Saint Opportune

The abbey of Almenèches was not far away: a natural sentiment would have led her to seek refuge there near her aunt. She guarded herself against this inclination, which made her fear too great a seeking of herself: she preferred the small solitude of Montre uil, loca Montreuil Monastery where the saint was abbess. ted in the valley of Auge, three leagues from Séez. Montreuil, or the little monastery, was famous at that time for the regular observance that was in force there. A few days after entering it, in the presence of her parents and many people, she received the veil from the hands of Chrodegand, her brother. When she returned to the monastery, the other nuns visibly perceived her good angel walking at her side, to instruct her in what she had to do: one should not be surprised if she advanced so strongly in perfection, and if she soon surpassed the elders, and even her teachers, in the science of Jesus Christ.

The abbess of this monastery having died, all the nuns turned their eyes toward Sister Opportune to succeed her. But her humility provided her with many other thoughts; she asked for a three-day delay in order to consult the will of God, who finally made known to her, through a revelation, that such was His good pleasure: thus the Saint changed her condition, but not her conduct; and it was only to increase her devotions and her penances. She slept on the hard ground and had only a simple hairshirt for a cover; her food was nothing but barley bread, and, on Sundays, a little fish; as for Wednesday and Friday, she ate nothing at all. Finally, her most precious garment was the hairshirt and some other clothing of coarse fabric, but always the same in winter as in summer. Her prayers were also longer than before and her fervor more ardent, her prudence more extensive, and her charity for the poor more abundant: one could clearly see that the hand of God had placed her in this position. She had a particular skill when it came to instructing her daughters or correcting them; always tempering justice with mercy, she did so well, through her prayers and her remonstrances, that the most stubborn finally became docile to the movements of the spirit of God that guided her.

She took great care of the temporal affairs of the house, for fear that the community, not meeting the needs of the nuns, might tempt them either to violate the enclosure or to possess something of their own; which God Himself approved by evident signs of His protection. When thieves, and even animals, had taken something from the monastery, they would return it by virtue of her prayers. These virtues, which shone in Saint Opportune, attracted a great number of young girls who came to her school to learn the rules of perfection.

Nevertheless, as the life of the righteous, to be in conformity with Jesus Christ, is filled with crosses, and as God wills to grant them heaven only through afflictions, He sent very painful ones to Saint Opportune during a journe y that Saint Chr saint Chrodegand Bishop of Metz and friend of Madalvé. odegand, her brother, Bishop of Séez, made to Rome and Palestine to visit the holy places. This prelate had left Chrodobert as vicar-general; the latte Chrodobert Usurping vicar-general and assassin of Chrodegand. r, instead of performing the duties of a good shepherd, became a ravening wolf through his injustices and oppressions, particularly against religious persons throughout the diocese, without sparing Saint Opportune, even though she was the sister of his bishop; pushing his ambition as high as his violence, he had himself consecrated Bishop of Séez. This proceeding compelled the holy Abbess to employ her prayers to the Almighty so that her brother would return and stop the disorders of his vicar-general. Finally, after seven years of travel, the Saint returned to his diocese and restored order there; but it was not for long: this wretched vicar, furious that his bishop had deposed him, conspired against his person, and, in order to more easily achieve this design, corrupted with money a godson of the holy Bishop, who assassinated him in the village of Nonant whil e he w Nonant Site of the assassination of Saint Chrodegand. as making his visitation there. Some pious persons tried in vain to lift the body of the deceased to give him burial: but his sister, having arrived there, lifted him alone with ease, to the great astonishment of those present, and carried him in her arms to her monastery, where he was solemnly interred.

The pain that the death of her brother caused the Saint degenerated into illness, despite her Christian resignation; for, affecting her eyes, she shed tears in such abundance that she was soaked by them, and thus relieved her oppressed heart. She took such a distaste for earthly things that she asked Our Lord to remove her from them. Knowing therefore that she was soon to die, she announced this news to her dear nuns, told them that she would be more useful to them in heaven than here below, and, throwing herself on her knees, asked each one for forgiveness for any offenses she might have committed against them. She exhorted them to peace, to unity, and to the observance of their vows and their rule. She received, in a vision, the visit of Saint Lu sainte Lucie Saint who appeared in a vision to Opportune. cy and Saint Cecilia sainte Cécile Saint whose feast day is the day Marianne was baptized. , who filled the room with a brilliant light and a very pleasant odor, and assured her that the Queen of Heaven would soon present her to her Son. The prince of darkness also appeared to her in his turn in a hideous form. The Saint was not at all astonished by this specter: on the contrary, she ordered him to remain until she had shown him to all her daughters, to inspire in them a greater horror of this enemy of souls. When Saint Opportune had received the holy viaticum, the Blessed Virgin came to fetch her: the pious dying woman rendered her soul, so to speak, in the arms of this divine Mother, on April 22, 770.

