Among the eminent men of God who governed Cluny, an institution that brought so many benefits to the Church and temporal society, was St. Mayeul, born in 910.
Newsroom (26/06/2022 15:17, Gaudium Press) His father was descended from the Duke of Arles (South of France), very rich and very generous: he donated to Cluny twenty large properties, with churches on them.
When he was still very young, his parents died and the land he inherited was devastated by Mohammedans and Hungarians. He then moved to his relative’s property in Mâcon in the West of France.
He Flatly Refused to Become Archbishop
Wishing to improve his knowledge, he entered the Episcopal school in Lyon, where he studied the liberal arts and later, philosophy and theology. He completed his courses brilliantly, returned to Mâcon and became a priest. The office of Archbishop of Besançon – a French city near Switzerland – having become vacant, the clergy and people elected him to fill it. But he adamantly refused and became a monk.
According to the testimony of his contemporaries, Saint Mayeul had a fascinating personality. Tall, handsome, wise, eloquent, he had a soul of fire. Saint Odilon, his successor as Abbot of Cluny, wrote: “The kings and princes of the earth called him lord and master, and he himself was in truth the prince of the monastic tradition.”
At Cluny, he stood out for his virtues and was appointed librarian. Abbot Aimar, having become blind, transmitted his office to Saint Mayeul in 954. He then went on to govern all the monasteries dependent on Cluny, a mission he fulfilled sapientially for 40 years.
He performed many miracles, among them the healing of a blind boy, the son of a peasant who worked on the lands of Cluny Abbey. The father took the jar of water in which St. Mayeul had washed his hands and wet the eyes of the boy, who was immediately cured.
Battle of Tourtour
Emperor Otto I the Great, learning of the high virtues of Saint Mayeul, sent for him to come to his palace, and was so astonished that he transferred to him the government of all the monasteries in Italy and Germany which depended on him.
And the Empress Saint Adelaide, Ortho’s wife, always treated him with veneration, seeking to serve him as a simple nun.
In 972, returning from a trip to Rome, Saint Mayeul was imprisoned in the Alps by Muslims who had a fortress there. Many treated him with respect, but one of them put a foot on a Bible that the saint was carrying, causing him to groan with indignation. That same day, this wicked man got into a violent fight with a companion and had his foot cut off.
Upon learning that Saint Mayeul was in prison, many nobles joined together and obtained the ransom the Mohammedans demanded.
Once freed, the monks of the monasteries directed by Cluny set out with ardor to promote a war against the Muslims. They combined gentleness with combativeness, as every true Catholic should do. They managed to rally the population around William, Count of Provence, a region in southeastern France, who formed a large army of noblemen and men of the people.
After five terrible attacks against the Muslims, William defeated them at the Battle of Tourtour and razed their Alpine fortress in 973. Many pagans were killed, and those who converted to the true religion were saved. This Catholic victory marked the definitive expulsion of the Muslims from France and was a foreshadowing of the Crusades.
Twenty years later, feeling that he was about to die, Count William called Saint Mayeul to Avignon, where he was staying. This southern French city later became famous because some popes settled there during the Schism of the West, from 1378 to 1417. William donated to Cluny several domains that he owned, and having received the last sacraments, he gave his soul to God.
Clergy, Nobility and People ask him to be Pope
With the death of Otto the Great in 973, the Empire and especially the city of Rome went into chaos. Benedict VI was strangled and an antipope arose. The clergy and people wanted Saint Mayeul to be pontiff. Saint Adelaide and her son Otto II called him and asked him to assume the Chair of Peter, but he refused, claiming not to have the necessary qualities to exercise this very high mission, and preferred to take care of the monks of Cluny.
In all regions, the virtues of Saint Mayeul were celebrated. Many monasteries in France were decaying because the monks had fallen into relaxation.
The nephew of Emperor Otto the Great, Hugo Capeto, who had been made King of France in 987, asked the Saint to bring these monasteries under the discipline of Cluny. He complied, and soon the monks regained their fervor.
For years, Saint Mayeul dedicated himself to the spiritual, intellectual, and even material improvement of the monasteries subordinate to Cluny. Feeling the weight of age, he appointed his perfect disciple, Saint Odilon, to succeed him as abbot after his death.
In 994, Hugo Capeto begged St. Mayeul to go to the Basilica of Saint Denis, near Paris, in order to refresh the religious who lived there. Although quite weakened, he began the trip, but upon arriving at the monastery of Souvigny in central France, he fell seriously ill.
The monks surrounded his bed and, prostrating themselves, asked for his blessing. After blessing them, he, anticipating heavenly joys, said: “Lord, I am delighted with the beauty of your mansion. How lovely are your tabernacles!” And his soul was led to Paradise. It was May 11, 994.
Upon hearing the news of his death, Hugo Capeto immediately traveled to Souvigny and ordered that his funeral be celebrated with all solemnity.
By Paulo Francisco Martos
