Visorius

Saint Visorius (in Occitan Missolin) was a Frankish hermit settled in Sobrarbe in Aragon, who died a martyr at the hands of the Muslims in the first quarter of the 11th century. He is venerated locally in the Catholic Church, without ever having been canonized; his veneration is restricted to the Aragonese lands and some places in the department of Hautes-⁠Pyrénées in France.

He was born between 950 and 985 at Cadeilhan, in the Aura valley, in Bigorre (Hautes-⁠Pyrénées), and was a shepherd of sheep. In a raid of Muslim soldiers he lost his flock and from then on preached through the villages of the region to put an end to the raids that ravaged the land. He gathered a small army of peasants and shepherds of the valley, which drove back the Muslims by a surprise attack, thereby winning a time of peace. At about thirty he left worldly life and devoted himself to the spiritual one, setting out to preach Christianity beyond the mountains. He lived as a hermit in a cave in Sobrarbe, where he died a martyr.

His remains were gathered by an inhabitant of Banastón, who saw fire at the place and informed the villages of Labuerda and San Vicente de Labuerda. They were taken to the church of San Vicente de Labuerda, where they are kept in a reliquary. Part of the relics was given to his native village and is kept in the church of Sent Blai at Cadeilhan. In the mountain cave where he lived and died a hermitage was built, rebuilt in the 18th century, with Romanesque frescoes, a place of pilgrimage each year. In the Labuerda area the pilgrimage in his honor is held on the first Sunday of May, from San Vicente de Labuerda to the hermitage of San Visorio. He is venerated by the faithful, with a local cult.