Mansueti
episcopi
et confessoris.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v9
Maunsey's relics took place in the year
28 The
of Toul had
charters at various to the periods
bishops
the was under French territory placed
Bruxelles, 1839, sm. fol.
23 The writer of the foregoing account
cum eundem altari sancto puerum
Saints," iiie Jour de Septembre, p. 433.
29 " D'accord avec i'autorite ecclesiastique denigrata fades, cute partim depilata jam et s'administrant eux-memes, les Toulois se firent respecter des seigneurs du voisinage et prirent sur eux, in 1545, de se mettre sous la protection des rois de Fiance, prehulaut ainsi a 1'annexion d—es Trois-Eveches, con- summee en Nouveau Dictionnaire
758.
"
seriatim tandem nobis mater ipsa reiulit ;
^ See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,'' tomus i. , Septembris iii. De S. Mansueto Epis. et Conf. Commentarius Proevius, sect, v. , pp. 631 to 633.
2B See Les Peiits Bollandistes, "Vies des
adds:
Talia redevivum perorasse filium,
mancipa- turn obiulit, et ad fletum circumstantes ipsa
gemens impulit.
Testabatur
jam
id
ipsum
rara canaries, squalens vultus, pallens color et rugosa macies ; a vivente fere dispar, ut
ab igne glacies. "
20 "
Acta Sanctorum,'' De S. Mansueto Epis. et Conf. Miracula ab anno circiter mdcxxv. usque ad mcxxxvi. , pp. 656 to 658.
See the Bollandists'
tomus i. , Septembris iii.
1552. "
de Geographie Universelle," tome vi. , p.
granted
1506.
citizens, which enlarged their privileges ; but, they experienced more difficulty in preserving their suzerainty over the Dukes of Lorraine. These disputes were not wholly settled, until in the middle of the sixteenth century, when
protection,
2^ as down to the
year 1552,
58 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September3.
Toul had been a free city of the German Empire. 3° At that time, having formed an alliance with Prince Maurice of Saxony, the King of France, Henry II. , took the field against the Emperor Charles V. Marching into
J
Lorraine, he gained possession of Toul, Verdun and Metz,3
tant conquests, he annexed to the French monarchy.
Emperor could not brook such a dishonour as to allow a territory of especial consequence to be dismembered from the German Empire. Accordingly, he approached Metz*2 with a great army in 1552. The French then destroyedtheancientChurchofSt. Maunsey,inthesuburbsofToul. 33 This was done, doubtless, to defend better the old fortifications3* of that place. In the church of the former Abbey had been long preserved a stone, on which, according to a tradition current among the people, the impression of the knees of St. Martin of Tours could be seen, and which indicated their belief, that he had frequently visited the city of their patron,35 At the period of invasion, that stone had been brought within the walls, and deposited in the Church of St. Gengulph. Afterwards, for many years, it was to be seen with an inscription, which purported, that St. Martin had visitedToul,andprayedatthetombofSt. Mansuetus. However,thisstone
36
of that ancient temple, dedicated to the Prince of the Apostles, and over- turned in 1552. The sepulchral stone, which covered the saints' vault, represents him in pontifical habiliments, and removing the emblems of
paganism, with an infant engaged in prayer by his side. At the present time, this object of interest is to be seen ; but, it is now on the property of a lay possessor. Again, there is an image of an infant carved on a stone in the rampart of St. Mansuy's bastion ; and doubtless, this is intended to represent the governor's son, who had been brought to life, through the miraculous interposition of the holy bishop. It is furthermore confirmatory of the ancient tradition of the Toulois, in reference to their venerated Patron. 37 Toul was definitely added to France, after the middle of the sixteenth century.
Still, on
be seen the monastery and church of the Benedictines, occupying the site
can no longer be discovered.
the northern side of the are to city
8 and The Cathedral of Nancy39 is a large modern edifice, of fine proportions. * Nancy
The vast diocese of Toul was dismembered in the
suppressed in 1790, to create the dioceses of Nancy and Saint Die.
" Handbook for Travellers in France," sect, ix. , Route 165, p. 618.
31 See Jac. Augusti Thuani " Historiarum sui Temporis," tomus i. , lib. x. , num. vi. , p. 347. Londini, 1733, fol.
32 See Rev. Dr. Wm. Robertson's " His- tory of the Reign of Charles the Fifth," book xi.
33 See Dom Aug. Calmet's " Histoire Ecclesiastique et Civile de Lorraine," tome iii. , liv. xxxiii. , num. Ixvi. , col. 80.
34 These were levelled in 1700. The place
30 See
Murray's
church in had not been destroyed 1552
restored ; but, the Benedictine monks had converted the old refectory of the monastery into a chapel, in which they recited the Divine Office. There, too, is supposed to remain the body of St. Maunsey, according to the statement of the two Benedictines, in the "Itinerarium Literarium," pars ii. , p. 130, Paris 1717.
36
See Augustine Calmet's "Histoire Ecclesiastique et Civile de Lorraine," tome
iii. , liv. xxxiii. , num. 66.
37 See Les Petits Bollandistes'
" afterwards, by the construction of a new Saints," iii Jour de Septembre, p. 433.
was considerably improved and enlarged
Vies des
rampart, flanked with bastions. " Toul a &e tr&s-souvent asstegee, prise, devastee ; en 1870, elle a tres-energiquement resiste
aux armees prussienns et les a longtemps forcees & se detourne—r de leur route dans leur marche sur Paris. " Elisee Reclus' "Nou- velle Geographie Universelle," liv. ii. , chap, xiii. , sect, iv. , p. 837.
35 In the early part of the last century, the
e
38 See Guillaume's " Histoire des Dioceses
de Toul et Nancy. "—Nancy, 1867, 8vo.
