Baring-Gould’s sources: Gallican Martyrology. Authority:—Thomas Cantipratensis.

One of the most fervent and exemplary religious of the abbey of Vaucelles in the early part of the 13th century was Hugo de Villa, formerly dean of the church of Cambrai. He was as distinguished for the nobility of his birth, and of his talents, as he was for his virtue. The fear of being called to fill some episcopal throne prompted him to take refuge in the monastery of Vaucelles, where the rule of the first children of S. Bernard was rigorously observed. When the project of the pious dean was known, many persons came to ask him to give them a handsome tame falcon he possessed. Hugo refused, and dissembled his intentions till the moment that he entered religion. He arrived at the gates of the abbey with the bird, and then, cutting the string that held the falcon captive, he gave it liberty, saying, "My dear bird! fly away and enjoy thy liberty in peace, for I am leaving thee for ever."

Thomas de Cantinpré, his biographer, says, "I have often heard from the mouths of eye-witnesses that during his noviciate, birds would come and perch on his hands, and eat crumbs out of them. The master of the novices, to prove his virtue by opposing this innocent pleasure, reproached him. The good religious then drove away the birds that fluttered around him, saying, with that simplicity which marked all his conduct, 'Away, birds! I am not surprised that you are ordered off: my age and condition requires that you should obey me, and not I you.'"