Saint Germanus of Auxerre

Bishop and Apostle of Britain
(c. 378–448)

Saint Germanus was born around 378 at Auxerre in Gaul and received a distinguished education in Rome, where he studied law and became a successful advocate. He returned to Gaul and was appointed military governor of the Armorican region, combining a career of public administration with a happy family life. He was known for his love of hunting and for the energy and ability with which he administered his province.

Around 418 he was chosen, entirely against his own wishes, to be Bishop of Auxerre, succeeding Saint Amator who is said to have secretly tonsured him during his lifetime in preparation for this office. Germanus accepted the episcopal dignity with the thoroughness and energy he had brought to his secular career, but now entirely transformed by the grace of his ordination. He renounced all worldly comforts, embraced a life of severe austerity, slept on ashes, wore a hair shirt, and gave all his resources to the poor.

He is celebrated above all for his two missions to Britain, undertaken at the request of the British bishops to combat the Pelagian heresy, which had taken strong root in the island. He went first around 429 and again around 445, and in both missions he preached with great effect, disputing publicly with the Pelagians and confounding them before large assemblies of clergy and people. During his first British mission he also led the Britons to a military victory over raiding Picts and Saxons, a battle in which the only weapons were the shouts of Alleluia with which he led the army into the fray, causing the enemy to flee in terror.

He died at Ravenna in 448, where he had gone on behalf of the people of Armorica to plead their cause before the imperial court. His body was brought back in solemn procession to Auxerre, and his tomb became one of the great pilgrimage sites of Gaul. He is venerated as one of the apostles of Britain and Brittany, and his feast is kept on July 31st.