Her body was buried, as she had ordered her daughters, beside that of her brother Saint Chrodegand, where for a long time a great concourse of people was seen, because of the miracles that Our Lord performed there through the merits of His servant; but finally, to avoid the fury of the Normans, who were ravaging that country, her relics were transported to the pr Moussy Place of translation of relics to flee the Normans. iory of Moussy, in the diocese of Meaux. Many miracles have been performed there.

The cult of Saint Opportune is very widespread: many churches, before the Revolution, bore her name and possessed some of her relics.

The church of Moutierneuf, one of the parishes of Poitiers, possesses a silver-gilt reliquary containing bones of Saint Opportune. The Bishop of Poitiers, having recognized the authenticity of these relics in 1873, permitted them to be exposed for the veneration of the faithful. Some of the Saint's relics are still today in Vendôme, in the church of the Trinity; at Longchamp, in the diocese of Versailles; at the cathedral and the major seminary of Séez, at the mother house of the Mercy of Séez, at the Providence of Séez, at Alençon, at Argentan, at the Hospice of Mortagne, at Sainte-Opportune, at Damigny, near Alençon; at Saint-Père-en-Retz, and at Villiers-le-Bel.

She is represented: 1° walking with her guardian angel at her side: the latter sometimes turns the pages of the Missal in which the Saint offers her devout prayers; 2° reclaiming the abbey's donkey that had been stolen by the local field guard: at their feet is a meadow whitened with salt. It is said, in fact, that the virtuous abbess, having sent one of her servants to fetch firewood from the common forest, the forest guard impounded the beast of burden and its load. Upon Saint Opportune's complaint, he replied mockingly while pointing to his meadow: "When this meadow is entirely covered with salt, the prisoner will be released and returned to you." Then he turned on his heels. But the next day, great was his terror when public rumor informed him that his meadow was white with salt. Since that time, this place has always been called Pré-Salé (Salt Meadow). Formerly, two processions were held there each year; 3° "one day, several people going on a pilgrimage to her church in Paris, there was in their company a poor woman who had nothing to make her offering: for which she was very distressed. Finally, seeing a crested lark in the air, singing its plainchant, and trusting in the goodness of God and the power of this Saint, she asked her for it, saying: 'O glorious patroness, grant that I may have this bird to make you a gift of it.' And instantly it came to rest on her shoulder, so that she placed it on the altar, in the presence of the crowd who praised God; 4° in the year 1154, a pilgrim, who had come in devotion to the church of Sainte-Opportune in Paris on April 22, the day of the feast, was killed by a serpent while returning home below Montmartre. Now, he was miraculously resurrected in the sight of everyone through the prayers of the Saint and the touching of her relics, in that church where he had been brought back by his companions. To inform posterity of this wonder, not to betray the truth, nor to deprive the faithful of the relief that, in certain encounters, they may receive from Saint Opportune, two relief images were made of this virgin trampling a basilisk underfoot: one was on the high altar; the other at the great door of the church: two stained-glass windows represented the same event. In memory and on the occasion of this same miracle, King Louis VII donated to the colle giate chu Louis VII King of France to whom Hugh and Saint Bernard wrote for peace. rch of Sainte-Opportune the Marais, located below Montmartre, from the Porte Saint-Antoine to Chaillot; 5° she is also represented holding a crozier and a heart: but this can be appropriate for all abbesses who have made the sacrifice of their earthly affections to the heavenly Spouse; sick and visited by two saints, Lucy and Cecilia; pulling a drowning man from the water: she seems to descend from heaven. Finally, the Life of the Saint, by Abbé Gosset, parish priest of Sainte-Opportune in Paris, contains six beautiful engravings, which are the reproduction of paintings recounting the various episodes of the life of Saint Opportune, and which could still be seen in the 18th century in the church of the same name in Paris. These engravings are all the more precious as nothing remains in Paris that can recall the cult, once so important, rendered in this city to the virgin of Exmes. Cf. Vies des Saints du diocèse de Sées, by M. l'abbé Blin, parish priest of Durett; and Vie de sainte Opportune, by M. l'abbé Durand.