Saint Eligius

Saint Eligius was a goldsmith and counselor to the Frankish kings of the Merovingian dynasty, and later bishop of Noyon and Tournai. He is venerated as the patron of goldsmiths and of all who work in metal. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on December 1.

He was born at Chaptelat near Limoges, into a Gallo-Roman family. The year of his birth is not certain; it is most often placed around 588. His father noticed his son’s talent and apprenticed him to the goldsmith Abbo, who was in charge of the mint at Limoges.

As a trained craftsman Eligius came to the court of King Clotaire II. The king commissioned from him a throne of gold and precious stones. According to his Life, Eligius made two thrones instead of one from the metal entrusted to him, and this honesty won him the king’s trust. He was put in charge of the royal mint. Under Dagobert I, from 629, he was among the king’s closest counselors and carried out a successful embassy on his behalf to Judicael, ruler of the Bretons.

He gave the wealth he had earned to almsgiving. In Marseille he ransomed captives who were being sold as slaves in the port. He made reliquaries and adorned the tombs of saints, among them Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Denis, and Saint Genevieve. In 632 he founded a monastery at Solignac near Limoges, and in Paris a monastery of nuns headed by Saint Aurea.

After Dagobert’s death in 639 Eligius left the court together with his friend, Saint Ouen, and both were ordained priests. On May 13, 641, they were consecrated bishops together: Ouen received Rouen, and Eligius the diocese of Noyon and Tournai. Most of its inhabitants were pagans. The bishop therefore preached the Gospel in Flanders, around Antwerp, Ghent, and Kortrijk, and among the Frisians. In Noyon he founded a monastery of nuns, and after the tomb of Saint Quentin was found he built a church in his honor.

Of his writings, the letter to Saint Desiderius, bishop of Cahors, is certainly authentic. A sermon is also attributed to him in which he warns the faithful against pagan superstitions and urges them to pray, to receive the Eucharist, and to make the sign of the cross; the authorship of the homilies handed down under his name is, however, uncertain. Eligius died at Noyon on December 1, 660, after nineteen years of episcopal ministry, and was buried there. Queen Saint Bathild, who valued his counsel, set out to visit him but arrived after his death.

His Life was written by Saint Ouen; the surviving text was later reworked. Eligius lived long before canonization processes came into being, and the Church has venerated him as a saint since the early Middle Ages, especially in France and Flanders. Goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen who work in metal chose him as their patron. Later legends about horses led farriers and those who care for horses to invoke him as well. Pope Paul VI, receiving Italian goldsmiths in 1966, recalled him as their protector.