Castor of Karden

Saint Castor of Karden was a priest and hermit in the Moselle valley in Germany in the fourth century, and he reposed at Karden, at an advanced age, around 400. The calendars call him a hieromonk and missionary.

He was a disciple of Saint Maximinus of Trier, around 345, and was ordained priest by him. Like his teacher, he may have come from Aquitaine. After his ordination he settled as a hermit at Karden on the Moselle with several companions, among them the Aquitanian pilgrim Potentinus and his two sons Felicius and Simplicius, and there they established a small monastic community devoted to a strict life.

By the year 791 there was already a reliquary with his relics, which was translated to the church of Saint Paulinus at Karden. In 836 Archbishop Hetto of Trier moved the relics to the basilica that came to bear his name at Koblenz. He is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 13 February (new style).