Desiderius

ON ST. DESIDERIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT AUXERRE IN GAUL,

ABOUT THE YEAR DCXXI.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

Desiderius, bishop of Auxerre. (S.)

Quintilian, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Haymarius, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Maurinus, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Aaron, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Betto, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Guido, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

BY R. D. B.

§ I. The saints of the church of Auxerre. The cult and Acts of St. Desiderius.

Autissiodorum, in French Auxerre, whose site in the duchy of Burgundy and ancient origins have often been set out in our work, Auxerre, which has many saints inscribed in its fasti, is reckoned among the more eminent cities of Christian Gaul, above all because there is hardly one that has so many saints inscribed in its sacred fasti. Which will be clear also to those who are not reluctant to run in passing through the fifty-eight volumes of the whole Bollandian collection: where the Acts of a good many saints of Auxerre, enlarged with commentaries by us or by our predecessors, will present themselves. Of these the chief are SS. Julian Acta SS. volume I of February, page 331., Camilla Ibid. volume I of March, page 242., Vigilius Ibid. volume II of March, page 72., Paladius Ibid. volume I of April, page 864., Tetricus Ibid. volume II of April, page 95., Mamertinus and Marianus Ibid. volume cited, page 758., Heribaldus Ibid. volume III of April, page 378., Amator Ibid. volume I of May, page 52., Eusebius and Avitus Ibid. volume cited, page 423., Corcodemus Ibid. volume cited, page 453., Jovinian Ibid. volume II of May, page 5., Valerian and Valerius Ibid. volume cited, page 105., Eladius Ibid. volume cited, page 300; compare volume VII, appendix, page 618., Marcellian Ibid. volume III of May, page 203., Peregrinus Ibid. volume cited, page 563., Valens Ibid. volume V of May, page 7., Helena Ibid. volume cited, page 152., Censurius Ibid. volume II of June, page 277., Hericus Ibid. volume IV of June, page 329., Moderatus and Felix Ibid. volume I of July, page 278., Hugo the pilgrim in Nanvige Ibid. volume II of July, page 447; compare volume VII of July, page 864., Angelelmus Ibid. volume cited, page 520., Theodosius Ibid. volume IV of July, page 276., Marinus Ibid. volume VII of July, page 869., Aetherius Ibid. volume VI of July, page 446., Gerannus Ibid. volume cited, page 502., Ursus Ibid. volume cited, page 158., Germanus Ibid. volume VII of July, page 184., Hugo Ibid. volume II of August, page 550., Eleutherius Ibid. volume III of August, page 299., Optatus together with Sanctinus and Memorius Ibid. volume VI of August, page 680., Aunarius Ibid. volume VI of September, page 86., Alodius Ibid. volume VII of September, page 649., Fraternus Ibid. volume VIII of September, page 135., Firmatus and Flavia or Flavilla Ibid. volume III of October, page 13., Paladia and Porcaria Ibid. volume IV of October, page 18., Felicula Ibid. volume III of October, page 12., Romanus Ibid. volume cited, page 13., Hugh of Montaigu Ibid. volume V of October, page 315., Salvius Ibid. volume VII of October, page 853., Justus Ibid. volume VIII, page 323., Humbaldus Ibid. volume cited, page 996., Domnolenus Ibid. volume IX of October, page 325. and Herefridus Ibid. volume cited, page 206.. To this troop are to be added St. Desiderius, who, as will be explained below, is venerated on the 27th, and the Blesseds Quintilian, Hainmarus, Maurinus, Aaron, Betto and Guido, about whom for various reasons our predecessors kept silent, and whose Acts we shall briefly touch on in the appendix to the Life of St. Desiderius: likewise St. Gregory and other saints, whose deeds will afterwards be described in their place.

[2] [after the concordat of the year 1801 it was annexed partly to the diocese of Nevers, partly to that of Troyes: but now to that of Sens.] But the church of Auxerre, after it had shone with such great light for sixteen centuries, experienced the same disaster as many other Gallican churches: and in the year 1801, the concordat having been entered into between Pius VII and Napoleon I, its territory was divided into two parts, of which one belonged to the diocese of Nevers, the other, in which Auxerre lay, to that of Troyes. Afterwards, when there was discussion of increasing the number of dioceses, and matters had already come to this point in the year 1817, that the episcopal see of Auxerre, as suffragan of the metropolis of Sens, was to be erected anew by the Roman Pontiff, this ancient

prerogative it could not recover, the enemies of religion resisting; and it was annexed in the year 1821 to the archdiocese of Sens, in such a way however that from the twenty-third year of this century the archbishop of Sens, by order of Pope Pius VII, must be named and inscribed at the same time bishop of Auxerre [Lebeuf, Mémoires d'Auxerre et de son ancien diocèse, volume II, page 403, 1848 edition.].

[3] Its XIXth bishop, Desiderius, has been venerated from ancient times. Of this church the nineteenth bishop, and not the twentieth, as du Saussay relates Martyrologium Gall., at the 27th day of October., was St. Desiderius: who the old historical monuments testify had as predecessors Peregrinus, Marcellian, Valerian, Eladius, Amator, Germanus, Fraternus, Alodius, Censurius, Ursus, Theodosius, Gregory, Optatus, Droctoaldus, Eleutherius, Romanus, Aetherius and Aunarius; all of whom, as we were just saying, we read to be reckoned among those in heaven. Nor is it less certain that St. Desiderius has been honoured with ecclesiastical cult from the remotest times. For in the ancient Martyrology of Auxerre Martene, Amplissima collectio, volume VI, column 728., which Jean Lebeuf thinks was composed at the end of the XI century for the use of the church of Auxerre, there is read at the 27th day of October: At Auxerre, the deposition of Blessed Desiderius, bishop: which words too another hand, on the testimony of Rosweyde Appendix to the Martyrology of Ado, Rosweyde's edition., inserted into the Martyrology of Ado. Besides, three most ancient codices of the Adonian Martyrology, of which Domenico Giorgi affirms that two were written in the XII century and the third in the XI Martyrology of Ado, Giorgi's edition, page 549 and following., begin thus on the 27th day of October: At Auxerre, the deposition of Blessed Desiderius, most distinguished by birth. He, being the possessor of incredible estates, so to say, greatly enlarged the basilica of St. Stephen the protomartyr on the eastern side, and, decorated with beauty by an admirable work of mosaic in a certain manner, it shines with his riches: and there he also moved the altar and solemnly consecrated it on the XIV of the Kalends of May. He held the episcopate for XVIII years, XXV days. He rested at last in peace, and was buried beside St. Aunarius in the church of Blessed Germanus the bishop. Likewise the Antwerp codex of the Usuardine Martyrology of the beginning of the XIV century, and the Lübeck-Cologne and Greven editions of the XV and XVI centuries, make memory of St. Desiderius In Sollerius, Martyrology of Usuard, page 631 and following.. Now since this saint has been venerated from remote times, it was natural that his name should be inscribed on the 27th of October in the Martyrology of Maurolycus and in other more recent ones, namely the Gallican of du Saussay, the Universal of Chastelain, that of Auxerre of Charles de Caylus, and also in the Catalogue of saints of Simon Peyronnet. Indeed it was the law, while the bishopric of Auxerre stood, that all the presbyters of this diocese on the 27th day of October should keep the feast of St. Desiderius with the ecclesiastical office, as is clear from the breviaries published in the years 1580 and 1736 by order of Jacques Amyot and of Charles de Caylus, bishops of Auxerre: and in our times the same duty lies upon the clergy of Auxerre, although this city now lies in the archdiocese of Sens Ordo divini officii Senonensis et Autissiodorensis for the years 1827 and 1838.: further, an invocation to St. Desiderius was made in the litanies of all the Saints, as they had formerly been prescribed by Jacques Amyot and Charles de Caylus Breviary of Auxerre of the year 1580; likewise of the year 1736..

[4] Whose Acts distinguished men wrote in the IX, XIII and XIV centuries, Although several ancient authors, namely of the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre [Labbe, Bibliotheca Mss., volume I, page 622; Duru, Bibliothèque Historiq. de l'Yonne, volume I, page 333.], and of the books on the miracles of St. Germanus [Labbe, Bibliotheca Mss., volume I, page 566; Biblioth. Historiq. de l'Yonne, volume II, pages 133 and 176.], and Robert or the anonymous of St. Marianus of Auxerre In D. Bouquet, Recueil des Historiens etc., volume X, page 295., and Guy, abbot of St. Germanus of the same city Labbe, Biblioth. Mss., volume I, page 573., or even the author of the old Petavian codex, published by Philippe Labbe Bibl. Mss., volume I, page 531., have mentioned St. Desiderius, bishop of Auxerre, yet none has committed his Life to writing entire: and those who have treated it in somewhat longer style have proposed either to give only a brief notice of St. Desiderius, as the occasion arose, as the author of the books on the Miracles of St. Germanus, or to hand down to posterity his munificence toward churches rather than his other deeds. And that a deeper knowledge of the acts of St. Desiderius may be had, it should not be forgotten that the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre were written by the hand not of one but of several: which is read also in this very history, where it treats of Wala, bishop of Auxerre in the ninth century: For it was the concern of this father of whom we are speaking to embrace teachers of letters with charity, and to use their conversation and counsels, and to give them a share in his table. Wherefore two lights of our college, Rainogala and Alagus, with the collaboration of Heiric, theosopher at once and monk, set down the deeds of the bishops of this see in pages composed in compendious and sectioned fashion Biblioth. de l'Yonne, volume I, page 357.. From which it is clear that the history of the bishops of Auxerre down to Wala, provided that it has come down to our age uncorrupted and genuine (which the authors of the Histoire littéraire de la France deny, without proving it Histoire litt. de la France, volume V, page 541., and our predecessor Pien holds doubtful Acta SS. volume VII of July, page 87.), is to be attributed to two canons of Auxerre and Heiric, monk of St. Germanus. And if anyone should ask at what time these three historiographers lived, it will have to be answered that this was in the ninth century, as our predecessors have demonstrated of Heiric, who has been reckoned among the saints Ibid. volume IV of June, page 829.. But although the cited history is the principal source of the origins and ecclesiastical antiquities of Auxerre, yet no one will deny that it is sprinkled with faults, above all chronological ones, and awakens the desire for a more accurate diligence; and in particular the Acts of St. Desiderius, as we shall see afterwards, are here and there wrapped in not a few thorns. Another writer of the Deeds of St. Desiderius is to be held to be a monk of St. Marianus of Auxerre; who many think was Robert, and finished his last day in the year 1212. He is called by his continuator exceedingly learned and very eloquent, second to none of his time in the knowledge of histories. No lesser praise was gained in the XIV century by Guy, abbot of St. Germanus of Auxerre. For he was a man of great talent and surpassing virtue, who spared no labour to describe the history of his monastery as exactly as possible, so that his biographer gave him this praise: O what sleepless nights he passed, to prepare rest for us his subjects, namely by reading and studying our letters and charters, which from such great and so distant times and in such different figures or foreign letters were formed and made, that hardly or never in our times could their series be opened to us, whence the series of the aforesaid letters or charters, after many labours and straits, he had inscribed and set down in a certain well legible cartulary Gesta abbatum Autissiodorensium, in Labbe, Biblioth. Mss., volume I, page 586..

[5] toward whom Longueval is not fair enough, Nevertheless I cannot agree with Longueval Hist. de l'Eglise Gallicane, volume V, book X, page 122, 1826 edition., who rebukes Heiric and his associates, as if, to adorn the life of St. Desiderius of Auxerre the more, they had attributed to him certain excellent deeds of St. Desiderius of Cahors, who died about the year 670. This accusation he builds above all on what the cited biographers narrate, that St. Desiderius of Auxerre conferred many great gifts on the monastery of St. Amantius in the territory of Cahors, whereas this munificence rather pertains to St. Desiderius of Cahors; who, as the writer of his Life relates, built a monastery just below the municipality of Cahors, outstanding in all its buildings, about seven hundred and fifty paces distant from the principal seat of the bishops. And lower down he continues thus: At that time indeed no monastic profession, nor habit of religion or of the cenobitic rule, had entered the city of Cahors: the sect of Columban was far away, the institutes of Blessed Benedict were at a great distance: but in the time of Desiderius this sect entered Cahors; under his day this religion began to grow up: for the monastery of Marcillac too was begun at this time by the praiseworthy men Anebertus and Leutadus. And in the very town the holy man's monastery begins in these days; several other monasteries, planted in his time, grew Labbe, Biblioth. Mss., volume I, page 707; volume II, appendix, page 2.: nor at the present moment should it be passed over that these things were handed down to posterity by a man whom Mabillon calls grave and contemporary Sæculum Bened. IV, part I, preface, number 109.. This animadversion of Longueval seems less than fair, since trust is not to be denied to Heiric, Alaga and Raingola, who, as is manifest, were also men most worthy of trust, and handled the testament of St. Desiderius of Auxerre, which contained his donations made to the monastery of St. Amantius: nor does this prevent that monastery from having been afterwards entirely renewed by St. Desiderius of Cahors, and for that reason being said to have been built by him. Further, since St. Gregory of Tours, who passed to the heavenly life at the end of the sixth century, mentions an abbot of Cahors of his own time Historia Francorum, book VII, chapter 30, in Bouquet, volume II, page 305., and King Dagobert, in the capitulary in which he ratifies the election of St. Desiderius, says: And since the consent of the citizens and abbots of Cahors altogether demands this, that they should have him (Desiderius) as bishop, and our devotion likewise has consented Baluze, Capitularia regum Francorum, volume I, column 141., it is beyond doubt that long before St. Desiderius of Cahors the monastic life flourished in this district. Nor do the Acts of the two Saints Desiderius conflict with each other: rather they agree excellently with each other. For at the end of the VII century the word monk was understood only of those who followed the rule of St. Benedict, or the complex of the statutes above all of SS. Benedict and Columban: the cause of which was this, that in the middle of the VII century, as we shall show below at number 13, in nearly all the monasteries of Gaul, even those which SS. Martin, Caesarius, etc. had once governed, and indeed in the monastery of St. Amantius in the time of St. Desiderius of Cahors, the rule of St. Benedict was introduced. But its praise was not so great in the time of St. Gregory of Tours, St. Desiderius of Auxerre and King Dagobert. For which reason no one will deny that it could have happened, without failing in truth, that some affirmed, others denied that monks inhabited this district before the times of St. Desiderius of Cahors. And so much for the censure of Longueval.

[6] although in taking Ingund for another queen The biographers err, however, in narrating that St. Desiderius, together with Queen Ingund, wife of King Chlotar, promoted many works of piety. For in the Annals of the Franks there is mention of only two queens named Ingund: of whom the former was joined in marriage with Chlotar I, who departed this life in the year 562: while the latter, daughter of Sigebert, king of Austrasia, entered marriage with St. Hermenegild, son of the king of the Visigoths, and brought him from Arianism to the Catholic truth, and died in the year 585: whence it follows, since St. Desiderius came to the episcopate only after the death of both Ingunds, that his biographers took the wife of Chlotar I for the wife of another king, who I think was either Haretrude or Beretrude, the two earlier and successive wives of Chlotar II. That Haretrude had already passed to the other life in the 30th year of the reign of Chlotar II, or 614 of Christ, is certain; for in Fredegar it is read that Chlotar in that year came with Queen Beretrude to the estate of Marlenheim in Alsace: while Beretrude, as is established from chapter XLVII of Fredegar, gave up her soul in the 36th year of the reign of Chlotar. Since, then, at the time when St. Desiderius governed the church of Auxerre Haretrude and Beretrude were bound in successive marriage with Chlotar, it is natural to conclude that the biographers of St. Desiderius took Ingund, wife of Chlotar I, for Haretrude or Beretrude.

[7] and have mistaken Desiderius of Auxerre for the one of Vienne Into another error fell Rainogola, Alagus and Heiric, writing that St. Desiderius asked St. Gregory the Great for the pallium because the Roman pontiffs had anciently granted it to his church: and that he was answered that, since in the apostolic archive no instrument was found by which this might be proved, it was not to be granted until there should be sent to the City by Desiderius, for which purpose the charters of his church were to be searched through, testimony of the former prerogative. But all the learned are persuaded that the authors of the cited history wrote in error Desiderius of Auxerre in place of Desiderius of Vienne; and this is the more evident in that nowhere in the writings of the ancients is any of the bishops of Auxerre detected to whom the pallium was sent; whereas several bishops of Vienne were adorned with this dignity. Add that in the altogether authentic and genuine codices the letter is inscribed to Desiderius, bishop of the Gauls, or also bishop in the Gauls or bishop of a Gallic city Works of St. Gregory the Great, volume II, column 1019 and following., no differently from other letters undoubtedly written to Desiderius of Vienne, which have the title: To Desiderius, bishop of Gaul Ibid. column 1139.; or bishop in Gaul Ibid. column 1205.; and even another: To Desiderius of Vienne and Syagrius of Autun, bishops of Gaul, from their equals Ibid. column 831.. Having weighed these things it seems likely to us that the authors of the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre came upon in the archive of this church a copy of the letter of St. Gregory the Great to Desiderius, bishop of the Gauls, and, not thinking of the bishops who had the same name in other cities, inserted it in their narrative as if written to Desiderius of Auxerre.

[8] and have passed over certain deeds of St. Desiderius. Nor is there any doubt that Raingola and his associates passed over many excellent deeds of St. Desiderius, either because they had not sufficiently ascertained them, or because they bore less on their purpose. Hence they are silent on the fact that St. Desiderius did not a little to promote among the people of Auxerre the cult of St. Cottus, who together with St. Priscus, whose companion he was, and many others, had poured out his life in testimony of the Christian religion at Cociacum *. For it is read in the manuscript Martyrologies of Corbie and Thérouanne [Acta SS. volume VI of May, page 365 and following; Histoire litter. de France, volume VIII, page 590 and following.] at the VII of June: At Auxerre, at the place Cottiacum, the passion of St. Priscus with his companions, with an innumerable multitude of martyrs in the time of the emperor Aurelian, under the governor Alexander: who when they were being compelled to deny Christ … and they by no means assented … were soon killed by gladiators, and thrown into a well. But one of their fellow soldiers, by name Cottus, seizing the head of St. Priscus, sought flight: but the pagans pursuing him, he too finished his life by a precious death. The head of the martyr Priscus lay hidden until the times of Blessed Germanus the bishop… But the body too of Blessed Cottus the martyr, after the circling of many times, was revealed by the Lord to Blessed Desiderius the bishop, and was honourably given by him to burial, not far from the head of St. Priscus, on the XIV of the Kalends of February. Jean Lebeuf adds that on the tomb of St. Cottus, in the time of St. Desiderius, there was inscribed: Here rests St. Cottus, who with the head of St. Priscus the martyr underwent martyrdom Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 143, volume II, page 96.. But the distinguished men Challe and Quantin Ibid. volume I, page 143., both not a little skilled in the antiquities of the Middle Ages, charge the opinion of Jean Lebeuf with manifest error, since the letters of the epitaph savour of the XI century.

* Saints-en-Puisaie.

§ II. The birth, age, death, burial and first translation of St. Desiderius.

