ON ST. AURELIANUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT LYONS IN GAUL.
IN THE YEAR 895.
A COMMENTARY.
On his title of sanctity, his monastic life, beneficence, and deeds in the episcopate.
Aurelianus, Bishop and Confessor, at Lyons in Gaul (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
Not without some timidity do I place this Aurelianus, Archbishop of Lyons, among the Saints in this our work, led to it chiefly by those authorities which Mabillon brings forth in the 4th century of the Benedictines, part 2, from page 490, Not endowed with sufficiently certain cult, and especially by the Catalogue of the Bishops of Lyons of the eleventh century, published by Chiffletius, in his illustrated Paulinus, page 83, which, standing midway between two other lists, prefixes the appellation "Saint" to Aurelianus, equally as to others endowed with the same honor, which title the two extreme lists generally neglect even in the most well-known Saints. Two other arguments of Mabillon I shall presently subjoin, all which I confess certainly avail, especially where more ancient Saints are treated of, whose memory, deeds, and virtues must in a manner be everywhere dug out of the shadows, which here, after his manner, the praised Mabillon has learnedly enough performed. Nevertheless the silence of many other lists inspected by our Theophilus Raynaud long deterred [me], and this especially, because Aurelianus is known to have had absolutely no cult at Lyons, nor does any commemoration of him exist in the sacred Fasti of that church, nor in the visitation of the sacred bodies, formerly made, is Aurelianus of Lyons reckoned, except insofar as he was confounded by Severtius with the man of Arles: to say nothing of all the Martyrologies, however ample, to which that Aurelianus is plainly unknown, except only the Universal one of Castellanus, in which on this day, but with the title of "venerable" only, he is adorned. Menard and Saussay I do not reckon, since they, doubtless deceived by Severtius, if they do not walk in the same circle, at least agree badly in marking the XVI of June.
[2] Hence there has arisen in me a not unfounded suspicion, that the whole reason or occasion of ascribing Aurelianus of Lyons to the Saints was born from no other source and confounded by Severtius with the man of Arles than from the announcement of Ado, Usuard, and other Martyrologists after them, placed on the XVI Kalends of July, where, when they mark Aurelianus at Lyons, but the Bishop of Arles, of whom Henschenius treated in the Acts on that day, it came to pass thence that others, led perhaps by Severtius, believed that Aurelianus, Bishop of Lyons, later by three centuries than the other, could also be reckoned among the Saints. All which things were observed before me by Raynaud, as will presently be proved from his Little Index, when I shall have premised part of the Severtian reasoning, page 185, §2. "Thirdly," he says, "because the author Peter, Bishop of Equilinus, thus speaks: Aurelianus, Bishop and Confessor at Lyons, slept in the Lord on the XVI Kalends of July. Where he sufficiently expressly binds and includes the name of Bishop and of Lyons into one, so that thence he sufficiently excludes the reason of Arles, commemorated by Usuard and Baronius for that city of the Allobroges. For while all make Aurelianus solitary and single, enjoying heavenly beatitude, and most holy in cult on earth; surely Peter the writer drew him to Lyons, Baronius to Arles." There would here be no authority at all of Equilinus, even if he pronounced it in the most express words, which Severtius wrongly and falsely imputes to him: but let us hear Raynaud.
[3] "Wonderful indeed is the reasoning of the author just cited. it is shown by Theophilus Raynaud: (Raynaud speaks of Severtius.) For because the two Tables of the Prelates of Lyons exhibited by Demochares ascribe Aurelianus after St. Remingius, and mention of the same Aurelianus, Prelate of Lyons, is had in the donations made by Charles the Bald and Louis the Stammerer to the church of Lyons, for the sake of Aurelianus the Archbishop, the aforesaid author supposed that this very man was that holy Aurelianus of whom there is mention in the Martyrologies. But this is so gross a hallucination, that one ought deservedly to be loath to refute it. For that the aforesaid author, so far as can be perceived from his entangled and, after his custom, ill-composed discourse, seems to have been ignorant of any Aurelianus, Prelate of Arles, was of no common carelessness, since the letters of Vigilius (of which afterward), even if the rest were lacking, make most full faith of the see of Aurelianus at Arles. But that this is that holy Bishop who died at Lyons, since so many Martyrologies expressly hand it down, nor is anything plainly opposed which brings even the least scruple of doubt, there was no reason it should be denied. And so let it be quite fixed, that this Aurelianus, whose sanctity is attested in the ecclesiastical Tables, is that very one who was Prelate of Arles, but not that Aurelianus of Lyons, who succeeded St. Remigius, and by the aforesaid author, against the faith of all the ancient Lists, was endowed with the prename of Saint. His age, finally, is far different, etc." Thus Raynaud, openly indicating that he does not acknowledge as a Saint Aurelianus of Lyons, about whom we now here inquire.
