Saint Venantius of Viviers

According to a very ancient document, the martyrology of Viviers, he embraced religious life in a Benedictine monastery located in Viviers, at the summit of a mountain whose base was bathed by the Rhône. In the pious asylum he had chosen, "Venance dedicated himself entirely to the Lord; he applied himself to His service with that humility and fervor which form the true character of saints. But divine Providence, which destined him to occupy one of the first places in the Church, did not want his virtues to remain hidden and buried in oblivion. It took special care to spread their sweet odor far and wide." The fame of Venance's holiness, says a bishop of Viviers, filled the kingdom of the Burgundians on both sides of the Rhône. At that time, Saint Avitus was still gover ning the a saint Avit Brother of Saint Apollinaris and Archbishop of Vienne. ncient and holy church of Vienne. This great pontiff, whose ardent zeal equaled his vast learning, was strongly attached to everything that could serve and glorify religion. He saw with happiness the happy dispositions, the remarkable talents, and the high virtues of Venance. The fervent religious had been eagerly admitted into the sacred ranks of the clergy. Saint Avitus granted him all his affection and all his confidence. He did not delay in charging him with an important and delicate mission. In his admirable devotion to all the interests of the universal Church, he cast anxious glances toward the East, where schism had broken out, where the Eutychians were raising their heads, and where the bad faith of the Greeks inspired all-too-legitimate fears.

To learn the religious situation of these distant lands and to make it known to the bishops of Gaul, Saint Avitus wrote to the Roman Pontiff, to Hormisdas, who had occup ied the c Hormisdas Pope contemporary with the end of the life of Lautein. hair of Saint Peter since the year 514. He sent his letter by Venance, who had been raised to the diaconate, and gave him the priest Alexis as a traveling companion. The intimate relations that Saint Avitus had with the family of Venance, and the plans he undoubtedly had for the young prince, can explain why he chose the pious deacon and wanted him to go to Rome. Although history rema ins Rome Birthplace of Maximian. silent, one can easily understand what a magnificent welcome Venance must have received in the Eternal City. His rare merit made him worthy of the greatest honors, independently of what was owed to a Burgundian prince. Not long before, Rome had seen within its walls his royal father, who had just embraced the Catholic faith. This religious prince had gone to venerate Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and to receive the blessings as well as the advice of Saint Symmachus, the immediate predecessor of Pope Hormisdas. He had been showered with the greatest honors by the Roman Pontiff. He had prostrated himself, with a lively faith, before the tomb of the holy Apostles, and had edified the whole city by the spectacle of his high virtues. The memory of his journey, still very much alive in people's minds, disposed them wonderfully in favor of his son. But the pious Venance was much less sensitive to the marks of esteem and benevolence lavished upon him than to the happiness of seeing the august head of the Church so closely, and of visiting such holy and famous places. Despite the ineffable consolations he tasted in Rome, he soon had to tear himself away from this beloved city and take the road back to Gaul. As early as February 15, 517, Hormisdas handed him, as well as the priest Alexis, the letter intended for the bishop of Vienne.

Eminent dignities and glorious labors awaited Venantius upon his return to his homeland. Shortly after his arrival, he was to be raised to the priesthood and the sublime functions of the episcopate. Here is what we know regarding this latter point: A diocese, dependent on the metropolis of Arles but neighboring that of Vienne, was without a bishop: it was that of Alba or Viviers. Nine known bishops had governed it up to the time we have reached. They were Saint Januarius, Saint Septimius, Saint Maspicianus, Saint Melanius, and Saint Avitus. They held their see at Alba-Aug Alba-Augusta Episcopal see of Saint Venantius. usta, a considerable city built at the place known today as Aps. It was the capital of Helvia, which later took the name Vivarais. This city having been ruined from top to bottom by the Vandals, the holy bishop Auxonius was forced to establish his see at Viviers, which was only a small town on the banks of the Rhône, not far from Alba. Auxonius and several of his successors continued to title themselves bishops of Alba, out of respect and attachment to their primitive see. We shall see Venantius subscribe as such at the Council of Epaone. After Saint Auxonius, the Church of Viviers was governed by Eulalius, Saint Lucianus, and Saint Valerius. At the death of the latter, the people and the clergy, wishing to give him a successor, unanimously chose Venantius, whose renown proclaimed his rare qualities everywhere: which won him all hearts.

