ON ST. VICTOR OR VICTURUS, BISHOP OF LE MANS IN GAUL,
About the year CDXIX.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Victor or Victurus, bishop of Le Mans in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 8599
BY THE AUTHOR J. S.
§ I. Two Victors, or Victor and Victorius, bishops of Le Mans, honored there: their succession proved.
Two holy Bishops of their own church, father and son, of either the same or at least a like name, the people of Le Mans honor. The Saint's name and that of his son: The father I find more commonly named Victor; the son, now Victor, now Victorius, elsewhere also Victorinus. Yet this latter is more often read as called Victorius, and so he himself subscribed his name at the first council of Tours; whence it seems more probable that he was properly called Victorius, with a name like his Father's, not the same. Whence in one copy of the Ms. Acts, even when his baptism is described, he is constantly named Victorius. However it be, we shall call the father Victor, the son Victorius. But in the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans, published by Mabillon in the year 1682, tom. 3 of the Old Analecta, the father is called Victurus, the son Victurius, from the French word Victeur, borrowed, as it appears, into Latin, and they are always called by the same names in that Catalogue of bishops, or History of their deeds, which it may suffice to have noted once for what is to be cited from the Deeds mentioned. So much about the names, by whose likeness it seems to have come about that these two Saints were by some confounded into one.
[2] Certain modern critics have doubted whether Victor and Victorius were really distinct, each confounded by Baronius: and whether the son succeeded the Father in the bishopric, about which matter there will presently be more treatment. But that they were distinct will appear even from those things alone which shall be said about the worship of each. The Roman Martyrology at the Kalends of September announces Victorius in this manner: Among the people of Le Mans, of holy Victorius the bishop. Whether I consider the name here or the day, the son, who is honored on the 1 of September, must be understood: for the Father's memory is celebrated on the XXV of August. But the note of the most learned Baronius altogether designates the Father; for thus he comments upon the words brought forward: He succeeded St. Liborius, bishop of the same see, fifth in order, and sat XXIV years, VII months, XIII days, as is established from the records of that church. That all these things rightly fit Victor the father will appear from what follows. As also that which Baronius subjoins: He flourished in the times of Theodosius the emperor, most well known to St. Martin, as appears from those things which Bede writes about him here in the Martyrology. But to the son must more likely be attributed what he inserts among the things just cited, Gregory of Tours treats of him, as we shall prove in the Acts of St. Victorius. Whence I gather that Baronius wished to exclude neither from the Roman Martyrology, but that only one was known to him, and that thereby he confounded the deeds of both.
[3] Galesini had gone before Baronius, and Usuard before both, on the same day: the name of each yet under the name of Victor. Hear Usuard: At Le Mans, of holy Victor the bishop. Upon which in his Usuard Sollier notes: Of Victor treat Florus and Rabanus, whose eulogies are plainly unlike. Nor is this wonderful; since the one announces the Father, the other the son, or at any rate the one wove his eulogy from the Father's deeds, the other from the son's. Let us hear Rabanus speaking at the Kalends of September: At Le Mans, he says, a city of Gaul, the birthday of Victor the bishop. For when holy Martin, bishop of Tours, went to bury Leporius (Liborius), pontiff of the above-said city, and had come to the town, looking back, he saw a man working in a vineyard, and he was a clerk, having obtained the office of subdeacon: and it was revealed to the Saint of God that he was to succeed to the episcopal place: and holy Martin called him to himself, saying to him: Bless me, lord Victor. To whom he said: Bless thou me, my lord, and blessed be thy word. And so, at the holy man's bidding, he followed him, whom, the people being called together and assembled, he ordained bishop; and baptized his son by name Victorinus, and took him with him to be nourished for God's service: whom also, after the death of his Father, he ordained bishop of that same city. That these things are said of Victor the father, and were drawn from the Acts which we shall publish, is plain to the eye. What is said here about Victorius, whom he calls Victorinus, not altogether rightly, we shall correct in its place.
[4] Florus took his eulogy from Gregory of Tours, book On the Glory of the confessors, chapter 56, in different fasti: and thus celebrates him: At Le Mans, the deposition of St. Victor, bishop and confessor: who, when that city was being burned with a fire, and the flames were driven hither and thither in strong masses, the wind impelling them; like a good shepherd, not enduring that the folds of the church should be laid waste by the snares of Satan, offered himself against the whirlwinds, and, his hand being lifted and the sign of the cross made against them, straightway all the fire ceased. Thus Florus, as he is published in our possession before tom. II of March. Ruinart in the notes to the passage of Gregory of Tours, whence I have said these were taken, understands it of Victorius the son; which, though not indeed certain, I yet think more probable, because I scarcely read the name of Victorius attributed to the father, but Gregory of Tours attributes the matter to Victorius. From what has been said we certainly have the worship of Victor the father, and the son distinguished from him in Rabanus, although he did not inscribe the son in the fasti as a saint. Now we shall show the most ancient worship of each.
