Saint Everard of Cysoing

Like all great servants of God, Evrard had a particular zeal for honoring the relics of the Saints. Wishing to enrich his dear abbey of Cysoin g with them, he h abbaye de Cysoing Monastery founded by Saint Everard where his relics rest. ad the good fortune to obtain the entire body of a successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Saint Callistus, whose name has since become so popular in these regions. Pope Leo IV, as Le pape Léon IV Pope who authorized the transfer of the relics of Saint Callistus. much out of affection for Saint Evrard as in recognition of the numerous and signal services that this pious warrior had rendered to the Church, permitted him to carry this precious deposit from Rome. Priests carried it on their shoulders, crossed all of France, and finally arrived in the lands of the Vermandois, where a numerous procession came to meet them. This translation of the body of Saint Callistus was marked by healings, reconciliations, and other benefits from heaven, which filled with joy the populations flocking from all parts to meet the procession. These pious relics, after having been deposited for some time in the village of Hornain, between Valenciennes and Douai, finally arrived at the abbey of Cysoing. For eight days, the pious Evrard took pleasure in honoring the sacred remains of the martyr Pontiff with solemn chants, prayers, and fasts. All the religious, whom this event filled with happiness, took part in these religious exercises. This term expired, the abbey church was dedicated to God, under the patronage of Saint Callistus, with extraordinary magnificence and amidst the liveliest transports of joy. This ceremony took place around the year 854.

Saint Evrard, already so admirable for the works he performed, whether in favor of Christendom by repelling the infidels, or for the prosperity of this country by establishing churches and monasteries there, was further distinguished by the touching and sublime virtues he practiced within his family. A virtuous and wise husband, a religious father attentive to the conduct of his children, he neglected nothing that could contribute to forming their minds and hearts. Four sons and as many daughters as heaven gave him walked worthily in his footsteps, and each contributed in their own way to making piety and religion flourish. His charity for the poor and the unfortunate, his gentleness towards those who were subject to him, drew to him the affection and veneration of all. He bore in the features of his face the imprint of the sentiments with which his beautiful soul was imbued, and no one could see him without feeling drawn to him by a sweet and irresistible inclination.

It appears that later Saint Evrard had to fight again against barbarian peoples, and especially against the Saracens who were making continuous efforts to penetrate into Italy. After having rendered, as in previous years, important services to Christendom and to Italy, under the government of Louis the Younger, who had succeeded his father Lothair in this part of his states, he resigned from his offices and dignities, and divided his property among his children. According to this division, Unroch and Berengar (B erenge Unroch Eldest son of Saint Everard. r) had possessions especially in Italy and Germany; the other two, Alard and Rudolph, received as an inheritance lands situated in various regions, as is very well proven by the few writings that have come down to us, and in particular the testament of the noble count. This testament was made in the year 866, at the palace of Muliastro, in the Marc h of Treviso, in It palais de Muliastro Place where the testament of Évrard was written in 866. aly. This document is one of the most important monuments of that era, and the one in which one can best recognize the influence that the virtuous Evrard must have exerted on his entire family and even on the whole kingdom.

The remainder of Saint Evrard's life presents no further well-known facts until his death, which occurred in 869, at the moment he was returning from Italy to Cysoing. This virtuous prince, after having received the sacraments of religion with the testimonies of the most edifying piety, peacefully surrendered his soul to his Creator in the presence of his two sons, Unroch and Berengar, who shed abundant tears over the body of their beloved father.

Unroch, who was the eldest of the family, hastened to inform his vener Gisle Wife of Saint Evrard. able mother Gisle of the loss she had just suffered. He himself took it upon himself to bring back to her the precious body, which she received with all the most touching demonstrations of grief and respect, and to whom she had the honors of burial rendered with great magnificence.

