Saint Gall I

Some time later, Theuderic, King of Austrasia, compelled Quintianus to yield him to him. He had him brought to his court and kept him there until the year 527. Having one day accompanied the king to Cologne, our Saint saw with sorrow the superstitions of the people and the abominations committed in a temple dedicated to pagan deities. The zeal he had for the glory of God could not endure these impurities, so that the following night, accompanied only by a cleric, he went to set fire to the then-deserted temple. The pagans, seeing the smoke rising to the sky, rushed in all haste to extinguish the fire. Saint Gall took Saint Gal Bishop of Clermont in the 6th century. refuge in the king's palace; but the idolaters pursued him there, complained to the king, and demanded justice for the wrong that had been done to them. The king, having learned what had happened, appeased the disgruntled with words full of gentleness. However, Saint Gall was only half-satisfied with what he had done, and he reproached himself many times thereafter, and always with tears in his eyes, for the timidity that had made him flee before those who pursued him, and which had prevented him from shedding his blood for Jesus Christ on that occasion. The holy bishop of Auvergne having died, the people asked for Saint Gall as their pastor, and they finally had the satisfaction of obtaining him. The humility, gentleness, charity, and zeal of the new bishop shone with the brightest luster.

His patience in enduring insults was especially admired. A brutal man having struck him a blow on the head, he suffered the affront done to him in silence, and disarmed, by his gentleness, the one who had insulted him. E vodiu Evode Senator who became a priest and offended Saint Gall. s, who from a senator had become a priest, one day forgot himself to the point of speaking to him in the most unworthy manner: the Saint rose quietly without answering him; he treated his enemy with kindness, and went off to visit the churches of the city. Evodius was so touched by such conduct that he threw himself at the Saint's feet in the middle of the street and asked for his forgiveness. From that time on, they always lived in perfect harmony.

Saint Gal worked for the salvation of his people with great zeal and vigilance throughout the course of his episcopate. He was present, as much as he was able, at all the assemblies held by the bishops of the kingdom to maintain the purity of the faith and to restore good discipline in the Church. One was held in his city in 535, commonly called the Council of Auvergne, wher e he was given the concile d'Auvergne Assembly of bishops held in 535. first rank after the metropolitan, who was Honoratus, Bishop of Bourges. Unable to attend the third Council of Orleans, which was assembled three years later, he sent a deputy in his name, as he had done for the second council of that same city in the year 532. However, he was present in person at the fourth and fifth councils held in the same city: one in 541 and the other in 549, where he took part in everything that was done for the reformation of morals in the Churches of France.

Saint Gal was favored with the gift of miracles. Through his prayers, he halted the flames of a fire that naturally should have reduced the entire city to ashes. Another time, by the same means, he delivered his flock from an epidemic disease that was causing great devastation in the neighboring provinces. It was on this occasion that he instituted Rogations at mid-Lent, to go in procession on foot, singing psalms, to Saint-Julien de Brioude Saint-Julien de Brioude Place of pilgrimage for the Rogations. .

The last illness he suffered was so violent that it caused his beard and hair to fall out entirely; but it served only to make the patience that had been admired in him throughout the course of his illness shine forth even more in these final moments. Three days before his death, he had the faithful assembled in his room; and by an effort in which God visibly assisted him, he once again broke the bread of communion for all. The third day, which was a Sunday, having arrived, he wished to finish his office, which he concluded with the psalm Miserere, and another of praise and thanksgiving. He then rendered his spirit to God, full of good works and merits, around the year 553. Four days after his death, the provincial bishops held his funeral, which was accompanied by an incredible crowd of people; they buried his body in the church of Saint-Laurent. It remained there until 1285, at which time Guy, Bishop of Clermont, had it translated to the cathedral church called Notre-Dame du Port.

A great number of miracles Notre-Dame du Port Cathedral church to which the relics were transferred. illustrated his tomb; he is invoked primarily against fever.

Saint Gal is represented: 1° with an angel presenting him with an alb or a white chasuble as a sign of the divine grace that his holy life had earned him; 2° stopping a fire by throwing the book of the Gospels into it, perhaps to recall his zeal against the pagans of Cologne whose temple he burned; 3° praying to God for the cessation of the plague: an angel in the sky puts the sword back into the scabbard.

Drawn from Godoncard, from Saint Gregory of T saint Grégoire de Tours Bishop and historian who mentions the martyrdom of Antolian. ours, Vit. Patr. c. 6, and Hist. Franc. book IV, c. 5. See the remarks of Habilton, suc. I, Ben.; the Gallia christ. nova, vol. II, p. 287, and Sollier, one of the continuators of Bullandus, vol. I, julii, p. 109.