SAINT FEAST DAY 1 APRIL: ST VALERY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 1st of April

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SAINT VALERY (WALERIUS), RELIGIOUS

A son of simple farmers in the Somme, France, Saint Valery tended his father's sheep in his childhood. He was seized by an ardent desire to learn to read and write and approached a local teacher who wrote the alphabet on a slate and explained it to him once. Valery took the slate back to his sheep and taught himself to read, until he was able to read the psalter. His uncle, a monk, eventually admitted him to the monastery of St Antony's at Autumo.

HE TAUGHT HIMSELF TO READ

As the years went by, he felt drawn to Luxeuil by the reputation of the penitential lives of its monks and the spiritual wisdom of Saint Columban. To test his humility and obedience, Saint Columban told him to tend to the monastery garden, which was at the time overrun with slugs and other pests. Under his care, however, the garden always yielded enough food for the monastery. 

HUMILITY AND PIETY

When Saint Columban was banished from Luxeuil by King Theodoric, the monastery was placed in Valery's hands until he was sent by Saint Eustasius to preach the Gospel in Neustria. There he was gifted land for a new monastery by King Clotaire II. Many souls were converted by Saint Valery's piety, humility and preaching. He died in 622. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 5, Augsburg, 1882)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Valery may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org