Saint Anthelme of Belley

Although our Saint led a regular, even edifying life, he reflected that he was not doing enough for God or for his soul. The priesthood he received in 1135, and the examples of the neighboring religious whom he had visited often since 1132, inspired in him more and more the desire for perfection.

Having one day gone to visit, with one of his friends, the Carthusians of the monastery of Portes, the Prior, named Bernard de Varin, a religious of great virtue, received them with much kindness, and spoke to them so aptly and with such zeal of the advantages of the solitary life and the rewards that God grants to those who have lived holily, that Anthelme, whose heart was already disposed to receive the good seed, found himself very deeply touched. Inspired by God, he formed the design of leaving the world, and all that he possessed, and of becoming a religious in the house where he saw such beautiful examples of virtue: he asked for the habit, embraced the Rule of Saint Bruno, made his profession with a zeal that edified everyone, and was soon regarded as a model of great perfection.

The extraordinary virtues that appeared in Anthelme made him desired by the religiou s of the Grande-C Grande-Chartreuse Place of retreat for Geoffroy in 1114. hartreuse, where there were then very few subjects. Six monks and novices had just been killed by an avalanche, which had almost entirely destroyed the Grande-Chartreuse; this is what led Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble, and later Archbishop of Vienne, who had worked with Saint Bruno on the institution of this Order, to pray the superior of Portes to send our young professed monk there, shortly after he had taken his vows. He did what obedience required of him: he spent several years in that house, showing himself there as a living example of all monastic virtues. As he had a great breadth of mind and much penetration in affairs, he was established as procurator of the house; he fulfilled the duties of this office with a vigilance and edification that made him admired by everyone, working on the temporal affairs in such a way that his cares in no way prejudiced the spiritual affairs of his salvation and his perfection.

Hugh I, who had succeeded the blessed Dom Guigo in the office of prior in 1139, voluntarily resigned the same year and desired to be replaced by Anthelme, who was indeed elected the seventh prior of the Grande Chartreuse.

This obedient solitary, having been unable to find the means to avoid such a heavy burden, began to discharge his office with all the vigilance that could be expected of him.

He first restored the ruins of the monastery, surrounded it with a boundary wall, had aqueducts built to bring water from a great distance, had woods cleared, and took great care of the farms, sheepfolds, and everything that depended on this community. Then, turning to spiritual matters, he showed such great firmness in the government of the monastery that all the other houses of the Order, upon learning of it, responded in advance to his just intentions, reforming everything that might have been disorderly without waiting for the time of the visits of this worthy superior; so that he soon had the consolation of seeing the establishment of a very exact regularity everywhere. People submitted all the more willingly to the laws of his government because they were convinced that he was, moreover, filled with great kindness for all his subjects, whom he regarded as his children; indeed, he provided with truly paternal care for all their bodily needs and for everything that could give them pleasure, without prejudicing the interests of their perfection: which earned him the trust and love of all his religious.

It was under him that the Carthusian Order spread in France and abroad with such rapidity. He f Ordre des Chartreux Religious order welcomed by Engelbert in Cologne. ounded new houses; he had all of them adopt the statutes drawn up by the blessed Dom Guigo. Until then, the Charterhouses had been independent of one another and subject to the diocesan bishops. Anthelme assembled a general chapter, which was the first of the Order and where all the priors met: that of the Grande Chartreuse was recognized as the head of the other houses. We can therefore regard our Saint as the first general of the Carthusians, although he was the seventh prior of the Charterhouse of Grenoble.

Solicited by holy women who wished to live in community under the Rule of Saint Bruno, Anthelme commissioned the blessed John the Spaniard to draft statutes for them. Such was the origin of the female Charte rhouses, whose Jean l'Espagnol Religious figure tasked with drafting the statutes for Carthusian nuns. fervor was maintained until the revolution of 1792.

The reputation of this great man's profound wisdom spread everywhere, and people came from all sides to consult him. Through this, he made many conquests for Jesus Christ: he had the consolation of counting among this number his father, one of his brothers, who had made a name for himself in the Holy Land among the Crusaders, and the illustrious William, Count of Nevers. All three abandoned the secular habit, trampling underfoot the interests of the earth, to follow him into the desert; his other brother had preceded him to the Grande Chartreuse. Abbots and bishops, as well as persons of lesser distinction, took pleasure in receiving and following his advice; he gave it with complete freedom, and, showing no partiality, he boldly reproached everyone for the vices of which he knew they were accused. This manner of acting and speaking with firmness, which formed the principal character of his spirit, stirred up great enemies against him: some of his own religious were among this number and accused him before Pope Eugene III; but the great Saint Bernard took up his defense, and his innocence was recognized. But these troubles made our Saint regret more than ever the sweetness and spiritual security of a simple religious. He resigned from the generalate in 1152, after twelve years of a painful and glorious administration.

