Saint Simeon of Trier

Richard arrived safely in Verdun. As for Simeon, once he had been set free, he went to Rome, from where he traveled to France with a holy monk named Cosmas, whom he had brought from Antioch. Upon arriving in Aquitaine, they were well received by Duke William; and as minds were then very heated over the question of the apostolate of Saint Martial, they were not failed to be questioned on the matter. They bore witness that the Church of the East placed this holy bishop among the seventy-two disciples of Jesus Christ. The monk Cosmas died in Aquitaine: thus Simeon took the road to Normandy alone, where he arrived in the year 1027. He found that Duke Richard, from whom he had come so far to collect alms, had died the previous year. He asked for them from his successor, but he was not listened to. He stayed for some time in Rouen; and Rouen Norman city where Simeon stayed and founded a monastery. he persuaded Count Josselin and Emmeline, his wife, to build a monast ery in honor of the Holy Trinity on the moun monastère, en l'honneur de la sainte Trinité Monastery founded on the advice of Simeon near Rouen. tain near Rouen, which today bears the name of Saint Catherine, because of the relics of this Sai nt that Simeon gave ther reliques de cette Sainte Relics brought from Sinai by Simeon. e, and which he had brought from Mount Sinai.

Simeon, having been unable to obtain alms from the Duke of Normandy, and not wishing to return empty-handed to his distant monastery, decided to go and find Abbot Richard of Verdun. He then went to Trier, where Trèves Birthplace of the saint. Popp o, wh Popon Archbishop of Trier and protector of Simeon. o was its archbishop, was so charmed by his virtue that, having the devotion to go to the Holy Land, he wished for him to accompany him. Simeon, having returned from this pilgrimage to Trier, wished to live there as a recluse. The archbishop, at the head of the clergy and in the presence of the people, performed the ceremony of reclusion on the day of Saint Andrew, in the year 1028, that is to say, he enclosed him in a tower n ear the cit porte Noire Ancient gate in Trier where Simeon lived as a recluse. y gate, then called the Black Gate (Porta Nigra), by walling up the door, or at least by affixing his seal to it. The holy man lived there as if in a tomb; but the way of life he led, appearing beyond human strength, astonished the populace more than it edified them. They imagined that this foreign monk was a magician, who deprived himself of the company of men to have commerce with demons; and the holy recluse was blamed for all the calamities that befell the city. A flood having caused great devastation in Trier, in the meantime, it was believed that Simeon had brought it about by his sorcery, and the people rioted against him to stone him; however, they could not force the tower of the holy recluse, and all their fury resulted in breaking its windows with stones. The Lord was finishing the purification of his servant through these trials. The people, who easily pass from one extreme to the other, showed as much veneration for the holy man as they had shown prejudice against him.

Simeon died holily on the first day of June, in the year 1035. Abbot Eberwin, who wrote his life, assisted him in his final illness and performed the commendation of the soul. As soon as the news of his death spread, malice and slander were silenced, and people hastened to show all the more veneration for his virtue, knowing how cruelly it had been slandered. The clergy of Trier, the monks, the people, and even the nuns went to his cell to honor his funeral; and the whole city resounded only with praises for the holy man, who, some time before, had been an object of execution due to slander. Thus does God justify His Saints. Poppo, Archbishop of Trier, immediately wrote to Pope Benedict IX to request the canonization of Simeon. It was prono unced in the y Pape Benoît II Pope mentioned as having received the request for canonization (historically Benedict IX). ear 1042, and promulgated in Trier, with great solemnity, on November 27. However, the Church honors the memory of Saint Simeon on the day of his death. This is the second canonization following current rules, if one admits that that of Saint Ulrich, Bishop of Augsburg, performed forty-seven years earlier, was the first.

There exists in Deville, canton of Maromme, diocese of Rouen, a miraculous water known by the name of Saint-Simeon's fountain, which is the occasion for a very frequented pilgrimage; it is supposed that this name comes to it from the famous hermit of the 11th century.

AA. SS.; Balliet; Seine-Inférieure, by the Abbé Cochet; Rohrbacher.