Saint Caprais of Lérins

His reputation for holiness attracted several people under his guidance; the principal ones were Saint Honoratu s and Saint V saint Venance Brother of Saint Honoratus and disciple of Caprasius, who died in the East. enantius, his brother, who after their baptism had embraced, in their own home, a very austere way of life, little different from that of the most rigorous solitaries of Egypt and Palestine. As these disciples had extraordinary merit, and as one saw in them evident marks of a sublime vocation from God, Caprais did not hesitate to accompany them on a journey they wished to make to the East, to flee the honors they were receiving in their own country. He suffered extremely there, both on land and at sea; but, with his zeal and his spirit of penance, the greatest pains seemed sweet to him, and he felt joy when the elements seemed to have conspired to torment him. The death of Saint Venantius, at Modon, in the Peloponnese, was what afflicted him th e mos Modon Place of death of Saint Venantius in the Peloponnese. t; but he soon consoled himself by considering that, if he had lost a disciple, he had acquired a powerful advocate in heaven, and that, if the one he loved had died a bodily death, he lived in God a spiritual life, which would never end.

Upon returning from this journey, he enclosed himself on the island of Lérins with Saint Honoratus, one of the two brothers. His life on this island was more angelic than human. Saint Eucherius, Archbishop of Lyon, in the eulogy he wrote on solitude, says that he yielded in nothing to those illustrious hermits who had preceded him, and who were held in such g reat venerati Saint Hilaire Archbishop of Arles and friend of Eucherius. on in the Church. Saint Hilary, Archbishop of Arles, in the funeral oration for Saint Honoratus, asserts that Caprais was perfected in all kinds of virtues, and that his life on earth was entirely heavenly. Indeed, according to his historian, no one was as austere and penitent as he; his charity was ardent, his humility profound, his gentleness extreme, his faith and hope firm and unshakable, his modesty perfect, his obedience prompt, his abstinence regular, his gaze gentle and pleasant, his perseverance constant. He prayed without ceasing, spent the day and night in the exercise of contemplation, desired none of the consolations of the earth, and his only desire was to possess Jesus Christ; but in desiring Him, he already possessed Him, because he enjoyed Him in the depths of his heart. He wished only for the blessed life, and this wish gave him a precious foretaste of it that made him happy even in this world; he sighed for the company of the Saints, and he was never separated from them: because, if he did not receive their visit, his spirit transported itself to the place of their beatitude.

When the end of his pilgrimage had arrived, the archangel Saint Michae l'archange saint Michel Celestial figure who appeared to Caprais to announce his death. l appeared to him and brought him the news. He could have received none more agreeable; he prepared himself with joy for death, and, having been visited by the neighboring bishops, who came to commend themselves to his prayers, he rendered his beautiful soul to God on the 1st of June in the year of Our Lord 430, a short time after Saint Honoratus. One of the bishops who assisted at his passing was Saint Hilary, successor to the same Saint Honoratus; but he assisted at it before pronouncing the funeral oration of that holy prelate, since he speaks there of Saint Caprais as a Saint who was already reigning in heaven.

## RELICS OF SAINT CAPRAIS.

Ch artèves, Chartèves Village in the Brie region housing relics of Saint Caprasius. a village in the Brie region, two leagues from Château-Thierry (Aisne), in the diocese of Soissons, has for several centuries possessed a small bone fragment of Saint Caprais, brought from Rome and given to this parish by a bishop of Soissons. The original authentication document confirming its origin still exists. This precious relic was carefully hidden during the Revolution; and, since the restoration of worship in 1801, it has been successively examined and recognized as authentic by all the bishops of Soissons.

A confraternity of Saint Caprais had already existed at Chartèves since the 18th century; Mgr Leblanc de Beaulieu re-established it and approved its regulations. The faithful from all regions still come to have their names inscribed in the registers of this association.

The pilgrimage to Saint Caprais continues to be very well attended. People come from thirty leagues around, at all times, but mainly on October 20, the day the patronal feast is celebrated, as well as the following Sunday. — It is especially for the healing of rheumatism and nervous diseases that Saint Caprais is invoked. Pilgrims have often testified that they had obtained from the Saint the grace they had come to solicit. The most famous, as well as the most recent healing, is that of a woman from Chartèves who was, in 1858, suddenly cured and who has not since felt the effects of the ailment with which she was afflicted.

The life of this excellent solitary is drawn from an ancient manuscript of the abbey of Lérins. Surius wrote it on June 1st, and Vincent Barault in the Chronicle of this abbey. — Local notes.