Tag: st senoch

Saint of the Day – 24 October – St Senoch (536-576) Abbot, Priest, Ascetic, Apostle of the needy, the poor, of slaves, Founder of a Monastery , Miracle-worker granted the charism of curing the sick, especially the blind, those sick in soul and body. Born in 536 in Tiffauges, Poitou, Gaul (in modern France) and died in 576 aged 40, Touraine, France from a fever. Patronages – against eye diseases, of the blind, Saint-Senoch, France, Sassenay, France. Also known as – Xenochus, Sassena, Sassenay, Seno, Sénoch, Senoco, Senócus. Additional Memorial – 25 October in the Diocese of Tours to avoid conflict with St Raphael on 24 October.

Senoch had been born a pagan but at the age of twenty years, he was converted to Christianity by Saint Martin of Vertou (c527-c601), whose is also celebrated today – https://anastpaul.com/2022/10/24/saint-of-the-day-24-october-saint-martin-of-vertou-527-601/.

Senoch retired to Touraine to live as a Hermit. He exercised his gift of healing espeically of the blind, the mute and the paralysed. He used this great grace granted to him by the Almighty also to adsminister to and to free the slaves.

He established a Monastery near Tours, whose Bishop St Eufronius had revived the spiritual ardour of his See, Senoch found ruins in which he set up an Oratory. The Bishop of Tours Consecrated the Altar, placed Relics therein and conferred the Diaconate upon Senoch.

A few years later,, Senoch was Ordained a Priest. But in his pride, Senoch decided to returned to Tiffauges to see his parents and cure his fellow townsmen of their illnessed. However, in this he failed, he could not work any miracles in his hometown and they chased him away with stones.

Upon his return to Tours, Senoch asked forgiveness for his sin of vanity and chose to atone for his sins by leading a life of mortification and humility in his Monastery. He died there in 576 after suffering a fever.

In the 9th Century, the remains of the Saint were transported to Sassenay, a village in Burgundy located on the outskirts of Chalon-sur-Saône, so that they could escape the Norman invaders.

Indeed, in the 9th Century, faced with the threat of invasion, the Monks, who no longer felt safe in the region, began an exodus, with the Relics of their holy founder. After various stops, the small community finally settled in the heart of Morvan, then in Beaune (Côte-d’Or). According to tradition, it was at the time of the construction of the Parish Church of Sassenay in the 11th-12th centuries when the  translation of the Relics of Saint Senoch took place, a gift from the Bishop of Dijon to the Bishop of Autun.

It was the starting point of a very popular pilgrimage for the cure of sick children, the blind and the suffering.