Saint GERMAIN d'AUXERRE, évêque et confesseur

Église Saint-Léger, Aymavilles, vallée d'Aoste. Fresque de 1857 représentant saint Germain.

Aymavilles ( Aosta Valley ). Saint Leger church: Fresco ( 1857 ) - Saint Germain.

Aymavilles ( Aostatal ). Saint Leger: Fresko ( 1857 ) - Heiliger Germanus.

Saint Germain d'Auxerre

Évêque d'Auxerre (+ 448)

Il était marié et remplissait de hautes fonctions officielles quand il devint évêque d'Auxerre en 418. C'est l'une des plus grandes figures épiscopales de son époque. Son influence s'étendit à la Gaule toute entière tant il était estimé aussi bien des chefs barbares que des empereurs. La mort vint le chercher à Ravenne, alors capitale impériale de l'Occident où il était venu plaider la cause des Bretons maltraités par les gouverneurs impériaux.

Voir aussi: Saint Germain (Germanus) (418-448) est sans conteste la plus célèbre personnalité historique de l’Église locale. (site du diocèse de Sens-Auxerre)

"À l’origine (du IIIe au VIe siècle) les premiers évangélisateurs de ce qui deviendra le diocèse de Nevers sont des hommes que l’Église a canonisé: Saint Révérien, Saint Pèlerin, Saint Martin, Saint Germain..." Du VIe au XXIe siècle, de Saint Eulade à Francis Deniau, quinze siècles d’évangélisation en Nivernais.

À Ravenne en Émilie, en 448, le trépas de saint Germain, évêque d’Auxerre. Par deux fois, il défendit la foi des Bretons de l’hérésie pélagienne et, venu à Ravenne pour plaider la paix en faveur les habitants de l’Armorique, il fut reçu, avec beaucoup d’honneurs, par l’impératrice Galla Placidia et son fils Valentinien III, et c’est de là qu’il monta au royaume du ciel.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1592/Saint-Germain-d-Auxerre.html

Vitrail illustrant la vie de sainte Geneviève à genoux devant saint Germain d'Auxerre et saint Loup de Troyes; vitrail du XVIe siècle de l'église de Saint-Julien-du-Sault (Yonne) France.

 Saint Germain d'Auxerre

La vie de saint Germain d'Auxerre est d'abord connue par la Vita que Constance, prêtre de Lyon, écrivit à la demande de son évêque, une trentaine d'années apres la mort de saint Germain. On connaît aussi une autre Vita, probablement constituée au début du neuvième siècle à partir de la première. Saint Germain, né à Auxerre vers 378, au sein d'une famille de grands propriétai­res, peut-être d'ordre sénatorial, étudie les arts libéraux à Autun puis le droit à Rome. Avocat puis haut fonctionnaire de l'Empire, il se marie. Après la mort de l'évêque Amâtre (Amator) d'Auxerre (418), « tous les clercs, la no­blesse entière, la population de la ville et de la campagne en vien­nent à un avis unanime : tous d'une seule voix réclament Ger­main comme évêque... Malgré lui, contraint, forcé, il reçoit le sacerdoce mais soudain il se transforme du tout au tout. ll aban­­donne le service de ce monde, se charge de celui du ciel... D'é­pouse, sa femme devient une s½ur, il distribue sa fortune aux pauvres, recherche la pauvreté. » Il est ordonné le dimanche 7 juillet 418.

Menant une vie ascétique très rude et pratiquant l'hospitalité, Germain « fonde un monastère, en vue de la ville, de l'autre côté de l'Yonne, pour attirer les foules à la foi catholique par les communautés monastiques et le rayonnement du clergé. » Dans l'antiquité et au Moyen Age la ville d'Auxerre est située sur la rive gauche de l'Yonne. Du monastère de la rive droite, qui fut placé d'abord sous le patronage des saints Côme et Damien, puis sous celui de saint Marien, il ne reste rien.

Dans la Vita, le prêtre Constance insiste plus sur les voyages de saint Germain que sur son activité dans son diocèse. Pour compren­dre l'intérêt que saint Germain portait aux Iles bri­tan­ni­ques, il faut connaître les relations établies avant lui, ne serait-ce que parce que saint Patrick, l'apôtre de l'Irlande, vécut longtemps à Auxerre où il fut probablement ordonné diacre et prêtre par l'évêque Amâtre ; saint Patrick Germain reçut l'épiscopat de saint Germain lui-même, en 432, après la mort de Palladius, disparu avant d'arriver en Irlande où l'avait envoyé le pape Célestin I°.

En 429, Célestin I° envoya saint Germain d'Auxerre en Bretagne pour y combattre l'hérésie pélagienne. Il s'y rendit avec le saint évêque Loup de Troyes. En passant à Nanterre, près de Paris, saint Germain distingua la petite Geneviève à laquelle il prédit que sa vie sera consacrée à Dieu. En Bretagne, saint Germain et saint Loup, soutinrent un débat en présence d'une grande foule et réfutèrent les arguments des pélagiens. Ils firent ensuite un pèlerinage au sanctuaire du premier martyr de l'île, saint Alban, probablement à Verulam. Les Bretons étaient alors menacés par les Saxons et les Pictes. Après avoir célébré les fêtes de Pâques « Germain se proclame chef de guerre. Il choisit des troupes légères, parcourt les environs, observe la vallée, resserrée entre de hautes montagnes, par où l'on attendait l'arrivée de l'ennemi. Là il dispose une seconde armée et prend lui-même le comman­dement de la colonne. » Alors que les ennemis, comptant sur un effet de surprise, s'approchent, « les évêques lancent un Alle­luia trois fois répété. Tous le reprennent d'une seule voix et l'é­cho des montagnes multiplie la clameur. » Pris de panique les en­nemis s'enfuient, « les evêques triomphent... sans effusion de sang. »

Quelques années plus tard, saint Germain, en route pour Arles où il va plaider la cause de ses diocésains accablés d'impôts, passe par Alésia puis « descend au fil de la Saône jusqu'à Lyon. » En Arles où le préfet des Gaules, Auxiliaris, lui accorde le dégrèvement souhaité, saint Germain rencontre « l'évêque Hilai­re, homme de grande valeur par ses diverses vertus... torrent d'éloquence divine enflammé par la foi et ouvrier infatigable pour l'enseignement divin. » Le biographe de saint Hilaire ra­con­te que l'évêque d'Arles (430-49) vit souvent l'évêque d'Auxer­re. Lors de son second voyage en Grande-Bretagne, saint Ger­main rencontre encore sainte Geneviève qui a un peu plus de vingt ans et habite Paris, où elle est fort mal vue ; il prend sa défense.

La décomposition de l'Empire romain crée des situations complexes. Non envahie par les Barbares, l'Armorique est en état d'insurrection permanente. Aétius « qui gouverne alors l'Etat, abandonne au très cruel Goar, roi des Alains, pour qu'il les châtiât en raison de l'audace de leur rébellion, ces pays qu'il avait avidement convoités. » Saint Germain va au devant de cette troupe. Seul devant les cavaliers bardés de fer il s'adresse au roi Goar par le moyen d'un interprète puis il saisit la bride de son cheval pour l'arrêter. « Le roi et son armée se retirent dans de paisibles cantonnements et Goar promet une très loyale garantie de paix à la condition que la grâce qu'il a accordée soit demandée à l'empereur ou à Aétius... Immédiatement, Germain se met en route pour l'Italie, sa seule satisfaction étant de ne jamais rester à jouir du repos. » Traversant les Alpes, il passe par Milan et gagne Ravenne. « L'impératrice Placidia gouverne alors l'em­pi­re romain avec son fils Valentinien qui est déjà un jeune homme. » Fille de Théodose, Galla Placidia garda le pouvoir jusqu'à sa mort en 450, bien que son fils Valentinien III fût devenu empereur dès 425. « Germain aurait assurément gagné la cause du pays armoricain... si la perfidie de Tibatto n'avait ramené ce peuple instable et indiscipliné à la révolte... La médiation de l'évêque devint inutile et la confiance impériale est déçue par cette tromperie. »

Germain tombe malade. Il demande que son corps soit rendu à sa patrie et meurt « le septième jour de sa maladie », le 31 juillet, très probablement en 448. Son corps rapporté à Auxerre arrive le 22 septembre l'ensevelissement a lieu le l° octobre. Saint Germain avait préparé son tombeau dans le petit oratoire Saint-Maurice au nord d'Auxerre. La sainte reine Clotilde y édifia entre 493 et 545 une basilique qui prit bientôt le nom de Saint-Germain et éclipsa le cimetière des premiers évêques situé sur le Mons Autricus, au sud-ouest de la ville. Desservie par un grand monastère, agrandie au neuvième siècle, puis reconstruite aux treizième et quatorzième siècles, la basilique Saint-Germain garde malgré la destruction de la nef un intérêt archéologique considérable.

Hymne des Laudes
pour la fête de saint Germain d'Auxerre

Interrompez pour un temps, saint Evêque,
les soins ordinaires que vous prenez de votre cher troupeau ;
Dieu même vous l'ordonne :
hâtez-vous de porter du secours
à l'Eglise d'An­gleterre, vivement attaquée.

Geneviève retardera un peu votre course ;
mais vous en serez dignement récompensé,
puisqu'interprète des volontés du Très-Haut,
vous consacrerez cette vierge pour être un temple de la Divinité.

A peine le saint Évêque accompagné de saint Loup,
a-t-il mis le pied sur cette terre désolée,
que l'erreur toute tremblante prend la fuite :
l'ennemi est terrassé et la grâce de Jésus-Christ triomphe.

Cependant les Pictes, cette nation barbare,
menacent de mettre tout à feu et à sang :
mais ne vous effrayez point, peuples anglais,
de tous leurs vains mouvements.

Le saint Pontife, devenu lui-même soldat,
se mettant à la tête des troupes
encore toutes trempées des eaux salutaires du Baptême,
dissipera en un instant par des cantiques de joie cette armée redoutable.

Ô puissance merveilleuse d'une foi humble,
capable même de transporter les montagnes !
C'est par de tels miracles que vous vous plaisez, Seigneur,
à relever la gloire de vos saints.

Gloire soit au Père éternel et au Fils :
qu'une gloire égale soit à l'Esprit divin,
amour substantiel de l'un et de l'autre,
qui revêt de la force d'en-haut les soldats de Jésus-Christ. Amen.

Cette hymne est aux Laudes de la fête de saint Germain d'Auxerre dans les Offices propres de l'église royale et paroissiale de S. Germain l'Auxerrois, publiés chez Jean-Thomas Herissant en 1745.

SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/07/30.php

Katholische Kirche Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in Châtenay-Malabry im Département Hauts-de-Seine (Île-de-France/Frankreich), heiliger Germanus von Auxerre

Châtenay-Malabry (92), église Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, statue de saint Germain

Katholische Kirche Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in Châtenay-Malabry im Département Hauts-de-Seine (Île-de-France/Frankreich), heiliger Germanus von Auxerre

Châtenay-Malabry (92), église Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, statue de saint Germain

SAINT GERMAIN d’AUXERRE, ÉVÊQUE

Germain vient de germe, et ana, qui veut dire en haut, c'est donc un germe d'en haut. On trouve en effet trois qualités dans le blé qui germe, savoir une chaleur naturelle, une humidité nutritive, et un principe de semence. De là vient que saint Germain est appelé une semence en germe : car il posséda une chaleur produite par l’ardeur de son amour, une humidité qui développa sa dévotion, et un principe de semence puisque, par la force de sa prédication, il engendra beaucoup de monde à la foi et aux bonnes mœurs. Le prêtre Constantin écrivit sa vie qu'il adressa à saint Cinsurius, évêque d'Auxerre (Héricus, moine d'Auxerre, a écrit sa vie en vers et ses miracles en prose).

Germain naquit à Auxerre d'une famille des plus nobles. Après de longues études consacrées aux arts libéraux, il partit pour Rome afin de se former à la science du droit. Il s'y acquit tant de considérationque le Sénat l’envoya dans les Gaules pour remplir les fonctions de gouverneur de toute la Bourgogne. A Auxerre qu'il affectionnait, il possédait, au milieu de la ville, un pin aux branches duquel il suspendait; pour qu'on les admirât, les têtes des bêtes fauves tuées par lui à la chasse. Mais saint Amateur, évêque de cette ville, le gourmandait souvent de cette vanité, et lui conseillait même de faire abattre cet arbre dans la crainte de quelque mauvais résultat pour les chrétiens. Or, Germain n'y voulait absolument pas consentir. Mais un jour qu'il était absent, saint Amateur fit couper et brûler ce pin. Quand Germain l’apprit, il oublia les sentiments que lui inspirait la religion chrétienne et, revint à la ville avec des soldats, dans le dessein de faire mourir l’évêque: mais celui-ci, qui avait appris par révélation que Germain devait un jour lui succéder, céda devant sa fureur et gagna Autun. Peu après, il revint à Auxerre et ayant attiré Germain dans l’église, il le tonsura en lui prédisant qu'il devait être son successeur. Ce qui eut lieu: car quelque temps après l’évêque mourut en saint et. le peuple demanda à l’unanimité Germain pour évêque. Il distribua tous ses biens aux pauvres, traita sa femme comme si elle eût été sa soeur, et pendant trente ans, il mortifia tellement son corps que jamais il n'usa de pain de froment, ni de vin, ni d'huile, ni de légumes, ne mangeant même rien qui fût accommodé avec du sel. Deux fois l’an cependant, savoir : à Pâques et à Noël, il prenait du vin, encore il y mêlait tant d'eau qu'il n'y avait plus goût de vin. Il commençait ses repas en prenant d'abord de la cendre; ensuite il mangeait du pain d'orge. Son jeûne était continuel, car il ne mangeait jamais que sur le soir. L'été comme l’hiver, il avait pour tout vêtement un cilice et une coule. Et quand il ne lui arrivait pas de donner cet habit à quelqu'un, il le portait jusqu'à ce qu'il fût tout usé et en lambeaux. Les ornements de son lit, c'était la cendre, un cilice et un sac : il n'avait pas de coussin pour tenir sa tête plus élevée que les épaules; mais toujours dans les, gémissements, il portait à son cou des reliques des saints; jamais il ne quittait son vêtement, rarement sa chaussure et sa ceinture. Tout dans sa conduite était au-dessus des forces d'un homme. Sa vie fut telle en effet qu'il eût été incroyable de la concevoir salis miracles ; mais ils furent si nombreux qu'on les croirait imaginés à plaisir, si les mérites qu'il avait acquis n'avaient précédé ces prodiges.

Un jour qu'il avait reçu l’hospitalité dans un endroit, il fut étonné de voir, après le souper, apprêter la table, et il demanda pour qui ou préparait un second repas. Comme on lui disait que c'était pour les bonnes femmes qui voyagent pendant la nuit, saint Germain prit la résolution de veiller cette nuit-là; et il vit une foule de démons qui venaient se mettre à table sous 1a forme d'hommes et de femmes. Il leur défendit de s'en aller, réveilla tous les membres de la maison et leur demanda s'ils connaissaient ces personnes. On lui répondit que c'étaient tous les voisins et voisines ; alors en commandant aux démons de ne pas s'en aller, il envoya au domicile de chacun d'eux; et on les trouva tous dans leur lit. Saint Germain les conjura ; et ils dirent qu'ils étaient des démons qui se jouaient ainsi des hommes. En ce temps-là, florissait le bienheureux saint Loup, évêque de Troyes. Quand Attila attaquait cette ville, le bienheureux Loup lui demanda de dessus la porte à haute voix qui il était pour venir fondre ainsi sur eux. « Je suis, lui répondit-il, Attila, le fléau de Dieu. » L'humble prélat lui répliqua avec gémissement: « Et moi je suis Loup; hélas! je ravage le troupeau de Dieu et j'ai besoin d'être frappé par le fléau de Dieu. » Et à l’instant il fit ouvrir les portes. Mais Dieu aveugla les ennemis qui passèrent d'une porte à l’autre, sans voir personne et sans faire aucun mal. Le bienheureux Germain prit avec lui saint Loup et partit pour les îles Britanniques où pullulaient les hérétiques; et comme ils étaient sur la ruer, une tempête extraordinaire s'éleva; mais à la prière de saint Germain, il se fit aussitôt un grand calme. Ils furent reçus avec de grands honneurs par le peuple; leur arrivée avait été annoncée par les démons que saint Germain avait chassés des obsédés. Après qu'ils eurent convaincu les hérétiques, ils retournèrent en leur propre pays.

