Saint George of Velay

After the Ascension of the Savior , the blessed Georg bienheureux Georges First bishop of Velay and disciple of the apostles. e, one of the seventy-two disciples of Jesus Christ, attached himself in Rome to the apostle Saint Peter who, after baptizing him, sent him to the Velay as a missionary: this was in the year 46 of Jesus Christ. While he was traveling toward this region with Saint Front, Bishop of Périgueux, and several other missionaries, he died a sudden death at Bolsena (Vulcini, a city in the Papal States, on the shores of the lake of the same nam e). The blessed F bienheureux Front First bishop of Périgueux, object of the devotion of Astier. ront, deeply afflicted by this event, returned to Rome and tearfully recounted to the apostle Peter what had happened to George. Peter consoled Front and gave him his bâton Instrument of the resurrection of George, shared between the Velay and the Périgord regions. staff, which he ordered him to place on George's tomb. Scarcely had Front done so when George was resurrected, although he had been buried for six days. Such a great miracle, accomplished before many people, led several to embrace the faith of Christ and to ask with humility and eagerness for the waters of regeneration. Furthermore, in that very place where Saint George had returned to life, a church was built in memory of this prodigy and in honor of the holy disciple of Jesus.

From there, after crossing the Alps, George and Front arrived in Velay, entered its capital (Ruessiu m, today Ruessium Former capital of the Velay and place of ministry of Georges. Saint-Paulien), announced Jesus Christ with zeal, and resolutely threatened with eternal punishment those who worshipped idols. The lord of the place, indignant at the novelty of this doctrine, incited the pagans against George, who drove the holy apostle out after beating him with rods and stoning him. But he courageously strove to appease these barbarians with the sweetness of his words. Soon, armed with the sign of the cross, he entered the temple of the idols, and, as the demons were crying out loudly, he ordered them to be silent and to leave, which they did immediately.

After winning this victory over hell, George counted among his most devoted friends those who had previously been most opposed to him, so much so that many, having been baptized, destroyed the idols and tore down their altars. The supernatural gift of healing the sick that this man of God possessed contributed greatly to increasing the number of conversions, and before returning to the city, he had won fifteen thousand people to Jesus Christ. He drove the idols from the temple of the demons that was in the city and consecrated this temple to the blessed Mary, whose praises he took care to celebrate frequently in his discourses. In this new church, dedicated to the most holy Mother of God, he deposited a portion of the staff whose touch had resurrected him, the other half having been taken by Front to Périgueux. A violent persecution having arisen, George and Front reunited and went to Marseille, to the blessed Martha. After a few days spent in prayer, the Saint persuaded both of them to return to their respective Churches, assuring them that they would soon enjoy tranquility there.

George was then consecrated bishop by Saint Front. Some time later, as he was celebrating Mass in his church of Ruessium, he saw Saint Front arrive near the altar, shining like the sun, covered in rich vestments, his brow encircled by a double crown, accompanied by three deacons, two children carrying a candle in their hand, and a legion of angels: the bishop of Périgueux had come to remind George of the promise he had made to him to attend his funeral if he survived him. (74 AD.)

Returning from Périgord, this holy prelate detoured through various provinces where he converted and baptized a great number of people.

Around this time, the Queen of Heaven made known to him the desire she had to be honored, in the centuries to come, at the place where one now sees her sanctuary, at the foot of the Corneille rock, near the city of Le Puy.

If one is to believe an ancient tradition collected by Abelly, Bishop of Rodez, George also came to preach the Gospel in Annec Annecy Central city of his episcopal ministry. y, and the first chapel of Notre-Dame de Liesse was the fruit of his preaching. "The blessed George," says Abelly, "came to instruct the peoples who inhabit the shores of Lake Leman, today called Lake Geneva. He preached in various places, mainly in the city of Annecy, with such success, that not only did he persuade the inhabitants of this city to embrace our religion, but, furthermore, he inspired in them a particular devotion towards the Mother of Jesus Christ; in such a way that this good people, having demolished and torn down with great zeal an idol of Apollo, which was worshipped in this place, built there a church in honor of the most holy Virgin, where, through her intercession, God then performed and continues even now to perform many miracles."

