Helladius

CONCERNING ST. HELLADIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO IN SPAIN

A.D. 632

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Helladius, Archbishop of Toledo in Spain (St.)

By G. H.

Section I. The testimony of St. Ildephonsus and others concerning St. Helladius. The time of his See and of the Gothic Kings then reigning.

[1] Among the Metropolitan Bishops of the Church of Toledo, as they formerly subscribed at the Spanish Councils, St. Helladius flourished in the seventh century of Christ, whose deeds St. Ildephonsus, ordained by him as Deacon, According to the testimony of St. Ildephonsus, recounts in a brief but illustrious eulogy, in his booklet on the illustrious writers and Bishops of Spain, published among the works of St. Isidore, Bishop of Seville, and reprinted in Volume 2 of Hispania Illustrata. In it, Chapter 7, the following is read:

[2] "Helladius obtained the See after Aurasius. He, while he was a most illustrious member of the royal court St. Helladius, a royal courtier and governor of public affairs, under his secular garb equally fulfilled the vow and work of a monk. For when he would often come to our monastery -- I mean the Agalian, whose reception made me a monk (which by the gift of God and the adornment of its perennial and manifest holiness is both admirable to all and known to all) -- led by the course of his busy affairs, removing the retinue and pomp of secular rank, he so attached himself to the special tasks of the monks that, joined to their bands, he works among the monks: he would carry bundles of straw to the oven. And since amid the splendor and arrogance of the world he both loved and pursued the secrets of solitude, in swift flight leaving all things which he knew to be of the world, he becomes a monk and Abbot of the Agalian monastery: he went to the holy monastery which he had frequented by his vow. He came, intending to remain, to the use he desired. There, made Father of the monks, by his merits and holy labors he both duly governed the life of the monks and increased the wealth of the common property and the condition of the whole monastery. From this, with limbs nearly wearied by old age, he was called to the summit of the pontificate, and because he was called, he is made Archbishop of Toledo: compelled by force and without his knowledge, he there gave greater examples of virtues than as a monk. For he is reported to have governed the state of the world, which he had despised by his virtue, with great discernment; he is proved to have so generously bestowed the abundance of his compassion and alms upon the poor, as if he had thought that the limbs of the needy descended from his own stomach and that their bowels were warmed. He refused to write, because what was to be written was shown by the page of his daily works. Returning to the monastery I have mentioned, he holds the See for 18 years: in the last period of his life he made me a Deacon. He died an old man, having held the sacred governance for eighteen years, in the times of Kings Sisebut, Suinthila, and the beginning of the reign of Sisenand. He was held blessed, who afterward, more blessed, merited the glory of the heavenly kingdom, full of a good old age."

[3] So St. Ildephonsus, before whom the Archbishops of Toledo who succeeded St. Helladius were Justus, Eugenius II, and Eugenius III (of that name), who died on November 13, on which day he is venerated; while St. Ildephonsus is venerated on January 23, on which day we gave his Life. The kings mentioned above, under whom St. Helladius governed the Church of Toledo as Archbishop after the aforesaid Aurasius, ruled in this order: first Sisebut was called to the royal throne after Gundemar. Under Gundemar there was a dispute about the primacy and authority of the See of Toledo, under Kings Sisebut and a Synod was held at Toledo on the tenth day before the Kalends of November, in the first year of the reign of Gundemar, Era 648, or A.D. 610, when the Archbishop was the aforementioned Aurasius, of whom St. Ildephonsus says in Chapter 5 that he lived in that priesthood in the times of Kings Witteric, Gundemar, and the beginning of the reign of Sisebut, for nearly twelve years. St. Isidore in his Chronicle of the Goths says: "In Era 648, Gundemar became Prince after Witteric, for two years," which we judge were incomplete, so that Sisebut was still made King in Era 649, created in A.D. 611, in place of which in Isidore the corrupted reading 641 has been printed. Isidore, Bishop of Beja, in his Chronicle brought down from the Emperor Heraclius to the year 754, asserts that Sisebut was made King in the second year of Heraclius, whose second year of reign began on March 27, A.D. 611, or Hispanic Era 649. But the following year, Era 650, the same Bishop of Beja assigns the beginning of the reign, perhaps neglecting the few months in which he had reigned in the preceding year. Those months, however, were observed by the Fathers assembled at the Second Council of Seville on the day of the Ides of November in the year

