Saint Walfroy

Saint Walfroy, of Lombard origin, was born to Christian parents at the beginning of the 6th century. From his earliest childhood, he gave unequivocal signs of the eminent virtues and high perfection that grace would one day work in him. As he had often heard of Saint Martin, who was then, as he is to saint Martin Saint whose relics were honored by missionaries in Tours. day, held in singular veneration, he conceived a great devotion for this Saint. "I was still a child," he said, "when I heard the name of the blessed Martin pronounced. I did not know if he was a martyr or a confessor, nor which country had the happiness of possessing the tomb where his body rested, and already I was keeping vigils in his honor."

But Saint Walfroy understood early on that it is not enough to admire the virtues of a Saint, but that one must above all work to walk in his footsteps. Having taken Saint Martin as his protector and model, he studied to copy the most salient traits of his life. Following his example, he found his happiness in distributing to the poor what money he could collect: it is the glass of water which, given in the name of Jesus Christ, is filled with heavenly gifts. One of these most beautiful gifts granted to the young Walfroy was a predilection for fasting and mortification. His fidelity to this grace at such a tender age must have been very pleasing to God; this trial of a penitent life was undoubtedly the happy prelude to his great austerities. For it is an incontestable truth that the habits of childhood become those of our old age. It is important that from his earliest years the Christian child gives himself entirely to virtue; it is because Walfroy, like the young Samuel, was always ready to follow the movements of grace, that it worked miracles of virtue in him.

Ignorant of the place where the relics of Saint Martin rested, and increasingly desirous of finding this treasure so dear to his piety, Walfroy left his family and his homeland, set out for France, arrived in the vicinity of Limoges, and went first to the monastery of Saint-Yrieix, otherwise named Aredius, after the name of its founder. The int ention Arédius Abbot of Limousin and spiritual master of Walfroy. of the young Walfroy had been, in undertaking this journey, to satisfy only his devotion toward Saint Martin. But God had His designs for this privileged soul; He wanted to make him an apostolic man. An imitator of the virtues of the apostle of the Gauls, Walfroy would also be one of his labors.

While studying the humanities, Walfroy became attached to Aredius and placed himself under his direction. This holy abbot had recently moved away from the court of Theodebert, King of Austrasia, to lead a more retired and penitent life in his native land: neither the position of chancellor that he occupied at that court, nor the esteem and affection with which this prince honored him, could turn him from his resolution. A master so detached from the things of this world was well capable of guiding such a disciple on the path of perfection. Aredius took great care to instruct the young Walfroy in the truths of religion and to form his heart in virtue. He was not unaware that his disciple had a great devotion for Saint Martin, and that he ardently desired to visit his tomb; he promised him, in reward for his application to study, to lead him himself to Tours where the precious remains of the Blessed one were found.

Arédius, in fact, after having given his orders for the government of his monastery during his absence, took his young pupil and led him to the tomb of Saint Martin. There, both gave free rein to their piety and fervor. Walfroy, above all, could not tire of honoring and invoking a Saint whose relics he had before his eyes, and whom he had desired to see for so long. He would have liked to spend the rest of his days in that place, but the holy abbot who had led him there understood that his duty called him back to his monastery. However, before leaving, he wanted to make him know the full extent of the veneration he himself had for the holy patron of Touraine: having taken a little dust from his tomb, he put it in a reliquary that he hung around the neck of the young Walfroy. When they arrived at the monastery, Aredius took the reliquary with respect and placed it in his oratory. God, who delights in strengthening the faith of the just, had worked a miracle; this little dust had increased so much that it not only filled the capacity of the reliquary, but it spilled out through the joints. Seized with admiration at the sight of this prodigy, the master and the disciple began to thank God and to sing the praises of Saint Martin. "This miracle," said Saint Walfroy, "enlightened my mind with a brighter light, and confirmed all my confidence in the merits of the Saint."

Walfroy resolved from that moment to dedicate himself to the service of God; he opened his heart to Aredius, whom he rightly regarded as his guide in the ways of salvation. Far from dissuading him, the holy abbot encouraged him to follow the attraction of his vocation. After seeking the advice of this respectable master on the way of life he should embrace, he left the Limousin to go to the diocese of Trier, where Aredius himself had been formed in virtue by Saint Nicet.

