Sr. San Guillermo
: de Catmon: de Aquitania: de Maleval: el Ermitanyo:
A Little Of History
Epithet:
It doesn’t matter which of the Epithets you prefer to use as long as you understand the life story of your honored Saint William. The Stone Carving which says San Guillermo De Catmon, The book Balaanong Bahandi which says San Guillermo El Ermitanyo or San Guillermo De Maleval, and or The Fiesta Souvenir Program which says San Guillermo De Aquitania. Knowing who he really was, is what matters the most.
Matter-of-Fact
Was Jesus born in Bethlehem or Nazareth? Since childhood I was taught that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a manger, then why is Jesus called a Nazorean and a Galilean throughout the New Testament?
Feel free to share your thoughts, but for me I would rather leave this to the Religious Scholars and Historians. We can have a very lengthy discussion, but I’m sure we’ll arrive to naught for we have different perspective and some not even supported with facts but still believe.
Most people do not bother to trace the origins of their religion, much less their beliefs and rituals. They don’t even care if they’re introducing Juan as Pedro, or writing and passing a story of Juan to describe Pedro.
Catmon Tree Town
Our town was named after a tree abundant during the time of the Spaniards. The legend says that a Spanish soldier asked the farmer resting under the shade of a huge beautiful tree the name of the place. The farmer did not quite understand the soldier, however answered “Catmon”, thinking the soldier was asking for the name of the tree. From then on, the place was called Catmon.
San Guillermo Parish
The Augustian Friars who came with the soldiers whose mission was to spread Christian Faith among the locals started to look for a place to build their Church, hence our Parish Church today. They named the Church after one of their venerated Saints, thus, San Guillermo Parish Church came into existence.
Excerpt from the Book "Balaanong Bahandi"
“The Church of Saint William the Hermit in Catmon, Cebu was built in November 2, 1835 by the Augustinian-Recollects after Catmon became an independent parish from Danao. The site where the church stands was the third and final place chosen by its founder, the first one of which was in Catmondaan (Old Catmon) and the second one in Sitio Manobo, Barangay Maca-as. The walls were completed by Father Manuel Gimenez in 1868; the facade and belfry by Father Ramon Miramon in 1875; and the tile roof and altars by Father Francisco Bergasa in 1879.”
The Saint
The life of our San Guillermo is of two parts, half fictional and half factual. There was no account of his birth, where he’s from, and his early life. He was said to be a French soldier, living a debauchery life common among soldiers at that time. One day he realized his sinful ways and began to ask forgiveness through prayers. He went in a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles at Rome and begged Pope Eugenius III to put him into a course of penance, who enjoined him in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 1145.
In 1153, he returned to Italy and was prevailed to run a monastery in the Isle of Lupocavio, in the territory of Pisa. The tepidity and irregularity of his monks were too much for him to bear, so he decided to leave and settled in Monte Pruno. In September 1155, he entered a solitude life in a cave in the wilderness of Maleval, situated in the territory of Sienna, in the diocese of Grosseto. The first four months, his hermitical life was accompanied by wild beasts, eating only the herbs on which they fed, and drank nothing but water. He slept on a bare ground and a stone for his pillow. He was discovered by the Lord of Buriano who built him a cell.
On the feast of the Epiphany, in the beginning of the year 1156, he was joined by a disciple or companion, called Albert, who lived with him to his death, which happened thirteen months after, and who has recorded the last circumstances of his life. Divine Providence moved one Renauld, a physician, to join Albert, a little before the death of the saint.
William developed a gift of miracles, and that of prophecy. Seeing his end draw near, he received the sacraments from a priest of the neighboring town of Chatillon, and died on the 10th of February, in 1157.
William the Hermit is also known as William of Malavalle and William the Great. He was Beatified by Pope Alexander III in 1174 to 1181, and Pope Innocent III Canonized him in 1202.
Is St. William the Hermit and William X are one and the same person? Possibility arises from this question.
William X Born in 1099 and Died on 9 April 1137, nicknamed the “Saint”, was Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, and Count of Poitou from 1126 to 1137. Against the will of his own bishops, he initially supported antipope Anacletus II in the Schism of 1130, opposite the legitimate Pope Innocent II. In 1134, Bernard of Clairvaux ,now a Saint, convinced William to drop his support to Anacletus and join Innocent, an appeal to which the duke affirmed about a year later. In 1137, Duke William X set out from Poitiers to Bordeaux, to leave his daughters, Eleanor and Petronilla, in the charge of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, one of the Duke’s few loyal vassals who could be entrusted with the safety of his children.
Duke William joined the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, to the Shrine of Saint James in northwestern Spain; however, on April 9th (Good Friday) of that same year, he was stricken with sickness and died that evening. William dictated a will on the very day he died that bequeathed his domains to Eleanor and appointed King Louis VI of France as her guardian. Some sources blamed William’s death to food poisoning.
Fiction or Fact
If you will end the story of William the X on his deathbed on April 9, 1137 then he is not the William we are looking for. But there is one narrative about William the X though not so famous story but some people talk about it.
