Pierre de Castelnau
| Blessed Pierre de Castelnau | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Diocese of Montpellier, France |
| Died |
15 January 1208 Rhône valley, Provence, France |
| Sainthood | |
| Beatified |
1208 by Pope Innocent III |
Pierre de Castelnau (died 15 January 1208), French ecclesiastic, was born in the diocese of Montpellier.
He was archdeacon of Maguelonne, and in 1199 was appointed by Pope Innocent III as one of the legates for the suppression of the Cathar heresy in Languedoc. In 1202, he became a Cistercian monk at the abbey of Fontfroide, Narbonne, and he was confirmed as Apostolic legate and first inquisitor, first in Toulouse, and afterwards at Viviers and Montpellier.[1]
In 1207 he was in the Rhone valley and in Provence, where he became involved in the strife between the count of Baux and Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse. Castelnau was assassinated on 15 January 1208, quite possibly by an agent of Raymond. His murder was the immediate cause of Raymond's excommunication and the start of the Albigensian Crusade.[2]
He was beatified in the year of his death by Pope Innocent III, who held Raymond responsible. The relics of Pierre de Castelnau are interred in the church of the ancient Abbey of St-Gilles.[1]
References
- 1 2 Obrecht, Edmond. "Blessed Pierre de Castelnau." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 29 February 2016
- ↑ Zoe Oldenbourg. The Massacre at Montsegur. A History of the Albigensian Crusade. Phoenix, 2006. p. 3,4. ISBN 1-84212-428-5.
Sources
- Graham-Leigh, Elaine. The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005. ISBN 1-84383-129-5
- De la Bouillerie, Le Bienheureux Pierre de Castelnau et les Albigeois au XIII' siècle (Paris, 1866).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pierre de Castelnau". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Blessed Pierre de Castelnau". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.