Capuanus and Companions

ON SS. CAPUANUS AND COMPANIONS: CAPUANUS, FLORENTIUS, AND ALITHIUS, BISHOPS OF CAHORS IN GAUL,

IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Capuanus, bishop of Cahors in Gaul. (S.)

Florentius, bishop of Cahors in Gaul. (S.)

Alithius, bishop of Cahors in Gaul. (S.)

BY R. D. B.

§ I. The city, district, and diocese of Cahors. St. Capuanus, bishop of Cahors. The time of his episcopate deduced from the age in which his disciple St. Sacerdos, bishop of Limoges, lived.

Divona, Divona Cadurcorum, Civitas Cadurcorum, Cadurci, and finally Cadurcum are successive names of the same city, The origin of the Civitas Cadurcorum; so that it was first called Divona, then Divona Cadurcorum, afterwards Civitas Cadurcorum, then Cadurci, and at last Cadurcum: as was explained above of Anderitum Vide supra, p. 634 et seqq., Anderitum Gabalorum, Civitas Gabalorum, Gabali, and Gabalum, and many other chief places of the greater districts of the Gauls. The name Divona signifies a spring sacred to the gods, as is established from these little verses of Ausonius on the spring of Bordeaux De Claris Urbibus, XIV, v. 31 et 32.:

Salve, urbis genius, medico potabilis haustu,

DIVONA, Celtarum lingua FONS addite DIVIS!

[Hail, genius of the city, to be drunk in a healing draught, DIVONA, in the Celtic tongue the SPRING added to the GODS!]

And indeed Duw, Deu, Doué, Dia in the neo-Celtic languages still signifies God, occurring under the form Div in many ancient place-names of the Gauls Cfr Diefenbach, Origines Europeæ, p. 312.. Ona, which appears in the names of the rivers Matrona and Salmona, of the cities Verona, Salona, Cremona, Ancona, and Ortona, and of the goddesses Epona, Nemetona, Damona, and Sirona Ibid., pag. cit. et Pott, Die Personennamen, p. 435., must indicate water or a spring, if Ausonius is to keep his credit D. Martin, La Religion des Gaulois, tom. I, p. 334.. The forms of the name that I set out at the beginning are as it were the lawful ones; but others were afterwards added, so that in the ninth century occurs Cadurx; in the thirteenth century Caours, the letter d between two vowels being suppressed according to custom; whence afterwards Caors, and at last Cahors Deloche, Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Beaulieu, p. CLXXXIX.: which common name persists. As under the Roman empire it was a civitas or city of a small commonwealth, so under the dominion of the Franks it continued to be the chief place of a greater district. Wherefore from the fifth century on the writers on Gallic affairs not rarely treat of its territory, bounds, district, and limits: but we also read of the countryside, circuit, city, parts, land, ground, and province of the Cadurci Ibid., p. CXCII.; by all of which names the district was usually indicated Guérard, Essai sur la division territoriale de la France, p. 47 et 48.; moreover in the thirteenth century they began to say in one word Cahorsin, Kaoursin; and, a passing into e as in so many other words, in the fourteenth century Quercin; whence at last Querci.

[2] the extent of the district. How far the district of Cahors extended has been weighed in detail by the renowned Maximin Deloche Deloche, p. CXCIII.; demonstrating from ancient and approved documents, collected with the greatest diligence, that in this district was comprised the division of the Lot (Département du Lot), with a fragment of the division of the Garonne and Tarn (Département de Tarne et Garonne), namely with the northern region (canton nord) of the lesser district of Moissac (arrondissement de Moissac), and besides the city of Montauban with the territory adjacent to the north and north-east. This also was the circumscription of the diocese of Cahors, until Pope John XXII in the year 1317, erecting the diocese of Montauban, so cut it out of the diocese of Toulouse that he added from the district of Cahors only the city and suburb of Montauban Gallia Christiana, tom. XIII, col. 203.. This land was fertile in saints; which, since the time when we undertook to continue the Acta Sanctorum, we have already many times visited in mind, in order to bring into our Work the Saints who flourished there or found rest for their bones there. And indeed at the 16th of October one of my colleagues illustrated the Acts of St. Ambrose, bishop of Cahors; another at the 21st those of St. Anatolius, likewise formerly bishop there; and likewise of SS. Hilarion and Agatho, abbots, whose bones are said to be preserved there. Now, however, St. Capuanus is to be celebrated; to whom it has seemed right to add SS. Florentius and Alithius, who no differently from SS. Ambrose, Anatolius, and Capuanus formerly ruled the diocese of Cahors, but were undeservedly passed over in their proper places.

