Baring-Gould’s sources: On this day in the Gallican Martyrologies, and in the Benedictine Martyrology, but at Quimper on Jan. 5. Authority: — A very curious Life, which has lost its beginning, by a disciple of the saint; also a brief Life written in the nth cent. Both in Mabillon, Acta SS. O.S.B. S. Convoyon, first abbot of Rhedon, was bom of noble parents at Comblessac, near S. Malo, and was brought up at Vannes under Reginald, the bishop, who ordained 1 See for full particulars Du Tilliot, “ M&moires pour servir & l’Histoire de la Fete des Foux," Lausanne, 1741.
S. Convoyon. him deacon, and afterwards priest Five clerks placed themselves under his direction — Condeloc, bom of a Sunday, baptized of a Sunday, ordained priest of a Sunday, and said afterwards to have died of a Sunday; Lohemel, a lawyer, said never to have lost a suit; Gwenkals, the WhiteHeart, as his name signifies, and two others of less note. These five went to a forest near the river Vilaine, and established themselves at Rhedon. This foundation is placed in 832. The lord of that district was called Rathwyl: he favoured the new monastery in every way, and gave a son to be educated in it. When he was ill and thought himself dying, he had himself carried to the monastery, and his hair cut off after the monastic pattern. He recovered, and returned to his castle to arrange his affairs and then came back to Rhedon and died there, 835. 1 But S. Convoyon met with some difficulty in getting a confirmation of the grants made him. In 832 he went to the castle of Joac in Limousin, to meet Louis the Pious, and entreat his consent to the conveyance to his monasteiy in perpetuity of the land that had been given him by Rathwyl. But Ricovinus, count of Nantes, and Rainar, bishop of Vannes, opposed this so strenuously, that Louis refused, and Convoyon was driven with contumely from the presence of the king.
Convoyon, unabashed, took the occasion of Louis passing through Tours on his way back from Aquitaine, to make another attempt. He took with him a disciple named Cwmdeluc, and travelled in the suite of some Breton nobles who were going to meet the king on affairs of their own. Convoyon took with him a considerable amount of wax, obtained from his bees at Rhedon, and which he intended to 1 He gave his wooden bouse to the monastery. "Dederat domum suam ex tabellis ligneis fabrics* tam pro anima sua sanctis monachis: et idcirco transmissus fait monachus ut cam colligates, et cum plaustris ac hobos ad monastcrium defer ret.” (Dec. a& present to Louis. But he was refused admission. He accordingly bade Cwmdeluc go into the market and sell the wax. The unfortunate monk met there with an adventure. A woman of somewhat disreputable character no sooner saw him in the market, than she exclaimed, in the spirit of mischief, “ My dearest friend ! Here you are again ! What an age it is since we met ! Do you not remember how we were brought up together in one house and family, and how often my mother scrubbed your head, and how we used to sleep in one little crib together? Come home with me.”1 No wonder that at this address, the poor monk turned first crimson and then all colours.2 She caught him by the arm, and attempted to drag him home, the market women taking her part, when suddenly a swarm of monks rushed out of the adjoining monastery of S. Martin [St. Martin of Tours (d. 397), soldier turned bishop] and carried off the trembling Cwmdeluc from the hands of the women.
Some little time after the return of Convoyon, Nominoe, governor of Brittany, visited Rhedon and encouraged Convoyon to make another attempt. He-was going to send a deputation to the king at Thionville, and Convoyon was at liberty to go with it In the meantime he gave to the abbot Ros, the tongue of land between the rivers Vilaine and Oulte. The bishop Rainar, who was now reconciled with Convoyon, was present and signed the act of donation. Worworet, a nobleman present, also witnessed the transaction. This Worworet was sent on the deputation to the emperor Louis, and the abbot of Rhedon accompanied him. At court, Hermor, bishop of Aleth, and Felix, bishop of Quimper, urged his cause, and Louis acceded to their request, and confirmed the grants of land made to Convoyon, November 27, 834. 1 “ Unde venis, amice carissime? ubi per tot anno* latuisti ? indica nuhL Recordare quoniam nutrid sumus in una domo et in una familia. Frequenter namque abluit genitrix mea caput tuum, et ssepe in uno strata jacuimns.” 3 “ Cumque ille sanctus haec verba diabolica audisset, stadm crubuit, et vultus tjus in diversis coloribus mutatus cat.” Dec. a8. j S. Convoyon.