After having previously obtained the consent of King Sigismund, his father, who had succeeded Gundobad, deputies went to our Saint, who, having arrived from Rome a short time before, was likely with the bishop of Vienne or with his family. But Venantius, believing himself unworthy of this honor and incapable of fulfilling such a high ministry, opposed them with a thousand resistances. He deeply despised glory and riches, he greatly dreaded the weight of the pastoral staff, and he sighed only for retirement. A simple, obscure life, filled with prayer and the study of divine sciences, free from the agitations of the century, such was his only ambition. But heaven did not think like the humble religious.

In those times, the Church of Gaul was in the most critical position. The conquerors who had driven out the Roman eagles professed various errors. To maintain the Catholic faith, to bring heretics back to unity, to instruct and baptize the pagans, to raise up the immense ruins that the Barbarians had sown everywhere, such was the noble and difficult mission of the episcopate. Men as learned as they were virtuous, as prudent as they were devoted, were needed. God, who always gave the Church of Gaul striking marks of His protection, did not forget it in these difficult times. He raised up for it a host of pontiffs whom science, holiness, and courage have immortalized and rendered dear to religion and the fatherland. What men, indeed, were the Avitus of Vienne, the Viventiolus of Lyon, the Remigius of Reims, the Caesarius of Arles, the Apollinaris of Valence! With many others whom we could name, they rose up at that time like beneficial stars, and they made princes and peoples feel their salutary and powerful influence. Heaven willed that Venantius should have a very glorious place in this holy and brilliant pleiad.

The hesitations of our Saint had to cease before the desire to serve the Church, before the fear of resisting the divine will and saddening the soul of the great bishop of Vienne, his father and his friend. He therefore ascended, as if against his will and solely to fulfill a sacred duty, to the see of Alba or Viviers, which so many holy and courageous pontiffs had already illustrated with the brilliance of their virtues. Such was the idea held of his merit that his great youth was not regarded as an obstacle to the episcopate. He had barely, we believe, reached the age of twenty-two or twenty-three. But at that time, one considered, above all, the qualities of the subjects and the eminent services they could render to the Church of Jesus Christ.

Soon the new bishop was called to take part in one of the most famous councils of Gaul. Several times, the holy Pope Hormisdas, whose zeal nothing escaped, had urged the Burgundian bishops to assemble in council. They were able to respond to the wish of the Roman Pontiff from the beginning of the reign of King Sigismund. Finding no obstacle from this religious prince, Saint Avitus and Saint Viventiolus convened all the bishops of the kingdom to Epaone fo r Sept Épaone Provincial council held in 517 to organize the Church in the Burgundian kingdom. ember 6, 517. According to the most common opinion, Epaone is the place called today Saint-Romain-d'Albon, in the canton of Saint-Vallier, diocese of Valence. Placed in the center of Sigismund's kingdom, in a pleasant site, not far from the Rhône, at approximately equal distance from the extremities of Burgundy, and depending on the Church of Vienne, Epaone, as Saint Avitus said, was perfectly suited for holding a council. Here are some fragments of the very remarkable letter that this famous metropolitan addressed to our Saint, as well as to all the other bishops of Burgundy: "It has been a long time since our sad occupations caused us to interrupt a practice that our fathers instituted with much wisdom: it is the frequent holding of councils and ecclesiastical assemblies... The Church of Vienne therefore begs you, through my mouth, to re-establish such a salutary practice, abandoned for too long. Our ministry obliges us to confirm the ancient rules and to add new ones to them, if necessary." Saint Avitus invited all his colleagues to come very punctually to the council and to carefully prepare the matters that were to be treated there.

