February 28 – One of the many men who spent their lives building a Christian Civilization

February 25, 2019

St. Romanus

St. Romanus visting his brother St. Lupicinus

St. Lupicinus visiting his brother St. Romanus.

Abbot of Condat, now St. Claude in the French Jura, born about 400; died in 463 or 464. When thirty-five years old he went into the lonely region of Condat to live as a hermit, where after a while his younger brother Lupicinus followed him. A large number of scholars, among whom was St. Eugendus, placed themselves under the direction of the two holy brothers who founded several monasteries: Condat (now Saint-Claude), Lauconne (later Saint-Lupicin, as Lupicinus was buried there), La Balme (later Saint-Romain-de-Roche), where St. Romanus was buried, and Romainmôtier (Romanum monasterium) in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Romanus was ordained priest by St. Hilary of Arles in 444, and with Lupicinus he directed these monasteries until his death. His feast is observed on 28 February. Two lives of him are in existence: one by Gregory of Tours in the “Liber vitae patrum” (Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script. Merov., I, 663), and an anonymous “Vita Sanctorum Romani, Lupicini, Eugendi” [ibid., III, 131 sqq.; cf. Benoît, “Histoire de St-Claude”, I (Paris, 1890); Besson, “Recherches sur les origines des évêchés de Genève, Lausanne, et Sion” (Fribourg, 1906), 210 sqq.].

J.P. KIRSCH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

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