Saint Tarcice of Rodez

Saint Tarcice had three brothers: Arnoul , treasurer of Charlemagne; Sa int Ferréol, Bishop of Uzès; and S aint Modéric, who was the second Bishop of Larzac, a diocese o f Rouerg ue, around the 7th century, of which only the memory remains. The first years of Tarcice were spent in the service of God. To be freer to serve Him, she even renounced the advantages of an opulent house and left her country by a particular inspiration of the Holy Spirit. After various pilgrimages, she came to Rouergue, and settled in the parish of Rodelle, in the middle of the woods, in deep solitude, isolated from all contact with the world. There, like another Mary, she chose the better part. Her habitual occupation was to converse with her God through prayer, living alone in a cave that is still visited today, the entrance of which was as if closed by brushwood. The Lord wished to provide for her sustenance Himself and miraculously supply her food: it is said that a goat came to offer her its milk at fixed hours.

Saint Tarcice spent several years in this solitude. Then, one day, an extraordinary light was seen shining over the cave; people rushed there and found the holy body of Tarcice, inanimate, exhaling a celestial fragrance. Transported to Rodez by th e bis hop assisted by his clergy, amidst an immense gathering of people, the relics of Saint Tarcice were the object of universal veneration, especially in the monastery of Saint- Sernin, below Rodez, wher e, until 1791, the nuns, almost all from noble families, took pride in invoking her as the source of their patronesses and honored her with a particular cult. The relics of Saint Tarcice, which escaped the revolutionary turmoil, are today kept in one of the rich reliquaries of the cathedral, and are surrounded, as in the past, by the trust and love of the pious faithful. — Hagiographers wrongly place the relics of Saint Tarcice in the church of Saint-Vincent, in Rodez; this church no longer exists, if it ever existed.

Not far from the cave where the holy life of our blessed Tarcice flowed, in the woods of Rodelle, is a fountain whose water is regarded as very effective against eye ailments, thanks to the blessings that Tarcice had given to this fountain, which was a witness to the merits of her life.