Saint Calais

Calais feared the applause that his great qualities brought him; he especially dreaded staying in a country where his relatives were rich and honored. He had already dedicated himself to God in the monastery of Ménat, but he sought a more complete solitude. One day he expressed the desire he felt to Avitus, a monk o f th Avit Third abbot of Saint-Mermin and master of Saint Almir. e same monastery, to whom grace had inspired a similar thought.

Avitus had conceived, like Calais, a vivid desire for solitude. Charmed to find themselves in the same thought, they sought to know the will of heaven immediately, in their impatience to execute the inspiration they believed they had received. Following a very common custom in those times, and which even the most serious personages practiced, they opened the holy Gospels to find the answer to their doubt. "He who loves father or mother, or brothers, or sisters, more than me, is not worthy of me." Such were the words that first presented themselves to their eyes; they believed they saw in them a confirmation of their design, and they prepared to leave the monastery the following night.

Avitus hastened to gather immediately the keys of the various offices that had been entrusted to him, and he placed them gently under the head of his abbot's bed, during the sleep of the community, then he set out on the road with his young companion; for Saint Calais was much younger than he. After a long walk, they arrived on the banks of the Loire, crossed the river on a boat, and reached one of the suburbs of Orléans.

They did not delay in hearing of Saint Max imin and the saint Maximin Abbot of the monastery of Micy. monastery he directed a short distance from that city. Under the guidance of this holy abbot, this new community had become very flourishing; holy psalmody, continual study, and manual labor made up the entire occupation of the monks who composed it. Such was the monastery of Micy where so many religio us were formed in monastère de Micy Monastery near Orléans where Calais was trained. the virtues of the cloister, who later sought a deep solitude in the diocese of Le Mans. Maximin received the two monks with kindness and encouraged them to remain in the cells he had just built. Our saints gave the example of all virtues in this monastery and made new progress there in perfection. But no one appreciated their merit better than Saint Maximin, who took care to have them both ordained priests. He even became attached to Calais and kept him almost always by his side.

However, the two holy friends still felt the need for that solitude which had led them to flee from Ménat. To obey this inspiration, they first withdrew into one of the most deserted parts of the Sologne, and there built themselves cells of tree branches. They spent several years there in the exercises of the most austere penance and the sweetest contemplation. They then withdrew into the vast deserts of the Perche. After having traveled over a fairly large area of wooded land, they arrived almost at the edge of these forests, in the land of the Cenomanni. Having found near the small river Braye a place suitable for their purpose, they stopped there.

They built there a small oratory in honor of Saint Peter, and a few cells for themselves and for a small number of disciples who had followed them. They remained there for some time; but having soon been known and visited by the inhabitants of the surrounding country, they went back into the thickness of the forest, returning towards the Perche side.

While traveling through these woods, they encountered a fertile spot which bore the name of Piciaeus (Piciac), and which is called today Saint-Avit. The Lord miraculously caused a spring to gush forth in this place to quench the thirst of his servants; Calais built a small wall to protect this fountain, and later the piety of the faithful had a more important structure erected there. Having adopted this location as designated by Providence, Calais and Avit established their cells there.

However, the odor of their holiness spread more and more, and the report of the works and virtuous life of these anchorites reached the ears of King Childebert I. This prince had a basilica and a monastery bui lt for Avit, Calai roi Childebert Ier King of the Franks who supported the saint. s, and their companions, which he endowed with royal magnificence. This monastery was thereafter known by the name of Saint-Avit-de-Châteaudun; at first, the Institute of Saint Paul and Saint Anthony was followed there. It soon became flourishing due to the number of monks who flocked there to serve God under the guidance of Abbot Avit.

Two men of such eminent holiness were not to remain in the same monastery, and as it entered into the secret designs of Providence to multiply these pious asylums in the diocese of Le Mans, the two holy abbots had to separate. Always united by the bonds of the closest friendship, Avitus continued to dwell in the new cloister, while Calais, having with him Daumere and Gall, turned his steps toward the land of the Cenomani. He came to a place named by the ancients Casa-Gaiani, situated in the canton of Lavardin, watered by the river Anisola, the Anille, a nd then Anisola Site of the foundation of Saint Calais's main monastery. in the midst of a deep solitude. This retreat pleased him, and he stopped there with his companions.

