ST RENATUS OF ANGERS - 12 NOVEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN NOVEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 12th of November 

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST RENATUS OF ANGERS, BISHOP

This holy bishop allegedly got his name from his miraculous rising from the grave by St Mauritius, of which certified history is unaware.

At a very tender age - so the story goes - before he was able to receive Baptism, he had died and was buried, but when said bishop prayed at his grave, the infant came back to life, so to speak he was "born again" and could thus be baptised. 

HE BECAME ST MAURITIUS' SUCCESSOR IN THE EPISCOPAL CHAIR

In fact Renatus eventually became his successor in the episcopal chair at Angers (in A.D. 426) and is  mentioned fifth in the succession. Some sources assign to him to be the eighth bishop in this see.

There are, moreover, claims that he might be identical with Renatus of Sorrento, but it seems quite improbable that he should have left his flock without any ecclesiastical authorisation to live as a hermit that far away. Therefore it can safely be assumed that latter is an altogether different bishop of this name.

HIS RELICS

The mortal remains of the holy Bishop Renatus initially rested in St Mauritius Church, and came to the cathedral on November 12 some time in the 9th century. In 1562 the Huguenots stole the silver edging and burned the relics. What was saved by them perished in the storm year of 1793. Only one leg of the saint was preserved in Our Lady's Church at Chalonnes. As a result of the legend mentioned at the beginning, he was previously especially venerated by pregnant women. His images usually portray the same miracle. In the Proprium of Angers, his commemoration is prescribed sub ritu duplici, and his main festival, which takes place on November 12, is celebrated with Octave.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)