Saint Roland of Chézery

Towards the end of the year 1170, Stephen, the second abbot of Chézery and successor to Saint Lambert, died; the religious did not deliberate for a moment to name a lead er; Ro Roland Abbot of Chézery in the 12th century, known for his holiness and miracles. land was chosen by the votes of the entire community. He did everything in his power to decline this charge; but, having been unable to avoid accepting it, he thought only of the means to fulfill all the obligations that had just been imposed upon him. Persuaded that a superior is at the head of a house only to be the model for his religious, by serving as their guide, he prescribed nothing that he did not practice first. He did not merely point out to them the narrow path by which a Christian and a religious must go to heaven, but he walked at their head to encourage them and to smooth out the difficulties. More a father than a superior, he reserved for himself what was arduous, and, severe towards himself, he was gentle and affable towards others.

To all these examples, Roland added eloquent and persuasive exhortations which produced such abundant fruits that he had the consolation of seeing in the desert of Chézery those great examples of penance, regularity, and fervor that had until then been thought never to have left the deserts of Palestine, and whose lauras, however, seemed to have been transported to our homeland: Beaumont in the Pays de Gex, Pierre-Châtel, Portes, Arvières, Meyriat, Saint-Sulpice, Ambronay, and Nantua in Buge y, re Bugey Region of the diocese of Belley. flected from afar the halo of the saints who inhabited them, for it was the era of Anthelme, Arthaud, Vital, Ponce, Stephen of Châtillon, Bernard of Varin, Ayrald, Raynald, Nautelle, John of Chalmet, Bernard of Portes, John of Abondance, and so many others whose names are written in the book of life.

The holy abbot of Chézery, following the example of Saint Lambert whom he had taken as a model, distinguished himself above all by his tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He wished for her cult to be held in great honor in his monastery and among those attached to the service of the abbey. It was he who founded the chapel of Our Lady of the Seve n Sorrows in the v village de Confort Site of the foundation of a chapel by Saint Roland. illage of Confort, where the monks of Chézery possessed large properties. This dedication was accepted by the Mother of God, who was pleased to make those who came to implore her in this humble oratory experience the effects of her power, where a great concourse of the faithful has since been seen to flock as the feasts of the Blessed Virgin approach. The Revolution did not entirely destroy this pious pilgrimage, and one still sees many people coming from afar to commend themselves to Our Lady of Confort. To reward this faith, the Sovere ign Pont Léon XII Pope who proceeded with the beatification of Julian. iff Leo XII, at the request of the Bishop of Belley, granted in perpetuity by a brief dated November 22, 1828, a plenary indulgence to those who, after having confessed and received communion, visit the chapel of Confort on one of the feasts of the Conception, the Nativity, the Annunciation, the Assumption, or one of the days of the octave of these feasts, and pray there for a few minutes according to the intentions of the Pope. The Holy Father, by the same brief, also grants an indulgence of forty days to those who attend Mass in this chapel on Saturdays. These various indulgences may be applied to the souls in purgatory in the form of suffrages. The chapel of Confort was largely repaired by Sister Rosalie, superior of the Sisters of Char ity in charg sœur Rosalie Daughter of Charity famous for her social work in Paris in the 19th century. e of the care of the poor of the parish of Saint-Médard, in Paris.

Finally, for thirty years, Saint Roland had worked tirelessly for the salvation of others and for his own sanctification, which seemed to be complete, when God called him to Himself to reward him, around the year 1200.

This Saint is invoked especially in times of drought; parishes once came from very far away in procession to his tomb to ask for the preservation of the fruits of the earth; he is still prayed to today to obtain the healing of eye ailments, stomach pains, and headaches.

The religious of Chézery and the inhabitants of the neighboring provinces were in desolation for the loss they had just suffered; but God did not delay in consoling them by showing them that this Saint, through his death, had only become their support and their protector in heaven. Those who invoked him in their needs were heard, and numerous miracles soon illustrated his tomb.

