Saint of the Day – 21 August – Blessed Conrad Probus of Toul OFM (c1220-1297) Bishop of Toul, Papal Legate, Defender of the Church against secular interference. Born in c1220 in Tübingen, Wurttemberg (in modern Germany) and died on 2 May 1297 in onstanz, Germany of natural causes. Also known as – Konrad, Probus, … of Tübingen, Conrad Probus.
Conrad, later called Probus, was a Bishop of Toul in France, between 1269 AND 1279.
In 1245. although his qualities and his life of piety earned him the attention of his Bishop, he decided to become a Religious in the congregation of the Friars Minor.
We know that Pope Nicholas III, his fellow Friar of the Minors and friend, entrusted him with numerous missions, appointing him the Bishop of Toul in Lorraine, on 4 October 1279.
In the list of Bishops of Toul, his name is listed when the Diocese was vacant between the years 1269-1279. Conrad had to defend the rights of the Church against the City Officials. In 1285, having emerged victorious in various disputes, he built the central nave and the smaller ones of the Cathedral of Toul.
He increased the devotion towards the miraculous Notre-Dame-au-Pied-d’Argent / Our Lady with the Silver Foot), Toul, an apparition miracle in which the the Blessed Virgin Mary warned a parishioner of an act of treachery planned against the City of Toul. This Feast Day of Our Lady’s apparition is celebrated on 20 September, the story is explained here: https://anastpaul.com/2021/09/20/notre-dame-au-pied-dargent-our-lady-with-the-silver-foot-toul-meurthe-et-moselle-lorraine-france-1284-and-memorials-of-the-saints-20-september/
In 1295 his resignation as Prelate was accepted and it is believed that Conrad died on 2 May 2, 1297 in Constance, Germany.
Blessed Conrad of Toul in the Franciscan Martyrology has always been celebrated and remembered on 21 August.
AnaStpaul 