ON ST. VICTORIUS, OR VICTURIUS,
BISHOP OF LE MANS IN GAUL,
In the year 490, or perhaps earlier.
A HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL COLLECTION.
The saint's upbringing and instruction by St. Martin: his virtues: miracles: episcopate: pastoral care, etc.
Victorius or Victurius, bishop and confessor, at Le Mans in Gaul. (S.)
BY J. S.
The Acts of St. Victor, bishop of the church of Le Mans, we gave on the twenty-fifth of August. He had as his son and as his successor in the bishopric St. Victorius, Certain things concerning St. Victorius discussed elsewhere. by others named Victurius, of whom we must treat on this day. Various matters which pertain to St. Victorius had to be examined at the Acts of St. Victor, which in this place come only to be briefly assigned. First, therefore, we proved that Victorius is distinct from his father Victor; we showed that the father is venerated on the twenty-fifth of August, the son on the Kalends of September, in the church of Le Mans; we demonstrated that the son was substituted for the father in the governance of the church; and we assigned as best we could the time of his episcopate. These things, therefore, and others which were laboriously discussed in that place, I shall hold as inserted here, and shall briefly narrate what can be said of St. Victorius, keeping for the most part the order of time.
[2] St. Victorius was born in the fourth century, when it was already inclining to its end. [St. Martin baptizes him when nearly ten years old, and bestows on him a favourable blessing:] He was washed in baptism by St. Martin when nearly ten years old, as the Acts published on the twenty-fifth of August describe in these words: Lord (says the mother of Victorius to Martin), I ask that my son be baptized by your hand, and that he be your spiritual son, and serve you all the days of his life, for it is nearly two lustres from his birth. Then indeed the bishop was filled with great joy, because she had asked the grace of baptism, and he bade the boy come to him, and he stood in the midst, and he baptized him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and bore witness, and called his name Victorius, that he might liken him to the name of his father Victor. Martin added his blessing with a favourable prayer, as follows: And when baptism had been given in the name of Christ, he kissed him, and prayed to the Lord, saying: Father of heaven and earth, give to this boy such a sign that he may live. Give him, Lord, understanding, knowledge, wisdom, moderation, charity, chastity, sobriety, subtlety, humility: for thou, Lord, wilt give grace to the humble, and resistest the proud. Pour out upon him, Lord, thy heavenly blessing, that after the days of his father are fulfilled he may receive the honour of his dignity, and that thou wouldst permit him to judge in his father's seat. And they that stood by said, Amen. That these prayers of the holy man were not without effect, the life afterwards holily lived taught: although these words do not seem to have been so uttered by St. Martin, but to have been attributed to him by the author.
[3] Being about to depart to his own church, Martin took with him Victorius, offered by his parents, and taking him with him, sends him to wash a blind man's face and eyes, one who was to make marvellous progress under so great a master in every kind of virtue; nor was he only to be instructed in virtues, but presently also to be trained for the working of miracles. This the Acts teach in number 9 in the following words: Martin, the man of God and bishop, was now desiring to go again to his own city: but he commanded the boy Victorius, his spiritual son, whom he had received raised from the sacred font, to go with him. And when after the third day they had come to the banks of the Loire, the man of God looked back, and saw a blind man standing upon the bank of the river, seeking to cross over, that he might seek food. Then the bishop said to the boy: Son, go to the man whom you see standing, wash his face and his eyes with water of the Loire, and say to him: Come hither to me. The boy therefore went, and spoke with him. Friend, my lord father Martin the bishop calls you to come to him. And he answered: Since I am blind, unless you take my hand, I cannot follow you. To whom the boy said: First I will wash your face and your eyes with water of the Loire, and afterwards go. And he dipped his hands in the water, and touched his face and his eyes.
