Aventin

Aventin of Larboust was a hermit saint of the Pyrenees, of the 8th century, killed by the Saracens. He is venerated in the Western Church and commemorated on 13 June. He is an essentially legendary figure, but his cult is deeply rooted in the Larboust valley and as far as Aragon.

He was born near Bagnères-⁠de-⁠Luchon. His mother was among the pagans who lived in the valley; in the pains of childbirth she turned to Christians and was delivered, and the child was raised in the Christian faith. Grown up, he became a monk or a priest, depending on the source, and withdrew to the place now called the barns of Astau, at the foot of the Oô valley. One day a bear came to him with a large thorn stuck in its paw; Aventin removed it, and the bear went away without harming him. He was evangelizing the region when the Saracen invaders arrived. He was pursued, captured and taken to the tower of Castel-⁠Blancat, at the junction of the valleys of Oueil and Larboust. No sooner had the Moors shut him in the tower than they saw him appear at its top and leap into the void. He crossed the whole valley and landed on a rock, which kept the imprint of his foot; the stone is still visible at the threshold of the chapel at that place. Then he continued his evangelizing. He was taken again, and this time beheaded at once. He was seen to pick up his head and walk to the place where he fell dead. His disciples buried him there.

Centuries later a cowherd noticed a bull of his herd scraping the ground and began to dig. An angel's voice was heard: "Here rests the blessed Aventin". A swarm of bees burst from the ground and stopped the digging. They called Saint Bertrand, bishop of Comminges, who obtained a letter from the pope; he read it to the bees, and they vanished. The saint's body, taken out of the earth, gave off a marvelous fragrance. The inhabitants of the two valleys contended for it, so it was placed on a sledge drawn by two cows, one from each valley, left to go freely. The team took the road of the Larboust and stopped where Aventin was buried; a church was built over his tomb, and there is the present village of Saint-⁠Aventin. After his death a plague ravaged the region and the people appealed to his protection. The cult is found in the Val d'Aran and in Aragon; on 13 June a pilgrimage was made to his village, a tradition ended by the Revolution. The church of Saint-⁠Aventin is one of the masterpieces of Pyrenean Romanesque art.