ST VITALIS OF SAVIGNY - 16 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 16th of September

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST VITALIS OF SAVIGNY 

Saint Vitalis was the founder of the monastery and Congregation of Savigny (1112), born at Tierceville near Bayeaux about 1060-1065; he died at Savigny, September 16, 1122. 

HE BECAME CHAPLAIN TO THE CONQUEROR'S BROTHER

His parents were named Rainfred and Rohais. We know nothing of his early years; after ordination he became chaplain to the Conqueror’s brother, Robert of Mortain (died 1100). 

Vitalis gained the respect and confidence of Robert, who bestowed upon him a canonry in the Church of St Evroult at Mortain, which he had founded in 1082. 

SEEKING A MORE PERFECT STATE OF LIFE

But Vitalis felt within him a desire for a more perfect state of life. He gave up his canonry in 1095, settled at Dompierre, 19 miles east of Mortain, and became one of the leaders of the hermit colony of the forest of Craon. 

IN THE HERMIT COLONY

Here for seventeen years he lived an ascetical life. At the same time he concerned himself, like Robert of Arbrissel, with the salvation of the surrounding population, giving practical help to the outcasts who gathered round him. 

HE WAS A GREAT PREACHER

He was a great preacher, remarkable for zeal, insensible to fatigue, and fearlessly outspoken; he is said to have attempted to reconcile Henry I of England with his brother, Robert Curthose. 

HE FOUNDED A NUNNERY AT MORTAIN

He seems to have visited England and a considerable part of western France, but Normandy was the chief scene of his labours. Between 1105 and 1120 he founded a nunnery at Mortain, with his sister St Adeline as abbess.

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - 📷 Eglise de Savigny)