Germain était couché malade dans un endroit, quand soudain un incendie embrasa toute la bourgade. On le priait de se laisser emporter pour échapper à la flamme, mais il voulut rester exposé à l’incendie, et le feu, qui consuma tout à droite et à gauche, ne toucha pas à l’habitation où il se trouvait. Comme il retournait une seconde fois en Bretagne pour confondre les hérétiques, un de ses disciples, qui l’avait; suivi en toute hâte, tomba malade à Tonnerre et y mourut: Saint Germain, revenant sur ses pas, fit ouvrir le sépulcre et demanda au mort, en l’appelant par son nom, ce qu'il faisait, s'il désirait encore combattre avec lui. Celui-ci se leva sur son séant et répondit qu'il goûtait des douceurs infinies et qu'il ne voulait pas être rappelé désormais sur la terre. D'après le consentement que lui donna saint Germain de rester dans le repos, il déposa sa tète et se rendormit de: nouveau dans le Seigneur (Héricus, moine d'Auxerre, qui a écrit la vie et, les miracles du saint). Pendant le cours de ses prédications, le roi de la Bretagne lui refusa l’hospitalité aussi bien qu'à ses compagnons. Le porcher du roi, qui revenait de faire paître ses bêtes, en rapportant à sa chaumière des provisions qu'il avait reçues au palais, vit le bienheureux Germain et ses compagnons accablés de faim et de froid; il les accueillit avec bonté dans sa maison, et commanda qu'on tuât pour ses hôtes le seul veau qu'il possédât. Après le souper, saint Germain fit disposer tous les os du veau sur sa peau et à sa prière le veau se leva tout aussitôt. Le lendemain, Germain se hâta de se, rendre chez le roi et lui demanda avec force, pourquoi lui avait-il refusé l’hospitalité. Le roi grandement saisi ne put lui répondre ; alors Germain lui dit: « Sors et cède le royaume à meilleur que toi. » Et par un ordre qu'il reçut de Dieu, Germain fit venir le porcher avec sa femme et en présence de la multitude étonnée, il le constitua roi; et depuis lors ce sont les descendants du porcher qui gouvernent la nation des Bretons (Ibid., c. VIII). Les Saxons étaient en guerre avec les Bretons et se voyaient inférieurs en nombre, ils appelèrent alors les saints qui passaient par là; ceux-ci les instruisirent et tous accoururent à l’envi pour recevoir le baptême. Le jour de Pâques, transportés par la ferveur de leur foi, ils jettent leurs armes de côté et se proposent de combattre avec grand courage; les ennemis, à cette nouvelle, se ruent avec audace contre des gens désarmés; mais Germain, qui se tenait caché avec les siens, les avertit tous, que quand il crierait lui-même Alleluia, ils lui répondissent ensemble en poussant le même cri. Et quand ils l’eurent fait, une terreur tellement grande s'empara des ennemis qui se précipitaient sur eux, qu'ils jetèrent leurs armes, dans la persuasion que non seulement les montagnes, mais encore le ciel s'écroulaient sur leur tète; alors ils prirent tous la fuite(Ibid). Une fois qu'il passait par Autun, il vint au tombeau de saint Cassien, évêque, auquel il demanda comment il se trouvait. Celui-ci lui répondit de son cercueil ces mots qui furent entendus de tous les assistants: « Je jouis d'un doux repos, et j'attends la verne du rédempteur. » Et Germain lui dit: « Reposez encore longtemps en J.-C., et intercédez pour nous avec ferveur, afin que nous méritions d'obtenir les joies de la sainte résurrection. » A son arrivée à Ravenne, il fut reçu avec honneur par l’impératrice Placidie et par son fils Valentinien. Quand vint l’heure du repas, la reine lui envoya un magnifique vase d'argent rempli de mets exquis; il le reçut, mais ce fut pour distribuer les mets à ceux qui l’accompagnaient et pour donner aux pauvres l’argent du vase qu'il garda par devers lui. Pour tenir lieu de présent, il envoya à l’impératrice une écuelle de bois dans laquelle était un pain d'orge; ce qu'elle reçut de bonne grâce et dans la suite elle fit enchâsser cette écuelle dans de l’argent.

Une fois encore, l’impératrice l’invita à un dîner que le saint accepta avec bonté. Or, comme il était exténué par les jeûnes, la prière et les travaux, il se fit conduire sur un âne depuis son logement jusqu'au palais : mais pendant le repas, l’âne de saint Germain mourut. La reine, qui l’apprit, fit offrir à l’évêque un cheval extrêmement doux. Quand le saint l’eut vu, il dit : « Qu'on m’amène mon âne, parce que, comme il m’a amené, il me ramènera. » Et allant vers le cadavre : « Lève-toi, dit-il, âne, retournons au logis. Aussitôt l’âne se leva, se secoua, et comme s'il n'avait éprouvé aucun mal, il porta Germain à son hôtellerie. Mais avant de sortir de Ravenne, Germain prédit qu'il n'avait plus longtemps à rester sur la terre. Peu de temps après, la fièvre le saisit et le septième jour il s'endormit dans le Seigneur : son corps fut transporté dans les Gaules, selon qu'il l’avait demandé à l’impératrice. Il mourut vers l’an du Seigneur 430.

Saint Germain avait promis à saint Eusèbe de consacrer à sa place, quand il reviendrait, une église que le saint évêque de Verceil avait fondée. Mais quand il eut appris le trépas du bienheureux Germain, saint Eusèbe fit allumer des cierges pour consacrer lui-même son église. Or, plus on les allumait, plus ils s'éteignaient. Eusèbe comprit par là que la dédicace devait) être remise à une autre époque, ou bien qu'elle devait être faite par un autre évêque. Mais lorsque le corps de saint Germain fut amené à Verceil, et qu'on l’eut fait entrer dans l’église, à l’instant tous les cierges s'allumèrent par miracle. Alors saint Eusèbe se souvint de la promesse du bienheureux Germain, et il comprit qu'il avait exécuté, après sa mort, ce qu'il avait promis de faire étant en vie. Il ne faut pas croire qu'il soit ici question du grand Eusèbe de Verceil ; celui-ci mourut du temps de l’empereur Valens, et il s'écoula plus de 50 ans depuis sa mort jusqu'à celle de saint Germain. Ce fut sous un autre Eusèbe, qu'arriva ce qui vient d'être raconté.

La Légende dorée de Jacques de Voragine nouvellement traduite en français avec introduction, notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par l'abbé J.-B. M. Roze, chanoine honoraire de la Cathédrale d'Amiens, Édouard Rouveyre, éditeur, 76, rue de Seine, 76, Paris mdcccci

SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/voragine/tome02/108.htm

San Germano d'Auxerre

SAINT GERMAIN d'AUXERRE 

(378 - 31 juillet 448)

SAINT  ÉVÊQUE GERMAIN, NOTRE  PROTECTEUR,
HONNEUR ET CONSOLATION DE L’ÉGLISE DE GAULE.
TU AS QUITTÉ LA GLOIRE ET LES RICHESSES
POUR SUIVRE AVEC HUMILITÉ LE CHRIST NOTRE DIEU.
TU AS COMBATTU LES HÉRÉSIES
ET FAIT TRIOMPHER LA VRAIE FOI.
Ô PÈRE DES AUXERROIS, REFUGE DES MALHEUREUX,
PRIE LE CHRIST DE NOUS AFFERMIR DANS SA MISÉRICORDE.

Celui qui allait devenir Saint Germain l’Auxerrois est né vers l’an 378 à Auxerre. Il est donc contemporain de Saint Augustin et de Saint Jean Chrysostome. C'est l’ époque trouble des grandes invasions et du début de l’effondrement de l’Empire Romain. Dans l’Église, les hérésies foisonnent. C'est une période du christianisme où, après le martyr et l’ascèse, c'est une vie exemplaire et entièrement vouée à la pratique des vertus chrétiennes qui tend peu à peu à s’imposer comme idéal de vie. Les Évêques vont jouer un rôle de première importance en tant qu’exemples vivants. Parmi eux, Saint Germain d’Auxerre n’était pas seulement le chef dune communauté chrétienne mais encore témoin du Christ, modèle de vertu, homme d’action en lutte contre les hérésies et en contact permanent avec les pouvoirs politiques.

Le jeune aristocrate, le fonctionnaire, l’Évêque

De la vie civile de Saint Germain, nous ne savons presque rien, sinon quille est né dune famille fortunée de l’Auxerrois possédant des terres à Appoigny; Quille a étudié dans les écoles Gauloises (Auxerre ou Autun ?), puis à Rome; Quille devient brillant avocat; Quille épouse Eustachie, « une personne de condition élevée, remarquable par ses richesses et ses m÷urs » nous dit Constance de Lyon, premier biographe de Saint Germain; Que ses talents le font bientôt choisir par l’Etat pour « une haute charge gouvernementale et administrative » et quille visite en personne les territoires dont il a la charge; Enfin, quille fut élu évêque contre sa volonté à la mort de Saint Amasser, Évêque d’Auxerre, en 418. Saint Germain avait alors environ quarante ans.

Ses relations avec Saint Amasser n’avaient pas toujours été bonnes, loin de là. Au temps où il était riche et puissant, Germain n’aimait pas qu’on s’opposât à sa volonté. L’abbé Lebeuf, historien d’Auxerre, relate :

« Saint Amâtre, Évêque d’Auxerre, fit couper un très beau et grand poirier au milieu de la ville d’Auxerre, sur lequel Germain avait l’habitude d’accrocher les nombreuses têtes des bêtes qu’il avait prises à la chasse afin de s’attirer l’admiration des citoyens. Germain l’ayant menacé de mort, Saint Amâtre se retira à Autun vers le préfet Agricole ». Heureusement les choses s’arrangent...

Saint Germain exerçait sans doute une autorité ferme. La suite des événements montre qu’il a su être tout aussi rigoureux à son propre égard. Mais il ne devait manquer ni de bonté, ni de justice. Car à la mort de Saint Amâtre, « tout le clergé et la noblesse, le peuple de la ville et de la campagne se réunirent à le demander pour successeur de Saint Amâtre. On lui déclara une espèce de guerre avec tout le respect néanmoins qu’on devait à un homme de son rang ». Germain résiste comme il peut, c’est à dire de toutes ses forces. Mais il finit par se soumettre à une volonté aussi impérative qu’unanime.

Et lorsqu’il obéit, il ne fait pas les choses à moitié : son épouse devient comme une soeur, il distribue sa fortune aux pauvres. Il est évêque mais vit comme un moine. Il ne prendra plus jamais ni pain de froment, ni vin, ni vinaigre, ni huile, ni légumes, ni sel. Il se nourrit de pain d’orge dont il a battu et moulu lui même les grains. Il dort sur un grabat de cendres. Sa maison est ouverte à tous et il lave lui-même les mains et les pieds de chacun. C’est ainsi qu’il « mena une vie de solitude au milieu des hommes et vécut comme un ermite dans la fréquentation du monde ».

Il fonde un monastère en face d’Auxerre, sur la rive droite de l’Yonne, où Saint Patrick prédicateur et premier Évêque d’Irlande séjourna de longues années.

Puis viennent les miracles. Saint Germain retrouve le voleur qui s’était emparé de l’argent du fisc perdu en route par l’agent chargé de le rapporter au gouverneur. Il délivre la ville d’Auxerre d’une épidémie de diphtérie. Il guérit des possédés. Lors d’un voyage en hiver, Saint Germain veut faire une étape dans une maison abandonnée, à demi-ruinée, que l’on dit hantée. Lorsque effectivement apparaît un fantôme au milieu de la nuit, Saint Germain évoque le nom du Christ et enjoint le fantôme de dire qui il est et ce qu’il fait là. D’effrayant, le fantôme devient suppliant : lui et son compagnon étaient des criminels, ils sont morts sans sépultures, errent sans repos et tourmentent les vivants. Il indique à Saint Germain où l’on avait jeté leurs corps. Dès le jour venu, Saint Germain rassemble les habitants des environs, les exhorte à déblayer l’endroit et les cadavres sont découverts. Saint Germain leur rend la paix en donnant une sépulture chrétienne à leurs ossements.

Pendant le même voyage, Saint Germain guérit avec du blé bénit les volailles qui étaient devenues muettes depuis des années et ne chantaient plus au lever du jour. « Ainsi la puissance divine manifestait sa grandeur même dans les plus petites choses » nous dit Constance de Lyon.

Premier voyage de Saint Germain en Grande-Bretagne.

Des nouvelles alarmantes parviennent aux évêques des Gaules en provenance de Grande -Bretagne : l’erreur pélagienne avait gagné les populations de ces contrées. Un concile fut réuni, qui décida d’envoyer ensemble Saint Germain d’Auxerre et Saint Loup de Troyes pour combattre cette hérésie et rétablir la foi orthodoxe.

Ils prirent la mer en 429. « Peu après accourt sur la mer, à leur rencontre, la foule des démons... » afin d’empêcher les deux saints d’arriver. L’épaisseur des ténèbres, la fureur du vent et le mugissement des vagues sont terribles. Saint Germain, réveillé par ses compagnons, invoque le Christ et invective l’océan, prend de l’huile bénite pour une aspersion au nom de la  Sainte Trinité. La prière dite d’une seule voix par tous appelle la présence divine qui apaise bientôt les flots.

A leur arrivée une foule les attend. Prédication et miracles remplissent l’Ile de Bretagne. Leur réputation les précède. Ils convainquent. Une controverse publique est organisée  avec les pélagiens, suivie avec passion par une foule innombrable où se comptent « même des femmes et des enfants »... Christ contre Pélage ! Les évêques opposent un langage vigoureux et inspiré aux « paroles creuses » des pélagiens. La foule manque d’en venir aux mains. La guérison d’une fillette aveugle finit par convaincre et « la foule entre en transes ».

Pendant ce même séjour en Grande-Bretagne, Saint Germain se casse le pied et est contraint de s’allonger. Éclate un incendie dans le quartier où il est immobilisé, qu’on n’arrive pas à éteindre. Saint Germain renvoie les gens venus l’évacuer de la maison menacée. Et l’incendie épargne la maison, consumant toutes les autres autour.

Ces événements se mêlent aux invasions barbares de la même période : alors que Saint Germain et Saint Loup se trouvent en Grande-Bretagne, les Saxons et les Pictes commencent une guerre contre les Bretons qui implorent l’aide des deux évêques. Ce sont alors prédications quotidiennes au sein de l’armée Bretonne et de nombreux  baptêmes de soldats.

Pour la liturgie Pascale on « installe une église faite de branchages entrelacés ». L’ennemi informé de cette activité peu habituelle pour une armée en guerre, croit à l’aubaine et veut en profiter pour attaquer. Saint Germain s’improvise alors chef de guerre et organise la défense : placée à un endroit stratégique, toute l’armée va hurler un « Alléluia » trois fois répété, répercuté par l’écho des montagnes. L’ennemi saisi  de panique est mis en déroute sans effusion de sang, par la seule force de la foi.

A son retour de Grande Bretagne, la cité d’Auxerre attend Saint Germain avec impatience. Un impôt extraordinaire accable ses habitants. Aussitôt rentré, il repart plaider la cause des Auxerrois auprès du préfet des Gaules, à Arles.

Il voyage à cheval, avec une escorte modeste. Une nuit il se fait voler son cheval. Le lendemain le voleur penaud ramène le cheval car, dit-il, pendant toute la nuit il s’était senti comme pris dans un filet. Il reçoit non seulement le pardon, mais on lui fait encore don de ce dont il a besoin, ainsi que d’une bénédiction.

Partout où il passe, la foule vient à la rencontre de Saint Germain, pour lui rendre hommage, demander sa bénédiction, le toucher, l’écouter, le regarder. Il guérit, il enseigne. A Alésia où il passe la nuit chez un prêtre ami, la femme de celui-ci glisse de la paille dans le lit de Saint Germain à son insu, qu’elle conserve ensuite pieusement.

Quelques jours plus tard un homme devient possédé d’un démon. Tous déplorent l’absence de Saint Germain qui avait continué sa route. La femme du prêtre se souvient alors de la puissance de la foi. On entoure le possédé avec la paille sur laquelle Saint Germain a dormi et le malade guérit définitivement.

