Saint Remi of Lyon

The times were then difficult for the Church of France. Stripped of part of its goods by the misdeeds of war, weakened in its discipline by the very fault of its pastors, it had at least preserved its faith in all its purity, when a German monk, named Gottschalk, came to disturb this peace with inopportune discussions. He was condemned in a council held at Quierzy (849), deposed from the order of priesthood, publicly whipped, and relegated to the prisons of the monastery of Hautvillers. Saint Remi showed on this occasion as much zeal as prudence. He addressed to Hincmar, Archbishop of Reim s, a work entitled: *Treatis Hincmar, archevêque de Reims Archbishop of Reims and opponent of Remigius on the question of predestination. e Concerning the Three Letters*, in which he complains of the cruel manner in which this unfortunate monk was treated, and proves that several things for which he was reproached were the very teaching of the holy Fathers; that others were free opinions, adopted by the most respected men in the Church, and that, on one point only, Gottschalk was evidently condemnable, if he maintained that we have free will only to do evil, but that we do not have it to do good. Saint Remi exposes in a luminous manner the doctrine of Saint Augustine on the predestination of grace. "There are very few writings from this century," says Dembivet, "where there is more theology, more order, more method, more strength of reasoning, more erudition, more clarity and precision of style." The somewhat too ardent zeal of Hincmar could not accommodate these temperaments; but he forgot that truth is persuaded and not commanded. He assembled a new council at Quierzy-sur-Oise (853), and had four articles drafted there to which Saint Remi responded (854) with the book entitled: *On the Necessity of Adhering Inviolably to the Truth of Holy Scripture and Following Faithfully the Authority of the Fathers of the Church*. The following year (855) he convened a council at Valence, and had the doctrine he had developed in his works confirmed there. The bishops who composed this assembly condemned the four articles of Quierzy. Saint Remi, in pronouncing the dogma of grace, pronounced, with the other bishops, anathema to anyone who would deny human freedom and profess that, by divine power, someone is predestined to evil as if he could not do otherwise. The six canons of doctrine drafted in this council were inserted into those of the Council of Langres, which Saint Remi presided over in 829, and Pope Nicholas I gave them his approval. But all these struggles that the holy bishop contained to defend the purity of the faith did no pape Nicolas Ier Pope who confirmed the titles of Raoul. t fail to sadden his soul, because he saw a kind of schism taking place in the episcopate of France.

Despite the disagreements that manifested several times between Saint Remi and Hincmar, these two great priests were always united by the bonds of priestly charity; they were then the beacons of the Church of France and the soul of the councils. There was, at that time, no imperative assembly of bishops that Saint Remi did not attend and often preside over. We find him, in 569, at the Council of Touzi, near Toul; at that of Soissons, in 595; and finally at those of Verheules (569), Attigny (570), and Douzi, near Mouzon (571).

Saint Remi's zeal for the general good of religion did not prevent him from looking after the particular interests of his diocese. The title of abbot, which he held, sufficiently testifies to the interest he took in monastic institutions, and he gave proof of this several times through the regulations he drew up in various councils. He especially desired to see the love of letters flourish in the cloisters alongside religious virtues, as it had been weakened almost everywhere by the misfortune of the times. Besides the two works we have mentioned, he composed a third, entitled: *Solution to a question touching the general condemnation of all men by Adam, and the special deliverance of the elect by Jesus Christ*. It is a dogmatic treatise in which he clearly discusses questions relating to predestination, according to the principles of Saint Paul and Saint Augustine. He also endeavored to reconcile Lothair II, Kin g of Lorrai Lothaire II King of Lotharingia whose divorce was a state affair handled by Ado. ne and Burgundy, who had repudiated his wife and married Waldrada, with the Holy See; but his zeal failed before the indelicacy of Pope Nicholas I and the ill will of the prince. Saint Remi also made several particular regulations for his church and established the congregation of the canons of Lyon, by subjecting the priests of Saint-Just to a particular abbot.

All these works, inspired by the purest zeal, won him the affection of all good people. After a life so well filled, God called him to Himself on October 28, 875, and his body was interred in the church of Saint-Just. His relics were raised from the ground in 1287, and transferred on December 16 to the cathedral church of Saint-Jean. His memory is honored on the day of his death, and he is invoked in the great litanies of the church of Lyon, along église de Lyon Episcopal see of Saint Eucher. with the other Saints of the diocese. Du Saussay and Charletsin mention him on October 28, and he is inscribed on the same day in the supplement to the Roman Martyrology of Ferrari.

Excerpt from the *Vie des Saints de Franche-Comté*, by the Professors of the Collège Saint-François-Xavier, of Besançon.