Saint Fridolin

Saint Peter Damian, Bishop of Ostia, delivered a speech around the middle of the 11th century on the occasion of a translation of the relics of Saint Hilary, in which he informs us of highly interesting details regarding the administration of Saint Fridolin, which he says he obtained from the very tradition preserved in Poitiers. The main one relates to the reconstruction of the monastery, which had perished along with the church of Saint-Hilaire following a siege of that city by the Visigoths. As reduced as these places, sanctified by so many virtues and by the presence of the holy body whose trace the misfortunes of war had forced to be lost, may have been, the regularity there was perfect; study and work occupied all the hours not claimed by prayer, and this edifying order was due to the care of the holy abbot, whose vigilance maintained the love of discipline and fervor there. Fridolin thus showed himself in every way worthy of the great work to which Providence had destined him, and this maternal Providence did not fail him when, in favor of the French monarchy, it permitted Clovis to crush the last army of the Visigoths on the plains of Voulon. When the whole country was full of the joy of this victory, and one night while Saint Fridolin was praying in silence, Saint Hilary appeared t o him and, after revealin saint Hilaire lui apparut Bishop of Poitiers and Doctor of the Church, patron of Triaise. g to him the place where his relics were hidden, imperiously gave him the order to go, accompanied by Adelphius, then Bishop of Poi tiers, to Adelphius Bishop of Poitiers who accompanied Fridolin to Clovis. find the King of the Franks without delay, and to ask him without hesitation for the sums necessary for the reconstruction of the buildings on a plan more vast and more worthy of their purpose. He also wanted the holy abbot to prepare a suitable room in this new dwelling where the holy body could be deposited as solemnly as possible. Fridolin and Adelphius faithfully carried out this mandate. The king received them with kindness, welcomed their request, and treated them with a generosity worthy of him, by giving them lands and money.

Thus were the church and monastery of Saint Hilary restored at the beginning of the 7th century. It was for Clovis a noble way to inaugurate his victory over the Arian hordes of Alaric.

By this important undertaking, Fridolin believed he had accomplished the providential mission that had driven him to Poitou; for, shortly after, Saint Hilary appearing to him again, warned him to head toward an island in Liguria, called at that time Gallinaria, to raise a church there in his honor. No less prompt to obey than the first time, the docile religious handed over the government to one of his relatives, who had come from Scotland to follow the monastic life with him there.

We do not know the precise time at which Saint Fridolin headed toward Eastern France and Switzerland, which were to be the principal theaters of his apostolate.

He stopped in various places before settling, preaching the Catholic faith with the zeal of an apostle. During his travels he built several monasteries and churches, among others, on the Moselle, in Lorraine, the one that was first called Hilteriacum, and later Saint-Avold or Saint-Nabor, and a church in the Vosges, which some authors think to be that of Neuvillier. As for the church he built in Strasbou rg, under Strasbourg City that Bennon leaves at the beginning of his narrative. the name of the same Saint Hilary, it is impossible to find any vestige of it. Grandidier believes that it perhaps existed at the place where the Dominican convent was later built, later called the Temple-Neuf, and which still today forms part of the first enclosure of the city. Leaving Strasbourg, Fridolin traveled through Alsace, announcing the word of God everywhere and seeking to destroy the remnants of paganism. One could see, before our recent troubles, in the vicinity of Colmar and at some distance from Wettolsheim, a very ancient church, dedicated to Saint Fridolin. After much research, we have found nothing in history that authorizes us to believe that it owes its origin to the Saint whose name it bore: it was a very frequented pilgrimage for children's illnesses.

However, Saint Hilary, whose cult Fridolin established wherever he went, appeared to him and said: "In the middle of the Rhine, you will find a deserted island; it is there that you must go to spend the rest of your life, to convert the peoples living along the banks." Now, the Rhine is very extensive; Fridolin, not knowing where the island in question was precisely located, traveled up the banks of the river at random, as far as its source in Switzerland; then he went back down to the vicinity of Lake Constance, Schaffhausen, and Basel; and he finally stopped on an island located near the current village of Seckingen. He had recognized that it was there that he was to spend the rest of his life. It was a completely deserted island; one saw only meager pastures there, where the inhabitants of the neighboring banks brought their herds to graze. Fridolin began by looking for a favorable location for the construction of a church. The local inhabitants, having noticed the comings and goings of the holy abbot, took him for a vagabond who had come to steal their livestock. He tried in vain to persuade them otherwise; they did not believe him at all, mistreated him, and chased him away shamefully.

