Early Mythology Saint Gregory of Tours names
St. Martial, who founded the Church of Limoges, as one of the seven bishops sent from Rome to Gaul in the middle of the 3rd century. An anonymous life of St. Martial (
Vita primitiva), discovered and published by
Abbé Arbellot, represents him as sent to Gaul by
St. Peter. Controversy has arisen over the date of this biography. The discovery in the library at
Karlsruhe of a manuscript copy written at
Reichenau by
Regimbertus, a monk who died in 846, places the original before that date. The biography is written in rhythmical prose; Charles-Félix Bellet thinks it belongs to the 7th century, while
Charles De Smedt and
Louis Duchesne maintain that the "Vita primitiva" is much later than Gregory of Tours (died 590). Charles Ferdinand de Lasteyrie du Saillant gives 800 as the date of its origin. In addition to the manuscript already cited, the
Abbey of St. Martial at the beginning of the 11th century possessed a circumstantial life of its patron saint, according to which, and to the cycle of later legends derived from it, St. Martial was one of the seventy-two disciples who witnessed the
Passion and
Ascension of Christ, was present on the first
Pentecost and at the
martyrdom of
St. Stephen. followed St. Peter to Antioch and to Rome, and was sent to Gaul by the Prince of the Apostles, who assigned
Austriclinium and
Alpinian to accompany him. The three were welcomed at
Tulle and turned away from
Ahun. They set out towards Limoges, where St. Martial erected on the site of the present cathedral a shrine in honour of St. Stephen. A pagan priest,
Aurelian, wished to throw St. Martial into prison, but was struck dead, then brought to life, baptized, ordained and later consecrated bishop by the saint. Aurelian is the patron of the guild of butchers in Limoges. Forty years after the Ascension, Christ appeared to Martial, and announced to him the approach of death. The churches of Limoges celebrate this event on 16 June. After labouring for twenty-eight years as a missionary in Gaul, the saint died at the age of fifty-nine, surrounded by his converts of
Poitou,
Berry,
Auvergne and
Aquitaine. The writer of this "Life" pretends to be Aurelian, St. Martial's disciple and successor in the See of Limoges.
Louis Duchesne thinks it not unlikely that the real authorship of this "apocryphal and lying" work should be attributed to the chronicler
Adhémar de Chabannes, noted for his fabrications. M. de Lasteyrie however is of the opinion that the Life was written about 955, before the birth of Adhémar. Be that as it may, this "Vita Aureliana" played an important part at the beginning of the 11th century, when the Abbot Hugh (1019–1025) brought before several councils the question of the Apostolic date of St. Martial's mission. Before the
Carolingian period there is no trace of the story that St. Martial was sent to Gaul by St. Peter. It did not spread until the 11th century and was revived in the seventeenth by the
Carmelite Bonaventure de Saint-Amable, in his voluminous "Histoire de St. Martial". Duchesne and
M. de Lasteyrie assert that it cannot be maintained against the direct testimony of
St. Gregory of Tours, who places the origin of the Church of Limoges about the year 250.
Saintly patrons The diocese specially honours the following:
St. Sylvanus (Silvain), a native of
Ahun, martyr;
St. Adorator disciple of
St. Ambrose, suffered martyrdom at
Lubersac;
St. Victorianus, an Irish hermit;
St. Vaast, a native of the diocese who became
Bishop of Arras and baptized king
Clovis (5th–6th century);
St. Psalmodius, a native of Britain, died a hermit at
Eymoutiers;
St. Yrieix, d. in 591, chancellor to
Theudebert II King of Austrasia and founder of the monastery of
Attanum (the towns of
Saint-Yrieix are named after him);
St. Etienne de Muret (1046–1126), who founded the famous Benedictine
abbey of Grandmont.
Councils of Limoges The
Council of Limoges, held in 1031, is noted not only for its decision with regard to St. Martial's mission, but because, at the instigation of Abbot Odolric, it proclaimed the "
Truce of God" and threatened with general
excommunication those feudal lords who would not swear to maintain it. Another council was held at Limoges by
Pope Urban II in December 1095, at which Bishop Humbauld was deposed. ==Middle Ages==