Saint of the Day – 4 February – St Fingen (Died c1005) Abbot, Missionary, builder/restorer of Monastery buildings and Reformer of the practices of the communities living therein. Born in Ireland in the 8th Century and died in c1005 in Metz, France. Also known as – Fingen of Metz.
Fingen, a celebrated Irish Monk and Abbot, migrated to the Kingdom of Lothaire as a Missionary, where he acquired a reputation for restoring old Monastery buildings. Lothaire was a medieval successor Kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. It comprised present-day Lorraine (France), Luxembourg, Saarland (Germany).
In around 991, one of the Monasteries restored by Fingen, Saint Symphorien’s, was placed under Fingen’s care as the Abbot by Bishop Saint Adalbero.
At the insistence of the dowager Empress Saint Adelaide Pope John XVII issued a charter which declared that only Irish Monks would administer the Abbey as long as they could be found. She obtained a similar charter from King Otto III in 992.
Fingen’s final work, with the help of seven of his Irish Monks, was the restoration of Saint-Vannes in Verdun. By 1001, Saint-Vannes was attracting distinguished applicants, such as Blessed Frederick of Arras, Count of Verdun and his friend Blessed Richard, the Vicar of the Diocese of Rheims, who later became the Abbot of Saint-Vannes.
Fingen’s Relics can be found in Saint-Clement’s Church in Metz, (SEE BELOW) where the Epitah highly praises him.
AnaStpaul 