Saint William of Oulx

It soon pleased God, who quite often employs the weakest instruments to accomplish the most admirable works, to draw the chaste and pious Guillaume from his obscure condition. One day, an Angel appeared to him and gave him the order to go, on behalf of the sovereign Master, to invite the abbot of Notre-Dame de Calme to leave his monastery immediately, and to fix his dwelling at the foot of the rock of Bouchet, today Mont -Dauphin, re Mont-Dauphin Location where the monastery was transferred after the flood. vealing to him that the overflowing of the two rivers would overturn the convent and submerge the entire plain.

Guillaume eagerly fulfilled this mission, all the more important because, at that moment, the archbishop of Embrun, the superior general of the abbey of Oulx, and Guillaume de Lyonne, one of the most distinguished canons of that same community, had conceived the plan to add some new constructions to the old monastery, or to build a new house in the plain of Barben, to establish a larger community there.

The prior of Calme, who knew the simplicity of the pious shepherd, was at first wary of the warning that had been given to him by his humble servant. But a second time Guillaume was favored with the same apparition and received the same orders. From then on, the prior began to worry about it, daring neither to despise the repeated approach of the shepherd nor to rely too much on his word.

However, the predicted time of the flood had arrived; there was no time to lose to save the fervent community. The Angel appeared a third time to our Saint, and before sending him again to the Abbot of Calme, as an unequivocal testimony of his extraordinary mission, he healed Guillaume's infirmity, who lacked a right hand, by giving him a miraculous hand, since called *manus de cœlo missa*: han main miraculeuse Right hand miraculously given by an angel to heal the saint's infirmity. d sent from heaven, or also: *angelic hand*.

Guillaume, having obtained this favor without having asked for it, approached his dear master with greater confidence. "You know," he said to him, "that I only had one hand; well! to let you know that I come on His behalf, God has given me this other hand that you see; believe then that I am telling you the truth."

At first stunned, but unable to doubt the certainty of the miracle, the abbot thanked God for His mercies, set about obeying His voice, and building a new house at the foot of the rock of Bouchet.

The buildings were barely completed when the flood arrived on the predicted day, and the Durance, which by veering to the right destroyed Rame, invaded, while drawing near the rock of Bouchet, more than two-thirds of the plain of Calme, cultivated by the religious. The disaster was such that not only was the old convent swept away, but from then on, the devastated plain presented to the traveler nothing more than an arid and stony soil. No attempt was made to rebuild in the same place: only a wooden cross was placed there to preserve the memory of the primitive convent, and, in times of drought or public calamity, the parish of Eygliers and the neighboring parishes were accustomed to go there in procession.

Our holy shepherd, having received, as we have said, a miraculous hand perfectly attached to his right arm, went to Oulx and was a dmit Oulx Abbey upon which the priory of Calme depended and where William was a religious. ted among the religious of that abbey. The rare aptitude he showed for the sciences, as soon as they began to cultivate his mind, and above all his tender piety, determined his superiors to initiate him into ecclesiastical studies. He was then sent to Embrun, then to Avignon, where t he abb Embrun Episcopal city and birthplace of the saint. ey of Oul x posse Avignon City of which Saint Rufus was the first bishop and founder of the church. ssed the churches of Claramont, Saint-Paul, and Saint-Guillaume, from which it collected the tithes.

Guillaume applied himself with such ardor to the study of philosophy and theology, and performed his spiritual exercises with such devotion, that his brothers were deeply edified, and the bishop who laid hands upon him could declare that he had never ordained a holier man, more filled with the spirit of Jesus Christ. Upon returning to Oulx, to his superiors, the new Amos revived, by his presence, the fervor of the community in which he had spent the time of his short novitiate, when the abbot or provost, having duly deliberated, sent him back to the priory of Notre-Dame de Calme, for to this house was attached the memory of the astonishing miracle performed in favor of Guillaume, a miracle which allowed him, every day, to ascend to the altar, and to immolate between his consecrated hands, the most holy victim.

The stay of God's chosen one in this priory, which has always depended on Oulx and not on Boscodon, increased the respect of the people for this privileged house, and Guillaume himself became, during his lifetime, an object of singular veneration. His name was only pronounced accompanied by the title of Blessed; the poor shepherd, or rather the holy priest, was embarrassed by it. He made those who came to admire the astonishing prodigy performed in his favor understand that they should see in it, not his own merits, but the will, the mercy, and the omnipotence of God.

A few years later, William was established as prior of this community. He fulfilled this laborious task with pious fidelity and great edification. None of his brothers was more capable than he of overseeing the general direction of the monastery and the service of the parishes, which these good religious men took care of at that time; for the bishop of the diocese, not having enough secular priests, had entrusted a large number of cures to them. History has not preserved the edifying details of his holy life; we only know that he had the new church of Saint Mary of Calme built, and that he was entirely occupied with his pious ministry when death came to snatch him from the world.

