Milo Archbishop of Trier | |
|---|---|
| Church | Catholic orthodox |
| Province | Austrasia |
| Diocese | Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Austrasia (today Germany) Reims, Rhineland-Palatinate, Austrasia (today France) |
| Appointed | 722 |
| In office | 722 |
| Retired | 744 |
| Predecessor | St. Leudwinus |
| Successor | Abel |
| Opposed to | St. Boniface |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | Benedictine |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Milo of Trier |
| Died | Meulenwald, Rhineland-Palatinate, Austrasia (today Germany) |
| Buried | Meulenwald, Rhineland-Palatinate, Austrasia (today Germany) |
| Nationality | Frankish |
| Denomination | Christian |
| Parents | St. Leudwinus and Willigard of Bavaria |
Milo of Trier (died 762 or 763) was the son of St. Leudwinus and his successor as Archbishop of Trier and Archbishop of Reims. His great-uncle Saint Basinus had preceded his father as Archbishop of Trier. He was the great-grandson of Saint Sigrada and Saint Leodegarius was his great uncle.
Milo was the son of the Leudwinus of Trier and Willigard of Bavaria. He was born a nobleman and later styled Count of Trier. [1] His brother was Wido (Gui), Count of Hornbach. [2] Rotrude of Hesbaye was possibly his sister. [1] Lambert of Maastricht was a kinsman.
Milo received a monastic education. Prior to his ecclesiastical career, Milo also had a military career, something he had in common with his putative brother-in-law Charles Martel. [3] It is not clear whether Milo received anything more than a diaconal ordination. [4]
As the scion of one of the most powerful Frankish clans in Austrasia, Milo's future seemed secure. He succeeded his father as Archbishop of Trier becoming the third generation of his family to hold this position. [3]
When Charles Martel drove Saint Rigobert from Reims, Milo was appointed his successor. As bishop, Milo became a controversial figure for the Church. His avarice and fondness of earthly pleasures soon placed him in opposition with the church. [1] Milo did not lead a spiritual life and flagrantly ignored the Rules of Saint Benedict that governed his colleagues. [3] Paul Fouracre says that Boniface considered Milo and bishops like him "warlike, adulterous, and prone to help themselves to church property". [5]
Milo habitually used church property for his personal and political purposes, usually to indulge his illegitimate sons. [3] He accumulated much of the riches of his dioceses and developed a reputation for corruption. [1] Pope Zachary counseled Boniface about dealing with disreputable prelates such as Milo. "As for Milo and his like, who are doing great injury to the church of God, preach in season and out of season, according to the word of the Apostle, that they cease from their evil ways." [4]
Accounts of Milo's time as bishop are collected in the Gesta Treverorum.
Politically, Milo was a formidable opponent of Boniface's reforms of the church in the eastern Frankish Empire. [3] However, when Milo's own behavior invited the criticism of Pope Zachary, Boniface seized the opportunity and began a campaign to have Milo replaced. [1]
In March 744, Boniface successfully pursued the Council of Soissons to remove Milo as Archbishop of Trier. By that time, Milo's behavior had become so repugnant even his formidable political connections could not save him. [1] Though he put up a lengthy resistance, Milo was deposed as bishop and replaced by Abel.
Milo was killed by a wild boar in a hunting accident in Meulenwald near Trier sometime between 753 and 758. [6]
Since the 4th century, it had been a tradition to bury the bishops of Trier in the crypt at St. Maximin's Abbey in Trier. [7] However, due to his controversial life, Milo was not given this honor and was instead buried near the scene of the accident where a memorial, The Cross of Milo, was erected. [3]
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Pope Zachary was the bishop of Rome from December 741 to his death. He was the last pope of the Byzantine Papacy. Zachary built the original church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, forbade the traffic of slaves in Rome, negotiated peace with the Lombards, and sanctioned Pepin the Short's usurpation of the Frankish throne from Childeric III. Zachary is regarded as a capable administrator and a skillful and subtle diplomat in a dangerous time.
Boniface, born in Crediton in Anglo-Saxon England, was a leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He organised significant foundations of the church in Germany and was made archbishop of Mainz by Pope Gregory III. He was martyred in Frisia in 754, along with 52 others, and his remains were returned to Fulda, where they rest in a sarcophagus which has become a site of pilgrimage. Boniface's life and death as well as his work became widely known, there being a wealth of material available—a number of vitae, especially the near-contemporary Vita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldi, legal documents, possibly some sermons, and above all his correspondence. He is venerated as a saint in the Christian church and became the patron saint of Germania, known as the "Apostle to the Germans".
