Elzéar of Sabran

Elzéar of Sabran was born in 1285 at the castle of Saint-Jean-de-Robians, near Cabrières-d'Aigues in Provence, son of Ermengaud de Sabran and Laudune d'Albe, the good Countess of Roquemartine. Tradition relates that even as an infant, out of mortification, he refused his nurse's milk on Fridays. He received a thorough training in the Christian faith and the sciences under his uncle William of Sabran, abbot of Saint-Victor in Marseille.

At the wish of King Charles II of Naples he was betrothed at about ten to Delphine of Glandèves (or de Signe), heiress of Puy-Michel. They were married around 1299–1300. On their wedding night Delphine told him she had taken a private vow of chastity. Though canon law gave him the right to require otherwise, Elzéar respected her resolve, regarded her as a sister, and himself vowed virginity. Together they later joined the Third Order of Saint Francis (about 1316–1317), under the influence of the Franciscan François de Meyronnes.

At Ansouis and then at Puimichel they vied in prayer, mortification, and charity. Elzéar drew up household rules so that his castle became a school of Christian virtue: officers were to banish the sensual and the impure; women residing there were to be virgins, widows, or chaste; men, noble or servant, were to live chastely and honestly. He visited hospitals, cared for the sick, and gave generous alms, yet never neglected his duties to his vassals.

On his father's death in 1309 he became Count of Ariano in Italy. By kindness he won the trust of subjects who had despised their Norman conquerors. In 1312 he marched to Rome at the head of King Robert of Naples's army to help expel Emperor Henry VII. Returning to Provence he again ordered his household in piety. From 1317 he served at Naples as tutor, then castellan, to Duke Charles, son of King Robert, and for a time as regent and royal counselor. He was godfather to the future Pope Urban V.

In 1323 he was sent as ambassador to the King of France to obtain the hand of Marie of Valois for Charles. At the worldly French court he edified all by his heroic virtues. Shortly after completing his mission he died in Paris on 27 September 1323. According to tradition his last words were: "Even if demonic powers are strong, never forget the work of redemption of Jesus Christ! Take courage; praised be God, I have won everything." His body was brought back and buried in the Franciscan habit in the church of the Friars Minor at Apt; the tomb was later destroyed in the French Revolution. Relics are kept at Ansouis and in the Cathedral of Sainte-Anne at Apt.

His canonization, sought earlier under John XXII and Clement VI, was signed by his godson Urban V (15 April 1369) and promulgated by Gregory XI (5 January 1371). The bulls present him as the model of the Christian knight, generous to the poor, intense in mystical life, and unshakably attached to the Church. Delphine, who shared his works and later gave all to the poor, is venerated as blessed.

May Saint Elzéar obtain for us the grace of chaste fidelity and generous charity toward the poor.