ON ST. JUSTUS OR JUSTINUS OF STRASBOURG, BISHOP IN ALSACE,
AT STRASBOURG IN ALSACE.
Fourth century.
His age, elogia, uncertain things narrated of the Saint, his cult.
Justus or Justinus, bishop of Strasbourg in Alsace. (S.)
BY J. P.
Argentoratum, which is also called Argentina,
This bishop of Strasbourg is much praised
in the last edition of the Gallia Christiana,
vol. 5, p. 775, on occasion
of the bishops of that city,
suffragan to the archbishop
of Mainz. Take these few things out of many: Argentoratum
in Ptolemy, and Argentoratus in Ammianus
Marcellinus, "a city known for barbarian disasters,"
he says, "in Germania Prima," on account of the notable victory
won there over the Alamanni by Julian Cæsar
under Constantius Augustus (See
Ammianus, bk. 16, ch. 12). By the Italians it is called Argentina;
but Strasburgum * by Gregory of Tours,
bk. IX of the History, ch. 36, and bk. X, ch. 19; as though
you should say a burg or city set on a public highway:
and indeed there were there five ways, or military
or public roads, as Hadrian Valois says
in the Notitia Galliarum. … It is a most ample city …
in Upper Germany, on the river Ill *,
into which a little above the Bruche * falls and loses
its name, and not far from the Rhine, which is there joined
by a wooden bridge. A distinguished academy flourishes in it,
established in the year MDXXXVIII. It is the chief city
of all Alsace, but sits in the lower part … between Basel
to the South and Speyer to the North.
Then it is written of the first sowers of the faith in Alsace,
of the churches of Strasbourg, and from p. 776
of the regular families of various Orders both
in the city itself and in the diocese. Over both
St. Justus or Justinus the bishop presided, and to both he was of profit.
[2] The editors of the said new Gallia Christiana, recording
that Justus or Justinus presided in the second place
over the see of Strasbourg, it is proved warn that it must be observed
that before Henschen the common opinion
of all writers was that St. Amandus,
the first bishop of Strasbourg, was the same
as the one of Utrecht, who flourished in the seventh century.
In that opinion, therefore, Justus and Maximinus could very well
be placed after St. Amandus; but since it is now
clearly established that the first bishop of Strasbourg
lived in the fourth century, Justus and Maximinus
seem to be removed from him, and to be joined to Ansoald,
and immediately set before him. The witnesses of this
opinion, which reckons Justus and Maximinus,
bishops of Strasbourg, among the Gregorian monks
in Alsace, are Herzog in the Chronology,
bk. 4, Münster in the German Cosmography, bk. 3,
ch. 159, and Bucelin; which is also confirmed from the old
Annals or Chronicles of the monastery:
according to which doubtless the said writers went
into this opinion; but in many things these Annals
deceive, and are often emended by the learned man Dom Augustin
Calmet. Whence we think that from the catalogues received in Henschen
and the Sainte-Marthes we must by no means depart.
[3] Besides, that Justinus may be Justinian,
who subscribed to the council of Sardica in the year
CCCXLVII among the Gallican prelates: that he lived in the fourth century: for in the subscriptions
is read Amandus of Argentoratum …
Justinian of Argentoratum,
who after the council of Sardica could have subscribed, being given as successor
to Amandus after his death. Thus they there: which
serves to distinguish two prelates of the same name Amandus,
and to fix the time of Justinus, who succeeded Amandus
as bishop of Strasbourg.
But let us hear the very words of Henschen himself, vol.
1 of February, at the VI day, in the treatise on Amandus, bishop of Utrecht:
where, when he had shown that he was wrongly confounded
with the one of Strasbourg, he thus concludes at p. 829:
Amandus therefore, who is held to be the first bishop of Strasbourg,
lived in the fourth century of Christ,
and, as we have said, was present in the year CCCXLVI at the synod
of Cologne. The bishops who followed him in the same see
are, 11 Justus or Justinus, III Maximinus,
IV Valentinus: whom Wimpheling and
Guillimann report to be "called Saints and painted
with diadems, and believed to have been received among the Blessed."
