Modéran I de Rennes

Who they were

A curious event links Moderano (or Moderanno), eighth-century bishop of Rennes, to Berceto, a village in the Parma Apennines of which he is patron. On pilgrimage to Rome, he stopped at Reims and obtained relics of Saint Remigius to carry to the city.

Resting at the Cisa Pass, on the Via Francigena, he hung the relics on a branch and forgot them; when he returned, the tree had inexplicably grown so that the precious bundle was now too high to reach. The tree lowered itself only once he promised to give the relics to the nearby abbey of Berceto. Moderano became its prior and died there; his remains were later taken to France.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Eighth-century bishop of Rennes who became prior of the abbey of Berceto in the Apennines, after leaving relics of Saint Remigius there on pilgrimage to Rome.