39 This city, situated on a beautiful plain, is on the left bank of the Meurthe, and it is the capital of the Department of the
Meurthe. It contains many handsome public
These impor- However, the
eighteenth century,3
"
4° From an approved point of view, and
buildings. See vol. x. , p. 446.
Gazetteer of the World,"
September 3. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 59
was the ancient capital of Lorraine, and since the seventeenth century it has become one of the most beautiful and improved cities. 4I Many fine public
Cathedral of Nancy,
That they might be preserved from the fury of the revolutionists, the relics of St. Mansuy, with those of other saints belonging to the Cathedral, weredividedamongtheCanons. Thisoccurredonthe1ithofJuly,1790, when ruin seemed to threaten all the ecclesiastical foundations in France. An inventory was then taken of the church treasures, by commissioners appointed for that purpose. A proces-verbal designated the portions of our saints' relics distributed to each individual canon for safe keeping. *3 In due course of time, most of those relics were restored. The former Cathedral Church of Toul now possesses the head, the Church of St. Gengolf the shoulder- blade, and that of St. Nicholas-de-Port a rib of St. Mansay. " After the French Revolution, the Canons of Toul and M. Aubry, Cure of St. Gengoult, examined most of those relics, preserved in the Cathedral, and assisted by M. Le Docteur Godron, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Nancy, they distributed several portions of them. The cathedral of Nancy obtained part of St. Mansuy's shoulder-blade, and the chapel of the Christian Doctrine there procured some fragments of his relics. The red cape of the saint, with gold braid, had been preserved in a shrine of the Abbey, beneath the walls of Toul. A portion of that relic is kept in the shrine of St. Gauzlin, in the Cathedral of Nancy. 45
are and the Cathedral of Notre buildings there,
built in a classic 2 style,*
Dame, possesses several beautiful paintings and statues.
from a correct engraving, the accompanying illustration has been reproduced on the wood
and engraved by Gregor Grey.
41 The old town had crooked and irregular
Monagraphie de
e
streets, until Stanislaus, father-in-law to des Saints," tome x. , Jour iii de Septembre,
Louis XV. , undertook the work of erecting many imposing structures, and of laying out several handsome faubourgs. See Elisee Reclus' " Nouvelle Geographic Universelle," tomeii. , chap, xiii. , sect, iv. , p. 835.
"
42 Ed. Auguin has issued
la Cathedrale de Nancy," in 4to.
43 A detailed account of this transfer may
be found in the Petits Bollandistes' "Vies
PP- 434, 435-
44 "
See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's Lives of
the Saints," vol. ix. , p. 36.
45 See Les Petits Bollandistes, " Vies des
e Saints,"tomex. Jouriii de Septembre, p. 435.
6o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 3.
In art, St. Mansuy is represented as bringing to life a child that had been
killed by a hand-ball. Also, lie is represented as a bishop preaching in a wood to a great crowd/6 He is figured with a pelerine or tippet, denominated
a superhiwicral or rathfial, which was the ordinary characteristic garment of the Toul prelates and of other bishops, and it indicates a sort of metropolitan distinction. Moreover, he appears as raising a young nobleman to life. 4 ?
At the 3rd of September, the office of St. Maunsey has been recited, not alone in the diocese of Toul, but even in more distant places. It is con- tained in several old Breviaries, but the Lessons—taken mostly from Adso— include some historical inaccuracies. The Bollandists had in their Library a MS. Pars ^Estiva of an office belonging to the Church of Toul, in the calendar of which St. Mansuetus was distinguished from other saints, owing
8
to the rubrical character of its lettering ;*
they had also another Breviary of
Toul diocese, printed at Paris, in the year 1530/9 In both Breviaries, an office for St. Maunsey of Nine Lessons was to be found, but these were taken lrom the incorrect Life written by Adso. Likewise, in the Missal printed at Mayence, a. d. 1493, at the 3rd of September, are the Collects, secret prayer and complementary prayer or Post-Communion of Saints Mansuetus and Remaclus. 50 In the Breviary of Soissons, printed a. d. 1590, there is a commemoration of St. Mansuetus. In a Breviary printed a. d. 1600 for the use of the three monasteries of St. Maximums and of St. Willibrordus. in Treves, and of St. Narbor, in the diocese ot Metz, the feast of St. Remaclus and of St. Mansuetus is noted. 51 In the Breviary, printed at Langres a. d. 1604, there is an office for St. Maunsey 52 and also, in that printed at Wurtz-
;
burgh, a. d. 1625. 53 Moreover, there is a Proper Office for him, in the
Breviary5** of the Collegiate Church of St. Maximus, at Chinon 55 and in that ;
of Verdun,56 printed a. d. 1625 ; likewise, in that of St. Peter's Church,
Remiremont, Lorraine, printed in 1657. 5?
Besides this day for our saint's chief feast, he is commemorated on the
25th of April,58 on the 14th of June,5? as also on the 2nd of Septem-
sacras ejus reliquias, qux sunt in basilica Sancti Maximi. " What relics of our saint hadbeenthereveneratedisnowunknown.
ss A town in the province of Tours,
56 Celebrated with St. Remaclus in an
" Fiunt de ipsis Novem Lectiones, et omnia sumunturde communi
plurimorum confessorum pontificum.
57 in it we read : " In festo S.
Mansueti episcopi et confessoris. Duplex. Omnia de communi confessoris pontificis proeter
lectiones IL Nocturni. "
s8 According to extracts from an ancient
Martyrology of Luxeu, which Father Peter Francis Chifflet procured for the Bollandists.
Therein, at the 25th of April, was read : " Translatio sancti Mansueti episcopi et confessoris. " It may be, this festival refers to the first translation of St. Maunsey's relics ; or perhaps, to that made by Bishop Gerard, when he presided over the See of Toul. However, regarding this ascribed feast, nothing appears to have survived in the traditions of the clergy or people.
