Eligius (; 11 June 588 – 1 December 660), venerated as Saint Eligius, was a Frankish goldsmith, courtier, and bishop who was chief counsellor to Dagobert I and later Bishop of Noyon–Tournai. His deeds were recorded in Vita Sancti Eligii, written by his friend Audoin of Rouen.

Born into a Gallo-Roman family, Eligius found success as a goldsmith at the Merovingian royal court of Clotaire II and served as chief counsellor to Dagobert I until Dagobert's death in 639. Under the subsequent regency of Nanthild, the queen consort, Eligius was ordained a priest and campaigned against simony in the Church. Appointed Bishop of Noyon–Tournai in 642, he founded many monasteries and churches while working to convert the pagan population of Flanders to Christianity.

Despite his background as a goldsmith, Eligius became increasingly ascetic during his time at the royal court and used his influence to ransom captive slaves and care for the poor. A legend emerged of his having once healed a demon-possessed horse by amputating and miraculously reattaching the horse's foreleg.

Among other goldsmithing work soon entrusted to Eligius were the bas-reliefs for the tomb of Germain, Bishop of Paris. Clotaire took Eligius into the royal household and appointed him master of the mint at Marseille.

Service under Nanthild: 639–642

On the death of Dagobert in 639, the queen consort Nanthild took the reins of government, the king Clovis II being a child. During this regency, Eligius was ordained into the priesthood in 640.

Death and legacy

Eligius died on 1 December 660 and was buried at Noyon.

Veneration

thumb|upright|alt=Statue of Saint Eligius|Statue of Saint Eligius in the church of St. Marcel in St. Marcel (Aveyron), France. At the saint's right foot are the tools of his original trade.

The feast day of Eligius is celebrated on 1 December. Eligius is particularly honored in Flanders, in the province of Antwerp, and at Tournai, Kortrijk, Ghent, Bruges, and Douai. During the Middle Ages his relics were the object of special veneration and were repeatedly divided and transferred to other resting places, in 881, 1066, 1137, 1255, and 1306. A good deal of legend has gathered around the life of Eligius, who is still very popular with goldsmiths, farriers and car mechanics. numismatists/coin collectors and the British Army corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). He is also the patron saint of electricians, computer scientists, mechanics, miners, security guards, gas station workers, taxi cab drivers, farmers, and servants.

A mass is celebrated around 9 December at Notre Dame de Paris for members of the Confraternity of Saint Éloi. This follows the tradition of the May offering, usually a religious painting, made to the Cathedral between 1630 and 1707 by the goldsmiths of Paris. The tradition of the Guild Chapel was revived in 1953 by the Paris goldsmiths who provided the altar, crucifix above it and a statue of Eligius.

Iconography

Eligius is invariably depicted in bishop's garb, alongside his emblem, a goldsmith's hammer. The only exceptions are the illustrations to Vita Sancti Eligii that depict episodes before his investiture as bishop. He is generally represented as a bishop, a crosier in his right hand, holding a miniature church of chased gold in the open palm of his left hand. a tapestry in the Hospices de Beaune (Hotel Dieu) in Beaune, France, as a fresco on the wall of Aarhus Cathedral, Denmark, as well as in a 14th-century painting attributed to Niccolo di Pietro Gerini in the Petit Palais in Avignon, France. The painting was confiscated from an Austrian collector by the Germans during World War II and was restituted to the heirs of the original owners in March 2013 by the French Ministry of Culture.

Notes

See also

  • St Andrew's Church, Hempstead, a church in England from which a panel depicting Saint Eligius was stolen in 1982.
  • St. Elsewhere, an American medical drama set in the fictional "St. Eligius Hospital"
  • Le bon roi Dagobert, a French nursery rhyme about Eligius and King Dagobert I
  • Saint Eligius, patron saint archive

References

  • Vita Sancti Eligii, written by his friend, housemate and companion Audoin of Rouen, who was high among the optimates at the Frankish court ( Jo Ann McNamara)
  • The Life of St. Loye, as featured in the Golden Legend and written by William Caxton
  • Patron Saints Index: Saint Eligius
  • Saint Eligius at the Christian Iconography web site
  • Light in the dark places, Chapter on Saint Eligius, Augustus Neander, 1851.