He is depicted holding two small models of churches, emblems of his numerous monastic foundations.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

The remains of Saint Évrard were deposited in the church of the mona église du monastère Monastery founded by Saint Everard where his relics rest. stery he had founded, and such was the high opinion held of his holiness and virtue that everyone thought less of praying to God for him at that moment than of commending themselves to his powerful protection. Fifty years had passed since this blessed passing when the body of the Saint was raised from the earth with the authorization of the Archbishop of Reims, then enclosed in an elegant reliquary and publicly exposed to the veneration of the faithful. This reliquary first occupied the place where the relics of Saint Callistus had previously been, which had recently been transported to the church of Notre-Dame in Reims to protect them from the fury of the Normans.

In the year 1282, Pierre, Archbishop of Reims and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province, went himself to Cysoing to venerate the relics of Saint Évrard. Amidst an immense gathering of people, religious, and lords of the region, he transferred the head and bones of the Saint into two new reliquaries prepared for this purpose.

The Archbishop of Cambrai, François Vander-Burgh, also visited them on May 17, 1637. He in turn placed them in two others, reliquaries of very fine workmanship, which replaced the others that were almost deteriorated by time. It was a few years after this last translation that the abbey of Cysoing donated to the distinguished collegiate church of Saint-Pierre in Lille one or the arm of Saint Évrard. This precious relic was received by the canons of the basilica in the presence of the Bishop of Tournai and amidst the transports of joy of the people of Lille.

In the evil days that so sadly marked the final years of the 18th century, the abbey of Cysoing was invaded by delirious revolutionaries who committed the greatest disorders there and indignantly profaned the holy bodies that were there. Only the head of Saint Évrard, with the upper jaw of Saint Callistus, were saved in Tournai through the care of Augustin Gosse de Saint-Amand, the last abbot of Cysoing. Th Augustin Gosse de Saint-Amand Last abbot of Cysoing who saved the relics during the French Revolution. ese venerable relics remained far from this place until the year 1841. Thanks to the care and piety of Mr. Salembier, pastor of Cysoing, a precious deposit was then returned to its legitimate possessors with all the guarantees and testimonies of authenticity desired. The reliquary in which the head of Saint Évrard was found still contained three letters bearing the signatures and seals of those who had written them. The first was from Abbot Robert, dated the year 1284, the eve of Pentecost; the second, from François Vander-Burgh, Archbishop of Cambrai, dated the year 1667; and finally the third, from Abbot Gosse, who died in Tournai in 1882. The vicars capitular of Cambrai, the see being vacant by the death of Mgr Belmas, recovered this holy relic, as well as those of Saint Callistus, Saint Eloi, and Saint Aldegonde. There was a piece of the Holy Thorn and the True Cross of Our Lord. They were all transported in procession and with extraordinary pomp into the church of Cysoing on June 12 of the year 1842, amidst an immense gathering of people and with all the testimonies of the most sincere devotion.

Mgr Pierre Giraud, then Archbishop of Cambrai, permitted that the memory of this translation be celebrated each year by a solemn feast with an octave, assigning for its celebration the Sunday that falls within this octave, that is to say from June 12 to 19. He likewise approved for this feast and for several others proper offices, which date back to a very high antiquity. Finally, the pontiff gave Saint Évrard as a secondary patron to the parish of Cysoing and ordered that in the future his memory would be made, as before the Revolution of 1793, in the suffrages of the Saints along with that of the other titular patrons of this church.

In 1843, a new Proper containing the offices of Saint Callistus and Saint Évrard was printed through the care of Mr. Salembier. They are entirely in conformity with those of the ancient abbey of Cysoing. Only a few lines have been added to them that recall the recognition and the translation of his relics made in 1841 and 1842. There are two feasts of Saint Évrard in this Proper: one on June 12 for this last translation, which is a double of the first class with an octave; the other on December 16, which recalls the death of this Saint, which is also a double of the first class, but without an octave. The Mass is proper for these two solemnities.

We have borrowed this biography from the Life of the Saints of Cambrai and Arras, by Father Destombes.