Aignan or Agnan () (358–453), seventh Bishop of Orléans, France, assisted Roman general Flavius Aetius in the defense of the city against Attila the Hun in 451. He is known as Saint Aignan.
Feast day: 17 November
Life
Aignan of Orléans (or Anianus) was born about 358 in Vienne in the Dauphiné to a family probably of Roman origin, who had fled the control of the Arian Goths in their homeland of Hungary. His brother Leonianus became an abbot, and is commemorated in the Gallican martyrology on 16 November.
As a young man, he retired to a hermitage he had built for himself near that city, to live a life of prayer and penance. He then went to Orléans to study under by Bishop Euvertius. Under the direction of Euvertius, he prepared for the priesthood, and after ordination was appointed Abbot of the monastery of Saint Laurence outside the city walls. Later he was promoted to coadjutor Bishop of Orléans.
Upon the death of Euvertius, Aignan became bishop of Orléans. It was customary on the installation of the bishop for the city to release prisoners. Agrippinus, the governor of the city, refused to release them despite Bishop Aignan's request; but falling ill, immediately set them at liberty.
Aignan is credited with doing much to save his city from Attila's hordes, who had avoided Paris. Though advanced in age, he helped the populace prepare to defend themselves and traveled to Arles to ask the Roman general Aetius to intervene. Aignan died about 453 at the age of ninety-five. His remains were buried in the church of Saint-Pierre-aux-Bœufs, in Orléans. They were later moved to the Monastery of Saint Lawrence. Some were burned by the Huguenots in 1562, but the rest are in a carved wood shrine in the Church of Saint Aignan, Orléans.
Siege of Orléans
Attila crossed the Rhine early in 451 with his followers and a large number of allies, sacking Divodurum (now Metz) on April 7. His path can be traced through the hagiographies written to commemorate various bishops: Nicasius of Rheims was slaughtered before the altar of his church in Reims; Servatius of Tongeren is alleged to have saved Tongeren with his prayers, as Genevieve is to have saved Paris. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, is also credited with saving his city by meeting Attila in person.
Several ancient sources, in particular Sidonius Apollinaris and the Vita Aniani describe him as one of the main architects of the defense of Aurelianum (the former name of Orléans) against the Hun king Attila in 451 with the help of Ætius, a Roman general, whom he had first convinced to join the city.
Attila's army had reached Aurelianum (modern Orleans, France) before June. This siege is confirmed by the account of the Vita S. Aniani and in the later account of Gregory of Tours. However, the inhabitants of Aurelianum shut their gates against the advancing invaders, and Attila began to besiege the city. After four days of heavy rain, Attila began his final assault on June 14, which was broken due to the approach of the Roman coalition.
A text, exhibited in the collegiate church of Saint-Aignan in Orléans, based on sources from the 5th and 6th centuries states that faced with the lack of civil authorities, the old bishop Aignan organized the defense. During the siege he invited the inhabitants to pray to God to give them the strength to resist. At the same time, he left for Arles where the Roman patrician Ætius lived in order to convince him to intervene with his legions. While the inhabitants were waiting to be massacred, the Roman vanguard arrived, and the Huns withdrew. It was the beginning of their retreat. They were pursued and defeated near Troyes at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.
Every day, Aignan climbed to the top of a tower to scan the horizon and warn of a possible return of the Huns.
Legend
Saint Aignan contributed through prayer and his skill as a negotiator to save the city of Orléans, in 451, from total destruction by the Huns (who had just destroyed Divodurum, with its inhabitants). A local legend tells that, during the siege of the city of Orléans by the Huns, the relief troops of the Roman general Ætius were late in arriving. Saint Aignan invoked heaven by throwing a handful of sand from the Loire from the top of the ramparts... Each grain turned into a wasp and a cloud of stings managed to put the barbarians to flight. Then Attila decided not to attack the city and to bypass it.