Saint Marcellus of Paris

Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitie Fortunat, évêque de Poitiers Bishop of Poitiers and biographer of Saint Marcellus. rs, who wrote his life, says that one day, having gone to a locksmith's shop (the reason for which is unknown), this rustic and inhumane craftsman pressed him to take into his hands a bar of red-hot iron to tell him how much it weighed. The holy young man, who was gentleness itself and knew not how to resist anyone, submitted to what he wished: he seized the bar, lifted it, and said that it weighed nine pounds. Three miracles burst forth in this action. The first, that he touched and handled this iron without burning himself; the second, that he lifted it easily notwithstanding its weight; the third, that he knew exactly what weight it was: for it effectively weighed nine pounds. Thus, the virtue and glory of Marcel grew equally with his age; and Prudence, his bishop, did not delay in making him a subdeacon, in order to have the happiness of using his ministry at the altar.

Heaven wished to applaud this election with two more wonders. On a day of the Epiphany, Marcel, pouring water on the hands of this prelate for the celebration of the holy mysteries, found that all the water in the vessel, which he had drawn from th e river Seine, had rivière de la Seine River flowing through Paris, site of the miracle of water turned into wine. changed into wine. Prudence had some put into the chalice for the consecration of the blood of Jesus Christ; and, after the mass, he had it distributed to the people for communion. However, it did not diminish, and the vessel remained as full as it was before. It was then given to several sick people, and it was a sovereign remedy for the healing of all their ailments.

Giving his bishop water to wash with another time, the water changed into a perfumed liqueur and a sort of chrism. It was a happy omen that one day he would himself receive the episcopal unction and that he would consecrate the chrism by the words of blessing that he would pronounce over it, just as he had produced it in a miraculous manner by the mere touch of his hands. But, before his promotion, God wished to honor him further with a new miracle upon the person of his bishop. There was in his cathedral a choirboy, called Mintuce, only ten years old, whos e voice Mintuce Altar boy with a melodious voice healed by Marcellus. was so charming that it delighted all who heard it. The archdeacon, wishing one day to have this satisfaction, ordered him to sing some antiphon as melodiously as he could; he did so, out of obedience; but the bishop, who had given this commission to another, was so indignant that he ordered this innocent to be whipped. His order was immediately executed; but hardly had Mintuce received the first blow, when Prudence became mute, without being able to utter a word. The child's cry closed his mouth and took away his faculty of speech. As this impotence lasted, Marcel, his subdeacon, had pity on him; and, after having humbly demonstrated to him that such a great evil had befallen him in punishment for a secret jealousy he had felt toward the angelic voice of his choirboy, he restored to him the speech he had lost.

Shortly after, God having called Prudence to Himself, and the ceremony of his burial having taken place in the chapel of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, where the church of Sainte-Geneviève was later built, the clergy and the people of Paris unanimously elected Marcel as their pastor. He had great difficulty consenting to this election, of which his humility persuaded him he was unworthy; but the more he tried to defend himself against it, the more all the notable people in the city wished to live under his guidance. He was finally forced to yield, so as not to oppose the will of God, who had chosen him in heaven before men had elected and named him on earth. He immediately applied himself with admirable fervor to all the functions of his office: to the conversion of sinners, to the instruction of the ignorant, to the reconciliation of those he found in the sentiments of true penance, to the visiting of the sick, to the relief of the poor, to the aid of prisoners, to the administration of the sacraments, to the judgment of lawsuits, and he worked to maintain good friendship among his flock; and these actions of vigilance and charity so won him the esteem and love of his people that there was no one in Paris who did not honor him as their pastor and cherish him as their father.

This holy Prelate, noticing in his church a man burdened with chains, whom a heavenly virtue prevented from approaching the divine sacraments, asked him what he had done. This wretch replied that he was a great sinner and unworthy of the favors of divine mercy. The Saint urged him to confess, and, after absolution, he restored to him his freedom and the power to participate in the holy mysteries.

