Gaul was an important early center of Latin Christianity during late antiquity and the Merovingian period. By the middle of the 3rd century, there were several churches organized in Roman Gaul, and soon after the cessation of persecution, the bishops of the Latin world assembled at Arles in AD 314. The Church of Gaul passed through three crises in the late Roman period, Arianism, Priscillianism and Pelagianism. Under Merovingian rule, a number of "Frankish synods" were held, marking a particularly Germanic development in the Western Church. A model for the following Frankish synods was set by Clovis I, who organized the First Council of Orléans (511).
No records survive of how Christianity first reached Gaul. The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia speculates that early missionaries may have arrived at Marseilles by sea, and continued up the river Rhône to the central metropolis at Lyon. Missionaries from Asia, such as Pothinus and his successor Irenaeus (both disciples of Polycarp), established the faith more firmly.[1] As a result, the Christians of the community in Lyon and Vienne were "predominantly of eastern background"[2] and maintained close ties with the community in Rome.
The first mention of Christianity in the context of Roman Gaul dates to AD 177 and the persecution in Lyon,[1] the religious center of Roman Gaul, where the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls was located. The sole account of this persecution is a letter preserved by Eusebius[3] from the Christians of Lyon and Vienne, the latter still known then as Vienna Allobrogum and the capital of the continental CelticAllobroges. The letter implies that the Church of Lyons was the only organized church in Gaul at the time. That of Vienne appears to have been dependent on it and, to judge from similar cases, was probably administered by a deacon.
The forty-eight martyrs of Lyon (ancient Lugdunum, "citadel of Lugus" the Gallic equivalent of Mercury) represented every rank of Gallo-Roman society. Among them were Vettius Epagathus, an aristocrat; the physician Attalus of Pergamus, from the professional class; from the Church, Saint PothinusBishop of Lyon, with the neophyte Maturus and the deacon Sanctus; and the young slaves Blandina[4] and Ponticus.
Eusebius speaks of letters written by the Churches of Gaul, of which Irenaeus is bishop.[5] These letters were written on the occasion of the second event, which brought the Church of Gaul into prominence. Easter was not celebrated on the same day in all Christian communities; towards the end of the 2nd century, Pope Victor wished to universalize the Roman usage and excommunicated the Churches of Asia Minor which were Quartodeciman. Irenaeus intervened to restore peace. About the same time, in an inscription found at Autun (ancient Augustodunum, the capital of the Celtic Aedui), a certain Pectorius celebrated in Greek verse the Ichthys or fish, symbol of the Eucharist.[6] A third event in which the bishops of Gaul appear is the Novatian controversy. Bishop Faustinus of Lyon and other colleagues in Gaul are mentioned in 254 by St. Cyprian[7] as opposed to Novatian, whereas Marcianus of Arles was favourable to him.
Such claims were flattering to local vanity. During the Middle Ages and over the centuries many legends grew up in support of them. The evangelization of Gaul has often been attributed to missionaries sent from Rome by St. Clement. This theory inspired a whole series of fallacious narratives and forgeries that complicate and obscure the historical record.[1]
Gregory of Tours
Frontispiece of the Historia Francorum, in which Gregory of Tours gives an account of the evangelisation of Gaul
In the Historia Francorum, Gregory of Tours gives another narrative of the evangelisation of Gaul. According to him, in the year 250, Rome sent seven bishops, who founded as many churches in Gaul:
The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia considers Gregory's account more credible than the local legends, but maintains some reservations, assessing the narrative overall as tradition rather than fact. The encyclopedia notes that Gregory was writing three hundred years after the purported events, and highlights chronological issues with his account.
Spread of Christianity
Cyprian describes several churches organized in Gaul by the middle of the third century. These churches were largely unaffected by the Diocletianic Persecution, due to the influence of Constantius Chlorus, who was not hostile to Christianity.
The 314 Council of Arles was convened shortly after the end of the persecutions. Signatures on surviving documents show that bishops from the following dioceses were in attendance:
During the 4th and 5th centuries, Christianity slowly began to spread among the educated classes in Gaul. The poet Ausonius may have been a convert to Christianity; his pupil Paulinus entered a monastery, sparking controversy among his peers. Non-Christian intellectuals, such as those in the schools of Autun, sometimes praised the virtues of the Christian emperors.
