Saint Columba of Sens

Pressed by an ardent thirst in the midst of this long journey, she obtained miraculously, through her prayer, that a fountain gush forth at the very place where they had rested for a moment, because of the fatigue of the journey. Then, having arrived at the city of Vienne, in Dauphiné, she was purified there in the sacred waters of baptism. There one still sees, as a monument to this fact, in the church of the distinguished monastery of the nuns of the Order of Saint Benedict, consecrated to God because of our Saint, a chapel built on the site where she was baptized, and which bears this inscription: *Baptisterium sanctæ Colombe*.

The Lord demanded new sacrifices from our Saint by inspiring her to move even further away from her homeland.

Learning that the cult of the Christian religio n fl Sens Archiepiscopal see occupied by Saint Aldric. ourished in Sens more than in any other place in Gaul, she came there with those who accompanied her, and there they gave themselves entirely to vigils, prayers, fasts, and the visiting of the tombs of the Saints.

But such a great number of foreigners, leading such a way of life, did not fail to attract the attention of the city's inhabitants and excite the susceptibility of the pagans. Thus, no sooner had Emperor l'empereur Aurélien Gallo-Roman nobleman and ambassador of Clovis. Aurelian arrived in the city of Sens, "where he made his entry on the 8th of the Kalends of January, the day on which religion honors and venerates the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, than these new Christians were denounced to him." It was not the first time that this prince had come to Gaul, nor the first time that he had shed the blood of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Already, in 250, being governor of the city of Troyes, he had ordered the death of several Christians, and among others of the holy martyr Patroclus; he then returned to the Senonais region in 273, to receive there the submission of Tetricus who had secretly called upon him. Upon returning to Rome, he received the honors of a triumph there, and it was following his brilliant successes, the glory of which still intoxicated him, that he passed a third time into the Gauls, in the year 274, and that he himself executed the edicts of proscription that he had launched against the Christians.

Columba, Beatus, Sanctian, and the others who had followed them, numbering about twenty, therefore appeared before the author of the ninth persecution. "Aurelian inquired carefully into their conduct, but, finding them firm and unshakeable in the profession of the Christian religion, he ordered that they be put to death after having been tormented by the most frightful tortures. Columba, however, was excepted. The tyrant knew the nobility of her origin, he had noticed the rare beauty and the air of grandeur that distinguished her, and he hoped indeed that the sight of the tortures in which the others were about to die before her eyes would bend her constancy."

It is about a mile to the northeast of the city of Sens, near the path that leads to the village of Saligny, that their martyrdom was accomplished.

Our young heroine had witnessed the cruel death of her companions, and she desired in vain to mingle her blood with theirs. Aurelian, in order to give her time to reflect on what she had seen and on the fate that awaited her if she did not yield to his desires, had her thrown into prison. A constant tradition places this underground dungeon in the middle of the city, over which the piety of the faithful raised one of the first churches built in honor of our Saint, that of Sainte-Colombe la Petite.

What happened in that dark dwelling? Who will tell us of the fervor of the Christian virgin's prayers and the visit of Him who descends into prisons to console the just...! All we can know is that Colombe drew from it a new energy to sustain new battles.

The emperor having therefore had her brought before him again, she presented herself without bitterness and with a noble simplicity before the tyrant's tribunal, thus maintaining the authority of her rank. Aurelian, casting an irritated look at her, said: "What is your name?" — "I am called Colombe, strengthened as I am by the love of Christ." — "Your first answer already gives ground against you; why do you let yourself be deceived by a false belief?" — "I could not believe in any other God than the one who, at the beginning of the world, created us in his image, and in his only Son Our Lord, who showed himself on earth for our salvation, whom we believe to have suffered under Pontius Pilate, and who, after his resurrection, enlightened his Church by the coming of the Holy Spirit: I confess that he is true God before the ages and that he took in time the true form of the image of humanity." — "Do you not know our decrees?" — "Which ones?" — "That all Christians abandon their superstition, present themselves before me, head of the government of men, and adore my gods."

The virgin replied: "Gods made by the hand of men will perish with those who adore them; they are inventions of the demon, they have neither feeling nor movement, one must not adore them, but rather burn them, for fear that, through the persuasion of the demon, this false veneration might draw the hearts of the foolish toward them. As for me, I must adore and venerate the Lord my God, the Christ who deigns to promise me life, who sees the angels submitted to his empire in heaven, and all the elements tremble before him."

