Saint Sigismund of Burgundy

Saint Sigismund was king of the Burgundians in the first half of the sixth century. He left the Arian heresy for the Catholic faith and at Agaunum, today Saint-Maurice in Switzerland, founded a monastery in which the praise of God never fell silent. He had his own son killed and did penance for that crime. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on May 1.

He was the son of Gundobad, king of the Burgundians. The year of his birth is unknown, and most of what is known about his life comes from Saint Gregory of Tours, bishop and historian of the Franks. Brought up an Arian, he embraced the Catholic faith while his father was still alive, under the influence of Saint Avitus, bishop of Vienne; the sources date this conversion differently. His first wife was a daughter of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, and from this marriage a son, Sigeric, was born.

In 515 Sigismund founded a monastery at Agaunum, beside the tombs of the martyrs of the Theban Legion. Its solemn inauguration took place on September 22 of that year in the presence of Saint Avitus. Sigismund introduced there the unceasing praise of God: choirs of monks took turns so that the singing of the psalms never stopped. In 516, after his father’s death, he took over the rule of the kingdom of the Burgundians.

In 522 his second wife persuaded the king that Sigeric wanted to kill him and seize the kingdom. Sigismund had his son strangled in his sleep. Then he went to Agaunum and for many days, in tears and fasting, begged God for forgiveness. The Roman Martyrology says that he atoned for this crime by penance, tears and fasts. Gregory of Tours links the institution of the unceasing chant in the monastery with this penance.

Soon afterward the kings of the Franks, sons of Clovis and Queen Clotilde, attacked the kingdom of the Burgundians. Sigismund tried to take refuge at Agaunum, but King Chlodomer captured him and carried him off with his wife and sons to the region of Orléans. The Roman Martyrology states that his adversaries drowned him in a well. According to Gregory of Tours, Chlodomer had the king, his wife and his sons killed and their bodies thrown into a well. The sources disagree about the year of Sigismund’s death: they give 523 or 524.

In 535 or 536 his body was brought to Agaunum and buried in the monastery he had founded. He soon came to be venerated as a saint. Gregory of Tours described his penance and burial in his book on the glory of the martyrs, and a Mass was composed in his honor in which healing from fever was asked. Tradition calls him a martyr, although he died in a war for power; the present Roman Martyrology calls him a king. The Church has venerated him since antiquity.

The cult of Saint Sigismund also reached Poland. According to tradition, in 1166 Bishop Werner of Płock brought part of his skull from Aachen, and it was placed in Płock cathedral. In 1370 King Casimir the Great, in thanksgiving for his recovery, had a silver reliquary bust made for this relic, which is kept in the cathedral treasury. Saint Sigismund is the patron of Płock.