Eptadius

ON ST. EPTADIUS, PRIEST AND CONFESSOR,

AT MONT-TOLON IN THE TERRITORY OF AUTUN,

Before the middle of the sixth century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Eptadius, confessor, at Mont Telon in the territory of Autun (St.)

BY G. C.

§ I. The intricate announcement of this Saint in divers Martyrologies, and the controversy concerning his true rule of life.

Although this Saint flourished in Gaul about the end of the fifth century and the beginning of the following one, yet he seems little known to French historians, This Saint on various days, since most of them make no mention of him. Some Martyrologies announce him on different days and in different manners, among which the modern Paris Martyrology on the XXII day of August has thus: At Mont-Tolon in the territory of Autun, St. Eptadius the priest. I do not know why Castellain has bestowed the laurel of martyrdom upon this St. Eptadius, when on the same day in his Universal Martyrology he celebrates him with a French announcement, which in Latin runs thus: At Mons Telonis (he names it in French Montelon) in the diocese of Autun, St. Eptadius MARTYR, who had there from the tenth century a church of his own name. I readily admit indeed that already in the tenth century there existed a church which took its name from this Saint. Nay, Mabillon in the Benedictine Annals at the year of Christ 843, number 67, makes mention of a monastery of the diocese of Autun which then bore the name of St. Eptadius. But hitherto I have nowhere else read that this Saint was crowned with martyrdom, as will appear from what is to be said below.

[2] Several Martyrologists defer the annual memory of St. Eptadius to the XXIV day of August, places, and manners and, changing his name somewhat, assign him another place of death or perhaps of veneration; among whom Maurolico on this day relates the following: In the territory of Autun, at the monastery of Cerviduno, Neptadius the priest. Probably the Benedictine Martyrologists followed him — Wion, Ménard, Antonio de Heredia, and others, who record this Saint on the same day and ascribe him to their monastic Order. Of all of them let Gabriel Bucelin alone be heard, who today in his Benedictine Menology announces him in these words: Among the Ædui, in the monastery of Cerviduno, St. Neptadius, priest and monk; concerning whom Maurolico, Felici, Arnold, and Hugo on this day. But the more ancient Martyrologies and Acts nowhere mention the Benedictine monkhood of this Saint, as will be said below.

[3] André du Saussay seems to have wished to make two Saints out of this one and the same, is announced in the Martyrologies. when in his Gallican Martyrology at the XXIII day of August he writes thus: Among the Ædui, in the monastery of Cerviduno, St. Neptadius, priest and monk, glorious in deeds and merits. But afterward in the Supplement, at the XXIV day of August, or volume 2 of his Martyrology, page 1161, he adorns the same Saint, unless I am mistaken, with this different elogium: At Cemidunum, a village of Burgundy among the Ædui, St. Neptadius, a most religious priest and monk, who there flourished in the monastery in every virtue, and, having shaken off the dust of mortality, was happily received among the heavenly lilies, in whose beauty and fragrance the Bridegroom delights, by sending forth his chaste soul. Here I observe in passing

that by the name Cemidunum, which is faultily written for Cervidunum, the same place among the Hedui or Ædui in Burgundy is designated — lest the incautious reader be deceived by this twofold and apparently different announcement of Saussay's. Now we must see whether these various announcements of the different Martyrologies can be reconciled with one another.

[4] Concerning this diversity of name, To begin with the very name of the Saint, I am utterly ignorant for what cause the Martyrologists cited above transformed St. Eptadius into Neptadius. More easily do I understand how the aspirate is sometimes prefixed to his name, and how he is by some called St. Heptadius, just as the name Hadrian or Adrian is written indifferently. Whence Valois, in his Notitia Galliarum, page 361, thus expresses the name of our Saint of today: In a codex of the monastery of Moissac I found the Life of St. Heptadius the priest, composed by an ancient author, in which Heptadius is said to have fled to Morvinnum, that he might not be made bishop of Auxerre. But Labbe and Papebroch read the name of St. Eptadius without the aspirate in the same codex of the monastery of Moissac or Musciacum, or at least in a copy of it. Our Usuardine Auctaria at the XXIV day of August agree with this orthography, which we also have followed in the title of the preliminary Commentary.

