According to Christian historians, during the
consulship of the Emperor
Decius and
Vettius Gratus (250 AD),
Pope Fabian sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul to preach the Gospel: Gatianus to Tours,
Trophimus to
Arles,
Paul to
Narbonne,
Saturnin to
Toulouse,
Denis to
Paris,
Austromoine to
Clermont, and
Martial to
Limoges. A community of Christians had already existed for many years in
Lyon, where
Irenaeus had been bishop. As with other founders of the seven Catholic churches of Gaul, especially Martial, Gatianus became confounded in later
Christian mythology with the "seventy-two disciples of Christ", alleged to have been sent into Gaul during the first century, by
Peter himself. Other details of his biography, while not as easily disprovable, are also largely legendary.
Gregory of Tours, writing in the 6th century, is a more dependable source for the few biographical details concerning his predecessor. According to the Catholic historian
Louis Duchesne (
Christian Worship: Its Origin and Evolution), the traditions preserved at Tours furnished Gregory with only the name of Gatianus and perhaps the 50-year extent of his episcopacy; it was by comparison with a brief early biography of Saturninus of Toulouse () that Gregory arrived at the date 250 for the beginning of Gatianus' ministry at Tours (
History of the Franks, 1.30). In a part of the empire where
Mithraism was a dominating force among the
legions, Léon Jaud reports that Gatianus likewise retreated into a grotto and there celebrated a mystical banquet (), but that of Christianity. Gatianus was often portrayed officiating at a ceremony in a cavern-like setting. Two grottos cut into the limestone hill above the river
Loire, across from Tours at the largely demolished
Marmoutier Abbey, are designated the first sites where Gatianus celebrated the liturgy. Anglophile
Henry James toured the grottos of Gatianus: The abbey of Marmoutier, which sprung from the grottos in the cliff to which Saint Gatianus and Saint Martin retired to pray, was therefore the creation of the latter worthy. ...The cliff is still there, and a winding staircase, in the latest taste, enables you conveniently to explore its recesses. These sacred niches are scooped out of the rock, and will give you an impression if you cannot do without one. ...They have been dealt with as the Catholic church deals with most of such places today; polished and furnished up; labelled and ticketed; edited, with notes, in short, like an old book. The process is a mistake. The early editions had more sanctity ... but there was nevertheless a great sweetness in the scene. The afternoon was lovely, and it was flushing to a close. The large garden stretched beneath us, blooming with fruit and wine and succulent vegetables, and beyond it flowed the shining river. The air was still, the shadows were long, and the place, after all, was full of memories, most of which might pass for virtuous. Gatianus established a hospice for the poor outside the walls of Tours. There he lay, overcome with weariness, after five decades of fasting, penances and toil. There, Jaud describes Jesus appearing to Gatianus, saying, "Fear not! Thy crown is readied and the Saints await thy arrival in Heaven." == Veneration ==