Saint of the Day – 14 April – Saint Lambert (c625-c688), Bishop and Confessor of Lyons. Previously he had been the Abbot at Fontenelle Monastery. Born in France and died there in Lyons. Also known as – Lambertus, Landebert, Landebertus.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Lyons, St Lambert, Bishop and Confessor.”
St Lambert’s life was written by a Monk of Saint-Wandrille’s Monastery at the beginning of the 8th or 9th Centuries, according to different sources.
It is a precious document composed with the assistance of the Abbey’s records, unfortunately, it is incomplete and is interrupted before St Lambert’s promotion to the elevated Ecclesiastical office of the Bishop of Lyons.
Lambert belonged to a wealthy family in Therouanne, Not unlike all young men of his station, he was sent to the King’s Court to complete his education. Instead of choosing a lay career, he entered the Monastery of Fontenelle which had been founded by St Wandrille, who was still in office and governed over St Lambert from 664-668.
Upon the death of St Wandrille in 668, Lambert succeeded him and governed the Abbey for 10 years and five months, until 678. During this period the Abbey experienced a significant increase in assets. King Childeric II donated the properties of Ulmirus and Warinn, in the Arques valley, together with a part of the forest of Gemmeticus. King Theodoric III, also donated a property located in Donzère in Provence where, thanks to the work of the Monks of Fontenelle, a dependent Monastery was founded.
Another Monk of Fontenelle founded the Monastery of Indre on an Island in the Loire, to which the Motherhouse reserved the right to send the Abbot.
In 675, finally, the English Priest Condedus, who had founded a Monastery on an Island in the Seine, annexed it to Fontenelle.
On 1 November 678, Bishop Genesius of Lyons died and St Lambert was called to succeed him, while at Fontenelle he was replaced by Saint Abietta. There is no information about Lambert’s Episcopate; he appears in 683 with his title as a signatory to a document from Aiglibert, Bishop of Le Mans.
St Lambert died not many years thereafter, as his successor, Godinus, was already in office on 30 October 688. His Feast Day is celebrated today on 14 April, a date on which he already appears in several codices of the Martyrology of St Jerome and is recorded in the Roman Martyrology.
AnaStpaul 