Le préfet des Gaules accueille Saint Germain avec tous les honneurs, venant loin au-devant de lui. Saint Germain guérit la femme du préfet. Son voyage est couronné de succès : il obtient un allégement des impôts pour Auxerre et partout où il passe, il apporte la joie

Deuxième voyage de Saint Germain en Grande-Bretagne

Une quinzaine d’années après son premier voyage, l’erreur pélagienne se propage de nouveau en Grande-Bretagne. On demande à Saint Germain d’y retourner, accompagné cette fois par Saint Sévère (probablement évêque de Vence, en Provence). Elafus, personnage important en Grande Bretagne, vient avec son fils infirme à la rencontre des saints hommes. Saint Germain, là encore, guérit la jambe malade de l’adolescent. L’hérésie, elle, n’est le fait que d’un petit nombre et les fautifs sont exilés sur le continent.

Voyage à Ravenne

A peine rentré de Grande Bretagne en 447, une délégation attend Saint Germain à Auxerre, venant d’Armorique. Les Armoricains se sont révoltés contre le gouverneur Aetius, ont chassés les fonctionnaires romains et se sont donnés un gouvernement autonome. En représailles, Aetius abandonne le pays aux pillages et aux cruautés des Alains.

Déjà, les cavaliers bardés de fer encombraient toute la route. Saint Germain se porte à leur rencontre et, à l’aide d’un interprète, supplie le roi Goar d’épargner le pays. Devant son refus, Saint Germain saisit la bride de son cheval et arrête ainsi toute l’armée. Le roi Goar, stupéfait par tant d’audace, est troublé par son inébranlable résolution.

Puis ils s’entretiennent sur un ton affable et Goar promet alors la paix à condition que Saint Germain demande la grâce pour les Armoricains au gouverneur Aetius ou à l’empereur Valentinien. Aussitôt, Saint Germain se met en route pour l’Italie afin de  rencontrer le jeune Empereur Valentinien qui gouverne l’Empire Romain avec sa mère l’Impératrice Placidia.

S’arrêtant de nouveau chez son ami le prêtre Senator à Alésia, il guérit une jeune fille muette dont il effleure la bouche, le front et tout le visage avec de l’huile bénite. Il quitte son ami en lui disant adieu, certain qu’il ne le reverra jamais en ce monde. Vers Autun, il guérit une jeune fille dont les doigts restaient repliés sur la paume de la main.

Alors qu’il traverse les Alpes en compagnie d’un groupe de travailleurs immigrés rentrant chez eux en Italie, Saint Germain voit l’un d’eux, âgé et boiteux, qui ne parvient pas à traverser un torrent de montagne. Sans dire qui il est, Saint Germain porte d’abord les bagages de l’ouvrier puis l’ouvrier lui même de l’autre côté du torrent.

Lorsque le petit groupe arrive à Milan, c’est jour de fête. Beaucoup d’évêques sont réunis là. Saint Germain entre incognito dans l’église bondée et à ce moment un possédé du démon se met aussitôt à crier :

« Germain, pourquoi nous poursuis-tu en Pourquoi parcours-tu ainsi tous les Reposes-toi afin que nous puissions être nous aussi en . Tous reconnaissent alors Saint Germain qui exorcise ensuite le possédé.

Il poursuit sa route vers Ravenne lorsque les pauvres lui demandent l’aumône. Il dit à son diacre de donner tout le contenu de leur bourse. Celui-ci rechigne et lui rétorque : « Mais de quoi allons-nous vivre aujourd’hui ?» « Dieu y pourvoira » répond Saint Germain. Le diacre, en homme prévoyant, donne deux pièces d’or et en garde une secrètement. Ils sont alors rejoint par des cavaliers qui les supplient de faire un détour pour aller chez Leporius dont toute la famille est malade et implore la bénédiction du saint. Ils s’y rendent. Les cavaliers leur offrent alors 200 sous d’or. Saint Germain, se tournant vers son diacre, dit alors : « Prends ce qu’on nous offre et reconnaît le tort que tu as causé aux pauvres, car si tu leur avais donné les trois pièces, celui qui nous récompense nous aurait aujourd’hui rendus 300 pièces».  Saint Germain guérit en un jour toute la maisonnée de Leporius, maître et serviteurs confondus.

Le séjour à Ravenne et la mort de Saint Germain

A Ravenne, on attend Saint Germain avec impatience. L’évêque Pierre et l’impératrice Placidia l’accueillent avec joie et avec tous les honneurs. Un jour, alors que Saint Germain passe au milieu de la foule sur une grande place, il entend une grande clameur. Il demande ce que c’est. Ce sont des prisonniers injustement retenus qui ont appris son passage et qui l’appellent à l’aide. Saint Germain ne sait pas à qui s’adresser pour faire libérer ces hommes. Il s’adresse alors à Dieu en se prosternant en prières, face contre terre. Les serrures de la prison se brisent, les prisonniers sortent et la foule les entoure et les mène dans l’église avec une grande joie. Saint Germain guérit beaucoup de malades à Ravenne. Constance dit que le Christ augmentait encore la puissance qu’il lui avait accordée. 

Lorsque le fils d’un homme important du palais est sur le point de mourrir de fièvre, la famille se tourne vers le Saint qui se hâte au chevet du jeune homme. Hélas, il est déjà mort. La foule insiste alors pour que Saint Germain le ressuscite. Il résiste longtemps puis se laisse convaincre. Il fait sortir la foule de la pièce et s’allonge contre le mort en priant. Peu à peu celui-ci reprend vie. 

Entretemps une nouvelle révolte éclate en Armorique, réduisant à néant les efforts de médiation de Saint Germain auprès de la cour impériale. 

Saint Germain prédit sa mort prochaine. Il tombe malade et demande à l’impératrice la faveur de voir son corps ramené à Auxerre. La foule ne quitte pas son chevet, priant et psalmodiant en choeur. Au septième jour de maladie, Saint Germain rends son âme à Dieu. Nous sommes le 31 Juillet 448. Souverains et évêques se partagent ses vêtements. Le corps est embaumé par application d’aromates, l’impératrice l’habille. Lorsque ces préparatifs sont terminés conformément aux rites, le voyage en Gaule s’organise. 

C’est une véritable procession qui part vers la Gaule. « La multitude des flambeaux brillait », éclipsant le soleil. Au fur et à mesure du chemin, des gens accourent pour remettre en état la route ou les ponts, pour chanter des psaumes ou porter le Saint un bout de chemin. Le cortège arrive à Auxerre le 22 Septembre 448. L’enterrement a lieu le 1er Octobre. Le voyageur infatigable a enfin trouvé le repos.

Saint Germain l’Auxerrois est indissociable de la région où il est né, où il vécut et où il repose maintenant. Beaucoup de paroisses de la région sont placées sous son patronage. Les villages de Sainte Magnance, de Sainte Pallaye et d’Escolives-Sainte Camille rappellent le souvenir des femmes qui ont suivi son cortège de Ravenne à Auxerre. Ce Saint du 4ème siècle nous enseigne encore aujourd’hui la foi par son obéissance et sa confiance absolues. Il agit non pour sa gloire personnelle, mais pour la gloire de Dieu. Non pour son confort personnel, mais pour le soulagement des pauvres et des souffrants. Constance de Lyon le dit très simplement :  « ...en guise de trésors inépuisables il portait le Christ dans son coeur. » Puisse-t-il nous aider à en faire autant, chacun à sa façon.

Saint Germain, prie Dieu pour nous,
maintenant et à l’heure de notre mort. 

Amen.

SOURCE : http://orthodoxie.pagesperso-orange.fr/textes/fete_st_germain.html

Saint Germain, évêque d'Auxerre et patron de l'église. Sculpture en bois polychrome représentant saint Germain l'Auxerrois datée du XVe siècle, conservée dans l'église Saint-Germain-L'Auxerrois à Paris.

Scultura in legno policromo di saint Germain l'Auxerrois del XV secolo, nella Chiesa di Saint Germain l'Auxerrois a Parigi

Saint Germanus of Auxerre

Also known as

Germain of Auxerre

Memorial

31 July

Profile

Born to a noble Gallic family, the son of Rusticus and Germanilla. Studied general topics in Arles and Lyon in France, and rhetoric and civil law in Rome, Italy. Successful lawyer for several years. Married to Eustachia, a member of the nobility with close ties to the emperor. Imperial governor of part of Gaul, based in Auxerre.

He led a worldly life, and frequently hung hunting trophies on an enormous, ancient tree that had been an object of worship by local pagans. This led to condemnation by Saint Amator of Auxerre, who said he set a terrible example, and was leading people back to their pagan origins. Germain ignored him, so Amator cut down the tree and burned the trophies. Germain tracked down Amator, intending to kill him; Amator forced the tonsure on Germain, made him a deacon, and told him to live as one destined to be a bishop. Germain took the whole incident to be an action of the Holy Spirit, and changed completely. He devoted himself to prayer, study and charity. When Saint Amator died soon after, Germain was unanimously chosen bishop of Auxerre on 7 July 418.

His administrative skills served Germain well in his new position. He gave away his property to the poor, and lived as a pauper. Converted and trained Saint Camilla. Dispatched with Lupus of Troyes to the British Isles by Pope Celestine I in 429, he fought the Pelagianist heresy in Britain. While en route he met the young child Saint Genevieve. One early document says that Saint Patrick was part of Germain’s entourage. Once the Pelagians were in retreat, Germain travelled Britain, preaching and setting up seminaries; he trained Saint Brieuc of Brittany for his mission.

Germain returned to France, obtained tax relief for the people of his diocese, and built the church of Saint Alban in Auxerre. In 447 he returned to Britain with Severus of Trèves. They evangelized in Wales, and helped the Britons with a battle over invading Saxons and Picts. When he returned to Gaul, Germain found that the Armoricans in Brittany were going to be severely punished for a rebellion against the empire. He obtained a stay of execution for them until he could appeal to the emperor. In Ravenna, Italy he met with Saint Peter Chrysologus, pled his case to empress Galla Placidia, obtained pardon for the people, and died there a short time later.

Born

c.378 at Auxerre, France

Died

31 July 448 at Ravenna, Italy of natural causes

interred in the Oratory of Saint Maurice, Auxerre, France

re-interred in the church of Saint Germain that was built by Queen Clotilda on the site of the Oratory

body found intact when re-located in the church several centuries later

in 1567 the Huguenots desecrated the shrine and threw out the relics

relics in Saint Marion abbey are reported to be Saint Germain’s, but this cannot be proven

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Representation

bishop carrying a knife

bishop trampling on a judge

Patronage

Auxerre, France

San Germano Vercellese, Italy

Additional Information

Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate

Catholic Encyclopedia

Germanus the Governor, by Leonora Blanche Lang

Golden Legend

Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler

New Catholic Dictionary

Pictorial Lives of the Saints

Saints of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein

Short Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly

books

Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

other sites in english

All Saints and Martyrs

Catholic Herald

John Dillon

Regina Magazine

Wikipedia

images

Wikimedia Commons

sitios en español

Hagiopedia

Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición

sites en français

Abbé Christian-Philippe Chanut

fonti in italiano

Cathopedia

Santi e Beati

MLA Citation

“Saint Germanus of Auxerre“. CatholicSaints.Info. 1 September 2022. Web. 8 October 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-germanus-of-auxerre/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-germanus-of-auxerre/

Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Garde à Lomener : statue de saint Germain.

St. Germain

Bishop of Auxerre, born at Auxerre c. 380; died at Ravenna, 31 July, 448. He was the son of Rusticus and Germanilla, and his family was one of the noblest in Gaul in the latter portion of the fourth century. He received the very best education provided by the distinguished schools of Arles and Lyons, and then went to Rome, where he studied eloquence and civil law. He practised there before the tribunal of the prefect for some years with great success. His high birth and brilliant talents brought him into contact with the court, and he married Eustachia, a lady highly esteemed in imperial circles. The emperor sent him back to Gaul, appointing him one of the six dukes, entrusted with the government of the Gallic provinces. He resided at Auxerre and gave himself up to all the enjoyments that naturally fell to his lot. At length he incurred the displeasure of the bishop, St. Amator. It appears that Germain was accustomed to hang the trophies of the chase on a certain tree, which in earlier times had been the scene of pagan worship. Amator remonstrated with him in vain. One day when the duke was absent, the bishop had the tree cut down and the trophies burnt. Fearing the anger of the duke, who wished to kill him, he fled and appealed to the prefect Julius for permission to confer the tonsure on Germain. This being granted, Amator, who felt that his own life was drawing to a close, returned. When the duke came to the church, Amator caused the doors to be barred and gave him the tonsure against his will, telling him to live as one destined to be his successor, and forthwith made him a deacon.

A wonderful change was instantly wrought in Germain, and he accepted everything that had happened as the Divine will. He gave himself up to prayer, study, and works of charity, and, when in a short time Amator died, Germain was unanimously chosen to fill the vacant see, being consecrated 7 July, 418. His splendid education now served him in good stead in the government of the diocese, which he administered with great sagacity. He distributed his goods among the poor, and practised great austerities. He built a large monastery dedicated to Sts. Cosmas and Damian on the banks of the Yonne, whither he was wont to retire in his spare moments. In 429 the bishops of Britain sent an appeal to the continent for help against the Pelagian heretics who were corrupting the faith of the island. St. Prosper, who was in Rome in 431, tells us in his Chronicle that Pope Celestine commissioned the Church in Gaul to send help, and Germain and Lupus of Troyes were deputed to cross over to Britain. On his way Germain stopped at Nanterre, where he met a young child, Genevieve, destined to become the patroness of Paris. One of the early lives of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, tells us that he formed one of St. Germain's suite on this occasion. Tradition tells us that the main discussion with the representatives of Pelagianism took place at St. Alban's, and resulted in the complete discomfiture of the heretics. Germain remained in Britain for some time preaching, and established several schools for the training of the clergy. On his return he went to Arles to visit the prefect, and obtained the remission of certain taxes that were oppressing the people of Auxerre. He constructed a church in honour of St. Alban about this time in his episcopal city.

In 447 he was invited to revisit Britain, and went with Severus, bishop of Trèves. It would seem that he did much for the Church there, if one can judge from the traditions handed down in Wales. On one occasion he is said to have aided the Britons to gain a great victory (called from the battle-cry, Alleluia! the Alleluia victory) over a marauding body of Saxons and Picts. On his return to Gaul, he proceeded to Armorica (Brittany) to intercede for the Armoricans who had been in rebellion. Their punishment was deferred at his entreaty, till he should have laid their case before the emperor. He set out for Italy, and reached Milan on 17 June, 448. Then he journeyed to Ravenna, where he interviewed the empress-mother, Galla Placidia, on their behalf. The empress and the bishop of the city, St. Peter Chrysologus, gave him a royal welcome, and the pardon he sought was granted. While there he died on 31 July, 450. His body, as he requested when dying, was brought back to Auxerre and interred in the Oratory of St. Maurice, which he had built. Later the oratory was replaced by a large church, which became a celebrated Benedictine abbey known as St. Germain's. This tribute to the memory of the saint was the gift of Queen Clotilda, wife of Clovis. Some centuries later, Charles the Bald had the shrine opened, and the body was found intact. It was embalmed and wrapped in precious cloths, and placed in a more prominent position in the church. There it was preserved till 1567, when Auxerre was taken by the Huguenots, who desecrated the shrine and cast out the relics. It has been said that the relics were afterwards picked up and placed in the Abbey of St. Marion on the banks of the Yonne, but the authenticity of the relics in this church has never been canonically recognized. St. Germain was honoured in Cornwall and at St. Alban's in England's pre-reformation days, and has always been the patron of Auxerre. 

