Saint Rumbold (or ''Rumold'', ''Romuold'', la, Rumoldus, nl, Rombout, french: Rombaut) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

or Scottish Christian

missionary A missionary is a member of a 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.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

, although his true nationality is not known for certain. He was

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed near Mechelen by two men, whom he had denounced for their evil ways. Saint Rumbold's feast day is celebrated by the

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, and

Western Rite Orthodox Western Rite Orthodoxy, also called Western Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Western Rite, are congregations within the Eastern Orthodox tradition which perform their liturgy in Western forms. Besides altered versions of the Tridentine Mass, congrega ...

Churches, on 24 June; and it is celebrated in Ireland on 3 July. He is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Mechelen, where St. Rumbold's Cathedral possesses an elaborate golden shrine on its high altar, containing

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 tang ...

attributed to the saint. It is rumoured that his remains are buried inside the cathedral. Twenty-five paintings in the choir illustrate his life.

Life and legend

Rumbold is assumed to have been consecrated a regionary

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. Aodh Buidhe Mac an Bhaird (c. 1590–1635) argued that Rumbold had been born in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He is also said to have been a Bishop of Dublin, the son of a Scottish king, and the brother of Saint Himelin. He is assumed to have worked under St. Willibrord in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and Brabant, and also to have been a close companion of the

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St. Gummarus, and of the preacher monk Fredegand van Deurne, who, according to one tradition, maintained contact with St. Foillan (who was murdered in the

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around 665). St. Rumbold's biography, written around 1100 AD by Theodoricus, prior of

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The mun ...

Abbey, caused 775 to be the traditional year of the saint's death. The surrounding areas of Mechelen however, had been Christianized much earlier. In 2004 a state-of-the-art examination of the relics assumed to be St. Rumbold's showed a death date between 580 and 655. This would make Saint Rumbold a Hiberno-Scottish rather than an

Anglo-Saxon mission Anglo-Saxon missionaries were instrumental in the spread of Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century, continuing the work of Hiberno-Scottish missionaries which had been spreading Celtic Christianity across the Frankish Empire a ...

ary, and not a contemporary of either St. Willibrord, St. Himelin, or St. Gummarus.

St. Rumwold of Buckingham

There has been some historical confusion between Rumbold of Mechelen and the infant Saint Rumwold of Buckingham, who died in 662 AD at the age of 3 days. The latter has become referred to as Romwold, Rumwald, Runwald, Rumbald, or Rumbold. A compilation of three saints' lives as translated by Rosalind Love mentioned that on 15th-century records in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

, an unknown author 'corrected' the attribution as "martyr" (possibly the Rumbold murdered in Mechelen) by annotating "confessor" (fitting in the miraculous infant Rumwold who was not a martyr). Also, the original dedication of churches to a St. Rumbold in Northern England appears uncertain.

Gallery

File:Saint Rumbold arc.JPG, St. Rumbold's statue in St. Rumbold's Cathedral, Mechelen, situated through the arch on the right side. File:Saint Rumbold in Basilica Hanswijk 1.JPG, Saint Rumbold on a painting in the Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk, Mechelen. File:Reliekschrijn Sint-Rombaut; Mechelen.JPG, Relics attributed to Saint Rumbold in their shrine, carried along ''Veemarkt'' (Cattle Market), Mechelen. File:Saint Rumbold in Basilica Hanswijk 2.JPG, Saint Rumbold's statue in the Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk, Mechelen. File:Mechelen - Catedral.JPG, St. Rumbold's Cathedral, Mechelen, treasury of St. Rumbold's reliquary shrine. File:Mechelen - Catedral - Interior.JPG, St. Rumbold's Cathedral; at the far end stands the statue of ''Sanctus Rumoldus'', aka Saint Rumbold, above the high altar.

References

External links

Saint Patrick's Day Saints Index: Rumold(us)Saints Index at Catholic Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumbold 775 deaths Belgian Roman Catholic saints 8th-century Irish priests 8th-century Frankish bishops Medieval Irish saints on the Continent Merovingian saints Irish expatriates in the Netherlands Year of birth unknown