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ST. LO. IN LATIN LAUDUS, BISHOP OF COUTANCES IN
NORMANDY
HE was descended from a noble family in the same
diocess of which he became afterward bishop, and was consecrated by
St. Gildard or Godard, archbishop of Rouen and metropolitan of
Neustria, about the year 528. A little after his consecration, he
applied to St. Melanius of Rennes for instructions to advance the
glory of God. He was present at the second, third, and fifth councils
of Orleans, and by proxy at the fourth council of the same city. It
was he who performed the funeral ceremony of St. Paternus or Pair,
bishop of Avranches. It is said, that succeeding to the family
estate, he enriched his diocess and endowed it with the lands of
Briovere (now St. Lo), Courci, Trielli, &c. It is also asserted
that the castle of Briovere was his family seat, and that for this
reason in the fifth council of Orleans he signs himself not Lo of
Coutances, but Lo of Briovere.* The holy bishop governed his diocess
with equal zeal and virtue till the year 568, when he went to receive
the reward of his labors in heaven. Romachaire, one of his priests,
succeeded him. He was an Englishman born, and for piety and learning
esteemed one of the first men of his age. The incursions of the
Normans caused the relics of St. Lo to be translated to Thouars in
Poitou, in the ninth century. His feast, which is celebrated this day
at Coutances, is of the first class, with an octave. It is inserted
in the Roman Martyrology on the 22d of September. There is a town in
Normandy which bears the saint’s name, and a parochial church
at Rouen dedicated under his invocation. See the acts of the saints:
l’Abrégé de la Vie des Evêques de Coutances
by Rouault, Coutances, 1742, in 12mo. Trigan, Hist. Eccles. de
Normand. pp. 94, 128, et. 458.
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