Reliquary bust of
Saint Plechelm (Oldenzaal)
Sint-Plechelmuskerk: zilveren reliekbuste van Sint-Plechelmus.
Saint Pléchelme
Évêque (+ v. 717)
Evêque missionnaire en Frise, Pléchelme fut un de ces hommes apostoliques qui du fond de la Grande Bretagne et particulièrement de l'Irlande vinrent tirer les Pays-Bas des ténèbres de la gentilité... Quoique saint Pléchelme ait été sacré évêque par le Pape pour son propre pays on ne connaît point qu'il eût d'évêché fixe. Les duchés de Gueldres, de Clêves et de Juliers ont été le principal théâtre de son apostolat (d'après 'mémoires pour l'histoire des sciences et des beaux arts')
Saint Pléchelme est inhumé au mont Odile, dans le sanctuaire qu'il avait élevé en l'honneur de la Vierge, de concert avec saint Wiron. C'étaient deux missionnaires que Pépin de Herstal avait accueillis généreusement. (source: Traditions et légendes de la Belgique)
Près de Ruremonde sur la Meuse, dans le Brabant, vers 717, saint Pléchelme,
évêque. Venu de Northumbrie d'Angleterre, il annonça à beaucoup de gens les
richesses du Christ.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11966/Saint-Pl%C3%A9chelme.html
Statue
of Saint Plechelm at the tower of Saint Plechelm's church at the
Plechelmusstraat in De Lutte, The Netherlands
Beeld
van Sint Plechelmus op de toren van de Sint Plechelmuskerk aan de
Plechelmusstraat in De Lutte
Also
known as
Plechelm of Utrecht
Plechelmo of…
Plechelmus of…
Apostle of Guelderland
Profile
Benedictine monk. Priest. Pilgrim to Rome, Italy with Saint Wiro and Saint Otger.
Regional missionary bishop to
Northumberland, England. Missionary to
Friesland, in the modern Netherlands;
may have worked with Saint Willibrord
of Echternach. Helped found Saint Peter’s monastery at
Roermond, Netherlands near
modern Odilienberg c.700 on
land given them by Blessed Pepin
of Herstal.
Born
Anglo-Saxon from Northumbria, England
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, by the Australian Catholic
Truth Society
images
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Plechelm of
Guelderland“. CatholicSaints.Info. 13 July 2022. Web. 23 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-plechelm-of-guelderland/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-plechelm-of-guelderland/
Article
(Saint) Bishop (July 15)
(8th
century) A Saxon Saint,
born in the South of Scotland,
who, accompanied by Saints Wiro
and Otger, evangelised the
still heathen provinces about the Lower Rhine and the mouths of the
Meuse. Saint Plechelm
is said to have been Bishop of
Ruremonde, where he died and
was buried (A.D.
732).
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Plechelm”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
15 July 2016. Web. 23 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-plechelm/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-plechelm/
Plechelm of Guelderland B
(RM)
Born in Northumberland;
died c. 730. Plechelm was ordained a priest. He went to Rome with another
Northumbrian priest, Saint Wiro, and a deacon named Otger. In Rome, Wiro and
Plechelm were consecrated regionary bishops. After doing missionary work in Northumbria,
they went to the Friesland area of the Netherlands, where they evangelized the
inhabitants of the lower Meuse Valley under Saint Willibrord or Saint
Swithbert, and built a church and cells at Odilienberg on land granted to them
by Blessed Pepin of Herstal. They were martyred while preaching the Gospel
(Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE
: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0715.shtml
Basiliek
van de H.H. Wiro, Plechelmus en Otgerus; Basiliek van Wiro, Plechelmus en
Otgerus, Sint Odilienberg, Statues of Saint Plechelm
St. Plechelm, Bishop and
Confessor
[Apostle of
Guelderland.] HE was by birth a noble English Saxon, but born in the
southern part of Scotland; for Lothian and the rest of the Lowlands as far as
Edinburgh frith belonged for several ages to the Northumbrian English. Having
