From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
September 10th - St. Salvius, Bishop of Albi
HE was the 7th bishop of Albi, which see had been founded by St.
Clarus, who is said to have suffered martyrdom in the third age, and
who is honoured on the 1st of July. Before this he had been employed
in the first offices of magistracy in the province; but his love for retirement, and the desire of being wholly freed from the distractions
which impede a constant union with God, induced him to embrace the
monastic state, in which he exhibited an example of piety to his
brethren, who afterwards chose him for their abbot. He chiefly
confined himself to a cell at a distance from the rest. Here, being
seized by a violent fever, he grew so ill, that he lay for dead in the
opinion of all about him. Indeed, the saint himself was always
persuaded that he really died, and was restored to life by a miracle;
be that as it will, he was soon after taken from his retreat, and
placed in the see of Albi. He lived as austere as ever, and constantly
refused the presents that were made him; but, if any thing were forced
upon him, he on the spot distributed the whole among the poor.
The patrician Mommolus having taken a great number of prisoners at
Albi, the saint followed and redeemed them all. Salvius flourished in
the reigns of Gontran, Childebert, and Chilperic: he withdrew the last
of these princes from an error he had fallen into concerning the
Trinity. In the 18 year of his episcopacy, an epidemic disorder made
great havoc among his flock: at this season of peril, it was in vain
his friends advised him to be careful of his health; animated with a
zeal, unwearied as it was undaunted, he flew every where he thought
his presence necessary. He visited the sick, comforted them, and
exhorted them to prepare for eternity by the practice of such good
works as their condition admitted. Perceiving that his last hour was
near, he ordered his coffin to be made, changed his clothes, and
prepared himself with a most edifying fervour to appear before God. He
did not long survive the synod of Brennac, at which he assisted in
580. [1]
See the Roman Martyrology, St. Greg. of Tours, and the Gallia Christ.
Nova, t. 1, p. 5.
Note 1. The following extract is taken from a MS. of Count de Boullain-villiers, which his family carefully preserves in the castle
of St. Saire: =E2=80=9CThe titles of the metropolitan of Rouen prove that
about the year 800, and near a century after, there was a place in the
forest of Bray, consecrated to the memory and honour of St. Salvius,
who had been a solitary there. Whether this saint was bishop of Albi
or Amiens, or even whether he was any more than a hermit, whose
penitential life God hath glorified by divers miracles, is what must
remain undecided; the memory of these facts being entirely lost. There
remain, however, formal proofs of St. Salvius being a Solitary, in an
ancient MS. from 500 to 600, which contains the office of his feast.
He is also represented in a pane of glass in an ancient subterraneous
chapel in the dress of a hermit, on his knees, praying with his hands
extended. The devotion of the people who visited the church or chapel
which was built where his hermitage stood, was supported by miracles
and extraordinary cures, which the divine power wrought there,
insomuch that the reputation of it went very far. Some houses were
built in the neighbourhood for the convenience of pilgrims; but the
nature of the country rendered it inaccessible, and the horror of the
marshes, augmented by the woods which covered them, hindered the
progress of the establishment, which the piety of particulars might
have otherwise founded. The canons of Rouen were at the expense of
clearing some of the more accessible lands for the subsistence of the
priests, who there performed the divine office; and this is the first
origin of the parish of St. Saire, and the foundation of the lordship,
which the chapter of Rouen possesses there.=E2=80=9D This village is about =
a
league and a half from the little town of Neuchatel in Bray.
Saint Quote:
Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer
suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer
draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.
--Saint Ephraem of Syria
Bible Quote:
It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop
than in a mansion with a quarrelsome wife. Proverbs 25:24
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Prayer
"Lord Jesus, you are the fulfillment of all our hopes and desires.
Your Holy Spirit brings us grace, truth, life, and freedom. Fill me
with the joy of the Gospel and inflame my heart with love and zeal for
you and for your will".
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