lundi 6 avril 2015

Saint GUILLAUME d'ESKILL (de PARIS), évêque et confesseur


Saint Guillaume d'Eskill, évêque

Guillaume naît vers 1125 à Crépy-en-Valois et devient chanoine de Sainte-Geneviève de Paris. L'évêque de Roskill, au Danemark, lui demande de venir réformer le monastère d'Eskill. Il en devient l'abbé puis l'une des personnalités les plus marquantes de l'Eglise danoise. Désigné pour négocier le mariage d'Ingeburge de Danemark, sœur du roi Canut,   avec Philippe Auguste, il réussit sa mission mais en subit le contrecoup lorsque le roi répudie son épouse. Il parvient cependant à faire rétablir la justice à Rome et retourne au Danemark où il meurt en 1203, laissant son monastère en pleine prospérité.


Saint Guillaume Eskill

Abbé à Eskill, au Danemark ( 1202)

Confesseur. 

Il reçut son éducation et ses connaissances auprès de son oncle qui était abbé de l'abbaye de Saint Germain des Prés à Paris et qui en fit un chanoine de Sainte Geneviève de Paris. Ce chapitre canonial connaissait de graves désordres et le pape Eugène III, lors de son passage à Paris, décida de donner une communauté plus édifiante à l'église Sainte Geneviève en y établissant les religieux de l'abbaye de Saint Victor. Saint Guillaume décida alors d'y entrer. A la demande du roi du Danemark, inspiré par l'évêque de Roskild, lui-même ancien élève de l'Université de Paris et avec l'accord de l'abbé de Sainte Geneviève, il s'en fut au Danemark et devint abbé de l'abbaye Saint Thomas d'Eskill dans le Seeland où il rétablit une authentique vie monastique. C'est là qu'il s'endormit en paix après quarante années dans la charge abbatiale.

Dans l’île de Sjaelland, près de Roskilde au Danemark, en 1203, saint Guillaume, abbé. Chanoine régulier de Sainte-Geneviève à Paris, appelé au Danemark, il réforma la discipline régulière, non sans peine ni oppositions, et quitta cette vie durant la nuit de Pâques.


Martyrologe romain


Guillaume d’Eskill

1125-1203

Guillaume naquit vers 1125 à Saint-Germain (Crépy-en-Valois) et grandit sous la férule de son oncle, prieur à Saint-Arnoul puis abbé à Saint-Germain.

En 1141, il fut nommé chanoine séculier de Sainte-Geneviève de Paris, et pourvu de plusieurs bénéfices. Sa situation pécunière et sa régularité à l’office excitèrent l’envie de deux de ses confrères qui, voyant son inclination pour la vie monastique, feignirent d’avoir le même désir pour l’entraîner avec eux. Tous trois se rendirent à Pontigny. Les deux compagnons de Guillaume partirent bientôt sous divers prétextes, espérant s’emparer de ses bénéfices, mais il les imita ! Ils promirent alors de retourner à Pontigny au bout d’un an. Guillaume eut le temps de se rendre compte de leur supercherie, et abandonna ses désirs de vie cistercienne. Il crut satisfaire à son vœu en embrassant la réforme qui, en 1148, établit à Sainte-Geneviève de Paris des chanoines réguliers à la place des chanoines séculiers. Quelque temps auparavant, il avait été ordonné diacre par l’évêque de Senlis.

Dès cette époque, Guillaume montra la fermeté de son caractère : jaloux de la gloire et des droits de son ordre, n’admettant aucun abus d’où qu’il vienne, il défendra sans ménagement la régularité et l’observance.

En 1161, le bruit se répandit que la tête de sainte Geneviève avait disparu de sa châsse, et l’on accusait les chanoines de vol. Guillaume rédigea l’enquête menée par les évêques de la province, pour justifier ses confrères, l’enquête ayant abouti à un non-lieu.