received holy orders in his own country he made a pilgrimage to Rome, whence he
returned home enriched with holy relics. Some time after, in company with the
holy bishop St. Wiro, and St. Otger a deacon, he passed into those parts of
Lower Germany which had not then received the light of faith. Having obtained
the protection of Pepin, mayor of the palace in Austrasia, he converted the
country now called Guelderland, Cleves, Juliers, and several neighbouring
provinces lying chiefly between the Rhine, the Wahal, and the Meuse. When he
had planted the gospel there with great success he retired to St. Peter’s Mount
near Ruremund, but continued to make frequent missions among the remaining
infidels. Prince Pepin, who though he had formerly fallen into adultery, led
afterwards a penitential and Christian holy life, went every year from his
castle of Herstal to confess his sins to this holy pastor after the death of
St. Wiro, which the author of St. Plechelm’s life relates in the following
words: 1 “Pepin,
the king of the French, (that is, mayor with royal authority,) had him in great
veneration, and every year, in the beginning of Lent, having laid aside his
purple, went from his palace barefoot to the said mount of Peter where the
saint lived, and took his advice how he ought to govern his kingdom according
to the holy will and law of God, and by what means he might promote the faith
of Christ and every advantage of virtue. There also having made the confession
of his sins to the high priest of the Lord, and received penance, he washed
away with his tears the offences which through human frailty he had
contracted.” F. Bosch, the Bollandist, observes, this prince must have been
Pepin, surnamed of Herstal, or the Fat, who though he never enjoyed the title
of king, reigned in Austrasia with regal power, and with equal piety and
valour. He died in 714, in the castle of Jopil on the Meuse, near Liege, which
was his paternal estate, St. Pepin of Landon his grandfather being son of
Carloman, the first mayor of this family, grandson of Charles count of Hesbay
near Liege, the descendant of Ferreol, formerly præfectus-prætorio of the
Gauls. St. Plechelm survived Pepin of Herstal seventeen years, is called by
Bollandus bishop of Oldenzel and Ruremund, and died on the 15th of July, 732.
He was buried in our lady’s chapel in the church, on the mountain of St. Peter,
now called of St. Odilia, near Ruremund. His relics were honoured with many
miracles. The principal portion of them is now possessed by the collegiate
church of Oldenzel, in the province of Over-Yssel, part at Ruremund. His name
is famous in the Belgic and other Martyrologies. His ancient life testifies
that he was ordained bishop in his own country before he undertook a missionary
life. Bede, in the year 731, mentions Pechthelm, who having been formerly a
disciple of St. Aldhelm, in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, returning to his
own country was ordained bishop to preach the gospel with more authority. He
afterwards fixed his see at Candida Casa, now a parliamentary town of Galloway
in Scotland, called Whitehorn. The Bollandists in several parts of their work
contend this Pechthelm to have been a different person from St. Plechelm, whom
Stilting demonstrates to have been at Mount St. Peter, whilst the other,
somewhat elder according to Bede, was in North-Britain at Candida Casa; though
Antony Pagi 2 and
the author of Batavia Sacra endeavour to prove him, against F. Bosch and his
colleagues, to have been the same. See his authentic life with the remarks of
Bollandus and his colleagues, Julij, t. 4, p. 58, and Batavia Sacra, p. 50. 3
Note 1. N. 11, p.
69. [back]
Note 2. Critic.
Hist. Chron. ad an. 734, n. 4. [back]
Note 3. Our saint’s
colleague St. Wiro (in Irish Bearaidhe) is honoured on the 8th of May. By the
Four Masters he is styled Abbot of Dublin; but with the Irish annalists, bishop
and abbot are generally synonymous terms. He died in 650. See Ware.
