Saint Richarius

Richarius of Celles (French: Riquier de Centule; Picard: Ritchier; c. 560 – April 26, 645 AD) was a Frankish hermit, monk, and the founder of two monasteries. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Riquier's vita was probably written at the end of the 7th century AD. Shortly after 800 it was revised by Alcuin at the request of Abbot Angilibert, who dedicated his work to Charlemagne. Richarius was born a pagan in the late 6th century in the county of Ponthieu near Amiens in Picardy in the north of Francia. According to the vita written by Alcuin, Richarius gave shelter to two Welsh missionaries, Caidocus and Frechorius, who were treated with great hostility by the local people who blamed the strangers for crop failure. Because he "welcomed God in the persons of the travelers ... this was why he was granted God's mercy." Richarius converted to Christianity under their influence. After his conversion, he fasted on barley bread mixed with ashes, and drank only water. He was ordained a priest, and traveled to England, preaching the Gospel and curing the sick. Travelling by donkey rather than horse, he read the psalter as he rode. In 638, after some years in England, Richarius founded a monastery in his hometown in Ponthieu that was named Centule (or Centula, alteration of Latin Centum Turres: hundred towers). This monastery practised according to the Rule of Saint Columbanus of Luxeuil. A city developed around this monastery, also named Centule. In the Middle Ages it was renamed to Saint-Riquier. Nowadays it has some 1200 inhabitants, who still refer to themselves as Centulois. The Frankish king Dagobert I once came to visit the monastery, and Richarius offered the king advice. He was frank and clear in his speech to the king, speaking without fear or flattery, and the king thereafter became a benefactor of the monastery.