Saint Landry of Paris

Landry, also called Landericus, was bishop of Paris in the middle of the seventh century, during the reign of the Frankish king Clovis II. Little is known of his early life, but the chronicles remember him for his compassion. When a severe famine struck the region, he gave away his own goods and then sold the sacred vessels of his church to buy food for the poor.

Tradition credits him with founding, near the cathedral of Paris, a house to shelter and nurse the sick poor, which grew into the Hôtel-Dieu, often called the oldest hospital in the city. In 652 he signed a charter granting privileges to the abbey of Saint-Denis. He died around 661 and was buried in the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, where his memory was long honored.

Paris once had a church named Saint-Landry on the Île de la Cité, close to the Hôtel-Dieu, which held his relics until it was demolished in the nineteenth century. His feast is remembered especially by hospital chaplains and Catholic health workers in France.

His example of selling treasures to feed people has inspired many charitable works.