By the close of the 5th century, the majority of scholars in Gaul were Christians. These included:
Rural areas in Gaul remained strongholds of traditional Gallic and ancient Roman religions, and syncretic fusions of the two.[9] Missionaries such as Martin of Tours, Victricius of Rouen, and Martin of Brives[fr] worked to stamp out these practices, especially in central Gaul. A famous legend tells of Martin of Tours felling a sacred tree near Autun and being attacked by a peasant. The efforts of these missionaries were largely unsuccessful, and a quote from 395 refers to the Christian deity as "that God Who alone is worshipped in the large cities".[10]
At the beginning of the 5th century, there took place in the neighbourhood of Autun the procession of Cybele's chariot to bless the harvest. In the 6th century, in the city of Arles, one of the regions where Christianity had gained its earliest and strongest foothold, Bishop Caesarius was still attempting to suppress traditional beliefs, and some of his sermons are important sources of information on folk-lore.
Gallic monasticism
The Christianization of the lower classes of the people was greatly aided by the newly established monasteries. In Gaul as elsewhere the first Christian ascetics lived in the world and kept their personal freedom. The practice of religious life in common was introduced by Saint Martin (died c. 397) and Cassian (died c. 435). Martin established Marmoutier Abbey near Tours, where in the beginning the monks lived in separate grottoes or wooden huts. A little later Cassian founded two monasteries at Marseilles (415). He had previously visited the monks of the East, and especially Egypt, and had brought back their methods, which he adapted to the circumstances of Gallo-Roman life. Through two of his works, De institutis coenobiorum and the Collationes XXIV, he became the doctor of Gallic asceticism.
Lérins Abbey
About the same time, Honoratus founded a monastery on the Lérins Islands near Marseilles. Lérins Abbey became a centre of Christian life and ecclesiastical influence. Episcopal sees of Gaul were often objects of competition and greed, and were rapidly becoming the property of certain aristocratic families. Lérins took up the work of reforming the episcopate, and placed many of its own sons at the head of dioceses:
It is possible, however, that some of these foundations belong to the succeeding period. The monks had not yet begun to live according to any fixed and codified rule. For such written constitutions we must await the time of Caesarius of Arles. Monasticism was not established without opposition. Rutilius Namatianus, a pagan, denounced the monks of Lérins as a brood of night-owls; even the effort to make chastity the central virtue of Christianity met with much resistance, and the adversaries of Priscillian in particular were imbued with this hostility to a certain degree. It was also one of the objections raised by Vigilantius of Calagurris. The law of ecclesiastical celibacy was less stringent, less generally enforced than in Italy, especially Rome. The series of Gallic councils before the Merovingian epoch bear witness at once to the undecided state of discipline at the time, and also to the continual striving after some fixed disciplinary code.
Theological strife
The Church of Gaul passed through three dogmatic crises.
Arianism
Its bishops seem to have been greatly preoccupied with Arianism; as a rule they clung to the teaching of the Council of Nicaea, in spite of a few temporary or partial defections. Athanasius, who had been exiled to Trier (336-38), exerted a powerful influence on the episcopate of Gaul; one of the great champions of orthodoxy in the West was Hilary of Poitiers, who also suffered exile for his constancy.
Priscillianism
Priscillianism had a greater hold on the masses of the faithful. It was above all a method, an ideal of Christian life, which appealed to all, even to women. It was condemned in 380 at the Synod of Saragossa where the Bishops of Bordeaux and Agen were present; nonetheless it spread rapidly in Central Gaul, Eauze in particular being a stronghold. When in 385 Magnus Maximus put Priscillian and his friends to death, Saint Martin was in doubt how to act, but repudiated with horror communion with the bishops who had condemned the unfortunates. Priscillianism, indeed, was more or less bound up with the cause of asceticism in general.
Pelagianism
Finally the bishops and monks of Gaul were long divided over Pelagianism. Proculus, Bishop of Marseille, had obliged Leporius, a disciple of Pelagius, to leave Gaul, but it was not long before Marseille and Lérins, led by Cassian, Vincent and Faustus, became hotbeds of a teaching opposed to St. Augustine's and known as Semipelagianism. Prosper of Aquitaine wrote against it, and was obliged to take refuge at Rome. It was not until the beginning of the 6th century that the teaching of Augustine triumphed, when a monk of Lérins, Caesarius of Arles, a follower of Augustine, caused it to be adopted by the 529 Council of Orange.