59 This festival was a commemoration of
46 See Rev. Dr. F. C. Husenbeth's " Em- 54 Thus noticed
blems of Saints," p. 137. Third edition, copi et confess. Duplex Solenne propter
Norwich, 1882, 8vo.
4? Probably the son of the ancient governor
oftheCityofToul. Seeibid.
48 This must have been written at an eariy
date, since no entry of St. Louis, King of France, nor of the Patriarchal religious foun- ders, St. Francis or St. Dominick, nor of saints living at a later period, could be found in it.
4' The prescribed prayer for Lauds and
"
Majestatis tuse, Domine, potentiam humiliter imploramus, ut sicut per beatum Mansuetum confessorem tuum atque pontificem nos dedisti verse fidei esse cultores, ita ejus mentis facias vitoe
ccelestis esse consortes. Per Dominum. "
50 Bishop of Maestricht and Confessor. His feast and office are also assigned to the
Omnia
office thus noticed
:
Vespers in it reads thus :
same date. s 1 Thus
" Remacli et Mansueti. in communi de pluribus confessoriis. "
:
s2 Noticed " De Sancto Mansueto ferial. " s3 In the proper offices are mentioned : S. Remacli et Mansueti confess, pontificum.
"
Omnia de communi conf. pontif. "
:
epis-
" Sancti Mansueti
September 3. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 61
ber/° Throughsomemistake,itwouldappear,thatthepeopleofTreveshada St. Maunsey in veneration, as their seventh Bishop, and they celebrated his festival on the 18th of February. As no certain traces of such a distinctive saint can be found, in any authentic record ; it has been surmised, that it ispossibleSt. MaunseyofToulmayhavebeenselectedtofill thatposition of reverence in the metropolitan church, for some reason not now known. However, Father Limpen adduces argument sufficient to prove that our
61
saint had no special connexion with the church of Treves.
Several churches, monasteries and chapels have been built and dedicated
in honour of St. Maunsey, and his relics have been distributed in various places. Besides the parent church and monastery of Toul without the walls, St. Gerard erected one within the city, and it was dedicated in honour of the BlessedVirginMaryandof—St. Mansuetus. AtFurentela,orVourentel—
62
to the holy martyrs Laurence and Vincent, and to the holy confessors, Man- suetus and Apri. In a place called Si—sseium—supposed to be identical with Sexey aux bois or Sexey aux Forges there was a chapel dedicated to St. Mansuetus. Also, in the Vosges mountains, a ca? icellum was erected under the patronage of this holy bishop. Moreover, we read, that in the time of Pibo, bishop of Toul, and towards the close of the eleventh century, he consecrated various churches in honour of St. Maunsey. At Dijon an altar wasdedicatedtohim,inacryptoftheChurchofSt. Benignus. Again,at Liverdun, there was an altar dedicated to Saints Maunsey and Gerard, con- fessors, and it was placed at the right-hand side of the choir. In the Metro- politan Church of Prague, and in the chapel there dedicated to St. Winceslaus,
63
notfarfromAix-la-Chapelle wasachurchconsecratedbyPopeLeoIX. ,
a part of St. Maunsey's arm was preserved, with other relics,
in a magnificent
shrine on the altar. 6* to 65 in Argadia was venerated high According Dempster,
Mansuet, bishop, who promoted Christianity at the first Council of Tours in Gaul, a companion of St. Perpetuus of Tours, of Guyaxus of Rheims, of Thalaussius of Andegavensis, of Victurius Cenomanensis. We can find no authority whatever for such statements, and can only wonder at the shameless
66
The chief festival of St. Mansuy is noticed in nearly all the chief Calen-
audacity of any writer to perpetrate such a forgery.
dars and Martyrologies, at the 3rd of September. However, in the pure text of Usuard, which Father Soller has edited, at such date the name of our
saint does not occur; but, in the additions to that martyrologist, he is mentioned. 67 Likewise, his feast is entered in the Martyrologies of Mauro- lycus, Felicius, Galesinius and Castellan. The announcement in the Roman
the Translation of our saint's relics by Bishop Pibo, and which took place on the xviii. of the July Kalends, a. d. 1104. This is noted by Greven, and in the Kalendar prefixed to an old Manuscript Breviary of Toul, as also in that printed a. d. 1530.
60 However, this seems to have been an
error of entry in a Manuscript Copy of
found in the Benedictine
Usuard, Monastery
of Anchin, near Douay : unless indeed the vigil of our saint's chief festival had been intended.
6' See "Acta Saneturum," tomus i. , Sep- tembris iii. De S. Mansueto Epis. et Conf. Commentarius Prrevius, sect, vi. , num. 76, 77, pp. 634, 635.
62 This happened in 1049, according to Hermannus Contractus, a contemporaneous writer, and when that Pope was on a visit to
the neighbourhood.
63 These were collected through the pious
care of King Charles IV. , and a printed catalogue of them was issued in the year 1679. 64 See the Bcllandists' •' Acta Sanctorum," tomus i. , Septembris iii. De S. Mansueto Epis. et Conf. Commentarius Praevius,
sect, vi. , pp. 633 to 636.
6s See Bishop Forbes' " Kalendars of
Scottish Saints. "' Menologium Scoticum,
p. 195.
^ To ignorance alone do we attribute the
•'
Sedebat anno lxii. die III. Septembris. "—" Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum," tomus ii. ,
lib. xii. , num. 838, p. 448.
6? Thus, in the manuscript versions of
Usuard at Antwerp, Utrecht, Leyden, Lou- vain, Antverpiensis Maximus, Albergensis,
statement referring to our saint :
62 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 3.
