Eutropius of Orange

Saint Eutropius of Orange was bishop of Orange in Gaul, from about 463, and reposed on 27 May 475. He is commemorated on 27 May.

He was born into the nobility at Marseille, where he spent a wild and wasted youth. According to tradition he was converted by his wife and, after her death, was ordained deacon by Eustochius. He succeeded Justin as bishop of Orange, in a diocese laid waste by the Visigoths. At first, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the work, he fled; a man of God named Aper convinced him to return and tend his flock. His episcopate lasted about twelve years, during which he did not hesitate to do manual work, sometimes in a field where he himself worked with a plough, sometimes at a building site where he carried stones even when the other workers were at their meal. He corresponded with Pope Hilarius and was a friend of Saint Faustus of Riez, and letters from contemporaries speak highly of his learning and piety; Sidonius Apollinaris speaks of him in the most reverential terms. He took part in the councils of Arles in 463 and 475.

He was buried in the basilica of Saint Julian of Antioch, which he himself had built. His successor Verus wrote his Life around 500, with miracles: the deliverance of a possessed person, the healing of someone struck by lightning, the stopping of a fire through prayer. His relics are now interred in the altar of the chapel of Saint Mary Magdalene in the London Oratory.