En 1164, le nouvel abbé de Sainte-Geneviève prétendit en faire confirmer les dignitaires par le roi ; Guillaume empêcha l’abbé d’exercer ses fonctions et alla en référer au pape, alors à Sens. Le pape, prudent, lui donna raison, mais lui prescrivit de s’accuser d’être sorti du monastère sans permission. L’abbé lui imposa comme pénitence d’aller manger sept jours par terre avec les chiens. Le pape alors, mis au courant, prit entièrement parti pour Guillaume.

C’est alors que l’évêque de Roskilde (Danemark) émit le désir d’avoir des chanoines réguliers pour introduire la réforme dans un monastère de l’île d’Eskill. Guillaume partit avec trois confrères, mais ils ne furent accueillis que bien froidement par des moines corrompus qui n’avaient pas envie de corriger leurs habitudes. Le tenace Guillaume se mit au travail, réussit à vaincre bien des obstacles et put établir la réforme projetée ; le monastère fut transféré sur l’île de Seelande, érigé en abbaye, dont il fut alors nommé abbé.

Il y eut de grosses difficultés, à cause de plusieurs incendies. Mais l’évêque de Lund aida Guillaume autant qu’il le put et l’abbaye reprit son essor.

Peu à peu, Guillaume supervisa et implanta la réforme dans plusieurs monastères du Danemark.
En 1193, il fut envoyé auprès de Philippe-Auguste pour négocier le mariage de celui-ci avec Ingeburge, fille du roi danois. Le mariage eut lieu le 14 août, et le roi français prétendait renvoyer son épouse dès le lendemain. Guillaume vint expliquer l’affaire au pape. De retour en France, il fut arrêté six semaines à Châtillon-sur-Seine, fut libéré au début de 1196, mais dut retourner au Danemark sans avoir pu réconcilier le roi et la reine (la paix n’interviendra qu’en 1213).

Guillaume réintégra son abbaye, continuant de combattre avec ardeur pour la régularité.
Il mourut dans la nuit de Pâques, le 6 avril 1203, et fut canonisé en 1224.

Guillaume est parfois nommé de Roskilde, du nom du siège épiscopal de l’évêque qui l’accueillit.



Saint Guillaume d’Eskill

Confesseur

Fête le 6 avril

Église de France

près de Crépy-en-Valois, Oise, v. 1125 – † 1203

Canonisé en 1224

L’abbé de Saint-Germain-des-Prés fit de son neveu Guillaume, un chanoine régulier de Sainte-Geneviève, à Paris : le prieur de cette abbaye était nommé par le roi et non par le pape, comme la Règle le voulait. Guillaume se rendit alors à Rome pour se plaindre mais n’obtint aucune excuse valable à ses yeux. Guillaume partit donc au Danemark où il trouva une femme pour le roi de France Philippe II Auguste : Ingeburge ou Isambour, princesse danoise de la dynastie des Valdemar. Quand le roi la répudia, Guillaume se rendit à Rome pour prouver que les arguments royaux de parenté trop proche ne tenaient pas. Innocent III excommunia le roi en 1200, et Guillaume, arrêté et enfermé à Chatillon-sur-Seine. Une fois libéré, Guillaume poursuivit son œuvre de restauration de l’Église au Danemark, réforma les monastères danois, demeurant dans l’île d’Eskill (auj. Elshihoë, Danemark). Abbé de l’abbaye de Saint Thomas (Seeland), il mourut avant que le roi de France ait décidé de reprendre son épouse danoise.

SOURCE : http://www.martyretsaint.com/guillaume-deskill/

William of Eskhill, OSA Abbot (RM)

(also known as William of Aebelholt or Eskilsoë)

Born in Paris, France, c. 1125; died in Denmark, on April 6, 1203; canonized in 1224 by Pope Honorius III.

William of Eskilsoë, the English equivalent of Eskiloë (Ise Fjord), a Danish town that once housed an abbey, was one of the most revered saints of Denmark, and his extant letters are a valuable source for the history of the Danish church. His early experiences stood him in good stead in Denmark. After being educated by the monks of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris under the direction of his uncle Hugh, he became a canon of the church of Sainte-Geneviève-du-Mont. But his fellow-canons were lax, and frequently mocked their new recruit for his disciplined life. They so disliked him that William was forced to resign and take a living at Epinay outside Paris.

