Abraham of Clermont

Saint Abraham of Clermont was born on the banks of the Euphrates, in Byzantine Syria, of Persian origin. He set out for Egypt to visit the hermits there, but on the way he was seized by thieves, who held him prisoner for five years. Escaping, he reached Gaul, settled as a hermit near Clermont in Auvergne and then founded a new monastic community near the basilica of Saint Cyriacus (Cyrgues), not far from the church of Saint Illidius (Allyre). He became abbot of the monastery of Saint Cyriacus.

He reposed around 480 (the calendar gives 477). Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of Clermont, wrote an epitaph for his grave, from which some facts of his life are known. He is called on in prayer against fever and is regarded as a wonderworker. He is commemorated on 15 June as a saint of the West before the Great Schism (a saint of the undivided Church), by the New Calendar.