39 – The Legend…

Aubert and St Michel…

In the eighth century Aubert, Bishop of Avranches dedicated the rock on which Mont St Michel is built to the Archangel Michael. Known as Mont Tombe at the time, the rock had long attracted Christian pilgrims as a place of worship. The cult of St Michel had spread through Europe, and appearances of his spirit were claimed in many locations. Appearing in a dream one night (reputedly in the year 708) St Michel ordered Aubert to make Mont Tombe a place of worship and to build an oratory dedicated to him. Believing the dream to have been his imagination it is said Aubert ignored the command twice and on the third occasion St Michel pressed his thumb deeply into Aubert’s forehead, providing a waking reminder that his appearance was no figment of the bishop’s imagination. Aubert obeyed the archangel’s orders , the oratory was built and dedicated on October 16^th 709. Miracles were claimed to have occurred on Mont Tombe, which became known henceforth as Mont St Michel. There is a relic of a skull said to be that of St Aubert, displayed in the Saint Gervais Basilica in Avranches. Others believe the relic to be one of a prehistoric skull, showing only evidence of trepanation.

The legend of St Aubert’s dream and the Archangel’s third visitation is graphically depicted in this marble bas relief inside the abbey. The overhead spotlighting gives the archangel’s head a haloed glow – partially compensating for the lack of facial details as seen today.