Saint Julian of Antioch

We requested information on this subject from M. Bonvoisin, honorary canon, parish priest of Notre-Dame, in Étampes. Here is his reply:

T he abbey of Morigny L'abbaye de Morigny Primary location where a portion of the saint's skull is preserved. , as well as the church, was built on land donated by a man named Anseau, through the generosity of the people of Étampes. *Mirore qui legis hæc... antiqui nostri omnia quæ hic cernis ex pauperum eleemosynis construxerunt. Non rex, non comes, non aliquis magnatum, aliquid instituit.*

Everything has disappeared. Already at the beginning of the 16th century, the invasion of commendatory abbots had caused it to lose its former splendor. *L'Histoire des antiquités d'Étampes*, 1650, notes abbots who let the building fall into decay, and when the turmoil of '93 arrived, there were no more religious. The abbey buildings were rented out and occupied by all comers; they were ruins; of the church, only the choir remains.

The last abbot (de Tressan) did not reside there; a Franciscan friar from Étampes would go to say mass every Sunday at the abbey.

Today, the parish church having been demolished, the choir of the abbey church, the sole survivor, has become the parish church; it is a beautiful and good remnant of the 13th or 14th century.

As for the buildings, they have disappeared; but it is thought that a part of the new château, enclosed within more modern constructions, comes from the old buildings: it is impossible to know otherwise; the whole has been covered with plaster and nothing indicates ancient constructions.

As for the skull of Saint Julian:

There was formerly near the tower of Brunehaut, in the parish of Morigny, an abbey of nuns of which only the chapel of Saint Julian, martyr of An tioch, remained in 1680, and it saint Julien, martyr d'Antioche Martyr of Antioch whose relics were transported to Gaul. is believed that Queen Brunehaut had caused this abbey to be built.

Workers who were working on the high altar of this chapel in 1648 found a lead casket which was opened in the presence of the Abbot of Morigny, by Jean Bochereau, Dean of Notre-Dame d'Étampes, assisted by Nicolas Tyrouin, priest of Saint-Basile, and there were found the posterior part of a skull, an arm bone in three pieces, a vertebra, several bone powders, and an antique piece on which were engraved the following words:

*Hic jacet exput S. Juliani, martyri s, quod Se S. Juliani Martyr of Antioch whose relics were transported to Gaul. verinus attulit de Antiochia civitate, temporibus Brunegidiæ Reginæ.*

And on the reverse:

*Ex ossibus S. Christophori. — Brachium S. Gomaliolis.*

These relics were deposited, according to the orders of the Archbishop of Sens, in the sacristy of the abbey, as is stated in the official report drawn up by the said Dean of Notre-Dame.

This is summarized from the *Antiquités d'Étampes*, by D om Fleuveau, Dom Fleuveau Author of the Antiquités d'Étampes (1680) and source of the narrative. 1680.

There is now, nowhere, any trace of the relics of Saint Julian, neither at Étampes, nor at Morigny. Perhaps they were transferred to Sens, w hich Sens Diocese to which Morigny belonged and a possible site for the transfer of relics. had and still has an illustrious collection.

Morigny belonged to that diocese.

The Martyrology indicates two Saint Julians, martyrs, among others, Saint Julian of Constantinople, June 9; Saint Julian of Antioch, and his wife, January 9.

THE BLESSED PHILIPPE BERRUYER.