ON S. AVITUS II, BISHOP OF CLERMONT IN GAUL.
TOWARD THE END OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
CommentaryAvitus II, Bishop of Clermont in Gaul (S.)
From various sources.
[1] Johannes Savaro attests that the feast day of S. Avitus, the second bishop of that city by that name, is celebrated on this day among the Arvernians. Concerning whom the most ancient manuscript Martyrology, which we commonly cite under the name of S. Jerome, copied from the autograph of S. Willibrord Clement by the monk Lawrence of Echternach: The feast of S. Avitus, At Clermont, the deposition of Bishop Avitus. We have found scarcely any other more recent entry in that Martyrology: and Avitus was nearly a contemporary of S. Willibrord, so that it must be the case that he was most famous for the reputation of sanctity, since his name was inscribed in the register of Saints soon after his death. Unless perhaps S. Avitus I, who is now venerated on 20 September, was formerly observed on this day. The Irish manuscript of the convent of Dungal, likewise most ancient: Of Bishop Avitus. The Carthusians of Cologne in their additions to Usuard: At Clermont, of Bishop Avitus. A more extended eulogy is given by Andreas Saussaius.
[2] S. Avitus was the successor of S. Praeiectus, whose life we shall give on 25 January; the brother and predecessor of S. Bonitus, whose life, written by a contemporary author, is found on 15 January; from which we learn His family. that he was sprung from a distinguished family of the city of Clermont: his father was called Theodatus, and his mother Syagria, from a noble lineage of the Roman Senate. Avitus Augustus, the father-in-law of Sidonius Apollinaris, who assumed the empire on the 6th before the Ides of July in the year of Christ 455, was also born at Clermont. Whether our Avitus drew from him not only his name but also his descent, we do not conjecture.
[3] He was indeed, as is recorded in the same life of S. Bonitus, a man learned in secular studies, His learning, excelling in sacred letters and in all divine offices; and for about fifteen years and more he governed with great alacrity the Church of Clermont committed to him. Savaro assigns him only ten years in the see, less three months. Duration of his see, But Savaro contradicts himself, when he writes that S. Praeiectus was killed in the year 670 (which he makes the fourth year of Pope Adeodatus, the 5th of Emperor Pogonatus, and the first of Childeric, King of the Franks; none of which agree, since 670 AD was the 14th year of Pope Vitalian, the 3rd of King Theodoric, and the 2nd of Constantine Pogonatus); in the year 670, therefore, Savaro writes that S. Praeiectus was killed and S. Avitus was appointed; and that S. Bonitus succeeded Avitus in the year 685, the first year of Pope John and of Justinian the Younger, and the 17th of King Theodoric. It is certain that S. Praeiectus was killed while Childeric was alive, and that Childeric died in 667. Bonitus was substituted for Avitus at the time when, under Prince Theodoric, Pippin, holding the primacy of the kingdom and managing the care of the palace, disposed all governance at his own discretion. Pippin obtained this dignity among the Austrasians after the removal of Wulfoad in the year 687, and in 691 he obtained the mastery of the entire kingdom. Whence it follows either that Avitus was not created immediately upon the murder of S. Praeiectus, but that the see was vacant for some time, especially since the affairs of the kingdom were disturbed by the murder of Childeric as well; or that he held the see for more than fifteen years, reaching at least the year of Christ 688, the 21st of Theodoric.
[4] The same Bishop Avitus, moreover, as is narrated in the life of S. Praeiectus, was eager to establish a monastery at the place where the Saints (Praeiectus, Amarinus, Elidius) had been killed, His buildings, to erect a basilica, and he appointed one of the relatives of S. Praeiectus, Godo by name, as Abbot. Savaro writes that besides these, other martyria of Saints were built by him; and that he transferred the relics of S. Austremonius, the first Bishop of Clermont, to that monastery of Volvic, over which he had placed Godo, And other works, after the town of Issoire was destroyed; concerning which matter we shall speak in the life of S. Austremonius on 1 November.
[5] At length, Avitus was seized by illness and brought to extremity: A successor designated, and perceiving that the day of his departure was imminent, inspired by the divine Spirit and having taken counsel, with the Church concurring, he judges the man of God Bonitus to be his successor and a most worthy Priest of his see... And when the aforesaid man of God, his brother, had sent a report for obtaining royal authority, etc. S. Bonitus was substituted for him, as is said in his life, who afterwards, judging that this election was not sufficiently in accordance with the sacred laws and the discipline sanctioned by the Fathers, abdicated the episcopate: although it is certain that, whether because he was ignorant of those laws or rather because he acted under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, Avitus committed no offense in that designation of a successor.
[6] His burial, S. Avitus was buried in the church of S. Venerandus, as Savaro reports from book 1, On the Saints and Churches of Clermont, number 10; and afterwards his relics were translated to the neighboring church of S. Illidius. A commemoration of him is made in the Breviary and Missal of Clermont on this day, His translation. on the testimony of the same Savaro.