Ceronne

Ceronne is a saint of Perche in Normandy, of whom no sure historical evidence survives. She is said to have lived in the 5th century. Her Latin life was written between the mid-11th and mid-12th century as an amplification of the Life of Saint Longis, and the local cult developed chiefly from the 19th century.

According to the legend she was born around 410 at Corneilhan near Béziers, into a pagan family; her father Olympius was governor of the city. She won her brother Sophronius to the faith, and the two set out for Bordeaux, where Bishop Amandus baptized them. Sophronius was ordained a priest, and Ceronne received the veil of virginity. To avoid unjust suspicion they parted: he went to Rome, where he died, and she reached Perche.

She stopped in a solitary place beside the river Hoëne, founded a small community, and built a chapel dedicated to Saint Marcellus and an oratory on Mont-⁠Romigny. Near the end she lost her sight and walked between the two places holding a wire stretched between them, which, the story says, children broke but which was found tied again of itself. She reposed on 15 November 490. The story is legendary; her body is said to have been found in the 9th century by Adelin, bishop of Sées. The parish of Sainte-⁠Céronne-⁠au-⁠Perche bears her name.