Blessed Hugh of Poitiers

Two miles from the Loire and forty miles from Autun, Anzy s aw pe Autun Burgundian diocese associated with the saint's burial. ople of every sex and condition flocking there daily from various places. They humbly asked the holy man for words of consolation; they implored the help of his prayers; they sought to share in the graces and spiritual riches of his community. Through the prudence of his counsel, he was also the oracle of all the neighboring monasteries. It was he who drew up construction plans, settled their affairs, and appointed their superiors when the good of the order required it. No one approached him without being enlightened, and without gathering from his conversations something of the profound wisdom that was within him.

His goodness and power were manifested above all in those days of desolation when God, to punish the sins of the people, allows the elements to disturb their harmony, and charges them, so to speak, to avenge His justice through terrible scourges. People would run to him as to a refuge; they would pray to him to disarm the heavens; and he was seen, full of confidence in the divine mercy, taking the cross and the relics of the saints, and going forth thus armed to meet the storm. Scarcely had he made the sacred sign when the clouds would dissipate and the air would regain its former serenity. Often, the most violent and thick hail was seen to change into a gentle and beneficial dew.

This power he had to command nature, he also exercised over men and animals, in order to heal their infirmities. A sign of the cross, the water he had blessed, would instantly drive away languor, pains, and diseases. People brought him the seed of the fields so that he might bless it, and his prayers, always effective, gave it a marvelous fertility. It is reported that he held in horror the prestiges and superstitions to which the people were accustomed to indulge on the first of January and the eve of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. He proscribed them with the most terrible threats, and thus fulfilled this proverbial saying: "Whatever the works of your zeal and your firmness in good, you do not yet have true virtue if you do not condemn evil."

Until the end, he never ceased to announce the word of salvation to the religious, his brothers, to exhort them, with the kindness of a father, to do penance for their sins, to keep themselves in grace, to guard against the dangers that their weakness might encounter, and above all to keep the sacred deposit of the Catholic faith inviolable.

He had only three years left to spend on earth. Wishing therefore to prepare for his passing, he renounced all external occupation and shut himself in his cell, to abandon himself freely to tears and prayer. It was there that, practicing a poverty more rigorous than that of his monks, he made for himself a rich treasure for the day of triumph.

This happy moment arrived for him towards the end of Lent. The approach of the Paschal solemnities had increased the ardor of his desires. Finally, with hands raised to heaven, eyes bathed in tears, and prayer on his lips, he seemed to enter into ecstasy; it was the sleep of the just. His holy and blessed soul left his body to go to Jesus Christ on the twelfth of the kalends of May (April 20), 928. He was buried by his brothers very close to his cell. The Lord was pleased to illustrate this place with all sorts of wonders. The infirm flocked there in crowds to obtain the healing of their illnesses. People pressed around his tomb. They invoked him as a father, and everyone withdrew, joyful at having obtained, through his intercession, the graces they had solicited.

## RELICS. — THE CHURCH AND PRIORY OF ANZY.

A few years later, the translation of the relics of Saint Hugh took place on De saint Hugues Monk and central figure of the priory of Anzy-le-Duc. cember 13th, with pompous display. His bones were discovered and raised in the presence of a large gathering of people. After they had been respectfully washed in wine and balm, they were placed in a chapel, where they were exposed to public veneration. From then on, a crowd of pilgrims flocked to the tomb of Saint Hugh, often spending days and nights there in prayer. In 1025, the relics of the Saint were brought to the council assembled at Anse, in the diocese of Lyon. The monks of Anzy, entrusted with this holy deposit, gathered, along their way, testimonies of the most vivid faith from the faithful. Upon the arrival of the relics at Anse, the Fathers of the council greeted Saint Hugh as an angel of mercy and peace, and soon the marvelous graces, obtained by those who invoked him, attested to how powerful his protection was before God.

Witnessing so many signs of the power of God, a man, animated by the most vivid faith and the most ardent love, approached the holy body, and, standing in his presence, hands raised to heaven, eyes bathed in tears: "Saint Hugh," he cried out, "illustrious Confessor of Jesus Christ, admirable wonder-worker, I conjure you by the grace of the almighty Creator that you have received with such abundance, obtain from Jesus Christ that, if He wishes to call me to Him this year, He may not permit me to leave this place, but that, in the presence of your holy relics, I may obtain what I so ardently desire." — And, repeating these same words, he remained as if motionless. Finally, after two or three hours, he quietly bent his knees and, prostrating himself against the ground, he expired.

Such a spectacle struck with terror the immense crowd that filled the temple; they immediately burst into praises and cries of blessings; they gave glory to God who, for the honor of His servant Saint Hugh, gave to His people, in this event, such a pious lesson. One saw, in the death of this man, the fulfillment of that well-known saying: "Can he die badly who has lived well?"

Saint Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, who was present, proposed to bury this man in the very place where, thro ugh the prayers of Saint Hu Saint Odilon, abbé de Cluny Abbot of Cluny in the 10th century, founder of the commemoration of the faithful departed in his order. gh and by the will of God, he had obtained to breathe his last. He was therefore given burial in that spot; and, according to common opinion, a small cell was raised over his tomb, to be, for future centuries, like a memorial of this miraculous event.

