First Bishop of Laon consecrated by Saint Remi in 497, Gennebaud succumbed to temptation with his former wife. After fathering two sons, he imposed upon himself a rigorous seven-year penance in a closed cell. Miraculously pardoned by an angel, he resumed his episcopal duties and died in the odor of sanctity in 550.
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SAINT GENNEBAUD OR GÉNEBAUD,
Historical context and foundation of the diocese
Under the reign of Clovis I, Saint Remi used royal gifts to found the diocese of Laon, detached from Reims, and installed his nephew by marriage, Gennebaud, as its bishop.
550. — Pope: Vigilius. — King of France: Childebert I. God does not remember the faults of him who has not hesitated to erase them through the rigors of penance. Saint Gregory the Great. One of the first cares of King Clovis I, after his baptism, was to repair the damage that his army, still entirely pagan, had done to the churches. He gave Saint Remi, fifteenth bishop of Reims (459-533), considerable sums of money and much land, among others, Anizy, Coucy, and Leuilly. The holy prelate used these riches to form new bishoprics and to endow several churches. Laon was one of the strongest places in the Gauls: the Vandals and the Huns had not been able to seize it; it was part of the archbishopric of Reims. Remi resolved to detach it and to found at Laon, his native city, a new bishopric that would include the county of Laonnois and the Thiérache. In 497, he erected the church of Saint Mary or Notre-Dame, in which he had prayed with such fervor in his youth, into a cathedral, and he attributed to the bishops of this new see the land of Anizy, which they possessed until the Revolution. It remained for Remi to choose a worthy subject who would meet his expectations. He cast his eyes upon a pious layman, noble by birth, very learned in sacred and human letters; his name was Gennebaud and he had married the own niece of Remi ; then, t Gennebaud First bishop of Laon and famous penitent. ouched by a particular movement of grace, he had separated from his wife to live in continence. Once consecrated bishop, Gennebaud fulfilled all the functions for some years with a zeal and vigilance directed according to the rules of the most consummate prudence. The virtues he practiced, the edification that resulted for his people, and even the encouragements he received from his metropolitan, unfortunately contributed to giving him too much confidence in his own strength and in the purity of his intentions. He relaxed little by little his reserve and his severity with regard to her who had been his legitimate wife; he permitted her, at his palace, visits and conversations that became more and more frequent. He forgot that he should not believe himself stronger or firmer than David, nor wiser than Solomon, that there is in Scripture a word that has only too often been verified: "He who loves danger will perish in it": Qui amat periculum in illo peribit. The strength of the temptation became more violent day by day. Gennebaud should have, according to the precept of the Master, used iron and fire to break immediately with the near occasion: "If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out; if it is your arm, cut it off and throw it far from you; it is better for you to enter into life with one arm and one eye less than to be with your two arms and your two eyes thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Gennebaud was blinded by the tenderness he had for his wife: he succumbed a first time. And when, after a few months, this woman sent word to him that she had brought a son into the world, Gennebaud returned to himself and was covered with confusion. There was nothing but tears and groans over his infidelity to his commitments. The fault he had committed was enormous; he could have erased it by sincere repentance and serious penance; but what is the fragility of man when, through a blamable presumption, he neglects the means that our divine Savior has prescribed for us so as not to provoke the attacks of the demon and not to be a victim of his suggestions. Vigilate et orate, ut non intretis in tentationem: "Watch and pray, so as not to succumb to temptation." Gennebaud again permitted his wife to continue her assiduities. A new crime resulted from it. The first fruit of his incontinence had received the significant name of Latro (thief); Vulpecula was that of the child who was born after this second fault, as having been begotten by the fraud of an artful and cunning mother. We leave for what follows the word to the naive and learned annalist Flodoard Flodoard Historian of the Church of Reims and hagiographical source. :
The fall and infidelity
Despite his initial piety, Bishop Gennebaud succumbs to temptation with his former wife, fathering two sons named Latro and Vulpecula.
« The Lord having once again cast upon Gennebaud a look similar to that which He had cast upon Peter, he repented and, filled with contrition, he begged Saint R emi to com saint Remi Bishop of Reims who baptized Clovis. e to Laon. After receiving him with the veneration due to his virtues, they retired together into a secret chamber. There, Gennebaud burst into groans; prostrate at the feet of his holy protector, he accused himself and wished to strip himself of his episcopal stole. Saint Remi questioned him and wished to know exactly the cause of such great sorrow; tears and sobs cut off his voice, the culprit could barely speak. However, he recounted his crime without disguising any circumstance. The man of God, seeing him so deeply contrite, tried to console him with gentleness: he protested that he was less afflicted by his faults than by his distrust in the goodness and mercy of God, to whom nothing is impossible, who never rejects the penitent sinner, and who, indeed, gave His blood for sinners. Thus the wise and charitable archbishop strove to raise Gennebaud from his fall, showing him by various examples that he would easily be able to find grace before God provided he was willing to offer the Lord worthy fruits of repentance. After having thus revived him with his holy exhortations, Remi imposed a penance upon him: he had a small cell built, lit by a small window, with an oratory near the church of Saint-Julien in Laon, and enclosed the penitent bishop therein. For seven years, Remi took care of the recluse's diocese, officiating alternately one Sunday in Reims, and the other in Laon.