St. Desiderius seems to have sprung from the royal stock of the Visigoths, In what year, in what place and of what father St. Desiderius was born is uncertain. Yet he seems to have come from Septimania, a province of Aquitaine subject to the Visigoths until the first years of the VIII century, and from the very royal house of this nation, since the authors of the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre Labbe, Biblioth. Mss., volume I, page 566., and Heiric in the books on the miracles of St. Germanus Ibid. page 422., no less than three codices of the Adonian Martyrology Martyrol. Adonis, page 547 and following, Giorgi's edition. of the XI and XII centuries, proclaim him an Aquitanian and a blood relation of Brunhild, daughter of the king of the Visigoths, and of her sons: indeed the writer of the Life of St. Hugh, monk of Autun, adds that he was the nephew of Brunhild Acta SS. ordinis S. Benedicti, sæc. V, page 94.; which opinion is favoured by the fact that St. Desiderius had among his treasures a silver dish of XXXVII pounds with the name of Thorsomodus, king of the Goths, engraved on it. There must be rejected, therefore, the opinion of Antoine Godeau, bishop of Vence Histoire de l'Église, volume IV, book II, page 318., who supposes that St. Desiderius sprang from an ignoble stock because of these words of Fredegar Duchesne, Historiæ Francorum scriptorum, volume I, page 746.: In that year (the third of the reign of Theudebert) Brunhild was cast out by the Austrasians, and in Campania at Arcis she is found alone by a certain poor man. According to her petition she is led to Theuderic. Theuderic, gladly receiving his grandmother Brunhild, honours her gloriously. In return for this service he obtained the bishopric of Auxerre, Brunhild bringing it about. Nor do I think that one should agree with Bernard de Montfaucon Les monuments de la monarchie française, volume I, page 133., who, thinking the narrative of Fredegar consonant with the truth, suspects that Brunhild's guide on the journey, after obtaining the bishopric of Auxerre, was thrown out by the clergy and people as an intruder; since nothing similar is related in any ancient document. Indeed this rather conflicts with the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre, in which it is discovered that after the death of St. Aunarius, under whose episcopate Brunhild was forced to flee from Austrasia to Burgundy, his see was vacant for only seven days, and was then occupied by St. Desiderius until after the death of Brunhild. No less displeasing, as being by no means proved, is the opinion of Jean Lebeuf, who is well pleased with the idea that this poor man, whom Fredegar celebrates, was afterwards taken up as chorepiscopus by St. Desiderius at the request of Brunhild. It is much more likely, therefore, that the words brought forward from Fredegar are either to be rejected as a fable or to be referred to the bishop of another city.

[10] and he lived in the VI and VII centuries; Moreover it is manifest that St. Desiderius lived in the sixth and seventh centuries. For Heiric and his associates narrate that he governed the church of Auxerre when Chlotar II, Brunhild and her sons held the reins of the kingdoms of Francia, and St. Gregory the Great, Sabinian, Boniface III and IV presided as Roman pontiffs over the universal Church, and at the same time Phocas and afterwards Heraclius ruled the empire of Constantinople: add that his successor in the see of Auxerre, St. Palladius, under the Roman pontiffs Deusdedit, Boniface V, Honorius, Severinus, John and Theodore, sat for twenty-six years and three months. Now St. Gregory the Great died in the month of March of the year 604, Brunhild in the year 613, Boniface IV in the year either 614 or 615. Likewise Deusdedit, who began his pontificate in the year either 614 or 616, departed from the living in the month of January of the year either 617 or 619. Whence we deduce that St. Desiderius ascended the see of Auxerre before the year 604, and met death before the year 619. Hence also collapse the opinions of those who, disputing about the year in which St. Desiderius came to the bishopric of Auxerre, assign with Le Cointe Annales ecclesiastici Francorum, volume II, page 570. the year 605, or even assert, following Henschen Acta SS. volume I of April, page 865., Mabillon Annales Benedictini at the year 622, volume I, page 292., Jean Lebeuf Memoires etc., volume I, page 136. and the Maurist monks, authors of Gallia Christiana Volume XI, column 268., that he departed this life in the year 621 or 622.

[11] he died on the 27th day of October and was buried near St. Germanus: The day of the death of St. Desiderius is certainly known; since he is inscribed on the VI of the Kalends of October, that is, the 27th of October, in all the martyrologies. With which agree the Deeds of the Bishops of Auxerre, in which the following is read: Happily, the time of his life having been completed, full of virtues, he passed to Christ on the VI of the Kalends of November, and was buried beside St. Aunarius in the basilica of Blessed Germanus Labbe, Biblioth. Mss., volume I, page 426.. To this is added Heiric, who in the second book of the Miracles of St. Germanus relates that St. Desiderius, the course of his life being completed, having met his last day on the sixth of the Kalends of November, was translated with due veneration into the church of Blessed Germanus Acta SS. volume VII of July, page 280.. Nor is there more room for doubt about the place of the burial of St. Desiderius: for it is read in the book of the Miracles of St. Germanus that, having met his last day, he was translated with due veneration into the church of Blessed Germanus. And in the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre the following occurs: He was buried beside St. Aunarius in the basilica of Blessed Germanus: and the same is handed down in the cited codices of the Adonian Martyrology. Now St. Aunarius, beside whom St. Desiderius was entombed, the people of Auxerre had buried near St. Germanus, as Blessed Heiric first writes in the book on the Miracles of St. Germanus, in these words: Blessed Aunarius … on the VII of the Kalends of October, full of the Holy Spirit, departed, and in the basilica of Blessed Germanus, near his body, with due

reverence he was gathered to his fathers Ibidem, place cited.. Next the anonymous author of the Life of St. Aunarius: He passed to the homeland on the VII of the Kalends of October, with Christ as guide. And so with the highest glory, in a throng of peoples, he is led to be entombed in the church of Blessed Germanus; where, buried with fitting honour near the body of the same most holy father and most blessed confessor, he is gladly venerated Acta SS. volume VII of September, page 107.. It is clear therefore that St. Desiderius too was given to burial not far from St. Germanus.

[12] [from where his relics were translated in the year 859 to the new crypts of St. Germanus.] The remains of St. Desiderius rested near St. Germanus until the year 841, in which St. Heribaldus, bishop of Auxerre, in the presence of the emperor Charles the Bald and his brother Louis the German, translated the body of St. Germanus to another part of the same church, without however either St. Aunarius or St. Desiderius being moved from their place. But when in the year 859 the relics of St. Germanus had been translated a second time to the crypts built by Count Conrad (after he had recovered at the tomb of St. Germanus the health of an eye which the physicians to a man declared incurable), three years later, namely in the year 862, there were carried there also with great pomp the bodies of St. Desiderius and of SS. Alodius, Ursus, Romanus, Theodosius, Aunarius, Fraternus, Censurius and Gregory, bishops of Auxerre, and also of SS. Urban the pope, Innocent, Tiburtius, the boy Moderatus, martyrs, and of other saints. I have no wish to set out the history of the crypts of Auxerre, which after St. Heiric Ibid. volume VII of July, page 273 and following; Labbe, Bibl. Mss., page 565. others have described Fournier, Description des saintes grottes de l'église S. Germain d'Auxerre.: I prefer to dwell on the second translation of the body of St. Desiderius.

§ III. The origins of the monastery of Mézilles. The second translation of St. Desiderius.

To the monastery of Mézilles The monastery of Meleretum or Meleredum *, which Blessed Heiric relates to have been founded in the VIII century by Quintilian, lord of Puisaye, father of St. Quintilian, bishop of Auxerre, to be a hostel for Britons going on pilgrimage through Puisaye to Rome (whose number was at that time very great) [Gesta pontif. Autiss., in Duru, volume I, page 349; Historia miraculorum S. Germani, Bibl. Mss., volume I, page 349.], from its beginning observed the rule of St. Benedict as its law. For this, from the sixth to the ninth century, as Mabillon very well proves [Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti; Preface to Sæc. I, number 65; Preface I to Sæc. IV, number 129 and following. Compare however Acta SS. volume II of October, page 472 and following.], little by little, as more acceptable to most Gallic monks, was admitted in all monasteries both old and new (the institutes of St. Martin, St. Columban and other saints being gradually left off); and it gained such praise among all that Charlemagne about the year 811 did not hesitate to ask the bishops and abbots of his kingdom whether any could be monks except those who observe the rule of St. Benedict. Likewise whether there had been monks in Gaul before the tradition of the rule of St. Benedict came to these parishes Sirmond, Collectio concil. Galliæ, volume II, Question XII, page 263.. Not long after its foundation the monastery of Mézilles, no less than many other monasteries of Gaul, was occupied by laymen and governed, or rather pillaged, by secular abbots: which ruin it endured until Conrad, count of Auxerre, whom we have seen healed of his sickness at the tomb of St. Germanus, restored to it its former freedom, or rather declared it united to the monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre. But the monastery of Mézilles, thus restored, little by little entered on the same way as many others, and at the beginning of the eleventh century, when regular discipline was exiled from its cloisters, at the same time its domestic affairs too declined from day to day [Mabillon, Preface to Sæc. III Bened., part I, §89.]. This twofold calamity Helricus, abbot of the Benedictines of Auxerre, vehemently desiring to remove, entrusted, about the year 939, to the monk Tealdus, who himself also was afterwards abbot of St. Germanus, to bring the inhabitants of the monastery of Mézilles back to the path of virtue, and to supply them with what was necessary for their sustenance. Accordingly, as is related by Guy, abbot of Auxerre, who confesses that he took his narrative from the Deeds of the bishops of this city, Tealdus reformed it and raised it up and adorned it very much both with buildings and with possessions and with furnishings of gold and silver, and obtained its consecration by the hand of Hugh, bishop of Auxerre [Gesta Abbatum S. Germani Autissiodorensium, in Labbe, Bibl. Mss., volume I, page 574.]. Moreover, to the church of Mézilles, that new adornment might accrue to the restored monastery, the body of St. Desiderius was translated. The memory of which matter the historiographers of Auxerre have left us.

[14] in the year 939 nearly the whole body of St. Desiderius is translated. In about the nine hundred and sixth year, then, they say, from the Lord's Passion the monastery of Mézilles, at the order of Heldricus, abbot of the monastery of St. Germanus, was honourably enlarged and raised up by Dom Tealdus the monk, who succeeded third to its government, and exceedingly adorned both with buildings and with possessions and with furnishings of gold and silver, and it is established that it was solemnly consecrated by the same bishop, as was fitting: at which consecration too he forbade under anathema that any mortal should dare to presume from then on to bring force or false claim, or any wrong, on any occasion against the property of the same church. It happened however after this that the body of Blessed Desiderius, the distinguished bishop of Auxerre, which was held buried in the church of Blessed Germanus, was asked by the faithful to be carried there: chiefly however by the aforesaid Brother Tealdus, who had raised up that place; but, as is wont to happen in such matters, between the willing and unwilling of the parties some space of time rolled by; at length, by the bishop's management, it was granted by the monks and by the rest of the clergy and the people of the whole district that it be carried as had been entreated: and so the venerable body of the aforesaid bishop was laid in a silver casket weighing a hundred pounds, and so with the exultation of all the people it was honourably carried to the monastery of Mézilles, surnamed Vallis-Pentane, and it is established that it was placed there in the church of Mary, Mother of God: in which place, by his entreaty, very many benefits are granted to those who ask Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume I, page 389.. This narrative is confirmed by Robert, monk of St. Marianus of Auxerre: Hugh, he says, consecrated the monastery of Mézilles … ; and translating the body of Blessed Desiderius there, he laid it in a silver casket Bouquet, volume X, page 275.. The monks of Auxerre did not, however, so strip themselves of the remains of St. Desiderius as not to reserve some part of them for themselves: and this is clear from the fact that in the XIII century in the church of St. Germanus they preserved the relics of St. Desiderius with great reverence in a precious casket: which casket Abbot Rudolf about the year 1193 was forced to sell, to be able to pay off the debt he had contracted, in order to keep whole by law and judgment, against Hugh de Noyers, bishop of Auxerre, the privileges of the monastery of St. Germanus and of its abbots. He (Rudolf), says the writer of the Deeds of the abbots of Auxerre, as is asserted, was harassed in many ways by Hugh de Noyers, bishop of Auxerre, concerning the use of the mitre and ring; which bishop also stirred up against him Constantius, prior of St. Germanus, and certain other monks; whence there arose a very great dissension in the monastery, some monks adhering to the abbot, some favouring the bishop against their own church, because of which the monastery was pressed by such a burden of debts, by such want, so desolated both spiritually and temporally, that it could never manage to rise again until the time of Abbot Regnaud. The casket too of Blessed Germanus, formerly decorated also with gems by Abbot Lothar of good memory, son of King Charles, only the fronts remaining, was stripped of gold and gems. The caskets likewise of Blessed Urban the pope, and of the bishops Aunarius and Desiderius were similarly despoiled Ibid. page 580..

[15] But not this, but the first translation was venerated on the 17th day of August. Now the question arises, since a twofold translation of St. Desiderius took place, which of the two is commemorated in the Martyrology of Auxerre, which Martene first Amplissima Collectio, volume VI, column 722., then with new and more diligent cares the distinguished men Challe and Quantin have again published Mémoires etc. d'Auxerre, volume IV, page 17.. There is read there, then, at the 16th of August: At Auxerre, the translation of the bishops Augnarius and Desiderius. It is the opinion of our Pien and of Jean Lebeuf that this translation was inscribed in the sacred fasti at the time when their sacred bones were exhumed and moved into precious caskets: which Lebeuf thinks happened about the year 1030, because about the same time, on the testimony of the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre, the body of St. Desiderius, which was held buried in the church of Blessed Germanus, … was laid in a silver casket weighing a hundred pounds Duru, Biblioth. de l'Yonne, volume I, page 589.. But since in this place there is discussion only of the relics of St. Desiderius translated about the year 939 to the monastery of Mézilles, and the historian says not a word of the relics of St. Aunarius, it seems that one should not agree with our Pien Acta SS. volume VII of September, page 97 and following. or Jean Lebeuf Mémoires etc. d'Auxerre, volume I, page 134., but rather say that Nevelo, or the author of the cited Martyrology, handed down to memory the translation of SS. Aunarius and Desiderius to the crypts of St. Germanus. And if only the translation of these two saints is recorded, and not that of the others, this seems to have been done because then for the first time the people of Auxerre venerated these two saints with solemn cult. For the holy martyrs Maurice and Innocent of Agaunum, Urban and Tiburtius of Rome, had for several centuries been inscribed on the roll of the saints, as recognized martyrs. And SS. Romanus, Fraternus and Censurius, bishops of Auxerre, since they too had shed their blood in testimony of Christian virtue, there is no doubt were honoured with public cult among the people of Auxerre shortly after their agony. Let the same be said of the bishops Lupus and Ursus and of the boy martyr Moderatus, who, as Blessed Heiric relates Acta SS. volume VII of July, page 230., were already long reckoned among those in heaven. Whence, since either the elevation or the translation of SS. Urban, Gregory and others had taken place long before, and this solemnity was now celebrated for the first time in honour of SS. Aunarius and Desiderius, it is no wonder that the translation of SS. Aunarius and Desiderius, the other saints being passed over, which was equivalent to the present office of beatification, is announced on the 16th day of August in the fasti of Auxerre. Nor does it escape me, however, that in that cited old Martyrology of Auxerre, at the 22nd day of September, the following occurs

[Martene, Amplissima Collectio, volume VI, column 722; Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume IV, page 18.]: At Auxerre, the deposition and translation of St. Augnarius, bishop; and also in three codices of the Adonian Martyrology Martyrology of Ado, page 547, Giorgi's edition. and in the Fulda Ibid. at the end, page 672. Martyrology: At Auxerre, the natal day and translation of Aunarius, bishop and confessor, and that from this what we were just disputing could be attacked. But since St. Aunarius, as is narrated both by the anonymous author of his Life Acta SS. volume VII of September, page 107. and by the historians of the bishops of Auxerre Ibid. page 109. and Heiric Ibid. volume VII of July, page 98., passed to the heavenly ones on the VII of the Kalends of October, that is, the 25th day of September, our predecessor Pien seems rightly to have said that by the words natal day, or deposition and translation of St. Aunarius, nothing else is signified than his death and the solemn funeral procession from the cathedral church, where for some time he was laid out to satisfy the piety of the faithful, to his burial in the church of St. Germanus.

[16] Now hardly anything survives of the relics of St. Desiderius. It has at times been doubted, however, whether anything survived of the relics of St. Desiderius, translated in the X century to the monastery of Mézilles, after the Huguenots, laying waste the district of Auxerre with fire and sword in the year 1567, had laid impious hands on them [Lebeuf, Mémoires etc., volume I, page 144; Fournier, les Saintes Grottes, page 146.]. Some think, indeed, says Jean Lebeuf Ibid. volume I, page 144., that they were mixed with the relics of other saints, which were carried from the monastery of Mézilles to the parish church of St. Peter, where they are preserved in the sacristy under the name of the bones of St. Bonus: then he adds that there are not lacking those who judge them to be of St. Desiderius. But when at the end of the XVIII century, because of the tumults of the homeland, it was much feared, as the present parish priest of Mézilles writes, that the church of this place would again be sacrilegiously attacked, pious men entrusted the sacred pledges, deposited in the sacristy, to the most worthy family of Pautrat: among whom they remained stored also after peace was restored to Catholics, for about fifty years: at length in the year 1858, long after the death of the presbyter Pautrat, parish priest at Treigny, the last shoot of his house, the Ven. Mr. Vee, parish priest at Entrains, his universal legatee, restored them to the church of Mézilles. This being done, the Most Illustrious Dom Mellon Jolly, archbishop of Sens, recognized them (for there were about fifty fragments of bones) and made an inscription for them: Of SS. Desiderius, Priscus and other martyrs. No less irreligiously did the Huguenots act in the same year 1567 toward the relics of St. Desiderius which the monks of St. Germanus of Auxerre were preserving for themselves: and having drawn them from the caskets they trampled them underfoot; and nothing of them would survive, had not pious Catholics deposited the relics, scattered on the ground, together with the relics of other saints in a cupboard, where they were recognized in the year 1642 by Dominique Séguier, then bishop of Auxerre, afterwards of Meaux [Fournier, les Saintes grottes, page 126 and following, page 146: at the end, page XXIX and following, 1714 edition. — Lebeuf, Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 144.].

* Notre-Dame-de-Moutiers.

§ IV. The testament of St. Desiderius. The basilicas enriched by him. A notice on basilicas.

St. Desiderius drew up a testament, not a simple donation; It is certain that St. Desiderius did not depart from the living intestate. We do not deduce this from the fact that in the Acts composed by Heiric, Alagus and Rainogala a fragment of a charter which they call the testament of St. Desiderius is reported, or from the fact that in the cited Acts it is said to be read in the same testament that St. Desiderius bestowed many estates on his nephews and other kinsmen, and complete freedom on at least two thousand slaves; for at that time not rarely any charter of donation or diploma, as Bréquigny [Bréquigny and du Theil, Diplomata, Chartæ etc. ad res Francicas spectantia, volume I, prolegomena, page CCXXXVI, 1791 edition.], Du Cange Du Cange, Glossarium, under Testamentum. and the authors of the New Art of Diplomatics Nouveau traité de diplomatique, volume I, part I, section II, chapter 7. duly observe, was called a testament: our argument lies rather in this, that in the books of Heiric and his associates it is narrated in what way the holy bishop established Christ and the church entrusted to him by God as heirs of his goods: then that on the day of his burial the same eminent bishop ordered to be carried with his body to the basilica of Lord Germanus a hundred solidi of the purest gold to adorn his tomb. To which is added that it is altogether contrary to custom that so many and such diverse gifts should be conferred on one church after another by one charter of donation; whereas nothing prevents so manifold a largesse being made by testament. All of which, above all if considered together, altogether prove that a testament was drawn up by St. Desiderius. I remain in doubt, however, whether St. Desiderius with his own hand or by testamentary sureties gave the silver furnishings, one vessel of CCCCXX pounds and VII ounces to the basilica of St. Stephen, another of CXIX pounds and V ounces to the basilica of St. Germanus, since on the one hand the biographers seem to hint that they were granted as a gift by the holy bishop before he departed from the living, and on the other it is natural to suppose that St. Desiderius bequeathed both only by testament: since the series of gifts which the basilica of St. Germanus received from St. Desiderius Heiric, Alagus and Raingola close with these and other words recited above: On the day of his burial the same eminent bishop ordered, etc.; and then among the rest there are reviewed both the most precious vessels.

