Saint Ceronne

The opportunity to put their plan into action did not take long to present itself. Immediately falling to their knees to commend themselves to Jesus Christ, they beseeched Him to send His angel to guide and protect them on their journey. They then left their father's house, crossed, at the cost of a thousand hardships, the provinces of southern Gaul, and arrived in Borde Bordeaux City and diocese of which Amand was bishop. aux where they had resolved to stop. They immediately went to present themselves to the bishop, explained to him the cause of their flight, and begged him to be willing to receive them into the number of catechumens. This pious bishop welcomed them with joy, had them instructed in the Catholic faith, and did not delay in conferring upon them holy baptism. Some time later, feeling called by the Spirit of God to a higher degree of perfection, they went again to find the bishop and shared with him the plan they had formed to dedicate themselves entirely to Jesus Christ. Sophronius humbly told him that he desired to spend his life working for the salvation of his brothers in the priesthood, and Saint Ceronne urgently asked him for the veil of virginity. The bishop, happy to see them so filled with the love of God, nevertheless deemed it appropriate to test them for some time. After ensuring that it was God Himself who inspired this resolution in them, he admitted Sophronius to the priesthood and gave the veil of virginity to Saint Ceronne. Having thus become the sister of the angels and the chaste spouse of Jesus Christ, the humble virgin thought only of despising the world and its vanities. She forgot the greatness and nobility of her origin, and placed all her glory in holy poverty.

Saint Céronne and her brother, having established their home in Bordeaux, lived there for quite some time in peace and happiness under the wing of the Lord. Full of humility, gentleness, patience, and charity for the poor, they edified all the faithful by their angelic life, and tasted by experience how sweet the Lord is to those who love Him. But the happiness of the Saints themselves on earth cannot be perfect, and the joys of this world are almost always mingled with tears. God, wishing to test the virtue of His servants and to make it shine even more in the eyes of men, permitted their life, so innocent and pure, to be the target of the arrows of slander. Some perverse men, stirred up by the enemy of God, published that Sophronius and Céronne were not brother and sister, that they only took this name to better cover their disordered life, and that the sole desire to live more freely in crime had led them to leave their homeland and their families. These two holy persons were greatly afflicted to see their innocent life tarnished in the eyes of the faithful by such an abominable slander. They bore this humiliation with patience, however, and offered to God this new sacrifice, more painful for them than all those they had already made to Him until then. What is indeed dearer to the Saints, after the grace of God, than their reputation, which the Holy Spirit Himself recommends we watch over? Thus, although none of the honorable people of the city gave credence to this slander, Saint Céronne and her brother, with the intention of stopping it more surely, took the resolution to separate forever.

Having therefore said goodbye to his sister with many tears, Sophronius went to Rome in order to visit the tombs of the Apostles, and d ied Rome Birthplace of Maximian. some time later in the odor of sanctity. As for Saint Céronne, she headed toward the north of Gaul, crossed several provinces, and, after many fatigues and dangers, from which she escaped through the protection of her good angel, she arrived in the diocese of Séez around the year 440. Having encountered, a sh ort distance fr diocèse de Séez Episcopal see and primary location of the saint's activity. om Mortagne, between the ancient city of Mont-Cacune a nd Mont- Mortagne Town near the saint's monastery. Romigny, a solitary place covered with woods, she felt as Mont-Romigny Site of a burial place and a church dedicated to the saint. if inspired to stop there and spend the rest of her days there. With this intention, she had a small cell built there to make it her dwelling. The innocence and holiness of her life soon attracted several pious persons to her, who, encouraged by her examples and instructions, courageously entered in her footsteps into the path of evangelical perfection. With the permission of the venerable Bishop Hile, who then governed the diocese of Séez, she gathered them in to a commun évêque Hile Bishop of Séez who authorized the foundation of Céronne. ity, and thus founded in this diocese the first religious house of which history has preserved the memory.

Saint Céronne then had a chapel built near her monastery, which the holy bishop dedicated to Our Lord under the patronage of Saint Mar cellus, pope and martyr, for saint Marcel, pape et martyr Pope to whom Ceronne had a great devotion. whom Saint Céronne had a great devotion. This chapel was not the only monument she raised to the glory of God. The authors who wrote her life report that she had another oratory built, opposite the chapel of Saint-Marcel, on the slope of Mont-Romigny, and at the very place where the church of Sainte-Céronne stands today. This place was almost every day a witness to the superstitious rites of the inhabitants of Mont-Cacune, who came there to deposit the ashes of their dead. Our dear Saint wished to sanctify it by having a chapel built there, where she came every day to pray to the Lord for the conversion of these poor idolaters.

