Saint Florent of Strasbourg

Several historians give Florent a companion, a holy priest named Fidèle, who later became the archdeacon of his church. Our Saint only left his cell from time to time to work for the salvation of souls. His zeal was crowned with complete success, and King Dagobert II, who was then living in his palace Dagobert II King of Austrasia in the 7th century. at Kirchheim, called him to court and showered him with favors. This prince had a daughter who was blind and mute, to whom the Saint restored sight and the power of speech. However, our Saint soon wished to return to his wilderness. His virtue shone there with the brightest luster, and Christians came to him from all sides to place themselves under his guidance. Florent, provided with the liberality of Dagobert, founded the monastery of Haslach half a leag ue from his cell and monastère de Haslach Monastery founded by Florent where his relics are kept. gathered his disciples there. History does not tell us how many years he spent thus at the head of his community; but after the death of Saint Arbogast and the refusal of Saint Wilfrid to accept the bishopric of Strasbourg, the king appointed Florent, whose holiness he had learned to know, to these important functions. The clergy and the people applauded this choice: but Florent, frightened by the weight of a responsibility that seemed to him beyond his strength, refused to accept; it took all the authority of the king and the insistence of the clergy to triumph over his stubbornness and overcome his modesty.

There was reason to rejoice at this happy choice: for Florent proved himself the worthy successor of Amand and Arbogast, leading the faithful in the path of the true faith and forming a religious and learned clergy. His labors earned him the name of the new apostle of Alsace. He fought with strength against idolatry, which was poorly subdued or rising from its ashes, uprooted accredited abuses, reformed disorders, and repressed the license of morals. The people, touched by his examples and drawn by the force of his eloquence, were converted; vice dared no longer show itself and became odious, because Florent knew how to make virtue lovable.

Fame soon published everywhere the wonders that the holy bishop of Strasbourg was working in Alsace, and attracted new anchorites from the depths of Scotland and Ireland, who flocked to enjoy the presence and examples of their former compatriot. The bishop, in order to settle them near him, had a hospice built for them outside the walls of Strasbourg, to which he added a church, which he dedicated to the apostle Saint Tho mas. This ho saint Thomas Hospice and church founded by Florent for Irish pilgrims. spice, first converted into a monastery, later became a chapter of canons, which was long famous for the great number of Alsatian nobles who entered it, and many of whom were raised to the episcopal see of Strasbourg.

It appears that Saint Florent knew the moment of his death through a particular revelation: he then had his clergy assembled and announced to them that his end was near. Like a tender father, he reiterated to his disciples of Haslach and Saint-Thomas the lessons he had given them, and exhorted them to be faithful to their vocation. Then, addressing the clergy of his cathedral, he likewise recommended that they scrupulously fulfill the obligations imposed by the ecclesiastical state. The holy pontiff died, according to ancient martyrologies, breviaries, and calendars, on November 7, around the year 603.

Saint Florent is represented: 1st, surrounded by various animals. As he cultivated a small plot of land near his hermitage and the beasts of the forest were causing damage there, it is claimed that he forbade them from crossing the enclosure, and that these animals, respecting his order, stopped near there, even gathering there, without exceeding the limits marked by the hermit; 2nd, healing the daughter of the King of Austrasia, as we have reported; 3rd, mounted on a donkey. Dagobert having sent him a horse, with the request to come to the palace, the Saint would have no other mount than his donkey, and his humility was rewarded by miracles; 4th, carrying a small church in his hand, as a founder of abbeys.

