Saint Fulrad, Abbot of Saint-Denis

A bull of Pope Stephen III, issued on February 1 Etienne III Pope who visited Verdun with Pepin the Short. 6, 752, is still preserved, in which this Pontiff permits Fulrad to build monasteries on lands that belonged to him personally or that might be given to him. Fulrad founded six monasteries or priories and several churches: two of these monasteries existed in Alsace. But , in t Alsace Region of origin and activity of the saint. he midst of his labors, the holy man never ceased to be useful to his country; for, after the death of King Aistulf, Desiderius, King of the L ombard Didier Last King of the Lombards. s, sought to reconquer the cities that had been ceded to the Holy See and took up arms. Fulrad reappeared in Italy: his eloquence and conciliatory manners, joined to the strength of the proofs he alleged, made Desiderius renounce his enterprises, and the latter, through the arrangements of Fulrad, was crowned king of the country he was about to devastate. The Pope and all of Italy showed him the deepest gratitude for the happy success of this negotiation.

Fulrad Fulrad Abbot of Saint-Denis and Carolingian diplomat. attended the assembly of Attigny-sur-Aisne and received from the French nobility all the marks of the deepest esteem. He made his will in 777, at Herstal, and gave all his possessions, monasteries, churches, etc., to the A bbey of Saint-Denis. abbaye de Saint-Denis Site housing a relic of an Innocent. His precious death occurred on July 16, 784: he is the only one of the abbots of Saint-Denis to whom the title of Saint was given. The famous Alcuin composed his epitaph. He was first buried in the church of Saint-Denis; but his body was later transported t o the monastery of L monastère de Liepvre Monastery in the Diocese of Strasbourg that housed the relics. iepvre, where he was honored on February 17, the day of his translation.

The first monastery that Alsace owed to the generosity of Fulrad was the one he had built in a place called Audaldevil lers, and whic Audaldevillers Town that grew around the monastery founded by Fulrad. h he dedicated to the marty r Saint Hippoly saint Hippolyte Martyr whose relics were deposited in Audaldevillers. te. He deposited there the body of this holy martyr, which he had obtained, around the year 764, from Pope Paul, along with several other relics with which he enriched the monasteries of his foundation. The pilgrimages that the faithful undertook to venerate the relics of Saint Hippolyte soon caused the name of Audaldevillers to be forgotten, and the small town that formed around the monastery took and has kept to this day the name of this holy martyr. But the relics of Saint Hippolyte did not remain long in this place; for a charter of Charles the Bald, from the year 862, informs us that by then they had been transferred to the Abbey of Saint-Denis along with those of Sa saint Cougat Martyr of Barcelona whose relics passed through Liepvre. int Cugat or Cucufas, martyred in Barcelona on July 25, 304, under the empire of Diocletian.

The second monastery owed to Fulrad was the one that took the name of the founder himself; but later th e name of Fu Fulradviller Monastery in the Diocese of Strasbourg that housed the relics. lradviller was changed to that of Liepvre or Leberau, from the river Leberaka, on which it was situated. This monastery gave its name to a village that formed around it. Fulrad ceded to this monastery several properties that belonged to him and most of those that had been given to him by Widon and Chrodbarde, two Alsatian lords. He deposited there relics of Pope Saint Alexander and Saint Cugat. The relics of Saint Cugat were brought to France by Charlema gne, and re Charlemagne Emperor of the Franks and uncle of Saint Folquin. mained at the monastery of Liepvre only until 835, the time at which Hilduin, abbot of Saint-Denis, had them transported, on August 25, to his abbey, where they were honored thereafter.

The old church of Liepvre still existed in the middle of the last century: it was demolished in 1751. One could see painted on the windows the image of Saint Fulrad, with these words: *Domus mea cumeta Deo hic*, and, on the other side, the portrait of Charlemagne, with this inscription: *Fiant que jubeo*. Richier, in his *Chronicle of Senones*, also speaks of a mosaic marble pavement, very curious, which was attributed to Charlemagne and which was also seen at Liepvre.

These two houses, being originally in the diocese of Strasbourg, became priories of the Order of Saint Benedict and d Ordre de Saint-Benoît Religious order occupying the monastery of Honnecourt. epended on the Abbey of Saint-Denis until the 14th century. The small town of Saint-Hippolyte was burned, along with its monastery, in 1286, by Anselm, Count of Ribeaupierre, then at war with Emperor Rudolph of Habsburg; it suffered the same fate in 1326, and was taken and razed by Leopold, Duke of Austria, because Louis of Oettingen, Landgrave of Lower Alsace and lord of Saint-Hippolyte, had revolted against him and declared for Louis of Bavaria, his rival. It was only around the year 1400 that the Dukes of Lorraine seized Saint-Hippolyte and Liepvre, by virtue of the jurisdiction they exercised over the two monasteries and which they had obtained in the 12th century.

The abbots of Saint-Denis appealed, in 1404, to King Charles VI, to have the priories restored to them; but they were not heard, and it was these dukes who united them to the collegiate church of Saint-Georges of Nancy, by virtue of a bull of Pope Alexander VI, dated April 16, 1502. When this collegiate church was itself united, in 1742, to the primatial church of that city, the two priories also returned to the same church.

At some distance from Saint-Hippolyte is situated the small town of Bergheim, near which one formerly saw a house of the Templars and the Templiers Military order present in Bergheim. chapel of Saint-Pierre, parish of the village of Bergheim-Weiller. Upon the suppression of the Order of the Templars in 1312, their house was annexed to the preceptory of the Knights of Malta of Schelestadt. Near Guémar is the famous pilgrimage in honor of Saint Maximin, Bishop of Trier. The church was built in 1262 by Ulrich, Count of Ribeaupierre. His successors always showed themselves very generous toward this church and went there every year with their entire court to receive Holy Communion.

See the History of the Saints of Alsace, by Abbé Hunckler.