They did not take long to recognize that the soil was very fertile; they also found there a fountain of living water and the walls of an ancient building falling into decay, and whose ruins, still existing several centuries later, attested to its former importance. There was also nearby a small vineyard that Calais noticed. At the sight of a dwelling so well prepared for their retreat, the holy abbot and his companions had at first no other thought than to render thanks to God, and to ask Him that it might be granted to them to gather there likewise the fruits of a spiritual harvest. After a first night entirely devoted to prayer, they built in the midst of the ruins, by interlacing branches, an oratory and cells for each of them; then they applied themselves to cultivating the land.

God soon gave His servant a sign of the great destinies He reserved for this new solitude. One day when the holy abbot was working on the cultivation of his vineyard, he was compelled by the heat of the sun to lay aside a part of his clothes, and he hung them on a neighboring oak. A sparrow came to hide there, and, in leaving, laid an egg. Calais, having finished the work of the day, toward evening, came to the tree to take back his clothes and discovered the little bird's egg: this sight caused him the liveliest joy, and he spent the night praising God.

As soon as day had come, having taken Daumere with him, he went to find Avitus to consult him, and to share with him the advantages presented by the place he had discovered. In their pious conference, Calais recounted to the saint the event that had brought him to him. Avitus listened to his account with deep emotion, and recognized in it a sign from heaven, then he added: "O my brother, persevere in your labors, these promises are not in vain; the egg that the bird has brought to light presages the abundant harvests that this place must produce; know that the flock of the Lord that will gather there will be much more numerous than that which presses around us. The inhabitants of this place, like valiant soldiers, will consecrate their lives to the exercises of the Lord, and after the triumphs won over the flesh, God will reward their labors with incorruptible fruits." Then they spent the night in holy conversations, and in songs to the praise of God; but as soon as the day reappeared, Calais took again the path to his dear solitude.

The holiness of Calais did not only attract the little birds around him, but also the wildest guests of the desert: often the holy man was visited by them, so that he seemed specially designated by these words from the book of Job: "And the animals of the earth shall be at peace with you."

Often a buffalo, an animal already rare in these forests, would come toward the servant of God, bowing its enormous head before him, as if it wished to worship him; the holy abbot would approach without fear, running his fingers between the horns of the wild animal, over its thick hair, and on its muscular neck.

King Childebert and Queen Ultro gotho had come w reine Ultrogothé Wife of Childebert I. ith a large retinue to spend some time at the royal farm of Matovall, neighboring the new cloister built by Calais. While the king was indulging with the chiefs of his truste in the exercises he cherished above all—hunting, fishing, and swimming—he was warned that a buffalo was in the nearby desert. He immediately ordered his beaters to prepare everything necessary for the pursuit of this beast, because he wanted to hunt it the following day. All preparations were made with the greatest speed, and the next day, before dawn, the king and his companions were in search of the animal. The dogs soon discovered it; but the buffalo, on the point of being surprised, ran toward the holy abbot and took refuge near him as in a secure asylum. Meanwhile, the hunters, intent on the pursuit and directed by the barking of the dogs, arrived at the cell of the hermit. What struck them first was the sight of the man of God occupied in prayer, and behind him the peaceful but trembling animal. Troubled themselves by this extraordinary and unexpected encounter, they dared neither to strike the beast nor to cause the slightest pain to the holy man. However, the king, having arrived, asked the cause of these delays and accused his companions of laziness and cowardice. They replied that they had done their duty; could they go further? "We found," they said, "in a hut a man who is unknown to us, and the ferocious animal stood as if tamed near him. Could this man who thus tames animals not be a servant of God? Could we disturb his rest, strike the animal he protects?" At these words, the king flew into a rage: "Let us go and see," he said, and the whole hunt headed toward the cell of Calais.

Arriving at the door of the humble dwelling, and perceiving the Saint still occupied with his prayer, and the buffalo near him, Childebert said with fury: "Whence comes to you, stranger, so much presumption and so much audacity? Do you dare, without my permission, to invade forests that are mine, and thus hinder the pleasure of my hunt by your importunate presence?" Calais opposed only gentleness to this outburst: "It is not to defy you, excellent prince," he said, "nor to put an obstacle in the way of your hunts that we have come here, but to serve God with more devotion." The king, too irritated to listen, added: "I enjoin you to move away from here, you and your companions; take care that none of you is found here henceforth." Calais, without being moved, replied: "We, your servants, illustrious king, have gathered a little wine, the product of a small vineyard that we found here, and which we cultivate with our own hands; may your Serenity do us the grace of drinking some, so that you and the people who accompany you may return to the palace more cheerfully." The prince's fury had made him deaf; he turned away and spurred his horse onto the road that was to lead him to the royal domain.

