Saint Romanus of Condat

Romain preceded his brother in the path of evangelical perfection. He was anticipated from childhood by the grace of Jesus Christ, who protected him from the disorders common to youth, and who caused him to make great progress in virtue as he grew in age. Little care was taken to cultivate his mind through the study of human letters, but he became very skilled in another science, incomparably more estimable, which is that of charity. He renounced marriage with the resolution to give himself entirely to the service of God who, being the sole author of his design, led him himself as if by the hand in the ways of salvation.

Before engaging in the practices of monastic life, for which there was not yet a master in the Jura mountains, he went to place himself for some time under the guidance of Abbot Sabin, who governed the monastery of Ainay in Lyon, built at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, near the place where the martyrs of Lyon had suffered. Romain studied there all the prac tices Romain Abbot and founder of the Jura monasteries in the 5th century. of the cenobitic life, and obtained from this abbot a copy of the Life of the Fathers, and another of the Institutes of Cassian, which were then very recently written. With these aids and the lessons he had received, he retired at the age of thirty-five into the forests of the Jura mountains, which today separate Franche-Comté from the Pays de Gex, and settled, around the year 423, in a place named Condat, where, b etween Condat Site of the first monastic foundation of Romanus in the Jura. three mountains, he found a space of land suitable for cultivation, a fountain that offered him clear water, and trees that provided him with wild fruits. His time was divided between prayer, reading, and manual labor. He thus spent a few years in this solitude, in the midst of ferocious beasts, forgotten by the world that he had forgotten first. However, behold, God, after having formed him himself in silence and retreat, is about to place him at the head of the holy nation that He has chosen for Himself in the Jura mountains, to be its guide and model.

Romanus had left behind in the world a brother named Lupicinus, who like him had lived from his childhood in innocence and the fear of God, but whom his father had, against his will, committed to marriage. Providence soon broke his bonds through the death of his wife and his father; so that, having only a mother and a sister to consider, he persuaded them to allow him to leave them to go and join Romanus, his brother, whom he had seen in a dream calling him into his desert. They encouraged one another by their mutual example in the practice of the most austere virtues, and, united even more by the desire to sanctify themselves than by the bonds of blood, they had no disagreements between them other than those born of humility. The ordinary enemy of salvation tried to destroy such a holy union, and it was not long before, through the violence of temptations, he nearly succeeded in making them abandon their solitude and their initial resolutions. God having finally delivered them by His grace from the secret and humiliating insults of their enemy, they walked with more ardor than before in the narrow and painful path that leads to eternal life. Their renewal became a source of graces and blessings for many others; for the odor of their virtues, having spread far and wide in a short time, attracted to their desert several people who were fleeing the world to come and place themselves under their guidance. The first who discovered with great difficulty the retreat of our Saints were two young ecclesiastics from that part of Burgundy which today forms the country of Gex; others followed them there, and the number of their disciples grew in such a way that they found themselves obliged to build a regular monastery. From then on, they began to bring them the sick and the possessed: and the wonders they performed on the bodies of these unfortunate people produced even greater ones on their souls, for those who were healed by the virtue of their prayers usually remained in the monastery, to exercise themselves under their discipline in vigils, fasts, and other practices of the spiritual life. Such were the beginnings of the famous abbey of Condat.

