ST TURIAF, BISHOP OF DOL - 13 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 13th of July

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 TURIAF, BISHOP OF DOL

[Often called Turiave, sometimes Thivisiau.]  

Saint Turiaf was born in the diocese of Vannes, in the neighbourhood of the abbey of Ballon, near which Charles the Bald was defeated by the Britons in 845; in which war this monastery seems to have been destroyed. 

THIS MONASTERY SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN DESTROYED

Turiaf went young to Dol, was instructed in piety and learning, and promoted to holy orders by St Thiarmail, abbot of St Samson’s and bishop of Dol. 

This prelate afterwards appointed him his vicar and chorepiscopus, and at his death, probably in 733, our saint was placed in that episcopal chair. 

AN AUSTERE LIFE

Admirable was the austerity of his life, his zeal, his charity, his watchfulness, his fervour in prayer, and his firmness in maintaining discipline. 

A powerful lord named Rivallon having committed many acts of violence, the bishop went to his castle at Lanncafrut, and by his strong remonstrances made him sensible of the enormity of his crimes. By the bishop’s injunction he underwent a canonical penance during seven years, and repaired all injustices and oppressions by a sevenfold satisfaction. 

DREADFUL FIRES WERE EXTINGUISHED BY HIS RELICS

St Turiaf died on July 13, probably about the year 749, though even the age is not certain. In the wars of the Normans his relics were brought to Paris and are still kept in the abbey of St Germain-des-Prez. 

The new Paris breviary mentions that dreadful fires have been sometimes miraculously extinguished by them. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)