Christian Gaul

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The Church of Gaul first appeared in history in connexion with thepersecution atLyons underMarcus Aurelius (177). Thepagan inhabitants rose up against theChristians, and forty-eightmartyrs suffered death under various tortures. Among them there were children like the slave Blandina and Ponticus, a youth of fifteen. Every rank of life had members among the firstmartyrs of the Church of Gaul: the aristocracy were represented by Vettius Epagathus; the professional class by Attalus ofPergamus, a physician; aneophyte Maturus, died beside Pothinus,Bishop ofLyons, and Sanctus,deacon of Vienne. TheChristians ofLyons and Vienne in a letter to their brethren ofSmyrna give an account of thispersecution, and the letter preserved byEusebius (Church History V.1-4, is one the gems ofChristian literature. In this document theChurch ofLyons seems to be the only church organized at the time in Gaul. That of Vienne appears to have been dependent on it and, to judge from similar cases, was probably administered by adeacon. How or whereChristianity first gained a foothold in Gaul is purely a matter of conjecture. Most likely the first missionaries came by sea, touched atMarseilles, and progressed up the Rhone till they established the religion atLyons, themetropolis and centre of communication for the whole country. The firm establishment ofChristianity in Gaul was undoubtedly due to missionaries fromAsia. Pothinus was a disciple ofSt. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, as was also his successor,Irenaeus. In the time ofIrenaeus, Lyons was still the centre of theChurch in Gaul.Eusebius speaks of letters written by the Churches of Gaul of whichIrenaeus isbishop (Church History V.23). 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 allChristian communities; towards the end of the second centuryPope Victor wished to universalize the Roman usage andexcommunicated the Churches ofAsia.Irenaeus intervened to restore peace. About the same time, in a mystical inscription found atAutun, a certain Pectorius celebrated in Greek verse theIchthus or fish, symbol of the Eucharist. A third event in which thebishops of Gaul appear is theNovatian controversy. Faustinus,Bishop ofLyons, and other colleagues in Gaul are mentioned in 254 bySt. Cyprian (Ep. lxviii) as opposed toNovatian, whereas Marcianus of Axles was favourable to him.

No other positive information concerning the Church of Gaul is available until the fourth century. Two groups of narratives, however, aim to fill in the gaps. On the one hand a series of local legends trace back the foundation of the principal sees to theApostles. Early in the sixth century we find St. CaesariusBishop of Arles, crediting these stories; regardless of the anachronism, he makes the firstBishop ofVaison, Daphnus, whose signature appears at theCouncil of Arles (314), a disciple of the Apostles (Lejay, Le rôle théologique de Césaire d'Arles, p. 5). One hundred years earlier one of his predecessors, Patrocles, based various claims of his Church on the fact that St. Trophimus, founder of theChurch of Arles, was a disciple of theApostles. Such claims were nodoubt flattering to local vanity; during theMiddle Ages and in more recent times many legends grew up in support of them. The evangelization of Gaul has often been attributed to missionaries sent fromRome by St. Clement--a theory, which has inspired a whole series of fallacious narratives and forgeries, with which history is encumbered. Morefaith can be placed in a statement ofGregory of Tours in his "Historia Francorum" (I, xxviii), on which was based the second group of narratives concerning the evangelisation of Gaul. According to him, in the year 250Rome sent sevenbishops, who founded as manychurches in Gaul: Gatianus theChurch ofTours, Trophimus that of Arles, Paul that of Narbonne, Saturninus that ofToulouse, Denis that ofParis, Stremonius (Austremonius) that of Auvergne (Clermont), and Martialis that ofLimoges.Gregory's statement has been accepted with more or less reservation by serious historians. Nevertheless even thoughGregory, a late successor of Gatianus, may have had access to information on the beginnings of his church, it must not be forgotten that an interval of three hundred years separates him from the events he chronicles; moreover, this statement of his involves some serious chronological difficulties, of which he was himself aware, e.g. in the case of thebishops ofParis. The most we can say for him is that he echoes a contemporary tradition, which represents the general point of view of the sixth century rather than the actual facts. It is impossible to say how much legend is mingled with the reality.

