Hi, it’s Lize.
Last time, I left you as Samson of Dol returned with his father, his uncle and a deacon to the monastery of Ynys Pyr where they were welcomed by Abbot Pyron and Bishop Dubric. The deacon having recounted how Samson had slain the dragon and the Theomach (a sort of witch if you like), Dubric decided to appoint him cellarer (manager of the cellar containing the provisions of food and drinks). Why was it Dubric who appointed the monastery cellarer and not Pyron, the abbot, the leader… perhaps Pyron was not the most reliable when it came to the cellar, as we will see.
Samson was therefore responsible for fairly distributing the monastery’s produce. He took the opportunity to distribute food to the poor. But the former cellarer was jealous and accused Dubric of wasting the jars of honey ! Ah, that’s a severe accusation that deserves at least excommunication ! And once again, why was it Dubric who played the juge ? Dubric sends him a kid to tell him to wait for him in the cellar, Samson gets into the little one’s mind, understands what’s going on, presto, a sign of the cross on the jars, there they are full to the brim ! Dubric, when he arrived, was amazed ! He said to himself that a man capable of filling jars of honey with the power of his mind alone deserved a higher office.
And, look at the coincidences of life, this is the moment when Father Pyron, completely drunk, returns to his cell, falls head first into the well… and dies ! Abbot Pyron drank in secret ! Or more precisely, it was only Samson who did not know it. It seems that Guibert de Nogent was indignant that a man of such dissolute morals was being called a saint. But Guibert would do better not to interfere in the affairs of the Welsh, Pyron remains for them Saint Pyr or Saint Pyro, and that’s how it is ! In any case, here is our Samson appointed abbot of the monastery of Ynys Pyr.
It didn’t go very well because, as before, he was criticized for establishing too austere a rule of life. So, he should not be put at the head of the monastery ! The monks wanted to benefit from his miracles, from the multiplication of pots of honey, but not submit to a more virtuous way of life. It was then, life is well done… that Irish monks returning from Rome spent a few days at Ynys Pyr. Samson talked with them, and from what they told him, their monastic rule was just what he was looking for. He left the monks of Ynys-Pyr and followed the Irish to their island, to the monastery of Dun Etair. Since they were nice, he delivered them from demons, gave sight to the blind, healed lepers, etc. He was revered as an angel of God.
But Samson was still abbot of Ynys-Pyr, he had to return to Wales. It was the occasion of one last miracle «for the road ». I’ll keep it short, otherwise we’ll never get to Brittany. While he was near the Irish shore and the boat was ready, a very stressed monk appeared who explained to him that the devil had seized their abbot, that they had tied him up and that they were counting on Samson to deliver him.
The Vita says that this abbot welcomed him with a sort of laudatory gibberish, but I tell you what Samson revealed to me in confidence : the devil, in the body of the possessed, when he saw our saint, said horrors, insanities and filthy threats that I will not repeat.
Anyone who has seen the movie The Exorcist knows that a demon doesn’t say «Here’s the one I’ve always looked for until today, here’s the one I’ve always waited for, here’s the one I can’t resist. » As usual : prayers, signs of the cross, sprinkling of holy water, the Irish abbot regained his senses. Very happy to be rid of his troublesome roommate, he decided to abandon his monastery to follow Samson. He gave it to him, as well as all his resources, Samson accepted.
As he left, he promised the monks that he would soon send them another abbot. Arriving at Ynys-Pyr, he charged Umbraphel, his uncle, with running the Irish monastery and managing its income. As long as it stays in the family. The monks of Ynys-Pyr would have liked to keep him but Samson saw clearly that they had not changed and remained unmanageable when it came to food and drink ! He told his father, the ex-Irish abbot and another monk to follow him to live in silence and the love of God. They found a quiet spot near the Severn, with a spring where they built a small hermitage.
But that still didn’t satisfy Samson, he wanted even more solitude. He ended up finding a spacious cave, with a beautiful opening facing east. His companions brought him a loaf of bread every month, all he needed was water. He stuck his staff in the ground and a spring gushed out. He believed he was finally definitively withdrawn from the world, but ecclesiastical dignitaries sent for him, he found himself in a synod, an assembly, where the decision to appoint him bishop was reinforced by the appearance of an angel in a dream of Dubric, common practice to make God’s will known The dove also appeared during the consecration mass and here he is a bishop, without a bishopric. Itinerant bishop. Traveler of God. One night, the day before Easter, an angel tells him in a dream that he must prepare to accomplish God’s will. He was flattered that God would take the trouble to look into his future, so when the angel told him that he had to leave his country to go overseas where a great destiny awaited him, he was immediately All right. This angel definitely knew how to talk to him ! So here he left immediately after Easter Sunday mass, in the company of the same people : his father, the ex-Irish abbot and another monk who there is no need to better define since he brings nothing to the story.
On his way south, Samson stops at his mother and aunt’s house. He consecrated the churches they had built, he blessed everyone, apart from his little sister who was having sex with her lover, without respect for the humble chastity imposed by the Church on women. He stayed a little longer to cure people of illnesses of body and soul and they leave to Cornwall, British Cornwall, with the intention of crossing the Channel.
I forgot to mention that they were traveling with a cart pulled by two horses, which Samson had brought back from Ireland, it contained a portable altar, vases and sacred books. The Complete Traveling Monk Kit.
