Avitus

ON ST. AVITUS, BISHOP OF CLERMONT, THE FIRST OF THAT NAME,

AT CLERMONT IN AUVERGNE,

ABOUT THE YEAR 594.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Avitus, bishop at Clermont in Auvergne (St.)

BY G. C.

§ I. The yearly cultus of this Saint, his promotion to

the episcopal office, his virtues, and the marvelous conversion of very many Jews to the Christian faith under him.

Our Bolland briefly illustrated the Acts of St. Avitus the Younger, or the second, who in the seventh century held the see of Clermont, On various days in the Martyrologies at the XXI day of January. Today in the Martyrology of Castellano there occurs another St. Avitus, who in the sixth century governed the same church of Clermont with great praise and fame of piety. We are not unaware that his yearly memory is assigned to other days also, since Du Saussay at the XX day of September, in the Supplement to his Gallican Martyrology, page 1169, announces this holy Prelate in the following words: At Clermont of the Arverni, of St. Avitus the bishop, surnamed the Elder. This man of Apostolic grace and virtue converted the Jews of that town (the veil of unbelief being drawn back from their eyes) to Christ the true light of souls by a marvelous deed; and on the vigil of Pentecost, when they had prostrated themselves in a body before him and were demanding baptism, being poured out in pious tears from spiritual joy, he washed them with the saving water, anointed them with chrism, and enrolled them in the bosom of mother Church, while (as Gregory of Tours reports) tapers blazed, lamps gleamed, and the whole city shone with the newly whitened flock: for those who then came to the Lord's sheepfold were more than five hundred. But the holy Pontiff, so plentiful an offspring having been begotten for Christ, the glory of the Church increased, and many divine miracles displayed, exulting in the Lord's gains, at length, his wish granted, flew away to the sight of him whom he had always uniquely desired. Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints who are not reckoned in the Roman Martyrology makes mention of this St. Avitus on the same XX day of September.

[2] this Saint is announced, Although those more recent Martyrologists do not suffice to prove the sanctity of this Bishop, nevertheless we are made more certain of it from elsewhere: for St. Gregory of Tours everywhere calls this same Prelate blessed or holy. To him add the most eminent Baronius, who in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 579, number 24, adorns this Prelate with the title of saint, and in the same place at number 26 asserts that he did all his deeds at the discretion of the Holy Spirit, and shone with miracles. Moreover the latest editors of the Gallia Christiana testify that he is honored every year with a double Office, when in volume 2 of that Work, column 243, they write thus: The feast of St. Avitus is celebrated together with the feast of St. Sidonius on the XXIII of August; but in the new Breviary, a specimen of which was published in the year 1706, a double feast of St. Avitus is appointed for the XXI of August. We in choosing the day of the yearly festival have followed the Martyrology of Castellano and the latest decree of the church of Clermont.

[3] Ruinart, among the addenda and corrigenda after his edition of Gregory of Tours and of other ancient monuments, column [ ], testifies who, among many competitors, that a certain writer six hundred years ago collected the Acts of St. Avitus, and began them thus: In the city of Auvergne, therefore, blessed Avitus was born, according to worldly rank, of no lowly parentage among the nobles, who in the time of his boyhood was brought, by God's disposing, even to the eminence of archdeacon. And so, Cautinus the bishop being dead, very many aimed at the episcopate, etc. Since that later writer, whose collection is not at hand for us, apart from the notice of his native place and nobility, followed St. Gregory of Tours everywhere else, we shall go to this very fountain, and shall excerpt the chief deeds of St. Avitus from the same contemporary Gregory, who in the History of the Franks, book 4, chapter 35, thus begins to narrate this Saint's promotion to the see of Clermont, his birth and other matters being passed over: Therefore, Cautinus the bishop being dead at Auvergne, as we have said, very many aimed at the episcopate, offering much and promising very much; for Eufrasius the priest, son of the late senator Ennodius, sent to the king through his kinsman Beregisilus great quantities of spices received from the Jews, namely that what he could not obtain by merits he might obtain by rewards. He was indeed elegant in conversation, but he was not chaste in deed, and generally he made the barbarians drunk, but rarely refreshed the needy. And I believe this cause stood in the way of his obtaining it, because he wished to attain these honors not through God, but through men. But neither could that be changed which the Lord spoke through the mouth of St. Quintianus: that there should not rise up from the stock of Hortinzus one who should rule the church of God.

