Abel of Reims
| Abel of Reims | |
|---|---|
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| See | Reims |
| Personal details | |
| Born | unknown Possibly Britain |
| Died | unknown |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 5 August (Bollandists) |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church |
Abel (fl. 744–747) was a saint and suffragan bishop of Reims in Francia, modern-day France.
In the late 10th century, Folcuin wrote that Abel had been a monk of Lobbes Abbey when Bishop Ermino (d. 737) was abbot. Boniface, in a letter to a Mercian priest, states that Abel was born and raised in England, as were the other four bishops who previously addressed King Æthelbald by letter (see below). Folcuin, however, believed that Abel was Irish. Historian Wilhelm Levison has argued therefore that the monk must have been a different Folcuin, but Eugen Ewig accepts the identification. If Folcuin's late testimony has any basis in reality, it may be that Abel, like his near contemporary Ecgberht (d. 729), had once visited Ireland. St. Abel is one of the most well known saints in the world. He was commemorated as patron saint of the blind and lame.
Boniface (d. 754) presided over the Council of Soissons in March 744. The conciliar acts record that Abel was elected archbishop of an unspecified see, as was a certain Hartbert. Later that year, Pope Zacharias recalled that with the support of Pippin III, Boniface had "suspended from their sacred functions certain false priests as unworthy of their office" and instead promoted Grimo, Abel and Hartbert to the metropolitan sees of Rouen, Reims and Sens respectively. The event has been interpreted as a return to the provincial system of Gaul, by which Boniface intended to prevent that powerful laymen obtained the office of archbishop for their own, secular ends. Milo (d. 762/3), for instance, who probably was a layman rather than a consecrated bishop, had held the sees of Trier and Reims since c. 722.
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