Martyrology, at the 3rd of September, "TulU in Gallia, sancti Mansueti episcopi et confessoris,"68 embraces what is found in the additions to Usuard
and in the Martyrologies previously cited. 69 In some Martyrologies, such as in certain Usuardine editions, in a Florarian MS. of the Saints, belonging
to the Bollandists, in the German Martyrology of Canisius, in Wilson's Martyrologium Anglicanum, and in Saussay's Martyrologium Gallicanum,
while entering the holy Bishop's festival at the 3rd of September, they con- sider him to have been a disciple of St. Peter, which supposition more recent
investigations have entirely disproved. In the Martyrology of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, the feast of St. Mansuetus has been recorded, at
the 3rd of September. ? The feast of S. Mansu, at Septembre 3. , is entered
"
in a Kalendar, prefixed to
Heures de Nostre-Dame a l'usage du Mans. "
1
September 3rd, in the Annals of the Cistercian Monks,"? is dedicated to St.
Mansuet, first Bishop of Toul, in Lorraine. In Baillet's M Les Vies des
2
Saints,"? St. Maunsey or St. Mause, first Bishop of Toul, in Lorraine, is
recorded at this same date.
A French writer has remarked, that the zeal and learning of Scottish
preachers made such an impression on their contemporaries, that Ireland was known as the Holy Island of Christians, even as the Phoenicians had formerly called it, in Pagan times, the Sacred Isle. ? 3 In the case of St. Maunsey, who lived in the primitive ages, he had become a missionary of Christ, and had spread the light of Faith in a region of France, that had not then heard the truths of the Gospel proclaimed. Moreover, it is remarkable, that even in his own Island, the standard of the cross had not been erected by its great Apostle St. Patrick, at that period, when the grace of conversion was vouchsafed to one of its emigrants, who visited Rome, the centre of Christianity, and who received from the Sovereign Pontiff his commission to gain numbers of converts in France to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
ARTICLE II. —ST. MACNESSIUS, OR MAC NISSI, BISHOP OF CONNOR, COUNTY DOWN.
[FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. ]
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—AUTHORS ON ST. MACNESSIUS1 LIFE—BAPTISM BY ST. PATRICK— EDUCATED UNDER BISHOP BOLCAN—BECOMES A DISCIPLE OF ST. PATRICK—HIS CONSECRATION AS BISHOP—PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM—RETURN TO ROME, WHERE HE IS TREATED WITH GREAT RESPECT—JOYFULLY RECEIVED ON HIS RETURN TO IRELAND—HIS MISSIONARY LABOURS—GIFTS OF MIRACLES AND OF PROPHESY—HE RESCUES ST. COLMAN FROM DEATH—VISIT FROM ST. BRIGID—ST. MACNESSIUS THE FIRST BISHOP OF CONNOR—MONASTERY AND CHURCH AT CONNOR.
Notwithstanding his reception of baptismal graces, and the care taken of his early religious education, the present holy bishop is stated
Danicus, Bruxelles, Ughellianus, Florence, ParisSt. Victor;alsointheQueenofSweden's
MS. , No. 130, printed at Lubeck, and as edited by Belin and Molanus.
68 See " Martyrologium Romanum Gre- gorii XIII. ," &c. Editio novissima, p. 131, Romae, 1878, fol.
^ In a Martyrology, published in Paris, 1727, are these words: " Tulli Leucorum,
sancti Mansueti primi ejusdem urbis epis- copi. " In the margin is added, that he flourished in the fourth century, and such is the most probable conclusion at which it
seems possible to arrive. 7°Thus,atiii. Non. Septembris: "Ciuitate
Tullensi ; festiuitas sancti Mansueti, episcopi et confessoris. "—"The Book of Obits and Martyrology of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, commonly called Christ Church, Dublin," edited by John Clarke Crosthwaite, A. M. , and by James Henthorn Todd, D. D. , p. 152.
7 ' See vol. ix. , pp. 394, 395.
72 See tome iii,, pp. 28, 29. "
73 See Elias Regnault's Histoire de
l'lrlande," liv. i. , chap, v. , p. 54*
September 3. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 63
to have been not exempt from temptation, and a lapse into grievous sin. Even his great master, St. Patrick, accuses himself of ingratitude towards God, when he had attained the use of reason ; while, in later times, the angelic
St. Aloysius often spoke of lapses during his youth, although unsullied by any grievous fault. Still he deemed it the period of his sinfulness, and when he knew not the proper service of his Creator. This neglect of the Divine commandments was in time most fully repaired. In the case of Macnessius, as he advanced in years, he was distinguished for his great virtues, and by
the performance of miracles, which fully attested his great sanctity. ""1
In the Feilire of St. ^Engus, yet in a very enigmatical form, the feast of St. Mac Nisse is entered at the 3rd of September. A gloss on the Leabhar Breac copy professes to give the name and family of both his father and mother. 2 There are some incidental but unreliable notices of our saint, in St. Patrick's Tripartite Life,3 which had been published by Father John Colgan. Fromthesesources,apartofthefollowingmemoirofSt. Macnes- sius has been gleaned. Moreover, Colgan had intended to publish the acts ofSt. Macnessius,atthe3rddayofSeptember. * Someaccountofthisholy bishop is to be found in Porter. s In the first volume of the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum " for September, and at 3rd day of this month, the Acts of
St. Macnessius are published, under the editorial supervision of Father John Veldius. They consist of a short Life—rather it is a panegyric of our saint—
6
taken from one belonging to the Irish College of the Jesuits at Salamanca. The author of this tract is unknown, but it furnishes intrinsic evidence of having been written before a. d. 1442, when the See of Connor was united to thatof^Down,byPopeEugeniusIV. Theeulogiuminquestionisannotated by the editor, and a previous or preceding commentary is given, in which nine distinct paragraphs are occupied by a dissertation on that veneration paid tothesaint.