Anthelme, having retired, believed he would long enjoy the happiness of private life; but God, who destined him as a torch to enlighten others, soon brought him out of his retreat by inspiring his superiors to give him the government of the monastery of Portes, in place of Dom Bernard, who was leaving it; obedience alone made him accept this new burden. He therefore took stock of the state of affairs; and, having found quite large sums of money, and an abundance of grain and provisions, he began by distributing them to the poor and to religious houses that were in need, and restored that house to the original spirit of poverty that was appropriate for his Order. During the famine that devastated the Bugey at that time, this new Joseph saved the region through distributions of wheat that God multiplied in his hands. He lived for two years in this monastery, in the exercise of all religious virtues, appearing in his person as a perfect model of perfection, practicing the most severe mortifications of the cloister: to this he added continuous prayer, in which he drew those sublime insights and rich counsels that he distributed to those who came to ask him for the means to save their souls.

At the end of two years, Anthelme obtained permission to be relieved of his dignity and returned to his former cell at the Grande Chartreuse (1155). He was enjoying the sweetness of contemplation there when he found himself compelled to offer his care and counsel for the interests of the Church, in the great affair of the schism that arose in the year 1159, when Alexander III having been elected pope by legitimate means, the antipop e Octavian es Alexandre III Pope who proceeded with the canonization of Bertrand in Toulouse. tablished himself by violence on the seat of Saint Peter, under the name of Victor IV, and sought to subject the Roman Church to the tyranny of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. This schism having divided almost the entire West, Anthel Frédéric Barberousse Emperor whose hand was requested for Rosana by an officer. me, whose learning and merit were known, being solicited to intervene in this great affair and to support the just cause of the true Pope, applied himself to it with all his strength. He therefore associated himself with a religious named Geoffrey, Abbot of Hautecombe, of the Order of Cîteaux, who was very learned and very eloquent; they worked together to support Alexander in his rights, and, through their efforts, the entire Carthusian Order, the religious of Cîteaux, and, following their example, an infinity of others, recognized Alexander as sovereign Pontiff. The threats of Emperor Frederick against Anthelme, whom he knew to be against him, did not in any way change this intrepid defender of the right side; so that in a short time one saw France, Spain, and England declare themselves openly for the legitimate Pope: which caused a general joy and a peace that had long been desired in the Church.

The happy success of Anthelme's negotiation in the destruction of the schism of which we have just spoken only increased the esteem that everyone had already conceived for his wisdom and great capacity; so that the episcopal see of the city of Belley having become vacant, and being disputed by two competitors who were believed to be equally unworthy, Pope Alexander, at the solicitation of the wisest of the clergy of that diocese, appointed Anthelme. Our holy Carthusian, who was then enjoying, in the retreat of his cell, all the delights that a true solitary has for his share, having been warned of what was happening and of his nomination to the episcopate, believed, in order to avoid this high dignity, that the safest thing for him was to flee and go into hiding: this is what he did, rather than wait for the deputies who were to come and announce to him the news of his elevation.

He was sought everywhere: he was finally found, and it was shown to him how necessary it was to obey his superiors, and especially the sovereign Pontiff, who had appointed him to fill the episcopal see of the church of Belley; but this humble religious, not believing at all that he had the necessary qualities to support the weight of this dignity, could not acquiesce to the reasons that were presented to him; it was only obtained from him that he would go to explain his motives to the sovereign Pontiff: which he did, but without success, since the Pope, having listened to and weighed all the difficulties, ordered him to submit and accept the episcopate, and wished to consecrate him himself on the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, in the year 1163.

Anthelme, having recognized the order of God in the express will of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, went to his church of Belley, where he was received with general applause. He applied himself to the functions of a true pastor, with all the vigilance and vigor of which he was capable. Before working to reform the disorders of his people, he judged that it was necessary to begin by examining the morals of all those who composed his clergy; he first used ways of gentleness to bring back to their duty those who had strayed from it; but, having noticed that some of these priests, abusing his excessive kindness, neglected to profit from his charitable warnings, he deprived five or six of them of all priestly functions, and thus made them return to their duty, as well as many others, who profited from the just severity of this worthy pastor.

