Saint Bavo, also known as Bavon, Allowin, Bavo of Ghent, Baaf, (589 - 654) is a Roman Catholicsaint.
Life
Bavo was born in Brabant, Liège, Belgium, a Belgian Nobleman originally named Allowin. Wild as a youth, selfish. He was known to have sold servants to local nobles as slaves. Bavo was converted to Christianity upon hearing a sermon preached by Saint Amand.
He built an abbey on his grounds that was contributed to Saint Amand and then became a monk. He finally distributed his belongings to the poor and lived as a recluse, first in a hollow tree, later in a cell in the forest near the Abbey.
The Saint Bavo Cathedral (also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral, or the Dutch Sint Baafskathedraal) is the seat of the diocese of Ghent.
The building is based upon the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, a primarily wooden construction; it was consecrated in 942 by Transmarus, Bishop of Tournai and Noyon.
In 1539, as a result of the rebellion against Charles V, the old Abbey of St. Bavo was dissolved.
It was named after Saint Bavo, a 7th century local nobleman who became a saint after he had given away his possessions to the poor and entered the monastery.
Finally, on June 7th 1569 the construction was finished and the new gothic cathedral of Saint Bavo was consecrated.
In 1540 the old Saint Bavoabbey had been closed by order of emperor Charles V. Therefore, the canons of this abbey moved to the Saint John's church which was then renamed Saint Bavo Church.
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