Fibicius (otherwise Fibitius or Felicius) was

Bishop 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.St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier Saint Maximin's Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery in Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. History The abbey, traditionally considered one of the oldest monasteries in western Europe, was held to have been founded by Saint Maximin of Tr ...

.Odden, Per Einar. "Den hellige Fibicius av Trier", Den katolske kirke, January 16, 2016
/ref> He became bishop of Trier in 511.
/ref> His tenure as bishop in the first quarter of the 6th century fell in the politically troubled times during the expansion of

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

power into the region around

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

. His name is given in the Trier bishops' lists and in the ''Vita Goaris'', a

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

of Saint Goar. While he was bishop, the revival of the power of the church in Trier was gradually beginning after a period of obscurity and weakness due to the political situation. This is evidenced by the resumption of earlier attempts at evangelization in areas on the

Middle Rhine Middle Rhine (, ; kilometres 529 to 660 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Bingen and Bonn in Germany. It flows through the Rhine Gorge (), a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift i ...

. In this context, Fibicius probably gave permission in about 511 to Saint Goar to build a church in Oberwesel. He may have also requested King

Theuderic I __NOTOC__ Theuderic I ( 487 – 534) was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 534. He was the son of Clovis I and one of his earlier wives or concubines (possibly a Franco-Rhenish Pr ...

to send priests from the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

to Trier. After his death he was probably buried in the old church of St. Nicholas in Trier. His successor was Aprunculus; the bishop called Rusticus whose name is sometimes inserted into the bishops' lists between the two seems to have no existence outside the ''Vita Goaris''. Fibicius is venerated as either a saint or a blessed; 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 5 November.H H Anton: ''Trier im frühen Mittelalter'' No further information is available about the circumstances of his death.

References

Sources

* Hans Hubert Anton: ''Trier im frühen Mittelalter'' (= ''Quellen und Forschungen aus dem Gebiete der Geschichte.'' N.F., 9). Paderborn u. a. 1987, , pp. 87f. * ''Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon, Band 2.'' Augsburg 1861, p. 202
Online version

External links

Saarland-biografien.de
{{authority control Gallo-Roman saints Saints of Germania Year of birth unknown 510s deaths 6th-century Frankish bishops 6th-century Christian saints Roman Catholic bishops of Trier