Saint Landry of Paris

The merit of his most holy life rendered him more illustrious than the antiquity or nobility of his lineage, since history has noted the one and not the other. He conducted himself worthily in his office, employing himself assiduously in preaching and in the practice of heroic and virtuous actions. He took particular care to relieve the poor, to feed pilgrims, to provide for the marriage of poor girls, to assist the sick, and to engage in all kinds of charitable works, with such fervor and affection that, for his pious and great liberality, he was called a spendthrift by the worldly.

During a horrible famine which, in 651, devastated his diocese, he sold or pawned not only all his furniture, but also the sacred vessels of the church, to give bread to those who lacked it, and he took pleasure in distributing it to them himself.

But if he had tenderness and charity for the poor, he had it particularly for the sick, who, being unable to help themselves, require to be assisted with more care and liberality than others. He was not content with visiting them in their homes, and sending them the remedies and food that were necessary for them, and encouraging charitable persons to render them the good offices they needed; he wished to extend his mercy into the following years and centuries.

Before him, Paris possessed, for the relief of the sick, only the *Matricules*, asylums supported by the life-long alms of the rich. Landry, following a tradition generally accepted in the diocese of Paris, was the first to do for this capital what the constitution of the emperors had done for the Roman Empire: he founded, near his episcopal palace, with fixed and assured revenues, an establishment long called the Saint-Christophe hospital, and upon which the Middle Ages imposed the beautiful name of Hôtel-Dieu. This house was built on the very site l'hôpital Saint-Christophe Hospital founded by Saint Landry for the care of the sick. of that of Erchinoald, Mayor of the Palace. His pleasure, after the indispensable duties of his office, was to go to this hospital, to render there to these members of Jesus Christ the bodily and spiritual assistance that his prudence inspired in him: he is imitated every day, not only by a holy community of nuns who are in charge of this great number of sick people, but also by many countesses, marchionesses, duchesses, and other ladies who take pride in serving Jesus Christ in his poor, and in presenting to them with their own hands the dishes and remedies that the charity of these holy women has prepared for them.

It was also during the episcopate of Saint Landry that the famous Abbey of Saint-Den célèbre abbaye de Saint-Denis Place where the saint's relics were kept until the French Revolution. is, in France, which King Dagobert had built, was filled with a great number of holy religious of the Order of Saint Benedict, to sing the praises of God there day and night, and to continually honor the glorious martyrs Saint Denis, Saint Rusticus, and Saint Eleutherius, whose relics had been deposited there. Our holy prelate received this blessed colony into his diocese with joy; and, so that the religious might live more tranquilly in greater separation and greater forgetfulness of the world under the obedience and correction of their abbot, he exempted them from his jurisdiction and that of his successors. This privilege was confirmed in a council held at Clipy, which is no Clipy Site of the episcopal assembly that appointed Agile as abbot. w the town called Saint-Ouen, where there was a royal house, which is often spoken of in the History of France.

Our holy bishop flew to heaven on June 10, 656. It was after his death that God reserved the glorification of His illustrious servant. Numerous miracles, due to his invocation and the touching of his shroud and one of his teeth, came to attest to his holiness: let it suffice for us to report a few of them.

Several infirm persons, afflicted with incurable diseases and abandoned by physicians, were miraculously healed; such as one named Raoul, a native of Gonesse, who had become a leper; a soldier named Odon, a native of Villejuif, who was paralyzed; a woman called Aveline, tormented by fever and dropsy; another man from Bagnolet, by the name of Etienne; a priest called Hervé, residing at the leper hospital located near Montmartre; and the nephew of the Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Soliac, a very learned prelate well-versed in medicine, called Jean, all three afflicted with quinsy. This Jean de Soliac having been carried to the church of Saint-Germain l'Aux l'église de Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois Initial burial place of Saint Landry and site of miracles. errois, the shroud of Saint Landry with his tooth were placed upon him, and he touched them with respect, then returned with great confidence of receiving relief. No sooner had he arrived at the episcopal house than his quinsy dissipated. He was healed in the presence of Bishop Maurice, his uncle, who, knowing well that it was an honorable thing to manifest the works that God performs through the intercession of His Saints, published this miracle himself to the people in his sermons, and declared the whole outcome to Pope Alexander II pape Alexandre III Pope who proceeded with the canonization of Bertrand in Toulouse. I, who was at that time in this city of Paris.

It happened one day that fire having caught in a certain house, at the place where the Grand Châtelet of Paris is now, then called the Royal Gate, it ignited with such violence, due to the force of the wind, which was very strong, that it threatened the city with a general conflagration. However, seeing that whatever remedy one could apply, it did not cease to grow, and that already several houses were ablaze and consumed, recourse was had to the shroud of Saint Landry suaire de saint Landry Relic used for healings and the extinguishing of a fire. , which was kept in the church of Saint-Germain: it was promptly brought by the dean of this church, named Hervé. This precious relic having thus been attached to the end of a pole and held against the most violent flames, the fire immediately began to retreat and diminish, and was extinguished little by little, without causing greater damage.

As one of the parishioners of the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois was violating the holiness of the place by playing dice with some others, swearing, and holding feasts there during the night, Saint Landry appeared to him and spoke to him in these terms: "Do you not know that Our Lord has said: My house is a house of prayer: why then have you been so reckless as to profane this holy place?" and he whipped him so harshly that the marks remained imprinted on his skin for a long time. This teaches us with what respect we must be in church, since God and His Saints punish so rigorously the irreverences committed therein.

A soldier having wounded his knee with a thorn that had become embedded in it, felt very great pain; so that, for lack of having dressed it carefully, a dangerous abscess had formed there: however, having had himself carried to the tomb of Saint Landry, he was healed by his intercession, by applying the Saint's shroud to his ailment.

The inexhaustible charity of our Saint has inspired artists: they depict him with a large wicker basket at his side, from which he draws loaves that he distributes to the poor, or holding a book upon which rests an open knife.

[APPENDIX: CULT AND RELICS.]

The holy body was buried in the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. In 1171, M aurice de Sully Maurice de Sully Bishop of Paris in the 12th century who promoted the cult of Landry. raised his body from the earth and enclosed it in a gilded wooden reliquary. But on September 16, 1408, Pierre d'Orgemont, Bishop of Paris, took these sacred bones from this first reliquary, which was only of wood, and placed them in a silver reliquary, which could still be seen before '93, raised on a column behind the high altar of this collegiate church of Saint-Germain. He nevertheless separated two small bones, one from the neck and the other from a finger, which were given to the parish church of Saint-Landry, in the Cité: it is believed that there was originally a chapel there serving as an oratory for the Saint.

This reliquary was looted by the revolutionaries, and the holy relics disappeared, as did those of the church of Saint-Landry, which was destroyed in 1828.

We have drawn this Life from the Breviary of Paris and that of Saint-Denis. Ribadeneira and the Gallia Christiana served us to fill in some gaps.