Statue de Saint Évroult, abbatiale de Thiron-Gardais,
Eure-et-Loir, France.
Saint Evroult
Abbé au pays d'Ouche, en Normandie (+ 596)
Originaire de Bayeux, il fut appelé par le roi Clovis
II puis le roi Clotaire III aux plus hautes charges du royaume franc. Il fut un
époux attentif à son épouse et charitable aux pauvres. Voulant devenir moine
pour mener une vie plus parfaite, il obtint d'elle qu'elle devienne aussi
moniale. Lui-même se retira solitaire dans les forêts de Montfort près
d'Argentan. Si grande fut sa vertu qu'il dût fonder plusieurs monastères pour
les disciples qui se regroupaient autour de lui et voulaient imiter sa manière
de vivre avec Dieu.
Depuis une quinzaine de siècles, notre petite région
(Orne, en Basse-Normandie) a accueilli la Bonne Nouvelle de Jésus-Christ. Elle
l’a reçue par des missionnaires, hommes et femmes, moines, prêtres, laïcs, par
des évêques. Une quinzaine d’entre eux - comme Céronne et Lhômer,
au Pays du Perche, comme Evroult, au pays d’Ouche, comme Latuin,
notre premier évêque, au pays de Sées, comme les ermites dans le Bocage - ont
laissé une grande réputation de sainteté. (diocèse
de Séez)
A sa création en septembre 1995, la paroisse s’est
mise sous la protection de St Evroult, ermite au VIIe siècle, qui quitta les
honneurs d’une haute fonction à la cour franque pour fonder monastères et
agriculture dans la région. Il eut un grand rayonnement tant en France qu’en
Angleterre. (paroisse
de Saint Evroult en Ouche - diocèse de Séez)
Localités sous son patronage: Saint-Evroult de
Montfort - 61230, Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame du Bois - 61550:
L'abbaye
était au XIIe siècle un centre intellectuel important avec une bibliothèque
riche de 200 volumes. Dévastée au Xe siècle par les Normands, elle fut
reconstruite en 1231, mais elle sera complètement détruite pendant la
Révolution française. L’impressionnante abbatiale mesurait alors 91 mètres sur
41 de large. Aujourd’hui, le territoire de Saint Evroult-Notre Dame du Bois est
recouvert aux deux tiers par la forêt. Méditer en cette forêt donne à réfléchir
sur les péripéties de toute existence.La butte de St Evroult est une propriété
privée. Les promenades y sont tolérées. De ces trésors, il reste un
extraordinaire reliquaire au musée de Caen.
La fondation de ce monastère se situe sous les règnes
d'Hilpéric et Childebert entre 550 et 570 par Evroult de Bayeux. (Abbaye de Saint Evroult)
Au pays d’Exmes en Gaule, l’an 596, saint Évroul, abbé
d’Ouche, au temps du roi de Neustrie Childebert. Il fut célèbre pour son amour
de la solitude, ses austérités et sa bonté envers les pauvres.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/327/Saint-Evroult.html
Ruines de l'abbaye Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois
(Orne, France). Vue de la nef avec un pilier de la tour et le transept sud.
EVROULT
D’OUCHE
Abbé,
Saint
517-596
Saint Evroult naquit à
Bayeux en 517. Il sortait d'une famille riche et considérable. Ses parents,
après luiavoir donné une éducation conforme à sa naissance, l'envoyèrent à la
cour de Childebert I. Ce prince l'honora de sa confiance, et lui donna des emplois
très importants. Evroult, par complaisance pour ses parents, entra dans l'état
du mariage ; mais il prit pour épouse une femme recommandable par sa
vertu. Quoique obligé de vivre au milieu des embarras qu'entraînent les
affaires, il trouvait encore du temps pour vaquer aux exercices de piété.
Assidu à la prière et à la lecture, il se faisait une solitude de la cour,
parce que son cœur était fermé au bruit du monde qui frappait ses oreilles.