In the final struggle Rome intervened. We do not know much concerning the earlier relations between the bishops of Gaul and the pope. The position of Irenaeus in the Easter Controversy shows a considerable degree of independence; yet Irenaeus proclaimed the primacy of the See of Rome, which he based on the Apostolic Succession and, equally importantly, right teaching, orthodoxy (whereas the Gnostics whom he opposed were mere itinerant preachers without authority). About the middle of the 3rd century the pope was appealed to for the purpose of settling difficulties in the Church of Gaul and to remove an erring bishop (Cyprian, Epist. lxviii). At the Council of Arles (314) the bishops of Gaul were present with those of Brittany, Spain, Africa, even Italy; Pope Sylvester sent delegates to represent him. It was in a way a Council of the West. During all that century, however, the episcopate of Gaul had no head, and the bishops grouped themselves according to the ties of friendship or locality. Metropolitans did not exist as yet, and when advice was needed Milan was consulted. "The traditional authority", says Duchesne, "in all matters of discipline remained always the ancient Church of Rome; in practice, however, the Council of Milan decided in case of conflict." The popes then took the situation in hand, and in 417 Pope Zosimus made Patrocles, Bishop of Arles, his vicar or delegate in Gaul, and provided that all disputes should be referred to him. Moreover, no Gallic ecclesiastic could have access to the pope without testimonial letters from the Bishop of Aries. This primacy of Aries waxed and waned under the succeeding popes. It enjoyed a final period of brilliancy, under Caesarius, but after his time it conferred on the occupant merely an honorary title. In consequence, however, of the extensive authority of Arles in the 5th and 6th centuries, canonical discipline was more rapidly developed there, and the "Libri canonum" that were soon in vogue in Southern Gaul were modelled on those of the Church of Aries. Towards the end of this period Caesarius assisted at a series of councils, thus obtaining a certain recognition as legislator for the Merovingian Church.
The invasions
The barbarians, however, were on the march. The great invasion of 407 across the Rhine disrupted Gaul for almost 3 years until they passed over into Spain in September or October 409. Gaul was free of invaders but subjected to civil wars between imperial contenders until 413, when the imperial government of Emperor Honorius restored order. The Visigoths left Italy in 411 and settled in southwest Gaul and northeast Spain until finally being settled in a swatch of territory from Toulouse to the Atlantic coast north of Bordeaux in 416. The Visigoths were Arians and hostile to Catholicism.
Gradually the necessities of life imposed a policy of moderation. The Council of Agde, really a national council of Visigothic Gaul (506), and in which Caesarius was dominant, is an evidence of the new temper on both sides. The Acts of this council follow very closely the principles laid down in the Breviarium Alarici—a summary of the Theodocian Code drawn up by Alaric II, the Visigothic king, for his Gallo-Roman subjects—and met with the approval of the Catholic bishops of his kingdom.
Between 410 and 413 the Burgundians had settled near Mains and were settled in Savoy in 443. In 475 they moved farther south along the Rhône, and about this time became Arian Christians. The Franks, soon to be masters of all Gaul, left the neighbourhood of Tournai, defeated Syagrius, the last representative of Roman authority in central north Gaul, in 486, and extended their power to the Loire. In 507 they defeated the Visigoth Kingdom in the Battle of Vouillé, confining their domain to Spain, except for a strip of territory along the Mediterranean coast. In 534 the Burgundians were defeated; in 536 by the conquest of Arles they succeeded to the remnants of the great state created by King Theodoric the Great.
The transition from one regime to another was eased by the bishops of Gaul. The bishops had frequently played a role as intermediaries with the Roman authorities. It was long believed that they had been invested with special powers and the official title of defensores civitatum (defenders of the states). While this title was never officially borne by them, the popular error was only formal and superficial. Bishops like Sidonius Apollinaris, Avitus, Germanus of Auxerre, Caesarius of Arles, upheld the social fabric. The bishops were guardians of the classical traditions of Latin literature and Roman culture, and long before the appearance of monasticism had been the mainstay of learning.
Throughout the 6th and 7th centuries manuscripts of the Bible and the Church were copied to meet the needs of public worship, ecclesiastical teaching, and Catholic life. The only contemporary buildings that exhibit traces of classical or Byzantine styles are religious edifices.