He could not see without groaning a part of this country still given over to the worship of idolatry. A sterile compassion was not enough for his zeal; he resolved to work actively for the conversion of these infidels. But who was he to administer the bread of the Word? Virtue is not enough; one must be sent, and the laborers of the Lord require a recognized and legitimate mission. He therefore addressed hims saint Magneric Archbishop of Trier who ordained Walfroy as a deacon. elf to Saint Magneric, then Archbishop of Trier, who conferred upon him the power to preach by raising him to the order of the diaconate.

Saint Walfroy was, in the designs of God, to share with other courageous apostles the glorious mission of converting the peoples of Gaul-Belgica. Saint Sixtus and Saint Sinice, and after them Saint Eucharius of Trier and Saint Memmius of Châlons, had, from apostolic times, opened the way to the conversion of these infidels. Saint Rufinus and Saint Valerius then came to extend these initial conquests. Saint Martin himself, rightly called the Apostle of the Gauls, having been sent to Trier by Theodosius, catechized the peoples who were on his route; and by the brilliance of the miracles that accompanied his preaching, he had the happiness of seeing many pagans convert and of destroying the idols that still existed in several places. Saint Remigius, the most famous of all, had, through the conversion of King Clovis, dealt a terrible blow to idolatry in the Gauls. It is in the footsteps of these generous and heroic soldiers of Jesus Christ that Saint Walfroy resolved to annihilate what still remained of paganism in these regions.

On the highest of the mountains whose summit overlooks the rich valley of the Chiers stood an idol of the great Ardennes Diana. It was to this infamous divinity that the neighboring peoples came in crowds to offer their homage and adoration. It was on this mountain, which became forever famous, and not far from the colossal idol, that our Saint would come to raise his sacred tribune, thus attacking error at its very source. He did not remain alone on the mountain for long; the reputation for holiness he enjoyed soon attracted companions who, following his example and under his direction, embraced the cenobitic life. Aided by King Childebert, he had a monastery built there, and a church in honor of Saint Martin, which Saint Magneric came to dedicate.

However, the holy anchorite did not lose sight of the conversion of the idolatrous peoples who came to worship the idol of Diana. He beseeched the Lord to dispel their darkness and to make the sun of justice shine before their eyes. Continual prayer, excessive fasting, and very austere penance gave his words more than mere eloquence. This way of life was for these coarse peoples, given over to all manner of debauchery, a tableau reflecting the most heroic virtues, which contrasted strangely with their deeply corrupted morals. These rigid virtues of the man of God, united with evangelical sweetness and aided by the ineffable power of grace, were indeed of a nature to strike these children of error; this extraordinary life of the holy anchorite was a continual preaching in favor of the faith. For who other than the true God could have shown the world the incessant miracle of superhuman strength?

Saint Walfroy, after the complete conversion of the peoples located in the south of the diocese of Trier, gave himself over to the pious exercises of the cenobitic life. He had already been leading this way of life for more than twenty years when he was visited, as we have said, by Gregory of Tours. This prelate, as distinguished by his learning as by his holiness, did not limit himself in his travels to observing things with sterile and frivolous curiosity; his goal was, while instructing himself, to be useful to posterity; he therefore begged the holy deacon to tell him about his way of life on that mountain. The humble anchorite could not at first resolve to grant this satisfaction to the learned bishop; "spare me, I pray you," he said to him, "from giving you the details you ask of me." He resisted for a long time, but Saint Gregory of Tours implored him with such insistence, and pressed him so urgently to grant him this satisfaction, that he finally yielded. Here is how Gregory of Tours himself recounts, in his *History of the Franks*, the memorable conversation he had with Saint Walfroy:

"I found on the mountain where we are," said Saint Walfroy, "a statue of Diana that the inhabitants, still pagan, worshipped as a divinity. I, for my part, raised a column upon which I stood barefoot with horrible suff ering. colonne A form of asceticism consisting of living on top of a pillar. During the winter, I was seized by such cold that the nails of my feet split and fell off of their own accord, and the rainwater that ran down my beard froze there and hung in the form of icicles. My food was a little bread and vegetables, and my drink was water. Yet I experienced great satisfaction in the midst of my austerities.