[5] of day, But as regards the annual memory of this Saint, which some Martyrologists assign to the XXII day of August and others to the XXIV of the same month, in choosing between the two days we have adhered to the Usuardine Auctaria and to the Acts themselves, to which in Labbe and Papebroch this title is prefixed: The Life of St. Eptadius, priest and confessor, on the IX Kalends of September. Doubtless the same title prefixed to the Acts was found by Charles Le Cointe, who in his Annals of the Franks at the year of Christ 500, number 1, thus mentions the Life of our Saint: There came into our hands an old codex of the abbey of Moissac, in which are contained one hundred and thirteen manuscript Lives of Saints. On the ninth Kalends of September is found written the elogium of St. Eptadius, priest of Autun, whom Clovis, king of the Franks, after making peace with the Burgundians, desired to be made bishop of Auxerre. André du Saussay is nothing to the purpose here, who inserted this Saint twice in his Martyrology, namely on the XXIII day of August and the following, and thus wrongly doubled him, as we briefly indicated above.

[6] But how, someone will say, do the Martyrologies cited above assign this one and the same Saint to different places? and especially of place For Castellain and the Paris Martyrology announce St. Eptadius at Mons Telonis or at Mont-Tolon, while others place him in the monastery of Cervidunum. I confess indeed that here, as the common saying is, I stick fast. Nevertheless I shall set forth for the curious reader some conjectures on this matter, which I leave to the learned French to examine. Perhaps St. Eptadius long led a solitary life at Cervidunum and died at Mons Telonis, or the contrary, and so he could be announced in either place: for the Acts to be published below do not indicate a distinct place of death. But where that Saint died, the secular Canons who now possess the Benedictine monastery of Cervidunum will perhaps be able to teach from tradition or from other monuments, as Mabillon testifies in his Benedictine Annals at the year of Christ 843, number 67, in these words: The monastery of St. Andochius at Saulieu is now a college of secular Canons, as also is that of St. Eptadius of Cervidunum near Corbigny in the district of Morvan.

[7] Moreover I suspect, not altogether rashly, that St. Eptadius died at Mons Telonis, we set forth our conjecture, and that afterward his sacred relics were translated (I know not at what time) to the monastery of Cervidunum, and that therefore he is announced by certain Martyrologists at Cervidunum as at the chief place of his veneration. This conjecture of mine receives some likelihood from the Usuardine Auctaria, in which at the XV day of April this announcement is reported from the Victorine codex and that of the Queen of Sweden: On the same day, the translation of St. Eptadius, priest and confessor. But in the same Auctaria at the XXIV day of August, from the Prato codex and others, at Cervidunum, the annual memory of St. Eptadius the confessor is celebrated, as may there be seen. Further, Valois in his Notitia Galliarum, page 360, assigns the situation of Cervidunum not far from the city of Autun in this manner: The village or place Morvinnus or Morvinnum, not far from Cervedo in Fortunatus, and the villa Morvennus in the diocese of Autun in Paschal, are one and the same; and Cervedo indeed is without doubt the place commonly called Cervon, in the district of Morvan, not far from the river Yonne. What if, on account of this monastery of Cervidunum, which formerly belonged to the Benedictines, and in which perhaps the body of St. Eptadius was afterward exposed to public veneration, some Martyrologists ascribed this Saint to the Benedictine Order, because they thought that he had formerly served there under the rule of St. Benedict? Whatever be the case with these conjectures of mine, at least on this occasion I shall examine certain points concerning the more probable rule of life which our Saint embraced.

[8] If Maurolico and Felici call St. Eptadius a monk from the Greek etymology, and we examine whether he is to be ascribed to the Benedictine Order, because he led a solitary life, I shall not gainsay them. But Wion, Ménard, and the other Benedictine Martyrologists, who followed them, seem to intend something further, when they vie with each other in inscribing that Saint in their Menologies. Certainly Antonio de Heredia the Benedictine, who gathered the Saints of his Order in Spanish out of various monuments, on the XXIII day of August plainly explains his mind in these words, rendered by me into Latin: On the same day, among the Ædui, St. Neptadius, priest and monk of our Order, glorious in works and merits. But on the following day he wrongly doubled the same Saint, along with Saussay and Bucelin. But that profession of the Benedictine rule seems to me little probable, since it may not without reason be doubted whether before the death of St. Eptadius the monastery of Cervidunum belonged to the Benedictines, whose origin I have hitherto sought in vain. I should therefore rather believe that this opinion concerning the Benedictine profession arose from the fact that St. Eptadius for some time led a monastic or solitary life at Cervidunum before the coming of the Benedictines, or that his relics were afterward translated from Mons Telonis to the monastery of Cervidunum, as I conjectured above. At least I judge it more probable that this Saint is not to be reckoned among the Benedictines; in which opinion I am confirmed by the most learned Mabillon, who among the Acts of the Benedictine Saints keeps deep silence about our St. Eptadius, although he had doubtless carefully turned over the Menologists of his Order. I now proceed to unravel another doubt which might occur to someone from the obscure Acts of St. Eptadius.

