Austregisilus of Bourges

Saint Austregisilus (Outrille, Aoustrille) was bishop of Bourges from 612 until his death in 624. He is commemorated on 20 May.

He was born at Bourges, according to some sources in 551, into a noble but impoverished family. His fellow student was Gregory of Tours, and he was raised on the Holy Scriptures. He was first a courtier of the Frankish king Gontram, at Chalon-⁠sur-⁠Saône, but left the court to begin the spiritual life. He was tonsured a monk by Bishop Aunarius of Auxerre, was ordained subdeacon and entered the abbey of Saint-⁠Nizier at Lyon, where he became abbot.

After the death of Bishop Apollinaris he was elected bishop of Bourges, in 597 according to some and on 13 February 612 according to others. He is thought to have been the first bishop of Bourges of Gothic origin, all those before him, including Apollinaris, having been Gallo-⁠Romans. Around 613 he received at Bourges Saint Amand, who would become bishop of Maastricht, and settled him in a cell specially built on the upper part of the city walls, beside the cathedral, where Amand remained fifteen years living as a hermit. Austregisilus ordained Saint Sulpitius the Pious, later bishop of Bourges.

He died on 20 May 624. The villages of Saint-⁠Outrille (in the department of Cher) and Saint-⁠Aoustrille (near Issoudun) bear his name. At Azay-⁠sur-⁠Cher there is a fountain of Saint Austregisilus, whose spring fed an aqueduct that brought water from Bléré to Tours. In the commune of Frontenas, in the department of Rhône, a twelfth-⁠century Romanesque church is dedicated to him, with remarkable doors.