POPPONE, saint. – Benedictine abbot, born in 978 of a noble Flemish family, died at Marchiennes on 25 January 1048. He was one of the most capable collaborators of Riccardo di St-Vanne in the restoration of the monasteries of the Rhine region and the Low Countries.
After two pilgrimages (to the Holy Land around 1000 and to Rome in 1005), he suddenly renounced a proposed marriage and the military life to which his noble origin destined him, in order to embrace the Benedictine life in the monastery of St-Thierry at Reims (around 1008), directed by Gilberto, brother of the bishop of Cambrai, Gerardo I. Riccardo di St-Vanne recognized his merits and sent him as prior to the monastery of St-Vaast at Arras (1012), whose usurped possessions he was able to recover, with the help of the count of Flanders, from the lay lords. P. is known above all as abbot of Stavelot-Malmédy, from which his influence began to radiate. The emperors Henry II, Conrad II, and Henry III also entrusted him with the abbey of S. Massimiano at Trèves and with the task of restoring monastic life in the monasteries of St-Vincent at Metz, Limburg, Hersfeld, S. Gallo, St-Gialain, St-Trond, and Marchiennes. In return for imperial protection and generosity, P. served as negotiator between the German sovereigns and the court of France. He was undoubtedly a type of imperial abbot, but, also through his intimate and profound religious life, he helped prepare the ground from which the reform of Cluny began to flourish. Feast on 25 or 28 January.