## CULT AND RELICS.

People flocked from all parts on pilgrimage to his tomb, especially at the time of his feast. His body was raised from the earth and enclosed in a reliquary enriched with various silver ornaments, and placed on an altar in the abbey church which took him as its first patron; but this church, as well as the parish church, remained under the title of Our Lady of the Assumption, to whom Saint Lambert had dedicated his establishment; this is why all the old charters, which speak of this monastery, say: the abbey of Our Lady a nd Saint Roland of Chézery. Historians worthy of b abbaye de Notre-Dame et de saint Roland de Chézery Cistercian abbey located in the Diocese of Belley. elief cited by Manrique in the Annals of the Cistercians, but especially Philippe Seguin, prior of Châlis, a writer of the Order of Cîteaux, assur e that from time Ordre de Cîteaux Monastic order to which Bertrand and the Abbey of Grandselve belong. immemorial the feast of Saint Roland was celebrated with pomp by a proper office, and that various Popes attached indulgences to it. Jean-Chrysostome Henriques, a religious of the Order of Cîteaux, in his menology, and Jean Kofanus, in his martyrology, make mention of Saint Roland, without indicating the day of his feast. The martyrology of the Order of Cîteaux and that of the Gallican Church place it on the 16th of the month of January; but the inhabitants of the Chézery valley and the Jura mountains have always kept it on July 14th with great devotion.

This cult had only grown for three and a half centuries, when the region it illustrated was witness to great disasters. The abbey of Chézery was burned by the Calvinists, and the titles dispersed or delivered to the flames; the religious, forced to flee before the fire that destroyed their monastery, carried with them what they had most precious: the body of Saint Roland, which they thus saved from certain destruction. Saint Francis de Sales came to Chézery, on October 25, 1605, to visit the relics of Saint Roland, to thank him for his benefits, and to invoke him for the conversion of his flock.

The ancient abbey of Chézery fell under the sword of vandalism, and today only a few debris of the pillars remain; ivy and moss have taken over the windows, and replace the stained glass; the altar where the Saint of saints was immolated is now but a heap of ruins. One can still see on the walls half-broken stone crosses, coats of arms of some abbots, and niches.

The goods that depended on the abbey were sold for the benefit of the State; the papers of the archives, the furniture of the church were publicly burned in 1793. The reliquary of Saint Roland, trimmed with silver, was taken by Mr. Dorié, the intruded parish priest of Chézery, who, pushed by a protective hand and carried by a remnant of faith, seized the relics of the holy abbot, and transported them processionally from the monastery to the parish church, on July 14, 1793; some time later, they were placed in a secret place of the old abbey which had passed into secular hands. When calm was restored to the Church, the Archbishop of Chambéry had the authenticity of the relics verified and deposited this precious treasure in the parish church where it is today. The feast of Saint Roland resumed its solemnity on July 14th, and God was pleased to perform several miraculous healings to justify and accredit the continuation of his cult. The Sovereign Pontiff Gregory XVI, by a brief of February 14, 1834, deigned to grant in perpetuity: 1st a plenary indulgence to all p ersons who w Grégoire XVI Pope who established the liturgical feast of the blessed. ill receive communion with the required dispositions in the church of Chézery, on July 14th or one of the seven following days; 2nd another indulgence of fifty days that all the faithful will be able to gain, once every day, by going to recite five Paters, five Aves, and five Glorias in the said church where the relics of the holy abbot are.

On May 28, 1834, Bishop D Mgr Devie 19th-century Bishop of Belley who restored the cult. evie, Bishop of Belley, performed the solemn translation of the Saint's relics and placed them on the altar; on July 1, 1835, he prescribed that the office be celebrated throughout his diocese under the semi-double major rite. This office was set for July 15, as the 14th was dedicated to Saint Bonaventure, of a higher rite. In Chézery, the feast of Saint Roland continues to be celebrated on July 14.

Taken from the Annales des Cisterciens, by Manrique, and from various documents collected on site. — See the Archives saintes de Belley, a work following the Histoire hagiologique, by Bishop Dupéry.