Quand il était seul, il méditait les saintes Écritures qui faisaient ses
délices. Il lisait aussi les vies des anciens Pères, et il apprenait chaque
jour à mourir avec eux au monde. Enfin, dégoûté du siècle, il forma la
résolution de rompre les liens qui l'y retenaient. Il communiqua son dessein à
sa femme, qui consentit avec joie à la séparation qui lui était proposée. Elle
quitta le monde la première, et alla prendre le voile dans un monastère. Mais
ce n'était point encore assez pour Evroult, il avait besoin du consentement de
Clotaire I, qui, après la mort de Childebert, était devenu maître de ses états.
Le prince le lui refusa longtemps ; il le lui accorda néanmoins après des
instances souvent réitérées. Evroult, devenu libre, vendit ses biens et les
distribua aux pauvres ; après quoi il se retira dans le monastère dit des
deux Jumeaux, au diocèse de Bayeux. Il venait d'être fondé par saint
Martin, abbé de Vertou près de Nantes, et il avait ainsi été appelé de deux
jumeaux qui lui avaient donné leur patrimoine, et qui s'y étaient consacrés à
Dieu.
La vertu de saint Evroult
lui attira tant de vénération, que, pour se soustraire aux piéges de la vanité,
il sortit du monastère avec trois autres religieux , pour chercher une solitude
plus entière. S'étant enfoncés dans les forêts, ils s'arrêtèrent dans celle
d'Ouche en Hyesmois, au diocèse de Lisieux. Le Saint y fonda la célèbre abbaye
qui porte aujourd'hui son nom, et qui appartient à la congrégation de
Saint-Maur. Il lui vint de toutes parts des disciples, qui, animés par ses
exemples et ceux de ses moines , tendirent avec ardeur à la perfection de leur
état. Evroult fonda quinze autres monastères, tant pour des hommes que pour des
filles : mais il fit toujours sa demeure dans celui d'Ouche. Plusieurs miracles
opérés par la vertu de ses prières, ajoutèrent encore à la célébrité de son
nom. Il mourut à l'âge de quatre-vingts ans , le 29 Décembre 596. Son nom se
lit en ce jour dans le martyrologe romain , et dans ceux d'Usuard, des
Bénédictins, etc. On gardait une partie de ses reliques dans l'abbaye de
Saint-Evroult; le reste était à l'abbaye de Rebais. On fait sa principale fête
à Evreux, le 16 de Janvier.
Alban Butler : Vies
des pères, des martyrs, et des autres principaux saints… traduction
de Jean François Godescard.
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/evroult_douche.htm
Ruines de l'abbaye Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois
(Orne, France). Vue de la nef vers le porche.
Also
known as
- Ebrolfo
- Ebrulfo
- Ebrulfus
- Ebrulphus
- Evroul
- Evroult
- Évroult
Profile
Merovingian courtier. A married layman, he made financial arrangements for his wife,
who may have later become a nun, and left the court of KingChildebert I to become a monk at Deux Jumeaux abbey. He and a small group of brothers left to becomehermits in the nearby forest of Ouche. Ebrulf converted a band of highway robbers to the faith. With them, the brothers, and some spiritual students
who gathered around them, he founded a small monastery near Ouche, and served as its abbot. It emphasized self-sufficiency for the house, manual
labour offered to Godfor the men, and was so successful that several other small houses were
founded nearby.
Born
Ruines de l'abbaye Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois
(Orne, France). Vue de la nef vers le transept avec le détail des pieds de
colonnes.
Ebrulf
of Ouche, Abbot (RM)
(also known as Evroul, Evroult, Ebrulfus)
Born in Bayeux, Normandy, in 517; died 596; feast commemorating the
translation of his relics is kept at Deeping Abbey in England on August 30.