Fortunately, Pope Eugenius III visited Paris in 1148, perceived the laxity of the canons of Sainte-Geneviève-du-Mont, and replaced them with more devout men. William rejoined the canons and became the sub-prior, where he reputation for canonical discipline and holiness grew and reached the ears of Bishop Axel (or Absalom) of Roskilde, Denmark. About 1170, the bishop sent a young Dane, Saxo Grammaticus, who became a leading historian, to invite William to undertake the reformation of the monasteries in his diocese. William accepted the invitation.

His early trials in Paris fitted him for reforming the abbey of Eskilsoë. William first expelled two monks, setting about the reformation of the rest. His enemies tried to overcome his zeal by appealing to powerful lords, but for 30 years William unflinchingly persisted, in spite of inner strain and painful illnesses. He also founded the Abbey of St. Thomas in Aebelhold (Ebelholt), Zeeland.

William sanctified himself by a life of prayer and austere mortification, added to the suffering caused by extreme poverty and a severe climate. He wore a hair-shirt, lay on straw, and fasted every day. Imbued with a deep sense of the greatness and sanctity of our mysteries, he never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, offering himself to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice.
About 1194, William went to Rome on behalf of Ingelburga, sister of the Danish king, who had been repudiated by her husband, King Philip Augustus of France, but he returned to Eskilsoë to die (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth, Walsh).

In art, Saint William has a torch which lights itself on his grave. Sometimes he is shown as Saint Geneviève appears to him (Roeder).
St. William of Paris

Abbot of Eskill in Denmark, born 1105; died 1202. He was born of a noble French family, and became a secular canon at Ste Geneviève-du-Mond and, after Suger's reform, a canon regular. He was sub-prior of the monastery when Bishop Absalom of Lund, who had heard reports of William's sanctity, sent Saxo Grammaticus to Paris to request his assistance in restoring religious discipline in his diocese. The saint acceded to his request, becoming Abbot of Eskill, where he succeeded in bringing back the religious to the primitive observance of their rule. He was canonized on 12 February, 1224, his feast being observed on 6 April.

"St. William of Paris." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 6 Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15636b.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Dennis McCarthy. For Geneviève.


Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.


St. William of Ebelholt

(Also called WILLIAM OF PARIS and WILLIAM OF THE PARACLETE.)

Died on Easter Sunday, 1203, and was buried at Ebelholt. He was educated by his uncle Hugh, forty-second Abbot of St-Germain-des-Pres at Paris; and having been ordained subdeacon received a canonry in the Church of Ste-Geneviève-du-Mont. His exemplary life did not commend him to his fellow canons, who tried to rid themselves of his presence, and even prevented by slander his ordination to the diaconate by the Bishop of Paris. William obtained this order from the Bishop of Senlis by his uncle's intercession, and was soon afterwards presented by the canons to the little priory of Epinay. In 1148, by order of Pope Eugene III, the secular canons of Ste-Geneviève were replaced by canons regular from the Parisian monastery of St. Victor, whose prior, Odo, was made abbot of Ste-Genevieve. William soon afterwards joined the new community and was made sub-prior. In this position he showed great zeal for the religious life, and on one occasion opposed the entry of a new prior who had obtained his position irregularly; for this he was punished by Abbot Garin, successor of Odo, but his action was finally supported by Pope Alexander III.

In 1161 Absalom, Bishop of Roskilde, Denmark, sent to Paris the provost of his cathedral to obtain canons regular for the reform of the monastery of St. Thomas of Eskilsöe. In 1165 William journeyed to Denmark with three companions, and became abbot of that house. In spite of difficulties arising from poverty and opposition on the part of the community he reformed the monastery and in 1178 transferred it to Ebelholt, or the Paraclete, in Zeeland. He was entrusted with important business by Absalom, now Archbishop of Lund, and intervened in the case of Philip Augustus of France who was attempting to repudiate his wife Ingelborg, sister of Cnut of Denmark. The genealogy of the Danish kings which he drew up on this occasion to disprove the alleged impediment of consanguinity and two books of his letters, some of which deal with this affair, have come down to us, and together with an account of probable authenticity of the invention of the relics of Ste-Geneviève in 1161 and a few charters relating to his monastery may be found in P.L., CCIX. An account of his miracles is given in the "Vita" written by one of his younger disciples. He was canonized by Honorius III in 1224. His feast is commemorated on 18 June.