[4] Avitus the archdeacon therefore, having gathered the clergy in the church of Auvergne, promised many things \ indeed, on the testimony of Gregory of Tours, but nevertheless, consent being received, he sought the king; and Firminus, who had been set as Count in this city, then wished to hinder him; but he himself did not go. But his friends, who had been sent in this matter, asked the king that at least one Sunday might pass, so that he should not be blessed. And that if this were made public, they would give the king a thousand gold pieces. But the king did not assent to them. It came about, therefore, that, the citizens of Auvergne being gathered into one, the blessed Avitus, who at that time, as we have said, was archdeacon, being elected by clergy and people, received the chair of the pontificate; whom the king loved with such great honor that, somewhat passing by canonical strictness, he ordered him to be blessed in his own presence, saying: "Let me be worthy to receive the eulogies from his hand." For these things he did out of favor, that he might be blessed at the city of Metz.*

[5] He, having received the episcopate, showed himself great to men, being raised to the see of Clermont, bestowing justice on the peoples, help on the poor, comfort on widows, and the greatest support on orphans. And if a stranger came to him, he was so loved that he recognized in him that he had both a father and a fatherland; who, since he flourishes with great virtues and keeps with his whole heart all things that are pleasing to God, rooting out iniquitous luxury in all things, implants the righteous chastity of God. Two things in this narration occur to be briefly illustrated, and first indeed the king is said to have somewhat passed by canonical strictness, because he ordered this holy Prelate to be consecrated in the city of Metz: for according to the prescriptions of the canons it was fitting that consecrations of bishops be performed by the metropolitan in their own province. Secondly, the king wished to receive eulogies from his hand, which word sometimes signifies the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, and sometimes only the blessed loaves which bishops or priests distributed to those present at the sacrifice of the Mass. That word seems in this place to have one or the other signification, although it also signifies various other things, as may be seen in the enlarged Glossary of Du Cange.

[6] very many Jews But how this holy Prelate converted many Jews to the Christian faith, the aforesaid Gregory of Tours sets forth in the History of the Franks, book 5, chapter 11, in these words: And because our God always deigns to glorify his priests, I shall disclose what happened at Auvergne concerning the Jews in this year (above he assigns the year in which Childebert son of Sigebert began to reign, that is, in the year of Christ 576, as Ruinart and the latest editors of the Gallia Christiana observe). When the blessed bishop Avitus very often admonished them that, the veil of the Mosaic law being laid aside, they should understand spiritually what they read, and should contemplate with a most pure heart in the sacred Scriptures Christ the Son of the living God, promised by prophetic and royal authority, there remained in their breasts — I will not now say that veil with which the face of Moses was overshadowed, but a wall. And while the Priest was praying that, being converted to the Lord, the veil of the letter might be broken from them, one of them sought to be baptized at holy Easter, and, born again to God through the sacrament of baptism, he too went forth in white with the rest of the newly baptized. But as the people were entering the gate of the city, one of the Jews, at the devil's instigation, poured foul oil upon the head of the converted Jew. And when the whole people, abhorring this, wished to press upon him with stones, the Pontiff did not permit it to be done. But on the blessed day on which the Lord ascended in glory to the heavens after redeeming man, when the Priest was going in procession with psalmody from the church to the basilica, the whole multitude of those following rushed upon the synagogue of the Jews, and, destroying it from its foundations, made it like the level of a field.