[4] to whom sight is restored: and Victorius afterwards serves him for three days. And straightway his eyes were opened: and he saw heaven, earth, and waters, and whatsoever he wished: and being filled with great joy he lifted up his voice, saying: I give thanks to thee, God of heaven and earth, because through the boy sent to me at thy bidding my eyes have been enlightened: and running, until he came to the priest, he fell prostrate at his feet, saying: Lord, by your prayers my darkened eyes have deserved to behold the light, for that boy crowned in white (on account of the baptism a little before received, as I noted at the Acts) who announced to me that I should come to you, washed my eyes with his holy hand, and I saw. By no difficult conjecture we gather that by this miracle the faith of Victorius was increased with vast growth, and that his obedience, which shines wonderfully in this deed already done, was not slightly strengthened. Straightway the excellent master exercised him also in the work of charity, when he bade him minister for three days to the aforesaid poor man, who had been led with them to Tours, as the Acts in number 10 subjoin after a few words: That poor man stood before the holy one of the Lord for three days and three nights; and whatsoever he was pleased to eat was constantly ministered to him by the boy's hand.
[5] [St. Martin loves him, being increased in virtues, and initiates him with the clerical tonsure,] After these things the Acts in number 11 set forth how, by the help of prayer and of the meditation of divine things, that fountain assuredly of all good, being increased in virtues and very dear to St. Martin, he was by the same initiated with the clerical tonsure: Finally, the boy Victorius was growing in the work of God, because he unceasingly meditated on the Lord daily, and moreover he did not without doubt refuse to do that which had been enjoined upon him by his elders. Therefore the man of God loved him, and stirred him with fatherly love, so much so that it was in no way permitted him to be separated from his presence, but he abode at all times under the governance and power of the aforesaid bishop. But when the apostolic father knew him to be learned in letters, and to be perfect in all things, and to follow God with all his strength, straightway he did not hesitate to hand over to him the burden of the clerical state. For with his own hands he cut off and laid down the hair of his head: but when first he had merited the priestly sign, he was rejoicing as much for the honour as for the grace and love of the bishop, and it delighted him the more to enlarge
his service, since he felt himself to be stirred as a son.
[6] Martin loved Victorius, but as a prudent father, [instructing him, rebuking him, training him also for miracles and apostolic works.] who instructs, reproves, and chastises the son whom he loves: Then the man of God, the Acts go on, reproved and catechized him with his teachings, rebuked, chastised, and taught him with his doctrines, that is, that he himself might pass through the narrow gate to the heavenly kingdom. Meanwhile he was training and rousing him by his example to the highest faith, even of miracles, and to works plainly apostolic, as what follows makes plain: Therefore whosoever, for his own need or that of his people, had sought to ask a favour of the man of God, by the permission and ordinance of the bishop Victorius did not delay to go thither, and by his prayers straightway recalled each one, by the Lord's granting, to his former most abundant health. But when the most blessed Martin, to repress heresy and to raise up the name of Christians, or to give food to the poor, made his circuit through divers regions with priestly affection upon an ass, Victorius the servant of Christ followed him on foot to whatever place he wished to go, both that he might procure the necessary services, and that he might be present each night, no sluggish minister of those who chanted, more attentively at vigils and prayers before the holy one of the Lord. Whence also he deserved to obtain a trace of his own stirring up; while, strengthened in vigour, he was able intently to keep the precepts of the Lord.
[7] What the author here subjoins in number 14 needs correction, or at least explanation: When St. Martin died, he remained with his successor, always intent on virtues. for Victorius did not, as he seems to say, remain with St. Martin until the death of his father Victor, who lived on after Martin; but it is credible that, St. Martin having died, he remained with his successor St. Brice, to whom accordingly are to be referred the things which will hereafter be said of the bishop of Tours. Now let us proceed with the Acts: He abode therefore with the great priest of the church of Tours (Martin, and, when he had died, Brice) for many years indeed, that is, until his own father Victor the bishop had passed from the world. But he himself, always intent day and night, meditated on the Lord, and prostrating himself in ashes and haircloth, testified himself to be a confessor of the Lord, and, girt with a shield, fought bravely in the open against the adversary. Having therefore obtained the victory and put the adversary to flight, he himself stood unhurt, without a wound, in grace.
