medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Paul of Verdun (d. 649?). Paul is traditionally the thirteenth bishop of Verdun, having succeeded Ermenfridus and having been succeeded by Gisloaldus. According to our earliest account of him, a brief notice in Bertharius' early tenth-century portion of the _Gesta episcoporum Virdunensium_, he was a brother of St. Germanus of Paris (d. 576) -- for chronological reasons this is widely disbelieved -- and was a monk of Tholey at the time of his consecration as bishop. While there, according to Bertharius, Paul had as a student a younger relative of king Dagobert who later in gratitude to the saint gave the abbey of Tholey to the church of St. Mary at Verdun. Still according to Bertharius, at some point during his time at Tholey Paul was working in the abbey's bakery when an oven malfunctioned, causing him to fear that the day's ration of bread would not be ready at the appointed time. Wearing his habit, Paul entered the oven, which was still burning, cleaned it with his hood, laid out the bread to be baked, and emerged unhurt with loaves which he then passed out among the brothers in the refectory. Bertharius adds that he had read other miracles of Paul and seen others in paintings in the church of St. Saturninus, where Paul was buried. Those mentioned are healing miracles: Paul restored sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, caused the lame to walk again, and cured others of various illnesses. Beyond this, Paul increased the property of his church. Thus far Bertharius.
Paul's Vita (BHL 6600; earliest witness not older than the later eleventh century) expands upon Bertharius by making Paul an hermit in the Vosges and later abbot at Tholey; it also has him restore the liturgy at Verdun and cause the canons of his cathedral to live _canonice_. In the early 970s Paul's remains were translated to a new monastery dedicated to him at Verdun that lasted until 1552. His feast on this day is recorded medievally in numerous local additions to Usuard's martyrology.
Best,
John Dillon
(matter from an older post lightly revised)
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