[9] and whether he was a priest, In the Acts to be published below, at number 5, the following is narrated concerning our Saint: But when his fame had shone forth everywhere so greatly, Flavichonus, the pontiff of holy memory, wished to advance him to the honor of the priesthood; and hearing the report of this, he so fled the dignity of the priesthood… that no one at all thereafter dared to speak to him a word about it. Hence one might suspect that St. Eptadius so resisted this proffered honor that no one thereafter dared to address him about receiving that dignity, and consequently that he never ascended the grade of the priesthood. But in the same Acts, after the narration of St. Eptadius's flight lest he should be made bishop of Auxerre, and after the praise of his virtues, at number 7 these words are read: Afterward he takes upon him the admirable honor of the apostolate, the blessed man Eptadius bowing himself to this grade by humility and by the blessing of obedience. I judge that here by the admirable honor of the apostolate is to be understood the dignity of the priesthood, because the title of priest is prefixed to his ancient Acts in Labbe and Papebroch, and is everywhere expressed in the Usuardine Auctaria and in other Martyrologies, as is plain from what has been related above.

[10] or a bishop. Nevertheless a certain untrustworthy copyist, whom our Papebroch had in hand, seems to have taken this honor of the apostolate for the episcopal dignity: for after the mention of his receiving the apostolate, out of his own added notion, as it is commonly said, he for the most part added to the name of St. Eptadius the title of bishop. But that title is not read in Labbe's edition; and from the Acts themselves it is plain that this title was wrongly added to that Saint out of the copyist's opinion, since the Acts at number 6 and the following narrate that St. Eptadius fled to the mountain solitude of Morvan, that he might not be chosen bishop, and remained there until the king promised with an oath that he would not impose that burden upon him against his will. Although I altogether think that this title of bishop crept wrongly into the Acts, nevertheless I have left it in them, in order to exhibit faithfully to learned readers the whole copy of our Papebroch, who perhaps from an older or more correct codex will be able to confirm that interpolation. Now in the following paragraph I shall investigate the age of this Saint and the credit of the Acts.

§ II. The time in which the Saint flourished, a conjecture concerning the year of his death, the Acts, and their writer.

The Saint flourished at the beginning of the sixth century, In the Acts to be published after this preliminary Commentary there occur various marks of times or of persons, from which the age in which St. Eptadius flourished is in some fashion gathered. In the first place there is designated the time at which the bishopric of Auxerre was offered to our Saint, namely when Clovis, king of the Franks, made peace and joined arms with Gundobad, king of the Burgundians, as the Acts testify at number 6. And that this happened in the consulship of Patricius and Hypatius, that is in the year of Christ 500, Le Cointe and Pagi show from St. Gregory of Tours and other ancient historians. Hence it follows that in that five hundredth year of Christ St. Eptadius was of such an age as to be judged fit to govern the church of Auxerre. Another indication of time is drawn from the slaying of Alaric, king of the Goths, whom Clovis killed in the year of Christ 507 on the field of Vouillé, as the chronologers everywhere relate.

[12] Moreover, from number 8 of the ancient Life it is established that St. Eptadius was still among the living in the year of Christ 516: and he certainly was still alive in the year 516, for there the Saint is said to have written a letter to Sigismund, king of the Burgundians, who in that same year 516, after the death of his father Gundobad, began to administer the kingdom of Burgundy, as the authors agree. Whence Le Cointe, in his Annals of the Franks at the year of Christ 500, where he first mentions our Saint, on occasion of this letter assigns approximately the age of the same Saint in these words, at number 4 in the same place: But blessed Eptadius remained in Burgundy, and prolonged his life until the principate of Sigismund, whom he commanded by letter to give, by his authority, the souls of free men; and he obtained it: whereby not fewer than nearly three thousand captives of both sexes and every age were set free. This last sentence is transcribed almost word for word from the Acts.