That St. Capuanus must be reckoned among the bishops of Cahors no one has ever doubted; for, to omit the general tradition of that church, this is testified by Hugh of Fleury, Benedictine monk, writer of the twelfth century, in the Life of St. Sacerdos, bishop of Limoges Henschenius, Acta SS. Maii, tom. II, p. 14., by Bernard Gui of the Order of Friars Preachers, writer of the fourteenth century, in the abbreviated Life of the same

Saint Labbe, Bibliotheca Mss., tom. II, pag. 662.: then the name of St. Capuanus occurs in the lists of the bishops of Cahors drawn up by Guillaume de la Croix Series et Acta episcoporum Cadurcensium. Cadurci, in-4°, anno MDCVII., Claude Robert Gallia Christiana I, p. 284., the Sainte-Marthe brothers Gallia Christiana II, t. II, p. 468., and many others: nor can there be controversy on that matter. But at what time, and consequently what place is to be assigned him among the bishops, there is less agreement. Guillaume de la Croix, whose posthumous work "Series and acts of the bishops of Cahors" his brother published, first proposes this order of the bishops of Cahors from the tablets of Démocharès and other historical instruments: St. Genulphus, Exsuperius, St. Florentius, St. Alithius, St. Capuanus, Boethius, Sustratius, Leucadius or Maximus, St. Maurillo, St. Ursicinus, Eusebius, Rusticus, St. Desiderius, and St. Ambrose; yet so as to admit that the see was vacant after St. Desiderius; which list the Sainte-Marthes, the Maurist writers of Gallia Christiana, as well as Richard and Giraud Bibliothèque sacrée, tom. 28, p. 199. Edit. Paris, 1827. and others admit, except that they put St. Capuanus between St. Desiderius and St. Ambrose. Nor is the controversy recent about the time and order in which St. Capuanus ruled the church of Cahors; since on that matter have already discoursed Baluze, Hauteserre [Alteserra, Opera Omnia, tom. IV, vol. II, lib. VI, cap. II. Edit. Neapolitana, 1777.], Le Cointe Annales Ecclesiastici Francorum, tom. III, ad annum 682., our Henschenius Henschenius, Acta SS., tom. II Maii, p. 13., Mabillon Annales Benedictini, tom. I ad annum 700., and others.

[4] From the life of St. Sacerdos, But since the document, especially an ancient one, for settling such great disputes, is a certain excerpt from the Life of St. Sacerdos, bishop of Limoges, and since accordingly it must be kept continually before the eyes, it seems that it should be presented first. Here are the words of the biographer: Sacerdos, a venerable boy, was handed over to St. Capuanus, bishop of Cahors, that he might instruct him in letters and Christian discipline: which Capuanus in those days was the most excellent among the religious prelates of Aquitaine. This had come about by the dispensation of almighty God, so that the most holy boy might drink from a Catholic and perfect master of holiness the purest streams of doctrine, with which at length, made an excellent teacher, he might water the minds of the faithful: and lest at any time, surrounded by heretical depravity, of which there was at that time a very great abundance in that region, he should stray from the right path of faith. Thus therefore already by the dignity of his name, the nobility of his parents, the royal gift, and the instruction of the holy prelate, Sacerdos, beloved of the Lord, was adorned in his infancy; so that from this it might shine out to mortals with how great reverence he should be cherished, whom the divine bounty raised up beforehand with so many and such great gifts.

[5] who was a disciple of St. Capuanus, St. Sacerdos at length, his boyish years being passed, while he pressed on with salutary teachings and went beyond his youthful years by maturity of life, began to excel all his contemporaries in the praises of virtues. Whence he was very dear to the venerable Capuanus, under whose instruction he was living, and he was always in attendance on him; and what he thirstily drank in from his mouth he stored in the little cupboard of his heart. His simplicity commended his cleverness, and modesty tempered his urbane eloquence: nor did he glory in the beauty of his body, nor was he lifted up by worldly favour. Moreover, when he was now reaching the limits of youth, in that very fervent age he soon began to be a lover of chastity and to spurn the delights of the world. For as often as the tempter, coming to him, sought an entrance for temptation, he always found the door of his breast closed against him. In short, when he was now inwardly a pure vessel of the Holy Spirit, and daily sacrificed to God on the altar of his mind the holocaust of pious devotion, the said Bishop Capuanus, through an angelic admonition, ordained him a levite.

