ON ST. TAURINUS OF AUCH, BISHOP AND MARTYR,
IN NOVEMPOPULANIA.
Third or fourth century, or perhaps the eighth.
HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.
Of the Saint's cult, age and deeds.
Taurinus, bishop and martyr, of Auch in Novempopulania (S.)
BY J. S.
The ancient veneration of St. Taurinus, whom the men of Auch honor on this day with a double Office among the patrons of the second order, is far more certain Cult of St. Taurinus, than are all those things which are commonly circulated about his deeds and age. The name indeed of this St. Taurinus is unknown to the chief Martyrologies: for the two Taurini who are found today in the ancient Fasti, the one is of Ostia or of Porto, the other of Alexandria, and each is distinct from this one. Yet Castellanus in his universal Martyrology announced him as bishop of Eauze in Aquitaine. The present-day cult also Simon de Peyronet abundantly asserted in his Catalogue of Saints pag. 350, where he thus writes: St. Taurinus archbishop of Auch, who is honored on the 5th of September in the church of Auch under a double rite, as is plain from the Kalendar of that same church. There is preserved in the church of the college of the Society of Jesus at Toulouse a part of a false rib, and the middle bone of one finger of St. Taurinus, which relic was given to it by the most illustrious Leonard de Trapes archbishop of Auch in the year MDCXX, on the 13th of January. What has been said of the present-day cult was confirmed by the Reverend Father Cæsar Forel, rector of the college of Auch, in letters most kindly written to me this year 1746, with which he sent the lesson of the Office presently to be given.
[2] The most ample lord Daignan du Sendat, canon archdeacon and vicar general of Auch, in letters likewise given to me this year confirms the same, and his memory in the Fasti: and asserts that the Saint is numbered among the secondary patrons of the diocese of Auch. The same man with like courtesy and diligence gathered certain other things pertaining to the cult, which I transfer hither. The ancient Martyrologies of the church of Auch and of Lectoure have thus on the 5th day of September: On the Nones of September, in the territory of Auch, of St. Taurinus bishop and martyr of that same see of Auch. The Martyrology of the abbey of Pessan in the diocese of Auch: On the Nones of September, at the city of Auch, of saint Taurinus bishop and martyr. The Missal of Auch of the year 1555: On the birthday of St. Taurinus archbishop of Auch and martyr, all things as for one martyr. To these the praised lord joins an inscription, which he testifies is had in the metropolitan church of Auch near the chief altar on the Gospel side, and to be cut in black marble with golden letters: Saint Taurinus bishop of Auch. He sat 19 years. He suffered under Diocletian and Maximian, the Roman see being vacant, in the year CCC. If this inscription were sufficiently ancient, it would avail much for fixing the Saint's age: but that we do not yet treat of here.
[3] These things suffice to show St. Taurinus's ecclesiastical and immemorial cult. the lesson of his proper Office, Yet I will add from the Office that lesson of the second nocturn which treats of his deeds, that it may be understood what the tradition of the church of Auch is concerning this Saint. These things are read proper concerning him: Taurinus bishop of Auch — how great virtues he wrought before God, He knows who is ignorant of nothing. For if the ancients had committed any to writing for posterity, who would doubt that, the church of Auch having been more than once burnt together with its chief documents, these fell out of the memory of men? Yet tradition has preserved his martyrdom unharmed, as the reward of consummated virtue. He suffered, while the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian raged, on the fifth day of September, in the year of Salvation three hundred. God rendered his death glorious by a miracle; since from the town of Aubiet, where he underwent it, distant two leagues from Auch, the holy Martyr carried back in his hands to his own church a great part of his head, struck off with a heavy club. His body is honored with great veneration in the crypts above an altar dedicated in his honor: and those afflicted with pain of the head deserve to receive from the Lord, at his tomb, health or relief by the intercession of the blessed Martyr and bishop.