[7] he brought to the Christian faith, But on another day the Priest sends them envoys, saying: "I do not compel you to confess the Son of God, but nevertheless I preach, and I deliver the salt of knowledge to your breasts: for I am a shepherd set over the Lord's sheep, and concerning you that true Shepherd, who suffered for us, said that he had other sheep which are not of his fold, whom he must bring, that there may be one flock and one shepherd. And therefore, if you wish to believe as I do, be one flock, with me set as guardian; but if otherwise, depart from the place." But they, long wavering and doubting, on the third day, as I believe by the Pontiff's intercession, being joined into one, send back word to him, saying: "We believe Jesus to be the Son of the living God, promised to us by the voices of the prophets; and therefore we ask to be washed with baptism, lest we remain in this sin." And the Pontiff, rejoicing at the message, on the holy night of Pentecost, the vigils being celebrated, went out to the baptistery outside the walls, and there the whole multitude, prostrate before him, demanded baptism. And he, weeping for joy, washing all with water and anointing them with chrism, gathered them into the bosom of mother Church. Tapers blazed, lamps shone, the whole city was white with the shining flock; nor was there less joy for the city than Jerusalem once deserved to see when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles. And those who were baptized were more than five hundred. But those who refused to receive baptism, departing from that city, betook themselves to Marseilles. St. Venantius Fortunatus, at the bidding of Gregory of Tours, sang this conversion of the Jews in an extempore and lengthy poem, which may be read in the edition of our Brower, book 5, poem 5.

[8] Perhaps someone will suspect that this action of St. Avitus is contrary to the decree of St. Gregory the Great, the Pope, whom nevertheless, against the decrees of the Church who in the latest Parisian edition of the year 1705, among the letters, book 1, letter 10, that is, volume 2 of the Works, columns 497 and 498, writes thus to the bishops Bacauda and Agnellus: We forbid that the Hebrews be burdened or afflicted contrary to the order of reason; but as they are permitted to live by Roman laws, justice consenting, let them order their affairs as they know how, with none hindering. Then in book 1, letter 47, he admonishes Virgilius of Arles and Theodorus of Marseilles that the Jews are not to be compelled to baptism, but gently roused to embrace the faith. Finally the same holy Pontiff in book 13, letter 12, to Paschasius bishop of Naples, concerning the Jews dwelling in his diocese, has this among other things: We must therefore act so that, drawn on rather by reason and gentleness, they may wish to follow us, not to flee; that, showing them from their own books the things we say, we may, with God's help, convert them to the bosom of mother Church. Often elsewhere that holy Pope forbids that the Jews, whom Christians were harassing, be treated with injury, that they may more easily be brought to the Christian faith.

[9] But the most eminent Baronius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year 579, number 26, to abandon unbelief after narrating that conversion of the Jews, subjoins the following in favor of St. Avitus: Thus far

Gregory (namely of Tours, from whom he had reported that history) concerning the conversion of the Jews administered by St. Avitus by the divine Spirit, according to the prescription of the Gospel (as he thought), by which the Lord admonished that those who delay must be compelled by some force to enter into the Church; although the burning of synagogues is by no means approved by St. Gregory the Pope; nor is it granted by the more recent scholastic writers, who have treated that same question most diffusely, that conversion is to be extorted by force; although there are not lacking those who on the contrary side stubbornly resist, and endeavor to maintain the opposite opinion. But in Avitus, who would dare to condemn this — especially in a man who governed all his affairs at the discretion of the Holy Spirit, and who likewise shone with miracles?

[10] Moreover our Brower in the notes on the aforesaid poem of Venantius Fortunatus, page 138, defends the cause of St. Avitus in this manner: he did not compel. For the rest, such is the most notorious obstinacy of this nation that, unless compelled by no small evil, it is rarely wont to abandon what it has grown used to; so it happened here also, that it did not yield to Avitus unless goaded. For, by the concourse of the crowd, on account of the injury inflicted on the neophyte, being first driven with stones, then punished by the destruction of the synagogue, it receives this condition from Avitus: that it should change either its soil or its sacred rites. Which manner of compulsion, though it cannot be approved by many, will nevertheless afford, by this example of the holy Man, a defense to those who, when the matter has come to that pass, may apply a moderate compulsion, which they call indirect; provided only that no openly injurious action intervene on the part of him who compels; since such compulsion would not be according to what is fair and good. Wherefore Avitus seems here to have acted rightly and in order: since, using the fury of the multitude as his own occasion, he kept off from their heads the penalties and greater losses which threatened them if they remained, and by this as by a bridle led them into the circle of religion. Finally, that I may here refrain from reporting more arguments, who would rashly condemn the Spaniards and Portuguese, who now under pain of death exclude the Jews from their countries unless they embrace the Christian faith?

