St. Amand, Bishop of Bourdeaux


WE read in St. Paulinus of Nola that St. Amand served God from his infancy; that he was educated in the knowledge of the scriptures, and that he preserved his innocence from those stains which are generally contracted in the commerce of the world. Being ordained priest by St. Delphin, bishop of Bourdeaux, who employed him in his church, he manifested great zeal for the glory of God. It was he who instructed St. Paulinus in the mysteries of faith, to prepare him for baptism. From this time there subsisted between them a most intimate friendship. Paulinus wrote him many letters, and we see by those that remain of them that he paid the greatest veneration to Amand’s virtue. After the death of St. Delphin, St. Amand was elected to the see of Bourdeaux, but shortly after resigned the dignity in favour of St. Severinus, upon whose death he was again prevailed upon to reassume it. St. Paulinus tells us that he always conducted himself as a zealous guardian of religion, and of the faith of Christ. He is mentioned this day in the Roman Martyrology. The precise year of his death is not known. It is to him we are indebted for the preservation of the writings of St. Paulinus, who died in the year 431. See St. Paulinus of Nola, Ep. 2, 9, 12, 48; and Gallia Christ. Nov. t. 2, p. 789.	1