The will of Desiderius, bishop of Cahors (ob. c. 655), summarised in the Latin Life of Desiderius (E08220), leaves property to churches or monasteries in and around Cahors (south-west Gaul), dedicated to fourteen named saints or pairs of saints. Summary written in Cahors, c. 670/700.
Evidence ID
E05965
Type of Evidence
Documentary texts - Will
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Will of Desiderius of Cahors (= Life of Desiderius of Cahors 30)
Summary:
Desiderius leaves legacies (all in the form of land) to the following churches and monasteries dedicated to saints, located in or near Cahors.
The basilica of *Saturninus (bishop and martyr of Toulouse, S00289) and St Ursicinus (bishop of Cahors, ob. c. 600, S02212)
The monastery of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030)
The basilica of *Maurice (of the Theban Legion, S00339)
The basilica of *Mary (mother of Christ, S00033)
The basilica of *Vincent (deacon and martyr of Zaragoza, S00290)
The basilica of *James (either James the Apostle, S01801, or James, 'the brother of the Lord', S00058)
The basilica of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050)
The basilica of 'the holy children *Iustus and Pastor' (child martyrs of Alcala, Spain, S00504)
The basilica of St Africanus (unidentified)
The basilica of *Remigius (bishop of Reims, ob. 533, S00456)
The basilica of *Eugenius (exiled bishop of Carthage, ob. c. 505, S00334)
Another basilica of Martin
'His own monastery at Cahors where his body lies' (monasterio autem suo Cadurcae sito, ubi ipse in corpore requiescit).
Text: Krusch 1902, 586-588.
Summary: David Lambert.
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical Activity
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - monastic
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
The will of Desiderius, bishop of Cahors from c. 630 to c. 655 and author of an extant collection of letters (see E05613, E05656, E05667), appears in the anonymous Life of Desiderius of Cahors. The editor of the MGH edition of the Life, Bruno Krusch, dated it to the late 8th or early 9th century, but the editors of a new edition published in 2021 (Keith Bate, Élisabeth Carpentier and Georges Pon) consider it to be much earlier, possibly even written soon after the death of Desiderius (see the Source Discussion under E08220).The Life of Desiderius states explicitly (§ 29) that the donations listed were made in Desiderius' will (per testamenti seriem). What follows (§ 30) is evidently a summary rather than a direct transcript, since it consists of a bare list of donations (in the form basilicae sancti X dedit ... followed by a list of properties), with none of the personal material or digressions to be found in the wills of e.g. Adalgyselus-Grimo (E03513) or Desiderius of Auxerre (E05912). There is, however, no reason to believe that the content of the will as summarised is not genuine.
Discussion
Desiderius' will is analysed in detail by Bate, Carpentier, and Pon in their edition of the Life (Bate et al. 2021, 87-92). They have been able to identify the locations of most of the institutions mentioned (not given in the will itself), from which it is apparent that they are actually listed according to location: seven in Cahors (the basilicas of Saturninus and Ursicinus, Maurice, Mary, Vincent, James, and Martin, and the monastery of Stephen), five outside Cahors, either in the countryside or in the nearby city of Albi (the basilicas of Iustus and Pastor, Africanus, Remigius, Eugenius, and the second basilica of Martin), then returning to Cahors with Desiderius' own monastery.Most of the saints mentioned in the will were very widely venerated in Merovingian Gaul, and only a few references raise particular issues:
Basilica of Saturninus and Urscinus (Cahors)
Saturninus must be the 3rd century martyr and bishop of Toulouse (S00289) which is not far from Cahors; Ursicinus was bishop of Cahors in the late 6th century (S02212). Prévot 1989, 62, suggests that Ursicinus was buried in the basilica already dedicated to Saturninus, and his name supplanted that of the original dedicatee.
Basilicas of Martin and of Mary (Cahors)
These were presumably the churches founded by Desiderius himself, as described in an earlier part of the Life (§§ 16, 20). Desiderius' will does not refer to the basilicas of Peter and of Julian of Brioude whose foundation is ascribed to him in the Life (§§ 16-17)
Basilica of Africanus (Albi)
The identity of Africanus is unknown. The only other Africanus in this database (S01433) appears in two martyrologies in Georgian, listed as one of a group of martyrs in Carthage. He does not, however, appear in any African evidence, which raises obvious suspicion as to whether he was a genuine Carthaginian martyr, and also makes it very unlikely that he is relevant to the individual listed here. Possibly Africanus was a figure known only locally; it is even conceivable that 'Africanus' was a reference to Eugenius (below).
Basilica of Eugenius (Albi)
Eugenius, a bishop of Carthage who died in Gaul after being sent into exile by the Vandals, does not seem to have received widespread cult, but there is no reason to doubt that he was the dedicatee mentioned here since Albi was the place where he settled in Gaul and where he died (see E00583).
'His own monastery at Cahors where his body lies' (Cahors)
This is the monastery which Desiderius founded at Cahors and dedicated to *Amantius of Rodez (S00026), and which is mentioned in his letters (Prévot 1989, 63). Desiderius rapidly supplanted Amantius as patron of the monastery (today Saint Géry). The original dedication would be unknown if it was not mentioned in one of Desiderius' letters (E05613).
Bibliography
Editions:Bate, A.K., Carpentier, E., and Pon, G., La Vie de Saint Didier, évêque de Cahors (630-655). Introduction, édition, traduction et notes (Hagiologia 16; Turnhout: Brepols, 2021), 211-217 (with facing French translation).
Krusch, B., Vita Desiderii Cadurcae urbis episcopi, in: Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici (II) (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 4; Hannover and Leipzig, 1902), 563-602 (at pp. 586-8).
Further reading:
Prévot, F., "Cahors," in N. Gauthier and J.-Ch. Picard (eds.), Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule des origines au milieu du VIIIe siècle, vol. 6: Provinces ecclésiastique de Bourges (Aquitania Prima) (Paris, 1989), 57-65.
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
02/10/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain | S00033 | Mary, Mother of Christ | Maria | Certain | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain | S00058 | James, 'brother of the Lord' | Iacobus | Uncertain | S00289 | Saturninus, bishop and martyr of Toulouse | Saturninus | Certain | S00290 | Vincentius/Vincent, deacon and martyr of Zaragoza and Valencia | Vincentius | Certain | S00334 | Eugenius, bishop of Carthage, exiled by the Vandals to Albi in Gaul, ob. 505 | Eugenius | Uncertain | S00339 | Theban Legion, commanded by Maurice, martyrs of Agaune, Gaul | Mauricius | Certain | S00456 | Remigius, bishop of Reims, ob. c. 533 | Remedius | Certain | S00504 | Iustus and Pastor, schoolboys and martyrs of Alcala, Spain | Iustus et Pastor | Certain | S01801 | James, the Apostle, son of Alphaeus | Iacobus | Certain | S02212 | Ursicinus, bishop of Cahors, ob. c. 600 | Ursicinus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E05965 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05965