Saint Felix of Valois
![[Saint Felix of Valois]](saintf3p.jpg "jpg detail of an antique holy card of Saint Felix of Valois; please do not write to ask about the image; thanks Eugene")
- Memorial
- 20 November
- Profile
- Son of Count Raoul de Vermandois et de Valois and Alienor de Champagne.
As a child he received the blessings of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and Pope Innocent II.
Educated at the abbey of Clairvaux.
As a young man, following his parents' extremely disruptive divorce, he renounced his wealth and took the name Felix.
Cistercian monk at Clairvaux.
Hermit in the Italian Alps.
Priest.
Hermit in the forest of Galeresse, diocese of Meaux.
Friend and spiritual teacher of Saint John of Matha.
The two of the founded the Order of the Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives (Trinitarians; Redemptionists) in order to ransom Christians held as slaves by Moors in Spain and Northern Africa.
The Order received papal approval on 17 December 1198, and within 40 years there were over 600 houses worldwide.
Today there are around 600 members of the Order working in prison ministries in over twenty countries, and they recently celebrated their 800 year anniversary.
- Born
- April 1127 in the province of Valois, France as Hugh
- Died
-
4 November 1212 at the Cerfroi monastery, Picardy, France of natural causes
buried in the church in Cerfroi, which became a pilgrimage destination
- Name Meaning
- happy (felix)
- Canonized
-
1 May 1262 by Pope Urban IV
confirmed on 21 October 1666 by Pope Alexander VII
feast day fixed in 1679 by Pope Innocent XI
- Representation
-
banner
flag
old man in Trinitarian habit with a coronet at his feet
purse
slave
Trinitarian with a stag nearby
Trinitarian with chains or captives nearby
with Saint John of Matha
with the Holy Trinity
- Additional Information
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Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Catholic Encyclopedia, by Michael M O'Kane
Catholic Online
Encyclopedia Brittanica
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Google Directory
Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
New Catholic Dictionary
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
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