Leontius

ON ST. LEONTIUS, BISHOP OF BORDEAUX,

IN AQUITANIAN GAUL.

SIXTH CENTURY.

Public veneration, age, episcopate; whether he was a soldier under Childebert.

Leontius, bishop of Bordeaux in Aquitanian Gaul (St.)

BY J. P.

Even though I have not many things to say concerning this Prelate, The public cultus of the Saint I am nevertheless persuaded that what I shall say suffices for a place to be given him among the other Saints of this day, without injury to the famous decree of Urban VIII. Du Saussay in the Supplement announces and praises him on today's day thus: At Bordeaux, of St. Leontius, bishop and confessor of that metropolis, surnamed the Elder, who, born of a most noble family in Aquitaine in the times of the emperor Arcadius and of his sons, was distinguished in the army; but, the tumults of the Spains being quieted, having turned to the pursuits of a life cleaving more closely to God, when St. Amandus, prelate of Bordeaux, was reaching his last day, being already resplendent with the brightness of many virtues, he was raised (however much resisting) to this see. Having discharged that office with completed comeliness, the Lord's flock being increased with many increases, he fell asleep by a peaceful death in Christ, who is the true life, in the territory of Rodez. Castellano in the Supplement to his universal Martyrology reports him in these words: At Bordeaux, of St. Leontius the Elder, bishop. To these two hagiologists add our Jacques Longueval, who in his History of the Gallican Church, volume 2, book 4, at the year 541, where, treating of the two Leontiuses of the same name, prelates of the see of Bordeaux, affirms that each illustrated it by his endowments and virtues, and that the first indeed is honored as a Saint on the XXI day of August; but the second in his own church on the XV day of November, whom he there praises at greater length. From these testimonies the public cultus of St. Leontius whom we here give seems sufficiently established. For a greater confirmation, nevertheless, of the public veneration, add the following.

[2] We have a Supplement to the Proper of the Saints according to the use of the church of St. Victor of Marseilles, published in type — we know not in what year, because the first leaf is missing — in which Supplement there is assigned to the XXI of August an Office of Leontius, bishop and confessor. is proved: In the first Nocturn, Lessons of the occurring Scripture (and there is written in hand semidouble). In the third Nocturn, a Homily on the Gospel: A certain man going into a far country, as in the Common of a Confessor Pontiff, and all the rest is said from the Common of a Confessor Pontiff. But in his own monastery, which is in the diocese of Rodez, let it be solemnly celebrated. The situation of this monastery, whose name is not expressed, we leave to be more distinctly determined by the learned inhabitants or neighbors of the diocese of Rodez; unless perhaps it be that of Conques, of which there is treatment in the Gallia Christiana, volume 1, column 235 and following, of the latest edition. But from the XXI day of August, which is marked in the said Supplement, I gather that Leontius the first or elder is indicated, whom we here give.

[3] when he flourished, and whether at the council of Orléans St. Leontius flourished in the sixth century. In the cited Castellano the year 545 is assigned to him; in Le Cointe in the Ecclesiastical History of the Franks, volume 1, he is treated of at the year 541. But even though it is not clear to us in what year he died, that he did not live after the year of Christ 549 is concluded from this, that in the Gallia Christiana, concerning Leontius II, his immediate successor, these words are said, volume 2, column 793: But he sent to the fifth synod of Orléans Vincentius the priest,

who should be present in his stead, in the year 549, as may be seen in volume 2 of the Councils, column [ ] of the Hardouin edition. Since nevertheless in the Gallia Christiana which I was designating neither the beginning of his life, nor of his episcopate, nor the end of either, is read there under St. Leontius II, we do not see it certainly established by the force of the name, which is common to both Leontiuses, that in that subscription Leontius the first is meant rather than the second, unless this be proved from elsewhere. There is added the fact that in the volume just adduced, column 793, the year is not marked in which Leontius II was advanced to the sacred infulæ. But if he subscribed to the fourth council of Orléans as prelate of Bordeaux, which was celebrated in the year of Christ 541, then it is clear that Leontius I did not survive so long, even though meanwhile it is not established in what year he ceased to live. But which of those two prelates subscribed to that synod is not agreed among the authors, as Longueval reports.

