Saint Mamertinus of Auxerre

In gratitude for so many graces received, Mamertin dedicated himself to God under the guidan ce of Abbot Aloge, in the monastery that Saint Germain had built outside the city. Our Saint was so attached to his state that he never left the monastery except to follow Saint Germain or to carry out the missions with which he entrusted him. He made such progress in science and spiritual virtue that, after the death of the pious Aloge, he was named his successor. Saint Mamertin died on Good Friday, March 30, in 462. The day of his death is nevertheless marked on April 29 in the oldest martyrologies, which give him the title of priest.

Mamertinus himself wrote the history of his conversion, perhaps by the order of Saint Germanus, who had listened to the account several times with respect and who had wished for the priests to know it in order to praise God.

It is found in the life of Saint Germanus by the priest C onstantius: it is titled therein: The revolution of Saint Corcodemus and in what manner Mamertinus arrives at grace.

The memory of Saint Marien or Marcien, his disciple, is readi ly associate d with that of Saint Mamertin. Marien had left the land of the Bitur iges, then occupied by the Arian Goths, whose domination was cruel to Catholics. Welcomed at the monastery of Auxerre by Mamertin, he fulfilled the humble duties of shepherd and cowherd in the stables and farmyards of the religious, in the midst of which he sanctified himself. His legend is filled with graceful wonders. Thus, he would call the small birds of the fields to him and feed them, and he would dismiss with authority the bears and other animals hostile to men and herds.

But what is more precious, he used the gift of miracles with which God had favored him to bring back to the good path the thieves and pillagers—not rare in those centuries—who lived by depredations.

One of these thieves even became an excellent preacher of the commandments of God. It is believed that the farm where Saint Marien sanctified himself was located at the place called today Merry, and that he died in the year 466 or 477. There was formerly, at the gates of Auxerre, beyond the Yonne, an abbey by the n ame of Saint-Marien whose history is divided into two distinct periods: before an d after th e Premonstratensians. (From the end of the 5th century to 1138, and from 1138 to 1789.) Founded by Saint Germain, sanctified by him and his fervent imitators, Saint Mamertin and Saint Marien, it fe ll into the ha nds of laymen und er Charles Martel.

Restored by Charlemagne to the 33rd bishop of Auxerre, Saint Aaron, it was deserted at the time of the Norman invasion by the religious who took with them the relics of Saint Mamertin and Saint Marien: the former were deposited at the cathedral and the others at the abbey of Saint-Germain.

In the 13th century, this place, sanctified by the retreat of so many pious figures, was marked only by an oratory or altar under the title of Saint-Germain. Rimer, a cleric of the cathedral of Auxerre, resolved to revive these ruins. The monument completed, it was entrusted to the religious of Prémontré who took possession of it by placing themselves under the aegis of the relics of Saint Marien. At the moment the Revolution broke out, this abbey counted forty-two abbots.

Legendary of Autun, and Golden Legen d.