Saint Wulfran of Abbeville

However, he was called to the court, through the influence of his father and his own merit, and served there successfully the princes Clotaire III and even Thierry III, kings of the Franks, until his father's death. Lambert, Ar chbi Sens Archiepiscopal see occupied by Saint Aldric. shop of Sens, having died, he was elected in his place by the common consent of the clergy and the people of that city. But he had barely governed that church for two and a half years with all the vigilance of a good pastor when he felt inwardly prompted to go and preach the Gospel to the Frisians: he abandoned his see of Sens by a solemn abdication (695). Perhaps he acted thus out of a scruple regarding his ordination; for Saint Amé, Bishop of Sens, unjustly banished by Thierry III in 674, was still living, having survived Méry and Lambert, who had been substituted for him in succession. Saint Wulfran immediately went to confer on the plans for Frise Region of origin of the saint. his mission to Frisia with Ansbert, then Archbishop of Rouen, afte r having been A Saint-Vandrille Benedictine monastery that received a portion of the relics in the 10th century. bbot of Saint-Wandrille: he then made a retreat in that abbey, to which he had given his land of Milly. He obtained from Abbot Hilbert, successor to Saint Ansbert, religious men to accompany him and assist him in his apostolate.

They embarked at the port of Caudebec and set out for Frisia towards the end of the 6th century. On their journey, an event occurred that made the merit of the Saint known: as he was saying Mass on the sea, Saint Vandon, who was serving as deacon, while wiping the paten before handing it to him, let it fall into the water; but the holy Prelate, having offered his prayer, commanded him to put his hand into the place where the paten had fallen, and immediately it rose from the depths of the waters and placed itself into his hand, to the great astonishment of all those who were in the vessel. This paten, along with the chalice, were preserved at the monastery of Saint-Wandrille until the year 1621; they were then stolen by a sacrilege that cannot be sufficiently deplored. As soon as they arri ved in Radbod Bishop of Noyon in the 11th century who performed the translation of the relics. Frisia, Wulfran addressed Radbod, duke of the land, and showed him, through strong reasoning, that the gods of the Gentiles were but illusions, but that the true God is an essence incomprehensible and invisible to the eyes of men, all-powerful and eternal, who created heaven and earth and all that is in the world, who governs it by His divine Providence, and who will one day come to judge all men. He was received favorably by this prince, who, although an idolater, gave these new missionaries full liberty to preach the mysteries of the Christian religion to his people, and to baptize those who wished to convert to the faith of Jesus Christ.

The people, whose conscience was left free by the sovereign, received these holy preachers much more favorably than one would have dared to hope from such savage spirits; they listened willingly to Wulfran, and many embraced the Christian religion and were baptized. The Duke's son was even one of those who became Christian: which served to win over many others. The miracles that the Saint performed contributed not a little to establishing the faith in the minds of these barbarians: for it was by their means that he triumphed over the perfidy of those whom he could not convince by his reasoning.

The Frisians practiced a horrible superstition: it was to make cruel sacrifices of human blood to demons; and, in order to prevent the jealousy of the fathers, lots were drawn to know which of the children should be immolated. Now, it happened one day that a poor child, named Ovon, being led to this cruel slaughter in the presence of the duke, the holy Prelate, touched by a sentiment of charity, begged this prince to prevent a creature made in the image of God from serving as an execrable sacrifice to the infernal spirits. Radbod excused himself by the law of the country, and said that the lot having fallen on this child, one could not grant him mercy, and that it was necessary that he undergo the rigor of the sacrifice; the people said the same thing: they added, however, that Wulfran was free to save him by the power of his God. This unfortunate victim was attached to a gibbet, and strangled in the presence of several Christians and a great number of pagans. Then Wulfran, having been unable to provide a remedy for this evil, asked God that, for the glory of his name, he restore life to this child, so that, by this marvel, the people would be obliged to abandon their error, to adore his greatness, and to recognize his omnipotence. Two hours after the execution, the ropes that still held the child suspended broke, and the Saint, having noticed it, ran immediately to him, and commanded him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to rise in perfect health. At that very hour the child rose to his feet; and, by this miracle, he recovered temporal life and at the same time spiritual life: which was the cause of the conversion of a great number of Frisians, who, yielding to this marvel, embraced our holy faith. Two other children were also delivered from a similar torment by the prayers of our Saint. However horrible this spectacle was, the antiquity of this law had made such an impression on the minds of these peoples that it could not be entirely abolished, neither by the force of reasoning, nor by the virtue of miracles. These barbarians were not content with a single species of death to satisfy their superstitions: they put some to the edge of the sword, others to various very cruel torments, and they threw a portion

