Julian of Cuenca, St.
JULIAN OF CUENCA, ST.
Patron and second bishop of Cuenca; b. Burgos, Castile, c. 1113–38; d. January 28, c. 1208. He taught theology in Palencia and became archdeacon of Toledo (1182). In 1196 he was made bishop of Cuenca, a city taken from the Moors in 1177 and granted a famous charter (fuero ) c. 1190. He drew up (c. 1200) the constitution of the cathedral chapter, later revised by Cardinal Gil albornoz. His vita and miracles have separate and obscure origins. He was an exemplary frontier bishop, known for pastoral visits and almsgiving and the feeding of the poor in person. He triumphed over temptations to gluttony, avarice, and sensuality proffered by the devil and twice miraculously provided grain for Cuenca. The cures reported at his shrine made Cuenca a place of pilgrimage. In 1589 Julian's name was included in the Roman Martyrology.
Feast: Jan. 28.
Bibliography: b. alcÁzar, Vida … de San Julian (Madrid 1692). Acta Sanctorum January 3:509–512. m. lÓpez, Memorias históricas de Cuenca, ed. a. gonzÁlez palencia, 2 v. (Cuenca 1949–53) v.1. r. de luz lamarca, San Julian en Goyay el Greco (Cuenca 1992). a. ruiz, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart (Paris 1912–) 13:1088–91. g. bÖing, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 5:1197.
[e. p. colbert]