Fronto

ON ST. FRONTO, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT PÉRIGUEUX IN GAUL,

PROBABLY IN THE FIRST CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Fronto, bishop of Périgueux in Gaul. (S.)

BHL Number: 3360

BY J. V. H.

§ I. Of the mission given to St. Fronto by St. Peter the Apostle, and of the beginnings of the Church of Périgueux.

The Gospel, spread through the whole world, Being about to treat of St. Fronto, first bishop of the Church of Périgueux, we do not wish to repeat what we have set forth according to our small ability concerning the origin of the Gallic Churches in general, on the 17th of October, in the Historical Commentary on St. Florentinus of Trier Acta SS., vol. VIII of October, p. 16.. We showed there that the authority of Sulpicius Severus and of Gregory of Tours, on which alone our adversaries rely, is uncertain and ambiguous; and that, on the contrary, the canonical Scriptures and the Fathers and the most ancient writers cry out with one voice that the Gospel of the kingdom, and therefore the Church of Christ, was spread to all nations, as Christ had commanded his Apostles, going into the whole world, to preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark XVI, 15). Which words Tertullian, flourishing in the second century, interprets as though the Gospel had shone upon all nations. For having enumerated the peoples who were present at Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles (Acts II, 9), he adds in his book against the Jews, chapter 7 Migne, Patrol. vol. II, col. 610.: Now the varied races of the Gaetulians and the many territories of the Moors, all the bounds of the Spains and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the places of the Britons inaccessible to the Romans, truly subjected to Christ; and of the Sarmatians and Dacians, and of the Germans and Scythians, and of many hidden nations and provinces, and of many islands unknown to us, and such as we are less able to enumerate. In all which places the name of Christ, who has now come, reigns. We know indeed that these sayings are decried by our adversaries as exaggerated and as smacking more of rhetoric than of truth. But since the most ancient writers conspire in one opinion, I do not see by what right anyone could strike down or evade their very weighty testimony by the opinion of one or another more recent author.

[2] [already in the first century it became known among the people of Périgueux through St. Fronto:] Although, then, it is sufficiently established that the light of the Gospel already shone upon the Gauls in the first century, it must not be admitted straightway or indiscriminately that the origins of the individual Churches throughout Gaul reach back to the age of the Apostles; but their genuineness must be duly weighed: the love some have for their particular Churches is at times ambitious. Wherefore, being about to treat of the first bishop or founder of the Church of Périgueux, we must investigate what titles of its antiquity it brings forward. Now the city of Petragorica (Périgeux) is the capital of the territory of the same name (Le Périgord), today of the department of the Dordogne (Département de la Dordogne), on the river Isle. Formerly it was called Vesuna or Vasona of the Petrocorii and belonged to Aquitania Secunda, whose metropolis was the city of Bordeaux Guérard, Essai sur les divis. territor. des Gaules, p. 27.. Moreover the bishopric of Périgueux has always belonged, down to the present day, to the ecclesiastical metropolis of Bordeaux. What we are about to say, then, on the origins of the Church of Périgueux concerns in some measure the metropolis of Bordeaux itself, whose beginnings are attributed to St. Martial of Limoges Gallia Christ. vol. II, col. 786.: for without controversy SS. Martial and Fronto are contemporaries. Gregory of Tours, Book I of the History, chapter 28, says that St. Martial was sent into Gaul in the consulship of Decius and Gratus, that is, in the year of Christ 250; but how much his authority is to be valued in this matter we have shown at length in the Commentary on St. Florentinus cited above. But let us come to close quarters with the question of St. Fronto, whose mission a constant and widely diffused tradition derives from the very age of the Apostles.

[3] as Ado and Usuard teach in their Martyrologies, For this is shown first of all by Ado, bishop of Vienne in the ninth century, who first, so far as we know, composed an elogium on the apostolic mission of St. Fronto (by some also called Frontus) in his Martyrology on the 25th of October, in these words: On the same day, at the city of Périgueux, the birthday of St. Fronto, bishop, who, ordained at Rome by blessed Peter, was sent with the presbyter George to preach the Gospel. And when on the third day of the journey the same George had died, Fronto in grief returned to the Apostle; and having received his staff and laid it upon the body of the deceased, he recovered his companion from death. And so, coming to the aforesaid city, he converted a great multitude of it to Christ, and, renowned for many miracles, he rested in peace. Usuard repeats the same things, but compendiously, as is his custom, on the same day, saying: On the same day, in the city of Périgueux, St. Fronto, who, ordained bishop at Rome by blessed Peter, with the presbyter George, the companion whom he recovered from death on the journey by means of the Apostle's staff, coming to the aforesaid city, converted a great multitude of that people to Christ, and, renowned for many miracles, rested in peace. To both Hagiologies is added the present-day Roman Martyrology: At Périgueux in Gaul, St. Fronto, who, ordained bishop by blessed Peter the Apostle, with the presbyter George converted a great multitude of that people to Christ, and, renowned for miracles, rested in peace. Of St. George, the companion of St. Fronto, who afterwards founded the Church of Velay or of Anicium or of Le Puy (Le Puy), we shall treat on the 10th of November.

[4] whose authority against the Rev. Mr. Audierne The authority of Ado and Usuard, which is very weighty, a recent writer has endeavored to diminish, namely the Rev. Mr. Audierne. For to the new litho-typographic edition of the work of John Dupuy, of the Order of Minors of the stricter observance, on the state of the Church of Périgueux L'estat de l'Église du Périgord., he has added certain notes in which he attacks the tradition of Périgueux. He asks first of all whence Ado drew what he relates of St. Fronto, things unknown even to his predecessors; and he answers that it flowed from the Legends Ibid., vol. I, p. 231., cutting the knot, as it were, at one stroke. But Mr. Audierne will readily grant us that the compiler of the Legends, whoever he was, whom none of us knows, was nevertheless older than Ado, and therefore that what is related was not unknown to one or another predecessor of Ado. It also remains to be inquired whence these Legends themselves emerged: they have, namely, although adorned with fictitious flowers, their root in tradition, which, unless it is broken by contrary arguments, furnishes a solid support to history. The said writer then judges that the Martyrology of Ado has suffered interpolation, inasmuch as the elogium of St. Fronto in only the

Périgueux copies is extant. But in this too he is deceived: for as the Martyrology of Ado shows, published at Rome with the greatest care by Domenico Giorgi in the year 1745, the elogium of our Saint, as we have reported it from this very edition, is found in all the copies, and is accordingly to be judged as derived from Ado himself.

[5] is vindicated: The same critic also rejects the authority of Usuard, who according to his custom repeats the words of Ado in a compendium, because in his Martyrology, he says, there occur the names of saints more recent than Usuard himself. It is true indeed that in many things Usuard closely follows Ado, and cites his words exactly, as is abundantly evident to anyone comparing the elogium of St. Fronto composed by both, which we have given above. But the critic did not know that Usuard, although augmented according to the character of times and places, nevertheless exists altogether pure, published by our Jean-Baptiste du Sollier at the end of the Acts of the month of June, and reprinted with new care from the very autograph copy, as it is said, at Paris in the year 1718 by Jacques Bouillard, a Benedictine monk of Saint-Maur. And in both editions one reads that St. Fronto was ordained by Bl. Peter and sent into Gaul. Let us note finally that both, Ado and Usuard, flourished in the ninth century, and thus wrote before the Norman devastation; that is, when more ancient documents still existed that indicated the origins of the Churches. Both moreover say, without any sign of doubt, that St. Fronto was ordained by Bl. Peter: the one indeed wrote at Paris in the monastery of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the other at Vienne of the Allobroges, that is, in places far distant from Périgueux: by which, in my opinion, it is indicated that the report of the ordination of St. Fronto, performed by Bl. Peter the Apostle, was widely spread. Mr. Audierne also adduces as an argument against our Saint the silence of Bede and Wandelbert, writing in the eighth and ninth centuries Ibid., p. 229.. What of it? Will silence show that St. Fronto did not exist, did not found the Church of Périgueux, and did not obtain a cult in it already in the fifth century under Bishop Chronopius II? And if these things remain unshaken, notwithstanding the silence of certain persons, the author must be said to have beaten the air. For the rest, it is well enough known that we do not so far possess the genuine Martyrology of Bede, and that the one published at the head of volume II of the Acts of the Saints for the month of March stands in need of very many emendations. As regards Wandelbert, though he did not include our holy prelate in his verses, he nevertheless celebrates him in the text (if it is his) in prose style, saying Migne, Patrol., vol. CXXI, col. 616.: On the same day (the 25th of October) the birthday of St. Fronto, bishop and confessor. Finally, the silence of Bede, of Wandelbert and of others, if you please, even when admitted, is an argument, as it is commonly called, merely negative; which against a positive one of equal authority is altogether powerless: for if it had any force, it would eliminate from the Roll of the Saints nearly all the Saints, since you will scarcely find any who is not missing from one or another Martyrology or Calendar.

[6] 2° Rabanus, especially I have purposely omitted until now the Martyrology of Rabanus, which is more ancient than Ado and Usuard, because it makes no mention of the apostolic mission of St. Fronto, and is therefore useless for the present question. Yet I would not defraud the reader of the text, which demonstrates the very ancient cult of St. Fronto. Namely Ibid. vol. CX, col. 1171.: On the same day (the 1st of October) the birthday of Frontus, bishop and confessor; in the borders of the city of Périgueux, from a place which is called Linicasium, he took the happy beginning of the light. And so, dwelling devoutly in service among the monks, he was renowned for many virtues, and converted many to the faith of Christ; and at the last, after sacred labors, which shone forth by the signs of his virtues, he passed from present tribulation to eternal rest. Gauzbert, who at the beginning of the twelfth century wrote the Life of St. Fronto, as we shall explain more fully below, took two things from Rabanus: that he was a native of Périgueux, and that he dwelt devoutly among the monks. Neither of these do the other biographers have. And indeed the Anonymous whom we publish says at number 1 that the Saint was sprung from the borders of the region of Lycaonia, and makes no mention of monastic life: but only at number 13, that in the district of Limoges, in the place Nogentium, he led for some time with his disciples an angelic life. Yet it is not the case that Rabanus confused Fronto of Périgueux with his namesake of Nitria: for on the 18th before the Kalends of May (the 14th of April) he composed a quite long elogium on the Nitrian Migne, Patrol., vol. CX, col. 1140.; which was afterwards transferred to the deeds of the Fronto of Périgueux. But that he places the feast of our holy prelate on the very Kalends of October ought not to move us. We have shown elsewhere that the edition of the Martyrology of Rabanus is very dislocated, mutilated and faulty Act. SS, vol. VIII of Oct., p. 30., and we desire to see it reprinted with new care and according to more correct copies.

[7] in the Life of St. Mary Magdalene attributed to him. For there we have marked the discrepancy which exists between the text of the Martyrology just cited and the Life of St. Mary Magdalene, which the reverend and most learned Mr. Faillon, in his Monuments of the apostolate of St. Mary Magdalene in Gaul, attributes to the same Rabanus Monum. de l'apostol. de Ste M. Madel., vol. II, col. 13. For in the Life St. Fronto is presented to us as though one of those who landed in Gaul with Bl. Magdalene Ibid. col. 540., and who were witnesses of the death and burial of Bl. Martha Ibid. col. 550.: which in no way agree with what Rabanus writes in his Martyrology, namely that he was by birth of Périgueux and lived devoutly among the monks. For this reason the author of the Life of St. Mary Magdalene is doubtful to us, although he belongs to the ninth century, as has been shown elsewhere Act.. Nevertheless the composition demonstrates, whoever in the end its writer was, that a tradition was widespread in the ninth century which refers the mission of St. Fronto to St. Peter the Apostle, and thus to the first century of the Christian era. Let this be said of the Martyrologies: now we bring forward a second argument, drawn from the second council of Limoges, held in the year 1031, at which there was a sharp dispute over the quality of Apostle to be attributed to St. Fronto.

[8] The Council of Limoges in the year 1031, No slight controversy was raging in Gaul concerning St. Martial, first bishop of Limoges, whether or not he should be numbered among the Apostles, and hence whether his feast should be celebrated with the same solemnity as that of the Apostles. Jordan himself, bishop of Limoges from about the year 1023 to 1052 Gall. Christ., vol. II, col. 518., had written to Pope Benedict VIII, in the name also of Robert, king of the Franks, of the archbishops of Bourges, Bordeaux and Tours, and of all their suffragans, that St. Martial should by no means be numbered in the apostolic college Ibid. Instrum. col. 161.. The whole letter seems to insinuate that Jordan was speaking not so much with his own mouth as with another's: he insists much that the dignity of apostle conferred on St. Martial displeases many bishops; and finally he commits the whole business to the Pontiff to be dealt with. What Pope Benedict did in the cause is not known. This is certain, that after his death in the year 1024 the question of the Apostolate of St. Martial was agitated anew in the year 1031, and that his supporters won the cause, as may be seen in the Acts of the said council of Limoges Labbe, vol. IX Conc. col. 870.; in which several speakers set forth at length the merits of St. Martial, bringing into the open the writings of the ancients and the long-established customs of the Churches; from which it was clear that the title of Apostle had been attributed to St. Martial from antiquity. Then a certain one, say the Acts Ibid. col. 875, of the clerics of the city of Périgueux said: In the same way we can call St. Frontus an apostle.

[9] Then Gerald, father of the monastery of Solignac, answered: Be quiet, brother, it is better that you keep silence: because when we were drinking honey and milk in the schools of the masters, you were chewing only beans. The new writing on St. Frontus, on whose authority you rely, was brought out for the sake of gain by our Gauzbert, who was our chorbishop under Hildegar, bishop of this see of Limoges. But by what reason can he be an Apostle who was a native of Périgueux? Assuredly, if he learned the psalter there from boyhood, as is read in his deeds, and if he was made a cleric there, then the priesthood and Christianity already existed there, where there were schools of the divine Scriptures, where there was the clerical order. For it is read that he lived rather as a hermit than as a bishop. You cannot say what signs he worked in order to convert the people of Périgueux. Rather, he won them for God who drew all Aquitaine to the faith with Stephen, prince of the Gauls. Neither Fronto, nor Saturninus, nor Dionysius are read to have raised the dead. And surely without the raising of the dead, without the display of signs, the first gentiles could not have believed, as the Lord says: “Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe…” But where is the place in which Frontus is read to have raised George?… And not to detain you longer with my speech, O venerable fathers who are present at this council, I shall touch on this alone briefly, that never down to this present day, which is the fifth day of the week , has a book been made in the whole world which has written through the litanies, in the order of the Apostles, the names of Frontus, Saturninus, Dionysius, Julian, Austremonius, Ursinus, or of the other fathers who came into Gaul after Martial.

