Lubentius

Saint Lubentius lived in the 4th century, between about 300 and 370, and is venerated as a priest and missionary in the valley of the river Lahn in Germany, as well as at Kobern on the Moselle. He is patron of the boatmen of the Lahn.

His parents gave him, as a small child, to Saint Martin of Tours, who baptized him and treated him as a son. Martin then sent him to Bishop Maximin of Trier to be prepared for the priesthood, and Maximin ordained him and sent him as pastor to Kobern. When Maximin died in Aquitaine in 349, his successor Paulinus sent Lubentius to bring back the body. After much searching he found the church where it lay, took the keys by night from the sleeping custodian and carried the body to Trier. According to the Gesta Treverorum of the 12th century he worked as a missionary in the Lahn valley and founded a church at Dietkirchen. He died at Kobern.

His body is venerated in the collegiate church of Saint Lubentius at Dietkirchen (today part of Limburg), where it was moved before 841; other relics are at Kell, Kobern, Lahnstein, Limburg and Trier. He is commemorated on 13 October. The Orthodox Church took up his veneration in 2024, founding a parish of its own; it points out that Lubentius was a contemporary of Saint Athanasius, who spent his second exile at Trier. He is a saint of the undivided Church.