Saint Ermenfroi

Thus lived Ermenfroi amidst all the pomp and grandeur of the century. The intrigues and pleasures of the court, which should naturally have distanced him from God and his duties, brought him closer to them instead; he saw more closely the enjoyments that the world offers, and consequently, he could better appreciate them at their true value. A particular circumstance made him feel even more keenly the nothingness of human vanities. Ermenric died at the very moment when his children were beginning to compensate him with their gratitude for the hardships of their early upbringing, and when he was preparing to realize for them everything that was in his heart. From then on, our Saint thought only of solitude and retreat; everyone could perceive that, upon returning from the funeral, he viewed his stay at the palace as a heavier burden and an obstacle to his salvation. But to leave a monarch from whom he had received such a good welcome, he needed a legitimate motive: Providence did not delay in providing it for him.

After the death of Iserius, Islia, his daughter, had collected his patrimony for the benefit of the monastery of Cusance, which she directed; but a frightful plague carried her off along with all her nuns, and left Cusance without inhabitants. This rich and vast estate returned, by right of succession, to the family of Ermenfroi. As this young lord had himself become the head of his house, he left the court again to take possession of his relative's inheritance. The sight of the ruined monastery, the memory of the virtues that had been practiced there, the charms of a solitude so melancholy and so sweet, made him wish to exchange as soon as possible the life of the court for the life of retreat. Upon returning to Soissons, he soon let it be seen that his heart was elsewhere. Without having lost any of his ordinary amenity, he was continually occupied with the maxims of the Gospel. In the midst of abundance, he was devoured by hunger and thirst, but by the hunger and thirst for that justice which consists of renouncing everything to follow Jesus Christ. While the courtiers studied to please through good manners and a distinguished exterior, he sought to draw closer to Christian simplicity. One day, Clotaire could not help bu Clotaire King of Neustria and later sole King of the Franks, protector of Columbanus after his exile. t reproach him for it, whether he was genuinely shocked by the carelessness and abandonment of Ermenfroi, or whether he wished to facilitate an opening for which he had been prepared for a long time: "Ermenfroi," he said to him, "why do you wear your tunic so negligently? Do you intend to become a cleric?"—"Yes, Prince," our Saint replied with vivacity. "I would like to be a cleric; I would like to be a monk; and the most signal favor that you could add to all those that I have received from you is to grant me permission to enter a monastery."

Although Clotaire expected this answer, he was all the more distressed by it as Ermenfroi's departure would naturally lead to that of his brother Waldelene. They indeed left the court around the year 625 and retired with their mother to their lands in Cusance and Rantechaux. But Ermenfroi was not yet delivered from the temptations of the flesh and the world. His mother urged him to marry, and the deference he had for her gave this desire the authority of a command. He implored the Lord to enlighten him and support him against this final assault, and finally openly rejected any thought of marriage and temporal future, to leave room in his mind only for the great ideas that God inspired in him. He first occupied himself with rebuilding the Abbey of Cusance on different proportions, and it is to be believed that this work occupied him for quite some time; he was seen putting all his care into it; every detail of this edifice was adapted to his views and his projects for the future. However, it was not with him as it is with most of those who attend to purely material occupations; often with the latter, the recollection of the spirit becomes impossible. As for him, he knew how to find God at every moment in the silence of contemplation, and when his presence at the monastery was not indispensable, he hastened to reach the nearby countryside to pray there at his ease.

