Saint Judoc

took a different route and went to the city of Amiens in Picardy. The holy prince followed them still, for he had no particular plan and aspired only to serve God with all his heart in whatever place it might be, provided he remained unknown there. Having left Amiens, the pilgrims advanced as far as the Authie river, crossed it, and arrived at a place named Villa Sancti Petri, where the duke or count of the land of Ponthieu, who was called Haymon and was a lord of great virtue, us ually Haymon Duke or Count of Ponthieu and protector of Saint Josse. resided. He received the twelve pilgrims and treated them for three days with great charity.

He easily distinguished our Saint, because he bore on his face an air of greatness that the others did not have, and his actions and words reflected the splendor of his birth and the royal education he had received; moreover, he possessed an angelic modesty and gentleness, which, joined to the majestic bearing that nature had given him, made him perfectly lovable and won him the esteem and respect of all those who looked upon him. This prince therefore begged him not to leave him, and, having obtained this favor from him, he allowed the other eleven pilgrims to continue their journey; he gave Josse an apartment in his palace, had him receive Holy Orders, and named him priest of his chapel; then, to show him further the esteem he had for his virtue, he obliged him to hold at the baptismal font one of his sons, whom he named Ursin, in memory of Saint Ursin, Archbishop of Bourges.

It was hardly the inclination of Saint Josse to remain in this court; for, although holy and very well-ordered, it did not fail to distract him; thus, after having spent seven years there, he begged Haymon to allow him to retire into a solitude where he could occupy himself more quietly in the contemplation of eternal truths. Not only did the duke not oppose it; but wishing to favor with all his power the desire of such a holy priest, he led him to a desert place, on the river Authie, which the ancients called Brahic and is presently named Raye, where he gave him a place sufficient to build an oratory and a hermitage. The building being finished, Josse shut himself up there with a single disciple who had followed him from Brittany, named Wurmar or Wulmar , and Wurmar Disciple of Saint Judoc who followed him from Brittany. began to lead a life entirely celestial, having no other occupation than to celebrate the holy mysteries, to sing the praises of God, to meditate on the words of the Gospel, and to converse with the angels and the saints. His conduct and his innocence soon appeared through miracles; for it is said that the birds and the fish became familiar with him as they would have done with Adam in the earthly paradise, and that they came to take their food from his hand with the same confidence that chicks take it from the beak of their mothers.

He was also extremely merciful toward the poor, and he could not refuse them alms as long as there was a piece of bread in his cell. One day when he was in prayer in his chapel, he heard the voice of a poor man who was asking for charity: he inquired of his disciple if he still had any provision: "I have no more," he said to him, "than one loaf which can only serve for our food today." — "Go," replied Josse, "cut it into pieces and give a quarter of it to this unfortunate man." Scarcely had he done so, when another poor man came to expose his misery again and ask for something to relieve his hunger. The Saint did not wish to turn him away either; he told Wurmar to take another quarter of this bread and carry it to him. The latter obeyed this new order only while murmuring, fearing that he would not have enough to feed his master and feed himself. However, a third poor man, as needy as the two preceding ones, arrived shortly after; Josse saw him, and, without almost waiting for him to open his mouth, he ordered Wurmar to give him one of the two pieces that remained: "What then do you want us to live on," replied the disciple; "must we die of hunger to feed these poor people who can go and beg elsewhere?" — "Do not be troubled, my child," the Saint said to him, "only do what I command you, and God will take care of us." As soon as he had obeyed, and this poor man had withdrawn, they heard a fourth one ring at the door and ask for alms with even more insistence and importunity than the preceding ones. What will Josse do? The piece that remains for him is too small to be shared between him, his disciple, and this poor man; will he give it all away? He will then have nothing left to subsist on, and he will have to pass the day and the following night without food. Will he keep it? Charity prevailed then over his own necessity; and, not being able to let this beggar go without assistance, he had the rest of the bread given to him. Wurmar renewed his complaints, but he still made him find this disposition good, and it was soon followed by an ample reward; for, immediately after, divine Providence caused four boats loaded with all the things necessary for life to arrive at the edge of their hermitage. This leads one to believe that the four poor men who had presented themselves successively to Josse to have alms were Jesus Christ himself, who had taken these four different forms to test the charity of his servant.

He remained for eight years in this solitude; but, seeing himself extraordinarily tormented by the demons who were constantly setting traps for him, he finally resolved to withdraw elsewhere; he expressed his intention to Duke Haymon, who visited him sometimes, and having obtained from him another place, named Runiac or Rimac, on the small river Canche, he built an oratory there in honor of Saint Martin, and spent thirteen more years there. However, the evil spirit not ceasing to pursue him, he again had recourse to this good duke to have another retreat: "Let us go together," Haymon said to him, "and we will look for a place that is suitable for you." On this journey, Saint Josse caused a fountain to spring up in a dry place by thrusting his staff into the ground, to relieve the thirst of his benefactor; this fountain has since provided water in abundance and served for the healing of many sick people. The place they chose for this new hermitage was in a thick forest, between Etaples and Montreuil, in a spot situated between the Authie river and the Canche river. It seemed to them very convenient in that it was watered by a stream coming from two fountains, one of which is named the fountain of the Bretons and the other the fountain of the Gard. The duke had it cleared, and the Saint immediately built there, with his own hands, and with wood only, two oratories: one in honor of Saint Peter, prince of the Apostles, the other in honor of Saint Paul, doctor of the Gentiles.