[4] The praised lord Daignan du Sendat testifies that there is preserved in that same church a half-length silver statue, the opinion of the men of Auch about his death, which is composed with the hands thus raised, as if the maker of the statue had wished to indicate the reported carrying of the head: and he says that the part of the skull which is kept in that half-length statue is believed to be the same as that which the Saint is said to have carried. The tradition of the men of Auch concerning the occasion and manner of the martyrdom, as also concerning the part of the head carried, he thus explains: A band of idolaters had gathered in a wood near the town of Aubiet [] to offer sacrifices to idols. But when the holy Bishop wished to disturb those sacrifices, the idolaters rushed upon him, and one of them cut his head with the blow either of a club or of an axe. Hence the Saint, being dead, is said to have carried his head, or a part of his head, as far as the city of Auch, to the square which even today keeps the name of St. Taurinus.* Nevertheless he himself confesses that that tradition of the carried head is not to be made much of. Certainly such traditions are of so much the less moment, the more there are found of the same kind which lack a sufficient foundation. And this is not even asserted in the Rhythms presently to be given, in which it would not have been passed over, if it had been common and abundantly attested.
[5] Rhythms about him, in some measure ancient, Those Rhythms, or hymn from the Office of the ancient Breviary of Auch, the men of Auch think to be very ancient, as the lord Daignan taught me. Labbe already published it in tom. 2 of his Bibliotheca of manuscripts pag. 598, from which I here transcribe the same:
Hail, first prelate, nourishing one, Taurinus, illustrious martyr, Who, the city of Eauze being demolished And overthrown by the Vandals, Didst bear away the altar of Bl. Mary To the village of Vallis clara, As Paternus had prophesied, Ruling as prelate at Eauze, and had said: After me three, and thereafter no Bishop for the city of Eauze. Vallis clara thou didst raise Into a city, over which thou didst preside Nineteen years by preaching, By rooting out heresies, by consecrating a church In honor of the Nativity of Bl. Mary, Two hundred and sixty years from the Passion Of our Lord Jesus Christ, And thou didst consecrate the church by thy martyrdom. O exceedingly happy that day! On which that city of Auch Had Taurinus for its patron, Its archprelate and its spouse.
Thus far the hymn, which is held in esteem among at least some of the men of Auch; but it is clear that not all things are true which are asserted in that hymn; yet it can be that some are true.
[6] another writing of the 12th century. Denys de Sainte-Marthe in tom. 1 of Gallia Christiana col. 969 produces certain words from an instrument which he asserts to have been written in the year 1108, and in which he testifies that these things are had: In the city of Eauze therefore there were only four bishops before the see was transferred to Auch: Paternus, Optatus, Servandus, Pompidianus; of whom the first, namely Paternus, prophesied while he lived, saying in these words: I one, three after me, nothing more, from which time the see shall be changed; and he who shall carry hence the altar and the pledges of Bl. Mary, let him not leave me and them. Which was so done.
As therefore a long time went on, the persecution of the Vandals having been made, who destroyed the cities of Gascony and the city of Eauze, the see was transferred, as the most holy Paternus had prophesied, to Villa-clara, which is now called Auch, by Taurinus, who was, after the four aforesaid, the fifth bishop in the city of Auch. For he himself transferred to Auch the altar of Bl. Mary, which is now beheld, and brought thither the four most holy aforesaid bishops buried in the church of Bl. Peter, and entombed them in the church about the altar of Bl. John the Baptist and the Evangelist, which is now called the church of St. Orientius. Whom, after the courses of many years, Bernard, prior of that same place, afterward made archbishop of Toledo, found honorably entombed in the aforesaid place. Thereafter both bishops and clerics, and other men of the city, had their burial at St. Orientius's. These things fitly set forth the tradition of the men of Auch, such as even now persists among some. I will now briefly weigh the several things asserted about St. Taurinus; and then I will show in what way something of truth may be in the alleged prophecy of St. Paternus.
