Chrodegang was a native of Hasbain, the part of Brabant around Louvain, and was educated at the abbey of St Tron. His learning and ability led Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, to make him chancellor of France in 737. Soon after Charles died, Chrodegang was elected Bishop of Metz, in 742.

In 754 King Pepin sent him as ambassador to Astulph, King of the Lombards, who had overrun northern Italy, asking him to spare Rome and not to force the Romans from their faith. The embassy failed.

In 755 he organised a regular community to serve as the chapter of his cathedral. Its members lived together in one house under a rule he drew up in thirty-four articles, which among other things required them to confess to the bishop at least twice a year, before Advent and before Lent. He built and endowed the monasteries of St Peter, Gorze and Lorsch (a famous Benedictine abbey near Worms, Germany). He died on 6 March 766 and was buried at Gorze.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 196 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

This saint was a native of Hasbain, that portion of Brabant which surrounds Louvain, and was educated in the abbey of S. Tron.

(Called also CHRODEGAND, GODEGRAND, GUNDIGRAN, RATGANG, RODIGANG and SIRIGANG).

Bishop of Metz, born at the beginning of the eighth century at Hasbania, in what is now Belgian Limburg, of a noble Frankish family; died at Metz, 6 March, 766. He was educated at the court of Charles Martel, became his private secretary, then chancellor, and in 737 prime minister. On 1 March, 742, he was appointed Bishop of Metz, retaining his civil office at the request of Pepin. In his influential position St. Chrodegang laboured earnestly for the welfare of Church and State, and was ever solicitous to strengthen the bonds of union between the temporal and spiritual rulers. In his diocese he introduced the Roman Liturgy and chant, community life for the clergy of his cathedral, and wrote a special rule for them. He founded (748) the Abbey of Gorze (near Metz), and remained its friend and protector. He also established St. Peter's Abbey, on the Moselle, and did much for Gengenbach and Lorsch. For the latter he is said to have obtained the relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] of St. Nazarius, and for Gorze those of St. Gorgonius. In 753 he was sent by Pepin to Pope Stephen III to assure him of the sympathy of the Frankish rulers against the inroads of Aistulf, King of the Lombards [a Germanic people who ruled much of Italy from 568 to 774]. He accompanied the pope to Ponthieu. After the death of St. Boniface, Pope Stephen conferred the pallium [a woolen band the pope gives to archbishops as a sign of their authority] on St. Chrodegang (754-755), thus making him an archbishop, but not elevating the See of Metz. St. Chrodegang was buried in the Abbey of Gorze. He was a man of imposing appearance, of a mild, though firm, character, of great liberality to the poor, and of more than ordinary ability, well versed in Latin and German. The rule containing thirty-four chapters which he gave his clergy (c. 755) was modeled according to the rules of St. Benedict and of the Canons of the Lateran [St. John Lateran, the pope’s cathedral in Rome] (Mansi, XIV, 313; Hardouin, IV 1181; Migne, P.L., LXXXIX, 1097). Through it he gave a might impulse to the spread of community life among the secular clergy. It was later increased to eighty-six chapters (D'Archey, Spicilegium, I, 656). In 762, during a dangerous illness, he introduced among his priests a confraternity of prayer known as the League of Attigny.