Saint Remigius,
Remy or
Remi, , was Bishop of Reims and Apostle of the
FranksThe Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul...
, (c.
437-Roman Empire:* Galla Placidia quits as regent for her son.* October 29—Valentinian III, Western Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II, Eastern Emperor in Constantinople...
– January 13,
533-Byzantine Empire:*June 21 – Belisarius sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in North Africa.*September 13—Battle of Ad Decimum: Belisarius defeats the Vandals under Gelimer. Gelimer, forced to flee, leaves Carthage unprotected....
). On 24 December
496-Europe:* Battle of Tolbiac: Clovis I defeats the Alamanni, and is baptized into the Catholic faith at Rheims.* Thrasamund becomes king of the Vandals.-Byzantine Empire:...
he
baptisedIn Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
Clovis IClovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one king. He also introduced Christianity. He was the son of Childeric I and Basina. At age 16, he succeeded his father, in the year 481...
, King of the Franks. This baptism, leading to the conversion of the entire Frankish people to Nicene Christianity, was a momentous success for the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
and a seminal event in European history.
Life
Remigius was born, traditionally at
Cerny-en-LaonnoisCerny-en-Laonnois is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France.-See also:*Communes of the Aisne department...
, near
LaonLaon is the capital city of the Aisne department, part of Picardie in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon has always held strategic importance. In the time of Julius Caesar there was a Gallic village where the Remis had to meet the onset of the confederated Belgae...
,
PicardyThis article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France. The historical capital and largest city is Amiens....
, into the highest levels of Gallo-Roman society. He is said to have been the son of Emilius, count of Laon (who is not otherwise attested) and of Celina, daughter of the Bishop of Soissons, which Clovis had conquered in 486. He studied at Reims and soon became so noted for his learning and sanctity, in addition to his high status, that he was elected Bishop of Reims in his twenty-second year, though still a layman.
The story of the return of the sacred vessels (most notably the
Vase of SoissonsThe Vase of Soissons was a semi-legendary sacred vase that was held in a church in the Domain of Soissons during the Late Antiquity. The existence and the fate of the vase is mostly known due to the writings of Gregory of Tours , a Gallo-Roman historian and bishop...
), which had been stolen from the church of Soissons testifies to the friendly relations existing between him and Clovis, King of the Franks, whom he converted to Christianity with the assistance of
Saint VedastSaint Vedast or Vedastus, also known as Saint Vaast or Saint Waast and Saint Gaston in French, Saint Vedast or Vedastus, also known as Saint Vaast (in Norman and Picard) or Saint Waast (also in Picard and Walloon) and Saint Gaston in French, Saint Vedast or Vedastus, also known as Saint Vaast (in...
(Vedastus, Vaast, Waast) and
Saint ClotildeSaint Clotilde , also known as Clotilda or simply Clotild, was the daughter of Chilperic II of Burgundy and Caretena, and wife of the Frankish king Clovis I...
, the
BurgundianThe Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe. In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, Veseti settled in an island or holm, which was called...
princess who was wife to Clovis. Even before he embraced Christianity, Clovis had showered benefits upon Remigius and the Christians of Reims, and after his victory over the
AlamanniThe Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Main river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211–17 and claimed thereby to be their...
in the
battle of TolbiacThe Battle of Tolbiac was fought between the Franks under Clovis I and the Alamanni, traditionally set in 496. The site of "Tolbiac", or "Tulpiacum" is usually given as Zülpich, North Rhine-Westphalia, about 60km east of the present German-Belgian frontier, which is not implausible...
(probably 496), he requested Remigius to baptize him at Reims (December 24,
496-Europe:* Battle of Tolbiac: Clovis I defeats the Alamanni, and is baptized into the Catholic faith at Rheims.* Thrasamund becomes king of the Vandals.-Byzantine Empire:...
) in the presence of a large company of Franks and Alamanni: according to
Saint Gregory of ToursSaint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
, 3,000 Franks were baptized with Clovis.
King Clovis granted Remigius stretches of territory, in which the latter established and endowed many churches. He erected bishoprics at
TournaiTournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
;
CambraiCambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
;
ThérouanneThérouanne is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Thérouanne is located 10 miles southwest of Saint-Omer, on the D157 and D341 road junction.-Population:-History:...
, where he personally ordained the first bishop in 499;
ArrasArras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
, where he installed St. Vedast; and Laon, which he gave to his niece's husband Gunband. In 530 he consecrated
MedardusSaint Medardus or St Medard was the Bishop of Vermandois who removed the seat of the diocese to Noyon....
, Bishop of Noyon. Remigius' brother Principius was Bishop of Soissons and also corresponded with
Sidonius ApollinarisGaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris , a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius was "the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg...
, whose letters give a sense of the highly cultivated courtly literary Gallo-Roman style all three men shared.
The chroniclers of
"Gallia ChristianaThe Gallia Christiana, a type of work of which there have been several editions, is a documentary catalogue or list, with brief historical notices, of all the Catholic dioceses and abbeys of France from the earliest times, also of their occupants....
" record that numerous donations were made to Remigius by the Frankish nobles, which he presented to the cathedral at Reims.
