Saint Germà de Talloires

Germain of Talloires (1018 – died in Talloires, 1050) was an 11th-century Benedictine monk and later a hermit. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. He should not be confused with Saint Germain of Montfort (906–1000), a priest and also a Benedictine monk of Talloires. It is said that he was born in Flanders and studied in Paris before joining the Benedictine Order. Around 1020, Abbot Iterius of Savigny sent him with others to found a monastery near Lake Annecy, in Talloires, where a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary already existed. Germain served as the prior of the new monastery, which was dependent on Savigny. There, he was the tutor of Bernard of Menthon, who later became a saint. Later, back in Talloires, he retired to live as a hermit for about forty years in a mountain cave above the present-day village of Saint-Germain-de-Joux, where he spent his days before descending to the monastery to spend the night. He died there around 1018 or 1050. Veneration of the hermit is recorded from the 12th century, and in the 15th century, a chapel was built at the hermitage where he had lived. His life was written in Latin in 1621. Pope Urban VIII canonized him.