Saint Aude of Paris (5th-early 6th century)

According to the received tradition, Aude was born in the time of Clovis, king of the Franks, at Sainte-Aulde (Seine-et-Marne), in a family of fervent Christians. A legend is attributed to her : to attend Mass in a neighbouring village, she walked across the Marne on stones that appeared miraculously ; these stones later served as boundary markers for disputed fields. The story is explicitly presented as legendary by Nominis and by the commune of Sainte-Aulde.^[4][5]

According to the same set of sources, she heard of Saint Genevieve, who had come to Meaux, joined her in Paris and settled in her community. Queen Clotilde saw in Genevieve and her companions the “guardian angels of the kingdom”. Saint Genevieve died, according to tradition, on 3 January 512 ; critical scholarship (Heinzelmann-Poulin) rather favours 502. Aude is said to have followed her a few years later, on a 18 November, and her tomb was placed near that of Genevieve, in the basilica of the Holy Apostles (Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul, Mount Sainte-Geneviève). Neither the year nor the circumstances of her death are documented.^[6][7][8]

What history can say

The receivable core is thin. Aude does not appear in the early vitae of Saint Genevieve, nor in Gregory of Tours. The Acta Sanctorum never treated her : the Bollandists stop at 10 November. She is absent from the Roman Martyrology (checked against the 1859 edition : on 18 November are the dedication of the basilicas of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Saint Odo of Cluny, Saint Thomas of Antioch and the translation of Saint Frigdian, with no mention of Aude). The only “Bollandist” text that concerns her is the entry in the Petits Bollandistes (1876), filed under the Martyrology of France, local supplement.^[9][10][11]

What is documented is the cult : the place name “Sancta Auda” from 1109 (Archives nationales), a parish and a church dedicated in Brie, and a Parisian shrine in the thirteenth century. The historicity of a companion named Aude at Genevieve’s side remains undemonstrable ; tradition keeps her, without history being able to confirm her.^[12][13]

The shrine of Saint Aude is listed among the relics of the canons of Sainte-Geneviève at the entry of the Holy Crown into Paris, on 18 August 1239. A valuable detail in the Petits Bollandistes reports that the canons could not bring out the shrine of Genevieve unless the clergy of Paris came to meet them with the body of Saint Marcellus ; Saint Louis allowed the shrine of Saint Aude to be substituted for that of Saint Genevieve. This is the oldest and firmest witness of the Parisian cult.^[14][15][16]

Remains of bones are kept at the parish church of Sainte-Aulde (Seine-et-Marne). Before the Revolution, Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, obtained “a portion of her relics” for the native village ; the transfer of 10 May 1699 was celebrated on the second Sunday of May, which became the patronal feast and then the communal feast. The relics were largely destroyed or dispersed in the Revolution, except for one fragment kept in the village.^[17][18][19]

The given name Aude and its variants have been borne by several saints. The following must be distinguished :

1. Aude of Paris (our subject) : virgin, disciple of Saint Genevieve, feast on 18 November, Parisian and Brie cult. Absent from the Roman Martyrology.^[20][21]
2. Haude of Trémazan : martyr in the country of Léon (Brittany), died c. 545, likewise celebrated on 18 November. A modern thesis (Jacques Baudouin, 2006) proposes a single identity through the transfer of relics during the Norman invasions ; the Petits Bollandistes and Nominis distinguish them. The doubt remains ; this article does not settle it.^[22][23][24]
3. Saint Aure (Aurea) of Paris : first abbess of the Saint-Martial monastery in Paris (founded by Saint Eligius c. 631-633), died 4 October 666. She, by contrast, appears in the Roman Martyrology on 4 October (“Lutetiæ Parisiarum sanctæ Aureæ Virginis”). A distinct figure, of the seventh century.^[25][26]
4. Saint Odile of Alsace (Odilia), patron saint of Alsace, celebrated on 13 or 14 December, is another saint. The resemblance of the names (Odile / Odette) may have created confusions ; the name “Odette” itself is a modern usage of Nominis, not attested in the early sources, which give Aida, Auda.^[27][28]

The place name Sainte-Aulde (Seine-et-Marne, postal code 77260) and the church dedicated to her keep the local memory alive ; they attest to the cult, not to a birth in this village, which belongs to tradition.^[29][30]

Saint Aude is celebrated on 18 November, a date Nominis notes as a “local feast” and which the calendar of the saints of the day keeps for the banner of 18 November. The given names celebrated the same day are Aude, Aoda, Audie, Eodez, Haude.^[31]

Her iconography is rare. Representations most often show her as a consecrated virgin of the early Middle Ages, sometimes with the attribute of the crossing of the Marne (stones, river), which belongs to legend. The principal place of memory in France is the church of Sainte-Aulde (Seine-et-Marne) ; in Paris, the memory is attached to the former abbey of Sainte-Geneviève and to the mount that bears the name of its patron. No early image proper to Saint Aude has been identified in Wikimedia Commons.^[32][33][34]

The sources of this notice are late in relation to the supposed events of the sixth century : Nominis (notice “Sainte Aude”), the Petits Bollandistes (vol. XIII, 18 November 1876, p. 488-489, section “Martyrology of France”), Wikipedia FR (“Aude de Paris”, “Sainte-Aulde”, “Sainte Couronne”), the website of the commune of Sainte-Aulde, and Jacques Baudouin (Grand livre des saints, 2006). No contemporary primary source names her : neither the early vitae of Saint Genevieve (Heinzelmann-Poulin 1986), nor Gregory of Tours, nor the Roman Martyrology. The story of the crossing of the Marne is a legend ; the identity with Haude of Trémazan is disputed ; the year of death is unknown. We have added no detail to the dossier.^{[35][36][37][38][39]}

• Saint Genevieve : patron of Paris, in whose company tradition places Aude.
• Saint Tanguy of Locmazhé : Breton figure linked to a Saint Haude, not to be confused with Aude of Paris.