IX in the reign of the most glorious Prince Sisebut, Era 1157, that is, A.D. 1119. Meanwhile, the Council of Egara, held on the Ides of January, is assigned to Era 1152, or A.D. 1114. St. Isidore of Seville records that Sisebut reigned for eight years and six months, and concludes his Gothic Chronicle there. Sisebut having died in A.D. 620, as also his son Recared: After Sisebut died in Era 1158, or A.D. 1120, Rodrigo Jimenez, Archbishop of Toledo, Book 2 of Spanish Affairs, Chapter 17, says that his young son Recared succeeded him, and assigns seven months to his reign. Isidore of Beja asserts that he reigned for only three months. St. Ildephonsus made no mention of him above, on account of the brevity of his life.

[4] The other King indicated by him is Suintila, called by others Suinthila and Suintilla, whose beginning Isidore of Beja says corresponds to Era 1159, Suintila created in A.D. 621 and Sisenand in A.D. 631. or A.D. 1121, after whom, following ten years of reign, Sisenand succeeded in Era 1169, that is, A.D. 1131, at the beginning of whose reign St. Helladius is said to have still been alive. We therefore establish the beginning of his tenure in the See of Toledo in the third year of the reign of Sisebut, toward the end of A.D. 1113 or the beginning of the following year, and his death in the second year of Sisenand, A.D. 1132, he dies in A.D. 632. His successors are his disciples, Justus Era 1170, having completed eighteen years in his governance, as St. Ildephonsus designated them above. Justus, a disciple of St. Helladius, succeeded him -- a man handsome in bodily bearing and keen and subtle in the talents of his mind, a monk from infancy, abundantly raised and instructed by Helladius in the virtue of monastic discipline, and made the third ruler after him in the Agalian monastery. Soon inducted as his successor in the pontificate, a man sharp of intellect and adequate in eloquence, of great promise for the future, had not the last day carried him off before a long life. So says St. Ildephonsus, Chapter 8. Under this Justus the Fourth Council of Toledo was held, on the ninth day of December, Era 1171, in the third year of Sisenand, A.D. 1133. Concerning the successor of Justus, St. Ildephonsus writes in Chapter 13 as follows: and Eugenius II: "Eugenius, a disciple of Helladius, a colleague and companion of Justus, acceded as Bishop after Justus, a monk from infancy, educated together with Justus by Helladius in the sacred disciplines of the monastery. Helladius took him along from the monastery when he was drawn to the pontificate, and he, in turn trained by him in clerical orders, acceded as the third Ruler of his See after him. And it was a good merit of the old man, who deserved to leave to two disciples and holy sons the inheritance of the Church of God to be governed." So says St. Ildephonsus.

[5] Another witness to the holier life of Helladius is the aforementioned Isidore, Bishop of Beja, praised by Isidore, Bishop of Beja, a full century younger, who writes the following: "King Sisebut, a wise man and exceedingly devoted to learning, subdues the Roman cities throughout Spain and compels the Jews to the Christian faith by force. The Church proclaims the venerable Helladius, Metropolitan Bishop of the See of Toledo, the royal city, as resplendent with the renown of sanctity. Spain celebrates Isidore of Seville, Metropolitan Bishop, as a distinguished Doctor." So says Isidore of Beja, by Rodrigo Jimenez, whose words concerning these three illustrious heroes are transcribed by Rodrigo Jimenez, who flourished around A.D. 1220, Book 2 of Spanish Affairs, Chapter 17, and by Vasaeus in his Chronicle of Spain at the year 616, by Vasaeus, but citing Rodrigo, who then adds more from Ildephonsus.

* to depend

Section II. Assertions in the Chronicles of Maximus, Luitprand, and Julian concerning St. Helladius. The Agalian Monastery.

