ON ST. RITICIUS OR RETHICIUS, BISHOP OF AUTUN,
AT AUTUN IN GAUL.
AFTER THE YEAR 314.
HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
The Saint's cult, writings, and Acts.
Rethicius, Bishop, at Autun in Gaul (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
Autun, the ancient city of the Aedui, situated in Gaul and in the modern duchy of Burgundy on the river Arroux, venerates on this day its holy prelate Rethicius, and honors him with an ecclesiastical Office, whose proper Lessons are taken almost word for word from the eulogy or compendium of the Life The Saint's cult is proved from the Breviary of Autun, which Gregory of Tours composed, and which we shall insert a little later in this historical collection. It is truly a wonder that the memory of this holy man, celebrated by the ancient fathers of the Church, is not found among the classic Martyrologists. Ado indeed in his Chronicle at the year of Christ 306 makes mention of him thus: Retius, bishop of Autun, is held of most celebrated fame; but in his Martyrology he passed him over, as did also the other hagiologists who followed him. The first announcement of this holy Prelate I find only in the Usuardine additions, edited by Molanus, where on the 25th of July it is reported thus: In the city of Autun, of St. Reticius, confessor, bishop of that same city. Castellanus in his universal Martyrology mentions him on the 15th of May, on which day we placed him among the passed-over, and deferred him to the 19th of July.
[2] Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology on this day adorns the same Bishop with a more lengthy eulogy, and from the more recent Martyrologies. which I here transcribe thus: At Autun of the Aedui, of St. Rethicius, bishop and confessor, most illustrious in doctrine, manners, and the eulogies of the holy fathers, whom St. Augustine commemorates as a man of God and a bishop of great authority in the Church: St. Jerome proclaims that he was held of most celebrated fame in the Gauls; he praises him as an eloquent man, an excellent expositor of sacred Scripture, and numbers him among the ecclesiastical writers with signal commendation: and, honoring him even while yet living with the title of blessedness, he urges his commentaries, which he says were written in a sublimer sense, to be read through by his clients. This blessed Prelate certainly sat third in the episcopal chair of this church: and presided in those times in which, by his doctrine and admirable holiness, he profited greatly not only Gaul, but the whole Christian world, a strenuous champion of piety, a defender of the faith, a hammer of heresies, he shone forth as a bright star of religion. And he, on account of the fame of his integrity and wisdom, sat as judge among other prelates of the foremost note [*] in the case of Caecilian and the Donatists: and went once and again to Rome, to the Apostolic See, out of zeal to overthrow the schism of those same Donatists, who were also called Montenses. And at last, the richest handfuls of justice being gathered, that as a faithful servant he might receive the laid-up crown from the Prince of shepherds, stripped of the flesh, he sent forth into heaven his spirit adorned with wondrous merits. I know not whence Saussay learned that Jerome honored Rethicius, while yet living, with the title of blessedness: for it is not probable that this holy Prelate, already in the year 313 employed against the Donatists in the Roman council, prolonged his life until the year 366, about which Jerome wrote the epistle in which he adorns Rethicius with the title of blessed. These things I find concerning the cult among the more recent writers; now let us discuss the writings and Acts of our Saint from the ancient sources.
[3] Jerome places our Saint in his Catalogue of ecclesiastical writers thus: Rethicius The Saint's writings are recounted by SS. Jerome and Augustine; of the Aedui, that is, bishop of Autun, was held of most celebrated fame in the Gauls under Constantine. His commentaries on the Song of Songs are read, and another great volume against Novatian; nor besides this have I found any of his works. Moreover in the epistle to Florentius, which in the latest Paris edition is number 4, otherwise 6, he thus makes mention of his writings: For this reason both I beseech, and you
beseech very much, I pray, that he may grant you the commentaries of blessed Reticius, bishop of Autun, to be copied out, in which he discoursed on the Song of Songs with sublime speech. Augustine, in book 1 against Julian, chapter 7, cites the words of this same Prelate, urged against the Pelagians, in this manner: That Reticius, bishop of Autun, was of great authority in the Church in the time of his episcopate, those ecclesiastical acts indicate to us, when in the city of Rome, with Melchiades bishop of the Apostolic See presiding, he was present with others as judge, and condemned Donatus, who was the first author of the Donatist schism, and absolved Caecilian, bishop of the church of Carthage. He, when he treated of baptism, spoke thus: “That this therefore is the principal indulgence in the Church, escapes no one, in which we lay aside all the weight of the ancient crime, and blot out the old deeds of our ignorance, where we also strip off the old man with his inborn wickednesses.” You hear the weight of the ancient crime, you hear the old deeds, you hear the old man with his inborn wickednesses: and do you dare to build against these a ruinous novelty? He repeats the same things in the Unfinished Work against Julian, book 1, chapter 55.
[4] but Jerome censures some things in them, But although Jerome praises the eloquence of the holy man, yet in his writings he finds erudition wanting, when he writes to Marcella (this epistle is read in the last edition of Jerome's works, volume 2, column 622) in these words: Lately, when I had read through the commentaries on the Song of Songs of Reticius, bishop of Autun, who was once sent to Rome by the emperor Constantine, under bishop Silvester, on account of the case of the Montenses, which the Hebrews call SIR HASSIRIM, I marveled greatly that an eloquent man, besides the ineptitudes of the other meanings, supposed the city Tarshish to be Tarsus, in which the apostle Paul was born: and that the gold of Ophaz signifies Peter: because Cephas in the Gospel is the same as Peter called… Innumerable are the things which in his commentaries seemed to me sordid. The discourse is indeed composed, and flowing with a Gallic buskin: but what is that to an interpreter, whose profession is, not that he himself may appear eloquent, but that he may so make him who is to read understand, as he himself who wrote understood. I ask, had he not the ten volumes of Origen? Had he not the other interpreters? Had he not certainly some Hebrews at hand, that he might either ask or read what those things meant which he did not know? But he seems to have thought so ill of the rest [*] that no one can judge of his errors. In vain, therefore, do you demand of me the commentaries of that same man, since in them much more displeases me than pleases. But if you object, why I gave them to others: you will hear that not all ought to be fed on the same foods. Then he confirms the reason for denying those commentaries to Marcella by various examples, taken from sacred Scripture.
