Perpetuus of Maastricht

Perpetuus of Maastricht (in French Perpète) was bishop of Maastricht in the early 7th century and is patron of the city of Dinant in Belgium. Very little is known of his life, and what is told is largely legendary and comes from late sources.

Tradition says he was the son of a count and was born at Dinant. He was bishop between about 607 and 617. He is first mentioned by Heriger of Lobbes, around the year 980, in his history of the diocese of Tongres-⁠Maastricht-⁠Liège. The sources do not agree on his place in the list of bishops: one counts him the twenty-⁠third bishop of Tongres-⁠Maastricht, another the fourteenth of Maastricht, between 586 and 589. According to a persistent local tradition, he chose Dinant as his residence and founded there the church and parish of Saint Vincent. The pious account shows him as a bishop zealous in proclaiming the word of God, hence the nickname "teacher of the faithful".

He is said to have reposed at Dinant on 4 November 617 and to have been buried in the church of Saint Vincent. When that church was demolished in the 18th century, his body was moved to the collegiate church of Notre-⁠Dame in Dinant. He is commemorated locally on 4 November.