Saint John of Réome

Instructed by experience, he added a few prescriptions to the rule; he forbade the entry of seculars into the conventual church, as indicated by the following fact: A man from Mémont, Agrestius, entered the choir on a Sunday in order to receive communion from the hand of Saint John. — "Leave," the blessed one said to him, "you cannot do so." — And as he insisted, saying that he had come from afar: — "It is not malice that makes us act this way toward you, we only wish to observe our rule and not incur blame." Agrestius left, but while blaspheming in his heart.

The following night, Saint John appeared to him in a vision, looking calm and recollected; he held in his right hand "the most precious pearl of the divine Eucharist."

— "Know," he said to him, "that if you had not blasphemed, Our Lord would have given you spiritually his body and his blood, even outside of sacramental communion; but, in punishment for your sin, this grace is refused to you." Agrestius, confused and repentant, ran the next morning to throw himself at the knees of the blessed one, who blessed him and sent him away forgiven.

At that time, he had Sai nt Seine as saint Seine Saint who founded a monastery in the diocese of Langres. a disciple.

He loved the poor and took pleasure in relieving and instructing them. During a time of famine, he distributed all the abbey's provisions, and God, to reward his charity, miraculously multiplied the wheat he gave as alms. — "Take care not to speak of it," the blessed one said to the brother who witnessed this miracle, "lest the stain of pride come to wither the flower of this grace."

He met a barely clothed poor man who was searching the forest for berries to appease his hunger. — He was a man who did not like work. — The Saint said to him: Place your hope in the Lord and He Himself will feed you; take a liking to work, according to this advice of the Apostle, "that it is good that you have enough to suffice for your needs and provide the necessary for the indigent." Then, he made the sign of the cross on his chest and ordered him to return home. This man obeyed and set himself to work with such ardor that he never again lacked the necessities.

In one of these apostolic journeys, he was obliged to stop at Semur to spend the night; there, an impu Semur Place of refuge for relics and site of a miracle. dent woman dared to insult him. Frightened by this audacity, he pushed her away and fled. The unfortunate woman was then confused by her fault and obtained, by the prayers of the blessed one no doubt, the grace to repent.

In the almost wild desert of Réome, there was a lack of drinking water. There was indeed an old well of prodigious depth; but it was half-filled with stones, and an enormous serpent had made it its lair. Touched by the need of his brothers, this holy man, armed with the weapons of faith, advanced toward this place among his own who made sacred chants heard. He descended first into the well, a pickaxe in hand, digging the earth, while the witnesses of this scene believed he would meet his death. However, his example and his words reassured them; they worked in their turn; the serpent was found; the simple invocation of the name of God caused it to die; it was thrown out of the well, which was completed and provided abundant and pure water, which is still used today.

John preached the truths of salvation not only to his religious, but also to the surrounding populations. His mother, having learned that he was evangelizing a region, went there to see and embrace him. But he, taking literally this counsel of the Gospel: "He who does not leave his mother and father is not worthy of me," refused to speak to her. Fearing, however, to shake the faith of this holy woman, whom he knew to be full of the love of God, with too much harshness, he consented to pass before her among the crowd, so that her maternal eyes could contemplate this dear child up close; but he did not stop to speak to her. He had her told to lead a holy life here below, so that they might have the happiness of living together in heaven.

Like the solitaries of Egypt, those of Réome mortified the flesh through manual labor. One day, while they were pruning the trees of the forest near the monastery, the work finished, they left their axes there and returned. A man from the neighborhood took advantage of their absence to steal these work tools. When the Brothers noticed it, they were full of desolation and immediately went to confide their sorrow to the abbot, who told them to be full of confidence and to pray. As for him, he went to the forest, and after addressing God according to his custom, he saw a man running toward him at full speed, who threw himself at his feet and asked his pardon for having taken the monastery's axes. John raised him up, granted him not only the pardon for his fault, but also his blessing and eulogies.

It would be too long to recount the other miracles with which the history of John is filled. A slave having taken refuge in the monastery to escape the fury of his master, who was angered against him, John wrote to the latter on behalf of the fugitive. The master, having received this message with anger and even gone so far as to show contempt by spitting on the Saint's letter, was instantly punished by heaven; his mouth became incapable of taking any food, not even the Eucharist, for nine years. John had great power over demons and cast them out of the people they possessed. Illnesses were no less obedient to him. Water and bread, upon receiving his blessing, received the virtue of healing. His charity for the poor also deserved to be rewarded with wonders. At his voice, food would multiply to save the lives of the unfortunate. Kings, among others Clovis I, and many lords im itated Pro Clovis Ier King of the Franks, mentioned to date the existence of the church. vidence and took pleasure in increasing the Saint's resources and filling his monastery with riches. John, in the midst of these liberalities and honors, always humble and mortified, also prevented his own from falling into pride, ambition, avarice, and softness. His austerities did not prevent him from reaching the age of one hundred and twenty, like Moses, always full of vigor and health: neither his sight nor his memory, which had always been excellent, had weakened; he had not lost a single tooth; and, in a word, extraordinarily, he had, until the very last moment of his life, a mind and senses as sound as in the prime of his youth. According to the most probable opinion, he died in the year 545 and was buried in his monastery which, later, having passed into the hands of the Benedictines, was called Moutier-Saint-Jean, as was the to wn that for Bénédictins Religious order occupying the monastery of Honnecourt. med around it.

Saint John of Réome is depicted near a well, holding a kind of dragon in chains.

## RELICS OF SAINT JEAN DE RÉOME. His relics were first transferred, towards the end of the 7th century, from the place of his burial to the church of Saint-Maurice, from which the village has since been called Corsaint (holy body); a second translation took place in the time of Charlemagne; a third in the year 888. — Towards the end of the reign of King Charles the Fat, this precious treasure was carried to the Semur-en-Auxois Place of refuge for relics and site of a miracle. castle of Semur-en-Auxois, to be sheltered there from the insults of the Normans. It was finally brought back to his monastery of Réome around the year 911. The parish church of Moutier-Saint-Jean possesses an illustrio us relic of Sa chef vénérable Notable relic preserved at Moutier-Saint-Jean. int Jean de Réome: it is the venerable head of this great servant of God. It rests in a small reliquary with this inscription: *Os capitis sancti Joannis Romanesis*. Its authenticity was recognized by the Bishop of Dijon in 1842. People, whether from the parish or elsewhere, still come individually to prostrate themselves before this precious relic; but since the dispersion of the Benedictine monks during the Revolution of '93, there have been no more public festivals to honor the Saint. Of the entire magnificent and splendid chapel of the abbey, there remains only the side entrance door, through which the monks passed, and even this is all mutilated and as if framed in a barn wall. But it matters not, these precious remains give us an idea of the symbolic riches that once made the beauty of this door. Except for a wing of the house that was torn down, and some changes made to the interior, the main building is much as it was, and still in good condition for habitation. We have added this life to the collection of P. Gtry, using above all the Bollandists, Gregory of Tours, Baillet, and the *Sujets de Dijon*, by the Abbé Dupuis.