[10] which, in denying him the title of Apostle, We may not pass over this text without annotations. First of all we see that Gauzbert wrote the Life of St. Fronto a few years before: for Hildegar, under whom he was chorbishop, occupied the see of Limoges from about the year 963 to 983 Gall. Christ., vol. II, col. 510. SS., vol. VIII of Oct. p. 29.: next it is asserted, without contradiction from anyone, that Gauzbert did this for the sake of gain. But whatever the weight of his composition may have been, it seems certain that it did not achieve the confirmation of the apostolic mission of St. Fronto. For he would very foolishly be saying that Fronto learned the psalter at Périgueux and was made a cleric there, since these things presuppose certain elements of the Church of Périgueux before the episcopate of St. Fronto. His native Périgueux and his monastic life, to which the teaching of the psalter and the clerical state are akin, I believe to have been drawn from the Martyrology of Rabanus. Next, Gauzbert has from an obscure tradition that George was raised; nor did the people of Périgueux know any other written document: otherwise the cleric of that Church would have struck down the objection by alleging Ado and Usuard, nearly two centuries older: and hence it is clear that the vague traditions of the Churches are not rarely supported by solid monuments, but monuments at that time indeed unknown or destroyed. Finally we see what the fathers of Limoges chiefly required in order to judge that the title of Apostle should be conferred on any saint: namely not only the grace of healings, but the raising of the dead; for which reason they call into doubt the raising of St. George attributed to St. Fronto.

[11] in no way denied St. Fronto's Moreover, although the fathers of Limoges denied to St. Fronto the dignity of Apostle, yet they in no way weakened his antiquity; inasmuch as they made him the equal of SS. Saturninus of Toulouse, Dionysius of Paris, Julian of Le Mans, Austremonius of Clermont, and Ursinus

of Bourges, all of whom, by the unanimous consent of the eleventh century, and especially by the testimony of the synod of Limoges itself, as we shall presently show, belonged to the first century of the Christian era. The synod wanted one thing: that all Aquitaine owed the first-fruits of the faith to St. Martial; and hence that the title of Apostle belonged to him before all others: while others, among them also our St. Fronto, thrust their sickle into a harvest already prepared. This must now be shown in detail. In the second session of the same council Aymo, archbishop of Bourges, is wholly bent on showing that St. Martial received the power of loosing and binding from Christ himself, in the same way as the eleven Apostles; whereas others obtained their mission through the mediation of the apostolic see. No one, he says Labbe, vol. IX Conc. col. 894., can contradict that blessed Martial received from Christ, while he still lived on earth in the flesh, the power of binding and loosing with the rest of the Apostles. Our holy doctors and ancient fathers also, the stronger pillars of the Church, proclaim that all who saw the Lord in the flesh and afterwards preached him were called apostles. These things, as is evident enough, are not to be accepted without judgment. For when in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter I, the matter was the filling up of the number of twelve from which Judas the traitor had fallen, the prince of the Apostles laid down as the chief condition that they should choose from those men who had been gathered with the rest of the Apostles all the time that the Lord Jesus had gone in and out among them, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up, one of these to become a witness of his Resurrection. From which it follows that one who conversed with Christ in the flesh and was appointed to preach the Gospel is not forthwith to be called an Apostle; otherwise the seventy-two disciples would have to be called Apostles; but that there is required in addition a special election and calling, such as existed in St. Matthias, when he was numbered with the eleven Apostles.

[12] mission belonged to the first century. Wherefore, as the same synod of Limoges teaches us Labbe, Ib. col. 877., some were of the opinion that Martial was Matthias himself, and that by likeness of the name he had thus easily begun to be so called in the tongue of the Aquitanians: or else because it is not easily found where the body of Matthias lies. (Aymo was evidently unaware that the Relics of the Apostle Matthias are preserved at Trier Cf. Act. SS., vol. III of Feb., p. 434..) But although the fathers of Limoges proclaimed such great things of their St. Martial, they nonetheless referred back the mission of the first bishops of Gaul to apostolic times. What, says Aymo Labbe, Ib. col. 894., I have said of the blessed Dionysius and Saturninus (namely that their names are nowhere listed among the Apostles), the same is said of Ursinus and Austremonius, of Frontus of the race of Périgueux, of Julian of Le Mans, of Roman race, and of others who saw the Apostles in the flesh, or could have seen them, who were sent to preach into Gaul after Bl. Martial as well by Bl. Peter as by Bl. Clement or by his successors. These received the power of binding and loosing not specially from Christ, but from those who consecrated them in the order of the episcopate. Although the men of Limoges spoke thus, they were nevertheless not unaware, as is evident from the Acts Ibid. col. 880., that the passion of St. Saturninus was put at the consulship of Decius and Gratus, and thus that from the martyrdom of St. Peter the Apostle to the first year of the emperor Decius there had run one hundred and eighty-two years. They did not therefore so highly value the authority either of the Acts of St. Saturninus or of Gregory of Tours (Book I, chapter 28) as not to dare depart from it.

[13] 4° plates found in the tomb, at least of the tenth century, For the apostolic mission of St. Fronto a very ancient testimony is furnished us by two plates, one of lead, the other of bronze, and one that would indeed be peremptory, if their antiquity were certainly established. For in the year 1261, on the 30th day of April, Peter of Saint-Astier, bishop of Périgueux, as a rumor was spreading among the people that the body of St. Fronto had been carried off by the Normans, resolved to visit the tomb of the Saint. When it had been opened, he found the bones of the venerable Confessor, and with them two plates. On the leaden one this inscription was read: HERE LIES THE BODY OF BLESSED FRONTO, DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST AND BELOVED SON OF BLESSED PETER IN BAPTISM. And on the bronze one: HERE LIES THE BODY OF MOST BLESSED FRONTO, DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST AND SON OF BLESSED PETER THE APOSTLE IN BAPTISM, SPRUNG FROM THE REGION OF LYCAONIA, OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH, FROM SIMON AND FRONTONIA. HE DIED ON THE EIGHTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF NOVEMBER, IN THE FORTY-SECOND YEAR AFTER THE PASSION OF THE LORD Dupuy, vol. II, p. 92.. The Gallia Christiana, reporting these inscriptions, cuts the question short, saying: Which savor of more recent and later times Vol. II, col. 1475.. But these matters are not to be dismissed with so light a hand. For if we attend to the cause on account of which Bishop Peter instituted the visitation of the tomb, namely the rumor spread among the people of the body's being carried off by the Normans. For that in the ninth century the Normans laid waste southern France, and thus also the territory of Périgueux, is beyond doubt. For it is read in the Chronicle of St. Bénigne of Dijon that they burst through Gaul into Spain in the year of Christ 888 D. Bouquet, Rec., vol. VIII, p. 241..

[14] testify that the saint was baptized by Bl. Peter: But what is to be thought of the antiquity of the two inscriptions? I will not say that both belong to the age of Chronopius II, who, flourishing at the beginning of the sixth century, first translated the body of St. Fronto from the old burial-place to a new tomb. For on the bronze plate we have the year of St. Fronto's death recorded as the forty-second year after the Passion of the Lord, and this method of computing time does not square with the custom of the sixth century. There are indeed some documents in which the years are numbered from the Passion of the Lord, as may be seen in the Fragment of a Chronicle of the third century Migne Patrol., vol. III, col. 670.: yet in the first half of the sixth century the Christian era was not in use in Gaul, and began to be employed only in the eighth century [Nouveau traité de Diplom. vol. IV, p. 696. Cf. Dion. De Rom. Pont. infallib., p. 86.]. The copper plate therefore seems more recent than Chronopius and is rather to be referred to Froterius, who held the see of Périgueux from the year 979 to 991; who, as Philippe Labbe teaches Nov. Bibl. mss., vol. II, p. 737., began to build the great monastery of St. Fronto. Since, then, the church built by Chronopius was restored with new work, I judge that the sacred Relics were inspected at that time and that the bronze plate was added, on which, according to the custom of that time, the Christian era could be inscribed, whether from the Nativity or from the Passion of the Lord. Whether, further, the leaden plate, marked with no date, is of equal or greater antiquity, cannot be judged from the very forms of the letters, which have perished. I do not however think that both plates are of the same age and were placed in the tomb together at one time Dion., p. 85.: for precautions of that kind, namely that by the diversity of metals the preservation of the document may be surer, do not agree with the simplicity of those times. Next, if there had been a double plate so that, one perishing, the other might remain surviving and intact, the same thing would rather have had to be written on both. Finally, the leaden one is simpler and has not the encumbrance of a date. For this reason I think this one older than Froterius, the restorer of the basilica, and contemporary with Chronopius; unless it could be shown that a translation or visitation of the Relics took place between Froterius and Chronopius.

[15] our opinion is not impaired either by the ambition of the Churches, This is about what we have to say for the apostolic mission of St. Fronto. But Mr. Audierne raises a new difficulty, which I do not remember reading in others: namely, that the opinion of the apostolic mission conferred by St. Peter on St. Fronto and other bishops arose when, under Pope Leo IV, sitting from the year 847 to 855, the episcopal sees and monasteries were busy obtaining confirmation of their privileges, and hence were fabricating for themselves very ancient titles Dupuy, vol. I, p. 232.. But on what foundation this learned man's assertion rests, I plainly do not perceive. For to one considering both the deeds of that Pontiff himself and the Acts of those times nothing similar occurs, whether in the Collection of Councils, or in Bréquigny in the chronological table of diplomas, charters, etc., or in Peter Georgisch in the chronological-diplomatic Registers, or in Dom Bouquet in his very ample collection of the affairs of Gaul, or finally in Baronius or in the Bollandist Acts of the Saints in the Life of Leo IV, published on the 17th of July. But if our adversary should show his assertion to be true, it would not forthwith follow that the opinion arose only then; but only this, that then first the allegation of ancient titles became necessary for the defense of the rights of the Churches. In like manner the reverend author stumbles when he affirms that Lycaonia was first attributed to St. Fronto as his homeland in the twelfth century: for we have seen that at least in the tenth century, under Froterius, he was assigned to Lycaonia; nay, if our opinion on both inscriptions reported above is worth anything, this opinion was already common in the sixth century under Chronopius.

[16] nor by the uncertain and mutilated succession of the first bishops. Before I close this dissertation, I will not hide a difficulty, always very grave to me, arising from the defective succession of the first bishops of Périgueux. For between St. Fronto and Paternus, who in the year 356, by the witness of Sulpicius Severus, Book II of the Sacred History, chapter 45 Migne. Patrol., vol. XX, col. 155., not refusing to profess the Arian perfidy, was driven from the priesthood, the Gallia Christiana counts only two bishops in between, Anianus and Chronopius I Vol. II, col. 1448.. Yet four bishops cannot fill the space of nearly three hundred years that runs from the middle of the first century to the middle of the fourth. But if the beginnings of the Church of Périgueux are reduced to the norm of Gregory of Tours, that is, to the middle of the third century, four bishops will conveniently reach from the year 251 to 356. The entangled knot ought not to lack its solution. We have already said elsewhere Act. SS., vol. VIII of October, p. 34. that the first bishops of the nations were regionaries rather than fixed to a definite see, and thus that their jurisdiction was not circumscribed within the narrow limits of one diocese, but extended itself to several provinces and to several cities of the same province. Thus we see St. Maternus held as their own bishop by the people of Trier, Cologne and Tongeren: and the Life to be published presents our St. Fronto himself as walking about the various provinces of Gaul preaching the Word of God. If they died in the course of preaching of this kind, the city in which they closed their day entered the deceased in its diptychs as its own bishop, the other cities in which they had exercised the pontificate being omitted. And hence are explained both the now rare names of the first bishops that are listed in the diptychs, and the difficulty of establishing their succession, until in

fixed bishoprics the region was divided. Next, there are catalogues which add two to Anianus and Chronopius, Leo or Leontius, who is venerated at Périgueux on the 28th of June, and Pagasius, as the Rev. Mr. Dion, professor of ecclesiastical history in the seminary, has written to us. The pontificate of each would still be rather long, as extending to fifty years: but it could also have come about that, while the persecution of the gentiles was raging, the see of Périgueux stood vacant. Finally, the Catalogues of bishops are often gaping even in later times: when the episcopal sees were already firmly established, lacunae are nevertheless found in the succession of prelates. Here are domestic examples: between Saffarius, who occupied the see of Périgueux in the year 590, and Bertrand, who occupied it in the year 767, no intervening bishop is found Gall. Christ., vol. II, col. 1454.: and in the metropolis of Bordeaux from the year 589 to 816 no bishop is listed Ibid. col. 795.. The objection would certainly have force if the few and rare bishops followed one another closely, as we showed above on the 23rd of October with regard to the bishops of Toul from the records of that same Church Act. SS., vol. X of October, p. 908., when we referred the time of St. Amo back to the fourth century: but in the catalogue of Périgueux nothing similar occurs; indeed John Dupuy openly teaches that the Church of Périgueux remained widowed for some time because of the persecutions Vol. I, p. 91..

* John IV, 18.

* Feria V, the 14th day of December.

§ II. The Life to be published is presented; inquiry is made into the Saint's homeland, into his presence at the Last Supper and at the burial of Bl. Martha; and into the killing of the serpent that infested the whole region.

[17] The Life we publish does not seem In order to remove the foundation of the Churches of Gaul from the first to the middle of the third century, our adversaries everywhere object the Lives of the first bishops, crammed, as they say, with many fables, teeming with anachronisms and errors Dupuy, vol. I, p. 233.. Indeed no one will deny that the Acts of the more ancient Saints, not rarely written by more recent authors, are sprinkled with many blemishes. Let it be, then, that the Life of St. Fronto is infected with certain fables: yet from this it by no means follows that the mission of the saint into Gaul and the foundation of the see of Périgueux do not belong to the first century of the Christian era. For the memory of the time at which any Church began, although stuffed with fabulous circumstances, is not easily blotted out in that same Church: and thus a tradition of this kind is to be retained until it is struck down by contrary arguments. But quite another matter is the addition of circumstances with which, for honor's sake, the Life of some Saint is adorned. Further, additions of this kind sometimes proceed from the likeness of names: whence it comes about that what is proper to one namesake is attributed also to another. Thus St. Gregory Nazianzen fused into one person two Cyprians, the one bishop of Carthage, the other the magician of Nicomedia, and mingled their Acts, as our colleagues show on the 26th of September in the Acts of SS. Justina and Cyprian, Martyrs Act. SS., vol. VII of Sept., p. 201.. In the same way, as we have already said at number 6, our St. Fronto was confused with his namesake of Nitria, and hence various fables were born. We touch on certain particulars, omitting however those we shall elucidate in the Life.