Aurelian, seeing her inflexible, had recourse to the most flattering promises and made all the advantages and all the glory of an illustrious alliance shine before her, assuring her that because of the charms of her beauty and the nobility of her origin, everyone in his palace would hasten to obey her voice; then he added: "What perversity could still hold you in your obstinacy?" — "It is not difficult for me to despise the perfidy of your promises when I recall the examples of the Gospel: the ancient enemy, whose footsteps you follow, attacked my master with three temptations, and, leading him to the top of a high mountain, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said to him: If, falling at my feet, you wish to adore me, I will give you all these things. But the Lord answered him: Retire, Satan, for it is written: You shall adore the Lord your God, and you shall serve him alone. Following his example, you use all sorts of means to make me participate in your damnation; you wish, O tyrant, to separate me from the love of Jesus Christ, my celestial Spouse; but you will never succeed in tearing me from his eternal embraces. And you who, through this betrothal, would like to drag me into the corruption of an earthly love, you deserve eternal torments with the demon whose inspirations you follow, and whom you falsely believe to be God, unless before the passing of the first death you appease Christ, my Lord, by the confession of faith. As for me, I feel destined for an eternal kingdom, for the fleeting goods you promise can never turn me away from the love of my God; bound as I am to an eternal spouse, how could I submit to the laws of a mortal man?" — "Words come with extreme abundance," said the emperor, "but finally if you do not sacrifice to my gods, as I have told you, there will be no more truce for you from now on; I will have you dishonored, and you will perish in the midst of the flames." — "God is powerful enough," Colombe says, "to protect his servant, to keep her pure, and to lead her to the palm of virginity. I am ready, to confess his name, to face the snares and all the torments that you wish to make me suffer, so that he may deign to crown me in the presence of the inhabitants of the heavenly court, and count me among the number of his martyrs."

Aurelian, seeing that he could obtain nothing, neither by promises nor by threats, flew into a rage and ordered that Colombe be loaded with chains and taken to the amphitheater, to be strictly guarded there in a narrow prison. Then, having sought out a young man of infamous morals: "Go," he said to him, "where the virgin Colombe is locked up; I abandon her to you." Filled with a brutal joy upon hearing these words, he ran to the amphitheater, and he was already near the doors of the dungeon when the young Christian, casting a look full of dignity upon him, said: "Why, young man, do you advance here with such ferocity? Held back by the weakness of my sex, I could not struggle against you; but behold, I invoke my Lord and my spouse Jesus Christ, who can snatch me from your traps and your violence."

However, as the door was open, he entered; but the chaste and courageous virgin pushed him back, saying: "Listen, young man, and prepare your heart for what I am about to tell you: My Lord and my God, whom I have pledged to serve through the purity of my morals, will not allow me to fall into ignominy. Take care that divine vengeance does not strike you suddenly, at this very instant, and that you do not become the prey of an eternal death."

These words, which had made the corrupter recoil in terror, were barely finished when a bear, sent by Providence to the aid of the virgin, entered the prison, jumped on the young man, knocked him to the ground, and holding him under its claws, looked at Colombe, trembling, to know from her what had to be done. Colombe, knowing that it was for her defense that this animal was sent by God, ordered it in the name of Christ to exercise no vengeance on this young man and to leave him so that she could speak to him; the bear obeyed the voice of the virgin Colombe immediately, and releasing its prey, it went to stand across the door as if to prevent him from leaving, and to stop those who might wish to enter.

The blessed virgin, then resuming her speech, said to him: "You must understand now what power is found in the invocation of the name of Christ, since you see that this ferocious beast was sent by the Lord to defend me and repel your infamies. It obeys its Creator, it, an irrational creature, and you, a man created with reason, you are far from the knowledge of Christ; well! now promise that you are going to become a Christian, or else if you refuse, I will give this animal permission to devour you." Then the young man, penetrated with contrition, made his faith burst forth with these words: "May he who does not confess Christ not leave here with his life; as for me, I confess loudly that there is no other God than the one whom the blessed Colombe makes profession of believing." When he had finished these words, the bear left the door of the dungeon free, which it seemed to be guarding by order of God, and gave him the freedom to leave.

