Albinus of Angers

• 1. Introduction

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  Albinus of Angers was born around 470 into a noble Gallo-Roman family at Vannes, in Brittany. Centuries later, churches carried his name across the continent, from France to Poland, and coastal villages claimed him as their protector. Yet he became a bishop only because others insisted. He is also known as Saint Aubin, and in English as Saint Albin. Why did a reluctant churchman become a guardian against raiders from the sea? What did he do in office that people remembered for generations? And how did a name from sixth-century Anjou end up on an island church in Jersey and on a hymn tune?

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• 2. From Monk to Bishop

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  In 504, a monk named Albinus took charge as abbot of Tintillac. The abbey no longer stands, and scholars have not been able to pin down where it was. His reputation grew steadily during the twenty-five years he spent in that post. In 529, the people around Angers chose him as their bishop. He had not wanted the office, and the election went ahead against his wishes. The new bishop soon found himself dealing with kings, councils and the habits of the nobility.

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• 3. A Bishop Against Laxity

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  Incestuous marriages among the nobility drew Albinus into open campaigning. He pressed against such weddings at a time when powerful families often arranged them. In 538, he took part in the Third Council of Orléans, which met only after King Childebert gave his permission. Albinus had watched other bishops treat church discipline loosely. That worry led him to seek guidance from Saint Caesarius of Arles, a bishop with a reputation for stricter standards. The same Childebert would later feature in the most dramatic story told about Albinus.

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• 4. Prison Legends

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  A woman named Etherie, from Douille near Angers, sat in a prison cell on King Childebert's orders. Tradition says Albinus could not win her release by asking. So he went to the prison himself. A soldier tried to block his way and fell dead at his feet. The king was so struck by this that he agreed to let Albinus pay her bail. A second legend places the saint in the Tower of Angers. He prayed deep into one night for men locked inside, and a great stone suddenly fell from the wall, letting them escape. Tradition adds a general claim that he helped anyone in distress.

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• 5. Tomb and Abbey

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  Albinus died in 550, and mourners buried him in the church of Saint-Pierre at Angers. Six years later, in 556, a new church was dedicated in his name. His body was moved into its crypt. An abbey grew up beside that church and took the name Saint-Aubin. Long afterward, a canon named Nicholas Belfort wrote about the miracles reported at the tomb of Saint Aubin after the year 1000. Belfort belonged to the monastery of St John the Baptist, near the city of Soissons.

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• 6. Patron Against Pirates

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  Saint Gregory of Tours noted the cult of Albinus, which later spread into Germany, England and Poland. This made him a popular saint through the Middle Ages. Saint Venantius Fortunatus, who lived close to his era, wrote a life of him. Churches were dedicated to Albinus right across the continent, and he was sometimes invoked for protection against pirate attack. One tradition may explain why. It says he bought back parishioners captured by pirates who sailed up the Loire river. In the 10th century, the walled town of Guérande, near the Loire's mouth, prayed to him and found its attackers miraculously defeated. Many coastal villages then chose Aubin as their patron.

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• 7. Names He Left Behind

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  On the island of Jersey, the place called St. Aubin keeps his name alive through an ancient chapel that has long since vanished. Presumably the same coastal devotion lies behind it. Saint Aubin is still honored there at the Anglican church of St Aubin on the Hill. His name also reached music. Henry Gauntlett wrote a tune called St. Albinus for the hymn Jesus lives! Thy terrors now, by Christian Furchtegott Gellert, who lived from 1715 to 1769. It appears as number 112 in the New English Hymnal. His feast day falls each year on the 1st of March.

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