He is invoked in Strasbourg against hernias and kidney stones; we have not succeeded in understanding the reason for this confidence.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS. — MONUMENTS.] His body was first buried in the church of Saint-Thomas. Public tributes accompanied the blessed prelate to the tomb, and the day of his funeral rites almost immediately became the first day of his cult. His feast was celebrated throughout the diocese of Strasbourg at the beginning of the 9th century, and it was then that Bishop Rachion l'évêque Rachion Bishop of Strasbourg who translated the saint's body in the 9th century. transferred his body from the church of Saint-Thomas to that of Haslach. Several miracles occurred during this translation. The religious of Saint-Thomas were singularly afflicted to see themselves deprived of this relic, and, to compensate for it and attract the crowd again, which no longer visited their church since this translation, they resorted to a fraud, which religion disapproved of as much as morality. They spread the rumor that Bishop Rachion had indeed attempted to remove the body of Saint Florent, but that he had found a way to hide it at Saint-Thomas, and that thus it was still preserved in their church. This claim, despite its falsehood, found credit with the people, and Bishop Darcard, wanting to put an end to the deception and make the truth triumph, went to Haslach with Berthold, custodian of the cathedral and provost of Haslach, Meinhard, abbot of Marmoutier, and Offen, abbot of Altorf. The tomb of Saint Florent was opened in their presence on October 26, 1143, and the entire body was found there. Darcard had a public act drawn up of everything that had happened and imposed silence on the claims of the canons of Saint-Thomas; but the latter, far from renouncing them, maintained that they had only kept the head and even exposed it to public veneration. Bishop Berthold of Buchock, in order to repress these abuses, published two mandates, on November 22, 1350, and March 5, 1353: it required imperial authority to maintain the collegiate church of Haslach in possession of the entire body of Saint Florent.

Emperor Charles IV wa L'empereur Charles IV Emperor who attended the opening of the tomb in 1354. s in Alsace at that time; having come to Molsheim on November 6, 1353, and having learned that the feast of Saint Florent was to be celebrated the following day at Haslach, he went there, accompanied by Gerlach, Archbishop of Mainz, Albert, Bishop of Würzburg, and John of Lichtenberg, his secretary, provost of the Strasbourg Cathedral. He had the reliquary of Saint Florent opened, which was enriched with gold and silver: the entire body of the Saint was found within; the most authentic titles decided in favor of the tradition, and the monarch, after having an act of this visit drawn up, attested that the body of Saint Florent existed at Haslach and nowhere else, threatening with his royal indignation those who would claim otherwise.

The canons of Haslach, in gratitude, presented him with the right arm of the blessed pontiff, and the emperor took this relic to Prague. Five years later, Archduke Rudolph, Landgrave of Alsace, obtained half of the left arm of the holy bishop.

The reliquary of Saint Florent was removed from Haslach in 1525 by George Schulleiss of Rosheim, who had placed himself at the head of th e revolting peas rustres révoltés Peasant revolt of 1525 during which the reliquary was looted. ants. After throwing out the venerable bones, he transported it to the Commandery of Saint-Jean near Dorlisheim, where he shared with his soldiers the gold, silver, and precious stones with which it was enriched. The body of Saint Florent was later found and replaced; it was preserved from the disasters of the Revolution, and is still today in the church of Haslach an object of the veneration of the people.

The church of Haslach, founded by Saint Florent, was falling into ruins during the 11th century, and its reconstruction was begun in 1274. This work was interrupted in 1287 and resumed in 1294. Its direction was entrusted to one of the sons of the famous Erwin of Steinbach, architect of the portal of the Strasbourg Cathedral, and it was not completed until 1335. The western facade, surmounted by an elegant spire, was deprived of this ornament by the Swedes who set fire to this church in 1633 and destroyed the canons' buildings at the same time.

The church, built in the Gothic style, has three naves. The choir, which is very deep, is divided into two parts. At the entrance to the sanctuary, one can see the tomb of Saint Florent, and below it, that of Bishop Rachion, who had the relics of the Saint transferred to Haslach. Connoisseurs admire the stained glass windows of the choir, which are of great beauty and painted with much delicacy.

Excerpt from Les Saints de l'Alsace, by Abbé Hunckler. — Cf. Bucelin, Germania Sacra; Louis, Vie de saint Florent; Grandidier, Histoire de l'Église de Strasbourg.