Lambert of Lyon

Saint Lambert (Lambertus, Landebertus) was abbot of Fontenelle Abbey and bishop of Lyon from 678 to 688, born in 625 and dead in 688. He is commemorated on 14 April. Our sources present him as a saint of the Catholics and show no Orthodox glorification.

He was the son of Erlebert, lord of Quernes, where he was born, and nephew of Robert I (Chrodobert), bishop of Tours; by some sources he belonged to the Merovingian house. Because of his high rank he was sent to the court of Clotaire III, where he soon won the respect of the king and his ministers. Nevertheless he chose the life of a cleric and studied under the direction of Abbot Saint Wandrille at Fontenelle Abbey, where he received the monastic habit. After Wandrille's death, in 665 by our sources, he was elected in his place.

The skill with which he governed the abbey was soon known, and kings took example and counsel from it. Childeric II honoured his trust and made large gifts to the abbey. Theuderic III, who succeeded his brother in 675, was however too liberal for the abbot, but he did give land at Donzère, where Lambert built a monastery. Among his disciples were his uncle Adalbert, Saint Hermeland of Indre, Saint Erembert, bishop of Toulouse (the English source makes Hermeland bishop of Toulouse), and Saint Condède, a hermit from England, who founded the monastery of Belcinac on an island in the Seine.

Saint Genesius, bishop of Lyon, died around the year 679, and Lambert was elected in his place at the urging of the king and with the consent of the clergy and the people. He died in 688. Through his relationship with his uncle Robert I, he was one of the early members of the Robertian family.