Career
He is the first recorded Flemish pilgrims to the Holy Land. Liturgically he is commemorated the 25 January. The Vita Popponis, the biography of Poppo, was written shortly after his death by the monk Onulf and the abbot Everhelm of the abbey of Hautmont.
About the year 1000 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with two compagnons.
Soon after this he also went to Rome. He was about to marry a lady of noble family, when a miraculous experience made him to end his military career.
Late at night, a flame burst came out of the sky and kept his lance radiating. He believed this to be an illumination of the Holy Spirit, and soon after, he decided to enter the monastery of Saint Thierry at Rheims (1005).
Around 1008 Abbot Richard of Saint Vannes at Verdun, who was a zealous reformer of monasteries, took Poppo to his monastery.
Richard made Poppo prior of Saint Vaast in Arras, in the Diocese of Cambrai, about 1013. Here Poppo proved to be the right man for the position, reclaimed the lands of the monastery from rapacious vassals and secured the possession of the monastery by deeds. Before 1016 he was appointed to the same position at Vasloges (Beloacum, Beaulieu) in the Diocese of Verdun.
In 1020, the German emperor Henry II, who became acquainted with Poppo in 1016, made him abbot of the abbeys of Stavelot and Malmedy (in Lower Lorraine, now Belgium).
Poppo also received in 1023 the Abbey of Saint Maximin at Trier. He became even more important during the reign of Conrad World War II From Saint Maximin, the Cluniac reform now found its way into the German monasteries.
The emperor placed several imperial monasteries under Poppo"s control or supervision, as Limburg an der Hardt, Echternach, Saint Gislen, Weissenburg, Saint Gall, Hersfeld, Waulsort, Hautmont and Hastièresearch Soon after Poppo transferred these positions to his pupils and family members.
The bishops and laymen who had founded monasteries placed a series of other monasteries under his care, like Saint Laurence at Liège, Saint Vincent at Metz, Saint Eucharius at Trier, Hohorst, Brauweiler, Saint Vaast, Marchiennes et cetera
However, the reform of Richard of Saint-Vanne had no permanent success in the German Empire. Personally Poppo practiced the most severe asceticism. He had no interest in literary affairs and also lacked management capacities and was neither particularly prominent in politics.
During the reign of Henry III he lost influence.
Death overtook him while he was staying at the abbey of Marchiennes. Poppo was later buried in the abbey of Stavelot.
