ON ST. PAULIANUS, BISHOP OF THE VELLAVI, OR OF LE PUY, AND STS. VALENTINE AND ALBINUS,
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Paulianus, Bishop of the Vellavi, in Gaul (S.) Valentine, in Gaul (S.) Albinus, in Gaul (S.)
I. B.
[1] Ruesium, or Ruessium, a city of the Vellavi in Gaul, mentioned by Ptolemy in book 2, chapter 7, in the third map of Europe, some judge to be the one which is now called Saint-Flour. the Ruesium of Ptolemy, But this is neither ancient, and it is situated among the Arverni, in a place which was once called Mons Planus, and because of the celebrated Priory erected there, not the town of Saint-Flour, it began, as happens, to be inhabited with frequent buildings through the concourse of men, and was at length adorned with an Episcopal See by Pope John XXII. Others will have it to be Rivi, or Villa de Rivis, commonly Rieux, adorned with a bishopric by the same Pontiff. nor Rivi, But neither is this among the Vellavi, but above Toulouse on the river Rise. More, with our Odo de Gissey in the history of Le Puy, and William Catel in book 2 of the Antiquities of Languedoc, judge that Ruesium was there (which St. Gregory of Tours, in book 10 of the History of the Franks, chapter 25, calls Velava, but Velava; from the name of the people itself, the Vellavi or Velauni, just as Lutetia was called Parisii, Samarobriva Ambiani, Atuatuca Tungri, and other cities generally): there, then, they judge Ruesium to have been, where the town of Saint-Paulien now is; and that the first six Bishops had their See there.
[2] When afterwards, a church having been built two leagues from there on Anicium, or (as Papire writes) Mount Avicium, and dedicated to the Mother of God, a town of no small size had grown up, since very many people were drawn there by the fame of the miracles that were being worked, now, the See having been transferred to Anicium, and when Ruesium had perhaps been weakened by some disaster, St. Evodius, the seventh Bishop of the Vellavi, transferred the See from here to the new city. The old city gradually began to take a new name from St. Paulianus, the predecessor of Evodius, whose relics, renowned for miracles, were preserved there. of St. Paulianus; André Saussay seems to intimate that that place, ennobled only by the tomb of St. Paulianus, first grew into the form of a town after his times; for thus he writes on the 14th of February: "Among the people of Anicium, in the old Podium of Velay, of St. Paulianus, sixth Bishop of Le Puy and Confessor, who propped up this Church, worn down by the storms of persecutions, with the support of Apostolic virtue, and, having raised it up by the offices of wonderful zeal and pastoral care, happily restored it: and at length, the worship of idols having been almost overthrown and the ensigns of the Christian religion, triumphant on every side, having been raised up, resting in a blessed end, he was buried in that place unless this town was built afterwards because of his miracles: where there is afterwards seen a town erected in his memory, and one not more distinguished by his own name, and by the church dedicated to God under his patronage, than conspicuous for his most sacred relics and for perpetual veneration."
[3] But setting aside that question, whether Ruessium, or Velava, existed there, or a place without a name; it is now the town of Saint-Paulien, subject indeed to the Bishop of Anicium, or of Le Puy, in those things which are of sacred right, his relics there, but in civil matters looking at this time to the jurisdiction of the Governor of Auvergne. There, in the parish church dedicated to his name, his body, enclosed in a casket, is honorably preserved beneath the high altar.
[4] His anniversary solemnity is kept on the 14th of February, in the Church of Le Puy itself also, with a double office. his feast day; Gissey testifies that on this day these words are recited concerning him in the Martyrology of Le Puy: "On the 16th day before the Kalends of March, in the territory of Velay, the birthday of St. Paulianus, Bishop and Confessor." Ferrarius gives nearly the same; Saussay more, as already related. His age is unknown to us. For as to what Catel writes, that his successor Evodius migrated about the times of Pope St. Callistus, his age unknown, in the third century of Christ, to the new town of Mount Anicium, we fear it can scarcely be established by any certain mark. His Acts too are in obscurity, as also his Acts, and so are the very many miracles that are said to have been worked at his tomb. Our Giovanni Battista Bellus, of whom we spoke on the 1st of February in the Acts of St. Agrippanus, sent us this Lesson from the Office of Anicium, customarily recited in the second nocturn.
[5] St. Paulianus was one of the first Bishops of the Vellavi, before the See was transferred to Le Puy. That he died and was buried in the territory of Velay is a constant tradition, in the town which, having discarded the appellation of the old city, took its name from St. Paulianus himself, on account of the frequent gatherings of pious people at the tomb of this blessed Bishop, where he shone with wonderful displays of miraculous power for many. miracles, In that town there is to be seen a church dedicated to the blessed Bishop himself and named after him, where his sacred relics are preserved, together with the relics and bones of Saints Valentine and Albinus, relics with those of Saints Valentine and Albinus, placed in a stone casket under the high altar. That St. Paulianus was buried in the territory of Velay is attested by the Martyrology of Le Puy at the 16th day before the Kalends of March. So much for that. Besides those cited, Jean Chenu and Claude Robert treat of St. Paulianus in their Catalogue of the Bishops of Le Puy.
[6] Who Saints Valentine and Albinus are, whose bones are entombed with the relics of St. Paulianus, on what day they are venerated, and whether any special honors are exhibited to them on a fixed day, whose Acts are likewise unknown, we have not been able to ascertain thus far. There are certain men named Albinus and Valentine in Gaul, but their remains are preserved elsewhere, and they are generally said to have been Martyrs or Bishops; whereas neither of those titles is attributed to these. Therefore, lest the memory of these perhaps be lost, we have inscribed their names at this day together with St. Paulianus, with whom they are entombed in the same stone chest.