Avitus of Vienne delivers a homily (Homily 17) on the occasion of the dedication of a church of *Michael (the Archangel, S00181), probably in Lyon (south-east Gaul). Delivered in Latin, probably at Lyon in 494/506.
Evidence ID
E07118
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Avitus of Vienne, Homily 17
EX SERMONE IN DEDICATIONE ECCLESIAE ARCHANGELI MICHAHELIS.
‘From the sermon [preached] on the occasion of the dedication of the church of Michael the Archangel.’
Text: Peiper 1883, 125.
Translation: Katarzyna Wojtalik.
Cult Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus was born into a prominent Gallo-Roman senatorial family, succeeding his father, Hesychius, as bishop of the important see of Vienne at some point before 494/496. He died in 517/518, probably in February 518.Avitus was the author of a long poem De spiritualis historiae gestis in five books (telling the story of the Old Testament from the Creation to Exodus, accompanied by interpretative passages), and a poem for his sister De consolatoria castitatis laude. He is, however, now best known for his letters: an epistolary corpus of ninety-six letters, which are in no chronological order, nor ordered by recipient. The collection ranges from the personal to the official (several were written on behalf of the Burgundian King Sigismund). Avitus corresponded with many important people of his age and his letters are of considerable importance for the ecclesiastical and political history of the years between around 495 and 518 in the Burgundian kingdom. In the letters, information relating to the churches or relics of saints is occasionally mentioned, and has been collected by us in the database.
Avitus was also the author of homilies, several relating to saints' churches. His homilies are all lost in their complete form, except for two, one of which (Homily 25; E07115) is of particular importance for the cult of saints, being delivered in 515 at the dedication of Sigismund's monastery at Agaune for the martyrs of the Theban Legion. Other homilies, some relating to the dedication of churches, have survived in fragments: preserved either in a damaged sixth-century papyrus manuscript in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, or in excerpts copied by later medieval authors.
For more on Avitus' biography, his works, and on their dating see: Shanzer and Wood 2002, 3-85 and 377; and the full biography in PCBE, 242-263, 'Avitus 2', 242-263.
Discussion
Though the surviving fragment of this sermon does not say where the church being dedicated was located, it may well have been a church in Lyon founded and dedicated to Michael by the Burgundian queen Caretena, which is known from a manuscript record of her epitaph (see E07869). The argument is circumstantial, but cumulatively quite strong: a) Avitus refers in a letter (Letter 57) to having preached at the dedication of a church in Lyon, but without saying who it was dedicated to; b) It is well attested that he had close relations with the Burgundian royal family, particularly Caretena's husband Gundobad; c) No other church in the region is known to have been dedicated to Michael in our period. If the identification is correct, the sermon was preached no later than 506, the year in which Caretena died (see E07869).Bibliography
Edition:Peiper, R., Alcimi Ecdicii Aviti Viennensis episcopi operae quae supersunt (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi VI.2; Berolini: Apud Weidmannos, 1883).
Translation:
Avitus of Vienne, Letters and Selected Prose, trans. D. Shanzer and I. Wood (Translated Texts for Historians, Volume 38; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002), also with full notes and discussion.
Further reading:
Février, P.-A. et al., 'Lyon', in: N. Gauthier and J.-Ch. Picard (eds.), Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule, vol. 4: Province ecclésiastique de Lyon (Lugdunensis Prima) (Paris 1986), 15-35, at p. 31.
Pietri L., M. Hejmans, Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, vol. 4: La Gaule chrétien, Paris 2013 (PCBE).
Record Created By
Katarzyna Wojtalik
Date of Entry
18/11/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00181 | Michael, the Archangel | Michahel | Certain |
|---|
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