Biography
Desideratus of Besancon
About Desideratus of Besancon
Desideratus is remembered at Lons-le-Saunier as a bishop of Besançon whose grave became a place of veneration. The diocesan proper cites an episcopal catalogue that places both his death and burial at Lons. His position in that list suggests a death around 415; it does not establish an exact year.
The surviving record is much clearer about his burial church than about his life. In his study of the church, G. Duhem dates the death approximately to 414. He distinguishes the tradition of a fourth-century church from the first explicit written reference to the building, which he dates to 1083. That document concerns the transfer of rights over the church to the abbot of Baume.
Later records trace the religious community around the grave. Duhem identifies a papal bull of 1147 that names the monastery of Saint-Désiré as a Benedictine priory dependent on Baume. These documents concern the continuing place of remembrance, centuries after the bishop’s lifetime.
The diocesan account records his feast at Lons on July 27. It also describes the surviving sarcophagus, profaned in 1794, in a crypt built in the eleventh century using older elements. His remembrance thus remains closely tied to a particular burial place and to the early Christian community of the Jura.
Wondering how to weigh the stories and sources? Learn how to read a saint biography.