St. Perpetuus
Perpetuus of Tours
Feast day: April 8
Died December 30, 490, or April 8, 491.
Bishop of Rours from about 464. He enforced clerical discipline and regulated feast days. Perpetuus also rebuilt the basilica of St. Martin. A will attributed to him is known now by scholars to have been a forgery composed in the seventeenth century
Perpetuus, born of a senatorial family, became bishop of Tours . 460. He dedicated the revenues of his estates to the relief of those in need. The poor, it is recorded, were his heirs he left them pastures, groves, vineyards, houses, gardens, water-mills, gold, silver, and his clothing.
He also venerated his great predecessor Saint Martin, the soldier who had sliced his cloak in two and given half to a beggar. Martin was buried in a basilica in Tours and Perpetuus rebuilt and enlarged this fine building to house the countless pilgrims who flocked to his tomb.
One hundred twenty years later, Saint Gregory of Tours mentions that Perpetuus decreed that all the people in his diocese should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, save at a few church festivals. He also declared several Mondays in the Christian year as fasts, particularly in the time that became Advent. So great was Perptuus's influence that these fasts were still being observed in the diocese of Tours over a century after his death. And so powerful was his memory that, 13 centuries after his death, some unknown forgers drew up a fake will for the saint, declaring: "You, my dearly beloved brothers, my crown, my joy, that is to say, Christ's poor, needy, beggars, sick, widows, and orphans, you I hereby name and decree to be my heirs." Though the will was a fake, the true spirit of Saint Perpetuus shines through it
Perpetuus of Tours
Feast day: April 8
Died December 30, 490, or April 8, 491.
Bishop of Rours from about 464. He enforced clerical discipline and regulated feast days. Perpetuus also rebuilt the basilica of St. Martin. A will attributed to him is known now by scholars to have been a forgery composed in the seventeenth century
Perpetuus, born of a senatorial family, became bishop of Tours . 460. He dedicated the revenues of his estates to the relief of those in need. The poor, it is recorded, were his heirs he left them pastures, groves, vineyards, houses, gardens, water-mills, gold, silver, and his clothing.
He also venerated his great predecessor Saint Martin, the soldier who had sliced his cloak in two and given half to a beggar. Martin was buried in a basilica in Tours and Perpetuus rebuilt and enlarged this fine building to house the countless pilgrims who flocked to his tomb.
One hundred twenty years later, Saint Gregory of Tours mentions that Perpetuus decreed that all the people in his diocese should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, save at a few church festivals. He also declared several Mondays in the Christian year as fasts, particularly in the time that became Advent. So great was Perptuus's influence that these fasts were still being observed in the diocese of Tours over a century after his death. And so powerful was his memory that, 13 centuries after his death, some unknown forgers drew up a fake will for the saint, declaring: "You, my dearly beloved brothers, my crown, my joy, that is to say, Christ's poor, needy, beggars, sick, widows, and orphans, you I hereby name and decree to be my heirs." Though the will was a fake, the true spirit of Saint Perpetuus shines through it
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