Valeric of Bernage

Valeric of Bernage (Valéric; also called Vaulry, Vaury, Valery) was a Gallo-⁠Roman hermit, born in 537 in Belgica Secunda into a noble family, and reposed on 10 January 620. He is venerated in the Western Church.

According to the legend in the manuscript Legendary of Périgord, he received a Christian education and worked miracles. In 565 he went to Limoges to venerate the tomb of Saint Martial, whose fame had reached him. The clergy of the monastery first invited him to stay, but noticed his love of solitude and gave him a mountain called Bernage, near Guéret, on the spot where a town now bears his name, Saint-⁠Vaury.

He lived many years in this solitude, going out only to the village church and sometimes to the tomb of Saint Martial at Limoges. The people of the neighborhood often asked for his prayers, and several settled near his cell to live under his direction. At an advanced age he died, on 10 January, around the year 620. The local church is dedicated to Saint Julian of Brioude and Saint Vaury.