ON ST. ANTIOCHUS OF LYON, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, IN GAUL,
The fourth century somewhat advanced.
HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.
Antiochus, bishop and confessor, at Lyon in Gaul. (S.)
BY J. B.
The age of the Saint, St. Justus, bishop of Lyon, as also St. Elpidius, prelate of the same see, the one a predecessor of St. Antiochus, though not the immediate one, the other his immediate successor, you already have inserted in our Work, volume I of September At the 2nd day of Sept., p. 365 and 388.; while St. Albinus, the immediate successor of St. Justus, has a place in our Work in volume V of September at the 15th day of the same month p. 44.: further, between Albinus and Antiochus the Catalogues of the bishops of Lyon commonly place St. Martin in the middle. Antherus, whom Sarazinus and Severtius, writers on the affairs of Lyon, likewise interpose between Albinus and Antiochus, the Catalogues already cited do not know. St. Justus was present at the Council of Aquileia in the year 381; and a little after, as appears, having left the See of Lyon, he went away into Egypt, to await the end of his life there among the anchorites. But since no records have been left from which the beginning, duration and end of the rule of SS. Albinus, Martin and Elpidius can be established, only by probable conjecture, at the places of our Work cited above, the death of Albinus is tied to the borders of the third and fourth centuries; that of Elpidius to about the middle part of the fourth century having elapsed; from which it comes about that, leaving some years of rule to Martin, St. Antiochus seems to have passed to the Heavenly ones when the fourth century was somewhat advanced. The Chronicles of the Church of St. Justus, cited by Stilting in volume I of September p. 389, no. 3., place St. Antiochus fifteenth among the bishops of Lyon: other Catalogues commonly sixteenth: less to be heeded is Paradin, who puts him eighteenth, on account of Antherus, whom he thrust into the series of the prelates of Lyon.
[2] his genuine name, The genuine name of the holy Prelate is Antiochus, but it was turned by some into Andiochus, and into Anduellus, as Théophile Raynaud writes in his Indiculus of the Saints of Lyon, by the common people of Lyon: in French he is called St. Anduel in the Indiculus of the benefices of the diocese of Lyon, published in the year 1638 at Paris by the press of Gervais Alliot: Castellanus, however, in his Universal Martyrology at this day, gives his genuine name in French as St. Antioque. This one of ours is other than St. Andochius the Martyr, of whom we treated at the 24th day of September, as also than St. Andeolus, likewise a Martyr, on whom see volume I of May At the 1st day of May, p. 35.; which, lest the affinity of the names breed confusion, it suffices to have pointed out in a word. The deeds of St. Antiochus, moreover, for the most part lie hidden in darkness, nor do we have almost anything of them ascertained, besides those things which are read in the Life of St. Justus, bishop of Lyon, written by an almost contemporary author and published by us in volume I of September p. 373.: and they are these: At the same time, while he (St. Justus) was staying in the desert (of Egyptian Scete, as Stilting hints in his Notes on the Acts of St. Justus), St. Antiochus, then a presbyter of Lyon, incited by a dutiful sense of devotion, set his mind on going abroad * even to see his bishop, a man outstanding in discussion *, and one who not undeservedly was taken up to the summit of the same pontificate. When, therefore, he was crossing lands and seas in his longing for so great a prelate, Justus, of venerable name, is said to have foretold his coming in such a way that he did not even keep silent on what days he was arriving at what places, saying: Our dear Antiochus is staying there today. Which is affirmed to have been so manifestly proved that on the very day on which he came to him he foretold that he would come.
[3] his few deeds, It follows hence, indeed, that St. Antiochus was first a presbyter of the church of Lyon under bishop Justus before he wore its fillets; then that he already shone with sacerdotal dignity when he went to visit his recent bishop staying in Egypt far from Lyon, not without a striking testimony of outstanding love and veneration for his Prelate; finally, that Antiochus was raised to the episcopal summit by his merits and virtues, since while still a presbyter he was eminent in austerity of life, and was very dear to Justus, which Raynaud rightly judged was to be equated with a lengthy encomium of Antiochus. Paradin therefore errs when in book I, chapter XLIX of his History of Lyon he says that Antiochus, going away into Egypt, was a deacon: he is at least guessing, when he says that he set out for Egypt with the purpose and desire of seeing Justus restored to his see, which the latter had voluntarily renounced, and over which Albinus or Martin was already lawfully presiding. Finally, he is selling his own wares, when he writes that St. Antiochus landed in Egypt when St. Justus, as well as St. Viator, the Achates of Justus, had already departed from among the living; that he nevertheless brought back the bones of both to Lyon, which seem plainly to be contrary to the words of St. Justus's biographer cited a little before and to be cited presently. He certainly hands down clearly that St. Justus was still surviving among the living on the very day on which St. Antiochus reached him, as may be seen at the end of no. 2; wherefore, if Paradin writes truly here, the death of the one would have preceded the arrival of the other by only some part of a single day, which I would perhaps believe if I knew whence Paradin learned it.
