Statue représentant saint Gontran sur la partie gauche du porche d'entrée de la basilique sainte Clotilde à Paris, VIIème arrondissement.
Saint Gontran
Petit-fils de Clovis et roi de Bourgogne en 561, il connut cette époque féroce et cruelle où lui-même multiplia les crimes. Il tenta de se racheter par ses grandes libéralités envers les pauvres, qui le surnommèrent "le bon roi Gontran" et les églises. Reclus à la fin de sa vie au monastère Saint-Marcel de Chalon, il fut proclamé saint par son peuple. Saint Grégoire de Tours relate plusieurs miracles qu’il aurait opérés avant et après sa mort (en 593) et dont il fut lui-même témoin.
Saint Gontran et Childebert II, Grandes Chroniques de France.
Gontran, roi de Bourgogne
Né vers 525, fils du roi Clotaire Ier et petit-fils de Clovis, Gontran hérita du royaume de Burgondie en 561 ; son lot comprenait aussi l’Orléanais, le Berry, Arles et Marseille et sera augmenté, à la mort de son frère Caribert, en 567, de l’Avranchin, des villes de Saintes, Angoulême, Périgueux, Agen et Nantes, et encore d’une part de Paris… Ces partages ne pouvaient que susciter convoitises et violences. Le règne fut donc émaillé de luttes fratricides mais autant d’oeuvres charitables et pieuses. Gontran réunit plusieurs conciles à Lyon, Chalon, sa capitale et à Mâcon, se portant garant des canons (lois ecclésiastiques) édictés. Il remit Luxeuil à saint Colomban, donna de nombreux biens aux abbayes, fit construire diverses églises dont celle de Saint-Marcel où il fut enterré. Thaumaturge, c’est-à-dire qui guérit de façon miraculeuse, le « bon roi », ainsi que le surnomme son contemporain l’historiographe Grégoire, évêque de Tours, fut honoré comme un saint dans l’église chalonnaise et inscrit au calendrier liturgique jusqu’en 1765, à la date anniversaire de sa mort, le 28 mars 592.- MCB
SOURCE : http://celebrations-de-bourgogne.org/561-gontran-roi-de-bourgogne/
Un pauvre averti Gontran et Frédégonde ordonne la mutilation d'Olericus. Royal 16 G VI f. 69. Livre III, chapitre 23. Paris
Saint Gontran
Roi de Bourgogne (+ 592)
Confesseur.
Petit-Fils de Clovis et roi de Bourgogne, il connut cette époque féroce et cruelle où la reine Frédégonde fit assassiner sa sœur, son beau-frère, son mari et l'évêque Prétextat. Clotaire II fit périr Brunehaut, reine d'Austrasie, en l'attachant à un cheval au galop. Lui-même, saint Gontran fit bien quelques écarts dans la fidélité conjugale, répudia sa femme, en vint à tuer son médecin, crimes qu'il ajoutait à bien d'autres. Et puis, il se convertit, pleura ses péchés pendant le reste de sa vie, racheta ses fautes par ses grandes libéralités envers les pauvres, qui le surnommèrent "le bon roi Gontran". Vers la fin de sa vie, il entra au monastère Saint Marcel de Chalon sur Saône. Peu après sa mort, il fut proclamé saint par son peuple.
À Chalon-sur-Saône, en 592, le trépas de saint Gontran, roi de Bourgogne, qui expia ses fautes dans la pénitence et la piété et multiplia les dons en faveur des pauvres, des églises et des monastères.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/876/Saint-Gontran.html
Chilpéric Ier, Charibert Ier, Gontran et Sigebert Ier. Grandes chroniques de France, Livre II, Chapitre 23. Ms. 536, 24r. XVe siècle
Gontran est un nom d'origine germanique ; il vient de gund = guerre et de Ans, nom d'une divinité teutonne.