"When I saw the people coming to my column, I preached to them that Diana, her idols, and the worship rendered to her were nothing; that the songs they sang in the midst of their debaucheries were unworthy things, and that they should rather address their homage to the almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. Often, too, I prayed to the Lord to overturn the impious image, and to deign to snatch this people from their error. The divine mercy disposed these coarse men to listen favorably to my words; the Lord heard me, and they were converted.

"I called some of the converts to help me overturn the colossus of Diana. I had indeed been able to break the small medals engraved on the base, but it had been impossible for me to overturn the statue, and I hoped to succeed with help. We took ropes and pulled with all our might; all our efforts were useless. Immediately I went to the church, and prostrate on the ground, I begged, with tears in my eyes, for the Lord to destroy by His power what human strength could not fell.

"My prayer finished, I came to rejoin my workers, we seized the rope, and, at the first pull, the idol was overturned. I broke it on the spot, and reduced it to powder with great blows of a hammer. At that very instant, and just as I was about to take my rest, my whole body, from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, was so covered with malignant pustules that one could not have found a space the width of a finger free of them. I entered the church, I rubbed myself with oil that I had brought from the tomb of Saint Martin, and almost immediately I fell asleep. Upon my awakening, which took place around midnight, at the moment when I rose to recite the divine offices, my body was as healthy as if I had never had the slightest ulcer. I recognized that the demon had struck me with this wound to take revenge for the destruction of the statue of Diana."

"When I had the consolation of seeing these remnants of paganism abolished, I climbed back onto my pillar, but I was not permitted to remain there for long; the bishops came to visit me there and said to me: The path you are following is not good, you are not comparable to Simeon of Antioch, the harshness of the climate does not allow you to endure such an austere way of life, descend as soon as possible, and dwell with your brothers whom you have gathered here.

"I descended, because one cannot without crime disobey the priests of the Lord. One day, when the archbishop took me to a rather distant village, he sent, during my absence, workers with axes and hammers who knocked down my pillar. The next day I found everything destroyed, and I began to weep; but I could not repair what was torn down without incurring the reproach of defying the orders of the bishops. — Since that time, I have been content to live with my brothers, just as I do now."

Such is the exact account of Saint Walfroy himself to Saint Gregory of Tours, and which we have made it a duty to report here in its entirety. In reading these lines where the great soul of the apostle-anchorite is fully revealed, one remains seized with astonishment and admiration. How the love of God and neighbor bursts forth under this simplicity of language! What ardent zeal! What an insatiable thirst for the most frightening austerities! What merits more pleasing to God than those which recalled the merits of his crucified Son! This pillar, an instrument of the most heroic penance, was a true Calvary that cried out for grace and mercy for wretches lost in the paths of error, and was not the entire life of the Saint a great and voluntary expiation offered to the Lord for the remission of their sins?

God had granted the prayers of his servant. These infidel peoples, once given over to all the horrors of debauchery and vice, had just passed from the tyrannical empire of the demon under the gentle yoke of Jesus Christ. The light had shone in the darkness, the faith had triumphed over the impious superstitions of paganism, and the grace of God, in spreading into the converted hearts, had disposed them to the practice of Christian virtues. Saint Walfroy, after a victory as complete as it was glorious, seems to have nothing left to do but rest: it will not be so. The mission of the Christian, here below, is to advance in the paths of virtue by struggling ceaselessly; his destiny is to rest only after having pursued his course until the final Calvary that God prepares for him.

The holy Apostle has just struck a terrible blow to the demon; he must expect new attacks from his enemy. The latter, indeed, irritated and jealous of a victory that took so many worshipers away from him, takes revenge by covering the body of the Blessed one with ulcers. Thus, when God wishes to raise a generous servant to the most sublime holiness, he makes him pass through the most humiliating trials and admits him to the participation of the bitter chalice of his humiliations and his opprobrium. Saint Walfroy, covered with ulcers from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, far from abandoning himself to complaints and murmurs, hastens to have recourse to prayer, an effective force against the jealous fury of hell.

