Preuve of Laon

Saint Preuve of Laon (Latin Proba), a martyr, was a young virgin martyr of the region of Laon who, according to the French source, lived in the 4th century, though our record places her in the 6th. She is remembered locally on 28 or 30 April and is linked with Saint Grimonia, who had the same fate.

According to tradition she came to Gaul in the time of the migration of the peoples called "Scots", probably from Caledonia (Scotland), while Grimonia was from Ireland. Her parents were still idolaters. She fled them and sought, in the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, where Emperor Valentinian protected the faithful, a refuge for her faith and her virginity. Overtaken by the envoys of her parents, she stood firm and refused to return; she was beheaded in the valley of Tausson, at the foot of the abbey of Saint-⁠Vincent near Laon.

Her body was kept in the church of Lesquielles. Because of the wars between the local lords, her relics and those of Saint Grimonia were hidden in the ground; Bishop Anselme de Mauny raised them in 1231 and divided them between the church of Saint John the Baptist at Lesquielles and the cathedral of Laon. Her image is on the facade of Laon cathedral, with the palm of martyrdom and a book.