Constantius of Lyon, in his Life of *Germanus (bishop of Auxerre, ob. c. 448, S00455), describes Germanus' death during a visit to Ravenna, and how his possessions were then divided up as relics, and his body transported back to Auxerre. Written in Latin at Lyon (south-east Gaul) between c. 460 and c. 480.
E05847
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Constantius of Lyon, Life of Germanus of Auxerre 42-44
For a full account of Constantius' Life of Germanus, see E05841.
Not long after Germanus dreams that he will shortly die (E08586) he falls ill, and, as he has foreseen, the illness is fatal:
(42.) Factum est ut post dies aliquot sequeretur incommodum; quo ingrauescente, ciuitas tota turbatur. Accelerabat transitum qui uocabat ad gloriam et fessum eroam laboribus Dominus inuitabant ad praemia. Regina, deposito imperii supercilio, occurrit pauperi, requirit infirmum, tribuens quicquid ab ea beneficii postulat. Peculiariter sane petiit, quod illa inuita concessit, ut gleba corporis sui patriae redderetur. Visitantum uero tanta fuit diebus ac noctibus multitudo quantum aut admisit aditus aut domus recepit. Tempus omni choris psallentibus tenebatur. Septimo incommodi die ad caelos anima fidelis et beata transfertur.
(43.) Hereditas deinceps relicta diuiditur: partem praesumit imperium, partem uindicant sacerdotes, et quod fieri de opibus solet nascitur de exiguitate contentio, dum deest quod capiant solius benedictionis heredes. Capsulam cum sanctis regina suscepit; cucullam cum interiore cilicio Petrus episcopus usurpauit. Sex uero antistites ut aliquid monumenti ex successione sanctitatis acciperent, disrumpere quod superfuerat maluerunt: unus pallium, cingulum alter accepit; duo tunicam, duo sagulum diuiserunt.
(44.) Deinde ad apparatum defuncti feruent studia conferentum, accusantum cur parua expensa mortuo deberetur. Acolius corpus aromatum constrictione solidauit, regina uestiuit. Quibus omnibus rite perfectis, expensis et euectionibus iter instruit imperator ministrosque eius copiosa largitione prosequitur. Sacerdotes religionis obsequium et in praesenti instruunt et ordinatione praemittunt, unumque agmen informatur ad Gallias.
'(42.) An illness followed, a few days later. As it grew more serious, the whole city was in consternation. But He who was calling him to glory hastened his journey; the Lord was inviting the tired hero to receive the reward of his laborious days. The Empress laid aside the haughtiness of royalty and went visiting the pauper; she sought out the sick man, offering him whatever favour he required. He asked only that the remains of his body should be returned to his homeland, which she conceded unwillingly. Day and night the crowd of visitors was as much as the house and the forecourt could hold. The chanting of the psalms was kept up continuously; and the seventh day of the illness saw the passing of his faithful and blessed soul to heaven.
(43.) Then came the division of what he had left behind him. The empire and the bishops each claimed a share; and over his scanty possessions there arose a dispute such as we associate with great riches—there was so little for them to seize, heirs of a mere benediction! The empress took the reliquary; Bishop Peter [of Ravenna] annexed the cloak with the hair-shirt inside it. The six bishops, to make sure of having something associated with the saint, were glad to tear to pieces what remained. One had his pallium, another his girdle, two divided his tunic, and two his soldier's cape.
(44.) Next came an eager rivalry over his funeral, everyone insisting that no expense should be spared. Acolius had the body embalmed in spices; the empress saw to its vestments. When all this was duly accomplished, the emperor provided the bier and the equipage for the journey and a large body of his own servants to attend them. The clergy were in charge of the changing of the liturgy, at each stage arranging for it to be carried on by those of the next town—there was one long procession all the way to Gaul.'
Constantius then describes a posthumous miracle by Germanus at Piacenza in northern Italy: E05849.
Text: Borius 1965.
Translation: Hoare 1954, modified.
Procession
Non Liturgical ActivityCeremonies at burial of a saint
RelicsContact relic - saint’s possession and clothes
Privately owned relics
Reliquary – privately owned
Bodily relic - entire body
Transfer/presence of relics from distant countries
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Monarchs and their family
Eunuchs
Source
Germanus of Auxerre (PCBE 4, 'Germanus 1', pp. 878-883) was the most important and revered episcopal saint of 5th-century Gaul. He died between about 445 and 450. The Life of Germanus was written some years later by Constantius, a literary figure, possibly a cleric, attested in Lyon in the 460s and 470s (PCBE 4, 'Constantius 3', pp. 521-522). The precise date when he composed the Life is not documented, but it must have been sometime between the 460s and the early 480s. For full discussion of the authorship and date of the Life of Germanus, see its overview entry: E05841.Discussion
Germanus died at Ravenna on 31 July (E04899) in a year that is not directly recorded, but was between the mid 440s and 450 (see discussion in E05841). The presence of Galla Placidia, who died in November 450, provides the terminus ante quem for Germanus' death.Constantius' account of Germanus' death and its aftermath may well be elaborated, but seems plausible as an account of what happened when a man with a powerful reputation for holiness died. His personal reliquary and clothing were first of all carefully divided, with the empress getting Germanus' reliquary (capsulam cum sanctis, which the saint had worn night and day, E05845, and which had earlier effected a miracle in Britain, E05881), Bishop Peter of Ravenna his most important clothing (including the hair shirt which Germanus had worn next to his skin), and the six bishops who had attended Germanus in Ravenna (according to § 37 of the Life) dividing the rest. This competition for personal relics can be compared with the account given by Hilary of Arles of a similarly enthusiastic, but much less ordered, competition for relics at the funeral of Honoratus, the founder of Lérins and bishop of Arles, in 429/430 (E00727).
Constantius claims in § 42 that when Placidia offered Germanus any favour he wished for, he asked for his body to be repatriated, and that the empress granted this 'unwillingly' (invita). The implication is that she hoped that his body (and the benefits of his posthumous cult) would be kept in Ravenna. However, she kept her promise, and after being embalmed at the expense of Acolius, the court official whose adopted son Germanus is said to have healed (E06023), Germanus' body was carried the long distance back to Auxerre, effecting a major miracle along the way, while resting overnight at Piacenza (E05849). From the Martyrologium Hieronymianum we learn that his body arrived at Auxerre on 22 September (E04964), and was interred on 1 October (E04973).
Bibliography
Editions:Borius, R., Constance de Lyon, Vie de saint Germain d'Auxerre (Sources chrétiennes 112; Paris: Cerf, 1965), with French translation.
Levison, W., Vita Germani episcopi Autissiodorensis auctore Constantio, in: Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici V (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 7; Hannover and Leipzig, 1919), 246-283.
English translation:
Hoare, F.R., The Western Fathers (London, 1954), 283-320. Reprinted in T.F.X. Noble and T. Head (eds.), Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints' Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (University Park PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 75-106.
David Lambert
16/07/2025
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00455 | Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, ob. 445/450 | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E05847 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05847