Sources

TILLEMONT, Mémoires, XV, 8; BRIGHT in Dict. Christ. Biog., s.v.; Gallia Christiana, XII, 262; GUÉRIN, Vies des Saints (Paris, 1880), IX, 132-45; Acta SS., VII, July, 184-200; CONSTANTIUS, Vie de S. Germain d'Auxerre, tr. franç. avec une étude (1874); and for his connection with St. Patrick, HEALY, Life of St. Patrick (Dublin, 1905); Vita Tripartita in Rolls Series, ed. Whitley Stokes (London, 1905), passim; O'CONNOR, Rerum Hibern. Script. (1825), II, 92.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Elizabeth T. Knuth.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06472b.htm

Statue de Saint Germain dans l'abbaye Saint-Germain d'Auxerre

Saints of the Day – Germanus (Germain) of Auxerre

Article

Born in Auxerre, France, c.378; died at Ravenna, Italy, 448. Saint Germanus studied civil law in Rome and embarked upon a secular career. He was a high Roman official before his ordination to the priesthood in 418. Shortly thereafter he was consecrated bishop of Auxerre. He had relations with the church in Britain, to which he travelled in 429 and 447, and where he succeeded in completely eradicating Pelagianism. He led the Britons to their great “Alleluia” victory over the Saxons. He died in Ravenna, Italy, while on a mission for his people (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint Germanus is a bishop with an ass at his feet. Sometimes the image may contain huntsmen and wild game around him, or Germanus leading a dragon with seven heads (Roeder).

Although this entry is incomplete, more information on Saint Germanus can be found on the New Advent site.

MLA Citation

Katherine I Rabenstein. Saints of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info. 22 July 2020. Web. 8 October 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-germanus-germain-of-auxerre/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-germanus-germain-of-auxerre/

July 26

St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, Confessor

HE was born at Auxerre about the year 380, of noble parents. Having laid the foundation of sound literature at home, he studied eloquence and the civil law at Rome, and pleaded with great reputation in the court of the Præfectus-prætorio. He married a lady of great quality named Eustachia, and being taken notice of by the emperor Honorius, was raised by him to several honourable employments, and at last to that of duke in his own province, which dignity gave him the command over all the troops in that country. Germanus being returned to Auxerre, was careful to shun gross vices; but his religion seemed confined to principles of integrity, and his virtues were merely human; for he was unacquainted with the true spirit of mortification, humility, and prayer. The young duke had a passion for hunting, and hung up the heads of the wild beasts which he killed on a great tree in the middle of the city, as trophies of his diversion. No one could presume to show him the meanness and folly of this favourite petty vanity, by which he seemed to authorize the superstitious custom of the Pagans who did the like to honour their gods. St. Amator, who was at that time the zealous bishop of Auxerre, made him strong remonstrances on the danger of countenancing such remains of idolatry, but without effect. At last, watching an opportunity, he caused this tree to be cut down while Germanus was absent, who, upon hearing this news, grievously threatened the bishop. St. Amator withdrew for a while to Autun; where he learned by a revelation that Germanus was designed by God to be his successor. He therefore procured privately the consent of Julius, the prefect of Gaul, that he might give the tonsure to Germanus; for, by the laws, no officer could quit his employment without such a permission. Julius giving leave, St. Amator returned to Auxerre, and causing the church doors to be shut when Germanus was come in, he gave him the tonsure, and ordained him deacon. By this instance, it appears, that immediately after the general persecutions, clerks were distinguished by the tonsure. This proof is the stronger, as the priest Constantius wrote this life in the same age. Germanus durst not make any opposition for fear of resisting the will of God. St. Amator died soon after on the 1st of May in 418, and St. Germanus was unanimously chosen by the clergy and people to succeed him, and consecrated by the bishops of the province on the 7th of July, notwithstanding the great reluctance he discovered.

Full of a deep sense of the obligations of his new dignity, he became at once another man. He renounced all the pomps and vanities of the world, lived with his wife no otherwise than if she had been his sister, distributed all his possessions to the poor and to the Church, and embraced a life of poverty and austerity. From the day he was ordained bishop to his death, that is, for thirty years together, he never touched wheaten bread, wine, vinegar, oil, pulse, or salt. He began every meal by putting a few ashes in his mouth to renew in his soul a spirit of penance, and took no other sustenance than barley bread, which grain he had threshed and ground himself, that he might, as a true penitent, live by his own labour. He never ate but in the evening, sometimes about the middle of the week, often only on the seventh day. His dress was the same in winter and summer, and consisted of a cowl and tunic which he never changed till they were worn to pieces. He always wore a haircloth next his skin. His bed was enclosed with two boards, strewed with ashes, without a bolster, and covered with a sackcloth and one blanket. He always carried about him some relics of saints in a little box, tied to a leather string. He extended his hospitality to all sorts of persons, washed the feet of the poor, and served them with his own hands, at the same time that he himself fasted. He built a monastery over against Auxerre, on the other side of the river Yone, in honour of SS. Cosmas and Damian, which now goes by the name of St. Marian’s, from one of its first abbots. He found the sepulchres of several martyrs, particularly of a great multitude who had been put to death in the persecution of Aurelian, with St. Priscus, otherwise called St. Bry, in a place called Coucy, where their bodies had been thrown into a cistern or pit out of which he took them, and built in their honour a church and monastery, called at this day de Saints en Puy saye. St. Germanus gave all his landed estates to the Church, consisting of several agreeable and spacious manors, lying all contiguous to one another. 1 Seven of these he gave to the cathedral church, namely Appoigny, where his father and mother had been buried in St. John’s church; little Varsy, where stood a palace; great Varsy, Toucy, Poeilly, Marcigny, and Perigni. Three he settled on the monastery of St. Cosmas, namely, Monceaux, Fontenay, and Merilles. He bestowed three others, called Garchy, Concou, and Molins, on the church which he built in honour of St. Maurice, which at this day bears the name of St. Germanus himself. In this manner he reduced himself to great poverty, and to perpetuate the divine honour, and the relief of the indigent, enriched the church of Auxerre which he found very poor. By many like examples, it appears, that the great endowments of several churches were originally owing to the liberality of their bishops, as Fleury observes.

Pelagius began to dispute against the necessity of divine grace at Rome, about the year 405. Being himself by birth a Briton, it is not to be wondered that he should have disciples in Britain. Among these one Agricola, the son of Severinus, who, after the birth of this son, was chosen bishop and became a Pelagian, spread the poison of this heresy in our island. The deacon Palladius, whom Pope Celestine had sent to the places infected with this heresy, and whom he afterwards ordained bishop, and commissioned to go into Scotland, moved him to provide for the preservation of so many souls; and other Catholics in Britain had sent a deputation to the bishops in Gaul, entreating them to send over some able person to defend the faith and oppose the growing evil. Pope Celestine nominated St. Germanus of Auxerre to go thither in quality of his vicar in the year 429, as St. Prosper assures us. 2 The bishops of Gaul assembled in a numerous council for the same purpose, and agreed to entreat St. Lupus, who had then been only two years bishop of Troyes, to accompany St. Germanus in this important mission. 3 These two holy prelates, proceeding on their journey, came to Nanterre near Paris, where St. Germanus gave his blessing and good counsel to St. Genevieve, and foretold her future sanctity. She being at that time about fifteen years old, and desirous to consecrate herself a virgin to God, St. Germanus, after many solemn prayers in the church, received there her vow, and confirmed it by laying his right hand upon her head. 4

St. Germanus and St. Lupus embarking in the winter season, were overtaken with a furious tempest, which St. Germanus appeased by casting some drops of blessed oil, according to Constantius, but according to Bede, of holy water, into the sea, having first invoked the adorable Trinity. Being arrived in Britain they were met by a great multitude of people, and the fame of their sanctity, doctrine, and miracles soon filled the whole country. They confirmed the Catholics in all parts, and converted the heretics, preaching often in the highways and fields where the churches were not able to contain the crowd that flocked to them. The Pelagians every where shunned them; but being at length ashamed thus to condemn themselves by their flight and silence, accepted a conference. The disputation was held at Verulam before an incredible number of people. The heretics, who made their appearance with a great train and in rich apparel, spoke first. When they had talked a long time, the bishops answered them with great eloquence, and so invincibly supported their arguments with quotations from scripture, that their adversaries were fairly reduced to silence. The people applauded their victory with joyful acclamations. Before the assembly broke up, a certain tribune and his wife presented their little daughter of ten years of age, who was blind, to the two holy bishops; and they bid them take her to the Pelagians. But the latter joined the parents in begging the saints to pray for her. The two bishops made a short prayer; then Germanus called upon the Blessed Trinity; and taking from his neck the little box of relics which he wore, laid it upon the eyes of the girl before the whole assembly, who immediately recovered her sight, to the great joy of her parents and of all the people. From that day no one opposed the doctrine of the holy bishops. The saints went from this conference to return thanks to God at the tomb of St. Alban, the most illustrious martyr in Britain. St. Germanus caused his sepulchre to be opened, and deposited in it his box of relics of apostles and martyrs, taking from the same place a little of the dust which still retained some marks of the blood of St. Alban. This he carried away with him, and, at his return, built at Auxerre a church in his honour, where he placed these relics. 5

The Saxons from Germany on one side, and on the other the Picts, at that time harassed the Britons. Paul the deacon tells us, that an army of Picts and Scots invaded their territories whilst the two bishops were in the island; and Bishop Usher takes notice, that the Saxons and English who inhabited Sleswic, and all the German coast from Denmark to the Rhine, made descents upon Britain from time to time before the arrival of Hengist and Horsa in 449. The Britons having assembled an army against these plunderers, invited the two holy bishops into their camp, hoping to be protected by their prayers and presence. The saints complied with their request, but employed their time in bringing the idolaters to the faith, and the Christians to a reformation of their manners. Many of the former demanded baptism, and the saints prepared them to receive it at Easter, for it was then Lent. They erected a church in the camp, of green boughs twisted together, in which the catechumens received the sacrament of regeneration; and the whole army celebrated the festival with great devotion. After Easter, St. Germanus had recourse to a stratagem, by which, without bloodshed, he rescued his dear converts and the country out of the danger with which they were threatened. The enemy approaching, he put himself at the head of the Christians with so much skill and address as showed he had not forgotten his old profession of a general. He led his little army into a vale between two high mountains, and ordered his troops to send forth the same shout for which he would give them a sign. When the Saxon pirates came near them, he cried out thrice, Alleluiah, which was followed by the whole British army; and the sound was often repeated by the echo from the hills with as dreadful a noise as if the rocks had been rent asunder. The barbarians, in a sudden fright, judging from the shout that they were falling upon the swords of a mighty army, flung down their arms and ran away, leaving behind them all their baggage and a great booty. Many of them were drowned in crossing a river, by missing the fords. 6 Bishop Usher 7 says, this battle seems to have been fought near a town in Flintshire, called in the British tongue, Guidcruc, but in English, Mould. The place retains to this day the name of Maes Garmon, or German’s field. The two holy bishops after so many victories, returned home to their respective diocesses. 8

St. Germanus found his people loaded with extraordinary imposts, and undertook a journey to Arles, to solicit Auxiliaris, prefect of Gaul, in their behalf. On the road, the people every where met him in crowds, with the women and children, to receive his blessing. When he drew near to Arles, the prefect Auxiliaris himself, contrary to custom, had come a good way to meet him, and conducted him to the capital. He admired his gracefulness, and the charity and authority which his countenance and conversation displayed, and found him to exceed his reputation. He made him great presents, and entreated him to cure his wife who had been long ill of a quartan ague. He obtained his request, and granted St. Germanus the discharge from the taxes which he had asked for his people. The saint being returned home, applied himself earnestly to reform their manners; but used to retire from time to time to his monastery of SS. Cosmas and Damian. In 446 he was called again into Britain, to assist that church against the Pelagian heresy, which began a second time to raise its head there. He took for his companion St. Severus, who had been lately promoted to the archbishopric of Triers, and had formerly been a disciple of St. Lupus of Troyes. In Britain he sought out those who had been seduced by the heretics, and converted many of them; so that the obstinate sowers of those errors found no longer any retreat here, and quitted the island. A principal man of the country, called Elaphius, brought to him his son, who was in the flower of his age, and had one ham contracted and his leg withered. St. Germanus made him sit down, and touching his ham and leg, healed him in the presence of many. St. Germanus considering that ignorance could not be banished, nor the reformation which he had established maintain its ground, without regular schools for the instruction of the clergy, instituted schools of learning, by which means, “These churches continued afterwards pure in the faith, and free from heresy,” as Bede observes. 9 In South Wales, having ordained St. Iltutus priest, and St. Dubricius archbishop of Landaff, he charged them with the care of several schools, which soon grew very famous for the numbers, learning, and eminent sanctity of those who were there educated. Two of these, under the immediate direction of the latter, were seated at Hentlan and Moch-ros, places lying on the river Wye, where he had one thousand scholars, for years together. The names of the most eminent among them are mentioned in the life of St. Dubricius, written, as some maintain, by St. Thelian’s own hand in the ancient Landaff register. 10 The schools of St. Iltutus at Llan-Iltut (now Lantwit) near Boverton, and at Llan-elty, near Neath in Glamorganshire, were in like repute, and equally filled with the sons of the nobility from all parts of the island. Among his disciples we find St. Gildas, St. Leonorius, bishop and confessor, St. Samson, St. Magloire, St. Malo, St. Paul, afterwards bishop of Leon, and Daniel, whom St. Dubricius made bishop of Bangor, where he likewise instituted a seminary for the Britons. Paulinus, another disciple of St. Germanus, did the like at Whiteland in Caermarthenshire, where St. David and St. Theliau studied. The seminaries of Llancarvan, near Cowbridge, and the famous school of Bencor, in Flintshire, were also noble monuments of St. Germanus’s zeal. This saint was on his road back when he met a deputation from the inhabitants of Armorica or Brittany, who besought him to be their protector; for to punish them for a revolt, Aëtius, the Roman general in Gaul, had sent Eocarich, a Pagan and barbarous king of the Alemanni, to subdue them. St. Germanus boldly accosted the barbarian, stopping his horse by the bridle, at the head of his army. The German at first refused to hear him; but at length listened to his discourse, and by it was so much softened as to call off his troops, and agree not to ravage the province, on condition he should obtain the pardon of the people from the emperor, or from his general Aëtius. In order to procure this the saint undertook a journey to Ravenna, where the Emperor Valentinian III. then resided.

 He wrought several miracles on the way, and at Milan delivered a man who was possessed by the devil. He entered the city of Ravenna by night to avoid honours and pomp; but the people being aware of his precaution, a great crowd awaited for him, and saluted him with acclamations. He was received with great joy by the bishop, St. Peter Chrysologus; by the young Emperor Valentinian, and his mother Placidia. She sent to his house a great silver vessel filled with dainties, without any flesh, which she knew he would never touch. The saint sent her in return a barley loaf upon a wooden dish. The empress received it graciously, ordered the dish to be enchased with gold, and kept the loaf, by which several miraculous cures were performed. The emperor confirmed his request; but the restless people, by raising new disturbances, destroyed the effect of the imperial clemency. The saint was continually attended at Ravenna by six bishops, and wrought there many miracles. The son of Volusian, chancellor or secretary to the patrician Sigisvultus, being dead and cold, the saint was called, and having put all the company out of the chamber, he prostrated himself near the corpse, and prayed with tears. After some time the dead man began to stir, opened his eyes, and moved his fingers. St. Germanus raised him, he sat up, and, by degrees, was restored to perfect health. One day after matins, as the saint was talking with the bishops of religious matters, he said to them: “My brethren. I recommend my passage to your prayers. Methought I saw this night our Saviour, who gave me provision for a journey, and told me, it was to go into my native country, and to receive eternal rest.” A few days after, he fell sick. All the city was alarmed. The empress went to see him, and he desired the favour of her to send back his corpse into his own country; to which she assented, though very unwillingly. He died at Ravenna on the seventh day of his illness, which was the last of July in 448, having held his see thirty years and twenty-five days. The Empress Placidia took his reliquary, St. Peter Chrysologus his cowl and hair shirt, and the six other bishops divided his clothes among them. The eunuch Acholius, prefect of the emperor’s chamber, one of whose servants, when sick, the saint had cured, had his corpse embalmed; the empress clothed it with a rich habit, and gave a coffin of cypress wood; the emperor furnished the carriages, the expense of the journey, and the officers to attend it. The funeral pomp was most magnificent; the number of lights was so great, that they shone as broad-day. Every where as it passed, the people came to meet it, showing all manner of honours. Some levelled the ways and repaired the bridges, others bore the corpse, or at least sung psalms. The clergy of Auxerre went as far as the Alps to meet it. The sacred treasure was brought to that city fifty days after the saint’s death, and after having been exposed six days, was interred on the 1st of October in the oratory of St. Maurice, which he had founded, where stands at present the famous abbey which bears his name. His principal festival is kept on the 31st of this month. St. Germanus was the titular saint of many churches in England, and of the great abbey of Selby, in Yorkshire, the abbot whereof was a parliamentary baron. A chapel near Verulam in which St. Germanus had preached, was a place of great devotion to him among our ancestors, and was afterwards dedicated under his name. From him the parliamentary borough of St. German’s, in Cornwall, is called. See his life written by the priest Constantius, who was nearly his contemporary, and is commended by St. Sidonius Apollinaris in the same age: also Bede, and Nennius, the British historian, who wrote in 620. All these relate the miracles mentioned above. See also Leland’s Itinerary, Brown-Willis, Usher, Fleury, Tillemont, t. 15, Rivet. Hist. Littér, t. 2, p. 256, and Recueil des Lettres sur la Vèrification des Reliques de St. Germain d’Auxerre, 1753, in 8vo.

