A Gallo-Roman nobleman and family man, Saint Firmin became Bishop of Viviers at the end of the 6th century. With his wife Aula, he donated his wealth to the Church, illustrating the transition between ancient civilization and the Christian Middle Ages.
Guided reading
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S. FIRMIN, S. AULE, S. EUMACHIUS ET S. LONGIN,
BISHOPS OF VIVIERS
Context of war and plagues
In the 6th century, King Guntram's military campaigns against the Visigoths devastated the Rhône valley, followed by a famine and a violent plague in 590.
6th and 7th centuries. In 585, King Guntram, thinking, like his ancestor Clovis, that it was dishonorable to the glory of the Franks that the barbarian Visigoths should still defile the soil of Gaul with their presence, raised a powerful army to conquer Septimania. The troops, raised in part in the lands situated north of the Seine, joining with the warriors of Burgundy, marched through the Rhône valley, devastating everything with sword and fire, seizing herds, burning harvests, despoiling churches and monasteries, massacring, at the foot of overturned altars, priests and religious, the man of the church and the man of the people: and encountering no resistance anywhere, they pursued this frightful brigandage on both banks of the river, right up to the walls of Nîmes, in a country, the historian remarks, that was their own and that fell under the same authority. — The holy king deplored these excesses, as we note in his life; but it was not in his power to prevent them. God himself took charge of the punishment, by refusing victory to the arms of his guilty generals. The passage of the undisciplined Frankish army left the country a prey to the famine that was already devastating the surrounding provinces. The sufferings of hunger and the deprivations of misery provoked numerous diseases and a high mortality rate, soon followed by another, even more terrible scourge. The plague, which for nearly ten years had been spreading its ravages in the various regions of Gaul, broke out in 590 and raged throughout the Vivarais with unheard-of violence. The population of Viviers was cruelly decimated, and this city shared wit h Avign Viviers Episcopal see of Saint Venantius. on the sad honor of being placed by Gregory of Tours in the front line on the list of cities depop ulated that year Grégoire de Tours Bishop of Tours, contemporary historian, and friend of Palladius. by the scourge.
The Episcopate of Saint Firmin
Coming from a noble Gallo-Roman family, Firmin acceded to the episcopate while married and a father, succeeding Saint Eucher.
But while calamities thus succeeded calamities almost without interruption, Providence itself seemed to want to soften the evils that afflicted the church of Viviers; it raised up for it a series of great bishops who were prodigies of charity and apostolic devotion. After Saint Eucher, towards the end of the 6th century, we see the see occupied successively by Saint Firmin, Saint Aule, Sa int Eumachiu saint Firmin Bishop of Viviers in the 6th century, from a Gallo-Roman family. s, and Saint Longin. Saint Firmin was the head of one of those noble Gallo-Roman families, once the ornament of the province, who still took pride in cultivating virtue and letters, and in preserving the brilliant remnants of a civilization ready to disappear amidst the ever-growing darkness of barbarism. He was married at the time of his elevation to the episcopate; he had a son, a child of blessing, called Aulus after the name of his mother Aula, who later became his successor, and a daughter named Macedonia, who married the patrician Alcinius. Upon ascending the chair of Saint Venance, Firmin ceded the greater portion of his goods to increase the endowment of his church; he made this liberality by common agreement with Aula; the latter, before saying farewell to the world, considered herself happy to contribute to enriching the spiritual spouse who was henceforth to take her place in the mind and heart of the pontiff Firmin. The children the mselves, in th pontife Firmin Bishop of Viviers in the 6th century, from a Gallo-Roman family. is beautiful contest of generosity, not wishing to show themselves unworthy of their parents, Macedonia and Alcinius, founded on the banks of the Rhône, in the territory of Bergoïata, the church of Notre-Dame-d e-Cousiniac, and, after Notre-Dame-de-Cousiniac Church founded by Macedonia and Alcinius on the banks of the Rhône. having richly endowed it, they made an offering of it to God and to Saint Vincent, patron of the cathedral.
Generosity and foundations
Firmin, his wife Aula, and their children donate their property to the Church, notably through the foundation of Notre-Dame-de-Cousiniac.
