Biography
Amatus of Remiremont
About Amatus of Remiremont
Amatus, remembered in French as Amé or Aimé, was the first abbot of the community at Saint-Mont near Remiremont. He belonged to the monastic world of Agaune and Luxeuil before his work in the Vosges.
The Diocese of Saint-Dié places his birth around 570; another estimate listed by Nominis is around 560. His Life places his origins near Grenoble and says that his father brought him to Agaune while he was young. After about thirty years in the monastery, he withdrew to a rocky retreat. The story describes the brothers finding him and arranging for another monk to bring food. Eustasius later persuaded him to accompany him to Luxeuil.
The beginnings of the community associated with Romaric are told differently in the early accounts. Amatus’s Life presents him as the preacher who brought Romaric to monastic life. The editor Bruno Krusch points out that Jonas instead credits the example of Columbanus and the preaching of Eustasius.
Jonas says that Eustasius appointed Amatus to teach the religious discipline at Romaric’s new community. His account also preserves a serious disagreement. After Eustasius had rebuked Amatus and Romaric for negligence, they welcomed Agrestius, an opponent of Eustasius, and followed his challenge to their former practices. Jonas writes firmly on Eustasius’s side. He interprets calamities in the community as divine punishment and reports that Amatus and Romaric eventually sought reconciliation.
The Life of Amatus emphasizes prayer and withdrawal. It describes groups of women taking turns in continual worship, while Amatus lived in a cave and received food lowered on a rope. Solitude did not entirely separate him from the community: the account says that he read Scripture to the brothers and sisters on Sundays. Before his death, he asked to be buried at the entrance of the church of Saint Mary, where those entering could remember him in prayer.
His death is generally placed around 629. Nominis records a local feast on September 13. The Diocese of Saint-Dié commemorates Amé together with Romaric and Adelphe on September 12.
The landscape around Saint-Amé preserves a long history of devotion. The municipality describes the former parish church near the cave associated with him, its later abandonment and the chapel built there in 1882. An annual September pilgrimage continues the remembrance of the parish’s patron.
The present diocesan directory also lists the church of Saint-Amé in the village bearing his name.
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