Saint Praetextatus of Rouen

The king had learned that this bishop was distributing gifts to the people; he summoned him to his court, and having discovered that Queen Brunhild had left her treasures in his keeping, he seized them and had him held in exile until he could have this matter concluded by a canonical judgment. He therefore convened a council of forty-five bishops regarding this matter in Paris, in the Basilica of Saint Peter, in 579.

The king himself appeared in the midst of the assembly, and, addressing Praetextatus, who had been ordered to appear before the Council, he said: "What were you thinking, Bishop, to marry Merovech, who should have been my son, and who is my enemy, to his aunt, that is to say, to his uncle's wife? Are you ignorant of the provisions of the holy Canons on this subject? But you did not stop there: you conspired with him and gave gifts to have me assassinated; you made an enemy of my son, you seduced my people with money so that no one would keep the fidelity promised to me, and you sought to take my crown from me." The Franks, who were present in great numbers, shuddered at this speech and wanted to open the doors of the church to drag Praetextatus out and stone him; but the king prevented them.

This holy Bishop firmly denied all the facts brought against him, despite the depositions of false witnesses, who showed various gifts he had given them to induce them to be faithful to Merovech. He replied:

"You speak the truth: I gave you various gifts, but it was not with a view to tempting your fidelity to the king. You had given me valuable horses and several other things; what could I do better than to show my gratitude through mutual gifts?" They appeared to be satisfied with this answer, and the king, having thus concluded the first session, withdrew to his palace to better concert his accusations. After Chilperic's departure, the bishops remained in the sacristy, and, as they were conferring together, Aetius, archdeacon of the Church of Paris, came to them and said: "Bishops of the Lord, who are assembled, listen to me; it is now that you will either make your name illustrious or dishonor yourselves forever. No one will look upon you as bishops anymore if you lack firmness and if you let your brother perish." The fear of Fredegund had closed the mouths of the bishops; they remained in silence and placed their fingers on their lips, as if to signify that they did not wish to speak.

Then Gregory, Bishop of Tours, taking the floor, said: "Most holy bishops, and you especially who hav e the greatest share of t Grégoire, évêque de Tours Bishop and historian who mentions the martyrdom of Antolian. he king's confidence, listen to me. Give this prince a salutary counsel worthy of bishops, for fear that he might lose his kingdom and tarnish his glory by following the impulses of his anger against a minister of the Lord." The bishops still remained silent.

The Council having assembled for the second session, the king came there early in the morning and said: "The Canons order the deposition of a bishop convicted of larceny." The Prelates asked for the status of the bishop accused of this crime. The king replied: "You have seen what he stole from us." He had indeed shown, three days earlier, two chests full of furniture and precious jewels, estimated at more than three thousand gold sous, and a bag containing about two thousand in cash, claiming that Praetextatus had stolen them from him.

Praetextatus replied: "I believe, prince, that you remember that after Queen Brunhilda had left Rouen, I went to find you and told you that she had left five chests in my care and that she often sent her people to ask me for them; but that I did not want to part with them without your consent." You said to me: "Get rid of that, return to that woman what belongs to her, lest it be a seed of enmity between my nephew Childebert and me." Thus, having returned to Rouen, I delivered one chest to Brunhilda's people; for they could not carry away more. Having returned, they asked for the others. I again wanted to have your consent, and you answered me: — Get rid of all that, O bishop! lest it be a subject of scandal. I gave them two more chests: thus, two remained with me. Why then do you slander me and call what is a deposit larceny?"

The king replied: "If it were a deposit, why did you open one of these chests, and share a cloth of gold with people whom you wanted to engage to drive me from my kingdom?" The bishop replied: "I have already told you that I had received gifts from these persons, and that, having nothing then to give them, I took something from this deposit: I regarded as my own everything that belonged to my son Merovech, whom I held at the baptismal font." The king remained confused, and simple truth triumphed this time over all the artifices of slander. Chilperic, having left the Council, said to some prelates who were his flatterers: "I confess that the bishop's answers have confused me, and I know in my conscience that he speaks the truth. What shall I do now to satisfy the queen regarding him?" After thinking for a moment, he added: "Go and tell him as if from yourselves and by way of advice: You know that King Chilperic is full of kindness and is easily swayed: humble yourself before him and say that you have done what he accuses you of. Then we will all throw ourselves at his feet to ask for your pardon." Praetextatus, whom his innocence did not reassure against the intrigues of his enemies, fell into the trap that was set for him.

