ST BENEZET [PATRON OF BRIDGE BUILDERS] - 14 APRIL

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 14th of April

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.

SAINT BENEZET [PATRON OF BRIDGE BUILDERS] 

Saint Benezet (or Little Benedict] kept his mother’s sheep in the country, being devoted to the practices of piety beyond his age; when, moved by charity to save the lives of many poor persons, who were frequently drowned in passing the Rhone, and being inspired by God, he undertook to build a bridge over that rapid river at Avignon. 

MANY PEOPLE DROWNED IN THE RIVER RHONE

He obtained the approbation of the bishop, proved his mission by miracles, and began the work in 1177, which he directed during seven years. 

HE SUPERVISED THE BUILDING OF A BRIDGE

He died when the difficulty of the undertaking was over, in 1184. This is attested by public monuments drawn up at that time, and still preserved at Avignon, where the story is in everybody’s mouth. His body was buried upon the bridge itself, which was not completely finished till four years after his decease, the structure whereof was attended with miracles, from the first laying the foundations till it was completed in 1188. 

MIRACLES THROUGH HIS INTERCESSION

Other miracles, wrought after this at his tomb, induced the city to build a chapel upon the bridge, in which his body lay near five hundred years: but, in 1669, a great part of the bridge falling down, through the impetuosity of the waters, the coffin was taken up, and being opened, in 1670, in presence of the grand vicar, during the vacancy of the archiepiscopal see, it was found entire, without the least sign of corruption; even the bowels were perfectly sound, and the colour of the eyes lively and sprightly, though, through the dampness of the situation, the iron bars about it were much damaged with rust. 

HIS BODY WAS FOUND INCORRUPT

The body was found in the same condition by the archbishop of Avignon, in 1674, when, accompanied by the bishop of Orange, and a great concourse of nobility, he performed the translation of it, with great pomp, into the church of the Celestines, (a house of royal foundation,) who had obtained of Lewis XIV the honour of being entrusted with the custody of his relics, till such time as the bridge and chapel should be rebuilt. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)