[6] and who lived under Ecdicius, duke of Aquitaine, From which it is clear that the age of St. Capuanus must be defined from the times in which St. Sacerdos lived. But since these are wrapped in darkness, some learned men have taken one way, others another. For according to the opinion of Henschenius Acta SS., tom. II Maii, p. 13., to which I altogether adhere, the episcopate of St. Sacerdos must be referred to the earlier part of the sixth century: which is drawn out from the more ancient writers who have handed down the acts of St. Sacerdos to posterity. So Hugh of Fleury, an eminent man, who flourished about the year 1107 according to Rivet Histoire littéraire de la France, tom. X, p. 285., or 1130 according to Henschenius Acta SS., l. c., on the occasion of Ecdicius, son of the Emperor Avitus, writes these things about those acts diligently collected by him: Ecdicius, son of the former Emperor Avitus, in the book of the life of a certain holy confessor, Sacerdos by name and office, of the city of Limoges, is named by a corrupted name (as I think) Altitius, and he is believed to have received him from the font of baptism. Seeing the course of the life of this most precious confessor, partly composed in obscure speech (namely in the vulgar tongue), and partly depraved by the showing of the writers, I recently resolved to correct it, and I have assigned in modern time the period in which he flourished, after the courses of many years. And concerning the virtues of the saint himself I have expressed myself in the same account in the plainest speech: but concerning this Altitius I did not wish to define plainly what I cannot prove by evident testimony: believing it better to leave wholly to God what is hidden from me, or that of which I am doubtful, than boldly to defend doubtful things for certain ones. This however that ancient book, which contains the acts of the aforesaid confessor, seems to me to hint, that about this time of which we are now speaking the said Sacerdos could have been a little child Ibid., p. 12..

[7] under Justinian and Clovis, The same Hugh of Fleury in the Life of St. Sacerdos relates that this saint was born in Aquitaine while there reigned at the same time in the province of Aquitaine a Christian king, Anticius by name Ibid., p. 14.; then further on: St. Sacerdos, the reverend bishop, flourished in the times of the Augusti Anastasius and Justin the Elder and Justinian, succeeding one another: Clovis son of Childeric holding the monarchy of the Franks and Aquitanians. This Clovis St. Remigius baptized. At this time also there flourished Benedict, the extraordinary lawgiver of monks, and Blessed Amandus and St. Vedast, bishops, and many other most holy men Ibid., p. 17.: which narrative Bernard Gui, abbreviator of Hugh of Fleury, also made his own, saying in the Life of St. Sacerdos: On the death of Aggericus of blessed memory, bishop of Limoges, the man of God Sacerdos, by the election of the clergy and the favour of the people, is raised as bishop to the see of the same church, in the reign of King Clovis, whom Blessed Remigius baptized; and also, drawing up a catalogue of the bishops of Limoges: St. Sacerdos, he says, a native of Bordeaux, who is venerated and rests at Sarlat in the diocese of Périgueux, who also flourished about the year of the Lord 517 Labbe, Bibliotheca Mss., tom. II, p. 267..

[8] and accordingly in the fifth and sixth centuries, Receive now in these few words what we have just copied from Hugh of Fleury and Bernard Gui: St. Sacerdos was born at Bordeaux, while Ecdicius as king (which appellation was given to dukes in the Middle Ages [Ducange, Glossarium ad scriptores mediæ et infimæ latinitatis. Edit Paris, 1733. V° rex.]) presided over Aquitaine; and as a boy he was handed over to be educated to St. Capuanus, prelate of Cahors, a most keen enemy of heresy, who adorned him with the dignity of levite Ducange, op. c. V° levitæ. or deacon. St. Sacerdos besides flourished at the same time as SS. Benedict, Vedast, and Amandus, namely under the Emperors Anastasius, Justin, and Justinian, and Clovis I, king of the Franks. This narrative shines with all the characters of truth, being consistent with itself throughout and conflicting with no matters that are historically certain. For Anastasius reigned from the year 491 to 518, Justin from the year 518 to 527, Justinian from the year 527 to 565, Clovis from the year 481 to the year either 509 or 511 Art de vérifier les dates, t. II, p. 480 et 532; Acta SS., t. II Maii, p. 17.; next Ecdicius, who is the same as Actisius or Altitius, governed Aquitaine at least from the year 473 to 475, as the Maurists deduce from Sidonius Apollinaris and Jordanes Don Vaissette, Histoire du Languedoc, t. I, l. IV, p. 218, 219, 224.. Add that St. Benedict, born about the year 480, died in the year 543, and his contemporaries were SS. Vedast and Amandus: of whom the former, created bishop about the year 500, died about the year 540; and the latter, born about the year 494, departed this life about the year 584: nor must it be passed over that the Visigoths, to whom not rarely, as Francis Chifflet proves, with whom Henschenius agrees Acta SS., t. II Maii, p. 18., the name of Vandals was given, infected with the Arian stain, from the year 475 to the year 507 occupied this part of Aquitaine Don Vaissette, t. I, p. 223 et 247., and left nothing unattempted to spread their impious dogmas among the Gallo-Romans Cfr Acta SS., t. IX Octobris, p. 313.; and that thus it is understood how St. Capuanus reconciled many heretics to the Catholic Church; and that St. Mundana was slaughtered by the Vandals at the tomb of her son St. Sacerdos. All of which things indeed agree entirely with one another, provided it is admitted that St. Sacerdos prolonged his life from about the year 474 to the year 530. And indeed the more willingly do I add my vote to this opinion, which our Henschenius, relying on Hugh of Fleury, championed, because Hugh, not the last among the learned and erudite of his age Histoire littéraire de la France, t. X, p. 285., as the Maurist writers of the Literary History of France testify, was so zealous for historical truth that, treating of a fact nearly beyond doubt, he wrote: I did not wish to define plainly what I cannot by evident testimony: believing it better to leave wholly to God what is hidden from me, or that of which I am doubtful, than boldly to defend doubtful things for certain ones.

