Desiderius of Auxerre

Desiderius was born in Aquitaine in the later sixth century of a rich and illustrious family. Tradition names his mother Nectaria and links the household by kinship to the Merovingian queen Brunhild. His rank was such that even the wealthiest could scarcely match him; princes attached to him by blood or alliance made him large gifts of land, and throughout his life he disposed of great resources for the service of God and neighbor.

He was consecrated nineteenth bishop of Auxerre on 3 October 605, succeeding Saint Aunarius. He ruled the diocese for roughly eighteen years. In 614 he took part in the Council of Paris. His episcopate was marked by energetic building and endowment. He greatly enlarged the cathedral of Saint Stephen, raising a spacious eastern dome decorated with gold and mosaics, transferring the altar into it, and dedicating the work on 18 April. During his lifetime he gave the cathedral all his silver plate, finely chased with figures and ornaments and weighing some four hundred twenty pounds (other accounts speak of three hundred pounds of rich liturgical vessels). Queen Brunhild herself presented an onyx chalice set in gold and ceded the estate of Magny, which Desiderius promptly made over to Saint Stephen.

He built houses and an oratory at Merry and bestowed that property, together with Magny and Flacy, upon the cathedral. In 620 he gave Riniacum—later the site of the abbey of Reigny near Vermenton—to the Church of Auxerre. His will, a precious documentary witness, lists some twenty-one estates left chiefly to Saint Stephen's and to other churches and monasteries of Auxerre, Sens, Cahors, Toulouse, and Bourges; one hundred gold solidi for the adornment of his tomb at Saint Germanus; support for a women's monastery of Saint Martin across the Yonne; and a church he founded, containing relics of the Milanese martyrs Gervasius, Protasius, Nazarius, and Celsus. He also made a bequest to the monastery of Saint Julian, thereby preserving the name of its contemporary abbot Nigivald. Tradition further records that he manumitted about two thousand serfs.

Desiderius died at Auxerre on 27 October 621 (some sources give 623). At his own request he was buried in the basilica of Saint Germanus in the tomb of his predecessor Aunarius. His cult rests on the early episcopal lists, the surviving will, and continuous local veneration; he is honored as a saint of the Catholic Church.

May Saint Desiderius intercede for us, and may we imitate today his open-handed charity toward the Church and the poor.