Ursicinus of Cahors or Urcis or Saint Urcsicinus was a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Cahors Cahors (; oc, Caors ) is a commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitanie Region. The main city of the Lot department and the historical center of the Quer ...

from the early 580s until his death in around

595 __NOTOC__ Year 595 ( DXCV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 595 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

. His feast day is on

December 13 Events Pre-1600 *1294 – Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit. * 1545 – The Council of Trent begins as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation. * 1577 & ...

. Ursicinus was the chancellor of queen Ultragotha, wife of

Childebert I Childebert I (c. 496 – 13 December 558) was a Frankish King of the Merovingian dynasty, as third of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of Saint Clo ...

, king of Paris. He was chosen by Maurilio, then-bishop of Cahors, to be his successor. In 585, the Second Synod of Mâcon, assembled at the request of king

Guntram Saint Gontrand (c. 532 in Soissons – 28 March 592 in Chalon-sur-Saône), also called Gontran, Gontram, Guntram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, was the king of the Kingdom of Orléans from AD 561 to AD 592. He was the third eldest and ...

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Gundowald Gundoald or Gundovald was a Merovingian usurper king in the area of southern Gaul in either 584 or 585. He claimed to be an illegitimate son of Chlothar I and, with the financial support of the Emperor Maurice, took some major cities in souther ...

, who claimed to be the son of

Clothar I Chlothar I, sometime called "the Old" (French: le Vieux), (died December 561) also anglicised as Clotaire, was a king of the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty and one of the four sons of Clovis I. Chlothar's father, Clovis I, divided the kingdo ...

. Ursicinus publicly confessed to having received Gundowald and having declared himself in his favor. The synod sentenced him to three years' penance. During this penance he had to let his beard and hair grow (priests of the time wore tonsure and no beard), not to consume meat and wine, not to celebrate mass, not to ordain priests, nor to consecrate churches or bless bread. During this penance,

St. Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman History, historian and Bishops of Tours, Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He ...

recounts an event as one indicative of the greed of bishops of the era.

Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

, count of

Gévaudan Gévaudan (; oc, Gavaudan, Gevaudan) is a historical area of France in Lozère ''département''. It took its name from the Gabali, a Gallic tribe subordinate to the Arverni. History After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans preserved the cap ...

and elected bishop of

Rodez Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the ...

under pressure from

Brunhilda of Austrasia Brunhilda (c. 543–613) was queen consort of Austrasia, part of Francia, by marriage to the Merovingian king Sigebert I of Austrasia, and regent for her son, grandson and great-grandson. In her long and complicated career she ruled the eastern ...

, attempting to claim more land, accused Ursicinus of unjustly holding parishes that should be under the bishopric of Rodez. To judge this dispute, Sulpitius, the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...

, convened a council in Clermont in 587. It was decided there that the bishop of Cahors would keep the parishes for which the bishop of Rodez could not prove that a bishop of Rodez had exercised his authority there.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ursicinus of Cahors French Roman Catholic saints Bishops of Cahors