Saint Orentius

Bernard the Squint-Eyed, Count of A Bernard le Louche, comte d'Armagnac Count of Armagnac and builder of the Basilica of Saint-Orens. rmagnac, witnessing this inadequacy, enlarged it, or rather, on its site, he built the superb three-aisled basilica that was admired near the banks of the Gers, and which, closed and mutilated in 1793, was sold shortly after and finished disappearing from 1800 to 1894; for the Chapel of the Conception, which still exists and which was once part of it, does not belong at all to the constructions erected by order of Bernard the Squint-Eyed, and dates back only to the 14th or 15th century. The Count's devotion did not stop there. Next to the basilica, he built a vast abbey and placed there religious men whom he charged with watching over the ashes of Saint Orens, and with praying near his tomb, and whom he endowed generously.

The Archbishop of Auch wished to associate himself with these liberalities. He split the parish of the city, which his predecessors had until then administered alone with the help of the clergy placed under their immediate discipline, and attributed a portion of it to the new church, constituting it as a proper and distinct parish. The abbey did not take long to change masters; it passed to the Benedictines of Cluny unde saint Austinde Archbishop of Auch under whom the abbey was attached to Cluny. r the episcopate of Saint Aus tindus and was red Bernard de Sédirac Prior of Auch and later Archbishop of Toledo, author of a translation of relics. uced to a priory. Bernard of Sédirac or of Sérillac, the third prior to govern the house, raised the body of Saint Orens and placed it in a more visible and honorable location. This translation took place on August 6. The ancient martyrologies of the diocese mention the day but do not designate the year, which must be placed between 1675, the time when the predecessor of Bernard of Sérillac was still living, and 1660, the time when Bernard had become Archbishop of Toledo, in Spain.

The name and virtues of Saint Orens remained no less popular in Bigorre than in the diocese of Auch. Two monasteries were built there in his honor: one, a few steps from his former retreat and almost on the scene of his austerities, and the other, in the viscounty of Montaner and the vicinity of the town of Maubourguet; to distinguish them, the latter was nicknamed La Regie or La Reoule, and it was called the abbey of Saint-Orens de la Regie or de la Reoule, or simply La Reoule.

In the former, in addition to some relics of the Saint still preserved to this day, they kept a part of the chain with which he girded himself when he recited the psalter, and numerous la chaîne dont il se ceignait quand il récitait le psautier Penitential chain used by the saint during his prayers. were the miracles performed with the help and by the virtue of this chain.

The remainder of this chain was sent t o Toulou Toulouse Episcopal see of Erembert. se to the convent of Sainte-Croix. Besides this chain, the religious of this convent obtained, from the prior and monks of Auch, some relics which they received on July 12, 1354, and which they had encased in a silver head and arm. "One cannot," adds the writer from whom we borrow these details, "say enough about the devotion of the Toulousains and the surrounding peoples towards this Saint; for their children have barely received holy baptism, when they go to the church of Saint-Orens to place them under the protection of this great Saint to enroll them in his confraternity, established in the said convent, one of the most beautiful and oldest in the city, enriched with indulgences by our Holy Fa ther Pope P pape Paul V Pope who approved the bull of erection of the Oratory. aul V."

The report of the miracles performed near the tomb of Saint Orens, or his venerated remains, crossed the Pyrenees and spread to the borders of Spain. The city of Hue sca wo Huesca Presumed birthplace of Saint Lawrence in Spain. uld rightly honor itself for having given him birth. The local bishop and its magistrates invoked this title to obtain, they too, some of his relics. They first addressed themselves to Rome and Paris, and, after having obtained, not without long supplications, the authorization of the Pope and the assent of the King of France, they sent to Auch a deputation composed of the scholastic of the cathedral and three notables, who were joined by Dom Manuel Lopez, a Spanish nobleman who had taken refuge in Saragoss a, in Béarn. Mgr Léona Mgr Léonard Destrappes Archbishop of Auch who authorized the transfer of relics to Spain. rd Destrappes, a prelate himself worthy of the public honors of sainthood, which Rome, we hope, will one day bestow upon him, then occupied the metropolitan see. He welcomed the deputies with joy and willingly granted their request.

Since this translation, further portions were taken from the shrine of Saint Orens to enrich some sanctuaries of the diocese of Auch or neighboring dioceses with his relics, such as the parish church of Miradoux, which took the Saint as its patron, or the chapel of the college of Auch, then directed by the Jesuits. But the rest of the body remained in the basilica where it had first been buried, and unfortunately, alas! it shared its fate all too much. The head was enclosed in a magnificent silver bust, a work of the Middle Ages, for which John I, Count of Armagnac, bequeathed one hundred pounds in his will of the year 1373. The bones were kept in the gilded wooden chest reinforced with iron of which we spoke recently. Near them, a community of Benedictines, secularized in 1721 and transformed into a Chapter, celebrated the public offices of the Church every day. Everything within this enclosure announced that under these vaults rested the second Patron of the city of Auch. Today everything has disappeared: only the Proper of the diocese pr eserves the memory of the évêque poète du Ve siècle Bishop of Auch and 5th-century poet. 5th-century poet bishop.

Cf. Histoire de Gascogne, by Montessu.