Saint Arnoul de Soissons
Évêque
de Soissons (✝ 1087)
ou Arnoulf, évêque
de Soissons.
Originaire du Brabant, il se mit tout d'abord au service de l'empereur et du roi de France. Mais la carrière des armes n'était pas sa vocation. Sous le prétexte d'aller à la cour de France, il se rendit au monastère Saint Médard de Soissons et revêtit l'habit bénédictin. Il édifia ses frères par sa vertu, son silence et la rigueur des observances monastiques. Il connut durant un temps un abbé qui s'était fait nommer par simonie et introduisit le relâchement dans la communauté. Il fut la risée de ceux qui trouvaient qu'il pratiquait trop la pauvreté. Lorsque l’évêché de Soissons fut vacant, il lui fut demandé d'en devenir le titulaire, mais il ne put entrer dans la ville en raison de l'opposition du roi Philippe Ier. Toutes ces difficultés furent pour lui des souffrances. Il sut les accepter, les surmonter et édifier sur elles sa sainteté.
À Ondenbourg en Flandre, l’an 1087, le trépas de saint Arnoul, évêque de Soissons. De soldat devenu moine, puis évêque, il se dépensa en faveur de la paix et de la concorde, et mourut dans le monastère qu’il avait fait construire.
Martyrologe
romain
Arnulf (Arnoul, Arnulphus) of Soissons, OSB B (RM)
Born in Flanders; died at Oudenbourg (Aldenburg), Bruges, Flanders (Belgium),
in 1087. Arnulf was a French nobleman and soldier who rendered distinguished
service to King Robert and King Henry I, when, about 1060, he entered the
Benedictine monastery of Saint Médard in Soissons. After a while he obtained
his abbot's permission to live as an anchorite in a narrow cell, where he
devoted himself to prayer and penance for three years.
He would have loved to continue
in that state but God had other plans for the lowly monk. First, he was
summoned to succeed Ponce as abbot. The cenobitic community was far too lax
when he had retired into his cell; in his absence it had declined further into
worldliness and simony. He accepted the office only reluctantly. In fact, there
is a legend that says he asked for a day in which to come to a decision about
accepting it. During that time he tried to escape, but was caught by a wolf and
forcibly returned before he went very far.
In 1081, he was chosen by
the council of Meaux to become the next bishop of Soissons. When deputies
announced the decision of the council to Arnulf, he responded: "Leave a
sinner to offer to God some fruits of penance; and compel not a madman to take
upon him a charge which requires so much wisdom." Nevertheless, he was
compelled to undertake the burdensome position.
With incredible zeal Arnulf
tried to fulfill all the obligations of his office. When he found himself
unable to correct certain grievous abuses among. He was probably not a very
effective administrator or politician; perhaps it was simply a saint's sharper
self-knowledge, rather than just humility, that had made him unwilling to
accept the office. A little less than two years after his installation, he was
driven from his see by an intruder. Fearing that the fault laid within himself,
he resigned rather than fighting to regain possession of his episcopal chair.
Thereafter he founded Oudenbourg Abbey in the diocese of Bruges, Belgium, where
he died in sackcloth and ashes.
Many of the miracles
wrought at his tomb were approved during a council held at Beauvais in 1121.
His relics were enshrined in 1131, and are still preserved in the church of
Saint Peter at Oudenburg. His name is very famous throughout the Low Countries
and in France (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Arnulf is
portrayed as a bishop wearing a coat of mail under his cope. At times the image
may include (1) a fish with a ring in its mouth; (2) a burning castle that
Arnulf is blessing; or (3) Arnulf washing the feet of the poor (Roeder). This
patron of music, millers, and brewers is venerated at Remiremont. He is invoked
to find lost articles (Roeder).
August 15
St. Arnoul, or
Arnulphus, Bishop of Soissons, Confessor
HE was a
French nobleman, and had distinguished himself in the armies of Robert and
Henry I. kings of France. He was called to a more noble warfare, resolving to
employ for God the labour which, till then, he had rather consecrated to the
service of the world. He became a monk in the great monastery of St. Medard at
Soissons; and his example was followed by many other persons of distinction.
After he had for some time made trial of his strength in the exercises of a
cenobitic life, he formed to himself a new plan more suitable to his fervour.
With his abbot’s leave he shut himself up in a narrow cell, and in the closest
solitude, almost without any commerce with men, devoted himself to assiduous
prayer, and the exercises of the most austere penance. He had led this manner
of life three years and a half, when a council held at Meaux by a legate of
Pope Gregory VII. at the request of the clergy and people of Soissons, resolved
to place him in that episcopal see. To the deputies of the council who came on
that errand, Arnold returned this answer: “Leave a sinner to offer to God some
fruits of penance; and compel not a madman to take upon him a charge which
requires so much wisdom.” He was, however, obliged to put his shoulders under
the burden. He set himself with incredible zeal to fulfil every branch of his
ministry; but finding himself not able to correct certain grievous abuses among
the people, and fearing the account he should have to give for others no less
than for himself, he procured leave to resign his dignity. He afterwards founded
a great monastery at Aldenburgh, then a considerable city, in the diocess of
Bruges, towards Ostend, where he happily died on sackcloth and ashes in 1087.
Many miracles wrought at his tomb were approved in a council held at Beauvais
in 1121. His relics were enshrined in 1131, and are still preserved in the
church of St. Peter at Aldenburgh or Oudenburgh. His name is very famous over
all the Low Countries and in France. See his life written by Lizard bishop of
Soissons in the same century, and by Hariulph abbot of Aldenburgh. See also
Sanderus, Flandria Illustrata, augmented by the canon Foppens. Gall. Chr. Nova, t. 9. p. 350.
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume VIII: August. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/153.html
Saint Arnulf of Soissons
Saint Arnulf of Soissons
Also known as
- Arnoldus of Soissons
- Arnoul of Soissons
- Arnulphus of Soissons
Profile
French nobleman. Distinguished career soldier under King Robert and King Henry I. Benedictine
monk at the monastery
of Saint
Medard, Soissons, France c.1060. Hermit, living for three years in a tiny cell
with almost no contact with the outside. Called to return to his community, he
became abbot of his house. He tried to refuse the responsibility; legend
says he tried to flee the house, but that a wolf blocked his path and forced
him to return. Priest. Bishop of Soissons, France in 1081. When first offered the bishopric,
he replied, “Leave a sinner to offer to God
some fruits of penance; and compel not a madman to take upon him a charge which requires so much wisdom.”
He was ordered to take the position, but found it more than he could handle.
When an interloper drove him from his see,
he took the opportunity as a sign, resigned, and returned to monastic
life. Founded a monastery
at Aldenburg, Flanders where he lived the rest of his days.
Born
- 1087 at the monastery at Aldenburg, diocese
of Bruges, Flanders, Belgium of natural causes
- miracles
reported at his tomb were investigated and approved by a council at
Beauvais, France in 1121
- relics
translated to the church of Saint Peter, Aldenburg, Belgium in 1131
- bishop blessing a burning
castle
- bishop wearing a coat
of mail under his cope
- bishop with a fish with a ring
in its mouth
- bishop with a mash rake (a beer brewing tool)
- washing the feet of the poor
