Elzéar of Sabran, TOSF, Baron of Ansouis, Count of Ariano, was born in the castle of Saint-Jean-de-Robians, near Cabrières-d'Aigues in Provence, southern France, in 1285.

[1] Acceding to the wish of King Charles II of Naples, at the age of ten, Elzéar was betrothed to the twelve-year-old Delphine of Glandèves, daughter and heiress of the Count of Puy-Michel.

Elzéar and Delphine lived at a castle in Ansouis where they vied with one another in the practice of prayer, mortification of the flesh and in charity towards the unfortunate.

At the age of twenty he moved with his wife from Ansouis to Puimichel for greater solitude, and formulated for his servants rules of conduct that made his household a model of Christian virtue.

In 1312 he marched to Rome at the head of the army of King Robert of Naples, which was mobilized to aid in expelling the Emperor Henry VII from that city.

[3] He was sent as ambassador to the King of France in 1323 to obtain the hand of Marie of Valois in marriage for Charles, edifying a worldly court by his heroic virtues.