Saint Vindicianus (''Vindician'') (french: link=no, Vindicien) ( 632 – 712) was a

bishop of Cambrai-Arras The Archdiocese of Cambrai ( la, Archdiocesis Cameracensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-Hel ...

. 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 11 March. He is called a spiritual follower of

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 collecting, coin collectors. He is also the patron saint of veterinarians, the Royal Elect ...

(Saint Eloi).

Life

Traditionally, his birthplace is given as

Bullecourt Bullecourt () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region in France. Geography Bullecourt lies on the Upper Cretaceous plain of Artois between Arras and Bapaume and east of the A1 motorway. Thisatellite photographs ...

, near

Bapaume Bapaume (original Dutch name Batpalmen) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. The inhabitants of this commune are known as ''Bapalmois'' or ''Bapalmoises''. Geography Bapaume is a farmi ...

. This is the birthplace indicated in the documents dating much later than the saint's death, but which claim to reproduce an ancient local tradition. Nothing is known of his early years.Van der Essen, Léon. "St. Vindicianus." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 2 December 2021 On the death of

St. Aubert Saint Aubert, also known as Saint Autbert, was bishop of Avranches in the 8th century and is credited with founding Mont Saint-Michel. Life Aubert lived in France during the reign of Childebert III (695-711) and died about 720. He was born o ...

, Bishop of Cambrai-Arras (about 668), Vindicianus was elected his successor. He was bishop of this see in the reign of

Theuderic III Theuderic III (or Theuderich, Theoderic, or Theodoric; french: Thierry) (c. 651–691) was the king of Neustria (including Burgundy) on two occasions (673 and 675–691) and king of Austrasia from 679 to his death in 691. Thus, he was the king of ...

of Neustria (about 673). The author of the ''

Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium The ''Deeds of the Bishops of Cambrai'' ( la, Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium) is an anonymous Latin history of the diocese of Cambrai. It was commissioned around 1024 by Bishop Gerard I of Cambrai and completed shortly after his death in 1051. It ...

'' (written 1024 or 1025, but generally trustful) declares that he didn't know the duration of the episcopate of Vindicianus. Legend has crept into the history of the holy bishop, but the following facts may be regarded as certain. In 673 Vindicianus supervised the translation of the body of St. Maxellende to

Caudry Caudry () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Its inhabitants are called theCaudrésiens. The town is mostly known as the Capital City of French Lace (along with Calais). Caudry station has rail connections to Douai, Cambr ...

. In the same year he consecrated the monastery of

Honnecourt-sur-Escaut Honnecourt-sur-Escaut (, literally '' Honnecourt on Escaut'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of ...

, which was given in 685 to St.

Bertin Bertin ( la, Bertinus; 615 – ''c''. 709 AD), also known as Saint Bertin the Great, was the Franks, Frankish abbot of a monastery in Saint-Omer later named the Abbey of Saint Bertin after him. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic and Ort ...

. In 675 he signed a charter of donation in favour of the abbey at Maroilles, rendered illustrious by St. Humbert (Emebertus). In the same year he consecrated the church at

Hasnon Hasnon () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperate in the ...

. He was probably in relation with St. Arnaud of Tongeren, since we find his signature to the latter's testament in 679. In 681 he claimed for his diocese the honour of possessing the body of St. Léger, the unfortunate victim of the political strife which was then filling Neustria with blood, but he did not succeed, the remains of St. Léger being confided to

Ansoald Ansoald ( la, Ansoaldus) was the bishop of Poitiers from 676 until about 696.This is according to . , write that his dates are unknown. Ansoald was probably a Burgundian from the region around Autun. He inherited land from both his parents near ...

Bishop of Poitiers The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Poitiers (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Pictaviensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Poitiers'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in France. The archepiscopal see is in the city of Poitiers. Th ...

. His predecessor,

, had founded the

Abbey of Saint-Vaast The Abbey of St Vaast (french: Abbaye de Saint-Vaast) was a Benedictine monastery situated in Arras, ''département'' of Pas-de-Calais, France. History The abbey was founded in 667. Saint Vedast, or Vaast (c. 453–540) was the first Bishop ...

, the building of which he had been unable to complete; Vindicianus finished it, apparently in 682, and placed it temporalities under the protection of Thierry III, who conferred numerous gifts on the monastery. In 685 a certain Hatta was placed at its head by Vindicianus. In the following year Vindicianusr dedicated the church at Hamaye-les-Marchienne, and acted at the exhumation of the bodies of Sts. Eusebia and Gertrude of Hamage, who had been abbesses of the monastery of that name.Cristiani, Léon. "Liste chronologique des saints de France, des origines à l'avènement des carolingiens", ''Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France'', 1945, p. 82
/ref> The events of his life after this date (686) are unknown. The first recorded reference to Brussels ("Brosella") in 695 is attributed to him. He died about 695 and was buried at Ecoivres wood on

Mont-Saint-Éloi Mont-Saint-Éloi (; vls, Sint-Elooisberg) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Mont-Saint-Éloi is situated northwest of Arras, at the junction of the D341 and the D49 roads, on the ban ...

. The region was ravaged by the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...

in the ninth century, and on more than one occasion the

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

of the saint were in danger, until in 1030 Bishop

Gerard I of Cambrai Gerard of Florennes (ca 975, bishop 1012 – 14 March 1051), bishop of Cambrai as Gerard I, had formerly been chaplain to Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, and helpful to the latter in his political negotiations with Robert the Pious, King of France. In ...

had his body removed to the episcopal city. After having been at

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...

and

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

, the relics were returned to Mont-St-Eloi in 1453. After still further translations, especially in 1598 and 1601, the body was finally placed in the cathedral at Arras.

References

External links

Vindician at ''Patron Saints Index''
{{Authority control 8th-century Frankish saints 632 births 712 deaths Bishops of Arras Bishops of Cambrai 7th-century translators 7th-century Frankish writers 7th-century Latin writers