ROGER, BISHOP OF ORLEANS - 1 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH 

Saints celebrated on the 1st of March

ROGER, BISHOP OF ORLEANS

Roger (Rogerius) was bishop of Orleans, the 75th in the succession. Some sources refer to him as "Saint Roger." Public veneration was shown to him at all times; the people made pilgrimages to his grave, where their prayers were answered abundantly.

Great humility, impeccable conduct, and fervent piety were some of the virtues Roger possessed. 

His father was Gaudefridus (Guido), lord of Le Fort. Roger first saw the light of day in Ternes (Castrum de Ternis) in the Limousin. 

According to the custom of that time, he received several ecclesiastical dignities at a very young age. When he was unanimously elected bishop of Orleans in A.D. 1321, he was not at all willing to accept this office, humbly stating that the electors were ill-informed about his person. 

The senate immediately confirmed to him, probably at his instigation, the privilege of old granted to the chief shepherds of Orleans, that, on their first entry into the city, they had the right to set the prisoners free, irrespective of what they were incarcerated for. 

He also donated income to the monastery at Vierzon (Virzio) and was therefore regarded as its second founder. At his birthplace, he built a monastery, too, where he introduced the Celestine monks. 

It is doubtful that he also became bishop of Limoges, although his biography states this, because Roger's name is not listed in the registers of this church. At Bourges, on the other hand, where he mounted the archbishop's chair in 1343, he is counted as the 77th or 79th chief shepherd. 

A most severe fire, which afflicted this city in 1357, he took as an occasion for admonitions and penitence. Upon the Holy See's permission, he solemnly raised the mortal remains of Saint Odilo in 1345. Whether he attended the elevation of Saint Majolus, as some sources suggest, is uncertain. 

The annals record that the feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary was introduced by Roger in 1324, a visitation to the monastery of Longpont made by him and the Archbishop of Vienne, and a myriad of ecclesiastical engagements.

According to his epitaph, Roger died, 90 years old, on March 1, 1367. The Bollandists* state the year 1368 as the year of death. What he left in his will went to poor boys to finance their keep and studies. (I. 119–122)

This holy bishop is also commemorated on August 5.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 5, Augsburg, 1882, p. 122)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations