Sep
2
To-day is Saint Castor’s Day. Saint who?, you might say.
Saint Castor is special to us. We have his sarcopage (a stone contained for either a coffin or a body) in our garden.
So who exactly was Saint Castor?
Born in nearby Nimes, Saint Castor of Apt died in 420AD and was a bishop of Apt, in what was then called Gaul. Apt is 17 km from our village of Menerbes in France.)
He was born in Nîmes and it is reported that he may have been the brother of Saint Leontius of Fréjus. Castor was a lawyer and married to a wealthy widow and originally he lived in Marseilles. His wife, however, allowed him to enter the religious life; and she herself entered a nunnery. Castor founded the monastery of Manauque (Monanque) in Provence. After this, he was subsequently made bishop of Apt.
Castor was also a confidant of Pope Innocent I.
One of his significant achievements was that he contracted a friend later to be Saint Jean Cassien, to write the treaty “of institutis coenobiorum” (of the monastic institutions). He died of natural causes and was buried at an ancient Priory which was discovered by our neighbours Jean-Pierre and Genevieve when they excavated to start their garden about 20 years ago.
Saint Castor’s remains were taken to the Apt Cathedral where there were interred in the Inner Crypt along with another saint, Sainte Anne. A chapel to-day bears his name within impressive Apt Cathedral.
Jean-Pierre and Genevieve graciously allowed us to remove Castor’s sarcopage from its resting place within the bowels of his garage and it now takes pride of place in our pool area.
Weighing in at a formidable 700kg, a front end loader takes the sarcopage to its new resting place.
According to Jean-Pierre, the sarcopage had a jewel-encrusted lid covering Saint Castor’s remains. This was taken away by the archaeologists. The lids of some other sarcopages were used by the village as seats for the bouledrome but, sadly, these have now been broken and taken away.
We hired some piano movers to complete the big move. These are very large and powerful individuals who have the ability to lift large loads! The ancient Cross on the end of the sarcopage denotes that someone of religious significance is buried within.
The final resting place. During the heavy snowfalls in March 2010, the sarcopage developed a small crack on its side but this has now been repaired and the fountains pour their water in merrily.
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