ON ST. ELPIDIUS OR HELPIDIUS OF LYONS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR IN GAUL,
AT LYONS IN GAUL,
In the fifth century, before its middle.
HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.
Elpidius or Helpidius, bishop and conf., at Lyons in Gaul. (S.)
BY J. S.
That two men named Elpidius are announced on this day
in the Roman Martyrology
I have already noted in the treatise on Elpidius the abbot,
of whom we have just now disputed. The other
is also recorded by the older writers, The Saint's cult in the church of Lyons; namely Ado, Usuard,
and Notker. The first uses these words after
announcing St. Justus, bishop of that same city
of Lyons: On the same day, the venerable deposition of blessed Helpidius
the bishop at the aforesaid city.
Whose sacred body, honorably buried,
rests in that very same church (of the seven brothers, the Maccabees,
as he had said before, now called of St. Justus),
where the most sacred limbs of the holy confessor Justus
are entombed. More briefly Usuard
in these words: On the same day, at the aforesaid city
(Lyons), of saint Helpidius, bishop and
confessor. And Notker: On the same day, in the aforesaid
city (Lyons), of Elpidius, bishop of that same city.
A Ms. author has thus of the same:
On the same day, at the aforesaid city, of saint
Elpidius, bishop and confessor. This man of hospitality
and charity instructed many with the word of salvation,
and by his zeal for abstinence overcame every desire
of the flesh. Finally Saussay, to say nothing of other moderns,
celebrates our Saint in the Gallican Martyrology
in this manner: On the same day, of saint
Helpidius, bishop of that same city, and confessor,
who, after the aforementioned Antiochus bearing the helm of this most noble
see, and following with pious emulation
the illustrious deeds of his holy predecessors,
shone with holiness, doctrine, and miracles;
and at last, laden with things divinely wrought
in the happy care of his people, and with assiduous service of Christ,
obtained the rewards of eternal recompense.
He was entombed in the aforesaid church of the Maccabees,
where he is honored with an honor common to him and to saint Justus
(whose heir he was not only of the see, but also
of virtue).
[2] few things known of his deeds: his body buried and afterwards found Of the deeds of St. Elpidius almost nothing has come down
to the memory of posterity. Modern writers almost only
adduce Peter de Natalibus, who in bk. 8,
ch. 27, composed this brief elogium: Elpidius
was bishop of Lyons, who burned with great holiness
and doctrine, and shone with miracles.
Who also, governing with happy care the people of God committed to him,
rested in peace at the aforesaid city on the IV of the Nones
of September; being buried in the church of the holy seven Maccabees, in which the holy
limbs of Justus his predecessor as bishop rest
entombed. Théophile Raynaud in
the Hagiologium Lugdunense, p. 45, having reported these words,
adds the following: The same (concerning the body) has
the ancient List of the relics of that church. And so
he was deceived who lately wrote with Ferrari (in the Topography at the word Lugdunum)
— namely Claude Robert — that the body of St. Elpidius, bishop of Lyons,
rests among the people of Picenum in a village
to which the name was given from the holy Prelate. But
that that appellation was given from the holy abbot Elpidius resting there
is clear from the ecclesiastical records
of the 2nd of September. With these the reprinted Gallia Christiana
agrees, vol. 4, col. 18; as also Severt
in the Chronological history of the archbishops of Lyons,
p. 39, where he also brings forward, concerning the finding of his body,
the testimony of eight doctors, somewhat faulty;
but I shall correct the faults from the instrument to be assigned
in our work, where it is read thus: Likewise in
another tomb we found the body of B. Helpidius, confessor
and archbishop of Lyons, of whose sacred garments,
in which he was clothed, manifest traces were still
shown, as was said of B. Antiochus.
The place of whose tomb also an epitaph set above
showed.
[3] The time and place and other circumstances of this finding
of bodies he describes at p. 300 in the church of the seven Maccabees, now of St. Justus:
in the article on Rudolph II, §2. The church
in which the body was found
is that of St. Justus, which formerly was that of the Maccabees.
The year is marked as 1287, the day the XXIX of August.
And the whole instrument of the finding has been published
in our work in the treatise on St. Irenæus, vol. V of June, pp. 345
and 346, to which we refer the reader, if he desires
to know by whose authority and by whom the whole matter
was carried through. Finally, before this instrument in our work
are set the words of the Chronicle of that church,
in which it is read thus: Likewise (in the church of St. Justus
there is) the body of blessed Elpidius, bishop of Lyons,
the XVI. There is therefore no doubt that this
Saint's body was preserved at Lyons until
the year 1562, in which that city was occupied
by the heretics, who overthrew the church of St. Justus
and impiously profaned all things sacred.
[4] he flourished about the year 424, and is other than Elpidius of Laodicea. Which in order of the bishops of Lyons St.
Elpidius was, writers do not agree. The Chronicle
just cited makes him the XVI prelate, the reprinted Gallia Christiana
the XVII, Severt the XVIII. But all
of them make him the successor of St. Antiochus. The first year
of his episcopate no one has been able to assign exactly,
nor the year of his death. But Severt thinks he sat
about the year 424, Raynaud about 425,
nor does the Gallia Christiana dissent from them, although it designates
no year, since from the years of his predecessors
and successors it can be gathered that St. Elpidius flourished about the years
assigned, yet not so exactly
that he could not have governed the church of Lyons
some years earlier or later. Hence I can by no means agree
with Severt, who believes that this Elpidius is
perhaps the same as Elpidius, bishop of Laodicea in Syria,
which on other grounds is in no way probable.
Elpidius of Laodicea was present at the council gathered against St.
John Chrysostom in the year 404, and defended
Chrysostom as far as he could, being already
then an old man in mind and in gray hairs, as Palladius has it
in the Dialogue. With what likelihood then does Severt believe
him to have been set over the church of Lyons about the year 424?
Let the reader only consult what Tillemont writes of Elpidius
of Laodicea in vol. XI, in the treatise on
Chrysostom, art. 102, where he will see that the excellent man
was deprived of his bishopric for the defense
of Chrysostom, but restored to it about the year
414, so that there is no doubt at all that the Elpidius of Lyons
is different from the one of Laodicea. More
concerning this Saint I do not find to record.