SAINT MODOALD, ARCHBISHOP OF TRIER - 12 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 12th of May

SAINT MODOALD, ARCHBISHOP OF TRIER

Saint Modoald (Modoaldus), bishop of Trier [Treves], earned the honorary title of "father and protector of the miserable" from the citizens of the city owing to his charity and apostolic self-sacrifice. 

Relics of him are found in Trier at St Matthias outside the city, in Cologne at St Gereon and at St Jacob in Liège. 

Variants of his name are Modowaldus and Rodoaldus. However, the year of his death is not known. The Bollandists* place his episcopal activity between A.D. 622 and 640; so does the Gall. Christiana*. But according to the annals of Lobbach (Pertx, mon. hist. Germ. VI. script. IV. 11) St Modoald was still alive in the year 647, as this sentence proves: "Modoaldus, brother of Itta, Gertrude's mother, Archbishop of Trier, and his sister, the abbess Severa, shine through their sanctity." 

Some of his episcopal duties are also chronologically fixed. He took part in a council at Reims in 625 and received a letter of thanks from Bishop Desiderius of Cahors (Cadurcum) for the benefits he had received. He also founded the monastery of Horreum near Trier (later St Irmina). Moreover, he built the St Martin's Church (Martinskirche) in Münster-Maienfeld. The founding of the "Pfalzl" (Palatiolum) monastery, formerly a villa on the Moselle belonging to King Pepin, is also attributed to him. Butler* states that his death occurred on May 12, 640, as do the Bollandists*. On this date his name is also listed in the Roman Martyrology*.  

The saint's tomb was first located at St Symphorian. When, in April 882, the Normans devastated the area, the nuns prayed at the tomb of St Modoald asking for a speedy death for their innocence to be preserved. They were heard; they all died on the same day by the sword of the Normans. 

St Modoald is also commemorated on February 15, April 16, and May 16.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Modoald 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.