CONCERNING SAINT SIMPLICIUS
BISHOP OF AUTUN IN GAUL.
FIFTH CENTURY.
A preliminary Commentary on the cult, age, and acts of his life.
Simplicius, Bishop of Autun in Gaul (S.)
G. H.
The memory of S. Simplicius is inserted in all the Latin Martyrologies everywhere, ancient and recent; and first it is reported in four copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, Memory in the ancient Calendars. June 24, "In the city of Autun the deposition of S. Simplicius the Bishop." Nearly the same things are read in Rabanus, Usuard, Notker, Bellinus, and other more recent writers, and in very many manuscript Calendars even under the name of Bede and Ado, with the present Roman Martyrology, and that on this 24th of June. But on account of the highest solemnity of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist, in the Breviary according to the rite of the diocese of Autun, printed by the authority of Jacobus Huraltus about the year 1534, and the 25th. the Feast of B. Simplicius Bishop of Autun and Confessor is celebrated on the day after that of B. John, whether it be a Sunday or not, as is there prescribed. There is added a certain Life of his, distinguished into nine lessons, but which pleases less, because he is said to have flourished in that dignity under Aurelian, A Life is given from Gregory of Tours. and at that time to have received B. Cassian coming from regions overseas: which and other things can be read there. In the manuscript Florarium it is reported on the 27th of June. But we give what S. Gregory Bishop of Tours, in the sixth century of Christ, wrote in his book On the Glory of the Confessors concerning his deeds and succession. We have the same things, amplified with various phrasing, from a manuscript codex of the Trier monastery of S. Maximinus, but we judge that neither are these to be inserted into this work.
[2] The time of his See does not seem to be taken from the sacred Councils of Cologne and Sardica, as if he had been present at them, but from the Acts of SS. Amator and Germanus, Bishops of Auxerre; The time of the See is not to be taken from the Councils, from which it plainly and solidly is established that S. Simplicius presided over the Church of Autun in the fifth century. Meanwhile the Council of Cologne is reported to have been held in the year 346, in which the Bishop of Cologne was deposed because he denied the divinity of Christ: whom we have shown to be another than Euphrates, although his name has been wrongly inserted, at the Lives of S. Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria, and S. Servatius Bishop of Tongeren, on the 2nd and 13th of May. As in this Council of Cologne Euphrates is inserted as a heretic, so Simplicius Bishop of Autun is feigned to have been present, then perhaps not yet born. But the Council of Sardica was held in the year 347, at which among the Bishops of Gaul a certain Simplicius was present, but who he was is not added: but S. Amator, whose Life we gave on the Kalends of May, was made Bishop of Auxerre only in the year 388, to whom, as is said in number 28 of the Life, that Simplicius Bishop of Autun, but from the coming of S. Amator. a man of the highest simplicity and charity, forewarned by the report of his coming, did not neglect to go to meet him with all the order of the Clergy, and also with Julius, then Prefect, surrounded by the troops of his office. Whom, duly saluted, and honored more purely with the assent of due veneration, they conducted to the city of Autun. But the temper of the dark night being passed, the servants of God rising, hastened to the lodging-place of Symphorianus the Martyr. For at that time it was not yet sufficiently encompassed with buildings, but a space was enclosed within the narrow limits of a very small cell. There the two olive-trees and two candlesticks, shining with the luminous lamps of the Lord's precepts, alike enter, and alternately preventing one another with prayers, render the homage of their vows to the dignity of the Martyr. For although the aforesaid cell had long since been constructed in honor of the Martyr; yet it had not been dedicated in canonical manner with Pontifical invocations. Then the aforesaid Priest of God Simplicius pressed upon B. Amator with petition, that through the purity of his prayers the dwelling of Symphorianus the Martyr might be consecrated to God.
Thus far there: to which is added the access of S. Amator to the said Julius, Prefect of Gaul, from whom Amator sought S. Germanus for his successor; whom, expecting no such thing, he tonsured as a Cleric, and persuaded that he should be elected Bishop after him: and afterward he died in the year 418. Whether S. Simplicius lived after this, and how long, is not clear. The said Life of S. Amator was written at the request of S. Aunarius Bishop of the same city of Auxerre in the sixth century of Christ, and what has already been related had already before been for the most part set forth by a contemporary author in the Life of S. Germanus, Bishop of the same place, to be illustrated on the 31st of July. To these Acts we attribute more faith than to the Acts of the Synod of Cologne, which hitherto exists dug out from a single manuscript: another Simplicius could have been present at the Council of Sardica: at which time S. Cassian seems to have presided over the Church of Autun: and after him Egemonius, and afterward toward the end of the fourth century S. Simplicius.
LIFE
By the author Gregory of Tours, from On the Glory of the Confessors.
Simplicius, Bishop of Autun in Gaul (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
[1] He named the Cemetery near the city of Autun in the Gallic tongue, because there had been buried the corpses of many men: among which, that there are the sepulchres of certain faithful souls worthy of God, the frequent mystery of hidden psalmody teaches; since very often they appear to many, rendering to almighty God in the very proclamation of voices the due action of thanks. Chapter 73. For I have heard what I say from the inhabitants of the place, that while they were disposing to go round the holy places for the sake of prayer, they hear in the basilica of S. Stephen, which is joined to this cemetery, the sound of those singing psalms: and marveling at the sweetness of the melody, they approach the door of the temple, supposing that vigils were being celebrated by certain religious persons. Chapter 74. But entering, and giving themselves very long to prayer, they rise: they behold a choir of those singing psalms, and they perceive that nothing shines through the temple, except that all things shine with their own brightness: where S. Simplicius is buried, but of the persons they recognize absolutely none... There Simplicius, Bishop (as they say) of that very city, is buried: and before him S. Reticius, against whom savage madness brought the charge of adultery. Chapter 75. But because it is helpful to say something of these things, first concerning S. Reticius, because he died first, the discourse must be had... This blessed Priest, snatched away into the sleep of peace, was covered by the covering of this sepulchre. Chapter 76. To him Cassian succeeded. S. Cassian and Egemonius. After him Egemonius assumed the chair of the Pontificate.
