Definition: Saint Morand

A few dozen kilometres south of Mulhouse, we find ourselves in southern Alsace and, coincidentally, near the Sundgovian capital of Altkirch, there is a small village called Saint-Morand.
Local history tells us that Saint Morand, prior of the Altkirch monastery in the 12th century, is said to have lived on a single bunch of grapes throughout Lent. Contemporary accounts also tell us that he managed to fill a large barrel with the juice from a single bunch. On that day, wine flowed into all the drinking troughs for the animals in the commune.
Saint Morand remains one of the patron saints of the vineyard, whose feast day is celebrated on 23 March, the equinox. His patronage is said to have been limited to the Sundgau region between Altkirch and Thann.

Two places illustrate this devotion to wine: Steinbach near Cernay and the collegiate church of Thann, where Saint Morand appears on one of the two buttresses, alongside Saint Urbain, another patron saint of winegrowers and the most famous in Alsace.
This small region, at the foot of the Swiss Jura mountains, no longer has any vineyards. However, this does not prevent local residents from enjoying the famous wines of Alsace to the north, Arbois to the south, the whites of Revermont (Swiss Jura) to the east, and the reds of Champlitte (Haute Saône).

(*) Saint Morand died on 3 June 1115 at the convent of Altkirch.