{{Short description|Frankish bishop and saint}} {{For|the abbey|Abbey of St. Vaast}} {{Infobox saint |honorific_prefix= Saint |name= Vedast |birth_date=c. 453 |death_date=540 |feast_day= February 6 |venerated_in= Eastern Orthodox Church<ref>February 19 / February 6. https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/</ref><br />Roman Catholic Church |image= Saintvedast.jpg |imagesize= 250px |caption= ''The ordination of Saint Vedast'' |birth_place=France |death_place= |titles= |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date=Pre-Congregation |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes=a child at his feet; a bear; bishop with a wolf carrying a goose in its mouth |patronage=invoked on behalf of children who walk with difficulty<br />for diseases of the eyes<br />diocese of Arras, Boulogne and Saint-Omer, France<br />France |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= }}
'''Vedast''' or '''Vedastus''', also known as '''Saint Vaast''' (in Flemish, Norman and Picard) or '''Saint Waast''' (also in Picard and Walloon), '''Saint Gaston''' in French, and Foster in English (died {{circa|540}}) was an early bishop in the Frankish realm. After the victory of Tolbiac Vedast helped instruct the Frankish king Clovis in the Christian faith of his wife, Queen Clotilde.
Opinions differ as to whether Remigius, bishop of Reims, entrusted the diocese of Arras and diocese of Cambrai to Vedast as is traditionally held, or if Vedast was more an itinerant bishop without a specific see.
==Career== Vedast was probably born in the village of Villae in Périgord. As a young man, he moved to Toul, where the bishop, taking notice of his many virtues, ordained him to the priesthood.<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00681288.1887.11888244?journalCode=yjba17 Simpson, W. Sparrow (1887) "St. Vedast", ''Journal of the British Archaeological Association'', 43:1, 56-81] {{doi| 10.1080/00681288.1887.11888244}}</ref> Clovis, King of Franks, while returning from his victory over the Alemanni, was on his way to Rheims and contemplating baptism to the faith of his wife, Clotilde, and stopped at Toul to request some priest to instruct him on the way. Vedast agreed to accompany the king.<ref name=Butler>[http://www.bartleby.com/210/2/062.html Butler, Alban. "Saint Vedast, Bishop of Arras", ''The Lives of the Saints'', Vol. II, 1866]</ref> It is believed that in 499, Remigius named him the first bishop of Arras, France;<ref name="catholique">Diocèse d'Arras, [http://arras.catholique.fr/page-10823-diocese-arras.html ''Histoire du diocèse d'Arras'']. {{in lang|fr}} Retrieved: 2016-09-02.</ref> around 510, he was also given oversight over Cambrai.<ref name=Butler/> However, more modern studies regard Vedast "...as an itinerant bishop who had no clearly defined bishopric."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=M0_vfvDnREAC&pg=PA35 Verhulst, Adriaan. ''The Rise of Cities in North-West Europe'', Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 35] {{isbn|9780521469098}}</ref>
== Hagiography ==
Within Christian sacred tradition extraordinary healings were attributed to his intercession. One account says that while on the road to Rheims, they encountered a blind beggar at the bridge over the river Aisne. The man besought Vedast's assistance. The priest prayed and blessed the beggar, at which point the man recovered his sight.<ref name=Butler/> This increased Vedast's esteem in the eyes of the king and he became one of the King's advisers.
thumb|St Vedast and the beast Jonas of Bobbio wrote a ''Vita Vedastis'' to promote the cult of Vedast at the cathedral in Arras. He "presents Vedast as the model ascetic-bishop for the new Columbanian monk-bishops who occupied many of the sees of Neustria after the unification of the kingdom under Chlothar II in 613."<ref name="O'Hara">[https://books.google.com/books?id=-fpdDwAAQBAJ&dq=Vedast&pg=PT228 O'Hara, Alexander. "Jonas of Bobbio and the Legacy of Columbanus: Sanctity and Community in the Seventh Century", Oxford University Press, 2018, no pagination]{{isbn|9780190858025}}</ref> The incident of expelling the bear from the city mirrors Columbanus expelling a bear from his hermitage at Annegray.<ref name="O'Hara"/>
A ''Vita'' of Vedast by Alcuin recounts a story that on one occasion, having spent the day in instructing a nobleman, his host would see him on his way with a glass of wine to sustain him, but found the cask empty. Vedast bid the servant to bring whatever he should find in the vessel. The servant then found the barrel overflowing with excellent wine.<ref>[http://elfinspell.com/MedievalMatter/Bede/Giles-MinorHistoricalWorks/SaintVedast.html Alcuin. ''the Life of St. Vedast, Bishop of Arras'', Chapter V]</ref>
==Death and veneration== [[File:Wambrechies St Vaast.JPG|thumb|The statue of St Vedast in the church of St Vedast in Wambrechies]] He died about 540 at Arras; that night the locals reportedly saw a luminous cloud ascend from his house, apparently carrying away Vedast's soul.<ref>[http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-vaast-of-arras/ Saint Vaast of Arras“. Saints.SQPN.com. 29 January 2014. Web 14 July 2014]</ref> Vedast was buried in the old cathedral in Arras; his relics were later transferred to the new Abbey of St. Vaast founded in his honour in Arras.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15248a.htm Alston, George Cyprian. "Abbey of Saint Vaast." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 27 August 2022 {{PD-notice}}</ref>
Vedast was venerated in Belgium as well as England (from the 10th century) where he was known as ''Saint Foster''. St. Vedast Church, Vlamertinge is named for him. The spread of his cult was aided by the presence of Augustinians from Arras in England in the 12th century. Three ancient churches in England – St Vedast Foster Lane in London, and in Norwich and Tathwell in Lincolnshire – were dedicated to him.<ref>[http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0206.shtml#veda Saint of the Day, February 6: ''Vedast of Arras''] ''SaintPatrickDC.org''. Retrieved 2012-03-07.</ref>
His feast is on 6 February.
===Patronage=== He is a patron saint invoked against eye trouble.
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last=Dales|first=Douglas|title=Alcuin: Theology and Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpsABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129|year=2013|publisher=James Clarke & Co|location=Cambridge UK|isbn=978-0-227-17394-7|pages=122–131; 189–190}} * {{cite book|translator=Giles, J.A. |title=The Historical Works of Venerable Bede: Biographical writings, letters, and chronology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-ZBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR14 |volume=2 |year=1845 |location=London |publisher=J. Bohn |pages=115–134}} [Alcuin's life] * {{cite book|author=Jonas (Abbas Elnonensis)|editor=Krusch, Bruno|title=Ionae Vitae Sanctorum Columbani, Vedastis, Iohannis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wO8QAAAAIAAJ|series=Monumenta Germaniae Historica|year=1905|publisher=Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani|location=Hannover|language=German, Latin}} * {{cite book|last=Kreiner|first=Jamie|title=The Social Life of Hagiography in the Merovingian Kingdom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ip9cAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA240|date=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-05065-5|pages=101–103; 160; 237–263}} * {{cite book|last=Shanzer|first=Danuta|title=Avitus of Vienne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4EudhzP65IsC&pg=PA362|year=2002|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-0-85323-588-0|pages=362–373}} [letter of Avitus on Clovis' baptism] * {{cite book|last1=Simpson|first1=William Sparrow |last2=Simpson|first2=Gertrude Sparrow|title=Carmina Vedastina|url=https://archive.org/details/carminavedastin00arrgoog|year=1896|publisher=Elliot Stock|location=London}} * {{cite book|last= van der Essen|first=Léon |title=Étude critique et littéraire sur les vitae des saints mérovingiens de l'ancienne Belgique|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblesemperorc01hogoog|year=1907|publisher=Bureaux du recueil|location=Louvain|language=French|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ramblesemperorc01hogoog/page/n238 211]–216}} [Jonas]
==External links== {{commons category}}
* [http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-vaast-of-arras/ Saint Vaast of Arras] at Saints.SQPN.com
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vedast}} Category:450s births Category:Year of birth unknown Category:540 deaths Category:6th-century Frankish bishops Category:Bishops of Arras Category:Bishops of Cambrai Category:6th-century Frankish saints