Amor of Aquitaine

Amor of Aquitaine (Amour) was a deacon or priest of Aquitaine who lived as a monk and hermit in the neighborhood of Maastricht, in the 8th or 9th century. He is regarded as the founder of the abbey of Munsterbilzen. He is venerated as a saint in the Western Church and commemorated on 8 October.

According to the Life of Saint Amor, written by a certain Egbertus, he came from a noble family of Aquitaine and was the son of the duke of Aquitaine. The legend says that at Rome, at the tomb of Peter, he was commanded to settle at Munsterbilzen, near Maastricht. He is said to have lived in a hermitage near the church of Saint Servatius at Maastricht. According to tradition he was the founder of the monastery of Munsterbilzen (according to another, it was Saint Landrada). He died at Maastricht on a last pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Servatius and was buried in a chapel raised on the present Sint Amorsplein, perhaps on the site of the hermitage. In 850 his body was moved to the abbey church of Munsterbilzen. The chapel at Maastricht was demolished in the second half of the 17th century, and his relics were taken in 1651 in an ivory box to the basilica of Saint Servatius.

A German source notes that from the 10th century he is venerated for this at Munsterbilzen, but that the relics there in fact come from Amor of Amorbach. His identity is thus uncertain.