Antonio Nasini
(1643-1715). La vision de San Guglielmo
di Malavalle,
Église de Saint Augustin de Massa Marittima
Saint Guillaume de Malavalle
Ermite
en Toscane, fondateur de l'ordre des Guillemites (✝ 1157)
Il naquit dans le
Brabant. La légèreté de la jeunesse l'empêcha de profiter de l'éducation donnée
par d'honnêtes parents. Ils le placèrent chez un boulanger, pensant que sa vie
serait plus régulière et surtout moins déréglée. Sous le prétexte d'apprendre
le français qu'on ne parlait pas dans son pays il s'en fut, vagabond, et reprit
sa vie désordonnée.
Comme l'enfant prodigue, la misère et la faim le conduisirent à réfléchir.
Il entra dans un monastère, se réconcilia avec Dieu et y reprit ses activités de boulanger.
Mais il s'en lassa, reprit sa vie errante et libertine.
Dieu ne se lasse pas de poursuivre ceux qu'il aime. Guillaume rencontra un prêtre qui le remit sur le chemin de la vie spirituelle. Il étudia les Saintes Écritures, se retira dans la solitude, puis fonda un monastère près de Valenciennes. Il devint un prédicateur écouté.
Un internaute nous communique: "Dans l'église Saint Thyrs de Labruguière (F-81290) il existe une chapelle au plafond de laquelle 12 médaillons peints au 19ème siècle par Morelli, semblent représenter la vie de Saint Guillaume de Malavalle: on le voit à la tête d'une armée de croisés, soumis à des tentations, en visite auprès du Pape, vie d'ermite dans un paysage de Toscane, terrassant des dragons ou encore accomplissant une guérison. Sur une peinture, le paysage au lointain représente une ville fortifiée (Jérusalem ou St Jean d'Acre)?"
À l’Étable-de-Rhodes sur le territoire de Sienne en Toscane, l’an 1157, saint Guillaume, ermite de Maleval, dont l’exemple a donné naissance à plusieurs congrégations d’ermites.
Martyrologe
romain
Hans Memling, Jeune
homme en prière devant Guillaume de Maleval, 1470,
Tempera sur
panneau, 835 X
Guillaume de
Maleval
Ermite, Fondateur, Saint
+ 1157
Ce Saint, dont on ne connaît point la famille,
parait être né en France, et c'est pour cela qu'il est honoré dans le
nouveau bréviaire de Paris. On croit qu'il prit le parti des armes dans sa
jeunesse, et qu'il vécut d'abord, d'une manière fort licencieuse, comme cela
n'arrive que trop souvent à un grand nombre de militaires. Les premiers traits
que nous sachions sûrement de sa vie, nous le représentent comme un pénitent
pénétré de la plus vive componction, qui fit un pèlerinage à Rome pour
visiter les tombeaux des apôtres. Ayant prié le Pape Eugène III de lui
imposer une pénitence pour l'expiation de ses péchés, ce Souverain-Pontife lui
ordonna d'aller a 3érusalem. C'était ainsi qu'on en usait alors à l'égard des
grands pécheurs. Guillaume partit en 1145, et passa huit ans dans les lieux où
se sont accomplis les mystères de la rédemption. Il revint ensuite en Europe,
et se retira, en 1153, dans un désert situé en Toscane. Quelque temps après, on
le força de prendre le gouvernement du monastère de l'île de Lupocavio, dans le
territoire de Pise; mais la tiédeur et le peu de régularité de ses moines
l'affligèrent si vivement, qu'il résolut de s'éloigner d'eux : il les quitta
donc pour aller demeurer sur le mont Pruno, où il trouva des religieux aussi
ennemis de la règle que les premiers. Cela le détermina à mener seul un genre
de vie qu'il avait tâché inutilement de faire embrasser aux autres. Pour cet
effet, il se retira dans une vallée déserte, dont la seule vue était capable de
glacer d'horreur les hommes mêmes les plus intrépides. Cette vallée, située
dans le territoire de Sienne, au diocèse de Grosseto, s'appelait Malavalle ou
Maleval.
