Saint Asterius

In this new condition, he was happy and would never have thought of leaving his new master, had an angel from heaven not come to warn him to return to the land of Périgord to convert his idolatrous parents to the faith. He immediately obeyed this heavenly voice and, after shedding abundant tears, he embraced his holy director and returned to the places that saw his birth. He was still only twenty years old. His habit of penance, his austerities, and even more so, his words full of charity changed the hearts of his parents; he had the happiness of baptizing his entire family, and after such a success, he retired to a remote place, where a cave served as his dwelling; it is there that he spent the rest of his days in the exercises of prayer and penance.

The love of solitude was his attraction and his vocation: removed from the commerce of men, separated from worldly influences, seeking silence and recollection, he gave himself over to mortification; wild herbs and roots were his food; he drank the water of a nearby fountain and lived, like the angels, in contemplation. His life was not idle: he worked with his hands and made baskets, which his disciple, Saint Aquilin, would go to sell at the neigh boring fairs. However, the radiance of his admirable holiness and the fame of his miracles spread far and wide, and crowds came to visit him to ask for his advice, or to obtain the healing of their ailments.

One day, a princess, a fflicted with an incurable disease, had herself brought before the holy wonder-worker; she could not stand on her feet, and had to be transported on her bed. The servant of God said to her: "Madam, arise, and be healed in the name of Jesus Christ." The princess was immediately restored; he did even better, he converted her to the faith and gave her holy baptism. To show her gratitude, she had a beautiful church built in that place in honor of Saint Peter, which she endowed with sufficient income for its maintenance and service.

Saint Astier lived for many days; in his eightieth year, God made it known to him that his final hour had come; he received the sacraments of the Church, made the sign of the cross over his body, and rendered his spirit to his Creator, while pronouncing the final words of Jesus Christ on the cross: "Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit." It was the 4th of October. He wished to be buried in the church that the princess had caused to be built, before the altar of Saint Fron t, the first bishop of Périgueux, who was the great Saint of his devotion. At the moment of the Saint's death, all the bells of the hermitages and chapels in the vicinity rang all by themselves; this miracle gave rise to the coat of a rms of the town of Sa int-Astier (Dordogne), and to those of the family of the same name. The coat of arms of the town of Saint-Astier is: Gules, a bell or, clapper argent.

We owe this notice to the kindness of the Very Reverend Father Carles, of the Calvary of Toulouse. — The ancient office, which was once sung in honor of the Saint in the collegiate church of Saint-Astier, is found in the library of the city of Périgueux. It is a bound 12mo volume, printed in Paris, by Muguet, in 1684, with the approval of Mgr Le Doux, Bishop of Périgueux. — The Life of Saint Astier was published from an old manuscript by Father Aubertin, prior of the Abbey of Estival, of the Premonstratensian Order (Nancy, by Charlot, 1656).