Saint Gatianus of Tours | |
|---|---|
 St. Gatianus depicted in a stained-glass window, Église Notre-Dame (La Celle-Guenand) | |
| Born | third century |
| Died | late third century |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 18 December |
| Patronage | Tours |
Gatianus (Catianus, Gatianus, Gratianus; French : Cassien, Gatien, Gratien) [1] in the third century AD was the founding bishop of the see of Tours. He was one of the "seven apostles of Gaul" commissioned by Pope Fabian to evangelize in the region.
According to Christian historians, [2] during the consulship of the Emperor Decius and Vettius Gratus (250 AD), Pope Fabian sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul to preach the Gospel: Gatianus to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Paul to Narbonne, Saturnin to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromoine to Clermont, and Martial to Limoges. A community of Christians had already existed for many years in Lyon, where Irenaeus had been bishop.
As with other founders of the seven Catholic churches of Gaul, especially Martial, Gatianus became confounded in later Christian mythology with the "seventy-two disciples of Christ", alleged to have been sent into Gaul during the first century, by Peter himself. Other details of his biography, while not as easily disprovable, are also largely legendary. Gregory of Tours, writing in the 6th century, is a more dependable source for the few biographical details concerning his predecessor. According to the Catholic historian Louis Duchesne (Christian Worship: Its Origin and Evolution), the traditions preserved at Tours furnished Gregory with only the name of Gatianus and perhaps the 50-year extent of his episcopacy; it was by comparison with a brief early biography of Saturninus of Toulouse (Passio S. Saturnini) that Gregory arrived at the date 250 for the beginning of Gatianus' ministry at Tours (History of the Franks, 1.30). [3]
There were few Christians in Tours at that time, and in one of the troubled years of his episcopate he is said for a time to have lain concealed in a cave on the banks of the Loire, at a spot where later rose the great Abbey of Marmoutier, and Gregory states that Gratianus would go into the city only when opportunities of preaching presented themselves. He devoted half a century to evangelization, amid innumerable difficulties, and at his death the diocese of Tours was securely established. [3]
In a part of the empire where Mithraism was a dominating force among the legions, Léon Jaud reports that Gatianus likewise retreated into a grotto and there celebrated a mystical banquet (célébrait les saints mystères), but that of Christianity. [4] Gatianus was often portrayed officiating at a ceremony in a cavern-like setting. Two grottos cut into the limestone hill above the river Loire, across from Tours at the largely demolished Marmoutier Abbey, are designated the first sites where Gatianus celebrated the liturgy. Anglophile Henry James toured the grottos of Gatianus:
The abbey of Marmoutier, which sprung from the grottos in the cliff to which Saint Gatianus and Saint Martin retired to pray, was therefore the creation of the latter worthy. ...The cliff is still there, and a winding staircase, in the latest taste, enables you conveniently to explore its recesses. These sacred niches are scooped out of the rock, and will give you an impression if you cannot do without one. ...They have been dealt with as the Catholic church deals with most of such places today; polished and furnished up; labelled and ticketed; edited, with notes, in short, like an old book. The process is a mistake. The early editions had more sanctity ... but there was nevertheless a great sweetness in the scene. The afternoon was lovely, and it was flushing to a close. The large garden stretched beneath us, blooming with fruit and wine and succulent vegetables, and beyond it flowed the shining river. The air was still, the shadows were long, and the place, after all, was full of memories, most of which might pass for virtuous. [5]
Gatianus established a hospice for the poor outside the walls of Tours. There he lay, overcome with weariness, after five decades of fasting, penances and toil. There, Jaud describes Jesus appearing to Gatianus, saying, "Fear not! Thy crown is readied and the Saints await thy arrival in Heaven."
After Gatianus' death, during renewed persecution of Christians, the see of Tours remained unoccupied for 36 years. The Christians were dispersed and any direct connection with the historical Gatianus was irretrievably broken. Gregory records [6] the second bishop as Lidorius, traditionally credited with building the predecessor of the present cathedral in Tours, and states that he was bishop for 33 years until about the time Saint Martin arrived in Tours in 371 AD. However, Martin found few Christians in this city; local lore nevertheless kept the legend of Gatianus alive. Martin found Gatianus' burial site, and always venerated his predecessor. With the rise in importance of Paris, Gatianus came to be seen more and more as a disciple of Saint Denis, and is so described at many modern Catholic websites.
Tours became a major pilgrimage site, focused on the tomb of Saint Martin of Tours. The cathedral, originally consecrated to Saint Maurice, was reconsecrated to Saint Gatianus at its 13th century rebuilding. His relics were destroyed in 1793, during the French Revolution. [7] Petty ambitions and little tragedies of mid-19th century provincial life, centered on the cathedral, are portrayed in Honoré de Balzac's Le Curé de Tours ("The curate of Tours").