This kind of calm and tranquil life, which Ermenfroi had exchanged for the agitations of the world, certainly had its enjoyments. The company of an educated and pious brother, the care of a tenderly loved mother, pleasant leisure sanctified by prayer, the contemplation of the charms of nature, everything combined to embellish his stay in Cusance. But he heard within him a voice that called him to a more perfect life; he sighed for the sweetness of the cloister, and already his eyes were turned toward the monastery of Luxeuil. This abbey ha d just been entruste monastère de Luxeuil Monastery where Acharius was trained. d to the care of Saint Walbert, and its reputation for science, saint Walbert Frankish nobleman, warrior, and confessor of the 7th century. piety, and discipline was spread throughout all of Gaul. Ermenfroi resolved to go there. He therefore bade farewell to his family and went to place himself under the direction of Saint Walbert. This illustrious abbot received him as a messenger from heaven and counted him among the number of his disciples for nearly four years. It is to be believed that these years of novitiate were for Ermenfroi years of holiness and grace. The abbot, who took pleasure in paying homage to his merit, designated him to the bishop as a precious subject for the priesthood, and after having had hands laid upon him, sent him back to Cusance for the realization of his work.

Here begins, strictly speaking, the career of Saint Ermenfroi as a monk, and if we can rely on the calculations of the Bollandists, we are reaching the year 630. The first thing he did upon arriving at Cusance was to Cusance Monastery restored and directed by Saint Ermenfroi. divest himself of the goods that remained to him, either for the benefit of the churches or for the benefit of the poor. His only treasure was henceforth the love of a severe rule and of the community of religious who did not delay in coming to submit themselves to his laws. The number of his monks rose within a few years to three hundred, so great were the charms of obeying him! He took care to attract Waldelenus to him, and to give him a cell in the vicinity of the monastery. This pious lord provided for the temporal needs of the community, while at the same time rejoicing it with the odor of his virtues. Nothing was as admirable as the spectacle of this house directed by two brothers, one of whom occupied himself with the spiritual and the other with the material. What struck one above all, what Ermenfroi applied himself to making reign among his religious, were equality of soul, obedience, and charity. He wanted in his family neither a great expansion of joy nor that painful concentration which sadness engenders; and, as if to give them the just measure in this, he was accustomed to weep with those who wept and to rejoice with those who rejoiced. His merit and his virtues were so well appreciated, and he himself gave his orders with such prudence, that all his monks obeyed him with more happiness than worldly people have in commanding; all had an ardent desire to arrive at perfection, and they knew that the surest path to attain it was to submit in all things to the will of their superior. One could not say either to what point these good religious esteemed and loved one another before God: never the slightest murmur; never a movement of jealousy; never anything that could break this unity of heart and soul, by which Jesus Christ recognizes his disciples. Ermenfroi himself appeared satisfied with the manner in which one profited from the efforts of his zeal and the graces of God. One of his great joys was to find himself in the midst of his monks; on feast days, he distributed the eulogies to them, and when, in this circumstance, he perceived hands that announced the work of the week, he kissed them with a tenderness mixed with respect. If there were more arduous tasks, he took care to reserve them for himself. It is thus that he often spent the day sifting by himself the wheat that his religious threshed or shelled, as they succeeded one another. His favorite maxim was the very word of the Prophet: "You shall be happy and your lot shall be worthy of envy when you live from the fruit of your labors."

It seemed that nothing more was lacking for this model community than to be able to maintain itself in its first fervor, despite the natural tendency toward relaxation and in spite of foreign vexations, quite common at that time. But the wise foresight of Ermenfroi had already provided for it. From the third year of Dagobert, that is to say the year 632, he had attached his house to the monastery of Luxeuil by introducing there the Rule of Saint Col umbanus, and by placing Règle de Saint-Colomban Austere monastic rule introduced at Cusance. it under the high patronage of Walbert and his successors.

One should no longer be astonished then that there were found at Cusance pious and virtuous disciples of Saint Ermenfroi. When a scholar directs a house, learned men ordinarily emerge from it; but a superior who is a saint always makes the rays of his holiness reflect upon those who surround him. Among the religious who especially made the glory of the abbey, in the seventh century, let us cite Wandalbert, Abaco, Ravenborde, Adbert, Athaël, Caranus, and Maldagis. They contributed to embellishing the crown of Ermenfroi, and showed by their increasingly edifying conduct in what school they had been formed.

