Maurinus of Agen

Saint Maurinus of Agen, hieromartyr, was born at Agen in the 6th century and died beheaded at Lactora (today Lectoure). He preached the faith in the Agenais. He is remembered on 25 November in the Western calendar. A French source calls him a saint of both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches; what is known of him comes from the life kept in the calendar of the diocese of Agen and from legends without sure historical support.

He was the first child of the governor of the city, Eutichius, and his wife Alabanna, at the time when the Arian Visigoths of Alaric II ruled the region. His parents sent him to Saint Germanus, bishop of Capua, to learn Christian and secular letters. He was raised to the rank of levite, that is priest, and after seven years returned to Agen, where the crowd received him joyfully. He began to travel the region preaching.

At Lactora he defied the ban on preaching issued by the Visigothic prefect Walduan. He was arrested, tortured and beheaded. The legend says that he took his head in his hands and walked some forty kilometers north to the place where he wished to be buried, today Saint-⁠Maurin. He is venerated today mainly there, in the department of Lot-⁠et-⁠Garonne, where the medieval abbey bearing his name also stands.