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§ II. The various works of piety which the holy Prelate practiced; his death and burial.

[11] Fortunatus adorns this Saint with an elogium, Venantius Fortunatus, praised above, in the edition of Brower, book 3, poem 26, sent our St. Avitus some little verses, to which he prefixed this inscription: To the holy lord, worthy of praise for apostolic deeds, the pious lord, and especially sweet in Christ, father Avitus the bishop, from the humble Fortunatus. Then he begins his poem thus:

Intent on pious offices, Avitus, father of the world; Glory of pontiffs, and our deep love. By whom the people, the region, the pilgrim and the guest are nourished, In whom each one receives all that he desires for himself. Undeserving by my works, I have earned a patron's pious gifts, Lest, while feeding the flock, thou shouldst be unmindful of the least sheep. Thou who drawest flocks by thy speech to the eternal pastures of Christ, How they may live meanwhile is also thy care. Ever present, thy wing protects even the absent; Where thou runnest not with the foot, thou art wholly present in gift. By your gifts either Agnes or Radegund, Praying, are moved with manifold kindling of voice. Mayest thou, lofty Father, sow talents to be carried into the heavens, Which, tended in their season, thou mayest reap a hundredfold. Through the Lord and good King I pray, Prelate of the court, That thou, kindly one, be mindful of thy Fortunatus.

[12] which is explained, Brower explains the epithet aulice in his notes at page 105 thus: Is it because he was an assiduous frequenter of the hall or temple of the heavenly King? Or rather, as the Greeks say ἄγραυλον, does he thus call this Avitus aulicus, as it were ever watchful in guarding the flock? Both please me above the rest, since ἀυλικὸς, coming meanwhile from αὐλὸς, is also the same as "celebrated" and "sung of." Further, how great care St. Avitus took for the hall or temple of the heavenly King will evidently appear from the sacred buildings which he built or restored during his episcopate, as we shall report below. Meanwhile let the reader remember that concerning Agnes and Radegund, who are named in this poem, we have said a good deal here and there at the XIII day of August, that is, in volume 3 of that month, in the Acts of St. Radegund, queen and afterwards nun of Poitiers.

[13] and Gregory of Tours The basilica of St. Antolianus the martyr was threatening ruin, as Gregory of Tours in book 1 On the Glory of the Martyrs, chapter 65, narrates at length, where he subjoins the following concerning St. Avitus, as bears upon our matter: Avitus the pontiff, seeing this danger, and anticipating the coming collapse of the columns, ordered the beams and boards and tiles to be removed; and when these had been taken away, and no supports had been placed against the columns, by God's will, when the builders had gone away from the scaffold to take food, and the rest also had withdrawn from the basilica, the columns, giving way under their immense weight, fell with a great noise upon the altar and around the altar, and the building was filled with a cloud from the dust of the broken lime. But the Priest, pale, sighing over the losses of two damages — lest they had both broken the marbles and someone of the people had perished — could not know what damage had been done: for no one could approach thither on account of the cloud of dust. But after the space of two hours, the cloud withdrawing, they entered either to gather the bodies of the dead or to search out the fragments of the columns. They learn that no man had perished; they marvel also that the altar was unharmed, upon which the columns, dashed down from so great a height, had inflicted no damage. What more? They found everything whole; they behold all things preserved; they glorify the Martyr; they perceive the power of God, who thus kept the altar and the columns unharmed. Probably God also, in this marvelous preservation of the altar and of the men, had regard to the piety of our holy Prelate, who was so solicitously striving to restore the falling church of St. Antolianus the martyr.