[8] After these things, in number 15, the Acts relate how Victorius, His father Victor having died, Victorius is consecrated bishop of Le Mans: when his father had died, was elected and consecrated bishop of the church of Le Mans. If we wish to hold to his words, it must be said that the consecration was performed among the people of Tours, which could happen because the people of Le Mans, not ignorant of his virtue, asked him of the bishop of Tours by messengers as their bishop; for otherwise, without their knowledge, he does not seem to have been fit to be ordained, since at that time the election and consecration of a bishop was wont to be carried out with the consent of the people. Let us hear the matter from the biographer: But after these things, he says, when men had come hastening to announce that his father had died, he was greatly saddened, and grieved sorely, and wept most bitterly. To whom the bishop of the city said: Be not saddened, my son, nor let your heart be troubled, for it does not behove you to suffer anguish of mind, since happy is he to be called a father who has left behind him a surviving son dedicated to God. But do you receive the blessing promised to you, and you shall serve the Lord alone. A place prepared awaits you, that you may be glorified for ever. Then very many priests were gathered together, and the clergy, and the common people into one, and Victorius the servant of Christ stood in the midst of them, and they cried out with one voice, saying: A great priest, and worthy in his work, is not undeservedly blessed with the pontifical honour, who with all his strength for many days has been seen to have borne labour for the name of Christ. Then the man of God, with hands laid on, approached with him to the holy altar, and gave him the pontifical blessing.
[9] being honourably dismissed to his own church, on the way he heals a sick man; To these things the author subjoins the departure of Victorius to his own church, in which you may presently recognize the disciple of St. Martin and the heir of his miracles. Receive his words in number 16: Having therefore received the honour of the dignity, he stood before the holy one of the Lord, and did not leave him before they had gone praying through the places of the saints, and, with a great choir of chanters, as was fitting, had together crossed the river Loire by boat. After these things communicating one with another, and bidding farewell from the eldest to the least, and giving one another kisses of peace, the bishop of the city of Tours permitted him to go to the place desired. And when he had gone away with his ministers, as he passed through places, wherever he found a sick man who through Christ had sought help for his need, straightway the divine power deigned to work a miracle through him, so that, the sickness being put to flight, the sick man returned to his former health.
[10] [at his entry into the city captives are prodigiously freed, and, admonished by him and relieved with alms, are let go:] Being honourably received by the people of Le Mans, he brought help to captives by his coming, not without a prodigy. And those captives seem to have been cast into prison on account of certain quarrels, since a little after they are said to have been reconciled with their adversaries. It is credible that from strife and enmities they had fallen into certain excesses. The Acts describe the matter in number 17 in this manner: But when they had come into the stronghold of the city, the common people and the peoples go forth, and all the clergy, called together into one, and coming to meet him received him, praising the Lord with a great choir of chanters, until they entered the city, and they raised him honourably into the chair, as custom required. And as he was passing, many men were held in the workhouse, whose iniquity was reckoned against them. When indeed the city resounded, and they had learned that the man of God was passing, they cried to the Lord in their tribulation, that he would free them from their necessities. Therefore the chains were broken, and the devices and torments in which they were held were undone, and the guards terrified; and going forth outside, they ran to the priest of the Lord, crying: Have mercy on us. And he made peace with them and bade them be silent. But they, laying their hands to the chair, upheld him, and carrying him set him down before the altar of the Lord. And he bade them draw near to him, and gave them each a gold piece, and chastised them, that they should not sin again. Nay, they were even reconciled with their adversaries.
[11] many converted to the faith, and baptized. The author adds to these things that many heretics were converted to the faith and washed in baptism, which seems to have been done little by little. That by heretics perhaps pagans are to be understood, I noted in the notes on the Acts, and that because they sought and obtained baptism: for Victorius would not at that time have baptized heretics rightly baptized. Yet I added that there were not wanting heretics whose baptism, because of an unlawful form, was invalid. If such there were among the people of Le Mans at that time, when the Visigoths, everywhere Arians, held the rule, the word heretics may be understood in its proper meaning. Meanwhile let us hear the biographer in number 18: But when the common people had learned that these things were done, straightway the heretics, who had not been believers, sought baptism, and no small part of the people were converted, and were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But the bishop himself stood beside the altar of the Lord, and, after the divine mystery had been consecrated, gave communion to the people, and blessed them with a heavenly blessing. And they, humbling themselves, adored him, saying: Long live Victorius, bishop of the city, and may he save us with his holy hand, protect and defend us, by the granting of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honour, glory, virtue, and power through the boundless ages of ages. Amen. Thus far the Acts, to which I shall subjoin what offers itself from elsewhere to be gathered for the glory of the saint.
