Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/397

 (though they concerned property) according to her own methods.

[A.J.M.]

Gallus (1) Caesar, son of Julius Constantius (youngest brother of Constantine the Great) and his first wife Galla; born 325 at Massa Veternensis near Siena in Tuscany (Amm. xiv. 11, 27). In the general massacre of the younger branches of the imperial family on the death of Constantine in 337, two young brothers were alone preserved—Gallus who was ill of a sickness which seemed likely to be mortal, and Julian a child of seven.

Both were brought up as Christians, and entered with apparent zeal into the externals of the Christian life. In 350 Gallus received the dignity of Caesar, which the childless Constantius bestowed upon him on succeeding to the sole government of the empire by the death of his brother Constans. In the West Constantius was distracted by the usurpation of Magnentius in Gaul, while in the East the Persians were a perpetual source of alarm. Gallus had to make a solemn oath upon the Gospels not to undertake anything against the rights of his cousin, who similarly pledged himself to Gallus. He received at the same time the strong-minded and unfeminine Constantina as his wife, and Lucilianus, the count of the East, as his general (Zos. 2, 45. Philost. iv. 1 refers to the oath between Constantius and Gallus; cf. Chron. Pasch. p. 540 ; Zonaras, xiii. 8).

The records of his short reign at Antioch come to us chiefly from Ammianus (lib. xiv.). They are almost entirely unfavourable to him. His defence of the frontier against the Persians was indeed successful (Zos. 3, 1; Philost. iii. 28, speaks strongly on this point), but his internal policy was disastrous.

Besides the report of his harsh and open misgovernment, accounts of secret treason meditated by him were conveyed to Constantius. The emperor, with his usual craft, sent an affectionate letter and desired his presence, as he wished to consult him on urgent public business (Amm. xiv. 11, 1). When he arrived at Petovio in Noricum, he was seized by the count Barbatio, deprived of his imperial insignia, and conveyed, with many protestations that his life was safe, to Flanon in Dalmatia, where he was closely guarded. The all-powerful eunuch Eusebius was then sent to interrogate him upon his various crimes. Gallus did not deny them, but blamed his wife. Constantius ordered his execution, which took place towards the close of 354.

His instruction had been Arian under the direction of Constantius, and he seems to have been influenced not a little by the Anomoean Aetius. This notorious man had been sent to him to be put to death as a heretic. Gallus spared him on the intercession of Leontius, bp. of Antioch, and became very friendly with him. According to Philostorgius, he made him his religious instructor, and attempted by his means to recall Julian to the faith, when he heard that he was wavering (Philost. H. E. iii. 27). There is no reason to doubt that the young Caesar was a zealous Christian after a sort, and that he was distressed by his brother's danger of apostasy.

[J.W.]

Gallus (11), abbat, the apostle of Switzerland. One primary authority is the Vita S.Galli, compiled by Walafrid Strabo, abbat of Reichenau ( 842–849), and pub. by Surius (Vitae Sanct. Oct. 16, t. iv. 252 seq., Colon. 1617), by Mabillon (Acta SS. O.S.B. ii. 215 seq.), and Migne (Patr. Lat. cxiii. 975 seq.). Another Vita S. Galli, ex MS. St. Gall. 553, is published by Portz (Mon. Germ. Hist. ii. 189). The original documents are to be found in Wartmann's Nerkundenbuch der Abtei St. Gallen, vols. i.–iii. 1865–1882.

He undoubtedly was of Irish birth, and his original name was Cellach, Calech, or Caillech. Trained at Bangor, in the famous school of St. Comgall, he accompanied Columbanus into Gaul, 585, and in his exile from Luxeuil along the Rhine into Switzerland, and, apparently from his aptness at learning the languages, proved a most useful assistant in preaching to the Suevi, Helvetii, and neighbouring tribes. [.] When Columbanus in 612 left Switzerland to escape the persecution of the Burgundian court, Gallus was detained at Bregenz by a fever, but as soon as he could, returned to his friend the priest Willimar, at Arbona on the S. shore of the Lake of Constance, and devoted his remaining years to the conversion of the wild tribes inhabiting this eastern frontier of Austrasia. On the banks of the Steinaha or Steinach he built his cell and oratory, in the midst of a thick forest. Twelve others accompanied him. His collection of rude huts determined the site of the town and monastery of St. Gall. When the see of Constance became vacant in 616, the episcopate was urgently pressed upon him, and again in 625, but he declined, and was allowed to nominate his deacon John, a native of the place. The sermon he preached at John's consecration is extant in Latin—a wonderful specimen of Irish erudition, simple yet full of vigour, learned and devout, giving an abstract of the history of God's dealings from the creation, of the fall and redemption, of the mission of the apostles and calling of the Gentiles, and ending with a powerful appeal to Christian faith and life, which gives some idea of the state of the corrupt and barbarous society he was seeking to leaven. Beyond these few incidents we know little. He died Oct. 16, 645 or 646, at Arbona, aged 95, but some propose an earlier date.

The oratory of St. Gall gave rise to one of the most celebrated monasteries of the middle ages, and its library to this day stands unrivalled in the wealth and variety of its ancient manuscripts. (For an account of the school of St. Gall and its cultivation of the fine arts, see Hist. lit. de la France, iv. 243–246.)

[J.G.]

Gaudentius, bp. of Brescia (Brixia), successor of (Philastrius) c.  387. Of the early life of Gaudentius nothing is known for certain. He was probably a native of Brescia; at any rate, he was well known there in his youth. From the language which he uses in reference to his predecessor he appears to have been intimately acquainted with him (though Tillemont is wrong in his interpretation of the words "ego . . . minima ejus pars"). He had a brother Paul, in deacon's orders ("frater carnis et spiritus germanitate carissime"—though his metaphorical use of similar language in speaking of St.