Guillaume d'Eygliers

Who they were

Born crippled and without his right hand in a poor village near Embrun, William worked humbly as a shepherd for the monastery of Oulx. His devotion led him to become a canon regular, studying theology and being ordained priest. According to legend, an angel appeared to him three times ordering him to warn the prior of an imminent flood of the Durance that would engulf the monastery; only at the third apparition did the angel, as a sign of confirmation, miraculously heal William of his infirmity, at last persuading the prior to build a new monastery in a safe place.

Sent as superior to the priory of Notre-Dame de Chalmes, William worked to promote pilgrimages to the shrine there. His reputation for holiness spread quickly. He died, it is thought, in 1046.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Canon regular and prior of Notre-Dame de Chalmes, said to have been miraculously healed of a lifelong disability; died in 1046.