Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman, Galilean, and Benedictine Martyrologies. At Toul on Dec. 9. Authority:— A Life by an anonymous monk, according to Mabillon, nearly a contemporary, in Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B. t ii.; also the Lives of S. Eustace of Luxeuil, and of S. Amatus.] Romaric was the son of Romulf, a noble in the Vosges. In the struggle between Theodebert and Theoderic, Brunehild had Romulf put to death, and confiscated his lands. Romaric went to Metz, where Queen Brunehild held her court for Theodebert her grandson. She had by her Aridius, bishop of Lyons, a great favourite, the counsellor, if we may trust Fredegar, of the barbarous murder of S. Desiderius of Cahors. Romaric cast himself at the feet of the bishop, and implored his intercession to obtain the restoration of his estates. Aridius kicked him in the face, and drove him away with blows. Romaric took refuge in the church of S. Martin. Next day came news of the death of Theoderic. Romaric S. Romaric.

…was now safe; but he seems to have been disgusted with the world. On the death of Theoderic or Thierry, Romaric occupied a high position at the court of Clothair II., then sole master of the three Frank kingdoms. One day S. Amatus of Luxeuil came into the Vosges, and was received by Romaric at his table. During the repast Amatus took up a silver dish, and said: “ Thou seest this dish; how many masters, or rather slaves, has it already had, and how many more will it still have ? And thou, whether thou wilt or not, thou art its serf: for thou possessest it only to preserve it But an account will be demanded of thee; for it is written, 1 Your silver and gold shall rust, and that rust shall bear witness against you/ I am astonished that a man of great heart, very rich, and intelligent, like yourself, should not remember the words of the Saviour, ‘ If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and follow Me, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven/ ”

Romaric at once resolved on abandoning the world. He distributed his lands to the poor, with the exception of his castle of Habend, freed a number of serfs of both sexes, and went to Luxeuil, taking with him all that remained of his wealth, to become a monk. When he presented himself to the abbot to have his hair cut, according to the rite of admission into the order, several of the serfs whom he had liberated appeared at the monastery for the same purpose. He gladly recognized his old servants, not only as brethren, but as superiors; for he sought the lowest occupations in the monastery, and surpassed all the brethren in care for the cultivation of the gardens, where he learned the psalter by heart as he laboured. After some years' residence there, during which time his friendship with Amatus became intimate and affectionate, the two friends left Luxeuil, where, for some unknown reason, they had incurred the displeasure of the abbot, Eustace. With his permission they went to Habend, and founded there a monastery for women, which has since borne the name of Remiremont Amatus was charged with the government of the nuns, but soon devolved it on Romaric. In this celebrated abbey, which was immediately put under the rule of S. Columbanus [Irish monk (d. 615) who founded monasteries in France and Italy] by its two founders, everything was established on a magnificent scale, owing to the influx of nuns, and the liberality of the Austrasian kings. Remiremont soon became for women what Luxeuil already was for men. The number of nuns permitted the Laus perennis to be organized by means of seven choirs, who alternately sang the praises of God in seven different churches or chapels. The fervour and regularity of these virgins procured for the site occupied by their community the name of the “ Holy Mount,” which it retained for some centuries.

Romaric directed it for thirty years. Before entering Luxeuil he had been married, and had three daughters; the two younger took the veil in the monastery of their lather. The eldest, who had married without the consent of Romaric, and without a fortune, attempted to reclaim a portion of her paternal inheritance. She sent to her father her first child, a girl, hoping that the heart of Romaric would soften, and that he would bestow on his grandchild what he had refused to his daughter. But his religious prejudices had stiffened into the one prevailing idea of monastic life, and had frozen out all the natural instincts of affection and principles of justice. He kept the child, placed her among the nuns, and she became eventually abbess of Remiremont Then the mother, having a son, sent him, before he was even baptized, to his grandfather, still in the hope that the little babe would touch his heart, and obtain from the old man a good inheritance. But Romaric acted with him as with his sister; he kept the child from the arms of its mother and the influence of home, S. Romaric.

to be nursed in the hard discipline of the monastery, and the child became eventually an abbot and a saint. There were two monasteries at Remiremont, one for women, the other for men, side by side, but with a special superior for each of the communities. Monks and nuns were presumably to one another only as brothers and sisters; but as this affection sometimes warmed beyond such relations, or was thought to do so, the council of Agde, in 506, insisted on their separation. This injunction was, however, everywhere disregarded. The monastery of men, also placed under the rule of Columbanus by its two founders, felt the intolerable burden of their rule, and was ready to listen to Agrestin when he attempted to organize an insurrection against the tradition of Irish monachism. After he had been overcome by Eustace at the council of M&con, and repulsed by S. Burgundofara at Faremoutier, he was received by Amatus and Romaric, who were already biassed against the abbot of Luxeuil. The death of Agrestin, and the failure of his scheme, induced Amatus and Romaric to return into communion with Eustace. Amatus died on Sept. 13, 627. At the end of his life Romaric regained his olden courage, and began once more to play a political part in the affairs of his country. He had known, in the palace of the kings of Austrasia, the great and pious Pepin of Landen, whose son, Grimoald, had become all powerful as minister under King Sigibert, and threatened the rights and even the life of Dagobert, the young heir of this prince. Grimoald had the long locks of the prince — tokens of his royal rank — shorn off, and sent the youth to Ireland under the care of Dido, bishop of Poitiers, no doubt with instructions that he should not be suffered to return. Romaric, hearing of the ambition and designs of Grimoald, despite his age and presentiment of approaching death, descended from his mountain, and took his way to the palace, which he had not seen for thirty VOL. xv. 8 years, to intimate to the nobles and to Grimoald the peril the country would run should such a course be pursued. He arrived in the middle of the night: Grimoald, on being informed of his approach, went to meet him with blazing pine torches. At the sight of his father’s friend, of this old man of God, with his elevated and imposing stature and solemn aspect, he trembled. Then he embraced him with great respect, listened to his warnings with patience, but did not act upon them. Romaric retired laden with presents. Three days after, Romaric, who had returned to the monastery, visiting on his way the cultivated lands which belonged to it, was dead and buried beside Amatus, his friend and master.

A woman, kneeling by the one tomb which enclosed the two bodies, thought that she heard Amatus and Romaric conversing together in their narrow bed, and the contemporary biographer has condescended to record the delusion, or poetic fancy, of the woman.