## RELICS AND CULT OF SAINT GUILLAUME.

The religious, we read in the memoirs of the parish of Eygliers, the day after Guillaume's funeral, saw, upon leaving their chapel, a hand rise above his grave: it was the right hand, the one given to the holy shepherd by the angel. They contented themselves with covering it. The following day, the same prodigy took place; they covered the hand as they had the first time. On the third day, the miracle was repeated. Then, fearing to resist the voice of heaven, but uncertain as to what course of action they should take, they consulted the Archbishop of Embrun, who ordered them to cut off the hand, to preserve it, and to transmit it to their successors as a holy and precious relic.

"This angelic hand," it is said in the memoirs of Eygliers, in a writing prior to 1677, "performed several miracles. The Saint showed his power and his love above all towards persons suffering from fever, who were relieved in the midst of their attacks and entirely cured by his intercession. Women in labor, in danger of losing their lives, gave birth happily; various gangrenous limbs were restored to their perfect state. A conflagration of the curial house of Eygliers, which occurred in the year 1653 and which threatened the village with a total fire, was extinguished as soon as the holy relic was brought near."

The wars of Louis XII and Francis I, whose troops crossed the Alps to go to Italy, the devastations of the Huguenots, and the events of the end of the 18th century necessitated several translations of the holy relic.

Since the absolute suppression of the priory of Notre-Dame de Calme, the relic of Saint Guillaume has become the property of the parish church of Eygliers; but the angelic hand has continued to be carried annually, on Easter Monday and Quasimodo Sunday of each year, into the chapel of Sainte-Marie, which had been built near the old monastery, and which is called today the chapel of Saint-Guillaume. Here are the names of the parishes that go there in procession on those days, according to an immemorial custom: Guillestre, the canton seat, Saint-Crépin, of which the parish of Eygliers was originally a part, Risoul, Mont-Dauphin, Saint-Clément, and Réotier.

The holiness of the famous Religious had cast such brilliance during his life that, immediately after his death, the inhabitants of Embrun had built, in his honor, a chapel on Mont-Guillaume, the place where the Blessed one, while still only a simple shepherd, went to graze his flock. It is fitting, says Father Fournier, that some have claimed that this oratory was dedicated to the memory of Saint Guillaume of Pustiers, Duke of Aquitaine, who had embraced the eremitic life. A very ancient statue that one sees in the chapel of which we speak and which represents our saint Guillaume with only his left arm, as he is painted in two paintings in the church of Eygliers, leaves no doubt in this regard. Furthermore, the popular tradition of the city of Embrun is that a poor shepherd of the region, who went to guard his flock on this mountain, is honored in this oratory, where the parishes of Embrun and Le Grand-Puy go in procession on the second Sunday of July.

Mgr Jean-Irénée Depéry, Bishop of Gap, during his pastoral visit to the parish of Eygliers on June 30, 1847, requested that the relic or miraculous hand of Saint Guillaume be presented to him. And he found it in the state described by Father Marcellin Fournier. We read the following in the minutes of his pastoral visit: "The hand exists in its entirety with the fingernail of the little finger in its natural place; the other nails are missing; they were removed," it was said, "by pious persons and also by some archbishops of Embrun. The skin, bearing the mark of the greatest antiquity, is adherent to the bones and of a blackish color: this is the effect of time or of the humidity that one notices in the sacristy of the same church."

In his ordinance of February 2, 1852, the same prelate says: "Perfectly informed about the authenticity of the relic, and wishing to respect such an ancient tradition, after having read all the documents that were diligently provided to us by M. Barthélemy, parish priest of Eygliers, after having taken the advice of our council and that of several canonists, we permit that the hand of Saint Guillaume, which exists in the church of Eygliers, be henceforth returned to the veneration of the faithful of the parish of Eygliers and those of the neighboring parishes.

"We set as a condition that this relic not be exposed in the chapel known as Saint-Guillaume, under the rock of Mont-Dauphin, unless this chapel is repaired, that its vault is reconstructed, and that windows are installed there. This tuff vault had been removed, in 1693, by the munitions officers of Mont-Dauphin who, instead of going to Gros to fetch tuff with the fortification contractors, used the materials of the vault to build ovens, but in which they never managed, tradition holds, to bake a single loaf of bread: which was regarded throughout the country as a just punishment for this impiety."

This vault, in accordance with the ordinance of February 2, 1852, has just been reconstructed, and the paving has been redone anew.

Finally, at the request of Mgr Jean-Irénée Depéry, Bishop of Gap, His Holiness Pope Pius IX, by a brief of May 10, 1852, grants in perpet Pie IX Pope who canonized Josaphat in 1867. uity a plenary indulgence to the faithful of both sexes who, contrite, having confessed and having received communion, visit the chapel of Saint-Guillaume, dependent on the parish of Eygliers, on Easter Monday or one of the eight following days. This indulgence is applicable to the souls in purgatory.

Excerpt from the Hagiological History of the Diocese of Gap, by Mgr J.-I. Depéry, in-8°, Gap, 1852.