⛪ Saint Fulcran of Lodève

The Miracle of Saint Fulcran ,
by François Matet (1805)

⛪ Saint of the Day : February 13

⛪ Died :

• 13 February 1006 of natural causes

• Buried in the cathedral of Lodève, France

• Body disinterred and burned by the 

  Huguenots in 1572; only a few particles remain

⛪ Patronage :

Diocese of Lodève, France

Saint Fulcran was bishop of Lodève from 949 to 1006 . He is celebrated on February 13th .

His date and place of birth are uncertain. From a life written in the xvii th  century , he was born in a humble Mill Valley to the Lignous Mérifons in the diocese of Lodeve, but Dom and Dom Vic Vaissette suggest in their History of Languedoc , he would come of the first race of the family of Roquefeuil du Rouergue . No act, apart from his own will, confirms this hypothesis. His mother took special care of his education and put him under the discipline of Thierri, Bishop of Lodèvewho lived in a great reputation for holiness. After passing through all the ecclesiastical degrees, he finally reached the dignity of archdeacon of Maguelone 1 .

He is the thirtieth bishop of Lodève, where he built the Romanesque cathedral which today bears his name.

St. Fulcran had opposed the Count of Toulouse, who had fallen into adultery because his wife Arsinde had not given him a child. She made a pilgrimage to Conques at the sanctuary of Saint Foy and then had two sons. Since then, the Cevennes and Lower Languedoc women have approached Fulcran saint for having children, and gave that name to their first born 3 .

According to Dom Mabillon , his mother, to whom some give the name of Eustorge, others that of Biligarde, was the daughter of a Count of Substantion or Maguelone . In this case, considering the time of her life, she could be the daughter of Count Bernard (+922), first count of Melgueil whose name has reached us.

There is a copy of Fulcran's will dated 988 , in which he mentions his brothers Pons and Aranfred, his nephew Andrew, and Emme, his close relative. She is still given two sisters who are said to have been ladies of Montpellier . Finally, by the same will, says he co-lord of a land Roquefeuil falling within Nimes viscounts, which seems to support the argument that it belonged to a family of Roquefeuil 1 . He also makes a donation to the priory of Nant, which was a dependency of the Abbey of Vabres .

Source : Wikipedia