As for S aint Aule, saint Aule Son and successor of Saint Firmin, known for his charity towards slaves. from his adolescent years, he had distinguished himself by an angelic piety, taking delight in spending long hours, and often entire nights, praying alone at the foot of the altars. His mind had been carefully cultivated; he was versed in the knowledge of human letters and nourished by the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the Fathers. To the breadth of his doctrine, Saint Aule added a rare eloquence, enhanced in him by a sweet and melodious voice, and by an exterior full of grace and dignity. Such was the air of majesty spread over his whole person that, at the mere sight of him, one felt penetrated by an involuntary respect. The great and the princes themselves venerated him as their lord, while, by his tender kindness and the affability of his welcome, he made himself cherished by the lowly and the people as a pastor and a father. Beside him, the poor were sure to always find help and consolation; the widow and the orphan, a support; the traveler and the stranger, a place at his frugal table and hospitality under his roof. But the dominant, characteristic trait, we could say the passion of this great heart, was his zeal in procuring the emancipation of slaves and the ransom of captives. If he could not by himself abolish slavery everywhere, that hideous wound of ancient society, he strove at least to restrict it on his own domains, on the lands of the church, and to remedy, according to the measure of his power, the abuses of brutal force, so common in these times of barbarism and oppression: it is impossible, say the chroniclers, to calculate the number of slaves he returned to freedom, or of captives whose chains his liberating hand broke. And while his charity seemed to exhaust itself in sacrifices for such a noble goal, he still gave with full hands for the embellishment of his church and his episcopal city. A model of bishops by his virtues as well as by his works, after having consumed his life in fasts, austerities, studious vigils, and apostolic labors, Saint Aule fell asleep in the Lord. Should one be surprised if, at the news of his death, there was an explosion of regrets and like a universal mourning, not only in the Vivarais, but also in the surrounding regions? The body of the holy Bishop was placed in a church built at a short distance from the city, which was later dedicated in his honor; it remained there surrounded by the veneration of the faithful, until the time of the English invasion and the ravages of the great companies. It was then deemed necessary to remove the relics from the danger of sacrilegious profanation by transporting this sacre d deposi reliques Remains of the holy bishop, burned by the Calvinists in the 16th century. t to the cathedral. In memory of this translation, the church of Viviers instituted a feast which was celebrated, in the ancient liturgy, on February 20. The primitive tomb was a sarcophagus of cut stone, of very simple form, without sculpture or ornament other than the following inscription:
Saint Aule and the redemption of captives
Son of Firmin, Saint Aule distinguished himself by his eloquence and his devotion to the redemption of slaves before dying in the odor of sanctity.
RIC REQVIESCIT S. AVLVS. Here rests Saint Aule.
Cult and fate of the relics
The relics of Saint Aule, transferred to the cathedral to protect them from invasions, were finally destroyed by the Calvinists in the 16th century.
There was in Viviers an ancient church that bore the name of Saint Aule. In the 16th century, h is relic reliques Remains of the holy bishop, burned by the Calvinists in the 16th century. s, which were kept in the cathedral, were burned by the Calvinists along with those of Saint Arcons.
Eumachius and the final invasions
Saint Eumachius shines through his voluntary poverty, while his successor Saint Longinus faces a new Visigothic invasion led by King Wamba.
Before dying, Saint Aule had designated to the suffrages of the clergy of the church of Viviers the one he deemed most worthy to succeed him: the bishop thus elected was na med Eumac Eumachius Successor of Saint Aule, a model of gentleness and poverty. hius. He did not delay in justifying the choice of his illustrious predecessor and the hopes he had inspired. Like Saint Aule, he exercised a marvelous influence over his people through the authority of his word and example; after him, he knew how to make himself admired for his spirit of gentleness and incomparable charity. From the first days of his episcopate, he had stripped himself of everything he possessed to increase the patrimony of the church and the poor, having become poor himself by choice, in order to walk more truly in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, the divine model of pastors. Having reached the end of his career, he wished to distribute with his own hands to the most needy of his flock what remained to him of the goods of this world; he gathered them around his deathbed, and it was the poor, the constant objects of his most tender solicitude, who received his final embraces and his last farewell.
Under Bishop Sa int Longinus saint Longin Roman soldier converted by Victor and martyr. , who came after Saint Eumachius, the martyrology of the church of Viviers records a new incursion of the Visigoths and the sacking of the episcopal city by these barbarian bands. It was for the fifth or sixth time, in the space of two hundred years, that this unfortunate city witnessed the horrors of pillage and assault. We believe that this last invasion coincided with the expedition of King Wamba into Septiman ia, when roi Wamba King of the Visigoths who led a punitive expedition in 673. that province raised the flag of independence against the kings of Toledo (673). In a few days, the terrible Wamba had stifled the revolt in blood. Having returned victorious to Nîmes, the Visigothic prince resolved to carry the war to the Franks, his neighbors, who had provided auxiliary troops to his rebellious subjects. Julian of Toledo reports that the news having reached the borders of the threatened lands caused such terror there that the inhabitants of the cities left them to seek refuge in the mountains. Did this campaign plan receive a beginning of execution? The ravages committed in the Viviers region, bordering Visigothic Septimania, are the incontestable proof of it. But soon, yielding to the advice of his generals, Wamba abandoned the pursuit of his designs against the Franks. The Vivarais was then able to breathe, and Saint Longinus to finish the days of his episcopate in peace. It was probably the same for his two successors, John and Ardulphe. We know of these bishops only the foundations they established in favor of the cathedral church.
Excerpt from the History of the Vivarais, by Abbé Ronchier, honorary canon of Viviers.
Annexes & related entities
Structured data for exploration: events, miracles, quotes, places, attributes, patronages, and important entities cited in the text.