St LAMBERT-OF-MAESTRICHT

LAMBERT-OF-MAESTRICHT: Bishop and Martyr in such a time of turmoil, greed, friction and strife.

At one time he was under house arrest in the monastery of Stavelo for seven years after being expelled from his see.

His power was restored when Pipin of Hurstal came to power. Not for long as Lambert managed to quarrel and upset Pipin by accusing him of adultery with a concubine.

There was a lot of bad blood, feuding and murder with our Saint caught up in a web of revenge as relatives of his sought retribution with the knock-on effect of more killing. It sounds just like a thrilling mystery novel, doesn't it?

But Lambert had not condoned any of this, he was just pig in the middle. He was slaughtered in error by an armed party who were not sure quite who they were supposed to be attacking.