[18] very ancient: We know of four more ancient Lives of St. Fronto. We have already indicated above at number 6 the Life written by Gauzbert for the sake of gain, which we judge should be omitted for this reason, that it was not approved by the fathers of Limoges. A second was recently brought out of the darkness of a certain rural parish of the diocese of Beauvais by the Rev. Mr. Pergot, himself also the author of a Life of St. Fronto, published in the year 1861. In this parish, which bears the name of Domnus Fronto (Domfront), in the department of the Isère (Oise), and which glories in our holy prelate as its patron, there is preserved to this day a handwritten codex, of outstanding calligraphic art indeed, but of more recent age, since it was written scarcely before the middle of the sixteenth century. It contains, however, the whole Office of the Saint, marked with musical notation, and in it, besides nine pictures that represent the deeds of St. Fronto, there are the lessons which are commonly called Legends and which present the Life of the Saint Pergot. Vie de S. Front, p. 280 et seqq. and p. 456 et seqq.. The third copy we have discloses as its author Sebaldus, bishop of Périgueux, when he says: I, Sebaldus, bishop. Sebaldus, moreover, occupied the see at the beginning of the tenth century Gall. Christ. vol. II, col. 1456.; and so was sufficiently remote from the age of St. Fronto to be able to mix certain fables into his narration. But I would not believe Sebaldus to be the author of the Life as we have it either: for if the composition of Sebaldus had existed, the clerics of Périgueux at the synod of Limoges could have refuted the abbot of Solignac with an easy effort, by pointing out that an older writer, Sebaldus, had so collected all the things by which St. Fronto is put on a par with St. Martial and merits the title of Apostle, that they in no way needed Gauzbert as an authority. From which it follows that the Life composed by Sebaldus must have lain hidden and unknown a hundred years later, which is not likely. Further, our codex brings forward those things which most powerfully vindicate the apostolate of St. Fronto, as though the writer wished to refute what had been thrown out against this title at Limoges. For this reason I prefer to attribute the Life to be published to an anonymous author, who was able to use the writings of his predecessors. Moreover there are two copies of this Life, preserved in the Bollandist papers, the one more prolix than the other. We publish the shorter: but in the Annotations we shall use the more prolix, as far as is needful; for the shorter is generally held to be the older. Both, as also that which was published from the codex of Domfront, relate the same things in nearly the same order: but the one, like the Domfront text, being fuller in words, adds various commonplaces that are lacking in the copy to be published. Moreover, although the Life we publish does not lack its fables, it is not on that account useless, both because it relates things truly done mingled among them, and because it can be of service in elucidating the monuments of the Saints, which without such Legends must be regarded as a kind of enigma. In writings of this sort there is grave difficulty in discerning the true from the false; which is increased also by the confusion of Fronto of Périgueux with his namesake of Nitria. But let us come to close quarters with the matter.

[19] his homeland more probably Lycaonia First of all it is asked among the biographers what the homeland of St. Fronto was. Gauzbert records that he was born at Périgueux and formed in letters, including Christian letters. Certainly already in the first century of the Christian era, after the subjugation of Gaul, commerce between Italy and Gaul was very frequent. Wherefore if this tradition were consistent with itself, there would be no reason for us to oppose Gauzbert; provided however that it were not laid down with him that St. Fronto learned the psalter at Périgueux and was initiated there into the Christian rites. But there is another tradition, of the same antiquity so far as we know, namely that St. Fronto sprang from the region of Lycaonia, as the inscription cited above at number 13 has it. And since we maintain that the Saint was sent into Gaul by Bl. Peter the Apostle, and thus was his disciple, nothing prevents that homeland from being assigned to him; for Lycaonia lies almost in the middle between Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia and Bithynia, those provinces namely in which he preached the Gospel of Christ, as we are taught by his first catholic epistle, directed to the elect strangers of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. When afterwards St. Peter came to Rome, in order to establish there the supreme apostolic see in perpetuity, he probably brought with him some disciples, helpers of his apostolate, whom he afterwards sent to various European provinces as bishops to found Churches; just as St. Paul left his disciple Titus in Crete, that he should correct the things that were wanting and appoint presbyters in the cities, as he himself had also directed him (Titus I, 5).

[20] at the Lord's Supper with the Apostles, But to St. Peter's following a new ornament was added by the other biographer, who, as we said at number 18, published the fuller Life. He begins in these words: Bl. Fronto, of the tribe of Judah, begotten of his father Simon and of his mother Frontonia, was sprung from the borders of the region of Lycaonia, distinguished by noble birth. He, eloquent of tongue, honorable in morals, when our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching the Gospel of the kingdom through Judea, Galilee and Syria, came to him, asking to be regenerated by the wave of sacred baptism; whom Bl. Peter, at the command of Christ, baptized, and wished him to remain with him: and he was chosen a virgin by the Lord and remained a virgin. He was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, who with the others also took up the ministry of holy preaching. He also with the others received from the Lord the power of raising the dead, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, giving light to the blind, casting out demons, and doing other mighty works and signs in the name of Christ. And he was present with the Apostles at the Lord's supper, at which Christ by his power changed the bread into his body and the wine into his blood, and gave them to his disciples, and washed their feet. Then after the passion of the Lord, with the other disciples he saw the glory of Christ's resurrection in the flesh and the power of his ascending into heaven, and on the holy day of Pentecost he received with the rest the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire, etc.

[21] as the Evangelists show, These things, which are preserved in the hagiographic collection of the royal library of Brussels among the manuscript codices under number 8921, I judge to be later than the council of Limoges of the year 1031, inasmuch as they correspond exactly to the objections opposed to his apostolate at that synod, namely that St. Fronto did not have the power of raising the dead, and had not been joined to the Apostles of Christ. But he seems to have done this with little skill, since the very words of the Gospels escaped him. For the three Evangelists who treat of the Last Supper in express terms teach explicitly that the twelve Apostles were guests with Jesus. Matthew XXVI, 19 says: They prepared the pasch: and when evening had come, he reclined with his TWELVE disciples. And Mark XIV, 16: They prepared the pasch. And when evening had come, he came with the TWELVE. Luke finally XXII, 13: They prepared the pasch. And when the hour had come, he reclined, and the TWELVE Apostles with him. John, since he does not describe the supper, does not give the number of the guests. On these words of the Evangelists Juan Maldonado comments thus on Matthew XXVI, 20: It seems to me that the Evangelist expressed the number of the disciples with whom Christ ate the lamb in order to signify in this matter too that he observed the prescription of the law. For the law commanded that the father of a household should eat the lamb with his whole household (Exod. XII, 3); and the disciples were the household of Christ. Chrysostom judges that this was said by the Evangelist in order to show that Judas also reclined with the rest of the Apostles, and to declare his impudence and ingratitude, on which point the ancient authors disagree among themselves.

[22] he was not present. Namely, it is not agreed among the ancients whether Judas the traitor was present at the institution of the sacred Eucharist and was fed by it: but this, which Maldonado expounds, does not pertain to our matter; and he then goes on: It may also be asked, and I see it has been doubted by some, whether any others besides the disciples reclined with Christ. Euthymius

thinks that some others also reclined with him, although the Evangelists have not named them, which for many reasons I cannot approve: both because the other Jews did not celebrate the pasch on the same day, and because the Evangelists have expressed the name or number of the disciples so carefully that they seem to have wished to do two things, both to signify that all the disciples were present, and to indicate that no one was present besides them; and because the law prescribed that each household should eat its own lamb, and that no outsider should be admitted, unless the number of the household was not sufficient for eating a whole lamb; for in that case it allowed as many outsiders as were needed for eating the lamb to be called in. But the number of the disciples was great enough for eating the lamb. The same opinion is embraced by Lucas of Bruges in his commentary on the cited text of Matthew. From these things it is sufficiently manifest that there was no place in the upper room for St. Fronto, but that it is a mere fable, invented for the purpose of fitting the title of Apostle to the Saint. What has so far been said shows, moreover, that the homeland of St. Fronto is uncertain. Since however the older authorities make him to have sprung from Gaul, and indeed from the district of Périgueux, the opinion more probable to them, confirmed by the Martyrology of Rabanus, is that he was born in the place Linicasium in the borders of the city of Périgueux. It seems to be the present-day village of Lanquais, even now in the diocese of Périgueux, in the district of Bergerac.

[23] Borrowed from the history of others From Ado we have it that St. Fronto raised his companion by help of the staff of St. Peter: Ordained at Rome, he says, by Bl. Peter, he was sent with the presbyter George to preach the Gospel; and when on the third day of the journey the same George had died, Fronto in grief returned to the Apostle, and having received his staff and laid it upon the body of the deceased, he recovered his companion from death. Because the same prodigy with exactly the same circumstances is also attributed to other Gallic bishops, Jacques Longueval took occasion from it to weaken the old tradition by which the foundation of the Church of Périgueux is bound to the first century. For in his dissertation on the beginnings of the spreading of the Gospel through Gaul, he complains that certain persons glorify the Saints by means of lies Hist. de l'Egl. Gall. Vol. I, p. LXIII. Paris edition 1825., and says that the Acts of the first apostles of Gaul are infected with such fables. The Acts that have been published, he says, are adorned with such portentous additions that no one could recognize simple truth in them; and indeed they seem to be derived one from another. Thus St. Martial raises St. Austriclinianus, his companion, by help of the staff given by St. Peter: by help of the same staff St. Eucharius raises St. Maternus, his companion: St. Clement of Metz performs the same miracle for St. Domitian, his companion, by the power of the same staff of St. Peter: St. Fronto restores life with the same staff to St. George, his companion. What faith can be accorded to Acts of this kind? As we have already said, all things are the same in these Acts: each is sent with one companion; on the third day of the journey the companions die; the bishops return to Rome, and on coming back lay the staff received from St. Peter upon the dead man, who at once comes to life again. It is therefore entirely manifest that one writer copied out the history taken over from another, namely in order that one Saint might not seem inferior to another.

[24] of Bl. George, companion of St. Fronto, The Rev. Mr. Faillon, a Sulpician theologian, who defends the ancient traditions of Gaul with both curiosity and skill, frankly confesses that the very likeness of the prodigy four times repeated causes all credit to be withdrawn from the narratives; inasmuch as it becomes manifest that it was fictitiously attached to the Saint in order to amplify his glory. He nevertheless judges that a miracle of this kind befell some apostolic man sent into Gaul: for that it should be attributed to four different bishops, he says, requires that it should have happened at some time at least to one. The foundation of a spurious tradition is generally a historical truth, at times wrongly transferred from one to another. The said writer further judges that this miracle was originally ascribed to our St. Fronto Monum. de l'apostol. de S. M. Mad., vol. II, col. 393.. Certainly Ado relates it of our Fronto alone. Paul the Deacon, the eighth-century writer of the History of the bishops of Metz Calmet, Hist. de Lorr., vol. I. Preuv., col. 62., while he relates that St. Clement, sent to Metz by St. Peter, became illustrious by very many miracles, yet introduces no mention of a prodigy of this kind. The Gesta Trevirorum, whose author Eberhard died in the year 909 Prolegom., p. 18. Trier edition, 1836., ascribes this miracle to St. Eucharius, who, laying the staff of St. Peter upon his dead companion, St. Maternus, recalled him to life Ibid., p. 32.. Which of the two traditions is older, that proper to St. Fronto or that proper to St. Eucharius, I would not dare to decide. As regards priority between our St. Fronto and St. Martial, the question is equally difficult: for in the eleventh century at the council of Limoges two things in particular were opposed to the apostolate of our St. Fronto, namely that he had not gone to Jerusalem, and that the place was not known where George is read to have been raised by Frontus Labbe, vol. IX, conc. col. 875.. From which indeed it follows that the tradition of George's raising was vague at that time, since it could not point out the place: whereas on the contrary the men of Limoges claimed the prodigy for their Martial, showing the place of the prodigy as Elze, today Colle, an episcopal city of Etruria. The raising of George therefore seems to have been fabricated rather late, and is accordingly to be struck out altogether.

[25] the resurrection is to be called, Moreover the Acts of St. George, published by Bernard Gui, offer the most ancient monument of all composed on the deeds of St. Fronto Monum., vol. II, col. 391.. We have these same Acts in hand from the Bollandist collection of the Royal Library under number 8930. The biographer narrates the resurrection of St. George in these words: They (Fronto and George), not resisting the salutary admonitions, set out on the journey enjoined on them, although with many tears shed out of the affection of charity. And on the third day they came to a certain town near the place Volsinum, founded in antiquity by the very nation of the Volti, and being kindly received there, they had lodging for some time, preaching and proclaiming the saving word of the catholic religion. Meanwhile, as they tarried there, George was weighed down by sickness, and after no very long interval was overtaken by death: and Fronto, sad and sorrowful, returned with hurried step to the Apostle Peter: and prostrate at his feet, he redoubled tearful cries and tearfully implored that life be given back to the deceased. To whom the master said: Put away your grief, dearest one, with which you afflict yourself in vain; for him whom you know to be dead you will beyond doubt rejoice to see living. Take therefore this staff and pastoral rod, which you shall carry with you and lay upon the body of the deceased: then, having invoked the power of God, confidently command that he rise speedily from the dead, and so, sound and unharmed, he shall go on together with you to preach the Gospel. All these things having been done as the Apostle had commanded, he sees his dead companion rise, for whose death he had most bitterly wept. Whence also in that country many believed in Christ. Thus far the biographer.

[26] which deed is to be attributed also to St. Eucharius of Trier: Volsinum, in the vernacular Bolseno, is a small town in the delegation of Viterbo and the diocese of Orvieto (Orvieto), distant some eighty kilometers from Rome toward the north. But if, as has been said above, the Acts of St. George contain the most ancient documents concerning St. Fronto, these seem to be more recent than the eleventh century; since the people of Périgueux, when asked where Frontus is read to have raised George Labbe, vol. IX, conc. col. 875., muttered, and when challenged did not know how to answer. For if the history written above had been composed at that time, they would have confidently pointed to Volsinum and by their reply would have broken the opposition of the men of Limoges. This too must not be passed over, that the tradition of St. Eucharius seems more widespread than that of St. Fronto: for Innocent III, in his work on the Sacred Mystery of the Altar, Book I, chapter 62 Migne. Patrol., vol. CCXVII, col. 798., teaches that the Roman Pontiff does not use a pastoral staff, for the reason that Bl. Peter the Apostle sent his staff to Eucharius, first bishop of the Treveri, whom together with Valerius and Maternus he appointed to preach the Gospel to the Teutonic nation. In the episcopate he was succeeded by Maternus, who had been raised from death by the staff of St. Peter. Which staff the church of Trier preserves to this day with great veneration. I would not however on that account judge that the miracle of resurrection pertains to St. Eucharius with greater certainty than to St. Fronto, although the preservation of the staff itself seems to stand in favor of the tradition of Trier. I wished to suggest this one thing, that this resurrection, if indeed it pertains to one of the apostolic men, cannot be attributed to any of them in particular and individually. Although these things are so, fragments of the prodigious staff were long preserved both among the people of Périgueux and among those of Velay, and it was also placed in the treasury among the people of Tongeren, as though it were the instrument of the raising of St. Maternus. Fronto's staff was split into two parts; the upper formerly existed at Périgueux, and was probably lost at the time when the very body of St. Fronto perished Pergot, Vie de S. Front, p. 178.. The lower part remained in the collegiate church of the town of Saint-Paulien, in the diocese of Le Puy (St-Paulien, dép. Haute-Loire), until the year 1793 Ibid., p. 177 and 441.. For at that time it was stolen away by impious men. When peace had been given back to the Church, the staff was restored to the parish priest of Saint-Paulien, who gave it to the nuns called of the Instruction (Dames de l'Instruction), and it is kept to this day at Le Puy Ibid., l. c. and p. 449 et seq.. This staff is a traveler's staff, yellow like gold, and of such weight that it seems to be of iron, nor has it so far been possible to indicate with certainty to what species of tree, from which it was cut, it belongs.

