ON ST. FAUSTUS OF TARBES, BISHOP IN NOVEMPOPULANIA,
AT THE END OF THE FIFTH CENTURY.
SYLLOGE
Of his cult, age, and deeds.
Faustus, bishop of Tarbes in Novempopulania. (S.)
BY J. S.
Saussay, in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology at this day, mentions a Saint unknown to almost all the Calendars, St. Faustus, mentioned and venerated on this day, writing thus:
In Gascony at Tarbes on the river Adour, the birthday of St. Faustus, bishop of the same city: who in divine
Scriptures nobly learned, most pure in life, armed with the sword of the Holy Spirit, confirmed the people in sound doctrine by apostolic preachings full of heavenly inspiration, for the defence of the Catholic faith. And when he most constantly defended the pious judgment of the Church, he was by the faction of impious men first thrust into prison and bound with chains, then sent into exile with Licerius his disciple (who was afterwards bishop of Couserans), and endured this very long and very bravely. But at last, God willing, he was recalled and restored to his see, and taught the peoples most flourishingly, resounding like the triumphal trumpet of Christ, until at length, worn out with venerable old age, having commended to Licerius the church which he had cultivated with so many sweats and guarded with so many labours, he rested as a glorious confessor in the peace of Christ. Castellanus in the Index of his Universal Martyrology also commemorated St. Faustus of Tarbes on this same XXVIII day of September, and notes that he had been omitted in the Martyrology itself. Denis de Sainte-Marthe, in vol. 1 of the reissued Gallia Christiana, among the bishops of Tarbes likewise honours Faustus with the title of Saint, as does Longueval in his History of the Gallican Church, although neither of them seems more liberal than is right in bestowing titles of that kind. Finally, from letters from Tarbes I have very lately learned that the Saint is venerated on this day in the diocese of Tarbes with a double Office.
[2] Denis de Sainte-Marthe in that place inserted St. Faustus into the catalogue of the bishops of Tarbes he is adorned with a magnificent elogium in the Life of St. Licerius, in such a way that he seems to assign him to the seventh or eighth century. But at XXVII August, in treating of St. Licerius of Couserans, I have already proved that St. Faustus flourished toward the close of the fifth century; since he was St. Licerius's master before St. Quintianus of Rodez. For in the Life of St. Licerius, num. 2, these things are read: He (Licerius) took refuge with a most blessed man, endowed with miracles and with the palm of glory, Faustus, bishop of the city of Tarbes, truly happy in the Lord's husbandry, whose tongue was heard through each of his homilies in the Church of God, to whom the triumphal throng might say: "Fair is thy voice," by whose teaching and merit such a people of God is proved to be. And soon he familiarly gave himself over to his service to be taught. But the most holy Faustus was sent into exile in the city of Vicus-Julius for the cause of Christ. Then, when he returned to his own place, this man went as his companion. These things do much to commend the sanctity of Faustus of Tarbes, since he is said both to have been renowned for miracles, and to have taught his people most diligently, and to have endured exile for the faith.
[3] & after his exile he was the master of St. Licerius, Now the place of exile is called Vicus-Julius, which was a city in the same province in which Tarbes was, and on the same river Adour, as I observed there in the Annotations. Even now both are episcopal sees under the metropolitan of Auch, but Vicus-Julius is now called Adura, commonly Aire; whether it is in exactly the same place in which Vicus-Julius was, I do not here inquire. Whether St. Faustus was cast into prison, as Saussay says above, cannot be drawn out of the words alleged, so that he seems to have asserted that only from a likely conjecture. Still less can it be inferred from the given words that he was sent into exile with Licerius his disciple, as that writer affirms. The contrary is rather to be said from these words: Then, when he returned to his own place, this man (Licerius) went as his companion. For by these words there seems to be designated the time at which St. Licerius came to St. Faustus to be instructed. The author says before, in general terms, that St. Licerius came from Spain, where he had been born and imbued with humane letters, to Tarbes, to St. Faustus, whose praises he then proclaims, numbering among them his exile for the cause of Christ; and finally he says that Licerius came after the said exile. That he did not arrive before the exile is also rendered most likely by this, that he is said to have been consecrated subdeacon and so on only after the death of St. Faustus.
[4] who after his death betook himself to St. Quintianus. The Life cited has again, at num. 4, thus: When therefore the most blessed Faustus passed to the Lord, (Licerius) unwilling to seek again his kindred, came to an Apostolic man, bishop of the city of Rodez, and in his service was ordained subdeacon, deacon, and presbyter: then he was sent as bishop to the church of Couserans.* These things avail for assigning after a fashion the age of St. Faustus, since the age of St. Quintianus is known, who was bishop first of Rodez, and then — because he had been forced to leave his own church — of Auvergne, or Clermont in Auvergne. St. Quintianus was present in the year 506 at the council of Agde, and subscribed to it eighth, that is, fourth after the metropolitans. Glycerius of Couserans, the same as Lycerius the disciple of SS. Faustus and Quintianus, subscribed in the nineteenth place, and after him five other bishops subscribed, and many presbyters sent by their bishops.
