Saint Ménélé

Saint Meneleus (or Mauvier, Menele, Meneve, Menevius, Ménélée; died 720) was a French monk who founded the Menat Abbey. According to the 12th-century Vita Menelei and Vita S. Theofredi, Meneleus was descended from the Roman emperor Heraclius. He fled from home to avoid a marriage and met Theofredus, abbot of Saint-Chaffre. Meneleus entered this monastery and was trained by the abbot for several years. An angel then directed him to return to the spot where he had met Theofredus, where he fell asleep below an oak. The angel reappeared and told him to build a monastery on the spot, which became Menat Abbey. His female relatives could not live without him, and after a desperate search found him at Menat. A cella was built for them 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) away, with the church of Sainte-Marie of Lisseul. The monks of St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate wrote in their Book of Saints (1921), The hagiographer Alban Butler (1710–1773) wrote in his Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints under April 12,