(ABOUT A.D. 576.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Usuardus, and Maurolycus.
Authority:--An ancient life written after the destruction of the
original life by the Danes when they burnt the monastery of S.
Germain.]
S. Droctoveus, vulgarly called in France S. Drotté, was born in the
diocese of Autun, in Burgundy. In his youth he was placed with S.
Germain, in the abbey of S. Symphorian, at Autun, of which he was
abbot. He was formed there upon the most perfect model of virtue.
S. Germain having been elevated to the bishopric of Paris, wished
to continue to live as a monk. Wherefore he withdrew his disciple
Droctoveus from the abbey of S. Symphorian, and brought him to Paris.
King Childebert having built a church in which to place the stole of S.
Vincent, which he had carried back with him from Saragossa in the year
542, on his return from his Spanish expedition, and chosen this church
as his place of sepulture, he was buried there in 558, and S. Germain
dedicated the church on the same day as his burial, under the title
SS. Cross and Vincent. He established a monastery adjoining it, over
which he set S. Droctoveus, with whose virtues he was well acquainted.
Droctoveus governed the monastery for twenty years, and established its
fame. The monks afterwards embraced the rule of S. Benedict, and the
house and church took the name of S. Germain after the body of that
prelate had been transferred to it.