[9] (the opinion of Hauteserre and others What we have disputed so far sufficiently proves how little credit is to be given to the opinion of Hauteserre, Mabillon, and Baluze, with whom agree Labbe, Le Cointe, the Sainte-Marthe brothers, and the Maurist authors of the new Gallia Christiana: all these suppose that St. Sacerdos ruled the church of Limoges about the year 700; and they were especially moved to take this way by the authority of Bernard Gui, who was, as his contemporary biographer says, a man of great counsel, great experience, and proven prudence Scriptores Ordinis Prædicatorum, auctoribus Quetif et Echart, t. I, p. 578.. He lists the catalogue of the bishops of Limoges in this manner: St. Martial, Blessed Aurelian, Evolius, Atricius, Emericus, Hermogenian, Adelphicius I, Dativus, Adelphicius II, Exsuperius, Astidius, Rusticus, Rusticus II,

Exochius, Ferreolus, Asclepiades, St. Asclepius, Simplicius, Felicius, Adelphicius III, Lupus, Hertenobert, Cæsarius, Roricus, Rusticus III, Ermenardus, Salutaris, Agericus, St. Sacerdos; to whose name Bernard Gui adds these words already recited: A native of Bordeaux, who is venerated and rests at Sarlat in the diocese of Périgueux, who also flourished about the year of the Lord 517. He was succeeded by Blessed Cessator Labbe, Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum, t. II, p. 267..

[10] being rejected,) Having this listing before his eyes Hauteserre says: There are no slight conjectures that he (Sacerdos) should nevertheless be put back to more remote times: for according to Gui, Sacerdos succeeded Aggerius, Aggerius Salutaris, Salutaris Ermeno, Ermeno Exmennarius, Exmennarius Ruricius the Younger, who took part in the Council of Clermont in the year 541 and in the Fourth of Orléans in the year 545, as is clear from the subscriptions of these councils Alteserræ Opera Omnia, t. IV, vol. II, lib. VI, cap. II.. Likewise Mabillon: We have treated above of Bishop Ermeno, who committed to burial St. Tillo, monk of Solignac (he died about the year 702 [Mabillon, Acta SS. Ord. S. Ben. t. II, p. 994. Bollandus, Acta SS., t. I Januar., p. 376. Ghesquière, Acta SS. Belgii, t. V, p. 393.]). His successors are recorded as Salutaris, Agericus, and in the third place Sacerdos Mabillon, Annales Benedictini, t. I ad annum 700.. But whoever calls the catalogue of Bernard Gui to the scales cannot but detect in it many blemishes: thus the Maurists Gallia Christiana nova, tom. II, col. 1167. and the Sainte-Marthes Gallia Christiana, t. II, p. 630 et 631. do not list the twin Rustici, and in many things they turn the order of Bernard Gui upside down; nor, as is read in Henschenius Acta SS., t. II Maii, p. 13. and in the Manuscripts of the presbyter de Fouillac Manuscripta servata Cadurci a sæculo XVII extremo. on the district of Cahors, has there been lacking one who denies that Agericus is to be distinguished from Ruricius the Elder, because, as from rus the Latins said rusticus or ruricus, so by the people of Périgueux in their vulgar tongue, which lacked these words, he must have been called agre or agry, and thence Agericus: next Bernard Gui, contradicting himself, on the one hand shows St. Sacerdos as flourishing about the year 517, and on the other as almost a contemporary of St. Cessator, who in the time of Charles Martel held the reins of the church of Limoges. For which reason, since the series of Bernard Gui, as regards the bishops of the first centuries, departs from the truth, the arguments which Mabillon, Hauteserre, and others have drawn from it collapse; and so this series is to be admitted only in those things in which it agrees with sincere records: for example, that St. Sacerdos flourished in the year 517, or under the Emperors Anastasius, Justin, and Justinian and King Clovis I.