Having thus put order in the house of God, he felt more strength to judge his people; he first recognized their disorders, he preached against public vices, and made wise secret corrections to those whose disorders were not known to everyone. He had a particular care for the poor, the widows, and the orphans: he supported their interests with ardor against those who abused their authority to oppress them. Although he was a friend of peace, and willingly yielded what he could abandon without wounding his conscience, he nevertheless knew how to preserve the rights of the Church and his dignity when he judged it necessary. He had just received two great marks of consideration. Pope Alexander III had, in 1169, entrusted him with the mission of going to England to put an end to the long debates that divided King Henry II and Archbishop Thomas Becket; on the other hand, the Emperor of Germany, Frederick Barbarossa, rendering justice to the merit of Anthelme, who had firmly resisted him in favor of the legitimate Pope, gave him by golden bulls, dated March 24, 1175, with the title of Prince of the Holy Empire, very extensive privileges; he invested him with the sovereignty of the city of Belley and its dependencies. Humbert III, Prince of Savoy, on wh om the Buge Humbert III Prince of Savoy in conflict with Anthelme over the rights of the Church. y depended, did not see these privileges without jealousy: he violated them by having a priest of the diocese of Belley imprisoned. Anthelme, having vainly claimed him, had him set at liberty by Guillaume, Bishop of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne; but this unfortunate priest was soon after assassinated by the men of the provost of Prince Humbert. Anthelme then had recourse to the sword of anathema. Humbert, excommunicated, appealed to Rome, and, by dint of insistence and false reports, obtained absolution from the Holy See. Then triumphant, he continued his vexations; to escape them, this holy bishop retired to the Grande Chartreuse: but his people, inconsolable at this departure, obtained from the Pope letters that obliged Anthelme to return. Humbert having since threatened to bring him before a secular tribunal, our Saint contented himself with citing him to the tribunal of Jesus Christ; the Count did not dare to expose himself to the outcome of such a judgment. Seized with fear, bathed in tears, he came to throw himself at the feet of the holy prelate who was ill, promised by oath to repair his wrongs, to be henceforth the protector of his Church, and ended by obtaining a pardon which was accompanied by a special blessing for him and his family. The Saint, at that moment, wished him and announced to him a son; and, indeed, Prince Humbert, afflicted at having only a daughter, did not delay in rejoicing at the birth of a future successor, who reigned after him under the name of Thomas I.

The zeal with which Anthelme, at a very advanced age, endured so many fatigues amidst so many other cares, was admired as a prodigy with which heaven graced his flock, rather than the Saint himself, since such a long life was entirely spent in the service of the most tender charity.

However, God wished to grant him the crown promised to "the faithful and prudent steward whom his master has set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time."

The year 1178 was for the Bugey a year of scarcity and misery. Anthelme was busy distributing food to the unfortunate inhabitants of all the neighboring regions, when the sovereign Judge came to visit him in an illness from which he was not to recover. "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing!"

A burning fever seized our Saint in his episcopal city, and the violence of the malady quickly led him to the gates of death; he saw it approach as a liberator who was going to restore him to his true homeland. He alone, at this moment, remained calm. His chapter, his friends, the notables of the city, and his servants burst into tears around his bed, while he blessed them. They were not weeping only for his death, since it was to lead him to a better life, but it was painful for them to be separated from this virtuous prelate, from this good master. He refused to make his will, because, he said, a religious possesses nothing of his own, and a bishop is only the dispenser of the goods of his Church. He could not, therefore, dispose of them at the moment when death comes to take away his administration. Like the beloved disciple, he exhorted those who surrounded him to live in great charity, and to remain always united by the bonds of peace; finally, he rendered his soul to God amidst the litanies and prayers that were recited by his bed, and went, on June 26, 1178, to receive the crown of immortality that he had so justly earned. He was seventy-two years old, of which he had spent more than thirty in the cloister and fifteen in the episcopate. The mourning was general in the diocese of Belley; everyone wept as if they had lost their father.

While the city of Belley is plunged into this deep sorrow, the body of the Saint is clothed in the Carthusian habit that he always wore; and adorned with the miter, the pastoral cross, the ring, and the pastoral staff, he remains exposed to the public gaze for several days; then he is placed in a tomb prepared at the entrance of the cathedral choir, under the crucifix. At this moment, all arms embrace this coffin where rests the object of the tender veneration of the great of the earth, of the rich, of the poor, of the old, and of the young. People rush to this sacred deposit; they apply objects of devotion to it, linens that are preciously kept. Mothers incline their children over this wood that one fears to see disappear, and everyone withdraws in the trembling and sobbing that extreme calamities excite.

To calm so many regrets, God miraculously warns the city of Belley that it has a protector in heaven.