Seven years of seclusion
Seized with remorse, Gennebaud confesses his fault to Saint Remi, who imposes upon him a rigorous penance of seven years in a cell near the church of Saint-Julien.
« The mercy of God soon showed how much, in this seclusion, Gennebaud had profited, to what rigor of contrition and continence he had condemned himself, and how worthy were the fruits of his penance: for in the seventh year, on the eve of the Lord's Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was spending the night in penance and prayer, weeping bitterly over himself, that after having been raised formerly to the honor and authority of reconciling sinners to God, he was not even worthy, because of his crimes, to mingle in the church among the penitents; around midnight, an angel of the Lord came to him with a great light, in the oratory where he was prostrated on the ground, and said to him: « The prayers that your father Saint Remi has made for you are answered, your penance has been pleasing to the Lord, and your sin is forgiven you. Rise from this place, go and fulfill your episcopal ministry, and reconcile to the Lord those who do penance for their iniquities ».
Divine forgiveness and the angel
An angel appears to Gennebaud to announce his forgiveness, but the bishop refuses to leave his cell without the explicit order of Saint Remi.
Gennebaud, struck by too great a terror, could not answer. Then the angel of the Lord reassured him and exhorted him to rejoice in the mercy of God towards him. Finally, comforted, the bishop replied that he could not leave, because his lord and father Saint Remi had taken the key and sealed the door with his seal. Then the angel said: "So that you do not doubt that I have been sent by the Lord, as heaven is opened to you, so let this door be opened." And immediately, without breaking the seal, the door opened. Gennebaud, then, prostrating himself in the form of a cross on the threshold, cried out: "Although the Lord Jesus Christ himself has deigned to come to me, an unworthy sinner, I will not leave here until he who locked me in his name comes to take me out." At this answer, the angel withdrew.
Restoration to the See of Laon
Warned by a vision, Saint Remi travels to Laon to liberate Gennebaud and officially restore him to his episcopal duties.
Meanwhile, Saint Remi was spending that same night in prayer in the vault located beneath the church of Notre-Dame de Reims. The holy man, weary from his vigil, was caught up in an ecstasy and saw an angel at his side who recounted to him what had just occurred, and ordered him to go in all haste to Laon, to restore Gennebaud to his see, and to persuade him to fulfill his pastoral ministry. The blessed man rose without hesitation and went to Laon. There he found Gennebaud prostrate on the threshold of his cell, the door open without the seal having suffered any damage. Then, opening his arms to him while shedding tears of joy, and praising the mercy of the Lord, he raised him up, restored him to his see and to the episcopal ministry, and returned to Reims full of gladness. As for Gennebaud, sustained by the grace of God, he then spent the rest of his life in the exercise of humility, loudly proclaiming what the Lord had done for him. Thus he died in peace, counted among the Saints of the Lord, after having occupied the see of Laon for a long time (fifty years).
Final years and legacy
Gennebaud participated by delegate in the Council of Orleans in 549 and died after fifty years of episcopate, leaving a legacy of holiness and penance.
In 549, being very old, he sent his archdeacon, Medulphus, to the Fifth Council of Orleans, assembled against the errors of Nestorius and Eutyches. He died on September 5, the day on which he is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. Since the year 1852, his feast has been celebrated on September 4 in the diocese of Soissons and Laon. For a long time, the relics of Saint Gennebau d were kept at saint Gennebaud First bishop of Laon and famous penitent. the cathedral of Laon, and several chapels were erected there in his honor.
The fall of Saint Gennebaud should inspire in us a great distrust of ourselves. Let us remember that there is no sin so enormous committed by one man that it cannot be committed by any other man. And if we have had the misfortune of committing great faults, let us never despair of the mercy of God, provided that we ask Him for the grace of a sincere penance and a firm resolution to no longer expose ourselves to falling into the same faults.
Flodoard; Hincmar; the Bollandists; Arnaud d'Andilly; Dom Lelong; Carlier; Collicte.
Annexes & related entities
Structured data for exploration: events, miracles, quotes, places, attributes, patronages, and important entities cited in the text.
Key Events
- Marriage to the niece of Saint Remigius
- Separation from his wife to live in continence
- Establishment of the bishopric of Laon and consecration as its first bishop in 497
- Moral fall and birth of two sons (Latro and Vulpecula)
- Seven-year penance in a sealed cell by Saint Remigius
- Miraculous liberation by an angel
- Sending of Archdeacon Médulphe to the Council of Orléans in 549
Miracles
- Apparition of an angel in his cell of penance
- Miraculous opening of the sealed door without breaking the seal
- Vision of Saint Remi in Reims ordering the release of Gennebaud
Quotes
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Qui amat periculum in illo peribit
Holy Scripture cited in the text -
I shall not leave here until he who locked me in his name comes to take me out
Words of Gennebaud to the angel