St. Liborius

St. Liborius of Le Mans (c. 348–397) was the second Bishopof Le Mans (a diocese in France). He is the patron saint of the cathedral andarchdiocese of Paderborn in Germany. The year of his birth is unknown; he died in397, reputedly on 23 July.

As for other fourth-century saints, little is known of hislife. He was a Gaul, influenced by Latin culture. He is said to have beenBishop of Le Mans for 49 years. He built some churches in its neighborhood, anindication that his missionary activity was limited to the Gaul of his time. Heis said to have ordained, in the course of 96 ordinations, 217 priests and 186deacons. Saint Martin of Tours assisted him when he was dying. He was buried inthe Apostle Basilica of Le Mans, beside his predecessor, Julian, the founder ofthe bishopric.

Saint Liborius, relief in the Trinity Chapel 

of thePaderborn Cathedral

Miracles are said to have occurred at his tomb. In 835Bishop Aldrich placed some relics of his body into an altar in the cathedral,and in the following year, on the instructions of Emperor Louis the Pious, sentthe body to Bishop Badurad of Paderborn, a diocese founded in 799 by Pope LeoIII and Emperor Charlemagne that had no saint of its own.

From this arose a "love bond of lastingbrotherhood" that has survived all the hostilities of the succeedingcenturies and is considered to be the oldest contract still in force. Bothchurches bound themselves to help each other by prayer and material assistance,as they have in fact done on more than one occasion.

In view of the power that veneration of Saint Liborius hashad in binding peoples together, Archbishop Johannes Joachim Degenhardt ofPaderborn established in 1977 the "Saint Liborius Medal for Unity andPeace", which is conferred every five years on someone who has contributedto the unity of Europe on Christian principles.