[4] briefly discussed, The same biographer indeed says that St. Justus foretold to Viator that the latter would follow him shortly (on the seventh day, as they will have it), but not on the same day, which is equally destitute of all foundation, and indeed of likelihood. Nor,
as it further seemed good to Paradin to affirm, did St. Antiochus bring the bones of St. Justus to Lyon; I add, nor did St. Viator. Not Antiochus; for, as far as can be understood from the Life of St. Justus, Antiochus, departing from Lyon into Egypt, lacked companions; but that duty was performed for St. Justus by several from the number of the citizens of Lyon: for so the said biographer of St. Justus proceeds: But in his glory I would not pass over in silence that grace of the people of Lyon, that in bringing back his holy little body, the care of the venerable citizens extended itself even into the Southern region, who, searching through those solitudes almost inaccessible through the heats, and running in devotion from the very Setting of the sun almost to the places neighbouring the Rising, made almost the whole world witness of their piety, etc. You see that the citizens of Lyon set out from their homeland into Egypt with this mind and purpose, that they might bring back to his own see the body of the deceased, sought and found through inaccessible solitudes; which cannot be said of St. Antiochus. But neither did Viator translate the body of St. Justus to Lyon: since he died shortly after St. Justus; nor would the writer of the Life of St. Justus seem likely to have transferred the glory of the translation of St. Justus to Lyon to anonymous citizens, with no mention made of St. Antiochus or of St. Viator, if St. Antiochus or St. Viator had been leader or sharer of the translation.
[5] and his sacred cult. St. Antiochus conducted the episcopate vigorously while he lived, and found burial in the church of the Holy Maccabees (afterwards called St. Justus's and formerly situated outside the city), as Ado, to be cited below, testifies; where he lay honoured by the faithful with religious cult until in the year 1562 the church of St. Justus was overthrown by the followers of Calvin, and the Relics of the Heavenly ones preserved in it dispersed. Whether anything of the Relics of St. Antiochus was left for the veneration and consolation of the people of Lyon, they themselves must teach us: the Chronicle of the Saints whose bodies are had in the church of St. Justus (see volume V of June, at the Life of St. Irenaeus, 28th of June) Deductio historica super possessione corporum SS. Irenaei, p. 344, no. 18., after enumerating the Relics of SS. Justus, Viator, and Albinus, proceeds to St. Antiochus in these words: Likewise (there is had here) the body of blessed Antiochus of Lyon, XV; and that these were inspected in the year 1287, on the occasion of a lawsuit raised between the churches of St. Justus and St. Irenaeus over the possession of the bodies of the latter and of the holy Martyrs Epipodius and Alexander, is clear from the instrument drawn up on that matter, at the place cited, no. 24, in the following words: Likewise in another tomb was found the body of St. Antiochus, Confessor and archbishop of Lyon, of whose sacred vestments, in which he had been clad, as also of very many others, manifest traces still remained, upon whose tomb also, according to the ancient custom of the aforesaid church of St. Justus, on his feast, which is kept on the Ides of October, the priests and clerics of the same place have been accustomed to place a candle. The Indiculus of the benefices of the diocese of Lyon, of which at no. 2, counts among these two p. 16. which enjoy the title of St. Antiochus, of which the one is there called Saint Anduel la Valla, the other Saint Anduel en Jarest. That his feast is marked in the Breviary of Lyon Severtius is witness. Ado celebrates him today with the following elogium, drawn almost entirely from the Acts of St. Justus: On the same day at Lyon, the birthday of blessed Antiochus, bishop, who, while he was still a presbyter of Lyon, incited by a dutiful sense of devotion, set his mind on going even to visit his bishop, who was staying in the desert, truly Justus by name and action. A man outstanding in strictness, and one who not undeservedly, after an interval of time, was taken up to the summit of the same pontificate. Having administered it vigorously, he attained the heavenly kingdom. He was buried in the church of the Maccabee Martyrs, in which St. Justus also rests entombed; this Usuard: At Lyon, of St. Antiochus, bishop, who, having vigorously administered the summit of the pontificate to which he had been taken up, attained the heavenly kingdom. To these I add the few words of the Martyrology of Auxerre, reported by Martène among the most ancient Coll. Ampliss., vol. VI, col. 725.: At Lyon, of blessed Antiochus, bishop. The Roman uses the same words as Usuard. May it be permitted to pass over in silence the rest, from which the reader would learn nothing more.
Gallia Christiana [Vol. IV, col. 18. insinuates that the opinion which pronounces that the same Antiochus was both presbyter under St. Justus and bishop rests on popular opinion rather than on certain testimony: a doubt of this kind is expressed even more clearly by the Writer of the Ecclesiastical History of Lyon, Poullain de Lumina Hist. de l'Egl. de Lyon, p. 57.. These doubts are entirely removed by the Life of St. Justus, sufficiently ancient Act. SS. 2nd of Sept., p. 375, no. 8. that credit is not to be withdrawn from it: St. Antiochus, then a presbyter …, who not undeservedly was taken up to the summit of the same pontificate.]
Notes* elsewhere: pergere (to go)
* elsewhere: districtione (in strictness)