Notre Saint entra dans cette affreuse solitude au
mois de Septembre de l'an 1155. Il n'eut d'abord d'autre demeure qu'une caverne
souterraine, mais le seigneur de Buriano l'ayant découvert au bout de quelque
temps, lui fit construire une cellule. Il fut quatre mois sans autre compagnie
que celle des bêtes, vivant des herbes qu'il leur voyait manger. Le jour de
l'Epiphanie de l'année suivante, il lui vint un disciple nommé Albert, qui
vécut treize mois avec lui, c'est-à-dire, jusqu'à sa mort, et qui écrivit
ensuite les dernières circonstances de la vie de son maître, dont il avait été
le témoin oculaire. Guillaume ne parlait jamais de lui-même que comme du plus
misérable de tous les hommes, que comme d'un infâme pécheur qui méritait la
plus cruelle de toutes les morts : de là ce zèle qui le portait à exercer sur
son corps les plus grandes rigueurs de la pénitence. Il couchait sur la terre
nue, et ne prenait pour toute nourriture qu'un peu d'eau et de mauvais pain ;
encore se renfermait-il dans les bornes les plus étroites du besoin par rapport
au boire et au manger, disant que la sensualité pouvait se glisser jusque dans
la nourriture la plus commune. La prière, la contemplation et le travail des
mains absorbaient tout son temps. C'était en travaillant qu'il instruisait son
disciple dans les plus sublimes maximes de la perfection; mais il l'instruisait
bien plus efficacement encore par ses exemples. Il fut honoré du don des
miracles et de celui de prophétie. Sentant approcher sa fin, il demanda les
sacrements, qui lui furent apportés par un prêtre de la ville de
Châtillon-de-Pescaire, et mourut entre les bras de son cher disciple, le 10
Février 1157. Il est nommé en ce jour dans le martyrologe romain et dans les
autres. Un médecin, nommé Renaud, s'était joint à Albert un peu avant la mort
du Saint : ils enterrèrent ensemble le corps de leur bienheureux maître dans
son petit jardin, et s'appliquèrent à conformer leur conduite aux maximes et
aux exemples qu'il leur avait laissés ; ils eurent la consolation de voir
plusieurs personnes pieuses venir embrasser le même genre de vie. Ces
solitaires, dont le nombre augmentait de jour en jour, bâtirent un ermitage avec
une chapelle sur le tombeau de notre Saint. Telle fut l'origine de l'ordre des Guillelmites
ou ermites de Saint-Guillaume, lequel se répandit bientôt en Italie, en
France, en Allemagne et dans les Pays-Bas. Ces ermites allaient nu-pieds, et
jeûnaient presque continuellement : mais le Pape Grégoire IX mitigea
l'austérité de leur règle, et les mit sous celle de saint Benoit, qu'ils
suivent encore. Cette congrégation a été unie à celle des ermites de
Saint-Augustin, à l'exception de douze maisons dans les Pays-Bas, qui suivaient
encore l'ancienne règle des Guillelmites, c'est-à-dire, celle de saint Benoit. Ces
religieux portent un habit blanc comme les Cisterciens. On faisait la fête de
saint Guillaume à Paris dans l'église des Blancs-Manteaux.
SOURCE : Alban Butler : Vie des Pères,
Martyrs et autres principaux Saints… – Traduction :
Jean-François Godescard.
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/guillaume_de_maleval.htm
Hans
Memling, Guillaume de Maleval en protecteur de la famille Moreel.
Triptyque de Moreel. 1484, Huile sur panneau, 121 X 69
Guglielmo de Maleval
† - 1157
Même les Religieux guillemites n’ont pas conservé de
souvenirs exacts de leur Fondateur, affirmant qu’il était ce Guillaume IX
d’Aquitaine, converti par saint Bernard (v. 20 août). Les spécialistes avancent
plutôt qu’il aurait été un gentilhomme français, passé du métier des armes à celui
de la milice divine, et pour cela s’appellerait Guillaume.
Voulant expier ses fautes de jeunesse, Guglielmo se présenta au pape,
qui lui imposa comme pénitence le pèlerinage de Jérusalem (1145).
A son retour en 1153, Guglielmo s’arrêta en Toscane ; sur l’île de
Lupocavio (Pise) comme dans la forêt du mont Pruno, il s’attira des disciples
qui, après avoir voulu écouter ses conseils, le méprisèrent et le chassèrent.
Il vint alors près de Sienne et s’établit dans l’Etable de Rhodes, un
endroit si affreux et peu accueillant qu’on l’appela par la suite Maleval (Vallée
du Mal ou Mauvaise Vallée). C’était en 1155.
Il eut d’abord seulement un trou dans la terre. Le seigneur de l’endroit
lui fit construire une cabane. Guglielmo vécut alors d’herbes et de racines.
