Saint Eligius
![[painting of Saint Eligius]](sainte14.jpg "15kb jpg detail from the painting 'Saint Eligius, as a Goldsmith, Hands the Wedding Couple a Ring', by Petrus Christus, 1469, oil on wood, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
-
Eligius of Noyon;
Eloi;
Eloy;
Loy
- Memorial
- 1 December
- Profile
- Son of Eucherius and Terrigia.
Extremely skillful metalsmith.
Apprenticed to the master of the mint at Limoges.
Treasurer at Marseilles.
Master of the mint under King Clotaire II of Paris; a close friend of and advisor to Clotaire.
Noted for his piety, hard work and honesty, Eligius was generous to the poor, ransomed slaves (including Saint Tillo of Solignac), built churches, a monastery at Solignac, and major convent in Paris.
It was said that you could easily find his house by the number of poor people there that he was caring for.
Counselor to and diplomat for King Dagobert I.
Friend of Saint Ouen of Rouen with whom he formed a small religious society.
Persuaded Breton King Judicael to accept the authority of Dagobert.
Ordained in 640.
Bishop of Noyon and Tournai in 641.
Built the basilica of Saint Paul.
Preacher in Antwerp, Ghent, and Courtai, with many converts, generally brought to the faith by his example of charity and work with the poor and sick.
Friend and spiritual teacher of Saint Godeberta.
Encouraged devotion to the saints and reverence for their relics; he discovered the remains of Saint Quentin, Saint Piat at Seclin, and Saint Lucian at Beauvais, and made many reliquaries himself.
Miracle worker with the gifts of clairvoyance and prophecy; he foresaw the date of his own death.
He has become the traditional patron of all smiths, metal workers, and craftsmen.
His patronage of horses and the people who work with them stems first from his patronage of smiths and craftmen, but also from his having left a horse to a priest at his death.
The new bishop liked the horse, and took it from the priest.
The horse became sick, but recovered immediately when it was returned to the priest that Eligius had chosen.
There is also a legend of Eligius removing a horse's leg in order to easy shoe it.
In some places horses are blessed on his feast day.
Through the years, horse-drawn cabs were replaced by motorized ones, and stables were supplanted by garages and gas stations, but the patronage of the people who do those jobs and work in those places has remained.
- Born
- 588 at Catelat, near Limoges, France
- Died
- 1 December 660 at Noyon, France of high fever;
interred in the cathedral of Noyon
- Canonized
- Pre-Congregation
- Patronage
-
agricultural workers;
blacksmiths;
boilermakers;
cab drivers;
cabmen;
carriage makers;
cart makers;
cartwrights;
clock makers;
coin collectors;
craftsmen;
cutlers;
farm workers;
farmers;
farriers;
garage workers;
gas station workers;
gilders;
gold workers;
goldsmiths;
harness makers;
horses;
horseshoe makers;
jewelers;
jockeys;
knife makers;
laborers;
locksmiths;
metal collectors;
metal workers;
metalsmiths;
miners;
minters;
minting;
numismatics;
numismatists;
precious metal collectors;
REME;
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers;
saddle makers;
saddlers;
sick horses;
taxi drivers;
tool makers;
veterinarians;
watch makers;
wheelwrights
- Representation
-
anvil;
bishop with a crosier in his right hand, on the open palm of his left a miniature church of chased gold;
bishop with a hammer, anvil, and horseshoe;
bishop with a horse;
courtier;
goldsmith;
hammer;
holding a horse's leg, which he detached from the horse in order to shoe it more easily;
horseshoe;
man grasping a devil's nose with pincers;
man holding a chalice and goldsmith's hammer;
man shoeing a horse;
man with hammer and crown near a smithy;
man with hammer, anvil, and Saint Anthony;
pincers;
with Saint Godebertha;
giving a ring to Saint Godebertha;
working as a goldsmith
- Additional Information
-
Google Directory
Olga's Gallery: Botticelli
Olga's Gallery: Petrus Christus
Olga's Gallery
Catholic Online
Catholic Encyclopedia, by L Van Der Essen
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
Life of Saint Eligius, by Saint Ouen
- Print References
-
The Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
New Catholic Dictionary
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-
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