Calétric of Chartres

Calétric is a bishop of Chartres 6th siècle.
Its name appears in the form Caletricus , Chaletricus or Chalactericus (at Fortunat). In French, one meets the popular form Caltry , or even Calais , undoubtedly by confusion with the saint abbot of Maine.

Its dates are vague. It succeeds holy Lubin whose last sure mention is year 551. He surely died before 573, date where its successor Pappolus takes part in a council of Paris. But like this council dismemberment of the diocese of Chartres discusses wanted by the king Sigebert, it is probable that this death occurred little of time before. According to Fortunat, it was old only 38 years.

Calétric itself is known only by its subscription for two councils: a council of Paris badly gone back (between 557 and 563) and a council to Turns in 567/568.

It appears tardily, at the 9th century in the Vie of saint Lubin . The hagiographal tells that Calétric, young priest of noble birth, had a named sister Mallegonde. This one one day comes to inform the Lubin bishop who his brother fell seriously sick. Lubin takes the holy oils and hastens towards dying, while reciting this prayer: “Lord, you which know all, if you judges that your servant must be useful for the church, rens him health”. It does not have time to complete its oilings that Calétric rises cured.
This little story is perhaps older than the Vita , because its object is obviously to establish episcopal continuity and to underline the interest which Providence itself carries there; miraculous oiling is worth divine election. The Chartres-native tradition reinforces these bonds besides: Calétric becomes the pupil there and the friend of Lubin and, to the eyes of the local scientists, it passed a long time to be the author of his Vita .

Curiously, Gregoire de Tours does not speak about him. We have on the other hand a epitaph of 26 worms composed by Fortunat; it is extremely well turned, but the historian hardly has with there glaner. The poet deplores a friend whom he knew too late, praises its musical eloquence and especially its talents: “He sang the psalms with harmonious accents. He made resound the praises of God on the crowned instruments…” The Chartres-native authors wanted to see in this passage a testimony on the cultural hearth which would have been the Church of Chartres at times mérovingiens.

More than in Fortunat, Calétric undoubtedly owes its reputation of holiness with the successive inventions of its relics. They were discovered at least three times. An addition with martyrologe of Usuard makes state on an unknown date of a inventio sancti Caletrici ipsius civitatis episcopi and it is probably the same one which is announced in the local liturgy as of the 11th century. Rouillard reports that in 1158 one found relics of the saint in a mounting, to the Treasury of Notre-Dame. Lastly, in 1703, during the demolition of the church of the Saints Serge-and-Bacche, close to the bedside of the Cathedral, one discovered under the furnace bridge his empty, but identifiable sarcophagus thanks to an inscription. It since is preserved at the cathedral.

The Chartres-native tradition wants that the wear of the stone is due to the innumerable hands of pilgrims who touched it. However, with the XIXe siècele, Blant says to us that it copied the inscription “in a crypt of Notre-Dame… where the worthy monument to lie forgotten and broken”. This inscription - which gives the impression of a real titulus - is read as follows:

DIFFICULTY REQVIISCIT CHALETRICUS EPS CVIUS DULCIS MEMORIA
NONAS OCTOBRIS VITAM TRANSPORTAVIT IN CAELI (S)

On old date, one hammered the inscription to remove a word which could be only pridie and cover old a Septembris (still visible) by Octobris . One thus replaced on September 4th by on October 7th to put the date of dead in harmony with the liturgical calendar which placed the festival of the saint on this date. Calétric was apparently not offusqué of this small clerical cheating. Since the reform of the Roman Martyrologe in 1917, one gave the saint on his feet.

Calétric thus appears to belong to these rather erased local saints, who were never forgotten, but never reached a real popularity either, neither among the faithful ones nor even among the clerks. One does not know miracles of Calétric saint whose relics appear to be remained dumb. If Calétric is present at the cathedral where the saints bishops extremely many and are put at the honor, it is it only with one great discretion. The stained glass of Lubin saint is unaware of the miracle of oiling (whereas one could there wait), but the scene appears to be among the small sculptures of the Southern Gate where a bishop is seen, a bulb in the left hand, to plot straight line a cross on the chest discovered of a monk.

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