ST LUBENTIUS, PRIEST AND CONFESSOR

ST LUBENTIUS, PRIEST AND CONFESSOR - 13 OCTOBER

SAINT LUBENTIUS, PRIEST AND CONFESSOR

Saint Lubentius (commemorated on October 13) - known in French as Saint Louveins - was a priest and confessor at Cobern (Cubrinus) in the Diocese of Trier. According to the records cited by the Bollandists*, his parents entrusted him to Saint Martin, Bishop of Tours, who subsequently stood as his sponsor at baptism. Later, Martin is said to have taken him along to Trier as a companion and entrusted him to the local bishop, Saint Maximinus. However, the Bollandists* rightly question this account (nos. 6-7), given that Saint Maximinus of Trier died as early as 349, whereas Saint Martin did not become Bishop of Tours until 370 (or, by other accounts, between 371 and 375) - having received baptism only in 334 or 337. In any case, it is certain - and recorded in an old Trier breviary - that Saint Maximinus ordained Saint Lubentius as a priest and appointed him pastor of Cobern, near Koblenz on the left bank of the Moselle. After Saint Maximinus had returned to his relatives in Aquitaine and died there, his successor, Saint Paulinus, commissioned Saint Lubentius to travel to Aquitaine with a delegation of clergy and laypeople to bring the body of his holy predecessor back to Trier. There, in response to his fervent prayer, the burial place of Saint Maximinus was revealed to him, and he successfully brought the remains back to Trier. He subsequently served for some time as a beneficial parish priest in Cobern and died during the reign of the Arian Emperor Constantius (who ruled from 353 to 361) - although, according to Castellanus*, he supposedly did not die until 369 (under Emperor Valentinian I). In any event, he died before Saint Martin became Bishop of Tours. When attempts were made to bury him in Cobern, it proved impossible to move his holy body from the spot; it was therefore decided to entrust his remains to the Moselle River on a small boat. This vessel carried him first past Koblenz - where the Moselle and Rhine converge - then up the Rhine to Lahnstein (formerly Loginstein) at the mouth of the Lahn River (Logana or Laugona), and finally several miles up the Lahn to Dietkirchen near Limburg - a place said to have been founded by a certain Diether or Dietger - where he was solemnly laid to rest. A collegiate church was later established there in honour of Saint Lubentius, and his feast day was celebrated annually on October 13. However, the feast is also observed in Trier and in Cobern, where - according to the Trier ecclesiastical directory available to us - the parish church is dedicated to Saint Lubentius. (VI. 200-204).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 3, Augsburg, 1869, pp. 865-66)

*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 Lubentius 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.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org

BL. LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR 16th century houses, painted by Auguste Mayer He was born in the bishopric of Durham, according to Raissius ; others say at Richmond, in Yorkshire. He was master of arts in one of our universities; but going abroad to Douay, in Flanders, was received into the English college there, 1576, and made priest in 1577; and the year following sent upon the mission. Where he had not been long before he again went abroad, and travelled to Rome, partly for devotion, and partly for further improvement in learning. Here he remained in the English college till 1580, when he returned into England, and was not long after apprehended: for I find by a printed diary of things transacted in the Tower of London from 1580 till 1585, that on the 5th of December, 1580, Luke Kirby, Thomas Cottam , and other priests, were brought to the Tower from other prisons; and that these two, on the 10th...

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