[13] But hence we do not yet know how long St. Eptadius survived that letter, or perhaps he lived until the year 525. or in what year he passed to the world above, since the aforesaid Le Cointe in the place just cited subjoins this: He lived perhaps until the year of Christ five hundred and twenty-five, in which the territory of Autun passed to France. Then in the same Annals of the Franks at the year of Christ 525

number 4, he repeats and thus softens this conjecture: It is uncertain whether at those times St. Eptadius the priest, who lived in the territory of Autun, was still surviving. Since the change of the Burgundian dominion has no connection with the death of this Saint, and since Le Cointe himself afterward confesses that it is uncertain whether St. Eptadius was still surviving at the times when all Burgundy was reduced under the power of the Franks, I have judged that so slight a conjecture is not to be adhered to. Wherefore at the beginning of this preliminary Commentary I have more cautiously placed the death of St. Eptadius in the margin before the middle of the sixth century. Now something must be premised concerning the Acts and their anonymous writer.

[14] Le Cointe, so often already praised, asserts in his Annals of the Franks at the year of Christ 500, number 2, that there came into his hands an old codex of the abbey of Moissac, in which, besides other Lives of Saints, the Acts of St. Eptadius were read, Concerning the copy of the Acts, as I reported above at number 5 on another occasion. From these he there published a fragment which concerns the bishopric of Auxerre offered to this Saint. Would that, for the reasons to be brought forward below, he had published the whole Life of that Saint in a corrected form! Hadrian Valois seems to have seen a similar codex, since in his Notitia Galliarum, page 322, column 2, he writes thus: I read a manuscript Martyrology in an old codex of the monastery of Musciacum, which now belongs to the most illustrious Claude Joly, precentor of the church of Paris, and which contains very many and most choice Lives of Saints, among these the Life of St. Heptadius the priest; where Heptadius is said to have been a citizen of Autun, brought up within the boundary of Castrum Maternense or Elobremense.

[15] which in the codex of the monastery of Moissac, Our Philippe Labbe most probably had in hand the same manuscript codex, from which he published a mutilated Life of St. Eptadius after the two volumes of his New Library of Manuscript Books, in the Appendix, to which he prefixes this notice: The first two volumes of our Library of Manuscript Books had come from the press, when the long-desired codex of the monastery of Moissac, brought from Toulouse to this city, came into my hands by the kindness of the most illustrious Claude Joly, Canon of the church of Paris, a man most excellent in erudition and in courtesy toward all the learned. In it, with many other Lives of Saints, male and female, there occurred some already published by me, partly in the former volume and partly in the second, from copies either mutilated or at any rate less ancient or perfect. Hence therefore it seemed good to fill up the gaps, to correct the errors, and to repair the losses, some things besides being added which, as I diligently searched that most ancient codex, seemed to me more notable than the rest. Our Papebroch too transcribed these Acts from the very ancient codex of Master Joly, Canon of Paris, as he noted before his copy.

[16] is found dislocated by the copyist, But I wonder that these two investigators of antiquity do not altogether agree with each other in setting forth the Acts of St. Eptadius, if they drew them from the same source: for Papebroch doubtless found in his codex the title of bishop, which is rather often joined to the name of St. Eptadius. But this title Labbe nowhere expresses in his edition. Did Labbe perhaps omit it because he thought it false and wrongly thrust into the Acts by an unskilled copyist? Whatever be the cause of this omission, we have faithfully added that title wherever it is found in Papebroch's copy, even though we judged it superfluous there, as we have again observed above. But at least these most learned men agree in this, that each complains of the obscurity of his codex and of the drowsiness of the scribe.

[17] Philippe Labbe, From these complaints we understand how Labbe and Papebroch could differ from one another in the mutilation of the Acts and in the rendering of their periods, although both had before their eyes the same ancient codex: for Labbe, at the beginning of the Acts, after publishing a few lines, despairing of a right reading of what followed, omits much which, he says, is vitiated with such absurd errors by the unskillfulness of the tasteless copyist that not even Apollo himself could apply a remedy. Then, after the truncated Life of St. Eptadius, at the end he admonishes the reader in these words: And this much in few words concerning the Saint, hitherto unknown to our Martyrologists and other writers — as much, that is, as with great labor and weariness I have been able to gather out of the barbarism of an uncultivated narrative and the brambles of a tasteless copyist.

[18] But Papebroch filled up these gaps left by Labbe and Daniel Papebroch complain, with the utmost weariness, and restored by conjecture the corrupted periods of the Acts, as he himself indicates after the transcribed Acts by this notice: This text, most perversely written, could scarcely be brought into any tolerable sense otherwise than by transposing, changing, and supplying very many words by conjecture. Hence the learned reader easily gathers that the whole substance of the narrative was preserved by Papebroch, which Labbe here and there was compelled to omit and mutilate on account of the difficult characters or phrases of the tasteless copyist. Therefore we have preferred Papebroch's copy to Labbe's edition, and we have, so far as could be done, enclosed in brackets, for the sake of distinction, the larger gaps of Labbe which Papebroch by grim labor supplied from his faulty codex.