28 The
of Toul had
charters at various to the periods
bishops
the was under French territory placed
Bruxelles, 1839, sm. fol.
23 The writer of the foregoing account
cum eundem altari sancto puerum
Saints," iiie Jour de Septembre, p. 433.
29 " D'accord avec i'autorite ecclesiastique denigrata fades, cute partim depilata jam et s'administrant eux-memes, les Toulois se firent respecter des seigneurs du voisinage et prirent sur eux, in 1545, de se mettre sous la protection des rois de Fiance, prehulaut ainsi a 1'annexion d—es Trois-Eveches, con- summee en Nouveau Dictionnaire
758.
"
seriatim tandem nobis mater ipsa reiulit ;
^ See the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum,'' tomus i. , Septembris iii. De S. Mansueto Epis. et Conf. Commentarius Proevius, sect, v. , pp. 631 to 633.
2B See Les Peiits Bollandistes, "Vies des
adds:
Talia redevivum perorasse filium,
mancipa- turn obiulit, et ad fletum circumstantes ipsa
gemens impulit.
Testabatur
jam
id
ipsum
rara canaries, squalens vultus, pallens color et rugosa macies ; a vivente fere dispar, ut
ab igne glacies. "
20 "
Acta Sanctorum,'' De S. Mansueto Epis. et Conf. Miracula ab anno circiter mdcxxv. usque ad mcxxxvi. , pp. 656 to 658.
See the Bollandists'
tomus i. , Septembris iii.
1552. "
de Geographie Universelle," tome vi. , p.
granted
1506.
citizens, which enlarged their privileges ; but, they experienced more difficulty in preserving their suzerainty over the Dukes of Lorraine. These disputes were not wholly settled, until in the middle of the sixteenth century, when
protection,
2^ as down to the
year 1552,
58 LIVESOFTHEIRISHSAINTS. [September3.
Toul had been a free city of the German Empire. 3° At that time, having formed an alliance with Prince Maurice of Saxony, the King of France, Henry II. , took the field against the Emperor Charles V. Marching into
J
Lorraine, he gained possession of Toul, Verdun and Metz,3
tant conquests, he annexed to the French monarchy.
Emperor could not brook such a dishonour as to allow a territory of especial consequence to be dismembered from the German Empire. Accordingly, he approached Metz*2 with a great army in 1552. The French then destroyedtheancientChurchofSt. Maunsey,inthesuburbsofToul. 33 This was done, doubtless, to defend better the old fortifications3* of that place. In the church of the former Abbey had been long preserved a stone, on which, according to a tradition current among the people, the impression of the knees of St. Martin of Tours could be seen, and which indicated their belief, that he had frequently visited the city of their patron,35 At the period of invasion, that stone had been brought within the walls, and deposited in the Church of St. Gengulph. Afterwards, for many years, it was to be seen with an inscription, which purported, that St. Martin had visitedToul,andprayedatthetombofSt. Mansuetus. However,thisstone
36
of that ancient temple, dedicated to the Prince of the Apostles, and over- turned in 1552. The sepulchral stone, which covered the saints' vault, represents him in pontifical habiliments, and removing the emblems of
paganism, with an infant engaged in prayer by his side. At the present time, this object of interest is to be seen ; but, it is now on the property of a lay possessor. Again, there is an image of an infant carved on a stone in the rampart of St. Mansuy's bastion ; and doubtless, this is intended to represent the governor's son, who had been brought to life, through the miraculous interposition of the holy bishop. It is furthermore confirmatory of the ancient tradition of the Toulois, in reference to their venerated Patron. 37 Toul was definitely added to France, after the middle of the sixteenth century.
Still, on
be seen the monastery and church of the Benedictines, occupying the site
can no longer be discovered.
the northern side of the are to city
8 and The Cathedral of Nancy39 is a large modern edifice, of fine proportions. * Nancy
The vast diocese of Toul was dismembered in the
suppressed in 1790, to create the dioceses of Nancy and Saint Die.
" Handbook for Travellers in France," sect, ix. , Route 165, p. 618.
31 See Jac. Augusti Thuani " Historiarum sui Temporis," tomus i. , lib. x. , num. vi. , p. 347. Londini, 1733, fol.
32 See Rev. Dr. Wm. Robertson's " His- tory of the Reign of Charles the Fifth," book xi.
33 See Dom Aug. Calmet's " Histoire Ecclesiastique et Civile de Lorraine," tome iii. , liv. xxxiii. , num. Ixvi. , col. 80.
34 These were levelled in 1700. The place
30 See
Murray's
church in had not been destroyed 1552
restored ; but, the Benedictine monks had converted the old refectory of the monastery into a chapel, in which they recited the Divine Office. There, too, is supposed to remain the body of St. Maunsey, according to the statement of the two Benedictines, in the "Itinerarium Literarium," pars ii. , p. 130, Paris 1717.
36
See Augustine Calmet's "Histoire Ecclesiastique et Civile de Lorraine," tome
iii. , liv. xxxiii. , num. 66.
37 See Les Petits Bollandistes'
" afterwards, by the construction of a new Saints," iii Jour de Septembre, p. 433.
was considerably improved and enlarged
Vies des
rampart, flanked with bastions. " Toul a &e tr&s-souvent asstegee, prise, devastee ; en 1870, elle a tres-energiquement resiste
aux armees prussienns et les a longtemps forcees & se detourne—r de leur route dans leur marche sur Paris. " Elisee Reclus' "Nou- velle Geographie Universelle," liv. ii. , chap, xiii. , sect, iv. , p. 837.
35 In the early part of the last century, the
e
38 See Guillaume's " Histoire des Dioceses
de Toul et Nancy. "—Nancy, 1867, 8vo.