[14] So also our holy Prelate built a church over the tomb of St. Genesius, martyr of Auvergne, praises his piety who had revealed the place of his burial to a certain countryman, as the aforesaid Gregory of Tours in the same book On the Glory of the Martyrs, chapter 67, after other matters sets forth in these few words: Hearing these things, Avitus, bishop of that city, built a great basilica over the tomb of the Saint, and, when it had been dedicated, ordered a festival to be kept in it, at which now a great throng of peoples, coming with their vows, as we have said, returns with health. This basilica also he enriched with relics of St. Genesius of Arles. Ruinart in his notes on this text of Gregory of Tours advises that to this basilica of St. Genesius of Auvergne a monastery was joined, which was afterwards united to the Cluniac Order, the title of abbey being retained, and that it is situated in lower Auvergne and is today commonly called Thiern or Thiers. The latest editors of the Gallia Christiana, volume 2, column 243, add to these that in that church two inscriptions are read, one of which runs thus: THIS CHURCH WAS FOUNDED IN THE YEAR 575: OVERTHROWN IN ITS INNER PART BY AGE, IT WAS RESTORED IN THE YEAR 1107: DISFIGURED BY THE FLAMES OF THE CALVINISTS IN THE YEAR 1578. But the other is expressed in these words: THIS CHURCH, FOUNDED BY THE BLESSED AVITUS, GUY OF THIERS ENRICHED WITH A CHAPTER AND WITH WEALTH IN THE YEAR 1016.

[15] In the editors of the Gallia Christiana already praised, volume 2, columns 225 and 243, St. Avitus is said to have founded the monastery of Volvic, in the building of sacred edifices. and to have translated thither the body of St. Austremonius, who was the first to preside over the church of Auvergne or Clermont. Moreover in Savaron, in the Origins of the City of Clermont, page 345, the following are reported from the anonymous biographer of St. Avitus: The most holy Avitus again, after the building of the church of Thiers, in the city of Auvergne, in which (as we have said before) by the Lord's consent he had received the pontifical see, in a place which was called by the ancients PORTUS, elegantly built a church in honor of the holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary, which also he diligently adorned with many relics of Saints. In the same place at page 234 this basilica of St. Mary of the Port, now commonly called Notre Dame du Port, is in an old manuscript codex of the tenth century called the principal church of St. Mary, where the cited anonymous writer of the Life gives this reason for the surname: And it was thought good that the aforesaid basilica should be called principal, either because among the others which were seen to have been built throughout the diocese in honor of the holy Mother of God it held the primacy; or because in that same city at that time no church built to the glory of the Mother of God could by any means be found. Le Cointe in the Annals of the Franks at the year of Christ 594, number 4, reasons at greater length concerning that surname, which here has little to do with our matter. For the rest, St. Avitus was buried in this church of St. Mary of the Port, as we shall say at the end of this paragraph.

[16] The holy Prelate cultivated friendship If love finds equals, or makes equals, as is commonly said, we can make a conjecture concerning the sanctity of our Prelate from the friendship which he had with Saints still living. In this kind, in Gregory of Tours in the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 11, there occurs first St. Caluppa the hermit, whose rough dwelling Gregory there sufficiently indicates by this brief description: For that place is so difficult to approach that even for wild beasts it is a labor to come thither. Notwithstanding this difficulty of the journey, St. Avitus visited this Saint, and took Gregory with him, as the latter there at number 3 testifies in these words: And we too went to the place with the blessed bishop Avitus, and all the things which we have narrated (he had narrated his harsh life and temptations) some we learned as reported by himself, some we beheld with our own eyes. And from the aforesaid Pontiff he obtained the grade of the diaconate and of the priesthood. Probably this holy anchorite was so familiar with St. Avitus that he disclosed to him his temptations and bodily afflictions.