Saint Céronne united the apostolic life with the contemplative life, and made every effort to attract the pagans of this region to Christianity. She spent part of her time instructing them in the truths of the faith, and the other part asking God for their conversion. She worked at this with such zeal that her instructions, her miracles, and above all her admirable examples of piety, patience, and detachment from earthly goods, brought about the conversion of almost all the idolaters of this region, who began to venerate her as their benefactress and mother. As the fame of her virtues and miracles spread throughout all the surrounding regions, many people came to visit her, some to commend themselves to her prayers, others to be consoled by her sweet words, or to be stirred to a greater love of God by the sight of her charity. Saint Céronne received them with kindness, lavishing encouragement on sinners and consolation on the unfortunate. These external occupations did not diminish her recollection, because she never lost sight of Jesus Christ. Always attentive to pleasing Him, she persevered in fasting, in prayer, and in the meditation of the Holy Scriptures. She lived in this way until a very advanced age, and strove continually to give her sisters the example of all virtues.

Towards the end of her life, she was troubled in her sight, and eventually lost it completely. But, as she was perfectly resigned to the will of God, and had no other desire than to soon see her Savior in the heavenly Jerusalem, she did not regret this accident which would have been a cause of affliction for so many others. She even continued to go every day to her two oratories of Saint-Marcel and Mont-Romigny, the latter about two hundred paces from the former. In order to make the journey easier, she had a wire stretched from one to the other which served to guide her faltering steps. It is reported that children or shepherds maliciously broke this guide wire several times, which was always found miraculously reconnected. Finally, the happy moment arrived when Jesus Christ deigned to call this blessed virgin to Himself. Her soul, full of joy, then taking flight on the wings of charity, flew away to the abode of the blessed to receive there the reward reserved for those who have followed the spotless Lamb on earth in the path of virginity. Her precious death occurred on November 15, 490.

## CULT AND RELICS. — MONUMENTS. — PILGRIMAGE.

The body of this holy virgin, shrouded by the hands of her pious daughters, was buried with great respect in the oratory of Saint-Marcel. Soon, several miraculous healings occurred at the tomb of Saint Céronne, which revealed to the faithful the glory enjoyed in heaven by this humble virgin who had marked her passage on earth only by her good works. As word of this spread far and wide, numerous pilgrimages were made to her tomb. People came from all parts to ask God, through the intercession of this beloved Saint, for the healing of the ills of the body and soul, and God was pleased to fulfill the wishes of His servants by glorifying Saint Céronne.

However, the inhabitants of the neighboring villages, seeing the great veneration held for this holy virgin, feared that her body might be taken from them, as happened all too often with the relics of Saints. They exhumed the body of the Saint and transported it, amidst psalms and canticles of joy, to the oratory of Mont-Romigny, around which a fairly considerable village had already formed. Our Lord continued to manifest the glory of the Saint there through numerous miracles, performed especially in favor of those sick with fever who were brought there from all sides. Thus began this devotion, so popular that so many centuries have not been able to weaken it, and which still persists today, thanks to the numerous healings that Saint Céronne has obtained throughout time for those who have had recourse to her powerful protection.

However, as widespread as the devotion to Saint Céronne was in the diocese of Séez, it had not yet been publicly authorized by the bishops. But about three centuries after the death of our dear Saint, around the year 912, Saint Adelin, Bish op of Séez, saint Adelin Bishop of Séez who recovered the saint's body in the 10th century. was warned by a divine revelation to search for the body of this glorious virgin, in order to expose it to the veneration of the faithful. This search was not easy, because, during the ravages of the Normans, the oratory of Mont-Romigny had been demolished, and the faithful, scattered in different directions, had lost the memory of the precise place where the body of the Saint was located. However, Saint Adelin, to obey the order of God, immediately began to pray, and, after three days spent in fasting and prayer, he knew through a new revelation the place where the body of this holy virgin rested. Immediately he went in procession with the clergy and the people to the place that had been marked for him. He had it dug with complete confidence, and found the holy body entirely whole, and without any mark of corruption. It was deposited in a tomb covered with earth and so hidden under the turf that it was impossible to suspect that a body was buried in that place. The holy bishop, admiring the means that divine Providence had used to preserve this glorious relic from profanation during the ravages of the Normans, prostrated himself to thank God for the new treasure that he had just discovered for his Church. Having then raised this holy body from the earth with great marks of veneration, he placed it in a magnificent shrine, and exposed it to the veneration of the faithful, who had flocked from all parts for this beautiful ceremony. Not content with having given her these marks of honor, he had a large and beautiful church built over her tomb and solemnly consecrated it under the name of Sainte-Céronne.

