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SAINT HUGH OF BONNEVAUX, ABBOT - 1 APRIL

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 1st of April

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SAINT HUGH OF BONNEVAUX, ABBOT

Saint Hugh of Bonnevaux came from a noble family. As St Bernard relates in his 351st letter, Hugh ignored the objections of his relatives and joined the Cistercian Order. The monastery that was to become his new home, Maizieres or Mézières (Maceriae), had been founded around the year 1132. Within the diocese of Chalon (Cabillonum), it was situated not far from Beaune (Belna).

After a while, however, Hugh, assailed by most severe temptations, felt on the brink of returning to the world. Tormented by this thought, he went to church and, on his knees, with floods of tears and hands raised to heaven, he prayed for enlightenment. 

Looking up, he suddenly perceived the gentle Mother of Mercy standing above the altar, enveloped in light as in a robe, and it seemed to Hugh as if he saw Jesus, her Son, beside her, and at the same time His whole life and suffering, His Resurrection and Ascension, passing in front of his eyes. And while he was seeing all this, Our Lady said to him, "Act manfully, and be of a strong heart in the Lord; you will no longer be afflicted by such temptations."

Thereupon Hugh began to practice such rigorous penance and in particular to fast so severely that he became dangerously ill. St Bernard, who was still  alive at the time, visited him and provided him with adequate food, so that by the grace of God he made a full recovery. 

Soon afterwards he was made abbot of Bonnevaux (Bonavallis), in the diocese of Vienne. This institute had been founded in 1117 by Archbishop Guido (later Pope Calixtus II). Under Hugh's leadership, the community flourished exceedingly.

Once it was revealed to Hugh that among his monks there was one whose heart was troubled by a most serious sin. With tears he admonished the brethren to confess. The next day the holy abbot lamented once more that he had seen the devil among them in a  terrible form. As the culprit still delayed in making a confession, Hugh took him aside and told him his sin. Overcome by great remorse the perpetrator then threw himself on the floor before the holy abbot and begged for a suitable penance. It was imposed on him, after which the devil never appeared to him again. 

The history of Hugh's life contains other anecdotes of this kind, which demonstrate how widely respected he was for his holiness. On another occasion, a lay brother elsewhere was seriously ill, but would not confess a sin. His abbot then sent him to Bonnevaux, where the terminally ill man continued to stubbornly deny it to the end. After what should have been an entire confession, he proceeded to request Holy Communion from the holy abbot. So the abbot asked the priest present to give him the Body of the Lord. But the priest had scarcely placed the host on his tongue when the sick man cried out: "Wretched me, what am I going to do!" So the body of the Lord was straight away taken from his tongue, whereupon he suddenly died. 

It was also Abbot Hugh who, as a result of an order that had come from heaven, mediated peace between Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III (in Venice, in 1177), and thereby attained lasting fame in the world's history books.

He died so gently that his passing was known only by the complete cessation of breathing and pulse. His name is found in several martyrologies of his Order. Some list his festival on April 28 or 29; Chalemot* has it on March 16 with 1193 as his year of death, while Bucelin* states 1180. The Bollandists* say that he died the 12th century and that his feast is on April 1. We could not find his name in  the actual Roman Martyrology*, but in the attached Cistercian Martyrology, he is listed on April 1 with the addition that he bravely resisted the antipope Octavianus. Also, on March 28, it is noted there that the Feast of the Crown of Thorns of Our Lord was introduced into his Order by him, which then spread almost through all of France.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Hugh may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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