Saint Calminius

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Saint Calmin as portrayed on the reliquary
Saint Calmin as portrayed on the reliquary

Saint Calminius, also known as Saint Calmin, founded three French abbeys in the 6th or 7th centuries AD: Mozac Abbey, in Puy-de-Dôme; Laguenne Abbey (near Tulle, Corrèze) and the abbey of Monastier-Saint-Chaffre. His Saint's day is August 19.

His wife, Sainte Namadie (Latin: Namadia) became a nun at Marsat.

Their remains are conserved in the abbey church at Mozac in a 12th-century chasse (reliquary) decorated with Limoges enamel. The chasse itself constitutes a record of the life of the saint and his wife, in particular the foundation of the three institutions and his funeral, or at least it records how his life was imagined by the monks of that time, several centuries having passed since his death.

St. Calminius and St. Namadia at the foundation of an abbey. Stained glass window by Félix Gaudin (1851-1930), abbey-church in Mozac.
St. Calminius and St. Namadia at the foundation of an abbey. Stained glass window by Félix Gaudin (1851-1930), abbey-church in Mozac.

Contents

[edit] The reliquary

The reliquary, containing the bones of the saint and his wife, is a masterpiece of 12th-century Limoges enamel. The structure is of wood and measures 81cm x 24cm x 45cm. Fourteen copper plaques have been attached, which are enameled using the champlevé technique (gaps are carved in the metal, into which molten enamel is poured before firing). The box is in the shape of a church without a transept or choir.

[edit] Bibliography and sources

[edit] Life of Saint Calmin

  • Charte du roi Pépin, pour la donation et la restauration du monastère de Mozac, datée de la vingt-quatrième année du règne de Pépin, roi des Francs, BNF, collection Moreau, vol. 284, Fol. 160.
  • Léon Levillain, « La translation des reliques de saint Austremoine à Mozac et le diplôme de Pépin II d'Aquitaine (863) », dans Le Moyen Âge, 2nd series, volume VIII, July - August 1904, p. 281-337.
  • R.P.F. Thomas d'Aquin de Saint-Joseph Carme Déchaussé, Histoire de la vie de saint Calmine (sic) duc d'Aquitaine, fondateur des monastères de Saint-Théophrède en Velay et de Mosac en Auvergne, patron de l'église de Laguenne proche de Tulle, 1646.
  • Paul Guérin, Les petits Bollandistes : vies des saints, tome X, Paris, Bloud et Barral, 1876, p. 20 et suivantes.

[edit] Description of the reliquary

  • Bernard Craplet, Abbatiale Saint-Pierre - Mozac, Éditions Gaud, Moisenay, 2002, p. 24-27
  • Marie-Madeleine Gauthier, Émaux du Moyen Âge occidental, Diffusion Weber, Paris, 1972.
  • Marie-Madeleine Gauthier, Émaux méridionaux : catalogue international de l'œuvre de Limoges, Paris, 1987.