View source for Abel of Reims

{{Short description|Bishop of Reims}}
{{redirect|Saint Abel|the Coptic Orthodox saint|Abel of Tacla Haimonot|the Syriac Orthodox Church saint|Martyrology of Rabban Sliba}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
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| honorific-prefix = [[Saint]]
| name = Abel of Reims
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| image = Reims (51) Saint-Rémi Baie 204-2.jpg
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| see = Reims
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = unknown
| birth_place = Possibly Ireland
| death_date = c.751
| death_place = Lobbes Abbey
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| feast_day = 5 August ([[Bollandists]])
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'''Abel''' ([[floruit|fl.]] 744–747) served as the [[Bishop of Reims]] in [[Francia]], now modern-day [[France]].<ref name=ODNB>Costambeys, "Abel (''fl''. 744–747)"</ref> He has sometimes been venerated as a [[saint]] in the [[Catholic Church]], particularly by the [[Bollandists]].

==Origins==
In the late 10th century, [[Folcuin]] wrote that Abel had been a monk in [[Lobbes Abbey]] (modern day Belgium) while Bishop Ermino (d. 737) served as abbot, and had been born in [[Ireland]]. In contrast [[Boniface]], in a letter to a priest in the English kingdom of [[Mercia]], insisted that Abel had in fact been born and raised in England. The modern historian [[Wilhelm Levison]] has suggested there were two individuals with the same name, but Eugen Ewig accepts the identification by Boniface as more accurate. If Folcuin's later testimony has any basis in reality, it may be that Abel, like his near contemporary [[Ecgberht of Ripon|Ecgberht]] (d. 729), had once visited Ireland and formed a close association.<ref name=ODNB />

==Bishop of Reims==

In March 744, [[Boniface]] presided over the [[744 Council of Soissons|Council of Soissons]] and the conciliar acts record that Abel was elected archbishop (but of an unspecified see). In June, [[Pope Zacharias]] confirmed this decision by sending Abel the [[pallium]] which conferred episcopal authority.<ref name=ODNB /> Abel is next named in the sources as one of Boniface's 'fellow bishops' who around 746 sent a letter of exhortation to [[Æthelbald of Mercia|Æthelbald, king of Mercia]] as part of his wider missionary efforts. It seems that [[Milo (bishop of Trier)]] in effect controlled a number of episcopal sees (despite only being a laymen), while Abel remained in office only as suffragan bishop. In 751, Boniface once more addressed a letter to Pope Zacharias, in which he lamented the injustices of lay control over the church, but his erstwhile ambitions to change this were not realised in his lifetime.<ref name=ODNB /> It is unknown when Abel gave up his position or died. The 9th-century ''Life of [[Saint Remigius]]'', written by [[Hincmar]], Archbishop of Rheims, claims that Milo had driven Abel out from the see in favour of [[Tilpin]]. The date given is 748, but it also may be the case that Tilpin only succeeded in 762 or 763 when Able died. It's suggested that Abel may have retired in his later years to Lobbes Abbey to become abbot.<ref name=ODNB />

==Commemoration==
Abel has been recognized at various times as a [[Dicastery for the Causes of Saints|pre-congregation]] [[saint]] in the [[Catholic Church]]. In the early modern period, Abel's name was inserted in a number of [[martyrology|martyrologies]], under a variety of dates - despite the fact he was not martyred. Examples are the 17th-century martyrology of [[Gabriel Bucelin]], the ''Martyrologium Gallicanum'' (1637) of [[André du Saussay]], and [[John Mabillon]]. The [[Bollandists]] include a ''Life'' of Abel under 5 August, compiled by John Pinius.<ref>O'Hanlon, ''Lives of the Irish saints'', 5 August.</ref>

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia |first=Marios |last=Costambeys |title=Abel (''fl''. 744–747) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=Sep 2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/29 |edition=Jan 2010, online  |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29 |access-date=28 April 2010 |url-access=subscription }}
{{refend}}
==Further reading==
*Acts of the Council of Soissons (744), ed. {{Cite book  |author=A. Werminghoff |title=Concilia aevi Karolini |series=2 vols. MGH Concilia 2 |location=Hanover |date=1906{{ndash}}1908}}
*Letters of Boniface, ed. {{Cite book |author=M. Tangl |title=Die Briefe des heiligen Bonifatius und Lullus |series=MGH Epistolae Selectae 1 |location=Berlin |year=1916 |no-pp=y |pages=nos. 57–8, 73–4, 87 }}; tr. {{Cite book |author=Ephraim Emerton |author-link=Ephraim Emerton |title=The Letters of Boniface |location=New York |publisher=Columbia UP |series=Records of Western Civilization |year=2000 }}
*Folcuin, ''Gesta abbatum Lobiensium'', ed. {{Cite book |author=G. H. Pertz |title= Annales, chronica et historiae aevi Carolini et Saxonici |series=MGH Scriptores 4 |year=1841 }}
*Hincmar, ''Vita Remigii episcopi Remensis'', ed. {{Cite book |author=B. Krusch |title=Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici |series=MGH Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum 3 |location=Hanover |year=1896 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Milo (bishop of Trier)|Milo]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Reims]]|years=''fl''. 744–748|alongside=Milo }}
{{s-aft|after=[[Tilpin]]?}}
{{end}}

{{Saints of Ireland}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel of Reims}}
[[Category:Bishops of Reims]]
[[Category:Belgian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:8th-century Frankish bishops]]
[[Category:8th-century Irish bishops]]
[[Category:8th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Irish expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:747 deaths]]