Saint Solange of Berry

The most illustrious vir gin Sol Solange Virgin and martyr, patron saint of Berry. ange is the patroness, and, so to speak, the Saint Genevieve of Berry. She was born in the vi llage of Villemont Birthplace of Saint Solange. Villemont, two or three leagues from the city of Bourges. Her father was a poor vine-grower who led a very Christian life; God rewarded his piety by blessing his marriage. He had a daughter who was named Solange. In this admirable child, the beauty of the body and that of the soul enhanced one another, so that she was the delight of God and men. Her father inspired in her, from her tenderest years, a great hatred for mortal sin, and she conceived, at the same time, such a tender love for her God that she also had a horror of the smallest faults that could offend the eyes of the divine Majesty. She had so much esteem and respect for the salutary lessons she received from her parents that she preferred them to all the vain talk and games that ordinarily make up the pleasure and joy of children of her age. This holy upbringing and her docility in responding to it prepared the heart of young Solange to receive celestial communications: she began, from the age of seven, to feel herself burning with the flames of the purest love. She had a particular attraction for everything related to the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. She never tired of blessing his holy name and pronouncing it everywhere with a sentiment of piety that made it known that she had deeply imprinted it in the secret of her heart. These transports of celestial love did not allow her to wait any longer to choose her path; and, as she had already despised the world even before knowing its false attractions, she did not hesitate to take as her only spouse Jesus Christ, whom she loved so ardently: she promised him with a good heart to keep a perpetual virginity. It is true that she had always lived in great innocence, but she did not trust in her own strength; there was no day or night that she did not pray to God to preserve her in that angelic purity that he asks of the souls who are faithful to him. She delighted in often repeating these beautiful words of the holy virgin Agnes: "I love Jesus Christ who had a virgin for a mother; I love Jesus, since by loving him I remain chaste, by touching him I remain pure, and by embracing him I remain a virgin."

This chaste dove often left the place of her ordinary dwelling, I mean the village of Villemont, to go and lament more freely and at leisure in a solitary and remote place, which is still called today, for this reason, the Field of Saint Solange. A wooden cross has since been erected in the middle of this field, which must often be renewed, for pilgrims cut off small pieces of it which they carry away out of devotion. Her father had entrusted her with the care of a small flock: no occupation suited Solange's tastes better; while watching over her sheep, she could contemplate her celestial Spouse, who invites souls to come and find Him in solitude; she especially loved to picture Him dying for her on the cross. She consecrated herself a thousand times to Him, she protested to Him that she was ready to imitate Him, to suffer the most horrible torments for His love. We shall see her vows fulfilled. In the meantime, Jesus Christ, who never allows Himself to be outdone in generosity, showered Solange with His favors: so that, like another Genevieve, she made herself very useful to all the neighboring populations. This young shepherdess knew, like Genevieve, how to wage war on demons, to drive them from the places they had seized, to stop and dissipate the winds and storms that harmed the surrounding lands. The mere presence of this chaste virgin caused impure spirits to leave the bodies of the possessed. It was enough for the sick to have the happiness of being seen on the paths by the Saint, and to expect help from her, to find themselves cured of their infirmities. This gift of performing miracles so easily, which has been the privilege of the greatest Saints, was communicated to her abundantly. Her history assures that she would stop and make disappear by a single act of her will the animals that spoiled and destroyed the fruits that were on the earth; and that, if it happened that one of her sheep strayed and threw itself into the neighboring meadows which were not under her jurisdiction, she used neither dog nor stick to make it return: it was enough for her to raise her heart toward her celestial Spouse, and to inwardly disavow the damage that these animals could cause: they immediately returned to join the flock with a docility that filled those who witnessed it with admiration.

Here is another prodigy, which indicates with what lights God enlightened her soul. If one is to believe the lessons of the office that the Church has dedicated to her, there appeared day and night, above her head, a star that guided her in her steps, and that served as a rule for her in all that she had to do; this star served her especially as a guide and warning, when the time she had set aside for prayer or psalmody approached; as if this light, which formerly invited the holy Magi kings to go and recognize and adore Jesus Christ, had been reproduced to favor this holy spouse of the same Savior, and to indicate to her the precious moments at which the divine Spouse requested her adorations.

