(END OF 7TH CENT.)
[Molanus and Greven in their additions to Usuardus. Canisius in
his German Martyrology. Anglican and later Irish and Scottish
Martyrologies. The Acts of Fridolin were preserved in a monastery
on the Moselle, where they were found, and recast in a more ornate
style, by a monk, Balther, in the beginning of the 12th cent. The
story of this is rather curious. In the monastery of Sickingen there
was no copy of the life of S. Fridolin, on account of the monastery
having been destroyed by the Huns about 938. But Balther, a monk of
Sickingen, happening to visit a monastery on the Moselle, which had
been founded by S. Fridolin, found the life there. He asked for it,
but the prior refused to give it him, so he learned it by heart, as
well as he could, "partly carrying it away word for word, and partly
gathering the subject-matter," after which he set to work and re-wrote
it, incorporating the portions he knew by heart with that portion
which he wrote in his own words. He says that he was puzzled to find
that in the MS. the saint was called Fridhold, whereas at Sickingen
they were wont to call him Fridolin. Fridhold was undoubtedly
the ancient and most correct form of the name, and Fridolin is a
diminutive.]
Fridolin the Traveller was a native of Ireland, what his name there
was is not known, as we only hear of him by his Teutonic appellation,
signifying "Gentle Peace." His birth was illustrious, and he is usually
said to have been the son of a king, but Balther merely says he was
a person of distinguished piety. Having embraced the ecclesiastical
state, he was raised to the priesthood, and preached with great zeal
for some time in various parts of Ireland. Wishing to visit foreign
countries, he passed over to France, and after preaching there, became
a member of S. Hilary's monastery at Poitiers, where he remained for
a considerable time, and was so much esteemed by the community, and
the bishop and clergy, that he was elected abbot. He then completed an
object which he had greatly at heart, the rebuilding of S. Hilary's
Church, in which he was assisted by king Clovis, and by the bishop
and the inhabitants; and he placed in it the remains of the saint,
reserving a few portions of the relics for himself. During this time he
was visited by two priests, relatives of his, who had been labouring as
missionaries in Northumberland. Leaving them at Poitiers, and taking
with him some of the relics of S. Hilary, Fridolin went to the east of
France, and erected a monastery on the banks of the Moselle, which he
dedicated to S. Hilary, and which was called Helera. Having remained
there only as long as was necessary to complete that foundation, he
built a church amidst the Vosges, likewise in honour of S. Hilary,
perhaps that which was named Hilariacum, the modern S. Avold, in the
Department of Moselle. Thence he proceeded to Strassburg, where also he
erected a church under the same invocation. Next we find him at Coire,
in the Grisons, and there likewise founding a Church of S. Hilary.
While there, he inquired of the inhabitants if there were any island
in the Rhine as yet uninhabited, and was informed there was one, of
which, however, they could not give him a precise account. He went in
search of it, and at length found the island of Sickingen, a few miles
above Basle. When examining it for the purpose of discovering whether
it were fit for the erection of a church, he was beaten and ill-treated
by the inhabitants of the neighbouring district. But having obtained a
grant of the island from the king, he founded a church, and a religious
house for women, towards the endowment of which he got some lands from
Urso, a nobleman of Glarus. Thenceforth he spent the remainder of
his life at Sickingen, together with some disciples of his, of whom
he formed a community, prior, it is said, to his having established
the nunnery. He died there on the 6th of March, but in what year is
not known. There are great doubts even as to the century in which he
flourished; but it is most probable that he belonged to the latter part
of the 7th century. Some writings have been attributed to the saint,
but upon no sufficient authority. Many writers suppose that he arrived
in France in the reign of Clovis I., but it is more probable that it
was in the reign of Clovis III. According to Balther, Christianity
seems to have been completely established in Ireland at the time of
Fridolin's departure for France, and this representation does not suit
the religious state of Ireland at the period when Clovis I. reigned.
The holy expeditions of missionaries from Ireland to the continent, had
not begun as early as the 6th century. Next comes the very remarkable
circumstance of the priests, the nephews of Fridolin, coming from
Northumberland. There were no Irish priests in Northumberland until the
year 635.[25]
[25] See Dr. Lanigan's Irish Eccl. Hist. ii. p. 483-6.
S. Fridolin is regarded as the tutelar patron of the Canton of Glarus,
which bears on its coat of arms a figure of the saint.