Saint Bavon
Ermite
à Gand (✝ 659)
ou Alowinus.
Seigneur dans le pays de Liège en Belgique, il mena longtemps une vie dissolue. A la mort de sa femme, il rencontra saint Amand qui le convertit et dont il devint le disciple et le collaborateur.
Il passa les trois dernières années de sa vie dans une solitude, à côté du monastère Saint Pierre que l'évêque saint Amand venait de fonder dans un lieu désert appelé Ganda, qui fut le berceau de la ville de Gand.
À Gand dans la Flandre, en 659, saint Bavon, moine. Disciple de saint Amand, il dit adieu au siècle, distribua ses biens aux pauvres et se retira dans le monastère qu’il avait construit dans cette plaine.
Martyrologe
romain
Bavo of Ghent, OSB
Hermit (RM)
(also known as Allowin, Bavon)
Born in Brabant near Liege, c. 589; died near Ghent in 654 (according to the
majority; dates range from 624 to 654).
The young Bavo,
christened Allowin, led a wild life as a wealthy landowner. He married and
fathered a daughter; otherwise, his life was totally disordered. His sole
object was to satisfy his every desire without regard to justice or truth. When
he needed more money, he would sell his servants as serfs to neighboring
landowners. Then his beloved wife died. Only thereafter did he realize how
selfish his life had been.
Upon hearing a
sermon of Saint Amandus, his heart convicted of his sin. Bavo began his
conversion to Christ by giving away all his property, including his estate at
Ghent which he offered to Saint Amandus, who built a monastery there. Bavo
begged to enter it, and began a course of canonical penance. So great was his
self-mortification that after his death the name of the abbey was changed from
St. Peter's to St. Bavo's.
By great good
fortune Bavo came across one man he had sold as a serf many years before. Bavo
begged the man to lead him by a chain in humiliation as far as the city jail.
Similar humility marked everything he now did. Saint Amandus allowed him to
become his companion on missionary expeditions throughout France and Flanders,
during which Bavo's personal mortifications were the wonder of all who saw
them.
The austerities even
of monastic life soon were not enough to satisfy Saint Bavo's desire to
discipline the body that he had once over-indulged. He begged Amandus to give
him permission to live as a hermit. When permission was given, at first Bavo
made his dwelling in a hollow tree. Later he built a tiny cell, near Ghent in
the forest of Malmédun. He lived on vegetables and water, seeing only Amandus
and another friend, the saintly Abbot Floribert, until his death. He was buried
at Floribert's monastery nearby, which was later renamed after
him--Saint-Bavon.
So great was the
impression left by Saint Bavo that 900 years later when the diocese of Ghent
was created, he was made its patron (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley,
Encyclopedia).
In art, Bavo is
sometimes represented as a hermit, but generally shown before his conversion:
as a duke out hunting with a falcon or hawk on his wrist. He may also be shown:
(1) with a purse or giving alms; (2) as a prince giving out alms in front of
his palace; (3) with a sword and scepter; (4) as an old king in armor, with a
book and broken tree trunk, a ship, and St. Bavo's monastery nearby; (5) with a
hollow tree near him; (6) with staff and a glove; (7) near a wagon; (8) with a
huge stone; or (9) with an angel holding a palm above him (Bentley, Roeder).
Saint Bavo is still
venerated at Ghent and Liege, where his feast is celebrated (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1001.shtml
October 1
St. Bavo, Anchoret, Patron of Ghent
THIS great model of penance, called Allowin,
surnamed Bavo, was a nobleman, and native of that part of Brabant called
Hasbain, at present comprised in the territory of Liege. After having led a
very irregular life, and being left a widower by the death of his wife, he was
moved to a sincere conversion to God by a sermon which he heard St. Amand
preach. The apostolical man had no sooner finished his discourse, but Bavo
followed him, and threw himself at his feet, bathed in a flood of tears. Sobs
expressed the sorrow and emotions of his heart more eloquently than any words
could have done, and it was some time before his voice was able to break
through his sighs. When he had somewhat recovered himself he confessed himself
the basest and most ungrateful of all sinners, and earnestly begged to be
directed in the paths of true penance and salvation. The holy pastor, who saw
in his unfeigned tears the sincerity of his compunction, was far from
flattering him in the beginning of his work, by which his penance would have remained
imperfect; and whilst he encouraged him by the consideration of the boundless
mercy of God, he set before his eyes the necessity of appeasing the divine
indignation by a course of penance proportioned to the enormity of his
offences, and of applying powerful remedies to the deep wounds of his soul,
that his inveterate distempers might be radically cured, his vicious
inclinations perfectly corrected and reformed, and his heart become a new
creature. By these instructions Bavo was more and more penetrated with the most
sincere sentiments of compunction, made his confession, and entered upon a
course of canonical penance. 1 Going home he distributed all his moveables
and money among the poor, and having settled his affairs, retired to the
monastery at Ghent, where he received the tonsure at the hands of St. Amand,
and was animated by his instructions to advance daily in the fervour of his
penance, and in the practice of all virtues. “It is a kind of apostacy,” said
that prudent director to him, “for a soul which has had the happiness to see
the nothingness of this world, and the depth of her spiritual miseries, not to
raise herself daily more and more above them, and to make continual approaches
nearer to God.”
