Charles of Villers, Bl.
CHARLES OF VILLERS, BL.
Abbot; b. Cologne, Germany; d. Hocht near Maastricht, Netherlands, c. 1215. He entered the cistercian Abbey of himmerod c. 1184–85 and visited the monastery of Stromberg in 1188, and in 1191 he was at the Abbey of heisterbach, where he served as prior. The Abbey of villers enjoyed its golden age from 1197 to 1209 under Charles, although he is not responsible for the construction of the great abbey church there. He resigned his office as abbot in 1209 and returned to Himmerod, but he was soon summoned from retirement to make the foundation at Hocht, where he is buried.
Feast: Jan. 29.
Bibliography: Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 25:220–226. É. de moreau, L'Abbaye de Villers-en-Brabant (Brussels 1909) 40–50. a. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige 1:141–143. k. spahr, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 25:1362.
[b. d. hill]