[4] he subscribed: In the Gallia Christiana, column 793, these things are said under Leontius II: That he subscribed to the fourth council of Orléans in the year 541 is read in the Gallia Christiana of the Sainte-Marthes; which Le Cointe utterly denies, resting on this reason: that in the year 541, in which the fourth synod of Orléans was held, this Leontius could not by reason of age discharge the episcopal office and sit among the bishops in a council. But I do not see that the age of the said Leontius the younger was then altogether immature for the episcopate. In the first flower of youth, to use Le Cointe's own words, he served in the camps of Childebert in the year 531. The first flower of youth we may call the age of twenty-two years. What then prevents him who in the year 531 was twenty-two years old from having been a bishop in the year 541, namely in the thirty-second year of his age? Nevertheless, for our part, one may attribute to Leontius the elder the subscription which is read in the fourth council of Orléans in the year 541: and indeed it seems to suit him better than the younger. These things are said there under Leontius II: with which agree those things which had been premised in the same place under Leontius I, column 792: In the year 541 he was present at the fourth council of Orléans according to the more probable opinion, and in the judgment of some presided over it. From these it follows that Du Saussay was mistaken above, where he fixes his birth to the times of the emperor Arcadius.

[5] He is set down as ninth in order among the prelates of the see of Bordeaux, his elogium and as the successor of Amelius or Æmilius. But of this matter below. Further, that he was notable for the illustriousness of his family, for the exceptional integrity of his life, and also for his great authority with his countrymen and with princes — to which add his notable munificence toward his church and toward the poor — is concluded from his elogium, which Fortunatus composed in verse under this title: Epitaph of Leontius, bishop of the former city of Bordeaux. It is had in the edition of Brower, book 4, poem 9, from page 101:

The last lot with greedy jaws has heavily hastened, Snatching away the Shepherd who was the arms of the flock. In this tomb rest the limbs of the venerable Leontius, Wherein stood that excellent pontifical head. Whom all the people, groaning, seek with confused voice; Here the boy, here the young man, and there the old men weep. Every age has here lost the help of a defender, And how much it cherished him it now shows by weeping. No one is able with dry eyes to recall the buried, Who nevertheless lives among the people in loving affection. Excellent, second to none in nobility, Surpassing in character, he was first in eminence. He with a new piety wished to be less than all, But by these very merits he was the greater even to himself. In whose presence discord earned peace; Madness being expelled, love bound hearts together.

[6] To the church he granted all his revenue in due order, And bestowed on Christ what before was his own. From whom the poor man had help, the captive his ransom, from Fortunatus: Reckoning that his own which the needy received. Whose substance migrated from the earth to the stars, And this man lived more for God than for himself. Holding the people in the embrace of his heart and in his breast, So that one would say the father had begotten the people. For so with gentle voice he admonished his own citizens That you would confess him to be speaking to his own members. Watchful in mind, rich too in the teaching of Christ, And by his zeal he deserved to multiply his rank. More bountiful in gifts, though absent he joined lovers to himself, And where he had not been by gift, there he was known. Dear to princes, and the one love of this city, Hastening to be a parent to all in spirit. Mighty for ten lustres, he lived also seven years, Then, the day pressing on, he was snatched from the world. But who could sing all, since he alone had so many good things? Now in one tomb lie very many prayers. These verses, all too small for thee, since thou deservest rich ones, Thy Theodosius \* offers thee in love.

[7] We learn from this poem the length of St. Leontius's life, his age, and his favor with princes: in which it is expressly written that he lived ten lustres and seven years, that is, fifty-seven years. Then, as to what is reported among his other praises, Dear to princes, Brower explains it thus in his notes at page 117: Those who, as the empire was declining, waged a doubtful struggle with the Goths in Gaul. For it is established that the emperors Valentinian, Anthemius, and Avitus so indulged the bishops, especially those who had some name in Gaul, that, as Sidonius openly says, embassies to the barbarians generally passed through them, and to them first not only was a peace already negotiated disclosed, but even the negotiating of it was committed. Brower adds: Hence, writing to Basilius the bishop, concerning Leontius and his colleagues, etc. These things are confirmed from Apollinaris Sidonius, who in book 7, letter 6, to Basilius, page 184 of the Sirmond edition published at Paris in the year 1652, writes this: Thou art found in the midst of the most sacred pontiffs Leontius, Faustus, and Græcus, by city, by rank, and by charity. Through you the evils of treaties run; through you the pacts and conditions of both kingdoms are carried. Act, so far as this friendship, this concord of princes, may allow, that, episcopal ordination being permitted, we may hold by faith the peoples of the Gauls whom the frontier of the Gothic portion has enclosed, even if we do not hold them by treaty. Observe in passing that that Leontius who was named by Sidonius is not the bishop of the see of Bordeaux, but of Arles; see the notes of Sirmond on the said letter, page 73, and Le Cointe in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, volume 1, at the year of Christ 541, number 63. But Brower seems to have confounded the bishop of Arles with the one of Bordeaux in the notes just cited, if you consider his text.

