Saint Quintian

Among this number was Quintien, who came to sett le in Rodez Diocese where the saint's feast day is celebrated on April 28. Rodez. The brilliance cast by his priestly virtues in this city soon made him known. For nearly twenty-seven years, the church of Rodez had no pastor. Quintien was designated to occupy this see. In this eminent office, the bishop revealed the treasure of the high and solid virtues with which his great soul was adorned: the innocence and integrity of his morals, and an ardent charity. He did not cease for an instant to exercise the most intelligent vigilance over his flock, in order to study its needs and improve its state: Quintien made himself all things to all men.

At the sight of the numerous and striking miracles that were taking place at th saint Amans First bishop of Rodez, whose church houses the body of Dalmas. e tomb of Saint Amans, of whom he was one of the first successors, Quintien believed that it was not fitting to leave his venerable relics in the place in the church, too inconspicuous, where they had rested until then. He had a beautiful church built in honor of his holy predecessor and adorned it with as much good taste as zeal. When these works were completed, he set a feast day for the solemn translation of the glorious relics of Saint Amans, inviting to this august ceremony the neighboring peoples and all the distinguished members of the church and the faithful, to further enhance its pomp and splendor.

In the year 506, Quintien attended the Council of Agde and subscribed to it in his capacity as Bishop of Rodez. About a year after his return, suspected of seeking ways to submit the city of Rod Clovis King of the Franks, mentioned to date the existence of the church. ez, where the Arian Visigoths dominated at that time, to the empire of King Clovis, he found himself on the verge of falling victim to the fury and vengeance of his fellow citizens. They reproached him for favoring the only Catholic monarch there was at the time, and for bearing the rule of the Arian princes with difficulty, both in his episcopal city and in his diocese. The holy bishop, warned of their guilty designs, took advantage of the darkness of night to leave Rodez with some of his most faithful servants, and he came to take refuge in Clermont in Auv ergne, w Clermont Episcopal see of Saint Gal. here he received honorable hospitality from Euph Euphraise Bishop of Clermont who welcomed Quintianus. rasius, his bishop.

Quintien attended the Council of Orléans in 511, the year Clovis died, and subscribed to it in his capacity as Bishop of Rodez, because Clovis, having defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouillé, near Poitiers, and driven these Arian barbarians from the Rouergue, had restored him to his see from the day he brought Rodez back under the authority of the King of the Franks. But upon the death of Clovis, the Rouergue fell back under Arian rule, and Quintien took the road to Auvergne again and took refuge once more in Clermont, where Saint Euphrasius welcomed him with honor, as he had the first time.

However, Saint Euphrasius having died around 515, Quintian was called to succeed him. The great virtues and fine qualities that distinguished him and made him, on the episcopal see of Clermont, the object of universal veneration, did not, however, shield him from trials. A certain Proculus, whom t he holy Proculus A priest who persecuted Quintianus in Clermont. bishop had believed he could raise from the rank of a simple laborer to the order of the priesthood, caused him to endure many insults and overwhelmed him with mistreatment. He stripped Quintian of all the goods he administered, and he barely left him the strict necessities. The holy bishop bore with humility and in all patience all the unworthy vexations and all the unjust persecutions of which Proculus was unfortunate enough to make himself guilty toward him; and these grave hardships in no way weakened the love he had vowed to the good people that divine Providence had entrusted to him.

Saint Quintien was well-versed in the science of the Scriptures and filled with erudition regarding all matters related to ecclesiastical knowledge; he possessed the magnificence of a king in his generosity and almsgiving; powerful against the demon, he drove him victoriously from the bodies of the possessed, whom he healed and restored to health; a perfect model of gentleness and charity, he knew how to calm the feelings of wrath and vengeance with which the h roi Thierry King of Austrasia and Auvergne in the 6th century. eart of King Theuderic was filled against the peoples of Auvergne who had deserted his cause; a true friend to his fellow citizens and his people, he obtained from the goodness of God, through the strength of his prayers, and clothed in a hairshirt and prostrate on the ground, on his knees, that an impatiently desired rain would come to put an end to a disastrous drought and bring fertility back to the countryside.

Having reached a very advanced age, Quintien bowed under the weight of the labors he had performed for Our Lord Jesus Christ no less than under that of old age; and on November 13, 527, this great Saint, this great bishop rendered his soul to God, filled with merits. The body of Saint Quintien was buried in Clermont, in the church of Saint-Étienne. His precious remains were later transferred to the church of Saint-Genez, in the same city; and it is from this church that the canons of Rodez had the good fortune to receive as a gift the precious relics of this illustrious bishop of Rodez, which they possess. Saint Quintien is invoked for the healing of fevers. He is particularly honored in the city of Aiguepe rse, in th Aigueperse Town where the saint is particularly honored. e diocese of Clermont, and is one of the patrons of the parish. We owe this notice to the kindness of Abbé Bousquet, canon of Rodez.