ON ST. CLAUDIUS, BISHOP OF VIENNE IN GAUL.
4TH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COLLECTION. Concerning his cult; and the Saints Virianus and Juventius, wrongly attributed to Vienne together with him.
Claudius, Bishop of Vienne in Gaul (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
The Church of Vienne in Gaul has very many Bishops inscribed in the Catalogue of the Saints. On these Kalends of June is venerated St. Claudius, to whose sacred veneration testimony is given by the four old copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, The cult in the old Calendars. in which these things are annexed at the end. At Vienne, of Claudius the Bishop. But by the error of the copyists in the Epternach codex it is read "of Datus the Bishop." There agree very many Manuscripts, the Roman of Cardinal Barberini, the Augsburg of St. Udalric, the Cologne of St. Mary ad Gradus, the Trier of St. Maximinus, the Liège of St. Laurence, the Brussels of St. Gudula, the Tournai of St. Martin, the Arras of the Cathedral Church, and the Florarium. Likewise in their printed Martyrologies Ado Archbishop of Vienne, the Author of the spurious Bede, Greven and Molanus in the Additions to Usuard; Galesini, Canisius, and Ferrari with the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck printed about the year 1490; all in nearly these words: At Vienne, the deposition of St. Claudius, Bishop and Confessor.
[2] an encomium from the Vienne Manuscript We have a double Manuscript Martyrology of the Church of Vienne, the one we copied at Vienne itself in the year 1662, the other Pierre François Chifflet gave us at Dijon, where about this holy Bishop in both is read such an encomium. On the Kalends of June, at Vienne, the birthday of St. Claudius the Confessor, the thirteenth Archbishop of Vienne; who, while the Great Constantine the Emperor reigned, governed his Church most holily. He, endowed with eloquence and learning, was present at the first Council of Nicaea, and carried off the palm with the Fathers of the said Council over Donatus the African heretic; and by the decrees of the same Council, obtained the Primacy of his Church, against Marianus Archbishop of Arles. He died happily in the Lord, shining with miracles: and buried in the Church of the Apostles at Vienne, and from Chorier, he is celebrated with perennial memory. So much there. About that Primacy Nicolas Chorier disputes much in French for the Church of Vienne, in the political state of the Province of Dauphiné chapter 10, as on the contrary others for the Church of Arles. The same Chorier in chapter 11 composed this eulogy. St. Claudius Verus presided in the first Council of Arles, in the year 314, some months after his consecration. He made, of those Prelates who were very zealous and constant, Another from the Chronicle of Ado, that the decrees of the Council of Nicaea should be observed. He died on June 1 in the year 324. But neither do these things sufficiently stand, and the death in the year 324 is a manifest error, because the said Council of Nicaea was celebrated only in the year 325. Among the Bishops of the Council of Arles the seventh is held Verus, and by Sirmond, Labbe, and others is called Bishop of Vienne: but he is held the Successor of St. Claudius in the Sammarthani in the Archbishops of Vienne. Ado in the Chronicle has these things to be referred here, but not sufficiently ordered; for after he treated of the Council of Nicaea, he writes these things: At one and the same time also that most sacred Council of six hundred Bishops is gathered at Arles. Marinus then being Bishop of that city, it is not sufficiently proved. while at Vienne was Claudius, a most renowned Bishop in the Catholic doctrine. Which addition of his about St. Claudius, we judge most certain; the rest, about the Councils of Nicaea and Arles, of doubtful faith.
[3] Just as in the old Epternach Manuscript, indicated above, in place of Claudius the name of Datus was substituted; so, Claudius being omitted, in the Manuscript Martyrology of the Queen of Sweden, published by Holstenius in his Animadversions on the Roman Martyrology, these things are had: In place of Claudius is written Datus, Helladius, Eladus, Gallus. At Vienne, the deposition of Helladius the Bishop: in the Manuscript of Paris of Labbe, "Eladus": and in the Manuscript of Prague, "Gallus": and so in Notker, and in the Lobbes Manuscript it is read jointly; At Vienne, of Claudius and Helladius the Bishops. But there was no Helladius Bishop among the people of Vienne. Hence Saussay devised another evasion; and besides St. Claudius, he referred Helladius and Virianus, with these words: At Vienne of the Allobroges, of St. Claudius, also Bishop and Confessor. He, when St. Paschasius departed to his reward, worthy because of the bright tokens of religion, judged before all to fill his place, entered the Episcopate with equal zeal of prudence and piety, with which he executed it in offices worthy of praise: and at last, his life gloriously and divinely completed, rich in the heaps of good works, received the gift of well-earned blessedness. Which things can be said of all holy Bishops. Then the same Saussay thus proceeds. In the same place, the deposition of St. Helladius the Bishop, the fellow-initiate of St. Claudius, and Virianus the Martyr is added, and a glorious Confessor. In the same place, of St. Virianus the Martyr, crowned in the contest of piety. But neither of these is in the double Manuscript Martyrology of the Church of Vienne. The name of Helladius or Eladus, or Gallus, seems thrust in for Claudius. Concerning the other Saussay seems deceived by the Supplement of Molanus to Usuard, where, the letter B prefixed (by which Bede is understood) these things are referred; At Vienne, of St. Claudius the 11th Bishop: and then after the letter R, it is thus read: Likewise of St. Virianus the Martyr; where Saussay in place of "likewise" put "in the same place," no reflection being made on the letter R, by which is indicated the Martyrology of Bellinus published according to the custom of the Roman curia; in which no mention is made of St. Claudius; but after St. Caprasius Abbot of the monastery of Lérins these things are subjoined. to others Viventius, Likewise of St. Virianus the Martyr. Ferrari also added another addition, with these words: In Gaul, of St. Virianus the Presbyter and Martyr: and there are cited by him, first Molanus, in whom no mention is made of Gaul or the Presbyterate. Second is cited Maurolyco, in whom no mention is made of Virianus, but these things are attributed to Viventius: At Rome, of St. Viventius, a Presbyter from Gaul, who flourished in the times of Theodosius and Valentinian. Whether in place of Viventius, the first letters transposed, should be read Juventius, but better Juventius. Martyr at Rome, treating of him above we inquired. This only we indicate, that neither Helladius nor Virianus seems to be ascribed to the people of Vienne, unless, what we wish, more certain monuments are produced.