Note 1. Hist. Episc. Antisiodor. See Messieurs De Ste. Marthe, in Gallia Christiana. [back]

Note 2. Prosp. in Chron. et 1, contra Collat. c. 21. [back]

Note 3. Bede Hist. l. 1, c. 17, Constant. in vitâ S. German. [back]

Note 4. Vita S. Genevevæ. [back]

Note 5. Hist. Episcop. Antisiod. [back]

Note 6. Bede, Hist. l. 1, c. 1. Gildas, ep. pp. 17, 18. Constantius in vitâ S. Germani. Carte, pp. 184, 185. [back]

Note 7. Antiq. Brit. c. 11, pp. 179, 180. Carte, t. 1, p. 288. [back]

Note 8. Carte (pp. 184, 186,) thinks the Alleluiah victory gained over the Picts and Saxons, and the other transactions of St. Germanus in Wales, happened in his second mission. For SS. Dubricius and Iltutus, whom he ordained bishops, lived beyond the year 512, according to some until 527 or even 540. Sir Henry Spelman and Wilkins, (Conc. Brit. t. 1, p. 1,) on this account place the synod of Verulam, held by St. Germanus against the Pelagians, in 446. [back]

Note 9. Bede Hist. l. 1, c. 21. Bollandus and Henschenius in vitâ S. Theliau ad 9 February, &c. [back]

Note 10. Stillingfleet, Orig. Britan. p. 349. [back]

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

SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-vii-july/st-germanus-bishop-of-auxerre-confessor

Golden Legend – Life of Saint Germain

Here next followeth the life of Saint Germain and first the interpretation of his name.

Germain is said of germ and of ana that is high, that is that there were found in the seed of Germain three sovereign things, that is heat natural, humour, and nourishing, and reason of semence or seed. Germain is said seed burgeoning, for he had in him heat by ardour of great dilection, humour by eagerness of devotion, and seed by virtue of his predication by which he engendered much people to the faith. And Constantinus the priest wrote his life to Saint Censurius, bishop of Auxerre.

Of Saint Germain.

Saint Germain was of much noble lineage born in the city of Auxerre and was well learned in the arts liberal. And after, he went to Rome for to learn the sciences of droit and of the law, and there received he so much dignity that the senate sent him to the Frenchmen for to have the rule and dignity of Burgundy. And thus as he governed the city of Auxerre more diligently than the other, there was in the middle of the city a tree called a pineapple tree, on which were hanged on the branches of this tree, for the marvel of chase and hunting, the heads of wild beasts that had been slain. But when Saint Amadour, which was bishop of this city, reproved them of such vanities, and warned them to hew down this tree, they would not consent thereto in any manner. And on a time, when Germain was not in the city, the bishop did do hew down this tree, and did do burn it. And when Germain knew it he was much angry, and forgot christian religion, and came with a great multitude of knights for to have slain the bishop. And then the bishop knew by revelation divine that Saint Germain should be his successor, and forbare and gave place to his hastiness, and went to Autun, and after, when he was come again to Auxerre, he enclosed much subtilly Germain within the church and sacred him there, and said to him that he should be his successor in the bishopric, and so he was; for a little after Saint Amadour died and all the people required Saint Germain to be bishop, and then he gave all his riches to poor people, and changed his wife into his sister, and tormented his body by the space of thirty years, that he never ate bread of wheat, ne drank wine, ne used no pottage, and would have never salt to make his meat savoury. And two times in the year he would drink wine, that was at Easter and Christmas, and yet for to take away the savour of the wine he would put therein plenty of water, and in his refection he would take barley bread with ashes, and fasted every day, and never ate but in the even. In winter ne summer he had but one clothing, and that was the hair next his body, a coat and a gown, and if it happed so that he gave not his vesture to some poor body, he would wear it till it were broken and torn. His bed was environed with ashes, hair, and sackcloth, and his head lay no higher than his shoulders, but all day wept, and bare about his neck divers relics of saints. He ware none other clothing, and he went oft barefoot and seldom ware any girdle. The life that he led was above man’s power. His life was so straight and hard that it was marvel and pity to see his flesh, and was like a thing not credible, and he did so many miracles that, if his merits had not gone before, they should have been trowed phantasms. In a time he was harboured in a place where always after supper the tables were covered when all men had supped, whereof he marvelled, and demanded the host wherefore they covered the tables again after supper, and the host said it was for his neighbours that came to drink each with other. And that night Saint Germain concluded to watch for to see what it should be. It was not long after that there came in there a great multitude of devils, and sat at the table in likeness of men and women; and when the holy man saw them he commanded them that they should not depart, and then sent to awake the host, and all the neighbours and guests on all sides, in such wise that every man and woman were found in their houses, and he made all them to come and see if they knew any of them. And they said nay; and then he showed them that they were devils; of whom the people was much abashed because the devils mocked them so. And then Saint Germain conjured them, and they went their way, and never after returned.

In a time Saint Lupus bishop of Troyes was besieged by the king Attila, and Saint Lupus went upon the gate, and demanded who he was that assieged and assailed them, and the king said to him: I am he, Attila, the scourge and rod of God. And then the meek bishop said to him, sore weeping: I am Lupus that have wasted the flock of God and have need of the scourging of God; and then Saint Lupus commanded to open the gates, and all the people of Attila were so, by the will of God, blinded, and they passed through the town, and saw no men of the city, ne did no hurt to nobody. And then the blessed Saint Lupus took Saint Germain with him and went into Britain, whereas there were heresies. But when they were on the sea there arose a right great tempest, which by the merits of Saint Germain was anon appeased. Then they were honestly received of the people of the country, whose coming the devils that Saint Germain had driven out of such bodies as were beset had told their coming. And when they had been a while in England and had convanquished the heretics, they returned into their countries and proper places.

On a time it happed that Saint Germain lay sick of a malady in a street, and the street was taken with fire, and men counselled him to be borne thence for peril of the fire, and then he put himself against the fire, and the flame burnt all about, and touched nothing that Germain lay in.

Another time he returned in to Britain for the heresies, and one of his disciples followed him hastily, and fell sick and lay down in a town, and there died; and when Saint Germain returned thereby he demanded to see the sepulchre of his disciple which there was dead, and did do open his sepulchre, and he called him by his name, and demanded him what he did, and if he would no longer go with him, and that other answered and said that he was well, and all things were to him soft and sweet, and would no more come here; and the holy man granted it him that he should abide in rest, and he remised himself in his grave and slept in our Lord.

He preached on a time in the country of Britain in such wise that the king of Britain forbade him his house, and his people also. Then it happed that the king’s cowherd went to the pasture with his kine, and received his portion at the king’s palace, and bare it to his little house. Then went Saint Germain and his fellowship for to see where they might be lodged, and the cowherd brought them to his house, and he saw that they had great hunger, but he had not meat for them and him. This cowherd had but one calf; he slew it and gave it to them, and they took it debonairly of the little good that he had, and when they had supped and said graces, Saint Germain did do gather together all the bones of the calf and laid them under the skin, and after, made his prayers to God, and anon then the calf arose all alive and whole as he was tofore. And the next day after, Saint Germain demanded the king why he had forbidden him his house, and the king was much abashed and could not answer. Then said Saint Germain to him: Thou shalt no more reign, but thou shalt leave thy realm to one better than thee.

And as they of Saxony should fight against the Britons, and they saw that they were but few, and saw the holy man pass by, they called him. And then Saint Germain and his fellows preached so long to them that they came to grace of baptism. And on Easter day they cast off their armours, and by great desire of faith purposed them to fight. And when the other heard that, they purposed to go against them hardily for they were dissevered, and S Germain hid him away with his people, and warned them when he cried: Alleluia! they should answer with one voice, and when the saints had cried, alleluia! and the other had answered, their enemies had so great dread that they threw all their harness and armours away, and weened certainly that all the mountains should fall on them and also heaven, and so they fled all afraid.

On a time as Saint Germain passed by Autun and went to the tomb of Saint Cassian, he enquired how it stood with him; he answered to him out of the tomb wherein he day, and said: I am in sweet rest and abide the coming of the Redeemer. And he said to him: Rest in peace in the name of our Lord, and pray for us devoutly that we may deserve the holy joys of the resurrection. And when Saint Germain came in Ravenna he was received much honorably of Placida the queen, and of Valentinian her son, and at the supper she sent to him a great vessel of silver full of delicious meat, the which he received, and gave the meat to his servants, and retained the vessel of silver for to give to the poor. And instead of this gift he sent to the queen a dish of wood or of tree and a barley loaf, the which she received gladly, and after, did do cover that dish with silver and kept it long in great devotion. On a time that the said queen had desired him to dine with her, he accorded thereto gladly, and because he was weary of travail, of fasting and watching, he came upon an ass from his house unto the palace, and anon as he was at dinner his ass died. And when the queen knew that his ass was dead, she was much sorrowful, and did do present him a right fair and good horse. And when the saint saw him so richly adorned and apparelled he would in no wise take it, but said: Show to me where mine ass is, for he that brought me hither shall bring me home again. And then he went to his ass, that lay dead, and said to him: Let us return home again, and anon the ass arose and shook him as he had risen from sleep and that he had no harm, and then Germain remounted on his ass and rode home. But tofore ere he departed from Ravenna he said that he should not be long in this world, and anon after he became sick of the fevers, and the seventh day after, he passed unto our Lord and his body was borne into France, as he had required to the queen. And he died about the year of our Lord four hundred and twenty.

Saint Germain had promised, by his life, to Saint Eusebius bishop of Versailles, that when he returned he should hallow his church that he had founded and when Saint Eusebius, bishop of Versailles understood that he was dead, he would himself hallow his church, and made to light the candles and tapers, but the more they lighted them the more were they extinct and put out. And when Eusebius saw that, he perceived that the dedication was made ere he would come and do it, or else of some other bishop. And when the body of Saint Germain was brought to Versailles, as soon as it was entered in to the church all the tapers were lit divinely. Then Saint Eusebius remembered the promises of Saint Germain, and that which he promised, living, he would do it being dead. But it is not to be understood of the great Eusebius of Versailles, that this was done in his time, for he died under Valens the emperor, and from the death of him unto the death of Saint Germain was more than fifty years from that one to that other, but this was another Eusebius under whom this said thing was done.

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/golden-legend-life-of-saint-germain/

Saint Germanus of Auxerre - Bishop

Saint Germanus of Auxerre,

Pray for us !

Saint of the Day : July 31

Born : c.378 at Auxerre, France

Died : 31 July 448 at Ravenna, Italy of natural causes

Patronage : Auxerre, France

He was born at Auxerre about the year 380, of noble parents. Having laid the foundation of sound literature at home, he studied eloquence and the civil law at Rome, and pleaded with great reputation in the court of the Præfectus-prætorio. He married a lady of great quality named Eustachia, and being taken notice of by the emperor Honorius, was raised by him to several honourable employments, and at last to that of duke in his own province, which dignity gave him the command over all the troops in that country. Germanus being returned to Auxerre, was careful to shun gross vices; but his religion seemed confined to principles of integrity, and his virtues were merely human; for he was unacquainted with the true spirit of mortification, humility, and prayer. The young duke had a passion for hunting, and hung up the heads of the wild beasts which he killed on a great tree in the middle of the city, as trophies of his diversion. No one could presume to show him the meanness and folly of this favourite petty vanity, by which he seemed to authorize the superstitious custom of the Pagans who did the like to honour their gods. Saint Amator, who was at that time the zealous bishop of Auxerre, made him strong remonstrances on the danger of countenancing such remains of idolatry, but without effect. At last, watching an opportunity, he caused this tree to be cut down while Germanus was absent, who, upon hearing this news, grievously threatened the bishop. Saint Amator withdrew for a while to Autun; where he learned by a revelation that Germanus was designed by God to be his successor. He therefore procured privately the consent of Julius, the prefect of Gaul, that he might give the tonsure to Germanus; for, by the laws, no officer could quit his employment without such a permission. Julius giving leave, Saint Amator returned to Auxerre, and causing the church doors to be shut when Germanus was come in, he gave him the tonsure, and ordained him deacon. By this instance, it appears, that immediately after the general persecutions, clerks were distinguished by the tonsure. This proof is the stronger, as the priest Constantius wrote this life in the same age. Germanus durst not make any opposition for fear of resisting the will of God. Saint Amator died soon after on the 1st of May in 418, and Saint Germanus was unanimously chosen by the clergy and people to succeed him, and consecrated by the bishops of the province on the 7th of July, notwithstanding the great reluctance he discovered.

Full of a deep sense of the obligations of his new dignity, he became at once another man. He renounced all the pomps and vanities of the world, lived with his wife no otherwise than if she had been his sister, distributed all his possessions to the poor and to the Church, and embraced a life of poverty and austerity. From the day he was ordained bishop to his death, that is, for thirty years together, he never touched wheaten bread, wine, vinegar, oil, pulse, or salt. He began every meal by putting a few ashes in his mouth to renew in his soul a spirit of penance, and took no other sustenance than barley bread, which grain he had threshed and ground himself, that he might, as a true penitent, live by his own labour. He never ate but in the evening, sometimes about the middle of the week, often only on the seventh day. His dress was the same in winter and summer, and consisted of a cowl and tunic which he never changed till they were worn to pieces. He always wore a haircloth next his skin. His bed was enclosed with two boards, strewed with ashes, without a bolster, and covered with a sackcloth and one blanket. He always carried about him some relics of saints in a little box, tied to a leather string. He extended his hospitality to all sorts of persons, washed the feet of the poor, and served them with his own hands, at the same time that he himself fasted. He built a monastery over against Auxerre, on the other side of the river Yone, in honour of Saints Cosmas and Damian, which now goes by the name of Saint Marian’s, from one of its first abbots. He found the sepulchres of several martyrs, particularly of a great multitude who had been put to death in the persecution of Aurelian, with Saint Priscus, otherwise called Saint Bry, in a place called Coucy, where their bodies had been thrown into a cistern or pit out of which he took them, and built in their honour a church and monastery, called at this day de Saints en Puy saye. Saint Germanus gave all his landed estates to the Church, consisting of several agreeable and spacious manors, lying all contiguous to one another. Seven of these he gave to the cathedral church, namely Appoigny, where his father and mother had been buried in Saint John’s church; little Varsy, where stood a palace; great Varsy, Toucy, Poeilly, Marcigny, and Perigni. Three he settled on the monastery of Saint Cosmas, namely, Monceaux, Fontenay, and Merilles. He bestowed three others, called Garchy, Concou, and Molins, on the church which he built in honour of Saint Maurice, which at this day bears the name of Saint Germanus himself. In this manner he reduced himself to great poverty, and to perpetuate the divine honour, and the relief of the indigent, enriched the church of Auxerre which he found very poor. By many like examples, it appears, that the great endowments of several churches were originally owing to the liberality of their bishops, as Fleury observes.

Pelagius began to dispute against the necessity of divine grace at Rome, about the year 405. Being himself by birth a Briton, it is not to be wondered that he should have disciples in Britain. Among these one Agricola, the son of Severinus, who, after the birth of this son, was chosen bishop and became a Pelagian, spread the poison of this heresy in our island. The deacon Palladius, whom Pope Celestine had sent to the places infected with this heresy, and whom he afterwards ordained bishop, and commissioned to go into Scotland, moved him to provide for the preservation of so many souls; and other Catholics in Britain had sent a deputation to the bishops in Gaul, entreating them to send over some able person to defend the faith and oppose the growing evil. Pope Celestine nominated Saint Germanus of Auxerre to go thither in quality of his vicar in the year 429, as Saint Prosper assures us. The bishops of Gaul assembled in a numerous council for the same purpose, and agreed to entreat Saint Lupus, who had then been only two years bishop of Troyes, to accompany Saint Germanus in this important mission. These two holy prelates, proceeding on their journey, came to Nanterre near Paris, where Saint Germanus gave his blessing and good counsel to Saint Genevieve, and foretold her future sanctity. She being at that time about fifteen years old, and desirous to consecrate herself a virgin to God, Saint Germanus, after many solemn prayers in the church, received there her vow, and confirmed it by laying his right hand upon her head.

