Amandus

AMANDUS, ɑ-man´dus: Bishop and missionary of the Franks; d. at the abbey of Elno, near Tournai, Feb. 6, 661 (?). He was a man of rank from Aquitania, took holy orders in early youth against the will of his father, and lived in a cell in the city-wall of Bourges till he was induced by a vision of St. Peter to give himself up to missionwork in Friesland. He preached and baptized near Ghent. The Frankish government neglected to protect the mission near the frontier, and the hostility of the haughty Frieslanders hindered the work. Amandus therefore went to Carinthia and Carniola to seek a better field among the Slavic invaders, south of the Danube. Here, however, he was not successful; and he returned to Ghent, where he founded two monasteries, Blandinium and Gundarum, and a third, Elno, near Tournai. From these the Friesian mission-work was carried on with more success. Amandus was made bishop of Maestricht, and in this position he helped to carry through the Roman resolutions against the Monothelites, and tried to reform the clergy. As the latter showed themselves obstinate, he retired from his see between 647 and 649, entered the abbey of Elno, and worked to the end of his life for the conversion of the Frankish and Basque heathen. He was said to have performed miracles, and it was believed that miracles occurred at his tomb, which became a place of pilgrimage.

A. Werner.

Bibliography: Baudemund and Milo wrote accounts of his life which with other sources are in ASB, Feb., i. 815-903. Consult Gosse, Esaai sur St. Amand, 1866; J. J. de Smedt, Vie de St. Amend, Ghent, 1881; Rettberg, KD, i. 554. ii. 507-508; Friedrich, KD, ii. 322; J. Desilve, De schola Elnonensi S. Amandi, Louvain, 1890; Hauck, KD, i. 269 sqq.