The Saint, in climbing back onto his pillar, had believed he was obeying the inspirations of his conscience; his superiors asked him for an act of contrary obedience, and he descended immediately. It is always the submissive and resigned man, whatever his tastes or his repugnances may be; it is the true and perfect Christian, for whom obedience is dearer than sacrifice. Henceforth reunited with his religious of the mountain, he will edify them for the rest of his days by the practice of all virtues.

Saint Walfroy was engaged with his brothers of the mountain in the pious exercises of religious life, when God came to visit him with a new and final trial. The Chiers valley and the gorges of its tributaries did not cease in those unhappy times to be the theater of bloody and destructive wars. The Austrasian lords, almost always in revolt against Childebert, had just gathered at Bastogne to form a new plot against their sovereign. Among these conspirators was Duke Ursion. It is quite commonly believed that the duke was the cause of the ruin of the first monastery built on the mountain. Pursued by Godegisel, general of the King of Austrasia, he allegedly took refuge with his accomplices within the enclosure of the convent; they were besieged there and defended themselves with the energy of despair. In vain did Godegisel exhort them to surrender at discretion; he was forced to attack the sacred walls, and to carry iron and flame even into the sanctuary of Saint Martin! Saint Walfroy had the sorrow of seeing, before dying, his monastery destroyed and entirely ruined. However, despite his great age, he found enough energy to have a new one built in the same place.

Some authors have believed that Saint Walfroy had exercised the functions of dean of the Christendom of Ivoy. These functions consisted, in those ancient times, of inspecting a certain number of parishes, administering solemn baptism on the eve of Easter and Pentecost, visiting churches, and reporting their situation to the bishop. Gregory of Tours, who saw Saint Walfroy when he was already very old, does not say anywhere that he exercised these functions; he only gives him the quality of deacon; now, we see in the History of the Church that these deans were priests. Be that as it may, he was in the midst of his brothers when he ended his career. The precise time of his death is not known; some place it in 593; others push it back to the year 600, but all agree that God called him to Himself at a very advanced age, on the twenty-first day of the month of October.

The monastery rebuilt by Saint Walfroy flourished for four hundred years under the Rule of Saint Benedict; but the wars that occurred in the tenth century between the kings of France and the emperors of Germany, and notably between Lothair and Otto II, devastated the southern part of the diocese of Trier. The mountain of Saint-Walfroy and the surrounding places were often the theater of these events. The religious of the monastery themselves had much to suffer from these wars, and more than once they had to give way to the attacks of the enemy. It was in the midst of these sad circumstances that the church and the entire monastery became prey to the flames in the year 979. It was feared that the fire had not spared the holy relics, but by a striking prodigy, they were found intact, according to the word of the Prophet: "The Lord himself guards the bones of his Saints, and not one of them shall be broken."

This accident, which coincided with the invasions of the Normans, determined the Archbishop of Trier, Egbert, to order the translation of the relics to Ivoy, the only fortified city that existed then in the country. This ceremony took place on July 7 of the year 980, in the presence of an innumerable crowd of people; all the clergy of Ivoy and the surrounding areas went to the mountain to attend. The reliquary was removed with the holy body it contained, and the archbishop with his entire retinue set out to proceed processionally to Ivoy.

God, never ceasing to manifest the glory of his servant, illustrated this translation with a new miracle no less astonishing than the one that preserved this precious relic from the action of the flames. During a march of more than two leagues, says the Abbot of Tholey, an abundant rain fell that soaked all those attending the procession, yet did not reach the reliquary where the body of Saint Walfroy was enclosed, the water in its turn respecting what the fire had spared. This new miracle did not fail to restore the fervor of the attendees and singularly increased the confidence that the people had in the Saint.

