Gisant
de Bénézet dans la collégiale Saint-Didier d'Avignon
Saint Bénezet
Bénezet (ou Benoît en langue
d'oc), qui mourut en 1184, est le constructeur du fameux pont d'Avignon.
Berger, c'est à la suite d'une vision qu'il alla trouver l'évêque et lui
demanda aide pour édifier un pont sur un gué particulièrement dangereux du
Rhône. Une série de miracles accompagna cette construction.
Saint Bénézet ou Benoît
Berger
(1165-1184)
Saint Bénézet vint au monde en
Savoie. Il fut élevé sous le toit de chaume de ses parents, qui lui apprirent
de bonne heure à aimer Dieu.
Quand il eut douze ans, sa mère,
devenue veuve, l'employa à la garde des troupeaux. Or, un jour, dans la
campagne, Bénézet entendit trois fois cette parole:
"Bénézet, Mon fils, écoute la
voix de Jésus-Christ. Je veux que tu laisses ton troupeau et que tu ailles Me
bâtir un pont sur le Rhône.
-- Mais, Seigneur, je ne sais où est
le Rhône, et je n'ose abandonner les brebis de ma mère.
-- Va, Je serai avec toi; tes brebis
retourneront à l'étable, et Je vais te donner un compagnon qui te conduira.
-- Mais, Seigneur, je n'ai que trois
oboles; comment pourrai-je construire un pont sur le Rhône?
-- Va, Mon fils, Je te donnerai les
moyens."
Et l'enfant laissa sa mère et son
troupeau, pour obéir à la voix du Ciel. Un ange, sous la forme d'un pèlerin, vint
tout à coup s'offrir pour le conduire. Quand ils arrivèrent au bord du Rhône,
Bénézet, saisi de frayeur à la vue de la largeur du fleuve, s'écria:
"Il est impossible de faire un
pont ici.
-- Ne crains rien, dit le guide,
Dieu sera avec toi: va vers ce batelier, qui te fera passer le fleuve, et tu
iras te présenter à l'évêque d'Avignon et à son peuple." En disant cela,
l'ange disparut.
L'enfant se rendit à la cathédrale.
L'évêque y parlait à son peuple; mais Bénézet l'interrompit en disant:
"Écoutez-moi; Jésus-Christ m'a envoyé vers vous pour construire un pont
sur le Rhône."
L'évêque, indigné, le mit entre les
mains de l'autorité civile, devant laquelle il renouvela sa demande avec tant
de fermeté, qu'il lui fut dit: "Voici une pierre énorme; si tu peux la
remuer et la porter, nous croirons que tu peux faire le pont."
Et bientôt le petit berger, à la vue
de l'évêque et de toute la ville portait une pierre de trente pieds de longueur
sur dix-sept de largeur, que trente hommes n'auraient pu soulever. On devine
l'enthousiasme universel. Cet enthousiasme augmenta encore quand on vit
Bénézet, dès ce jour, rendre la vue aux aveugles, l'ouïe et la parole aux
sourds-muets, et la facilité de marcher aux boiteux.
L'envoyé de Dieu commença par fonder
une corporation d'ouvriers faiseurs de ponts. Après sept ans de travaux, le
pont, d'une longueur immense, n'était pas encore achevé. Bénézet mourut à
dix-neuf ans. Sa mémoire est restée en bénédiction.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de
l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
Statue de saint Bénézet transportant la première pierre
du pont d'Avignon,
Cathédrale Notre Dame des Doms d'Avignon,
Vaucluse
Saint Bénezet
Confesseur -
Constructeur du Pont d'Avignon (✝ 1184)
ou Benoît.
Ses parents étaient pauvres, très pauvres, et leur seule richesse était en Dieu.
Le petit Benoît, d'où le surnom de Bénezet, perdit son père très jeune et dut
garder les troupeaux pour permettre à sa famille de survivre.
Les légendes lui font traverser le Rhône d'une manière originale et racontent
son intervention près des échevins pour qu'existe un pont. De là vient
l'histoire de la construction du pont d'Avignon. La corporation des 'frères
pontifes' commença les travaux. Ils avancèrent lentement à cause des crues et
du débit du fleuve et saint Bénezet n'en vit pas la fin.