[27] his prodigious presence at the burial. In the Life of St. Mary Magdalene, which the Rev. Mr. Faillon ascribes to Rabanus, we read in chapter 49 Monum. de l'apostol., vol. II, col. 555.: On the Lord's day, at the third hour of the day, all were gathered together in order to lay out the holy body of Bl. Martha in fitting manner * on the day before the Kalends of August. When behold at the same hour, at Périgueux, a city of Aquitaine, to the pontiff St. Fronto, who was about to celebrate Mass, and was waiting for the people and dozing in his chair, Christ appeared and said to him: Son, come, fulfill what you promised, that you would be present at the obsequies of Martha my hostess. He spoke: and at once together, in the twinkling of an eye, they appeared at Tarascon, holding books in their hands, in the church: Christ standing at the head, the prelate at the feet; they alone placing the body in the mausoleum, while all who were present marveled. When the obsequies were completed they go out. One of the clergy follows them, asking the Lord who he was or whence he had come. To whom the Lord answered nothing, but gave him the book he was holding. The cleric returned to the tomb, showed the book to all, and on each page read thus: Martha, the hostess of Christ, shall be in everlasting remembrance; she shall not fear for evil hearing. Nothing else was contained in the book. Meanwhile at Périgueux the deacon rouses the pontiff, suggesting that the hour of the sacrifice is passing, that the people are growing weary. To whom the prelate said: Do not,

he said, be troubled, and let it not weary you to have waited so long: for I was just now rapt in spirit, whether in the body or out of the body I know not, God knows, to Tarascon with the Lord Savior, to bury his most holy minister Martha, now dead, as I promised her while she lived. Send therefore now someone to bring back our ring and the chryseous gloves, griscas. which I placed in the hands of the sacristan while I laid the holy body in the mausoleum. The people, hearing these things, marvel, and send messengers as far as Tarascon. The people of Tarascon write back to those of Périgueux the day and the hour of her burial, and that an unknown and venerable person had been present at her obsequies together with their pontiff, whom they knew well; and about the book and the inscription of the book, lest perhaps this should have escaped the bishop; and that the ring which the sacristan had received was being sent back, and one of the gloves: the other being retained as a testimony of so great a miracle.

[28] of Bl. Martha, from the burial of St. Martin, In this narrative various things occur that agree little with the customs of the first centuries. Thus the ring and the pontifical gloves seem to smack of later ages; for although the ring was in use among the ancients, as the history of the Romans, Greeks and Hebrews teaches, it can by no means be shown that it was also a pontifical ornament. As regards gloves, these, if Pitiscus is to be believed in his Lexicon of antiquity under the word Chirothecae, were among the Romans employed only from necessity, never for ornament. There were certainly in the first century clerics who kept the sacred furnishings, yet I would not believe that the name of sacristan was given to them. From these things I deduce that the biographer cited above expressed the prodigious presence of Bl. Fronto at the burial of St. Martha according to the customs of his own age Monum. de l'Apost., vol. II, col. 340.. Yet I would not shrink from accepting the narrative, if it were established that the biographer truly is Rabanus, and that he borrowed it from a more ancient Life: the difficulty is created by what was said at number 6, which renders its author uncertain. Yet whoever the writer of this Life may be, this nevertheless is clear, that it stood firm and fixed that St. Fronto was a contemporary of St. Martha, the hostess of Christ, and thus that his pontificate among the people of Périgueux belonged to the first century of the Christian era. In memory of the event there was at Tarascon, in the church of St. Martha, an altar erected in honor of St. Fronto Monum. sur l'Égl. de S. Marthe, à Tarascon, p. 70., and on the sarcophagus of the same Saint St. Fronto was shown burying her Monum. de Mar. Mad., vol. I, col. 1221..

[29] at which Bl. Ambrose is said to have been present It must also be noted that the apparition of St. Fronto at the obsequies of St. Martha is narrated by the biographer in such a way that one may suspect that he copied almost word for word Gregory of Tours, who relates the same thing of St. Ambrose of Milan, present at the burial of Bl. Martin of Tours. Here are the words from Book I of the Miracles of St. Martin, chapter 5 Migne. Patrol., vol. LXXI, col. 918. St. Ambrose had this custom in celebrating the feasts of the Lord's day, that the lector coming with his book should not presume to read before the Saint had commanded it with a nod. It happened, then, on that Lord's day, that when the prophetic lesson had been recited, and the lector was already standing before the altar to bring forth the lesson of Bl. Paul, the most blessed prelate Ambrose fell asleep over the holy altar. Many, seeing this, since no one at all presumed to rouse him, after a space of nearly two or three hours had passed, roused him, saying: The hour is already passing: let my lord bid the lector read the lesson; for the people are waiting, now very weary. But Bl. Ambrose, answering, said: Do not be troubled: for it avails me much to have so slept, to whom the Lord has deigned to show such a miracle. For know that my brother Martin, the priest, has gone forth from the body, and that I have rendered the service to his funeral, and, the office having been performed according to custom, it was only a little chapter that I did not complete, because you roused me. Then they, astonished and likewise wondering, note the day and the time, carefully making inquiry. And they found that very day and time of the holy man's passing, on which the blessed Confessor had said he served at his obsequies. Thierry Ruinart, the Benedictine of Saint-Maur, editor of the works of St. Gregory of Tours, holds this history for fabulous Ibid., l. c. n. g., because either the death of St. Ambrose must be deferred or that of St. Martin anticipated. But these things will have to be examined in the Acts of one or the other: and our colleagues in the preliminary Treatise to volume I of April may be consulted Act. SS., vol. I of Apr., p. XXXVIII..

[30] seems to have been transferred: Here, however, we have one thing to show, the likeness of the circumstances in both events, whence the suspicion arises that the matter, as it is narrated, was derived from Gregory of Tours, the more ancient writer. For 1° Martha and Martin are buried on the Lord's day. 2° Both pontiffs, sitting in the chair, with the people present, fall asleep. 3° No one dares to rouse Ambrose or Fronto from sleep. 4° The people of Milan and of Périgueux grow weary of waiting. 5° Both bishops, when the hour of the sacrifice has already passed, answer the astonished clerics: Do not be troubled, and relate what had happened elsewhere. 6° In both places the day and the hour are noted; and on inquiry being made it is found that these things truly took place in a distant region Monum. de l'ap. de S. Marie M., vol. II, col. 337.. Although these things are so, we do not however reject the prodigious presence of St. Fronto at the funeral of St. Martha, so far, that is, as the miracle rests on suitable testimony. But if on account of chronological difficulties the authority of Gregory of Tours is doubtful, when he relates an event done in his own church, no one ought to wonder that we hesitate uncertain over a portent wrapped in doubtful notices. Yet there is no reason why we should deny prodigious apparitions of this kind, or, if one may say so, bilocations, of which Prospero Lambertini brings forward manifold examples in his work on the Canonization of the Servants of God, Book IV, part I, chapter 32, number 18; and in the Life of St. Alphonsus de Liguori, founder of the most deserving Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, an outstanding specimen of an apparition of this kind is brought forward, when namely the holy man was seen to sleep for twenty-four hours, and on awaking declared that he had stood by Pope Clement XIV as he was dying Tannoja, Mem. sur la vie de S. Alph. de Liguori, vol. II, p. 447..

[31] of the serpent, by St. Fronto In the Acts of St. Fronto to be published there is frequently praised in the holy prelate the power of expelling serpents: which certainly, if it pertains to the first apostles, has authority from the Gospel itself, in which at Mark XVI, 18 there is set down among the signs that shall follow those who have believed: In the name of Jesus they shall take up serpents. It remains however to be examined whether, as is attributed to the principal Saints of the first centuries, there ever existed such serpents or dragons as terrified a whole region. A narrative of this kind could scarcely be absent from the Acts of St. Fronto. We set it down here from the Brussels codex, number 8921: On one occasion he was visiting his diocese, and there was a snake of marvelous size, ravaging not only animals but even men with lamentable devastation. Wherefore men and women came to him from the neighboring places, humbly begging him to expel the aforesaid snake from their borders. Consenting to their petition, he crossed the river Dordogne dry-shod, and opposing the sign of the cross to the snake as it advanced against him, he commanded in the name of Jesus Christ, whom the Jews crucified, that it should not presume to remain any longer where there was a habitation of men, but should betake itself to the deep sea. And at once at the command of the man of God it threw itself headlong into the river Dordogne; and thence it hid itself in the whirlpools of the Ocean sea, from which it had come. John Dupuy, following other writers, adorns his narrative a little differently; namely, that the dragon burst asunder at the prayers of the holy prelate, and was thrown headlong into the Dordogne.

[32] killed, There are also reported among the profane historians dragons or serpents of portentous size and cruelty. Valerius Maximus, Book I, chapter 9, and Florus, Book II, chapter 2, narrate that by the river Bagradas in Africa there was a snake of such size that it kept the army of Atilius Regulus from the use of the stream; and that, having seized many soldiers in its huge mouth, and crushed a great many in the coils of its tail, since it could not be pierced by the casting of spears, it was at last attacked from all sides with the engines of the ballistae and fell under the frequent and heavy blows of flints, having seemed more terrible to all, both cohorts and legions, than Carthage itself: and also that, the waters being steeped with its gore, and the neighboring region polluted by the pestilential breath of the body as it lay, it drove the Roman camp away from there. He says also that the skin of the beast, 120 feet long, was sent to the City. Pliny, Book VIII, chapter 14, of the Natural History, has the same things about serpents of marvelous size, and adds: The serpents called boas in Italy lend credit to these, growing to such an extent that in the reign of the divine Claudius a whole infant was seen in the belly of one killed on the Vatican. Solinus Polyhistor has nearly the same things P. 78. Paris edition, 1847.. Of this serpent the Life of St. Hilarion written by Bl. Jerome has similar things, which we published on the 21st of October Acta SS., vol. IX of Oct., p. 56.. Strabo also, in Book VI P. 1073. Oxford edition, 1807., writes that a serpent was seen of the length of a jugerum; of such thickness that horsemen standing on either side could not see one another; with such a gape that it could take in a man sitting on a horse; each scale of its slough larger than a shield. Whoever desires more may consult the various authors who have treated of portentous brutes of this kind. In the Historical and Critical Lexicon, on the occasion of Adeodatus Gozon, the knight of Rhodes, who is reported to have killed an enormous dragon, Jacques de Chaufepié cites various examples of monsters, and at the same time shows that what is narrated of Gozon is true Chausepié, Dict. hist. et crit. under Gozon.. In the year 1589 at Niort (Niort) in the diocese of Poitiers a dragon had been brought in, a plague to the whole region; a certain William of Beauchamp, condemned to death, attacks the monster, under pledge of a pardon of his life: he kills the dragon, but the poison vomited by the dragon kills the victor. A monument of the outstanding deed existed down to the year 1792 Lecanu. Hist. des év. de Constance, p. 431.. Even in the Middle Ages bishops were shown treading on a serpent: thus Stephen, bishop of Tréguier, in the year 1222 crushes a dragon on his seal Morice, Mem. de la Bretagne, vol. I, plate X, number 139..

[33] perhaps as a sign of idolatry overthrown. We have adduced these things in order that it might be evident that the histories of serpents or dragons, even if they are decried as fables, were not drawn by the legend-writers of the Middle Ages from a storehouse of their own. Barthold Niebuhr relegates among the fictions what Roman history narrates of the serpent killed by Regulus Hist. Rom., vol. III, page 541.: indeed there is no one, I believe, who would deny that the form, size and strength of serpents of this kind have been exaggerated: provided it be agreed that something true also underlies these fables, if one may speak so. It may therefore have happened that some serpent or dragon laid waste the territory of Périgueux, and was killed by the prayers of St. Fronto: the matter also somewhat probable

is made by a tradition which has retained until now the name of the lair where it once lay hidden: for near the town of Limeuil there is a mountain overhanging the Dordogne, with a cave four feet high and two wide, the serpent's lurking-place: and on the top of the mountain there is, writes John Dupuy, a church under the title of St. Fronto of the Snake, St-Front-Colori Dupuy, Estat de l'Egl. du Perig., vol. I, p. 59.. The tradition, which may be called topographical, in some measure confirms the history of the dragon itself. Yet a scruple is raised in us by the multitude of Saints Ὀφιοκτονῶν, who either were the first to assail idolatry or destroyed its remnants, as was said of St. Romanus of Rouen on the 23rd of October at number 50. Thus, by the witness of Eusebius in the Life of Constantine the Great, Book III, chapter 3 [Migne. Patrol. græc., vol. XX, col. 1058. Cf. Baron. at the year 325, CCCVI. Eckhel. Doctr. num. Vet., vol. VIII, p. 88.], the emperor ordered a cross to be fashioned, beneath which the foe and enemy of the human race is shown in the form of a dragon rushing headlong: That is, that great dragon, the old serpent, who is called the devil (Apoc. XII, 9).

* with honor?

§ III. Of the death and burial of the Saint; of his cult and various translations; the Relics, a few being preserved, are thrown into the Dordogne by the Calvinists.

After his death the Saint outside the city St. Fronto seems to have closed his day by a natural death, in the peace of the Lord; and according to the custom of those times he obtained a grave outside the city. His body, says the Breviary of Périgueux of the year 1833, was buried near the city, in the place afterwards called the Puy of St. Fronto, which itself also grew into a city. John Dupuy writes that the body of the holy prelate was laid in an oratory of the Blessed Virgin Mary; it may justly be doubted whether the place had already then been publicly dedicated for the performance of Christian rites. But this is certain from Roman law, that a place becomes religious when a dead man is brought into his place. Institutes, Book II, title I, §9. And those who violated tombs incurred, besides other penalties, infamy, l. I, ff de sepulc. violato (XLVII, 12): cf. Cod. Theod. Book IX, title XVII, de sepulc. violatis. Such laws protected most effectively not only the memory but also the bones of the deceased from all injury: to which is added the special care bestowed by Christians on the bodies of the deceased, as Tertullian insinuates in his Apologeticum, chapter XXXVII Migne, Patrol., vol. I, col. 461., when he reproaches the gentiles because, in the very frenzies of their bacchanals, they do not spare even dead Christians, but tear them from the rest of the grave, from the asylum as it were of death, no longer the same, and no longer whole, cut them apart, pull them to pieces. How great, moreover, was the care of the Christians for their dead, especially those illustrious with the glory of sanctity, is well set forth by Antonio Bosio in his Roma Subterranea, Book I, chapters 9 and following: among other things he reports from the Roman Martyrology the encomium of St. Lucina, which recounts the customs of apostolic times, namely on the 30th of June we have: At Rome, St. Lucina, disciple of the Apostles, who, sharing of her means in the necessities of the Saints, visited the Christians held in prison, and served in the burial of the Martyrs, near whom she herself was also buried, in a crypt constructed by her.