Regional synods had been held regularly in the Church of Gaul, more than thirty of them between 314 and 506.[11] Under Merovingian rule, a number of "Frankish synods" were held, marking a particularly Germanic development in the Western Church: to the usual regional or provincial councils, Germanic peoples added a traditional element from their systems of government, the idea of a national council, which was influenced by the Christian East. They also indicate a growing congruence between church and state. While Arian rulers kept their distance from the general councils, Visigoth rulers began influencing the councils only after the conversion of Reccared I. As soon as they had established themselves, Merovingian kings (and the Carolingians after them) exerted their influence on the councils.[12] According to Gregory Halfond, such congruence was a particular quality of the Gallo-Roman church, in which the Roman aristocracy made up an important part of the leadership of the Gallo-Roman (and later the Frankish) church; continuity in this power nexus is indicated also by the continued use of Roman procedures in the councils.[13]
An early important churchman is Caesarius of Arles, who organized regional synods, which were mostly concerned with conforming the canons and practices of the Church of Gaul to those of other Churches. At Orange, for instance, he had earlier (Pelagian) practices of the Gallic church anathematized, and at the ensuing council in Vaison liturgical conformity with other Churches (Italy, Africa, the East) was established.[14] A model for the following Frankish synods was set by Clovis I, who organized the First Council of Orléans (511); though he did not himself attend it, he set the agenda and followed the proceedings closely (at stake was "the unification of the Roman church under Frankish rule").[15] After the waning of Caesarius's influence and the establishment of Merovingian rule, the focus of the soon-to-be Frankish Church shifted north, to deal with the growing problem of adjusting to "deeply embedded Germanic practices"; rather than Pelagianism or Predestinatarianism, bishops now had to deal with problems involving "marriage, the relations between a warrior aristocracy and clergy, or monks and nuns, the conflicts born of royal influence and control, or of property rights".[14] By the eighth century, the regular organization of synods had largely disappeared, and when Boniface complained to Pope Zacharias in 742 that there hadn't been a synod in the Frankish church in at least eighty years, he was not exaggerating by much.[16][17]
Pope Celestine I was the bishop of Rome from 10 September 422 to his death on 1 August 432. Celestine's tenure was largely spent combatting various ideologies deemed heretical. He supported the mission of the Gallic bishops that sent Germanus of Auxerre in 429, to Britain to address Pelagianism, and later commissioned Palladius as bishop to the Scots of Ireland and northern Britain. In 430, he held a synod in Rome which condemned the apparent views of Nestorius.
Pope Zosimus was the bishop of Rome from 18 March 417 to his death on 26 December 418. He was born in Mesoraca, Calabria. Zosimus took a decided part in the protracted dispute in Gaul as to the jurisdiction of the See of Arles over that of Vienne, giving energetic decisions in favour of the former, but without settling the controversy. His fractious temper coloured all the controversies in which he took part, in Gaul, Africa and Italy, including Rome, where at his death the clergy were very much divided.
Pope Hilarius was the bishop of Rome from AD 461 to 468.
Priscillian was a wealthy nobleman of Roman Hispania who promoted a strict form of Christian asceticism. He became bishop of Ávila in 380. Certain practices of his followers were denounced at the Council of Zaragoza in 380. Tensions between Priscillian and bishops opposed to his views continued, as well as political maneuvering by both sides. Around 385, Priscillian was charged with sorcery and executed by authority of the Emperor Maximus. The ascetic movement Priscillianism is named after him, and continued in Hispania and Gaul until the late 6th century. Tractates by Priscillian and close followers, which were thought lost, were discovered in 1885 and published in 1889.
Contumeliosus of Riez was a sixth century Bishop of Riez in Gaul. Pope John II deposed Contumeliosus in 534 for adulterous behaviour and authorized Caesarius of Arles to appoint a temporary bishop to the diocese. Contumeliosus' deposition is notable for being the first act of jurisdiction of this kind recorded of a bishop of Rome.
Caesarius of Arles, sometimes called "of Chalon" from his birthplace Chalon-sur-Saône, was the foremost ecclesiastic of his generation in Merovingian Gaul. Caesarius is considered to be of the last generation of church leaders of Gaul who worked to integrate large-scale ascetic elements into the Western Christian tradition. William E. Klingshirn's study of Caesarius depicts Caesarius as having the reputation of a "popular preacher of great fervour and enduring influence". Among those who exercised the greatest influence on Caesarius were Augustine of Hippo, Julianus Pomerius, and John Cassian.
A double monastery is a monastery combining separate communities of monks and of nuns, joined in one institution to share one church and other facilities. The practice is believed to have started in the East at the dawn of monasticism. It is considered more common in the monasticism of Eastern Christianity, where it is traceable to the 4th century. In the West the establishment of double monasteries became popular after Columbanus and sprang up in Gaul and in Anglo-Saxon England. Double monasteries were forbidden by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, though it took many years for the decree to be enforced. Double monasteries were revived again after the 12th century in a significantly different way when a number of religious houses were established on this pattern among Benedictines and possibly the Dominicans. The 14th-century Bridgittines were purposely founded using this form of community.
