{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox saint | name = Saint Gondelbert | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | titles = Abbot, (?) Bishop of Sens | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = {{c.}} 676 | death_place = | venerated_in = [[Roman Catholic Church]]<br>[[Eastern Orthodox Church]] | beatified_date = | beatified_place = | beatified_by = | canonized_date = [[Pre-congregation|Pre-Congregation]] | canonized_place = | canonized_by = | major_shrine = | feast_day = 21 February | attributes = | patronage = | issues = | suppressed_date = | suppressed_by = | influences = | influenced = | tradition = }} [[File:Senones 88 Saint-Gondelbert.jpg|thumb|Senones 88 Saint-Gondelbert.jpg]] '''Saint Gondelbert''' (also '''Gondelbertus, Gundebert, Gumbert, Gombert,''' or '''Gondeberg'''; {{langx|la|Gumbertus, etc.}}) was the founder of the [[Benedictine]] [[Senones Abbey]] in the Rabodeau ([[:fr:Rabodeau]]) valley of the [[Vosges]] mountains around 640 AD.<ref>[https://www.tourism-lorraine.com/see-do/visits/sites-and-monuments/940005590-abbaye-de-senones-senones, "Abbay of Senones", Agence Régionale du Tourisme Grand Est| Destination Lorraine]</ref>
==Life== The life of Saint Gondelbert was written by one Richer, a monk of Senones, composed three later centuries.<ref name=diocese>[https://dp.catho.ahennezel.info/saint-gondelbert "Saint Gondelbert", Diocèse de Saint-Dié]</ref>
The Benedictine monks of Senones Abbey preserved the tradition, dating from the eleventh century, that Gondelbert was the [[archbishop of Sens]] before he founded the abbey. Gondelbert arrived in the Rabodeau valley and named his monastery after the diocese of Sens (''Senonis'' in Latin).<ref name="cesens">Goyau, Georges. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13716a.htm "Sens"] ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company (1912). Retrieved 2012-03-20.</ref>
In 661, [[Childeric II]], king of Austrasia, donated the Val de Senones to "Gumbertus Episcopus". Childeric's donation was both generous and self-serving. It pleased him to thus oblige a man of God and to favor the extension of the Christian faith in this region. But he also knew that the founding of an abbey would open a center of civilization in the most deprived part of his kingdom.<ref name=diocese/>
Gondelbert's first cares was to provide his community with a church, which he dedicated to Notre-Dame. Subsequently, there developed monastic buildings which he placed under the patronage of Saint Peter. The group followed the ''[[Rule of Saint Benedict]]''.
He was the confessor of [[Itta of Metz]], and is credited with building the first church in [[Itteville]].<ref>[https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/5800/Saint-Gombert.html "Saint Gombert", Nominis]</ref>
He died around 676 while making a pilgrimage to Moyenvic.<ref>[http://www.vosges-archives.com/fichiers/anterieur/2H.pdf "2H: Abbaye de Senones"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211101943/http://www.vosges-archives.com/fichiers/anterieur/2H.pdf |date=11 February 2012 }} p.32, ''Vosges-Archives.com''. Retrieved 2012-03-19.{{in lang|fr}}</ref>
He is a Catholic saint and his feastday is 21 February.<ref>[http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-gundebert-of-sens/ Saint Gundebert of Sens] ''Saints.SQPN.com''. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 2012-03-20.</ref>
The parish church in Senones is dedicated to St. Gondelbert.<ref>[https://www.catholique88.fr/lieu/eglise-saint-gondelbert-0 "Eglise Saint-Gondelbert", Diocèse de Saint-Dié]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120312220247/http://www.catholique-vosges.fr/Saint-Gondelbert.html Saint Gondelbert, in stained glass] Diocèse de Saint-Dié (Vosges) {{in lang|fr}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120313034221/http://www.catholique-vosges.fr/saint-gondelbert,2476.html Saint Gondelbert, Fondateur de Senones] Diocèse de Saint-Dié (Vosges) {{in lang|fr}} * [https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienG/Gondelbert_von_Senones.html "Gondelbert von Senones", ''Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon'']
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[[Category:676 deaths]] [[Category:Bishops of Sens]] [[Category:7th-century Christian saints]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]] [[Category:7th-century Frankish bishops]]