[5] The Deeds of the Pontiffs of Le Mans, which Papebroch judges were compiled when the IX century was advanced past the middle, the ancient worship of each, in St. Innocent, tom. III of June, page 855, and which were published in the year 1682 by Mabillon, tom. 3 of the Analecta, in various places call Victurus and Victurius holy and blessed. Page 46, in the catalogue of bishops, Blessed Victurus and Blessed Victurius, which title he does not set to those who have no worship. Page 79 he says that holy Innocent was buried beside the bodies of St. Victurus and holy Victurius, and names them by the same title of honor in other places. That holy Victor was honored with a solemn festival already in the VI century we gather from an instrument of St. Domnolus, who was bishop of that same city in the VI century, page 102 of the said Analecta, where he thus speaks: When I had called upon my lord and brother Audoveus, bishop of the city of Angers, to visit the holy thresholds of my peculiar patron Victor the bishop, nay, and to celebrate his solemnity &c. Which seems to be said also of holy Victorius. For in tom. 1 of the Benedictine Annals, page 159, Mabillon thus writes: The same Domnolus also (already mentioned) increased the ancient monastery of holy Victurius near the river Sarthe … both in revenues and in the number of monks. This monastery seems to have been sacred to Victorius the son, for the Father is not wont to be called Victurius. And so about the most ancient worship of each we cannot doubt, although I do not think it altogether certain of both for the VI century, since the names could have been confounded.
[6] and the name in more recent Martyrologies. More recent martyrologists have distinguished St. Victor the father from Victorius the son, but not even among them is there altogether agreement. Claude Castellan in the universal Martyrology at the 1 of September: At Le Mans, he says, holy Victor the bishop. But in the margin he notes the following: In Rabanus, Victor; in the deeds of the bishops of Le Mans, Victurius. But Rabanus calls the father Victor, the son Victorinus, as we have seen: while the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans name the son Victurius, the father Victurus; and so he was not the same who was called Victor by Rabanus and Victurius in the Deeds. Yet Castellan designates the son; for among the Saints whose day of death is unknown (he calls them Aëmeri), page 903, he thus announces the Father: Holy Victutus, bishop of Le Mans, who died between the XXII of January and the XVIII of February; who had as successor holy Victor his own son, honored on the 1 of September, whose (the son's) church is among the nuns of Le Pré. Whence Castellan gathered this time of St. Victor's, or Victurus's, death I do not find; for all the authors whom I have consulted either keep silence about the day of death, or assign the XXV of August. Therefore in this place the Paris Martyrology, given to light in the year 1727, is to be preferred; since indeed it rightly distinguishes both the name of each and the day of worship; when at the XXV of August it thus records the Father: At Le Mans, of holy Victor the bishop. At the 1 of September the son a little more fully: At Le Mans, of holy Victurius, who was present at the councils of Angers and at the first of Tours. With these agree Mothier in the note at the 1 of September of the Roman Martyrology, Corvaisier, and Bondonnet in the Chronology of the bishops of Le Mans; and let these things about the worship suffice.
[7] The order of the first bishops of Le Mans called into doubt, The Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans already praised set this order of bishops: first St. Julian, II St. Turibius, III St. Pavacius, IV St. Liborius, V St. Victurus or Victor, VI St. Victurius or Victorius, VII St. Principius, VIII St. Innocent. Tillemont, tom. 4 of the Monuments, note 77 on St. Denis, confesses that this order rests on monuments of the IX century, and therefore is not to be changed on easy grounds: yet he disputes much against the said order, and contends that either there were two Turibii, or that Turibius, who is put in the second place, must be set in the seventh, namely after Victorius. He doubts likewise whether Victorius the son succeeded his father Victor with none between: at length from Le Cointe he thinks that between Principius and Innocent another Victor presided over the church of Le Mans. All these things he disputes doubtfully indeed, yet in such wise that he seems not obscurely to incline to the opinion just set forth. Baillet in the Lives of the Saints, tom. 3, at the 1 of September, in St. Victor, follows Tillemont doubting about Victor and Victorius, and asserts that it is doubtful whether Victorius, whom the Acts have as son succeeding his father, should not be set as a middle term between Principius and Innocent. But the aforementioned Tillemont, tom. 16, note 3 on St. Perpetuus, which is about Victor and Victorius, in some measure furls his sails, and asserts that he does not wish to assail the distinction of Victor and Victorius, because he thinks that several should rather be added to the catalogue of the first bishops of Le Mans than struck out from it: Although, he says, two names so alike, which are joined to one another with none between, afford cause enough for thinking that there is but one bishop. Nay, another Victor also, bishop of Le Mans about the year DXXX, must be admitted, who in the catalogues of that church was not noted down.
[8] Le Cointe in the Annals of the Franks, tom. 1, at the year of the Lord 513, to whom, besides others, some think a certain Victor must be added. num. 1, contends that this Victor, distinct from the other Victor and from Victorius, must altogether be placed between Principius and Innocent, and sets his entrance in that same year 513, but his death in the year 531, as may be seen there, num. 22. A certain recent chronographer of the bishops of Le Mans interposes not only this Victor but also a certain Severianus between the said Principius and Innocent, and sets a second Turibius before Principius. The reason why Tillemont, Le Cointe, and others think that that Victor should be added to the catalogue of the bishops of Le Mans they assign from the Life of St. Melanius, bishop of Rennes, long since illustrated by Bolland, tom. 1 of January, from page 327, where at num. 21 and following, and again at num. 31, at the funeral rites of St. Melanius, there is recorded a certain Victor the bishop, whom from the attendant circumstances he seems to be drawn out as having been of Le Mans. That the matter may be more clearly elucidated, I shall discuss three points. First, whether St. Victor was the successor of St. Liborius, ordained by St. Martin. Secondly, whether to him there succeeded his son, holy Victorius. Thirdly, what is to be thought about the Victor whom the praised authors think must be added to the catalogue of the bishops of Le Mans.