Transported with joy to see himself thus saved, this young man went about the whole city crying that there was no other God of the universe than the one for whose name the blessed Colombe endured so many and such great torments, and he recounted all the wonders that the Lord had worked in her favor. It appears that he was martyred outside the city because of his firmness in the faith. And meanwhile, the bear remained in the amphitheater to continue to protect Colombe. Upon learning these things, Aurelian, carried away by anger, ordered the soldiers to tear Colombe from the amphitheater and bring her before his tribunal. They found her in prayer in her prison and the bear beside her, which seized them with such terror that they did not dare approach the Saint and returned to tell the emperor that it had been impossible for them to bring her, because a bear that was with her in her dungeon had not let them enter.

Then Aurelian had wood piled up around the walls of the prison and ordered that it be set on fire, in order to cause both Colombe and the bear that was protecting her to perish. This animal, seeing the flames approaching little by little and fearing death no doubt, began instinctively to let out roars. But Colombe, touched with pity for it, reassured it with her words and promised it that not only would it not perish by fire, but also that it would not be caught and would die naturally, because all things were happening thus only for the glory of God. At these words, the bear came several times to lick the feet of the powerful virgin, then, escaping through an opening, it fled all trembling and split the crowd of people, regaining its lair through a thousand dangers.

But Colombe, what will become of her in the midst of the burning flames that are going to devour her? "Clouds having gathered above the amphitheater by the order of the Lord, they poured down torrents of water which extinguished the flames of the fire." It is in memory of this miraculous fact that one addresses this beautiful prayer to God, on the day of the feast of our Saint: "My God, who were pleased to send from heaven an abundant rain to extinguish the flames with which the blessed Colombe, virgin and martyr, was surrounded, we pray you to send us, through her intercession, the salutary dew of your mercy, to protect us from the flaming arrows of the ancient serpent."

The emperor, informed of everything that was happening, could not help but be struck with stupor; but instead of recognizing there the wonderful works of divine Providence, he persevered in the hardening of his heart, and having Colombe called before him again: "What is then your secret," he said to her? "What are the sorceries that you use to perform such enchantments, to make a ferocious beast run with such promptness to your aid and obtain that an abundant rain comes to extinguish the fire that was prepared for you? By what power can you thus prevail over me?"

Colombe replied that she performed these prodigies by invoking not the demon, but Our Lord Jesus Christ, then she reproached this tyrant for his cruelty.

Aurelian, transported by an unspeakable fury, ordered the executioners to strike her with rods, to tear her with iron combs, and to lead her to the first milestone, outside the city, so that she might have her head severed by the sword.

But, before being taken from the presence of Aurelian, the blessed Columba had the strength to say to him: "I do not fear your sentence of condemnation; I will complete my martyrdom with new ardor. Our Lord and Redeemer exhorts us to it in his Gospel: 'Whoever,' he tells us, 'loves his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it for eternal life.' But also, it is only with trembling that I think of that sentence of the future judgment that Christ will pronounce against the impious: 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' It is to deserve to go and receive this sentence that you work without respite, so as to never cease thereafter to be the companion of Satan and his angels in those eternal flames. This condemnation that you pass against me seems to me very small and very light in comparison to this eternal torment. For although you may separate my soul from my limbs, yet, after the execution of my body, no one will have power over my soul, except that He who placed it in me, after the future resurrection, can recall it again into my limbs reunited by His power. You, therefore, who are without God and who understand the wickedness of your works, look attentively at my face, and when before the tribunal of Christ I come to accuse you, you will then remember, in the presence of my Spouse, with what glory you crowned me by the very things that prepare for you eternal pains." After these words, the sentence having been pronounced, the ministers of death obeyed the orders of the cruel emperor.

When they had led her to the designated place, Columba, at the moment of receiving the fatal blow, asked for a few moments, in order to address her prayer to God before departing from this life. But these fierce executioners refused her any delay; she suspended her prayer to offer them with a pious supplication, mingled with tears, the new cloak she was wearing, saying to them: Receive this and grant me permission to pray.

Won over by this gift, they gave her the permission she requested. Then the blessed Columba, prostrating herself on the ground and pouring herself out entirely into the Lord, prayed, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, almighty God, you know that it is for the confession of your name that I suffer these torments; lend me the help of your goodness, O immense, O merciful One, lest the second death, that is to say, eternal punishment, have power over me! But grant that, sustained by your mercies, I may be destined for eternal glory."