[19] Certainly it is to be lamented that Acts of such antiquity and credit have been so corrupted by unskilled copyists: although the Acts were first written by a contemporary author. for their first writer was contemporary with St. Eptadius, as is plain from Labbe's edition and from number 9 of the Life to be printed below, where great sinners are said to have been recalled to penance by our Saint, of whom, says the biographer, we have also afterward seen very many, through his teaching, by the grace of our Lord, persevering perpetually in that same religion and holiness. On account of this testimony of the anonymous author, those Benedictines of the Congregation of St. Maur who have lately begun to publish the Literary History of France, in volume 3 of that Work, page 182, judge that this Life of St. Eptadius was written about the year 540, or not long after the death of the Saint. Moreover that writer is worthy of historical credit on account of the simplicity of his narrative and other tokens of truth, which the aforesaid Benedictines particularly enumerate in the same place, page 182 and the following. Would that that old work had come into our hands less dislocated, or that it might yet be dug up somewhere from a more correct codex! Meanwhile we here set it forth for the curious reader as we can, since we may not as we would.

LIFE

by a contemporary anonymous author,

Which our Papebroch transcribed from the very ancient codex of Master Claude Joly, Canon of Paris, and which we have collated with the truncated edition of our Labbe.

Eptadius, confessor, at Mont Telon in the territory of Autun (St.)

BHL Number: 2576

FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.

The Saint's rich parents St. Eptadius, then, was a citizen of Autun ^a, a town of the Ædui in Gaul; but he was brought up and educated within the boundary of Castrum Maternense and Elobremense ^b, being born of parents by no means of the lowest rank according to the dignity of the world, but well-born, and enriched with the substance of an ancestral estate; whose singularly excellent integrity of manners flourished also with senatorial dignity. Even in the boyish years of his age the thresholds of eternity lay open to him. When therefore he was twelve years old, without his parents' knowledge he fled to the discipline of the schools, and there of his own accord gave over the childhood of his age to a master to be taught in sacred letters; and after a short time he not only equaled his schoolfellows, but far surpassing them all in every knowledge of letters, he was illumined with divine wisdom and adorned with the grace of spiritual prudence: for when he was fifteen years old, he was filled with such grace of God that all his neighbors and kinsfolk loved his wisdom with affection and charity.

[2] design their son for marriage; When he was twenty years old, as his years increased, his neighbors were already urging him to marriage; and since, being comely in body, he was strong also in a still comelier flower of mind, and tempered by the rudder of reason the motions of a wanton age [c, he so gave himself to be cultivated by the affection of his fellow citizens that even at that time his parents wished, whether for his father's merits or his own endowments, to join him in wedlock to a most worthy wife, and, that they might see from him sons and grandsons, they even appointed a solemn day for the nuptials. But this most blessed Eptadius was inflamed with so sudden a fever that he obtained the medicine of the body from none but him to whom by most faithful deliberation he had consecrated his soul. Among the rest of those who came, and who constantly inquired after the poor body of the aforesaid sick man, three honorable virgins, maidens consecrated to God, came to visit him; and when he perceived that they, as most worthy lamps, had pleased Christ, straightway he too, out of entire faith and inward religion of soul, devoted himself to him who subsists in the majesty of the undivided Trinity.

[3] but he, embracing an austere life, But from this time of his conversion, or the beginning of his sanctification, never did he cover his limbs with the softness of linen; no more delicate nourishment for eating was granted to his hunger than bread; but he was suddenly changed in all things. The warfare of the world is forsaken, heavenly desires are taken up, the pomp of the age is trampled down, humility is chosen, and his substance is distributed to the poor. Prostrate in the harshest austerity of a hair shirt, and pouring forth tears mingled with groans, he, being moved, watered the bosom beneath his breast, since nothing was taken by him but a small quantity of dry barley bread at sunset. And there were times when, two days being passed over, or on the third or fourth day, he was thus refreshed, or, taking bread and herbs, seasoned them with a little quantity of salt and vinegar. Within his house he ordered a small and very dark hut to be made after the manner of a prison, where, shut up during the days of holy Lent, praying and continually pouring forth tears, he might accomplish this course of salvation, and might inflict upon himself those varieties of torment which raging torturers are wont to practice upon the guilty.

