Saint Robert of La Chaise-Dieu

Robert was born around the year 1000 near Aurillac, in Auvergne. For centuries he was believed to belong to the family of the counts of Aurillac; later studies made clear that he came from the Turlande family. Two stories are told about him from the moment he was born. The first: that his mother went into labor on her way to a nearby castle, had to stop in the woods and gave birth to him there. The second: that when she could no longer nurse him, she entrusted him to two wet nurses, and the baby refused the milk of both — because, the story says, those women did not lead a respectable life. As a boy he was sent to the canons of the basilica of Saint-Julien in Brioude, in the Haute-Loire, where a relative of his father was provost of the chapter. He stood out and was admitted to the clergy, then appointed treasurer of the collegiate church. It is said that he spent his nights in prayer and his days helping the poor. He went to Rome on pilgrimage intending to become a monk, but the pope sent him back. Home again in Auvergne, he withdrew with two companions to a high, bare place where the snow lies for months: they called it Casa Dei, the house of God, and that’s where the name La Chaise-Dieu comes from. Within a few years hundreds of monks gathered around those three men, and the abbey became one of the most important in France. He died at La Chaise-Dieu on April 17, 1067. If your name is Robert, today is your name day.