Venance responded with eagerness to the call that had just been made to his zeal. He went to the council, which opened at the place and time marked and lasted ten days. He found there twenty-three bishops who lived under the scepter of Sigismund, his father, and the deputy of a prelate who was absent. Venance displayed in this council all his knowledge, all his zeal for the reform of public morals and the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline, necessarily altered by the invasion of the Barbarians and the presence of heretics. He concurred in the drafting of forty canons, a glorious monument to his pastoral solicitude and that of the Fathers of this assembly. These canons concern the clergy, ecclesiastical property, the sacred liturgy, monasteries for men and women, etc. The rules traced by the Fathers of this assembly appeared so wise to a great bishop of Valence that he exclaimed: "May I love them and make others love them as much as they deserve!"

Viviers had only to congratulate itself on the happy choice that had been made. Scarcely had Venance taken in hand that pastoral staff so feared by his humility, than he displayed all the marvelous qualities that make those great bishops admired equally by heaven and earth. Animated by the liveliest faith, inflamed with the most ardent zeal, he strove to spread around him the knowledge and love of God. By his frequent and eloquent preaching, he strengthened the righteous in the path of virtue and brought back the unfortunate who had abandoned it. Following the example of his father Sigismund, that courageous and powerful adversary of error, he worked with ardor for the extinction of Arianism, which had caused so much devastation in the Catholic Church and which continued to desolate a portion of that of Viviers. He knew how important ecclesiastical discipline is, both from the point of view of the holiness of the clergy and from the point of view of the salvation of the simple faithful. Thus, he neglected nothing to re-establish it and make it flourish, in accordance with the decrees of the Council of Epaone, which he had attended. He also applied himself to having the canons of other councils observed, which were celebrated before or during his glorious episcopate. Nothing was more beautiful or more edifying than the spectacle he offered to all eyes. One admired, in this illustrious Pontiff, the zeal of the Apostles, the science of the doctors, and the munificence of princes. The marvelous influence he exerted on minds, and which, perhaps, came less from his august character and royal birth than from the brilliance of his holiness and his personal qualities, allowed him to do the most admirable things. He was consumed with an ardent zeal for the glory of the house of God. He made the most generous efforts to make religious buildings worthy of the great God to whom they are consecrated and whom He fills with His majesty. He understood the importance of these beautiful and vast churches where Christian populations kneel at the foot of the altars, where they crowd before the sacred pulpit, around the holy tribunals, where they participate in the sacraments, which are for them an inexhaustible source of light, strength, and consolation. Placed, so to speak, at the dawn of this Middle Ages so famous for the wonders it brought forth, he entered gloriously into this memorable era, where our bishops raised the superb Romanesque and Gothic basilicas that the 19th century admires with so much reason.

The cathedral of Viviers was in the most deplorable state; it was threatened with complete ruin. This sad spectacle tore the heart of our Saint and brought abundant tears to his eyes. He resolved to rebuild, enlarge, and adorn, with rare magnificence, this temple dedicated to the deacon Saint Vincent, one of the most illustrious martyrs of the Church of Spain. Not having the resources necessary to bring his vast project to a successful conclusion, he took the road to the capital of Burgundy and headed toward the palace inhabited by the king, his father. He placed before Sigismund's eyes what he proposed to do for the glory of God, for the magnificence of Catholic worship, and for the edification of the faithful; he told him, at the same time, that he needed him to come to his aid. The prince responded to his son's wish and generously granted him everything he asked for. Happy to have seen his religious family again and to have obtained what he desired, Venance hastened to return to his episcopal city and set to work. The work, pushed forward with ardor, was completed in a short time. Soon the pious Pontiff had the consolation of celebrating the august mysteries in a new basilica, more vast, more beautiful, and more richly adorned than the first. Through his care, another church was built outside the city walls. It was dedicated to Saint Julian, a noble Viennese, who sanctified himself in the career of arms and shed his blood for Jesus Christ near Brioude (Haute-Loire). Less spacious than the cathedral, it perhaps surpassed it in an infinity of rich and marvelous works. The columns that supported the roof of the building, the pavement, the covering of the interior walls, everything was polished and precious marble.

