Saint Hippolytus of Belley

He was received into the monastery monastère de Condat The saint's initial place of monastic formation. of Condat (since called Saint-Claude), which was not far from the place of his birth. The instructions and examples of the fervent cenobites who inhabited it only served to further excite the ardor of charity with which the young novice was inflamed. Never was one seen more fervent, more recollected, more modest, more humble, and more submissive. Not content with having renounced the world through his religious profession, he strove, as much as the rule of the convent permitted him, to follow the example of the most austere anchorites; his cell did not even seem solitary enough for him to pray in secret, and it was at the foot of the altars that he spent part of the nights in prayer and meditation; common prayer, however, held great attractions for him, and his happiness was to sing the praises of God in the choir. The obedience he practiced, always with that perfection so highly recommended by the first founders of the monastic life, was the only thing that could set limits to his excessive macerations. Weakened by the repeated blows of a cruel discipline, ready to succumb following continuous fasts and prolonged vigils, he moderated their rigor by order of his abbot; but he never treated his body otherwise than as an enemy that must be kept by penance under the dependence of the spirit. His profound humility was in no way inferior to his obedience and his austerities. Raised to the priesthood despite his resistance, one only noticed his change of state at the altar; everywhere else one would have taken him for the least of the brothers, seeing the eagerness with which he chose the lowest offices of the monastery. He sought no less to humble himself by his words than by his actions. To hear him speak of himself, he was the greatest of all sinners; but he was alone in saying so, and the contempt he held for his own person could never succeed in depriving him of the just praises that the other religious lavished upon him.

All strove like Hippolytus for perfection; each, however, considered himself happy to follow him from afar in the pursuit of the most sublime virtues, and he who believed himself the last among them was placed at the head of the monastery by the gathering of all votes. The voices that called him to the place of Sain saint Aufrède Fourteenth abbot of Condat. t Aufrède, the fourteenth abbot of Condat, whom death had just snatched from the love of its inhabitants, were too unanimous for him to be able to oppose this election; but he accepted it only with trembling, and to provide a kind of counterweight to the deference the monks had for him, he redoubled his humility and fervor; he served them with such affection that he often moved them to tears. If it was necessary to offer some reprimand, he spoke to them not only with gentleness but with respect, and as Saint Benedict recommends to abbots, he governed them more by his examples than by his advice. Under the guidance of such a leader, the monastery of Condat acquired a new degree of celebrity. The reputation of Hippolytus grew with it, and as fame had published it far and wide, one should not be surprised if several Churches wished to have as pastor a religious so worthy of the episcopate.

It was by a visible effect of Providence that the see of B elley Belley Original diocese and place of education of the saint. cast its eyes upon our Saint, and chose him to succeed Ansemon de. Given Ansemonde Predecessor of Hippolyte to the see of Belley. over entirely to retreat and study, believing himself known to God alone, Hippolyte, like the Chrysostoms, Basils, Ambroses, and Augustines of old, fell into anguish and alarm at the sight of the burden they wished to impose upon him; but the difficulties he raised against his election did not succeed any better than those he had made when they wished to place him at the head of his monastery; the clergy and the people demanded him with such insistence, and the Sovereign Pontiff press ed him so urgentl souverain Pontife Unidentified pope who sent relics of Saint Peter to Évroult. y, that Hippolyte finally believed he recognized the voice of God in the concurrence of so many respectable wills. It is impossible to describe the general affliction of all the monks, who would not let their abbot leave without having obtained his promise that he would continue to govern the monastery of Condat.

Thus, all difficulties being removed, Hippolyte was consecrated around the year 755, and made his entry into Belley amidst public rejoicing. The high opinion that had been conceived of his holiness was soon confirmed by his presence: his modesty, his humility, his gentleness, and his piety won all hearts, and however prejudiced one might have been in his favor, esteem and veneration increased rapidly through the striking brilliance of his examples. One then saw appear in full light that eminent holiness he had acquired in solitude, and all the virtues that Saint Paul requires of a bishop shone in the person of this prelate. His charity for the poor, which had been admired in him since his childhood, was poured out with profusion upon all the unfortunate of his diocese; hospitals, leper houses, and prisons were places he delighted to visit, and the poor were always well received at his home, so much so that his palace seemed to be their house. He traveled through his diocese with care, and everywhere he reconciled enemies and relieved the needy. Under such a bishop, one saw piety and religion flourish, so great is the influence of a pastor's holiness over all his flock! The re-establishment of ecclesiastical discipline was one of his first cares and the first fruit of his pastoral solicitude; he formed a pious and zealous clergy who favored the development of civilization among our ancestors, who were still plunged in ignorance at that time and were disputing with wild beasts the forests with which a part of t he Bu Bugey Region of the diocese of Belley. gey was covered, and which they conquered for agriculture, aided by the powerful and fruitful hand of religion.

Although surrounded by honors, Saint Hippolyte retained his taste for simplicity. He lived in his palace at Belley as he had lived in his cell at Condat: the same fasts, the same vigils, the same penances, the same harshness toward himself, reserving all his indulgence for his flock. He attended the choir with his canons and constantly gave them the example of assiduity. His respectful modesty in the holy place was an eloquent sermon that inspired respect for religion in all the people. His taste for poverty provided him with resources to make considerable repairs to his cathedral and to assist other churches.

