Saint
Hospice face aux Lombards. Bois polychrome du XVIe.
Chapelle des Pénitents rouges : confrérie de la Très-Sainte-Trinité et
du-Saint-Suaire). Nice.
Saint Hospice
Ermite près de
Nice (VIe siècle)
Solitaire à Nice, il fut l'évangélisateur des envahisseurs lombards.
Aux environs de Nice, vers 581, saint Hospice. Homme d'une ascèse admirable, il
vécut en reclus dans une tour, au temps du roi Chilpéric, et prédit l'arrivée
des envahisseurs lombards.
Martyrologe romain
SAINT HOSPICE
Reclus, en Provence
(+ 581)
Saint Hospice, personnage
de grand mérite, illustre par ses miracles, vivait au VIe siècle. Il se
renferma dans une vieille tour abandonnée, près de Villefranche, à une lieue de
Nice, en Provence, pour y pratiquer les exercices de la pénitence loin des vains
bruits du monde.
Vêtu d’un rude cilice, il portait sur sa chair nue, de grosses chaînes de fer,
un peu de pain et des dattes faisaient sa nourriture, mais, en Carême, il ne
prenait que des herbes ou des racines.
Hospice, personnage de grand mérite, illustre par ses miracles, vivait au VIe
siècle. Il se renferma dans une vieille tour abandonnée, près de Villefranche,
à une lieue de Nice, en Provence, pour y pratiquer les exercices de la
pénitence loin des vains bruits du monde. Vêtu d’un rude cilice, il portait sur
sa chair nue, de grosses chaînes de fer, un peu de pain et des dattes faisaient
sa nourriture, mais, en Carême, il ne prenait que des herbes ou des racines.
Dieu le favorisa du don des miracles et du don de prophétie. Il prédit
l’invasion des Lombards dans le midi de la France, et en effet, quelques années
plus tard, ces hordes barbares vinrent ravager nos provinces et mettre tout à
feu et à sang. Les farouches soldats rencontrèrent le saint reclus dans sa
masure déserte, et, à la vue de ses chaînes, le prirent pour un malfaiteur.
Le saint leur avoua qu’il était très criminel et indigne de vivre. Alors l’un
d’eux leva le bras pour lui fendre la tête de son sabre ; mais son bras,
paralysé tout à coup par une force invisible, laissa tomber l’arme à terre. À
cette vue, les barbares terrifiés se jettent aux pieds du solitaire et le
prient de secourir leur camarade. Hospice, par le signe de la croix, rendit la
vigueur à son bras. Le soldat objet de ce châtiment et de ce miracle fut
tellement touché, qu’il demeura près du Saint, résolu d’être son disciple et de
marcher sur ses traces.
Quant aux autres soldats lombards, ils furent pour la plupart châtiés du Ciel,
pour n’avoir pas écouté les paroles de paix que le Saint leur avait adressées ;
quelques-uns même furent possédés du démon.
Hospice rendit l’ouïe et la parole à un sourd-muet qu’un diacre d’Angers
conduisait à Rome, au tombeau des Apôtres et des martyrs, pour implorer leur
secours. Émerveillé du prodige, le diacre s’écria : « Pourquoi donc aller à
Rome ? Nous avons trouvé ici la vertu de Pierre, de Paul, de Laurent, des
Apôtres et des martyrs ». Mais le saint homme lui répondit : « Ne parlez pas
ainsi ; ce n’est pas moi qui ai guéri ce malade, c’est Dieu qui a réparé Son
ouvrage et qui a rendu à cet homme les sens dont Il l’avait privé ».
C’est ainsi qu’ennemi de la vaine gloire, il rapportait tout à Dieu. On le vit
ensuite rendre la vue à un aveugle de naissance, délivrer une jeune fille
possédée du démon et chasser trois démons du corps d’une femme qu’on lui avait
présentée.
Enfin Hospice ressentit les approches de la mort, et annonça que dans trois
jours il quitterait la terre pour le Ciel. Un homme étant venu le voir malade
pour s’édifier, lui manifesta son étonnement de le voir ainsi chargé de chaînes
et couvert de plaies, et lui demanda comment il avait pu tant souffrir : «
Celui pour qui j’ai souffert m’a fortifié et soutenu ; je touche à mon repos et
à ma récompense ». Il mourut couché sur un banc et les mains levées au Ciel, le
21 mai 581, Pélage II étant pape, Chilpéric Ier roi de Neustrie, Childebert II
roi d’Austrasie et Gontran roi de Bourgogne.
