Paul

CONCERNING S. PAUL, CONFESSOR, BISHOP OF NARBONNE IN GAUL.

A HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Paul, Confessor, Bishop of Narbonne in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 6589

§ I. The Sacred Veneration of S. Paul. Various Notices in the Martyrologies.

[1] Baronius observes in his Notes to the Roman Martyrology under this day, March 22, that the feast day of S. Paul, the first Bishop of Narbonne, is assigned differently by various authorities. From this, Jean-Marie Florentinus draws an argument in his Annotations to the Martyrology of S. Jerome, Whether SS. Secundus and Paulinus, or Paul, should be assigned to Narbonne? as though S. Paul had not yet had a fixed day of celebration in early times. The most ancient Martyrology of S. Jerome, which exists among us written in Anglo-Saxon characters nearly a thousand years ago, substitutes two Martyrs of Narbonne with these words: "The eleventh day before the Kalends of April. At Narbonne, the city, of Secundus, of Paulinus." An ancient manuscript Martyrology also from the monastery of Reichenau, or Augia Dives, near Constance, has the following: "At Narbonne the city, the birthday of Secundus and

Paul: but in place of 'birthday' one reads 'of Aquitaine' in another ancient manuscript of the monastery of Rhinow. In a Cassinese manuscript written in Lombard characters, with the name of the city omitted, it reads thus: "The birthday of the holy Martyrs Secundus and Paulinus." In a Tamlacht manuscript there are the names of Paul, Paulinus, and a corrupt form of Secundus, and again on the following day. Whether, therefore, these should be established as Martyrs among the people of Narbonne, or whether in place of Secundus one should write Sancti, that is, of Saint Paul, as will shortly be indicated from other sources, we leave undecided, to be resolved by the Narbonnese themselves. Prudentius applauded these citizens splendidly in his book Peristephanon, Hymn 4, with this verse:

"Fair Narbonne shall also rise with Paul."

[2] The Martyrology of S. Jerome, published at Paris from the ancient Corbie manuscript, by others only S. Paul the Confessor begins this day thus: "The eleventh day before the Kalends of April. At Narbonne, the city, the birthday of Saint Paul, Confessor." The same words are read in Rabanus and in the Blume manuscript of the same S. Jerome, but through the error of many, Narbonne is called Arbona in these, as also in the Hieronymian codex of Lucca, where in place of Confessor one reads Bishop. and is established as Bishop of Narbonne. In a manuscript codex of S. Cyriacus: "At the city of Arbonia, the Birthday of S. Paul the Confessor": but correctly, with Narbona written, the same words are read in the ancient codices of Cardinal Barberini, Queen Christina of Sweden, and another Cassinese codex also written in Lombard letters; likewise the Augsburg codex of S. Ulrich, the Paris codex of Labbé, as also under December 12 in a Vallicella manuscript of the Congregation of the Oratory, and on this day in another Cassinese manuscript, in which however in place of Confessor one reads Bishop. Both titles are conjoined in the Toulouse manuscripts and another Barberini manuscript, and under December 12 in the manuscripts of Reims, Auxerre, Saint-Riquier, Liège of S. Lambert, and the Cologne Carmelites; which on this day in the manuscripts of Arras, Tournai of S. Martin, and Liessies are reported with an appended eulogy thus: "At Narbonne, the city, the birthday of S. Paul, Bishop and Confessor, whom domestic labor and tribulation so exercised that it proved him to be a true servant of God." Wandelbert adorns him with this distich:

"On the eleventh, Bishop Paul bestowed his pious light: By what right fair Narbonne exults in her own Master."

[3] held by later generations as a disciple of the Apostles. These are the various and sufficiently ancient Martyrologies in which the veneration of S. Paul of Narbonne is set forth, without any trace of the time in which he lived, which is indicated in what follows. No mention of this Saint is made in the genuine Martyrology of Bede, but in the Dijon supplement the following is found: "At Narbonne, S. Paul, Bishop, disciple of the Apostles." The same words are read in the Trier manuscript of S. Martin and in the old Roman Martyrology published by Rosweyde with Ado; in the latter somewhat more is read: "In the Gauls, at the city of Narbonne, the birthday of S. Paul, Bishop and Confessor, disciple of the Apostles." The Trier manuscript of S. Paulinus and another of ours under the name of Bede add this eulogy: "whom the blessed Apostles ordained and sent as Bishop to the city of Narbonne." The same words are read in Notker, who will be cited below.

[4] ordained and sent by them. Some Martyrologies attribute this mission to the Apostle Paul alone: thus the Saint-Riquier manuscript: "In the Gauls, at the city of Narbonne, S. Paul, Bishop and Confessor, whom the Blessed Apostle Paul ordained and directed thither." Bellinus in his Martyrology according to the custom of the Roman Curia, likewise another edition printed at Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490, and very many manuscripts under the name of Usuard, set forth the following: "In the Gauls, at the city of Narbonne, the birthday of S. Paul, Bishop, or by S. Paul: disciple of the Apostles, who, having been baptized by Blessed Paul and directed to the Gauls, was honored with the episcopal dignity at Narbonne." Maurolycus has the same, and Galesinius with somewhat altered phrasing. The Acts of S. Genulphus, Bishop, published by us from the Fleury Library of Jean du Bois, agree, under January 17, where on page 94, no. 15, it is related that "Paul was ordained Bishop for the people of Narbonne by the Blessed Apostle Paul." Usuard in his genuine Martyrologies under December 12 indicates more with these words: "At Narbonne, the birthday of S. Paul, Confessor, whom the Blessed Apostle Paul, having ordained him, appointed as Bishop of that city; and who, going with the same Apostle to Spain for the purpose of preaching, believed to have been left at Narbonne by him was left there; where, having fulfilled the office of preaching with no little zeal, famous for miracles, he rested, crowned." The same words under said December 12 are read in Bellinus, in the manuscript Florarium, and in many others. In the Martyrology of France published by Labbé from manuscripts, near the end it reads: "famous for miracles, he rested in peace."