[6] First of all should be placed M. Maximus, Bishop of Zaragoza, if the Chronicle published under his name could find sufficient credence among learned men. In his preface he says that he was present at the Synod of Toledo held under King Gundemar in Era 1148, which we discussed above. His name is absent from among the Bishops who subscribed. In that preface, however, he asserts that he extends the narrative of events to Era 1150, that is, A.D. 1112, shortly after the death of Fl. Gundemar, when St. Helladius was not yet Archbishop of Toledo. In this Chronicle, at Era 1128, the Council of Toledo held under King Recared is placed, which is read to have been celebrated in the preceding Era 1127, that is, A.D. 1089, at the beginning of the Synod, and Garcias Loaisa asserts that it is so found in manuscript codices. Maximus, having listed various Bishops, Abbots, and Priests who were present, adds: "Among the Palatine officials, moreover, the most illustrious Helladius, Count of the royal court, [St. Helladius, called a Count, is said to have been present at the Council of Toledo in A.D. 589,] who was present at the Council in the name of the King among the nobles and courtiers, was also a governor of public affairs." Euphemius, Metropolitan Bishop of the Catholic Church of Toledo, subscribed to this Council; concerning his arrival in Spain, Maximus writes the following at Era 600: "The same King Athanagild of the Goths builds on the plain of the suburb of Toledo a monastery of the Order of St. Benedict in honor of St. Julian, who suffered at Clermont, called Agalian from Agallia, a nearby small estate, and in the Agalian monastery which is situated less than 250 paces from the Praetorian church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, between west and north; where he established as the first Abbot Euphemius, a monk, a Greek by nation, summoned from Italy, who afterward was called to the See of the Church of Toledo." He commonly calls him by the cognomen Helladius, and at Era 1133, or A.D. 1097, he records the following concerning him and St. Helladius: "After Euphemius, or Epiphanius, he becomes a monk in A.D. 597, surnamed Helladius, a Greek by nation, Bishop of Toledo, Exuperius, Abbot of the Agalian monastery, succeeded, and Adelphius was placed over the governance of the same monastery. Helladius, governor of public affairs, becomes a monk of the Agalian monastery." Again the conversion of St. Helladius to the monastic life is repeated at Era 1140 on this occasion: or 602 "On the fourteenth day of the month of April, Liuva, the young son of the holy King Recared (at which time Helladius the nobleman becomes a monk of the Agalian monastery), had begun to reign." The beginning of whose reign at the said Era 1140 is also assigned by St. Isidore. Finally, at Era 1143, the following is found: made Abbot in A.D. 605. "St. Helladius, a monk of the Agalian monastery, upon the death of Richilane, is made Rector of the properties of the other monastery. Richelanes was Abbot of the Agalian monastery, to whom Justus, Archbishop of Toledo, both successor and disciple of St. Helladius, wrote a letter, which St. Ildephonsus mentions." But he seems rather to have succeeded St. Helladius.

[7] Among the ancients who celebrate the sanctity of Helladius, Luitprand should be counted, if undoubted faith could be placed in the Chronicle published under his name, in which the following things are recorded. First, [in the Chronicle of Luitprand, he is said to have been made Archbishop in A.D. 613,] at Era 651, A.D. 613, number 16: "Upon the death of the most holy Aurasius, the most holy and most learned Bishop, St. Helladius succeeded to the See of Toledo, a man of outstanding merit and formerly a Benedictine monk, already advanced in age, he was called to the heavenly realm." And at number 42, Era 663, A.D. 625: "St. Helladius, Bishop of Toledo, is held in renown for the sanctity of his life and for the mercy of his almsgiving to the poor." Concerning his virtues and the Agalian monastery, in which he had formerly been Abbot, at number 40, Era 661, A.D. 624, the following is read: "When Ildephonsus returned from Seville to Toledo, Helladius wished to make him his Archdeacon; St. Ildephonsus was wished to be made his Archdeacon, but he, yielding to the world, leads his life in the Agalian monastery, which is in the suburb of Toledo toward the north, not far from the River Tagus and from the Praetorian church of St. Leocadia outside the walls on the plain, which I, when I was at Toledo, frequently visited. And also another, a colony of this Agalian monastery, at the village called Buralgania by the Moors, more than three miles distant from Toledo. But in the former, which was not far from the hermitage of St. Susanna near the Tagus, St. Ildephonsus led his life, which, as I said, I visited more frequently, when I was a Subdeacon at Toledo under Bonitus I of that name, Archbishop of Toledo, formerly Abbot of the Agalian monastery." Then at number 48, Era 670, A.D. 632, the following is added: he was assailed with mockeries by Justus the Deacon, "Justus, a secular Deacon of St. Helladius, Bishop of Toledo, Primate of the Spains (as the others had been, from St. Elpidius, Julian, Saturninus, M. Marcellus, Eugenius), troublesome to the same holy Bishop with mockeries, gibes, and an evil tongue, ended his evil life with a most wretched kind of death, a Gallic Bishop. Concerning whom at number 71, Era 678, A.D. 640, the following is again added: In this year Justus, Deacon of Helladius, on account of the petulance of his tongue then made Bishop, and strangled: and the incontinence of his morals, was strangled by his own clerics (having been made Bishop of some unknown city) with a noose in his bed.

