Altheus

Altheus (Altée, Althée) was abbot of the abbey of Saint-⁠Maurice and bishop of Sion at the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the next, and probably died in May or June 824. He is venerated as a saint in the Western Church. His liturgical day is 13 March at Saint-⁠Maurice and 23 September at Sion.

His date of birth and origin are not known. He succeeded Wilcharius with the double title of bishop of Sion and abbot of Saint-⁠Maurice, around 786 to 788. According to one tradition, the Valais historian François Boccard holds him "probably" a kinsman of Charlemagne, who gave him the direction of the abbey of Saint-⁠Maurice d'Agaune and of the Church of Sion, which had for the Franks a "strategic importance" facing the kingdom of the Lombards beyond the Alps. Another tradition says he was already abbot before the emperor's passage. He is said to have accompanied him to Rome around 786 or 788, where he would have received from Pope Hadrian I the confirmation of a privilege, but the document is regarded as apocryphal. In June 804 he took part in the council of Tegernsee, which set Atto, bishop of Freising, against Abbot Adalbert of Tegernsee; this is the last mention of his presence in the acts.

The treasury of the cathedral of Notre-⁠Dame at Sion keeps the reliquary of the Virgin called the "capsa of Altheus", with the inscription: "In honor of the holy Virgin Mary, Bishop Altheus had this box made".