[5] Galesinius gives Paul the cognomen Sergius; Maurolycus adds "from Paphos in Cyprus." This is done by several under this March 22. Certainly Notker has the following: by others he is called Sergius Paulus, the Proconsul of Paphos converted by him. "At the city of Narbonne, from which Gallia Narbonensis takes its name, the birthday of S. Paul, whom the blessed Apostles ordained and sent as Bishop to that city. Whom they relate to have been the very same Sergius Paulus the Proconsul, a prudent man, from whom the Apostle Paul himself received his name, because he had brought him under the yoke of the faith of Christ. Who, having fulfilled the office of preaching in that same region with no little zeal, famous for miracles, crowned by the confession of Christ, is buried." The same words concerning Sergius Paulus are read in the Prague manuscript and in the Martyrology printed under the name of Bede, in which the rest is taken from Usuard. In today's Roman Martyrology the following is related: "At Narbonne in Gaul, the birthday of S. Paul, Bishop, disciple of the Apostles, whom they relate to have been Sergius Paulus the Proconsul; who, having been baptized by Blessed Paul and, when he was proceeding to Spain, left at Narbonne, was there honored with the episcopal dignity; where, having fulfilled the office of preaching with no little zeal, famous for miracles, he departed to heaven." And thus far the Martyrologies that have been cited celebrate S. Paul the Confessor as having rested and departed to heaven, exercised by domestic labor and tribulation. already called a Martyr by Saussay, But Saussay in his Gallic Martyrology under this day calls him Bishop and Martyr, "who, having been apprehended and cruelly tortured, at length, on account of the testimony which he constantly bore to the word of God, was visited with the ultimate punishment and completed a most illustrious contest." Thus Saussay, who is not entirely consistent with himself, since under December 12, after inserting the preaching through Spain of which we shall treat below, he relates that "having splendidly completed his apostolic course, he went to the blessed companionship of his teacher of the same name," now said to have rested peacefully. "and by his glorious episcopate and his death, precious before God, he illuminated that city with immortal glory," etc.

[6] his body in a church of his own name, formerly an abbey: The Sanmarthani in volume 1 of Gallia Christiana, page 365, relate that S. Paul is believed to have been buried in a collegiate church bearing his name, in the suburb along the Aude river, formerly an abbey; at whose tomb pilgrimages are made not only from Occitania but also from Spain. Guillaume Catel in book 5 of the History of Occitania under the Archbishops of Narbonne, page 745, and from him the Sanmarthani, report that a privilege was given by the Emperor Louis the Pious to Archbishop Nibridius, in which he takes under his defense and the protection of immunity the mother Church of the same city of Narbonne, which is in honor of SS. Justus and Pastor, or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, together with the monastery of S. Paul the Confessor, where the Saint himself rests in body, which is built not far from the same city. The same is confirmed in a privilege of Charles the Simple, given to Archbishop Agio in the year 922. From Abbot of the monastery of S. Paul, Gaufredus de Cerdagne, made Archbishop of Narbonne, is said to have brought to Narbonne from Spain the bodies of SS. Justus and Pastor in the year 1058. In the church of S. Paul, Archbishop Arnoldus de Leueze, who died in the year 1149, chose his burial place; others bestowed various benefactions upon it. Concerning the fraternity between the Abbots of S. Paul of Narbonne and S. Aphrodisius of Béziers, renewed in the year 1260, more will be said presently in the Life of S. Aphrodisius. His relics in the Limousin March. Bernard Gui, in his treatise on the Saints who adorn the diocese of Limoges, published by Philippe Labbé in volume 1 of the New Library of Manuscript Books, page 633, no. 36, relates the following: "A great part of the body of S. Paul of Narbonne is held and venerated at Rochechouart." Commonly called Roche-Chouart in the Limousin March.

[7] Garzias Loaisa in his Collection of the Councils of Spain, from page 130 to page 163, published various divisions of the provinces of Spain and their sees, Narbonne considered a Metropolis of Spain, made generally in the time of the Gothic Kings, in all of which Narbonne is placed among the six metropolitan cities, even in first, second, or third place, and sometimes also in last place, since this province was then subject to the Gothic Kings of Spain. Hence in the ancient Breviaries of the Churches of Spain, even in the Toledan one following the rule of Blessed Isidore, called Mozarabic, the veneration of S. Paul, Bishop and Confessor, is prescribed for this day. And these matters concerning ecclesiastical cult I was pleased to deduce from various calendars on account of other difficulties the veneration of S. Paul among the Spanish. which are raised concerning S. Paul of Narbonne against the later Martyrologies in particular, which, indicating them in the following section, we leave that knot to be untied by the judgment of the Church.

§ II. The Time of the Life and Death of S. Paul, as indicated by Bosquet.

