Saint Gaugericus, in French Saint Géry (also known as Gorik, Gau; in Walloon, Djèri) ( 550 – August 11, 619) was a bishop of Cambrai,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Biography

He was born to Roman parents, Gaudentius and Austadiola, at ''Eposium'' (present Carignan). Tradition states that Bishop Magnerich, successor of Saint Nicetas as Bishop of Trier, was so impressed with the piety of the young man that he ordained him deacon, but not before Gaugericus had memorized the entire

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

. Magnerich entrusted Gaugericus with the pastoral care of the city of

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

Bishop

When the see of Cambrai-Arras fell vacant around 585, Gaugericus was elected bishop with the consent of

Childebert II Childebert II ( – 596) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia (which included Provence at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted son of his uncle Guntram. Childh ...

.Butler, Alban. “Saint Gery, or Gaugericus, Bishop and Confessor”. ''Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints'', 1866. CatholicSaints.Info. 11 August 2016
/ref> Gaugericus was consecrated by Egidius, bishop of Reims. Bishop Géry devoted himself to fighting paganism, ransoming captives and visiting rural districts and '' villae''. Gaugericus founded churches and abbeys, including a monastery dedicated to St. Medard, to host relics, which contributed powerfully to giving Cambrai both the appearance and functions of a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

. He himself went on pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Martin in

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

. Géry also built a church dedicated to Saint Martin, where he had relics of this saint deposited. The bell tower of this church was to become, much later, the city's belfry. His work was crucial to the development of the city, particularly in terms of the number of buildings he left behind and the pilgrimages he attracted. Between 584 and 590, he transferred the episcopal see from Arras to Cambrai. He maintained close relations with King

Chlothar II Chlothar II, sometimes called "the Young" ( French: le Jeune), (May/June 584 – 18 October 629) was king of the Franks, ruling Neustria (584–629), Burgundy (613–629) and Austrasia (613–623). The son of Chilperic I and his third wife, Fred ...

, the new lord of Cambrai after the death of Childebert, and assisted at the

Council of Paris The Council of Paris ( French: ''Conseil de Paris'', ) is the deliberative body responsible for governing Paris, the capital of France. It possesses both the powers of a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') and those of a departmental co ...

in 614.

Traditions

According to tradition, around the year 580 Gaugericus built a chapel on the largest island in the Senne near

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Saint-Géry Island is named after the church. A legend holds that Géry built a chapel (to Saint Michael, later the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula), which soon became a church and gave birth to the city of Brussels, from which he had chased a dragon whose lair was located where the impasse de la Poupée (formerly the impasse du Dragon) was later built.

Veneration

After serving as bishop for thirty-nine years, he died August 11, 619 and was buried in the church of Saint Médard, which he had founded at

. Veneration commenced immediately after his death. His

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

is mentioned in the

martyrology A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by na ...

Rabanus Maurus Rabanus Maurus Magnentius ( 780 – 4 February 856), also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, theologian, poet, encyclopedist and military writer who became archbishop of Mainz in East Francia. He was the author of t ...

for August 11.

Relics

When the church of Saint Medard was demolished by the emperor Charles V for the building of the citadel, the canons were removed, and took with them the relics of the saint, to the old church of Saint Vedast, which from that time has borne the name of Saint Gery. The Church of Saint-Géry is one of the oldest in Cambrai, and a listed historical monument since 1919. Relics of the saint were given to Carignan, to the church of Saint-Géry in Valenciennes, to the abbey of Saint-Sépulcre in Cambrai, which became a cathedral after the destruction of the old one after the Revolution, to the abbey of Arras, to the abbey of Liessies, to the collegiate church of Saint-Pierre in Douai, to the church of Saint-Donat in Bruges, to the church of Saint-Géry in Bierne, and to the church of Saint-Géry in Brussels8. His reliquary is still on display in the south transept of the church of Saint-Géry in Cambrai.

Patronage

During his wanderings he freed many prisoners, criminals, children taken into slavery. St-Géry is the patron of Cambrai, and of prisoners.Arduino, Fabio. "San Gaugerico di Cambrai", Santi e Beati, May 30, 2006
/ref> Image:Blaregnies 051001 (2).jpg, St. Géry church at Blaregnies Image:040 Arras ( 62000 ).JPG, Church of St. Géry, Arras Image:Goriks kerk.jpg, Church of Saint Gaugericus in Sint-Goriks-Oudenhove Image:Rebecq JPG00.jpg, St. Gaugericus' church, Rebecq, Belgium

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaugericus 550s births 619 deaths Year of birth uncertain Bishops of Cambrai 6th-century Frankish bishops 7th-century Frankish bishops 7th-century Frankish saints Medieval Belgian saints