Saint Germanus and Saint Lupus embarking in the winter season, were overtaken with a furious tempest, which Saint Germanus appeased by casting some drops of blessed oil, according to Constantius, but according to Bede, of holy water, into the sea, having first invoked the adorable Trinity. Being arrived in Britain they were met by a great multitude of people, and the fame of their sanctity, doctrine, and miracles soon filled the whole country. They confirmed the Catholics in all parts, and converted the heretics, preaching often in the highways and fields where the churches were not able to contain the crowd that flocked to them. The Pelagians every where shunned them; but being at length ashamed thus to condemn themselves by their flight and silence, accepted a conference. The disputation was held at Verulam before an incredible number of people. The heretics, who made their appearance with a great train and in rich apparel, spoke first. When they had talked a long time, the bishops answered them with great eloquence, and so invincibly supported their arguments with quotations from scripture, that their adversaries were fairly reduced to silence. The people applauded their victory with joyful acclamations. Before the assembly broke up, a certain tribune and his wife presented their little daughter of ten years of age, who was blind, to the two holy bishops; and they bid them take her to the Pelagians. But the latter joined the parents in begging the saints to pray for her. The two bishops made a short prayer; then Germanus called upon the Blessed Trinity; and taking from his neck the little box of relics which he wore, laid it upon the eyes of the girl before the whole assembly, who immediately recovered her sight, to the great joy of her parents and of all the people. From that day no one opposed the doctrine of the holy bishops. The saints went from this conference to return thanks to God at the tomb of Saint Alban, the most illustrious martyr in Britain. Saint Germanus caused his sepulchre to be opened, and deposited in it his box of relics of apostles and martyrs, taking from the same place a little of the dust which still retained some marks of the blood of Saint Alban. This he carried away with him, and, at his return, built at Auxerre a church in his honour, where he placed these relics.

The Saxons from Germany on one side, and on the other the Picts, at that time harassed the Britons. Paul the deacon tells us, that an army of Picts and Scots invaded their territories whilst the two bishops were in the island; and Bishop Usher takes notice, that the Saxons and English who inhabited Sleswic, and all the German coast from Denmark to the Rhine, made descents upon Britain from time to time before the arrival of Hengist and Horsa in 449. The Britons having assembled an army against these plunderers, invited the two holy bishops into their camp, hoping to be protected by their prayers and presence. The saints complied with their request, but employed their time in bringing the idolaters to the faith, and the Christians to a reformation of their manners. Many of the former demanded baptism, and the saints prepared them to receive it at Easter, for it was then Lent. They erected a church in the camp, of green boughs twisted together, in which the catechumens received the sacrament of regeneration; and the whole army celebrated the festival with great devotion. After Easter, Saint Germanus had recourse to a stratagem, by which, without bloodshed, he rescued his dear converts and the country out of the danger with which they were threatened. The enemy approaching, he put himself at the head of the Christians with so much skill and address as showed he had not forgotten his old profession of a general. He led his little army into a vale between two high mountains, and ordered his troops to send forth the same shout for which he would give them a sign. When the Saxon pirates came near them, he cried out thrice, Alleluiah, which was followed by the whole British army; and the sound was often repeated by the echo from the hills with as dreadful a noise as if the rocks had been rent asunder. The barbarians, in a sudden fright, judging from the shout that they were falling upon the swords of a mighty army, flung down their arms and ran away, leaving behind them all their baggage and a great booty. Many of them were drowned in crossing a river, by missing the fords. Bishop Usher says, this battle seems to have been fought near a town in Flintshire, called in the British tongue, Guidcruc, but in English, Mould. The place retains to this day the name of Maes Garmon, or German’s field. The two holy bishops after so many victories, returned home to their respective diocesses.

Saint Germanus found his people loaded with extraordinary imposts, and undertook a journey to Arles, to solicit Auxiliaris, prefect of Gaul, in their behalf. On the road, the people every where met him in crowds, with the women and children, to receive his blessing. When he drew near to Arles, the prefect Auxiliaris himself, contrary to custom, had come a good way to meet him, and conducted him to the capital. He admired his gracefulness, and the charity and authority which his countenance and conversation displayed, and found him to exceed his reputation. He made him great presents, and entreated him to cure his wife who had been long ill of a quartan ague. He obtained his request, and granted Saint Germanus the discharge from the taxes which he had asked for his people. The saint being returned home, applied himself earnestly to reform their manners; but used to retire from time to time to his monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian. In 446 he was called again into Britain, to assist that church against the Pelagian heresy, which began a second time to raise its head there. He took for his companion Saint Severus, who had been lately promoted to the archbishopric of Triers, and had formerly been a disciple of Saint Lupus of Troyes. In Britain he sought out those who had been seduced by the heretics, and converted many of them; so that the obstinate sowers of those errors found no longer any retreat here, and quitted the island. A principal man of the country, called Elaphius, brought to him his son, who was in the flower of his age, and had one ham contracted and his leg withered. Saint Germanus made him sit down, and touching his ham and leg, healed him in the presence of many. Saint Germanus considering that ignorance could not be banished, nor the reformation which he had established maintain its ground, without regular schools for the instruction of the clergy, instituted schools of learning, by which means, “These churches continued afterwards pure in the faith, and free from heresy,” as Bede observes. In South Wales, having ordained Saint Iltutus priest, and Saint Dubricius archbishop of Landaff, he charged them with the care of several schools, which soon grew very famous for the numbers, learning, and eminent sanctity of those who were there educated. Two of these, under the immediate direction of the latter, were seated at Hentlan and Moch-ros, places lying on the river Wye, where he had one thousand scholars, for years together. The names of the most eminent among them are mentioned in the life of Saint Dubricius, written, as some maintain, by Saint Thelian’s own hand in the ancient Landaff register. The schools of Saint Iltutus at Llan-Iltut (now Lantwit) near Boverton, and at Llan-elty, near Neath in Glamorganshire, were in like repute, and equally filled with the sons of the nobility from all parts of the island. Among his disciples we find Saint Gildas, Saint Leonorius, bishop and confessor, Saint Samson, Saint Magloire, Saint Malo, Saint Paul, afterwards bishop of Leon, and Daniel, whom Saint Dubricius made bishop of Bangor, where he likewise instituted a seminary for the Britons. Paulinus, another disciple of Saint Germanus, did the like at Whiteland in Caermarthenshire, where Saint David and Saint Theliau studied. The seminaries of Llancarvan, near Cowbridge, and the famous school of Bencor, in Flintshire, were also noble monuments of Saint Germanus’s zeal. This saint was on his road back when he met a deputation from the inhabitants of Armorica or Brittany, who besought him to be their protector; for to punish them for a revolt, Aëtius, the Roman general in Gaul, had sent Eocarich, a Pagan and barbarous king of the Alemanni, to subdue them. Saint Germanus boldly accosted the barbarian, stopping his horse by the bridle, at the head of his army. The German at first refused to hear him; but at length listened to his discourse, and by it was so much softened as to call off his troops, and agree not to ravage the province, on condition he should obtain the pardon of the people from the emperor, or from his general Aëtius. In order to procure this the saint undertook a journey to Ravenna, where the Emperor Valentinian III then resided.

He wrought several miracles on the way, and at Milan delivered a man who was possessed by the devil. He entered the city of Ravenna by night to avoid honours and pomp; but the people being aware of his precaution, a great crowd awaited for him, and saluted him with acclamations. He was received with great joy by the bishop, Saint Peter Chrysologus; by the young Emperor Valentinian, and his mother Placidia. She sent to his house a great silver vessel filled with dainties, without any flesh, which she knew he would never touch. The saint sent her in return a barley loaf upon a wooden dish. The empress received it graciously, ordered the dish to be enchased with gold, and kept the loaf, by which several miraculous cures were performed. The emperor confirmed his request; but the restless people, by raising new disturbances, destroyed the effect of the imperial clemency. The saint was continually attended at Ravenna by six bishops, and wrought there many miracles. The son of Volusian, chancellor or secretary to the patrician Sigisvultus, being dead and cold, the saint was called, and having put all the company out of the chamber, he prostrated himself near the corpse, and prayed with tears. After some time the dead man began to stir, opened his eyes, and moved his fingers. Saint Germanus raised him, he sat up, and, by degrees, was restored to perfect health. One day after matins, as the saint was talking with the bishops of religious matters, he said to them: “My brethren. I recommend my passage to your prayers. Methought I saw this night our Saviour, who gave me provision for a journey, and told me, it was to go into my native country, and to receive eternal rest.” A few days after, he fell sick. All the city was alarmed. The empress went to see him, and he desired the favour of her to send back his corpse into his own country; to which she assented, though very unwillingly. He died at Ravenna on the seventh day of his illness, which was the last of July in 448, having held his see thirty years and twenty-five days. The Empress Placidia took his reliquary, Saint Peter Chrysologus his cowl and hair shirt, and the six other bishops divided his clothes among them. The eunuch Acholius, prefect of the emperor’s chamber, one of whose servants, when sick, the saint had cured, had his corpse embalmed; the empress clothed it with a rich habit, and gave a coffin of cypress wood; the emperor furnished the carriages, the expense of the journey, and the officers to attend it. The funeral pomp was most magnificent; the number of lights was so great, that they shone as broad-day. Every where as it passed, the people came to meet it, showing all manner of honours. Some levelled the ways and repaired the bridges, others bore the corpse, or at least sung psalms. The clergy of Auxerre went as far as the Alps to meet it. The sacred treasure was brought to that city fifty days after the saint’s death, and after having been exposed six days, was interred on the 1st of October in the oratory of Saint Maurice, which he had founded, where stands at present the famous abbey which bears his name. His principal festival is kept on the 31st of this month. Saint Germanus was the titular saint of many churches in England, and of the great abbey of Selby, in Yorkshire, the abbot whereof was a parliamentary baron. A chapel near Verulam in which Saint Germanus had preached, was a place of great devotion to him among our ancestors, and was afterwards dedicated under his name. From him the parliamentary borough of Saint German’s, in Cornwall, is called. See his life written by the priest Constantius, who was nearly his contemporary, and is commended by Saint Sidonius Apollinaris in the same age: also Bede, and Nennius, the British historian, who wrote in 620. All these relate the miracles mentioned above.

SOURCE : https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2018/07/saint-germanus-of-auxerre-bishop.html

The saint who helped keep Christianity alive as the Roman empire crumbled

St Germanus of Auxerre (August 3) led the Britons in a victory against Saxon raiders

In AD 410 the leaders of Britain, attacked by Irish and Picts raiders and increasingly by Saxon pirates on its east coast, appealed to Rome for help. The answer was crushing: “Look after your own affairs.”

The empire was crumbling, and the Roman part of the island would endure two or three centuries of conflict and anarchy as the light of Christianity and civilisation were extinguished.

Yet the faith and civilisation of Europe was kept alive in pockets by a few individuals, among them Germanus of Auxurre, a Gaulish bishop and one of the few chroniclers of post-Roman Britain. He visited the country at some point around 429, when archaeological evidence suggests that currency had been replaced by barter and the cities were being evacuated in the face of the Saxon onslaught.

Raised in one of the noblest families in Gaul in the latter portion of the fourth century, Germanus had court connections and married Eustachia, a friend of the emperor, who made Germanus one of six governors of Gaul.

His path to the priesthood was an unusual one, to say the least. The Duke, as he was then styled, fell out with the local bishop, St Amator, by hanging hunting trophies on a tree that had been used for pagan worship, and when Germanus was away the bishop had the tree cut down and the trophies burned.

Fearing that Germanus would kill him, the elderly Amator asked for permission for his enemy to succeed him, and when he arrived at the church the bishop forced the crozier on him. (The physical forcing of the symbols of office was not an uncommon occurrence in early medieval Europe.) He was consecrated in 418, aged 40, and proved to be an excellent shepherd, helping the poor during a very bleak period and building monasteries.

In 429 the Romans withdrew from Britain and the bishops of Gaul chose to send Germanus and his friend Lupus of Troyes to visit the island and rid it of Pelagianism. Along the way they passed through Nanterre and saw a young girl who would become St Genevieve of Paris.

Having defeated the heresy, they visited St Alban, and afterwards he led the Britons in a victory against Saxon raiders. This was the period of the British leader Vortigen, who made the mistake of asking Jutes to settle in Cantium, and of the slightly later mysterious figures who may have inspired Arthur. Germanus was even depicted in the 2004 film King Arthur.

Whether he made a second visit to Britain is unknown. He died in Ravenna while petitioning the government to show mercy to the people of Armorica, today’s Britanny, and is buried at the Abbey of Saint-Germain d’Auzerre.

His cult spread across northern France, although there are also a number of churches in Cornwall that bear his name. He also had a great influence on the Celtic Church that thrived in the islands, but it was not until the arrival of St Augustine of Canterbury in 597 that the Saxon-controlled parts of the island returned to the faith.

SOURCE : https://web.archive.org/web/20150920211455/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/spirituallife/saintoftheweek/2013/07/25/the-saint-who-helped-keep-christianity-alive-as-the-roman-empire-crumbled/

Isabelle Pinson  (1769–1855), Rencontre de saint Germain et sainte Geneviève, distribuant des aumônes, 1821, 162 x 127, Église Saint-Germain de Saint-Germain-lès-Corbeil

Germanus the Governor, by Leonora Blanche Lang

When, at the end of the fourth century after Christ, the boy Germanus was growing into a young man, his parents, the noble Rusticus and Germanilla, thought it was time he should go to Rome to finish his education, just as in these days he would have been sent to Oxford or Cambridge. Like the sons of other rich parents, he had been well taught, and we may be quite sure that very few Roman fathers allowed their children to play when they should have been doing their lessons. For though Rusticus lived with his family in Auxerre, a little Gaulish town on the river Yonne, he counted himself none the less a Roman and the subject of Gratian, Emperor of the West, when Germanus was born.

By that time there were two emperors, one reigning in Constantinople and the other in Rome; and both empires were, in name, Christian, though many districts of country in either were really as much heathen as ever. Auxerre, however, was like other places in Gaul a Christian city, and had a bishop; and Rusticus had seen that Germanus was duly baptised, and had learned something about his religion, as well as grammar, astronomy, geometry, and literature. Still, Rusticus had no intention of making the boy a priest; Germanus was to be a lawyer, and as he was not only fond of arguing, but quick to see what was to be done in matters of daily life, his father hoped he might become a great man some day. And so he did.

It was a long way from Auxerre to Rome, but that made it all the more exciting for a boy of fifteen or sixteen. We are not told exactly how he travelled, but most likely he was put under the charge of some merchant or priest returning to the Holy City, who would ride with him and two or three servants as far as the river Rhone, and there they would take a boat, which would carry them down to Marseilles. At Marseilles they would find plenty of ships sailing for Italy, one of which would undertake to land them at Ostia, the port of Rome, at the mouth of the Tiber. Once he was in Rome, Rusticus had no further anxiety about his son, for the students were as carefully looked after as they are in one of our own Universities. They were obliged to bring a written declaration of the date of their births, the names of their parents, and a statement of the profession they had chosen. These particulars were all set down in a book, and then they were sent, under the charge of an inspector, to the rooms allotted to them. From time to time the inspector visited them to see that they were going on well, and attending their classes and lectures. But in no case did the law permit the strangers to stay in Rome after they were twenty, as it was considered that by that age their education ought to be finished, and if they remained longer it was only to idle and get into mischief.

Germanus made the most of his years in Rome, and then, when they were over, returned to Auxerre and began to plead in the law courts. He loved his work, and threw himself heart and soul into it. He spoke well and easily, and gained many cases for his clients and much money for himself. Soon his fame reached the ears of the Prefect of Gaul, who ruled over the fourth, or western part of the empire, and he, like a true Roman, always ready to detect and make use of the best tools, offered the successful lawyer a post under Government. This Germanus gladly accepted. He quickly rose from one office to another, and must have been quite a young man when he became Duke and Governor of the Provinces of Armorica and Nervica, which included the greater part of modern France; only the Prefect and the Vice-Prefect were above him.

