AMANDUS, ST.

Apostle of Belgium; b. Aquitaine, France, late 6th century; d. Feb. 6, after 676. His life is known principally from the Vita prima [ Monumenta Germaniae Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum (Berlin 1826–), 5:428–449], which Krusch assigns to the latter half of the 8th century, but which Stracke attributes to Amandus' contemporary Baudemund (d. c. 700), and de Moreau [Analecta Bollandiana 67 (1949) 449] places in the late 7th or early 8th century. Here the saint is depicted as a native of Aquitaine, son of Serenus and Amantia, who became a monk at Yeu, was tonsured at Tours, and lived as an ascetic at Bourges under Bishop Austregisil (d. c. 624). A visit to Rome c. 620 launched him on a missionary career in the northern Frankish domains where, probably before 630, he was consecrated a bishop without fixed see. There followed a second journey to Rome and an apostolate along the River Schelde and at Ghent, wherein he was sustained by King Dagobert I (d. 638). It is not certain that his censure of this monarch's morals brought about his exile or that he preached in the Danube region, in the Pyrenees, and in the country about Narbonne. During the years from 639 to 642, operating out of his monastery at Elnone (later to be known as saint-amand-les-eaux), he had the aid of jonas of bobbio in evangelizing along the Scarpe and Schelde Rivers as far as the North Sea [Monumenta Germaniae Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum (Berlin 1826–), 4:62]. That Amandus was constrained to accept the bishopric of Tongeres-Maastricht seems to find support in a 649 letter of Pope martin I dissuading him from resigning his see [p. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christian natum 1198, ed. s. lÖwenfeld et al., 2 v. (2d ed. Leipzig 1881–88; repr. Graz 1956): Jaffé E, ed. p. ewald, 590–882; 2059]. De Moreau sees evidence that Amandus founded monasteries at Elnone, Ghent, Nivelles, and Barisis-au-Bois [Monumenta Germaniae Diplomata (Berlin 1826–), 1:25], and probably also at Marchiennes, Leuze, Renaix, and Moustier-sur-Sambre. At Elnone, on April 17, 674 or 675, he drew up his Testament [Monumenta Germaniae Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum (Berlin 1826–), 5:483–485], but the year of his death is unknown. Medieval calendars [see Analecta Bollandiana 79 (1961) 80] keep his feast on Feb. 6, the traditional date of his death, or on Oct. 26, the date of his episcopal consecration.

Feast: Feb. 6 and Oct. 26.

Bibliography: Monumenta Germaniae Poetae (Berlin 1826–), 3:561–610. É. de moreau, S. Amand, le principal évangélisateur de la Belgique (Brussels 1942); Histoire de l'église en Belgique (2d ed. Brussels 1945) 1:78–92; "La Vita Amandi prima," Analecta Bollandiana 67 (1949) 447–464. d. a. stracke, "Over de Vita sancti Amandi," Handelingen van den Kon. geschieden oudheidkundigen Kring van Kortrijk NS 26 (1953) 99–179. e. lesne, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 2:942–945. w. lampen, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Frieburg 1957–65) 1:416–417. r. aigrain, Catholicisme. Hier, aujourd'hui et demain, ed. g. jacquemet (Paris 1947–) 1:398–400.

[h. g. j. beck]