Saint Pirmin
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Saint Pirmin (ca. 670 - Hornbach 753), also named Pirminius, was a monk, strongly influenced by Celtic Christianity and Saint Amand. He originated from the surroundings of Narbonne, possible of Visigothic origin.
In 717, he had to flee the raid of the Muslims in Septimania.
From 718 onwards, he was abbot of the monastery Quortolodora in Antwerp (Austrasia) [1] and, together with its pupils, the minister of the church inside the broch, het Steen. In the 12th century, this church was dedicated to Saint Walpurga.
After a while Pirmin was invited by count Rohingus to stay at his villa in Thommen, near Sankt Vith in the Ardennes.
Pirmin gained the favour of Charles Martel. He was send to help rebuild Disentis Abbey in Switzerland. In 724, he was appointed abbot of Mittelzell Abbey at Reichenau Island that he had founded. For political reasons he was banished to Alsace, where he founded many abbeys, such as those at Amorbach, Gengenbach, Murbach, Wissembourg, Marmoutier und Neuweiler.
In 753, he died in the abbey at Hornbach.
His De singulis libris canonicis scarapsus ("Concerning the Single Canonical Book Scarapsus") [2], written between 710-724, provides the earliest appearance of the present text of the Apostles' Creed.[3]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "De ecclesia in Antweppo (sic) castello" by Theodoricus, Codex aureus, Echternach, 1190-1191
- ^ J.P. Migne, Patrologia Latina 89, 1029 ff.
- ^ J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, Longman, 1974, p. 398.
