Albaud of Toul explained

Saint Albaud of Toul,[1] otherwise Aladius or Albin[2] (d. c. 525) was a 6th-century bishop of Toul. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic church with a feast day celebrated on 1 March.

Biography

Albaud was a priest and a close friend of Saint Evre, whom he succeeded as the eighth bishop of Toul, in which post he served between approximately 507 and 525. He completed the church begun by his predecessor[3] and dedicated to him. He also founded a religious community for men to which he gave the Rule of Agaunum, the origin of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Evre.

His residence, built in the 6th century, constituted the first bishop's palace and was known as the Curia Albaudi or Cour Saint Albaud. It remained till the 13th century,[4] when it was demolished during the construction of the present cathedral. It was located near the cloister.

Veneration

Albaud died about 525 and his body was buried in the church of the Abbey of St. Evre. Saint Gauzelin, thirty-second bishop of Toul, who ministered between 922 and 962, disinterred his remains and placed them in a reliquary.

The feast of Saint Albaud is celebrated on 1 March. For centuries, pilgrims came to venerate his relics and to receive from the monks a distribution of specially blessed wine, known as the vinage or vinaigre de Saint Albaud. Until the 19th century, the inhabitants of Toul retained this tradition, having the wine blessed in the abbey.[5] This drink was given to the sick in the hope that it might heal them.

Albaud's successor was Trifsorich of Toul.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Histoire du diocèse de Toul et de celui de Nancy, par l'abbé Pierre-Étienne Guillaume. Nancy. Thomas et Pierron. 1866
  2. Eugène Martin, Histoire des diocèses de Toul, de Nancy et de Saint-Dié, vol. 2, éd. A. Crépin-Leblond, 1901
  3. Marcelin Chéry, Saint Epvre, VIIe évêque de Toul: sa vie, son abbaye, son culte, ed. Poussièlgue, 1866,
  4. Jean-Luc Fray, Villes et bourgs de Lorraine: réseaux urbains et centralité au Moyen Âge, Presses universitaires Blaise Pascal, décembre 2007.
  5. Victor-Emmanuel Tihay, La vie des Saints: lectures chrétiennes pour tous les jours de l'année, contenant toutes les légendes du bréviaire romain et des notices sur les saints honorés dans les anciennes provinces de Lorraine et de Champagne, éd. J. B. Laurent, 1865