Blessed Hugh of Marchiennes

The news of the young man's retreat did not take long to spread throughout the c ity of Tournai. ville de Tournai City associated with the Diocese of Noyon. His parents and friends were irritated; malicious people suggested that he had been abducted by the monks themselves, and this slander was enough to excite the fury of several mutineers. They went to the monastery of Saint-Martin, broke down the doors, and prepared to take away Hugh, a child of the city, whom the monks had led astray. They wanted to persuade the young novice to escape; but he, full of confidence in God and strengthened by the testimony of his conscience, replied without fear: "I am of age, and I shall know how to answer for myself. No one will be able to snatch from God the victim who has immolated himself to Him, and who is now attached to the cross." Having spoken these words, he stepped forward and presented himself to his parents who were also in the crowd. Hugh was already wearing the religious habit, and the sight of him made such an impression on all the spectators that the most agitated among them, yielding to the influence of his words, withdrew while admiring the power of the grace that makes man capable of such sacrifices.

Like an olive tree planted in the field of the Lord, which receives the fertilizing rains and dews each day, Hugh soon bore the precious fruits of virtue. But these virtues were to have their trial, and God did not delay in sending it to His servant. Previously, He permitted a sweet vision to come and strengthen his soul, preparing it for the attacks it was about to sustain. One night, therefore, Hugh saw himself transported in spirit into a spacious and magnificent hall, where a great number of young men of his age were gathered. All took their places at a banquet presented to them by the King of Heaven: all also fed upon the sacred flesh of Jesus Christ; but, when they had been satiated with this divine food, the King of Heaven commanded that all the guests be led to martyrdom. This martyrdom, for the virtuous Hugh, was to be above all in his heart, and he did not delay in feeling its first assaults. Suddenly, he was as if filled with an extreme disgust for all the duties of his new profession. The exercises, which had been a source of consolation for him, became unbearable. Prayer no longer had charms in his eyes; the silence and solitude of the monastery fostered thoughts of sadness in his soul. Amidst the continuous perplexities of his mind and heart, Hugh raised his suppliant hands toward heaven and asked for victory over the many enemies who attacked him from all sides. Despite the aridities and dryness of the soul, he did not cease to pray and to conjure the Lord to cast a look of compassion upon him.

This long and painful temptation finally ended, and God, always liberal toward generous hearts who know how to endure with courage and resignation the trials He sends them, admirably rewarded His worthy servant. From that moment, the heart of Hugh was as if flooded with consolations and spiritual delights that never failed him until the last moments of his life. Thus, when his mother one day asked him, with tears in her eyes, how, after having been raised so delicately, he could submit to so many austerities, privations, and sufferings, he replied immediately that he found more joy and happiness in the midst of these mortifications than in the bosom of all the delights of the world. These words, in which breathed an ardent love for Jesus Christ crucified, made such a vivid impression on the pious lady that they determined her to leave the world to consecrate herself to God. Hugh had the consolation of seeing her distribute her goods to the poor, and then he himself led her to a monastery of holy women, near the city of Noyon.

Temptation had fortified and hardened the soul of the blessed Hugh; the grace of the priesthood had imprinted upon all his faculties a kind of new energy, which unfolded in all circumstances. More than once, he had to endure the attacks of the wicked and the slanders of men who were enemies of all good. His retreat from the world had bruised too many ambitions and petty, hateful passions for them not to seek to make the fervent religious man pay for his generous renunciation of the world and all its false sweetnesses. "Who could recount," says an old author, "how many times his honor was torn, and with what insults he was burdened? But all the winds of slander and villainy, blown by the mouths of those who do evil and hate the light, could not reach this torch, nor this beautiful star sparkling in the firmament of holiness." In the midst of these persecutions and contradictions, heartbreaking news was brought to the blessed Hugh. It informed him that his brother had just fallen under the blows of an assassin. The man of God, immediately recollecting himself before the Lord, suppressed the feelings agitating him deep within his soul; he made the sacrifice of this beloved brother to God, just as he had made that of his mother, whom death had also just taken from him some time before.