Into the sea, so that all the elements might serve their detestable sacrifices. A widow had two children, one of whom was five years old, and the other seven; it happened that the lot fell on these poor innocents, so that, by the rigor of the law, they had to perish in the water. The prince being inflexible to all the prayers of the holy P prince Bishop of Noyon in the 11th century who performed the translation of the relics. relate, these unfortunate victims were torn from their mother's arms and exposed between two waters, in a deep place, so that they would be carried away by the ebb of the sea. The bystanders watched without pity these little children struggling against the waves of this element; but, in the general rejoicing of this brutal people, the holy Prelate shed tears and prayed to the divine Goodness to have regard for the innocence of these creatures. Then the waters separated in two and, surrounding these two poor little ones, they served as walls for them in the sight of everyone; the Christians praised the omnipotence of God, and the pagans, confused, gnashed their teeth with rage; as for Wulfran, all transported with joy, and trusting in the mercy of his God, following the example of the prince of the Apostles, he walked on the waters and went to take these children who were holding each other by the hand, as if to help one another, and brought them to land before all the people, a great part of whom recognized the truth of the faith and were regenerated by the water of holy baptism. The prince himself finally declared himself defeated, and his stubbornness yielding to the evidence of the miracle, he asked to be a Christian; but when everything was ready for the ceremony of his baptism, and when he already had one foot in the salutary waters, the demon made him change his will, for a reason as weak as it was ridiculous; he took it into his head to ask the holy Bishop in what place there were more of his predecessors and nobles of his kingdom; or in the paradise that he promised him by the grace of Baptism or in hell: "Do not deceive yourself," Wulfran replied to him, "it is certain that all those who have died without baptism are damned forever, and will burn in eternal flames, and that those to whom God grants the grace to receive this Sacrament can enjoy in heaven a joy that will have no end." This miserable prince, upon this answer, withdrew his foot from the baptistery, saying that he did not want to deprive himself of the company of his ancestors, who were in such great numbers, to live in heaven with so few poor Christians, and that thus he wanted to die in the religion of his forefathers. The holy Prelate, transported with holy zeal, replied to him: "Wretched man that you are! is this how you let yourself be abused by the cunning of your enemy, and that you take pleasure in precipitating yourself into eternal pains and torments?" This obstinacy of the prince did not prevent several Frisians from converting and believing in Jesus Christ. However, the miracles he had seen, constantly fighting the purity of his heart and making him feel great contradictions within himself, he sent ambassadors to Saint Will ibrord, surname saint Willibrod Archbishop of Utrecht and collaborator of Boniface. d Clement, who had been consecrated archbishop of the Frisians by Pope Sergius, in pape Sergius Pope reigning at the end of the 7th century. the year 696, at the request of Pepin, mayor of the palace, in order to confront him with Wulfran, and to see if their doctrine agreed. But God gave him only three more days: and, while he was thus resisting the truth, he withdrew him from the world before the arrival of Saint Willibrord, and permitted, in punishment for his crimes, that he did not have the happiness of receiving the grace of holy Baptism which he had refused.

However, as following so many wonders, the Christian religion began to take deep roots among the Frisians, the holy Prelate returned to Fontenelle, to the monas tery of Sa Fontenelle Benedictine monastery that received a portion of the relics in the 10th century. int-Wandrille, to spend the rest of his days in solitude, under a religious habit. And just as he had distinguished himself by the holiness of his examples during the exercise of his office, likewise having changed his condition, he applied himself entirely to religious perfection and became a great model of virtue in this famous monastery. He made the journey to Frisia several more times; but in the last one, which occurred around the year 719 or 720, having had a revelation of his death, he returned to France, and fell ill as soon as he had re-entered his monastery.

Before dying, he had all the religious brought into the church to commend himself to their prayers; and, having given them his blessing, he returned to his cell, near a church of Saint-Étienne, which he had caused to be built. There he received the holy Viaticum, and seven days later he passed away, as had been predicted to him by God; which occurred, according to the Great Chronicle of Fontenelle, on March 20 in the year of Our Lord 720.

Saint Wulfran is sometimes depicted at the moment he prepares to baptize Duke Radbod; he is also attributed the rope, for having resurrected a hanged man; he is seen casting a sounding lead from the top of a ship to recover the paten of his chalice that had fallen into the sea: this is why he is, in this case, represented saying Mass on his vessel, and near him the clerk holds the paten or lets it slip overboard.

