St. Hesychius
Feastday: October 3
Death: 380
Hermit and disciple of St. Hilarion. Hesychius was St. Hilarion's follower at Majuma, near Gaza, Israel. He followed St. Hilarion to Egypt and Sicily. Sent to Gaza by Hilarion, Hesychius heard of the saint's death on Cyprus. He sailed to Cyprus and brought Hilarion's remains to Majuma.
St. Maximian
Feastday: October 3
Death: 404
Bishop of Bagae, Numidia, modern North Africa. He was appointed as bishop in the midst of the severe Donatist heresy which troubled Africa. Maximian resigned his see because the local Christians rebelled and won approval of his resignation by the Council of Milevis owing to the determined hostility of the heretics. This was insufficient for the heretics, who hurled him from a tower. Maximian managed to recover from this assault and went to Italy, where Emperor Honorius approved his labors.
St. Menna
Feastday: October 3
Death: 395
Virgin of Lorraine, France, sometimes called Manna. She was related to Sts. Eucherius and Elaptius. Details of her life are not trustworthy.
St. Widradus
Feastday: October 3
Death: 747
Benedictine abbot of Flavigny, France, also called Ware, who was responsible for reviving the monastery and for establishing the community of Saulieu, near Autun.
St. Leger
Feastday: October 2
Birth: 615
Death: 679
Image of St. Leger
Leger was raised at the court of King Clotaire II and by his uncle, Bishop Didon of Poitiers. Leger was made archdeacon by Didon, was ordained, and in about 651, became abbot of Maxentius Abbey, where he introduced the Rule of St. Benedict. He served Queen Regent St. Bathildis and helped her govern when Clovis II died in 656, and was named bishop of Autun in 663. He reconciled the differing factions that had torn the See apart, introduced reforms, fortified the town, and was known for his concern for the poor. On the death of Clotaire III, he supported young Childeric II for King against his brother Thierry, who had been backed by Ebroin, mayor of the palace. Ebroin was exiled to Luxeuil and became a bitter enemy of Leger, who became Childeric's adviser. When Leger denounced the marriage of Childeric to his uncle's daughter, he also incurred the enmity of Childeric, and in 675 Leger was arrested at Autun and banished to Luxeuil. When Childeric was murdered in 675, his successor, Theodoric III, restored Leger to his See. Ebroin was also restored as mayor of the palace after he had had the incumbent Leudesius murdered and pursuaded the Duke of Champagne and the bishops of Chalons and Valence to attack Autun. To save the town, Leger surrendered. Ebroin had him blinded, his lips cut off, and his tongue pulled out. Not satisfied, several years, he convinced the King that Childeric had been murdered by Leger and his brother Gerinus. Gerinus was stoned to death, and Leger was tortured and imprisoned at Fecamp Monastery in Normandy. After two years Leger was summoned to a court at Marly by Ebroin, deposed, and executed at Sarcing, Artois, protesting his innocence to the end. Though the Roman Martyrology calls him Blessed and a martyr, there is doubt among many scholars that he is entitled to those honors. His feast day is October 2.
Leodegar of Poitiers (Latin: Leodegarius; French: Léger; c. 615 – October 2, 679 AD) was a martyred Burgundian Bishop of Autun. He was the son of Saint Sigrada and the brother of Saint Warinus.
Leodegar was an opponent of Ebroin, the Frankish Mayor of the Palace of Neustria and the leader of the faction of Austrasian nobles in the struggle for hegemony over the waning Merovingian dynasty. His torture and death made him a martyr and saint.[1]
Early life
Leodegar was the son of a high-ranking Burgundian nobleman, Bodilon, Count of Poitiers and Paris and Sigrada of Alsace, who later became a nun at Sainte-Marie de Soissons. His brother was Warinus.[1]
He spent his childhood in Paris at the court of Clotaire II, King of the Franks and was educated at the palace school. When he was older he was sent to Poitiers, where there was a long-established cathedral school, to study under his maternal uncle, Desiderius (Dido), Bishop of Poitiers. At the age of 20 his uncle made him an archdeacon.[1]
Shortly afterwards he became a priest, and in 650, with the bishop's permission, became a monk at the monastery of St Maxentius in Poitou.[2] He was soon elected abbot, and initiated reforms including the introduction of the Benedictine rule.[1]
Career
Around 656, about the time of the usurpation of Grimoald in Austrasia and the banishment of the boy-heir Dagobert II, Leodegar was called to the Neustrian court by the widowed Queen Bathilde to assist in the government of the united kingdoms and in the education of her children. Then in 659 he was named to the see of Autun, in Burgundy. He again undertook the work of reform and held a council at Autun in 661. The council denounced Manichaeism and was the first to adopt the Trinitarian Athanasian Creed. He made reforms among the secular clergy and in the religious communities, and had three baptisteries erected in the city. The church of Saint-Nazaire was enlarged and embellished, and a refuge established for the indigent. Leodegar also caused the public buildings to be repaired and the old Roman walls of Autun to be restored.[3] His authority at Autun placed him as a leader among the Franco-Burgundian nobles.