[18] most of the legacies came from his most ample patrimony. But all those legacies are so many and so great that they excite astonishment. For which reason no one can fail to think whence St. Desiderius obtained such great riches. It is asked therefore whether he got the possessions that he consecrated to God from the munificence of kings or from his paternal inheritance. The Maurist writers of Gallia Christiana Gallia Christiana, volume XI, column 268., relying on I know not what foundation, affirm that St. Desiderius received so many and such great estates, with which he enriched monasteries and basilicas, from the munificence of kings, above all those to whom he was joined by consanguinity. But he who attentively turns over the series of his donations will find that he was generous much more from his own means than from wealth increased by royal gift. Add that neither in his biographers nor in other writers does anything occur anywhere by which the opinion of the Maurists may be established, except these words from the Acts of St. Desiderius: The estate of Flacciana in the district of Fréjus, which the lord King Theuderic granted him… Queen Brunhild through the hands of the bishop himself offered to God and St. Stephen a chalice of wonderful beauty, of onyx stone, adorned with the purest gold… The field of Sessiacum, situated in the territory of Auxerre, which, at his suggestion, the lady Queen Ingund assigned to the basilica of Lord Germanus, and confirmed by her precept to be held… For the lord King Chlotar too, and at the same time his most noble wife the lady Queen Ingund, by the hands of that lord Bishop Desiderius adorned the same basilica with great and excellent gifts: and the bier which is set over the most sacred body the king wondrously decorated with gold and silver, the queen no less most devoutly honoured with a chalice together with a paten of the purest gold, adorned with most precious gems… He likewise gave to the senior church of Cahors the estate which Betto held, and he himself received from the munificence of kings, situated in the territory of Bordeaux, with its buildings, slaves and all its appurtenances.

[19] Since he conferred gifts on various kinds of basilicas, Further, the pious places enriched by St. Desiderius at Auxerre or in its district are the basilicas of St. Stephen, St. Germanus, St. Amator, the apostles SS. Peter and Paul, St. Marianus, St. Julian and St. Ursicinus. Nor did he bestow moderate goods on the basilicas of SS. Columba and Leo near Sens, and on the Benedictine monastery in the same place on the Yonne; or also on the basilicas of St. Amantius and at Brittones in the district of Cahors; likewise on the basilica of St. Saturninus at Toulouse and on the senior or cathedral church of Cahors. Indeed St. Desiderius himself seems to have built at his own expense the basilica of SS. Nazarius, Gervase, Protase and the boy Celsus, to which also he gave a small field in his testament. But since in that testament sacred buildings of cities, of monasteries, or rural ones are called basilicas, and this appellation, formerly taken quite otherwise than now, may easily cause an error in the reader, it seems opportune to discuss this word briefly, so far as bears on our argument.

[20] it is inquired what basilicas were among the Greeks and Latins. The word basilica is derived from the Greek adjective Βασιλικος; and, on the testimony of the poet Plautus, at Rome it signified the same as notable, outstanding, magnificent. But that the words Βασιλικη and Basilica were afterwards used to designate very large buildings is certain among all Zesterman, De Basilicis, book II, chapter V, page 118 and following.. What the Βασιλικαι (στοαι) or porticoes were among the Greeks Zesterman describes far and wide Ibid. book I, page 11 and following.. Among the Romans, however, we are taught by undoubted testimonies of the ancients that there were four kinds of basilicas: namely forensic basilicas, which served for treating nearly the same matters as were otherwise usually treated in the forum: ambulatory basilicas, which were joined to or near public promenades, baths, theatres, curiae and temples, so that those who were engaged in these might in the basilicas escape the discomforts of the weather or be refreshed while walking: besides, domestic basilicas, whose amplitude and elegance Vitruvius describes, and which were within the domestic precincts of the nobles, above all of the emperors: finally wine basilicas, or places fitted for treading grapes in a wine-press. On these four kinds of basilicas the cited Zesterman has written accurately Ibid. book II, page 56 and following..

[21] They are also used in the time of the apostles for churches. That basilicas, in which Christians might gather in one assembly, were used even before Constantine the Great is clear from St. Optatus of Milevis, who argues the fewness of the Donatists at Rome at the beginning of the schism from the fact that they had not even one of the forty basilicas then existing at Rome. For, says St. Optatus, those few were not to be called a flock or people who among the forty and more basilicas had no place where they might collect (or where they might hold a synaxis) [De schismate Donatistarum, book II, chapter IV, in Migne, Patrologia, volume XI, column 951.]. And indeed the first trace of Christian basilicas occurs in the Recognitions of St. Clement, where St. Peter is said to have brought seven thousand men at Antioch to embrace the law of Christ; who believing in God were baptized and consecrated with sanctification; so that with all eagerness of desire Theophilus, who was more exalted than all the powerful men in the city, the huge hall of his house

he consecrated with the name of a church, in which a chair was set up for Peter the apostle by all the people [Opera dubia of St. Clement, column 1453; Recognitions, book X, chapter LXXI, column 1453, Migne's edition.]. Nor am I unaware that the books of the Recognitions are falsely attributed to St. Clement of Rome; but no one denies that they were written in the primitive times of the Church, so that they are referred by Cotelier Ibid. column 1187. to the second century, by Galland Ibid. column 1189. and Nourry Ibid. column 1183. to the rising third century, and by Tillemont and Lumper Mémoires ecclésiastiques, volume II, page 163. to times earlier than Origen. Further, it can be no useless work, as Galland says Historia theol. de Vita etc. SS. Patrum, in Migne, volume cited, column 148., for those who wish to know the opinions of the philosophers, the customs of the nations and the allegorical explanations of fables. And indeed since the institution of the chair of St. Peter in the basilica of Theophilus does not conflict with history, nor does it seem ever to have been called into doubt, even when the books of the Recognitions came out in public among the Easterners, there is no reason why we should deny them trust.

[22] The sacred liturgy adapted to the forms of basilicas Moreover, when SS. Peter and Paul at Rome and in other places had taken to themselves a good many disciples, and had turned some of the houses of the new Christians, as Fiorentini Vetustius occidentalis ecclesiæ martyrologium, page 697 and following. and Papebroch Acta SS. volume IV of May, page 296 and following. bring out from the Epistles I to the Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 19, and to the Romans, chapter 16, verse 85, and from the Acts of SS. Prudens, Praxedis and Pudentiana, into temples of the true God for carrying out the divine mysteries and for instructing the faithful of Christ, who will deny that they gave them the form of basilicas? For it has been placed beyond doubt by Bosio Roma sotterranea, volume II, passim., Aringhi Ibid. passim., Marchi Monum. delle Arti Christ. primit., page 192 and following., Perret Catacombes de Rome, passim. and other investigators of the Roman cemeteries that the chambers which were used there for celebrating the sacred liturgy were cut in the likeness of basilicas. Nor is it less certain that immediately after peace was restored to the Church Paulinus of Tyre Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, book X, chapter IV., and then Constantine the Great [Anastasius the Librarian, de Vitis Romanorum Pontificum, volume I, page 38 and following; page 54 and following, Bianchini's edition.] and his successors constructed or adapted new temples according to the same rule. Nor could it have been otherwise, without the sacred rites used in the church of Antioch being subject to continual changes with great detriment to the Christian cause. Hence too it came about that the principal rites among the Easterners and the Westerners were little unlike one another and, as Mabillon most truly said: Of the aforesaid Lateran church that is worthy of mention which Peter Abelard writes in Letter V to Bernard of Clairvaux: “The ancient custom of the Roman see indeed not even the City itself holds, but only the Lateran church, which is the mother of all, holds the ancient office, none of her daughters following her in this, not even the basilica of the Roman palace itself.” And if this is so, whoever desires to investigate accurately the ancient rites of the Roman Church ought to read the more studiously what pertains to the Lateran church Musæum Italicum, volume II, commentary on the Roman order, page CXXIX.. Further, that one may see how splendid the basilicas of the Christians were, they have been described by J. L. Guénebault [Annales de Philosophie chrétienne, new series, volume XVII, year 1838, plan et description d'une basilique, page 419 and following.] and Charles Cahier, a member of our Society in France [Ibid. Idée d'une basilique chrétienne, page 344 and following, page 421 and following.].

[23] To which sacred buildings the name of basilica attached: rural, cemeterial, To one asking whether all churches received the form of basilicas I would answer that the opinion of the learned is no other, though all were not distinguished by the name of basilica. For the Greeks gave the name ἐκκλησίαν not only to the gathering and meeting and assembly of the citizens, but sometimes also to the curia or the place in which they were accustomed to assemble… they endowed with that name. And since at the beginning in individual cities only one place was assigned to the assemblies of Christians, namely the first and most ancient church of each city, it thence came about that afterwards, when the Christian religion flourished and several churches had already been built in individual towns, the greater and older church of each place was held as the mother of the others, and was itself properly called ECCLESIA, the others for the most part BASILICAE [Valois, Rer. Franc., volume I, Disceptatio de Basilicis etc., chapter III, page 587.]. And the same opinion is proved by very strong arguments by Du Cange Glossarium, under Basilica and Ecclesia., Mabillon Œuvres posthumes, Antiquites de St-Dénis, volume II, page 353 and following. and the authors of the New Treatise on the art of diplomatics Nouveau traité de diplomatique, volume IV, page 569 and following., though they do not suppose that this was always done. But far more numerous were the basilicas outside the walls of cities: for to sepulchral chapels, since they were constructed in the manner of an exedra or hemicycle [Rossi, Bulletino di archeologia christiana, second year, page 26; Muratori, Dissertatio in S. Paulini Nolani poemata, in Migne, Patrologia, volume LXI, column 813 and following; Acta SS. volume IX of October, pages 211 and 214.], the name of basilica had for the most part fallen in Gaul and Italy: how frequent these were is clear from St. Gregory of Tours Gloria confessorum, passim; Ibid. Vitæ Patrum, column 1011, Migne's edition. and from the Salic law Bouquet, volume IV, pages 154, 158, 197, 225.; and this the more because it was laid down by the Theodosian code: Let all bodies that are held above ground enclosed in urns or sarcophagi be carried outside the city and placed there [Codex Theodosianus, volume III, book IX, title VII, page 159 and following, Godefroy's edition.] … which law, originally inserted in the XII Tables in these words: A dead man you shall not bury nor burn in the city Ibid., was long observed fairly scrupulously in the West. Because therefore they were cemeterial, for that reason the churches of St. Amator, St. Julian, St. Amantius and St. Saturninus seem to be designated by the word basilica in the Life of St. Desiderius.

[24] and monastic basilicas. The same designation fell to monasteries, above all under the kings of the first dynasty, as Adrien de Valois most luminously demonstrated against Launoy Rerum Francic., volume II, page 587.; with whom agree Mabillon Œuvres posthumes, volume II, page 355 and following., the authors of the New Treatise on the art of diplomatics Nouveau traité de diplomatique, volume IV, page 569. and most of the learned, since they had often taken their beginnings over the tomb of some saint or at cemeterial chapels. For it had been laid down by the law of Theodosius the Great that whoever were found under the profession of monk should be ordered to seek and dwell in deserted places and vast wildernesses: and although this law was revoked two years later, namely in the year 392 Codex Theodosianus, volume VI, part I, page 106 and following., yet for several centuries it was in force in Gaul, as is clear from the erection of the monasteries which Adrien de Valois cites here and there in his little work on basilicas: which held also in the origin of the monastery of St. Mamertus at Vienne Précis Historiques, year 1861, page 253. and in many other places of Gaul Gregory of Tours, Gloria Confessorum and Vitæ Patrum, passim.. Nor am I unaware that several have supposed that the code of Justinian (from which that Theodosian law was exiled) was accepted in Gaul, and that religious affairs were carried out there according to its tenor; but how little this agrees with the truth is shown by Jean Joseph Raepsaet Analyse des droits des Belges et des Gaulois; Œuvres, volume III, page 239. with inescapable arguments: of which the chief is that the whole of Gaul was cut off from the Roman empire in fact in the year 409, and in law in the year 489, and therefore long before the code of Justinian was composed. Since therefore the churches of St. Germanus, St. Marianus, SS. Gervase and Protase and St. Columba were monastic, Heiric and his associates with full right called them basilicas. And if the church of St. Stephen too is called a basilica, although it seems never to have been either monastic or cemeterial, but rather the senior or cathedral church, the reason is perhaps to be sought in this, that in the lifetime of Heiric, Alagus and Rainogala the clerics of cathedral churches professed the canonical rule, and therefore their house and church were held as monasteries and basilicas Nouveau traité de diplomatique, volume IV, page 571.. Rural churches too, although Valois De Basilicis, page 588., Du Cange Glossarium, under Basilica. and Mabillon Opera posthuma, volume II, page 355. hint otherwise, were very often likewise called basilicas; as is clear from our Acts Acta SS. volume II of August, page 350; Ibid. volume X of October, page 645., and St. Gregory of Tours [Gloria Confessorum, chapter II, column 831, chapter XXVI, column 849, Migne's edition.], and also from the III Council of Valence of the year 855, and from the Life of St. Justus of Limoges (number 9); which we have enlarged with commentaries in the present volume of our work. This opinion gains new strength from the fact that Heiric and his colleagues name the rural church of the village of Crinsencum a basilica.

§ V. The condition of slaves in the Middle Ages. St. Desiderius gives freedom to many slaves.

The condition of slaves among the Romans and Germans was not the same: The authors of the Life of St. Desiderius relate that he had very numerous slaves on his lands, many of whom he gave as a gift to churches or monasteries together with the estates to which they were attached, and two thousand others he established among the freeborn. That this matter may be duly understood, the condition of slaves seems to need brief exposition. And first of all it must be recalled that the condition of slaves among the Romans was not the same as among the Germans: for although among both nations they were called the familia, yet according to Roman laws they were so in the hands of their master that he had the right of life and death over them, and sold them off no differently from estates or oxen: whereas among the Germanic nations slaves were endowed with many rights, and could not be torn from the estates to which they were attached unless they were given freedom. Add that the slaves of the Germans were assigned to cultivating the fields outside their masters' houses, under a separate roof, for their master's but far more for their own profit: by which gain they frequently redeemed themselves from slavery, as

(to indicate one or two among innumerable ones) the distinguished men Guérard [Guérard, Cartulaire de Saint-Père de Chartres, volume I, prolegomena, number 45 etc.; Polyptique de l'abbé Irminon, volume I, page 502 and following.] and Hoverlant Hoverlant, Mémoire sur l'état de la servitude, volume I, page 69. have demonstrated. Roman slaves, on the other hand, were everywhere employed on domestic or urban tasks, and did no work except for their master. This distinction between the two kinds of slaves Tacitus had understood; who in the book on the Customs of the Germans, chapter XXV, wrote: They use their slaves, not in our fashion, with duties distributed through the household; each rules his own dwelling, his own home; the master imposes on him, as on a tenant, a measure of grain, or of cattle, or of clothing, and to that extent the slave obeys. But the Franks, after they had gained the territory of the Gauls, among whom Roman slavery was in force, altogether abstained from introducing and imposing their customs and usages, or from abrogating the usages of the conquered nation, and indeed readily allowed, although they themselves passed under Frankish rule, that the Romans or Gauls should be governed according to their former laws, and therefore also that Roman slavery alongside the Germanic of the time, much tempered, prevailed in Gaul at least until the XIII century, as Jean Joseph Raepsaet proves [Œuvres complètes, volume V, Analyse des droits civils etc. des Belges et Gaulois, book V, chapter I.] from Philippe de Beaumanoir, a truly learned writer of that time.

[26] and indeed among the Franks nearly all slaves were of the power or of the soil; But as the form of slaves was manifold, so also was their designation: and although in general all were called homines, yet some, namely the Roman slaves assigned to domestic duties, were called servi or homines de corpore, whereas the Germanic ones, on the contrary, were called homines de poote or de potestate; and because they dwelt outside the houses of their masters, but in small dwellings belonging to these, designated by the name of casae, they had obtained also the appellation of casati, as also for other reasons Du Cange, Glossarium, under Homo, Servus.; but since it sometimes happened that slaves de corpore were in fact casati, there have not been lacking writers who, the matter not being sufficiently examined, have contended that all slaves indiscriminately are to be reckoned among the homines de corpore: which error all those will lay aside who have diligently scrutinized the learned and erudite commentaries of Jean Raepsaet and others; and they will not deny that the slaves in the Frankish kingdom were divided into the class of the homines de corpore, or domestics, and the class of the homines de potestate, or casati, and they will also not confuse them with the tenants, on some of whom labours in their masters' fields were incumbent, without their being deprived of the rest of their liberty. But they err still more when they affirm that the homines de potestate led a life no less hard and harsh than the homines de corpore; as is gathered from articles 2, 3, 56, 59 and 60 of the Capitulary of Charlemagne of the year 800 Guérard, Explication du Capitulaire De villis, page 4 and following., in which the life of the casati is accurately described.

[27] and there their government was truly paternal. From these articles it is clear that it was laid down that all the necessities of the casati should be abundantly provided for, and that those who were in charge of estates were not permitted to demand money from the slaves, or to use their labour for their own service. And if slaves were charged with being guilty of greater offences, they had to stand to hear sentence not before the prefects of the estates, but before the ordinary judges; nor was it lawful for the prefect or mayor of the estates to give judgment on lesser faults, unless the matter had been well examined and the councillors had been heard. Add that, if any of the slaves thought that he was not treated generously enough by those set over him, he had the opportunity of appealing to the emperor himself: and that all the slaves might grow from day to day both in love and in fidelity toward their masters, the mayors of the estates were taken not from the nobles, but from the slaves themselves who excelled the others in virtue. For which reason no one who has attentively turned over the cited articles of the Carolingian capitulary will affirm that the kind of life of the slaves (liberty excepted) under the kings of the Franks was of a worse condition than the state of the labourers who in the nineteenth century are compelled to provide for their own necessities and those of their families by daily labours: indeed, since the slaves of monasteries and churches passed happier days than the others, one will have no cause to wonder that it happened very often that those who were freeborn and free from all slavery, making light of their native liberty, earnestly asked, not out of piety toward God, but to look better after the body, to be enrolled among the slaves either of a monastery or of a church: and that this is consonant with the truth, after Jean Raepsaet Raepsaet, Analyse etc., book IV, chapter IV, 164, Œuvres, volume IV, page 151. the most distinguished Guérard [Guérard, Essai sur le système des divisions territoriales de la Gaule, page 190; Polyptique de l'abbé Irminon, volume I, pages 286, 351 etc. — Explication du capitulaire De villis, passim. (Ecole des Chartes, March 1853).] has demonstrated clearer than light from the review of harvests, the recognition of families, and every sort of comparison of numbers.