However, our ven erable prelate s vénérable prélat First bishop of Velay and disciple of the apostles. uccumbed under the weight of years; he had evangelized the Velay and sown the word of God even into the neighboring provinces; he had established there on unshakable foundations the worship of Jesus and that of his holy Mother. Saint Saint-Paulien Former capital of the Velay and place of ministry of Georges. -Paulien had been the principal theater of his apostolic labors: he happily ended his days there amidst the regrets of his flock. It was the 10th of November in the year 84, according to the martyrology of Le Puy.

In the establishment dir ected by the Ladies of Dames de l'Instruction Congregation that preserves the relic of the staff in Le Puy. Instruction in Saint-Paulien, one notes three very ancient paintings (from the 15th or 16th century) measuring about one meter high by one and a half meters wide, which formerly belonged to the collegiate church of Saint-Georges. One sees represented there the principal epochs of the life of Saint George. In one, he is shown receiving his mission from Saint Peter at the same time as Saint Front; in another, he is seen emerging full of life from the tomb, at the mere touch of the staff that the apostle of Périgord holds in his hands; finally, in the third, he announces the new religion to the Vellaves.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

According to the report of Bernard Goldonis, a 14th-century writer, Saint George was buried in a church that he had himself dedicated to the most holy Virgin in the capital city of the Velay (consequently in Saint-Paulien, as we have said). He remained there until the 9th century.

Around 880, Norbert, brother of the Count of Poitiers, was Bishop of Le Puy Le Puy Birthplace of the saint in France. . However, he had had as a competitor for the episcopal seat the Abbot Vital, brother of the Viscount of Polignac. He therefore found himself troubled by the Viscount. For the sake of peace, Norbert ceded the town of Saint-Paulien to Polignac, on the condition, however, that the bodies of Saint George and Saint Marcellinus be removed from it beforehand and transferred to Le Puy. The ancient martyrology of Le Puy indeed marks this translation on the 11th of the Kalends of January.

It was appar ently this same Norbert w saint Hilaire de Poitiers Bishop of Poitiers and Doctor of the Church, patron of Triaise. ho received the body of Saint Hilary of Poitiers at Le Puy and placed his bones with those of Saint George in the church of that name; at least they were found there in the same tomb in 1162, when Peter IV, Bishop of Le Puy, with the advice of his clergy and at the request of the clerics of the church of Saint-George, opened this tomb, which was then located behind the altar.

With the relics of these two Saints, two marble tablets were found, one of which bore this inscription: *Hic requiescunt membra sancti ac gloriosissimi Georgii episcopi*; and the other this one: *Hic requiescunt membra sancti ac gloriosissimi Hilarii Pictussensis episcopi*.

The bishop placed these same relics, as well as an act on parchment provided with his seal and which set out the main circumstances of this recognition, in a wooden reliquary trimmed with iron, which he deposited in the stone tomb. He also deposited a copy of this act in the archives of the church of Saint-George, to serve as a document for posterity. The Bishop of Le Puy, at the request of the Canons of Saint-George, opened the tomb of their patron saint again in 1428, and drew up an act of this opening.

Since that time, we see no more elevation of these holy relics, M. Olier Founder of the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice. until the one that took place in 1655, at the request of M. Olier, founder of the Saint-Sulpice seminary, and then parish priest of the church of Saint-George of Le Puy.