[7] First, it is admitted among all that the metropolitan see of Novempopulania, [It is observed that Eauze was probably destroyed in the 8th century by the Saracens,] which is now at Auch, was of old at Eauze [], which city was overthrown either by the Saracens, as is more probable, or by the Normans, as the lately praised Denys de Sainte-Marthe will have it. I should not indeed wish to dispute long about the epoch of Eauze's overthrow; nevertheless in few words I say that it was more probably overthrown by Abd-er-Rahman the leader of the Saracens, when about the year 732 he laid waste Novempopulania and the neighboring provinces, after he had conquered Eudo duke of Aquitaine in battle. But the reason why I do not think Eauze survived until the irruptions of the Normans made in the 9th century is this. Sainte-Marthe finds mention of no bishop of Eauze after the 7th century, in which he places Paternus, adding these words: After Paternus the prelates of the church of Eauze are wanting for very many years: for in this place the Metropolitan see still persisted until the 9th century, in which the city was destroyed by the Normans, and the see of Auch was set before the rest of Novempopulania in the honor of a metropolis.* That Eauze was destroyed by the Normans in the 9th century he proves by no witness and by no reason. Wherefore the silence about the bishops of that city, and about the city itself, through the whole 8th century, makes me think it more probable that it was destroyed in the 8th century by the Saracens. That Eauze was cut down by the Vandals, the monuments alleged above have. But that the Saracens were at that time called Vandals by other writers also, I observed in tom. VI of August pag. 97, so that the name of the Vandals also favors our opinion.
[8] But now, that a certain Paternus after the middle of the 7th century presided over the church of Eauze, [and that a certain Paternus after the middle of the 7th century presided over the church of Eauze,] Sainte-Marthe shows with probable reason at col. 970. For to the Corbie privilege, which is reported in Mabillon at the year 663 num. 28, there subscribed, with many other bishops, Paternus Egloënsis, who is believed to have been of Eauze: for elsewhere too the Elusanus is found called Elosensis and Elosanus. Besides, if this Paternus was from abbot of Moissac made bishop of Eauze, as again Sainte-Marthe probably suspects, then some saint Paternus will have presided over the church of Eauze about the year 663: for the men of Moissac honor their Paternus with the title of Saint. The men of Moissac indeed have handed down that Paternus their third abbot was translated to the church of Auch; but the church of Auch, since it received the metropolitan dignity from that of Eauze, could by an easy error have been substituted for that of Eauze, and it is likely enough that this was really done, because Oihenart in his Notitia utriusque Vasconiæ, reviewing the bishops of Auch at pag. 448 and following, does not acknowledge this Paternus: from which it is proved that he is not had in the Catalogue of the church of Auch. And so the age of this Paternus agrees well enough with the time of Eauze's later destruction, so that it can be believed that only three prelates sat at Eauze after him before the destruction of the city. Wherefore that celebrated prediction about the translation of the metropolitan see can probably be attributed to him, provided a Taurinus of Auch can be found who at the same time thus obtained the metropolitan dignity. [as also that a certain Taurinus presided over the church of Auch probably in the 8th century;]
[9] Nicolas Bertrand in his Work on the Deeds of the men of Toulouse fol. 16 narrates the devastation of Novempopulania by the Normans, and indicates a certain Taurinus bishop of Auch in these words: Now that desolation of Gascony was in the times of the aforesaid prince Totila, and of Taurinus of Auch, and of Seraldus the excellent prelate of the city of Bigorre. Oihenart placed this Taurinus among the bishops of Auch about the year 844, and rightly enough, if he lived in the time of the Norman incursions. But since Nicolas Bertrand, after certain things recorded that are far earlier, without any mention of the disaster brought by the Saracens upon Novempopulania and the other provinces of Gaul, presently passes to the Norman irruptions, it is likely that the writer, being little accurate and not rightly distinguishing the times, confounded the disasters brought by the Saracens with the devastations of the Normans; and therefore it remains very uncertain whether that Taurinus lived rather in the time of the Norman irruption than of the Saracen. But if he really lived about the year 732, in which I have said Eauze was more probably overthrown, the translation of the metropolitan dignity can without difficulty be attributed to him, and St. Paternus's prediction can be true: for if Paternus about the year 663, or even many years later, foretold that there would be only three prelates at Eauze after him, these could easily have presided until about the year 732, and at that time, or when that war was ended, St. Taurinus could have translated the bodies of St. Paternus and of certain other prelates of Eauze, and have dedicated the cathedral church under the title of the Nativity of the most blessed Virgin, and at last have been crowned with martyrdom, whether by the Saracens or on some other occasion.
