Remigius of Rouen

Saint Remigius was the third archbishop of Rouen, from 755 to 771 or 772. He was the illegitimate son of Charles Martel. The Church remembers him as a bishop who worked to establish the Roman rite and chant in the Church of Gaul.

He was born of an illegitimate union of Charles Martel, probably with a concubine named Ruodhaid. With his brothers, Bernard and Hieronymus, he received nothing of his father's inheritance, which was divided among the legitimate sons. He was educated at court. In 737 he was sent with his half-⁠brother Pepin the Short to strengthen Charles's hold on Burgundy. In 755 he became archbishop of Rouen, in the time of King Pepin. In 760 he accompanied Pepin to Italy, with his two brothers, to mediate between Pope Paul I and the Lombard king Desiderius. On his return he brought from the Schola Cantorum of Rome an instructor to teach his clergy Roman chant. He was a chief agent in establishing the Roman rite and chant in the Gallic church.

He fell asleep in 771 or 772. In 1090 his relics were moved to the abbey of Saint-⁠Ouen at Rouen; in the turmoil of the Reformation, in 1562, his reliquary was lost. His feast is on 15 or 19 January.