Saint Flavit

This desire for perfection led him to triumph over a dangerous temptation. Captivated by his outward charms, Montan's wife had desired to lead him into evil. But he resisted courageously, and, seeing that she did not cease to press him, he imitated the prudence of the holy young man Joseph, leaving her chamber as soon as possible, and leaving her in the spite and rage of not having been able to succeed in a criminal design.

While he was rendering a thousand thanks to God for having delivered him from such a great danger, this wicked woman, irritated against him, accused him to her husband of having tried to rape her. Montan believed her very lightly; for, without further examining the truth of this accusation, of which the blessed slave did not deem it appropriate to defend himself, so as not to dishonor his mistress and not to cause a divorce between her and her husband, he took from him the position he had given him, along with all military marks, and condemned him to the vilest labors. Flavit suffered this affront with patience, consoling himself with the good testimony of his conscience which reproached him for nothing, and, far from taking revenge on his master, who treated him so unjustly, he studied to make his property profit and to increase his herds through the care he brought to everything that was his duty. Moreover, seeing himself retired to the fields, he applied himself more assiduously to prayer and the meditation of divine truths; and as charity towards the poor is inseparable from the love of God, however poor he himself was, he shared with beggars the little that was given to him for his subsistence. Often also, when he had nothing to give them, he lent them his arms to bring them wood from the forest, or to render them a thousand other good offices.

Montan soon noticed that his herds were multiplying in a prodigious manner in the hands of such a faithful shepherd, and the edifying conduct of this servant gave rise in his mind to serious doubts regarding his wife's complaints. Having recognized Flavit's innocence, he repaired his wrongs, gave him his freedom, and placed him at the head of his other servants. To attach him entirely to his service and remove from him the thought of returning to his own country, he compelled him to marry and had him wed a wise and virtuous young girl named Ap ronie. Apronie Wife of Saint Flavit, who lived with him in virginity before becoming a nun. Flavit, who had consecrated himself forever to Jesus Christ with the resolution to keep his body chaste and his soul far from all sensual desire, married her only under constraint and with the confidence, founded on the help of God, that he would persuade her to live with him only as a sister with her brother. He did indeed persuade her. Their exercises, beyond the necessary labors of their station, were to fast, to keep vigil, to pray, to console the afflicted, to correct sinners, and to assist the poor with the little wealth that God had given them. Flavit, in order to do so more abundantly, cleared a spot in the forest where he grazed his herds, plowed it, and sowed it with the intention of distributing to the needy what he might harvest. Some envious people reported this to his master and disparaged this act of charity to him so much that they persuaded him that his servant was taking from his property as he pleased and disposing of it at his whim. He therefore came to find him in anger, reproached him for his prodigality, told him that he was on the path to ruining him, and demanded an account of the herds he had entrusted to him. Then the Saint, without replying, but invoking God in the depths of his heart, blew his horn two or three times, and at that very hour one saw such a great number of cattle, cows, sheep, ewes, goats, and lambs running from all sides that this master, surprised to find himself so rich without knowing it, asked his pardon for having so easily believed his slanderers and begged him to take for himself, from his herds, whatever he pleased. Flavit thanked him humbly for his benevolence and was content to take one sheep to sell and give the price to the church of Saint-Étienne in Sens.

This was not the only persecution he suffered at the hands of his master; this overly credulous man allowed himself once again to be so strongly animated by the suggestions of his wife, who hated the Saint, that he left his home in a fury and went to the forest with the intention of mistreating him. As he was already raising his hand and his staff to strike him, God showed that He was the protector and the just avenger of the innocent; for, at that same moment, he fell from his horse and was gravely wounded. The Saint hastened to help him up; but the loss of blood causing Montan to experience a burning thirst, Flavit, inspired by the Holy Spirit, struck the ground with his staff, and immediately a spring of living water gushed forth, which restored Montan's health. This miraculous fountain still exists today in the woods of Marcilly, near Chanteloup, under the name of t Fontaine d'abondance Miraculous spring that gushed forth under Flavit's staff to heal Montan. he Fountain of Abundance. Until the 18th century, there was a chapel on this very site, and the inhabitants of the neighboring regions still come on pilgrimage to seek water from the fountain of Saint Flavit to be cured of fever. One now sees only the

ruins of the oratory; a cross has been planted on the spot that the altar occupied: it is a testimony of gratitude from an inhabitant of Villemaur, miraculously cured of a very serious illness.

This prodigy made Montan understand what injustices his excessive credulity had caused him to commit. He wished to make amends for his fault, and offered Flavit, along with the act of his freedom signed by his own hand, as many goods as he might wish to possess. But Flavit, distrusting riches, accepted only his freedom and a space of land sufficient to build a cell on the banks of the stream that he had so marvelously caused to emerge from the ground.