Bavo considered that self-denial and penance
are the means by which a penitent must punish sin in himself, and are also one
part of the remedy by which he must heal his perverse inclinations, and carnal
passions. He therefore seemed to set no bounds to the ardour with which he
laboured to consummate the sacrifice of his penance by the baptism of his
tears, the compunction and humiliation of his heart, the mortification of his
will, and the rigour of his austerities. To satisfy his devotion, St. Amand
after some time gave him leave to lead an eremitical life. He first chose for
his abode a hollow trunk of a large tree, but afterwards built himself a cell
in the forest of Malmedun near Ghent, where wild herbs and water were his chief
subsistence. He returned to the monastery of St. Peter at Ghent, where St.
Amand had appointed St. Floribert the first abbot over a community of clerks,
says the original author of our saint’s life. With the approbation of St.
Floribert, Bavo built himself a new cell in another neighbouring wood, where he
lived a recluse, intent only on invisible goods, in an entire oblivion of
creatures. He died on the 1st of October, about the year 653, according to
Mabillon, but according to Henschenius, 657. 2 Perier rather thinks in 654. The holy bishop
St. Amand, the abbot St. Floribert with his monks, and Domlinus the priest of
Turholt were present at his glorious passage, attending him in prayer. The
example of his conversion moved sixty gentlemen to devote themselves to an
austere penitential life. By them the church of St. Bavo was founded at Ghent,
served first by a college of canons, but afterwards changed into a monastery of
the holy Order of St. Benedict. It was again reduced to its primitive state,
being secularized by Pope Paul III. in 1537, at the request of the Emperor
Charles V. who, building a citadel in that part, three years after, transferred
the canons to St. John’s, which from that time possesses the relics, and bears
the name of St. Bavo. When the bishopric of Ghent was erected by Paul IV. in
1559, at the petition of King Philip II. this church was made the cathedral.
Cornelius Jansenius, author of a learned Concordance or Harmony of the Gospels,
and other works, was nominated the first bishop. He is not to be confounded
with the famous Cornelius Jansenius, bishop of Ipres. An arm of St. Bavo is
kept in a silver case at Haerlem, of which church he is the titular saint and
patron, in the same manner as at Ghent. See the life of St. Bavo, written in
the eighth century, published by Mabillon, sæc. 2. Ben. Another compiled by
Theodoric, abbot of St. Tron’s, in the twelfth century, is extant in Surius,
but not of equal authority. See also the history of many miracles, wrought by
his relics, in three books. Among the moderns, Le Cointe, ad an. 649. Pagi, in
Critica in Annal. Baron. ad an. 631. n. 13. Batavia sacra, p. 27. Ant. Sanderus
Rerum Gandavensium, c. 4. p. 241. This author gives us the history of the
church of St. Bavo, now the cathedral, l. 5. p. 390. Perier the
Bollandist, from p. 198 to 303. t. 1. Octob.
Note 1. “Post pænitentiæ confessionem annis tribus
præter 40 dierum abstinentiam,” &c. See the original author of his
life. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
X: October. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/10/012.html
Bavone nacque in una famiglia di alto rango sociale e sposò la figlia del conte merovingio Adilone ed ebbe una figlia di nome Agletrude.
