POPPO OF STAVELOT, ST.

Abbot and monastic reformer; b. Deinze, Belgium, 978; d. Marchienne-au-Pont, Belgium, Jan. 25, 1048. After a career in the army and pilgrimages to the Holy Land (1000) and to Rome (1005), Poppo renounced the world and entered the benedictine Order at the Abbey of Saint-Thierry near Reims in 1008. There he met Richard (d. 1046), abbot of verdun-sur-meuse, who had him transferred to his own monastery as prior, to help in the reformation of several abbeys in Flanders. Poppo's work drew the attention of Emperor henry ii, who had him transferred to the abbatial see of Stavelot-Malmédy in 1020. From there he proceeded to reform a network of abbeys in Lorraine and Flanders. Poppo showed his gratitude to the emperors by negotiating alliances between the Empire and France, and he is regarded as an example of the imperial abbot of that day. He was buried at Stavelot, where his relics were elevated in 1624.

Feast: Jan. 25.

Bibliography: Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores (Berlin 1826–) 9:293–316. j. halkin and c. roland, Recueil des chartes de … Stavelot-Malmédy (Brussels 1909) 1:206–227. w. legrand, "Notes sur la culte de Saint Poppon, abbé de Stavelot," Chronique archéologique du pays de Liège (1943) 1–18, 25–44. e. de moreav, Histoire de l'église en Belgique (2d ed. Brussels 1945–) 2:169–177. a. cassiman, Sint Poppo, de grootste burger van Deinze, 978–1048 (Tielt 1949). h. glaesener, "Saint Poppon, abbé de Stavelot-Malmedy," Revue Bénédictine 60 (Maredsous 1950) 163–179. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zwiege, 4. (Metten 1933–38) 1:125–128. t. schieffer, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65); suppl., Das Zweite Vatikanishe Konsil: Dokumente und Kommentare, ed. h. s. brechter et al. (1966) 8:617–618.

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