Mamertus was the bishop of Vienne in Gaul, venerated as a saint. His primary contribution to ecclesiastical practice was the introduction of litanies prior to Ascension Day as an intercession against earthquakes and other disasters, leading to "Rogation Days." His feast day is the first of the Ice Saints.
The Gallican Rite is a historical form of Christian liturgy and other ritual practices in Western Christianity. It is not a single liturgical rite but rather several Latin liturgical rites that developed within the Latin Church, which comprised the majority use of most of Western Christianity for the greater part of the 1st millennium AD. The rites first developed in the early centuries as the Syriac-Greek rites of Jerusalem and Antioch and were first translated into Latin in various parts of the Western Roman Empire Praetorian prefecture of Gaul. By the 5th century, it was well established in the Roman civil diocese of Gaul, which had a few early centers of Christianity in the south. Ireland is also known to have had a form of this Gallican Liturgy mixed with Celtic customs.
The Council of Agde was a regional synod held in September 506 at Agatha or Agde, on the Mediterranean coast east of Narbonne, in the Septimania region of the Visigothic Kingdom, with the permission of the Visigothic King Alaric II.
The First Council of Orléans was convoked by Clovis I, King of the Franks, in 511. Clovis called for this synod four years after his victory over the Visigoths under Alaric II at the Battle of Vouillé in 507. The council was attended by thirty-two bishops, including four metropolitans, from across Gaul, and together they passed thirty-one decrees. The bishops met at Orléans to reform the church and construct a strong relationship between the crown and the Catholic episcopate, the majority of the canons reflecting compromise between these two institutions.
The Archdiocese of Lyon, formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archbishops of Lyon serve as successors to Saints Pothinus and Irenaeus, the first and second bishops of Lyon, respectively, and are also called primates of Gaul. He is usually elevated to the rank of cardinal. Bishop Olivier de Germay was appointed archbishop on 22 October 2020.
Arles in the south of Roman Gaul hosted several councils or synods referred to as Concilium Arelatense in the history of the early Christian church.
Virgilius of Arles was Archbishop of Arles in Gaul.
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context. The well-studied meld of cultures in Gaul gives historians a model against which to compare and contrast parallel developments of Romanization in other less-studied Roman provinces.
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.
Constantine the Great's (272–337) relationship with the four Bishops of Rome during his reign is an important component of the history of the Papacy, and more generally the history of the Catholic Church.
The Second Council of Orange was held in 529 at Orange, which was then part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom. It affirmed much of the theology of Augustine of Hippo and synergism, and made numerous proclamations against what later would come to be known as semi-Pelagian doctrine.
Theodore was the bishop of Marseille from at least 566 until 591/594. In the 580s, Theodore was at the centre of a dispute over the city of Marseille between King Guntram and his nephew, King Childebert II. He was arrested several times. His troubles are recorded by the contemporary historian Gregory of Tours, who depicts him as a saintly albeit powerless figure who was supported by the laity, but opposed by his own clergy.
↑ Schuler, Matthias (1947). "Zum 1200jähr. Jubiläum des fränkischen Generalkonzils vom Jahre 747. Der Höhepunkt der Reformtätigkeit des hl. Bonifatius". Trierer Theologische Zeitschrift 56: 362–70.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Christian Gaul". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry states:
"After the writings of EUSEBIUS OF CAESARIA, SULPICIUS SEVERUS, PAULINUS OF NOLA, SALVIANUS, GREGORY OF TOURS, etc., our principal source of information is the epigraphic material published by LE BLANT, Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule antérieures au VIIIe siècle (Paris, 1858–85), with a supplement (1897);
____, Les sarcophages chrétiens de la Gaule (Paris, 1896). SIRMOND AND LALANDE, Concilia Antigua Galliae (4 vols., fol., 1629–66);
"also the catalogues or lists of bishops preserved in many dioceses and edited by DELISLE in Histoire littéraire de la France, XXIX."
"General works devoted to the history and study of Christianity have chapters on the Church in Gaul. Special reference works:"
DUCHESNE, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, I (1894; 2nd ed., 1907), II (1900);
HOUTIN, La controverse de l'apostolicité des églises de France au XIXe siècle (Paris, 1901);
Analecta Bollandiana, XIX, 354;
MORIN, Saint Lazare et saint Maximin in Mémoires de la société des antiquaires de France, LIX (Paris, 1898);
AUBÉ in Revue historique, VII (1878) 152-64;
DUCHESNE, Origines du culte chrétien (Paris, 1889), 32, 84;
____, La première collection romaine des décrétales in Atti del secondo congresso d'archeologia cristiana (Rome, 1902), 159;
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