There are those who suspect that this Bishop was of the city of Guadix, who was present at the Council of Toledo. There are those who think him an altogether different person from this one and quite dissimilar. All indeed agree that he was not the Bishop of Toledo." Finally at number 49, Era 670, A.D. 632, the death of St. Helladius is thus recorded: died February 18, A.D. 632, "In this year, on the 18th day of the month of February, the most holy Bishop of Toledo, Helladius, died holily in advanced old age." And at number 51: "Justus is elected Bishop of Toledo, a Benedictine monk from the Agalian monastery, Rector of the patrimony. This one is far different from the secular one, being a holy, pious, innocent man, instructed in the best morals, who presided over his monks for three years, of whom we have spoken above from St. Ildephonsus, who in the preface of his booklet observes this concerning the other Justus: When Justus the Deacon insolently assailed Helladius, Bishop of his See, with the pride of arrogance, after the death of his Bishop he indeed lived as a Bishop, and himself wasted away, but turned to a reprobate mind, on account of his intemperate morals, he was strangled with a noose by the ministers of his altar while sleeping, and so expired." From which the same things were transferred into the Chronicle of Luitprand. In the Fragments and Adversaria published under the same name of Luitprand, at number 125 or 142, the following is found: he was counted among the Saints. "St. Helladius, Bishop of Toledo, was always held and venerated as a Saint, but the Gothic Bishops, like others, were not accustomed to celebrate Confessors. This holy Bishop was born at Toledo, his father being Helladius, a Palatine and kinsman of Liuva and Leovigild, a Catholic man, as was his son."

[8] The third and final of these recently published writers is Julian Petri, Archpriest of St. Justa, who in his Chronicle, written around A.D. 1100, in the Chronicle of Julian, as they say, at number 314 has the following: "The holy Bishop Aurasius was succeeded by St. Helladius, Rector of the patrimony of the Agalian monastery, a holy man." And at the following number: "Upon the death of the most holy Bishop Helladius, Justus, a monk of the Agalian monastery, a holy man, succeeded in the Primatial Church of Toledo. [he is said to be buried in the church of St. Leocadia, to have deposed Heleca in a Council.] The holy Helladius was buried in the church of St. Leocadia, the Praetorian and suburban church." The same writer, at number 322: "At this time, in the year 1159, Heleca, Deacon of Seville and Bishop of Cordoba, died, whom St. Helladius, as Primate of Spain, deposed in a Council, having been sent by St. Isidore of Seville." Finally at the following number, the subject is St. Ildephonsus, whom he says, when St. Helladius, Bishop of Toledo, wished to make him his Archdeacon upon his return from Seville, fled to the Agalian monastery. So far we have produced what the three writers M. Maximus, Luitprand, and Julian Petri are reported to have written concerning St. Helladius, whose statements it is not our intention to confirm with many arguments, nor indeed to refute. Let the credibility rest with the authors themselves.

Section III. The sacred veneration of St. Helladius. His Epitaph.

