Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/814

 CHROMATIUS

730

CHRONICON

Limburg, of a noble Frankish family; d. at Metz, 6 March. 766. He was educated at the court of Charles Martel, became his private secretary, then chancellor, and in 737 prime minister. On 1 March, 742, he was appointed Bishop of Metz, retaining his civil office at the request of Pepin. In his influential position St. Chrodegang laboured earnestly for the welfare of ( 1 lurch ami State, and was ever solicitous to strengthen the bonds of union between the temporal and spirit- ual rulers. In his diocese he introduced the Roman Liturgy and chant, community life for the clergy of his cathedral, and wrote a special rule for them. He founded (748) the Abbey of Gorze (near Metz), and remained its friend and protector. He also established St. Peter's Abbey, on the Moselle, and did much for Gengenbach and Lorsch. For the lat- ter he is said to have obtained the relies of St. Naza- rius, and for Gorze those of St. Gorgonius. In 753 he was sent by Pepin to Pope Stephen III to assure him of the sympathy of the Frankish rulers against the inroads of Aistulf, King of the Lombards. He accompanied the pope to Ponthieu. After the death of St. Boniface, Pope Stephen conferred the pallium on St. Chrodegang (754-55), thus making him an archbishop, but not elevating the See of Metz. St. Chrodegang was buried in the Abbey of Gorze. He was a man of imposing appearance, of a mild, though firm character, of great liberality to the poor, and of more than ordinary ability, well versed in Latin and German. The rule containing thirty-four chapters which he gave his clergy (c. 755) was modelled according to the rules of St. Benedict and of the Canons of the Lateran (Mansi, XIV, 313; Hardouin, IV, 1181 ; Migne, P. L., LXXXIX, 1097). Through it he gave a mighty impulse to the spread of community life among the secular clergy. It was later increased to eighty-six chapters (DAchery, Spicilegium, I, 565). In 762, during a dangerous illness, he intro- duced among his priests a confraternity of prayer known as the League of Attigny.

Mm. Germ. Hist., II, 276, X, 562; .Ida S3., March, I, 453; Heimbucher, Ordcn und Kongregationrn (Paderborn, 1896), I, 389; Butler, Lives of the Saints, 6 March.

Francis Mershman.

Chromatius, Saint, Bishop of Aquileia, d. about 406-407. He was probably born at Aquileia, and in any case grew up there. He became a priest of that church and about 387 or 388, after the death of Valerianus, bishop of that important city. He was one of the most celebrated prelates of his time and was in active correspondence with his illustrious con- temporaries, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and Rufinus. Himself a scholarly theologian, he urged these three friends to the composition of many learned works. St. Ambrose was encouraged by him to write exe- getical works; St. Jerome dedicated to him different translations and commentaries, which he had written at his suggestion (translations of the Books of Parali- pomenon, Tobias, the books of Solomon, commenta- ries on the Prophecy of Habacuc). In the bitter quarrel between St. Jerome and Rufinus concerning Origenism, Chromatius, while rejecting the false doc- t riries of Origen, attempted to make peace between the disputants. He always maintained ecclesiastical communion with Rufinus and induced him not to answer the last attack of St. Jerome, but to devote himself to new literary works, especially to the trans- lation of the " Ecclesiastical History" of Eusebius. Chromatius opposed the Arian heresy with much zeal and rooted it out, in his diocese. He gave loyal support to St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, when unjustly oppressed, and wrote ill his favour to Honorius, the Western emperor, who sent this letter to his brother, Arcadius. This intercession, how- ever, availed nothing. Chromatius was also active as an exegete. There are preserved seventeen treat- ises by him on the Gospel according to St. Matthew

(iii, 15-17; v-vi, 24), besides a fine homily on the Eight Beatitudes (counted as an eighteenth treatise). His feast is celebrated 2 December.

P. L., XX, 236 sqq.; Fontanini, Histor. litteror. Aquileien., 122-14S in P. L., XX, 375-406; de Rubeik, Monuments eceles. Atpnlnen (Strasburg, 1740). I. 90-1 13 in P. L., XX, col. 407- 430; Tii.lemont. Mem. d'hisl. eecles. (ed. 1706), XI. 534 sqq., 652 653; Fessler-Jungmann, Institidiones Patrologia? (Inns- bruck, 1892), II, i, 215-217.

J. P. KlRSCH.

Chronicon Paschale (Paschal Chronicle), the name ordinarily given to a valuable Byzantine chroni- cle of the world written in the seventh century, so designated because, like many other chronicles of the Middle Ages, it follows a system of Christian chronology based on the paschal canon, or cycle. It is also indicated at times under other titles, as: Chronicon Alexandrinum, Antiochenum, Casauboni- anum, Constantinopolitanum, or Fasti Siculi. The anonymous author who wrote the chronicle called it, however: 'Eirirofiri "Kpbvuiv t&v atro 'ASap. tov trpuTo- ir\6.<XT0v dvdpunrov £ws k erous rijs /SatrtAetas 'HpaA'Xefou tov evae^eaTCLTou Kal fiera vtraTtiav ctovs id' Kal itj' erous ttjs /3a<rtXday 'Hpa/cXcfov v4ov Ktovaravrtvov tov aurod vlov Iv&iKTiCbvos y' . [Summary (or epitome) of the ages from Adam the first man to the 20th year of the reign of the most august Heraclius, and the 19th consulat (18th regnal) year of his son Constantine, the third indiction.] It is, therefore, one of those numerous universal chronicles which imitate the method of Euse- bius. Being a Byzantine chronicle, it shows all the peculiarities of this branch of the literature of the Eastern Empire. The Byzantine chroniclers were de- voted especially to universal history, began with the Creation, and carried the narrative down to their own epoch. Ordinarily they ended their histories with the beginning of the imperial reign in which they wrote. These histories were intended to be popular narratives; the authors introduce many trifling anec- dotes, stop with pleasure to describe the physical and intellectual qualities of the chief personages, and at times execute careful portraits of them, like those miniatures of old manuscripts in which the hero of the story is elaborately depicted. The writers enjoy describing extraordinary events, such as earthquakes and the appearance of comets. They regarded most events from the point of view of church history, with which the chronological plan of the Bible was made to agree. The idiom used was that of common life, little polished, but finically ornate. Thus these productions were intended for the mass of the people, and above all for the countless monks of the Eastern Empire, eager to learn the ordinary and extraordi- nary occurrences of the world's history. Sempro- nius Asellius himself points out this difference in the public appealed to and in the style of composition which distinguished the chroniclers (Annates) from the historians (Historia) of Byzantium.

The "Chronicon Paschale", an example of this type of composition, has for its basis a chronological list of events extending from the creation of Adam to the year A. D. 629. At least this is the ground it covers in the principal manuscript, the Codex Vati- canus grsecus 1941 of the tenth century; this codex is damaged at the beginning and end and stops at A. D. 627. The chronicle proper is preceded by an introduction which contains some reflections on Christian chronology and on the calculation of the paschal cycle. The author was a contemporary of the Emperor Heraclius (610-41), and was probably a cleric attached to the suite of the oecumenical Patriarch Sergius. The work was probably written > luriiiLT the last ten years of the reign of Heraclius. It was for- merly maintained that it had been originally begun in the time of Constantine the Great, then brought down to 354, and finally revised under Heraclius. This view has been solidly refuted by Gelzer in his work on Sextus Julius Africanus.