Israël of Limousin

Israël of Limousin (Israël du Dorat) was a canon of the collegiate church of Le Dorat in France, born around 950 and reposed in December 1014 (on 22 December by one source, on 12 by another). He is remembered in the Roman Martyrology on 12 December and locally on 13 September.

He was born into a noble family of Le Dorat, between Limoges and Poitiers; a stone cross marks the site of his house. His parents dedicated him to the service of God. He was a teacher in the regular chapter of Le Dorat, then was received as canon, ordained priest and made vicar general of the bishop of Limoges, Aldouin. He taught theology at the episcopal school and composed, in the Limousin language, a verse life of Christ, a century before the lyric poetry of the troubadours.

In 994, in an epidemic of plague, he cared for the sick and himself buried the dead. He accompanied Aldouin to King Robert II the Pious. After the monks of the monastery of Saint-⁠Junien were massacred in the parish of Étagnac while collecting the tithe, and the prior Itier died of grief, Pope Sylvester II charged Israël with restoring that community, with the title of provost; he had the church rebuilt. In 1006 he returned to Le Dorat, where he was great cantor and trained many disciples, among them Saint Theobald. A year before his death he saw the foundations of the present collegiate church of Saint-⁠Pierre at Le Dorat rise from the ground, in place of the old one, destroyed by fire.

At his tomb many pilgrims were healed and comforted, and the miracles attributed to him made his veneration an important cult in the region. On 27 January 1130 his relics were moved to the crypt of the collegiate church, with those of Saint Theobald (remembered on 20 December).

He is a saint of the West; no Orthodox synodal canonization is known.