Meanwhile, in 660 the Austrasian nobles demanded a king, and young prince Childeric II was sent to them through the influence of Ebroin, the mayor of the palace in Neustria. The queen withdrew, from a court that was Ebroin's in all but name, to an abbey she had founded at Chelles, near Paris. On the death of King Clotaire III in 673, a dynastic struggle ensued, with rival claimants as pawns; Ebroin raised Theoderic to the throne, but Leodegar and the other bishops supported the claims of his elder brother Childeric II, who, by the help of the Austrasians and Burgundians, was eventually made king. Ebroin was interned at Luxeuil and Theoderic sent to St. Denis.[3]
Leodegar remained at court, guiding the young king. In 673 or 675, however, Leodegar was also sent to Luxeuil. The cause, a protest against the marriage of Childeric and his first cousin, is a hagiographic convention;[4] as a leader of the Austrasian and Burgundian nobles, Leodegar was easily represented as a danger by his enemies. When Childeric II was murdered at Bondi in 675, by a disaffected Frank, Theoderic III was installed as king in Neustria, making Leudesius his mayor. Ebroin took advantage of the chaos to make his escape from Luxeuil and hasten to the court. In a short time Ebroin caused Leudesius to be murdered and became mayor once again, still Leodegar's implacable enemy.[3]
The martyrdom of St. Leger
About 675 the Duke of Champagne, the Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne and the Bishop of Valence, stirred up by Ebroin, attacked Autun, and Leodegar fell into their hands. At Ebroin's instigation, Leodegar's eyes were gouged out and the sockets cauterized, and his tongue was cut out. Some years later Ebroin persuaded the king that Childeric had been assassinated at the instigation of Leodegar. The bishop was seized again, and, after a mock trial, was degraded and condemned to further exile, at Fécamp, in Normandy. Near Sarcing he was led out into a forest on Ebroin's order and beheaded.[5]
A dubious[4] testament drawn up at the time of the council of Autun has been preserved as well as the Acts of the council. A letter which he caused to be sent to his mother after his mutilation is likewise extant.
In 782, his relics were translated from the site of his death, Sarcing in Artois, to the site of his earliest hagiography – the Abbey of St Maxentius (Saint-Maixent) near Poitiers. Later they were removed to Rennes and thence to Ebreuil, which place took the name of Saint-Léger in his honour. Some relics are still kept in the cathedral of Autun and the Grand Séminaire of Soissons. In 1458 Cardinal Rolin caused his feast day to be observed as a holy day of obligation.
For sources to his biography, there are two early (though not contemporaneous) Lives,[6] drawn from the same lost source (Krusch 1891), and also two later ones (one of them in verse).
Cultural significance
Historically there was a custom among wealthy British merchants to sell in May, spend the summer outside of London, then to return on St Leger's Day. This gave rise to the saying used in regards to financial trading markets, "Sell in May and go away, and come on back on St. Leger's Day".[7]
St. Beregisius
Feastday: October 2
Death: 725
Confessor of Pepin of Heristal and founder of the abbey of Saint-Hubert in the Ardennes region of France. There is some doubt as to whether he was a monk.
St. Eleutherius of Nicomedia
Feastday: October 2
Death: 303
A
A soldier in the army of coEmperor Diocletian in Nicomedia. He was accused of setting fire to the emperor's palace and was burned to death after being tortured with companions.
St. Eleutherius of Nicomedia (died 303) was a soldier who was martyred under Diocletian. He was accused of trying to burn the palace of Diocletian. His feast day is October 2.[1]
Bl. Francis Chakichi
Feastday: October 2
Death: 1622
Four-year-old martyr of Japan. He was beheaded in Nagasaki, Japan, with his mother, Blessed Lucy, and his brother Blessed Andrew. His father, Blessed Louis, was burned at the stake. He was beatified in 1867.
St. Gerinus
Feastday: October 2
Death: 676
Martyred brother of St. Leger or Leogarius. Ebroin, mayor of the palace, martyred the brothers. Gerinus was stoned to death near Arras, France.
St. Leudomer
Feastday: October 2
Death: 585
Bishop of Chartres, France. He is often listed as a Frenchman, and is sometimes called Lomer. No other details are extant.
Bl. Louis Shakichi
Feastday: October 2
Death: 1622
Martyr of Japan, a layman who released Blessed Louis Flores from prison. Louis was burned alive in Nagasaki, and his wife and children were beheaded. He was beatified in 1867.
Bl. Lucy Chakichi
Feastday: October 2
Death: 1622
Martyr of Japan, the wife of Blessed Louis Chakichi. She was beheaded with her sons, Andrew and Francis, at Nagasaki, Japan. She was beatified in 1867