[11] it is gathered that St. Capuanus lived at the end of the fifth century. But since from what has been said it has been sufficiently proved that St. Sacerdos, prelate of Limoges, was born about the year 474, it may be affirmed that St. Capuanus, who while he was bishop formed the boy St. Sacerdos to virtue, was ruler of the church of Cahors about the year 480; then, since we understand from the Acts of St. Sacerdos that St. Capuanus through an angelic admonition ordained him levite or deacon, and it is evident that in the fifth century there existed a usage, or even in some places an ecclesiastical law, that neither should deacons be ordained nor virgins consecrated before twenty-five years of age Concilium Carthagin. III, cap. IV, Labbe, Conc., tom. II, col. 1167. (so that the most learned Binterim Denkwürdigkeiten der Christ Katolischen Kirche, tom. I, part. I, p. 351., the matter being well examined, could detect from the first eight centuries of the Church only a few examples of deacons who were taken up to this order before the age prescribed by the synod of Carthage), it follows from this that St. Capuanus prolonged his episcopate at least up to about the year 500.

§ II. Chronological arrangement of the predecessors of St. Capuanus in the episcopate. Sylloge on SS. Florentius and Alithius.

The first bishop of Cahors was St. Genulphus. He was succeeded by Exuperius; It must now be asked what predecessors St. Capuanus had in the see of Cahors; and indeed of SS. Florentius and Alithius, since their deeds have been omitted, we shall discourse somewhat more fully. That St. Genulphus, then, was the first bishop of Cahors, sent there in the middle of the third century by St. Sixtus, is stated by many martyrologies or breviaries, ancient and more recent; his Acts at the 17th of January, on which his feast is kept, Bollandus adorned with a commentary Acta SS., tom. II Januarii, p. 81.. After the death of Genulphus he obtained a successor in the episcopate of Cahors who is known to us only after many years. And if Denis de Sainte-Marthe Gallia Christiana, tom. I, col. 118. had in hand certain slips of paper in which it was affirmed that a bishop named Gausbert ruled the church of Cahors about the year 301, and that this also was formerly read in old inscriptions of an arched structure, these slips, I say, seem to deserve no attention, since the name Gausbert, being Teutonic, was not used by the Gallo-Romans, nor is it likely that a bishop of barbarian race came to Cahors at the beginning of the fourth century. It is much more likely, therefore, that there was an error in assigning the time of Gausbert's episcopate, since we gather from the Cartulary of Cahors that a certain Gausbert is to be reckoned among the bishops of Cahors of the tenth century Ibid.. col. 125 et in Instrum. u. III, p. 29.. Next after St. Genulphus among the bishops of Cahors occurs Exsuperius; whose praises Ausonius pursued in the Commemoration of the professors of Bordeaux Patrologia, Migne, tom. XIX, Opera Ausonii, col. 858.. Hence we understand that he flourished in the earlier part of the fourth century; whence it is also clear that he was different from Exsuperius of Toulouse, who was famous at the beginning of the fifth century Acta SS., tom. VII Sept., p. 629..

[13] the third St. Florentius; Third in the catalogues of de la Croix and others there duly occurs St. Florentius, known chiefly from a letter which St. Paulinus of Nola addressed to him, inscribed: To the most blessed and deservedly venerable Father, Paulinus Patrologia Migne, tom. LXI, Opera S. Paulini, col. 895.. Which Florentius, says Rosweyde, was bishop of Cahors, as is gathered from all the titles to this letter of the manuscript codices and the printed editions: Ms. Reg. begins: To Florentius, bishop of the city of the Cadurci. Ms. Vien.: To Florentius, bishop of Cahors. Ed. Bad. as Ms. Reg., but adds Epistola. Grav. likewise Divi Paulini … epistola, as also Schot. Sancti, etc. In all is read of the city of the Cadurci; but in ed. Grin.: To Father Florentius, bishop of the Cadurci Ibid., col. 895.. It was written, however, as appears from the appellation Father [Buse, Paulin, Bischoff von Nola, tom. II, p. 331 et seqq. Opera S. Paulini, col. 895.], when Paulinus was not yet a bishop Cfr ibid., col. 379, not. c.; with which dignity he was only honoured in the year 409 Cfr ibid., col. 112.: indeed there are also probable indications by which this letter may be referred to about the year 405. Florentius, although unknown up to that time, had first addressed to him a letter full of duty and kindness, just as if an old intimacy and familiarity had preceded between them. Paulinus replied very liberally: We rejoice, he says, in the Lord that we have been visited by the letter of your holiness and provoked, so that we who had not previously enjoyed the favour of your acquaintance should now, by the sudden gift of God, take up a full confidence in your friendship as if it were an old one. He then proclaims this new friendship, especially because the divine goodness, to those ignorant, as he says, of your face in the flesh, has rather shown this appearance of your mind, in which you have been more beautifully formed in Christ. "For a man's speech, he says, gives evidence concerning him, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks;" your speech, therefore, seasoned for us with apostolic salt, has expressed the savour of the grace that has been given to you, and from the droppings of your lips we have tasted how sweet the Lord is in you; and he goes on to praise in him the virtues that befit a bishop Opera S. Paulini, col. 380.. There are those who suppose De la Croix, op. cit. that St. Florentius took part in the Council of Valence of the year 374; but they have taken him for Florentius of Vienne, as may be seen from the acts of that council, published by Sirmond Sirmundus, Concilia antiqua Gallia, tom. I, p. 19., Labbe Labbeus, Sacrosancta Concilia, tom. I, p. 904., and the Maurists [Maurini, Conciliorum Galliæ tam editorum quam ineditorum collectio, tom. I, col. 229 etc.]. The feast of St. Florentius was kept on the 4th of July, and indeed with simple rite, as is established for me from the Breviary of Cahors of the year 1742: but from the year 1845, as I gather from the ecclesiastical ordo of this year and from the Proper of the Saints of the diocese of the year 1853, the Illustrious Lord John Bardou ordered that it should be celebrated in perpetuity with double rite.

