ON ST. JUSTUS OF CLERMONT, ARCHDEACON,
ABOUT THE END OF THE FOURTH CENTURY.
COLLECTION.
His age and cult. To be distinguished from St. Justus, bishop of Clermont. Office. Relics.
Justus, archdeacon and confessor, at Clermont in Gaul. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
Du Saussay at the present day in his Gallican Martyrology sums up in a few words what has become known of St. Justus, archdeacon of Clermont: Synopsis of the deeds and the memory of St. Justus in the martyrologies. "At Clermont of the Arverni," he says, "of St. Justus, confessor, who (as Gregory of Tours writes), Just in name and merit, archdeacon of St. Illidius, having completed the course of his life in good works, deserved to be associated with the tomb of his master. Whose name too, long since inscribed in the roll of the saints, is celebrated today with anniversary rites according to the custom of our forebears. His precious ashes Albert, bishop of the Arverni, in the year of the Lord 1311, while he was digging out of the bowels of the earth the relics of Saints Illidius and Venerandus, searched for and could not find: perhaps because they had been mixed with the dust of St. Illidius; because he had been buried so close beside him, that as in life they had lived with one heart and soul, so after death they were enclosed in one and the same place (if not also coffin) for common rest." Thus he. Chastelain in the Universal Martyrology is briefer on the same holy man at this day, and other French martyrologists after him, for instance de Rochechouart in the Martyrology of Évreux and Lebeuf in the Martyrology of Auxerre.
[2] His office in the diocese of Clermont. The words of St. Gregory of Tours are read in chapter 40 of book I of the History of the Franks Ruinart's edition, col. 31., and almost the same are repeated in the very ancient Molsheim codex of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 2 Acta SS., vol. I of June, page 426, number 9.. From these, then, it is established that St. Justus lived to the end of the fourth century, since St. Illidius, bishop of Clermont from about the year 337, is reported to have died on the 5th of June of the year 385 Ibid., page 423; Gonod, Chronologie des évêques de Clermont, page 4.. The archdeacon of Clermont then had a great charge; since the diocese comprised the whole of Auvergne and part of the district of the Bourbonnais, and only one in that age discharged the office of archdeacon in most dioceses of Gaul [Compare Guérard, Essai sur le système des divisions territoriales de la Gaule, page 87 and following.]. It is established from this, secondly, that St. Justus was buried in the suburban basilica of Blessed Mary among the Saints (Notre-Dame-d'entre-Saints); in which St. Illidius was buried, and which, after various fortunes, having been changed about the year 958 into a Benedictine monastery, was called that of St. Illidius, commonly St. Allyre Compare Acta SS., vol. I of June, page 423.. In the year 1796 it suffered the lot of so many other sacred buildings, experienced the axe and the hammer, and was utterly overthrown Gonod, page 5..
[3] In the monastery of St. Illidius two Saints Justus were at one time buried. Some centuries ago the bodies of two Saints Justus were deposited in this church, namely of our St. Justus, archdeacon in the fourth century, and of another St. Justus, bishop of Clermont in the seventh century; of whom our Pien spoke at his feast day, the 2nd of September Acta SS., vol. I of September, pages 439 and 440.. At least until the middle of the tenth century our St. Justus alone had his burial there. For in the writing on the holy churches and monasteries of Clermont, which Savaron published Origines de Clairmont, page 341 and following. and which is certainly more ancient than the year 950 Ibid., page 341., there is read at number 11 Ibid., page 350.: "In the church of St. Illidius, the altar of St. Clement, the altar of St. Mary, where St. Illidius, and St. Desideratus, and St. Gallus, and St. Avolus, and St. Justus, and St. Injuriosus and Scholastica rest in the body." If you compare these with the statements of St. Gregory of Tours about the archdeacon Justus associated with the tomb of his master, it is evident that it is our St. Justus who is in question. Further down, at number 14, is read Ibid., page 354.: "In the church of St. Ciricus" (Saint-Cirgues; to which parish the village of Durtol belongs) "the altar of St. Ciricus, where St. Abraham, and St. Justus, and St. Silvinus rest." If these are put together with the catalogues of Clermont, no one (I think) will dissent from Charles Le Cointe [Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks at the year 615, number 30, vol. II, pages 686 and 687.], who determines that this Justus is that bishop of whom just now. But afterwards the ashes of St. Justus the bishop must have been brought into the church of St. Illidius too; since in the age of Savaron Origines de Clairmont, page 351. and thereafter a tomb was seen there with a marble tablet affixed:
HERE RESTS ST.
JUSTUS, BISHOP OF THE ARVERNIAN
CITY.
See more on not confusing the two Justuses of Clermont in Pien Acta SS., vol. I of September, pages 439 and 440..
[4] The relics of St. Justus still lie buried. Within the first part of the month of December of the year 1311 Arbert, bishop of Clermont, and the monks of St. Illidius took much pains to bring the bodies of the Saints which lay hidden under the pavement of their church into the light and into greater veneration. The relics of SS. Gallus, Praefectus, Illidius and Venerandus were uncovered: but, as the writer on the elevation and translation of the body of St. Illidius says Ibid., vol. I of June, page 431., "on account of the difficulty of seeking the body of blessed Nepotianus, confessor and bishop of Clermont, which is known to have been buried in the same chapel" (of St. Venerandus, under the lectern), "as also many other saints, it was left there. And for the same reason it is established that the same was omitted of him who was Just in deed and name, the archdeacon and disciple of blessed Illidius, who is read to have been buried beside the tomb of St. Illidius himself." Nevertheless, as long as that monastery stood, the feast of St. Justus the archdeacon was celebrated there on the 21st of October.