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William of Maleval

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Roman Catholic saint
William of Maleval
San Guglielmo by Antonio Nasini
Hermit
BornPoitiers, France
Died10 February 1157
Maleval
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Canonized8 May 1202, Rome, Papal States by Pope Innocent III
Major shrineLaoag City
Feast10 February
Attributescross; skull
PatronageLaoag City, Ilocos Norte, Talisay, Batangas, Bacolor, Pampanga, Buting, Pasig, Dalaguete, Cebu, Magsingal, Ilocos Sur

William of Maleval (French: Guillaume de Malavalle), also known as William the Hermit or William the Great, was a French Christian and the founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites, an early branch of the Hermits of St. Augustine. He was beatified in 1202.

Sources

The account of his life, written by his disciple Albert, who lived with him during his last year at Maleval, has been lost. Written accounts of his life by Theodobald, or Thibault, given by the Bollandists, is unreliable because it has been interpolated with the lives of at least two other Williams.

Life

A Frenchman by birth, he spent some years in a dissolute life in the military. After a number of chapters in which Theodobald confuses him with St. William of Gellone, Duke of Aquitaine, he says that William went to Rome, where he had an interview with Pope Eugene III, who ordered him to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in penance for his sins.

Though Theodobald's account of his interview with the pope does not carry conviction, the fact of this visit and his subsequent pilgrimage to Jerusalem is supported by excerpts from the older life, which are preserved by responsories and antiphons in his liturgical feast Office. He seems to have remained at Jerusalem for one or two years, not nine as Theodobald relates.

About 1153 he returned to Tuscany, sometimes living as a hermit, sometimes as a member of a religious community. At first he led a hermit's life in a wood near Pisa. He was prevailed upon to undertake the government of a monastery in the area, but being unsuccessful in attempting to reform the monks tepidity and indolence, he retired first to Monte Pruno, and finally in 1155 in the desert valley of Stabulum Rodis, later known as Maleval, in the territory of Castiglione della Pescaia, Diocese of Grosseto, where he was joined by Albert.

He died on 10 February 1157 (his feast day). His cult soon spread throughout much of Tuscany, and he was canonized in 1202. After his death, two of his followers formed the Order of Saint William, which later joined the Augustinians.

Veneration

William is the patron saint of Castiglione della Pescaia. William is honored by the Augustinians, who founded a number of parishes in the Philippines named for him.

Other churches include:

See also

References

  1. ^ Webster, Douglas Raymund. "St. William of Maleval." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 30 May 2021 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. Monks of Ramsgate. "William of Maleval". Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 7 February 2017Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. Alban Butler, Alban. "Saint William of Maleval, Hermit, and Institutor of the Order of Gulielmites". Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints, 1866Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. "St. William the Hermit", Midwest Augustinians
  5. "Between sin and holiness: the life of Saint William of Maleval", Castiglione della Pescaia
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. William of Maleval". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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