Saint Peter II of Poitiers

At that time, the King of France, Philip I, brought scandal to the throne through the licentiousness of his morals. In contempt of the sacred laws of Christian marriage, he had left Bertha of Holland, his wife, to take Bertrade de Montfort, wife of Fulk Rechin, Count of Anjou. In vain had Saint Ivo, Bishop of Chartres, fought against such a detestable disorder in the prince; the latter had taken revenge through persecutions that went as far as violence, but could not force the conscience of the courageous prelate. Peter was one of those whom a sense of justice and love of duty placed on his side. His words and his actions supported the energetic efforts of the new John the Baptist. He maintained this noble constancy at the Council of Poitiers, assembled on this subject in the year 1100 by order of Pope pape Pascal II Pope reigning during the episcopate of Geoffrey. Paschal II. The efforts he made there, and the testimonies he gave regarding the effect produced on the people by the king's conduct, contributed not a little to the pronouncement of the sentence of excommunication that struck the prince. William the Younger, Count of Poitou, whom less than honorable motives led to great indulgence for the king's disorders, had managed to introduce disorder into the august assembly, which his satellites invaded; but, aided by the firmness and eloquence displayed there by the blessed Robert of A bienheureux Robert d'Arbrisselle Founder of the Order of Fontevraud and spiritual master of Géraud. rbrissel and Saint Bernard, then Abbot of Saint-Cyprien and later of Tiron, Peter resisted these sacrilegious acts of violence at the peril of his life, and the adultery was solemnly condemned.

This Robert of Arbrissel, of whom we speak here, is the famous founder of Fontevraud, whose establishment dates from the early days of the 12th century. The zeal for holy discipline that Peter had observed in him at the council had made him worthy of his friendship. He gave him numerous proofs of this by favoring with his authority and his alms the development of the new Institute, by encouraging the preaching of the illustrious Apostle, and by blessing the many vocations that brought generously penitent souls into the cloister. It was, moreover, on the territory of Poitiers that the illustrious cenobite had raised his monastery. It was therefore up to Peter to approve it. But, not content with this cooperation in his friend's work, he wanted to show how much he cared about its success by making, in 1106, the then-difficult journey to Rome to obtain from Pope Paschal II the confirmati pape Pascal II Pope reigning during the episcopate of Geoffrey. on of the Order he loved. Finally, he favored the extension of this already vigorous tree by multiplying its branches, and he participated in five of the first foundations of the institute, among which one must especially note the priory of La Puy, where the motherhouse of the pious Daughters of the Cross now flourishes.

This zeal of the holy Prelate was not limited to the convents of his diocese. His charitable munificence exceeded its boundaries, and more than one religious house over which he had no jurisdiction had cause to bless him for his affectionate generosity.

But such cares as religion inspires and fosters are not the only duties of a bishop. In these preoccupations of his heart, Peter did not forget what his conscience imposed upon him: he was seen to be equally firm against public scandals, the source of so many evils in the Church, prudent in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, and indulgent toward sinners when he believed them to be repentant. The Count of Poitiers, William VII, was able to convince himself of the energy of this noble character, and he saw his Bishop, persecuted by him and yielding to the unjust furies of material force, remain greater through his unalterable constancy than the blind persecutor who struck him.

This prince, more witty than virtuous, gave himself over without restraint to a life of dissolution and the most criminal debauchery. He knew no shame and did not even bother to hide his adulterous liaisons with the Viscountess of Châtellerault. The Bishop had employed in turn the gentleness of paternal remonstrances and the severe warnings of outraged religion. The culprit took no heed; he had already despised the excommunication launched against him by Gerard, Bishop of Angoulême; he had added to the impetuosity of this affected contempt unworthy sarcasms. Peter hesit Pierre Bishop of Poitiers in the 12th century, known for his moral firmness. ated no longer: he warned the count that he would proceed with the same rigor if he did not repent, and, after this final warning remained useless, he decided to solemnly fulminate the terrible sentence in the presence of the people and the lords assembled in the cathedral church. William stood ready to risk everything to avoid this deserved humiliation. On the day of the ceremony, he invaded the holy place with his guards, moved toward the pulpit where the Pontiff was about to pronounce the formidable words, and endeavored to hold them back on his lips by threatening him with his sword. Fear could do nothing against the intrepid Pastor, who, strong in the sentiment of his duty and his right, declared the guilty prince separated from the Church, and added while turning toward him: "Strike now, I am ready." This courage worthy of a martyr astonished the impious man: he did not strike. But he took revenge through a tyrannical abuse of the brutal force at his disposal, and after useless attempts to make him retract his condemnation; after forgetting himself, without success, to the point of bringing disorder into the e piscopal residence, château de Chauvigny Place of exile and death of Saint Peter II. he forced the Bishop to withdraw to the castle of Chauvigny. This was in 1113.