Shortly before he obtained this higher honour, Germanus had married a girl of a noble family, who was rich and good, called Eustachia. He bought a country place a few miles out of Auxerre, and whenever he felt he could allow himself a holiday, moved there with his wife, in order to enjoy some hunting.

In this way several years passed, when an event took place which changed the whole course of the life of Germanus.

In the midst of the town there was a wide open space, where grew a very old pear tree, under which the citizens used to assemble to talk over their affairs, or to have a gossip in the summer evenings. Now it was the habit of Germanus, from time to time, to hang one or two dried specimens of game upon the branches. It seems to us a harmless thing enough, but it greatly displeased the Bishop, who in those days was the ruling power in most of the cities. He thought it would remind the people of the heathen custom of decorating the branches of this very tree with hideous masks of men and beasts, as scarecrows or even as charms. So he wrote to Germanus to beg him to give up this practice, but the Governor paid no heed. Then he went to his house, and still Germanus would not listen. At length the Bishop, whose name was Amator, resolved to settle the matter himself, and when Germanus, who had been away on business, returned to his country house, the news met him that the old pear tree had been cut down to its roots and burnt, the beasts that were on it being thrown outside the walls.

The Governor’s face grew white with anger at the tale.

Cut down the pear tree, has he? he cried, when his wrath permitted him to speak. He seems to have forgotten that I have power of life and death in my province! I will teach him how to defy me! and he hastily ordered a large body of men to be ready to ride with him to Auxerre as soon as he had finished some urgent business which awaited him.

But though he was as quick as he could, he was yet too late. One of his household managed to warn the Bishop, who was loved by all, and Amator declared himself happy in being permitted to die for what he believed to be the truth. Yet even as he spoke, a secret voice said to his soul, that though his life on earth would not last much longer, it was not Germanus who would kill him, and strange as it appeared it was that very Germanus who would succeed him as Bishop.

When Amator understood these things he knew what was required of him; and he set forth instantly to ride to Autun where the Prefect happened to be, for it was the law that no office could be conferred without his leave, and it was fortunate that at this moment he was so near at hand.

The Prefect received Amator with great honour, and asked for his blessing; then he begged his guest to explain the reason of this sudden visit. In a few words Amator told him all that had occurred and of the revelation of his approaching death.

But will the people, who have the right to elect their Bishop, be satisfied with Germanus? inquired the Prefect, especially when they are aware he has quarrelled with you.

Yes, if I choose him, answered Amator, and they feel it is the will of God. But I wished to make sure that you would not oppose it.

I am in your hands, replied the Prefect, and with that Amator was content and returned to Auxerre.

By this time Germanus had begun to understand the folly of his conduct, and as soon as he knew that the Bishop had come back, he went with his attendants to Auxerre, curious to learn what business had taken Amator to the Prefect. He found a large crowd pressing into the hall belonging to the Bishop’s house, to which messengers had summoned them, and he and his followers entered likewise. When place could be found for no more, Amator came in and stood before them.

My children, he said, I have somewhat to say unto you. God has revealed to me that the day of my departure from you is at hand. Therefore, while there is time, consider carefully whom you will choose to rule the Church after me.

The people heard with amazement and had no words to tell their surprise and sorrow; and Amator, seeing this, bade them lay down the arms which they carried and go with him into the church, Germanus accompanying them. When all were within, the Bishop ordered the doors to be locked, and walked himself to the upper end, where the nobles and chief men were standing.

In the name of God, he cried, and suddenly taking a pair of scissors from under his robes, he seized the hair of the astonished Germanus with one hand, while he cut it off with the other. Without giving him time to recover from his surprise, he slipped off the Governor’s mantle, and threw a Bishop’s dress over him, uttering the few words necessary to ordain him priest.

Know, dear brother, that God has willed that you should succeed me as Bishop of this place, he said. Strive to keep holy the charge committed to you.

We do not hear that the Governor made any resistance to these extraordinary proceedings; indeed he seems to have been half stunned by their violence and unexpectedness. But as soon as Amator had accomplished his desire, he went back to his house, for he felt the symptoms of death upon him. Still, ill though he was, he never ceased to preach to his people the duty of electing Germanus, which at last they agreed to do. Then he bade them carry him to the church, and place him upon the Bishop’s throne, and there, in the midst of the multitude who loved him, he gave up his soul on the 1st of May, 418.

Although, in obedience to Amator’s wish, the nobles, clergy, and people with one voice proclaimed Germanus their Bishop, he himself hesitated long before accepting the post, and in fact at one time made up his mind to refuse it altogether. Though a just man and a Christian in name, he had been entirely occupied in fulfilling his duties as Governor, and had given little attention to matters belonging to the Church. But the more he hesitated, the more resolved were they all that he, and no other, should fill Amator’s place, and at length he yielded.

Like Saint Ambrose, in a very similar case, once Germanus had decided to accept the Bishopric, he allowed nothing to stand between him and his office. He resigned his Governorship, gave away the rich furniture and the possessions he had always enjoyed, and, hardest of all, parted with his wife Eustachia. But though, as was the custom in those days, she retired into a convent, they seem always to have remained friends, and even to have seen each other from time to time.

At the date of his election Germanus was forty, and for thirty years he ruled the Church of Auxerre, reverenced throughout tho empire for his wisdom and holiness. Henceforth, the manner of his daily life was entirely changed. He ate no meat, and only at Christ mas and Easter could be prevailed on to touch wheaten cakes, wine, or salt. Barley-bread was his common food, and that he prepared himself, but before eating it he sprinkled ashes in his mouth, lest it should taste too nice. Winter and summer, night and day, he wore a hair shirt under his only garment, which was a long woollen tunic, with a small hood added to cover his thick hair, while his bed consisted of four planks and his mattress of a compact mass of cinders. For blankets he had a coarse strip of cloth, yet when his labours were ended he slept as soundly as he had ever done in the Governor’s palace.

Now, although the actual work of a Bishop was quite new to Germanus, the qualities and the training which had made him a just and wise Governor stood him in good stead in his present position. Men were no less quarrelsome, no less ready to take advantage wherever they could get it, no less given to cheat and to lie in the fourth century than in the twentieth, and the Bishop needed to be able to see through made-up stories, to be just in his judgments, to be courageous in dealing with those in power, and to control his temper when acts of tyranny and wickedness were brought to his notice. Germanus had learnt these things in a hard school, and it was not long before the people felt that they had done well for themselves in listening to the entreaties of Amator.

Very soon after Germanus became Bishop, a tax-collector, named Januarius, appeared before him in great distress. The Bishop asked him what was the matter, and promised to give him all the help he could when he had heard the story. So Januarius, with a faltering voice, poured forth his tale.

It was his business, he said, to accompany the Governor when he made the tour of the province, in order to see for himself the condition of the people, while Januarius collected the taxes that were due, and. when all were gathered, paid them into the treasury. He was returning from one of these tours, when, as they were passing near Auxerre, Januarius bethought him that here, at length, was the chance of visiting the famous Bishop Germanus, of whose election he had heard so much. Therefore, without asking leave of the Governor, he secretly left the party, and took the road to Auxerre. He was so busy thinking of the great man he was about to see, and wondering how he would be received by him, that he quite forgot all about the money, and the fastening of the bag containing it becoming unloosed with the jogging of the horse, it slid down, unperceived, to the ground, just at the very moment when a lunatic, or a man possessed with an evil spirit, was coming out of a wood by the roadside. Waiting till Januarius was safe round a corner, he picked up the bag, and the tax-collector knew nothing of his loss till he dismounted at the door of the Bishop’s house.

No one will ever believe me, he ended, almost weeping with fear. And death is the punishment. If you cannot help me, I am lost indeed.

Do not be cast down, answered the Bishop kindly. Speak to me as to a friend, and tell me what it is you want me to do.

At this Januarius looked down and hesitated. The Bishop watched him, but said nothing, and at length the tax-gatherer murmured that he knew it was a great deal to ask, but that the only way to save him was for the Bishop to replace the money.

Well, this I will do, replied Germanus, but first I will search the town; and, perchance, I may find the thief.

For three days the search continued, the Bishop causing a close examination to be made of everyone whose character was not above suspicion, but all in vain; no trace of the money could be found. At the close of the third day Januarius was nearly beside himself, for the following week the taxes were due to be given in and his loss would be discovered. But the Bishop did not despair.

We have searched the sane men, and now we must try those who are possessed with devils, said he, and that I will do myself. Then he ordered these unhappy creatures to be brought before him, and strangely enough, the first led into his presence was the thief himself, though the Bishop did not know it. Very cunning was the man, and he betrayed nothing, so the Bishop bade his attendants follow him to the church, bringing the accused with them. Thus it was done, and a great crowd entered the church after them. The Bishop then gave a solemn greeting to the people, and, falling on the ground, prayed earnestly that the truth might be brought to light. As he prayed, the man with the evil spirit was gradually drawn out of the hands of those that held him and raised upwards, floating in the air in the midst of flames, and shrieking in torment.

I confess, O Germanus, I confess, he cried. It was I who stole the bag, and hid it under a great stone in the edge of the wood.

When he heard this, the Bishop bade the evil spirit leave the man, and he left him. Then the man stood upon his feet again, whole, and the messenger sent by the Bishop to the hiding-place, brought back the money, and Januarius departed, rejoicing.

Some time after this, Germanus set out upon a journey to visit a distant part of his diocese. It was winter and very cold, and at length the Bishop became chilled to the bone, and when they reached a deserted ruin near the road, he declared he felt so ill he could go no further. His companions looked at each other in dismay. The place, they knew, was said to be haunted by ghosts, and, though they did not like to admit it, even to themselves, they were horribly frightened at the idea of spending the night there. However, they dared not say so to the Bishop, and tried to comfort themselves by thinking that they were quite safe in the presence of such a holy man.

For a while all went well. They lit a fire and cooked their supper, and while they were eating it a monk read, as was the custom, some pages out of a book of prayers. Germanus, worn out with pain and fatigue, fell asleep, lying wrapped up in cloaks under the shelter of a projecting wall. Suddenly the reader felt an icy wind blowing, and glancing up beheld a pale figure standing before him, with chains about his legs. With a bound the monk reached the side of the sleeping Bishop, and shook him violently.

What is it? asked Germanus, lifting his head, but the reader could not answer, and only pointed to the ghost.

Tell me wherefore you are here, and why your body is not reposing in peace beneath the earth? said Germanus, and the ghost made reply:

Great crimes did I and another commit when we were in the world, and as a punishment Christian burial was forbidden us, and we were compelled to wander until we could find someone to take pity on us. And therefore, Germanus, I have come to you. And so he vanished.

Then Germanus rose, and without more ado he bade his trembling followers search the ruins by aid of their lanterns and the full moon, he himself standing by to give them courage, and also to see that they were not faint-hearted in their search. In silence and in dread the men peered into the dark corners, and at length one gave a cry.

What is it? asked the Bishop, hastening to the spot. Have you found them?

Yes, truly, was the answer, and there, with stones piled over them, lay two skeletons, having chains about their legs.

Leave them till sunrise, said the Bishop, and at sunrise the chains were struck off, clothes were placed upon the naked skeletons and a grave was dug outside the walls. So at last their wanderings were done and Christian burial was given them, and the Bishop himself read the prayers and implored forgiveness for their misdeeds.

Germanus had been for eleven years Bishop of Auxerre when he paid his first visit to Britain, and this is how it came about. A heresy had broken out in the country, which was still governed by the Romans, and was spreading far and wide. The Bishops and clergy preached against it in vain, and finally resolved to send to Germanus and beg his help. By command of the Pope, who had been informed of the state of the British church, a council of the Bishops of Gaul met at Troyes, and it was decided that Germanus was to start at once on his mission, and that Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, should accompany him.

They seem to have travelled partly on horseback and partly by water, but they could not have got on very fast, for at every town crowds assembled to ask their blessing. Amidst the throng that awaited them at Nanterre, a small place just beyond Paris, Germanus eye was caught by the radiant face of a little girl of six, and he asked her name.

Genevieve, they told him.

Ah, said the Bishop to her parents, as he laid his hand upon her head, One day the name of this child will be known throughout the land, and her life will be an example to us all, and picking up a small copper coin marked with a cross, that was lying on the ground at his feet, he gave it to her, bidding her wear it round her neck in remembrance of him.

And for hundreds of years after, when Genevieve was reverenced as the Patron Saint of Paris, the Canons of her Order distributed on her name-day little cakes of bread, each marked with a cross.

On a cold winter day the two Bishops embarked on board a small ship for Britain. The sea was smooth till they reached the middle of the Channel, when a great gale sprang up and the waves washed over the side of the tossing vessel.

The evil spirits are fighting against us, said the sailors, as the wind whistled through the sails and tore them to shreds, and in their terror they deserted their posts and let the ship drift as it would, while they aroused Gtermanus, who had slept through it all, and told him they were lost unless he would pray for them. As he prayed, the storm subsided, and with a fair breeze behind them they finished their voyage, landing at Richborough, a town lying to the north of Dover, not far from the mouth of the Thames.

All the way to London, and on to Saint Albans (so called after the first British martyr), the two Bishops preached against the heresy of Pelagius, to the multitudes who came to listen to them. At Saint Albans or Verulam, to use the old name they stayed some time, and then proceeded towards the north-west. It was during this journey that Germanus had the happiness of seeing his old friend, the Irish Saint Patrick, who had formerly spent many years as his pupil at Auxerre. The mother of Patrick was a native of Gaul, and for a long while his family dwelt in the part of the country called Armorica, which was under the rule of Germanus while he was Governor.

Now at the time of Germanus first visit to Britain, the Romans had been settled there for four hundred years, and were shortly to be replaced by the Saxons. But, though the famous conquest under Hengist and Horsa did not occur till twenty years later, bands of Saxon pirates were constantly sailing across the North Sea from the lowlands beyond the Elbe, and laying waste the farms and villages along the banks of the rivers. At the date when Germanus was going from one town to another preaching against the heresy of Pelagius, they had become more daring than usual, and had coasted round Cornwall and the Bristol Channel, and past Wales, till they had reached the river Dee for the Saxons never lost sight of land if they could possibly help it. Here they were joined by the Picts from the south-west of Scotland, and the Scots from the north of Ireland, and together they proceeded up the Dee in their light ships, which could always find some place of shelter in rough weather. To check them, the Roman governors had ordered flat boats, which could float in shallow water, to be moored on the banks, and bridges to be built across the rivers, taking care to keep them so low that no masts could get under the arches. Yet, in spite of these precautions, the invaders did much harm, and the Britons, who did not feel strong enough to attack them, remained in their entrenchments.

This was the state of things in Lent, 430, when Germanus and Lupus were baptising large numbers in the county of Cheshire, on the other side of the Dee. They were having service as usual one morning, when a messenger, hot and breathless, interrupted the ceremony.

Come over and help us, Germanus! he cried, as the Macedonians had cried to Saint Paul. The Saxons from across the seas, and the wild men from the north are advancing up the river, killing and burning as they go, and none can stop them.

Return, I will follow, answered Germanus, and, accompanied by Bishop Lupus, he hastened to the British army which was encamped beside a small stream called the Alen, not far from the town of Mold.

The arrival of the two Bishops raised the spirits of the Britons, and they were at once hailed as commanders of the force. The duties of a general were not entirely new to Germanus. As Duke and Governor of Armorica, it was his place to lead the army in battle, and, though we do not know if he had actually done so, yet he was not the man to be found unprepared for any duty he might have to fulfil. So we may feel certain that he had studied Caesar’s book on war, and talked with the generals who had faced the hordes of Goths and Barbarians at that time pouring into the empire, even if he had not spoken with the great AEtius himself.

It was on Easter Day that the enemy were actually seen leading their boats and making ready for battle, and, at the first intelligence of what was happening, Germanus sent out scouts to watch and to report to him the direction the allies would take in order to reach the British camp. When news was brought that they were moving towards a valley surrounded by high hills, he rejoiced greatly, for he knew they were delivered into his hands. He posted his men behind rocks and in ravines along the mountain sides, and gave strict orders that no one should stir until he gave the signal. The Picts and Saxons advanced cheerfully, feeling sure of victory, and passed through the narrow entrance into the valley itself, which to all appearance was empty. As soon as they were fairly within it, a voice cried Alleluia.