[4] and endowed with various gifts of nature, Since we have touched on something of the affliction of his body, I shall begin to speak of his familiarity and of the grace and purity of his converse, if the unequal faculty of my tongue permit. But rather is this to be pursued, that I may not, through the forgetfulness of an assumed silence, pass over even those things which a well-born layman claims; namely, how and in what manner he wished for a time to lie hidden under the appearance of secular dress, desiring by the rigor of righteousness to conceal a treasure of gold hidden under a clod of earth. But he could not long lie hidden, whom mercy and holy piety everywhere betrayed; because a light cannot be hidden in darkness, as our Lord Jesus Christ himself says in his Gospel: No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house.]

[5] The most blessed man was of all prudence, truthful in speech, just in judgment, provident in counsel, he shone with such excellent virtues, faithful in what was committed to him, strenuous in intercession, conspicuous in truth, and preeminent in all uprightness of manners. Him the young venerated as a father; him the old loved as a most beloved son; him the whole body of the peoples flocking to him venerated with dearest affection. So great was the grace in him that he made the sorrowful glad, recalled the discordant to concord, and to the

bond of perfect peace and charity he brought them. And he taught all men that nothing of this world is to be preferred to the Lord, but rather how they should spit upon the enticements of this fugitive life, and endure for the name of Christ the temporal tribulation of the present age: for he was a true worshipper of God, and it needs must be that he whom the Lord had suffused with grace should be loved by all. To Christ therefore he daily rendered diligent service; a sower of alms, he daily laid up for himself an unfailing treasure in the poor: for he was a nourisher of orphans, a refuge and protection of widows, the refreshment of the needy, the defender of pilgrims, the builder and repairer of the churches of God. But when his fame had shone forth everywhere so greatly, Flavichonus ^d, the pontiff of holy memory, wished to advance him to the honor of the priesthood; and hearing the report of this, he so fled the dignity of the priesthood and refused to be entangled in that honor that no one at all thereafter dared to speak to him a word about it ^e.

[6] At the time when, by the mediation of the concord of peace, the superstitious power of two kings, that is of the nation of the Burgundians and of the Franks, came together at the river Quoranda ^f, that he might be chosen bishop of Auxerre; the most excellent king of the Franks humbly besought of King Gundobad that he would grant this most blessed man of God, Eptadius, to be ordained bishop of his own city of Auxerre ^g; to which petition or election of the aforesaid king his offended will so resisted, as though it were demanding of him the possession of the greatest strength. Yet on account of the concord of the people then present, and in view of peace and charity, he could not deny what he asked; and his promise of authority being received, he is straightway elected, and the consent of the whole body of the peoples follows: for the community of the clergy and all the nobility, the people of city and country, came to one judgment, that Eptadius was most worthy to be bishop, being sought by the will of all. Hearing which, the blessed Man, who preferred to lie hidden among his own rather than to be published abroad and honored by the peoples, laboring with all his strength, declares that he is not to be entangled in this honor, crying out with a loud voice that he, a sinful man, was unworthy of a priesthood of so great a burden; and straightway, leaving his cell, with all speed he betook himself to the wastes of Morvan ^h and hastened to the mountain solitude, and there, lying hidden a long time, with continual prayers and fastings he besought the Lord that there might be fulfilled in him what the Prophet had sung: "Lo, I have gone far off, fleeing away, and I abode in the wilderness. I waited for him that saved me from pusillanimity of spirit and from a storm."

[7] He remained so long in the solitude of the desert, until the aforesaid king again promised him with an oath, saying but avoiding that honor by flight, that he would never act against his will ⁱ, if only he would beseech the divine clemency for the safety of his kingdom, and would labor, as he had begun, in the necessities of captives, both Romans and Burgundians and of all nations — afterward sending him much money for that purpose, which he immediately bestowed upon captives, widows, orphans, and pilgrims. Afterward he takes upon him the admirable honor of the apostolate ^k, the blessed man Eptadius bowing himself to this grade by humility and by the blessing of obedience \. Thus what he had before desired he afterward, with all thanksgiving, devoutly fulfilled unto the end, [holding for himself this precept of the divine height, saying: He that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.*] Neither by day nor by night did he cease from divine converse and prayer; with holy preachings, after the example of the Lord's Passion, he refreshed with divine words the throngs that flocked to him.

