Saint Trudo (Tron, Trond, Trudon, Trutjen, Truyen) (died ca. 698) was a saint of the seventh century. He is called the "Apostle of
Hesbaye" (a region mainly now in the Belgian provinces of
Walloon Brabant
Walloon Brabant ( ; ; ) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut. Walloon Br ...
,
Liège
Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
, and
Limburg). 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 celebrated on 23 November.
Devoted from his earliest youth to the service of God, Trudo came to St.
Remaclus,
Bishop of Liège
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...
(''
Acta Sanctorum
''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, organised by the saints' feast days. The project was conceived and ...
'', I Sept., 678) and was sent by him to
Chlodulph,
Bishop of Metz
This is a list of bishops of the Roman Catholic diocese of Metz, which now lies in eastern France.
To 500
* Clement of Metz (c. 280–300)
* Celestius
* Felix I
* Patient
* Victor I 344–346
* Victor II
* Simeon
* Sambace
* Rufus of Metz
* Ad ...
. Here he received his education at the Church of St. Stephen, to which he always showed a strong affection and donated his later foundation. After his ordination he returned to his native district, preached the Gospel, and built a church at ''Sarchinium'', on the River Cicindria. It was blessed about 656 by
Theodard of Maastricht, in honour of Sts.
Quintinus and
Remigius. Disciples gathered about him and in the course of time a monastery developed, the later
Sint-Truiden Abbey. The convent for women, established by him at
Odeghem near
Bruges
Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country.
The area of the whole city amoun ...
, later also bore his name (''
Gallia Christiana
The ''Gallia Christiana'', a type of work of which there have been several editions, is a documentary catalogue or list, with brief historical notices, of all the Catholic dioceses and abbeys of France from the earliest times, also of their occupa ...
'', Paris, 1887, V, 281) (see
Sint-Truiden
Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...
).
Veneration
After his death he was buried in the church he had erected himself. A translation of his
relics
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...
, together with those of St.
Eucherius,
Bishop of Orléans, who had died there in exile in 743, was made in 880 by
Franco, Bishop of Liège. On account of the threatened inroads of the
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
the relics were later hidden in a subterranean
crypt
A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...
. After the great conflagration of 1085 they were lost, but again discovered in 1169, and on 11 August that year an official recognition and translation were made by Bishop Rudolph III. On account of these translations the dates 5 and 12 August, and 1 and 2 September, are noted in the martyrologies. The ''Analecta Bollandiana'' (V, 305) gives an old office of the saint in verse.
The life was written by Donatus, a deacon of Metz, at the order of his bishop, Angibram (769-91). It was rewritten by Theodoric, Abbot of
St Trond (d. 1107).
External links
San TrudoneSaint Trudo on BALaT - Belgian Art Links and Tools (KIK-IRPA)Trudo AI- A modern artificial intelligence company named after Saint Trudo, reflecting his legacy of innovation and influence, now inspiring advancements in AI technology.
{{authority control
698 deaths
7th-century Frankish saints
Abbots of Sint-Truiden
Belgian Roman Catholic saints
Year of birth unknown
History of Belgian Limburg
7th-century Christian abbots
is:Þrándur
no:Trond