[28] and many were given some freedom; Now those who were numbered among the slaves de potestate or of the soil frequently rose to the condition either of freedmen or of the freeborn [Du Cange, Glossarium, under Manumissio, Ingenuus, Ingenuitas; Raepsaet, Analyse etc., book V, chapter I; Biot, de l'abolition de l'esclavage ancien en Occident, part IV, chapter III.]: of whom the former, although no less than their descendants to the third generation they enjoyed no right either civil or political, were yet exempt from the will of another; while the latter enjoyed all the privileges of liberty without any mark or stain of slavery; and so also slaves de corpore, by means of a less perfect manumission, were created slaves de potestate: to belong to which class of men was no disgrace, since we find them so frequent among the Franks of the Middle Ages that, although men free in every respect were fewer there, the slavery which they had borrowed from the conquered Romans was yet only rarely practised.

[29] which St. Desiderius did for a good many, Further, as I return to St. Desiderius, no argument is at hand by which it is to any extent hinted that he counted any homines de corpore besides the slaves de potestate: next, his biographers relate that when he gave as a gift the estates and fields of Matriacum, Ganniacum, Milliacum, Puniacum, Siviriacum, Flacciana and several others to the basilicas of St. Stephen, of SS. Columba and Leo, or also of St. Amantius, he at the same time bestowed the slaves attached to them: which was certainly no slight benefit, since slaves preferred to carry out the business of churches or monasteries rather than of laymen Guérard, Polyptyque d'Irminon, chapter VI, page 351 and following.. Moreover St. Desiderius permitted at least two thousand of his slaves de potestate to be freeborn, without seeming to have bounded their liberty within any limits by any charter. This he could do the more easily because by the Roman laws, which the kings of the Franks had made their own Codex Theod., book IV, title VIII, number 1., the giving of freedom to slaves lay in the power of all clerics, without their being bound to apply any point of law: which prerogative the most learned Jean Raepsaet did not have sufficiently before his eyes Raepsaet, Analyse etc., book V, chapter I, Œuvres, volume V, page 17., where, unfolding in what way among the Franks and Belgians slaves de potestate were loosed from every bond of slavery, he asserted, without excepting clerics, that the intervention of public authority was required among the Frankish nations for anyone to enrol his slaves in the class of the freeborn, and not of freedmen.

LIFE OF ST. DESIDERIUS, BISHOP OF AUXERRE

From the Bibliotheca of the Yonne, collated with Labbe's edition.

Desiderius, bishop of Auxerre. (S.)

Quintilian, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Haymarius, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Maurinus, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Aaron, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Betto, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Guido, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

BHL Number: 2141

FROM THE PRINTED TEXT.

CHAPTER ONE.

The birth and riches of St. Desiderius. He asks the pallium from St. Gregory the Great.

St. Desiderius, of royal race and rich, Desiderius, an Aquitanian by nation, of the mother Necteria, sat for XVIII years, XXV days, a most noble and most gentle man, a lover of the clergy and of the whole of holy religion. He lived in the times of Chlotar ^a, the glorious king, under the Roman pontiffs ^b Gregory, Savinian , Boniface, and likewise Boniface, during the reign of ^c Foca and Heraclius. His secular dignity was so great that no one in his time, however powerful, could compare himself to him on equal terms. For he was a kinsman of Queen Brunhild and of her sons, kings both of the Franks and of the Burgundians *. By whose princely munificence too he obtained a huge extent of estates. His mother, the aforesaid Necteria, rests buried in the monastery of St. Amantius ^d, which is situated in the district of Cahors. This same monastery he afterwards, in memory of his mother and in veneration of the relics of his holy predecessors Germanus and Amator ^e, which he himself had carried there, thoroughly adorned with honourable gifts and with a very great endowment of lands, as the following reading will declare: for he also asked for the pontifical pallium from Blessed Gregory, from whom he received for this request such a letter as this.

[2] he asks the pallium from St. Gregory in vain. — “Gregory to Desiderius, bishop of Auxerre:” “We have learned the desire of your fraternity from the report of John the regionary ^f, which indeed we are gladly prepared to fulfil, if we have been diligently informed of what he has reported. He says that it was reported to him by your dilection that certain privileges were once granted to your church by the Apostolic See, and that its priests in ancient times had the use of the pallium: and since you ask earnestly that this be renewed for you, we have had a search made in the archive of our church, and we have been able to find nothing: but since, the more zealously you desire to obtain these things, the more solicitous we judge you to be in searching out the charters of your church, we admonish you to apply your care vigilantly *; and, if any writings on this matter can be found which may inform us, let it be your care to send them here. For we who grant new things most gladly restore old ones.”

ANNOTATIONS.

* Sabianiano La.

* Phoca La

* Burgundorum La.

* vigilantem La.

CHAPTER TWO.

St. Desiderius enlarges, adorns and enriches the basilica of St. Stephen at Auxerre.

[St. Desiderius enlarges the basilica of St. Stephen, and gives it missoria and other gifts;] This holy bishop, then, was so rich in lands that no principal church ^b is to be found either of Middle Burgundy ^a or of the province of Aquitaine which he did not increase with very rich gifts. The basilica of Blessed Stephen, in which he had his see, he enlarged with wonderful beauty; a huge vault ^c being added on the eastern side, and most splendidly adorned with gold and mosaic, in the likeness of that which Bishop Siagrius ^d is known to have made at Autun . Moving the ancient altar there as well, on the XIII of the Kalends of May he solemnly dedicated it, where also he offered these gifts: a missorium ^e anacleum ^f, gilded, weighing L pounds ^g, having on it seven figures of men with a bull and Greek letters. He gave also another missorium likewise anacleum, granellated ^h, weighing XL pounds and a half, which has in the middle a wheel with a stephadium and around it men and wild beasts. Likewise a third missorium anacleum, weighing XXXV pounds: on the upper side ⁱ it has on it the story of the sun with a tree and serpents. Likewise a fourth missorium anacleum, weighing XXX pounds; it has on it an Ethiopian ^k and other images of men. Likewise a gilded bachovicha ^l, weighing XII pounds, II ounces ^m; it has on it a fisherman with a trident ⁿ and a centaur with marine work. Likewise another bacchovica anacleum, circled and niellated [p], weighing XIV pounds and IX ounces. Likewise another bacchovica, likewise anacleum, weighing XIII pounds; it has on it players. Likewise another bacchovica anacleum, weighing IX pounds, and it has on it a horned man and a tree and two little men holding infants in their hands. IV anaclean cups [q], weighing XI pounds and II ounces; they have on them little men and wild beasts; one of them gilded.

[4] likewise another similar He gave anaclean dishes, of which one, niellated, weighs IV pounds; it has on it a bear holding a horse. Likewise another anaclean dish [r], weighing III pounds; it has on it a lion holding a bull. Likewise another, weighing II pounds and IX ounces; it has on it a lion holding a goat. Likewise another dish likewise anaclean, weighing II pounds; it has on it a stag * with horns. Likewise another, weighing I pound and VII ounces; it has on it a stag feeding. Likewise another weighing I pound and IX ounces; it has on it a leopard holding a goat. He gave likewise IV anaclean little salt-cellars [s], which weigh IV pounds. He gave also VI bowls, which weigh XVI pounds. Likewise I middle-sized anaclean bowl [t], weighing III pounds and a half; it has on the bottom IV little figures [v] and around it pellets [x]. Decorated small cups [y] with capitals [z], weighing VI pounds and a half. He gave also II anaclean hicinarii [aa], weighing IV pounds and III ounces. Likewise III anaclean hicinarii, weighing V pounds. He gave likewise IX spoons [bb], weighing II pounds and a half. Likewise I spoon impesalis [cc], weighing I pound and X ounces; it has in the middle a little niellated wheel, and around it a border [dd].

[5] furnishings, He gave also one anafus [ee], weighing II pounds; it has a lion and a bull gilded. Likewise one trident, inscribed [ff]; it has the head of a lion, it weighs III pounds. He gave also an anaclean pitcher, which weighs IV pounds and a half: and an agmanile ; it weighs III pounds and a half. Likewise II matching gilded cannae, weighing V pounds; they have around them effigies and little beasts. He gave likewise a flat missorium, weighing VIII pounds and a half; it has in the middle a wheel and in the wheel a monogram. Likewise another missorium, weighing VIII pounds; it has in the middle a cross with two men. Likewise an anaclean baccovica, weighing X pounds; it has on it V little men with two winged little beasts [gg]. Likewise another anaclean baccovica, weighing VIII pounds and a half; it has in the middle a man on horseback [hh] and at his feet a viper. Likewise another anaclean baccovica, circled, weighing VII pounds and a half; it has on it three large men and around them little men and wild beasts. He gave likewise gilded anaclean bowls, weighing XVIII pounds; they have on them little men with little fishes. A middle-sized gilded anaclean bowl, weighing VIII pounds; it has in the middle men and little sea fishes. Likewise V matching lilied bowls [ii], weighing IX pounds and a half. Likewise a middle-sized anaclean bowl, weighing III pounds; it has in the middle the head of a man with a beard. Likewise a plain middle-sized bowl, weighing II pounds and III ounces; it has in the middle a cock. Likewise an anaclean columned bowl, weighing III pounds; it has around it little men and wild beasts. Likewise an anaclean dish, weighing II pounds; it has in the middle a little man and a young goat with a tree. Likewise an anaclean dish weighing II pounds; it has in the middle two little men with lances. Likewise a small dish, weighing I pound; it has in the middle a tiny wheel [kk], niellated around.

[6] equally varied and precious. Likewise an anaclean little salt-cellar, weighing I pound; it has in the middle a man with a dog. Likewise an anaclean shell-basin [ll], weighing IX pounds; it has in the middle a man and a woman and at their feet a crocodile. Likewise a small little salt-cellar with a cross [mm], weighing IX ounces. Likewise an anaclean stand [nn], weighing I pound and a half. XII spoons, weighing III pounds and II ounces. Likewise XII spoons, weighing II pounds and IX ounces. Likewise XII spoons, weighing III pounds; they have inscribed handles. Likewise III columned ichinarii; each weighs I pound. Likewise one ichinarius, weighing I pound and I ounce. Likewise a cancellus [oo], weighing I pound and I ounce. Likewise an anaclean pitcher, weighing III pounds, and it has a handle with pellets [pp] and in the middle the head of a man. An agmanile * weighs II pounds and IX ounces; it has in the middle a lilied wheel and on the handle the head of a man. Likewise a gilded recentarium [qq], weighing II pounds and a half; it has hollowings on the outside. Likewise another recentarium, weighing I pound and IX ounces; it has in the middle a little border [rr] and wild beasts. Likewise a schino [ss], weighing I pound; it has a niellated handle. Likewise a strainer [tt], weighing II ounces. There are in sum CCCCXX pounds, VII ounces [uu].

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Circulata, turned in a circle Ibid. under Circulata.; nigellata, commonly niellée.

q. Caucus seems to have been taken for a patera, a cyathus, which is a kind of cup. Several of the learned hold that caucus is the same as bauca Giorgi, Liturg. Rom. pont., page CX..

r. Scutellae seem to have been a kind of paten, in the manner of the hollow of a shield. Their peculiar use in the Church was for blessing eulogiae in vessels of this kind and distributing them to the people Ibid. CXI..

s. Salariolae were vessels for keeping salt, which is used in administering the sacrament of baptism, in blessing water, and in other things of this kind Ibid. page CVI..

t. A gabata was a kind of plate or dish, which was placed on the sacred table, or a sacred vessel which they used for receiving eulogiae Ibid. page XCI.. Du Cange however judges that a gabata was a plate or dish hanging from the ceiling in church, fitted with candles or lamps Du Cange, under Gabata..

v. Sigilli were signs or figures carved on or painted on small vessels or other things Ibid. under Sigillus..

x. Prunellae. See below, pp.

y. Caucellus, a diminutive from caucus Ibid. under Caucellus..

z. Capitellum, a diminutive of capitium, in French couvercle.

aa. Hicinarii or Ichinarii are words on which Du Cange brings forward nothing. If anything may be attained by conjectures, says Giorgi Giorgi, Liturg. Rom. pont., page CVII., I would read in both places “lacunarii”; for “lacunaria” in Isidore in the Origins are hanging lights, as if lucanaria, that is, shining in the air. But were they not rather lychnarii, often having the form of a column?

bb. The spoon in sacred use was often employed either for pouring back wine or water into the chalice, or for mixing the sacred oils, or for putting incense into the thurible, or finally for gathering the fragments of the oblations Giorgi, Liturg. Rom. pont., page XCIX..

cc. Impesalem, an unknown word of the silversmiths.

dd. Listra, the same as lista, edge, border Du Cange, under Listra..

ee. Anafum or hanapum signifies a patera, a bowl Ibid. under Anafum; Giorgi, Liturgia Rom. pont., page CX.

ff. Urceolus, the upper vessel from which water is poured for washing the hands. Aquamanile is the lower vessel, into which the water poured on the hands falls down. So Lanfranc, with whom other ancients agree.

gg. Feruscula, a little animal Ibid. pages LXXXIV, LXIX..

hh. Caballicantem, riding.

ii. Liliata, having lilies engraved.

kk. Rotelliuncula, a little wheel.

ll. The conca or concha they used for baptism and for conferring chrism Ibid. page CVII..

mm. Salariola, a vessel for salt to be blessed on Sundays, or to be used in baptism Du Cange, under Salaria, Salariola, Salarium..

nn. Suppositorium. The Maurists in their edition of the Works of St. Gregory the Great, book I, letter 42, take it for the vessel called soucoupe by the French and sottocoppa by the Italians. But Dadinus and with him Giorgi suppose that the suppositorium was a silver vessel which was placed at the mouth of those communicating. The opinion of Giorgi pleases more Giorgi, work cited, page CVIII..

oo. Columnellatus, adorned with small columns.

pp. Prunellatum, marked with little plums or small black globes. Prunellae were small black globes in the likeness of a sloe or wild plum Du Cange, under Prunellatus..

qq. Du Cange thinks Ibid. under Recentarium. that a recentarium was a vessel for the use of the sacred ministry, into which fresh or refreshed wine was poured. But I judge, says Giorgi Giorgi, Litur. Rom. pont., page CXV., that the recentarium was a kind of thurible, which… had hollowings on the outside, that is, as I think, openings for sending out the smoke of the incense.

rr. Listella, a diminutive of the word lista, which signifies edge, border. So Du Cange Du Cange, under Listella..

ss. Giorgi supposes that the schino was the same as the siclo, scypho and sio Giorgi, Litur. Rom. pont., page CXII..

tt. The collatorium was a vessel through which wine for the sacrifice was poured back into the chalice and strained of its lees. So Giorgi Ibid. page LXXIII.. The Latins said colum, and from that colare, that is, to purify through a strainer.

uu. Pounds 420, ounces VII. Which pounds and ounces weigh as much as 29,260 francs; with which, since the power of money now is in the proportion 655/69,57, or about ten times less than in that age, they could then have bought as great a heap of grain as now with 275, 541 francs.

* Augustoduni La.

* anacteum La.

* gravellatum La.

* bacconicham La.

* hircum La.

* agemanilis La.

* mediatam La.

* agmanilia La.

CHAPTER THREE.

St. Desiderius gives many fields to the basilica of St. Stephen. Likewise he gives many fields and other things to the basilica of St. Germanus.

St. Desiderius gives several fields to the basilica of St. Stephen; How the same holy bishop established Christ and the church entrusted to him by God as heir of his goods, the following document discloses; for he gave to the basilica of St. Stephen the field Magniacum ^a, situated in the district of Auxerre, which he exchanged with the lady Queen Brunhild, with the houses and adjacent lands, or all the equipment belonging to it: also the field Matriacum ^b, situated in the same district, where he himself built houses or an oratory in honour of St. Mimmius ^c, with the small field or with its other appurtenances, with slaves, vineyards, woods, pastures and with all its right and boundary; herds too of oxen, horses, sheep, cattle and pigs he solemnly assigned to the same basilica. Likewise the field Ganniacum ^d, situated in the district of Tonnerre ^e, with the buildings, slaves and all its appurtenances. Also the house or sites situated within the walls of the city of Chalon , which he exchanged with Bishop Wadelinus ^g, likewise with the vineyards which are situated on the mountains in the same district, in the field Miliacum ^h, with the vine-dressers and other slaves. He gave also the field Puniacum ⁱ, situated in the district of Avallon ^k, near Castrum-Censurium ^l, which he exchanged with the illustrious man Macco, with all the buildings, slaves, vineyards, woods and its other appurtenances: also the field Genuliacum ^m or Talnisiacum ⁿ with the nut-grove, situated in the territory of Sens, with the buildings, slaves, woods, lands and all their appurtenances. Also houses or sites situated within the walls of the same city of Sens, and at the same time olive trees placed in the suburb. Likewise he gave, in the district of Saintes, the estate ^o Siviriacum [p], which he exchanged with the lady Queen Brunhild, with the buildings, slaves and all its appurtenances; also the estate Flacciana, situated in the district of Fréjus [q], which the lord King Theuderic [r] granted him and confirmed by his precept, with the buildings, slaves, olive groves and all things belonging to it by right. Likewise in the territory of Saintes [s], most noble fields, which he exchanged with the apostolic man Mammo [t], bishop of the church of Cahors, or with the clergy of the same church, that is, Melredans and Lopiacum, Nojogelum and Uriliacum, with all their equipment and appurtenances. Likewise in the district of Avallon, the small field which is called Piciacus [u], with everything belonging to it by right. Likewise in the district of Autun , the estate Dementiriacum, with the tenant-farm, the lime tree and its other appurtenances; he gave also to the aforesaid mother church the field Palliacum [x], situated in the district of Avallon, with all its equipment and appurtenances. In the district of Sens as well Patriciacum [y], which he exchanged with the lord Bishop Aetius [z], likewise with the buildings, slaves and its other appurtenances. Also an estate placed on the river Cure [aa], by name Campania [bb], and the tenant-farms belonging to it, Riniacum [cc] and Crarium [dd], and at the same time Nova Villa [ee], situated both in the district of Avallon and in that of Auxerre, with the buildings, slaves, lands and all their appurtenances. In the time of his episcopate the aforementioned Queen Brunhild, by the hands of that bishop, offered to God and St. Stephen a chalice of wonderful beauty, of onyx stone, adorned with the purest gold.

[8] likewise to the basilica of St. Germanus beautiful furnishings Besides, to the basilica of Lord Germanus [ff], where he had decreed that his body should be buried, he offered these gifts: a silver missorium, which has the name of Thorsomodus [gg] written on it; it weighs XXXVII pounds; it has on it the story of Aeneas with Greek letters. Likewise another flat missorium, weighing XXX pounds. Likewise an anaclean baccovica, weighing XIII pounds; it has in the middle a lion with a bear and around it little men and wild beasts. Likewise another baccovica, weighing IX pounds and a half; it has a man and a woman and at their feet little beasts. Likewise an anaclean dish, weighing V pounds and VI ounces; it has on it a man on horseback holding a serpent in his hand. Likewise an anaclean dish, weighing III pounds; it has in the middle a tiny niellated wheel with a wild beast. He gave also II matching bowls, lilied on the inside, weighing VIII pounds and II ounces; an anaclean pitcher, weighing IV pounds; it has a niellated handle and in the middle the head of a lion. An agmanile,* weighing III pounds and IX ounces; it has in the middle Neptune with a trident. On the day of his burial the same eminent bishop ordered to be carried together with his body to the basilica of Lord Germanus a hundred solidi of the purest gold [hh], to adorn his tomb. There are in sum CXIX pounds and V ounces.

