SAINT RABANUS MAURUS, ARCHBISHOP OF MAINZ - 4 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

Saints celebrated on the 4th of February

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SAINT RABANUS MAURUS, ARCHBISHOP OF MAINZ

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

Saint Rabanus (Rhabanus, Hrabanus, Rahanus) Magnentius Maurus was born in Mainz on February 2, 788 of an old and respected Frankish family. When he was about nine years old, his parents took him to Fulda to study with Abbot Baugolf (780-802). Around A.D. 803 or a little earlier, since Alcuin died on May 19, 804, Abbot Rathar sent him, along with his fellow brother and classmate Hatto, to Alcuin to complete his education. There he stayed for a year. Alcuin was the one who gave his favourite pupil the surname Maurus. The stay in Tours was and remained the saint's dearest memory throughout his life.

Rabanus is said to have made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. After his return he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Heistolf of Mainz (in 815).

In 822 he became abbot. He endeavoured to inspire everyone around him. "It is not enough," he repeated often and urgently, "to be called a Christian; one must really follow Christ."

Under the leadership of such a great man it was natural that the name of the monastery of Fulda should become famous throughout the Frankish Empire and beyond. In 829, we find Rabanus in the documents as having attended the Synod in Mainz and also the Reichstag in Worms. He built more than thirty small churches (oratoria) and a new monastery on the Petersberg, which he staffed with monks from Fulda. He translated Saint Lioba's mortal remains.

Due to illness he handed over the leadership of the abbey to his pupil and friend Hatto (Bonosus). Afterwards, from April 842 onwards, he lived in the deepest seclusion on the Petersberg. 

Several years later, in 847, he became archbishop of Mainz. Although the saint was by then already 71 years old, he left the quiet solitude of the monastic cell and received episcopal ordination on June 26 (24) of that year. Even as archbishop, he retained his previous way of life. He neither ate meat nor drank alcohol, although his physical weakness increased with age. It seemed he was determined to work with the zeal of a new convert.

He travelled up and down the district with able priests, preached didactic and penitential sermons, and reconciled penitents to God. The records mention the inauguration of the new church in Hersfeld, built by King Ludwig, by Rabanus in 852.

During the following years - which is not surprising given his old age and his strict, tirelessly active lifestyle - he was often ill and bedridden. Saint Rabanus died on February 6. 857.

The Mainz and in the Limburg Proper listed Saint Rabanus as a teacher of the church since the beginning of the 17th century. Because of his many writings, he already had the nickname "Armoury of Science" (armarium scientiae) during his lifetime.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 5, Augsburg, 1882, pp. 80-86)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

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