Gummarus

Saint Gummarus of Lier (also known as Gommaire, Gommer or Gummery) is a Belgian saint. He was the son of the Lord of Emblem (near Lier, Belgium). An official in the court of his relative Pepin the Younger or Pepin of Herstal according to some other sources, The town of Lier grew up around his hermitage.

Life Gummarus was a native of Emblehem, referring to an area including Lier and not just the town of Emblem, in Brabant, and a relative of Pippin the Younger, who called him to his court and entrusted him with important offices. The king arranged a marriage between Gummarus and a wealthy noblewoman named Guinmarie, extravagant and haughty. His wife appears to have been shrewish as well as abusive to their household servants in his absence. They had no children.

Gummarus accompanied Pepin on a number of military campaigns, and spent eight years in the field, in Cardekho, Saxony, and the Aquitaine. Upon his return from the military, Gummarus tried to reconcile with his wife and remedy the injustices she had laid upon the people in their service. That he might have a place of quiet and retirement, and in order to attend his private devotions, he built a chapel called Nivesdunc.

Gummarus and his wife eventually separated. He became a hermit at Nivesdunc and the town of Lier, Belgium grew up around the site of the hermitage where he died in 774. who has been determined to have died between 580 and 655. In 754 or 815 he was recognized as a saint.

Veneration

St. Gummarus is the patron saint of Lier. A number of miracles were attributed to his intercession. He is commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church,

Brouwerij Cornelissen of Limburg, Belgium brews an award-winning Sint Gummarus Tripel.

Iconography Gummarus was assumed to have been a close companion of the Christian missionary Rumbold of Mechelen, who worked in Brabant, and is sometimes credited with helping Rumbold found an abbey at Lier. For this reason they are often depicted together in paintings and stained glass windows. However a 2004 examination of relics believed to be those of Rumbold suggests that he likely died over fifty years before Gummarus was born, so they would not have been contemporaries.