At that very instant, this fervent prayer penetrated the mysterious depths of heaven, and a divine voice was heard, which said: "Come, Columba, the heavens are open to you; the choir of celestial spirits and the choir of virgins filled with joy advance to meet you; the Son of God awaits you and prepares for you the crown of eternity; the angels will receive you and lead you into the city of the Saints, into the heavenly Jerusalem."

Then, at the same time that she presented her head to the iron of the executioner who was about to strike her, she imitated again the example of the Master, saying: "You know, Lord, that the desires I felt to testify my love for you are today fulfilled; do not impute this fury to them, because they sin against you out of ignorance."

These last words were still resounding on her lips when her voice was interrupted under the blows of the executioner whose sword severed her head. And thus this illustrious martyr, bathed in her virginal blood, flew off joyfully to eternal glory! It was on December 31 of the year of grace 274 that this glorious death occurred.

Let us return to the mortal remains of the holy martyr and say in a few words what became of them. "At the time of the martyrdom of Saint Colombe," says the Rev. Fr. Durteau, "there lived in a castle very pleasantly situated, in the middle of a beautiful plain, on the right bank of the Yonne, a mile north of the city, a prince of an illustrious fam ily, nam Aubertus A general from Sens healed of blindness by the saint's blood. ed Aubertus, who was general of the Senonian region. Whether because of his crimes (for he was still an idolater), or to better manifest the glory of God and the power of Saint Colombe through the healing of this infirmity, he had for a long time already been deprived of sight.

"Indeed, the rumor of the wonders that were taking place around the body of the Christian virgin, whom the executioners had left without burial so that it might become the prey of wild beasts, soon reached him. At this news, his soul is suddenly enlightened by the Holy Spirit, who knows neither slowness nor delay, and he conceives at the same time the hope of recovering the benefit of sight. He therefore has himself led to this sacred fountain, and bending his knees he prostrates himself on the ground in the most suppliant manner and deeply venerates the body of the virgin martyr, which exhaled the most sweet odor; then taking some of the blood, with which the glory of her passion had adorned her, he touches his extinguished eyes with it with faith, piety, and religion, and instantly recovers his sight. All those present are in astonishment and joy, and he, full of gratitude for this divine favor and for Colombe, such a dear spouse of Christ, has this chaste body transported, like a precious treasure, into his own palace, and buries it honorably. On the very tomb of the virgin, he had a church built at his own expense. He gave for its maintenance a vast meadow whose location is indicated, in the oldest documents, under the name of Pré Aubert, a name it still bears today; it almost touches the fountain of Azon."

The influx of pilgrims to the tomb of Saint Colombe had become too great for the secular priests attached to the church founded by Aubertus to receive them. Clotaire II, King of the Franks, founded a monastery there in the year 620. He endowed it with royal magnificence by ceding to it a land from his domain called Cuy (Custacum), with all the rights pertaining to it. Two years later, Saint Didier, Bishop of Auxerre, left by his will a land called Viaela which was to be shared between the two basilicas of Sainte-Colombe and Saint-Loup, built near the city of Sens.

The illustrious Saint Loup further increased the revenues of this abbey with magnificence, by donating to it the land of Sarmoïse which he had inherited from his family. He was buried in a tomb dug under the gutter of this building. Miracles having revealed the holiness of this humble pastor, his tomb was placed near that of the virgin martyr. Henceforth these two tombs would be inseparable, the same temple would cover them, the same honors would be rendered to them, and they would both be regarded as the two most powerful protections of the Senonian country.

King Dagobert donated to the basilica of Sainte-Colombe a land called Grand-Champ in the Gâtinais, and appointed the famous Saint Eligius as administrator of the goods of this monastery, in which he took the keenest interest.

It was a true consolation for this man of Go saint Éloi Founder of the monastery and spiritual advisor to Saint Aurea. d to see himself entrusted with such a position, and he took great care to enrich the basilica of Sainte-Colombe, which he showered with a thousand gifts. Among the works he wished to make with his own hands, one particularly distinguished a reliquary magnificently adorned with silver, gold, and precious stones, the costs châsse magnifiquement ornée Precious reliquary crafted by Saint Eligius. of which had been borne by the king. It was plundered by the Normans and today only the *feretrum* or sarcophagus remains, which still contains the relics of the Saint.