[35] is buried. Even though, then, it is not established that an oratory had been built already in the first century in which the body of St. Fronto might be laid, it is nevertheless certain that the bones of the holy prelate did not perish, but remained intact until the times of Chronopius II, bishop of Périgueux. This bishop, who occupied the chair from the beginning of the sixth century, since he was at the council of Agde of the year 506, at least to the year 533, when he took part in and subscribed the second council of Orléans, erected the basilica of St. Fronto, and translated his Relics from the old shrine to a more adorned place. This translation is celebrated on the day before the Nones (the 6th) of October, but in precisely what year it took place is altogether uncertain Gall. christ., vol. II, col. 1451.. Lecointe judges that it should more probably be tied to the year 530: for he says at this year, § XII: this translation is celebrated on the day before the Nones of October: if it took place on a Lord's day, as is quite probable, it occurred in the year either 513, or 519, or 524, or 530. The work seems to be of about the last times in which Chronopius ruled the episcopate, and therefore it is set down by us in this year (530) rather than in the others.

[36] Chronopius II built a church: The Relics of St. Fronto were venerated by St. Gaugericus of Cambrai, who ended his life at the beginning of the seventh century, as is read in his Acts on the 11th of August; coming to Périgueux to inspect the estates of his bishopric, he visited the tomb of the holy prelate, and since there was no one to hold his episcopal staff, it stood upright with no one holding it Dion. De Infallibil. summi Pont., p. 79.. The same thing is narrated of St. Hilary of Poitiers, who, having set out for Limoges with his disciple and intimate Justus, is said to have gone on the way to venerate the tomb of St. Fronto Migne. Patrol., vol. IX, col. 183.: but this Life of Hilary is everywhere rejected, as savoring of fable, for example it relates that St. Hilary disputed at a Roman Synod with Pope Leo, younger by nearly a whole century. We do not however deny that the bishop of Poitiers was involved in the affairs of Périgueux, and thus that he at times frequented that city, since we read in Sulpicius, Book II of the Sacred History, chapter 45 Ibid. vol. XX, col. 155., (Ariangoa) that by the efforts of Hilary, Paternus of Périgueux, a madman, not refusing to profess the perfidy, was driven from the priesthood. And hence it could certainly have happened that Hilary, who by the witness of the same Sulpicius, l. c., thought it best to recall all to amendment and penitence, also visited the people of Périgueux, and strengthened them to preserve the catholic faith; on which occasion he would also not have neglected to visit the tomb of St. Fronto and to show him due veneration. But so far this is a mere, though probable, conjecture, by which nothing certain may be determined.

[37] which, destroyed by the Normans, The sacred Edifice erected by Chronopius seems to have been destroyed by the Normans. For in the Fragment on the bishops of Périgueux in Philippe Labbe it is written Nov. Biblioth. mss. vol. II, p. 737.: In the year of the Incarnation of the Lord nine hundred and seventy-six, Bishop Froterius was sent to Périgueux by Hugh Capet, king of the Franks, and he ruled the Church for 14 years, 6 months, 3 days. And he died in the year of the Lord 991, on the sixth day before the Ides of December, and was buried in the basilica of St. Fronto. This bishop began to build the great monastery of St. Fronto, and the castle of Aganiacum, Craoniacum, Alba Rocha, the Rock of St. Christopher, the Rock of Basiliacum, that they might be a defense and refuge against the Normans, straying at that time in pagan errors. In his time the body of St. Frontasius the martyr was revealed through a vision to a certain religious man, a canon of the same church: the place however in which it lay was utterly unknown because of the frequent raids of wars. In the end this bishop was slain by his provost in the place that is called Morcinq, which is in the parish of Coursiacum. Frontasius the Martyr, of whom the text treats, must not be confused with our St. Fronto, of whom he was a disciple together with SS. Severinus, Severian and Silanus, of whom our colleagues treat on the 2nd of January Act. SS., vol. I of January, p. 79 and 1085..

[38] Bishop Froterius restores it in the tenth century; The Rev. Mr. Audierne, in his glosses on the book of John Dupuy, is of the opinion that the ancient Chronopian temple of St. Fronto was not destroyed, but was enlarged by Bishop Froterius: for he does not think it likely that the tomb of the Saint lay neglected for a whole century Dupuy, Estat de l'Egl. du Perig., vol. I, p. 273.. But the conjecture will not easily be admitted by one who has considered the devastation spread by the ferocity of the Normans through the whole of Gaul: whence it came about that the Relics of the Saints were either hidden, or transferred to another region: and that this was also done in the province of Périgueux is insinuated by the text in which we are taught that Froterius built castles as defenses and refuges against the Normans. I prefer, then, to subscribe to the other reason he brings forward: namely that the temple of Froterius was rebuilt in another place, a little distant, while the older or Chronopian one remained standing for some time. For Rudolf of Cohalia or Cohiacum, whom Mr. Audierne names Radulf de Scoraille Ibid. l. c., and who occupied the see of Périgueux from the year 1000 to 1013, is read to have been buried first in the Old monastery, where an altar was consecrated in honor of St. Thomas the martyr Labbe, Nov. Bibl. mss., vol. II, p. 738.. This Thomas I interpret as Thomas of Canterbury, who suffered in the year 1170: and accordingly, since indeed an altar was being erected in the Old monastery one hundred and sixty years after the death of Rudolf, it is manifest that this monastery long survived. Although Froterius is said to have founded the new monastery, the last hand was put to the edifice rather late, since its dedication was celebrated only in the year 1047 by Aymo of Bourbon, archbishop of Bourges Gall. christ., vol. II, col. 1459.: then in the year 1077, as the Fragment of Périgueux has it in Philippe Labbe Nov. Bibl. mss., vol. II, p. 738., Guinamandus, a monk of La Chaise-Dieu, wonderfully sculpted the tomb of St. Fronto. Stephen Iterius, canon of St. Fronto and cellarer, furnished everything necessary for this work.

[39] the Saint's relics by Bishop Peter of Saint-Astier Then scarcely fifty years had the edifice of St. Fronto stood when it burned down anew. For in the first quarter of the twelfth century, namely under the pontificate of William of Auberoche, who ruled the bishopric of Périgueux from the year 1104 to 1123 Gall. christ. vol. II, col. 1462., the burgh of St. Fronto and the monastery with its ornaments burned down in a sudden fire, our sins deserving it, and the bells in the bell-tower were melted by the fire. At that time the monastery was covered with wooden planks Labbe, vol. II, p. 738.. And on the occasion of this fire I judge that the memory of St. Fronto was for a time clouded over. For although the monastery was restored in some manner not so very long after, inasmuch as in it, in the year 1138, William of Nanclars, successor of William of Auberoche, was laid to rest Gall. christ., vol. II, col. 1465.; nevertheless an opinion began to creep about that the body of St. Fronto had been carried off in the time of the Normans and lost. For this reason Peter of Saint-Astier, bishop of Périgueux, visited the tomb of the saint, in order that it might thenceforth be evident to all what truth the common rumor held. We present the instrument of the visitation Dupuy, Estat de l'Egl. du Perig., vol. II, p. 90.: Peter, by the grace of God bishop of Périgueux, to the venerable and discreet men, abbots, priors, rectors of churches, the clergy and the whole people of the diocese of Périgueux, to whom the present letters shall come, greeting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas concerning the body of the most blessed Fronto, first

pontiff of Périgueux, it had been doubted by many for a long time past whether it was in his church in the tomb that is commonly called the tomb of St. Fronto, some from ignorance, others from malice saying that it had been carried off by the Normans: we and the chapter and the burgesses of the Puy of St. Fronto, wishing to have fuller certitude of this, having first heard and more fully understood the revelations or visions of certain upright men, shown by the Lord to the honor of the Saint concerning the truth of this matter; on the day before the Kalends of May, devoutly entering the aforesaid tomb, with many Friars Minor and Preachers assisting us within the tomb, and many canons of St. Fronto and two burgesses; while outside around the tomb there were present and assisting many other canons, presbyters and clerics and the consuls of the aforesaid town and many other burgesses with great lights of wax; we opened with great labor the stone tomb in which, according to public report and other conjectures, we firmly believed the said most sacred body to rest.

[40] because they were said to have perished, are verified; And finding in the aforesaid tomb a great wooden chest, strong and well bound with iron, we opened it, finding in it another great leaden chest, in which we found, as we hoped, the most holy bones of the body entire, and by the grace of God incorrupt, and large pieces of the head solid and firm: and before we touched anything of the aforesaid Relics, we drew out both chests with all their contents from the aforesaid tomb, and before the eyes of all the aforesaid and of many others, we drew out the separate bones from the aforesaid leaden chest, with immense joy and devotion of those standing around, and we placed them all in a certain most beautiful new wooden receptacle, wrapped inside in silken cloth. These things being accomplished and thanksgivings rendered to the Lord, in the sight of all the aforesaid, we set the said Relics in the tomb and sepulcher from which we had drawn them, to be kept there until they are put back in a noble chest, which will be shortly, God granting. And after this translation, at the third hour, on the counsel of the clergy and people, we began the feast of the translation to the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ, solemnly celebrating the solemnities of Mass of blessed Fronto for the innumerable people who had flowed together to this church. At the end of the sermon, faithfully setting forth all the above, we showed to the same people the leaden plate on which letters to this effect were written: HERE LIES THE BODY OF BLESSED FRONTO, DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST AND BELOVED SON OF BLESSED PETER IN BAPTISM. Likewise we showed to the same people another plate of copper or bronze, containing letters to this effect: HERE LIES THE BODY OF MOST BLESSED FRONTO, DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST AND SON OF BLESSED PETER THE APOSTLE IN BAPTISM, SPRUNG FROM THE REGION OF LYCAONIA, OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH, FROM SIMON AND FRONTONIA. HE DIED ON THE EIGHTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF NOVEMBER, IN THE FORTY-SECOND YEAR AFTER THE PASSION OF THE LORD. These two plates were found by us in the leaden chest with the most holy body aforesaid, and we found certain other letters inscribed on the leaden chest itself, containing many verses composed in praise of the aforesaid Saint. Since therefore the whole clergy and people of the said diocese of Périgueux ought to rejoice beyond measure in so great a patron, who first preached the catholic faith in these parts and converted the people to Christ, we earnestly require and beg your whole body, enjoining on you in virtue of holy obedience, that you solemnly celebrate the feast of the aforesaid translation on the vigil of Philip and James, to the honor of God and of the most blessed Fronto, for all time to come; for we mercifully remit forty days of the penances enjoined on them to all who celebrate the aforesaid feast piously and with devotion. Given on the sixth day before the Nones of May, in the year of the Lord 1261.

[41] and afterwards, with the assent of Pope Eugene IV, Bishop Peter of Saint-Astier certainly had the intention of replacing the sacred bones in a noble chest, and he said he hoped to do this shortly, God granting: nevertheless two whole centuries passed between the hope and the deed. For in the year 1441 the canons of the church of St. Fronto directed a petition to Eugene IV that they might at last be allowed to carry out what had been so long in their vows. As, says the Pontiff Dupuy, vol. II, p. 138., we have learned from the tenor of the petition offered to us on your part, although Peter of good memory, bishop of Périgueux, reflecting and piously considering that the Most High has deigned to work very many miracles by means of the Saint himself, who in those parts is held as the patron and chief intercessor of the worshippers of Christ, as he works them from day to day, and that the body of the same saint was resting in a less seemly place; and desiring most earnestly that a body of this kind should be preserved more seemly and venerably, and exalted more amply, caused to be made a certain silver shrine, sufficiently beautiful and precious, in order that his body might be placed therein, and be moved from the place where it lies to some other place in the aforesaid church more suitable and fitting for its veneration, and instituted and ordained that the day of the translation or exaltation of the said saint should be solemnly celebrated there each year on the last day of the month of April; yet because the said bishop long since, as it pleased the Lord, paid the debt of nature, the foregoing have not yet been brought to effect, nor could they be carried through. Wherefore it has been humbly petitioned of us on your part that we should deign of apostolic kindness to grant you license to place the said body in the aforesaid shrine and also to transfer it.

[42] were translated into a more precious chest; We therefore, very greatly commending in the Lord such institution and ordinance and the other things done by the same bishop concerning the veneration and exaltation of the said body, and desiring that it be fittingly venerated by the faithful of Christ and becomingly preserved; inclined also by such supplications: by apostolic authority, by the tenor of these presents, we bestow on you license to place the aforesaid body, according to the intention, institution and ordinance of the bishop, in the said shrine, and also to transfer it from the place in which it lies, as aforesaid, to some other seemly and suitable place in the same church, as shall seem best; and also to separate the head of the said Saint from the said body through some catholic prelate, and to place it in some fitting tabernacle or precious vessel, and upon the high altar or elsewhere, where it shall seem more fitting in the said church, that it may be better and more becomingly shown to the people, as often as shall seem good to you. Notwithstanding etc. To no one therefore of men etc. Given at Florence in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1441, on the 17th day before the Kalends of January, in the eleventh year of our pontificate. But after the bull was given the work begun stuck fast once more, and only under the episcopate of Elias of Bourdeilles, who occupied the see of Périgueux from the year 1447 to 1468 Gall. Christ. Antiq. Vol. I, p. 783., namely after 22 years or in the year of Christ 1463, was the translation and exaltation brought to effect. This prelate, with the bishops of Rieux and Sarlat, Hugh and Bertrand de Rouffignac, assisting, celebrated the solemn translation on the day, as John Dupuy has it, of the 25th or 27th of May of the year 1463. I for my part would think that the celebration took place rather on the 27th than on the 25th of May, the Ascension of the Lord falling in that year on the 26th of the same month; and thus its vigil, hindered by the fast and the supplication of the Rogations, seems less suited to a solemnity. Moreover Bishop Elias constructed at his own expense a most magnificent chest, erected for keeping the body of St. Fronto, and placed the head separately in a precious vessel in the middle of the choir, and finally brought an arm into the cathedral church Dupuy. Vol. II p. 150 and Brev. Petrag. at the 30th of April..

[43] until in the year 1575 they were scattered by the Calvinists; At length, scarcely a century having passed, the sacred bones of Bl. Fronto for the most part perished. For when in the year 1575, on the 6th day of August, the Calvinists, rebels against the king, had by cunning occupied the city of Périgueux, they turned sacred things upside down; and raged above all against the edifice of our Saint; for having plundered the precious reliquaries both of the body and of the head, they threw the sacred bones into the river Dordogne. Thereafter also, the cathedral church having been shaken on every side, the church of St. Fronto began to be held as the cathedral, both chapters coalescing into one, and is so to this day under the title of SS. Stephen and Fronto Ibid. p. 200 et seq.. On this occasion a poem, preserved in the capitular book, was composed, and is of the following tenor Ibid. p. 205..