En 1156, un certain Alberto se joignit à lui et ne le quitta jamais
plus. Guglielmo lui affirmait n’être qu’un criminel, méritant les derniers
tourments ; de fait, il s’imposait des austérités surprenantes, couchant par
terre, jeûnant tous les jours ou presque, et ne prenant à l’occasion qu’un peu
de nourriture et à peine de vin dans son verre d’eau. Il portait
continuellement un cilice, vivait du travail de ses mains et, tout en
travaillant, devisait avec Alberto sur les voies de la perfection.
Ce dernier fut témoin d’une des prophéties de Guglielmo. Il voyait en
effet Guglielmo vieillir et désirait bien avoir un compagnon de vie. Guglielmo
lui annonça la prochaine venue de quelqu’un. Arriva en effet un certain
Rinaldo, médecin de son état, qui voulait se retirer avec eux. Guglielmo lui
conseilla d’aller mettre en ordre ses affaires et de vite revenir.
Pendant son absence, Guglielmo sentit arriver sa dernière heure. Il se
fit apporter les Sacrements de l’Eglise et expira bientôt dans les bras
d’Alberto, assisté par le brave Rinaldo qui arriva à temps.
Guglielmo mourut le 10 février 1157, son dies natalis au
Martyrologe Romain, et fut, croit-on, canonisé en 1202.
Les ermites de Saint-Guillaume
ou Guillemites se répandirent dans toute l’Europe ; ils adoptèrent la règle
bénédictine et le couvent de Maleval fut ensuite remis aux Ermites de
Saint-Augustin.
Salvator
Rosa, Guillaume de Maleval pénitent, 1635.
William of Maleval, OSB Hermit (RM)
(also known as William of Malval or Malvalla)
Born in France; died at Maleval, Italy, February 10, 1157; canonized by
Innocent III in 1202. After carefree years of licentious military life, William
experienced a conversion of heart of which we are told nothing. The first real
piece of information we have is that the penitent Frenchman made a pilgrimage
to the tombs of the apostles at Rome. Here he begged Pope Eugenius III for
pardon and to set him on a course of penance for his sins. Eugenius enjoined
him to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1145. William followed his counsel
and spent eight years on the journey, returning to Italy a changed man.
In 1153, William
became a hermit in on the isle of Lupocavio (near Pisa) in Tuscany for a time.
So many joined his until he was prevailed upon to undertake the governance. He
wasn't well suited to lead other men. First he failed to maintain discipline at
the abbey. Unable to bear the tepidity and irregularity of his monks, he
withdrew to Monte Bruno. But same thing happened when he organized the
disciples who had gathered around him into his own abbey on Monte Bruno.
Finally, in
September 1155, he realized this was not God's plan for him and he embraced the
eremitical life amid the solitude of Maleval (then called the Stable of Rhodes)
near Siena. At Maleval he lived in an underground cave until the lord of
Buriano discovered him some months later and built him a cell. For the first
four months, William had only the beasts for company and only forage for food.
The example of his
life soon attracted another of like mind. On the Feast of the Epiphany 1156, he
was joined by a companion named Albert, who lived with him the rest of his
life--only 13 months-- and recorded William's vita. Like most of the early
hermits, William used extreme penances to atone for his earlier sinful life. He
slept on the bare ground, ate sparingly of only the coarsest fare, and drank
only limited amounts of water. Prayer, contemplation, and manual labor employed
all his waking moments. William had the gift of working miracles and of prophecy.
Shortly before
William's death, which he predicted, he and Albert were joined by a physician
named Rinaldo. The two disciples buried William in his little garden, and
together studied to live according to William's maxims and example. Later their
number increased and they built a chapel over their founder's grave with a
hermitage; however his relics were dispersed in the wars between Siena and
Grosseto.
This was the origin
of the Gulielmites, or Hermits of Saint William, which spread throughout Italy,
France, Flanders, and Germany. Gregory IX, mitigating their austerities, gave
the Rule of Saint Benedict to the group organized as the Order of Bare- Footed
Friars, but they were eventually absorbed by the Augustinian hermits except for
12 houses in the Low Countries.
William is honored
in the new Paris Missal and Breviary, where his feast is kept at the Abbey of
Blancs-Manteaux, founded in 1257 as a mendicant order, called the Servants of
the Virgin Mary, but bestowed on the Gulielmites after the second council of
Lyons in 1297 (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art, William of
Maleval is similar to William of Aquitaine but with no ducal coronet. He
carries a pilgrim's staff and sometimes wears a monastic habit over armor. At
times he may be shown (1) bearing a cross staff, one arm of which ends in a
crescent, or (2) bearing a shield with four fleur-de-lys (Roeder). He is the
patron of armorers and venerated in Siena, Italy (Roeder), and Paris
(Husenbeth).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0210.shtml
St. William of Maleval
(Or ST. WILLIAM THE GREAT).