[8] François Bosquet published the first book of the Histories of the Church of Gaul, [Bosquet, a man distinguished in learning, raises a doubt concerning the first Bishops of Gaul:] brought down to the peace given to the Church, which he himself, as Praetor of Narbonne, dedicated to the Most Illustrious Primates, Metropolitans, and Bishops of the Church of Gaul. He was afterwards made Bishop of Lodève in 1648, and after some years, having gone to Rome, was held in esteem by the Most Holy Pope Alexander VII and appointed by him as Assistant Bishop of the Pontifical Chapel. Returning to France, he was transferred from the See of Lodève to that of Montpellier in the year 1655. This man, regarded as of the highest genius and learning, in book 1 of the said history, chapter 2, concerning the Gospel first announced in Gaul, writes the following: "The first heralds of the Gospel of Christ in Gaul are not recognized as the same persons, nor at the same times, equally by all. For most people name Peter and Paul the Apostles or their disciples as the first founders of the Church of Gaul; some name Clement and the Roman Pontiffs who immediately succeeded him, by whom they wish the first Bishops of Gaul to have been sent; others maintain that the light of Christ shone upon the Gauls at a later period, around the one hundred and seventieth year after Christ. These matters are so uncertain, however, that neither position can be asserted with the greatest certainty. The authors of the first opinion were led solely by the love of antiquity, burning in their hearts long after those times, to trace the origin of the Gallic Church back to the very beginnings of the universal Church." And in chapter 4 he continues thus.

[9] "The West venerates Peter and Paul the Apostles as the founders of its religion; nor do Italy, Gaul, Spain, or Africa boast of having received their faith from any others than these Princes of the Apostles or their disciples… That Peter went to Gaul is not recorded. But that Paul, whether S. Paul was given to the people of Narbonne by the Apostle S. Paul? according to the purpose expressed in his epistle to the Romans, in setting out for Spain, traveled through the province of Narbonne, is not a recent tradition…

In this passage it is reported that Crescens was established as Bishop at Vienne, Trophimus at Arles, and Paul Sergius at Narbonne. He then treats in chapters 5 and 6 of Crescens and Trophimus, and then in chapter 7 has the following concerning S. Paul. "In the same passage of Paul through the region, it is an ancient tradition that Paul Sergius, formerly Proconsul of Cyprus, was ordained Bishop at Narbonne, What seems to have been the occasion for saying this. which the Greek and Latin writers of a later age collected; yet the records of the Church of Narbonne itself waver on this point. For Pierre Hulardi, a priest of the Church of S. Paul at Narbonne, who in the year of Christ 1364 compiled the Life of Paul from various ancient monuments, writes that he came from Cyprus to Rome, and thence to Narbonne, at the instruction of the Apostle after his death. And when he objected to himself the epistle of Pope Stephen VIII, which reports that Paul was left at Narbonne by the Apostle when proceeding to Spain and when commending those regions to him on his return, he responds now that he returned again to Cyprus, now with uncertain and futile other answers, so as to extricate himself. But the manuscript Acts of Paul, which I shall cite below, are silent concerning the Apostle Paul and concerning Sergius the Proconsul of Cyprus. Moreover, in the most ancient Roman Martyrology one reads: 'The eleventh day before the Kalends of April, at Narbonne, S. Paul, disciple of the Apostles,' with no mention made of the Apostle Paul." Thus far that passage. Those ancient Acts we shall give below. Similar words from the Martyrologies we have given above at no. 3, for the explanation of which the following is added by Bosquet at no. 8.

[10] "In what manner, therefore, did this opinion creep into the minds of later generations, that they should believe these three men to be disciples of Paul? I see no other reason for that tradition than homonymy. What seems to have been the occasion for saying this. For they had read that Crescens and Trophimus were disciples of Paul, and that Paul Sergius, Proconsul of Cyprus, was among Paul's first triumphs, brought under the yoke of Christ—that the vanquished Proconsul had given the name of Paulus to Saul the Apostle, just as conquered nations once gave their names to Roman generals. But since they owed the origins of their faith to most holy men of the same names, they most easily persuaded themselves that these were the same persons, both out of an inborn love of antiquity and out of a vehement zeal for the first founders of their religion. And when the monuments of the ancient Fathers had been burned by the edicts of Emperors and plundered by the incursions of barbarous nations, and almost only the name of those men survived the oblivion that engulfed the rest of their deeds, free occasion was given to everyone to extol those most ancient Fathers with true and fictitious praises alike. That they were the first Bishops, and certain of their illustrious deeds, they had received from their forebears by tradition; knowing them to be apostolic men, they readily assumed them to be disciples of the Apostles, who were the first to preach the faith of Christ in the West; and on account of the similarity of names, they took them to be the very persons mentioned in more reliable records; and then, if any illustrious deeds in the sacred books or by most certain tradition had been ascribed to an uncertain person, they attributed them to these disciples to enhance their glory. It is easy for anyone to observe this in the Acts of Crescens, Trophimus, Paul, Martial, and other Bishops of Gaul."