[17] with holy Men Another example of this is gathered from the same Lives of the Fathers, chapter 12, where St. Brachio the abbot is thus read to have revealed his heavenly visions to our holy Prelate near the end of his life: And when the time of his passing drew near, he saw in a vision, as he himself reported to the blessed bishop Avitus, that he was led to the heavens into the presence of the Lord, and that there the Cherubim and Seraphim overshadowed the majesty of the Lord, and that Isaiah the prophet, with his scroll unrolled, was declaring the words which he was to prophesy, and that the throng of angels standing about cried out in praise of God seated above the heavens. Hither also might be referred the friendly intercourse of our Prelate with St. Gregory of Tours, or rather his fatherly affection toward him while he was still a youth, whom he stirred up to virtue and to ecclesiastical learning, as Gregory himself in the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 2, before the deeds of St. Illidius, gratefully confesses. If therefore a learned and holy pupil or disciple brings glory to his master, we shall with full right judge that much praise redounds from that happy instruction upon St. Avitus.

[18] of his own time Hence also St. Venantius Fortunatus concludes thus the fifth poem of the fifth book, assigned above, which at the bidding of St. Gregory of Tours he had composed in honor of St. Avitus concerning the marvelous conversion of many Jews:

We have known rather by affection that thou lovest him,

Him whom thou seest with thy heart and ever holdest on thy lips. Nor is it enough for thee that thou thyself art his reporter; Thou compellest the rest to applaud him with their voice. Not in vain was it that he advanced thee as his nursling, If thou renderest him a return in mind, in faith, in love. May the Almighty grant that through a long age, memorably, Thy praise may be to him, and he a praise to thee. Do you both likewise remember me, a humble man, And for the hope of pardon bring me help with your voice.

This tutelage by St. Avitus is more clearly expressed in the Life of St. Gregory of Tours, which is prefixed to his Works in Ruinart, and which Odo, abbot of Cluny, is believed to have composed, at number 6, in these words: But when St. Gallus was being called to the well-earned crown of the blessed life, the Man of the Lord Avitus took up the youth (namely Gregory, afterwards bishop of Tours), and when he had explored his talent and the disposition of his character, applied the diligence of masters, and with such speed as either his own industry or their assiduity could achieve, advanced him to the citadel of wisdom.

[19] Just as St. Avitus cultivated friendship with Saints still living, and he venerated others already departed this life, so he pursued with great veneration the Saints already departed from life and glorious in heaven, and diligently attended to visiting and adorning their tombs. Besides those things which we have brought forward above on this matter, we learn this again from the Lives of the Fathers, in which St. Gregory of Tours, in chapter 2, reviewing the deeds of St. Illidius the bishop, writes thus at number 4: The blessed body of this confessor was buried by the ancients in a crypt; but because the building was narrow and had a difficult entrance, St. Avitus, pontiff of the city, having built round about an apse of marvelous workmanship, sought out the blessed limbs, and found them in a chest formed of wooden boards, and after the custom enclosed them in a sarcophagus.

[20] When certain sacred relics of St. Germanus of Auxerre had been brought into Auvergne, and therefore he experienced their patronage, St. Avitus, devoutly visiting them, deserved to perceive from them a heavenly fragrance, as the often-praised Gregory of Tours testifies in the book On the Glory of the Confessors, chapter 41, in this manner: But at a certain time we came with bishop Avitus to the aforesaid basilica in which the relics are laid up. And when the holy Pontiff had entered it fasting at about the tenth hour, all we who were with him drew in through our nostrils the fragrance of lilies and roses, which we do not doubt was granted us by the merit of the blessed Pontiff. The holy Prelate also experienced the patronage of St. Martin of Tours, as is plain from the same Gregory, who in book 3 On the Miracles of St. Martin, chapter 60, narrating what happened on his journey, has this bearing on our purpose: Fearing infirmities that might come upon me, I presumed to take some of this dust, that is, of the tomb of the blessed prelate (namely Martin), and to carry it with me, namely that when any sickness had attacked one of our people, the power of the Saint might come to our aid with its accustomed help … But we, coming from this journey to Auvergne, found bishop Avitus so gravely shaken by a tertian ague that even if he took any food he at once threw it up; but when a draught had been taken from this pledge, the fever being trampled down, he was strengthened.