[9] and several fields Moreover the same holy bishop conferred on the same basilica of Lord Germanus estates of his own right, that is, Bringa [ii] in the district of Sens, with the buildings, slaves, vineyards, lands and all its appurtenances. Likewise Robertum in the same district with its appurtenances. The field Sessiacum [kk], situated in the territory of Auxerre, which, at his suggestion, the lady Queen Ingund [ll] assigned to the basilica of Lord Germanus and confirmed by her precept to be held. The holy bishop himself possessed it as usufructuary in the time of his life, by order of the same queen; and after his death he ordered that the aforesaid basilica of Lord Germanus should receive it without anyone's assignment or judgment. Likewise the small field Ferrolae [mm], situated in the district of Auxerre on the little river Lupa [nn], with the buildings, meadows, woods, with a herd of cattle and a herd of pigs, he assigned to the same basilica for the hostel of the poor. Likewise he gave, in the district of Saintes, the estates Saturiacum and Visio with the buildings, slaves, woods and all their equipment, and also sites with the houses on them both in Metullum and in the city of Sens, which he bought from the matron Viligundis , the price being given. He gave likewise, by the hands of Palladius, then presbyter and abbot of the basilica of Lord Germanus, and afterwards his successor in the episcopate, to the same basilica Orgiacum [oo] and Mamarciacum [pp], * with all the entirety belonging to them, and at the same time Nantilla [qq] and Pociacum [rr] with all the buildings, slaves, vineyards, new plantings and all their appurtenances. For the lord King Clothar too, and at the same time his most noble wife the lady Queen Ingund, by

the hands of the same lord Bishop Desiderius, adorned the same basilica with great and excellent gifts. The bier which is set over the most sacred body the king wondrously decorated with gold and silver, the queen no less most devoutly honoured with a chalice together with a paten of the purest gold, adorned with most precious gems.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Siviriacus, commonly Chevry-en-Seraine (Yonne) [Quantin, Cartul. de l'Yonne, volume II, Introduction, page LX; Guérard, Polypt. d'Irminon, volume I, page 69.].

q. The district of Fréjus, whose chief city Forum Julii (in French Frejus) is described by Adrien de Valois Notitia Galliarum, under Forum Julii, page 199..

r. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, from the year 475 to the year 526.

s. The territory of Saintes, whose chief city was Mediolanum Santonum (in French Saintes), is a tract in Aquitaine between the tract of Angoulême to the east, the Pictones to the north, Aquitaine proper to the south, and the Ocean to the west [Baudrand, Novum Lexicon Geograph., under Santones, page 185; Valois, Notitia Galliarum, under Santones, page 501 and following.].

t. The catalogues of the church of Cahors present no bishop by the name of Mammo Gallia Christiana, volume IV, column 870..

u. Piciacus, commonly Pizy (canton de Guillon, depart. de l'Yonne) Quantin, page 99..

x. Palliacus, commonly Pailly (canton de Segrinnes, depart. de l'Yonne) Ibid. page 95..

y. Patriciacum, otherwise Villapatricia, commonly Villeperrot Ibid. page 142..

z. Bishop Aetius, of what church he was bishop is not known. It is hinted that he was of Sens; but no mention is made of him in the fasti of that church Gallia Christiana, volume IV, column 870..

aa. Chora, in the vernacular la Cure, is a stream that flows into the Yonne at Crevennum (Cravan) Quantin, page 44..

bb. Campania is called Champagne by Lebeuf.

cc. The tenant-farm Riniacum, an estate now destroyed, by name Revisy, near Pontiniacum (Pontigny) in the Yonne department Ibid. page 107..

dd. The tenant-farm Crarium. Lebeuf thinks Histoire d'Auxerre, volume I, page 139. that this place is none other than Crain (canton de Coulanges-sur-Yonne, depart. de l'Yonne) Quantin, Dictionn., page 42..

ee. The tenant-farm Nova-Villa, commonly Villeneuve-la-Guiard.

ff. The basilica of St. Germanus was in its beginning an oratory, which St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, had built in honour of St. Maurice and his companions, and in which he himself was buried according to his desire. But when God made the glory of the holy bishop manifest to all through many miracles, Clotilda, wife of Clovis I, king of the Franks, had a new and magnificent basilica constructed over his tomb, at the beginning of the VI century; indeed thereafter kings and magnates, among them St. Desiderius, considered it an honour to enrich and increase this sacred building with estates and other gifts. He who may wish to run through the various fortunes of this basilica should go to the little work which the monk O. S. B. Fournier wrote on the crypts of St. Germanus, or also to the commentary on the capture of Auxerre by the Huguenots and its liberation, which Jean Lebeuf published [Description des Grottes de S. Germain, 1730 edition, page 1 and following; Histoire de la prise et de la delivrance d'Auxerre, page 142 and following.].

gg. Thorsomedes, otherwise Thorismund, was king of the Visigoths from the year 451 to the year 453. To him Aetius, patrician of the Romans, gave as a gift a gold missorium, which was afterwards held by Sisenand, a man by no means ignoble among the Visigoths [Aimoin, Historia Francorum, book IV, chapter 25. In Duchesne, Scriptores Historiæ Francorum, volume III, page 112.]. J. Lebeuf indeed suspects that the missorium which St. Desiderius offered to the basilica of St. Germanus was the same as that which Thorsomedes had in his possession Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 140..

hh. A hundred solidi of gold, whose weight would be today nine thousand francs Guérard, Polyptique d'Irminon, volume I, page 132 and following..

ii. Bringa, commonly Branches (canton d'Aillaut, depart. de l'Yonne) Quantin, page 19..

kk. The field Sessiacus, commonly Sacy (canton de Vermanton, depart. de l'Yonne) Ibid. page 111..

ll. Ingund here seems to be taken for another queen of the Franks, as we have shown in the Preliminary Commentary, number 6.

mm. Ferrolae, otherwise Ferrula, commonly Saint-Fargeau (arrondissement de Joigny, depart. de l'Yonne) Ibid. pages 114, 152..

nn. Lupe, otherwise Lupa, the Loing, a river which flows from the parish of St. Columba (Sainte-Colombe-sur-Loing, depart. de l'Yonne) Ibid. page 73. into the Seine.

oo. Orgiacum, commonly Orgy, a hamlet of Cevannae (hameau de Chevannes) near Auxerre Ibid. page 35..

pp. Mamarciacum, commonly Montmercy, a hamlet of the parish of Bercuiacum (Saint-Georges, canton d'Auxerre) Ibid. page 86..

qq. Nantilla, commonly Nantelle, a hamlet of the parish of Vallis (Vaux, canton d'Auxerre) Ibid. pages 91 and 136..

rr. Pociacum, commonly Poiry. This estate, long since destroyed, lay in the parish of Vallis (Vaux) Ibid. place cited..

* Cabillonensis La.

* Genusiacum La.

* Noiogalum La.

* Augustudunensi La.

* agmanilia

* Ursionem La.

* Vigiligunde La.

* Marciacum La.

CHAPTER FOUR.

St. Desiderius enriches the basilicas of St. Amator, of the Apostles SS. Peter and Paul, of St. Marianus and of St. Julian, and also the monasteries of St. Germanus and St. Martin.

St. Desiderius confers gifts on the basilica of St. Amator, Moreover to the basilica of Lord Amator ^a he gave the estate by name Talonensis ^b, situated in the district of Auxerre, with the buildings, slaves, lands, with cattle and herds of mares and pigs, and all its appurtenances.

[11] of the Apostles SS. Peter and Paul; To the basilica of the holy apostles Peter and Paul ^c, which is in the suburb of the city of Auxerre, the small field which is named Brittoilus ^d, situated in the district of Auxerre, with the buildings, slaves, woods, lands, with herds of pigs and mares and all its appurtenances.

[12] as also to the monastery of St. Marianus, To the monastery which the lord Bishop Germanus built on the bank of the river Yonne, where Lord Marianus ^e, the confessor of good memory, rests in body, the Villaris which is called Capitinarius ^f, situated in the district of Auxerre, in its entirety, with cattle and herds of pigs.

[13] and to the basilica of St. Julian, M., To the basilica of Lord Julian the martyr ^g, where Abbot Nivigaldus ^h presided, an estate in the district of Gâtinais ⁱ, which is called the manses of Theudbald, or Villarus Auroli ^k, with the buildings, slaves, meadows, with cattle and herds of pigs and its other appurtenances.

[14] and also to the monastery of St. Martin, To the monastery of maidens ^l, which was built in honour of Lord Martin beyond the river Yonne, the small field which is called Necariola ^m, which he bought from Emperia, a consecrated woman, the price being given, with the buildings, slaves, lands, meadows, woods and its other appurtenances.

[15] and to the basilica of SS. Gervase and Protase; Concerning the basilica too of the holy martyrs Gervase and Protase ⁿ, he set down thus in his testament: To the basilica of the lords the holy martyrs Nazarius, Gervase, Protase and the boy Celsus ^o, which Marinus our deacon is seen to be building for our solace, where also we have laid up relics of the same martyrs, the small field whose name is Briennico [p], beside the field of Nanturiacum, which we exchanged with Lord Evodius of good memory, formerly a bishop [q], and at the same time Accolatus [r], placed on the river Cure, as they are possessed by us at the present time, we have decreed to be given to the aforesaid basilica for the remedy of our soul, to be perpetually possessed by that basilica, or by those serving in it.

[16] and also to the basilicas of SS. Columba and Leo For to these monasteries written above, to each one, he ordered a silver vessel to be bestowed. He gave likewise to the basilica of St. Columba and St. Leo [s], which are built beside the city of Sens, the small field which is called Viscla, situated in the same district, with the buildings, lands, woods and all its appurtenances, on the terms that the rectors of these basilicas should divide the same estate between them in equal share.

[17] of St. Ursicinus, To the basilica also of Lord Ursicinus [t], of the village of Crinsensis [u], * formerly a disciple of Blessed Germanus, the small field of Villa-Materni, situated in the territory of Auxerre, with the buildings and slaves and lands in their entirety.

[18] of St. Amantius in the district of Cahors, Likewise he gave to the basilica of St. Amantius [x], which is built in the district of Cahors, for the stipend of the monks serving God there, where also his mother, as we have already mentioned above, rests in body, V estates or properties, whose names are these: Marciriacum and the other Marciriacum with their appurtenances, Lintiniacum, Conclusa, Ultrarida, Siviriacum , Angiriacum , Teponnacum , Vetrariae, Quinciacum and Crenno , which are situated in the district of Cahors, with the buildings, slaves and all their appurtenances. Likewise the estate Crispiniacum,

situated in the same district, he distributed on these terms, that the basilica of St. Amantius should receive two parts, and the basilica that is called At the holy Britons [y], where they themselves rest in body, should claim the third. Likewise the field which is called Cassinatus, lying in the same territory of Cahors, with all its appurtenances. Likewise a portion of the field Macrinium and of Reclinae, situated in the territory of Albi [z], with the buildings, vineyards, slaves and its other appurtenances. Likewise in the district of Rodez [aa], the valley Catemaria, Versellae, Grossumniagus, Sciacum and Atratum, with the buildings, slaves and all their appurtenances. Likewise Vitaliacum, situated in the district of Cahors, with all its entirety.

[19] of St. Saturninus Besides he gave also to the basilica of St. Saturninus [bb] the martyr, which is built in the suburb of the city of Toulouse, the estate which is called Silviniacus, situated in the same district, with all its entirety and appurtenances. Likewise also the field Melgiacum, situated in the same territory, with the buildings, slaves, lands and its other appurtenances.

[20] and to the senior church of Cahors. He gave likewise to the senior church of Cahors [cc] the estate which Betto held, and he himself received from the munificence of kings, situated in the territory of Bordeaux, with the buildings, slaves and all its appurtenances.

[21] [At length, after he declared two thousand slaves freeborn, and gave his other goods to his nephews,] Many other things indeed he possessed, as the page of his testament shows, which he bestowed both on his nephews and on his other kinsmen: but he also permitted not fewer than two thousand slaves to be freeborn, and permitted them to have as their own what they were seen to possess at the present time.

[22] he dies and is buried in the church of St. Germanus. Who, truly happy, the time of his life having been happily completed, full of virtues, passed to Christ on the VI of the Kalends of November, and was buried beside St. Aunarius in the basilica of Blessed Germanus.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. The small field Briennicus beside the field of Nantuaricum, commonly Brienne. Of this place, says the distinguished V. Quantin, which lay in the parish of Nantriacum (Nitry, canton de Noyers, depart. de l'Yonne), no traces survive) Quantin, Dictionn., pages 20, 92..

q. Le Cointe supposes that Evodius was bishop of Troyes about the year 631. This opinion is reported by the authors of the new Gallia Christiana [Le Cointe, Annales, volume II, page 843; Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 487.].

r. Accolatum, commonly Accolay (commune de Vermanton, arrond. d'Auxerre) Quantin, Dictionn., page 1..

s. The basilica together with the Benedictine monastery below Sens on the Yonne had been built in the sixth or at the beginning of the seventh century over the tomb of St. Columba, who in the persecution of Aurelian had shed her blood for the faith of Christ at Sens. To this basilica such celebrity accrued from the relics of St. Lupus of Sens, which had been translated there, that at the end of the XIII century the name of St. Lupus was given to it. After many fortunes it experienced at the end of the XVIII century the same lot as the other monasteries of France Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 146.. To this ascetic house St. Desiderius had given one part of the small field Viscla, granting the other to the basilica of St. Leo, bishop of Sens. This basilica of St. Leo, to which a monastery was added, St. Ursicinus is said to have built in the IV century in honour of SS. Gervase and Protase Acta SS. volume V of July, page 546.: where he himself and his successors were buried. Among these was St. Leo; as many miracles took place at his tomb, it took his name by popular usage Acta SS. volume III of April, page 31 and following.. But in the VIII century the inhabitants of the place translated the bodies of SS. Leo and others to the church of St. Peter; and lest the basilica should again be a citadel for the Normans, they decreed that it should be destroyed. The Normans having been put to flight, it was restored: but after many disasters in the year 1644 it was annexed and united to the parish of St. Nicholas in the same suburb of Sens Gallia Christiana, volume XII, column 118..

t. To the basilica of St. Ursicinus in the village Crinsensis (Crain, canton de Coulonges-sur-Yonne) Quantin, Dictionnaire du département de l'Yonne, page 42. St. Desiderius gave the small field of Villa-Materni. In what age this basilica was built, however, is hidden. St. Ursicinus, a disciple of St. Germanus, who they say was a cleric in the monastery of St. Martin of Chora (Cure, canton de Domecy-sur-Cure, depart. Yonne) Ibid. page 44., is still today venerated as patron at Chora, where his head, as the Ven. Mr. Pétin says Dictionnaire Hagiologique, volume II, column 1211., is religiously preserved. But in the middle of the XVIII century another part of the relics of St. Ursicinus was in honour at Crain, as is read in the Martyrology of Auxerre of the XVIII century at the 23rd of August: on which day the presbyters of Auxerre, as formerly Breve Autissiodorense for the year 1720., so also recently Ordo divini officii etc. juxta ritum Senonensem et Autissiodorensem., commemorated him.

u. The village Crinsensis, otherwise Crin or Crain (canton de Coulonges, depart. de l'Yonne) Quantin, Dictionn., page 42..

x. The basilica of St. Amantius in the territory of Cahors also experienced the munificence of St. Desiderius. Since St. Desiderius of Cahors had conferred many more gifts on this basilica [Life of St. Amantius, bishop of Rodez, in Labbe, Biblioth. Mss., volume II, page 474; Life of St. Desiderius of Rodez, ibid. page 709 and following.], and had been given burial there, as he had ordered while living, and had become famous for many miracles, the name of St. Desiderius, in French St. Géry, was given to it, that of St. Amantius being suppressed Gallia Christiana, volume II, column 155 and following..

y. In what part of the district of Cahors the basilica of the Holy Britons was situated I have not been able to find. I suspect that this place is none other than Breteni Deloche, Cartul. de Beaulieu, page CCLXXVI, 11 and 142. (Bretenoux, depart. du Lot).

z. The territory of Albi or Albigensis, commonly l'Albigeois, occurs sometimes under the name of the district of Albi and the city of the Albigenses Valois, Notitia Galliarum, page 10..

aa. The district Rotenensis, otherwise Rutenus (le Rouergue), whose chief city was Segodunum or Ruteni, commonly Rhodez Ibid. page 491..

bb. The foundations of the basilica of St. Saturninus at Toulouse were laid in the IV century by St. Silvius Acta SS. volume VII of May, page 438., bishop of this church, and it was completed and dedicated by his successor St. Exuperius, who also translated there the body of St. Saturninus from the chapel built by St. Hilary Ibid. volume VII of September, page 623. before the middle of the IV century. In this basilica, even in our days, the body of St. Saturninus, first apostle of the people of Toulouse, is religiously preserved.

cc. To the senior or cathedral church of Cahors too St. Desiderius gave an estate. For this church St. Martial himself, as Bernard Gui relates, had dedicated in honour of the protomartyr Stephen, placing there relics of that first witness of the Lord. But afterwards, namely in the VII century, SS. Desiderius of Cahors and of Auxerre are said to have enriched it with many estates.

* Bicicrisuensis La.

* Siniaricum La.

* Augiriacum La.

* Teponiacum La.

* Cremonem La.

* Brittones requiescunt La.

* Rotonensi La.

* Siacum La.

APPENDIX.

Desiderius, bishop of Auxerre. (S.)

Quintilian, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Haymarius, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Maurinus, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Aaron, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Betto, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

Guido, bishop of Auxerre. (Bl.)

BHL Number: 1321, 8875

BY R. D. B. & FROM MSS. & FROM PRINTED TEXT & FROM PRINTED TEXT.

BL. HAINMARUS.

§ Sole section. The cult, deeds and death of Bl. Hainmarus, bishop of Auxerre. His immediate predecessor was Savaricus.

Bl. Hainmarus, bishop of Auxerre, whose cult is certain, Hainmarus or Haimarus, or also Aimarus, legitimately obtains a place among the holy bishops of the church of Auxerre: for, first, his image, with the added title St. Haymarus, was painted beside the images of several other holy bishops of this church in the chapel of St. Sebastian about the year 1540 Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 180; volume II, page 127.; by which argument the cult of Bl. Humbaldus, likewise a most pious bishop of Auxerre, has already been vindicated in our work Acta SS. volume VIII of October, page 996.; further, in the Index prefixed to the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre and composed in the XIII century, as also in the manuscript catalogue of bishops of Auxerre of the XII century (which is preserved in the imperial library at Paris under number 6042), he is called St. Aymarus, martyr. Moreover in codex 4812 of the same library, which seems to be referred to the XVI century, he is numbered among the bishops of Auxerre whose ecclesiastical office the clerics in that church were at that time celebrating from remote times. To this is added that in the epitome of the bishops of Auxerre written in the XIV century, as Jean Lebeuf relates, he is called Blessed Haymarus, martyr Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 180.. At which appellation no one will wonder who recalls that those were formerly held martyrs, as has often been shown in our work, who were killed for piety or even for no cause with piety [Papebroch's response to the Exhibitio errorum, article II, §17, Acta Bollandiana vindicata, page 378; Acta SS. volume VIII of October, pages 96 and 367; ibid. volume IX of October, page 602; ibid. volume XI of October, pages 745, 946 and 716.].