Mais tout le temps
qu'il vécut, il secourut les pauvres tout en y travaillant et, ses miracles,
selon la tradition, multiplièrent les pierres.
- Vie de saint Benezet sur le site
Internet du diocèse d'Avignon.
- "Une vieille tradition le fait naître à Burzet, au hameau du
Villard, et lui attribue une part importante - avec les 'Frères Pontifes' -
dans la construction du pont d’Avignon. Mort en 1184, il est fêté dans le
diocèse de Viviers depuis 1737." (Saint Bénezet - Église catholique en
Ardèche)
- Benoît ou Bénezet, par amour envers les pauvres, se rendit à
Avignon et y travailla à la construction du pont sur le Rhône, avec des
compagnons qui formèrent le groupe des frères pontifes. Il mourut en 1184 et on
l'ensevelit dans la chapelle du Pont d'Avignon. (source: Les
Saints du diocèse de Nîmes)
- "En 1177. le jeune Bénézet gardait les brebis de sa mère quand une
voix céleste lui dit d'aller construire un pont sur le Rhône, à Avignon. Un
ange l'accompagna sous l'apparence d'un pèlerin et disparut quand ils furent
arrivés face à la ville. L'enfant, effrayé par la largeur et l'impétuosité du
fleuve, le traverse sur le bac et se présente à l'évêque qui harangue à ce
moment ses ouailles: 'écoutez-moi et comprenez-moi, dit l'enfant à voix haute,
je suis envoyé de Dieu pour faire un pont sur le Rhône'. Le pasteur fait mine
de vouloir châtier l'insolence de ce mauvais sujet qui ose l'interrompre. Il le
fait conduire au prévôt ou viguier de la ville à qui l'enfant renouvelle sa
requête. Mais le magistrat se moque de lui et, par dérision, lui demande de
montrer un signe de sa mission et de faire ses preuves en transportant une
énorme pierre à l'abandon, vestige de quelque monument romain, que personne
encore n'a pu ôter devant son palais. Alors le jeune berger, confiant en Dieu,
accomplit le prodige, il porte la pierre, que trente hommes n'auraient pu
soulever, à l'endroit où le pont devait s'enraciner à la berge. Telle est la
'Légende'." (source: Les Frères Pontifes et Saint Bénézet , par Auguste Jouret, Ingénieur à la
S.N.C.F. - pages 23 et sq. - Histoire de L'École Centrale de Lyon)
À Avignon, en
1184, saint Bénezet (Benoît), jeune berger, grâce à qui, avec l’aide du
Seigneur, fut construit sur le Rhône un pont très utile aux habitants de la
ville. Il mourut à dix-neuf ans et son corps fut déposé sur le pont.
Martyrologe
romain
Benedict the
Bridge-Builder (AC)
(also known as Bénezet, Benet, Benoît)
Born at Hermillon, Savoy (or in the Ardenne), France, c. 1163; died 1184. The
children's song "Sur le pont d'Avignon" concerns the bridge built by
Bénezet, a local shepherd boy, a bridge rebuilt in the 14th and 17th centuries.
The legend still dances on the arches that collapsed so suddenly. From the
broken fragment of the original bridge over the raging waters, people still
throw a shower of flowers into the river during the Rhône festivals. For
Avignon retains a tender love for its broken bridge and Bénezet. Bénezet,
shepherd over the waves, as Fréderic Mistral says, built this magnificent
bridge by the order of God in a vision; after 700 years, his memory still
stands guard over the arches which live on, albeit half-dead.
According to a legend, the
bridge was built without difficulties, at least not of a financial character.
In fact, while still a child, Bénezet once saw a poor Jewish woman who was
being tormented by a flea which the hump on her back prevented her from reaching
and some street urchins who were laughing at her contortions. Bénezet ran to
her assistance. After scattering the boys, he found and crushed the offending
flea.
In her gratitude the
rheumy-eyed, hunch-backed old woman blessed Bénezet and predicted that he would
do great things later in life. In order to help him realize them, she told him
where the cache containing the treasure of the Jews lay. Time passed. Bénezet,
the little shepherd, hardly thought about the treasure, nor did he indulge in
any ambitious dreams. He was simply a 15-year-old shepherd concerned about his
flock.