Here once we saw the tomb sacred to Fronto Glitter with gems, nor was it less mighty in art: For its pile of stones, carved, showed the monsters Of various beasts, and so many images of men. Yet this was destroyed; this crime the ruin of the temple Almost followed, its riches having been plundered. The city too was laid waste by the cruel daring of men Whom love of a forbidden religion drives. But as the people sacred to God, leaving Babylon, Restored the temples destroyed by the Assyrians; So we venerate the remains of the temple, as before, But pour forth our accustomed prayers from a sadder mouth: Which, Father, hear, and have mercy on the people praying, And, appeased, protect, O Christ, your house.

[44] [a bone of the skull however being preserved, part of which was deposited in the cathedral in the year 1826:] Not all the bones of St. Fronto, however, had perished in the devastation of Périgueux of the year 1575. For in the Capitular Acts of the same Church, on the 24th day of June 1826, one reads the following, which we render from French into Latin: The most illustrious lord bishop of Périgueux (Alexandre de Lostanges, from the year 1823 to 1835) made known to the chapter that he had in deposit with him precious Relics of saints of undoubted genuineness. First of all a bone of St. Silanus, first disciple of St. Fronto, snatched by pious faithful from the fury of the impious, when the parish church of this saint was being destroyed, and then entrusted for safekeeping to the Count of Saint-Astier, magistrate of the place of Antonne, until it could be deposited in the hands of the most illustrious Lord. Next a bone of the skull of St. Fronto, carefully preserved in the parish of Andrivaux, today united to the parish of Chancelade. By the care of the Rev. Mr. Ségui, parish priest of Chancelade, indications were collected by which the genuineness of this relic is established: he therefore ordered a small part to be cut off, destined for the cathedral church. And in this manner there will be in the ancient church of St. Fronto two chests, placed beside the high altar, containing the most precious portions of the first apostles of this province, on which will be inscribed in golden letters the words: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Ps. CXV, 15 Monum. de Ste Marie Madel. Vol. II col. 1647..

[45] Similarly at Nogeliacum in the diocese of Soissons Besides the Relics of Périgueux, certain bones of the Saint are preserved to this day at Nogeliacum or Nulliacum of St. Fronto (Neuilly-Saint-Front) in the diocese of Soissons, where St. Fronto is reported to have preached. And afterwards Joanna, queen of France and Navarre, wife of Charles the Fair, who was busy retaining the kingdom of Navarre for himself, founded a chapel in honor of our Saint. The foundation was approved by Pope Clement VI, in the second year of his pontificate. Here

is the bull, of which the Rev. Mr. Pergot presents fragments in the Life of St. Fronto Vie de S. Front, p. 485.. Clement VI, servant of the servants of God, for the perpetual memory of the matter. The integrity of immense devotion and the filial reverence which our dearest daughter in Christ Joanna, illustrious queen of France and Navarre, bears toward us and the Roman Church, deserve that we should favorably assent to her petitions, which take increase from the fervor of inward devotion. The petition of the aforesaid queen exhibited to us contained that near the town of Nulliacum of St. Fronto, in the diocese of Soissons, namely in a certain desert, there is a certain place which was named At the Stones of St. Fronto, and in which, as is asserted, the same Saint, first bishop of Périgueux, made a long stay, and … celebrated upon one of the said stones, and that there is there a certain Amphora which God is said to have sent with wine with which, as is said, the Saint celebrated there … that the aforesaid queen proposes to endow out of her own goods, up to the value of thirty pounds Tournois of annual and perpetual revenue, in the same place, a certain chapel, canonically founded, dedicated to the honor of the same St. Fronto, that the same Saint may be honored by the faithful in those parts, and that the fervor of the faithful in the aforesaid place may be enlarged, and the worship of the Lord also increased. Given at Avignon in the year II of the pontificate.

[46] a chapel is erected, in which Relics The reverend editor himself confesses that he has published only certain fragments of the bull Ibid., p. 299.: whence it could have happened that he did not render all things with exactness. Thus at the very beginning the pope will not have said Clement VI; the pontiffs have not been accustomed to attach a number to their name: the present pontiff Pius IX says simply: Pius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, without the addition of the number IX. Further, it is said in the cited bull that near the town of Nulliacum there is a certain place which was named At the Stones of St. Fronto: namely there are three stones or flint rocks, on the first of which, nearly flat like a table, the Saint is said to have offered sacrifice: on the second is placed an elegant niche, adorned with a statue of the saint: the third, hollowed out by some centimeters, seems to certain credulous persons to represent the hoof of the horse which the Saint mounted when he killed the dragon that was laying waste those lands Ibid., p. 292 et seqq.. The amphora also or phial, in which the sacrificial wine sent from heaven was contained, was at some time broken; its fragments however, together with a small piece of silk, once soaked with the portentous wine, are preserved to this day. Near the stones is a spring, which is called that of St. Fronto. All these things are held in veneration even today, and the water of the spring is held to be health-giving for the sick Ibid., p. 297 et seqq.. In the year 1499 seven ounces of the stone upon which the holy pontiff was believed to have celebrated the divine mysteries with the wine sent from heaven were sent to Périgueux. At the same time there was requested, if it could be done, some part of the Relics, which the canons of St. Fronto granted: and all these things are related in the Office of the Translation of St. Fronto, composed for the church of Nulliacum Ibid., p. 490.. This translation is celebrated on the Monday after the feast of St. John the Baptist, and lasts to the following Sunday with a great concourse of people, flocking together not only from neighboring but also from distant towns Ibid., p. 310., and he is invoked especially by those who suffer in their feet Ibid., p. 312..

[47] are preserved to this day, as is evident The Relics of Nulliacum have been preserved to this day either by the sluggishness of the impious or by the vigilance of the pious. In the year 1857, when they were enclosed in a new and more becoming reliquary through the care of the Rev. Mr. Couty, parish priest of Nulliacum, they were verified by order of the most reverend bishop of Soissons, as is clear from an instrument subscribed by his vicar general, whose tenor we give from the book of the Rev. Mr. Pergot Ibid. p. 304 and 486.. Paul Armand Anaclet Ignace de Garsignies, by divine mercy and the favor of the holy apostolic see bishop of Soissons and Laon, dean and first suffragan of the province of Reims, to each and all who shall inspect the present letters, we testify that we, for the greater glory of almighty God and the honor of St. Fronto and of all the Saints, having applied a most diligent examination, and having heard testimonies most worthy of belief, have been made certain that a certain bone drawn from the ancient Reliquary by Mr. Joseph-Prosper Couty, parish priest of the church of Negoliacum in our diocese, whom we delegated for this, is the smaller part of one of the fingers of St. Fronto, bishop of Périgueux, from the larger part of the same finger which previously existed, and that a small part of a certain silken cloth, of red color, from the shroud in which the venerable body of the blessed pontiff had been wrapped after his death, was cut off to be stored with the same bone; and that these sacred Relics were carried with them from the city of Périgueux to Negoliacum, a small town of the diocese of Soissons, in the year 1499, by three honorable citizens, among whom was a presbyter, delegates from the lords rectors of the church to the said city of Périgueux; which we have recognized as authentic; and the part of the venerable finger we stored in a very small oval reliquary, of gilded bronze, encircled and adorned with hollow diamonds and four emeralds, and placed it, bound with silken threads of red color, upon a certain very old silken cloth of the same color, which up to now wrapped the parchment enclosing the aforesaid bone; and upon the sacred bone itself there is placed a silken band bearing on a small paper, almost eaten away by time, this inscription: “Reliques de saint Front.” Relics of St. Front. This very small reliquary is closed and secured on four sides with our smaller seal, stamped on green silken bands. Beneath this reliquary lies a silken cushion of purple, square, inclined at its front part, fixed from below to the larger reliquary, of which below, by four screws, and covering the aforesaid parchment and the present testimonial letters enclosed in paper of blue color. This very small reliquary and all the adjuncts described above are enclosed in the aforesaid larger reliquary, new and of elegant form, also cast of gilded bronze, consisting of six angles and as many fixed panes of glass, unequal, and covered with a flat top, and open only at the upper part, which, firmly closed with a double lid by four screws, is sealed on the front and back parts, on silken bands of red color, with our smaller seal stamped in wax of the same color.

[48] from an instrument drawn up in the year 1857; As for the part of the shroud of St. Fronto, we stored it in a medallion of rock crystal, set in gold and bronze, shining with eight stones, surmounted by a cross, and adorning a small statue of St. Fronto, very ancient and happily restored, which is believed to be the gift of Queen Joanna of Évreux, wife of Charles of Valois, foundress, in the year 1343, of the Chapel of St. Fronto, called of the heather, and which is placed upon the larger reliquary; and at the same time in the above-mentioned medallion, which is covered with our smaller seal, we inserted nine fragments of the glass ampulla, which was accidentally broken, in which, according to a pious and venerable tradition, reported in the Bull of the supreme pontiff Clement VI, wine was brought from heaven by a dove to the holy pontiff for celebrating the divine mysteries, and also four small pieces of silken cloth of rose color, which are said to have been soaked with this wine. In faith of which things we have ordered the present letters to be issued, with the faculty of exposing the said relics to the veneration of the faithful. To these present letters, secured with our larger seal, our vicar general, archdeacon of Soissons, has subscribed. Given at Negoliacum in the year of the Lord 1857, on the sixth day of the month of December. Duplicate of the testimonial letters of the recognition and translation of the Relics of St. Fronto, inserted in the new reliquary. At Negoliacum on the 8th day of December 1857, the feast of the immaculate conception. Hurillon, vicar general. And these are the things we had to say on the relics of St. Fronto. For that his remains are preserved at Nice in the subalpine country is not likely, as we shall show below.

[49] the liturgy of Périgueux on St. Fronto. In order that the cult of St. Fronto may be more widely explained, it will be worthwhile to add here the liturgy used on the Saint's feast, which François de la Béraudière, bishop of Périgueux from the year 1614 to 1624 or 1625 Gall. Christ., vol. II, col. 1486., prescribed to be celebrated Pergot. Vie de S. Front, p. 434.: The Mass is of an Apostle, the Epistle, Brethren, you are no longer strangers, etc., the Gospel, The Lord appointed another seventy-two, etc. After the Gradual there is a Prose or Sequence, which we subjoin here:

Peter is derived from rock, The Rock, Christ, by whom is founded The steadfast Church. The name of the Rock is enlarged, When through Peter is spread abroad The glory of the Trinity.

The Rock sends the first fisherman To Rome, that he may drive out error And vain things. Rome holds Peter as her first Corrector and shepherd, That he may keep the sheepfolds.

Peter to the land of Périgueux, A whirlpool of rocks From their abundance, Sends a brother dear to him, That the hardness of those peoples May be softened.

This is Fronto, biting death, Who, stronger, routs the strong one, Carries off the spoils of death. For George, his companion, Beyond the accustomed lot He draws to the heights.

Likened to the Canaanite woman, Through Fronto is healed The senator's daughter. By a doubled vision, The wounded skin is afraid, And gathers counsels.

Squirius, seeing, is troubled, Asks for faith, faith is given, Idolatry grows foul. He changes his name, and is changed; In baptism is renewed The whole country together.

A marvelous thing! while Mass Is being celebrated, the prelate slumbers At the third hour of light: There is haste to Tarascon, Christ accompanies him, They celebrate the funeral rites.

Among the one he stayed, absent, Among the others, staying, he passes, He remains in absence. Whether the prelate be out of the body, Since the glove remained behind, The knowledge of God knows.

Remain with us, shepherd, Your sheep at evening, at morning, May your presence protect. Be the leader of your city's People, through you made Christian, Its prelate and its guard. Amen. Alleluia.

[50] The people of Nice falsely claim the body of St. Fronto for themselves. Pietro Gioffredo in his Nicaea Illustrata, Part I, title IV Thesaur. Antiq. Ital. Part V, Rom. IX, col. 89., reports that the body of St. Fronto is preserved in the church of the monastery of St. Pontius at Nice on the Sea, or on the river Var. He does not however judge, although common report has it otherwise, that it is the body of the Bishop of Périgueux, inasmuch as this, as we said above at number 37, was found entire in the year 1261, so far as all the bones were found. Whence also John Dupuy deduces that the people of Saint-Pons are in error in affirming that they have the body of the Saint, the bishop of Périgueux Vol. II. p. 90.. For this reason the said Gioffredo is of the opinion that it is rather the body of Frodonius, bishop of Nice Thes. p. 89., who flourished about the beginning of the eleventh century, and restored the monastery of St. Pontius, with the help of the spouses Miro and Odila Ibid. col. 155.. The once distinguished abbey perished about the end of the eighteenth century Casalis. Dizionn. de Sardegna under Nizza p. 991.: the church however still exists, in which the body of Fronto or Frodonius is probably preserved. Its care is today in the hands of the Fathers Oblates of St. Mary, as is evident from the liturgical Calendar of the year 1846.

[51] Of the coin attributed to St. Fronto. Finally, a very ancient monument of the cult of St. Fronto would be furnished, if it were genuine, by a gold coin, a third of a gold solidus, on whose front is a head wreathed with pearls with the inscription VESONNO VIC, while on the reverse, marked with an anchored cross, the author of the antiquities of Vesona reads FRUNTO SILAS. For Silas was a disciple of St. Fronto and is venerated at Périgueux on the 4th of January Antiq. de Vesone Vol. II, p. 257. Cf. Act. SS. Vol. I, p. 79 and 1085.. If these things were so, the coin would present a very ancient and very certain indication of cult; since already in the second century of the common era the ancient names of cities had fallen out of use, as M. Belley shows in the Commentaries of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscr. et Belles Lettres. Vol. XIX, p. 507.: and indeed Gregory of Tours nowhere speaks of Vesona, the ancient name, but of Périgueux. But to one inspecting the coin more accurately it is no longer FRUNTO SILAS to be read but FRUNISISILUS, that is to say the name of the moneyer, whom Le Blanc confesses to be unknown to him Traité de Monnoyes p. 58.. There is also another specimen of a similar coin, in which the front has VESONNE VICO, the back a cross resting upon two steps, with the inscription FLANISILUS Revue numismat. franc. year 1839, p. 200.. We present both cut in wood:

Vesonno vico M. Lelewel interprets as the place Besons, which is three kilometers from Argenteuil, in the present diocese of Versailles Numism. du moyen âge, vol. I, p. 78.. Claude Bouteroue will therefore have been in error when he attributes the coin to the city of Périgueux Recherches curieuses sur les monn., p. 371.. Moreover the anchored cross belongs to the coins of north-central Gaul, and for that reason is commonly called the Parisian cross Lelewel, Numism. du moyen-âge, vol. I, p. 32 and 56., nor is it found on Aquitanian coins. The argument for the very ancient cult of St. Fronto therefore collapses altogether: which would have been useful insofar as it showed that St. Fronto preached in Gaul in the second century, and thus before the time assigned by Gregory of Tours.

LIFE OF ST. FRONTO, BISHOP OF PÉRIGUEUX,

Transcribed from the Utrecht manuscript of St. Salvator, in the royal library under number 8931.

Fronto, bishop of Périgueux in Gaul. (S.)

BHL Number: 3185, 3184

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

CHAPTER ONE.