39 This city, situated on a beautiful plain, is on the left bank of the Meurthe, and it is the capital of the Department of the
Meurthe. It contains many handsome public
These impor- However, the
eighteenth century,3
"
4° From an approved point of view, and
buildings. See vol. x. , p. 446.
Gazetteer of the World,"
September 3. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 59
was the ancient capital of Lorraine, and since the seventeenth century it has become one of the most beautiful and improved cities. 4I Many fine public
Cathedral of Nancy,
That they might be preserved from the fury of the revolutionists, the relics of St. Mansuy, with those of other saints belonging to the Cathedral, weredividedamongtheCanons. Thisoccurredonthe1ithofJuly,1790, when ruin seemed to threaten all the ecclesiastical foundations in France. An inventory was then taken of the church treasures, by commissioners appointed for that purpose. A proces-verbal designated the portions of our saints' relics distributed to each individual canon for safe keeping. *3 In due course of time, most of those relics were restored. The former Cathedral Church of Toul now possesses the head, the Church of St. Gengolf the shoulder- blade, and that of St. Nicholas-de-Port a rib of St. Mansay. " After the French Revolution, the Canons of Toul and M. Aubry, Cure of St. Gengoult, examined most of those relics, preserved in the Cathedral, and assisted by M. Le Docteur Godron, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Nancy, they distributed several portions of them. The cathedral of Nancy obtained part of St. Mansuy's shoulder-blade, and the chapel of the Christian Doctrine there procured some fragments of his relics. The red cape of the saint, with gold braid, had been preserved in a shrine of the Abbey, beneath the walls of Toul. A portion of that relic is kept in the shrine of St. Gauzlin, in the Cathedral of Nancy. 45
are and the Cathedral of Notre buildings there,
built in a classic 2 style,*
Dame, possesses several beautiful paintings and statues.
from a correct engraving, the accompanying illustration has been reproduced on the wood
and engraved by Gregor Grey.
41 The old town had crooked and irregular
Monagraphie de
e
streets, until Stanislaus, father-in-law to des Saints," tome x. , Jour iii de Septembre,
Louis XV. , undertook the work of erecting many imposing structures, and of laying out several handsome faubourgs. See Elisee Reclus' " Nouvelle Geographic Universelle," tomeii. , chap, xiii. , sect, iv. , p. 835.
"
42 Ed. Auguin has issued
la Cathedrale de Nancy," in 4to.
43 A detailed account of this transfer may
be found in the Petits Bollandistes' "Vies
PP- 434, 435-
44 "
See Rev. S. Baring-Gould's Lives of
the Saints," vol. ix. , p. 36.
45 See Les Petits Bollandistes, " Vies des
e Saints,"tomex. Jouriii de Septembre, p. 435.
6o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 3.
In art, St. Mansuy is represented as bringing to life a child that had been
killed by a hand-ball. Also, lie is represented as a bishop preaching in a wood to a great crowd/6 He is figured with a pelerine or tippet, denominated
a superhiwicral or rathfial, which was the ordinary characteristic garment of the Toul prelates and of other bishops, and it indicates a sort of metropolitan distinction. Moreover, he appears as raising a young nobleman to life. 4 ?
At the 3rd of September, the office of St. Maunsey has been recited, not alone in the diocese of Toul, but even in more distant places. It is con- tained in several old Breviaries, but the Lessons—taken mostly from Adso— include some historical inaccuracies. The Bollandists had in their Library a MS. Pars ^Estiva of an office belonging to the Church of Toul, in the calendar of which St. Mansuetus was distinguished from other saints, owing
8
to the rubrical character of its lettering ;*
they had also another Breviary of
Toul diocese, printed at Paris, in the year 1530/9 In both Breviaries, an office for St. Maunsey of Nine Lessons was to be found, but these were taken lrom the incorrect Life written by Adso. Likewise, in the Missal printed at Mayence, a. d. 1493, at the 3rd of September, are the Collects, secret prayer and complementary prayer or Post-Communion of Saints Mansuetus and Remaclus. 50 In the Breviary of Soissons, printed a. d. 1590, there is a commemoration of St. Mansuetus. In a Breviary printed a. d. 1600 for the use of the three monasteries of St. Maximums and of St. Willibrordus. in Treves, and of St. Narbor, in the diocese ot Metz, the feast of St. Remaclus and of St. Mansuetus is noted. 51 In the Breviary, printed at Langres a. d. 1604, there is an office for St. Maunsey 52 and also, in that printed at Wurtz-
;
burgh, a. d. 1625. 53 Moreover, there is a Proper Office for him, in the
Breviary5** of the Collegiate Church of St. Maximus, at Chinon 55 and in that ;
of Verdun,56 printed a. d. 1625 ; likewise, in that of St. Peter's Church,
Remiremont, Lorraine, printed in 1657. 5?
Besides this day for our saint's chief feast, he is commemorated on the
25th of April,58 on the 14th of June,5? as also on the 2nd of Septem-
sacras ejus reliquias, qux sunt in basilica Sancti Maximi. " What relics of our saint hadbeenthereveneratedisnowunknown.
ss A town in the province of Tours,
56 Celebrated with St. Remaclus in an
" Fiunt de ipsis Novem Lectiones, et omnia sumunturde communi
plurimorum confessorum pontificum.
57 in it we read : " In festo S.
Mansueti episcopi et confessoris. Duplex. Omnia de communi confessoris pontificis proeter
lectiones IL Nocturni. "
s8 According to extracts from an ancient
Martyrology of Luxeu, which Father Peter Francis Chifflet procured for the Bollandists.
Therein, at the 25th of April, was read : " Translatio sancti Mansueti episcopi et confessoris. " It may be, this festival refers to the first translation of St. Maunsey's relics ; or perhaps, to that made by Bishop Gerard, when he presided over the See of Toul. However, regarding this ascribed feast, nothing appears to have survived in the traditions of the clergy or people.
