Ambrose of Cahors

Ambrose of Cahors (Ambroise, Ambroix) was bishop of Cahors in the 8th century and later a hermit, and is venerated as a saint in the Western Church. He is commemorated on 16 October.

According to the local story of Berry, a later and uncertain tradition, he was bishop of Cahors from 751 or 752 until about 770, appointed either by Pope Zachary or by Pope Stephen II. Discouraged by his flock's long indifference to his sermons and works of charity, he hid in a cave a short distance from the city, where he lived in seclusion for almost three years until he was discovered and recognized. The return to the world disappointed him, for he saw no progress in the conduct of his people. Around 755 he went to Rome to seek counsel from Pope Paul I, then to Tours, to Bishop Ostald. There he is said to have decided to become a hermit. He came to the land of Ernodurum in Berry and settled on the right bank of the river Arnon, in a place now called Les Maras. He lived there to the end. He is said to have died on 16 October 770. The town of Saint-⁠Ambroix-⁠sur-⁠Arnon keeps his memory, and in the church of Saint Bartholomew at Cahors a painting of the Coronation of the Virgin shows him beside Saint Naphaise.

The details, especially those from Berry, come from late tradition and remain uncertain.