HUGH OF GRENOBLE, ST.

Bishop and reformer; b. Châteauneuf-d'Isère, Dauphiné, France, 1052; d. Grenoble, France, April 1, 1132. His father, Odilo, a military man, ended his days in a Carthusian monastery. Hugh's first ecclesiastical office was a canonry at the cathedral of Valence, an office he held although still a layman. His learning and other qualities so impressed Bp. hugh of die, who was papal legate and later to become archbishop of Lyons, that he took him into his service. In 1080, while at a synod at Lyons, Hugh, although only 27 and not yet ordained, was elected bishop of Grenoble, a see much in need of reform. Ordained immediately, Hugh went to Rome and received consecration from Pope gregory vii. His strenuous efforts at reform during an episcopate of 52 years were marked with success, although at times he thought himself a failure and repeatedly asked to be replaced. His friendship with bruno the carthusian and the monks of La Grande Chartreuse, to whom he gave land and a warm welcome in 1084, was a source of great comfort to him. He was canonized by innocent ii in 1134; his life was written by his contemporary, guigo i, prior of La Grande Chartreuse. His relics, preserved in the cathedral at Grenoble, were lost in the thirty years' war.

Feast: April 1.

Bibliography: guigo i of the grande chartreuse, Vie de saint Hugues, tr. m. a. chomel (Salzburg, Austria 1986). Patrologia Latina, ed. j. p. migne, 217 v. (Paris 1878–90) 153:759–784. Acta Sanctorum April 1:36–46. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae ct mediae aetatis, 2 v. (Brussels 1898–1901; suppl. 1911) 1:4016. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheueux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes (Paris 1935–56) 4:18–24. f. l. cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (London 1957) 663. l. gaillard, Catholicisme 5:1022. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4 v. (New York 1956) 2:3–5.

[h. mackinnon]