Many Lives, One Story: The Gesta sanctorum Rotensium and the Making of Redon

Abstract

This article takes a fresh look at the composition of the Gesta sanctorum Rotonensium (Deeds of the Saints of Redon), a late 9th-century monastic narrative which tells of the foundation of Redon, in the south-east of present-day Brittany. This story is exceptional because not just the abbot but the entire first generation of monks is lauded for their sanctity and their contribution towards building a community. I will argue that the author, rather than presenting these lives as examples for subsequent generation of monks to follow, intended for these vignettes to serve as a confirmation of the sanctity of the community as a whole. The series of biographies that form the first part of the GSR show that Redon, in the eyes of the author of the GSR, was a place where an individual’s holiness could come to full fruition – not because that was a given, but because of the fact that members of the community always helped their brethren become the best version of themselves, both during their lifetime and especially in the close examination of their lives after death.