Saint Ursus of Cahors

After placing commendable persons at the head of these pious houses, he went to Touraine, where he founded two other abbeys: the first at Sennevières (Indre-et-Loire), which he left with his instructions to the care of his faithful companion Leobatus, the second in a place named Loches (Indre Loches Site of the saint's major foundation and burial place. -et-Loire), on the Indre river, on the slope of a mountain dominated by a solid castle. Renouncing to push his pilgrimage further, he settled himself in this place, with a Congregation of monks who had placed themselves under his rule to glorify the Lord and earn their living by the sweat of their brow, following these beautiful words of the apostle Saint Paul: "Work with your hands, so that you may be able to relieve the needy and the afflicted. He who does not work shall not eat."

As he had received from heaven the gift of miracles, he healed the sick, delivered the possessed with the mere breath of his mouth, and performed, in the name of the Lord, many other excellent works. He lived in great abstinence and recommended to his disciples that they should not cast their eyes or their thoughts upon impure things. However, while imposing these wise and rigorous doctrines upon the monks, he took great care that their strength should not be spent in useless fatigue, and, to spare them the trouble of turning the millstone that ground their wheat themselves, he had the ingenious idea of substituting for the arms of men a watermill, set in motion by the current of the Indre. Havi ng ther l'Indre River on which the miraculous mill was built. efore planted stakes joined by large blocks of stone across the river, so as to form a sluice, he gathered the entire mass of water into a channel, which made the wheel turn with prodigious speed and provided for the needs of the community under the supervision of a single brother, which significantly reduced the labor of the monks.

However, S ichlaire, Sichlaire Favorite of Alaric and antagonist of the saint in the episode of the mill. a favorite of Al Alaric King whose ministers ordered the martyrdom of Anthony. aric, King of the Visigoths, having heard of this curious machine, went to Loches to see it, and was so amazed by it that he said to our Saint: "Give me your mill so that it may become part of my estate, and I will pay you whatever you wish."

But the Saint replied: "I cannot give you what we have had such trouble building with our meager means, for our brothers would die of hunger." — "If you wish to cede it willingly," added Sichlaire, "I will thank you for it. Otherwise, I will take it by force, or I will build another whose sluices will prevent your wheel from turning." — "You cannot go against the will of God," the Saint replied, "and you shall not have this mill with our consent."

Furious at this refusal, but not daring to use violence, Sichlaire built a similar machine downstream which, by causing the water to back up, prevented the monastery's mill from turning and rendered it useless. Seeing this, the brother miller came to find the abbot around midnight, as he was praying in his oratory, and said to him: "Father Abbot, rise and commend us to God; for the wheel is stopped by the swelling of the river and the dams of Sichlaire." At this news, the abbot dispatched messengers to the religious of all his monasteries, to enjoin them to immediately begin praying and to suspend their other occupations until further notice. Then he himself fell to his knees again, and remained for two days and two nights in his oratory, never ceasing to implore the Lord.

The third day was beginning to dawn when the monk in charge of guarding the mill ran up, full of joy, announcing that the wheel was turning with as much speed and ease as in the past. Desirous of knowing the cause of this happy change, our Saint went out with the brothers and headed toward the mill of Sichlaire. Upon arriving at the place where it had stood the day before, what was his surprise to see neither building, nor canal, nor sluice. In vain he looked into the depths of the water and had the river sounded; he could not discover the slightest trace of the mill, and since then, no one has found any stone, wood, or iron from it, any more than if it had never existed. It was therefore necessary to believe that, by a higher will, the earth had opened to swallow up and make disappear from the eyes of men a machine built in spite of and to the detriment of the servants of God. Then the holy Abbot sent word to the religious of his monasteries: 'Cease your prayers and resume your work; for the Lord has avenged our injury.'

After this event, the holy man lived for a long time in the same places, surrounded by the respect and love of all, and, when his hour had come, he made a good end worthy of his life and departed for his heavenly homeland. His mortal remains, committed to the earth, called down the blessing of heaven upon the region. Demoniacs were healed and the blind were enlightened by visiting his tomb. The brothers to whom he had entrusted the direction of his houses were confirmed in their posts by the benevolence of the bishops of Touraine and Berry, and Leobat continued to direct the abbey of Sennevieres, where he gently ended his days and found his burial place. The parish of Loches is dedicated to Saint Ours and that of Sennevieres to S aint Leobat. saint Léobat Companion of Saint Ursus and abbot of Sennevières. Acta Sanctorum, translation by M. Veillat, in his Pieuses Legendes du Berry. — Cf. Baillet, Godescard.