Fridolin, faithful to his mission, did not let himself be discouraged; chased from the is land several times, puissant roi Clovis King of the Franks, mentioned to date the existence of the church. he returned just as many times: to put an end to it, he addressed the powerful King Clovis, to ask him for help and protection. The king not only gave him the island, but also granted him a diploma, by virtue of which anyone who disturbed him in the possession of this domain would be punished with death.

As the island was stil l uncu Wacher Wealthy host of Fridolin near Seckingen. ltivated and uninhabitable, Fridolin went to live for some time with a rich man named Wacher, who lived not far from there. When he presented himself with his companions, he was very poorly received by the latter's wife; she said to him: "How dare you impose such a burden on us in this time of famine? Besides, you can see well enough that our house is not large enough to lodge so many people." While she was thus pouring out coarse insults, her husband arrived, and as he already knew that Fridolin was a holy man, he silenced her and welcomed the foreign missionaries with joy. Shortly after, their hostess having become the mother of a daughter, Wacher asked Fridolin to be her godfather. New anger and new outbursts from the wife. However, through patience and resignation, Fridolin and his companions eventually won the trust and esteem of their hostess, whom she went so far as to ask herself that Fridolin direct the education and instruction of her daughter. This daughter of the holy abbot later became the superior of the women's convent that Fridolin established on the island, and as long as they lived, Wacher and his wife powerfully supported him, with their fortune, in all his enterprises.

Only then did Fridolin's work begin in earnest. It was of two kinds; first, he had the forests cleared and the brambles and brushwood uprooted, and at the same time, he preached the word of God and proclaimed the Gospel to the pagans. But then King Clovis had died, and Fridolin's enemies (for who does not have enemies?) raised their heads again and wanted to expel him from the island once more. However, to give themselves an appearance of justice, they brought the dispute before the judges of the land. These men, being the compatriots of the claimants, were not very favorable to Fridolin. In this extremity, our Saint had recourse to prayer. Now, the situation of the island was such that, on one side, it was bathed by the main course of the river, while on the other side there was only a small arm, which, most of the time, was dry; it only filled with water during the melting of the snows.

The day before the judges were to come to the island to pronounce judgment, Fridolin had some fir trees felled and thrown into the main course of the Rhine, at the head of the island; after that, he spent the night in prayer, begging God to perform a miracle. The miracle took place: the next morning the Rhine had changed its course; t hat is to say, contrary to Rhin avait changé de cours River bordering the provinces infested by the Huns. what had been the case until then, the left side of the island was bathed by the waters of the river, while the right side was dry. At the sight of this miracle, the judges and the people recognized that Fridolin was manifestly protected by God, and they humbly asked his forgiveness for having wanted to deprive him of a property that belonged to him legitimately by so many titles.

Only then could Fridolin hasten the construction work of the church and the two convents, one of which was intended to train missionaries, and the other to serve as a refuge for nuns. Fridolin was the soul of both communities; that is to say, both groups advanced rapidly under his direction and guided by his example, in the paths of salvation and apostolic ministry. Little by little, a large number of pious settlers, eager to benefit from the spiritual aid dispensed abundantly by the disciples of the holy abbot, came to settle in the region; and thus was born the town of Seckingen, which still exists today, and whose inhabitants have a particular veneration for Saint Fridolin.

Fridolin spent the last years of his life in this retreat, and awaited the hour of the Lord. He died, according to the Bollandists, Baillet, and Longneval, in 538 or 540; but Dom Rivet refuted these authors and proved that Saint Fridolin was still living during the reign of Sigebert I, and that he did not leave France to go and proclaim the true faith in the Rhenish provinces until around the year 568. God glorified the tomb of our Saint with a great number of miracles; which made his name famous in France, Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries, and as far as England, Scotland, and Ireland. He was honored as a patron with Saint Hilary, not only in Seckingen and in most of the monasteries he founded, but even in our day in many churches in Switzerland. He is the tutelary patron of the canton of Glarus, which bears in its coat of arms the ima ge of the Saint, canton de Glaris Swiss canton of which Fridolin is the patron saint. to whom is given a habit of blessing, although he was never of that Order. His body has always been preserved with care in Seckingen, and the last opening of his tomb took place in the year 1637: his bones were found wrapped in rich fabrics.

*Vies des Saints de l'église de Poitiers*, by Abbé Auber, and d'Absore, by Hunecker. — *Vies des Saints d'A. Stols*.