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Tetricus was the son of St. Gregory of Langres and Armentaria, and great-uncle of the historian St. Gregory of Tours, who recorded what little is known of him.

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March 18 · Bishop

St. Tetricus of Langres

St. Tetricus of Langres

Tetricus was the son of St. Gregory of Langres and Armentaria, and great-uncle of the historian St. Gregory of Tours, who recorded what little is known of him.

Traditional feast

March 18
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Bishop

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Baring-Gould (1897) · original text below

Tetricus was the son of St. Gregory of Langres and Armentaria, and great-uncle of the historian St. Gregory of Tours, who recorded what little is known of him. The clergy and people chose him almost unanimously to succeed his father as bishop of Langres, hoping he would share his virtues, and he did, ruling wisely.

One Sunday at Dijon, while he was serving in the church of St. John, Chramn, the rebel son of King Clothaire, came in and asked to consult the Scriptures about his future. Three books were placed on the altar. The Prophets opened at Isaiah's vineyard that brought forth wild grapes and would be laid waste; the Epistles at "sudden destruction cometh upon them" (1 Thessalonians 5:3); and the Gospels at the foolish man who built his house on sand, which fell (Matthew 7:26–27). Chramn left discouraged.

Hearing that his father was marching on Dijon, Chramn withdrew to Aquitaine and then fled to Count Conovre in Brittany. Clothaire defeated them in a battle in which the count fell, then shut his son with his wife and children in a cottage and burned them all.

Early life

Selected sentences from the original account, unaltered.

S. Tetricus was the son of S. Gregory of Langres, whose life has been given on Jan. 4th. His mother's name was Armentaria. The choice of the clergy and people fell on Tetricus as a successor to his father, almost unanimously moved thereto by the hopes that he would inherit the virtues of S. Gregory.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Feed your mind with Scripture and good books. Learning and the Scriptures matter in this life.

Keep their day. Remember them on March 18 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 444 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Gallican Martyrology. Authority:—S. Gregory of Tours (542) his kinsman.

S. Tetricus was the son of S. Gregory of Langres, whose life has been given on Jan. 4th. His mother's name was Armentaria. By her S. Gregory had two sons, Tetricus, who succeeded him in the see of Langres [a bishop’s “see” is his diocese, named from his seat (Latin sedes)], and Gregory, the father of Armentaria, mother of S. Gregory of Tours [bishop and historian of the Franks (d. 594)], the historian, who has recorded all that we know of the life of his great-uncle. This is not much. The choice of the clergy and people fell on Tetricus as a successor to his father, almost unanimously moved thereto by the hopes that he would inherit the virtues of S. Gregory. Nor were these hopes frustrated. Tetricus ruled with prudence, and was a burning and a shining light in his diocese. One Sunday at Dijon, as the prelate was ministering in the Church of S. John, Chramn, the rebel son of king Clothaire, entered it, and besought that he might be allowed to consult the divine Oracles on the future. Three books were accordingly placed on the altar, the Prophets, the Gospel, and the Epistles; and the clergy prayed along with Chramn that the future might be unfolded to him. Then he opened the book of the Prophets, and lighted on the words of Isaiah, v. 4, 5. "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up: and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down." Then the book of Epistles was opened at the place, "When they say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape," 1 Thess. v. 3; and the book of the Gospels when interrogated gave the following answer, Matt. vii. 26, 27, "A foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Chramn went away much dispirited. Shortly after, hearing that his father was marching upon Dijon, he retired into Aquitaine, but being pursued by Clothaire, he fled into Brittany to Count Conovre. Shortly after Clothaire attacked them and defeated them in a battle in which the count fell. He then took his son and shut him up in a cottage with his wife and children, set fire to the place, and burnt them all.

Feast days

Feast: March 18

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
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One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Tetricus of Langres's story, and a nudge to keep going.

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← All 1726 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.