Better late than never! This month’s extract from ‘Highly Holy’ continues concludes the extracts from Chapter Four (‘Pyrenean Patrons’) and discusses three saints whose veneration forms are very particular to the Cerdagne and Conflent region: Saint Eugenie, Saint Eloi and Saints Abdon and Sennan.
Extract II from Chapter Four, ‘Pyrenean Patrons’
Completing the circuit of the eastern Pyrenees by way of the coastal city of Perpignan, the French Cerdagne, Conflent, Canigó and the border with Girona (Catalonia), the Pyrénées-Orientales shares many saints with its Catalan neighbour. There are also many chapels and churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in which she is attached to a specific location, the object of veneration and a worker of miracles: e.g. Nostra Senyora dels Desemparats (Collioure), Notre-Dame de Domanova (Canigou), Nostra Senyora de la Volta (Prades), Notre-Dame de Font-Romeu (Font-Romeu) etc. The départementfalls within the diocesan purview of Perpignan-Elne and before the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed it had variously been known as Roussillon and Northern Catalonia, stretching from the mountains down to the sea. Its cultural and religious heritage overlaps greatly with Catalonia and, in consequence, a great many of the locally revered saints across the border (such as Saint Gaudérique) are also found in the Pyrénées-Orientales. Contrary to the Aude, the Pyrénées-Orientales has not elevated its bishops to sainthood; rather there is an amalgamation of more universal saints which have been brought into special prominence at certain locations. Historically the two urban religious centres have consisted of Elne and Perpignan (for which the diocese of Perpignan-Elne is named), with the latter eclipsing the former during the Later Middle Ages, during which the Counts of Roussillon moved their seat from Elne to Perpignan in its growing prosperity. To focus on Elne first, the former capital of Roussillon, its origins as an oppidum have given rise to its inhabitants being known as Illibériens and during its time in Septimania Elne became a bishopric in the late sixth century, with its first recorded bishop, Dominus, mentioned in the chronicle of John of Biclarum in 571.[1] The bishops of Elne are also recorded as participating in the Council of Toledo in 599 and holding various synods up to the late fourteenth century, and whilst Perpignan became designated as the capital of Roussillon after its Counts achieved independence from Carolingian control in the late ninth century, Elne remained the region’s Episcopal city.[2] However, by the beginning of the seventeenth century Perpignan had achieved such local dominance in terms of power and wealth that the Episcopal seat was transferred there by way of a Bull issued by Pope Clement VIII. Therefore, for a substantial part of its history Elne held a position of huge religious importance in Roussillon. Its cathedral, built in through the eleventh and twelfth centuries, is dedicated to Saint Julie and Saint Eulalie of Mérida. Excavations have revealed the possibility of an earlier structure on the same site dating back to the sixth century, contemporary with the creation of the Elne diocese by the Visigoths from the dismembered diocese of Narbonne. Whilst neither Saint Julie nor Saint Eulalie are native to the region, with Saint Julie being born in fifth-century Carthage and Saint Eulalie in third-century Mérida, it is interesting to note that Saint Eulalie seems to enjoy particular attention in the Languedoc and within Occitan culture as a whole, with her name being corrupted in local versions of Occitan when naming villages. For example, one finds Saint-Araille in the Haute-Garonne, Sentaraille in the Ariège and even Xaintrailles in Lot-et-Garonne. This may be due to the actions of sixth-century Frankish king Childebert I, who brought a selection of Saint Eulalie’s relics into France in 571, and it is important to note that the oldest surviving poem in the ‘langue d’oïl’ is one which describes her story.[3] Across the broader region of Catalonia, the Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales are dedications to Saint Eulalie in Narbonne, Carcassonne, Girona, Barcelona, Vic, Llerida and Urgel. Within the cathedral of Elne the offices of both Vespers and Lauds contain references to Saint Eulalie, whose feast day is celebrated with a Mass and a procession around the cathedral and cloister on the 10th of December.[4]
