Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Religious figures biography for wider area of: "ARLES SUR RHONE Town FRANCE" .
ARLES SUR RHONE (Town) FRANCE
Leontius of Arelates or Arles, was bishop of that city about the middle of the fifth century. Several letters were written to him by Pope Hilarius (A. D. 461-467) which are given in the Concilia: and a letter of Leontius to the pope (dated A. D. 462) is given in the Spicilegium of D'Achery (vol. v. p. 578 of the original edition, or vol. iii. p. 302, in the edition of De La Barre, fol. Paris, 1723), and in the Coneilia. Leontius presided in a council at Arles, held about A. D. 475, to condemn an error into which some had fallen respecting the doctrine of predestination. He appears to have died in A. D. 484. He is mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris. (Sidon. Apollin. Epist. vii. 6, Concilia, vol. iv. col. 1039, 1044, 1041, 1828, ed. Labbe; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 449; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. p. 324, vel. xii. p. 653, Bibl. Med. et Infim. Latinitatis, vol. v. p. 268, ed. Mansi; Tillemont, Memoires, vol. xvi. p. 38.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Ennodius, Magnus Felix, was born at Arles about A. D. 476, of a very illustrious
family, which numbered among its members and connexions many of the most illustrious
personages of that epoch. Having been despoiled while yet a boy of all his patrimony
by the Visigoths, he was educated at Milan by an aunt, upon whose death he found
himself at the age of sixteen again reduced to total destitution. From this unhappy
position he was extricated by a wealthy marriage, but having been prevailed upon
by St. Epiphanius to renounce the pleasures of the world, he received ordination
as a deacon, and induced his wife to renter a convent. His labours in the service
of the Church were so conspicuous that he was chosen bishop of Pavia in A. D.
511, and in 514 was sent, along with Fortunatus, bishop of Catania. and others,
by Pope Hormisda to Constantinople in order to combat the progress of the Eutychian
heresy. The embassy having proved unsuccessful in consequence of the emperor,
who was believed to be favourable to the opinions in question, having refused
to acknowledge the authority of the Roman pontiff, Ennodius was despatched a second
time in 517, along with Peregrinus, bishop of Misenum, bearing a confession of
faith, which the eastern churches were invited or rather required to subscribe.
On this occasion the envoy was treated with great harshness by Anastasius, who
not only dismissed him with ignominy, but even sought his life, by causing him
to embark in a crazy vessel, which was strictly forbidden to touch at any Grecian
port. Having escaped this danger, Ennodius returned to his diocese, where he occupied
himself with religious labours until his death in A. D. 521, on the 17th of July,
the day which after his canonization was observed as his festival.
The works of this prelate, as contained in the edition of Sirmond, are the following:
1. Epistolarum ad Diversos Libri IX. A collection of 497 letters, including one
composed by his sister, the greater number of them written during the pontificate
of Symmachus (493-514). They for the most part relate to private concerns and
domestic occurrences, and hence possess little general interest. They are remarkable
for gentleness and piety of tone, but some persons have imagined that they could
detect a leaning towards semipelagianism. The charge, however, has not been by
any means substantiated.
2. Panegyricus Theodorico regi dictus. A complimentary address delivered in the
presence of the Gothic monarch at Milan, or at Ravenna, or at Rome, probably in
the year A. D. 507. It is sometimes included in the collections of the "
Panegyrici Veteres," and is considered as one of the principal sources for
the history of that period, although obviously no reliance can be placed on the
statements contained in an effusion of such a character. It will be found, with
notes, in Manso, Geschichte des Ostgoth. Reichs.
3. Libellus adversus eos qui contra synodum scribere praesumserunt. A powerful
and argumentative harangue, read before the fifth Roman synod held in A. D. 503,
and adopted as part of their proceedings, in defence of the measures sanctioned
by the synod of the previous year, against schismatics, and in support of the
jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff generally.
4. Vita beatissimi viri Epiphanii Ticinensis episcopi. A biography of St. Epiphanius,
his predecessor in the see of Pavia, who died in A. D. 496. This piece is valued
on account of the light which it throws upon the history of the times, and is
considered one of the most interesting and agreeable among the works of Ennodius,
which, to say the truth, are for the most part rather repulsive. It will be found
in the collections of Surius and the Bollandists under the 22nd of January.
5. Vita beati Antonii monachi Livinensis, a panegyric upon a holy man unknown
save from this tract.
6. Eucharisticum de vita, a thanksgiving for recovery from a dangerous malady,
during which the author was first led to those thoughts which eventually prompted
him to devote his life to the service of God. It is dedicated to Elpidius, a deacon
and physician.
7. Paraensis didascalica ad Ambrosium et Beatum, an exhortation, in which poetry
is combined with prose, urging two youths to the practice of virtue.
8. Praeceptum de cellulanis episcoporum. The cellulani were the contubernales
whom bishops, presbyters, and deacons were required to retain as constant companions
"ad amoliendas maledicorum calumnias." (See Ducange, Glossar.) In this
tract they are called concellanei.
9. Petitorium quo Gerontius puer Agapiti absolutus est. On the manumission of
a slave by his master in the church.
10. Cerei paschalis benedictiones duae.
11. Orationes. A series of short essays or declamations, twenty eight in number,
which the author himself names dictiones, classified according to their subjects.
Of these six are sacrae, seven scholasticae, ten controversias, five ethicae.
