Blessed William of Dijon

Saint Mayeul Saint Maycul Abbot of Cluny who drew William to the Cluniac monastic life. , passing through Grancey on his return from Rome, was followed by William to Cluny, whose fame had long attracted him. Shortly thereafter, Saint Mayeul established him as abbot of Saint-Saturnin, on the Rhône, of Saint-Bénig Saint-Bénigne de Dijon Principal monastery directed and reformed by William. ne of Dijon, and of Bèze.

Henry of Burgundy soon appreciated the merit of William. He gave him the abbey of Saint-Martin-lès-Autun and that of Vergy, where the body of Saint Vivence rested. The holy abbot carried out a successful reform in these monasteries and in thirty-five others that were submitted to him in various provinces. He established schools in all the abbeys he reformed. All those who wished to learn, rich or poor, were admitted there. William made the school of Dijon famous and enr école de Dijon Principal monastery directed and reformed by William. iched it with numerous manuscripts.

These were hard times. The people suffered from three plagues at once: the war of the King of France against Otto-William, ergotism, and mal des ardents Epidemic from which the inhabitants of Beauvais were preserved through the saint's intercession. famine. Historians count three famines from 1001 to 1014, one of which lasted five years. An even more dreadful one wreaked havoc in 1030 and lasted three years. Torrential rains flooded the land, preventing it from being plowed. A bushel of wheat sold for 60 pieces of silver. Multitudes of men died of hunger. Another plague was born from that one: wolves, attracted by the corpses, acquired a taste for human flesh and devoured the living.

In such a cruel calamity, the blessed William prescribed abundant alms in his monasteries, and especially at Saint-Bénigne. He had wheat, barley, wine, and all the provisions of the latter abbey distributed under his own eyes. The blessed William, reformer of forty monas teries and superior of twelve hund réformateur de quarante monastères Reformist abbot of Italian origin, a major figure of 11th-century monasticism. red monks, departed from this world before the end of the famine, on January 1, 1031, at Fécamp, in Norm andy, where he had g Fécamp, en Normandie Place of death and burial of William. one to make his visitation, and was buried in the abbey. He has not been canonized, although several Martyrologies give him the title of Saint.

"As for the relics of the blessed one, an ancient manuscript attests that in 1638, four large bones from the arms and legs were taken from his tomb, a portion of which was sent to the Duchess of Savoy who had requested them from Henri de Lorraine, then commendatory abbot of Fécamp, and the rest to Saint-Bénigne of Dijon."

"The same manuscript attests that in 1681, the ashes and some small bones of the Blessed one were enclosed in a small lead box and placed in the new tomb that was built at that time. This tomb still exists, but despite my efforts to have it probed by following the indications which appear quite clear and precise, I have not been able to find the box that must contain what remains of the relics of B. William. As for the part of the relics that was kept in the treasury, it perished during the Revolution."