The holiness of the young shepherdess, her virtues, and her beauty made her famous. This renown inspired a keen desire to see he r in Bernard of Goth Bernard de la Gothie Son of the Count of Poitiers, abductor and murderer of Solange. ia, son of Bernard, Count of Poitiers, Bourges, and Auvergne. He mounted his horse and, under the pretext of going hunting, went to the lands of Villemont, where Solange was tending her flock. Scarcely had he seen her when a violent passion seized his heart. He immediately dismounted, approached the young virgin, and, taking care not to let any word escape that might alarm her innocence, offered to make her his wife. "Through this marriage," he told her, "you will be a princess of the vast land where I reign; you will make the happiness of your parents as well as your own."

Solange replied that, from her most tender age, she belonged to God, that she had vowed her heart to Him, and that she could no longer dispose of it in favor of any man. This refusal only irritated the young prince's desire; he resolved to obtain by force what was refused to his prayers and promises. Listening only to his passion, he lunged to seize Solange: she escaped him, she fled; he pursued her, caught her, abducted her, placed her before him on his horse, and carried her off, making, along the way, new efforts to overcome her refusals. But Solange, fortified by grace and preferring death to the loss of her virginity, suddenly tore herself from the arms of her abductor and threw herself to the ground, near a small stream that flowed in that place. Scorned love quickly turns to hatred, especially in violent and brutal people. Bernard, full of shame and fury at seeing himself disdained and defeated by a shepherdess, rushed upon her, sword in hand, and cut off her head.

This chaste and faithful spouse was too dear to the Savior for Him not to mark immediately, and by some miraculous sign, how pleasing this sacrifice had been to Him. Solange, therefore, who had courageously received the blow of death, being standing, did not lose this position, although her head was separated from her body; but, as if she had received a new life through the merit of martyrdom, she peacefully opened her hands to receive her beautiful head; her mouth pronounced once more, three times, the holy name of Jesus, which had been so familiar to her during her life. She went thus as far as Saint-Martin-du- Saint-Martin-du-Cros The saint's initial burial place. Cros; she was buried in the cemetery of this church, at the place where, in 1281, a small monument in the shape of an altar was erected in her honor.

She is depicted tending her sheep, with a star above her head; at other times, she is kneeling at the foot of a cross, surrounded by her flock; in the distance, one can see Count Bernard, accompanied by a squire. Finally, she is most commonly seen carrying her head in her hands. We read, in a Life of Saint Solange by M. Oudoul, a parish priest in the diocese of Bourges, the description of the ancient tapestries of the church of Sainte-Solange; it is the iconographic history of this Saint. We hasten to reproduce it here: "One sees," he says, "in the choir of Sainte-Solange, six tapestry panels, of very good taste and well executed, which represent the history of the Saint, according to tradition. The first represents Saint Solange surrounded by her sheep, at the foot of the cross which was, it is said, in the middle of the common pasture. One sees, in the nave of the same church and in that of Saint-Étienne in Bourges, a painting that offers the same subject. The second represents the pious shepherdess near her sheep, and the count, on foot, soliciting her; the prince's squire is in the background, on horseback.

The third represents the count on horseback, wishing, aided by his squire, to abduct Solange; in the background, one sees the squire's horse. The fourth represents the prince raising his sword against Solange who, bowed with resignation, prepares for martyrdom; the squire is behind the count: one sees, at the top of the painting, an angel, a crown in his hand. At the bottom, one reads this inscription in red wool: This history, in tapestry, of Saint Solange, was made, in 1470, with the funds of the confraternity. The fifth represents Saint Solange standing, her head in her hands, going to the church of Saint-Martin, which is in the background, depicted as it was before the fire of the tower's spire; behind the Saint, one sees the count and the squire riding at full gallop. It is good to observe that this marvelous trait was engraved on the gilded copper reliquary, which was presented in 1511, which, as someone has judiciously remarked, was modeled on the first; and that, on the silver reliquary as on today's, care was taken to respect the tradition on this point." Father Cahier, in his Characteristics, provides a very graceful sketch representing Saint Solange after her death. The young girl is slumped at the foot of a mound surmounted by a rustic cross. With her right hand, she gathers the folds of her dress over her chest, and with her left hand, which embraces the cross, she holds a palm intertwined with roses and lilies. A dagger is plunged into her thorax. Beside her, a bleating lamb; on the ground, the distaff and the spindle. Decapitation seems quite unlikely to Father Cahier, in a struggle such as the one that must have taken place between the Saint and her abductor. Moreover, nothing prevents one from supposing that the victim, pierced by a dagger, was then finished off by decapitation.

