ELZEARIO of ARIANO, saint. - E. de Sabran, baron of Ansoulis and count of Ariano (Benevento), Franciscan tertiary, was born about 1285 at St.-Jean de Robians in Provence. Educated and instructed by his paternal uncle Guglielmo, abbot of S. Vittore in Marseille, Delfina de Glandéves (v.), with whom he lived in chastity.
In 1309 he came to Italy to take possession of the county of Ariano, and in 1312 he fought in Rome against the Ghibellines and the emperor Enrico VII of Luxembourg. In 1317 he returned to Italy, where he was chosen as minister by Carlo, duke of Calabria, son of King Roberto. He died on 27 September 1313 in Paris, whither he had gone to obtain the hand of Maria Valois for Carlo himself; he was buried, clothed in the Franciscan habit, in the church of the Friars Minor, and was later transferred to that of Apt, in Provence. Canonized on 15 April 1369 by Urbano V (the bull of canonization was published by Gregorio XI on 5 January 1371), he is venerated at Apt, in other provinces of France, and in the Franciscan Order.