(ABOUT A.D. 1100.)
[Authority: his life by Rudolf the monk, who died 1137. S. Adelelm
is called also _Elesmo_ or _Elmo_; and is not to be confounded with
another Adelelm or Elmo, who is only beatified.]
S. Adelelm was a noble of Lyons in France, and served in the army, till
God called him to a higher walk, then he renounced the world, and became
a monk in the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu, after a visit to Rome. He was
ordained priest by Ranco, Bishop of the Auvergne, but when he heard that
the bishop had been suspended for having simonically obtained the see,
he refused to execute the priestly office, till a successor was
appointed. To see him, Adelelm started one stormy night. The way was
dark, and the tempest raged with such fury that, but that it was
necessary, he would not have started then. However, he took a candle,
lighted it, and gave it to his comrade, and bade him lead the way.
Notwithstanding the violence of the gale, the flame burnt steady,
though not enclosed in a lantern, and illumined their road. From this,
the electric lights seen at mastheads are called by sailors in the
Mediterranean S. Elmo's lights. He was afterwards invited to Spain, and
he was chosen abbot of his order in the monastery of Burgos, where he
died.