The next morning, the king, having gone to the third session of the Council, said to Praetextatus: "If you only gave gifts to these people because you had received some from them, why did you engage them to swear an oath to be faithful to Merovech?" The bishop replied: "I asked, I confess, for their friendship for him; I would have called to his aid not only men, but the angels of heaven if I could have, because he was my spiritual son through baptism, as I have said." As the argument heated up over this answer, Praetextatus, following the treacherous advice he had been given, suddenly prostrated himself, saying: "I have sinned against heaven and against you, O most merciful prince: I am an infamous homicide, I wanted to attempt your life and put your son on your throne."

The king, delighted to see that his artifice had succeeded, threw himself in turn at the feet of the prelates, and said to them: "Most pious bishops, listen to a criminal who confesses an execrable attack." The bishops, their eyes bathed in tears, raised the king, who returned to the palace after giving orders for Praetextatus to be taken out of the church. Chilperic sent to the Council a collection of Canons, to which had been added a new collection of other Canons said to be from the Apostles. This article was read: That a bishop convicted of homicide, adultery, and perjury be deposed. Praetextatus, who then realized too late that he had been played, remained speechless. Bertram, Bishop of Bordeaux, said to him like a very good courtier: "My brother, since you are in the king's disgrace, you will not have our communion until he has restored his goodwill to you."

Chilperic did not want to stop there: he demanded that Pretextatus's robe be torn, which was an ignominious mark of deposition; or that Psalm 108, containing the curses launched against Judas, be recited over his head; or at the very least that a perpetual excommunication be pronounced against this bishop. Gregory of Tours courageously opposed these proposals and summoned the king to keep the word he had given to do nothing against the Canons; but Pretextatus was taken from the Council and thrown into a prison, from which he attempted to escape during the night. On this occasion, he was subjected to the harshest treatment, then he was relegated to an island near Coutances, apparently on the island of Jersey. M île de Jersey Island where the saint founded his abbey after his resignation. el antius, a Mélantius Intrusive bishop placed on the see of Rouen by Fredegund. creature of Fredegund, was placed on the see of Rouen.

Such was the outcome o f the fifth Council of Par cinquième Concile de Paris Assembly of bishops that judged and deposed Praetextatus. is, where innocence was finally oppressed by the power of the king, by the cowardice of some bishops, and by the very simplicity of Pretextatus, who, during his exile, expiated through penance the weakness he had shown in confessing to crimes of which he was innocent. He made holy use of his sufferings and provided a spectacle of the most heroic virtues.

As soon as the inhabitants of Rouen learned of the death of Chilp Chilpéric King of the Franks praised by Fortunatus. eric, who was in turn assassinated at Chelles in 584, they recalled their bishop from his exile and restored him to his see. Fredegund opposed this with all her influence, and Pretextatus felt he should go to Paris to beg Guntram to have his cause examined. This prince wished to convene a Council for this subject; but Ragnemodus, Bishop of Paris, represented to him, in the name of all the other bishops, that this was by no means necessary, that the Council of Paris had indeed imposed a penance on Pretextatus, but that it had not deposed him from the episcopate. Thus the king received him at his table and sent him back to his Church. Melantius, who had been put in his place on the see of Rouen, was driven out, and he went to console himself with Fredegund, whom Guntram relegated to Vaudreuil, four leagues from Rouen.

But this new Jezebel did not remain quiet: from the place where she had been relegated, she had Pretextatus threatened with being exiled a second time. He replied with firmness: "I have always been a bishop, even in my banishment, and you, you will not always be a queen. Exile will serve me as a step to raise me to the heavenly kingdom; but you, from your throne, will be cast into the abyss, if you do not renounce your sins to perform a salutary penance." One did not say such truths with impunity to a quee n of the c Frédégonde Queen of the Franks, enemy of Gregory. haracter of Fredegund. Such salutary warnings ignited all her fury, and one soon saw the disastrous effects.

