February 6th.  St. Vedast.

Cowering in the shadow of the east end of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London is another church designed by Sir Christopher Wren: the ‘little gem’ of St. Vedast, Foster Lane.  Vedast (‘Foster’ is an Anglicisation of his name) was bishop of Arras in northern France, appointed in 499.  His principal claim to fame is that he instructed in Christianity the king of the Franks, Clovis (481-511), who was subsequently baptised by St. Remigius at Reims and thereby instituted the line of French Christian monarchs which extended unbroken to the French Revolution.   Vedast, who had a reputation as a wonder-worker, brought a restoration of the faith to an area (Arras, Cambrai, parts of modern Belgium) ravaged by barbarian invasions.  He died in 539 and his cult came to England via contacts with Augustinian clergy from his native parts.  He is shown in art by a wolf with a goose in its mouth; he apparently persuaded the animal to drop its self-service lunch so the bird could be restored to its impoverished owners.