ON ST. CLARUS, BISHOP, MARTYR AT LACTORA IN NOVEMPOPULANIA.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Clarus, Bishop, Martyr at Lactora in Novempopulania (St.)
BHL Number: 1822, 1823
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
§. I. The cult at Lactora, Auch, Bordeaux, Périgueux, and Sarlat.
[1] Famous throughout the provinces of Aquitaine is the sacred veneration Age less certain. of St. Clarus, as Bishop and Martyr, with whom we begin the first day of this month, rather for the sake of a good omen than because it is clear to us that he was earlier in age than all those mentioned above. He is indeed referred by most writers to the beginnings of the Churches established in Gaul, and to the times of the first Martyrs there: but to demonstrate that both of these are defined by no certain limits is not the place here. Concerning him there is read in Labbe, in the second volume of the New Library, in the Hagiology of Franco-Gallia, page 700, the following: On the Kalends of June. In Gaul, in the city of Latora (others write Lacora, and they say this was once the name of the place which is now called Lactora and Lectora, commonly Lectoure), the birthday of St. Clarus, Bishop, The cult at Lactora, Archbishop, and Martyr: who, when he refused to sacrifice to idols, was first afflicted with beatings, then committed to prison, and there, comforted by an angelic visitation, at last, with his head cut off, completed his martyrdom. So much there. and at Auch. Lactora is an episcopal city of Aquitania Tertia or Novempopulania, under the metropolitan see of Auch, from which it is not far distant, situated on the same river Gers: but it will be said below that some Relics of St. Clarus are also at Auch.
[2] An eulogy from Saussay. Saussay, in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology, writes on this day the following: In the district of Lectoure under the metropolis of Auch, the Birthday of St. Clarus, Bishop and Martyr: who, near whom he preached at Rome, at the time when the light of the Gospel was first shining forth, illumined by these divine rays, came from Africa to Rome: where, instructed in the school of the Apostles, he so shone forth in faith, wisdom, and zeal for spreading the glory of Christ, that after he had already displayed everywhere the splendid tokens of the grace with which he abounded, being judged fit for a greater stewardship by the most holy Pope Anacletus, a hearer and heir of the Apostles, ordained Bishop by him, he was directed into Gaul, to the then woodland peoples of the Agrippinians, at Cologne, that he might enlighten them and the neighboring nations with the splendors of the Gospel light. In which region, when he had converted many to Christ, going thence into Aquitaine, he came to the city of the Périgord, at Périgueux, already imbued with Christian preaching by Fronto, an apostolic man, and by Anianus his follower, and, by the departure of these to their reward, having almost forgotten the saving instruction it had received: which he resolved with all his heart to lead back to Christ. There then raged a most grievous plague, from which, while he freed bodies by divine power, he snatched the very souls, infected with the disease of deadly superstition, by this heavenly aid. For, armed with the divine word, he made the oracles of the false gods fall silent, overthrew the shrines, and, a second Elijah zealous for the divine glory, removed from their midst the petty priests who practiced the execrable worship of Jupiter and Mars. And not only this city, but the neighboring towns and adjacent villages, by his divine eloquence and holiness of life and the flashing of miracles, he happily led away from the wicked rites of idols to the worship of the one true Creator and Restorer of all things. Thence, that he might further the divine work more widely, he went on to the people of Lectoure. Among whom, while with the same fervor of the apostolic spirit he was shattering the idols; at Lactora, intercepted by the satellites of Satan, bound with chains, and dragged to the image of Jupiter; there, when he was urged to perform the wicked rites, on account of his refusal of worship to the false deity, tormented with various torments; at last, lest the laurel be lacking to the conqueror, beheaded, crowned with the bloody diadem of his own blood, he went on to the heavenly and eternal triumph: where he was also crowned with martyrdom, whose shed blood became an abundant seed of Christians. Whence among these peoples, whom by his bloody travail he bore to Christ the Savior, his memory remained perpetual in glory: by whom even now he is invoked as a Helper. For he shines, glorified by God with this perpetual gift, that he who, the bearer of the divine light, while he lived among mortals, illumined human minds snatched from the darkness of unbelief with the light of divine knowledge and grace, may restore bodily eyes overshadowed by darkness with the sight of pleasing light. Then the relics of this distinguished heavenly one are honorably preserved, partly at Auch in the monastery of St. Orientius, partly at Bordeaux (where also he announced Christ) in the shrine of St. Eulalia.
[3] Thus far Saussay, with magnificent and (such as his age then was) plainly youthful eloquence, describing the Roman Colonists of Cologne as if they were woodland peoples at the time when Clarus lived, Age uncertain. not very fittingly. We have set forth the truer Acts of St. Orientius, Bishop of Auch, on the Kalends of May, omitting other things which we judged to be plainly fabulous, and making the Saint, according to the better Acts, flourish in the fifth century; they make him the brother of St. Laurence. Comparing these with the Acts of St. Justinus of Bigorre, named among the companions of St. Clarus, which were likewise rejected as fabulous on the said Kalends of May; I am compelled to fear lest the very Life of St. Clarus himself be of similar stuff, by whose guiding light, or rather by an epitome of it divided into three Lessons for the use of the Church of Lectoure, Saussay wrote the foregoing, making him, by his own conjecture, younger than St. Fronto, Bishop of Périgueux, and St. Anianus. Gaul knows of no St. Anianus except the one of Orléans, to be treated on the 17th of November, who is known to have flourished in the times of Attila around the middle of the fifth century. St. Fronto is honored on the 25th of October: whose Acts, not sufficiently solid, are commonly put forward, and are discussed by François Bosquet, in the first book of the Histories of the Gallican Church, chapters 13, 14, and 15. The Reader will be able to see these there, and meanwhile to note how uncertain are most of the Acts of the ancient Saints throughout Aquitaine, and how little trust is to be placed in those things which will be said about St. Clarus: while nevertheless his cult remains certain, from which two parishes in Novempopulania are likewise named, and one of them is near Lectoure.