However, the virtue of the humble religious continued to grow ever more. His superior, who had complete confidence in him, temporarily entrusted him with the direction of a monastery in Noyon; then he recalled him to his side to hand over to him the leadership of the community of Saint-Martin, with the title of prior. The worthy old man hoped that Hugh could make up for what the infirmities of age no longer allowed him to accomplish himself, and that his prudence, wisdom, and firmness would maintain monastic discipline in all its fervor among his religious. Heaven had ordained otherwise. A few years later, Pope Eugene III, who held a council at Reims in the year 1148, entrusted Ingram, Abbot of Marchiennes, with a very important office in the church of Soissons. Obliged to seek a new abbot, the religious of this monastery fixed their choice on the blessed Hugh, whose reputation for virtue and holin ess was well known bienheureux Hugues Subject of the biography, abbot of Marchiennes in the 12th century. to them. The refusals they encountered from him and from the old Abbot of Saint-Martin did not discourage them. Saint Bernard himself, who was attending the Council of Reims, as well as Saint Saint Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux and spiritual master of Raoul. Gossuin of Anchin, pleaded in their favor before the So vereign Pontiff, who o saint Gossuin d'Anchin Abbot of Anchin, contemporary of Hugh. rdered Hugh to accept the office that was entrusted to him.

The newly elected was forty-six years old when he received the abbatial blessing in the church of Marchiennes. The dignity to which he was raised only further increased the brilliance of his virtues. His humility, alarmed by the testimonies of veneration rendered to him by his religious, often led him to say to them: "Do not give me the names of abbot or lord, but call me servant and wretch, and do not wish me a long life, but a good and holy life." Nothing is more touching than the account of the anonymous and contemporary biographer, who left us some details about this period of the life of Blessed Hugh. "His main occupation," he says, "was prayer, in which he had more confidence than in the efforts and industries of his zeal. He also applied himself to consoling the afflicted and the unfortunate, to restoring peace wherever it was troubled, to bringing back to the path of salvation those who had had the misfortune to stray from it. Many resorted to him to obtain the forgiveness of their sins, which they confessed to him with a completely filial confidence. Father of the poor and the destitute, he was constantly surrounded by numerous troops who followed him, and to whom he provided the things necessary for life."

So many virtues and beautiful qualities had filled the religious of Marchiennes with respect and love for their venerable abbot. All vied with each other to imitate his gentle gravity, his amiable frankness, his modesty, his piety, and his spirit of recollection and prayer. The abbots of neighboring monasteries were also filled with admiration for him. They applauded his undertakings and saw them prosper with joy. Most of them made it a joy to be able to attend the consecration of the new church that he built on a larger and more spacious plan, because of the large number of religious who had been received into the community a short time before.

It seemed that the venerable abbot had only to await death in peace, and that the afflictions to which he had long been subjected were forever removed from him. But there was one last trial that was to set the seal upon his merits. Great bodily pains were reserved for him in his old age. One day, in fact, the holy abbot had a fall and dislocated his knee. There was great difficulty in resetting the displaced bone, and it required twelve men to pull with all their might in this cruel operation. Despite the horrible sufferings that the blessed Hugh endured then, no alteration was noticed in his features. Moreover, against all the predictions of the men of the art, he felt, a short time later, perfectly healed. But, at the moment when his disciples could hope to see him still for a long time in their midst, the Lord called him to Himself to reward him for all his good works. This great servant of God was then only in his fifty-sixth year, having governed the abbey of Marchiennes for the space of ten years. His body was buried in the new church that he had h abbaye de Marchiennes Abbey of which Hugh becomes the superior. ad built.

Lives of the Saints of Cambrai and Arras, by Abbé Destembe.

SAINT ROSELINE OF VILLENEUVE, CARTHUSIAN NUN. 571