For the Vita and other sources of William's Life see LANGEBEK, Script. rer. dan. (9 vols., Copenhagen, 1772-1878), reprinted in P. L., CCIX; PAPERBROCH, Vita, with commentary, in Acta SS., I April, 625 sqq.; LAGER, Ep. XL in P. L., CLXXXVI.

Raymund Webster.

SOURCE : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_%281913%29/St._William_of_Ebelholt


April 6

St. William, Abbot of Eskille, Confessor

HE was born of an illustrious family in Paris, about the year 1105, and received his education in the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prez, under his uncle Hugh, the abbot. By the regularity of his conduct, and the sanctity of his manners, he was the admiration of the whole   community. Having finished his studies, he was ordained sub-deacon, and installed canon in the church of St. Genevieve-du-Mont. His assiduity in prayer, love of retirement and mortification, and exemplary life, seemed a troublesome censure of the slothful and worldly life of his colleagues; and what ought to have gained him their esteem and affection, served to provoke their envy and malice against him. Having in vain endeavoured to prevail on this reformer of their chapter, as they called him, to resign his canonry, in order to remove him at a distance, they presented him to the curacy of Epinay, a church five leagues from Paris, depending on their chapter. But not long after, Pope Eugenius III., coming to Paris, in 1147, and being informed of the irregular conduct of these canons, he commissioned the celebrated   Suger, abbot of St. Denys, and prime minister to King Lewis the Young, to expel them, and introduce in their room regular canons from the abbey of St. Victor: which was happily carried into execution, Eudo of St. Victor’s being made the first abbot. St. William with joy embraced this institute, and was by his fervour and devotion a pattern to the most perfect. He was in a short time chosen sub-prior. The perfect spirit of religion and regularity which he established in that community, was an illustrious proof of the incredible influence which the example of a prudent superior has over docile religious minds. His zeal for regular discipline he tempered with so much sweetness and modesty in his injunctions, that made all to love the precept itself, and to practise with cheerfulness whatever was prescribed them. The reputation of his wisdom and sanctity reached the ears of Absalon, bishop of Roschild, in Denmark, who, being one of the most holy prelates of his age, earnestly sought to allure him into his diocess. He sent the provost of his church, who seems to have been the learned historian Saxo the Grammarian, to Paris on this errand. A prospect of labours and dangers for the glory of God was a powerful motive with the saint, and he cheerfully undertook the voyage. The bishop appointed him abbot of Eskille, a monastery of regular canons which he had reformed. Here St. William sanctified himself by a life of prayer and austere mortification; but had much to suffer from the persecutions of powerful men, from the extreme poverty of his house in a severe climate, and above all from a long succession of interior trials: but the most perfect victory over himself was the fruit of his constancy, patience, and meekness.—On prayer was his chief dependance, and it proved his constant support. During the thirty years of his abbacy, he had the comfort to see many walk with fervour in his steps. He never left off wearing his hair-shirt, lay on straw, and fasted every day. Penetrated with a deep sense of the greatness and sanctity of our mysteries, he never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, making himself a victim to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice, together with, and through the merits of the holy victim offered thereon: the dispositions in which every Christian ought to assist at it. He died on the   6th of April, 1203, and was canonized by Honorius III., in 1224. See his life by a disciple in Surius, and at large in Papebroke’s Continuation of Bollandus, t. 1. Apr. p. 620. Also M. Gourdan in his MSS. Lives of Illustrious Men among the regular Canons at St. Victor’s, in Paris, kept in the library of MSS. in that house, in fol. t. 2. p. 324 and 814.


Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume IV: April. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.