Agricolaus

ON ST. AGRICOLAUS, BISHOP OF MAASTRICHT IN BELGIUM.

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH CENTURY.

Agricolaus, Bishop of Maastricht in Belgium (St.)

By I. B.

[1] We have indicated at January 13, when treating of St. Designatus and of St. Sulpitius at the 18th, that St. Servatius had migrated from Atuatuca Tungrorum to Maastricht, a city on the Meuse, and had there fixed his dwelling and the seat of his priesthood: St. Agricolaus succeeds St. Servatius, shortly after his death: which will be discussed more fully on February 6 in connection with the Life of St. Amandus. Moreover, it is believed that St. Servatius died during the reign of Theodosius, around the year 383: which will be examined on May 13 in connection with his Life. After his death, certain historians of our country have reported that both cities were without a Bishop for at least 114 years: no probable cause of such an interregnum, especially so prolonged, appears to us. For who would believe that nine or ten Bishops, as many as are counted from St. Servatius to St. Domitianus, together filled scarcely thirty years?

[2] St. Agricolaus was therefore appointed as successor to St. Servatius; and indeed before the year 400, as we conjecture. The Abbot Harigerus holds a contrary opinion, some maintain it was in the time of St. Remigius, who committed to writing the deeds of the Bishops of Tongres and Maastricht some 650 years ago. For in chapter 30 he writes thus: "At length, when Blessed Remigius, predestined from heaven for this purpose, and already born according to the promise, to convert that nation (the Franks) to the worship of the true God, and to unite the peoples of Gaul in the unity of the Catholic faith; at that time, I say, Agricolaus presided over the Church of Liege as the eleventh Bishop." But we shall show below, on February 9 in connection with the Life of St. Victor of Mouzon, and on the 20th when we treat of St. Falco himself, that Falco, eighth in succession from Agricolaus, was Bishop of Maastricht when, after the Franks had been converted to the faith of Christ, churches were everywhere being restored.

[3] Giles, a monk of Val-d'Or, who lived some four hundred years ago, added the following to the cited chapter of Harigerus: "At that time, I say, by the aforesaid Blessed Remigius and King Clovis and the other Bishops and Nobles of Gaul, the first Council of Orleans was held, concerning the restoration of the kingdom and the churches. this was done by decree of the First Council of Orleans, There the entire clergy and the communities of monks grieved over the overthrow of the city of Tongres, and no one presumed to assume the episcopal title there, since Servatius had departed, having been driven out thence. It was agreed, therefore, by the higher ranks of the churches, and Agricolaus, a man of venerable life, was chosen to cultivate the Lord's field, was consecrated as Bishop, and directed to have his See at Maastricht, following the magnanimous Servatius: since

indeed Tongres had rendered itself unworthy of the pontifical dignity, since it had madly cast out him whom it had once received by a singular miracle through a visible Angel. This word was announced at Maastricht. It pleased all the people and the entire senate. The elect of the Lord, St. Agricolaus, was received with joy, and in the basilica of St. Servatius a worthy Cathedral was established for a worthy successor." So writes Giles, and the same is found in the Acts of St. Servatius, but, as we shall say in its place, on rather weak foundations.

[4] The Council of Orleans was held, as we have shown elsewhere, in the year 508 or 509. But neither did St. Remigius attend it, nor is there any mention in the Canons, this is not convincing: which are extant, of the matters reported by Giles. Nevertheless, Jacob Meyer followed him, an otherwise diligent writer of the Annals of Flanders, who at the year 512 has this: "A council of Bishops was convened at Orleans, and many useful things were decreed in the Church. Among other things, Agricolaus, the son of the Guardian of Flanders, was made Bishop of Tongres by the judgment of St. Remigius, and he administered that Church for nineteen years." others fabricate his lineage. Meyer confesses that he derived this from a catalogue of the Bishops of Liege, namely that of Joannes Placentius, who says the council was held in the year 498, and that Agricolaus flourished under the apostolic men Gelasius, Anastasius II, and Symmachus. Gelasius died in 496, Anastasius II in 498, Symmachus in 514. Placentius peddles fables, as is his wont, when he speculates that Agricolaus was the son of the Guardian of Flanders by the daughter of the King of Britain.

[5] More probable are the things which the previously cited Giles writes concerning the deeds of St. Agricolaus from the Life of St. Servatius: He rebuilds the oratory of St. Servatius; "Among other notable virtues which the Lord deigned to work through him, it was granted to him to restore the roof of the sepulchre of Blessed Servatius, which had long since been thrown down by the violence of the winds, and which no one before him had been able to restore. And so, after serving the Lord by night and day for some years, he rested in peace, about to receive from Him the crown of glory. In the days of this Agricolaus, the church of Blessed Mary at Huy, the citizens of Huy rebuild the church of the Blessed Virgin, which had been destroyed by the Huns together with the entire town some time before, was rebuilt by its citizens, and extended in length toward the East up to the steps of the Choir beneath the Crucifix; the ancient altar, however, always remaining immovable and always remaining in the same place where Blessed Maternus had first established and dedicated it in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary." Lawrence Melartius in book 1 of the Antiquities of Huy writes that this church was rebuilt by the citizens in the year 512, in the time of St. Agricolaus; namely from the presumption that the town had been destroyed by Attila: as if the Huns had not also invaded Germania Secunda before that time, and Vandals and other barbarians not often called Huns were not frequently to be found.

[6] If the building was truly restored in the time of Agricolaus, there is no doubt that he also urged the citizens to the work, not by himself alone. aided them with his resources, and then consecrated it when completed. Placentius ascribes the whole thing to him alone: "He repaired," he says, "the church at Huy, burned by the Huns, and placed a second altar in the same place where Maternus had originally set the first." We shall treat of this building in connection with the Life of St. Maternus on September 14.

[7] Placentius writes that Agricolaus was buried at Maastricht in the church of St. Servatius. he is buried at Maastricht: The commemoration of him, together with the other Bishops of Maastricht, is observed by the Church of Maastricht on February 6. However, in certain Martyrologies, February 5 is specially dedicated to him. On that day the manuscript Florarium of the Saints has: "At Upper Maastricht, he is inscribed in the Martyrologies on February 5. the deposition of St. Agricolaus, eleventh Bishop of Tongres and Confessor, and the first Bishop of Maastricht after Blessed Servatius. He was buried in the fifth year of his episcopate, in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, which is now called St. Servatius, next to St. Servatius, in the year of salvation 518." Ferrarius also inscribed him in his general Catalogue of Saints at this day. His name is also exhibited in the Calendar of Saints of the province of Liege. Whether we should say with the Florarium that he died in 518, or with Meyer in 530, or with Jocundus, a Priest and writer of the Life of St. Servatius, that he lived many years after the Council of Orleans, worthily governing himself and the people of God, he died around the year 420. scarcely a few years would remain until St. Domitianus, who attended the Council of Clermont in the year 535, to be divided among so many successors. It is therefore more probable, as we have established above, that he appears to have been made Bishop before the year 400, and perhaps died around 420, as the power of the Franks was growing in Toxandria and Hesbania, under King Pharamond.