Saint Condedus

The reputation for fervor enjoyed by the a bbey of Fontenelle ( abbaye de Fontenelle Norman monastery where the saint was a monk and later retired. later Saint-Vandrille) reached even the solitude of Condède, who resolved to seek in that monastery paths of higher perfection. After embarking on the Ocean, he entered the Seine and arrived safely at the port of Arélanne (Arelannum), a Mer ovingian reside port d'Arélanne Merovingian residence and forest where the saint arrived at the Seine. nce located near the Roman station designated by the name Latum. The forest of Arélanne, located near Vatteville, in the arrondissement of Yvetot, took the name of Brotonne during the Norman period, and has kept it to this day.

The savage inhabitants of Arélanne refused hospitality to Saint Condède, who eventually found asylum with a pious woman whose compassionate charity was soon rewarded. A vision informed her that her guest was one of the Lord's chosen. Awakened by a storm in the middle of the night, she opened her bedroom window and perceived above Condède's dwelling an immense column of light rising to the heavens.

In 673, Saint Condède arrived at the abbey of Fontene abbaye de Fontenelle Norman monastery where the saint was a monk and later retired. lle, where he took the monastic habit. But, a few days later, he expressed the desire to devote himself to preaching, and the abbot, Sa saint Lambert Abbot of Fontenelle who sent Condède to Belcinac. int Lambert, assigned him as a residence the île de Belcinac Island in the Seine, now disappeared, where Condède founded his hermitage. island of Belcinac or Darcinac, located a league away, between Caudebec and Vatteville. This island was subsequently submerged unde r the water Thierry III King of the Franks who made donations to Saint Condedus. s. The king, Theuderic III, having had a dream the night following Condède's arrival at Belcinac, went to the island the next day, and, appreciating the eminent virtues of the Saint, he granted him in perpetuity, for him and the monks who would succeed him, not only the island of Belcinac, but also, on the neighboring banks of the Seine, the place named Lotum.

The island of Belcinac was a delightful place where the faithful gathered to listen to the word of God. Saint Condède built a church there which he dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and another under the invocation of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in which he erected a commemorative a ltar to Sain saint Valery Saint to whom Condède dedicated an altar. t Valery.

In 675, Condède bequeathed, by testament, to the abbey of Fontenelle, all the possessions he held from royal munificence, and, furthermore, meadows situated to the west of the island, towards the place where Bliquetoit is seen today.

After a long life, deeply mortified and filled with good works, Saint Condède rendered his soul to God, on his island of Belcinac, on O île de Belcinac Island in the Seine, now disappeared, where Condède founded his hermitage. ctober 21, 685. He was buried there in the church of the Holy Apostles. When it threatened to disappear under the waters of the Seine, the monks of Fontenelle transported his body to their church of Saint-Pierre. Nothing remains of Saint Condède, no relic, no foundation, not even the Norman solitude he inhabited for fifteen years, which is today buried under the waters. His feast was celebrated at the abbey of Fontenelle (Saint-Vandrille) on October 21.

Taken from the Hagiography of the Diocese of Amiens, by Abbé Corbitet abbé Corbitet Author of the Hagiography of the Diocese of Amiens. .