Some time later, he wished to make the pilgrimage to Rome, to visit the tombs of the holy Apostles there and bring back relics from them. Having obtained the consent of the duke, he made this whole journey on foot, staff in hand and begging for alms. The Pope received him very honorably, gave him his apostolic blessing, and enriched him with several relics of martyrs.

Upon his return, as he was on the hill of Bavémont, a league away from his hermitage, a young girl named Juyule, blind from birth, had a revelation that she would obtain her sight if she washed with water that the holy priest had used to wash his hands. She lived with her father at the castle of Airon, which is only half a league from Saint-Josse; she spoke to him about it, and her father, not wishing to neglect such an advantageous opportunity, immediately led her to the mountain where the Saint had arrived. The girl took the water he had used, washed her face with it, and, by this remedy, she obtained at that very hour beautiful eyes and the use of her sight. The inhabitants of the place had a cross placed at the spot where this notable miracle had occurred, and for this reason, it has always been called the Cross, until this commemorative monument was moved elsewhere.

As soon as Duke Haymon learned of the return of the servant of God, he went to meet him and received him with new testimonies of respect and friendship. In his absence, he had built a stone church near his cell, under the invocation of Saint Martin. It was blessed, and Saint Josse deposited there the relics he had brought from Rome. The ceremony of this translation took place on June 11; and, while he was celebrating Mass, in the presence of the same Duke and a great gathering of lords and people, a heavenly hand appeared visibly on the altar, blessing the holy Chalice and the Oblations, and at the same time a voice was heard saying to him: "Because you have despised the riches of the earth and refused your father's kingdom, to lead in this solitude a poor, hidden life, far from the dwelling of sinners, I have prepared for you an immortal crown in the company of the Angels; I will be the perpetual guardian and defender of this place; you will die here, and those who invoke you with reverence will receive the fulfillment of their requests." Indeed, the Saint spent the rest of his days there in a manner more angelic than human, and he died on December 13, 669.

His virginal body was buried in his own hermitage; but it was covered with neither earth nor stone, because it had no mark of corruption, and on the contrary, his hair, beard, and nails continued to grow as if he were still alive; so that Winoc and Arnoc, his nephews, who succeeded him in the possession of his Winoc Nephew and successor of Saint Josse. cell and held the key to his coffin, were obliged to cut them from time to time, as one does for a living man.

Most commonly, Saint Josse is depicted in pilgrim's garb, with a staff in his hand and two crossed keys on his hat, to indicate his journey to Rome. The scepter and crown lying at his feet recall the royalty he refused. Sometimes he wears, suspended from a scarf, the purse of relics given to him by the Sovereign Pontiff. This detail, misunderstood by some painters, has more than once been disfigured: the scarf has been changed into a shoulder belt, and the casket into an alms purse. He is also represented causing a spring to gush forth with his staff, or sharing his bread with a poor man. It is incorrect to sometimes give him a miter, since he was never an abbot. In the recently built church of S aint-Josse-sur-Mer, Saint-Josse-sur-Mer Site of the abbey and the principal cult. one can see, besides a modern stained-glass window, a statue of the Patron, two meters high. The Breton prince, in royal attire, tramples the crown and scepter underfoot. There are also statues of the hermit saint in the churches of Tortefontaine, Mouriez (1836), Saint-Josse-au-Val in Montreuil, and in the chapel of Saint-Josse-au-Bois (1861). An old image of Saint Josse, which was once distributed to pilgrims, shows him returning from Rome, on the hill of Bavémont, with a casket of relics suspended by a scarf. In the distance, one can see the abbey that is to make this region famous. M. Guénebault, in his *Dictionnaire iconographique*, indicates the following engravings: 1° Saint Josse kneeling before an altar and embracing a crucifix from which three lily branches emerge, one from the upper part and the other two from the arms: angels bring him the crown of triumph; 2° the same, refusing the crown presented to him by his brother; 3° the same, holding a crucifix.

## CULT AND RELICS.

The cult of Saint Josse was already so famous in the 11th century that pilgrims traveled to his sanctuary from all regions of France and even from foreign countries. Some historians claim that Charlemagne went there in 793 and that it was then that he conceived the project of rebuilding a monastic hospice, the administration of which he was to entrust to Alcuin. From that time on, there existed numerous Confraternities of Saint Josse, spread throughout France and Germany.

Clement X, by a bull dated 1673, granted a plenary indulgence to all those who, on the day of Saint Josse, would visit his church in Dommartin and receive Holy Communion there.