By the middle of the third century, asSt. Cyprian bears witness, there were several churches organized in Gaul. They suffered little from the greatpersecution. Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine, was not hostile toChristianity, and soon after the cessation ofpersecution thebishops of the Latin world assembled at Arles (314). Their signatures, which are still extant, prove that the following sees were then in existence: Vienne,Marseilles, Arles, Orange,Vaison, Apt,Nice,Lyons,Autun,Cologne,Trier,Reims,Rouen,Bordeaux, Gabali, and Eauze. We must also admit the existence of the Sees ofToulouse, Narbonne,Clermont,Bourges, andParis. This date marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the Church of Gaul. The towns had been early won over to the new Faith; the work of evangelization was now extended and continued during the fourth and fifth centuries. The cultured classes, however, long remained faithful to the old traditions. Ausonius was aChristian, but gives so little evidence of it that the fact has been questioned. Teacher andhumanist, he lived in the memories of the past. His pupil Paulinus entered thereligious life, at which, however, the world of letters was deeplyscandalized; so much so, indeed, that Paulinus had to write to Ausonius to justify himself. At the same period there werepagan rhetoricians who celebrated in theschools, as atAutun, the virtues and deeds of theChristian emperors. By the close of the fifth century, however, the majority of scholars in Gaul wereChristians. Generation by generation the change came about. Salvianus, the fieryapologist (died c. 492), was the son ofpaganparents.Hilary of Poitiers, Sulpicius Severus (theChristian Sallust),Paulinus of Nola, and Sidonius Apollinaris strove to reconcile theChurch and the world of letters. Sidonius himself is not altogether free from suggestions ofpaganism handed down by tradition. In Gaul as elsewhere the question arose as to whether the Gospel could really adapt itself to literary culture. With the inroads of the barbarians the discussion came to an end.

It is none the lesstrue that throughout the Empire the progress ofChristianity had been made chiefly in the cities. The country-places were yet strongholds ofidolatry, which in Gaul was upheld by a twofold tradition. The old Gallic religion, and Graeco-Romanpaganism, still had ardent supporters. More than that, among the Gallo-Roman population the use of spells and charms for the cure of sickness, or on the occasion of a death, was much in vogue; the people worshipped springs and trees, believed in fairies, on certain days clothed themselves in skins of animals, and resorted to magic and the practice of divination. Some of these customs were survivals of very ancient traditions; they had come down through the Celtic and the Roman period, and had nodoubt at times received the imprint of the Gallic and Graeco-Romanbeliefs. Their real origin must of course, be sought further back in the same obscurity in which the beginnings of folk-lore are shrouded. This mass of popularbeliefs, fancies, andsuperstitions still lives. It was the principal obstacle encountered by the missionaries in the rural places. St. Martin, a native of Pannonia,Bishop ofTours, and founder ofmonasteries, undertook especially in Central Gaul acrusade against this ruralidolatry. On one occasion, when he was felling a sacred tree in the neighbourhood ofAutun, a peasant attacked him, and he had an almostmiraculous escape. Besides St. Martin other popular preachers traversed the rural districts, e.g. Victricius,Bishop ofRouen, another converted soldier, also Martin's disciples, especially St. Martin of Brives. But their scattered and intermittent efforts made no lasting effect on the minds of the peasants. About 395 a Gallic rhetorician depicts a scene in which peasants discuss the mortality among their flocks. One of them boasts the virtue of thesign of the cross, "the sign of thatGod Who alone is worshipped in the large cities" (Riese, Anthologia Latina, no. 893, v. 105). This expression, however, is too strong, for at that very period a single church sufficed for theChristian population ofTrier. Nevertheless the rural parts continued the more refractory. At the beginning of the fifth century, there took place in the neighbourhood ofAutun the procession of Cybele's chariot tobless the harvest. In the sixth century, in the city of Arles, one of the regions whereChristianity had gained its earliest and strongest foothold, Bishop Caesarius was still struggling against popularsuperstitions, and some of hissermons are yet among our important sources of information on folk-lore.

TheChristianization of the lower classes of the people was greatly aided by the newly establishedmonasteries. In Gaul as elsewhere the firstChristian ascetics lived in the world and kept their personal freedom. The practice ofreligious life in common was introduced by St. Martin (died c. 397) and Cassian (died c. 435). Martin established near Tours the "grand monastère", i.e. Marmoutier, where in the beginning themonks lived in separate grottoes or wooden huts. A little later Cassian founded twomonasteries atMarseilles (415). He had previously visited themonks of the East, and especiallyEgypt, 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. About the same time Honoratus founded a famousmonastery on the little isle of Lérins (Lerinum) nearMarseilles destined to become a centre ofChristian life andecclesiastical influence. Episcopal sees of Gaul were often objects of competition andgreed, and were rapidly becoming theproperty of certain aristocraticfamilies, all of whose representatives in the episcopate were not as wise and upright as Germanus of Auxerre or Sidonius Apollinaris. Lérins took up the work of reforming the episcopate, and placed many of its own sons at the head ofdioceses: Honoratus, Hilary, and Caesarius at Arles; Eucherius atLyons, and his sons Salonius and Veranius atGeneva and Vence respectively; Lupus atTroyes; Maximus andFaustus at Riez. Lérins too became aschool ofmysticism andtheology and spread its religiousideas far and wide by useful works ondogma, polemics, andhagiography. Othermonasteries were founded in Gaul, e.g. Grigny near Vienne, Ile Barbe atLyons, Réomé (later known as Moutier-Saint-Jean), Morvan, Saint-Claude in the Jura, Chinon, Loches etc. It is possible, however, that some of these foundations belong to the succeeding period. Themonks had not yet begun to live according to any fixed and codified rule. For such written constitutions we must await the time ofCaesarius of Arles. Monasticism was not established without opposition. Rutilius Namatianus, apagan, denounced themonks of Lérins as a brood of night-owls; even the effort to make chastity the central virtue ofChristianity 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, theSpanishpriest whomSt. Jerome denounced so vigorously. Vigilantius had spent much time in Gaul and seems to have died there. Thelaw ofecclesiastical celibacy was less stringent, less generally enforced than inItaly, especiallyRome. 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.

