Martin des Ormeaux

Martin des Ormeaux was bishop of Saint-⁠Paul-⁠Trois-⁠Châteaux in Provence in the seventh century and reposed as a hermit at Taulignan. He is venerated as a saint in the Western Church.

He is called "des Ormeaux" (in Latin de Ulmis), "of the elms", to distinguish him from Saint Martin of Tours. He was named bishop in 657. After some years in office he fell gravely ill, by legend with leprosy. The illness was considered incurable and contagious, so he withdrew to an isolated house near Taulignan, where he stayed until his death. His relics were moved to Alençon and hidden at Valréas in 1398 because of the disorders caused by the Great Companies. Excavations at Taulignan brought to light an empty sarcophagus of the seventh or eighth century in the chapel believed to be his first burial place.

At that time no canonization procedure existed; the people raised him among the saints for his piety and hermit life, and because the spring from which he drank and washed was believed to heal skin diseases. His feast is still kept at Valréas on 23 June; around 1504 the traditional procession had been replaced by the feast of Saint John the Baptist, and the parish restored it in the early 2000s.