[4] Antonius Dadinus de Alteserra, in book 4 of the Aquitanian Matters, chapter 11, Another eulogy from Dadinus Alteserra, writes the following about St. Clarus: In the year 104, in the time of Trajan, Clarus, ordained Bishop by Pope Anacletus, with his companions Justinus, Severus, Gerontius, Polycarpus, Jonas, Babilius, was sent into Gaul for the sake of propagating the Christian faith. He is said first to have turned his journey to the people of Cologne, and to have instructed them in the mysteries of the faith; thence by a long journey to have reached Albi, a town of Aquitaine: where, as soon as he set foot, he cured a possessed woman: during the two years he stayed there, he converted many to the faith. When that time had elapsed, he left Anthimius as his successor; and together with Babilius, his perpetual companion in labors, he removed to Lactora, a city of Novempopulania, and by his saving arrival freed it from the most savage plague by which it was afflicted: and he won very many as faithful to Christ. But with the populace rioting, as against an enemy of the gods, he was seized into the temple, and, urged in vain to sacrifice to the idols, was beheaded with his companion Babilius. His body rests at Auch in the basilica of St. Orientius. His Acts in manuscript repeatedly say he was African by nation: but I would more easily persuade myself that he was Roman, because he was sent from Rome, and in that age there was at Rome the illustrious family of the Clari. For A. Gellius, who flourished at Rome in the age next to Hadrian's, mentions L. Clarus, Prefect of the City, and Eratius Clarus likewise Prefect of the City and twice Consul: as in our books I find that the Divine Antoninus wrote a rescript to Erycius Clarus. So Dadinus Alteserra. But we fear that the manuscript Acts which he cites are other than those to be given below from manuscript Breviaries: for these do not say that Albi was reached by a long journey; but make it the city nearest to Cologne; and so they cannot be understood of that Colonia Agrippina, which (besides being most far distant from the Aquitanians) was by no means to be passed through by Clarus coming from Rome: much less ought it to be reckoned that he owed the first ordination of his Church to it, of which it retains no memory at all. We would not know how to divine whence Alteserra received the name of Pope Anacletus, never named in these same Breviaries, unless the Proper Offices of the Church of Lectoure, published by the authority of Bishop Louis de la Rochefoucauld, set forth the Lessons of St. Clarus, as if compiled from the Bordeaux and Bazas Breviary and other monuments; which Breviaries we do not yet have, but we presume that in one of them Anacletus is named. But neither there nor elsewhere have we so far read that Babilius suffered together with Clarus; and it is gratuitously presumed that Clarus was the name of a family rather than of a man, against all the others, who bring the Saint from Africa. Jean Chenu, in the Bishops of Gaul, having given an epitome of the Life, writes that Clarus was crowned with martyrdom on the Kalends of June while Trajan reigned, which would be within the years 98 and 117; but whence this was taken I likewise do not know, nor do I think it easily to be received without the testimony of fitting antiquity.
[5] In the lower territory of Périgueux is Sarlat, an episcopal city; another from the Sarlat Proper: where St. Clarus is venerated under the rite of a greater double on the Kalends of June, concerning whom there is a fourth Lesson printed at Paris in the year 1677, together with the rest of the propers of that Church, composed by Armand Girard, Canon, and published by order of the Bishop and Chapter. There too one may find a proper Hymn for Vespers and Lauds, under this Collect: O God, who didst comfort with an angelic visitation Blessed Clarus, thy Martyr and Bishop, as he fought against the savagery of the ancient enemy; grant us, by imitation of him, so to contend against the spiritual forces of wickedness, that by thy help we may overcome all adversities. The aforesaid Lesson is as follows. Clarus, born in Africa, out of zeal to defend the faith, leaving his native soil with six other companions, Justinus, Geruntius, Severus, Polycarpus, Joannes, and Babilius, came to Rome. Thence, consecrated Bishop by the Roman Pontiff, and sent into Gaul to preach the Gospel of Christ, traversing first Cologne, then Albi and the neighboring provinces all around, he recalled many from the worship of idols, and illumined them with the light of the faith. Entering Vesona of the Périgord, which had been imbued with the Christian religion by the preaching of St. Fronto, he freed it from the most grievous plague that was raging. Then, when the people had returned to their former errors, he made the oracles of the demons fall silent, overthrew the shrines, removed the sacrificing priests of Mars from their midst, and led the whole region from the abominable worship of idols to the knowledge of the true God. At last, having set out for Lactora, and announcing the word of God with incredible zeal, he was, after various torments, cast into prison by the priests of the idols, and by night was visited by an Angel, and was warned of his imminent death. But on the following day he was beheaded together with Babilius, one of his companions. His body was at first buried at Lactora, then, by the action of Charlemagne, translated to Bordeaux, and placed in the church of St. Eulalia, where it is honored with great devotion by the Christians.
[6] So much there. The Bishoprics of Périgueux and Sarlat belong to the Metropolitan of Bordeaux, The cult at Périgueux: so that the cult of St. Clarus may be seen to have been promoted there for that very reason. Concerning Périgueux, however, and the plague averted, there is deep silence elsewhere; except that Ferrarius asserts that St. Clarus, Bishop and Martyr, has his cult among the people of Périgueux, in the General Catalogue: but he errs, when he notes that he, having preached the faith there and governed the Church, was afflicted with various punishments and at last beheaded: for this is said to have happened among the people of Lactora. In the same manner he is venerated in the city and diocese of Bordeaux under a double rite, and chiefly in the parish church of St. Eulalia, where there is read an old inscription carved on the wall of the Chapel, and reported by Jerome Lopez in the description of his Metropolitan Church of Bordeaux, page 132, in these words. A chapel at Bordeaux founded by Charlemagne. Charlemagne founded this chapel, and behind the altar placed seven holy bodies, who were crowned with martyrdom for the faith of Christ: whose names are Clarus, Justinus, Gerontius, Severus, Polycarpus, Joannes, and Babilius. The said Jerome adds, moreover, that all these same things are carried about every year, on the first Sunday after the feast of Clarus, in a solemn procession. Moved and relying on these things, the author of the Lectoure Proper thus concludes the sixth Lesson: Whether the six companions suffered in the same assault, the records do not relate (indeed they mention them only once, at the departure from Africa, and Alteserra alone joins Babilius to the Saint as a companion of martyrdom). That they suffered, however, whether at that time or another, is the tradition. But as they had been joined in life, so their sacred Relics rest in the same coffin in the church of St. Eulalia at Bordeaux; brought thither by Charlemagne (as is read from an old writing inscribed on the stone of that same Basilica). Then is added: The Birthday of St. Clarus is celebrated on the Kalends of June with the greatest applause of the people of Bordeaux, and of others who are accustomed to flock thither every year from the villages and hamlets all around, drawn by the frequent benefits which they are wont to obtain through his intercessions. Saussay, comparing with this same inscription the testimony of Alteserra, who asserts that the body of St. Clarus rests at Auch in the Basilica of St. Orientius, said that the relics of this heavenly one are preserved partly at Auch, partly at Bordeaux. We are little moved by this matter: because we know that parts of bodies, sometimes not large ones, are in such cases often called bodies: nor do we wish to doubt the true sanctity of those members in which we shall presently say below that both the people of Albi and the people of Tulle rejoice.
§. II. The sacred cult among the Limousins, the people of Tulle, Cahors, Rodez, Albi, and Toulouse.
