L

A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

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February 13 · Bishop, Confessor

St. Licinius

St. Licinius

A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

Traditional feast

February 13
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Bishop
Confessor

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints · Baring-Gould original below

Licinius (emperor in the East 308–324, who turned against Christians before Constantine defeated him), called Lesin in France, was born of a noble family related to the kings of France. At about twenty he went to the court of his cousin Clotaire I, and King Chilperic later made him count of Anjou.

About 578 he agreed to marry, but his bride was struck with leprosy on the morning of the wedding. In 580 he left the world and joined the clergy. When Audouin, Bishop of Angers, died around 600, the people asked for Licinius, and he was made bishop despite his reluctance.

He fed the hungry, freed prisoners, and leaned toward mercy rather than severity. He asked to resign and live in solitude, but the bishops would not allow it. Butler gives about 618, in his sixty-fifth year; Baring-Gould, the text on this page, gives about 617. The sources differ.

Struggles & surrender

What they wrestled with, and how they gave it to God

  • A wedding that never happened ·
    Butler: his bride was struck with leprosy on the morning of the wedding, and soon after he left the world.

Early life

Selected sentences from the original account, unaltered.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 92 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

This saint was born about the year 540, and at the age of twenty was sent to the court of King Clothaire I., whose cousin he was.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

Keep their day. Remember them on February 13 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 92 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Usuardus, Gallican Martyrologies, &c. Authorities:—Two ancient lives, one by an anonymous author, the other by Marbod, archdeacon of Angers, and afterwards Bishop of Rennes.

This saint was born about the year 540, and at the age of twenty was sent to the court of King Clothaire I., whose cousin he was. He was made Count of Anjou by King Chilperic, and was about to be married in 578, when, on the wedding morning, the bride was struck with leprosy. This incident so affected Licinius [Roman emperor in the East 308–324], that he renounced the world; and in the year 600, was elected bishop of Angers, where he set an example of great piety and zeal. He is called in French Lessin .

Feast days

Feast: February 13

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Licinius's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on February 13
F

Sts. Fusca and Maura

February 13 · Martyrs
St. Polyeuctus

St. Polyeuctus

February 13 · Martyr
C

St. Castor

February 13 · Priest, Confessor
← All 1727 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.