Saint of the Day – 29 October – Saint Theodore of Vienne (Died c575) Abbot, Priest, Hermit, Miracle-worker, disciple of St Caesarius of Arles (470-543). He passed his whole life in the doing of good works and to him the Diocese of Vienne owes the erection of several Churches and Monasteries. Also known as – Theuderius or Theuderis, Theudar, Theodore, Cherf, Chef, French: Theudère de Vienne.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Vienne, the departure from this world of the blessed St Theodore, Abbot.”
Theodore was born in the 6th Century of one of the best families of the City of Vienne, in Arcisse, near the modernTown of Saint-Chef. By the interior call of the Holy Ghosti he wished to enter Lérins Abbey on the French Riviera as a Monk. However, his teacher, St Caesarius the Bishop of Arles led Ordained him Priest.
Thus he returned to Vienne where a group of disciples gathered round him, for whom he established at least one Monastery, although it is believed that he had established a few others nearby, as well as Churches.
Theodore spent the last twelve years of his life in a walled up cell in the Church of Saint Lawrence, Vienne, where he died around 575. He was known as a miracle worker.
Theodore is celebrated in the Diocese of Grenoble-Vienne on 29 October. The Village of Saint-Chef was called Saint-Theudère by the Church of Vienne in the earliest days of Christianity. The Village may be called Saint-Chef today because of a tradition that the head (caput, chef) of the Saint was kept there.
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