Today, February 26, is the memorial of Saint Victor the Hermit.
Victor was born in Troyes, Champagne, France in the 7th century. He came from a pious well-to-do and well-educated Christian family. It seemed Victor grew up embracing the virtuous life. Even as a youth, he was already practising a high degree of prayer, fasting, and alms-giving.
After his priestly ordination, he discerned that contemplation and the care of souls was his ministry. He realized that a life in seclusion was God’s will for him. Thus, he became a hermit in the region around Montiramy.
With God’s blessings, Victor performed many miracles throughout his life. Despite the fame that came with his miracles, Victor remained humble and focused only on God. Those who met or heard about him were inspired and even converted by his good examples.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux admired Victor so much that the Doctor of the Church wrote speeches and texts and delivered sermons praising the holy hermit.
Bernard stated, “Now placed in heaven, he beholds God clearly, revealed to him, swallowed up in joy, but not forgetting us.”
Victor died of natural causes in Saturnian, now known as Saint-Vittre in the Troyes diocese.