12. Carmina. A large collection of poems, most of them short occasional effusions,
on a multitude of different topics, sacred and profane. Fourteen are to be found
interspersed among his epistles and other prose works, and one hundred and seventy-two
form a separate collection.
The writings of Ennodius might serve as an exemplification of all the worst faults
of a corrupt style. Nothing can be more affected than the form of expression,
nothing more harsh than the diction. They are concise without being vigorous,
obscure without being deep, while the use of figurative language, metaphors, and
allegories, is pushed to such extravagant excess that whole pages wear the aspect
of a long dull enigma.
A considerable number of the works of this father appeared in the
"Monumenta S. Patrum Orthodoxographa", Basil. 1569; they were first
published separately by Andr. Schottus, Tornac. 1611, but will be found in their
most complete and best form in the edition of Sirmond, Paris. 1611. and in his
Opera, Paris. 1696, and Venet. 1729; also in the Bibl. Patr. Max., Lugdun. 1677,
and in other large collections of the fathers.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Hilarius, surnamed Arelatensis, was born at the commencement of the fifth century,
in Gallia Belgica, of a noble family, and distinguished himself in boyhood by
the zeal and success with which he followed out the various branches of a liberal
education. At an early age he became the disciple of Honoratus, first abbot of
Lerins, by whom he was persuaded to abandon the world, and to devote himself to
a monastic life. To this he attached himself so warmly, that when the bishopric
of Arles became vacant in A. D. 429, by the death of his preceptor, he was with
the utmost difficulty induced to yield to the wishes of the clergy and people,
and to accept the episcopal chair. The circumstance that a monk of twentynine
should have been chosen unanimously to till such an important station is in itself
a strong proof of the reputation which he must have enjoyed as a man of learning,
eloquence, and piety. His name, however, has acquired importance in ecclesiastical
history chiefly from the controversy in which he became involved with Pope Leo
the Great. A certain Chelidonius, bishop either of Vesoul or Besancon, had been
deposed, in consequence of certain irregularities, by a council at which Hilarius
presided, assisted by Eucherius of Lyons and Germanus of Auxerre. Chelidonius
repaired to Rome for the purpose of lodging an appeal against this sentence, and
thither he was followed by Hilarius, who expressed a wish to confer with the pontiff,
but refused to acknowledge his jurisdiction in the case. Leo, incensed by what
he considered as a direct attack upon his supremacy, forthwith reinstated Chelidonius,
while Hilarius, entertaining apprehensions for his own personal freedom, was fain
to quit the city by stealth, and make his way back to his diocese, on foot, crossing
the Alps at the most inclement season of the year. He subsequently endeavoured,
but in vain, to negotiate a reconciliation with Leo, who refused to listen to
any ternis short of absolute submission, and eventually succeeded in depriving
him of all the privileges which he enjoyed as metropolitan of Gaul. This proceeding
was confirmed by the celebrated rescript of Valentinian III., issued in 445, in
which, among other matters, it was ordained, " Ut Episcopis Gallicanis omnibusque
pro lege esset, quidquid apostolicae sedis auctoritas sanxisset: ita ut quisquis
Episcoporum ad judicium Romani antistitis evocatus venire neglexisset per moderatorem
ejusdem provinciae adesse cogeretur," a decree which, while it unequivocally established
the authority of the bishop of Rome over the church beyond the Alps, at the same
time, when taken in connection with the circumstances by which it was called forth,
seems to prove that up to this period such authority had never been fully and
formally recognised. The merits of this dispute have, as might be expected, become
a party question among ecclesiastical historians, who characterise the conduct
of the chief personages concerned in the most opposite terms, according to the
views which they entertain with regard to the rights of the papal chair. Hilarius
died in 449, about five years after the deposition of Chelidonius.
The only works of this Hilarius now extant whose authenticity is unquestionable
are:
1. Vita Sancti Honorati Arelatensis Episcopi, a sort of funeral panegyric upon
his predecessor, which has been much admired, on account of the graceful and winning
character of the style. It was first published at Paris by Genebrardus, in 1578,
land a few years afterwards, from MSS. preserved at Lerins, by Vincentius Barralis,
in his Chronologia sanct. insul. Lerin. Lugd. 1613; the text of the former edition
was followed by Surius ad xvi. Jan., and of the latter by the Bollandists, vol.
ii.. It is also given in the Bibl. Patr. Max. Lugd. 1677, in the Opera Leonis
I., edited by Quesnell, Paris 1675, and in the Opera Vincentii Lirinensis et Hilarii
Arelatensis, by J. Salinas, Rom. 1731.
2. Epistola ad Eucherium Episcopum Lugdunensem, first published in the Chronologia
Lirinensis of Barralis, and subsequently in the Bibl. Max. Patr. Lugd. vol. viii.,
in Quesnell and in Salinas.
There is also a Narratio de Miraculo, performed by a certain martyr named Genesius,
which is given to Hilarius in some MSS., but generally rejected as spurious. It
will be found in Surius and the Bollandists under 25th August. We have already
alluded to an ancient Vita Hilarii, which is commonly believed to be the production
of Honoratus, bishop of Marseilles (about A. D. 460), but which in the Arles MS.
is assigned to Reverentius, or Ravennius, the successor of Hilarius. It is contained
in the Chronologia Lirinensis, and in Surius under V. Mai.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Jan 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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