ON ST. FLAVIUS BISHOP OF ROUEN IN NORMANDY,
In the year 544.
HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
Notice of the immemorial cult of this Saint, and a more likely chronology of some of his deeds.
Flavius, bishop of Rouen in Normandy (St.)
BY G. C.
This prelate of Rouen, whom certain Frenchmen in the vernacular call S. Flieu, From an old fragment, others S. Filleul, is everywhere adorned with the title of blessed in ancient instruments, as is plain from the Acts of the archbishops of Rouen, which an anonymous author wrote in the eleventh century, and in which, in Mabillon, volume 2 of the Old Analecta, page 430, we read the following: To Gildard succeeded blessed Flavius, in the time of whose pontificate a church was built in honor of the blessed Apostle Peter in the suburb of the city of Rouen, nobly built in the first year of Clothar, king of the Franks, in which the body of blessed Audoenus his successor was consigned to burial. But this blessed Flavius, in the five hundredth year… of the Lord's Incarnation, endowed with many virtues, kindled with the flame of divine love, bountiful to the poor, governed the church of Rouen. To him succeeded Praetextatus, a man of great sanctity, and hateful to all the wicked, etc.
[2] Edmond Martène the Benedictine, in the New Collection of Old Writers, which was printed at Rouen in the year 1700, which has been reprinted with insufficient fidelity, part 2, page 233 and following, again published the same History of the archbishops of Rouen; but while there, on page 235, he reports the same text of the anonymous writer, without any sign of a lacuna he wrongly hints that our Saint of today was set over the church of Rouen in the five hundredth year of the Lord's Incarnation. More faithfully therefore did those follow the first edition of Mabillon who at Paris in the year 1723 reprinted Mabillon's Old Analecta in folio, and there on page 222 expressed the place of the lacuna by interposed points, so as to indicate to the reader that something is wanting there. Further, by this omission of the points one might easily be led into a chronological error, and from the testimony of that old anonymous author might wrongly contend that St. Flavius was already bishop of Rouen from the year of Christ five hundred, as will be declared below.
[3] Meanwhile I cannot sufficiently wonder how Saussay, that most diligent investigator of the French saints, in his Gallican Martyrology passed over this illustrious man, and to Ghini the Martyrologist, who was not unknown to him: for on the eighth day of October, on the occasion of St. Evodius, bishop of Rouen, he makes mention of our Flavius, whom he affirms to have shone in the see of Rouen with new illustrations of sanctity. Did he doubt of his lawful cult? But elsewhere he is not wont to be so scrupulous, as we have often already advised in our Work. The ancient does not seem
to have been ignorant of the testimonies of his veneration Constantine Ghini, who in the Birthdays of the Holy Canons, on the twenty-third day of August, thus confidently announces him: At Rouen, of St. Flavius the bishop, who after Gildard, as the sixteenth, governed the same church as a good shepherd and a faithful and prudent servant. He was present at the first, second, and third councils of Orléans, and flourished in the year of the Lord 498.
[4] Francis Pommeraye the Benedictine in his French History of the Archbishops of Rouen, page 90, asserts and other ancient documents, that in all the ancient Calendars and manuscript documents of the church of Rouen this our Bishop is called by the title of saint or blessed. Wherefore he greatly grieves at the loss of his Life, which without doubt would furnish readers with various examples of his virtues. In the lack of this Legend he recites the two following little verses, which were once composed in honor of that Saint:
Flavius shone again with the distinguished flower of the virtues, and filled those committed to him with the divine law.
Moreover, in the old chronicle of the abbey of Jumièges he reads that the body of St. Flavius was buried in the church of this monastery. But he rightly advises there that this must be understood of some later translation of his sacred relics, since the monastery of Jumièges only began to be built after the death of St. Flavius.
[5] reported in Mabillon, The place here assigned of his burial, or rather of his translation, fitly agrees with the anonymous biographer of the beginning of the tenth century, who in the Life of St. Aicadrus, abbot of Jumièges, in Mabillon among the Acts of the Saints of the Benedictine Order, century 2, page 969, writes that in the monastery of Jumièges there rest, together with holy Flavius, several other Saints, whose holy remains, he says, still remain buried with them in the Lord; by the intervention of all of whom we ask to be protected from all the temptations of our enemies and defended from perils, with the help of Christ Himself, who both conferred eternal glory upon them and by His holy calling willed to invite them to the banquet of His holy supper. Mabillon in his notes to this text doubts who that holy Flavius was, and proposes a certain uncertain conjecture about him.