[11] Thus far Bosquet, who in chapter 36, the last of book one, asserts that many hold the contrary view and refer those men called Apostolic to later centuries, relying on the authority of Sulpicius Severus and Gregory of Tours, which he then explains. And indeed Severus, in book 2 of his Sacred History, Sulpicius Severus is cited in opposition narrating the martyrdom of the Christians of Lyon, writes: "Under Aurelius, the son of Antoninus, the fifth persecution was carried out. And then for the first time within the Gauls were martyrdoms seen, the religion of God having been received across the Alps rather late." But as regards S. Paul, Gregory of Tours indicates in book 1 of the History of the Franks, chapter 28: "In the time of the Emperor Decius," he says, "seven men were ordained as bishops and sent to preach in the Gauls, and Gregory of Tours: as the history of the passion of the holy Martyr Saturninus narrates. For he says: 'Under the Consuls Decius and Gratus, as is held in blessed memory, the city of Toulouse first and most eminently began to have S. Saturninus as its priest.' These then were sent: he indicates that this one came with companions under Decius: Gatianus as Bishop to Tours, Trophimus as Bishop to Arles, Paul as Bishop to Narbonne, Saturninus as Bishop to Toulouse, Dionysius as Bishop to Paris, Stremonius as Bishop to Clermont, and Martial was appointed to Limoges." And after narrating the martyrdom of SS. Dionysius and Saturninus, he adds: "Gatianus, Trophimus, Stremonius, Paul, and Martial, living in the highest sanctity, after having gained peoples for the Church and having spread the faith of Christ in all directions, departed by a blessed confession. And so both those through martyrdom and these through confession, leaving the earth, were alike united in heaven."

[12] These aforesaid authors wrote in the fifth and sixth centuries of Christ. On account of these testimonies, Bosquet, after narrating the martyrdom of S. Irenaeus the Bishop and the Christians of Lyon, and the death of the Emperor Severus, which occurred in the year 211, writes the following in book 3, chapter 21: "The all-powerful providence of God assisted the Church of Gaul as it recovered from the foregoing disasters, explained by Bosquet: which willed that distinguished men, holy Bishops, be sent from the Roman See for the restoration of so many losses caused by earlier calamities, and that thirty-eight years of ecclesiastical peace be granted to them as they labored at so great a work. Let us now at last restore these men, so often named above, to their sees. Dionysius was given to the Parisians, Trophimus to the Arlesians, Paul to the people of Narbonne, Stremonius to the Arvernians, Martial to the people of Limoges, Saturninus to the Toulousains. That they all came at the same time and together is related by ancient tradition, which is confirmed by the authority of Gregory of Tours. He, however, refers them to the years of Decius on account of the Consuls mentioned in the Acts of Saturninus, confusing the time of the mission with the year of the passion. For the Acts of Saturninus were the rule and foundation of the tradition of Gregory's age. But the same tradition proves that they did not come at the same time, since Saturninus and others who suffered under Decius are said to have lived a long time in the Gauls; and Gatianus is said to have come in the first year of Decius. Therefore not at the same time and together, but at various intervals during those thirty-eight years, they were sent by the Bishops of Rome to the Gauls. This is confirmed not only by tradition, the Acts, and the testimony of writers, but also most manifestly demonstrated by the dates of their disciples." These matters, related at greater length in the same place, may be consulted there. Bosquet then takes up the Acts of S. Paul in chapter 23 with these words:

[13] The Acts of S. Paul "Paul, celebrated for his writings published in defense of the faith and for his confession amid torments for the name of Christ, having been snatched from the cruelty of Severus for the glory of the Gauls, was sent from Rome to the Gauls and settled at Béziers in the province of Narbonne; whence, the fame of his sanctity having reached the citizens of the neighboring metropolis, a delegation was sent by the people of Narbonne to summon the holy Bishop to their city. Saint Paul heard the delegates and, yielding to their desire, having appointed Aphrodisius as Bishop in his place, came to Narbonne; the memory of his arrival is celebrated every year on the eleventh day before the Kalends of April with the greatest solemnity by the people of Narbonne, and in the ancient Roman Martyrology the name of Paul is celebrated on this day of his entrance alone, not of his death." Thus far that passage. But the most ancient Martyrologies, even that of S. Jerome, call it the birthday of S. Paul the Confessor. The Acts, which we shall give in a purer form from codices both of the Church itself and from the manuscripts of Bernard Gui and Duchesne, as published by Bosquet, proclaim a confession endured amid atrocious torments at Rome; and we shall then treat presently of S. Aphrodisius, Bishop of Béziers, who is also venerated on this day, where the Acts of S. Paul are confirmed from the Martyrologies of Usuard and various others.

§ III. Ancient Acts of S. Paul, Published from Manuscript Codices by Bosquet.

[14] When at the city of Rome authority for persecution against Christians had once been given by a sacrilegious Emperor to his judges, S. Paul, on account of various torments endured at Rome, and the rabid hunger of a mad dog was devouring all the holy bodies; among the very many throngs of Confessors and Martyrs, that battle did not allow our most blessed Bishop Paul, long since a most devoted soldier of Christ, to be passed over without a share in so great a victory. For girded with the sword of religion, an illustrious Confessor, and armed moreover with the shield of devotion, the breastplate of faith, and the helmet of confession, he confessed Christ, who is our head, before the very outcome of the contest, with the most powerful trumpet of his proclamation. The savagery of paganism, terrified, turned to the most fragile weapons of its cruelty, so that it might conquer by terror and ferocity the most valiant man and great athlete whom it could not overcome by virtue. It ordered him, long worn down by hunger and filth, to be held in custody, and then commanded him to be afflicted with various kinds of torments. When it saw that the firmness of his strength was growing, and that he was becoming almost stronger through the very ferocity of the torments, the wickedness of the devil devised, discovered, and employed an unheard-of kind of punishment, by which it might lacerate the servant of God in that part of his body from which he was accustomed to recite the sequence of the divine scriptures. For after the tormenting of nearly all his limbs with sharp reed stakes, having torn out his nails, it shredded his fingers and hands, so that, unconquered by the more grievous kinds of torture, he might stand forth as a more glorious Confessor in his victory.