[5] and in a certain circumstance of the narrative he differs from Augustine. I observe here that between Augustine and Jerome there occurs a difference concerning the Pontiff under whom the Roman council against the Donatists was celebrated: for Augustine writes that Donatus was condemned, Melchiades bishop of the Apostolic See presiding; but Jerome asserts that this was done at Rome under bishop Silvester. But certainly from Optatus of Milevis about the end of book 1, and from the ancient documents in Labbe, volume 1 of the Councils [a], it is established that these things were done in the year 313 under Pope Melchiades. Whence either some copyist corrupted the text of Jerome, or the author himself confuses the Roman synod with that of Arles, which latter was held in the following year under Silvester against the Donatists, at which Rethicius also was present, as may be seen in the Labbean collection of the Councils, volume 1 [a]. I conclude therefore with the most eminent father of ecclesiastical Annals, Baronius, who at the year of Christ 313, number 28, speaks thus: Since therefore these things are clearly established from the public Acts and the testimony of Optatus of Milevis, to have been done in the presence of Pope Melchiades, that plainly must be corrected which is read in St. Jerome concerning Rheticius, bishop of Autun, that he was sent to Rome by Constantine on account of the case of the Montenses (namely the Donatists) under Silvester the Roman Pontiff: for an error crept in (by what means we know not) so that for Melchiades, Silvester is held to be placed. Let these things be said on the occasion of what the two most celebrated doctors of the Church wrote concerning St. Rethicius. Now let us briefly bring forward his deeds from the most ancient monuments which we could find.
[6] Gregory of Tours, in the book on the Glory of the Confessors, chapter 75, comprises the Life of St. Rethicius in these few words: A compendium of the Acts is given from Gregory of Tours, But because it is helpful to say something of these, we must first speak of holy Riticius, because he died first. He was of most noble parents and renowned for keenness in letters, who, his adolescence past, obtained a wife illustrious for a like honesty of manners, with whom he was joined by the restraint of spiritual love, not by luxury. Almsgivings abound, vigils are kept, and the work of God is unceasingly exercised through them. Therefore, after a long time, the woman, bending her head to the little bed, uttered her last words to the ears of the blessed man, saying: I beseech you, most pious brother, that after my departure, when the time of your life is run through, you may be laid in that tomb in which I am placed: that those whom the love of one chastity kept in one bed, the fellowship of one tomb may retain. Having said these things, weeping, she sent forth her spirit to the heavens. But Riticius, by the choice of the people, obtained the episcopate of the city of Autun; who showed himself such in religion, that the goodness of his manners was equal to the grace of the pontificate, and that he came, through the various grades of spiritual men, to the day of his death with full perfection and consummation. When he had been washed and placed upon the bier, the services of the attendants could not move it. Then, fixed in stupor of mind, they hear from a certain old man that the man had adjured his lady that the compass of one tomb should receive them: and when this word had been passed round, at once the bier is lifted up, and when it had been brought near the tomb, the Priest resumes his spirit: he addresses his companion, saying: Remember, most sweet spouse, what you had besought of us. Now receive the brother long awaited, and be joined to the undefiled limbs, which luxury did not defile, but true chastity cleansed. As he said these things, the tomb being wondrously moved, the bones of the virgin are gathered together into one place: and the blessed Priest, received into the sleep of peace, was covered by the lid of this tomb. Thus far Gregory.
[7] to which some things are added concerning his burial and deeds. Ruinart in his notes to Gregory of Tours's book on the Glory of the Confessors, chapter 73, shows the place of St. Rethicius's burial in these words: Furthermore, even today, not far from the city of Autun, is seen a cemetery, where a huge number of stone tombs remain, with a church, or rather with the walls of the church of St. Stephen, without a roof. There Pierre Ladone writes that the tombs of SS. Rheticius, Cassian, Simplicius, and other bishops of Autun exist. Then in his notes to chapter 75 he asserts that near the cemetery, of which he had treated a little before, there is a parish church of St. Peter of the Road, commonly called de l'Etrie, in which is seen the tomb of blessed Rethicius under a small arch, hollowed in the wall of the church, then with this recent inscription: ST. RHETICIUS, BISHOP OF AUTUN, 314. Since this inscription, according to Ruinart, is rather recent, from it we cannot determine the certain year of death: for perhaps the younger authors of this epitaph placed this year, because they did not know how long St. Rethicius prolonged his life after the Council of Arles, at which he was present in the year 314. The same judgment I think must be passed on a certain opinion of the Sainte-Marthe brothers and others, who call St. Rheticius the first catechist of the emperor Constantine. A greater foundation from antiquity have those who assert that St. Rethicius took care that the waters of the Jordan should be brought to Autun: since in the Life of St. Amator, bishop of Auxerre, written in the sixth century, and illustrated by us on the 1st of May, chapter 4, the following are read: But the prelate (namely St. Amator) took waters from the stream of the Jordan, which had once, by the order of bishop Reticius, been brought to the city of Autun. Behold all that I could gather concerning this holy Prelate from the more ancient monuments.
Annotations* Perhaps: prelates.
* Or, to posterity.