Eustace had no difficulty in justifying the customs of Luxeuil, and in discomfiting the violence of his accuser. But as Agrestin always returned to the charge, the abbot said to him: "In presence of these bishops, I, the disciple and successor of him whose institute thou condemnest, cite thee to appear with him, within a year, at the tribunal of God, to plead thy cause against him, and to learn to know the justice of Him whose servant thou hast attempted to calumniate." The solemnity of this appeal had an effect even upon the prelates who leant to the side of Agrestin: they urged him to be reconciled to his former abbot, and the latter, who was gentleness himself, consented to give him the kiss of peace. But this goodness did not benefit Agrestin. Hopeless of succeeding at Luxeuil itself, he sowed revolt and calumny in the other monasteries which had proceeded, like Luxeuil, from the colonising genius of Columbanus, at Remiremont and Faremoutier. But shortly before the expiration of the year, he was slain with a blow of an axe by his servant, whose wife, it was reported—whether truly or not Jonas does not commit himself to decide—he had intended to dishonour. At length, in 625, Eustace was called to his rest, and was succeeded in the government of the abbey by S. Wandelbert (May 7th.)
His relics were preserved in the abbey of Vergaville, in the diocese of Metz, but on its destruction in 1792 they were carried away and concealed by the last abbess, Madame de la Marche, in the house of M. Labrosse, curé of Surianville. They were surrendered by him, on the return of security, to Mgr. Ant. Eustache Osmond, bishop of Nancy, and they were placed in two shrines in the Benedictine priory of Flavigny-sur-Moselle, in Meurthe, in 1824.
B. HUGO, MONK OF VAUCELLES.
(A.D. 1236.)
[Gallican Martyrology. Authority:—Thomas Cantipratensis.]
One of the most fervent and exemplary religious of the abbey of Vaucelles in the early part of the 13th century was Hugo de Villa, formerly dean of the church of Cambrai. He was as distinguished for the nobility of his birth, and of his talents, as he was for his virtue. The fear of being called to fill some episcopal throne prompted him to take refuge in the monastery of Vaucelles, where the rule of the first children of S. Bernard was rigorously observed. When the project of the pious dean was known, many persons came to ask him to give them a handsome tame falcon he possessed. Hugo refused, and dissembled his intentions till the moment that he entered religion. He arrived at the gates of the abbey with the bird, and then, cutting the string that held the falcon captive, he gave it liberty, saying, "My dear bird! fly away and enjoy thy liberty in peace, for I am leaving thee for ever."
Thomas de Cantinpré, his biographer, says, "I have often heard from the mouths of eye-witnesses that during his noviciate, birds would come and perch on his hands, and eat crumbs out of them. The master of the novices, to prove his virtue by opposing this innocent pleasure, reproached him. The good religious then drove away the birds that fluttered around him, saying, with that simplicity which marked all his conduct, 'Away, birds! I am not surprised that you are ordered off: my age and condition requires that you should obey me, and not I you.'"
[March 30.]
S. Secundus, M. at Aste, in Italy, A.D. 119.
S. Quirinus the Tribune, M. at Rome, A.D. 130.
S. Regulus, B. of Arles and Senlis, 4th cent.
SS. Martyrs at Constantinople, slain by Macedonius, the Heresiarch, A.D. 351.
S. John in the Well, H. in Armenia.
S. John Climacus, Ab. of Mount Sinai, about A.D. 606.
S. Zosimus, B. of Syracuse, circ. A.D. 660.
S. Patto, B. of Werden, 9th cent.
S. Vero, C. at Limbecke, in Hainault, 9th cent.
B. Dodo Van Hascha, O.P., C. in Friesland, A.D. 1231.
B. Peter Regulatus, O.M., C. at Aguilar, in Old Castille, A.D. 1456.
B. Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, A.D. 1472.