[9] First then, that St. Victor was ordained bishop by St. Martin St. Victor ordained bishop of the church of Le Mans by St. Martin, is proved by so many witnesses that we cannot doubt about the matter, unless the weightiest reasons stood in the way. Four Lives of St. Liborius, published in tom. V of July from page 407, the reader will find; in all these Liborius is said to have been buried by St. Martin, and in the fourth the matter is thus narrated from num. 16: At the same time St. Martin the bishop was governing the church of Tours, a man altogether renowned for apostolic virtues: to whom, among those mysteries of angelic converse which he was wont continually to enjoy, this also was enjoined by divine revelation, that he should go to the city of Le Mans, and there should visit the Lord, set in infirmity. Whence, observing that this infirmity of the Lord was to be understood of some one of his members, of whom he himself is to say at the judgment, I was sick, and ye visited me; he began straightway to hasten to the aforementioned city.
[10] And when, now drawing near to it, he was making his way beside a certain vineyard, from various testimonies he saw standing far off in it a clerk of the rank of subdeacon, Victurius by name, sweating rather studiously at whatever work was to be done there, but nevertheless singing the praises of the Lord by frequent psalmody. He was a disciple of St. Liborius, and in the very grace of his continence and of his mind and habit and humility of habit he afforded a clear token of the good training of an excellent master. Whom St. Martin, beholding, the Holy Spirit revealing to him that he was to be bishop there, greeted with these words, saying: Hail, our pontiff. Thereupon he gave him his own staff, and so with quickened step hastened into the city. Then, St. Liborius's death and burial being related, the author thus goes on: But on the following day the man of God Martin, calling into the church all the people, who had come together for the funeral rites of so great a man exceedingly numerous and innumerable, and who by most abundant fountains of tears bore witness to their inward love toward their shepherd, consoled them with admonitions of holy doctrine, and ordained for them the aforesaid Victurius bishop. That this Life, which is more prolix than the other three, was written gravely and in good faith toward the end of the IX century, thou wilt easily gather from Bolland's Commentary upon it, §2. But that he here calls Victor or Victurus by the name Victurius, either he confounded the Father's name with the son's, or it could have happened by the fault of the copyists.
[11] by various authors, The same is testified by the Acts of holy Victurus, in the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans, tom. 3 of the Analecta, from page 68, which, both for the proof of the matter and for the Saint's glory, so far as they pertain to our purpose, it will be useful to insert in this place: The lord Victurus, says the author, pontiff of the city of Le Mans, and successor of blessed Liborius, bishop of that same city: who, when he began to sicken, and the end of the life of blessed Liborius drew near, holy Martin, archbishop of the city of Tours, being divinely admonished, did not delay to come to visit and to bury him. But before he arrived at the aforesaid city to visit him, and to commend to the Lord the soul of the pontiff already named, … blessed Martin began to consider what should be done about the future bishop. But as he sat and rode upon his little ass, and pondered these things, there was divinely shown to him a certain clerk and subdeacon by name Victurus, far from the city laboring in his own vineyard, and digging it with his mattock, sprinkled on head and feet with dust, and with all his strength he was working and tending his vineyard, chanting prayers and hymns to the Lord. Whom when the aforesaid lord Martin, enlightened by the Lord's grace, knew that he was to be a pontiff, he called him to himself, and, greeting him, said: Hail, lord pontiff. Whose words the aforesaid Victurus kindly receiving, and, with downcast face humbling himself before him, supposed that blessed Martin was mocking him: for he in no way believed that he would ever be a pontiff. For blessed Martin gave him his own staff on which he was wont to lean, and led him with him even to the city.* He subjoins the death of St. Liborius, and the funeral rites performed for him by St. Martin; then he goes on:
[12] But this being done, he hastened into the city (St. Martin), against some who doubt about him, and, having spoken to the people about the future pontiff, ordained the blessed aforesaid subdeacon Victurus bishop in that same city, and consecrated his wife, Maura by name, to the Lord with the sacred veil, and baptized their son, blessed Victurius by name, and received him from the font with his own hands, his Father and mother asking it, and adopted him as a son to himself. After a little about the son, he thus goes on about the Father: The aforesaid Victurus, father of Victurius, as pontiff in the already named city of Le Mans, worthily and devoutly exercising the ministry of the pontificate, converted many to the Lord by his preachings and exhortations, and made great gain in the holy Church of God. But these, or his other acts, are found more fully in his written Life. Now he sat in the aforesaid see XXIV years, and VII months, and XIII days; he consecrated CCCV presbyters, CCXII deacons, and other ministers in sacred orders, as many as were needful. Who also died in peace, and in the church of the Apostles beyond the river Sarthe, in which the lord Liborius rests in the body, was honorably buried by his own, and lives eternally with Christ. I have cited these things a little more fully than was necessary for proving the matter in question, that the reader may at the same time learn the Saint's deeds.
[13] In the third place let there come as witness the Life to be published by us, in which the ordination of St. Victor by St. Martin is related in almost the same manner, is proved; but a little more fully. A fourth witness of the same truth is Rabanus, whose words, brought forward at num. 3, relate the matter more briefly indeed, but in plainly the same manner. I add at last the testimony of the Martyrology long circulated under Bede's name, at the 1 of September; but the names are not a little dislocated, as the reader will easily perceive: At Scinomanni, he says (Le Mans), a city of Gaul, the birthday of Victor the bishop. For when holy Martin, bishop of Tours, was going to bury Leporinus (Liborius), bishop of the above-said city, and had come to the town, looking back, he saw a man working in a vineyard (and he was a subdeacon); it was revealed to the Saint of God that he was to succeed to the episcopal place. And St. Martin called him to himself, saying to him: Bless me, lord Victor. The rest, which agrees exactly with Rabanus, I pass over, as also more recent authors who write the same things. We have therefore St. Victor's ordination by St. Martin proved by so many witnesses that we may deservedly acquiesce in them, since no reason of any weight to the contrary has been brought forward.
