Career
Although the main focus of his worship was in the small village of Brioude, he was originally from the city of Vienne, and also associated with Clermont. He was most famous through his association with an aristocratic family of bishops of the time, his most notable proponents being Saint Gallus of Clermont and Saint Gregory of Tours (the latter best known for his Ten Books of Histories). Gregory wrote a vita of Julian, but his attempts to expand the saint"s cult from the Auvergne to Touraine and Aquitaine were unsuccessful, and Julian is now only remembered through his basilica in the town of Brioude itself.
Little is known of the life of Saint Julian.
Having decapitated the saint, his executioners took his head to Vienne, leaving the body to be buried in Brioude by two old men, who received an invigorating miracle that made them feel young again thereafter. This was simply the first of a series of miracles, healing several people (including Street Gallus, Street Gregory and Gregory"s brother Peter) of various afflictions, punishing the wicked, and even defeating the armies of King Theuderic I during the "Ravaging of the Auvergne".
After this episode, the miracles stopped being focused solely on Brioude and its environs, as Saint Julian"s relics were redistributed. The geographical distribution spread rapidly, to the East, to Rheims, to Tours, and to the monastery of Limoges.
Saint Julian"s cult survived until at least the 13th century, but was confined to Brioude once more.
His legacy survives now only in the high medieval Basilica (erected c 1100-1400), and the miracle stories written by Gregory of Tours.
