Venerable Julian of Cuenca

Julián of Cuenca (c. 1127 – 28 January 1208), also known as Saint Julián, was a Spanish Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Cuenca from 1196 until his death. He also served as a professor and preacher in addition to being a simple hermit. He became a bishop after the Moors were driven from Cuenca and he made pastoral visits to the people in his diocese where he fed prisoners and provided grain for the poor farmers. But he never forgot his desire to live in solitude and made annual trips where he could best find silence before reemerging to resume his episcopal duties. His canonization was solemnized on 18 October 1594. Julián was born in Burgos to the nobleman Tauro, perhaps in a Mozarabic family. He studied at the cathedral school there before he studied at the University of Palencia where he earned his doctorate. He was appointed a professor in the philosophical and theological departments in Palencia in 1153. During his time in Palencia he worked as a basket-maker and maker of other trade goods in order to earn extra income for the poor as well to support himself. In 1163 he left Palencia and his teaching duties to live a life of solitude in a modest house outside Burgos located on the banks of the Arlanzón. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1166 after having received the minor orders. He and his companion Lesmes lived a life of mortification and contemplation. He and his friend took to the road as itinerant preachers and reached both Córdoba and Toledo in 1191. But this solitude and travelling ended in 1191 when the Archbishop of Toledo Martín II López de Pisuerga appointed Julián as the archdeacon at Toledo. He exercised his administrative duties but continued preaching as well as making baskets in order to generate income for the poor. Julián served as the archdeacon until the Bishop of Cuenca Juan Yáñez died and Alfonso VIII of Castile chose Julián to succeed Yáñez in 1196.