Hermenegild

For the given name, see Hermenegild (given name). For the Spanish military decoration, see Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild.
Saint Hermenegild

El Triunfo de San Hermenegildo by Francisco de Herrera the Younger (1654)
Martyr
Born Toletum, Kingdom of the Visigoths
Died c. 13 April 585
Hispalis, Hispania
Venerated in

Roman Catholic Church

Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast 13 April
Patronage Seville, Spain

Saint Hermenegild or Ermengild (died 13 April 585) (Spanish: San Hermenegildo, from Gothic Ermen Gild, "immense tribute"), was the son of king Leovigild of Visigothic Spain. He fell out with his father in 579, then revolted the following year. During his rebellion, he converted from Arian Christianity to Chalcedonian Christianity. Hermenegild was defeated in 584, and exiled.[1] His death was later celebrated as a martyrdom due to the influence of Pope Gregory the Great's Dialogues, in which he portrayed Hermenegild as a "Catholic martyr rebelling against the tyranny of an Arian father."[2]

Marriage to Ingund

Hermenegild was the eldest son of the Arian King Leovigild and his first wife, the Catholic Princess Theodosia.[3] He was brother to Reccared and brought up in the Arian belief. Leovigild made his sons co-regents.[4]

In 579 he married Ingund, daughter of the Frankish King Sigebert I of Austrasia), who was a Catholic. Her mother was the Visigoth princess Brunhilda of Austrasia. The twelve year old Ingunthis was pressured by Hermenegild's stepmother Goiswintha to abjure her beliefs, but she stayed firm in her faith.[5]

Leovigild sent Hermenegild to the south to govern on his behalf. There he came under the influence of Leander of Seville, older brother of Isidore of Seville. Hermenegild was converted to Catholicism. His family demanded that he return to the Arian faith, but he refused.

Around this time, he led a revolt against Leovigild. Contemporary accounts attribute this to politics rather than primarily to religious differences.[6] He asked for the aid of the Byzantines, but they were occupied with defending against territorial incursions on the part of the Persians.[7] For a time Hermengild had the support of the Suevi, who had been defeated by Leovigild in 579. However, Leovigild forced them to capitulate once again in 583.[4]

Hermengild fled to Seville, and when that fell to a siege in 584, went to Cordoba. After Leovigild paid 30,000 pieces of gold, the Byzantines withdrew taking Ingund and her son with them.[4] Hermengild sought sanctuary in a church. Leovigild would not violate the sanctuary, but sent Reccared instead inside to speak with Hermenegild and to offer peace. This was accepted, and peace was made for some time.[3]

Imprisonment and death

Goiswintha, however, brought about another alienation within the family. Hermenegild was imprisoned in Tarragona or Toledo. During his captivity in the tower of Seville, an Arian bishop was sent to St. Hermenegild during the Easter Season, but he would not accept Holy Communion from the hands of that prelate.[8] King Leovigild ordered him beheaded.[3] He was martyred on 13 April 586.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Heather, Peter. The Goths (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), pp. 280-282
  2. ↑ Markus, M.A., Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997, p. 165
  3. 1 2 3 Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Hermengild." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 28 Jan. 2013
  4. 1 2 3 Frassetto, Michael. "Hermenegild", Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe, ABC-CLIO, 2003, ISBN 9781576072639
  5. ↑ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.38; translated by Lewis Thorpe, History of the Franks (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), p. 302
  6. ↑ "Hermenegild the Goth". Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon
  7. ↑ Butler, Alban. The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints, Vol. IV by the Rev. Alban Butler, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, 1864
  8. ↑ "Lives of the Saints: For Every Day of the Year" edited by Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O.Cist, Ph.D., New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., (1955)

Sources

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