Catholic Heroes… St. Eligius
By DEB PIROCH
He is the patron saint of goldsmiths, engineers, metalworkers, coin collectors, horses — and clockmakers and watchmakers. In anticipation of November, when the time changes from daylight savings time, we’re presenting St. Eligius.
St. Eligius (588-660) was born to Christian parents near Limoges in Gaul, what is present-day France. Eucherius and Terrigia, as they were named, indicate a clear background of Roman-Gallic heritage! They apprenticed their boy to Abbo, the goldsmith and chief of the mint. Butler’s Lives says that Abbo was also devout and this seems to have furthered the holiness in young Eligius, who attended Divine Office rain or shine.
There is a medieval sourcebook, a copy of the life of Eligius, written by a contemporary and friend, St. Owen, bishop of Rouen. (St. Owen first met him as a very young man of court, only twelve years old, and they would go on to receive the mitre together.) St. Owen’s writing tells of the saint’s first great commission, a chair for the King of the Franks, Clotaire II. The King had the gold weighed out to him but, we are told, St. Eligius worked so faithfully that he amazed the king in making not one but two chairs. This feat was achieved by not wasting a hair of the precious gold, nor skimping by watering down the metal or sparing gem work.
Royal commissions continued and as the time passed by, Eligius grew in the king’s honor and favor. He prayed while he worked and the King no longer weighed the gold and the silver for his assignments, as the head of the Frankish royal’s mint, but trusted him.
The saint is hailed as the patron of coin collectors, as his work would include more than one coin struck during the reign of this ruler or his son.
The future saint was born a free man but knew all were not so blessed. He used his wages, even his own food and clothing if need be, to rescue “Romans, Gauls, Britons, and Moors.” Freed slaves would later be given a choice before the king: Did they wish to stay with the king, or return to their native land? If the latter, the king would assist them in doing so. And if so inclined, Christians were invited to entertain the idea of a monastic life. Yes, the King thought this highly of Eligius.
After Clotaire died, his son Dagobert raised Eligius to the role of adviser. At times Dagobert would listen to him distinct from advice of others, and follow the lead of the saint. Though not yet a priest, there was no question that Eligius was meant for sanctity. Surely as he prayed and fasted, he wore a haircloth under his elegant clothes, which in time became poorer and poorer as he cast his eyes down upon the things of this world.
At times he arrived home to feed the poor, already poor himself, having already given away his money to those who needed it more, but God still provided. At this stage he was a master at his profession and took joy in working on many items, including those meant for the honor of God, including the shrines of a great many saints (St. Martin of Tours, St. Dionysius, St. Quintin, SS. Crispin and Crispinian at Soissons, St. Lucian, St. Piat, St. Germanus of Paris, St. Severinus, St. Genevieve, and others).
He did not limit himself to only relics of the saints, when it came to respecting the body as temples of the Holy Ghost. He gained royal permission to send out men to rescue the bodies of executed men on display and give them a Christian burial.
This is how his friend St. Owen described him when young:
“He was tall with a rosy face. He had a pretty head of hair with curly locks. His hands were honest and his fingers long. He had the face of an angel and a prudent look. At first, he was used to wear gold and gems on his clothes having belts composed of gold and gems and elegantly jeweled purses, linens covered with red metal and golden sacs hemmed with gold and all of the most precious fabrics including all of silk. But all of this was but fleeting ostentation from the beginning and beneath he wore a hairshirt next to his flesh and, as he proceeded to perfection, he gave the ornaments for the needs of the poor. . . .
“At night, it was his custom to stretch out before his bed on a haircloth and either from the first twilight or after a little rest rising from bed to pray prostrate with his head bowed and passing many nights in tears keeping watch. For he had the great grace of tears. In various ways, he determined as far as human nature could permit, that every night would be consumed in the service of God.
“So he would pray at length interrupting the prayers for some relief, reciting the psalms in order and then turning to chanting or reading. And when he was struck by some sacred words, you would see him suddenly raise his eyes to the sky, joining sigh to sigh, mixing tears.”
After Dagobert became old enough to be named King Clovis II without the assistance of his mother as regent, Eligius was named bishop of Noyon, in France, and Tournay, in now what is Flanders, in Belgium. Overwhelmed, he embarked on a period of preparation for the priesthood, which he did not hurry beyond the usual time, being then consecrated priest and bishop together. For some twenty years he ministered to the Flemish, particularly.
Though by this time he had already founded numerous religious houses, there would be more. His admonitions against paganism and the demonic are especially remarkable, and he dealt with more than one unclean spirit.
The last extant chalice that St. Eligius made disappeared from a church during the French Revolution. Yet just last month, one of the institutions he founded, the Solignac Abbey, is again being used by the monks of Clairval. This is the first time the site has been used for Catholic observance since the French Revolution.
And so we come full circle. At the beginning, we told you that St. Eligius was the patron saint of clocks and watchmakers. Clock first appears in Middle English as “clok” probably a variation on the Latin, “clokke”…yes, for “bell.” During this time in Europe, the bells rung often as monks followed the Benedictine Rule. They rang for the angelus, they rang for Mass, and they rang for funerals. People “told time” by them. And made of gold, it is not out of the realm of possibility that someone as skilled as St. Eligius was may have known something about them, and he is in any case, the patron saint of metal workers being a goldsmith.
There was a priest whom St. Eligius had excommunicated for his own good, but the priest felt that he didn’t need to listen. So, as soon as the saint left, tells us St. Owen, he went to ring the bells for Mass. He tried. They didn’t ring. He tried again. They moved, but all was silent. He soon realized this was the work of St. Eligius. They were not going to ring until he repented.
He did. And the bells did ring.
St. Eligius’ feast day is December 1.
