Leonard of Noblac

Holy Venerable Leonard of Noblac was, in the 6th century, a Frankish nobleman at the court of Clovis I, a hermit and founder of the monastery of Noblac near Limoges in Gaul. He reposed around 559. He became one of the most venerated saints of the late Middle Ages. He is a saint of the undivided Church.

According to an 11th-⁠century Life, he was converted at Christmas 496 together with the king, and Saint Remigius of Reims was his godfather. As a disciple of Remigius he was granted the right to visit prisons and free anyone held there; he thus secured the release of many prisoners, whose patron he became. He declined a bishopric, a prerogative of Merovingian nobles, and entered the monastery of Micy near Orléans, then lived as a hermit in a forest of the Limousin, now called Noblac, where he gathered disciples.

In the 12th century his cult spread rapidly, after Bohemond I of Antioch attributed to his intercession his release from a Danishmend prison in 1103 and made an offering at Noblac. His intercession was credited with miracles for the release of prisoners, women in labour and cattle diseases. His feast is kept on 6 November; in the Bavarian Alps he is the traditional patron of farmers, and St Leonards-⁠on-⁠Sea in England bears his name.

He is commemorated on 6 November, the liturgical date in the Orthodox calendar (the same day number on the old and new calendars).