[2] and who, after the war waged in Aquitaine The deeds of St. Hainmarus Heiric, Alagus and Rainogala have left described for us in this way: Ainmarus, called bishop, held the principate for XV years. For he was a very vigorous man, and by no means moderately distinguished by nobility of race, and at the same time most rich in the dignity of his estates. For his secular power grew so great that it reached even to the dukedom of nearly all Burgundy. It happened at that time that Pepin, son of the elder Charles, on the summons of Eudo, duke of the Aquitanians, marched through Aquitaine against Aimo *, king of Saragossa; who had taken as wife Lampagia, daughter of that Eudo, and had broken the treaties of the marriage. They came together at the place which is called Iberra, and when they had begun to fight with one another, this Ainmarus, rushing with his men on the multitude of the Saracens, laid them low with a very great slaughter, overcame them, and together with his king, Christ being propitious, came off victor. And so Pepin returned to the parts of Francia with triumph; but not long afterwards the aforesaid Eudo by a deceitful change abandoned the pact which he had made with Pepin. Whence it came about that the same Ainmarus, at the order of the aforesaid Pepin, returned again to the parts of Aquitaine, having collected a multitude of his men, and provoked Eudo to battle; when they engaged together, the Aquitanians suddenly fell with such slaughter that their duke Eudo himself hardly escaped, slipping away in flight.

[3] was killed, But by the plotting envy of certain men, which is always accustomed to be present at prosperity, it was suggested to the king that Eudo himself had escaped only by the consent of Ainmarus. For which cause, summoned by the same king to the estate of Bastogne *, which is situated in the forest of the Ardennes, he was consigned to custody in prison. A few days having intervened, therefore, drawn out of prison by the ingenuity of a certain nephew of his, having seized a horse, he took to flight; his adversaries pursuing behind him with the highest speed overtook him at the place which is called Lufaus in the district of Toul; and seeing that he could not escape their ambush, he gave himself wholly to the divine help: for while with arms extended in the manner of a cross and eyes raised to heaven he was entreating the grace from above, he was pierced by the lances of his pursuers and fell together with his aforesaid nephew. And there he is said to have been buried. There is preserved up to now at Auxerre, on the altar of the mother (cathedral) church, a golden cross of the Lord's wood, displaying the insignia of his martyrdom.

[4] he gave many goods to the basilicas of St. Stephen and St. Germanus. He also faithfully distributed certain things of his property to the churches of God, having obtained the counsel and ordinance of Lord Teodrannus, already at that time of his own will the ordained bishop. He gave, therefore, to the basilica of St. Stephen, for the stipend of the clerics serving God there, the estate which is called Matriacus , situated in the district of Sens, with the buildings, slaves, vineyards, woods and all its appurtenances. Likewise in the district of Auxerre, for the hostel of the aforesaid mother church, the estate which is called Miliciacus , and another which is called Viriliacus , with all their appurtenances. Moreover to the basilica of St. Germanus, for the stipend of the monks, the estate by name Abundiacus , situated in the district of Auxerre, with the buildings, slaves, woods and all its appurtenances. Likewise in the district of Gâtinais the estate which is called Pons-Maxentii, likewise with its appurtenances. He gave also for the hostel of the same basilica

of Lord Germanus estates situated in the district of Auxerre, that is, Nigrontum with its appurtenances; Linerolae too, likewise with its appurtenances; and at the same time Lagunae. For Boniacus and Vitriacus, at the time of his killing, passed to the lord's fisc. Thus far the historiographers of the bishops of Auxerre Duru, Bibliothèque Historique de l'Yonne, volume I, page 347..

[5] But Le Cointe and Lebeuf contend that he succeeded Aidulfus, But two writers, who above the others have done excellent work in illumining the antiquities of Auxerre, Le Cointe [Annales ecclesiastici Francorum, at the year 721, volume IV, page 653 and following.] and Jean Lebeuf Mémoires etc., volume I, page 172 and following., are persuaded that the series of the bishops of Auxerre of that time teems with many and rather grave faults; and whereas St. Heiric and his associates place after St. Tetricus Flocoaldus, Savaricus, St. Hainmarus, Theodrannus, Quintilian, Cillianus, Clement, Aidulfus, Maurinus; Le Cointe, overturning the series, judges that there succeeded one another in the see of Auxerre St. Tetricus, Savaricus, Flocoaldus, Quintilian, Clement, Aidulfus, Hainmarus, Theodrannus, Maurinus: which opinion Lebeuf follows, except that he supposes that after Flocoaldus came Savaricus, then Quintilian or Cillianus (for he supposes that these were one and the same bishop). Le Cointe's reason is that on the one side, in the History of the bishops of Auxerre and in all the catalogues of the same bishops, Savaricus is immediately followed by Hainmarus and Theodrannus, of whom the former held the episcopate when Pepin son of Charles Martel was already king, and the latter was ordained bishop by the consent of Hainmarus himself: on the other side there occurs in the same History and the same catalogues Aidulfus, who sat for XV years “and lived in the times of Charles the Greater,” that is, Martel, “and lasted until Pepin.” From which Le Cointe infers that Hainmarus and Theodrannus are to be thrown back after Aidulfus, and that Aidulfus did not immediately succeed Flocoaldus, since from the death of Bishop Flocoaldus to the death of Charles Martel or the Greater twenty years flowed by. Between the bishops Theodrannus and Aidulfus, Le Cointe continues, there are placed in the catalogues of Auxerre, in the middle, Quintilian, Cillianus and Clement. These three bishops presided over the church of Auxerre for thirteen years. In Severt the episcopate of Quintilian is bounded by one completed year. In the History of the bishops of Auxerre, Cillianus sits “six years, two months,” and dies “on the day before the Nones of August”; while Clement sits “V years, I month, X days,” and then resigns the episcopate. That is, since after the death of Flocoaldus the city of Auxerre, as the same History testifies, was without a bishop for VII days, in this very year Quintilian takes up the episcopate in the month of March, and closes his life in the year of Christ seven hundred and twenty-two; Cillianus in the same year in the month of June becomes bishop, and dies on the day before the Nones of August in the year of Christ seven hundred and twenty-eight; in the same year Clement is ordained bishop, and, five years, one month and ten days having passed, resigns the episcopate in the year of Christ seven hundred and thirty-three [Annales ecclesiast. Francorum, at the year 721, volume IV, page 654 and following.].

[6] although he succeeded Savaricus. But I have no wish to go over to the opinion either of Le Cointe or of Jean Lebeuf, or to admit such great chronological blemishes in the work of Heiric and his associates or in the catalogues of the bishops. Perhaps Heiric and his associates extended the episcopate of Cillianus or Clement beyond measure. But I would rather say that they wrote Pepin in place of Charles Martel and referred to the son the deeds that belonged to the father: for in other matters that they narrate in this place they have committed this error: for the wars with Eudo and the Saracens, which they narrate were waged by Pepin, were accomplished by Charles Martel, not by his son, and that Eudo departed from this earth in the year 735 is established by the almost unanimous testimony of the ancients Compare Le Cointe, ibidem at the year 735, page 865.. These things being understood, nothing prevents us, treading in the footsteps of Heiric, Alagus and Rainogala, from affirming that St. Hainmarus was substituted for Savaricus as bishop of Auxerre in the year 715 or shortly after: since in this year, namely when the battle in the forest of Cuise, near Soissons, was fought, Savaricus died. For the Franks, say the historiographers of the bishops of Auxerre, disagreeing among themselves and stirring up very many civil wars, rushing on one another in the forest of Cuise, slaughtered one another with a very great carnage: then the same bishop, putting aside his pontifical dignity, having collected a very great multitude from all sides, when he was going to Lyons, to subjugate it to himself by the sword, was struck by a divine thunderbolt and perished by a swift death, and so, carried back to his own city, he was buried in the basilica of St. Germanus beside his predecessors Biblioth. de l'Yonne, volume I, page 347.. In the Deeds of the Kings of the Franks Duchesne, Historiæ Francorum scriptores, volume I, page 719., as in the Chronicle of Fredegar Scholasticus Ibid. page 769., where the same battle is described, it is added that King Dagobert died at that time: next it is read in the Nazarian Pertz, Monumenta Germaniæ, volume I, page 25. and Petavian Annals Ibid. page 7. that this occurred in the year 715 Le Cointe, Annal. eccles., volume IV, at the year 721, page 654.: from which it follows that Savaricus departed from the living in the year 715, and therefore also that St. Hainmarus began the episcopate of Auxerre at about the same time. That he held it until the year 731 is urged first by the fact that St. Haynmarus, who was not created bishop before the year 715, presided over the church of Auxerre for XV years: next that shortly after he had, by order of Charles Martel, waged war in Aquitaine now for Eudo, now against Eudo, he was cruelly killed: of which war it is read in the Nazarian Annals: In the year 731, Charles laid waste twice beyond the Loire Pertz, Monumenta Germaniæ, volume I, page 25.. Likewise in the Petavian Annals: In the year 731, Charles was in Gascony against Eudo Ibid. page 8.. Moreover in the Annals of Tillet: In the year 731, Charles fought in Gascony against Eudo Ibidem.. Nor does the author of the Chronicle of Saint-Denis speak otherwise: In the year 731, he says Ibid. page 523; Le Cointe, Annal. eccl., volume IV, at the year 731, page 782., Charles was in Gascony against Eudo; or also the author of the Annals of Metz: In the year 731 from the Lord's incarnation, Eudo, duke of the Aquitanians, withdrew from the law of the treaty which he had promised to Prince Charles. On learning this, Prince Charles, gathering an army, crossed the river Loire. Eudo having been put to flight, he ravaged Aquitaine twice in the same year. Many treasures too being carried off, he returned with joy to the proper seats of his principate. And if only the Nazarian and Metz Annals treat of a double war moved in Aquitaine in the same year, while the others treat of only one, this seems to be the cause, that since they were waged at a short interval in the same tract, they can be held as one war.

* alias Munur

* Bastogne.

* Merry-la- Vallee.

* Milly.

* Vrilly.

* Annay-la-Cote.

* Neron.

* Linereiles.

BL. QUINTILIAN.

§ Sole section. The origin, death and cult of Bl. Quintilian, bishop of Auxerre.

Bl. Quintilian, bishop of Auxerre, Bl. Quintilian is reckoned first after Theodrannus among the bishops of Auxerre in the ancient catalogues. His praises Heiric and his associates celebrate in the book on the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre, setting first the praises of his father, lord of the district of Puisaye in the territory of Auxerre, and called by the people because of the holiness of his life Saint-Quinquelin Lebeuf, Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 174.. But let Heiric be heard: Bishop Quintilian was noble by race, whose father Quintilian built the monastery of Mézilles (see the Preliminary Commentary on St. Desiderius, number 13) and enriched it with his own property, and established there a hostel for Britons going to Rome. This blessed bishop before his episcopate was abbot of the monastery of St. Germanus: but because of the merit of his life and the nobility of his race, called from the monastery by the election of the people, he was substituted as pastor of the church. He was buried, then, beside his predecessors, in the basilica of St. Germanus Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume I, page 349.. Next, of Cillianus, the successor of Bl. Quintilian in the episcopate, there is read in the same place: Bishop Cillianus sat VI years, II months. He died on the day before the Nones of August, and was buried in the basilica of St. Germanus Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 175.. But Jean Lebeuf judged that Bl. Quintilian and Cillianus, both because of the similarity of the names and because of the omitted number of years for which the former occupied the see of Auxerre, were one and the same bishop; adding that Heiric, Alagus and Rainogala fell into error in assigning to Cillianus only VI years of episcopate in place of XI; but this opinion, resting on no firm argument and conflicting with the testimony of nearly contemporary historians and the very tradition of the church of Auxerre, is by no means probable; and so it suffices that five years be attributed to the episcopate of Bl. Quintilian, so that nothing need be changed in the years of Cillianus.

[2] he dies after the year 731. We do not know either the day or the year in which Bl. Quintilian met his death. Le Cointe Annales eccles. Francorum, volume IV, at the year 722, number 53, page 679. indeed and Lebeuf Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 174., whom the Maurist authors of Gallia Christiana decline to follow, indicate, the former the year 722, the latter, making Bl. Quintilian and Cillianus one and the same bishop, the year 728. But, as we have just said, another way must be taken. After the year 731, in which Hainmarus died, he was created bishop; in such a way however that Theodrannus sat between the two. Moreover it is also certain that he died several years before Charles Martel, about whose times St. Aidulfus was set over the church of Auxerre, was taken from this life in the year 741.

[3] and he has been venerated from remote times. Of the ecclesiastical cult of Bl. Quintilian a few words will suffice. His name occurs in two very ancient monuments, namely in the Index prefixed to the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre and in the manuscript Catalogue of the bishops of the same church, formerly of the monastery of Pontigny, now of the public library of Paris, with the title of saint. Besides, he is called blessed by Dom Fournier; who also reckons him among the saints stored in the crypt of Saint-Germain. Finally Chastelain in the index of the Universal Martyrology names Bl. Quintilian venerable; but this title there is worth as much as the title of blessed elsewhere. As is their custom, de Saint-Allais [Dictionnaire universel des saints, martyrs, confesseurs, bienheureux, vénérables, etc., page 117.] and V. V. Pétin [Dictionnaire Hagiologique, supplement, column 1561; compare les SS. grottes, page 196.] follow Chastelain, except that they add that Quintilian is called blessed in ancient manuscript books of Auxerre.

BL. MAURINUS.

§ Sole section. The cult and death of Bl. Maurinus, bishop of Auxerre.

[Bl. Maurinus, successor of Bl. Aidulfus, whose cult is certain, dies about the year 797.] Bl. Maurinus Heiric and his associates, and also all the most ancient catalogues of the bishops of Auxerre, as bishop of this church after

Bl. Aidulfus (by whose will, while he was still living and hindered by paralysis, he had administered the public functions) relate to have been elected at about the beginning of the reign of Charlemagne Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume I, page 350., or about the year 768. From the remotest times indeed he has been inscribed on the roll of the saints. For in the manuscript catalogue of the bishops of Auxerre of the XII century in the imperial library of Paris, number 6042, and in the Index which in the XIII century they prefixed to the Deeds of the Bishops of Auxerre, the title of saint is added to his name; similarly in the manuscript epitome of the bishops of Auxerre, written in the year 1375, as Jean Lebeuf relates: further, his image, beside the images of other holy bishops of Auxerre, was drawn in colours in the chapel of St. Sebastian about the year 1540. Wherefore Robert, weaving together the series of the bishops of Auxerre, rightly called Maurinus or Marinus a saint Gallia Christiana, page 250.. Similarly Severt [Severt, Chronologia etc. pene omnium Antistitum Galliæ, at the end of the Chronologia historica of the archbishopric of Lyons, page 124.], who calls him Maurinus and Marinus; and likewise du Saussay, who, reckoning him among the Gallican saints of the 4th day of August, wrongly adds that he began his episcopate in the time of Charles Martel. To these the writers of the new Gallia Christiana also add their vote Gallia Christiana nova, volume XII, column 272.. After St. Maurinus had sat for XXVIII years, he died, namely in the year 797 or 798, on the VIII of the Ides of August (6 August), and was entombed in the church of St. Gervase, which he himself also had renewed Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume cited, page 350 and following.. The Necrology of Auxerre too (written from the VIII century to the XII century) mentions him on the 6th day of August in these words: There died Maurinus the bishop, who gave for the stipends of the brothers a small field of his property, whose name is Villare, not far from Varzy Lebeuf, Memoires etc., volume IV, page 16..

LIFE OF BL. MAURINUS

Bishop of Auxerre,

from the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre, according to the edition of the venerable Mr. Duru in the Bibliotheca of the Yonne.

SOLE CHAPTER.

Bl. Maurinus took care that the goods taken from the church be restored, Bishop Maurinus sat for XXVIII years. He lived about the beginning of the reign of Charlemagne, a vigorous man, and most eloquent with a fluent urbanity, and very much adorned with titles of holiness: for he is reported to have foretold certain things in a prophetic spirit, which the outcome of the matter presently proved; and although unequal in secular power, yet he showed himself equal in dignity to many even of the most powerful. It is most certainly established of him that by singular talent and prudence he recovered the property, as we said before, withdrawn from his church ^a, with the assent of Charles the Great, then king, afterwards emperor. For taking gold, found, as is reported, in the same city, in the tower of Brunhild ^b, and, as is said, distributed pound by pound, he bound it on this side and that in the knots of the orarium ^c which he used, and, hanging it from his neck, he brought it into the presence of the aforementioned king in a novel fashion; and he made known to the royal ears at once the poverty of the church entrusted to him and the tenor of his petition, asserting that he had first thought to win over the individual princes of the palace with individual pounds of gold to his help; but that afterwards he had changed his mind, and had judged it more right that he alone should receive everything. The kindness of the prince assented, and he declared by a precept of royal authority that, as those who then held ecclesiastical property died off one by one, he should little by little receive everything. And so, God assenting, the matter turned out prosperously, so that within about two years almost none remained of those to whom ecclesiastical estates were in service against what was lawful. In that time the abbey of the holy martyrs Gervase and Protase, and also of St. Martin ^d, and of St. Eusebius too, returned to the uses of St. Stephen: as also the greatest part of the estates that had until then been alienated.

[2] and from his own estate made many pious gifts. In the time of this bishop the first count of the district of Auxerre, by name Ermenoldus ^e, built on his own estate a monastery in honour of the Saviour, which the same bishop solemnly dedicated; and from the property of St. Stephen he gave for its increase the estate whose name is Cocciacus ^f; none the less the aforesaid count by the bishop's entreaty afterwards assigned the same monastery to St. Stephen. On the altar of the mother church ^g too this same bishop offered a most precious pall, most becomingly adorned with gold and pearls. He composed also a cross of the purest gold and precious gems, inscribing it with his name. And being an imitator of his predecessor of good memory, he conferred property of his own on St. Stephen, to minister to the needs of the poor. These properties are placed in the district of Tonnerre, in the estate which is called Fontanetus ^h: none the less he also conferred on the stipends of the canons a small field of his property, whose name is Villare, not far from Varciacum ⁱ, which he himself had obtained from a certain matron, by name Rocla. He died on the VIII of the Ides of August, and was entombed in the church of St. Gervase, which he himself also had renewed.

ANNOTATIONS.

BL. AARON.

§ Sole section. The cult of Bl. Aaron. His episcopate and death.

Bl. Aaron, formerly reckoned among the saints St. Maurinus having been taken from the living, there was substituted Bl. Aaron, who in the cited catalogue of the bishops of Auxerre of the XII century is called a saint, and in the Index prefixed to the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre blessed. But the chief indication of his cult is that his image too was painted in the midst of the images of the holy bishops of Auxerre in the chapel of St. Sebastian about the year 1540, with the title of saint added. Chastelain mentions him in the supplement to his Universal Martyrology at the 13th day of February, in these words: At Auxerre, of the venerable Aaron, bishop, who, buried in the priory of St. Gervase, is in some manuscripts called a saint Lebeuf, Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume I, page 184.: which words de Saint-Allais transferred into the new edition of Chastelain at the 13th day of February, and V. V. Pétin into his Hagiological Lexicon Pétin, Dictionnaire Hagiologique, column 16.. Du Saussay too, commemorating St. Angelelmus at the 7th day of July, adds that he governed the church of Auxerre after Bl. Aaron Martyrologium Gallicanum, page 419.: further, in Gallia Christiana, Robert Gallia Christiana, page 250. and afterwards the Benedictine monks Gallia Christiana nova, volume XII, column 273., unfolding the series of bishops of the same church, attribute to Aaron the name of saint. All of which abundantly proves that Bl. Aaron was long ago numbered among those in heaven.

