Avitus of Vienne

Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus (* around 460 ; † February 5, 518 in Vienne ) was a late antique bishop and is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church . He was related to Sidonius Apollinaris († 479) and was therefore also a relative of the Western Roman Emperor Avitus († 457).

Life

Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus came from a respected Gallo-Roman senatorial family. In 494 he succeeded his father as Bishop of Vienne and over time developed into one of the most important bishops in Gaul . In 517 he led the first Burgundian council convened by him in Epao . He fought against so-called Arianism , which was prevalent in Burgundy at the time, and in 497 he succeeded in converting Sigismund , the son and heir of the Burgundian king Gundobad , to Catholicism .

Further fields of activity were the fight against semi-Pelagianism and for the primacy of the Bishop of Rome within the Church.

plant

Avitus also became known as a writer. A retelling of prehistory in five books, De spiritalis historiae gestis , consisting of 2552 hexameters , was the basis of his fame and is considered a good and original Bible epic; for the first time the person of Lucifer was introduced into the epic . John Milton eventually took up the narrative in his epic Paradise Lost . 86 letters that have survived from him are also an important source for the history of the years 499 up to his death in 518. In one of these letters he congratulates the Frankish king Clovis I on his baptism.

Fonts

De spiritalis historiae gestis (Events of Spiritual History): De initio mundi (The Creation ), De originali peccato (The Original Sin ), De sententia Dei (The Judgment of God ), De diluvio mundi (The Flood ), De transitu maris rubri (The Crossing of the red sea )
De virginitate (On virginity): A consolation poem for his sister Fuscina
Contra Eutychianam haeresim libri I-II (2 books against the Eutychian heresy)
Dialogi cum Gundobado rege vel librorum contra Arrianos reliquiae (Dialogues with King Gundobad also books against the Arians )
34 homilies or sermons (only 3 of them have survived)
Collection of letters: 96 letters (81 letters from Avitus / 8 letters addressed to Avitus / 7 letters are commissioned work that Avitus wrote mainly on behalf of Sigismund).

Editions and translations

Rudolf Peiper (ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 6.2: Alcimi Ecdicii Aviti Viennensis episcopi Opera quae supersunt. Berlin 1883 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
Documenta Catholica Omnia , De Scriptoribus Ecclesiae Relatis, De Latinis Scriptoribus, 0460-0518 Avitus Viennensis Episcopus - Excerpta ex Migne Patrologia Latina
Danuta Shanzer, Ian N. Wood : Avitus of Vienne. Letters and Selected Prose . Translated Texts for Historians . Liverpool 2002 (English translation of all letters with detailed introduction and important information or improvements to the critical MGH edition).

Adoration

Saint-Avit is the name of several places in southwest France. Several churches are dedicated to him in this region.

presentation

Medieval representations of the saint are not known. Modern sculptures and stained glass show him in the bishop's robe.

literature

Michael von Albrecht : History of Roman Literature . Vol. 2, 3rd paperback edition, Munich 2003, p. 1046.
Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Avitus, Alcimus Ecdicius. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 311. ( Article / beginning of article in the Internet archive )
Siegmar Döpp : Eva and the snake - The description of the Fall of Man by the epic poet Avitus in the context of the biblical exegetical tradition . Potato printing publisher: Speyer 2009, ISBN 978-3-939526-07-0 .
Uta Heil: Avitus von Vienne and the homeic church of the Burgundians . Berlin / Boston 2011.
Adolf Jülicher : Avitus (7) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 2, Stuttgart 1896, col. 2398.
Luce Pietri et al. a. (Ed.): The history of Christianity . Vol. 3, special edition, Freiburg i. B. 2005, p. 353ff.
Ian N. Wood: Avitus of Vienne, the Augustinian Poet . In: RW Mathisen, D. Shanzer (Ed.): Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul. Revisiting the Sources . Ashgate 2001, pp. 263-77.

Web links

Avitus of Vienne . In: Ecumenical Saint Lexicon (ÖHL)
Catherine Santschi: Avitus of Vienne. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
St Avitus . In: Catholic Encyclopedia

Individual evidence

↑ February 5th is the Catholic day of remembrance, this is usually equated with the day of death. Avitus took part in the Council of Epao (517), but he was absent from the Council of Lyon (518), see I. Wood, D. Shanzer, Avitus of Vienne. Letters and selected Prose , Liverpool 2002, p. 10.
↑ I. Wood says that Avitus was neither directly responsible for Sigismund's conversion nor exercised special religious influence on him, since Sigismund resided in Genoa and was advised there by Bishop Maximus. See I. Wood, D. Shanzer, Avitus of Vienne. Letters and selected Prose , Liverpool 2002, p. 9.
↑ Are listed in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica under the Peiperian census as letters 2 and 3.
↑ Is listed in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica under the Peiperian census as letter 1.
↑ I. Wood states that Avitus probably never wrote a work under this name. The fragments were collected and published under this name by Sirmond in 1643. See I. Wood, D. Shanzer, Avitus of Vienne. Letters and selected Prose , Liverpool 2002, p. 163.
↑ The current state of research does not clearly show whether Avitus wrote a letter to Bishop Amandus (Letter 90 of the Peiperian census in the MGH), as no bishop Amandus in the Burgundian Empire at that time could be identified by historical research, so there is a possibility that Avitus wrote only 80 letters and his letter collection contains only 95 letters. See I. Wood, D. Shanzer, Avitus of Vienne. Letters and selected Prose , Liverpool 2002, p. 308.
↑ The letter from Pope Symmachus to Avitus turned out to be a forgery by the oratorio Jérome Vignier, who died in 1661.
↑ Avitus wrote a letter on behalf of the Archdeacon Leonianus.

personal data
SURNAME	Avitus of Vienne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Avitus, Alcimus Ecdicius (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Christian writer
DATE OF BIRTH	at 460
DATE OF DEATH	February 5, 518
Place of death	Vienne

[1] February 5th is the Catholic day of remembrance, this is usually equated with the day of death. Avitus took part in the Council of Epao (517), but he was absent from the Council of Lyon (518), see I. Wood, D. Shanzer, Avitus of Vienne. Letters and selected Prose , Liverpool 2002, p. 10.

[2] I. Wood says that Avitus was neither directly responsible for Sigismund's conversion nor exercised special religious influence on him, since Sigismund resided in Genoa and was advised there by Bishop Maximus. See I. Wood, D. Shanzer, Avitus of Vienne. Letters and selected Prose , Liverpool 2002, p. 9.

[3] Are listed in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica under the Peiperian census as letters 2 and 3.

[4] Is listed in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica under the Peiperian census as letter 1.

[5] I. Wood states that Avitus probably never wrote a work under this name. The fragments were collected and published under this name by Sirmond in 1643. See I. Wood, D. Shanzer, Avitus of Vienne. Letters and selected Prose , Liverpool 2002, p. 163.

[6] The current state of research does not clearly show whether Avitus wrote a letter to Bishop Amandus (Letter 90 of the Peiperian census in the MGH), as no bishop Amandus in the Burgundian Empire at that time could be identified by historical research, so there is a possibility that Avitus wrote only 80 letters and his letter collection contains only 95 letters. See I. Wood, D. Shanzer, Avitus of Vienne. Letters and selected Prose , Liverpool 2002, p. 308.

[7] The letter from Pope Symmachus to Avitus turned out to be a forgery by the oratorio Jérome Vignier, who died in 1661.

[8] Avitus wrote a letter on behalf of the Archdeacon Leonianus.