La giovane moglie morì, non si sa come e Bavone colpito dalla disgrazia, interruppe la sua vita dissoluta e cadde in preda ad una crisi morale, che fu il punto di partenza della sua conversione. Si recò da s. Amando che stava predicando alle popolazioni ancora pagane della regione di Gand e per suo consiglio distribuì ai poveri le sue terre di Hesbaye, dove era nato ed entrò nel monastero di Ganda come religioso, monastero appena fondato da s. Amando e che in seguito si chiamerà ‘S. Bavone di Gand’.
Divenne discepolo del santo missionario e lo seguì nelle sue peregrinazioni apostoliche nelle Fiandre; dopo un certo tempo ritornò a Ganda, dove fattosi costruire una piccola cella nel cavo di un grosso albero, condusse vita eremitica ed ascetica per tre anni.
Ma le privazioni ed i sacrifici lo indebolirono rapidamente, morendo verso il 659; il suo corpo fu sepolto nel monastero di Ganda. Allo stato attuale, le sue reliquie riposerebbero in parte nella cattedrale di Gand e in parte nell’abbazia benedettina di Nesle-la-Reposte, località dove si erano rifugiati i monaci fuggiti da Ganda, per sottrarsi alle invasioni normanne, verso l’882-83.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
Le 'lavabo' dans le
cloitre de l'ancienne abbaye Sint-Baafsabdij in Gent.
Photographie de Paul Hermans
San Bavone di Gand Eremita
Brabant, Liegi, Belgio, 589 - Gand, 1° ottobre 659
Di Bavone (in fiammingo Baafs)
esistono quattro «Vite» in gran parte leggendarie. Sarebbe morto prima del 659.
Nobile di alto rango, sposò la figlia del conte merovingio Adilone. Rimasto
vedovo, seguì sant'Amando che stava evangelizzando le pagane Fiandre. Distribuì
le sue terre ai poveri ed entrò nel monastero benedettino di Gand, che prese
poi il suo nome. Fattosi missionario con Amando, tornò in seguito a Gand e
visse gli ultimi tre anni da eremita nel cavo di un grosso albero. Sue
reliquie sono nella cattedrale di Gand e nell'abbazia di
Nelse-la-Reposte. (Avvenire)
Martirologio
Romano: A Gand nelle Fiandre, nell’odierno Belgio, san Bavone, monaco, che
fu discepolo di sant’Amando; abbandonato il mondo, distribuì i suoi beni ai
poveri e si ritirò nel monastero fondato in questo luogo.
Di questo santo fiammingo
esistono quattro ‘Vite’ in buona parte leggendarie, come del resto la
maggioranza delle vite dei santi dei primi secoli; la più antica che parla di
Bavone (in fiammingo Baafs), è stata scritta probabilmente al tempo di Eginardo
abate († 844), due secoli dopo la morte di Bavone, che si suppone avvenuta un
1° ottobre prima del 659; essa fu posta in versi intorno al 980.
Bavone nacque in una famiglia di alto rango sociale e sposò la figlia del conte merovingio Adilone ed ebbe una figlia di nome Agletrude.
La giovane moglie morì, non si sa come e Bavone colpito dalla disgrazia, interruppe la sua vita dissoluta e cadde in preda ad una crisi morale, che fu il punto di partenza della sua conversione. Si recò da s. Amando che stava predicando alle popolazioni ancora pagane della regione di Gand e per suo consiglio distribuì ai poveri le sue terre di Hesbaye, dove era nato ed entrò nel monastero di Ganda come religioso, monastero appena fondato da s. Amando e che in seguito si chiamerà ‘S. Bavone di Gand’.
Divenne discepolo del santo missionario e lo seguì nelle sue peregrinazioni apostoliche nelle Fiandre; dopo un certo tempo ritornò a Ganda, dove fattosi costruire una piccola cella nel cavo di un grosso albero, condusse vita eremitica ed ascetica per tre anni.
Ma le privazioni ed i sacrifici lo indebolirono rapidamente, morendo verso il 659; il suo corpo fu sepolto nel monastero di Ganda. Allo stato attuale, le sue reliquie riposerebbero in parte nella cattedrale di Gand e in parte nell’abbazia benedettina di Nesle-la-Reposte, località dove si erano rifugiati i monaci fuggiti da Ganda, per sottrarsi alle invasioni normanne, verso l’882-83.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