[7] The above-named Saussay, not yet having obtained knowledge of the things he afterward wrote in the Supplement, The cult at Limoges. in his very Martyrology on these Kalends of June says: At Limoges, of St. Clarus, Bishop and Martyr, more famous (clarus) by his merits than by monuments. Namely, because in the Limoges Breviary (which was reviewed by the authority of Bishop Raymond de la Martonie, and was printed in the year 1625) an Ecclesiastical office of St. Clarus, Bishop and Martyr, is prescribed, under a simple rite; and from the Common of one Martyr the Prayer "Our infirmity" is recited; and the third Lesson, "The princes have persecuted me without cause." In the lower Limousin territory the chief city is Tulle, where the Abbey of St. Martin was raised into an Episcopal See in the year 1318. There in the Cathedral are preserved the Relics of Sts. Clarus, Laudus, Ulfardus, and Baumadus, and their feasts are celebrated, respectively, on June 1, September 20, June 3, and August 4. The Relics and Patronage of Tulle. In the Chronicle of Geoffrey, Prior of Vigeois, in Labbe, volume 2 of the New Library, page 286, concerning these Patrons of the city of Tulle these things are read: Wlfardus and Laudus guard Tulle together with Clarus, through whom come serene seasons; and Baumardus, through whom the Lord has often granted the world seasons full of rains. Which things, before the Dissertation of Étienne Baluze concerning these Saints, printed at Tulle about the year 1656, Bernard Gui thus more clearly explains in his manuscript Names of the Saints of the Limoges diocese: St. Wlphardus, St. Laudus, St. Clarus, St. Baumadus guard and aid Tulle. Through Clarus bright and serene seasons are given: through Baumardus the earth is watered: as has been very often discovered. Gifts made to the Saint in the years 895 and 932 without the title of Bishop, Then from the Tulle Cartulary the following are adduced: The Gift of Gerald to St. Martin. To the most holy basilica of St. Martin of the monastery of Tulle, where the bountiful Confessors of Christ, Clarus and Laudus, lie buried: where at the present time Lord Odo the Abbot is seen to preside . . . This was done in the month of May, in the third year, while King Charles reigns. Likewise the Gift of Benedict the Presbyter. To the most holy monastery of Tulle, which is founded in honor of the bountiful Martin the Bishop, where the bodies of the Saints rest, of Clarus the Martyr and Laudus the Bishop . . . This cession was made in the month of May, in the ninth year, in which King Rodulphus began to reign. Where the Kings seem to be understood as Charles the Simple and Rodulphus, of whom the third year of the former agrees with the year of Christ 895: the year of Rodulphus falls in the year 932.
[8] from which the old Hymn also abstains, Here St. Clarus is now called Confessor, now Martyr, no mention yet being made of Episcopal Dignity. The old Hymn likewise abstains, once accustomed to be sung in the church of Tulle on the feast day of St. Clarus on the Kalends of June, says Baluze. And it is of this kind.
The yearly return of Clarus comes round—While the glory of the glorious one shines, Let the whole world of the pious resound—With sober praises. Tulle, guarding the treasure—Of so great a Martyr's body, Thou the more joyfully in thy person—With praises of thy Patron. Crowds of peoples throughout the world—Of the Gentiles he had converted; accustomed to be sung on the feast day. He had sown divine sayings—The blessed harvest had grown. The sacred sower the fruit of his—Labor, and the soldier of God Bears the palm of noble triumph—To the heavenly thrones. He left to the lands the sweet—Pledges of his bones: Bestowed upon us from heaven—Let us cherish these more devoutly: May the blessed spirit of these—Revisit us more often, And restore us to the supreme Godhead—With the Father, the Son, the Spirit.
[9] But at what time, says Baluze, or finally in what manner the sacred Relics of this holy Martyr were brought to Tulle, we do not know; this only is ascertained by us, that they have been preserved for eight hundred years in the Church of Tulle . . . Yet there is commonly told a tale . . . which we are about to narrate here. There is a mountain adjoining the city, which by a common term we call the Hill of St. Clarus; where they relate there was once a grove, when Tulle had not yet acquired the form of a city, and there was nothing among us except the monastery of the Benedictines. Passing that way by chance, a certain man, who was carrying with him the Relics of our Saint, fell in with a wild beast, the denizen of the grove, and was devoured by it. This man's misfortune, whether because a companion of the journey betrayed it, or because God so willed, was soon spread abroad, A little tale of the populace concerning the manner of the translation, and the report of it reached the ears of our Monks. These resolved to go into the grove: but always the thought of the beast removed them from the undertaking: until someone bolder urged that, taking up clubs, they should all advance boldly to overcome the beast. So it was done: the Head of St. Clarus was recovered with some bones, and all were together brought into the Church of Tulle; where to this day they are shown. A tale indeed this is, Reader, but one which perhaps indicates that the Relics of our Saint were recovered by a miracle. Of this monastic expedition, however, if it were not a tale, a rough proof would seem to exist, unless I am mistaken. For at a certain season of the year the Canons of Tulle, resting on a certain old proof, armed with clubs, clothed in long robes and surplices, with a great throng of people accompanying, go two by two solemnly onto the mountain; and there, having duly performed the Sacred rites, after peace has been given to the people, they return in the same order to the Cathedral Church. So Baluze, I know not why so absolutely exploding this little popular tale as a fable, doubting whether to call it old-womanish or childish; where there is indeed much of ancient simplicity, but nothing inconsistent (ἀσύστατον) or impossible (ἀδύνατον).
[10] However that may be, from the foregoing in the same Baluze we learn that the day of this Translation is found noted, in the old Tulle Breviary, as the twenty-eighth of the month of May. That the Relics themselves, brought to Tulle whenever and however, became renowned there by miracles, and accustomed to be honored on May 28, is clear from the following Hymn, once accustomed to be sung on such a day; in which, just as in the Lessons concerning his life, we see the title of Pontiff or Bishop employed.
O blessed Martyr, highest, Clarus, Bishop, often a wondrous worker of health for the sick; ready bestower of the light to be possessed for the blind, restorer at last of every feeble one, and soon the repeller of every savage demon for everyone. with a proper Hymn; Be present as such a healer to sick characters, as such an illuminator to the minds of the world, reform the feeble steps of the lame, that they may go swiftly and unwearied along the way of peace and the paths of salvation, and endure. Whatever crime the demons have brought upon the wretched by malignant cunning, driving minds with most wicked persuasions, blot it out by your prayer: ask for the gifts of the Spirit, with which our choir may sing thanks to you. The assembly of the obedient frequents the feast, and our suppliant devotion honors you: render us pure in heart, and just in deeds, safe from dangers and all evils, and, lifted from the earth, restore us to the heavenly ones. To the Parent of all things, the simple Trinity, with the Father, the Son, and the sevenfold Spirit, let devout proclamations of praises resound; let thanks be given, let glory be sung, through these and beyond, for all ages forever. Amen.