[8] his predecessor There is controversy as to whom our St. Leontius immediately succeeded in the episcopate. What Le Cointe has concerning the order of certain bishops which bears upon the present subject may be read at the cited year from number 58, where he observes that Sidonius Apollinaris and Venantius Fortunatus, variously explained, gave occasion to such diverse opinions. In volume 2 of the Gallia Christiana designated before, column 790 and following, these bishops are set down, and in this order: V. St. Amandus. VI. St. Gallicinus. VII. Cyprianus. VIII. Amelius. IX. Leontius I. Then X. Leontius II. But that this order is not complete is established from Fortunatus, book 1, poem 15, in which he writes this concerning Leontius II, bishop of the city of Bordeaux:

Thou art held the thirteenth prelate to this city, But in merits thou shalt be reckoned the first.

In the same place, column 791, these things are said: After the death of Gallicinus the church of Bordeaux long lacked a shepherd, on account of the war brought against the orthodox by the Arian king. But he being dead about the year 484 according to nearly all the catalogues, at length Amelius, otherwise Æmilius, was elected, whom Fortunatus mentions as the predecessor of Leontius, book 1, Poem C. II (that is, XI), whom he recites singing thus:

Thou who desirest to know the builder of this excellent church, I will not suffer vows so pious to lie hidden from thee. When of old the sacred shrines were farther off from here, And the people often feared the journey for its length; The prelate Amelius had given a small stronghold here, The place not holding the Christian people. He closing the day of his life, by \* law and rank This work came to his heir, and this place. And thereafter \* father Leontius founded the holy hall, And offered splendid gifts to his Lord. Which venerable Dionysius holds as his own house, Under whose name it shines sanctified.

[9] From these it is concluded that Leontius succeeded Amelius in the episcopate; in the episcopate. but did he succeed him next and immediately? Le Cointe denies it; the author of volume 2 of the Gallia Christiana, Denis de Sainte-Marthe, affirms it at column 791, which I have cited, writing thus: But whatever the learned man may say, the obvious sense (namely of the verse of that distich which he had brought forward, He closing the day of his life, etc.) signifies that Leontius, after Amelius had closed his last day, was made bishop, and, as the heir of Amelius and his successor in the see of Bordeaux, had the care of finishing and enlarging the church which Amelius had begun. And so I judge that Leontius the first ought to be substituted immediately after Amelius. This opinion also seems to us to come nearer to the truth. Whence it follows that the immediate predecessor of Leontius in the episcopate of Bordeaux was not St. Amandus, as Du Saussay indicated above at number 1, for whose sake let these things have been said.

[10] Whether he was a soldier under King Childebert. The same Martyrologist was mistaken, as I suspect, on another point, when he says that our Prelate was distinguished in the army; but, the tumults of the Spains being quieted, turned to the pursuits of a life cleaving more closely to God. I suspect, I say, that here Leontius the first was confounded by Du Saussay with the second: and the reason is that to this second, not to the former, military service is elsewhere attributed. The younger, says the aforesaid Le Cointe at number 65, when he was placed in the first flower of youth and was small in years, served in the royal camps of Childebert in the year of Christ five hundred and thirty-one, as has been proved in its place. That he served under the same king in Spain is affirmed also in the Gallia Christiana under Leontius II, column 793; and in the History of the Gallican Church which I assigned above, it is said that he won glory for himself by his martial spirit in the wars against the Visigoths of Spain. Hence it is plain that the testimonies of the authors agree against Du Saussay. But why do we have recourse to more recent writers, when we have Fortunatus? For in book 1, poem 15, he writes this concerning Leontius II, bishop of Bordeaux:

Turned toward the Spanish battle-lines with the serene king, The second palm of thy military service grew.

These are the things which time, the devourer of all things, has transmitted to us concerning our St. Leontius, to be shared with posterity.

\ perhaps sic*

\* Theudosius

\ al. dehinc*

\ al. hanc*