(A.D. 743.)
[Roman Martyrology. In those of Bede, Notker, and Rabanus, on
Feb. 21st. Authorities;--A Life by a contemporary, published by
Bollandus.]
This saint was dedicated to God from his infancy. About the year 714,
he retired to the abbey of Jumièges, on the banks of the Seine, in the
arch-diocese of Rouen. After having spent six or seven years there,
his uncle Suavaric, bishop of Orleans, died, and Eucher was elected in
his room, with the consent of Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, in
721. But he shortly afterwards incurred the anger of Charles Martel,
for some political reason not mentioned by the author of the life of
the saint, and Charles, on his return from defeating the Saracens near
Tours, in 732, took the bishop from his see, and sent him into exile
to Cologne, where, however, his piety and gentleness attracted such
general admiration, that Charles ordered him to be removed into the
less populous county of Hasbain, or Haspengau, in the territory of
Liége, under the guard of Robert, the governor of that county, who
allowed him to retire into the monastery of S. Trond, where he passed
the rest of his days in prayer, glad to rest once more in the peaceful
round of cloister life. He was buried at S. Trond, and there his
relics are preserved.
In Art, S. Eucher is often represented contemplating a man in the
flames of hell, on account of a legend which relates that he saw
Charles Martel undergoing torment in the place of the damned.
Sometimes he is depicted lying in his sepulchre, with a serpent marked
with the arms of France, symbolising Charles Martel, writhing beneath
it.