St. Avitus was a native of Orleans, France. He became a monk, together with St. Calais, in the very small abbey of Menat. The two Saints later returned to the famous abbey of Misey, situated a league and a half below Orleans. It was founded toward the end of the reign of Clovis I. by St. Euspicius, a holy priest, and his nephew St. Maximim or Mesnim, whose name this monastery bears.

Many call St. Maximim the first abbot, others St. Euspicius the first, St. Maximim the second, and St. Avitus the third. But our Saint and St. Calais did not stay a long time at Misey, though St. Maximim gave them a gracious reception. In quest of a closer retirement, St. Avitus, who had succeeded St. Maximim, soon after resigned the abbacy, and with St. Calais lived as a recluse in the territory now called Dunois, on the frontiers of La Perche.
(Adapted from Fr. Butler’s Lives of the Saints)