Valerius of Bernage

Saint Valerius of Bernage (in French Valéric, Valéry or Vaury), a venerable father, was a hermit in southern France, born around 550 and reposed around 620. He is venerated as a saint in the Western Church and remembered on 10 January in the Western calendar.

According to tradition he came from present-⁠day Belgium. Around 565 he went to Limoges, to the tomb of Saint Martial, widely renowned in those parts. Later he withdrew to the forest solitude of the Bernage mountains near Guéret, to live as a hermit. Apart from a few visits to Martial's tomb, he lived in seclusion in the forest, where other hermits followed him.

He is rarely venerated even in France. The town of Saint-⁠Vaury in the department of Creuse bears his name, and the church of Boisseuilh is dedicated to him. Only one depiction of him is known, from the late Middle Ages, in the church of Boisseuilh.