Saint Serenidus of Saulges

Serenidus of Saulges (French: Cénéré de Saulges, also variously spelled Sénéré, Céneré, Sérène, or Sérenède; c. 600 – c. 680) was a 7th-century Italian Benedictine monk. His feast day is celebrated on 7 May, with his brother Serenicus, or locally on 16 August. Born into a noble family in Umbria, a contemporary of fellow Umbrian, Martin the Confessor, his family's status could have had him appointed a cardinal-deacon in Rome. Deciding upon a different path, he travelled to the province of Maine in 649 during the reign of the Merovingian king Clovis II with his brother, Serenicus. His goal was to live as a life of secluded prayer-focused life hermit and to preach to the local populations. He was one of a number of evangelizing hermits in Maine (e.g. Saint Longis, Saint Ernier, Saint Fraimbaut, Saint Trèche, Saint Contantien). He is said to have caused a spring to well up on the site of his hermitage. After he died. the spring was venerated and became a pilgrimage site. The chapel was rebuilt in 1849 and called the Oratory of Saint Cénéré near Saulges in the diocese of Le Mans. His relics are kept at the oratory. He died in 680 following an illness and was initially buried in the Saint Peter's Church, Saulges. In the 8th century his relics were moved to the Cathedral Saint-Maurice in Angers; and were later returned and placed in the church at Saint-Céneré. a reliquary containing a small part of his body is exposed in the north transept of the Saint Peter's church. The source of the spring has been venerated, and a pilgrimage site, for more than a millennium. An annual pilgrimage takes place every August around the time of his saint's day. Many pilgrims come to venerate the relics of the saint in Saulges and see the miraculous spring that Serenidus is said to have caused to flow.