Aeonius

ON ST. AEONIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT ARLES IN GAUL

In the year DII.

HISTORICAL COLLECTION.

His cult: his deeds, and their chronology.

Aeonius, bishop and confessor, at Arles in Gaul (St.)

BY J. S.

The memory of St. Aeonius, or, as others have written, [The Saint's memory in the Calendars on various days: his cult on the 30th of August:] Eonius, bishop of Arles, is announced on various days among the martyrologists. For Castellanus entered Aeonius in his Calendar on the III of August, and on the same day he is mentioned in the new Paris Martyrology. Saussay had gone before them in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology on the III of August in words of this kind: At Arles the festival of St. Eonius, whose blessed death falls to be observed on the XVI day of this month. Hence among us mention is made of him among the Passed Over on the said day, with this observation added: The proper Offices of Arles, Claude Robert, the Sainte-Marthes, and others agree that the Saint died on the XVI of August, although he is not venerated on that day, on account of the more solemn festival of St. Roch which then occurs, as the Breviaries of the year 1612 note; and therefore among us he is deferred to the XXX of that month, on which it is certain that he is venerated among the people of Arles with a double rite, as is noted in the proper Offices. On the same day he is announced by Ferrarius in his General Catalogue of the Saints.

[2] Nay, Saussay, little consistent with himself, wove for the same Saint this eulogy on the XXX of August: a eulogy from Saussay, At Arles, of St. Eonius, bishop and confessor, who, wholly kindled with the love of God, seriously watched over the propagation of his worship and the interests of his church: whose rights also he defended, and whose honors he enlarged by the very great virtues in which he abounded; and he deserved, on account of the clear tokens of his sanctity and pastoral vigilance, to be honored with worthy commendations by the supreme Pontiffs Gelasius and Anastasius, which are conspicuous in their rescripts to him. Then the blessed Prelate, holy Caesarius having been designated to him by the suffrage of the clergy and the assent of the people as his successor in the divine office — Caesarius, whom he had initiated into sacred orders and had cherished as a son — passed to eternal rest.

[3] In the praised Offices of Arles the fourth lesson, which alone is assigned from the Saint's Life, is conceived in words of this sort: another from the proper Office. Eonius, bishop of Arles, the successor of Leontius, flourished in the times of the supreme Pontiffs Felix III, Gelasius, Anastasius, and Symmachus; whose various letters to him are extant, which establish the truth both concerning the privileges of the church of Arles and the right of metropolitan status long since acquired by it, and also concerning the excellent virtues of Eonius. He, about to depart from life and anxious about a successor, exhorts the citizens of Arles not to take any other into his place but Caesarius. Concerning which matter, trusting in the merits of so great a man, having received a pledge from the bystanders, after leaving vast treasures to his church for the redemption of captives and the support of the poor, he met his last day on the seventeenth of the Kalends of September. He was buried at Arles in the church of St. Honoratus. So briefly there; nor has antiquity handed down to memory hardly anything more about so great a Man. These things therefore, and a few to be added from elsewhere, I undertake to discuss and confirm.

[4] He was made bishop of Arles after Leontius, Claude Robert in the catalogue of the prelates of Arles put Aeonius before Leontius, as also did Baronius in the addenda to volume 6, which are read in volume 10, page 960. But Saxi in the Pontificium Arelatense places John I between Leontius and Aeonius: which error Pagi followed in his Critica under the year 494, number 8. Besides, Denis de Sainte-Marthe, volume 2 of the Gallia Christiana, column 534, relates this: That Tonantius Ferreolus, who had been prefect of the Gauls, was given as successor to Leontius, is read in the Avignon codex, in whose favor Savaron thinks Apollinaris Sidonius speaks in letter XII of book VII to the same Tonantius. Sainte-Marthe indeed rejects these errors, but does not refute them. Yet the former falls of itself from the letters of the Pontiffs addressed to Leontius and Aeonius, which he mentions; not so the latter. I shall refute them all when I show that Aeonius succeeded Leontius. Ruricius, bishop of Limoges, in book 1, letter 15, writing to Aeonius, declares his grief at the death of Leontius, and says that he has heard of the succession and ordination of Aeonius. These things leave no doubt that Aeonius succeeded Leontius. See the letter in Canisius, volume 5 of the Antiqua Lectio, page 472.

[5] but in an uncertain year: Concerning the beginning of his episcopate the praised Denis de Sainte-Marthe discusses thus, column 534: That this bishop came to the government of the church of Arles in the year CDXCII we scarcely doubt; for in this year Gelasius, elected Roman Pontiff in the month of March, wrote to him about this election, that he might make it known to the other prelates within the Gauls. This letter is extant in Labbe, volume 4 of the Councils, column [ ], and is marked as given on the X Kalends of September, Asterius and Praesidius, most illustrious men, being consuls, that is, in the year 494. But truly I do not see by what consequence it can be deduced thence that Aeonius was made bishop in the year 492. For even if it becomes probable hence that he was not made bishop after Gelasius was elected Pontiff — since otherwise he would have informed him of his promotion — it can by no means be proved by this argument that he was not bishop even for a whole ten years and more before the pontificate of Gelasius. Nor has it been proved hitherto from any other source that he was not already bishop in the year 480, nay, even earlier. Wherefore I am compelled to leave the beginning of his episcopate and its duration uncertain, until other monuments be found from which more light may shine forth.

