Veomad

Veomad probably came from one of the noble Frankish families, whose possessions were located on the Middle Rhine . Previously, it was assumed that, like his three predecessors in the department of Trier, he belonged to the Guidonides . However, at present this opinion is seriously questioned by historians, as modern historical sources of Veomad do not confirm the existence of such kindred ties ^[2] .

According to the Acts of the Bishops of Trier , before receiving the episcopal dignity, Beomad was an abbot of the ^[4] , and also, possibly, the monastery in Metlach ^[5] . He ascended to the department of Trier in 762 ^[6] , becoming here the successor to the deceased Bishop Milon . In 764, Veomad actively contributed to the founding of the Lorsch Monastery by Count , which made him very close to the most influential hierarch of the Frankish state of that time, Bishop Metz Hrodegang ^[2] .

After the death of King Pepin the Short in 768, the territory of the Diocese of Trier became part of the holdings of Charlemagne . At the beginning of his reign, in an effort to strengthen his power in the Rhine region, Charlemagne greatly limited the power of Beomad over the lands of his diocese, secularizing part of the lands of the bishopric and transferring them to the state fiscal . These actions put an end to the so-called “Trier episcopal state”, which existed from the beginning of the VIII century ^[2] .

At the same time, perhaps in order to compensate for the losses incurred by the Diocese of Trier, Charlemagne took measures to increase the role of Trier as one of the church centers of the kingdom ^[7] . Among such actions, the main thing was the elevation of the diocese of Trier to the rank of metropolitanate . The exact date of this event is not known. It is believed that this happened in the late 770s. Historical sources also report that after his death in 786, Lulla of Mainz, Beomad received pallium from Pope Adrian I and was appointed one of the three papal vicars in the Frankish state. The dioceses of Metz , Thule, and Verdun ^[8] were included in the newly formed diocese of Trier, but the use of the rights of the metropolitan by Beomad was met with discontent of his suffragans . The head of the Metz diocese of Anguilramn , who held the post of royal archicapellan and, like Beomad, who had the rank of archbishop, was particularly strong resistance to submission to Trier. As a result, until the end of his life, Veomad could not subordinate the Metz department to his jurisdiction ^[2] .

The failure of Weomad to obtain from Charlemagne in 781 or 782, the consent to the transfer of the Trier archdiocese of the , which the monarch left in the possession of ^[9], also failed. However, the rest of the petitions to King Veomad was successful: back in 772 ^{[10] the} ruler of the Frankish state confirmed the complete immunity of her possessions from the jurisdiction of secular authorities given by Pipin Korotkii ^{[11] of the} Trier Church, and returned the dioceses in 781 or 783 Abbey in Metlach. In 780, at the initiative of Veomad, the relics of St. Castor , who became one of the most revered saints of the Trier Archbishopric, were transferred from the disputed area with the Mainz Archdiocese to ^[2] .

Archbishop Veomad died on November 8, 791, when he accompanied Charlemagne on a campaign against the Avars . The body of the deceased prelate was delivered to the abbey of St. Maximin and buried here. Rihbod became the successor of Veomad at the Trier department ^[2] .

The first information about the existence of the cult of St. Veomad in Trier dates back to 1490. The veneration of his relics was limited only to the territory of the Trier Archdiocese, and after the relics of Beomad were lost in the 18th century, worship of him ceased. Currently, the name of the first archbishop of Trier is not even included in the diptychs of the local cathedral ^[2] .