The following Sunday, the holy Bishop having gone to church earlier in the morning than usual, was singing the praises of God there, when he felt himself struck by a dagger blow from an assassin. He cried out to call his clerics; but, no one coming to his aid, he dragged himself painfully to the altar and there made the sacrifice of his life to God through a short and fervent prayer. Meanwhile, the faithful people who were in the church having run to him, he was carried to his house and placed in his bed.

The artful Fredegund went immediately to visit him to show him the share of sorrow she took in this dire accident. "Holy bishop," she said to him, "we did not need, neither we nor the rest of your people, for this misfortune to happen to you; but rather God that one could discover the assassin to make him expiate his crime in torments."

Pretextatus, who was not the dupe of these unworthy artifices, answered her with a holy freedom: "Ah! what other hand struck the blow than that which killed the kings, which shed so much innocent blood, which has done so much evil to this kingdom?" Fredegund, pretending not to hear him, replied: "We have skillful doctors, who will be able to heal you; allow us to send them to you. — I feel," the bishop replied, "that the Lord is calling me; but you, who are the author of all these crimes, you will be burdened with a curse in this world, and God will avenge my blood upon your head."

Fredegund having withdrawn covered in confusion, Saint Pretextatus expired after having settled some affairs of his house, and Romacharius, bishop of Coutances, went to Rouen to perform the funeral ceremony; for it was a duty that neighboring bishops rendered to one another. The citizens of Rouen, and especially the Franks who were established in this city, were dismayed by such an atrocious murder.

A Frankish lord had the courage to go to Fredegund's palace to reproach her sharply: "You have," he said to her, "already committed many crimes, but you have committed none greater than having such a holy bishop assassinated in this way. May the Lord avenge this innocent blood as soon as possible! As for us, we will take such good measures that you will no longer be in a position to commit such outrages." After this speech, he wished to leave; but Fredegund, who was never more composed than when she was meditating a crueler vengeance, invited him to dinner. Upon his refusal, she pressed him to take some refreshment, so that it would not be said that he had left a royal house on an empty stomach. He yielded to her insistence and was presented, according to the custom of the ancient Franks, with wormwood wine seasoned with honey. He immediately realized that he had taken poison and, after warning his men not to drink any, he mounted his horse to flee, but the poison was so violent that he died before reaching his house.

Leudovald, Bishop of Bayeux, the first suffragan of Rouen, wrote a circular letter to all the bishops regarding the scandal caused by the assassination of Pretextatus, and, having likely taken counsel with the prelates of his province, he had all the churches of Rouen closed and forbade the celebration of the office until the author of the crime had been discovered. This example of a general interdict on an entire city is remarkable, and it is the first one found in the history of the Church in France. Leudovald did more: he had some suspicious persons arrested who accused Fredegund, and this zeal nearly cost him his own life; but the loyalty of his people defended him against the traps that were set for him.

Meanwhile, Fredegund, to justify herself, devised a stratagem that only turned to her shame. She had one of her slaves, whom she knew to be the assassin, seized and cruelly whipped. Then she handed him over to the nephew of Pretextatus, believing that he would confess nothing, as he had undoubtedly promised her. But torture and his guilty conscience tore the truth from him. He confessed that he had received one hundred gold sous from Fredegund to commit the crime, fifty from Bishop Melantius, and another fifty from the archdeacon of Rouen, and that, furthermore, he had been granted his freedom. But this artful woman, who otherwise disposed of all favors, despite such atrocious facts, always maintained her authority; and, what is even more surprising, she had Melantius reinstated on the see of Rouen, still stained with blood that this unworthy prelate had helped to shed. Saint Pretextatus is honored by the Church as a martyr on Febru Saint Prétextat Bishop of Rouen present at the Council of Tours. ary 24; but it is believed that he died on April 14 of the year 588.

See Gregory of Tours, and Histoire de l'Églis e catholique en F Grégoire de Tours Bishop and historian who mentions the martyrdom of Antolian. rance, by Father Longueval, Le Clerc edition. Paris, 1862, vol. II and III.