[14] the fourth St. Alithius; The diptychs of the church of Cahors show as fourth bishop St. Alithius: of whom, no differently than of St. Venerandus, bishop of Clermont, St. Gregory of Tours could say Patrologia Migne, tom. LXX, Hist. Francorum, lib. II, cap. 13, col. 210.: What kind of man this pontiff was Paulinus testifies, saying: "For if you see these priests worthy of the Lord, whether Exuperius at Toulouse, or Simplicius at Vienne, or Amandus at Bordeaux, or Diogenianus at Albi, or Dynamius at Angoulême, or Venerandus at Clermont, or Alithius at Cahors, or now Pegasius at Périgueux, however the evils of the age stand, you will surely see most worthy guardians of all holiness, and of faith and religion." That Alithius was first joined in marriage with Ruffina, daughter of St. Paula and sister of St. Eustochium, some have supposed De la Croix, Series et Acta episcoporum Cadurcensium.; wrongly deducing this from the letter of St. Jerome to Pammachius, which they erroneously believed to have been written to Alithius. But there are better referred to him the praises of Alithius, an Aquitanian presbyter, which are read in St. Jerome, and the letter which Paulinus inscribed to the blessed and deservedly venerable and most beloved brother Alethius. Namely, to begin with this latter, a certain Victor, formerly a soldier and disciple of St. Martin of Tours, companion of Blessed Sulpicius Severus in solitude, then cook and friend of St. Paulinus, and also a tireless courier in annual journeys, had traversed the Gauls and had come across Alithius the presbyter, brother of St. Florentius, bishop of Cahors. He, moved by the fame of St. Paulinus, and desirous of receiving a letter from his hand (like his brother and so many other very great men), gave a letter to Victor, to be carried to the presbyter of Nola. To which, in accordance with his kindness, in these words

he replied S. Paulini opera, tom. LXI, col. 343.: "Thanks be to God, who has shown me the odour of his grace in you through the utterances of your letter. For through my brother Victor, most dear in God, who soldiers for God in this function, that he may serve fraternal charity and offer himself to us, separated by long intervals of lands, as a tireless courier in annual journeys, and spend with spiritual affection his bodily labour in the most religious offices of those mutually visiting: through this brother, then, and fellow servant in the Lord, who is common and of one mind; for he also glories in being most acceptable to you with that grace with which he is implanted in us, through him, I say, my holy and venerable brother, I have received a gift as sweet to me as it was unhoped for, your letter; in which the good treasure of your heart has appeared to us, so that I might deservedly rejoice in the blessing of your office received, when, having looked upon the face of your interior in your most chaste eloquence, I recognized how much help the Lord confers on me in you."

[15] whom St. Paulinus of Nola and St. Jerome praised Alithius had also asked of St. Paulinus a certain little writing on divine things; to satisfy which request, excusing his own poverty, the holy man sent his excellent sermon on the Treasury Ibid. col. 344., or on the care of the poor. This literary exchange is commonly referred to the year 403; but between the letter addressed to Alithius and that other inscribed to Florentius there is such a similarity of thoughts and even of words that they must be said to have been sent at the same time. Hear now the most blessed Jerome from Bethlehem to Algasia, a distinguished woman of Aquitaine, writing about the year 406 about Alithius the presbyter [Patrologia Migne, t. XXII, Opera S. Hieronymi, epist. CXXI, al. CLI, col. 1007; cfr ibid., col. LXXXII.]. I have marvelled enough, he says, why, leaving the purest spring nearby, you have sought from so far the waters of our little stream. You have there the holy man Alethius the presbyter, who with the living voice, as they say, and with prudent and eloquent speech can resolve what you ask. Heal our bitterness, therefore, with his nectareous honey, and restrain senile phlegm with a youthful age. Now it is the common opinion of the learned that both St. Paulinus and St. Jerome praise that Alithius the presbyter who was afterwards bishop of Cahors [Cfr Tillemont, Mémoires ecclésiast., t. XIV, p. 112; Lebrun des Marettes, Opp. S. Paulini, Vita, cap. XLV, col. 103 et 104; D. Gervaise, Vie de S. Paulin, p. 232; Buse, Paulin, Bischoff von Nola, t. II, p. 137.].