[9] The opinion of sanctity concerning Helladius was great among all, to such a degree that, as Pisa testifies in Book 2 of the History of Toledo, Chapter 19, he was formerly depicted with a diadem, which is a sign of public veneration. St. Helladius inscribed in the Roman Martyrology: But his name was not yet known in the sacred Martyrologies; it was afterward first inscribed by Baronius in the Roman Martyrology approved by Gregory XIII. In it, at February 18, the following is found: "At Toledo, St. Helladius, Bishop and Confessor." In the annotations he provides a summary of his life diligently transcribed from St. Ildephonsus, and indicates the passage of Rodrigo of Toledo, who, as we said above, says that the Church proclaims Helladius as resplendent with the renown of sanctity. But, says Jeronimo de la Higuera in his notes to the Chronicle of Luitprand, number 49, since the Supreme Pontiff proposes the Martyrology by his authority to the whole Church, so that those who are inscribed in it are to be held as Saints, and this is to canonize Saints, St. Helladius, insofar as he is proposed to the universal Church, is now canonized, concerning whom no office was celebrated in Spain, as several learned men complain.

[10] He was subsequently inscribed in various Martyrologies: in the Benedictine by Wion, in monastic ones, in these words: "At Toledo, St. Helladius, Bishop and Confessor, who, from a courtier becoming a monk in the Agalian monastery, succeeded Aurasius in the episcopate, and shone most brilliantly both by the example of his life and by his writings." Menard has nearly the same. But how can one be called most brilliant in writings whom St. Ildephonsus, cited above, testifies refused to write? Other eulogies adorn him from Dorganius in the Benedictine Calendar, Ghinius in the Natale of Canonized Saints, and Tamaius Salazar in the Hispanic Martyrology, and the latter indeed in these words: "At Toledo, St. Helladius, Bishop of that very city, and in the Hispanic one, who, from being a monk of the Agalian monastery, raised to the summit of the Metropolitan Order, lived as monastically in the pontificate as he had shone religiously in the monastery. He honored St. Ildephonsus with the title of Archdeacon; afterward, renowned for wondrous deeds, distinguished for virtues, full of days, having laid down the burden of worldly baggage, the illustrious Confessor found eternal rest." He then suggests in the Notes that from the Breviaries of the Spanish Churches, the older ones of Toledo, Palencia, Seville, and Compostela should be examined. From these we obtained the Breviary according to the Rule of Blessed Isidore, called the Mozarabic, printed at Toledo in A.D. 1502 by order of Archbishop Francisco Jimenez, as well as the Missal published in the jubilee year 1500, and another printed in A.D. 1551 in the time of Archbishop Juan Martinez Siliceo. Likewise the Proper Feasts of the Diocese of Compostela, published in A.D. 1516 by order of Juan de San Clemente, Archbishop of Compostela, and the Proper Offices of the Church of Toledo, reprinted in A.D. 1607 with the approval of Cardinal de Quiroga, the Archbishop: in all of which there is no mention of St. Helladius. But those which appeared under the authority of Archbishop Bernard de Sandoval of Toledo and Cardinal Zapata from A.D. 1613 record the feast of St. Helladius to be celebrated with the semi-double rite on February 18. And the Lessons of the second Nocturn are directed to be recited from St. Ildephonsus, with this Collect: "Grant, we beseech Thee, and in the Toledo Breviary. Almighty God, that we may so glory in the solemnities of Thy Blessed Confessor and Bishop Helladius, that we may more faithfully practice the piety which he taught by his example, through his intercession. Through our Lord, etc."