Saint Gatianus' day is observed on 18 December.
Saint-Gatien-des-Bois is a commune in Lower Normandy (Calvados), France.
Saint-Gatien has a familiar ring in French,[ clarification needed ] and the golf course and the airport at Deauville, schools, and other institutions bear his name.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : Clugnet, Léon. "St. Gatianus." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 10 February 2019 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Gatianus". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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Martin of Tours, also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the patron saint of the Third Republic, and is patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe. A native of Pannonia, he converted to Christianity at a young age. He served in the Roman cavalry in Gaul, but left military service at some point prior to 361, when he became a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers, establishing the monastery at Ligugé. He was consecrated as Bishop of Caesarodunum (Tours) in 371. As bishop, he was active in the suppression of the remnants of Gallo-Roman religion, but he opposed the violent persecution of the Priscillianist sect of ascetics.
Tours is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metropolitan area was 516,973.
Pope Fabian was the bishop of Rome from 10 January 236 until his death on 20 January 250, succeeding Anterus. A dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit's unexpected choice to become the next pope. He was succeeded by Cornelius.
Denis of Paris was a 3rd-century Christian martyr and saint. According to his hagiographies, he was bishop of Paris in the third century and, together with his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius, was martyred for his faith by decapitation. Some accounts placed this during Domitian's persecution and incorrectly identified St Denis of Paris with the Areopagite who was converted by Paul the Apostle and who served as the first bishop of Athens. Assuming Denis's historicity, it is now considered more likely that he suffered under the persecution of the emperor Decius shortly after AD 250.
Martial, called "the Apostle of the Gauls" or "the Apostle of Aquitaine", was the first bishop of Limoges. His feast day is 30 June.
According to Catholic lore, Trophimus of Arles was the first bishop of Arles, in today's southern France.
Stremonius or Saint Austremonius or Saint Stramonius or Austromoine, the "apostle of Auvergne," was the first Bishop of Clermont. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Saturnin of Toulouse was one of the "Apostles to the Gauls" sent out during the consulate of Decius and Gratus (250–251) to Christianise Gaul after the persecutions under Emperor Decius had all but dissolved the small Christian communities. Fabian sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul to preach the Gospel: Gatien to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Paul to Narbonne, Saturnin to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromoine to Clermont, and Martial to Limoges. His feast day is 29 November.
Tours Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France, and dedicated to Saint Gatianus. It is the seat of the Archbishops of Tours, the metropolitan cathedral of the Tours ecclesiastical province. It was built between 1170 and 1547. At the time construction began, the church was located at the south end of the bridge over the river Loire, on the road from Paris to the south-west of France. It has been a classified monument historique since 1862. Since 1905 it has been owned by the French State, with the Catholic Church having the exclusive rights of use.
Maurus (512–584) was the first disciple of Benedict of Nursia. He is mentioned in Gregory the Great's biography of the latter as the first oblate, offered to the monastery by his noble Roman parents as a young boy to be brought up in the monastic life.
Brice of Tours was a 5th-century Frankish bishop, the fourth Bishop of Tours, succeeding Martin of Tours in 397.
Paul of Narbonne was one of the "apostles to the Gauls" sent out during the consulate of Decius and Gratus to Christianize Gaul after the persecutions under Emperor Decius had all but dissolved the small Christian communities. According to the hagiographies, Fabian sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul to preach the Gospel: Gatien to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Paul to Narbonne, Saturnin to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromoine to Clermont, and Martial to Limoges.
Saint Benignus of Dijon was a martyr honored as the patron saint and first herald of Christianity of Dijon, Burgundy. His feast falls, with All Saints, on November 1; his name stands under this date in the Martyrology of St. Jerome.
Marmoutier Abbey — also known as the Abbey of Marmoutier or Marmoutiers — was an early monastery outside Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France. In its later days it followed the Benedictine order as an influential monastery with many dependencies.
Saint Eucharius is venerated as the first bishop of Trier. He lived in the second half of the 3rd century.
Saint Papulus was, according to Christian tradition, a priest who worked with Saturninus of Toulouse to evangelize southern Gaul. Papulus is considered an evangelist of the Lauragais.
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).
Saint Nectarius of Auvergne is venerated as a 4th-century martyr and Christian missionary.
Saint Albaud of Toul, otherwise Aladius or Albin was a 6th-century bishop of Toul. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic church with a feast day celebrated on 1 March.
Christianization of the Franks was the process of converting the pagan Franks to Catholicism during the late 5th century and early 6th century. It was started by Clovis I, regulus of Tournai, with the insistence of his wife, Clotilde and Saint Remigius, the bishop of Reims.
