Saint Caraunus of Chartres (or Caranus, Caro, Chéron) was a 1st or 5th century Christian missionary in Gaul who was murdered by robbers. His feast day is 28 May.

Life

According to legend, Caronus was a Roman of the 1st century A.D. who was a brilliant student in Rome. He converted to Christianity and came via Marseille to Gaul to preach the Christian faith. He was assigned by King Brenn of the

Carnutes The Carnutes or Carnuti (Gaulish: 'the horned ones'), were a Gallic tribe dwelling in an extensive territory between the Sequana (Seine) and the Liger (Loire) rivers during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Carn ...

to a group of three priests sent by Saint Denis to evangelize the south of the

Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...

. He was assassinated by brigands on the road from

Ablis Ablis () is a commune in the Yvelines department in north-central France. History During the Franco-Prussian War, when a German unit moved to take Ablis on October 7, 1870, they were ambushed and routed by about 1,500 French militia soldiers who ...

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

on the 5th day before the

calends The calends or kalends ( la, kalendae) is the first day of every month in the Roman calendar. The English word "calendar" is derived from this word. Use The Romans called the first day of every month the ''calends'', signifying the start of a ne ...

of June in the year 98 A.D. He was canonized in Chartres around 800 A.D. There are doubts about the veracity of this story, which may have been a 9th-century essay by a school pupil asked to write a story about a saint. Another version says that Caraunus flourished in the 5th century A.D. He was born in Gaul to a Christian family of Roman origin. After his parents died he gave away all his possessions and became a hermit. A bishop ordained him as a deacon, and he became an itinerant preacher. Near

he found a small group of Christians descended from the converts of Saints Potentianus and Altinus. From them he selected disciples to assist him in his preaching, and left for Paris. At a distance of from Chartres they encountered a band of robbers. His disciples hid, but the robbers killed him when they found he had nothing of value. He was buried near Chartres, and later an abbey and a church were built over his grave.

Legacy

The town of

Saint-Chéron, Essonne Saint-Chéron () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. The village is named after Saint Caraunus, a missionary who was murdered by robbers in the vicinity. Population Inhabitants of Saint-Chéron are known ...

, between Chartres and Paris, takes his name. The

Stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral The stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral are held to be one of the best-preserved and most complete set of medieval stained glass, notably celebrated for their colours, especially their cobalt blue. They cover 2600 square metres in total a ...

include a stained glass window depicting the history of Saint Chéron in Bay 15. There are eleven rows, each with two panels and border panels with rosettes, florets and interlacing. The lowest row represents the stonemasons, sculptors and donors. The other rows show scenes of the saint's life. Chartres - cathédrale, vitrail (15)

Monks of Ramsgate account

The monks of

St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate St Augustine's Abbey or Ramsgate Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Ramsgate. It was built in 1860 by Augustus Pugin and is a Grade II listed building. It was the first Benedictine monastery to be built in England since the Reformation. In ...

wrote in their ''Book of Saints'' (1921),

Butler's account

The hagiographer

Alban Butler Alban Butler (13 October 171015 May 1773) was an English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer. Biography Alban Butler was born in 1710, at Appletree, Aston le Walls, Northamptonshire, the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. His father died when ...

(1710–1773) wrote in his ''Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints'' under May 28,

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caraunus, Chartres Gallo-Roman saints 5th-century deaths