St. Ado of Vienne

Ado of Vienne (died 16 December 874) was archbishop of Vienne in Lotharingia from 850 until his death and is venerated as a saint. He belonged to a prominent Frankish family and spent much his early adulthood in Italy. Several of his letters are extant and reveal their writer as an energetic man of wide sympathies and considerable influence. Ado's principal works are a martyrology, and a chronicle. Born into a noble family, he was sent as a child for his education, first to Sigulfe, abbot of Ferrières, and then to Marcward, abbot of Prüm near Trier. After the death of Marcward in 853, Ado went to Rome where he stayed for nearly five years, and then to Ravenna, after which Remy, archbishop of Lyon, gave him the parish of Saint-Romain near Vienne. The following year he was elected archbishop of Vienne and dedicated in August or September 860, despite opposition from Girart de Roussillon, Count of Paris, and his wife Berthe. Ado participated in the Council of Tousy, near Toul in Lorraine, on 22 October 860, and held a council at Vienne in 870. After his death on 16 December 876, his body was buried in the Church of the Apostles in Vienne, now called St. Peter's Church, the usual place of burial of the archbishops of Vienne. His feast day is celebrated on 16 December.