Feast of Wonders
The unchanging route ran up the banks of the Saône, from Saint-Jean to Vaise, then down on several boats according to a codified ritual to Ainay, and ended on foot at Saint-Nizier church.
[5] This feast, which took place on June 2, St. Pothin's day, but also three weeks later, is therefore a Catholic tradition, recorded by Gregory of Tours and later by Ado of Vienne,[Note 1] even if its course and significance have changed over the centuries.
Adon de Vienne described the festival as follows: on June 2, "the citizens of Lyon and others with them all joyfully celebrate this feast, which by an old tradition they call the Day of Miracles, with hymns and canticles of thanksgiving that they sing as they float down the Saône, and with religious solemnities in the Church of the Apostles where the ashes of the martyrs are preserved".
The precise day was then decided by the cathedral chapter, in consultation with all the representatives of the groups taking part in the celebrations (secular court officers, sometimes trade masters).
[2] Once the decision was taken, "the Chapter gave the order to proclaim the Miracles or Wonders in all places assigned to public cries and to invite all citizens to do their duty, either on the water or in the streets".
It was also this shift that led to numerous protests from the various participants, right up to the festival's demise: the monarchy, officers and other churches financed ceremonies that were appropriated by the archbishops.
[15] The processions, each carrying professional crosses, banners and candles, set off in the following order: the Église Saint-Paul met the chapter of Saint-John, then they went together to the church of Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens in Vaise; they were finally joined by Île Barbe, Saint-Justus and Ainay.
[16] While the clergy sang antiphons, prayers and psalms, the boats made their way down the Saône, pausing in front of the Saint-Epipoy church below the Château de Pierre Scize[2], under the "Merveilleuse" arch on the Pont du Change, and finally arriving at Ainay.
[20] From the end of the 13th century onwards, the few documents available on the Feast of Wonders revealed recurrent tensions between participants, provoked as much by the chapter as by other churches, royal officials or even citizens.
[24] However, on June 15, 1363, the town's councillors and trade masters[Note 4] asked the chapter to cancel the festival, citing the dangers of the enemy's presence in the diocese.
King Charles V sent a letter on August 23, 1364, in support of the clergy: "on the pleas of the citizens of Lyon, deffendit the feast of Wonders which the archbishop and the chapter of the said city had ordered and which was customarily held on the Saône by tradespeople".
The festival did not take place in 1383 because of the war, and they won their case in 1384 when the king allocated all the funds earmarked for the " Feast of Wonders " for the next six years to the Rhone bridge.
[31] Abbot Florent Dumas extrapolated widely, naming Saint Badulphe, the hypothetical founder of Ainay Abbey, as the creator of the Feast of Wonders.
[32] Guillaume Paradin added the main events that would capture the imagination: the participation of a boat resembling the Venetian Bucentaure, and the rushing of bulls into the Saône through a gate provided for the purpose on the Pont du Change, followed by a fight with them.
[39] It was Ado of Vienne, in his Martyrology (written in Lyon between 855 and 860), who gave it the name Feast of the Miracles,[Note 7][7] based on the writings of Gregory of Tours (in his De Gloria Martyrum) and adding a description.
[8] However, the event itself, apart from the religious ceremonies, is only known by oral tradition, and was written down a hundred years after it was abolished by Claude de Bellièvre in Lugdunum Priscum.
[45] While Bellièvre based his story on vague memories of his father, Paradin added numerous details inspired by the traditions and myths of his time.
[6] Marie-Claude Guigue, chief archivist of the Rhône department and of the city of Lyon in the 19th century, gathered together all known documents on this festival and published a memoir, sorting out the true from the false.
[46] With regard to the religious ceremonial, he listed the following sources: "A very ancient ritual, of which we have only found a copy made by Abbot Sudan, but which may have been written at the time of Agobard, since the name of this archbishop was introduced later into the calendar which preceded this fragment; then the Statutes of the Church of Lyon of 1175; the Ordinaire or Livre enchaîné de Saint-Paul, which appears to belong to the first years of the 14th century; and finally the Barbet de Saint-Just, from around 1380".
