Felix of Valois

About Felix of Valois

Felix of Valois is honored in Trinitarian tradition as a companion of John of Matha at the beginnings of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity. The order’s own account names a Felix who was minister at Marseille among early collaborators, but it does not prove that this documented person was the later figure called Felix of Valois.

Later Trinitarian stories place Felix among the hermits of Cerfroid and give him a Valois family origin, meetings with John, and a vision of a deer bearing the order’s cross.

The order explicitly acknowledges that documentation for Felix’s existence and early cult is weak and that popular hagiography shaped the story especially from the fifteenth century. The New Catholic Encyclopedia judges the historical existence of Felix of Valois doubtful. The order nevertheless records recognition of his immemorial cult by Pope Alexander VII and celebrates his memory on 4 November.