Gallus of Clermont

Saint Gallus of Clermont (also Gall) was born around 489 at Clermont in Auvergne and was the sixteenth bishop of the city, holding the see from 527 to 551; he reposed in 553 or 554. He was the uncle and teacher of Saint Gregory of Tours. He came from a senatorial family, and his mother was descended from the family of Vettius Epagathus, a revered martyr of Lyon. His parents proposed to marry him to a senator's daughter, but he privately withdrew to a monastery at Cournon and, once he had their consent, joyfully embraced monastic poverty.

His intelligence and piety led to his recommendation as councillor to Quintianus, bishop of Clermont, who ordained him priest. Theuderic I, king of Austrasia, invaded Auvergne and took him prisoner, attaching him to the oratory in the palace; after a few years he regained his liberty and returned to Clermont. When Quintianus died in 527 he was chosen as bishop. He embellished the tomb of Saint Amabilis at the collegiate church at Riom. He was distinguished for gentleness and charity: one story reports that he was struck on the head by a brutal man and showed not the least anger, disarming him by his meekness; and when a priest who had once been a senator behaved insultingly to him, his reaction was simply to rise from his seat and visit the churches of the city, and the man cast himself at his feet in the middle of the street.

He was known as a defender of the rights of the Church against Sivigald, the governor appointed by Theuderic. The chief event of his episcopate was the Council of Clermont in 535; he also took part in the Fourth (541) and Fifth (549) Councils of Orléans. The Catholic Church keeps his feast on 3 July and the Orthodox Church on 1 July, as a saint of the West before the Great Schism (a saint of the undivided Church), by the New Calendar.