Saint Angadrisma of Renty

As she soon came to know the advantages of virginity over marriage, and how much more glorious it is to have a God for a spouse than to subject oneself to a man who is changeable and subject to death, she bound herself by a vow to keep it all her life; and, so that the flesh would not have the strength to rise against the spirit, she weakened it through fasts, vigils, and other austerities that her fervor inspired in her.

However, the Count, her father, who knew nothing of her consecration, seeing her of an age to be m arried, Ansbert Metropolitan of Aquilin who convened the Council of Rouen. betrothed her to Ansbert, son of Siwin, a gentleman of great merit and a rich lord of Chaussy near Mantes.

Angadrème was very surprised by this engagement, which had been made without her knowledge; but as she had a deep respect for all her father's wishes, and feared greatly to displease him, she did not resist the proposal he made to her; resting all things on the care of divine Providence, she pretended to be willing to have Ansbert as a husband. Ansbert, for his part, did not want a wife, and it was only respect for paternal authority that made him consent to this marriage. They therefore communicated their feelings to one another, and, seeing that both were resolved to keep their chastity inviolably, they addressed themselves to the Father of mercies, and prayed to Him with great insistence to inspire them as to what they should do for the accomplishment of this design. The blessed Angadrème, in particular, asked Our Lord that it might please Him to make her so disfigured that she would not be the object of the love of any mortal man.

We have already noted, in the life of Saint Ansbert, that her prayer was answered, that her face appeared all of a sudden covered with leprosy, and that, the doctors seeing no remedy for this ailment, it was resolved between the parents that they would not proceed further and that the marriage proposals would be broken off; Angadrème, moreover, frankly confessed to her father that she had vowed her virginity, and that it was for this reason that the Son of God, who had chosen her as His spouse, did not want her to be possessed by another.

After this break, which no one opposed, Angadrisma, who had apparently been brought to the lord Siwin, was led to Saint Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen, of saint Ouen Author of the eulogy and life of Saint Aurea. whom she humbly requested the veil of virgins: the holy archbishop granted it to her willingly, and then, by a marvel of divine power, she appeared to the sight of everyone perfectly healed of her leprosy, and her former beauty was restored to her with such advantages that it was easy to see that she had only lost it because the Son of God wanted her for Himself alone. Then Saint Ouen, who took particular care of her conduct, placed her in a community of holy virgins in his diocese, to be formed there in all the practices of religious life. She appeared in the midst of these earthly angels like a sun in the midst of the stars. Her humility, her patience, her submission of spirit, and her charity were admirable. She was the first at all spiritual exercises, and the last to take relief and to excuse herself from the burdensome duties of the community. Such a brilliant virtue caused her to be transferred to a famous abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict, which was called the Oratory, or, according to the man Ordre de Saint-Benoît Monastic order to which the Abbey of the Oratory belonged. ner of speaking of that time, the Oroer of the Virgins.

It is believed that this was for her to be the superior. However, her modesty made her refuse this rank, of which she deemed herself unworthy. She remained there for some time as a simple nun, until, her prudence and holiness continually casting new brilliance, the sisters, delighted by such great virtue, finally obliged her to take charge of them.

The wisdom of her government soon showed that this choice came from heaven. She was more a mother through the maternal care she had for her daughters than by the title of her dignity as abbess. Her example was the living rule of her monastery: she ordered nothing that she did not also do herself, or that she was not disposed to do, if the sisters had permitted it. Finally, she made her abbey flourish more by the brilliance of regular observance than by the abundance of goods and the great number of noble daughters who came to place themselves under her discipline.