[12] Gregory of Tours, in his book On the Glory of the Confessors, chapter 56, relates an illustrious deed of St. Victorius, He extinguishes a fire in the city with the sign of the cross: at what time it was done is not established; but it is established that it was done during his episcopate, and therefore after the things mentioned above: Victorius, he says, bishop of the people of Le Mans, showed himself often by great miracles. For they say that on a certain occasion, when that city was being burnt with a fire, and mighty balls of flame were driven hither and thither by the driving wind, he, as a good shepherd not enduring that the folds of the church should be laid waste by the snares of Satan, set himself against the whirlwind, and with hand uplifted, making the sign of the cross over against it, straightway all the fire ceased, and the city, being freed, gave thanks to its pastor, in that he had not suffered its goods to be devoured by the threatening fire. And at his tomb the sick are often healed. This, as an example, Gregory gives, one out of many prodigies.
[13] That Victorius was excellent not only in virtues and miracles, but also in pastoral care, [he writes a letter for the immunity of the church together with two other bishops:] the councils declare at which he was present, or which directed a synodal letter to him. First there occurs a letter, written for ecclesiastical immunity to the bishops of the third Lyonnese province, in which under a grave penalty it is forbidden that clerics should undergo secular judgments. Labbe recites this letter in volume 3 of his Councils, from column [ ], and Jacques Sirmond notes upon it in the same place the following: The name of Leo has hitherto led almost all to ascribe this letter to Pope Leo, and to place it among his letters, number 96, whereas in truth it is of Leo, bishop of Bourges; who, together with Victurius of Le Mans and Eustochius of Tours, writes it to the bishops and presbyters of the province, not of Thrace, as it has been commonly given among Leo's letters, but of the Third, by which name the province of Tours is designated, which is the third Lyonnese. Tillemont, volume 16, page 770, marvels that Victorius of Le Mans was set before Eustochius, archbishop of Tours, and thence somewhat doubts whether another Victorius is not to be understood here: but in the council of Tours we shall see Leo of Bourges himself also set after Victorius, bishop of the city of Le Mans, against the metropolitan of Tours who was set first, so that we ought not to seek another Victorius. Concerning the time of this letter Tillemont rightly notes, in the place assigned, that it seems to have been written about the time of the council of Angers, of which presently, yet not in the council itself, since Chariato, to whom with others the letter is written, was present at the council of Angers. Yet it is not improbable, as our Longueval judges in the History of the Gallican Church, volume 2, page 77, that it was written by these three bishops after the council.
[14] he is present at the fourth council of Angers and the first of Tours The fourth council of Angers Labbe attaches to the year 453, volume 4, from column [ ]. At this, with other bishops, St. Victorius was present, and he is placed among the bishops in the last but one place, after Leo of Bourges and Eustochius of Tours, and others. There are extant twelve canons of this council, pertaining to ecclesiastical discipline, of which the first is almost a summary of the letter just mentioned. The first council of Tours was celebrated in the year 461, according to Labbe, volume 4, column [ ]. Of the ten who are read as subscribed to this council, in the second place is set Victorius, bishop of the city of Le Mans, whom Leo, bishop of the city of Bourges, follows, and among the others in the sixth
place Germanus, bishop of the city of Rouen.
