Saint Volusien

We do not know the circumstances that brought him to Tours, under the episcopate of Saint Eustochius. This pious bishop, charmed by his virtues, kept him near him, and he remained there under the episcopate of Saint Perpetuus, to whom he was, moreover, a relative. Maan claims that he was also a relative of Sidonius Apollinaris; but this opinion does not seem to us to be sufficiently well-established.

Upon the Tours Place of retirement for Clotilde near the tomb of Saint Martin. death of Saint Perpetuus, the people of Tours, great admirers of the virtues of Volusianus, chose him as their bishop. This was in the year 491.

A worthy imitator of his illustrious relative, he employed his immense fortune for the relief of the poor and the needs of his church. He established the parish of Manthelan, in the arrondissement of Loches, and consecrated the basilica of Saint-Jean, at Marmoutier.

The honors of the episcopate did not in any way diminish the brilliance of his humility, and he maintained, upon the episcopal seat, the simplicity and modesty of a monk. He knew how to win the affection of his people through his gentleness; but, as a man of consc ience Alaric King whose ministers ordered the martyrdom of Anthony. and firmness, he soon became suspect to Alaric, who then held under his dominion a large part of Gaul and Touraine as far as the Loire. The Arian monarch, under Clovis First king of the Franks to convert to Catholicism. standing that the conversion of Clovis to Christianity would deal a harsh blow to his authority, and fearing above all the influence of the bishops, did not shrink from persecution. The courageous eloquence and abundant alms of Volusien marked him as one of the first to face the rigors of the barbarian king. Violently torn from the episcopal seat he had occupied so worthily for seven years, he w as taken Toulouse Episcopal see of Erembert. into exile in the city of Toulouse.

Despite the deep sorrow he felt at being separated from his church, Volusien did not remain inactive; unable to instruct his people any longer, he constantly made his voice heard to the Arians; he debated with their bishops, and through the ardor of his zeal and the effectiveness of his speeches, he made the Catholic truth triumph.

The Goths, driven out by the victorious troops of Clovis, resolved to take the holy bishop with them in their flight to Spain; but as the courageous Pontiff did not cease to reproach them for their heresy with holy boldness, they cut off his head in the vicinity of Pam iers, a Pamiers City and diocese of which the saint is the patroness. nd thus added to his merits the crown of martyrdom, around the year 499.

Tradition reports that the Saint leaned on his staff while presenting his head to the executioner's sword. This staff remained in the ground and subsequently became a beautiful tree that could still be seen in the 18th century. His body, buried fi rst Foix Place of burial and site of a monastery founded in his honor. near Foix, was later transported to a church that Count Roger comte Roger Count of Foix, founder of the monastery of Saint-Volusien. had built in his honor. Augustinian religious built a monastery around this tomb, which soon became a place of pilgrimage, made very famous by numerous miracles.

The Roman Martyrology sets his feast day on January 18; but the Church of Tours celebrates it on February 11, and that of Pamiers on the 13th, by virtue of a permission from the Holy See.

Such is, in brief, the life and death of Saint Volusien: researchers and archaeologists will be grateful to us for adding here, as an appendix, a document that we owe to the kindness of M. Ponech, canon at Pamiers.

"What may have escaped you," this learned ecclesiastic wrote to us on November 12, 1871, "is a document from 1364 cited as proof by Dom Vaissette, author of the History of Languedoc, and of which I give you here an extract that I take from the book of M. Adolphe Garripou, one of the scholars who wrote about the ancient country of Foix, not having the work of Dom Vaissette at my disposal. Here is this piece:

