| Saint Vigor | |
| Death Date: | circa 537 AD |
| Feast Day: | November 1 |
| Venerated In: | Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church |
| Birth Place: | Artois |
Saint Vigor (French: Saint Vigor, Vigeur; Latin: Vigor, Vigorus) (died circa 537 AD) was a French bishop and Christian missionary.
Born into the nobility in Artois, he studied at Arras under Saint Vedast.[1] His father would not grant approval for him to become a priest, so he ran away from home, taking nothing with him, accompanied by an acolyte, Theodimir. Thereafter, he became a hermit preacher at Reviers, Calvados, and worked as a missionary. Vigor was named bishop of Bayeux around 514.[2]
He fervently opposed paganism and reputedly founded a monastery, later known as Saint-Vigor-le-Grand. In Bayeux, Normandy, he destroyed a pagan temple that was still in use and built a church on the grounds.[3]
Vigor was venerated from an early date in Bayeux, where he had been bishop. His cult as a saint is attested in 834 by mention of a relic at Le Mans.[4] Around 987 Vigor's relics came to the Abbey of Saint-Riquier in Ponthieu. Saint-Ouen Abbey, Rouen held a copy of the Vita Vigoris; John Howe dates the "vita"s composition to the beginning of the eleventh century.[5] In 1032 Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, founded an abbey dedicated to Saint Vigor on the site of an older monastery destroyed by the Normans during their invasion.[6]
The successful Norman conquest brought his cult to England. His name appears in an eleventh-century breviary at Worcester, possibly introduced by bishop Samson or Theulf, both of whom had been canons at Bayeux.[7]
Two English churches have been dedicated to Vigor; one in Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, the other in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset.[8] His feast falls on All Saints' Day (November 1), and as a result is often moved to another date. Saint Vigor is mentioned in the life (vita) of Saint Paternus.[3]