[15] he becomes Bishop of Béziers in Gaul, And since many in that time became Martyrs even under lighter punishments, the Lord reserved this man specially for us and for our forebears, by whose will he was ordained Bishop and came to the Gauls, that he might soften the hearts of all people, hard to believe, and persuade them to take up the sweet yoke of Christ by the wonders of his virtues. For when the Priest and Confessor of God had arrived at that time at the city of Béziers and built a church, which was not yet known there, he consecrated an altar to the Lord there, and having performed the divine priestly office, first sat there in the Bishop's Chair; then he celebrated the holy Mysteries and gained for God the people dwelling in that place. Certainly in no cities or their territories are believed to have existed at that time so many monasteries, churches, or oratories as in that same city, which, though small in size, is proven to be great in religion and faith. And when through his teaching unbelief was declining and faith was growing, the converted superstition of the people of Narbonne, which still flourished in the worship of various temples and in the ambition of the Capitol, sent a delegation to the aforementioned Bishop, desired his religion, and longed to have a Church. What a great foundation of faith! then Bishop of Narbonne, O ineffable piety and abundant goodness! He was not yet known to those peoples, and already they were burning with the desire of speaking with him. He himself, most graciously accepting their delegation, as a good father did not hesitate to hasten to meet them, so that he might snatch them from the snares of the devil and establish them as children of God by pursuing the justice of whose service he held. And so, having ordained holy Aphrodisius as Bishop in his place, he arrived most swiftly at this city. First he founded a small oratory before the church which now exists; then at the place they call Albolas, which is beyond the bridge, he built another church, in which church, indeed, after many labors and contests, he rests today in peace, crowned with magnificent glory.

[16] What more? When that ancient Serpent, always the enemy of the human race, envied his blessed deeds and shuddered at his goodness, he insinuated himself into two of his Deacons, who, having secretly thrown women's shoes before his bed, Deacons who defamed him, created an occasion for his mockery. He, having summoned the few Bishops of

Gaul—for there were not yet many—wished to be judged in the Church concerning the nature of the deed. And when the hearing had been delayed for three days, day and night a divinely sent eagle settled upon the ridge of his dwelling. Many frightened it with a volley of missiles, but could not make it depart; indeed during those days in which it sat on that ridge, it received food brought by a raven. In these events there were many things that ought to be told among the miracles of God, since a bird was wondrously fed by a small bird. But although our modest discourse does not explain the significance of the eagle and the raven, those things must be narrated which were done by the servant of God concerning the Deacons themselves. For while the crowd of Christians flocked together abundantly to witness the miracle of the eagle and the judgment of the Bishop, on the third day our holy Bishop Paul proclaimed a prayer with the people and with his priests, that God might make manifest either the allegations of those wicked men or the merit of his own life. they are punished with frenzied madness: And while the most blessed Paul groaned in prayer, those Deacons, suddenly seized with frenzied madness, amid invisible torments were crying out that they had wished to shatter the conspiracy of envy against the Bishop, since he had very often and frequently chastised them for their incontinence. And when those malicious men, by the just judgment of God, were grievously wailing and saying that they could not endure such great punishments, the servant of God, moved as always by mercy, while preaching to the people, asked his fellow priests and the people the penitents are healed by his prayers: to implore the Lord's mercy for their absolution, so that He might free them from their torments. Nevertheless he said that he was unworthy of the priesthood if those who had been seized by the demon on account of his innocence were not absolved by his prayers. And behold, while the most holy Paul cried out again to the Lord, his prayers were heard, and the Deacons were freed from the demons.

[17] Then those same malicious men began to confess publicly, in the sight of both priests and laypeople, all the machinations that they had contrived against their Bishop. others seek his prayers. When this evident judgment had been recognized, the Bishops themselves, who had come together to pray to the Lord concerning such a contest, fell prostrate with the entire populace at his feet and began to ask him to intercede for their sins—because they had doubted—before the Lord's mercy. When these things were accomplished, the bird, seeking the eastern region in flight, with no one attacking, departed from the highest point of the roof. The man of God then understood that he was to return to his homeland. O wondrous testimony of sanctity! You who caused the weapons of the assailing enemy to be proofs and not wounds for your faithful, when you permitted your servant to be tempted by the devil through his ministers; to whom, after the contests of war and the urgency of the struggle, you gave the palm of Confession and the crown of the Priesthood. But what more? The very author of the crime, for his own wickedness, paid his due penalties to those whom he had corrupted, amid those things which have been related. Deservedly indeed he himself suffered that which he had inflicted upon the Confessor and also upon the Bishop. and his virtue is proclaimed abroad, These miracles of devotion, written down, were sent by the report and testimony of the elders not only to the cities over which he presided as Bishop, but also to the city of Rome, where he suffered much for the name of Christ; indeed, throughout the whole world, to which the fame of his virtues has reached, his festival is celebrated today by all in holy joy and most devout devotion. And if anyone shall have made a commemoration of so great a man, may he be rewarded by his merits before the supreme majesty of the Lord, and may he deserve to enjoy eternal joys with him in the future, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[18] better known on account of tribulations. Thus far that Life; to which there is a sufficient allusion in the Life of S. Dionysius published by the same Bosquet, where the following is read, page 70: "By a similar grace, the most blessed Bishop and Confessor Paul gained the province of Narbonne with saving eloquence. Whom the labor of domestic tribulation so exercised that it proved him to be a true servant of the Lord."

