Saint Lambert of Lyon

He came to place himself under the discipline of the famous abbot Sa int Wandrille, who g overned the monastery of Fontenelles, in the Pays de Caux. His hair was cut, he was clothed in the monastic habit, and he distinguished himself so much by the innocence of his morals and the holiness of his entire conduct that, after the death of Wandrille, he was elected to succeed him (665). The wisdom he displayed in his administration soon carried his reputation very far. The court, which had once admired in him the finest qualities of body and mind, admired his virtue no less, and considered him a great servant of God.

The kings wished to benefit from his examples and his counsel. Childebert II honored him very particularly, had entire confidence in him, and made great donations to his abbey. King T heuderic, h aving succeeded his brother in 673, was no less respectful, nor less liberal towards our Saint. He gave him, among other goods, the land of Donzère, o n the R hône, in Vivarais, where Lambert built a monastery. Among the disciples whom he caused to advance with great strides in the spiritual life, according to the maxims of the holy Fathers, one counts his uncle, Sai nt Albert; Sa int Erbland, whom he sent to the diocese of Nantes to be the first abbo t of Aindre; S aint Erembert, who left his bishopric of Toulouse to come to Fontenelles to serve God under his guidance; Saint Condé, a priest and hermit from England, drawn by his reputation, and whom he later charged with founding the monastery of Belsignac, on an island at the mouth of the Seine.

The church of Lyon having lost Saint Genesius, its bishop, around the year 6 79, Lambert was drawn from his monastery to replace him, upon the recommendation of the king, and with the consent of the clergy and the people. The injury of time has caused the history of the second part of our Saint's life to perish. We are ignorant of the details of his episcopate. We read, however, in the History of Vivarais, that Saint Lambert loved to come and relax in the silence of retreat at the abbey of Donzère, in the diocese of Viviers, which he had founded while still abbot of Fontenelle. The monastery of Donzère disappeared during t he Saracen invasion. As for Saint Lambert, he died around the year 688. Baronius, Godescard and Histoire relig. et polit. du Vivarais, by Abbé Rouchier, vol. 127, p. 317, 348.