[21] We do not doubt that St. Avitus practiced very many other works of piety and, intent upon various pious works, which are hidden from us, since St. Venantius Fortunatus in the poem mentioned above depicts him as a man full of good offices and made all things to all men,

By whom the people, the region, the pilgrim and the guest are nourished, In whom each one receives all that he desires for himself.

From this general testimony of a contemporary writer we can abundantly gather the kindness of the holy Prelate toward the poor and the afflicted, although Gregory of Tours did not express this and his other virtues one by one; he nevertheless in the History of the Franks, book 10, number 6, declares his mercy toward captives thus: But at Auvergne, prisoners of the jail, their chains being broken by night at God's nod and the entrances of the prison unbarred, went out and entered the church. And when Eulalius the Count had ordered the burdens of chains to be added to them, as soon as they were placed upon them they were straightway shattered like brittle glass; and thus, at the intercession of bishop Avitus, they were rescued and restored to their own liberty. After this collection, such as it is, of his virtues, we must now assign the time about which St. Avitus flew away to the eternal rewards of his merits.

[22] he died about the year 594, Le Cointe, in the Annals of the Franks at the year of Christ 594, number 4, hands down the following concerning the time of his death: Avitus, bishop of Auvergne, died in this year, on the twelfth of the Kalends of October, on which day his celebrated memory is honored. This Jean Savaron testifies in the Origins of Clermont. Certainly, since Gregory of Tours did not write of the death of Avitus in his Ecclesiastical History, from this it is to be gathered that Avitus was still surviving among the living after the year of Christ five hundred and ninety-one, which it is agreed is the last year of the Gregorian History. Although from this the determinate year of Christ 594, which is attached to the death of our holy Prelate, is not invincibly proved, nevertheless we, following Savaron and Le Cointe, have above in the margin noted the same year of his death as approximate, because we have found nothing contrary to this epoch. We here say nothing of his day of death, which Savaron affirms to have been the twentieth of September: for although perhaps St. Avitus died on that day, nevertheless we celebrate his yearly memory today with Castellano and with the latest Breviary of Clermont.

[23] and was buried in the church of the Port, The holy Prelate after his death was buried in the church of St. Mary of the Port, as the anonymous writer of the Life testifies in Savaron, page 345, in these words: And he was buried in the church of the Port, which is called the principal one, which he himself, while he was alive, had fittingly founded and diligently completed. This church of the Port, which was afterwards burned by the Normans, St. Sigo, bishop of Clermont, restored in the ninth century, as is clear from these little verses, which Savaron at pages 344 and 345 reports thus from a manuscript Codex:

This church holy Avitus first founded, A renowned prelate, and noble in birth. This the bitter race of the Normans burned with flames, Raving, and working, alas! wretched slaughters. But the prelate Sigo adorned it with its ancient honor, etc.

[24] where perhaps it still rests. The body of St. Avitus was probably withdrawn from this fury of the Normans, since an anonymous author about the middle of the tenth century, writing concerning the holy churches and monasteries of Clermont, in Savaron at page 344 writes in this manner: In the church of St. Mary the principal, the first altar of St. Mary, the altar of St. Julian, the altar of St. Privatus, the altar of St. Sulpicius; where rest St. Avitus, and St. Garius, and St. Sigo. Ruinart in his notes on the History of the Franks of Gregory of Tours, column 490, observes this concerning the burial of St. Avitus: He was buried in the church of blessed Mary the principal, as is had in the book on the churches of Clermont, chapter 2, which is called that of blessed Mary of the Port in the Life of that same holy Man; which church Savaron advises must be distinguished from the cathedral. Another is the Avitus who rests in the church of St. Venerandus, in the praised book, chapter 10, the brother of St. Bonitus. Being destitute of more recent notice, we can report nothing certain concerning the present state of his sacred relics, and therefore we put an end to this historical commentary.