## RELICS AND CULT OF SAINT SOLANGE. Her precious remains were soon exhumed because of the miracles they performed; they were transferred from the cemetery to the church of Saint-Martin, which then took the name of Sainte-Solange. They were first enclosed in a wooden reliquary, artistically crafted; and, later, in a gilded copper reliquary. The chasse en cuivre doré Reliquary containing the remains of the saint. last translation took place on Whit Monday, June 8, 1511. The ceremony was presided over by Mgr Denis de Bar, former bishop of Saint-Papoul, who, with the authorization of the capitular vicars-general, solemnly consecrated the church of Sainte-Solange on this occasion. In the 18th century, this reliquary was enclosed in another made of silver. In 1793, the reliquary of Saint Solange was removed from the parish of the diocese of Bourges, which bears her name, and her relics were scattered. But "while making my archidiaconal visit to Méry-ès-Bois, on April 5, 1843, writes M. Caillaud, vicar-general, I found there relics of Saint Solange: a fragment of the skull, the upper jaw, and a tooth of the Saint. These relics belonged, before the Revolution, to the Cistercian abbey of Lercès and had been transferred with great pomp to Méry-ès-Bois, in 1791, when the monks left the convent; I divided these relics into two roughly equal portions, one of which remains at Méry-ès-Bois, and the other was given to the parish of Sainte-Solange". The diocese of Nevers, more fortunate than that of Bour ges, w Nevers The saint's first episcopal see. as able to save everything it possessed of the relics of Saint Solange; the small box that contains them bears this inscription: Fragments reliquiarum sanctae Solangin, V. M., 1612.

We cannot recount the numerous miracles that have been performed and are still being performed through the intercession of the virgin of Villemont: the mute recover their speech; the blind, their sight; the deaf, their hearing; the paralyzed, their movement; the lame, the power to walk; the sick of every kind, their healing; the possessed, their deliverance. Father Caillaud writes to us further: "Miracles continue to occur at Sainte-Solange. In 1834, a person from the parish of Le Lys-Saint-Georges (Indre), Marie Moulin, aged twenty-six, recovered there the speech she had lost for fourteen years. On May 28, 1850, a nun of the Good Shepherd, Pauline Barbery, in religion Sister Salut-Alexis, afflicted for thirty-eight days with an inflammation of the chest that had reduced her to such a state of weakness that her companions and the doctor regarded her as dying, was instantly healed after a novena to Saint Solange."

The inhabitants of Bourges have always had rec ourse t Bourges City where Leopardin received his episcopal blessing. o Saint Solange in times of public calamity, and their trust has never been deceived. In such circumstances, they request that the reliquary containing the relics of their patron saint be carried in procession within their walls.

"On May 31, 1637, Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, went on a pilgr Henri de Bourbon Prince who went on a pilgrimage to Sainte-Solange in 1637. image to Sainte-Solange and wished to lead the holy relics, which the entire population was demanding, to the metropolitan church himself. It was a day of celebration for Bourges; the streets through which the reliquary was to pass were strewn with flowers; the fronts of the houses were draped; from all sides, one could hear only pious hymns."

These processions took place mainly in times of drought; we have the minutes of the last one that took place: it was in the month of June 1750.