The Saint, born in Lycaonia, is baptized by Bl. Peter; he cleaves to Christ; he is sent into Gaul to the Petrocorii, whom he converts to Christ by preaching and miracles; he announces the Gospel through the neighboring cities.

Bl. Fronto, baptized by St. Peter, Blessed Fronto, of the tribe of Judah, begotten of his father Simon and his mother Frontonia, was sprung from the borders of the region of Lycaonia ^b, distinguished by noble birth. He, eloquent of tongue, honorable in morals, when our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching the Gospel of the kingdom through Judea, Galilee and Syria, came to him, asking to be regenerated by the wave of sacred baptism; whom Blessed Peter, at the command of Christ, baptized, and wished him to remain with him, and he was chosen a virgin by the Lord and remained a virgin. He was one of the 72 disciples of Christ, who with the others also took up the ministry of holy preaching: he also with the others received from the Lord the power of raising the dead, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, giving light to the blind, casting out demons, and doing other mighty works and signs in the name of Christ ^c. He was also present with the Apostles at the Lord's supper, at which Christ by his power changed the bread into his body and the wine into his blood, and gave them to his disciples, and washed their feet ^d. Thence after the passion of the Lord he saw with the other disciples the glory of Christ's resurrection in the flesh and the power of his ascension into heaven, and on the holy day of Pentecost he received with the rest the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire.

[2] he is sent by him into Gaul with Bl. George, whom he raises from death; And in the 35th year of the Lord's Incarnation, after the assumption of the most blessed Mother of God Mary, the Apostles of Christ dispersed through various provinces to preach the Gospel ^e. And Blessed Peter, after he had held the priestly chair in the parts of the East for four years, determined to go to Antioch: and Blessed Fronto accompanied him with many others. And having completed seven years at Antioch in the office of preaching ^f, and having ordained bishops, presbyters and deacons there, Blessed Peter set out for Rome with Fronto, George and his other disciples. And it came about, while Fronto was staying and preaching there, that a girl, the daughter of a certain senator, tormented by demons for 13 years continuously, Fronto, having poured out prayers to God, set free in the name of Christ, the demons crying out and saying: O Jesus of Nazareth! Why have you sent such great and such torments upon us! So great is the power of this man, that we could not stand in his sight. Among his other miracles also he gave light there to two blind men, and cleansed lepers, and healed various other infirmities in the name of Christ. For which reason Blessed Peter began to hold him in greater honor. And when Blessed Peter was appointing several of the 72 disciples and others, whom Peter himself had taken to himself, through various provinces to preach the word of God, he specially appointed Fronto to the Second Aquitaine, namely to Périgueux ^g. He, strengthened by the apostolic blessing, bidding farewell to the brethren, undertook with St. George the journey enjoined on him. On which journey St. George passed to the Lord: but by the staff of St. Peter, brought by Bl. Fronto, he was raised, as is contained above in the legend of Bl. George ^h.

[3] he reaches Périgueux; And so, completing the journey they had begun, they reached the city of Valence, to which city St. George had been appointed bishop ⁱ. While he remained there, St. Fronto with Anianus, Frontasius and his other disciples set out for the city of Périgueux, to which he had been assigned. And when he had passed through many places preaching the word of God, he reached the city of Périgueux. Having entered which city, he began to preach the word of God, and destroying the worship of the gods, in whom demons dwelt, and their worshippers, in a short time he converted many gentiles to Christ and washed them in the font of sacred baptism. And it came about, while he was preaching in the theater, that a certain man full of a demon, bound with iron chains, began to cry out, saying: O Fronto, your prayers are burning me. To whom Blessed Fronto said: Be silent, unclean Spirit, and go out of him. And at once the man was set free, who for many years had been tormented by a demon. Seeing which, Maximilla, a venerable matron, falling at the feet of the Saint, begged to be baptized. Having been baptized by him, she led him to her palace and received him with honor. She had a husband, Chilperic by name, who, suffering for 12 years from the disease of paralysis, could not rise from his bed. Then the venerable matron Maximilla begged St. Fronto that, as he healed other sick persons, so he would deign to cure her husband of the disease of paralysis. And Fronto, coming where Chilperic lay, said to him: Peace be with you. To whom Chilperic: You are welcome. Fronto said to him: Do you wish to be healed? Chilperic said: I do. Then St. Fronto said: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Chilperic said: If he makes me well, he is God. Then St. Fronto said: Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ can free you from this infirmity? To whom Chilperic said: I firmly believe. Then St. Fronto, taking water, baptized him, and holding his hand said: May the Lord Jesus Christ, who healed paralytics, deign to cure you of this infirmity: and having made the sign of the cross, he healed him. Seeing which, his sons and all his household, two hundred in number, falling to the ground before him, asked for baptism: and he, having proclaimed and completed a three-day fast, baptized them.

[4] and having worked various miracles, And when the fame of his sanctity was spread through the whole city, the count of the same city ^k, Aurelius by name, full of ulcers and pains, implored Blessed Fronto to come to him. And as he was approaching him, a blind man who met him before the door of the hall he gave light to, having invoked the name of Christ. The count, hearing this, hastily ran to meet him, and fell at his knees. St. Fronto catechized him and freed him from his ulcers and pains. And he grew to such ardor of faith that he established Blessed Fronto and his successors as temporal lords over himself and his people: and he handed over his palace to the holy man, that he might construct in it a church suited to divine worship. And St. Fronto consecrated a church there in honor of the Savior, of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St. John the Baptist, in the third year of the reign of Claudius ^l. After these things the son of a certain woman whom Bl. Fronto had earlier freed from the torment of a demon, falling into a well and drawn out lifeless after four hours, was laid before the feet of the Saint; and covering him with his cloak he did not cease to pray until he gave back the boy alive to his mother.

[5] he converts very many to the faith of Christ, In the same city there was a noble man, not yet subject to the Christian faith, whose only son had died. And the father ran to the blessed man of God, saying: O Fronto, give back to me my only son and I will believe in the Christ whom you confess. Then Bl. Fronto ordered the body of the boy to be carried to him: and holding the boy's hand he prayed: and the prayer being completed, the boy rose unharmed as from sleep. His parents, seeing this, were baptized with him and with the whole household, 300 in number. After these things almost a similar miracle befell St. Fronto. For when he was going toward the gate which is called Roman, in order to draw back those who were hurrying to sacrifice to Diana, a dead young man was being carried out, the son of a certain magnificent man who was called Pascentius, a crowd of people accompanying him. And Fronto, coming up, having called for silence with his hand, said to the father of the young man: If you believe that Christ, whom I preach, is true God, and permit yourself to be baptized, you will rejoice in your salvation and in the raising of your son. Then Pascentius and all the people standing by threw themselves at the knees of St. Fronto, and as all promised to despise the figments of their gods and to take up the faith of Christ, Blessed Fronto therefore, his knees bent to the ground and his hands raised to heaven, prayed to God. And when the prayer was finished, the young man rose as from sleep, and with a clear voice said: Truly until now we have erred, because the gods whom we worship are demons; for I have seen them undergoing torments with their worshippers. Then seven thousand men on that day were washed in the font of sacred baptism.

[6] a church to the true God, And the man of God with the throngs converted by him to the faith went to the greater temple, consecrated to Mars, and overturned the idols erected there, and cleansed that place, and there he consecrated a church in honor of the Protomartyr Stephen, and willed it to be the head of his see, and established there seventy-two clerics, who should sing the praise of God day and night ^m. And Fronto, seeing the surrounding cities given over to the error of idolatry, sent his disciples in every direction through the villages and castles, who, sowing the word of God,

some obtained the palm of martyrdom, and some, many having been converted, returned joyful to their master. And when on a certain day Blessed Fronto was hastening to overturn a temple that was dedicated to Venus, a multitude of pagans, acclaiming him a sorcerer, resisted him in defense of their gods; but Blessed Fronto, having entered the inner temple and invoked the name of Christ, reduced the enormous image to dust, out of which burst a most savage dragon, which with its sulfurous breath killed seven men, and began to press the rest of its worshippers with the cruel lashing of its tail. Then they asked the help of the man of God, who, opposing the sign of the cross, commanded the dragon to seek no other place henceforth but the desert. The rest, seeing this, promised to believe in God, asking that he would deign to raise from death those whom the dragon had killed; and he ordered the bodies of the deceased to be carried outside the temple: there, prayer having been made, they rose as if roused from sleep.

[7] the shrine of the idols having been destroyed, he builds: Then Blessed Fronto, having made the cross, said: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Jews crucified, let part of this shrine fall with the remaining idols, and let the remaining part stand as a remembrance to future generations. Which at once fell. At this sight, on that day four thousand men were baptized. Claudius, fifth emperor of the Romans, in the fourth year of his reign, after he had gained the island of Britain and added others to the empire ⁿ, sent Squirus *, his kinsman, son of Amabilis, a senator of the Romans, with marvelous equipment to Aquitaine, in order to subjugate it to the Roman empire. And Squirus came to the city of Périgueux, which is a city of the aforesaid province, and subjected it to the Roman empire. And the priests, taking indignantly the spreading of the name of Christ, before the governor Squirus unanimously acclaiming Blessed Fronto a sorcerer. Hearing this, the governor Squirus, having sent his attendants, ordered him to be brought into his presence. And blessed Fronto came with Frontasius, Severinus, Severian and Silanus: whom the governor addressed thus: Are you Fronto, who with your vain speeches speak of a certain Jesus, crucified by the Jews a few years ago, and have thus called back the people from the worship of the most holy gods? To whom Fronto said: Certainly. Squirus said: If this man had been God, he could neither have died nor been afflicted with insults. Then Blessed Fronto began to set forth the power of his divinity. Squirus said to him: You cannot persuade me to follow unknown gods. Frontasius with his companions said to the governor: Hear the words of our father, that you may be able to escape eternal torments.

[8] fleeing persecution, he comes to Le Puy. Then the governor in anger said to his attendants: How long shall these men live who promise us eternal torments? And when one of the attendants, having raised his sword, wished to strike Blessed Fronto, the sword hung suspended in the air and the neck of the pontiff remained unharmed. And so great a light appeared above him that the governor with his attendants, leaving the theater, fled; and the attendant who had wished to strike the pontiff began to tear himself with his teeth until he gave up his spirit. But Blessed Fronto with his followers went on to the place called the Puy, where he built a church in honor of blessed Mary ^o. And the governor Squirus, hearing that crowds of the faithful were gathering to blessed Fronto in the aforesaid church, ordered him to be led into exile. When this was heard, the whole city was stirred against the governor Squirus, wishing with one mind to rise up, which St. Fronto forbade, saying: The Lord Jesus Christ, sending us through various regions, said to us: When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. Matth. X, 23. And when all were saddened, saying: Woe to us, who lose so great a father and shepherd: he consoled them, saying: You have God, the father above all and shepherd, in whose hands I leave you. And in that same night the Lord appeared to him, saying: Sweetest brother, do not fear to go into exile, because after you have made my name manifest to many men, returning with glory and honor you shall also gain your persecutor for me. When morning had come, having called the faithful together, he left them the blessed presbyter Calepodius to rule the Church; and having given his blessing and taken a few with him, he directed his journey toward the northern quarter [p].

ANNOTATIONS.

p. That is, Brantôme, where St. Fronto in exile first arrived in the northern quarter from the city of Périgueux, as is manifest to one inspecting a topographical map.

* cod. B. Sequirus

CHAPTER II.

He goes about various cities for the sake of preaching; he converts the petty king Sigibert; he casts the dragon headlong into the Dordogne; by a holy end he rests in peace.

The Saint goes to Brantôme and Bordeaux; And when he had passed through several places, he reached Brantôme ^a, there he converted pagan peoples, and reduced an idol of Mercury to ashes, and in that place built a church in honor of the Savior. And when on a certain day he was preaching to the peoples there, a certain woman laid the lifeless body of her only son before the feet of the Saint

and, prostrate on the ground with a multitude of people, suppliantly implored Blessed Fronto to have mercy on her. And he, prayer having been made, holding the boy's hand, said: Arise, boy, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ the Savior. And he at once arose, and with his mother received baptism. Going forth from there he reached Angoulême ^b, where he healed two demoniacs and one paralytic, and converted a few to the faith. Then he reached Saintes ^c, where, preaching the word of life, he converted many to the faith, and healed four demoniacs who had been brought to him. And when he had been there for some time, he directed his journey toward the city of Bordeaux ^d, then distinguished above the others. And as he stood on the bank of the Garonne, he prayed that God would bring them across the river unharmed. Prayer having been made, a ship which was held on the other bank, with no human steering, by a straight course came to him, and entering it they reached the shore of the city without sailors.

[10] where he converts many; When they had entered the city, then, the idols became so mute that they gave no replies to their idolaters, as they had been accustomed. The pontiffs of the temples, taking this ill and murmuring among themselves, at length learned of the fame of St. Fronto, and the spirit of the demons also revealed to the arch-flamen that it could not give them replies unless the disciple of Christ were cast out of the city. They, searching out St. Fronto, accused him ^e before Count Sigebert. Sigebert, angered, sent attendants and, after he had been shamefully treated, cast him out of the city. And as he passed before the temple of Priapus and Venus, raising his hand he said: May the Son of God destroy you. And prayer having been made, part of the temple fell, and the images were reduced to ash. And Blessed Fronto stayed outside the city, and instructing in the faith many who came to him, converted them to the faith, and there he set up the sign of the cross, and building a church he consecrated it in honor of the Protomartyr Stephen. And in that same night in which Count Sigebert had ordered St. Fronto to be driven out of the city, he was struck with the disease of paralysis. There was brought into the presence of St. Fronto a certain girl, full of a demon. And Blessed Fronto said to the demon: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I command you to go out. And behold, with a great howl and foaming it went out, and at once the girl was healed.

[11] he visits the fortress of Blaye; And St. Fronto, having given his blessing to the peoples, crossed with his disciples to the fortress of Blaye ^f: and there eighteen men, held in prison custody, when they heard of his arrival, begged with an immense outcry that he would have mercy on them. And he, kind as he was, went to the prefect: but the faithless prefect persistently spurned the Saint's proclamation. Then the saint began to invoke the mercy of God, and at once those who were held shut up in prison, their chains having been broken by divine power, presented themselves in the sight of the holy man. Hearing which, the prefect with the rest of the people of the same fortress threw themselves at the feet of the Saint, imploring pardon. These, having proclaimed a three-day fast, he baptized, and destroying the idols, he built a church in honor of the Holy Savior. From there he directed his journey to the city of Saintes. On which journey he gave light by the sign of the cross to a man blind from birth. And coming to the aforesaid city he was honorably received by the faithful. Withdrawing from there, and passing through many cities and castles, in which he sowed the word of God, he entered the land of the Normans, which was called Neustria ^g. And he came to a certain place which was called the Forest of Passagium ^h; and there a little boy, the son of the lord of that place, afflicted with great trouble, died. When this had been told to the man of God, he ordered the lifeless body to be brought to him into a secret place: and all being removed, he prostrated himself in prayer until the boy from death and he himself from prayer rose together. On account of the strangeness of this miracle the father and mother with the other inhabitants of the same place bowed their necks to the Christian faith; and Fronto had a church built in that same place, and converted to Christ the pagans who came to him.