[11] These things having been so related for the sake of an appearance of greater antiquity, there are added from the Sarlat Proper two Hymns of more recent composition; such as is also sung at Sarlat in a more recent style; embracing more accurately an epitome of the Lessons soon to be given, in this manner:
Divine providence—Compelled Clarus to come, With six men from Africa—And drove him to our shores. Full of the heavenly Godhead—He at once dispelled the darkness With the seed of the heavenly Word—Preparing the origin of life. The fierce nations of Gaul—He washed with sacred baptism, And the wandering citizens of Albi—He led back to the sure paths. He destroys the idols of Mars—Cleansing the shrines from filth; He brought the faith to Vesona—Mighty in wondrous powers ….. Another Hymn is set forth thus:
The soldier of Christ, fair—Worthy of the highest praises, Rich in virtue, Clarus—Let us sing with glad minds. Here broken in the mass of his body—He is bound with a chain of iron, Cast into the depths of the prison—In which the light of heaven is born. Him an Angel by his presence—Comforts, and with admirable Constancy of heart then—He shines in feeble flesh. He strengthens his mind with love—While he foreknew the hour of death. And he prepares his body for the blows—He who never served fear. The cruel executioner presses on—Suddenly the blood is shed: But the Bishop is not moved—Nor is his mind broken by fear.
[12] But neither must this be passed over in silence, says Baluze, that a Sodality (commonly called by the received word a Confraternity) was dedicated to this our Saint, instituted in the Church of Tulle in the year 1486, on the 13th day of November. A Confraternity, from the year 1486 To this gave their names Clement Brillac, Bishop of Tulle (whom the Sammarthani assert obtained possession on the 31st of May in the year 1495), and Léger Vélian, Abbot of Sully and Cellarer of the Church of Tulle. But as for the serene weather customarily sought by the invocation of St. Clarus, as the above-praised Bernard Gui informs us, 350 years ago, Baluze confirms it with two examples, taken from an Old Codex, the head shown in the year 1508 written in the ancient Tulle language, and he sets forth the original text itself to be read at the end of his little book. His Latin version is this: In the year 1508, on the 28th of May, on which the Translation of St. Clarus used to be celebrated in the Church of Tulle, when the rains were harming the crops, the Head of St. Clarus was shown to the people, and lay open for a full twenty-one days: so that it might be lawful for anyone to pray to his sacred Relics, that at length the serene weather might return from heaven. It was not obtained with difficulty. For during all that time, in which the holy Head was shown to the eyes of mortals, it rarely rained. In the year 1532 a solemn procession was made in the city of Tulle on the 7th day of the month of April, and through the city were carried about the sacred Relics of Sts. Clarus, Laudus, Ulfardus, and Baumadus. a procession in the year 1532, Present at this ceremony were the Canons, the Presbyters of the parishes of St. Peter and St. Julian of the city, the Nobles, and the people. These things, moreover, were done, that God might grant by the prayers of the Saints the longed-for mildness of the air. The cult at Cahors, Nearest to the Limousin territory and the diocese of Tulle is the city of Cahors, with its diocese, where we know from the proper Feasts of the said Church of Cahors that St. Clarus, Bishop and Martyr, is venerated on these Kalends of June under a semidouble rite. at Rodez, Indeed, that his memory is also celebrated in the neighboring Church and diocese of Rodez is read in Ferrarius: and the same is established from a document sent to us. Nor very far distant is the city of the same Aquitania Prima, Albia or Albiga, at Albi, at Toulouse. from which the Albigensian heretics received their name. The first Bishop of this city is named as St. Clarus, in William Catel, Claude Robert, Jean Chenu, and the Sammarthani brothers; who likewise all place in the second position Antimius, the disciple of Clarus; nor do they then find anyone before Diogenianus, around the year 406. St. Clarus is honored at Albi with an ecclesiastical Office, with proper Lessons concerning his Life and this Prayer: Almighty and everlasting God, who through the wars of glorious combat didst raise to immortal triumph Blessed Clarus, thy Martyr and Bishop; grant to our hearts a worthy gladness for his solemnity; that we, who here embrace his members with pious love, may be aided by his prayers. Finally it has been written to us that the same Saint is venerated also at Toulouse: but whether there are any Relics of his there, we have not yet ascertained.
§. III. The Life from the manuscript Breviaries of Tulle and Albi.
[13] Besides the Psalter, common to all Clerics, both those living within and those without the cloister, From Breviaries begun to be written in the 14th or 15th century, and customarily sung or recited daily by each from ancient obligation from the beginning, as it is now also held distributed through the weekdays and the daytime and nighttime hours, but with proper and more recently instituted things for each, with Hymns, Chapters, and Versicles; besides the Psalter, I say, the greater churches, namely the Cathedrals and Abbatial ones, had Lectionaries, Passionals or Legendaries, and Homiliaries, for the public use of the more extended nocturnal Office; so that from the first were read the books of Sacred Scripture, according to the variety of the seasons; from the second, the Lives of Saints or Passions of Martyrs; from the third, the Homilies of the Holy Fathers, according to the order of the Sundays and the Gospels. The beginning of all these, to be described in order through the circle of the year, seems to have been made after the tenth century. But since the prolixity of these same, filling many great volumes, was of greater bulk than use; and therefore it had gradually prevailed that, according to the prescription of him who presided over the Choir, only some things were selected from each; there began to be written, in the fourteenth century at the latest (for no one will easily find older examples), breviaries of the Sacred Lessons, which could serve the public use of the lesser churches and the private use of individual Clerics: from which finally in the sixteenth century there arose and took its name that which we now use, the Breviary of the Ecclesiastical Office. Of this middle sort was that which our friend Étienne Baluze found written by hand in our College of Tulle, the Tulle and Albi ones: already then intent on the study of illustrating antiquity; whence also he took occasion to prefix to the Tulle history (which he was preparing) the Dissertation praised above at number 7. For it appeared from the number of the twelve Lessons, into which the Life of the Saint was distributed, that this Breviary, according to the form of the monastic Order, had been written for the use of those Monks of Tulle, whose Abbey was converted into a Bishopric in the year 1318 (as has been said), the monastic Order nevertheless being preserved, until the year 1514, in which the Chapter was made Secular from Regular, as the same Baluze teaches in the Sammarthani, about to enumerate the Deans of Tulle. Another similar Breviary, but written in the Canonical form, and therefore concluding the Life of the Saint within the number of nine Lessons, and written for the use of the Church of Albi, was found fifty years ago by some curious person of such things, and the Propers of the Albigensian Patrons which he found there, he transcribed with his own hand into a quaternion, preserved among us.