One day, the sun suddenly
went into hiding: a solar eclipse always frightens the flocks and their
guardians. A voice as sweet as honey spoke to him amid the darkness: "In
the name of Christ, Bénezet, go as far as the Rhône to Avignon and build a
bridge there," the voice bade him. Now, it may sound strange that God
would ask for a bridge to be built or that it would be a reason for
canonization. In the Middle Ages, however, the construction and repair of
bridges was regarded as a work of mercy. Perhaps the child simply had pity for
the many who drowned in the rushing waters. I think it is more likely that he
was indeed called by God.
Responding to the voice,
the child objected that he could not leave his flocks unattended.
"I will watch over
them," said the voice, "I'll send you an angel for a guide."
Leaving his sheep, Bénezet
set out for the spot that had been designated to him--just as other shepherds,
one night, had trustingly set out for Bethlehem. Soon he met the angel whom
only he could see, and also arrived at the river Rhône. He had to cross it. The
Jewish ferryman picked Bénezet's pocket clean. The lad only had three pennies
to his name, but after cursing him, the ferryman finally took him on board and
the boat left. But where to? Bénezet asked himself, while remaining utterly
calm.
Finally, he arrived at the
bishop's palace, where he sought the prelate's blessing and help. Build a
bridge? The bishop swelled with indignation and sent little Bénezet to the
magistrate promising him that he would be flayed and his hands and feet chopped
off as was done to impostors in those days. But the angel, inside the young
man's heart, said: "Go!"
The magistrate took a dim
view of the matter: "You, the lowliest of the low, you who don't own an
acre in the sun, you want to build a bridge there where Saint Peter, Saint
Paul, and Charlemagne himself have been helpers? So be it! Do you see this
stone embedded in the palace courtyard? Well pull it out and carry it there and
I'll believe you! Call the people to watch this spectacle. But if you fail. . .
."
The invisible angel in
Bénezet's heart smiled. As calm and self-assured as ever, about 1177, the
little shepherd boy extracted this block of stone that weighed a hundred
quintals and upon laying it in the bed of the river, he said, "This will
be the first stone of the foundations!"
Delirium seized the crowd
of onlookers. There were shouts of "Miracle! Miracle!" Immediately,
in keeping with the rule, the blind again saw the light of day, the deaf again
heard hosannahs, the crippled suddenly walked straight and the hunch-backed
heard their vertebrae crack, stretch, and straighten out! Eighteen
miracles took place, according to the legend.
The magistrate, sobbing in
remorse, gave 300 sous for the building of the bridge, the crowd volunteered
5,000 more. The treasure of the Jews must have done the rest, because the
bridge soon rose, proudly, between the waters and the sky.
Alas! Bénezet did not live
to see the bridge finished. He died in 1184--because his mission had been
accomplished. The last stone was laid two years after his death. The bridge was
adorned with a chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the patron of mariners, in
which Saint Benedict's relics were enshrined until 1669 when a flood washed
away part of the bridge. His coffin was recovered and his body found to be
incorrupt--500 years after his death--even the bowels were perfectly sound, and
the color of the eyes lively and sprightly, though, through the dampness of the
situation, the iron bars about it were much damaged with rust. It was
translated to Avignon cathedral and moved again to the Celestine church of
Saint Didier.
Even now when coming down
the major water-way of the Rhône you will see the man at the prow and the crew
in the boats passing by the broken bridge where Saint Bénezet wrought his
miracle, salute the shepherd boy who became a saint and Nicholas, the saint of
long-standing. After all, two saints are not too much for the taming of these
waters among the treacherous, and even for taming the sky overhead, where the
mistral blows, churning up powerful, angry waves.
Contemporary sources record
the principal episodes of Saint Benedict's life, and an episcopal inquiry was conducted
shortly after his death (1230) (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia,
Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, Walsh).
In art, Saint Benedict is
portrayed as a boy carrying a large stone on his shoulder (Roeder). He is
venerated as the patron of Avignon (Coulson, Roeder).
April 14
St.