On the border between the communes of Elne and Argèles-sur-Mer the remains of a church dedicated to Sainte-Eugénie de Tresmals can be found. Whilst Saint Eugenie (Eugenia) was a third-century Roman martyr, her dedications within Roussillon follow a very particular local custom, in that all her churches and chapels are sited along watercourses. Sainte-Eugénie de Tresmals is located on the Roussillon plain, an alluvial plain whose sediment is brought by three rivers: the Agly, the Têt and the Tech. Their flooding has built up large deposits of silt along the plain, much exploited in local agriculture. The church is located one hundred yards from the left bank of the Tech and the name ‘Tresmals’ derives from the Latin tres, ‘three’, and a pre-Latin root mals, meaning a mountain peak or a pile of stones, suggesting that near the church once lay a boundary marker which signified the limit between Lator-Bas-Elne, Elne and Argèles-sur-Mer. The church is first mentioned in a ninth-century text referencing an estate known as ‘Villa Tresmallos’, which describes a chapel on the site, and in 951 another text refers to the ‘domus sancta Eugenia in villa Tresmallos’.[5] It is also mentioned in 1067 and 1145, and in the case of the latter is described as a parish church, a status which appears to have been lost in another reference from 1347. It remained a place of worship until the French Revolution, when it was deconsecrated and used as a barn, then abandoned. The accumulation of alluvial deposits around it have led to its floor level being nearly two metres below current ground level.[6] Whilst the saint may be universal, other churches in the region dedicated to Saint Eugenie all follow the pattern of being sited near or adjacent to rivers, a custom which seems unique both to this saint and to her churches in Roussillon. For example, in the commune of Le Soler there exists not only the remains of a hamlet called Sainte-Eugénie, which once had a church dedicated to that saint, but also a river known as Sainte-Eugénie. In this area there are five rivers and some have suggested that there is an etymological link between the saint’s name and Eugenia, an ancient form of vine used for making wine during the Roman period, as both Le Soler and Sainte-Eugénie are recorded as wine estates during the fifth century.[7]
Within Perpignan there are over twenty churches and chapels, including the cathedral; while most are dedicated to universal saints there is a church dedicated exclusively to that favourite son of the soil Saint Gaudérique. Given his popularity across the broader regions of Roussillon and Catalonia, this is hardly surprising. What is of more interest with regard to the local use of saints is the annual celebration of Saint Éloi (Eligius), a seventh-century Frankish goldsmith and later Bishop of Noyon-Tournai (Oise). Éloi is the patron saint of horses, metal workers and goldsmiths, and it is in this latter capacity and connection to jewellery that we see his veneration in Perpignan. The Perpignan garnets have been mined in the Pyrenean mountains Roussillon and Catalonia since the seventeenth-century and were considered indicative of high status, as well as being able to cure blood disorders. The jewellers of Perpignan quickly gained a reputation for their skilled setting of the garnets with the ‘Croix Jeanette’ being a particularly popular design. This cross was named after the ‘Fête de la Saint Jean’, the feast of Saint John, a time celebrated throughout the Pyrenees with bonfires (and also the time when workers traditionally received their wages), and the red and gold reflected both these fires and the Catalan flag. Traditionally, on the feast of Saint Éloi (the 1st of December), the jewellers of Perpignan would hold a parade in their patron’s honour following a solemn Mass in church of Notre-Dame de la Réal. Changes in fashion, wars, the suppression of regional pride and rising prices saw a decline in the market for the Perpignan garnet, but in the 1980s its production was resurrected. During this time, a ‘Confrérie du Grenat’ (Brotherhood of the Garnet) was created and the parade was brought back into public life, generally in historical costume and also acting as a celebration of Roussillon identity through folk dances and performances.[8]
Even if most wonder-working saints venerated in the Pyrénées-Orientales are not native to Roussillon, it is interesting to examine which saints were given preference in dedications of side chapels during the steep rise in church building in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These preferences can also be corroborated by the one hundred and fifty goigs printed in honour of the saints up to the middle of the eighteenth century.[9] Jean-Luc Antoniazzi has made a thorough study of these goigs and side chapel dedications throughout the region, and it is worth summarising his findings here to illustrate the breadth of Roussillon’s desire for saintly intercession. In the church of Prats-de-Mollo, a village famous for its ‘fête de l’ours’, the dedication to Saint Ruffine and Saint Juste is explained in an 1826 notebook found in the parish archives as deriving from a belief that cradle cap, a condition which causes scaly patches on a baby’s scalp and locally as ‘mal de santa Rufina’, could be cured by their intercession. The church in Caldégas (Bourg-Madame) is dedicated to Saint Romain as the patron of the dead and the mute, a condition which may have been unusually prevalent in the area. Two goigsproduced in Perpignan in 1752 are dedicated to Saint Cornelius and Saint Cyprian and describe a method for curing earaches, in which a little lamp oil is put in the ear, the lamp oil being taken from a lamp burning before the relics of either saint.