[6] In the year 499, as most assert (although Pagi, under the year 501, number 4, contends that the matter took place in that year, which I do not care to discuss), [he is present at the conference of the Catholics with the Arians: with him and the bishop of Vienne,] a conference was held at Lyons before Gundobad, king of the Burgundians, between the Catholic bishops and the Arians. The chief part there for the Catholics was borne by St. Avitus of Vienne, whose reasonings the Arians could not resist, so that very many Arians were converted, and king Gundobad himself sufficiently acknowledged the truth of the Catholic faith. St. Aeonius was present at this conference with the other bishops; see it related at length in Labbe, volume 4, from column [ ]. Further, although Aeonius and Avitus contended with united minds against the Arians, there was nevertheless some controversy between them about the primacy of their churches. This suit, which was already ancient between the church of Arles and that of Vienne, I set forth on the XXVII of August in the Commentary on the Acts of St. Caesarius, §3. Here therefore I shall relate briefly only what happened in the time of St. Aeonius. Anastasius II, who held the Pontificate after Gelasius, had changed something in the division made by St. Leo, which we narrated in the account of Caesarius, in favor of the church of Vienne. St. Aeonius complained of this to Symmachus, the successor of Anastasius, as we learn from the letters of Symmachus.

[7] These letters are extant in Labbe, column [ ], given on the III Kalends of November, against whom he defends the rights of his church after the consulship of Paulinus, a most illustrious man, that is, in the year 499. In them Symmachus commands that both the bishop of Arles and the bishop of Vienne send legates who should set forth the rights of each church. St. Aeonius sent Crescentius the priest, who so defended the cause of the church of Arles that Symmachus in the following year rescinded what had been newly introduced by Anastasius. This is taught by the letters of the same Pontiff in Labbe, column 1291, given on the III Kalends of October of the year 500. Hear the latter words of the letter: Reading over therefore the ordinances of the ancient prelates upon this cause, with which the ecclesiastical archive is burdened, we most earnestly admonish your charity that in ordaining priests through the several cities hoary and reverend antiquity be preserved, and that a new constitution do not diminish the force of the old sanction; because concord cannot otherwise be preserved among you unless by more prudent counsel a limit be set to new cupidities out of reverence for antiquity.

[8] Aeonius readily acquiesced in this, who had asked for nothing beyond it. before the supreme Pontiff. But not so Avitus of Vienne, whose complaint about these things is taught by the letters of Symmachus, given on the III Ides of October, Avienus and Pompeius being consuls, that is, in the year 501. Take their beginning: It ought not to have offended your charity that we lately wrote back to our brother and fellow-bishop Aeonius. For no prejudice was done to your right, most beloved brother, since we replied that we could not judge with one party unheard and without competent instruction. Whence it is safe for your fraternity to allege what you shall think ought to be alleged, and to propose what you shall see ought to be proposed. Hence too we understand that Symmachus had thus far not judged of the right of either, but had only rescinded what had been established by Anastasius, being ready, as he adds, to confirm those things if Avitus should allege such reasons as would prove that they ought to be confirmed. The whole letter Labbe exhibits from column [ ]. In this way the controversy hung in suspense until St. Caesarius, the successor of Aeonius, in the year 513 obtained that the ancient division of St. Leo should be held valid, as I set forth in the Acts of St. Caesarius in the place already assigned.

[9] The Saint is a fellow-countryman and kinsman of St. Caesarius, Hence I proceed to those things which can be gathered concerning St. Aeonius from the Life of St. Caesarius published on the XXVII of August, as the sequence of matters has persuaded, although in order of time many of them ought to have been set before those things which we have already discussed. In the aforesaid Life, book 1, number 10, it is related that Caesarius, then a monk and staying at Arles for the sake of restoring his health, became known to Aeonius the bishop through the illustrious persons Firminus and Gregoria. He orders Caesarius to be brought to him, and, being presented to him, as the Life has it, the venerable bishop Eonius inquires rather diligently of what city he was, and of what parents he had been born. And when he had disclosed his residence in the city and the origin of his parents, the Bishop, rejoicing with holy alacrity, said: "You are mine, my son, both my fellow-citizen and my kinsman: for I remember your parents very well, and by consanguinity I embrace you with the recollection of kindred." From these words we learn both that Aeonius was of noble stock and that he was born in Burgundy in the territory of Chalon, since, as the Life attests in number 3, Caesarius was born of noble family in the territory of Chalon, whose fellow-countryman and kinsman he acknowledges himself to be.

