SS. GERMANUS AND LUPUS, BISHOPS & CONFESSORS, July 30th

Collect

WE beseech thee, O Lord, graciously to hear the prayers which we offer unto thee on this feast of blessed Germanus and holy Lupus, thy Confessors and Bishops : that like as they were found worthy to do thee faithful service, so by the succour of their prayers, we may be delivered from the chastisement which we have deserved. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

For the legend

THIS Germanus was the man that God raised up to strengthen the ancient British Church, and deliver it from the heresy of the British monk Pelagius. And his chief helper in these matters is said to have been Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, the reputed brother of Saint Vincent of Lerins. Germanus was born about the year 380, at Auxerre, of a Christian noble family. He studied law, and married a noble Roman lady, and later was made governour of parts of Gaul. In which office he came into contact with Saint Amator, Bishop of Auxerre, who charged him with complacence toward certain pagan customs. As the result of which controversy, Saint Amator made him accept the priesthood as his vocation ; and when Amator died, he became Bishop of Auxerre.

AFTER which he went on apostolic missions to Britain, were Christianity was suffering from the disorders consequent upon the withdrawal of the Roman army and Roman rule. And thereafter the Church in that island remained well nigh free from heresy for 1100 years. The Alleluia Victory of 448 over the invading Saxons, is said to have been due to the sagacity of Germanus ; and to him is ascribed the training and forming of Saint Patrick. Germanus went to God in the year 448.

LUPUS, who is said to have married the sister of Saint Hilary of Arles, and afterwards to have become a monk at Lerins, was in 426 made Bishop of Troyes ; in which office he served God in fasting and prayer, and the faithful tending of God's flock for fifty years. It was through his intervention that Attila the Hun was moved to spare the regions round about ; but Lupus was obliged to go with Attila as an hostage ; with whom he remained until the Huns were defeated. He went to God in peace in 478 ; and during his episcopate he was of great assistance to the apostolic labours of Saint Germanus in driving forth the enemies of the Faith (namely, the Pelagians) from Gaul and Britain, and in establishing the faithful in godliness and peace.

From the Anglican Breviary