[2] and different (as it seems) from the Aaron cited at the 28th day of September, It does not escape me that in the Usuardine Martyrology, published by Greven in the years 1515 and 1521, a certain Bishop Aaron is reckoned among the saints of the 28th day of September: which our predecessors, noticing there and in the manuscript Florarium of the saints, suspected was not different from Aaron, bishop of Auxerre, but since this was not clear to them by any certain argument, and Bl. Aaron of Auxerre is asserted in the Deeds of the bishops and in the very ancient Necrology of this church to have met his death on the 13th day of February, and no other St. Aaron was known to them, they considered that Greven's St. Aaron was to be placed among those passed over on the 28th day of September.

[3] [he presided over the church of Auxerre at the beginning of the IX century: at which time he accompanied Charlemagne to Rome; yet he did not carry there relics of St. Peregrinus.] Further, Bishop Aaron, say Heiric and his associates, sat for XIII years, and they add: It is established of him that, when Charlemagne was setting out to Rome under Pope Leo (in the year 800) to strengthen the glory of the empire, he set out together with him, and in that very expedition he obtained from the aforesaid emperor the abbey of St. Marianus (which had come into the hands of laymen, as was said above in the Preliminary Commentary, page 367). When on that occasion he was at Rome, if credit is to be given to Sansovino and others Lebeuf, Mémoires etc., volume I, page 184., Bl. Aaron gave to Pope Leo as a gift either the whole body or three ribs of St. Peregrinus, bishop of Auxerre. But this is less likely; since it rests on the testimony of no ancient writer; nor would the people of Auxerre easily have allowed themselves to be stripped of so sacred a pledge. Moreover St. Peregrinus, who is venerated by the canons of St. Peter at Rome, is not St. Peregrinus of Auxerre, but another St. Peregrinus, who on the 25th day of August shed his blood for the religion of Christ, as from the Calendar of the Vatican basilica

of the XII century, which Bl. Giuseppe Maria Tommasi, the cardinal, first made public, is evident Works of Bl. Tommasi, volume IV, page 12.. To this is added that the oratory of St. Peregrinus at Rome, as our predecessors formerly noticed Acta SS. volume III of May, pages 560 and 563; volume V of August, page 114., was built already before the times of St. Leo III.

[4] Having much adorned the basilica of St. Stephen, he died about the year 799. This same Bishop Aaron, Heiric and his associates continue, wondrously composed a ciborium of gold and silver over the altar of St. Stephen in the cathedral church. Now a ciborium in that age was a covering or canopy of the altar, which was raised on four very tall columns, and, carried up into a gabled form, covered the whole altar Du Cange, Glossarium latinitatis, under Ciborium.. Of the other deeds of Bl. Aaron Heiric and his associates are silent, except that he died on the Ides of February (13 February) and was buried in the basilica of St. Gervase Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume I, page 352.. But since he began to occupy the see of Auxerre about the year 799, and sat for XIII years, his death is to be referred to the year 813.

BL. BETTO

§ Sole section. The cult, episcopate, death and burial of Bl. Betto.

Bl. Betto, who was honoured with ecclesiastical cult, In the Litanies which the monks of St. Germanus of Auxerre once recited, whenever because of occurring needs they instituted a supplication through the crypts of their church Acta SS. volume VI of July, page 594., there occurred the name of Bl. Betto. Reporting this, Jean Lebeuf Mémoires etc., volume I, page 228. adds that he was never honoured with another cult; and that to this devotion of the monks of Auxerre it is to be attributed that in the XVII century the feast of Bl. Betto was celebrated in the monastery of St. Columba at Sens, and that Chastelain was wrongly induced by the example of the people of Sens to inscribe the name of Bl. Betto on the roll of the saints Martyrologe Universel, page 97.. But Jean Lebeuf did not attend to the fact that Bl. Betto, from the very circumstance that in the Litanies of the monastery of St. Germanus (which he himself, writing to our predecessors, supposes were composed in the middle of the XVII century) Acta SS. volume VI of July, page 594., with the Church looking on and not contradicting, he is openly invoked, without any beginning of the cult paid to him being able to be indicated, is rightly reckoned among the saints. This argument, used by our predecessors to prove that St. Gerannus, likewise bishop of Auxerre, is with full right reckoned among the saints, once greatly pleased Jean Lebeuf himself Ibidem, place cited.. To this is added that Dominique de Séguier, bishop of Meaux, in the year 1642, in the official report of the unsealing of the saints buried in the basilica of St. Germanus, which he had made in the years 1634 and 1636 when he was bishop of Auxerre, called Bl. Betto a saint three times [Description des saintes grottes de l'église de l'abbaye de saint Germain à Auxerre, at the end, page 1 and following, 1713 edition; page 160 and following, 1780 edition.]: which he certainly would not have done, since shortly before Urban VIII had promulgated his decrees against imprudent cult of saints, unless Bl. Betto had been acknowledged among those in heaven for more than a century already. Moreover in the monastery of St. Germanus, as Fournier, a monk of the same monastery, relates in the year 1713, the feast of Bl. Betto was kept, without his hinting that it had at that time been recently taken up: nor does it seem to have been abrogated at the end of the XVIII century, for in the second edition of the same little work, namely of the year 1780, the 24th day of February is again indicated as sacred to Bl. Betto in the monastery of Saint-Germain Ibid. at the end, editions of 1717 and 1780.. I doubt, however, whether this feast was instituted before the year 1680, since Mabillon reported in this very year that the feast of Betto was not celebrated in the church of St. Germanus Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, sæc. III, part II, page 578..

[2] he occupied the see of Auxerre from the 12th day of March of the year 715 Bl. Betto took up the government of the church of Auxerre in the year 915. And this is clear from the Annals of St. Columba, in which it is said at this year: On the fourth of the Ides of March Betto, monk of St. Columba, is ordained to the bishopric of Auxerre. With these partly agree first the very ancient Necrology of the church of Auxerre, in which at the 12th day of March the ordination of Lord Betto is noted Lebeuf, Mémoires etc., volume IV, page 11.; next Clarius, monk of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif, who in his Chronicle, treating of the treaty entered into between Charles the Simple and Rollo in the year 911, says: Counsel being taken, King Charles with his nobles handed over Neustria to the Normans: in the following year there was a great famine throughout all Gaul. In that time Betho, provost of St. Columba, was ordained bishop of Auxerre on the VIII * of the Ides of March Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume II, page 480.. Of the year and day of his death all do not speak in the same way: for the anonymous biographer narrates that he gave up his spirit on the very day of the VI of the Kalends of March (24 February), when he had sat in the see of Auxerre for II years, IX months, XIV days; while the annalist of St. Columba has that the said Betto, monk and bishop, died in the year 918 on the sixth of the Kalends of March Pertz, Monumenta Germaniæ, volume I, page 104.; next in the old Necrology of Auxerre there is read at the 24th day of February: There died Lord Betto the bishop, who gave to the brothers (canons) the church of Vendosa, and the estate of Rattonacum, and in Carbuiacum one manse, to provide a refection and the common service Lebeuf, Mémoires, volume IV, page 11.. Clarius indeed asserts that St. Betto died after completing IV years in the episcopate Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume II, page 480.. But less credence is to be given to Clarius than to the Historiographer of the bishops of Auxerre or to the annalist of St. Columba, since Bl. Betto was bishop of the church of Auxerre and abbot of the monastery of St. Columba, and therefore excellently known to both: indeed the author of the Life of St. Betto was his contemporary: for, as is handed down in the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre in the preface to the Life of William of Seignelay, a praiseworthy custom flourished in this church that immediately after the death of each bishop his deeds should be written Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume I, page 378.. To this is added that thirty-three days after the happy departure of Bl. Betto Gualdricus was created bishop of Auxerre, who governed this church for fifteen years Annals of Flodoard, in Pertz, Monum. etc., volume IV, page 380., and died in the year 933 In Labbe, Bibliotheca Mss., volume I, page 596.: whence it follows that he ascended the see of Auxerre in the year 918, in which Bl. Betto was taken from the living.

[3] to the day of his death, the 26th of February of the year 918; Nevertheless in the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre Bl. Betto is said to have sat for II years, XI months, XIV days: whence it would follow, since he was ordained bishop on the 12th day of March of the year 915, that he departed from the living on the 26th day of February 918: although it is clear from other approved historical monuments that he passed to heaven on the 24th day of February. Yet I am persuaded that there is no discrepancy between the cited writers. That this may become more luminous, let the reader observe that from remote centuries until at least the XI century the custom of creating bishops above all on Sundays flourished in Germany and Gaul [Martene, de Antiquis ecclesiæ ritibus, volume II, book I, chapter 8, article 4, page 10; article 10, page 27, 1783 edition; Acta SS. volume XI of October, page 957.]: next that the 12th day of March of the year 912, with Sunday letter A, fell on a Sunday Art de vérifier les dates, pages 19 and 105, 1750 edition.: besides that the ordination at that time was begun on the evening of Saturday, so that it was completed on Sunday [Martene, de Antiquis ecclesiæ ritibus, volume II, pages 10 and 27; Acta SS. volume XI of October, page 957.]. These things having been declared, it is easily understood how the anonymous writer wrote XIV days in place of XII, counting in the episcopate of St. Betto both the day on which he was consecrated and the day on which he died. But innumerable discrepancies everywhere are removed by the application of the distinction of full and hollow days.

[4] on which day he was buried in the church of St. Germanus. On the very day of his passing, as was not rarely the practice in ancient times Martene, de Antiquis ecclesiæ ritibus, book III, chapter VII, page 370., St. Betto was buried in the chapel of St. Martin, otherwise of Our Lady of Consolation, in the crypt of St. Germanus Les saintes grottes etc., pages XXII, XXVI and following.. Where in the year 1636, in a very near place beside the wall, there lay open to Dominique Séguier, bishop of Auxerre, as he recognized the bodies of the saints of the crypt of St. Germanus, the tomb of St. Betto, whose body was covered by a cowl or floccus, with a rough haircloth clinging beneath. The inscription of his tomb was this:

Here: Rests: of Holy: Memory:

Betto: Bishop: Who: Ruled: the Church:

of Auxerre: for Years: II: Months: XI:

Days: XIIII: And Was Buried: in the Church:

of Blessed Germanus: on the VI: of the Kalends: of March: Ibid. place cited.

* read IV,

LIFE OF BL. BETTO

Bishop of Auxerre,

From the Bibliotheca of the Yonne.

SOLE CHAPTER.

Bl. Betto, abbot of St. Columba, Bishop Betto, by nation a Burgundian of this our Burgundy, native of the city of Sens ^a, was born under happy auspices of a father Albericus, likewise a Burgundian, and a mother by name Angela, a Frank. A monk from boyhood ^b, instructed in monastic institutes and not moderately imbued with the liberal arts, in the time of Euvrardus ^c, whose kinsman he was, he became abbot of the monastery of St. Eraclius ^d, the distinguished confessor of Christ: and afterwards of the place, that is, of the monastery of St. Columba ^e, to whose service he had been committed, he was made prelate by the will of the brothers.

[2] he fortifies his monastery against the Normans: Discharging this prelacy for a long time most honourably, this was his chief industry and study, to cultivate that monastery with laborious buildings, and to decorate the fabric of the church of God with ornaments of gold and silver. For the tower in the midst of the temple, prominent because of its size, in that time, which p … admitted, lacked a roof, and presented to those looking at it a certain unsightliness of shortness; he raised it on high, and, with artful device and constructed with beautiful work, he covered it with a vault, and for firmness of strength he ordered other arches to be made beneath the earlier ones, supported on marble columns. The exedrae too of Blessed Lupus ^f, confessor of Christ, and of St. Columba, virgin and martyr ^g, he encircled with sheets of gold and silver wrought with the craftsman's artifice: he also supplied certain foreign ornaments of vestments to be worn by the monks on solemn days: and finally, seeing the unstable course, for the most part, of the fear of this our perilous time, and looking ahead with the provident eye of solicitude amid the hostile battle lines of the pagans ^h, in the state of its integrity the fabric of the monastery

could not be kept inviolate, trusting in the most generous clemency of the Almighty, and having received leave from Richard, the great prince ⁱ and abbot of the same place, he undertook a laborious work, and with great instancy of toil brought it nearly to completion: for he laid foundations of walls with towers around the monastery, and raised them as far as the battlements: which fortress he would have finished with unwearied zeal, had not God's condescension decreed to take him up as a future bishop ^k.

[3] then, created bishop of Auxerre, For when Gerannus, bishop of the see of Autrice ^l, had been removed from the communion of this our corruptible life by the debt of death, the aforesaid man, praiseworthy in character and life, was very earnestly acclaimed by all the clergy and people to take up the bishopric of the church of Auxerre to govern it: but he, crying out that he was unworthy of this, and protesting with all his efforts, at length, with the help of the aforementioned prince, obtained the episcopal see: where according to the rule of wisdom which he had learned from heaven he strove so perfectly to live that no teacher's eloquence of tongue could set forth, nor learned hand inscribe with pen, the immensity of his reputation and fame. We however, touching summarily on the quality of his life, assert this most truly, that he was outstanding in the proofs of wisdom, bright with the whiteness of holiness, clear in prudence, flourishing with the sweetness of gravity, tested in the vigour of frugality, fully adorned with the kindness of liberality. He had this custom, at the time of a meal, after sitting down at table, to direct almost the whole of the first serving of food to twelve poor men seated in his sight and to others placed elsewhere, another not less being at once brought in equally; at which refection, after the end of the divine reading, no one dared to say anything unseemly or scurrilous; but whoever tried to bring forth something from his own mouth took care that his word should sound either something divine or something human and well becoming.

[4] he recovers and increases the goods taken from his church. Shining therefore with such lamps of life, he was pleasing to God and to all men. For from the time of Bishop Gerannus, Viscount Ragenardus ^m had been holding in his dominion Gaiacum ⁿ and Jussiacum ^o, estates situated not very far from the city; but this distinguished man, since he could not wrest them from his right either by particular admonition or by importunity of prayers, finding a salutary counsel, by presenting gifts of money restored them to his own power. And that he might be an imitator of his predecessors, and that the canons might joyfully keep his memorial on the day of his death, he conferred on them the church of Vendosa [p], and the estate of Rontoniacum [q], and in Carboïacum [r] one manse. And when he was planning to rebuild the episcopal houses, which after the burning of the city had not been even moderately repaired by anyone, and in the hall of Christ to carry out zealously whatever he could that was befitting to its honour, gravely gripped by a pleuritic illness, and long detained, while he was being watched over by throngs of the faithful, and the divine praises and readings were being celebrated around him, he gave back his happy spirit to God with the confession of the Catholic faith, on the very day of the VI of the Kalends of March. He was buried in the crypt of the church of St. Germanus. He sat for II years, XI months, XIV days.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Vendosa, in French Venouse (cant. de Ligny, dep. de l'Yonne) Ibid. page 137..

q. Rentoniacum, otherwise Roncennacum, Roncennaium, Roncenet, Roncenniachus, Ronconiacus, now in French Roncenay, a hamlet of the parish of Pontiniacum, Pontigny (cant. de Ligny, dep. de l'Yonne) Ibid. page 109..

r. Carboiacum, otherwise Charbuiacum, in French Charbuy (cant. ouest d'Auxerre) Ibid. page 29..

BL. GUIDO.

§ Sole section. Bl. Guido, pupil and master of the school of Auxerre. He is acceptable to kings and princes. His death and cult.

[Bl. Guido, successor of Gualdricus, who was first a pupil, then master of the school of Auxerre,] In the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre Ibid. volume I, page 378. and in all the catalogues of the bishops of this church after Gualdricus there is reckoned Bl. Guido. With these concurs Flodoard, referring the death of Gualdricus and the election of Bl. Guido (who he says had before been archdeacon) to the year 933 Annals at the year 933, in Pertz, Monumenta Germaniæ, volume III, page 381.. His Life, according to the custom of the church of Auxerre, was written by an anonymous author immediately after he had departed from the earth [Duru, Bibliothèque de l'Yonne, volume I, page 511; Histoire littéraire de la France, volume V, page 541.]. In which it is read that in the most celebrated school of that time at Auxerre Ibid. volume VI, page 34 and following. he was instructed as far as possible in letters both divine and human under the government of Bl. Herefridus, bishop of the same church; who, since he himself as a youth had been instructed in liberal studies in the palace school Acta SS. volume X of October, page 207., was fit above many for promoting letters. As Bl. Guido was exercising himself in this arena of the sciences, to him, though born in the district of Sens, Bl. Herefridus conferred the clerical tonsure, and therefore him among the clerics of Auxerre,

as was done according to the discipline of that time [Discipline de l'Église, volume II, book I, chapters 4 and 5, page 25 and following.], he enrolled. The biographer of Bl. Guido adds that he stayed in the school of Auxerre until he reached mature age, namely about thirty years: whence it is gathered that in the year 909, in which Bl. Herefridus died, he had reached at least the thirtieth year of his age. Afterwards, created bishop of Auxerre, he presided over the school of this church; for Flodoard relates that Hugh, son of Herbert of Vermandois, after he had completed the fifteen years since he had been elected archbishop of Reims, which he had spent staying at Auxerre, was occupied in literary studies with Wido, bishop of that city, by whom too he had been ordained deacon [Historia ecclesiæ Rhemensis, book IV, chapter 28, in Migne, Patrologia, volume CXXXV, column 135.].

[2] he was very acceptable to King Rudolf and his wife Emma and to Hugh the Great; But as Bl. Guido had had much influence with King Rudolf and his wife Emma (for before they were raised to royal dignity he had not only committed himself to their service, but also by their authority, when he had been elected by the clergy and people, had ascended the see of Auxerre), so also he was very acceptable to Hugh the Great, duke of Francia, brother of Emma, who, Rudolf having died, waging war against his successor Louis d'Outremer, had advanced with his army as far as the district of Soissons; whence, having sent the bishops Wido of Auxerre and Ansegisus of Troyes to the king, he summoned Count Ragenald to himself, and so, an oath being given on both sides, truces were accepted until the octave of Easter Flodoard, at the year 949, in Pertz, volume III, page 398..

[3] he dies in the year 961. Blessed Guido sat in the episcopate for XXIX years, says the anonymous biographer, and died in peace on the VIII of the Ides of January, and was buried in the greater church of St. Stephen, which he himself had rebuilt. Flodoard indeed Ibid. place cited. binds his happy departure to the year 961: nor in this matter does he differ from the anonymous biographer. For if account is taken of hollow years, that is, if the year in which Bl. Guido was ordained, or 933, and the year in which he died, or 961, are reckoned, his episcopate will have lasted not 26 years, as Lebeuf says Mém. d'Auxerre, volume I, page 242., but 29. The day of his death is indicated by the biographer as the VIII of the Ides of January, or the 25th of January; but in the Necrology of the church of Auxerre, which they say was increased by no addition after the XII century Ibid. volume IV, page 8., there is read at the 6th day of January, or the VIII of the Nones of January: There died Lord Wido, bishop of this holy church Ibid. page 9.. The cause of this difference seems to be that the biographer wrote VIII of the Ides in place of VIII of the Nones. And indeed the authority of the Necrology surpasses the biographer, since on the one hand in the church of Auxerre, as is clear from the biographer himself, immediately after the death of Bl. Guido his memory was to be kept every year on the anniversary of his death: on the other hand the Necrology, in which the traditions of that church were recorded, was written almost in its entirety a few years after the happy departure of Bl. Guido, namely in the year 1007: and this is established from the fact that the author of the Necrology with his own hand at the end of the paschal cycle beginning with these words: The fifty-fourth nineteen-year cycle: The year from the origin of the world IIIIM. DCCCC.L.VIIII. From the incarnation of the Lord M.VII., common Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume IV, page 22..