Alleluia was echoed from every rock, and the mountain was alive with a great host rushing down the slopes shouting Alleluia. In their surprise, the Saxon leaders lost their heads. They turned and fled, followed by the whole of their array, leaving everything behind them.

Thus the Alleluia battle was won without an arrow being shot or a spear thrown, and the valley is known as the Field of German unto this day.

Right glad were the people of Auxerre to welcome their Bishop back a few months later, for things were going very ill with them. The Roman empire had for long been falling into decay, and the Barbarians from the east and north were establishing themselves within her boundaries. In order to meet the expenses of the constant wars, fresh taxes were imposed, but as the rich were not bound to pay them, they fell doubly heavy on the poorer people. Indeed, the plight of some was so wretched that they actually sold themselves into slavery to obtain food and clothing. Auxerre, being on the more eastern side of Gaul, towards the battle-ground where Goths, Huns, Alans, and Franks fought in quick succession, was perhaps worse off than the towns further west, and no sooner had the Bishop entered the city than a deputation of the citizens appealed to him to save them. There was only one way to do it, and that was to visit the Prefect of Gaul, now living at Aries, and obtain from him a decree by which for the future the town should be freed from all taxation. In our eyes it seems hardly just that one city should pay heavy taxes, imposed for a special purpose, and another should pay none, but such was the custom, and it does not appear to have occurred to Germanus that there was anything wrong about it. At any rate, after making hasty preparations, he set off with a few attendants on the long journey to Aries.

It was a wet day when he started, and towards evening, as the little company was drawing near its first resting-place, it passed a man who had neither shoes nor coat. Struck by his miserable plight, the Bishop reined in his horse and began to talk to him; and, finding that the beggar had nowhere to go, invited him to spend the night in the house where they were to sleep. The man eagerly accepted, and shared the supper which was provided for the Bishop’s followers, but when the others were engaged at their prayers he managed to creep out unperceived, and to steal the Bishop’s horse. The theft was, of course, not discovered till the next morning when they were ready to depart, and the horse of one of the attendants was brought round for Germanus to mount.

What beast is that? and where is my own horse? asked he.

The rascal that you sheltered yesterday has stolen him, Germanus, they answered; and when he heard, the Bishop looked grave and silently mounted the horse that was held for him.

For some distance they rode on, till at length the Bishop turned in his saddle, and said to the man nearest him:

Soon you will see that the thief has not profited by that evil deed, so let us pause for a while, till he comes up to us; and the word was given to halt under a grove of trees. In a short time the thief came towards them, leading the horse.

All this time, since I took the horse from the stable, have I been trying to flee, cried the man, as soon as he was near them, but when once I was out of sight of the house where you slept, the beast would not stir one step, pull his bridle as I might. Then I knew that this was the punishment of my crime, and I resolved, if I could, to restore him to you. And as if the creature could see into my mind, at that very moment his feet were loosed and he hastened down this road, and, behold, I give him back to you without hurt.

Arise, my son, said the Bishop, for the thief had fallen on his knees. If yesterday I had given you a cloak, you would not have stolen the horse. Now, therefore, take this mantle and steal no more.

After that, he bade his company continue the journey, and in due time they arrived at Aries, where he was welcomed with great honour by Saint Hilary, the Bishop and the Prefect, to whom he at once explained the business which had brought him. The Prefect readily promised that the people of Auxerre should suffer no more from the extra taxes, and Germanus hastened home with the joyful tidings.

In 446, Germanus was again summoned to preach against heresy in Britain, where Vortigern was now king, but he did not stay many months, as affairs in Gaul were in a very disturbed state and his presence was needed as peacemaker. This time it was the inhabitants of the north-west, who, under the name of the Armorican confederacy, had banded themselves together against the Romans and their allies, the Alans, and revolted against them. Now, when the hosts of Barbarians were about to be let loose upon them by the General Justius, a panic seized them, and they implored the help of the Bishop, himself once Governor of those very provinces. Contrary to their expectations, Germanus succeeded in obtaining a truce from the Alan king, and even consented to cross the Alps into Italy, and to lay the matter before the Emperor, Valentinian III, or to speak more truly, before his mother, Placidia.

During the months he spent in the town of Ravenna, the city on the Adriatic which was then the seat of Government, Germanus worked hard to help all kinds of distressed people, as well as those distant tribes for whose sake he had come. But in the midst of his labours, and of his pleadings with the powerful Empress-Mother, the news arrived that the Armoricans had again broken into revolt, and that the rising had been put down with much severity. Deep must have been the disappointment of the Bishop that all his efforts had proved so useless, but he was not given long to lament, for his day of rest was at hand, and it was revealed to him in this wise.

One morning he had been talking over the affairs of the Church with some of the Italian bishops, when he suddenly broke off and remained silent. They waited respectfully, guessing from his face that he had something of importance to tell them, and at last he began to speak again. In the night, during my sleep, I dreamed that the Lord visited me, and gave me provisions for a journey.

“What journey must I take, Lord?” said I, and the Lord answered, “Fear not, I send thee to no foreign land, but to thine own country, where thou shalt have eternal rest and peace.” And well I know what that country is which God promises to his servants.

Well the bishops knew also, though in their grief they refused to believe, and sought to put another interpretation on the dream. But a few days later Germanus was taken ill, and when it became plain that death was near, hundreds flocked to take leave of him and to beg his blessing. Among these was the Empress Placidia, who fell on her knees by his bed, and asked if there was nothing she could do for him who had done so much for the world.

Yes, one thing, he said; let my body be carried back to Gaul, and buried at Auxerre with my people. go at the end of seven days he died, having ruled over his diocese thirty years.

Very unwillingly the Empress gave orders that his last request should be fulfilled. His body was embalmed and covered with a magnificent cloak, on which the imperial arms were embroidered. It was then placed in a cedar-wood coffin, and, followed by an immense multitude, set out on its homeward journey across the Alps. From time to time, some of the mourners fell off, and others took their places, but five women walked on foot beside the corpse, never faltering. Three of them died on the way, worn out by fatigue, but the other two arrived at Auxerre safely. At the end of fifty-three days the city was reached, and on the 1st of October, 448, the Bishop was laid to rest, as he had wished, with his own people.

– text and illustrations from The Book of Saints and Heroes, by Leonora Blanche Lang, 1912

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/germanus-the-governor-by-leonora-blanche-lang/

Kerlaz  : église paroissiale Saint-Germain, statue de saint Germain

San Germano d’Auxerre Vescovo

31 luglio

Auxerre, Francia, 378 ca. – Ravenna, 31 luglio 448

Germano nacque ad Auxerre in una famiglia di grandi proprietari terrieri. Studiò le arti liberali e poi andò a Roma per acquisire il dottorato in Diritto ed esercitare la professione di avvocato. In seguito, tornato in Francia, divenne governatore della Provincia Lionese Quarta, cui apparteneva Auxerre. Alla morte del vescovo della città sant'Amatore il clero, la nobiltà e il popolo acclamarono Germano.Ceduti tutti i suoi averi ai poveri, durante il suo episcopato diede prova di uno stile di vita umile e austero, rianimò la vita monastica in Gallia e fu protagonista di importanti opere di pacificazione tra popolazioni in conflitto. In Inghilterra, inviato dal papa Celestino I, Germano combatté con successo l'eresia pelagiana e si adoperò in una fruttuosa opera di diffusione della fede cristiana. Morì in missione diplomatica a Ravenna nel 448. Il suo corpo fu immediatamente riportato ad Auxerre. Si racconta che quando il corteo funebre, arrivato a Vercelli entrò nella locale cattedrale, le candele che erano spente si accesero da sole tutte insieme. Il culto di san Germano culto presto si diffuse in tutta la Gallia. (Avvenire)

Martirologio Romano: A Ravenna, transito di san Germano, vescovo di Auxerre, che difese per due volte la fede dei Britanni dall’eresia pelagiana e, giunto a Ravenna per propiziare la pace nella Bretagna francese, fu accolto con onore dagli augusti Valentiniano e Galla Placidia, salendo poi da qui al regno dei cieli.

Ecco un altro santo che proviene, come tanti altri vissuti nell’antichità, specie nell’Alto Medioevo; dalle file dei laureati in Diritto e come professione l’avvocatura.

Figlio di Rustico e Germanilla, il vescovo Germano, nacque ad Auxerre (dipartimento dell’Yonne, Francia); i suoi genitori erano grandi proprietari terrieri, forse di rango senatoriale. Studiò le arti liberali (che nel Medioevo erano sette e divise in due gruppi: arti del ‘trivio’ o letterarie, cioè grammatica, retorica, dialettica e arti del ‘quadrivio’ o scientifiche, cioè aritmetica, geometria, musica, astronomia); quindi studiò quelle del ‘trivio’, e poi andò a Roma per acquisire il dottorato in Diritto ed esercitare la professione di avvocato.

In seguito divenne governatore della Provincia Lionese Quarta, cui apparteneva Auxerre; il 1° maggio 418 morì il vescovo della città s. Amatore, e il clero, la nobiltà e il popolo, come si usava allora, lo scelsero per loro vescovo, pur essendo sposato; le leggi sul celibato ecclesiastico e della nomina dei vescovi da parte del papa vennero più tardi.

Germano comunque si mostrò degno della scelta operata dai suoi fedeli e dal clero; distribuì i suoi beni ai poveri, adottò uno stile di vita umile e mortificato, si comportò con la sua sposa come fosse una sorella.

La sua opera di vescovo fu importante, ammaestrò i suoi chierici e i suoi monaci; sviluppò la vita monastica in Gallia, fondò un monastero maschile sulla riva destra del fiume Yonne dedicato ai Ss. Cosma e Damiano; eresse una basilica a S. Albano martire inglese e un’altra più piccola destinata alla propria sepoltura, dedicata a S. Maurizio e compagni martiri e che in seguito sarà chiamata di S. Germano.

Fece da mediatore verso il capo degli Alani nella regione di Orléans, convincendolo a trattare, salvando così l’Armorica (gli Alani erano una popolazione caucasica, che al seguito degli Unni, penetrarono nell’Europa centrale, contribuendo alla caduta dell’impero romano); prese posizione contro l’eccessivo peso delle imposte pagate dai suoi diocesani.

Ma Germano fu impegnato anche in iniziative pastorali in Inghilterra, delegato dal papa s. Celestino I nel 429-30, contro l’eresia pelagiana ottenendo un netto successo. (Il pelagianesimo fu un movimento ereticale iniziato da Pelagio (360-422) monaco britannico, che accentuando le capacità naturali del libero arbitrio, negava la necessità della Grazia divina per il retto uso della volontà umana).

Nella Pasqua del 430, contribuì alla vittoria dei Brettoni sui Pitti e i Sassoni, facendo gridare loro un fragoroso ‘Alleluia’ che spaventò gli avversari; ritornò in Gran Bretagna una seconda volta nel 445 e certi studiosi dicono, che Germano avesse portato nella grande isola il testo delle ‘Epistole’ di s. Paolo, riprodotto dal ‘Libro di Armagh’; si dice che s. Patrizio, apostolo dell’Irlanda, vivesse ad Auxerre, già al tempo del vescovo s. Amatore e che fosse discepolo di s. Germano.

Suscitò e incoraggiò fra i Brettoni, la vocazione religiosa della giovane s. Genoveffa (patrona di Parigi). Nel 448 infine si recò alla corte imperiale di Ravenna, per perorare la causa dell’Armorica (antico nome della Bretagna) in conflitto con Ezio, vicario imperiale della Gallia, che minacciava di farla invadere dagli Alani.

E durante quest’ultima missione, Germano morì a Ravenna il 31 luglio 448, fra il compianto generale, specie dell’imperatrice madre Galla Placidia e dei vescovi presenti, in particolare di s. Pier Crisologo, vescovo di Ravenna.

Il suo corpo fu imbalsamato, deposto in una cassa di cipresso e riportato ad Auxerre, come da suo desiderio. Il trasporto fu organizzato dalla corte imperiale per mezzo di squadre di soldati; viaggio difficoltoso per un vivo, visto la distanza e la viabilità di allora, figuriamoci per una bara, che ad ogni modo fu venerata al suo passaggio, dalle popolazioni locali.

Il corteo entrò ad Auxerre il 22 settembre 448 e dopo otto giorni di esposizione solenne nella cattedrale, la salma venne inumata il 1° ottobre nella basilica da lui fatta costruire.

Il culto fu immediato non solo ad Auxerre, dove fu il primo santo locale, ma anche in tutta la Gallia, soprattutto presso i re franchi; la festa fu fissata al 31 luglio e la sua tomba divenne meta di pellegrinaggio.

Ancora vivo gli si attribuivano numerosi miracoli; a questo proposito si racconta che quando il corteo funebre, arrivato a Vercelli entrò nella locale cattedrale, le candele che erano spente si accesero da sole tutte insieme, illuminando il tempio dalle prime ombre serali.

Alla sua intercessione, si rivolsero re e regine di Francia in tutti i secoli successivi. Accanto a lui riposano altri cinque vescovi di Auxerre, fra cui s. Gregorio. Parte delle reliquie furono distrutte nel 1567 durante il sacco di Auxerre, operato dagli Ugonotti (denominazione dei protestanti francesi, ispirati al calvinismo ginevrino, responsabili delle Guerre di religione, che insanguinarono la Francia, nella seconda metà del secolo XVI).

Più di 120 Comuni francesi portano il nome di Saint-Germain, anche se non tutti sono riconducibili a lui, perché vi sono altri santi francesi con il medesimo nome.

Autore: Antonio Borrelli

SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91919

31 de julio 

San GERMÁN DE AUXERRE. (c.380 - 448).

Martirologio Romano: En Ravena, en la vía Flaminia, tránsito de san Germán, obispo de Auxerre, defensor de la fe de los británicos contra la herejía pelagiana, que habiendo acudido a Ravena para obtener la paz de la región de la Armórica, fue recibido triunfalmente por los emperadores Valentiniano y Gala Placidia, y, estando allí, subió al reino celestial.

Nació en Auxerre, en el seno de una familia aristocrática; estudió Derecho civil en Roma. Gobernador de las provincias de Armórica y, más tarde de Auxerre, estaba casado, se convirtió al cristianismo, y a partir de entonces vivió con su esposa como si fuera su hermana. Buscó la pobreza distribuyendo sus bienes entre los pobres. Fundó un monasterio a las orillas del Yonne, donde se retiró. 

Su obispo san Amador, tuvo una visión en la que veía que iba a morir y le sucedía Germán. Noticioso de este hecho, en un principio se negó por no considerarse digno, pero al final abrazó el estado religioso y fue consagrado obispo de Auxerre en 418, y renunció al matrimonio y sus bienes. Tuvo relaciones con la iglesia de Britania (429 y 447); en uno de estos viajes, en misión  con san Lupo de Troyes, consiguieron la desaparición del pelagianismo, y al pasar por Nanterre, cerca de París, consagró a Dios a la pequeña santa Genoveva. San Patricio se formó junto a él, y lo acompañó en la evangelización de Inglaterra. Su figura se caracterizó por un riguroso ascetismo, quizá no ausente de la influencia del cenobio de Lerins, ya que tuvo amistad con san Hilario de Arles y san Lupo de Troyes. Fundó un monasterio en Auxerre.

En una segunda misión a Britania, junto a san Severo, futuro obispo de Tréveris, terminó con la herejía pelagiana en la isla. Ayudó a los britanos, parece que junto con san Hilario (444) en la obtención de su victoria sobre los sajones, llamada la "victoria del Aleluya", aunque esto pertenece a la leyenda. Hizo un viaje a Rávena donde conoció a santa Camila de Auxerre, quien le siguió, junto con sus cuatro hermanas, hasta Auxerre. Ejerció misiones diplomáticas en varios lugares de la Galia que finalizaron con éxito. Gozó de dones taumatúrgicos. Murió en Auxerre durante una misión que estaba llevando a cabo en favor de su pueblo. Le sucedió san Censurio. La emperatriz Gala Placidia hizo embalsamar su cuerpo que fue devuelto a la población de Auxerre por santa Magnancia. 

Publicado por Cristina Huete García en 0:08 

SOURCE : http://hagiopedia.blogspot.com/2013/07/san-german-de-auxerre-c380-448.html