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Treasure on Papa Stronsay Papa Stronsay is the new home of a beautiful reliquary which was given to us through the kindness and generosity of Rev. Fr Innocent-Marie, O.P. superior of the Dominican Monastery at Avrillé, France. The origin of a relic is often shrouded in mystery. The tiny script attached to each particle is sometimes quite obscurely written, and a Latin place-name can be more of a riddle than a clue. The reliquary received from our Dominican brethren was a case in point, and it took a little research to find out what the inscriptions meant. Two relics on the sides of the precious cabinet bear the inscriptions S. Gausbertus Primus Abbas Monsalviensis and Ex ossibus S Bernard. Abbas Monsalviensis: i.e “St Gausbert first abbot of Monsalviensis” and “From the bones of St Bernard Abbot Montsalviensis”. The puzzling word was Monsalviensis, but some of the other place-names gave us a clue to decipher it. It appears that the relics, bar the major one, are all from the diocese of St-Flour in the South of France, and Montsalviensis is the French Montsalvy. How and why did these relics end up in Angers? Where did they come from originally? That remains a mystery, but, nonetheless, we take great pride in the fact that these saints and martyrs have found a resting place on Papa Stronsay. The island, already the burial place of Sir Patrick Spens and a centuries-long procession of monks is becoming home to a host of illustrious early Christians.
This large relic dominates the reliquary and consists of a femoral, or upper leg bone approximately one foot in length. It is a relic of St Pamphilius of Cæsarea, martyred in 309. Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea and historian of the Church was a disciple of his and wrote his life. This work is now lost, but from his Martyrs of Palestine we learn that Pamphilius belonged to a noble family of Beirut (in Phœnicia, today Lebanon), where he received a good education, and that he quitted his native land after selling all his property and giving the proceeds to the poor. He attached himself to the “perfect men”. He went to Alexandria where his teacher was Pierius, then the head of the famous Catechetical School. He eventually settled in Cæsarea where he was ordained priest, collected his famous library, and established a school for theological study. St Jerome says that Pamphilius “transcribed the greater part of the works of Origen with his own hand”, and that “these are still preserved in the library of Cæsarea.” A passage from the lost biography quoted by St Jerome describes how Pamphilius supplied poor scholars with the necessaries of life, and, not merely lent, but gave them copies of the Sacred Scriptures, of which he kept a large supply. He likewise bestowed copies on women devoted to study. In November, 307 he was brought before the governor and, on refusing to sacrifice, was cruelly tortured, and then relegated to prison. There he continued to copy and correct manuscripts. Without further torture, Pamphilius and other members of his household, men “in the full vigour of mind and body”, were sentenced to be beheaded in February, 309. Relic of the Finger of St Florus St-Flour (Floropolis) is a diocese comprising the modern French Department of Cantal, a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bourges. The traditions relative to St Florus (Flour), who was the first bishop of Lodève, and who died at Indiciat (later St-Flour) while evangelising the Haute-Auvergne region, are of the greatest antiquity. In two documents concerning the foundation of the second monastery of St-Flour, drawn up in 1013 and 1031, and in a letter written to Urban IV in 1261 by Pierre de Saint-Haon, prior of St-Flour, we find that St Florus is considered a figure of Apostolic times, and the Speculum sanctorale written by Bernard Gui in 1329 relates at length the history of this “disciple of Christ”. At the close of the 10th century there was already a monastery at Indiciat. A local seigneur, Astorg de Brezons, who was known as the ‘Red Bull’, gave this monastery to Odilo, Abbot of Cluny. The Diocese of St-Flour is remarkable among the French dioceses for the great number of its sanctuaries and pilgrimages dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. There are 65. Clothing of St Odilo, Abbot of Cluny A native of Auvergne, Odilo became abbot of Cluny. It is to him that we owe the liturgical Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed on 2 November, All Souls Day. He erected the priory of St-Flour and built the church, ramparts around the city and a bridge over the River Ander. He died on 1 January, 1049. St Gausbert and St Bernard Abbots of Monsalvy The Abbey of Montsalvy, founded by Ss. Gausbert and Bernard is to be found in the diocese of St-Flour. Gausbert exercised his priestly ministry principally in the towns of St-Sulpice and St-Projet. Afterwards, having heard talk of a deserted place in the mountains of Haute-Auvergne, which was avoided by travellers because of its savage beasts and its brigands, he constructed a hospice in this solitary place which took the name of Montsalvy. Here he built a church under the title of the Assumption of Our Lady and established a monastery of canons who assumed the pastoral care of travellers and the people of the surrounding villages. He took with him a young man by the name of Bernard who was of a noble family and whom he found at the monastery of St-Amans de Rodez, which Gausbert had tried in vain to reform. When Gausbert died, close to the town of Cantoin around the year 1080, Bernard was elected as his successor and shares with him by merit the titles of founder and father of this monastery. He died around 1110. The relics of St Gausbert are to be found for the most part in the church of Laussac (near Mur-de-Barrez) in the diocese of Rodez. Those of St Bernard are venerated at Montsalvy. St Geradus (Géraud) Patron of Aurillac The Abbey of Aurillac was founded by St Géraud, Count of Aurillac, who in 898 brought thither monks from Vabres; it soon became well known, according to John of Salisbury, as a centre of literary and scientific studies. Other relics include those of St Pius the Martyr, St Maurus, the Martyr St Theodore, Ss. Verecunda, Victoriana, Flavia Valeria, Blandina, Alilia and Vincent de Paul, and St Francis de Sales. This is just a little of the great wealth of information which has been found so far concerning the reliquary.†
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