Saint Proba
Prenve
Virgin and Martyr
An Irish princess of the 4th century, Saint Probe fled to France with Saint Germaine to consecrate her virginity to God. Found by her pagan parents' envoys near Laon, she was beheaded for her faith. Tradition reports that she carried her own head to a nearby church.
Guided reading
4 reading sections
SAINT PROBE AND SAINT GERMAINE, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS (4th century).
Origin and exile in Gaul
Saint Probe and Saint Germaine fled Ireland and their pagan parents in the 4th century to preserve their virginity, settling in the Laon region.
Saint Probe Sainte Probe Virgin and martyr of Irish origin, the main subject of the biography. and Saint Germaine, sainte Germaine Companion of Saint Probe, martyred with her. also named Prenve and Grimonie, were born in Ire land in Irlande Place of intellectual and spiritual formation for saints. the 4th century. To escape the solicitations of idolatrous parents who wanted to bind them in the bonds of marriage, they generously left their country and came to settle in the Gauls. Grimonie retired to a place later called La Capelle, because of a chapel raised over her tomb, and Probe to Touson, near Laon, in the Val-des-Chenizell es. Laon Location of Gelduin's first monastery. The emissaries of their parents discovered them there some time later and summoned them to return with them. But they found these Christian virgins unshakable in their resolution and cut off their heads. Dom Robert Wyard, a Benedictine, adds, in his *Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Vincent de Laon*, that Saint Pr obe "carried her head to the ch abbaye de Saint-Vincent de Laon Monastery where Cagnoald lived and was buried. urch of Saint-Pierre-l e-Vieil, onto porta sa tête Hagiographic phenomenon in which a decapitated martyr carries their own head. a stone that can still be seen there. Her relics, he adds, were long preserved in this abbey of Saint-Vincent de Laon, and her feast is still celebrated there today, jointly with that of Saint Grimonie..."
Martyrdom and cephalophory
Found by their family's emissaries, the two virgins are beheaded; Probe performs the miracle of carrying her head to a local church.
A portion of the relics of Saint Probe was reunited, as early as the 9th century, with the relics of Saint Grimonie, according to the annotators of Dom Wyard in their 1858 edition (the Abbés Cardon and Mathieu). However, the unfortunate wars that devastated France, having forced the inhabitants of La Capelle four centuries later to deposit their treasure in a safer place, led them to entrust it to the Benedictine monks of Saint-J ean de Lesq Lesquielles Place where the relics were transferred for protection. uielles, whose convent, situated on a high mountain, was protected by its own position and by the tower of the town's fort. In the 16th century, the ancient monastery of Saint-Jean de Lesquielles fell under the rage of the heretics, and the church itself only partially escaped their fury; but God watched over the remains of his servants. Thanks to the care of Adrien de Crol, Count of Roeux and Governor of Flanders and Artois, the precious relics were transported in 1540 to the church of the canons of Hé nin-Liétard, Hénin-Liétard Place where the relics were transferred in 1540. where they were the object of great veneration. In 1748, the church of Lesquielles obtained from the canons of Hénin the restitution of a portion of these relics, and they were brought back with great pomp to Lesquielles, where three annual processions in their honor are still held today.
Translations and cult of the relics
The text traces the movements of the relics between the 9th and 18th centuries, from Lesquielles to Hénin-Liétard, to protect them from wars and destruction.
Van Drival, *Hagiologie d'Arras*.
Documentary sources
The information is based on the works of Dom Robert Wyard and the Hagiology of Arras by Van Drival.
Van Drival, Hagiologie d'Arras.
Annexes & related entities
Structured data for exploration: events, miracles, quotes, places, attributes, patronages, and important entities cited in the text.