Saint Theodore of Marseille

This hatred manifested itself on a thousand occasions; it pr ovided D Dynamius Governor of Marseille for King Guntram and the principal opponent of Theodore. ynamius, governor of Marseille for King Guntr roi Gontran King of Burgundy who welcomed Columbanus upon his arrival in Gaul. am, with the means to persecute the holy bishop. In vain did he attempt to appeal to the sovereign; Theodore was taken prisoner and subjected to the worst treatment.

The Saint, having managed to escape from the hands of Guntram, had his compla ints broug Childebert King of the Franks, historical founder of the Abbey of Saint-Aubin. ht to Childebert, who intervened to protect him. In his kindness, the bishop interceded on behalf of Dynamius, whom Childebert's envoy had succeeded in trapping; he also forgave the monks and clerics who were his persecutors, and was welcomed with transports of joy by his people.

But when Gondulf, Childebert's envoy, had left Marseille, Dynamius began once again to weave his plots with the clerics. Upon the perfidious denunciations of the latter, King Guntram had the holy bishop loaded with chains. Advantage was taken of a church consecration to seize Theodore and send him into exile. But he was able to justify himself to Guntram, and returned a second time in triumph to Marseille, where the love of his people consoled him for the persecutions of the rebellious clergy.

Saint Theodore having taken up the defense of Gondevald to rectify, as he thought, a glaring injustice toward his country, Gontran-Boson had him put in prison and forbade him from even approaching a church. A heavenly vision comforted him in his captivity, where he was soon joined by Bishop Epiphanius, who died there of exhaustion and grief. Led before King Childebert, he received on his journey the finest testimonies of esteem, among others from Magneric, Bishop of Trier.

However, King Gontran had assembled, on October 23, 585, a council at Mâcon, where the cause of the h concile à Mâcon Ecclesiastical assembly of 585 that exonerated Theodore. oly bishop was severely examined. He was soon able to return to Marseille, absolved of all the accusations brought against him.

A predecessor of the immortal Belsunce, Theodore was to show, like his illustrious successor, the heroism of his pastoral charity towards the plague victims of Marseille. He gathered the remnants of his people in the Abbey of Saint- abbaye de Saint-Victor Place of Cyprian's initial formation. Victor, shut himself up with them, and offered himself as a victim to the wrath of God. Even his enemies could not help but admire this episcopal charity.

Finally, after receiving a very edifying letter from Pope Saint Gregory the Great pape saint Grégoire le Grand Pope contemporary to Saint Psalmodius. , Theodore died around the year 593, the death of the just.

There exists in Marseille a beautiful church dedicated to Saint Theodore, where every year the faithful go, for eight days, starting from February 3rd, to honor the memory of this great bishop.

The life of the Saint was recently written by the abbé Magnan (Marseille, Chauffard, bookseller, 1855). More recently still, the abbé Albants printed a panegyric of the Saint. The abbé Antoine Ricard, director of the *Semaine religieuse de Marseille*, abridged his writings for the *Petits Bollandistes*.