Leudwinus - Death

Death

Leudwinus died 29 September 722 at Reims. He was succeeded as Archbishop of Treve by his son, Milo, who brought his father's remains to Treve to be buried. However local customs prevented this and Leudwinus' family decided to let the dead saint choose his own place of burial. His coffin was placed alone on a ship that was sailed by itself, first to Moselle, then Saar and finally docked at Mettlach where the church bells began to ring.

Leudwinus was buried in St. Mary's Church at the Abbey at Mettlach. In 990, St. Mary's Church was replaced by a new structure called the Old Tower, the oldest preserved stone building in Saar.

In 1247, Leudwinus' relics were transferred to the newly constructed Leudwinus Chapel (Liutwinuskapelle). About 200 years later, his remains were reburied again in a new chapel connected to the Church at the Abbey. During the French Revolution, the monastery was purchased by the Boch family. He had the building demolished and built Liutwinus Cathedral in Mettlach, where the relics of the saint are located today.

Reports of miracles at Leudwinus' grave in Mettlach made it a popular pilgrimage site over the centuries.

Records from Leudwinus' time as bishop are collected in the Gesta Treverorum.

Read more about this topic:  Leudwinus

Famous quotes containing the word death:

    Death is not natural for a state as it is for a human being, for whom death is not only necessary, but frequently even desirable.
    Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)

    No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.... Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
    John Donne (c. 1572–1631)