The occupations of the episcopate and a laborious and austere life did not divert him from the care he owed to Condat. Like a fire that increases its flames in proportion to the fuel provided, the zeal of Saint Hippolyte seemed to take on a new ardor to expand his abbey by making new foundations. He knew that religious houses are a refuge not only for virtue, but also for the great passions which, after having tormented themselves in the noise of the world, need solitude to console themselves for the vanities of the earth through the memory of heaven. Thus, he built a great number of them in various provinces of France.

Pepin the Short took pleasure in showering our Saint with his libe Pépin le Bref King of the Franks whose accession to the throne was supported by Burchard. rality. He honored him with his confidence, consulted him often in the affairs of State, and among the fine privileges he had granted him, one sees the right to mint coins at Condat. Charlemagne, son and successor of Pepin, followed in his father's f Charlemagne Emperor of the Franks and uncle of Saint Folquin. ootsteps and gifted Saint Hippolyte several considerable properties in Champagne, Burgundy, and Brittany, where he established abbeys. This is the origin of the numerous priories that the monastery of Saint-Claude still possessed before 1792 in these provinces, as well as in Bugey, Bresse, and the Pays de Gex. These riches did not change the austerity of the religious: Saint Hippolyte turned them to the benefit of the poor and of religion, by using them to multiply the houses of his Order. He also incurred very heavy expenses to build the great cloister that served as a communication between the church of Saint-Pierre and that of his monastery.

It is not known precisely how long Saint Hippolyte was Bishop of Belley; some historians claim that he governed this Church only from 755 to 765. What is certain is that in this same year he attended the synod of Attigny, in which the bishops and a bbots, assembled synode d'Attigny Ecclesiastical assembly held in 765. in great numbers, decided important questions relating to the good of religion and the salvation of souls; they agreed in this assembly that as soon as one of them should die, the others would pray to God for him, and they even specified the prayers that the bishops and abbots should offer. Saint Hippolyte, in subscribing to the acts of this synod, signs in the rank of bishops without taking any other title than that of Abbot of Condat; from which it must be concluded that in 765 he had already abdicated the episcopate to return to solitude. It is upon this document that those who say he was at the head of the diocese of Belley for only ten years base their conjectures.

The decision that Saint Hippolyte took to leave his see spread consternation among his flock. The sorrow he himself felt at this separation would have kept him in Belley, had he not long since resolved to go and die in solitude. The diminution of his strength, which came even more from his great austerities than from old age, had not in the least weakened the vigor of his tender piety; he felt himself consumed little by little without relaxing any of his devotional practices. The pains inseparable from a very advanced age never altered his tranquility or his gentleness. He had had all his life an affectionate devotion toward the Blessed Virgin; this devotion took on a new increase; his prayers also became longer and more fervent. He spoke incessantly to his religious of the contempt one must have for life, which is sown with miseries and which leads to the tomb. "Happy," he told them, "are those who regard themselves as strangers on earth, and who with a serene eye view death as the end of their exile!" — "God alone is our treasure," he liked to repeat, "a Christian must not fix his heart on any other object. Do not let yourselves be dazzled by anything that shines in this life, because death strips us of everything, except the merits that one has acquired before God far from the world." His strength diminished every day, and seeing that his end was approaching, he asked for the last sacraments, which he received with a new fervor; he entered from then on into a sweet contemplation of the mercies of the Lord, in which he expired on November 20, 769, in the midst of his weeping disciples whom he blessed with his failing and paternal hand. He was more than eighty years old, and had governed the abbey of Condat for more than twenty years.

## CULT AND RELICS.

His body was buried with pomp in the abbey church near those of Saint Oyend and Saint Claude, his glorious predecessors. His tomb became famous for the great number of miracles that occurred there. He was numbered among the Saints, and his feast was subsequently celebrated every year with solemnity on November 20. Today, his office is celebrated in the diocese of Saint-Claude on November 28. His office was also celebrated in that of Belley before the Revolution of 1790. The ancient Missal (1527) and the ancient Breviary (1518) of Belley, printed under Mgr Claude de Stavayé, contained the office of Saint Hippolyte. The cathedral possessed a rib of this holy bishop of Belley, which Mgr de Passelaigue had obtained from the monks of Saint-Claude, and which he had solemnly transported to the cathedral, assisted by all his clergy, on May 31, 1645. Sacrilegious hands delivered it to the flames on December 6, 1793. That same year, the body of Saint Hippolyte, which existed in the cathedral of Saint-Claude, was profaned by the impious. Since that fatal era, the feast of Saint Hippolyte was interrupted in the diocese of Belley, which the Concordat of 1802 united with that of Lyon. It was reserved for the zeal and piety of Mgr Dev ie, one o Mgr Devie 19th-century Bishop of Belley who restored the cult. f his illustrious successors and the faithful imitator of his virtues, to revive the cult of such a great protector of his Church. The office of Saint Hippolyte is fixed to the rite of semi-double minor, in the calendar that this learned bishop published in 1831 in volume III of his Ritual.

Excerpt from the Angiological History of the diocese of Belley, by Mgr Doyéry.