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 OAUDIOSUS

395

GAUL

S.J. ("The Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ", Derby, 1864); "De vera Christi Jesu iraitatione"; "De Dei prspsentia"; " Praxis meditandi a B.P. Ignatio tradita; explicatio" (Paris, 1020). Tlicre are Froncli transla- tions of these four works. After tlie tlcatli of Father Gaudier all his spiritual works, Ijotli printed and un- edited, were collected in one folio volume unilcr the title "De natura et statibus perfectionis " (Paris, 164.'5), a better edition in three octavo volumes being later supplied by Father J. Martinow, S.J. (Paris, ISoG-S). While this great treatise is of special in- terest to Jesuits, since it is primarily intended for their institute, it is regarded by enlightened judges as one of the most beautiful and solid monuments of t'atholic asceticism. The whole of the speculative part is of general interest, and the practical part, with the ex- ception of rare passages, is equallj' so. It contains a thirty days' retreat according to the Spiritual E.xer- cises of St. Ignatius, which has been separately edited several times since 1643. The great value of the work is heightened by the fact that Gautlier had personal intercourse with the inuiiediate disciples of the saint. SoMMERVOGEL, BibHotkique de la Compngnie de Jesus, III, col. 12C5.

P.\UL Debuchy.

Gaudiosus, Bishop of Tarazona (Turiasso), Spain, d. about 540. Our information concerning the life of this holy bishop is scant, and rests on comparatively late sources. On the occasion of the translation of his remains in 1573, a sketch of his life was discovered in the grave, written on parchment; apart from the Breviary lessons of the Church of Tarazona, this document contains the only written details we possess concerning the life of Gaudiosus. His father, (iuntha, was a military official (spaiharius) at the court of the Visigothic King Theodoric (510-25). The education of the boy was entrusted to St. Victorianus, abbot of a monastery near Burgos (Oca), who trained him for the service of the church. Later (c. 530) he was appointed Bishop of Tarazona. Nothing more is known of his activities. Even the year of his death has not been exactly determined. After his death he was venerated as a saint. According to the MS. life found in his grave he died on 29 October, but the Church of Tarazona celebrates his feast on 3 Novem- ber. He was first entombed in the church of St. Martin (dedicated later to St. Victorianus), attached to the monastery where he had spent his youthful years. In 1573 his remains were disinterred and translated to the cathedral of Tarazona.

Ada SS.. I. Nov., 664-65; de la Fuente. La Santa lolesia de Tarazona en sus Estados Antiguos y Modemos (Madrid, 1865). J. P. KiRSCH.

Gaughran, Laurence. See Me.\th, Diocese of.

Gaul, Christian. — The Church of Gaul first ap- peared in history in connexion with the persecution at Lyons under Marcus .lurelius (177). The pagan in- habitants rose up against the Christians, antl forty- eight martyrs sutTered death under various tortures. .\inong them there were children, like the slave Blandma and Ponticus, a youth of fifteen. Every rank of life had members among the first martyrs of the Church of Gaul: the aristocracy were represented by Vettius Epagathus; the professional class by Attains of Pergamus, a physician; a neophj'te, Maturus, died beside Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons, and Sanctus, deacon of Vienne. The Christians of Lyons and Vienne in a letter to their brethren of Smyrna give an account of this persecution, and the letter, preserved by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., V, i-iv), is one of the gems of Christian literature. In this document the Church of Lyons seems to be the only church organized at the time in Gaul. That of Vienne appears to have been dependent on it and, to judge from similar cases, was proliably administered by a deacon. How or where Christianity first gained a

foothold in Gaul is purely a matter of conjecture. Most likely the first missionaries came by sea, touched at Marseilles, and progressed up the Rhone till they established the religion at Lyons, the metropolis and centre of communication for the whole country. The firm eslaliUshmcnt of Christianity in (jaul was un- doubteilly due to missionaries from Asia. Pothinus was a disciple of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, as was also his successor, Irena-us. In the time of Irenieus Lyons was still the centre of the Church in Gaul. Eusebius speaks of letters written by the Churches of Gaul of which IrenaMis is bishop (Hist. Eccl., V, xxiii). These letters were written on the occasion of the second event which brought the Church of Gaul into promi- nence. Easter was not celebrated on the same day in all Christian communities; towards the end of the second century Pope Victor wished to universalize the Roman usage and excommunicated the Churches of Asia. Irena'us intervened to restore peace. About the same time, in a mystical inscription foimd at Autun, a certain Pectorius celebrated in Greek verse the Ichthus or fish, symbol of the Eucharist. A third event in which the bishops of Gaul appear is the Novatian controversy. Faustinus, Bishop of Lyons, and other colleagues in Gaul are mentioned in 254 by St. Cj-prian (Ep. Ixviii) as opposed to Novatian, whereas Marcianus of .\rles was favourable to him.

No other positive information concerning the Church of Gaul is available until the fourth century. Two groups of narratives, however, aim to fill in the gaps. (3n the one hand a series of local legends trace back the foundation of the principal sees to the Apostles. Early m the sixth century we find St. Caesarius, Bishop of Aries, crediting these stories ; regardless of the anachro- nism, he makes the first Bishop of Vaison, Daphnus, whose signature appears at the Council of Aries (314), a disciple of the Apostles (Lejay, Le role th^ologique de C^saire d'Arles, p. 5). One hundred years earlier one of his predecessors, Patrocles, based various claims of his Church on the fact that St. Trophimus, founder of the Church of Aries, was a disciple of the Apostles. Such claims were no doubt flattering to local vanity; during the Middle Ages and in more recent times many legends grew up in support of them. The evangeliza- tion of Gaul has often been attributed to missionaries sent from Rome by St. Clement — a theory, which has inspired a whole series of fallacious narratives and forgeries, with which history is encumbered. More faith can be placed in a statement of Gregory of Tours in his " Historia Francorum" (I, xxviii), on which was based the second group of narratives concerning the evangelization of Gaul. According to him, in the year 250 Rome sent seven bishops, who founded as many churches in Gaul: Gatianus the Church of Tours, Trophimus that of Aries, Paul that of Narbonne, Saturninus that of Toulouse, Denis that of Paris, Stremonius (.\ustremonius) that of Auvergne (Cler- mont), and Martialis that of Limoges. Gregory's statement has been accepted with more or less reser- vation by serious historians. Nevertheless even though Gregory, a late successor of Gatianus, may have had access to information on the beginnings of his church, it must not be forgotten that an interval of three hundred years separates him from the events he chronicles; moreover, this statement of his involves some serious chronological difficulties, of which he was himself aware, e. g. in the case of the bishops of Paris. The most we can say for him is that he echoes a con- temporary tradition, which represents the general point of view of the sixth century rather than the actual facts. It is impossible to say how much legend is mingled with the reality.

By tlie miildle of the third century, as St. Cyprian bears witness, there were several churches organized in Gaul. They suffered little from the great persecution. Constantius Chlorus, the father of Const antine, was not hostile to C'hristianity, and .soon after the cessation