Benezet, or Little Bennet, Patron of Avignon
HE kept his mother’s sheep in the country, being devoted to the
practices of piety beyond his age; when, moved by charity to save the lives of
many poor persons, who were frequently drowned in passing the Rhone, and being
inspired by God, he undertook to build a bridge over that rapid river at
Avignon. He obtained the approbation of the bishop, proved his mission by
miracles, and began the work in 1177, which he directed during seven years. He
died when the difficulty of the undertaking was over, in 1184. This is attested
by public monuments drawn up at that time, and still preserved at Avignon,
where the story is in every body’s mouth. His body was buried upon the bridge
itself, which was not completely finished till four years after his decease,
the structure whereof was attended with miracles, from the first laying the
foundations till it was completed in 1188. Other miracles, wrought after this
at his tomb, induced the city to build a chapel upon the bridge, in which his
body lay near five hundred years: but, in 1669, a great part of the bridge
falling down, through the impetuosity of the waters, the coffin was taken up,
and being opened, in 1670, in presence of the grand vicar, during the vacancy
of the archiepiscopal see, it was found entire, without the least sign of
corruption; even the bowels were perfectly sound, and the colour of the eyes
lively and sprightly, though, through the dampness of the situation, the iron
bars about it were much damaged with rust. The body was found in the same
condition by the archbishop of Avignon, in 1674, when, accompanied by the
bishop of Orange, and a great concourse of nobility, he performed the
translation of it, with great pomp, into the church of the Celestines, (a house
of royal foundation,) who had obtained of Lewis XIV. the honour of being
intrusted with the custody of his relics, till such time as the bridge and
chapel should be rebuilt. See the description of this pompous translation in
the Bollandists, April, t. 2, p. 958, 959; and Papebroke’s remarks on his life,
p. 255.
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/144.html
Queste vicende sono note attraverso una narrazione leggendaria, che risalirebbe alla fine del sec. XIII; il culto e i miracoli di Benedetto, invece, sono documentati con maggiore esattezza. Fu dapprima sepolto nella cappella costruita sopra il terzo arco del ponte, dove affluirono numerosi pellegrini che ottennero favori celesti: un processo verbale redatto fra il 1230 e il 1250 tramandò il ricordo di questi miracoli. Nel 1669 le reliquie di Benedetto furono tolte dalla cappella che minacciava rovina e trasportate nella cattedrale, poi nella chiesa dei Celestini. Disperse durante la Rivoluzione francese, esse furono in seguito ritrovate e trasferite nel 1854 nella chiesa di St-Didier. La festa di Benedetto si celebra il 14 aprile.
Autore: Henry Platelle
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/49420
San Benedetto di Hermillon
1163 circa - 1184
Martirologio Romano: Ad Avignone nella Provenza, in Francia, san
Benedetto, giovane pastore, grazie al quale, con l’aiuto di Dio, fu costruito
un ponte sul Rodano di grande utilità per i cittadini.
Nato nel 1165 a Hermillon nella Savoia, o, secondo altri, nella
parrocchia di Burzet (Ardèche), Benedetto, chiamato «Bénézet» a causa della sua
piccola statura, custodiva le greggi, unica ricchezza familiare. In seguito a
una visione, quando aveva appena tredici anni, si recò ad Avignone per
costruire un ponte sul Rodano, la cui traversata era allora molto difficoltosa.
Cacciato via dal vescovo del luogo, Benedetto riuscì ugualmente a far decidere
il prevosto della città a intraprendere la costruzione del ponte. Morì a diciannove anni, nel 1184,
quando il ponte non era ancora ultimato.
Queste vicende sono note attraverso una narrazione leggendaria, che risalirebbe alla fine del sec. XIII; il culto e i miracoli di Benedetto, invece, sono documentati con maggiore esattezza. Fu dapprima sepolto nella cappella costruita sopra il terzo arco del ponte, dove affluirono numerosi pellegrini che ottennero favori celesti: un processo verbale redatto fra il 1230 e il 1250 tramandò il ricordo di questi miracoli. Nel 1669 le reliquie di Benedetto furono tolte dalla cappella che minacciava rovina e trasportate nella cattedrale, poi nella chiesa dei Celestini. Disperse durante la Rivoluzione francese, esse furono in seguito ritrovate e trasferite nel 1854 nella chiesa di St-Didier. La festa di Benedetto si celebra il 14 aprile.
Autore: Henry Platelle
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/49420