## RELICS OF SAINT WULFRAN.

He was buried in the church of Saint-Paul, near the tomb of Saint Vandrille, on the right hand side. Nine years later, Saint Bain, Bishop of Thérouanne, then the fifth abbot of Fontenelle, had his body raised from the earth; it was found whole, with all his garments. It was transported to the church of Saint-Pierre, where it rested until the year 838, at which time, to avoid the fury of the Danes, it was transferred, with the bodies of several other Saints, to the monastery of Blandigny, near Ghent. Finally, after having remained several years in this place, it was brought, in the year 1058, to the churc Abbeville Site of the subsequent translation of the relics. h of Notre-Dame d'Abbeville, which, in the course of time, took the name of Saint-Wulfran. Guillaume, Count of Ponthieu, founded there in his honor prebends for the canons who served it.

Nevertheless, there are authors who maintain that the body of this holy Prelate always remained at Fontenelle, and that it was transported from there to Abbeville in the year 1027.

These precious relics are enclosed in a rich silver shrine, which is carried every year in a solemn procession, with his holy head, which is kept separately. There is also kept, in a particular reliquary, a bone from his arm, from which two pieces were removed in 1635: one to be given to the most Christian Louis XIII King of France who ordered the construction of the church. King Louis XIII, who had requested it with insistence, and the other to be given to the chapter of Sens, which ardently wished to have some relics of its holy archbishop; and it was again to satisfy the devotion of these canons that, five years later, those of Abbeville sent them a vertebra of the same Saint.

In the year 1062, on May 21, François Faure, Bishop of Amiens, making his visitation to Abbeville, proceeded, at the request of the canons of Saint-Wulfran and the magistrates of the city, to the opening of the Saint's shrine, which had not been done since 1205, and by a marvel that caused admirable joy in the hearts of all those present, his sacred bones were found whole, solid, and perfectly beautiful.

Several miracles have occurred in favor of those who have honored his precious relics, and they continued to occur in the time of Father Giry. All of Picardy knew, in 1685, of the miraculous healing of a daughter of Monchy, Baron of Vismes, one of the principal men of the province. This young girl, being a boarder at the monastery of Bertaucourt, fell into paralysis, and the ailment was so great that she could barely move or speak. She had been in this state for several months when she had herself taken before the shrine of our Saint to perform her devotions. An admirable thing! No sooner had she fulfilled her vow than she found herself perfectly healed and returned to the monastery with perfect use of her feet and tongue; she was still a nun there and enjoyed the same health when Father Giry recounted this miracle. One could recall a quantity of other miracles, but the brevity of this collection does not permit it. Abbeville had the good fortune to preserve, during the French Revolution, these holy relics, which it still possesses today.

Above the woodwork of the choir of Saint-Wulfran (of Abbeville), one could once see a high -warp tapestry about fou tapisserie de haute lice Monumental work of art depicting the life of the saint in Abbeville. r feet high and eighty feet wide, made of several joined pieces, representing the life and miracles of the Patron of this Church, and thus forming twenty-five paintings of varying sizes. Judging by the costume of the figures, who almost all wore robes with long hanging sleeves, by the architectural order, and by the style of the verses that could be read above each painting, this tapestry appeared to date from the time of Charles VII or Louis XI. It lined the perimeter of the choir. The smallest paintings contained only two verses; the large ones contained four and six; but always written in pairs. Here they are in order:

Painting 1. — And firstly Saint Wulfran from childhood Took knowledge of letters.

2. — After he had reached age and sense, Was made Archbishop of Sens.

3. — Of the sacred divine host, From the sea he rejected its plate.

4. — Announcing the word of God, By law he was preached in many a place.

5. — The son of Hadhod, Duke of the Frisians, Baptized and his noble men.

6. — While praying to Him who recalls pity, He saved a child from death.

7. — By his words he was given Two children taken from the ecotox; Which, cast into the sea by lot, He delivered from the danger of death; And taking them from bitter pain, He brought them back to their mother.

8. — To merit eternal glory, The Saint came to live at Fontenelle.

9. — There, Regnault the paralytic He healed, which was an authentic work.

10. — His days ended in this holy place, Preaching the word of God.

11. — And he came to Sens to give thanks to God, And to see the holy body without delay.

12. — In Ponthieu, money was being forged. One of the forgers was committing fraud, Neither good weight, loyal, nor just count, Did he render of the Count's money; Who, tested in this place, Was found to be a thief by oath.

13. — This woman was here healed Of the great malady of dropsy.

14. — A pilgrim, by calling upon Saint Wulfran, made the storm cease at sea When people were returning From Jerusalem where they had not Been, for the cursed Sultan Forbade entry to all.