The diocese honours in a special manner as saints:
Peregrinus, Marcoratus, and Viventianus, martyrs;
Hilary of Oizé, nephew of
St. Hilary of Poitiers (in the fifth century);
Bommer,
Almirus,
Leonard, and
Ulphace,
hermits; Gault,
Front, and Brice, solitaries and previously monks of
Micy;
Fraimbault, hermit, founder of a small monastery in the valley of
Gabrone;
Calais, hermit and founder of the
monastery of Anisole, from whom the town of
Saint-Calais took its name;
Laumer, successor to St. Calais;
Guingalois or
Guénolé, founder of the monastery of
Landevenec in
Brittany, whose
relics are venerated at
Château du Loir. All in the sixth century:
Rigomer, monk at
Souligné, and
Ténestine, his
penitent, both of whom were acquitted before
Childebert, through the miracle of Palaiseau, of accusations made against them (d. about 560); Longis, solitary, and
Onofletta, his penitent;
Siviard, Abbot of Anisole and author of the life of St. Calais (d. 681); the Irish
St. Cérota, and her mistress
Osmana, daughter of a king of Ireland, died a solitary near
St-Brieuc, in the seventh century;
Ménélé, and
Savinian (d. about 720), natives of
Précigné, who repaired to
Auvergne to found the
Abbey of Menat, on the ruins of the hermitage where St. Calais had formerly lived. There is also a particular devotion in Le Mans to
Ralph de La Fustaye, who was a twelfth century monk, a disciple of
Robert d'Arbrissel the founder of Fontevrault Abbey and missionary to prostitutes; Ralph was founder of the Abbey of
St. Sulpice, in the forest of
Nid de Merle in the Diocese of
Rennes in Brittany. Both were Bretons; neither was connected to Le Mans; neither became a saint. The famous founder of the Trappists,
Abbot de Rancé, made his novitiate at the Cistercian
Perseigne Abbey in the Diocese of Le Mans, though his subsequent career was entirely elsewhere: his uncle was Archbishop of Tours, where he was appointed Archdeacon. Also there may be mentioned as natives of the diocese,
Urbain Grandier, the notorious curé of Loudun, who was tortured and burned to death for sorcery in 1634; and
Mersenne, the
Minim (d. 1648), philosopher and mathematician and friend of
Descartes and
Pascal. Pilgrimages to Notre-Dame de Toutes Aides at Saint-Remy du Plein, Notre-Dame de La Faigne at Pontvallain, and Notre-Dame des Bois at La Suze, date back to primitive times. The chapel of Notre Dame de Torcé, erected in the sixth century, has been much frequented by pilgrims since the eleventh century. Besides these places of
pilgrimage may be mentioned those of Notre-Dame de Labit at Domfront, and of Notre-Dame du Chene at Vion, near Sablé, which can be traced to 1494. It was established in the place where in former times
Urban II had preached the
First Crusade.
Cult of St. Scholastica During the episcopate of Berecharius (655-70) the body of
St. Scholastica was brought from the monastery of
Fleury to Le Mans; the monastery erected to shelter the remains of the saint was destroyed by the
Northmen in the second half of the ninth century. A portion of her relics was brought in 874 by the Empress
Richilda to the monastery of
Juvigny les Dames. The remaining portion was conveyed to the interior of the citadel and placed in the apse of the collegiate church of
St. Pierre la Cour, which served the
counts of Maine as a domestic chapel. The fire that destroyed Le Mans, 3 September 1134, also consumed the
shrine of St. Scholastica, and only a few
calcined bones were left. On 11 July 1464, a confraternity was erected in honour of St. Scholastica, and on 23 November 1876, she was officially proclaimed patroness of Le Mans. ==See also==