Remigius of Lyon

Saint Remigius was archbishop of Lyon in the ninth century and died on 28 October 875. The Church remembers him on 29 October. He was one of the notable figures in the church life of Carolingian France, in the years when the Western Church was disturbed by the controversy over predestination.

Before he became bishop he worked closely with his predecessor, Archbishop Amulo of Lyon. He was raised to the see on 31 March 852. From 855 to 863 he also held the office of archchaplain, a post that gave him wide influence at the royal court.

His name appears among the leaders of several synods. In 855 he presided over the Synod of Valence. There, as did some other bishops of the time, he took the side of Gottschalk in the predestination dispute. This set him against Hincmar of Reims, a still more powerful man, who at the Synod of Quierzy in 853 had secured approval of his four chapters on predestination.

The Synod of Valence refused to confirm them and instead adopted six canons against Hincmar's position. The Synod of Langres in 859 reaffirmed these canons, which shows how much Remigius's word counted. At the national Synod of Savonnières, which followed immediately, he laid the canons before King Charles the Bald.

When he took charge of the diocese he found that certain revenues which he considered rightfully belonging to the see had been taken from it. He set about recovering them and succeeded fully. For this and for other services, the people, grateful to him, honoured him as a saint. Our source thus tells us that his veneration began with the faithful, and mentions no known synodal act of canonization.

Various writings have been attributed to him, but he seems not to have been an author, and these attributions are probably false.