[14] That the son succeeded the father I said in the second place I would prove. as also that Victorius the son succeeded his father. This all the authors just adduced testify, except the Acts of St. Liborius, to whose Life it in no way pertained to commemorate these things. This succession is confirmed from the councils of Angers and the first of Tours, at which Victorius, bishop of Le Mans, was present; and then also from that of Vannes, which wrote to him a synodal letter: for since these councils were celebrated after the middle of the V century, the age of Victor the father does not seem to be extended so far, when the son was already an old man; especially against the open testimonies of so many authors. But since those who have admitted the first will not deny this, I forbear more, and at the 1 of September I shall dispute more fully what pertains to Victorius. To the third point therefore I go on, namely, whether another Victor also in the VI century, after St. Principius, presided as bishop over the church of Le Mans, which is more doubtful than the preceding.
Annotations* that is, with a hoe.
§ II. Whether a Victor other than St. Victor and Victorius was bishop of Le Mans in the VI century? The time of the episcopate of Victor and Victorius: the Acts.
The reason why another Victor seems to be added to the catalogue: In the Life of St. Melanius, bishop of Rennes, tom. 1 of January, page 330, it is thus read: At almost the same time there came together the man of God Melanius, and God's elect Albinus, and holy Victor, and Launus, and St. Marsus, in the city of Angers. Further, this Victor at num. 22 is called a bishop; and when each had returned to his own see, at num. 22, Marsus came to Le Mans to B. Victor: whence it seems rightly to be concluded that Victor's own see was the see of Le Mans. The same bishops then, in chapter 6, are said to have been present at the funeral rites of St. Melanius: but the death of Melanius Bolland rightly placed, at num. 9 of the preliminary Commentary, between the year 530 and 549: therefore, since the life of St. Victorius cannot be extended so far, it seems necessarily to be said that some other Victor presided over the church of Le Mans in the VI century, and that he must be placed between Principius and Innocent. So it seemed to Bolland in the notes to the Life of St. Melanius, whom Le Cointe, Tillemont, and others followed. I confess that this argument is such that the aforesaid authors did not rashly judge that this Victor about the year 530 presided over the church of Le Mans: yet against this opinion there stand difficulties not to be despised, which deter me from assent, and persuade that the matter should be more examined.
[16] Certain arguments against this opinion, For first it seems wonderful that this bishop, whom the Life mentioned calls both holy and blessed, should have been so consigned to oblivion that in the Catalogue of bishops, which was formed in the IX century, no place at all was assigned to him. Next, although about that time various councils were held in Gaul, this Victor is read as subscribed to absolutely none. Thirdly, St. Principius, bishop of Le Mans, in the year 511 subscribed the council of Orléans. In the year 533 Innocent subscribed the second council of Orléans, without the name of his see being added: but that St. Innocent was of Le Mans the nearness of the places makes likely, who is also found subscribed to the fourth council of Orléans in the year 541. From these things we must needs conclude that St. Innocent was made bishop between the year 511 and 533; but he is said to have sat, in Mabillon, page 74, in the time of the emperor Anastasius … of the kings Clovis … and Childebert, and that, at page 79, for XLV years, X months, XX days. These years of Innocent's episcopate those who admit Victor contract by half and more: and indeed they must be greatly diminished in their opinion, since Domnolus his successor is read as subscribed to the council of Tours in the year 566 or 567, and between him and Innocent the see was vacant for a long time. These inconveniences therefore stand in the way of my judging that this Victor should be numbered among the bishops of Le Mans.
[17] whose foundation And indeed those Acts of St. Melanius can be not inconveniently explained, even if we do not admit that St. Victor of whom there is question was bishop of Le Mans; and the whole argument on which this Victor rests will fall. There came together Melanius of Rennes, Albinus of Angers, Launus — to Bolland St. Laudus, Lautus or Lauto, of Coutances; Marsus — to Bolland Marcus, Marcius, or Martinus, of Orléans, to others of Nantes — and Victor. Why, the name being a little changed, could it not be read Vigor? For I do not see why the name of St. Vigor could not be dislocated as easily as those of the preceding bishops. What then, if we understand St. Vigor, who at the same time was bishop of Bayeux, near to him of Coutances? Why could not St. Vigor, in returning from Angers to Bayeux, pass through Le Mans, and there stay some days, and be visited by bishop Marsus? Nothing indeed in this whole answer do I find unlikely, nothing improbable. Wherefore I would dare to add none to the catalogue of the bishops of Le Mans, and would rather suspect that this Victor was St. Vigor of Bayeux, until something more probable be brought forward. My suspicion is increased, first, because that Victor is called holy in the Life of St. Melanius, but the people of Le Mans honor no other holy Victor as bishop of their church except St. Victor and his son Victorius, of whom we have treated.
