Adjutor, St.
ADJUTOR, ST.
Crusader, hermit, and Benedictine monk; b. late eleventh century; d. Tiron, France, April 30, 1131. His parents were Jean, Seigneur de Vernon, and Rosemonde de Blaru. A devoutly religious youth, Adjutor attempted to live as austerely as possible, and hugh of amiens, Archbishop of Rouen, his friend and biographer, recounts his compassion and charity in great detail. He was one of a group of Norman knights who in 1095 set out on the First Crusade. The expedition was reputedly attended by many miraculous occurrences including Adjutor's escape from a Moslem prison. On his return to France, he became a monk at the Abbey of Tiron, where he earned a reputation for sanctity. He spent his last years as a hermit in a small cell he had built near the monastery.
Feast: April 30 (Rouen, Évreux, Chartres).
Bibliography: a. della porta, S. Adiutore, patrono della diocesi di Cava dei Tirreni (Cava dei Tirreni 1968). Acta Sanctorum April 3:832–836. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum (Metten 1933–83) 2:78–81. h. lahrkamp, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 1:147. j. thÉroude, La Vie et l'office de s. Adjuteur (Rouen 1864), hist. and bibliog. introd. by r. bordeaux; repr. of Vie de S. Adjuteur, pub. by d. langlois in 1638 and of Officium s. Adjutoris (Paris 1639).
[v. l. bullough]