Chrodegang of Metz, Saint

CHRODEGANG OF METZ, Saint. - Born at the beginning of the 8th century into a noble family of Brabant. In 742 Pepin appointed him bishop of Metz, but did not allow him to leave the court, where he was distinguished for his culture, piety and beneficence. In 753 he went to Rome to fetch Pope Stephen II, who was to meet Pepin at Ponthion (6 January 754). He carried out the mission with such resolution and ability that Stephen II granted him the pallium and, after the death of Boniface (754), also the title of archbishop, without his see thereby becoming metropolitan.

He founded the monasteries of Gorze near Mainz (748), of St. Peter on the Moselle, and of Lorsch in the diocese of Worms (764). He promoted the spread of the liturgy and of Gregorian chant. Following the example of other bishops, he reduced the whole clergy of his cathedral to a common life, and in 755 composed a Regula canonicorum which made him deservedly famous (v. CANONICI REGOLARI). The name of C. appears at the head of the list of signatories of the "funerary pact", the first known, concluded among the 44 participants in the Synod of Attigny (between 760-62), by which pact it was established that each would celebrate 100 Masses, or 30 if a bishop, and recite 100 psalters upon the death of individual members. He died on 6 March 766 and was buried at Gorze.

Ireneo Daniele