ST REMBERT, BISHOP - 4 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

Saints celebrated on the 4th of February

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SAINT REMBERT, BISHOP 

Saint Rembert [Archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, Germany] was a native of Flanders, near Bruges, and a monk in the neighbouring monastery of Turholt. St Anscharius [Ansgar] called him to his assistance in his missionary labours, and in his last sickness recommended him for his successor, saying: “Rembert is more worthy to be archbishop, than I to discharge the office of his deacon.” 

HE SOLD SACRED VESSELS TO REDEEM CAPTIVES

After his death, in 865, St Rembert was unanimously chosen archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, and superintended all the churches of Sweden, Denmark, and the Lower Germany, finishing the work of their conversion. He also began the conversion of the Sclavi and the Vandals, now called Brandenburgers. He sold the sacred vessels to redeem captives from the Normans; and gave the horse on which he was riding for the ransom of a virgin taken by the Sclavi. 

HE WAS MOST CAREFUL NEVER TO LOSE A MOMENT OF TIME FROM SERIOUS DUTIES AND PRAYER

He was most careful never to lose a moment of time from serious duties and prayer; and never to interrupt the attention of his mind to God in his exterior functions. He died on June 11, 888, but is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on February 4, the day on which he was chosen archbishop. 

HIS BIOGRAPHY OF ST ANSGAR

His life of St Anscharius is admired, both for the author’s accuracy and piety, and for the elegance and correctness of the composition. His letter to Walburge, first abbess of Nienherse, is a pathetic exhortation to humility and virginity. 

THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH FOR ALL THE NORTH OF GERMANY

The see of Hamburg being united to Bremen by St Anscharius, this became the metropolitan church of all the north of Germany: but the city becoming Lutheran, expelled the archbishop in the reign of Charles V. This see and that of Verden were secularised and yielded to the Swedes by the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648. 

From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints 

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Rembert may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.