[4] Nevertheless by Mabillon the title of Saint is vindicated. I am nevertheless compelled to accede to Mabillon's side, who at least reprehends Raynaud not undeservedly in this, that he asserted so universally "against the faith of all the ancient Lists"; whereas he himself found one List, cited above, in which the appellation "Saint" is attributed to Aurelianus. Yet he confesses that some doubt whether he should be endowed with the name of Saint or Blessed, because they supply no foundation, as they think, for this matter, whether the church of Lyons, which attributes to him neither name, or the ancient authors or old monuments. Then he adduces Menard and Saussay, who placed Aurelianus of Lyons on the same day on which the man of Arles is venerated. But he himself, besides the List of Chiffletius just cited, brings forward another instrument, namely a little book on the translation of the Saints Florentinus and Hilarius, in which Aurelianus is called "holy Abbot," and besides a brief Chronicle of the same time of Athanacum, where "holy Aurelianus" is expressly stated. "Whence it comes to pass," he says, "that without the mark of rashness, I think this title must be attributed to Aurelianus, and his good deeds seem to deserve it, which will shine forth from the subjoined elogium." This elogium I have before my eyes, as also another Severtian one, both deduced fully enough, but in which you may find few things whence a series of the life may be composed, since rather diplomas and other instruments are woven together, marked with the name of St. Aurelianus. I, under the aforepremised caution, of the not sufficiently undoubted cult of Aurelianus, shall excerpt thence those things which shall seem to pertain more nearly to him.
[5] Sprung of noble race in the province of Lyons, That St. Aurelianus was sprung of noble race in the province of Lyons, his father being Aurelianus, his mother Adelsona, Mabillon here establishes more rightly and distinctly than Severtius had before done, from the testament of Aurelianus himself, which you have in him, page 498, where, since donations are made of various estates which are situated in the province of Lyons, it is oppositely gathered that this was the donor's homeland. Moreover, from the history of the translation of SS. Florentinus and Hilarius, related in the same place, page 494, it is established that our Saint was made Archdeacon of the church of Autun, and so was first enrolled in the clerical order, and moreover received in benefice the abbey of Athanacum (Ainay), which is situated at Lyons at the confluence of the Saône and the Rhône, at that time in which that monastery was destitute of monks; the pious Abbot therefore took pains to recall the uncultivated and deformed state of the convent to its primitive order, a fervent assembly of monks being summoned from the monastery of Bonneval among the Carnutes Chartres, flourishing at that time; which from the aforesaid little book on the translation of SS. Florentinus and Hilarius the praised Mabillon shows at length; not doubting that after the ordering of the monastery of Athanacum Aurelianus gave his name to the monastic life, which he undertakes to demonstrate by reason and examples to have been the custom at that time, also from a diploma of King Charles (page 500) confirming the condition of the monastery of Savigny, on this tenor, that Remigius, Bishop of Lyons, should approve to the venerable man Aurelianus, "who ought to preside and be of profit in the place of Abbot," and to the monks dwelling there, Savigny and its appurtenances. He could have added, from the Chronicle of Bonneval (there, page 505, number 5), that he is expressly called "Father of the place," which by no means suits a secular.
