St. Gobain of Ireland, Priest and Martyr


HAVING served God from his childhood in Ireland, his own country, and being there ordained priest by St. Fursey, he passed into France soon after that holy man, out of a desire more perfectly to consecrate himself to God. He made a short stay at Corbeny, before the abbey was there erected, and afterwards at Laon. Thence he withdrew into the great forest near the river Oise, where at the distance of two leagues from that river, and as far from Le Fere and Premontré, he built himself a cell, and afterwards, with the help of the people, a stately church, which was consecrated under the patronage of St. Peter, but long since bears the name of St. Gobain. King Clotaire III., who reigned in Neustria and Burgundy from the year 656 to 670, had bestowed on him the ground, and continued exceedingly to honour him. Here the saint served God in watching, fasting, and prayer, till certain barbarians from the north of Germany plundering that country, out of hatred to his holy profession, cut off his head. The place was first called Le Mont d’Hermitage, now St. Gobain, and is famous for the manufacture of large crystal glasses, which are not blown, but run, and afterwards sent to Paris by the river to be polished and finished. The body of St. Gobain was lost during the civil wars raised by the Calvinists, but his head is still kept there in the great church. See the ancient lessons of his office, and the remarks of Papebroke, Junij, t. 4, p. 21.	1