(7TH CENT.)
[Called in France _Loup_, _Leul_, or _Leu_. He was canonized by
Pope John VIII, in 879; he is commemorated on this day at Châlons;
also there on April 30th, the day of his canonization. His life is
by an anonymous writer, who says that he wrote it from the
remembrance of those who had read the Acts of S. Lupus which had
been destroyed by fire.]
S. Lupus, Bishop of Cabilinum, or Châlons sur Saone, flourished about
the year 610. He was the son of honourable parents, and he commended
himself to the people by his abundant charity, his self-denial, and his
tenderness to the sick. Châlons being ill-provided with drinking water,
and the soil dry and sandy, he miraculously provided it with an abundant
spring which flows to the present day. The story is thus told. He stood
one day with his ivory pastoral staff in hand watching the hay makers;
the sun was hot, and the labourers were exhausted. Moved with
compassion, and knowing that the turbid waters of the river were unfit
to drink, he struck his staff into the sand, and a limpid spring bubbled
up. When dying he sent for the governor of Châlons, and begged him to
pardon the unfortunate wretches who languished in the prison under
sentence of death. The governor roughly refused. After Lupus was dead,
his funeral passed the city prison, and the bier was set down at that
place. The prisoners stretched their hands through the bars of their
windows crying piteously. Instantly their chains fell off, the doors
flew open, and they were set at liberty.