Vigils Reading – St William of Bourges

ST WILLIAM OF BOURGES

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints

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Guillaume de Donjeon came from a distinguished family of Nevers on the

river Loire in central France. He was educated by his uncle Peter, who was

archdeacon of Soissons north-east of Paris. At an early age he was appointed canon

on Soissons and then of Paris. He felt the call to the solitary life, however, and

retired to Grandmont Abbey. A dispute there disturbed his peace, and he joined

the stricter Cistercian Order, being clothed at the abbey of Pontigny. He was

elected abbot of two smaller abbeys dependent on Pontigny, first Fontaine-Jean

then Chalis, near Senlis.

When Henri de Sully, archbishop of Bourges, died, a successor was sought

from among the Cistercian Abbots. William was elected by a process of drawing

the first of three names from slips placed on the altar by Henri’s brother Eudes,

bishop of Paris, a choice that confirmed the vote of the clergy. William would have

refused the appointment had he not received direct orders to take it up both from

Pope Innocent III and from his religious superior, the Abbot of Citeaux. He proved

to be a model bishop, austere in private life, wearing a hair shirt and abstaining

from red meat, and full of pastoral care for the spiritual and material welfare of the

poor, whom he saw as his first responsibility. He defended the rights of his church,

including its lands, against threatened encroachment by the civil powers, arguing

his case successfully even against the king.

The Albigensians were numerous in France at this time, and he was active in

crusading against them, making many converts. He was preparing a mission to

them when his final illness came upon him. He preached a last sermon to his

people, which brought on a high fever and hastened his end. At his request he was

laid on a bed of ashes, and he died with the first two words of the Nocturns on his

lips, just after midnight on January 10, 1209. His body was interred in the

cathedral of Bourges, and many miracles were attributed to him. A shrine was

accordingly built in 1217, and he was canonized by Pope Honorius III the following

year.