SOURCE : http://www.cassicia.com/FR/Vie-de-saint-Hospice-reclus-pres-de-Nice-fete-le-21-mai-laissant-son-nom-a-la-pointe-et-au-Golfe-de-S-Jean-Cap-Ferrat-No_853.htm
Painting
of Saint-Hospice in the chapel of same name in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
(Alpes-Maritimes, France).
Peinture
de Saint-Hospice dans la chapelle du même nom de Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
(Alpes-Maritimes).
Saint Hospitius
of Cap-Saint-Hospice
Also
known as
Hospitus
Ospicio
Ospizio
Sospis
Profile
Hermit at
a place now named Cap-Saint-Hospice in his honour, living in the ruins of an
old tower, wearing heavy iron chains,
living off bread and dates and not even that during Lent.
Foretold the invasion of Gaul by
the Lombards.
A Lombard patrol
c.575,
finding Hospitius loaded with chains and
living in isolation, decided he was some type of criminal; Hospitius agreed
that he was a terrible sinner, with a litany of offenses to his shame.
Convinced he was a danger of some sort, one of the soldiers raised
his sword to kill the old hermit;
the soldier‘s
sword arm became paralyzed, moving again only after Hospitius made the sign of
the cross over it. The soldier was
converted on the spot, and spent the rest of his life in service to God.
Hospitius foretold the hour of his own death,
spent his last hours in prayer,
took off his chains,
and passed on.
Born
buried by
his friend, Austadius, Bishop of
Cimiez
relics distributed
to the French towns
of Lerins,
Nice, Villefranche, La Turbie, and San-Sospis
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Hospitius of Cap-Saint-Hospice“. CatholicSaints.Info.
26 December 2021. Web. 4 May 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-hospitius-of-cap-saint-hospice/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-hospitius-of-cap-saint-hospice/
May 21
St. Hospitius, or Sospis,
Recluse in Provence
HE shut himself up
in the ruins of an old tower near Villafranca, one league from Nice in
Provence, in a peninsula which is still called from him San-sospis. He girded
himself with an iron chain, lived only on bread and dates, and was honoured
with the gifts of prophecy and miracles. He died on the 21st of May, 681, on
which day he is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. See S. Greg. of Tours,
Papebroke, Baillet, &c.
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume V: May. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
Article
(Saint) (May 21) (6th
century) A hermit of Villafranca in the neighbourhood of Nice. When the
Lombards plundered the country they found him in a lonely tower chained up as a
criminal, and were about to despatch him, but a miracle occurred preventing
them from carrying out their purpose. He was remarkable for his gift of
prophecy and wrought many miracles. He died about A.D. 580. October 15 is the
day of his death, but his memory is chiefly honoured 138 on May 21, the
anniversary of the Translation of his relics to the monastery of Lerins.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Hospitius”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
11 May 2016. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-hospitius/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-hospitius/
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Hospitius, Recluse
Article
Saint Hospitius shut
himself up in the ruins of an old tower near Villafranca, one league from Nice,
in Provence. He girded himself with a heavy iron chain and lived on bread and
dates only. During Lent he redoubled his austerities, and, in order to conform
his life more closely to that of the anchorites of Egypt, ate nothing but
roots. For his great virtues, Heaven honored him with the gifts of prophecy and
of miracles. He foretold the ravages which the Lombards would make in Gaul.
These barbarians, having come to the tower in which Hospitius lived, and seeing
the chain with which he was bound, mistook him for some criminal who was there
imprisoned. On questioning the Saint, he acknowledged that he was a great
sinner and unworthy to live. Whereupon one of the soldiers lifted his sword to
strike him; but God did not desert His faithful servant: the soldier’s arm
stiffened and became numb, and it was not until Hospitius made the sign of the
cross over it that the man recovered the use of it. The soldier embraced
Christianity, renounced the world, and passed the rest of his days in serving
God. When our Saint felt that his last hour was nearing, he took off his chain
and knelt in prayer for a long time. Then, stretching himself on a little bank
of earth, he calmly gave up his soul to God on the 21st of May, 681.
Reflection – If we do not
love penitence for its own sake, let us love it on account of our sins; for we
should ” work out our salvation in fear and trembling.”
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint Hospitius, Recluse”. Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, 1889. CatholicSaints.Info.
