Eigil of Prüm

Eigil of Prüm (Eigel, Egilo) was abbot of Prüm from 853 to 860, abbot of Flavigny from 860 or 863 to 865 and archbishop of Sens from 865 until his death on 29 May 870 or 871. He is venerated as a saint in the Western Church; his day is 27 May.

He came, according to the Gallia Christiana, from an aristocratic family of the archdiocese of Utrecht. He was a pupil at the abbey of Saint-⁠Pierre-⁠le-⁠Vif at Sens, a disciple of Archbishop Aldric, like Louis, nephew of Charlemagne, and Lupus of Ferrières. At Prüm he was a monk in August 843, when he received two letters from Lupus of Ferrières, with whom he cooperated in collating classical texts; in a letter to Abbot Markward, Lupus writes that "Eigil, the faithful interpreter of my affairs" would explain what he wanted regarding Suetonius and Josephus. In the summer of 847, having recovered from a serious illness, he visited the abbey of Ferrières with other monks of Prüm. He succeeded Markward as abbot in 853. He fell out with King Lothair II over the latter's divorce from Theutberga. He remained abbot until the Council of Aachen of 9 January 860, then resigned voluntarily and moved to West Francia, perhaps claiming illness. King Charles the Bald gave him the abbey of Flavigny, which he restored and where in 864 he settled a cell of twelve monks at Corbigny. He transferred the relics of Saint Regina to Flavigny.

In 865 he succeeded Wenilo in the see of Sens. He ended Wenilo's rivalry with Hincmar. He received the pallium from Pope Nicholas I; the pope asked, however, that bishops of the region be named and no longer foreigners. He presided over the council of Soissons in 866 on the matter of the clerics ordained by Ebbo, and crossed the Alps to deliver the council's letter to the pope and to act as Charles's envoy in the divorce of Lothair II. On 20 May 867 he brought Charles letters from the pope to Lothar and the bishops of his realm, with the command that Waldrada be sent to Rome.