Saint Leonard of Dunois

After having lived for several years under the directio n of Saint M saint Mesmin Abbot of the monastery of Micy and spiritual master of Leonard. esmin, abbot of Micy, Saint Leonard obtained permission from his holy abbot to leave the community and withdraw into solitude, in order to devote himself more perfectly to the continuous exercise of penance and prayer. Many religious acted in this way in those times of fervor and faith: to think only of heaven, they abandoned with pleasure the company of men.

Saint Leonard, having left Micy, first followed the course of the Loire, then, turning slightly to the right, he came to settle in the middle of a thick forest, near the place where Thibaut I, Count of Dunois, had the famous fort of Marchenoir erected in the 6th century. This forest, called Silvalonie or Forêt-Longue, and known today by the name of the Forest of Ma Forêt de Marchenoir Location of the saint's hermitage. rchenoir, then extended much further to the south, beyond the place where the villag e of Saint-Léonard was bourg de Saint-Léonard Town formed around the saint's hermitage. later built, near the old road from Blois to Châteaudun. It is there that our Saint came to fix his abode, to occupy himself only with the salvation of his soul. His hermitage was situated on a piece of land roughly triangular in shape, measuring 36 meters from east to west, and 33 from north to south, at the location now comprised between the house of Bel-Air and the dwelling of the steward of the forest o f Marchenoir belo famille de Luynes Owners of the Marchenoir forest in the 19th century. nging to the most honorable family of Luynes.

With the help of some offerings that were made to him, the holy hermit had built, near his cell, a small chapel dedicated to Saint Stephen, where the faithful from the surrounding area came to pray with him and listen to his salutary instructions. It is in this place, then wild and shaded by centuries-old oaks, that the virtuous solitary lived in poverty and penance.

Entirely occupied with his eternal salvation, Saint Leonard completely neglected the care of his body. His habit was simple and coarse: he walked barefoot and slept on a bed made of tree branches and a little moss; he fed on roots and a few wild fruits that he gathered in the forest. As one might well imagine, the holiness of his life did not take long to spread to the surrounding areas. Soon his humble cell became the pious meeting place for a crowd of people who came from all sides to commend themselves to his prayers and receive his charitable advice. The lost traveler found an asylum and good counsel near the Saint; the afflicted drew abundant consolation from his discourses; the sick brought from the surrounding areas, near him, returned healed and blessed God for having granted such a great saint to the region. Many sinners in particular came to open their hearts to him and, encouraged by his words full of faith, they went away immediately to confess their faults, to find the peace of conscience in the sacrament of reconciliation.

The eagerness of Christians to go to the chapel where Saint Leonard prayed with them encouraged several people to establish their homes near the cell of the virtuous anchorite; a few houses were built there to receive the pilgrims whose number increased day by day; they began to clear the land all around to sow grain and plant vegetables, and in a few years, one saw the formation of an agglomeration of buildings that formed the current town.

During this time, Saint Leonard, whose reputation had grown in proportion to his many merits, was judged worthy by God to be admitted to the number of the blessed in heaven. Desiring himself to possess the One he had loved so much on earth, he blessed one last time those who had come to implore the help of his prayers, and he rendered his beautiful soul to God, on December 8th, in the second half of the 6th century.

His body was buried in the chapel of Saint-Étienne, which he had so long sanctified by his prayers and in which he had performed so many miracles.

All the inhabitants of the surrounding areas flocked from very far away to his funeral, and his burial place was flooded with the sweet tears of gratitude. At this solemn moment when the coffin was lowered into the tomb, all thoughts turned toward heaven, where the soul of such a tender father and such a powerful intercessor had just ascended.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

The chapel of Saint-Étienne, which had become the tomb of Saint Leonard, continued as before to be increasingly frequented by pilgrims. The poor, the sick, and the afflicted experienced great relief each time they came to prostrate themselves at the venerated tomb, which one never left without the desire to return again, and every day, the reputation for holiness of the virtuous deceased was confirmed by striking miracles attributed to his intercession.

These miracles had continued, for several centuries, to multiply at the tomb of the blessed hermit, and the confidence of the faithful had not slowed for a single instant. Then Gaultier, Bishop of Chartr es, who at that time had jur Gaultier, évêque de Chartres Bishop of Chartres who presided over the translation of relics in 1226. isdiction over the Dunois region, had scrupulous inquiries made into the miraculous events attributed to the protection of Saint Leonard. The result was presented to a special council, and it was resolved that the relics of the servant of God would be taken from the tomb and exposed for public veneration.

