Saint Thorette

The moments of a servant are not their own, but belong exclusively to the master who employs them. Our Saint never lost a single minute. The interior spirit that accompanied all her acts, far from distracting her, sustained and encouraged her amidst her labors.

A day came, however, when the pious girl had forgotten herself, so to speak, in a colloquy with the object of her pure affections. The hours she owed to her employment had passed in a kind of rapture, so many charms does prayer hold for a heart enamored of its God! Unbeknownst to her, therefore, the spindle had slipped from her fingers; evening arrived and her task was not done.

The Master of Heaven did not wish for the master of the earth to be deprived of the benefit that belonged to him; above all, He did not wish for His religious lover to lose the reward that her devotion deserved. During the untimely orison, a celestial hand had spun the distaff involuntarily abandoned, so that the work was found finished of itself, just at the moment when the ecstatic prayer concluded. At this sight, Thorette raised to heaven eyes moistened with gratitude. She could not express otherwise the interior joy that dominated her.

Noble and generous girl, ah! may you be imitated by all those who share your condition. May they never, under the pretext of devotion, be seen neglecting their work; God does not wish it, He even forbids it.

But Heaven did not stop at this marvelous fact, recounted by all; tradition affirms that, to facilitate our Saint's love of orison, her good angel, while she prayed, worked in her place, and thus Thorette's work never remained incomplete.

He who annihilates the proud and delights in exalting the humble granted her many visible marks of His benevolence. One day when she was far out in the fields, occupied with seeking the best grasses for her sheep, behold, a dark and threatening storm appeared on the horizon. — Fear not, virtuous child, while a torrential rain will devastate the entire region, a calm atmosphere will envelop you; around you and your dear sheep, it will be as a day of beautiful sunshine. A new fleece of Gideon, you alone will be respected. Once again, fear not: what storm could be troublesome for you who trust in the Lord?

In the past, God blessed the house of Laban because of His servant Jacob. The wise Thorette brought good fortune to the estate she inhabited. The flocks entrusted to her care always prospered, says tradition, and much better than those of the surrounding farms.

One would have said that these animals had an understanding of their mistress's merit. If she wished to abandon her soul to one of those meditations that ravished her from the senses, all her sheep, grouped around her, grazed quietly on the grass, without thinking of harming neighboring inheritances. On the contrary, carried away by her fervor, if the young virgin wished to go and fulfill some of her devotions at the church, it sufficed that she plant her crook in the midst of the bleating flock, and her docile lambs guarded themselves, and never, during her absence, did any of those ferocious animals, so common formerly in these wooded regions, take it into their heads to attack her faithful sheep. Her virtue was like a charm from which even the most ungrateful and rebellious natures could not escape.

One day, the stream that flows at the bottom of Nouzillers was swollen beyond measure, and the shepherdess, positioned on the opposite bank, could not bring her sheep back to the fold. In her naive religion, she remembered that faith has the privilege of moving mountains, and that if we had this heavenly faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed, nature would obey our slightest wishes; she made the sign of the cross over the overflowing torrent, struck the waters with her crook, and suddenly a miraculous path opened before her.

Another time, it was strangers, mason workers traveling from Bourbonnais to La Marc Bourbonnais Historical province where the saint's life took place. he, their home country, who found themselves stopped by the same difficulty. In their impatience, these coarse men gave way to murmuring and blasphemy. The young virgin gently invited them to resignation, encouraged them to do the holy will of God, then, in the charity that urged her, she boldly asked for a miracle. At the touch of her crook, a new Jordan, the stream turned back and let these men pass on dry ground, who loudly proclaimed the praises and the power of the wonder-worker.

Returning home in the evening, even more modest than usual, they no longer wished to allow her to perform the humiliating and arduous tasks which, however, she carried out with such happiness. "— No, my daughter, no," her old master said to her, refusing certain services she was accustomed to rendering to him and his family, "you are a saint. We must all, une sainte A shepherdess from the Bourbonnais who became a saint through her piety and miracles. from now on, respect you more."

Her humility could not withstand this trial. She abruptly left the cottage where, in anticipation, a sort of cult was being paid to her, and went into solitude to hide the graces that God granted her with such generosity.

