Ursicinus (also ''Hursannus, Ursitz, Oschanne'', fl. 620) was an Irish missionary and

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

in the Jura region.

Information

A ''vita'' of his is preserved in a redaction of the 11th century. According to this account, he was a disciple of Columbanus at

Luxeuil Luxeuil-les-Bains () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. History Luxeuil (sometimes rendered Luxeu in older texts) was the Roman Luxovium and contained many fine buildings ...

who followed his master when he was banished from Burgundy in 610, but then retired as a hermit in the

Doubs valley The Doubs (; frp, Dubs; german: Dub) is a river in far eastern France which strays into western Switzerland. It is a left-bank tributary of the Saône. It rises near Mouthe in the western Jura mountains, at and its mouth is at Verdun-sur-le ...

. Veneration of Ursicinus is attested since the 7th century. In Grandval, a church was dedicated to Ursicinus in 675. By the 11th century, he was part of the local canon of saints of the

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

diocese. His feast day is on 20 December. Ursicinus' supposed sarcophagus is preserved in

St-Ursanne Saint-Ursanne is an old town and a former municipality of the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura, Switzerland which has preserved much of its medieval character. The town contains many historical buildings, including a Romanesque abbey c ...

in what is now the

canton of Jura The Republic and Canton of Jura (french: République et canton du Jura), less formally the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura ( , ), is the newest (founded in 1979) of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital ...

in Switzerland.

References

Notes

*Andreas Merkt
Ursicinus
in ''Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon'', vol. 12 (1997).

External links

Catholic Online: Ursicinus of Saint-UrsanneSaint of the Day, December 20: Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne

Sant' Ursicino del Giura
7th-century Irish priests 7th-century Christian saints Canton of Jura 625 deaths Medieval Irish saints on the Continent Colombanian saints Year of birth unknown {{Switzerland-bio-stub