[11] Very many later writers of Spanish affairs composed a Life of St. Helladius, such as Ambrosio de Morales in the General Chronicle of Spain, printed in A.D. 1577, Book 12, Chapter 18, Life written by later authors: but he refrains from the title of Saint; which title was given him by Tomas de Trujillo in the Treasury of Preachers, published at Barcelona in A.D. 1583, where at February 18 he narrates his deeds among the Acts of other Saints. The same things are found in Juan de Marieta in the History of the Saints of Spain, Book 5, Chapter 35; Alfonso de Villegas in the Appendix to the Flower of the Saints concerning the Saints of Spain; Pisa, Book 2 of the History of Toledo, Chapter 19; Juan de Mariana, Book 6, Chapter 4, whose words we add because he suggests some things about his death untouched by others. "Helladius," he says, "the successor of Aurasius, governed the Church of Toledo during the reign of Suinthila, eulogy of Mariana. a man adorned with the praise of prudence, modesty, and learning, removed from all covetousness, moreover of great industry and the highest constancy. As a young man, having resigned the supreme magistracy of the Goths -- for he was governor of public affairs -- out of desire to cultivate Christian virtues of soul, he assumed the monastic habit in the Agalian monastery at Toledo. Whence, having soon risen to be Abbot of the monastery, by the authority of King Sisebut he was transferred to the governance of the Church of Toledo, no less illustrious for his own virtues than for the instruction of Ildephonsus, whom he co-opted into the number of Deacons and after some interval had as his successor. Whether extinguished by weariness of life And it is probable that Helladius, moved in spirit by the disturbance of his times, was extinguished by weariness of life. For at the time when Suinthila was removed by the treachery, or rather rebellion, of Sisenand, he himself also ceased to be among the living, with Justus as his successor. Sisenand was a man of great spirit, no less distinguished for his domestic resources than renowned for his skill in war. He, corrupted by ambition for power, on account of the civil war of Sisenand, caring nothing about the means by which he might obtain it, and considering that King Suinthila was burning with the public hatred and contempt of the nation, departed for France to King Dagobert, inflamed with the desire to overthrow his King, and obtained assistance. He claimed that he had aroused the zeal of the entire province, but that they were prevented by fear from undertaking so great a matter without foreign support; that Suinthila exercised tyranny under the name of King,

subject to every vice; and that there had never been on earth any monster so compounded of contrary and mutually conflicting impulses of nature and desires. Abundantius and Venerandus led the very strong forces of the Burgundians to Zaragoza. King Suinthila driven out with his followers? The Gothic nobles, who were in sympathy with Sisenand by their vow, openly defecting from Suinthila in reliance on the Gallic aid, expelled him, his son Rechimir, and his wife from the kingdom... Suinthila reigned for ten years and was driven from the kingdom in the year of salvation 1131." So says Mariana. These reinforcements sent from Dagobert I, King of the Franks, into Spain are narrated by Fredegar, a contemporary writer of Frankish affairs, in his Chronicle, Chapter 73, but because, perhaps by the fault of copyists, In Fredegar's Chronicle the chapters are arranged. it has been displaced far from its proper location, it should be restored after Chapter 57, whose last words are these: "After the third year since he had begun to reign" -- namely from the death of his father Clothar -- "also in Neustria and Burgundy, conquering all of Gascony with an army, he brought it under his dominion and made the extent of his kingdom somewhat greater." And then in the fourth year of his reign, A.D. 1131, he sent an army into Spain on behalf of Sisenand. We noted in our separately published Dissertation on the Three King Dagoberts, Book 1, Chapter 6, that in Fredegar, the space of those six years during which Dagobert stayed among the Austrasians after the death of his father is nearly empty, and the beginning of Chapter 58 is clumsily arranged, which is confirmed from this.

[12] The praises which Mariana heaped upon St. Helladius were published from him by Thomas Tamaius de Vargas in his Defense of Dexter, in the catalogue of the Bishops of Toledo, number 37, and by Diego Castejon, Volume 1 of the Primacy of Toledo, Part 2, Section 3, who adds that at the urging of St. Helladius, King Sisebut also expelled the Jews from his entire domain and built a church of marvelous splendor in honor of St. Leocadia, Virgin and Martyr of Toledo, in which, as we said above from the Chronicle of Julian, St. Helladius was buried; which is confirmed by the sepulchral poem found in Tamaius Salazar, which he repeatedly attributes to St. Ildephonsus. It is as follows:

In this tomb rest the remains of Bishop Helladius, But his spirit holds the stars. Epitaph of St. Helladius. He was the governor of Toledo while he dwelt in the court; From a monk he became ruler of the Agalian house. Thence he was violently seized for the city of Toledo, Worn by old age, but vigorous in piety. The Martyr Leocadia received the spoils of his body; This house holds both Kings and Bishops. Whence on the last day he shall rise, restored to life, To receive the worthy rewards of his merits. Already the elder had passed through eighty years, The glory of Bishops, the ardent torch of God. I, Ildephonsus, whom he had made a Minister, Have paid a few verses to the holy old man.