Didier of Cahors

Merovingian official

Saint Didier, also known as Desiderius (c. 580 AD – November 15, 655 Didier was ordained by Sulpitius the Pious, bishop of Bourges, on April 8, 630, and governed the diocese, which flourished under his care, until his death in 655. Didier's career, like that of his brothers, is an example of a church and a monastic system controlled by the ruling, landholding class that was closely linked to the Merovingian monarchy. "This was no innovation of this period, but rather represented a continuation of a state of affairs which had existed since late Roman and early Merovingian times".

Born in the oppidum of Albi about the year 580, to a father with the expressly Christian name of Salvius and a literate mother with the Frankish name Herchenfreda, Desiderius had two brothers, named Rusticus and Syagrius. The three boys were sent to the court of the Frankish king Clotaire II (584–629; from 613 sole sovereign), and with other boys of noble family received an excellent education at the Merovingian court school. Rusticus assumed holy orders at an early age and became archdeacon in the town of Rodez before being appointed abbot of the palatine basilica of Clotaire, who at length appointed him bishop of Cahors, in Quercy. The second brother, Syagrius, after long service in the palace household of the Franks and long familiarity with Clotaire, was made comte d’Albi and exercised juridical authority as praefectus in the city of Marseille. Desiderius combined a love of letters with a native Gallican eloquence, according to his Vita. While still adolescent he received the dignities of the royal household and turned his studies towards Roman (i. e. canon) law, with the result that a Roman gravity of demeanor tempered the gallic richness and brilliance of his discourse. Before long he was appointed treasurer to the king, an office that he retained under the new king, Dagobert I (629–639), whose confidant he was. After the death of Syagrius (629), he is said to have obtained also the prefectship of Marseilles, but this is not certain. His body was carried to Cahors and interred in the church of St Amantius. A Vita of Desiderius has been composed around the late 8th century by an anonymous author, possibly a monk from Saint Géry near Cahors, written on the basis of older documents. Appended to it is a collection of letters, some composed by himself and others addressed to him, as well as an account of miracles that took place at his tomb. His feast is celebrated on 15 November.

Anthyme Saint Paul, in his Histoire monumentale de la France, nominated Didier as "le dernier des Romains" ("the last of the Romans") because of his building activities as bishop. Didier's lifelong correspondence with other aristocrats that he befriended in his youth also represents the very end of ancient epistolography dating back to the Hellenistic period. Didier was fully educated in literary studies, grammar and Roman laws. His small literary circle clearly attempted to preserve Roman heritage and traditions going back to Vergil and Homer, and the ability to speak the language of the past was valued. But Didier and his circle were remarkably few in number, indicating that only a very few individuals were participating in 7th century literary society. His letter collection marks the end of an unbroken chain of not only literary style but also cultural and social connection that can be traced back to Cicero and before. Subsequent surviving letter collections from the late Merovingian and Carolingian periods lack a direct connection to any ancient models.