ON ST. THEODORE II, BISHOP OF OCTODURUM OR SION,
IN THE VALAIS AMONG THE SWISS,
About the year DXVI.
HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.
Of his cult, his age, and his deeds.
Theodore II, bishop, in the Valais among the Swiss (St.)
BY J. S.
That three bishops of Octodurum or Sion are distinguished by various authors, who are known by the name of Theodore or Theodulus, [The Saint distinguished from those of the same name, and known in the calendars with a eulogy,] and that this distinction of theirs has been called into doubt by certain others, has been fully set forth in volume III of August, from page 273, where also the bishopric of Octodurum or Sion has been amply discussed, so that it is not necessary to repeat these things again. Meanwhile, on the XXVI of August, we have proved the cult of those three, namely of Theodore I, Theodore II, and Theodulus. Wherefore here I shall only briefly gather those things which remain to be said of St. Theodore II. Andreas Saussay, in the Gallican Martyrology on the XVI of August, although he calls him Theodulus, announces Theodore II with this eulogy: On the same day, at Sion among the Alpine mountains upon the Rhone, the deposition of St. Theodulus, bishop of that see and confessor: who, having been raised to that pontificate after Constantius, dear to the holy king Sigismund, urged him with religious insistence to pious works; to whom also he was the persuader of building the celebrated monastery of Agaunum in honor of St. Maurice the martyr, crowned there with his companions: to the founding of which place he subscribed together with Viventiolus of Lyons, Victor of Grenoble, and Maximus of Geneva, prelates likewise of approved sanctity; and he dedicated the basilica itself with the pontifical rite. Then, assiduous in the increase of virtues, he so tinged his clergy and people with their colors that he made them diligent imitators of the purest manners, by pious endeavors under the breathing of the heavenly breeze. And thus, having happily run the course of God's commandments, he departed, distinguished with the purple of perfect sanctity, to the assembly of the senators on high.
[2] he is said to have labored for the building The most illustrious Don Francesco Agostino, bishop of Saluzzo, in the Chronological History of the Piedmontese Region, page 331, records the same man among the bishops of Sion, without the title of Saint, in these words: Theodore the second, or Theodulus, who in the foundation of the monastery of St. Maurice of Agaunum is reckoned the second among sixty bishops. Heinrich Murer, in Helvetia Sancta, page 183, both calls him Saint on the XVI of August and affirms that the monastery of Agaunum was founded at his persuasion. Their opinion is in some measure confirmed from the very instrument of foundation, which the Sainte-Marthes published in Gallia Christiana, volume 4, from page 12, from the original of the Agaunum archives, as they assert: for in it these words are read: Then holy Theodore, bishop of Sion, said: It is the urging of my heart that I should bring forward a word to your wholesome counsels, what is to be done concerning the bodies of the blessed Theban martyrs, that is, of Maurice with his fellow soldiers, who were slain for God by Maximian and lie unburied: I know not what man there may be who shall be able, according to their merits, to build churches for each of them. These words of the Saint, inserted into the Office, we shall presently see. But the whole instrument is read also in Labbe, volume 4 of the Councils, from column [ ], where he warns that its credit is called into doubt by some. Certainly Le Cointe in the Annals of the Franks at the year 536, number 227 and following, attacks it with no light arguments; and Mabillon in the Benedictine Annals, volume 1, page 28, seems to have despaired of its defense, when he wrote thus: But there is no leisure to fight for the authority of this monument: which, though it be not genuine, is certainly most ancient, and of no slight moment for illustrating the history of Agaunum. I have therefore adduced this instrument rather as ancient than as altogether authentic.
[3] The Office concerning St. Theodore II, which I mentioned on the XXVI of August, in the treatise on Theodore I, as having been transmitted to us from the Breviary, of the monastery of Agaunum, has lessons of the second nocturn of this kind: Theodore the second, bishop of Sion, presided over the church of the Valais in the times of king Sigismund, by whose command he was present at the foundation of the monastery of Agaunum with the other holy fathers convoked there: and as diocesan he addresses holy Sigismund and the other prelates in these words: It is the urging of my heart that I should bring forward a word to your wholesome counsels, what is to be done concerning the bodies of the blessed Theban martyrs, that is, of Maurice with his fellow soldiers, who were slain for God by Maximian and lie unburied. I know not what man there may be who shall be able, according to their merits, to build churches for each of them. These words are not without difficulty, since it is established that a church had long before been built for the holy Theban martyrs, as was said in the treatise on St. Theodore I at the XXVI of August. But it may in some fashion be answered that that church was of lesser size, and had perhaps been destroyed at that time; so that the martyrs, over whose bodies the church had been built, lay again as it were unburied because of the ruin of that church. Let us return then to the Office.
[4] In the time of Hymnemodus, abbot of Agaunum, he was many times present for the completing of the fabric of the monastery: and he strove to feed his flock, not as one lording it over the clergy, but being made from his heart a pattern of the flock: chaste in body, uncorrupted in mind, by abstinence
not sparing, and to have helped the abbots of Agaunum in building, austere to himself, kind to others, humble and gentle, and above all merciful toward the poor and captives, and toward those who were pressed by any calamity: for whose relief, when he had nothing else, taking refuge in the help of prayer, he miraculously came to their aid. It is not to our purpose here to inquire whether the monastery of Agaunum already stood before Sigismund's foundation; on which Mabillon may be consulted, volume 1 of the Annals, page 27 and following. This much is sufficiently certain, that Hymnemundus, whom others call Hymnemodus and by similar names, was the first abbot of it after the monastery was either founded or restored by St. Sigismund, and that Ambrose succeeded him, and Achivus succeeded Ambrose, as the praised Mabillon teaches on page 30 from Bolland, who in volume 2 of February, pages 545 and 546, reviewed those first three abbots from their Life, which we keep in manuscript in our archives, and discussed many things pertaining to the monastery of Agaunum, on the occasion of St. Severinus, abbot of Agaunum. Hence it is plain that what we censured in the Office of St. Theodore I at the XXVI of August must be recalled to this place: He notably helped Ambrose, abbot of Agaunum, to build the church rising toward the holy martyrs, out of the collections of the province, and gathered the bones of the aforesaid Saints with abbot Ambrose. For these things our Saint could have done with abbot Ambrose in the year 516: for in that year Ambrose is read to have succeeded Hymnemundus, who died on the III Nones of January after a rule of seven months, in the Chronological Series of the Twelve First Abbots of Agaunum, which Chifflet once transmitted to us from the manuscript codex of St. John of Besançon.
[5] and at last to have died about the year 516. Now let us hear the following lesson: In the arena of all the virtues he so exercised his soul that he often defended the rights, liberties, and immunities of his spouse, even at the peril of his goods, against the princes of the world, and endured on this account enmities and many grievous inconveniences with a mind no less cheerful than steadfast, deeming himself blessed to suffer persecution for justice' sake. Giving himself unwearied to fastings and prayers and other pious works, he preached the word of God with wondrous affection. At length, abundantly heaped with virtues and merits, he obtained the eternal crown of glory on the seventh Kalends of September. Whence this day of death was taken I do not know. But if it were sufficiently certain, the year of his death could probably at least be assigned as 516. For that he lived to the year 516 is likely from what has been said; it is also certain that he did not survive long after that year, since his successor Constantius in the year 517, on the XVII Kalends of October, was present at the council of Épaone, to which he is read as subscribed in Labbe, volume 4, column [ ]. But because it is not established to me how certain that day of death is, I have marked his death with some latitude about the year 516, so that he might have died in the following year also, or in the preceding.