Ysarnus, St.
YSARNUS, ST.
Benedictine monk, abbot of saint-victor in marseilles; b. near Toulouse, France; d. Marseilles, Sept. 9, 1043. Attracted by its reputation, he became a monk at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Victor. He then became prior, and finally abbot (1021–43). His reputation for virtue, and particularly his charity and supernatural gifts, attracted many vocations. He reformed the abbey and carried this reformation to numerous monasteries in the center of France and in Catalonia. In spite of serious illness, he traveled to Spain in order to discuss with the Moslems the liberation of some monks imprisoned by them. He died at Saint-Victor; his tomb is located in the crypt of the abbatial church. His life, written soon after his death on the basis of accounts of credulous eyewitnesses, is not critical; his cult was approved by Pope Urban V.
Feast: Sept. 24.
Bibliography: j. mabillion, Acta sanctorum ordinis S. Benedict (Venice 1733–40) 8:532–559. Acta Sanctorum (Paris 1863—) 6:728–749. g. de rey, Les Saints de Marseille (Marseille 1885) 185–204. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige (Metten 1933–38) 3:80–83. j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, ed. by the Benedictines of Paris (Paris 1935–56) 9:498–499.
[É. brouette]