For several centuries the diocese of Séez, which had seen the relics of its principal Saints disappear following the ravages of the Normans, congratulated itself on possessing at least those of Saint Céronne in their entirety. But subsequently, God permitted them to be taken away like the others, because of the sins of the people. In the 12th century, the English, having made themselves masters of Mortagne and all the surrounding area, were charmed to find in the church of Sainte-Céronne the relics of a Saint venerated throughout all of Normandy. They hastened to make them a precious treasure, and, fearing to lose it if the country were ever reconquered, they tran sported it to Mon Mont-Saint-Michel Place where the relics were taken by the English. t-Saint-Michel, where it was kept in great veneration. However, peace having been re-established between France and England, the bishop of Séez took the opportunity to reclaim the body of Saint Céronne. But despite the prayers and supplications made to them, the kings of England would never return it in its entirety. They only permitted the religious of the monastery in which they had deposited it to return one of the Saint's arms and a small portion of her bones, which were religiously brought back to her parish church. The arm was placed on the altar of the Blessed Virgin. The other relics were enclosed in a bust representing Saint Céronne and placed near the tabernacle. It is not said in what year this second translation took place; but it is to be believed that it occurred in the 13th century.

In 1794, when revolutionary impiety was ravaging the churches and delivering to the flames the relics of the Saints that our fathers had venerated for so many centuries, the faithful of the parish of Sainte-Céronne could not, despite their vigilance, prevent a fanatical impious man from the town of Mortagne, named Follet, from entering their church, tearing down its statues, and profaning the relics of Saint Céronne, which were kept at the high altar. Animated by a satanic rage, he tore from the bust of the Saint the silver box that contained the relics. He then took another silver reliquary placed on the other side of the tabernacle, and containing, according to common belief, relics of Saint Adelin. After having ravaged everything in the church, he left while blaspheming against God and His Saints. By a providential design, he forgot the silver reliquary that contained the arm of Saint Céronne. A few moments after his departure, a pious woman named Françoise Girard entered the church to see the rava Françoise Girard Pious woman who saved the reliquary of the saint's arm in 1794. ges that this impious man had committed. She noticed this reliquary that he had thrown onto the floor of the church and which he had then forgotten. She hastened to take it home and showed it to another pious woman of Sainte-Céronne named Gratienne Esnault, who had bought the c hurch to preserve Gratienne Esnault Purchaser of the church to save it from revolutionary demolition. it from demolition. The latter advised her to open this reliquary and, after having extracted the precious relic, to take it back to the church to dispel all suspicion. The pious Françoise followed her advice. But as she feared that the relic might perish completely if it were discovered at her home, she broke it in the presence of Gratienne Esnault, and each took a fragment, so that if one were to disappear, the other would at least be preserved for the parish.

After the Revolution, they happily returned the holy relics to M. Létat, parish priest of Sainte-Céronne. As the two juxtaposed fragments matched perfectly, no one raised the slightest doubt about their authenticity. They therefore continued to honor these precious relics in the church of Sainte-Céronne, and, on October 19, 1832, they were recognized by Mgr Alexis Saussoi. The opening of the shrine, which took place on this occasion, was used to extract a few particles of the venerable bones. They were distributed to several churches or communities, which keep them preciously. One of these particles was even sent, in 1863, to the Saint-Charles seminary near Baltimore (United States). As for the other relics of the Saint, kept in the Mi ddle Ages Baltimore Location in the United States that received a relic fragment in 1863. in the church of Mont-Saint-Michel, it is not known at present what has become of them.

The diocese of Séez is the only one today where a public office is held in honor of Saint Céronne. This office, which is of the semi-double rite, was approved in Rome in 1857. The feast of the Saint, which was moved to November 16, is celebrated every year with great devotion by the clergy of this diocese. At some distance from the town of Sainte-Céronne lies the village of Saint-Marcel, where the monastery and the private oratory of the Saint once stood. They were ruined during the Norman wars; but one can still see in this village a dwelling which, according to the tradition of the parish, is built on the foundations of Saint Céronne's house. Opposite the same village, at the top of a fairly deep ravine, one can see a fountain known from time immemorial as the Fountain of the good Saint Céronne. Popular devotion attributes to its water the virtue of curing fevers, an illness which appears to have caused the death of the Saint. Before going to the fountain, each pilgrim visits the relics of the patron saint and has a mass, vespers, or a gospel reading said in her honor in the local church. The parish church of Sainte-Céronne is the destination of a pilgrimage that is all the more frequented as miraculous healings take place there almost every year. In the middle of the choir, one can see the tomb where the body of the Saint rested for centuries and performed so many miracles in favor of the poor sick. At the top of the high altar, in a pretty niche, is a statue of Saint Céronne. The Saint is represented in religious habits; over her robe she wears a scapular. Her particular attribute appears to be a book that she carries in her left hand: this is to recall that she brought the Gospel with her. On one of the side altars (the altar of the Blessed Virgin), one can see the venerated arm of Saint Céronne, enclosed in a wooden reliquary, sealed with the bishop's seal. It is solemnly exposed and carried in procession on the two feast days of the saint: that of November 15, and that of the third Sunday of July, established in memory of the translation of the Saint's relics. Excerpt from the Lives of the Saints of the Diocese of Séez, by Abbé Blin, parish priest of Durcet (Lutèce, 1873). This work is the worthy counterpart to the Hagiography of the Diocese of Amiens, by Abbé Corblet.