CONCERNING SAINT DOMNOLUS
BISHOP OF VIENNE IN GAUL.
ABOUT THE YEAR 627.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY
Concerning his cult, age, & acts.
Domnolus, Bishop of Vienne in Gaul (S.)
G. H.
To the Sacred memory of this holy
Bishop is inscribed in the Ms.
Martyrologies of Ado of Lobbes,
of Liège of S. Lawrence,
& others; likewise in that printed at
Mosander, The name in the Feasts & Rosweyde,
but by this latter relegated to the Appendix: as
well as in the Ms. of Brussels of S. Gudula, &
the Ms. Florarium of the Saints, & likewise in the Martyrology
of Cologne & Lübeck printed under the year
1490, almost everywhere with these words:
At Vienne S. Domnolus the Bishop. But
a greater eulogy is in the Ms. Martyrologies of the Church
of Vienne, where these things are read: At Vienne
the birthday of S. Domnolus the Confessor, & twenty-ninth
Archbishop of Vienne. This man
was a most worthy Pastor, & especially accustomed in
redeeming Christian captives,
just as is read of old of B. Paulinus Bishop of Nola.
a eulogy in the Ms. of Vienne He also, while Phocas was emperor,
& Clodoveus King of the Franks reigning,
by work & counsel aided the cause of the Divine Gregory
the Great, that he might confirm the English island
& greater Britain in the faith,
whence the Divine Gregory himself is called Apostle
of England. But this same
our Domnolus, powerful in miracles, happily
died in the Lord, & with his Predecessors
was entombed. These things there, of which
the first words in the Chronicle of the said Ado
at the times of Phocas are thus had: & in Saussay. Domnolus,
Bishop of Vienne, then flourished,
a vigorous man & most pious in redeeming
captives. Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology
adorns him with this eulogy: On the same
day 16 June at Vienne of the Allobroges
S. Domnolus, Bishop & Confessor, who
succeeding S. Desiderius crowned with the rewards of his labors,
showed to this Church new
lights of virtues: & overflowing especially with charity,
in redeeming captives he expended very much
abundance & labor. Hence enriched with heaps of piety,
he received from the Lord the promised reward of the merciful.
[2] We gave the Acts of S. Desiderius on 23 May,
& we said that he departed from life in the year 608,
which was the eighth year of the Emperor Phocas,
two years after he was killed. But among the Franks
the name of Clodoveus was wrongly intruded by
the author of the Vienne Annals, which I mentioned,
by no means ancient, & that in place of Clotaire
the Second, by divine power he defends S. Rusticula who then reigned with his grandsons Theodebert
& Theodoric. With this
King Clotaire S. Rusticula, Abbess
of the monastery of S. Caesarius of Arles (whose
Acts will be elucidated on 16 August)
condemned by false assertions, & placed
under custody. But God
revealed through His Holy Spirit
to a certain Apostolic man, Bishop of the city
of Vienne, by name & merits
Domnolus, that he should at once go to the King,
& announce to him, that he had a grave
offense of God, because by unjust
judgment he had condemned the handmaid of Christ; &
at once that he was to be bereaved of his son for so unmerciful
a command. But hearing these things
the King & Queen, with great honor
& reverence began to venerate her,
& ordered her to return to her own place. These
& other things are more fully explained in her Acts.
S. Domnolus was succeeded by S. Etherius,
who while still under the same King Clotaire, dead
in the year 628, & his son
Dagobert, is said to have presided over the Church of Vienne,
as above at his birthday on 14 June
we said: so that S. Domnolus could not have lived
long after the year
620, if he lived so long.