[6] the lawful cult of this Saint is proved, But afterwards, among the Acts of the Saints of the Benedictine Order, century 3, part 2, page 629, he revokes this doubt of his, and on the occasion of another Saint resting there corrects his former opinion in these words: Accordingly his body was translated to Jumièges long after his own death, as also the body of holy Flavius, archbishop of Rouen. That the relics of these Saints were buried in the ground, with the storm of the Northmen impending, an old codex of Jumièges teaches us in these words: "Welpo was the last abbot before the overthrow by the Danes; with whom the monks, fleeing, carried away with them some of their goods, but hid some in the earth and concealed them in the chapel of holy Clement. Before the altar of holy Filibert there still lies hidden holy Flavius, archbishop of Rouen; whom, when certain monks wished to raise, a most dense mist coming upon that place, and the abbot forbidding, they left untouched"… In the old Chronicle of the same monastery: "In the year 499 holy Flavius, archbishop of Rouen, was renowned, whose body is buried at Jumièges in the church of holy Peter" — namely translated thither before the ninth century.
[7] When here thou hearest that the body of St. Flavius was translated to the abbey of Jumièges, which still perseveres. understand for body a part of the body, which manner of speaking is most usual, as is proved by innumerable examples in our Work. Here too that common interpretation must be applied, since Castellanus in his universal Martyrology on the twenty-third day of August testifies that to this very day at Pontoise the sacred relics of our St. Flavius are honored. To this testimony of Castellanus is added the church of Paris, which today in its Martyrology announces our holy Prelate in this manner: At Rouen, of holy Flavius the bishop, who was present at the second, third, and fourth councils of Orléans; his body is honored at Pontoise in the monastery of holy Martin. Here again take a part of the body for the whole, unless perhaps someone shall show that the whole body of St. Flavius was afterwards translated from the monastery of Jumièges to Pontoise. For the rest, we are of opinion that from all that has hitherto been said the immemorial and still persevering cult of St. Flavius of Rouen is sufficiently proved.
[8] Since the Acts of our Saint have perished or still lie hidden, Since his deeds before the episcopate lie hidden from us, we can establish nothing certain about his country, his parents, or his deeds before the episcopate: for although John Dadré in the French Chronology of the Archbishops of Rouen, page 54, asserts that he was prefect of the palace under King Dagobert, yet that assertion collapses from the very time in which Dagobert reigned. That parachronism having been discovered, Claude Robert and the Sainte-Marthes made our St. Flavius from prefect of the palace a royal quaestor; but they cautiously kept silent the name of the king under whom he is said to have administered that office. But Pommeraye, praised above, in the History of the Archbishops of Rouen, page 89, candidly declares that he has found nothing about either of those offices of his in the old authors, and pronounces that, they being silent, the moderns are not rashly to be believed. Perhaps another Flavius gave occasion to this opinion, concerning whom St. Gregory of Tours in the History of the Franks, book 5, chapter 46, writes thus: But Agroecola, bishop of Chalon, died at this time, … whom Flavius, referendary of King Guntram, succeeded. Our Predecessors on the seventeenth day of March treated of St. Agricola, bishop of Chalon, where, in volume 2 of that month, page 514, the time of his episcopate may be consulted. We meanwhile proceed to investigate a more probable chronological arrangement for our St. Flavius.
[9] Noël Taillepied in the Antiquities of the City of Rouen, chapter 19, writes at length in French without numbers we investigate the year of his taking up the episcopal dignity, that today's St. Flavius succeeded in the place of St. Gildard in the year of Christ four hundred and forty-eight. But we suspect that a typographical error crept in here, and that for the forty-eighth year the ninety-eighth must be read, to which also Dadré, praised above, on page 52, fixes the beginning of his episcopate. Pommeraye in the place cited above rejects this epoch of both writers, and defers the episcopal office of our Saint to the year of Christ five hundred and thirty-five. But that chronology of Pommeraye does not please us either, and it conflicts with its own author, since St. Flavius was present at the second council of Orléans, which was celebrated in the year of Christ 533, as we shall see below.
