Hierarch Servatius Of Tongeren

Saint Servatius of Tongeren (also called Servatius of Maastricht) was a fourth-century bishop of Tongeren, in present-day Belgium, and one of the earliest historically attested bishops of the Low Countries. He reposed on 13/26 May 384 in Maastricht. According to tradition he was of Armenian origin and came west after a vision of an angel commanded him to preach Christianity among the northern peoples. Saint Servatius became known as a resolute opponent of Arianism, defending the Orthodox teaching of the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father at the councils of Cologne (346), Sardica (343) and Ariminum/Rimini (359), and he worked closely with Saint Athanasius the Great of Alexandria, then in exile from his own Arian-dominated see. Hagiographic tradition recounts that, while praying at the tomb of the Apostle Peter in Rome, Servatius received a vision warning of the coming barbarian (Hunnic) invasion of Tongeren; acting on this warning he transferred his see and relics to Maastricht, which was afterward said to have been miraculously spared destruction. His relics rest in Maastricht, and a portion is kept in the Orthodox Church of the Resurrection in Brussels. He is venerated among the pre-schism Western saints and honored as patron of Maastricht.