ST GENEBALD, BISHOP OF LAON - 5 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 5th of September

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 GENEBALD, BISHOP OF LAON

According to the Bollandists, Saint Genebald (Genebandus) was a friend and contemporary of St Remigius of Reims, who had consecrated him Bishop of Laon.

SCANDAL IN THE CHURCH

As a bishop he agreed with his wife for them to live separated, in order to adhere to the rules of the church regarding abstinence. However, after the mutual agreement, he had two more children with her and caused scandal as a result.

HE WENT TO ATONE FOR HIS FALL

He then went on to atone for his fall in a narrow cell adjacent to the church of St Julian, where he remained for seven years, practising most severe penance.

Probably it is thanks to St Remigius that he withdrew and renounced the episcopal office. 

AFTERWARDS, HE LED A VERY EDIFYING LIFE

Since St Remigius died in 532, the consecration of St Genebaldus is assumed to have taken place  in the second decade of the sixth century. After he had made up for the scandal in the way described above and had learned through higher inspiration that his debt had now been paid, he once more took on the government of his church and continued it happily until the end of the century. According to Butler, the way of life which he led afterwards was very edifying.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858 - 🎨 St Remigius, a painting by Master of Saint Giles. The four figures in the right foreground are Genebald, his wife, and the two children born while he was bishop of Laon.)