MAGNOBOD OF ANGERS, ST.

Bishop, b. c. 574; d. after 635. According to his biographer marbod, archdeacon of angers and later bishop of Rennes, Magnobod was the son of a prominent family in the region of Angers. His aptitude for studies and his love of prayer attracted the attention of the local bishop, licinius, who ordained him to the priesthood and later placed him in charge of the monastery situated in Challones-Sur-Loire (Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés 1:675). About the year 610 Magnobod was consecrated bishop of Angers, and he proved himself to be a competent and holy shepherd of his flock. He took part in synods at Paris in 614, and at Clichy in 627 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Concilia 1:191, 201; Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio 10:594). Magnobod wrote the life of St. Maurilius (d.453), one of his early predecessors in the See of Angers (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctores antiquissimi 4.2:82–101), and is said to have built a large church in honor of St. Saturninus (third century), in which he was later buried. In the region of Segré, Magnobod is invoked as the patron of livestock. There are those who see the foundation for this cult in a popular play on words among the peasants, for the French for Magnobod is Mainbeuf, and thus the last syllable in the saint's name, -beuf, rhymes easily with bœuf, ox, bullock, beef.

Feast: Oct. 16.

Bibliography: Gallia Christiana (Paris 1856–65) 14:550,598. Acta Sanctorum Oct. 7.2:928–950. l. rÉau, Iconographie de l'art chrétien, 6 v. (Paris 1955–59) 3.2:863. j. cambell, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 6:1286. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis, 2 v. (Brussels 1898–1901; suppl.1911) 5151–53. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, ed. by the Benedictines of Paris, 12 v. (Paris 1935–56) 10:498–500.

[h. dressler]