Saint Landry of Lanslevillard

His superiors, who appreciated his merit, charged him with serving, with the help of another religious, Lanslebourg, Bessans, Bonneval, and L anslevillard, Lanslevillard Place of residence, worship, and burial of the saint. where he established his residence. Tradition shows us Saint Landry frequently visiting his parish to console the afflicted, settle disputes, reconcile enemies, and recommend to all, following the example of Saint John, to love one another. It is not known how long Landry exercised this ministry, as meritorious before God as it was fruitful for souls; we only know that it ended in martyrdom.

In the time of our Saint, Bonneval consisted of two hamlets: that of L'Ecot, and that of Faudan t. The Faudant Hamlet of Bonneval where Landry was martyred. inhabitants of the latter were, in large part, Saracens who had been attracted by the mines discovered in the vicinity. They had acquired considerable wealth; but at the same time, luxury, the company of infidels, and the deprivation of priests and religious aid for many years had developed the seed of every vice among the Christians of this hamlet. Landry ran in search of these lost sheep. But all the efforts he made to bring them back to the fold were useless: he gathered only hatred, and finally, some of the most hardened, no longer wishing to endure the truly evangelical firmness of his reprimands, resolved to get rid of him. One day, as the Saint was going to L'Ecot, they waited for him at the passage, fell upon him, and threw him into the Arc river.

The Lord himself warned the inhabitants of Lanslevillard of the death of their beloved pastor. Suddenly, the bells rang as they do on great feast days. These unheard-of sounds threw the population into a stir. They ran to the bell tower, but found no one there, and yet the joyful peals continued. Then anxiety reached its peak: all the people went to the church to wait for it to please God to make His will known. Scarcely had they gathered there when the processional cross, rising to the height of a man, moved toward the door. The priest who served the parish with Saint Landry saw it, vested in surplice and stole, and the people followed it, eager to see the end of such a marvelous event. The procession descended the path leading to the river. Finally, the cross, which no one had carried, stopped near a cave hollowed out under a rock bathed by the islets of the Arc. They entered, and the first thing they perceived was the body of Saint Landry, his head resting on his right hand, which was itself supported by a stone; in his left hand, he held a palm. After venerating the holy body that the Lord entrusted to the filial piety of the inhabitants of Lanslevillard, they placed it in a shroud, the corners of which four people took hold of, and the procession resumed the path to the church, to the singing of hymns.

The body of Saint Landry was placed in the sacristy, where it remained until 1765. On July 23, 1764, M gr Filippa de Martiniana, Mgr Filippa de Martiniana Bishop who sealed the reliquary in 1764. returning from a mission over which he had presided himself in Bessans, sealed the reliquary into which the holy relics had just been transported, and permitted them to be publicly exposed for the veneration of the faithful. Mr. Esprit Combet, parish priest of Lanslevillard, had, despite strong opposition, opened a chapel on the Gospel side to receive them. It was blessed on March 19, 1765, under the title of Saint Joseph. On the following June 10, the reliquary was solemnly placed there on the altar, after having been carried in procession to the place where the body had been found and where a small oratory had been erected in honor of the Saint, which still exists, next to the path that leads to Bessans.

During the dark da ys of the Révolution Period during which the saint's relics were hidden and lost. Revolution, the holy relics suffered greatly from profanations. However, God permitted that they were not totally lost. What remains of them rests in a magnificent gilded wooden reliquary, which decorates the Saint-Joseph chapel of Lanslevillard. The reliquary is about five and a half feet long by three feet wide; angels surmount it, holding a crown.

The body of Saint Landry is almost complete; only a few bones are missing, the right arm, the skull, and the upper jaw, with which the church of Lanslebourg was enriched, at an unknown time. But the seals of the reliquaries that contain them having been broken, these latter relics are today deprived of authenticity.

There is also in the church of Lanslevillard a small reliquary, in the shape of an arm, which is carried in processions and in which was placed, in 1809, some flesh from the left arm of Saint Landry.

There is nothing so touching as the custom that the inhabitants of the Haute-Maurienne have always had for Saint Landry. The wonders that led to the discovery of his body in the 11th century were sufficient testimony to the glory he enjoyed in the bosom of God. Thus, the parish of Lanslevillard honored him immediately as a Saint and as its natural protector.

The feast of Saint Landry was celebrated, before the Revolution, on June 10. Its origin must date back several centuries, for no trace of its institution can be found. The reliquary, which contains flesh from the arm of Saint Landry, was exposed on the high altar; then the Veni Creator and the Iste Confessor were sung, and a procession was made to the chapel of Saint-Joseph. There, the parish priest, after having sung the prayer of the Saint, blessed the people with the reliquary, and they returned to the church to the singing of the Ambrosian hymn. At the altar of Saint-Joseph, the priest blessed the people a second time with the reliquary, and the ceremony ended with the celebration of the holy sacrifice and the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

This feast, interrupted since 1793, was re-established in 1847 by Mgr Vibert and fixed for June 14.

We have abridged what we have just said about Saint Landry from the detailed entry that can be read in the Hagiological History of the Diocese of Maurienne, b y Abbé Truchet l'abbé Truchet Author of the Hagiological History of the Diocese of Maurienne. , parish priest of Saint-Jean-d'Arves.