Confessor Austregisilus

Austregisilus, known in French as Saint Outrille and also as Austregisile or Aoustrille, was a bishop of Bourges in the early seventh century and is venerated as a confessor. He was born at Bourges, in the region of Berry in central Gaul, into a family of senatorial rank. As a youth he was sent to the court of the Frankish king Guntram of Burgundy, where he received an education typical of a young nobleman of the Merovingian period. After leaving the court he entered the clerical state rather than remaining in secular service.

He was ordained priest by Aetherius, bishop of Lyons, and served as archdeacon of the church of Lyons. He later became abbot of Saint-Nizier in that city. In 612 the church of Bourges chose him as bishop. He held the see for about twelve years. Later hagiographical accounts present him as a zealous pastor who supported monastic foundations and cared for the poor, though independent contemporary documentation of his administration is scarce.

He died at Bourges on 20 May 624 and was buried in the basilica of Saint-Ursinus (Saint-Ursin) in the same city. A local cult formed around his tomb. The settlement of Saint-Outrille in the present-day department of Cher takes its name from him. His feast is kept on 20 May, the traditional date of his death, as given in the Roman Martyrology.

The principal narrative source is a later vita composed in the conventional style of Merovingian hagiography. Modern historians therefore accept the broad outline of his origin at Bourges, his service at Lyons, and his episcopate, while treating anecdotal miracle stories with caution. His cult is of the ancient, locally established type; he was not the subject of a later formal papal canonization.