29 March 2014. Web. 4 May 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-hospitius-recluse/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-hospitius-recluse/
Butler’s
Lives of the Saints – Saint Hospicius, or Hospis, Anchoret
Article
Whilst the wilful
blindness, impiety, and abominations of a wicked world cry to heaven for
vengeance, the servants of God, trembling under the apprehension of his
judgments, endeavour to deprecate his just anger by torrents of tears, with
which they bewail their own spiritual miseries, and the evils in which the
world is drowned. Thus Jeremiah wept over the infidelities of his people. Saint
Gildas and other British saints in the sixth century, were the Jeremies of
their country. Salvian of Marseilles, by his elegant and pathetic lamentations,
has deserved to be styled the Jeremy of his age. Many other religious persons,
by redoubling the fervour of their prayers, the abundance of their tears, and
the austerity of their penance have, in every age, strenuously endeavoured to
escape divine vengeance, and to avert the same from others. Saint Hospicius was
eminently endowed with this spirit of zeal and penance, The place of his birth
is not known; but that of his retirement was a rock near Villefranche, about a
league from Nice, in Piedmont. Here he built a monastery, but lived himself in
a little tower at some distance: from him the place is called Saint Sospit. The
holy hermit loaded himself with a heavy iron chain, and his garment was a rough
hair shirt, made of large hair of camels. His food was a little coarse bread,
and a few dates, with water; in Lent it consisted only of the roots of certain
Egyptian herbs, which merchants brought him from Alexandria to Nice. He
foretold distinctly the coming of the Lombards, and exhorted the inhabitants to
save themselves by flight. When a troop of those barbarians plundered his
monastery and mountain, finding him chained in his voluntary dungeon, they took
him for some notorious malefactor, and asked him of what crimes he was guilty?
He answered them of many of the deepest dye; meaning his sins, which in a
spirit of humility he had always before his eyes. At these words one of the
Lombards taking him for some murderer, lifted up his sword to despatch him; but
his arm became suddenly benumbed and motionless, till the saint restored it
sound. This and other miracles converted the rage of the barbarians into
veneration for his person. Saint Gregory of Tours, who was contemporary with
him, relates other predictions and miracles of this great saint; though the
most wonderful of his miracles was the edifying example of his life, by which
he preached to sinners a saving fear of the divine judgments still more
powerfully than by his zealous exhortations. His happy death happened about the
year 580, on the 15th of October, on which day his festival is celebrated at
Nice; though, on account of a translation of his relics, the 21st of May is
consecrated to his memory in the Roman Martyrology.
MLA
Citation
Father Alban Butler.
“Saint Hospicius, or Hospis, Anchoret”. Lives of
the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints, 1866. CatholicSaints.Info.
11 May 2016. Web. 4 May 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/butlers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-hospicius-or-hospis-anchoret/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/butlers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-hospicius-or-hospis-anchoret/
St. Hospitius
(Sospis)
Recluse, b. according
to tradition in Egypt,
towards the beginning of the sixth century; d. at San-Sospis,
nearVillefranche, in the Department of Alpes-Maritimes, France,
on 21 May, 581. The saint, who is popularly known as Saint Sospis, is said
to have been a monk in
his native land. Coming to Gaul,
he became a recluse,
and retired to a dilapidated tower, situated on the peninsula
of Cap Ferrat (or San-Sospis), a few miles east of Nice.
The people of the environs frequently consulted him; he forewarned them on one
occasion, about the year 575, of an impending incursion of the Lombards.
Hospitius was seized by these raiders, but his life was spared. He worked amiracle in
favour of one of the warriors, who became converted, embraced the religious
life, and was knownpersonally to St.
Gregory of Tours. It was from him that Gregory,
to whom we are indebted for the meagre details of the saint's life,
learnt the austerities and numerous miracles of
the recluse.
Hospitius foretold his death and was buried by his friend,
Austadius, Bishop of Cimiez.
He is still venerated in
the Diocese
of Nice. The cathedral
church possesses a small bone of his hand; other relics are
at Villefranche, La Turbie, and San-Sospis.
Sources
Acta SS., May, V (1685),
40-1; SURIUS, Vitae Sanctorum, V (Cologne, 1618), 282; RAVESC, Cenni
storici sulla penisola e santuario di sant' Ospizio, con alcuni tratti di sua
vita (Nice, 1848); ST. GREGORY OF TOURS, In gloria confessorum, c.
xcvii; IDEM, Historia Francorum, VI, vi, in Mon. Germ. Hist.: SS. Merov.,
I, 249-53 and 809; GUERIN, Les petits bollandistes, VI (Paris, 1880),
81-84.
