Subj : August 24th - St. Audoenus To : All From : rich Date : Fri Aug 23 2019 09:23:44 From: rich August 24th - St. Audoenus, or Ouen, Bishop of Rouen d. 684 St. Ouen (Dado) was born at Sancy, near Soissons, about 6oo, of a Frankish family, his father being St. Authaire. While he and his brother Ado were still children, living at Ussy-sur-Marne, their father entertained the exiled St. Columban in his house.=C2 The brothers were educated well and when they were of sufficient age were put at the court of King Clotaire II, where Ouen became one of a group of remarkable young men which included St. Eligius, St. Wandrille and St. Didier of Cahors.=C2 Ouen was in great favour with the king and with his son and successor, Dagobert I, who made him his referendary or chancellor; in this office Ouen steadily opposed the prevalent simony. =C2 He obtained of the king a grant of a piece of land situated in the forest of Brie where, in 636, he erected a monastery, called at present Rebais. By the advice of St. Faro, Bishop of Meaux, he sent for Aile, a disciple of St. Columban from Luxeuil, and had him appointed the first abbot. St. Ouen would have retired himself to Rebais, but Dagobert and his nobles could not be induced to give their consent.=C2 St. Ouen and St. Eligius, though yet laymen, were for their zeal, piety and learning considered as equals even of the bishops, and they promoted the cause of religion and virtue through the whole kingdom. Dagobert dying in 639, Clovis II, his son and successor, testified the same esteem for St. Ouen, and kept him in the office of referendary. At length Clovis was prevailed upon to give Ouen leave to receive ordination from Dieudonn=C3=A9, Bishop of Macon, and he was shortly after elected bishop of Rouen ; at the same time his friend St. Eligius was chosen bishop of Noyon. They took a considerable time to prepare themselves for this dignity, by retreat, fasting and prayer, and received the episcopal consecration together at Rheims in 641. St. Ouen in this new office increased his humility, austerities and charities. His zeal was indefatigable, and by his kindness and patience he was truly all things to all men.=C2 He encouraged learning by the foundation of monasteries, and sent missionaries to those parts of his diocese that were still pagan=C2 nor did he slacken his efforts for extirpating simony and other abuses. He was a trusted adviser of King Thierry III and upheld the policy of Ebroin, the mayor of the palace, to such a degree that he was, perhaps inculpably, involved in Ebroin's ill-treatment of St. Leger and of St. Philibert.=C2 Returning from a political mission to Cologne, St. Ouen went to Clichy, and there fell ill and died, on August 24, 684. The earliest of the lives of St. Ouen dates from the beginning of the eighth century, and has been critically edited by W. Levison in MGH., Scritores Merov., vol. v, pp. 536-567. Levison also comments (pp. 548 seq.) on the two ninth-century lives the formee of which is printed with the first-named in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. iv, and the latter in the Analecta Ballandiana, vol. v, pp. 76-146.=C2 By far the best modern contribution to the history of St. Ouen is that of E. Vacandard, Vie de Saint Ouen (1902).=C2 He has in particular rectified in several points the chronology of previous writers.=C2 For miracles attributed to relics of St. Ouen at Canterbury, see Analecta Boliandiana, vol. li (1933), pp. 285-292, and vol. lxiv (1946), pp. 50-53. Saint Quote: I am a Christian.=C2 It seemed a while ago as if God rejected me as a stone unfit to enter His building, but He has the goodness to take me now to be placed in it; I am ready to suffer all things for His name, that I may have a part in His kingdom with His Saints. --St Serenus Bible Quote This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.=C2 Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.=C2 You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you.=C2 (John 15:12-14) <><><><> A Prayer of Self-Dedication Lord my God, rescue me from myself and give me to You. Take away everything that draws me from You and give me all those things that lead me to You, for the sake of Christ, our Lord. Amen Abbot Louis de Blois O.S.B. (1506-1566) --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .