Brice of Tours

Who was Brice of Tours?

Saint Brice of Tours was the fourth Bishop of Tours, succeeding Martin of Tours in 397.

According to legend, Brice was an orphan rescued by Martin and raised in the monastery at Marmoutiers. He later became Martin's pupil, although the ambitious and volatile Brice was rather the opposite of his master.

As Bishop of Tours, Brice performed his duties, but was also said to succumb to worldly pleasures. After a nun in his household gave birth to a child that was rumored to be his, he performed a ritual by carrying hot coal in his coat to the grave of Martin, showing his unburned coat as proof of his innocence. The people of Tours, however, did not believe him and forced him to leave Tours; he could return only after he had travelled to Rome and had beenabsolved of all his sins by the Pope.

After seven years of exile in Rome, Brice returned to Tours when the administrator he had left in his absence died. He was a changed man. Upon returning, he served with such humility that on his death he was venerated as a saint. His memorial day is 13 November. The killing of the Danes in England on 13 November 1002 is called the St Brice's Day massacre.

In the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, 13 November, St. Brice's Day, was traditionally the day that a bull-running took place. There is a display on the now banned custom in Stamford Museum in the town.