[8] afterward he spent his labor in ransoming captives Not only Catholics, but even pagans and the fiercest barbarians, who came raging like lions with great pride to pursue captives, he rendered by his holy words as gentle as lambs; of whom not a few, filled with all these good things, faithfully running to the grace of baptism, ceaselessly sought the discourse of the holy Man, and, of their own accord giving up their own captives, humbly besought only that he would pray to the Lord for them. Therefore, when he was filled with these goods, there was a distribution of them, and daily they were spent upon the necessities of captives. From Italy indeed he ransomed a very great multitude of captives, which had at that same time been made by the Burgundians, and it was called back with freedom to the place of its own region. Again, a short time after, a stronghold of the province of Limoges, Idunum ^l by name, was broken open by the Romans at the command of the king of the Burgundians, in which there was made no small outrage of captives; on whose account the blessed man Eptadius the bishop ^m, groaning and pouring forth tears, presently prostrates himself in prayer before his Lord, commanding by letter Sigismund ⁿ, king of the Burgundians, that he should give his authority for the souls of free men; and he obtained it: whereby not fewer than nearly three thousand captives of both sexes and every age were set free, and, fit escorts being given them, returned to their former home; and they who had come weeping and mourning returned with joy, giving thanks to God through him, their liberty recovered.

[9] and he devoted his labor, At the time when the most excellent Clovis, king of the Franks, had entered Gothia ^o with an army, and Alaric [p], king of the Goths, had been slain by him, there was made an innumerable multitude of captives, who were scattered abroad through the regions; of whom the most blessed man Eptadius, giving money, freed no small number and straightway restored them to their former freedom. [For the sake of the tenor of most splendid truth not even the least things are to be kept silent:] for whosoever, having committed even the bloodiest crimes, fled to the tabernacle of this man from the strictness of public severity, was not only freed from the stain of his offense, but was also by the words of the most blessed Man recalled to penance; of whom we have also afterward seen [q] very many, through his teaching, by the grace of our Lord, persevering perpetually in that same religion and holiness.

[10] he freed those possessed, So mighty was the grace of God for healing in him, that hardly any demoniac or sick person came to him who was not immediately restored to his former health; and among the other companies of demoniacs whom he purged by the infusion of the Holy Spirit, [a certain girl, vexed by the storm of a more savage devil, when, struggling, she could be bound by no fetters of chains — as the most blessed man Eptadius stretched out his knees and lay prostrate on the ground, this girl broke out into a declaration of most atrocious ferocity, saying that that same night a friend of the holy Man had been laid low in the thick of the woods by the law of robbery; and on the following day St. Eptadius learned by the mournful recognition of his presence that this had been done; and when he had been directed to the place of burial, the limbs of the dead man are wrapped in linens, earth is cast over them, and a prayer of intercession is offered; which girl nevertheless, by the aid of God's help, he restored, like the rest, to her former health.]

[11] At a certain time, when he was returning from the monastery of St. Portianus [r] to his cell, he restored the sick to their former health, there was brought to him a girl long dumb, that is, tongueless, into whose mouth he poured the liquid of oil with the blessing of a prayer; and so to her who had stood bound by a certain bond of nature a better power of speech was restored. At another time a certain Paul, a priest, when he was being carried off by a most burning fever, hastening in his afflicted need to Eptadius the bishop, beloved of God, ran with the utmost speed, that he might quench such globes of fire with the fountain of his virtues. When, burning, he prostrated himself at his knees with tearful bowing, and confessed that he could not resist the force of the storm, at length St. Eptadius the bishop yielded to the command of mercy [and of charity; and shaking the arms of faith, and prostrating himself further in prayer, with the eyes both of heart and of body lifted to heaven, he extinguished the force of that furnace of fevers no otherwise than for the three children set in the furnace of burning fire: for the overflowing of the Holy Spirit not only denied increase to the flames, but also granted the athletes of God to sing his powers. When the father of the aforesaid Paul, exalted to the height of archpriest, was continually being carried off by a burning of stiffness, he sent to the same fountain of medicine, by which his son had been healed, a most faithful friend of his; by whom the servant of God, Eptadius the bishop, sent a commanding letter of his spirit to him whom the inflamed rigor of a complete attack, with a burning inflicted upon his limbs, was tormenting. This man received the remedy of his former restoration by the same likeness by which Solomon, most consecrated to God, crushed the pernicious devices of demons [s]: for while he applies to one the power of the virtue of absolution, the letter bestows mercy upon all the sick.]