From then on, he resolved to lead a more perfect life. Desirous of embracing the ecclesiastical state, he advised his wife to consecrate her virginity to God and to retire to a monastery. Apronia, who in the company of her husband had made great spiritual progress, welcomed this advice, and both went to Sens, to Saint Leu, who gav e the vei saint Leu Bishop of Sens who ordained Flavit as a priest. l to Apronia, raised Flavit to the honor of the priesthood, and then sent him back to the hermitage he had built for himself, with the intention of ending his days there. The truly angelic life of the pious priest was the admiration of those who witnessed it. To the fasts, macerations, and continual prayers that had until then occupied his time, he added the reading of sacred books and the instruction of the people. People came to him from the most distant lands to hear his word and above all to receive healing from illnesses of all kinds, and God manifested to the eyes of all the holiness of his servant, by granting him the power to perform countless miracles. He resurrected several dead, among others the s on of King C roi Clotaire King whose son was resurrected by Saint Flavit. lotaire, purified lepers, made the lame walk, and restored health to all sorts of infirm people. Finally, full of days and merits, he died on December 18, 630, under the episcopate of Ragneghisilus, the seventeenth bishop of Troyes.

## CULT AND RELICS.

The body of Saint Flavit was first buried in his oratory at Marcilly, then later transferred to the monastery of Sainte-Colombe-les-Sens and to the Benedictine priory of Villemaur, which wa Villemaur Site housing relics and a former Benedictine priory. s built in the 8th century and bore the name of Saint-Flavit.

We know of no translation of the relics of this Saint before the 14th century. The first took place on July 6, 1359: some portions of the body of Saint Troyes Episcopal see of Manasses. Flavit were transported to Troyes and deposited in the same shrine as the relics of Saint Loup, bishop, under the administration of Jean Chailley, eighteenth abbot of Saint-Loup. Nearly one hundred years later, a terrible fire devoured almost the entire church of Villemaur and a large part of the region. The bones of the Saint, which had been saved from the flames, were then collected with great care and enclosed in a wooden shrine on July 1, 1450. This reliquary, in the shape of a Gothic chapel, is very remarkable: it bears the date 1420 and presents in the compartments of its two sides the different features of the life of Saint Flavit.

On December 29, 1628, Pierre de Marcq, prior of Villemaur, solemnly opened this shrine and found "several bones wrapped in a linen cloth and in a piece of rose-colored taffeta, with a certificate attesting that these bones are indeed those of Saint Flavit."

Twelve years later, on May 4, 1640, Mgr René de Breslay, eighty-third bishop of Troyes, wishing to satisfy the pious desires of the Carmelites, recently established in his episcopal city, took three bones from the shrine, "namely two from the head and one from the arm," and gave them to these nuns, allowing them to celebrate their translation on December 17. It is to be believed, however, that this bishop kept some for the treasury of his bishopric, for, on September 11, 1650, Mgr Malier du Roussay, his successor, while consecrating three altars in the church of Charmont, placed in one of them relics of Saint Flavit, along with those of Saint Stephen, Saint Urban, and Saint Sebastian.

In the following century, as it was feared that the ancient shrine would fall into disrepair, a new one was made, also of wood, and on May 29, 1718, the precious relics were deposited therein "without removing anything."

It is in this last shrine that the remains of Saint Flavit still rest. As for the one dating from the 14th century, it can also be seen at Villemaur; but it is stripped of its finest ornament.

The story of Saint Flavit is on everyone's lips in Marcilly-le-Hayer, while it is almost unknown in the village that bears his name, and of which the Saint is now only the secondary patron. Despite the indifference of our time, the inhabitants of Marcilly and the surrounding area have retained great confidence in their patron saint: several times they have received the reward for it. We borrow from the Life of Saint Flavit, by M. Lorey, former parish priest of Marcilly, a fact that he says is attested to by the oldest people in the country, who were witnesses to it:

"A man named Laurin, a landowner in Le Mothois, a hamlet of Marcilly, had long since lost the use of his legs and could only move with the help of two crutches. One day, it occurred to him that the one who had resurrected the son of Clotaire would surely also restore the use of his limbs to him, if he went to wash in the Fountain of Abundance. He set off, invoking Saint Flavit with all the zeal that a sick person can put into asking for health from the one who has the power to give it to him or at least to obtain it. He dragged himself as best he could; he was undoubtedly on the road for a long time; but he had barely plunged into the water, he had barely finished his prayer, when the movement of his legs returned, and he was able to return home without crutches. In memory of this miraculous healing, which he attributed to the protection of Saint Flavit, he attached his crutches to a tree that shaded the fountain. They remained there until old age had caused them to fall down in pieces."

Villemaur has only preserved the memory of Saint Flavit through a cross erected in the middle of the woods, on the road to Planty, and near which is a large stone called the Stone of the Ten Fingers: the inhabitants are convinced that these imprints are those of the fingers of Saint Flavit.

The feast of this Saint is set for December 16 in the martyrologies of Saint-Loup, Montier-la-Celle, and Sainte-Colombe; but it is celebrated on the 18th in Marcilly and Saint-Flavit. The translation is solemnized on the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension.

We have used, to compose this biography, the Lives of the Saints of the Diocese of Troyes, by Abbé Defer.