However, Ermenfroi and Waldelene were beginning to feel the weight of the years, and their mother had already preceded them to heaven. They had shortened their lives, the former by the secret mortifications he had added to the labors with which he was charged for the benefit of the monastery; the latter, by the paternal solicitudes that the direction of a numerous community gave him until the end. But God, who wished to finish purifying our Saint and to detach him completely from the world, permitted him to attend the funeral of his brother. Waldelene having fallen ill at Rantechaux, Ermenfroi, informed of the progress of the ailment, came to bring him the consolations of the faith, and promised him to pray that the will of God might be accomplished. Indeed, upon returning to his cell, the holy abbot hastened to summon his religious, explained to them the state of his brother, and invited them to join him in sacrifice and prayer; so that it was in the midst of a concert of prayers that the soul of Waldelene flew from earth to heaven. At the news of his death, Ermenfroi, painfully affected, but always equal to himself, went to spend the rest of the night in the church. The next morning, he led his monks to Hyevre, to meet the body. They brought him back to Cusance, crossing the steep heights of the Lomont with marvelous speed. Two religious sufficed to carry the coffin, despite the weight of the body and the difficulties of the road. The people, who could barely follow the procession, drew from this circumstance a favorable omen for the holiness of the deceased.

Some time after the death of his brother, around the ye ar 670, Saint E saint Ermenfroi Abbot of Cusance in the 7th century, former courtier of Clotaire II. rmenfroi fell ill, and his illness did not take long to take on a particular character of gravity. One evening when the religious had gathered around him, to express to him by their sighs and tears the sorrow they felt, they thought they perceived the first signs of the agony, and moved away to some distance, as if to escape sad farewells. At that very moment, a bright light spread over the body of our Saint, and his beautiful soul went to enjoy an even brighter light in the bosom of his God. It was September 25, around 670.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

His disciples buried him with honor, and deposited his remains next to the remains of Waldelene, inside the church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. From the day of the burial, the religious of Cusance rendered a sort of private cult to Ermenfroi: a lit lamp was suspended over his tomb, and the Lord deigned to manifest by a striking wonder that this cult was pleasing to Him: for the lamp remained lit for several years, and the oil, far from diminishing, overflowed each day in sufficient quantity to maintain a second lamp, with which the monks' church was lit. The biographer who recounts this fact assures that he had the good fortune to be a witness to it.

As for most of the other miracles performed at the tomb of our Saint, he declared that because of the humble and modest tastes of the ancient religious, who preferred the cultivation of the land to the cultivation of letters, he could not obtain a written account of all the facts. However, he cites a few, which oral tradition has preserved, and which suffice to attest to the power of Saint Ermenfroi before God.

Nevertheless, he had his altar and office at Cusance; but, according to the testimony of Mabillon, he was particularly honored at Luxeuil, and, in the year 1691, his feast was still celebrated there under the semi-double rite. It is fixed for September 25 in the diocese of Besançon. Trithemius, Bucelin, du Saussay, H. Menard, and Chastelain make mention of him under this date. Several parishes have been established under the patronage of this holy abbot.

His precious remains, after having been kept for a long time in the monastery of Cusance, were then transported to Santoche (Doubs, arrondissement of Bau me-les- Clerval Town where the saint's relics are kept. Dames, canton of Clerval), in the church of his patrimonial lands. This parish was saintly jealous of the deposit that had been entrusted to its care; and it kept it until the beginning of the 17th century with great veneration. When the Swedes invaded Franche-Comté, the relics were brought to Clerval to shelter them from the profanations of the enemy.

What remains of them today is kept with honor in this town. Father Guillaume, parish priest of the place, had an authentic recognition of these precious relics made and enclosed them in an elegant reliquary.

We have extracted this biography from the Life of the Saints of Franche-Comté, by the professors of the Saint-François-Xavier college of Besançon; they themselves drew it from the Life of Saint Ermenfroi, written, about forty years after his death, by Egilbert, one of h Egilbert Disciple and first biographer of Saint Ermenfroi. is disciples, provost of the monastery of Cusance.