The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Deeds of Austremonius (first 11 chapters of the Vita prima Austremonii, BHL 844)

Summary:

(1) The author relates how sanctus *Clement (bishop of Rome and martyr of the Crimea, S00111), the successor to the beatus *Peter (the Apostle, S00035), sent 'apostles' to the cities of Gaul: *Gatianus/Gratianus (bishop of Tours, S01175), *Trophimus (bishop of Arles, S00617), *Paulus (bishop and confessor of Narbonne, S00503), *Saturninus (bishop and martyr of Toulouse, S00289), *Dionysius (bishop and martyr of Paris, S00349), *Martialis (bishop of Limoges, S01168) and Austremonius.

(2) On Austremonius' foundation of the church of Clermont (Aruernis ciuitas), (3) whereupon he won over the people, as much through his preaching as his miracles. (4) How he saved a man from being drowned by demons. (5) How he destroyed pagan shrines and converted many, (6) and ordained further 'shepherds' (pastores). (7) On the monastery he founded at Issoire. (8) On the many Jews who lived in Clermont at that time, and how the devil incited them against Austremonius.

(9) ... Unde factum est ut unius Judaei filium, qui potentior ceteris praeerat, baptismi sacramento traderet. Quod cum nuntiatum fuisset Judaeo filium suum fore baptizatum, maximo furore succensus, cum multitudine suae gentis ubi uir sanctus temporis morabatur adueniens, filium suum fertur in puteum proiecisse. Beatum uero Austremonium antistem multis uerberibus laniatum quoadusque spiritum exhalaret, nouissime capitis obtruncatione martyrii palma eum decorantes, dignam sibi Christus animam excipiens, apostolorum meritis constituit sociandum. Caput eius in puteum post paruuli membra proiectum, sed a christianis quam celeriter sublatum, utrosque condigno condientes honore in monasterio quod Hyciodori construxerat isdem sanctus martyr, sepulturae locum tradiderunt. Ex aqua uero eius putei infirmantium multitudo postea fideliter hauriens, meritis sancti uiri ex uariis languoribus saluti restituuntur.

'... Whereupon it so happened that he gave the sacrament of baptism to the son of one of the Jews, who being the more powerful, presided over the others. When it had been announced to him that his son had been baptized, he became inflamed with the greatest fury. With a mass his people, he came to where the holy man was at that time staying, grabbed his son and threw him into a well, and with a great beating he tore the blessed Austremonius apart, until he breathed out his spirit. By cutting off his head, he immediately decorated with the palm of martyrdom. Christ received that worthy soul, and joined it by its merits into the fellowship of the apostles. His head was thrown into the well, after the body of the little boy, but it was quickly fetched up again by the Christians, who brought both of them to be buried with worthy honour in the monastery which that same holy martyr had constructed at Issoire. Afterwards, a multitude of the infirm were cured of their various maladies by the merits of the holy man when they drank faithfully from the water of that well.'

(10) How the Jews who had committed the crime were persecuted, so that none 'up to the present day' live in 'this' city, as is the case in others (atrocissimis poenis uariisque suppliciis sunt insecuti ut ne unus quidem in hac urbe sicut in aliis habitare noscatur usque in praesens). Those people, however, who sought help at the burial place of the martyr, bringing gifts, 'returned to their own healthy and unharmed' through his intercession (His uero... eumdem locum in quo sanctum martyrem tumulauerant, summo honore dignum ducere, magnisque cum muneribus beati antistitis expetunt suffragia, cuius meritis et intercessionis suffulti, ex quacumque triulatione uel infirmitate laesi adueniunt, sani et incolumes ad propria reuertuntur).

(11) How the cult declined as time passed, so that although some 'knew that he lay at rest in that aforesaid place of Issoire, no one showed him the honour of veneration' (qui licet scirent quod in praedicto loco Yciodoro requiesceret, nullum tamen illi exhibebant honoris cultum). How, after many years (post longinqua uero annorum curricula) Bishop Cautinus of Clermont, when he was a deacon at Issoire, saw in the night a bright light, and a multitude clad in white standing around the tomb, holding candles and singing psalms (ecce circa tumulum multitudo albatorum tenentium ceros et psallentium); the morning immediately after, he ordered a chancel to be built around the tomb, and 'began to preach the reverence of that place' (statim facto mane iussit tumulum cancello uallari, praedixitque reuerentiam loci illius).

Chapters 12-20 of the Vita Prima are later additions, and not included in this entry


Text: AASS, Nov. I, 49-54.
Summary and translation: B. Savill.

Cult building - monastic
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Holy spring/well/river

Uncertainty/scepticism/rejection of a saint

Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Visiting graves and shrines
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts

Miracle after death
Punishing miracle
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Miracles causing conversion

Bodily relic - head
Bodily relic - unspecified
Discovering, finding, invention and gathering of relics

Children
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - Popes
Pagans
Jews and Samaritans
Family

Source

Discussion

Bibliography