Saint Eucherius the Elder

Eucher, who desired to lead an even more solitary life, left Lérins to retire to the island of Lero (today île de Léro Place of Eucherius's solitary retreat. Sainte-Marguerite). But whatever care he took to remain unknown in his desert, he could not help but cast rays of holiness in all directions that made him known. Thus, Senator, bishop of Lyon, having died, the clergy and the people of that city, who had been witnesses to the virtue of Eucher while he was among them, unanimously elected him as their bishop. One can judge by the extreme love he had for solitude how much this election caused him pain; it was nevertheless necessary to submit to the will of God and bow his shoulders under this burden that divine Providence had prepared for him. The praises given to him by Claudianus Mamertus, Sidonius Apollinaris, Gennadius, Isidore of Seville, and many others, sufficiently show that he discharged his ministry most worthily.

He often preached to his people, and it is to him that belong almost all the homilies that are so often cited under the name of Eusebius of Emesa: one does not know what one should admire more in them, the elegance of the style, or the piety and unction with which they were composed. This great servant of God wrote other very useful homilies and treatises, which the learned Salvian calls brief in style, abundant in doctrine, perfect for instruction, and which correspond to the beauty of the spirit and the piety of their author. He attended, in his capacity as archbishop of Lyon, the first Council of Orange, where his dear friend Saint Hilary, archbishop of Arles, presided, and he subsc saint Hilaire Archbishop of Arles and friend of Eucherius. ribed to it in the name of the other priests his suffragans, whom he calls comprovincials. Finally, full of merits and years, he fell asleep in the Lord, after having held the episcopal see for about twenty years.

The Church is indebted to Saint Eucher for several works, the names of which are as follows:

1° The treatises on the Solitary Life and the Contempt of the World, addressed in the form of letters, the first to Saint Hilary and the second to one of his relatives named Valerian (it is believed that he is the one who was raised to the see of Geneva, and who was honored at Lérins under the name of Saint Valerius). These two treatises prove that Saint Eucher was a great master in the art of writing well and in that of living well. The beauty of the style and the delicacy of the thoughts capture the admiration of the readers. The Latinity is almost worthy of the Augustan age. All the beauties of eloquence, all the strengths of spirit and reasoning are mingled there with an air of piety so affected that it is impossible to read them without being touched by the desire to leave the conversation of men to seek that of God.

2° The Formulae, or Principles of Spiritual Intelligence. These are explanations of some passages of Scripture, which Saint Eucher wrote for the use of Veranus, the second of his sons. It is true that one does not find there the same elegance or the same beauty of style as in the two preceding works; but the subject did not allow for it, and simplicity is the distinctive character of this genre of writing.

3° The Institutions, in two books, which are addressed to Salonius, another son of the Saint. This work also has the object of explaining several difficulties that are encountered in Holy Scripture. It is more solid and more useful than the treatise of the formulae add saint Maurice Martyr of the Theban Legion whose Acts were written by Eucherius. ressed to Veranus.

4° The Acts of the martyrdom of Saint Maurice and his companions. Dom Rivet demonstrated that they had been written by Saint Eucher. Chifflet published them in his *Paulinus illustratus*; but the edition given by Dom Ruinart is more correct. Those that Surius and Montbricius had printed appear to have been compiled from the work of Saint Eucher, by a monk of Agaune of the 7th century, who made additions and changes to them.

5° The Abridgment of Cassian; the Commentary on Genesis; the Commentary on the Book of Kings; the letters to Philo and to Faustinus; various discourses, etc.

The works of Saint Eucher, printed several times separately, have been inserted in the Library of the Fathers. The treatises on the Solitary Life and the Contempt of the World have been translated into various languages. Arnaud d'Andilly provided a French translation of the second of these treatises, and placed the Latin text at the end of the volume. This translation appeared in 1672, in-12. It has since been reprinted in the collection of the works of Arnaud d'Andilly, Paris, 1775, in-fol. The complete works of Saint Eucher were published with those of Saint Vincent of Lérins by J.-F. Grégoire and F.-Z. Collombet, text and French translation, Paris, 1834, in-8°. The Latin text is found in vol. L of the Patrologia Latina by M. Migne.

Saint Emilion Saint Émilien 8th-century hermit and monk, namesake of a famous town. was born in Van Vannes Birthplace of Saint Emilion. nes, to an obscure and poor, yet Christian and pious family. From his youth, he breathed only the love of Jesus Christ and charity for the poor. One day, as he was carrying, according to his custom, some loaves hidden under his cloak that he intended for the poor, he met the count who said to him: "What are you carrying like that in your bosom?" Emilion replied: "I am carrying wood to warm the poor." The count looked and, indeed, he saw only pieces of wood, which turned back into bread when Emilion distributed them to the poor. This miracle caused a stir and attracted many pious visitors to the man of God, which forced him to withdraw into the desert.