It was in this Champ des Combes, near the inspiring monastery, that she would retire; she took care to descend very low into the valley. The cavity of a centuries-old oak tree would serve as her asylum. A few herbs, a few wild fruits to appease her hunger, the water of the torrent to quench her thirst, an ardent prayer, interrupted by short moments given to nature, such would henceforth be her preoccupation, her life. Thus, of her as of the divine precursor, one could say that she neither ate nor drank; God alone sufficed for her needs, Deus meus et omnia.

Already she was ripe for heaven. Although the austerities had weakened her strength, she nonetheless continued her pious daily exercises. Like the soldier who wishes to die with weapons in hand, it would be from the middle of this countryside perfumed by her virtues and from the interior of this old tree, witness to her fervor, that her ardent and pure soul would fly toward her God. She heard the voice of the Beloved who said to her: Come from Lebanon, my dove, my spouse, my all-beautiful; come, you shall be crowned. She could not resist such a pressing invitation, and her bonds were instantly broken.

At that moment, O prodigy! all the bells of the surrounding churches, in Murat, in Villefranche, in Montcenoux, began to ring of their own accord to announce that a privileged creature had just left the earth.

Long did the bronze resound; these were unusual vibrations, something triumphant that moved the region from afar.

In the blink of an eye, an immense crowd rushed; all had instinctively gone to the venerated solitude.

Above the tree, the tomb of the Saint, a large luminous cross was outlined, a sort of labarum, which signaled her victory from afar.

Amidst canticles and songs of joy, this precious treasure was carried in triumph to the place naturally designated for her burial. It was in the basilica of the good monks, where she had so often prayed, very close to the high altar, where she had so frequently received her God, that this glorious body was laid to rest.

From that day on, the homage of the people was spontaneously bestowed upon her, and, following the custom of those times, the local diocesan authority regulated and consecrated its manifestation. Each year, on May 1st, a public commemoration took place; a pilgrimage, full of faith and piety, attracted to Villefranche and within the precincts of Montcenoux an extraordinary gathering of people of all ranks and conditions.

Montmarault and Saint-Priest, Chavenon and Murat, Chappes, Cosne, Doyet, Monvicq, etc., sent pious deputations to this renowned tomb. How many graces were granted! How many blessings came to all those souls firmly devoted to the cult of Saint Thorette!

So much splendor was maintained until 1698, the time when the collegiate church of Saint-Ursin, established for centuries on this hillside of the Bourbonnais, was suppressed. By order of Cardinal de Gesvres, the one hundred and sixth archbishop of Bourges, the relics of Saint Thorette were carried from the church of M église de Montcenoux Former collegiate church and initial burial place of the saint. ontcenoux to th at of Villef Villefranche Current location of the saint's relics. ranche.

Since this translation, except for a few days of harmful interruption, these precious bones have always remained there, exposed to the veneration of the faithful.

In 1841, by the orders of M Mgr de Pons Bishop of Moulins who authenticated the relics in 1841. gr de Pons, Bishop of Moulins, a meticulous investigation was undertaken regarding the authenticity of the relics and the legitimacy of the cult of Saint Thorette.

It was recognized that, during the revolution of '93, this body had been profaned and thrown onto the flagstones of the temple. Gathered and preserved by pious hands, all the remains had been successively returned to the church where the general repository had previously been.

Every year, the external solemnity is observed on the first Sunday of May. The pilgrimage is less frequented than in the past, it is true; nevertheless, it is always with confidence that one comes to invoke the gentle and pious shepherdess who once sanctified herself on these shores.

The devotion to this other Genevieve is not limited to the Bourbonnais; there exists in the Berry Historical province where the saint settled. Berry a locality that is both a commune and a parish, which is designated by the name Sainte-Thorette.

The founding of the village dates back to a remote era; the church is from the 12th century. Our saint being the titular of the monument and patroness of the place, this double circumstance allows us to assign a sort of date to the time when she lived. Her feast day, there, is celebrated on the last Sunday of April.

Excerpt f rom the Legend of M. l'abbé Boudant Parish priest of Chantelle and author of the saint's legend. Saint Thorette, by Father Boudant, parish priest of Chantelle.