There follow in the same place other prelates of that see
in Henschen. Wimpheling, whom he was citing,
may be seen in the Catalogue of the bishops of Strasbourg,
published at Strasbourg in the year 1508, in the entry on Valentinus; and
Guillimann's Commentary on the same bishops, p. 87. And that order
of the first four bishops is confirmed
from Erckenbald, of whom below.
[4] elogia: The same Wimpheling praises him thus in the entry on Justus:
Justus was learned in the sacred Letters: for he made
an exposition on the Song of Songs, a copy of which
is found in the monastery of the Canons Regular
at Drutenhusen. Concerning this monastery
the aforesaid editors of the Gallia Christiana, treating of the monasteries
which are in the diocese of Strasbourg,
observe this at p. 777: The College
of Canons Regular of St. Augustine at Truttenhausen
is now possessed by the non-Catholic nobles de Landsperg.
But that exposition on the Song of Songs
I suspect to be that of Justus, bishop of Urgel
in Spain. Erckenbald, bishop of Strasbourg,
in his Poem on his predecessors in the bishopric,
which, together with Æneas Silvius's History
of the affairs of the emperor Frederick III, and other Works
gathered into one volume, came out at Strasbourg
in the year 1685, sang this at p. 120 of our
Prelate, further confirming the order of the first bishops:
As Alpha shines the worthy father of this see, Amandus,
Then Justus is added, follower of the highest justice:
Hence Maximinus bears the staff, third in the order *,
And Valentinus was then blessed as pastor.
Of Erckenbald those same editors of the Gallia Christiana write, whom I indicated above,
at column 789,
where he is reported to have closed his life in the year CMXCI, on the VI of the Ides
of October.
[5] various things are said of him, which need proof: Wimpheling noted nothing about the year of St. Justus's death;
which I have not yet learned from elsewhere either.
He sat, as he would have it, for two years. Ghini
announces him on this 2nd day of September in the Birthdays
of the holy Canons: At Strasbourg, he says,
of St. Justus the bishop, sixth of that city, who
presided there as priest and pontiff and worker
of virtues for nearly two years. He wrote Commentaries
on the Song of Songs, and rested in Christ in the year
of Redemption DCLXXXI, which must be corrected from
what has already been said, as also that he was sixth in the order of prelates.
Of those Commentaries I have indicated my mind.
But on what foundation he appears among
the Canons I do not sufficiently understand. Why finally he records him
on this day I do not know. But he is here given on the same day
that he may be given somewhere in our Work, since
his public and ancient cult seems to be sufficiently established,
and the day is unknown on which he ought to be venerated.
Now let us prove his public veneration.
[6] In vol. 1 of February, p. 828, Henschen reports
that the author of the Life of St. Deicolus, his ancient cult. abbot of Lure in
Burgundy, which we published on the XVIII of January from the Lure
parchments, wrote this about St. Amandus
and the other patrons of the city of Strasbourg, about the year
965, in ch. 1: The city of Argentina …,
which by a vernacular word is called Strazburch …,
besides its principal Relics, rejoices
that it possesses its own Patrons, whom it received from the Lord
as founders of the true faith, and prodigal
sowers of the divine word, that is, Amandus, Justinus,
Arbogastus, Florentius, and some others,
whose names that heavenly region holds engraved *,
that is, written, without end on the roll of the blessed order. In the Annotations to the chapter just indicated
St. Amandus is said to be venerated at Strasbourg on the XV day of November;
but that in the old Breviary of the church of Strasbourg
he is marked at the XXVI of October is asserted in
the Gallia Christiana already often mentioned, in the entry on St. Amandus,
bishop of Strasbourg. St. Arbogastus
is found in our work at the XXI of July. Florentius is
in the Roman Martyrology at the VII of November. To these
add what has been said from Wimpheling and Guillimann
concerning the cult of the Saint whom we give on this day.
Annotata*. Strataburgum in Ruinart's edition
*. the Ill
*. the Bruche
*. i.e. third, from the Greek τρίτος
*. more correctly charaxata