He then retired to the monastery of Saujon (carnobium Saligineuse), near Saintes, where he became cellarer. He was a model of religious life and holiness. Soon, yielding to the jealousy of some brothers, and also to be freer to serve God, he withdrew into a forest in the Bordeaux region, then called Les Combes, and situated along the Dordogne. A cave under a rock offered an asylum to the holy man on the bank of the river. The pilgrims, attracted by the heavenly odor of his virtues, did not take long to flock to this place. The Saint welcomed everyone, healing souls and sometimes bodies. Among other miracles, he restored sight to a woman by making the sign of the cross over her. He gathered a certain number of disciples whom he guided on the path of perfection according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. Finally, on the point of death, he addressed this prayer to Jesus Christ, his eyes raised to heaven: "Happy are the men who always stand in your presence and who learn wisdom. Behold, I come to see with my own eyes what has been told to me of you in the foreign land. Withdraw me from this body of mud, so that my soul which has lived only for you alone may live in the eternal intuition of your glory." He fell asleep in the Lord in the year 767. Subsequently, a monastery and a basilica carved into the rock were built in this place. Profaned and abandoned during the Revolution, this church was restored to the piety of the faithful by Mgr Ferdinand Donnet, Archbishop of Bordeaux, in 1838. Dwellings had gathered early on around this sanctuary; they formed the town of Saint-Émilion (Gironde, arrondissement and canton of Libourne).

Agnes Agnès Sister of Saint Clare and disciple of Saint Francis. was the sister of Saint Cla sainte Claire Foundress of the Poor Ladies and sister of Agnes. re and was about four years her junior. The tenderest affection had united her to her elder sister since childhood, and undoubtedly the latter's pious examples, thanks to the intensity of their mutual love, had penetrated her soul all the more deeply. When Clare had left the paternal home, Agnes wished to be the first to follow her on this path where the Lamb preceded them and where so many virgins, until the end of time, were to follow in His footsteps along with them. She therefore also fled and joined her sister at the monastery of Saint-Angelo, where she was at the time. "I do not come," she said to her, alluding to the persecutions exerted against Clare by their parents, "I do not come to weary your patience with useless reproaches; on the contrary, here I am, ready to remain with you forever, in the service of the same Master." Clare, embracing her with inexpressible tenderness, replied: "O my sweetest sister, blessed forever be the mercy of God, who heard me when I was full of solicitude for you!"

But the persecution that Clare had overcome broke out more terribly against Agnes. Favorino, their father, whose heart was still bleeding from the departure of his eldest daughter, was filled with fury upon learning of the second. He gathered his relatives and succeeded in filling the hearts of twelve men with his own anger; they took up their weapons and went with him to the monastery of Saint-Angelo, resolved to bring Agnes back by fair means or foul.

The gentleness and tears they employed at first having failed to shake the young saint, they seized her, struck her, and one of them, pulling her by the hair, dragged her to the foot of the mountain overlooked by the sisters' pious asylum. Agnes did not cease to implore Clare's help, saying to her: "Help me, dearest sister! Do not suffer them to tear me away from Jesus Christ, my Lord!" Clare, in fact, had thrown herself on her knees; her prayers and tears obtained miraculous assistance from God, and Heaven manifested that it was indeed He who had taken these two virgins from the world. Suddenly, Agnes became so heavy that she could not be moved, nor could the slightest motion be imparted to her, and the twelve men who were carrying her exhausted their strength in vain without making her take another step. One of her uncles, made more furious by this prodigy, seized his sword to take the life of this innocent dove; but an invisible power stiffened his arm, and at the same instant he felt himself seized with intolerable pains, from which he was cured only after several days through the effect of Agnes's prayers. At the same time, Clare appeared, asking that this tender victim be returned to her. They took care not to refuse her, and the two sisters returned to their asylum.

A few days later, Sa int Francis pl saint François Founder of the Order of Friars Minor. aced them in this mon astery of San Damiano, wh monastère de Saint-Damien Monastic dwelling place of Clare and Agnes. ich their virtues were to make forever illustrious, and to betroth Agnes to Jesus Christ, he cut her hair. Agnes followed closely in her elder sister's footsteps on the path of the highest perfection. She wore a rough hair shirt on her delicate flesh and fed herself almost exclusively on bread and water; at the same time that she treated herself with such rigor, she showed unparalleled kindness to all her companions. Her assiduity in prayer and monastic exercises was admirable; thus God favored her with His most privileged graces, and one day her sister Clare saw her, in a corner of the choir where she had gone to pray, raised from the ground and her head adorned with a triple and mysterious crown. She was also sometimes favored with the visit of the holy Child Jesus, to whom she had the tenderest devotion.

The seraphic Father, recognizing that such a holy virgin was called by the divine Savior to prepare new brides for Him, sent her first to Florence, where several young women had already gathered to imitate the angelic life of the poor Ladies of San Damiano. It was from there that Agnes wrote to Clare that letter which has become famous, in which she expresses so vividly her sorrow at feeling separated from her sister. Besides this monastery in Florence, Agnes founded a great number of others on the Peninsula, notably those of Venice and Mantua.

After a life full of labors and the most heroic virtues, she returned to the sister she had loved so much; but it was to witness the solemn spectacle of her final moments, where the Queen of Heaven came with a choir of blessed virgins to announce eternal glory to this incomparable lover of her divine Son. Agnes, who had once so painfully felt her separation from her sister, did not delay in joining her at the wedding banquet of the Lamb; she died three months after her, on November 16, 1253, in that convent of San Damiano, which had been for her the school of holiness. Pius VI approved her cult in 1777. Excerp t from Pie VI Pope cited as having approved the cult of Julie in 1821. the Franciscan Annals.