[2] When he died, B. Simplicius was set over that same Church. He was of noble stock, very rich in the wealth of the world, S. Simplicius lives chastely with his wife, joined to a most noble wife. He lived a most chaste life, hidden by the world, known to God alone, yet unknown to mortals. For both were just, and most ready in the sowing of alms and the endurance of vigils. Meanwhile, on account of that dignity of the world, as we said, Simplicius, when Egemonius died, was elected by the peoples: chiefly made Bishop, but was destined by God for the glory of chastity and sanctity. And having received the order of the Pontificate, the blessed sister; who before had been joined to the man not by lust but by chastity; not enduring to be removed from the bed of the Pontiff,
but in that purity of chastity, in which before, she approached the bed of her most chaste husband, secure in the conscience of a holy mind, and knowing that she could not be burned by the heat of the incentive fire.
[3] But the savage envy of the demon stirs up shameful wars against the Saints of God, and what by his instinct he could not destroy, he strives to defame with crafty words. What more? On that day of the Lord's Nativity the citizens are moved to scandal, when, to remove the scandal, and rush in rapid course to the blessed virgin, saying: "It is incredible that a woman joined to a man can be unpolluted, nor that a man joined to the limbs of a woman can abstain from intercourse. For thus the Proverbs of Solomon declare: No one, touching pitch, can be clean; nor indeed will he who eagerly carries fire to his bosom not be burned. Therefore we see you lying in one bed, and we cannot suspect anything else, except that you mingle together." Moved by these things, the most holy virgin approaches the Pontiff, equally strong in chastity: and the words she had heard being repeated before all the people, she calls a maidservant who was then keeping a little box full (as is usual against the injury of winter) of coals: and spreading out her cloak she receives the burning coals, and holding them for almost the space of an hour, she calls the Priest, saying: "Receive a fire milder than usual, by no means about to harm your garments: that these flames may show in us that the flames of lust are extinguished." But the Pontiff receiving them, his garment was in no way harmed by the fire. By this miracle the people, who were then unbelieving, believed God; and within seven days more than a thousand men were reborn by the renewal of the sacred Laver. which being seen, a thousand men are converted. Whom the Church, receiving, rejoicing, joined to the heavenly kingdom through these soldiers.
[4] They report also that in this city there was an image of Berecynthia, as the history of the passion of the holy Martyr Symphorianus declares. Chapter 77. When they were carrying this in a wagon, for the saving of their fields and vineyards, after the wretched manner of paganism; the aforesaid Bishop Simplicius was present, beholding from no great distance those singing and chanting psalms before this image, The Saint by his prayers renders the Statue of Berecynthia immovable; and sending up a groan to God for the folly of the people, he said: "Illumine, I beseech Thee, O Lord, the eyes of this people, that it may know that the image of Berecynthia is nothing." And the sign of the Cross being made against it, immediately the image fell to the ground: and the animals which drew the cart in which this was carried, fixed to the soil, could not be moved. The countless throng is astounded, and the whole company cries out that she is offended: victims are immolated, the animals are beaten: but they cannot be moved. and thereby converts 400 unbelievers, Then four hundred men joined together of that foolish multitude say together to one another: "If there is any power of the Deity, let her rise up of her own accord; and let her command the oxen, which are fixed to the earth, to go forward. Surely if she cannot be moved, it is manifest that there is no divinity in her." Then approaching and immolating one of the cattle, when they saw that their Goddess could in no way be moved, leaving the error of Paganism, and having sought out the Bishop of the place, converted to the unity of the Church, recognizing the greatness of the true God, they were consecrated by holy baptism.
[5] But since in the preceding chapter we have set forth how chastity adorned those who love God; there comes to memory what I heard Felix of Nantes relate, A similar continence preserved by another Bishop is proved when we were conversing about these things. Chapter 78. For he said that there was a Bishop in his city with a wife. But when he had attained the honor of the Priesthood, he separated his bed according to the order of the Catholic institution: which the woman took very ill. And when she dealt with him on each day, that they should rest in one bed, and the Pontiff would not agree, detesting a thing so improper, which the Decrees of the Canons did not admit; on a certain day, inflamed with fury, she said within herself: "I do not think it is without some guilt of my husband, that I am thus repelled from his embrace. But I will go and see, lest perchance another woman lie down with him, for love of whom he despises me." And immediately she came into the Bishop's chamber, and found him sleeping after midday: and approaching before his bed, by a miraculous brightness, she saw a lamb of immense brightness resting upon his breast. Then, struck with fear, she quickly removed herself from the bed of the Saint: nor did she venture any longer to inquire and by the vision of the lamb, lying upon his breast. what the man full of God did in secret: but she knew most manifestly that there was being fulfilled with the servants of God that which the Lord Himself deigned to promise to His faithful, saying: Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world.