Udaut

Udaut (Udaut of Ax) was, according to tradition, a priest and martyr of Visigothic origin, born in 405 in Italy, in a noble family of Lombardy, and killed on 11 May 452 at Ax-⁠les-⁠Thermes in Ariège, by the king of the Ostrogoths Valamir. In 422 he met the hermit Pancras and went with him to Port-⁠Vendres in the Eastern Pyrenees, for missions and spiritual retreats. He made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Saturninus at Toulouse, then to Rome. Ordained a priest, he went to meet the armies of the Huns of Attila to make the Christian faith known to them. Attracted by his preaching, King Wuillielm, the elder brother of Attila, condemned him to flogging with iron hooks; left for dead, but only unconscious, he was miraculously healed. He then went to a division of Ostrogoths whose king, Valamir, condemned him to a hundred and one blows and to a cup of burning molten lead; surviving, he was thrown out of the camp.

Returning to his missions in the kingdom of Toulouse, he preached for seven years with great zeal and popularity. On 10 May 452 he arrived at Ax and met a camp of horsemen, and the next day, 11 May, he was stabbed in the heart. In the 6th century a chapel was built for his remains, which became the church of Saint-⁠Vincent in Ax-⁠les-⁠Thermes. Tradition says he was canonized by Pope Leo I. In 977 monks of Ripoll took his remains from Ax; in 1886 a fragment was brought back. He is commemorated on 11 May. A martyr venerated locally, from the time of the undivided Church; the account is traditional.