Mais surtout Gontran est à l’origine du diocèse de Maurienne. C’est sous son règne que sainte Thècle apporte les reliques de saint Jean Baptiste. A cette époque les Lombards ont pénétré en Italie ; ils occupent toute la plaine du Pô et menace la province cottienne (capitale Suse) dont fait partie la Maurienne. En 574, Gontran, victorieux des Lombards, rattache cette province à son royaume et fonde un évêché en Maurienne sur le versant français des Alpes plus facile à protéger contre les Lombards : le nouvel évêque est Felmase, qui porte le titre d’évêque de Suse et de Maurienne.
Gontran, roi de Bourgogne, devant Childebert II. (FR
2813) fol. 50v. Grandes Chroniques de France. France, Paris, XIVème siècle (65
x 65 mm).
Maître de Fauvel. Saint Gontran et des soldats, Grandes Chroniques de France. vers (1316-1321). Paris. Français 2615, folio 40.
Also known as
Contran
Gontram
Gontran
Gontrano
Gontranno
Gunthrammus
Gunthramnus
Guntram
Guntrammo
Profile
Grew up without the faith. Son
of King Clotaire
and Saint Clothildis.
Brother of King Charibert
and King Sigebert. King of
Orleans and Burgundy in 561. Married to
Mercatrude. Peacemaker.
He divorced Mercatrude;
some time later she became seriously ill,
and when her physician could
not cure her,
he had the doctor murdered.
Upon his conversion to Christianity he
was so overcome with remorse for the acts of his prior life, he devoted his
energy and fortune to building up the Church.
Protector of the oppressed, care-giver to the sick,
tender parent to his subjects, open with alms, especially
during plague and famine.
He strictly and justly enforced the law without respect to person, yet forgave
offenses against himself, including two attempted assassinations.
buried in
the church of Saint Marcellus, which he had founded
his skull is now
kept in a silver reliquary
declared a saint by
his subjects almost immediately upon his death
king finding
treasure and giving it to the poor
king with
three treasure chests, one of which has a globe and cross
Additional Information
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Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
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Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
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MLA Citation
“Saint Guntramnus“. CatholicSaints.Info. 26 May
2020. Web. 27 March 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-guntramnus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-guntramnus/
The Frankish kingdom in 561. Second inset from plate
20 of Professor G. Droysens Allgemeiner Historischer Handatlas, published by R.
Andrée. 1886
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Gontran, King
Article
Saint Gontran was son of King Clotaire, and grandson
of Clovis I. and Saint Clotildis. Being the second son, whilst his brothers
Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Austrasia, residing at Metz, he was
crowned king of Orleans and Burgundy in 561, making Chalons his capital. When
compelled to take up arms against his ambitious brothers and the Lombards, he
made no other use of his victories, under the conduct of a brave general called
Mommol, than to give peace to his dominions. The crimes in which the barbarous
manners of his nation involved him he effaced by tears of repentance. The
prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war, condemns those who think that
human policy cannot be modelled by the maxims of the Gospel, whereas nothing
can render a government more flourishing. He always treated the pastors of the
Church with respect and veneration. He was the protector of the oppressed, and
the tender parent of his subjects. He gave the greatest attention to the care
of the sick. He fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to God night and day
as a victim ready to be sacrificed on the altar of His justice, to avert His
indignation which he believed he himself had provoked and drawn down upon his
innocent people. He was a severe punisher of crimes in his officers and others,
and, by many wholesome regulations, restrained the barbarous licentiousness of
his troops; but no man was more ready to forgive offences against his own
person. With loyal magnificence he built and endowed many churches and monasteries.
This good king died; on the 28th of March, in 593, in the sixty-eighth year of
his age) having reigned thirty-one years and some months.
Reflection – There is no means of salvation more
reliable than the practice of mercy, since Our Lord has said it: ” Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall find mercy.”
MLA Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea. “Saint Gontran, King”. Pictorial Lives of the Saints, 1889. CatholicSaints.Info.
6 February 2014. Web. 28 March 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-gontran-king/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-gontran-king/
The kingdom of France in 587. Third inset from plate
20 of Professor G. Droysens Allgemeiner Historischer Handatlas, published by R.
Andrée. 1886
Saint Gontran,
King and Confessor
March 28, 2018 by Editor Staff
March 28
Today is the feast day of Saint Gontran. Ora pro
nobis.