59 This festival was a commemoration of
46 See Rev. Dr. F. C. Husenbeth's " Em- 54 Thus noticed
blems of Saints," p. 137. Third edition, copi et confess. Duplex Solenne propter
Norwich, 1882, 8vo.
4? Probably the son of the ancient governor
oftheCityofToul. Seeibid.
48 This must have been written at an eariy
date, since no entry of St. Louis, King of France, nor of the Patriarchal religious foun- ders, St. Francis or St. Dominick, nor of saints living at a later period, could be found in it.
4' The prescribed prayer for Lauds and
"
Majestatis tuse, Domine, potentiam humiliter imploramus, ut sicut per beatum Mansuetum confessorem tuum atque pontificem nos dedisti verse fidei esse cultores, ita ejus mentis facias vitoe
ccelestis esse consortes. Per Dominum. "
50 Bishop of Maestricht and Confessor. His feast and office are also assigned to the
Omnia
office thus noticed
:
Vespers in it reads thus :
same date. s 1 Thus
" Remacli et Mansueti. in communi de pluribus confessoriis. "
:
s2 Noticed " De Sancto Mansueto ferial. " s3 In the proper offices are mentioned : S. Remacli et Mansueti confess, pontificum.
"
Omnia de communi conf. pontif. "
:
epis-
" Sancti Mansueti
September 3. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 61
ber/° Throughsomemistake,itwouldappear,thatthepeopleofTreveshada St. Maunsey in veneration, as their seventh Bishop, and they celebrated his festival on the 18th of February. As no certain traces of such a distinctive saint can be found, in any authentic record ; it has been surmised, that it ispossibleSt. MaunseyofToulmayhavebeenselectedtofill thatposition of reverence in the metropolitan church, for some reason not now known. However, Father Limpen adduces argument sufficient to prove that our
61
saint had no special connexion with the church of Treves.
Several churches, monasteries and chapels have been built and dedicated
in honour of St. Maunsey, and his relics have been distributed in various places. Besides the parent church and monastery of Toul without the walls, St. Gerard erected one within the city, and it was dedicated in honour of the BlessedVirginMaryandof—St. Mansuetus. AtFurentela,orVourentel—
62
to the holy martyrs Laurence and Vincent, and to the holy confessors, Man- suetus and Apri. In a place called Si—sseium—supposed to be identical with Sexey aux bois or Sexey aux Forges there was a chapel dedicated to St. Mansuetus. Also, in the Vosges mountains, a ca? icellum was erected under the patronage of this holy bishop. Moreover, we read, that in the time of Pibo, bishop of Toul, and towards the close of the eleventh century, he consecrated various churches in honour of St. Maunsey. At Dijon an altar wasdedicatedtohim,inacryptoftheChurchofSt. Benignus. Again,at Liverdun, there was an altar dedicated to Saints Maunsey and Gerard, con- fessors, and it was placed at the right-hand side of the choir. In the Metro- politan Church of Prague, and in the chapel there dedicated to St. Winceslaus,
63
notfarfromAix-la-Chapelle wasachurchconsecratedbyPopeLeoIX. ,
a part of St. Maunsey's arm was preserved, with other relics,
in a magnificent
shrine on the altar. 6* to 65 in Argadia was venerated high According Dempster,
Mansuet, bishop, who promoted Christianity at the first Council of Tours in Gaul, a companion of St. Perpetuus of Tours, of Guyaxus of Rheims, of Thalaussius of Andegavensis, of Victurius Cenomanensis. We can find no authority whatever for such statements, and can only wonder at the shameless
66
The chief festival of St. Mansuy is noticed in nearly all the chief Calen-
audacity of any writer to perpetrate such a forgery.
dars and Martyrologies, at the 3rd of September. However, in the pure text of Usuard, which Father Soller has edited, at such date the name of our
saint does not occur; but, in the additions to that martyrologist, he is mentioned. 67 Likewise, his feast is entered in the Martyrologies of Mauro- lycus, Felicius, Galesinius and Castellan. The announcement in the Roman
the Translation of our saint's relics by Bishop Pibo, and which took place on the xviii. of the July Kalends, a. d. 1104. This is noted by Greven, and in the Kalendar prefixed to an old Manuscript Breviary of Toul, as also in that printed a. d. 1530.
60 However, this seems to have been an
error of entry in a Manuscript Copy of
found in the Benedictine
Usuard, Monastery
of Anchin, near Douay : unless indeed the vigil of our saint's chief festival had been intended.
6' See "Acta Saneturum," tomus i. , Sep- tembris iii. De S. Mansueto Epis. et Conf. Commentarius Prrevius, sect, vi. , num. 76, 77, pp. 634, 635.
62 This happened in 1049, according to Hermannus Contractus, a contemporaneous writer, and when that Pope was on a visit to
the neighbourhood.
63 These were collected through the pious
care of King Charles IV. , and a printed catalogue of them was issued in the year 1679. 64 See the Bcllandists' •' Acta Sanctorum," tomus i. , Septembris iii. De S. Mansueto Epis. et Conf. Commentarius Praevius,
sect, vi. , pp. 633 to 636.
6s See Bishop Forbes' " Kalendars of
Scottish Saints. "' Menologium Scoticum,
p. 195.
^ To ignorance alone do we attribute the
•'
Sedebat anno lxii. die III. Septembris. "—" Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum," tomus ii. ,
lib. xii. , num. 838, p. 448.
6? Thus, in the manuscript versions of
Usuard at Antwerp, Utrecht, Leyden, Lou- vain, Antverpiensis Maximus, Albergensis,
statement referring to our saint :
62 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[September 3.
