Richard of Saint-⁠Vanne

Saint Richard of Saint-⁠Vanne (also called Richard of Verdun) was abbot of the important monastery of Saint-⁠Vanne at Verdun in northern France from 1004 to 1046, and a renewer of monastic life. He was born around 970 into a noble family of Bantheville, the son of Walter and Theodrada. As a child he was placed in the cathedral school of Reims under Archbishop Adalbero and was ordained priest. At Reims he met Frederick, son of Godfrey I, count of Verdun.

He entered the monastery of Saint-⁠Vanne as a young man and was dismayed by its poor state; he tried to transfer, but Odilo of Cluny persuaded him to stay. With the support of Bishop Haimo of Verdun he was elected abbot in October 1004. Through his connections with the local nobility he made the simple monastery a place with many relics. Taking Cluny Abbey as his model he undertook large building works, for which Peter Damian criticised him, saying that he had spent much on useless buildings. His most lavish construction was meant to house the relics of the monastery's patron saints and former bishops. Some historians regard the origin of many of the relics he acquired as doubtful. In 1026, with the support of Richard II, duke of Normandy, he led a great pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Thanks to his reputation as an administrator he came to govern twenty-⁠one monasteries, among them Saint-⁠Vaast at Arras (1008), Elnon (1013) and Florennes (1015), which he ruled through priors. He retired to a hermitage near Remiremont but returned to Saint-⁠Vanne around 1039. He reposed in 1046. He was called "Gratia Dei" ("Thanks be to God"), from the words he said so often. He is commemorated on 14 June as a saint of the West before the Great Schism (a saint of the undivided Church), by the New Calendar.