- Vitalis of Savigny
Saint Vitalis of Savigny (ca. 1060 —
16 September ,1122 ) is thecanonized founder of theSavigny Abbey and theCongregation of Savigny (1112).Life
He was born as Vital de Mortain in
Normandy atTierceville nearBayeux about 1060-5. His parents were named Rainfred and Rohais. We know nothing of his early years; after ordination he becamechaplain to DukeWilliam the Conqueror 's brother,Robert of Mortain (died 1100). Vitalis gained the respect and confidence of Robert, who bestowed upon him acanonry in the abbey church ofSaint Evroul atMortain , which he had founded in 1082.But Vitalis felt within him a desire for a more perfect state of life. He gave up his canonry in 1095, settled at
Dompierre , 19 miles east of Mortain, and became one of the leaders of thehermit colony of the forest ofCraon . Here for seventeen years he lived an ascetic life. At the same time he concerned himself, likeRobert of Arbrissel , with the salvation of the surrounding population, giving practical help to the outcasts who gathered round him.He was a great
preacher , remarkable for zeal, insensible to fatigue, and fearlessly outspoken; he is said to have attempted to reconcileHenry I of England with his brother,Robert Curthose . He seems to have visited England and a considerable part of western France, but Normandy was the chief scene of his labours. Between 1105 and 1120 he founded a nunnery,Abbaye Blanche , at Mortain, with his sister Adeline, later canonized, as abbess. He died at Savigny, on 16 September, 1122.
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