Amon of Toul

Portrait of Amon on apse of Cathédrale Saint-Etienne

Saint Amon of Toul (d. c. 423?) was the second bishop of Toul^[1][2][3]

^[4] and is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

Biography

Amon was the successor of Saint Mansuy as bishop of Toul, a post he held from around 375 to his death in perhaps around 423. He left the city of Toul to escape the devastating retreat of Attila the Hun and his forces after their defeat at the Battle of Châlons in 451. Tradition says that a rock, which was an obstacle on the road of the prelate, opened and closed over him to hide him from his barbarous pursuers. Today this place is called the "Bois d'Anon" and is a small rise overlooking the village of Goviller.

He lived a life of penance, and he often retreated to a cave with cell-like cavities and a depth of about 25 meters to a height of 3 or 4 meters.^[5] His successor was Alchas.

Veneration

Amon was declared a saint by the Catholic Church with a feast day celebrated in the Diocese of Toul on October 23.^[6] His portrait may be seen in the apse of Toul Cathedral.

According to the Pouillié ecclésiastique et civil du diocèse de Toul (ecclesiastical and civil records of the Diocese of Toul) of 1711, a hermitage bore his name in the village of Saulxerotte.^[7] The tradition relates that he himself dedicated this "chapel-hermitage" (now disappeared) and that his relics (bones) are buried there. At the time, "Saint-Amon" was considered a hamlet in the area surrounding Saulxerotte.^{[8] [9]}

The Collegiate Church of St Gengoult in Toul was reported in 1836 to have "several parts of the clothing and hair-shirt of Saint Amon; these relics (...) are shut away higgledy-piggledy with many bones in an old wooden casket preserved in the tomb of the high altar."^[10]

References

1. Pouillié ecclésiastique et civil du diocèse de Toul (TOME I, page 368, par Benoît de Toul, 1711)
2. Étude sur la relique de Saint-Amon à Saulxerotte (Bulletin paroissial de Favières-Saulxerotte, par Alphonse Dedenon, 1908)
3. Mémoire sur la Lorraine et le Barrois. Suivi de la table alphabétique et topographique des lieux (Nicolas Luton Durival, chez Henry Thomas, 1753).
4. Dictionnaire statistique du Département de la Meurthe contenant une introduction historique sur le pays, avec une notice sur chacune de ses villes, bourgs, villages, hameaux, censes rivières, ruisseaux, étangs et montagnes (TOME I, page 407, Abbé Grosse, Creusat, 1836)
5. [archive] Amon de Toul.
6. feast day site [archive .
7. Benoit de Toul, Pouillé ecclésiastique et civil du diocèse de Toul (L. et E. Rolin, 1711)
8. Nicolas Luton Durival, Mémoire sur la Lorraine et le Barrois. Suivi de la table alphabétique et topographique des lieux (chez Henry Thomas, 1753)
9. It has been speculated that this is the same as the place now called "Bois d'Anon" above Goviller.
10. Le blog de Carpinien .