It was always the local inhabitants who, in these processions, carried the reliquary of Saint Solange; they had to be fasting, in a state of grace, with heads and feet bare, covered with crowns and flowers, and receive communion at the solemn mass in the church of Saint-Étienne. "It is known," says Father Giry, "that two men, who led a disorderly life, having presented themselves to carry the reliquary, it was impossible for them, despite whatever efforts they made and whatever help they were given, to move it from the place where it was. In the year 1631, the procession which was returning, being near the village of Paracy, one of the bearers of the reliquary having let himself be carried away to swear scandalously because of something that displeased him, was punished on the spot in a miraculous and very particular manner. One of the arms of the litter, on which the reliquary was placed, became so heavy and pressed so strongly on his shoulder (the other arm of the same litter remaining in the air), that this wretch seemed about to be crushed by it: neither he nor the people understood the mystery at first; 'but the criminal,' says the history, 'having recognized, through another miracle of divine goodness, the fault he had just committed by swearing, immediately asked for forgiveness from God, the Saint, and the people; and, having obtained it through genuine tears that marked the sincere regret of his heart, he had the joy of being admitted to continue carrying this precious treasure for the rest of the way: which he did without any difficulty.'"

"A tender veneration," says M. Raynal, historian of Berry, "similar to that which Saint Genevieve inspired in the diocese of Paris, has attached itself to the memory of the shepherdess of Villemont. One can still see the location of the cottage where she was born, the path she followed to go to the pasture and which, it is said, is covered each year with a more abundant harvest, the field where she went to pray, the fountain on the banks of which she was beheaded, the place where her remains were first buried. On May 10, the anniversary of her death, and on Whit Monday, the anniversary of the translation of her relics and the dedication of her church, an immense crowd of pilgrims, the sick, and mothers holding their children in their arms, come to invoke her intercession and seek around her church, if not health, at least hope; her reliquary is carried in procession by men dressed in albs and crowned with flowers. This silver-plated wooden reliquary, today empty of the Saint's relics, replaced a silver reliquary destroyed during the Revolution, which the city of Bourges had offered to the modest village church in 1657. Formerly, in fact, whenever long droughts prevailed, the relics of Saint Solange were solemnly brought to Bourges, and the memory of several of these processions, which were followed very closely by abundant rains, has been preserved. Pope Alexander VIII, by a bull of March 19, 1658, approved the pio us Confraterni Alexandre VIII Pope cited in the text as having canonized the saint in 1658. ty which had long existed under the name of Saint-So lange, and granted it numerous indulgences which have been renewed to t Confrérie qui, depuis longtemps, existait sous le nom de Sainte-Solange Association of the faithful dedicated to the cult of the saint. his day by various acts of the Holy See. On May 8, 1693, Mgr Philippeaux de la Vrillière, then Archbishop of Bourges, at the request of the inhabitants of the city, decided that henceforth the feast of the holy shepherdess would be celebrated in the city and the seventh on May 10 of each year; only, for the first time, this feast was postponed to the 18th; and, to make it more solemn, the reliquary where the precious relics rested was to be brought to the cathedral church. A few years ago, one could still see, in the vast apartments of the Château de Brécy, several fresco paintings representing the martyrdom of Solange; and this entirely popular devotion has even exceeded the limits of the province; her feasts attract many inhabitants from neighboring provinces, especially from the Morvan, and her memory is honored in the cathedral of Nevers."

The members of the Confraternity, the pilgrims who come to the annual feasts, receive the popular name of Cousins of Saint Solange. There are, in Bourges (formerly at Saint-Pierre le Puellier, today at the cathedral), in Issoudun (church of Saint-Cyr), in Châteauroux (church of Saint-Christophe), and in Nevers (cathedral), Confraternities united to the main Confraternity. The Sovereign Pontiffs granted this Confraternity numerous indulgences which Benedict XIV rejected and confirmed in 1751.

Pieuses légendes du Berry, by M. Velliat; Hist. du Berry, by M. Raynal, vol. 177, p. 313. — One also finds in the Life of Saint Solange, by the Rev. Fr. J. Afet (p. 18 et seq.), interesting details on the cult rendered to the patroness of Berry from her death to the present day, as well as a large number of men and priests devoted to her honor.