St. Arnoul, (Arnold, Arnulf) Bishop of Metz (582-640), Feast July 18
St. Arnoul served in the court of Theudebert II of Austrasia, where he was educated by Gondulf of Provence, an archpriest in Metz who was the grandson of St. Rusticus. Under Theudebert II, St. Arnoul became a distinguished military commander and administrator of 6 provinces. At age 14, he married St. Dode/Clotilde of Metz. Their oldest son was St. Chlodulf, Bishop of Metz; their 2nd son Ansegisel married St. Begga, thus making St. Arnoul grandfather of Pepin of Herstal, great-grandfather of Charles Martel and 3rd great-grandfather of Charlemagne. When St. Arnoul was offered the vacant see of Metz in 611, his wife St. Dode entered a convent. He became priest and then bishop while continuing to serve as the king’s steward at court. In 613 St. Arnoul joined Pepin of Landen (husband of St. Itta) in opposing Franks under Queen Brunhilda who was overthrown and executed. When Dagobert I became the new ruler of Austrasia, St. Arnoul became his advisor. In 625 St. Arnoul participated in a council of Frankish bishops at Reims. Around 628 he began to repent of his role in the wars and murders of the ruling families. He left his bishopric and retired as a monk to a mountain hermitage in his domains. There with St. Arnoul’s support, in 613 his friend Romaric had already established Remiremont Abbey which followed the Rule of St. Columbanus, practicing the “laus perennis,” or unceasing prayer; and there, after a dozen years of ascetic labors in the nearby wilderness, he died and was buried in the abbey church. His relics were later moved to St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Metz.
