View source for Walaric

{{redirect|Saint Valery|the villages|Saint-Valery|and|Saint-Valery-en-Caux|and|Saint-Valery-sur-Somme}}
{{distinguish|Saint Valerie (disambiguation){{!}}Saint Valerie}}
{{Copy edit|date=December 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Apparition of Saint Valery to Hugh Capet.jpg|thumb|Walaric prophesying to Hugh Capet in a vision. From the 14th century ''[[Grandes Chroniques de France]]''.]]
Saint '''Walaric''',{{efn|Also spelled Walric, Waleric, Walericus, Walarich, Gualaric, etc.}} modern French '''Valery''' (died 620), was a [[Franks|Frankish]] monk turned hermit who founded the {{ill|abbey of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme|fr}}. His cult was recognized in [[Duchy of Normandy|Normandy]] and [[Medieval England|England]].

==Life==
Walaric was born in the [[Auvergne]] to a peasant family. Taught to read at a young age, he abandoned the occupation of tending sheep to join the abbey of Autumo. He later moved on to the [[abbey of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre]] and finally the [[abbey of Luxeuil]] under the famous abbot [[Columbanus]]. At Luxeuil he was renowned for his horticultural skills. His ability to protect his vegetables from insects was regarded as miraculous.<ref name=Farmer>David Hugh Farmer, "Walaric (Waleric, Valery) (d. 620)", ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints'', 5th rev. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 441.</ref>

When [[Theuderic II]], king of [[Kingdom of Burgundy|Burgundy]] ({{reign|595|613}}), expelled Columbanus from his domains, Walaric and a fellow monk named Waldolanus left the kingdom to preach the gospel in [[Neustria]] and, according to tradition, the [[Pas-de-Calais]]. He eventually settled down as a hermit at a place called Leuconay near the mouth of the [[Somme River]]. A community of disciples grew up around him. After his death, his successor Blitmund (Blimont) built a monastery for the community, which came to bear Walaric's name. The village that developed around the monastery still does: [[Saint-Valery-sur-Somme]].<ref name=Farmer/>

==Memory==
[[File:Abbaye de Saint-Valery-sur-Somme dans Monasticon Gallicanum.jpg|thumb|Walaric's abbey in the 17th century]]
A biography ([[Hagiography|saint's life]]) of Walaric was composed in the 11th century. It was wrongly attributed to a certain Raginbertus.<ref name=Farmer/>

The so-called "Valerian prophecy" was a legend originating in Walaric's abbey and the abbey of [[Saint-Riquier]] intended to refute the claims of the early 11th-century ''[[Historia Francorum Senonensis]]'' that the [[Capetian dynasty]] were illegitimate usurpers. According to the legend, Walaric appeared in a vision to [[Hugh Capet]] ({{reign|987|996}}), the first Capetian, and thanked him for rescuing his body from the [[Carolingians]]. He prophesied that the [[kingdom of France]] would belong to Hugh's heirs "until the seventh generation". Interpreted figuratively, the number seven signified perfection and thus eternity; interpreted literally, it meant that the [[Philip Augustus]] ({{reign|1180|1223}}) would be the last Capetian.<ref>John W. Baldwin, ''The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages'' (University of California Press, 1986), p. 370.</ref>

Cures were claimed from an early date at Walaric's tomb. Duke [[William II of Normandy]] had Walaric's relics put on public display and invoked his name in a prayer for a favourable wind for his [[Norman conquest of England|invasion of England]]. The invasion fleet sailed from Saint-Valery-sur-Somme in 1066.<ref name=Farmer/>

Walaric's cult thus spread to England, where a chapel in [[Alnmouth]] was dedicated to him in the 12th century. His [[feast day]] was celebrated on 1 April in [[Chester Abbey]] and [[Croyland Abbey]]. King [[Richard I of England]] ({{reign|1189|1199}}) transferred his relics from Saint-Valery-sur-Somme to [[Saint-Valery-en-Caux]]. His translation (transfer of relics) was celebrated in Chester and Croyland on 12 December. His abbey in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, however, later recovered his relics.<ref name=Farmer/>

The English village of [[Hinton Waldrist]] is named after its 12th-century lord, Thomas de Saint-Valery.<ref name=Farmer/>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2026 Walric at ''Catholic Online'']

{{authority control}}

[[Category:620 deaths]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Colombanian saints]]