ST. ROMARIC, ABBOT

RENOUNCING the court of Clotaire II., in which he enjoyed the highest honors and dignities, he sold great part of his estates for the benefit of the poor; and, with the residue, founded two monasteries, one for men, the other for women, at the foot of mount Vosge, now in Lorraine. He took the monastic habit at Luxeu, and procured St. Amatus, a monk of that house, to be appointed first abbot at Remiremont, which was the name of the monastery which he had built. He spent several years under his direction in the same house, to which he removed. Upon the death of St. Amatus he was compelled to take upon him the government of that abbey. The world from which he fled, he viewed at a distance with a pious dread, and in his sanctuary enjoyed that peace which heaven alone can give. The example of his life, and the severity which he used towards himself, were alone a censure of the slothful. Charity, sweetness, and humility formed the character of his virtue. Having made it his chief study, during the twenty-six years of his abbacy, to learn to die, he joyfully received the last summons, and departed from this life to a better in 653. His name is inserted in the Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. See his life written by a disciple, and Bulteau.