SAINT HUNFRID, BISHOP OF THEROUANNE - 8 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 8th of March

SAINT HUNFRID, BISHOP OF THEROUANNE

A page of one of Fortunatus Hueber's
Saints' books,
"Stammenbuch..." (1693)

Saint Hunfrid (Hunfridus, Hunfredus, Huntfridus, Huntfredus, Humfridus, Humifridus Honfridus) was the successor of Saint Folcuinus and according to Zedler* (XLII. 1065) the 17th bishop of Terouenne (Thérouanne)(Tarvenna).

He came to Flanders (Morinum, Belgica secunda) as a bishop in A.D. 356 - i.e. at a time that was assessed by the second council of Toul as follows:  "all divine and human laws are despised, all monastic and ecclesiastical discipline is in confusion, and curses and lies, adultery and murder have gotten the upper hand." This council, which was held around the year 360 at the royal castle Tusey (Tusiacum), was co-signed by our bishop Hunfrid.

Not only did his diocese groan under the weight of great immorality and lawlessness. The belligerent Normans gave it a very hard time, too. Therouenne and all the surrounding country were terribly devastated by these aggressive intruders, and Hunfrid himself was expelled from his seat by them in 361,

Pope Nicholas I, whom our holy bishop approached regarding his current situation, comforted him in a fatherly letter. He exhorted Hunfrid to trust in the Lord and to gather his scattered flock again once peace had returned.

This Saint Hunfrid then did it with tireless zeal. In the ninth year of his episcopal office, the monks of Saint Bertin also elected him abbot.

After a 15-year episcopate, he died on March 8, 871. On April 5, 1108, a transmission of his body took place. The same was subsequently transferred to Ypres after the conquest and destruction of the city by Charles V (in 1553). The breviary of the Diocese of Terouenne mentions a translation of his relics on August 16, 1542 ("ostensio S. Hunfredi Ep.") His name appears in several martyrologies, but not in the Roman Martyrology*. The Bollandists* list him on March 8. (I. 790–793)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, pp. 804-05)

*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 Hunfrid 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.