[18] Next, in the Acts of St. Paternus illustrated by Henschen, tom. II of April, page 429, these things are read: is overthrown. Coming to him (Paternus) in a vision, Melanius (of Rennes), Leontianus (of Coutances), and Vigor (of Bayeux), bishops who had migrated to God, ordained him by revelation as prelate. At the word Vigor the praised Henschen notes this: St. Vigor was bishop of Bayeux, and is honored on the Kalends of November. At least he died before the year DXXXVII, because then Leucadius, bishop of Bayeux, was present at the third council of Orléans. Wrongly by Surius Beor; in the Mss. Vehor and Victor also are read. Why then could he not also be called Victor in the Life of St. Melanius? Why could he not have met with St. Melanius and the others in the city of Angers? Certainly his intimacy with Melanius is hinted at from this vision also. Besides this reason, sufficiently, as I think, now refuted, the anonymous Chronographer of the bishops of Le Mans mentioned above at num. 8 strives to prove, from the Acts of the bishops given by Mabillon, tom. 3 of the Analecta, page 74, where St. Innocent is treated of, that this Victor should be interposed between Principius and Innocent. But since his reasons prove nothing at all, it is pleasing in a few words to show his fault in reasoning. That he may show that a third Victor should be added to the Catalogue of bishops, Victurius, of whom the Acts of St. Innocent often speak, he sometimes takes for St. Victurius, son of St. Victor, sometimes for the Victor whom he desires added to the catalogue, according as he saw it more convenient for his purpose; which if it be allowed, he will be able to prove anything by easy means. Let that author therefore take his own words brought forward on page 37: All these things are false, because nothing of them is found in the Acts; and from them let him conclude that Victor, and the others falsely added by him to the catalogue of bishops, are false, because about their episcopate nothing is read in the Acts.
[19] That St. Victor was ordained by St. Martin we have seen: in what precise year this was done At what time the ordination of St. Victor was made; cannot be exactly determined. Various authors indeed have tried to order the chronology of the bishops of Le Mans, but have gone off into various opinions. The Acts of the said bishops, published by Mabillon, assign certain chronological notes, but very confused and not sufficiently consistent with themselves, nor were those Acts so accurately written that we can safely give assent to them in all things. Wherefore, the opinions of others being passed over, I shall say what, all things considered, seems to me more probable. The death of St. Martin is more commonly set in the year 397, by others even later; but that St. Victor's consecration was made some years before St. Martin's death seems to be said, if we give credit to the Acts presently to be published. For in them certain things are narrated about Victorius, a disciple of St. Martin after the Father's ordination, which seem to require a year or two. This opinion is confirmed by the Deeds of the pontiffs of Le Mans, often cited, in Mabillon, page 68, where the Deeds of St. Victor bear this title: The Deeds of the lord Victurus …, who was in the times of the emperors Theodosius and Arcadius. If, as the natural order requires, we understand Theodosius the elder, Victor was ordained while Theodosius the great was still living, according to these Acts. But Theodosius died at the beginning of the year 395: if therefore we set the entrance of Victor about the year 394, we shall agree with the Acts to be published by us and with those published by Mabillon.
[20] how long he sat: and in what year his son succeeded: But he, say the Acts mentioned in Mabillon, page 69, sat in the aforesaid see XXIV years, and VII months, and XIII days. Which, if we add them to the year 394, we shall come to the year 418 or 419. But now if we say that the son Victorius was substituted for his father in the year 419 about the XVIII of February, and set his death with the Acts mentioned, page 70, in the year 490, on the Kalends of September (for He died, as the Acts have it, the aforesaid blessed man Victurius on the Kalends of September, full of days, in the consulship of Faustus the younger and of Longinus for the second time: whose consulate falls in the year 490), there will be only two things in this whole epoch that breed difficulty, and that not insuperable, nor shall we depart much from the Acts. The first is, that we must suspect there is an error in the numbers, and that instead of 41 years of episcopate, with 6 months and 10 days, we must assign him 71 years with the months and days mentioned. For this error could have happened by the change of one figure.
[21] [if Victorius died in the year 490, he was more than a hundred years old: but the Acts assert that he was long-lived:] The other is that the age of St. Victorius in this epoch seems to be stretched too far: for since, from the Acts to be published, nearly two lustres had passed from Victorius's birth when, after his Father's ordination, he was baptized by St. Martin; if from the year 394 to 490 we add 96 years, he will already have reached his 106th year when he died; which age seems almost unheard of. Mabillon saw this, and held it for a monstrosity; for in the annotations to the Analecta, page 393, he thus speaks of this matter: But that is like a monstrosity, that Victurius, the fourth bishop from Turibius, page 70 a disciple of B. Martin, is also reported to have died in the consulship of Faustus the younger and of Longinus for the second time, which consulate answers to the year CDXC. For it cannot be that one who was Martin's disciple should have come to this year. I confess that it is an age to which very few attain; that it is monstrous I do not see, or asserted without foundation: since even today some pass the hundredth year, and the Acts themselves afford a foundation for an age altogether long-lived, as I briefly show. Victorius is said to have died full of days. This is not asserted in the Acts about his predecessors or successors, Liborius, Victor, Principius, Innocent, Domnolus; although they too exchanged life for death as old or decrepit men, as is of itself manifest from their long episcopate, and can easily be shown. For if Liborius sat forty-nine years, as the Acts have it, page 67, we can easily conjecture that he had passed the eightieth year of his age. If Innocent, as the Acts say, page 74, was nourished by St. Victorius and ordained to some grades of the priesthood; if after the XXIX years of Principius's episcopate, a vacancy of some time intervening, he succeeded, as at page 74; and sat in the episcopate XLV years, X months, XXVI days, as is said at page 79, he must have far exceeded the ninetieth year. Why then is it said of Victorius alone full of days, unless because he prolonged his life to an altogether unusual old age?