Martyrology, at the 3rd of September, "TulU in Gallia, sancti Mansueti episcopi et confessoris,"68 embraces what is found in the additions to Usuard
and in the Martyrologies previously cited. 69 In some Martyrologies, such as in certain Usuardine editions, in a Florarian MS. of the Saints, belonging
to the Bollandists, in the German Martyrology of Canisius, in Wilson's Martyrologium Anglicanum, and in Saussay's Martyrologium Gallicanum,
while entering the holy Bishop's festival at the 3rd of September, they con- sider him to have been a disciple of St. Peter, which supposition more recent
investigations have entirely disproved. In the Martyrology of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, the feast of St. Mansuetus has been recorded, at
the 3rd of September. ? The feast of S. Mansu, at Septembre 3. , is entered
"
in a Kalendar, prefixed to
Heures de Nostre-Dame a l'usage du Mans. "
1
September 3rd, in the Annals of the Cistercian Monks,"? is dedicated to St.
Mansuet, first Bishop of Toul, in Lorraine. In Baillet's M Les Vies des
2
Saints,"? St. Maunsey or St. Mause, first Bishop of Toul, in Lorraine, is
recorded at this same date.
A French writer has remarked, that the zeal and learning of Scottish
preachers made such an impression on their contemporaries, that Ireland was known as the Holy Island of Christians, even as the Phoenicians had formerly called it, in Pagan times, the Sacred Isle. ? 3 In the case of St. Maunsey, who lived in the primitive ages, he had become a missionary of Christ, and had spread the light of Faith in a region of France, that had not then heard the truths of the Gospel proclaimed. Moreover, it is remarkable, that even in his own Island, the standard of the cross had not been erected by its great Apostle St. Patrick, at that period, when the grace of conversion was vouchsafed to one of its emigrants, who visited Rome, the centre of Christianity, and who received from the Sovereign Pontiff his commission to gain numbers of converts in France to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
ARTICLE II. —ST. MACNESSIUS, OR MAC NISSI, BISHOP OF CONNOR, COUNTY DOWN.
[FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. ]
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION—AUTHORS ON ST. MACNESSIUS1 LIFE—BAPTISM BY ST. PATRICK— EDUCATED UNDER BISHOP BOLCAN—BECOMES A DISCIPLE OF ST. PATRICK—HIS CONSECRATION AS BISHOP—PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM—RETURN TO ROME, WHERE HE IS TREATED WITH GREAT RESPECT—JOYFULLY RECEIVED ON HIS RETURN TO IRELAND—HIS MISSIONARY LABOURS—GIFTS OF MIRACLES AND OF PROPHESY—HE RESCUES ST. COLMAN FROM DEATH—VISIT FROM ST. BRIGID—ST. MACNESSIUS THE FIRST BISHOP OF CONNOR—MONASTERY AND CHURCH AT CONNOR.
Notwithstanding his reception of baptismal graces, and the care taken of his early religious education, the present holy bishop is stated
Danicus, Bruxelles, Ughellianus, Florence, ParisSt. Victor;alsointheQueenofSweden's
MS. , No. 130, printed at Lubeck, and as edited by Belin and Molanus.
68 See " Martyrologium Romanum Gre- gorii XIII. ," &c. Editio novissima, p. 131, Romae, 1878, fol.
^ In a Martyrology, published in Paris, 1727, are these words: " Tulli Leucorum,
sancti Mansueti primi ejusdem urbis epis- copi. " In the margin is added, that he flourished in the fourth century, and such is the most probable conclusion at which it
seems possible to arrive. 7°Thus,atiii. Non. Septembris: "Ciuitate
Tullensi ; festiuitas sancti Mansueti, episcopi et confessoris. "—"The Book of Obits and Martyrology of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, commonly called Christ Church, Dublin," edited by John Clarke Crosthwaite, A. M. , and by James Henthorn Todd, D. D. , p. 152.
7 ' See vol. ix. , pp. 394, 395.
72 See tome iii,, pp. 28, 29. "
73 See Elias Regnault's Histoire de
l'lrlande," liv. i. , chap, v. , p. 54*
September 3. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 63
to have been not exempt from temptation, and a lapse into grievous sin. Even his great master, St. Patrick, accuses himself of ingratitude towards God, when he had attained the use of reason ; while, in later times, the angelic
St. Aloysius often spoke of lapses during his youth, although unsullied by any grievous fault. Still he deemed it the period of his sinfulness, and when he knew not the proper service of his Creator. This neglect of the Divine commandments was in time most fully repaired. In the case of Macnessius, as he advanced in years, he was distinguished for his great virtues, and by
the performance of miracles, which fully attested his great sanctity. ""1
In the Feilire of St. ^Engus, yet in a very enigmatical form, the feast of St. Mac Nisse is entered at the 3rd of September. A gloss on the Leabhar Breac copy professes to give the name and family of both his father and mother. 2 There are some incidental but unreliable notices of our saint, in St. Patrick's Tripartite Life,3 which had been published by Father John Colgan. Fromthesesources,apartofthefollowingmemoirofSt. Macnes- sius has been gleaned. Moreover, Colgan had intended to publish the acts ofSt. Macnessius,atthe3rddayofSeptember. * Someaccountofthisholy bishop is to be found in Porter. s In the first volume of the Bollandists' " Acta Sanctorum " for September, and at 3rd day of this month, the Acts of
St. Macnessius are published, under the editorial supervision of Father John Veldius. They consist of a short Life—rather it is a panegyric of our saint—
6
taken from one belonging to the Irish College of the Jesuits at Salamanca. The author of this tract is unknown, but it furnishes intrinsic evidence of having been written before a. d. 1442, when the See of Connor was united to thatof^Down,byPopeEugeniusIV. Theeulogiuminquestionisannotated by the editor, and a previous or preceding commentary is given, in which nine distinct paragraphs are occupied by a dissertation on that veneration paid tothesaint.