Venance was full of respect and faith regarding baptism; he wanted it to be administered properly and for the people to have a high idea of the sacrament that regenerates them and brings them forth into the Catholic faith. It is for this reason that he had magnificent baptismal fonts built in the church of Saint-Julien. The pavement was of marble, as were the columns that supported a crown adorned with beautiful and rich moldings. The water, taken from a place named Caléfécétus, was brought to the baptistery by an underground conduit. It flowed in lead pipes and rose through marble columns. A bronze stag, placed in the center of the building, received it and vomited it into the baptismal font. To explain what is, at first glance, singular in what we have just seen, it must be remembered that, in the 6th century, baptism was ordinarily given by immersion. A large quantity of water was necessary to fill the basins intended for this sacred use.

Our Saint did not limit the zeal with which he was inflamed to what we have said. He wanted a church to rise in honor of the Mother of God. By its grandeur and magnificence, it was worthy of the most august of Virgins, for whom Venance professed a filial piety that he strove to make the flock entrusted to him share. It appears that this was the first sanctuary built in Viviers in honor of the Virgin Mary. This church was also dedicated to the holy martyr Saturnin who, sent to the Gauls by Pope Saint Clement toward the end of the 1st century, converted a great number of idolaters and died generously for the faith. Besides the sanctuaries of which we have spoken, some others rose in various places in the diocese. The generous bishop also richly endowed the parish churches of Notre-Dame-de-Lussas and Saint-Martin-de-Bessiac, which, later, were called Lavilledieu. Such was his zeal for the restoration and construction of churches. He displayed no less for adorning and keeping those of his episcopal city in the most suitable manner.

Jealous to contribute powerfully to the glory of God and the edification of the people, he created chapters of clerics to attend to the psalmody and sing the praises of the Lord in the churches of Viviers. With his own hand, he drew up a common rule for them, outlining the duties they had to fulfill toward God, toward themselves, and toward others. To make this admirable and holy institution durable and perpetual, he assigned the necessary funds for the maintenance of the ecclesiastics. Venance also provided for the temporal and spiritual needs of his people with truly admirable liberality and zeal. Everywhere, ruins had been made under the footsteps of the Barbarians. Viviers, in particular, had suffered greatly from the Goths, the Alans, and the Vandals, who had successively trampled its territory. He was not unequal to his position and knew how to make the misfortunes of the recent invasions forgotten. The ramparts of the episcopal city were falling into ruin; he spent considerable sums to repair them. He widened the enclosure of the capital of the Vivarais. He had magnificent towers built at intervals, intended to fortify the city and beautify it at the same time. He had vast and convenient houses built, as well as superb civil edifices. He considerably increased the sources of public revenue, and, through his care and his benefactions, Viviers was transformed into a true city. He generously endowed religious communities. He made science and discipline flourish among his clerics, of whom he was the father, the model, and the idol. The works that this great Pontiff undertook to this end, his examples, and his encouragements did not remain without fruit. His clerics showed a religious eagerness to collect all his learned teachings, his eloquent homilies, and even his slightest discourses. Thanks to this precious deposit of sound traditions, faithfully kept and transmitted from one generation to the next, there was formed, within the church of Viviers, a school of knowledge and eloquence, of morality and discipline, where for a long time the authority of the examples and the doctrine of the blessed Father Venance was invoked as an oracle.

Something would have been missing from the glory of our Saint, had God not spared him the most terrible trials. From the year 517 or 518, the conduct of his father Sigismund regarding the bishops of the Council of Lyon, and especially towards Saint Apollinaris, had caused him deep sorrow. The year 520 took from him his friend Apollinaris, with whom he enjoyed discussing the great interests of the Church, which both loved with such noble passion. Shortly after, he saw the tomb close once more over Saint Avitus. Before this loss, which must have been so sensitive to his heart, he had had to mourn the death of a beloved mother, the pious queen of the Burgundians, taken, around the year 519, from the love of her royal husband and that of her children. Afflictions of another kind were reserved for Venantius and were to show him in a very striking manner the instability of human greatness. A frightful storm broke over his family and shattered the throne of the Burgundian princes beyond repair. The pious Venantius, who loved his family tenderly, must have felt keenly the tragic events and the bloody catastrophes that befell him. But these terrible blows were softened by the very Christian death of Sigismund and by the wonders that accompanied it. Venantius also had the consolation of learning that, three years after his father's death, his body was transported to Agaune, where this generous prince had restored and enlarged a famous monastery and endowed it for nine hundred religious. Numerous and brilliant miracles glorified the tomb o f this ho saint roi King of the Burgundians and father of Saint Venantius. ly king, proved that God had accepted his humiliations as well as his penitent life, and caused him to be placed on the altars. His feast is marked on the first of May in the Roman Martyrology.