[22] since the Acts are less accurate, nothing certain can be determined. These things can probably be said, if anyone wishes to adhere to those Acts of Le Mans: but I confess that they are of less weight than that from them the matter should become altogether certain. Wherefore, if to anyone that age seems less probable, he must necessarily abandon that epoch of Victorius's death, and place the death of Victorius some years earlier: for that consular epoch could have been annexed to the death of St. Victorius because in that year Principius succeeded, although he had died many years earlier, and the see had been vacant after his death; the author could also by error have set down these consuls. Certainly I think the opinion of those not altogether to be disapproved who have thought Victorius died long before this year: but if he died earlier, only by divining can his death be tied to a certain year. However it be, it is enough for me to have shown what according to the Acts can and ought to be said; and I should rather admit the long-lived age of one bishop than altogether disturb the episcopal fasti of the church of Le Mans. For, as Tillemont confesses, tom. 4 of the Monuments, page 731, It is troublesome to invert the order of the bishops of any church … Nay, that order must be the more preserved in the church of Le Mans than in others: because it at least rests upon monuments of the IX century, which is found in few others. These things therefore have been disputed by me that the order of the bishops of Le Mans, such as it has long been, may be preserved entire: for the years of the several bishops, from uncertain and wandering acts, can hardly be determined without errors.
[23] The Acts of St. Victor which have come to our hands The Acts which we have, are common to his son St. Victorius, but comprise very few deeds of either. It is doubtful whether these are the same as the Life of St. Victor, of which in the Acts in Mabillon, page 69, mention is made in these words: But these, or his other acts, are found more fully in his written Life. And page 70, in Victurius: Whose acts we have therefore not inserted, because in the little book which we composed about his life and manners, we described them more fully and more abundantly. For the cited words seem to hint that the Life of Victor and that of Victorius were written separately; and then they seem to designate longer and more detailed Acts than are those which we have in hand. On the contrary, if we turn our mind to the manner of speaking of that time, in which they not rarely called even a writing that was not long a little book, and if we weigh that in Mabillon those things are handed down in compendium which in our Acts are set forth a little more fully, we easily persuade ourselves that no other Acts than those which we are about to publish were mentioned in the cited words; especially because these are found in various places, but others than these appear nowhere. Ours therefore I judge more probably to be the same as those.
[24] Mabillon, in the annotations to the Acts published by him, written, as it seems, in the IX century, page 392, thinks that the first part of those Acts, which extends down to Aldric, a bishop of the IX century, is of the same author: For the same genius, he says, is in all, and the same style, and the same scope. Whose opinion is to me altogether probable; since the arguments which he then objects to himself to the contrary can easily be solved from this, that the author drew his materials from various sources. Hence we deduce also that our Acts are to be referred to the IX century, which are not much earlier than those given by Mabillon, if they are the same as the Acts mentioned by their author, as we have said is more likely. There are also other things which persuade that these Acts pertain to the VIII or IX century, which for brevity's sake I pass over; since it sufficiently appears from the manner of writing that the author is neither contemporary nor nearly so. For he commemorates few deeds, and those without any note of time, which perhaps he found in certain little papers, or drew from the tradition of the people.
[25] Three Ms. copies of the said Acts I have in hand, agreeing indeed with one another in sense, but not rarely discordant in words. they will be given from three Mss. The first is taken from codex 469 of Saint-Germain; the second Chifflet once transmitted; the third from a Ms. of St. Maximin of Trier, which was collated with two others existing in Germany. None of these is so correct as not sometimes to have an imperfect sense, nor could I easily say which of them is the more correct. Wherefore, since they agree in substance and differ only in words, what is faulty in one I shall correct from the others, provided I find in them a more correct sense; yet I shall chiefly follow the one first named: where it shall seem worth the labor, I shall indicate the discrepancy; but I do not think these Acts of such value that it is needful to indicate every change of words. It remains therefore that I set the Acts themselves before the readers' eyes, illustrated with notes after our custom.
ACTS
by an anonymous author. From three Mss.
Victor or Victurus, bishop of Le Mans in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 8600
BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.
St. Martin, going to Le Mans to bury St. Liborius, At that time, when Liborius a, pontiff of the city of Le Mans b, had by chance departed from this light [c]; on hearing this, the apostolic man Martin, bishop of the city of Tours, straightway did not delay to go into those parts to bury his brother, that he might leave his brother buried, and might seek out such a successor as ought to receive the pastoral honor. And when he had come to the town of the city, he looked back, and saw a man working in a vineyard, and he was a clerk who had obtained the order of subdeacon [d]. It was revealed divinely in the ear of that Saint that he was to succeed to the episcopal place.
[2] greets Victor, laboring in the vineyard; And the man of God, coming down from his ass, stood in the place, and sent to him that he should come: and he began to come, having a mattock in his hand, his head sprinkled with dust, and shoes on his feet already worn, as befits a workman; and when he had drawn near, Martin the pontiff greeted him and said, Bless me, lord Victor. But he bowed himself down upon the ground, and did reverence to him, saying: Blessed art thou, my lord, and blessed be thy word; because thou hast deigned to address a poor man with such a word. To whom the man of God said: Yet greater things shall I proclaim, for the honor of the grace of the episcopal office awaits thee.*
[3] and, foretelling the episcopate, takes him with him: But he did not know whether he spoke in truth, or was perhaps speaking in jest. To whom he said: For perpetual times let your soul delight to be gladdened with great joy e; and I will return f. Let your grace be with me, and I will go after you. Then the man of God, laying hold of him, took the mattock out of his hand, and gave him the supports g upon which priests are wont to lean when prayers are poured out: and he compelled him from his way for five thousand paces h, until, hastening, they had passed over to the city.
