| Richarius | |
|---|---|
| Monastic founder and hermit | |
| Born | c. 560 Ponthieu, France |
| Died | April 26, 645 (aged 84–85) Crécy, France |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Feast | April 26 |
Richarius (or in French, Riquier) (died April 26, 645) was a Frankish hermit, monk, and the founder of two monasteries. He is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
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Richarius was born a pagan in the late 6th century[1] in the county of Ponthieu near Amiens in Picardy in the north-west of France. He converted to Christianity under the influence of Fricor and Cadoc, two Welsh missionaries.[1][a] After his conversion, he fasted on barley bread mixed with ashes, and drank only water which he mingled with his own tears.[2] He was ordained a priest, and traveled to England, preaching the Gospel and curing the sick.[1] Travelled by donkey rather than horse, he read the psalter as he rode.
In 638, after some years in England, Richarius founded a monastery in his hometown in Ponthieu that was named Centule (in Latin, Centula).[1][2] This monastery practised according to the Rule of Saint Columbanus of Luxeuil. A city developed around this monastery, also named Centule. In the Middle Ages it was renamed to Saint-Riquier. Nowadays it has some 1200 inhabitants, who still refer to themselves as Centulois. The Frankish king Dagobert I once came to visit the monastery, and Richarius offered the king advice. He was frank and clear in his speech to the king, speaking without fear or flattery, and the king thereafter became a benefactor of the monastery.[1] Others also gave generously to Richarius's monastery, and he was able to use the money to help lepers and the poor and to ransom prisoners held by England.[1]
Richarius eventually founded a second monastery called Forest-Montier.[2] He made a shelter in the forest of Crécy, fifteen miles from his monastery. He lived there as a hermit with his disciple Sigobart. On April 26, 643, he bid farewell to Sigobart and died.[1]
| “ | In monastério Céntula, in Gállia, sancti Richárii, Presbyteri et Confessóris. In the monastery of Centula in France, St. Richarius, priest and confessor. |
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— From the Roman Martyrology[3]
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His relics were first put in a coffin made of an oak trunk and then translated to the abbey of Centula. One hundred and fifty years later, Charlemagne built a golden shrine to enclose the relics and had the Saint-Riquier Gospels made for the shrine.
Aside from Saint-Riquier, the city of Saint-Riquier-en-Rivière in Normandy bears his name, and the church in Aberford in Yorkshire in England is known as Saint Ricarius Parish.
The flower Erysimum barbarea (yellow rocket or wintercress) is dedicated to him. The feast day of Richarius in the Roman Catholic Church is April 26. A feast for the translation of his relics is celebrated on October 9.