Randoald of Grandval

Saint Randoald (Rancald, Randaut) was prior of the Benedictine monastery of Moutier-⁠Grandval, under Abbot Germanus of Granfelden, and received a martyr's death on 21 February 675. The sources say that he is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church and in the Roman Catholic Church, with commemoration on 21 February, the anniversary of his death. Our record gives the years 700 and 675, which do not fit. We have no Orthodox act of canonization, so we call him a saint of the undivided Church in the West.

The account of his death is in the Passion of Saint Germanus (Passio sancti Germani), written around 695 by Bobolenus, a priest of Luxeuil Abbey, at the request of the brothers Chadoal and Aridius, contemporaries of Randoald. The manuscript is preserved in codex 551 of Saint Gall, in the abbey library. Randoald was a monk and prior (according to another source librarian) at Moutier-⁠Grandval. Together with Germanus he was killed by partisans of the Duke of Alsace, Eticho. The monk and his abbot had stood up for the poor of the region against Eticho's efforts to subdue the inhabitants of the surroundings of Delémont.

Randoald had accompanied Abbot Germanus to the church of Saint Maurice at Courtételle, where the abbot remonstrated with the duke regarding his depredations in the area. The monks had just left after negotiations with the duke and were returning to Moutier-⁠Grandval. One of the duke's lieutenants, with a few men, set off in pursuit. They caught up with them and killed them: one of the soldiers cut off Randoald's head, while Germanus was pierced with a spear. The following night the brothers collected the bodies and buried them first at Saint-⁠Ursanne, then at Moutier-⁠Grandval. It is said that miracles took place at their tomb, which became a centre of pilgrimage. In 1477 the remains of the martyrs were moved beneath the high altar. Their cult spread throughout the diocese of Basel and the province of Besançon. At the Reformation the relics of the abbey were taken to the church of Saint-⁠Marcel in Delémont, which still has the relics of Saints Germanus and Randoald, where they are venerated. Randoald is venerated above all in the canton of Jura, where some streets bear his name.