Saint Eustace of Luxeuil (560? - 629?), also known as Eustasius, was the second abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...

 of Luxeuil

Luxeuil Abbey

Luxeuil Abbey was one of the oldest and best-known monasteries in Burgundy, located in the "département" of Haute-Saône in Franche-Comté, France.-Columbanus:...

 from 611. He succeeded his teacher Saint Columbanus

Columbanus

Columbanus was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil and Bobbio , and stands as an exemplar of Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.He spread among the...

, to whom he had been a favourite disciple and monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

. He had been the head of the monastic school.

During his abbacy, the monastery contained about 600 monks and was a well-known seminary that produced both bishops and saints. He was noted for his humility, continual prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

, and fasting

Fasting

Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...

. During his administration, as well as during the rule of his successor Saint Waldebert

Saint Waldebert

Waldebert , , was a Frankish count of Guines, Ponthieu and Saint-Pol who became abbot of Luxeuil in the Benedictine Order, and eventually a canonized saint in the Roman Catholic Church, like several among his kinsmen who protected the Church, enriched it with lands and founded monasteries.Like his...

, Luxeuil acquired a high reputation for learning.

A tradition states that he cured Sadalberga

Sadalberga

Saint Sadalberga was the daughter of Gundoin, Duke of Alsace. Cured of blindness while still a child by Saint Eustace of Luxeuil, she was twice married, first to a man who died after two months and then to a nobleman, Saint Blandinus, by whom she had five children, Saretrude, Ebana, Anstrude,...

 of blindness

Blindness

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

; he had been visiting Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 and cured this future saint of her ailment after stopping by at her house.

His feast day is March 29.

External links

• Saints of March 29
• St. Eustace at the Catholic Encyclopedia
  Catholic Encyclopedia
  The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
  
  Biografie der Diözesanbibliothek Münster