Like Saint Albert, Ebrulf was a Merovingian courtier. He arranged for his wife
to be safe from need (she may have entered a convent) and left the court of
King Childebert I to became a monk at the nearby abbey of Deux Jumeaux. Later
he and a small group of companions became hermits in the forest of Ouche in
Normandy, where they lived an austere life. After Ebrulf converted a band of robbers
to the faith, he established a small monastery there. As the numbers swelled,
several other small houses were founded. Their rule emphasized manual labor as
a means of earning a livelihood and a way to serve God. Ebrulf had a strong
cultus in England until the feast of Thomas Becket took precedence. Four abbots
from Saint-Evroul Abbey ruled English monasteries in the 11th and 12th
centuries and brought with them Ebrulf's relics. (Benedictines,
Encyclopedia, Farmer).
Ruines de l'abbaye Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois
(Orne, France). Vue sur la nef depuis le porche.
December 29
St. Evroul, Abbot and
Confessor
EVROUL, called
in Latin Ebrulfus, was born at Bayeux, in 517, and was of the most illustrious
family of that country. But he learned from his cradle to esteem nothing great
but what is so in the eyes of God. The same sentiments he made the rule of his
holy and disinterested conduct in the court of King Childebert I., who, being
charmed with his accomplishments both of mind and body, raised him to several
posts of honour and authority, which he never sought: for all his ambition
aimed at goods infinitely surpassing those of the earth, for which he testified
a total indifference, even whilst they flowed in upon him unasked. He showed by
his example how possible it is for a Christian to live in the world without
being of it in spirit, and to possess riches without being possessed by them.
But then he made continual use of the antidotes which heaven has afforded us to
fence our hearts against that contagious air, which are assiduous prayer, pious
reading, meditation, and the mortification of the senses. His friends importuned
him to marry, and he chose a virtuous wife, whose inclinations were perfectly
suitable to his own. By reading the lives of the saints they mutually inflamed
each other with a desire of forsaking the world. In this view they agreed to a
separation, and she took the veil in a holy nunnery, whilst he distributed his
whole fortune among the poor. It was, however, a considerable time before he
was able to obtain the leave of King Clothaire I. (who, after the death of his
brother Childebert, was become master of all France) to retire from court. At
length, he procured it by reiterated importunities, and without delay took
refuge in a monastery in the diocess of Bayeux. By his profound humility,
fervour, and all heroic virtues, he gained the esteem and veneration of his
fellow monks. But the respect which he met with was to him a true affliction:
he regarded it as a snare, and a temptation to vanity. To shun it, he, with
three others, privately withdrew, and hid himself in the most remote part of
the forest of Ouche, in the diocess of Lisieux, which was only inhabited by
wild beasts and robbers. These new hermits had taken no measures for
provisions. They settled near a spring of clear water, made an inclosure with a
hedge of boughs, and built themselves little huts of branches and mud. A
country peasant discovered them in this place, to his great astonishment, and
advertised them, that the wood was a retreat of cruel thieves: “We are come
hither,” said Evroul, “to bewail our sins; we place our confidence in the mercy
of God, who by his providence feeds the birds of the air, and we fear no one.”
The countryman brought them the next morning three loaves and some honey, and
was so edified by their conversation, that he soon after joined them. One of
the thieves happening to light upon them, saw there was no booty to be
expected, and, out of humanity and compassion, endeavoured to persuade them
that their lives would be in danger from others of his profession. Evroul
represented to him, that having God for their protector, they stood in fear of
no danger from men who could have no inducement to murder those who sought to
hurt no man, and had no other occupation than to lead penitential lives, and to
please God. He then powerfully exhorted him to change his life. The robber was
converted upon the spot, and going to his companions, brought many of them, in
the same dispositions with himself, to the saint, by whose advice they betook
themselves to till the land, and labour in the country for an honest
maintenance. Several of them chose to remain with these anchorets, in the
