William Arnaud, Bl.
WILLIAM ARNAUD, BL.
Dominican inquisitor, martyr; d. 1242. Little is known of him before 1234 when Pope Gregory IX appointed him inquisitor (see inquisition) for the dioceses of Toulouse, albi, Carcassonne, and Agen. He was evidently a native of Montpellier and had a reputation for canonical learning. His activity in the repression of heresy stirred up such hostility that he was banished from Toulouse, although he is also said to have effected many conversions by his "sweetness and charity." On May 29, 1242, Raymond of Alfare, the bailiff of Count Raymond VII of Toulouse, pretending friendship, lured William and 11 associates to his castle at Avignonet, where he attacked and killed them. Miracles and cures reported at the time of their death and afterward gave rise to a cultus, which was confirmed by Pius IX on Oct. 6, 1866.
Feast: May 29.
Bibliography: Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum historica, ed. b. m. reichert (Rome–Stuttgart–Paris 1896–) 1:231ff. Acta Sanctorum May 7:177–179. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4 v. (New York 1956) 2:421.
[p. m. starrs]