[14] whence the whole book of the Life is had, Moreover, although in both the text appears, received word for word from the earlier-written Life; yet in a wondrous manner it happened that, when the Collector of each Breviary, for the sake of abridgment, omitted a good part of the earlier text; the Tulle one indeed transcribed the first eight Lessons in continuous course, and took the last four from the end; the Albi one, on the other hand, believed it should begin where the narration about the Saint's arrival at Albi begins, to which point the aforesaid eight Lessons of the Tulle people nearly extend themselves. Thus from both Breviaries the text of the Life can to a certain extent be made whole, which itself, however, was composed, with certain Deeds of the Saint himself serving as a guiding light, transmitted by the more ancient writers in some writing; to which the Author added another book of Miracles, lost with great damage to history. For from it could have become known both that place of his chief cult, where the Saint became renowned by so many miracles, and where this new Life was composed; and the age of the Author, which, that we may not presume it to be great, is shown by the rather verbose style of the earlier book; so that it is not necessary to believe that the deeds themselves transmitted in writing by the earlier ones are older than the twelfth or thirteenth century. But if Baluze had had these either in their original form, as they first were; or at least whole, taken from older deeds. as they served for the writing of the Breviaries; our common friend and his, Armand Gérard, doubts, in the letter by which he communicated the aforesaid Dissertation to us, whether he would have believed he had found a huge treasure in the Tulle Breviary. I do not doubt at all that, with the experience he last had of judging the greater monuments of the ancients, he would have wished to trust it less than the young man wished, then only 26 years old. That the reader may judge this for himself, it pleases us to set forth the aforesaid Lessons whole, so that by the letters T and A placed in the margin it may be clear from which Breviary each thing has been taken.
T. I.
[15] The holy a and most blessed Clarus, therefore, both glorious Bishop, sprung from the African b regions (as has been handed down to us by a certain older writing); and directed into the western parts of the world, Sprung from Africa, for the salvation of perishing peoples, by heavenly compassion; among the Gallic or Aquitanian nations, first indeed by magnificent preachings, by the sufficiently wondrous deeds of piety and manifold virtues, he shone forth truly clear (clarus); thereafter he was made clearer by the most steadfast endurance of sufferings much to be admired by mortals; and at last, received into the higher court, by the bestowal of heavenly benefits and by constant miracles, he now shines everywhere throughout the world most clearly. These things being thus set forth at the outset, let us thereafter, in the same order in which they have been set forth, assert them with probability. First, namely, from his own deeds, transmitted to our knowledge by the earlier ones (as foretold) in some writing; and then from those which, placed in the heavenly seat, he very often confers upon the lands by saving miracles c.
T. II.
[16] There were seven companions, as they relate; who, equally imbued with the Christian faith, and incited by equal fervor of faith and of holy work, leaving their fatherland and parents, and all they possessed, resolved that the city of Rome should be sought from the lands across the sea. Their names: Clarus and Justinus, Gerontius and Severus, Polycarpus and Joannes, and Babilius. These, therefore, d making for Rome, as has been said, with six Companions when they had come, by a ship carrying them, to a certain city, called (as is reported) e Joppa; a people there, not small, was converted by their preaching from idols to the true God. For which reason, the dire wrath of the Princes of the city being roused against them, and finally a most grievous persecution stirred up, afflicted with many injuries, and at last driven out of the city, then about to complete the journey they had begun, they sought again the sea-voyage.
T. III.
[17] Therefore, carried by a sufficiently long f voyage to Rome, they resolved to tarry there a little while. At last, going to the supreme Pontiff of the Apostolic See g, they made use of him very often both, for the instruction of the soul, he came to Rome: for the grace of conversation; and, for the support of their bodies, by his munificent largess. Meanwhile, with rumor running about, the message being received, that in the Gallic and Aquitanian parts many were being crowned with martyrdom by gentile persecution, h moved by a holy desire of so great a glory, they determined to direct their journey thither, where through the merit of greater endurance they might attain also the reward of a loftier glory.
T. IV.
[18] For when they perceived the hearing of this longed-for report, St. Clarus, calling together the rest of his companions, addressed them with an exhortation of this kind. What, I ask, he rouses them to martyrdom: is it, O venerable companions, O most Christian men, that, although we long ago took up an unconquered spirit to leave for Christ our fatherland, our parents and kinsmen, and to overcome all the delights of the world, and that One conquered in us in such a contest who said, "I have conquered the world"; now for the same we delay to suffer worldly pressure; and, as if half-full, not to say utterly empty of the confidence by which He bids us trust in this also, we perhaps hesitate to seize the victory, with Him fighting in us? What does it profit to have subdued worldly battles thus far; when, being already victors in such great things, now both women and infants go before us to the titles of martyrial glories? Let us therefore gird ourselves for the wars of the divine contest: let us hasten to the places in which we may merit the fellowships of the white-robed Martyrs, and loftier rewards.
T. V.
[19] Let us take up arms, said blessed Clarus, brethren, for fighting, clothed with which the holy and humble of heart know not how to be conquered; that is, the fortitude of faith, the long-suffering of hope, the most sincere recompense, to the utmost of our power, of the love of God, who so greatly loved us, and through this an always unconquered constancy of gladly enduring all things for Him. But if perhaps something else pleases any of you, or you think that this very thing, how it may be done, should be treated by a more prudent counsel; let our assembly for the present take faithful common counsel on this matter.
T. VI.
[20] To this one of those blessed companions, namely St. Severus: Thou, (said he) most blessed Clarus, through whom the Lord deigns to exhort us to such saving things, by His inspiration, as we believe, wilt be able also to become the best counselor in this. and he urges that counsel be sought from the Pope. Without delay, therefore, set forth to us thy counsel, which we shall without doubt follow. Then he: As far as (said he) I seem to myself at first to see the way of having counsel; the most holy Pope of the City and Prelate of the supreme See is especially to be consulted by us on these matters: because, from the time when, coming here, we remained to tarry for a while, we have familiarly and freely made use both of his conversations and of his benefits.
T. VII.
[21] Go, said the blessed Prelate, glorying and glorious in the name of Christ the Lord, he is sent into the parts of Aquitaine: supported by His help and relying on His protection: and, as you have heard, in the Aquitanian parts, where many Christians labor for piety by gentile persecution, run together with your joining: that they too may be strengthened, not only by your consolation and exhortation, but also by the example of most steadfast endurance: and, with those still ignorant of the Christian faith converted by your preaching, Christianity itself, which hostile malice strives either utterly to destroy or at least to diminish, may rather, with the number of Christians multiplied, always increase. These things being thus spoken by the most sacred Prelate, consecrated Bishop he raised the others, as it pleased him concerning each, to other Ecclesiastical grades; but the most blessed Clarus he chose and consecrated i to the Office of the supreme Priesthood.
T. VIII.
[22] And so the holy Clarus, raised to the supreme Priesthood by Apostolic (as we said) consecration, with k the Presbyter Babilius judged it fitting for him to seek a certain city, called Cologne, for the sake of preaching: which fame had conceived to be filled with great population and exceeding riches, but given over to idols, and utterly ignorant of the worship of the true God l …..