The disciple of Convoyon who wrote his Life has left us a pleasing and life-like set of portraits of the principal monks of his monasteiy. There was Brother Conleduc, who kept the garden, and who, in despair one day at seeing his cabbages covered with caterpillars, cried out, “ O worms ! what is to be done? I cannot call together a legion of gardeners to pick you off my plants. I must call God to my aid.” Whereupon the caterpillars fled precipitately from the garden. There, was Fritwen, who had come for a little while, but whose sweetness and piety so won on all the community that they could not bear to let him go back to his hermitage, and so to please them he stayed till he died of cancer. Fritwen healed the biographer, when a boy, of toothache. The writer says that his cheek was swollen, and his tooth had been so troublesome that he could neither eat nor sleep, but when Fritwen stroked it, the pain went away. There was also Doethen, who wanted to run away and return to the world, but was arrested by a paralytic stroke. There were others whom the biographer of Convoyon delighted to recall. The monastery of Rhedon was built, and its church erected, DUt it was without one very important adjunct. There was 10 saintly corpse under its altar to act as palladium to the nonastery and work miracles to attract pilgrims to it To remedy this deficiency, Convoyon went to Angers with two of his monks, Hildemar and Lonkemel, and lodged with a certain pious man named Hildwald. Their host asked them the object of their visit and stay in Angers. After some hesitation, and after exacting a promise of secrecy, Convoyon told him that they had come on a bodysnatching expedition, and asked him to advise them what relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] to secure. He told them that Angers enjoyed the possession of the bones of S. Apothemius, a bishop, of whom indeed nothing certain was known except that he was a saint. He lay in a stone coffin with a heavy lid to it. Hildwald added that several monks and envoys of other churches had tried to steal the body, but had not been successful Convoyon and his monks waited three days, and one dark night, armed with crowbars, they went to the cathedral, got in, heaved up the coffin lid, after singing u praises and hymns,” and got the bones out, and then made off with them as fast as they could. On reaching Langon, they sent word of their success to the monks of Rhedon, and the reception of the relics was conducted with great dignity and pomp. Miracles were at once wrought, and established the popularity of S. Apothemius.
The peace of the monastery was troubled about this time. Some lawless nobles threatened Convoyon, and attempted to extort money from him. One insisted on his giving him five pieces of gold for the purchase of a sword: he could not furnish the money, and the young noble went away muttering threats. He was killed shortly after in war, and his threats were never put in execution. One day the abbot was visiting one of his estates, when a noble named Ristweten demanded of him money for the purchase of a horse he coveted, and Convoyon was obliged to borrow the money to let him have it Rainar, bishop of Vannes, died in 837, and the see was filled in 841 by Susannus, who obtained it by simony. Convoyon was filled with indignation at the prevalence of simony in the Church of Brittany, and he urged Nominoe to summon a council of the bishops and abbots to consider how this might be remedied. In this council the canons against simony were read; the bishops declared that they did not sell Holy Orders, and that they exacted no fees from those whom they ordained, but admitted that those whom they called to the diaconate and priesthood were wont to make them presents, which they accepted. The most enerS. Convoyon.
getic to maintain this right was Susannus. It was decided that a deputation should be sent to Rome, consisting of Susannus of Vannes and Felix of Quimper, and that Convoyon should go with them, the bearer of a gold crown inlaid with jewels, which Nominoe sent to the Pope. The question to be submitted to the Pope was, whether a bishop convicted of simony, might do penance without losing his office, or whether he ought to be deposed. Other questions were asked. It would appear from them that the monks of Rhedon claimed the right of appointing clergy to several churches independent of the jurisdiction of the bishops, that the custom of examining theSortes Sacrae still prevailed at the consecration of bishops, and that Nominoe meddled in the concerns of the Church in a manner which the bishops considered unjustifiable. Nominoe wrote also to Pope Leo IV. to ask him to accept the presents he sent him, and to sanction a design he had formed for establishing the independence of Brittany, which was oppressed by the French. Leo IV. assembled the bishops at Rome and heard the deputation. Susannus and Felix were asked if they received presents when they gave ordination. They replied that if they had done so, it was through ignorance. An archbishop present, named Arsenius, said, “ This reply does not suffice — a priest should not ignore his duties.” The Pope added, “ This is in conformity with the Gospel. Our Lord said, ‘ If the salt hath lost its savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned ? * The canons enjoin that any bishop, priest, or deacon who has been ordained for money, must be deposed along with him who ordained him.” Leo IV. replied to the letter of the Breton bishops that a bishop could not be deposed except in an assembly of twelve bishops; but if there were not so many to be collected, the evidence must be substantiated by seventy-two witnesses.
What the answer of Leo to Nominoe was, is not certain. The Nantes Chronicle asserts that the Pope gave him the title and dignity of duke, with permission to wear a gold coronet He sent him as a present the body of S. Marcellinus, Pope and martyr, which Convoyon took back with him and deposited in his church at Rhedon. Nominoe revolted against Charles the Bald. He penetrated into Poitou, and ravaged the country with sword and flame. He, however, respected the abbey of S. Florent, but to insult Charles he obliged the monks to place a statue of himself on their tower with the face turned defiantly towards France. No sooner was Nominoe gone than the monks sent to Charles to inform him of the insult. He ordered them to throw down the statue of the rebel, and in its place erect a white stone figure, of ludicrous appearance and mocking countenance, turned towards Brittany. Nominoe appeared to revenge this insult, before Charles appeared for the defence of the monks, and S. Florent was burned to the ground. Nominoe carried off the spoils to enrich the abbey of Rhedon. The successes of Nominoe and his son Erispoe obliged Charles the Bald to come to terras with the latter, and permit him to assume the insignia of royalty, and hold Rennes, Nantes, and all Brittany.
Convoyon’s abbey at Rhedon, situated on a tidal river, was so exposed to the ravages of the Normans, that he was obliged to retire further inland with his monks to an asylum prepared for him by Erispoe in one of his castles, at Plelan. There Convoyan died and was buried, about a.d. 868, but the body was afterwards removed to Rhedon. All the relics were dispersed in the Revolution, when the monastery was sacked by an apostate monk of Rhedon, at the head of a party of Sans-culottes.
VIRGIN AND INFANT CHRIST. From the Vienna MisaaL Dec. S. Trophimus.
