CONCERNING ST. OSTIANUS THE PRIEST
IN THE TERRITORY OF VIVIERS IN GAUL.
CommentaryOstianus, Priest, in the territory of Viviers in Gaul (St.)
BY G. H.
The tract of Viviers is a province of Gaul in Occitania, on the Rhone river, midway between the territory of Vienne and that of Avignon, where of old the Helvii, peoples of Narbonensian Gaul, dwelt. The head of this tract is; situated on a hill, Viviers, Sacred cult. an Episcopal city, under the Archbishop of Vienne, and is believed to have grown from the ruins of Alba Augusta of the Helvii, in the region of the Dauphiné. Usuard, in his Martyrology on this June 30; "In the territory," he says, "of Viviers, of St. Ostianus the Priest and Confessor." Which same things are read in Bellinus and Greven, and from them in the Roman Martyrology. In the Liège manuscript of St. Lambert is added: "Whose Deeds are had": which words, taken thence, Molanus had joined in his Additions to Usuard of the first edition: but because nowhere could he find those Deeds, he omitted to make mention of them in the later editions. We too have hitherto found none: but we doubt, whether Saussay had any, when he formed this eulogy about him: "In the field of Viviers, under Vienne the first, Whether a Bishop; and whether he preached after St. Andeolus? the Birthday of St. Ostianus, Bishop and Confessor; who to this town the precepts of the faith, first after St. Andeolus, a follower of St. Benignus, and a disciple of blessed Polycarp, and a sworn witness of Christ, faithfully handed down: and all things there to the glory of the Lord and the salvation of the people, piously and excellently established, with a peaceful end at last fell asleep in the Lord."
[2] These things Saussay, wont to extend the few words of prior writers into a long paraphrase; but he followed here, as far as we can judge, Peter de Natalibus, who in book 11, ch. 130, no. 183, writes these things: "Ostianus, Bishop and Confessor, in the territory of Viviers, on the same day (June 30), in the Lord fell asleep." The author of the manuscript Florarium, by his example, also called him a Bishop. But a Priest he is called by others. But whence Saussay had it, that he after St. Andeolus there handed down the precepts of the faith, we would wish to know. The Life of St. Andeolus we illustrated on the Kalends of May, and said that he obtained the palm of martyrdom in the year 207: therefore St. Ostianus would be referred to
the third century of Christ: or whether of the Benedictine Order? nor then could he be ascribed to the Benedictine Order, as did Wion, Dorganius, Menard, Bucelinus; no reason being added why they did so. Ghini, playing on the name, adorns him in his Births of the Holy Canons with this eulogy: "In the territory of Viviers, of St. Ostianus the Priest and Confessor, who devoutly offering victims hostias to God, found the gate ostium of heaven open."
[3] Our John Columbi, among various historical little works, published the deeds of the Bishops of Viviers, The Body once in the church of St. Martin, and in book 1, no. 17, when he had indicated the churches which were within the city; outside it, he says, there stood altogether about six. The first, of St. Aulus, Bishop of Viviers; the second, of St. Martin; the third, of St. Victor; the fourth, of St. Alban; the fifth, of St. Victoret; the sixth, of St. Julian. That second once kept the body of St. Ostianus the Priest; the third, fifth, and sixth are demolished; the fourth indeed half-ruined, even now through ignoble masonry hangs, a sad argument of the mad fury of the Calvinists. Whether by this fury the body of St. Ostianus perished, or was carried elsewhere, is not added.
[4] Brautius Bishop of Sarsina, in his Poetic Martyrology, from Ostianus the Priest of Viviers made an Ostiary Priest in Holland, I know not whence hither snatched, and composed this Distich for him.
The Priest, deceased, received the deserved honors, A mortal life, which he fled, leading.
Desiring to learn more, even now he is thought to lie hidden there. I asked our old friend at Avignon, Father Charles Faber, to write to Viviers; to whom from there, from the Master of the Choir Lord Megge, from the Archives of the church were sent these formal words: "On the day before the Kalends of July, in the territory of Viviers, in the church of St. Martin of the valley of Couspie (commonly called Couspie), at one mile from the city, toward the North, at the root of the Mount-Tower of St. Martin, lies, up to the present day, the body of Hostianus the Priest, with many others."
[4] To this the just-praised Master of the Choir adds: "Would," he says, "that it pleased God to reveal to us the very precise place, where it remains hidden; that we might be able to attend that sacred pledge with worthy honor, equally as the other Saints, reposing therein!" And he continues: "That church of St. Martin is rural, and to it processionally the people of Viviers go in time of drought, to obtain rain. Greater and fuller notice if it were available, I would gladly communicate all."