Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
deacon and holy man in 6th-century
Francia
The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...
. He is known only from the ''Ten Books of Histories'' of
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...
, who recounts how he chose to live as a
stylite
A stylite ( () "pillar dweller", derived from () "pillar" and ()) or pillar-saint is a type of Christian ascetic who lives on pillars, preaching, fasting and praying. Stylites believe that the mortification of their bodies would help ensure ...
(that is, atop a pillar) in the
diocese of Trier
The Diocese of Trier (), in English historically also known as ''Treves'' () from French ''Trèves'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.Magneric (before 587) and the reign of King
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 ...
(576–596).
Gregory met Wulflaich at the castle of Yvois and accompanied him to the monastery he had built on a hill some eight miles away. He reports Wulflaich's own account of his conversion. The Lombard was a disciple of Aredius, abbot of
Limoges
Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...
, when the two visited the shrine of Saint Martin at Tours. The abbot collected some dust from Martin's tomb and placed it in a capsule as a
relic
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 ...
. When the relic was placed in a box, the box filled with dust. This miracles convinced Wulflaich to found his own monastery outside Trier.Gregory of Tours, ''The History of the Franks'', trans. Lewis Thorpe (Penguin, 1974), VIII, 15–16. He found the locals still worshipping Diana, so he erected a pillar and stood on top of it:
I myself set up a column, on which I remained standing with bare feet, no matter how much it hurt me. When winter came in its season, it so froze me with its icy frost that the bitter cold made my toenails fall off, not once but several times, and the rain turned to ice and hung from my beard like the wax which melts from candles. This district is famous for its harsh winters.
His preaching eventually had its effect. The inhabitants pulled the statue of Diana down with ropes and broke it up with hammers. The local bishops, however, ordered him to come down from his pillar:
It is not right, what you are trying to do! Such an obscure person as you can never be compared with Simeon the Stylite of Antioch! The climate of the region makes it impossible for you to keep tormenting
yourself in this way. Come down off your column, and live with the brethren whom you have gathered around you.
Although he disagreed with the bishops, he complied and the bishops destroyed the column.