Saint Albinus of Angers (french: Saint-Aubin) (c. 470 – March 1, 550), also known as Saint Albin () in English, was a French

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

and

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

. Born to a noble

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

family at

Vannes Vannes (; br, Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic Era The name ''Vannes'' comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who live ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, St. Albinus was a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

and from 504 C.E. Abbot of Tintillac (which no longer stands; its location has not been satisfactorily identified). His reputation spread during the twenty-five years in which he served as abbot. In 529, St. Albinus was elected, against his wishes,

Bishop of Angers The Roman Catholic Diocese of Angers ( Latin: ''Dioecesis Andegavensis''; French: ''Diocèse d'Angers'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The episcopal see is located in Angers Cathedral in the city of A ...

Episcopate

He campaigned against incestuous weddings, such as those that occurred between members of the nobility.
He participated in the Third Council of Orléans (538) after Childebert I, King Childebert granted permission for this council to take place. Albinus sought advice from St. Caesarius of Arles after seeing laxity in other bishops. Tradition states that he helped all in distress, using diocesan funds to free hostages from pirates. Another tradition states that he clashed with King Childebert, who had imprisoned a woman called Etherie, from Douille near Angers. Unable to secure her release Albinus visited her in prison, and the soldier who tried to resist him fell dead at his feet. This so impressed the king that he allowed St. Albinus to bail her out. Another legend relates that St. Albinus once prayed far into the night for some men imprisoned in the Tower of Angers. Suddenly a great stone collapsed from the wall, allowing their escape.

Death and burial

St. Albinus died in 550 and was buried in the church of Saint-Pierre at Angers. In 556, a church was dedicated to him and his body was buried in its

crypt A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' " vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a c ...

. Near this church an abbey arose, called ''Saint-Aubin''.

Veneration

St. Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

remarks on the cult of St. Albinus, which later became diffused in Germany, England, and Poland, making St. Albinus a popular saint during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. St. Venantius Fortunatus, a near contemporary, wrote a life of this saint. Churches were dedicated to him right across the continent as far as Poland, and he was sometimes seen as the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

for protection from

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

attack. This may have been based on the tradition that he bought back parishioners who had been taken captive by pirates sailing up the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

river. Later the tradition was reinforced by a miracle recorded in the 10th century, when the walled town of

Guérande Guérande (; br, Gwenrann, ; french: label= Gallo, Geraundd) is a medieval town located in the department of Loire-Atlantique, and the region of Pays de la Loire, Western France. The inhabitants are referred to as ''Guérandais'' (masculine), a ...

, near the mouth of the

, prayed to St. Albinus for help and found their attackers miraculously defeated. In the

, Nicholas Belfort notably wrote describing miracles performed at the tomb of St. Aubin after the year 1000 AD. Belfort was a Regular Canon in the monastery of St John the Baptist by the city of

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...

. Thus, his fame increased and many coastal villages chose Aubin as their patron saint. Presumably this is the reason why St. Aubin in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

bears his name, preserving the name of an ancient chapel that has long since disappeared. St. Aubin is venerated there in the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

church of

St Aubin on the Hill St Aubin on the Hill is an Anglican church located in the Parish of St Brelade, Jersey, and is dedicated to Saint Aubin of Angers. Building of the present church began on 4 June 1889, with the laying of the foundation stone by the Bishop of Guildf ...

. (See Saint-Aubin for other places named for him.) St. Albinus'

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 do ...

is celebrated on March 1.
/ref>

References

THE LIFE OF ST. AUBIN by

Venantius Fortunatus Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; french: Venance Fortunat), known as Saint Venantius Fortunatus (, ), was a Latin poet and hymnographer in the Merovingian Court, and a bishop of the Early Church who has been venerate ...

, translated by John Dodd
Author's Prologue
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070110000257/http://www.societe-jersiaise.org/whitsco/aubin5.htm Chapter 2 Aubin is honoured by King Childebert and by many miracles through God's grace.br>Chapter 3: More miracles of St Aubin – his death and his translation
THE MIRACLES OF ST AUBIN by Nicholas Belfort, translated by John Dodd

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070110000440/http://www.societe-jersiaise.org/whitsco/aubin10.htm Chapter II The remarkable case of the paralysis of a certain pious man who after seven years was healed at St Aubin's tomb.]
Chapter III Victory over the enemy by the good offices of Saint Aubin – the habit of swearing is rebuked.
THE LIFE OF ST AUBIN – DETAILS ON SOURCES by John Dodd

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081121011820/http://www.societe-jersiaise.org/whitsco/aubin16.htm Chapter II The Miracles of St Aubin and his Translation

External links

Information about St. Aubin

''Sant' Albino di Angers''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albinus Of Angers Bishops of Angers Religion in Jersey Aubin 6th-century Frankish bishops 470 births 550 deaths 6th-century Frankish saints Medieval Breton saints 6th-century Breton people