Pantagathus

ON SAINT PANTAGATHUS,

BISHOP OF VIENNE IN GAUL.

AROUND THE YEAR 540.

Pantagathus, Bishop of Vienne, in Gaul (St.)

G. H.

[1] In the ancient Notitia of the Dignities of the Roman Empire, under the disposition of the Praetorian Prefect of the Gauls, seventeen provinces of the Gauls were numbered; of which the first was the Viennese, and that Consular. The metropolis of this most noble province was Vienne, which was adorned with an episcopal See along with other cities of the Gauls while still under the heathen Emperors. Very many of the Bishops of this See are read to be inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints: among whom on this day has his veneration St. Pantagathus, Cult prescribed in the ancient Breviaries whom the Breviary of Vienne, printed at Vienne in the year 1522, indicates to have been venerated with the ecclesiastical office, in which all things are prescribed from the Common of a Pontiff and Confessor, with the first oration "Da quaesumus omnipotens Deus" etc. The same is confirmed by ancient manuscript Kalendars excerpted from the Breviary and Missal, which we have in our possession, together with another Catalogue of the Holy Bishops of the Church of Vienne. Ado, Bishop of Vienne, eight hundred years ago inscribed this in his Martyrology: and the Martyrologies "At Vienne, of St. Pantagathus the Bishop." Others followed after, and among them the author of the pseudo-Bede, which is a Martyrology collected chiefly from Ado. The same is mentioned in the Liège manuscripts of St. Lambert and St. Laurence, in the Brussels manuscript of St. Gudula, in the manuscript Florarium, in the Martyrology of Cologne printed in the year 1490, in Grevenus in the Additions to Usuard, in Canisius and others, and with them the Notes to the Roman Martyrology.

[2] He subscribed to the Third Council of Orléans, in the place next after St. Lupus of Lyons, The Third Council of Orléans, to which he subscribed, held in the year 536 in these words: "Pantagathus in the name of Christ, Bishop of the Church of Vienne, according to what pleased all my fellow bishops, who subscribed with me, I have subscribed." In that Council thirty-three canons were established, concerning these things, as it is said in the Preface, which through a long time, with observance ceasing, had been intermitted, to which they thought new things must be added according to the condition of causes or times. That Council is said to have been held on May 7 in the 27th year of Childebert, which is for us the year of Christ 536.

[3] Ado, Bishop of Vienne, in his Chronicle, in the sixth age, published a certain encomium of St. Pantagathus, but with the times of him not sufficiently ordered. For although he indicated the times of the Emperor Justinian and the death of Chlothar I, King of the Franks, which happened in the year 561, he sets forth that Justin the younger reigned eleven years, who ruled from the year 565 to the year 578, and then hands down this: "John, the Pontiff of the Roman Church, finished and dedicated the church of the Apostles Philip and James, which his predecessor Pelagius had begun to build"—but he died in that work in the year 559, to whom succeeded John III, encomium from the chronicle of Ado who, still living, presided over the Church until the year of Christ 572, the 7th of Justin the Younger. These things premised, Ado adds this: "Pantagathus, Bishop of the Church of Vienne, flourished. This man, at first elevated with consular fasces, but first (or low) in the humility of Christ, afterwards for five years most faithfully ruled the episcopal See. Under the consulate of Paulinus the younger and Basilius, he died: whom Isicius succeeded in the episcopate, who likewise flourished under Justinian. Four brothers, sons of Chlothar, divide the kingdom among themselves." So he. In which Ado passes again from Justin the younger to Justinian, under whom we too necessarily note the death of St. Pantagathus: but they are ordered long before, as he was present at the Third Council of Orléans. time of his See And although we may concede that he ruled the episcopate not only for five years, which the epitaph below has, but for ten or twelve years, yet necessarily he departed this life before the Fifth Council of Orléans was held, on the fifth day before the Kalends of November in the 38th year of King Childebert, that is, the year of Christ 547, when Isicius, or Hesychius, his successor, subscribed to the said Council. That he is said to have died under the consulate of Paulinus the younger and Basilius is not without its difficulty, since these were not designated together. Basilius alone presided in the year 541; and thereafter the years were numbered after the consulate of Basilius: thus also before the years were numbered after the consulate of Paulinus, and the said year 541 would have been the 7th year after the consulate of Paulinus, when Basilius was created Consul; but the following years could have been designated after the consulate of Paulinus and Basilius, which in a matter so obscurely set forth by Ado, needing somewhat of elucidation, can contribute something. These things about the time of his See and death.

[4] Encomium from the Martyrology of Saussay Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology thus depicts his virtues: "At Vienne, of St. Pantagathus, Bishop and Confessor, who, what his name displays, was in fact 'all-good' 'Omnibonus': for with the highest prudence and piety by teaching, preaching, governing, he administered the province entrusted to him; and commendable for the highest integrity, after he had been present at the Third Council of Orléans, the true light and pillar of religion among the illustrious stars of Gaul, he joyfully went to the Lord." John le Lievre in the Antiquities of Vienne, chapter 20, treats of Pantagathus, and in his Martyrology of the Church of Vienne, reformed by him but not yet printed, offers this encomium: "April 17, at Vienne, of St. Pantagathus, Confessor, the twenty-second Archbishop, and Viennese who from the height of the consulate obtained the pontifical summit by his learning and merits. He was present at the second (rather, third) Council of Orléans with Blessed Lupus, Archbishop of Lyons, in which thirty-three chapters most useful to the Church were ordained, with the same Blessed Pantagathus presiding, promulgated through all the Churches of Gaul. Under the consuls Paulinus and Basilius he rests, full of miracles and pious works, in the oratory of Blessed George beside the basilica of the Apostles." Relics The same man adds in the Antiquities of Vienne that these holy relics were for a long time honored in the said church of the Apostles, but now, mixed with other relics, are preserved in the same church, after the furious irruption of the heretics into the churches of Vienne made in the year 1567.

[5] There are extant also Antiquities of Vienne at the end of the Floriac library, among which is an ancient epitaph of St. Pantagathus, Ancient epitaph also among the ancient epitaphs, drawn out from a manuscript codex of the library of Alexander Petavius by Andreas Chesnaeus, printed in volume 1 of the Writers of French History, which is of this kind:

The lives of the Saints, written after the courses of their age are ended, Posterity greatly desires to behold: That it may be able like the holy men to stand, And tend to live far after death. Therefore in this tomb are laid the members of the holy Pantagathus, pious Father and Pontiff: Whose life was sublime with a twofold honor, Illustrious by office, mighty in religion. By the judgment of kings he took the girdle of the Questorship, Foremost in lineage, more renowned for uprightness, Giving feasts to the first, and treasures in ample gift To the poor, then seeking the heavenly kingdoms. Keen in wit, he shone with sound doctrine: A great orator, he was also himself a prophet. By these studies, in the earliest flower of youth, He strove to be first among the chief men; Happy in offspring, he saw it divided in office; One part consecrated to God, the other remains for generation. After the mature times of life which he lived as a man, The Apostolic summit was conferred by kindly faith. Thus leaving the world, he possesses the heavenly citadel, Who may be a defense, lofty Vienne, for you. Twice six lustra of life he completed in the course, With five years more still thriving over our watch-tower. In which, contemplating the joys of eternal life, He also merited perpetual light for his own.

* al. "prior" or "parvus"