Gondelbert

Saint Gondelbert, (also Gondelbertus, Gundebert, Gumbert, Gombert, Gondeberg) was the founder of the Benedictine Senones Abbey in the Rabodeau (fr:Rabodeau) valley of the Vosges mountains around 640 AD.[1]

Saint Gondelbert
Bishop of Sens
Diedc. 676
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
CanonizedPre-Congregation
Feast21 February

Life

The life of Saint Gondelbert was written by one Richer, a monk of Senones, composed three later centuries.[2]

The Benedictine monks of Senones Abbey preserved the tradition, dating from the eleventh century, that Gondelbert was the archbishop of Sens before he founded the abbey. Gondelbert arrived in the Rabodeau valley and named his monastery after the diocese of Sens (Senonis in Latin).[3]

In 661, Childeric II, king of Austrasia, donated the Val de Senones to "Gumbertus Episcopus". Childeric's donation was both generous and self-serving. It pleased him to thus oblige a man of God and to favor the extension of the Christian faith in this region. But he also knew that the founding of an abbey would open a center of civilization in the most deprived part of his kingdom.[2]

Gondelbert's first cares was to provide his community with a church, which he dedicated to Notre-Dame. Subsequently, there developed monastic buildings which he placed under the patronage of Saint Peter. The group followed the Rule of Saint Benedict.

He was the confessor of Itta of Metz, and is credited with building the first church in Itteville.[4]

He died around 676 while making a pilgrimage to Moyenvic.[5]

He is a Catholic saint and his feastday is 21 February.[6]

The parish church in Senones is dedicated to St. Gondelbert.[7]

References
  1. "Abbay of Senones" , Agence Régionale du Tourisme Grand Est| Destination Lorraine
  2. "Saint Gondelbert", Diocèse de Saint-Dié
  3. Goyau, Georges. "Sens" The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company (1912). Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  4. "Saint Gombert", Nominis
  5. "2H: Abbaye de Senones" Archived 11 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine p.32, Vosges-Archives.com. Retrieved 2012-03-19.(in French)
  6. Saint Gundebert of Sens Saints.SQPN.com. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  7. "Eglise Saint-Gondelbert", Diocèse de Saint-Dié
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