To this end, in the month of May 1226, Gaultier went to the town of Saint-Léonard, accompanied by the Bishop of Le Mans and the abbots of Preuilly, in Touraine; of Bonneval, in Dunois; of Notre-Dame de Bourg-Moyen, in Blois; of Saint-Mesmin, near Orléans; of Saint-Calais, in Maine; and of L'Étoile, near Château-Renaud. On the 19th of the same month, this illustrious assembly departed in procession from the parish church, which had long been dedicated under the invocation of Saint Leonard. An immense crowd of the faithful followed the religious procession, which arrived at the chapel where the body of the blessed one had rested for about seven hundred years. The tomb was opened in the presence of all the gathered attendees; the Bishop of Chartres drew out the precious bones, wrapped them with care in a cloth, and placed them respectively into a magnificen magnifique châsse Reliquary containing the saint's bones, renewed several times. t reliquary.

At the end of the ceremony, he decreed that every year, in perpetuity, the anniversary of this translation would be celebrated in the church of Saint-Léonard, and he placed in the reliquary an authentic act confirming the identity and the exaltation of the relics. This act, signed by the prelate and by the principal attendees, is dated the 6th of the Ides of May (May 10, 1226). At the same time, he granted thirty days of indulgences to the faithful who would visit the church in the current year, and seven days of indulgences, in perpetuity, to persons who would come on pilgrimage on the anniversary day of this translation, now fixed on the fourth Sunday after Easter, according to special permission from Rome.

The relics of Saint Leonard having thus been transported to the parish church, the faithful preferred to go there to deposit their gifts and offerings, at the same time as they went there to invoke the Saint, so that the small chapel of Saint-Étienne ceased to be maintained and soon fell into ruins. The materials were removed and a base of cut stone was built on the site of the anchorite saint's burial, surmounted by a cross called the Saint-Étienne Cross. This monument, successively renewed when its age required it, continuously recalls the most touching memories and inspires the most salutary reflections. In the year 1818, the foundations of the old chapel that had received the body of Saint Leonard were discovered around this cross. These foundations, recognized once again before their complete destruction in the month of April 1845, were one meter thick and described the plan of a small church of fourteen meters by six, inside the walls. By fixing the point where the cross is located, one recognizes that the tomb was at the entrance to the sanctuary of the chapel. The land surrounding these vestiges was probably the hermitage garden. It became a cemetery after the death of the Saint, when the village was formed; and long after the translation of the relics, it still retained this purpose, simultaneously with the space included around the current church.

The relics of Saint Leonard were visited in 1353, 1394, 1634, 1733, 1772, and 1778. The reliquary was renewed in 1394 and in 1772. It is the latte r that st La châsse Reliquary containing the saint's bones, renewed several times. ill exists; it is quadrangular in shape, made of gilded and carved wood. Restored in 1872, it is currently enclosed in a cabinet supported by four wooden columns, and decorates the Saint-Leonard altar, placed to the right of the choir, next to the altar of the Blessed Virgin.

The relics of the Saint were desecrated in 1794; partially saved (a femur, four vertebrae, and various broken and deformed bones are still preserved), they were returned to the veneration of the faithful in 1797, and definitively approved on May 15, 1824, by Father Guilluis, vicar general, delegated for this purpose by Mgr de Sauzin, Bishop of Blois.

Every year, on the eve of the fourth Sunday after Easter, the reliquary is displayed in the middle of the choir, on a decently decorated platform, where it remains exposed for several weeks. The following day, a day of great celebration for the entire region, the clergy and the people, preceded by the reliquary, go in procession to make a pious station at the Cross of Saint-Étienne. This ceremony is most edifying: from the morning, the bells proclaim the solemnity from afar; the church fills with numerous pilgrims who crowd around the relics and pray with fervor. Around nine o'clock, the procession leaves the church through an extraordinary multitude of strangers of all ages and conditions. The march is opened by the standard of the cross and by the parish banners followed by the confraternities. Four young men dressed in albs carry on their shoulders the venerated remains of the patron saint of the region, while the cantors repeat alternately the hymns of their ancestors, a pious and touching concert accompanied by the deep and solemn sound of the bells. Arrived at the Cross of Saint-Étienne, the procession unfolds around the place where the blessed Leonard lived and died. Other chants are heard, and when the celebrant recites the last prayer over the people, a thousand fervent prayers rise from all hearts towards heaven. The procession returns in the same order. Then the Christian pulpit resounds with the wonders of the Almighty, and the panegyric of the glorious patron of the parish prepares the audience to salute, in deep adoration, the Master of the universe who is about to descend upon the altar for the saint of men. After the mass, people still crowd around the relics; one crowd replaces another. Everyone passes devoutly under the reliquary, praying and recommending themselves to the protection of the Saint. The same devotion continues until the evening, and the next day, the day of the usual fair, there are very few people who do not take a moment away from their business to come to the church to invoke the protection of the Saint.

Excerpt from the Life of Saint Leonard of Dunois, by Abbé Mousé, parish priest of Saint-Léonard (Bar-le-Duc, at Louis Guerin, 1572).