Saint Faro (or Burgundofaro; died 675 AD), Count of

Guînes Guînes (; vls, Giezene, lang; pcd, Guinne) is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. Historically it was spelt ''Guisnes''. On 7 January 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a French pioneer in hydrogen-balloon flight, complete ...

, was

bishop of Meaux The Roman Catholic Diocese of Meaux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Meldensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Meaux'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the entire department of Seine-et-Marne. It was suff ...

. The family to which Faro belonged is known as the Faronids and is named after him. He is canonized as a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

and

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

History

Burgundofaro was of an ancient noble Burgundian family. His father, Ageneric, was one of the principal lords at the Court of Theodebert II.Monks of Ramsgate. "Faro". ''Book of Saints''
1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 23 February 2013 His brothers were

Saint Waldebert Waldebert (also known as Gaubert, Valbert and Walbert), (died 668), was a Frankish count of Guines, Ponthieu and Saint-Pol who became abbot of Luxeuil in the Order of St. Columban, and eventually a canonized saint in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

, count of Guines,

Ponthieu Ponthieu (, ) was one of six feudal counties that eventually merged to become part of the Province of Picardy, in northern France.Dunbabin.France in the Making. Ch.4. The Principalities 888-987 Its chief town is Abbeville. History Ponthieu play ...

and Saint-Pol who became abbot of

Luxeuil Luxeuil-les-Bains () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. History Luxeuil (sometimes rendered Luxeu in older texts) was the Roman Luxovium and contained many fine buildings ...

, and Chagnoald, who was

bishop of Laon The diocese of Laon in the present-day département of Aisne, was a Catholic diocese for around 1300 years, up to the French Revolution. Its seat was in Laon, France, with the Laon Cathedral. From early in the 13th century, the bishop of Laon ...

, while his sister was Saint Burgundofara,''Fara'' in Lambert, ch. 3. who founded the convent of Faremoûtiers. They were the children of Chagnoric,

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dy ...

.Butler, Alban. "St. Faro, Bishop of Meaux", ''The Lives of the Saints'', Vol.X, 1866
/ref> Faro spent his youth at the court of King

Theodobert II Theudebert II () (c.585-612), King of Austrasia (595–612 AD), was the son and heir of Childebert II. He received the kingdom of Austrasia plus the cities (''civitates'') of Poitiers, Tours, Le Puy-en-Velay, Bordeaux, and Châteaudun, as well ...

. He served his successor, Theodoric, and then

Clotaire II Chlothar II, sometime called "the Young" ( French: le Jeune), (May/June 584 – 18 October 629), was king of Neustria and king of the Franks, and the son of Chilperic I and his third wife, Fredegund. He started his reign as an infant under the r ...

. At court he employed his credit with the king to protect the innocent, the orphan, and the widow; and to relieve and comfort all that were in distress. On one occasion, when provoked at the insolent speeches of certain Saxon ambassadors, Clothaire had them cast them into prison, and swore he would cause them to be put to death. Faro first prevailed on him to defer the execution twenty-four hours, and afterwards not only to pardon them, but also to send them home loaded with presents. His sister, Burgundafara, had become an abbess, and in speaking with her, Faro formed the idea of giving up court life. Blidechilde, his wife, whose consent he asked, was in the same dispositions; and they parted by mutual consent. She took the religious veil, and retired to a solitary place upon one of her own estates. Faro received the tonsure and joined the clergy of Meaux. Faro, who inherited lands in Guines from his brother, count Waldebert, succeeded

Gundoald Gundoald or Gundovald was a Merovingian usurper king in the area of southern Gaul in either 584 or 585. He claimed to be an illegitimate son of Chlothar I and, with the financial support of the Emperor Maurice, took some major cities in southern ...

, probably a kinsman of his, as bishop of Meaux at some time between 625 and 637. He built a monastery at Estrouanne, near the English channel port of

Wissant Wissant (; from nl, Witzand, lang, “white sand”) is a seaside commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Wissant is a fishing port and farming village located approximately north of Boulog ...

, destroyed and burnt by Gormond and Isembart.

Saint Fiacre Saint Fiacre ( ga, Fiachra, la, Fiacrius) is the name of three different Irish saints, the most famous of which is Saint Fiacre of Breuil (c. AD 600 – 18 August 670), the Catholic priest, abbot, hermit, and gardener of the seventh century ...

approached Bishop Faro, as he had a desire to live a life of solitude in the forest. Faro assigned him a site at Breuil, in the region of Brie. Here Fiacre built an oratory in honour of the Virgin Mary, a hospice in which he received strangers, and a cell in which he himself lived apart.

Notes

External links

Saints of October 28
7th-century Burgundian bishops Bishops of Meaux 675 deaths 7th-century Frankish saints Year of birth unknown Colombanian saints {{France-saint-stub