ST SULPICIUS THE PIOUS - 17 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 17th of January

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SAINT SULPICIUS THE PIOUS, ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES

⬅️ Saint Sulpicius the Severe

[Sulpitius.] The Church of Bourges in France was founded by St Ursin, who was sent from Rome to preach the faith in Gaul. 

HE GOVERNED MANY YEARS THE CHURCH IN BOURGES

St Gregory of Tours, in his history, places his mission in the middle of the third century, yet in his book on the Glory of Confessors, he tell us, that he was ordained by the disciples of the apostles, and governed many years the church of Bourges, which he had planted. 

HIS REMAINS WERE TRANSLATED

He was interred in a common burial place in a field without the city; but his remains were translated thence by St Germanus, bishop of Paris, and abbot of St Symphorian’s, and by Probianus, bishop of Bourges, and deposited in the church of St Symphorian, now called St Ursin’s.  This saint is honoured in the Roman Martyrology on November 9; at Lisieux and some other places, on December 29. 

SULPICIUS THE SEVERE, ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES

Among the most eminent of his successors, two are called Sulpicius, and both surnamed Pious; the first, who is sometimes called the Severe, sat from the year 584 to 591, and his relics are enshrined in the church of St Ursin.

 SULPICIUS II, SURNAMED LE DEBONNAIRE, ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES

He is commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology. He was descended of a noble family in Berry, and educated in learning and piety. His large patrimony he gave to the church and poor; and being ordained priest, served king Clothaire II in quality of almoner and chaplain in his armies; and on a time when he lay dangerously ill, restored him to his health by prayer and fasting. 

In 624 he succeeded St Austregesilus, commonly called St Outrille, in the see of Bourges. 

HE REFORMED DISCIPLINE

He reformed discipline, converted all the Jews in his diocese, and employed his whole time in prayer and laborious functions, chiefly in the instruction of the poor. He died in 644. 

Among the letters of St Desiderius of Cahors, we have one which he sent to our saint with this title, "To the holy patriarch, Sulpicius;" and several of our saint to him. 

HIS RELICS

The famous monastery which bears his name at Bourges, is said to have been founded by him under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin; it now belongs to the congregation of St Maur, and is enriched with part of his relics, and with a portion of the blood of St Stephen, who is the titular saint of the stately cathedral. 

 From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints