Our Father among the Saints Agricola, Bishop of Avignon
Life
Saint Agricola of Avignon (c. 630 - c. 700) was a monk of the Abbey of Lerins who became Bishop of Avignon in Gaul and is venerated as a patron of that city. He belongs to the pre-schism Western Church and is commemorated as an Orthodox saint among the Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome, with his feast kept on September 2.
By tradition the son of Saint Magnus, himself a bishop of Avignon, Agricola was professed a monk at Lerins as a young man before being called to assist and then succeed his father in the episcopate. He is remembered as a preacher noted for his charity and for defending the poor and the sick, and his relics have been preserved in the city he served.
Timeline 4 moments
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c. 630Birth in GaulAgricola is born around 630, by tradition the son of Saint Magnus of Avignon, described in the sources as a Gallo-Roman who became a monk and bishop.
c. 646Professed a monk at LerinsAt the age of sixteen he is professed a monk at the Abbey of Lerins, the celebrated monastic center of southern Gaul.
660Coadjutor at AvignonSummoned by his father Magnus, he is appointed coadjutor (co-bishop) of Avignon and succeeds to the see upon his father's death in 660.
c. 700ReposeAgricola dies of natural causes around the year 700 and is succeeded as bishop by Saint Veredemus.
Contributions & Legacy
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Life and Episcopate
The sources relate that Agricola was the son of Saint Magnus, a bishop of Avignon; according to one account Magnus was a Gallo-Roman senator who became a monk and then bishop. Agricola entered the monastic life at the Abbey of Lerins, where he was professed at the age of sixteen.
About the age of thirty he was summoned by his father to Avignon and appointed coadjutor, and on the death of Magnus in 660 he succeeded as bishop of the city. As bishop he built a church in Avignon that was staffed by monks of Lerins and established a convent for Benedictine nuns. He was remembered as a well-known preacher, famous for his charity and for his defense of the poor and the sick against the civil authorities.
He died of natural causes around the year 700 and was succeeded by Saint Veredemus.
Relics & Shrines
A charter of 919 records that Agricola had been buried in the church of Avignon dedicated to Saint Peter. His remains were later transferred to the Church of Saint-Agricol, by tradition around 1321, when Pope John XXII raised it to collegiate status and endowed it. His relics are reported still to be preserved in that church.
Traditional Accounts
Several traditions, first recorded in documents only from the fifteenth century and presented in the sources as legend rather than contemporary record, attach to Agricola's name. According to one such account he stayed an invasion of storks over Avignon by his blessing, and from this he became known as a patron of storks, depicted with them as his emblem in art.
Other traditions hold that his prayers were said to obtain rain, good weather, and fine harvests, so that the faithful invoked him for these and against the plague. In 1647 he was declared the patron saint of the city of Avignon.
