Saint Remigius

Bishop († 533)

Feast-October 1 

 

Gaul (France) had become thoroughly Romanized by the 4th century A.D. and was just a province of the Roman Empire. Innumerable Romans in Gaul were Catholics, but lukewarm Catholics, without character and merit. The Vandals crossed Gaul starting in 406. Close to the city of Laón, lived a blind saintly hermit named Montanus. The hermit was afflicted over the situation of the Catholic Religion in Gaul, which had been devastated by the Vandal persecution. One night, while he was praying for the Church, he heard a celestial voice that said to him: “God has heard your prayers and deigns to look again upon the earth from the highest heaven so that all nations will praise the marvels of His omnipotence and kings will be honored to serve Him. Know that the woman named Celina will give birth to a son to whom she will give the name of Remigius. To him God reserves the glory to save His people.”

C.438 at Cerny-en-Laonnois, near Laon, Picardy Saint Remigius was born, into the Gallo-Roman noble and pious parents; Emilius, count of Laon, and of St. Celina. His mother had borne two other sons before him; the eldest, St. Principius, became the twelfth bishop of Soissons, and the second was the father of St. Lupus, thirteenth bishop of the same see.

He studied at Reims and soon became noted for his learning, sanctity and his high status. This meant that, even though St. Remigius was merely a 22 year old layman and humbly doubted his own competence, the people, inspired by God, called him to succeed the recently deceased Benange, the Archbishop of Rheims. When he was consecrated Bishop, he was anointed with a holy oil on his forehead by a mysterious hand that all present could see, and an exquisite perfume permeated the whole area. God wanted to manifest His favor, so Our Lord made His hand appear carrying the holy oils surrounded by light and emitting an exquisite perfume. Our Lord himself consecrated St. Remigius as Bishop.

He was unusually tall, his countenance manifested a blend of majesty and serenity; his bearing was gentle, humble, and retiring. He was learned and eloquent, and his pity and charity were boundless. In his labors he knew no weariness. His body was the outward expression of a noble and holy soul, breathing the spirit of meekness and compunction. The archbishop received the gift of miracles.

One day a terrible fire whipped through the city of Rheims. Everyone gathered to help extinguish the devouring flames. But all efforts were useless. When the people had given up hope of stopping it, St. Remigius advanced to the heart of the fire carrying a cross and faced the most violent flames. The fire was stopped in its tracks and soon was completely subdued. The people, who were following the scene with admiration, fell to their knees. After the fire was conquered, St. Remigius returned to the people and blessed them. St. Remigius is known per the Legend of the Baptism of Moribund Pagan, according to which a dying pagan asked for baptism at the hands of St. Remigius, but when it was found that there was no Oil of the Catechumens or sacred Chrism available for the proper administration of the baptismal ceremony, St. Remigius ordered two empty vials be placed on an altar and as he prayed before them the two vials miraculously filled respectively with the necessary Oil of the Catechumens and Chrism. He resurrected a young woman, and his fame continued to increase.

The south of France was in the hands of Arians, and in the last years of the 5th century the pagan Franks were wresting the north from the Romans. In 481, at the age of fifteen, Clovis the son of Childeric I, a Merovingian king of the Salian Franks, and Basina, a Thuringian princess, succeeded his father in what is now northern France, then northern Gaul. St Remigius with the help of St. Clotilde, wife of Clovis, were able to convert the pagan King to Catholicism. A very large army of invaders, which had cast all of France into panic, fled in disarray when the small army of Clovis attacked, and their leader was slain. After winning the famous battle of Tolbiac, he fulfilled a promise he had made to adopt the religion of his Christian wife and was baptized by St. Remigius on Christmas Eve of 496. While St. Remigius was speaking, a splendorous light appeared in the chapel that far outshone the dim light of the candles, and a loud voice was heard saying: “Peace be with you. It is I, do not fear. Remain in my love.” The physiognomy of the man of God was shining with a fiery brilliance. The King and the Queen knelt before the Prelate. Moved by the spirit of God, he made this prophecy: “Your posterity shall nobly govern this kingdom, which will give much glory to the Holy Church. It shall inherit the Empire of the Romans. This nation will not cease to prosper so long as it follows the path of truth, but decadence will come upon it with vices and bad customs. For, in truth, it is in this way that all kingdoms and nations have fallen into ruin.” The army was baptized at the same time. This opened the way to the conversion of all the Franks and the establishment of the Church throughout France.

Under the protection of King Clovis, St. Remigius threw down the altars of the idols and spread the gospel of Christ among the Franks. He silenced the Arians and presided at the Catholic First Council of Orleans in 511. In 517 he held a conference at Lyons against the Arians. The bishops who were assembled, declared that they were stirred to exert their zeal in defense of the Catholic Faith by the example of St. Remigius, “who,” say they, “has everywhere destroyed the altars of the idols by a multitude of miracles and signs.” St. Remigius, whom St. Gregory of Tours refers to as “a man of great learning, fond of rhetorical studies, and equal in his holiness to St. Silvester.” After a heated discussion  converted a bishop of Arian views.

The King granted St. Remigius stretches of territory, in which he established and endowed many churches, erected bishoprics at Tournai; Cambrai; Thérouanne, where he personally ordained the first bishop in 499; Arras, where he installed St. Vedast; and Laon, which he gave to his niece’s husband Gunband. In 530 St. Remigius consecrated Medardus, Bishop of Noyon. Eventually he converted so many that he left France a Catholic kingdom; its king was also the first crowned son of the Church, and at that time the only one. Ever since Saint Remigius, Catholic France has rejoiced in its title of eldest daughter of the Church.

 

At the end of his life, St. Remigius became blind. Far from grieving over this, he rejoiced, saying that by this means he could suffer with Our Lord Jesus Christ. He knew prophetically the day of his death many days before. At the end, he miraculously regained his sight so that he could see his flock and distribute his goods as he desired. After an episcopate of seventy-four years, the longest on record, Saint Remigius died in 533, leaving to France his famous Testament: predicting God’s graces of predilection for this blessed kingdom, as long as its Heads remained faithful to Him, with the most severe chastisements if the contrary ensued. The prophecy has already been fulfilled three times, as the nation’s Catholic historians affirm, for the three royal dynasties.

At the time of the Roman Empire there were few saintly kings, the powerful were not honored to serve Our Lord. St. Remigius and King Clovis opened a new era where the powerful and great of the earth frequently were the most zealous Catholics. When Christ reigns through the earthly kings, we have the Kingdom of Christ.

Canonized 1049 by Pope Saint Leo IX

St. Remigius is the patron saint against: epidemics, fever, plague, religious indifference, snakes, throat pain and of those who want to make good meditations. He helps to put the mind aright, so it can understand the things of God. Therefore, if one of us has difficulty in recollecting himself and elevating his thoughts toward God, he has the right intercessor in St. Remigius.

References and Excerpts

[1]          “The Barbarians Overrun the Roman Empire,” History Moments, 11-Mar-2011. [Online]. Available: http://historyweblog.com/2011/03/barbarians/. [Accessed: 18-Oct-2018].

[2]          C. Online, “St. Remigius – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. [Online]. Available: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=376. [Accessed: 18-Oct-2018].

[3]          “Saint Remi, Bishop.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_remi.html. [Accessed: 18-Oct-2018].

[4]          “St. Remigius, St. Remy, saint of October 1.” [Online]. Available: https://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j094sdRemigius_10-1.htm. [Accessed: 18-Oct-2018].

[5]          “Saint Remigius of Rheims,” CatholicSaints.Info, 17-May-2009.

[6]          “Saint Remigius,” Wikipedia. 08-Jun-2018.