Valentius of Strasbourg

Valentius of Strasbourg was bishop of Strasbourg in the 530s and 540s. In the Middle Ages he was venerated as a saint, but at least since the nineteenth century no commemoration of him has been made in the Catholic Church. Our sources give no present day of commemoration.

In the lists of the bishops of Strasbourg, Valentius is named as successor of Maximinus, of the fourth century, and predecessor of Solarius, mentioned in the middle of the sixth century. Most likely he headed the episcopal see at Strasbourg in the 530s and 540s. He is known only from hagiographic writings, but the information in these sources is not very trustworthy. It is reported that he came of a noble Gallo-⁠Roman family, that he governed the diocese for a long time and that he was regarded as a wonderworker, able to heal both people and cattle. In the epitaph of Valentius, written by Bishop Erchenbald in the second half of the tenth century, he is called a worthy successor of his predecessors in the see of Strasbourg, who did much for the preaching of Christianity in Alsace and the Vosges.

Among the sure testimonies from the time of Bishop Valentius, the transfer of Alsace in 536 under the rule of the Frankish duke appointed by the king of Austrasia is mentioned. In the Middle Ages Valentius of Strasbourg was venerated as a saint. The days of his commemoration were 6 February and 26 October. It is possible that in church tradition the information about Valentius was partly borrowed from stories about other saints of the same name. The first evidence of the existence of his cult is from the tenth century, when Bishop Erchenbald wrote of Valentius as a saint venerated at Strasbourg.