[10] whom he ordains deacon and priest; then makes him abbot: The Life subjoins: He began therefore to look upon the young man, not as a stranger or an outsider, but with more attentive regard, with the inmost eyes of his heart. Presently therefore he asked for him from his abbot, holy Porcarius. At the request, therefore, of the blessed man, bishop Eonius,

though unwilling, he is granted. Straightway he is ordained deacon, and thereafter priest. No small glory indeed is it to Aeonius to have had so great a disciple as Caesarius was. But when he perceived in him the exceptional gifts of nature and of grace, he did not so wish him to cleave to his side as not to send him forth for the benefit of his neighbor. He therefore made him abbot in the island in the suburbs of Arles, before he had completed the thirtieth year of his age. Hear the praised Life, number 11: But after these things, the abbot in the suburban island of the city having died, blessed father Caesarius is sent by holy Eonius, that the monastery, which had lately been left destitute by the death of its ruler, he himself succeeding in the same authority of reverence, might shape to the discipline of an abbot.

[11] and at last brings it about that he is chosen his successor in the see: Then Aeonius with no less humility than charity desired to have that same Caesarius as his successor in his see; by which act alone he deserved excellently of the whole Church, to which the sanctity and doctrine of Caesarius were wonderfully profitable. The matter is related in the same Life, number 12, in this manner: While therefore he was living in the aforesaid island in the office of abbot for more than three years, holy Eonius addressed the clergy and the citizens, and the lords of property themselves through intermediaries, that when he himself, God willing, should have passed to Christ, they should choose no other than St. Caesarius to become his successor; so that the ecclesiastical vigor, which he lamented had in many of its rules been softened by his own infirmity, the brotherhood might rejoice to see recalled to its own state and vigor through Caesarius the servant of Christ; and that the labor of him who followed should to some extent be the profit of the successor; that when he left behind such a man to come after him, he might receive an increase of eternal inheritance even in the election of that most holy man; and that after his passing there might not be wanting a partner in the wish of the election, who even while living had stood forth as the author of the decree. And so, all these things having been faithfully ordered by divine providence, blessed Eonius, secure about his successor, departed to the Lord.

[12] his death, burial, money left to his church, the letters of Ruricius of Limoges, His death is to be attached to the year 502: for since he is everywhere said to have died on the XVI of August, and Symmachus in the letter just alleged mentions Aeonius as living on the III Ides of October of the year 501, it cannot be placed earlier. That he did not die later we showed in the account of Caesarius, §2, number 13. That he was buried in the church of St. Honoratus, as is read in the Office, is confirmed by the History of the translation of St. Honoratus among us, volume 2 of January, page 25. What the Office has about the treasures left by him is taken from the Life of St. Caesarius, book 1, number 23, but with some exaggeration, since it is only said there that Caesarius spent money left by Aeonius. For the rest, besides the letter of Ruricius, prelate of Limoges, which I have already mentioned, there are extant two others of his to Aeonius, one the eighth of book 2, the other the fifteenth. Each commends charity; but the former runs out more into the praise of Aeonius.

[13] From this, therefore, it will be pleasant to sip a little, and with it to conclude this short collection: in which the Saint's charity is praised. So in those few days, he says, which your affection made to me truly both few and very brief, while our gaze cannot be sated with contemplating you, but rather burns the more by seeing; when we both longed for your presence and sought you set before us face to face, you watered our senses with the purest fountain of your kindly heart, so that however [] I might thereafter receive no precious gifts of your holy lips, yet I should possess your presence within the secret places of my mind, and behold your likeness in the mirror of my heart, which your perfect charity has painted there, so that it can be blotted out by the forgetfulness of no age, because by continual remembrance it is renewed at every moment. For there I converse with you more secretly, after the custom of your loving-kindness. There too I treat of the ordering of a better life. There I kiss you with the lips of my mind, and embrace you with the hands of my heart. Whence it comes about that true affection, which is nourished in my inmost parts by the living figuring of your countenance and kindled by the little fire of charity, promises me a return of your love, and my own mind stands surety to me for yours; while I ask my breast, conscious of mutual affection, how much I ought to presume concerning you. More may be seen in Canisius, volume 5 of the Antiqua Lectio*, page 483: for this sufficiently suggests how much Ruricius esteemed Aeonius. Canisius does indeed somewhat doubt whether this letter was addressed to our Aeonius, because through the fault of the copyists it is inscribed to Aenius. But that it was addressed to that very man is sufficiently gathered from this, that Ruricius at the end asks Aeonius to send Pomerius to him — no other, surely, than he who flourished at Arles in Aeonius's time, and was there St. Caesarius's teacher, as we narrated in the Acts of Caesarius.

. Perhaps quantumlibet*.