Fulbert tells us that all the brethren either signed or witnessed their
signatures in his presence. On the next day, he continues, the Count
Thibault returned to Chartres and requested to be admitted with formal
processions into the monastery. The monks replied that they would
willingly so receive him provided that he did not bring the false abbot
with him. The Count was enraged, but held his hand for one day. On the
following day, however, with a noisy crowd of followers, he forced
Magenard upon the Monastery of S. Père. At this violence the holy
brethren, fearing to be contaminated by the presence of the intruder,
bade farewell, with tears in their eyes, to the sanctuary of the Lord,
and took refuge in the Cathedral. The Cathedral also lacked a bishop,
and within its walls the two flocks of monks, like sheep without a
shepherd, mingled their tears with mutual consolation.
The monks found a resting-place in the monastery of Lagni, and Magenard
was installed by a foreign bishop, in the absence of the clergy, amidst
the indignation of the people, and in spite of the open protest of the
Archbishop of Sens and a few of the remaining monks of S. Père.
Not the least dramatic part of this curious story is its end. Magenard
remained quietly in possession of the monastery, and ‘there was not one
bishop in all France whose heart was touched by feelings of piety or
love of sacred law to interfere on behalf of the monks who had been
expelled.’ But presently (1004), on his return from a pilgrimage to
Rome, Count Thibault died, and his body was brought back to be laid next
his brother Thierry in the Chapel of S. Père. His gravestone, restored
in the seventeenth century, at the time of the reconstruction of the
abbey, is now to be found in the Hôtel de Ville. Now, on the death of
the Count, Raoul, the Dean of Notre-Dame, who had welcomed the monks of
S. Père in their flight, was appointed bishop in his stead. The bitter
feeling against Magenard, which had long been smouldering, now burst
into flame. He was deprived of his pastoral staff and compelled to pass
some days in the bishop’s house. But when men saw how instant he was in
prayer, and how fervent in vigil, how wise in speech and accomplished in
letters, the flames of the quarrel died down. His staff was restored to
him, together with the conduct of the monastery, and, adds the
chronicler, as long as he breathed this vital air so long did he full
well and lovingly feed the flock which was confided to his charge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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