§ IV. Whether the Light of the Faith was Brought to Spain by S. Paul of Narbonne.

[19] Lest too many difficulties become entangled at once, we have put off this question to the last place, to be explained separately. S. Paul is said to have preached in Spain by Tamayo de Salazar Juan Tamayo de Salazar inserted S. Paul in the first place of his Spanish Martyrology with these words: "S. Paul Sergius, disciple of the Apostles, went to Spain with the Apostle Paul; he visits Seville, Córdoba, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Sigüenza, and preaches through almost the entire province; and afterwards, assuming the episcopal insignia at Narbonne, he rested in a glorious end." The same author, after inserting some notes, composed rather lengthy Acts of S. Paul, in which, after narrating the death of the Apostles Peter and Paul, he describes his second journey to Spain thus: "Edicts reach Gaul, by which bands of soldiers afflict with beatings, consign to prisons, and subject to torments all whom they recognize as marked with the Christian name. Sergius, as is believed, admonished by a divine command, returns to Spain, and hiding in the mountains of Ampurias and Roses, lived for two years in the narrow opening of a cave; descending from the hidden opening of that gloomy prison into the interior lands, he visited not only the people of Ampurias, Roses, and Tarragona, but preached at Seville, Córdoba, Zaragoza, Sigüenza, and elsewhere, and traveled through almost the entire region, until, with the rigor of persecution abated, returning to Narbonne, the illustrious Confessor won the eternal crown of virtues for his merits on the eleventh day before the Kalends of March." Thus far Tamayo, and in the Chronicle published under the name of Dexter: who took the cities of Spain which he indicated from the recently published Chronicle of Flavius Dexter, in which mention is made twice of this journey to Spain: first at the year 66, in these words: "Paul, Bishop of Narbonne, who came with Paul to Spain, preaches there." But in the following year SS. Peter and Paul, of whom he here treats, were put to death on the third day before the Kalends of July. Again in the Chronicle at the year 76, the following is read: "Paul Sergius preaches at Seville, Córdoba, Barcelona, likewise by André du Saussay, Zaragoza, Sigüenza, and in very many other cities of Spain, and traverses the whole province of Spain." Thus that passage; we are surprised that these things gained credence with André du Saussay, who under December 12 has the following: "At Narbonne, the ordination of S. Paul, the first Bishop of that Metropolis, whom the Apostle Paul, setting out for Spain, established as Pontiff there; admonished thence by his teacher of the same name after the latter's glorious contest and subsequent crowning at Rome, he traveled through Spain preaching; he brought almost the entire province of Tarragona under the rule of Christ; at Seville, Córdoba, Barcelona, and Zaragoza he restored the nearly extinguished light of faith; he spread the seed of the Gospel, where it had been sown, fruitfully through very many places." Thus Saussay, with the city of Sigüenza reported by others omitted, perhaps less well known to him. It is commonly called Seguntia, an episcopal city in New Castile near the borders of Aragon. We have not read in any author that the ordination of S. Paul occurred on December 12, as the same Saussay asserts.

[20] Another argument, but equally of no reliability like the previous ones, is drawn from the Life of S. Theodard the Archbishop, to be elucidated on the Kalends of May, and in the Life of S. Theodard, Archbishop of Narbonne, filled with errors. which in the meantime the reader will find in Guillaume Catel's book 5 of Occitania under the Bishops of Narbonne, page 750 and following; from which we transcribe a few things, and first concerning the time of his consecration: "The day of the appointed time arrived, on which the holy and most blessed Theodard was to be consecrated Bishop by God's disposition; it was a Sunday, and moreover, as is said, the eighteenth of August, on which always annually the celebration of the Assumption of the most glorious Mother of God and of the one man Jesus Christ is venerated and observed by the entire Christian people. [he is said to have been ordained in the year 885, on the Sunday of the Feast of the Assumption,] Furthermore, from the time of the Lord's Incarnation, eight hundred and eighty-five years were then counted, and the Era was the nine hundred and thirteenth, and the Indiction the third, in which year Carloman, as we have said, the King, having been deprived of this present light, had Odo as his successor in the kingdom." Thus far that passage; in which the author made an error, first in the days of August, asserting the eighteenth, which was the fifteenth of August, or certainly the eighteenth day before the Kalends of September, which differ greatly. therefore not August 18 but the 15th, In the said year 885, Indiction III, Solar Cycle 26, Dominical Letter C, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, that is, August 15, fell on a Sunday, on which S. Theodard is said to have been consecrated Archbishop. The other error, which is more pertinent here, is in the succession of King Odo. Carloman died on December 6 of the year 884, and in the following year Charles the Fat, Emperor, was substituted for him, having been summoned by the French, when Charles the Fat, Emperor, was reigning who died in the year 888, having been compelled the previous year to abdicate the kingdom on account of his weakness of mind and body and his unsuccessful conduct of affairs against the Normans. After his removal, along with the Roman Empire the kingdom of the Franks fluctuated for some time; in which, while Charles the Simple, the son of Louis the Stammerer, was growing up, not King Odo, Odo, Count of Paris, was elected King in the year 889 and governed the Franks for nine years, dying in the year 898.

