ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL
Saints celebrated on the 24th of April
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SAINT WILLIAM FIRMATUS, PRIEST AND CONFESSOR
Saint William Firmatus (Guilielmus Firmatus), Priest and Confessor - commemorated on April 24; alternatively May 28 or July 21 - was born in Tours to noble parents and received an upbringing befitting his station. As a boy, he displayed extraordinary intellectual gifts, a quick grasp of concepts, and an excellent memory. Furthermore, he possessed great purity and blamelessness of character, which he guarded with anxious conscientiousness. He was granted a canonry at the church of Saint Venantius, even though he was still very young, a layman, and had not yet decided upon his future vocation. Consequently, he first entered military service, but later turned his attention to the study of medicine. Soon, however, he noticed within himself an excessive attachment to worldly goods. On one occasion, he saw the devil, in the form of an ape, sitting upon his money chest. Terrified, and determined to sever the root of this temptation, he resolved to live in complete seclusion from the world. He took his mother - who must have been a widow by that time - with him, so that she might attend to his temporal needs, while he, in turn, served as a support for her in her old age.
After his mother’s death, he sought an even greater degree of separation from the world and traveled to Laval, on the river Mayenne. There, he lived in a forest, though his extreme neglect of his own physical well-being drew upon him the mockery of the local people.
The saint heroically overcame a grave temptation presented to him by a brazen harlot: he held his arm in an open fire until the impudent woman threw herself at his feet and penitently confessed her guilt. When this incident became known in the region, he realized that he could not find the solitude he sought there, and he decided to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. During this journey, when he and his companions were tormented by intense thirst and no spring could be found anywhere, he saved them through a miracle - it is said that he thrust his staff into the ground, causing water to gush forth. He also fell into the hands of the infidels and endured much suffering.
Upon his return, he stayed in various places in Brittany - first in Vitré (between Le Mans and Rennes), then in Savigny, and for the most part in Mantille (Mantileium). There, he devoted himself to vigils, fasting, and prayer, receiving great graces from the Lord. He lived on the alms brought to him.
On one occasion, a poor woman placed three eggs on the altar as a gift for him. The saint whispered gently into her ear, telling her to take them back and return them to where they belonged. The woman replied, "In my poverty, I could give nothing more; I beg you to keep them." To this, William said, "Place them on the ground." No sooner had this happened than the eggs transformed into three frogs. Realizing that she had been found out, the woman begged the man of God for forgiveness. "Go," he replied, "and return the eggs." By then, they had already resumed their original and true form.
Whatever he could spare from the alms he received, he would distribute among the poor. He travelled once more to the Holy Land, and upon his return, lived for a time on an island in the Rhône; eventually, however, he went back to Mantille, where - rich in virtues and merits - he brought his pious life to a close.
Like Saints Francis and Anthony after him, he counted the irrational creatures - birds and fish - among his friends; the former would peck food from his hand and warm themselves in the folds of his habit, while the latter allowed him to catch them without fear, as if they knew that he would never cause them any harm. The Lord revealed to him the day of his death; he made this known to his fellow monks, lay down with a serene expression, and passed away on April 24, 1090. He was buried in Mortain (Moretonium), in the diocese of Avranches (Abrincae). The feast of his translation is celebrated on July 31. In Migne’s* collection, he is listed under May 28, whereas the Bollandists* place him on April 24.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, pp. 554-55)
*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 William 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.
Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org
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