What cause shall we assign for the metropolitans having subscribed after certain others, a thing at which we have seen Tillemont wonder, and at which he wonders again on the occasion of this council, page 399? He answers, however, that it is sufficiently plain from the councils of Gaul that the order of the bishops in councils was observed according to the time of their ordination, which seems true, yet with some exception. For he who presided over a council, whether in his own province or in another's, undoubtedly went before the rest. A metropolitan also, in his own province, if by chance another presided, seems to have been set before his own suffragans, but not so in another's province. Hence you may explain why Victorius is set before Eustochius his own metropolitan in the letter mentioned at number 13, but here at Tours before two other metropolitans; namely because he was prior to them all in consecration, and they were at that time in another's province; for that the said letter was written in the province of Bourges we may suspect even from this. And that the bishops of Bourges and of Rouen took part in the council of Tours in a province not their own is plain. Next we understand why the same Victorius is read as placed after the bishops of Bourges and of Tours in the council of Angers, whereas from what has been said he is read as set now before the one, now before the other; namely because the bishop of Bourges was presiding there, while the bishop of Tours was acting in his own province. These things by conjecture, as it seems, not unsuitable: unless one prefer to suspect that the order of the subscriptions was neglected, or confused by the copyists.
[15] the council of Vannes writes to him: he is said to have instructed St. Innocent, At the council of Vannes, held in the year 465, as the aforesaid Labbe judges, column [ ], St. Victorius was not present, being perhaps already broken with age, or hindered in some other way. But the bishops directed a synodal letter to Victorius and to Thalassius of Angers. It is doubtful whether Victorius survived long after this council, since afterwards no mention of him recurs in the councils, nor any of any other bishop of Le Mans before the year 511 at the first council of Orléans. But concerning his date we have disputed sufficiently in the preliminary commentary to the Acts of St. Victor §2, which the reader may consult, and thence determine the epoch of his episcopate and of his death, to be subjoined hereafter.
On page 74, in the Acts of St. Innocent, tome 3 of Mabillon's Analecta, St. Victurius is said to have received Innocent from the font and to have instructed him, in these words: He (Victurius) both received him from the font; and adopted him unto himself as a son, that is, faithfully and piously taught and nourished him, and by instructing and advancing him ordained and raised him in some of the sacred grades of the priesthood (the minor orders). These things St. Victorius did toward the end of his life. Receive also another deed done at almost the same time. He had begun to enlarge and restore the church of St. Mary and of the Holy Apostles, which afterwards was that of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, as is there related; but, death coming upon him, he left the work unfinished, which at length Innocent completed. He is there said to have deposited honorably the relics of the aforesaid Saints, but not without error, since the thing is reported to have been done by the command of St. Martin, long since dead: whence the things which I have here reported from the Acts of Innocent are not altogether certain.
[16] To these I subjoin what the Acts of Victorius relate, tome 3 of the said Analecta, page 70: miracles, virtues, years of the episcopate, time of death. He sat in the aforesaid see forty-one years, six months, and ten days, at all times working innumerable virtues, enlightening the blind, restoring the lame, healing the sick, casting out demons, and healing the other infirmities of the feeble and the ailing, and cleaving with all his efforts to the Lord our God, and performing the divine offices worthily and most devoutly, and exhorting, accomplishing, and fulfilling the episcopal ministry in all things as was fitting, and rendering thanks by serving all. The things which the author relates concerning the virtues, miracles, and episcopal care fit aptly with what precedes; not so do the things which follow concerning the year of his death agree with the years of his episcopate: He died therefore, he says, the aforesaid man, blessed Victurius, on the Kalends of September, full of days, in the consulship of Faustus the Younger and Longinus for the second time. And he merited to depart in peace, and to come to Christ, and to be placed among the companies of God's Saints; by whose prayer we humbly beseech that we may be snatched from all evils, and carried over to eternal joys, and enjoy perpetual rest, with the help of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory unto the ages of ages, Amen.
[17] His tomb glorious with miracles. Where St. Victorius was first buried the Acts do not relate. Yet that his sacred body was afterwards honorably deposited by Innocent in the church of the Apostles beyond the river Sarthe, the Acts of the same Innocent just cited assert on page 76. Hear them from page 75: He also raised up and adorned the church of the Apostles beyond the river Sarthe, in which the aforesaid lord Victurius and his successors rest: that is, in its eastern part he built a new apse, in which, for the honor and beauty of God's holy church, and for love of the saints, he honorably placed the bodies of the blessed holy Victurius, and of the holy Victurius his son, and beside their burial prepared his own resting-place. Afterwards Innocent too is related to have been buried there. That the sick were often healed at the tomb of the Saint, Gregory of Tours relates above at number 12, but these things have not yet come to our knowledge.