A. I.
[23] To the most blessed Clarus, residing at Cologne, and there bearing the care of the peoples acquired for the Lord through him with the utmost devotion, he dwells at Cologne, it is announced that a certain nearby city, Albi by name, and the whole region round about it, still wandering in demonic cults, had in those days been so chastised by divine judgment, that, with a most savage plague raging upon both the animals of every kind and men, the whole would more quickly be destroyed; if it were not most speedily succored by the aid either of some God, or of a man given by God. Then the most blessed Clarus, long since accustomed to procure the salvation of the perishing, grieved that the bodily destruction of these too was raging there especially, in that, being ignorant of divine truth, after the temporal death of the body, they would without doubt undergo the eternal perdition of their souls. about to depart thence for Albi, Wherefore, having called together the Clerics of his Church, and all most faithful and religious clinging to him, he brings to their notice the cause of the message brought, and with many words and pressing admonitions urges that the people especially near, perishing in the slavery of the devil m, ought to be succored by him with pious compassion.
A. II.
[24] This at last being persuaded, It behooves me, said he, myself to go thither, nor (while I grow sluggish with idleness) to delegate the care of so great a matter to others: and because, as I depart hence, I am ignorant to what end future things will proceed; I decree to you the administration of the whole Church of this city, that each may attend to it by the office you fulfill. Brother Sabinus (whom, adorned in character and deeds and in all the virtues of the religious life, I judge fit for the Episcopal office) we here delegate in our place as supreme n Priest. To Rannulfus o and Ramfredus we specially delegate the preaching of the word of God to be administered. All the rest, Presbyters and other ministers of the Church. and Deacons, and those ministering in diverse grades by other offices, each in his own order, we command to serve the Ecclesiastical institutions and benefits. But Florentius p q and Eugenius, and Montanus r, we decree are to be taken up as companions and associates of our journey.
A. III.
[25] But the protection of you all, and the defense of the Church, under the protection and aid of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Lord as leader, we enjoin upon Aldemarius and the rest of the Magistrates of the city, subject to the same Lord Christ with true piety and worthy devotion, that during the time of the present life, by free and secure service of the Lord, you may win for both yourselves and them the glory of eternal life. Then, kissing each one, and commending them to the heavenly guardianship, and at last bidding farewell to all, he set out on his journey with his beloved companions. Many others, however, accompanied him, pouring forth tears at his departure with no small grief; and going with him as far as the borders of that region, at his entreaty they at last returned.
A. IV.
[26] But he, the hastener of the begun journey, when he was now drawing near to the walls of the aforesaid city, a certain girl, Asteria by name, seized by a raging demon, began to cry out with great voices to the citizens, On the approach to Albi, that a man was now arriving near that city, through whom all that region would be converted to the one and only true God. Soon also the images, accustomed to demonic responses, she is revealed as possessed, fell silent with unusual silence because of the presence of that man. And so all together, the plebeian crowd especially moved by the voices of the possessed woman, but the Pontiffs of the temples by the silence of the images, began to treat with one another in mutual counsels what such things might portend to all.
A. V., A. VI.
[27] Then one of the chief men of the city, Yboldus by name, who (as we conjecture) had perceived some things about the doctrine of the Christian faith, only by report running about, and the faith of Christ openly announced, yet with credulous hearing, began thus to disclose to the hesitating assemblies the things he had heard. Long since it has come to the hearing of many in these Western parts also, that in the Eastern regions there once existed a certain man, Jesus by name, most powerful and magnificent in most wise eloquence, and saving preachings, and in virtues exceedingly to be admired. He also, to many believing in him, and clinging to his discipleship, conferred the same power of preaching saving things and working wonders: and to this very purpose he directed them into the whole world, that both by their teachings and deeds they might teach men true wisdom, and especially instruct them concerning the knowledge and worship of the one supreme and true God: but they should teach that the idols, which were worshiped by ancient error, as the lurking-places of malignant demons, are utterly to be despised and cast away. * This doctrine, namely, has now been so multiplied by dissemination and fruit-bearing through innumerable regions of all Asia, and Africa, and Europe also, that almost we alone, set in this corner of the Western world, still seem ignorant of this divine wisdom and saving doctrine. Whence I think that now perhaps, through some one of such teachers, the knowledge of so great a good has drawn near even to us; and that this is both proclaimed by the voices of the possessed woman, and shown by the sudden silence of the images, or rather of the demons lurking in them: who, either deterred by the approach of the truth itself to be acknowledged, or worn out by the grief of their imminent overthrow, now either dare not or cannot attend to the service of those who serve them.
[28] These things heard, while they inquire and talk among themselves about such things; the blessed man enters the gate of the city: whom indeed, from the surrounding fields and suburban places, he converts the people of Albi: a very great multitude of those running together had surrounded; who, suspended by the unusual sight of the bearing and religious gait of the most venerable person, listened most intently of all, especially to the sweetly-flowing eloquence of his preaching. Here therefore at once both the nobles of the city are joined and the common people; and all raise most curious ears to learn what the things were that he said, or what they meant. To whom the most blessed Clarus, always full of the grace of divinely teaching, explained with sacred and necessary words the sum of all salvation to be obtained; and the whole region round about that city, still wandering in demonic cults, he traversed; and so, with divine aid helping him, he converted that people, and renewed them to the grace of Christ's baptism.
A. VII.
[29] When therefore Blessed Clarus had made a stay at Albi for the space of three years, and many miracles had been done through him by God, and a great crowd of men had been baptized by the Bishop himself, he departs for Lectoure: and a Bishop named Anthimius s had been established in the same city named Albi; he went on to a certain city, named Lectoure, where he began to cast the customary seeds of the divine word. But, most joyful at the apprehension long desired for Christ and the approach of his passion, he is ordered to be led to the temple of Mars, either to submit of his own accord to the rites of sacrifices, or to be most savagely torn apart by all punishments. t Therefore, led to the sacrilegious altar, and seeing the statue of Mars set up in a higher place; with the eyes of his body directed to heaven, because of the statue of Mars cast down but with the gaze of his mind to the Lord, while he supplicates Him with a few words, that statue of Mars at once fell, and so, shattered, is reduced to nothing, as if such a thing had never been seen in that place. The ministers of the prepared punishments were astonished that their supreme God was destroyed: the Pontiffs groaned, and, handling the holy Martyr with most hard scourges and beatings, he is beaten with scourges: led him back to the hearing of the Judges; crying out that he was now most evidently proved a magician and sorcerer, who had reduced to nothing, by incantations alone, with hands untouched, the statue of so revered a deity, by sudden crushing and destruction. At these things the rabid fury of the hearers rouses the senses, and instigates them to inflict harder punishments of cruel tortures. And so they order him to be dragged naked through a thistle-field; then, stretched on a frame, to be strongly battered with hard blows of leaded whips. tortured on the rack, Thereafter, hung for three whole days on the rack, while he can be bent by no bitterness or length of punishment, he is ordered again to be thrust into prison.