At the moment when they are preparing to lower the body of Saint Anthelme into the monument, one of the three lamps placed in front of the crucifix as a symbol of the adorable Trinity, and which were only lit on great feast days, shone spontaneously with a bright light. All the spectators, astonished, considered it with attention. At the same instant, the other two were also miraculously lit, and cast a dazzling and supernatural light. This fact is attested by contemporary authors, who all agree in the way of recounting it.

The inhabitants of Belley had this inscription placed near the tomb of their much-regretted bishop and protector:

Deo optimo, maximo, B. Anthelmo thaumaturgo, libertatis ecclesiasticem strenu vindici, Cartusim majoris VII priori, totiusque ordinis item VII generali præpositio, sacri imperii principi, civitatis Bellicii XLVI præsuli, primo dynastæ et tutelari pientissimo, cives bellicenses, illius devotissimi clienteli D. D.

Hactenus illissum per bella, incendia, pestes, Bellicium hae, Anthelme, tibi debera fatetur; Et ne nulla tibi referatur gratia posthac, Urbs tua perpetuus voto tibi sacrat honoros.

To the most perfect, most great God, to the Blessed Anthelme the Thaumaturge, zealous defender of the liberties of the Church, seventh prior and seventh general of the Carthusians, prince of the Holy Empire, forty-sixth bishop, first lord and zealous protector of Belley; the citizens of this city, his devoted clients, have raised this monument to him.

"If Belley exists after wars, fires, and plagues, it confesses, Anthelme, that it owes it to your protection; but so that posterity may never lose the memory of such a great benefit, your city proclaims your cult forever by a solemn vow."

## CULT AND RELICS.

As soon as the body of Saint Anthelme had been placed in the cathedral church of Belley, the faithful never ceased to come to his tomb to solicit favors, and they always returned while proclaiming some miracle obtained through his mediation.

More than four hundred years after his death, one of his successors, Jean de Passelzigue, yielding to the desire of the Carthusians and the entire diocese of Belley, as well as to his own devotion, resolved to declare the holy bishop, already placed in the martyrology of this diocese, the protector of the city and the diocese of Belley. On June 26, 1630, the recognition of the holy relics was carried out in the presence of the crowd that had flocked to contemplate this worthy object of its tender veneration. A cry of joy, followed by the silence of a truly religious admiration, was heard when, upon the opening of the sepulcher, a sweet odor spread through the church; astonishment increased when it was seen that "God, who watches over the preservation of the bones of His Saints," had preserved the body of His faithful servant from the corruption of the tomb, and that his garments had hardly been damaged. These glorious remains, enclosed in a richly ornamented reliquary, were carried with pomp around the city in the midst of a procession composed of the bishop in pontifical vestments, the chapter, the religious Orders, the notables of Belley and the surrounding area, and a prodigious number of the faithful who had flocked from all the neighboring provinces to come and implore the protection of the holy bishop. The Confraternity of Saint Anthelme surrounded the reliquary. Contemporary authors, witnesses to this triumph, assure us that the crowd only turned its eyes from the object of its veneration to contemplate this modest and pious society, formed on this great day in honor of Saint Anthelme, whose virtues it long imitated. When the reliquary, carried by four canons, arrived at the chapel prepared to receive it, Mgr de Passelaigue placed it on a marble altar that had been prepared for it.

What was most admirable on this solemn day were the miracles that took place: the lame were straightened, the blind recovered their sight, and a great number of other sick people, cured of various infirmities, ran here and there, drunk with joy, proclaiming the praises of God and the power of the great wonder-worker.

From that time on, devotion to the holy bishop of Belley spread far and wide. His chapel was so frequented, and miracles multiplied there to such an extent after this translation, that a volume would not suffice to make them all known. The city of Belley, which possesses the sacred deposit of the body of its powerful protector, and which had just rendered him such religious honors, was the first to experience the effect of his tutelary power. At that time, the most terrible scourge of God, the plague, was depopulating the neighboring provinces. Belley saw itself threatened from close by: the ravages had already begun in the suburbs. The reliquary of Saint Anthelme was then exposed, and the city covered itself with it as with a powerful shield to take shelter from the blows of God's wrath. It was surrounded by the pious inhabitants of this city, and they were miraculously preserved from this pressing danger.

All the bishops of Belley successively took the liveliest part in the cult and feast of Saint Anthelme. Mgr Gabriel Cortois de Quincey, one of the most worthy successors of so many illustrious pontiffs, was the zealot of his cult and the faithful imitator of this great model during the forty years he sat on the pontifical throne of Belley. This venerable prelate acknowledged that he owed his life to him. It was to fulfill the vow he had made to him when he was on the point of perishing while crossing the Ain River that he rebuilt his chapel in 1793 and decorated it with paintings whose merit and value could not, however, preserve them from the fury of the iconoclasts of the 18th century. He had a white marble altar built and covered the holy body with a magnificent chasuble and an ornament embroidered in gold. From that moment, the gathering of the faithful continued with a new influx.