practice of penance. They cultivated the land, but it was too barren to yield
them sufficient nourishment, even in their most abstemious way of living. But
the inhabitants of the country brought them in a little provision. Evroul
accepted their alms, but whatever remained he gave immediately to other poor,
reserving nothing for the next day
The
advantages and sweets of holy solitude, in uninterrupted contemplation, made
him desire to live always an anchoret, without being burdened with the care of
others. But fraternal charity overruled this inclination, for he could not
remain indifferent to the salvation of his neighbours. He therefore received
those who desired to live in penance under his direction, for whom he was
obliged to build a monastery at Ouche in Normandy, which to this day bears his
name. His community daily increasing, and many offering him lands, he built
fifteen other monasteries of men or women, of which his own always remained the
chief, and this he always governed himself. His affability charmed every one:
he seemed to know no pleasure equal to that of serving his neighbour. He used
to exhort all to labour, telling them, that they would gain their bread by
their work, and heaven by serving God in it. His example sufficed to encourage
others: by his indefatigable constancy in labour, his patience in adversity,
his perfect resignation to the will of God in all things with equal joy, and
his cheerfulness in the most severe practices of perpetual penance. He arrived
at a great old age, though always sighing after the joys of eternity. His
patience in his last sickness made him seem never sensible to pain. He lived
forty-seven days without being able to take any thing, except a little water,
and the sacred body of Jesus Christ. He never ceased to exhort his disciples
till he bid them adieu with joy, shutting his eyes to this world on the 29th of
December, 596. His body was buried in the church of St. Peter, which he had
built. His name occurs in Usuard, and in the Roman Martyrology on this day. See
his exact life in. Mabillon, sæc. 1. Ben. p. 354. William of Gemblours, &c.
also Bulteau, l. 2. c. 31.
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume XII: December. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
Porterie de l'abbaye de Saint-Évroult
Sant' Ebrulfo (Ebrolfo) di Ouche Abate
29
dicembre
Martiriologio Romano : A Exmess in Neustria, ora
in Francia, sant’Ebrolfo, abate del monastero di Ouche al tempo del re
Childeberto.
Il 29 dicembre il Martirologio Romano menziona
Ebrulfo, abate al tempo del re Childeberto II (m. 596). Sembra che il santo sia
vissuto nella regione di Ouche, nell'alta Normandia, fra Exmes e Laigle
(Orne). Lo menziona anche, lo stesso giorno, il Martirologio di Usuardo
(PL, CXXIV, coll. 849-50), un esemplare del Martirologio di Beda (secc.
X-XI) che può provenire da St-Calais nella diocesi di Le Mans (Quentin, pp.
31-36) e un sacramentario dell'abbazia di St-Evroult scritto nella seconda metà
del sec. XI. La toponimia del paese di Ouche attesta ugualmente la devozione a
Ebrulfo : due villaggi, una foresta e, non lontano, un'abbazia portano il suo
nome. È stato fatto patrono di una dozzina di chiese della diocesi di Sens e di
diocesi vicine.
In Gallia Christiana (ed. 1656, IV, pp. 347 sgg.) è
detto che egli nacque a Bayeux nel 517 e che morì ottuagenario il 29 dic. 596.
Autori dei secc. XI e XII, come il cronista Orderico Vital (m. verso il 1144)
monaco di St-Evroult, ci hanno tramandato le informazioni che lo concernono e
che sembrano riposare sui dati antichi, anzi contemporanei.
Di origine nobile, Ebrulfo ricevette un'educazione distinta
e diede prove di virtù profonde. Alto funzionario di Clotario I (m. 561) sposò
una donna del proprio rango sociale, da cui poi si separò per condurre una vita
di maggiore perfezione. Si stabilì allora, con alcuni compagni, nella foresta
di Ouche, infestata dalle bestie feroci e dai briganti; questi ultimi si
convertirono e alcuni, anzi, si fecero monaci.
Il santo avrebbe fondato una quindicina di monasteri,
operato numerosi miracoli e anche risuscitato dei morti. Nel sec. XII Giovanni
di St-Evroult compose un'opera in versi in suo onore e Orderico afferma che si
ottenevano guarigioni presso la sua tomba. Durante le invasioni normanne, i
suoi resti furono trasportai a Orléans, secondo Orderico, a Rebais (diocesi di
Meaux), secondo un monaco di questa casa. Si cercò, in seguito, di riportarle a
St-Evroult, ma senza successo.
Autore: Paul Viard
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/83355
Ruines de l'abbaye Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois
(Orne, France).