The sterility of the mountains surrounding the valley, and the great number of solitaries who increased every day, compelled the two brothers to expand beyond and build a monastery in a nearby place named Laucoane. They governed these two communities jointly with a union and concord that could be regarded as the particular work of the Holy Spirit, who knows how to combine opposite things and form as He pleases a salutary mixture of the contrary humors of men for the execution of His designs. Grace seems indeed to take pleasure in varying its works and diversifying the fruits of holiness it produces. Romain and Lupicin, although brothers and animated by the same spirit, were of a complete ly diff Lupicin Founder and abbot of Condat. erent character. The former was naturally gentle, peaceful, and accommodating; the latter, on the contrary, was firm and rigid; severity always presided over his counsels, and his actions always felt the effects of a rigorism that would have appeared excessive if Lupicin had not been even harder on himself than on others. But the grace that had, even more than brotherhood, associated these two Saints, tempered the weakness of one by the rigidity of the other so happily that it resulted in an excellent conduct for the salvation of those they governed. Romain always anticipated with his clemency those who were at fault, without even waiting for them to acknowledge their guilt and ask for forgiveness. Lupicin, without absolutely opposing this indulgence of his brother, restricted it as much as he could, for fear that it would open the door to laxity and authorize relapses. Romain did not believe he should impose on his disciples a yoke heavier than that which they appeared voluntarily disposed to bear; Lupicin, believing that religious must strive for perfection, did not judge it too much to demand of them to press them with discourses that were but a simple exposition of what he himself and his brother practiced to give them the example. Romain made no distinction of persons, and received indifferently all who presented themselves; Lupicin showed himself difficult in the choice of those to be admitted, and used great circumspection towards the novices. But as this contrariety, which could have produced division between less united persons, was always accompanied by a perfect understanding in these two Saints who acted by the same principle and for the same end, one always found in one what was lacking in the other. Saint Romain, although the elder, often yielded to Saint Lupicin, whether by reason, by temperament, or by virtue; but God did not fail to declare Himself from time to time by sensible effects in favor of his mansuetude, and one saw admirable conversions of religious who had left the monastery more than once and whom he had received as often as they had asked to return. One of the elder religious of his community, of the spirit and character of Saint Lupicin, reproached him one day quite strongly for this facility in receiving applicants, and for the fact that having filled the monastery with people who appeared gathered rather than chosen, there was no room left for more worthy subjects when they might present themselves; he even urged him to send away all those in whom the slightest defect was found, and to keep only those who gave proof of a solid virtue and a well-tested vocation. Saint Romain, without showing that he found this remonstrance from an inferior misplaced, contented himself with answering him: That it was not easy to make the discernment he wished; that God alone knew the depth and disposition of hearts; that among his disciples there had been some who had begun with fervor and who afterwards had fallen into laxity; that others had left him two or three times, and that having returned to the monastery, they had served God there the rest of their days with exemplary piety; that among those even who had completely separated to return to the world, some, far from abandoning themselves to vice, had religiously practiced the maxims they had learned at the monastery; that others even, raised to the priesthood, were currently governing churches and monasteries with edification.

One year when the fruits were more abundant, the monks of Condat took the opportunity to relax their abstinence, and they rose up with pride against Saint Romain, who reproved them with his usual gentleness. The holy abbot called his brother Lupicin to his aid, who, to restore the original austerity, served at first only porridge made with barley, without salt and without oil. Such insipid food was not to the taste of the lax monks: they murmured, and when they saw their murmurs were useless, twelve decided to leave the monastery, leaving behind by their flight peace and regularity.

Saint Romain, afflicted to see that his brother's severity had forced these religious to abandon their state, could not help but make some complaints to him. The austere abbot of Lauconne pointed out to him that he should not be saddened by the departure of these persons, since the Lord's threshing floor had been purged, and that the light straw having been blown away by the wind of pride, only the good grain remained. This answer, however much it seemed in conformity with the spirit of the Gospel, could not console Saint Romain for the loss of his brothers, because he could not extinguish in his heart that tender charity which made him fear for their salvation; he wept for them, but with the confidence that He who had deigned to die for them would make them live again and return to grace; indeed, he obtained their conversion through the ardor and perseverance of his prayers; all returned, some sooner, others later, and touched by a salutary repentance, they performed an edifying penance.

In the meantime, Sain t Hilary, Bishop of Arles, fo saint Hilaire, évêque d'Arles Archbishop of Arles and friend of Eucherius. llowing the claim his church held over the supremacy of the Gauls—ever since the Emperor Honorius had transferred the seat of the praetorian prefecture there after the ruin of Trier by the Barbarians—had traveled to Besanç on in th Besançon Episcopal see restored by Saint Nicet. e year 444 to conduct an inquiry against Celidonius, Bishop of that city, who was accused of having married a widow and was subsequently deposed. Saint Hilary heard of the virtues and merits that made the two abbots of the Jura famous; he sent clerics to Saint Romanus to ask him to come and meet him in Besançon. The humble religious went there, and the holy bishop, to honor his person and give him greater authority, ordained him a priest, despite his resistance. This honor did not produce any change in the conduct of Saint Romanus, who was then about fifty-four years old, but it gave a new luster to his humility and the judicious simplicity of his conduct. He did not believe that the dignity of the priesthood should distinguish him from his brothers, except during the time of the sacrifice; he remained always simple, familiar with them, and never sought to surpass them except in regularity and mortifications.

The reputation of Saint Romanus spread further day by day, and attracted such a great number of disciples that he was obliged to build other monasteries, in the Vosges and as far as Germany. One of the most famous was the one he founded in the diocese of Lausanne, which gave birth to a town known today by the name of Rom ainmôtier, in Romain-Moutier Monastery founded by Romanus in the Vaud region. the Vaud region.

