06 September - Originally from Garrigues near Nîmes in the Gard, Bertrand was seduced by holiness and by St. Dominic's plan to convert the Cathars through prayer and the example of a life of poverty and austerity.
In 1216 Dominic appointed him prior of the convent of Toulouse. Then he sent him to Paris to found a convent in the heart of the University, then the first in Christian Europe. In 1217 he founded the convent of Saint-Jacques.
Back in his native region, he founded several other establishments in Montpellier and Avignon. He became provincial of the South of France (Provence Alpes Pyrénées) in 1221.
After the death of St. Dominic, he assisted the sisters of the Monastery of Prouille, a refuge for converted Cathar women.
Bertrand de Garrigues died on April 18, 1230 during a retreat he preached in a Cistercian abbey in the Drôme, the Abbey of Bouchet, near Orange, where he had retired. In the church of the abbey is his tombstone. For centuries, his tomb was the object of many pilgrimages; his statue was venerated by the faithful who had made him a saint. Many miracles are cited of him.
In 1870 the bishop of Valence, Monsignor Francis Guelette, gave his approval to the ancient cult of Bertrand de Garrigues in his diocese. From then on, the beatification was proposed in Rome by the bishops of Paris, Toulouse, Marseille, Valence, Nîmes, as well as by the Dominican Order to which he belonged. Finally, Pope Leo XIII, in 1881, gave his approval and authorized the office in honor of Bertrand de Garrigues in the dioceses of Nîmes and Valence with the date of September 6 as the feast day of the Blessed.
