Ragnemod (also known as Ragnemodus) was a 6th-century bishop of the

archdiocese of Paris In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

. He is recorded briefly in

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 ...

' writings.

Life

In Gregory's Miracles of Martin, prior to becoming bishop of Paris, Ragnemod was afflicted with dysentery and he was cured with dust from the tomb of

Martin of Tours Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third French Republic, Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hung ...

Episcopate

He succeeded

Germain of Paris Germain (; 496 – 28 May 576) was the bishop of Paris and is venerated as a saint in both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to an early biography, he was known as Germain d'Autun, rendered in modern times as the "F ...

as bishop upon the latter's death in 576. According to Gregory, Merovech, the son of King

Chilperic I Chilperic I ( 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Franks, Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund. Life Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he ...

was forced to become a monk by his father after he had tried to marry his aunt. However, Merovech escaped and fled to

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 ...

where he took refuge in the church of Saint Martin. Ragnemod was present at the time with Gregory, who was bishop of Tours, and Merovech asked them to give him communion, but they refused. Merovech threatened to kill some of their people if he was not given communion, and Gregory then decided to give him communion to avoid bloodshed. Ragnemod was one of the bishops present at the church synod that judged and condemend Prætextatus, bishop of Rouen, in 577. According to Gregory, some killings occurred within the church of Saint Denis in Paris as a result of a dispute about a woman who was alleged to be adulteress. As a result of this, the church was placed under interdict. Those who shed blood in the church went to Bishop Ragnemod and made atonement for their conduct, and he received them back into communion. Ragnemod baptized Chilperic's son Theuderic during the Easter celebration of 583 or 584. Gregory recounted a story of an imposter who claimed to possess

Vincent of Saragossa Vincent of Saragossa (also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon), the Protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zaragoza, Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon, Algarve, a ...

and one of the martyr saints named Felix. This imposter first went to Tours before he went to Paris. During the days leading up to the feast of the ascension, this imposter joined Bishop Ragnemod's procession through the city. The bishop discovered the imposter and had him locked up for questioning. He found a number of items in his possession that he believed to be used in sorcery and had them cast into the river. Ragnemod then ordered the man to be driven out of Paris. Ragnemod was nicknamed 'Rucco' by

Venantius Fortunatus Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; ), 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 venerated since the Middle Ages. ...

. He died in Paris in the year 591. https://earlymedievaleurope.org/attestation.php?attestationid=1002, Early Medieval Europe, Paris, retrieved July 23rd 2023

References

{{reflist 6th-century bishops in Gaul