[5] "Already then therefore (Mabillon subjoins) Aurelianus had been designated Rector of the new monastery of Savigny, a monk and abbot of Athanacum, who ought to preside and be of profit in the place of Abbot, which office indeed the canons teach to suit no other than a monk; since 'to set over the monastic Order either a layman or a canon, is not to keep the profession of the Order, but to overturn it,' says Pope Nicholas I in his letters to Trasulf, Abbot of Corbie. Nor can I easily bring into my mind that the government of a rising monastery was destined to a secular man. The first Abbot indeed of that place was Badilo, as will appear below, not Aurelianus: but for proving the matter which I intend, it suffices that Aurelianus was designated to rule the new monastery, which he himself thought better to commit to Badilo, content with the prelacy of Athanacum. It is added that Aurelianus endowed the monastery of Savigny, not from his own goods, but from goods which he sought from his parents with pious zeal, and piously obtained, as the letters written below testify: namely, that, having embraced the severer laws of the monks, he had abdicated all his own possession." There are those who make Aurelianus a monk and Abbot of the monastery of Nantua. Thus Guichenon in the history of Savoy, and from him Jean Marie de Mura in the history of the church of Lyons. Aurelianus, before he was Abbot of Athanacum, I read to have been Archdeacon; I do not read [him] a monk or Abbot of Nantua. These things are said of Aurelianus' monastic life, and of the restoration of the monastery of Athanacum, whose origin and beginnings are hitherto not sufficiently explored by me.
[7] The name of Athanacum being then explained, he disputes in a longer discourse about the martyrdom of the holy Florentinus and Hilarius, and its place, and the burial of the sacred bodies, he was also very munificent to other convents. which matter we briefly touched in the Observations on Usuard; but we shall weigh all those things more fully on the proper birthday of the Saints, the V Kalends of October. That whole history is adduced by Mabillon, to be of use to us in its own time, because St. Aurelianus translated the bodies of the holy Martyrs to Athanacum, a part of the relics being thereafter granted to the monks of Bonneval, which were illustrated by many miracles. But these things, as I said, pertain to their proper place, where also other things
will be discussed, which were here indeed observed by Mabillon, but do not seem sufficiently resolved. It is better to resume those things which he has about our present-day Saint in number 11, in these words: "Aurelianus' zeal for the monastic order did not stop in restoring Athanacum: nay, he even turned his mind to founding a new convent, namely Savigny. And since he had not sufficient resources for that plan, he obtained the estate of the place from his parents; and, that the matter might be firmer and holier, he handed over Savigny and other estates to Remigius, Bishop of Lyons, in Christ's stead, on this condition, that Remigius should transfer to him the things handed over into the right of the monks." These things about St. Aurelianus' lavish generosity toward the monastic Order are sufficiently proved from the instruments cited above, to which I refer curious readers, as also to number 15, where Mabillon deservedly praises and extols the same works of so great beneficence.
[8] Nearer to the history of his life makes the year in which St. Aurelianus was substituted for Remigius in the See of Lyons: [Made Bishop, he receives the exiled monks of Fossé into his own monastery of Savigny.] but Mabillon, against the reckoning of Severtius and others, judges this to be 874 or the year immediately following, subjoining the notable charity by which he wished the monks of Fossé, dispersed and wandering here and there for fear of the Normans, to be received into the monastery of Savigny, founded by himself, about the year 878, for which matter the very letters, hitherto unpublished, given by St. Aurelianus for the sake of the monks of Fossé, are recited by Mabillon, page 502. Thus the Saint there speaks: "I, Aurelianus, Archbishop of the holy church of Lyons, considering these things, gratefully received as exiles the Brethren of the monastery of Fossé, whom the persecution of the pagans drove from their own place, and placed them in the monastery of my inheritance, by name Savigny, for the love of God." From the whole context of those letters Mabillon judges it clear that Aurelianus, Archbishop of Lyons, contrary to what Jean de Mura judges, is no other than Aurelianus Abbot of Athanacum, and founder of the monastery of Savigny; since Aurelianus the Archbishop calls Savigny "the monastery of my inheritance," which is an argument that Aurelianus the Archbishop, who without doubt was Abbot of Athanacum, is also the author of the monastery of Savigny. The same also seems to be the Prelate of Lyons who bestowed the relics of the holy Eucherius, Veranus, Cyprian, Speratus, and Pantaleon on a certain monk of Fleury, for the sake of rewarding his diligence, because he had instructed him in the liberal studies of letters, as Aimoin testifies in book 2 on the miracles of St. Benedict, chapter 15.