Before embarking, he still had to accomplish an important miracle : they were in Triggshire, when while walking, they heard to their left, the noise of a pagan festival that the peasants were celebrating as usual with lots of drinking, orgies and horse races. Horse races ! Samson could not stand by and do nothing. He approaches, and he sees an entire village dancing around an idol, a standing stone, a menhir ! He begins to speak kindly to these people, explaining to them that they practice demonic worship… some laugh, others retort that they don’t see what’s wrong with honoring the practices of their ancestors, some advise him to move on, when… God watches over all, a young rider who was taking part in a horse race, falls to the ground, dead or almost dead. Everyone is in shock, the party is over, many are in tears. So… Tatatahhh… Samson speaks, he says : “You see that your idols are incapable of helping you in the event of tragedy ; If you promise me to destroy this sanctuary and worship only my God, I will restore this rider to life. «. It’s a bit like bargaining or blackmail, but you have no choice when it comes to converting pagans ! So, prayer, sign of the cross and holy water, he resurrects the boy. He tells them that since the menhir cannot be easily disposed of, they must carve a cross on it. Everyone hastens to thank him and promise to remain faithful to his God. Including the lord of the region, who takes the opportunity to ask him if he could not, if he still has a little time, rid the country of a nasty dragon, venomous and foul, which is ruining their lives. Samson, he likes dragons ! The more venomous and foul they are, the more he can’t wait to meet them ! He inquires about the habits of the beast, and is told that it lives in an inaccessible cave. Perfect, he takes the resurrected young rider with him to show him the way and “on they go”!.
Arriving at their destination, he tells the young man to wait for him, that he won’t be long and he enters the cave. The dragon, who believes it to be a trivial intrusion, begins to breathe fire, but Samson looks him in the face and in front of his determined look the monster begins to tremble, it turns towards its tail to gnaw it with rage. Yes, it’s typical of British dragons : when confronted by a saint, they gnaw their tails in rage. Then Samson takes his belt, throws it around the serpent’s neck, and drags it to a steep cliff, where he orders it to throw itself into the waves and die immediately. We know that Pol of Leon did the same thing with his stole, but Samson wants to remind you that it is his Vita which is the model for others and that they all copied from him. It doesn’t matter, but he wants it to be remembered ! The population wanted to name him bishop, but he was already one and Armorica was waiting for him.
He just asked the monks who accompanied him to stay in this country and build a monastery, the management of which he entrusted to his father, Amon. As long as it stays in the family.
He left with some monks, they reached a Cornish port and embarked for Armorican Brittany. We are in 548. After a happy crossing, by boat… I don’t know who came up with the legend according to which he had crossed the Channel in a granite boat… nor why he would have bothered to sail on something like that. But at least it makes for some nice photos in front of Dol Cathedral… In any case, they land on the northern coast of Armorica, in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, near the mouth of the Guyoult at the port of Winiau, today called Le Vivier-sur-Mer. Very quickly they met a layman, in Latin the simple individual is called «privatus », subsequently it was written… and said that they had met a man named Privatus. He was crying in front of a cabin, he was constantly looking towards the sea. Samson asked him what was causing him so much pain. He replied that he had been waiting for three days and three nights for his benefactor to come because God had promised him that he would arrive from overseas. Samson asked what he expected from this benefactor.
Then he said that his wife was a leper and his daughter was demon-possessed. They were waiting in the cabin for the one who would save them. Samson came in and prayed and healed them both.
After that, Samson and the three other monks advanced into the lands and they settled in a place today called Dol. There, he further multiplied miracles and founded monasteries since it was the will of God and an excellent way to convert populations.
He had sympathy for those people who honored their pagan gods, provided they abandoned them. And as he moved from village to village, the inhabitants spoke to him. He noticed that often in the discussion they showed sadness. He asked them the reason. This is how he learned of the Conomor affair.
I already told you about this prince in the first video on Pol of Leon, it was he who refused him a little bell, and in the second video on Tugdual. Conomor had a kingdom in Cornwall across the Channel, where he was known as King Mark. King Marc from the legend of Tristan and Isolde, the horse-eared king. A very nasty character.
In Armorican Brittany, he had killed the legitimate king, Iona, married his widow, and claimed to be regent of the kingdom of Domnonée since Iona’s son, Judual, was too young. But the widow understood who her second husband was and to protect her son, sent him to Paris, to King Childebert. He looked after the child who had become an adolescent, which satisfied Conomor : thus he reigned peacefully over Domnonée. Childebert had a political interest in the story, he claimed to integrate continental Brittany into his kingdom but did not have the means to ensure its defense against invaders : Conomor recognized Childebert as king and took charge of the armed defense of the region. So Childebert was not frankly inclined to restore Judual to his throne.
But Samson was determined to make him change his point of view. For the sake of justice, out of goodwill towards the population who were demanding their legitimate young king, and out of family spirit because Judual was the descendant of Riwal, the two Hoëls, Denoch, Iona, a whole line of Welsh kings. For the record, Amon and Anne, Samson’s parents, belonged to an intimate family of the kings of Dyfed and Gwent, in Wales The Domnonée was to return to Judual, Samson would expel the Cornish usurper, even if he had to ask for God’s intervention.
How did he deal with Childebert ? I’ll tell you about it in the next episode.
See you soon, Kenavo.
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