The religious, wishing to use for the glory of God a portion of the riches with which this abbey had been liberally provided, in honor of Saint Colombe, thought around the middle of the 9th century to build a new basilica to replace the first, which was undoubtedly falling into ruin and had certainly become too small for the gathering of the faithful. It was solemnly consecrated on the 11th of the Kalends of August of the year 853, by Wénilon, Archbishop of Sens, in honor of Saint Colombe, virgin and martyr, of Saint Loup, confessor, and also of the Holy Cross. The day after this consecration, the bodies of Saint Colombe and Saint Loup were raised from the earth, that is to say, the holy relics were taken from the crypt where they were enclosed, below the floor of the church, to be placed in a higher place. This ceremony was accomplished with the greatest solemnity in the midst of an immense gathering of clergy and people.

The new church was embellished a few years later by Betton, one of the monks, who died Bishop of Auxerre. Born in Sens itself, he was provost at Sainte-Colombe, at the same time that Richard the Justiciar was its lay abbot. With the help of the latter, he raised the surrounding walls up to the battlements and protected them with strong towers. Then, wishing to also satisfy his piety towards Saint Colombe, he applied himself to decorating her church and the reliquary where her relics were enclosed with sumptuous ornaments of gold and silver.

In 867, Welf, lay abbot of Sainte-Colombe and Saint-Riquier, near Abbeville, donated a relic of our Saint to the latter monastery.

On the 19th of the Kalends of February (936), the illustrious King Raoul, who held the scepter of the Franks with such glory, in peace as in war, died in Auxerre and was buried in the convent of Sainte-Colombe. He had donated his own crown to this abbey and had enriched it with lands and magnificent gifts, such as holy relics, chalices, precious stones, books decorated with gold and silver, and other ornaments.

During the French Revolution, all the property and buildings of the royal abbey of Sainte-Colombe, after being confiscated like all church property for the benefit of the nation, or rather of those who bought them at a low price, were miserably sold to be delivered as prey to the most hideous greed. Now, this magnificent church, one of the wonders of the Senonais region, could not find grace before the revolutionary hammer! Fortunately, after about half a century of desolation, better days began to smile upon this devastated land; it became the property of the nascent congregation of the religious of the Holy Childhood of Jesus and Mary, whose Mother House was established on the ruins of the old abbey. Thus was restored, after a few years of interruption, the cult of Saint Colombe which had flourished in these places for about sixteen hundred years.

As for the relics of the Saint, transported to the treasury of the cathedral of Sens at the time of the Revolution, they had been stripped of their magnificent silver reliquary, but had remained intact in the wooden sarcophagus that contained them, which tradition as well as scientific data attribute to Saint Eligius. They have since been placed in a new reliquary.

In 1833, Mgr de Cosnac, after visiting the precious remains of the Saint, removed some fragments to be distributed to several churches. In 1847, one of her relics was granted to the parish of Sainte-Colombe (Côte-d'Or). A precious relic, the one that had been granted in 1699 by the old abbey to the metropolitan chapter of Sens, was brought back to the new monastery of Sainte-Colombe on Tuesday, July 29, 1847. A relic was granted in 1849 to the church of Sainte-Colombe in the city of Saintes.

The fountain of Azon, so famous for the martyrdom of our Saint, has been returned to its original purpose.

Excavations carried out on the site of the sanctuary of the ancient basilicas successively built on the tomb of Saint Colombe have uncovered the remains of a crypt that offers signs of the highest antiquity. It is two meters wide by four meters long, and about thirty centimeters of the old walls remain all around.

Abbé Brullée demonstrates very well that this is the primitive crypt, the one that would have been built when the body of the Saint was brought from the fountain of Azon to the castrum of the general of the Senonais region; the one where Saint Eligius found the precious relics when he came to craft the marvelous reliquary that was to contain them.

Abbé Brullée has restored this venerable crypt, preserving its debris with religious respect. Two inscriptions, placed on each side of the altar, will recall, one the history of the crypt, and the other the names of the principal benefactors of the church of Sainte-Colombe, who will multiply for the construction of a new church of which this crypt is in a way only the foundation stone.

For this biography, we have summarized the Life of Saint Colombe, by Abbé Brullée.