Though Remigius never attended any of the church councils, in 517 he held a synod at Reims, at which after a heated discussion he converted a bishop of
ArianArianism is the theological teaching of Arius , a Christian priest, who was first ruled a heretic at the First Council of Nicea of 325, later exonerated in 335 at the First Synod of Tyre, and then pronounced a heretic again after his death at the First Council of Constantinople of 381...
views. Although St Remigius's influence over people and prelates was extraordinary, upon one occasion his condoning of the offences of one Claudius, a priest whom Remigius had consecrated, brought upon him the rebukes of his episcopal brethren, who deemed Claudius deserving of degradation. The reply of Remigius, still extant, is able and convincing.
Few authentic works of Remigius remain: his
"Declamations" were elaborately admired by Sidonius Apollinaris, in a finely-turned letter to Remigius, but are now lost. Four letters survive: one containing his defence in the matter of Claudius, two written to Clovis, and a fourth to Bishop Falco of
TongerenTongeren is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish region, Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium. Inhabited in the Roman period by the Tungri, and known as Atuatuca Tungrorum, it was the administrative centre of the district under Roman rule.-Atuatuca...
. The
"Testament of St. Remigius" is apocryphal. A brief and strictly legendary
"Vita" was formerly ascribed to
Venantius FortunatusSaint Venantius Fortunatus or Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus was a Latin poet and hymnodist, and a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.-Life:...
. Another, according to
Jacobus de VoragineBlessed Jacobus de Varagine or Voragine Blessed Jacobus de Varagine or Voragine Blessed Jacobus de Varagine or Voragine ( (c. 1230 – July 13 or July 16, 1298) was an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. He was the author of the Golden Legend, a collection of the legendary lives of the...
, was written by Ignatius, bishop of Reims. A letter congratulating
Pope HormisdasPope Saint Hormisdas was pope from July 20, 514 to 523.He was born at Frosinone, Campagna di Roma, Italy. Saint Hormisdas was a widower and a Roman deacon at the time of his accession to the papal throne...
upon his election (523) is apocryphal, and "the letter in which Pope Hormisdas appears to have appointed him vicar of the kingdom of Clovis is proved to be spurious; it is presumed to have been an attempt of Hincmar to base his pretensions for the elevation of Reims to the primacy, following the alleged precedent of Remigius."
A Commentary on the Pauline Epistles (edited Villalpandus, 1699) is not his work, but that of
Remigius of AuxerreRemigius of Auxerre was a Benedictine monk during the Carolingian period, a teacher of Latin grammar, and a prolific author of commentaries on classical Greek and Latin texts. He is also accredited with collecting and compiling other early medieval thinkers' commentaries on these works...
.
St Remigius' relics were kept in the
Cathedral of ReimsNotre-Dame de Reims is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned. It replaces an older church, destroyed by a fire in 1211, which was built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, in AD 496. That original...
, whence Hincmar had them
translatedIn Christianity, the translation of relics is the removal of holy objects from one locality to another...
to
EpernayÉpernay is a commune in the Marne department in northern France.-Administration:Épernay is a sub-prefecture of the department and seat of an arrondissement.-History:...
during the
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
invasions and thence, in 1099 to the Abbey of Saint-Rémy. His feast is celebrated on October 1.
Remigius and the Sainte Ampoule
There was an early legend associated with St. Remigius known as the Legend of the Baptism of Moribund Pagan, according to which a dying pagan asked for baptism at the hands of St. Remigius Remi, 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 prays before them these two vials miraculously filled respectively with the necessary Oil of the Catechumens and Chrism. Apparently when the sepulcher containing the body of St. Remi was opened in the reign of
Charles the BaldCharles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.- Struggle against his brothers :He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
and while Hincmar was the Archbishop of Reims, two small vials were found, the contents of which gave off a aromatic scent the likes of which was like nothing known to those present. If one recalls that when St. Remigius died the ancient art of perfumery was still known and practiced in the collapsing Roman Empire, but was unknown in the Carolingian empire four hundred years later. These vials may have originally simply have bottles of unguents used to cover the scent of decay of St. Remigius’ corpse during his funeral, but the memory of the two vials miraculously filled in the story of the Baptism of the Moribund Pagan and the unusual, seemingly otherworldly scents issuing from these two vials found buried with St. Remigius combined to suggest to those present that these two vials were the miraculously filled vials of the legend. Is should be remembered as well that it was not uncommon for chalices, patens and other sacred vessels to be buried with high ranking clergymen. Hincmar, adroitly combined the discovery of these two vials with their unique, unearthly fragrance, the Legend of the Baptism of the Moribund Pagan and the historical memory that St. Remigius had baptized Clovis into a new Legend identifying one of these vials as the actual vial of Chrism used at the baptism of Clovis to create the new Legend of the Sainte Ampoule, (i.e., that the Chrism used by Remigius when he baptized Clovis was miraculously supplied by heaven itself) which Hincmar then used to strengthen his claim that his own archepiscopal see of Reims--as the possessor of this heavenly sent Chrism--should therefore be recognized as the divinely chosen site for all subsequent sacre/anointings of French kings. The fate of the second vial is uncertain. It has been suggested that since in the original form of the legend this would have been the vial containing the Oil of the Catechumens and that the French coronation ordinals prescribe the Oil of the Catechumens, rather than Chrism, for the anointing of queens, it was subsequently used for anointing the queens of France and it is possible that a vial currently identified by some of the Bourbon Legitimists as the Sainte Ampoulle is actually this second vial.
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