[10] Saint Blaise is the co-patron of several parishes across Roussillon and on the 3rd of February across the region sweets are blessed in his name, as he is believed to cure sore throats. In Vallespir, Saint Abdon and Saint Sennan are the object of great veneration in Arles-sur-Tech,[11] with many miracles being attributed to them. In the forecourt of the abbey church an early Christian sarcophagus is preserved, which is said to have once served as a shrine for the relics of these saints. Every year, litres of drinking water are miraculously drawn from this closed sarcophagus. Above is a funerary monument on which is carved a relief of the knight Guilem Gaucelm de Taillet, who died in 1210. This knight was suffering from cancer of the nose and he was allegedly cured through drinking the water below. In 1529 French soldiers drew water from the tomb and were ‘freed from various illnesses’, many taking bottles of the water with them when they left. Even in the eighteenth century, Piganiol de la Force records in his ‘Description de la France’ that on the feasts of Saints Abdon and Sennen (30th of July) pilgrims would take vials of the water home, the water never spoiling and curing them of many different sicknesses. Many miracles have been recorded since the sixteenth century and the sarcophagus remains an object of devotion even today. The epidemics of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which inspired the aforementioned church building across Roussillon also gave greater fervour to the devotion to certain saints who held a reputation for healing. Saints Sebastian,[12] Roch,[13] Cosmas, Damian,[14] Gaudérique and Francis of Paola[15] all received an upsurge in church devotions and processions, with their relics paraded around towns and villages to effect a mass cure on the population, and many ex-votos can be seen in their churches depicting miraculous events which drove the plagues away from entire communities; as a consequence, the cults of certain saints became even more embedded in daily life, with art and carvings being created for newly-created side-chapels and churches throughout the Pyrénées-Orientales, as well as the writing and printing of countless goigs.[16]
[1] John of Biclarum (Iohannes Biclarensis, born c. 540, died post-621) was a Visigothic chronicler of Portuguese birth who was also bishop of Girona. He was imprisoned in Barcelona by the Visigoths, allegedly for his refusal to convert to Arianism however it is more likely that he was regarded as a spy for Byzantine governors of southern Hispania due to his lengthy stay in Constantinople, where he was educated for ten years in Latin and Greek. For more information on John of Biclarum, see: Wolf, Kenneth, Conquerors and Chroniclers of early Medieval Spain (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999).
[2] An Episcopal city is the seat of the bishop who oversees a diocese.
[3] The ‘langue d’oïl’ is a general term for the Romance dialects spoken in northern France from the ninth century. They were in stark contrast to the ‘langue d’oc’ dialects spoken in southern France, which formed the linguistic group known loosely as Occitan. Very simply put, the ‘langue d’oïl’ would be the forerunner for the standardised French adopted and enforced by the French Revolution across the country.
[4] Amiet, Robert, ‘Les Livres Liturgiques et le Calendrier du Diocèse d’Elne’, Cahiers de Fanjeaux, Vol. 17, 1982, pp. 139 – 154. Available here: https://www.persee.fr/doc/cafan_0575-061x_1982_act_17_1_1290
[5] Basseda, Lluís, Toponymie Historique de Catalunya Nord, Vol. I (Prades: Revista Terra Nostra, 1990), p. 796.
[6] Passarius, Olivier et al., ‘Église Sainte-Eugénie-de-Tresmals, Diagnostic et Fouille Archéologique’, Bulletin de l’Association Archéologique des Pyrénées-Orientales, No. 20, 2005, pp. 16 – 20.
[7] Matabosch, Raymond, ‘Le Soler, Le Village. Prospections’, Bulletin de l’Association Archéologique des Pyrénées-Orientales, No. 9, 1994, p. 76.
[8] Rouillé, Anne-Marie, Coutumes, Traditions, Légendes d’Occitanie-Pyrénées Méditerranée (Paris: Books On Demand, 2021), p. 249
[9] Goigs are a type of hymn, deriving from the Latin gaudium meaning ‘joy’ and are typical of Catalonia and Catalan-speaking areas; historically, this included the Pyrénées-Orientales. The goigs are designed to sing the praise and allude to the blessings granted either by the Virgin Mary or a specific saint. For example, there are goigs written to Our Lady of Tanya (Laroque des Albères) in reference to childbirth and to Our Lady of Planès in supplication for fevers. For more information on goigs see: Batlle, Joan, Los Goigs a Catalunya: Breus Consideracions Sobre Son Origen y Sa Influència en la Poesía Mística Popular (Barcelona: L’Arxiu, 1924).