[12] A certain barbarian, exercising the office of a companion of heretics, Sigifunsus by name, instructed in diabolical art, and he wrought other miracles, craftily desiring to explore for himself the converse and life of the blessed Man, ran to the cell of the Man of God, and there kept watch, lying in wait by the side of the walls, that he might spy out what the Servant of God did in his nightly acts, and might make it known to his company as a thing to be laughed at. St. Eptadius the bishop, after his accustomed manner, applied himself to vigils and prayers; and straightway, by the divine will, the spy was seized with incredible terror, and hardly with a most tumultuous haste dragged himself out from the hiding-places of his lurking. Who forthwith, when day arose, threw himself at the feet of the Man of God, and scarcely, with trembling speech and struggle, confessed that he had tempted and had been tempted; and doing penance for his guilt, he turned himself to the grace of the Catholic faith: from which time he served the author of his light with such diligence that he proved himself to him as a son and a servant.

[13] Among the other most sacred solemnities of the festivals, and after various exercises of piety to celebrate more especially] the Birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, as often as its yearly coming granted it, rising about midnight, with the light of tapers, with the ministers of his church singing psalms, with the festive band of ransomed captives, he hastened to the church of Elobrema, six miles distant; on which journey the ready choir of the church came to meet him, chanting with like melody. The solemnities of the morning psalms and of the Masses being performed with sacred devotion, together with all the assemblies of the clergy and of the captives, all being gathered, he set out a table with viands spread; and while they feasted, the blessed man Eptadius the bishop fed his fasts with his accustomed refreshment. And with no less zeal, so long as he lived, he never ceased constantly to celebrate the festival of St. Symphorian the martyr [t]. When therefore the day came, since his cell was fifty miles distant from the city of Autun, St. Eptadius came to venerate the sepulchre of the blessed Martyr on the third day before his vigils, taking with him three clerics, his brethren; and prostrating himself before the holy basilica on the threshold of the holy Martyr, he there continued, with deep groans pouring forth constant tears, until the hour of Matins, when the clerics came to celebrate the offices: [and at the very first breaking of the dawn he saluted with his prayers the thresholds of all the saints who were there present; and so with the aforesaid brethren, the vigils of the holy Martyr being celebrated, he returned again to that same cell of his; where, all being performed, as was his custom, as we said above, when all the bands of captives came, he set out his table with viands spread.]

[14] he happily passed to heaven. About seven days before his assumption, when, being already indisposed, he lay weary upon his bed, all standing about him and weeping, and those who were his familiars — whom it is not necessary to name — applying themselves to vigils by day and by night, the offices of Matins being performed, while he was resting a little and suddenly, in an ecstasy of mind,

being caught away, there was seen by him, as it were from heaven in a most white cloud, a descent of flying angels [u] settling before his cell and likewise beseeching him to go with them into the heavenly city. Then in the same multitude, and with like flight, they settled above his basilica, and, first bidding him farewell, flew away again to heaven in that same splendor in which they had come. And so, being carried on his pallet to the church, while the whole neighborhood kept his passing, the Lord, who calls to glory those wearied with labors, led him into life eternal; to whom be honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. From the slaying of King Alaric also we gathered in some fashion, at number 11 of the preliminary Commentary, the time in which St. Eptadius flourished.

q. From these words of the biographer we asserted at the end of the preliminary Commentary that he was contemporary with the Saint.

r. Gregory of Tours in the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 5, relates the deeds of St. Portianus the abbot. Mabillon in the Benedictine Annals at the year of Christ 542, numbers 34 and 35, distinguishes two abbots of this name.

s. Perhaps the author took this from Flavius Josephus the Jew, who in book 8 of the Jewish Antiquities, chapter 2, writes the following of Solomon: Nay, he obtained from God also that art which is effective against demons, for the profit and healing of men: for he composed incantations by which diseases are driven away; and he left written forms of adjuration by which demons, yielding, are so put to flight that they never dare to return thereafter. But our Scipione Sgambati, in book 2 of the Archives of the Old Testament, title 26, page 312, and other interpreters of holy Scripture explode this fable, to which the biographer seems here to allude, and deny such supposititious writings to Solomon.

t. Hence it is plain that the cult of St. Symphorian the martyr, whose Acts we illustrated at the 22nd day of August, is ancient at Autun.

u. In Labbe's edition, instead of angels, eagles are said to have appeared to him; but since afterward they are said to have besought him and first to have bidden him farewell, I have preferred Papebroch's reading to Labbe's, because that kind of office seems to befit angels rather than eagles.

\ elsewhere pœnitentiæ*.