Bishop Myriel

The Episcopal palace of Digne adjoins the hospital.

The Episcopal palace was a huge and beautiful house, built of stone at the beginning of the last century by Monsieur Henri Pouget, doctor of theology of the faculty of Paris, Abbé of Seymour, who had been bishop of Digne in 1712.

This palace was a genuine seigneurial residence.

Everything about it had a grand air.

He was fond of saying, There is a bravery of the priest as well as the bravery of a colonel of dragoons.

Only, he added, ours must be tranquil.

End of Book 1, A Just Man Chapter 7, Cravat It is here that a fact falls naturally into place, which we must not omit, because it is one of the sort which show us best what sort of a man the Bishop of Digne was.

After the destruction of the band of Gaspard Besse, who had infested the gorges of Oliou, one of his lieutenants, Cravat, took refuge in the mountains.

Yeah, if you are treated like a wild, dangerous animal for two decades, you are eventually gonna bare your teeth.

Exactly, but then he crosses paths with the Bishop of Digne, and the bishop is a total anomaly in Valjean's world.

He doesn't ask for the yellow passport.

No, he just invites Valjean into his home, seats him at his table, feeds him off his silver plates, and offers him a bed.