God performed a miracle to console his servants and enlighten the barbarian prince. Suddenly, at the moment when Childebert pressed his horse to make it move with the greatest speed, the animal, struck with a sudden stupor, stopped, and the spur became powerless upon it. The astonished king asked his companions what could be the cause; one of them said to him: "This man whom we have overwhelmed with insults and outrages is a servant of God, and, if my thoughts do not deceive me, the Lord grants this wonder to his virtues; it is because you have treated him unjustly that you are forbidden to continue your journey." This advice seemed wise; the king applauded it and sent someone from the troop toward the servant of God. The messenger having explained to Calais the accident that had just happened to the king, the Saint gave thanks to God and said to the envoy: "Go, my son, tell the king to return, and, as he left here without our blessing and full of wrath, let him come to receive the blessing of God through the intercession of his servant, and he will then return to his palace without any mishap." This order was immediately carried to Childebert, who, without delay and with complete docility, came to throw himself at the feet of the Saint, and, striking his chest, made a confession of his wrongs.

Calais showed as much gentleness as the king showed humility; he raised him up, embraced him, and exhorted him to preserve himself henceforth from similar outbursts. Childebert asked for the first of that wine he had refused, and Calais offered him some with his own hand. The king drank it and all his companions as well; but, wonderful thing! although Childebert and all his men had drunk at their discretion and the cup was small, the wine was not found to be diminished.

Childebert said again to Calais before withdrawing: "Now I am sure, O best of men, that you are a true servant of God and that he hears your prayers; that is why I ask that you yield to my wishes by accepting in this domain which belongs to me, a portion of land as extensive as you judge suitable, in order to build a monastery there that Christ will bless." The man of God resisted this offer for a long time, but the king insisted and Calais had to yield. However, he declared that he would not accept a larger space of land than that which he would circle while traveling on his donkey for one day.

Childebert asked for the blessing of the servant of God and headed toward his palace. When he had seen Ultrogotho again, and had instructed her on what had just happened and the promises he had made to the holy man, she associated herself with his good designs and urged him to execute them.

Calais rejoiced less in these temporal advantages for his own sake, than because they enabled him to relieve the poor and travelers. But soon Providence made known to him by a new sign that a great monastery was to be established in that place. One day, while he was working alone turning the earth with his mattock, for the community still lacked a plow, while the brothers were resting, he discovered a treasure. This encounter offered him the opportunity to lead all his disciples to praise God, and to give them new encouragement toward perfection. Moreover, he himself provided them with the example of all virtues; he was very liberal in his alms, very fervent in fasts, indefatigable in vigils; his prayers and austerities were the admiration of all. The earth itself produced fruits at his command and without cultivation; but what was especially admired was to see the buffalo, of which we have already spoken, obey his voice docilely.

So many wonders could not long remain hidden from the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Seven very poor families lived quite close to the cells of Calais and his companions; their heads came to address the holy abbot. He relieved their indigence by sharing with them a portion of the treasure he had discovered, and they in return helped the monks in the construction of a larger monastery, and they even contracted bonds of vassalage toward the religious, to which their descendants remained faithful even several centuries later.

When the basilica of the new abbey had been built, it was consecrated under the invocation of Saint Peter and Saint Martin.

Queen Ultrogotha had long desired to see the holy abbot. She sent some of her officers to him to beg him to come and meet her at her palace of Matovall. Calais did not yield to her request: "Go, my good young men," he said to the princess's envoys, "and bring these words back to the queen: 'If I can do anything, I will pray for her; but let her know that as long as I live, I will never see the face of a woman, and none shall enter the monastery that I have founded'." — "This Rule," adds the biographer of our Saint, "has been by the grace of the Lord inviolably observed in this monastery to this day, that is to say for more than an entire century." As for the wife of Childebert, although she felt sorrow to see her plan thwarted, she admired the wisdom of the servant of God, and even feared having disturbed him.