Upon arriving at Ivoy, the archbishop had the reliquary deposited in the parish church. This church was located near the Saint-Georges fountain, that is to say, more than one hundred meters from the modern city, tod ay Carig Carignan Place of the saint's activity and burial, now known as Carignan. nan; but it was destroyed towards the end of the 19th century. Since that time, there is no mention in any document of the relics of Saint Walfroy, and the churches that possessed them in turn were successively destroyed in the various sieges that the city had to endure. Nevertheless, it was quite commonly believed that the church of Carignan still possessed them, at least in part, after the great Revolution. Indeed, an attempt was made in 1826 to ascertain the identity of certain bones saved from the ruins, under the supposition that they might have been those of Saint Walfroy. Unfortunately, it was not possible to reach a certainty; and the diocesan authority, when re-editing the proper office of the diocese of Reims during the restoration of the Roman liturgy, had these words inserted into the legend of Saint Walfroy, which the friends of the Saint will always read with sadness: "These precious pledges perished at the time of the French Revolution."

However, this most regrettable loss must in no way weaken or shake the confidence of the faithful: God sometimes permits, says Saint Bernard, that the bodies of his Saints be humiliated on earth, and that their relics disappear! It is sometimes also given to the beast (that is to say, to the demon), according to the language of the Scriptures, to make war on the Saints, and to prevail for a time. But what God does not permit is that their memory should perish: *In memoria æterna erit Justus*. The memory of Saint Walfroy and his benefits will live forever in the gratitude of the people. This is why the mountain beloved by the holy anchorite has not ceased to be visited by the misfortunes of this world, and it will always be dear to pilgrims, for it is the mountain of prayers and graces, the mountain of wonders and miracles.

Aware of the irreverence and desecrations being committed at the chapel, the ecclesiastical authority first had to forbid it and strip it of its religious character. It is only too well known in what state of destitution and poverty it had fallen for more than forty years. The zeal of His Eminence Cardinal Gouss et suffered from cardinal Gousset Cardinal-Archbishop of Reims who restored the pilgrimage in the 19th century. this deplorable state of affairs; but occupied at the time with founding several establishments required by the needs of his diocese, and which are due in large part to his beneficence, he found himself obliged to postpone the restoration of the work of Saint Walfroy. This postponement was not of long duration; the cardinal soon found new resources in his charity, and, with the help of the friends of the work, he was able to acquire and add this new establishment to those with which he had already endowed the diocese. The ancient and famous pilgrimage of the mountain returned to the common heritage of his many children, and, henceforth placed under the care of the ecclesiastical authority, it has regained its sacred and religious character. It is in this capacity that it presents itself to the veneration of the faithful and that it commends itself to their confidence.

The chapel of Saint Walfroy has been provisionally restored; the well-known intention of His Eminence is, as soon as resources permit, to have a more spacious one built, more worthy of the Saint. A priest of the diocese is in charge of serving the chapel. This clergyman has added a few assistants for the service of visitors who will find on the mountain, even for the night, a benevolent hospitality. A hostelry on the mountain was becoming almost a necessity for the pilgrims: among other advantages that they derive from it, they have that of preparing themselves from the day before to properly make their pilgrimage by attending Mass, instructions, and public prayers which take place every day at the chapel. They can also put this time to good use if they wish to confess; the chaplain has the charity to hear penitents at all hours that suit them.

The feast of Saint Walfroy is celebrated solemnly on October 21, the anniversary of his death. Every day of the novena that immediately follows this feast, pilgrims can attend Holy Mass, go to confession, and hear instructions.

Although the pilgrimage is open every day of the year, there are nevertheless special pilgrimage days or days of gathering, which are: June 25, the day of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste fair; — the first Tuesday of September; — Holy Thursday and Good Friday; — Easter Monday and Whit Monday; — the three Rogation days; — July 7, the day of the translation of the Saint's relics; — every Wednesday and Friday of the year; — and especially the Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent.

There exists in the chapel of Saint Walfroy a prayer association, which has as its goal: 1st the conversion of sinners; 2nd the sanctification of the holy days of Sundays and feasts; 3rd the extinction of blasphemy; 4th the relief of the sick and the afflicted; 5th good education; 6th the relief of the dying; 7th finally that of the souls in purgatory. To be part of this association, it is sufficient to give one's name and to recite each day for the proposed intention, a Pater, an Ave, and the following invocation: Saint Walfroy, pray for us and for all those who implore your protection.

We owe this notice to the kindness of Abbé Dumay, parish priest of Moulins, in the diocese of Verdun.