Gaud of Evreux

Saint Gaud of Evreux, Bishop (also called Waldus) was born about the year 400 into a wealthy Breton family. Moved by the profanations committed by the inhabitants after the death of Saint Taurinus, he resolved to restore the Christian faith in his region. He preached the Gospel in towns and countryside and built churches.

Saint Germanus of Rouen appointed him Bishop of Evreux, a see he held for about forty years, from 440 to 480. He then withdrew as a hermit, first near Guichainville and then, because the faithful kept seeking him out, to Scissy, in the forest that then covered part of the bay of Mont-⁠Saint-⁠Michel. He reposed in 491.

In 1131, while the foundations of the bell tower of the church of Saint-⁠Pair-⁠sur-⁠Mer were being dug, a sarcophagus was found with human bones and a stone inscribed "Here rests the Blessed Gaud". His relics are venerated there: on the last Sunday of January the shrine is carried in procession. Tradition keeps many miracles that took place by his relics; it was said, "Blessed Saint Gaud heals all ills". He is invoked for the nervous ailments of small children and for depression. A church is also dedicated to him at Normanville. His feast is on 30 January (new style, Western calendar).