The Church of Gaul passed through three dogmatic crises. Itsbishops seem to have been greatly preoccupied withArianism; as a rule they clung to the teaching of Nicaea, in spite of a few temporary or partial defections.Athanasius, who had been exiled toTrier (336-38), exerted a powerful influence on the episcopate of Gaul; one of the great champions oforthodoxy in the West wasHilary of Poitiers, who also suffered exile for his constancy. Priscillianism had a greater hold on the masses of thefaithful. It was above all a method, an ideal ofChristian life, which appealed to all, even towomen. It was condemned (380) at the Synod of Saragossa where the Bishops ofBordeaux and Agen were present; none the less it spread rapidly in Central Gaul, Eauze in particular being a stronghold. When in 385 the usurper Maximus put Priscillian and his friends to death, St. Martin was indoubt how to act, but repudiated with horror communion with thebishops who had condemned the unfortunates. Priscillianism, indeed, was more or less bound up with the cause of asceticism in general. Finally thebishops andmonks of Gaul were long divided overPelagianism. Proculus,Bishop ofMarseilles, hadobliged Leporius, a disciple ofPelagius, to leave Gaul, but it was not long untilMarseilles and Lérins, led by Cassian, Vincent and Faustus, became hotbeds of a teaching opposed toSt. Augustine's and known as Semipelagianism. Prosper of Aquitaine wrote against it, and wasobliged to take refuge atRome. It was not until the beginning of the sixth century that the teaching ofAugustine triumphed, when amonk of Lérins,Caesarius of Arles, an almost servile disciple ofAugustine, caused it to be adopted by the Council of Orange (529).

In the final struggleRome interfered. We do notknow much concerning the earlier relations between thebishops of Gaul and thepope. The position ofIrenaeus in theEaster Controversy shows a considerable degree of independence; yetIrenaeus proclaimed the primacy of theSee of Rome. About the middle of the third century thepope was appealed to for the purpose of settling difficulties in the Church of Gaul and to remove anerringbishop (Cyprian, Epist. lxviii). At theCouncil of Arles (314) thebishops of Gaul were present with those of Brittany,Spain,Africa, evenItaly; 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 thebishops grouped themselves according to the ties of friendship or locality. Metropolitans did not exist as yet, and when advice was neededMilan was consulted. "The traditional authority", says Duchesne, "in all matters of discipline remained always the ancient Church ofRome; in practice, however, the Council ofMilan decided in case of conflict." Thepopes then took the situation in hand, and in 417Pope 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 thepope without testimonial letters from theBishop of Arles. This primacy of Arles waxed and waned under the succeedingpopes. 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 fifth and sixth 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 theChurch of Arles. 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 barbarians, however, were on the march. The great invasion of 407 made theGoths masters of all the country to the south of the Loire, with the exception ofBourges and Clermont, which did not fall into their hands until 475; Arles succumbed in 480. Then theVisigoth kingdom was organized,Arian in religion, and at first hostile toCatholicism. Gradually the necessities of life imposed a policy of moderation. TheCouncil of Agde, really a national council ofVisigothic 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, theVisigothic king, for his Gallo-Roman subjects — and met with the approval of theCatholicbishops of his kingdom. Between 410 and 413 theBurgundians had settled near Mains; in 475 they had come farther south along the Rhone, and about this time becameArians. TheFranks, soon to be masters of all Gaul, left the neighbourhood ofTournai, defeated Syagrius in 486, and established their power as far as the Loire. In 507 they destroyed theVisigoth Kingdom, and in 534 that of theBurgundians; in 536 by the conquest of Arles they succeeded to the remnants of the great state created by the genius ofKing Theodoric; with them began a new era (seeF).

The transition from one regime to another was made possible by thebishops of Gaul. Thebishops had frequently played a beneficent rôle as intermediaries with the Roman authorities. Before the barbarian invasions they were thetrue champions of the people. Indeed it was long believed that they had been invested with special powers and the official title ofdefensores civitatum (defenders of the States). While this title was never officially borne by them, the popularerror was only formal and superficial. Bishops like Sidonius Apollinaris, Avitus, Germanus of Auxerre,Caesarius of Arles, were truly the defenders of their fatherland. While the old civic institutions were tottering to their fall, they upheld the social fabric. Through their efforts the barbarians became amalgamated with the native population, introducing into it the germs of a new and vigorous life. Lastly thebishops were the 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 sixth and seventh centuriesmanuscripts of the Bible and the Fathers were copied to meet the needs of public worship,ecclesiastical teaching, andCatholic life. The only contemporary buildings that exhibit traces of classical or Byzantine styles arereligious edifices. For all this, and for much more, thebishops of Gaul deserve the title of "Makers ofFrance".

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