[12] at Soissons he kills a dragon; Going forth from there he reached Soissons; where he converted very many to the faith of Christ by signs and wonders. And being asked by the faithful, he went to a certain place, Nogeliacum ⁱ: and there was there a dragon of marvelous size. And as the Saint approached, the dragon came to meet him with its head raised. To which the Saint said: I command you, deadly dragon, who have raised your head, to submit yourself to me. And at once the dragon, emitting its poison, expired with a roar, and the Saint had a church built there. And when on the holy day of Pentecost, clothed in the sacred vestment, he had come to the altar for the celebration of the Mass, wine was lacking in the ampulla: and because wine could not be found in that place unless it were brought from distant parts, the Saint began to pray with tears at the altar, and behold, a dove, whiter than snow, brought in its beak an ampulla full of wine. When the disciple of Christ saw this, giving thanks to God, he completed the divine office he had begun. In the same place the aforesaid ampulla is preserved even today, though of what material it was is unknown to all. A certain duke, Lotharingius by name, had an only daughter, who was cruelly tormented by a demon. And the demon, being adjured, said: I will not go out unless Fronto, the disciple of Christ, comes. And messengers being sent, he was suppliantly entreated to come to Lotharingius. And when he had come, at once the demon, not being able to bear his presence, left the girl healed. At this sight the duke and all the inhabitants of that place, leaving their idols, were reborn in the font of baptism.

[13] he works miracles at Metz and Limoges Hearing this, Clement, bishop of Metz ^k, hastened to Blessed Fronto, asking him to go to the city of Metz. Assenting to his petition, he began to make the journey with Clement: on which journey they found a young man badly hurt by a dragon, and all being terrified, St. Fronto drew nearer, and prayer having been made to God for the young man, the serpent burst asunder in the middle, and the young man came away healed. And as he was entering the city, two possessed men following him he healed by invoking the name of Christ. Departing from there, passing through many cities, preaching and converting very many to the faith of Christ, he reached the district of Limoges, at the place which is called Nogentius ^l. And when he had done various signs there and converted many to the faith of Christ, the faithful begged him to deign to kill a most mighty dragon which dwelt there with an innumerable multitude of serpents. And he, arming himself with the sign of the cross, came with the people to the place where the dragon dwelt: and opposing the sign of the cross, he said: In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to depart from this region, hurting no man or creature. At this word the dragon, having come forth with a numberless multitude of serpents, nowhere appeared afterwards; which being done, he had a church built there, and staying in that same place with his disciples he led an angelic life. And he himself three hundred times in the night and as many in the day, in imploring God, fixed his knees on the ground and his eyes on heaven.

[14] settled in the desert, he is wonderfully fed; Meanwhile, by God's providence, the Angel of the Lord addressed Squirus, the persecutor of St. Fronto, mentioned above, as he rested on his couch, in such words as these, saying: Why do you feast splendidly, and my dearest Fronto faints with hunger in the desert? Arise, make haste to send them provisions, otherwise you will rouse my fury against you. And when morning had come, having called many together, he inquired about the dwelling of the disciples of Christ in the desert; but he found no one who said that he knew it. But on another night, visited by the aforesaid Angel, he was struck with a heavy beating of blows. And in the morning, calling together his friends, weeping he showed the blows, and asked of all what should be done. One at length, more prudent than the rest, touched perhaps by the divine spirit, said: Hear, governor, you have very many camels, order them to be loaded with an abundance of food, and let them go off laden without a driver: for if this visitation is from God, he will lead them to his servants, and when the loads have been set down, he will call them back unharmed. This counsel pleased the governor, and seventy camels having been loaded, he let them go off without a driver. And by a straight course they reached St. Fronto. And St. Fronto, seeing the camels coming, recognized through the spirit what they were: and being made joyful, he gave thanks to God. And calling together his disciples he said: You see that God by his grace, without our labor, has sent us laden camels. But it is by no means permitted us to keep all the provisions; but let us send back half to him who sent them to us. The provisions being divided, then, and fodder being provided to the camels, they were let go to their own place. And returning by the way by which they had come, on the fourth day after their dispatch they came back to the governor ^m.

[15] Sigebert, long resisting, Then the governor and all who stood by him began with great wonder to praise God, saying: Great is the God of the Christians, whom Fronto preaches. On the next day therefore the governor Squirus, taking with him some of his household, set out on the way revealed to him by the Angel. Coming to Blessed Fronto, thrown at his feet, he asked for pardon, and leaving the error of paganism he earnestly begged that baptism be given him. And Blessed Fronto, catechizing the governor with his people, after a three-day fast baptized him: and admonished him to repent of the blood of the just that had been shed through him; and he gave the governor the name George. After these things St. Fronto with his disciples returned to the city of Périgueux. And when the whole city was hastening to meet its shepherd, a certain woman, who had her little boy placed in an iron cauldron over the fire, hearing the noise of those running to meet him, as if astounded, abandoned her task of bathing him, and forgetting the infant ran out with the others to meet St. Fronto. Meanwhile the fire heated the iron vessel and the water began to boil: but the mother, remembering the boy, commended him to St. Fronto: she ran back in fear, thinking him melted away by the heats of the fire. And entering the house, she saw her son playing unharmed in the vessel kindled with fire. Then, shaken with sudden terror, she called many together, that they might rejoice along with her over what had taken place.

[16] by these very prodigies, he asks for and receives baptism; There was in the same city a certain man named Sigebert, who heaped very many injuries upon St. Fronto: and when Sigebert would in no way acquiesce to his preachings, Fronto said to him: Go to the city of Angoulême, where Bishop Ausonius dwells ⁿ, and if you do not prove from his mouth that what I preach to you is true, believe me no more. And Sigebert, in his unbelief, taking with him his own slave, came to the city of Angoulême: he found St. Ausonius praying. And when Ausonius had learned the cause of Sigebert's coming, he began to speak with him at length in many words of holy preaching; but he could in no way bend him from the perverse madness of his mind. Then Sigebert began to make for the district of Périgueux again. And as he walked with his slave, a very strong bear came to meet him: and when Sigebert had seen it making an attack against him with a terrible roar, in terror he began to adjure it by the Crucified whom Fronto preaches that it should in no way harm him. By which adjuration the bear, thoroughly frightened, threw itself at his feet. At this sight, Sigebert, giving thanks to God, addressed the bear, saying: In the name

of Jesus Christ, whom Fronto preaches, I adjure you to show yourself tractable to me. At this word the bear stood still, and Sigebert sat upon its back, and presented himself in the presence of Blessed Fronto, and with his wife received baptism.

[17] the dragon infesting the region he casts headlong into the Dordogne: There was a certain shrine near the river Dronne, which was called Regula ^o, and when Blessed Fronto wished to overturn it, a multitude of gentiles resisted him and he was driven back with injury. Then the Saint, prostrated in prayer, after a little while rose from the ground: and at once by a crash of thunder and the terror of lightning flashes a great part of the shrine and the images were reduced to nothing. The pagans, seeing this, terrified, believed in Christ, and the remaining part of the district of Périgueux received Christ. Temples are demolished and churches are built on all sides; and thus the multitude of the faithful grew through the preaching of St. Fronto. A certain snake of marvelous size dwelt on the Dronne, which was accustomed to devour men and animals. Men came together therefore to St. Fronto, begging him to expel the said snake from their borders: and the man of God, assenting to their petition, having crossed the river Dordogne with dry foot, came to the place where the snake dwelt: and he commanded it in the name of Jesus Christ not to presume to remain any longer where there was human habitation, but to plunge itself into the deep of the sea. And it at once, at the command of the man of God, in the sight of all, casting itself headlong into the river Dordogne, went back to the waves of the Ocean sea, from which it had come out [p]. And when on a certain occasion Blessed Fronto was preaching in a certain pleasant place near the river Garonne, behold a young man, who was on the farther bank, desiring to hear and see St. Fronto, having no boat, began to swim across the river. And suddenly, by the swift course of the stream, he was sunk into the deep. After three days his lifeless body was found and set at the feet of St. Fronto. And he, moved in his heart with pity, prostrate on the ground, began to pray for the raising of the young man. Prayer having been made, he rose from the ground and, taking the right hand of the deceased, said: Arise in the name of Jesus Christ, whom the Jews crucified. And at once the young man rose and asked for and received the baptism of Christ.

[18] invited to the heavenly homeland, When on a certain day St. Fronto was preaching to the peoples outside the city of Périgueux, it was shown to him that the Holy Apostles Peter by the cross, and Paul by the sword, had fallen at that same hour. He, coming to himself, revealed to all who were present what he had seen, and ordered a church to be built in that place in honor of Blessed Peter the Apostle. This is that Fronto who buried blessed Martha with the Savior, as is more fully contained above in the Legend of St. Martha [q]. And when on a certain Lord's day he was celebrating Mass in the district of Périgueux, a light from heaven shone upon him, in which the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him with a multitude of Angels, in a wonderful fragrance, saying: Come, sweetest brother, on the following Lord's day you shall come to me at the banquet of your brothers. And these things said, the Lord Jesus with that light was received into heaven. And as the Lord's day drew near, his face was shining like the sun. And about the first hour, performing the sacred mysteries, a people almost innumerable having been assembled, he made a long exhortatory sermon on the worship of God. Having consecrated and marked out Anianus as his successor [r], with eyes raised to heaven, giving thanks to God, he blessed the sheep he had acquired and commended them to God. And when the Mass was completed, while the people prayed, he prostrated himself before that of the Blessed Protomartyr Stephen, and an immense light shone upon him after nearly half an hour, which terrified the minds of all, and covered their sight; and a voice with the light was heard, saying: Come, most beloved, come, most beloved, come, you shall be crowned. Then Blessed Fronto gave thanks to God, saying: To you, Lord Jesus Christ, I give thanks with heart and spirit, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ages of ages. And at once the people answered: Amen. Amid all the prayers and tears, joyful and rejoicing, he gave back his spirit to heaven.

[19] he dies a holy death. And Blessed George, bishop of Velay and also of Le Puy [s], while he was celebrating the solemnities of Mass, saw Blessed Fronto, clothed in indescribable ornaments, having crowns on his head, with three deacons clothed in red dalmatics, and two clerics carrying tapers, a great band of Angels accompanying him. Then St. George said to those standing around: Do you see the glory that I see? They testified that they had seen nothing. And St. George said: Did you not see here our father Fronto? He came with three deacons and two boys carrying tapers, with a multitude of Angels, and blessing us he withdrew. Whence I know for certain that he has departed from this world. Let us arise therefore and hasten with all speed to the obsequies of our most pious father. As he said these things all marveled: and rising together they went to the obsequies of the holy father and on the Puy, in the church of the most blessed Mother of God Mary, as he had directed, they buried him with hymns and praises. And when he was being carried to burial, the heavens were seen by many to be opened; and an odor of such sweetness flowed forth that for nearly thirty following days it was perceived by those entering the church. He died on the 8th before the Kalends of November, although * his feast is celebrated in this place [t], in the 42nd year after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian [u]. On the day of his death he gave back sight to three blind men, the power of walking to four lame men, speech to three mutes, and health to many infirm: six also possessed by a demon he set free by his merits. And as the miracles increased, it was revealed to Bishop Cronopius through a vision that he should have another basilica built, into which to translate his holy body [v]. And the bishop, relating this to the clergy and people, they forthwith began to dig the foundations of the church, completing it speedily with urgent work: and when crowds of the faithful had been gathered, on the day before the Nones of October they translated him with hymns and canticles. Then the power of God declared the merits of St. Fronto: for seven contracted men were made sound and fourteen burning with fever were healed, that fire being extinguished. And the Life and Deeds of St. Fronto were written by Anianus and Cronopius, his successors [w], and also by Bishop Sebaldus, a great many things [x]. From all of which these things have been briefly excerpted for the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

does it seem that any place of the province of Brive could have adjoined the Dordogne; since Brive (Brive-la-Gaillarde) is washed by the Corrèze (la Corrèze), which indeed flows into the Dordogne, but in a far distant region, so that it cannot belong to the lesser district of Brive.

p. At number 31 of the Preliminary Commentary we treat of the dragon killed by St. Fronto.

q. At number 27 of the Preliminary Commentary we have brought to the balance what is related of St. Fronto as present at the burial of St. Martha.

r. Of St. Anianus we shall treat on the day on which he is venerated, the 15th of November: John Dupuy may be consulted Vol. I, p. 88..

s. St. George, first bishop of the people of Le Puy, is venerated on the 10th day of November, on which his Acts will be given.

t. The text seems dislocated: the word although indicates that something needs to be supplied: namely that in this place, where the biographer was writing, the feast of St. Fronto was celebrated on some other day, although he died on the 8th before the Kalends of November. Unless someone prefers to supply what we have placed in the margin, when: so that the sense would be that the saint died on the 8th before the Kalends of November, when it is celebrated in this place.

u. The second year of Vespasian coincides with the year of Christ 70. Without inquiring more curiously in this place what the relation is of the common era to the age of Christ the Lord, and thus to his Passion: it is established that there is a difference of some years between the two, and that the nativity of Christ precedes the common era by six years. Whoever desires to know more on this question may go to Sanclemente in his learned work on the Emendation of the common era P. 491..

v. Of Chronopius II, founder of the edifice of Fronto, we have treated at number 35 of the Preliminary Commentary.

w. Of Anianus we have spoken elsewhere. Chronopius, the First of this name, was the third bishop of Périgueux from St. Fronto. He, as the ancient Breviary of Périgueux, cited by John Dupuy, has it Vol. I, p. 90.: Son of Elpidius and Benedicta, raised from death, disciple of Blessed Fronto, and finally his successor in the episcopate, baptized by him with his numerous household, was the cause of the conversion of many to the faith.

x. Sebaldus sat about the beginning of the tenth century and is read to have collected the deeds of St. Fronto and committed them to writing Gall. chr., vol. II, col. 1456.. Cod. B attributes to Bishop Sebaldus himself the Life which it publishes, in these words: When I, Bishop Sebaldus, was occupying myself among the series of the divine Scriptures, and turning over many things within myself about the life of our holy father Fronto, the disciple of Christ, published by most blessed Anianus, Cronopius and the bishops, successors of the same holy man, I found very many things, but overly prolix, which, that they might not be given over to oblivion, I, burning greatly in this business, abbreviated as far as I could, for the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is honor and glory for ages of ages. I preferred to attribute the Life as we have it to an anonymous author on account of the weight of the reasons brought forward at number 18 of the Preliminary Commentary. The work of Sebaldus is said to have been written in the year of grace nine hundred and four, in the seventh indiction, in the fourteenth year of the principate of William, count of the city of Périgueux and of Agen Ibid. l. c.. The year of the principate of Count William is less accurately expressed, since he began to reign in the year 886: and thus, in the current common year 904, the year of his principate was the eighteenth L'art de vérifier les dates, vol. II, p. 375.

* when?