Arigius of Gap

Saint Arigius (Arey, Aredius) was bishop of Gap in Merovingian Gaul at the end of the sixth century, honoured in East and West. He is commemorated on 1 May (by some sources also on 10 March). His episcopate began in 579, and he fell asleep at the start of the seventh century.

Youth and priesthood

He was born in Chalon-⁠sur-⁠Saône around the middle of the sixth century, to a noble Gallo-⁠Roman family. He was the eldest child of Aprocasius and Sempronia and served for two years at the altar of the local church of Saint Vincent. He was ordained priest by Syagrius, bishop of Grenoble, and for fourteen years served in several places in the Trièves region, then at Gap.

Bishop of Gap

In 579 Arigius became the fourth bishop of Gap, after Sagittarius. He founded there a school in which the classical subjects were taught. In 584 or 585 he took part in the second Council of Valence, and in 585 in the second Council of Mâcon. In 598, with the archdeacon Valtonius, he went to Rome, where he met Pope Gregory the Great. In token of esteem for his efforts to renew the Church, he was given a dalmatic. In 599 and 601 he corresponded with the pope on the rooting out of simony.

Arigius learned from Saint Columbanus the reckoning of Easter. He organized parish life in his diocese, where a village bears his name. He was greatly loved by his flock.

The legend of the bear

Many legends are told of him. One says that, returning from Rome in the year 605, Arigius came to the heights of Montgenèvre. In the forest his carriage was attacked by a bear, which mauled one of the oxen yoked to it. Arigius commanded the bear to take the dead ox's place in the yoke. The bear obeyed meekly, and Arigius entered Gap in a carriage that caused wonder. Grateful that the beast had given him no trouble, he let it go, and it withdrew into the nearby forest and did not come out again until the day of the saint's death.

The legend has several versions. In some the event takes place on the slopes of Montgenèvre, in others near Orcières, in others on the Cayolle pass. As for the bear's forest, some place it at Boscodon (where in 1150 the skeleton of an enormous bear was found), others in Champsaur, on the slopes of the Manse pass.

Death and veneration

By the sources Arigius died in 604 or 608; others give a date around 605. His veneration lives on in Gap and in the village that bears his name.