{{Short description|Bishop of La Mans}} {{Infobox saint |honorific-prefix=Saint |name=Liborius |birth_date=unknown |death_date=397 |feast_day=23 July |venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church<br />Eastern Orthodox Church |image=Paderborner Dom Dreifaltigkeitskapelle Liborius.jpg |imagesize=250px |caption=''Saint Liborius'', <small>relief in the Trinity Chapel of the Paderborn Cathedral.</small> |birth_place=Gaul |death_place=Le Mans (modern-day France) |titles=Bishop, Confessor, Pastor |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes=Pebbles on a book; peacock; episcopal attire<ref name="Stracke">{{cite web |last1=Stracke |first1=Richard |title= Saint Liborius | url = http://www.christianiconography.info/liborius.html|website=Christian Iconography | date=2015-10-20}}</ref> |patronage=Against calculi; against colic; against fever; against gall stones; Paderborn Cathedral; Paderborn |major_shrine= Paderborn |suppressed_date= |issues= }}

'''Liborius of Le Mans''' (died 397) was the second Bishop of Le Mans. He is the patron saint of the cathedral and archdiocese of Paderborn in Germany. The year of his birth is unknown; he died in 397, reputedly on 23 July.<ref name=BBKL>{{BBKL|l/liborius_m|band=5|autor=Hermann-Joseph Rick|artikel=Liborius, zweiter Bischof von Le Mans|spalten=17-20}}</ref>

==Le Mans and Paderborn== As for other fourth-century saints, little is known of his life. He was a Gaul, influenced by Latin culture. He is said to have been Bishop of Le Mans for 49 years. He built some churches in its neighbourhood, an indication that his missionary activity was limited to the Gaul of his time. He is said to have ordained, in the course of 96 ordinations, 217 priests and 186 deacons. Saint Martin of Tours assisted him when he was dying. He was buried in the Apostle Basilica of Le Mans, beside his predecessor, Julian, the founder of the bishopric.<ref name=BBKL/>

Miracles are said to have occurred at his tomb. In 835 Bishop Aldrich placed some relics of his body into an altar in the cathedral, and in the following year, on the instructions of Emperor Louis the Pious, sent the body to Bishop {{Interlanguage link|Badurad of Paderborn|de|3=Badurad|vertical-align=sup}}, a diocese founded in 799 by Pope Leo III and Emperor Charlemagne that had no saint of its own.<ref name=BBKL/>

From this arose a "love bond of lasting brotherhood" that has survived all the hostilities of the succeeding centuries and is considered to be the oldest contract still in force. Both churches bound themselves to help each other by prayer and material assistance, as they have in fact done on more than one occasion.<ref name=BBKL/>

In view of the power that veneration of Saint Liborius has had in binding peoples together, Archbishop Johannes Joachim Degenhardt of Paderborn established in 1977 the Saint Liborius Medal for Unity and Peace, which is conferred every five years on someone who has contributed to the unity of Europe on Christian principles.<ref name=BBKL/>

==Patronage and symbology== Since Liborius died in the arms of his friend Martin of Tours, he is looked to as a patron of a good death. Since the thirteenth century he is prayed to for assistance against gallstones that are caused by the water of the limestone area; the first account of a healing of this kind concerns the cure of Archbishop Werner von Eppstein, who came on pilgrimage to the saint's shrine in 1267. This is the origin of the saint's attribute of three stones placed on a copy of the Bible. In the same period he became the patron of the cathedral and the archdiocese, rather than the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Kilian, who were previously in first place. And as stated above, he is seen as a patron of peace and understanding among peoples.<ref name=BBKL/> He is invoked against colic, fever, and gallstones.

As well as being shown as a bishop carrying small stones on a book, Saint Liborius is also shown with the attribute of a peacock, because of a legend that, when his body was brought to Paderborn, a peacock guided the bearers.

The popularity of the saint in Paderborn is shown in the week-long yearly festival that begins on the Saturday after his 23 July feast day.<ref name=BBKL/>

==Liturgy== St Liborius is a recognized saint of the Roman Catholic Church,<ref>"Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}})</ref> but his feast day was not included in the Tridentine calendar. It was added in 1702 as a commemoration within the 23 July celebration of Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna. The 1969 ''Mysterii Paschalis'' revision judged that he was not of sufficient universal importance for insertion in the General Roman Calendar and that it should be left to local calendars to include him.<ref>"Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 131</ref>

==Legacy== ===Libori Festival=== Libori is a festival in Paderborn, Germany, in honour of Saint Liborius, which takes place annually in the last week of July.

thumb|upright|St. Liborius Church in St. Louis, Missouri (2012).Dedicated parishes are located in:

===Australia=== * Eaglehawk, Victoria, Australia<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stliboriuseaglehawk.org.au/home|title=St Liborius Catholic Parish Eaglehawk|website=St Liborius Catholic Parish Eaglehawk|access-date=21 August 2025}}</ref>

===Europe=== * Split, Croatia<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353242248|title=Sacral architecture of Split parish churches built since 1990|website=ST Open|last1=Matic|first1=Gabrijela|last2=Pekovic|first2=Zeljko|page=9|date=July 2021|access-date=22 August 2025}}</ref> * Eissen, Germany * Paderborn, Germany - Paderborn Cathedral * Colorno, Italy - Ducal Chapel of San Liborio * Komárom, Hungary<ref>{{cite web|url=https://komaromi-plebania.hu/templomaink/almasfuzito/|title=Szent István király és Szent Liborius-templom, Almásfüzitő|website=Komáromi Római Katolikus Plébánia|access-date=22 August 2025}}</ref> * Nagyszentjános, Hungary * Rome, Italy - San Liborio, Rome * Dinxperlo, Netherlands - Protestant church<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Liboriuskerk|title=Sint-Liboriuskerk|website=Wikipedia|access-date=22 August 2025}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2025}} * Krasnodar, Russia - St. Liborius Church, Krasnodar

===North America=== * St. Libory, Illinois, United States<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.diobelle.org/directory/parishes/st-liborius-st-libory|title=St. Liborius|website=Diocese of Belleville|access-date=22 August 2025}}</ref> * Steger, Illinois, United States<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stliborius.org/|title=St. Liborius Catholic Parish|website=St. Liborius Catholic Parish|access-date=21 August 2025}}</ref> * St. Louis, Missouri, United States - closed<ref>{{cite web|url=https://architecturalafterlife.com/2023/04/from-church-to-skate-park/#google_vignette|title=From Church to Skate Park: The Remarkable Transformation of St. Liborius|website=Architectural Afterlife|date=29 April 2023 |access-date=21 August 2025}}</ref> * St. Libory, Nebraska, United States<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stliborycatholic.com/|title=St. Libory Catholic Church|website=St. Libory Catholic Church|access-date=21 August 2025}}</ref> * Orient, South Dakota, United States<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sfcatholic.org/parishes/st-liborius-polo/|title=St. Liborius|website=Parishes in the Diocese of Sioux Falls|date=10 March 2020 |access-date=21 August 2025}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Saint Liborius}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060507052006/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/ncd04765.htm catholic-forum.com] *[http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0723.shtml#libo saintpatrickdc.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123093541/http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0723.shtml#libo |date=2012-01-23 }} {{Catholic saints - Confessors|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}

Liborius Category:4th-century bishops in Gaul Category:Bishops of Le Mans Category:4th-century Christian saints Category:Prince-bishops of Paderborn