Saint Agobard

(c. 770 - 840)

Born in Spain around 770, Saint Agobard arrived in Lyon in 792, where he joined the priesthood and was appointed archbishop in 816. A decade later, alarmed by the freedoms afforded the Jews under Louis the Pious, he wrote a number of anti-Jewish polemics addressed to the emperor. In 833 Louis was deposed by his son, a rebellion the archbishop openly supported. When Louis was restored to the throne the following year, Agobard lost his see but was reinstated four years later.