Richarius

Richarius (or in French, Riquier) (died April 26, 645) was a Frankish hermit, monk, and the founder of two monasteries. He is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

Life

Richarius was born a pagan in the late 6th century in the county of Ponthieu near Amiens in Picardy in the north-west of France. He converted to Christianity under the influence of Fricor and Cadoc, two Welsh missionaries. After his conversion, he fasted on barley bread mixed with ashes, and drank only water which he mingled with his own tears. He was ordained a priest, and traveled to England, preaching the Gospel and curing the sick. Travelled 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. Others also gave generously to Richarius's monastery, and he was able to use the money to help lepers and the poor and to ransom prisoners held by England.