Legend has it, that Duke William had ingeniously faked his own death and went on solitary spiritual mission. Eight years of soul searching ended when he went in a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles in Rome and chanced an audience with the new Pope Eugenius III begged him for absolution, who in return enjoined him in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 1145.
So the story goes. The possibility is remote but who knows? William the X might be the Aquitanian Soldier who arrived in Maleval in 1155 and lived a hermitical penitent life. It is for this reason I believe that some other sources call him the “Saint”. If this allegory is more than just a legend, then our St. William is the Duke of Aquitaine who engineered his own death for divine reason, lived and died a saintly hermitical death in a cave in the valley of Maleval on February 10, 1157. He must be 58 years old when he died.
The Reality
Regardless whether our Patron Saint is William X Duke of Aquitaine or a French soldier of rank also named William is not significant. His early life is not what made Him a Saint but His hermitic penitent life. It is His penitent life worth the emulation and the glorious praises. It is His life in the cave of Maleval, people around the world honor and adore Him, ask for his intercession and pray with Him. It was that life that made Him our Patron Saint since the birth of our parish hundred eighty four years ago, Today, and Ever!
Most RCC Saints were named after the place (or how they lived their final days) they breathe their last. His last breath signifies that his earthly penitent soul is born into heaven in God’s glory. It is for this reason; our Patron Saint is called William the Hermit! Viva Sr. San Guillermo el Ermitanyo!
Augustinians and their Churches named after St. William
Six Augustinian Friars led by Andres de Urdeneta and five others in Mexico were the first to land in the Philippines. They were the founders and the first apostles of the Catholic Faith in the country. In Cebu, the Augustinians are also the first missionaries to have arrived with Legazpi in 1565.
They established several Churches in the Philippines and named these houses of God after St. William or San Guillermo. Although these Churches have different suffixes after the St. William or the San Guillermo, all elements refer to the same Titular Head, Patron Saint William the Hermit aka William of Maleval.
The following are the St. William the Hermit Parishes in the Philippines, Feast Day is observed every 10th of February:
1. Saint William's Cathedral, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.
2. Saint William's Parish, Talisay, Batangas, Philippines.
3. Cathedral of Saint William the Hermit, San Fernando, La Union.
4. Saint William's Parish, Passi City, Iloilo, Philippines.
5. San Guillermo Paris, Buting, Pasig City
6. San Guillermo Parish, Iponan, 9000 Cagayan de Oro City.
7. San Guillermo de Aquitania, Dalaguete, Cebu
8. San Guillermo Parish Church, Catmon, Cebu
9. San Guillermo Parish Bacolor Pampanga
Augustinian Saint William
There are several Saints named William in the Augustinian Order and one of them is St. William of Maleval aka St. William the Hermit, the only soldier turned hermit among them.
Naming their Churches after Saints
It is nonsensical to name their Churches after Saints not in their ecclesiastical order. Our Church Saint William must be an Augustinian Saint. Revered and venerated by the Augustinian Friars.
Feast Day of a Saint
“The word "feast" in this context does not mean "a large meal, typically a celebratory one", but instead "an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint".
“The system arose from the early Christian custom of commemorating each martyr annually on the DATE OF HIS OR HER DEATH, or birth into heaven, a date therefore referred to in Latin as the martyr's dies natalis ("day of birth")…” wiki
St. William of Gellone
William of Gellone was Born in the year 755 AD and Died on May 28, 812 AD. He was too early to be the Saint we are looking for. All characters involved in the story of our San Guillermo written by a local historian reflected in the Catmon Fiesta Souvenir Program were from the 11th-12th centuries time period except for William of Gellone who was from the 8th century. William of Gellone is more than 300 years older than the rest of the characters.
St. William of Gellone to be exact was 325 years older than Pope Eugenius III who was born in 1080 AD (11th Century). Pope Eugenius III was the youngest among the individuals mentioned in the story. William of Gellone was already a Saint during the lifetime of our Patron Saint William. He is a Saint of the Benedictine Order not of the Augustinian, further substantiated the claim that He was not the Patron Saint the Augustinian Friars installed in the parish of Catmon.
References:
BOOKS:
1. The Lives of the Saints, 1866” by Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume II: February
2. Catholic Encyclopedia
3. Balaanong Bahandi: Sacred Treasures of the Archdiocese of Cebu
4. Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
5. Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
6. Dictionary of Saints
7. BIBLIOTHECA SANCTORUM WAYS (GIUST-LHUIL) PUBLISHING NEW CITY, ROME ITALY, 1966 PP.479-480
8. The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages
WEBSITES:
9. http://www.catholic.org/saints/faq.php
9. http://www.catholic.org/saints/faq.php
18. Catholic Online
23. http://www.gutenberg.us/articles/William_of_Maleval
24. http://simbahan.net/2009/09/21/augustinian-recollects-in-the-philippines-until- 1898/
24. http://simbahan.net/2009/09/21/augustinian-recollects-in-the-philippines-until- 1898/
Wiki
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