"In the altar of Saint-George, a large chest divided into three parts was found," reports M. de Bretonvilliers, successor to M. Olier, who was present; "in one was the body of Saint George entirely, that is to say all the bones, with a small marble tablet where this inscription was: 'Here rest the bones of the glorious Saint George, first bishop of Velay'. In the second part, the body of Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, was found, which had been sent to Le Puy during the wars of the Middle Ages by a Count of Poitiers, brother of the Bishop of Le Puy, so that it would be in greater safety. The body was found, with the exception of various bones that were missing. The bones were all black; which confirms even more the authenticity of this holy relic, since the tradition of Poitiers is that this body was burned. In the third part of the chest were the linens in which these bodies were wrapped when the Bishop of Le Puy, five hundred years ago, made the opening of the altar. He left these linens there with a box containing a report on parchment of the circumstances of this opening, and of the state in which he had found the bodies of these two great Saints. He had deposited in the treasury of his Church a very similar parchment, which made mention of the first one enclosed in the reliquary. The latter was found there, as I saw it myself, as white as if it had been put there recently, although it had been there for five hundred years."

The great devotion of M. Olier for Saint George and Saint Hilary revived throughout the Velay piety towards these Saints, especially towards Saint George, the apostle of this region. "If the seminary of Le Puy had served no other purpose," wrote M. de Bretonvilliers a few years later, "than to have rendered to Saint George and Saint Hilary, whose relics rest in this church, the honor that has been rendered to them since its establishment, it would not have contributed little to the glory of God."

The body of Saint George and that of Saint Hilary, preserved for so long in this church, were unfortunately dispersed during the Revolution. However, two bones of Saint Hilary and one of Saint George are still kept in Poitiers, which were given in 1657 to the deputies of the Chapter of Saint-Hilaire, and it is even to be noted that the bone of Saint George, which was joined out of generosity to the relics of Saint Hilary, is the most significant relic that we possess today of this apostle of the Velay.

The diocese of Le Puy celebrates the feast of Saint George on the Sunday after the octave of All Saints.

According to local traditions, the very staff of S aint Peter, given to Saint bâton même de saint Pierre Instrument of the resurrection of George, shared between the Velay and the Périgord regions. Front to be the instrument of the resurrection of Saint George, was of a very rare wood, known by the name of ironwood, or wood of the islands; this staff was shared between Saint Front, who took the upper part, and Saint George, who received the lower half, the one that rested on the ground. After having been preserved in the church of Saint-Paulien from the time when Saint George deposited it there until the Revolution of 1793, this latter half of the staff is today in the hands of the nuns of the Instruction of Le Puy.

In Périgueux, the tradition of the resurrection of Saint George by Saint Front, by means of the staff of Saint Peter, is still vivid in the memory of the faithful. The part carried to this city by Saint Front disappeared in the revolutionary turmoil. No trace of it can be found today. In recent times, eminent priests of the diocese of Périgueux, who made the journey to Le Puy to venerate the half of the staff of Saint Peter that this diocese possesses, have expressed the pious desire to see it shared with them, the precious deposit remaining in the hands of the Ladies of the Instruction.

Abbé Pergot, regarding the authenticity of this half of the staff of Saint Peter still preserved in Le Puy, published in his Life of Saint Front an interesting notice due to the pen of a learned and modest Sulpician who was, a few years ago, director at the seminary of Le Puy. The author of this writing demonstrates: 1st that the church of Saint-Paulien always, from Saint George until the Revolution of '93, truly possessed the half of the staff of Saint Peter left by Saint Front in the hands of Saint George; 2nd that the half of the staff possessed today by the nuns of the Instruction of Le Puy is indeed the half formerly kept in the collegiate church of Saint-Paulien.

We have given almost textually the legend of Saint George as it was inserted in the Breviary of Le Puy in 1661, and as it was recited by the priests of the diocese until 1793. — The apostolicity of the Church of the Velay has been victoriously demonstrated, against the partisans of the anti-traditional school, by Abbé Fragère, member of the academic society of Le Puy, in a brochure that he published in Le Puy in 1869, under this title: Apostolicity of the Church of the Velay. This work is highly appreciated by the scholarly world. We have made numerous borrowings from it; but, not having wished to touch upon the question of polemics which does not precisely fall within our framework, we refer our readers to this precious work.

As for the facts that we have recorded under the title of Cult and Relics, we have drawn them from authentic sources, such as the Unpublished Monuments, published by Abbé Faillon, the Life of Saint Front, by Abbé Pergot, etc., etc.