Carloman was the eldest son of Charles Martel, majordomo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his wife Chrotrud of Treves. On Charles's death (741), Carloman and his brother Pepin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pepin in Neustria. He was a member of the family later called the Carolingians and it can be argued that he was instrumental in consolidating their power at the expense of the ruling Merovingian kings of the Franks. He withdrew from public life in 747 to take up the monastic habit, "the first of a new type of saintly king," according to Norman Cantor, "more interested in religious devotion than royal power, who frequently appeared in the following three centuries and who was an indication of the growing impact of Christian piety on Germanic society".
The Concilium Germanicum was the first major Church synod to be held in the eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms. It was called by Carloman on 21 April 742/743 at an unknown location, and presided over by Boniface, who was solidified in his position as leader of the Austrasian church. German historian Gunther Wolf judges that the Concilium was the high point in Boniface's long career.
Maximin was the sixth bishop of Trier. Maximin was an opponent of Arianism, and was supported by the courts of Constantine II and Constans, who harboured as an honored guest Athanasius twice during his exile from Alexandria, in 336–37 and again in 343. In the Arian controversy he had begun in the party of Paul I of Constantinople; however, he took part in the synod of Sardica convoked by Pope Julius I, and when four Arian bishops consequently came from Antioch to Trier with the purpose of winning Emperor Constans to their side, Maximinus refused to receive them and induced the emperor to reject their proposals.
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is a commune in the southeastern French department of Var, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Located 40 km (25 mi) east of Aix-en-Provence, the town lies at the foot of the Sainte-Baume mountains. Baume or bama is the Provençal equivalent of cave. The town's basilica is dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg was bishop of Regensburg in Bavaria from Christmas 972 until his death. He is a saint of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. He is regarded as one of the three great German saints of the 10th century, the other two being Saint Ulrich of Augsburg and Saint Conrad of Constance. Towards the end of his life Wolfgang withdrew as a hermit to a solitary spot, in the Salzkammergut region of Upper Austria. Soon after Wolfgang's death many churches chose him as their patron saint, and various towns were named after him.
Lay abbot is a name used to designate a layman on whom a king or someone in authority bestowed an abbey as a reward for services rendered; he had charge of the estate belonging to it, and was entitled to part of the income. The custom existed principally in the Frankish Empire from the eighth century until the ecclesiastical reforms of the eleventh.
Saint Chrodegang was the Frankish Bishop of Metz from 742 or 748 until his death. He served as chancellor for his kinsman, Charles Martel. Chrodegang is claimed to be a progenitor of the Frankish dynasty of the Robertians.
Tilpin, Latin Tilpinus, also called Tulpin, a name later corrupted as Turpin, was the bishop of Reims from about 748 until his death. He was for many years regarded as the author of the legendary Historia Caroli Magni, which is thus also known as the "Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle". He appears as one of the Twelve Peers of France in a number of the chansons de geste, the most important of which is The Song of Roland. His portrayal in the chansons, often as a warrior-bishop, is completely fictitious.
Saint Rigobert was a Benedictine monk and later abbot at Orbais who subsequently succeeded Saint Rieul as bishop of Reims in 698.
Saint Eucherius of Orléans, nephew of Suavaric, bishop of Auxerre, was Bishop of Orléans.
St. Maximin's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Sigfried was Count in the Ardennes, and is known in European historiography as founder and first ruler of the Castle of Luxembourg in 963 AD, and ancestor and predecessor of the future counts and dukes of Luxembourg. He was also an advocate of the abbeys of St. Maximin in Trier and Saint Willibrord in Echternach.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Luxembourg is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, comprising the entire Grand Duchy. The diocese was founded in 1870, and it became an archdiocese in 1988. The seat of the archdiocese is the Cathedral of Notre Dame in the city of Luxembourg, and since 2011 the archbishop is Jean-Claude Hollerich.
Saint Nicetius was a bishop of Trier, born in the latter part of the fifth century, exact date unknown; died in 563 or more probably 566.
Saint Leudwinus, Count of Treves founded an abbey in Mettlach. He was Archbishop of Treves and Laon. As patron saint of the Mettlach parish, his relics are carried through the town by procession at the annual Pentecost celebration. His feast day is September 23. He was the son of Saint Warinus, the paternal grandson of Saint Sigrada, and nephew of Saint Leodegarius.
Warinus of Poitiers was the Franco-Burgundian Count of Poitiers and Count of Paris. He was from an established noble family. He opposed Ebroin's efforts to expand Neustrian power and was killed at Arras in 677.
Robert, also spelled Ruotbert or Rotbert, was the archbishop of Trier from 931 until his death. He played a leading role in the politics of both Germany and France, and especially of the Lotharingian territory in between. He was a patron of scholars and writers and a reformer of monasteries.
Rotrude (Chrodtrudis) was the first wife of Charles Martel, Mayor of the Palace and de facto ruler of Francia from 718 to 741. She was the mother of Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, and therefore the grandmother of Charlemagne. Rotrude is believed to be the daughter of Lambert, Count of Hesbaye, although this designation is not without controversy, as discussed below. She is also referred to as Rotrude of Treves.
