Saint Trudo (Tron, Trond, Trudon, Trutjen, Truyen) (died ca. 698) was a saint of the seventh century. He is called the "Apostle of

Hesbaye The Hesbaye ( French, ), or Haspengouw (Dutch and Limburgish, ) is a traditional cultural and geophysical region in eastern Belgium. It is a loamy plateau region which forms a watershed between the Meuse and Scheldt drainage basins. It has be ...

" (partly in the provinces of

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

and

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

). 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 celebrated on 23 November. Devoted from his earliest youth to the service of God, Trudo came to St.

Remaclus Saint Remaclus (Remaculus, Remacle, Rimagilus; died 673) was a Benedictine missionary bishop. Life Remaclus grew up at the Aquitanian ducal court and studied under Sulpitius the Pious, bishop of Bourges. In 625 he became a monk at Luxeuil Abbe ...

Bishop of Liège A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

(''

Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. The project w ...

'', I Sept., 678) and was sent by him to Chlodulph,

Bishop of Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Es ...

. Here he received his education at the Church of St. Stephen, to which he always showed a strong affection and donated his later foundation. After his ordination he returned to his native district, preached the Gospel, and built a church at ''Sarchinium'', on the River Cicindria. It was blessed about 656 by

Theodard of Maastricht Theodard of Maastricht was a seventh-century bishop of Maastricht-Liège, in present-day Netherlands. As Theodard was murdered while on his way to protest the plundering of his diocese by Frankish nobles, he is considered a martyr. His feast day ...

, in honour of Sts. Quintinus and Remigius. Disciples gathered about him and in course of time a monastery developed, the later

Sint-Truiden Abbey Sint-Truiden Abbey or St Trudo's Abbey ( nl, Abdij van Sint-Truiden, Abdij van Sint-Trudo; french: Abbaye de Saint-Trond) is a former Benedictine monastery in Sint-Truiden (named after Saint Trudo) in the Limburg (Belgium), province of Limburg Be ...

. The convent for women, established by him at Odeghem near

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

, later also bore his name (''

Gallia Christiana The ''Gallia Christiana'', a type of work of which there have been several editions, is a documentary catalogue or list, with brief historical notices, of all the Catholic dioceses and abbeys of France from the earliest times, also of their occupan ...

'', Paris, 1887, V, 281) (see

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 muni ...

Veneration

After death he was buried in the church erected by himself. A translation of his

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 ...

, together with those of St. Eucherius,

Bishop of Orléans A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, who had died there in exile in 743, was made in 880 by Franco, Bishop of Liège. On account of the threatened inroads of 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 ...

the relics were later hidden in a subterranean

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

. After the great conflagration of 1085 they were lost, but again discovered in 1169, and on 11 August that year an official recognition and translation was made by Bishop Rudolph III. On account of these translations the dates 5 and 12 August, and 1 and 2 September, are noted in the martyrologies. The ''Analecta Bollandiana'' (V, 305) give an old office of the saint in verse. The life was written by Donatus, a deacon of Metz, at the order of his bishop, Angibram (769-91). It was rewritten by Theodoric, Abbot of St Trond (d. 1107).

External links

San Trudone

Saint Trudo on BALaT - Belgian Art Links and Tools (KIK-IRPA)
{{authority control 698 deaths 7th-century Frankish saints Abbots of Sint-Truiden Belgian Roman Catholic saints Year of birth unknown is:Þrándur no:Trond