[8] A diligent cultivator of the sacred relics, he subscribed to various councils, And St. Aurelianus was indeed, whereby he might commend his merits and holiness, an excellent and diligent collector and adorner of the sacred relics, since, as the Chronicle of Bonneval cited above testifies, he went around the churches of that province (of Autun, where he was Archdeacon), that the bodies of the Saints, not well adorned, he himself might well adorn. And the things hitherto said plainly demonstrate St. Aurelianus' zeal in the monastic matter and in procuring the veneration of the Saints. Of the things done for the church committed to him, Mabillon found very few, such is the dearth of ancient matters. Severtius is copious in collecting the councils to which the Saint subscribed, especially that of Ponthion, which he boasts he first drew out from Cimmerian darkness, and over which Aurelianus presided in the year of the Incarnation 876, whom you may see disputing more about it, page 188. To have noted the rest with Mabillon will be enough. St. Aurelianus therefore subscribed to the council of Troyes in 878, in the presence of John VIII the Roman Pontiff: to the assembly of Mantaille, for the election of Boso, in the next following year: to the Synod of Chalon, over which he presided, in the year 887; to that of Valence, three years after, and to another of Chalon in the year 894. From which is had nearly whatever we have found could be drawn about the deeds of the time of his episcopate. Other things from Frodoard, book 4, chapter 1, Severtius describes, §7, about the letters of Fulk, Archbishop of Reims, given to Aurelianus; the whole matter, contracted by Mabillon, I exhibit.
[10] about various affairs he received letters, The first epistle was for a complaint of the church of Bourges, over the invasion of Frotarius, Bishop of Bordeaux; two others for Teutbold of Langres, because, at the death of Bishop Isaac, the clergy and people not being consulted, Aurelianus had ordained as Bishop a certain Egilo, a monk lately coming from the world, the election of the clergy and people of Langres being set aside, who had conspired with common votes upon Teutbold, deacon of that church. He of whom here is treatment, the monk Gello, was then Abbot of Tournus, whose ordination as Bishop of Autun took effect in the year 880 through Aurelianus. To him, being dead, was substituted by the clergy of Langres Teutbold, before elected; who, since he well knew Aurelianus' mind toward him, went to Pope Stephen V, to be consecrated by him: but he, wishing to keep unshaken the privilege of each church, sent him back to be consecrated by the aforesaid Aurelianus. He began to lead day from day, and to tergiversate; and for that reason, rebuked by Pope Stephen, writing back by repeated epistles, that since with concordant vote both clergy and people sought the said deacon, he should either consecrate him, or hasten to write back what he judged reprehensible in him. But when Aurelianus did neither, nay strove to thrust upon them a certain stranger, unknown to that church, ordained in a corner, by name Argrimus; at length Stephen, overcome by the prayers of the church of Langres, consecrated Teutbold, as Frodoard narrates more fully in the place cited; where he adds that Pope Stephen directed letters to Fulk, Pontiff of Reims, that he should induct Teutbold, consecrated by himself, into the possession of the church of Langres. But that Fulk, by the counsel of King Odo, delayed to execute this, while the same King directed his legates to the same Pope, for the fuller information of that matter. From which it is understood that St. Aurelianus in this matter conducted himself according to the King's will. Although what right he had or intended in the nomination of the Bishop of Langres, I do not grasp. These are nearly the words of Mabillon.
[11] and enriched the church with royal donations. Severtius, §6, describes the instruments, or fragments of them, of the donations made by Charles the Bald and Louis his son to the church of Lyons, Aurelianus sitting; and again, §9, part of another diploma which Louis, King of Provence, son of Boso, granted to Aurelianus in these words: "By the counsel of our most glorious mother Irmingard, and for the most sincere service of Aurelianus the teacher, we have granted to the church of the most blessed Protomartyr Stephen of Lyons, over which the same venerable Aurelianus the Archbishop presides, churches and villages, situated in the district of Lyons, the abbey of St. Martin, which is called Athanacum, etc. At Lyons, the XV Kalends of April in the year 892, and in the 1st year of the reign of Burgundy or Provence." Nor must Aurelianus have survived long after the other synod of Chalon, which was celebrated in the year 894, but his death must have happened in the following year, if Severtius rightly adduced the letters of the said King Louis, in which in the year 895 is noted Alwalus, the successor of St. Aurelianus himself. On what day he died is not clear; for in the earlier book of deaths, which the same Severtius read in the church of Lyons, "Aurelianus the Bishop" is recorded to have died on the VIII Ides of February, in the other, "Aurelianus, Archbishop of Lyons," on the IV Nones of July. We have thought the latter must be preferred, with our Elders, at the XVI of June, and with Mabillon himself: nor does anything else occur, whereby we may further illustrate the Acts or deeds of the Saint, such as he is, admitted under caution.