Lupus of Sens

Saint Lupus (Loup) of Sens was the nineteenth bishop of Sens (Senon) in Gaul, born around 573 near Orléans and died around 623 at the estate of Brienon-⁠sur-⁠Armançon in the department of Yonne. He is commemorated on 1 September, chiefly in the Catholic Church.

Life

The exact date of his birth is not known, most probably in the 570s. He was the son of Betton, Count of Tonnerre, "Blessed Betto", of the royal house of the Kingdom of Burgundy, and of Austregilda, both related to the Merovingian royal family. At school he surpassed his peers in talent, mind and eloquence, but he was drawn above all to the church services; so he was brought up by his mother's brothers, the bishops Aurelian and Aunacharius. Ordained a priest, he became known for his ascetic labours, mercy to the poor and frequent visits to the tombs of the saints. It is told that one night, when he came to the church to pray, the locked doors opened of themselves before him. After the death of Bishop Artemius, who shepherded Sens, the townspeople and clergy asked the king to give them the priest Lupus as bishop (the Russian source names a King Dagobert). He distinguished himself by his tact and firmness in dealing with the rival Merovingian princes of his time. After his appointment Lupus had both many new friends and enemies. After the king's death he was slandered and the new ruler, Clothar II, sent him into exile in Picardy. There too the saint continued his labours and brought many pagans to Christianity. His veneration spread especially after, as bishop, he healed a blind man. The people of Sens did not accept the exile of the beloved bishop and, after about a year, Lupus was returned to his see, and the king repented and asked his forgiveness. Later the saint worked many miracles and died during a journey through his diocese, around 623.

Churches, hymn and well

The Romanesque church of Saint-⁠Loup-⁠de-⁠Naud, 8 km from Provins in Champagne, is distinguished by the sculptures in the porch of its great doorway, with an ambitious iconographic programme in which Saint Loup mediates entry into the mystery of the Trinity. About 980, Sevinus, archbishop of Sens, gave the Benedictine community of the abbey of Saint-⁠Pierre-⁠le-⁠Vif at Sens four altars "in the demesne that is called Naud, consecrated in honour of Saint Loup", which shows that a shrine already stood there, a priory under the abbot of Saint-⁠Pierre-⁠le-⁠Vif. The priory looked to Sens for patronage and, although it lay close to Provins, a seat of the counts of Champagne, a visit from the abbot is documented in 1120. In 1160/61 Hugues de Toucy, archbishop of Sens, presented to the priory the relic of Saint Loup, brought from the abbey of Sainte-⁠Colombe, to that community's dismay; the sculpted portal, with an iconography comparable to the royal portal at Chartres, was doubtless undertaken shortly after, when pilgrimages brought wealth to the community. The priory was destroyed by the English in 1432, in the Hundred Years' War, and again by the Huguenots in 1567, in the Wars of Religion. Other churches dedicated to Saint Loup are at Villflingen (Baden-⁠Württemberg), at Brienon-⁠sur-⁠Armançon and the former church and hospital in Cologne, and monasteries: the Cistercian nuns' at Saint-⁠Jean-⁠de-⁠Braye and one at Troyes.

In 1689 a Latin hymn in his honour was published in the collection Hymni Sacri et Novi, printed in Paris, with words by the canon and spiritual poet Jean-⁠Baptiste de Santeul of the abbey of Saint-⁠Victor in Paris, the composer being unknown. In the village of Tigeaux in Seine-⁠et-⁠Marne there is the Saint-⁠Leu well: on the first Sunday of September a procession takes place on the village square in honour of the miraculous properties of the water of this well, which cures eye diseases and fear; the well is said to have been discovered by Saint-⁠Leu or Lupus, bishop of Sens.