Saint Gontran also called
(Gontrand, Gontram, Guntram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn,
and Guntramnus) was son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I and St.
Clotilda. Being the second son, while his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris,
and Sigebert in Austrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned King of Orleans and
Burgundy in 661, making Challons on the Saone his capital. When compelled to
take up arms against his ambitious brothers and the Lombards, he made no other
use of his victories, under the conduct of a brave general called Mommol, than
to give peace to his dominions.
He protected his nephews against the practices of the
wicked dowager queen, Brunehault of Sigebert, and Fredegonde of Chilperic, the
firebrands of France. The putting to death of the physicians of the queen at
her request, on her death-bed, and the divorcing of his wife Mercatrude, are
crimes laid to his charge, in which the barbarous manners of his nation
involved him : but these he effaced by tears of repentance. He governed his
kingdom, studying rather to promote the temporal happiness of others than his
own, a stranger to the passions of pride, jealousy, and ambition, and making
piety the only rule of his policy. (2)
The prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war,
condemns those who think that human policy cannot be modeled by the maxims of
the gospel, whereas nothing can render a government more flourishing. He always
treated the pastors of the church with respect and veneration, regarding them
as his fathers, and honoring and consulting them as his masters. He was the
protector of the oppressed, and the tender parent of his subjects, whom he
treated as his children. He poured out his treasures among them with a holy
profusion; especially in the time of a pestilence and famine. He gave the
greatest attention to the care of the sick. He fasted, prayed, wept, and
offered himself to God night and day, as a victim ready to be sacrificed on the
altar of his justice, to avert his indignation, which he believed he himself
had provoked, and drawn down upon his innocent people. He was a severe punisher
of crimes in his officers and others, and, by many wholesome regulations,
restrained the barbarous licentiousness of his troops; but no man was more
ready to forgive offenses against his own person. He contented himself with
imprisoning a man who, through the instigation of Queen Fredegonde, had
attempted to stab him, and he spared another assassin sent by the same wicked
woman, because he had taken shelter in a church. (2)
This good king died on the 28th of March, in 593,
in the sixty-eighth year of his age, having reigned thirty-one years and some
months. (1)
The Huguenots scattered his ashes in the sixteenth century: only his skull escaped their fury, and is now kept there in a silver case. He is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. (3)
Research by REGINA
Staff
http://gardenofmary.com/march-28-st-gontran-king/
http://www.nobility.org/2014/03/27/gontran-nobility/
http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/283.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Entretien_entre_saint_Gontran_et_Childebert_II.jpg
SOURCE : https://www.reginamag.com/saint-gontran-king-and-confessor/
Tiers de sou de Gontran frappé à Chalon-sur-Saône (561-592). BNF, monnaies, médailles et antiques.
Avers : Buste diadémé,
drapé et cuirassé à droite. Revers : Victoire debout de face tenant une
croix courte et une couronne.
San Gontranno (Guntramno) Re dei Franchi
525 - Chalon-sur-Saone, 28 marzo 592
Gontrano era un re francese del VI secolo. Figlio di
Clotario I, era nato intorno al 525. Morto il padre, ereditò parte del suo
regno (spartito con due fratelli), comprendente Borgogna, Marsiglia e Arles.
Governò con saggezza (e anche con il pugno di ferro), soffocando le pretese dei
nobili. Fu munifico con la Chiesa, ricoprendo di doni comunità e monasteri.
Visse in semplicità e morì nel 592 nella sua residenza di
Chalon-sur-Saone. (Avvenire)
Emblema: Corona, Scettro
Martirologio Romano: A Châlon-sur-Saône in
Burgundia in Francia, deposizione di san Guntramno, re dei Franchi, che
distribuì i suoi tesori alle chiese e ai poveri.
Figlio di Clotario I, nato nel 525, Gontranno divise coi suoi fratelli il regno paterno. Egli ebbe il regno di Orléans e di Borgogna, il Berry e una parte della Provenza. Questo nipote di Clodoveo e di s. Clotilde era per natura furbo, violento, amante del piacere e della buona tavola. La sua vita sarebbe poco edificante se non avesse manifestato una fede solida, un sincero pentimento delle sue colpe e se non avesse compiuto molte buone azioni che dimostravano in lui la volontà di praticare le virtù della giustizia e della religione. Si sposò tre volte con ancelle, ma non ebbe figli.