[5] From the age of Quintianus and Licerius it is gathered From these things, therefore, we have it that St. Faustus had been dead at least some years before the year 506, since Licerius, who had no sacred Orders when Faustus died, was bishop in the said year 506. But if we attend to the order of the subscribers, in which after the metropolitans account seems to have been taken of the time passed in the episcopate, St. Licerius will appear to have been promoted to the episcopate at the beginning of the sixth century, since five bishops subscribed after him. The same is gathered from his Life, in which he is said to have completed forty-four years of episcopate: and certainly in the year 549 he had a successor Theodore, whose archdeacon then subscribed to the fifth council of Orléans. But Theodore could already by then have sat some years, so that St. Licerius could easily have been made bishop about the beginning of the sixth century. And so, since St. Licerius without doubt spent some years with St. Quintianus before he became bishop — and perhaps not a few — the death of St. Faustus certainly fell in the fifth century. But if we wish to inquire further, by whom he seems to have been banished into exile, that indeed we shall not be able to teach from any certain document; yet we shall indicate it by a most likely conjecture.
[6] The chief persecutor of the Catholics in Gaul, and particularly in Novempopulania, that St. Faustus flourished in the fifth century, and died toward its end. in the fifth century was Evarix or Evaricus, the Arian king of the Visigoths, whom some also name Euric and Eorich, as is clear from Sidonius Apollinaris, then living, and from Gregory of Tours. Longueval relates this persecution in his History of the Gallican Church at the year 473, and others report the same at about the same time. The Benedictine writers of the Histoire du Languedoc, who assign the same persecution to the year 475 as then raging, in vol. 1, p. 230 fix the death of Evaricus or Euric in the year 484 or 485. But his successor Alaric II was less vehement in persecuting the Catholics, and permitted what Evaricus had forbidden, namely that new bishops should be consecrated for the Catholic churches. Hence it becomes most likely that St. Faustus was banished by Evaricus about the year 470 or 480, or rather in some year between these; that he was recalled under Alaric about the year 486 taken broadly; and finally that he died as the fifth century drew to its close. Those things which are read contrary to these in Denis de Sainte-Marthe have been refuted at the Acts of St. Licerius.
[7] It remains to speak of what the Bishop of Tours writes in the Life of St. Quintianus, in his book On the Lives of the Fathers, chap. 4, Perhaps St. Faustus of Tarbes num. 1, where he has it thus: Now the most blessed Quintianus, an African by nation, and, as some will have it, the nephew of Faustus the bishop, who is reported to have raised up his own mother, and so on. Ruinart the editor in his Annotations assigns two African Fausti, the one bishop of Præsidium, the other of Buronita; and he says: "St. Quintianus was perhaps the nephew of one or the other." There were also other bishops in Africa of the name of Faustus, as may be seen in Ruinart's History of the Vandal Persecution. But those were little known in Gaul, nor is any one of them written to have raised up his own mother. St. Gregory nevertheless seems to speak according to the opinion of the Gauls, when he says: As some will have it. Wherefore I strongly suspect that the Bishop of Tours is speaking of a certain Faustus who was a bishop in Gaul, and particularly of St. Faustus of Tarbes, to whom everything seems to fit. For by the word nepos the Bishop of Tours in all likelihood designates a brother's or sister's son, in which sense both he and others of his age frequently used that word. Now St. Faustus was older in age than St. Quintianus, so that he could easily have been his paternal or maternal uncle, and have come with him from Africa into Gaul at the time of the Vandal persecution.
[8] is that very man who is said to have raised up his mother. But that St. Licerius came from the city of Tarbes, after the death of St. Faustus, to the far distant city of Rodez, in order to give himself over to the discipline of St. Quintianus, suggests that there was intercourse or a singular friendship between Faustus and Quintianus. For in all likelihood he set out to him either on Faustus's own recommendation, or because he had come to his acquaintance in Faustus's company. The suspicion concerning Faustus of Tarbes is increased by this, that Bernard Gui in the Life of St. Licerius calls him endowed with miracles, so that, with age and friendship with Quintianus concurring, Gregory's words seem to fall upon him rather than upon any other. Nevertheless I am able to establish nothing certain, since I lack certain grounds: and I confess that I bring forward conjectures only — likely ones indeed, yet uncertain. More about St. Faustus of Tarbes I do not find.
Annotations* i.e. his own.