Clarentius

ON SAINT CLARENTIUS,

BISHOP OF VIENNE IN GAUL.

BEFORE THE YEAR 625.

Clarentius, Bishop of Vienne in Gaul (St.)

By G. H.

[1] Ado, Bishop of Vienne, in his Martyrology celebrates various holy Bishops, his predecessors, and on this day after Saint Mark the Evangelist and the Major Litanies has this: Sacred cult from the Martyrologies, "At Vienne, of Saint Clarentius, Bishop and Confessor." The same is found inserted in various Martyrologies of other churches even outside Gaul, such as the Metropolitan church of Prague, Saint Gudila of Brussels, the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck published in 1490, the MS Florary, and the Auctuary of Greven to Usuard. In the Gallican Martyrology of Saussay he is adorned with this eulogy: "At Vienne of the Allobroges, of Saint Clarentius, Bishop and Confessor: who in the time of King Dagobert presided over the throne of this Church, next after Blessed Etherius in order and in merit: whom, having worthily discharged the pastoral office, he followed with pious departure to the heavenly joys." In the Breviary of the Archiepiscopal Church of Saint Maurice of Vienne, and the Breviary of Vienne, published at Vienne in 1522, the Ecclesiastical Office of Saint Mark the Evangelist is prescribed with a commemoration of Saint Clarentius, Bishop of Vienne, also at Mass.

[2] We ourselves copied at Vienne in 1662 the MS Catalogue of the Holy Bishops of the Church of Vienne, likewise the recently reformed Martyrology of the sacred Church of Vienne. In the Catalogue this is read: He did not flourish under the Emperor Constantine or Constans. "Saint Clarentius under the Emperor Constantine, and King Dagobert." Which in the Martyrology more fully is set forth thus: "25 April, at Vienne, of Saint Clarentius, Confessor, thirty-first Archbishop, in the time of Constantine the Great, who constituted Blessed Clarus Abbot of the monastery of Saint Marcellus, and sleeping with the Fathers shone with miracles." The same things are more distinctly explained in another Viennese Martyrology, which we obtained at Dijon, where is this: "On the seventh day before the Kalends of May, the Birthday of Saint Clarentius the Confessor, thirty-first Archbishop of Vienne, who in the time of Constantine the Great, the pious Emperor, with Saint Martin the Pope reigning at Rome, faithfully administered the Church of Vienne. He, nor under the Pontificate of Saint Martin the Pope, placing the most blessed Clarus, taken out from the principal monastery of the Grignians (which of old was called of Saint John of the Vineyards) on account of the eminence of his sanctity, as Abbot of the monastery of Saint Marcellus at Vienne: and he rested in peace with the Fathers, shining with miracles." So there, with confusion of times, drawn from the Chronicle of Ado himself: for in it the time of King Dagobert is put together with the reign of Constantine, in others Constans, a man infected with the poison of the Monothelites: under whom Saint Martin the Pope was relegated to Chersonese, and ended his life there, namely in the year 655. Then Ado subjoins: "Clarentius, a man sufficiently learned, flourished as Bishop of Vienne." And then with many things interposed is read in the same Ado: "Justinian the younger, son of Constantine, was made Emperor," namely in the year 685, and at length is added: "King Dagobert, sick with a severe fever, died in the village of Spinogilum, in the region of Paris … in his place the Franks set up Clovis his son as King." Up to the said time reigned Dagobert the son of Sigebert, whom we first restored to the throne of the kingdom, in the published Diatribe on the three Kings of the Franks, issued in 1655. And therefore, leaving aside the reign of Constantine or Constans and the Pontificate of Saint Martin, by another way must the time be sought in which Saint Clarentius flourished as Bishop of Vienne. but before the year 625 This moreover we seem able to find in Ado himself, who assigns Sindulf as the immediate successor to Clarentius, Bishop of the Church of Vienne. For Sindulf was present at the Council of Reims, under Heraclius, held under Sonnatius about the year 625, and therefore it is necessary that Saint Clarentius had departed from life before that time; when Heraclius was reigning, and over the Franks ruled Clothair II, with his son Dagobert made King of the Austrasians, but over the Church presided Pope Boniface V. We gave the Life of Saint Clarus, Abbot of Vienne, mentioned above on the very Kalends of January: but without any mention of Saint Clarentius.

[3] On the following day, 26 April, the same Saint Clarentius, Bishop of Vienne, is noted referred 26 April, in the MS Ado of Paris of Saint Germain, by the Author of the Martyrology published under the name of Bede, likewise by Molanus, Galesinius, Canisius, and the present Roman Martyrology: and most recently in the Journal of the Metropolitan church of Prague, collected by the Dean of the same church; on occasion of a noteworthy portion brought from Gaul in the year 1358: Relics at Prague. of which translation, if we shall have obtained the documents before the impression is finished, we shall not be reluctant, even in the Appendix, to set them forth; that it may more certainly be established, that the body of the holy Bishop was in honor and reverence with our forebears; and would be even now, unless

the Huguenots running through Gaul had dispersed it along with many other relics of the Saints.

ON THE EIGHT HOLY ANCHORITES,

MARTYRS AMONG THE GREEKS.

Eight Anchorites, Martyrs among the Greeks (SS.)

G. H.

The Greeks conclude this 25th day of April in the Menaea and in Maximus, Bishop of Cythera, with the martyrdom of these Anchorites, concerning whom they have this: "Tē autē hēmera mnēmē tōn hosiōn paterōn oktō anachōritōn kai Martyrōn." Cult among the Greeks, "On the same day, memory of the holy Fathers, the eight Anchorites and Martyrs." And this distich is added in the Menaea, by which the manner of martyrdom is indicated:

"Oktō synekkoptousin andrōn auchenas, Hypo zygon son tous damasthentas, Loge."

"Together they cut down the necks of eight men, Necks tamed beneath your yoke, O Word."

Thus far the Menaea, without the time or place of the martyrdom being indicated, so that it is difficult to conjecture on what occasion they obtained martyrdom. The occasion of the martyrdom is hidden. Very many monks and anchorites were driven into exile or suffered martyrdom under the Iconoclast Emperors in the eighth and ninth centuries of Christ. Under the Emperor Anastasius, in the 22nd year of his reign, of Christ 513, Theophanes in his Chronography hands down that all the orthodox, and especially the monks, were averse to the heresy of Severus the intruded Bishop of Antioch; and many of them were killed. In the preceding year Saint Macedonius, Bishop of Constantinople, had been cast into exile, and died there in the year 516. What if, on the occasion of the latter referred in the Menaea to this day, these eight Anchorites then killed had been added? But very many other occasions could have befallen in which these Saints, in hatred of the defended Christian faith, were put to death.