Viator

ON ST. VIATOR, LECTOR AND CONFESSOR, AT LYON IN GAUL,

ABOUT THE YEAR 390.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The very ancient cult of St. Viator; at what time he lived; the fortunes of his relics.

Viator, lector and confessor, at Lyon in Gaul. (S.)

BY V. D. B.

Of St. Viator, in French saint Viotre or saint Viateur, we shall be permitted to be brief; whose deeds indeed are so entwined with the acts of St. Justus, bishop of Lyon, The name of St. Viator, in the Hieronymian illustrated at the 2nd of September Acta SS., vol. I of September, page 365 and following., that if anyone should say that his cult arose from that association, he would not seem likely to stray far from the truth. However that may be, as the cult of St. Justus is most ancient, so the veneration of St. Viator also began in most remote times: so that it is credible that the people of Lyon at the end of the fourth century, when the body of each saint was brought back from Egypt into the Gauls, began to show the honours of the heavenly ones to both. Certainly in many Hieronymian lists the name of St. Viator appears, as that of St. Justus. In the very ancient Corbie transcript Spicilegium of d'Achery, vol. II, page 20, de la Barre's edition. is read at this day: "At Lyon of Gaul, of Viator, the boy disciple of St. Justus the bishop": which seems the genuine reading. Almost all the other codices are now wonderfully dislocated, now abbreviated as much as possible. Namely there is read in the Lucca one Fiorentini, Martyrology of St. Jerome, page 929.: "At Lyon of Gaul, of Justus. Of blessed Viator, boy disciple of St. Justus the bishop"; in the Reichenau one Acta SS., after the supplement of June, page 13.: "At Lyon of Gaul, of Justus and of blessed Victor"; in the Augsburg one Ibid., page 22.: "At Lyon, of Justus"; in the Labbe one Ibid., page 29.: "At Lyon, of Justus and Viator"; in the Gellone one Spicilegium of d'Achery, vol. II, page 35.: "At Lyon of Justus, of Viator"; and finally. In the codex of St. Germain of Auxerre of the seventh or eighth century In Martène, Thesaurus Anecdotorum, vol. III, col. 1561.: "At Lyon, of Justus." On the other hand, the auctarium which Papebroch ascribed to Florus is excellent Acta SS., vol. II of March, Martyrology of Bede, page XXXV.: "At Lyon of Gaul, the heavenly birthday of blessed Viator, boy and disciple of St. Justus the bishop."

[2] [Martyrology inscribed, and other circumstances, suggest that his cult began at the end of the fourth century.] Since, then, in so many Hieronymian codices there are found memories of St. Viator, or at least traces of memories; the conjecture of Fiorentini does not seem to be approved, who, as he had referred the praise of St. Justus among the additions at the 2nd of September, so at this day called the encomium of St. Viator the addition of a French antiquary Martyrology of St. Jerome, page 930.. Nor did Sollerius approve that opinion Martyrology of Usuard, page 616.; which perhaps Fiorentini would not have brought forward had he recalled that from St. Sidonius Apollinaris and from the Conference of Lyon of the year 499 it is established that in the middle of the fifth century and at its end the festivity of St. Justus was already most celebrated among the people of Lyon Compare Acta SS., vol. I of September, page 365., and so it was natural that at the end of the fourth century the venerable translation of both bodies should have been the beginning of an annual solemnity thereafter. For my part I judge that the commemoration of St. Justus and St. Viator in the Hieronymian Martyrology is genuine, and that both Saints are of the very small number of those confessors whose cult in the Latin Church reaches to the end of the fourth century or the beginning of the fifth.

[5] His memory in other Martyrologies. In the later sacred calendars the memory of St. Viator remained celebrated, which Ado Martyrology of Ado, by the cares of Giorgi, page 539. presents in these words: "And on the same day, the passing of St. Viator the lector, in the desert, the companion of St. Justus"; and the excellent Martyrology of Auxerre of the eleventh century In Martène, Amplissima Collectio, vol. IV, col. 726. uses the same form, with the order of the words scarcely different. Usuard not much