At that time, enclosure had not yet been introduced into convents as it is now. Thus, our Saint, having the freedom to go out, did so only for acts of piety and to visit the tombs of the holy martyrs Lucian, Maximian, and Julian, who planted the faith in the Beauvaisis at the cost of their blood and their lives. She also had a singular respect for Saint Evrou, whose relics were kept in her church, dedicated under the name of Our Lady. It is said that, when a fire broke out in this sacred place, she had the courage to take these holy bones and hold them against the violence of the flames, which threatened the building with a general conflagration: this had such a happy outcome that the fire was extinguished at that very instant. This miracle must undoubtedly be attributed to the merit of the holy confessor; but the faith of Angadrème also contributed much to it; God wished to honor, by the same prodigy, a Saint who was already reigning with Him in heaven, and a Saint who served Him faithfully on earth. She performed many other miracles, the details of which have not come down to us.

For thirty years, Angadrisma governed her monastery with admirable wisdom. Through her patience, her gentleness, her austerities, and her absolute detachment from earthly things, she constantly edified the humble daughters of whom God had established her as mother. Before dying, she wished to inspire in them one last time, by her example, the sentiments that must always animate Christian souls at the remembrance of their sins and miseries. "On the point of receiving my God and my Judge," she said to them, "I, your unworthy abbess, ask your pardon for all the bad examples I may have given you, and for the troubles of which I have been the cause for you. I do not deserve this pardon, I know it; but you will have pity on me and my weaknesses." She then received the divine Eucharist in a heart ablaze with love, and went to share in heaven the glory and joy of the elect. She died on October 14, towards the end of the 8th century, aged over eighty years. On some occasions she is represented standing in a nun's habit, on others receiving the Child Jesus into her arms from the hands of the Blessed Virgin.

## CULT AND RELICS.

Miracles did not take long to illustrate the tomb of Angadrème, and to make her name and cult famous throughout the region. In the 9th century, her relics, saved from the ravages of the Normans and carried into the church of Saint-Michel, preserved the ci ty of Beauvais fr ville de Beauvais City and diocese of the saint's origin. om the fury of these barbarians. Later, they protected it again against the devastations of the English. But it was especially during the memorable siege of 1472 that the people of Beauvais felt the effects of the Saint's protection. Eighty thousand Burgundians, led by Charles the Bold, were besieging Beauvais. A final assault, more decisive than the others, was about to overcome the courageous resistance of the besieged; the city was on the point of being taken and given over to pillage. Seeing that salvation could not come from men, the people of Beauvais turned their gaze toward heaven. They invoked the blessed Angadrème, who had already delivered them from so many perils. Her reliquary, which from the first day of the siege had been carried by young girls on the city ramparts, appeared there once again. At this sight, the courage of the valiant defenders of the city was revived, their strength was multiplied a hundredfold, and a warlike ardor seized the women themselves. At the height of the battle , a young gi Jeanne Lainé Heroine of the siege of Beauvais in 1472. rl, Jeanne Lainé, was seen attacking a soldier ready to plant the banner of Burgundy on the top of the wall, and, with a blow of an axe, knocking him into the ditch. The Burgundians, repulsed on all sides, retreated, leaving more than three thousand soldiers killed under the walls of the city, while the besieged had to lament the loss of only twenty-four men; which confirmed the people of Beauvais in the thought that God, through the intercession of Saint Angadrème, had come to their aid. After this victory, Jeanne Lainé, who would henceforth be called Jeanne Hachette, went to deposit at the Jacobin church the glorious banner she had taken from the enemy, and the reliquary of the Liberator was carried back triumphantly into the sanctuary of the church of Saint-Michel, which no longer exists today.

From that time on, the cult of Saint Angadrème, which Jean de Marigny, Bishop of Beauvais, had already revived in the year 1321, became more famous than ever. Louis XI wished for a solemn procession to recall, every year, the memory of the protection with which the Blessed one had covered the city. This ceremony still takes place today on the Sunday closest to June 27. The clergy of Saint-Etienne and the various chapels of the city join the clergy of the cathedral, with whom they proceed to the square of the Hôtel-de-Ville. The reliquary containing a portion of the relics of Saint Angadrème is carried solemnly in this procession.

Vie des Saints de Beauvais, by Abbé Sabatier; Local notes provided by M. Millière, Vicar General of Beauvais.