Gaucherius (1060 - 1140), a Christian saint, was born at Meulan-sur-Seine,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Biography

He received a classical education and became a priest. He felt a deep longing for solitude. After spending a night in prayer at the tomb of Leonard of Limoges, Gaucherius went into the wild forest region and constructed a hermitage He thereupon devoted his life God as a hermit and began with his friend, Germond, to reside in the area of Limoges. Their example attracted others who built hermitages near to theirs. Finally Gaucherius decided to build a monastery at Aureil and to establish two communities, one for men, the other for women, both under the rule of St. Augustine. The passage of an eremitical settlement into the canonical life was one of the principal ways through which the

Canons Regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...

grew in the 11th and 12th Century. The community of Aureil is typical of these kinds of Ordo Novus Canons Regular. Thereafter he lived with his companions, being for all a model of sanctity. His companions and disciples include Lambert of Angoulême and Faucherus as well as the founder of Grandmont monastery, Stephen Muret. He died from a fall from a horse in 1140 at the age of eighty. He was canonized in 1194. His feast day is April 9.

References

External links

Catholiconline.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaucherius 1060 births 1140 deaths People from Meulan-en-Yvelines 12th-century Christian saints Medieval French saints