Biography
Rufus of Metz
About Rufus of Metz
Rufus is remembered as an early bishop of Metz in Roman Gaul. The Catholic Church in Norway’s account places his death around 400 in Metz. It reports a traditional episcopate of twenty-nine years and burial at Saint-Clément, beside his successor Adelfus. The same account cautions that the story of his life is legendary.
The historical catalogue by Michel Parisse and Arnaud Hari explains the limits of the early episcopal lists. Their oldest surviving forms were compiled centuries after the first bishops. They served to show the antiquity and continuity of the see. The authors advise particular caution with precise lengths of episcopates and replace inherited numbering with a broad arrangement by century.
For Rufus, that catalogue records Paul the Deacon’s late eighth-century report of a tomb at Saint-Félix–Saint-Clément, associated with a miracle. It also records the later transfer of his remains by Bishop Drogo to Odernheim in the Worms region. These notices preserve his burial tradition and later cult more clearly than they recover his personal life.
Johann Peter Kirsch’s Catholic Encyclopedia entry likewise calls the biography legendary. It notes that Rufus’s name was added later to an old manuscript of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum and places the relic transfer in the ninth century. The saint’s memory should be distinguished from other martyrs and bishops called Rufus.
The French Catholic Nominis entry, drawing on the Diocese of Metz, lists his commemoration on 7 November. It also records him as patron of Saint-Ruf church at Téterchen in the Boulay parish community. This local dedication continues his memory, although the details of his life remain unknown.
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