Our two Saints had a sister who wished to imitate their way of life; they built her a monastery on a rock near Lauconne, full of caverns, which caused this convent to be called La Baume, a name la Baume Female monastery founded for the sister of Romanus. which means cavern in the Celtic language, and which has passed into the local dialect, where the caves found in great quantity in the Bugey mountains are called Balmes. This new community became so numerous that at the death of Saint Romain, there were one hundred and five nuns, who kept such an exact enclosure that they never left the monastery grounds except to be carried to their graves. Although many of them had their brothers or even their sons in the monastery of Lauconne, which was so close by, they never spoke to them: both sides already regarded themselves as buried.

Saint Romain had drawn the rule that he established in these monasteries from the Observances of Lérins and the Institutions of Cassian. He had also taken from the Eastern monks, and especially from the rule of Saint Basil and that of Saint Pachomius, the customs that could be suited to the climate and temperament of the Gauls. His monks cultivated the land to live; they never ate meat, unless they were sick; but they ate eggs and dairy products.

All the monasteries established by Saint Romain and Saint Lupicin recognized them as their fathers and directors, and the house of Condat as their mother and the source of their origin. Thus, the rule was preserved there much longer than elsewhere in its purity and exactitude.

The two brothers frequently and in turn visited the distant houses; and they often took advantage of these journeys to make pilgrimages of piety to neighboring places consecrated by the devotion of the faithful. On this occasion, let us cite a fact reported by Saint Gregory of Tours; it is the spiritual bouquet that we present to our readers in concluding this notice. Saint Romanus, going to visit the tomb of Saint Maurice at Agaune with Palladius, his companion, was overtaken by night near Geneva. He withdrew into a hut of lepers who gave him hospitality, with all the more eagerness as he did not show the slightest repugnance upon seeing the hideous disease whose horror had caused them to be sequestered from society. But what was their surprise the next day upon waking to see themselves entirely healed! Their benefactor had left the cottage very early in the morning: knowing that he had taken the road to Geneva, they ran after him to express their gratitude; they could not reach him, but this gratitude was exhaled in public demonstrations, and soon the whole city of Geneva, where these two lepers were known, was informed of the miracle that had just been performed in their favor. On his return from Agaune, Saint Romanus was welcomed with great ceremony by th e clergy, th saint Romain Abbot and founder of the Jura monasteries in the 5th century. e magistrates, and the people of Geneva, who led him in triumph, followed by the two healed lepers who were regarded as his conquest. The confusion that all these honors caused him was great, but it did not prevent him from taking advantage of this occasion to exhort the Genevans to remain firm in the faith, so fertile in miracles. Saint Romanus, unable to endure the praises of men, went promptly to shut himself up in his monastery of Condat, where he died holily some time later, at the age of seventy, in the presence of Saint Lupicinus, his brother, and his sister, abbess of La Baume, to whom he commended, in the name of Jesus Christ, all the monks and nuns of the houses he had founded. His death is placed on February 28, 460.

His body was carried to the monastery of La Baume, as he had granted to his sister. God continued to honor him with the gift of miracles after his death, to attest to his holiness and manifest his glory. His relics Ses reliques Remains of the saint preserved at Saint-Romain-de-Roche. were carefully preserved in these places until 1522, at which time they were partially consumed in a fire along with those of Saint Lupicin. Today, the last remains of the holy abbot are kept in the church of Saint-Romain-de-Roche, which replaced the former monastery of La Baume; they are enclosed in a beautiful reliquary in the form of a 13th-century mausoleum. The church, which appears to be from the 16th century, is built on the edge of a dreadful precipice and isolated on the rock of La Balme. Each year, on certain feast days, the inhabitants of Saint-Lupicin go in procession to this solitary temple. Ado and Usuard, writers of the 9th century, mentioned him on February 28 in their Martyrology; they have been followed in the modern Roman; the church of Lyon and that of Belley celebrate the office of the simple rite on that day.

Saint Romain and Saint Lupicin are represented kneeling and in prayer, while the demon rains a hail of stones upon them. Discouraged, they leave the place of their retreat; a pious woman, from whom they ask for hospitality after a day's walk, reproaches them for yielding the ground to the enemy. The scene of their departure, the stop in the cottage of this villager, and their return, can provide other motifs.

They are also depicted as abbots, with a crozier in their hand and a small church; washing the feet of pilgrims or the sick; working the land.

The life of Saint Romain and Saint Lupicin, his brother, was written by Saint Gregory of Tours and by a monk of Condat; the Bollandists, Tillemont, Father Gonod of Bourg, in his work entitled: *Vita et Sententiae patrum accidentis*; Longueval, in his *Histoire de l'Église gallicane*, and almost all the authors of collections of Lives of Saints have spoken of these two brothers, famous in the annals of the Western Church. It is from these sources that Mgr Depéry, hagiographer of Belley, drew what he reported for the instruction and edification of the faithful.