St. Honoratus

St. Honoratus was born around 350 into a noble Gallo-Roman family, and died around 430 at Arles in Gaul (modern France). A convert from paganism, he renounced his rank and, after travels in the East to learn the monastic life, returned to found around the year 410 a monastery on the then-deserted island of Lérins off the southern coast of Gaul.

Under his gentle and wise guidance, Lérins grew into one of the most influential monastic communities of the West and a great nursery of learning and holiness, producing an extraordinary number of future bishops and saints — including St. Vincent of Lérins. Near the end of his life Honoratus was called to serve as archbishop of Arles, where his brief episcopate was marked by the same charity and holiness. Honored as a father of monasticism in Gaul, he is venerated as a saint, his feast kept on 16 January.