Origins Hesychius or Isicius (occasionally also
Isique or
Ysile) is mentioned in the first extant list of the bishops of Vienne, the
Catalogue of bishop
Ado of Vienne (799-875) He married Audentia, with whom he had two sons,
Avitus, his successor in the episcopal seat of Vienne, and
Apollinaris of Valence, who became
bishop of Valence. He was apparently related to
Sidonius Apollinaris,
prefect of Rome and later
bishop of Clermont. According to the historian Bernard Bligny (1979), Hesychius belonged to "one of the principal Gallo-Roman families of 'Bourgogne', the Hesychii, a branch of the
Syagrii", of whom several members were bishops of Vienne (three) and Grenoble (four).
Episcopacy According to tradition, confirmed at least in part by the historian Ulysse Chevalier in his
Notice chronologico-historique sur les archevêques de Vienne (1879), Hesychius was a senator before governing the diocese of Vienne. The
Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse states that he was descended from a family of the senatorial nobility and was closely related to the
Emperor Avitus. In his
Chronique (VI) Bishop Ado mentions Hesychius as the reigning bishop when Saint
Severus of Vienne dedicated a church in Vienne at the time of the death of Saint
Germanus of Auxerre. Lucas however maintains that whereas the dedication must have taken place in 448 and Severus' death in 450, Hesychius' episcopacy was later, probably between 475 and 490. Hesychius seems to have died in about 490; his son Avitus succeeded him as bishop of Vienne. == Cultus ==