The year that followed the fall of the Burgundian monarchy, that is to say the year 535, divine Providence provided a great consolation to our holy Bishop. It was given to him to take part in the work of a council held at Clermont, in Auvergne, in the second year of the reign of Theodebert I. After the council, Venantius returned to his diocese and resumed the course of his apostolic labors. God granted him several more years, during which he appeared, more than ever, detached from life. He had no other thought than that of eternity, no other desire than to go and be reunited with the blessed prince who had given him birth, and whom he knew to be in possession of celestial bliss.

Despite so many violent shocks capable of shaking and weakening the most robust constitution, he gave himself, with new ardor, to all the austerities of penance. The thoughts of death and judgment, which he had never lost sight of, occupied him then solely. He summoned himself, every day, to that formidable tribunal where he was to appear in a short time to render an account of his works. This thought, so distressing for a sinner, should, it seems, have had nothing but consolation for a Saint. But, far from it, all his virtue was not capable of reassuring him about actions of which a God was to be the judge, and he feared, at every moment, hearing the sentence of his condemnation pronounced. To prevent the dire consequences of a judgment from which there is no appeal, after having given, throughout his life, immense charity to the poor, he distributed to them, before dying, the little that remained to him. Thus the holy Prelate carried all virtues to the highest degree of perfection. Far from burying the talent that had been entrusted to him, he made it bear fruit a hundredfold, and, by his faithfulness in corresponding to grace, he deserved to be admitted into participation in the glory of the blessed. Full of merits and worthy of all praise, he rendered his holy soul to his Creator on the 5th of the month of August 544. His body was buried in a marble sarcophagus and transported to the sanctuary of Notre-Dame du Rhône, which he had had built himself.

An old painting, which was in the former Capuchin church, on the banks of the Rhône, represents Saint Venantius healing children who are presented to him, and people of all ages, who stretch out suppliant hands toward him. — One sees, in the chapel of Saint-Venantius, the statue of the Blessed one, the crozier in his hand and the miter on his head.

## CULT AND RELICS.

Numerous miracles, obtained through the invocation of the holy Bishop, soon made his tomb glorious and drew to it crowds of tributes of piety and veneration from the people. Later, his relics were transported to the monastery of the nuns of Soyons, before the arrival of the Saracens who, in 737, destroyed the church of Notre-Dame du Rhône from top to bottom. The body of Saint Venance was, for the monastery of Soyons, the occasion of numerous graces with which the nuns were filled. This place became further celebrated by an infinity of miracles that the Lord performed every day to manifest the glory of his servant. The monastery having been delivered to the flames and destroyed by the Protestants, the nuns were forced to flee and take refuge in Valence (1621), where they built a new monastery in 1627.

The body of Saint Venance was not sheltered from the devastating impiety of the heretics; however, a fairly considerable part of these precious remains escaped the hands of these sacrilegious people. Upon coming to settle in Valence, the Benedictines of Soyons brought with them the holy relics that they had had the good fortune to save from destruction. They then deposited them with respect in the church they had built for their new monastery. The neighboring peoples came in crowds to honor these precious relics, drawn also by the numerous miracles that were performed in favor of those who implored the protection of the Saint. These relics were preserved by the Benedictines until the Revolution. Forced to disperse forever, they left them in the hands of some pious people. At the reopening of the churches, the relics of Saint Venance were placed in the cathedral of Valence, then transported to the hospital church, on August 14, 1883, where the y are still venerated cathédrale de Valence Place of Ismidon's early studies. today.

Excerpt from the Histoire du Vivarais, by Abbé Bouchier; from the Vie de saint Venance, by Abbé Champion, and from the Acta Sanctorum.