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15633c.htm
WE 1 know nothing of the birth or quality of this saint: he seems to have been a Frenchman, and is on this account honoured in the new Paris Missal and Breviary. He is thought to have passed his youth in the army, and to have given into a licentious manner of living, too common among persons of that profession. The first accounts we have of him represent him as an holy penitent, filled with the greatest sentiments of compunction and fervour, and making a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles at Rome. Here he begged Pope Eugenius III. to put him into a course of penance, who enjoined him a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 1145. In performing this, with great devotion, the saint spent eight years. Returning into Tuscany in 1153, he retired into a desert. He was prevailed upon to undertake the government of a monastery in the Isle of Lupocavio, in the territory of Pisa: but not being able to bear with the tepidity and irregularity of his monks, he withdrew and settled on Mount Pruno, till finding disciples there no less indocile to the severity of his discipline than the former, he was determined to pursue himself that rigorous plan of life which he had hitherto unsuccessfully proposed to others. He pitched upon a desolate valley for this purpose, the very sight of which was sufficient to strike the most resolute with horror. It was then called the Stable of Rhodes, but since, Maleval; and is situated in the territory of Sienna, in the diocess of Grosseto. He entered this frightful solitude in September, 1155, and had no other lodging than a cave in the ground, till being discovered some months after, the lord of Buriano built him a cell. During the first four months, he had no other company but that of wild beasts, eating only the herbs on which they fed. On the feast of the Epiphany, in the beginning of the year 1156, he was joined by a disciple or companion, called Albert, who lived with him to his death, which happened thirteen months after, and who has recorded the last circumstances of his life. The saint in his discourses with others, always treated himself as the most infamous of criminals, and deserving the worst of deaths; and that these were his real sentiments, appeared from that extreme severity which he exercised upon himself. He lay on the bare ground: though he fed on the coarsest fare and drank nothing but water, he was very sparing in the use of each; saying, sensuality was to be feared even in the most ordinary food. Prayer, divine contemplation, and manual labour, employed his whole time. It was at his work that he instructed his disciple in his maxims of penance and perfection, which he taught him the most effectually by his own example, though in many respects so much raised above the common, that it was fitter to be admired than imitated. He had the gift of miracles, and that of prophecy. Seeing his end draw near, he received the sacraments from a priest of the neighbouring town of Chatillon, and died on the 10th of February, in 1157, on which day he is named in the Roman and other Martyrologies.
Divine Providence moved one Renauld, a physician, to join Albert, a little before the death of the saint. They buried St. William’s body in his little garden, and studied to live according to his maxims and example. Some time after, their number increasing, they built a chapel over their founder’s grave, with a little hermitage. This was the origin of the Gulielmites, or Hermits of St. William, spread in the next age over Italy, France, Flanders, and Germany. They went barefoot, and their fasts were almost continual: but Pope Gregory IX. mitigated their austerities, and gave them the rule of St. Benedict, which they still observe. The Order is now become a congregation united to the hermits of St. Austin, except twelve houses in the Low Countries, which still retain the rule of the Gulielmites, which is that of St. Benedict, with a white habit like that of the Cistercians.
The feast of St. William is kept at Paris in the abbey of Blancs-Manteaux, so called from certain religious men for whom it was founded, who wore white cloaks, and were of a mendicant order, called of the Servants of the Virgin Mary; founded at Marseilles, and approved by Alexander IV. in 1257. This order being extinguished, by virtue of the decree of the second council of Lyons, in 1274, by which all mendicants, except the four great Orders of Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Austin Friars, were abolished, this monastery was bestowed on the Gulielmites, who removed hither from Montrouge near Paris, in 1297. The prior and monks embraced the Order of St. Bennet, and the reformation of the Congregation of St. Vanne of Verdun, soon after called in France, of St. Maur, in 1618, and this is in order the fifth house of that Congregation in France, before the abbeys of St. Germain-des-Prez, and St. Denys.