The village o f Parn Parnes Village possessing relics of the saint. es (Oise), which believes it possesses relics of Saint Josse, pays a very special cult to its patron. On December 13, small blessed loaves are distributed to the parishioners, in memory of the one that was shared among four poor people in the hermitage of Brable.

Saint Josse is the patron of Bében, in the deanery of Moyenneville. He was formerly the patron of the two abbeys that bore his name: Saint-Josse-au-Val and an ancient castle chapel in Montreuil; and of the Saint-Josse parish in Paris.

According to popular belief, the hermit saint was the founder of a certain number of parishes in the vicinity of Dommartin and of a monastery of which some vestiges can still be seen in Mayocque. We do not know for what reason Saint Josse is honored in Javarin (Austria) and in Ravensburg (Württemberg).

A commune in the arrondissement of Dinan bears the name of Saint-Judoce. Saint-Josse is the name of a street in Heamond and in Dompierre, and of a suburb of Brussels.

The name of the hermit saint is inscribed on December 13 in the Roman Martyrology, in some martyrologies amplified from that of Umard, and in those of Bede and Wandalbert; which proves that, in the 9th century, as in our own day, our Saint was invoked during storms. His name also appears in the Amiens litanies of the 13th century.

Formerly, five feasts of the patron were celebrated at the abbey of Saint-Josse-sur-Mer: June 11, the apparition of the miraculous hand (665). This feast is still celebrated today at Saint-Josse-sur-Mer, where it is designated by the name of Saint Barnabas, because of the coincidence with the feast of that Apostle; — July 25, the invention of the body of Saint Josse (977); — Whit Tuesday, procession to Bavémont (La Croix); — October 25, the translation of the relics (1195); it is wrongly marked on January 9 in the *Anglican Martyrology*; — December 13, the deposition of Saint Josse; it is wrongly mentioned on August 4 in some ancient calendars.

On the day of their patronal feast, the inhabitants of the village of Saint-Josse had to give the Count of Ponthieu a flayed cow; when the feast fell on a fast day, this tribute was changed to a hundred eggs and a pound of pepper.

The feast of Saint Josse is marked on July 25 in the Amiens breviary of 1328; on December 2, in those of 1746 and 1840; on December 13, in those of Paris and Beauvais, and in the *current Proper of Arras*; on the 14th, in that of Saint-Valery; on the 18th, in that of Saint-Riquier.

Since the introduction of the Roman liturgy, only a simple memorial of Saint Josse is made on December 13 in the dioceses of Amiens and Arras.

In the year 977, the body of Saint Josse was discovered on the right side of the altar of Saint-Martin, raised from the ground, and deposited on the altar of Saint-Martin on July 25. That same year, they began to build a monastery in that place, and Sigsbrand became its first abbot. Subsequently, this holy body was returned to the ground during troubles that occurred in this kingdom, and remained so well hidden that even the monks did not know where it was. A simple layman made known, by revelation, the place where it was, and having been received by the monks, in recognition of this good service, he was established as guardian of these holy relics by the abbot who was living at that time. But another abbot, having succeeded him, did not have for this guardian all the consideration he should have had. This conduct led this man to the resolution of taking away the greater part of the relics of Saint Josse and carrying them to France. Geoffrey, Lord of Commercy, received him with honor and gave him the first dignity of the collegiate church of the castle, where there were four canons. Some time later, King Henry besieged Commercy, took it, and burned it. While the flames were devouring the buildings, a canon took the relics of Saint Josse and fled with his treasure. He was met on the bridge by Robert Meßebran, of the dependency of Raoul de Chauddré, one of the principal knights of the king's army. Robert asked the canon what the package was that he was carrying. The canon replied that they were church ornaments and books. Everything was taken from him, and these precious relics having been found, they were placed in the church of Saint-Martin of Parnes, in the Vexin, quite near Maguy. The church changed its name and took that of Saint-Josse; these relics (head and arm bone) are exposed there for the veneration of the people every year on Whit Monday: they are enclosed in a silver bust. The rest is in the parish church of the village of Saint-Josse, at the mouth of the Canche. The abbey having been suppressed some time before the Revolution, the relics of the Saint were transported to the parish church. They were there at the time of the Revolution and were then saved from profanation by the zeal of some pious inhabitants of the place, who returned them later when tranquility was restored. They were recognized on May 3, 1805, by the Bishop of Arras, in whose diocese the parish of Saint-Josse-sur-Mer is now located. The prelate removed an arm bone from the reliquary, a part of which he granted to the church of Saint-Saulve of Montreuil. It was from this relic that a piece was detached in 1835 to be given to the parish church of Yvix, located in the diocese of Saint-Brieuc, and dedicated to Saint Josse. The one in Paris also possessed a small bone of the Saint and a part of a vertebra, which was given to it in 1705. These precious remains are lost today. There are still some bones of Saint Josse at the cathedral of Arras and at the Church of Oignies (Pas-de-Calais), at that of Corbie, etc.

Vies des Saints de Bretagne, by Dom Lubineau; Hagiographie du diocèse d'Amiens, by Abbé Corbiet.