April 14th is the feast of St. "Benezet" ("Benedict"), also known as "Little Bennet". He was a French shepherd-boy who lived in the 12th century and, as Alban Butler puts it, "kept his mother's sheep in the country" (Lives of Saints, St. Benezet). The saintly character of Benezet was manifest from his earliest years, and we are told that he, "as a mere child was devoted to practices of piety," (ibid. [emphasis added]). It is truly remarkable how the life of shepherds is so often singled-out by God to receive His blessings, for this devotion to piety in children is a profound blessing. This great piety of the Saint in his childhood puts to confusion the modernist deceit that children cannot participate in the sanctity of older people. Did not Christ the Good Shepherd show us this at the age of twelve? Indeed, children can easily exceed the holiness of their elders by that natural purity of heart by which the soul ascends to see the Face of God in Heaven (Matthew 5:8 and 18:10).
Nevertheless, it is not for the holiness of his youth for which St. Benezet is best known, but for his bridge-building. To him is asribed the foundation of the "Fratres Pontifices" (Brotherhood of Bridge-builders) who, along with many similar brotherhoods of the same period, built many bridges in France and assisted traveling pilgrims in many other ways. With tender and Christ-like compassion, St. Benezet saw how many poor souls were drowned in the crossing of the river Rhone, and, inspired by an angel, he resolved to build a bridge across this river. "He obtained the approbation of the bishop, proved his mission by miracles, and began the work in 1177" (ibid.). When the greatest part of the work was done, he died in 1184 and "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 of the foundations till it was completed in 1188" (ibid.).
In every detail this bridge-building of St. Benezet reminds us of Christ. Looking from heaven upon mankind, the Son of God was filled with compassion and, seeking the will of His Father, began the Work of Salvation which was announced by angelic messengers, confirmed by miracles, and consummated by the sacrifice of the Savior's life which now abides in the divine ark of salvation which he built: the Church. Similarly, St. Benezet was filled with compassion for the suffering pilgrims he saw crossing the river and was directed by angels in how to minister to them. He then sought the will of his spiritual father, the bishop, and began the work of bridge-building which he confirmed with many miracles and sealed with his own life.
The miracles wrought by St. Benezet during and after his life induced the people of Avignon to enshrine his relics in a chapel which they built on his bridge. Here they lay for four hundred eighty-one years from 1188 to 1669 until a flood destroyed part of the bridge. Then, in 1670, his coffin was opened and, "the body was found entire, without the least sign of corruption; even the bowels were perfectly sound, and the color of the eyes lively and sprightly, though, through the dampness of the situation, the iron bars about the coffin were much damaged with rust" (ibid.). Like Christ in the tomb, the iron bars of St. Benezet's prison were consumed with corruption while the fleshly limbs of his person were refulgent with in-corruption. Thus, by imitating Christ in life, St. Benezet did so also in death, and shall do so again in the Resurrection.
"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..." (ibid.). This miraculous preservation of the Saint's relics after death was the natural continuation of his perseverance in virtue during life. Therefore, as Alban Butler says, "Let us pray for perseverance in good works. St. Augustine says, 'When the Saints pray in the words which Christ taught, they ask for little else than the gift of perseverance'" (ibid.). May God grant us perseverance during our life that we may be preserved from death by the prayers of the holy St. Benezet.
No comments:
Post a Comment