• August 24th - St. Audoenus

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Fri Aug 23 09:23:44 2019
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    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)

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