Saint of the Day – 3 January – Saint Blitmund of Bobbio (Died 660)

Saint of the Day – 3 January – Saint Blitmund of Bobbio (Died 660) Monk, Abbot, Founder of Monasteries and Churches, miracle-worker. Born in the late 6th Century in the Dauphiné region of modern France and died in 660 of natural causes. Also known as – Blitmund of St-Valéry, Blitmund of Leuconay, Blitmund of Picardië, Blidmundus, Blimond, Blimont, Blimundus, Blithmundus, Blithumund, Blitmond, Gogus.

Blitmund was born as the son of a noble family. As a young man, Blitmund moved to northern France to live as a Hermit along the River Somme in Leucone. In 611 he built a Chapel and two cells in the area where he had settled. He brought a hanged man back to life, which caused the spread of his reputation as a miracle worker and holy man. This, in turn, led to disciples and spiritual students gathering around him and living in a nearby Monastery.

For unexplained reasons, Blitmund lost the use of his legs, he became semi-paralysed, In c 615, his friend and spiritual teacher, St Valery of Leucone (Died 620) by his fervent intercession miraculously healed Blitmund’s infirmity, Blitmund then became a Monk at St Valery‘s Monastery.

In the same year of the death of St Valery and Blitmund’s succession as the Abbot, in c 620, the Monastery was destroyed by local pagans, whereafter, Blitmund led a group of the displaced Monks to Bobbio, in Italy where they joined the Monks in a Monastery which had been established by St Columban, who had been St Valery’s spiritual teacher. St Blitmund and his fellow Monks, became students of St Attalas of Bobbio (Died c627).

After around seven years in Bobbiop, around 627, Blitmund and a party of his fellow Monks, returned to the area of Leucone, France, where he lived for a year as a Hermit before receiving permission to build another Abbey. He served as its Abbot and made Leucone a site of pilgrimage, piety and learning and a hub for evangelisation which eventually converted the region. The area was later known as Saint-Valéry, and now the village of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.