Saint John of Gorze | |
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| Abbot | |
| Born | 900 Vandières, Meurthe-et-Moselle |
| Died | 7 March 974 |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church |
| Feast | 27 February |
Saint John of Gorze (French:Jean de Gorze, also calledJohn of Lorraine) (c. 900 — 7 March 974) was aLorraine-bornmonk,diplomat, administrator, and monastic reformer.
John of Gorze was born atVandières nearPont-à-Mousson to parents who were wealthy and well known in the area. His father had married late in his life to a woman much younger than he. They had three children together. John's parents were able to provide for his education, and he studied at theBenedictine monastery ofSaint-Mihiel inMetz. The tradition of scholarship was strong here; John's instructor was Hildebold, who had studied atParis underRemi d'Auxerre.[1]
At the age of twenty, he had already formed relationships with powerful figures of the region, including Count Ricuin ofVerdun, and Dado, bishop of Verdun. He became aBenedictine monk at theGorze Abbey in 933 after renouncing his wealth as an administrator of landed estates and making a pilgrimage toRome andMonte Cassino.
Having found nomonastery with a strict enough discipline, John had formed relationships with like-minded men, such as Einald, formerlyarchdeacon ofToul. In 933, BishopAdelbero of Metz [fr] (929-962) had asked John and Einald to restore and reform the decayed monastery of Gorze.[2] Einald becameabbot and John became his principal assistant.[3] The number of monks at Gorze increased, and the Gorze reform movement spread to other monasteries. In 950Pope Agapetus II asked monks from Gorze to restore discipline in the monastery of St. Paul in Rome.
He is reputed to have had aphotographic memory, and also developed abookkeeping system andcapital investment policies[4] It was claimed that the murmur of his lips reading thePsalms resembled the buzzing of abee.[5]
In 953, he was sent asambassador forKing Otto I to theCaliph Abd-ar-Rahman III ofCórdoba for three years.[3] John had travelled by way ofLangres,Dijon,Lyon,Avignon, andBarcelona.[6] From Barcelona, he had proceeded toTortosa, thenZaragoza, and finally Córdoba. The purpose of this mission was to stop the attacks made by Andalusian adventurers from their base atFraxinet. John of Gorze arrived in 953-954 with his companions at Córdoba with a letter from Otto as well as valuable gifts. John lived in apalace close to the caliphal palace in Córdoba.
The caliph's ambassador,Hasdai ibn Shaprut, met with this embassy. The caliph, fearing that the letter of the German emperor might contain matter derogatory toIslam, commissioned Hasdai to open the negotiations with the envoys. Hasdai, who soon perceived that the letter could not be delivered to the caliph in its present form, persuaded the envoys to send for another letter which should contain no objectionable matter. John of Gorze said that he had "never seen a man of such subtle intellect as the Jew Hasdeu"[7] An English translation of his account is published as ‘Niceties of diplomacy (953-56)', inChristians and Moors in Spain, trans. and ed. Colin Smith, Warminster, 1988, vol. I, pp. 62–75.
He became abbot ofGorze Abbey in 960 upon the death of Einald of Toul. He died on 7 March 974 of natural causes.[3]
His feast day is 27 February. John (Jean), abbot of St. Arnulph (Saint-Arnoul) at Metz, wrote a life of Gorze.
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