William Firmatus
{{short description|Norman hermit and pilgrim}}
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|name=William Firmatus
|birth_date=1026
|death_date={{death year and age|1103|1026}}
|image=Crâne de saint Guillaume Firmat, collégiale Saint-Évroult, Mortain, France.jpg
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|caption=Relics of William Firmatus in Mortain (France).
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William Firmatus ({{langx|fr|Guillaume Firmat}}; 1026–1103) was a Norman hermit and pilgrim of the eleventh century.
Life
William Firmatus was a canon and a physician of Tours, France.{{cite web | last =Jippé | first =Pégé | title =Prénoms de GUDULE à GUILLAUME | date =2006-09-17 | url =http://pgjp.free.fr/Prenoms.php?Lettre=G&Page=10 | accessdate =2007-04-24|language=fr}} Following a spiritual prompting against greed, he gave away all his possessions to the poor.{{cite web | last = Jones | first = Terry | title = William Firmatus | work = Patron Saints Index | url=http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintw47.htm | accessdate = 2007-04-24}} He lived a reclusive life with his mother until he entered a hermitage near Laval, Mayenne.{{cite web | title =St. William Firmatus | work =Saints and Angels | publisher =Catholic Online | url =http://www.catholiconline.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2118 | accessdate =2007-04-24}} He spent the rest of his life on pilgrimages and as a hermit at Savigny and Mantilly.
According to legend, he saved the people of Choilley-Dardenay during drought by striking the ground with his pilgrim's staff, which caused a spring of water to bubble up. He died in 1103 of natural causes.
File:Giotto - Legend of St Francis - -15- - Sermon to the Birds.jpg, by Giotto (1266). The life of William Firmatus evinced a similar relationship with nature.]]
=Relationship with wild animals=
William is especially noted for his love of wildlife and the unusual level of communication he seemed to have with animals. This was so much so that the local people used to ask his help with animals that raided their crops.{{cite web | last =Michaelian | first =William | title =The Conversation Continues | work =I'm Telling You All I Know | url =http://www.williammichaelian.com/conversation/conversation24.html | accessdate =2007-04-24}} One particular story to this effect involves a wild boar, which William is said to have led by the ear from a farmer's plot, instructing it to fast for the night in a solitary cell.{{cite web | last= Whisson | first= Michael | title =The Feasts of April | work =The Spire | publisher =Cathedral of St Michael and St George | date =April 2002 | url =http://scifac.ru.ac.za/cathedral/spire/apr02/feasts.htm | accessdate =2007-04-24}}
The Little Bollandists go on to record, along with the boar miracle, that
{{Cquote|It is said of him that even the wildest birds would approach him without fear, and come and eat out of his hand, and take refuge under his clothes from the cold. When he sat by a pond near his cell, the fish would swim to his feet and readily allow themselves to be taken up by the servant of God, who put them back into the water without hurting them.{{cite book | title =The Church and Kindness to Animals | publisher =Burns & Oates | year =1906 | location =London | pages =[https://archive.org/details/churchandkindne00unkngoog/page/n39 23] | url =https://archive.org/details/churchandkindne00unkngoog| quote =william firmatus. }}}}
Veneration
Upon William's death, three townships disputed possession of his remains. The winner was Mortain, which, to procure the relics, used the full force of "its entire clergy and an innumerable crowd of its people".{{cite book | last =Murray | first =Alexander | title =Reason and Society in the Middle Ages | publisher =Oxford University Press | year =1978 | pages =400 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ybF9MyWGLTgC&dq=william+firmatus&pg=PA400 | isbn=0-19-822540-7}}
William is also venerated at Savigny and Mantilly.{{cite web | last =Rabenstein | first =Katherine | title =William Firmatus, Hermit | work =Saints O' the Day for April 24 | date =April 1999 | url =http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0424.htm | accessdate =2007-04-24 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070206174334/http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0424.htm |archivedate = 2007-02-06}} Catholic Encyclopedia mentions William in its article on Coutances, which accords him special honor as well, and mentions his patronage of the collegiate church of Mortain.{{cite encyclopedia | last=Goyau| first=Georges | title =Coutances | encyclopedia =The Catholic Encyclopedia | volume =4 | publisher =Robert Appleton Company | year =1908 | url =http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04455b.htm | accessdate =2007-04-24}}
=Iconography=
In art, William is often shown thrusting his arm into a fire. Also, he may be depicted with a raven, which is guiding him as a pilgrim to the Holy Land.
References
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Category:Medieval French saints