Een grote Vlaamse houten sculptuur van Sint-Bavo met de valk met sporen van polychromie, 16de/17de eeuw

H 89 cm

Saint Bavo of Ghent (also known as Bavon, Allowin, Bavonius, Baaf; AD 622–659) is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint. He exchanged a dissolute lifestyle for that of a missionary under the guidance of Saint Amand.
Bavo was born near Liège, to a Frankish noble family that gave him the name Allowin. A wild young aristocrat of the Brabant area, he contracted a beneficial marriage, and had a daughter.

As a soldier he led an undisciplined and disorderly life. Shortly after the death of his wife, Bavo decided to reform after hearing a sermon preached by Saint Amand (c. 584 – 679) on the emptiness of material things.

On returning to his house he distributed his wealth to the poor, and then received the tonsure from Amand.

For some time thereafter, Bavo joined Amand in the latter's missionary travels throughout France and Flanders. On one occasion, Bavo met a man whom he had sold into slavery years before. Wishing to atone for his earlier deed, Bavo had the man lead him by a chain to the town jail. Bavo built an abbey on his grounds and became a monk. He distributed his belongings to the poor and lived as a recluse, first in a hollow tree and later in a cell in the forest by the abbey.

His relics were housed at the abbey in Ghent.