This trait is not surprising on the part of Calais, for he fled the company of men, and feared nothing so much as their esteem; but, despite all his precautions to hide his virtues, and the treasures that heaven had placed within him, one saw souls avid for contemplation and science flocking to his solitude. In a short time, numerous choirs of monks filled the cloisters he had built. He distributed to them both the doctrine that animates souls in the service of the Lord, and the science that enlightens minds. These lessons of the holy abbot attracted to the academy he had founded, during his own lifetime, a reputation for learning and piety that spread throughout all of Gaul. Pilgrims of asceticism and letters headed from then on toward this monastery, which had quickly become famous. History has preserved for us the memory of one of the most indefatigable friends of sacred studies, who came to stay for some time in the cloister of Anisole.

Calais, after a long and laborious career, understood that the hour of rest was approaching for him. A violent fever finally exhausted the strength of his body, but his soul, impatient to be united with God, felt no weakness, and prayer never left his lips. His monks crowded around him in great anxiety; he warned them that his death was near, begged them to remember him in their prayers, and added with a supreme effort: "My children, my final hour has arrived; therefore, I beseech you, do not forget your commitments to the Lord; be steadfast in your faith, preserve it from any impure alloy; follow the precepts of Christ, let charity and obedience be united in your heart and in your works, so as not only to avoid the pains of hell, but also to conquer, with the help of God, the triumphant crowns of eternity." He continued these teachings as a final farewell that he offered to his brothers, and finally rendered his soul to his Creator, on July 4, around the year 545.

After giving some time to their grief, the monks prepared the burial of the servant of God, and interred him in the basilica that he himself had built. This place soon became famous for the number of miracles that occurred there. Unable to report them all, the biographer of our Saint was content to give the following one.

We have said that Calais, following a custom that was practiced at that time in several monasteries of Gaul, had forbidden women from entering not only the cloister, but even the church. This Rule was inviolably kept for a long time in the abbey of Anisole. When Saint Siviard was abbot of this monastery and was writing the life of the holy founder, a woman named Gunda, who was of loose morals, resolved to test whether the Saint, from the heights of heaven, was still interested in maintaining this custom. To this Gunda Woman miraculously punished for defying the prohibition against entering the church. end, she cut her hair and disguised herself in men's clothing, in order to penetrate the cloister without being known and to deceive the servants of God. She chose the moment when the brothers were coming to the office and the doors of the basilica were open. She was already heading toward the tomb of the Saint, looking from side to side with effrontery, when suddenly she felt herself struck by the hand of God; she suddenly lost her sight, and the demon, seizing her, caused torrents of black blood to gush from her chest. At the same time, she let out such horrible cries that they attracted the attention of all those who were in the church. It was first thought that it was a man who had come to visit the tomb of the Saint, but when she was questioned, she confessed the crime she had just committed. This punishment inflicted by heaven upon the impudent presumption of this woman produced a salutary effect; it sufficed for a long time to stop those who might have been tempted to take such a liberty.

## CULT AND RELICS.

At the time of the Norman invasion, the religious of the abbey of Saint-Calais, foreseeing the sad fate reserved for their monastery, transported the bo dy of Blois City where the relics of Calais were transferred during the Norman invasions. their illustrious founder to Blois, under the protection of Count Robert. The holy abbot soon obtained a special cult in this new theater that heaven had destined for his glory. As early as the year 874, he rested in an oratory built within the very enclosure of the castle and dedicated under his name. In 1171, the Archbishop of Sens, Guillaume, who later moved to the archbishopric of Reims, and who was then Papal Legate in France, opened the tomb of the Saint in Blois, of which Count Thibaut, his brother, son-in-law of King Louis the Younger, was the lord. He removed a portion of the bones, which he translated on August 25 of the same year. The castle chapel, or the church dedicated under the name of Saint-Calais, was then served by monks of Saint-Benoît. It was later reduced to a priory dependent on the abbey of Bourgmoyen, which belonged to the Canons Regular of the same city. In 1853, the Bishop of Chartres, Jacques Lescot, also opened the reliquary of Saint Calais in the presence of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, Count of Blois, brother of King Louis XIII. He extracted some relics consisting of a considerable part of his skull and some vertebrae, which were transported on Sunday, September 21, and deposited in the abbey of Anisole, which for a long time had been known only by the name of Saint-Calais, which it still retains, as does the small town that formed there. In addition to these relics, the inhabitants of Saint-Calais, at the beginning of the Revolution, requested that the relics of their patron, which were in Blois, be returned to them, and they obtained them.

Taken from the History of the Church of Le Mans, by the R. P. Dom Paul Piolin, Benedictine of the Congregation of France.