St. Ursmar

Feastday: April 19
Death: 713

Benedictine abbot-bishop, and missionary. Perhaps a native of Ireland, he served as abbot-bishop of the abbey of Lobbes, on the Sambre, in Flanders, Belgium, from which he organized exceedingly successful missionary efforts in the region.

Ursmar receives holy orders as abbot of Lobbes Abbey in 691, probably by Saint Lambertus, bishop of Maastricht (19th-century relief in the Church of Saint Ursmar in Lobbes)

Ursmar of Lobbes (died 713) was a missionary bishop in the Meuse and Ardennes region in present-day Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg and France. He was also the first abbot of Lobbes Abbey.

As many missionaries in the 7th and 8th century, he may have been of Irish origin. He was appointed abbot of Lobbes in 691 by the Frankish king Pippin II. He is also credited with the foundation of Aulne Abbey and Wallers Abbey.

Saint Ursmar is a Catholic saint, whose feast day is April 19. His sarcophagus is in the crypt of the parish church in Lobbes (as well as the sarcophagus of his successor, Saint Ermin. A Life was written by Heriger of Lobbes.

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Ursmar Ursmar Death: 713
Death: 713