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Icon of St. Euphronius, Bishop
of Tours
St. Euphronius is in the centre, holding the
Cross.
Feast: Aug. 4
St. Euphronius is remembered
for the rebuilding of Tours after the great fire. He shepherded that
church as successor of St. Martin from 556 until his repose in
573. Holy Father Euphronius, pray to God for us!
The event depicted in the icon
is the reception of the Cross at Poitiers:
"Radegund soon began to petition the Byzantine
Emperor for relics from the Holy Land to sanctify her convent. The
first petition she sent him was for a relic of the Cappadocian martyr,
St. Mamas of Caesarea. The Patriarch of Jerusalem eventually authorised
the transfer of the little finger of the saint's right hand from
Jerusalem to Poitiers. The second petition was for a fragment of the
True Cross, i.e. the cross on which Christ was crucified. In response,
the Emperor sent not only a large piece of wood from the cross, but
also some gospels studded with gold and gems. Euphronius, Bishop of
Tours, deposited these relics in the convent in the year 569. Following
the acquisition of these relics, Radegund had the convent renamed the
Abbey of the Holy Cross, and it became the destination of pilgrimages
from throughout the Frankish lands and beyond. In her last years,
Radegund took her habitual practice of asceticism still further. She
shut herself off from the day-to-day life of the convent, and isolated
herself in a walled-up cell, where she devoted her hours to prayer and
meditation. She died on 13th August 587 and her funeral was conducted
by her friend Gregory of Tours." - Alex Perkins, web site of
Jesus College, Cambridge.
Icon: from the Monastery of
St. Anthony the Great, France.
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