[4] then he calls the people together for the election of a bishop, After these things they went to visit and to bury the poor body of the lord Liborius, formerly bishop, and, as custom required, prayer being made, they left him buried. But on the following day Victor i, the man of God, hid himself in the city. But Martin, the throng of the people following him, having entered the place of prayer, prayed a very long time. And his prayer being finished, he said to the people: It is not fitting that we go from this city and leave it without order, before we seek out a successor by your election, who may be able splendidly to govern the pontifical honor. But they answering said: Whatsoever thy hand shall wish to do, do; for the Lord is with thee.
[5] Then the man of God laid his hand upon the priest of the Lord, Victor k by name, saying: who commits the matter to Martin: he chooses Victor, This is he whom the Lord has chosen as successor of holy Liborius, and to receive the pastoral honor. To whom he answering said: How can this word come to pass; for I am married, and have offspring? Then indeed they sent messengers to his wife, by name Maura, that she should come. But she made no delays in coming, but, hastening, stood before the holy one of the Lord, and did reverence to him.
[6] To whom the man of God said: Woman, wilt thou that thy husband be made pontiff of the city of Le Mans? and, his wife consenting, But she, terrified, said: I am not worthy, my Lord, that my eyes should see the great things of the Lord. And the man of God said to her: Yet if it should come to pass that it be done, what wilt thou afterwards? Answering therefore, she said: If I shall have deserved to see this power of the Lord, let my husband be to me as a brother, and I to him as a sister: and let us serve the Lord alone. This word therefore pleased in the eyes of the priest of the Lord, and he bade him sit in the chair, and spoke to the people: Behold a great shepherd sitting in the place of dignity, and a great priest, whom the Lord has chosen. Love and cherish him; for the Lord is with him. And the people feared the word of the priest, and did reverence to him, saying: A great shepherd, and worthy in his work, the divine power has deigned to give to us. Let him be to us a father and shepherd, and we subject to him, and let us love him as ourselves.
[7] Then that pontiff blessed him with a heavenly blessing, consecrates him: and blesses Maura his wife, who promises continence: and delivered to him the pontifical honor. But when the handmaid of God Maura had learned that all these things had been done, she was filled with great joy, and said: Lord, let a changed garment come down from your hand upon my head, that I may please Christ, and let a right spirit be renewed within my bowels, and let your holy hand wash me from my uncleannesses. To whom the man of God said: May the Lord fulfil thy desire according to the petition of thy heart. And it was so. And when she had received the blessing which she had asked, she cast herself again at his feet, saying:
[8] Lord, I ask that my son be baptized by thy hand, but baptizes Victorius their son. and be thy spiritual son, and serve thee all the days of his life, for it is nearly two lustres from his birth. Then indeed the pontiff was filled with great joy, because she had asked the grace of baptism, and he bade the boy come to him, and he stood in the midst, and baptized him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and bore testimony, and called his name Victorius l, that he might liken him to the name of his father Victor. And baptism being given in Christ's name, he kissed him, and prayed to the Lord, saying: Father of heaven and earth, give this boy such a sign that he may live: give him, Lord, understanding, knowledge, wisdom, moderation, charity, chastity, sobriety, subtlety, humility, for thou, Lord, wilt give grace to the humble, and resistest the proud. Pour out upon him, Lord, a heavenly blessing, that after the days of his begetter are fulfilled he may receive the honor of that dignity, and mayest thou permit him to judge his father's seat. And those standing round said: Amen.
[9] [St. Martin, returning, takes Victorius with him: and on the way sends him to enlighten a blind man;] But after these things the aforesaid pontiffs (were) conversing with one another, and bidding one another farewell, for the man of God Martin the pontiff already desired to go again to his own city. But the boy, his spiritual son Victorius, whom he had received when lifted from the sacred font, he bade go with him. And when after the third day they had come to the shores of the Loire m, the man of God looked back and saw a blind man standing upon the bank of the river, seeking to cross over, that he might seek food. Then the Prelate said to the boy: Son, go to the man whom thou seest standing, wash his face and his eyes with water of the Loire, and say to him: Come hither to me. The boy therefore went, and spoke with him: Friend, the lord father Martin the pontiff calls thee to go to him. Who answered: Since I am blind, unless thou take my hand I cannot follow thee. To whom the boy said: First I will wash thy face and eyes with water of the Loire, and afterwards go. And he dipped his hands in the water, and touched his face and his eyes, and forthwith his eyes were opened; and he saw heaven, earth, and the waters, and whatever he wished: and, being filled with great joy, he lifted up his voice, saying: I give thanks to thee, God of heaven and earth, because by a boy sent to me, at thy bidding, my eyes have been enlightened.
[10] whom, his sight being recovered, he takes with him and helps with alms: And running until he came to the priest, he fell rolling at his feet, saying: Lord, by thy prayers my darkened eyes have deserved to behold the light, because that boy crowned in white n, who announced to me that I should come to thee, washed my eyes with his holy hand, and I saw. And the poor man began to cry out more than it was fitting to lift up his voice. And the man of God said to him: Man, thou needest not enlarge thy words; but sit, and come hither, go aboard the little boat with me, and we will go together across. And crossing they went into the city, and that poor man stood before the holy one of the Lord three days and three nights, and whatever he was pleased to eat was assiduously ministered to him by the boy's hand. Then, being sufficiently refreshed with food, and at the same time clothed with garments sufficient for a poor man, he went on his way with great joy.
