The Acts of *Victor (bishop of Le Mans, S02952) and *Victorius (bishop of Le Mans, ob. c. 490, S01280) records the saints' consecutive episcopates as father and son, linking them both closely with *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050). Written in Latin, probably at Le Mans or Tours (north-west Gaul), possibly shortly before c. 700.
E06789
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
The Acts of Victor and Victorius (Acta Victori et Victorii, BHL 8600)
Summary
(1) On the death of Liborius, bishop of Le Mans. How the 'apostolic man' *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, S00050) went to Le Mans to oversee Liborius' burial and the election of his successor, and how it was revealed to him that a subdeacon working among the vines would become the next bishop; (2) this was Victor, from whom Martin asked for a blessing. (3) How the two hurried to the city, (4) where Martin spoke to the crowds, (5) and placed his hand on Victor, nominating him as the next bishop. How Victor protested, saying that he was married and had a son; and how messengers then went to summon his wife Maura, (6) who pledged to live as the bishop's sister rather than wife. How Victor was then placed in the episcopal cathedra and acclaimed as pastor. (7) How Victor was consecrated as bishop, with Maura becoming a 'handmaiden of God' (ancilla Dei).
(8) On their son, whom Martin baptized, calling him Victorius, 'that in the name of his father he might resemble him' (ut assimilaret eum nomini patris sui Victoris).(9-10) How Martin left Le Mans to return to his own city, taking Victorius, his 'spiritual son' (spirituales filius) with him, and how on their way there, they healed a blind man with the waters of the Loire. (11) How Victorius grew up under the tuition of Martin, who ordained him as a priest. (12) How he healed the sick, (13) and followed Martin in his miracles and works.
(14) On the death of Victor, (15) and Victorius' unanimous election as his father's successor, (16) whereupon Martin laid his hands upon Victorius at the altar and consecrated him. How the two did not part until they had 'prayed at the places of saints, and crossed together over the Loire by boat, with - as was proper - a great singing of psalms' (non dimisit eum priusquam per loca sanctorum orantes accessissent, et cum magno psallentium, ut decuit, choro fluuium Ligeris nauigantes pariter transierunt). (17) How Victorius was received by all the people of Le Mans, and lifted up into his cathedra. How the prisoners' chains broke, causing them to run to Victorius, seeking mercy, (18) and how he made peace with them and their enemies: hearing of this, the heretics of the city immediately came and sought baptism, 'and the people were in no small part converted' (sed cum haec plebs populi facta esse cognouisset, continuo haeretici, qui non fuerant credentes, petierunt baptismum, et conuersi sunt non minima pars populi).
Text: AASS, Aug. V, 145-7.
Summary: B. Savill.
Chant and religious singing
Cult PlacesCult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting graves and shrines
Composing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Miracles causing conversion
Healing diseases and disabilities
Freeing prisoners, exiles, captives, slaves
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Children
Family
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Heretics
Relatives of the saint
Prisoners
Crowds
Source
The Acts of Victor and Victorius, sometimes the Life of Saint Victurus and Saint Victurius His Son (Vita sancti Victuri et sancti Victurii filius eius) may date to the end of the seventh century (Heinzelmann 2010). Its survives in varying forms through twelve manuscripts, the earliest of which is late ninth-century (Goffart 1966).Discussion
The Acts, whose purpose is apparently to link Victor and Victorius with Martin of Tours, provides almost no evidence for cult activity in the stricter sense. While the cult of Victorius is otherwise well attested in our database, and took as its focus an authentic bishop of Le Mans of c. 449-90 (Pietri and Heijmans 2013), the Acts' depiction of him as the foster son of Saint Martin (ob. 397) is clearly legendary. The elder Bishop Victor does not appear elsewhere in the pre-Carolingian evidence, and may have been an invention of the hagiographer (Goffart 1966, 50-58).Bibliography
EditionActa Sanctorum, Aug. V, 145-7.
Further reading
Goffart, W., The Le Mans Forgeries: A Chapter from the History of Church Property in the Ninth Century (Cambridge MA, 1966).
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 (Beihefte der Francia 71; Ostfildern, 2010), 27-82.
Pietri, L. and M. Heijmans, Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols. (Paris, 2013), ii. 1951-3, s.v. 'Victorius 1'.
Benjamin Savill
13/10/2021
ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | sancti | Certain | S01280 | Victorius, bishop of Le Mans, ob. c. 490 | Victorius | Certain | S02952 | Victor, bishop of Le Mans | Victor | Certain |
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