Note 1. Villefore confounds this saint with St. William, founder of the hermits of Monte Virgine in the kingdom of Naples, who lived in great repute with King Roger, and is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, June 25. Others confound him with St. William, duke of Aquitain, a monk of Gellone. He was a great general, and often vanquished the Saracens who invaded Languedoc. In recompense, Charlemagne made him duke or governor of Aquitain, and appointed Toulouse for his residence. Some years after, in 806, having obtained the consent of his duchess, (who also renounced the world,) and of Charlemagne, though with great difficulty, he made his monastic profession at Gellone, a monastery which he had founded in a valley of that name, a league distant from Aniane, in the diocess of Lodeve. St. William received the habit at the hands of St. Benedict of Aniane, was directed by him in the exercises of a religious life, and sanctified himself, with great fervour, embracing the most humbling and laborious employments, and practising extraordinary austerities, till his happy death in 812, on the 28th of May, on which day his festival is kept in the monastery of Gellone, (now called St. Guillem du Desert, founded by this saint in 804,) and in the neighbouring churches. See, on him, Mabillon, Sæc. Ben. 4. p. 88. Henschenius, diss. p. 448. Bulteau, p. 367, and Hist. Gen. du Languedoc par deux Bénédictins, l. 9. Many also have confounded our saint with William the last duke of Guienne, who, after a licentious youth, and having been an abettor of the anti-pope, Peter Leonis, was wonderfully converted by Saint Bernard, sent to him by Pope Innocent II. in the year 1135. The year following he renounced his estates, which his eldest daughter brought in marriage to Lewis the Young, king of France; and clothed with hair-cloth next his skin, and in a tattered garment expressive of the sincerity of his repentance and contrition, undertook a pilgrimage to Compostello, and died in that journey, in 1137. See Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Norman. et Arnoldus Bonæ-Vallis, in vita Bernardi; with the Historical Dissert. of Henschenius, on the 10th of February; and Abrégé Chronol. des Grands Fiefs, p. 223. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume II: February. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/2/103.html
St. William of Maleval
(Or ST. WILLIAM THE GREAT).
Died 10 February,
1157; beatified in 1202. His life,
written by his disciple Albert,
who lived with him during his last year at Maleval,
has been lost. The life by Theodobald,
or Thibault, given by the Bollandists is unreliable, having been interpolated with
the lives of at least two other Williams. After a number of chapters
in which he is confused with St. William of Gellone, Duke of Aquitaine, we are told
that he went to Rome, where he had an interview with Eugene III, who ordered him to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem
in penance for his sins. Though Theodobald's account of his interview
with the pope does not carry conviction, the fact of this
visit and his subsequent pilgrimage to Jerusalem
is supported by excerpts from the older life,
which are preserved by responsories
and antiphons in his Office.
He seems to have remained at Jerusalem for one or two years, not nine as Theodobald
relates. About 1153 he returned to Italy and led a hermit's life in
a wood near Pisa, then on Monte
Pruno, and finally in 1155 in the desert valley of Stabulum
Rodis, later known as Maleval,
in the territory of Siena and Bishopric
of Grosseto, where he was joined by Albert.
Sources
Acta SS., II Feb., 435-91.
Webster, Douglas Raymund. "St. William of Maleval." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 10
Feb. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15633c.htm>.
St. William of Maleval, Hermit, and
Institutor of the Order of Gulielmites
From l’Hist. des Ordres Relig. t. 6.
p. 155. by F. Helyot
A.D. 1157
WE 1 know nothing of the birth or quality of this saint: he seems to have been a Frenchman, and is on this account honoured in the new Paris Missal and Breviary. He is thought to have passed his youth in the army, and to have given into a licentious manner of living, too common among persons of that profession. The first accounts we have of him represent him as an holy penitent, filled with the greatest sentiments of compunction and fervour, and making a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles at Rome. Here he begged Pope Eugenius III. to put him into a course of penance, who enjoined him a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 1145. In performing this, with great devotion, the saint spent eight years. Returning into Tuscany in 1153, he retired into a desert. He was prevailed upon to undertake the government of a monastery in the Isle of Lupocavio, in the territory of Pisa: but not being able to bear with the tepidity and irregularity of his monks, he withdrew and settled on Mount Pruno, till finding disciples there no less indocile to the severity of his discipline than the former, he was determined to pursue himself that rigorous plan of life which he had hitherto unsuccessfully proposed to others. He pitched upon a desolate valley for this purpose, the very sight of which was sufficient to strike the most resolute with horror. It was then called the Stable of Rhodes, but since, Maleval; and is situated in the territory of Sienna, in the diocess of Grosseto. He entered this frightful solitude in September, 1155, and had no other lodging than a cave in the ground, till being discovered some months after, the lord of Buriano built him a cell. During the first four months, he had no other company but that of wild beasts, eating only the herbs on which they fed. On the feast of the Epiphany, in the beginning of the year 1156, he was joined by a disciple or companion, called Albert, who lived with him to his death, which happened thirteen months after, and who has recorded the last circumstances of his life. The saint in his discourses with others, always treated himself as the most infamous of criminals, and deserving the worst of deaths; and that these were his real sentiments, appeared from that extreme severity which he exercised upon himself. He lay on the bare ground: though he fed on the coarsest fare and drank nothing but water, he was very sparing in the use of each; saying, sensuality was to be feared even in the most ordinary food. Prayer, divine contemplation, and manual labour, employed his whole time. It was at his work that he instructed his disciple in his maxims of penance and perfection, which he taught him the most effectually by his own example, though in many respects so much raised above the common, that it was fitter to be admired than imitated. He had the gift of miracles, and that of prophecy. Seeing his end draw near, he received the sacraments from a priest of the neighbouring town of Chatillon, and died on the 10th of February, in 1157, on which day he is named in the Roman and other Martyrologies.
