Saint Flavius of Rouen, also known as Saint Filleul or Saint Flieu, was a 6th-century

bishop of Rouen The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Rothomagensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Rouen'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the Ar ...

, the 16th in the usual sequence.

Biography

Flavius was either of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

origin or of a Gallic family who had knowledge of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

.Saint Filleul
He has sometimes been identified as governor of the palace of King

Dagobert Dagobert or Taginbert is a Germanic male given name, possibly from Old Frankish ''Dag'' "day" and ''beraht'' "bright". Alternatively, it has been identified as Gaulish ''dago'' "good" ''berxto'' "bright". Animals * Roi Dagobert (born 1964), t ...

, but on chronological grounds this is clearly mistaken. He was more probably

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

or superintendent of finances for either Childebert or

Clotaire Chlothar (Latin ''Chlotharius''; Greek ''Khlōthários'' Χλωθάριος; French ''Clotaire'') is a Germanic given name, attested in Old English as ''Hloþhere'', in Old High German as ''Lothari'' ( Lothair), and reconstructed in Frankish as *' ...

, the latter being the more likely. He became

in 525, and attended the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, and Fourth councils of Orleans of 533, 538 and 541. It was during his episcopate, and, as is generally held, because of his efforts, that the Abbey of Saint Peter, otherwise of Saints Peter and Paul, later the Abbey of St. Ouen (french: Abbaye Saint-Pierre; Abbaye Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul; Abbaye Saint-Ouen de Rouen), which was founded in 535. The quantity of 6th-century objects unearthed during 19th-century excavations seem to confirm the traditional foundation date.La Neustrie, tome 2, p. 13-15. Flavius is also said to have changed the fountain of a pagan temple to a

baptistry In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

. According to an ancient chronicle of

Jumièges Jumièges () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography A forestry and farming village situated in a meander of the river Seine, some west of Rouen, at the junction of the D 65 and the ...

, his body was buried in "St. Peter's Basilica", which seems more likely to mean the church of the abbey he founded than the basilica of that name in Rome. His feast day is 23 August. He was formerly commemorated in Rouen by a fountain in the Rue du Baptême in the suburb of Cauchoise.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flavius Rouen 6th-century births 6th-century bishops in Gaul Bishops of Rouen Year of death unknown