A. VIII.
[30] But it was not for that most kindly King of such soldiers to leave for longer without the wonted consolation so great an endurance of one contending for His name. * He again enjoys u angelic attendance, he is admonished and taught by angelic address, he is comforted by an Angel. he is made secure of the victory undoubtedly and very soon to come; and thus, with that to follow without doubt, by blessed hope he already enjoys the crown. For the Angel, standing by him after the night, said: Be steadfast, fear nothing, for tomorrow, the happy battle accomplished, with martyrdom exalting you by glorious triumph, you shall sit upon a throne, with Christ placing and crowning you from on high.
T. XII.
[31] The angelic words received, after the delays of the night, the darkness at last withdrawn, the longed-for day succeeds. He is ordered to be brought forth again from the prison, and to stand before the judgment of the chief presence. He is asked whether he yet, even at this late hour, repents of what he began, whether he now decides that the commands must be obeyed by him. He answers that he is the same that he was, steadfast in the faith and promises that he will forever be of the same mind by inviolable faith. Then indeed, it now being most certainly proved that they would attempt with most vain labor to bend the virtue of so great a constancy, they judge that the other punishments must at some time be desisted from; they decree that he should undergo the shortcut of hastened death, the beheading of his head. So, led out of the walls of the city, and brought to the place desired by him with such long duration of past times, he poured forth a prayer to the Lord, and humbly commended himself, and all whom he had acquired for Him, to the same to be ruled: he is killed by the sword, and thus, with bent knees, cheerful and ready he stretched out his neck to the executioner; and with the whole people of the city looking on, and pouring forth most bitter tears, struck by the blow of the sword, he fell.
A. IX.
[32] and after death he is renowned by miracles. Here seems to have been the end of the first book; but the beginning of the second book seems to have been taken by the Collector of the Albi Breviary for the ninth Lesson; of which Lesson I indeed find the number noted in our copy; but not the words themselves. For the writer, sparing (as it seemed) superfluous labor, says: After the Recapitulation of his virtues, it speaks thus (namely the Breviary, where that Recapitulation was recited). Of those things which he, living here, did and suffered, a rather lengthy book already seems to have been published: but of those things which were wondrously done through him, after his ascent to the things above, we think that another can, with the Lord's help, be forged by us: which book, would that it still survived somewhere. Meanwhile it will be permissible to presume that it was written at Albi; and that there the miracles were wrought at his body: since the Prayer which is recited about him testifies that his body is had at Albi, though perhaps not whole, but diminished, with the Relics divided among various cities.
ANNOTATIONS.
p Gaul venerates several holy Florentii, of whom none can be drawn here more nearly than the one who is venerated on January 3 at Vienne, almost 60 leagues distant, a Bishop, banished under Gallienus around the year 260, and afterward a Martyr.
q St. Gregory of Tours, in book 2 chapter 3, treating of the illustrious confession of St. Eugenius, Bishop of Carthage, whose birthday is honored on July 13; testifies that, the sword being suspended, he was deputed to exile at the Albigensian city of Gaul, where he also made the end of the present life, and is venerated, both on his birthday and on September 6, perhaps because of the elevation of his body. But what has he to do with St. Clarus, such as this Life describes?
r Saussay, after the Supplement to his Martyrology, sets forth excerpts from an old Martyrology of the aforesaid monastery of St. Sabinus, where on the day of 9 November it is read thus: In the Vivarais territory, of St. Montanus the Hermit. But that territory is sufficiently near to the Albigensian, so that it seems to have been the purpose of the Author of this Life to call together into the society of his St. Clarus all the neighbors and Saints of less known age. Meanwhile I scarcely doubt that to anyone not blindly credulous, that ordering of the Cologne church here described will be the more suspect, the more it is distinguished by names and offices, on account of the antiquity of the time in which it is presumed to have been done.
s The Episcopal Catalogues call him Antimius, from this Life alone: but since before Diogenianus, known from St. Gregory of Tours for the fifth century, no one besides him and St. Clarus is named; and since to a certain Synodal letter in Savaron of the year 451 there is found subscribed Anemius, Bishop of Albi; one might suspect that, with the name corrupted, one person has been cut into two, and so Anthimius stuffed into this Life.
t Here the Tulle Breviary resumes the ancient text, proceeding likewise henceforth with the Albi one, and in plainly the same words, so that one cannot doubt about the common source of both.
u I know not why, "Again"; for no mention of an Angel had been made before. Moreover both here and at the beginning of the tenth Lesson the Tulle one had added, "Blessed Clarus," I believe for the sake of greater clarity.
* T. IX.
* T. X.
* T. XI.
A CONJECTURE Concerning several Synonymous Saints, here conflated into one person.
Clarus, Bishop, Martyr at Lactora in Novempopulania (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
[23] About to treat of St. Clarus, and the three other Patrons of the Tulle people, Baluze, already often named; begins with a complaint, and professes By the example of Baluze, who confesses that all things here are held uncertain, that no part of history more needs accurate study than the Lives of the Saints. There, says he, all things are full of darkness, and almost nothing certain seems able to be established in this matter. Rightly, if it be a question of those Lives of Saints which were either never written in antiquity, or, written, have irrecoverably perished, but are found after many centuries, at the discretion of anyone presuming to write something, either composed or restored from any little traditions of the populace, or from fragments of unhappily scattered monuments collected into one. But since for the most part men more pious and credulous, and from both rash, rather than learned and truthful, and modest in asserting, have done this; the Passionals and Legendaries were filled with narrations confused by so great a mixture of things, times, places, and persons, that, as Baluze says, the books of the ancients must be seriously turned over, the annals diligently read, the dust of libraries and archives shaken out not drowsily, so far that we know only this, that he whom we seek is a Saint, and besides almost nothing. Wherefore, says he, no one in whom there is even a single grain of salt and who is of the opinion that several Synonyms must be posited, ought to wonder, if we, about to write the lives of the Saints Clarus, Laudus, Ulfardus, and Baumadus to the best of our ability, write uncertain things for certain ….. since we certainly do not know in what season our Saint lived, from what nation he was sprung, or where he ended his mortal life …. Wherefore what else can I justly suspect, than that there were diverse Clari, and that they flourished at diverse times?…. This indulgence is given to antiquity, that it foists upon us certain Saints for others. Let an example be even the single Dionysius the Areopagite; about whom, namely, in bringing him to Paris, with seven centuries now slipping by, it has been contended in Gaul as if for altars and hearths; now it is commonly agreed among the learned that he must be distinguished from the Apostle and Martyr of the Parisians, and that from both must be posited a third, who wrote the books on the ecclesiastical Hierarchy, much younger than both; which also the recent reformers of the Paris Breviary have followed.
