St. Germanus of Auxerre

Germanus was born into a noble family in Roman-occupied Gaul in the late fourth century. He was well-educated and studied and practiced law in Rome. It was there he met his wife Eustachia, who was from a popular imperial family. The emperor sent the couple back to Gaul; Germanus was appointed a duke, entrusted with the government of the Gallic provinces.

Germanus lived the life of a noble. He studied law, held large parties, and loved hunting. He even hung his hunting trophies on a large tree which had once been a scene of pagan worship. St. Amator, bishop of Auxerre, worried that by hanging trophies on the pagan tree, Germanus would led the people to associating success and paganism and slip back into pagan practices. When Germanus was away, Amator cut down the tree and burned the trophies.

When Germanus, angered by Amator’s actions, entered the church to kill him, Amator instead locked the doors and gave him the tonsure against his will. The tonsure was the haircut that signaled a life of piety and devotion to God. Amator told Germanus to live as if he would one day be a bishop and ordained him a deacon right there.

The incident had a life-changing effect on Germanus who did indeed start living a life more focused on ecclesiastical matters than imperial ones. When Amator died in 418, Germanus seceded him as bishop of Auxerre. He distributed his wealth to the poor and built a monastery dedicated to Sts. Cosmas and Damian.

In 429 after the Romans withdrew from Britain, a group of Gaulish missionaries went there to address the Pelagian heresy among British clergy. Germanus’ law background came in handy as the Gaulish and British bishops publicly debated and he rhetorically defeated the Pelagians. He also assisted the Britons against a Pictish and Saxon attack. When he went to tomb of St. Alban to give thanks to God, St. Alban appeared to him and told him of impending martyrdom. Germanus took a handful of dirt from St. Alban’s grave back to Gaul.

Sometime around 437, the Armoricans in Brittany rebelled against imperial rule. The Roman government sent in soldiers to severely punish the people. Germanus went to Italy to seek an appeal from the emperor. In Ravenna, he was able to plead his case to empress Galla Placidia and obtained the pardon.

He died in Ravenna of natural causes, having cared for his people as both an imperial and ecclesiastical leader. His feast day is July 31.