Bertin ( la, Bertinus; 615 – ''c''. 709 AD), also known as Saint Bertin the Great, was the
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
of a
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
in
Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France.
It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audomar, ...
later named the
Abbey of Saint Bertin after him. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The fame of Bertin's learning and sanctity was so great that in a short time more than 150 monks lived under his rule. Among them were St. Winnoc and his three companions who had come from Brittany to join Bertin's community and assist in the conversions. Nearly the whole Morini region was Christianized.
Life
Bertin was born near
Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
, then in the
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
Duchy
A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition.
There once exis ...
of
Alamannia
Alamannia, or Alemannia, was the kingdom established and inhabited by the Alemanni, a Germanic peoples, Germanic tribal confederation that had broken through the Roman ''Upper Germanic Limes, limes'' in 213.
The Alemanni expanded from the Main ...
. At an early age, he entered the
Abbey of Luxeuil
Luxeuil Abbey (), the ''Abbaye Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul'', was one of the oldest and best-known monasteries in Burgundy, located in what is now the département of Haute-Saône in Franche-Comté, France.
History Columbanus
It was founded circa ...
, where, under the austere rule of its abbot,
Columbanus
Columbanus ( ga, Columbán; 543 – 21 November 615) was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries after 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in pr ...
, he prepared himself for a future
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
career. About the year 638 he set out, in company with two confrères,
Mummolin
Mummolin (Latin: ''Mummolinus'') (b. circa 500) was a Frankish nobleman.
Life
He was a son of Munderic and wife, daughter of Roman Senator Florentinus and wife Artemia.
Mayor of the Palace of Neustria.
Issue
He fathered:
* Bodegisel, murdered,< ...
and
Ebertram, for the extreme northern part of France in order to assist his friend and kinsman,
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
Omer
Omer may refer to:
__NOTOC__
* Omer (unit), an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem
* The Counting of the Omer (''sefirat ha'omer''), a 49 day period in the Jewish calendar
* Omer (Book of Mormon), a Jaredite ...
, in the evangelization of the
Morini
The Morini (Gaulish: "sea folk, sailors") were a Belgic coastal tribe dwelling in the modern Pas de Calais region, around present-day Boulogne-sur-Mer, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Morini'' by Caesar ( ...
. This country, now in the
Department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
of
Pas-de-Calais
Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...
, was then one vast marsh, studded here and there with hillocks and overgrown with seaweed and bulrushes. On one of these hillocks, Bertin and his companions built a small house and they went out daily to preach the Christian faith to the natives, most of whom were still pagans.
Gradually some converted pagans joined the little band of missionaries and a larger monastery had to be built. A tract of land called
Sithiu
Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France.
It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audomar, ...
had been donated to Omer by a converted nobleman named
Adrowald. Omer now turned this whole tract over to the missionaries, who selected a suitable place on it for their new Abbey of
St. Peter. Additional villages were granted by
Count Waldebert, later a monk at Bertin's monastery of Sythiu and eventually Abbot of Luxueil and canonized, who gave his son at the baptismal font to Bertin, from whom the boy received his name and his education. The community grew so rapidly that in a short time this monastery also became too small and another was built where the city of St. Omer now stands.
The fame of Bertin's learning and sanctity was so great that in a short time more than 150 monks lived under his rule, among them St.
Winnoc
Saint Winnoc (c. 640-c. 716/717) was an abbot or prior of Wormhout who came from Wales. Three lives of this saint are extant ( BHL 8952-4). The best of these, the first life, was written by a monk of St. Bertin in the middle of the ninth centu ...
and his three companions who had come from
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
to join Bertin's community and assist in the conversion of the heathen. When nearly the whole region was
Christianized
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
, and the marshy land transformed into a fertile plain, Bertin, knowing that his death was not far off, appointed
Rigobert
Rigobert (died c. 743) was a Benedictine monk and later abbot of the Abbaye Saint-Pierre d'Orbais who subsequently succeeded Saint Rieul as bishop of Reims in 698. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Rigobert baptized Charles Ma ...
as his successor, while he himself spent the remainder of his life preparing for a happy death. Bertin began to be
venerated
Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etym ...
as a saint soon after his death. His
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
is celebrated on 5 September.
Mummolin, perhaps because he was the oldest of the missionaries, was abbot of the two monasteries until he succeeded the deceased
Eligius Eligius may refer to:
* Saint Eligius
Saint Eligius (also Eloy, Eloi or Loye; french: Éloi; 11 June 588 – 1 December 660 AD) is the patron saint of goldsmiths, other metalworkers, and coin collectors. He is also the patron saint of veteri ...
as
Bishop of Noyon
The former French Catholic diocese of Noyon lay in the north-east of France, around Noyon. It was formed when Saint Medardus moved the seat of the bishopric at Vermandois to Noyon, in the sixth century. For four centuries it was united with the ...
, about the year 659. Waldebert's son Bertin, adopted by Bertin the founder, then became the third abbot.
![RuinsOfSaintBertin1850](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/RuinsOfSaintBertin1850.jpg)
In later times the abbey became famous as a centre of sanctity and learning. About the 11th century, the name of the abbey was changed that of Saint-Bertin. The ''
Annales Bertiniani
''Annales Bertiniani'' (''Annals of Saint Bertin'') are late Carolingian, Frankish annals that were found in the Abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint-Omer, France, after which they are named. Their account is taken to cover the period 830-82, thus contin ...
'' (830–882; ''
Mon. Germ. Hist. Script.'' I, 419–515) are important for the contemporary history of the
West Frankish Kingdom
In medieval history, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () refers to the western part of the Francia, Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting fr ...
. The abbey church, now in ruins, was one of the finest 14th-century
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
edifices. In later times, its library, archives, and art-treasures were renowned both in and out of France.
The monks were expelled in 1791 by the invading forces of the
French Revolutionary Army
The French Revolutionary Army (french: Armée révolutionnaire française) was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment ...
and in 1799 the abbey and its church were sold at auction.
His iconography is a
boat
A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats.
Small boats are typically found on inl ...
as his home town,
Sithiu
Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France.
It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audomar, ...
was only accessible by water in Bertins time. A
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
is celebrated on 5 September, and his cult was taken to England with the
Norman Invasion
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
.
[ David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints, (Oxford University Press, 1992) p54.]
See also
*
Saint Bertin, patron saint archive
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertin
615 births
709 deaths
People from Konstanz (district)
7th-century Christian monks
8th-century Christian monks
Frankish Christian monks
French abbots
Frankish historians
8th-century Frankish saints
Colombanian saints
7th-century Frankish saints