As a young cleric, Humbald, of Auxerre, France, excelled in the virtues of simplicity, prudence, chastity, and temperance. Having become bishop of Auxerre in 1095, he zealously upheld the ecclesiastical reforms mandated earlier by Pope Saint Gregory VII, enacting them in his own diocese. Humbald is described as a "lover of the divine offices," patient and jovial in his disposition, enjoying the company and conversation of his friends, and possessing "the simplicity of a dove and the prudence of a serpent." Throughout the years of his episcopate, he perpetually abstained from eating meat, contenting himself with an austere diet of beans. During Lent he fed twelve paupers daily at his table. Humbald resolved to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem "for the love of his Savior and the remission of his sins." At each of the holy places, he was moved to tears in his prayers. As Humbald was returning by ship from the Holy Land, a storm sank the vessel. The bishop and all the other passengers perished.