Questo personaggio fu nondimeno assai presto venerato come un santo, perché, in tutta la sua vita mostrò una reale volontà di mettere la propria condotta in accordo con la sua fede e questo rude figlio di barbari che si civilizza diventando cristiano, fu in qualche modo un simbolo della forza e dell'opera della grazia. Gontranno si tenne fuori dalle lotte e dalle questioni che divisero continuamente i suoi fratelli e i suoi nipoti e intervenne solo come moderatore. Verso il 567-70 scelse come capitale del suo regno Chalon-sur-Saòne e si preoccupò dell'evangelizzazione dei suoi territori, in particolare delle montagne del Giura. Fondò nei sobborghi della sua capitale l'abbazia dei SS. Pietro e Paolo divenuta poi S. Marcello. Inviò religiosi di S. Benigno di Digione a fondare case a Pontarlier e a Salins, poi ne inviò altri nell'abbazia di Agauno (St-Maurice-en-Valais). In questo stesso periodo (570-575) accolse s. Colombano ad Annegray prima di donargli Luxeuil, una ventina di anni dopo. A Gontranno si attribuisce anche la fondazione del monastero di Baume-les-Dames e dì altre abbazie, e si dice che dotasse anche generosamente quelle che esistevano qua e là nel suo regno: S. Sinforiano di Autun, S. Benigno di Digione, Cestre, N. D. di Sales a Bourges e S. Maurizio di Agauno, che ricostruì, senza contare i monasteri di Chalon e di Macon, S. Marcello e S. Clemente. Fece inoltre donazioni ad Agauno e S. Benigno, perché vi si potesse celebrare la salmodia perpetua, anzi, sembra che volesse porre alle dipendenze di Agauno un certo numero di monasteri. Fece costruire la chiesa di S. Pietro a Ginevra; a Moriana fondò una chiesa nel 565 per conservarvi reliquie di s. Giovanni Battista, portate da Alessandria e vi istituì poi un seggio episcopale che esiste ancor oggi. Gontranno fu anche il protettore dei vescovi e si mostrò sempre molto reverente nei loro confronti; sottopose a un concilio le divergenze che egli aveva avuto con alcuni vescovi e con suo fratello Sigeberto; volle anche riparare alle violenze commesse da Chilperìco a detrimento delle chiese e dei poveri. Convocò sei concili in circa venti anni nelle principali città del suo stato: Lione, Chalon, Macon, Valence e si mostrò rispettoso dei canoni per le nomine episcopali e il diritto d'asilo. Ebbe sempre cura del suo popolo e volle sollevare le miserie dovute ai flagelli naturali e al tempo stesso, nella penitenza e nel digiuno, offriva se stesso a Dio come vittima per i suoi sudditi, secondo quanto riferiscono i cronisti.
Morì il 28 marzo 592 e fu sepolto a S. Marcello di Chalon, dove si credette per molto tempo che si fosse fatto monaco. La sua pietà e generosità hanno fatto sì che, a partire dal sec. VII, fosse considerato come un santo. Il suo nome figura in qualche ms. del Martirologio Geronimiano. Il suo corpo restò a Chalon ed il culto si sviluppò dopo che, nel 1435, Giovanni Rolin, vescovo di Chalon e priore di S. Marcello, ebbe restaurato la sua tomba. La Chiesa di Chalon ne ha celebrato la festa, come le diocesi di Moriana, Orléans, Besancon e Losanna; oggi figura nel Proprio di molte diocesi francesi. Nel sec. XVI gli Ugonotti devastarono la sua tomba e dispersero le reliquie; solo il capo fu salvato ed è conservato in un reliquiario d'argento. A Mo-riana è stato anche conservato un braccio, da epoca imprecisata fino al 1793. Il Martirologio Romano, dopo il Martirologio Geronimiano, celebra la sua memoria il 28 marzo.
Autore: Claude Boillon
