6th November is the day for celebrating the life
of Saint Leonard of Noblac, who lived in 6th century France.
He was a nobleman at the court of King Clovis. When both he
and the king had been converted to Christianity he renounced his privileged
status and also turned down the king’s offer of a bishopric. Instead, he
settled for the life of a hermit, in a hut in the forest near Limoges.
The story runs that the king and queen went hunting in the
forest, despite the queen being heavily pregnant. Indeed, the action of riding
a horse sent the queen into labour and it soon became clear that the birth
would not go smoothly.
Fortunately, the king and queen were close to Leonard’s hut,
and he offered to help. Not being trained in midwifery, Leonard did what he knew
best, which was to pray. The prayers worked and the baby was delivered safely.
The king was extremely grateful and offered Leonard a
reward, which was as much land as he could ride round in a day on his donkey.
That might sound like a strange offer to make to someone who had already
decided to forego worldly possessions, and it might also be thought to pose
practical problems – what size circle do you intend to ride, based on whether
you expect the donkey to be on good or poor form?
However, Leonard set off on his ride and apparently coaxed
the donkey into a rare turn of speed, because by the end of the day he was the
master of a large tract of land, on which he founded the Abbey of Noblac in
central France (which is now , incidentally, a UNESCO World Heritage site).
Clovis also granted Leonard the promise that any prisoner he
converted to Christianity would be granted his release (question – would the
prisoners be told this before Leonard turned up? That sounds like a recipe for
full churches and empty prisons!).
St Leonard of Noblac therefore has two main spheres of
responsibility, namely pregnant women and prisoners, particularly political
prisoners and prisoners of war.
© John Welford
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