Latuinus of Sées

Saint Latuinus (also called Latrium or Lain) is considered the first bishop of Sées, in Normandy, in the fifth century, between the years 400 and 440. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, and his commemoration is on 20 June.

The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Louis Duchesne held that for the period before 900 no reliance can be placed on the episcopal list of Sées, known from certain compilations of the sixth century. A later tradition makes him a first-⁠century bishop and missionary sent to Sées by Pope Clement I, in order to give the diocese a greater age than it really had. According to another tradition he was sent to the region by Pope Boniface I. And a local tradition says that Latuinus built an oratory on the site of the present Chapel of Saint Latuinus, in the diocese of Sées, toward the end of the fourth century.

The chapel is the old parish church of Cléray, mentioned in 1093 in the cartularies of the abbey of Saint Martin of Sées, and his relics rest there. As first bishop of Sées, Latuinus knew the hard hours of a founder: mistrust and persecution. According to tradition, when he left his retreat he healed paralytics, the deaf and those suffering from skin diseases. He is venerated in several places, among them Batilly, Canapville and Bailleul. At Belfonds there is a spring where the sick come for healing; they leave their used towels on the railing that surrounds the bathing place. Devotion to Latuinus remains strong in the diocese, as shown by the annual pilgrimage to the chapel.