Saint Macarius of Antioch

Then his virtues, which a private life had kept more secret, appeared with a marvelous radiance. One saw in him a perfect detachment from all earthly things, which he regarded with contempt because he knew their vanity; an aversion to all the pleasures and amusements of life; a continual assiduity in mortifying his senses and appetites, and in crucifying his flesh through fasts, vigils, and other austerities; a tenderness and compassion for all the unfortunate, to whom he distributed his goods liberally, having nothing that was not shared with the poor; a sweetness and benignity so constant that neither insults, nor mistreatment, nor persecutions could alter it; the prudence of an old man in the governance of his diocese; finally, a piety so tender towards God that tears flowed incessantly from his eyes. These distinguished virtues were also accompanied by the gift of miracles: two lepers were healed by the mere touch of his handkerchiefs soaked in his holy tears, and the water he had touched was a sovereign remedy against all kinds of diseases.

He governed the Church of Antioch for some time; but fearing that the honor he received at every moment might cause him to lose what humility had acquired for him, he resolved to flee its occasions as soon as possible. To this end, he distributed all his goods to the churches and the poor; and having, by a divine impulse, resigned his office into the hands of a priest of great merit, na med Eleut Éleuthère Priest to whom Macarius entrusted the see of Antioch. herius, he associated himself with four of his most faithful friends, and secretly left his city to go to another place, where divine Providence would lead him.

He made his way through Palestine, to water with his tears the places sanctified by those of Jesus Christ; and he lost no opportunity to converse and debate with the Jews and the Saracens, in order to convince them of their errors and draw them to the knowledge of the Gospel. But these infidels, who could not answer his arguments, conceived such rage against him that, having seized his person, they dragged him to prison, stretched him in the form of a cross, fastened his feet and hands with long nails driven into the ground, and made him suffer every ignominy and every imaginable torment. They even placed on his chest a large stone that they had heated intensely. But the earth rejected his nails, and God reduced to nothing all the artifices that the impiety of these infidels had invented; the Saint emerged free from prison, without any harm: which so astonished these Saracens that they asked his forgiveness; some, recognizing the power of the Cross, received the faith of Him who had suffered for their salvation.

Meanwhile, Macarius's parents, afflicted by his absence, sent after him to dissuade him from his purpose and make him return to Antioch; but God struck their messengers with blindness, and they were forced to throw themselves at the feet of the Saint to ask for his assistance in such great misery: he had compassion on them, and by the sign of the cross, restored their sight, on the condition that they would return without disturbing him in the pursuit of his journey.

He therefore took his path toward the West; crossing several countries, he came as far as Bavaria; and, passing through Mainz, Cologne, Mechelen, Maubeuge, Cambrai, and Tournai, he finally went to the city of ville de Gand City where Livinus stayed and of which he is the patron saint. Ghent. Everywhere there were nothing but miracles: in the Levant he had restored the use of speech and hearing to an old Saracen, who had been mute and deaf since the age of nine; meeting a pilgrim who was being led to Jerusalem, he had obtained his sight for him through his prayers. In Bavaria, he delivered from the falling sickness the wife of Lord Adalbert, who, out of charity, had lodged him in her home. In Cologne, he healed his host of the same sickness. In Mechelen, he extinguished, through his prayers, a great fire that threatened to reduce the whole city to ashes. In Tournai, he calmed, through his prudence, a popular sedition so furi ous that all the Baudouin le Vieux Count of Flanders, contemporary of the saint. efforts of Prince Baldwin the Elder had not been able to avert this storm. In Cambrai, the entrance to the church of Notre-Dame having been refused to him, the doors opened of their own accord to make way for him. In Maubeuge, a servant who had scorned him was struck with a leprosy from which he could not be healed.