[10] which with Le Cointe we probably think was 529 of Christ. From these opinions Charles le Cointe dissents, when in the Annals of the Franks, at the year of Christ 529, number 2, he thus makes mention of St. Gildard and his successor: In this year, on the eighth day of June, holy Gildard, bishop of Rouen, passed to God, having sat thirty-five years. Read what we have said of the chronology of the bishops of Rouen at the year of Christ four hundred and ninety-four, at the death of Crescentius. Certainly that Gildard reached these times can be proved even from this, that he consecrated as bishop of Coutances Lauto, who four years later subscribed to the second council of Orléans, Ordericus being witness; but between Leontianus and Lauto, of whom the former was present at the first council of Orléans, the latter at the second, there sat in the see of Coutances Possessor, of whom mention is made in the Life of holy Marculfus. For the rest, to holy Gildard there succeeded in the episcopate of Rouen Flavius, distinguished for sanctity. We follow in this matter the opinion of Le Cointe, until the learned French Benedictines shall have corrected the disordered catalogue of the prelates of Rouen, and assigned a more certain epoch for his taking up of the episcopate in their latest Gallia Christiana, whose continuation we daily await eagerly.
[11] Certainly the holy Prelate in the year of Christ 533, Certainly in the year of Christ 533, as the more exact chronologists now agree, the second synod of Orléans was held, to which Flavius, bishop of Rouen, subscribed ninth in the series of prelates, as may be seen in Sirmond, Labbe, and Hardouin in the Collection of Councils. Claude Fleury, a French presbyter, in his famous Ecclesiastical History, which he published in French at Paris in this century, book 32, number 42, that is, volume 7 of the Paris edition, page 352, most confidently concludes from the order of these subscriptions that at that time the Prelates in their subscriptions did not attend to the dignity of the see, but to the antiquity of episcopal ordination, since archbishops there subscribed after bishops. But this rule of his is without doubt false in the case of Chronopius, bishop of Périgueux, who subscribes after Honoratus of Bourges, Leontius of Orléans, Aspasius of Eauze, and Eleutherius of Auxerre, and yet already from the year of Christ 511 had been present with the predecessors of these prelates at the first council of Orléans, as may be seen in our Hardouin, volume 2 of the Councils, column [ ]. Chronopius therefore was earlier in ordination than these four prelates, and perhaps than several others also, among whom he subscribes in no order of ordination, since in the latest editors of Gallia Christiana, volume 2, column [ ], he is said to have been already set over the church of Périgueux about the year of Christ 500.
[12] in which perhaps he saw to the building of a church Not so easily can the certain year be assigned in which at the persuasion of St. Flavius the monastery of the holy Peter and Paul was built, which afterwards drew its surname from holy Audoenus, buried there. Le Cointe reckons that this happened about the time of the second council of Orléans, as in the Annals of the Franks, at the year of Christ 533, number 45, he indicates in these words: Flavius, bishop of Rouen, who had previously been quaestor of the royal palace, was present at the second, third, and fourth councils of Orléans, and built the monastery of the holy Peter and Paul, which today obtains the name of holy Audoenus, in this year, the fourth of his pontificate, as Taillepied observes — or rather saw to its being built by King Clothar, to whom Fridegodus attributes that praise in the Life of holy Audoenus, not indeed determinately in this year, but indeterminately, which comes to almost the same thing, IN ABOUT THE FOUR AND TWENTIETH YEAR OF HIS REIGN. But above, from the History of the prelates of Rouen in Mabillon, volume 2 of the Old Analecta, page 430, we reported that this church, in which the body of St. Audoenus was afterwards buried, was built in the first year of Clothar, king of the Franks, which chronological marks differ much between themselves. Perhaps into one manuscript codex or the other an error of the copyist crept in. It suffices us that that church was built in the time of our holy Prelate, and that this pious work belongs in some manner to his praise. Further, who that Fridegodus was, of whom Le Cointe here makes mention, will appear from the preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Audoenus, which on the following day will be illustrated among us.