The reliquary of Saint Hugh remained exposed in the church of Anzy for the veneration of the faithful until the year 1502. At that time, Anzy having been invaded by the Béarnais, the Saint's tomb was destroyed, and his bones were burned by the Huguenots. Thus disappeared these sacred remains, before which the Christian people had prayed so many times with confidence. But his name always remained in veneration in the Church, and the martyrologies mark his feast on April 20, giving him the title of Saint or Blessed.

His feast was formerly celebrated only at Saint-Martin d'Autun and at Anzy. Since the return to the Roman liturgy, which has taken place in recent years, it has been, by a special favor, extended to the entire diocese of Autun.

The Blessed Hugh in his life, and no doubt from his venerated tomb, preserved the inhabitants of Anzy and surrounding places from the scourge of hail. But since the religionists had profaned his tomb and cast his ashes to the wind, the scourges had been seen to multiply. It was therefore desired to have a new present and tangible pledge of divine mercy.

Pope Clement IX granted to the priory of Anzy the relics of the Persian martyrs Saints Abdon and Sennen.

At the time of the Revolution of 1793, the relics of these holy Martyrs seemed destined, like so many saints martyrs persans Abdou et Sennen Persian martyrs whose relics were given to Anzy. others, to suffer profanation. We regret no longer knowing the name of the courageous Christian who preserved them from it. May this good deed bring happiness to his family! As he was carrying the pious treasure at the bottom of a sack, he met a stranger who asked him: "What are you carrying there, citizen?" — "Matton," he reportedly replied. Everyone in the country knows that this is the name given to the residue of walnuts from which oil has been extracted, which is given the shape of a loaf.

The priory of Anzy was founded five years a fter Cluny Major Benedictine abbey of which Peter was the abbot. Cluny, that is to say in the year 913, although the donation of Lethald and Alzote had preceded this definitive foundation by thirty years.

During the nine hundred years of its existence, the priory of Anzy escaped many perils and survived many trials.

In 1368, the English bands, under the le adership of Prince-Noir Leader of the English bands that devastated the priory in 1368. the Black Prince, devastated it.

There also remain traces of the passage of the Huguenots: a breach that was never repaired; the stones of the cloistral enclosure and of the church facade still red from calcination.

The year 1791 did more; the religious were definitively expelled, their goods and their dwelling confiscated for the benefit of the nation.

When the property of the priory of Anzy and the priory itself were sold by the revolutionaries, the church was not included in the sale and remained in the category of so-called national property, except for the crypt, which the prior of Andreville had previously had the deplorable idea of turning into a cellar for the use of the house, regarding it as an extraneous addition since the body of the blessed Hugh no longer rested there.

At the time of the Concordat of 1801, which definitively re-established the public exercise of worship, no one thought to transfer the center of the parish to the priory church. The sacrilegious usurpation was still too recent; one could be frightened by the excessive expenses necessary for the restoration and maintenance of a large vessel; and then, "had not the greatest number of the inhabitants been baptized or married in the old church? Was not the cemetery that surrounded it the resting place of their ancestors? These sentiments, believe it well, hold as strongly to the heart of the country dweller as the root of the oak to the earth that nourished it, and the habit of kneeling in a church, in a known place, may well have caused one to momentarily overlook the precious advantage of preserving the monument of which the entire commune today shows itself both happy and proud."

The priory church therefore remained abandoned and considered a public square. People played there, they conducted business there. In several places, stills had been set up for the distillation of brandy.

A state of affairs so deplorable could not fail to cause frightful degradation and hasten the ruin of the building. The central administration of the department was about to contribute to it, in turn, in 1808, when it put this beautiful monument up for auction, which could not have escaped the hand s of the 'B Bande noire Post-revolutionary real estate speculators. ande noire' without the devotion of four honorable inhabitants of Anzy. MM. Georges-Marie Grizard, Laurent Thomas, Antoine Bachelet, and Emery Saulnier formed a society to buy back the priory church. One of them set out to arrive in Mâcon on the day of the auction. On the way, he met the man from the 'Bande noire' and bought his withdrawal for the price of three hundred francs. The auction was settled in favor of the conservative society for two thousand eight hundred francs, and the deed was signed on March 3 of the same year and registered on the 5th of the said month.

The monument was saved. Less exposed to the impious passions of the first revolutionary fervor, the portal was also less favored than the rest of the monument, and we have gathered from the mouth of a very trustworthy person that the mutilation of the characters sculpted in its arch was due to the greed of an inhabitant of the commune to whom, in those sad days, a modest premium of three sous was given for each head struck off. But impiety, no more than crime, could bring happiness. God has his days of patience because He is eternal, just as He has His days of justice... A day also came when they pulled from the bottom of a well, into which he had fallen by accident, the corpse of that unfortunate mason whose sacrilegious hand had mutilated the statues of the Saints in Anzy.

Alongside the people who preserved the church of Anzy, we would like to place the names of those who restored it, but that would take us too far. Suffice it to say that, thanks to the initiative and generosity of the pastor and the faithful, the altars were straightened, the statues replaced on their pedestals, the chapels decorated, and the ancient wall paintings respected and refreshed.

The Life of Saint Hugh was written by an anonymous monk who lived in the 14th century, and who composed it from sure and authentic documents. It was published by the Bollandists, April 20, and by Nobilion, Acta Sanctorum, l. viii. — We have also consulted and used: the Lives of the Saints of Franche-Comté; the Legendary of Autun; the Blessed Hugh of Poitiers, etc., by Abbé Cocharat.