[21] Having pointed out these errors, we proceed in the Life of S. Theodard, who, having attained the dignity of the pontifical office, immediately strove to go to Rome Stephen VI, Pope, created in that year, and to visit the Lord Pope Stephen, and to receive from him both the pallium and the privilege, so that, supported by his authority and blessing, he might be held as the greatest and truly preeminent Bishop of his entire diocese, etc. Stephen VI was then the Roman Pontiff, created in the same year 885, on the third day before the Ides of May; whose name is expressed in the manuscript Life but expunged in the version printed in Catel, because it agreed with what follows, as will presently appear. For, as is read in the same place, he received letters from him issued against a certain Selva, he had given S. Theodard letters that are plainly absurd: who had secretly and surreptitiously made himself Archbishop, contrary to all right and all the ordinances of the canons; and after other things, Selva is said to have ordained Ermemirus as Bishop of Girona, having ejected the previously ordained one, named Servus Dei. S. Theodard is then said to have decreed that not only Ermemirus but also his ordainers—Selva, Frodonius of Barcelona, and Godmarus of Vic—should convene... But they refused to hear the commands of the Bishop... Wherefore, vehemently moved against them, the Blessed Theodard read at a Council, sent to all the Bishops of his diocese that all should assemble together, meeting on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the town called Portus, which is situated between the territories of Maguelonne and Nîmes. Hence Sirmond in volume 3 of the Councils of Gaul calls it the Council of Nîmes at the town of Portus, and states it was held in the year 886, and tacitly omits the epistle of Pope Stephen, in which the preaching of S. Paul throughout Spain is discussed. Its exordium is: "Stephen, servant of the servants of God, to Selva and Ermemirus and Frodonius of Barcelona." the exordium of which is here discussed. "Know, I say, know, brother Selva (if it is proper to say that you ought to be called by a fraternal name), that by the command of the most glorious and Catholic Emperor Odo, I recently came to Troyes, a Council

to be held there concerning many and diverse matters, together with the remaining fellow Bishops and fellow Priests, adorned with pontifical insignia, fifty-two in number, who were present with us at the same Council. Bosquet above understood Pope Stephen VIII, those letters are attributed by others to Stephen VIII because he was a German created Pontiff through the efforts of the Emperor Otto I, to whom the Romans wished to show favor. He held office from the year 939 to 943 of the tenth century. Then in the year 940, Mariana asserts in book 8 of De Rebus Hispaniae, chapter 5, that a meeting of Bishops was held at a town whose name is Fonticooperto, in the territory of Narbonne. In that assembly, a controversy between Bishops Antegisus of Urgell and Adulphus of Pallars was debated concerning boundaries... The presiding officer of the proceedings had been Arnustus of Narbonne, since Tarragona was occupied by the Moors: whose duty as Bishop it had been to settle disputes between neighboring Bishops and to administer justice to those peoples. But Arnustus, Archbishop of Narbonne, was not alive at that time, or to Stephen VII, in the time of Arnustus, Archbishop of Narbonne. but in the time of Pope Stephen VII, from whom he obtained a bull, published by Catel, for the peaceful possession of his revenues, for the rendering of judgment over Clerics, and for the election of Archbishops; and he assembled a Synod of Bishops in the district of Nîmes, in the place which is called Portus, "in the church of the holy Mother of God, Mary, in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ eight hundred and ninety-seven, the thirteenth day before the Kalends of May, Indiction the fifth, with the most magnificent Pontiff of the first Church of Narbonne presiding at the same Council." These words are from Catel, drawn from ancient records that could scarcely be read. The Indiction was the fifteenth, just as the fourteenth was previously read for the preceding year. The same Arnustus had celebrated three years earlier, in the time of Pope Formosus, the Council of Maguelonne at Junières or Juncarias, "in the year of the Incarnation 894, Indiction XII, on the Nones of May," with the Bishops of Septimania, Spain, and Provence. He was the successor of S. Theodard; for the one who is interposed by Catel and the Sanmarthani, Aribertus, from whom there is no other person than Aribertus. to whom Pope Stephen VII is supposed to have sent the Bull reported by Catel, is none other than Arnustus, with the name corrupted by copyists. By this Pontiff, therefore, the Synod was held in the place or town called Portus; whether another one should be established as held under S. Theodard, we now leave undecided, to be examined by learned men in France.

[22] We return to the epistle cited under the name of Pope Stephen VI, but at whose time, and especially in the year 885, Odo was not then Emperor or King. when he supposedly gave that epistle to S. Theodard while the latter was at Rome, no Catholic Emperor Odo was reigning, but rather, as we have demonstrated above, Charles the Fat. After his death and the fluctuation among the Franks, we said that Odo was elected from being Count of Paris, not as Emperor but as King of the Franks, in the year 889, or at least according to the Acts of S. Theodard in the preceding year; for he is said here to have completed the work of the restored church "in the year eight hundred and ninety, the third year of King Odo, Indiction VIII." Then how could Pope Stephen VI write in the aforementioned year 885 that he had recently come to Troyes at the command of the Emperor Odo Stephen VI did not hold a Council at Troyes and celebrated a Council with fifty-two Bishops—he who had been created Pontiff only in that year? There is a Council of Troyes, or as they then called it, Tricassinum, celebrated in the year 878 by Pope John VIII, who was also the first to subscribe, and after him Bishops, but John VIII did. of whom thirty names still survive. Louis the Stammerer, King of the Franks, was also present, and among the Bishops subscribed Sigebodus, Archbishop of Narbonne, predecessor of S. Theodard, and Frodoinus, Bishop of Barcelona, against whom it was devised that Pope Stephen had acted. But omitting similar digressions, let us turn to S. Paul of Narbonne, about whom the following is narrated in the said epistle, no less fabulously.

