GERMANUS OF PARIS, SAINT

born c. 496, , near Augustodunum, Gaul [now Autun, France] died May 28, 576, Paris; feast day May 28 French Saint Germain De Paris abbot, bishop, one of France's most revered saints, who was an important, though unsuccessful, mediator in the fratricidal conflicts among several Merovingian kings. Ordained a priest in 530, Germanus was made abbot of the Monastery of Saint-Symphorien. Between 554 and 556 he was nominated by the Frankish king Childebert I as bishop of Paris, where he exercised considerable moral influence on the king's court and induced Childebert to found a Parisian church, which after his death was renamed Saint-Germain-des-Prs and became a royal burial place. Germanus was eventually enmeshed in the civil strife caused by rivalry between Childebert's nephews, Guntram, Sigebert I, Chilperic I, and Charibert I, whom he excommunicated for personal wickedness and for animosity toward his authority. He protected Queen Radegunda against the abuses of her husband, the Frankish king Chlotar I, Childebert's brother. Among the many conciliatory councils that Germanus attended were those of Paris (557), Tours (566), and Paris (573).