[10] [and from these it is gathered that St. Taurinus can be the first archbishop of Auch in the 8th century:] Certainly it is agreed that the metropolis was translated to the city of Auch; and the tradition of the men of Auch has it that this was done by St. Taurinus, nor is that tradition recent, but it already flourished in the 12th century. That tradition indeed is entangled in gross errors, while the age of St. Taurinus is referred to the third century, or by others to the fourth, because it is certainly agreed that in the 6th century the metropolitan dignity was at Eauze, nor can it be doubted that it remained there until the city was overthrown. Yet I do not see why we ought utterly to reject the tradition itself on account of the said errors, which love of antiquity and ignorance brought in, provided the errors can be recognized and corrected, since it is likely enough that the memory was preserved of him who raised the city of Auch to the metropolitan dignity; nor does the tradition name any other than the Taurinus of whom we treat. Someone will ask whether it would not rather be needful to attribute two Paterni to Eauze, and two Taurini to Auch, than to believe that St. Paternus lived in the 7th century, and to draw back St. Taurinus to the 8th, since the men of Auch attribute St. Paternus and St. Taurinus to the 3rd century? I answer that I have hitherto seen no monuments from which I can gather that St. Paternus at Eauze or St. Taurinus in the city of Auch was any other bishop than the Paternus and Taurinus of whom I have said that the first can probably be attributed to the 7th century, the second to the 8th. But that enormous anachronism into which the men of Auch have fallen, if St. Taurinus really lived in the 8th century, we ought not to wonder at more than we wonder that from the beginning of the 12th century they believed there had been no more than four bishops at Eauze, whereas, besides the four named by them, several others are read as having subscribed to councils.
[11] whether Airardus was the first in the 9th century, Let the studious reader so believe these things thus disputed, that I have wished rather to search into the truth than to establish anything certain. If the learned men of Auch wonder that I have taken so much from the antiquity of their holy prelate Taurinus, let them deign to show his greater antiquity by suitable reasons, and they shall have me first of all consenting. But, if they will hear my counsel, let them never attempt two things at once; not at once, I say, will they endeavor to show that the Saint lived in the 3rd or 4th century, and that he added the metropolitan dignity to his church of Auch: for those two cannot stand together. Denys de Sainte-Marthe at col. 977 thinks that the metropolitan dignity was first obtained by Airardus, who presided over the church of Auch in the year 879, in which pope John VIII wrote to him and named him archbishop. He sets forth the reason of this opinion in these words: That Airardus was the first of the bishops of Auch who possessed the right of a metropolitan, Odo the levite not obscurely signifies, writing to Garsias the archbishop, whom he says to be the seventh bishop in order endowed with the supreme right of binding and loosing. Odo's letter here praised is read among the Instruments of that volume pag. 159.
[12] But that letter is written too barbarously and obscurely for the writer's mind to be clearly understood. First therefore I doubt whether Odo means what Sainte-Marthe gathers from his words. it is altogether uncertain. Secondly, if Odo did altogether say this, it can be doubted whether the number of the preceding archbishops was sufficiently known to him. Thirdly, if we suppose Garsias really to have been the seventh archprelate, which I do not believe, it will not yet be able to be certainly settled from that who was the first. Certainly Sainte-Marthe himself numbers six prelates between Airardus and Garsias: and so, if all these sat in that order, Garsias will now be the eighth: if some of them are doubtful, then the first cannot be known from the seventh known. More therefore seems to be attributed to the tradition of Auch, which makes Taurinus the first archbishop, than to the inept letter of a certain deacon, whose words can be drawn to various uncertain significations, but signify nothing certainly. For the rest, Sainte-Marthe at col. 972 testifies that the body of St. Taurinus is kept in the metropolitan church.
ANNOTATIONS.
*. Aubiet.
*. Eauze.