Saint Odo of Beauvais

Rimbert, who had succeeded Saint Hildeman to the se e of Beauvais, ha siège de Beauvais City and diocese of the saint's origin. ving died, and the unfair election of Frimold having been annulled, Odon was judged, by the bishops of the province, worthy to govern this widowed Church; for he was skillful and eloquent, and no less commendable for his piety than for his learning. He was subsequently involved in the affairs of the Church and the kingdom, and very gloriously fulfilled several missions, whether apostolic or royal.

Odo enjoyed great credit at court, and princes would rise to honor his eminent virtue. He received from King Charles the Bal d and his successors roi Charles le Chauve Emperor who confirmed the rights of the priory in the 9th century. the responsibility of either raising young princes, or dividing the kingdom among them, and defending their rights against the Frisians. He attended more than fifteen councils. He assisted other prelates with counsel and action; more than once he was tasked with examining those elected to the episcopate, correcting the clergy, strengthening the privileges of monasteries, and handling the most important affairs before the King and the Sovereign Pontiff. While occupied with public affairs, he did not neglect his church: he delivered it from the ravages of the barbarians, who were besieging his episcopal city, and from its internal discords. He enlarged the monastery of Saint-Lucien; he had the ruins of the abbeys of Flay (Saint-Germer) and the Or atory (Oroër), whic Flay (Saint-Germer) Abbey restored by Odo. h had fa llen into secular l'Oratoire (Oroër) Abbey whose ruins were recovered by Odon. hands, restored to his church; he increased the number of canons of his cathedral to fifty, assigning sufficient income to each; he subjected the fishermen to canonical penance; he developed the cult of Saint Peter and Saint Lucien, either by erecting ba silicas or b saint Lucien Missionary companion of Saint Quentin. y composing acts. Through his care, a synod was held at the monastery of l'Isle (today Saint-Pierre-aux-Bois), near Beauvais, for the consecration of the blessed John, Bishop of Cambrai.

He worked strongly to ensure for the See of Rome the honor and obedience that are due to it. It was not only for everything important that he executed in his church that he sought the assent and counsel of the Apostolic See, but he also used all his influence with the king and the metropolitan so that the orders of the supreme pastor would be religiously observed; he was a mediator, and an excellent mediator, between Hincmar and Pope Nichol as I regarding R pape Nicolas Ier Pope who confirmed the titles of Raoul. othad of Soissons, whom thirty bishops had deposed by synodal sentence. When Ansegis, priest of Beauvais and abbot of Saint-Michel, was raised to the dignity of Archbishop of Sens and apostolic legate, he joined his efforts to his own to claim the rights of the Roman pontificate in France; he had the habit, when he gave an opinion, of accompanying it with this condition: "Saving in all things the judgment of the Apostolic See."

He also defended the same authority in writing, and earned so much merit from the Holy See that Saint Nich olas qualifie saint Nicolas Pope who confirmed the titles of Raoul. d him as "faithful above all."

Finally, after having established prayers for himself and for his parents, leaving us an illustrious example of piety towards God and the holy Church, our Mother, accompanied by the praises and blessings of the people, he went to the Lord at an advanced age, in the year 880, and was buried at Saint-Lucien. His feast, by the grace and special permissi on of Pie IX Pope who canonized Josaphat in 1867. Pius IX, was extended to the entire diocese of Beauvais.

Saint Odo is the author of these beautiful words on the prerogatives of the sovereign Pontiff:

"Whence, then, has the presumption come to certain men not to respect the Roman Church? ... Antiquity speaks for it. We see the authority of the Roman Pontiff dominate entirely all other Churches, so that the bishops hold him as their head, and that, in ecclesiastical affairs, everything depends on his decision and he is the arbiter of what is to be reformed or sanctioned. We see other bishops governing exclusively their diocese, but the Roman Pontiff has been charged, from the beginning, with the care of all the Churches. It is toward him that all must turn their gaze; to him it belongs to settle religious questions, and the decrees that he addresses to all the Churches of Christ, whether in the East or in the West, are received and observed by all as laws.

"Consequently, let us maintain respect in all things for the great City, and let us attach ourselves with more care than ever not to let diminish in our time what has been so well guarded in ancient times... For the city of Rome must be more honored than any other, and the Roman Pontiff has supremacy over all bishops. So that, if the city is the queen of peoples, the bishop who governs it is, by virtue of the primordial constitution, the prince of all the Churches, and he has the incessant solicitude for them, as that of all their leaders."

The name of Odo has remained attached to the parish of Hendainville, which Latin charters name Hudonix Villa, Odo' s countrysid Hendainville Parish associated with the name Odon. e. This Saint had a church built there in honor of Saint Lucian.

Proper of Beauvais.