virgin; he was helped in his work by the inhabitants of the neighborhood, who were previously ferocious and whom he had rendered as gentle as doves. Such was the origin of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Sène (Sogestrense monasterium), in the diocese of Dijon. A multitude of disciples gathered in a very short time under his direction. The assiduity and perseverance with which they rendered glory to God through the singing of his praises and through the work of their hands fulfilled the wishes of the holy founder. He departed from this world full of days, around the year 580, and his death, like his life, was marked by miracles. His body was buried in the abbey church, which was devastated in 677 by Ebroin, in 732 by the Saracens, and in 888 by the Normans. In 1347, the head was set apart in a silver bust; on June 8, 1620, it was carried with the reliquary to Saint-Bénigne of Dijon to obtain rain. At the prayer of Louis de Bourbon-Condé, the monks gave his mother, in 1620, the jaw of Saint Sène. During the summer of 1791, all the riches of the abbey were sent to the district capital, and the ashes of Saint Sène were mixed with those of the other blessed ones kept in the treasury. Perhaps they are today in the two urns placed at the head of the choir. The church of Corbigny (Nièvre) possesses a frontal bone of the Saint.

Sequanus, commonly known as Saint Sène, born around the year 514 in the town of Mémont (Magnus Mons), which is today but a very small village in the Doubs department, gave great signs of his future holiness from childhood. He left his parents, of whom he was the only child, and withdrew into the solitude of Verrey-sous-Drée (Valeriacus). He built a cell and an oratory with tree branches, and led a very harsh life, always in prayer, and inflicting upon his still tender body a perpetual fast which he would only break after the recitation of the entire Psalter. He was then admitted into the clergy, and, after five years spent in the diaconate, he was ordained a priest while still young in age, but mature in his morals and the holiness of his life. Subjected to the jealousy of the clerics of his hometown, he thought of embracing the monastic life, and went to Réome to place himself under the discipline of the famous abbot Saint John. Having returned to his country (536), he sought in his father's lands a place suitable for founding a monastery; he chose for this a very thick forest, hitherto inaccessible and uninhabited, and built there cells and an oratory in honor of the most holy Virgin; he was helped in his work by the inhabitants of the neighborhood, who were previously ferocious and whom he had rendered as gentle as doves. Such was the origin of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Sène (Sogestrense monasterium), in the diocese of Dijon. A multitude of disciples gathered in a very short time under his direction. The assiduity and perseverance with which they rendered glory to God through the singing of His praises and through the work of their hands fulfilled the wishes of the holy founder. He departed from this world full of days, around the year 580, and his death, like his life, was marked by miracles. His body was buried in the abbey church, which was devastated in 677 by Ebroin, in 732 by the Saracens, and in 888 by the Normans. In 1347, the head was set apart in a silver bust; on June 8, 1620, it was carried with the reliquary to Saint-Bénigne of Dijon to obtain rain. At the prayer of Louis de Bourbon-Condé, the monks gave his mother, in 1620, the jaw of Saint Sène. During the summer of 1791, all the riches of the abbey were sent to the district capital, and the ashes of Saint Sène were mixed with those of the other blessed ones kept in the treasury. Perhaps they are today in the two urns placed at the head of the choir. The church of Corbigny (Nièvre) possesses a frontal bone of the Saint.

Drawn from the Proper of Dijon, and supplemented with the Life of the Saints of Dijon, by Abbé Duplus; and the Nivernais Hagiology, by Mgr Crousier.