This lordship had belonged for some time to the bishopric of Poitiers, no doubt by way of Pierre's family. Happy to suffer for justice, the worthy prelate went there as a man whom exile cannot discourage, since he finds Jesus Christ everywhere. His vassals received him there with all the marks of honor that his rank and reputation for holiness deserved. From that day on, he applied himself to the instruction of this small portion of his people, to the edification of his clergy, and above all to the guidance of the young students of the sanctuary whom he gathered around his person there. Preaching, the administration of the sacraments, prayer, and the care of the poor and the sick to whom he brought his consolations, and in favor of whom he more than once seconded his alms with miracles, made him easily forget the ruin of his property which his impudent persecutor had devastated.

But his life, worn out by so many labors and solicitudes, and to which he nevertheless spared neither the mortifications of prolonged vigils in prayer nor the austerities of continual penance in his advanced age, was not to suffice for long against such assaults. Those whom his gentleness had edified, whom his charity had sustained, and whom his zeal had evangelized in his retreat, saw him succumb, after less than two years, to a series of illnesses. He died, the death of the Saints, in his castle of Chauvigny , on Apri Chauvigny Place of exile and death of Saint Peter II. l 4, 1115, and confirmed by numerous miracles those who, during his life, had given such a high opinion of his holiness.

His ashes did not remain at Chauvigny: death, which ended his exile, seemed indeed to bring him closer to those whose memory was to remain more faithful to the vivid testimonies of his affection. Founder of Fontevrault, protector of Saint-Cyprien of Poitiers, he seemed to owe himself to each of the two monasteries; they shared his dear remains, following an express provision of their worthy friend, and rendered to his tomb, adorned by a common piety, the honors that the Church has been pleased to continue to him to this day.

Happy is the man who, from his earliest age, flourishes under the gaze of a tender and virtuous mother!

Saint Bernard had this invaluable advantage. His mo ther, the blessed bienheureuse Aleth Mother of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Aleth, daughter of Count Bernard of Monthar, had married very young the lord Tecelin, lord of Fontaine, near Dijon.

This marriage was not concluded without difficulty. Aleth was only fifteen; and already her soul, graced with favors, had vowed itself to God. She aspired to live in the peace of the cloister and was preparing to climb the degrees of monastic perfection. But Providence had reserved another destiny for her. She was called, against her will, to become a wife and mother, and to propagate, in her numerous family, the blessings with which she had been filled since her childhood.

Tecelin, her husband, appreciated such pure virtue, and he honored it. He was a noble knight, of gentle manners, and fearing God. Although his eminent duties kept him almost continually near the Duke of Burgundy, he maintained the dignity of the Christian life at court as in the camps; and, in all encounters, he distinguished himself by his valor, his uprightness, and his loyalty.

Providence, which had matched this union, made it fruitful. Aleth gave birth to six sons and one daughter: Guido was the eldest of all; then came Gerard, Bernard, Andrew, Bartholomew, Nivard, and Hombeline.

This Christian mother looked upon the duties of motherhood as a delegation from above. She considered her children as precious deposits entrusted to her vigilance and for which she was responsible before God. Thus, although of a delicate constitution, Aleth did not wish to abandon to a stranger the care of nursing her children: attached from the depths of her soul to the source of all love, she communicated to them, with her mother's milk, the heavenly virtue that enlivened her.

Tecelin led a life too chivalrous to be able to preside himself over the education of his sons. He left this care with confidence to the conscientious solicitude of his wife, whose views he approved, although he did not always understand their scope. Raised in the profession of arms and joining, according to the spirit of that time, military habits to the practices of devotion, he saw no inconvenience in training all his sons for the career that he himself had not traversed without glory.

Aleth, more clear-sighted, feared the dangers to which the life of the camps exposes Christian integrity; and she sensed too well the ineffable delights of the religious life to be able to wish for any other glory and any other happiness for those she had brought into the world and consecrated to God. She raised her children for heaven much more than for the earth, and taught them, from their most tender age, to discern good and evil, to choose the better part; to love above all things Him who is love itself, the principle and the end of man.

That is why she established within her house the perfect order and discipline commanded by the holy laws of the Church. "I cannot forget," says one of her contemporaries, "how much this eminent woman sought to serve as an example and model for her children. In her house, in the state of marriage, and in the midst of the world, she imitated in a way the monastic and religious life, through her abstinences, through the simplicity of her clothing, through her withdrawal from the pleasures and vanities of the century. She withdrew, as much as possible, from the agitations of the world, persevering in fasts, in vigils, in prayer, and redeeming through works of charity what might be lacking in the perfection of a person engaged in marriage and in the world."