I would never finish if I wanted to write all the particulars of his journey; I pass to his final stay, which was in the city of Ghent, where he arrived in the year of Our Lord 1011. He retired to the mona stery of Saint-Bavon; ha monastère de Saint-Bavon Monastery founded in Ghent, which later became a cathedral. ving fallen into a dangerous illness, he was cured of it in a vision; Saint Bavon, Sain saint Bavon Saint who appeared in a vision to Macarius. t Landoald, and other blessed ones appeared to him during his sleep.

At that time, a plague so cruel arrived in Ghent, which formed in the mouth, that more than six hundred people died there each day. A universal fast and public processions were announced to appease the wrath of God. Our Lord, who wished to make Saint Macarius a victim to expiate the sins of his people, permitted him to be struck by this scourge. He first lost the use of speech, nevertheless predicting by signs that he and two others would still die of this disease, and that afterwards it would be extinguished. He made no will, because he was too poor and left nothing.

He was carried into the church of Our Lady, where he marked, with his staff, the place of his burial before the altar of Saint Paul; then, having given his blessing to the people, he retired to his room. Many having remained there, they were extremely frightened by a certain trembling that occurred there due to the descent of the blessed spirits, similar to that which the great Saint Gregory reports in the life of Saint Paulinus, Bishop of Nola. Finally, he died on April 10, in the year of Our Lord 1012. His prophecy was fulfilled: he was the last to die of this pestilential disease.

## RELICS OF SAINT MACARIUS.

In 1067, the body of the Saint was raised from the ground in the presence Philippe Ier King of France whose funeral was attended by Humbaud. of Philip I, King of France, Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and the bishops of Noyon and Cambrai. On this occasion, two circles in the shape of a crown were seen to appear in the air.

Some of his relics were transported to Thielt, in the castellany of Courtrai, in 1634; to Geerberg or Gérardmont, in the barony of Boulaers, and to Oudenarde, in 1637; to the canons of Saint-Pierre in Lille (one arm), in 1667; a portion of the other arm was given, in 1611, by the Bishop of Ghent, Charles de Maes, to the parish of Laerne, which is two leagues from the city, in the territory of Termonde, where our Saint is the patron of the Church.

In the year 1617, the remains of this holy Patriarch were trans port Mons Site of John's first monastic retreat. ed from Ghent to Mons, in Hainaut, in order to appease a cruel epidemic that was ravaging the entire country; in gratitude, the inhabitants of Mons offered him a rich silver reliquary, in which, the following year, they returned his venerable relics to Ghent, where they are religiously preserved in the cathedral church.

A chapel is dedicated to him in this church. One can see there a beautiful canvas by Crayer representing Saint Macarius, in pontifical vestments, kneeling and imploring divine mercy for the healing of plague victims, at the moment when this cruel disease causes death to hover over his own head. A white marble bas-relief, placed on the front of the altar, shows Saint Macarius being carried in procession.

In the middle of the castle known as the Spaniards', one can still see some very interesting ruins of the former abbey of Saint-Bavon, among others the chapel and the well of Saint Macarius.

He is honored by two main feasts which are fixed for April 10 and May 9. The one on May 9, which commemorates the day his relics were raised from the ground, is celebrated with much greater solemnity, both because of the numerous miracles that are then performed and to avoid coinciding with the Easter holidays. A fair is held on May 9, as is the practice for a large number of other Saints' feasts.

Saint Macarius is still held in great veneration among the Flemish.

Siger, Abbot of Saint-Bavon, had the life of Saint Macarius composed in 1067, at the time of his elevation: Surius and the Bolland Bollandistes A society of Jesuit scholars who publish the Acta Sanctorum. ists reproduced it. The latter provide a second one which was composed shortly after the death of the Saint (April 1st). Baronius, in his Annales; Malanus, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Flanders; Maïton Rader, in his Basaire sainte; Aubert Leutre, in his Calendar of the Saints of Flanders and Burgundy, dealt with this great Thaumaturge who was still performing miracles in the time of Father Gtry. — Cf. also Mgr de Ram, Life of the Saints.