[34] These things from Baluze of Tulle it has pleased me to premise, that, since he himself thus thought about the Life of St. Clarus, I shall fear nothing the complaints of the ignorance of the common people, it may not happen as a trouble to the Aquitanians, that, following the judgment of their countryman, yet a little otherwise than he did, I shall strive, not indeed for historical certainty, which in the proposed subject is impossible; but for some greater verisimilitude: nor let them lament, with that Abbot Serapion in Cassian, Conference 10 chapter 2; who, when Blessed Paphnutius had persuaded him to come to his senses from the Anthropomorphite madness, was so confused in mind during prayer, because he felt that anthropomorphic image of the Deity, which he had been accustomed to set before himself, abolished from his heart, that, bursting into most bitter weeping and frequent sobs, and prostrate on the ground, he cried out with most loud wailing: Alas, wretched me! They have taken from me my God, and whom I now should hold I have not, or whom I should adore or call upon I now know not. Uncertain things handed down for certain and tenaciously seized, the common people indeed indignantly suffer to be dissolved by reason and withdrawn from them as certain; with even greater right they think themselves indignant, as often as in place of those certain truth is not at once offered. and I shall suggest four or five holy Clari: They explode, namely, the Conjectural historians, who with Cicero are not ashamed to confess that they do not know what they do not know; that yet they seek something of verisimilitude, which does not fight with truth ascertained from elsewhere; and propose what is found to the reader, only as such, and not to be held longer than until something more verisimilar is found. Under this caution I too shall say, about St. Clarus, that it seems more verisimilar that the memory of several Saints of the same name, and pertaining to diverse times, was confused into one; protesting that I do not wish to hold this as certain; but to say it, because nothing better occurs.
[35] of whom one preached the faith among the first, First, then, I think one can stand by the tradition by which it is held, that someone of that name, and perhaps a Roman, was sent by the Roman Pontiff into Aquitaine, to preach the faith of Christ, around the hundredth year; who, as then often happened, being ordained Bishop to no fixed See, laid the foundations there of various Churches: and thence, crossing over to the Armoricans, at length fixed an Episcopal See at Nantes, and dying a Confessor obtained burial at Reguiniacum, in a chapel close by the Parochial church, within the bounds of the diocese of Vannes; where even now both a monument and a head are shown, the rest of the body having been carried back to Nantes; and he is venerated on the 10th day of October. Since the people of Albi had received from their Elders that he had preached among them too, referring to him the beginnings of their Bishopric, in Aquitaine and Armorica; and held the first day of June sacred to some St. Clarus, and did not know how to distinguish the two; it can seem to have been introduced by usage, and received throughout the other Churches of Aquitaine, that the Apostle of that whole nation should be venerated on these Kalends, and be believed to have died a Martyr, because that other one was a Martyr.
[36] Another Clarus, then, brought with six companions to Bordeaux by Charlemagne, another, brought as a Martyr with 6 Companions to Bordeaux by Charlemagne, suffered Martyrdom under one of the Gentile Emperors in Aquitaine on June 1; and his companions perhaps at Rome; whence their bones, probably dug up from diverse cemeteries, and received as a gift from the Pontiff, the Emperor brought under those names which are foretokened; and so, placed together, they gradually began to be believed to have lived together too, and to have come into Gaul. But this Clarus, if he was found by Charlemagne in Aquitaine, could be presumed to be the same one of whom Saussay wrote in his Gallican Martyrology, on the Kalends of January, that among the Pictones, formerly having suffered among the Pictones; under the Emperor Gallienus, having entered into a renowned combat for the faith and glory of Christ, he, victor in the contest, obtained the triumphal laurel. The names of June and January are easily interchanged: whether this did not happen to Saussay, who reckoned them entirely diverse Martyrs, we could know more certainly, if anyone should teach us whether in truth and on which Kalends that St. Clarus is venerated at Poitiers. But whether he is one or diverse, this one and the one who is preserved in some part at Bordeaux (for I would not believe it a whole body, to which six others are joined in one chest) shows how easily some part could have been brought from the Pictones to the Limousins, where, by the example of the rest, it is venerated, as Saussay wishes, on June 1, and indeed as of a Bishop Martyr.
[37] [an African, finally, may have come to Albi before or with St. Eugenius, Bishop of Carthage, in the 5th century;] Last, finally, he may have been in truth an African, and may have fled thence when the Vandals were persecuting the orthodox, at the time when St. Eugenius, Bishop of Carthage, was detained in the Tamallene exile, having been banished thither in the year 484. The same, having landed at Albi, in place of Anemius, who, as we said, subscribed around the year 451 to a certain Synodal letter, may have been made Bishop by immediate or mediate succession; and this may have been the reason for Eugenius, that around the year 496, afflicted with a second and more distant exile, he withdrew to Albi, to the Bishop of his nation, perhaps even formerly his domestic Cleric. Unless we prefer to suppose that Clarus came as a companion to his Bishop; and was granted and ordained to the people of Albi, then perhaps widowed of a Pastor: unless we prefer to believe that the Bishop came, to whom, driven from his See, passage was granted to another Church. But this one, having on some occasion set out for Lactora, may have died there on an uncertain day; and, with his body divided between the people of Auch nearer to Lactora, among whom was the metropolis of all Novempopulania, and the people of Albi, may now have a cult in both places on June 1, on which the ancient Martyr was venerated among them, as also their first Apostle: which gave occasion for confusing their Acts, and for fabricating a Martyrdom and a death at Lactora.
[38] Moreover, since the Head and some bones of one of the aforesaid had been found near Tulle; whose head and arm, those not knowing whence they were brought, nothing was readier than to suppose, according to the custom of that age, that they were of him whom alone Aquitaine venerated. And the people of Tulle indeed, as we have seen, began first to venerate St. Clarus under the title of Confessor, as he is named in the document of the year 895, commemorated above at number 7; but then, before the year 932, they named him Martyr; and finally that he had been a Bishop too, they believed the Author of the older Legend, composed after the tenth century, the Lessons afterward being taken thence and translated into the Breviary. in the 10th century or earlier it may have been brought to Tulle. I assert none of these things, as I said; but I propose mere conjectures, as conjectures; readily to yield them to other more verisimilar ones, if they be offered. I note meanwhile that nearest to Tulle, at an interval of 10 leagues, are the Limousins, with Poitiers distant by twice as many leagues: that the people of Auch are 20 leagues from Tulle, and recede a little more from Albi; so that from all those places the Relics of St. Clarus could be brought. For Albi, however, the presumption will stand, founded on the Legend common to both; if this was first composed at Albi, on the occasion of the miracles wrought at his tomb, who was believed to have come from Africa.