[16] are proved. And this is very probable. Rosweyde indeed, since he knew no other argument by which it might be persuaded that Alithius was bishop of Cahors than that in the first edition of the works of St. Paulinus letter XXXIII is read inscribed To Alithius, bishop, brother of the above-written, namely Florentius, was doubtful in mind, since that birth of the press is neither sufficiently corrected nor chastened. But, leaving this edition aside, in the manuscript codices, namely of Cluny, the royal one, and that of Vienna, Le Brun found Patrologia Migne, t. LXI; Opp. S. Paulini, diss. III, n. 2, col. 760. that the same Alithius is called the brother of Florentius, bishop of Cahors. In these indeed he is not called bishop; for at that time he had not been distinguished with this dignity; since the letter is inscribed to the blessed and deservedly venerable and most beloved brother Alethius, brother, that is, to the presbyter Alethius from the presbyter Paulinus. These things manifestly agree with the letter of St. Jerome to Algasia; and no less with the testimony of St. Gregory of Tours, since St. Alithius could occupy the see of Cahors only after St. Florentius. All these things, therefore, must be considered together: namely, that after St. Florentius there sat on the episcopal throne of Cahors St. Alithius, as is established from the catalogues; that St. Florentius, bishop of Cahors, had a brother, a presbyter named Alithius, a very venerable man; that at the same time there was known to St. Jerome in Aquitaine a presbyter Alithius, greatly commendable for learning; next that Alithius, bishop of Cahors, shone in nobility and riches (for from this order bishops were then usually taken in the Gauls), likewise the Alithius of Paulinus (for noble and rich Christians everywhere sought his letters), and similarly the Alithius of Jerome, since he would not have sent Algasia, a most distinguished woman, to an ignoble man; and finally that the name Alithius, being of Greek origin, was not common in the Gauls, especially among the more noble. All of which seems fully sufficient for there to appear to have been one Alithius, and he the holy bishop of Cahors. The ecclesiastical office of St. Alithius with simple rite is placed at the 8th of July by the Breviaries of Cahors, Albi, and Mende, drawn up after the pattern of the Paris Breviary in the eighteenth century; but in the year 1845 and then in 1853 the bishop of Cahors just praised, with the grant of the Roman Pontiff, ordered it to be of double rite Proprium Cadurcense, Pars Æstiva..

§ III. The antiquity of the cult of St. Capuanus. The feast of St. Capuanus in the dioceses of Cahors, Albi, and Mende.

The memory of St. Capuanus's sanctity The name of St. Capuanus is read neither in the Roman Martyrology, nor in any Gallican Martyrology: and if you except the list published by the venerable Migne Dictionnaire Hagiographique t. II, col. 1382., you will seek it in vain in the catalogues of the saints of Gaul. Nevertheless from the most remote times he obtained a reputation for holiness, so that Hugh of Fleury, in the Life of St. Sacerdos, which he wrote in the eleventh century after another very ancient one, and which our Henschenius made public Acta SS., t. II Maii, p. 14., called him not only the most excellent among the religious prelates of Aquitaine of that time, but also a holy prelate. What of the fact that there he is openly called St. Capuanus, the praise of holiness adhering not to his morals but to his person? And indeed he occurs with the same appellation in the abbreviated Life, which we have shown was composed by Bernard Gui and which after Étienne Baluze Philippe Labbe published Bibliotheca Mss., t. II, p. 662.. Next Guillaume de la Croix in the work on the bishops of Cahors, printed in the year 1617, and his abbreviator Jean Vidal in the Epitome of the history of the bishops, barons, and counts of Cahors Abrégé de l'histoire des évêques, barons et comtes de Cahors., published in the year 1664, and likewise Saussay Martyrologium Gallicanum, p. 260. in the Life of St. Sacerdos in the year 1637, assign to Capuanus the surname of saint: in whose footsteps the presbyter de Fouillac followed in his memorials on the district of Cahors, which are still today religiously preserved at Cahors: in agreement are the Breviary of Périgueux Mémoire des anciens comtes du pays de Cahors, par Marc Antoine Dominicy. of the year 1640 and the Proper of the saints of the diocese of Sarlat, promulgated by mandate of François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon, prelate of this church, in the year 1677, in Lesson IV for the feast of St. Sacerdos.

