Saint Raoul of Bourges

Few significant events occurred in the Gallican Church during the episcopate of Raoul in which he did not have some part. In 845, he was present at the Council of Meaux, and three years later at that of Mainz, according to Trithemius. He also attended, in 850, the famous assembly of Savonnières, near Toul, and was chosen there, along with Remigius of Lyon, as a judge in the case of Wenilo of Sens. He was also present at the assemblies of Tousi in 860, and the two of Pîtres in 862 and 864. As early as 855, he crowned the young prince Charles, son of Charles the B Charles le Chauve Emperor who confirmed the rights of the priory in the 9th century. ald, King of Aquitaine at Limoges.

The latter, to better mark the friendship he bore for our prelate, gave him the abbe y of Fleury. Rao abbaye de Fleury Abbey granted to Raoul by Charles the Bald. ul used his own wealth to found several other abbeys: Duvère or Divre, today Vierzon, in Berry; B ezulieu Vierzon Abbey founded by Raoul in Berry. and Végennes, in Limousin; Sarrasac, in Quercy, for nuns. The last two were destroyed before the 18th century.

Raoul is the first archbishop of Bourges known with certainty to have been decorated with the titles of patriarch and primate of the Aquitaines and the Narbonnaises. Pope Nicholas I pape Nicolas Ier Pope who confirmed the titles of Raoul. , in responding to him regarding the validity of the ordinations of chorepiscopi and other points of discipline, recognized him directly as such. This is what led to him being named archbishop of the Aquitaines by Odo of Vienne. This holy Prelate, according to the same author, died in 866 and, as is believed, on the 21st of June. He was buried in the church of Saint-Ursin. A little less than a century after his death, Eustorge, bishop of Limoges, described him as a master of holy memory.

There exis ts from Sai saint Raoul Archbishop of Bourges in the 9th century, from the royal house of France. nt Raoul a type of Pastoral Instruction, which was not known to the public until the beginning of the 18th century. It is in the style and modeled after the Cap itularies of Theodu Théodulfe d'Orléans Bishop whose Capitularies served as a model for Radulf. lf of Orleans, from which the author drew heavily, and those of other bishops of the same time (9th century). Saint Raoul addressed it to the priests of his diocese, whom he called his brothers and his co-workers in the holy ministry, and he only published it after having consulted them on what he established therein. The main goal that the holy Prelate proposed in this work was to revive, in a way, the spirit of the ancient canons among his clergy and to remedy certain abuses that had crept into his diocese. Ignorance and false Penitentials had especially caused much confusion there in the administration of penance. Our holy Archbishop therefore believed himself obliged to oppose this with this work, in which he collected, in forty-five articles or chapters, what seemed to him most appropriate to instruct his priests in their own duties and in what they should teach the people entrusted to their care. What he says there, he drew mainly from the Capitularies of our kings and from that of Theodulf. He also drew sometimes from the ancient councils, the decrees of the Popes, and the writings of the Fathers.

Some letters of Saint Raoul have been lost, notably the one to which Pope Nicholas I responded. It was a consultation by which he asked this Pontiff for clarifications on various points of discipline.

Dom Rivot, Hist. litt. de la France.