Saint of the Day – 29 September – Saint Liutwin of Trier (c660-c717) Bishop of Trier, Laon (?) and Rheims, Count of Trier or Treves. Liutwin was born around 660 probably at Mettlach near Trier, Germany and died on 29 September c717 (?) in Rheims. Also known as – Liutwin of Mettlach, Ludwino of… Liudvino of… Lutwin of… Ludwin of… Lutwinus of… Additional Memorial in Trier: 27 September. The name ‘Liutwin’ means “the friend of the people” in Old High German.
Liutwin came from high nobility, he was probably related to the Carolingians and was the nephew of Bishop Basin of Trier.. At first he worked as an official at the Frankish Court, then in 690 he founded the Monastery in Mettlach on his own property which was given a mixture of Benedictine and Columban Rules.
The Abbey in Mettlach was founded after Liutwin went hunting near Saar. He grew tired and fell asleep under the shade of a tree. As he slept the sun changed positions exposing him to its hot rays but an eagle swept down and sat on Liutwin, with its wings spread out, seemingly to protect him. When Liutwin awoke, his servant told him how the eagle had protected him from being burnt by the sun. Coincidentally, Liutwin happened to be napping near the site of the Chapel of St Denis of Paris. Liutwin saw this as a God-sent sign to establish a Monastery at that site and it soon developed into a Christian centre of learning and evangelisation. At the location of the original Dionysiun Chapel, now stands the Parish Church of St Gangolf in Mettlach. In 698, he co-founded the Echternack Abbey at Mettlach.
After the death of his wife, Liutwin joined the Monastery he had founded as a simple Monk. Later he became a Priest and was Consecrated Bishop by his uncle in 697/698 and after his uncle’s death in 705, he succeeded him as the Bishop of Trier. As a friend of Charles Martel, he was also given the Bishopric of Rheims and probably also that of Laon, although this latter is unsure.
Liutwin donated land to the Trier Abbeys of St Eucharius – later called St Matthias and St Paul. Liutwin’s successor as Bishop of Trier and Rheims was his son Milo.
Liutwin’s bones rest in the former Marienkirche in Mettlach, built around 990 by Abbot Lioffin as a burial Church. This ruin in the shape of an octagon – modeled on the Aachen Cathedral – is today the oldest surviving building in Saarland. The veneration of Liutwin is documented as early as the year 1000.
The Monastery in Mettlach was abandoned during the First Coalition War of Prussia, Austria and smaller German states against the violence excesses of revolutionary France; the Monks fled in 1793/1794; the Monastery was finally abandoned in 1802.
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