[11] [Victorius, growing in virtues and in studies, is marked with the clerical tonsure by St. Martin:] Then the boy Victorius grew in the work of God, for he unceasingly meditated upon the Lord daily; nay, whatever was enjoined upon him by his elders he without doubt refused not to do. Therefore the man of God loved him and drew him on with fatherly love, so much that it was in no way permitted him to be separated from his presence, but at all times he abode under the rule and power of the aforesaid pontiff. But when the apostolic father knew him learned in letters, and perfect in all things, and following God with all his strength, straightway he did not hesitate to deliver to him the burden of clerkship. For with his own hands he laid aside the hair of his head, cut off indeed; but when he first deserved the priestly [o] sign, he was rejoicing as much for the honor as for the grace and love of the pontiff, and was the more delighted to enlarge his service to him, since he felt himself called on as a son.
[12] at Martin's bidding he heals the sick: Then the man of God reproved and catechized him with his teachings, corrected, chastised, and taught him with his doctrines, that is, that he might pass through the narrow gate to the heavenly kingdom. Therefore, whoever for his own necessity or that of his own had sought to ask a favor of the man of God, by the permission and appointment of the pontiff Victorius did not delay to go thither, and by his prayers he straightway called back each one, the Lord granting it, to his former most abundant health.
[13] But when the most blessed Martin, for the repressing of heresy ministers to Martin as he traverses his diocese: and the raising up of the Christian name, or for giving food to the poor, with priestly affection was making his rounds through divers regions upon an ass, Victorius the servant of Christ followed him on foot to whatever place he wished to go, that he might both procure the necessary ministries, and, no slothful minister of those chanting, might attend more diligently upon vigils and prayers before the holy one of the Lord on each several night [p]. Whence also he deserved to obtain the trace of his own summoning [q], while, being strengthened in vigor, he was able intently to keep the Lord's precepts.
[14] He remained therefore with the great priest of the church of Tours [r] for many years, the pious life of Victorius until his father's death: that is, until his begetter Victor the pontiff had passed from the world. But he always, day and night, intently meditated upon the Lord, and, prostrating himself in ashes and haircloth, testified that he was a confessor of the Lord, and, girded about against the adversary with a shield, he fought bravely in the open. And so, victory being obtained and the adversary put to flight, he stood unhurt without a wound in grace.
[15] But after these things, when men came hastening to announce that his begetter was dead, his father's death being announced, Victorius is chosen, he was greatly saddened, and grieved sorely, and wept most bitterly. To whom the pontiff of the city said: Be not saddened, son, nor let thy heart be troubled; for it is not fitting that thou suffer anguish of soul, for happy must that father be called who has left surviving a son dedicated to God. But do thou receive the blessing promised thee, and thou shalt serve the Lord alone: a place prepared awaits thee, that thou mayest be glorified for ever. Then very many priests were gathered together, and the clergy, and the common people, into one, and Victorius, the servant of Christ, stood in the midst of them, and they cried out with unanimous voice, saying: A great priest, and worthy in his work, is not undeservedly blessed with the pontifical honor, who with all his strength through many days has been seen to endure labor for the name of Christ.
[16] Then the man of God, hands being laid on, drew near with him to the holy altar, and is consecrated bishop. On the way he heals a sick man, and delivered to him the pontifical blessing. And so, the honor of the dignity being received, he stood before the holy one of the Lord, and he did not let him go before they had gone praying through the places of the Saints, and, with a great choir of chanters, as was fitting, had together crossed the river Loire by boat. After these things, conversing with one another and bidding farewell from the elder to the least, and giving one another the kiss of peace, the pontiff of the city of Tours permitted him to go to the place he desired. And when he had departed with his ministers, as he passed through places, wherever he found a sick man who through Christ had sought help for his necessity, forthwith the divine power deigned to work a miracle through him, so that, the languor being put to flight, the sick man returned to his former health.
[17] But when they had come into the town of the city, the common folk and the peoples go out, [he is received at Le Mans with the highest rejoicing: prisoners are freed, their chains broken:] and all the clergy, being called together into one, running to meet him received him, praising the Lord with a great choir of chanters, until they entered the city: and they raised him honorably into the chair, as custom required. And as he passed by, there were held many men in the workhouse-prison, whose iniquity was reckoned up. When indeed the city rang, and they had learned that the man of God was passing by, they cried out to the Lord when they were troubled, that he would free them from their necessities. Therefore the chains were broken, and the devices and instruments of torment in which they were held were diminished, and the guards being terrified, going forth outside, ran to the priest of the Lord, crying: Have mercy on us. And he made peace with them, and bade them be silent.
[18] and many are converted to the faith. But they, setting their hands to the chair, upheld him, and, bearing him, set him down before the Lord's altar. And he bade them draw near to him, and gave them each a gold piece, and chastised them, that they should not sin again. Nay, they were even reconciled with their adversaries. But when the common people had learned that these things were done, straightway the heretics [s], who had not been believers, sought baptism, and there were converted no small part of the people, and they were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But that pontiff stood beside the Lord's altar, and, after the divine mystery had been consecrated, communicated the people, and blessed them with a heavenly blessing. But they, humbling themselves, did reverence to him, saying: May the pontiff of the city, Victorius, live, and save us by his holy hand, protect and defend us, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be honor, glory, power, and might through infinite ages of ages. Amen.