Divine Providence moved one Renauld, a physician, to join Albert, a little before the death of the saint. They buried St. William’s body in his little garden, and studied to live according to his maxims and example. Some time after, their number increasing, they built a chapel over their founder’s grave, with a little hermitage. This was the origin of the Gulielmites, or Hermits of St. William, spread in the next age over Italy, France, Flanders, and Germany. They went barefoot, and their fasts were almost continual: but Pope Gregory IX. mitigated their austerities, and gave them the rule of St. Benedict, which they still observe. The Order is now become a congregation united to the hermits of St. Austin, except twelve houses in the Low Countries, which still retain the rule of the Gulielmites, which is that of St. Benedict, with a white habit like that of the Cistercians.
The feast of St. William is kept at Paris in the abbey of Blancs-Manteaux, so called from certain religious men for whom it was founded, who wore white cloaks, and were of a mendicant order, called of the Servants of the Virgin Mary; founded at Marseilles, and approved by Alexander IV. in 1257. This order being extinguished, by virtue of the decree of the second council of Lyons, in 1274, by which all mendicants, except the four great Orders of Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Austin Friars, were abolished, this monastery was bestowed on the Gulielmites, who removed hither from Montrouge near Paris, in 1297. The prior and monks embraced the Order of St. Bennet, and the reformation of the Congregation of St. Vanne of Verdun, soon after called in France, of St. Maur, in 1618, and this is in order the fifth house of that Congregation in France, before the abbeys of St. Germain-des-Prez, and St. Denys.
Note 1. Villefore confounds this saint with St. William, founder of the hermits of Monte Virgine in the kingdom of Naples, who lived in great repute with King Roger, and is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, June 25. Others confound him with St. William, duke of Aquitain, a monk of Gellone. He was a great general, and often vanquished the Saracens who invaded Languedoc. In recompense, Charlemagne made him duke or governor of Aquitain, and appointed Toulouse for his residence. Some years after, in 806, having obtained the consent of his duchess, (who also renounced the world,) and of Charlemagne, though with great difficulty, he made his monastic profession at Gellone, a monastery which he had founded in a valley of that name, a league distant from Aniane, in the diocess of Lodeve. St. William received the habit at the hands of St. Benedict of Aniane, was directed by him in the exercises of a religious life, and sanctified himself, with great fervour, embracing the most humbling and laborious employments, and practising extraordinary austerities, till his happy death in 812, on the 28th of May, on which day his festival is kept in the monastery of Gellone, (now called St. Guillem du Desert, founded by this saint in 804,) and in the neighbouring churches. See, on him, Mabillon, Sæc. Ben. 4. p. 88. Henschenius, diss. p. 448. Bulteau, p. 367, and Hist. Gen. du Languedoc par deux Bénédictins, l. 9. Many also have confounded our saint with William the last duke of Guienne, who, after a licentious youth, and having been an abettor of the anti-pope, Peter Leonis, was wonderfully converted by Saint Bernard, sent to him by Pope Innocent II. in the year 1135. The year following he renounced his estates, which his eldest daughter brought in marriage to Lewis the Young, king of France; and clothed with hair-cloth next his skin, and in a tattered garment expressive of the sincerity of his repentance and contrition, undertook a pilgrimage to Compostello, and died in that journey, in 1137. See Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Norman. et Arnoldus Bonæ-Vallis, in vita Bernardi; with the Historical Dissert. of Henschenius, on the 10th of February; and Abrégé Chronol. des Grands Fiefs, p. 223. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume II: February. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
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