On Friday police arrested a suspect following a fatal knife attack on a woman.
The 47-year-old suspect - with no apparent links to extremism - was arrested about 100 metres from his home in a town not far from the scene of the attack on Thursday night.
French Catholic bishops' conference spokesperson, Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, tweeted condolences for the woman after police were called to the scene.
Notre prière rejoint aussi celle de ces missionnaires attaqués dans leur maison de retraite dans l'#Hérault. Que Dieu donne à tous sa Paix.
— O.RIBADEAU DUMAS (@ORDUMAS) November 24, 2016
A masked intruder had tied up two women at the retirement home for former missionaries in Africa.
One of the women managed to call police, who found the victim, a 54-year-old employee, bound and tied up outside the building with three stab wounds at Green Oaks home in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez near Montpellier, prosecutor Christophe Barret told a news conference before the arrest.
Mr Barret said the suspect was believed to be someone "in the entourage of this retirement home".
The suspect was not identified by name.
France has been in a state of emergency since the Paris attacks one year ago that killed 130 people.
Around 130 police officers searched the area for the masked attacker on foot, in vehicles and by helicopter.
Mr Barret, the prosecutor, said: "There is no element linking the facts with Islamist terrorism."
The residence is operated by the African Missions Society, and takes in retired priests and nuns who have worked on missions around Africa.
