Honoratus

Honoratus (French: Saint Honorat; c. 350 – 6 January 429) was the founder of Lérins Abbey who later became an early Archbishop of Arles. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.¹

Life

Honoratus was born in the north of Gaul to a consular Roman family.² He received an outstanding education.³ He converted to Christianity with his brother Venantius and embarked with him from Marseille about 368, under the guidance of a holy person named Caprasius, to visit the holy places of Palestine and the lauræ of Syria and Egypt. The sudden death of Venantius at Methone, Achaia prevented the pious travellers from going further. They returned to Gaul through Italy, and, after having stopped at Rome, Honoratus went on into Provence. Encouraged by Leontius of Fréjus, he took up his abode on the wild Lérins Island today called the Île Saint-Honorat, with the intention of living there in solitude.⁴

Lerins

Numerous disciples soon gathered around Honoratus, including Lupus of Troyes, Eucherius of Lyon, and . Thus was founded the , which has enjoyed so great a celebrity status and which was, during the 5th and 6th centuries, a nursery for illustrious bishops and remarkable ecclesiastical writers. His Rule of Life was chiefly borrowed from that of St. . It is believed trained there for his missionary work in Ireland.