[18] preserved from the most ancient time; Although the appellation of St. Capuanus was not received everywhere (for in enumerating the series of the bishops of Cahors Claude Robert Gallia Christiana, p. 284., the Sainte-Marthe brothers Gall. Christ. II, t. II, p. 468, and Denis de Sainte-Marthe Gall. Christ. III, t. I, col. 122. distinguish him by no peculiar praise from the other prelates of the same church), yet in some dioceses of southern Gaul he had obtained from immemorial time a reputation for holiness. Hence Lesson IV of the Breviary of Limoges, which Raymond de la Martonie, bishop of this see, published with the most diligent care in the year 1626 Limousin historique, t. I, p. 72., in honour of St. Sacerdos, on the 5th of May, begins with these words: Sacerdos, born at Calabrum, within the bounds of the Cadurci and of the people of Périgueux, of illustrious parents, formed in letters and Christian morals by Capuanus, bishop of Cahors of known sanctity, was ordained deacon by the same. All which things being weighed, no one will deny that the elogium of saint was given to Capuanus, so that it fell not only on his morals, but also on his person, and accordingly that it is no wonder if at least in the eighteenth century (for we know of no more recent record that shows this) the presbyters of the diocese of Cahors were bound to celebrate his memory in the canonical hours and in the liturgy on the 24th of October with lesser double rite, by the mandate of Henri de Briqueville de la Luzerne, bishop of Cahors, in the year 1734. But a short time afterwards, namely in the year 1742, Bertrand du Guesclin, successor of Henri, substituting the Cadurcian for the Roman liturgy, and on the feast of St. Capuanus the simple for the double rite, ordered a collect from the common and a lesson taken from his Life to be recited through the whole diocese: which, since it is in the hands of many and contains nothing new, does not seem worth writing out here.

[19] his feast at Albi, Mende, and Cahors; Nor did the office of St. Capuanus, changed in this manner, remain within the limits of Cahors: Léopold de Choiseul de Stainville, archbishop of Albi Breviarium Albiense, Pars Autumnalis, Parisiis, 1764., and his suffragan, Gabriel de Choiseul-Beaupré, bishop of Mende Ibid., p. VII., when in the year 1763 they ordered the Roman liturgy into exile from their churches, in order to replace it with a new one not unlike that of Paris, inserted it in the Breviaries of their dioceses; whence it was not struck out, unless perhaps a few years ago. But the matter did not stand in the same way among those of Cahors; where the Illustrious Lord John James David Bardou, bishop, in order that all might continually turn over in their minds the admonition of the Apostle: Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you: considering the end of whose conversation, imitate their faith: (Hebr. XII, 1, 7); raised the feast of St. Capuanus and of the other holy bishops of Cahors from simple rite to lesser double in the year 1845, and in the year 1853, restoring among his people the perpetual calendar according to the Roman rite, with the approval of the Apostolic See, he transferred the feast of St. Capuanus from the 24th to the 25th of October, and ordered all to be done from the common of confessor pontiffs, except the Lessons of the second nocturn, taken almost from the work of Guillaume de la Croix, with the following collect: O God, who for driving out from our borders the remnants of the Arian heresy raised up the blessed pontiff Capuanus: grant that by his merits and prayers we may be fortified against all errors, and may obtain the grace of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, for whose divinity he fought. Who with you. There were another collect and lesson in honour of St. Capuanus, when the clergy of Cahors in the last century adhered to the Roman liturgy: a copy of which, which the venerable Poulin, professor in the major Seminary of Cahors, most kindly communicated to me together with many other things pertaining to the cult of St. Capuanus, is here subjoined: since the lesson is more ancient, and briefly relates the life of St. Capuanus, as far as it is known.

[20] An older Collect and Lesson on St. Capuanus. Collect. Grant us, we beseech you, O Lord, your mercy, by the intercession of blessed Capuanus

your confessor and pontiff, and whatever you command us to do, help us yourself, that we may be able to fulfil it. Through the Lord. Lesson IV. Capuanus, bishop of Cahors, greatly excelled in his time the prelates of all Aquitaine in virtues and sanctity: to him Sacerdos, still an infant (who afterwards was bishop of Limoges), was handed over to be instructed in precepts and examples, in letters and Christian discipline. Whence, pressing on with salutary teachings and surpassing all his contemporaries in the praises of virtues, he was very dear to our venerable Capuanus, under whose ministry he was living, and always attending him, the doctrine which he drew from him he stored in his breast. At length Capuanus through an angelic admonition ordained him levite. He lived in the episcopate about fifty years, and full of virtues departed to the Lord.