The Latin Life of *Aper (bishop of Toul (north-east Gaul), 6th c., S02195) presents, in the form of a reading for his feast day, the bishop's life, death, burial in the church he had begun to build, and miracles, both in life and posthumous. Written at Toul, c. 595/800.
E06272
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
The Shorter Life of Holy Aper, Bishop of Toul (Vita breuior sancti Apri episcopi Tullensis, BHL 617, CPL 2085a)
(Prologue) The author invokes the aid of the holy spirit, and remarks that 'today' is the occasion of Aper of Toul's feast, which the Christian people celebrate anew each year (apri tullensis urbis episcopi hodie sollempnitas ueneranda recolitur. Quae quotiens reuolutis annorum circulis innouatur totiens christianis populis exultationis deuotio cumulatur).
(1) On Aper's background. How he was born in the pagus of Sens at the uilla traquillo (Trancault?) to Christian parents, and was also 'made a Christian' soon after his birth (mox et ipse factus est christianus). How he showed nothing of the 'wildness of his name' (expers feritate cognominis) (Aper = 'boar'), being peaceful in all ways. (2) On his many personal qualities, (3) the fame of which spread far and wide, until he was elected bishop of the city of Toul (Leuocorum ciuitas) by its citizens and priests.
(4) On Aper's episcopate at Toul, where he was notable for his humilty. (5) How he went around the cities and regions, preaching the word of God and destroying idols. How once, when he was in Chalon, he pleaded that the judge Adrianus liberate three prisoners; and how, when this request was refused, and Adrianus promised instead to subject the prisoners to yet harsher punishments, (6) their chains burst and they were miraculously freed. (7) How after this, on his way home, he exorcised a possessed young man whose mouth and nose spewed flames and sulphur, 'just like a furnace' (cuius ore et naribus, instar fornicis, flamma et sulphurea prorumpebat).
(8) The author remarks that there were many more miracles, but it would be onerous to relate them all. On Aper's death: how he died before the work was completed on a church he had begun to build outside the walls of the city.
(9) On Aper's burial, by the agreement of all (uniuersorum communi consilio) in the church which he had begun to build. How there was a miraculous fragrance of all kinds of flowers, and how, when the body was placed in the tomb, 'the heavens were seen by many to open up, and two columns of clouds descended upon the burial of the saint. And from the mouth of the holy bishop, whiter than snow, a dove was seen to fly up to heaven' (cumque sancta membra tumulo conderentur, celum a pluribus uisum est aperiri, et duae columne nubis ad sancti exequias uisae sunt descendisse. Et ab ore sancti antistitis, nuie candidior, ad caelum columba uisa est euolare).
(10) How, after the burial, all the people hurried to complete the building of the church, which was then dedicated in the name of Saint Aper (inchoarum illius templi aedificium, cum summa totius populi festinatione peractum est, et in nomine sancti apri placuit dedicari). How miracles are seen to work there 'daily' for those who seek them 'with full faith'; thus the merits of the 'confessor' shine out unceasingly (ubi cottidianis uirtutum miraculis integra fide petentibus, sancti confessoris merita coruscare non cessant) - the mute speak, lepers are cleansed, the possessed are exorcised, the blind see, the deaf hear, and those in chains are freed.
(11) The author hopes that others will imitate these examples, and that 'we' will merit to receive the help of Saint Aper, at his right hand side, during the future judgment, when the good shepherd will 'divide the sheep from the goats' (cum in futuro examine bonus pastor oues ab haedis suprema sorte diuidet, sancti apri suffragio in dextera parte mereamur adscisci). A final note adds that Aper died after an episcopate of around 15 years, on the XVII Kalends of October (15 September), and that his basilica was dedicated on the Nones of September (5 September).
Text: Overbeke 1994.
Summary: B. Savill.
Service for the saint
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Anniversary of church/altar dedication
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivitySaint as patron - of a community
Visiting graves and shrines
Construction of cult buildings
Composing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Miracle at martyrdom and death
Miracle after death
Freeing prisoners, exiles, captives, slaves
Miraculous sound, smell, light
Exorcism
Juridical interventions
Healing diseases and disabilities
Miracle with animals and plants
Assumption/otherworldly journey
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesFamily
Relatives of the saint
Officials
Animals
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
Scholars once considered this 'shorter' Life of Aper (BHL 617) an abbreviation or epitome of the tenth-century 'longer' Life (BHL 616), but its full manuscript tradition (7 MSS, of which the two earliest are later eighth-century) demonstrates that it is the earliest surviving account. Its brevity and lack of circumstantial detail make it very difficult to date. Van Overbeke (1994) considers it a relatively early Merovingian Life, composed before the end of the sixth century. Goullet (2001) is prepared to date it much more widely: while allowing for the possibility of an early authorship, she points out that the renovation of the church of Saint-Evre du Toul in c. 750 may have provided an apt occasion for its composition. Goullet further argues (ibid., 35) that the text as we have it is 'probably' a rewriting of a lost, even earlier Life, here abbreviated for liturgical use. These problems of dating are not helped by Aper's own obscurity: the date of his own death can only been estimated to sometime before the year 550. Note, however, that chapter 9 of the Life appears to cite Gregory the Great's Dialogues (c. 593: E04383), thus providing a probable terminus post quem (ibid., 31).Since they deemed it only an abbrevation of BHL 617, the Bollandists did not include this Life in the Acta Sanctorum. The only critical edition is Pierre Van Overbeke's Louvain thesis of 1994, now available online: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/thesis:33601 (we are grateful to Dr Van Overbeke for sharing this unpublished work).
Discussion
This Life of Aper - if it is after all a relatively early text - looks unusual within the extant corpus of Merovingian episcopal hagiography in being more or less explicitly framed as a sermon for a feast-day. There are, however, Merovingian Lives of comparable length, which may well have had a similar purpose.Bibliography
Edition and studyVan Overbeke, P., 'La vie de saint Èvre de Toul: édition critique et analyse textuelle,' Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres, Université catholique de Louvain, 1994.
Further reading
Goullet, M., 'Les saints du diocèse de Toul (Sources hagiographiques de la Gaule, VI),' in M. Heinzelmann, ed., L'hagiograhie du haut Moyen Age en Gaule du Nord (Stuttgart, 2001), 11-89.
Heinzelmann, M., 'L'hagiographie mérovingienne: panorama des documents potentiels', in M. Goullet, M. Heinzelmann, and C. Veyrard-Cosme, eds., L'hagiographie mérovingienne à travers ses réécritures (Ostfildern, 2010), 27-82.
Benjamin Savill
18/06/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S02195 | Aper, bishop of Toul, 6th c. | Aper | Certain |
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