Saint Tigide

In the ancient breviaries of the church of Gap, our holy Pontiffs were honored with an office of double rite, which was reduced to a simple memorial in the breviary of 1764, not without exciting the complaints of the chapter and the clergy. But in 184 5, Jean Irénée Dép Jean Irénée Dépéry 19th-century Bishop of Gap, restorer of the cult of the saints. éry, Bishop of Gap, a great friend of holy and venerable ecclesiastical antiquity, and rightly jealous to increase the cult of the holy prelates of his church, restored the double rite for the feast of the blessed Tigide and Remède, to the applause of the chapter and the clergy.

The relics of Saint Tigides and Saint Remedius were kept in the church of Gap until the beginning of the 13th century. At that time, French knights, part of the Christian army that had besieged and stormed Constantinople, received as a gift from Emperor Baldwin, and as a reward for their valor, the body of Saint Germanus, patriarch of that city, illustrious in virtues and doctrine, martyred under the reign of Leo the Isaurian for the defense of the holy images (630). Upon their return, these crusaders passed through Gap: now, by an inspiration from heaven, they were also given the body of Saint Remedius and some fragments of that of Saint Tigides. These sacred bones were united with those of Saint Germanus, enclosed in a silver reliquary, and deposited in the church of Bort, a small town on the Bort Site of the translation of relics in Auvergne/Limousin. borders of Auvergne and Limousin, today in the dioc ese of T Limousin Region where the cult of the saints developed after the translation. ulle. In those days, the bodies of martyrs and confessors were the palladium of cities.

The cult of the relics of Saint Germain and Saint Remède soon became famous in Auvergne and Limousin, where it became very popular: a solemn feast was instituted in honor of these Saints, for whom Bort soon forgot its former patron, Saint Anthony.

From then on, a pious custom was established: upon the departure of any inhabitant of those lands, whether for a military expedition or a long journey, they would sew onto their clothing either a medal, a piece of cloth, or any other object that had touched the holy bodies. This invisible shield was intended to protect them from any injury, any accident, and to bring them back safe and sound to their homes. Was this a memory of the protection that these two Saints, themselves strangers and travelers after their death, had once granted to the Limousin crusaders during their long and perilous journey?

The revolutionary turmoil of 1793 dispersed the bones of Saint Germain and Saint Ro mède. Howeve saint Romède Companion of Saint Tigides, bishop and martyr of Gap. r, through a special protection of Providence, a few fragments were able to be saved from this great ruin that was being carried out across all the land of France. But faith withstood the storm, and when a little calm had returned, the town of Bort reinstalled its great patrons in their church, and the customary feast regained its holy solemnities.

Several marvelous events have, since that time, proven to the inhabitants of Bort how powerful and effective the patronage of its Saints was.

The cathedral of Gap, widowed for seven centuries of its holy bishop, aspired to recover at least some parts of its precious relics. In 1845, Bishop Jean-Irénée Dépéry communicated these legitimate desires to the Bishop of Tulle, and received from his venerated colleague a considerable portion which, since then, has been exposed in the cathedral church of Gap for the veneration of the faithful.