The tomb of Saint-Lubin, Bishop of Chartres (544 to 556)
in Revue Archéologique, 15th Year, No. 1 (April to September 1858), pp. 35-39
by F. Jean Mabillon and Doublet de Boisthibault
François Jules Doublet de Boisthibault (1800 – 1862) was a lawyer at the Royal Court of Paris, attached to the bar of Chartres, journalist, writer, historian and archaeologist, and curator of the Chartres library. He was a contributor to the Revue archéologique.
His texts reflect the knowledge of the 19th century and the freedom of expression enjoyed by researchers at that time.
(continuation and end)
Against this last conjecture, there was still to say that Saint Chalétric and Saint Lubin had been buried in the church of Saint-Martin au Val. It is true that they could have been removed since their burial, to enrich some chapel with their relics.
“Dress all this up as you please, my reverend Father,” said the letter of November 8, “but it seems to me to be quite confused, provided that I do not get confused with you by talking to you about such obscure facts, and that I may deserve the honor of your good graces, I will be very satisfied, etc.”
“As for the tomb where there is a cross in place,” wrote D. Mabillon on November 23, “it could well be the tomb of the founder of the chapel. I think I have discovered who he is. It seems to me that he is the bishop Gilbert who lived in the 9th century. Here is the proof that I have, which is taken from the book of the Miracles of Saint Vandrille, whose relics were brought to Chartres in the year 1095 and deposited in the church of Saint-Cheron, and since then have been brought for greater safety, in capellam quàm olim venerandus Gislebertus infrà (i.e. intrà), domum suam construxerat. It seems to me that this is your chapel in the episcopal palace. You will find this room in the second century of our Acts, page 557.”
“With regard to what you say that Saint Lubin could have been buried in this chapel, I find it difficult to believe, since it is certain that he was buried in Saint-Martin au Val.”
“I was forgetting to suggest a difficulty which may come to your mind, on what I have just said, that Bishop Gilbert built this chapel. You will undoubtedly say that there is little evidence of this, since Saint-Calétric, who lived more than two hundred years before, was buried there. To this I reply that, although the tomb is in this chapel, it may have been moved there. Moreover, when it was built, and perhaps it was at that time that his body was raised from the ground, and that the bishop Gislebert had the tomb transported to this new chapel, which he had built. This is my thought, I leave it to you to judge.”
« F. Jean Mabillon. »
The letter of the learned Benedictine was not the last word in this discussion. Had Gislebert occupied the Chartres pulpit? One doubted it; then Souchet and the Aganon vetus indicated the chapel of Saint John the Evangelist in the church of the abbey of Saint-Père as being the place of the burial of this prelate.
“Your Fathers of Bonne-Nouvelle of Orleans could they not give us some light on this? These are the gentlemen who took away the archives and everything that could concern the antiquity of the priory of Saint-Martin. A word from you, my reverend Father, in this area, will serve to clarify the obscurity of this matter (1).
Things had reached that point when, in June 1704, a closer examination of the tomb (2) revealed two capital letters, S. L., engraved in a different position at the head and foot.
(1) Letter to Father Mabillon of November 29, 1703.
(2) One of our fellow-members curious of the antique (Letter of January 24, 1705).
On January 24, 1705, D. Mabillon was informed of this new discovery. These letters had not been put at random; they had necessarily a significance; one believed to read there the initials of the name of saint Lubin. One was however astonished by the qualification of saint given to a bishop.
“The custom of the day,” says the letter of 1705, “was not to inscribe saints on the tombs of the dying without special permission from the court of Rome; but in the early days of the church, the people gave themselves a certain right to call those who seemed to deserve it at the time of their death saints, and so these letters may have been from the time of St. Lubin’s burial; If this was not the case, we can conjecture that they were put there by some person zealous for the preservation of the memory of this saint, when earth was brought into this chapel to equalize the pavement with that of the cloister, which was heightened around the eleventh century. This report of earth covered the tombs of this chapel which were venerated uncovered as it is still practiced in some churches of our districts. It was apparently at this time that these letters were engraved, if they were not engraved beforehand to serve as a memorial to those who would one day discover these tombs as happened in these times.”
These conjectures were very plausible; they are still today what they were more than half a century ago, when they were produced; no one would dare to say that they are not true (1).
Doublet de Boisthibault.
(1) In 1821, the tomb of Saint Lubin was found with other debris of tombstones, near the columns of the chapel placed at the chevet of the church of Saint Brice (formerly the churche Saint-Martin au Val). It was removed…. It was used to make the trough of a stable! When the stable was demolished, the trough was broken and confused with the building materials!