Saint Cybard (or Eparchius, Eparque, Ybar, Ybard, Separchius, Cybar; 504 – 1 July 581) was a monk and a

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 ...

who inhabited a cave beneath the walls of Angoulême for forty-four years. The Latin form of his name is ''Eparchius'', and it also appears in French as ''Éparche'' and ''Ybars'', as in the commune of Saint-Ybars.

Life

Cybard was probably born at

Trémolat Trémolat (; oc, Tremolat) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Geography Trémolat is from the town of Périgueux and is situated along the river Dordogne in the Périgord region. Trémolat s ...

in the

Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; oc, Peiregòrd / ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is div ...

. He was ordained a priest by Aptonius III, the

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

, in 542. His story is told in Gregory of Tours ''Historia Francorum'' (VI, 8). An anonymous hagiography entitled ''Vita et virtutes Eparchii reclusi Ecolismensis'' ("The life and virtues of Eparchius the recluse of Angoulême") tells how "alone he ... walked by night to the spot where he should be a recluse. Having finished his journey and his prayers, he lay down his head on a rock." That spot was, according to the same source, at "a remote location, far from the city, and from above on the side of the mountain trickled a stream of flowing water, and the river Charente started out from there."Gervers (1967), 14, note 28: ''locus remotus et civitas procul et desuper latere montis fons aquae fluens manaret, et Carantonis fluvius ab alio excluderet latere.'' The Abbey of Saint-Cybard was built over Cybard's cave after his death, a church in La Rochefoucauld is dedicated to him, and a quarter of Angoulême bears his name. He is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of the diocese and his feast day is 1 July.

Butler's account

The hagiographer

Alban Butler Alban Butler (13 October 171015 May 1773) was an English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer. Biography Alban Butler was born in 1710, at Appletree, Aston le Walls, Northamptonshire, the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. His father died when ...

wrote in his ''Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints'', under July 1:

Life

Butler's account

Citations

Sources

Further reading