"To all those who shall see the present writing, we make known that we, Hugues, by the grace of God, humble abbot of the monastery of Saint-Augustin of Foix, diocese of Pamiers, have found, seen, learned, and read word for word, in the archives and the sacristy of our monastery, various acts, books, and ancient manuscripts intended to preserve the memory of facts relating to the abbey, its basilica, and its ancient canons or regulations. We have seen in these titles that the blessed Volusien, martyr of Jesus Christ and Archbishop of Tours (sic), of good memory, whose body rests in the basilica of Foix, in the time of Clovis, first Christian king of France, when a band of Goths and Arians, a true public plague, invaded Gaul, and the city of Tours, decimated by the sword and delivered to pillage, was deprived of its bishop and pastor, we have read, we say, that the blessed Volusien was taken and bound by these detestable enemies of the faith and led into exile as far as Toulouse. It is also read there that these fierce Visigoths, suspecting their own king Alaric, who lived in Toulouse, of colluding with Volusien to surrender the city to the French armies, removed the latter, who was kept outside the city walls bound and chained. They wanted to lead the holy bishop to Spain or some distant land, in order to dominate the city alone and to be able to naturalize their perverse doctrines without obstacle within a Catholic population. Volusien, dragged to the place of Couronne, one mile from the village called Villepoyrouse, was beheaded by these barbarian soldiers and thus received from them the crown of martyrdom. Furthermore, it is read that the same night the Saint was put to death, he appeared to two weeping women, Julienne and Juliette, and that he told them the circumstances of his martyrdom, ordering them to go find the clerics and the faithful of Foix, so that his body might be carried into the basilica of that city and receive burial there: which was done without delay and as if by enchantment, according to what these authentic writings worthy of all belief report... [I omit here about fifteen lines unrelated to the subject]... After which Abbot Huguon adds: "We have found these facts reported in ancient monuments, in manuscripts worthy of faith, and we draw from them an irrevocable testimony of what we assert, and so that all belief may also be added to it, We, the aforementioned abbot, at the prayer of the consuls and the community of Foix, draw up the present diploma and affix our own seal to it.

"Done and given in our aforementioned monastery, the 23rd of the month of October, year of the incarnation of the Lord 1384."

"This diploma, according to the aforementioned author (M. Adolphe Garrigou, in his book entitled: Studies on the ancient country of Foix and the Couserans, in Toulouse, at Henault, 1846), is found reported in Latin, in volume 1 of the History of Languedoc, Pyauves, page 22, — which I cannot verify for myself.

"It is on this written monument that the learned historians of Languedoc composed their account concerning the exile and death of Saint Volusien, an account that the chroniclers who wrote after them only reproduce. Now, this account by the learned Benedictines, supported by this diploma which they must have regarded as authentic, already has authority. But we have other earlier authors who were able to draw from the same source, the archives of Foix, and who, speaking of Saint Volusien, also uniformly recount his martyrdom. They are:

"1st In the 18th century, Father de La Couldre, Life of Saint Volusien, Limoges, 1722, at François Meillac.

"2nd In the 17th century, the Abbot of Lascases, former rector of Foix, a native of this city, in his Historical Memorial on the troubles of the country of Foix from 1499 to 1610, Toulouse, at Arnaud Colomies, 1644, and de Marca, History of Béarn and the country of Foix.

"3rd The History of the Counts of Foix, in Latin, by Bertrand Hélie, of Pamiers, 16th century.

"The latter may have consulted the archives of the monastery of Saint-Volusien while they were still in their integrity.

"Now, prior to this period, a multitude of acts of donation made to the monastery of Saint-Volusien, martyr, are cited, dating back to its foundation in 1104, by Pascha l II, at t Paschal II Pope who authorized the foundation of the monastery in 1104. he prayer of Roge r I, firs Roger Ier Count of Foix, founder of the monastery of Saint-Volusien. t count of Foix, and recounted by André de Ravenac, religious of the Observance.

"The monastery was founded under the invocation of Saint-Augustin; but from 1111, it passed under that of Saint-Volusien, martyr, or at least that is how it is named.

"Lascases, according to Hélie Durand and other earlier writers, recounts at length the translation of his relics, and all qualify the Saint as a martyr.

"Finally, acts of donation to Saint Volusien, martyr, dating back to the 10th century are still cited." (Manuscript of 1438, cited by A. Garrigou, page 330.)