unlike: "On the same day, of St. Viator, minister of blessed Justus, bishop of Lyon." Notker, who, as was noted among those passed over at the 20th of October, strays by one day, changed the passing of St. Viator into a translation, so that he has In Canisius, Lectiones antiquae, vol. II, part II, part III, page 182.: "Likewise the translation of blessed Viator in the desert, the companion of St. Justus." As is his custom, Peter de Natalibus gives a compendium of the life Catalogue of the Saints, book IX, chapter 90.: "Viator, confessor," he says, "held the order of lector and was the companion of St. Justus, bishop of Lyon. Who, when the same was abandoning his bishopric, boarded a ship with him and sailed to Egypt: and served him diligently in the desert… And when he died, he too after seven days, as St. Justus had foretold to him, followed him to heaven. For he also rested in peace on the twelfth day before the Kalends of November. The bodies of both of whom, taken up thence by the citizens of Lyon, were carried to their city and placed with fitting cult in the church of the holy seven Maccabees on the fourth day before the Nones of September." Maurolico Martyrology according to the custom of the Roman church, folio 69. adds to Usuard's announcement: "In the desert in Egypt." Baronius finally in the Roman Martyrology took up Usuard's words, except that for the words "on the same day" he substituted the word "At Lyon." To close these things at last, in the calendar of the Breviary of Lyon, which seemed to Jean de la Mure Histoire ecclésiastique du diocèse de Lyon, pages 278 and 280. the most ancient of all, there is read at this day: "Of Viator, confessor. Of the 11,000 Virgins." I pass over that the name of St. Viator is read at the 14th of October in the Usuardine auctarium of Centula; for it is written there only because the passing of St. Justus seemed to be noted on the same day.

[4] He died on the 21st of October, seven days after St. Justus And here recurs the question which was already agitated in the commentary on St. Justus, namely what the "passing" of St. Viator means in Ado, whether his withdrawal from Lyon into Egypt, or the bringing back of his body to Lyon, or his departure to a better life. But truly, whoever has read Stilting's disquisition on the festivities of St. Justus Acta SS., vol. I of September, pages 366 and 367. will hold it manifest that his departure to eternity, or pious death, is then designated. For he brilliantly shows that the death of St. Justus, which is also called a passing by Ado, happened on the 14th of October, the arrival of the body at Lyon on the 4th of August, and its deposition in the church of the Maccabees, or of St. Justus, on the 2nd of September. Since, then, Ado in one place understood by "passing" death, in the other place he surely wished to signify the same thing by the same word; especially since the same Acts are common to SS. Justus and Viator. Next, in both Lives of St. Justus Ibid., pages 373 and 375. the death of St. Viator is designated by the word "passing." Finally, the circumstances of the death of St. Viator are similar to those of the death of St. Lawrence; who, when he had so greatly desired to follow St. Sixtus as closely as possible, died on the fourth day after; so that the swift passing of the most holy youth Viator agrees plainly with the statements of Peter de Natalibus, who asserts that St. Viator followed him to heaven seven days after the death of St. Justus.

[5] about the year 399; shortly after, his bones were translated to Lyon It seemed to Stilting Ibid., pages 371 and 372. that St. Justus, and consequently also St. Viator, departed to those above about the year of Christ 390, since the former took part in the council of Valence in the year 374 and in the synod of Aquileia in the year 381, and, having set out shortly after with St. Viator into Egypt, seems to have lived there only some years. Stilting adds Ibid., page 372. that it is probable that the translation of the bones of both Saints happened a few years after their death and before the end of the fourth century. Of this translation Ado in the Chronicle says thus Ibid., loc. cit.: "Whose (Justus's) bones the people of Lyon, solicitous with pious love, carry back to their city: the bones also of Viator, his most holy fellow minister." The bones of both were buried in the suburban church of the Maccabees, which was afterwards called that of St. Justus. The place is indicated in the epitaph of St. Justus, which Duchesne brought out of an old codex of epitaphs, and after him Raynaud and Stilting Ibid., loc. cit.. The last verses are these:

Recalled by the love of his people to his native city, With pious Viator he is entombed (Justus) at the altar of Christ; That those whom, living, he nourished with watchful piety, He may cherish, his children, with continual prayers through the ages.

[6] [in the year 1287 they are laid again in a reliquary, and in the year 1562 they are scattered.] In the year 1287 the tombs of St. Viator and of the other Saints buried in the crypt of St. Justus were opened and the relics visited, as is read in the instrument of the same year, which Papebroch published among the Acts of St. Irenaeus Acta SS., vol. V of June, page 345.. These are the words: "Since, then, on the testimony of Scripture, it is honourable to reveal the works of God, lest the lamp of the memory of the Saints should lie hidden any longer under a bushel, which rather ought to be raised upon the candlestick of the Church for the promotion of the faith and the increasing of the devotion of the Christian people, the tomb of St. Justus having been unlocked at the hand of the aforesaid lord archbishop" (of Vienne, William), "we caused the tombs of the other Saints lying around the same to be opened, and the most sacred relics found there we laid again and enclosed one by one in reliquaries specially appointed for this, together with the sacristan and several other canons of the same place: yet of each relic we put a portion separately in little bags, by the will of the aforesaid chapter, for showing to the peoples when it shall be opportune: and the names of the aforesaid Saints are these. In the first tomb we found the body of blessed Arigius, confessor and archbishop of Lyon, and beside him in the same tomb the body of blessed Viator, confessor and companion of St. Justus, with ancient writings or charters making express mention of them. Likewise in another tomb, etc." Then the bodies of St. Viator and of the others were raised up and faithfully enclosed in reliquaries appointed for this Ibid., page 364, number 29.. They were preserved there until the year 1562, in which this church of St. Justus was utterly overthrown by the Calvinists, who had got possession of the city, and all the relics, if a very few be excepted [Compare de Colonia, Histoire littéraire de Lyon, vol. II, page 135; de Lumina, Histoire de l'église de Lyon, page 379.], were scattered. We subjoin a Life of a sort, put together by Théophile Raynaud, which, if anything obscure remains, will easily afford occasion for illustrating it.