[23] "When the Blessed Apostle and Doctor of the Gentiles, Paul, having departed from Rome, a journey with seven Apostolic men to Spain is described: set out for Spain for the sake of preaching... having taken with him Trophimus of Ephesus and also the most prudent man Sergius Paulus... Torquatus as well, and Secundus and Indalecius and certain others; after he reached Cisalpine Gaul, he went as quickly as possible to Arles... He left Trophimus there. But proceeding himself with the rest to Narbonne, thence he sent the aforesaid Torquatus and six other of his companions and fellow-disciples to Galicia to preach, in accordance with the command of the Blessed Apostle Peter... After this, departing thence together with Sergius Paulus, both arrived at further Spain, evangelizing through the individual cities the glory of the coming kingdom of God." Thus that passage. The Seven Men sent to Spain are named thus by Usuard and others: Torquatus, Ctesiphon, Secundus, Indalecius, Caecilius, Hesychius, and Euphrasius. Among these, S. Caecilius, Bishop of Elvira, is venerated on the Kalends of February, under which date their mission has been fully explained from the testimonies of weighty authors; but without mention of him in their Acts. among which Pope Gregory VII, in epistle 64 to Alphonsus VI of Castile and Sancho IV of Aragon and the Bishops established in their dominions, writes thus in the year 1074: "Since the Blessed Apostle Paul indicates that he went to Spain, and afterwards seven Bishops are known to have been sent from the city of Rome by the Apostles Peter and Paul to instruct the peoples of Spain, who, having destroyed idolatry, founded Christianity... let your diligence not be ignorant," etc. He then cites Spanish Councils and decrees of the Roman Pontiffs for this matter, which could be read under the said Kalends of February; we have also said some things under the Kalends of March, on which Hesychius, Bishop and Martyr, one of the seven companions, is venerated. Among these we have nowhere read S. Paul, Bishop of Narbonne, added as a companion, much less that S. Paul, returning to Rome, committed the whole region of Spain to him for the apostolic office, "as though afterwards, both through himself and through his disciples whom he had already nurtured and taught in the faith of Christ, by traveling through all the regions of Spain and unceasingly teaching their inhabitants, he had raised them to the summit and worship of the Christian faith." And finally, for the confirmation of this opinion, the books of Leander, various writings are cited: Isidore, Braulio, and Julian are prescribed for reading, as though these had marvelous things concerning Paul of Narbonne—which no one has hitherto pointed out—and especially the Acts of S. Paul contained in three volumes composed by his disciples are cited, which, if they had indeed been written, would be held as a great treasure. Guillaume Hulardi mentions these volumes in his Life of S. Paul of Narbonne, written in the year 1364, that is, nearly 1300 years after the death of S. Paul the Apostle, and 470 years after the epistle supposedly written under the name of Pope Stephen VI, so that there was no lack of time to fabricate whatever one wished for the establishment of conceived errors. In the same century as Guillaume Hulardi lived Peter de Natalibus, but somewhat younger, who in book 1 of his Catalogue, chapter 60, gave an abridgment of the Life of Paul Sergius drawn from him; in which, after relating his conversion from the Acts of the Apostles, he condensed the following: "After his passion, therefore, Blessed Paul commanded him at Paphos through a vision to go to the regions of Spain and Gaul for preaching; a summary of these from Peter de Natalibus: which he faithfully took care to fulfill. And after some days, coming to Rome with Rufus and Stephen his Deacons, he consecrated the church of the Blessed Apostle Paul. Then proceeding to the city of Luna, he restored sight to the blind son of a widow woman who had received him as a guest, and converted her with her son and many others to Christ; captured by Sapritius the Proconsul, when the latter suddenly died, Paul was freed by the people. Then coming to Gaul, he preached Christ to the cities of Embrun and Auria; and, admonished by the Blessed Apostle Paul, coming to Narbonne, as he was approaching the city of Arles and crossing the river Rhône, the boatman fell into the river and, his body being swallowed up, was drowned. But at the Saint's prayer, the body floated up from the river, and Paul Sergius raised him from the dead; at which miracle many were converted to the faith. Coming to Narbonne, he freed the son of the former Prince of the city, recently deceased, who was possessed by a demon, from the unclean spirit at the prayers of the widowed mother, and baptized him together with his mother and a multitude of people; and thence, going about into Spain, he preached. And returning to Narbonne, after he had converted the entire city and region to Christ, admonished by a threefold vision of the Blessed Apostle Paul and knowing that his death was approaching, he committed the Church of Narbonne to be governed by Stephen his Deacon, whom he had consecrated as Bishop; and he ordained Rufus the Priest as Bishop of Avignon; and having faithfully arranged all things, praying in his church, he rested in peace on the second day before the Ides of December, where he also lies buried, famous for miracles." Thus Peter de Natalibus. Bosquet also reported these and many other things compiled by Guillaume Hulardi from popular talk and the more commonly used Legends, among which he says that very many fictions are piled together and thrust forward as truths.