AMATUS OF REMIREMONT, ST.

Abbot; b. Diocese of Grenoble, France, c. 565–570; d. Abbey of Remiremont, France, c. 628. About 581, while still very young, Amatus (variants: Amat, Aimé, Amé, Amado) entered the monastery at Agaunum, now known as the Abbey of Saint-Maurice, and he eventually became a hermit there. In 614 he went to the monastery of Luxeuil with its abbot, eustace of luxeuil, but he left c. 620 with his friend and convert Romaric (d. 653) to found a monastery at Castrum Habendi that soon became known as the Abbey of Romarici Mons, or Remiremont. This foundation became one of the most fruitful of the foundations from Luxeuil, and Romaric succeeded Amatus as abbot. In the dispute between the monk Agrestius and the followers of St. columban and Abbot Eustace of Luxeuil, the two founders sided with Agrestius, but after a series of misfortunes and the downfall of Agrestius, they made peace with their former superior. Amatus died shortly afterward in semi-retirement at Remiremont. He is sometimes mistakenly identified with another Amatus, Bishop of Sion, who died near the close of the century.

Feast: Sept. 13.

Bibliography: Vita Sancti Amati, j. mabillon, Acta sanctorum ordinis S. Benedicti (Venice 1733–40) 2:120–127. e. ewig, Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 1:420–421. a. m. burg, ibid. 9:25–26. a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico (Turin 1954–58) 1:111. j. mabillon, Lettre … touchant le premier institut de l'abbaye de Remiremont (Paris 1687). m. a. guinot, Étude historique sur l'abbaye de Remiremont (Paris 1859) 377–388. m. besson, Monasterium Acaunense (Fribourg 1913) 173–184. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum (Metten 1933–38) 3:49–50. Bibliotheca hagiograpica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis (Brussels 1898–1901) 1:358. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York 1956) 3:549–550.

[g. e. conway]