Saint Amand of Bordeaux

From his childhood, he was raised in the study of the sacred Letters, from which he drew a truly holy doctrine. He was never defiled by the commerce of the world nor by the sins of the flesh. This purity of life made him so pleasing to God that Saint Paulinus of Nola charged him to say to the Lord, on his behalf, as Moses once did for the people of Israel: "Forgive him, or blot me out of your book."

He was one of the principal instruments that God used to bring about the conversion of the same Sai saint Paulin Friend and spiritual disciple of Amandus, whose writings are a major source. nt Paulinus, and the manner in which the latter speaks of it leads one to judge that it was Saint Amand who catechized him and presented him at the sacred font of Baptism. After Saint Paulinus had renounced the world and left Gaul, he and Saint Amand maintained a regular correspondence, using for this office of charit y a man Cardumas Messenger between Amand and Paulinus. named Cardumas, whom Saint Amand had led to devote himself to piety.

Saint Delphinus having died, the priest Amandus, whom he had entrusted, during his lifetime, with the ministry of the word, was elected in his p Bordeaux City and diocese of which Amand was bishop. lace as bishop of Bordeaux.

A word from Saint Paulinus will show how fertile this century was in great and holy bishops, and in particular what the merit of Amandus was. "If you wish to see," he says, "bishops worthy of God, zealous defenders of the faith and of religion, look at Exuperius of Toulouse, Simplicius of Vienne, Amandus of Bordeaux, Diogenianus of Albi, Dynamius of Angoulême, Venerandus of Clermont, Alythius of Cahors, Pacatus of Périgueux."

When age and fatigue rendered him unable to provide the same care for his flock as before, he was so grieved to see that the morals and religion of his diocesans were suffering, that he began to pray to God to send a bishop whose vigor and application could remedy the evil he could not cure himself. God sent Saint Severinus. Amandus, instructed of his arrival, w ent out to me saint Séverin Bishop who succeeded Amandus during his lifetime. et him, introduced him into the city, and enthroned him in his place on the episcopal see. Amandus, happy to see his prayers answered and morals improving, remained with Saint Severinus, whom he outlived by a few years.

The Roman Martyrology marks the feast of Saint Amand on June 18, whose relics were deposited in the churc h of Saint-Sernin in Bordeaux. The église de Saint-Sernin de Bordeaux Burial place of the relics of Saint Amand. year of his death is unknown; but, as he was about the same age as Saint Paulinus of Nola, one can also place his death at about the same time as that of this illustrious bishop, that is to say around 431.

None of the writings of Saint Amand appear anywhere today, except for the summary of one of his letters that Saint Jerome preserved for us. It would be desirable, however, as the continuators of Bollandus remark, that if his other letters were hidden in some library, the public should be enriched by them. One judges, by the praise that Saint Paulinus gives to the letters of Saint Amand in his own, that they would be quite suitable for enlightening the souls who profess Christian piety. Saint Paulinus regarded them as such when he said that they brought joy to his heart, that they were sweeter to him than honey, and that they formed the consolation and the most delicious nourishment of the soul.

It is to Saint Amand, according to a fairly well-credited opinion, but which nevertheless encounters detractors, among others Dom Rivet, that we are indebted for the preservation of the writings of Saint Paulinus. The latter thought as little of his writings as he did of his riches and of himself; he let them be lost, despite the esteem in which Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome held them; and this great loss would have been completed if Saint Amand had not stood in the way. "It is by the title that you have given to these letters," he says to Saint Amand, "that I learned that they were mine. That is why I have received a rare proof of your friendship for me, since I have acquired the certainty that you knew me better than I know myself. I rejoice to have received the hymns that I desired, etc." — "This letter from which this passage is taken," says Baronius, "exists in ma nuscript Baronius Cardinal and Church historian who mentions the saint. in the archives of the North; I regard as a great gift the copy that Athenius Agellius, a regular cleric, a very learned man, sent me."

Propre de Bordeaux. Baronius, Godescard, Dom Rivet.