[10] This is an example of saint-inspired folk medicine, more of which will be further explored in Chapter Five.
[11] Saints Abdon and Sennen (born in the third century, died c. 250) have no presence in the historical record but are considered by the Roman Martyrology to have been Persian nobles, captured and taken to Rome during the third century, where they became slaves and converted to Christianity, being forced to bury the Christian dead. When they were brought before Emperor Decius for refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods, they were sentenced to be disembowelled by gladiators in the Colloseum. They are the patron saints of Calasparra (Murcia) however a great many churches in France are also dedicated to them, with their feast day falling on the 30th of July.
[12] Saint Sebastian (born c. 255, died c. 288) was an early Christian martyr, who was killed during the Diocletian persecution. Born in the Gallo-Roman province of Narbonensis he entered the Roman army to help protect Christian soldiers, becoming one of the captains of the Praetorian guards. When it was discovered that he was a Christian, Diocletian was enraged at this betrayal of trust and had Sebastian tied to a post and shot with arrows. This failed to kill him and Irene of Roma (wife of Saint Castulus) healed him. However, Sebastian went to Diocletian in order to warn him of his sinful life and in return was clubbed to death. He is the patron saint of archery and of plagues, with his feast day falling on the 20th of January.
[13] Saint Roch (born c. 1348, died c. 1379) is the patron saint of dogs, invalids and those falsely accused. The facts surrounding his life are very confused, with some sources claiming that he was born in Majorca and others in Montpellier. His birth is considered something of a miracle as his mother was barren until she prayed to the Virgin Mary, and he was born with a red birthmark shaped like a cross on his breast. He entered the Franciscan Order on his twentieth birthday and began a pilgrimage to Rome, arriving in Italy during an epidemic. He was said to have affected many cures via prayer, the sign of the cross and the touch of his hand. He lived at Piacenza (Emilia-Romagna) until falling ill with the plague, whereupon he withdrew into the forest, living off of spring water and bread which a noble’s hunting dog would bring him each day. Recovering he started his return to Montpellier but was arrested as a spy in Voghera (Lombardy) and died in prison. His feast day is celebrated on the 16th of August.
[14] Saints Cosmas and Damian (born in the third century, died c. 287 or c. 303) were early Christian martyrs. According to the Roman Martyrology, these twin brothers were both Arab physicians who converted to Christianity and practiced medicine without a fee in the seaport of Aegeae (Adana province, Turkey), and became locally known as ‘the silverless’, attracting many locals to the Christian faith. The ‘Golden Legend’ states that they cured blindness, fever, paralysis and snake bites. During the Diocletian persecution they were arrested, tortured, hung on a cross, stoned, shot by arrows and beheaded. Their cult quickly spread through Constantinople and by the fourth century there were churches dedicated to the twins in Jerusalem, after which their cult spread through Christendom. Their feast day falls on the 27th of September.
[15] Saint Francis of Paola (born 1416, died 1507) was a Roman Catholic friar from Paola in Calabria (Naples). Born into a poor family, at thirteen he was placed in the care of a Franciscan Friary where he learned to read and began abstaining from meat. After a pilgrimage to Rome at age fourteen he withdrew to live in solitude, firstly outside of Paola then to a rocky corner of the coast where he became a hermit in a cave. After six years, he was joined by two other people and Francis built three cells and a chapel. This community grew into the order known as ‘The Hermits of Saint Francis of Assisi’ and in 1454 a large monastery and church had been built to accommodate the fraternity. Other monasteries were founded throughout Calabria from 1472 to 1476. When King Louis XI of France requested Francis to visit him on his deathbed, Francis travelled through Provence during a time of plague, curing many, and sat with the king as he died. Francis then counselled and tutored King Charles VIII who grew to hold the monk in high regard, as did his son Louis XII, who kept Francis as a mentor. He died on the 2nd of April 1507 at Plessis (Paris). Multiple acts of healing, prophecy and intercession are recorded as worked by Francis during his lifetime and posthumously. He is the patron saint of boatmen, mariners and the patron saint of Calabria, with his reputation throughout France being particularly attached to curing people from epidemics.
[16] Antoniazzi, Jean-Luc, ‘Culte des Saints et Guérisons en Roussillon aux XVIIe et XVIIIe Siècles’ in Questions de Santé sur les Bords de la Méditerranée, Gilbert Larguier (Ed.) (Perpignan: Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, 2015), pp. 205 – 231. Available here: https://books.openedition.org/pupvd/3146?lang=fr
Perennial Pyrenees 