prayer liturgical
Saint Rumold of Malines
St. Rumold meeting St. Gummarus
Saint Rumold of Malines (775)
Feast Day: July 1/14
Saint Rumold (or St. Rombaut de Malines, or Mechelen) was born at the beginning of the eighth century, the son of David, a Scottish king, and Cecila, a Sicilian princess. He had faithfully served God for many years as a monk in his own country, when zeal for the salvation of souls induced him to preach the faith to the idolaters. He made a journey first to Rome, were he was consecrated a bishop, and with the blessing of the Pope went to Brabant (modern-day Belgium), a great part of which country about Malines he converted. He had a great desire for martyrdom. For having rebuked two men for the wickedness of their lives (meanness and fornication), they slew him and threw his body into the river. It was miraculously recovered by fishermen when at night, a light shone into the depths, and a great church was built around his shrine, where many miracles were recorded. This church was dedicated in his honor and is now the cathedral of the city. In his life, he healed a blind man and a leper (which led to the conversion of numerous Germans). He also prayed for Pepin’s wife, Elysa, who was barren, who conceived and bore St. Libert.
Troparion
1st tone
Successor of the Apostles, O Saint Rumold, thou didst partake of their throne and their manner of life: as a disciple of Christ thou didst carry their cross renouncing the earthly kingdom and walking to heaven as a pilgrim; thou didst preach the Gospel of salvation and for righteousness thou didst die as a martyr. Glory to Him who has given thee the anointing of the Spirit, glory to Him who has crowned thee as a witness and who by thy prayers grants healings to all.
Kontakion
3rd tone
It is not only the apostle and the martyr, the enlightener of the Franks and of the Germans, but also the compassionate wonderworker which we venerate in Saint Rumold: as Peter, not having gold or silver, he gave what he had, in the name of Christ healing the blind and lepers, as a prophet announcing to the barren the birth of a child and raising from the dead one drowned for three days.
On 1 July, we celebrate the memory of the holy hieromartyr Rumold (Rombaut) of Malines.
Verses: Thou wast the brilliant torch of the Christian faith,
That apostle and martyr, bishop of Malines.
Concerning him, on the first day (of July), Flanders,
Orphaned, celebrates Saint Rumold as its enlightener.
Royal was thy lineage, O Saint Rumold, but divine was thy vocation: as Abraham thou didst leave thy family and thy fatherland, the land of the Celts, Angles and the Scots, the domain of thine ancestral inheritance, in order to follow the impenetrable paths of the Lord.
From ode 3 of the canon
Translated by Schema-Archimandrite John (Lewis) +2007
From the French Akolouthia composed in 2003 by Hieromonk Denis (Guillaume) +2008
Published here with written permission of the author.
Synaxaria augmented by Mother Andrea
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