Saint of the Day – 29 January – Saint Sulpicius I (Died 591)

Saint of the Day – 29 January – Saint Sulpicius I (Died 591) Bishop of Bourges. Often called Sulpitius Severus, the Severe, therefore, he is wrongly identified with St Sulpicius Severus(c 363–c 425) , the historian of Saint Martin of Tours and with St Sulpicius II (Died 647), remembered on 17 January and also a Bishop of the Diocese of Bourges – https://anastpaul.com/2021/01/17/saint-of-the-day-17-january-saint-sulpicius-of-bourges-died-c-647/.

St Sulpicius was raised to the See of Bourges in 584.

He was, says St Gregory of Tours, a man of high birth, one of the first senators of Gaul, of great oratorical talent and expert in the art of poetical rhythms.

The See of Bourges having become vacant with the death of Bishop St Remigius, several candidates offered gifts to King Gontran to secure the assistance of his favour. But the latter rejected all these simoniacal gifts, to favour the election of Sulpitius.

He was elected, given Holy orders and consecrated Bishop. Shortly afterwards, he held a Council in Auvergne, to adjust the dispute which had arisen between two of his suffragans, Innocentius, Bishop of Rodez and Ursicinus, Bishop of Cahors, with regard to Parishes for which they contended. The Council decided that the Bishop of Cahors should retain the contested Parishes, which the Bishop of Rodez had not proved that he or his predecessors had long possessed.

Sulpitius assisted at a Council of Mâcon in 585.

He died in 591, his feast being inserted in the Roman Martyrology on 29 January.