Early life and election as bishop
Little is known of the early life of Liborius. Born around 310, he was elected the second Bishop of Le Mans after Julian and assumed the see around 348.
Episcopal ministry and church-building
During his forty-nine-year episcopate Liborius built churches in the neighborhood of Le Mans, an indication that his missionary activity remained within Gaul. In the course of ninety-six ordinations he conferred holy orders on two hundred seventeen priests and one hundred eighty-six deacons.
Death and burial
Liborius died on 23 July 397. Saint Martin of Tours assisted him in his final moments, and he was buried in the Apostle Basilica of Le Mans beside his predecessor Julian.
Translation of relics and enduring bond with Paderborn
In 835 Bishop Aldrich placed relics of Liborius in an altar in Le Mans cathedral. The following year, at the direction of Emperor Louis the Pious, the body was translated to Bishop Badurad of Paderborn, a diocese then lacking its own saint. This act gave rise to a lasting bond of brotherhood between the two churches, by which each pledged prayer and material assistance to the other.
Later patronage and attributes
Because he died in the arms of Saint Martin of Tours, Liborius is invoked as patron of a good death. Since the thirteenth century he has been prayed to for relief from gallstones, an intercession first recorded in the healing of Archbishop Werner von Eppstein in 1267; his attribute of three stones upon a book dates from the same period. A legend of a peacock guiding the relic-bearers to Paderborn also attaches to him, and he is regarded as a patron of unity and peace among peoples.
Pidamos la intercesión de Liborius of Le Mans e imitemos hoy la santidad de esta Vida.
