Walaric of Leuconay

Saint Walaric of Leuconay (in French Valéry), born around 565 in Auvergne into a family of shepherds, was a disciple of Saint Columbanus and the founder of the monastery of Leuconay, today Saint-⁠Valery-⁠sur-⁠Somme. He died around 619 (our record gives 622). His life was written by Ragimbert of Leuconay.

As a child he tended sheep and had a lively mind and a desire for learning; dissatisfied with herding, he sought an education. He went to the monastery of Saint-⁠Germain at Auxerre, where a nobleman, Bobo, joined him, and the two came to Luxeuil, the monastery founded by Columbanus in 590. There Walaric studied under Columbanus and worked the garden, growing vegetables and fruit. With Columbanus's permission he set out to preach, together with the monk Waldolenus, then retired to a remote place at the mouth of the Somme and lived as a hermit. Disciples soon came and the monastery was established. He spent his last days on a little hill near Leuconay. Long after his death, in the tenth century, a vision of the saint was used to give legitimacy to the Capetian dynasty. He is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 1 April (new style; 14 April in the old style).