St. Plechelm’s other
fellow-missionary, St. Otger, is honoured on the 10th of September; he is
always styled deacon, by which it appears that he was never promoted to the
priesthood. From his name and other circumstances it is thought he was an
English-Saxon, though from the north, probably the southern parts of Scotland
anciently subject to the kings of the Northumbers. Being desirous to accompany
SS. Wiro and Plechelm to Rome, and in their apostolic missions into Germany,
when Pepin gave the Mount of St. Peter or of St. Odilia to St. Wiro, the three
saints settled there together, and ended their days in that monastery. Whether
St. Otger outlived St. Plechelm is uncertain. All three were buried in the
monastery of Berg, or of Mount St. Peter or St. Odilia; and their bodies
remained there till, in 858, that monastery was given by King Lothaire to
Hunger, bishop of Utrecht, when the greater part of these relics was translated
to Utrecht. Part still remained in the church of Berg till, with the chapter of
canons, it was removed to Ruremund. These relics were hid some time in the
civil wars for fear of the Calvinists, but discovered in 1594, and placed again
above the high altar. The portion at Utrecht was also hid for a time for fear
of the Normans; but found and exposed to public veneration again by Bishop
Baldric. See the life of St. Otger, with notes by Bollandus, and the additional
disquisitions of Stilting, ad 10 Sept. t. 2, p. 612. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume VII: July. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/152.html
Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekapel (Sint Odiliënberg); Statues of Saint Plechelm
San Plechelmo Vescovo
missionario
Festa: 15 luglio
Irlanda, VII sec. -
St-Odilienberg, Olanda, 713 ca.
Martirologio
Romano: A Roermond sulla Mosa in Austrasia, nell’odierna Olanda, san
Plechelmo, vescovo, che, originario della Northumbria, annunciò a molti le
ricchezze di Cristo.
Santi WIRONE, PLECHELMO e
ODGERO
San Wirone o Wiro era originario dell’Irlanda, alcuni dicono della Scozia e
verso la fine del secolo VII partì dalla sua patria, come missionario vescovo,
per la Bassa Mosa (Olanda), insieme al vescovo missionario s. Plechelmo e del
diacono s. Odgero per evangelizzare i Frisoni, popolazione di stirpe germanica,
abitante nella Frisia olandese.
Pipino II di Heristal († 714) maggiordomo d’Austrasia, fece loro dono di una terra, chiamata Petersberg (Mons Sancti Petri) nella provincia di Overijssel, dove fondarono un monastero chiamato poi St-Odilienberg presso Roermond e una chiesa annessa.
La fondazione avvenne negli anni 695-700, ed è confermata dal rituale pellegrinaggio di Pipino d’Heristal a Odilienberg. I tre missionari partiti da varie regioni della Gran Bretagna, condussero nel monastero sopra citato e di cui erano i fondatori, una vita esemplare ed apostolica fra le popolazioni ancora non cristiane.
S. Wirone morì verso il 700, s. Odgero e s. Plechelmo nel 713; le reliquie di s. Odgero si trovano nella città di Odilienberg, quelle di s. Plechelmo si venerano ad Oldenzaal ed a Roermond (Limburgo olandese).
Per s. Wirone la sua tomba fu scoperta nell’agosto 1881 a Roermond; egli ebbe subito dopo la morte un culto, nel Medioevo fu patrono della diocesi di Utrecht, dal 1599 patrono di tutte le diocesi d’Olanda e oggi ancora è il patrono di varie chiese e della diocesi di Roermond.
I vari Martirologi compreso quello Romano, pongono la sua festa all’8 maggio, mentre a Roermond da tempi antichi si celebra l’11 maggio. I pellegrinaggi alla tomba di Odilienberg furono frequenti specie nel Medioevo e continuano tuttora; il monastero di Odilienberg passato poi ai Canonici Regolari, nel 1361 fu trasferito a Roermond, portando con sé le reliquie dei tre santi, che scomparvero ai tempi della Riforma Protestante.
Solo nel 1594 furono ritrovate, esse poi nel 1686 e nel 1881 furono riportate nella nuova chiesa; la testa di s. Wirone, già nel Medioevo, fu portata ad Utrecht. La ricorrenza liturgica di s. Plechelmo è al 15 luglio.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
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