Six months had barely passed since the return of Saint Bernard to Fontaine, when his mother, like a fruit ripe for heaven, was taken from him. Aleth saw herself surrounded, at this supreme hour, by all her family. However, neither infirmities nor the number of her years had announced the approach of her final day; on the contrary, still full of freshness, and strong in the health of soul and body, she gave herself more than ever to the exercises of piety and tireless charity. She was often noticed, says an ancient author, alone and on foot on the road to Dijon, entering the huts of the poor, visiting the sick, distributing remedies and food, lavishing help and consolation on the afflicted. And what made her beneficence more admirable is that she practiced it in such a way that the brilliance of her works did not betray her modesty; she did everything by herself, without the assistance of her servants; and one could truly say that her left hand did not know the generosity of her right.

It was in the midst of these noble exercises that the pious Aleth was recalled almost suddenly from this world. Her death has circumstances too touching for us not to report some details here; we will let one of her contemporaries speak, who himself was present at this scene of sorrow and edification:

« The most excellent mother of our venerable Abbot was accustomed to celebrate magnificently every year the feast of Saint Ambrose, patron of the church of Fontaine; she gave each time, on this occasion, a solemn meal to which the clergy were invited. God, wishing therefore to reward the particular devotion that attached this holy woman to the glorious Ambrose, let her know by a revelation that she would die on the very day of the feast. And certainly, one should not be surprised to see such a worthy Christian participate in the spirit of prophecy. Consequently, she announced calmly and with great assurance to her husband, her children, and her assembled family, that the moment of her death was near.

« All remained struck with surprise, and refused to believe this prediction; but soon they experienced just anxieties; from the vigil of Saint Ambrose, Aleth was seized with a violent fever that kept her bedridden. The next day, the day of the feast, she humbly asked that the body of Our Lord be brought to her; and, after having received this most holy Viaticum with the holy anointings, she felt strengthened, and she insisted that the invited ecclesiastics go to the meal she had prepared.

« Now, while they were at the table, Aleth had Guido, her eldest son, called to her side, to command and recommend to him to introduce into her room, immediately after the meal, all the members of the clergy who were there. Guido piously did what his pious mother had desired. Here we are then gathered around her bed! Then the servant of God announced with a serene air that the moment of her dissolution had come. The clerics began to pray; the litanies were begun. Aleth herself chanted softly with them, as long as she had breath. But, at the moment when the choir came to sing these words of the litanies: *Per passionem et crucem tuam libera eam, Domine*, — by your cross and your Passion, deliver her, Lord, — the dying woman, recommending herself to God, raised her hand to make the sign of the cross; and, remaining in this attitude, she rendered her beautiful soul, which the angels received and carried into the abode of the Blessed. It is there that she awaits, in peace and rest, the awakening of her body on the great day of the resurrection, when our Judge and our Advocate, Jesus Christ, will come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire.

« It is thus that this holy soul left the holy temple of her body: her right hand remained raised on high, in the position it was in when she made her last sign of the cross; a thing which appeared a great subject of admiration to those present ».

Old Tecclin, towards the end of his life, joined his sons in the cloister, and died full of days in the arms of Saint Bernard.

Excerpt from the life of Saint Bernard, by Fr. Ratisbonne. — Cf. *Complete Works of Saint Bernard*, translation by M. A. Ravalet, 5 beautiful vol. gr. in-8e, Bar-le-Duc, Imprimerie des Célestins.

## 5TH DAY OF APRIL

In Vannes, in Brittany , Saint VINCENT FERRE saint VINCENT FERRIER Dominican preacher who was the spiritual guide of Margaret. R, confessor, of the Order of Preachers, who, powerful in works and in words, converted thousands of infidels to the faith of Jesus Christ. 1419. — In Thessalonica, Saint Irene, virgin, who, for having hidden the holy books, against the prohibition of Diocletian, was put in prison, then pierced with an arrow and burned, by sentence of the governor Dulcitius, who had, shortly before, put to death Agape and Chionia, her sisters. 304. — In Lesbos, the passion of five blessed Martyrs. — On the same day, Saint Zeno, martyr, who was flayed alive, coated with pitch, and thrown into the fire. — In Africa, the passion of the holy Martyrs, who, in the persecution of Genseric, king of the Vandals, were killed in the church on Easter day. One of them, who was a reader, had his throat pierced by an arrow while he was singing the Alleluia at the lectern. 559 or 570.