Walter of Pontoise

Born at Andainville, he was a professor of philosophy and rhetoric before becoming a Benedictine monk at Rebais (diocese of Meaux). A story told of him is that while a novice, Walter took pity on an inmate at the monastery prison and helped the prisoner to escape. Walter left his position at Pontoise to become a monk at Cluny under Hugh but he was forced to return to Pontoise. ==Veneration==

Walter was buried in the abbey at Pontoise. He was canonized by Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen, in 1153, and was the last saint in Western Europe to be canonized by an authority other than the pope. "The last case of canonization by a metropolitan is said to have been that of St. Gaultier, or Gaucher, abbat [sic] of Pontoise, by the Archbishop of Rouen, A.D. 1153. A decree of Pope Alexander III, A.D. 1170, gave the prerogative to the pope thenceforth, so far as the Western Church was concerned." During the French Revolution, his body was translated to the cemetery of Pontoise, and was later lost. The College of Saint Martin of Pontoise, now an Oratorian foundation, celebrates his feast. == References ==