[13] Then our Saint was present at the third council of Orléans, and in the years 538 and 541 he was present at the councils of Orléans, which was celebrated in the year 538, as is now agreed among the more recent editors of the councils. On this occasion again the aforesaid Claude Fleury erred, when in his Ecclesiastical History, book 32, number 60, that is, volume 7 of the Paris edition, page 397, he wrongly pronounces that to this synod, after Lupus, archbishop of Lyons and president of the council, three other archbishops subscribed, whereas after that president four other metropolitan prelates subscribed, as is clear from the subscriptions of the names themselves, and as in
Le Cointe in the Annals of the Franks, at the year of Christ 538, number 62 and following, is explained. To these add that the title of archbishop, which that Claude just cited too hastily uses here for metropolitan, was not yet at that time employed in the Western church to signify metropolitan bishops.
[14] Finally St. Flavius was also present at the fourth council of Orléans, on whose occasion a French writer is corrected. which was held in the year of Christ 541, and on whose occasion the aforementioned French historian again goes astray, when in book 33, number 15, that is, in volume 7 of the cited edition, page 427, he confounds the bishopric of Eauze with that of Auch. But at that time those two bishoprics were distinct from each other, as is plain from this very council, to which, in our Hardouin, volume 2 of the councils, column [ ], Aspasius, in the name of Christ bishop of the church of Eauze, and, column [ ], Proculeianus, bishop of the city of Auch, subscribed distinctly. Indeed I confess that these are slight errors and scarcely worth noting; but I wished with our Longueval to observe even those minutiae, so that cautious readers may not, in matters of greater moment, at once and without previous examination give credit to this French historian, who often boldly carps at the Roman Pontiffs, rashly changes certain circumstances of a narrative, or craftily passes them over.
[15] Probably the Saint died in the year of Christ 544, Now it only remains that we assign the chronological death of our holy Prelate, concerning which Le Cointe in the Annals of the Franks, at the year of Christ 544, number 92, discourses thus: In this same year Flavius, bishop of Rouen, passed over to God. He is reckoned in the number of the Saints in Taillepied and in the ancient records which are cited by the Sainte-Marthes in the enlarged Gallia Christiana, and he is corruptly called saint Filleul; yet his birthday is recalled neither in the Breviary of Rouen nor in the Gallican Martyrology, although Saussay does not deny that he SHONE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF SANCTITY, in the eulogy which he writes for holy Evodius on the eighth of the Ides of October. There succeeded in the episcopate Praetextatus, who, Ordericus being witness, held the pontificate forty-two years, and underwent martyrdom in the year of Christ five hundred and eighty-six, as we shall prove in its place.
[16] as Le Cointe against others By that reckoning Dadré and the Sainte-Marthes are refuted, who substitute holy Evodius for holy Flavius. In the old lists Evodius is believed to have sat before Rouen was under the power of the Franks: for he is numbered the tenth bishop of Rouen, and is placed between Innocent and Silvester. Dadré does not deny that lists of this sort were seen by him; nevertheless he circumscribes the ten-year pontificate of Evodius from the year of Christ five hundred and twenty to five hundred and thirty, because he reads in certain Acts that he flourished under King Clothar. But be it so, that he held the bishopric while Clothar reigned: did he die in the year of Christ five hundred and thirty, if he succeeded Flavius, who subscribed to the fourth council of Orléans in the year of Christ five hundred and forty-one?
[17] strives to prove. The Sainte-Marthes will have it that Evodius was promoted to the episcopate after about the twenty-fourth year of King Clothar; but neither can that opinion stand, because Flavius in the year of Christ five hundred and forty-one, with which the thirtieth year of King Clothar coincided, confirmed the aforesaid fourth council of Orléans with his subscription. Saussay, when from the second, third, and fourth councils of Orléans compared together, at which Flavius was present, and from Ordericus Vitalis, who in the catalogue of the bishops of Rouen prolonged the pontificate of Praetextatus to forty-two years, and from Gregory of Tours, who by various chronological marks shows Praetextatus to have died in the year of Christ five hundred and eighty-six, observed that there was no place for Evodius between Flavius and Praetextatus, feigned that Evodius himself was the predecessor of Flavius. These chronological trifles we leave to be further investigated by the latest editors of Gallia Christiana, when they shall have come to publishing the series of the prelates of Rouen. Meanwhile we embrace the likely chronology of Le Cointe, and put an end to this historical collection.