c. 609 – 24 August 684
Frankish bishop and royal advisor active in church administration and monastic foundations in Normandy.
Our Father among the Saints Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen
Saint Ouen (Latin Audoenus; also Audoin, Audoen, Owen, and known to contemporaries as Dado) was a seventh-century Frankish churchman and royal administrator who served as Archbishop of Rouen from 641 until his death in 684. Born about 609 at Sancy in the Kingdom of the Franks, he came from a wealthy aristocratic family that held lands in the upper Seine and Oise valleys.
Before his episcopate he served at the Merovingian court as a referendary (administrator) under King Dagobert I, and the historian Ian Wood has judged that Audoin and his associate Eligius were arguably the most influential churchmen in Francia during the seventh century. As bishop he combined church administration, counsel to a succession of Frankish rulers, and the foundation and support of monasteries in Neustria and Normandy.
He is venerated as a pre-schism Western saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, and the Anglican Communion, with a feast day of 24 August.
Ouen was born about 609 at Sancy, the son of Authaire (Audecharius), into a wealthy aristocratic Frankish family with landholdings in the upper Seine and Oise valleys. He was a first cousin of Agilbert, later bishop of the West Saxons.
His childhood was spent at Ussy-sur-Marne, and he was educated at the Abbey of Saint-Médard de Soissons. He completed his formation at the court of King Chlothar II, where he received military and literary training.
Ouen served as a referendary, or administrator, under King Dagobert I. In this circle he was a close associate of Eligius, Wandrille, and Didier of Cahors. The historian Ian Wood has written that Audoin and Eligius were arguably the most influential churchmen in Francia during the seventh century.
He was ordained priest in 634 by Dieudonné, Bishop of Mâcon, and in 641 succeeded Romanus as bishop of Rouen.
As bishop of Rouen, Ouen served as an advisor to Queen Bathilde during her regency and later counselled King Theuderic III, who confirmed his right to elect and approve the Count of Rouen. He also supported Ebroin, the mayor of the palace.
Around 675 he made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he visited sanctuaries, distributed alms to the poor, and collected relics. After Ebroin's death in 681 he helped restore peace between the Frankish kingdoms of Neustria and Austrasia.
In 635 Ouen founded Rebais Abbey together with his brothers Ado and Rado, on land donated by King Dagobert, appointing Agilus as its first abbot. He also took part in the founding of the monastery of Saint-Wandrille near Rouen and of a nunnery at Fécamp.
Ouen was the author of the Vita Sancti Eligii, a biography of his friend Saint Eligius that has been described as one of the most authentic historical monuments of the seventh century.
He built a church dedicated to Saint Peter which served as his burial place. His successor, Ansbert, reburied him behind the high altar, an act regarded as the equivalent of a canonization; his cult predates the modern congregational canonization process.
Ouen died on 24 August 684 at the royal villa of Clichy and was buried in the Church of Saint-Peter he had built in Rouen. The church, which came to be called by the names of both Saint Peter and Saint Ouen after his burial there, became the primary focus of his veneration.
The site developed into the great Abbey of Saint-Ouen in Rouen, whose foundation was variously credited to earlier rulers such as Chlothar I and Clotilde. The abbey grew in prestige in Norman history; its Abbot Nicolas (1042–1092) was a first cousin of William the Conqueror and supplied ships and men for the Norman Conquest. The community joined the Congregation of Saint Maur in 1660 and was suppressed in 1794 during the French Revolution, when it numbered twenty-four monks; its buildings later housed the Town Hall of Rouen. The present church building dates from 1318 to 1537 and is built in the Gothic and Flamboyant styles.
Ouen is a pre-schism Western saint who is not presently listed in the OCA Synaxarion for 24 August, and no dedicated OrthodoxWiki article for him could be located. The details of his life are drawn chiefly from Western historical accounts of his career and monastic foundations.
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