Furthermore, there was in Paris a lady of high standing who, having lived in disorder, also died in impenitence. Her crime was not unknown; but, because she was a Christian and had not been cut off from the body of the Church by excommunication, she was nonetheless buried in the common cemetery of the faithful. Scarcely was she in the ground when a serpent of monstrous size and appearance came from the wilderness, which was then around the city, dug up her grave, and made a retreat there to feed upon her corpse. It did not, however, devour it all at once, but returned often to finish consuming it. Meanwhile, as this animal began to infect the air, and those who lived near the cemetery, seized with terror, wanted to abandon their homes, our Saint, who was full of a truly paternal charity for his people, undertook to fight this public enemy alone, not with spears and arrows, but by the virtue of his prayers. He went to the place, which was outside the walls, and when the serpent returned, having struck it three blows on the head with his crozier and having wrapped his stole around its neck, he dragged it a league and a half from the city. The people, who saw this triumph from afar, rendered a thousand thanks to God and could not cease blessing Him for having given them a pastor of such great merit. The Saint then commanded the serpent to remain in the wilderness or to go and throw itself into the sea without ever appearing around Paris; his word was so effective that, from then on, one heard no more of this monster.

This is all that antiquity has preserved for us that is memorable regarding the life and great deeds of this glorious bishop. He happily completed his course in the exercise of all evangelical virtues and died in the midst of his clergy, laden with years and merits. This was on the first of November in the year 436.

He is represented holding his crozier, and behind him an enormous dragon.

## CULT AND RELICS.

The feast of Saint Marcel is usually only celebrated on the third day of November, because the first is occupied by the solemnity of All Saints and the second by the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. We say usually, because when the second day falls on a Sunday, the feast of Saint Marcel is celebrated. The body of the holy prelate was carried to a village near Paris, into a chapel dedicated in honor of Saint Clement, becau se of some re saint Clément Pope who ordained and sent Latuin on a mission. lics of that great Pope which had been transferred there, and God rendered his tomb illustrious and glorious through a great number of miracles. Saint Gregory of Tours reports a very famous one in his book, The Glory of the Confessors. The priest Ragnemode, who was later Bishop of Paris and held at the baptismal font Theodoric, son of Chilperic, being tormented by a very violent fever, obtained a perfect cure by spending an entire day in fasting and prayer at the foot of this blessed sepulcher. Bishop Equilin also writes that a girl was resurrected by the merits of Saint Marcel; but he does not say if it was before or after the death of our Saint.

In the time of Charlemagne, Roland, Count of Blay e, nephew o Charlemagne Emperor of the Franks and uncle of Saint Folquin. f that prince, wishing to honor the memory of Saint Marcel, had a beautiful church built at the site of his burial, which later became a collegiate church; it abandoned the name of Saint-Clement to take that of Saint-Marcel, as did the entire village, which subsequently became a faubourg of Paris. It is in this church that Peter Lombard, also Bishop of Paris, and Pierre Lombard Bishop of Paris and celebrated theologian buried in the church of Saint-Marcel. so famous under the name of Master of the Sentences, wished to be buried. His tomb could still be seen in 1685, raised from the ground with his figure in relief, two feet high.

The bones of Saint Marcel were also raised from the ground and placed in a precious reliquary, to be exposed there to the veneration of the faithful; but in the time of Philip Augustus, for fear that the English, who were then ravaging France, might seize the village of Saint-Marcel and carry off this reliquary, it was transported to the cathedral church of Paris. These precious relics were lost during the Revolution, and the rich reliquary that contained them became the prey of the despoilers of that unfortunate era. A portion of them is still found in the church of Longpont, a parish that was fo rmerly i Longpont Location where a portion of the relics of Saint Marcellus is preserved. n the diocese of Paris and which today is part of that of Versailles. In 1856, a new church was built on the Boulevard de l'Hôpital under the title of Saint Marcel, to whom the church of the Maison-Blanche, on Rue Fontainebleau, is also dedicated. He is one of the three titular patrons of the capital.

Fortunatus and Gregory of Tours are the two authors we have used to compose this biography. — Cf. La France pontificale, by Fisquet.