[3] His cult. Bl. Guido seems nowhere to have been honoured with an ecclesiastical office or feast: yet he was added to those in heaven before the memory of man: for not only in the Index prefixed to the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre, and in the Pontigny Catalogue of the same, which historical monuments are most ancient, is he named a saint; but also his effigy was formerly seen in the chapel of St. Sebastian among the painted images of the holy bishops of Auxerre, with the inscription: Bl. Guido Ibid. volume I, page 242..

LIFE OF BL. GUIDO

From the Bibliotheca of the Yonne.

SOLE CHAPTER.

Bl. Guido conferred many goods on his church. He dies in the XXIXth year of his episcopate.

Bl. Guido, the bishop, increased the goods of his church Guido, by the working of God's clemency alone bishop of Auxerre, was born in the district of Sens, of the father Boso, the mother Abigail. This man, from the rattles of earliest age ^a, was handed over to the church of St. Stephen of Auxerre under the government of Lord Herifridus the bishop, and was tonsured; where he was instructed as far as possible in letters both divine and human, staying there until he reached mature age; thereafter, all things being put aside under God's protection, he committed himself to the service of King Rudolf and his wife Emma; and staying there, when Bishop Waldricus died, he was soon invited to the episcopal honour, and by the election of the clergy and people, the king at the prayers of the queen assigned him the episcopal see. And so, ordained on the XIV of the Kalends of June at Sens, finally on the day of the Lord's Ascension he was enthroned from the monastery of St. Germanus in the church of St. Stephen of Auxerre, as is the custom. Although its possession was slender, he took most vigilant pains, as far as he could, that the church over which he presided should grow and be adorned. But what he worked there, lest perhaps it be given over to oblivion and be taken away from the dominion of the church by the cupidity of successors and ministers, we have thought good to insert in this little work, knowing that reward will not be lacking to those who do it. For first the estate of Crevennum ^b, which had been taken from St. Stephen, with its appurtenances, by a royal precept, with the king's connivance, he restored to its former place; handing over half ^c of that estate to the canons, for preparing a refection for the canons on the day of the death of the aforesaid King Rudolf, and for the absolution of the soul of the bishop himself: and the other half to the aforesaid canons on the day of the death of the aforesaid queen, and for the remembrance of the soul of the aforesaid bishop. The fishermen however are to remain in the service of the bishop at the order of the provost of the canons. Seeing a mean ambo there, he set one honourably constructed, with crypts honourably composed above, and beside it he most devoutly consecrated an altar in honour of St. John the Evangelist and St. Lawrence the martyr ^d, and in honour of all the saints, that Mass might be celebrated by the bishop, if he should be present, and by the clergy of the church, that by their intervention he might come to the aid of the needs of the living and the dying: establishing on these three days that the canons should have a refection every year for the remedy of his soul ^e, obtaining from the archbishop and the bishops ^f subject to him the tithes of three churches, of which, namely, in Aygliniacum ^g one is consecrated in honour of St. Stephen, in Matriacum another in honour of St. Felix, another built in honour of Lord Martin ^h: establishing that from these three churches three refections should be made for the brothers, one on the feast of St. John the Evangelist, on the II of the Nones of May, when he was put into the jar of boiling oil; another on the octave of St. Lawrence, a third on the feast of St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist, and that what is left over from the tithes of the churches should be for the stipends of the canons, for obtaining the absolution of his soul. Finally let the provost of the canons of St. Stephen of Auxerre choose the presbyters in the same churches with the consent of the brothers; who are both faithfully to receive the tithes of the churches for their own use and that of the canons, and to render to the archbishop of Sens synodal service, as the surrounding churches do, and nothing else is to be required by the archbishop or by his ministers; and that this may remain firm and stable for ever, Archembaudus ⁱ himself, archbishop of Sens, confirmed the writing with his own hand, and asked that it be strengthened by the hands of his fellow bishops, and ordered that it be strengthened by the names of his archdeacons Prodagius, Bernard and Teodericus, and of the other canons. The bases covered with discs he excellently decorated with silver tablets; he also composed there seven excellent lamps of silver, having in them with the rod XV pounds: he offered to St. Stephen X banners ^k with gold; two candlesticks adorned with silver; two silvered staves, on which golden crosses are carried; two crowns of silver, having ten pounds. An excellent cliotedrum ^l, constructed of gold and silver.

[2] and he ordered many sacred buildings to be adorned or restored. The entrance ^m, which Waldricus had begun to build, he carried up on high, adorning it with a vault ⁿ and painting on the walls the throngs of paradise and the torments of Erebus, he provided a pleasing entry to those going in: digging his own tomb there; which he afterwards ordered to be moved before the face of the Saviour and the altar of St. Lawrence, which after the burning of the city and the temple he honourably adorned by his toil and dedicated; over which he built a chapel in honour of the saints whose memory within the city or outside is hardly or rarely celebrated, whose names are these: Matthew, Thomas, Philip, Matthias, Dionysius, Maurice, Ignatius, Demetrius, Desiderius, Jerome, Silvester, Augustine, Vigilius, Eugenia, Anastasia, Margaret, Lucy, Agatha, Genevieve, Columba, that by their intervention, of men and women, the city might be saved outside and within, giving it an allod ^o in the estate of Cavannae [p], which Heldebertus, servant of St. Stephen, had acquired, for lights to be prepared there night and day for the remedy of his soul: and let the same allod be in the hand of the presbyter who shall celebrate the solemnities of Mass above or below; ordaining beforehand also that he who holds the vineyard which he planted in the place called Plantae should, on the feast of each of the saints named above, pay to the canons celebrating vigil and Mass VI sextarii of wine, to provide a caritas on his behalf; and after two relatives or faithful men of his, to whom he shall have left the aforesaid planting, the canons are to receive it among their own, and themselves fulfil what he has established for himself; and if they do not do this, let the reward not be taken from him and let God require it of them.

[3] He conferred many other goods on the church; Finally the abbeys, namely of St. Julian and St. Amator and St. Mary [q], which had long been withdrawn from the power of the bishops, by the supplement of Lord Hugh, duke of Francia, by a royal precept of King Louis confirmed by his hand, he restored with much zeal and much labour to the church, which had lost them; the middle altar of St. Stephen he most honourably surrounded with purple entirely covered with golden images. Seeing also that the circuit of the church was not so great, he built a new arch between the two doors near the altar; the walls being opened, he constructed there two oratories in the manner of a cross, that more might be able to serve God there. While he was doing this, by the envy, as I judge, of the devil, the old wall together with the new one fell to the ground from arch to arch; which he soon did not hesitate to renew without delay. For as the aforesaid church of St. Stephen after the burning was torn up from the foundations, so afterwards it was raised by him from the very foundations, and adorned with greater beauty than it had before with large windows and a vault. The two oratories too, right and left, he rebuilt in the likeness of what had been before, adding crypts to those oratories; in which also he set up altars, that the peoples coming might find where they could linger with tearful sighs, entreating and obtaining the mercy of God and of the saints in whose honour those altars are. Therefore most elegantly

widened, this same basilica in its upper parts presents the form of the holy cross; and in the middle of the church he set up raised platforms, and placed there the face of the Saviour fixed to the cross: he also decorated the altar with a silver tablet raised with images and other pictures, consecrating it on the V of the Ides of August in honour of the Holy Cross, and of St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist, and of St. Romanus, soldier and martyr.

[4] at length he died in the XXIXth year of his episcopate. The aforesaid Bishop Wido, then, was one relying on simplicity, of moderate prudence, and as far as he could he wished not so much to preside over as to benefit all: for, among other works of honourable character, he produced by the dictation of his own hand responsories with antiphons to be sung on the solemnity of the holy martyr Julian, having however in the likeness of the harmony the melody of glorious Germanus, above all for this reason, that the same most holy bishop, as is found in his deeds, showed that the day of the solemn natal feast of the aforesaid martyr, unknown to all, was to be celebrated, the Lord revealing it to him. And so, being a lover of the religious and the good and a severe rebuker of the wicked, he acted as long as he lived. He sat in the episcopate for XXIX years and died in peace on the VIII of the Ides of January, and was buried in the greater church of St. Stephen, which he himself had rebuilt. And the city was without a bishop for III months and VIII days.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Cavanni, today Chevannes, near Auxerre Quantin, Dictionn., page 35..

q. Of the abbeys of St. Julian, St. Amator and St. Mary, afterwards St. Marianus, we have spoken briefly in the Annotations to the Acts of St. Desiderius, page 368. The writer of the Life of Bl. Guido indicates in this place that these monasteries were first episcopal, then royal, and afterwards again royal. The condition of monasteries both royal and episcopal we shall explain below in the Life of Bl. Angelramnus. — St. Julian of Brioude is understood there; on whom see the Martyrology of Auxerre at the 28th day of August.

ANCIENT CATALOGUE OF THE BISHOPS OF AUXERRE

From Colbert codex 6042.

NOTICE.

Which bishops of Auxerre were called saints in the XII century, As was to be seen in St. Humbaldus, bishop of Auxerre, at the 20th day of October in our Acts, no slight difficulty was laboured under in discerning which bishops of Auxerre had been legitimately reckoned among those in heaven; since the huge series of images with the added praise of holiness was painted in the cathedral church a few years too late for it to be a hundred years older than the decrees of Urban VIII. But as was said in the Acts of St. Humbaldus, it was not to be supposed that it was in the year 1540, about which those images were made, that those bishops of Auxerre were first called saints. That this opinion is most correct we are taught by two catalogues of the bishops of Auxerre; whose very great value is for this reason, that from them we understand which of their bishops the clerics of Auxerre held in the number of the saints in the XII and XIII centuries. One of these, which was prefixed to the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre in a codex written partly in the XII century, partly in the XIII, we judge should not be published in our work, since the Ven. Mr. Duru has already made it public in the Bibliotheca of the Yonne; but the other, up to now (so far as we know) unpublished, has seemed fit to be brought to light now for the first time from a Paris manuscript book, enlarged with some annotations. Lebeuf knew something of it Mémoires d'Auxerre, volume IV, page 41.; who at the end of his Commentaries on the affairs of Auxerre noted that this catalogue is in a manuscript codex, as he says in Latin, of a certain English bishop, and perhaps of St. Thomas of Canterbury (killed in the year 1170), who at Pontigny transcribed very many books; in which are contained catalogues of the bishops of various sees of Gaul; now in the royal library (codex 6042), formerly in the Colbert library, codex 3969; which seems to have belonged to Henry of Huntingdon, an Englishman. Nevertheless so great a venerability does not seem to attach to that book.

[2] [it becomes known from the Catalogue composed in the XII century and copied in the XIII century.] For in this catalogue, written by one and the same hand, there occur first St. Peregrinus, last Hugh of Mâcon: then there is added, William, Hugh de Noyers and William de Seignelay being omitted, Henry. This writing Lebeuf refers to about the year 1150, because the last two bishops recorded, Hugh of Montaigu and Hugh of Mâcon, of whom the latter died in the year 1151, are not there called saints: but this reason is altogether weak, since not even in the Index of the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre are either Hugh of Montaigu or Hugh of Mâcon called saints, although the Index ends with Bishop Erard, who died in the year 1278. It seems rather to be said, therefore, that the catalogue was put together in the middle of the XII century (for if it had been composed after the death of Hugh of Mâcon, his successor's name would doubtless have been added), and then in the times of Henry de Villeneuve, who from the year 1220 to the year 1234 held the bishopric of Auxerre, it was most elegantly copied out. And if Lebeuf supposes that the name of Henry was added by a more recent hand, on the contrary the opinion of the distinguished Claude, palaeographer of the imperial library of Paris, is that the whole catalogue was written by one and the same hand in the following century. Which opinion is favoured by the fact that at the head of the catalogue is read: Names of the bishops of Auxerre, who were fifty-five, etc., which number, if Henry were removed, would be only fifty-four. For which reason it is to be judged that the little book was not written before the year 1220, in which Henry began his episcopate: although it seems to have been taken from a writing of the middle of the XII century, the last name excepted. Now that catalogue follows.

CATALOGUE.

Holy bishops of Auxerre. Names of the bishops of Auxerre, who were fifty-five, of whom thirty-two were saints, and four of these same thirty-two were martyrs, the other twenty-three were simply bishops. This I learned from the catalogue of bishops of that church, which a certain presbyter of ours brought to us. That hardly or never will you find in another bishopric so many holy bishops to have been in one bishopric ^a.

St. Peregrinus, bishop and martyr. — St. Marcellian. — St. Valerian ^b. — St. Elodius. — St. Amator. — St. Germanus. — St. Alodius. — St. Fraternus. — St. Censurius. — St. Ursus. — St. Theodosius. — St. Gregory ^c. — St. Optatus. St. Droctoaldus ^d. — St. Eleutherius. — St. Romanus, martyr. — Eterius ^e. — St. Aunarius. — St. Desiderius. — St. Palladius. — St. Vigilius. — Scospilio ^f. — St. Tetricus, martyr. — Focoardus ^g. — Sabarius — St. Aymarius, martyr. — Teodrannus. — St. Quintilian. — Gislianus. — Clement ^h. — St. Aidulfus ⁱ. — St. Maurinus. — St. Aaron. — St. Angelinus. — Heribaldus ^k. — Albo ^l. — Christian ^m. — Vuala. — St. Wibaldus ⁿ. — St. Herifridus. — Gerranus ^o. — Bettho. — St. Galdricus [p]. — St. Gaudo. — Ricardus. — Heribertus. — John [q]. — Hugh [r]. — Heribertus. — St. Goffridus [s]. — Robert, bishop and count. — St. Humbaldus. — Hugh [t]. — Hugh. — Henry.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. St. Gualdricus, who died on the 24th day of April of the year 933, is named neither blessed nor saint in the index of the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre. We have not treated of him, because it was not permitted to us to be content with one testimony only.

q. John was reckoned among the blessed bishops of Auxerre in the XVIII century by the monks of St. Germanus of this city Les saintes grottes d'Auxerre, page 146., but again we have not wished to stand by this single testimony.

r. That Hugh of Montaigu was reckoned among the saints our predecessors have proved, explaining his deeds at the 10th day of October Acta SS. volume V of October, page 315..

s. Goffridus, who not even in the index of the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre is called saint or blessed, died on the 16th of September of the year 1120. We desire further testimonies of his holiness.

t. Since it is beyond doubt that Hugh of Mâcon was honoured with ecclesiastical cult, our predecessors illustrated his Acts at the 10th day of August Ibid. volume II of August, page 550..

EPILOGUE

Of the ancient cult of the holy bishops of Auxerre.

[Holy bishops of Auxerre venerated with ecclesiastical office before the Breviary was reformed in the XVI century;] The same reason for which we have just given the Catalogue of the XIII century impels us to record a codex written in the XVI century and now preserved in the imperial library of Paris, number 4812: in which codex are reckoned the holy bishops of Auxerre whose feast in that age was kept from the most ancient times in the cathedral church of Auxerre. This is the merit of this second catalogue, that it indicates many more feasts than are contained in the Breviary which in the year 1580 Jacques Amyot, bishop of Auxerre, ordered to be printed according to the usage of his church, on the form of the Roman Breviary, by decree of the Council of Trent. Nevertheless among the bishops hardly any omissions were made. The holy bishops of Auxerre, then, in whose honour already in the XIV century, according to that codex, the ecclesiastical office was celebrated, are these: Peregrinus on the 16th day of May; Marcellian on the 13th day of the same month; Valerius and Valerian on the 6th, likewise of May; Eladius on the 8th day of May; Amator on the 1st day of May; Germanus and Alodius on the 28th day of September; Fraternus on the 29th day of the same month; Censurius on the 10th day of June; Ursus on the 30th day of July; Theodosius on the 17th day of the same month; Gregory on the 19th day of December; St. Optatus on the last day of August; St. Ammarius on the 25th day of September; St. Eleutherius on the 26th day of August; St. Romanus on the 6th day of October; St. Etherius on the 27th day of July; St. Agnarius or Anacharius on the 25th day of September; St. Desiderius on the 27th day of October; St. Palladius on the 10th day of April; St. Vigilius on the 11th day of March; St. Tetricus on the 12th day of April, and finally St. Hammarius or Haymarus. But it is to be noted that the author of the catalogue, when he set St. Ammarius after St. Optatus, fell into error; for between St. Optatus and St. Eleutherius sat St. Droctoaldus, of whom nothing is held in the Deeds of the bishops of Auxerre, except that he died on the VI of the Ides of November.

[2] likewise afterwards; The same saints, apart from St. Ammarius and Hammarius, and on the same days, are honoured with ecclesiastical office in the Breviary of Auxerre of the year 1580. Nor in this matter was any great change made at the beginning of the XVIII century, as is established both from the Ordo divini officii of this diocese for the year 1720, of which Jean Lebeuf was the author, and from the Breviary of Auxerre which Charles de Caylus, bishop of this church, published in the year 1725. Yet Valerius and Valerian are in both proposed as one and the same saint under the name of Valerian. And all these saints, except perhaps St. Censurius alone, were recently venerated by the presbyters of the tract of the archdiocese of Sens which, before the concordat entered into between Napoleon I and Pius VII, comprised the diocese of Auxerre. But since the time when the Roman Breviary has again been used in the archdiocese of Sens, the cult of the holy bishops Amator, Elladius, Peregrinus, Censurius, Theodosius, Aetherius, Germanus, Eleutherius, Optatus, Aunarius, Romanus and Gregory, the others being omitted, has been extended to the whole archdiocese.

[3] likewise in the monastery of St. Germanus; In the monastery of St. Germanus many holy bishops had been buried. In the XVIII century the monks celebrated the natal days of St. Betto on the 24th day of February; of St. Heribaldus on the 25th day of April; of St. Amator on the 4th day of May; of St. Censurius on the 10th day of June; of St. Angelelmus on the 7th day of July; of St. Theodosius on the 17th day of the same month; of St. Aetherius on the 27th day of the same month; of St. Gerrannus on the 28th, likewise of July; of St. Ursus on the 30th, likewise of July; of St. Germanus on the 31st, likewise of July; of St. Hugh of Montaigu on the 10th day of August; of St. Eleutherius on the 16th day of the same month; of St. Optatus on the 31st, likewise of August; of St. Aunarius on the 25th day of September; of St. Alodius on the 28th day of the same month; of St. Fraternus on the 3rd day of October; of St. Romanus on the 6th day of the same month; of St. Desiderius on the 27th, likewise of October; of St. Droctoaldus on the 8th day of November; of St. Aidulfus on the 13th day of the same month; of St. Abbo on the 3rd day of December; of St. Gregory on the 19th day of the same month [Les saintes Grottes d'Auxerre, page 148 and following, 1713 edition; same work, page 201 and following, 1780 edition.].

[4] which were invoked besides in the Litanies. Moreover there were invoked in the litanies of the saints inserted in the Breviary of Jacques Amyot SS. Peregrinus, Fraternus, Romanus, Vigilius, Tetricus, Amator, Germanus, Agnarius, Desiderius, Palladius; and besides these in the litanies of the Breviary of Charles de Caylus SS. Marcellian, Valerian and Eladius.