BERTRANDO of SAINT-GENIÈS (diocese of Cahors), blessed. — A doctor of law at Toulouse and auditor of the Rota, he was appointed patriarch of Aquileia by John XXII on 8 July 1334 and reached his see on 28 October. B.’s constant concern was to reclaim for the patriarchate the lands and castles that belonged to his principality, and he did not hesitate to enter into conflict with Rizzardo da Camino. He prevented the dukes of Austria, who had also become lords of Carinthia, from making themselves masters of Venzone and arbiters of communications between Friuli and Germany; he opposed the claims of the counts of Gorizia. He held two provincial councils, in 1335 and 1339, diocesan synods to restore ecclesiastical discipline, founded monasteries, and reorganized the Chapter of Udine. When jealousies between Udine and Cividale arose again, the latter community regarded the patriarch as its enemy, allied itself with the counts of Gorizia and with certain Friulian lords, defying the excommunications imposed by the patriarch, who was supported by the people of Udine and by other communities. A war ensued; B., attacked by his enemies on the plains of Richinvelda, on the right bank of the Tagliamento, was killed on 6 June 1350. The people of Udine carried his body to the Duomo of their city, where B. was venerated as blessed.
The history of his cult is highly interesting: Clement VIII permitted the celebration of his anniversary (6 June) with a pro gratiarum actione Mass (cf. decree of 27 Apr. 1599 by Patriarch Francesco Barbaro in Acta SS. Iunii, I, p. 779); Benedict XIV, by a brief of 18 June 1756, granted Udine permission to celebrate annually a solemn Mass on 6 June (cf. Florio, op cit., p. 257); finally, Clement XIII,
on 24 Aug. 1758 and 7 Apr. 1759, granted the dioceses of Udine and Gorizia the Mass and office of a confessor-pontiff (archive of the S. Congr. of Rites, Registrum Servorum Dei, 1757–60, ff. 119, 182).