LIFE OF ST. VIATOR

Collected by Théophile Raynaud.

Viator, lector and confessor, at Lyon in Gaul. (S.)

St. Viator, whom Ado names a most holy youth ^b, was lector ^c of the church of Lyon at the time when St. Justus sat in it. And when the holy pontiff, in order to go away into Egypt ^d, had secretly departed from Tournon ^e, St. Viator joined him as companion, meeting him when he was already at Marseille and preparing to board a ship ^f; whom the holy old man admitted as a comfort of his pilgrimage and had as his attendant in Egypt for the several years in which he lived there: until, the holy pontiff having been brought there to his last moments, Viator, dissolved in tears and dismayed in mind, began to bewail his lot, asking the holy man this: "And why, lord, do you leave me?" He brought back an answer conceived in these words, in the Acts of St. Justus in Surius: "Be not troubled, son, as though destitute of comfort: not so much later you will follow me ^g." I could here also exclaim that which Dom Augustine ^h said of the not dissimilar answer of the holy pontiff Sixtus to his minister blessed Lawrence: "O consolation! He does not say, Do not grieve, son, you will be safe; but Do not grieve, because I go before, you will follow; nor will your following be delayed. He received the oracle, conquered the devil, came to the triumph." Not so much later he was joined to St. Justus, as companion not of pilgrimage or exile but of blessedness, namely on the 21st of October ⁱ.

ANNOTATIONS.

Notes

a. Raynaud inserted this Life in his Indiculus of the Saints of Lyon. Only the later Life of St. Justus, which is in Surius at the 2nd of September, guided him, the Martyrologies of Ado and Usuard, the Catalogue of the saints of Equilinus or Peter de Natalibus, and the Roman Martyrology. But he lacked the more ancient Life, edited by Stilting and written in the time of St. Antiochus, bishop of Lyon, or at the beginning of the fifth century, not many years after the death of St. Justus.

b. In the Martyrology at the 2nd of September.

c. In the fourth century the office of lectors in the Church was weighty; to them was often committed the instructing of catechumens and other things of that kind. In the more ancient Life St. Viator is called [Acta SS., vol. I of September, page 373.] "a boy of excellent disposition, who then bore the office of lector in the church." Manifestly the word "puer" does not signify here a young lad of tender age, but a servant: whence by Usuard and the Roman Martyrologist he is called minister of St. Justus and by Baillet [Vies des Saints, Topography, under Lyon.] domestique de saint Just [servant of St. Justus]; I should have preferred the word esclave [slave]: for it is established well enough and more than enough that God, even in the fourth century, managed the affairs of his Church through those things that are contemptible to the world.

d. St. Justus left his see and betook himself into the desert, because he had innocently been the cause of the slaughter of a certain madman.

e. The name of that place, of which there are no monuments more ancient than the ninth century, is omitted in the more ancient Life [Acta SS., vol. I of September, page 376.].

f. These things, like the rest, are according to the more recent Life. In the more ancient these things are read of St. Viator [Ibid., page 373.]: "He alone followed in the footsteps of the most blessed old man (Justus), who desired to lie hidden; and coming upon him when he was already placed on the sea-shore between Arles and Marseille and ready to board the ship, he offered himself to him not without wonder: and, being received as a comfort of the pilgrimage, he sailed to Egypt making for the desert." This desert was Scete [Ibid., page 374.]; of which many things were disputed in our preceding volume [Ibid., vol. VII of October, page 39 and following.].

g. In the more ancient Life these things are narrated thus [Ibid., vol. I of September, page 373.]: "Moreover, when St. Justus had led for some years in the desert a life next to the angels, and a worthy end was at hand for such great labours, promising the kingdom of heaven; and when Viator, weeping and dismayed in mind, stood by in those last moments of the holy soul departing, saying: To whom, Lord, do you leave me? he is said to have answered that he should not be troubled, as though destitute of comfort, because he too would follow him shortly. Which prophecy and revelation it is established was fulfilled by the swift passing of the most holy youth"; namely seven days after, St. Justus having died on the 14th of October, St. Viator on the 21st.

h. Tractate XXVII on John [Works, vol. III, part II, col. 507.].

i. Raynaud then adds some things about the space of time which elapsed between the deaths of St. Justus and St. Viator. These seemed fit to be cut away, since we have taught other things on this argument in the Preliminary Commentary, relying on the proofs of Stilting.