Saint Leoncio II de Burdeos

Leontius (died before 574) was Bishop of Bordeaux in the mid-6th century and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. The few historical details regarding the life of Saint Leontius are known thanks to the Historia Francorum of Gregory of Tours and the Carmina of Venantius Fortunatus. According to the latter, Leontius, the successor to a bishop of the same name, was the thirteenth pastor of Bordeaux and lived for 54 years. Venantius Fortunatus met Leontius after arriving in Bordeaux between 567 and 570; Leontius therefore died during or shortly after this period and before 574, the year in which his successor, Bertecramnus, is first documented. Born into a noble Gallo-Roman family, he took part in a military expedition to Spain in his youth. He was married to Placidina, a great-granddaughter of Sidonius Apollinaris. He later became Bishop of Bordeaux and is documented as such at several councils held in Gaul: the Fifth Council of Orléans in 549, where he was represented by the priest Vincent; Paris in 553, where the Parisian bishop Saffaracus was deposed; and again in Paris around 560. At an uncertain time between 561 and 567, he convened a provincial council in Saintes. In contemporary sources, he is remembered above all for his work as a builder. He is credited with the construction of the cathedral of Bordeaux and the basilicas of Saint Vincent at Mas-d'Agenais, Saint Nazarius at Sainte-Foy, and Saint Vivian at Saintes, in addition to numerous structures begun by his predecessors and completed by him. The current martyrology, reformed according to the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, commemorates the holy bishop on July 11 with these words: