Walarich (Valéry, Waleric), St.
WALARICH (VALÉRY, WALERIC), ST.
Hermit; b. Auvergne, France, toward the middle of the sixth century; d. April 1, 619. His attraction to monastic chant led him to seek admission to the monastery of Automnon. Later he went to the monastery of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre, stayed for a while at luxeuil with columban, and after the latter's departure, governed the abbey. Next he went to the court of Clotaire, king of Neustria, who gave him the land of Leuconay on the Somme. At the place where his hermitage had stood, a monastery, nucleus of the city of Saint-Valéry, was later built. His life was written by Raimbert, abbot of Leuconay. In Normandy he is the patron saint of boatsmen. The translation of his relics in 981 from Sithiu (Saint-Bertin) to Saint-Valéry is commemorated at Amiens.
Feast: April 1; Dec. 12 (translation).
Bibliography: Vita, Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Berlin 1826–), Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 4:157–175. Acta Sanctorum April 1:14–30. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige, 4 v. (Metten 1933–38) 2:4. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, ed. by the Benedictines of Paris, 12 v. (Paris 1935–56); v. 13, suppl. and table générale (1959) 4:9–14.
[É. brouette]