But an impious revolution soon stopped this pious and national cult. On December 6, 1793, sacrilegious hands, after having profaned the sacred asylum where Anthelme was honored, removed from the altar the reliquary that contained the body of the Saint and prepared to carry it to the public square to deliver it to the flames. The news of the removal of the reliquary containing the holy body put the city of Belley in a state of stupor; some ran up, driven by the rage of impunity; others were attracted by curiosity and the desire to contemplate the body of the holy prelate. The latter succeeded in furtively stealing various scraps of the linens that wrapped him, and some bones that they kept with veneration. It was during this interval that an impious man separated the head of the Saint to show it with derision, then smashed it on the pavement while uttering these words: "If you are a Saint, show it!" A few days after this imprecation, hideous tumors appeared around his neck. He kept this disgusting infirmity until the end of his life, which lasted another twenty-three years. The whole city believed it saw in this event a punishment from heaven, where mercy is united with justice, since this man, touched by sincere repentance, returned to Christian sentiments, gave proofs of the most touching devotion to Saint Anthelme, and died in dispositions that give hope that he will have found grace at the tribunal of God's justice.

Such were the horrors of that disastrous day. These rapacious men took away the reliquary and the riches with which it was adorned; but the sacred deposit it contained, protected by sentinels sent a moment later to stop the profanations we have just deplored, escaped their sacrilegious fury. Devoted Christians gathered the scattered bones and preserved for the city of Belley the venerated relic of its holy bishop, hiding it in the sacristy, under the floor, near the great pillar that supports the vault.

As soon as peace was restored to the Church of France by the Concordat of 1801, the church of Belley was again consecrated to the Catholic cult. The diocese, according to the arrangements made between the Sovereign Pontiff and the head of the French nation, was reunited in 1802 to that of Lyon. Then M. Tenand, former parish priest of Belley, was returned to the wishes of his beloved people. His first care was to discover the body of the holy bishop; the religious eagerness of the faithful did not take long to make known to him the place that concealed this precious deposit. He was preparing to expose it to the veneration of the Christian people when he died on July 27, 1806. His successor expressed the same wish in the name of the city of Belley. A commission was appointed. With a council of doctors and surgeons, it established the identity of the bones of Saint Anthelme; on August 2 of the same year, this information was publicly ratified. Then, these precious remains were enclosed and sealed in a wooden box, which was deposited in the chapel of the Saint. Finally, on June 8, 1813, Cardinal Fesch, Archbishop of Lyon, recognized the holy relics and sealed them with his arms. The reliquary was carried back in procession to the chapel known as Saint-Anthelme and enclosed in a cupboard to the left of the altar; the archbishop kept a bone of the holy confessor, with which he enriched the treasury of the primatial church of Lyon.

It is a pious belief in the region that Saint Anthelme was not a stranger to the re-es tablishme Mgr Davie Bishop of Belley in the 19th century, restorer of the cult of Anthelme. nt of the diocese of Belley in 1817. The first bishop, Mgr Devie, who took possession of this see in 1823, verified the relics of Saint Anthelme in the presence of a large number of witnesses, among whom was M. Rey, vicar general of Chambéry, later bishop of Annecy: Mgr Devie gave him a rib of the Saint for the parish of Chignin, in Savoy; later, he re-established the Confraternity of Saint Anthelme, whose provisions Pope Leo XII endowed with rich indulgences. On Tuesday, June 30, 1829, a solemn translation of the relics of the Saint took place in his restored chapel: four hundred priests and more than ten thousand people attended this beautiful ceremony. Mgr Devie instituted an annual novena in honor of Saint Anthelme, which would begin on the evening of June 17. He also decreed that on the third Sunday of each month, the first parish mass, at which a sermon is given, would in the future be celebrated in the chapel of Saint-Anthelme, and that on June 27 of each year, all children up to the age of reason would be brought to the cathedral, and that the bishop, surrounded by great ceremony, would bless them and dedicate them to Saint Anthelme.

The reliquary in which the relics of the Saint rest today is the one that Mgr Devie had made; it is made of wood, mahogany-colored, in the shape of a tomb and with gilded ornaments. Through two large glass panes, one can see the body of the Saint dressed in a chasuble of cloth of gold, richly bordered. It is a tribute of veneration and gratitude offered to Saint Anthelme in 1835 by M. Gauchy, secretary-archivist of the Chamber of Peers.

We have used, to complete this life, the Hagiological History of the Diocese of Belley, by Mgr Depéry.