MacErlean, Andrew. "St. Hospitius." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1910. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07489a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. O St
Hospitius, and all ye holy Anchorites & Hermits, pray for us.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07489a.htm
.jpg)
Statue
of Saint-Hospice in the eponym chapel in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
(Alpes-Maritimes, France).
Statue
de Saint-Hospice à l'intérieur de la chapelle du même nom à
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Alpes-Maritimes.
Sant' Ospizio
(Ospicio) Eremita
† 580/581
È commemorato nel
Martirologio Romano il 21 maggio, ma negli antichi calendari il suo dies
natalis era ricordato il 15 ottobre. San Gregorio di Tours, suo coevo, attesta
già al suo tempo che la Vita di Ospizio era stata scritta da parecchi, ma
nessuno di tali testi ci è stato tramandato, per cui le poche notizie che
conosciamo del santo le dobbiamo allo stesso vescovo di Tours che ne parla
nelle sue opere, esaltandone l’austerità della vita, il dono dei miracoli e lo
spirito di profezia. Ospizio visse come eremita, rinchiuso in una vecchia torre
presso Villafranca, non lungi da Nizza (ancor oggi il luogo è detto in suo
onore St-Sospis), cibandosi di pane, erbe e datteri, carico di pesanti catene e
avvolto in un aspro cilizio. Predisse la prossima invasione dei Longobardi che
nel 574 occuparono e saccheggiarono Nizza, ma dai quali il santo non fu troppo
molestato. Tre giorni prima di morire fece avvertire il vescovo di Nizza della
sua prossima fine e raccolto in preghiera si addormentò nel Signore (580 circa).
Martirologio
Romano: Presso Nizza in Provenza, in Francia, sant’Ospicio, eremita, che
fu uomo di mirabile spirito di penitenza e predisse l’arrivo dei Longobardi.
Leggendaria figura di eremita vissuto nel VI secolo, Sant'Ospizio incarna l'ideale ascetico più radicale. Ritiratosi in una torre presso Villafranca, non lontano da Nizza, condusse un'esistenza votata alla preghiera e alla mortificazione della carne. La sua dimora, oggi conosciuta come St-Sospis in suo onore, era il teatro di una vita spoglia di ogni comfort: pane, erbe e datteri componevano il suo frugale nutrimento, mentre pesanti catene e un ruvido cilizio cingevano il suo corpo.
Ospizio non era solo un modello di austerità, ma annoverava tra i suoi doni anche la facoltà di prevedere il futuro. Celebre è la profezia che pronunciò circa l'invasione dei Longobardi: predisse con accuratezza l'incursione che nel 574 avrebbe devastato Nizza, sebbene egli stesso non ne subì le conseguenze più gravi.
La fama di Ospizio si diffuse ben oltre i confini della sua torre, attirando a lui numerosi pellegrini in cerca di conforto e guarigione. Numerosi miracoli gli vennero attribuiti, tra cui la guarigione di un uomo cieco dalla nascita e di un altro sordo e muto. Si narra che la stessa polvere del suo sepolcro possedesse proprietà curative.
Ospizio si spense circa nel 580, circondato da una devozione che non si è mai affievolita nel corso dei secoli. Ancora oggi, la sua figura ispira i fedeli con la sua testimonianza di fede incrollabile, forza d'animo e abnegazione. La sua memoria viene celebrata ogni anno il 21 Maggio, giorno del suo Martirio, e le sue reliquie sono custodite nella cattedrale di Nizza e in diverse altre chiese della diocesi.
Le informazioni su Sant'Ospizio ci pervengono principalmente dalle opere di San Gregorio di Tours, suo contemporaneo, che ne descrisse la vita e le virtù. Diverse biografie dedicate al santo furono redatte nel corso del tempo, ma purtroppo nessuna di esse è giunta fino a noi.
La figura di Ospizio è strettamente legata alla storia della Provenza del VI secolo, un periodo segnato da invasioni barbariche e sconvolgimenti politici. La sua profezia sull'arrivo dei Longobardi lo rende un testimone oculare di eventi cruciali che plasmarono il futuro della regione.
Autore: Franco Dieghi
